Trail maintenance

In honor of Nancy's birthday and our love of being outside, a few of us joined Randy and Nancy yesterday in their ongoing project to maintain the Woody's Ridge trail and the south end of the crest trail. Randy proved his dedication to the project by hauling a scythe uphill for two hours. It was highly efficient and the handle made an acceptable (if weighty) walking stick.

Rural Graffiti

Spray paint? Hah! We don't need no stinkin' spray paint!

Tiny tiny pot

Wow, I found this when I was out walking yesterday. I don't know what sort of critter makes a perfect little pot for a home, but there was something moving around in there. It's a classic, don't you think? Anyone know whose nest this is?

SEVERAL DAYS LATER: One of my Flickr friends kindly identified this as the nest of the potter wasp and look at this pictures she found: www.flickr.com/photos/kaipu/195202407/
If you look closely at that picture, you can see the very tip of one of these little pots.

Off to the motherland

Julia Preston, Margot Atuk, and Jeff Goodman just before leaving on a one-month trip to Turkey, Margot's ancestral homeland. This picture shows every bit of their luggage. Nice job packing light, guys.

Birthday roundup

First Vance Evans turned one and he threw a barn burner of a party at Tim and Astra's.


Paul was very relaxed.


Rommie was ready for hunting season.


Then Tom Trout turned 60 and threw a great party at the community center. I forgot to take a picture of him because I got so involved in shooting off the high-pressure water-rockets that Zoe brought along from her job doing science shows for kids.


It was great. We managed to get both of Zoe's rockets stuck in a tree. Then we got Gib's giant slingshot that he uses to get climbing ropes into trees. It took some practice, but these guys finally shot a weighted line over the right branch and we shook the tree until the rocket fell down. Then we had to do it again for the other rocket.


Then Daisy Pred and Kalen Freeman turned one with an excellent picnic.


Kalen would like to be a writer or maybe a librarian.


Daisy is considering a career in the rodeo.