Fall Preview

Eggsceptional

We put in 50 laying hens this week. Originally we were going to just have 25, but in view of the salmonella scare, Grandpa thought that people might be looking for alternative egg sources. In two to three weeks, we should be getting eggs; by mid-autumn, we could have 14 dozen eggs a week! Dan and some friends fenced in some yard today so we can let the hens out during the day. By late afternoon I heard a hawk nearby, but since there was no ruckus, I don't think it went after them. Let's hope the hawk, the owls, the fox, the raccoons and other assorted predators stay away!

Time Marches On

Jackson Lake 2006

Jackson Lake 2010

Colter Bay, Grand Teton National Park

Devil's Tower, Wyoming

On our way to Devil's Tower, skirting between two storms

Leigh Creek, Wyoming

Leigh Creek Campground is in a canyon that a gentleman at the Buffalo Visitor Center claimed is as beautiful as any canyon in the US. He may be right. Our site was right on the creek -- the kids had a blast turning blue swimming in the snowmelt-cold water.

Geo Girl

Yellowstone sits on the caldera of a supervolcano. As G will happily tell you, there is still a lot going on underneath the park. Bear sightings notwithstanding, this trip we spent more time focusing on the geological aspects of the park because of her interest in geology/plate tectonics/volcanoes.

At Old Faithful

With a US Geological Survey geologist

At Riverside Geyser

Green Shirt Brigade

When we've traveled with others in the past, we always try to get a group shot at places we visit. This trip, Dan had the brainwave that we should all be dressed alike, so he came up with shocking lime green shirts for everyone. We have pictures of the seven of us at various landmarks across South Dakota and Wyoming. Part of the fun was the creative ways we had to set the camera up to use the autotimer. Here's a sample:


Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD

Ranch Store, on the frontier of the Badlands

Leigh Creek Campground, WY

Grand Teton National Park, WY

Post It!

We've been really busy, so I've been lax about posting pictures. I am going to try to throw a bunch of them up, with narration/explanation to follow after school starts. (HA!)

Me at my favorite place in Yellowstone -- West Thumb, where the hot springs and geysers sit on the lake

Cry Wolf

There is currently a wolf pack traveling near Colter Bay in the Tetons. We heard them one night (and also heard coyotes on two other nights -- once really close by), but didn't see them. As we were cruising through the Hayden Valley in Yellowstone for the third time in a week, however, G spotted something moving in the trees near a bison herd. It was some sort of canid, stalking along the edge of the herd, sticking to brushy areas. It was really well camouflaged, so I can't believe she saw it in the first place. At the next stop we asked a ranger if it was a wolf or coyote. He couldn't tell from our small digital screen, but told us it could be either -- but if it was bigger than a collie, it was most likely a wolf.

Is it bigger than a collie?

Wiley, whatever it is ...

Bear Aware

We stayed at Colter Bay in Grand Teton National Park. Since we stayed there three years ago, the park has installed bear boxes at all sites and has instituted a "Bear Aware" campaign. There was a black bear sow with two cubs and a cinnamon-colored black bear mornings in the area, but we never got up early enough to see them. However, during our trips up into Yellowstone, we were fortunate to see both a grizzly and a black bear. Both times the "Rule of Thumb" applied -- if you can't see the bear when you hold out your thumb on your outstretched arm, you aren't too close.

The grizzly we saw off the road near Canyon Village (per a ranger we met, an area not known for bear sightings, let alone grizzlies). The identifying hump on the back is quite prominent

A young black bear was ambling on the hill at Tower

Home Again, Home Again

We just got back from two weeks in South Dakota/the Black Hills and Wyoming/the Grand Tetons. (For 10 of those days we had no Internet access. I will never do that again, because people don't seem to believe you when you say you will have no access, and continue to send you emails!) It turned out to be more of a trip than a vacation, but overall that was OK. As I sort through the 100+ emails and the 100 pounds of laundry, I will post some of the 1,411 photos we took while we were out there.



G & me in the Badlands

Pod People

The latest addition to the RAV-4, for the Great Western Excursion 2010

Kalahari

Three days of fun in the Dells

Another Celebration

I got to celebrate my 50th yet again in PA, with our friends Marianne and Dennis. They had an amazingly beautiful,delicious cake and dinner for us. This Milestone Birthday business is great -- I may have to do it every year!

Parting Shot

This picture, which my mom had taken for a "Nana and me" frame that she has, is the place holder for our traditional "parting shot" (picture of G and my mom & dad right before we leave). My camera battery went dead that morning, so the photos were taken with my dad's camera, and we haven't gotten them yet.
(P.S. G found out this week that her braces are coming off a few months early -- August 25!)

7.11 Update: I'm adding this picture from Marianne because now everyone is posted!

Mother Robin

When G was little, my mom would sing her a song that went: Way up high in the cherry tree/If you look, you will see/Mother Robin and Babies Three/High up in the tree. During our visit to PA this time, it turned out that Mother Robin and Babies Three were in my mom & dad's nasturtium planter on the front porch, not in their cherry tree! My dad discovered the nest with four eggs when he went out to water one day. We stopped using the front door so that we wouldn't bother her and kept peeking out the window, waiting for hatchlings to appear. About two weeks later, she and her mate were feeding three little mouths (not sure what happened to the fourth). According to the bird book my mom has, robins fledge in about two weeks, so they should be leaving the nest within the next week. My dad has been watching to see if any of them have attempted to fly (so far, not that he's seen) and is giving us a daily update.

Obie Land

Class of 2018?


For the past 10 years, as we traversed Ohio, we passed the exit on the turnpike for Oberlin College. Since my friend Marian is a graduate of that fine institution, each time I've proclaimed that "some day, when we're going through here at the right time, we're going to stop." That day finally turned out to be June 12. Because of delays through Chicago due to the Blackhawks parade and the Cubs playing the Sox, we did not get as far as we'd hoped our first travel day. We stopped just a few miles down the road from Oberlin. The next morning, I managed to convince Dan & G that a small detour through "Obie Land" (as Marian calls it) was not going to set us back too far. It was a lovely campus and a nice little town, and most likely we will be visiting it again in the next few years. We've gotten our feet wet now and campus touring won't seem so daunting in the future (which of course pleases me no end!).

Movin' On Up

On June 11, G's intermediate school had a "promotion ceremony" for 8th graders. I attended mainly so that G could bug out as soon as it was over. I was surprised at the number of people who attended -- you'd have thought it was a graduation with the large family groups that were there! The "inspirational" speeches from the district superintendent and the principal were interesting (the former used that email about the guy who pulled the thorn out of the elephant's foot as her thesis; the latter likened the class to George Custer -- but in a good way ... ?). High school awaits in the fall for G!

Back Home

Volcano by G


The blog was dark for a month or so because we've been in Pennsylvania. We left right after G's "promotion ceremony" and intended to stay for a week. But while we were there, my dad fell (nothing broken, but a nasty hematoma), so G & I decided to stick around for a while. We got back on Monday and have been playing "catch up" this week.