Yippie! After too long a wait, Eduardo Ceballos and Pegler Swift and their two radiant munchkins, London and Dylan, arrived for a short week of relaxation.
In short order, London and Dylan made friends with BC ("Barn Cat"), discovered her kittens, and proceeded to tame at least some of them. Cinderella was their favorite; a fuzzball content to lie on her back and have her belly rubbed.
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| Dylan and Cinderella | London and Cinderella | London and Cinderella |
When Eduardo called me about a week before they arrived, asking the usual what do we need to bring sorts of questions, he called back about five seconds after our conversation ended, informing me that
"It turns out I asked all the wrong questions. The important questions are,
So, we saddled up Daiquiri and started riding. On different occasions, we rode in the indoor arena, the outdoor arena, and around the yard. Then on one day we forded one of the irrigation ditches, and then the river, and wandered around the hills a bit before returning home. A grand adventure, complete with sightings of wild critters.
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| London on Daiquiri | Dylan on Daiquiri | Dylan |
Pegler spent time wandering around in the woods most mornings. One morning something went *crack!* in the bushes. Unfortunately, she didn't get a look at it. Was it a bear? Maybe. Although I learned a few days after they left that a mountain lion had come through about that time.
Eduardo noticed that some bees were feeding at the hummingbird feeder in front of the sunroom, and chasing off the hummers. A while later, London located the bees -- they were crawling out of a hole in the back porch roof, where a trim strip hadn't yet been put up to seal off the space behind it. I've since cut a piece of trim to fit, but when I tried to put it up one of the beggars stung me on the throat so I retreated. I guess I'll have to suit up in full armor if I'm going to put it up before winter.
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| Bees on Hummingbird Feeder | Bees in Porch Roof |
When they arrived, Dylan presented me with some wonderful rocks they had gathered along the way on their drive from Seattle. I'm going to put the big one in a special place in the fireplace in the guest room. We all hopped along up and down the river, checking out all the colorful rocks I have here. There are lots of them, and they collected a wonderful bunch of little green ones. I wish I had taken a picture of all of them. One day we went up to the upper swimming hole. The girls and I went wading, but not much over our knees. The weather was hot (95 degrees F or so), but the river was still cold (50 or so).
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| Rocks Dylan and London brought me | Dylan and London by the River |
Pegler and I made decadent desserts while Eduardo made wonderful healthy meals. I made cinnamon rolls one morning. Mmmmmmmmm. And we all ate too much sherbet.
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| Remains of Pegler's Chocolate Pie |
Eduardo spent a day moving the dregs of a big slash pile I had been cutting up for firewood. London and Dylan got to ride along for fun. Note the shed in the background for future reference...
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| Eduardo in Heaven | ||
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| Eduardo and Dylan | Eduardo and London | Eduardo and London |
Pegler and I went for a ride over the river and through the woods, and part way up Ovando Mountain. The service berries were ripe, so we grabbed some whenever we could. We managed to run into a small grizzly bear on our way down. He (or she, I didn't get close enough to check...) was standing up in a patch of service berries gobbling away. We also saw a boatload of small frogs on some kind of mass migration. Maybe they know something we don't. Plus geese, ducks, sandhill cranes, and whitetail deer.
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| Pegler on Daiquiri | Is she having any fun yet? |
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| Above Doney Lake |
Kleinschmidt Flat
in background |
In the picture above looking over Kleinschmidt Flat, the North Fork of the Blackfoot is at the bottom of Ovando Mountain, between where we are and the flat (you can't see it because it is tucked up next to the mountain.). A few days later, the smoke from the forest fires was so thick you couldn't see the mountains across the flat. The moon came up red; it was like living on a different planet.
One morning I looked out the window and there was a wild turkey. The last time I saw one of those was about ten years ago, so even I was excited. She stayed around for about four days, showing up every morning and evening. On the day she left, the kids found four or five big turkey feathers -- great souvenirs! They gave one to me, and it is now sticking out of the wall behind my bathroom counter where I look at it several times a day. It helps remind me of my wonderful friends and the good time we had.
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| Turkey Feather above my Bathroom Counter |
After Eduardo finished moving the remains of the slash pile, the main thing providing ugliness to the grounds in front of the house was the old shed. It was the first building Amber and I put up, and served as a tractor garage, storage shed, and shop at various times. But while its usefulness was far from over, its location was less than desirable. I wanted to take it down so I could reclaim the view from the sunroom. I had emptied it partially, but it still was full of stuff. One day while I wasn't looking Eduardo filled the truck with everything in the shed except a big freezer. The next day we attacked the shed. In short order we had the roof and the sides off. Then we moved the freezer to the basement, carrying it in the bucket of the tractor. After a few more days' work, it's history. The hard part was figuring out where to store all the materials for later use.
There once was a shed too conspicuous.
Whose looks some would say was ridiculous.
Eduardo attacked it,
And bashed and ransacked it.
So now the front view's more spacious.
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| Partly dismantled shed |
One day Eduardo and I went for a ride, also over the river and through the woods. We didn't see any Grizzlies, but we did see a nice bull elk. The river was pretty low and easy to cross, we are in the umpteenth year of bad drought and it's August. Even so, in the spring the water would have been up to his waist in the picture. A few days after these pictures were taken, I saw a nice bull elk and a cow and a calf in this meadow.
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| Eduardo on Daiquiri | One of many meadows | Crossing the river to get home |
After a late lunch we took the canoe and my small fishing raft up to Coopers Lake, where we paddled up to the head of the lake and back. London and Dylan rode part of the time in the raft, which we towed, and part of the time in the canoe. We could fit everyone in the canoe and still had plenty of freeboard.
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| Dylan and London in the Raft |
On the last evening they were here Lynde was also here, so after supper she and Pegler went for a ride across the river again while I took the girls each for a short ride around one of the pastures on Poppie. We saw some nice big whitetail bucks that were hiding in some trees in a far corner, plus we got some nice views. Poppie was a bit eager, and chomping at the bit to go looking for the other horses. I think the girls decided they liked to ride Daiquiri better, at least for now. The sun was low in the sky so the light was wonderful. Pegler said it was even more wonderful than our long ride earlier in the week.
Maybe the most fun was lying around in the hammock. There was hardly a minute when it wasn't occupied by at least one person.
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| Dylan, London, Eduardo and Pegler |
Now, guys and gals... Which one of you ran off with my car keys?
This page last updated on 2013-10-23.
