Grandpa Ken

I love this old photo of my Grandpa Ken with his characteristic grin and a string full of fish. Thanks nana for sharing!

Wood Rats

...a term Zach likes to call people that gather their own wood. And I would like to officially re-report that we are now wood rats with wood! Actually, maybe we are professional wood rats as we managed to find, cut, split, and stack the wood with great efficiency this past Saturday. Phew! Erin again was a HUGE help! Zach split the wood faster then I knew was possible. And we learned from our bickering last weekend that the only way to get things done is for Sarah to be quiet and let Zach be the chief ;) ...At least for this project!

Bird Dog

Zach and Nick took Lucy and Ocho (the labs) down to the Zieglers Ranch on the Snake River yesterday. Needless to say it's a paradise for boys and their dogs. Lot's of hunting and fishing.


It's so apparent what these dogs are bred to do when they are down there.
Retrieve birds! And that's just what they did :) Along with some other shenanigans!
Tom, Nick, and the dogs on patrol. A.K.A Grumpy Old Dudes and their bitches :)

Fall Festivus

In celebration of the changing seasons and to celebrate my sister, Erin's, birthday we invited friends and family over last night for a Fall Festivus. We had desserts, mulled wine (click name for recipe), and a fire pit going outside. It was wonderful to catch up with everyone after a busy summer. The desserts were delicious! Thank you Erin, Jen, and mom for all your help!

And happy happy birthday Erin :)

Get Your Wood Cutting Permit

After a successful day of painting our house (again) we decided to take advantage of the nice weather and head north before the snow really covers the ground and get some of our wood for the winter. Free to all the Forest Service has designated areas for people to cut their own wood for the winter. Loaded up, Zach, Erin, three dogs, and I stopped by the Forest Service head quarters to pick up our permit and go cut some wood. Unfortunately, they were closed. We got the proper information and studied the maps on where to cut before leaving.

After a long day of seeking out trees, falling, cutting, and loading the trailer we had finally filled about five trees worth of wood. We were exhausted! Mentally as well as physically...cutting wood is not merely an act of human strength but a test of marriage communication. Zach and I could not agree on which tree to cut, where, or how. In the end I realized it was best to let Zach cut what he wanted because after all he is using the chainsaw and Erin and I were just carrying and stacking it. And most importantly we would never get through this day if we didn't work together. But we managed to put differences aside and do a fantastic job!

Still married with some wood...
Heading south we were almost to Ketchum when we see a Forest Service truck pull up behind us with his lights on. After pulling over the officer informs us that we needed a wood cutting permit prior to cutting anything. Being extremely apologetic we said we would go directly to the Forest Service office in the morning and fill out the proper paperwork. Unfortunately, this officer was going to make an example of us. We had to follow him into a fenced off ranger field where he had us empty our trailer of wood into a field. He then handed Zach a $200 ticket for not possessing a "FREE Wood Permit" prior to cutting. We were shocked! It was one thing to take the wood for our mistake but to charge us $200 for FREE wood seemed absurd. We ended up having a really expensive day of arguements and no wood to show for our hard work. It was horrible!

In the end we learned a hard lesson. We will ALWAYS get a wood cutting permit for anything prior to cutting our wood. And PLEASE don't forget to get yours! Erin thanks for your help and for putting up with us :)

Lily o' Lily

Lily, the Jack Russel, passed away last week and she could not be more missed. She was a full 13+ years old but had enough illness and surgery to last a lifetime. This dog had energy! Every time I went to Reno to visit I would take her for a run and she would practically run laps around anything I did.

Not to mention courage! One story I will never forget was when she charged right up to a horse we saw on the ditch trail and proceeded to bark and snip at it's hind legs. Frantically, I was yelling for her to stop and come! Unfortunately, the horse did exactly what it would to any other small annoying thing at it's heels and booted her about 30ft. into the air. I thought I had broken my parents dog! But not Lily! She shook her head and bounced back up ready to take the horse on for more. By that point I intercepted her and made sure to steer clear of any horse from then on.

Lily was a snuggler! She could weasel herself into any nook or under any arm rest that she could find. She loved to be covered in blankets and burry herself so you wouldn't even know something was in there. It was hilarious to see a moving blanket levitate across the floor.

I loved little Lily and will miss her when I make trips to Reno but I know she is in doggie heaven in a show down with a skunk somewhere.

Yosemite via Reno

It was so exciting to revisit Yosemite last week with Zach! I can't believe it's been over 20 years since I last had visited. I'm old! But this valley is even older and is beautiful! We made the 12 hr drive through Reno visiting family on the way and attending a good friends wedding in Yosemite. Beautiful weather and wonderful company made for a great road trip!

We first stopped off to see Bob, Sherri, Erin, and Cooper in Reno for a lovely pasta meal. Cooper was more then entertaining to the group. Sherri was being honored for winning the Silver Cup Golf Tournament (basically State Champion for Women in Nevada) that evening so we missed her for dinner but were excited for her award.

Zach and I headed out early the next morning for the journey to Yosemite via the Tioga Pass. We barely made it in time for the ceremony and frantically changed in the parking lot. Grant and Shawna are a beautiful couple and extremely in love. They treated the guests to a tour around the valley after the ceremony and a delicious dinner in the Ahwahnee, the historic hotel of Yosemite. Late that night we headed to our camp site only to find 4 climbers from BC had made themselves at home. 11pm at night didn't seem like a good time to negotiate camping spots but the next day we learned they were sweet young men following their climbing dreams. Yosemite is perfect for climbers and watching them scale up the side of El Capitan is a sport in itself. Wow!


Zach and I didn't have nearly enough time to do many activities in the park but next time I made him promise we will climb (hike that is) Half Dome. Looks right up our alley !

We headed north again for another stop in Reno to visit with Ben, Jeannie, Erin, and Luke. We managed to maneuver through a rather "Reno" Italian Festival downtown and then had drinks on the river. My mother made a delicious meal and we enjoyed conversation and part of the Ken Burns documentary on National Parks. We want to rent the series when it comes out because we haven't had time to watch them all. Lot's and lot's of pictures to share but only going to post a few...if you want more let me know :) Thanks to my wonderful family for hosting us as always!

So much for the Off-season...

We woke up this morning to about 6-8" of fresh snow on the ground outside our house. Lucy didn't skip a beat. She charged right outside to get ready for her first snowball chasing session. Even though we were stuck inside (not painting) our house yesterday while it rained, we weren't totally expecting winter this soon! Our trees still have green leaves on them and are now bent over in a sad affair almost touching the ground. The bigger trees lost limbs and some of the smaller ones are completely up-rooted. My flowers and garden are no longer present, instead just mounds of snow hide where they are clearly hibernating.

But we are a ski town and promise to act as such. Baldy is already reporting 18" on-top...time to start waxing:)

Trailing of the Sheep

I can't believe it's already October! This annual event always makes it feel like winter is just around the corner. I've blogged about this in the past but it never seems to get old to see flocks of sheep over taking the town for a few weeks. Just this morning I was on my way to work when I suddenly realized I need to take an alternate route because about 1,000 fluffy headed little rascals were headed my way. Shepherds on their horses, big white Pyrenees dogs, and a sheep wagon trail behind. My father-in-law likes to call them "little maggots" because they pretty much eat everything in their path. But to me they are a good sign of a healthy community, supporting sheep herding and the natural grass fed diet of sheep.

Trailing of the Sheep is an annual event celebrating as described here:

"The sheep migrate north each spring from the lower elevations of the Snake River plain of Southern Idaho, traveling in bands of close to 1,500 sheep, through the Wood River Valley to summer high mountain pastures. This traditional route takes them up Highway 75 through newly populated, residential areas and the towns of Bellevue, Hailey and Ketchum. Some continue their journey over Galena summit into the Sawtooth Mountains. In the fall, the animals retrace this trail south to desert fields and it is this return migration that we celebrate as the
Trailing of the Sheep Festival."

Unfortunately, we will miss it this year but I like that our community will be banding together for this annual event supporting agriculture and the woolly little army.