Caterpillar do

This guy had a amazing hair do... look at those 4 white tufts. One end had a long thin brown "tail" and the other end had two long thin brown "ears". I don't really know which end was which but very stylish none the less...

Tetanus

So, I was helping Dad and Mike clean up the wood scrap from the recent deck building experience. Since we were recycling the wood I was the in process of pulling off all the metal brackets and hangers. Suddenly, I found the feeling of a length of rusty metal entering my flesh... with all the joy, wonder and verbal eloquence that generaly follows in the footsteps with events of this nature.
Heather just happened to call and invited me for a hike. When I told her I was going to get a shot, being the smart-ass that she is, she said " Well? You don't walk with your jaw.". :)
Then I got the pleasure of sitting in the emergency room for the overpriced Tetanus shot. I got to soak my foot. Nice. No towels so I had to use a washcloth to dry it off. The Dr. that gave me the shot put the bandaid about 1/4 inch above where she actually gave me the shot... I found this rather humorous. I will spare you the photo and just say it really isn't that bad.
Afterwards, Dad took me out for dinner at a nice Chinese place.
My foot hurts, my shoulder is tender but I should live to wound myself another day. I mean if I don't do it who the hell will?

Doug

Shot a picture of Doug today. I thought it turned out pretty nice.

At least nicer than the shot Chris got of his arm...

Boxwood Bonsai?

A short while ago, Mike pulled some Boxwood out of his yard and was just going to throw them out. He was kind enough to offer them to me and I figured what the heck, they have excellent trunks and if they don't make it at least I tried. They both recieved a drastic leaf pruning as well as root pruning. I guess I thought that since they were already under stress from being pulled out of the ground I may as well just go for it. So far one has browned back a little. I think to balance a smaller root ball. (I tried to prune root and leaf equally) Both have gone back into the ground. This one however has started to bud back. This means I should be able to effectively reduce the final size of the plant. I will try to post occasional updates. If I continue to have success.

Mount Spokane

After perhaps too much red wine the night before, Heather (resting here with Smalls and Nugget) and I hiked Mt. Spokane. We went at 9am and left at 4pm. We had a nice picnic lunch on top at Vista house some Huckleberries in the middle and later that night had an excellent Vietnamese dinner. While we were on the mountain we heard a powerful story of the Spokane people told by Barry Moses from the Spokane tribe then he sang an amazing blessing and prayer accompanied only by a rattle. After that, the Venerable Geshe Thupten Phelgye gave a blessing and said prayers as well. What a beautiful / wonderful day.

So I decided to go spend a little time at Priest Lake in Northern Idaho...

This is a nice view of part of the Selkirk Crest while fishing with Dad.

I figured I had to stop and look at the shoe tree.

You know, every time I go to Huff Lake I ask myself the same question..
I guess I should explain myself a little better. Huff Lake is a Peat Bog. It is filled with rare plants and crazy stuff like that. "Here the earth Quakes. " See where the Peat sits on the ground via muck it is called a Hummock. Part of the lake is like this but the majority is a floating mat of Peat about a foot to a foot and half thick. This is the part that jiggles. As some of you know they have found mummies in European Peat Bogs. When I am here looking at this serene peaceful lake I just cant help but say "I wonder if anybodies in there".

No trip to Priest would be complete without a trip to Granite Falls

and yes, I did climb it.

This would be the Rosevelt Grove of Ancient Cedars.
Such a serene place to sit.
Such a beautiful place to breath.

When I am here I can feel the earth and myself vibrate.,

Do you ever just want to follow the stream just to see where it goes?

I find I like rocks. Big powerful towering rocks.

Sometimes it seems that to get to where you want, you have to carry the canoe instead of just floating down the damn river... I mean this is the short walk to lake Muskegon. Gotta carry the Canoe. Gotta try to outfish my brother. The target? Cutthroat Trout. The gear? Lures with only single barbless hooks no bait allowed.

Pristine Lake Muskegon. Worth every minute taken to get here.

At the end of a beautiful day what could be better than having a campfire? Well, only one thing. that is letting the hypnotic flames burn down to a dull glow, laying on the sand and stare at the stars, I can see the Milky Way and Mars. Listening to the sound of the waves on the beach. Smelling the smoke from the campfire. Alone in the darkness. Such a pure and beautiful night!

Weekend

So I spent the weekend working on Decks for the 8th place with Dad and Chris. I got a pretty good sunburn. It was plenty hot out there. I had been gorging on water both days and still didn't need to go to the bathroom. I would pour it right in and it would just fall out my pores. Now I just have to dose back up with 40,000 volts, get back some of my vitamins, electrolytes and minerals. Today as it were, is a pleasant break. Funny how to get a break I have to go back to work.

Confusion

I have to say I am feeling really confused alot lately. Maybe not confused but I don't really care about anything. Kind of like I don't know what I am doing or where I am going. I don't know what I want (or if I want anything). Maybe I am just afraid to live my life. I guess maybe I am looking for a "peak moment" that just doesn't seem to be coming around. I know everything doesn't have to be a bliss ride but I want some ups and downs. Everything seems to be just flat. Perhaps I am being drug down by the mundane. Perhaps I am just lonesome (even surrounded by people). I think maybe I am just bored. dunno.