Tree cutting

After work David asked me if I wanted to go cut down some trees...

"Sure", I said. "Will I need gloves?... exactly what will my job description be?"

"No you won't need gloves."

My job was pretty much watching... watching and worrying.

I was awesome at it.




Found a great tree to add to our stash for around February... I will love this tree when I am huddled in front of the stove.

The first few cuts showed us how big this tree actually was. It was the biggest that David has cut down yet, and much bigger than his chainsaw.

He knew right where he wanted it to fall, and made the cuts to bend it to his will. I would have to pack up the camera after this next shot to make sure I was ready to flee at any moment. I was taking my worrying job seriously you know.

Of course David is almost as good a lumberjack as I am at worrying, and it was absolutely safe. It started to pop and shake and fell almost in slow motion. And fell right where he wanted it to.

That was a big tree! I tried to show the size along with David's size 10 1/2 shoe.

I was feeling braver, and David wanted another tree so we picked our next target. Not as big but big enough and in a good place to fall near the other. Can you see the sawdust spraying out in the next picture?

I took a video of this tree going down, but being used to taking still photos and editing them later, I had the camera turned. You can watch the video in the post below this... but you have to cock your head to the side.

He layed this one down right where he wanted too. Now they are ready to be chunked up and brought to the house for splitting. But that will be another day... hopefully when I'm at work.

Timber!

I'm sorry this video is sideways. I don't seem to have a program to turn it, but I was happy to actually be able to post a vid. lol

Mountain living

This morning I woke up early for work, around 5am. I had to shoo away a doe and her fawn from our garden.

After driving down the road a bit on the way to work, I had to stop for a flock of turkeys. Turkeys are not smart... baby turkeys are even less smart. They changed their minds several times in the middle of the road before deciding on a direction.

About half the way home this afternoon I had to stop again because a black bear was making his way across the road. Yes, a bear. In the road.

I can't believe we live here. I feel so lucky.

Cousin fun

We were so lucky this weekend to get a visit from David's cousins, Stephanie and Dianna and their kids. Unfortunately I was so busy having fun and soaking up the company that I did not get even ONE picture! But this picture from the band reunion is pretty close....

Dianna, Stephanie, David

Miranda, Myranda

Cassie, Meg

Tali, Melody, Ben

and Morgan!

Not seen in this picture, but who did come to visit, is Jake, Stephanie's son. Melody was spending time with her Grandparent's so couldn't make it out to our place this time.

The kids had tons of fun playing, swimming in the lake, singing and hanging out watching movies. We really enjoyed visiting with and for me, even just getting to know Stephanie and Dianna and the kids.

I will never forget when the adults were having a chat in the living room while we thought all the kids were playing upstairs. Next thing we knew, Morgan was running in the front door with a big bucket yelling "I caught a snake, I caught a snake!" He had such a proud, excited look on his face. And sure enough there was a pretty good size garter snake, looking a bit irked, in the bucket. Soon Morgan had every one's undivided attention as he grabbed it out by the tail and held it aloft for admiration... I'm wondering how many of you possibly heard the resulting shrieks, OK screams, which that elicited.

Thank you so much for driving out and coming to see us. We had an AWESOME time and look forward to doing it again soon!

Grandpa Dyer

David's Grandfather passed away last week. He will be missed by us and many others. I really like this picture of him.

Meet Tiger Lily and Tiana

We were so excited to get to bring home our new kittens today! They are so cute and sure to be tons of fun. The first pic is of them in the carrier on the long drive home from Coeur d'Alene.

Next pics are of them at their new home!

They are very sweet and curious about everything. It's going to be interesting kitten proofing the rest of the house while they get used to things in a single room for awhile. They look an awful lot alike, but there are some differences in coloring... now we just have to get used to telling them apart. =P

Solar Tsunami tonight!

Northern states might get a cool show tonight.

Go read This article for more info.

A plasma eruption on the sun's surface Sunday should light up our skies for some lucky viewers tonight and/or tomorrow morning. Normally I think we would be in a prime spot for viewing this phenomena... unfortunately Canada seems to be on fire so we are sort of socked in with smoke.

Mothra

We found this fuzzy moth hanging out on our house today. Myranda has a love for moths and butterflies and eagerly held him a bit in the sun until he flew away.