General Updates and a Rebublishing

The fourth of July always marks the beginning of summer for me. The celebration of my country seems to be the mark of commencement for BBQ's, camping, sprinklers, playing outside until 9pm and thickening of lush green forests.

I love this time of year, especially when it is ushered in with the weather it "should" have. We here in the NW experienced a June for the record books. It was labeled "Juneuary" due to the foul conditions including snowfall, chilly nights and gloomy rain. Then July arrived and the real summer began.

Our garden, at least those plants that were not killed off by the late snowfall, is producing a large crop of strawberries and raspberries. We are forced to harvest daily or allow the fruit to go bad. The boys are constantly sneaking into the fenced area and departing with berry juice around their mouths.

For my 41st birthday we went cliff jumping. Still in Chelan for the 4th, we took a boat up lake and found a nice 25 foot tall rock outcropping that made for just enough excitement but not to much pain on splashdown. This of course was preceded by the boys and mom being drug about in a tube.

The boys loved it, until the tube developed a rip and quickly lost air forming a human taco.

The rest of the trip was a wonderful time of hanging out and enjoying the company of friends and family.

(I have been asked to republish the story of my 40th birthday adventure. I will try and see if I can embed it here somewhere without the entire text being added.)

The cabin in the woods is moving along quite well. The bunks are done and the roof is on. I will have to update those images soon.

Jonathan, Gabe and I spotted something in the road as we were driving home today. It looked like a small cat or animal in the middle of the road on the dirty gravel. I was afraid it had been run over and we were first on scene. But what we found bathing in the fine grey dust was an adult peregrine falcon. I slowly rolled the car to within 10 feet of the majestic bird. He turned his head and looked at us as if to say, "Hey I'm taking a bath here, do you mind?" Gabe was in awe of the beautiful bird, Jonathan just wanted to get closer. It was so cool! He finally got uncomfortable with our presence and with a very quick flap shot to a branch on a nearby cedar. We watched him for a moment until we ventured off into the woods. It was quite an experience.

Okay, so my less than tech savvy mind has not been able to figure out how to add the Word document of my Snoqualmie to Stevens Pass story without adding the entire body of the story. So I'm going to ask all of you who want to read it to request it as an email attachment and I'll get it to ya. Just leave a comment and I'll get it to ya.

Thanks, Tony