Trees of Mystery- Dave's Version

The Family Tree

On the Sky Trail going back down.

The bottom of a horizontal tree.

In front of a small waterwheel.

Hope no one feels that our life is all fun and games. Truth is these weekend trips are a very tiny part of our life and take quite a bit of planning especially in the food and clothing department for Jason. It's certainly worth the trouble although it would be easier to stay at home. I'm grateful that both sets of our parents were willing to take us some cool places when we were young irregardless of the trouble involved. Thanks mom and dad! We are fortunate that there are quite a few interesting destinations just a few short hours away from our home. We have endeavored to visit all the ones we can as time and resources allow us. The smiles on these pics show me that it's definitely worth it. Where to next?

Dave

Trees of Mystery-Annalie's Version

Here I am in front of a tunnel through one of the trees. I didn't want to go alone, so Mama crawled through with me.

It feels good to rest and pick my feet up!

Ouch! The sea snake got me!

Here I am in the Sky Trail having fun!

Trees Of Mystery- Jason's Version

The best part of our trip! I jumped up and down when it was almost our turn going up and then going back down! I was just so excited!


Here is Paul Bunyan. Look how big he is next to us!

My two favorite girls! Maybe we can have a sundial in our yard someday.

Wow! That's one big bear! Look how Sissy is hugging the smaller bear cub.

Memorial Day "Date" with Annalie

Dave and Annalie went on a "date" to the Memorial Day Parade in Brookings! Annalie had fun posing on these restored antique tractors.

Jason's new therapy hammock

Here is Jason's new sensory hammock (from his state program) and as you can see he and Annalie both love being in it. It holds up to 250 pounds so even the three of us can snuggle together. There are times Jason needs to be rocked to get to sleep and works great. (Except he usually wants Mom in it with him and I don't have the stomach for much swinging! It actually made me sick the other night). You can also see the new trampoline with a jumping handle the program also sent him in the background.

Shipwrecked

Just over 2 weeks ago this sailboat ended up on the beach at Gold Beach. From what I understand it was on it's way from Portland to the San Francisco bay area and only made it this far. There has been precious little reporting on how this actually happened but I heard that the caption walked away from it. One newspaper said that a salvage company was to remove it but so far they are sure taking their time. Meanwhile it's made for some interesting photography.

A Fond Farewell-Our Last Adventure with "Uncle Ralph" at Adam's Prairie

As the saying goes "All good things must end" I guess that's true at least this side of eternity. This was a bittersweet trip because I new this was probably my last adventure with my good friend Ralph Scott. He is retiring this year as a grade school counselor and will be move up near Lyons OR along the Santiam River. This was my final picture of the day looking back at Ralph and Annalie coming out of Adams Prairie. What a beautiful place in the spring!!

We took a brief rest here in some shade since it was of 80 degrees in the sun. Ralph's motorcycle a Rokon is the equivalent of a 4 wheel drive. I had seen these things before but they were always 30 or 40 years old. He actually bought this one brand new a couple of years ago. Needless to say there are few places this thing can't go as long as you can stay on it.

Shortly thereafter we decided to ride down closer to the Rogue River. This is where things started to get really interesting. Annalie decided to walk ahead of us for awhile. She actually was running down the trail and nearly stepped on this guy. What a mess that would have been. Fortunately she heard the rattle and did the right thing which was STOP! She decided it was time to get back on Ralph's motorcycle. I know that I was in my 30s before I saw my first rattlesnake. Annalie made it till she was only 4 years old. I was also suprised to see one in mid May. Also this was by far the closest one to home that I've ever run into. He definitely didn't like getting his picture taken! Just for the record I figure it was probably between 15-18 in length but still potentially dangerous. Guess I've seen bigger and smaller ones.

Here's another reason why I'm going to miss my friend Ralph so much. Immediately after reaching the river Jason broke loose and started running down the gravel embankment for the water. When he got there he tried to put on the brakes but his momentum caused him to keep going falling headlong into the drink. Fortunately Ralph was in "hot pursuit" and immediately grabbed him by the shirt collar and fished him out. The water got deep quickly and there was also a strong current just a few feet out from shore. We actually had extra clothes for him but I decided not to change him since it was quite warm. Again it reminded us how careful we need to be so that a fun outing doesn't turn into a tragedy. It's sad to think that with my good friend moving out of the area it will be virtually impossible to go on adventures like these with the kids since I can't carry them both on my machine or look after them as I should. Ralph was always ready and willing to make the time so that these special outings were possible. We'll miss him.

This is a "living stump". The tree has been cut down but for some reason it grows a cap over the cut and continues to live. Pretty cool. I don't see these too often.

Dave

The Frog Blog--The Continuing Saga

After a second trip up the creek to collect more frogs and tadpoles, Dave happened to walk by our pond yesterday and saw five frogs soaking up the sun. Here is a close-up on one.

How many frogs can you see in this picture?

The correct answer for the previous picture was four. Here is a close-up on two of them. Notice the bud is about to open!

Here is a long shot of all five. There is also one of our orange fish ducking under a leaf at the top of this picture. Annalie is very excited about her frogs!!!

It's Official

For those of you who watch or listen to the news. Today nearly 800 Chrysler Jeep and Dodge dealerships got their "walking papers" from Chrysler Corp. Fortunately I'm very blessed to say that we were spared from this round of cuts. There may be more sometime in the future but for now we are able to move ahead as a business. Unfortunately we are also a GM store so we continue to wait for the results of their decision of which dealerships to eliminate as well. They want to cut 42% of the current ones which is a lot of dealers! Even so I know it's not Thanksgiving Day but I have much to be thankful for today.- Dave

***Update Friday--We also were spared from the 1100 GM cuts today! It's nice to be able to take a breath after holding it since last fall!- Laurie ***

Dave's version-"A Day at the Wild Game Park"

Jason was pretty photogenic on Sunday! So was
the llama I guess. Everyone was having a good time.

These two bruins were "bearly" 4 feet away from
us! Let's see.......that makes the bear count 3 including
the one we saw yesterday!
(See post on Great Outdoors)

No this guy really wasn't dead. He just looked like
he was. Soon after this picture was taken he got up
and let everyone in the park know he's still the "King of
the Jungle" by letting go of several very loud rooooooaaaaaars.
Pretty cool!



My first ever chance to pet a lynx. Nice kitty! We
were told we could pet him anywhere from from the
neck on back for obvious reasons.

Dave

Annalie's Version-"A Day At Bandon's Wild Game Park"

We drove to the game park. We ate lunch and then Daddy paid the money. The parrot couldn't take the money, so the girl did.

We got treats for the animals that were in ice cream cones!

We saw birds (like the peacock). I sure like them. I fed lots of goats and deer.

Here is a cute little possum! I sure liked the monkeys- they are not apes because they have tails. Chimps are apes. They don't have tails but one had a swollen bottom that was all red. The bears were friendly to us. The tortoise was one of my favorites. The tiger roared at his tail and a little girl screamed and cried, but I didn't! I thought it was funny! We went to the park because it was Mama's Day. Goodbye.

Annalie

Jason's version "A Day at the Bandon Wild Game Park"

A new friend! (We were so encouraged by all of Jason's beautiful smiles for the camera.)

Sissy taking a turn holding a white skunk.

This peacock was just outside the door when he entered the park. What a greeting! Notice Annalie and the infamous pink kidizoom camera!

These camels were molting. Maybe they are anticipating a hot summer!

As Jason simply said "Yabba-Dabba-Doo" when I asked him about the game park visit, I thought I would translate what seemed to be Jason's reaction during the day....

Well, here we are. I sure am hungry! Oh good, mom is getting out the sandwich I've been waiting especially for all morning. It has cashew butter-my favorite! Here we are finally getting out of the car after all of the driving! Oh boy-here is a stick on the ground. (to Daddy) "I want it!" Good- now I can flap it to help me feel better. Wow-look at that parrot in the office. It talked to me. Here we are outside again. There is Annalie taking a picture of that peacock. Cool- two more sticks on the ground! Now they want me to stand next to that Lynx cub. Mom said she is proud of me for smiling for the picture. I wish those goats and llamas would leave me alone. Yuck, all they do is beg for food and go to the bathroom everywhere. The lion sure can roar. So can the tiger who keeps getting mad at his tail! Now we need to go back to look at the baby animals. Sissy is taking turns holding the ferrets, possum, and white skunk (see picture) No thanks, I'll pass and stick with Daddy! My favorite animals are probably those bears and all of the apes and monkeys. They are swinging and playing with their toys. As long as I can keep trading for new sticks, I'm happy! I am also getting a new orange T-shirt so people will see me well when I'm on my new bike with Dad. Let's get back to the car to eat again! Mom always packs me plenty of food- Happy Mother's Day!

Jason

A Day In The Great Outdoors

On Saturday my friend Ralph Scott and I took Jason and Annalie up the Rogue River to visit a couple of historic landmarks. We had originally intended to ride the Pine Grove Trail but when we got there we found a pickup already parked at the trail head. Normally this wouldn't have been a problem except that it is bear hunting season and we were pretty sure the guy wasn't just trail riding. Rather than risk interrupting his hunt we opted to check out 2 other places that I also knew about. The first one was an old homestead most recently known as the "Fry Place". Someone with that last name actually lived here 20-25 years ago. The cabin is pretty intact and probably isn't terribly old but it was a beautiful place to stop for awhile and look around. I didn't venture going inside with Jason since only the rats and a bear inhabit the place now. We continued out a dead end spur road that had some impressive views of the burn caused by the Biscuit Fire of 2002. On our way back we came around a corner and saw the backside of a good-sized black bear running up the road away from us. It's always ironic that so often the people that aren't hunting are the ones that see the critters. Anyway that was pretty exciting for Annalie. Next it was up another road a couple of miles to the Wild Horse Fire Lookout. This lookout was recently condemned due to damage caused by wind, snow, and probably time. The good news is that it is scheduled to be restored in the future according to the sign that was placed there. We carefully took the kids up the steps and shot a few pics. The 3rd picture was a great place for a picnic! Next stop was home for some homemade soup and strawberry ice cream......yum! Dave

"Visiting the Goat Lady" by Annalie Bartlett

We went to the Goat Lady's house so that we could get some milk. She was very nice and gave us cheese samples that we can make. We can also make cream cheese, sour cream, yogart, and ice cream. I brushed the goats. Jason was happy when he found a couple of sticks to flap. I hope we get to go back soon. Love, Annalie