Pigs are Flying

If you know me, you know that I am not a camper.  Generally I feel that sleeping at a Super 8 is as close as I care to come to camping.  Recently, however, something happened - I honestly don't know what.  All of the sudden I had an urge to go camping.  In a tent.

I didn't want to camp in the tent we owned.  (Yes, "we" had a tent.  It was used by Eric and the kids when THEY went camping.  Without me.)  That tent is small and completely unappealing to me.  I somehow knew that if I had a big enough tent I could camp.

So we went tent shopping.  We bought a tent that I am very pleased with.  It is supposed to be a 6-man tent, which means 4 people fit into it comfortably.  Besides the sleeping area it has a screened room which seemed like a very nice touch to me.  It is tall enough to stand up in, has a hinged door AND it has a light inside.  How cool is that?

To everyone's surprise, I enjoyed camping.  Very much, actually.

We brought Forrest the dog along.  He did NOT enjoy camping.  Not one little bit.  Here he is, peeking through a tent window at me.  (He was inside the tent.  If he and a human were inside the tent he settled down, but only a little.)

As usual, I found a flower to photograph.  (And the picture of Anna wading in the lake stuck here next to the flower photo.  Not sure why.)

There were 6 deer who have obviously become very accustomed to humans.  Three of them, a mother and 2 fawns, slept just behind our campsite.  The fawns napped there in the afternoon with people around!   They weren't even afraid of the dog.  Not that they should have been, but do they know that he's afraid of everything?

We roasted marshmallows, some for s'mores, rode bikes and played card games under the light in the tent.  It was a fun family time.

The ONLY negative was the bees.  None of us was ever stung, but there were lots of bees around, especially when we cooked.  But we didn't see a single mosquito so that was good.

And although we didn't see them, we are all quite certain that somewhere last weekend pigs were flying.

Prize Winning Cabbage?

Toward the end of the last school year each 3rd Grader was given a cabbage seedling courtesy of Bonnie Plants. They sponsor a cabbage growing contest every year in which 1 winner from each state is awarded a $1000 college scholarship.

Ethan set to work tending his seedling, first in a window sill in our home and then in a raised planter which Eric built.

He harvested his cabbage a couple of weeks ago and I took pictures for contest submission. According to Bonnie Plants, a giant cabbage plant can grow to over 40 pounds! I cannot imagine such a thing, since Ethan's cabbage was 10 pounds and that seemed enormous.

Kneeling behind the harvested plant

Holding just the head

Ethan's cabbage prior to harvest, surrounded by encroaching pumpkin leaves

Ethan is super competitive so let's hope he wins!

Fiery Sunrise

Last week we had a large thunderstorm. As is typical it produced no rain, it's just too dry here for that. There was, however, a lot of lightening. Unfortunately the lightening started many fires. The many fires have grown into two very large fires. Often now we see smoke billowing up from the other side of the mountains. And when the wind blows just right (or just wrong, really) the Treasure Valley fills up with smoke. Such has been the case the past two days and although I hate breathing the smoke in, it can make for some beautiful sun rises and sets.

Here is this morning's sun rise: