Swine Flu

Sam has been substitute teaching at the Madeline Choir. That is until he came home sick with an ILI(influenza like illness). It has been a week and now and he is turning the corner. We are calling it the swine flu or H1N1 to be more precise. I got the Tamiflu to him pretty early so I think it moderated his clinical course for the better. I got my H1N1 vaccination 10 days ago and I hope my immunity kicks in before I get exposed. In the meantime I am doing all the things promulgated by CDC.

Adventures in Moving

Sam and Ashley have moved to Salt Lake from Venice. They found a house to rent right away and moved in this week. They tried to load everything up on the Volvo, giving it the appearance that someone referred to as "The Beverly Hillbillies". Instead they borrowed a truck from Julie's roommate and enlisted Riley's help to get up here last week. They are all moved in. Yesterday, Diane and I used the truck to pick up a sofa at RC Willey;s. As I drove into the driveway, I ran over a valve box for the sprinklers. It broke off one valve and the water began to spew. I held the broken valve down while everyone look for the turnoff valve for the sprinklers. We could not find that so Sam lifted the water meter cover and turned off the main water valve. In the meantime we found the turn off valve for the sprinklers and we began the chore of going to Home Depot and getting a new valve. By the time we got that put back together, I had missed my opportunity to go fish the Provo with Dick. I know, it's a very sad tale. But, I did fish the day before so it was not all that bad. We are getting ready for the cool weather. In fact, yesterday, I turned off the irrigation water and drained my sprinklers for the winter. Here it comes!

The Bighorn!

I drove to the airport in Billings, Montana and picked up MIke. He arrived on the same plane as my friends, Dick Hauch, George Dykos, Ron Hayashi, and Mike Leathers. We stopped by Cabelas and got our fishing licenses and then headed for Ft. Smith by way of Hardin Montana. We drove to our guest house at the Anglers Edge and met with Brad Downey, the owner. The next day our guides showed up and Mike and I went with Dave Colombo, a transplanted New Yorker. We put in at Three MIle and headed down the river. This was day one of our three days of fabulous fishing on the Bighorn for large Rainbows and Browns. After three days of what Mike called, "Fly Fishing Boot Camp" , we left for Yellowstone. Unfortunately, our plans to fish Slough Creek in the Park were thwarted by an early season snow storm that prevented us from hiking into the second meadow for more fishing. We will just have to go back another time for that one.

Shhh! It's a Cecret

Yep, that's the way they spell it. Cecret Lake at Alta. It felt weird but Diane and I found ourselves with no landscaping projects to do on Sunday. The yard has taken up so much of our summer that we did not get to the mountains for our usual amount of hiking. We decided to hike to Cecret Lake. It was not a long hike but it had a payoff at the end, a serene alpine lake. There was more than a hint of fall in the air so we were prepared for any sudden weather change. It turns out that it was sunny or partly sunny for the entire hike. When we got to the last set of switchbacks before we got to the lake we experienced breathlessness that came from our limited summer hiking. We got to the lake and rested and hydrated and enjoyed the view. It was an outstanding outing on beautiful fall day.

More House Photos

Click on Jim's Flickr Photos to see the latest photos of the house. It has been a long summer in the yard!

Border Collies with an Attitude

Today we went to Soldier Hollow. It was the site of the cross country skiing and biathalon competition at the 2002 Olympics. Today, however it was the site of the National Sheep Dog Competition. Most of the dogs were border collies. They would travel about 1/4 mile up a hill and gather up 5 sheep and bring them back down. There were several gates set up for the dogs to navigate the sheep through. When the dog got the sheep down, he then had to separate them into groups of 2 and 3. Finally he had to send them into a pen. These animals were amazing. Their handler would whistle and they would know what to do. Wait, wait, that's not all. If you act right away......Sorry, got carried away. They also had splash dog competition where the dogs would get a running start on an elevated platform and their handler would throw something they obviously wanted very badly out in front of them and the dog would leap as far as he could. The one that leaped the farthest was the winner. Lastly, they had duck herding where a gaggle of ducks(can you have a gaggle of ducks and not geese?). The dog would run them through a round pipe and then back into their cages. A fun day. Wait, wait, we also saw kite surfers on Deer Creek reservoir and got to stop at Cabelas on the way home. Now, that was a great day. Did I tell you about the pancakes Diane made for breakfast? Now that was a perfect day.

99% Done

It has been a long, hard summer in this yard business. I am going to say we are about done. The grass went in last week and it really put a finishing touch on everything. Now we are just trying to keep everything alive. Next week the sprinkler guy will come out and we will go over the final adjustment of the sprinklers. Now for a long, pleasant fall to enjoy it.