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.

More Landscaping

Well, we are still planting! Jamie came up to lend a hand. About all we have left is to get some sod.

Transformation

Well, the trees, shrubs, and grasses have been arriving and we have been planting for 3 days. I am sore in places I did not know I had. Luckily I found I can get strength from Sobe slushees and Arnold Palmers. One must stay hydrated for this kind of work.

Hells Bells

As Craig Ferguson says every night, "What did we learn tonight?" Well, yesterday I learned a few things. We took off early for a hike up Bells Canyon. We have hiked it several times before up to the waterfall(the one we thought was the upper waterfall). It was a pretty strenuous hike and we would pat ourselves on the back for completing it. This time our destination would be the upper reservoir which we thought would be "just a little bit further up the trail". We got to the waterfall and hung out for awhile enjoying the cool mist created by the crashing water. We then decided to push on. And push on and push on. The trail was steep and rocky and seemingly had no end, sort of like the universe. When the trail finally flattened out a little we encountered another waterfall(the actual upper waterfall). I remembered the guide book saying that there was a bridge across the stream. I looked back at the roaring stream and saw something. It would hardly qualify as a bridge. It was two logs tied together with thin nylon rope and with pieces of 2 x 4s nailed into them. It was not a bridge, it was a death trap. I immediately had visions of Diane's precarious adventure with a log on the Subway trip last year. I decided to go first and rather than walk across this "bridge", I chose to walk on the rocks and logs beneath it and use the "bridge" for balance and security. I got about halfway across and put my foot on a log to discover that it was quite slippery and I had to hold onto the bridge to keep from slipping. Watching me do this only made Diane more nervous when it came to her time to get across. In retrospect, this would have been a good place to turn around. Boy, hindsight sure is 20/20. Well, Diane made it across and we now looked for the trail. Shortly after finding it, it led us through a dense maze of overgrown ferns and other vegetation. It was difficult to find and follow the trail and we wondered at times if we were still on the trail. It was akin to a jungle. We hiked for about 40 more minutes and had taken several side trips that turned out to be dead ends. That was enough for Diane. We were scratched, bruised, bug bitten, tired, and out of patience. As we started back down, I told Diane that I thought I could see the actual trail(this was about the tenth time I had said that). She gave me the look and I decided to head on down. We negotiated the stream crossing without any trouble. Now we had the long hike down. Even though hiking down is easier on your breathing, it still taxes your legs and feet. It also seems to take such a long time to get down. We got to the first waterfall and kept on going. We were now seeing lots of people coming up, all asking how much further. I tried to give them a reasonable estimate of time so as to not discourage them but also not make them despair. One particularly colorful gentleman wearing a cowboy hat and big belt buckle asked how much further. He asked, is it about another "hoot and a holler". It was about 3 hoots and 4 hollers, I told him. We left the coolness of the stream and hiked out into the hot sunlight and finished the last stretch to the car before our tanks ran completely dry. We had hiked for over 5 hours and our legs, feet, and general constitution really felt it. I vowed to make it to the upper reservoir before the summer is out. After all, the fishing up there is supposed to be really good.