Just received this and thought it too good to not pass on.

Sorry, no pictures yet. Should finish my project this week (knock on my wooden head) and then will do some things here that I would like to.

Going to be another warm one today. It is only 8:00 am and I have shut the house up to keep as much cool air in as I can. Got to go and pick up Cheryl and her sister in a little bit and bring them home. All my peace and quiet will be gone, gone, gone.

I have been sitting at the kitchen table watching my little flying friends come and go to the feeder. I don't know why it took me so long in life to realize what a small pleasure it is to watch the small animals and birds. Too busy thinking like a hunter and not realizing what I was destroying. We put a new feeder out by the plum tree and the song birds are just now realizing we have it full of thistle seeds and they are flocking. This morning had the prettiest yellow bird.

I was thinking about some experiences in my life that were interesting, if not amusing. One was a situation with a snake.

I was about 17 at the time and spent my summer logging in Island Park, Idaho. We stayed in a tent for a week at a time and came home, or to see our girl friends, on the weekends. My friend and I were always jangling about this and that, in a good natured way, and our boss had just about had it with us. One thing we always argued about was who got to set by the window in the truck when we went back to camp or wherever.

One day we were walking down the hill to the truck and doing our usual harping when our boss stopped, bent down like he was tying his shoelace and then continued on after us. These were his words. "I am so sick and tired of you two constantly bickering over who sets where. Get in the truck and I don't want to hear another word." Well!! We were surprised by that attitude to say the least.

My friend, Garl, jumped in the middle and I had the door. I had just barely closed the door when our boss jerked open his door, threw a snake in on us and said, "Now let's see how fast you can get out!" That darned Garl had that snake land across both of his forearms and he just kept it moving over to me. My feet hit the dash and I about tore that door off trying to get out of there. I thought our boss was going to die from laughter. I cussed him for over a half an hour and I could cuss real good back then. Poor old snake just slithered out the door and went on about his business.

So that is one of my experiences from my youth. I have a deathly fear of snakes and that did not help me overcome it.

Got to go.

Have a nice day everyone.

Mercy, I don't even have a decent picture to post. I have been so busy with a special project concerning genealogy that every possible minute is spent on the computer typing in names. Right now I am up to 13,200 and still climbing but I think I see a speck of light at the end of the tunnel. I am shooting for the goal of having all these names indexed before I go back to work.

My darned Internet supplier has been screwing with our service and I have not had Internet for about two weeks or better. The original company sold out and the new company has totally gone downhill. I am hooking up to another company this Friday so hopefully things will be better.

I have missed everyone. I see where Foam has been skinny dipping, Pamela described a rain storm so beautifully that I could almost feel it. Dana posted a thing (can't think of what it is called) about a wildlife preserve near her home and the pictures were beautiful. Foam talked about going skinny dipping, oh I mentioned that. hee, hee, hee. My poor brain cannot remember who else is doing what. I know those Australian women are still telling good jokes.

Cheryl has a sister from Florida visiting which is keeping her busy. Right now they are camping and they keep trying to tell me they are having fun in this heat. Right!!! All I know is the house is nice and quiet, the air conditioner is working just right and I am getting lots done on my project.

Our tomatoes are producing like crazy and so is the squash. Cheryl canned some pickled beets from the garden and they are delicious. Of course they always are when they are your own.

Would you believe that I have done so much typing that my fingers are actually sore.

How is everyone doing? Any new trips this summer that were fun? I get an email from Alice in Canada every so often and she is a hoot. Still looking for a man but apparently all the good ones are taken. Oh yeah.

Oh, did I mention that Foam said she is a skinny dipper? Where did I hear that from? Racy German lady anyway. We have a German lady that lives here. I will have to find out where she is from and let you know. She is a character also.

Would you believe that I have not even been fishing this year. When I get this project completed I am taking some time off and enjoying what I want to do without a deadline.

Enough of my sniveling. Hope this finds everyone well and happy. Have a nice day everyone.

Sorry, but no picture today. We just got back from a lovely trip to Yellowstone Park and I have not downloaded the pictures as of yet. We had such a great time. I have never seen the mountains look so beautiful. The wild flowers were in rich abundance and painted the mountainside with blues, yellows, whites and pinks plus throw in some red Indian paintbrush and it was an artists dream. The lakes and rivers and streams were full and clear. We seen bison, elk, deer, bear, moose, in fact the only major animals we did not see were the wolf and bighorn sheep. We even saw a bald eagle and a golden eagle plus several osprey. The eagles were no big deal to us since we have both species around here and it is quite common to see them but it still was neat.

Cheryl and I probably averaged 25 - 30 mph at best even though there were many who insisted on driving much faster and missed so much.

Following Yellowstone we traveled through Grand Teton National Park. It has been called the Matterhorn or America. All I know is this year was especially beautiful. As a kid there was a common saying in the valley where I lived, "If there is snow on the Grand Teton at the beginning of July then it was a good year for water." There is A LOT OF SNOW on the Grand as well as the whole range. Mt. Moran looks like it might start forming another glacier if the winter keep up the good work.

The only down part of the whole trip... too many Utah cars. I was very good and didn't let them get to me.

People do some silly things though. All kinds of warnings about approaching animals but I guess we have a literacy problem here in America. We came across a bear cub, people jumping out of their cars and approaching it very, very closely without giving a single thought that Mama bear might be near by and she would not be happy. Bison have a reputation of suddenly attacking without any warning but that didn't stop people from approaching them. They look so docile. Hmmm.

The bottom line is we had a great time. I wish everyone could visit Yellowstone this year and experience the beauties there.

Have a nice day everyone.

Back in the earlier days of where we lived there was this band of hooligans that roamed the country putting fear in everyone. They were dangerous to say the least. Today they are scattered to the four winds but their shenanigans still live on, except for the parents of course. From left to right, in the back, the names are Katherine, now in Pahrump, Nevada, Michael, now in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the head of the clan, Tim, now in Downey, Idaho, don't you just love the mustache, Kip, now in Bakersfield, California. In the front we have Kimberly, now in Trenton, Utah, the worst of the bunch is Ma, aka as Cheryl, now in Downey, Idaho, and last but not least we have Leslie, now in Provo, Utah. It makes me shudder to think of the crimes this bunch has committed.

We had this picture taken when we visited Virginia City, Montana many years ago. We had a lot of fun on that trip. We also visited the Lewis and Clark caverns which was really neat, although I get a little claustrophobic in closed situations or around a lot of people.

Anyway, I was looking through some of my memory books and came across this and thought I would share it. I was actually looking for my birth certificate which I just knew where it was, but it wasn't. Cheryl had to come along and help me out and of course rub it in a little that I cannot find anything on my own. Harrrumph.

I don't know what the rest of the country is like but it is a tad warm here. Tomatoes are growing like crazy and so are the pickle plants. Normally I have a rough time with pickles but hopefully this year will be a bumper picking. Squash is like a weed. It just spreads all over the place.

We watched the movie, The Notebook, the other night and it reminded us of our life in a way. Cheryl was engaged to another fellow when I came into the picture. Her parents were very much set against me which caused us to elope. I have always regretted that my wife never had a real wedding but she did get a REAL MAN!!! Okay, enough laughing if you please.

Guess I will close for today. Tomorrow we leave for Star Valley, WY to attend the funeral of my brother in law. Kind of gets your attention when someone passes on who is only a few years older.

Have a nice day everyone.