Epic Ride Day

After 2 days out of the saddle, I needed a ride. The place to ride (on pavement) is the River Trail. Anyway, I had to see and ride over the "Big Dam Bridge". Climbing the approach got my heart rate going.
After that, it was a relaxing ride on the N. Little Rock trails.

Stopped at some bike shops - finally found on that could tell me about mountain bike rides. Luckily, there was a C.A.R.P. ride on the Camp Robinson trails. The ride was lightly attended (It was a funeral to one of their riders). The trails area not well marked, and I was left to ride by myself. Otherwise, I had a good ride. The trails are rocky - I was able to adapt and build some rock riding ability and lots of climbing. Think I rode very well under the circumstances. After I get home there will be some helmet cam clips on my web site.
Today gonna scope out some other riding places.

Momma here...

Hi Bloggie Pals...
As you must realize, our blog has suffered from neglect... mostly by the fault of our Momma who has been most busy doing things that cause much confusion. We defer to her cause we must...

Momma here: In the last couple of months or so, we've been incredibly neglectful of the girls' blog. There has been a lot going on. Let's start with the fact that hubby, Bill is retiring in September (whoo hah!). So, we have decided to move, dependent upon the fact that we can sell our current place. Thus, we have been sorting through 41 years of STUFF, which has taken up a lot of time (hee hee) and then packing up what we deem to be necessary for post-retirement life? Well... we've been trying. And then our son decided he needed to get married... yesterday afternoon. It was a glorious celebration and there was a lot of happiness and pals and so on, but a distraction for sure!!! (From the blog, that is... By the end of this week, we should be packed up and the painters should have been finished painting; carpeters finished installing...) We will be starting to post again in a couple of weeks and looking forward to checking out your blogs once again whoopee! Back to the puppers...

Okay so here is one photo of the happy bride and groom hip hip hooray!

Dry Fork of Coyote Gulch

We arrived at the Dry Fork of Coyote Gulch trailhead mid-morning, which is an ideal time to start out for a slot canyon hike. Many (but not all) slot canyons are ideal to hike mid-day. Since very little light penetrates down into the canyons, mid-day when the sun is high can often be a good time to visit them. When we arrived at the trailhead we were a little disappointed to already see about a dozen vehicles parked there. Thankfully, though, this hike has 3 different canyons so people really get spread out and we only saw a few people along the hike.





































The 3 canyons along this hike are Spooky, Peekaboo and Dry Fork of Coyote Gulch. We hiked Spooky and Dry Fork, but opted out of Peekaboo because you literally had to climb a small cliff to get into Peekaboo and neither one of us wanted to do that. We had a blast in the other two canyons and felt like we didn't miss out on anything by not doing Peekaboo. The photo you see here was taken in Dry Fork, which was a super easy walk once we were in the canyon. The canyon bottom started out very wide and totally flat, and was sort of a gravel surface rather than sand so it was more of a stroll than a hike. After a while, though, the canyon did start to narrow and the bottom did get rougher with some rocks and small boulders that we had to step over. It was never very difficult, though. You can walk a long ways up Dry Fork, at least a mile (and probably more) but we decided to turn around after a while. We also hiked up Spooky Canyon, which was a fascinating canyon but got VERY narrow. So narrow, in fact, that I could only hike up about half of it because I couldn't fit through once it narrowed! Jessica was able to go further, so she checked out more of it.




















































Jessica and I posing for a shot in Spooky Canyon :-)

Frozen Paradise

Don't you just love winter! I know I sure do :-) It is my absolute favorite time to photograph Lake Superior! The ice, snow and cold air add atmosphere to an image that simply cannot be matched other times of the year. Yeah, it can be difficult to head out in these conditions, but the results are almost always worth it!

The Reasoning of a Child

Grandson #3 spent several days with us last week. Army son, Garrett, brought home a case full of his old toys for me to keep. He said his nephews could play with them, so Bauer picked out the pink Power Ranger. It turned out to be female with two different heads that can be changed about; one that's normal and one that has a helmet. He turned the normal head into position and said to me, "Nana, is this how you looked when you were a little toy?"
How do you answer that?

The Mutts Mute Bonfire Night...

My poor old pooches cannot stand bonfire night - the fireworks really set them into a dither.





This is their preferred method of dealing with it





please note: Pip does not really eat chocolate buttons, we know it is bad for dogs.





They both love chillin' out to music though - and Toby loves his cuddly toy.

Somehow we get through it!





Roll on next week.









***





Hope all is well with you Jonny - looking forward to speaking to you this weekend.





Lots of love,





Mum

xxx

How Low Can They Go

My friend Pam/Digging recently made a great post for a regional gardening roundup of writers, all celebrating the kind of garden designs that emphasize what makes a region of the country unique - those styles, materials, plants and way of blending with existing landscape that makes sure no one will mistake a Texas gardens for one in New England or Alabama or even California. In a modest way I'm using these ideas in my front garden and parking strip.
But while I love the Austin in my garden - cherishing those yaupons and native plants - to look out every window at a garden grounded too strongly in Central Texas would feel claustrophobic. There are so many other places that hold my heart, so many beautiful plants that I've loved, so many years of gardening elsewhere, so much history.
What Philo & I have here isn't a reflection of the State in which we find ourselves at present, but a contrived world fitted together with pieces of our past, hints at other places we've lived, places we always wanted to see, of the areas our ancestors lived and the regions where our grown children and sisters and brothers now live. Moving to zone 8 meant I could finally grow plants beloved by garden writers like Miss Elizabeth Lawrence, Allen Lacy and Henry Mitchell In an attempt to connect with my mentors' worlds, a Magnolia and a Banana Shrub, Crinums and Loropetalums, Camellias and Myrtles were invited to live here.
I don't know which of the four previous owners of our house planted the boxwood and have no idea if they chose it for a special reason or just because it's common and available. What I do know is to that to me a Box Hedge was the stuff of historical romance, the bones of a classic old garden. I was shocked when my Austin friends suggested ripping them out! There were Bridal wreath spiraeas and Abelias scattered around the yard, and I kept them, too - enjoying their resemblance to shrubs that bloomed in my grandmother's garden, at my parents' house, and at three of our Illinois homes. I've allowed sentimental additions of daylilies, a gardenia, Weigela, my beloved clematis, Rose of Sharon, outdoor amaryllis and Siberian iris, while pushing the zone boundaries with marginally hardy Meyer's Lemon, Blue Butterfly Clerodendrum, Firecracker plant, Mexican Honeysuckle, Jasmines, Angel's Trumpet/Brugmansia, Duranta, Fan Palms and Evergreen Wisteria/Milletia. I took a chance on less hardy Central Texas plants like Barbados Cherries.
Last summer's heat and drought followed by wet weather knocked off some plants, including native scutellarias and salvias and some passalong heirlooms like phlox, corkscrew willow and a mock orange brought from Illinois in 1999.
This weekend may be the last one for other marginal plants as Central Texas experiences the lowest temperatures in many years. It appears my NW area of Austin dipped to 13F overnight, with another cold night to come. We had to unplug the bird-watering fountain to keep the motor from burning out. This morning John Dromgoole reminded us that with defrost, we'll become familiar with the scent of cold-slimed plants as they decompose.
Pam/Digging, Diana and MSS of Zanthan have already posted about Aloes & Agaves in danger. Unlike my friends, I'm not worried about agaves and aloes - the horrendous hailstorm of last March reduced my plants to a few pups. Obviously less hardy plants like Plumerias, Variegated Ginger, potted lemon, potted Mexican Lime, stapelias & Sambac Jasmine were moved indoors.My concern now is for plants that are supposed to do well here - the rosemary plants, the loquats, the Barbados Cherries and abelias, the star Jasmine and Coral Honeysuckle, the pomegranates and figs and the exposed flower buds of Texas Mountain laurel.
It will be a bad day if we lose the garden dreams along with the frozen plants.
And what happens if the plants that come through best are the ones we like to poke fun at? What if along with Steve Bender's "Cockroaches playing beneath a Trumpet vine" the survivors are the boring and potentially invasive Ligustrums & Privets, Photinias, Nandinas, Japanese Honeysuckle, Asiatic Jasmine and Bermuda grass? Now that would really be a bummer.

Clear Above, Films Below

Wednesday Morning on the Ingraham

The past couple of days have been absolutely gorgeous on the upper mountain. The sun has been out, winds have been calm and fresh snow covers almost everything. There have been a few climbers who were undeterred by the mediocre forecasts,and three hardy souls braved postholing andgusty windsabove 13,000'to summit via the DC earlier today. Even the climbers who did not make the summit have found some fun making fresh turns on their skis and boards, practicing rescue and ice climbing skills in crevasses, or soaking in the views of volcanotops poking through the clouds.


There is a forecasted low pressure system moving through the Northwest over the next day or two, so some inclement and unpredictable weatheris expected on the upper mountain, but this systemseems to haveenough similarity to the last one where climbers can alsoreasonably expect periods of nice weather to be found on the upper mountain over the coming days. The only way to know what is happening is to come see for yourself. Check out recent conditions updates for more specific information on climbing routes.

Also in other news check out the Rainier Independent Film Festival going on this weekend at variouslocations around the base of Mt. Rainier. It looks like they have some great films selected and the venues(which include a Cine-Yurt!)are as varied as the films being screened.