Bonneville Fish Hatchery

Despite 13 years at the Corps, we have never gone to Bonneville Dam or the fish hatchery. We finally made the trek a couple of weekends ago. The boys were quite impressed with the huge, shark like sturgeon. HUGE sturgeon. The pond filled with trout was also much appreciated by the budding fisherman Ben. If only he had a net ...

Wee Little Hop

The first little guy is just about ready. I see hop harvesting in our future. Isn't it cute? If only it didn't stink ...

Finally!

Nothing like 103 degrees to ripen up the 'maters! Now for the other 15 plants to do their thing ...

Day at the Zoo

We joined some friends at the zoo, early in the morning, before the heat and crowds, and had a great time. As is tradition, we stopped at the animal sculpture garden. Ry was eager to try every animal while Ben wanted to see how quickly/dangerously he could scale the monoliths.

Ben looks so old in the first picture. You can tell he's humoring me. Worse than that, you can tell he knows he humoring me.

All Strung Up

This year's hops have enjoyed the heat more than the rest of us. While content to climb up their little poles last year, this year, they appear to need a little more room to grow. Perhaps by the end of summer, we'll have a hoppy canopy across the backyard.

 

 

WANTED

If you see the below criminal, or her scarier, tail-less friend (resembles wombat) use extreme caution and carry a big stick. These hoodlums are wanted for:

pool destruction (two different yards!)
unauthorized use of swing
inappropriate climbing
hijacking garden string
terrorizing Travis

Keepin' Cool

The fabulous Beth of Studio J fame helped me figure out how to make the pictures appear larger in the blog. Would the four of you who read this seldom updated but often thought of blog let me know if it looks okay on your end?

Fourth of July Festivities

We were lucky enough to have Auntie Jannie and Beth join us for fireworks on the fourth. Despite a few "moquito" bites, a good time was had by all and nothing erupted in flames (unless it was supposed to). Hose at the ready, just in case.