Easter Hike

There is no better way to celebrate Easter than to go out for a hike and enjoy nature.  That along with the guilt of leaving the dog home yesterday all by herself while we went to a tennis match for Kristina on Bainbridge Island.  We had to make it up to Indy today -- plus, we needed to properly celebrate her birthday as well.  By the way, Kristina won her match!  :)

It was forecasted to be an "okay" day, so we decided to head to the Wallace Falls area.  You are never quite sure what to expect when you leave the house to go for a hike!  It turned out to be a great day and a great hike!  We used the railroad trail, rather than the busy main trail to explore part of the park that we didn't have much familiarity with prior to today.  We ended up hiking about 6 miles!

As always, Indy had to take a dip at every opportunity!  It didn't matter that she just went to the doggie spa on Friday.  Dogs will be dogs!  By the way, it was around 60 degrees today and she acted like it was 80!

Some random shots of the trail.  There was very pretty scenery and it was quite serene.  We didn't even cross paths with anyone until we were hiking back to the trailhead!

Time for another dip -- at least this was clear water!

Here's a good shot of Jared and Indy on a new bridge that had been built on the trail!  Aren't they just the cutest pair you ever did see!

More shots of the trail and the surrounding scenery!

Our next trip, we need to hit Wallace Lake and check it out!  Maybe there will be good fishing there!

Indy and Kristina posing for a shot against the beautiful backdrop!

And last but not least, the star of the hike -- INDY!  What a good dog she is!  

March Rain

March rain was pretty crazy!  We ended up with a total of 4.66", but the crazy thing is that 3" of that came in the first weekend of the month.  In just one day, we logged 2.53" -- and that day it just rained and rained and rained (it wouldn't have been so bad except that it was a weekend).  Mother Nature had decided it was time to rain and boy did it!  Weather Underground reports that our average March rainfall is 3.62", well we definitely hit that.  We may not have had any snow this winter, but we continue to have rain above the average.

Happy Spring!

Rhett does it for the SIXTH time!

Well, Rhett has done it again.  The Kansas Folkstyle Wrestling Championships just ended this past weekend and Rhett was victorious again.  This makes SIX straight wrestling championships.  He wrestled 12 and under, 72lbs this year, and you can see the bracket below

This is a rare accomplishment and quite a feat for anyone.  He and his entire family work hard and make a lot of sacrifices during the season to be victorious!

CONGRATULATIONS RHETT.

WAY TO GO!

Path Construction

Part of our yard clean-up is extending our path to the Tolt Pipeline Trail.  Right now, it goes to our shed, but as we clean things out, we see the need for it to extend all of the way to our bridge.  So, here we go again...work, work, work!

Nothing is every easy!

  

Indy's Birthday

Today is Indy's 6th BIRTHDAY!  We can't believe that she is already 6 -- she is still the crazy dog she has always been.  And she continues to go, go, go...you will see updates in a later post.

However, Kristina couldn't let her birthday go by without making homemade doggie biscuits!  What a spoiled little dog!

Happy birthday Indy!

Annual De-thatching

Well, it is that time of year again...de-thatching time!  Jared always does a great job of getting all of the moss and undergrowth out from the grass so it can breathe again.  We are a bit behind this year since the weather is ahead of schedule, but that's ok -- it will get done!

Here's a shot of the front yard!

And, the daffodils are in full bloom -- in mid-March!  It is crazy!  They are always the first signs of Spring!

More piles of moss lined up in the yard waiting to be put into the compost bin!

Kristina also took advantage of the nice weather to plant some sugar peas.  We have never planted sugar peas before, so we decided to give it a shot this year.  The hope is that they will "crawl" up the fence.

Strawberry plant never died from last year, so it is large and in charge this year.  Hopefully it has an early start and we might actually get a berry or two if the squirrels don't beat us to it (like last year).

The backyard all de-thatched, but not raked up yet.

Here are some piles in the backyard.  It isn't a tough process, it just takes time.  Jared put the moss killer on a week or so ago to kill the moss.  Then we rent the de-thatcher and de-thatch the lawn. Next it is raked into neat piles and then we load the piles into the compost bins.

Here are some shots of Kristina's peonies.  They are more than poking out of the ground...they are on their way.  Hopefully we will get some nice blooms out of them this year.

The de-thatcher!

Jared raking everything up!

Here are some shot of the back corner of our yard that we have cleared out.  Lots of salmonberry, blackberry, and miscellaneous brush all cut down.  Old snags pulled down and chopped up into logs and just tons of weeds.  We are done yet, but it looks a lot better already.

Daffodils in the backyard, rather than the front.  So you can see how much they enjoy the sun!

The azaleas are starting to bloom, along with the primrose.

After de-thatching, the yard always looks so much better...like a clean slate!

Winter (Spring?) Yard Work

Well, we finished the bathroom and thought we would have a couple weeks of rest before the spring yard work kicked into gear, but we couldn't be more wrong.  It has been go, go, go!

Spring is about any where from 2-4 weeks early this year.  We have had great sunny, dry, warmer than usual weather, so everything thinks spring has sprung!

So we have been at it!

If you will remember, the back of our backyard has been surrounded by thicket ever since we moved into the house.  We have been wanting to clean this out, but there have bee so many other things in the queue, we are just getting to a section of it now.  The back corner on the left as you walk from our house to the Tolt Pipeline Trail is the object of our "affections" this winter/spring.

This is what it looks like after we cleared a ton of the brush out.  Of course there is more to do, but this is a great start!  We both have the scabs and scars from the brush to prove it!

Here's a pile of wood that Kristina created from the dead snags in the area.  Jared knocked them down and then Kristina used to the chainsaw to get them in manageable size and stacked it.  And yes, if Kristina's family ever reads this blog they will be amazed that she did this...she hated doing this as a kid and got out of it every chance she got!

Anyway, we don't have a wood fireplace, so it looks like we will be using this all for our fire pit in the backyard this summer!

Here's the "kindling" pile, and we will definitely use this one!  We have to admit, there is no shortage of wood for fires around here.

To the left there is a huge "chip" pile.  We are going to rent a chipper next weekend and chip all of that old brush and maybe even re-use some of it as fill!  We'll have to see how that works out.  Right now, it is looking likely that we are going to need a bunch of fill dirt and bark to bring the area up to ground level.

The trees in the area are HUGE when you get around the base of them.  We never could gt that close to them, but SHEESH!

Kristina wants to add some raised beds to this area since it get the most sun out of any spot in our entire yard.  If we get it cleared out, we might be able to get everything built and ready for next spring.  Regardless, the area looks a ton better than it did!

And then there is the yard...tons of moss that has to go!  Jared has spread the iron to kill the moss; we just hope it rains so  it can do its thing!