Starting A Deck

We started on our new deck today. Joe dug four deep holes for the posts (two to go).

Our son Aaron came home and started helping with the cement.

He stirred up the cement. His sister helped by adding water:

He filled the post hole molds with cement.

Then a bracket was set into the cement:

I tried my hand at using a Jack Hammer. I knocked off the first chunk of concrete. The deck will go straight out from the door.

That Jack hammer is heavy! The fellows can do the rest of it!

A funny video:

Days Of 47 Rodeo

Joe, Sarah, Aaron and I went to the Days Of 47 Rodeo, out at the Maverick Center (It used to be called the E Center).

We were up in the $5. seats, on the East end of the arena. I think our seats would be called the peanut gallery or the nose bleed area. It actually wasn't bad seating. We could see right down into some pens and a cattle chute.

The show began with a long Patriotic opening and then the fun finally started.

Bronc riding:

These horses ran as a group all around the arena on their own:

Team cattle tackling (Aarons description of it):

The cowboys taking off after wild cows:

These guys chased cows all over the place until someone succeeded in milking one.

The audience was really laughing at this:

Cowboys:

Calf roping:

Women's barrel racing:

Team calf roping:

Bull riding.

The bull riding action stayed on the other side of the arena because those chutes were on the other end and all the rides were pretty short:

The show included a clown skit and ended with a couple of BMX riders. Then we left.

Out by the parking lot hundreds of loaves of bread were being handed out. We nabbed two.

Oh yeah, I also got a pink 'Days Of 47' T-shirt.

Seven Miles/Seven Mosquito Bites

We walked seven miles after work this evening and I got seven mosquito bites; One per mile. Oh well.

We are battling the middle age bulge and trying diligently to exercise. At one point we both attempted a bit of a jog. It looked more like two old folks shuffling very fast. At least we try.

We do get to see cool stuff like this:

Although some parts of the river are pretty intimidating this year:

It was safe to get close in this spot. We even gathered a few neat pieces of smooth drift wood:

We might do a little fishing tomorrow night. Wish us luck.

Girls Day Out

It's very rare for Sarah to have a free day, so we made the most of it. We watched a show, ate Ice-cream and went for a evening walk.

She is starting to see why I like the mountains so much:

We found a patch of snow right by the trail and I made a snowball:

We put a two hour limit on our walking time and we kept a close eye on the changing weather:

We looked at the view for a few moments and then we hurried back down the hill when we heard thunder and felt the first sprinkles of rain:

Our car was parked near this small lake. By the time we got back we were a little wet, mainly because we didn't bother using the rain ponchos that I had in my backpack. It was a brief but fun little adventure:

It's probably going to be a shorter summer season this year, so we are playing hard.

Be sure to see the post just before this one. We went walking last night too.

A Mother/Daughter Walk

It was so fun to go on an evening walk with my daughter tonight.

Sarah, The tree-hugger:

She was great company this evening:

I never get tired of the mountains:

We watched a deer eating. It didn't run away, but it wasn't very close either (click on the picture to see better):

This little critter is called a Potgut. Really! Sarah looked it up:

This lone flower was growing on the side of the trail. It could be Western Trillium:

We are very lucky to have all of this in our 'backyard'. We know it's a good deal and we don't let it go to waste.

Joe on a boulder

Joe climbed up this boulder, which over looks the river. I couldn't even get onto it. I would need a step stool (Sheesh):

The river is beyond it's banks right now.

Poor little pine tree:

Oxeye Daisy?:

Our forays into the woods are how we unwind and stay sane.

Ferguson Canyon

Ferguson Canyon can be reached from a neighborhood just slightly south of Big Cottonwood Canyon. In fact we could see into the mouth of Big Cottonwood from part of our trail.

Once in the canyon the trail is shady and easy (at first).

We rested on some rocks here. We were by a stream and we liked this crazy natural arch:

Some of the trail:

The trail is between the stream and that big rock:

We came to an area with about four rock climbing walls. They all had metal rings hammered into them.

Some climbers using one of the walls:

The canyon brought us to a very slippery and steep bit of trail, which we went up to get close to a waterfall:

We learned from other people that there are about four more waterfalls beyond this, but without our hiking poles to get us up and down, we decided to save it for another day.

We did enjoy this one though:

I am trying to identify the wildflowers that I see on these walks now.

This was at the very start of the walk. The closest ID I can come up with is a Brown Eyed Susan (Big maybe):

Bicknell's Geranium:

Thimble berry:

I also Identified a lavender colored Spider Flower; Rocky Mtn Bee plant, but my photo was blurry. I learned that the Navajo cooked and ate this plant to save themselves from starvation at times.

I'm no botanist, but I figure if I'm going to hike all of the time, I might as well know what I'm looking at.

Reflections On Silver Lake

After Joe got off work we drove up to Silver Lake to relax. The fishing was terrible, but the views were beautiful and the lake was very pretty tonight.

I loved the reflection of the clouds on the water:

Like a picture:

Here the pine trees and the mountain are reflected:

Driving through the canyon it's easy to see that the water is running very fast and high:

This video shows how unbelievably wild the rivers have gotten:

We also saw a pretty little doe on the way home, but I couldn't get a good picture of her. She was to quick for me.

Fishing On The Fourth Of July

We spent a couple of hours this evening out by Little Dell Reservoir. It was overcast but it never rained on us and it was very warm.

We didn't catch anything, but it gave us our first fishing practice for the year. We liked listening to the different birds around us and watching the Grebes out on the lake. They would dive and pop back up several feet away. Obviously these birds can swim underwater.

We also watched people paddling around in canoes and Kayaks. We want a canoe!

Here we are:

Getting his line ready:

I'm working so dang hard:

I don't know if I can take all of this stress; haha:

This is Silvery Lupine:

This could be in the Arnica family (but I'm not positive yet):

I may need an Alpine Weeds book for this one (It's pretty to me though):

HAPPY JULY 4th! I hope you've all had an enjoyable day.

Wow, the sky is ablaze with fireworks tonight! There must have been a big sell on Rockets.