Snow day

We had an inch or two of snow fall (on top of our old snow and the kids decided to play). I snuck a few pictures...

Christmas Rocks!!!

For Christmas, the Cash family gave me some nice rocks to work with.



When the weather gets a little warmer (my main rock saw is in a shed outside), I will cut and polish these and update this page.

Squirrels moved into the squirrel house for Christmas!

Graveyard Point Seam Agate

The family was very excited about this trip. My sons and I have been near graveyard point in the past and found all kinds of fun rocks. Several weeks ago, Jordan and I were in the area and actually made it to the Idaho-Oregon border and found out just how rich the area was in large agates, but due to the time we stayed only 2 hours. This time we planned an official trip with everyone.

Graveyard point is a very large area along the border of Idaho and Oregon west of Marsing Idaho and South of Nyssa. The vast area is rich in agates and you can simply walk along picking them up ... usually there are 2-3 nice agates every 5 feet or so.

If you get up towards the rocky areas on the south bluffs you can find seams of agates running through rock. Sometimes the rock around the seam is soft and crumbly - sometimes not.

The agate found at Graveyard point varies. Most found on the surface (in the areas we've been) are cloudy and weathered (cracked) seam agates and have plumes. Most are not the kind of stuff that you'd want to make jewelry from - but very nice in the yard. There are also a lot of variations in color, agates derived from eroded thunder eggs, and jaspers of many types. Every now and again you'll find a little clear agate on the surface or tucked away in the sagebrush, only to find that it is 1 foot or more and solid clear with nice plumes after digging it out (fun fun fun!). The dirt is very soft and easy to dig.

The roads are dirt and not maintained. 4x4 is recommended to get close to the good stuff, but we took a minivan and walked. Be very careful when driving - and don't go off the beaten path in your car - the dirt is soft and you can get stuck. Also... since there are so many broken seam agates around, you can puncture tires. Make sure you have a spare if you go.

Here are some pictures taken from our trip.

Jordan (and Henry) pointing out seam of agate in the ground.

Nice wide open spaces...

There is more than rocks...

Camping trip in the middle of nowhere

We took another weekend trip - just to get away. Parked far away from everything.

...

Saw a hawkmoth with its tongue sticking out.

Just rockhounding with the dogs.

Jesse climbing up while we were looking down.

A finger pointing up to God.

Pretty alluvial fan-type deposits on the other side of the valley.

Topped off the trip with a look from some mountain goats.

A Masked Visitor

When I got home from work, the dogs were going crazy. They were running around in circles and looking up into a neighbors tree.

I took a gander up in the tree... what is that fuzzy thing up there looking down at me?
It's cute little raccoon!

This little guy didn't really care that I and the dogs were watching him. He just went about his business, climbed into a notch and went to sleep.

Oh how cute.

A few days later we learned that the he went into our neighor's house and spread dog food all over his kitchen :)

A few nights later... all the goldfish were missing from our pond.

Haven't heard from him for about a week now. He either moved on, or is laying low.

Vacation '09

Time for a little rest and relaxation! Camping in Northern Idaho should do the trick. Here is a collage from our trip...

Time to head out. We're loaded to the gills, so we have to take two cars.

On the way to Emerald Creek campground we see some of the most beautiful scenery that you can see in America.


Ahhh camping. We're all fresh and ready to have some fun.




Tammy found a little bird on the ground. It had fallen out of its nest. We shortly discovered a frantic momma bird that was very distressed. We put the bird back down away from camp and were pleasantly surprised to watch the momma bird feed its baby.



I thought this shot was cute. The dogs were not able to walk past the cattle guard so my son had to carry them across.



My son loves playing in the fire. Sparks for Independence Day.



Day 2 brings us about 3 hours North of camp to a place called Silverwood amusement park. It really is quite amazing. You're driving along through the wide open timber country and boom - there is this huge amusement park.



The rides were fun.. this one is called Panic Plunge.

Do these guys look like they are in panic?


My wife and son on an umbrella ride.



There were lots of roller coasters, including two very large wooden roller coasters, the corkscrew, and some nasty thing called the aftershock that dropped you from 19 stories making you go forwards and backwards through some loops. See more at their Web site. Tip: you can get discount tickets at Costco.




Day 3 was why we decided to camp at Emerald Creek - Idaho's State gem: the Star Garnet. The star garnet has only been found in Idaho and India. The forest service provides permits, tools, lots of information. For $10 a person and a lot of hard work you can dig up a lot of garnets.




We ended up finding many garnets. Many/most of the garnets we found were too small or cracked, but I think we have enough full garnets to make my wife a nice set of jewelry - the kind of jewelry that means a little something more than store bought.


Day 4... The 4th of July. We could go back and get more garnets, we could stay at camp, or we could try our hand at hunting for fossils in a nearby fossil bed. I let the family vote and we decided to try our luck at fossil hunting.

We never did it before, but we had fun. There just happened to be a major motorcycle race going on due to the local 4th of July festivities. So we got to watch a race while we worked - pretty cool.



The fossils at the site were about 135 million years old. The site is family run and they put on an interesting tour that is to be remembered.

We made it back to Boise in time to enjoy a BBQ with Mom and Dad and then later light off some fireworks.

Happy belated 4th!

Water we doing?

Last weekend was FUN! We hosted a teen fun event for local church of Christs. Here is a short collage of the event.

BBQ!

Water Balloon station.

Yes. Things got a little crazy - but no one got hurt (at least not seriously hurt).

The little ones liked throwing water balloons ... but, of course, there are consequences.

Some took the water fun serious.


All-in-all there were about 20 good friends that showed up. Wow, what a fun time.


The roof on the cat hou... errr, enclosure is on.

Thanks for looking and being a part :)

Sycamore Cats

It's been a little while. Times iz busy. My oldest son graduated, Kids are on school break, I'm moving to a different building at work, lot's going on at church - whew!

Ithought I'd take a quick time-out and do a quick status update on the cat hou.... errrr enclosure. all of the main frame and rafter beams are up and I've just started laying the cross members to support the roofing.

For Father's Day I received a new addition to our family - a sycamore tree. Isn't it cute? This li'l baby can get tall and it has the most beautiful bark. I hope it lives. Right now we planted it by the ol' goat shed. Eventually the shed will get moved and it will be able to have more breathing room. We also plan on inviting Zacheus to dinner some day - but it needs to grow a little more.

Free fishing day!

Saturday morning... we get up and grab the old fishing poles from the shed. After a few hours, I've got 3 of them cast-worthy. Not sure about 2 others, but we take them along with us any way.

I take my two youngest boys and my daughter out for lunch and then off to Park Center pond to see if we can't have a little fun.

It's been a while since we've been fishing - more than a year. After hitting about 20 snags and 1 really close call with the people next to us, the kids are getting really good at casting.

And casting they did... many, many throws out into the pond. The weather overcast and a thunderstorm was threatening in the distance - the fish did not want to play.

We saw a few jump so we hung in there... but no one was catching any fish.

Pretty soon we were the ones swimming - not our worms. A beautiful rainstorm hit with huge drops of rains that soaked everything. It was warm out so we actually enjoyed the weather. We called it a day without fish and went home.