"I'm an old cowhand....."

Our friends Jim and Diane from Boise, won an overnight pack trip into the mountains at Cornucopia. In the first picture we are down at the stable waiting for our horses to be saddled etc. We had to have a mule pack string as well that took all the gear up to camp. It was a beautiful couple of days and we had a great time exploring.


We have finally gotten saddled up and are trying to figure out where the brakes are!!
Jim, Bob and Terry working their way up the trail. Hey, two hand on the reins there cowpoke!We did get to "let" our horses have a bite to eat every once in awhile. You can tell we run a tight formation when we are saddled up.After the night camped out on the mountain and the trip back down the mountain to the lodge, a hot shower and a celebratory beer or two, we went exploring at the old ghost town of Cornucopia. The boys are standing behind the old "hotel/brothel". It was on of the bigger building in the town ....imagine that. You notice that it is leaning slightly, so we didn't spend much time inside.
This was one trip to remember. A couple of us had not been on horseback for decades and some had not been on horseback at all. Luckily the stock are so well trained and behaved that it was an easy trip. There were a couple of rough spots with equipment and horse wrangling but all in all who can not have fun on top of the mountain with great friends.

Patrick's home from Georgia. 4th of July Fun

Patrick came home from Georgia!! So we drug him along to all sorts of fun times. Melissas friends came out for 4th of July. Patrick is giving Jessica a big Independence Day hug as we all watched the fireworks in Halfway.
He was only home for a couple weeks in June. A couple of his classmates also made the trip out to experience Hells Canyon. Leigh is from Florida, and Phil is from Pennsylvania. They enjoyed a jet boat trip down into Hells Canyon and as you can see from the following pictures, also enjoyed time on the river catching fish. We enjoyed having them visit.

Melissa joined the kids on the party barge to catch some fish.
It's not how big they are, it's how many you can catch.
Of course, it doesn't hurt to catch a big one either.

Easter on the River

We had beautiful weather for Easter this year. We enjoyed mimosas in the sun on the green grass. We missed Patrick but knew that he was coming home in June!

Spring flowers

We have finally gotten some weather that has coaxed the tulips to bloom. Here is a preview of my gardens out front. I think they are very pretty this time of year but it could be because I have been missing the green grass and flowers all winter long! No lilacs yet but they are not far off. The apricot tree has finished it's bloom and the apples are just opening up. It is a glorious time of year!

Beautiful Eats!

The girls made the most gorgeous edible bouquet for our Easter Brunch. It was quite a hit!

Spring time chores

Spring is the time to get all the chores done. Terry has busted out his Honda 55 and has wired a basket on the back so that he can take his side kicks with him. They do love a good motorcycle ride. The two in the basket are Hazel (fawn colored pug) and Sherman (black pug). Ally (the hound dog) and Piper (the labra-doodle) get to run along side. Sherman and Piper are Emily's dogs and they love to come to the river so they can have the run of the place.

I'm back

Sorry about the lapse in the blog updates. I blew up my computer the first of the year and finally have it replaced, and been trying to get files transfered blah blah blah...what a PIA! Any way...I have had requests for updates so this will be a Cliff's Notes version of what's been happening since Christmas.


In January:
Happy New Year!! We had a fantastic fireworks bonfire celebation....with live music!! This was the first with live music and it was great!. We started the evening with everyone getting a New Years gift.....A pair of Prosperity Panties. We had boxers, tighty whities (only yellow in color) and big granny panties and you didn't know what kind you got until you opened the bag!. What great fun. As you can see in the picture, some wore their undies on the outie! I wore mine as a hat. It kept the snow out of my hair! The weather was perfect. Big lazy snow flakes drifting down adding the perfect setting for our outdoor band. If you haven't made it down to the river for a New Years celebration you are really missing out. All are invited. The fireworks were great as well, thanks to our resident pyro-technicians Mark, Rush, and Patrick.


In February
As many of you all know, I had rejoined Weight Watchers last summer and had been successful, and at goal weight. In mid January we got permission from Weight Watchers to start our own meeting in Halfway. We (my mom is the recepetionist, and I am the leader) have over 50 members joined and average 28 to 30 members attending the meetings. It is been well received.
Patrick had his 24th birthday on the 24th. He is still in Georgia attending Life Universtity studying Chiropractic Medicine. We were fortunate to have him home over the Christmas Holidays.


In March
We had a really long winter this year with lots of snow and colder than usual temperatures and March wasn't much better.
We celebrated Melissa's birthday on the 23rd. She wasn't able to make it home because she has been working with an accounting firm in Meridian and this has been a really busy time with tax season and all.

In April
Spring is finally here! The trees are beginning to bloom, and the grass in greening up. As usual we held Easter Sunrise Service on the deck with potluck following. We didn't break our record attendance but the crowd of 65 were a blessing non-the-less. It was a beautiful sunny day and we enjoyed the yard after services before dinner .