Fall is here...time for a new project.

Brenda and I have been up to not much lately.  No matter the week, the work continues and the seasons are changing.  The weather has seemed to turn cold overnight and with a couple of frosts already, or garden is done and the summer is over.  Still time for a few rides though.

 Common sight...that kid can fall asleep in about any position

 A couple weeks ago we had a chance to be part of the amazing home race.  It was put on by our real estate agents company and there were about 400 teams with the grand prize being $10,000 cash.  If we would have won the rest of this post would be about Cancun, but we did have fun.

 Again, about any position.

 He loves this seat.  It is normally called a Bumbo, but we like to call it a dumpo...because that is what he does every time he sits in it.  The position it puts him in also was not designed by diaper manufactures to contain anything...but boy does he look happy.

 This is also the season for apple pies.  We have a apple tree and a couple of pear trees and believe it or not pears make awesome pies as well.

Last weekend we went down to the in-laws.  James got a quick ride in a T and smiled the whole way.

 Then he likes sitting with all of their weird gourds. 

 We had a chance to go on a hike as well up Cowitchie Canyon.

 Jim about stepped right on this rattlesnake and we saw two other on the trail during the hike.  Not the greatest place to take kids or animals, but we had a good time.  We were very conscious of where we stepped after seeing this guy.  We survived the encounter, but the same cannot be said for him.

 Very interesting geological formations in this area and the weather was beautiful.

 Here is my boy sporting the company colors.

 What is missing from this picture....

 You guessed it, another bike.   I told Brenda if I did not ride the BMW and give it the love it deserves it would asexually reproduce.  Now that there are two in the garage they might produce bikes faster.

 I got it tore down to this now and trying to get the engine to turn over.  The bikes does not run and I cannot verify if it has in the past 25 years or so...good winter project I guess.

Maybe someday it will look like this.  I obviously will not get it as nice, but you can kind of see what I am going to shoot for.

 Here is James and the giant pumpkin.  No, that is not a fairy tale, it is a real thing.

 I also had to get a picture with him.  I have yet to weigh Jabba, but hope to sometime this week.

When the wife is away...

The wife was gone a few weekends ago so I thought it appropriate that I take off as well and go a short cycle trip.  I headed out up the St. Joe river over to MT and then down Hwy 12 dumping on and off of pavement for some fun riding.

This place was pretty impressive

Look at how many logs they had to use for walls in this log house....if you cant tell there is 4.  Now those are some big logs and makes me wonder how they could even move them into place.

Thick walls which makes me think it is very well insulated.

This county road was awesome and about 2 miles into it I saw a herd of bighorn sheep crossing the road.  By herd I am talking about 15 or so.

Brenda was out in CA visiting friends and family so she took the good one so I used a work camera that has been through the ringer.  The lens on my camera is pretty bad...evidenced by this picture.

I talked to the Forest Service before I took off on the Lolo motorway, a dirt road  of 110 miles that follows Lewis and Clark's return east.  The indicated that it was open and I thought I would try a bit of it.  About 15 miles into the road there was a road closed for fire sign.  The road is narrow, rocky, and slow going so there was little to no chance of me following the rules and turning back

Sure enough, there was a fire and man it can sure make a sound when a tree goes up.  Lucky for me the wind was nonexistent so I felt relatively safe.

More fire.

The road at certain times had so much smoke blowing so fast and thick over it, it was all I could do to keep the throttle on, hold my breath, and hope for a break in the smoke so I could breathe.

Pretty awesome ride through the fire, but I was a little nervous not knowing what I was going to come across next.  I was just glad there was not a downed tree blocking my progress.

Then I saw some ruffed grouse

And a fire that had been there long ago.  There were so many views along the ride, but alas my camera battery was dying.

Rock cairn that was reported to have been put there by L&C

35 miles down and I set up camp.  The exposure is bad in this pic, but the view was awesome from this site.  I ended up taking a left and getting back on the paved road next morning because I had to be home that day and did not have time for 80 miles of dirt at 10MPH.

There is a great rock to sit at sunset and also a great spot to watch the sun rise.

Formentioned sunrise

I figure I should put some pics of Brenda trip here lest you think I forgot about her and James.

 James found a girl...he looks like he wants to kiss her already...standard De Jong.

 Brenda had a chance to participate in 2 legs of a sprint triathlon when she was there.

 There is Mindy and Lucy.  Lucy was born one day after James.

 Amy and Brenden hanging out with the wife. 

 Then we got these characters...Michelle, Makenna, Bria, and someone I cant forget....believe me I have tried...Brett

 Jackie was also there

 Then Brenda went to see Andrea and Jake.

 Beverly (from SJCS) and James.  He looks like he is having a great time.

 He also got to see his great grandparents while he was there.

 He has got a belly just like me now, but unlike me, he has an excuse

 Great to see Kevin and Lyndsay and their brood of kiddos.

 That kid is getting huge and now I think I am getting old.  I got multiple pics of us on vacation with Kevin and Lyndsay in Hawaii where he is yet to be born.

She also got a chance to see our old neighbors.

She had a good time, but I sure was glad to have her at home this week. 

James seemed happy to see me to.

Here it is another day and I have yet to get around to updating the blog.  I found that Blogger now has a different layout and view and have found that there is a little bit of learning curve, but this is much improved over the way I used to have to update the Blog and maybe, just maybe, I will post a bit more with the new format in place.

Now...lets see, where did I last update... well no matter, I will start with our trip we took to visit my parents on the wetside.  Labor day had us traveling to Mt. Vernon for a nice weekend.  it had been such a long time since we had been to downtown Seattle that we thought we would stop by on the way.

The weather was perfect and we had a great time seeing all the people, and we got the best parking spot ever.  I mean this thing was epic.  30' from the market, and only 2 bucks for 2 hours....really nice.

 Here is James and I at the market.  I think I saw the biggest lobster tails I had ever seen, and for $35/lb...they must have been about 3lbs each...who can even afford that I have no idea.

 The wife and I thought we could get some flowers for my parents and for $5, why not splurge.

 Then it was time to see my parents.  James is a lot bigger than the last time they saw him.

 He likes to watch TV....is this something I should be concerned about....well I'm not.

The next day we went blackberry picking down the block from my parents.  There were so many blackberries that we got about 5 gallons in 30 minutes or so.  They were so good I ate about 1 quart while picking them.

 Here is the haul

 Even though James and mom did not participate in the picking they were significantly tired.

 

The next day we went out to the sound for a walk.  I have never seen such great weather before over in Mt. Vernon.  Perfectly sunny ever day we were out there and really made me want to get out on the water.

Then it was back home.  We had not been around a lot lately and the garden was really growing quite a bit.  The corn did not grow very well this year and I think we got some bad seeds.  Most of them did not germinate, and then, some of the ones that did looked a bit off.

Would you eat this.  Grey corn...that just about made me hurl looking at it.  I think it got elephantitus, but was assured that this fungus is called Smut.  My father-in-law also told me it is edible, but I will have to take his word for it because I think I would have to be pretty desparate to eat this.

When the cob was split it looked like this...kind of looked like corn there, but not something I want to see again

 The peppers were a bit slow in maturing, but now we got more than we need.

 Tomatos are also coming along nicely.

Onions are also getting bigger

Then we have a few of the final products

Cabbage

Pole beans on the right and carrots on the bottom

Here is a mix of the potatoes we have had this year.  We have a lot to eat in the not so distant future, but they were simple as pie to grow and the plant is very nice looking.

On the way back from my parents we stopped and picked up 2 20lb boxes of peaches and nectarines.  I have been living off of these for about the past two weeks and love them.  You cannot buy these in the store no matter how much you pay.  We also got them for 50 cents a pound which is less than half of what you pay in the store...just the "man" trying to rip off honest americans.

Here is James in a shirt Jackie sewed for him with a heart over Spokane.  He even drolled on the west side of WA to show a real world depiction of the different climates.

The weekend of the 11th we went on a church campout on  the Pend O'rielle

James liked it in the tent.

I tried to get this ridculous hat off him, but his mother would have none of it...I mean seriously

Back at camp I took on my role as cook...which is what Brenda likes to see me do

James had a  great time and slept pretty good in the cramped tent.

We finally got a chance to get the Jonny Jumper out as well.

Camo clothes are what he loves.

Oh, and I guess he likes his hot mama too.

James in his jumper

Brenda rocking out...sort of.