Garden Grows

The garden is growing.  Hard to keep up with the weeding but we are beginning to gather the fruits of our labor.  Radishes, Lettuce, Arugula, and Peas. 

Rows from the right: Onions, Carrots, Beets, Lettuce, Spinach (already bolting), Flowers, and Basil.

Broccoli, Brussel Sprouts, 

Bush Beans

The unweeded area but full of bountiful peas.  From the right: Raspberries, sugar snap peas, arugula, potatoes.  

The Wall Build

When our house was finished, we had a few lingering projects.  Some bigger, some smaller.  One of the big ones was the retaining wall around the deck.  To be within code on the deck we either had to have a railing or we had to build a retaining wall around the deck.  We chose to build a stack stone wall.  We knew this would take some serious effort but that it would be worth it in the end.  So we went down to our local quarry and picked up a few truck loads of basalt.  After a day or so of dirt prep and 2 trips to the quarry we were ready to build.

 Then we carefully measured out the placement of the wall and ran the strings to guide our progress.  I mostly am the dirt mover (not a job that requires a lot of patience), while Stuart is mostly the rock stacker (a job that requires a lot of patience).  We work well as a team on wall building. 

We spent the weekend stacking the stone and are very happy with our results.  And it meets the code.  3 feet out from the edge of the deck and no more than 30 inches down.  We have put in 2 bird feeders at the corners and already have American Goldfinches, Hummingbirds, and House Finches visiting.  Next comes the planning for the planting.  We will need shade loving stuff to fill the bed.  

Spring Break Part 4: Down and then Out

So from those slots we hiked down canyon though another section of beautiful slot until we came to the expected 30 foot rappel.  (Aha!!! This is what I remember!  This is the place I have been.  When I was here 20 years ago, I came out this way!!) 

Here is the family in the slot. So beautiful!

Just around the corner we dropped through this series of dry pools.

 

 
 Silly boys!

So then we got to the 30 foot rappel, set up the rope and I headed down to the bottom.  Next came Wren seen here.

And then Dakota and Stuart came together.

 That night was our last in the Canyons.  We had made yeast dough in the morning so our pizza crust was ready to cook when we got home after this wonderful day.  Morning came with an early wake up and we headed back the way we had come down the day before.  Up the 30 foot rappel.  We decided that climbing up this was easier than the other way we had gone.  So first I climbed up.  Then we hauled the packs.  Next you can see Wren climbing and then Dakota being hoisted by Stuart. 

Up came Stuart.  Packs on and exit the canyon via the escape route.  Across the mesa to our car and homeward bound.

An amazing break for the whole family.  FYI the way to get both Wren and Dakota to hike with out taking break or whining is to retell Star Wars IV, V and VI with every detail. 

 

Spring Break Part 3: Up and Out/Finding the Slot

After our hiking up North Fork of Robbers Roost it was time to find our exit.  There is no easy exit out of the North Fork.  So we camped overnight and headed for a long day hike to explore our options.  Our plan after some serious research was to exit up the Crack Route and come back down an "escape route" in the next canyon to the north.  This was what we did and we found a pleasant surprise.

To get started, we have to do a little 20 ft climb. 

Then we have to squeeze through this crack which goes up and up and over a bunch of chock stones.  Lots of squeezing, lots of climbing, lots of lifting.  (A little back story here.  I had been in the North Fork of the Robbers Roost before 20 years ago. I supposedly had exited through this very canyon...BUT I had no memory of this experience and I never would have suggested that we try this with our backpacks if I had any memory of it.)  But this was a day hike so no backpacks so it was super fun. 

 The we were up on the mesa top using our map skills to find the entry point for our next canyon.  This was fun but we took no pictures from up on the mesa.  I love map reading and we found our way right to the top of our entry point.  And we headed down into the canyon.  We were expecting to find about 1/4 - 1/2 a mile of slot canyon accessible only by this entrance or a technical decent with 3 rappels.  The entrance was a relatively easy hike down some slick rock and and sandy gully.  It brought us to the slot canyons that we were looking for and here are some of the images.

 We had to do a little canyon travel skill building on this trip.  The boys learned to chimney which we are all doing here.

 Here is Wren using the stemming technique.

 And Dakota climbing over some chockstones.

 A little bit of skill brought us to the true slot.  Flat bottom with tall beautifully carved walls of sandstone surrounding us and offering us a shady respite from the mesa sun.

Spring Break Part 2: Day Hike and Up the North Fork

The next day was a layover day so we headed up the canyon in search of more slots.  We ended our hike here where a big pour off came down from above.  Everyone was psyched to hike without their full packs and we explored many wonderful expressions of the land, poking our heads in holes, checking out little side paths and enjoying each others company.  Here at the apex of our hike, Dakota dug a big hole and was able to make drippy castles while Wren explored the upper ledges, looking for cool forts.   Below is the view down on the pool created by the dripping spring and pour-off.  You can see me and Dakota checking out the drippy castle hole.

I got to spend some time drawing most days.  This day, the boys found a dead bat which I got to draw. 

The next day we headed up the North Fork of Robber's Roost.  Here is a good picture of the color of the rock. 


Many of our hiking days looks like this.  Big rock walls towering above us as we made our way through the vegetation down in the canyon bottoms.





 

Spring Break Part 1: Hiking in to Robbers Roost

In search of some slot canyons we headed off to southern Utah for Spring Break.

 As we look out across the mesa everyone is ready to hike.  Wren is looking cool in his shades and I have that peaceful..." I am in the desert look."    Moments later a pick up truck drove by heading down the road that we were planning on hiking down for the first mile of our trip.  I quickly flagged them down and asked is we could get a ride in the back.  The boys were thrilled.  Ride in the back of a pick up truck...no seat belts...and we don't have to hike that extra mile.  Brilliant!

 Out of the truck, backpacks on, headed across the mesa.  Eventually we got to the rim of the canyon where we all got a taste of the gatorade!  YUM!  A treat for the boys and well worth it! 

 From the rim we headed down the "Old Cow Trail" which followed the slick rock down into a White Roost Canyon.

 Here is our first night camp.  We were amazed that we drove from just south of Salt Lake City to the road head, packed up the packs, hiked to camp and still had enough time and energy to head up canyon for an afternoon hike.  We were looking for our first slot canyon.  We found it, but access was so limited that we only got to experience about 15 feet of the slot before we were cliffed out.

 Day 2 took us down canyon to the confluence of Robbers Roost where we lunched up in these cool holes about 10 feet off the canyon floor. 

  Up Robbers Roost Canyon to the confluence of the North Fork and the Middle Fork we found a great bench just off the sandy bottom where we camped for 2 nights.  Happy Wren at the setting of the sun.

 The boys loved setting up Rock Shops.  Here is their first installment.  They set up the shop.  We go around and collect our own rocks and then barter with them for the one's they have collected.  None of them go in our backpacks.  It is a wonderful camp activity during dinner prep and camp set up.

Fun and News

Promptly after moving in we traveled to AZ on a Christmas road trip.  And I will blog out of order about that trip.  But because I have been so tardy in posting, I just wanted to get some current images up for folks. 

We have been having lots of fun times in and out of our new home this winter.  Here are a few images. 

We have been enjoying ourselves and the snow at bluewood almost every weekend.  Keeping us busy but joyful because of the sun.

 We have gotten a bunch more snow down in town this year than either of the previous years.  Here is our sweet little street, Statesman. 

 Wren had a UFO photo project.  He had to take a UFO photo without altering the image after.  Dakota, of course wanted to participate so here is one of each.  Wren's first with the red, UFO.  Then Dakota's with the blue one.

 This is just pure boy fun. 

Big News: the tooth fairy visited Dakota for the first time last week.  Wow was he ever excited.

And then this week Wren visited the Orthodontic fairy and got braces.