Safflower In Bloom

I love, love, love it when the safflower is in bloom.

Looking east at sunrise.

Also, looking east at sunrise.

And, somewhere in this picture is a deer chasing Jasmine.

 Could be a new trend - safflower maze instead of corn maze?   Or alien crop circles?
Or Boyd demolishing the cockle burs!

Bye, Bye Bronco

It was a sad day when the Bronco left us.   It needed more repairs than could be justified. 

 

We donated it to Kidney Kars, but not before Boyd salvaged something for the pick-up.

 Lots of good memories.  Bear Lake trips, waivers out west, honeymoon vehicle, a trip with my family to the Spiral Jetty on Christmas day, and many more.

 Boyd used the Bronco as a screening tool.  If you couldn't climb in it by yourself, you failed his test.   I passed!

 Boyd's mom, Mary, went on many trips with him in this stylin' ride.

 Boyd used the Bronco to learn all kinds of mechanical tricks and repairs.

 The Bronco also carried home my Cricket after she died and then was used to go adopt Jasmine from her previous home in West Jordan.

 I can't even remember how many times Boyd got pulled over while driving it.  It seems the cops were truly profiling him based on the vehicle.  You should have seen the surprised look on the officers' face when they realized it was being driven by a middle aged white guy and it was appropriately licensed and insured.   One officer even went as far as having his drug dog sniff around and he made Boyd do a sobriety test. 

 And we can't forget the night that it wouldn't shift out of 5th gear AND Boyd managed to hook his finger on a fishing lure that he kept in the Bronco for some unknown reason.  How he drove home with his finger caught on the dash by a hook and unable to shift down I will never know!

The Bronco served many great purposes!  We hope that in donating it to the Kidney Foundation it can continue doing good.

 It really was like saying good-bye to an old friend!

Que Beleza!

Our lovely Belle received what has become her annual hair cut.

I think you will agree, she looks spectacular!



If not spectacular, you at least have to agree she will be much more comfortable in the 100 degree heat!

Meanwhile, Back on the Farm

Life has continued on, busy, peaceful, stressful, complicated, adventurous, and so on and so forth.
Stay tuned for super-duper exciting updates to come in the next few days, but for now...

Just a few scenes from the farm.

Devil's Churn

Overall, my favorite stop.  Maybe because it was the first full day and I wasn't exhausted from continuous walking on sand, rocks, hills and through wooded forests.
We had an amazing view, tide pools full of interesting creatures and we saw whales.
A great day!

Lots of driftwood on all the beaches. Also lots of signs warning of the dangers of playing on the driftwood. 

Jess got a selfie stick for her birthday and used it constantly.  She even showed off its' finer points with curious, usually older, onlookers.

 So many interesting creatures in the tide pools on this beach.

Winding, switchback path through the forest down to the beach.

Cook Chasm at high tide.  Water rises through a opening that has a rock stuck in it.  Looks like a whale blowing air.

Speaking of whales blowing air.  This seemed to be a momma and her calf.

 These tide pools were the best, but also by far the most difficult to traverse.  Haylee was so good to always help Morgan not fall.

 We ate lunch at some sort of health food restaurant.  It took 45 minutes to get our order.  I loved mine, some sort of fresh green salad with goat cheese on bread.

 However, Morgan and Grace both ordered what turned out to be neon yellow mac n cheese.  Pretty sure it was made with nutritional yeast instead of actual cheese.

 Then there was this seagull that decided to hang out of the hood of this car.