Our Garden, Weeds and All

Take a look at all those weeds! So far we've had a pretty good harvest.

Fighting Fire Blight or the Blight of Our Summer Vacation

When school starts and the kids start comparing their summer vacations, our kids will probably rank pretty low in the coolness factor. At least twice a week, sometimes about daily we have been out helping Rick cut Fire Blight. Our job is to help Rick spot the dying branches, hand him the pruning sheers, spray denatured alcohol on the sheers after he's made his cut. Help him manhandle the ladder and pick up the branches he has cut. Cutting out all the fire blight is important, if left untreated it can kill the tree. Insects are attracted to the sticky sap and spread the bacteria to other trees. So far we have cut down about 25 trees. We have also cut the tops out of many trees. Rick said that this is the worst he has seen it in many years. One of our neighbors estimated that she has lost over 50% of her crop. We were out last night and will probably be out cutting another day this week. These photos are from last Thursday, one of the hottest days of our summer. It was also Rick's birthday. I tried to get some good photos, but the sun was too high, and I needed to get to work. It is very important to look up into the trees to spot the fire blight.
Cristine likes to work in style.
After cutting the diseased branches we load it onto a trailer. When it is full, we unload it onto our burn pile. When we have a big enough pile we get to have a hot dog roast.
Can you spot the fire blight in this photo?
Rick scaling the ladder. Happy Birthday!

Hiking the Gorge

Last Saturday, Rick was asked to help dismantle girls camp. We decided we did not want to stay home, so we headed up the Gorge. Our first stop was the Bonneville Fish Hatchery. We fed the baby salmon and stood in amazement while watching the huge sturgeon swim by. We then drove to the other side of the freeway and hiked Wahclella Falls. This was a great hike for the kids, it was only a mile long, with some steep parts and a very cool bridge spanning a deep ravine. The waterfalls along the way and at the end of the hike were beautiful. Had the weather been a bit warmer, I think we may have stopped to splash around.
Taken on the cool bridge, Cristine was a little afraid, since there were small gaps between the boards on the bridge. But we all made it across safely.

Wahclella Falls
After our fun hike we drove through Cascade Locks, trying to decide if we wanted an ice cream from the cute little diner. When we saw all the cars and the huge line of people, we decided drive back to town and visit the local D@iry Queen. This photo was taken at DQ, showing Peter's recently lost tooth. The other top tooth is quite loose and will probably be out by the start of school.

Book Recommendations

I found this website this morning, I think I vaguely heard about it from someone.

Have you tried it? Opinions?

http://www.whatshouldireadnext.com/search

Did you register? Did it give you good ideas for your next book?

I think I'll try registering this evening, I'll update later.

What should I read next has been my theme lately.

Heather

Our ward had a camp out at Lost Lake. Although I've been there many times for bbq's and picnics I have never camped there. What a beautiful place. The only thing I could have improved was the bathrooms. Why haven't they upgraded to flushy toilets? Cristine and her super good friend. They had so much fun playing together.
Peter enjoyed fishing and roasting marshmellows.
A rare picture of me. (All of our camping pictures were taken by Abby)
Well almost all the pictures were taken by Abby.
Michelle roasting a marshmellow. Crissy eating a raw one.
While Abby, Peter and Rick went out fishing, Michelle Cristine and I went on a walk around the lake. I really wish I had taken my camera, when we had gotten most of the way around the lake, we had a beautiful view of Mt. Hood, pink from the sunset. http://lostlakeresort.org/about.php I also managed to read most of the Twilight series before we returned home, just in time for the 4th book to come out.
The potluck Friday night was incredible. Rick bbq'd several tri-tips and deep fried a turkey, which was the best one he's ever done (we'll see if he can do a repeat this Thanksgiving). There wasn't a huge turn out, but we had fun getting to know the families who camped with us. Next year I plan to pack 2 air mattresses so I don't end up on the ground again.