Camping

So I've been camping the past 2 weekends. The first trip was with friends. We went out to Bruneau Sand dunes, which is the largest free standing sand dune in North America. It was a good time, plenty of mosquitoes. I think the highlight was the reservoir they have there. It is only 1 foot deep for about 10 feet out, so it was perfect for the dogs. K had a blast bounding through the water. She wasn't the best at actually swimming, though. Every time her front feet splashed any water, she would try to bite at the water, choke on it, then cough a sputter for a bit.

M swam, but N wasn't too pleased with the water. He's kind of a chicken. He did like playing fetch on the sandy beach, though.


This past weekend I went camping with J's family. We got up there on Thursday around dinner time, and it rained off and on until Friday night. We tried going on a 4 wheeler trip on Friday, and K came along, running at 10-15mph (what an athletic pup!), but after about 6 1/2 miles, the rain wasn't stopping and K was getting tired of running, so we turned around. K found out the joy of digging, and since we were on vacation, I figured I'd let her...
She was a dirty dog by the end of it. I also learned that M loves to ride of 4 wheelers...
He will just sit in your lap as you drive. Funny dog. Saturday the boys went on a dirt bike ride. They covered 50 miles of back country in about 4-5 hours. They came back dirty and tired, but had a good time.
At least they wear all their protective gear. We got to see a huge old dead tree. Not quite as big as the redwoods it California, but still really big and cool looking. They have a sign on it saying that they have left it up as a habitat for animals, and while we there there, there were 3 ospreys up there, hanging out. The mornings and evenings we spent around a campfire, it got really cold, especially with all the rain. Kind of weird for this time of year in Idaho.
And I don't think we spent a moment sitting down without at least one dog in our laps. On Sunday we tried again going 4 wheeling. There's a trail that goes to the top of Iron Mountain, starting at about 4000 feet and ending at about 10,000 feet. Quite a climb! But we saw a lot of beautiful scenery and flowers along the way.
It was a pretty amazing view from that high up. They actually have a watch tower that some poor park ranger used to have to stay in, and it had a bunch of grounding wires to help keep him from getting electrocuted. No thanks.We also spent our fair share of time just lounging around, playing with the dogs, and generally relaxing. J's best friend and his wife came up too, and they have a big mastiff. He actually loves to play fetch, and loves the water. He's a pretty happy, clumsy dog.
All in all, it was a great trip, and I can't wait to go again next year.

Big catch up time

So I realize I haven't posted for a month, so now I'm catching up. First, Fourth of July. J and I drove up to Council, Idaho, because I had heard that they do porcupine races and a parade and such. I thought it might be fun. So we drove the 2 1/2 hours up there, I thought it was a pretty drive, but J is so used to the high desert, he doesn't think it's pretty any more. We get up there and we missed the parade, which I wasn't too upset about, I've never been a parade person. So we find some bleachers, which is where we assume the races are going to be. Little do we know, it is a fundraiser for the town, or something to that effect, and they have an auctioneer that auctions off each porcupine individually, and the person that buys the porcupine that wins the races gets some prize. Well, there were 20 porcupines! So 2 hours of sitting in the hot sun later, the races finally begin. Needless to say, J and I were a little grumpy and hungry. Then the races start. First of all, as a veterinarian, I was ashamed to be watching this spectacle. They literally trap porcupines from the wild, have them in big plastic trash cans, have 2 people to man each porcupine, and when they say go, they dump the trash can, one person lays the trash can on its side as a barrier, the other has a broom, and is poking at the porcupine trying to get it to go the right way. These poor innocent creatures are scared to death, just trying to get to some place they can hide, and being mercilessly tormented.


Afterword the third heat of this, we don't really feel the need to see any more, so we head to town. I'm assuming no one has heard of Council, Idaho, and there's a reason for that. There is one small local grocery store, a couple of bars, and 2 restaurants, one of which is closed for fourth of July. So we go to the only place we see serving food. Luckily because we left early, we at least got seated within 20 minutes, but the wait for food was about 1 1/2 hours. J looking very grumpy as we're waiting for food.

Well, the rest of the Fourth went better. After our mediocre meal, we headed back to Middleton where J's parents live, hung out with his sister and brother, barbecued, played some volleyball in the back yard, and watched the fire works.

Another great piece of fun I've had in the past month is the Great Yucca Massacre. There is, or should I say was, a huge, overgrown pile of yuccas in our front yard that I've hated since we moved in. J and I, mostly J, finally did something about it. Well, I read online that actually irradicating these beasts includes digging a hole 3 feet wide and 4 feet deep around each yucca plant, filling the hole in with dirt, then periodically having to pour bleach water onto the plants that are eventually going to come up, despite all of that digging. Well, that just seemed like too much work. That and we can't really do that without disrupting the sidewalk, and our neighbor's yard. So we just decided to pull them up at the base, and do our best to pull them up as they come.
J doing some digging and pulling.

Half way there...
Just a small fraction of the destruction.
That very small space in the front of this bed, and we managed to fill 7 yard bags full to the brim of dead yucca remains. Now we have petunias and lantana growing peacefully there. So much better. I have J to thank for all the hard work. I mostly brought him ice water and helped hold the brown paper yard bags for him to fill.

Okay, well, it's bed time, so that's the update for now. Soon to come, my two consecutive camping trips, one with friends, one with J's family.