Ptarmigan Ridge Revisited

We came back to the Ptarmigan Ridge trail because during our first trip, the weather turned and we didn’t want to be caught so high up in the mountains with sour weather. This second trip was awesome and we really felt like we were on another planet. We made it up near the base camp for climbers of Mt. Baker.

Self-portrait of family at Ptarmigan Ridge

Visiting another planet: Approaching Pavonis Mons by Balloon

I am a therapy dog

Marcos is a licensed therapy dog and we have started visiting assisted living houses and hospitals in the area. Right now, I am working on the concept of therapy dog for a project. Not just the therapy dogs that provide emotional therapy for the sick and elderly like Marcos but the ones that cure our ills by inspiring us and giving us confidence to face a daunting world, dogs like Lupe.

Cooking happenings at the Forest House

This is a chilled beet soup with pickle juice. Very good on hot days in the summer. Kirsten is holding a hybrid of broccoli and cauliflower, very tasty in a stir-fry.

Firewood

It took my truck 3 loads to bring a cord of firewood up to the house. The summer has been so nice we haven't had a fire yet. It took about all day to stack and organize the wood, in addition to making the trips out to a forest house outside of the towns of Nooksack and Everton, where an old guy in overalls was busy chopping and stacking what looked like the last piles of some 100 cords of firewood he had to sell. I asked him if he did it himself and he said yes. And I wasn't surprised that his torso was shaped like a V and his biceps cut from under his shirt.

Chilling at the Forest House

Bedtime stories and views of trees.

Family Portraits at Tomyhoi Lake

The picture of us all together came after one of the steepest climbs that we have taken all summer. Grueling and daunting, we felt quite lucky to be alive at the top.