Let There Be Light.

Readers Note:  Darrell on duty today.

Brain cancer is...

...appreciating how much more we can see through our clean windows.  

Notice I continued with the biblical theme in our title today?  Witness how good the windows look.

People in small mountain towns have vast ranges and amounts of experience.  We hired Ron* (on the ladder, above) to wash the windows today, which means he scrubbed them and bladed them (an extra process that removes stuck-on particles with a sharp blade).  

In addition to being an expert window washer, Ron has been a long haul trucker, a roofer, a fry cook, and an insect abatement guy.

Where was he during the moth crisis?  He was excited about Andi's photos of our moth graveyard.  We are keeping Ron's number handy for sure.  Next up, we’ll have him check our roof.

Here's to other people working!  Happy Friday, Team D!

*We got Ron’s number from Jeannie when we met her the other day.  Ron calls Jeannie the Queen of Fawnskin because she knows everyone.

Today’s Field Trip
We hiked at Snow Summit, via the sky chair.  Now we'll mostly stick to the North Shore because lots of people are heading up for the gorgeous weekend.

Today’s Blooms

At the top.

19 Bags! A Record!

Readers Note:  Blogger Darrell is back today.

Brain cancer is...

...setting abatement records!

We filled up 19 bags with pine needles, oak leaves, cut branches, and grasses.  The last record was 15 bags.  The image above shows me surveying the area that was pictured in a letter from the county to prove we needed to abate.  Yes, they actually send a photo in the letter.

All the brush has been reduced in height to under 4 inches.  And we raised lots of tree limbs to the height of four feet, also to reduce fire risk.  The front area looks damn good!

The project took three days because we didn’t want to succumb to altitude sickness.  We didn’t.  Now we can play!

Today we spotted a young apple on our apple tree.  Future bear food.  

A different neighbor in the past told us that a rattlesnake lived near the apple tree as well.  A serpent and an apple.  How biblical!

Hope it’s play time for you too, friends!

Today's Field Trip

The Stanfield Marsh still has plenty of water.  And look at that sky!

Today's Blooms

Not to be outdone by the bright colors of yesterday's "elsewhere" blooms, the North Shore represented with lots of magenta sweet peas today.

Here's a close up:

We Love Our Gloves.

Readers Note:  Blogger Andi here today.  Darrell's typing fingers are sore from weed whacking.  He had the bigger, sassier weed whacker.  My hands are fine.

Brain cancer is...

...raking up the forest floor and bagging it up to take someplace else.

If you're going to bag up the forest floor, you really need good gloves.

We love our gloves.

Today we discovered how many hours of abatement it takes to reach exhaustion:  Three.  In terms of bags, that's 12.  We are nearly done.  Tomorrow will be the last day, we're sure.

It was another great day, nonetheless.  Lots of good things happened.  Here are a few, in case you need some good news.

We share with you a rare field trip under the front deck:

The only time I go under that deck is for abatement, so this is a treat to be enjoyed for a whole year.  Notice how oak leaf-and pine needle-free it is?  Check!

We made a new neighbor friend, Jeannie, and traded contact information.  Jeannie gave us a great Fawnskin wildlife report:

• The local bears do indeed love our apple tree out front.
• They also love Doritos.
• Bears here don't hibernate (why would they with all the apples and Doritos?).
• The den of the coyote we see at dusk running through the forest is right up over the hill.
• There's a resident bobcat and cougar.

Now we have sightings to look forward to!  

We had sightings of our own today even if they weren't of dangerously cool predatory mammals:

• A frog!  (A side benefit of going under the deck)
• A hummingbird
• Three lizards
• A northern flicker

We also dragged our tired bodies down to the lake for dinner at the Pines.  Look how pretty down at the shore afterwards.

See?  A great day.

Thanks for your love for Zach and Summer and their anniversary too.

Happy Hump Day, Team D!

Today’s Blooms, from Elsewhere

From Summer.  Just wait till I can post the video version!

from Kristine, Epiphyllum...still!

Accelerated Acclimation Schedule

Brain cancer is...

...weed whacking.

Team D, didn't we agree that some time for acclimating to the altitude was called for?  Darrell agreed, and yet we were weed whacking by 9 a.m. today. Ha ha. Let's call that an accelerated acclimation schedule.

Darrell did, in his defense, allow us to call it quits before we were exhausted.  By 1:30, he was enjoying steak and and a glass of chardonnay by the lake.

Next we wandered the village (masked) and then  headed back to the moth-free cabin.  The jays and woodpeckers are here, enjoying seed on our newly done deck railings.

Also, today we celebrate Zach and Summer, whose anniversary it is.  Zach and Summer met as undergrads, lived with us upon graduation while they earned their master's degrees, were there in the hospital for Darrell's GBM stay, were on the front lines with us in those tough early days, and then had the gall to leave us two years later, after they wedded and launched their solo lives in grad school and teaching in Colorado.  They are having a great day, and we can't wait to share a celebratory meal together someday again soon.  We love you and celebrate you, Zach and Summer.

July 1, 2018

Here's a link to a 2-minute slideshow* of some of the Yoast Guillaume adventures, starting the day of their engagement. 

Today has been a great day!

*Fun tech note:  We used the free tool, Microsoft Photos, to create the video.  Then we uploaded it to YouTube to share. Photo credit:  The one wedding photo is by Christine.

Today’s Blooms
We caught these lovelies before the work began.  First we snapped them, then we whacked them. Sorry. Any plant over four inches had to be taken down to a fire-safe inch or two.

Acclimation Day

Readers Note: Darrell and Andi posting together here.

Brain cancer is...

...acclimating.

We have much acclimating to do.  With the math institute over,* we are acclimating to our summer fun mentality.  So we headed up to the cabin today, which is at nearly 7,000 feet.  We know to always take a day for our bodies to adjust to the altitude before we exert ourselves strenuously.

However...the best laid plans, as they say.  We just finished cleaning up all the construction dust from the Cabin Decks Project.  The decks look and feel great, as you see, above, but you can imagine the dust from sanding hundreds of square feet of wood decking.  There was also an old fan carcass after the Cabin Fan Project.  Finally, there was the Dead Moth Graveyard Clean Up Project that seemed like a “must do” item before we could relax.  (Side note:  Andi is nearly certain that some of you would like to see how thousands of dead moths all in one place look.  Darrell is wavering.  Email Andi if you want the pics!)

In addition to vacationing, we are also up here to take “abate”  the plants around our structure.  It’s required every summer for fire protection.  We weed whack and bag all the wild grass to a height of no more than four inches.  It takes a few days.

What’s your opinion?  Perhaps we should add another acclimation day to the schedule?

*The institute was GREAT. Nearly 60 teachers, focused on math and equity in these crazy times.  Love you CMPF fellows!

Today’s Blooms

From our backyard before we headed up. The first of its kind. Yay!

From Taylor and Sarah’s Front Yard.  Oooh!

Dads are cool.

Readers Note:  Blogger Andi here today.

Brain cancer is...

...saying "cheers," dads.

We chose an action-packed day for Darrell's Fathers Day.  Above you see we started the day celebrating Gordon.  Gordon has been a father for 69 years.  Gordon says today is National Selfie Day too.  Here's a selfie for you, Dad.  Cheers!

On to LuAnn's to celebrate Darrell with this fine spread...

 ...and these fine people (Monica, Susanne, and LuAnn).

We philosophized about dads and shared dad stories.

Clearly Darrell was hungry after a morning like this.  Good thing because our final stop was a reservation at Lazy Dog.

Darrell's menu choices?  Bacon candy and mini corn dogs.  Cheers, Darrell!

We also had great conversations with Zach and with Alex and his family.  A theme of the day is that Dads are cool.  

Sure, they may be cool to varying degrees, and they are definitely cool for different reasons.  

Without going on and on, I'll briefly say that Darrell and I have decided that "parenting" as a class of activities is pretty similar to "mothering" and "fathering."  So, here's a short list of things that I thank you, Darrell, for providing in your sons' lives that they would not have gotten from this parent (me).

You're a cool dad, Darrell because...

• ...you, too, thought a funny tee-shirt was usually the best fashion choice.
• ...you dug deep, deep holes at the beach.
• ...you understood the elusive appeal of James Bond.
• ...you built impenetrable Lego structures based on the principles of engineering design.
• ...you got doughnuts.
• ...you didn't make people write thank you notes.
• ...you never once complained about meets, games, physics, or calculus.
• ...you lived your values.
• ...you taught boys that men can be loving and emotionally open while simultaneously being strong and brave.  
• ...you showed them how to face adversity.
• ...you're a great son at the same time that you're a cool dad.
• ...you showed your sons, by example, how to be the spouse every partner deserves.

To all the dads and dad-like people out there, past and present:  In whichever ways you're cool:  Cheers!

Today's Blooms

LuAnn's Plumeria

Side Fence Planting Project? Done!

Readers Note:  Blogger Darrell is back today.

Brain cancer is...

...declaring the Side Fence Planting Project done. 

You know how projects continue to grow on their own?  We wanted to stop with the mints and the bamboo within our irrigation system, but it was not to be.  We received more tubing from Amazon to tie in the backyard bougainvilleas.  Today I finished tying the bougainvilleas into the drip system. 

So, as of today, we are calling Side Fence Planting Project complete.   At least for now.

Andi's Take: Happy summer solstice!  Darrell's tummy so far reports good no-Dew news. "Unfortunately," says Darrell.  No-Dew Day Two seems to be going well too.  

What's that, above?  Not one new bamboo but two?  Oh wait!  We have three!  Not two!

Here's the other new bamboo-bino we found today.

Today's Blooms

Summer sent pics this morning of her giant blooming succulent.  I think her photos look like beautiful paintings.  

She says the blossoms smell like honey and lemon.  She also says the blossoms taste delicious.  We miss Summer.