In the Great Outdoors - A Not-So-Great Week

Our week long camping trip was one for the memory book, just not for nice reasons. In addition to the tragic loss of our loyal pet, it was rainy and windy and we were sort of attacked by a grizzly bear.

That was one of the two most terrifying moments of my life. We were driving our little 4x4 down a densely wooded mountain trail, followed by my brother on a dirt bike and my parents, and two of our kids, in their ATV. We suddenly saw ahead of us a standing grizzly that whoofed down on all fours and charged us. It ducked into the side brush, and leaped out behind our 4x4, swiping the rear bumper with it's teeth and paw as it darted back into the forest. My parent's ATV conveniently had mechanical problems at that very moment, so there we all were, sitting ducks for a very angry bear. It is only by the grace of God that we made it out unscathed - and we praise Him for it. The ATV brakes unjammed and we were on our way again, rather quickly. You see, we had unknowingly threatened this Momma's cub, and she was some upset. It was a very tense situation, to understate things, and we were extremely vulnerable.




For those who aren't familiar with grizzly bears, they are shy animals, but very aggressive when provoked . A threatened grizzly is a formidable beast. They can accelerate faster than a dirt bike and run faster than a horse. A normal rifle hit will only irritate this bear and make it angrier. It seldom surrenders.





I've always said we live in a very safe area: no earthquakes, tornadoes, rattlesnakes or scorpions. Just bears, and you can see them coming. I've changed my tune now. The attack happened so fast there was no time to think up a defense. Only the protection of God separated us from that bear.





We do live in a pretty neat place though. Several days later we drove to this little known faraway spot, known as Moses' Rock, or Hole In the Wall. An underground river pops out from beneath this sheer rock face. The water is clear, cold and soooo refreshing. (And the mosquitoes are huge.)

Hiking in flip-flops. Classy.
On the way back to camp, I got caught Rod goofing off in the 4x4. Camp Sweet Camp Most of the family that came are semi-retired empty nesters and they've put in their tenting time. Now it's all about the comfort of home in the wild fresh air. But we don't roll that way. We camp in a home-converted car-hauler.

All to soon it was time to load up our motory stuff, buckle up the kids and wave good-bye to all the family. We were there for our annual July 1st Campout, even though we had to leave on July 1st. We drove 7 hours home with only one brief pee break. Amazing!

So, all-in-all, I think each of the Journey's would say the week sucked, but we still have something to praise God for - our very lives!

Good-bye

March 20 2004 - June 29 2009

He died while camping with his favourite family.

We'll miss you, faithful friend.

Cedar Forest

When we we went snowshoeing in March I got some amazing shots of the old growth cedar forest. We went back last week to see what we could see.

Remember this tree, that (then) 3 year old Del could just fit under?


Here it is with (almost) 11 year old Kate!

Remember the quiet, soft snow, bathed in filtered light?Here it is, bursting with new green-ness.
Devil's Club. This awful looking, thorny plant can grow to over 7 feet tall. It grows in groups of three, so with the right soil conditions, if you stand in the middle of the three thorn-covered stems, your weight will push down on the centre and close the stems around you. It makes my spine tingle. I had thought that the thorn stings would fester, but I recently found out that this plant had many medicinal purposes for the Aboriginals.

See, he's scared. :)

We couldn't even see this nurse log under all the snow.

Baby cedars grow straight up out of it, sending their roots into it's nutrient rich, decomposing wood.

Have I said I sure love where I live?

Preserved

Several years ago my grandma had a stroke and is now somewhat impaired, physically and mentally. The things she used to enjoy are often too difficult now, and her mobility is limited. I was having a hard time buying gifts for her, until I had this light-bulb moment: An 8x8 scrapbook that I could fill with a few pages at a time. We live 7 hours from my grandma, and she doesn't get to see the kids regularly. With this scrapbook, I can give her new pages each Mothers Day, birthday and Christmas.

It's a win-win! Here are some of the pages I recently made (some for my scrapbooks, some for both of us):I know this isn't the most technically correct photo, but I love it because it truly captures how Eli (3) feels about horses: awestruck silence. He loves to lead them around in circles by the halter rope. Riding them is fine, but leading them .... that's the way to go. I totally copied this layout from a template.I know I spelled tobogganing wrong. That's what happens when you're in a hurry to get a page done for grandma before you go up to visit her. Whoops.Tobogganing wrong again. In a different way, even. Rats!

I made lots more wee 4x6 scrap pages, too, because each grandma has a mini brag book to put in her purse or bag.

I'm pretty sure I spelled everything right on those ones. Because, of course, I'm not showing them to you.

Life Science *Warning - Graphic*

I am a plant killer. A serial plant killer. I froze an aloe. I threw away a sickly African violet. I neglected some kind of hardy purpley-green leafy vine. Even my cactus didn't make it. It was much to my surprise then, that Kate (10) is passionate about the garden. She and Rod planted a vegetable garden last month, and she independently transplanted some flowers into our front bed. Actually, Rod is fantastic with plants so it shouldn't have been a surprise.

Kate is out every morning, sometimes before breakfast, to voluntarily weed our little patch. She even has enough enthusiasm to convince her two younger sisters and a brother or so to help her out. She claims that you must keep up with it because small weeds are easier to pull.

I asked Rod the other day why we watered the garden in the morning, not at night when there is less evaporation. Kate overheard and piped in, "Because night is when the roots like to grow."
Who knew? I'm just so excited that she has a deep interest in something outside of what I've introduced into her life. It's about her and how God made her.

**This is where it gets graphic.**

Beth (7) found an overturned nest with some Robin's eggs crushed on the ground nearby in the woods behind our house. There was one egg left intact. Torie (8) wondered if we could incubate the egg to see if it would hatch. But it had been cold for too long. I wanted to look at it, possibly sketch it, etc but in the midst of decision making, the poor egg got crushed. I was disappointed that it wasn't handled gently, as it should have been, but we put our heads in ear-to-ear to see a real live biology lesson. We're not farm people, so I wanted to make the most of this.

We could see its beak, its talons, its spine, wee feathers, wing bones, legs and eyes (one of it's eyes is ... umm ... you know). We were awed by this intricate and delicate creation. It's still in our freezer. I'm not sure why I'm saving it. I guess I just don't know how to dispose of it.

I was telling our friends from the Philippines about our discovery and subsequent lesson. They listened very politely and then told me that half-cooked semi-developed duck eggs are common market fare where they're from. They even showed me a picture. Trust me, it looked more grisly than what I have here.