And a power line

Today some folks hung the wire that will bring power to our new home.You wouldn't want to try this if the wires were live.

This is the power pole next to our house. Mary is standing in front of it for perspective for those of you who have never seen a power pole, and have no idea of its size.

While we were taking pics of the power line Alice ran off and found a spot to take a nap.

How firm a foundation

After months of delays getting started on our house, things are finally moving along. The footings were poured Friday.

Sam helped put in rebar.

Looking at the house from the garage side.

Looking at the basement from the back of the house.

We're going to have a.....

HOUSE!!

As you all should know, Sam and I have been trying to get a house built. We've hit wall after wall trying to get this thing moving and today things actually started. These are the first pictures of the Neff Residence in Ruby Valley.

This is the staking out of the house (see how big Alice is getting?)

Us waving on the freshly dug dirt

The hole is about 6' deep, that full size ladder is shorter than the wall

The hole (in the corner on the left will be the stairs, I'm standing at the edge of the garage closest to the kitchen)

This is a collection of a few clips, there isn't a lot to see, but it's something

Huntin' Camp Pics

Hello all. This past weekend Sam and I had the opportunity to go to Wyoming and visit the Clines side of the family at our annual Huntin' Camp. We have camped in this same spot since 1951 - pretty neat, eh? These are just some high-lights and a quick story or two. Hope you enjoy! Oh yeah, and these picture are in no particular order.

The convoy leaving camp

"Isn't she lovely, isn't she beautiful?"

This is "Mary's Tree". While we were hiking up "Bill's Ridge" I asked why it was named that. Dad told me that Bill claimed it. So after thinking about that a minute I pointed to this tree and said, "That's my tree". So, for future generations, Mary's Tree can now be found on Bill's Ridge.

The doughnuts were "day old" and kinda yucky, but I found that if we heated them over the fire, they were pretty edible. This is Sam enjoying his hot off the fire chocolate doughnut with "Coon-Daddy" Clines in the background.

The group up at The Tree (formally Mac's Tree)...Cassie looks really good in this picture

After giving Dad a foot massage, Cassie was flossing his toes with a paper-towel...check out his face...

The group on Saturday before Grandma, Den, Russ, and Chance left

When we got to The Tree I ate my lunch and quickly found a spot to sleep in

Sam really wasn't cold, he just didn't know what to do with his coat, so he wrapped it around his neck on Bill's Ridge, just over the hill behind him is Mary's Tree

A broken branch that kinda looks like a lion

Well, that appears to be the end, I apologize now if this was too long of a post. Hope you enjoy!

Mary's Pics of Smith Lake

Sam already did two posts about Smith Lake, but I thought I'd go ahead and post my own pictures. I tried to do this post right after I did the video of the road up there, but the connection wouldn't work so it's taken me this long to get back to it.

A cool rock close to Smith Lake

A lake we passed hiking up

What Sam looked like most of the time

This is a rainbow trout (really, it's there)

I couldn't get a close picture because my zoom isn't that good.

I don't think a pizza has ever tasted so good to either of us. We were going to get something else, but by the time we got down almost everything was closed, so this was our pizza from Flying J - don't knock it 'til you try it!

This picture reminds me of a prehistoric dinosaur land.

Can't have pictures without this! I was thinking of Mom when I took this picture.

Alice Playing

Again, for Eric's sake, here is another video. We apologize if anyone finds these annoying or repetitive. We aim to please with this here blog.

Alice, the Soccer Dog

Hello, we have had a very cute request from Eric for more puppy movies. This is a little montage of Alice playing soccer. Yes, we realize this isn't really a soccer ball, but it's the ball that was left out by the school kids over the weekend.

Smith Lake

Here's some pictures from our hike to Smith Lake over Labor Day weekend. Mary already posted video of the drive up. Angel Lake is a drive-to lake and a little crowded, so we hiked a couple of miles for some better scenery.

My panorama of the lake turned out pretty good.

But Mary's was better.

Lots of wildlife. We saw rainbow trout in the lake, and an alpine animal called a pika

And a few chipmunks. They grow bigger in the mountains.

Pika

Smith Lake

When we were there some bighorn sheep came down to the lake to water. This one must have seen me snapping pictures and decided to strike a pose.
More sheep
Mary and I at the end of the trail.
On the trail.
A rainbow on the way up.

The road to Angel Lake

This is a view of the road going up to Angel Lake. This is the race course to Race to the Angel. Please forgive the very odd commentary.

Alice update

Well, even though we thought her name was Tippi or Tipsy or something we have decided to call her Alice. She is a very cute pup, even if her energy and whining get very annoying sometimes!"I'm keeping one eye open to make sure you don't stick me in a room alone!"

This is a quick clip of us playing with Alice before I got sick.

Canning

Hello, I know it's been quite a while, but here I am again. These are the things I've been bottling lately. We got a bunch of green beans, peaches, pears, a few jars of apple pie filling, strawberry jelly, and jalapeno jelly. The jellies are quie delicious, and I'll let you know about the other things.