Good Friends....Good Times.....Lots-O-Critters!!!!!!!!!

Well, Here is the long awaited vacation blog! Sorry it has taken so long. We have been busy (and tired!) since we have been home.
Here is Tom, Melissa, and dog Blue on a mountain in the Wasach-Cache National Forest Melissa and I at the Snake River Brewing Co. in Jackson Hole, WY.
Tom and Castor at the Brew Pub- yummy food and beer!
Arriving in the Grand Teton National Park. Beautiful huh?

Welcome to Yellowstone.

Bison (buffalo) EVERYWHERE!! This is truley where the "buffalo roam"!
Mammoth Springs. These springs, or geysers have made some really cool formations.
These trees are extremely old (can't remember exactly how old), and they have been calcified by the geysers' water.
This was the most exciting part of mammoth springs- there is actually water in this area. The rest of it was pretty old and dried up. The colors in the water are from the bacteria and other little creepy- crawleys that live in the water! Take note of some of the other colors in the pictures to come.
Here we are at Norris Geyser. And oh yeah, it was HOT!

This is the only green/yellow water we saw around the geysers. It was pretty!

When we first got to this attraction we passed a group of people and an older lady with the group said something about going to see more "Geezers". It was so funny--- so we called the geysers "geeezers" all week! Her group quickly corrected her, and told her they were geysers. She then said something like, well what ever....

This is the grand canyon of Yellowstone. We are on top of the water fall. It was beautiful, but I was scared to death and didn't like standing on the edge for very long, even though there was a fence! The older I get the more I am scared of heights! Take note of the snow on the right side.
Tom throwing snowballs at Castor. Walking in snow with sandals on is a unique experience, so I had to go down there and stick my feet in! This was at a little "pull out" just past the canyon. We stopped here and ate lunch out of the car.
We sat down by a river and watched this herd of bison hang out. See the dust? The males were fighting (showing off I'm sure!) and kicking up the dust. There were quite a few babies out there, and it was so relaxing to watch them....but we kept looking over our shoulders to make sure none came up behind us. We passed some on the way to this spot.
This is the inn at Old Faithful. It was built in 1904. The inside is beautiful, and I have no idea why we didn't take pictures of it........sorry! Guess we will have to go back!

Melissa and I showered here. Tom seems to think that we weren't supposed to use the facilities, but Melissa asked at the front desk where the showers for the "public" were and she was told that they are on the 2nd floor. The rooms in the hotel are pretty small and some don't have their own bathrooms, so there is a main bathroom/shower room. I don't feel too bad about showering there, I need to wash my hair!!

Here she is.......Old Faithful!
We don't know the name of this geyser, we saw it from the back. It is huge, and the colors in it are very cool! The steam looks blue and reddish orange....kind of looks like Mars! There was a storm in the background, and it looks like the steam connects with the storm cloud.

Damn tourists!

In the Uinta Mountains. There was a ton of snow in this parking lot. Tom walked to the bathroom and he was in snow up to his knees! The snow was melting and running down the hill behind us- thats why our feet are wet!
Ahhhh, Ruths. We could write a whole blog on Ruth's Diner. Food was GOOD, Bloody Marys were GOOD, and the biscuits were TO DIE FOR for! (Ruth's gravy was not good though---sorry Tom!)
Putt Putt Fun in the Hott Hott Sun! In Salt Lake City.
Tiger and Arnold of putt putt.
The next group of pictures are from Castor's camera.

Melissa and I, in the Wasach-Cache in Salt Lake. This was like a 10 minute drive from their house. The hike was pretty short too- but the air was thin!

At mammoth spings in yellowstone. These were young French tourists and they asked me to take their picture. As I was taking the picture sassy girl here, arched her back and got all sassified and I laughed at her as I took the picture. I didn't recall actually laughing at her- it was more of a nervous, I will laugh at this later, laugh....but Melissa, Tom and Castor said I laughed right at her. It was very funny! You know I love to people watch and this was a great place for it! Some of the tourists must not think they are going to the woods, and they get all dressed up, and sassified! I'm pretty sure I just made up that word too--- sassified!
Castor and Melissa
A Marmot. Cute little critter!
A herd of Elk!
An Elk right near the parking lot at the canyon.

Waterfall, at the canyon I believe. Black bear asleep in a tree!
Grizzly bear! This is the 3rd one we had seen on this day. This was after the big carcus eating adventure!

Here is a momma moose! She was grazing, so it was hard to get a good picture of her. She had a baby down there with her too! This was in the Grand Teton Natl. Park on our way home.

Fairy Falls

This is the huge geyser from a few pictures back. This is a picture from above, obviously! Doesn't it look like a big sun?

A very cold night!

leaving fairy falls

Hope you enjoyed the pictures! We had a blast on this vacation.......hopefully we get to do it again. Yellowstone is just amazing, and I would encourage anyone to go! I think I would like to sleep in a small camper next time though....I was a bit scared of the bears, and it was cold! Thank you Castor and Melissa!!!!! We had a great time and can't wait to take Ya'll on a Smokey Mountain Critter Safari next year!!!!

After 19 long months....

I GOT MY BRACES OFF!!!!

WOOOOOO HOOOOOO!

I have already flossed once, and can't wait to do it again! I am going to be a flossin' fool! It's so easy now! I am so happy I did this, but let me tell ya, it's been a very long 19 months! We were going to have corn on the cob tonight, but it rained, and we were not able to grill out, but I'll be enjoying that tomorrow!

On a side note, I want to thank everyone who is keeping my grandma in your thoughts and prayers. She is doing a little better today, but please keep the positive thought and prayers coming!! I do believe in the power of positive thinking, and I appreciate the help with that ( I have needed it too!).

OK, So here are some goofy pictures of me!

My teeth really do come together, this is just a goofy smile!

Watch our garden grow!!!!

Friday after work I tilled up a good spot for a garden. Then Saturday, while I was at work, Trisha planted all kinds of Veggies: Carrots, Cucumbers, Tomatoes, Green Onions, Jalapeno Peppers, Yellow Squash and two rows of Corn. Stay tuned to watch our garden grow(hopefully). As a side note: two years ago I transplanted some Raspberry bushes and last year they didn't produce at all, but this year WE'LL HAVE RASPBERRIES!!!!!!





You may have to press the play button a couple of times. Enjoy

What a hectic 5 weeks

So life in Leicester has been pretty crazy lately, sorry to those of you who regularly check the blog. About five weeks ago, our friend Adam and his girlfriend came down for the weekend, the following weekend we made a quick trip back to Indiana for a funeral and Saturday after the funeral we headed back south and stopped/spent the night in Cincinnati at the Marriott on the Ohio river in the Newport area. We went to the Haufbrauhaus, a HUGE German beer hall. There are only Three of them in America: Newport, Vegas, and Miami. The next weekend we had a blast camping at LEAF(Lake Eden Arts Festival). WHAT A GREAT TIME!!! There were local musicians and some big name acts(Arrested Development). When we got back from Leaf, our buddy Andy Hodge was here, so we got home Sunday from Leaf then on Monday, I took Hodge camping for a few days. The next weekend we actually spent it at home, playing catch up, doing laundry, regular life maintenance stuff. I took Hodge to Charlotte to catch the train back to Boston that Monday. Spent the night in a nice hotel downtown Charlotte and came back to Asheville the following morning. Memorial day weekend we back to the woods and camped with Seth and Amy. That was very relaxing and the weather couldn't have been better. Within in the past couple of weeks we have been invaded with cicadas. What a creepy looking bug, and their steady drone sound in the distance resembles a 50's sci-fi movie. I remember a few summers ago, when Trish and I moved back to Indiana, that the cicadas were all over the place. But this is a first for us here in Lester. Trish joined a kick-ball league through Buncombe County parks and rec. She signed up with a bunch of people that she works with and they have one game a week. Her season is coming to close, only one game left. Anyone can enter a team and I vote for getting some friends together next year and signing up. I've managed to stay really busy with work and have lots of painting to do before our trip to Salt Lake City and Camping in Yellowstone June 14 through the 22nd. I also bought a work vehicle. I AM SO HAPPY!! Now I can keep the Grand Cherokee looking nice and clean and not put 30 thousand miles a year on it. I bought a 92 Jeep Cherokee. The following pictures are a recap of the past five weeks. Enjoy.........

We had beautiful weather for LEAF!!!! Except for the thunderstorms at night while we were sleeping.

Camping and Hiking with Hodge.

Camping with Seth and Amy
Beautiful Sunset at our house last night
Creepy Cicadas!!!!!
The work beast.
Prost!!!!!!!!! Gotta love drinking liters of the dunkel at the Haufbrauhaus

Bessie's Baby

After being away for the weekend, we came home to a surprise. Bessie had a baby!!!!

Here are some pictures of my favorite neighbor cow Bessie (found out her real name is Molly, but I refuse to call her that) and her new baby boy. He was born yesteday, 5/3/08, and was standing up and nursing after only about 45 minutes. He has been playing today, and running! Of course he waits to do these things until I am already back up in my driveway....but I got some decent pictures. I asked Bessie's "dad" if I could take some pictures. I know he has seen me down there talking to Bessie and taking pictures before, but since he was down at the barn I figured I would ask.....he probably thinks I am a big weirdo, or some city girl who has never seen a baby cow! Little does he know I was chasing cows (not tipping them) at a young age of 7. Do you remember that mom?

According to Bessie's dad, Bessie has been a good moma, and she is very protective. She used to let the dogs (their's not ours!!) come in her fence and she would even lick them, but now she chases them out and kicks at them. She watched me very close, so I did not get too close to her. I tried to stay down the road a little and not right in front of her.

The neighbor also updated me on all the wildlife sightings in the area, including the "cat" he thought his dogs were chasing. The "cat" turned out to be a very powerful skunk that got all three of his dogs! He also said that there have been a lot of coyotes coming around lately, and that he actually had to shoot one in his pasture not too long ago because it was out in the middle of the day and he wouldn't leave. It's good to know your neighbors!

I'm sure there will be more cow pictures to come! I might have to rename the blog to "Tom and Trish, and the trees, hills, cows and dogs of Leicester"....what cha think??? ahhhh, I love this place!!