General tramping around – The Family Reunion

For some reason the word cougar surfaced on one of our first hikes. I believe it was Josh and Jenny that aired the topic as we headed off into the woods around Round Lake state park. There was a tinge of trepidation in the word, a sense of ‘are we in danger’ type of thing. Too funny. Sure there are cats out there roaming the mountains, there are some hanging out in the mountains around Vegas. Are they stalking people? NO! In general, they are nowhere near where we are, even in the deep woods. You won’t know they are there unless you see footprints in the snow…yikes…no snow in August. Oh well! We took Riot on one hike around the lake with us, Darian had to carry him most of the way (it was expected because the trail dips and rises all the way and it would tire an adult, let alone a three year old). As we left the camp, someone in our group said, “Riot’s screams will scare away all the cougars.” *hysterical laughter* Riot has a tendency to let the world know when he’s not happy.

If you are going to freak out, perhaps you should skip this post and come back at a later time. Hunting is a way of life for a lot of people. I grew up eating venison, elk, game hens, wild rabbits, antelope, and anything else that could be gleaned from the land…including frog’s legs when we lived in NM, and fish from the local waters wherever we happened to be at the time.. My brothers HUNT! They bow hunt and use guns. They eat what they shoot. They apply for licenses every year. Licensing and hunting are done for a reason; if you don’t understand the reasons you need to do some research on preservation. Predators are everywhere in society, some of them just don’t carry a gun or have a license and are a lot harder to spot. Just so you know, there are big cats out there. This is a picture – I took of a picture – of my brother Ken after he bagged this one. It was eight feet long from nose to tail tip – he had a license to shoot it. And don’t forget to check out the skull and teeth…yeah…Ken likes skulls.

DSC03215.JPG DSC03217.JPG DSC03221.JPG

Ken and Vicki’s house is a tribute to hunting and nature, but that post will come later so moving on to tramping around.

We saw two does with a Bambi in two different hikes around the lake. The Bambis had spots and I wish I had managed to unfumble myself through some pictures but alas… On this hike, Dan had just stated that he’d seen a deer on almost every hike he’d done. I asked, “You mean like that one?” as this doe stepped out onto the trail in front of us and just stood there. I botched dragging out my camera and managed this shot and a few shots of a departing white tail when she got tired of waiting for me to capture her:

DSC02454.JPG

Riot absolutely loved the dirt, discovering bugs, and any stick or branch that he could drag with him. He picked up handfuls of dirt and threw them in the air (every day in a continual ritual) and kicked as much of it into the air as his little shoes could stir up. He had so much dirt in his hair at one point that when his dad dusted the mohawk bur back and forth, dust continued to fly out of it with every whisk. I think he found all three of his favorites in this shot as we came back around the lake trail towards camp.

DSC02497.JPG

He rarely swam after he discovered fishing with dad. They were on the dock for several hours at a time, more than once a day, and each time dad caught a fish, Riot pulled it in. Dad released the fish from the hook and Riot picked it up and threw it back into the lake with, “Bye, Bye fishy.” He loved to carry the fishing pole between the lake and the campsite. Fantastically heart warming to watch this interaction.
DSC02694.JPG

We had to spend another fireless year at the campsites. My pyro sis must have been having all kinds of withdrawal. I know in other posts I’ve talked about her ability to keep a campfire running 24/7 and go through all the wood that the brothers bring to the campsites for all of us to share. Only problem is she doesn’t share…she’s a little ‘wood pig’ and I’ve caught her coming to my campsite in years past to steal my firewood. *hysterical* One needs a wood thief alarm when she’s around. We set up a propane burner in the fire pit and ran a few propane Coleman lanterns for fake fire effect.

Some things just never seem to come into focus until you see them right up front. I really never thought about the fact that wasps/hornets/yellow jackets would spend anytime drinking water. Perhaps they don’t drink it, they just carry it back to use it in constructing their almost paper like nests. But here they are, bellying up to the watering trough.

DSC03282.JPG

Ospreys have been in jeopardy due to building nests on electric poles and wires. Conservationists have constructed platforms for the Osprey to nest on and it appears to be working. These nests – birds and all – can be found around a lot of the waterways in N. Idaho.

DSC02898.JPG

More on the next post.

3 thoughts on “General tramping around – The Family Reunion”

  1. sooy for that it was my little brother i meant thankss for sharing that was pretty cool

    hane spider

  2. that was funny at moments really cool i read all of it i am your fan

    hane spider

Comments are closed.