I got a new camera and have been trying to figure it out...it's probably a lot easier to use than my old one....just different!below are some pictures of some critters around our house. The baby swallows were really fun to watch grow...they flew the nest last week, I miss them !! 

hungry babies!
 

Caught this guy eating wild plums in our backyard...will have to figure out which setting works best thru the screen. There's a family of 4 that like to play tag in our front yard at night....keeps Frankie well entertained! 

Frankie...don't know what he would do without Costco boxes. And I really think he know's when I've been and don't bring a box for him...not a happy camper!! 

hostas
 

7-17-05 One of the amazing things about the beaches out here in Oregon and Washington is that you can drive out on them. Although I don't recomend taking rental cars off of the hard packed areas.......trust me......don't ask me how I know these things.......just trust me!! We had supper sitting here contemplating how this area could be so envoirnmentally friendly yet allow cars to roam the beach. One of those things that make you go hummmm??? 

7-17-05 

We drove over to the beach last Sunday & it was nice but just isn't the gulf....something about needing the heater on in the jeep in July just isn't right!! ha There is a trail I had been wanting to hike that connects Seaside with Cannon Beach, last year with dad I hiked part of it from Cannon Beach and it was beautiful. The trailhead started at a St Park and you have to pay to park....so I just figured the trail from Seaside would be just as senic and parking was free. Should have known when there were only 2 other cars in the lot(compared with Cannon Beach where you have to circle the lot a dozen times hoping to find a spot) that it would be different. But no.......I'm a slow learner!! Talk about a climb...it was no hike....it was a climb, there was one spot early on that had a view of the ocean thru the trees ...just enough of a peek to get the hopes up for what was to come... you could hear the pounding surf crashing below.....far below as it turned out! We were passed by a guy running down the trail & didn't think too much of it but then about 30 minutes later I almost get the crap scared out of me when he passed me again going UP the mt. I asked him if we were even close to a vista and he smiled and said about 2 more miles.....he was sweating good but his face wasn't even red or out of breath or anything. I was ready to curse him and his youthfulness as we turned and started back down the mt.......I don't know how much farther he went on up but he arrived back at the bottom as we were leaving.......still not out of breath......I'm sure he was special forces of some type....he had to be!!!
 

7-4-05 This is me at Johnston's Ridge, Mt St Helens. My first day home after being in North Carolina for 2 weeks and Chuck took me to my favorite place!! It was a beautiful morning, we got up early and had the place pretty much to ourselves. It was the first time I'd been up to Johnston's Ridge since it had been reopened & I was not disapointed at all. The new growth is just incredible and my pictures will not do it justicel!! Steam vents had opened up on 4 places around the new dome before we went back down to watch the elk. I knew some crumbling and growth were taking place & that just left me in awe as the whole growth of a mountian process was going on before my eyes. From where we ended up to watch the elk in a valley below we could see a much larger plume of smoke coming up from the mountian. We learned later that a large piece of the new dome had fallen....it's been cloudy since we were up there but I'm now anxious to see what it looks like.......it just keeps on crumbling and filling up the crater! 

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7-4-05 Can you find the trout??? Coldwater Lake........we watched a lot of fish this morning...this lake is amazing as it was created by the 1980 blast & has never been stocked by man. 

7-4-05 Geese hanging out at Coldwater Lake 

7-4-05 Ground Squirrel begging for a handout at Johnston's Ridge...25yrs after the 1980 explosion and life is slowly coming back to this hard hit area.