Author: magrilless

I mean, really. Apple pie, pumpkin pie, lemon meringue pie. Peach pie, chocolate silk pie, bumbleberry pie, pecan pie.

For those without a sweet tooth, there’s pizza pie or shepherds pie. Are you an ornithologist? You have magpies. Mathematician? The number pi.

You can be a sweetie pie, a honey pie, a cutie pie.

And here’s our Pie.

She’s a two and a half year old Siberian husky. We adopted her last week from the humane society.

She’s cuddly and likes to be pet, even on her legs and feet and ears. She’s always excited for a walk or hike and is good on a leash. She doesn’t bark, doesn’t startle, doesn’t mind a gaggle of kids poking her all at once. She sleeps in the corner on her bed, all night long. She likes other dogs and plays well with our best puppy friend. If we could get her to happily eat anything besides hot dogs, she’d be absolutely perfect!

See what I mean? Nobody doesn’t like Pie!

Armed with masks and ready to go! Second and fifth grades — can we even believe it?!

Now that we are staring into the eyes of a new school year, we’ve looked back on the last couple of months and realized: we had an amazing summer! It’s been so long since we’ve been in Colorado for an entire summer. And we feel lucky!

Of course we went out into the wild:

We added some artistic flair to the homestead:

We made some new friends:

We kept up with old friends too:

We buddied up to local fauna:

And just in general had fun!

It wasn’t the June/July we had planned, but I’d say we made the most of it!

The gods (in the form of benevolent relatives) have gifted us with the (nearly) unlimited and (fairly) free use of a (super fun) speed boat (which we have named the Bethabelle Elizabeth).

At the moment, it is parked an hour from our front door and a mile from a vast lake marina: a hop skip and a jump to instant vacation.

For this our inaugural trip, we met our benefactors for an extensive hands-on tutorial, then deposited them at the dock and sped off into the sunset.

Traveling down lake, we headed off into a side canyon and found ourselves a spot near the end, away from the local cows. We called it Bird Beach and watched an osprey fish, mud daubers fight off buzzards, canyon wrens hop between stones, hummingbirds investigate our colorful water toys, and a heron stalk its dinner across the channel.

We swam until lunch (with a quick break to sleep overnight), then motored down a little farther to another, longer canyon. We scored an awesome location with a cozy sandy parking spot, a wide beach for shore camping, and a rocky drop just below the waterline for diving and cannon-balling and fishing. The girls caught three at Fish Cove, put them in a bucket and pet them for an hour or so, then returned them to their home.

Before lunch our last day, we packed our gear, drove halfway up the main channel, and had lunch bobbing over the deep waters.

Back at the marina, I only had to attempt backing up twice before we loaded the Bethabelle Elizabeth on her trailer, snuggled her in her jammies, and said farewell until next time.

Hey, we’re boat folks!

On Friday, my lovely family dropped me by the side of the highway and told me to get moving. They said they’d be willing to pick me up down the road in a couple days.

So I shrugged on my backpack (which they generously threw out the car as the tires screeched their get-away), and I started trekking!

From Little Molas Lake, it’s only 16 miles around some hillsides to Coalbank Pass: a pretty lazy 2-night backpack.

I saw a herd of elk in the distance, a marmot in it’s hidey hole, bumble bees returning home, lots of mosquitos and mountain bikers, and pikas galore. Water was plentiful, the scenery outstanding, and the solitude refreshing.

Before I rejoined the familial unit, I decided to try for a summit of Engineer peak. Although not quite a 13er (he tops out at 12,972 ft — so close, big guy), there is an exposed section that chases off casual hikers.

I decided to go until my anxiety level hit 8 and see how far up that got me. Luckily I was passed by some folks, and just eavesdropped on the dad’s words of instruction to his young son. Voila! The summit!

Scrambling down to my awaiting crew, I hoped they’d take me back despite the odor. They did. I sure got lucky! (In so many ways.)