our summer

We play in buckets, pick peaches from the highest heights!

We raft/tube down wild dangerous rivers and spend hours picking up garbage for the GAO Clean the Bay Day!

Minimum Security Prison

Seen here is the installation of a minimum-security facility made of chicken wire, stakes and plastic ties. It extends from the garage to a spot just east of Pepper's grave. The north end of the prison was constructed of an old patio table and two plastic lawn chairs. Any dog could have escaped from this in about two seconds. Any dog, that is, except Memphis, who happily stayed put for several days.

Old Ephraim's grave

I went on a most wonderful hike to Old Ephraim's grave today with the Ladies. Beautiful, but long (12 miles). The flowers were spectacular.

What I've been reading

So, I think we should make an effort to start the blog back up. Because I want other people to tell me what they have been reading and offer recommendations, the golden rule suggests that I do the same, (although I have been told that I have peculiar tastes).

Everything is Obvious: Interesting book on what Social Science can and cannot tell us. Lots of commentary on the best of recent (and not-so-recent) research in economics, sociology, psychology, and more. Suggests that a lot of "common sense" is actually stupid.

Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids: Book by public choice economist Bryan Caplan. Basically, he argues that parents (especially wealthy, high-achiever types) tend to overestimate the costs and underestimate the benefits of children. Basically a rebuttal to the happiness research that suggests kids make people less happy.

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. Written as a history of British magic. The Amazon description makes this book seem light and fun, but it is full of darkness and madness as well.

The Great Stagnation: Tyler Cowen's debate changing short book arguing that our current slow economic growth rates have simple causes that we simply can't fix in the short run. A must read if you want to be conversant about the current economic debate.

The Guarden: Still reading this book, I'll let you know what I think when I finish. Sort of like "Hunger Games", I guess.

Adapt: I am loving this book. Very eye opening. Only about 2/3 done with it.

Popular Crime: I simply cannot put this book down, although it is one of the weirdest books I have ever read. There is an excellent article on Grantland that will give you the feel. Favorite quote from the article: "sometimes seeming like the most intense 10th grade book report the world has ever seen".



Also, I'm posting this picture because I like it:

Unfortunate Accident

Ryan & I got a good chortle out of this small news item, tucked away on the back page of the HJ.

Glendale, OK. (AP)
"Leflore County authorities are investigating the death of a deer hunter who was found dead in a tree stand near Glendale in southeastern Oklahoma. Undersherrif (?) Donnie Edwards told KHOG -TV that initially police thought the 46-year-old man, who was discovered on Saturday, may have died from natural causes. But Edwards says the state Medical Examiner's Office determined that the man had a gunshot wound below his waist, and the bullet lodged in his neck. Edwards says it appears the man dropped his gun and it fired up at him. The gun was found at the base of the tree."

And all this time I thought "shooting yourself in the*#!@" was just an expression.

Blogging vs. Facebook

Does anyone feel like this blog has become somewhat superfluous in light of Mom's arrival on Facebook? While acknowledging that Dad is still a hold-out on that scene, I kind of feel like a family "group" on FB is a better, less cumbersome way of accomplishing the same things that we have been using this blog for:

1. Pictures of our children
2. Snarky commentary on various aspects of our lives
3. Links to interesting things on the Interwebs

The new Group functionality on FB does each and every one of these things more easily. Other things equal, I prefer communicating with people through fewer sites, and since we all already are on FB, why not just streamline it all?

Your thoughts?

P-Town Football

For those of you who have lost touch with PHS, the Idaho High School Athletic Association (same bunch that fined us for bad behavior some years ago), forced PHS, due to increased enrollment - a little - and a new 5-A classifcation for the REALLY big schools, to move up to 4-A. We are the smallest 4-A school in the state. We have had to play the likes of Pocatello, Centennial, Blackfoot, etc.
This year the football team has lost two games by a whisker, but made it to state. They beat Pocatello 46-7 in the first round and last night, after hearing some trash talk about the "hicks" from Preston, laid a 42-6 bomb on Twin Falls. We were ranked #5 in the state before the game. Next week we go to Blackfoot (7-1).

Where's a good sportswriter when you need one?

Funny thing

We were riding in the car today and the car in front of us hit a cat that was running across the road. The cat bounced off and took off running. Hallie saw the whole thing, and I sat holding my breath waiting for the tears and screaming to start. There was just silence. After a minute Hallie says "Wow, I bet that car has a lot of cat juice on it."

Beautiful October

October has been spectacular here and I was fortunate to go on a couple of awesome hikes. The lake is Sawtooth Lake and I'm with Leanna Ballard and Lisa Niedrich. In the other picture I'm on top of a ridge looking down on the Smiley Creek area of the Sawtooth Valley with the Sawtooths in the background. I'm with Becki Keefer and Olympia. This weekend it's supposed to rain/snow, so I'm sure all hiking is over for the year. It's been a great summer and fall!

Humor

Piracy

Here are a couple of links for the piracy job that Tobin just finished. It is getting a lot of attention, unlike many boring GAO reports. In the report you can read about all the people they got to talk to in Appendix I. Very interesting.

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid180211731001?bctid=627929064001


http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d10856.pdf -this is the actual report. Tobin is very proud of the interactive graphic on page 33.

Yellowstone part 2

I have learned to use my little tripod and the timer on the camera. In this photo, the camera and tripod were on the hood of the car. I'm getting so talented! We are at White Dome geyser on Firehole Lake Drive.
The other two pictures were by Yellowstone Lake at Thumb. The orange bacteria looks like a thin plastic covering. I very much wanted to touch it! The third picture is Black Pool, even though it's not black. I just thought it was beautiful.
We are hoping that all of you will soon find time to go to Yellowstone!

Yellowstone living things

We had a great two days in Yellowstone. You can see that the buffalo was just off the side of the road when I took the picture.
When we returned to our car at a stop, a raven was on top of it. As we approached, it did not leave. My hands and camera were three feet from the raven's head as I took pictures. Dennis got in the car, slamming the door. Raven still there. I banged on the window. The raven moved to the other side. I went around, banged on that window. The raven moved back. Dennis started the engine. The raven sat still. People were around now and laughing. Finally, he drove the car about ten feet. The raven hopped down on the ground. I got in and we left.
We noticed the tourists were nearly 100 percent geezers. No children.

New vehicle

Our first non-Ford vehicle in about 23 years - a Hyundai Santa Fe!

The Hunt

The mighty hunters return with provisions for the winter.

For Beatta

LOLCousins

Death Notice

It is with profound sadness that Mom & I inform everyone of the apparent passing away of our long-time resident and family pet, The Salamander. We attempted to coax him out of his hole with water, but he made no appearance.

No funeral plans are being made, but since he was pretty quiet, please join us in a moment of silence.

9/11

So, this is a bit of an odd post, but it is mostly for Ryan. We always stay right across the street from the Pentagon when we go to D.C. and I often think of going to see the memorial for 9/11. Last week Tobin and I took the girls over and found Brady's name and his bench. Brady worked at the Herald Journal (I am pretty sure) with Ryan and always stopped by work (in the mall) to say hi to me when he was making his rounds. He was one of the nicest people. Anyway, he was in the Pentagon working when the plane hit.
I just thought Ryan might like to see.

Best & Worst Breakfast Cereals

In my office the other day, we were all debating breakfast cereals during lunch. Here are mine:

Best Cereals: Sugary

1. Cap'n Crunch (any variety)
   
2. Corn Pops
3. Sugar Bear (Honey Smacks)
   
4. Cinnamon Toast Crunch
5. Honey Comb
   

Best Cereals: Mild/Non-Sugary

1. Frosted Mini-Wheats
2. Corn Flakes
   
3. Cinnamon Life
4. Grape Nuts
5. Kirkland (Costco) Raisin Bran
   

Worst Cereals

1. Crispix (I used to love these, now I can't even look at them because of that traumatic experience involving Ryan's moldy bowl of them at the dinner table.)
2. Kix
3. Wheetabix