Appliances...

We got a new washer and dryer last week. Awesome.

Palm Springs

My parents rented 12 La Ronda at the Sunrise Country Club in Rancho Mirage, CA. It's the same magnificent oasis they rented last year. We were so fortunate to be able to stay a week with them this time. If I had spent the entire week doing nothing but sit on their patio with this view, I would have been perfectly content.

But we did so much more. The highlight for me was golfing with my dad and Rick. We played the front nine at Sunrise three times. This photo is on the 8th hole. It's the one that goes by 12 La Ronda. If you look closely, you can see a small figure in dark pants and a white shirt standing at the top left of my dad's head. That's my mom preparing to video our game as we pass by the patio.

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We ate well - at home and out. So well that Rick and I are already spending extra time on the StairMaster and skipping meals now and then. Here we are after dinner at Arnold Palmer's restaurant.

We rode the aerial tram to the highest nearby peak. We arrived just before sunset, and we stayed for dinner. Here's a view of the city lights.

We also visited Joshua Tree National Park. What a striking change of landscape. It was really neat seeing the trees.

My mom and I shopped nearly every day. And we did puzzles - lots of puzzles. My parents had completed at least three by the time we arrived. We must have completed at least three more by the time we left. Mostly that was Rick's doing. He is the self-proclaimed "puzzle master."

But now we're back in Boise. And somehow we must find the strength to weather the rest of winter here. Palm Springs - the perfect winter getaway.

Dinner With Good Friends

My wonderful friends Jen and Brandon came to our house for dinner last night. They have been living in China for a year now. It was so awesome to see them again and hear their stories. Next week they return to China and will be there for another 7 months. I miss them!

Christmas In Kansas

On December 21, Rick and I headed to Kansas to celebrate Christmas and the New Year with my family. It was also our second wedding anniversary. My parents were planning to take us out for dinner in Wichita, but a storm blasted Seattle and delayed our arrival by several hours. No worries though since we would be in Kansas until January 2.

Our stay was packed with the usual Christmas things, like Christmas Eve at Grandma's house opening presents. Here is a photo of me with my Uncle Mike.

We spent that night in Topeka at Grandma's and then had Christmas dinner at Uncle Jim's. The turkey and stuffing were as delicious as ever.

After the rush of the holidays, we settled into our routine in Ark City: wake up around 8 and have coffee, spend the morning reading by the fireplace, have lunch, spend the afternoon reading some more, napping, or shopping, happy hour at 5...and then the highlight - watch the deer. My dad started putting out cracked corn right near the house for the deer to eat. Almost every night five of them would arrive to eat and even frolic in the yard!

I caught the sun just before it disappeared.

We did a puzzle.

We watched OSU lose and KU win.

Rick painted the bathroom.

We visited my Aunt Wilma, and she made me my favorite chocolate meringue cookies.

We celebrated New Year's Eve with some of my old high school friends.

Mom cooked a crown roast of pork.

I love spending time with my parents.

Canada Mountain Goat Hunt

I hunted the first week of November with Marty Lightburn of Rocky Mountain High Outfitters out of Jaffray, BC. He did a great job but was dealt a tough hand. We had terrible visibility for 5 of the 7 day hunt.

We stayed the first three days at a cabin he has up in the alpine. The cabin had been helicoptered in and was very comfortable given the near constant rain and snow. We did get out the first full day, November 7, but the goats had moved out of the area for some unknown reason.

The second day rained and we had very limited visibility so we didn't venture far from camp. A single white tail doe was spotted close by; neither of us could figure why a whitetail was so high that late in the season.

I'll not drag out the story too long but suffice to say I spent many hours, after traveling even more hours, standing around a campfire waiting for the visibility to increase to more than a couple hundred yards.

On the last day of my hunt we got a break and spotted 5 goats above us - not a good sign since we were looking for a big billy and they're normally alone. The spotting scope showed a couple of billies so we commenced our climb - only about 1700 feet vertical up a slide that wasn't all that bad of a climb.

We got into position and looked more closely at the two billies. One was older with a broken horn and the other was younger with stilleto points. I elected for the older critter 383 yards distant. The two packs made for a solid rest, the 100 gr. TSX at 3450 fps from my 25 WSM, 700 Ti hit about as perfect as I could hope and he tumbled about 75 yards down the hill - closer to the pack animals. The goat was in the red circle (above) when I shot.

That's Marty in the first image, he's a heck of a guide but I take better pictures! Billy is 8 7/8" and 5 1/2 years old, he'll be a half body mount. The image doesn't show how very well he is haired out.

Swantner-Trahan Wedding

Last weekend we traveled to Huntsville, AL, for the wedding of Rick's nephew, Dan. The best part (besides seeing Dan so happy and with a permanent grin on his face) was getting the three Swantner brothers together in the same place for the first time in years.

Dale, Ed, and Rick at the NASA rocket museum:

Rick with his nephew, Dan:

Permanent smile Dan with his new bride, Lisa:

Proud parents of the groom, Gloria & Dale:

Walter's Ferry

My life-long friend Jennifer came to Boise to visit again this year. As Rick said, I am lucky I have friends who are willing to travel across the country to come visit me. So since Jennifer flew all the way from Wisconsin to Boise, we decided to treat her to a visit to Walter's Ferry.

I had heard a lot about Walter's Ferry from my friend Mike. He goes there a lot, it seems. He never found the words to accurately describe this place, and neither will I. I certainly was not prepared for what I saw.

This place has a lot of bronze statues, like this one of Albert.

And this one of Mark.

Birdhouses, like this one, were everywhere.

And then there was real, live weirdness. While trying to photograph the peacocks, this bunny rabbit appeared from nowhere. It followed the peacock around like it was its mother, even though the peacock wanted nothing to do with the bunny.

I could go on and on sharing pictures of the things I saw at Walter's Ferry, but it's just better if you go check it out for yourself. Come visit me in Boise, and I'll take you.