Finishing touches

(2 posts today!)

Well, we're just about done. As of July 4, we needed to add the porch rails, part of the ceiling on the porch, get the new septic system inspected, and a few finishing touches inside. The field is planted in barley and the deer are loving it. The first evening we saw at least 8 deer in the lower field!

Looking back up the driveway

The US-Canada border is about halfway up the hillside.

The field is planted in barley. The house is at the back of the field--you can just see the rooftop from the road as you drive up.

So one day Todd and Bret decided to see if they could get to American Flats.

They climbed down this cliff:

To get to this rock:

Here's Todd in the meadow:

And Bret, too:

But they weren't smart enough to be happy with the scrapes and scratches and bruises from one trip down--they had to go again the next day! They had seen a boundary marker and wanted to find it again, as well as "break a trail" down the cliff. Todd got a good cut above and below his eye (quote of the day: "I guess that's why we have orbital bones"), but they got their pictures!

Todd

Bret

4th of July

For the 4th of July, we took a couple of buddies and headed out for the Ranch. One more U-haul load--hopefully one of the last! To get to the ranch, we have to either go around and over a pass, or take the Keller Ferry. We decided the ferry sounded like a plan this time.

Parker, Ryan and me at the rails on the ferry. . . .

Two things happened when we got there the first day. Lots of playing in the sand and "surf" at the swimming hole, and lots of cleaning! The ranch is a giant dustbowl this time of year. Every time the door opened, every flat surface became completely covered in dust.
Todd caught me at my mopping best. : )

The next day, we went to the park at Curlew. The gang buried Parker (and pretty much everyone else over the course of the day!

We brought along some inner tubes (that's Parker checking to see how many tubes high he is).

Todd, Eric and Ryan had a great time floating around. Todd found an eddy in the middle of the river and did big lazy circles for a long time!

Then the rest of the Holmdahl/Boesel gang arrived! At our best, we had 18 people staying. The house was fantastic for the group--we cooked, slept and played a ton.

Christy and Jacey

The gang of kids--Carson, Shea, Quinn, Jordyn, Ryan, Nate, Mitchell, Parker & Eric.

More about the house and the property in the next blog. . . .