Ramblings...

Ramblings...  Yesterday afternoon we wandered up Blacksmith Fork Canyon again.  I spotted the first mountain wildflowers of the season (at right).  They were nestled in some exposed rocks on a talus slope, each plant no more than an inch or so high.  There was a cluster of plants about 8' in diameter.  I've no idea what they are, but the flowers look a bit like pea family flowers, and they were pouring out a sweet, strong smell.  Those thorned leaves belong to that plant, and those sure don't look like the pea family!  Oh, lovely they were...

As we got to Hardware Ranch at the end of the paved road, we took the back (dirt) road up to the visitor's center.  The scene at left is from that little drive.  That's looking just about due east, back toward Hyrum (16 miles away and out of sight).  You can see the obviously green meadows, but if you look closely you'll see that the deciduous trees are still bare.  Close up, some of them have popped-open buds and the leaves are a-coming.  In another couple of weeks, this scene will be considerably greener.  I'll try to remember to snap it again then...

We've had a busy day today, scrambling to handle a few last-second chores before we set off on another three-day trip.  This time we're headed to Lander, Wyoming to pick up a mountain lion sculpture that we commissioned a few months ago.  Hopefully by the end of this summer that sculpture will be sitting atop a water feature in our back yard, just off our deck.  I will of course post photos after we pick it up on Friday.

One of our chores today was to visit Rudy's Greenhouses in Logan to collect eight hanging basket of color.  A few weeks ago, we bought “tickets” to get these baskets – Rudy's works with the local Boy Scouts each year to help them raise money.  Everybody wins: the Boy Scouts get some cash, Rudy's raises their volume and gets more people to know them, and the ticket buyers get some gorgeous baskets at a discounted price – in our case, eight of them to go around our deck (at right).  We drove in right at opening time to get the best selection, but we needn't have worried – there were vast quantities of those hanging baskets to choose from: over 3,000 of them according to one of the workers.  The staff there were ludicrously helpful – they wouldn't let me load my car by myself, and one of them suggested plastic sleeves (they offer them for free) to avoid messing up the car.  We chose our baskets in just a few minutes, and were getting ready to load 'em up when we spotted a friend driving in: Michelle H., and Lizzy and Lilly were tagging along.  After some happy, friendly chat, we set off for home and I got all the baskets hung up.  Lots of smiles from Debbie and I each time we see them.

Shortly after that, Debbie gestured to me to follow her into our bedroom, to look through the door of our sun room at the scene of feline luxury within (at left).  There were eight cats in there, all absorbing the sun and occasionally waking up long enough to chatter at a robin hunting worms on the lawn outside.  The robins seem to completely ignore the cats – they've apparently figured out that the cats can't get to them.

This afternoon I hooked up the trailer to our Model X as practice, and to test the lights.  Our trip starting tomorrow will be the first time we've used the trailer in earnest – the mountain lion sculpture will come home riding on it.  We're taking a path that's mostly off the Interstate, though we'll be on one for a short while in order to rendezvous with a couple of superchargers (one in Evanston, Wyoming, and another in Rock Springs, Wyoming).

As usual, blogging on the trip will be light-to-nonexistent.  This time we don't even know if our lodging has an Internet connection!