Saturday Slightly Quiet

I don't know the story with this photo, but I do know that Annie was in Munich earlier this week and that there's a beer garden in the background.

She has posted hundreds of photos on her European journey of the past several days on Facebook.

Today she is in Switzerland, and she'll stay there through Tuesday when she flies home to Seattle.

There's an aspect of this part of her trip that Mom doesn't want to know about until AFTER it happens and AFTER learning that Annie has found a Swiss geocache safely and lived to tell about it.

She posted a photo on Facebook a while back, showing the cache location---below which---appearing as miles rather than feet---was the valley floor.  She said she could wear harness while searching for the cache.  That was so reassuring. 

Of course, she told me that the hike the other day in Liechtenstein was tenuous, at best:  There were definitely some moments on today's climb where if one step had been off, I would have fallen a long way down some rock cliffs.  I had a great guide on the trip though - a geocacher from Liechtenstein who owns the geocache I found on top and has made the climb a dozen times.

All in a day's work for a geocacher, I guess, and many worries for the geocacher's mother. 

I guess I should rejoice in the fact that Annie's geocaching adventures to the most challenging of areas have not landed her in the emergency room like her dad who has made two visits thanks to the sport. 

Bill came back from Divide Lake last night with angry knees.  They were letting him know that they had been overworked in his climb to find that 600th geocache.  

He also came home with a pickup now known as the "deer slayer."  He's had his Ford ranger for about three years and has hit three deer so far.  

Yesterday's smacking hit occurred on the 20-Mile Road in the morning on his way to Boulder Meadows.  At first, he thought that he'd gotten off with no damage to the pickup (the deer disappeared into the woods).

Later, he discovered that the grill and another piece in the front end would have to be replaced. Like a good geocacher, Bill did not let a little run-in with a deer deter him from completing his goal.

He took with him copy of a story about Thursday night's Idaho Vandal loss to Bowling Green to put in the cache box.  The story was written by William Love (that would be the Third), and it appeared in the Idaho Press Tribune yesterday morning.

And, yes, that William Love is burning the midnight candles.  After returning from a late night in Moscow, he worked at the school yesterday.  Then, he, Debbie and the dogs took off for Southern Idaho to spend time with Debbie's family. 

So, it's relatively quiet around here, with our close relatives in far-off places.  Today we plan to get together with my sisters for another photo outing to a pretty place---maybe Roman Nose Lake again.  The place has a way of calling one back.

In other news, Mr. Jonas, our new Siamese kitty,  is adventuring this morning beyond the tack room in the barn.  I let him out yesterday for a couple of breaks.  He's pretty mellow . . . during his breaks, he calmly investigated the rest of the barn and my manure-pile garden.

He has country music playing in the barn to give him a sense of where home is, so I'm thinking he's made a pretty successful adjustment to his new residence.  AND, he's caught two mice already this week. 

I enjoyed a nice ride on Mr. Lefty yesterday.  He seems to have a different attitude, and I'm thinking that possibly the back cinch on his saddle may have been an irritant the other night.  So, I took it off, and there was no desire to buck yesterday. 

This is, indeed, a beautiful weekend, and I love the quietness of it all.  Of course, the storm of activity will come soon enough once everyone goes back to work on Tuesday, so my goal is to take it all in and just enjoy.

Happy Saturday to all.