Saturday "Seen's"

 

I watched out the window as this little urchin chewed and chewed and tugged and tugged until the rope broke and one of my bird feeders fell to the ground yesterday.

Bad squirrel!
  

When your jelly sets up and your knees and feet don't hurt while out on a hike, it's a good day.

Twas a very good day yesterday, much of it spent on my feet. 

I only mention this because it has not been a good year for my knees and my feet. 

Like so many of the chronic afflictions that have struck my body over the year, I don't know the exact answer for why both my knees hurt pretty much 24-7 for several months and why soon after the knee pain quit, I began dealing with a case of plantar fasciitis---in both feet. 

Through Dr. Google research and thanks to some advice from some living, breathing medical professionals, for some reason, the regimen I've followed has made a positive difference in both situations. 

So, to stand all morning preparing berry jelly which obligingly set up and to spend part of the afternoon walking up and down a mountain road without pain, I felt a sense of welcome personal triumph. 

No clue how long this sabbatical from pain and suffering will last, but I'm gonna enjoy every minute.

I am also very grateful.  

Yesterday's hike up Rapid Lightning Creek and overlooking Trout Creek turned out to be especially enjoyable because of the washdown from a rain storm the night before. 

Colors were brilliant.  Even pesky weeds, like tansy and knapweed, looked gorgeous yesterday on the hillsides as Bill and I walked up and down a road where a gate blocked motorized traffic. 

The air was lovely but the panoramic views were a bit hazy.  We even spotted a smoke plume in an area Bill thought might be near Trout Creek near the Pack River delta. 

On of the prettiest sights along the way seemed a bit conflicting because it was dying. 

Still, the slow disintegration of once vibrant and beautiful Canadian thistles presents quite an fragile but lovely image as heads turn into silky fuzz, fluffing in various directions. 

On the way home from our afternoon excursion to the mountains, I told Bill that my dinner would be a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  

Yum! Yum! 

That jelly not only has proper consistency, but it's also mighty tasty with its hint of tartness. 

I spent a little extra time preparing some of the jars and have selected one of them to go to the fair, where I can enter it in the senior division of preserved fruit. 

That may sound like a guarantee for a ribbon but far from it.  I'm guessing that most of the people who will enter jelly have been around for a while, so it could be pretty competitive.

Whatever the case, I do have something to take to the fair, and the suspense will surely add to what is always a fun week. 

Enjoy the photos.  

Happy Sunday. 

  

Bill and I walked to the top of this mountain five years ago in August. 

It's known as Strawberry Mountain, and it's accessible off from the Grouse Creek Road. 

We took off on a hot Saturday afternoon, rather spontaneously, and, in my case, without enough water. 

It was one of the hot summers where folks didn't do a lot of physical activity, so my body was not exactly ready for the hike. 

We reached the top and marveled in the beauty of the place and then headed back down around 5:30 p.m. My legs were cramped the entire trip down, and it was dark when we had to walk across Grouse Creek.  

Both of us were pretty miserable with cramping that evening.  In spite of it all, the hike was truly worth every ache and pain because of the ultimate view.

I learned that day to take along more water.  

There's a lookout up there in them thar hills. 

Any locals know which one?