Scooby Doo Mystery

This candy bowl was full on Monday night.  It probably held 50 to 60 mini candy bars including kit kats, peppermint pattys, snickers and twix.

On Wednesday morning it was EMPTY!

Not a wrapper or crumb in sight.

The investigator in me questioned Jim and Grace.  Both denied eating all the candy in a 36 hour period.  (I had to believe them because they would have been sick!)

That left 3 other culprits:  the Weener, the Grandma and the Super Star!

The Weener was quickly ruled out because she would have already been dead if she ate that much chocolate!

That left Daisy and Hops.

My money was on Hops because:

1.  Daisy has not touched the candy bowl in all her 14 years.
2.  Daisy eats like an old lady so if she had gotten into them, there would have been crumbs all over her chin!
3.  Daisy would have been sick and sluggish.

But there was doubt because Hops had never gotten into anything before and did not look bloated and did not act sick.  In fact, she was probably more wound up than normal.

Jim started thinking someone came into the house and stole only the candy.....even though electronics and G's camera were out in clear sight.

So he started checking all the video camera footage.  That was a hoot on its own.  We watched all of us coming and going all day!  But the funniest part was watching Hops do laps around the backyard in the middle of day like her butt was on fire.....too much sugar?

As I suspected, there was no candy burglar caught on video!

The mystery seems to have been solved this morning when on a walk I picked up a poop with candy wrappers in it!   And then later there was a giant barf filled with wrappers!

The culprit.....Hops!!!

The World According to Tre

Update on the Pirate

Jim went to see the surgeon this week and they took off the splint.  The doc manipulated the foot and checked out the wound site and then they put a fiberglass cast on.  He is healing well but had some nerve pain after the doc visit.

He ordered an "i walk" that is like a peg leg so that he could walk and still have his hands free to do some work.  This video is right after he got it and you can see how much more productive he can be instead of being on crutches or a knee scooter.

You can see his new black fiberglass cast in this pic

Heashots

I got head shots taken at work this week and I was really happy with how they turned out.  Like Grace, pics of me are always taken in a forest, with a hat on after hiking for 4 hours!  So I have lots of sporty shots but not many beauty shots.  These should last a few years!

Grace's Senior Pic

This is one of Grace's Senior Pics.  I would say it's one of my favorite all time pics of her but her other senior pic is as good as this one - so it could be a tie!   I love this because it's outdoors and because it shows her natural beauty and her confidence.  It's funny that whenever we go to look for pics of her, they are always outdoors with her hat on and all her gear (camera, backpacking, etc) strapped to her.   It's nice to have this one that shows her beautiful side instead of her sporty side!

A Boy and His Dog

This is one of my favorite all time pics of Drew because it's outdoors where he is in his element and because he is with his pup who he loves with all his heart!  And you can just feel the happiness!

Olympic National Park - Day 4

Out camp spot first thing in the morning - there were bears eating on the hill behind us

Out last day of backpacking had us waking up to rain.  It wasn't hard but it was steady all day as we hiked the 9 miles out.  Luckily it was the last day and it didn't matter if we all got wet because we would be heading back to a home with a warm shower and bed.  The temp was mild too so we actually got warm and had to take off layers of clothes.

We left our camp at about  8:45 and got back to the trail head at about 2:30.   The we had to drive 3 hours back to Susan's house - where we had a big dinner of curry and rice!  YUM!

Shannon taking a rest

Grace stopped to take pics of the waterfalls

Heading out

Beautiful orange mushrooms

This was the day of fungus and ferns!  We were in the rain forest portion part of the forest and you sure could tell by the green and mushrooms everywhere.

So many different types of fungus - and so colorful!   We also found a tree that smelled like cotton candy!  It was very distinct!

Mushroom Stroganoff

Servings: 4

Ingredients:

• Splash of olive oil or water
• 2 onions chopped
• 2 cloves garlic pressed
• 16 oz. mushrooms (two 227mg packages or about 2 cups) chopped
• 1 cup veggie broth and a big splash or two of red wine
• 1 can coconut milk (400ml/1 ¾ c)
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 Tbsp. vegan Worcestershire sauce or soy sauce (or a mixture of both)
• Smoked or hot paprika and salt to taste
• 1 tsp pepper
• 3 Tbsp. flour (divided)

Directions:

1. Heat oil or water and cook onions until translucent.
2. Add mushrooms and garlic and cook on medium heat until moisture has evaporated (7-10 min.).
3. Reduce heat and add 2 Tbsp. flour; then add 1 cup of the coconut milk, stirring constantly.
4. Add bay leaves and broth and simmer for 20 minutes.
5. Stir in last ¾ cup of coconut milk, Worcestershire (or soy), pepper, salt, paprika. Turn heat to medium and add 1 Tbsp. flour and whisk.
6. Add more flour if you want the sauce to be thicker.

Serve over mashed potatoes.

This is a recipe that my friend Susan makes and then dehydrates to take backpacking.  It's so good at home that I might need to get a dehydrator to take it on a trip!

Jim vs Skill Saw

We interrupt the report from the Olympic National Park backpacking trip to report on Jim's accident with a skill saw.

You can see the cut in the bone

Unfortunately, Jim had an accident that caused a skill saw to hit him on his right leg just above his boot.   He was able to drive himself to the ER where they cleaned it and got him ready for emergency surgery.  They were able to repair two tendons and a bunch of muscles but were not able to repair a nerve that was cut.  Luckily the nerve went to the top of his foot and not the bottom or sides where it would have been more problematic.  He also cut the fibula almost completely thru!  They just left that bone to heal.  OH! And they also removed a piece of the saw blade from his leg.  Ick!

Waiting after too much morphine!

Waiting for the trauma surgeons

Ready for surgery

Resting at home

He came home from the hospital the same day - after 2 hours of surgery - and has been home recuperating.  He cannot bear any weight for 6 to 8 weeks and then will need rehab.

Oympic National Park - Day 3

My favorite pic of the whole trip!

On day 2 we hiked from Clear Lake to Heart Lake, which is literally a heart shaped lake!

We had to hike a mile and half up hill to get out of Clear Lake and back on the main trail.  We decided to break up that hike by packing up in the morning and hiking to Lunch Lake for breakfast.  That was about the half way point out.

The hiking on this day was a large portion of being on the edge of the world.  Grace and I walked ahead to stay focused and didn't stop for a lot of flower and mountain gazing.  But we were able to see Mt Olympus thru the clouds.

We got thru the scariest part and stopped at an outcropping of rocks, that still had a big snow patch, and had lunch.

Clear Lake on the way out

Breakfast at Lunch Lake

Morning tea at Lunch Lake

Hiking down from Lunch Lake to head UP to the main trail

Round Lake on the way out

This shows the angle of the drop off - what it doesn't show is it goes on for hundreds of feet!

These flowers are called Hairy Susans because this is what Susan looks like after a few days on the trail!

The upper part of 7 Lakes Basin - it was like moon scape

More of the scary trail

In the late afternoon as we were approaching Heart Lake, we had tons of fog!   The fog continued all nite.  Luckily we were able to get a camp spot in the trees to shelter us a bit from the wind, fog and morning rain.

We found tons of frogs and pollywogs at Heart Lake

Heart Lake was the coldest spot - we were wearing all our clothes

We saw 7 bears around Heart Lake - the were busy eating berries

On our last nite, we hung all our bandanas to form a camp flag.  And we adorned mustaches because that's our tradition!

The High Divide Trail

Lunch spot

Tiny frogs at Heart Lake

Baby Lake next to Heart Lake

Heart Lake

Fog and backpacks at Heart Lake

This was how Shannon slept - no tent.