Bath time poetry

One gets wet
when bathing two.

Nighttime visitors

Last night I woke up to hear Reed saying in a really deep voice, "Go away bear, go away".

I looked out the window to see my husband standing on the deck, sans clothing might I add, holding a flashlight beam into the eyes of a female bear.

Reed had woken up and gone outside to check on the noises in the backyard near the chicken coop. the mama bear and her cubs (3!) had smelled the compost I left out for the chickens and had come into the yard to investigate. The mama bear was not in with the chickens, she was on the outside telling her cubs to get out.

Reed and the dogs chased them away, but about 10 minutes later the smell of the old fish I cleaned out of the refrigerator called them back. Basil went after the mama bear, getting in between her and the babies, so Reed had to get really tough.

By now Sky had woken up and added his voice to the mix. His words sounded just like his dad's only in baby garble!

The four bears eventually wandered away after knocking over the chicken fence and our neighbor's fence. After the kids wake up from the afteroon nap, I am going to walk over to their house and apologize. Our chickens were totally silent during the whole incident. Two roosters and none of them wanted to take on a bear!

Lesson learned: no compost for the chickens until the bears move on. They looked very well-fed too. How common is it for a mama to have triplets? We had thought that a reason we haven't been seeing any bucks around our house this summer was because of all the poaching, but maybe the bear family living behind us in the woods caused the deer to move away.

Neighbors!

Camping on the Mattole River

Redwoods turn into steep, grassy hills. Another steep drop (people really bike on these mountains?) back down to the coast.

Flat, beautifully quiet coastline.

Back up to the mountains, through gorgeous ranches to a lost village. My goodness, I could so live here. If I could give up Target that is.

After sleeping in the car during the drive, the kids woke up as we arrived to the campground. The kids were super excited about setting up the tent.

Reed wasn't sure about the river conditions, so I looked online to see if the stretch by our campsite was open. Reed was able to fly fish while North practiced his casting with just a bobber at the end of the line.

And although the river is strictly catch and release, I must take the blame for the killing of a fish. I distracted Reed as he was casting. As he was casting, he pulled a baby fish out of the water and bashed its brains out on the rocks.

Passed out for 3 1/2 hours after the river play.

Lazy hammock play.

The kids and I were in a boat. Periodically, I would "drop anchor" so that North could jump out and spear salmon and bass. Don't tell the warden!

Learning how to grill hot dogs.

We drove to the mouth of the river to play on the beach. We found a labyrinth from the Summer Solstice celebration.

I am working on a collection of pictures called, "North and Skyler nurse".

Totally wiped out! Camping with two young kids is exhausting! It is fun, but not exactly a mellow experience.