Me and my simple life

Spring makes me happy.
봄은 나를 행복하게 한다.

We got some chicks five days ago.  They are already getting so big and I can see some of them are getting their true feathers.  They stretch out their wings and their tiny legs.  They looks like they are doing yoga when they do that.  We will keep them inside for a month or so then they will be ready to move 
out.

5일전에 병아리를 사왔다. 벌써 제법 커서 날개 와 작은 다리를 펼치는게 꼭 병아리 요가 하는것처럼보인다. 실내에서 한 3-4 주만 키우면 밖으로 보내도 될듯하다.

This is a chestnut tree in my backyard.  I love watching the buds open and leaves come out.  
우리집 뒷마당에 있는 밤나무 종류의 나무이다.  이른봄에 봉우리에서 잎이 나오는걸 보며 봄을 즐긴다.

I planted some Kale, spinach and lettuce a few weeks ago.  They are coming up nicely.  I had to put a net over it to protect them from the birds, wild and domestic. 

벌써 몇주전에 상추, 시금치, 케일 을 심었다.  잘자라고 있는게 보는 내마음을 즐겁게 만든다.  닭들과 새들이 뜯어먹을까 염려되어 보호망을 쳐놓았다.

I was little late getting my tomatoes started this year, but my friend was so kind to share some of her seedlings with me. 


올해는 무엇을 하느라 토마토 모종을 제때 못심었다.다행히 친구가 모종 몇게를 나눠주었다.

It was spring break for my daughter last week.  We did a lot of yard work and planted some peas.  It was nice to work in the sun and I love smell of spring earth.  The grass is turning green, flowers are blooming, days are getting longer.  Happy spring to you all!

지난주가 딸아이 봄방학이였다. 뒷마당 봄청소를하고 함께 완두콩을심었다. 날씨좋은봄날에는 밖에서 일하는게 좋다.  해도 길어지고, 꽃향기도 좋고 잔디도 녹색을 내고있다.  봄은 나를 행복하게 한다.

Baron lake

Baron lake is the most beautiful lake I have hiked to up to this date.  This was my second backpacking trip(Aug 2014). I have been dreaming about going out into the wild again and while waiting for summer to get here I decided to write about our past backpacking trips.  

  

We started from the Grandjean trail head off of highway 21.  From there it is about 11 miles to the lake.  The trail was very well used and easy to follow.  There were a few fallen trees that blocked the trail, but it was easy to go around them. There were a few creek crossings on the way.  I love these creeks because they provided cold water to drink and I love the soothing sounds of running water. However, I don't like creek crossings unless there is a bridge, but I managed to crawl over the log without too much trouble. 

  

There were wild blue berries on the trail. What a treat! They were sweet and juicy and there were plenty of them.  We also saw elder berries.  I know some people makes elder berry jam, but I wasn't sure if we could eat them raw so we left them alone.

When we got to the base of Baron falls we had to climb a rocky hill.  It was very steep with many switch backs.  There were some unstable rocks on the trail and we had to be careful where we put our foot down.  I hate to think what might happen to my toes if one of the rocks landed on my foot. I was grateful for my hiking boots. It was hard going and I was feeling like Frodo and Sam heading toward Mordor.

When we reached the top and just around the corner a whole meadow opened up and there were wildflowers that made me forget the trouble I was facing only moments ago.  It was getting late by this time, but we had to take our packs off and take a break to take in the beauty that was placed before us.  This is the reason I go out into the wilderness. 

We ended up camping by a small creek about a mile short of Baron lake.  It was late and raining by the time when we found suitable camping spot.  We pitched our tent, had dinner, and went to bed.  The next morning we hiked the mile to Baron lake and also to lower Baron lake.  Mike fished a little bit but by the afternoon we didn't know what to do with ourselves.  We each had a book to read, but still it feels like we were just there.  That is when we decided we would rather hike than stay in one place.  We find the joy in the journey itself.  Maybe that is why it takes us a whole day to get to the lake.  We enjoy sitting by the creek after lunch.  We enjoy watching the butterflies. We enjoy standing still and listening to the waterfalls.

At the end of the journey when you are faced with such an awesome view, you can't help yourself but proclaim, "How Great Thou Art." 

Backpacking trip to Loon lake

Loon lake is famous for a 1943 crash of a B-23 Dragon bomber.  The wreckage is still there with signs sharing the story of the crash and rescue.  It is about a 3 hour drive to the trail head from Boise.  There are two trails you can take to get to the lake. The 5 mile trail from Chinook camp ground, and the 15 mile trail from Ponderosa camp ground.  After careful consideration Mike choose to take the 15 mile hike to the lake.  I leave how to get there and which trail to take totally up to Mike to decide since I am really bad with reading a map.

We drove to the trail head after Mike got off work and spent the night there. After a quick breakfast we were off.  It was still pretty cold in the morning so I wished I had brought my gloves.   

It was an easy hike, mostly hiking by the
Secesh river, but some areas were very steep and narrow;one wrong step would surely send you down the cliff to sudden death.  The water was so clear we could see some fish swimming in the river from the trail.

Even though it wasn't a really hard steep trail, 15 miles was a long hike carrying our backpacks on a hot summer day.  We stopped often to take breaks and drink water.  Mike told me that when we cross the bridge we would be almost there.  That is where the trail from Chinook campground would join with the trail we were hiking on.  We walked and walked and walked some more all afternoon and hoped that the bridge would be just around the corner. 

It was almost 6:00 when we finally got to the bridge and we were hungry, tired, and sweaty.  We had some snacks and I was thinking that it would be really nice to jump in the river to cool off.  Of course we didn't bring swim suits, but since we hadn't met a single person the whole day... but even before I finished my thought I heard some people coming up the trail.  Boy scouts. I think there were about 40 kids and their leaders.  I was so glad that we still had our clothes on.

It was about a 2 mile hike from the bridge to the lake, and I was really struggling to climb the steep hill.  When we finally got to the lake we couldn't find a place to pitch our tent because of all the boy scouts.  I think there were 3 different groups with maybe 70 boys and their leaders.  I don't mind having other people around.  It is better to have others there just in case of an emergency, like a bear attack.      

We decided to go check out the crash site in the morning.  But early in the morning I woke up with extreme dizziness. How can you be dizzy while you are still in bed?  I was feeling pretty bad, and we had 15 miles to hike out to where our car was parked.  So instead of hiking to the crash site, we decided it would be better for us to hike out.  Later I learned from my doctor that the dizziness was caused by high altitude and the best thing to do was to descend to a lower altitude.  

   

Our hike to Loon lake was the longest hike I did up to that time. 30 miles in two days and we didn't even see the bomber.  Maybe we can go there again and take the shorter trail next time.

Walk 1000 miles: January

One of my friends said that she wants to walk 1000 miles this year and I decided to do the same.  I haven't walked much since my ankle injury last summer.  I went and saw my doctor hoping that he will fix me up with his magic wand but no such luck.  He said I need to exercise more to strengthen my ankle. 

My plan to accomplish this goal was to walk 3 miles per day.  It has happened to be the worst winter we have had in a very long time and I have to walk through snow and ice. 

Here are some pictures from my walk.  

January total: 82.7 miles
I am a little behind schedule but I hope to catch up as the weather improves. 

Goldfork hot springs

We are having an unusually harsh winter this year.  It is reported that we've had the most snow in the last 40 years.  I know for sure that I shoveled more snow than any other year.  Our patio cover was damaged by heavy snow. With snow, ice and inversions hanging over our city it is indeed not a very pleasant winter.

We live in Idaho where around 200 hot springs are available for our enjoyment.  We have been to few of them and it is wonderful to sit in the hot water to relax and let your stress melt away.  What a great way to spend winter days, soaking in a hot spring. But this year with all the snow we are not sure about the road conditions so we were not able to make trip out to a hot spring.

While I was looking at some old pictures I came across this picture from 2006.  Oh my goodness, look at our adorable girls.  That was 11 years ago.  This was our first visit to Goldfork hot spring.  This hot spring is located in Donnelly, ID.  It is about a 2 hour drive from Boise, but it is worth the drive. My favorite part of this place other than the hot water is that they allow people to bring their own food and drinks.  My least favorite part is the lack of changing rooms. We had to share one small room with five or six other people with no privacy.

We visited this hot spring just about once every year since then, but I think we had the most fun on our first trip.  Maybe because our kids were little, or maybe because it was new to us.  Whatever the reason we really had a good time playing that day.
It is definitely worth it to make a day trip or stop by on your way to and from MaCall.    

Backyard bird watching

What do you do when Christmas is over and there are no more twinkling lights to take your mind off of the gray winter and spring is still a few months away?

I love to watch the birds that visit our backyard.  I have high hopes of catching a glimpse of mountain blue birds, blue jays or red cardinals, but sadly they don't visit my back yard.  I think I live in the wrong place or have the wrong kinds of foods for some of those birds.  But I still see few different kinds of birds just looking out my living room window.  Just a while ago I saw a really pretty black bird with red on its wings and breast who came to eat berries from my Virginia creeper.  It flew off before I could get a good picture of him.  How rude! He eats off my plants and didn't even let me take a picture of him.  We also have hundreds of house finches that hang around our back yard, but they blend in too well with the trees to get good pictures of them.

Here are some birds that visit our back yard.  

This is a Northern Flicker.  One of the more rare birds that I saw in my back yard

The Red Robin.  They usually come late December and stay until early February.

These are European Starlings.  They have a pretty green tint to their feathers.  Just the other day one of them flew right into our window and I thought he was dead, but after sitting there for a few minutes he flew off.  

I don't know the name of these birds.  I don't see them very often and I looked through the Idaho bird identification web page but could not positively identify them. 

We have about seven Doves that live in our backyard.  We used to have only two but I think that word got out that we have chickens and they can eat our chicken feed.

Book Club

I love to read so when I was invited to join a book club 10 years ago I was very excited.  For the last 10 years I have read some really good books that I probably would not have read if it wasn't on the book club reading list.  I read some challenging books that I had to treat like homework to finish reading. I read some books that were so interesting that I couldn't put them down and finished overnight. At the same time there were a few books that were painful to read, and some books that I really couldn't bring myself to finish (very, very few books). For the last 10 years I have read about 100 books with my book club friends.  I appreciate their suggestions on what to read;  it helps me to read a more wide range of books.

For the last 10 years as a book club we have had a movie night, played games, did cookie exchanges, visited the Ann Frank human rights memorial, had a white elephant gift exchange, and shared many sweet refreshments together. We talked about the books we read, how they applied to us.  We talked about what we learned from them and sometimes we disagreed and had some heated arguments (without bad feelings because we are cool like that).

I was thinking about our book club and I wonder if reading books and having a discussion is a secondary purpose of the book club. I noticed that there are a few clubs are out there for people to seek out and join.  There are quilting clubs, knitting clubs, and book clubs. And there are few of them that they don't necessarily call it a club, but they get together to run, hike, or do other activities and hobbies they pursue together.  I was a part of a play group for a while when I had little kids. Most people seek out others for friendship and a sense of belonging.  My husband said that we are adults so we don't just hang out like teenagers; we need a purpose or goal to get together.  It might be quilting, knitting, reading, or exercise,  and those things will be done when we get together, but he said we are getting together because women need other women and we get together for friendship and support as much as having a literary discussion. I pondered about what he said about the real reason for clubs. 

It is true that I consider my book club members my friends. We exchange recipes, we give and receive parenting tips, share news from old friends, and share garden vegetables.  We know each others children and grandchildren.  We know when someone is having a health problems.  We know what worries others have.  We don't know how many spoons others have in their drawers, but we have a pretty close relationship.  I know I can go to them with my troubles and I will be comforted.  I am truly grateful for the wonderful friends I have.

I am very excited about our new reading list for 2017. I look forward to getting together with my book club friends.

Happy reading everyone.