Recall Effort

Rish wants to offend everyone, so he had us do an episode about the upcoming Ghostbusters remake.

Head over to the That Gets My Goat blog page, or right click here to download it. Then again, you could just push the play button down below.

Saboteur

The only pear on our young pear tree, and the little guy picked it already. I'll never get to eat any homegrown fruit until that kid is 20 probably.

Not Circling The Drain

It's an unusual episode, but we aren't circling the drain, we're just filling time while we get the other stories ready to go for their episodes. I swear we're not circling the drain...yet.

Head over to Dunesteef.com, or right click here to download the file. You could also just click the play button below.

Father's Day

For Father's Day, we made a picnic dinner, and went up the canyon to a lake up there.

The canyon was really crowded because of the day. We'd hoped to do the picnic at one of the many picnic areas, but they were all full, so instead we drove all the way up, and found an empty spot to lay out a blanket and eat. My wife made some amazing sandwiches, and yes, I ate that whole thing.

We opened my presents, which included some hiking poles and a book about all the national parks in the United States. Then, we went over to the lake, and did some fishing.

It was pretty amazing, because with my wife's help, I was able to actually get some time fishing myself. Usually, I spend all my time helping the kids, but she did that for me, and I was able to cast my own line out there instead of babysitting someone else's line.

Of course, the results were the same. I still didn't catch anything. Neither did anyone else, despite the fish that were jumping all over the place. Someday we'll catch something...someday.

A Staycation Together

My sister offered to take the kids for us for a weekend so that my wife and I could have a weekend along for a change. We couldn't turn that down, and I made some plans for some fun things we could do together on the cheap. I prefer to be out in the free nature that's all around us anyway.

However, this year has been a very difficult one for my wife's allergies, and their intensity seemed to ratchet up to an entirely new level early this week. Now, she wasn't just stuffed up and unable to breathe, she was coughing uncontrollably, and wheezing like a 65-year-old chain smoker with emphysema.

She called me at work Tuesday, and told me that I might need to rethink my plans if they involved doing something outside, because her allergies were now going crazy. She didn't quite have it pegged though, because the next morning at work, she found herself to be feverish. That's when she knew that what she actually had was a cold, and not elevated allergies. She might be able to do things outdoors after all if only she were able to heal from the sickness in time.

When Friday finally came, she was significantly improved from her earlier disability. We dropped the kids off at my sister's house, and then started on our way. Originally, I had planned a day of hiking for us, but she was afraid that it might leave her completely used up and unable to have any more fun the rest of the weekend. So, instead of a hike, I figured maybe we'd take a drive instead.

We drove up the nearby canyon, trying some roads we'd never taken before. We ended up on a crazy dirt road that really amped up my wife's fear of cliff edges. The road led us to this lake.

Despite her fear of triggering her allergies, we got out of the car, and enjoyed the peaceful scenery and gentle breeze. She said it was the kind of place she could stay at for hours. But we couldn't stay for hours, because there was other things we needed to do. My wife decided we would return to the lake for a picnic on Father's Day, and we moved on.

We almost never go out to movies together, and when we do, it's always with the rest of the family in tow. So, we're always seeing a movie that the kids (or I) would enjoy, like superhero movies or animated films. I wanted to go with her to a movie that she would enjoy. I checked what was in theaters right now, and found a romantic comedy and a Jane Austen period piece, both things that she loves. The romantic comedy had a 58 out of 100 on Rotten Tomatoes, but the Jane Austen show was at a 99! It seemed obvious which one we should be seeing.

Unfortunately, we missed the next showing by a mere fifteen minutes. This was actually fine by her, because her illness was still taking it out of her pretty good. When I offered her the chance to go home and take a nap until the next showing, she jumped at it. Her nap lasted longer than expected, and we wound up seeing the 9:15 showing instead of the 6:15 one.

It was a fun show. Kate Beckinsale was excellent in the main role. Not sure if it quite qualified for a 99/100 score, but I still really liked it, and so did my wife.

The next morning, it was time to attempt a hike. It was supposed to be an easy hike that started at the parking lot of a ski resort, and went up past three different lakes with a small detour that would take you past a fourth if you chose to take it.

It was actually pretty challenging to begin with. Online, it said that the first third of the hike was the hardest. They weren't kidding. We started hiking, and basically headed straight up the ski slope, yeah, you know, that hill that is steep enough to send someone speeding down when there's snow, that's what we were going up. Sadly, my wife, as sick as she was, did just as well as her perfectly healthy husband. I had to take as many rests as she did.

Eventually, we made it to the sign that indicated the trail offshoot that led to the side lake. The sign said it was only 500 feet, so I couldn't let us not walk over an look at it. Even as fat and out of shape as I am, I still could manage 500 feet, and since my wife was in better shape sick than I was healthy, I figured she could handle it too. This was it:

A really pretty backdrop, but the lake itself was kind of messy, filled with weeds all the way around the edges.

We got back on the main trail and resumed our climb. We were getting a little tired of the endless ascent, but hikers that passed us on the way back down told us that it was worth it. When we saw this, we had to wonder if that was true:

The lake was just above the dam, obviously, but that was a damn tall dam. That meant one more steep climb to make. But then we got there, and they were right. It was worth it.

 The lake was really beautiful. There's few things I love more than a nice mountain lake.

We sat down on a big rock next to the trail, and enjoyed the view. As other hikers passed us, everyone seemed to be talking about a girl that had died here. They talked about the rock that she'd jumped from and how she'd drowned in the lake. It was weird how many people were talking about it. At first, we'd thought it was just an urban legend, then maybe that it was something that had happened years earlier, but we never guessed the truth. 

Later, when we got back home we found out the real deal. The girl had died at the lake the day before. My wife found the news story on her phone when we got back to town and had some cell reception. That was kind of creepy. We took this picture of the cliffs on the far side of the lake without ever realizing that it might have been the exact cliff she'd leaped to her death from.

I used to do a lot of cliff jumping when I was a teenager, throwing my body from bridges and cliffs that were as much as 70 or 80 feet above the American River. When I hear about things like this, it makes me appreciate the fact that I'm still here with you all, and nothing went wrong on any of my jumps. It also makes me glad that I was too chicken to try any of the really dangerous jumps.

Despite the macabre circumstances, the lake was really pretty. I couldn't stop taking pictures of it.

These two panoramas are particularly pretty, I think.

Eventually, it was time to move on to the next lake. It wasn't far off, but it was further down the trail. And there were several spots that were still covered in snow at this late date in the year. My wife had worn her Teva sandals to hike in, and open-toed shoes are generally not ideal for walking in snow. We'd traversed a few snowy spots on the trail to the last lake, but now they were becoming more prevalent, and she was getting tired of it. She was ready to turn around. We did manage to make it to the third lake before doing so, however.

This one was also very nice, but not quite as nice as the last one. It had a weedy shoreline like that first side lake, but it also had some wonderful grassy spots that would be great for a picnic, which someone was doing when we passed by.

My wife had read that the fourth and final lake was the most beautiful of all, but she'd had enough. The trail was only getting worse with every step, muddier and more snowy. So, we decided to turn back. Maybe later in the summer we can come back and see all three four.

Xenomorph

 Everybody is sharing this with me over on Facebook. This is probably the ultimate Pez dispenser.

It would be pretty awesome to have. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure it doesn't actually exist. Somebody took the time to make this thing by hand. The mechanism couldn't even work, but who cares, right? It's frickin' awesome.

Chess

Okay, on the wall at the doctor's office today, they had this alphabet theme.

Everything was obvious to me, as it should be since it's for kids, except for the Q. 

Q is for Chess? Q is for checkers?

What is the Q-word that picture is supposed to represent? Somebody help me, so I can smack myself in the forehead and say, "Oh! Of course!"

Cedar Breaks

On our way home from our family reunion, we drove over to Cedar Breaks National Monument. It was right off our route, so I couldn't just drive past without stopping. We had the time, after all, and you know how much I love going to National Parks.

One of my sisters came along with us, bringing her husband, one of her kids, and his fiancée and daughter.

We went to the canyon, and took a look at what it had to offer.

It had a pretty familiar appearance to us.

I suppose it wasn't particularly wise to go to Cedar Breaks just two months after going to Bryce Canyon, because they are really similar.

Kind of funny, because I remember the narrator of the movie that they showed us in the Bryce Canyon visitor center saying that Bryce Canyon is like no other place on earth. I think they may have oversold that a little.

All the same, we had a good time. We bought Little a Junior Rangers hat in the gift shop, and he filled out his booklet to receive his Junior Rangers badge.

Since we'd just seen a similar...and much bigger...canyon, we didn't spend much time there.

We quickly moved on to the Alpine Pond Trail for a hike. This was one of only two or three trails in the whole place. And, because Cedar Breaks is all the way up at 10,000 feet elevation, the snow was still just now melting in June. The trail, therefore, hadn't had a lot of time to get cleared. 

There was an upper trail and a lower trail, that you could take in a loop. Except the lower trail was still pretty much impassable, especially with a couple of toddlers in tow. Turns out the lower trail was the one that took you to the pond, so we never got to see it, except from away far off. 

The little ones did really find the snow to be pretty fun. They kept making snowballs each time we passed another non-melted patch, and threw them at whoever was closest. 

Little was really tired, and pretty grumpy and easily brought to tears during our hike. By the time we finally turned around, I was really glad to do so.

Once we got back, we hopped in the car and headed straight home. 

Oh, by the way, if you're following my patch collection...and I know that all of you are...here's the patch I got for Cedar Breaks:

Anklevich Reunion

It's been two years since our last family reunion, so it was time to bring the clan, or at least those that we could get to show up, together again for some fun and merriment at a cool mountain lodge.

 It was a really nice place with a great big main lodge with several bedrooms in the front, and a bunch of little sleeping cabins in the back. We got cabin two.

 I have to admit, the cabins were pretty dang hot. You did not want to spend any time inside them during the day. It cooled off enough at night to make it bearable, but only if you left the windows open. This made my wife miserable, because she is allergic to EVERYTHING...you think I'm kidding, but I'm not...SHE IS ALLERGIC TO EVERYTHING! She went to an allergist and did a scratch test. Her whole arm was swollen and red from the tests they did.

So, she was up all night long every night of the trip sniffling and moaning. Luckily, because of her job schedule, she's already well used to getting little to no sleep, so she was still able to have some fun during the day, despite feeling like she constantly needed a nap. We'll have to make sure we get the room in the lodge next time with the air filtered through the air conditioner.

This was the scenery right next door:

I suppose it was half the reason my wife was having so much trouble with her allergies, but wasn't it beautiful?

Just up the street, there was a shady, paved trail that ran for several miles through the pines. We hiked the trail a couple of times while we were there. It went past a reservoir that we went fishing at a couple of times.

Of course, I never caught any fish in any of that.

Just up the road, there was a beautiful old New England-style church.

 A great big group of us drove out to take the tour that they offer.

It was a very pretty old church, and in great condition all these years later.

There's not a lot of things that are all that old way out here in the west of the country.

One cool thing we came across back near the lodge was this swarm of bees that had come to rest on a fence post:

It was really neat stuff. We all went over and took turns taking pictures of the bees. I put my camera on the end of a selfie stick, and tried to get some nice close-ups. Unfortunately, they were all out of focus. My niece and her husband have a Go-Pro camera, and they did the same thing, and got video of the bees that was in focus. Take a look:

Really cool, huh? I actually talked with my brother, who has a few beehives at his home, about finding a beekeeper nearby to come collect the swarm and give them a home. Hive Collapse Disorder is something that has concerned me for several years since I first heard of it, and the last thing I wanted to happen was for someone to call an exterminator to come out and kill the bees. We were unsuccessful in locating one, though, either by searching on the internet or asking the locals. I think that after a few hours on that fence post, the bees just moved on. At least, I hope they did.

It was pretty great to see all the family again, and I can't wait to see them again in two years when the next reunion comes around.

Avengeres Lite

Rish and I went to Captain America: Civil War the other day, and now we're talking about it.

Head over to the That Gets My Goat blogpost to check it out, or right click here to download the epsiode. If all that is too much for you, you can also just click the play button below right now and listen without doing another thing.