Karen's last day for this year!

Today was the last day to file taxes thus the last work day for tax professionals at H&R Block. Jay, the guy in this picture with Karen, is not coming back next year and is "retiring." Now I don't think there is any retirement plan for these people as they are only temporarily employed during the tax preparation time of the year, January 1 till April 15, so actual retirement might be a misnomer if you expect a pension or anything like that. Nevertheless, Jay says he won't be back so it was an opportunity to send him off as a retired person. It was also an end of the season luncheon and I had lunch with them which gave me a little more time with Karen in the middle of the day. I loved that!!

So today it is raining and you know what they say about April showers. I'm really going to see some green around here as soon as it warms up again. Tomorrow Karen and I are going to spend the day down at her office closing it up and getting it ready for the down season. We had to go back down there last night so Karen could finish up some last minute work and we didn't get home until after 1:00am. So neither of us had much sleep last night but I'm not dragging too much today and Karen was too busy to be tired when I was there for lunch. The end is in sight and next week we will be down in Zion and this week will be history. Time marches on, so they say. No matter what, I am a happy guy being able to spend time with the lady I love even if she's a working girl.

Lava trail

Today Karen and I took the boys and went down the road to the Blackfoot rest areas to walk the Lava trails there. There are 2 rest areas at Blackfoot one on the south bound I-15 and the other on the northbound. We ended up driving down to Blackfoot and drove around town a little bit. I was wondering about that place since I have driven by it a few times and it's a cute little town, I must say. There was something familiar about the place but I just can't put my finger on exactly what it is.

The lava trails, as they are labeled at the rest areas, are paved and fairly flat and not very long. They have benches and interpretive signs all along them and are nice for someone who is not in very good shape and are very easy walking.

I was wanting to find my first Idaho wild flowers and this yellow one was the first I saw. I should know the name of this flower, I have taken many pictures of it back in California where it is also plentiful. I used to see these all the time along the Bizz Johnson trail so now I need to figure out what they are.

So, it was a nice day, a little blustery with some wind but not too cool and there was enough sun to make it comfortable out. We have our Zion trip coming up soon so hopefully I will get to see some more wild flowers around here before we go and also some of the ones from southern Utah. Spring has sprung.

Spring cleaning

Today it wasn't raining so I spent a couple of hours this morning working out in the yard. Karen's yard is a great place to work in and when everything starts to green up it will look really nice and will be a nice place to hang out too.

This morning we noticed that the boys had a squirrel treed up on the arch and he was pretty well trapped. As you can see in the pictures, there was no good way for him to escape but eventually he did, thankfully after we got some cute pictures of the event. The dogs really give the squirrels a bad time and chase them every chance they get, but never seem to actually catch one, which is a good thing.

The squirrels around here are an introduced species and while they are quite colorful and cute in their own way, they are also a nuisance and they go after the bird feeders to get the seeds. Ken used to trap them and take them down to the river and release them so I have been doing that too. So far I have only caught one but I will surely catch some more now that spring is here and the squirrels seem much more plentiful. I have a trap set right now and my guess is that I'll have to drive down to the river this afternoon.

So it's not a bad day today but thunderstorms are predicted, so we'll see. Karen is a working girl trying to get everything done before her last day next Wednesday. Those last minute tax filers are a pain I guess.

Beautiful colors

There are some beautiful flowers coming up in Karen's back yard and I just had to take a few pictures of them. I usually take pictures of wildflowers this time of year but I haven't seen any yet so these will do nicely in their place. On one of these flowers I watched a honey bee gathering pollen and it was nice to see the insects are coming to life. That is a good sign.

Karen has this cool owl by her pond that she hand painted and the detail always blows me away. She did a wonderful job on it and while it may not frighten the squirrels or other animals away, it really goes well where she has it. It's a concrete statue and very heavy so it's not likely to be blown over or knocked over easily.

Today the weather has changed a little and we are supposed to be having some rain by this afternoon but it's still pretty warm out. The last couple of days were a nice break from the snow and cold and a little taste of things to come. I'm going to have to get a fishing license soon and try for some smallmouth bass in the river.

Last night we had prayer group and one of the guys there is an avid fisherman and he told me there are bass all over the place around here and showed me some pictures of some nice smallmouth he and his son had caught in the Snake River. The game is on!

Beautiful day with my beautiful lady!

Karen and I took the boys with us this time and they had a ball. We had a ball too so it was good for all of us. We went out to a little town called Arco and had breakfast at a little cafe called Pickles Place. The food was good and I even bought a hat that says Pickles Place, Arco Idaho. I needed a hat since I had forgotten to bring one and my bald spot would have gotten totally burned in the nice sunny day we had.

There is a hill behind Arco where each year the graduating class has a tradition of painting their year on the rocks so we stopped at this little park to take some pictures of it. It turned out that it wasn't a park at all but a memorial for an old WW2 submarine. The caretaker saw that we were parked there and he came down and showed us around. We really only intended to take pictures of the cliffs and all the dates on them but as it turned out we got a history lesson too. As you can see they had the conning tower of the old sub mounted on a slab of concrete and it was certainly not something you expected to see this far from the ocean. Of course I had to have a picture of my favorite model and her boys sitting next to it.

After we left there we went to the Craters Of the Moon National Monument and along the way we stopped at this scenic overlook to take some pictures. That's where I took this picture looking back toward Arco which was way across the valley against those mountains in the distance. The loop road in the monument was still closed for the winter so we didn't get to drive around in there but we just figured we could come back later after it warms up some.

We continued on to a little town named Carey. Just outside of Carey is the Carey Wildlife area and low and behold, they have bass, bluegill and even perch in there. We talked to a couple of guys who were there and they said there are some 5 lb bass in that pond and the old fisherman in me was chomping at the bit for coming back to this place. Karen has a small boat and there is a boat ramp so we plan on coming back with it next time. This is nothing more than a series of canals lined with cattails and fed by a hot spring, and it looks just like the Flemming unit at Honey Lake where I used to fish all the time. When I walked down to the little boat ramp I saw a 8 or 9" perch swimming there and boy, I really want to catch some of those guys.

After stopping in town to get something to take with us for lunch we came back the way we came to a dirt road that led to a reservoir called Fish Creek Reservoir. We found a little spot off the road near the creek to sit in the sun and eat lunch and talk and we even got a little sun burned doing that. Good times to be sure!!

We checked out Fish Creek Reservoir and some of the ranches up that road and this picture is looking up Fish Creek above the lake. The snow is melting and it was really nice and warm so all my whining about being cold was ancient history today. On the way back we stopped at this little roadside hot spring and there were several people there so we took a few pictures and left them alone. It's not that hot but warm enough to soak in and it's hidden from the highway even though it's very close to it. A cute little spring and I'll have to come back and sit in it sometime.

So it was a memorable day and we had the best time talking and being together and enjoying the warm sun. It just doesn't get much better than this!

Another nice spring day!

Yep, another spring day in Idaho Falls. Karen says I'm whining and maybe I am. It's ok since I can whine if I want to. It's all good though since no matter what the weather happens to be doing, I'm truly where I want to be and I'm happy about that.

This first picture I took looking out the window this morning at the H&R Block office and that's Karen's Jeep. The other one was what it looked like driving down 17th Street on the way back to Karen's house.

I know that sooner or later we will start having some better weather and I remember times back in Susanville where I was whining about the weather there too, but things will get green sooner or later... maybe later here. Ya gotta love it!

April 1

April is finally here but the weather says December. At least Karen's job will be ending soon and that's a good thing about April. I'd sure like to get out to a wild place for a while but that's not going to happen anytime soon. Maybe later this month when we go down to Zion.

We will be at Zion for a week near the end of the month and I'm really hoping it's going to be warm down there. I used to hate the long winters in Susanville and they are even longer up here. Karen told me about the climate here so it's no surprise but when I see the pictures on my computer screen saver slide show that I took about this time of year in the last several years I guess it makes me a little melancholy for some green. Maybe if I take a nap I'll wake up in the spring, huh?

I paid my rent today for April. Ahhh, the routine events of life. This place won't take cash and they charge you to use a credit card but they do take a debit card which is all I have anyway. When I tried to use my Lassen County Federal Credit Union debit card last month to pay, it wouldn't work. Funny thing is, that card doesn't work in most places it seems but my current credit union card works everywhere... go figure. Both are Visa cards. I guess it doesn't matter much anymore anyway, as long as my new one works... but you have to wonder. Anyway, Happy April to anyone who can see some green in their field of vision!