Hot Wire

This is called the Tumbleweed Crossing and it is tumbleweed time. The tumbleweeds are growing ----- well, their growing like weeds. Actually they are not a 'weed'. Weed means any plant that is unwanted in your patch of the woods or in my case the desert. Tumbleweeds or Russian Thistles were brought to the United States as cattle fodder. People can eat them if picked young and tinder. I would think you could cookthemin a pot of greens or stew or maybe have them added to a salad.(I've never tried them.)

Regardless the horses love them. And since they are growing well at this time of the year my mares are trying their best to get to each and every one. Tumbleweeds make a good treat for the horses if you dare to pull one. I can't understand why the horses want to eat something that has so many stickers on it after it is more than a week old.

My mare, Nita, thinks her neck will stretch out like a giraffe and she can reach the ones on the outside of her pen. She leans over the fence, pushing on the posts to reach them and gradually pushes the fence down. Star prefers to reach under the fence, and frequently has scratches on her face where she scrapes it on the wire fence.

We spent yesterday replacing a couple of broken fence posts, pulling the wire back up into place and checking out the hot wire we have run around the top of the fence that hasn't been used since last summer.

The electric wire works and now the horses are not trying to get at the tumbleweeds on the outside of their fences.



I was leery of using it with Star since she is blind, but the horses seem to be able toknow when the wire is hot and when it isn't. Don't know if they can feel it or hear it or what. Anyway I didn't see either of them touch it but now they don't get more than 3 inches from the wire.

The Nights in Rodanthe House~Serendipity

After leaving Pea Island, we headed over to Chicamacomico Life Saving Station, but they were closed. So we asked Barb and John if they would want to see the Nights of Rodanthe house. We have seen this house from the road many times, but still hadn't driven up to get a closer look. We didn't get too close of a look this time either because there wasn't a place to park that wasn't so sandy that we feared we would get stuck. So we did a drive by "shooting" instead.If you are wondering what makes this particular house so special, it was the house used in the movie "Nights in Rodanthe" based on the book written by Nicholas Sparks. It was called The Inn at Rodanthe in the movie. At that time the house sat in a different location.At some point storms and hurricanes shifted the 45 foot tall houses location to the point where it was deemed unsafe. The owners were told to move the house or it would be condemned. The house found itself new owners, Ben and Debbie Huss of Newton, North Carolina. They vowed to move the house and restore it to its former glory.From Everything Outer Banks:"The Huss family hired Expert House Movers (who was the company that moved the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse), and the infamous Matyiko brothers that own Expert House Movers moved on the job quickly. The house, which weighed in at a whopping 83,000 pounds, was jacked up, shored up with cribbing underneath, loaded up on beams and four pairs of huge wheels, and readied for its move in a matter of just two days. Permits were pulled, electric crews stood by to move power lines, as did the police to stop traffic while the behemoth was to take the approximate 30 minute journey down highway 12 to its new location.



The original move was scheduled for Friday, January 15th, and as the pilings were cut away and the massive truck pulled into position to move the big girl everyone gathered in anticipation. The house jostled to the left as she started moving and everyone cheered as she was pulled away from the Atlantic. Unfortunately the excitement was short lived as the house evidently wanted to stay in its long time location for one more weekend. The massive truck got its wheels stuck in the sand as it was trying to pull the house out of its birthplace, and with nightfall coming fast the move had to be rescheduled for the following Monday.



On Monday, January 18th with the truck unstuck, its wheels secure, all police, electrical, cable television and telephone company crews ready to take down their lines again, water department folks standing by, department of transportation officials there to supervise and a village of onlookers in position the house was moved at 10:30 AM. The move was uneventful if you don’t count the news helicopters, and hundreds of onlookers gawking at a once in a lifetime sight."

Migizi!

During last night's boating venture out into Pigeon Bay, we saw a Bald Eagle flying around as we neared the mouth of the river. As we approached he landed in a tree on the right side of the river. At first we couldn't see him but as we got closer he soon came into view. I got quite excited when he came into view and I saw him perched on this cool bent-over Birch branch! Lots of times when Eagles are perched in trees they either blend into the background or have lots of other branches blocking the view. This one was right in the open, with some darker shadows behind. I thought it made for a great shot.

Hog Heaven~Bike Week in Myrtle Beach

When Austin was about three years old, he was obsessed with Harley's. He could tell if there was a Harley around long before he could even see them. Meaning, he knew one by the sound alone. We'd be driving on the interstate and hear the roar of a bike coming up behind us and he'd shout out, That's a Harley! And he was always correct in his guess. I was, and still am, so impressed by that. The boy has good taste.



Imagine our surprise to land in Myrtle Beach and realize we coordinated our trip with Bike Week/Harley Davidson Bike Week. This has added such a fun dimension to our visit here. They are in the campground we are staying at. They are at the places we stop to visit. And they are on the road whenever we drive.




There is a Harley Davidson dealership right up the road, and each day we've passed by there are tons of bikes there to drool over.







We are in Hog Heaven! Can I show you my favorite?



I had no idea they made pink helmets. That is gonna be me someday, mark my words!



Living the life where we dream to be bikers in NC!

Peacock Flowers

There flowers are called Acidanthera or peacock orchids, or peacock iris so I just call them peacock flowers because they are as beautiful as a white peacock in full feather. They do come from bulbs that bloom in mid summer. I grew mine on my sunroom and they have done great. They are an inexpensive bulb that can be found on sale in the early spring. They do have long, strappy type leaves that are almost like a thick leafed grass and needed to be staked so they wouldn't fall over. The center of the flower has a arrow shaped deep shade of purple or burgundy red shape on each petal. The flowersdon't seem to last very long and I don't think they would make good cut flowers but have made a bright splash of color in my indoor garden. I took some photos of the flowers at night with a flash against a dark window and I am very pleased with the outcome. Need to try some other flowers this way.

Merry Christmas

All of us here at the Tumbleweed Crossing want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas.

It sure is smoky up here...

Visitors have been commenting on the haze and smoke in the air; climbers have noticed it too. The Seattle PI and Seattle Times commented on the wildfires in Washington State and in particular, the one near the NW corner of the park that is 150 acres. For climbers, the smoky haze at lower elevations will continue as the forecast calls for continued warm and dry weather throughout the next week. See the Mt. Rainier weather page for updated information and links.

Having spent 8 summers at Camp Schurman, this story caught my eye. The Seattle PI admired the artwork of Clark Schurman this week. If you don't know, Clark is the namesake for Camp Schurman. In addition to his artwork, Clark was an avid Rainier mountaineer and wilderness trip leader back in the day. Dee Molenaar (local legend and author of Challenge of Rainier) met Clark in 1939.(!) Dee said of him, "He was a natural-born artist and he loved mountains."

Things are looking good for the weekend. If you're at Camp Muir this Thursday, expect some helicopter action. It's time to prepare for September, i.e black barrels being flown downhill...

Today's image of the Emmons is provided by Jonathan Hedstrom.