Schoonover Farm Blog

Roscoe has been enjoying his scratching post.  Wally couldn’t care less.

We are still seeing coyote action behind our pastures.  And we lost another goose in the alleyway with the same M.O. as the last one.

Jameson continues to grow and mature.  He’s eating more grain but still loves his milk bottles.

I spotted Roscoe in the barnyard for the first time.  Hopefully he doesn’t cause any trouble.

With the geese kills, I do not want to let the turkeys out of their pen.  They are getting bigger though so would prefer more space.  But I want to keep them safe.

Wally and Roscoe are getting along better.  I wouldn’t say they are friends, but they are tolerating each other now.

On Friday we headed to the Baker Lake area.  In the morning we went to the Hot Springs again.  It was so peaceful.  Per my Bird ID app, the songs is from a Varied Thrush.

The sulfury hot spring water turned my silver ring in dark iridescent colors.  I thought it was pretty.

Then we headed to Baker Lake.

The beagle was really happy to be walking around, checking things out.

We joined Russ, Jay, William and Piper with their friends who were camping on the lake.  Their camp spot was gorgeous!

We hung out for a while and then headed back to the hot springs with them.  We soaked again.  I tend to get dizzy with heat so did have a fall on the way out this time and hurt my pinky toe.  It was slow going on the hike out of the hot springs.  But I made it.  Meanwhile there was a coyote lurking around.

And this morning, there was evidence of a chicken being killed and hauled off.  This particular pattern is more like what the eagles do but cannot rule out another predator.

Today I picked our pie cherries.  Here is the view of the orchard from the top of the ladder (thanks Al for the cool orchard ladder!).

And here are some cherries yet to be picked.

Afterwards I noticed Roscoe and Wally sharing a piece of foam on the back porch.  So surprised that they are working it out.  I didn’t think this would ever happen.

We were getting ready for the weekend with a lot of farming.  I planted quite a few starts and seeds in the garden after Tom rototilled the unplanted portions for a second time.

I had to admire Wally lying on our bed.

And the blooming laurel.

And our house.  It is pretty now with the flowers blooming around it.

They are logging on the other side of the prairie from us.  I am concerned that our view will change.

And then there’s Roscoe enjoying the chair and a sunbeam.

But we did get the farm stuff done, packed and headed out.  Here is our rig in Cle Elum en route on Thursday.  Lots of machines involved.

And we arrived at our Boles Aero trailer.  The view has changed as Dad moved the motorhome out of it.  I had the World Cup on our 12-volt TV.  It gets reception from an antenna so when the local FOX network didn’t carry the game, I switched to Telemundo.  I was able to hear Andrés Cantor’s famous goal call several times which was fun.

I took the beagle on lots of walks, enjoying the views.

Tom and Dad went on an evening ride which was supposed to be quick, but they ended up at Lion’s Rock with this gorgeous sunset view.

I got to enjoy the sunset with a crescent moon over Dad’s cabin.

On Friday morning, Tom put up Dad’s repaired wind mill.  It worked great and survived high winds this weekend.

I tried hard not to take photos of all the flowers on my walks with the beagle.  But I couldn’t help it completely.  Here are some pretty wild roses.

The view from the front of the cabin without the motorhome.

Here’s a pretty iris near the creek.

And some other pretty flowers peaking out around the rocks.

Russ, Jay, William and Piper arrived on Friday afternoon as well as Thomas and Diana.  Here is Piper checking out one of the quads.  Unfortunately her quad wouldn’t run right.  We are wondering if it is the altitude.

She did enjoy reading a book to us.  She is quite the reader.

On Saturday morning a herd of elk with calves were coming up the mountain by the cabin.  Unfortunately they got spooked and headed back down.  The cows have been calving near the bottom of the mountain by a water source.

 

In the afternoon we went on a ride.  Unfortunately William’s quad lost power.  While they were looking at it, Piper was picking some wildflowers.  Here is her collection when we got going again without his quad.

I went to pee in the woods near our next stop and found all these flowers in the woods there.

This is the view.

And a gorgeous group photo.

Our next stop was by a pretty creek.  The kids really enjoy exploring the woods.

When we got back to the cabin, Piper decorated Steve’s gravestone there with the flowers.

On Sunday morning Dad, Ryeleigh and I walked to the waterfall on the creek on his property.  This is the upper end of it.  It is not flowing very much now, but the flowers were pretty.  There were quite a few marmots in the area.

Piper decorated Steve’s grave more with rocks, seashells and a pine bough.

Everyone left except Tom, Ryeleigh and I.  We hung out by the picnic table for a bit relaxing.

Then I went into the trailer, knitting in from of the Telemundo World Cup coverage.

Tom and I went on a quick quad ride in the evening.  We saw some deer.

We watched the sun going down.

And enjoyed the view.  It was really beautiful and made a profound impression on me.

 

P.S. I finished another audiobook.  This one was This Land Is Your Land by Beverly Gage.  She is a historian who went on roadtrips exploring our country’s historic sites as a tourist gathering experiences in anticipation of our 250th anniversary.  I really enjoyed the book, learned some amazing history and have more places on my bucket list.