A window of opportunity.

These might seem like some strange photos to post on Thanksgiving day, but it was during the week of Thanksgiving or directly after that our family had the chance to go on a couple of cruises.  

The first cruise was in 2002 and I can tell you that it was not on our bucket list back then, but Jon's parents asked us if we thought we could work it out to go and after thinking about it for a couple of days we decided why not.  

Jim and Lois on our first cruise.

After what we've all experienced the past six months with the pandemic, the possibility of taking a cruise seems unlikely.  It now seems like it was an opportunity of a lifetime.  On the first trip we visited Aruba, Venezuela, Dominica, (my all-time favorite), Grenada(also very beautiful), and St. Martin.  

Venezuela stands out because there was a two week window of time when the government there allowed cruise ships to visit.  We spent a day long trip that went by bus up into the mountains there to visit a glass-blowing factory.  What an interesting experience.  

Then in 2006 we organized what was called "The Family Cruise".  Seventeen people from both sides of our family went on the cruise.

This is Belize City.

Leaving port and watching the Nebraska football game on the big screen in Galveston, Texas.

Here are some great photos of "the fam".  Honduras was a favorite on this trip.

This is in Belize, but we were actually 2 miles from the Guatemalan border. At the top you could see for miles in every direction.  

Yes, I climbed up there to take these photos.  

Trust me, you did not want to miss a step.  There were no handrails. 

One of the best memories.  My mom, standing on a chair, rocking out at Carlos and Charlie's in Cozumel.  Afterwards, she claimed that she DID NOT do that.  

I have photographic proof.  

She would have preferred that I just post this photo.

The food was as tasty as the turkey I'm going to prepare today.  Well, maybe better... 

On the trip up the mountain in Venezuela, we were at the front of the bus.  You can't tell it from this photo, but it was a wild ride back down the mountain.  The bus took up most of the width of the narrow road.  Our tour was late getting back to the ship so our bus driver was driving as fast as he could to get there.  We careened around blind corners and were lucky there was not another vehicle coming at us. 

I'm not a catholic, but at one point I remember wishing that those were rosary beads hanging from the mirror. 

I don't mind not being able to go on a cruise again.  One day this will all be over and I will be happy just to be able to enjoy a meal with my family and friends again. 

I almost forgot to post this link to my friend Marianne's blog.  She has some beautiful words about giving thanks today.

http://slightdetour.blogspot.com/2020/11/giving-thanks.html

Happy Thanksgiving!  

Off they go.

I have been trying to post these photos on my blog for a couple of days now.  Let's just say that my computer no longer likes my iphone and all of my photos are on my phone.  Maybe it's time to go back to my Canon.   Anyhow, I will not bore you with the technical difficulties.

We had been waiting for our logs to ship to the mill but were delayed a bit more by some snowfall.  Even though we didn't have a lot of snow, our driveway has a very mean corner to get around and add to that the fact that you are driving uphill as you are going around the corner.  

It has put many people in the ditch over the years.  

This would be a mule train load, which is a very long load of logs as you will see. 

After a few days the weather finally warmed up and the snow melted away.

 Our window of opportunity had arrived.

Meet George Rohrich, our driver.  Retired Mountain Man thought he might have had him in class at school, but it turns out it was others in his family.

As you can see the self-loader is on the back of the truck.  George picks up the back trailer and sets it behind the truck.  

Next, he and Travis connect trailer to the back of the truck.

These are big logs and it doesn't take long to fill up the trailer.

George has a lot of experience loading and hauling logs.  He was very skilled at picking up the logs and loading them where he wanted them on the truck.

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Travis getting ready to toss a wrapper over the logs to tie them down.

The load is ready to go. 

My zoom shot of him making the corner.  It did take him a couple of tries, but he made it with no problem.   

Both George and Travis, professionals in every way and the best at their jobs.   It was a pleasure to watch them work.

Tree removal day is here

It was a big day for Retired Mountain Man and I yesterday.  Travis Kiebert was headed up Cougar Creek Road with his skidder to skid out our trees that blew down in the windstorm last month.  

Trav is a very special guy to us.   He's well-known as one of the best loggers around.  In our book, he IS he best logger around. This guy knows his trees and just about anything else one would need to know about forest management. 

We had a lot of trees blow down and unfortunately, they were all big trees.  The one in the photo below was 31 inches across and had to be trimmed because the sawmill only takes logs up to 27 inches.  

 

 

Meet Alex, the sawyer cutting down trees and trimming them for shipment.  Alex is soon to be a member of the family as he is engaged to marry Lyndsie next summer.  It was fun to watch him work.  He made it look like it was almost effortless.  I know for a fact, it's not.

It was a joint logging operation because our neighbor, Neil Wimberley also had trees blow down.  

Alex trimming and measuring the log as he moves along the tree.

This is the stump and rootwad that Alex cut off in the video above.

Our friend and neighbor, Neil Wimberley.

Maggie was on duty during the entire operation.

There are enough logs for a mule train.   You can be guaranteed that I will have photos on this blog when they load the logs on the truck for shipment.

I shot lots of video and spent an hour trying to get my favorite one to upload.  I give up.  Here's number 2.