This bush was amazingly colorful this morning.
Last night we had some heavy rainfall which apparently knocked down most of the leaves from these Sycamore trees. Tomorrow the Parks Department maintenance guy will undoubtedly clean them all up, so I had to quickly take this picture today.
Last Saturday I had an opportunity to test ride a CruzBike V20 race bike. Being horribly uncoordinated, it has taken me a long time to build up enough courage to ride something like this where you're laying nearly flat on your back. But after riding around in the parking lot (pictured) I felt the need to get out onto the street and see how fast I could go. Normally my pace on a "standard" diamond frame bicycle is 19 MPH on the flat, but this bicycle easily accelerated to 26 MPH and just held on. I didn't notice any headwinds, but afterwards I ran the same stretch of road on my own bicycle and was held back to 18 MPH due to headwinds. Notice that I was wearing street clothes, not a bicycling kit. I think I need to buy one of these fantastic bicycles.
This year we decided to scout a route suitable for horses. We stayed on the Kitty Creek trail all the way to Flora Lake, where the trail fizzled out. The end of the trail is very near the southern tip of Howell Mountain. We turned east and meandered through the forest until we came to Howell Mountain's southern ridge, with this view looking southeast.
We followed the ridge back northward, and in this photo, looking ahead, the highest point of Howell Mountain is nearly in view.
Above the treeline, the rocky tundra turned very steep, but Louie assured us that horses could handle it. I'm guessing this photo was taken at about 10,000 feet elevation.
Looking back down the slope, along the border of the trees, you can see the ridge we followed. At the right of the photo it looks like a meadow. That marks the end of the Kitty Creek trail. Flora Lake is there too, but it is too small and faint to see in the photo.
Finally we reached the highest point on Howell Mountain: 10,964 feet. Looking northward our destination is obscured by the smoke mist but it looks like fairly easy walking. At this point we had only about two miles to go across the tundra.
The immensity of this terrain makes it difficult to estimate the size of things. The incredible vertical wall of snow in this photo was probably about 100 feet tall. But our route merely passed by this huge snow field. There aren't any more photos showing how we found our way down to Mooney Meadows because the smoke mist turned into serious fog and we actually had a difficult time finding our usual route down the east side of the mountain.
Several days later, we were exploring an alternate route up/down the cliffs near our campsite. This view of the snow field which blocks our most direct route happens to show both the top and the bottom of the snow field, about 350 feet apart. We want to drag airplane wreckage up across that snow. But when one person is standing at the bottom edge of the snow field and another is at the top, we can't see each other, or hear each other, because the snow is mounded up between us. We were able to use walkie-talkies for communication but the batteries last only two days. So now I'm looking into solar-powered battery chargers.
When we arrived at the location in this photo, what I saw was a vertical wall. However, what Jeff saw was a ladder. He climbed up that "wall" easily in two minutes. This suggests that we could climb up and down that cliff rather than taking a longer route around it. If we were all trained in the use of crampons we could also traverse the snow field like Jeff did. These cliffs make such wonderful climbing material that we might be able to convince some more rock climbers to come play, and maybe help us drag up more airplane parts.
Here's an updated photo of our flower garden. The bean vines have climbed up ten feet to the top of my goofy wattle and the Borage plants have completely overwhelmed the Nasturtiums. The bees are loving the little blue Borage flowers. We have both the big black bumble bees and the little yellow honey bees.
This is our hummingbird garden. There are beans climbing up the wattle, some medium sized plants that either didn't sprout or I thought they were weeds and covered them with wood chips. In front there are Nasturtiums but later I planted Borage seeds around those, so this flower garden is very crowded now. There is one Nasturtium flower and one bean flower showing here, but very hard to find.
This is a close-up of the Borage flowerbuds. They are covered with sharp thorns which appear all over the plant, like the stems and leaves. I could feel the thorns on the leaf bottoms while weeding amongst them. They're not as bad as roses or blackberries but they were pretty scratchy. That is likely the reason why the wild rabbits don't bother these plants. Another explanation is that these are not a Pacific Northwest native species so the rabbits don't know if they're good to eat.
Here's a close-up of the red and orange bean flower growing about halfway up the vine. I don't remember ever seeing a bean flower before, and if I did then it wasn't this color. This bean variety was probably selected for the red colored flowers, in order to attract hummingbirds. 
Speaking of red flowers, here are our "Lucifer" flowers that really attract the hummingbirds. This is a terrible photo but I don't know how to get that brilliant red color to tone down enough to see the flowers properly. They are stunningly beautiful in person.
Here is an easier photography subject for me. It has lots of green along with the oranges and yellows in the Nasturtium flowers. This flowerbed is prolific enough that I can confidently harvest some Nasturtium leaves and flowers to spice up my lettuce and cauliflower salad. Nasturtiums have a mild peppery flavor, very much like radishes. And I think they look awesome.
Last March I planted these Nasturtium seeds, and I'm happy to see that they survived the late frosts in April. Their vines are beginning to encroach on the lawn. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about that. I'm thinking of digging up the lawn so the grass doesn't grow up between the Nasturtium vines.
Sometime last winter I threw an entire Pumpkin out here and let it decay. These Pumpkin plants came up from that rotting gourd. In the bottom right is a bunch of Borage plants from seeds I planted in early May. Borage is supposed to be edible, and the flowers attract honey bees.
This is the site of our "hummingbird" garden. There were three different types of seeds: peas (or beans) growing up the wattle near the wall, then some medium sized plants that I have forgotten what they were, with some low-lying Nasturtiums in the foreground. Afterwards I planted some Borage around the border. There are lots of weeds in here but I'm letting them grow a bit so I can positively identify them before plucking them out.
Last Fall I cut the Thimbleberry bushes down below my knees and I cleared a pathway through the middle. I was counting on them growing back up but am surprised they are already as tall as me. They also filled in the gap in the pathway so I'll have to go thin that out a bit. This is where I have had most trouble with Bindweed vines. Thankfully they are only a minimal problem this year.
Yesterday, between rainstorms, I trimmed the hedges in front of the house using my new Stihl brand, gas powered trimmer. It makes cutting a straight line a lot easier than the old manual scissors trimmer.
I even had time to trim the knee high hedge along the sidewalk. The trees all have their leaves now. The maples and the oak have flowered and started growing seeds but the Linden is just now blooming. Can you see the flowers?
Here is a close-up of the Linden tree flowers. They're green so they're hard to see against the green of the leaves. In a week or so they will start to drip that sticky nectar and we'll have to do something to prevent it from being tracked into the house.
The entire landscape was covered in a thin layer of snow and more was in the forecast.
The Montana highway was coated with alternating patches of slush and powder snow. My fenders accumulated so much ice that when I hit a dip in the road my tires would rub against the ice. The ice was as solid as concrete, and just as heavy.
Arriving in Rapid City, I found myself in the middle of a dinosaur fight. I escaped! Whew! Then I was able to visit with my cousins and toured the Lost Cabin Beer Company. I can personally recommend the brew named "Father-in-Lager." 
My next stop was in Omaha at the home of my sister-in-law, her husband, two teenage girls and two friendly little dogs. One of them found my knitting basket and ate part of the cord that holds the top closed. It was the kind of thing you might expect of a goat, and it so happened that my next stop in Iowa, at the home of my aunt and my cousin, was also the home of three newborn billy goats gruff. I helped feed the goats, horses, and chickens, and enjoyed playing my trumpet (doesn't everybody bring a trumpet on a road trip?) outside along with the howling of George the Golden Retriever, another very friendly dog.
After Iowa I went to Alabama, North Carolina, and western Virginia where I discovered some very friendly horses. This freckled beauty even posed for a selfie. My visit here was too short as I needed to continue to eastern Virginia and see my brother.
After several days of relaxing with my brother, we were ready to head for Florida. Our goal was to drive all the way to the end of the road at Key West. This photo was taken along the intercoastal highway.
Here's the photo I took at the southernmost point of land in the contiguous United States. That sign says "90 miles to Cuba." 
After viewing the stars we returned northward and into the Everglades National Park where we saw lots of exotic birds and animals, like this peacefully sleeping alligator.
My next stop was to be Kansas City but along the way I found the town of Metropolis, Illinois. With that name they have declared themselves to be the home of Superman. And they built a gigantic statue of Superman in the town square.
The next day I went to Topeka where I met as many cousins (and their families) as I had seen along my entire trip up to that point. In this photo I was playing trumpet duets with a talented musician.
Kansas cousins. One of these cousins I had not seen for more than fifty years prior to the day of this photo .
After sitting in the car for many days and long hours, I welcomed the opportunity to help on this deck building project. It was also delightful to work with four brothers and their father, with all the teasing and helpful suggestions each person provided.
