A Beautiful Week in the Hills!

 Saturday, April 6th was my dad's birthday. He would have been 98. Gone now 24 years. My mom, gone 19 years, would have been 96. Barb's parents, whose mom and dad would have both been 86, gone 47 years and 12 years respectively.

They have been gone so long that it is hard to wrap our heads around the fact that in a perfectly healthy world all of them could still be around. What would that have been like? How different would our lives be if they were still alive? A lot, to be honest. 

Although Barb and I had great jobs, it was inheritance from my dad that pushed us over the edge that allowed us to retire early and live on the road all those years. The inheritance from Barb's dad helped us build this house. 

That led me to the question; how long do you want to live? For me, the answer is easy. I want to live as long as I can with Barb as long as I am happy and healthy. I do not want to live a day without Barb, nor do I want her to live a day without me. Nor do we want to be a burden on our children. Early to mid 80's would be a great run, although I have a feeling, the older I get the more that number is likely to change. 

These are the random thoughts that went through my head this week as I mentally wished my dad a happy birthday. 

This week was a pretty slow and quiet week for us. We started out the week (actually ended last week) by driving up to our niece and nephew-in-law Alana and Ryan's, house up in Spearfish to celebrate Easter. We brought the girls so they could have a play date. More for Zoey than Dakota, as Dakota hates going to other people's houses where she is not comfortable with their floors. As Ryan put it; "Our floors are lava to Dakota". He was nice enough to put down a blanket for Dakota to lay on, but she opted for Loki's kennel as her "safe space" during the visit. 

The other three dogs had a chaotic day. Have you ever tried to take pictures of three dogs that would not stop moving? Impossible, I tell you! Loki had recently had surgery and had a cast on her leg, but it did not slow her down at all!

After an hour or two, they tuckered out and I was able to get a few pictures of the girls while they were resting. 

We had stopped the dollar store on our way up there where Barb picked up 4 rabbit ears in the hopes of getting the elusive 4-dog Easter picture! Once the dogs had settled down a bit, we attempted the picture. What a sh#tshow! As soon as we started putting rabbit ears on dogs were shaking their heads to get them off. Then Loki would attack the ears trying to destroy them. After several attempts it became apparent that this was not going to happen. So, while Ryan held Loki, Barb and Alana held their respective Frenchies and finally got a picture! As you can see, Dakota only had one ear left by the time we got the picture taken!

It snowed that night and most of the next day, resulting in 5-6" of fresh snow. The nice thing about April in South Dakota, is even though it might snow, it is short-lived. The following day was 50 and the snow started melting. Melt days are hard for Dakota as the snow slides off the roof, hitting the ground in a thundering fashion, even shaking the ground in some cases. Dakota does not like this at all and hid in the bedroom. Barb went out and knocked down some of the overhanging snow alleviating a little anxiety for Dakota. This low stuff is not as big deal of a deal Dakota, it is the stuff that drops from 16' that she really does not like. 

We got out twice on two shed hunts. The first adventure we stayed in the lowlands. An open grassy area, a game production area where we know the elk hang out. A pretty area, but the only thing of interest we found was this cow elk carcass. A beautiful day, a great hike, but no antlers. Our goal is just to find one elk shed a year, sometimes that is achievable, other years, not so much. 

Getting skunked down low, we decided to hit the hills for our next adventure. When we drove up to the parking spot. I pointed to the top of the mountain and told Barb, "We are going up there". Her reaction was "Yeah, right". Little did she know, I was serious!

Starting on an overgrown logging road, away we went! Elk sign was sparce down low as we worked out way up, but the higher we got the more elk sign we saw. 

Here is the thing about shed hunting, you should not walk next to your partner, you should be at least 30 yards apart, so you are covering different ground. We kept in sight of each other for the most part and whistled to each other every minute or so when we were out of sight of each other. 

We left the logging road and started billygoating our way to the top. At over 5,000' you can feel it when you start exerting yourself. There were several points where I would pick out a tree about 10 -20 yards up hill from me and set that as a goal before I rested again. Sometimes I made it to my goal, other times not quite. The bright side of stopping to catch your breath is that you can admire the views!

We made it to the top at different places at different times and eventually met up at the highest point which was 5,555'. These pictures just do not do it justice. As beautiful as these pictures are, in person, it is twice as beautiful. 

In the end, it was another antler-less day and probably our year as time is running short to get back out. Oh well, we found two last year, so I guess things averaged out. 

Meanwhile in Pennsylvania, Somer has finished her latest travel job in Savanah, so Forrest packed up the camper and headed back up north to spend a few more weeks with Jessica, Shane and the kids. Baby K (Kendall), turned 10 this week! I suppose we are getting to the point where I have to stop calling her Baby K. 

It is so good to see Lily (left) hanging out with Kendall (right) and Dylan, they are all they have for cousins. 

We got together with Dan, Bonnie, Kevin and Cheryl three times during the week. Once for supper at Kevin and Cheryl's, and twice at the Pringle Bar for supper. The last night was more or less a goodbye party for me. No, I am not dying yet, but I am headed north for a few weeks. It is planting time in North Dakota!