A First Christmas

He is 1 month and ~5 days old. He was born right here at home, and we are very happy to have him. He is a boy through and through... even at 1 month. He doesn't cry unless he's got something to cry about... but he's not quiet. He spends his time grunting and snorting and escaping from his swaddle. He will be the "Cub" for a while. His sister is now the "Little Lion".
She has earned the title with her ferocious growls. She and I practice growling together regularly :-)... it's very cute. The Cub is still figuring out what this place is all about... so far his favorites include mommy's milk and sleeping. He doesn't see any value in baths or diaper changes thankyou... none at all. 

The Little Lion and new Cub

The Little Lion is learning to love the new cub. Though she's still not completely sure what he's good for... she knows he's got to be good for something.
We're all glad you're here baby!

Everything is a Toy

The Cub knows no limit when it comes to finding toys. She really likes playing with the Lioness' stethescope and when given the opportunity it happy to try checking her own blood pressure with a leg cuff.

Why are there stethescopes and blood pressure cuffs in my living room? It might be more normal at my house... but today the reason is because the Lioness had a meeting with our midwife. Betty will be helping us with the birth of our next baby... at home.

We've explained to the Cub that soon she'll have her own baby to take care of and play with... but I don't think she's put it all together yet... or will until she hears her little brother cry for the first time. Even then it might take a little bit before she realizes that he's a permanent addition to the pride. I don't think it will take her too long to realize that being a big sister has some perks. 

The Expedition Members

Me, Pete, Josh, and Brennan. A somewhat ordinary out-in-the-woods-photo taken in a not very ordinary place.

This is about 11 miles or so from the ocean in the coast range. A truly beautiful area that reveals mystery, begs questions, and offers few answers.

It was a very good trip. 

Descent

Here's a photo of Peter and I. I'm descending into the cave... it's about a 25 foot drop and the last 10 feet you're suspended on the rope before you reach the bottom of the first room. From there it's possible to climb... though it's much easier to have a rope to hold onto since it's still very steep.
In the end Peter was the extreme explorer... he slipped down into a muddy looking round hole (that I avoided because I was a having wimpy thoughts of death and despair) and located quite a lot more explorable space. In the end, we were left with a feeling that the cave isn't that stable... a lot of what we explored this time wasn't accessible a couple years ago on our first trip. That seems awfully fast for a cave to be changing.

 

Just in case you'd like to visit the cave we were exploring... here's a photo of the entrance. I wouldn't want you to miss it! Lucy (my black lab) spent all of three days running around in the mountains without a leash in sight (except briefly right here). Talk about a happy dog! 

The Trip

I took this low-res photo with my cell-phone camera. We're at the highest point for miles in any direction. This is just before sunset facing the ocean from 13 miles inland. Fog was rolling in the whole coast was buried under it. To my left as I took the photo is an abandoned fire watch tower. ~15 years these towers were still lived in during the summer. Fire watch made for a good summer job for college students who liked to really get away.
On this trip (this is the condensed version), I went camping with three other friends. Peter, Josh, and Brennan. Though we were here to explore some caves and some other interesting things in the area... which we did successfully, there are few moments that I can remember that match the experience I had the first night on the mountain. Laying awake in my sleeping bag, the air was perfectly still, and above me the stars were so close, so bright and so numerous that I felt that I was floating among them. The moon came up late (~2am) and emerged to shine through gathering clouds. We awoke inside a bank of clouds... in a soaking mist which continued the entire next day.
The second photo is Josh at our camp table (the base of the tower is behind him)

New Color

Ok, I've got a few posts to make... they probably won't end up being in chronological order... but some stories are worth telling.
I'll start with the latest. On the first day of October, I finished painting my house. It's been coming along for a while... and went much faster with the help the Laurance offered.

Our house has gone from the original blue with blue trim to stone grey with cream trim... the house looks much better and is much better protected from the weather!
The front door is a purple-black color. I sanded the shiny kick-plate down for a "brushed metal" look that is softer and works better with the door.
Now it't time to catch up on the things I put off while painting!
Next Projects might include: rebuilding the dog house. (adding insulation, storage, and a door and painting it to match the house)

This summer (mostly before I started painting) I also went on a couple of free dives and an amazing camping trip in the mountains with some friends. I'll try to add some photos of those too!

Cub #2

Yes, it's been a while... ironically, the more there is to talk about, the less time there is to talk!

Since my last update, my friend Matt has gotten married to Genna. (The last of my "single" friends is now married) . Now there are babies everywhere! One friend's baby was born this morning (a little girl). There are ~nine more on the way! They are due in July, September, twins in October, our next baby at the end of October, two in November, December, and January. (we can't reliably count them further out than ~9 months) There are other's too!

This next week, I'm going on an exploration / camping trip. I'll be returning to some vertical caves (with more rope than last time). It will be exciting to see if they open into a caves system or not (the odds are against it)

note

I was having trouble connecting to this site in order to update my blog for about a month... and I've been busy before and after that!.. Of course I was busy generating more things to write about and getting more photos to post.

The web problem turned out to be issues with account settings and how they related to the DSL modem. It was a long path to find that solution!