Smith River Float April 2009

Here are a few pictures of the float trip Sean and I took last week. We started out the day with 70+ degrees, 2 kayaks, 2 drift boats and 6 Smith River newbies! 9 miles down the river and Sean dumping his kayak twice, we were at our 1st camp for the night. We woke up to about 20 degrees and snow slowly falling. We all dug in and paddled as fast as we could to get to the next camp site 21 miles down stream. Sean and I made it in a little over 4 hours. Only once did we have any trouble due to the gusting winds. No matter how hard i paddled to go right, the wind was determined to push me left and we were forced to pull our kayaks a few hundred yards until the river turned and the wind was at our backs. I wish I had more pictures of the canyon cliffs on this day, but it was snowing, foggy, and the wind was blowing so hard, we could barely take our eyes off the river! It didn't help that the cold temperatures zapped the life out of my batteries! We got to camp 4 hours before the other 4 guys and got a roaring fire going! We were the little beacon on the hill for our drift boat buddies! Day 3 was 180 degree difference to day 2! 50+ degrees and no snow! We took our time fishing and floating the next 15 miles. As Sean and I pulled into our final camp, we could hear turkeys all over the place, but they managed to evade my camera! The last 14 miles of our float was marvelous! It was the final mile that almost did Sean and I in! There is a major split in the river 1.5 miles from our take out; the left side was very low and we would have to drag our boats; the right side was full of streamers and sweepers (our naive-ness lead us to choose the right side). About 400 yards down the right side, multiple trees were down in the river and there was a huge gravel deposit right in the middle. Sean was forced to go further right than he wanted and got slapped in the face by a branch and turned broad side to a huge downed tree. The undertow was so great, it sucked his kayak out from under him leaving him hanging on to the huge tree. I managed to pull out upstream from him and run over and help him off the tree. His kayak was about half a mile down river from us by then. I jumped in my kayak and Sean was picked up by some rafters behind us. I paddled my heart out trying to catch up with his kayak. It finally got lodged at a corner of the river on a tree branch. As I pulled up to it, I was trying to maneuver around when my paddle caught on a branch below me and flipped me--I was held under for a second by the cooler Sean had just placed at my feet--once I was able to free my foot, I popped up, and held on to my kayak as the current took us around the corner. I was able to pull up on a rocky beach next to another rafter that just had the same experience while trying to free Sean's kayak! What an adventure!! We were truly blessed the whole trip, but God was really looking out for us on mile 59! We were also very blessed by 3 other raft parties on the river helping us out. Which is amazing by itself as we only saw 1 other party on the river the whole time we were out there! Needless to say, we had quite an experience and adventure! I highly recommend this float trip to anyone! Just make sure to watch out for streamers and sweepers! They will get you every time!

We're Baaaack!

Yep! We made it back safe and sound!  The Smith River Float was AMAZING. The whole story and pictures are to come!

God is Good!!!

Time for a float...

And a vacation!  Sean and I are taking a few days off to float the Smith River!  WOO!  It is a challenge to get a permit to float the Smith, and we were able to get a 5 day trip the first time we applied!!  We leave tomorrow with 4 friends on an adventure down the most beautiful river in Montana!  

Wish us luck and pray for good weather!  It is predicted to be snowy and rainy most of the week. Ugh!

Pictures of our adventure to come!

I ♥ Faces Pouting

Here is my entry for I ♥ Faces Pouting.














Little Sara was such a ham when her family asked me to follow her around and take pictures. She climbed up into her grandma's lap and had had enough of my camera clicks.

And here is my Pet Entry.















My husband and I saw this little bambi laying down in the grass, hiding while we were out hiking last spring. He sure tried to make himself as flat as possible!

Going Green at home and at work

As part of Sean's and my Simplicity and Frugality life style, we have made the effort to 'Go Green' in as many ways as possible.  For example, we recently added on a carport to extend the protection for our vehicles as our one-car garage barely fit one of our big vehicles in it. It was added on late January, and so far it has been a blessing for us, and our neighbor.  It has and will block out that HOT afternoon sun, keeping our home cooler in the afternoon, keeping the AC from running less (of course in MT, we have yet to really see this as we just had 3" of snow drop on us this past week, but this summer, it will pay off!). It has also blessed our neighbor as she had the bright idea to extend the roof line a few more inches to let all the rain and snow melt fall onto her side of the property line, thus watering her beautiful trees for free! 

As we are getting close to gardening seasons, we have tried to figure out ways to cut down on our watering bill. I know--plants need water to grow--but our pocketbook doesn't have to suffer from it!  We have set up 2 of our drain spouts to let the snow and rain gather in big 75 gallon containers.  It will be a little more work to transfer the water back and forth instead of just turning on the spigot, but it will be much more rewarding knowing we are using the resources that God has freely given us!  Our next goal: solar panels!

 

Sean's motivation to be frugal and Green around the house has inspired me to take this lifestyle to work.  I work for a construction company--currently I manage 2 projects on the Air Force base, where we are building new homes for our military. The first Green move I am making is to ride my bike the 3 miles to work as soon as the temps warm up :).  One of my two dogs also makes this 6-mile round trip with me daily! It's an easy way of saving on gas and getting my daily exercise in! 

The second way I'm bringing the Greenness to work is by recycling!  It is the easiest Green move a company can make! As part of our contract, we demolish the existing homes. That means there is TONS of debris making it's way to the landfill daily.  Not very green.  But I have been able to set up agreements between my company and small local companies or individuals which has led to these people coming into the homes prior to demolition and salvaging as much as possible out of them.  The wood flooring, copper piping, the furnace and AC units, all the kitchen appliances, water heaters, cabinets, doors, windows and garage doors are all being taken out of these units and given or donated where they are needed.  

In the offices, I've set up different bins for the different products that we trash daily--plastics and paper. There is even one little bucket for produce (our breakfast and lunch waste) that makes it's way into my compost pile at home weekly. I've also convinced my company to spend a little more on special recycle bins for the scrap wood and scrap metal we produce while building the new homes.  When these bins fill up, they go to a recycle center instead of the landfill.  A definite Green plus here!

God is Good All the Time...

My heart breaks as I write this. For many of you YC people, your lives may have been touched greatly by one man--Kimball Matkins. I know my life was dramatically changed because of Kimball's involvement.
Kimball Matkins passed away last night from his long fight against ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease).
I was privileged to meet Kimball in 2001 and work with him for 2 years in the admission's office recruiting high school kids to come to York College. We took many long road trips together; we experienced rolling a school van on slick roads outside Billings, skiing accidents, and long delirious laughter as we drove the many miles between York and our surrounding states; we shared our life's stories and challenged each other daily to show how God blessed us each day.
As a sophomore in college and not knowing which way my life path was going, Kimball took me under his wing and showed me how to truly follow God and live my life to the fullest. He was a father figure and someone I could seek advice from. Kimball was a man of God.
While many of us left here on Earth mourn over the loss of a good friend, we can be confident that Heaven is rejoicing.
...All the Time, God is Good.

Week 11 I ♥ Faces Entry

This is my first attempt at an I ♥ Faces entry. Yikes, this is exciting! So drop by their blog and check out all the other beautiful entries!

This is my beautiful friend Katie! This picture was taken on a cloudy day at Yellowstone Bible Camp last summer.