Cloud Peak Trek

Well, we finally got up into the mountains this past weekend and crosses an item off the Must-Do list...hiking Cloud Peak. At 13,200 it was the highest that either of us had actually hiked. We compressed about 4 days of hikes into 2, and now that we're eating icecream on the couch at home, we're glad we did that. However, yesterday evening, during mile 26 of 27 over the 2 day adventure we weren't thinking it had been the best idea...

While hiking to the top of the Bighorns was nice, we both decided that we can have even more fun sticking to the valleys full of lakes and flowers...

If it wasn't so pretty, I probably would have been mind-numbingly frusturated that I didn't bring my flyrod along to save weight...next time Emily's solar-powered heat blanket will not be making the trip with us, andthe flyrod will....

On the way off of the peak, I had the bright idea to take an "alternate route" down...about 1800 vertical feet and 1.5 hours later we were at the bottom of the valley that had seemed ifinitely closer from the top of the 12,600 ft ridge. While it wasn't a true "short-cut", we did get to see 2 lakes that we wouldn't have normally, and instead of having a pretty tough downhill of boulder hopping, we had, well, a tough downhill of boulder hopping, but condensed the elevation loss into about 1/4 of the distance. I guess it added another 1.5 miles to the hike out though...I guess I really can't put any spin on it that makes it sound like it was the right decision....oh well.

Here's Emily during the "short-cut" decent. Julie, don't look...

Here's a shot from the summit.

This is day one decending to some beautiful lakes full of golden trout...

We had a great time.

House Update

We're slowly getting there....lot's of progress lately!






Nothing ever is really straight...that makes45 degree cuts lot's of fun...just don't look too closely!

New closets so we finally aren't stacking clothes on the floor anymore!

Even a desk...now that's living!

Pics of the tree that fell on our house...

Stung in the Cornea

Mid Summer Heat

Bjorn and Emily swimming in the Tongue River...

It has been quite a summer already, way too hot here in Sheridan, but we've heard that this has not been the typical summer that people are used to in this area...

Bj fishing

We were lucky enough to have several visitors out our way in July. Bjorn came out to work for the wonderful city of Buffalo for 3 weeks, while he was waiting to hear about his Peace Corp Application. He found out that he'll be leaving for The Gambia in western Africa on September 24th for 2 years of service. He's absolutley ecstatic about his placement, and can be seen on the streets of Buffalo riding garbage trucks and driving steamrollers, the whole time dreaming about mud-hut living and apiculture in The Gambia. In other news, Bjorn is also a Harry Potter nerd, and we really haven't talked with him since he picked up that latest book 2 days ago...we're hoping he shows back up before he leaves on thursday. We've had a great time with him out here, and feel like we have done a fair job introducing him to the real world of post-college graduates and reality...

Brit Em and Nat

Our next visitors were a couple of greenhorns from Arizona...2 of Emily's sisters, Natalie and Brittany showed up on our doorstep on a friday for a 4 day stay. We tried to fill every minute with the excitement of Sheridan, from the Rodeo the streetdance, to watching the 2007 World Champinoship of Butt-darts. We also spent some time hiking (Brittany thougth pointlessly:) in the mountains. They also took advantage of the state's largest free swimming pool in Buffalo to cool off. Unfortunately, the weekend was somewhat tamed down by Colin's gimpy poison ivy leg (see pictures). We saw a lot of poopsies, caught a few fish, and managed to avoid losing anyone to the bears…While Natalie enjoyed herself, we may never see Brittany in Wyoming again after she lost roughly half of her blood as a result of 53 mosquito bites…sorry Britt.

Poison Ivy!

Malcom, Cindy, Bj, Em, Colin

The last visitors we had out were Malcolm and Cindy, neighbors from Duluth who were out to enjoy the backpacking in the Bighorns. We ended up doing a pretty lengthy day hike with them up to 7 Brothers Lakes. It was a hot day and hiking mainly through a burn area didn’t do much to combat the heat. The scenery was great though, and the lakes did cool everyone off. I’m not sure about how Malcolm and Cindy felt the next day, but Bjorn, Emily and myself were absolutely exhausted…quite the hike.

Now things have calmed down a little out here…we’re still waiting to hear back from insurance on the big pine tree that punched through the kitchen ceiling a few weeks back…our house is still pretty chaotic, but we’ll be hitting it hard again in august. I will say that if we did live in Buffalo, we would probably get official notices from the city telling us to clean up the fire hazards in our yard, as well as the junk strewn about the yard…at least the inside is looking more normal!

Early Summer!!!

We've been having some wood floor difficulties lately, so decided to get out for a weekend and check out Crazy Woman Canyon just south of Buffalo. If you are ever out this way, it is well worth the side trip...huge limestone sidewalls with a road going alongside the creek...no pics of that here, so you'll have to see it yourself! Lots of lupine this time of year...

Thanks for the hammock Meg!!! Now, if I could just get Emily out of it so I can try it out...

Spring Photos

The creek is rising with the past 4 days of rain/snow...and everything is turning green on the drive to Buffalo...

Just so you can remember what we look like...

The wood floor is coming along...

Sooo close!!!!!

The bathroom is 80% finished, we are just waiting on installing the sink and trimming out the window. We've learned a lot about basic plumbing and electric work with this project...well worth the 42 day wait in between showers! These pics should convey the overall change...check out some of the older blogs (link on the right side of the page) to see the difference...it really is remarkable. Ahhh the luxury of a bathroom!

Here is where the bathtub has been for the past 42 days!!!

Here is the new bathroom, minus a few finishing touches like cover plates, towel hooks etc.

Here is where the sink will end up going, and we'll trim out the window before that goes in...

Spring Cleaning

We had some cabin fever this weekend and decided to take out the all the junk that had been growing in the back yard...we are hoping to have a brick patio under some of the trees back there...we shall see!

Last Weeks Blizzard

Here are a couple of pictures the day after the 3 day blizzard we had here in Sheridan. We ended up with 32 inches of snow, which melted to about 20 the next day and is now down to around 5. No water in the basement yet!

The Acklinators Leave Their Mark!

I added the pics in a reverse order...scroll to the bottom of this post to see the progress chronologically!!! Thanks again Glenn and Julie for all your hard work!!! We really appreciated your visit, and the next one will be much more relaxing...we think...

With our bed in the bedroom, there actually seems to still be some room...after sleeping on our mattress on the floor for the past 6 months or so, we're having to acclimate ourselves to the new altitude of our bed...we're not complaining...

Here's Emily reclining after the carpet was installed...we're crossing our fingers that the new fan stays in the ceiling where it is supposed to! It sort of is our early warning system in case the entire ceiling decides to come crashing down some night...

Here's the bedroom waiting for carpet...

Nice neat lines...Julie did a great job on the finish painting...

Here's a newly hung door with a new coat of paint on the trim,courtesy of the Acklinator Team...

Glenn thought it would be smart to add some support under the toilet in the bathroom so guests woudn't end up down in the basement...thanks!

Here's the tile (missing grout) and where the sink is going to go one of these days when the plumber gets their act together...

Looking sharp!

Tiling is fun! Right Glenn?

Here's the wonderboard being laid over the redwood subbase...

Here's the bathroom minus the particle board/plywood/linoleum covering. Glenn had to do some reinforcing in a few problem areas...