A Break

We took a much-needed break in June from farmhouse remodeling and went to a photo seminar in California. We hiked up 10,000 feet to the Golden Trout Wilderness and stayed in a tent for a week, hiking out every day into the Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains.  At times we were hiking in knee-deep snow!

The hike to the top of the Mesa was almost 12,000 feet and a very tough hike but the views were worth it! This is South Fork Lake, a panorama of 6 stitched photos.

The newly remodeled outhouse at the camp was much nicer than our porta-john at the farm.

All of the group participants were interested in photography and hiking so we got along great.  We're looking forward to going back next year for the 5th year in a row!

After Golden Trout, we drove our rental car along the west coast 1500 miles to Oregon for a much too brief visit with our granddaughter, Taran.

Back home in South Carolina, the temperature has been HOT!  It's been over 100 degrees in my kitchen every day since we got back.  I've been canning tomatoes, peppers, apples, and chow-chow.

It did rain some while we were gone so Tom had to pump water out of the hole in front of the house

so we could have 12 dump-truck loads of dirt delivered

that our neighbor Gary pushed into the hole

and Tom used a rented jumping-jack to compress.

Then Tom built some temporary steps so I can use the front door again!

It hasn't rained in two weeks now and we're in drought conditions again.  The storms keep going right around us.  This week we are getting in estimates on septic tanks, plumbing, fireplaces, and roofing.  Judging from some of the prices we've gotten so far, there is no recession in the USA.