Echo Lake

Ellie driving boat
Originally uploaded by sasadler.

I am trying to teach E. how to hold two things in her mind and heart at the same time. A hard thing for all of us. She misses Seattle and the other mother, but is having a blast up at the lake. It is a hard thing to balance. I feel mixed feelings about everything. Sometimes the sadness feels overwhelming, knowing we are going to be putting Taffy down any day now, worried about Ellie being homesick, dealing with family conflicts, worried about my neice and nephew...Balance that with the brown creeper scooting up the lodgepole pine in the front of the cabin, Ellie identifying birds, correctly I might add, the AMAZING double rainbow arching between flagpole peak and beckers peak last evening, my incredible fortune to have a loveing family, friends, and a natrual world that sends me into wonder anytime I take the time to really notice it. Is the glass half full? Have empty? Gray, black, white. I don't know.

The Buck Word

E asked me if a certain word that starts with an F and rhymes with Buck was a bad word. (This is a family blog after all.) I reacted in a way to ensure she will get the most bang for her buck. Having gotten such a terrific rise out of one mother, Ellie, being an economist by nature, continues on to milk it for all it is worth. "Mommy Heather...is F*#k a bad word?" and the same day, "Jean Jean, is F*#k a band word." JeanJean, being the fairy god-mother has the best sense. "Well, what did your various mother's say when you asked them?"

The week or so before she was alliterating. Kim, the male Kim, was driving and was trying not to laugh while looking at her through the rear view mirror. He felt obliged to tell me that she was rhyming the F&#k word, but also told me he was no help at all, as he was trying not to laugh.

That's my girl.

Taffy - - The World's Coolest dog

Taffy liked to play stick. It is a complicated game. I confess I don't understand all of the rules. It involves my lying on the front porch asleep at about 6 or so in the morning. Taffy-Banaffi shows up, punches me in the, oh, I don't know, my head, and then runs and gets a stick. She brings back the stick. I throw the stick. She gets the stick. Does she bring it to me? Oh...Nooooo, she runs in a circle, drops it...runs again. Drops it in a third place and then either gets it or not. I don't understand exactly how the points for this game are added up. Or perhaps it is a cooperative game. I don't know.

Taffy is the dog that made me think, "Hey, I am old enough to have my own dog. Maybe." Since then I have have three little heart breakers. One I lost to a car, another to cancer and one to a girlfriend.

Taffy also liked to play
Eat the licorice out of your Mouth"
"Sniff and Follow Jon's Scent up and down the Mountain"
"I've hiked enough, and am going back to the cabin"

And many others. Taffy is following Uncle Jon at work for the next few days, maybe weeks and then we will have to make the heart breaking decision to say good bye to the sweet, loving dog and family member.

Photo's by Jon

Hink Pink

Have you ever heard of a game called Hink Pink? It is a rhyming game. Jean Jean, Ellie and I went to Mt Rainier for an overnight near Paradise. And it was. Paradise, that is. It was also really Mt Rainier, stupidly names after a friend of a fellow who happened to be sailing by one afternoon in 1792.

Any ol’ how, on the drive in, we played Make Me A Rhyme in Double Quick Time, and Hink Pink. The latter was a bit hard for Ellie, but she caught on. An example would be, “What do ya call an Obese Feline” The answer would be, “Fat Cat”

Some of the clues were somewhat obscure. Are you ready? The answers are below the pretty pirated picture of Mt Rainier, whose proper name is Mt Tahoma, by the way. Please, all you people who read this, make a suggestion for a Hink Pink.

What do you call a homosexual ruminant?

What do you call a promiscuous ruminant?

What do you call an inexpensive SUV?

How about a true fir with an unfortunate bite?

How about a perfect night sleep?

And one especially for Ellie: What do you call a bolder and a foot coat?






Queer Deer
Loose Moose
Cheap Jeep
Abies Rabies
Sublime Supine
Rock Sock, (She thought those would hurt.)

Here is a photo of Washington State’s other famous volcano.