• John Gussman good local photographer
• The elders, John and I, aka "Pop" and "Uma" to the grandchildren
• The Kendrick family: our son Bowen, with later mention of wife, Leah, and our grandson, Bo
• The Jamal family: Our Grandson, Rashaad, daughter Mischa's son, his wife Lauren and his son, Kingston
• Other grandchildren: Justin and Colby, our son John's sons

We had a decent snowfall in February. We awoke one morning to find signs of various animals having crossed the yard overnight.

Pop and Bo, dealing with the snow; Bowen's house in the distance across the wetland, in the snow. When it gets particularly cold, the sap in the vegetation expands as it freezes, oozing out of the cells to form icy crystals on the plant surface. These are Nootka rose hips in the snow.

Another snow scene. In March Rashaad, Lauren and Kingston met with Bowen, Leah and Bo for skiing in Jackson. They sent us these pictures, one of Kingston, and one of the cousins on the slope.

Back to the Olympic Peninsula with reminders of spring snow melt: Mount Carrie in the distance; the Elwha River, headwatered east of Mt. Carrie and the Sol Duc river, whose headwaters are west of Mt. Carrie, flowing full with snow melt

It's almost a given that part of country life is a flock of chickens. We have such a flock, formerly guarded by a fine rooster named Shepherd. This spring Leah and I both ordered more chicks, supposedly all pullets (baby hens). Survival wasn't great. Raccoons (probably) got most of mine, so I ordered a second batch, which all survived.

Bo had named all of the Kendrick's chicks, so when two of Leah's survivors turned out to be roosters, they already had been named Daisy and Rose. Regardless of their names, one rooster per flock is usually enough.

So if one is given lemons.... you know the rest.

Since Shepherd had an exceptionally shrill crow, which he exercised at the slightest provocation, I rehomed him to a farm even further from neighbors than we are. Then one of Leah's new roosters, Bo's "Rose", came to guard my chickens. I renamed him Rastaman (over Bo's strenuous objection). For the record, here are Shepherd and Rastaman.

Country kids have an expansive playground.

But kids are the same, after all, regardless of where they live. Here are three of our grandkids, same beach, same activity, 18 years apart. Colby, when he was just Bo's age on the left, next, brother Justin, three years older than Colby, and Bo on the right.

Hunting and gathering activities consume the summer months. First, hunting (aka fishing), with school for a future fishers.

Then gathering and processing.

For the grownups, country life also involves tending to infrastructure that is transparent to city dwellers. For water, we depend on a well. For sanitation, we must inspect and mantain our septic system. And for access, we neighbors have to maintain our common road, a little over 4/10 of a mile. This year was road-graveling time. A couple of days of tractor work to prepare the road base, a call for gravel delivery, then rake the gravel smooth.

To us, the tradeoffs are "worth it". So, after pictures of the grandkids and the environment, here's one of us, pointing out the eagle's nest high in the trees near our barn.