Me, Blending in …

With the exception of my umbrella & shoe soles, I’m kinda looking a whole lot like my surroundings.

Oh well.  At least John Muir assures me that I may not see the same scene twice …

 

Next up, Littlest Dude shares his beloved dollar-store straw hat with a new friend.

Half-Dome???

Do you happen to remember the time we Kellers roadtripped to the Grand Canyon, and upon arriving saw absolutely NOTHING, because the canyon was completely swallowed up in the thick fog? 
Well, this trip to Yosemite wasn’t quite that bad.  But it was close.  There was quite a bit of snow on the drive up to the park, though it had turned to rain by the time we hit the tunnel/valley.   Wait for it. Here it comes: that awe-inspiring iconic view of Half Dome!Oh well.  Half Dome was hiding in the clouds.  A gray Bridal Veil.   A quick loop through the valley floor.  And we headed back down the hill before they closed the road.
Not our most auspicious visit to this most lovely of places.

Snow. Snowballs. & a Straw Hat.

Since the road to the Mariposa Sequoia Grove was closed, we tried to find our way to the Belder Grove instead.  We didn’t make it to Belder, but we found plenty of snow to mess around in.  Littlest Dude used his straw hat from the dollar store to protect him from the ravages of snow.  And I used my new umbrella (unfortunately NOT from the dollar store) to save my camera from said “ravages”.  Dog Dude did not seem upset at all to be missing the giant sequoias.  Checking out the road conditions to Belder.  No go.These two yahoos managed to stay out of the line of fire.And Nana stayed out of the line of fire by remaining in the warm car. 

Authentic Fasting: You Will Be Like a Well-Watered Garden

Shout it aloud, do not hold back.

Raise your voice like a trumpet.  Declare to My people their rebellion and to the descendants of Jacob their sins.  For day after day they seek Me out;  they seem eager to know My ways,  as if they were a nation that does what is right  and has not forsaken the commands of its God.  They ask Me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them.  ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and You have not seen it?  Why have we humbled ourselves, and You have not noticed?’  “Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers.  Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists.  You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high.  Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for people to humble themselves?  Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed and for lying in sackcloth and ashes?  Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD?  “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:  to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke,  to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?  Is it not to share your food with the hungry  and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—  when you see the naked, to clothe them,  and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?  Then your light will break forth like the dawn,  and your healing will quickly appear;  then your righteousness will go before you,  and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.  Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;  you will cry for help, and He will say: Here am I.  “If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk,  and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,  then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.  The LORD will guide you always; He will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame.  You will be like a well-watered garden,  like a spring whose waters never fail.  Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations;  you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings."  Isaiah 58:1-12

Interrupting these travelogues …

…because this is definitely something we Kellers don’t usually see in our ‘hood.  On our walk yesterday, Dog Dude and I turned a corner and saw these four-legged grazers (actually, we heard & smelled them before we turned the corner!).

We could see a couple dozen.  I guessed there were maybe 50 total.  I was off by a few.  After school, I took the dudes (and my big-girl camera) by on our way home…

There are actually 500(!!) goats that have been brought in to graze away the weeds (and everything else!) as part of a wild-fire prevention/control measure.  I can actually see them from my bedroom window.  What a hoot.  They’ll be here, bleeting, eating & pooping for the next couple weeks.

Dog Dude Likes Snow. A Lot.

Either that, or he was just really, REALLY happy not to be cooped up in the car anymore.

Shootin’.

Not all roadtrips go quite as planned.  This roadtrip was to include lots of shooting practice, hiking in Yosemite, Sequoia-gazing, and rock climbing in Truckee.  Well, at least we got in this brief bit of target practice at the end of the first day of driving, just before the sun went down.   But that’s the only item on our list that got checked off.   Rain fell, snow stormed, roads closed, and vomit spewed (because it wouldn’t be a real Keller roadtrip without a little vomit … tmi?).   It quickly became the joke that we had all traveled hundreds of miles just to shop in a dollar store in inclement weather in little old Oakhurst…

"Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD.
"Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool."
Isaiah 1:18