Donaldson Crew Adventures

Earlier this summer Hunter was at Walmart and as he was driving out he saw a puppy in a cardboard box that someone had abandoned so he rescued in and brought him home.  We encouraged him to give him up for adoption at the Humane Society, but he wanted a dog.  We have all fallen in love with him.  You will notice how he has grown over the past few months!

Holly and Duke get along great.  I think Holly has lost weight keeping up with a puppy. (biting her ears and tail all the time).  

When you get a few clouds in the evening sunsets can be spectacular. 

The first set was from July  on our back deck. The second set was late August when Kelly and I hiked the trail just outside of our neighborhood. 

Preston turned 13!  He had the boys in his class plus a couple other close friends from the neighborhood - Jasper and Caleb. 

We did a box construction project and the boys did a great job!  

First snow on the mountains (light dusting at our house in the morning), a fire in the fireplace.  

Visible each night after sunset the second half of the month.  Really cool to see.  

Abbie captures this one - May 22, 2024

Major solar flare eruptions on the sun allowed the the lower 48 to see northern lights may 10, 2024.  Hunter, PJ and I got up around 11:30 pm to see them.  We heard they peaked around 2 am that night.  By the next night they were all gone.  

I had picked up these knives for the boys and one for me from one of my favorite small online businesses - Thunder Crow/Creek Stewart. 

A little rainy/snowy/cold today so PJ, Noah and I built our knives today. (Hunter will have to do his when he comes home at some point:).

Here is what comes in the kit:

We started by carving and sanding the handle. 

We then uses the resin the fix the blade in the notch, did some burning on the handle to decorate, put some oil on the handles and did the final twine wrap to keep the blade in. 

This weekend there has been a deep cold snap across the northwest!

Hunter is near a town called Augusta Montana and they had temps down to -57 F.  They had fun throwing hot water inter the air watching it instantly freeze.  

Kelly and Abbie were in Portland this weekend. It usually just rains in the winter but they had temps down below zero with windchill and snow on the ground! 

PJ, Noah and I were in Bend. We also had some cold temps -6/7 F all day on Saturday with over 12 inches of snow.  Still cold today in single digits (around 5) so a little warmer and sun!