A Bed & Breakfast Birthday

My Grandma Reidhaar turned 80 last Saturday and to celebrate, we got most of the family together for a dinner at the St. Joe Riverfront Bed And Breakfast. It'd been too long since I'd seen some of the family and it was bound to be a good time. Some of us were scheduled to stay at the b&b, while others would stay out at my Grandma's place. I was originally slotted to stay at my Grandma's until I got on the topic of photography. The owner invited me to stay for free as long as I got a lot of shots of the b&b. Hopefully she liked the shots, because I sure enjoyed those breakfasts!

Most of the family... getting everyone in the shot, to look and smile just didn't happen.
Me, my Sister Lianne, Grandma (Rose Mary), my Mom (Cathy), Aunt Barb, and Uncle Steve.

The trail of the Coeur d'Alenes bridge over Lake Chatcolet. I also hiked up to the Indian Cliffs which was a great view.

The B&B at night

The main dining table

The fireplace

Ever Feel Like People Are Getting Dumber?

Does a worse diet, more fumes to breath in and too many people around have an affect on quality of life? My vote is yes. Last night, while listening to professor Coors about increasing the number of ears of corn on a plant, I got another reminder of how quantity and quality are typically inverses of one another. Quantity (of ears) goes up, quality goes down and vice-versa. Our population (quantity) keeps going up. Sure, we keep adding information onto the previously understood, but do you ever wonder if the percentage of people with some degree of common sense might be going down? Have you ever walked around in Walmart? For a real trip, try it late at night!
There just so happens to be a great movie out there that didn't get too much financial backing on the advertising side of things, but I hightly suggest! Odds are you've seen it. If not, watch it! If you've seen it, watch it again!

Honest Abe & Disturbing Darwin, Happy Birthday!

Today is the 200th year since the birth of Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin.
Mr. Lincoln... you set the U.S. in a direction that allowed us to succeed extremely well as a society! Thank you for your amazing insight! Hopefully our newest leader has a similar ability to lead our nation in such a direction.

Mr. Darwin... you disturb society since you came across some information that just can't be proven incorrect, but directly conflicts with the information in a book written by men thousands of years ago that tells us exactly how and why we need to live our lives. If the facts set forth in this book can be proven incorrect, why would we ever follow all of the other rules in such a book? It can't be wrong in any part or we have a major problem right?! We live lawlessly as anarchists and we revert to being middle of the food chain animals again, right? Well, maybe not. We still have knowledge, motivation, morality built by the need for teamwork, and enjoyment of life. Isn't the most central part of living happiness?

An excerpt from Susan Jacoby's Darwin the Disturber:
"It has been almost a year since I watched the person I loved most in the world move inexorably toward death, his great mind shutting down as a result of the inevitable, degenerative, entirely physical process of Alzheimer's Disease. Now he lives only in the memories of those who loved him--and our memories are as dependent on the physical health of our bodies as his were on his body. It does not enhance human dignity one bit to find a "spiritual" explanation for our higher mental functioning; nor does it decrease human dignity to look upon our highest achievements as part of nature, inexorably tied to the body that is ours for a finite period. This finiteness renders life more, not less, meaningful: we are enjoined to use the brains within our bodies to leave as much as possible to those who will inhabit the material world after us. Darwin faced reality, and that is why he was a human as well as a scientific giant."

If per chance you are interested in hearing more, here's the info:

What
Darwin Day Speaker James G. Coors, PhD

When

Thursday, February 12, 2009 7:00 PM

Where

Education Bldg Rm 110
Boise State University 1910 University Dr
Boise ID 83701
(208) 426-4249

In celebration of the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth Professor Emeritus Department of Agronomy, James G. Coors from the University of Wisconsin, Madison will be speaking to us on Feb 12, 2009 at 7:00pm in room 110 of the Education building on the BSU Campus

The Photographers "Hello World"

An entry level trick to writing code on a computer is to pop out a program that displays "Hello World." An entry level trick to photography is to make cars disappear at night.

It's like a set of electronic eyes flying through the air

Star lights without a filter

Shots From Wildcat and Squaw Creek Canyons

Calvin and I took off to check out Wildcat Canyon in the Owyhees. Wildcat proved to be a little shorter than we'd hoped for so we headed over to Squaw Creek Canyon, just across highway 95.

Wildcat Canyon had a lot of sections where the water level had dropped enough that there were places where the frozen surface level was all that was left of old pools

An eerie sound coming down the canyon mixed with fog made a strange feeling going back to the car

A little climbing required, but well worth it

A small cave along Squaw Creek Canyon

An umbrella of ice

Anderson & Higby

Over the last couple days, we've ventured to a couple new places that have been on my list for a while. Anderson hot springs have been run down until this last summer when some kind person(s) cleaned it up big time! Next up was Higby Cave. This wasn't the first time I've tried to get to this cave, but it's the first time I've been successful. The first time was without gps or very good directions.

Anderson hot springs, right around 100 degrees

Even with 16 seconds, our lighting could have been more powerful

Charlene and I. It's tough to get the flashlight photography right

but it's still worth seeing. Mom and I

We thought that my sister Tara might appreciate this piece of graffiti

Given the blog a few back, this light clearly isn't "the light"