The Blanch Herd: Out There {August 2023}

August is always hot, and it was definitely hot this year. And humid. More than I remember. But then it gets to the last week or so of the month and all of a sudden it's 47 degrees outside when we wake up and I have to wear a hoodie on my morning walk! We had a great month outside. Let's take a look. (And don't forget our two camping trips in the same number of weeks.)

8.1.23
(on my solo morning walk around the loop)

8.1.23
(I just kept seeing the most amazing hollyhocks all around
the neighborhood this summer! I loved them!)

8.1.23
(I'm not the only one loving hollyhocks this
summer! I laughed when I read this in our paper,
not because it's funny, but because I love the "news"
that is covered in the Ogden Valley News)

8.1.23
(I always love the sunflowers in August, too)

8.1.23
(the saddest thing! I knew we weren't going to get
many apples this year (it only really produces every
other year, and we didn't have many blossoms), but
to see our tree stripped of leaves from those rascally
grasshoppers is really shocking!)

8.1.23

8.1.23
(I mean, look! You can see through the branches!)

8.1.23

8.3.23
(another neighborhood walk with a pod. it was moody
and sprinkley, but I walked anyway)

8.3.23
(later, the sun came out and I decided to head out again
for a longer walk. I put on my jacket, but I was sweating soon,
so I tied it around my waist and just kept walking. I was talking
on the phone to my friend Christine and I went down to the North
Arm Trail and discovered that the closed sign was gone, so I pressed
onward to check out the washed out bridge. I noticed some dark clouds to
the northwest, but I thought they were moving away from the valley.
Wrong. Long story short: I got soaked! Gregg came out of the office
and realized I was gone, so he hopped in the car with the kids and
came to rescue me! What a guy!)

8.3.23
(it was coming down so so hard for a while - it was puddling
up on the patio and even on the grass!)

bonus video!

"downpour!"

8.3.23

8.4.23
(Gregg and the kids came with me the next day to check out
the damage on the north arm - hooowee! it's amazing to see
what power water has! This is the "new" bridge from a few
years ago, and we used to be able to walk down under this bridge
when the water was low or gone - Cal probably could have stood
under it! Now it's full nearly to the bottom of the bridge with gravel and
that big tree!)

8.4.23
(the former streambed; at some point during the
spring runoff, this apparently got filled with
gravel and the water started flowing down the hill
to the little stream, which then filled and ripped out
the little bridge. we've never actually walked
north from the bridge toward the highway, so this
was new territory for us)

8.4.23

8.4.23
(that tree has been pushed under the bridge)

8.4.23
(this is the trail - we didn't even know that
it had cement (which is now washed away)
under the dirt!)

8.4.23
(this is where the first, smaller bridge used to be)

8.4.23
(see all that gravel? didn't used to be there!)

8.4.23

8.4.23
(here is the trail before you cross the bridge - all washed away,
down to the barrier layer)

8.4.23
(so much erosion!)

8.4.23
(and the grass was SO tall!! Sam is on Gregg's
shoulders up ahead and the grass is up to
his head!)

8.4.23

8.5.23
(parked on the 6th hole at the Harrisville
disc golf course!)

8.7.23
(I heard the sound of a hot air balloon behind me as
I was walking up the hill in the loop, so when I turned
around, and spied it, I was so happy!)

8.7.23
(makes such a pretty picture on a Monday morning)

8.7.23

8.8.23
(the kids were at book club at the library, so I invited Gregg
to go on a walking date with me around Huntsville.
we made it down to the nature trail that I loved all winter
and we found that the bridge had been damaged this spring,
too! I had been down here a lot in the spring, but has been
a few months, so it was surprising to see this mess)