Slight Detour

Flooding damage near Clark Fork from a Facebook post.

Thanks to the Daily Bee for posting the information below. Tough times for residents living in flood zones.

From Bonner County officials:

East Spring Creek Road has been washed out and is closed effecting residents on it and all of its connecting roads. Affected residents have been contacted and services offered to assist them in leaving the area.

Alternate access to the area is extremely limited and we request that people stay out of the area to allow for residents to exit the area and for ingress and egress of emergency services.

The area will be closed for an extended period of time and the Bonner County Sheriff's Office will continue to be working with Clark fork Fire, Sam Owen Fire, Bonner County Emergency Management, Bonner County Board of Commissioners, Bonner County Road and Bridge, Army Corps of Engineers, and Avista throughout the incident.

This will be an ongoing incident as additional rain and mountain runoff off are expected.

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In the meantime, we enjoyed a break from the rain yesterday and even some blue skies with balmy 50-degree temperatures.

Unheard of for this time of year but not complaining.

Sandpoint High's girls basketball team will face Burley in their consolation game this morning at the TitleOne Tip-off classic at 8:30 PST.

The girls (5-1) sustained their first loss in yesterday's tournament opener against Mountain Home.

Meanwhile, later in the morning, the Sandpoint boys moved on to the semifinals by securing a close win (51-50) over Shelley.

This afternoon at 4 p.m. PST, they'll take on a tough Star Valley team from Wyoming. Star Valley soundly defeated Coeur d'Alene yesterday.

The games are being streamed, and I must say the professional play-by-play, complete with coaches' interviews is impressive and welcome.

I'm pretty sure this is the link to today's games. If it's not, I'll fix it and also post the link on my Facebook feed.

https://www.eastidahonews.com/2025/12/watch-day-2-of-titleone-tip-off-classic-games-here/?fbclid=IwY2xjawOpJBFleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETFvUmpFdXJwc0pLQzMzd2VZc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHvztV6elNXeb7664fJYlkaEKnMqzQCGzHrjZzIuAiJCCm7vo34r8eWMF-2M6_aem_oo8fyzD9K0wTobiHkJDLRg

https://www.eastidahonews.com/2025/12/watch-day-2-of-titleone-tip-off-classic-games-here/

GOOD LUCK, BULLDOGS!

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from this morning's Daily Bee . . . story by sports editor Max Oswald

Roos' late block helps Bulldogs seal tourney win

Sandpoint 51, Shelley 50

IDAHO FALLS — Senior forward Logan Roos neared a double-double with a team-high 13 points, nine rebounds and three blocks, one of which came on a Shelley three-point try with 15 seconds to go, as the Bulldogs held on for a one-point win over the Russets in their TitleOne Tip-off Classic tournament opener held Thursday morning at the Mountain America Center.

Roos, who was 5-for-9 from the field and had a three-pointer, played a big role under the basket as did junior Derrick Chamberlain, who had two blocks and scored six of his eight points in the third quarter, helping Sandpoint push their lead to 35-28 at one point with his efforts. Roos, with the Bulldogs ahead 41-39 in the fourth quarter, fought through contact to score a layup, and, unable to convert on the ensuing free throw, nabbed his own rebound for the putback and a 45-39 lead, which the Russets closed to 45-44 minutes later.

Junior Brock Yarbrough tallied nine points and five rebounds, junior Knox Williams seven points, including a three-pointer, and a team-high four assists, three steals, and five rebounds, and junior Logan Iverson and senior Tyler Weisz each had five points in the win for Sandpoint, which led 51-48 in the final moments of the contest before one last Russet three-point attempt.

"The kids came out and battled the entire time," coach Love said of his team, despite the long travel and all that comes with it. "They stuck together and did things down the stretch to win. Really proud of them... there are some things that we have to clean up, but I thought during that last stretch of time, especially that last possession, we played well. We gave up two points (after their final three-point attempt), but they didn't have a timeout... so under five seconds, we didn't have to inbound the basketball, and they understood that. Tyler Weisz did a great job on his closeout, to contest, but not foul."

Senior Landen Smith produced a double-double of 13 points and 11 rebounds for Shelley, which made five three-pointers — three of which came from junior Bridger Brunson.

Sandpoint (3-1) will face Star Valley of Afton, Wyo., which defeated Coeur d'Alene by a score of 62-32 in their opener, in a semifinals matchup on Friday afternoon.

Shelley 16 6 11 17 — 50

Sandpoint 15 10 13 13 — 51

PTS: SPT — Roos 13, Yarbrough 9, Chamberlain 8, Williams 7, Iverson 5, Weisz 5, Gion 3, Williams 1. SHY — Smith 13, Beck 13, Brunson 12, Remington 9, Cook 2, Crandall 1.

REB: SPT — Roos 9, Gion 5, Williams 5, Yarbrough 5, Iverson 4, Weisz 4, Chamberlain 1, Inge 1. SHY — Smith 11, Beck 5, Remington 3, Bennett 3, Crandall 2, Cook 1.

AST: SPT — Williams 4, Weisz 3, Yarbrough 2, Iverson 1, Roos 1. SHY — Brunson 4, Bennett 4, Remington 2, Smith 1, Crandall 1.

STL: SPT — Williams 3, Gion 2, Yarbrough 2, Roos 1, Chamberlain 1. SHY — Beck 3, Brunson 3, Remington 2, Brunson 2, Crandall 2, Smith 1.

BLK: SPT — Roos 3, Chamberlain 2, Williams 1, Yarbrough 1. SHY — Smith 1, Beck 1.

We still have some standing water, but, overall, the landscape is clear and clean.

Bill suggested that if we get a few more 50-degree days I can pull out the lawnmowers and start mowing again IN DECEMBER.

I told him I would probably enjoy that because there is no dust or debris to make me miserable.

The little guy seems to be getting a little better each day.

He still has the head tilt but he also amazingly finds his way around with the head tilt and the blindness.

Amazing and resilient and sweet little dog.

I don't remember a time when we could take photos like this in December.

AND, SOME PHOTOS FROM PARADISE WHERE OUR DAUGHTER ANNIE IS ENJOYING A LONG WEEKEND.

Bill brought me a poinsettia yesterday.

It has added a festive touch to the busYness of dining room table area.

We have a lot of standing water here at the Lovestead this morning, but we do not have to shelter in place like the folks up East Spring Creek Road near Clark Fork.

Residents have received word that the road is impassable. According to one Facebook account, the new culverts near the fish hatcher "blew out."

So, the continuous rain has caused a few problems here.

Yesterday was definitely an "indoor sports" day with the nonstop rain.

I was ecstatic that Roxane kept the horses in their stalls because of the rain, which meant my farrier Steve could trim hooves inside out of the elements.

Another 50-degree day lies ahead, but my phone says no rain today or tomorrow. Hope that's true.

We've had wind which is helping dry out the land.

Not exactly what we're used to seeing in almost mid-December. As my sister says, imagine how much snow we would have on the ground if it had been cooler.

So, overall, it's not too bad here because we can walk pretty much anywhere we want, 'cept maybe through the lakes, which, in some cases, would pour into my low-cut boots.

Indoor sports yesterday included baking some pumpkin bread from my garden pumpkin, and it's pretty tasty and moist.

Bill had three pieces for breakfast and approved.

There's something almost magical about biting into a piece and thinking about the seed I placed in the manure pile garden back in May.

That thought makes me just want to take another bite and smile.

The Sandpoint High varsity basketball teams are down in Southeast Idaho (Idaho Falls) for the next three days to compete in a tournament which features eight women's and eight men's teams.

Wishing them a lot of luck.

The times listed are Mountain, so the girls tip-off at 8:30 Pacific, while the boys play at 10 a.m.

Good Luck, Bulldogs.

https://www.eastidahonews.com/2025/12/this-weekends-titleone-tip-off-classic-to-offer-hoops-with-a-cause-16-causes-actually/

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Thursday Throwbacks: fun friends, family and events of past times from my photo library.

I could post the photo above every single week and still laugh insanely every time. Silly girls and teachers all---and friends who've always made me smile.

Two generations of the Raiha family, brothers Andy and Dan and Dan's son Everett. I think he's in high school now.

Above: not who you may think. That's our friends Mark and Ann-Marie who own Lawcus Farm Guesthouse near Kilkenny, Ireland.

Below: on the left, Anthony, a truly unique and fun soul whom we met on a ferry ride to the Aran Island of Inis Mor a couple of years ago.

While horses and their riders circled the arena, Annie and Jenny entertained themselves in the bleachers. Both have grown up and don't spend a lot of time organizing pop cans these days.

Mr. Mayor George of Dover.

Willie has spent some time in jail, and that time was spent with a high school administrator, the late Tom Keough.

I believe this was taken at a Leohono Honor Society Carnival at Sandpoint High.

And, there were no strong winds blowing through the house that day!

A little lady with a Love shirt in Ireland.

A fun evening at Vanderfords a few years back when Boots (second left) and Pat (right) were still alive. It was an authors' gathering. Sandy (left) and I behaved ourselves.

Elaine and Dagmar at a Lutheran birthday party.

A few cousins, Madalyn, Mary and Lauri, and Batch One, the Brown kids: Kevin, Marianne and Mike at our mother's celebration of life in 2013.

The black-and-whites feature some photos taken at a few of our Christmas gatherings.

Fun times with family.

Above: Batch One (Kevin, Marianne and Mike) with the first member of Batch Two, sister Barbara. Laurie and Jim came later to round out Batch Two.

Below: Our oldest brother Mike wasn't there because at the time plebes (first-year students) at West Point were not allowed to come home for Christmas.

So, we wore our sweats and tees from the academy.