The views from Lake Love Begone

Yup, our lake front property has mostly disappeared. I should have gotten that ad on Sandpoint Online's free classifieds during those two days when our house was completely surrounded by water.

It was going to read: For sale, by owner: Varying degrees of lake front property on ten acres in beautiful North Idaho. Surrounded by spectacular mountains. Located just 15 minutes from popular ski resort. Five minutes from Coldwater Creek's shop-until-you-drop hometown store. Five minutes from ABC's Extreme Makeover Home Edition home. One minute from Sandpoint's most recent murder scene. Only 30 seconds from Sandpoint's famed America's Promise Church.

Situated in midst of transportation hub with busy airport to the east, fast-running freight trains to the west. Barking-dog center just beyond the murder scene down the road. Road could use improvements but passable. This piece of property is a steal at $1 million. No realtors and no damn telemarketers.

Unfortunately, on this Martin Luther King holiday, I see no lake frontage out my front windows. It all sank into the clay, replaced by a light frosting of white stuff. I did see the new sculpture out there by the mailboxes this morning. It has remained but has also sagged to the point that its connecting elements no longer connect. No takers from POAC yesterday, so the likelihood of our site making it to the 2006 Artwalk is looking pretty iffy.

I'm not letting a little disappointment regarding lost lake frontage or rejection from the POAC goddesses get me down, though, cuz we did see the sun yesterday. Kiwi and I went to inspect the repair work on HWY 2 where the weeks of rain caused the slough to eat away at the fill, which caused the road to buckle and eventually cave in.

We combined a little doggie discipline with our walk down the bike path leading to the highway repair. Seemed everyone in Sandpoint was out for a walk on that bike path during this welcome dry Sunday. Kiwi is learning to control her tendency to lunge toward every moving animal (human and canine) she meets on the path. She lunges at the humans in hopes of planting a French kiss in their mouths. She lunges at the other dogs to let 'em know not to plant any French kisses on me.

She's getting better each time I take her out, and I have noticed after seeing a great number of dogs on leashes that Kiwi is really pretty civil in comparison that there must be a lot of young dogs---just learning---in Sandpoint. Many people we met along the trail were tugging with all their might as their Rovers pulled them down the path. In my case, sore right arm muscles can attest to the fact that at least Kiwi and I can create the appearance that all is under control.

We did make it to the viewing site above the highway, with no incidents, except for a ferocious Australian Shepherd (who was "just learning" some discipline). Once there, I sidled up next to Bob Bristol, a longtime local engineer, and asked him if they were doing it right down there where a steam shovel and a bunch of hard hats had gathered.

"Well, looks like they could use another culvert," he told me. They had installed two, and it did look like a third would be coming to a depression formed in the gravel base. Bob did his looking and inspecting, and then headed on his way. Kiwi and I visited with a few of the onlookers. By that time, my bladder was telling me it was time to start back to the car.

The rest of the day was pretty pleasant too, cuz Bill and I went geocaching over Newport way. We found one old logging road overlooking the Pend Oreille River that extended seemingly forever. It was level and relatively dry throughout. Huge Ponderosas provided a bit of cover and a lot of natural beauty.

I'm glad our Lake Love has begone. Didn't need that million dollars anywho. And, from the looks of the skies today, some more of the grumpiness from the past couple of weeks should dissipate just like the water.

Have a good and dry Monday everyone. Special note: the blogger site must've been pretty busy this morning cuz this took a long time to post. Thanks for your patience.