Friday, October 24, 2008

Splendor in the pastures



You're looking at Schweitzer Mountain Resort in the background. I'm standing on Hickey Road east of Sandpoint as I snap this photo. "All of the below" are also shot from Hickey Road.

Before you start snorting your coffee and descend into wild stories about how a road could be named "Hickey," I must tell you that it's named after the Hickey family of Sandpoint. The field in the background is part of the family's farm.

Jack Hickey came to North Idaho in the early 1920s from Phillipsburg, Montana, with his parents who had purchased more than 300 acres of a "stump ranch," which was later established into a beautiful dairy atop a hill decades ago. Longervale Farm on what's now known as Hickey Road and managed by Jack's son Jim, sits majestically on that hilltop in the middle of beautiful farm fields surrounded by groves of deciduous and evergreen trees.

Jack's wife Lois taught school in Sandpoint forever, not only at the elementary schools but also at the old junior high where she was the study hall teacher. Their daughter Jackie has been one of my longtime friends, and I can almost always count on the Christmas card from Jackie and Jim Holt coming among the first batch each year. Jackie and I spent many an hour visiting during idle time at the University of Idaho where we both resided at Carter Hall.
Jack was a horse lover, and he always enjoyed talking horses with my dad. He was also always one of the friendliest folks one could meet at the Bonner County Fair, which I believe he had attended every year since its beginning. I always cherished my friendship with all the Hickeys.

I've always loved driving down Highway 200 and looking over to admire their farm which has survived in spite of all the land development, but I never knew until this morning's research that it was known as Longerdale Farm.

The other day I drove Hickey Road and groused at myself for not bringing a camera to capture the beauty. Yesterday after our lunch with Boots and Becky, Mother and I stopped by the house to pick up my camera. We went into town for her monthly blood test (which was perfect, by the way), and then set out toward Hickey Road for these photos.

Longerdale Farm, in the Oden Valley, occupies a peaceful setting between the Cabinet and Selkirk Mountains, and I'd venture to say, the Hickey family was never short-changed on their daily scenery.

The barn picture is not from the Hickey farm, but you can see part of the farm in the background.

I'm glad we took time for another drive down Hickey Road, this time with a camera.

Happy Friday.
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