Photo Run

No gnawing "to do's."  House relatively clean.  Two alumni profiles formatted for a project I'm doing about Sandpoint High grads.  

Animals happy.  No visitors coming. 

It was an afternoon without too many cares, and what had started as  a gray morning with new snow on the ground turned out to feel like a spring afternoon.

I took the dogs for a short walk on a road paralleing the Union Pacific tracks off Forest Siding. 

The place where I'd planned for a long walk was locked off with a gate:  No Trespassing.

We went there for a change of scenery in my walking regimen, so I took the camera.

The sky was a dull gray, no sun and not much color, so that meant just walking back to the car and heading home.

Just wasn't enough, I thought, use this afternoon and go have fun shooting pictures.

Bill came home from church.  I told him my plans and told him he could come along if he wanted.  He said he'd stay home and get a few things done.  

I knew he wanted to keep track of what was happening in the Denver Broncos game, and I told him he probably wouldn't be too thrilled to stop every time I wanted to take a picture. 

The dogs once again accompanied me as I headed to town, with no particular goals, except snapping pictures, going down a few new roads, and enjoying the independence of designing my own itinerary.  

Heading toward Priest River seemed logical since I've gone all the other directions a few times this winter. 

Before taking the Dover highway out of town, I remembered a picture I've been wanting to take for some time:  the original house where I spent my first three years of existence.

I've appreciated that house more and more, even though I have virtually no memories of living there.  It's important to me because the other house where our family lived during our formative years and young adulthood went up in smoke several years ago. 

The only memories left on our childhood farm might be the cherry tree in the front yard and the woods,  full of pine, hemlock and cedar trees,  behind the spot where the house, barn, sheds and corrals once housed a hard-working family and all their beloved cows, horses, dogs and cats.

So, every drive down Euclid makes me happy and nostalgic to see one vestige of my childhood still remaining intact---pretty much looking the same as it did back in 1950 when we left town for the country. 

I also stopped off just down the block to snap some pictures of another structure which also served as a venue for molding me into the muttering, quirky hick I'm proud to be.  

Lots of fond and some not-so-fond memories at the "old junior high" formerly known as Sandpoint High School and now known as the Sandpoint Events Center. 

Then, it was on to the highway, westward bound.  

I promised the dogs they could get out and walk, so, after turning off on a few new roads that went virtually nowhere interesting, I stopped at the Laclede store for coffee and chocolate---my afternoon caffeine fix.

Then, we turned off and headed for Riley Creek campground, which is closed for the winter.  

The only ground cover during our walk around the recreation area came in ubiquitous deposits, especially in designated walking areas:  green goose poop.

Not a pleasure, to say the least, for a springlike January stroll. 

The dogs could have cared less, but I didn't like dodging green, mushy bullets.

So, we headed back to the car and continued on toward Priest River, where the sun was shining brilliantly and casting beautiful wide rays across the big farm fields along the East Settlement Road. 

I turned off, figuring this was going to be prime picture-taking time and territory.

It was.

I've always loved the Kaniksu Stock Ranch barn, which overlooks the fields as it sits at the base of a mountain.  Harold and Barbara Anselmo owned that place when I was growing up.  Their son Tommy and I competed against each other in first-year 4-H fitting and showing.  

Thankfully, that year I had not yet met Millie, the giant mother cow who dragged me around arenas, guaranteeing me bottom white ribbons.

Dorothy had no calf.  She was just a yearling heifer, and she behaved well enough for me to get a blue ribbon, alongside Tommy and Jim McNall. 

Harold Anselmo also owned the saddle I now ride on my Lily.  

It's a heavy thing but a beautifully made roping saddle.  I'm betting Harold got tired of lifting it, and that's probably the only reason he sold it. 

Anyway, the Anselmos, in those days, ran quite a ranch.  

The place is showing its age, but it's still beautiful.  I especially loved the section of old picket fence along the hillside across from the barn. 

By the time I finished taking pictures in the East Settlement area (and having a brief visit with Marylyn Cork who came driving by), it was 3:30 and time to head home.

I stopped once to snap one more photo along the highway and arrived home, pleased with the nice outing.   

Bill had come back into the house from the woods, ready to watch the last quarter of the Broncos game.  I finished my chores and joined him.

What a game!  And, what an afternoon! 

Good present-day memories combined with those from the past. 

Doesn't get any better than that.

~~~~~
Happy Monday AND do vote in the www.missamerica.org video contest.  Our Miss Idaho, Genevieve Nutting,  is up there in the running.  

Voting closes Jan. 12, and it's one vote per computer, laptop or cell phone.  

Pass the word to all potatoheads and friends of potatoheads.  It's looking like she has a chance to win the People's Choice finalist.  Thanks.