Thoughts on Beautiful Selle Stuff

This photo, taken Sunday morning with my cell phone, has received a lot of "like's" on Facebook.  I think of the scene as quintessential Selle, especially cuz of that house on the right.

That's where Shirley Carter grew up.  Her dad Lee was a real estate agent, and Shirley was the first local rodeo queen that I remember.  Later, Shirley lived just beyond that house in a small farm next to Taylor's.  At that time her name was Jones.  She was married to Paul, who has since died.

During that time, also, Shirley turned tables on me, the little girl who had admired the grown-up queen with her beautiful black horse at the old rodeo grounds.  She walked into an NIC night class of mine and joined about nine other students who wanted to brush up on their grammar, spelling and writing skills.  At least three of them worked for the telephone company. 

Shirley now lives down on the prairie not far from Rathdrum.  She still has horses and does of a lot for Kootenai County horse rescues.  She may have moved a ways from home here in the Selle Valley, but I still always think of her when I walk or drive past that house. Sunday morning, the view toward Schweitzer and the other Selkirk mountains was just breath-taking, so I pulled my phone out and snapped the photo as another Selle-ite, Joan, was out on her morning constitutional, which involves the entire loop around Forest Siding and South Center Valley Road. 

Joan and I stood for a few minutes visiting about quince and other garden delights.  Joan's a former extension agent so she knows food.  Quince, however, was not on her list of regulars.  I found that out one morning earlier this fall when Joan walked by and I asked her about quince.  On this past Sunday morning, she was curious to know what I ever did with my quince. 

I told her about the jelly and giving some away to my friend Cis, who used it for jelly and then took the pulp and put it in her chocolate zucchini bread recipe.  Joan and I parted company, talking about winter squash and how she would introduce me to a few varieties I've never grown.  Yup, quintessential Selle:  a beautiful plot of earth where nice people live and enjoy the beauty and each other.

Ever seen a ladybug gathering?  Well, I hadn't until yesterday.  I thought I was done raking up leaves, but the warm weather has melted snow in a large patch of lawn right beneath those pesky poplars, which take forever to drop their leaves.  So, I pulled out the rake and the cart and started tidying up at the base of the trees. 

Whoever planted them put some of that black root-protection cloth around them.  Some of it had stretched to the point that I thought I should cut it off.  Well, I grabbed a corner and, lo and behold, Lady Bug City! 

Lady bugs always get gentle, caring treatment from me----not like stink bugs, which show up in the house, only to be captured by a paper towel and dumped outside the door.  Have you ever noticed how stink bugs are sorta like velcro.  They don't drop very easily from a towel or anything.  It usually takes several shakes of the paper towel to get the damn things to let go.  Once they're outside, those stink bugs are on their own. 

Ladybugs---they're a different story.  I've had ladybugs show up here at my computer keyboard, and the only time I intervene in their location is if they might get hurt from something bumping into them. Yesterday when I discovered this colony all hunkered down in the protection of the tree cloth, I gently put the cloth back in its place and thought twice about how aggressively I tend to rake around the tree base.

Then, I went in and brought out the camera, disturbing them only long enough to snap a few pictures.  I think ladybugs are the best and the prettiest of all insects, and if someone decides to shatter my reverent image of these adorable little insects, I'll just wrap you up in a paper towel and dump you outside to survive with the stink bugs.