Spring Dilemma: So Much to Do, So Little Time

Spring Irony:  Days are longer.  There's never enough time.

Winter Irony:  Days are shorter.  Time marches slowly.

That thought occurred to me this morning as I felt myself hurrying more than usual while doing chores. 

Seems we don't have to go looking for things to do in the spring.

They find us.

Yesterday I tuned in on the sounds of spring while making some of my own.  I heard pounding, sawing, chopping, the roar of an air compressor, a vacuum, geese honking, ducks quacking, dogs barking, crows crowing-----the air was full of busyness.

My neighbors next door are building a new stretch of fence on the Meserve Preserve.

I could see that while digging up grass around my raspberry bushes with the determination that this year nasty bees will not build a nest in the tall grass around the bushes and sting me every time I try to pluck a prime berry.

Of course, while digging, I discovered a new adversary:  ants, thousands of them.  Seems ants love the Lovestead.  I'd say at least half a dozen huge ant hills have added the those already here when we moved to this farm almost eight years ago.

There's no ant hill yet at the raspberry patch, and they eventually seemed a bit intimidated by me and my shovel.  I kept a watch out, though, to avoid last year's scene of racing to the house from the front yard flower bed as ants were crawling up the insides of my clothes enjoying dinner. 

I can report that my vigilance paid off yesterday, and it's possible that band of ants might take off for a better building site, as I'm putting gravel over the dirt dug up around the raspberries.

I could hear Gary Finney with his chainsaw over in his woods last night.  That was the same time Bill was cleaning out his Ranger pickup with the vacuum cleaner and airing up his bike tires with the air compressor. 

Speaking of the quacking ducks, Mother Duck likes Ritz crackers.  Every time I go down to visit, I throw a few her direction.  They're always gone with each successive visit.  

This morning, she did not fly off; instead, she simply waddled away from her eggs and hung out until I left the area. 

Much outdoor work awaits today.  I'll mow more lawn and will finish the gravel job at the raspberry bushes.  Cabbage plants in the garden window will probably go into the ground as will some more seeds.  

Time is a'wastin' on this day which is a couple of minutes longer than yesterday, and more than likely, I'll still be working on outdoor projects when the sun dips behind the Selkirks. 

Happy Wednesday, and good bye, April. 

Tuesday TwitterdeLIGHTful Day

Spring has sprung.  Morning has broken.  Oh, what a beautiful morning!  Oh, what a beautiful day!  

What else can we say when we're blessed with blue skies, singing birds, sunshine and the promise of temperatures in the 60s. 

This, as always, is the long-awaited full-throttle start to spring.  This also signals the time when human bodies, not quite used to activity several hours a day tend to suffer from too much sun and too many awakened muscles.

Still, no pain, no gain. 

So, the gardening begins, yard work dominates and people walk around with more smiles. Yes, even those facial muscles get more of a workout when the sun hangs around for a while. 

I enjoyed my walk this morning, even with a little more drama than usual.

The drama began last night when the dogs and I were walking through the woods after dinner.  

Suddenly, I heard a flutter followed by a series of loud quacks.  Soon I spotted a duck flying through the woods, issuing what surely had to be indignant complaints.

A few minutes later, I wondered where Foster was.  Looking back, I saw him lying near a tree.  I wondered if something was wrong, especially after he rolled over and kept lying there. 

Walking his way, I wondered what the trouble was.  Foster got up and trotted off, seemingly just fine.

I wondered what had gotten his attention at the base of the tree and soon answers to all my questions were quite apparent.

The dogs had scared Mother Duck, who was well camouflaged and lying on eight eggs in the brush near that tree.

So, we left the area, and I hoped that Mother Duck would return before cold night temps took over.

This morning, after finishing chores, I put the dogs in the house, grabbed some crackers and told Bill about the duck eggs.

I walked slowly and quietly toward the area where I had seen the eggs.  Only a small glimmer of Mother Duck gave her away.  I broke some crackers and threw them lightly toward her nesting spot.

She did fly off, but we now know that she'll return and most likely will devour the crackers. 

This takes me back to the Mama Duck days at our pond on Great Northern Road, where every day after babies were born and I'd yell, "Mama Duck, Mama Duck" she and her family would come floating from the far ends of the wetlands and line up for handouts of chips, crackers, bread---whatever we threw out. 

Unfortunately, we may not get to enjoy that aspect because we don't exactly have a pond on our place, but we do have Love Canal.  Maybe she'll take the family over there.

For now, we'll keep the dogs away from that part of the woods and hope for the best. 

In other news, I enjoyed a couple of hours at Luther Park Assisted Living Facility yesterday.  My visit involved some time spent talking about my books and my writing career and a whole lot more time meeting and visiting with the residents.  

I knew just a few members of the audience:  Fairy Delay, Beth Davis and Buzz Arndt.  The rest were all new to me, but by the time I left, they seemed like old friends.

Fairy and her family have hosted the Idaho State Forestry Contest for 31 years at their Careywood Tree Farm.  Buzz Arndt served as deacon at St. Joseph's Catholic Church for years and sold insurance to my parents. 

Beth's husband Ray was our county agent, so I enjoyed an added treat of spending some time visiting with Ray in his apartment. We talked about his years of Army service during WWII in Alaska, and I got caught up on his family members. 

It was great to see Ray, but a little sad too, thinking about all the folks associated with him through 4-H over the years who are no longer with us---like my mother, Art and Myrt Burnett, Bob Wood, etc. 

I also visited last evening with our short-time neighbors who are having to leave behind the rental home they love because of a family crisis.  

I've met Heather Steele only twice but felt an immediate connection with her the first time I walked up, knocked on their door and welcomed them to the neighborhood. 

At that time, while we were visiting, a tall, lean, dark-haired man came walking toward the door. Turns out he was one of my English students the last year I taught at Sandpoint High: Sean Bond, a very personable young man. 

So, of course, I heckled him about  his impishness as a student in my class.  That evening Sean talked about future times when he'd host a barbecue at the old Lockwood Place where they had recently moved.

Well, this couple's best laid plans have taken a dramatic turn.  That happened when their son Oliver was born in January.  A slight hint shortly before he was born led to a series of quick moves from one hospital to another, eventually ending at Seattle Children's Hospital.

Specialists from all over the country have observed and run tests on little Oliver to determine why his system does not produce enough blood platelets.  Still, no answers but the likelihood that Oliver will have to undergo a bone marrow transplant is becoming more of a certainty. 

Sean and Heather have spent the past three months in Seattle, living in the Ronald McDonald House and have made the decision that they'll have to move there for at least the next year. 

It's been gut wrenching and surreal, to say the least, especially since their other children have stayed here with grandparents and will do so until the end of the school year.

I asked Heather if it was okay to mention this situation on my blog.  She said it was fine, and she told me about the blog she has been maintaining ever since Oliver's birth. 

My intent in mentioning this today is to get the word out in hopes that readers who learn their story may feel inclined to help them out with donations.  I'll know more specifics after talking with Heather in the next day or two.  

For now, I'll simply sign off with her blog address, and maybe you can take some time to read the story for yourself.   

I asked Heather how she's doing personally.  

As expected, the "taking one day at a time" phrase came up, and she added, "Every once in a while I think about it and realize 'this is pretty heavy." 

www.sweetbabybond.blogspot.com 

Bill's Spokesman-Review Debut

Bill is becoming a columnist, it seems. He writes about trees for forestry newsletters, and this morning, he made his debut in the Spokane Spokesman-Review newspaper's "Boomer U" Monday feature. 

The topic:  geocaching. 

The focus:  geocaching for boomers with a teaser about his recent Irish geocaching experiences, as pictured above.

That's an Annie Love photo by the way, taken just after recording a cache at Valentia Island in Ireland's Ring of Kerry.   

Annie Love---just in case you didn't know--works for Groundspeak, Inc. in Seattle, the company that runs the geocaching.com website.

Bill's regional newspaper column debut---it may be a while before he gets his byline in the Spokesman again----happened, thanks to an invitation by my former student, family friend and Spokesman writer Erica Curless.

Because of her lifelong association with our family, Erica tends to know what we're up to, especially when we do a lot of public broadcasting of our trip to Ireland, which included a geocaching tour set up by Annie.

All the stars apparently lined up recently for Erica to assign Bill a 400-word column, discussing geocaching/boomers/Ireland.  He managed to do a pretty good job, capturing all aspects in this morning's column. 

Since the print newspaper did not have enough room for the photo above, I included it in today's announcement and lead-in to Bill's piece.  

Another longer, informative and fun feature story, written by Erica,  with photos about geocaching for Boomers accompanies Bill's column.

I must also report that the lady named Jacquie Vaughan in one of the photos was one of Annie's teammates when they geocached the ET Highway in Nevada last fall, recording about 2,400 caches. 

Anyway, with no further ado, you can find the longer feature at http://m.spokesman.com/stories/2014/apr/28/cache-of-the-day/

I've cut and pasted Bill's column below.

Few tourists ever visit Culoo Head. Only a few local anglers casting for cod or pilgrims trekking to St. Brendan’s baptismal pool go there. But during the past 10 years, 450 geocachers have searched for the Atlantic Whirlpool geocache on this beautiful, but rugged, southwest coastline of Ireland. I signed the logbook for this interesting geocache on a recent family trip to Ireland.

Geocaching involves using a GPS unit or smartphone to locate hidden containers. Locations and instructions for finding these containers can be found on the website geocaching.com. This high-tech game of treasurer hunting began near Portland in 2000 and quickly spread around the world. Actually, out of this world – as the International Space Station contains a geocache.

Geocaching appeals to all ages, as who doesn’t enjoy the thrill of finding a hidden treasure. While ideally suited as a family activity, many baby boomers use geocaching to explore new areas during their retirement travels. It is also a great way to get the grandkids outdoors.

Whether snowbirding to the desert Southwest in an RV or globetrotting to exotic destinations, boomers can discover jewels that few locals know about. Pull off at a freeway rest area to stretch your legs and walk the dog and there’s likely a geocache to find. But the real treasures require a little exploring.

For example, the Atlantic Whirlpool geocache located on the popular Ring of Kerry drive near Killarney takes you onto some back roads to Valentia Island. You know you’re getting close to Ireland’s western most point when you see “Next Pint New York” painted on the side of O’Sheay’s pub. 

Drive a little farther to the designated car park where a band of sheep will greet you. Then walk about half a mile to find the geocache hidden in a centuries-old rock fence. Don’t stop there; just follow the sound of waves hitting rock cliffs and you have arrived at Culoo Rock. Marvel at the view.

Most baby boomers, myself included, don’t spend every minute traveling to breathtaking destinations. Check out the geocaching.com website and you will likely discover a geocache along the route to the bingo game at your local senior citizens center. Waiting to have your prescriptions filled allows enough time to find a geocache or two. What are you waiting for?

After the Rains

Until late yesterday afternoon, I had never noticed the "panorama" feature on my cell phone.  That's normal for one-dimensional me.

If an item works for my immediate needs, I don't spend a lot of time reading the manuals or examining what all is available. 

Such discoveries of additional benefits often happen by accident.

Anyway, that chance discovery was nice yesterday, especially after the day-long rain stopped and stayed stopped for a period of more than five minutes.

Of course, once I discovered "panorama," I had to try it while out snapping photos of the contrasts between deep dark stormy clouds headed east and sunny scenes that followed the clouds.

As much as I complain about rain, I do appreciate many of its benefits, once it's come and gone, 'cept for messy situations like ankle deep mud in the barn yard and those sopping wet pant cuffs from walking through the yard.

The post-rain period brought us some breath-taking images, and I'm thinking the "panorama" feature may get more use in the future.

The shot above was taken as I stood in the road and rotated almost an entire circle.  So, it's a bit off perspective but kinda neat too. That's Taylor's field on the left and the view south on South Center Valley Road in the right side of the photo.

Everything's all squeaky clean from a very thorough cleansing.

I'm told that 80 miles away in Spokane, the weather was pretty nice yesterday.  I do know, however, that our rains extended north at least to Bonners Ferry.

After fulfilling my promise of shocking the coffee cult crowd, I did a few things at home and headed toward Bonners to do my grocery shopping.

A stop at Moose Valley led to some fun visiting and two sacks filled with sweet onion starts and seed potatoes. So, when the slop goes away, onions can go in the ground.

Potatoes may wait a while.

Hopes that the rain would have passed by the time I arrived home with groceries remained just that "hope."

So, more indoor projects, like paying bills, were completed.

It turned out to be a pretty productive day for both of us. Bill went to a fly-tying clinic at Big R and later met Willie to attend the fly fishing movies at the Panida.

I took an evening walk without feeling one raindrop and visited with neighbors up the road.

So far, the snow forecast for 7 a.m. this morning has failed to come.  

Sounds like a light mist is hitting the tin roof outside, and that's okay cuz I'm gonna hold the prognosticators to their claims that we'll be seeing 60s and 70s this week.

Happy Sunday. 

Quiet Morning

Bill and I have already had the discussion this morning about weather scientists, forecasters, etc. and how well paid they are to tell us what's gonna happen tomorrow, the next day and the next.

I might have to get a hearing check because I could have sworn Tom Sherry told us last night that today was going to be the dry day of the weekend. 

Not so.  

A semi-raging river from a full night of rain is headed south across the front yard where I avoided part of the French drain yesterday while mowing.  

It was pretty squishy out there even on higher ground, but the mower did fine.  I chose not to take a chance on getting it stuck in the middle of our front lawn and having to tear up the place with the 4-wheeler to get it out.

So, that portion of grass can keep growing.  Otherwise, yesterday's mowing experience turned out to be quite delightful.  With the new zero-turn machine, the difficult part of past mowings has turned into the easy, fun part. 

That's the part where we trim as close as possible to trees or garden beds.  Once I figured out the sensitivities of those steering arms, no bricks went flying, and most stuff around the yard stayed intact.

With the first major lawn mowing almost finished, I set my sights toward some horseback riding today.  After all, the main yard work would be done, and it would be that dry day of the weekend that Tom promised us on his weather forecast. 

There are some pluses to this soggy situation, though, as I listen to continual drip, drip, drips. 

Because I mowed yesterday, the grass won't be nearly so tall next time I mow as it could have been had I not.

Tom was right: today IS the good day of the weekend.  

Tomorrow's forecast calls for snow. 

That means for us humans, the forecasts also call for more patience.  I'm working at it, thinking about alternative plans for the day ahead.  

I might go into town and shock the heck out of the coffee cult.  Haven't seen some of them in months.

I do have grocery shopping to do.  And, I can pay my bills. 

I can also continue to look for some journals belonging to students which I kept for them about 14 years ago. The idea was for them to reclaim them ten years later. 

Well, I heard from one of the students this week, requesting her notebook. 

Well, in that time, I've moved 30 years' worth of stuff from our Great Northern Road to Selle.  

The storage shed where I kept several boxes of my school stuff caved in about five years ago, with winter snow destroying most of the contents.  

Also, dozens of moving boxes still sit in stacks in various parts of the house, some in hard-to-get-to places.

I have begun the search and have not yet found the journals.   

Other treasures, though, have appeared.  

In one box yesterday, I found a package of cigarette papers and a box of "roll-yer-own" tobacco. These items had been in a sack retrieved from my dad's pickup, probably set for his use before he died 11 years ago. 

I figured the set is definitely a keeper, since most of us who knew Harold would list his cigarette rolling habits as one of the most vivid memories of our time with him. 

In that same sack I found three small boxes of .22 bullets.  Having heard how hard it is to get into stores fast enough to purchase .22 ammunition before it disappears from the shelves, I pulled those out and will keep them in a safe place.  

After all, those $1.29 boxes are worth gold these days. 

I found one of Mother's water color notecards of the horse-drawn trolley which used to take tourists and locals for rides around Sandpoint.  Never did ride the trolley, and I always likened my negligence to people living in New York City who've never gone to the Statue of Liberty.

I also found three class photos from Lincoln School and once again found myself in all three. Seems I didn't ALWAYS have to stand in the top row cuz of my height. I was even standing in the middle, smack dab almost, next to Maria Sanner who was standing next to Mrs. Hazel Lunn. 

That was second grade. On the other side of Mrs. Lunn was JoAnn Levering, and once again, as I did a few years ago, I wondered what the heck ever happened to her. 

So, I got off task and did some Googling, with no success.   If anyone knows JoAnn Levering or her whereabouts, do contact me.  I'm pretty sure she left town before we even hit junior high.  

Anyway, I did some looking and found no journals, so if this rain keeps up today, maybe I could look some more. But then again, if we have snow tomorrow, maybe I'd better put off the indoor search, dress up in rain gear one more day this week and go take pictures of ducks.

I'll bet I could even feed some of them some bread if I'd go back to Bayview.

Happy Saturday.  

Back to Normal

When we saw blue sky during our outing at Farragut yesterday, I felt the need to document it with a photo.  Needless to say, I did not have pull out my camera very often. 

The sun even cast a few rays at Farragut to go with rain, hail, lightning and thunder. Our encounter with the sun lasted only briefly but long enough for a photo of the geocachers:  Rita, Bill and Jerry. 

We braved another day in the rain yesterday and came home without gills. At times it would have been nice to be a duck or a fish during our geocaching outing at Farragut State Park, but for the most part we avoided total drenchings.

At least, I did.  On one occasion when Bill, Rita and Jerry were leaving the car to search for a geocache, I decided to just relax in the driver's seat. 

The minute I saw them in the rear-view mirror disappearing into the trees across the road, the skies opened and heavy raindrops pelted the wind shield.

I thought they might turn around and come back, but geocachers on the hunt remain oblivious to climate conditions.   They were gone about 15 minutes and did admit to being wet but happy they'd found the cache. 

Rita and Jerry should go home with some pretty intensive knowledge of geocaching because of notes taken, lessons on GPS commands given, and three or four finds recorded.

During the heaviest of downpours, we drank coffee and hot chocolate at the Captain's Table in Bayview.  Gary Spade was there, just like he was during the holiday season when my sisters and I had lunch there.

I accused Gary of never getting out of his chair.  Later, he told me that I needed to feed the ducks.  

"Get some bread, open the window and throw it out to them," he said. 

Hearing his suggestion, the waitress pulled out a full loaf of bread and put it on the counter.

I grabbed two or three slices.

"Take the whole loaf," Gary instructed. 

Knowing Gary probably had clout at the Captain's table, I followed instructions and walked back into the window dining area where about five buckets scattered around the floor featured a chorus of raindrops creating its own rain-bucket rhythm section and opened the window.

At first, no ducks.  

Slowly but surely as I threw wads of bread toward the water,  about a dozen mallard males turned toward the restaurant from under a walkway near the boat houses and swam toward the bread. 

The duck-feeding show attracted a small crowd into that portion of the restaurant, including one gentleman (probably a regular) who noted that the females were probably hanging back and guarding their eggs.  

A few females eventually showed up, but I got the impression that maybe the Bayview dock ducks had already consumed their afternoon handouts.  About half a loaf of bread hit the water with the rest of it remaining for the next customer who wanted to feed the ducks. 

When we arrived back in Sandpoint, so did the sun.   Rita and Jerry treated us to dinner at Mick Duffs, and then we walked across the street to the Coldwater Creek Wine Bar to wish one of my friends who works at Life Care a happy birthday.

Dr. Bergstahler was sitting with the group.  His presence led to some intense and enthusiastic reminiscing about our recent trip to Ireland.  He and his family had been there at the same time.  We parted, promising to get together and share notes on our experiences. 

And, so this morning, life is back to normal.  Rita and Jerry have plans to walk around Sandpoint and take in art exhibits before heading back to their home in Tri Cities.  I'm guessing their GPS units are going to get a lot of use in the days ahead. 

And, I know for sure that my new lawn mower is going to get some use really soon if the ground dries up. So far, so good. A pleasant morning with no rain promises a good day ahead.

Happy Friday. 

No Raining on This Geocaching Parade . . . .

First moments of "hands on" geocaching for my cousin Rita and her husband Jerry.  They came up from the Tri-Cities to learn about geocaching from Bill.  While they learned preliminaries at our house, the sun was shining brightly.

As we headed east, dark ominous clouds were getting ready to greet us.  A cold pounding rain had started by the time we drove through Hope, but nobody let the weather conditions get in the way of Rita and Jerry having a great time on their first geocaching adventure.

During the outing, which ended with the sun's return, they found five caches.

Today it's raining even harder, but we're hoping that by the time we get started geocaching at Farragut, things will dry out and Rita and Jerry will feel totally confident with their new sport. 

While we stood along the side of the highway where Jerry found his first cache, cars were whipping by on one side and a big freight was headed east along the Montana Rail Link tracks. 

While Rita was closely watching her GPS, I was admiring the scenery with my camera.  That's what makes geocaching so much fun, even on rainy, cold days. 

My cousin Rita happily signals her first find, a Loblolly Love cache at Henderson Ranch. 

Actually, the thumbs up was orchestrated for the geocaching/thumbs-up queen Annie Love who works for the compnay in Seattle which manages the geocaching.com website, etc. 

Cold and wet in them there hills southeast of Clark Fork.

Just another pretty view  at Henderson Ranch while caching.  We had rain; the mountains had snow. 

The clue for this cache said something about "thorny."

Bill and Jerry talk over the day's geoacaching experience. 

We later met Willie and Debbie for a nice dinner at Hope's Sweet Lou's, which opened for the season Tuesday. 

Farmers Don't Like Mud, et. al.

North Idaho's Mother Nature (Iz her name really 'Wicked'?) has won out again. I just received word that the weather forecast, which can be believed when it includes rain, calls for rain every day through Saturday.  

With that in mind, the Panhandle Antique Tractor Club and the Bonner County Historical Society have decided to postpone "Plow Day" indefinitely.  

If that oozing mud which I ran into the other night with my new lawnmower is any indication of what the tractor drivers would incur Saturday, they could end up with a field of mud soup, dotted with colorful but dirty-and-stuck antiques. 

And, it could get even dirtier, trying to pull those machines and their plows out of the mud.  

I speak with authority, based on the time I thought I saw a wolf and drove my van into a hub deep mudhole to make sure it was a wolf and not just some mean-looking neighbor dog.

The Larry Book family, who brought every motorized vehicle they owned to pull me out, can tell you how much fun it is take the rigs home in mud splattered clothes after finally urging Marianne's van onto dry ground. 

So, it's probably a good decision for the tractor owners to put off plowing for a while----maybe next fall. 

Speaking of fields, my sisters are pretty mad cuz last week some idiot (like Marianne) drove a rig through their north hay field----all the way across their hay field----obviously having to slow down at the south end when the rig sank hub deep into the mud. 

It would have been interesting watching them escape----better yet, catching them, muddy-handed. 

Anyway, it's that time of year when planning anything outside around our area requires at least a dozen contingency plans.  

Bill and I have decided NOT to cancel our plans for the next two days.  My cousin and her husband are coming up from the Tri-Cities to learn and practice geocaching. 

She called me last week concerned about the weather forecast for this week and wondering if we ought to postpone our geocaching adventures until June.  

Knowing June in North Idaho the way I do, I balked, thinking it doesn't matter if it's April, May, June or half of July, if you plan to do something outside in advance, you can severely influence the weather.  

It WILL rain OR snow.  

And, with geocaching, one usually doesn't have to pull out a stuck rig.  Usually. 

We have to be downright sneaky around here and plan our outdoor events on the spot before Mother Nature (aka Wicked) has time to round up some dark, black clouds filled with rain and run them over our heads.  After all, Seattle needs its rain too!

So, I told my cousin to bring her rain gear.  Bill and I will take them places that don't involve long walks in the rain.  If we have rain breaks, we'll take long walks to some of the geocaches. 

When it's all over, Rita and Jerry will either love geocaching or they won't.  And, they'll either come back to visit us in Sandpoint or they won't.  We'll do our best to influence the "will's" rather than the "won't's." 

This morning Bill, Debbie and I are invited to an indoor event so it can rain from 11-12 while we're enjoying a volunteer appreciation luncheon at Farmin-Stidwell Elementary School.  

Should be fun and dry.  Our luck it will be dry while we eat,  and raindrops will commence falling on our heads the minute we leave the school and set off on the geocaching adventure. 

If you're reading this, please don't share my thoughts with Mother Nature aka Wicked.  She might get really mad and send us some extra penance. 

Happy Wednesday. 

Tuesday Twitterdeedripdrip

All the photos above were taken within five minutes of each other this morning.  That vast dark cloud in the last has now wiped away the sun which cast a stunning light on the budding birch tree and wiped away any ideas of using the mower in the top photo. 

We're experiencing another of the many weather changes that occur during the "longing season" of North Idaho springs.  Everyone longs for those nice days promised the week before which haven't exactly delivered. 

Oops, I need to correct myself.  When rain is promised in the spring, it usually delivers, and we're getting a good supply right now. 

Grass will get greener and higher before the new "zero turn" mower gets another chance to survive its new owner.

Actually, Tony, my repairman, survived yesterday shortly after he showed me the basics of how to sit on the mower, push the "smart switch" and push the arms to get the thing going. 

Sounded simple enough when Tony said, "Push forward to go forward, pull back to go backward or slow down, pull the left arm to go left and the right arm to go right."

That all made sense. 

Tony also advised pulling the arms toward me and pushing them off to the side should I sense any trouble brewing.

So, I climbed on, tapped the smart button and pushed off across the yard.  

Within seconds, I had wiped out three large decorative bricks around the kennel garden. Fortunately, Tony was on the other side of the bricks, a safe distance away to begin giggling like a baby. 

He was nice enough to come over and put the bricks back in their place.

"Glad Bill isn't here to watch," I said.

"You can take it slow while you're practicing," Tony reminded me, "and do let those arms go if you anticipate trouble."

Well, I didn't wipe out any more bricks, and Tony, who's limping cuz he fell off a roof and broke his leg New Year's Day, managed to stay far enough away to avoid any further injury to his healing body. 

Plus, the mower with its $3,000 pricetag is still in one piece.

Slowly, I got the idea, and before Tony left, I was getting the hang of the new mower and smiling. 

Tony was also smiling.  He had his check and was safely inside his van as he pulled away with our lame Troy-Bilt rototiller and the broken red lawnmower, which were basically taking up space, to be used by the new Husqvarna. 

Later, after dinner, I decided to do some more practicing on the lawn west of the barn. All was going well until I reached a somewhat deceiving section of lawn near the manure pile.

It did NOT look that wet, but when the new mower's wheels dug in and started spinning wet muck all over the place, I almost cried.

Fortunately, again, Bill was inside the house and could not see my dilemma out behind the barn.  Well, Tony had also installed a new battery in the 4-wheeler, which hadn't been working lately.

I figured that now was the time for the 4-wheeler to have its first job since taking a dead battery vacation.  I gathered up some chains, hooked them to the front of the new mower, put the 4-wheeler in 4-wheel, pulled and prayed.  

God was good to me.  The 4-wheeler pulled the new mower out of the mud, and nothing broke.  The best part was that Bill still hadn't come out of the house.

He won't know about that dilemma until he reads the blog today. 

A rainy day with the new mower is probably a good thing.  That means it should stay all in one piece for at least two more days-----well, maybe five----cuz all this rain means mowers might get stuck in the mud again.

Anyway, that expenditure is taken care of, and Tony guarantees that lawn mowing will go much faster with the zero-turn machine----as long as I don't run into any bricks or buildings, that is!

On another note, the annual spring ITCH has returned.  I woke up scratching my neck about 10 p.m. last night and got up several times in the night to dab the area with a cold wash cloth. That seems to calm it down long enough for me to fall asleep until the itch gets going again.

I'm now figuring my new-found allergy has a lot to do with lawn mowing and spring dirt work. 

It ain't fun, but with this being the third year that the itch has started right around Earth Day, I'm starting to see a connection.  Plus, I've learned how to keep it somewhat in check with benadryl and Allegra until it dies down long about June.

Fun and games at the Lovestead; they never end.  

Happy Tuesday. 

Antique Tractor Plow Day: A Benefit

It's a "two for one" this Saturday, April 26 at the former University of Idaho Extension grounds.

The Panhandle Antique Tractor Club (PATC) is teaming up with the Bonner County Historical Society to enhance a field via an historical touch and to enhance the Historical Society fund targeted for construction of an exhibit hall in Kootenai.

PATC members with their classic tractors and accessories will be working up a field at the old "experiment station" while museum members will be cooking up hamburgers and hotdogs at the concession stand.  Admission is free, at this event which begins at 9 a.m., or even earlier for all tractor lovers.  

And, yes, donation containers will be available all day, if you'd like to help with funding for the Kootenai-based exhibit hall on property which will allow the museum to store and display more and larger items, including some antique farm equipment.  

Around a dozen antique tractors will be on display, and PATC members are always happy to talk about their tractors.

As museum members say, "Bring the whole family and enjoy the spring sunshine (they've guaranteed sun for Saturday) while you watch a selection of antique tractors, like those pictured, working up the soil and preparing it for planting. 

Antique tractor action will be going throughout the day at the grounds, located at 4205 North Boyer Avenue in Sandpoint.  Off street parking is available.

Also, if you're a supporter of all things historical who can't make it to Saturday's event but would like to donate toward this cause, you can always contact the Bonner County Heritage Museum at 208-263-2344 or email bchs@frontier.com.   

You can send donations to Bonner County Historical Society & Museum, 611 South Ella Avenue, Sandpoint, Idaho 83864

You can learn more about the museum and its activities by visiting http://www.bonnercountyhistory.org/

Pass the word about plow day.  It's always a lot of fun, as are the folks who operate those tractors!

Happy Easter

Saturday Slightly Lovely

Bill and I spent the afternoon driving to and from Spokane yesterday to bring Lefty and Lily home.  Monty rode Lily while we were there.  She performs beautifully and willingly.

He has also worked with her almost daily, trying to get her over her fear of electric clippers.  He has managed to clip her ears for the first time since she left Oklahoma seven years ago, and her face looks quite elegant up close and personal.

It's a slow process convincing an animal that the clipping job is not going to hurt them.  We suspect that something happened when she was younger and being shown all the time.  For some reason, just the sight of clippers sets Lily off.

Yesterday, however, she was reluctant but somewhat cooperative.  So, I'll keep the gradual process going.  Maybe some day Lily will follow me around the barnyard, begging for a clip job, much like my Rambo and Casey used to do.

It's kinda sad because they loved their clip jobs; couldn't get enough of them, in fact.

Lefty's pal Madison was there when we picked up the horses.  She seemed a bit sad to see Lefty go as she rode him almost every day and, "I like his lope," she told us.

I thanked Madison for doing exactly what I wanted with from Lefty:  kid proof.

Both horses loaded quietly and willingly into the trailer and walked out quietly and willingly to their barnyard where that young grass appeared growing around the barnyard appeared to be "Yum, Yum."

Nice to have them home. 

A little frost on the petals, but that's not deterring these perennial blossoms from brightening up the front yard. 

The Lovestead animal kingdom is copacetic on this fine Saturday morning.  Horses are home.  Dogs have jobs.  Festus, the kitty, can escape dogs looking for a job.  And, robins’ red breasts are expanding.

 

It’s the ultimate of spring days with crystalline and delicately beautiful reminders of winter’s last frosty grip.

This day before Easter will see outdoor busyness here in Selle, as dogs will run the barnyard fence, making sure those horses behave themselves, and humans work away at spring tasks.

My list today includes a trip to a greenhouse to pick up some potted and blossoming pansies. Except for the perennial shrubs and daffodils bloomin’ those bright yellow petals and a few purple crocuses, the pansies will serve as the first blast of full color for the deck area.

Grass is growing.  The horses like that, and I see work.  

I’ll probably mow some sections of lawn this weekend with our big riding Craftsman, which is due for replacement the first of the week with one of those Husqvarna Zero Turn machines WITH A BAG.

I’ve decided that my well-used raking arms need a break, so if the bag will pick up the mulch and the leaves in the fall, many hours of repetition can be saved.

Anyway, it’s a gorgeous Saturday with birds singing, grass growing greener and flowers blooming AND a copacetic animal kingdom.

Doesn’t get any better than that!  Happy Saturday.