Up and At 'Em with Change

Out of bed by 4:25 a.m.  Then, a "good morning" greeting to Bill who was already sitting on the love seat in the living room with his Kindle.

"Yup, you sleep all you want.  Then, you think about it a while, and then you get up," he said. 

I agreed. 

Maybe this morning will be the only really early rising.  Maybe tomorrow my body will get into the new "sleep mode" routine.

Whatever the case, I have about half an hour more of awake time today.  I hope I don't waste it. 

Welcome to the days of dark afternoons and more time spent indoors. 

It's now 5:38, and I've already completed this much babble on today's blog posting.

Those horses are out there are probably wondering what the deal is anyway.  

"She's 38 minutes late taking us to the pasture," they're, no doubt, while impatiently waiting for me to appear at the garage door. 

Well, if I went out there during this earlier-than-usual time, they would expect the same every day, so I think they'll just have to deal with it on this first edition of standard daylight time. 

The dogs have already gone outside, considering that they were been past due for their morning relief sessions.  

Eventually, we'll make the adjustments, as we always do. 

AND NOW, it's 7 a.m.  I have taken horses to pasture, and I have taken a short walk, since there's daylight, and I have read the morning papers. 

When I returned to the house from chores and the walk, Bill wanted to show me the item he brought home from the geocache he found yesterday.

He and Kiwi hiked a trail up the Parker Creek drainage off the West Side Road in the Kootenai Valley.  With the Go Pro camera mounted on his head, he filmed some sights along the very narrow trail with a steep drop-off.

The cache was hidden at an old cabin up in the woods about two miles up the trail. 

Inside, he found the sewing kit shown in the photo above.  Having asked me a couple of weeks ago where I keep my needle and thread, he figured that taking this sewing kit, complete with threaded needles, was a no brainer. 

We both agreed that it was, indeed, a handy gem, especially the threaded needles. Then, he noted that the sewing kit advertised Panhandle State Bank.

For that alone, the kit was worth keeping.   

On that discovery, I shared with him that probably about the time he was heading up the trail, destined to find that sewing kit in the geocache, I was pulling up to the ATM at the Ponderay branch of what was, through Friday, the last day for "Panhandle State Bank."

Workers had blocked off part of the area near the ATM.  They had already removed the "Panhandle State Bank" sign and  were installing a new sign, identifying the branch office as "Columbia Bank."

Big change has visibly taken place.  One of the "local" institutions where I've banked for more than 20 years is now part of a larger conglomerate with headquarters in Tacoma. 

As of yesterday, the name Panhandle State Bank has become another page in Sandpoint's history.

So, Bill's little sewing kit, like my tiny Coldwater Creek gift bag, is now a collector's item hanging on the wall right behind me---not just another geocaching trinket, all have historical meaning. 

Dramatic change has occurred in  in our community during this past year with two of the major institutions which got their start in the 1980s----one at a kitchen table in a condo at the base of Schweitzer; the other, through a group of Sandpoint businessmen who decided to start a local bank.

I can still go to the bank and make my deposits and withdrawals and hand over a ZAGS poster to my friend Connie, but ordering or purchasing those Coldwater Creek products--- probably never again. 

So, it's nice that we have our symbols reflecting some major chapters in Sandpoint's history, and it's really nice for Bill to have the bonus package of those already-threaded needles.  

Maybe we'll have to put Bill's geocaching prize with one my prized keepsakes that reflected another dominant era in Sandpoint's business history. 

Yup, we've weathered more than our share of changes this week, but, like those horses out there in the barnyard, who went to pasture an hour later than usual this morning, we'll continue to adjust.

Happy Sunday.  How 'bout those ZAGS????  Lots of great talent on display last night.