Thursday Throwbacks

My brother Jim is here for a few days, so, on this Throwback Thursday, I thought it would be appropriate to use one of his cartoons from a few years back.

Jim flew in from Oregon last night, so I drove into Spokane to pick him up. 

Twas a great night for spotting Sandpoint folks like Rose Clark, Mary Snedden and Mary McGovern and enjoying brief visits with each.  

Today Jim and I will join Jeralyn and Kari, so it also seemed appropriate to use a photo from a past early spring lunch gathering, which included another mutual friend, Colin. 

I'm liking Throwback Thursday more and more each week, as the search for sample shots often reminds me of interesting times locally and fun times with family and critters. 

The guy in the rain slicker above is Ty Pennington.  Remember him?  We used to see him every Sunday night on ABC's "Extreme Home Makeover."

A few years back, I spent a few days with my camera, snapping shots just off Baldy Road  when the Makeover crew came to Sandpoint to construct a house for a man and his two kids.

I don't think the situation worked out too well in the long run, but the project kept some lively activity going in the community during the week of construction.  

I guess we could match Throwback Thursday with a sub-feature:  Where Are They Now?

Anyone know any updates on the parties involved with Sandpoint's Extreme Makeover?

Ol' Annie Dog and young pup Kiwi back at the Great Northern Road farm.  Looks like our manure spreader served as a junk repository at the time this photo was taken.

I can see Rambo and Casey munching on hay in the background.  At this point, I think Kiwi is the only surviving member of our critter corral who made the move from the old farm to the Lovestead at Selle.  

Last night, on our way home from Spokane, Jim was talking about possibly going to San Antonio this year.  I told him he should definitely follow through on that plan and go see some of the haunts where our Mother inhabited during the years of her childhood spent in Texas.

One year, three generations of us met for dinner in San Antone, as some folks like to call it.  That would be me, Mother and two of her granddaughters, Annie and Laura.

Twas a great evening which brings a tear from my eye and a smile on my lips as I view this photo and reflect. 

Yup, here's part of today's lunch crowd, minus Colin.  He's got a birthday coming up in a few days.  Maybe we need to invite him, although I think the raucous quartet of Jeralyn, Kari, Jim and me will be enough craziness at Spud's today. 

Jim will replace Colin today at lunch.  He and Jeralyn have been friends forever, as both graduated with the Sandpoint High Class of 1982.

This shot was taken a few years back when our family went bike riding in the Kootenai National Wildlife Refuge near Bonners Ferry.  Maybe we'll have to schedule in a similar trip this weekend. 

We always dearly loved the times when our cute little Uncle Frenchy (my mother's brother) would come for visits.  I think this photo may have been taken over in Montana when he was visiting my brother Kevin.

That's Kevin's son Scott on the left and "Big Man" aka Willie at a time when he didn't look so big.  Uncle Frenchy was about as tall as Mother, maybe 5 foot 2. 

When we first moved to the Lovestead, the triplets helped Bill put a tree into the ground.  

I'm not sure if this one lived, but Justine, Grace and Jacob took the opportunity of adding something special to the earth very seriously, and I'm thinking they still do as seventh graders. 

My boys:  it was a rough month back in 2007 when I lost these two just weeks apart.  At the time, I said that I'd spent more time with them than with my human family.

Casey had just gotten his initiation into pulling my Amish cart, and Rambo, blind in both eyes, still led the pack when we'd go on rides.

They were pals, and some longtime horsemen even suggested that when Rambo died from an anneurism, Casey, lost without his pal, could have died of a broken heart.

They have markers down in the far pasture, and they'll never be forgotten in my lifetime.  Great horses. 

Finally, my Lily:  this was shortly after she arrived at the Lovestead via transport from Oklahoma. I like to call her my mail-order horse because I bought her based on a small polaroid photo sent to me by her owner.

She's 10 now, and a lot of that bay color has turned white.   She's still a pretty attractive big gal and maybe not quite as ornery as she was when she first came.

I noticed also that her owner's "bay" hair has turned a little grayer.

And so, that seems like enough throwbacks for this Thursday.  I sure have enjoyed myself putting this group together and reflecting on each.

Hope you enjoy too.  Happy Thursday.