Horses stayed in the barn this morning. We did NOT get the predicted winter storm over night, but it IS raining and muddier than ever.
So, unlike yesterday, as pictured above, the horses will stay inside, and I'll just clean stalls more than once today AND won't feel guilty about their having to hang out in the slop.
Knowing that they aren't miserable makes for a better day. Also, my house could use some attention in the cleaning department.
Yesterday, with its pleasant weather, was pretty productive, as Bill disassembled the caved-in dog shelter in the run, and we both hauled a lot of stuff out of the enclosure.
Some went to the dump, while a couple of metal panels, which were undamaged, were transferred to the far shed where they can be used reinforce the fence line.
Soon a tent will replace the shelter, but we haven't yet figured out how to fix the mine field that Liam has created inside the run.
"Digger Dog" could be useful in helping me with some of my shoveling projects cuz he knows how to excavate effectively and quickly. I've tried, in vain, over the past year or so to fill in those holes as soon as Liam has dug them.
I've given up, but we probably will button down some strips of chicken wire to cover the main pathway to the shelter and cover it with gravel, in hopes that people can walk safely to the water and food dishes and that maybe Liam will quit digging after his claws connect with the chicken wire.
After yesterday's morning projects were finished, I put the dogs in the garage and enjoyed my first spring walk through a large portion of our beautiful woods, which yesterday included NO snow.
Instead, I enjoyed walking over a carpet with millions of soft, cushiony pine needles and avoiding pockets of standing water, which, when you don't have to walk through it, creates beauty all its own.
Later, a part of my afternoon was spent at Blue Sky Radio Station where I recorded a 30-second spot supporting Mike Boeck for Idaho State Representative, District 1A.
Having known him pretty much my whole life, I feel very confident that he will continue his lifelong pattern of excellence as a state legislator, so it was an honor to be asked to do the spot.
The Blue Sky facility is quite impressive, compared to the old days when the radio station operated out of a house. Looks like the house has been incorporated into the new facility.
I was also very impressed with Savanna Lester, who ran the controls while I read my endorsement of Mike. Savanna is a local grad who has basically found her way into radio where she continues to add to her skills.
As usual, by the time we parted company, I felt like I had a new friend.
Radio operations have definitely advanced with the times. Savanna assured me that if I had to take a breath at the end of a sentence, to do so cuz those gaps can be edited out so easily.
Turns out that, in the one and only read, the spot was five seconds too long, but in a matter of seconds, with some tweaking here and there, Savanna had it down to the required time.
Twas a fun experience for this ol' gal who worked for four years as a college student at the University of Idaho radio-television center back in the 1960s.
Speaking of old times, it's Throwback Thursday today, as well as our dad's birthday. Harold would have been 102 today.
So, I've included a couple of photos of him, dealing with transportation. Harold never met a pickup he didn't like. Seems like there was a different model sitting in the North Boyer driveway pretty much every year.
The photo shows one that he owned long before I was born.
As far as bicycles, I'm guessing the photo taken by Chris Pietsch the night before Bill and my wedding might just be the only time any of us kids ever saw Harold ride a bicycle.
He kinda preferred horses, pickups, motorcycles and 4-wheelers.
Since this week was celebrating National Siblings Day, I found another Chris Pietsch photo, taken the day after Harold's bicycle ride----the wedding day of Bill Love and Marianne Brown.
One of the few photos of our family's six siblings (Batch One and Batch Two) was taken that day----Jim, Mike, Kevin, Marianne, Barbara and Laurie. We were standing outside what's now the Heartwood Center----back in 1974, St. Joseph's Catholic Church.
Another photo below features one of my very favorite family-related photos, featuring my two older brothers.
Wish we could enhance the quality, but the composition, in my mind, is priceless as Kevin with the milk pail and Mike, leaning on one of old Bossy's calves, Rhuzhette (Sp?) while the young'un posed next to Mom's udder.
That's our old barn on North Boyer, and a portion of the woods behind, which my friend Helen called the "clearcut" in a conversation the other day.
Yes, it's a clearcut. Every vestige of our existence at that place is now gone, as a logging job a year or so ago, opened up more ground for development----possibly more airport hangars.
Ironic to think that our collective minds now have an added burden of recreating that old farm which formed our foundation.
This morning's collection also includes a photo of Bill and my friend Chris Moon.
Chris, who was teaching at Pacific Lutheran University at the time and another local shaker and doer, Debbie Ferguson, served as speakers at a banquet for our Student Council back in the day when Sandpoint's Faye Stevens turned her unique house on the side of a mountain into a restaurant.
It was a fun evening for the students and the adults, as was the banquet Willie and I attended a few years back where we spoke about our collaboration Lessons with Love to the annual meeting of the Idaho State Librarians.
Finally, an oldie but a goodie-----my cow Millie, famed back in the old days for going beserk at the Bonner County Fair when it was held next to Lakeview Park.
Millie got upset when she had to be away from her calves and created a stir and a lot of misery for me during fitting and showing classes----always "Tie her to the railing, and here's your bottom white ribbon."
Oh by the way, the people in the picture----that's my classmate Leland Rosenboom and Cynthia Welch, who reigned as Farmer and Farmerette back in 1964-65 when Sandpoint High still had a Future Farmers of America (FFA) club.
Of course, serving on the Monticola yearbook staff, when it came to an idea for photographing the Farmer and Farmerette, I suggested that Cap Davis come to our North Boyer farm and include Millie in the picture.
And, of course, Leland and Cynthia were not exactly dressed for farming on that wintry day, but it worked, and they gained immortality sitting on that fence WITHOUT Millie tied to the railing.
She had no calf to pine about that day.
Guess that's all. I kinda got carried away, but on rainy days and on any day when the sense for the nostalgic past runs deep, that's what happens.
Happy Thursday.
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