Slight Detour: Rich Experience, Et. AL.

We had thunder boomers.

We had lightning.

Best of all, we had a gully wash.

It's not often Bill uses that term from his days of growing up in the South, but I heard it last night as his comment was almost drowned out by rain pounding our house.

What a welcome sound!

We've had our rain events about once a week lately, but seemingly never enough to drive a nail in the drought/fire-danger coffin.

That changed last night, and, almost miraculously, we are walking through a refreshing, wet and welcome green world this morning.

I love seeing that grass regenerate and once again grow in the fields, ensuring some real fall pasture for the horses and enhancing the hay field where they now graze every day.

In short, it's a beautiful day in the neighborhood!

This beautiful day comes off from an extremely busy weekend. A combination of visitors, a senior portrait and a magazine photo assignment kept me poppin' Saturday and Sunday.

All turned out to be fun, memorable and positive experiences.

Bill and I visited with one of my former students and her husband yesterday over an outdoor lunch at the Pack River General Store.

Laura Rich, then Laurie Disteldorf, graduated from Sandpoint High in 1984. I knew Laurie as a family friend, a 4-H'er and as a member of our Monticola yearbook staff.

She also spent a day babysitting Willie and Annie while Bill and I joined others on a climb up Scotchman Peak.

Laura's family played a substantial role in our family's lives---4-H, church, horse judging, school and even the farm.

Bernie Disteldorf occasionally helped our dad with farming along with swapping stories, while his wife Lynne was Annie's teacher.

Lots of stories involved with other family members too.

Laurie's creativity often shined in school, especially the day she brought in a meticulously crafted cardboard model of a 35 mm camera.

That ability, skill and intelligence has served her well as a member of the Air Force, where she met her hubby Jeff Rich.

With their two kids grown, Laurie and Jeff have been taking trips around the country in their homemade plane.

They spent a few years on the kit, and apparently, all the pieces are fitting together well, as they flew to Sandpoint from Vancouver as one leg of their travels from Indiana to California and eventually back home.

Delightful, fascinating and newsy: that's how our visit went after a drought of 31 years.

As always, the experience was a gift for us.

Nothing like reconnecting with former students after decades and learning about their successful and happy lives.

We are blessed.

In fact, tomorrow offers another blessing I'll be visiting with another who is visiting here from South Carolina while doing some writing.

I also spent part of yesterday bouncing around the neighborhood and the Lovestead in the 4-wheeler with a nice young man who lives down the road.

A modest 309 pictures later, we might just have some takers for his senior picture. Once again, the experience was delightful for me; not so sure about his thoughts.

But, he tolerated me and my photo antics and received an A-plus in cooperation.

It's neat to get to know our neighbor kids and to follow their lives.

Loves and Riches.

That's ALL YOU NEED, right?

Laurie married a Rich man, while I married a Love.

Some Disteldorf's along with Laura's son and daughter.

That's her mom Lynne on the left and her dad Bernie (an Air Force veteran) on the right.

They're standing by Bad Wolf, the plane that Jeff and Laurie assembled and now fly.