Lovely Daze in the Neighborhood

 

Bill came home from the Idaho State Forestry Contest yesterday afternoon with a pile of papers, indicating great news about kids from Selle Valley. 

They won many of the prizes in the contest. 

Two different schools in the neighborhood, the Selle Valley Carden School and Hidden Valley Academy earned both individual and team awards. 

That's pretty cool.  This neighborhood is filled with talented kids. 

We enjoy watching these young people grow up and seeing them make their own marks in life. 

I had no idea until this week that the bush I keep cutting back next to our house is a service berry bush. 

But this week, it gave away its identity with those telltale blossoms. 

Unfortunately, the bush will always been pruned back because of its location so close to the house, but it's nice to see the blossoms from time to time. 

Horses have gone to pasture the past two days.  

We rotate them from pasture to pasture.  In the plot, pictured above, I have to put out and fill a water tank because the field doesn't have an automatic waterer. 

In the one across the lane, Pasture No. 2, we're waiting to see that some brand new weeds, which appeared this spring next to the shelter, die. 

Bill sprayed them two days ago, and their heads are flopping, but we'll make sure, especially because we have no idea what they are. 

All together, the horses have four pastures with the hay field being the premium spot.  We send them out there later in the summer. 

In the two days that I've walked horses back and forth twice from the barnyard to Pasture No. 1, I have not had to use grain to entice them back in the evenings. 

The bugs take care of that in a merciless way. 

The horses almost climb over the fence into my arms with desperation to escape those nasty, nasty bugs that show up on schedule about 7 p.m.

Even with fly masks and even if I sprayed them, nothing stops these bugs except a quick trip to their stalls in the barn. 

Hopefully that evening assault will end in a few weeks. 

This week I've been aware of big changes each day and a few surprises. 

Our plum trees had a tough winter, as did one of the lilac bushes and a rosebush which my sisters gave me when we still lived on Great Northern Road more than 18 years ago. 

For a relatively mild winter, something in the weather patterns did not bode well for these shrubs.  I also lost more than half of my columbine, growing in various spots around the place. 

The plum and lilac bushes are alive, but many of their branches have died, and only a smattering of blossoms have appeared. 

It's always sad to see this weather-related devastation. 

On a positive note, I transplanted a bunch of iris last year, and the first bloom of the season appeared last night. 

The colorful iris, given to me by the Pietsch and Kamp families, have yet to bloom, but I'm excited.  

Back while I was growing up, my feet suffered, and they grew.  

They suffered because they grew so fast, and on my dad's salary, my parents couldn't afford to buy us new shoes every time we grew out of a pair. 

So, we just dealt with it, eventually having the sides break out or the tops separating from the bottoms (talking shoes) and even more, draconian, part of the heels falling off, leaving the sharp ends of shoe nails poking into the ground and working their way up into the shoe with each step taken. 

To avoid those nail heads poking into my human heels (cruel shoes), I folded up Kleenex or toilet paper and stuffed it into the insides of each shoe above the heel. 

This toilet paper band aide  seemed to work, but I was mighty glad when a payday came along and we could go to Del's Family Shoe Store or the The Bootery and get some new shoes. 

Speaking of Del's (Paul Delamarter's older daughter Laura turned 77 today).  

She's my longest friend, but I can't remember too much about her feet.  Nonetheless, I think she probably had better access to new shoes than I did.  

Happy Birthday, Laura.  I hope you have a happy celebration and especially happy feet today. 

Fast Forward 60 plus years.  My feet still grow-- sometimes in length, and sometimes they even inflate during the day.  

Happily, I can afford new shoes when I need them, and desperately, I try out a variety of shoes in hopes of wearing the least cruel shoes possible. 

Through no fault of their own, some shoes are crueler than others when you turn 70-something. 

Stiletto heels have always been cruel no matter the age, but nowadays, even some tenny runners don't fit well. 

Thank God for Skechers and thank God, as of yesterday, that I have added to my Skechers collection.  

Most recently, before yesterday, I purchased a pair of "no hands needed" Skechers.  

They are very nice and generally roomy. I wear them to town. 

Yesterday, however, when my Amazon package of orthotic Skecher Crocs, size HUGE, came, I felt like I'd met St. Peter at the gate.  

It was downright Heavenly to slip those babies onto my feet which had inflated from so much garden work during the day. 

And, Crocs, except for walking on water on a deck, are the best and most comfortable footgear imaginable for the spring, summer and fall months. 

And, now because I'm old and have suffered from plantar fasciitis as well as bad knees, I'm looking forward to the relief of slipping into these open-aired shoes after a morning of working outside. 

I told Bill I may just order another pair---town Crocs and country Crocs. 

This gittin' old and these body aches, which present a new adventure every day, keep us on our toes to (figuratively so cuz there's no way I could stand on my toes!)  figure out the best and safest pills and the most forgiving footgear.

Let's see:  bugs, dead stuff and cruel shoes---I think that's enough challenges to consider for the day.

Happy Friday.