The place has changed a bit since we moved here July 1, 2006.
The shop you see in the photo replaced a green vinyl quanset storage shed that caved in one winter.
There was no white fence and no fenced-off garden.
We've had two greenhouses since moving here.
We have a new deck and deck roof.
The shelter in Pasture No. 1 has been completely replaced, and a similar structure in the barnyard was restored last year.
We added all the white fences to a place that had acres of completely electrified fences to keep the goats that lived here at the time from wandering.
One year, we removed one of those stretches of fence from the hay field, doubling it in size. We've added both smooth and woven-wire fences.
It's been quite a trip for the past 18 years on this 20-acre farm which we named the Lovestead.
All of our beloveds---horses, cats and dogs---which moved here with us in 2006 have passed on, along with a few more pets.
Every year I say that I pinch myself, "getting" to live on this place. That has not changed.
We never take our good fortune for granted, and we have done our best to honor the beautiful farm we were so fortunate to purchase at a time when real estate and land prices had gone bonkers.
We love our neighbors.
We love being surrounded by cows while not having to take care of them.
We love the amazing scenes we get to view outside our windows virtually every single morning.
Even on ugly days, birds flying in and out or critters passing through give us joy.
So, Happy Lovestead.
We're looking forward to the next 18 years or so, living here in our little piece of Heaven.
The rose bush above, given to me by my sisters, came with us to the Lovestead in 2006.
We thought it has all but died this spring, but I discovered when I noticed how far some of the stems have climbed upward and bloomed that it's alive and thriving.
Bill and I got caught in a mountain storm yesterday afternoon. It wasn't too scary, but it was intense.
Twas a gorgeous, somewhat humid afternoon when we turned off HWY 200 and started up the Trestle Creek Road, east of Sandpoint.
Bill had picked out a few geocaches to find along the way.
The drive took us through an area which my friend Chris and I got to know well while working for the Forest Service engineers, putting out and reading traffic counters.
Once again, as has happened in our years, our entire route from back in those days was off limits.
Bill and I both wondered, while making our way up the road alongside beautiful Trestle Creek if the Lightning Creek Road had reopened from some weather damage.
Generally, one can start in Trestle Creek and come out in Clark Fork, thanks to the Lightning Creek Road.
We knew better than to take a chance, if the Lightning Creek Road was still closed, on having to turn around and come back.
We did not know, however, how fast a somewhat brutal but thankfully relatively windless storm would move in on us.
We've had that happen before while driving mountain roads. In fact, one time when a storm came in, we had to saw our way back.
So, after finding one of the caches at the junction where the Lightning Creek drainage begins AND after hearing thunder, Bill said we'd better head back home.
Within two minutes, the torrents began.
For the next 20 minutes or so, hailstones and rain pounded away at the windshield, and the road, which hadn't appeared to be maintained much, turned into a series of raging mud-filled rivers rushing in a variety of routes downward.
Twas quite a ride down the mountain, but we felt pretty safe inside the pickup because of no wild winds threatening to take down trees.
It was apparent, as we moved on closer to home, that the storm had not limited itself to the mountains.
Our driveway was wet and we discovered that the electricity had gone off.
So, no need to water today and another happy thought that our fields of grass have once again received some much-needed moisture.
Now it's July, and soon we'll probably be dodging grasshoppers as we walk down the lane.
It dries out pretty fast around here so we didn't mind the rain storm.
Happy Monday.
Enjoy the photos.
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