Monday Mutterings

 

We have hay coming to our barn tonight. 

Two high school wrestling standouts (twins) will be bringing us our 30 bales of hay.  

Because of boarding my horses over the winter, I have enough hay in the barn to last through next spring, but even with yesterday's rain, pastures are drying up. 

So, it will be nice to have the extra for supplementing over the next few weeks. 

I'm noticing lots of ripe tomatoes and seeing that my four corn stalks have ears that are maturing.  Can't wait to see if the ears are loaded with corn.

It won't be long before the need for summer watering will subside.   

I saw Willie yesterday, and the conversation suggested that fall is coming on strong.  

He was getting together with friends who participate in Fantasy Football.  He also told me that Sandpoint High will experience a major change this year. 

No quarter grades to figure.  He noted that these days grades are available to parents 24-7 via computers so there's no need for a quarterly report card. 

It's a drastic change, historically, in the order of school curriculum but it also seems pretty sensible.

The squirrels apparently get the word when I go to town for some more sunflower seeds.  

Yesterday while looking out the garden window, I suggested to Bill that a squirrel convention was happening. 

It was constant motion as five of the little critters were scurrying around the lawn, across a garden fence board and, of course, around the bird feeders. 

It's a banner year for golden rod. 

This show, coming up Sept. 18-20 at the Bonner County Fairgrounds, should be a lot of fun, and adding to the fun, some new classes. 

From Ukraine, with Cindy Wooden . . . .she says she'll be moving on tomorrow, driving to Lviv in Western Ukraine to attend the wedding.

It's Independence Day in Ukraine. 

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — European leaders joined President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Monday for celebrations marking the 35th anniversary of Ukraine’s Independence Day as Russia pressed on with its 4-year-old invasion of the country.

One of President Vladimir Putin’s key goals in starting a war with Russia’s neighbor in February 2022 was to place Kyiv in Moscow’s orbit. 

Ukrainian lawmakers voted on Aug. 24, 1991, to proclaim the country’s independence from Moscow, and a nationwide referendum later that year overwhelmingly approved it.

With no significant changes on the front line for months and no apparent progress after more than a year of U.S.-led peace efforts, both countries are locked in a spiral of escalating aerial attacks  that are killing civilians and smashing infrastructure.

Above:  overlooking Kyiv. 

Below: a statue of St. Volodymyr the Great looks over the city of Kyiv. 

About St. Volodymry from Saintapedia:  

Saint Volodymyr the Great (Old East Slavic: Владимѣръ Свѧтославичь; c. 958 – 15 July 1015), also known as Vladimir the Great or Saint Vladimir, was Grand Prince of Kyiv from 980 to 1015 and the ruler who officially adopted Christianity as the state religion of Kievan Rusʼ in 988, earning him the title “Equal-to-the-Apostles.”

 Born the illegitimate son of Prince Sviatoslav I and Malusha, he seized power in 980 after civil war with his brothers, initially reigning as a pagan ruler who expanded Rusʼ territory and consolidated power.

 According to the Primary Chronicle and hagiographic tradition, after examining world religions and influenced by his grandmother Saint Olga and Byzantine diplomacy, Volodymyr accepted baptism in Chersonesos (Crimea) c. 987–988, married Byzantine princess Anna Porphyrogenita, and ordered the mass baptism of Kyiv’s inhabitants in the Dnipro River in 988.

Venerated from the 11th century as Equal-to-the-Apostles, Volodymyr was canonized by the Russian and Ukrainian Orthodox Churches without formal process; his feast is 15 July. Patron of Ukraine, Russia, baptisms, and converts, he is co-patron (with Saint Olga) of the Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church. 

Puddles! Moyie, Ukraine

 

Such a welcome sight!  

I'm not often a fan of mud puddles, but this morning's were beautiful. 

In our area, the red flag warning appears to have a mild outcome. 

A few lightning strikes with thunder claps following and two fairly intense downpours. 

We have even had a moments of soft rain. 

We needed the moisture, and we could use a lot more.  Nevertheless, the overnight rain has interrupted what promised to be a long dry stretch. 

The air smells fresh this morning and the landscape is a lot cleaner than it's been for weeks. 

My phone says the dry stretch will come for the next ten days, but except for two days in the upper 80s, other temperatures are tolerable and maybe even comfortable. 

I hope the rest of the red flag area got off as easily as we did. 

Yesterday, in an effort to beat the beastly afternoon heat, Bill, the dogs and I spent the afternoon in our gray pickup, enjoying scenery along the Meadow Creek and Moyie River roads. 

Our stops were not that pleasant because it was dry and hot, but knowing we could go back to air conditioning and drive on to the next spot made it bearable. 

Our stops included the Meadow Creek campground along the Moyie, which was uncharacteristically almost empty. 

The dogs seemed to enjoy their walk to the river and sniffing for treasures as we walked the pathways. 

We also stopped at the Moyie Crossing near Good Grief.  The picnic area features sculptures of various species of trout designed by a Montana blacksmith and meant to mimic fish swimming in the river. 

It's a scenic sight not far from the Canadian border, where we have enjoyed family picnics in the past. 

As we drove home, we could see some thick clouds of smoke from the Smith Creek fire, which continues to burn after several weeks.

The trip accomplished our mission of staying cool as much as possible while enjoying one of our longtime, favorite areas to visit. 

I was especially impressed with the bathroom facility at the Meadow Creek campground.  Someone added a touch of funky class with the gnome, the hand sanitizer and air freshener.  

It was neat to see elderberries.  I used to pick big clumps of them and make jelly. 

Have turned a bit lazy about that over the years, cuz it's a messy job with all the tiny stems that tend to get mixed in with the berries. 

These young ladies were walking home from a swim in the river. 

Since late December, my friend and former student Cindy Wooden has been retired from her job as Vatican Bureau Chief for the Catholic News Service, and she is living in Sandpoint. 

Cindy continues to travel whenever possible and is now visiting Ukraine where she has traveled to attend a wedding involving her professional friends and colleagues.  

Cindy sent me some photos this morning after experiencing her first full day in Ukraine.  After arriving by train from Poland, she is staying in a small village outside of Kyiv.  

The photos include memorials to the hometown soldiers lost in the ongoing Ukraine-Russian war.

Also, she says the train stops just over the border to pick up border agents who check passports while the train moves to the next station.  

Of course, we who know and love Cindy pray that she remains safe during her visit. 

 I appreciate and thank her for sharing her photos and observations.  

Looking forward to seeing more and posting them during her stay. 

Thanks so much, Cindy. 

And, Happy Sunday to all. 

Saturday Slight

A pretty house in South Sandpoint. 

******

Good things have happened in the past several hours. 

I went outside this morning and soon felt what I guessed were tiny projectiles landing on my coat. 

As I kept on walking down the lane, the mild assaults continued. 

Halfway down the lane, I could hear them attacking the roof of the big shed. 

Could this be real, or is this my imagination, I thought. 

An instant later, when one landed on my hand, it was wet. 

Those were not projectiles.  They were raindrops. 

Unplanned raindrops at that.  My phone forecast and the KHQ News last night showed no chance of rain for the next ten days. 

Guess there was a glitch kinda like I had yesterday with my blog posting.  

It was a nice and welcome glitch, even if it lasted just ten minutes.  Ya gotta start somewhere!

That was nice, and even nicer was reading in the news this morning that the Sandpoint High School Bulldog football team won their season opener last night. 

A win is always nice, but this one had some extra significance with the recent passing of Coach Ryan Knowles wife Megan. 

Like what happens so often in this community, the team, the staff and parents and friends have wrapped their arms around Ryan and his family.  Ryan acknowledged his appreciation in today's story about last night's season opener.  

A nice win and an even nicer story to go along with it. 

Congratulations, Ryan, and congratulations, Bulldogs. 

https://bonnercountydailybee.com/news/2026/aug/22/prep-football-iverson-stars-as-sandpoint-outlasts-twin-falls-in-36-34-thriller/

🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈

My oldest brother posted this on Facebook last night.  

Certainly worth the read as, sadly, one more revered institution within this country has gone under attack. 

RIP, STARS & STRIPES

by Mike Brown 

Today, we learned that the Hegseth "War" Department terminated the key staff of the STARS & STRIPES. In explaining this action, Pentagon spokesperson, Sean Parnell said:

"STARS & STRIPES will be custom tailored to our warfighters. It will focus on warfighting, weapons systems, fitness, lethality, survivability, and ALL THINGS MILITARY. No more repurposed DC gossip columns; no more Associated Press reprints."

Long ago and far away in Vietnam, I was familiar with the S&S. It was, in many ways, a lifeline. 

I did not look to the publication for information about "warfighting" or lethality or others of this administration's testosterone inspired subjects. 

STARS & STRIPES seemed to me to be quite independent as a news publication. To be sure, there were articles about what was happening in the war, but they were, in my judgment at the time, reported dispassionately, and they printed the good, the bad, and the ugly. 

But I didn't read the paper to be informed about the war. I was there, and there were plenty of other ways for me to be informed about the combat environment.

What WAS important to me was that the STARS & STRIPES brought me news from "back in the world." Major newspapers from the United States did reach Vietnam....by mail, and mail could take two weeks.

And newspapers were not exactly priority mail. 

I can vividly recall August 1967 just as I was starting my first Vietnam tour, an event called the Sundance Fire was starting near my home in north Idaho. It was a huge fire of national and international import, and it involved people that I knew. Family members were involved. 

I read about it every day in the S&S. The STARS & STRIPES was printed "in theater" so its subject matter was reasonably current. 

We did not have to wait for two weeks for news from home. It was available in the field, usually sent to field locations along with unit mail deliveries.

I'm saddened to learn that today's terminations were done with a purpose of reorienting what was a reliably independent journal of current events into what, from Sean Parnell's description, will be a propaganda rag to spout the political opinions of the likes of Hegseth and others.

For me, the S&S is also personal. 

When I was shot down in 1972, there was little reporting of the incident in the U.S.

The S&S, however, did report on the incident and published its report in its Pacific edition. Family friends in the Philippines caught the article, clipped it out, and sent it to Mary. 

Before receiving that clipping, about two weeks after the incident, Mary had had only sketchy information about what had happened. I'm attaching a copy of that clipping with this posting.

If you'd like to read more about Mike's experience in Vietnam, his book Missile, Missile, Missile is available on Amazon.com

It had been at least 50 years since we'd seen each other. 

That was when I was a young teacher named Miss Brown, and Jody Lee was fun-loving, involved high school student. 

We reconnected last night at the "Independent" booth at the Bonner County Fair where she was volunteering. 

 I was thrilled to learn that Jody has moved back to Sandpoint from Boise after retiring from an amazing career in the communications industry. 

Her career as a writer, producer and director has included work with Idaho Public Television (Outdoor Idaho).  

She has also worked with productions in New York City and London where she also earned her Master's Degree at Bournemouth University. She has also won a national award and received an Emmy nomination. 

 

from her Linked In account:

My work in film encompasses an eclectic array of projects: fundraising, commercials, sporting events, corporate and independent films, government agencies and network affiliates.

Obviously, having worked with Jody as a student many many years ago and with my own passions for writing and telling stories, I'm excited to spend more time with her sharing the wonderful experiences associated with our profession. 

She's from Sandpoint.  We are proud of her and so happy she has come back home. 

 Last night we did a little catch-up while mingling with the Independent candidates for state and national offices. 

Considering that a portion of the theme to this year's fair is Independence, it seems like a good idea to dig down into our Independent natures and consider some of the candidates not affiliated with political parties. 

One of those I met for the first time last night.  Immediately, while shaking hands with Todd Achilles, I felt very comfortable and like I'd known him all my life.

He's that down-to-earth and an easy guy to get to know.  When he saw the photo someone had posted in the booth of him showing his lamb as a 4-H'er, he was quite amused. 

In fact, he didn't mind one bit when I, a 4-H'er quite accustomed to winning a white ribbon or two, ribbed him about earning a red ribbon with his lamb.  

 Todd is running against Jim Risch for the U.S. Senate, and he wastes no time telling folks that he's "not 83 years old," which is certainly worth consideration in today's political circles. 

I liked him a lot.  He's an impressive human being and candidate----one who can relate to pretty much anyone he meets.  

As a rather independent soul myself, I'll be happy to support him.  I'm happy to see vibrant potential for  positive changes in our political circles. 

You can learn more about Todd Achilles at 

https://www.achillesforidaho.com/

I posted a photo of my former student Eric Steffensen yesterday.  

He had come to Sandpoint from his home in Deer Park to compete in cattle sorting Thursday night.  

He sent me this photo, taken by Debbie Neely today.  Eric is riding the buckskin horse. 

He told me that he had finished fourth and his girl friend Cecelia had finished third. 

Sixty teams participated.  

Great work, Eric and Cecelia.  

One more hot day, and we have a cool down coming.

Let's hope we make it through this red flag day with no new fires. 

Happy Saturday.