Monday Miscellany

 

It came quickly and intensely and it left just as quickly, but the landscape and buildings received a good dousing yesterday afternoon. 

They've become family.  

This trio can be found around the place several times on any given day.  

This morning, thanks to my flashlight,  I could see their beady eyes as they were bedded down in the pastures. 

I hope they can escape vehicles and bullets in the next several weeks. 

That number means that Annie has found 23,000 geocaches in just about every nook and cranny and means that one could imagine.  

Apparently, she reached the big number yesterday on an outing. 

She has not only found 23,000 geocaches in the last 20 or so years, but more importantly, she found the best job ever with her career at Groundspeak, Inc. in Seattle. 

Groundspeak, Inc. owns the geocaching.com website. 

Annie works with geocaching vendors around the world, and, yes, she does some traveling for her job and, of course, to find more geocaches. 

Congrats, Annie. 

The last time we ate at Jalapenos Restaurant was in March when we were celebrating my brother Kevin's 80th birthday.  

It was a festive and fun evening, enjoying family and good food and drinks. 

Jalapenos has been Kevin's favorite place to dine on his visits to Sandpoint, so, of course, it had to be the venue for his big celebration. 

Our family has had a long track record with Jalapenos, even back in the day when the restaurant was located on First Avenue. 

Bill and I were digging through our history minds this morning and agreed that the restaurant started where Baxter's is now and the Benoit Bootery a while back. 

Then, if we are correct, it moved to the old Bill Gill's Honda building before moving to its current location in the old Elks Club.  

Please correct me if any of our facts are wrong.  

Our daughter Annie worked at the restaurant for a time as a busser with some of the original staff, hired by original owner Chet French, training her and working with her. 

It's been quite a run, to say the least, and a popular place to gather. 

Shock waves went through the community yesterday when the announcement that Jalapenos was closing appeared on Facebook. 

I was so stunned at first that I thought that it might be an AI spoof.  

Apparently, it wasn't, as a Facebook friend whose daughter worked at the restaurant verified that the announcement was, indeed, true. 

If my observations are correct, the Jalapenos closing marks the third restaurant in the area to announce big changes in the past couple of weeks.  

Farmhouse in Ponderay has closed while I saw a few days ago that The Fat Pig in downtown Sandpoint is for sale. 

I don't know the reasons for these changes, but they don't suggest that all is going so well economically in our resort community. 

If that is the case, it's too bad and especially very sad to see a Sandpoint staple, which has provided a venue for so many festive family memories, close its doors. 

Speaking of big changes; they are happening as I type right outside our house. 

Ty Oliver and his crew showed up around 7 a.m. with equipment to remove the eight poplar trees immediately south of the house. 

They've laid out plywood to protect the lawn, and it sounds like some of the equipment is on its way to the trees. 

I've met the crew, who include the foreman, the groundsmen and the bucket brigade. 

Ty says he'll be around for a while but will leave to tend to another job. 

I guess I'm as mentally prepared as possible for those trees to go down.  

What will diminish their loss is knowing that about two thirds of the leaves I have to pick up in the fall will go with the trees. 

And, we have the opportunity to beautify the area after the trees are gone.

Plus, I've heard that the service does a beautiful job of tree removal.   

We are hoping to find a mountain ash tree or two for that area. 

In the meantime, it's gonna be busy around here for the next couple of days. 

Happy Monday. 

Ty Oliver, owner of Oliver Tree Service. 

https://olivertreeservicellc.com/

Rainy Day Mutterings

 

This little one spends almost as much time around our home as we do. 

Little Bambi knows right where the berries on the bushes are. 

I haven't been able to convince it to come over to me for a little loving. 

It's raining out there this morning, and the bush at the fence line for the Meserve Preserve offered a rather bucolic, peaceful scene. 

It's a soft rain and with relative warmth, I found it pleasant for my walk with Bridie through the woods. 

Yesterday's sunshine could have put a damper on my rainy-day projects, but I decided to do them anyway. 

Bill went to Grouse Creek to gather wood, so the dogs and I stayed home all day. 

One project led to another.  

The only problem: it's a rainy day, and I've done most of my planned projects. 

That's okay cuz I like having an empty schedule every once in a while. 

Plus, Netflix, thanks to Annie, is always there for us to enjoy.  

CB's knee puncture is looking much better each day. 

He had to have two antibiotics shots, and since the vets figure the best place for the shots is in the chest muscles, hematomas can form. 

So, CB suddenly developed quite the bosoms.  It's been uncomfortable for him, but this morning it looks like the hematoma is decreasing in size. 

He's been a good patient through it all. 

I'm relieved to see the progress. 

I've also tried to get the resident crows to be friends, but they keep their distance. 

The best show we have as we look out the new garden window happens when five or six crows and five or six squirrels get into tussles near the feeders and start chasing each other around the yard. 

It's hard to know the exact population because the action is fast as squirrels scurry and crows dive bomb.  

It's hilarious.

 

When I saw this video, felt the goosebumps from its pure beauty and dropped a tear or two, I wanted to share.  

So, here it is:  Jennifer Nettles singing "Go Rest High on That Mountain" at the 25th Anniversary ceremony honoring those lost in 9-11.  

Yesterday's harvest from the garden.  

Several times the deer have jumped inside my garden west of the barn and eaten most of the bean blossoms from my second crop of beans, but I still managed to pick the above yesterday.

The carrots also went into the saucepan with the beans, allowing us a yum yum vegetable side for last night's dinner. 

We've actually enjoyed lots of tasty items from this year's gardens. 

It's time, however, to take down the temporary fence next to the barn and let the deer and other hungry mouths feed on the leftovers.  

Guess that's all on this rainy, quiet day. 

Happy Sunday. 

Saturday Slight

 

In the grand scheme of things, it's small potatoes--er corn. 

In my world here at the Lovestead, it's a huge achievement. 

This is the first time in a number of years that I have been able to grow corn with a full set of kernals on the ears. 

Bill had this ear for dinner the night before last and said it tasted as good as it looks. 

So, it's a crowning garden achievement for this year. 

Lots of failures or frustrations (creatures eating garden goods before we have a chance) but producing this ear of corn along with a couple of others stretches my happy muscle in a very good way. 

Maybe if I get the formula right and grow several stalks of corn with full set of kernals on the cob, I won't have to utter "Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears" ever again. 

First, I saw the adorable photo below and commented on the cuteness.

It's my friend and beloved former student Chris Pietsch.

Later, I saw his written post that he had been laid off  from his 38-year photojournalism career with the Eugene Register Guard, effective Tuesday.  

 I immediately called Chris and left a message telling him how proud I am of him.  He didn't answer because he was filming that last football game of his career. 

Seeing this news sent a shock wave through my entire being.  

When you've known someone as a student, a 4-H'er, a highly accomplished, talented and passionate professional who took your wedding pictures 52 years ago, such news hits hard and fast. 

Chris Pietsch is truly a one-of-a-kind loveable human being.  

It does not seem right after all of his amazing photographic achievements and awards that his career should end like this, but we do live a far different world from our collective innocent times of getting to grow up in little ol' Sandpoint, Idaho.   

The thought that I won't be watching Oregon basketball or football and texting Chris every time I see him and his cameras along the sidelines is truly sad.  

It's been a run for him, and, as his teacher and longtime family friend, it's been a great run for me, as a proud observer, too. 

He's from Sandpoint and those of us who have known and loved Chris Pietsch for almost a lifetime couldn't be any prouder! 

I am sharing his thoughts posted yesterday on Facebook, which reveal several layers of this amazing artist with a camera. 

BTW:  the photo with the duck above reflects vintage Chris. 

From Chris Pietsch:

My first paid newspaper job was photographing high school football on Friday nights.

Admittedly it was a nepotism job, my grandfather and father owned the paper, and I made $5 per published photograph, but through that work — passion really — I was able to string a career together that has lasted more than 50 years.

So it seems fitting that one of my last assignments for The Register-Guard will be photographing a high school football game here in Eugene tonight. 

I was informed this morning that I will be laid off next Tuesday, Sept. 14, after 38 years at the paper.

In truth it probably had to end this way. I love the work so much that I am not sure I could let go willingly. 

But, I am turning 70 later this year. Running up and down sidelines, chasing firetrucks and working crazy hours is not as easy as it used to be.

Don’t worry about me. The severance package I was offered will soften the landing while I ponder my next move.

But as I process my circumstances, I want all of you to hear the news from me first.

It has been an awesome ride. I got paid do do something that I absolutely love. 

Being a photojournalist is a golden ticket into peoples lives and the events of our times, large and small, that made me laugh, cry and want to be a better person.

During my career I transitioned from film and a darkroom to digital and video editing. 

I have photographed a total eclipse, watched as dams came down on the Klamath River, covered terrible tragedies, joyous celebrations and a worldwide pandemic.

I followed the Oregon Ducks to five Rose Bowls and two National Championships and covered countless other athletic events like the Olympic Trials, the Prefontaine Classic and both men’s and women’s NCAA basketball tournaments.

Telling your stories never gets old for me and I am very grateful to all the people that let me into their lives. That support is among the reasons that I made it as long as I have.

It saddens me that an industry that I have dedicated my life to is struggling as it is. This community deserves a general information newspaper. 

I hope those charged with leading the industry can find a way to keep it going.

But it is time to let the next generation take up that challenge.

Thank you all. 

Good news, Bulldogs! 

Congratulations on the win:  now 4-O.  

Babies in the fall:  a neat idea, especially for the admiring neighbors. 

Big change is coming to the Lovestead next week. 

The eight poplars, pictured above and below, will be taken down over the course of three days by Oliver Tree Service. 

https://olivertreeservicellc.com/

At this point, we'll ask Ty and his crew to if leveled-off stumps can remain, creating the opportunity for flower pots or different landscaping approaches.  

I'm hoping the periwinkle patch amidst the east clump of trees can be saved. 

It's been difficult for some time thinking about their removal, but they are dead or dying and we really don't want to experience another limb coming through the house roof. 

A sad happening for squirrels, birds and peeps, but we'll do our best to come up with an esthetic alternative. 

It's supposed to rain today, and I've planned some rainy-day projects. 

So, what's with the sun and blue sky?  

Oh well, I'll still do the projects. 

Happy Saturday.