Rain, Snow, Ice; TBT

 

Take your pick:  ice, snow or water?  

We've had all three in the past 24 hours.  

My morning trips outside required three layers and gloves in addition to the clothes I was wearing. 

It's been bitter cold so far today, especially with a little wind.  

Saturday:  70 degrees.  

I guess we can easily describe this year's April  as the month of hot and cold flashes. 

The positive side of this cold, wet weather:  the beauty of spring daffodils in full bloom will last longer than usual. 

Also, I transplanted some tomato plants yesterday and put them out in the greenhouse (with two heaters going).  

The tomatoes look just fine this morning. 

I think we're drying out so the "to do" list can start getting items checked off again.  

Nice to have some decent spring weather ahead. 

My classmates were very generous last fall when they gave me a gift certificate to purchase an apple tree.  

The good news:  the tree, a Granny Smith aka Sixty-Fiver, survived the winter and is budding out.  

Can't wait to see if it has blossoms later on.  The tree is very appreciated. 

Some day I'll make applesauce and invite the classmates over to enjoy it. 💙💚

Write it on your heart

  by Ralph Waldo Emerson 

Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year. 

He is rich who owns the day, and no one owns the day who allows it to be invaded with fret and anxiety.

Finish every day and be done with it. 

You have done what you could. 

Some blunders and absurdities, no doubt crept in.

Forget them as soon as you can, tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely, with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense. 

This new day is too dear, with its hopes and invitations, to waste a moment on the yesterdays.

😊😊😊😊😊😊

Thursday Throwbacks:   assorted images of past times from my photo collection. A few in this group were originally black and white, and they have been colorized thanks to AI. 

Terri Albertson and some grandsons or young relatives. 

Batch Two in their Easter best. 

Below:  Mary Ellen and Howard Thomason, founders of the Selkirk Hereford Ranch.  We loved going out to the ranch to visit.  

All three of our Batch One siblings worked for them.  My brothers helped with the hay, while I kept house for Mary Ellen and Howard for two weeks while Mary Ellen recuperated from surgery. 

Mary Ellen named every animal on the place, including her dozens of cats which she fed on her deck. 

Wonderful people and good family friends. 

The Howell family at a special birthday party for Patti. 

Below:  Chris Snock, Debbie and Cherita Armstrong. 

Chris and Cherita came to Sandpoint for a POAC event when Debbie was executive director. 

A dancer from the Coeur d'Alene Tribe

Below: Early members of the Sandpoint Saddle Club.  I know all but one.  Standing:  Gene and Etta Balch ????  

Seated:  Catherine Racicot, Early Shrake, Harold Tibbs, Ardis Racicot, Fats Racicot and Virginia Tibbs. 

 

Above:  Willie, Debbie and Bill in the  Rapid Lightning Creek drainage which we used to be able to visit before a gate appeared.  

Neighbors but I won't try to name them.  

I just saw them out on the road on a sunny day. 

Emma from Germany speaking to the Selle Valley Carden School. 

Emma lived with Willie and Debbie for a year.  

She's about to graduate from the University of Montana.  

We are all proud of her. 

When we got to ride in the Kodiak, created by Quest Aircraft and now manufactured in the same spot by Daher Aircraft Co. 

We flew to Spokane where we picked up Annie who had flown in from Seattle and then was transported to the plane in a stretch limo.  

Neat memory. 

Annie in Sydney. 

Cousins Scott, Willie and Annie.  

Cari and her grandson Zeke. 

Former student Tasha and her husband at her classmate's wedding. 

Jose from Bolivia talking to students at the Selle Valley Carden School. 

Gail and I preparing for the lemon-eating contest. 

Pulitzer Prize-winning author and Sandpoint native Marilynne Robinson when she came to the Panida Theater to add her voice as a supporter of public education. 

Reno as her dream of a Carousel of Smiles for Sandpoint began to unfold. 

Selle Valley Carden School kids happily advertising a bake sale. 

Above:  Randy Miller, a former student and successful coach in Washington. 

Below:  Bobbie and Suzanne Huguenin, mom and daughter who share birthdays. 

Our party when the Derby was in September instead of the first Saturday of May. 

I ordered some Derby masks from Crystal Green in West Virginia.  

Some party goers sat outside and watched the Derby through an open window, while some stayed inside. 

Twas an odd year when that Pandemic struck. 

Below:  Doug Bradetich. 

Above:  the four Albertson siblings:  Nani, Scott, Tom and Tracie. 

Below:  former student and Pushed Out author Ryanne Pilgeram. 

So Many Drips . . . .

 

I said to myself, "Pretend you are in Ireland."

That suggestion would be my mood-altering approach to taking the dogs outside in the dark of a morning dominated by rain. 

Just hearing the emphatic drip drip of rain made me reluctant to go outside, but dogs needed to do their duty, so it was a must. 

This actually is the time of year here in North Idaho which feels most like Ireland with all the lush new green grass quickly emerging from winter brown. Plus, the persistent and very wet  rain added the final touch.

It was, indeed, wet outside. 

Dogs needed extra toweling off, while I'm still feeling my wet pant legs as I type and a wet pony tail. 

The precipitation seems to be settling down a bit, and, maybe by the time I go out to feed the horses, it will be less relentless. 

I'll fed them in the barn this morning because Steve, the farrier, is coming at 10, so maybe he can trim their hooves inside and out of the rain and mud. 

Just when the place had almost dried out, along came the drip, drip, drip.  It's been hanging around for a couple of days. 

Weather forecasters are even talking snow between now and Friday.  

Not a happy thought but typical of North Idaho where we've been trained to tear into outdoor work quickly because these weather events can stop our progress at any time and quite often. 

So, forget painting the fence, wait a couple of days to use the lawnmower again, plan more indoor projects and try not to grumble. 

The latter is usually the most difficult. 

Not much we can do, though, but grin and bear it.

I can always get in the car and take pictures of wet stuff like I did yesterday afternoon.  

Foster and I drove the Gold Creek/Rapid Lightning Creek Loop, and, yes, we did see more mud and more water, although the rain stopped occasionally. 

 

I think a neat coffee-table book idea would be one featuring images of egg-for-sale displays along country roads.  

They're often creative, and the price is usually right. 

My favorites are those who advertise "farm fresh eggs."  

Those three words are powerful in making you just want to stop the car and go buy a dozen or two. 

I like this sign because it has a lot of information, even the fact that nothing happend [sic] on Upper Gold Creek Pass that day.  

I, of course, zeroed in on that "nothing" burger because it was my birth year, and on that very day my friend and Sandpoint High classmate Karen Arndt was born BUT apparently NOT on Upper Gold Creek Pass.

Next year there needs to be a gathering at that spot celebrating the 80th anniversary since "nothing" happened on Upper Gold Creek Pass, and maybe invite Karen along as an honored guest since she "happened" that day probably at Bonner General.  

 I think the "thank you" to the plow guys is nice, and we know the elevation.   

Good tone overall. 

Usually, I like to end my posts with a pretty picture, but, in keeping with today's theme, I'll use the view out Lefty's box stall door.  

Tell it like it is AND it's pretty ugly. 

Happy WeTnesday.

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