Since 1893 . . . .

Two World Wars---and a bunch of other smaller conflicts---invention of the car and airplane and television and microwave and computer and cell phone and election of several Presidents and, yes, even a few royal weddings.

That's just a smidgeon of what has transpired in this world since it rained as much in 24 hours as it did April 25th in Spokane.  Add to that, half a foot of snow in some places. A moisture record that stood since 1893 went down.

Fortunately, we here north of Sandpoint were out of that heavy-duty moisture radar. Oh, we got our rain and snow but not that much.

No wonder people complain.  Of course, all things are relative. Other areas would laugh at the idea of .63 inches in 24 hours, but for our area, that's a major talking point.

Well, this morning it's not raining.  It's not even snowing.  The birds are singing.  That fourth layer worn could have easily been three when I first went to the barn.  I did not wear a stocking cap.  I did roll up my pant legs cuz yesterday's jeans were still wet this morning, requiring a dry pair.

Yesterday, I finished filling my yard planters with lovely barnyard gold , and they now await the planting of this year's veggies and flowers.  

While digging in the well-aged pile of horse manure, shavings, pine needles, etc. near the barn, I've found at least three dozen baby potatoes.  They've been happily living deep down within the warm dirt, with little eyes sprouting.

I think they'll go back into the ground with my hopes of their sprouting some lovely volunteer plants later this spring.

We're getting some definite signs that outdoors projects can maybe happen with more consistency.  The standing water in my lawn needs to go away because the grass is growing and needs some cutting. 

I'm sure that by week's end, each day will be filled with more than enough to do.  

Plus, Annie's coming this weekend and bringing two or three friends.  On Saturday, she'll be putting on a geocaching seminar in Willie's classroom at Sandpoint High School.  

Willie advises an outdoor-experience group, so the students will be learning about geocaching and putting it into practice. 

He and Debbie have put out a few caches for them to find once Annie's finished with her presentation.  

Kinda neat to have the kids working together again.  Last time they did so was when they collaborated as deejays on a radio program called Ten9 at Boise State University.  

And, while I'm thinking of school stuff, I'd like to let folks know that I have some petitions for repealing Idaho's recently enacted education reform, along with a recall petition for our state superintendent of public education.

If anyone is interested in signing petitions for either of these statewide moves initiated by concerned citizens, give me a call or send me a message.  I'll find a way to get the petitions to you.  You need to be a Bonner County resident.  I'll have the petitions for the next week or so.

I strongly support the need to revisit this highly controversial issue and slow it down a bit.  I also encourage the powers-that-be to spend a little more time researching the situation and this time involving all entities in the mix while developing their plans---namely the school teachers who will be expected to implement the "reform."

Speaking of support, I'd also like to make note of a good latte place I discovered yesterday.

I finished as many projects as I could inside and outside with the off-and-on rain, so off to town I drove to run a couple of errands. 

Whenever I get just a little bit bored, I like to do something different. I seldom have lattes in the afternoon after being charged up with them in the morning during blog writing.

Last week----when it was really raining as opposed to 'sorta raining'---I drove all the way into downtown Sandpoint and tried a double mocha at Heavenly Latte on Second and Cedar.  Suddenly, the sun came out.  Now, that's latte power!

Yesterday I opted to stop at Magic Beans on Bonner Mall Way near Les Schwab's.  The owner looked familiar, and I learned soon that I had met her in passing a few weeks ago.

That $2.95 double mocha, 16 oz. special worked some magic too. Turns out we're new friends, and we had a hard time keeping up with each other as we enthusiastically swapped our stories.  

DeMaris Whitney Hoyt, the owner, comes from Potlatch, and she knows a lot of the same folks I know (for outlaws in our family,  please note the O'Reilly's).  

I also learned that she and her family live right in our neighborhood here in Selle.  She's a veteran who served in the Air Force,  and she's one very nice lady.

So, if you're in the Bonner Mall area, pull in and try out her goodies.  

Thanks, DeMaris for a good latte and a fun visit. 

On that note, my latte is almost gone, so that signals time to sign off and get outside before another rainstorm decides to dump.

Happy Wednesday.