Tuesday Twitterdeedum

Someone's gonna recognize this!  Bill and I went for a bike ride after dinner last night, and when I saw this bush in a Selle-ite's yard, I had to stop and take a photo.  

As mentioned before, fall colors, like so many other things this year, have arrived a bit early----maybe even a month or so.  The irony is that we've hardly had a freeze.  I noticed yesterday that my apples, usually ready in late October, look ready to pick. 

Anyway, beauty any time of the year is nice and welcome.  We don't care if it's early or late, and this bush certainly is an eye catcher----even on a rather gray, dark evening. 

We went down a new road (for us) in the neighborhood.  It's called Coyote Road, and it's privately maintained.  Shortly after turning on to the road, the deer population rose dramatically.  

Seems as if every direction we looked, deer were looking back at us or racing off across a field. It was fun to get back in there for the first time.  

The slight detour added to the amazement we so often experience around here----that lovely homes are tucked away in places where we'd never expect. 

After our tour on Coyote Road, we came back to Forest Siding to experience a thrill followed by brief horror.  I saw an elk in a field to our left.  When I turned back to tell Bill, who was a ways behind me, to be looking for the elk, the big critter took off.  

I was pretty sure we'd see it again after passing by a grove of trees.  Well, it had joined four or five others.  The group took off, jumped over the fence and crossed the road into the woods in front of us. 

Behind the elk were about 8-10 leaping and bounding deer.  Some crossed the road in front of us and some behind.  

Hearing Bill go, "Oh no!" I turned around to see a fawn from this year, lunging toward the fence, only to violently rebound off the wires into the ditch.  This happened about three times.  All we could do is watch.

Finally, the little one made it through the fence, and we're figuring it's a pretty sore baby today. 

That was enough excitement for us, and on the trip home, the deer basically stayed in their fields, just staring at us. 

Photos below were taken during a brief visit to the local horse show Sunday.  

Monty Collison, a former 4-H'er and student and now a respected horse trainer, came up from Spokane to compete in the show, and his mom Linda enjoyed watching him ride in several classes. 

At show's end, the two came walking to the barn together so, of course, it was picture time. Both are nice people and it was great to catch a shot of the two of them together. 

Barbara and Laurie participated in the show with their Half Arabian geldings Scout and Dusty.  While I was there, my sisters rode in the same class. 

And, speaking of riding, I think I'm gonna give that a try today.  Haven't decided whether it will be on Lily or Lefty, but I do know it should be fun, sore body and all.  Thank God for Advil and Aleve!

On a sad note, a bit of Clark Fork history went up in flames yesterday morning.  I borrowed the photo below from the Clark Fork site.

The loss of Cabinet Bar and Grill leaves a huge void on the highway everyone takes through Clark Fork.  Of course, with the ashes, memories come floating back.

My most vivid and cherished involves the times Chris Moon and I worked for the Forest Service engineers as traffic counting aids.  We often drove the entire route around Lake Pend Oreille either heading off through Clark Fork or stopping there on our way back to Sandpoint. 

At the time, Ross Derr owned the restaurant.  When he'd see us coming inside to have a cup of coffee and, of course, a sweet treat, he always took time to sit down and visit with us.  We enjoyed him and appreciated the fact that he was a walking repository of Clark Fork history. 

Sad times for Clark Fork, but I'm sure with the town's community spirit and grit, that big hole in the community's heart will get repaired soon. 

With that, it's looking like a great day ahead.  Happy Tuesday.