STILL LIFE and TBT

Over a 24-hour period, we had sunshine, rain, wind and snow.  This morning, the ground is white, but it's a coat of frost that provides the color.  

Snow in the valley yesterday simply hit the ground and disappeared, but the mountains still have a coating almost down to the valley floor.

Most leaves have fallen from trees, 'cept that oak tree in our back yard, and I've gotten a pretty good grip on picking up the bulk of this year's fallen leaves.  They're either in the manure pile, or in piles along the edge of the woods. 

With this year's growth pretty much dying off, those of us who still yearn for color need only to drive a few miles along Lake Pend Oreille to Hope, often called the "Banana Belt" of Bonner County.

No bananas grow there, but that one apple tree up the steep hillside near the Hope Hotel is still holding most of its apples and its leaves. 

Along with the longer life span for most things natural, areas around the village of Hope proper offer some quaint and eye-catching images. 

The bottom line is that if you want to catch some areas where there is still life, take a spin out Hope way.  

No disappointments AND, of course, except for mud flats extending well into the mouth of Lake Pend Oreille from Pack River, that big beautiful lake provides jaw-dropping views pretty much any day of the year----especially when the forest fires die down and the occasional fog floats away.

This day of the week is Thursday, as in Throwback Thursday.  Bill went to Louisiana earlier this year and brought back some photo albums filled with pictures we had sent his parents over the years. 

This morning's selected shot from one of the albums takes us back to the days at the farm on Great Northern Road.   

We've always deeply loved our dogs, and, for a time, we had a brother and sister pair named Bogey and Julie---English setters, given to us by our friends Dave and Candy Tate.

Dave and Candy had iddy biddy children at the time, and Bogey and Julie weren't in to schmoozing with babies, so the Love's took over.  

These dogs were definitely critters who created a multitude of tales for me to share, especially when they'd go visiting at Serva-Burger for handouts or to the old Louisiana-Pacific mill.

We spent half our lives looking for Bogey and Julie, as they could disappear with the blink of an eye, and since we were not their original "peeps," the loyalty meter for family bonding with Bogey and Julie was pretty was pretty low. 

Still, we enjoyed them, and they provided some vivid and wonderful childhood memories for Willie and Annie. 

While we lived on Great Northern Road, an aircraft manufacturing company named Quest moved in behind us. 

That close location and the great relationship we had with the original partners allowed us to be privy to the baby steps taken by the Kodiak, which has since taken off as a popular cargo or "SUV" of the air.  

We stood, as special guests, alongside the Quest crew when that Kodiak prototype took off from Sandpoint Airport, and then----the best part----landed!

Now, the plane has a Japanese connection with its most recent ownership, and Quest is currently doubling its employee roster to make way for more and more Kodiaks, flying the skies AND landing in tight places around the world. 

Pretty neat to have witnessed the ground floor of this monumental achievement right behind our big red barn. 

Guess that's all for this morning.  Looks like a great day ahead.  

Happy Thursday!