Winter Merry Go Round, Etc.

It's mornings like this that I can hear a collective virtual applause from a whole bunch of my friends.  

These are the people who have the means and the freedom to head south in the winters.  

They are there having fun in the sun, and we are here, slogging our way through winter. 

Here at the Love house, we finally might have the means to escape days like this, but the freedom?  

That's a different story.  

It's by choice, of course, but sometimes, especially on mornings like this, I wish my decision to live on a farm with animals could take a brief hiatus.

Every time, however, it comes back to the same conclusion:  get rid of your animals, go south for a while, enjoy the sun and the fun.  

Sounds easy, but when you dearly love every last critter on your place, you could never do that. 

Some may question my decision-making at this age.  "Is she crazy?  Why would she get another baby horse at her age?"

Well, just look at the photo below, and when ya see the love a little guy named CB has been showing me every time I go to visit him, the answer should be fairly apparent. Plus, it's pretty hard to resist his cuteness.  

So, this morning, Bill went out with the tractor to plow out key areas, and I followed him later and did some shoveling so I could push the cart filled with hay into the barnyard. 

Fortunately for us, it's fairly warm this morning, and though the snow is wet, it's somewhat easy to move.  In fact, most of the four-five inches which fell over night has already slid from the roofs.  

I know cuz I could hear the loud rumbles as it slid and hit the ground while cleaning barn stalls. 

We'll do a little more plowing, blowing and cleaning out later this morning.  For now, we have taken care of the urgent needs of the morning and can sit inside admiring the beauty of this most recent dump.  

It is pretty, but . . . at this point in the winter, we're hoping to be spared in the weeks ahead.  Hoping for easy weather in North Idaho usually is usually futile. 

Before the weather changed, I did enjoy some nice time yesterday over with my little horse.  Yesterday turned out to be petting and rubbing of CB and three others who demand their time too. 

I also can boast of something old and something new accomplished during the day. 

A week or so ago, I saw some Farmin School class photos which had been posted on our Sandpoint High Class of 1965 Facebook group page.  

While trying to identify my classmates who went to Farmin while I was attending Lincoln, one face popped out.  Suddenly, I remembered that Ruthie Maynard had moved away in junior high, and that I had probably not seen or heard of her since then. 

So, I looked her up on Facebook, and, by golly, she was there, even with a few common FB friends. 

I sent her a friend request and yesterday our Facebook friendship was confirmed.  Soon thereafter, I sent her a note and told her about the class FB group, to which she said she would be thrilled to join.

A few minutes later, she was spending time with her own version of "Memory Lane."  

We exchanged a few notes, and she did confirm that it probably was eighth grade when we last saw each other. 

Later, I couldn't resist calling Ruthie.  We talked for about half an hour, spouting out names and stories to go with them.  Sadly, because of our "advanced maturity," several classmates brought up in the conversation are no longer with us. 

Ruthie's father Don Maynard was serving as Bonner County sheriff when she was attending school in Sandpoint.  He was defeated in an election, so the family moved back to Clark Fork where he operated a barber shop.  

She told me he also served several terms in the Idaho State Legislature. 

What a thrill it was to reconnect with Ruthie.  We're looking forward to many good visits ahead as we move on as "golden girls" reconnected. 

In the "something new" category, yesterday I mixed up some raspberry viniagrette for the first time ever.  Amazing how easy it is, and how much money one can save on interesting salad dressings, especially when there's homegrown fruit available. 

Then, I cooked up some boneless chicken breasts, diced them and had them out on the counter for a "build yer own" salad.  The combination earned rave reviews from Bill.  

As noted in an earlier blog post, it's all part of the subtle and healthy weight-loss regimen.  If dieting can taste that good, I'll take it. 

Finally, back to today.  It's the Feast of St. Francis de Sales, patron saint of writers and journalists.  Never before have I felt such a passionate need to honor the saint who honors two crafts I dearly love.

As Pope Francis said today while speaking of the evil of fake news, "There is no such thing as harmless disinformation; trusting in falsehood can have dire consequences."

As writers and as journalists, we must tell the truth consistently with no other motive than to provide the truth.  

We must also honor the continuing trust expected from our audience by fiercely adhering  to the monumental responsibility that comes with accurately reporting events of the day.  

Hats off to all journalists and writers in this world who still report the truth.  

You are my heroes. 

Happy Wednesday.