Saturday Fun

I enjoyed a host of beautiful sights and fun peeps throughout the day yesterday---from Pack River to our hay field and up Trestle Creek.  

Debbie and I paid a quick visit to our friend Nancy in the morning.  Debbie wanted to meet Peaches, Nancy's 20-something mini, and I had promised Nancy a couple of cukes.  

She ended up with three after another garden picking yesterday morning. Once cukes were handed over, we ended up visiting with Nancy's three horses:  Peaches, Marquee and Eli.

Eli, her yearling Arabian, came home from Montana with CB shortly after the two were weaned.  Both seem to have adjusted to North Idaho just fine since that day in early December. 

All three horses were munching on hay with some interruptions from the two friendly dogs, Cooper and Harley.  

Little Peaches keeps those dogs in line, mind you.  It's a pretty even-steven match-up between the dogs and Peaches, size wise, but she knows how to rip into them if they take up too much of her space. 

We had a great time moseying around Nancy's place where the Pack River is flowing peacefully by during these late July days. 

Within minutes of arriving home, I received welcome news from Harvey, who, along with his crew, harvests hundreds of acres of hay during July, including my little patch. 

"The swather will be there soon," the text read.  So, Bill and I put the dogs in the garage and opened the gates into the hay field for the mowing machine's arrival.

We were thrilled when that huge machine came rolling in the driveway and our friend Lori was at the wheel.  Lori lives for hay harvest in the summer time.  She's truly dedicated and very good at her job. 

She did run into one problem with the enormity of the swather, too wide to get through the gate area.  While she cut the small field along the lane, Bill grabbed a rench and removed the gate hinges.

That allowed just enough room for her to squeeze through.  Within a few minutes, she had the main hay field down, and while stopping for a few minutes to visit, she told me the hay was not that bad. 

I had expected a puny harvest, but she said it looked much better than anticipated.  

That news was music to my ears. 

After Lori left, Bill and I climbed in the pickup and headed for Trestle Creek where he was anxious to drive down the Lightning Creek Road to check progress on the bridge replacement project at Rattle Creek.

The Lightning Creek Road has been closed for some time because of storm damage, but once that bridge gets replaced, back woods enthusiasts should be able once again to make the trip to Clark Fork or vice versa.

Along the way, we met some folks on a 4-wheeler who had seen lightning both strike and ignite a tree from a perch up near Lunch Peak. 

Later, we also met some of our neighbors, the Cates family.  They were up looking for huckleberries, along with a lot of other folks.  

While driving onward, we saw smoke across the canyon (pictured below), and on the way down we saw yet another spot where a small fire was burning.  

After walking around, checking out the bridge project at Rattle Creek, we enjoyed a visit with some summer Fish and Game workers on the hunt to SEE a bull trout.  

They have been visiting a number of possible places for a sighting but have yet to see and photograph the endangered trout.  

One of the young men is president of the Idaho State University Trout Unlimited chapter, so Bill, the president of the Sandpoint chaper, was definitely in fish heaven, swapping anecdotes about favorite species of trout with our new friend. 

Twas definitely a full day, topped off by yet another tasty summer dinner with home grown salad and Pack River General Store lasagna.  Have I ever mentioned that their lasagna ranks right up there in my book. 

I can hear the chain saw out in the barn as I type.  Last night after arriving home from our drive, I brought the horses up from pasture and discovered that the third box stall, which still has a board floor, is not safe, even with rubber mats.

A horse had stepped on a weak board near the wall.  So, the boards have got to go, and we'll fill in the area with gravel, topped by the rubber mats, just like all the other stalls. 

So, the horses stayed outside last night with gates to the stalls closed.  We'll try to get that stall back in commission as soon as possible cuz they do like going in and out during the night. 

Never a dull moment on a farm.  Always problem solving with the "next thing," it seems.

Happy Sunday. Enjoy the photos.