Slight Detour: Saturday Slight

-- Long Mountain Lake by Annie Love

Bill said this morning that he has noticed throughout this summer that the hills are getting steeper and the trails, longer than they were a few years back.

He and Annie hiked another up-and-down trail yesterday to fish for graylings in Long Mountain Lake northwest of Bonners Ferry.

The GPS told him they had gone 4.5 miles on foot to get to the lake where Annie had a heydey catching the fish, which are members of the Salmon family.

While Bill did not catch as many fish as Annie, he taught a 13-year-old who was at the lake with a stick pole how to fly fish.

So, with aches and pains and all, it was a productive day for the two adventurers.

Once again, with knee problems from other recent hikes, I chose to stay home. It turned out to be a great day as a solo.

I took my time at whatever was on my to-do list, which included picking up groceries, the usual watering and mowing the round pen for when CB comes home from his month of school.

He'll be returning today, and I know a couple of his friends who will be glad to see him.

After watching Barbara work with him at bridling, saddling, lunging and washing, I'm ready to give it a try and to do my best to keep him on course.

Barbara figures he'll do well in the round pen, especially with his favorite imp trick of turning around in the circle and wrapping the lunge line around his neck.

"He shouldn't be able to do that in the round pen," she says.

I'm sure that, with time, he'll figure out more teen-age tricks to pull. Horses, especially young ones, are like that.

After my mowing project and taking a shower to rid myself of all that dust and chaff, I took my camera and went on a leisurely trip to Trestle Creek and back.

Once again, it was an absolutely beautius day to admire the lake and the Pack River delta.

While at the Trestle Creek recreation area, I spent some time visiting with Rob and Valerie Dressel and their family dog Abby.

Twas chuck-it-in-the-lake time, and Abby was more than willing to race down that dock, leap into the lake and retrieve that ball----as many times as Rob wanted to fling it.

We enjoyed talking about family, dogs and just plain Sandpoint stuff. Rob has recently retired from the Sandpoint Police force, and the couple is looking forward to moving into a 110-year-old home in Kootenai.

Thanks, Rob, Valerie and Abby, for a fun time.

Twas a great day for enjoying the simple aspects of life in a slower motion than usual.

Today's pace will be a bit more frenetic as I load up a horse to go get a horse along with other chores.

THEN comes the Derby. I heard one news report this morning which said that today's race could be boring because Tiz the Law is SUCH a favorite.

I'll refute the boring part: the Derby and its long history is far from boring.