Sunday Miscellany

Thanks to Becky, pictured above right,  and her mom Geneva and her brother Guy, I have enjoyed occasional opportunities to extend my cross-country walking area.

They own the next-door "Meserve Preserve," which is a beautiful and charming old farm with a barn dating back more than 100 years. 

Yesterday, after all the rain and the snow of the past couple of weeks, I decided to give the place a try without snowshoes. 

As I told Becky, those steps I earned on the Fitbit should have been doubled because pretty much every one I took involved sinking into crusty snow. 

Nonetheless, I kept walking and enjoyed scenes along their swale and their pond dotted with old-growth stumps. 

It's so nice to avoid the road and just walk cross country, so I really appreciate their gesture. 

As I came up to the buildings on their farm, I could see that a car had pulled into the driveway. 

Then, I saw a wave, and the trio got out of the car.

We enjoyed a nice visit, which included Becky's husband Shawn and his daughter Evie.

Our conversation even included Shawn's story of helping on a construction project, earning $2 an hour to purchase a tenor sax, which he played in the SHS band.  

Shawn and Becky, who played the flute, are contemporaries of my sisters Barbara and Laurie, so they and their musical contributions to Steve Coburn's band class. 

Twas nice to see them for the first time in at least a year, thanks to the Pandemic. 

Once again, I really appreciate the opportunity to walk the fields and woods on their farm, always dodging cow pies, of course, dropped by Bert Wood's cows and calves during summer grazing.   

After seeing yesterday's blog post, my friend Becky sent me the note below. 

Seems the mention of the Pioneer Cemetery, west of Hope,  generated some interest.  I even learned from other local readers that they, too, have not seen the cemetery overlooking Lake Pend Oreille.

I thought Becky's note included a nice assortment of informative nuggets, so have included it this morning.

And, if you feel so inclined to help out with the historical site, you can contact Jim or Becky.  

 

 Enjoyed your blog today and was very pleased to see the photos, and interest in the Pioneer Cemetery.  My sweet partner, Jim (Livingston), is the one who helped instigate the clean-up efforts, signage and bench installation out there.  

He lived in Hope for years with his mom and wanted to put a plaque for her out there a couple of years ago, but it was just so over-grown and neglected that he thought something should be done. 

It seems that the cemetery is sorta located in "No Mans' Land" as it is just outside Hope city limits and nobody really knows who owns the property, thus it was never maintained.  Jim was able to get some volunteers the last few years to come clean up and improve the cemetery by using social media. 

A fellow from Clark Fork made the bench and it really came out well. He and his wife have an academy school for teenage girls in Clark Fork and they came and helped as well. 

Diane Newcomer and her hubby put up the flag down in the corner and installed a solar light for it and another fellow, Ed Butler, from Hope donated the sign. So it has been a recent work in progress and sure needs some one to take it over on a regular basis, but still cannot determine who owns it. 

 City of Hope and the Hope Cemetery group could take it on, but it needs to get approval, etc. which has not really happened.  There is always some one that is going to look into it, but so far that is as far as it has gone. The state built the retaining wall to keep it from slipping onto the highway when they did the bridge out over the lake, but they are not claiming it either.  

It is such a lovely spot and such a huge part of the Hope and Bonner county history that it deserves a little TLC.  I always heard it called the Chinese cemetery as that is where the local Chinese folk were supposed to be buried, but I think they probably got dug up eventually and sent back to China.  

   There are still a few monuments left, but not in the greatest of shape. Found a small plaque marker, and Jim and I installed his mother's plaque last year and there is another stone nearby for Hattie McKee that has a very interesting story to it. 

So Jim started this cemetery thing about 4 summers ago and each year a little more brush got cut down to expose more and more of the site and it was finally getting some attention. 

I think it was summer of 2019 he went out there one day and there was Hattie McKee's beautiful white stone just lying there near the big trees by the road!  

Apparently someone had taken Hattie sometime in the past, but noticed the cleanup efforts and returned her to the cemetery. Have no idea where her grave is exactly, but she is home again finally.  

Jim and I hauled in about six buckets of gravel and made a small pad to rest her on and she is displayed prominently near the top of the cemetery for all to see and she seems to be very happy to be at the cemetery again.

 Anyway, what you see out there now has all been recent attention, but more is obviously needed.  Would be great to have some one restore or rebuild the little picket fences around some of the graves and set the toppled monument back up, and then keep the brush cut back.  

Will see what happens, I guess, and if anyone steps up. . . .  So if you and the family or anyone else need a project feel free to jump in there! It is a very special place. Great photos, too. Thanks for the attention.

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Anyone who's ever traveled to Ireland knows the country's transportation system includes a multitude of roundabouts. 

Ireland is on its third lockdown because of the Pandemic. 

Seems that the country is gradually getting more roundabouts without the help of engineers.  

from my Irish friend Eileen who's on lockdown in Dublin . . . .

Finally, every Border Collie owner in the world should identify with the following. 

Happy Sunday.