Saturday Slight

I could hear "scrunch scrunch" when I walked outside for the first time early this morning with Bridie. 

Later, I looked down at the tool bar on my computer and saw a temperature reading of 7 degrees.  Now, it says 6. 

That explains the scrunch. 

On mornings like these the stalls are easy to clean because the horse apples are frozen and they seem to roll into a pile much easier. 

Cold, crisp and dry days with just a light coating of snow help make winter a bit more tolerable AND very pretty.  

Bill, Foster and I went for a drive yesterday afternoon. 

Sunshine and low key sight seeing was the motivator for Bill who had spent the morning looking at timber over in Hope.  He said it was cold---so cold, in fact, that his hands, even covered with gloves, hurt. 

So, he was hoping to soak in that sunshine wherever we happened to drive. 

We chose HWY 2 west of Sandpoint with a tentative plan to go to Priest River. 

The Laclede area, however, kept us occupied long enough that we never made it to Priest River. 

That was okay because the sun did shine and we enjoyed some neat sights and scenes along the road. 

After arriving at Laclede, we stopped at a launching area on the Pend Oreille River, a place where Bill had caught a big bass a few weeks back while kayaking and fishing with Willie. 

After a short walk, including a stroll down one of the docks, we stayed on the road, crossed the highway and headed north in the Riley Creek drainage. 

Twas pretty all the way. Once we got into snow more than a couple of inches deep, we turned around and later did the Wrenco loop before heading home. 

Later, a pleasant and fairly relaxing day was topped off by a strong victory for Willie's Sandpoint Bulldogs who were playing at a tournament in Kellogg.  

https://bonnercountydailybee.com/news/2022/nov/19/bulldogs-win-road-58-29/

As noted, his team plays again today, taking on the other tournament winner Bonners Ferry. 

Good luck, Bulldogs!!

I stole the post below from my former student Niki Parenteau's Facebook feed. Niki was an honors English student in one of my classes and later my English aide. 

She has remained a valued friend over the years, and it has been fun to follow her travels in a career devoted to science and associated with NASA.

I told her in a comment that I was glad she tooted her horn in the comment below---that not a usual thing for Niki who is usually fairly soft spoken but definitely excited about her career journey. 

Congratulations, Niki. 

Normally I don’t feel too comfortable with tooting my own horn, but I’m letting myself be proud of this one because it reflects a massive amount of effort in learning where the science gaps are for exoplanet biosignatures and the search for life outside of our solar system, and where I as a microbial ecologist/geobiologist/astrobiologist can contribute to move the field forward. 

I’m extremely grateful to my astronomer and planetary scientist colleagues who have generously shared their knowledge with me as I struggled to learn new fields.  

 It’s humbling and hard always being in the beginner’s seat, but I put in the time and work over the last 7-8 years. 

Never stop learning and pushing! 

Now back to my regularly scheduled program of posting dog, cat, mountain bike, and skiing pics

---Niki Parenteau, Sandpoint High Class of 1992 graduate

This morning I read this story by Ben Olson which provides an eye-opening perspective on an invisible problem in our lovely little resort community.  

 https://sandpointreader.com/the-hidden-homeless/

It's definitely worth the read and hopefully informative enough to promote some sense of compassion among the "have's" who've purchased property in the area AND to jolt local, regional, state and national leaders into action before this sad problem becomes very visible. 

~~~~

In the small-world department, the photo below was taken in Pretoria, South Africa. 

My niece Laura shared it the other day, and, of course, I found it rather thrilling because Laura, a former Peace Corps volunteer, who finally met our cousin Rich Aspell who has recently traveled to South Africa to begin his Peace Corps stint. 

Laura wrote:  

Cousin Rich with my fellow Samoa RPCV, Wendy, who is with the State Dept. In Pretoria. They met at an event last night.

Finally, Annie leaves the cold of the Northwest tonight on another adventure.

 Will keep you guessing for now, except to say that it's in a warm place. 

I also plan to share a few of her photos once she arrives at her first destination. 

Safe travels, Annie.  Hope you have the time of your life. 

To all, Happy Saturday.