Slight Detour: Sunday Miscellany and Matt

Sun. Sun. Sun.

Warm. Warm. Warm.

We've had a lot of both this summer, and there's more coming.

So far, the heat hasn't been too unbearable, and we're starting a relative cooling trend after today.

The heat has been good for the gardens and the fruit.

Not so good for flowers, but wildflowers and late summer bloomers are doing okay.

Limbs are loaded down with clumps like these.

Many are yet to ripen, and I've been picking for two weeks.

Yesterday I had to pick twice, netting almost a gallon of berries.

It's a great year for blueberries.

Boyhood friends from "the neighborhood," Willie Love and Travis Wilund.

The Wilunds lived over in Vedelwood off from North Boyer, while we lived a couple of miles away on Great Northern Road.

We spent many great times with the Wilund family in the 1980s while Jim, Travis' dad, served as principal at Sandpoint High School, and his mom Raye taught reading at the Ninth Grade Center aka old junior high.

Later, the family moved to Lewiston where Jim finished his career as principal at Lewiston High School.

It was neat to visit briefly with Travis who drove up to Sandpoint yesterday to attend a celebration of life for our mutual friend and colleague Johnny Nitcy.

Johnny's celebration brought out a host of friends and colleagues who shared stories about the teacher, family man, history lover and outdoors enthusiast.

One of the speakers was Duane "Woody" Ward (right, below) who shared a good story with Bill before the program.

Matt Street and Cody Didier -- courtesy photo

Matt Street was a total joy to have as a student when he went through Sandpoint High School back in the 1980s.

The big smile, the positive attitude and his all-around "great guy" attitude brought sunshine to every class hour that I spent as his English teacher.

I have a feeling my parents felt the same way when he came and bucked bales for them.

I'm also sure the same holds true for all the law enforcement folks he worked with over the years before retiring in 2020.

Matt married another SHS favorite of mine, Shaunett Rasor. The two have lived in Coeur'dAlene for the past 30 years where Matt worked for the Kootenai County Sheriff's Dept. after beginning his law enforcement career with the City of Sandpoint.

"I still consider my time working in Sandpoint as some of the best times throughout my career," Matt told me. "Other memorable highlights were bucking bales for your parents during summer breaks. Hard work but worth it!"

Over the years, I've kept up with both Shaunett and Matt through Facebook.

So, you can imagine the big smile that appeared on my face when I saw the photo above and learned about the opportunity Matt will be having as an avid bow hunter who has converted his friend Cody from rifles to bows.

I asked Matt to tell me a little about what the two will be doing as part of the television series Hunt Warz, which includes their upcoming adventure in New Mexico Sept. 6-14.

The results will air in July 2024.

Here's the scoop---well-written I must say by my former student who loved Pat McManus stories.

📗📘📙

"This is a tale of two archery elk hunters from North Idaho who came to be featured on Season 4 of Hunt Warz (@huntwarz).

https://huntwarz.com/

"I met Cody Didier about seven years ago through his step father Brad, who brought a 'new hunter' to our annual elk camp in Avery Idaho.

"At the time, Cody was a rifle hunter, and I was a bow hunter always looking to recruit another enthusiast into the realm of archery hunting.

"After several years of poking and prodding, Cody finally purchased a bow, although was not quite ready to give up rifle hunting.

"However, he was gaining interest in archery hunting for elk and started watching hunting videos and shows on-line.

One of the hunting shows he watched was Hunt Warz, a hunting competition show where teams of hunters face off in a challenge to ethically hunt for elk.

"Although there are some gear sponsors, there is no monetary prize that goes to the winner of the challenge. To us, the prize is the experience itself.

"At the conclusion of watching season 2 of Hunt Warz, Cody had decided to enter to win an opportunity to hunt during the Season 4 show.

"Well……he won!

"Cody won one of fourteen slots and although he had several hunting partners to choose from, he selected me to accompany him to New Mexico on this hunting adventure. There can only be one hunter on our team (@team_best4last).

"Cody will be in the 'shooter' position, and I will be his 'caller' and Sherpa.

"We’ve been practicing our elk calling, shooting our bows and participating in coaching sessions with Joe Giglia who is the founder of Elkbros an elk-hunting training platform(@elkkbros).

"I have been hunting elk for about thirty-eight years total and twenty years with a bow while this will be Cody’s first year.

"One of the great things about this experience is being able to bring the perspective of a seasoned bow hunter and someone that is new to the sport.

"We are both very excited and thankful for this opportunity."