Elements

One of my favorite elements here...I love food!!!! Laurel's kringle is on the right...and then strawberries and toasted pecans and walnuts...things I'll miss

Laundry!

Laurel and I have talked about this several times; laundry on the line is cool! It's like Little House on the Prairie and all things clean and green! The wind whips it, it smells good, it's pretty...so many good things about sheets on a line.

A Picture is Worth 1000 Words

This picture is worth 1000 words, to me anyway. How can sky infuse you with a sense of life and a good dash of joy? It does! That little flat rimrock (shadowed side, sunshiny top, at the end of the shadowed hill) is one of my favorite places. I can sit up there and share the day with my family via phone. It's one of the closest places to cell service! It's beautiful up there, and I love it. I think Mom has heard me say, "Man, I LOVE this place!" quite a few times while I was sitting up there talking to her. Those mountains, the Centennials, give a kind of joy too. I love looking at them. I can stare at them for longer than I would've thought, and whenever I do,  my mind tries to probe pathways up into them. I'd love to get to the top sometime! That would be so COOL!

Mesa Falls: Henry's Fork of the Snake

Mesa Falls...the beautiful, peaceful Henry's Fork of the Snakes curves and flows around many quiet river bends. Not all of it is quiet though! Mesa Falls takes a quiet river and turns it into a thundering angry bull of a river fenced in by steep, high basalt cliffs. Right after the falls it goes back to being it's peaceful self. It's about a 15-20 minute drive off Hwy 20 near Island Park. The walk down takes maybe 5 minutes, if that.There's an old inn there too. I don't know if people can stay there or not.

 

Moving Cattle!

We headed out of the lodge at 4:15. Hannah was more awake than I was, and she had a right to be. Today's ride was a birthday ride for her! She was pretty excited to go and was up and ready before I was...amazing, isn't it Dad? =) But I have to say, I didn't sleep the whole ride to the cattle. I enjoyed every minute of it. We were riding in an old Ford pickup with springy door handles and a dashboard of square lights and buttons, a back window plastered with decals from the NRA to Mentos (I think). The cab was full of the rumble of the engine, the guys talking in the front seat, and Hannah talking in the back. It was fun.



You guys would've loved the sunrise. I know some people see them all the time.  I don't, so it was a thrill. We pushed cows in a purposeful, though totally non-stress way. They kept moving and we kept walking along at the back. I learned about the people I was riding with, the generations of work represented along the way, etc. Mel, the outfitter that we were riding with, grew up in this valley. He knows who lived where and what they did. I learned that there were 3 schools in this valley! Not a one now. His friend went to the one I've explored before over on Red Rock Creek. It was just one student and one teacher! Sometimes he caught a ride over to his friend's house on the mail truck and would go to school over there for a week.

Bailey carried me on the ride. She's a beautiful thing. I think maybe only 7 or 8 years old.

Going to the Mailbox and a Sunny Porch

 

The Elk Lake mailbox recieves mail every other day. The mailman makes a long drive in his pickup, that doesn't resemble any mail car I've ever seen, every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I had an important piece of mail that needed to go out, so Lerrina let me take an ATV and speed out there, out there meaning 5 miles out there.

 

 

What a gorgeous drive too! I had to make sure the mail got to the mailman and wasn't left overnight, so I waited for him to come. I've never waited by the mailbox before. It was always associated with years gone by, don't know why, but I have. So I waited, and the wind blew, and all was quiet except for the waves of wind flowing through this beautiful valley. A few folks drove by, four in ATVs and a pickup or two. It's always such a question of what to do: look at the people? wave? look busy on my phone? Relating with people while just sitting by the road is not without it's questions.

He finally came and I got my stuff sent out. On my way back I was looking around so much I almost ran into an ATV full of people. I looked just in time to see them sidehilling up the gravel bank on the side of the road. Wew! Missed! Thanks to them. Yes, pardon me, crazy woman driver here!

Oh so pretty! This morning as I got back from my jog (I won't tell you how long it was because "jog" can sound so athletic until the distance part is revealed) I just stood a minute looking out the window at the sunny porch. How I love to just look at it.

This Beautiful Valley

This is the Madison River. It attracts fly fisherman from all over the country. I talked to Rick at O & M as I was leaving for this valley one year, and he'd just been there--fishing of course. So many people have. I don't fish it, but I look at it. I think Anne of Green Gables said something about drinking a sight in. It's a try at describing the fun I have just looking at it.

Smearl One More Time

Smeral (sp) Ridge Hike

Hiking up Smeral Ridge...no idea how to spell that btw. STEEP country and you wouldn't believe the view!
Jordan, Kaya, Walters, Lucas, Andrew, Ryker, Will, Jake

Steep trail!
Jordan and Kaya

Snowshoe Peak with a cloud bank piling up behind it. We had this view and more most of the way up.



Andrew clambering across a rocky face. Incredible up there.

Heading back down, roughly toward the east and south of town.
Mr. Freese, Andrew, Will, Lucas, Walters

Bonnie all tired out. I think she covered twice the ground we did.

The triumphant bunch...they rated a good comment from their guide!
Lucas, Walters, Ryker, Kaya, Will, Jordan, Jake, Andrew
 

Shannon Lake

Heading up to Shannon Lake on the old Hwy 2 trail...beautiful day! Not too many ticks! and a cold lake to swim in! ...and THREE of the girls went. This is a record! So glad the boys went too!
Sarah, Lucas, Ashlyn, Alyssa, Andrew, Jake, me, Will, Matthew, and Ethan

Yes, it was cold. Yes, some of them are in jeans. No, they won't do it again! Lesson #1: hiking in wet jeans isn't fun.
Lucas mid-air, Will leaping, Jake ankle deep, Andrew waist deep, Matthew on the rock

River Road Hike

Jake and Andrew looking out over Black Eagle Rock on the River Road trail.

We saw one sheep and if I remember right, an eagle. Fun to see! Their teacher

had "fun" trying not to nag about the edge and possible outcomes of falling over it.

I think these boys may have the impression of her fingers imprinted around their ankles

as everythey moved, the safety grip was tightened!



There's an old house that the years have begun to melt into the earth that surrounds it.

It sits just within the trees up a little rise off the old road. The air was like a downy

 blanket sented faintly of lilacs that grew between the house and the road. Fun stuff!



These guys were either the first or some of the first to make it to the falls.
Way to be!



Another place further on down the road...Will and Jake close to it.

Will is shows how leaning this house is! One day it will come creaking, sliding, and tumbling down. I'm not sure what the history of this is, but would love to know.

The intrepid Sarah, always the first to venture out somewhere! Here is was out on the log. The last hike it was swimming! She was the first to jump into Shannon Lake! Way to go, girl!



Mirand and Sarah...the only girls in their math class...enjoying a rest at the top of Black Eagle Rock on the River Road trail. Sweet girls and they hiked a LONG way that day!



Cabinets from the Bull Lake Side

Usually I see the Cabinets from the east side, but sometimes I drive the Bull Lake road and see them from the west. Also on that side of these beautiful granite peaks lies the tiny Bull River with it's grassy lined banks and many birds drifting around its currents and swirls.

Field Trip

visiting a construction site this afternoon! 

Looking at blueprints and scale

Using a carpenter's square
to create a 3, 12 pitch line



marking out the beginning of a pitch line

Ski Day

The teachers for the day...Kaya, Mark, Ryker and Lucas

KVCS has a yearly ski day. I have attended every year I've been here, but this year was the first ever year that I strapped a snowboard to my feet. On previous years I skied and sat in the lodge with computer, books, and coffee. I got a kick out of being the student as my kids coached me down the slope. Memorable day indeed...



Speech Meet Trip

 

8:00 Libby, MT- the kids were milling around the hall and outside, some holding their speeches. The day of the Speech Meet arrived finally and we took off for ID. The meet was held at Sandpoint Christian School in Ponderay, ID. The snow was blowing the whole way. We haven't gotten snow for a while, but winter does die hard =). The school was neutral, calm and new-looking. We adults met for a judges' meeting. When the meet began, I along with my neighbor teacher at KVCS were judging 1st, 3rd, 6th, and 8th grade speeches. Those little kids were so cute! We worked up to 6th and 8th grade and all but 1 were my kids. This does not make judging easy and I was glad for two others to confer with. I remember when I was a 4th grader reciting the "Ballad of Casey Jones" at the Spokane Speech Meet. Ahhh....age....the tables are turned.













After the meet, we all met whether planned or unplanned at the local Taco Bell...then everyone went their own separate ways. I ended up with 4 kids: Walters, Lucas, Ryker and Kaya. We went downtown Sandpoint and hung out at a little mall, Starbucks, a map store (yes, Tyler, you were right and you will see the poster in class), and the snow-swirling streets. The snow continued to swirl on the drive home. We stopped in Bonners for a quick tour of the deadly quiet museum. The kids got to type on an old-fashioned typewriter! Then stopped at Moyie to see the bridge from the viewpoint area. Thanks to Ryker who took time to read the infoboard, I know that the bridge is 476 feet high. I don't like driving over that bridge. The kids enjoyed the day...except for my music..."Could we maybe listen to some music from this century or even the last?" I enjoyed the day a lot too.

 

'Everyday' Blessings

The December/January view from the back deck. Isn't winter beautiful?! There's jewels everywhere you look in the winter it seems. Some of the icicles where 3 feet long! Impressive to a western Oregon native!




Christie and I went cross-country skiing on the golf course a couple weekends ago. Once again, the beauty God put into winter renders me lost in wonderment so often.

Ah! Love this place! Main Street Perk in Troy, MT draws in people constantly with it's peppy, warm atmosphere. [Ha! I just noticed they adjust the table legs just like I do =) ]

Waiting for our salted carmel lattes before we heading out to take pictures of the Cabinets.



Mom, this is the walking hill. Come join us!