Found some new trails behind our house. I’d been looking for this trail for some time. Here’s a shot of a few friends sitting on the edge of a mountain looking north of our house.
A little further on we got to the top of one of the highest mountains behind our house. Here’s the view:
Anyone wishing to visit and willing to ride an ATV up a mountain is welcome, anytime.
What is the common thread between “public schools”, “seeker driven churches” and “bunny rabbits”? Answer: Carrots.
What touched this off was schools in Chicago are giving away cars to kids just for good attendance, NOT GOOD GRADES. Attendance equals money for the schools, where as, grades? Not so much. They have to resort to incentives for the most base requirements. Very sad.
Not to be out done, I did a little research on churches. After all, who wants to hear that they have fallen short of the mark and they’d need to rely solely on the work of God to get to heaven? Why not get a little piece of heaven right here on earth? Here’s a list:
Jenny and I are going to the wrong church. They don’t even give us coffee. All they do is preach the Gospel, as if that’s what people really need.
Logger Jokes. Imagine being out in the middle of nowhere, or so you thought, and finding a humorous act of silliness that hardly anyone has or will ever see. What in the world could this be?
That’s what I thought when I came across what I would call, “logger jokes”. With only a few loggers and their machines up high in the mountains it likely gets a little lonely and boring. I can only imagine that doing this might pass some time while wondering how long it will be before these rocks find their way back to the ground.
(Click image to enlarge)
Today we take a look at classifieds in our rural community. Where I grew up, there were missing dogs and lost wedding rings and such. But never anything like this.
Coins, keys, an occasional sock. All things we lose. Under the bed, between the cushions, under the car seat. The places we find things. Anything weighing 500+ pounds is difficult or impossible to “lose” where I grew up.
Now you know the mark of a friend in Northern Idaho. In the back yard of my youth is a little place set aside for my two white mice, a frog, some hamsters, and maybe a lizard that met their demise. All topped off with little ice-cream stick crosses that have long since gone away. Imagine buying this guy’s house and thinking, my the plants in the garden sure grow like crazy in that one soft spot.
Marital tension begins with this ….
Yes, this cute ground squirrel has been granted the cute name of “Chomper” by the woman of the household. While the man of the house agrees he’s cute, the man is a little more reserved about making “cute” the final judgment. After all, the man has heard many stories about such creatures and knows that this one represents many others. The woman has not heard, or was not listening when such stories were told because all she knows is “cute”. The man has already begun to worry because the cute creature pictured here is eating the grass that the man has recently planted. I’m sure this story is to be continued.
The secret men-only rule book specifically states that “if you can justify it, it can be yours.” So much for secrets. In the spirit of having expensive toys… I mean cost justification of necessary pieces of equipment, I submit the following.
The ATV (AKA The Beast), while not new, is required to transport several tons (literally) of lumber and slash to the proper location on the property for disposal (I used that word to hide the fact that, here in North Idaho, you simply burn it in a massive bonfire).
The trailer purchases for transporting the ATV, move all of our belongings in 13 trips from one home to another and finally, a lumber hauler.
The new 18″ chainsaw is to a person living on 5 acres of forest land, the equivalent of a hedge trimmer to a suburbanite. I mean, what would the neighbors say if they saw an unkept forest?! Nothing you idiot, this is North Idaho; But don’t tell my wife.
Now all we need is a dry day with rain in the forecast. Then we can justify the lighting all this wood and slash on FIRE! Yeah Baby! North Idaho isn’t heaven, but it’s darn close.
High School Graduation – Jenny and I were invited to the high school graduation ceremony. This was a bit different from the “endurance” test that I’m used to. Imagine a graduation ceremony where the State Representative give a personal speech, addressing each student by name; Each student gives a 2 or 4 minute speech thanking their parents, family and mentors who educated them, as well as a 5 minute slide show of their life; Here there’s no limit to the amount of friends and family members who could attend and each student gets their diploma presented after a 5 minute speech by their father. Now imagine all this taking a little over an hour.
How can this be? May I present the entire graduating class of Woods High School class of 2008! (yes, it’s only three home schooled students)
