Like mail delivery, plowing is also optional in small town living. Most people shovel/snow-blow their driveway and the city/county come along and take care of the streets. If this is you, go out and hug the plow guy as this is not necessarily the case in rural life. This is not to say that a plow can’t be somewhat fun. That’s the case with the Rhino (pictured below) which is a blast (at least for the first 60 inches of snow, thus far). This vehicle is so much easier to use for plowing than an ATV and was a worthy investment. In the summer, the plow, windshield, chains, sandbags (in the dump bed) and roof come off and this snow utility vehicle turns into fun machine.
Archive for December, 2008
Observations of Small Town Living (OOSTL)
Wednesday, December 31st, 2008Observations of Small Town Living (OOSTL)
Wednesday, December 31st, 2008Rural people must be dishonest. We don’t have a postal address. The postal service doesn’t deliver to our street address because we’re too far out. Just yesterday, I was filling out a rebate form that required I provide a street address and that if I use a P.O. Box, my rebate would not be honored. I guess bad guys use P.O. Boxes in their dishonest crimes. So, to get my rebate, I have to be dishonest and trick them in sending the rebate to me. Methods include having them send to the address of the post office with an apartment number of our P.O. Box or making a very long address that includes both the P.O. Box and the street address. Go figure.
Weather Stuff
Wednesday, December 31st, 2008Since my Rhino and I are relegated to be the voluntary snow removal crew, weather plays a major roll, even an obsession, in the winter. To that end, I’ve put together my own Cocolalla, Idaho weather-web page consisting of resources that I can use to predict the weather to help plan my day. http://testinprogress.com/weather.html . To the locals who sometimes read my rants here, maybe you’ll also find this useful.
Eagles Again
Monday, December 22nd, 2008Micro Loans Make a Big Difference
Wednesday, December 17th, 2008Kiva.org is an organization that loans money in small amounts to very small businesses around the world. The money gets paid back so you can loan it to the next small businesses own. I have a heart for small business owners (being one myself), and a heart for people trying to gain independence in third world countries. Kiva aggregates several donations together with mine to fulfill the loan and so that nobody is risking very much money. $25 is the amount I typically loan out.
Here’s some folks who have been helped so far:
Renaldy works renting computers because she couldn’t find a job, so she decided to invest her small savings and a loan in this business, which contributes to supporting her family.One of her goals is to improve his locale’s conditions, buying a photocopier machine to offer a larger variety of services to her customers, who come to her business in search of those services.


Komi Assidzu is 35 years old and a married father. He lives and works in the village of Wome, a small village located in a beautiful, lush area of Togo near the border with Ghana. Komi’s children all attend school, and he provides for them as best he can, while his wife takes care of the family and their home. As most people do not drive cars in Wome and instead drive motorcycles, Komi started a mechanical business.

Observations of Small Town Living (OOSTL)
Monday, December 15th, 2008Our church, consisting of 150 or so rural residents, put on it’s second-annual Christmas presentation. A humble and simple showcase of kids’ worship and celebration of Christ’s birth. Having been to and participated in mega-church-style Christmas presentations, I found myself observing something different this year. It was how much more powerful the message of God’s love is when it comes from children who know in their hearts what God has been trying to tell adults for centuries. No glitz, no budget, no big production, no lime-lights, no costumes; just a simple message from kids, telling their parents that they got the message.
One of the presenters shares a poem that she wrote about Christmas.
Science Cafe
Monday, December 15th, 2008Thomas gets his geek fix. After two years I’ve finally found a group of others who enjoy science. Science Cafe is a loosely organized group that gets together once a month and enjoys a presentation by a scientist. Yes, even in this pocket of urban life their are some folks who enjoy this sort of thing. This month’s presentation was given by an inventor from the Idaho National Laboratory of a new kind of battery. Suffice it to say that this one will be much better than the one in your iPod or cell phone. The most amazing part for me was that there were about 60 people gathered to share in the geekness.
First Winter Storm (12/12/08)
Friday, December 12th, 2008Well, someone finally turned on the winter machine. Compared to last year, we feel we’ve been graced with about 22 days extra days of fall. We’ve had a few light snows but nothing that stuck. Today however, all that changed as a major winter storm slammed about a foot of snow on us over night. We won’t see temps above 20 for the next week as an arctic blast is heading our way. The first official plowing with the new Rhino went very well. Preparations paid off in spades.
The Eagles Are Coming…
Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008Migrating eagles have a feeding frenzy during December around Lake Coeur D’Alene as the kokanee salmon (I think I spelled that right?) spawn and die along the shoreline. Peek viewing is in late December but even today we were able to spot about 25 eagles in about an hour (maybe 25 sightings of the same one, who knows). I’m definately going to get out there again if anyone wishes to come along. Here are just a few of the better shots.
Speaking of weather
Monday, December 1st, 2008I just needed a quick reference to the weather around here. This is actually for Sandpoint, but close enough.
Average Temperatures
Month |
AVG High |
Avg Low |
Mean |
Avg Precip |
Record High |
Record Low |
Jan |
32°F |
19°F |
26°F |
3.94 in. |
54°F (1919) |
-31°F (1950) |
Feb |
38°F |
23°F |
30°F |
3.47 in. |
61°F (1995) |
-35°F (1933) |
Mar |
46°F |
28°F |
37°F |
2.85 in. |
71°F (1915) |
-10°F (1955) |
Apr |
56°F |
34°F |
45°F |
2.25 in. |
87°F (1977) |
9°F (1936) |
May |
65°F |
41°F |
53°F |
2.75 in. |
97°F (1936) |
22°F (1972) |
Jun |
72°F |
47°F |
59°F |
2.46 in. |
96°F (1992) |
28°F (1919) |
Jul |
80°F |
50°F |
65°F |
1.63 in. |
104°F (1994) |
33°F (1971) |
Aug |
80°F |
49°F |
64°F |
1.43 in. |
100°F (1961) |
28°F (1924) |
Sep |
70°F |
41°F |
56°F |
1.60 in. |
 96°F (1938) |
16°F (1926) |
Oct |
56°F |
33°F |
45°F |
2.30 in. |
82°F (1923) |
4°F (1935) |
Nov |
40°F |
28°F |
34°F |
4.75 in. |
66°F (1975) |
-10°F (1921) |
Dec |
32°F |
21°F |
27°F |
4.75 in. |
58°F (1917) |
-37°F (1968) |
Snowfall
Monthly average snowfall in inches beginning in January and ending in December.
1910-2000 |
Jan |
Feb |
Mar |
Apr |
May |
Jun |
Jul |
Aug |
Sep |
Oct |
Nov |
Dec |
22.9 |
13.5 |
6.3 |
0.8 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.5 |
6.6 |
20.2 |
Yearly total: 70.8
Good Morning
Monday, December 1st, 2008Being on the East side of a mountain, we don’t get to see sunsets. But sometimes, the sunrises are just as good. Here’s a shot from outside our bedroom.It’s fall and the days are very short and usually cloudy. When there is sunshine, it rises around 7:30 a.m. and goes down behind the mountains around 2:30 p.m. We’re counting the days until mid-December when the days will get longer again.
No wimpy frost here
Monday, December 1st, 2008It’s not snow; It’s not an ice storm; It’s frost.
Technically it’s known as “Hoar Frost”. Let’s just say it’s when fog freezes and forms a crystal wonderland. I caught these shots while traveling in Washington on Thanksgiving day. Since the fog was a few inches above ground level, the ground was left alone.
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