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Non-Idaho family/friends will think I’m nuts (correction – more nuts). Idaho friends have probably been doing this for years and will think nothing of it.

I’m not a doctor, I don’t even play one on TV. However, I do live in Idaho and that seems to give license to do things that one might not do elsewhere. Yesterday, while scraping ice off the car I slipped, fell and a rock cut a fairly deep cut on my hand. I knew we were going to be late for church. Nurse Jenny’s diagnosis – emergency room, now – dry heave. But after the $500 expense of my last visit to the ER, I couldn’t justify the cost when you consider how many tanks of gas that would put into an ATV. A good cleaning with hydrogen peroxide, three butterfly bandages later and we were back on the road. About mid-service I realized that the bleeding wasn’t exactly “under control”.  Ah, good thing I’d brought more bandages just in case.

A $30 trip to Walmart and our medicine cabinet was restocked. I also bought a tube of super glue. We’ve all heard the stories about how ER doctors simply glue wounds shut now-a-days. What do you know, it works great.

Saved $470. Got a big “sympathy” bandage. Learned a new skill. Priceless.

Surviving winter here is easy. Staying sane while surviving requires a few coping skills. After a record snow in November (25″ in less than 2 weeks), December is just rainy and melting. I don’t think that will last. We did get some snow shoeing in earlier this month though. So far we haven’t planted our faces in the snow. We’re good for about 30 minutes before we have to stop, drop and die of exhaustion. The deal is that if needed, the survivor can cannibalize the other until spring when they can walk back to the house. (Note to self: BBQ sauce)

While I may have put a few thousand miles on my Rhino ATV this summer, I doubt that I had any fun. And even if I did, it doesn’t detract from the primary purpose of the machine which is strictly utilitarian. For example, people hauling:

I hopped off to take this equipment justification picture (so Jenny allows me to keep the machine). Now, to many this may look like Bruce and Linda Morock’s family reunion taking a hayride around the area. However, it could just as well be a human smuggling operation along the boarder of Canada. No really, there’s clearly more money in human smuggling than hayrides. If you have a family that wishes to be smuggled around Cocolalla, hay included, let me know.

Cocolalla Lake Bible Camp (www.clbcamp.org)is a local camp that brings together people from area churches for all kinds of retreats (ranging from sports to scrap-booking) with a central theme of sharing the gospel message of Jesus Christ with anyone who attends. I was invited to serve on the board a few years ago and have since come to enjoy the range of activities including serving in the kitchen, men’s retreats, volleyball, and more. It’s been a wonderful place to meet people and have fun. Jenny too has enjoyed serving in the kitchen, women’s retreats, stamping and scrap-booking camps (supporting her healthy addiction).

Anyone who knows us, knows that we’re not “campers”. Thankfully, the camp provides (in order of priority) cabins, showers, flushing toilets and commercial grade kitchen services. If you’re not a camper, CLBC might be something to consider. To know us is to know that Christ is a central theme in our lives. The gospel message, to some, is like bug spray to mosquitoes. I can imagine that there are folks who would find sitting through 45 minutes of church to be enough to avoid a day or two of having a great time. Too bad, so sad, you’re missing a great time with some really great people. I can attest that no one has ever died after hearing and believing the gospel message.
Here’s some shots of the girl. First in the kitchen and then at stamp camp.

 

“Sure, I’d be happy to do that.” Like a signature on a contract I’d given my word to make my neighbor a patio. Thanks to my friends Tim and Pete (really good friends now that they’ve saved me from a heart attack) we completed the patio in record time (since this was the first patio that we put in and hopefully the last). I speak of this with all kinds of dread because I knew I’d break a nail or even sweat during the process.

This is not to say that I wasn’t working hard as well. I had to do all the planning and supervising!

Needless to say that by the end of the day, I was bushed.

Many thanks go to Pete and Tim for their help with this project. 

Umm, I was never good at pick up lines. Some guys just don’t need it. Take for instance, our neighbor who was using our yard as the backdrop for his singles’ party.

There’s nothing more attractive than that big red jowly thing hangin’ under one’s chin.

Well, the Sevens are back. For those who don’t recall they’re a family of wild turkeys that visited regularly last year. This year they brought with them about 25 of their kin. I’m thinking that the mild winter was good to them. They were all full grown turkeys so I’m guessing we’re going to see a lot of youngins soon. Don’t ask me why all of a sudden I want to use southern drawl when talking about wild turkeys.

Two signs of spring. I could hear the frogs croaking for the first time. And the clincher was this robin. I heard her first and then ran to the car to get the camera – snap!

Mooselet! That’s her name now. My guess is that she’ll be two this spring. We’ve seen her hanging around the neighborhood. Her mom was “harvested” (oh, nice way to say a hunter killed her) last year. Fortunately, Mooselet seems to be just fine. I caught these shots at the end of our street. She’s munching the twigs off the ends of bushes.

You’ve probably never looked at a moose head on like this before.

A little moose joke.
click the picture below.

OH MY GOSH, SHE BROKE HER LEG, LOOK! OH gross, it’s sticking out. Look at her face. She’s in agony! She must have been hit by a car. Look closely and you’ll see her front leg is twisted up and broken too. It’s terrible.

Um, no. She’s just sitting down.  She’s perfectly fine after eating a bush full of twigs. Mooses are built funny. And they’re quite funny creatures to look at… from afar.

I tossed my weed-wacker in the Rhino and road to the next town and had it tuned up. I came home and restarted the process of taking down bushes and brush in the back of the property. This is an ongoing effort that will continue for years before I have taken control of the brush back there and made the property a little safer from forest fires. This would ordinarily not make my blog except for the fact that it’s February 17 and I’m doing yard work. There’s little if any patches of snow to be found. A very mild winter. I guess one can say winters here are extreme (one way or the other).

New year’s Eve. Dark night on a field of snow. Something is out there.

You can hear screeming and whaling. A light in the darkness shows.

As it approaches it turns out to be Noah and Pete on an ATV.

But the screaming?

Why it’s the kids from church riding behind.

Sure, there were adults doing adult things in the house. Board games for the women and deep philosophical discussions for the men. I have to admin, the most fun was riding in the sled.

January 1, 2010 brought with it the biggest snowflakes I’ve ever seen. So big, you could hear them touch down when they floated to the ground. It was a gentle touch, but I’ve never heard snow falling before. The larger flakes were the size of a half dollar. You can see the individual flakes on the hood of my car even though this picture was taken from 30 feet away.

(click to enlarge)

OK, now it’s a tradition. Head down to Lake Coeur d’Alene at watch eagles, which are migrating south, eat salmon, which are spawning on the shoreline.This first shot is actually the images combined of an eagle swooping in for lunch.

Hopefully by next year I’ll have enough saved to get some better quality images.

(Click images to enlarge)

With only about 6 inches on the ground I hike up into the hills behind our house to see what I can see. Thought I’d share some shots.

(Click images to enlarge)

OK, here’s an extra credit question. How do you know a moose has been here in the image below?

Answer: Branches don’t grow at 90 degree angles unless a moose has been munching on them.