Fly Like An Eagle

The eagle flew across the river and perched for me in this pine tree.

 

 These are some photos taken at mouth of the Moyie River

We were at the spot where the Kootenai River makes a 90 degree turn because it comes up against the Moyie Fault and a diorite sill.

Trip to the Cabinet Fish Hatchery

We all took a ride out to the hatchery.  Jamie worked there when he was working his way through college.  They had 10,000,000 Kokanee eggs this year so the hatchery is full of tiny fish.  They also have some Cutthroat.  Collin and Rylee enjoyed looking at all the fish.

 Cutthroat

 Kokanee

Class Begins Tomorrow! Oh no! Class? Study?

The Idaho Master Naturalist Course was created by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game.   This is the first time it will be offered in Bonner County.  The first class is tomorrow and I am looking forward to it.  It should be a lot of fun and  a real learning experience.  Forty hours of coursework which includes field trips and then forty hours of volunteer work to become a certified Idaho Master Naturalist.  I have started a Nature Journal to go along with the class.  This is a link to one of the Idaho Chapters:  Idaho Master Naturalist Program

First Snow of the Season

Here it is!  The heavy, wet stuff.  The trees are loaded with snow.  We now have wind so we will be lucky if we still have power later today.

First Snow of the Season

This morning the rain is trying to turn to snow showers.  It is one of those dreary fall days with the mountains socked in by the low clouds with sleet coming down.  It doesn't look much like walking weather.  I don't have enough motivation to make myself go out in it!    I think it's a good day to finish getting the onions and potatoes into storage.  Plus, I think there are more ripe tomatoes that need to be either roasted or have the skins slipped for the next batch of salsa.

I am still on jury duty and have to call tonight to find out if I need to go in tomorrow.  I was excused from the last jury, so we will see what happens.

I am tired of all the nasty disgusting political ads on television.  I think there should be a law passed that only individuals can donate to a campaign or party and a limit should be set.(it should be LOW)  No donations from corporations, businesses, unions or organizations and candidates cannot use their own money for the campaign.  The amount of money spent on these campaigns is obscene.   If all the parties have an equal amount to spend, then maybe we could get down to candidates running on the issues.  There wouldn't be enough money for TV ads.  Hooray!  (Maybe I should run for office, I think I can see Washington from here)

The Hunters

JP and David have an elk camp set up 11 miles east of Corvallis at 7,797 feet.  Hmmm.  It's going to chilly up there.  They are camping in a tent, but do have cots.  Hmmm.  It's still going to be chilly up there.  The weather forecast for tonight is calling for a little snow.   Brrrr.  It's going to be cold up there.  But, I know they are having a great "guy time"  together.   JP is certainly used to tenting as he spent an entire summer living in a tent near Kalispell.

Jon and John set out to scout out duck hunting yesterday.  They hit a stump submerged under the water and broke off the shear pin on the motor.  So, they had to paddle back and go buy another pin.  It just wasn't their day.  They have had some great duck hunting days together though.  I think they have been duck hunting together for about twenty years.  They will have better luck next week.

I am one happy camper, tho!  I finished getting all of my flowers pruned (except for a few hardy plants that are still blooming) and I put away all the wire supports and posts and pots and wire and garden decorations.
Then I picked a 5-gallon bucket of grapes to juice.  Most are still not ripe enough.

Today will be a salsa day.  Time to get started.

End of the harvesting season

I haven't posted much lately as I have been working on "putting the garden to bed" for the winter.  I finally dug the last row of potatoes and pulled the last carrots and onions.  I store the best of the carrots layered in sand in a big plastic storage container.  The onions are drying my bay window so that they can "paper up" before going into storage. I seem to have vegetables on every flat spot in my house.  I have tomatoes ripening in my pantry and in the basement.  They will go into salsa soon. I have been saving my Poblano chiles and Jalapeno peppers to go in the salsa.

Cloudy Fall Day - Hope

We have had beautiful fall days, cool at night but warming to about 65 during the day.  I cut off all the cornstalks and hauled them to the field as they are too big for my compost pile.  Yesterday I pruned the blackberries and raspberries and made sure they were all tied up so that the snow won't break the canes this winter.  (They say we are going to get lots of snow this year)


Some of the grapes are ripe so I think we will have to pick them soon.  I don't know how much longer we will have before it gets really cold. The pear wine is "cooking" in the pantry and tastes good. Friends Daryl and Becky came to visit and brought bottles of their plum wine.  It is a beautiful white wine, dry, very delicate, with a taste of plum and grapefruit.  What the grape growers don't tell you is that you can make a very nice tasting wine from all kinds of fruit.  I am going to try making a little blackberry wine this year.

Daryl and Becky's Plum Wine

Pear Wine-Day Nine

I almost forgot - I made a Wild Mushroom Fettuccine for dinner the other night.  I reconstituted Morel, Oyster and Coral Mushrooms.  Cooked them with a little olive oil and butter, added some white wine and Parmigiano Reggiano.  I used the juice from reconstituting the mushrooms and added a little milk.  The sauce was pretty thin so that the fettuccine soaked up the sauce a little before serving.   It was quite tasty.

Aha!  That's why we picked all those mushrooms!

Weed War and Weather Challenge

The weeds are winning!  The quack grass in my garden is about 4 feet high.  I am harvesting it and if I had a cow I could feed it for a week!  It's going to be a challenge to grow a garden this year.  We had about 3 inches of rain while we were in Montana.  Tomato plants prefer warm and dry.  Hmmm.  Oh well, last year was a banner year for the tomatoes and peppers.  This year will be a banner year for broccoli and cauliflower and maybe cabbage.  There's always something to harvest.

Jon's dahlias are coming up and some of them look good.  My plants and flowers in the pots are finally starting to bloom so there is hope.

Time to rest up for tomorrow's attack.

Lazy Days of February

It is so nice to be retired!  I love getting up on these winter mornings and drinking my coffee knowing that I don't have to drive to work, etc.  I have another cup of coffee, play a few tunes on my guitar, read my email, check the blogs, see what's happening out there in the world (they call it news) and have another cup of coffee.  It's awesome!

Jon and I usually walk up to get our newspapers and then go on a hike in the woods.  It won't be long and we will be hunting for wild mushrooms. 

The big Mardi Gras party is Sat. night and I am going to make Chicken Gumbo for the first time.  I bought all the ingredients today and I have already made chicken stock for the broth.  Andoullie Sausage is a bit pricey in the northwest.  I could not find the File Powder so I hope Ann has some.  I hope my Gumbo tastes as good as Ann's.

We will be assembling the parade float on Friday afternoon and the Krewe of Cougar Creek will be ready to rock and roll!

Goodbye wonderful friend!

Our good friend, Julie Schultz, died this morning. Jon and I are so sad she is gone. We were good friends and worked with both Julie and Kent everyday for 25 years. We are sending our love to her husband, children and grandchildren.

The weekend is here and the weatherman says we are to get some snow. I am ready. Bring it on! I would at least a foot of snow for Christmas. Jon and I bundled up and went for our walk yesterday. It was a little warmer, but still brrrrr. Today we will head to Sandpoint to get our H1N1 flu shot. They give them to anyone now, even old people. Tomorrow we have a Krewe Band practice and I am looking forward to that. We haven't played any tunes for over three weeks. We will be practicing for our Christmas gig. White Christmas, Cougar Creek Band version!! Eat your heart out, Bing!

Rainy Day

It's a rainy day. I mean it's one of those really rainy rainy days where we get one or two inches of rain. Hot chocolate, popcorn, good book, play guitar.......cook some apples to make applesauce.

We heard that Travis got an elk yesterday and Joe went with him to help get it out. That's good news.

There's snow on Middle Mountain and it's working it's way down to Susie's Knob. Time for more coffee and another tune on the guitar.

End of Summer

It's finally happened, the first cold hard frost. It's time to say goodbye to all of the beautiful dahlias, rudbeckia, cosmos......they were so lovely. On the other hand, the days of harvesting, cleaning, cooking and canning are almost at the end. Whew! I am almost ready for those snowy days when I can just watch the snowflakes fall and read a good book.