Bear stuff

Just one of the bears in Idaho we've seen this year...well, not me. I'm stuck in California for the next month!

Sandpoint Travels

Today neighbor X forced me into her car and took me to the local Dufort Mall. If you're from Cocolalla or Sagle you know what I mean...actually, it's the local dump that has a donation station where people place used items that aren't total trash. My neighbor donated some items, and trash, then we took off to Sandpoint.













In Sandpoint we decided to visit a local eatery and bar (2)...yes, we drink. We went to the new restaurant called Oishii which has decor that combines mob stuff and fish...very odd..so we had some sake with an assortment of sashimi...it was great, but not filling...so...on the way out we see an even newer bar attached to this place called (blank) ah, I think the sake has taken hold by now...called "Spar". So we go upstairs. The music is playing and as soon as the bartender sees us he turns it off...what the heck? Oh, I get it, he thinks because were not a "21" crowd we can't handle the music, great..I'm the "Mame" generation. We look around, ask a few questions, neighbor X checks out the seating and decides it's not too comfy....we leave. Here's a few pictures of Oishii.












































Next stop is the Tam-O-Shanter bar...ah, what can I say. It's a local hang out and has been there a long time...We did make friends with this 83 year old lady, Lucille, who was about the only friendly person in the place. She told us about her garden, work and life's travels, she said she really liked a beer now and then even if it wasn't good for her. We took her name and number and she told us to drive by and check out her garden, so we did. Pretty impressive for someone her age to be gardening as much as she does! Here's a picture of her garden.














Then off to the local Farmers Market. We were so happy to see fresh tomatoes. We taste tested a few local cheeses which were surprisingly good. Lots of huckleberries for sale, $30.00 a gal which is cheap. We made our purchases and then off to Yokes grocery store and back home.

Sorry butt ....this is not art

Ok, a few years back the city of Sandpoint placed this wood sculpture, aka piece of art, in the front of the court house in downtown... Much controversy later it's still there,ugh! I don't care if there's any connection to the gay community or not, to each his own...I just think it's ugly. It doesn't represent anything I can think of ...except the fact that there are no more logging companies up here and maybe this "art" represents how some locals got screwed...not. Oh, this is my raciest blog yet...
What do you think?

Huckleberry Picking in Idaho

First picture is a huckleberry plant on our place, but as you can see it's a little too reddish. They should be a purplish-blue color. We were invited by the neighbors to go up to the high mountains in Idaho on government land to hunt huckleberries. While they weren't plentiful or big there were many,many plants. It seems most the plants had already been picked or the bears had their fill!! Some of you may know that hunting areas are kept secret by most people as they can fetch as much as $40-45.00 a gallon!!! Personally, I think they're over rated... They are good in milkshakes though, but since I've never made anything else from them I'll reserve judgement. I've gotten a few new recipes I hope to try this year.

My long time friend, Vonne, is waving from the patch she is working on. Our group took a short lunch break, thankfully not too many flying critters were there.
The cleaning process is almost as labor intensive as the picking. Rinse, sort three times, used a blower on cool setting to dry off to prevent ice crystals. Then packaged them and froze between my Limoncello and Haagen Dazs! Humm, I see a milkshake in the near future...

Bee Gone Already !

These bee's have stung almost everyone in the area....including me. Put out this bee trap in the morning...
















A few hours later there's over an inch of dead bees. Next year we'll set them out earlier to get the queens, like Thomas (my neighbor) mentioned in his blog.

Lazy blogger...found her crown!

Ok, Marmite.., this Snow Queen (Schneekonigin) is guilty...I've been way too lazy about blogging.

Here are my best excuses:
!. Work nights and worthless during those days...
2. Lazy...
3. Addicted to Facebook and applications...Farmtown, Class Reunion stuff..
4. Nothing really exciting to write about....

I'm leaving for Idaho tomorrow so I'm sure I'll be in a picture taking mood and have something to share.

Local Wildflowers

Just thought I'd post some of the local wild flowers. These were taken on our place in Idaho.

Idaho Cusine ???

Ok I was just looking at the menu on the Dish restaurant webpage in Sandpoint when I noticed the link to Idaho Cusine, North Idaho's premier restaurant and entertainment guide. The main page is here.
This sheds a whole new light on dining since I'm not really familiar with Coeur d'Alene and the surrounding areas.

I'm flying into Spokane next week so I'll be trying out one of the places listed in either Hayden or Coeur d'Alene on my way up to Cocolalla...as long as we don't meet any moose.

And here's something for the ladies, North Idaho ladies that is!

Geocaching....finally!

These are pictures from my first geocaching expedition. We all took off on the ATV's, yes this is the before accident photo. We used our GPS units and if we'd followed them correctly we'd have gotten their much sooner and probably easier. Once we found the site, thanks to Doug, they all let me open the container since I've been buggin everyone to do this for at least a year now. Once the can was opened I was a bit disappointed in the swag. Swag, the items you exchange in the cache. We decided not to take anything but left a $5.00 Starbucks card. I huffed and puffed my way back up hill and back to the ATV...you know what comes next if you read my previous post. BTW, in second pix I'm on the end in the blue cap. And..I took my new header picture from my neighbor, Anne's, deck !

Flowers and the ATV

Since getting in the moose collision I've also taken a header off the ATV...well, more like a butt plop and then did a nose dive down a ravine. After going to the ER I'm now on medical leave until who know when...I was very lucky, since I wasn't wearing a helmet, and the ATV flew off in another direction...I guess God has other plans for me. The flowers are from my garden that my hubby has been keeping weed free..well, almost. I was able to enjoy them at their finest moment.

I was also able to meet our new neighbors from the midwest and they had a block party, camp out style, at their soon to be home site. It's really nice to know all my neighbors up in Idaho. I've lived in California most of my life and I don't really know any neighbors there and they live closer to me than in Idaho!

Moose Mishap

On the way home, to north Idaho, from the airport in Spokane we collided with a moose. If it weren't for our Ford F-350 truck, and the moose being young, we would have been killed.

It was 9:30 at night, dark. The moose was black and it was running across the hiway, we didn't see until it was in front of the truck. All my husband had time to do was shout "Oh (&)*, a moose" and slam on the brakes. I was sleeping in the passenger seat, I opened my eyes and heard the bang all at the same time. In a spit second the body of the moose slid up the hood, then she flew off. I think her momentum carried her to the side of the road.

We called the hiway patrol and it took them forever to come, at least thirty minutes. I'm guessing that was because no one was hurt, but the moose was suffering as I had told them in the report. Just before the patrol showed up the moose was flailing and starting to drag herself back to the hiway. When the officer showed up he ended up having to "put her down". Unfortunately, it took him two tries, it was ugly. We were so shaken. Before the patrol showed up there was one man who stopped and used a yellow flashing light to warn drivers behind us, but they just zoomed on by. Three other cars stopped and offered help if needed. We are very appreciative to them, who ever they were.

Most people die as a result of hitting a moose, they are so tall the bumber knocks their legs out from under them and they crash into the cab. We were fortunate this was not a large moose and our truck is tall, plus we were slowing down for a red light...thank the good Lord!

Three Years Ago

My beautiful Grandbaby, Eva, was born three years ago, today. Happy Birthday Sweetie!

COPD ....

Many patients in my unit have COPD..what is it? Well, COPD stands for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. It's kind of a global description for various lung diseases like asthma, bronchitis, smoking and SMOKING too much... this obstructs the air flow and exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide in your lungs.

I would venture to say that 90% of the COPD patients that come to my unit are from SMOKING too much...

After educating patients we still hear these comments;

..."but I quit a month ago"... {{{after smoking for 40 years...doh}}}
..."I didn't refill my Rx for my inhalers" {{{well, there ya go}}}
..."I ran out of cigarettes"...{{{what the ?}}}
..." I don't like my c-pap"..{{{it's keeping you alive *%&^%*}}}

After 24 hours a heavy smoker will need a nicotine patch...usually they beg you let them go out for a smoke first...to myself I say, "job security,job security,job security"

Are you not feeling my compassion...

What are these ?

After finding these in the shed yesterday I decided to do a spin off from SicilyScene.blogspot.com's " What is or where is this?"

I'll give you a hint...they are not for lighting. My Dad's had these for decades...and I mean decades... One is blue tinted and the other is green tinted both with lots of air bubbles.

Answer tomorrow.

Spring is here...at least in California....

Today was sunny but a bit windy down here in California. It also happens to be my Mom's 83rd birthday. We, my sis, niece Steph, nephew Paul and Mom and Dad, went out to lunch to one of our fav restaurants in town. For appetizers we had oysters on the half shell, deep fried calamari and the best clams...and for my main course I had salmon tacos....it was yummy but too filling.

Back on the ranch the cherry trees are blooming as well as the irises and calla lilies...we all sat around the patio and had coffee and pie, razzle berry and lemon chiffon, from Marie Calendars. Oink !

Pictures will be posted tomorrow as I'm in the process or reloading all my drivers for all the programs that were removed after I had to recover my computer. We had a local terrorist attempt who cut some fiber optic cables in San Jose that cut cell phones, land lines and computers for a day in Santa Clara Valley to Santa Cruz!

I was on the computer at 2am and something strange happened... my computer warning system came on that said I was getting attacked by a virus. {{{{{PANIC}}}} So I shut down my computer...and then couldn't get reconnected...I was stessing and feard I'd lost all my pictures and genealogy files. Come morining I called my son, Skye, to come check the connection and he decided to take in the drive to where he works and have them run a virus check. Ta-Da..no virus. we recovered the computer one more time and it all worked...even better! Come to find out it was all because of the cables being cut. There is now a 250K reward for the person or persons involved!!!

Talk about withdrawals! Even though I lost all my bookmarks I'm thankful I didn't loose any pics or files!

New Restaurant in Sandpoint

There's a restaurant in Sandpoint called Dish and the menu looks pretty darn good, too. Plus, there's take out, wine list, Wi-Fi and a parking lot...what more can you ask for,eh?

The wine list is pretty varied and affordable. I just hope they get Liberty School's Cabernet Sauvignon and a Australian Shariz as these two are my favs. I rarely see port wines listed and they have two from Portugual. Now all they need are some Italian wines like Barolo (hopefully, a 10 year old Barrossa) which is aged in Slovenian casks not French oak.

I do like to dream...

Geocaching...pitiful me

So another year of not geocaching went by...I've been trying to do this since Dec 29 2005, at 06:30 AM per my account at geocaching.com !!! One problem is that I don't know how to use my Rino GPS and no else seems to either...the instructional video sucks...or maybe I'm just to daft to comprehend it....


What's even more pitiful is that I put together a great cache and haven't been able to hide it. I'm hoping I can get my adventurous neighbors to go on an ATV hunt...are you guys reading this? That's about as close to begging as it gets...

Lack of Blogging...

The excuse for not posting this week comes to you by way of the FLU! Since last Wednesday after work I started having that run down feeling...it progressed into a full blown sore throat, laryngitis,incessant coughing, searing chest pain from coughing,fever and chills, earaches (my least fav), body aches, sinus headaches and a migraine. Today I'm feeling slightly better but I'm now coughing up the goo-gobs of ...well, you get the picture. My last patient had the exact same symptoms...except he was morbidly obese and they thought he was having a heart attack, but no, just a case of the creeping cruds...sometimes universal precautions does not guarantee protection to all those bugs being slathered around by coughing and touching and that goes for the staff,too.

Thanks to my son for being the errand boy this week. With out him I would have been reduced to a diet of water, rice and beans (another story...)...maybe just water as I was too tired to cook. I ate all the leftover Nurtisystems...what can I say...one minute to nuke it and I'm done. I've done ONE load of laundry and washed dishes twice. I finally took out the garbage yesterday...and only because the sun was shining.

I'm sure I'll feel better just in time to start my next work rotation which is this Thursday. You may wonder why I'm posting about getting the dang Flu? It's because, as a nurse, I've become immune to many ailments over the years and haven't had the flu in over 12 years! When ever there is a bug going around it seems to manifest in me with as a migraine. I have an Rx for that and as long as my stomach can tolerate the pill I'm only down for six hours or so...

...did I mention I'm a very bad patient? Yes, I avoid the docs as often as possible....Iknow, pretty bad coming from a nurse who works in the ICU. It's kind of like the cobblers kids having no shoes...

So, there ya go.....

Our McKay passed away...

We shall miss her terribly...she was fifteen years old and a wonderful companion to Len all those years.

Is it spring yet?

So I'm finally starting my week off...after working six nights. I'm hoping my enthusiasm for getting my projects done lasts more than this very moment. I haven't quite figured out how someone my age (moment of silence here) manages to have so many projects...is there no fun for me? If I'm not at work I'm working on some refinishing or decorating, car maintenance and all the other domestic goddess rituals... I still haven't decided if I'm going to make it to Sicily this year...again. Maybe I'm just a procastinator after all.

I did join a group who is researching the databases out of Termini Imerese in Sicily. While it's not my families home town it's just a few miles down the road and I do have some relations that are from there. They have an annual get together and I plan and going to the one in Denver, Co in September...I see a shopping spree in my future!

Lets see...what else have I done...oh ,yeah...went off my diet and gained five pounds. I'm refusig to exercise in the this cold weather but when I imagined myself in shorts this summer I made a mad dash for the treadmill....

My new Limoncello cups

Kinda cute,eh? They weren't my first choice but the other sets I liked were either out of stock or just way too much $$$$ like almost $300.00 not including shipping!The quality was not up to parr either...a few pits here and there and the color wash is uneven...but it serves its purpose for sure!

My Limoncello supplies are dwindling so I'll be making another batch as soon as dear old Dads tree kicks out some new fruit.

I noticed a bit of difference in the two batches between Cali and Idaho. The Cali lemons were organic and the Idaho ones store bought. Even with a good wash the Idaho end product did not freeze up like the Cali's did. I don't know if that has something to do with the wax on the fruit or what? The Cali's had a much smoother flavor, too. So...that means I'll lugging a dozen or so lemons on the plane to Idaho when the time comes. I'm gonna try oranges next time, too!

I'm taking lessons from the Italians...

Rules of the Italian Road:

"Look at this testa di [XXXXX] kissing my bumper!" Italians drivers
are much more comfortable driving much closer than is typical in
America. 'A centimeter is as good as a kilometer,' is a motto we love
and we couldn't care less of getting that close. If you know to
expect this and do not panic by slowing down, or worse, touching your
brakes, you will be fine. After all, this reduces air resistance and
increases mileage.

"These cornuti keep cutting me off!" When driving in Italy, your
responsibility is to those in front of you and those to your side.
Rear-view mirrors are solely used for checking our good looks. If
there is an opening in front of you, it is your obligation to fill
it, or we will fill it for you. After all, the more we cut off the
faster we arrive to our destination and the more money saved on gas.

"Look! Stop signs and traffic lights are useless to these coglioni!"
Time and mileage are of the essence for the Italian driver. We do not
have money for brake maintenance nor the patience and will to
downshift gears. Besides, it is irresponsible to go through an
uncontrolled, blind intersection quickly without at least a look or a
small toot on the horn.

"There is no place to park, [XXXX]!" You would be quite surprised at
how difficult it is to find parking in downtown Italy. The sidewalk
parking space is savored and rarely abandoned. After all, it helps to
avoid wasting gas driving around the neighborhood for 30 minutes in
search of unoccupied sidewalk space.

"Faccia di [XXXX]", 70 euros (90 USD) to fill up a tank?! I'll buy a
fuel efficient mule instead.

People who say Italians do not know how to drive are measuring us by
the wrong scale. We have a very controlled recklessness to our
driving and we now do what is necessary to save money on gas and
maintenance.

**
So if I keep my POS Jeep...it's already got 282k miles on it, I should fit right in. I'm not so sure about parking on the sidewalks here... but I can relate to the parking, or lack of it, in downtown Sandpoint.
Side note-I do not know what those words in "" and [XXXX] mean, although I'm sure they are not nice.

Extreme Makeover: Foreclosure Edition

This article was on the front page of the Daily Bee in Sandpoint,ID
"Donated home used as loan collateral"

SANDPOINT — The Bonner County home featured on the reality television show “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” is in foreclosure.
Eric Hebert put the home up for sale last year because he said its upkeep and utilities became too costly. Hebert also cited the darkening economy as a reason for putting the home up for sale.

Since then, the home was used as collateral on a defaulted Wells Fargo Bank loan, according to a legal notice of trustee’s sale slated for publication later this week. As of Feb. 11, Hebert owed the bank $396,145, the notice said.

Hebert could not be reached for comment on Monday. A message left on his mobile phone seeking comment was not immediately returned.

The 3,678-square-foot home off Baldy Mountain Road was listed for $529,000 in May 2008, when Hebert put it up for sale. The current asking price is $449,000, according to its listing on the Tomlinson Sandpoint Sotheby’s International Web site.

The online description calls it a one-of-kind custom home, but makes no mention of its high-profile origins.

The home was built by the show and a swarm of volunteers with donated materials in November 2005, after producers learned Hebert was raising his late sister’s twins and living in a makeshift “berm house.” Hebert, a bachelor, took custody of the children after their mother died of a heart attack.

The reality TV program rebuilds homes for families in the grips of hardship. The series debuted in 2003 and is in its sixth season on ABC.

Although the show is a ratings hit for the network, it has also attracted criticism for exalting lavish lifestyles and saddling recipients with hefty property tax and utility bills.

Hebert’s home is among a growing number of “Extreme Makeover” homes to become subject of foreclosure proceedings.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported last summer that a couple lost their Lake City, Ga., home after using it as a collateral for a $450,000 loan from JPMorgan Chase which fell into arrears. A couple in Oak Park, Mich., were facing foreclosure of their home partly because a refinanced mortgage caused their payments to soar, the Macomb Daily reported in December of last year. However, according to an Associated Press story earlier this month, the loan was renegotiated to give the family a better chance at keeping the home.
**
I think EM need to keep in mind where all these "winners" are gonna get the money to pay taxes, heating bills,etc., on these McMansions when most of them are blue collar workers...no forethought. They could build three nice homes for families in need instead of these outrageous monster homes.

Pitiful Palin

Ok, this had to take the cake. People on the Sandpoint forums had nothing better to post than saying "Happy Birthday" to Sarah Palin? Whoo hoo. She was born in Sandpoint and lived here for a whopping three months. Thankfully, she's screwing up Alaska now..but then again what state isn't screwed up lately.

Wanna read an Alaskan political blog ..and no, Palin is not their favorite politician.
http://mudflats.wordpress.com/

What I did today...

Below is what we do in Idaho for fun....after milking the cows..just kiddin. We bought a new John Deere, and yes, it is kinda fun!

I flew into Idaho last night and this morning went on a job interview . It went quite well, but I'm unable commit to full time and hoping they'll have a slot for someone who wants to work every other week. They call it occasional, I call it per-diem... it's all still iffy.

Anyhoo..afterwards we had lunch at one of my fav restaurants in Sandpoint, Bangkok Cusine. There must have been a different cook because the Thai soup and salad just didn't taste the same...the waitress was less than enthusiastic, too. She didn't even ask if we wanted drinks and I really didn't notice until I sat down to write so I guess I can't bitch about that too much. I hate being disappointed over food your paying good money for...ok, it only cost $20.09 for the both of us and it beats me sloggin over the sink and stove.

Pasta Putanesca !

I decided I wanted to eat something bad tonight and nothing from the cardboard diet (aka Nutrisystems)... with simple ingredients and a tad bit of pepper flakes this dish has enough zing to keep me happy. Would you believe the first time I ate this was in Idaho at a restaurant called the Power House. I'd never even heard of it and the name was rather peculiar... "Putanesca?", I say out loud... my sis sat there and nodded her head giving me that "yep, it's exactly what you're thinking" look.

Watching the Super Bowl tonight did nothing to curb my appetite, so there I sat with the bowl like a feed bag and watched the climactic ending...I am feeling rather guilty now..I couldn't eat just one bowl...and I feel like a nap to boot. Oink !

Genealogy stuff....

For my relations that actually read my blog....are you there? They're afraid to post comments...I know because they slip and ask me about something on my blog now and then. Ha.

So anyhoo.... I write to this lady in Minnesota researching families from Trabia, Sicily and she finds my father's grand parents and their parents in the LDS records ! Mind you...I paid a genealogist from Italy 300 UDS to find my grandparents...this lady did it out of the kindness of her heart. So now I know I came from the Vallelunga, Sunseri, Teresi and Spitaleri's lines...and about ten more but I won't bore ya with all that.

Where's that Stud ?

Ok, where were you...before...I put two holes in the wall...I can usually find them, studs that is, by tapping the wall ( I can find the other kind, too!) but I guess I'm gettin a bit rusty. So now I've gone out and purchased a $20.00 plasticy gizmo to put up a $20.00 shelf...

The Silver Spoon

I ordered this cookbook, The Silver Spoon, through ebay...brand new for less than 29 smackeroonies.

While it's not very appealing to the eye it does contain some interesting recipes.
It also has recipes and menus from some famous chefs...although I only recognized two! Yea, I'm not that worldly I guess. But... they were on Iron chef I might recognise them!

What it lacked was maybe, just maybe the heck you're suppose to buy all this specialized ingredients...bergamot sprigs? I've heard of bergamot lotion and scrubs (which I actually have) but I've never seen it in a store. Jewish artichoke..well, I live 20 minutes from the artichoke capitol in Wastsonville, CA and I've never seen a Jewish artichoke! Italian flour 00...even my Italian Catholic Federation friends didn't know where to purchase these ingredients...and they would know.

Tagiatelline! What is that? Pasta? It doesn't explain much in this book..not for a novice I guess...maybe the next edition?

Three Guesses

First two guesses don't count if you've been reading my posts....





Yes, it's Limoncello in a vintage glass from Len's mom...none of his family wanted these old etched glasses so I snagged em. Their loss... as you can see I'll put them to good use!

Sorry for the blurry picture...it's my second glass...nummy!

KC 10

This is the plane my son has been flying for the USAF. Now he's being transfered to Laughlin AFB in Texas! His next assignment is to be an instructor in the AT6...I don't have a picture of that plane but... as soon as my son calls me (hint-hint- Bob) I will post one.


~~~~~
So I've been working this past week, er, shall I say supposed to be at working. Usually, in the middle of winter the unit I work in is almost full...the last few days there's been just one patient or none! I'm on call tonight until 11pm...OH, please let me stay home......two more hours to go...

What's up?

Pictures from Cocolalla

These are a few pictures from today....I was planning on snow shoeing but the roof on the rental needed shoveling...nothing like a little exercise, one way or another.
The first picture is our snow capped corrals.
The horse is one of our quarter horses, Shine. I think I was annoying him by whistling and calling his name so he'd look my way. It was the sideways look of disgust.
The last view is from the roof with Cocolalla Lake below..yep frozen over.
The temp this morning was ZERO degrees, burrry cold, but right now it a whopping 17, whee hoo!

Forums in Sandpoint...

So I decided to ask a question in the Sandpoint online forum about horses and open range...The conversation was pretty interesting until..."someone" had to defend himself about his claim against the railroad... his horse got out and ended up on the tracks and ta-da bye-bye horse. Train won. He was reimbursed for the horse....what's wrong with this picture???? Ah, yes...the old laws still in place that people take advantage of instead of being responsible for keeping their horse fences secure.

Well now, after my last response which was an "enough is enough" of this little debate the "someone" had to put in his last 2 cents...I didn't check the postings until last night and noticed the whole debate was deleted! Ha, I think, just maybe, another poster (again) chimed in on my defense of these old laws and "someone" was pissed.

You know the old saying (which is not law but still appropriate today)....
if you can't take the heat get outta the kitchen...

Happy New Year from Idaho !

Snow on the forecast ! Yippee !



Gone for the winter......