Jewel Lake

The lake was smooth and clear at the waters edge but if there was a whopper in that lake I sure didn't find it. I must have caught 12-15 fish and none were bigger than five or six inches. It didn't matter where I cast off, near the dock or 20 feet out, all the same. We used flies and worms but that wasn't on their menu I guess.

The scenery was beautiful especially when the Canadian geese flew over. You could hear the geese honking and as soon as they flew over our heads I yelled out the warning "Cover Your Heads." Luckily, we were missed by a few feet but you could see all the plops in the water. The other yelling involved was my distain for the bees trying to carry off my can of 7-up. I just go ballistic when bees are bothersome. All in all it was a nice fishing trip.

She's back...

I've taken a short hiatus for some reason or other. I must confess it was my funky computer. I decided to stop being cheap and go buy a new one, nothing fancy but it does the job. This one actually has speakers. Yes, I was living in the ice age...

The old ranch is still in a state of change. The newest element is the hunting condo at the top of the mountain, actually it's an elaborate camo hunting stand..a two seater with swivel seats and surround viewing turret. Hopefully, this one won't get stolen like our other one seater did last hunting season. Some jerk actually unscrewed all the bolts, bundled it up and laid it in the forest to pick up later on, possibly in an ATV. We foiled his plans by using our eagle eye tracking skills then posted a "Keep Out" sign...Yeah, like that's going to work.

I see the Bonner County assessment dilemma is continuing to disgruntle most folks. Who can blame them, even this old place is assessed at five times what I bought it for. Do you ever wonder if the real estate companies and insurance companies have a little monopoly going on and the Chamber is stirring the pot? Why, you ask? My home owners insurance guy says you have to insure your place for what it's worth? Humm, Ok that would triple what I pay now. Between that, property tax and mortgage, general up keep your other regular bills and food I can't afford to retire! What kind of bunk is that? (What is Blog without a RANT anyway, ha !)

On a happy note my son, Bobby, is back from the Middle East! He and his honey are coming out to visit this week. Life is good again....

FIRST PICTURES

Remember when you were 14 and you thought your Mother was just not with the times? That's how I felt when I unpacked my new camera. After perusing the instructions for 20 minutes I took this picture of Evie, my first Grandbaby.

I am hoping to take as many cool pictures as Toni, http://www.idahonaturetrails.blogspot.com/

I ended up getting a 1GB disk so I should be able to get about 200+ shots if needed. I could never imagine what a person would want with all that memory until Evie came into my life. I put Evie through the Anne Geddie's routine, the flower pot and stuffed animal shots, poor child she had the furrowed brow after the second picture. Well, that's it for now...

New Camera Canon a620

Purchasing a camera on line was too easy. Click, click, click and 300 buckaroos later, it's mine! I did my research and spoke with the shutter bugs at work and decided on the Canon a620. Not to small for my "mature" hands and just enough "fluff" so I don't have to over tax the ole brain to figure it out.
The only scary part is that it's being delivered to my doorstep in Cocolalla and I so hope it's all there, in one peice, when I get it. I hope I didn't buy a lemon, either! Ole tight wad me even splurged on an extended warranty.

I mainly wanted it to take picutres of the new grand baby and will be stopping down in Seattle on my way back to California...oh, don't remimd me. In Califonia is a grey, rainy day today.

Hubby tells me he had to corral the neighbors horses and take them back up the road, not an easy feat with three hoses and one man. He's a good egg neighbor. And that in it's self is another subject...

I know more neighbors in Idaho after five years than I do here in CA after 50 years! My neighbor two doors down moved in 2 years ago was actually a high school classmate of mine. The only place I'v seen him is in the ICU where I work! Do I see him in the driveway to wave at, no. We are all too busy I guess.

And now I must get busy and get ready for work. Red flannel reindeer PJ's isn't an acceptable ICU uniform .

Flowers on Parade

My flowers, most are blooming and some are spent already... the other problem is I'm not up there to even enjoy them right now. My flight leaves the 24th of May and that's when I will be a happy camper. I've already packed my bags and I'm ready to go, wait, wait, that's a song and an old one too boot. ACK.-dating myself again.

Word Tosser mentioned the mud slide up on Schweitzer. The picture in the Bee don't look too devestating but I'm sure there's some hidden dammage as usual. Our property had a lot of run off this year, too, and all those little run offs turned slightly larger this year. So hubby is busy diverting water away from the house...

Whos going to the "Back to the Fifties" this year? I'm going to miss it for the 5th year in a row, I have to work. I have an old 1948 car to refinish and enter one of these decades..wel, hubby does, lol.

On a good note I will be up for the 4th of July, my favorite time up here. I love all the fireworks shows around; Cocolalla Lake, Sandpoint, Bottle Bay and from there you can see Garfields fireworks over the mountain tops. The parade is a real kick , too. Just like my old town use to have, pooper scoopers and all!

Well gotta get ready so I can go to the old horsepistol and put my 12 hours in....

It's a G-I-R-L, Eva Maree is here !

My Little Sweetie
Finally, on May 3rd I became a Nonne to the most petite, cute, sweet, lovely...ok, ok I'll contain myself. Eva Maree weighed 6.1 lbs, 19.75 inches long. I wasn't there for the birth but I did get there before she was 24 hours old and carried her out fo the hospital. And yes, I bought more pink and a Shermag rocker for Mommie. I never had the extra money for a rocker and I sure wanted my Grandbaby to have one.

Mom and Dad are doing good, too. They are so happy.

What's Bloomin ?

The hubby calls me today ands tells me my flowers are blooming around the pond. The crocus have been up for a week peeking through the remenants of snow and the daffodils are ready to unfold. Local moose have already done damage to the not so lucky bulbs underfoot. But best of all ...no rain today.

I wanted to share some info on my best growing flowers and plants up here in Cocolalla. One is a pricey little flower called Cape Daisy in Nasinga Pink. It has the best blooming span of all my flowers and the deer won't eat them either. Next would be my collection of Chickens n Hens. I was surprised by their ability to make it thought the freezing winters and occasional hot summer days and still have beautiful flower displays. I would have to say that my masses of daffodils are the real show stoppers of all the flowers. I also planted peonies last year and hope they all made it through the winter as well as the mass plantings of what I term "ditch lilies" along the driveway.

So as soon as I get back up to Cocolalla on Wednesday I will add some pictures to the site.

By the way the Grandbaby is not here yet.

Peeps or Bunnies?

Well, this picture just cracks me up. I decided to go with peeps this year instead of chocolate Bunnies for the table dressing. Chocolate, it appears, is too tempting BUT I'm not a fan of Peeps. Also, I can watch the big kids do weird things with the peeps, like have peep wars and tear heads off and that sort of nonsense. Probably similar to the bunnie pictures on here.

I'm picking up the hubby today in san Jose. I'm getting to know the airport all too well. The weather is dreary, rainey just not Easter weather. You know, the happy, sunny, spring flower day it should be, right?

Well, I must get back to smashing potatoes. I'm the designated cook for the holiday. So, Happy Easter!