Brad's Blog
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July 3

My son and his wife are visiting, and we tried to climb nearby Chilco mountain, but turned back after a drizzle turned towards lightning, including the first bolt going off very close to us...  This flower was a new one, I thought, although the word coral bell popped into mind, and it seems to be a likely species of that plant...


Here's a wood duck family on the Mill pond...  The mother duck has a distinctive eye ring, which, if black instead of white, would give her an Egyptian look...

July 4
The 4th of July parades in Spirit Lake have always been low key anyone-can-march events.  But with growth in our area, our small town celebration has gained a much bigger following...

My son Forrest and his wife Susa got dressed up for the parade and decided to march this year.  They're standing at the starting point, with the old school Woolen Brown Center (slowly being refurbished) in the background...

Our historical society also decided to be in the parade at the last hour, using our truck and a banner and a few pieces of history...


Through friends Jim and Jo Foss, a crowd of fiddlers came to entertain after the parade. This is one half

Here's the other
I'll be making a page with more photos and videos of their performance, which included this year's national fiddle champ (on left in the photo)
 

July 5
The whole family and Butters went on a 8 mile 3800 ft elevation hike to the top (mostly) of Scotchman Peak.  We all went hoping to see mountain goats, and none were disappointed.


This is an orange form of paint brush...

This was the view towards Lake Pend O'Reille, the largest natural lake in Idaho.  The S shape in the water is where the Clark Fork river empties into the lake...


At a point where the top seemed too far for me to desire to make it, I stopped for a rest.  Immediately two mountain goats approached within 10 feet...  They are totally acclimated to humans.  Butters did not react to them---they were too foreign to his experience, I'm guessing...

Here is one on the trail.  You can see their winter coat is in practice of shedding, helped along by their horns...


I later walked up to the final approach, which was working your way up this talus slope 3/4 mile.  I passed on that...
The way down was less work, but harder on the knees and feet, and water was in short supply, so we were happy to reach the car and swim in the big lake...  It was an all day hike...  On the way up, mosquitoes kept us from taking long breaks....

Here's an instrumental guitar tune;
Don't you roll those big brown eyes


July 9
After church on Sunday we headed up the east side of Priest Lake with our sons and daughter-in-law.  First stop was Hunt Creek Falls:

We were the only people there, and there are no guard rails or restrictions so we clambered around a bit (son Forrest on rock that I also went onto )


Then we drove to the upper east side of the lake, and drove 5 miles up the Lion's Head road, named after the mountain whose top resembles a lion roaring...  This photo was interesting for showing the smooth bedrock sides of the mountains and the dark streaks of water leaking from snow melt and springs...


Most people heading up there are there to slide the natural waterslide between two waterfalls.  Here's Forrest,  but still photos don't do it justice...
So here's a video of Birrion


This was the upper falls, with some of our crew standing at the base.


My camera was running out of battery, so I only took one picture of the lower falls, also sliding over bedrock.  It was a lovely and fun experience, broadening our appreciation of the Priest Lake area...

July 12
I've put together a page of music from the 4th of July, local fiddlers at our park...
Pots are selling fast and I'm working long hours in the heating up days to try to keep items in stock...

July 14
Our upright freezer had been accumulating ice in the bottom of it, so we debated calling a repairman or do-it-yourself, which is generally my inclination.  I Googled the issue and found videos pointing to the clogged drain tube, and I ran a wire down it and reassembled it.  It made a grinding noise, which I quickly determined to be a fan, which had been occasionally making noises previously.  After doinking for a while it turned out the fan blade had worked itself too close to the motor, and by pushing firmly on it fixed that too...  One win for the home team...

July 27
I've been too busy making pots and picking cherries and raspberries to do much else the last couple weeks.  Today we took our car to Priest River to get serviced, and walked around and there was this faded billboard that reminded me of pop art from the sixties

I wouldn't want it in my living room, but it's classic art--Gil's Chevrolet New and Used Cars and Trucks (Go Spartans).  The liberty bell is bas relief weathered wood.   I'm not sure what the symbolism of the greenstriped flag on the right was then, but I interpret as I want to...

July 31
Last night we saw this beetle in our garage.  The biggest beetle I've seen previously was a giant water beetle.  This one is at least as big...


I got up at 5 this morning and canned cherries before the heat set in--41 quarts...  Still lots of cherries in the trees...
The garden is producing lots of raspberries, broccoli, and green beans currently...



books read
Body Inc by Alan Dean Foster.   Slow pace, more a suspense novel with SF elements...
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