THE FAMILY GNOME

The gnome in this photo resides here at the homestead, but he hasn’t always lived here. When I first came to know him, he lived in the yard of 534 Brown Avenue, Orofino, where I grew up. I was told that he was there in 1945 when the Walrath family moved into the house. Holding a fishing pole in his right hand, he sat in the rock garden presiding over the fish pond. Yes, there was a fish pond there. Mother said she had it drained and filled with rock before I was born. “Why?” I asked incredulously. “Because I didn’t want any baby girls to fall into it and drown,” Mother replied with conviction.

So, the gnome sat around the “side yard” for many years, but about the time I began junior high, I asked if I could have a garden of my own. Mother was delighted and designated the space under the kitchen window as my garden. Every summer until I finished at U-I, I kept that little garden. And the little elf gnome came to live there. He was badly faded by the 1960s, so I painted him, and it came to feel like he was mine. When Mother moved from the house in 1991, she suggested I might take him to my house. “Maybe he should stay here,” I said. But both Mother and Joni shook their heads. “No, you take him,” Joni said.

When we sold our house on Broadview Drive in Lewiston, the gnome was among the first things I loaded into the pick-up to go to the farm. Now he sits in my little shade garden. Once again he is badly faded. But today is his lucky day! I brought little jars of paint with me to give him new life.

DARE WE HOPE IT'S SUMMER?

It’s been a cold spring without the benefit of much rainfall – just drab cold days. But yesterday (Thursday) dawned warm and bright with the look, feel, and smell of summer. Temps are predicted to be in the 90s by Saturday. This signals quite a change when I think that just last weekend my laundry at the farm wouldn’t air dry in temps under 50. Why, not only could we still see snow on the distant mountains, I’m sure it did snow somewhere regionally last weekend. With the sudden high temps, a flood watch is in effect at Orofino from 2:00 today (Friday) until Sunday afternoon. Despite this spell of warm weather, I know better than to take the electric blanket off the bed until July.

Mike loves the great outdoors in the summertime. The change in weather brings changes in routine for us. When I awoke at 5:20 a.m., Mike was already awake and had opened all the windows in order to bring the house temp down as much possible. At 67 inside, about 8:00, he closed the windows. I made note of the times because he then washed the windows. I can just feel his eagerness to be out and doing.

The summer routine is more difficult for me because I love to sew, crochet, read, and prefer to do those things inside where the sun isn’t quite so bright. If I’m going to be outside – say to weed or ride bike -- I prefer to get those things done before it’s hot. And while I love to cook, I don’t love to do it in the summertime. It doesn’t take long to exhaust my repertoire of hot weather entrees either. Anyway, we’ve had few concerns about the summer routine until now.

Did anyone else hear about those huge beetles that were delivered to Pennsylvania? I wonder if Douglas knows anything about those. They sounded truly disgusting! [No photo available] KW

Excitement in Philly!

Hello All,

I arrived safely in Philadelphia on Wednesday and have been enjoying the different architecture. I don't have a picture from my collection yet since I left the transfer cord at home. Here's a photo from the Internet of my Exciting Thing #2. Here is the full list of exciting things from yesterday:

1. My first Philly cheese steak--YUM!
2. An old man who had peed his pants.
3. Philadelphia City Hall - the coolest building I've seen in the states so far!
4. A fat lady run over and trapped underneath a utility van. We watched the fire department lift the van on hydraulics to get her out.
5. A businessman who got out of his car just to yell at the numskull in the vehicle behind him who was making it hard to park.
6. A guy on a unicycle with 3 foot wheel busting through crowds on the sidewalk.
7. Cars PARKED in the center turn lane of a road (not double-parked...PARKED).
8. A Maxfield Parrish work replicated in grand scale with Tiffany stained glass.
9. 29 bottle caps found! Murray has coined the city, "Filthadelphia."

FORGETFULNESS

The down side to a life of traveling back and forth between two places is that we find ourselves leaving behind at one house something that we really need at the other. Last weekend we had the presence of mind to take the USB cord for the camera to the farm so that we could download photos from the camera to the computer and thus be able to illustrate the blogs we write there. Not only did we leave the cord at the farm but we didn’t transfer the photos we took last weekend to the thumb drive so that we could have them in town. I had meant to illustrate several blog posts with the photos. Without photos, I can’t even think of topics! And of course, we have no means to download any photos we have taken this week.

Mike’s shoulder seems to be healing nicely. At his follow-up appointment today, he was told he should continue to wear the splint for the rest of the month. But – he can now ride his bicycle without the splint for an hour or so a day. Between you and me, he doesn’t let that shoulder hold him back from anything he wants to do. Today he and Ken went on a hike in the Waha area.

I walked up Critchfield today and found an interesting bottle cap -- Twisted Tea. I've never seen that. What is it? -- some sort of hard tea? Inside the cap it says, "Be a little twisted."

COMPUTER PROBLEMS

Just a quick blog from town to let you all know we seem to be experiencing some technical difficulties with our computer. We took it in for diagnostics and repair today. It's back home now but still hangs up. So, if circumstances are such that we disappear for awhile, you'll understand that I'm thinking of you but unable to update.

Over the course of the weekend I heard from all five of the Warnock children. That was wonderful. Thanks for your thoughtfulness.

Looking ahead, Hallie leaves Seattle on Wednesday to visit Murray and family in Philadelphia. I look forward to hearing all about her visit. (Actually, she's on a secret mission to bring back pictures of Douglas for my photo album.) I wonder if she'll find bottlecaps and if they will be different than those we have "on this side of the mountain." I found three yesterday while Mike stopped to geocache. KW

Happy Mother's Day!

Unfortunately, I don't have any electronic photos of myself or the brothers as wee little cute things to post on this day as a tribute to Mom. I went searching for a photo of an animal baby, and look what I found! :)

Although I can't be with Mom today and probably won't get to talk to her due to poor cell service, I will do many things with thanks to her. I will make my bed with special corners the way Mom showed me. I'll slow cook a pot roast just the way Mom does. I'll wear the apron she sewed for me. I'll fold up the afghan on my lap that I made because she taught me how to crochet. When this day is through, I might just catch a movie that makes me weep a little (whether happy or sad) because sometimes Mom weeps a little at movies, and after all, I AM a bit like my mother. :)

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!!! We three baby animals love you very much!

HIKE TO LITTLE CANYON

Mike announced that since he had worked hard yesterday and completed chores, today he would take it easy and go for a hike. I volunteered to go along for two reasons: 1) I didn’t think he should go alone because of his shoulder, and 2) I am also interested in the topography here. Turns out I’m sure he would have been much better off on his own – probably could have done it in half the time. Leaving our property through the northwest boundary, we worked our way to the bottom of Little Canyon on property owned by the Little Canyon Hunting Preserve. While our trek wasn’t particularly treacherous, it surely wasn’t easy. Our route appeared to be an abandoned road, now overgrown with bramble bushes and other vegetation that make it difficult to traverse. Where we couldn’t find the old road, we used the deer trails. As we neared the bottom, six affection-starved horses eyed us with interest while keeping their distance. We came out on a shotgun practice range at the edge of a road running through the bottom. We had descended 1,000 feet in about 1/2 mile horizontal distance.

I can’t tell you how long we walked in descent – perhaps an hour -- and that wasn’t easy. Now we had to climb back out and the steepness that was behind me as I descended loomed in front to taunt me. I admit it – I was already tired. Mike, of course, needed no refreshment and was ready to climb. We agreed that he would go ahead and I would climb at my own pace. “I can make it to that rock up there,” I would say to myself, then choose another landmark when I reached the rock. I retreated into thought to keep from thinking about the climb. I mentally cut potatoes into our Swiss steak casserole from last night and made a seasoned gravy to pour over it. When we came to the place where our trail intersected the one on the other side of the ravine, we crossed over and hiked that trail. We were now moving in the wrong direction – away from our place -- but we were curious about this old road. We believe it to be the old road to Peck, perhaps the route that the Dobsons used to reach their homesteads. The road is now abandoned and just exists as a trail, largely unused. But alas! It did not afford a better way to get back to the farm, so we retraced to the intersection and then hiked on to the farm. In the end we somehow lost track of our path and used steep deer trails to re-enter our property. Of course, Nellie hiked with us and covered much more territory than we did. I envied her her four legs.

We were out about four hours. I was exhausted! Mike made us a bite to eat. EEEEK! I just got a tick out of my hair!