Well, it IS an online journal

Just wanted to remember a strange thing that happened the other day...what better than writing it down?

I actually saw a common fly die from natural causes. Sitting there at my desk, this fly landed on its back at the corner of my desk and buzzed for about two seconds. It laid there dead. Of course I poked it, then gingerly picked it up. Gone.

Minutes before it was flying near the window, then BAM, just died. Bizarre.

I saw that once before with a pigeon near Fort Missoula. It "towered" (flew straight up in the air like birds do when...I have heard...it gets shot in the head.) It landed alongside the road I was driving like a sack of rocks. There was no way it could have been shot, entirely too open for a sniper with an air rifle.

Makes a guy wonder. But interesting nonetheless.

July Happenings

Unfortunately, not too much has been going on...except everything that's been going on!

I did go up and got about three quarts of huckleberries last weekend. It was pleasant and relaxing.

I spent last week in the woods marking timber for an upcoming sale. It's an interesting prescription in that it's for research. They are replicating a study they put in up at Priest Lake...making openings to facilitate white pine planting. The interesting part is the "free selection" that goes on in the strips and in the areas between the strips. Looking for the best and biggest trees, maintaining 50% canopy cover...but clumping and spacing like an irregular shelterwood. This really leaves the decision to the person with the paint gun in their hand...and everyone's idea is different. The outcome is a really interesting landscape. It's almost like being a silviculturist, a forester, and a landscape architect all at the same time!

But, it was extremely hot....upper 90s all week. And, wearing a pack full of paint (about 30 lbs), going up an down the hill, in an area simply INFESTED with yellowjackets and bald-faced hornets for 9 hours a day makes things fairly interesting. I got stung four times the other day. Once was while trying to take a "break" away from the group. These bald-faced bastards waited until I had my trousers around my ankles and in half-crouch before they decided to launch their attack! It would have been fairly funny to watch me trying to run through the woods with my pants around my ankles, swatting at the air! We walked through numerous nests...luckily, simply putting some quick distance between you and the nest works well. Makes a guy kinda skittish though.

I watched a bird jump off the ground, grab a huckleberry off a bush, and then fall back to the forest floor...using his weight to pop the berry off the stem. Over and over. It was pretty interesting, I guess you had to be there. Just one of those things a person experiences with a lot of time in the woods.

One late evening, we all went swimming. The water is PERFECT right now!

Lucca enjoying the sunset (and waiting for us to throw the bird)

The power has been going out at my place a lot lately. Four hours at a time! All that with bluebird days and no wind...I can't figure out what's going on. And after a 12 hour work day, not being able to simply cook dinner is frustrating. So the other night I donned the headlamp, broke out the dragonfly, and cooked breakfast for dinner.

Bacon!

Taters on the way

Eggs of course

All on a backpacking stove!

I was sitting in the office yesterday and I swear I felt a concussion. Didn't think much of it, but later heard firetrucks and saw cops racing down Sherman. Finally getting down by O'Shays I thought they were just closing the street for some protest that was crossing the street. (Still don't know what that was about.) But the concussion was a guy who had just filled a propane tank and put it in the front seat of his car. Then, he lit a cigarette! The car was a fireball but luckily someone pulled him out and he ended up being fine. Interesting place, this town.

Sarah's folks are in town, we met for the first time last night. It was a nice mellow dinner at the brewery...a perfect sunset and a perfect atmosphere for a meeting like that. Kind of a big deal! We are planning to do a lot of things while they are here...picking huckleberries, going out on Fernan in the Jon boat, dinner cruise on the lake, Art in the Park...and so on. Busy!

Unfortunately my landlord wants to show my place to other potential inmates...err, tenants this weekend. She knows I've been working long hours all week. She knows Sarah's folks are in town and I'll be busy. She knows that it's still three weeks before I move out. I cannot imagine that she's that hard up for money that their can't be a small time where no on is in this place. Grr, whatever. The point is that I have had to find time to make the house presentable (just for her) and make sure all the valuable stuff is hidden (guns and whatnot) in between everything else. Meanwhile, more people are in the B&B and they have 4 or 5 young children. Sleeping in this morning? Negative...those kids have a lot of energy and were on my deck and outside my bedroom window running around, slamming doors, and yelling at 0700 this morning! Then the landlord was on my deck at 0830! Then the noisy hose got turned on at 0845. Ugh, I don't think she understands the stresses this all puts on a guy.

I'm living on Sarah's words: "Anytime something over there happens that pisses you off, just remember that you'll be out in a couple weeks." Really good line to help me through. Helps me just smile and roll with it.

Now, I must attend to the house. Luckily I got a lot done yesterday, so this morning will be dusting, floors, and miscellaneous straightening up.

Upper Priest Lake - FAIL

After a lengthy going-away party for my boss Friday night, I awoke...kinda...groggy. My plan for the weekend was to head to Priest Lake, then paddle the canoe up the Thorofare to upper Priest. It's a short 2-mile stretch of crystal clear water, so I thought it'd be no big deal. Scenery, lake fishing, quiet canoe trip, solo = a neat trip in my head.

Loaded up the canoe and was on the road by 10:15. At 11:00 I had only made it to about Chilco! 45 minutes to get 17 miles...on HIGHWAY 95. Ugh, it wasn't starting out good. Finally made it to Priest River and headed up the 35 miles or so to the lake. Turns out they're doing construction on THAT road too...so instead of being able to cruise at 60 mph, it was restricted to 45 mph. Hmmm...after reaching the lake I still had another 30 minutes or so of driving. Taking a lot longer than I thought. I reached the small town of Priest Lake and found masses upon masses of people obviously up there for the annual "Huckleberry Festival." The ONE weekend out of the summer that they have it is the one I decide to try and find solitude on a canoe trip.

Again..hmmm, not looking so good. As I poked further and further up the lake, the crowds seemed to intensify. Every turnout had at least 10 cars jammed in it. The traffic was unbelievable for that area. Every campground had a little sign out front that said it was full. "No worries, I'll be able to get away from people by putting in a little paddling" I thought quietly to myself in between yelling at folks tailgating me. So I made it to the trail that led down to the lake. Wait a minute...a PORTAGE? I figured there would be some nice little ramp / access so I wouldn't have to carry my weighty "scanoe" to the water. (It doesn't even have a yoke.) I walked down the portage thinking maybe it'd be short...negative...about 1/4 of a mile and a decent grade to boot! Got to the water and the first thing I saw was a party barge with a bunch of people on it headed to the upper lake...with the radio BLARING! Not exactly the solitude I was in the mood for. No good.

Drink a beer and think about things.

While thinking...I happened to notice that I had to park in the street just to stop at this large parking lot. Looking around, I counted about 30 cars...all there for the same reason. To get to the upper lake. Hmmm...I wonder if it'll be crowded up there?

Drove down to the campground which, as it turns out, was CLOSER TO THE LAKE than the portage. I'm thinking someone in the planning staff wasn't thinking too clearly when they came up with that idea. But, lo and behold, there was another canoe access point! I cruised down to look at that. Short trail, easy to drag the canoe to the water. But getting down there through the throngs of beachgoers and motorboats cluttering the beach was going to be an issue. It was still a 50 yard drag...literally and figuratively. The plethora of motorboats in the lake was almost amazing...and their wakes combined with the gusty wind was making the water pretty choppy. No good.

Drink another beer and think about things.

I turned around and figured I'd circle all the way around the lake then come up on the other side and see how that access looked. However, I made it to Nordman...again being tailed and cut off over and over...when I decided I was NOT in the mood for that scene. And what happens if I was to push through all the folks, play slalom with other boaters in the Thorofare, then not be able to find a campsite up there? It would be about 6 o'clock and 2+ miles in with no chance to come back to the car campgrounds to sleep. (Oh, and they say the camping areas in upper Priest are "free" but they still charge you $7 / day to PARK THERE.) No good.

So I did what seemed to make the most sense. I put the hammer down and drove the 2.5 hours back to Coeur d'Alene. All in all, I drove for a little more than five hours for a 1/2 mile walk.

I am not pleased. Perhaps tomorrow I can go find a secluded patch of huckleberries and try THAT on for size.

By the way, can someone please tell me why, when people are on a road one lane in each direction...that they go 10 mph under the speed limit. THEN, when the road opens up to three lanes providing an unencumbered passing lane...all of a sudden they're doing at least 5 mph OVER the speed limit? I just don't understand that at all.

Interesting side note:
My landlord has had someone in the "B&B" behind my apartment for the past week. (There has been someone in there for basically the whole summer. Many strangers, with unlockable access to MY apartment and the opportunity to "share" my deck and look in MY windows....all summer. That isn't a crime waiting to happen.) Anyways, I came home and there was a note on the door and a new car out front..."Tom, I have people staying at the B&B tonight." With her daughter, son-in-law, child, and dog staying upstairs with her for the past two weeks as well...it just cements in my brain that I am living in a f***ing hotel! No good.

As soon as I got most of the stuff out of the truck...who shows up...but my landlord. She has a great ability at being here whenever I'm around. I used that opportunity and my pissed off state of mind to tell her I was going to be moving...basically giving her my 30 days notice on a lease that hasn't been signed in two years, but was only "good" for one year. (Being a nice guy.) She asked when I'd be leaving and I told her I'd begin moving out around the 8th of August into a nice stand-alone house...downtown...gorgeous...with Sarah. I then said, "and I figure we'll just pro-rate my rent for however long I'm here in August.
SHE ACTUALLY HAD AN ISSUE WITH THAT AND WANTED ME TO PAY FOR THE FULL MONTH!!! She said, "Well Tom, most of the time landlords need 30 days notice." I politely (beginning to shake at this point) told her that it WAS basically 30 days. (Let's see...July 18th to August 15th...)

After I played the game of explaining why she wasn't making any sense and kind of being a bitch about trying to just grab an extra $800 from me, we finally came to an agreement that I would pay 1/2 of August. (Which, when one thinks about it...is PRO-RATING!!) Ugh, she's a different critter.

I am so glad I'm leaving here.

I'm tired of today.