July 2013 – Page 2 – Bus Driver Jim

A Hundred Feet

I didn’t mention this in today’s post but I almost bought the farm coming back from Ashton across that beautiful farmland. The road is two lanes and hilly with a speed limit of 65mph. I was coming up one of those hills and was about a hundred feet from the crest when a large red pickup came flying over the top, in my lane. I was doing 65 and he had to be doing much more than that as I could see daylight under his tires. If I had been at the top of that hill, well, I wouldn’t be writing this…

As it turned out, a hundred feet was enough. I pride myself on what Steph calls my cat-like reflexes and they paid off as I swung my truck to the right, completely out of the lane in a split second as he went flying by. At that point I’m still climbing the hill but just not on the road and as I pulled her back in at the top I saw a vehicle on my left making a right turn onto a country road. The idiot had passed that vehicle at the top of a hill with no concern of what was coming up the hill in the other lane.

It dawned on me that I was really lucky to be alive so I did an adrenaline check. To my surprise, there was absolutely none. I had simply performed the correct maneuver to save my ass, and now on with the drive. Not a single bead of sweat or an added heartbeat to deal with. I wonder if this reaction comes from age, experience, or just the fact that the number of miles I’ve driven in my life is in the millions and nothing affects me anymore.

So live your life to the fullest as the end may only be a hundred feet away…

SlideShow (A Hundred Feet)

Chocolate Moose

I drove across the beautiful farmland between Felt and Ashton this morning to visit a little place called the Chocolate Moose Royale. I had two objectives, enjoy a cinnamon roll and retrieve my Blue Chair. I achieved both, and more.

The lovely lady working the store this morning told me the cinnamon rolls wouldn’t be out of the oven for 10 minutes. Darn ;-) So, I had some coffee and we had a great chat. It turns out she’s one of several folks who volunteer to work here while they try to turn a profit. She’s also the wife of an engineer for our local power company.

The roll was hot and delicious, and this is coming from a guy who doesn’t do sweets. The place is charming and if you locals haven’t gotten over here yet, you should.

Thanks again to Christin and Patrick for dropping my chair off here!

SlideShow (Chocolate Moose)

Blue Chair

I nice couple from California and their baby rolled into the campground last night and shared the space with me. Patrick whipped up a fire in the main fire pit and within no time they were eating steak and baked potato, without a grill. I was impressed! I saw him put the potatoes in the coals wrapped in foil but I missed how he cooked the steak.

They were kind enough to share their fire with me and we hung out until dark. I got up early today and proceeded to drive right off without my blue chair. As I was preparing this, Christin left a comment that connected us :-)

SlideShow (Blue Chair)

Mud Fishing

I arrived at Mud Lake around noon to attempt some cat-fishing. Obviously I had to wait for evening so I scoped the place out and setup my spot. This is the first time I’ve had my new rig out so I spent a few hours experimenting with the very low water levels at the lake.

Around 1700 I had a worm on a bobber out in the middle of a school of fish and I felt one take it just as Steph called me on my cell. We talked a bit and then I reeled in a small trout. It had swallowed the hook deep and as I pulled it out I heard the fish make a painful sound. I had hurt it and I felt terrible! It hit the water swimming hard but I hope it can eventually eat normally again.

Suddenly, as if the fishing gods were scolding me, a thunderstorm rolled in hard, sending me scrambling. Hey, I’m sorry I hurt the fish! Ok?

Now I’m hunkered down at the back of my truck writing this post and working on a cocktail. I am going to consider the successful transmission of this post my accomplishment for the evening :-)

SlideShow (Mud Fishing)

Mud Lake

Today I’m driving 82.6 miles west of here to Mud Lake for a little cat-fishing. If I spend the night there I’ll try to hotspot my phone and post some pictures of my catch :-)

Firepit

Riley and his friend Jake built a firepit in our back forty several years ago, that we’ve never used since, until last night. Steph’s sisters requested a fiery pit of goodness so we obliged. My co-worker Karen dropped by and good times evolved :-)

SlideShow (Firepit)

Sisters

The quiet of our deck has been shattered, the sisters are in town!

You know you want to see the picture that caused this reaction, don’t you! Ok, Here.

Tori’s In Town

Meet Victoria! She and her grandmother Betty have arrived and they will be staying with us for a while. Steph’s sisters are also here for a couple of days and it should be great fun!

Tatoshine

I came across this small potato vodka distillery yesterday, sitting out in the middle of a potato crop disguised as some sort of watering device. Very clever!

For my friends outside of Idaho, these are russet potatoes. You can tell by the white flowers, where red potatoes have purple flowers.

I like potato vodka made with any color potato so I sampled a bit of this russet stuff while I was here, and it was mighty fine!

The Snake

It still amazes me that I can drive less than fifty miles from our house and see views like this of the mighty Snake River. I came down through Swan Valley yesterday to check out the Ririe Reservoir for fishing and of course passed the Snake. Since I’m cat-fishing and not fly-fishing I just paused to photographically reflect.

I wasn’t that impressed with the Reservoir so I drove on to Sportsman’s Warehouse and stocked my tackle box. I also picked up parts for my catfish catching contraption, which I might as well just call The Snake, and took them all home and assembled it. This is my version of the Santee Cooper Rig but I’ve added some bells by the floater.

My most prolific blog commenter Betty is arriving here on Friday along with Steph’s sisters Sandy and Wendy, and Sandy’s young daughter Victoria. Fun times this weekend and fishing will wait until Monday. Betty and Tori will be staying with us for a while! :-)

SlideShow (The Snake)

Our Skunk

We had a skunk enter our garage this morning. We couldn’t find it and assumed it had left before we shut the garage door and went on with our day.

I returned mid-afternoon and nothing came scampering out when I opened the door so I spent the afternoon in the garage assembling my fishing tackle. After dinner Steph found some skunk poop and I cleaned it up. Later, she went to move the lawn mower in the garage and discovered that the skunk was alive and hiding underneath it.

I hooked the pressure washer up to the hose as Steph slowly pushed the lawn mower out into the driveway. On my mark she pulled the mower over backwards and I aimed the stream at the skunk as it came rushing out. It was a pretty good sized animal and took off through the trees and into our back forty.

Bottom line: It spent all day in our garage, I was within 6 feet of it for more than an hour, and it never sprayed…

And yes, that’s skunk shit…

Gone Fishing

Entering my second summer of not working, it’s time to get reel. Traveling is expensive and I have no income for two months. I worked hard up through June to stock up some resources but there’s not enough to just travel at will. So, I have taken advantage of the fact that I’ve lived here more than five years and I’m over 65. I just bought an Idaho Senior/Resident hunting and fishing license at Corner Drug for $11.75 and I can now fish (or hunt) anywhere in the State until the end of the year.

When we first moved here my sister treated Steph and I to a two day fly fishing class. After bouncing a piece of cloth off the female instructors thigh from fifty feet for a half an hour (to her disdain) I realized I could handle a fly rod, but I’m just not into it. Around here it’s the golden sport but it’s too pretentious for me, and you have to release the damned trout! That’s not fishing.

Today I’m heading down through Swan Valley to check out Ririe Reservoir. I’ll fish there for a while to flesh out my new spinning rig and then head to Sportsman Warehouse in Idaho Falls to grab whatever else I need. I’m really after catfish so I’m hoping SW has a Santee, it looks cool! Ah wait, I’ve got to get the skunk out of the garage first…

BDJ Photos

If I ever opened my own photography studio (not likely) this would be the logo. I’ve owned expensive Canon and Nikon rigs and a couple of mid-range digital ones but my current little point and shoot is pretty sweet.

I bought my Canon PowerShot A1300 because it’s got a view-finder, which is rare these days, but I never use the thing now. The display on the back is bright enough and it has guide lines for adjusting the horizontal. It fits in my front pocket, starts up quickly and I can shoot it one-handed. What’s not to like?

The only issue I’m encountering is the lack of imaging tools when I’m on the road. My desktop computer has the speed and power to tweak the images for publication but my mobile computers don’t have that ability. Just in case you noticed…

Piper’s Kisses

A most amazing thing happened today between our cat Piper, and me. If you give an animal unconditional love and prove to them that they can trust you 100%, they can give it back. Since Piper has come into our lives we have bonded solidly. I spent a winter hunkered down with her while Steph was gone and I saved her life during that time by getting her to the Vet in time to treat a horrible infection.

She totally gives up her belly when I brush her and I place gentle kisses in the soft part and whisper I love you. During the day when I come home I find where she’s sleeping, kiss her on the forehead and tell her I love her.

Ok, yes I have a girlfriend and I should probably be doing this to her but she would most assuredly freak out!

Today, Steph started up the weed-whacker outside and I watched Piper waddle her fat self to the back part of the house because she can’t handle the noise. A while later I went looking for her and found her under a chair in our bedroom. I got down on the floor and petted her, stroked her belly for a bit and then sent two air kisses her way. You know, when you pucker your lips and make that sound…

Here’s the amazing part. She looked me in the eye and sent two kisses back. Her mouth actually puckered up each time, a sound was made, and I felt her love.

Launched

Steph finally got her sponsored hot-air balloon ride on the last day and at the last minute yesterday. Her old point and shoot did quite well.

Click the photo below to show all 58 shots or run the SlideShow.