Our updates for all of you

Top photo was taken during our warm week of mid 70 temps. I drove out to the Kootenai Wildlife Refuge and took this and some other photos. From this angle you're looking West-North West and out over the now pretty dry wetlands of the refuge. The entire park is very large and is all you can see in the view (except the car, I'm sure somebody would have said something about that!) and more! Most of the flocks of geese have already headed South and the ones left have hopefully donned their flak vests since its not too much longer for hunting season. And actually to help prevent illegal hunting at the refuge it's illegal to stop and be out in the park during that time of hunting season. So no photos then. The rest of the year there are many walking, hiking and even a driving path in the refuge. The bottom photo is the day it opened of the "new" "Akin's Harvest Foods" that was till the last day of July, the old Safeway in town. It had only opened about

Although the date this says 'posted' is from a while back, I'm online to type about theses photos and get this posted for you to see today, October 12th! I'd uploaded these and the next post couple of photos fully intending to get right back to it in a day or so, it just didn't happen like that. Stacy's father took a trip to California to visit family out there and since he was gone (he's getting back tomorrow night) we've been very busy working at home as well as stuff going on at work. So it's been busy, busy, busy! Stacy left this morning to fly to Boise for meetings (again!) and will be back late tomorrow too. On to these photos; top one is actually on our property, just out back in the forest. The fern was just going yellow to gold then, on this fall morning, it is really golden and rust browns now just a couple of weeks later. Middle photo is a road a little over a mile away in the early evening that I liked with the late day sun on the Aspen

We're in Boise now, on my laptop it says its 68 back home, here it's around 80. Boise has everything California does except smog! Lots of construction, malls, traffic, and seems like this week hot weather too! But on our down here Thursday and Friday, and on our way back towards home next Friday, we got to see much of why we really like living in Idaho now. The top two photos were taken Thursday, the bottom two Friday. Top photo is from the Lewiston Grade overlook and shows the city of Lewiston, Idaho as well as the river and the valley around it. We'd stayed at the Clearwater Hotel and Indian Casino a little east of Lewiston on the Nez Perce reservation. The second photo is right at sunset and was the hilltop just across from the Clearwater and only gold with the sunset for a few minutes. Looked really nice though. A stop on Highway 95 North of Whitebird, Idaho, shows a steep valley and talks of the short war in the 1870's with the Nez Perce tribe in the area. Stacy

Mainly because it has been busy and the 11 day trip that starts almost any minute to Boise for the annual convention. A lot happening that we've been trying to get settled at least for the next 11 days, it has been difficult to have that work out. Stacy has been stressed because the committee she's on for the convention has been dropping out, at the 11th hour! Latest is the group secretary that emailed Stacy yesterday afternoon to say she was no longer going to attend, and could she deal with all her work too? So Stacy has been trying to get almost 200 name tags printed and cut, we'll need to stop at Staples on the way out and pick up the holders, we'll be reimbursed though!, and still meet with other people along the way to pick up things they want taken since they're flying to Boise. At home the last few weeks, we've been going through our storage building and pairing down stuff that we haven't for the most part gotten into since we moved up here in 2006.