Getting more Spring like
Yes it is! The days are quickly getting longer, the temps are into the mid 40s in the daytime, about a month early, and quite a lot of the snow has been melting fast, it looks like it may be a longish spring this year.
I noticed on the drive to work this morning that the recent rains at night and 40s in the daytime have gotten most of the snow gone in the valley on the farm fields we see every day. Last week I was amazed how they were still covered in so much snow to have them now barren of snow and already getting some green to them this week.
We've even had a couple of mostly sunny days! I'm annoyed that those days were sunny during the week with the weekends continuing to be stormy, rainy and or really windy. With the weather still not the greatest I haven't flown the Yuneec Q500+ since January 3rd. I have now flown the computer program "UAV Pilot" from Yuneec more than I've been able to fly the real aircraft.
I know though, soon enough, it will be sunny more often than not and I'll be getting the photos and videos I've been framing up in my mind around the town.
There's one shot in particular I plan on getting with the Q500, it is a photo I saw on a postcard that was at the Visitor's Center when we were working it.
It is a somewhat low aerial photo looking Northwest at an angle that at the time it was taken, and best I have been able to determine was the photo was taken in the 1970s, shows much of the "old" town in the one shot. The photo was taken before the very large US flag and Veteran's monument was set at the curve near the Library that now really anchors the town to those traveling through on Highway 95/2. I'm mainly wanting a sunny day for it!
Stacy and I attended our first local debate, and the County shows its "Red Neck"
Last week, on the 9th, we went to watch the debate of two of the three people vying for the elected position of County Sheriff in this area. It is an election year for the position with the voting in May. The two people that showed up are the two really wanting the chance at the job, the one that didn't show up was the current sheriff!
Even with him supposedly really running again, no one really knows if he is! He had told me last fall he wasn't going to run, then it was in the paper that he was. He didn't help his cause as he is more known as a person not actively involved in the running of the department and not adequately, if at all, dealing with the compounding issues of the department.
Both the people wanting the job are named Dave. Dave #1 is a lifelong member of the community, the ex-chief of police after a career of local law enforcement. In his retirement since 2008 he has become many things still connected to the law enforcement field.
Dave #2 has been in the area for 17 years after retiring from the Army in an enforcement field. He's still an active duty deputy working a beat. He's also the person we think would be the best fit for our area.
Dave-1 is locally a very popular guy but more politician now than COP. Dave-2 is still a COP, we have worked with him on calls for assistance for probationers, and his ideas on the changes necessary also seem to us to be the ones that would get the change the community, that knows what's going on anyway, to get rolling to be brought up to standards.
Of course, in a 'town' meeting, especially in an area like this, small and very rural, there will be people in attendance of dubious mental faculties. And there were some for this event too!
It unfortunately became pretty much a merry-go-round of a few 'citizens' asking stupid questions and then I guess thinking of new ones and getting in line again to have their chance to grill the candidates.
Questions asked didn't go so much towards the area crime problems you'd think, or the local drug problems, there is a big area drug problem in many places, North Idaho is just one of them.
Where we used to live in the high desert of Southern California, the drug problem there was meth and meth houses out in the vastness of the desert, in this area it is the resale of prescription drugs along with heroin and marijuana due to the area proximity to Canada, Montana and Washington.
No, many of the questions referred to the recent actions in rural Oregon where the bird sanctuary was taken over by the militia people from Nevada. Now settled with a death and arrests and "would you as a sheriff defy the US government if that happened here? Would you as the Sheriff protect the rights of us landowners".
Then, for a while, some scenarios were tossed around in an effort to get something 'quotable' from either person. Those two 'Daves' aren't stupid though and were, what I used to call when in Animal Control, governmentally vague, in their answers.
Then it was the loaded questions of the "Syrian refugees" and keeping "them" out. Unfortunately, for the citizens of this County, this has been a big deal the last few months with quite a lot of propaganda being sent out about refugee families being "quietly sent in and secretly set up by the Gov'ment' here in North Idaho, and soon to be a burden on this area since "we" can't take care of them".
There have been decrees set forth by the commissioners of some of the counties including this one stating how they represent their citizens in rejecting any Syrian settlements being established in Idaho, let alone the USA.
There was one guy that was really uneducated and fearful going on and on about how he "knows" on the East Coast where refugees are really being set up in communities, those refugees are dumping the US law for "Sharia Law". He started going on about how under Sharia Law "you can lop off your neighbor's head if you get mad at him!". And other Internet rumors that are to terrify an unprepared or unwilling to research the truth populace.
And so it went. In talking with a person I know that was there for the debate the next day, she said everything was "OK" and had been good until they let those "crazies" start talking! Those were questions for the County Commissioners and not two people running for the County Sheriff. I couldn't have agreed more.
The Commissioner's stance is still causing backlash in the local news too, with it being reported just this morning on the local radio that many of the area residents are concerned with the obvious racist declaration casting a bigoted pal on North Idaho, because when asked just yesterday by some citizens, the one Commissioner that was the main one taking the "keep them out stand" said he didn't think they were being racist in that declaration, other counties have done similarly, they are just protecting the citizens.
We'll just have to see what the future holds in North Idaho.
Til next post, Tad
Yes it is! The days are quickly getting longer, the temps are into the mid 40s in the daytime, about a month early, and quite a lot of the snow has been melting fast, it looks like it may be a longish spring this year.
I noticed on the drive to work this morning that the recent rains at night and 40s in the daytime have gotten most of the snow gone in the valley on the farm fields we see every day. Last week I was amazed how they were still covered in so much snow to have them now barren of snow and already getting some green to them this week.
We've even had a couple of mostly sunny days! I'm annoyed that those days were sunny during the week with the weekends continuing to be stormy, rainy and or really windy. With the weather still not the greatest I haven't flown the Yuneec Q500+ since January 3rd. I have now flown the computer program "UAV Pilot" from Yuneec more than I've been able to fly the real aircraft.
I know though, soon enough, it will be sunny more often than not and I'll be getting the photos and videos I've been framing up in my mind around the town.
There's one shot in particular I plan on getting with the Q500, it is a photo I saw on a postcard that was at the Visitor's Center when we were working it.
It is a somewhat low aerial photo looking Northwest at an angle that at the time it was taken, and best I have been able to determine was the photo was taken in the 1970s, shows much of the "old" town in the one shot. The photo was taken before the very large US flag and Veteran's monument was set at the curve near the Library that now really anchors the town to those traveling through on Highway 95/2. I'm mainly wanting a sunny day for it!
Stacy and I attended our first local debate, and the County shows its "Red Neck"
Last week, on the 9th, we went to watch the debate of two of the three people vying for the elected position of County Sheriff in this area. It is an election year for the position with the voting in May. The two people that showed up are the two really wanting the chance at the job, the one that didn't show up was the current sheriff!
Even with him supposedly really running again, no one really knows if he is! He had told me last fall he wasn't going to run, then it was in the paper that he was. He didn't help his cause as he is more known as a person not actively involved in the running of the department and not adequately, if at all, dealing with the compounding issues of the department.
Both the people wanting the job are named Dave. Dave #1 is a lifelong member of the community, the ex-chief of police after a career of local law enforcement. In his retirement since 2008 he has become many things still connected to the law enforcement field.
Dave #2 has been in the area for 17 years after retiring from the Army in an enforcement field. He's still an active duty deputy working a beat. He's also the person we think would be the best fit for our area.
Dave-1 is locally a very popular guy but more politician now than COP. Dave-2 is still a COP, we have worked with him on calls for assistance for probationers, and his ideas on the changes necessary also seem to us to be the ones that would get the change the community, that knows what's going on anyway, to get rolling to be brought up to standards.
Of course, in a 'town' meeting, especially in an area like this, small and very rural, there will be people in attendance of dubious mental faculties. And there were some for this event too!
It unfortunately became pretty much a merry-go-round of a few 'citizens' asking stupid questions and then I guess thinking of new ones and getting in line again to have their chance to grill the candidates.
Questions asked didn't go so much towards the area crime problems you'd think, or the local drug problems, there is a big area drug problem in many places, North Idaho is just one of them.
Where we used to live in the high desert of Southern California, the drug problem there was meth and meth houses out in the vastness of the desert, in this area it is the resale of prescription drugs along with heroin and marijuana due to the area proximity to Canada, Montana and Washington.
No, many of the questions referred to the recent actions in rural Oregon where the bird sanctuary was taken over by the militia people from Nevada. Now settled with a death and arrests and "would you as a sheriff defy the US government if that happened here? Would you as the Sheriff protect the rights of us landowners".
Then, for a while, some scenarios were tossed around in an effort to get something 'quotable' from either person. Those two 'Daves' aren't stupid though and were, what I used to call when in Animal Control, governmentally vague, in their answers.
Then it was the loaded questions of the "Syrian refugees" and keeping "them" out. Unfortunately, for the citizens of this County, this has been a big deal the last few months with quite a lot of propaganda being sent out about refugee families being "quietly sent in and secretly set up by the Gov'ment' here in North Idaho, and soon to be a burden on this area since "we" can't take care of them".
There have been decrees set forth by the commissioners of some of the counties including this one stating how they represent their citizens in rejecting any Syrian settlements being established in Idaho, let alone the USA.
There was one guy that was really uneducated and fearful going on and on about how he "knows" on the East Coast where refugees are really being set up in communities, those refugees are dumping the US law for "Sharia Law". He started going on about how under Sharia Law "you can lop off your neighbor's head if you get mad at him!". And other Internet rumors that are to terrify an unprepared or unwilling to research the truth populace.
And so it went. In talking with a person I know that was there for the debate the next day, she said everything was "OK" and had been good until they let those "crazies" start talking! Those were questions for the County Commissioners and not two people running for the County Sheriff. I couldn't have agreed more.
The Commissioner's stance is still causing backlash in the local news too, with it being reported just this morning on the local radio that many of the area residents are concerned with the obvious racist declaration casting a bigoted pal on North Idaho, because when asked just yesterday by some citizens, the one Commissioner that was the main one taking the "keep them out stand" said he didn't think they were being racist in that declaration, other counties have done similarly, they are just protecting the citizens.
We'll just have to see what the future holds in North Idaho.
Til next post, Tad
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