We've Moved!

We found a wonderfully built, nice little house to move into. Julie and I began this past weekend and we will continue moving throughout the month of January. Most of it will be moved this week, with Jeff and I getting the heavy stuff this Saturday. Jeff has a nice bedroom, a clean, large bathroom, and a room for our computers and his video systems and TV. The front room and our bedroom are nice. The only real draw-back is how small the kitchen is. There is more counter space than the last place had, but much less cabinet space. It does have a nice, large pantry, however.

Here is the Living Room.

Here is the master bedroom looking south and then north.

Wind, Snow, and Icicles

We are in the midst of our first, real, winter storm. The high temperature between Friday afternoon, December 28th , and now, Monday at noon, December 31st, has been 22.3 degrees, with a low of -1.4 degrees. As a matter of fact, church was canceled yesterday because people in the outlaying areas couldn’t get to the meetings. On the back side of the house we just moved into is an icicle of biblical proportions. Literally, it is approaching 6 foot in length and has a diameter exceeding that of my arm. It has been formed from snow melting around vent pipes on the roof, flowing down the roof, under the existing snow, (thus it is insulated and stays warm enough to flow down the roof,) and then re-freezing as it runs over the eave of the house. If the temperature doesn’t jump up over freezing in the near future, this icicle should reach the ground fairly soon. It’s completely amazing how quickly these melt. One day at 35 degree or more and all the icicles are gone, even the big ones like this. We’ll keep you updated.

This picture is looking out our back door. Normally there is an incredible view of the Camas Prairie and on up the mountains to Iron Mountain, the highest mountain around us. We couldn’t see across the neighbor’s yard with the snow coming down and the wind blowing. Of course, the City roads are not plowed on Sundays, so getting around was very, very tough. The wind picked up the snow and drifted it across the roads so that they just disappeared from sight, and in places, they would be 18” to 24” deep in snow.

Jeff, Julie, and I went to see a movie on Friday night; August Rush. It was so incredible, we left a Christmas party early on Saturday night so we could see the movie one more time. The movie critics panned it terribly. I found it litterally spoke to my heart. A muscian had to have written it. I could totally relate and understand it at a deeply personal level. When I read what the critics had to say about it I thought of the words of Nephi: "Wo unto them that ... revile against that which is good, and say that it is of no worth... For behold at that day shall [the Devil] rage in the hearts of the children of men, and stir them up to anger against that which is good." (2 Nephi 28: 15, 20.) I think we're seeing the fulfilment of this directly in front of us; something wholesome, fun, and spiritually moving is just torn apart by the critics. EVERYONE NEEDS TO SEE THIS MOVIE.

One of the Reasons We Love Idaho.

Today, on our way home from Twin Falls, coming up out of Gooding and heading into the mountains separating the Gooding Valley from the Camas Prairie, we encountered what at first looked like a few Antelope. We stopped and took some pictures of them. As we drove about 200 yards further, it became aparent that there were a lot of Antelope. I got out of the car and walked over to the top of a little rise about 250 yards from the road, from there I could easily see 300 antelope scattered across the adjoining hillside and down through a little valley leading eastward. They were out in the sun grazing on the grass that hadn't been covered with snow yet on this side of the mountains. It was simply spectacular. I had never seen an antelope in the wild prior to coming to Idaho. I have never seen that many of any wild mammal all in one place at one time. It was awesome.

Let's set Xmas Straight.

I can dstinctly remember when I was a little boy seeing my mother write "Xmas" on something and asking her what it meant. She said, "It's just a quick way to write Christmas." I thought it was like a secret code that my mother knew. I thought it was the coolest thing I had ever seen.

Several years later, I happened to read a Christmas short story containing the following lines in it:

She glanced at the banner hanging from the ceiling—Merry Xmas!—and sadly added to me, “The world has taken Christ right out of Christmas.”

I immediately thought to myself, "I will never use that abbreviation again. I wanted toh onor Christ in the season and show the world that I loved and worshiped Him.

A couple of years later, I learned the truth behind the abbrviation and discovered that in actuality, the X is not an X, but instead, is the 22nd letter of the Greek alphabet "Chi." It is the first letter used in the Greek word "Christos", or Annointed, as in the chosen King. As in Jesus Christ. The faithful Christians of the first cerntury were persecuted far beyond what we can comprehend. (Think of the saints vs. the lions for one thing.)

It was physically dangerous and life-threatening to be a Christian. The early Saints began tattooing Chi, which looks like the English "X" (see the above greek "Chi,") on the lower palm of their right hands to signal to other Christians that they were believers. This way they could identify each other and thereby feel safe around each other.

Once the Romans discovered this tattoo, it became an instantant method of rounding the Christians up to dispose of them. Litterally hundreds and hundreds, if not thousands, of early Christians died for the honor of having the initial of Christ on their right hand.

In honor of those masacred, the early church used the initial "Chi" when writing Christ, not as a means of shortening it, but as an honor to those who died for and because of the faith, thus honoring the Savior and the faithful martyrs at the same time.

I have chosen to not write "Xmas" when I write about Christmas, but I have chosen to thank the Lord for the faithful forefathers who gave their lives for their faith whenever I read it.

The Cold Has Arrived!!!

On Thursday of this past week, Julie and I went out to the car to go to work; it was one degree outside. By the time wee had gotten into work (1 hour and 15 minutes later,) it had risen all the way to three degrees. (Now that's Fahrenheit, not Celcius.) The clodest temperature in Fairfield this week was -9 degrees. (By the way, just in case you are sitting there and wondering, that's very, very cold.) Whether we want it or not - Winter has arrived and there is no turning back now.

On a more positive note, Christmas is around the corner as well. Our little town has decorated itself and it looks wonderful, especially at night. Could you imagine an Oregon town hangingg christmas lights, weaths, snowflakes, and bells throughout town. The little high school also has a Secret Santa drawing. All of the teachers and kidsinthe high school enter their names and get drawn. With Oregon being the "Land of the Liberals," could you imagine the monsterous uproar that would be caused by something like this? The ACLU would be here filing suits and injunctions. One more reason we're happy to be here in Idaho. The freedom to worship without crack-pot, liberal, nut-cases making a huge stink about everything.

More Abandoned Idaho.

Sitting on the Camas Prairie all by itself, 2 miles south and 4 miles east of Fairfield, in the middle of a farmer's field, is the original Camas County School Building. It is very interesting as it is made of hand-cast, hand laid-up adobe. To be honest with you - it is a scarey place to stand in and around as it moves, creeks, and groans loudly with the wind. It appears that there are very minimal foundations, which long ago began to crack and break, as evidenced by the voids and cracks criss-crossing the block wall. What is amazing, is that most of the the adobe is in great shape; like they could be re-used today.

You can see the big North wall boarded up now. It is a huge glass wall made of possibly 100 or more 2' x 2' panes. There are only two or three missing now. It was a single room school with a captains-ladder in the middle leading up into the bellfry above. The old original ladder is in bits and peices with only the sides still whole and semi-usable. I'm not sure when this buidling stopped being used. The old unused school building here in town has a date on the front of 1897, so use of this one would have been discontinued about that time, I would imagine. On a warmer day, I will spend more time here and get better pictures of the adobe to share with you.

Rocks in front of schools.

Jeff and I have noticed since we got here that every single high school, and many middle and elementary schools, have huge painted rocks sitting in front of them. Camas County High School has two of them; one near the front of the school and one near the rear. We aren't quite sure what the rocks are for, other than to hold paint. However, we have not seen any other schools that have a painted rock 6 or 7 miles away from the school. At the top of the Gooding Pass, right at the Camas and Gooding County line, sits this rock. Painted quite well, sitting off the highway about 50 yards behind a barbed wire fence. We have no idea who put the rock there, who took such great pains to paint the rock so well, but there the rock sits. Since we have gotten here, the rocks at the school have been painted and repainted several times, but the County-Line Rock has not been touched. We don't understand the reasoning behind the rocks. We have asked several peolple why the rocks are in front of the schools and we have been told, several times, they are there so they can be painted. Each time we have thought, "Oh, O.K."

Busy, Tough Week!!

Well, the effects of the accident are draging on; however, we finally got a car. We like it - it is comfortable, drives very well, and most improtantly, it is an all-wheel drive vehicle. We think it looks nice and we think that it will serve us nicely through our first Winter here. To the right is a picture of the car on the top of the Gooding Pass this morning earlier.

Julie got a promotion and a raise this week. She is now the office manager as well as the Accounts Payable Manager. This gives her significantly more responsibility with a commensurate raise. She is impressive. Everywhere she has ever gone, before too long, she ends up managing. She was born to run things. (I should know, she has been trying to run my life for 26 years now.)

Today we went into Twin Falls for our bi-monthly shopping. While in the mall today, Jeff and Julie got to sit on Santa's lap. I think Santa enjoyed them sitting there. I'm not sure which he got the most pleasure out of, Jeff or Julie. My hope is that Santa isn't a pedophile - it would give a whole new meaning to the phrase, "the season of giving."

New Abandoned Idaho PIctures.

To the right is a windmill and water storage barn. They are on the way to the Avalanche House. I just like how they sit and look. I find the weathering effect of the extreme cold and then the extreme hot on wood here in this valley to be just incredibly interesting. It makes the wood looks so distinct and absolutely unlike the weathering I've seen elsewhere. In Oregon, at least Western Oregon, there would be a lot of rot in the wood as well, due to the moisture there. The wood is solid, just the surface graining is very defined and actually, quite beautiful.

To right is the original Camas County Hanging Tree. It is what it sounds like - where Cams County hung people. At least that's what we have been told. It is also on the way up to the Avalanche House. Note that for its age, it isn't as massive as you would expect an oak to be. It stays cold here, with snow on the ground until late May, and sometimes even later, thus slowing down the growth of trees here. As a matter of fact, we have been told that if a tree is transplanted here from a lower elevation or warmer climate - it usually doesn't make it the first year.

Muffy says, "I Miss My Jer!"

Little Miss Muffy has just been beside herself for the last three months. She has had severe difficulty - she's been seeking comfort in Jer's Tai Kwon Do bag and she can't find it anywhere. Just look how sad she looks. Don't you just feel for her? Jeff's room is unreachable for her these days, so she can't pee on anything of his, so now she's looking for something of Jer's. Maybe Jer should send her a shirt or his bag so she can pee on it and feel better. What do you say Jer, be a man and send the bag.

Outdoor Throwing in November!!

I can't believe it, but we got to throw outdoors today. It was a little cold, but Jeff kept complaining about having to wear the heavy sweater I made him wear. It's supposed to snow tonight and on and off for the next week. We had a good start to throwing. There are some small technical flaws that have crept in since last year, but we have a long time to work on them. In all, Jeff looks very good. Some of the things he has always done well, he still does very well. Some bad habbits he picked up with the heavier discus last year, he also still does. We have a lot of time and we really aren't that far from where we want to be in late May, 08.

We also invented a stupid little game. There is really no discus ring at the school, and remember, this is a K-12 school. There is a jungle gym in the playground. (How many of you had a jungle gym, let alone, a playground at your high school?) We try to roll the discus up the slide, across the top step, down two small flights of steps, down the back ladder, and see how far it can roll. To right is a picture just as Jeff lets one go up the slide. He blew me away in this, which should be expected, he has much more control on the discus than I ever dreamed of having. However, I think I have it figureed out - I will beat him in the upcoming rematch. More news to come.

Across the street from the school, is the original LDS church building - it was built apparently in the late 1930's or early 1940's. It was sold to the Light House Baptist Church when the new branch building was built. (Check past Blogs for a picture of the new branch building.) I was told this week that when the church abandoned the old building, quite a few people quit coming to church, feeling the church was taking away an old friend, of sorts. Isn't it completely ridiculous what people allow to offend them? Makes you just want to say, "Come on! Grow-up and quit being so stupid!" Is it any wonder I never became a therapist?

Throwing Season Starts Now!!

Well, now that the football season has ended (at least for Cams County High School,) we are shifting gears and turning our attention to throwing. We are starting with base, core strength lifts for the next 8 weeks, then we’ll shift to more Olympic style lifts in early January. We will start with fairly light weights and increase the amounts pretty quickly. We are also going to start working on foot speed drills and some explosive acceleration drills. We are lifting Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Throwing Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Right now it is just Jeff. We will increase the number of people throwing and lifting with us as we get closer and closer to February. I hope we gather a group of about 6 to 8 boys and girls to throw this year. We have pretty big plans for the year. We would like Jeff to place at State in the top three in Discus and top 8 in the Shot Put. It would be great to place even higher. Time will tell.

Jeff Update.

Well, as you can see to the right, Jeff has gotten a new suit. I was taught by my father that blessing the sacrament is a sacred and important responsibility. One that should be approached with the utmost reverence and respect. To this end, I have felt it is important to be dressed in the very best clothes you can afford, setting it aside and different from average, everyday activities. So, Jeff has a new suit to bless the sacrament in. We think he looks pretty sharp in it.

This past term in school, he also had a science experiment in Biology that consisted of 4 mice. Well, the mice have moved in with us. Here is their new home. They seem to be happy in their new surroundings and have spent the last two days running through all the tubes and into the individual chambers. One of his mice, named Silver Surfer due to his silver color, escaped from the last pen and made his way over to our side of the house. I found him on Friday morning chasing our retarded cat - Orion around the computer room. Now he thinks he's superman, he scared a cat and survived on the outside for two whole days.

Lastly, here is Jeff's football picture this year. I do like Camas County's uniforms. It was a tough year, 0-9. I do think they will be much better next year as they have a lot of talent coming back. I hope that the head coach can come up with more assistance than he had this past year. I would love to volunteer to help, but I don't get home from work until 5:30pm or 6:00pm. I wish I could re-arrange things to make this work out, but I really don't see that happening, at least not this coming year.

Avalanche House.

Over Christmas and New Years break, 2003-2004, a family from Seattle, Washington, with some friends and family members, were staying in their log home located about 10 to 11 miles north of Fairfield, almost all the way up to Soldier Mountain Ski Area. It had snowed and rained hard for two weeks prior and the winds had come up and were blowing hard. The house, which was 26 years old at the time, was two stories and there was a large, garage building with a 2nd floor apartment above situated a little north east of the main house.

Due west of the house was situated a hill with a 38 degree slope that appears to be 200’ to maybe 250’ foot tall. (As it turns out, 38 degrees is the optimal angle for avalanches.) Between the main house and this hill was possibly 75 to 85 yards of flat land, with only a few young trees and just a couple older trees standing between the house and the hill.

Just the Fall before, the owners had installed a new pair of French doors in the Master Bedroom leading out onto the new 2 story deck, which looked directly at the 38 degree hill to the west.

On January 2nd the owners were down stairs in the main house sleeping in the Master Bedroom with family members in all the upstairs rooms as well as guests sleeping in the apartment over the garage. At a little before 1:30am, a 200’ wide and 10’ to 12’ tall avalanche broke loose from the hill to the west of the house, traveled in an slight north east direction and slammed into the south west corner of the house first, shattering all windows on the south, west, and north sides of the house, including the new pair of French doors. The first floor of the house instantly filled with snow, packed as tightly as if it had been concrete.

The family members sleeping on the 2nd floor awoke instantly as they felt the house rock and shutter. They ran to the stairs, only to find them completely filled-up into the 2nd floor with snow and therefore, completely impassable. They ran to the windows on the west side of the house and found the snow level to be even with the bottom of the 2nd floor windows. They smashed a window out and climbed out onto the snow and then circled the house to see if there was a way into the first floor. The house was virtually an island in a sea of snow. They began digging at the doors to try and open a way into the first floor and then also began digging down the stairwell to get down to the first floor.

By this time, the guests in the 2nd floor garage apartment had gotten out and had begun helping as well. The main house had apparently absorbed the lion’s share of the impact of the avalanche and the garage building was surrounded by snow, but had not experienced the force the main house did. The driveway was full of snow. The main doors to the garage were covered and inoperable. The cars in the driveway were completely covered making it impossible to drive and get help. Some of the guests and family worked at freeing a snow mobile and took it to get help. By the time they arrived at the nearest neighbor’s house, a full hour and a half had gone by.

It was 6:10 am when the Camas County Fire and Rescue finally retrieved the two bodies down stairs. Within the first hour, the guests and family had retrieved one dog, and the rescuers found the other dog safe. He had taken refuge in the fire place. He was safe from the packed snow and had air to breath through the flue of the fireplace. The snow had crashed through the French doors with such force, that more than likely, the two down stairs were killed instantly by the impact.

The house has sat unrepaired and virtually unchanged since the accident. All of the exterior debris from the avalanche has been cleaned up. The shattered and broken windows and doors have been boarded shut, but in all, the house looks easily repairable. It has been on the market a couple of times, but its history has kept it from selling. I would love to pick this house up, repair it and move in. It would be easy to build an avalanche wall between the house and the hill. There are several building here in Ketchum, out in Warm Springs that have incorporated concrete avalanche walls into the structure of the house. With our house in Oregon not selling yet, the chance of us buying it are pretty slim, but I can dream, can’t I?

Murder Mystery - Camera Troubles!

I'm sorry - my camera didn't work - (or better said, I didn't work it right - I had it set to the wrong setting,) and all but these two pictures turned out real badly from our murder mystery. Everyone looked great this year. I hope someone has a good picture of Aaron Schuff or of Dana Barkley; they both looked spectacular. The play was written very, very well and we all had fun. Jason was the murderer this year, but the evidence really leaned heavily towards Aaron, who played the best drunk I have ever seen. Julie was a "waitress" at the bakery across the street. She played her flapper part very well. Connie was the naive librarian who was about to be jilted by her philandering felonious lover. Sally played the part of the over-loving mother very well. Jer and Mark were great gangsters, Anita was a news reporter, Lahia and Jeff were a farmer and his high maintenance wife, and Dana was the best newspaper boy/bookie ever. Stephanie was the owner of the "bakery" and looked great as a flapper, while Stefani was an antiquities theif and played very convincingly. In all, this years mystery was many, many notches above last years. I can't wait for next years.

Accident Update.

Here’s an update on the accident we had on Tuesday, October 23rd. Since the accident, Julie hasn’t been doing well. She has had severe headaches. Her neck and back have been tight, knotted, and painful. I have been tight and sore, until just today. I began to hurt today. When I stand up off my chair at work, my lower back has seized up and shot pains up my spine. Finally, 7 days after the accident, Farmer’s Insurance, the carrier for the guy that hit us, got us a rental car. I have no idea if the truck will be totaled or repaired. I’m supposed to go find market value prices for the truck today and tomorrow to ensure that the insurance company prices it adequately.
At right is a picture of the truck that hit us. Oddly enough, we know the guy that was the cause of the entire four-car accident. He is a heck of a nice guy and he was in our Ward in Carey. I was totally amazed that he walked away from this wreck unhurt. At the site, he felt terrible. He apologized to me a couple of times. He said that something had fallen to the floor, he reached down to grab it and when he looked up, it was too late to stop.

Only in Blaine County!

On the whole, Idaho is a very, very conservative state. It has almost always voted Republican. It’s current crop of Senators and Representatives are overwhelmingly Republican. That is, the whole state except for Blaine County. In the 60’s and 70’s the valleys (they’re called Gulches here,) in and around Ketchum, Sun Valley, Hailey and Bellevue were havens for hippie communes. There are still small vestiges of the communes and there are definitely scads of old hippies still living and working in the valleys. Add to the ultra-liberal hippies the entertainment industry, which weighs in so heavily here now due to the influx of Hollywood and the music industry in the valley now, and you have a great mixture of liberals and ultra-liberals. The results are things such as the Hemp Plus Granola Cereal I found in Atkinson’s IGA. It’s just on the shelf as if it were a normal, casual product. (For those of you wondering, Hemp is just another name for Marijuana.)

Excitment Tuesday Morning!

On our way to work Tuesday morning, Julie and I got rear-ended. State Highway 75 between Hailey and Ketchum is almost always slow in the mornings. Sometimes it can take 1/2 hour to 45 minutes to travel the 11 miles. This morning, however, we were amazed at how the traffic had thinned out. We were moving along great and didn't hit our first slow-down until about 2 miles before the Ketchum Hospital. The traffic ahead of me stopped, not abruptly, or immediately. It just slowed and slowed until we were all completely stopped. I noted that the truck in front of me had an interesting chain hanging from its trailer hitch. I then glanced in the mirror and watched as the truck behind me did not slow at all. I kept thinking to myself, "He'll stop. He'll Stop," and then wham he ran into us, full force. I remember thinking that I should step off the brake as he was hitting me to let the truck move with the impact, thus absorbing some of it, but I honestly don't remember if I stepped off the brake or not. I know that while I was thinking he was going to hit me, I had my foot on the brake. He pushed us forward into the truck ahead of us, which in turn pushed into the truck ahead of it.

After the impact, which was tremendous, everything seemed to move slowly for just a moment. I looked over at Julie and she was physically fine. There were no obvious injuries. There was glass everywhere, and it took me a moment or two to realize the glass came from the rear window. I then realized that the engine was reving very high. I pushed the gas pedal to check and see if it was our engine making the high pitched noise. It was. I shut the engine off, again checked Julie, and got out of the truck.

The guys from the two other trucks were already out and started talking to me. The guy in the truck immediately ahead of me said, "Man, I saw him coming and I knew he was going to hit you! He didn't slow down or anything." The guy two trucks ahead of me was fairly dazed. I noticed the guy in the truck behind was still in the truck. I went back to him and couldn't get his door open. I hollered and asked if he was OK. He said he was and so I left to go around to Julie's side of the truck.

The only word that describes her is loopy. She was dazed, confused and nearly at tears. I was amazed how quickly the fire department was on the scene. It seemed like only a few minutes before they were there directing traffic, cleaning the site, and checking us.

They got the truck in the rear's door open, as it turns out, it was Jim Stewart from Carey 1st Ward. He was apologetic and concerned. He said that he was driving along and something had fallen onto the floor. He reached to get it and when he looked up, there we were.

It was obvious that Julie was very, very disoriented. The fireman asked her if she knew her name? She replied she wasn't sure. He asked her if she knew where she was? She said she was in a wreck. He asked, do you know where? She said no. She asked me a couple times what had happened.

The firemen put a neck brace on her, put her on a back board and took her to the ambulance. I had to make them let me go with her, they were going to leave me on site.

Suffice it to say - she appears to have had no head trauma. I am still not sure something didn't hit her head. She was seriously confused. The inside of the truck cab was completely amazing. We had Julie's charger for her phone sitting on the dash board. It was shattered into a bunch of little pieces. Our map book, which was sitting behind Julie's seat, was up on the dash board. Everything was scattered about and covered with bits of glass.

We had our seat belts on and that is the only reason we didn't face plant into the steering wheel in my case and the windshield in Julie's case. Oddly enough, the truck we were pushed into was a tall 4x4. His bumper hit our grill and not our bumper. With all that impact, our air bags did not deploy at all.

We are glad to be safe - though a little sore and we are especially glad there were no serious or permanent injuries to any of the five people involved.

Our Weekend.

Julie and I traveled on Friday, Oct. 19th, down to the lower, southeast corner of Idaho to Jeff's game. Along the way, we had the rainbow at the right skirt and follow us for 15 to 20 miles. I have never seen a rainbow with more vibrant and brilliant colors. I wish the picture could portray the true colors and intensity it had. During our drive, we ran into bright sunshine, rain, snow, hail, and a slushy mixture of all the above. It was the first time either Julie or I had traveled across the barren stretch of desert out in the middle of Central Idaho. I'm not sure I have ever seen a more desolate, dead place. I can understand why the Federal Government built nuclear testing facilities out there. They could have a massive accident and not kill anyone or anything - there is already nothing living out there.

On the trip we traveled through Blackfoot, Pocatello, and the Portneuf Mountains. Pocatello was beautiful; situated in a valley with high mountains surrounding it. I can understand why the settlers stopped there. The Portneuf Mountains were breathtaking with a lite covering of frost and snow. The little valley and town of Bancroft had once been a nice, prosperous rail road shipping center. The downtown area had wodnerful little shops, all closed now and completely run down. When the railroad died, so had the town. The town is situated 5 miles off the main highway - so if someone has no specific reason to travel to Bancroft, chances are, they never will.

The oldest commercial building in town was once a hotel, grocery store, clothing store, and ice cream/malt shop. Its architecture was wonderful. Inside the shops, the ceilings still had the pressed and molded tin tiles of the late 1890's or early 1900's. We went into the ice cream/malt shop, which is operated by the son and daughter-in law of the original owners. It was easily the grossest, dirtiest, filthiest store I have ever walked into.

There was a thick layer of dust and dirt on everything. I looked on the shelves and I saw a bottle of Vaseline Hair Tonic. I can remember seeing similar bottles on my Grandfather Ellingson's bathroom sink. (I looked the product up, Vaseline quit making it in 1966.) She has had that bottle on her shelf since at least 1966. There was enough dirt and dust for it to have sat that long, easily.

Jeff's team lost the game. It was a good game and could have gone either way all the way to the end. That makes his team 0-8 now, with honestly, not a very good chance at winning next week.

Last week's game was in Murtaugh. Like Bancroft, Murtaugh was a railroad center, which is also now situated about 5 miles off the main highway. Whereas Bancroft has kept some commerce and so their houses are at least clean and kept up, Murtaugh is a run-down, hovel infested, mess. I included a picture of a house currently on the market there. I love the pink and I love the fact that it is neither a trailer home or a house - it is a hybrid of both.

At least the drive to Murtaugh was enjoiable as we passed through Twin Falls. I believe Twin, (as it is known here,) is one of the most beautiful cities around. As you enter into Twin from the north, you cross the bridge over the Snake River Canyon. I'm convinced that the pioneers were trudging along the trail and came to the canyon's rim, looked right, looked left, and said, "Damnit Ma, here's where we're staying. I ain't a crossin' that!" And so as the travelers kind of piled up, they made a city.

Jeff and Connie's Halloween Last Year

I forgot to include Jeff and Connie's halloween pictures from last year. I have promised Connie that I will preserve this picture with my very life if I have to so as to ensure that all her grandchildren and great-grandchildren get to see and appreciate it.

Jeff!!

It has truly been a great experience for me to spend so much time with Jeff. Since he and I got here, we have spent countless hours together, driving the country side and through the mountains. He has always held a cherished place in my heart, but now, he has become not only my son, but a good, good friend. I hope that we get to continue spending the time we have togehter.

Abandoned Idaho

Julie and I have begun taking pictures of old, abandoned buildings as we pass by them. They speak volumes of a history that has been truly facinating to learn and study. This house was the first home-steader in Hill City, Idaho. A town 14 miles west of Fairfield on Hwy 20. Hill City was settled because the rail road decided to stop there, for no good reason other than the tracks werestarting to rise into the foothills and they didn't want to lay the tracks through the mountains. Hill City has all but disapeared now. I fell in love with this building.

The following weekend, Julie and I traveled through the mountains from Fairfield to Ketchum. The drive into Ketchum usually takes between 50 minutes to an hour and ten minutes. It took us nearly four hours as we traveled slowly through the beautiful, rugged mountains. We saw this old mining shack at the base of Dollar Hide Mountain - I'm sure it was associated with the Dollar Hide Silver Mine.

Halloween Last Year.

Last year, we attended the first of what we hope will become an annual event: The Barkley Halloween Murder Mystery. In it, I was Blue Beard, the pirate. I had to grow a full beard. When most men grow a beard, they appear more manly or macho - all a beard did for me was to make me look more and more like Pappa Smurf. I was about as scary a pirate as, well Pappa Smurf would be. It was fun and I hope that it continues for a long, long time. This coming Halloween, the mystery is centered around the depression, boot-leggin, and gangsters. I'm going to play the part of a Senator.

At the right, is a picture of Julie and I together - she was the Black Widow. She was the long time widow of Captain Edward Teach, also known as Black Beard. She looks great. Several people commented on how stunning a widow she was- I'm not sure if I should have been worried or concerned.

Welcome to our new site!

Sorry that we abandoned the last blog spot - but difficulties with it caused us to just start over again. At right is a typical picture of the streets in Fairfield, the little town we have moved to. It is small, friendly, and yes, those are dirt roads you see. There are only two paved streets in town, the main road through the center of town, leading up to the ski and recreation area 12 miles north of town, and the one next to the schools, although the one next to the schools is only paved for about two or three blocks. We love our town. We feel that this is where we should have settled when we first came to Idaho and we are sorry that we wasted 5 or 6 months before the Lord finally convinced us that here is where we should be.

Jeff has had a good start to the school year. He seems much more relaxed and is enjoying himself here, more than he did in Carey. We would love to say that his football team is better than it is, they are 0-7 at this writing. They seem to have talented boys, just haven't found the right combination to pull off a win yet.

At right is a picture of the high school end of the Camas County School. It is a K-12 with a little less than 200 kids total. The high school portion is less than 70 kids total. It is very personal and appears to be lacking in little or nothing in terms of enthusiastic teachers. As we understand it, the school district is one of the least funded districts in Idaho, but the facilities are by no means sub-par.

Our little branch building is to the right. Yes, you read that right. We live in the midst of Mormon country and yet we have a little branch here. As we understand it, there was a thriving ward here in the past. When the logging industry and the mills here in town died, in the late 70's and early 80's, the town itself almost disapeared. Along with it, so did the ward. We are here hoping to help rebuild the church in our little corner of the world.