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.