Photos of new snow on and around my garden

[digitS']

Oh, thank you for asking, Marshall! I've had my 1/3rd caffeinated and it's dark as my closet outside . . . But, I'm going to take it right off the top of my head, with no research on the net to make sure I've got it right - this is the stuff of legends .

After Mr. Pritchard found some gold up what came to be called Pritchard Creek - there may have been a mule involved but I dis-remember - Here Come The '49'ers! Actually, it may have been the next group because if'n they were '49'ers, they'd be about 30 years older.

Wyatt, and his brother, were in some difficulties down in Kansas and must have decided it would be best to head north to kind of cool their heals for awhile. The dust could settle back home in western Kansas but it was gold dust that they thought they'd find in the mountains of Idaho.

Really, they were about the most common kind of opportunists. I don't want to disparage their courage in the face of gunfire and all but the Earps really just wanted to lay out a couple of claims, for luck you know, and set up a big tent for a saloon and appeal to the most base interests of their kind. They were, of course, paramount examples of their kind - gamblers. They'd have important jobs with Goldman Sachs if they were around today.

Now because this was just ungoverned territory, no one knew whether Shoshone or Kootenai County was supposed to be keeping the peace there in Eagle City on the pristine banks of Pritchard Creek. So, the politicians down in Couer d'Alene did what politicians do, they put Wyatt in as a deputy sheriff and gave him a badge. Meanwhile, Shoshone County installed a "real" sheriff and set him down in Eagle City. Would it surprise you that there is no more Eagle City? No, the place doesn't even rise to the level of a ghost town.

I don't think it had much to do with "deputy" Earp and the Sheriff of Shoshone County. No, it was the nature of the entire enterprise - and I use that word loosely. See, make a claim - you know, you've got a shovel, a pan & a wheelbarrow, there's water in the creek down below for washing out some dirt. Then you sit back and wait for the big boys to come along and buy you out. Of course, you are going to be rich so you do your sitting in the Earp Brothers saloon, drinking cheap whiskey and playing faro.

The Big Boy did show up. Guggenheim probably waited until 1 or another economic crises had hit the nation, all the riff-raft had cleared out for parts unknown, their claims had all gone back to the county (Shoshone) for back taxes, and he could cut a sweetheart deal with the local politicians. (Remember those fellows?) Anyway, he was the guy who did the actual mining. Well, the guys working for him did. They set up huge pumps in the creek and washed off the mountainsides with massive hoses! Yeah, that's your placer mining heroes and the guy who built a shrine or 2 for himself by setting aside a little of his will for a couple of museums.

Oh and remember that creek? You still can't find that creek under the massive pile of rocks they washed down off those hillsides over 100 years ago. Maybe in another 1,000 years, and barring misfortune, the creek will appear above ground again.

Molly B'Darn? (Did you know that TEG corrects our English? It's just as well.) Molly lived further up that creek on the road over the mountains to the other fork of the Coeur d'Alene River. She was mostly out of the way of all that hydraulic sluicing hell that Guggenheim's boys were creating. Molly had a little saloon too and what else was none of my business. She was probably more of the founder of the little town of Murray than whoever Murray was. Anyway, that little town is still there and it's pretty darn cute! I take a drive up that way every few years, or so. Trying not to look at the creek on the way. Wyatt's place? Just a f*rt in the breeze. The country's coming back, tho'. There's quite a bit of green around there. No gold except the autumn leaves - and just forget about the darn gold!

Steve

edited because i correct my english, too

 

[897tgigvib]

Ever been to Silver City Idaho? I have. One suggestion. Though they were friendly to some city folks that were there when I was there, they joked about them with us when they left.

The whole town eats breakfast at the hotel! Yep! The whole town is off grid like me here. They know how to "sip" electricity, like I do. The light bulbs are LED. There's a woman who could be Calamity Jane. She rides a heavy camoflaged ATV thing with rifles and pistols, and they are not for any kjgakja;olkj lkajgoqijrgqoiej kind of show. Most of her camoflage is mud and dirt. If she took a shower she'd be drop dead gorgeous. I think that if she doesn't own the town, everybody there let's her be the town owner.

There's a masonic lodge with a creek that runs under it. The hotel looks like it was built about 23 times. There is a little store across the street from it. The lady who runs it appears from the back in her pajamas to sell a postcard.

If ya ever feel like going to out west, to a place that only begrudgingly has modern stuff that comes in sometimes, go to Silver City.

I guarantee you'll get lost at least 3 times trying to find it. So make sure you bring extra cans of gasoline. They uh, they don't really much want everybody to find them there very easily.

We didn't get lost until 4 in the morning so we slept in the pickup on the seats. Kind of slept anyway. After it got light we set out, and after the first round of the bend there it was. Geesh!

Sometimes I open the door on my woodstove to let the heat out directly from the flames. That doesn't have anything to do with Silver City, and the only connection to Molly I'll be Darned, is she may have done that too, where she could rightly say the name of that state, and mean it!

Wellp, today I'll be doing some mor.........shoot! my fire just popped an ember on my floor. That's why the door should be closed...some more cleaning up in my garden. Most of the top netting came down at the seams. Then in a few days my favorite (not) thing, stitching netting back together. But I'll improve it some, make some places higher.

Now for some more espresso

 

[digitS']

No, I haven't, Marshall.

We are going to give these Easterners some idea of how big these western states are . I decided to let google tell me how far it is between Murray and Silver City. The route they suggest is thru Oregon. Oh, come on! I drug the blue line back to the Idaho goatpath. I probably should have drug the blue line into Montana and checked the mileage there. I mean, Murray is just over the hill from Montana.

Anyway, thru Oregon it is 550 miles. On the goatpath it is 500 miles. Of course, we aren't talking about an eastern Idaho town which could add several more hundreds to the trip, unless we went thru Montana.

No, I've been into the Owyhee Mountains down in southern Idaho. That's where Silver City is, isn't it? Could have a story about chipping flint arrowheads out in the middle of absolutely nowhere but I wasn't chipping the flint and the ones who were, are probably a part of pre-history.

You be careful with that stove door. I once had an "event" with my long-haired cat because of a similar experience. I imagine she thought I'd lost my mind there for a second! Good thing she was a real tame little thing. She was probably wondering where the smell of burning hair came from, too.

Steve

 

[so lucky]

You guys need a porch to sit on and a railing to prop your feet on. Then you can tell "I recollect" stories for hours.

 

[897tgigvib]

...and gettin' old enough to tell the same stories again, with some added embellishments each time...just gotta make sure they don't conflict!

Now where was I? oh yea, and then while my boss was giving me a ride on his ski doo in the lake he decided to turn it into a buckin bronco from the world of Neptune! Wellp, on about the 14th turn he suddenly double counter turned, my knuckles locked on the seat grip which was brand new, and the grip broke and I went flying...

...still flying...

...and STILL flying...

through the air, hit the water head first and went down

...deep down in the water. That life vest was old and no good, and it actually pulled me more down! Opened my eyes and all I saw was very dark green!
So I yanked the vest off and shot up.
It took forever. My arms were barely swimming me upward as the water began to lighten up, and my ears and eyes hurt like...
I barely recall surfacing. I saw white and water, and my boss on his ski doo asking if I was alright!

My hands were limp, so I used my elbows to hold onto the ski doo a minute. He had no idea how deep I went! I never did tell him what a close call that was! I was actually declared drown proof after swimming lessons when I was 8! I guess that one was a much later in life test.

Does anyone else know how hard it is to hold your breath when something pulls you down to probably 27 feet, and it is a sudden thing, absolutely unexpected? I lost some air on my way down, I think at my impact on the water. On my way upward, as my hands weakened, I held it, and remember thinking, this is either it or it isn't.

Moral of the story: NEVER USE AN OLD LIFE VEST. They can pull you down.

But, I am now the SENIOR caretaker here at the lake! Outlasted all the others all around and near the lake.

 

[thistlebloom]

Moral of the story: NEVER USE AN OLD LIFE VEST. They can pull you down.

But, I am now the SENIOR caretaker here at the lake! Outlasted all the others all around and near the lake.

Congratulations on your senior position Marshall! I'm sure it is well deserved.


You didn't happen to loan all those other caretakers old life vests did you?

 

[897tgigvib]

Belly laughs!

No, no I didn't loan out old life vests! Lol!

Actually thinking on how it came to be, one retired, then one was fired because he was lazy, another one decided this was not the place for him after he found out he couldn't get by with trying to make policies to suit his own self, then my oldest friend still living got fired because some rich and famous people were making so much noise in the middle of the night he called the sheriff on them, so the rich and famous people got him fired so unfairly, and that leaves me the longest standing caretaker up here now. It feels like shell shock when I think of it, but I'll be here until I'm 100, at least! Different parts of the lake are different ownerships and stewardships and other complicated stuff.

Wow, I was pulling the bean trellises and old plants in my garden and got tired! Know how slimy old dead plants can be? That's my hands, kind of dried on my pants. I'm sure a glamorous mess right now! back to it!

 

[NwMtGardener]

Well i had to look up Silver City and Murray on the map...never been to either place, but i've been "close" in that western sense of the word! I have been to Almo, idaho...way down south by the City of Rocks. A teeny tiny little spot way way out in the middle of nowhere, but they are on the grid at least!

 

[hoodat]

Speaking of Wyatt Earp I was upset when they tore down Wyatt Earps saloon here in San Diego. What was once the Stingaree district is now the Gaslamp quarter. San Diego has been tearing down their real history for years to build a more tourist friendly false history. Part of the old Stingaree has been rebuilt to look like Cape Cod.
Did you know that the early name for Old Town San Diego was Fleatown because it was infested with human fleas? There was talk for awhile of rebuilding Old Town to look like the original but no one would care to go see that shantytown. Bare dirt and shacks infested with fleas would not attract many tourists.

 

[897tgigvib]

Ohhh yea, rewrite history...again...still...

I'm not sure if any piece of history has ever been written perfect. Probably some parts get written pretty close to tru, and sometimes that is only after eventually, (as a measure of time), happens. If eventually the true history ever happens to be written for any specific part of history.

For example, we don't know what Caesar Tiberius thought about if he heard any rumors of some eastern Kings going to Galillee to see a newborn King in one of his Provinces. Any memos sent to Herod?

We may never know the real truth about why hackerspammers are not caught and jailed immediately, why tracking systems can't be turned on soon as there is a good suspicion of it. Billions, that's a B not an M, of dollars are spent on making computer security systems that cost and make 10s of Billions of dollars, while it'd be cheaper just to track and catch them. See? Lots of reasons for history and the present to be composed of mis and dis informations. We may never know the whole story about the siege of Paris! Maybe that was just a plan to reduce the population, whoi knows. Other than a few details, that was the main result, well, besides World War One involving France because of that. Heck, what was Napoleon's heir really doing surrewnduring? That was foolish militarily to attempt a frontal assault at...oh that town west of paris, forgot its name, a frontal attack, knowing at the start there were enough enemy forces to even flank Paris. The Tyranosaurus' mouth coming down on you, so you jump in? And he himself survived it. Waitaminutehere. Napoleon's kid was that dumb? Or was he being that smart, but dumb enough not to know that before 75 years would pass, there'd be the siege of paris, wwi, and wwii. Ya know, Emporer Napoleon started it! Why'd he really want Poland and German kingdoms past the Alsaice? And then right into the maw of Russia. Just made everyone angry.

Course, that gave Rene Descartes, Lieutenant, the chance to write his meditations when he got himself lost. So, maybe some of these miswritten histories do have some silver linings! We got a couple things out of it:

The universe could be drawn in 3 dimensions on the cartesian graph system lieutenant rene invented. Well, Leonardo da Vinci actually invented it first, but Leonardo's was in 3D. kinda too complicated, but more real for artwork. betcha didn't know that.

And we also got

I think therefor i am, as the only thing that he could ever actually prove, but then, only to himaself.

wish i could've written this for one of my college classes way back when. Dr. Hunt did say that as we got older it'd sink in better if we ever actually thought abouty it. Dr. Frazer told us what books to read, that if we didn't read them history 17a would only be a grade on a report card.