First Sunday Drive This Fall

Our area has such a beautiful layering of mountains all around us looking North, South, East and West. The photo above is looking South.

We are choosing to drive some roads in our area that are new to us to continue familiarizing ourselves with our county. On this first Sunday in Fall we chose Greenwood Loop Rd. which took us to Mingo Mountain Road. When the road became Primitive we turned around and went back the same way we came.

We had a good weekend and I hope you did, too. Happy new week to you all.

My computer only let me upload a couple of my collages. I’ll add the rest of the photos when my computer behaves. Bright and early this morning my computer is behaving so I added the rest of the photos!! 

This will be a busy week for us. I’ll be very scarce come Wednesday and beyond.

A to Z Challenge ~ C is for Colville

C is for Colville. Colville is our newest hometown. We’ve lived here since September 2018. Between hubby and me our first 37 years we lived in Los Angeles, Orange, and Ventura County, California. Dear and I were both born in Los Angeles County. We lived our years through high school and college in Los Angeles County. After we were married we ended up in Orange County where our first two children were born. Before we moved to Washington State we lived in Ventura County where our daughter was born. Our next 30 years we lived outside of Seattle in Washington State. And now for our retirement years we are living in the outskirts of the city of Colville still in Washington State.

Here’s a little history about Colville:

The first white man in the area that is now Colville was David Thompson, who came in 1811 to explore the Columbia River for the Northwest Fur Company. A few months later a water route was opened from Astoria up the Columbia through Canadian waters, and overland to the Great Lakes or Hudson Bay. During that first year, nearly 11,000 pounds of furs were reported shipped to the fur markets of London from the Colville area.

In 1825, Fort Colville, named for Lord Andrew Colville, a London governor of Hudson’s Bay Company, was built at Kettle Falls, a few miles west of Colville. The fort functioned as the center of trade in the Northwest. A large farm supplied wheat, oats, barley, corn and potatoes to sustain the personnel at the fort. (Today, both the fort and farm sites are under water, covered by Lake Roosevelt, a part of the Coulee Dam National Recreation Area.)

By 1840, the Hudson’s Bay trading post was processing 18,000 furs a year. When the boundary of the northwest was drawn at the 49th parallel in 1846 and the territory of Washington was established in 1853, Hudson’s Bay Company, being a British company, withdrew from Fort Colville and moved to Canada. The War Department in 1859 ordered a military post built just northeast of the present townsite. The post was called Harney’s Depot at first, then Fort Colville. Four companies of the United States Infantry were stationed there. (This second Fort Colville, located at different places at different times, sometimes confuses visitors.)

The town of Colville was founded in 1882 when Fort Colville was abandoned. The first school, a hand-hewn log building, built shortly after the founding of the town is presently located at the Keller Historical Center within the city limits.

Colville is the county seat for Stevens County. Stevens County is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington along the Canada–US border. At the 2010 census, its population was 43,531. As of July 2018, the population was estimated to be 45,260. The county seat and largest city is Colville

These are backyard views of our Country Bungalow in Colville, Washington. We do not live in the city limits of Colville so we don’t have the same services that the City of Colville offers within the city limits.

Colville is a city in Stevens County, Washington, United States. The population was 4,673 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Stevens County.

Here are some random photos that I have of the Colville area (Stevens County).

Our favorite grocery store.

We have a Super Wal-Mart and I’m bonding with this store that has most everything we’d need for living in the country.

The Country Store can fill in the gaps for farmers and other property owners.

This is our road. We are up this road about 2 miles.

We get some interesting creature visitors in the country.

The view out to Colville city limits from our kids’ driveway.

This is Colville mountain with our huge C for Colville and a lit up cross.

Highway 395 coming north into Colville with one of our local farm/produce shops, Front Porch.

When we come down our road to town we have the choice to go south to Colville or north to Kettle Falls.

Welcome here to our Country Bungalow in Colville, Washington. Colville is pronounced, Call-ville!

I could have used the letter C for the COVID-19 epidemic but I decided we are getting enough information about the Pandemic. Diversions can be good when we really have no power to change the big picture. We do have the power to change the little picture by keeping our distance and compliance to the mandates set down to slow the spread of the virus. We will continue at home keeping the faith and praying for the end of this. Looking forward to better days or better yet the return of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And I Think to Myself…

…what a wonderful world.

I’m so thankful for the wonders of the world that God has created for us to enjoy.

These were our views on the way home from our Sunday Drive to the orchard.

Crossing over the Columbia from west to east. The Columbia River Bridge at Kettle Falls.

The layers of mountains, the trees, the mighty Columbia River…so much beauty in our backyard. Thank you Lord for plopping us in this beautiful part of your world.

Communities around these parts like to brand their mountains. KF is for Kettle Falls. Our Colville mountain has a C on it and a cross.

Now we are about 5 miles from our Country Bungalow with more pastoral views. It was a beautiful day for a drive.

“I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving.”  Psalm 69:30.

Marcus Cider Fest & Parade

On Saturday morning we headed north on highway 25 along the Columbia River/Lake Roosevelt to the little town of Marcus. Marcus hosts the best little festival around. Annually in October the crowds head to Marcus for Cider Fest and the Parade.

We were so happy to see the day dawn with the promise of sunshine instead of rain.

The parade rolls along right on Highway 25. We found our spots and waited for it to begin.

Some of the firetrucks and other vehicles are loud and Addy had to hold her ears.

Smokey the Bear even made an appearance!

90% of the parade participants threw handfuls of candy to any kids along the parade route.

Dear kept tabs on Addy to keep her safe.

JJ will have more fun next year at the parade when he can pick up candy, too.

After the parade we met up with “our people” to enjoy some of the classic cider fest treats like fresh pressed apple cider and caramel apples. My cousin Jim, from California, enjoyed the fest and made some purchases to take home with him. Dear bought some local honey for us.

Addy was leading Gramps along and then Uncle Scott took over.

So sweet to see JJ’s big smiles while looking at his mommy.

You can’t get any fresher than this. Look at all that pomace (pulp/skin) discarded to get the fresh pressed cider. The cider was so sweet and delicious! They sold it by the gallon, half gallon, and by the glass.

We said goodbye to our people and headed home with a stop along the highway to get some photos of Lake Roosevelt. What a beautiful day it was.

Zooming in across the lake to the other shore.

We will put the festival on our calendar for next year.

After we dropped our purchases off at home we headed south to our favorite Mexican restaurant with Jim and after lunch we took some back roads on our way home.

Today, Monday the 7th, Dear and my cousin are going to try to get the trusses up on the shop posts with the help of our son’s tractor. I’ll be praying along during the process for sure!

Hope your new week runs smoothly for you.

Western Larch

Larches are different from most conifers because they’re deciduous–they lose their needles each fall. In addition, their needles are arranged differently from those of most conifers; on current-year twigs they’re borne singly, but on older twigs they arise in dense clusters from stout, woody pegs that resemble wooden barrels. Only 10 species of larch occur in the world, mostly in cold parts of the northern hemisphere. Only western larch and subalpine larch grow in the Pacific Northwest. Larches are commonly called tamaracks, especially by people whose roots are in eastern North America.

 

Needles are deciduous. They fall from the tree in winter, turning brilliant yellow before they fall.

Needles are about 1″ long and typically grow in dense clusters (20-40) attached to short woody shoots (called spur shoots).

Needles are soft to the touch–never sharp or spiny. Current-year needles are borne singly on slender pegs.

Small, woody cones (1-2″ long).

The photos above were taken on October 30th on a drive Dear and I took out Addy-Gifford Rd. to Bluecreek Rd. The following photos are from 2012 on our son’s property in Chewelah.

I was happy to find that we have Larches on our new piece of property.

We did not have any random trick or treaters coming to our door last night but we did have our Colville family drop in for some treats and our little Miss Addy was sporting goofy smiles for the evening. What a joy to have these drop in visits!

Happy November to all of you!

 

And Now I’m Headed South

We arrived home from northeastern Washington just after noon on Tuesday and now I’m packing to fly to Southern California early on Wednesday morning. But in the meantime I’m relishing all the time we had with little Addy May and her parents.

Mommy and Addy have lots to share with each other.

While the grown ups enjoy their dinner Addy sits and watches from this little baby lounger.

Some views from around our kid’s property. The lilac is such a rich beautiful color. The chicken coup got moved in a new position and cleaned out. The new position will make it easier to retrieve eggs in the winter and also make it easier for the chickens to get in and out. Speaking of chickens some animal has been killing them and only leaving a pile of feathers. They are down to only 2 chickens. Maybe this hawk that likes to circle above the chicken coup is to blame or a fox.

I take this shot every time we visit. This is taken from the drive down from the kid’s home to the main road. Above taken on May 20th and the photo below was taken in April.

Most of the water that you see in this shot from April has been absorbed and there will be lots of dry grass to deal with come summer. We plan to get back to visit our kids again in the latter part of June.

I’m hoping I will have more time while I’m in California to visit and see what you all have been up to.

From the Other Side…

…of the Great Divide. The only side of Washington that is predominately red in their politics. The line between the blue and red counties cuts along the Cascade Mountain range. The blue side has the highest population, largest cities, with Seattle (652,405) being the largest. The red side has the most farmers and ranchers and many small cities. The largest city on the red side of our state is Spokane (210,721), then Spokane Valley (91,113) and Kennewick (76,762). All the population numbers I’m sharing are from 2013. The city I live in on the blue side of the state has a population of 21,611.

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Dear and I travel across the great divide when we visit our son and daughter-in-law. We enjoy our time on that side. We find it refreshing. There are lots of great fences and barns to photograph. Here are some of those fences and barns all taken in Stevens County.

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I’m linking up to Good Fences #128 with TexWisGirl and later in the weekend I’ll be linking up with Tom for The Barn Collective.

Happy First day of September to all of you! I started the morning off with fresh strong coffee in a new cup to me that I bought at the Habitat for Humanity Shop in Colville, Washington (population 4,668). It was half off and I only paid 40 cents for it. It’s Churchill made in England with a population of 53.01 million.

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May September bring good things to us all.

“The breezes taste
Of apple peel.
The air is full
Of smells to feel-
Ripe fruit, old footballs,
Burning brush,
New books, erasers,
Chalk, and such.
The bee, his hive,
Well-honeyed hum,
And Mother cuts
Chrysanthemums.
Like plates washed clean
With suds, the days
Are polished with
A morning haze.

–   John Updike, September

Good Fences from Steven’s County

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The sign under the horse says Mountain House Stables.

While spending time with our son and daughter in law in Eastern Washington I took some photos on our son’s property and along some back roads close to them. Close is a relative term when you live in the country.

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This fawn visited our son’s property with it’s mother the first day we arrived.

I’m linking up with TexWisGirl for Good Fences #127.

We are catching up with the regular things we do in the city at this old house. We have a busy last weekend of August coming up. Our eastern Washington kids are coming on Saturday. Dear and I are going to a Chinese wedding reception Saturday night which will be a first for us. I’ve been reading up on Chinese wedding customs so we don’t do something that would offend. We are looking forward to this new celebration experience. On Sunday our whole family will be attending a Memorial service for our dear friend Dave. Joy and sorrow seem to always go hand in hand. How’s your summer winding down?

Barn Collective

I might have shared this one before and I wonder if it’s still standing since fires are burning out of control in this part of Northeastern Washington.

The rest of my selection are paintings that my Mother-in-Law painted. She grew up in Kansas and taught in a one room schoolhouse in Kansas. I think she saw lots of barns in her lifetime!

Linking up with Tom at Backroads Traveller for the Barn Collective.

We have been getting texts, watching the news and searching for news on the fires that are burning in Northeast Washington too close to our son and daughter in law and their friends for comfort. Because of all the fires raging in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana resources are at their limits. When this northern part of Steven’s county where our son lives called to get help they were told there was no help left to send them. Homeowners have been doing what they can to try to save their homes. We thought our son’s friend’s family had lost their home to the fire that swept through his property but we were happy to learn that the house did not burn down but all their out-buildings a truck and tractor were lost. We will get more details when it’s safer to return and assess all that was lost. This area is in a State of Emergency and are awaiting a declaration as a Disaster Area. It’s my understanding if they get a Disaster Declaration they might be able to get some national help with the fires. This is the worst situation that people who have lived in this area for years and years have experienced.

This is a photo I found on line of the Marble Valley Fire in Addy, Washington. Our son’s friend’s home is on that hillside and our son and daughter in law’s home is about 5 miles away.
I love the prayer a dear friend has prayed for this situation…
“will be praying for Dan and Jamie’s situation — that God will hold his hand over them … keep them safe from the fire and may the fire be blown out by an angelic host .. since everyone else is busy ! “
And I’m also praying for all the firefighters that are probably exhausted and the poor homeowners who have lost everything in this fire. For our son’s friend (who was one of his groomsmen) and his family as they walk about their property and make plans to replace what was lost. Even though their home did not burn down there is probably some smoke issues that need addressing. Praying that the winds stay calm and more help will arrive and that the fires get under control. If you pray could you add your prayers to mine for this area? Thank you!