The Oakes Family

Thank you, Rich and Rhoda, Michelle’s in-laws, for sharing your garden produce with us.  David has been there with Michelle to pick tart cherries and raspberries.  Then last weekend the three of us went back to get some more red raspberries.  YUM!  John enjoyed eating as much as he did picking.  We picked a couple pints of berries before the heat got the best of us.  We came home and made this very yummy dessert - individual raspberry cobblers.  A bit messy but oh so yummy!

As the deer have eaten most of the contents of our garden, except for the zucchini greens, we’ll be looking elsewhere to get our fresh produce.  I do have some pepper plants growing on our back porch - they must be a bit close to the house to tempt the deer.   It’s ok though really, as we like having the deer wander through.  We were just bit surprised as they didn’t touch our garden last year!  I guess our dogs aren’t as excellent watch dogs as we thought they might be.

Every couple of weeks, we take part in the local Farmer’s Market in Rathdrum City Park.  We set up a stall, displaying tapestry bags, cribbage boards and lovespoons.  David goes to set up around 7ish and John and I join him around 10am.

John plays in the stream that runs through this delightful park.  He brings Chief and Arbiter from Halo, and sometimes his Star Wars light saber.  He throws stones and splashes himself!  He runs back and forth to our stall for drinks and snacks.  He has a wonderful time.  Last week there were some golden lab pups and those provided some added amusement!

When I was a kid, we had bluebirds that nested in some little cedar trees right near our garage.  I’ve always been fond of bluebirds, their plump little peach bodies with a blue overcoat.  They’re so sweet.  Imagine my surprise when the other evening whilst we were having supper, looking out the dining room window, seeing a plump little bluebird perched on John’s tether ball post!  I whispered to David and John to turn around carefully and take a look so they wouldn’t think I was making it up, like the time I actually saw a porcupine on the side of the road on the way home from church one Friday evening - since I was the only one who saw it, they still don’t believe me.

Anyway, I asked David to look for a bluebird house pattern to see if it might be a feasible thing for him to build a house for the bird/birds.  Sure enough, he found one, went to Home Depot the next day while I was at work and got what he needed.  When I came home, THERE was this adorable little house on the tree in our yard - not that I’ve seen that bluebird since, but when he comes calling again, we’ll be ready to welcome him.  Thanks, David!!

I paid respects to our granddaughter’s gravesite yesterday, just to let her know we still think about her and love her and miss her AND we look very forward to meeting her in heaven one day.

Today I have mostly been building picnic tables.  Well, one, anyway.  Just waiting for the stain to dry, then we’ll drag it out to the back yard as a 50 yard shooting bench picnic table.

Seems one of the current rage things out here is these coconut bark lined wire hanging baskets that you put wherever you fancy.  I’m going to hang them outside our front door as soon as David sprays and destroys the tiny wasp nest that these pesky insects decided to build.

John loves to dress in costume according to the current film of his choice.  This weekend it was the Disney classic cartoon Robin Hood.  He couldn’t figure out how to make himself a bow and arrow, so he had to dress like Prince John.  He got his crown from preschool and his sword and ran around fighting whomever would agree to be his opponent!  We had an amusing day watching him play his little role!

John has a new ‘get-up’ that he is very enamored with - David’s old welding helmet.  John says he is Boba Fett from Star Wars and he wanders around, inside and outside, with this helmet on and his gun, looking for nasty aliens to annihilate.  He watches television with it on, he would love to wear it to bed and if we would let him, he’d wear it while he was taking a bath.  It is very funny to watch him flip the dark filter up and down, depending on how well he wants to see.

What an imagination this boy has!

This is the shooting bench that David made himself this weekend.  We moved it out into the backyard this afternoon.  It sits 100 yards opposite the target box at the other end of our yard.  We dug the holes and put the bench in place ready for cementing.  David will pick some up this week sometime and finish the job.  It’s currently covered in plastic because David can’t stain/waterproof the wood until the temperature is a steady 50 degrees for a couple days and he doesn’t want the wood to get wet.  Good move, David, as it rained this afternoon.

Next project is a family picnic table!  What fun we will have with that this summer.

After the rain and a nap (as John had gotten us up at 6am this morning), David and John sat out on the porch and did some shooting.  I was fortunate enough to snap a picture that shows the flash from the gun muzzle as the bullet leaves.  Even though John is right-handed, he is left-eyed, evidenced by the fact that his left eye is open and his right eye is closed.  David says that he’ll make a better pistol shooter than rifleman because of it.  John loves this special time with David and he’s becoming a good little shooter.

ok.  So we don’t have much grass.  But we do have quite a few varieties of wildflowers that spring up all over our yard.  Yesterday when we went to Home Depot I bought myself a deep purple clematis, one of my favorites, that I am looking forward to planting in the front yard near the house.  Happy happy spring!

I spoke too soon.  Spring has not yet arrived in northern Idaho.  This morning when I awoke, I found approximately 2 - 4 new inches of new snow on the ground.  Thank goodness we still have our snow tires on our vehicles.  In Washington state, studded snow tires had to be taken off vehicles by March 31st or drivers might end up with  a $110 fine.  In Idaho we can keep our snow tires on at least through April.  Hopefully by then we’ll be safe in taking them off.

We’ve been joking that spring comes in May and June, summer is July and August, fall is September and October and winter is the other six months.  HA!

I am glad that snow is white and sparkly and beautiful.  Makes it less painful to see so much of it so often.  It really is lovely.  But I am finished calling my backyard a white winter wonderland.   I’m ready for green grass and all the little yellow wildflowers that appear all over our yard.

I’ll be sure to take a picture at the first sighting.  Come on, Spring, we’re ready and waiting!

We’ve had enough mild weather that some of our snow has actually melted.  At least enough for us to find the wire that we have connected up for the dogs’ invisible fence.  It’s been disconnected for quite a while now, ever since the wire was accidentally broken in two when the snow was plowed from our driveway.  Maggie got too used to roaming around our neighborhood, not really causing too much trouble.  At first, Wookie was too afraid to follow after her, but lately, he’s been game and they’ve both been caught visiting neighbors.

So now they both have their collars on and are getting used to being confined to our property.  AND we are happy to report that Wookie is no longer afraid of the dog flap!  Whew.  David and I spent quite a bit of time pushing him out the flap, grabbing a hold of him and pushing him back in.  Back and forth.

We are looking forward to our first spring in Idaho!