photos

Had a fine idea of what I wanted to shoot this past weekend, but I forgot to take my camera. Then I remembered that I had the helmet cam for the bike. That would have been fine except for the operator error and thus there are no photos this week. So it goes. I did get some painting done on Saturday a.m. and then went for a nice mtn. bike ride up the south fork of soldier creek, up and over the saddle, down the north fork of soldier creek and back to the ski area parking lot where I started. Nice ride, as I've been about 5 miles up each fork, but this is the first time I made the complete loop. So nice to ride where the only people I met during the four hours were 3 horseback riders and 2 motorcyclist. And that was in the first hour, after that it was just me and the scenery. If only I'd have brought the camera. I could import the winter pics and then you could pretend that it is green with flowers instead of all white with snow :). The trail was pretty beat coming down the north fork due to the cattle finally being up on the summer range. But even so it was a nice ride with temps in the mid 60's, it felt like fall. Which is in a close race with winter for being my favorite season of the year. The nice thing about the bike is that after working my tail off on the climb up I get to coast downhill and it is almost like skiing back down, almost. Not quite that flying sensation that the powder gives us, but close enough.

I may have to change this blog to the Fairfield adventure blog as the work winds down on the house. Still have a long list of work to do, but with the limited budget the work should stay sporadic at best. Not all bad.
O.K. use your imagination, the hills are green and tan with sage and grass and then lupine and buckwheat are in bloom on the hills in front.
Stay tuned. Steve

painting party

first time to fairfield for a while.... it was good to leave rainy boise behind & see blue skies & sun.

it actually looked pretty dry in the field behind the house, wildflowers about done

the grass seed that steve put out is coming in pretty well, and when everything is mowed it looks like a yard!

caralea and carolyn came up to help knock out the upstairs painting. we are really lucky to have such good friends! got it done and had fun doing it.....

this is caralea, who is an expert taper & wields a mean roller.

and carolyn, cutter- in and brush & roller cleaner extraordinaire.

echo and halle helped too. we're not quite sure how echo got his one little ear and nothing else painted.

halle did a more thorough job, getting ear, tail & parts between.

caralea putting on primer- we bagged the power roller after day 1. i'm not crazy about it either, and with 2 of us rolling it went pretty quick. the thing is a bear to clean too.

while we were slaving away inside, steve was finishing up trim painting.

carolyn doing an incredible job of cutting in with just her trusty brush....

saturday we got in one coat of primer and a coat of paint in one room & a coat of paint in another room (this being the whole upstairs except bathrooms- not a small area).

we cleaned up, had a gin & tonic, went to the imi for yummy dinner (chicken fried steak, boneless pork chops, prime rib & sirloin and all of the appropriate sides), came home for a fabulous sunset

and blazing saddles (still hilarious!) on the $40 tv/vcr combo that steve found at a pawn shop.

sunday- second coat of paint in both rooms. this is the guest bedroom- ryegrass. the master is a cream (carolyn & caralea say yellow, but what do they know?) called opal cream.

we will actually be able to arrange furniture in the bedrooms now, and feel less like we're camping out. slowly but surely we're getting there.

drove home through the (now dry) marsh because carolyn has never seen a sandhill crane. we didn't see one, but did get to observe this guy sitting on a fence post.

and that's it for now!

we'll be back.

really. in a few weeks.

july 18 & 19

i did some work this week- of the furnishing on the cheap variety. pretty successful too- found dishes for 6 for $20 at big lots ( and they're not really ugly!).

and 3 table lamps & a floor lamp for $31 at the youth ranch. woo hoo!

steve put shelves up on the back porch for chargers & whatever else we need to store (sure we will fill them up, not to worry!)

steve got to have some fun instead of working all weekend. did a bit of fishing with his bro in law & nephew saturday (it was well over 100 in boise, good day to be on the river!)

the pups & i got up a bit after 5. wandered around, took some pics, went to imi (iron mt inn) for dinner. hoping to find air conditioning. nice cold gin & tonic is the next best thing, right?

then the store, then back home. the house is well insulated, which really helps keep it cool inside as long as it's open at night & closed up again once it starts warming up. once the breeze started it was pleasant enough to sit on the back porch.

sunday morning, a bit of tidying up, then a bike ride for steve & a walk for the dogs & me. it was already getting pretty warm, so we (dogs & me) didn't get too far.

the wildflowers are just cranking. and there are butterflies everywhere. these photos can't do justice to how beautiful it was.....

i found this sign funny- doesn't look like the gate has been opened for some time.....

so nice to have a cooler place to escape to. having it cool off at night makes such a huge difference, even without air conditioning. and it's nice to be able to sit & relax without having huge jobs staring us in the face everywhere. there's still plenty to do, but not as immediate. hope to get the girls up to help me paint in a few weeks, be nice to have that done.

all for now!

july 11 & 12- possible photo overload!

this is where we were on august 2 last year. we've come a long way, steve has done a tremendous amount of work- and we have our occupancy final.
the one thing that had to be changed was the banisters had to be moved up. they seem quite high to steve & me, but it's where they need to be. now we're all legal!

front porch looks great after steve got the finish on it earlier this week.

this weekend's project was vinyl for the back porch.

under the stairs

and the laundry room

steve did a great job! things are starting to feel more finished. we picked up an extra vanity on sale to use for storage on the back porch.

and the couch fits perfectly along with the little side table from the second hand store. nice place to unwind & watch the sunset. we don't have huge windows to look out due to needing to be 100 mi hr wind proof, but it's still a light pretty spot.

the trees & shrubs we planted last fall are doing well. need to read up on what stuff i can bring up from home- i have lots of plants needing dividing, if they'll survive.

speaking of finished- the master bath looks great

the front room is shaping up, now that we're down to one couch

echo is working hard in his position as guard of the homestead

but we all got some play in as well........ rocky came to visit

the camera got a work out

wild flowers still blooming- wild rose

potentilla

steve fixed the back of the jeep up so the dogs could ride safely. put a box over the bolts on the floor & the net around to keep them from getting any bright ideas about hopping out.

we headed out on the forest service road toward couch summit

and came to this beautiful spot

more wildflowers

scenic vistas

when we were heading back to town, we saw a mama skunk & her babies in the road. they scattered quickly before i could get a photo. but then we saw these fox kits playing off to the side. they were hilarious- like puppies. we turned around & i managed to get a few shots. with echo whining and trying to get out to "play" with them.

and got home for a beautiful sunset.

pleased to report that steve got a mountain bike ride in today and is looking forward to getting some fishing and biking done in the coming weeks now that the pressure is off.