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| Artful Yard |
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| Keepin' the government out! |
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| Half Rack |
It was a two-dog trip when Bill, my sisters and I set off
for an afternoon of exploring east of Bonners Ferry, up Katka Road, which leads to Boulder Creek, the old ghost
town of Boulder City (complete with well-maintained cemetery) and lots of
lovely views in between.
Meggie and Jessie, my sisters’ pups got to go, and Laurie’s
pickup provided the perfect transportation with room for dogs, people and
treats for all aboard.
Bill is planning to visit the area where we went yesterday
again next year because it will mark the 40th year since he camped
there in the summer while working for the U.S. Forest Service.
It was probably that year when I first saw Boulder City and
snapped a photo of a daisy in a bottle sitting on the window sill of an
abandoned house, which probably served as a fine place to live when Boulder
City sprung up from a mining promotion back in the early Twentieth Century.
Well, yesterday, about four decades after my first visit,
that window sill probably couldn’t hold a daisy in a makeshift vase cuz the
house is threatening to fall down.
For nostalgia sake, I plucked a few daisies and an
accidental hawk week and flung ‘em into that open window for a photo op.
Later, my sister Barbara, found an old toilet seat on the
ground near the house and decorated it up with daisies.
We did so much during our few hours up Katka that it’s hard
to remember it all. Bill told us to get
ready on the lower part of the road for the “artistic” landscaping coming
up.
For sure, that place needs to be on a reality series. Our basic question after pondering the scene
and snapping photos both coming and going was:
How does one create the vision for such a scene. We’re figuring you just get started, and then
we figured we do have a start with our wheelbarrows, old lawnmowers and, in my
case, manure spreader planter.
We just need to do a little collecting. And, then again we may be too old to get
started on a project of such scale.
Besides the government defying lawn art, we saw some beautiful
scenery, one time getting out to walk down on a bench overlooking the Kootenai
River, another time during lunch break on the Boulder Creek Bridge.
Dogs enjoyed the refreshing “rushing” stream and the
handouts. We had fun photographing a
grouse that exploded from the bushes along the trail, like only a grouse
can.
The bird was nice enough to remain in a nearby tree for our
portraiture session.
We did NOT enjoy the dozens of wads of toilet paper and
napkins strewn along both sides of the creek near the camping spots.
Pigs!
We strolled around Boulder City, then drove on up to the
cemetery, with residents from the 1920s, resting eternally within a fenced area
on a hillside high above Boulder Creek.
Beautiful spot.
On the way home, we took the Kootenai Trail Road back to HWY
95, and a group of deer in a lush farm field put on a show for us.
Twas another great outing, and though we found no gold in
Boulder Creek, we still feel richer because of yesterday’s experience.
1 comment:
Leigh is obsessed with Leonia and has done enough research that he is writing a book about it. He has spent many hours searching and exploring and talking to people.
Toni
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