Lightning Storm in Boise- Early 4th of July Only Better

Last night we had one of the most incredible lightning storms I've ever seen in Boise. It went on for nearly an hour. It was so bright. I could actually see my hens on their roosting bar in the coop from my dining room window. Better than 4th of July fireworks.

MIddle Fork Salmon Shovel Brigade

That's right. We opened the pass. By hand when the USFS said no machinery allowed. And the others said you will never make it. They said there was a big, big slide looking like a porcupine so many logs sticking out of it. Never say never. With the help of a dozen folks, and even some folks from another trip going in two days after us, we did it. And I'm getting ready to prep the bill to the USFS for our work.
It seems in past years the USFS would grant the Outfitters the chance to plow if they forked over a $1000 bond. Not this year. No sir ree bob! We've got ourselves a new District Ranger and a new road engineer on this here USFS District. And there seems no bounds to lack of common sense.
Instead of plowing, dozens of trips dangerously undertook running Marsh Creek to enter the MIddle Fork Salmon. And Outfitters with clients were forced to pay an additional average of $2400 to $3000 to fly in their clients and gear to Indian Creek. All because the USFS wouldn't plow what amounted to about 75 yards of road. Give me a break! The National Park Service routinely plows open roads in late May to Glacier and Yellowstone so visitors can get in.
When one considers how coveted and hard it is to get a permit on the Middle Fork Salmon one would think the USFS would make the effort to plow the road. Yes, it was a big snow year, but contrary to popular pundits, most all that snow was already gone on June 14 with the notable exception of a couple of drifted in areas.

This river trip was amongst the best river trips I've done. The only one that even comes close to topping it was my Grand Canyon trips with Johnny Montezuma, Bryan T Brown and the cast of miscreants and dirtbag boaters in the 1980's that I ran with alot.
We ate great meals every night. We never got out of camp before 1 except the last day at about 11. We often ate dinner in the dark with the lantern going, a crackling fire and awesome meals like ahi tuna, pork tenderloin, chicken curry, beef tenderloin steaks, and chile rellenos. We didn't run out of beer or anything else for that matter.
Spunky the Funky Monkey came on the trip for our party night and soon became the beloved mascot of the trip. When you travel for 7 days with 18 people you really get to know folks. This group covered the range of sublime to ridiculous. We had it all from age 23 to 65 and I am happy to say that I now feel comfortable passing the torch to the younger boating and river generation if these whippersnappers are what's out there.
The trip did not go off without a few glitches. I sprained my ankle at the put in at Boundary Creek the first day moving gear to load. It's still swollen and healing. Two days later I got whacked in the nose when my friends knee hit the oar and had the Mt Vesuvius of nose bleeds at the pull in at Marble Creek. I'm still sporting minor remnants of a purple eye that would have rivaled any makeup work by Tammy Faye Baker. One boatman flipped at Velvet. The flip broke welds in his frame but we cobbled it together with boat straps.
We had rain, sleet, snow, grapple, and cold fast water with huge waves and holes in some cases. The river was 6.6 feet and stayed at that slightly lowering to 6 when we got off. It's now moving back up again and may hit 7.2 feet by this weekend. We had sunshine and it was close to 80 degrees and bluebird weather on our last day. We had a full moon and hot springs at Sheepeater, Sunflower and Loon Creek. We even had a day we only went two miles (from Marble Creek to Stateline Right) so we could hang out at Sunflower for a few hours. But best of all, we had the gift of friendship, river freedom and comraderie that goes with a great river trip.
Oh, and I dethroned the reigning extreme croquet champ at Loon Creek Camp. So Johnny, I'm getting better. It was a tough course up hill, across an irrigation ditch and through a tent or two.

I wish I were on the river today.

Thelma and Louise meet Italian Piaggio and the Middle Fork Salmon

It's been nearly six weeks since I posted to the blog. I'm not even going to apologize. I've been busy finishing, refurbishing and modifying the chicken coop II. It seems my Welsh Terrier terrorist takes great pleasure in tormenting and watching the two new chicks through the chicken wire mesh. In fact, while doing something else a week or so ago he managed to tear down the upper portion of the wire with his dog toenails and canine incisors. So I had to re-staple and adds some wood over the top of the edges where the wire ends to dissuade him.

I had painted the door what was supposed to be federal red, but was more akin to some 50's era red pinafore colored sun dress my mom would have worn. WAY TOO RED! So, off to Home Depot for a cinammon tan shade that toned it down. Thank goodness for spray paint. It works wonders for graffiti and also chicken coop doors.

So the coop is done. I've added a roosting bar outside that the new chicks seem to really like. The hens beat up on them pretty regularly, so they fly out of the coop and onto that out door roost. The big girls don't seem to bother them there. Though they've taken to knocking their waterer out of the coop and down the gangplank for spite.

My neighbor had to come over last week when he heard what sounded like chicken murder and intervene as the neighborhood "chicken whisperer" and break up the altercation. Things seems to be getting a bit better. Fortunately for me, my Thelma and Louise are really nice chickens and they like to sit on my arm and perch, or on my shoulder or even jump on my back or head. They like to be petted and come when I call them. Okay, enough drivel on chickens.

Below is an excerpt from an email I received from my friend Mark, who is currently travelling in Italy and Germany. Mostly Italy. Mark is also an exceptional writer and observer on life. Enjoy this tidbit.

"Subaru has been the official vehicle of the US ski team for some years. It is sporty,fast, good in the snow... a perfect fit.

In italy, there is a 3-wheel mini truck, the Piaggio, powered by a scooter engine that should be the official
vehicle for old codgers.
The truck for the older man who's "get up and go" has mostly got up and went, but who still likes to get out
and annoy others. (When you buy one, it comes with a free case of duct tape.)
It is grossly underpowered, cant go fast or climb, its noisy and stinks. It only has room for one
...and some junk in back. It is perfect for the misanthrope out scrounging wood or recyclables.

On twisty narrow roads like in central Italy, it has an additional feature; It is the one time your older driver
can make a large number of people slow down and go "his" speed..."Let that young guy in the new BMW, with his huge salary
and nice suit, just "cool his heels" a while longer.Heh heh heh."

My other main occupation the past few weeks has been to watch the USGS river gage for the MIddle Fork Salmon at Middle Fork Lodge. I leave on a trip next week and had been cautiously optimistic it would drop to 6 feet or below, and that we might actually have some sunshine and mostly rain free days. Things are looking up. It peaked over a month at just over 7 feet. The latest plateau was similar. The biggest glitch is waiting to see if the road will magically plow itself, since the USFS has prohibited the outfitters from plowing this year, even though each and every year when the FS didn't plow, the outfitters put up a $1000 bond and did it themselves. There is an ongoing battle with USFS upper management in Region 4 in Idaho the past couple of years due to an amazing lack of common sense as of late. I don't know what has happened to their upper management, but it has been making some of the most boneheaded decisions I've seen the USFS in our Region make in many years. Stunning in their lack of insight, foresight, hindsight.

So that's my little rant for the night, too. You are getting a triple hitter here with three themes in this blog. Enjoy, cause there isn't going to be another one for a while again.

Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to the river I go.