Idaho Falls Was the Place to Be!

Idaho is a state that seems to have many waterfalls named after towns. Or are the towns named after waterfalls? It is a true chicken and egg dilemma. I've been to Idaho Falls, Twin Falls, Post Falls. Shoshone is a town but doesn't have "falls" in its name. And Shoshone Falls therefore isn't named after the town. Also, Shoshone isn't anywhere near the water, actually. It's on the edge of the Arco desert and lava beds.
But I digress. Idaho Falls was the place to be this weekend as my 2nd major stopover on the my 4 day road trip. Johnny Montezuma and his lovely bride Susun move their Second Chance Ranch selves northerly from the oppressive heat of Camp Verde, Airy Zona to IF for six months out of the years. After two very cold and snowy winters, and due to a fluke of the economic downturn that led them to get their lovely straw bale house back from the buyer, they live in two places--but not at once.
John and Susun have managed to entrench themselves in to the day to day life of IF. Johnny enjoys going shooting with several other gentlemen of leisure a few times a week at the local shooting range. Susun has made various and sundry friends over their past 4 years living in IF and finds her self doing volunteer work at places like the ReSTORE for Habitat for Humanity.
But much of the time is spent entertaining those of us who simply can't stand not to be around two of the great human beings on this planet.So a steady stream of friends far and near drop in and out of their place for various kinds of frivolity. Such was the past two days I spent with them. We'd not seen each other since my trip to Second Chance in March to visit and also kayak in the Verde River Canoe Challenge.
Susun has the most awesome little garden that John has helped her with. It's loaded with the tallest most sturdy hollyhocks I've seen. We picked fresh zuchini to go with dinner, first of the season. And Johnny has ensured that there is a stellar croquet court in the lawn for us to play several games a day. But even better is the mini foosball table Susun found at a yard sale. We jerry rigged that thing so it was attached to a tool work table with rope and some clamps. Top it off with some bubble makers, wine coolers and two wild and crazy gals and you've got foosball mania.
Not to be outdone, however, is Johnny's renowned "three hour tours", of which we partook of on the bicycles to view the IF Greenbelt that goes along the Snake River. Topping it off, are dozens of innovative public art works benches that the City Parks Dept raised money for and John helped jury for the selection of the winners. It's a real highlight. Plus riding through old town IF on a Sunday is perfect because there just isn't any traffic. We were given nice cool biking weather with overcast skies.
All I can say is IF is the Place to Be. It was just like "Green Acres" without the pig.

There's Something About the Arco Desert

Day 4 of my 600 miles road trip my afternoon was spent driving across the Arco Desert past Craters of the Moon National Monument south towards Carey, Idaho. The Arco Desert in my humble view is that stretch of road near Craters all the way to Carey and southerly towards Minidoka and Shoshone. The heart of the area is crossed by Goodales Cutoff, a spur of the various Oregon Trails and wagon train routes. Goodales came across more or less from Ft Hall, cut through some nasty lava rock areas with narrow wagon tracks, and heded toward Mountain Home cutting over toward Boise at a place called Bonneville Point. There are many variations on the theme. Those travelers had to be tough as nails to do this. The most successful didn't go by wagon but rather went by horseback The easier routes were those that went near Cauldron Linn but stayed north of the Snake River rather than crossing there, or else they crossed at Glenns Ferry.

Rain Storm Pummels Boise's North End

So I just returned home from my 4 day soire to find hundreds of pine cones littering my yard. The rain barrel that I water the chickens and hanging planters outside is full again. Despite the .85 inches of rain; it looks like I need to add some more Huma Green to the soil (iron and magnesium) for better tilth and feeding the lawn in this heat. I went form 65 and rain in Idaho Falls this morning to blazing sun and 94. That's okay, it's the reason I live in Boise. And I have my first cherry tomato turn red today. Raspberries are in full tilt, too. And Reuben the wonder dog is happy to have me home. It's great to have an awesome chicken and dog tender when I want to wander about.