Spring 2016

For some reason, when it became officially spring here…it really didn’t. We had snow every morning for about a week straight. It would melt by the evening but, the temperature was still chilly. Just 2 days ago it was snowing for the majority of the day. Once again, it all melted.

Now that we are hitting 60 degree weather, it’s time to get out and explore our neighborhood and all that Idaho has to offer.  

First is the garden. Yeah, I checked on it and it is still there. I need to pull weeds and till. I did start some seeds today. I might be late in the game, but we shall see. I don’t have much of a green thumb, but I always try. I joined a facebook group that offers a ton of suggestions and advice.

Next, we took the kiddos for a walk to the pond to see the frogs. They have been making a ton of noise at night for a few weeks. We always bring a net to try and catch some, but have not been successful. It is fun to see the kids get excited about all of the bugs and other pond life. I suppose I should bring a jar next time to collect some eggs and pond water. I remember looking at the pond water under a microscope when I was in 5^th grade. The kids also had fun collecting cattails and peeling the layers of fluff. Again, another childhood memory I was glad to share with them. I was lucky to have many ponds and streams growing up.

Then we explore our own acreage for all the lovely surprises that spring up.
Many flowers, buds on the trees, green grass, and fields of green from the farmers wheat. We were sitting out on our back deck listening to all of the bird calls, the winds whipping through the trees, and the warm sun beating down upon us.

These are the days where goofing off outside is more precious than anything.  

Wasps and Hornets

I have never really had the pleasure of dealing with these pests before moving here. These guys can't be that bad, right? I guess I should have taken a hint when one of our first welcome to the neighborhood gifts was a wasp trap.

I thought could this really be true? Will we need to use these? They are very unattractive being bright green or bright yellow. To me, they don't seem so attractive. Then again I am not a nasty insect.

,

Nasty? Now that seems like a harsh word but I am sure they have been called worst. Our first encounter happened when the kids were playing on a plastic dog house. Yes, a plastic dog house (not my style either). The previous owners of our house left it behind and it is too small for our dog. The kids just ended up using it as their play thing to climb and jump? Well of course the wasps decided to build a nest in an unsuspecting hole that is inside the structure. How is it possible to see a nest being built? Sure enough, one of the kids got stung and this was my wake up call. 

If you hurt one of my babies, then I must in turn do something to yours. Yes, we can cohabititate together peacefully, but once you cross the line and try to attaché me for getting close to investigate, it is the dread bug spray for you. I went to the store the next day and purchased some. It can shoot about 10 feet away and boy did I need it. They do not mess around as soon as I started, they came bounding out at me. It did the trick and they left their nest. I caved then and bought a bunch of traps to put around the yard. I managed to catch quite a few, but realize there are more out there. 

This was last year and you would think we would be veterans now. I read that you should put the traps out in spring to capture the queens before they nest. I certain,y did that, but I was not successful. We had a nice spring with plenty of rain and they were not attracted to the traps. 

As summer progressed, I would search around our living areas for nests and quickly remove them. They tried to make some in the roof of our decks, on the eves of the garage, our electrical box, grill, and in our light boxes on the driveway. I thought I was being proactive enough, but again there are more of them than me. 

I was casually playing ball with my dog in the yard when the ball landed in a nest on the ground. Poor guy had no clue and was yelping because he was getting stung. Those meanies even continued to sting him as he was running to get inside the house. I had to brush one of of him before entering hoping I wouldn't get stung. Well, war was declared and out came the spray. Sorry guys but when you mess with my dog....well you are dead now. 

Poor dog got it again in another casual incident. We were on our deck and had no clue that a nest was built inside a stack of chairs. Once again, the dog was playing and casually sniffed where the nest was hidden. Instantly, we were surrounded by angry wasps who were attacking the dog. Of course we all ran as fast as we could to take cover. Once they returned to their nest, I pushed the chairs down and the nest popped out. I waited a bit to make sure I did it see any nasties and sprayed the nest. Later on I just stomped on it. 

I figured it was probably time to fill up the traps with more attractant and water. I also read that they are looking for water. This probably is another advantage because we again have not had rain in over a month. As soon as I refilled them, I instantly caught a few. As you can see it has been less than a week and I have caught tons. 

There is no way that I will ever catch them all. I know that this will not be the last time that my kids, dog or I will ever be stung. I am grateful that they do not have an allergic reaction as my relations do. 

I am amazed at how many there are and even more amazed that scientist have created a way to get rid of them. So, I will sit back and watch the traps fill up. I smile as I pass them saying to myself, "This will be one least nasty bugger who will not get me!"

On a side note:

J became a victim of her own "valuable life lesson". She thought she was grabbing for a white pine cone in a conifer tree and as you can imagine it wasn't. Her first sting and she was very upset. I felt bad, but had to chuckle a bit. I explained that there are no white pine cones and that those particular tree did not even produce pine cones. 

All my dreams

When I envisioned having kids, I of course wanted them to have childhood similar to mine. Our children were not going to have these same memories if we continued living in Chicago. Yes, they probably would still have great memories, but not the same.

We have not regretted moving here to Idaho. As you know,

we celebrated our 1^st year and are continuing to discover new things. Spring will always continue to amaze us with everything coming to life and the wonderful blooms on the trees.

I remember being 5 living in Worth, Il playing in my back yard where my grandmother planted lilacs. The smells were amazing and the garden was of those English ones you read or seen in movies. I loved playing outdoors, picking flowers, and finding great hiding spots. When we lived in Frankfort, IL, I loved playing in the grass, finding interesting insects, finding toads, and playing with caterpillars. I remember sitting in the grass, soaking up the sun, and looking at the clouds.

My love of nature is finally rubbing off on my children! I keep taking them outside, pointing out flowers, trees, bugs, insects, butterflies, snakes, squirrels, chipmunks, mice, tons of birds, bears, moose, deer, and much more. They are so lucky to be experiencing this incredible atmosphere. And there is so much more that we have not even uncovered.

S continues to discover many things and is always running inside to ask me to check out something he has found. He found a caterpillar the other day and shared it with Jillian. They spent about an hour playing with it. J is having fun discovering the wonderful scents of the blooming flowers.

As she is turning 6, she is becoming more like me each day. She is always so excited to be a part of whatever it is that I am doing. She is taking on the role of weeding the garden on her own. Planting seeds and watering them has also been an amazing task. Recently, she picked various flowers and put them in a glass of water for me.

The addition of the tree swing has also encouraged them to be outdoors more on their own. They will go out and swing each other. Of course it is just as it was when we were little, twirling each other around so fast to see if they barf. The best part is to hear them come up with their plans and squeal with delight with their rewards.

One day, they will walk out of the house and say see ya later mom. They’ll be gone for hours exploring all our mountainous neighborhood has to offer. They will probably come home with a rabbit just as I did or a frog. I can’t wait to hear them ask if they can keep it. S knows if he catches a snake it can be his pet (optimal word…IF).

My vision is finally coming true when we decided to move here. We are enjoying the great outdoors, learning about life, and living it.  

Pup's 1st Birthday

Yup, this pup is 1. Although we have not been here for a year, our beloved German Shepherd is celebrating his first year in Idaho.

Yes he is truly an Idahoan puppy. I’m not sure if you recall the story of how we acquired said dog, but I’ll retell it in just in case.

You see we were moving here from Chicago during one of the coldest spells in December. We wanted to be here and set up before Christmas. Our luck ran out in our last town and we needed a change. Our visit last summer brought us as far as Sandpoint and Coure D’Alene. It was love at first sight and we knew we were destined to move here.

Fast forward to December as we are trekking our way through the states traveling West. Now you may remember that I hadn’t even seen the house we were buying except in pictures and a poorly shot video. We also didn’t know as much about the area as we should have prior to moving. If you know us well, we can be spontaneous people.  We packed and moved within a 6 week time frame.

Here we are on our last leg of the trip passing through Utah and entering into Idaho. We stop for the night somewhere around Idaho Falls. Hubby has always wanted a dog and a German Shepherd was it. I think he had been searching for one all during our trip. The morning of our last leg, he shows me a picture of the cutest puppies and well who couldn’ t resist.

He said, “Hey, would you like to go and check out some puppies?” Anyone knows that “check out” is code for “Hey, come look at these irresistible dogs that you will end up taking home with you!” That is about how it went. We stopped off at a pet store along the way to get us set up. You know the essentials: dog food, treats, toys, leash, collar, and bed.  Yes you read correctly, we bought these things before we purchased the dog. Why? We didn’t know if we were going to encounter another store before we got home.

Speaking of home, I forgot to mention that we were still 6 hours away from our final destination.

We get to the house where they are selling the dogs and we quickly choose one because it is freezing outside. The kids are extremely excited and want to hold him in their laps. So, we manage a way for him to sit on 2 out of 3 kids laps because that is how big he is. It becomes a bit unstable for him and the kids are complaining

because he is heavy.

There is no other room in our vehicle because the back is jammed packed with our worldly belongings. Yes we picked up this creature along the way. We are still 5 hours out and through a moutainess journey.

Can you guess where the dog ended up riding? Yup, on my lap. Now he is way too big to be on anyone’s lap.

Happy 1^st birthday Pup! This name has stuck and all others have failed. Yes, I did make his cake as I do all of my children. The kids were super excited to celebrate his day. Along with making his cake, we bought him some new toys. 

Boom, Pop, Fizz

Today the kids turned in their paper filled with circles for the library’s reading program. This started in June and kids were encouraged to read a book or have a book read to them (young ones). At the end, you returned your paper. They would donate $1 to the humane society, the older kids got a button and pencil, and the younger one got stickers and a growth chart. Then they each got to pick out a book to keep.

I am extremely happy that my kids were able to participate in the summer reading program at our library. First all, two of them are able to read books confidently for the first time. Although I have always read to them and have been trying get them to read on their own—it has only started working.

My style of teaching is a bit lax and I let them guide me as to what they want to do. I have taught them phonics and have felt that one day it will all come together. We had been reading and I have had a lot of push back from them.

This summer reading program came at a perfect time because I felt Braedon was now becoming an independent reader. I still felt that he needed more guidance and assistance when he encountered words he could not pronounce. He would get frustrated and want to give up. The program is designed to have the parent keep track of the books the kids read. I would tell him every day that he needed to read a book in order to fill in his circle for the day.

We would go to the library and they could choose the books they wanted. I would also choose books I felt would help propel them to the next level. Both boys are gaining more confidence and well the little one just loves all books.

I am grateful for the helpful staff and the large assortment of books. Coming from Chicago, this library is a sanctuary for our homeschooling family.  In Chicago, I always felt like a criminal checking out books, you could only hold 3 books, when you requested a hold it took about a week or more, and often you could not find the books you went to get. I know that the Chicago was understaffed and probably underpaid. That is why I find our new library so refreshing.

I was super surprised my kids were so happy with the prizes they received. I told them they should be grateful for whatever they get because normally when they read books, they don’t get anything in return. They were thrilled and thanked the staff member.

I just might have to create my own reward system to continue the journey. They did still push back a bit, but I can push harder. I want to build strong confident readers and I know it will lead to strong-well-spoken children. 

Fire, fire, fire--oh wait it is just smoke, smoke, smoke

I woke up yet again to the smell of smoke.  Once again, I look out all of my windows and I can’t see anything. I just smell it. There is a significant breeze coming in from the southwest and this time it smells like wood. I veered outside and it was very hazy from where the wind was blowing.

Earlier this week I awoke at 3am to heavy smoke which smelled like BBQ or garbage. Really? Neighbors can you really be cooking at that hour. I thought it was garbage and that maybe they weren’t supposed to be burning it. Do we have sneaky neighbors?

Not really knowing what I should do, I phoned the fire department for advice. I was given Joe Williams’, Fire Marshall, voice mail. Oh, I’m in for it now the Fire Marshall. I just left him a message about my concern. He phoned me back promptly, but was unable to comfort me. There were no reported fires that evening in our area. 

Darn, I was sure it had to be something serious.

His advice was to drive around and snoop (I mean get to know) my neighbors.  I should see what they are up to and find out the burning regulations in my area. He also stated that the wind matters a great deal. You can smell fires burning from miles away. He said that we should keep our hoses out in case of a fire, keep an area of green around our home, and report anything. I asked specifically what does “anything” mean? He said they would come out no matter what I reported and they would do their best to track down the fire.

Now I know better not to report a fire until you see flames, but he made it sound like I can call with any concerns. Ok that did make me feel a bit better, but I don’t want to waste their time looking for something when they can actually be putting out a real fire.

Probably as the season moves on and we hopefully get more rain, we will be immune to the whole wildfire frenzy. We will then get excited as the weather turns colder and the smell of tamarack, oak, or other woods are burning in chimneys (where they are contained).

For now dear neighbors if you are planning a BBQ after the 10pm hour, I must insist upon an invitation. Otherwise, I might be running with my hose and may have even phoned Moscow FD. 

Meeting Novella Carpenter

I met one of my idols today. Ok, perhaps I shouldn’t call her an idol but more of an inspirational person. Her name is Novella Carpenter and she is the author of two books: Farm City and Gone Feral (if you haven’t read them they are good reads and funny).

Farm City was recommended to me by two dear friends, Hilary L. and Elizabeth B.  When I was living in Chicago, I was lucky to have a small backyard that was solely mine. I had tried to bit a vegetable gardening, but it wasn’t working out. It wasn’t an ideal situation. I inquired with my friends about what to do and they suggested Novella’s book.

I loved hearing about her struggles and successes about farming and raising animals. Her words practically jumped out of the book and spoke to me. It said, “Malissa, I am doing these things and you should too.” I thought I should get to work right away, but I didn’t. 

First, I knew that I couldn’t raise any animals on University property. Secondly, my husband’s work wasn’t going as well as we planned.

We needed a huge break from life and went on a 2 week vacation West and Idaho ended up being our final destination. As you may have read in my prior posts, we fell in love with this state and were trying to figure out a way to come here. When we returned back to Chicago, my passion to transform the backyard was set aside. I didn’t want to invest time and money into a space I no longer loved or cherished. It was time to move.

When Rich was denied tenure, we were a bit relieved and that sealed our fate. Idaho here we come, but where? Luckily he was able to secure a job in Pullman and it became a no brainer for us to move to the Idaho side. Then the question remains do we live in town or buy some land? Our realtor answered that question for us and found us a house with 3 acres.

I finally have some land to make a garden, have some animals, and do whatever I choose. Of course we bought a chicken killer dog and that eliminates the chickens. We are still exploring our area and getting settled. I am sure we will be getting something at some point. Bees anyone?  So when things get tough, I remind myself of some of Novella’s experiences and tell myself I can do it.

Novella and I have a lot of similar experiences in life and it was nice to be able to share mine with her. It was especially a treat to share them with her sister as well. It is a funny feeling meeting the real-life characters from a book because you feel as though you already know them before you meet them. I was also thrilled to meet their daughters.

She stated she is going to write another Non-fiction book and perhaps some fiction as well. I can’t wait to read about her latest adventures.

As for me, you are reading mine right now and perhaps one day I too will write a book from Idaho.