Tekoa Railroad Grade

Tekoa is a little town eleven miles north of us. Today we hunted along the county road about 6 miles north of Farmington in the RR grade that connects the two towns. The tracks were removed years ago. These first two pictures were of Juneau on another hunt a few days ago, but I liked the pictures so I threw them in.


This was today on the R.R. grade.

Here is a look at the cover. Lily is barely visible at left center.

This is a look at the old track bed. Right now the birds can be found in large flocks that flush 100 or more yards ahead of us. You can see 20 to 40 birds at a time, then walk for two more hours and see nothing. Most days I get a shot at a partridge, sometimse at a pheasant, but today I didn't fire a shot.

Another Hunt in the Snow

The last of the sun on the Idaho hilltops.

A look at the cover. Juneau took a dip up to her chim. She was covered with beads of ice in a matter of seconds.

A storm is coming tonight so we got in a little hunt in the evening sun.

More Snow Pictures

More Snow Pictures

I often hunt around this cemetery.

Hunting in The Snow

This was the day before the blizzard Our nearest neighbors live in the town of Farmington.

The hunting area yesterday.

This is where we hunted today after we got an additional
four or five inches last night.

My hunting partner Juneau.

This is my other partner Lilly.

A nice double point.

It was fun but cold. I didn't fire a shot.

Last Trip to the Cabin This Year

We arrived on a Monday, and left on a Thursday. Just enough time to relax, do some hiking, and close up for the winter. As you can tell the weather was beautiful. It was in the mid 20's at night then up to the 50's by mid day.

A week or so earlier the ground around the cabin had gotten a few inches of snow, but that had melted back up the hills a few hundred feet by the time we got there.

I climbed a ridge at the south end of the lake for this view. The picture of the evening sun on the snowy hills shows the area this was taken from, but I was just at the right edge of the picture.

A Week at the Cabin, One Month Later

In the mid-morning light with the fall colors.
Most of the color is from huckleberry bushes.
The lake trail.

Gordon, Sue and Mary Lou on the trail around the lake.

The last climb. At the top of this rise the cabin is visible through the trees.

The view over the wood pile.

This is how I moored the boat all week. This is our 15 ft. Snipe class sailboat. It's is new to the family, and will require some practice.

On the weekend Gordon and Sue Stands joined us for the hike, and here Gordon and I are leaving the dock for a little sailing adventure.

The wind was generally light, but every five to ten minutes we would get a blast coming over the leeward hill that ranged between a pleasant turn of speed or a frightening gust.

Mary Lou took all of these photos from the dock.

Fall was in the air, and we hit it just right. We had clear warm days, with cool starry nights. The fall colors were coming on strong. Mary Lou and I made the three hour hike around the lake every day, sailed in the afternoons, then finished each day down on the dock watching the stars come out.

We are so blessed!

A Week At The Cabin

This is the real thing. It was built in the 1920s or 1930s. It came into the Hoffman family in 1976, and we have been enjoying it at least one week a year every since. The first week we spent here, Sarah was almost 2 yrs. old and Nick was 3 weeks old. Sarah was 35 on August 31, and Nick was 33 on July 27.
A couple of hundred feet from the back porch is the dock.

This is a look at the swim beach at the north end of the lake. It was in the chilly low 70's in the middle of the week when I took this picture. By Friday the place had several groups that spent the day swimming and picnicking there.

This is evening back at the cabin dock on that same chilly day.

The summer of 2007, forest fires burned near the lake from July 17 to the middle of August. This is a view from the trail that runs along the south end of the lake. By linking several trails together we are able to hike around the lake. It takes us about 2hr. and 45min. This trip is pretty much a daily routine that starts mid-morning on most days.

One day, not far from where the last picture was taken, we spotted this bald eagle.

It was near this nest tree. We've seem them here in past years also.

Some years we could see the young in the nest. This year we saw nothing. It seemed like there might be a sad story here this year. Why would one adult hang around an empty nest?

The cabin has a beautiful stone fireplace, and is furnished with many of the pieces that were here when the Hoffman family took over. Some of it looks like it may have been here from the very beginning. What I didn't get was a picture of the huge wood cook stove in the kitchen. We are going back in a few weeks. I'll get some more pictures then.