We started out briskly on May 19 with a 10 AM flight from Phoenix to Denver, then a change to Boise, to be there by 1 pm- then drive over to American Falls, a 3 hour drive. Or so we thought. Bad weather in Denver delayed us enough that we missed the flight to Boise, and did not get out of Denver until 7pm, then to Boise at 9 pm. But, no luggage. Drove on to American Falls, and arrived at 12:30 AM- fell into bed and, amazingly, luggage arrived at 7:30 AM the next day!!! :)
First, we have to talk about Marita ( Neal's sister) and Neil's new home that they have built, using many previously used supplies, and very interesting, green design. Also, as Neil is allergic to many components of plastics, glues, etc-- they have been especially careful about this with building products. The house is built on a hill, partially into the hill, with a southern exposure and good use of solar energy. They used the grainary sides for ceilings in the house. Marita/ Neil found on KSM.com kitchen cabinets made of steel - that are a beautiful yellow- enough cabinets for their kitchen, laundry room, garage, and more- with sinks, cook top, etc - for amazingly little money. Below are some pictures of the home
view from living room toward laundry and kitchen above
and now kitchen - with Teresa ( Neil and Marita's daughter) and Neal -
the dining room/ living room -
And, the outside -
a direct front on view- note the ceiling that you can see through the top windows -
other views -
The smaller adjacent building will be a garage and then a 2 bedroom suite on the second floor- We all made it up to the 2nd floor, but the cat was thinking about it
And some views from the top of the house-
The garden, someday- with Nebie-
We spent most of May 20 driving down to Paradise, Utah ( near Logan) to visit Marita/Neil's son, Eric and wife Tamie. She made a wonderful lunch for us- main course was Elk Lasagna, very yummy and a first for N. and me. Tamie is a master taxidermist - has won numerous prizes -and then we went for a wonderful long walk up their canyon. Some photos of the scenery and of Eric/ Tamie and Tamie's work:
By the time that we got home, we were done in, as we had actually driven for about 6 hours in total!
May 21, we woke up and found that we had a beautiful, sunny day, which was also warmer - both of which we enjoyed a lot. We had lunch at the Inn run by a family friend that was really fabulous and we enjoyed hearing stories about various friends, etc as we talked with the owner, Esther. -
Esther and her husband are amazing- running this restruant and occ bed and breakfast- they are in their 80s. One special attribute of the restruant is it is reservation only, and you have to decide on your menu when you make the reservation. Worked very well.
We spent the afternoon at Marita and Neil's farm/ old home --checking out the wetlands - where Neil has done reserach
Their old home is on the American Falls Reservoir, and we enjoyed walking around the shore back up to their old house-- saw a lot of birds, and great scenery -
As we were close to the house, we found that some cows had gone through the wire fence and were in a field of wheat ( Neil/Marita rent it out), --so we then spent some time herding the cows back ( I claim no credit) and fixing the fence ( small credit to me/ N) - and we called the owner of the cows, who came immediately to help. All was well.
We then found the Great Horned Owl and her baby that are living in the tree behind their house - see below the immature owl -
And a quick view of their old home-
We had a great afternoon-with a little extra excitement -- and then went back to their home for a relaxing evening, great meal, and lively discussions. More tomorrow.... Love, Deb/ Neal
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