Blurry Bird

I chased this bird around for 5 minutes trying to get a shot of him. This is the best I could do before he flew away. I figured my Dad might know what kind of bird this since I have no clue. If anyone knows let me know!

Anyone know what this critter is?

On the long way home from Hailey, we stopped at Redfish Lake in the Sawtooth National Forest. It's truly a beautiful place and full of these speedy little critters foraging around. They looked like chipmunks without stripes and with bigger tails...

Speaking of Redfish...

...look at this view!




The locals complain about "urbanites" from Boise filling up the campgrounds in the summer, but who wouldn't want to spend time in such a beautiful place?

PS. Yes Pam, this is all a ploy to entice people to visit!

BTW

Gas was astronomically expensive in the middle of the mountains -- $3.96 for premium! This was in Stanley, Idaho. Population 145.

Sawtooth Botanical Garden

Just outside of Sun Valley is the Sawtooth Botanical Garden. It's a public garden that houses one of only two Tibetan prayer wheels in the United States. Joanie and I saw several prayer wheels in Japan so we decided to stop in and take a look.



The prayer wheel is located in the Garden of Infinite Compassion. This is the only picture of the garden that I got for some reason. Sorry its so dark.


The wheel has gorgeous carvings on it. I love this dragon.

Hailey, Idaho

Over the weekend we went up to Hailey, Id. It's located a few miles south of Sun Valley. This area is really only 93 miles from Boise however it suffers from the old 'You can't get there from here!' problem. There are two ways to get there. The fast way, which is 172 miles and takes around three hours. Or the slow way which is slightly more miles (189 miles) and takes 4.5 hours.

Going up on Sunday we choose the fast way. The drive wasn't too bad actually you run through the desert (speed limit 75!!!) to Mountain Home and then hang a left and drive up into the mountains on Hwy 20. It's pretty dry overall, lots of sagebrush and rocks.

The best part of driving in Idaho is that it is empty most of the time. Shortly after we took this picture the road flattens out onto the plains and is straight for as far as you can see. There was no one out here with us so we decided to do a little speed test. Websites list the top speed on the Saab 92x Aero anywhere from 141-147 MPH. We didn't go that fast but the car can get up and go on the long straightaways. The next time I get to this part of the world I want to try some of the dirt roads. They cut off the corner between Fairfield and Hailey but are marked as improved and semi-improved we decided to skip it since we don't know the difference between the two.

We had a lovely time in Hailey. We attended the Spring Fling event which was a small festival in the park. We ate dinner at CK's Real Food which specializes in local ingrediants. I had the Braised Lamb Shank and Joanie had the Veggie Pasta, both were excellent.

We stayed at the Featherbed Inn which was very nice. Here is a shot of the Inn and a view from the driveway. Hailey is next to the Big Wood River in a small valley that is surrounded by mountains.

On the road just north of town there was a field with this cool sculpture.

$683.52!!!!

While pulling into the Boise Co-Op we saw a spot right up front, however the car (old Saab 9000 convertible) next to it was parked crooked. It was completely within the lines but obviously this person didn't know how to park.

Joanie actually asked 'Are you sure you want to park here?' and I said yes. Not five minutes later while I am enjoying the beer and cheese tasting (it was a sampling of Belgian beers, I ended up buying some of the Gouden Carolus Triple) our license plate number was called over the loudspeaker. We instantly knew that the Saab hit my car. Joanie went outside to figure it out as there was no way I was going to be polite with the moron who hit me.

Fortunately the damage wasn't too bad as you can see in the photos. The father of the girl who hit us sent a check for the damage. Now I have to decide if its worth re-painting a fender for $683.52 when the whole car really needs to be painted.

I love this mural...

...and he loves you.

We'll call him Oliver Russell, which is the name of the brand agency who's building he's painted on. We see Oliver every time we drive downtown.

To eat? Or not to eat?

Yesterday we found what I believe is a 4" common morel, growing in our backyard!

I've never done any foraging for mushrooms, but I do know that you should never eat any that you can't absolutely identify. So I searched the web and found links to photos of the common morel and the black morel. You can learn more about edible, wild mushrooms here.

We actually bought some black morels at the farmer's market, earlier on Saturday (they're on the left), so I think I'll be safe and just stick with those...

This neighborhood's for the birds!

We decided to set up the office in our den, which has a great span of windows across the whole front of the room, kind of like a bay front. So as I sit here, working most of the day, I get to see an amazing array of birds.

We have several pair of quail (I think they're nesting in the empty lot, next door).


And we've been visited by a momma duck and her immense paddle of ducklings.




The night before, we came home from dinner and found her sitting in the grass next to the garage -- doesn't she know Boise's in a desert!

And finally, we have these funny little birds that chirp and flit about all day long, landing on the bushes in front of the den, as well as the trees out back.


There are a couple of magpies in the neighborhood as well, but I haven't managed to catch them with the camera yet. And of course, we also have some robins and even a few crow, but those aren't unusual to me. I mean, who has Quail in their front yard? It took me several days and lots of wasted photos to catch those suckers! Now I know I don't have the patience to be a wildlife photographer...