Let’s talk about Priest River

In case you didn’t notice the poster at the library – The River Writers meet there the first and 3rd Tuesday of each month at 3:30.

Since most of us writers don’t have anyone at home that shares our passion, it’s great to get out and mingle with others who do. I’m not a creative writer – I couldn’t write dialogue if I had to, and certainly would never create a poem worth hearing – but I do love talking with other copywriters.

Plenty of people in the world want to forget about work when they leave it for the day, but writers are different. We just keep right on hearing words running through our heads, no matter what else we may be doing. In fact, sometimes the best words come when we’re standing in the shower, or out in the garden pulling weeds.

I think that means we love what we do – but sometimes it is a bit solitary, even for a hermit like me.

So, if you’re a creative writer, get to the library and see who else shares your passion!

Residents at the top of Shingle Mill Hill are up in arms over the County’s proposed plan to move the “Green Owl Dumpsters” – because the plan is to move them right across the street from their homes.

If you’ve driven up Peninsula Road you’ve seen the signs – urging you to call Commissioner Joe Young and “just say no.”

Shelly Stafford, spokesperson for the group, wrote me that “Joe Young came to our home for a meeting with us & the neighbors.  It was pretty much political talking points but we did learn that there will be a workshop on March 10^th at 6:00pm at the Priest River Junior High School.”

Shelly and the others urge everyone to attend and let the commissioners know that we do care what they’re doing.

Why should we care? I’ll tell you in Shelly’s words – from an earlier letter she sent me:

“I can’t even express how upset all of us are.  Our real estate value will be cut in half & no one would ever buy any of these properties across the street from dumpsters.  We live in the land of plenty of land, why should anyone have to have dumpsters across the street from them?”

If you’d like to support Shelly and the other residents, please take a minute to sign the petition. You’ll find copies at River Mountain Realty, Zippy’s Mini Mart, BorderTown Feed, Bev’s Furnishings, NAPA Auto Parts, Big Moose Rentals & Lou’s Place. You can also read a full report on the impact this move will have on those residents.

So… get out there and help them protect their property values and their safety. Sign the petition, then attend the meeting.

Power linemen at work in Priest River

Have you ever glanced up at those tall poles running down Highway 2 and thought anything about them?

It turns out that those top wires have been unused for many years, but their weight was stressing the old poles. So Avista hired Mountain Power to come in and remove the unused lines and shorten the poles.

They’re headed down the highway to the other end of town – and should be finished by the end of next week.

And yes, you can’t tell from here, but one of the men in that bucket is my kid…

With the rivers and lakes still ice-bound, it was encouraging to see this sign of things to come – boating season can’t be far away now!

As Cathy mentioned in her comment on “Tell us something good about Priest River,” Priest River Animal Rescue is raising money to get new “digs” for the animals.

The target building is the former Selkirk Motel – more recently Bear Foot Trading.

I’m excited about the new property, because I can see possibilities for quarantine rooms, among other things. Quarantine is so important when an animal is ill… and when the shelter has puppies.

The current space really doesn’t offer any way to move a cat with a cough completely away from the others, and most cat diseases are airborne. Plus, no animal (cat, dog, or human!) wants to be in the middle of a crowd when they don’t feel well.

Quarantine for puppies is vital, too! Puppies (yours and theirs!) need to be kept away from the general public until after they’ve had at least 2 Parvo vaccinations.

No one would knowingly bring Parvo to a pup – but all it takes is petting a puppy who carries the virus, or touching the shopping cart handle that has been touched by someone who has, and then petting another pup, or its mama. The virus is that horrible. Someone can easily bring it in on their shoes without having any idea that they’ve walked on contaminated soil.

You can see why I think this is so important when you  read more about Parvo here.

I also love that the parcel has more land, and that land has trees. The possibilities for good dog runs with summer shade are abundant.

This will be a good thing, so I hope the entire community will get behind the project. I’m going to write a note to Cathy right now and ask her to comment on this with instructions on how you can donate, and any more details they want to share. Even if you give a dollar or two – I know that everything will help.

Later, Priest River Animal Rescue will probably also need help “re-fitting” the building to accomodate the animals, so if you’re handy, keep volunteerism in mind!

By the way… all you PRAR members are invited to add your own comments!

Formerly River Pigs Inn, the new Priest River Inn is causing a stir in town.

While I haven’t yet had the pleasure of dining there, I keep running into people who have – and they tell me I’d better schedule an evening out to enjoy it.

Not only are they telling me the food tastes good, my “salad enthusiast” friends report “The salads are big!”

With the roads as slick as they are out my way, I’m not apt to be heading for town at night soon, but I think I’d better put “meeting a friend for lunch” on my to-do list soon.

It sounds like I’m missing out!

If you have something to add, please do – and if you happen to know the proprietors, tell them to drop by here and tell us about their specialties!

If you thought you maybe recognized a Priest River face on Channel 6 news last night – you were right.

That lineman working on putting things back together in Lincoln county was my son Chad. They’ve been there since Friday, trying to get power back to the people. But… when they get one line fixed, the ice pulls down another!

According to the news, there are 32 crews there – that’s 128 men, all working 16 hour days – but Mother Nature remains in charge.

So… even though our beautiful sunshine left us today, we have nothing to complain about. Our fog isn’t settled around us, forming ice on power lines, poles, fences, shrubs – or us!

Have gratitude!

My trip to town told the story: When this snow melts, we “critter keepers” will have a job to do.

The strange snow we had in December has pulled wires from fences, leaving them pretty ineffective for keeping critters in. Some of them even looked tangled – a definite hazard for the animals.

It’s also playing havoc with our “above ground” phone lines. Ever since a storm a year and a half ago, a quarter mile of phone line has been above ground on our road. Some of it is laying in the ditch, and some of it is draped between fence posts along with the barbed wire.

Do you think maybe someday Verizon will send a crew to dig in a new line? From what I’m hearing, the answer is no. At least not as long as this one will transmit a phone call at least part of the time. I’m tempted to order another line – just to see what happens. The repair men have told us that all the “pairs” on this line are either non-functional or in use.

I’m complaining – but I wouldn’t trade a good phone line, or high speed internet access, for life anywhere but here alongside my meadow…

Ice Fishing

The last few days have been glorious, with sunshine sparkling off that frozen snow! That means good ice, and good ice means ice fishing.

I caught a shot of a couple of ice fishermen out on Blue Lake, but noticed several more pickups parked in the access… I’d have loved to walk out there and ask how they were doing, but that ice is slick!

Hearing me grouse about getting around on the ice, my husband stopped at the store when he went to town today. He’d seen some nice looking ice cleats for about $10 and decided he’d bring home a surprise. But he got the surprise. Now that our winter wonderland is covered in ice, the price went up to $29! He decided I should just stay off the ice. I agreed. Maybe I’ll remember to get a pair in April when the price goes back to normal. Then I’ll have them for next year, if I remember where I put them!

Thinking of ice – Eastside Road is sure a ribbon of it! With no new precipitation, that existing ice is polished to a high shine. I thought it would have been sanded, since the school bus travels that route. When I went to town yesterday I was sorry I’d gone that way, so came home via Highway 57 and Peninsula Road – didn’t really want to travel Eastside again until I see gravel on the road.

Two new scams are on the rise, and they could destroy your credit:

The first scam: Bogus collection agencies calling to say they’ve got your bad check and you can save your credit by payng them NOW.

Do not respond to this kind of message – not even to tell them they’re crazy – until you Google them, then check the Better Business Bureau. They could be a fake agency out to get either your money or your identity.

The second scam: Someone takes a check you’ve written, and using the information, prints new checks. Then using a fake ID that says they’re you, starts writing checks. Some of these folks use a bogus account number so the money never comes out of your account, but if they’ve got enough of your info, it will still go on your credit report as a black mark. And the person who took the check will still turn it over for collection.

The solution: Never put your SS # on your checks, for starters. Then always balance your bank statement immediately when it comes in. If you see checks you didn’t write, get busy! Actually, you can go on line to your bank and check your account every few days – that’s the safest.

If it happens to you, immediately contact your bank, the collection agency, and the retailer who took the check… and then file an identity theft report with local law enforcement and the FTC. Then contact a credit bureau and put a fraud alert on your file.

For protection: Keep a close eye on your credit report. Your thief may have used your bank account numbers and/ or Social security number with a different address and phone number – you could have collections piling up that would take your score down to the bottom of the pit.

Get your free credit report and information on protecting yourself at www.allcreditscoresnow.com. Don’t wait until tomorrow – do it today!