Reader and photographer Stephen Barnard kindly invited me to visit his home on Silver Creek, Idaho, near the Silver Creek Preserve of the Nature Conservancy. This is sunrise from his backyard, with the creek only a few feet away. If you sat watching it, you’d see a cool bird (harrier, hummingbird, yellow-headed blackbird, and so on) every five seconds or so.
Deets, Stephen’s famous sheepdog border collie.
Yesterday morning we went for a walk in Stephen’s aspen grove, hoping to get some good photos. You can see Stephen with his huge lens (and Deets), and although the walk was bracing, we saw little to photograph.
Deets after the walk, covered with burrs:
Then we had a two-hour canoe trip on Silver creek. Before we put the canoe in, I photographed these tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor). Matthew Cobb loves swifts and swallows like these.
I paddled in the lead, but of course Stephen was much more experienced, and I provided random propulsion while he provided both propulsion and direction. The river was lovely, with no other canoeists and only a handful of fishermen (Ernest Hemingway, who lived—and died—in nearby Ketchum, often fished this creek). The water was shallow, clear and cold, and large trout lurked beneath the boat. Affronted kingfishers scolded us from the banks.
As we rounded a bend in the river, I saw the beasts below. So motionless were they that I thought at first they were statues of moose. But they were the real thing (Alces alces), eyeing us balefully from the bank. Stephen told me to stop paddling as we glided by, a mere twenty feet away. Later he told me that moose in the rutting season (male to the left, female to the right) are nasty and sometimes dangerous. I didn’t know that as I snapped away.
After a short nap, it was time to go to the annual pig roast and massive feed of the local fishing club. The pig was roasted (minus parts used to make pulled pork) in a homemade drum:
A porcine dissection. I think they overcooked the skin, which should be the best part but was too tough to eat. The meat, however, was tender and juicy.
There were lots of great homemade dishes: potato salad, cole slaw, beans, guacamole, tortillas (if you wanted to make a pulled pork tortilla), and various salads. The picture below shows only about half of the table. There were far too many dishes even sample even a bit of everything!
Wonderful desserts. I had carrot cake, the lemon meringue pie in the middle, some blueberry pie (10 o’clock), and spice cake (5 o’clock):
And a lot of delicious fruits too, which I couldn’t abjure:
For entertainment they called on the local Hispanic community. There was a nice mariachi band, but also two local lads who did rope tricks. The younger one was adorable, but also quite talented. Sadly, they performed in front of the Port-A-Potties:
The little guy; he was great! Notice the cowboy boots.
We went home for the sunset. Stephen played Frisbee with Deets while I watched the birds and waited for the sun to set.
And a gorgeous sunset in Paradise. What a place to live! Many thanks to Stephen for his gracious hospitality, which I could never repay. (Seriously, my crib doesn’t have sunsets like this!)
Fun to see where all those beautiful photos come from!
Beautiful photo of the sunset.
What a beautiful place. You have good fortune, Stephen! And your photos are marvelous.
With places like Silver Creek, who needs the Christian Paradise?
…and is it much trouble de-burring Deets? I’d think that’d likely be a constant chore, at least during certain seasons.
b&
I’ve known owners who have had their dogs get so burr infested that they’ve just had their coat cut short for the summer!
I imagine the dogs might appreciate the lesser insulation, too…but doesn’t that also make their skin more vulnerable to scratches and sunburn?
b&
You don’t make them totally bald. I thought my yellow dog would get burns but she lays in the sun and tans. Weird.
I bet all the other dogs envy her her great tan….
b&
She is a leggy blond. My dog would be so popular as a human.
I’m not sure if it’s the case for border collies, but some breeds of hunting/working d*gs were bred to have silky coats that resisted burr entanglement. I had a mixed-breed bird d*g with long, silky fur that rarely required more than a light brushing to remove any burrs that happened to stick to him. The only times I had a problem was if he got into cockle burrs.
I’ve found that the burrs fall of in a day or two (they’re seeds — evolution in action), so I mostly don’t bother. He spends all day outside.
What a perfect visit! The scenery, the company, the scenery, the food, the scenery…
Nice moose encounter! Good thing those submerged plants were (apparently) so tasty.
How can they possibly do those rope tricks wearing those big sombreros?
Truly idyllic.
I don’t grill, and I don’t have any desire or intention to grill.
Still, on occasion the local PBS food/crafts channel will put on a series of _Primal Grill_ episodes. Despite myself, I find these fascinating.
Must be the innate carnivore salivating.
A fine set of images from sunrise to sunset — thank you! Any sighting of Desi & Lucy during your stay?
Yes, both of them, I think. They were perched in a tree in the distance, but I could make out their white heads.
Pure bliss — love hearing about the Hemingway history. Stephen and Deets live in paradise!
I can’t believe it- Jerry wrote, “sheepdog”, not “sheepd*g”- he must be getting soft in his old age!
Isn’t Deets a Border Collie, even if he does herd sheep?
Yes, I should have written “border collie”. Sheepdogs are those big shaggy d*gs.
Deets is an honorary cat so he gets a pass on the asterisk.
I think those are elk, not moose.
(In British usage, moose are elk. Our elk, then, are wapiti. I don’t know why.)
You don’t know, and I don’t caribou.
b&
Whatever they are, it looks as though it may rain, dear.
😀
Definitely moose 🙂 Their bulbous noses help differentiate them.
Ope, or in British terms, elk!
Quite an adventure. And that is one honkin’ big telephoto lens!
What a lovely post! Feels like we were there.
So, where is the winter home?
Great to see your photos. The sunset is gorgeous, sigh.
What a D A Y !
Blue
Thanks for sharing these wonderful photos, Dr.C. Stephen’s place is a taste of the sublime.
Quite a back yard! Wow, Stephen, you live in a beautiful place! I ran into a moose and her calf today while kayaking. Waited and waited… and waited for them to wander off. I always love your photos (and everyone else’s :)).
Slightly off-topic, but the first of the American Infinite Monkey Cage podcasts (New York) has appeared on my phone – get it from your usual aggregater or
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00snr0w/episodes/downloads
It’s fun
I cannot believe there were no raptors to be seen! Pity… but looks like you had fun!
sub
and continue dreaming…
Looks like Stephen’s home might be the highlight of your trip. What a great adventure. I bet you found it hard to leave.
And who can abjure bing cherries in the height of the season? Not me!
Sounds like a great trip. Thanks for sharing.
One of the Norwegians in the shipyard on Tuesday had just crew changed out to Turkey, and had brought a stock of smokes, salted moose heart for nibbles. Of course, in Scotland we hunt mooses too, though they’re rarely large enough to be worth eating. Even the cat often turns the nose up after batting them around a bit. Either those Norwegian mooses are really big, or they compress multimple moose hearts together in the processing.
Certainly a culinary novelty, but probably not one I’d hunt down for a repeat performance.