Quotation for a Friday

Into the hot water....tomorrow

"A woman is like a tea bag-you can't tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water."

-Eleanor Roosevelt

Here is to thinking good thoughts about tomorrow - 

my first day in the medical ICU!

View of Table Rock in Boise, ID from my hospital

Gratitude

"Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom"

-Marcel Proust

South Hills: Wildflowers and sore legs

Yesterday, Roxie the dingo, a coworker also a nurse, and I went for what we thought was going to be a 3.5 mile hike and ended up being a 9 mile hike in the South Hills. The weather couldn't have been more perfect - all the wildflowers from purple lupines to Indian paintbrush were blooming and Rock Creek was bubbling away.

Today, Roxie and I are both limping around the house. Here are some photos from the day!

Lupine

Roxie checking out the flora

Viewshed

Beaver ponds

Valley

Aspens so close to the desert

The entirety of one of the valleys we hiked

Vineyard Lake Hike

Spring time has finally arrived to the Magic Valley and the weather is warming up. Greenery here is ephemeral and lasts for just a short time between the end of winter's bitter cold and the beginning of summer's infernal burn. Therefore, this month has been a chance to explore the area by foot a bit more. Today a  fellow nurse, who has become a friend and mentor, took Roxie and I to Vineyard Lake before the day got too hot. 

The lake is fed by a natural spring coming out of the ground and there are little rock fish and minnows that cavort in the waters. Apparently it is also a popular cliff diving area, although that seems like a dangerous idea with all the lava rock littering the landscape. 

~~~Enjoy~~~

Looking from one bank to the other

The spring comes out of this little canyon to feed the lake

Vineyard Lake from afar

spring feeding the lake

basalt everywhere

Water and spring time in the desert

waterfall from a canyon's edge

baby pygmy goat at organic farm

sturgeon swimming away at the Clear Lakes trout farm

snake river meandering

Perrine Bridge over the Snake River Canyon

"In the spring I have counted one hundred and thirty-six different kinds of weather inside of four and twenty hours. " 

~Mark Twain

Sage brush sunrise

I live a blessed life where I see both sunrises and sunsets every day that I work because I am awake for both. My last night at work this week was crazy busy and I came off my 12 hour shift with a big dose of adrenaline, so on my drive home I stopped and snapped some photos along the way.

sunrise in the side view

sunshine in color, review mirror

sage brush sunrise


"Keep your face always towards the sunshine- and shadows will fall behind you"
-Walt Whitman

13 lessons from a 13 mile bike ride

During my 2 days off I decided to enjoy some southern Idaho sunshine - that is warm right now- and take my road bike out for a spin since the rubber hasn't met the asphalt since PDX. It was glorious to be back in the saddle.

On my first bicycling adventure of 13 miles through farmland, I experienced 13 things:

1. Dogs- both in town and on the farm- will chase you. It's good for cardio.
2. Entire pastures of livestock will stop what they are doing- cattle, horses, or farm raised elk- and will do one of two things when they see you. A) Stop chewing their cud simultaneously at the same time or B) Run away.
3. Kestrels (little hawks) will stop flying and sit on the telephone lines to stare at you as you go by.
4. Trucks and cars will honk at you while driving by because they think that's helpful.
5. Trucks and cars will not stop to help you if you are pulled over on the side of the road and lost. 
6. Each time you reach a stop sign you have gone 1 mile. Makes calculating distance a cinch!
7. Wind at your back is awesome. My first 6.5 miles were done in 20 minutes.
8. Wind at your head is the opposite of awesome. My last 6.5 miles took 45 minutes. It's even worse when dogs - see #1- are chasing you.
9. Someone has a giant dinosaur and a giant sturgeon sculpture in their front yard.
10. I saw a farmer out tilling the land with his draft horses. It was rustic and he even waved at me!
11. Bicycling through farm land is not good for your new location based allergies.
12. Bicycling to avoid goat heads makes you look crazy.
13.  You should not forget a water bottle. Especially for biking into a head wind. Oops. :(

Now, pictures!

farm land with a canyon in the distance

farm land and sprinklers

sturgeon sculpture in the middle of farmland

a dinosaur wandering the Snake River plains