Day 413 – General Notes

Hours of Daylight – 14:55

The days are long again. Twilight lasts forever down here in the valley if there are no clouds obscuring the sunset. The weather has been unseasonably hot causing spectacular thunderstorms to “fire” to the south, west, and north. The storms are easy to spot since they resemble giant mushroom clouds of nuclear explosions. However they rarely form in the valley. Like Phoenix Boise and the treasure valley form a heat island causing all but the most determined storms to veer off to one side or the other. This effect is weaker in the early evening as the sun sets and the land cools. That’s when storms hovering off to the southwest cross the Owyhees and sweep through the valley. Last night we had a doozy. No trees down, but plenty of branches are evident on the street this morning. I was outside watching the lightening for a while and it was amazing how much dust and grit was in the air. My eyes felt crusted over every time a big gust of wind rushed by.

Oh, i never supplied a report from the Ketchum Grill. In point of fact it was a mixed evening. It turns out the Grill runs a special during slack: no entree more than $12.95. That’s a pretty good deal and guaranteed our bill would be 2/3rds ethanol and 1/3rd food. I started out the same as last time with the grilled proscuitto-wrapped prawns. Annette started with shrimp cakes. She did the same entree as last time, breast of duck. I maximized the special price and ordered the lamb shank. We opted to do wine by the glass and started with very nice Pinot Noir for me and a French Sauvignon Blanc for Annette. The starters were fine, but when my shank arrived i immediately had misgivings. It was huge and thickly meated, but something didn’t seem quite right. Sure enough one bite confirmed my fear that this was a “tired” shank. It was ok, but lacked the rich meaty flavor i was hoping for. Rather it had a slight metalic taste that was not aided by a thin tomato sauce. Annette’s duck was as good as last time. The couple next to us ordered the exact same meal and shortly after his shank arrived he called the waiter over to discuss the taste. “I ordered a lamb shank. This tastes more like mutton.” But on balance the evening was fine. I had the creme brulee for desert, Annette opted for the mousse that was served with a drizzle of huckleberry sauce.

After dinner we walked down to the main street and went into the Pioneer Saloon. This is one of the quintessential Ketchum bars. It’s pretty much all real inside. Hemingway hung out here near the end. The very pretty bartender told us on most nights it’s three deep at the bar. Tonight, Saturday night, it was nearly empty. Everybody seemed to know each other. The staff greeted all the patrons by name. It was nice and we managed to start up conversations here and there.

In other news this coming Wednesday the woman i’m replacing at the Power Company returns. She’ll be coming in part time for a four-week trial period. I get mornings, she’ll take afternoons. Nobody knows how well this situation will work out, but i’m willing to give it a try. It’s not like i have scads of other opportunities knocking on the door, so i’ve little to lose.

NestThe photo is a paper wasp nest i discovered a few hours ago. It was vacant so i knocked it off the house with a broom. I’ve never seen a new nest like this. I’ve seen massive watermellon sized nests hanging from trees, but this one was just getting started. The construction is awesome; two concentric pods surrounding the start of the honeycomb nesting area. Look at how perfect the honeycomb is. I even like the colors. Remarkable critters, paper wasps. I’m kind of glad it was empty as i’d rather not have them building a full-on condo right by my front door, but can’t help admiring the architecture.