Idaho Voices

Our wet fall seems to have brought out the gophers in full force. Their little mounds of dirt are everywhere. I say pocket gophers because most experts say we don’t have moles this far east of the Cascades. Our soil is too hard for them to dig in during the dry summer and early fall. That said, if someone thinks they have a mole, please take a picture and tell us where you caught the offender. Gophers are gray brown and have two big yellow front teeth and build fan shaped mounds.

This is Diesel. He runs fast ... like a diesel engine. His favorite thing to do is chase birds out of the yard. So, if you have pesky birds ... Diesel’s for you. Diesel would love to find a family that is just as active and fun loving as he is. Diesel does not tolerate cats. Diesel is participating in the Pawsitive Works! Training Program. He has learned sit, stay, come, down, look at me, wait and crawl.

Some long empty, weedy acreage north of Dairy Queen in Coeur d’Alene will become a women’s and children’s shelter and recovery center through the Union Gospel Mission. The Spokane-based group will build a 26,500-square-foot facility on 2.7 acres with an official address of 196 E. Haycraft Ave. The announcement came last week at a kickoff dinner at the Coeur d’Alene Resort. Construction should start this spring or summer with completion in late 2011 or early 2012.

Our Sadie is nearly two years old, and my wife Sally and I have decided it’s time she earned her keep.

Local GOP Chairwoman Tina Jacobson exulted in the results of the 2010 general election, particularly those at the county courthouse, where the last Demo (County Clerk Dan English) fell Nov. 2. Republican Cliff Hayes accomplished what Tina couldn’t in an earlier race, knocking off English to paint the courthouse fire engine red.

Coeur d’Alene – The Coeur d’Alene Public Library will host a Magic Lantern Show Wednesday at 7 p.m. with a program that will feature the world of snowflake crystals. The program – in the Community Room at 702 E. Front Ave. – will be presented by Shel Izen using his vintage lantern projector and antique slides from the Wilson A. Bentley collection of crystals. In 1885 Bentley photographed a single snow crystal, using a microscope and a camera.

Crystal Bertolucci remembers parts of the Wednesday almost two years ago that turned her life upside down. On Dec. 3, 2008, Bertolucci, 33 at the time, her 1-year-old daughter Skylar, and friend Kimberlee Dingman were heading home to Sandpoint after Christmas shopping in Spokane.

Today Bill Reid (Jazz) – 1 p.m., Di Luna’s Café, 207 Cedar St., Sandpoint, (208) 263-0846.

Like a hot, greasy burger patty sliding off a stainless steel spatula onto an awaiting bun, some eateries just don’t stick with me. Sometimes I’ll drive around wondering where to eat and certain restaurants don’t even pop out and beckon my attention at all. Eventually, I might notice them and think “of course, it was there the whole time,” but even after I finally make a visit or two, I’m still left with a blank, with nothing especially memorable to report, but no real complaints either.

This time of year, the burning question on everyone’s mind is always about when we will get our first snow. It’s interesting to note that during the two really “bad” winters of 2007-’08 and 2008-’09, November was rather snowless, with Spokane measuring only 2.9 inches in November 2007 and a meager 1.5 inches in November 2008.

Driving north of Spokane one day last week was a special treat. Everything was a blaze of fall color. The aspen and cottonwoods along the streams were torches of gold, yellow and orange while the tamaracks were stiff yellow candles scattered amongst the firs. The once green grasses were now a dozen shades of tan and yellow especially the reed canary grass. Unfortunately I was riding with work colleagues so there wasn’t time for side trips over Flowery Trail Road to the Pend Oreille Valley or down the Springdale Road. There wasn’t any time to stop and savor the beauty and taking pictures out of a rainy car window at 60 mph wouldn’t have done the scenery justice.

Filings from Oct. 5-18. Chapter 7 (liquidation petitions)

Coeur d’Alene Glenn Sather, 3364 N. Glenn Drive, commercial, two four-unit apartment buildings, valued at $623,156.

Weekly Events Community Worship Taize-style – Second Sunday of each month, 8 p.m. at the Fort Ground Chapel on the campus at North Idaho College. Presented by Community United Methodist Church, Coeur d’Alene. (208) 765-8800.

Her intimate connection and sensitivity to the beauty of nature, the intricate design of a flower, and the human body, led Merrilyn Reeves to see the incredible evidence of a master designer. “The designer of the heavens is also the master potter who created you and me,” says Reeves. “By its very nature, clay connects us to Mother Earth.”