Friday February 28, 2025
Dear Diary,
Good morning God,
- Thank you for this day.
- Thank you for mornings.
- Thank you for adventures.
- Thank you for gratitude.
- Thank you for pet/farm sitting opportunities.
- Thank you for each breath.
I love you!
I awoke at 3AM. I had unsettling dreams and a slight stomach ache. I didn’t eat well yesterday and ate too late last night and anytime I go to sleep with a full stomach, I have restless dreams and a stomach ache. I wrote my blog and posted it. By then it was 5:30 AM, so I got up and let the dogs out. Then I drove down the road to Lila. I fed her and let her out. I hadn’t seen kitty for a couple days, so I found her in the bedroom window sill behind the curtain and gently petted her. She let me pet her for a few seconds before jumping down and hiding under the bed.
I filled up on gas and went back to my farm sitting house. I was almost back asleep when I received a text from a lady who owns some rental properties in town and asked me to clean for her. We texted back and forth for a while and I will go work for her tomorrow morning. I drifted back to sleep at 6:30AM and slept for a few minutes before Angel woke up and was hungry. I got up, made Angel and myself breakfast and made tea. Angel did her schoolwork while I cleaned the kitchen.
We went to the church and I cleaned while Angel completed her schoolwork. I finished cleaning right on time to take Angel to jujitsu. Angel is doing really good at jujitsu. I sat and watched the kids perform and chatted with some of the other parents.
After jujitsu, we let Lila out and stopped to let the dogs out at my farm sitting house before going home. At home, I went inside and my friend Brett was there waiting for us. I had told him to wait for us inside if we weren’t there yet but it surprised me because I hadn’t seen his car and didn’t think he was there yet. We were all going on an adventure together. I wanted to see if the Middle Fork road was driveable all the way to Council Mountain hot springs trail head. If it was, then we were going to attempt to hike into the hot springs. If not then I was thinking of going to Hells Canyon. I packed up some food and we hearted (headed) out.
We drove down the Middle Fork road and the road was clear of snow, until it wasn’t. We reached where the road hadn’t been plowed all winter and it was completely covered in snow. The only tracks on the snow covered road were snowmobile tracks. I drove onto the snow to see how deep it was and even though it wasn’t very deep, I didn’t go any farther because I didn’t want to chance getting stuck. If I’d had 4 wheel drive I would have kept going.
Brett got out to walk and see if we were close to the trailhead. Angel and I got out and joined him. It was a beautiful sunny 50° F day. It felt really warm out, it’s amazing what our bodies get acclimated to. I got so hot walking in my flannel shirt, I took it off and tied it around my waist. I felt perfectly warm in my short sleeve shirt.
We walked about a mile along the road following the river. It was a heavenly walked. I love being out in nature. It became clear that we were still quite a ways from the trailhead and even if we did find it, we had left our supplies in the truck and would have to walk all the way back to get them. We turned around and took our time walking back. I thoroughly enjoyed the sound of the river and the birds and the smell of pine and snow and the river and plants. The sun shining down on me felt wonderful. I took pictures of plants and made a video.
When we got back to the truck, I drove the back road to Cambridge and we took highway 21 into Hells Canyon. It was a lovely drive. As soon as we got below the snow line, it was a whole different world. It was way warmer in the canyon and the surrounding mountains were majestic. We stopped at a store in the middle of nowhere called Gateway. It was a convenience store/cafe/gift shop. I looked at the t-shirts and wanted to buy one. I like to buy t-shirts from different places. There were sweatshirts too and they were marked $27.99. I couldn’t find a price for the t-shirts and asked the lady working there how much one cost. She said $38, I didn’t want to pay that much and I thanked her as I put it back. I looked around some more and Angel got a chocolate ice cream cone. I paid for the ice cream and we walked around outside.
We were all getting back in the truck when a man that was walking into the store yelled my way asking where in Texas I was from. He had seen my Texas license plates. I walked over and told him where I had lived in Texas. He said his wife is from San Antonio. He wanted me to meet her and I followed him into the store. I met her and talked to her a few minutes. She said that she’s lived in Idaho for 30 years and there’s no place that compares, I agreed. I told everyone it was nice to meet them and went back out to the truck where Brett and Angel were waiting.
We drove along the Snake River and crossed over Brownlee dam into Oregon. Then at a community called Oxbow, we crossed back into Idaho. We came to a turnoff for a small dirt road that goes up out of the canyon and eventually leads to Council. The tiny dirt road goes up 2,200 feet in less than 5 miles and Brett didn’t think we could make it over the pass. The road was on the west side of the mountain, no snow was visible as far as I could see and I wanted to try it. I turned into the road and there was a big sign that said there was no winter maintenance. The road looked fine and I continued on. I didn’t expect the climb to be as intense as it was. The road was really narrow and it was a straight drop down if you went over the edge. As we climbed higher and higher, I started to question whether this was a good idea after all, I was beginning to think that this was a really bad idea. The road was way too narrow for me to turn around on, so I continued on. We were about 3 miles up the road when we turned onto the north side of the mountain and came to a solid sheet of ice. Brett and Angel got out to see if the ice was slick. It was. There was no way I was driving across it with a 1,000 foot drop on one side. The road there was a tiny bit wider than it had been but I did not see how I could possibly turn around. Brett said that it was doable. I got out of the truck and told him to have at it. I held Bits while Angel and I watched the show. Brett got the back tire so close to the edge a couple of times that I was sure it was going to go over but it didn’t and he managed to get the truck safely turned around. I wish I would have thought take a video of the process but I had other things on my mind, like making sure Brett didn’t die by yelling for him to stop when he got close to the edge.
Going back down the Kleinschmidt grade was way easier than going up, mainly because the drivers side was now next to the mountain rather than the edge, so I didn’t feel as exposed. When we got back on the highway we stopped at Hells Canyon campground to use the bathroom and walk around. The bathrooms were heated and really nice and clean. We walked out onto a dock and walked all around the campground. It was 57°F and felt like summer. We saw some deer and as soon as Bits saw them, he took off running towards them. The deer saw Bits and ran away, through the campground and across the highway. Bits was running full speed after them, I called to him before he got to the highway. He ignored me and kept running. I yelled for him again and right before he got to the highway, he stopped and ran back.
We left the campground and started back home. We drove through another campground on the other side of Brownlee reservoir just to see what was there. It was also really nice and had a big boat ramp. As soon as we came up out of the canyon, we were back in the snow and it was winter again. We saw a lot of wild turkey. They were all over the place.
When we got to Council, I stopped at Lila’s to fed her and let her out. Then I dropped Brett off at his car and drove to our farm sitting house. I let out the dogs and fed all the animals. Angel and I brushed our teeth and went to bed. We watched YouTube video of people that have survived in the wild and fell asleep at 9:30 PM.
Saturday March 1, 2025
Dear Diary,
Good morning God,
- Thank you for this day.
- Thank you for adventures.
- Thank you for sunshine.
- Thank you for food.
- Thank you for music.
- Thank you for wild turkeys
- Thank you for water.
I love you.
I awoke at 2AM, I had a stomachache and had been sleeping restlessly. I had eaten foods that I know cause inflammation yesterday and I had eaten too late at night. Angel wasn’t in bed with me and I found her sleeping on the couch. I let the dogs out and went back to bed. I tried writing my blog, but my mind was too foggy and my stomach hurt. I played wordle and connections and watched YouTube videos on my phone for an hour. Then I put on a sleep meditation about healthy eating and went back to sleep.
I awoke again at 7 AM and fed the animals. I made Angel breakfast and woke her up. As soon as she finished eating we got dressed and went to Lila’s house. I fed her and let her out. Then I drove Angel to pickleball and dropped her off while I went and cleaned the bank. When I finished cleaning, I drove a few blocks to a construction site where 4 duplexes are being built and met with the owner of the duplexes that hired me work for her. She told me what she wanted me to do and I got started right away. I was to clean up all of the construction garbage from the outside and inside of the buildings and put it in a trailer. It was really hard work and I still wasn’t feeling very good but I pushed through it. I prayed for strength and guidance. My body had so much inflammation that it hurt to move and I could feel the inflammation in my mind causing hopeless depressed thoughts. I worked for an hour, then I took a quick break and ate an apple and some raisins and I felt a little better.
cleaned up
Angel walked over to where I was working after pickleball was over. She asked if she could go to the library for a while and I told her yes. She said that she was having fun walking around town by herself. I reminded her on how to keep herself safe and she said she remembered.
I worked for 3 hours and started feeling really bad again. I took another break to eat some more. I didn’t have anymore food with me, so I drove up the road to the grocery store and bought some bananas and dates. I ate a couple of bananas and a handful of dates but I wasn’t feeling any better. I worked for another hour until the trailer was completely full. Angel returned just as I was closing the trailer doors.
I messaged the lady that hired me and told her that I was done for the day. I drove to let Lila out and went to my farm sitting house. I felt so exhausted I could barely talk. Angel watched PBS kids while I took a nap. I slept hard for an hour. When I woke up, there was an incredible amount of pressure in my head and my stomach hurt. I fed Angel and went to Lila’s to feed her and let her out. I was supposed to clean the house I was farm sitting at. They were coming home tomorrow afternoon and had hired me to clean their house for them as well as farm sit. I felt too awful to clean the house and planned to do it early in the morning instead. I hoped I felt better by then. I played a quick game of What’s the Point with Angel but I was cranky and not very patient.
When we finished the game, we went straight to bed. We watched some videos on YouTube together. I put on a sleep meditation and we went to sleep at 9 PM.
Thank you for reading my blog and being a part of my life. I appreciate you.
Love, Victoria
P. S. This blog post was inspired by the Holy Spirit.