23. Melba, Tragedy, and Family

After selling the Meridian property, Barbara and I had been living in a house we had bought in Nampa, Idaho.  We had spent three years there and had remodeled the house to suit us, but we found living in town had its drawbacks. The drug dealers who lived across the street were certainly part of our dissatisfaction. We started looking for a place with a little space. We looked North, South, East, and West, and finally found one South of Melba.  We looked it over carefully and did some thinking about what we could do with it.  We drove out one evening to see what night lights were like, and we discovered we could see the stars.  Magnificent dark sky and very few yard lights.  

10 acres were a little more than we wanted, but the dark sky and few yard lights hooked us. Plus, Barbara fell in love with the view of the Owyhees from the patio. We have since spent many times watching the mountains and how they change with the angle of the sunlight and the time of year. We called the realtor and made an earnest money offer he could not refuse.  So we, Barbara 61 years old and Frank 63, started another major rebuilding project. Together we had no doubts about our abilities to accomplish whatever we set out to do.  Working and planning could occur at our own pace and the dark sky was always an inspiration. 

About this time period we got a call from the Archeology personnel to see if we were interested in working for the State, Cataloging the Custer Museum which had been looted of some items that later showed up on the internet.  The Museum had no records to prove the source of the objects.  Custer was a mining community in central Idaho that was active during the1880s and Cataloging artifacts sounded like a worthwhile activity.  We agreed to do the job, even if it meant 3 to 4 days each week in the mountains and 2 to 3 days working at home. We were doing isometric drawings of each item that included dimensions. Barbara and I worked two summers on the project with help from brother Jim, my friend Dave Schwarze, and our Granddaughter Kimberly Cochrane.

2015 was when Milton and Debbie had decided that they wanted to move from Blackfoot to the Melba area.  Primarily to take care of Barbara and I.  Both of us were very grateful for their decision and after a couple of years of looking, they bought a couple of lots in the city of Melba in 2016 and started building a grand two-story house. 

India was our last overseas trip which occurred early Spring of 2016. Our granddaughter Megan joined us on this grand tour of northwest India. We flew from Boise to New York to New Delhi and Megan met us there.  Of course we went to many of the famous sites such as the Taj Mahal, the Red Fort and many more, including a live tiger in the wild. The fabulous textile market was one of Barbara’s favorites with its flurry of large sheet goods made from rare fibers that are found nowhere else. This story  also is for another writing.

We suffered a great tragedy in April, 2017, when our Granddaughter Megan, who looked after us on our trip to India, was murdered on April 15, 2017, in a park near Dallas, Texas. DNA has put a man in jail for the crime but no trial date has been set as yet. Losing Megan put a hole in all of our hearts. One never really gets over a tragedy like that.