BAYVIEW, Idaho — Nikki Charlton takes a break from her desk and looks out the window. Low clouds scud over the snowy mountains that ring Lake Pend Oreille. A raft of ducks bobs by.
The 54-year-old legal consultant works from home.
Home is on the water.
This is the third winter Charlton is spending in the two-story float home she and her husband moor in Pend Oreille's Scenic Bay.
"I just feel real privileged. This is a special way of living," Charlton says. "It's so quiet. It makes you think each day of what you're doing."
The peaceful beauty of life on a winter lake generally makes up for the antifreeze they must dump into the drain after every shower to keep pipes open, the 40-minute trips to the post office, lugging a 100-pound propane tank down a slick dock.
"Storms are kind of fun," Charlton says. "We can really rock. They've even knocked pictures off the walls. We know when things go bump in the night, it's just the float house bumping against the dock."
Only a handful of hardy northern Idaho souls live on the water year-round.
Deep enough to remain ice-free, Scenic Bay holds most, if not all, of them — five floating households.
Owners say the lifestyle probably is cheaper per month than living on land. Because space is minimized, heating bills are lower. But the houses are considered personal property, so owners lack an investment in real property and must pay personal property tax.
Cory English and her husband, Dan are spending their first winter in their float home, a refurbished boat shed. Cory drives to Spokane four days a week to work as a physical therapist at Deaconess Medical Center. Dan works in Coeur d'Alene as Kootenai County clerk.
The two own a roomy home in Coeur d'Alene. But they opted for a change of scenery this year.
"Part of it is the adventure, just to see if we can do it," Cory English says. "Part of it was to cut back and live more simply."
Float home life is a sheer pleasure in the summer. Few stay through the year. Other bays in the area freeze, blocking boat access. Or lake levels drop, like they do around Heyburn State Park and Conklin Park.
"Nobody lives there year-round," said Ron Hise, the state park's assistant manager. "It'd be kind of neat if you didn't have to worry about getting in and out too often."
An Idaho Department of Lands count in 1990 revealed 171 float homes on northern Idaho lakes and rivers. Of those, 61 were on Lake Coeur d'Alene, in places like Wolf Lodge Bay and other bays; 28 were on Hidden Lake; and 81 were on Lake Pend Oreille.
The total is dropping: The state of Idaho has not allowed new floating homes since 1978.
State officials protecting the public's ownership of submerged lands say the policy reflects the fact that houses belong on land.
"You don't have to have water to have a home like you have to have water to have a dock," said Will Pitman, administrator of Idaho's Lake Protection Act.
The intent is to gradually phase out float homes, Pitman said.
"Although I do not see that ever happening," he added.
Charlton is doing her best to see it does not.
"Our oldest son and his wife were here for Thanksgiving, and our first granddaughter," she says. "We intend to make sure she loves it out here."