Summer wrap-up--almost

THIS JUST IN------a dead body was discovered this morning about 8 at Evergreen Towing, which is about 1/4 mile south of us on Great Northern Road. What few details the police are releasing indicate that this individual was probably shot sometime between midnight and 8 this morning. The area has been cordoned off with the yellow crime scene tape and a couple of cops are watching the place.

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Action-packed and little time for the moss to grow-----this week, with the Michael Martin Murphey concert, the rodeo, completion of all story deadlines, pigpen area clean-up, etc.,---could be described that way as well as could the entire summer. I've never seen summer zip by so fast.

Hard to believe that most college kids are already back on campus and primed to start classes tomorrow. The AP football poll is already out. In a couple of weeks, my sisters will have met their kids and will know what kind of a school year they're facing here in Sandpoint.

Also, in a couple of weeks, three of my friends--Ann Gehring, Edna Iverson and Kathy Berkley--will get together with me to celebrate the first day they DON'T have to greet a new crop of students. They retired this past spring, but retirement isn't really official for teachers until everyone starts that first day and you don't. So, Sept. 6, I'm treating them to lunch, and they'll make it official.

My friend Ann wrote me a note a few days ago, proclaiming her joy at putting an activity on her September calendar, which had nothing to do with a lesson plan. There is no joy any greater than knowing for the rest of your life, you're pretty much in the driver's seat, and the choices are yours.

That feeling lasts about a year, when suddenly you realize that you've gone through the "Would you like to serve/join/help, etc. smorgasboard and said "yes" far too often and suddenly a whole bunch of other responsibilities are ruling your life. Ann, Kathy, and Edna will certainly go through that learning curve as retired teachers----if they haven't already.

Speaking of teachers, I heard from my former principal A.C. Woolnough this morning. He's all settled in and has already started another school year in his new venue at North Pole High School in Fairbanks, Alaska. He moved there from his previous run at remote Bethel. A.C.'s marveling at the concept of a road network, having more than one bathroom and golf courses in comparison to his closet-sized home in Bethel where you pretty much stay unless you fly out.

As summer begins to wrap up, so do my deadlines. Have had a long string of them all summer, but tomorrow when I file my "Long-time business owners" story to Sandpoint Magazine, I actually have three weeks before my next column is due. There's word on the street and from the publisher that someone else has taken responsibility for completing the never-ending Lake Pend Oreille guidebook, since the former designated driver veered off course and and took his own slight detour.

So, I'm at a crossroads on that project, which began in February, 2004, wondering what this new person is going to do with my months and months worth of research and subsequent writing. I haven't heard from that individual yet, but I'm reserving the option of pulling my story from the publication if there's too much tampering. Writers are like that---especially when they've put out a lot of effort and pride in their craft.

So, I'll wait to see what's happening there, just as I'm waiting to see---after seven months---if the manuscript for my third book Lessons with Love is going to be accepted by the university press where I sent it in February. The editor apologized in May for the slowness of their reviewing process and told me it would take the summer before designated readers had reported back with a "yay" or "nay."

With all that I had on my plate at the time, I promised her I'd remain patient and did not send the manuscript to any other publishers. It does cost about $50 a whack for copying and postage and takes time preparing the manuscripts, so I put all my faith in one possibility. That may have been a dumb move, but I've been known for dumb moves before. If I receive a rejection, this comparatively empty three-week period ahead will be spent knocking on a few more doors.

So, just in case, if there's anybody out there who knows a publisher just dying to take on a funny yet poignant memoir penned by a slightly irreverent North Idaho teacher, tell 'em to call me. I may want to talk to them.