Ingressing and egressing

Let's see, Willie came on Tuesday evening. We don't know when he'll go.
Annie will come into Spokane Airport at 10 a.m. Monday.
Bill will go from Spokane Airport at 10:30 a.m. Monday.
Annie, Mother and I will leave Spokane Airport at 10:30 a.m. Thursday.
Bill will come into Spokane Airport at 11:30 Thursday.
Annie, Mother and I will arrive at Spokane Airport at 10:30 p.m. Valentine's Day.
Annie will go from Spokane Airport sometime Thursday afternoon, Feb. 16.

If I can keep all this straight, I'll be good. We're on the move here at the Love house, and with the February yuck coming in every day, it's probably a good thing. This ingressing and egressing deals with everything from vacations to state policy to changing jobs.

Bill serves on a committee which is reviewing policy for the Idaho State Department of Lands. So, he's been making monthly returns to his second home in Boise, the Safari Hotel, and getting together with other IDL staff members to look over the rules. Apparently, they'll finish up the job in early March, so he'll have one more trip down south before spring.

Annie is beginning her vacation Monday after enjoying the Super Bowl with friends in Seattle. We're planning to enjoy the Super Bowl here at the Love house with the Laumatia gang of five. This time we won't have to be relaying play-by-play to Annie, we hope. And, of course, when the last chip has disappeared from the bowl, we're hoping to be celebrating a Seahawks victory.

Willie is heading south soon at a yet-unknown time to join Debbie, who's providing emotional support to her recently-widowed grandmother. Debbie's now working for the Idaho Youth Ranch at a group home for troubled teens in Nampa.

She told me yesterday she can restrain a 6 foot, 6 inch man now that she's completed a nonviolent crisis prevention workshop. Don't mess with Debbie! She's doing recreation work with the residents. Willie's hoping to find employment at another newspaper or in some facet of writing once he arrives in Boise.

Mother, Annie and I will be careful not to Mess with Texas while taking our much-anticipated trip to the sun country. We'll be connecting with Chicago-born cousins for the first time. We'll attend the San Antonio Rodeo and Stock Show in hopes of seeing our local boy, Rowdy Buechner, ride a bronc. We'll also visit Mother's Catholic boarding school where she attended as a first grader, and we'll have brunch at the hotel where her aunt resided back in the 1920s while Mother was in the boarding school.

We're also planning a sight-seeing trip to the West Texas Hill Country where I'll get to meet face-to-face with the guy who referred to me as "Sir" half a dozen times when I first called him. During the rest of our interviews, he made sure to call me "Ma'am" or "Hon," so he scored points after that awkward beginning. I'm also hoping to meet another Texas cowboy whom I'll be interviewing for my next story in April. He's a 77-year-old Non-Pro cutting champ who lives near the Brazos River.

In two weeks, it'll be fun to look at photos or video and reflect on what promises to be a memorable and busy trip into the Texas heartland. In the meantime, we're definitely coming out of the January rut and heading down a few new roads during this hectic season of saying "hi's" and "good byes" as folks are come and go through this house while coming and going with their lives.

In the midst of it all, we hope the animals all get fed on time.