Saturday stuff

I haven't had a bullet day for a while, and it's Saturday so here goes.

• Nothing scheduled . . . ah! Bill's casually reading the morning papers downstairs, and he's in no hurry. He hasn't been around much the past couple of weeks because of fires. He left early Labor Day and returned Wednesday night after a four-day break from the Priest Lake Hughes complex of fires. I read this morning that the fires have grown substantially. They're in areas where it's hard to put big crews. Whatever the case, someone else took Bill's place as logistics coordinator, so I think he's probably pretty happy to re-enter the homefront routine and get caught up on his daily stuff, which includes not rushing quite so fast to get to the next thing. I was going to hurry and wash my hair so I'd be ready to head into town for coffee cult, but since we finally have nothing scheduled this weekend, I decided to slow down a bit too. I'll go to town later and do my shopping, which includes picking up some of those mums to plant under the sign frame out by the road. We haven't got a sign, but when we do, there's a nice place to hang it. For now, people can look at mums.
• Book contract: On Monday, I'll return my signed contract for the sale of Lessons with Love to Keokee Press. Chris has read the manuscript and likes it enough to offer me an advance and a contract to publish the book. He says press work will go full steam in October and November and, if all goes well, the book will hit the stores in late January or early February. Looks like a busy winter ahead with final edits, proofreading, artwork prep, and promoting.
• This weekend marks the last-ever Farragut reunion. Farragut Naval Training Station on Lake Pend Oreille rose quickly and hosted around 300,000 Navy Recruits for their basic training during World War II. For twenty years, Farragut State Park (the same site) has hosted those recruits and their wives as they've taken journeys back into time during September reunions. Having written a lot about the Farragut experience, I've attended two or three of the reunion and have enjoyed meeting attendees, including Fiddlin' Frank Smith from Oregon who wrote last week and said he wouldn't be making it this year because of medical setbacks. I'm not going this weekend, simply because of the first paragraph above---nothing's scheduled, and I want to keep it that way. Regardless of not attending, I'll certainly be thinking about these wonderful people who served our country so long ago as they bid adieu to their tradition of annual gatherings.
  
• 500 and rising: Kudos to my classmate Raymond Trego Greene III who was the 500th Sandpoint High alum to sign up for the SHS alumni site. It's amazing to see what has happened with this site in such a short time. The young men from Boise who saw a need certainly rose to the occasion and have continued to build a beautiful site where SHS grads can reconnect. Even my Stinkin' Lincoln classmate and SHS classmate Joel Spealman has had a good time on the site. He lives in Phoenix where he works at a law library. In his other life, Joel is a member of a spoof heavy metal band who've just hit the weekend nightlife scene. Joel's the lead singer, and he's even got a name for his viking alter ego. There's a forum topic about him and his band along with a link for more information. Besides that, contributors have had plenty to say about the streaker who disrupted graduation in 1973. And, it's nice to see that Nellie Garrison, who taught English at the middle school forever, has signed on as the oldest grad. She just attended her 60th reunion here last weekend along with Bill Stockman and June Paulet and a few more from the Class of 1946. There's lots more to read about on the site, and it definitely looks like www.sandpointhigh.com is alive and thriving, so check it out.
• I might go for a horseback ride this weekend if it cools off as expected. My two geldings have new shoes, so it's time to take them down the road and enjoy the new countryside.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend wherever you are.