Saturday Slight

Happy Hot Saturday. Triple digits forecast for today and tomorrow. The fans are going early today.

Iz it just me, or would anyone else out there think it a bit incongruous for the telephone to ring on Friday night at 6:30 p.m. on the third hottest day of the year and for the voice at the other end to say,

"I'm calling about your chimney. Do you want to set up an appointment to get it swept?"

"You're calling on this hot day to ask about my chimney?" I responded incredulously.

"Yup," he said. "I remember when we did it last year, it was raining, and you do have a steep roof, so I was hoping we could do it on a dry day."

"Okay," I said, "I'll tell Bill you called, and he can get back to you."

The conversation certainly serves notice that uniquely personal motivators tend to drive people's thoughts. In a million years, on days like yesterday, today or tomorrow, I doubt I would have ever thunk of our chimney and its need to be swept.

But chimney sweepers do.

They must be more like the fabled ants than I thought, and I must have a little strain of grasshopper in me. On August days, I do occasionally think about preparing for winter but only while picking beans or berries and imagining how good they're going to taste when I can just go to the cupboard or the freezer in January, grab a bag or jar preserved from the summer bounties and savor its homegrown flavor.

Anyway, Bill says he would entertain the thought of the chimney sweeper coming in September but maybe not this weekend. We're thinking about this guy's welfare and how those chimney sweeping boots might just melt off while scaling our steep roof. There's a possible liability there.

On to summer thoughts. We're deciding whether we're going to brave the heat and the crowds and attend our first Festival concert in about 13 years. I'd love to go to Bomshel and Wynona tonight, but thoughts of that huge crowd packed into too small a space and the heat just make me wither. Plus, the $50 plus price for the tickets is just a tad more than we paid for our complimentary tickets (thanks to Trish and the River Journal) for tomorrow night's classical concert.

So, we're contemplating a return to the Festival tomorrow evening, which should be very genteel and civilized, given the nature of the music. That's not to say that I consider myself 100 percent genteel and civilized. I could get in to some good foot stomping and thigh slapping pretty darned easily with Bomshel and Wynona, but think of the sweat in 100-degree heat. Yuck!

Bill loves his classical music, and I'll enjoy it too, along with some good people watching and the gabbing. So, we'll probably take the plunge and get ourselves down there to Memorial Field in plenty of time to enjoy both. Plus, I'm sure the Festival still serves a wide array of good eats.

Today will involve more fence painting until the heat says no more. After yesterday's marathon blitz with the brush, I have all the sections that can be seen by the public (except for our next-door neighbors) painted. Today's challenge is to brighten the eyes of the Kaubles, so they don't have to wonder how long that fence iz gonna be half-painted.

I might also go see my niece today. She's participating in a wacky relay race from Spokane to Sandpoint. It even includes a stint on one of the scary Silverwood amusement rides. Why do they call that amusement? In my mind, that's just as crazy as a chimney sweep sizzling in his boots on my steep metal roof.

Anyway, Laura is competing with a group representing the Coeur d'Alene Tribe, and she'll be doing the "Rocky" phase of the race, running across the "walking" bridge on Lake Pend Oreille in triple digit afternoon rays, with sweaty crowds cheering, and hopefully reaching Lakeview Park still alive and kicking. I might go to town to cheer her on, but then again, I might stay home too. So, I'll just wish her luck.

Off to the fences so we can have happy neighbors. Have a great Saturday.