Stuff

This has not been the usual one-issue week. My thoughts have been taking more slight detours than usual. That's probably because single issues generally tend to dominate all other happenings, but not this week. No projects. No deadlines. Nothing big happening in politics except for all those Joe's out there dominating the political discourse.

I'm wondering what Joe, the stockbrokers, are thinking this week as the DOW continues to take its own slight detours, mostly down steep hills. Just yesterday, I checked my PERSI Choice account, and it had risen modestly above one of the three milestones it had lost in the past month. That was before the market closed more than 500 points down. Haven't checked this morning, but I have heard we're probably in for another tumble today.

I could have used Joe, the plumber, yesterday while working on our Ritchie automatic waterer. This place has a network of half a dozen waterers with two in the barn. We can flip a switch and have them heated during the winter----all but one, that is. When we moved here, one of the barn waterers was not functional.

I tried to fix it last summer, to no avail. It's not easy working with it because most of the unit is down below the barn floor. When Bob, the electrician, came last week to make sure all the waterers were getting electricity, we opened that one up again and agreed that it probably just needed a new valve.

So, I ordered one from the Co-Op Country Store. It came Tuesday, and since I had an open day yesterday, I plunged into the project. Only problem was I could not get the old plastic valve unscrewed from its plastic holder. That's when I wished Joe had been driving by so I could flag him down. Finally, however, I sent a note to Ritchie's main headquarters in Iowa, telling them of my problem.

Within an hour, I received a response from Ruth Peterson. She gave me a few suggestions and offered to be of help if I had any other questions. Turns out that during that hour, I had squirted WD-40 on the valve-screw area. On one trip out to the barn to try it once more, the valve cooperated, and I was able to unscrew it easily with the wrench. Love that WD-40!

I reassembled everything, but the waterer still has its problem. I tell the story mainly because I was so impressed with Ruth, who wrote back again with more suggestions of what might be wrong and what I might try to fix it. How often do we see this kind of service these days, especially without hearing "kerchink, kerchink, kerchink" every five seconds for their precious advice.

So, I guess I need to depart slightly from my "Joe's" and thank the "Ruth's" who are out there, not complaining but doing their best to represent their companies with exemplary service. As a consumer, I remember moments like yesterday, and I'll always spread the news about companies who have employees like Ruth.

I don't know if I'll ever figure out this waterer, but I do know that Ruth made my day yesterday.

After giving up on the waterer for the day and putting Bill's tools all back where they belonged, I took off on a bike ride. There were plenty of other projects, but the short-lived majesty of this particularly beautiful autumn told me to leave those aside and take it all in. I rode all three Center Valley Roads yesterday for the first time, finally stopping to visit with Mary Ann and Mike Boseth who live on North Center Valley Road.

Years ago, I considered purchasing a ten-acre plot through Ward Tifft's realty about half a mile north of Mike and Mary Ann's. I backed away from the idea, however, because of concerns people had expressed about the difficulty of getting water up there. It was pretty remote at the time, and that was appealing to me, but water is important.

That was back in the early 1970s. At the time, I believe the Adkisson family, who were friends, were the only residents there. During my 20-minute visit with Mike and Mary Ann yesterday afternoon, a steady stream of traffic went north and south down the road. Apparently, the area now has more than 30 homes. Must've found water.

We finished our visit at the Boseth's gateway, and I rode home, marveling at perfect fall beauty all along the way, including one serene moment of passing by Jack Filipowski's Hereford cows quietly resting and chewing their cuds in the shade of Leedy's field near the roadside.

Later, I loaded the dogs into the car and drove to Vanderford's to get my copy of Dream City, written by my cousin Brendan Short (www.brendanshort.net) and just recently released. Brendan, I must let you know that Michelle at Vanderford's ordered two copies so she can read your novel also. She's impressed with the unique book cover, as am I.

And, I'm hooked. Unlike his Idaho cousin who reports when she writes, Brendan demonstrates a great literary depth while not wearing the reader down with too much detail. He constructs a good sentence engages the reader into remaining alert while grasping all the nuances. I'm 40 pages into the book and loving it.

Of course, I'd love to visit with Brendan while reading because I'm getting the impression there's a lot of family history sprinkled throughout the story. Brendan's first novel topped the Chicago Tribune's list of noted fall releases---a list which also included Pulitzer-prize-winning author Marilynne Robinson, a Sandpoint native.

I saw her book in the window at Vanderford's but opted to stick with the family first instead of the hometown product. From what I've read so far, I'm glad that this week offers some extra time for doing fun stuff like reading and biking down new roads.

And, speaking of books, Mother and I are having lunch with Bootsie (Boots and Beans, 2007, www.keokeebooks.com) and his wife Becky today. We're headed to the Blue Heron Cafe aka Samuels Store, and I have a feeling the place is gonna get noisy from too much giggling.