Friday snippets

I keep seeing reminders that we're hitting the 40th anniversary of man walking on the moon. That's another event in my lifetime where the exact setting of where I happened to be is pretty clear. We were at Bert and Esther Lines' house on North Forest in Sandpoint.

We always called them our shirt-tail relatives because Esther's brother George was married to my dad's sister Wilma. They were the closest thing we had to relatives in Sandpoint. That connection and other shirt-tail connections, however, made us "related" to a lot of other locals---the Goobys, the Hudons, the Joneses, Goulettes, etc.

Anyway, we were there at their house, and when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon and said, "One small step for man and one giant leap for mankind," Bert sat in his easy chair and chimed in, "God Bless him."

I wonder now if Neil would have chosen different words for his ever-famous observation: humankind, perhaps? Who knows?

The words are etched in history. They reflect the thought at that time, which makes them all the more historical.

In some ways it's hard to believe that it's been 40 years, but when I take into account that I'd never heard of Bill Love or envisioned a day when my kids would be writing sports news for a Nampa newspaper or setting foot on the top of Mt. Rainier, I guess there's been a lot of water under the bridge.

And, speaking of Mt. Rainier, another big family mountain event is coming up next week. Bill and Annie are planning to climb Mt. St. Helens on Wednesday.

I considered the idea, but after much thought, kept coming up with the same conclusions: stay home, take care of the place, and let father and daughter have their fun without a whiny old goat complaining all the way up and all the way back.

That way we'll all be happy, and I can post pictures on the blog if Annie sends them to me. Bill's been doing all his advance "be prepared" planning, and he'll probably packing off and on all weekend and, of course, checking it twice to make sure all the t's are crossed and i's, dotted.

He takes off Monday, and the plan is that my brother will be here with his camp trailer, hanging out and doing whatever he wants to do around Sandpoint. He says he might do a local hike while he's here. It will be nice to have someone around while Bill is gone.

Next week is a busy one. I have to complete a column, and if all goes well, this will be a fun one. No hints, though, just in case it doesn't work out. I also have a profile to write about a wood chemist at the University of Idaho. It will be fun because he's a Kiwi, and he happens to be in New Zealand this week. So, the interview will occur when he returns.

Harvey Lippert's coming this weekend or on Monday to cut the hay, so there will be some attention needed there to get that hay in the barn and protected for winter.

Mother's getting new linoleum in her kitchen and TV area. So, china has to be stored and she has to stay out of the way while the Sandpoint Furniture folks install it.

Let's see----could there be anything else to fill the schedule? As always, there are the yard and garden. Beans are starting to come on and blueberries will be ripe soon and the dewberries are turning ripe. I've gotten permission to go to my secret spot to pick, and since everyone turns into huckleberry hounds this time of year, I'm not too worried about any competition in those patches.

Yup, summer and all its BUSYness are in full swing, and we don't want to waste a minute of it.

So, here's wishing everyone a great TGIF, and go take some giant leaps into summer for yourself.