Looks like another nice day for this Saturday. I'm looking at the calendar and remembering that I'd be calling up my friend Joy O'Donnell on this day to wish her a happy birthday. Sadly, I haven't been able to do that for a few years, but the date evokes some fun memories of a longtime friend and fellow educator.
There are still moments several years after her death when a question on the local genealogical wall chart arises, and I think that Joy could certainly answer it or steer me in the right direction.
Thankfully, I still have a few friends "in the know" who provide much needed local trivia when the need arises.
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Yesterday's open schedule netted all desired results. The young gray mare ain't the escape artist she used to be, thanks to some added measures to keep her confined to her stall over night. Still, she made gallant efforts.
I put a chain latch on the outside of the door to go along with the twine and the regular "tough-to-open" latch. After coming home from dinner last night, I went out to check. She was flat out in her stall snoozing when I walked into the barn. Nonetheless, she had been busy, and she had once more opened the tough latch, but the twine and chain were holding tight.
For good measure, I added another piece of twine, running it through a little hole on the end of the difficult latch, figuring that if she worked it loose again, the twine would hold it where it needed to be. HA!
This morning, the latch was once again open, the second piece of twine was lying on the floor and the aforementioned effective deterrents were still in place. Don't know about that girl, and I'd still love to know how she does it.
But she stayed in the stall, and that's satisfying enough for now.
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My planter is as complete as it's going to be until spring. The hardest work yesterday was prying the boards from the ice where they've been stacked, but they eventually came loose, and they're nailed to the corner posts on the planter. That turned out to be a nice week's labor. Can't wait to figure out what I'm going to put in it come spring.
For now, though, I'll have to wait.
In the meantime, the lettuce, planted Monday and placed beneath my new grow light, is up and thriving. Actually, the up segment came by Wednesday morning. That was a good stroke of business for this frustrated gardener. It should soothe my needs until a reasonable time comes along to actually get serious about playing in the outside dirt.
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Yesterday was a great day on Facebook. When I made my comment about classmate bonds the other day, another classmate Janet wrote and said she'd been trying to find me on Facebook. I explained to her that we Sandpoint FB'ers are listed as Spokane. She did find me. We are now FB friends, and the day turned out to be a bonanza.
In addition to Janet, I'm now friends with Laura Delamarter, whom I've known the longest of any classmate or friend on this earth. My friend Susan Tate agreed to be my FB buddy as did Gretta Fletcher.
Since the addition of those four classmates to my personal roster, I've checked out some of Gretta's photography. It's phenomenal, and I don't think she'd mind if I posted her Flickr account, where she has posted several pages worth of photos, ranging from dancing to nature to wildlife.
(http://www.flickr.com/phot
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Yesterday also turned out great because I went for a ten-mile bike ride through the Selle Valley. Normally, it would be an easy ride, but yesterday, although pretty, was windy. I thought the wind was coming from the east when I first started pedaling down Selle Road, so I figured the return ride would be easy.
I realized, while heading back and turning north off from Jacobson Road onto East Shingle Mill Road, the heavy, pounding gusts were coming straight out of the north instead.
That was a long grind, to say the least, but I just kept drawing inspiration through mental visions of people I've known who stuck with it through hard times. Their images powered me on, and when I turned back onto Selle Road, the ride suddenly seemed like a piece of cake. It was a tough workout but well worth the effort.
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This morning I read the latest Cedar Post. The kids are doing a fabulous job with the paper, i.e., fun layout and well-written thoughtful stories, ranging from interviews with Sarah Palin and her father Chuck Heath to stories about the Holland brothers, one of whom has clinched a spot on the Winter Olympics snowboarding team.
The opinion pieces in the latest edition represent diverse views and logical reasoning behind the views. There's a photo collage of the carpentry class at work on their house project, and there's a very touching back-page tribute to Will Johnson, a student who died in a skiing accident at Schweitzer last month.
I really enjoyed reading the paper and was impressed with the level to which the kids have risen over this school year. Good job, Willie and staff! The paper is available at several venues, including Babs and Second Avenue Pizza parlors and Slate's.
So, check it out, and those kids are looking for donations to their national journalism convention in Portland this April. So, if you feel so inclined, I'm sure they'd be thrilled with anyone's generosity. Just contact Mr. Love at the high school for further details!
As one who worked with Cedar Post kids for seven years, I can assure folks that they work hard throughout the year, and they derive many, many benefits from attending the national conventions.
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Okay, enough advertising for the Cedar Post, time to move on to another love, the ZAGS. They have another game this afternoon at 5. Laurie says we're having pizza for the big family weekend get-together. The usual drill is to watch the first half while nibbling and then at halftime to get into serious eating. We top it off with a dessert.
It's become a fun routine over the past couple of years, and the crowd varies in size. Size doesn't seem to make any difference with the intensity and enthusiasm within the room.
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So, I'd better get out and enjoy this day. Happy Saturday and GO ZAGS!
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