Saturday Slight

Morning has broken, and, oh, what a beautiful day it appears to be.  Clear skies allowed me to enjoy a full assembly of stars to shining brightly from above as I took the horses to pasture earlier. Now, a few spots of low-lying fog soften the scenes to the east and west.

I’ll take this morning and run with it.  First, however, comes the blog, and, many thanks, Cis, for the suggestion to write in Microsoft Word.  Yesterday was frustrating, and Blogger tends to frustrate us regulars with its unforeseen “gotcha’s.” 

If the glitches don’t occur with published photos showing up on the home computer but not on anybody else’s in the world, the blogger demons (I called them gods yesterday, but this is one day closer to Halloween), will surprise you with the “conflicting edits” excuse for swallowing up three-quarters of what you just wrote. 

So, don’t tell those little devils, I’m cheating with Microsoft, or they’ll find a way to “Get You, My Pretty.”

Yup, I guess we’re celebrating Halloween tonight on its eve rather than its real day.  Somehow, Saturday night seems much better than than Sunday for witches and goblins to do their dish out their ghoulish spells on the populace.

We’ll have the candy basket ready in the living room, and I’ll probably set up a pumpkin path for the big and little trick or treaters who will come to our front door.  We’ll more than likely lock the doggies in the garage.  Things will be scary enough without the barking dogs.

I have to go to town this morning to pick up some nuts.  Yesterday I purchased what I thought were all the ingredients for the Best Damned Pumpkin Dessert, Period, but arrived home to learn I needed nuts.  The cupboards have no nuts, so it’s back to the store.

If all goes right, we’ll be sampling that wonderful dessert while we watch the sporting events and answer the door.   

Our Halloween traffic has been picking up the past few years, and the neighborhood kids and their adult chaperones  do a nice job in the dress-up department.  Plus, they’re polite and often very entertaining when they come begging.

In the morning news department, I have to announce the release of two publications:  the winter edition of Sandpoint Magazine and the brand-new online edition of the SHS Cedar Post.   Willie has involvement with both as adviser of the Cedar Post and author of a nice feature story about the teen art scene in the magazine. 

Seems as if a new generation of local writers is emerging for the magazine, which is celebrating its 20^th year with this edition. 

I was proud to see Willie, Zach Hagadone and Haley Butler as featured writers this time, and Bill was proud to see the daughter of one of his colleagues involved with the photo feature---Laura Roady of Bonners Ferry  (whose mom-in-law is one of the Chronics).

Of course, Bill had to point out that one of Laura’s photos features three peaks in the Selkirks, each with a geocache on top.  Laura and her hubby are geocaching addicts, just like Bill, so she received an A+ for her contribution.

The online Cedar Post includes a full-page feature about the effort to have Sandpoint native and Green Bay Packer great Jerry Kramer inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. 

Fans of Jerry Kramer have until January to voice their support and tell their stories about the great Green Bay Packer guard at  http://www.krem.com/sports/kramer-in-the-hall or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jerry-Kramer-in-the-NFL-Hall-of-Fame/135799389801346.

The Cedar Post also includes a very poignant tribute to popular SHS sports fan David Jenkins and substitute teacher who died recently.  Some of the interview in the story took place the day before Mr. Jenkins died.

You can access the online edition of this student-produced paper by visiting http://issuu.com/cedarpost/docs/super_page  A little experimentation will lead you to some a reader-friendly format.  Just look for the labels.

Well, the sun is shining brightly, so I’m out of here and ready to take on this beautiful Saturday.  Have a great day wherever you are.