Monday Miscellany

Well, just like the Kansas City Royals did not sweep the Seattle Mariners over the weekend, I failed to come off with a clean sweep with Brooke, the runaway Border Collie.

And, it was OH so close.

Less than an hour remained of unrestrained doggie daycare; it was minutes before "60 Minutes," and I still had to give Lefty a sponge bath on his neck, which I had clipped during the day. 

The sponge bath with an oatmeal shampoo is just the latest new attempt of my ongoing effort to get the little guy to quit rubbing his hide out.

With towel, two containers of warm water and shampoo in hand, I opened the gate to the outdoor dog kennel.  Of course, Brooke and Todd eagerly followed me to the barn.  After all, keeping horses in line IS their job.

Only problem is that when the horses are in their box stalls, Brooke and Todd get a little exhuberant in jumping up toward Lily and reminding her to behave.  Lily gets mad and starts pawing her stall and trying to nip at them.

So, not wanting that doggie/horsie commotion while working with Lefty, I asked them to step outside.  

That's all Brooke needed.  She knew the second the barn door closed that I'd be focused on Lefty inside.  It was her time, finally.  

She bolted.

It took me all of about five minutes to finish my sponge bath on Lefty and return him to his stall.  As I stepped from the barn door, Bill stood at the door to the house, announcing, "Alicia called.  Brooke is over there."  

So, in the bottom of the ninth, Brooke scored a big run.  A few minutes later she was back at home plate, with the door shut. 

Speaking of "60 Minutes," one of the authors for whom I have undying respect, Jon Krakauer, appeared on the show last night.  I may have mentioned, meeting Mr. Krakauer a few years ago at a book event in Spokane.  He gave me a personally autographed copy of his book Into the Wild.

This was an impressive gesture, but what's more impressive is his research and ability to tell a compelling story.  Like Laura Hillenbrand's work, Krakauer's investigative tales of real-life high drama are page turners. 

So, when the name Greg Mortenson, author of Three Cups of Tea,  appeared as the subject of one of the "60 Minutes" segments, I listened up.  

And, I really listened up when Jon Krakauer appeared, vehemently disputing some of Mortenson's claims in his nonfiction books that have netted him millions and turned him into a author and cult hero of sorts.  

Krakauer granted Mortenson his due for opening up educational possibilities in Pakistan and Afghanistan, but he and several others also pointed out discrepancies in his "true" stories and that Mortenson's humanitarian efforts/program have created his own personal ATM machine. 

Mortenson appeared in Spokane recently at Gonzaga University, as he continues to appear for big bucks at speaking around the country and the world. 

One does wonder---after seeing this "60 Minutes" segment and watching Mortenson's reluctance to defend himself before the cameras---what is the real rest of the story.  

Maybe it will unfold in the next few days, but it reminds me vividly of another author a few years ago, who was exposed for not telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth in his NONfiction book A Million Little Pieces.

What's puzzling about this situation is that,  as Jon Krakauer pointed out last night, the truth alone would have been compelling enough---why embellish it?  

And, the overall sad part is that if the disputing of Mortenson's claims in his books are all true, he still collects millions.

Reminded me of the cartoon in this morning's Spokesman where the big tough guy was gonna come down hard on all those teachers/scumbags who fail the system and get rid of them while the CEO's who failed and screwed up the financial world got healthy bonuses. 

On a more positive note, yesterday for a few hours Bill and I escaped the "nice" day here at the Lovestead, which included rain, snow, hail, wind and, yes, some token sunshine.  

They warned us on KREM last night that the nice day "all across the Inland Northwest" was gonna turn bad today.  

If yesterday was good, I don't want to see bad anymore.

At Farragut, however, we did some walking and geocaching with only a few minutes of snow spitting at us.  

While finding four caches, Bill reminisced a lot about his visits there with the Boy Scouts for the big jamborees in 1969 and 1973.  Overall, it was a pleasant outing and a nice escape from mud. 

Finally, some high school journalists and their chaperones returned to Sandpoint from sunny Los Angeles during the wee hours of this morning.  Some of these sleepy heads might even be at school as I type.

In addition to their sixth place overall in the Best of Show at the national convention, Molly Burgstahler took a superior medal for copy editing.  Two other Cedar Posters, Evan Metz and Maria Guida,  brought home honorable mentions in editorial cartooning and feature writing.

Congratulations to the students.

Guess that's enough for this Monday.  I'll see if a few photos will post to go along with all this miscellaneous muttering.   Have a great day.