Saturday Slight

Harold would have been 98 today. He died more than 10 years ago, but we think of him often with all the reminders about daily living and caring for animals that he instilled in us. 

Batch One got to know Harold when we were of the single-digit age.  He was the neighbor down the road at Racicots who loved and owned horses.  He had a herd of Hereford cattle which pastured on the Bill Neu place at the base of Schweitzer.

Harold also owned a tractor.  After he and Mother were married, we always joked that she had the land for those cows and horses and that he had the tractor. 

It all worked, and so did his fatherhood.  

Later, his fatherhood would include Batch II.  He remained "Harold" to Batch I and "Dad" to Batch II until his dying day----just like Mother was "Mother" to Batch I and "Mom" to Batch II.  

It all worked, regardless of names.  

I thought about Harold this morning while on my walk. 

Those thoughts included images of him in his sweaty, bent-up Western straw hat on his various tractors in the fields, his sitting at our yellow kitchen table rolling smoke after smoke while telling us story after story of life on the ranch in Montana or of horses he'd owned over the years or of the Kootenai Indians and Simon Francis, their interpreter. 

Harold got his start riding horses for Simon Francis. As his life moved on, so did his horsemanship.Our family horse lovers like to say that he was a "true horseman" in every sense of the word. His horsemanship was known worldwide even though he seldom left home. 

Harold charmed many a friend with his stories, and we could tell many on him. The best, however, would be about his role as our dad and the sense of stability he brought into our family.  For that we remained eternally thankful.

Happy Birthday, Harold, from this Batch Oner. 

~~~~~
Sad this morning to think about the final word which hit town and the nation yesterday as Coldwater Creek announced the closing of all its stores and an eventual liquidation of its assets.  

An era has ended here in Sandpoint, and times are sure to be tough economically.  On a hopeful note, though, I believe Sandpoint will withstand this blow, thanks to the community spirit and legendary resilience of its people. 

~~~~~~
I had some time yesterday to reflect a bit on time spent at the school in Buncrana, County Donegal, Ireland, where we visited last week and left Mother's cards along with a set of my books. 

While reflecting, I googled and found a fun video which shows that the students at Scoil Mhuire (School of Mary) enjoy some fun times.  

So, I'll leave you this morning with some upbeat stuff from County Donegal.  It's called Scoil Mhuire's Lip Dub, one of the first such schoolwide productions in Ireland.  

Enjoy, and Happy Saturday.