Slight Detour: It Just So Happens . . . .

It just so happens that ZAGS men's and women's basketball seasons are just around the corner.

I made my annual pilgrimage, along with two dogs, to McCarthey Athletic Center yesterday to pick up season-schedule posters for both the men's and the women's teams.

Foster and Bridie behaved in the car while I walked in to the facility that houses "the Kennel" and met Delaney and Karli who both work in the Gonzaga athletic department.

Karli is a student at Gonzaga while Delaney, a University of San Diego grad, works as a staff member.

Both were delightful and happy to spend some time visiting.

Just seeing the posters sends a message of excitement for this year's upcoming seasons.

As I look at both posters, I do see familiar faces from past seasons, but there will be lots of names to learn as each season unfolds.

Can't wait!

After leaving Gonzaga, I drove to the cell phone lot at Spokane International Airport.

Both dogs had their second opportunity to get some fresh air and to relieve themselves.

We had also stopped earlier at a dog park near Rathdrum, and that was where I realized that it just so happens that Miss Bridie needs some socialization time.

She's ridden in the vehicles with us, but she's never encountered unfamiliar dogs. Bridie almost turned inside out when a lady came walking our way with her dog.

The one thing I know is that she's not aggressive; quite the opposite. She immediately recoiled and hid behind me as the lady and her canine friend passed by.

Meanwhile, Foster, who's been to town and out on people and dog trails a time or two, took everything in his stride.

We went to the airport to pick up Annie who will be here through Sunday. Last night we had some pizza and some birthday doings, and tonight we'll do some more celebrating with Friday-night dinner.

We'll also dig in to Annie's birthday cake, which fits the standard that I usually put out when decorating cakes.

It's not the worst cake I've ever assembled. Nevertheless, the fact that, after I had frosted and decorated it as best an old left-handed clutz could, it just so happened that the cake developed an earthquake-like crack extending almost from one end to another.

Don't ask me why. I haven't the slightest idea why this happened, but one possibility might be the turmoil that was occurring while I decorated the cake.

While I was decorating in the kitchen, Richard, the carpenter, was busy painting the new door he had installed between the garage and the laundry room.

Before I had begun my decorating, Bill announced that he would take the dogs down to the shed where he chops and stacks his wood.

All was copacetic for about two minutes.

Richard was painting and I was too---frosting a cake is similar to painting, right?

Suddenly, I heard, "Oh no!" from the door area.

"Oh no!" Richard once again said with a clearly forlorn tone.

"Oh No," he said a third time.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"She (actually it's he, Foster) walked through the paint tray. Let's all remember that Foster is blind and that Foster was supposed to be with Bill.

Well, the little guy must have had decided that action at the door was much more exciting than the wood pile. So, unbeknownst to Richard, he returned to the garage area.

Unfortunately, little Foster didn't see the paint tray, and, by the time, Richard turned around from painting and saw the paint tray, Foster had exited and was tracking white paint all over the garage floor.

So, the action intensified. Richard was hurriedly wiping up paint while I snatched Foster. One of his front legs, coated in white paint, dripped some more paint as I carried him to the sink in the laundry room.

After washing the paint from his paw, I took Foster and a towel to the living room where suddenly Bridie had also shown up from the wood pile.

Herding her to her crate, while holding Foster and the towel in one hand, I managed to get the crate latched with Bridie inside.

Meanwhile, Richard managed to clean up the white paw tracks and went back to painting.

We shut the door to the kitchen, and Foster stayed away from Richard while I went back to decorating Annie's birthday cake.

Could be the cake just got stressed out from all the frantic activity among dogs and peeps.

Whatever the case, I assured Annie that it probably would taste good in spite of its looks. Annie concurred.

So, after today's birthday celebration, it won't matter what that cake looks like.

Richard kept a smile, even after Foster messed up his painting routine AND when he left, we had a beautiful new door and trim.

😀😀😀

Finally, it just so happens that the movie version of the phenomenal book The Boys in the Boat will be gifted to all of us on Christmas Day.

With George Clooney directing the movie, it should be something special.

A portion of this New York Times bestseller took place southeast of Bonners Ferry in the ghost town of Boulder City.

Bill and I have traveled to Boulder City several times and have always enjoyed looking over the remnants of the once thriving spot.

We both raced through the pages of The Boys in the Boat after learning of its Boulder City connection.

After the book's success, the U.S. Forest Service went into the area and erected some fences and informative displays about the history of the abandoned mining town.