Single-Digit Sunday

 

Happily, it's not single-digit temps.  

We're in the teens this morning.

I could see the stars when I went outside  around 4:45 a.m.

So, we're gonna have another crisp "winfall" day: still a light blanket of snow, a lot of leaves.  

Single-digit Sunday is probably being welcomed by all politics weary citizens across this nation, as we wind down toward what we hope will be a decisive, clearcut decision in the 2020 Presidential election.  

Some people are wondering what they're gonna do once this is all over and the telephone quits ringing, showing numbers from Potlatch or Rupert, Idaho, only to have Donald Trump yelling out that he's running for President. 

Hmmm, am I gonna miss that.  Probably not. 

"Saturday Night Live" suggested last night that we may have to search hard for new topics of conversation.

Not a bad idea, I think.  

How about discussing what we're gonna have for dinner on Pandemic Night No. 300?  Will there be steak and cake celebrating the fact that we've been at this since March and we're still alive. 

Or, we could start a virtual jigsaw puzzle exchange and use ZOOM each day to show progress on how many pieces of the puzzle are in place.  

When everybody's done with their puzzle (may take some cheerleading to keep everyone on an even keel as they puzzle), we can all exchange addresses and send the puzzle we just finished on to the next person. 

Maybe we can get this group to be a nonprofit and apply for a grant to cover the puzzlers' postage when they make the exchanges. 

Heck, there's lots of stuff we can do with the remaining days of the Pandemic or our lives---whichever comes first. 

For today, since we ARE in the official pre-election "silly season," I've got some reading material for you. 

First, a couple of articles from this morning's Daily Bee, which might reveal and/or validate that our region might be much more "interesting" than your area.

The first, written by journalist Bill Buley, describes a parade in downtown Coeur d'Alene yesterday.

The second is well-researched opinion piece written by former Spokesman-Review reporter and our family friend Susan Drumheller. 

I encourage you to read both; after all, it's Sunday morning during a Pandemic, and maybe you haven't yet ordered your jigsaw puzzle. 

As you scroll down, you'll see the third item with an explanation.

   https://bonnercountydailybee.com/news/2020/oct/25/protect-our-america-rally-snp/

https://bonnercountydailybee.com/news/2020/oct/25/outside-agitators-turn-us-against-each-other/

I first met Keith Anderson at a high school girls basketball game.  His daughter Lily was a member of the SHS Bulldog squad. 

Later, I learned that Keith worked as manager of J.C.Penney's at the Bonner Mall. 

And, even later, we all learned that the J.C. Penney's store, a place many of us had patronized for a lifetime, would be closing. 

Yesterday, on his Facebook page, Keith posted the item above about the Sandpoint "Golden Rule" store opening. 

Putting the information in perspective, I realized that the story had opened just six days before my dad's birth in 1916----104 years ago. 

A sad page in our local history to see it go, but I'm happy to learn that Keith who will tell you of his undying loyalty to J.C. Penney will be staying in the area and working at North 40. 

Glad to know that, Keith. 

Best wishes to you in your new career adventure. 

If you are a resident of the Sandpoint area and take the local paper, you may be familiar with Pat Gooby's occasional contributions to the opinion section.  You may have blinked and missed them cuz Pat knows how to send a message with limited words.  I don't know why he didn't go into journalism.

Of late, we have noticed that Pat's neighbor, Larry Smith, who lives a couple of miles up Gooby Road has been running Pat some competition in the Daily Bee letters section for making important points without mixing a lot of words.  It's nice to see neighborhood competition in the opinion department. 

Anywho, Pat has a brother Bob, who lives in Goobyville on Gooby Road, but he also has a brother Dick who left the Gooby Bros. nest and headed for Montana.  

Dick and his wife Mary Ann (she's from Sandpoint too)  own a ranch in Twin Bridges. 

Apparently the Gooby bloodlines require disclosure, whether it be brief opinions or documentation of life in the Big Sky.   Dick uses a few more words than Pat as he chronicles the day-to-day ranch stories, but I'm thinking the Gooby bloodlines have also included an anatomical phenomenon called "tongue in cheek."  

Yesterday, Dick sent me his most recent ranch report.  If you get a hankering to read more, I can provide information on how to obtain a book filled with Gooby Ranch Reports.  

Gooby Ranch Report---September

With all the fires in California, Oregon and Washington it has been so smoky around here you can hardly see.  The other day Mary Ann and I were coming home from town when the smoke was really thick. 

Mary Ann was in the garbage can in the back of the pickup.  She has to ride in the pickup box so we can maintain social distancing.  So, she couldn’t help me determine which road to take to get home.

I finally got to what I thought was our turnoff and drove over an hour and came to a caution light.  Since we don’t have any caution lights in our neck of the woods, I definitely took the wrong road. 

I turned around and headed back down the road.   I came to the road I had turned off before.  I know that was it because I saw the stop sign.  I drove up the road a ways and came to another turn off that I was sure was our road.    After about a half hour the pickup motor quit.  We ran out of gas. 

I let Mary Ann out of the garbage can and told her what happened.  Mary Ann said it was her turn to sit in the pickup cab.  So, I had to stay outside to keep our social distancing.  When I got really bored, I walked up the road to have something to do.  After about a half mile I came to a mail box and it had our name on it.  I couldn’t believe it. 

I went back and told Mary Ann.  We gathered up all the groceries that needed to be refrigerated and put them in a box.  Mary Ann carried it the mile and a half we had to walk to get home.  She didn’t even set the box down once.  I offered to help but Mary Ann said she didn’t want to take a chance that I might drop the box and break something.  That Mary Ann is one smart tough kid.

After Mary Ann got the cold groceries put away, she got me a snack.  Then she carried a 5-gallon gas can full of gas down to get some gas in the pickup.

Jerry Bernard wanted to know what we are going to do for Halloween with all the Covid 19 problems.  Mary Ann and I decided that instead of going trick or treating she would put on a really scary outfit and get in the garbage can in the back of the pickup. 

Then we will drive through town and when we come to a bunch of kids Mary Ann will jump out of the garbage can, scare the kids half to death and they will drop all their candy.  I will get out and pick up the candy then drive down to the next bunch of kids.

  That way we won’t have to go house to house to trick or treat.