Wading with the River Journal

The New Peace Corps? and where we've been

2007-09-01T14:47:00.000-07:00

Found this interesting article online and thought to share the link for those who might want to read. It asks the question: Is teaching the new Peace Corps? Here's the link.

Yeah, I know, I haven't been around much lately, but there's been good reason for that... medical reasons mostly.

Everyone already knows about Jinx's breast cancer. For an update: Her one boob is gone, she's undergoing chemotherapy and she's lost her hair. When chemo's done (about 9 more weeks) they're going to take off the other breast. She's smiling, happy, and even writing again. (You'll see her column return in the 26 September River Journal.) She's not especially thrilled with being bald but, as I told her, she has remarkably beautiful eyes and they really stand out now.

My partner David was also diagnosed with prostate cancer. (We got the actual biopsy results the first weekend of the Festival at Sandpoint.) We're still in the process of discovering how this is going to be treated, as prostate cancer is a cancer where the 'experts' don't agree on the best treatments. He had an MRI last week to determine if the cancer has spread beyond the prostate, and we'll be meeting with an oncologist next week, plus have a meeting with a surgeon for a second surgical opinion the week after. David is also doing well, smiling and happy though he doesn't write at all. He is one of the most positive men I've ever met in my life and, if that means anything, it means he'll come through this just fine.

Last week, I also learned that my own 'cervical issues' have returned. I say 'issues' because my understanding is that this is NOT cancer - at least, not yet. It is, however, the last stage before it becomes cancer and therefore demands a response. I had hoped this was dealt with last year, when half of my cervix was removed, but I guess it wasn't. I've learned in recent internet research that approximately 36 percent of these 'issues' return even after the procedure that I underwent, so I probably shouldn't have been surprised. I will be getting an additional biopsy next week to determine the extent of the current problem so treatment can also be determined. There's a good chance that treatment will involve a hysterectomy, and that has me in a bit of a panic - not because I'm worried about losing my womb (my childbearing days are over anyway) but because of the cost. As a small business owner, I have no insurance. It should be an interesting experience. I, myself, am not smiling and happy but then, I'm not a very positive person. ;0) In addition, I'm in a program to stop smoking (have already cut my smoking by half) and while I know I need to do this, there's still a part of me that doesn't want to. All in all, though, I recognize life could be much, much worse. Even with this news, I am very lucky in the life I live.

School is starting, volleyball season has begun, I've finished my articles for the winter issue of Sandpoint Magazine and the River Journal continues to come out twice a month, which sometimes surprises me. Clark Fork won their football game at home last night and Laura (my birthday buddy and design mentor for the RJ) gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, Sage Lorien, last week.

Sneak Peek- River Journal 11 April 2007

2007-04-10T13:14:00.000-07:00

Here it is folks, and I'm back on schedule!

This issue features the debut of another new writer - Matt Haag of Idaho's Fish & Game. He's taking over JJ Scott's old role (as JJ retired) writing The Warden's Words.

Roberta Burdine took the River Journal to the Phillipines, and Jay Mock is this issue's Hotshot, with a glorious photo of an elk near Rapid Lightning Creek.

I got a call from Scott in Sagle regarding his proposal for solar roads as an answer to global warming. At first I wasn't too interested in it, but once I got to researching, it looks like a viable project. Though somehow I think it would happen a lot faster if he were in the Netherlands. Or Scotland.

Jinx wrote about a wolf visiting Elk Mountain Academy, Gretchen Ward, in her first appearance in the pages of the River Journal, wrote about global warming, and Gil Beyer sent us a report from Mexico on the Mayan calendar and "the end of the world."

No story on what's happening with the Clark Fork ordinances (and there really is news on that front) because I missed the meeting Thursday night when my son came home unexpectedly, and brought his new girlfriend for me to meet. I spent the evening enjoying family and didn't remember the P&Z meeting that night until the next morning. Ah well. Such is life.

Just a reminder about those season passes for this year's Festival at Sandpoint - get 'em now. Wow, what a lineup we have! The lineup's announced May 15, so rest assured, I'll let ya know who's gonna be here just as soon as we let everyone else know.

And now... time to throw some laundry in and maybe read the next few chapter's of Umberto Eco's "The Island of the Day Before."

Sneak Peek 28 March 2007

2007-04-04T09:57:00.000-07:00

It's hardly a "sneak peek" given that the paper's been out a week now, but at least it's all finally online, too, right here.

As for behind the scenes news - the biggest news is that the paper got done, given all the other projects that were due at the same time. Thankfully, the CFHS yearbook also got done, and is sitting with a printer in Pennsylvania. Why it takes months to print I don't know. Or actually I do - my sales rep told me they're getting in about 300 yearbooks a day right now.

Cassandra Cridland wrote a great piece on the Heron Players, including the menu for the upcoming show. For those who have been to the dinner theater in Heron before, yes, Victoria Denham is cooking again (yum!) and no, she won't tell me what the food actually is - it's a mystery meal, after all.

In my own column I wrote about "new" family I found in Mansfield, Louisiana, and that I was still waiting for pictures of them reading the River Journal. Well, the post office moved quickly with my subscriptions, because yesterday DeSoto Parish assessor Jimmy Stephens sent me a picture of himself reading the RJ at the Mansfield Battlefield. What a handsome guy! You'll see him down the road.

In other news... I finally sent out notification that my Imbris email and my Sandpoint.net emails will no longer be used - too many problems with their spam filters. I can't blame them - spam is becoming an enormous problem for businesses. But I also have to have email that works. If you want to email me, send me email to trish(at)riverjournal.com.

The 25th anniversary of the Festival at Sandpoint is shaping up to be awesome. I just got my last donation for the wine auction, which will be held April 27. This is a major fundraiser for us, and there's lots of goodies to bid on. Check it out here for tickets if you don't already have 'em. (And if you haven't bought the early bird season pass, I'll tell ya now - you'll regret it.) And check it out again next week, when our new and improved website will be online.

I also finished my stories for the summer issue of Sandpoint Magazine, which will hit the streets during Lost in the 50s weekend. Talk about a success story! If you haven't seen this magazine yet, then you want to get on the list.

Clark Fork's proposed new ordinances are moving apace. If the city takes the advice of the planner they asked to present at their last meeting, then they'll be backing up and re-doing this process - just what residents have been asking for. There's a meeting this Thursday night, so look for an update in our next River Journal.

Finally, I'm taking on a new project (I know, I know, what happened to the strength of my "no?") but this will be fun. I'm going to do volunteer indexing for the LDS church on one of their genealogy projects. You can check it out at here if you want.

Here's hoping that, with my biggest projects done, it's back to my "normal" crazy life.

Multitasking

2007-03-25T06:59:00.000-07:00

I think I'm pushing my multi-tasking skills to the limit as I'm coming up on some big deadlines in the next few days... a newspaper, a 96-page school yearbook, stories for the summer issue of Sandpoint Magazine, the collection of auction donations for the Festival at Sandpoint, a project to build new bleachers at Clark Fork High School, taxes...

And this morning, I read that even the New York Times thinks I can't do it all.

Still, isn't that just the politically correct thing to say?

In an article called Slow Down, Multitaskers, and Don’t Read in Traffic by Steve Lohr,
he says that four Vanderbilt researchers reported on the efficiency that's lost when someone attempts to do two things at once. "... researchers found that response to the second task was delayed by up to a second when the study participants were given the two tasks at about the same time."

I can actually read a book, and sing along with a song on the radio, at the same time. Through the years, that ability has driven my family nuts. (Most people can read and listen to a song, it's the singing it that stops some folks.) I'm sure I read slower when I'm doing that, but does that really matter if both things need to happen during a certain time frame?

Of course, what really got to me about this article was the old "cell phone in the car argument."
"But one implication of the Vanderbilt research, Mr. Marois said, is that talking on a cellphone while driving a car is dangerous. A one-second delay in response time at 60 miles an hour could be fatal, he noted.

“We are under the impression that we have this brain that can do more than it often can,” observed Mr. Marois, who said he turns off his cellphone when driving."

Let's have a little scientific rigor here. Because the inference isn't that talking on a cell phone is dangerous... it's that talking is.

So before we run out to make more laws banning cell phone use while driving, let's go ahead and deal with the real problem, and ban any talking at all by a person driving a car.

And now it's back to work. 'Cause while I can multi-task, my computer keyboard can't. Typing here means I'm not typing on pages that need to be completed.

See ya later

Sneak Peek 14 March 2007 River Journal

2007-03-14T14:40:00.000-07:00

It's out, kind of, and it's amazing that it is. None are delivered yet.... I had to come home first and get some work done before heading back into Sandpoint for a 7 pm meeting. And I also wanted to come home to print off a flyer to stick in the Clark Fork papers based on a telephone conversation I had with an attorney on my way back from Spokane with this issue. (I was in Sagle, actually.)

I talked with the attorney because I had raised the question at the Clark Fork city council meeting on Monday night whether they had conducted a legal meeting. Here's what I'm sticking in the Clark Fork papers (and will print in our next issue of the River Journal).

Clark Fork Residents:
Please note: the story on the continued controversy over proposed new ordinances for our city notes that at Monday night’s city council meeting, the question was raised as to whether it had been a legal meeting or not.

I was able to speak with an attorney who represents cities on my way back from Spokane with this issue of the paper. I shared with this attorney my recollection of actions taken on the night of the meeting, and the response was that nothing in what I shared suggested it had been an illegal meeting. This attorney, it should be noted, was NOT offering legal advice, merely an opinion based on the information I provided.

It is my belief, therefore, that the actions taken during the 12 March meeting of the city council were fully legal and I apologize to the Mayor for raising the question of legality in the first place.
Trish Gannon, Publisher, The River Journal

That's where it stands at this point, and I'll keep you posted if that information changes.

Recovering from Alumni

2007-03-12T18:11:00.000-07:00

Why does alumni weekend always fall on my deadline? I've been working 12 hours straight so far today, trying to catch up and have a paper I can send to the printer tomorrow. On the bright side the twelve hours haven't been too awfully bad because (1) I'm relatively sober (after drinking Friday and Saturday night, I managed one beer last night before falling asleep - WAY early - in the bathtub) (2) I had already laid out most of staccato notes, the one part of the paper I truly hate laying out and (3) I didn't have anything in this issue that I had to write myself. Yet. (City council meeting in about 20 minutes, so we'll see what comes up.) Maybe there's a (4) as well - as I can't talk today. Between this horrible cold/cough, drinking, and very little sleep, I've lost my voice. So I've avoided answering the phone. It's not only hard to hear me, it hurts.

I don't play alumni, and every year, as I watch the volleyball, I regret it. Maybe next year. But I spend the entire weekend taking pictures of all the players, and it's a job I love. Most of it's basketball, and I sit pretty much right under the net in order to get good shots. It looks more dangerous than it's actually been throughout the years - the worst I was ever hurt at a basketball game came when a player landed on me in the bleachers. This year, I only got hit once and, believe it or not, it was my own son who crashed into me. Beezer Ruen came pretty close, and I did a beautiful zig while a guy from Noxon did a beautiful zag that kept me from some painful injuries this year.

If I load these pictures correctly, however, the first one looks like Alan Potter was just about to take me out at the neck. He actually missed me by a good three inches. My reflexes are pretty good. The second pic is just to show you guys that it's not just kids who play alumni - we get returning players of all ages. I think Bob Hays, at 70, is our oldest.

I heard this great story from someone who shall remain unnamed but this person, let's call her "C" flies home to Clark Fork every year just for alumni. She meets up with her sister, "T" and they rent a room and make a weekend of it. C was telling me that she knew they were going to give a bed in their room to their old friend (a male) "M" because he didn't have a place to stay. So she gets to her room late on Saturday night, and here's T in one bed, M in the other, and some guy sleeping with his shoes for a pillow on the floor. C tells me she wakes up T and asks her, "who's the guy on the floor?" T says, "I don't know. It's some friend of M's who didn't have a place to stay so I said he could sleep on the floor." In the morning, C asks M who the guy is and M responds, "how the hell would I know?"

Welcome to Clark Fork - and welcome home, alumni. It was another blast of a year.

Alumni Weekend

2007-03-08T19:04:00.000-08:00

I don't want to even think about how busy this last week has been and how busy the days ahead of me are going to be. On the bright side, however, one of the reasons my upcoming days look so frantic is that this is alumni weekend in Clark Fork. Yay!

This is my second-favorite holiday, coming only after the 4th of July.

If you've never experienced alumni weekend, then know this - guys over 50 can still play basketball. Boy, can they!

Every year in Clark Fork, on a Friday, Saturday and Sunday, alumni and others from all over the area show up at the gym at Clark Fork High School for some of the hardest-hitting basketball and volleyball you've ever seen. It's a community party, and I love it!

I think these "old guys" are just dying for the kids to graduate so they can meet 'em on the floor at alumni - and I'll tell you this, as a watcher, I think they believe you get extra points for fouls.

You've never had this much fun before. Here's a link to a commercial we cut last year for the radio with Clark Fork alumnus George Thornton that tells you what it's like.

The action starts this Friday night (March 9) at 6 pm. Three games kick off the tournnament.

It begins again Saturday morning with two basketball games starting at 8 am.

From 10:30 to 3:30 it's volleyball, then basketball again from 4:30 to 7 pm

On Sunday, Basketball playoffs start at 8 am. Volleyball playoffs begin at 10:30 am with the championship game played at 12:30. Then it's free throw, 3-point contests and "old guy" 3 on 3 for the spectators, before finisihing up with the consolation and championship basketball games starting at 2:25 pm.

It's a great weekend at Clark Fork and I'll be right there in the thick of it - tired, but happy that I live in the best place on earth.

More Options for River Journal

2007-03-04T10:27:00.000-08:00

This issue of the River Journal just out highlights three ways in which new technology is expanding the capabilities of newspapers.

The first, I've already talked about, is the issue of new ordinances for Clark Fork. Through free blogs like this one, we were able to set up the ordinances online, and allow for any and all to comment (good or bad). As city council stated it would be too time consuming to hold a public meeting and go through the ordinances one by one, allowing for citizen feedback, this approach gives a way for public comment that doesn't place an onerous burden on city council members. The only way this could have been better is if city council had done it first. So there's the first "yay" for technology.

The second "yay" is in Marianne Love's Q&A with Sandpoint city councilman (yeah, I'm not always politically correct) Helen Newton. The story is a fascinating one, and not all of it is in the pages of the River Journal. Marianne has posted a continuation of the story both on the River Journal's website and at her own blog.

Finally, Sherry Ramsey has issued a challenge to RJ readers to pay-it-forward, and let us know how you're doing it, with a promise to publish some of the most innovative and simple ideas. (Yeah, it was Sherry Ramsey who wrote that story, NOT Cassandra Cridland. And that's another story.) Technology doesn't really play a huge role in this challenge, though readers are asked to email their information to Sherry. But it is one more way that the paper is opening itself up to the readership.

In fact, the 9-11 Mysteries story even includes a link to an online version of the movie - so you can not only read about what people saw in Sandpoint, you can go check it out yourself.

I'm not sure where the future of the RJ will go in terms of technology, mostly because of the very steep learning curve in front of me whenever we do anything that's different. But we're exploring ways we can expand what we offer while still keeping this a "newspaper worth wading through."

By the way... I'm thinking our new font (Dutch) is a vast improvement over our trial font in the 14 February issue. My apologies to anyone whose eyes were hurting after that issue came out.

Sneak Peek 28 February 2007

2007-02-27T15:50:00.000-08:00

Oh my, oh my, oh my. What an issue.

There's so much to talk about that I'll save most of it for another posting and only talk about one thing right now (I have to leave in 30 minutes for a volleyball game.)

Our two big stories this issue are on the proposed new ordinances for Clark Fork.

Currently Clark Fork has 9 pages of ordinances but, if city council has its way, that's going to increase to a 75 page document.

What a difficult two stories to write. (I wrote one, Jinx wrote the other).

First, I'm impacted by this. If these ordinances are adopted, my property value will likely decrease, because I'll be a non-conforming lot and will be unable to make improvements without becoming conforming. Which I won't be able to do as I don't have the 125 ft of public road frontage required. So I'm not thrilled with some of what's proposed, even though a number of the ordinances are certainly needed.

But I'm less thrilled with the attitudes of city council. I mean, forgive my French, but they're all pissed off 'cause people are upset. And, of course, they're either not happy with me, or won't be when they read our stories. Never a fun place to be in.

But city council needs to pay attention to what the residents of town are saying they want (and don't want) or they're gonna deserve the recall petitions that are already circulating.

Mayor Tommy Shields is one of the nicest guys I've ever met, and I can't believe he would do anything to hurt this community - but he was so un-in-favor of the questions I asked for our story that he told me he didn't think he should talk to me any more without consulting the city attorney. (The Mayor's the go-to guy as far as getting an official statement from the council. Individual council members can only speak for themselves, not for the whole. That's why Tom had to hold the bag on this one.)

I guess I can't blame him because I suggested the council had held illegal meetings. See, I had Jinx go in and request copies of minutes from the meetings where they developed these ordinances. And the city clerk told her (in front of Mayor Shields) that they didn't keep any minutes. Tommy didn't say a word (as in, wait, Jonelle, you're wrong, of course we kept minutes.)

Without minutes, it's an illegal meeting.

I called Idaho Rep. George Eskridge about this and asked him to get an opinion from the Attorney General's office. See, if they held illegal meetings there's a question about how they remedy that. The "remedy" under law is they have to go back and do those meetings legally. But what does that mean? They met for a year and a half talking about this. Would they have to meet for another year and a half - legally - to remedy the situation? Or could they do that in one legal meeting?

Well, Tommy didn't like me pointing that out to him, I guess. And he responded that minutes were certainly kept of every meeting they have. He didn't offer any explanation of why we were told no minutes were taken.

I got this email from him on Sunday around noon, and I told Jinx we had to be there first thing on Monday morning to get minutes - because every cynical bone in my body (which is most of them) didn't like this inconsistency.

9 am on Monday and... there was a note on the door that City Hall was closed. I heard the clerk was sick. I don't know if that's true or not, but the crud is certainly going on.

By Tuesday morning they had minutes (I was told), though when requested they said it would take a few days to provide them.

I'm not feeling really good about this.

If there are good reasons for each and every one of those new ordinances (and I would expect that to be the case for most of them) then the council shouldn't hesitate to be willing to explain to the public just what those reasons are. There's no way the public will support new ordinances without an understanding of why they're necessary. I had hoped to get some of that information for our article, but the response from the Mayor was that ordinances were selected based on what the council felt would be good for Clark Fork. I asked a second time for any objective criteria that had been used, but by then the Mayor wasn't talking to me anymore. And the Mayor is the designated 'voice' of city council.

Anyway.... check out our supplementary blog on the ordinances (www.cforkord.blogspot.com) and see what you think about what's proposed. And we'll keep you posted on the other end of this.

(This posting was modified from the original in order to clarify a few points.)

What Part of Government Don't They Understand?

2007-02-21T12:32:00.000-08:00

Our next River Journal will include a story covering the city of Clark Fork's desire to increase zoning regulations and ordinances from the currently-existing nine-page document to a 78-page document (and hold your hats when you find out the kinds of things they want to regulate!). So I won't belabor the points here. But I do want to look at a related issue here, so consider this a sidebar story.

Over 80 residents showed up at last night's "workshop" on the new proposal. In a town of 530 residents (including children) that represents a substantial portion of the public. And city council expressed dismay and resentment at the public's concern.

"Where have you guys been in the year and a half we've been working on this?" is a paraphrase of their attitude.

You hear the same at almost every governmental meeting when something's going on that the public doesn't like, from school boards to planning and zoning to county commissioners. "Why didn't you come to meetings before this? Why didn't you get involved?"

There's a lot of answers to those questions, and, in a perfect world, all people would be interested, informed and involved in every aspect of governmental regulation of their lives. In fact, we'd all "do government" like New Hampshire or Maine or whichever state it is that votes in "town hall meetings."

In the real world, right here in Idaho, people don't have the time and generally don't have the interest or the specialized knowledge. They're more than content to let the people they've elected to make those decisions make those decisions.... until the people they elected make decisions they don't like.

That's life. When will people in government understand that? Quitcher whining already - you knew it was this way before you ran for office and if you didn't like it, you shouldn't have run!

The truth is, all governmental entities struggle with how to get information out and public participation in (though some, it must be said, would prefer not to have the public participation at all). And another truth is, they rarely do much of anything to accomplish that that takes the slightest bit of effort on their part, unless they've decided beforehand that they want to nip any public outroar in the bud. (Which is why you see lots of heavily advertised public meetings right before levies are run.)

Take Clark Fork, for instance. They say they post meeting notices on the wall of the post office. And they said they put a notice in with the water bills. (although it was pointed out that the notice in the water bill said only a meeting would be held, while giving no date, time or location for it).

Clark Fork is served by three newspapers - The Spokesman Review, The Daily Bee, and the River Journal. I'm not sure about the Spokesman, but the Bee and the RJ both post calendar notices at no charge. And speaking for myself - the River Journal - not only have I never received a calendar notice, I've also never received a phone call saying, "Hey, Trish, we'd really like to get some information out on this and get some people involved. Could you do a story on what we're doing?" And I LIVE in Clark Fork!

Never once have I seen a city council member hanging out at the gas station or the grocery store or the local restaurant saying "we've got something in the works and I'd like a little feedback." They've also not approached the school and asked "can we put a meeting notice on that huge, new reader board you've got right in the middle of town?" (I don't know if the school would say yes, but the point is, you don't know if you don't ask.)

The truth is, one little sign posted down at Hay's gas station (or even on the post office wall) saying "ATTENTION CLARK FORK RESIDENTS! Your city council would like to increase our nine pages of ordinances/covenants by an additional 69 pages and we want your input!" would have gotten them all the public attendance they wanted.

It's time for government officials to grow up and quit their caterwauling about lack of interest/involvement. If you truly want public involvement, it's really not that hard to get.

Follies Success

2007-02-19T09:51:00.000-08:00

"The best one yet!" That's the comment I heard over and over again after this year's Follies - the fifth for the Angels over Sandpoint.

Some numbers... well, the Panida was a sell-out of course. MickDuff's was selling 100 tickets for their live simulcast down the street. I heard they sold out too, and when we did our "walk-through" after our act was finished, the place was certainly packed. The 'nasty nuns' (see picture) collected $1,084 in donations for the Angels, and I think they sold about $800 in raffle tickets. And the bar did a booming business.

This is all great news because the Angels over Sandpoint do some pretty important things for our community. They give out scholarships to students, provide school supplies for students who need them, and provide meals/support/transportation for area cancer patients. The Angels are a wonderful addition to our community, and it's great to see their show be such a success - not just in terms of audience enjoyment, but in the ability to fill the coffers up in order to do more good work in our neighborhoods.

I had a blast with the Snews and people seemed to laugh at all the right parts. I'll have to wait for the video to know how well it went over, though. I do think the audience was surprised and entertained by my special guest - Mayor Ray Miller, who hammed it up perfectly on stage. Jinx was awesome singing "There's Lightnin' in These Thunder Thighs." Gail Fendly was her regular awesome self and Ernie had an extra act (reading literature) that I heard had the audience in stitches . (I was downstairs changing at the time so didn't get to see it). Susan Daffron was a gorgeous Egyptian princess. So all in all, I think we showed that the River Journal features some of the area's most talented people - and not just in writing!

It's Mardi Gras!

2007-02-17T06:37:00.000-08:00

Drove into Sandpoint last night to co-emcee the Mardi Gras parade with Dan Young at Dan's invitation. I told him that standing in the truck bed next to him with a mic in my hand kinda made me look for the punchline. You know... "a conservative and a liberal were standing in a truck bed..."

Truth is, of course, that while we tend to look for what makes us different from other people, it's kind of like the DNA of humans and chimps. We have more in common than we do that's different.

It was a fun experience, though I think our biggest audience was when a group of seven people or so gathered on the corner in front of Panhandle State Bank. I think the parade-watchers were all on First Avenue. And I hear through the grapevine that Dan and I just might be asked to co-emcee another event coming up in the not-so-far future. Seems like people think we complement each other well.

I wish our conservatives and liberals in state and federal offices got along as well as Dan and I do.

I'll be leaving shortly to head into dress rehearsals for the follies this morning, with the performance set to kick off around 7 pm tonight. Ernie and I managed one (yes one) practice of our material prior to today. So keep your fingers crossed for us.

I'll be driving into town with Jinx this morning, who's also performing in tonight's show. If you've never heard Jinx sing before, then you've missed a treat. This woman has a voice like an angel.

Oh, my beautiful oldest daughter was in the parade last night, and I got a picture! I won't put it up here, though, 'cause she was doing something weird with her lips and she'll kill me if I share that pic with anyone. She's gonna be a nun in tonight's performance, though, so I'll get some pics and post them of that. Probably not a nun like you would expect to see, however, so be warned if you check this blog in the next few days.

I hear that tickets for the follies sold out in six hours (not the ten I reported previously) so if you don't have one, you're out of luck for seeing the show up close and personal. But as far as I know, there's still room down at MickDuff's on First Avenue (used to be the Whistle Stop for those of you who've been around for a while) and they'll be presenting the show as a live simulcast on their big screen TVs. So stop in and pay the cover charge if you want a glimpse of the hottest show to ever hit Sandpoint. (Okay, those guys from Seattle who danced while taking their clothes off at the Big Boy Ballet were pretty hot - but they weren't locals). Bear in mind, this show is R-Rated (and some parts should probably be X-rated) so don't go to see it if you're easily offended.

Lessez les bon temps roulez, folks!

River Journal 14 February 2007 - Sneak Peek

2007-02-16T13:02:00.000-08:00

Better late than never, right?

The latest issue of the River Journal is off the presses and out on racks from Paradise to Coeur d'Alene and points between.

If you're wondering why the text on this issue looks a little dark... the answer is, it is. I had to use a new font for the body text because of my new layout program and, now that I see it in actual print, I can safely say that Cushing was not a good choice. We'll look for something a little less... full for our next issue.

Couple of empty spots on the pages too and I'm not sure how that happened, but that seems to be the only glitches I've seen so "GOOD JOB TRISH!" I can't believe I put this whole thing together using completely unfamiliar software.

By the way, don't read Marylyn Cork's story (Don't Eat the Meat) during lunch. Or breakfast. Or dinner.

Not only is this issue of the paper put to bed, I have my "Snews" script fully written for the Follies, and Ernie and I will be performing it live tomorrow night at the Panida. We've rehearsed it once, so I'm sure we're ready for this. :0)

I'll be heading out shortly to downtown Sandpoint's Round Red Square to emcee the Mardi Gras parade. I know of one entry that will knock your socks off - 'cause it's my own Misty. I'm not sure if she'll be wearing her 'nasty nun' outfit that she'll be debuting on the Panida's stage tomorrow night; but if so, I'll make sure to put up pictures.

So lessez les bon temps roulez! folks. It's Mardi Gras time.

The Wrong Kind of High?

2007-02-10T15:56:00.000-08:00

I woke up about 1 o'clock this morning when the fire had burned itself almost completely out. Staggering around half asleep I got more wood, and got the heat going again, then laid back down on the couch, where I sleep when I want to make sure I'm not gonna let the fire go out.

Somehow, with eyes barely open, I was at exactly the right angle to notice that the top of my chimney was no longer connected to the piece that leads through the roof and out of the house.

I said a bad word and wondered how long the chimney had been disconnected. And while there was no visible smoke coming out of the rather large gap, I thought about carbon monoxide and how I've been sick this week and how Amy comlained that every time she sat on the couch to do her homework she fell asleep, despite getting plenty of sleep every night.

I said another bad word and, still half asleep, pulled myself off the couch and over to the stove.

Did I mention I had just gotten the fire going again?

The chimney was merely very warm but the stove itself was pretty hot and it wasn't possible to brace myself upon it to get the chimney reconnected. And because the telescoping pipe that leads from the stove to the roof got a little bunged up during installation, bracing was a requirement.

After ten minutes I gave up, opened the window next to the wood stove, shut down the fire and took myself off to bed.

Come morning, of course, there was a stove to deal with, so I worked on the computer for a while, and mopped the kitchen floor. Finally, there was nothing left for it but to tackle the chimney.

First, I took it all apart, because the reason it had come unhinged was because every piece of it was unhinged. The chimney consists of a collar, a small pipe at a 45 degree angle, another small pipe at the opposite 45 degree angle, the telescoping piece that doesn't telescope, and the final run that goes through the roof. All of these were packed with cresote that had to be cleaned out because, if you're gonna move chimney pieces around, every bit of creosote that's in them will fall on your head.

That will happen when you clean them out, too, of course, so by the time I was ready to put it all back together again, I looked like the little match girl.

I took a break to clean myself up, and vacuum up all the creosote that had made its way throughout the living room, and to mop the kitchen floor again where I had tracked soot over to the sink.

I began to put pieces together, but at the end, the telescoping pipe MUST telescope up to the final connection. I couldn't make it do it, no matter how hard I cussed. I waited for Amy to come home.

Amy was thrilled to learn that she was gonna get to help me pull the telescoping pipe apart, and she made sure to garb herself in one of MY sweatshirts before doing so.

We still couldn't do it. Darn thing acted like it was welded together. "Mom, why don't we put some butter on it?" she asked.

NO, I didn't put butter on it. I did that the first time I had to try to get the pipe to telescope, and I learned my lesson as the butter smoked and cooked itself off of the heated pipe. Wax doesn't work, either (second time I took it all apart), nor does baby oil (third time). By the way, the only way to clean the chimney is to take it all apart - this is why I do this so frequently.

And why I never put the screws back in to any of the pieces.

As Amy's strength was not quite enough to help me pull the telescoping pipe apart, it appeared I was going to have to screw in each piece so that I had a strong base to pull against for that final step. This is easier said than done.

You see, from the collar at the stove to the receptacle at the ceiling, the pipes have to match up EXACTLY.

And that's where I'm at now. Screwing pipes in, getting to the end, and discovering I'm off just a quarter inch or so to making it fit.

I think it's time to work on the computer for a while. That way, I don't end up throwing the pipes out into the front yard.

Progress is Being Made

2007-02-10T09:04:00.000-08:00

By this Saturday morning, I have over half of the 20 pages of the next River Journal completed, and completed in my new layout program, InDesign. As I said before, the learning curve is steep, but I'm loving this program.

Thanks must go to Sandy Compton, who not only nagged me half to death to use a professional design program for layout, but who took the most miniscule noises of agreement as aquiescence, and ordered the program for me. Of course both Laura Wahl and Susan Daffron, some of the best designers around, have told me for quite some time that I needed to move 'up' in the layout world, but there is that small issue of me and change.

Of course, the paper's only half done, and I might change my mind about how beneficial this particular change will be before deadline rolls around Tuesday afternoon.

The Sweet Smell of Success

2007-02-07T11:10:00.000-08:00

Let me say, first, that our River Journal/Keokee volleyball team won TWO GAMES last night! Yay! Combined with our one game win on the first night, we have now surpassed our own own record for last year. Let me give full credit to the coaching given us Monday night by Myra Lewis, former volleyball coach extraordinnaire. Yes, I AM squatting down to make the pass, and the ache in my thighs today proves it.

The success I'm celebrating this morning, however, has to do with writing the final script for the Snooze, the skit Ernie Hawks and I perform for the Angels Over Sandpoint production of the Follies each year. Special thanks to Susan Daffron, who helped by adding in some VERY funny stuff to my basic script. And as a heads up... there's going to be a "Special Guest Appearance" this year during our skit.

Didn't get your tickets to the show? You're not alone - tickets sold out ten hours after the "box offices" opened. But don't despair! Velma, Queen of Fun, has come up with a special attraction this year - the show is going to be broadcast live from McDuff's, just down the block from the Panida Theater. I also hear performers might be making walk-throughs of this Irish bar during the night. Should be a good time for all.

I think my script is pretty darn funny. Keep your fingers crossed for me that I'm right.

Follies February 17

2007-02-06T06:28:00.000-08:00

In just short of two weeks, the Follies (a production of the Angels Over Sandpoint) will be performed on the stage of Sandpoint's Panida Theater. It's the fifth year for this annual, Mardi Gras performance, and the word is out - the show is hot! Ticket sales began at 8:30 am last Friday, and were sold out just ten hours later. This is an adults-only show by the way. The Angels say it's rated R - for Racy, Raunchy and Ridiculous. And it usually is.

For five years, Ernie Hawks and I have performed a skit in the Follies called "the Snooze." Think of the Saturday Night Live news broadcasts with a local flavor (though Ernie has refrained from ever saying "Trish, you ignorant bitch.") (Actually, Ernie missed the first year)

Eleven days 'til performance... and I still haven't written the skit. This is not unheard of - I generally don't get it written until ten days before the show, but I have to tell ya, I'm getting a little nervous. To write that kind of comedy you have to enter into a different wavelength... and I haven't found it yet. I'm hoping I'll hit on it soon. Lucky for me, Ernie spent 20 years in Coeur d'Alene Little Theater so he's fairly calm about performing with little or no rehearsal.

I'm gonna be looking for those 'perfect waves' the next few days, and am happy for any suggestions that come my way about local happenings in the last year that just beg to be satarized.

If you didn't get your tickets, stay tuned. The Angels have some plans up their (wings?) that just might make your Saturday night an R-rated experience after all.

What I did on my Vacation

2007-02-05T07:46:00.000-08:00

It was a vacation week for me last week, and what I did on that vacation is probably less notable than what I did NOT do. Because I didn't work. Not really.

I had plans to work. I was going to print off the relevent financial information for last year and take it to my accountant so he could file my corporate and personal taxes... but I didn't. I was going to write my skit for the upcoming Angels Over Sandpoint Follies production... but I didn't. I was going to clean and organize my office... but I didn't. I was going to sort through my clothes and take to goodwill everything I don't wear... but I didn't. I didn't even post on this blog. (Sorry, Marianne.)

I did read and re-read a number of books, some quite good (make sure to check out Thunderstruck, a non-fiction book about the late 1890s and the lives of Guglielmo Marconi and Harvey Crippen. And Laurie Garrett's Betrayal of Trust is a perennial favorite for me). I watched a tournament of 10-12 year old girls playing club volleyball in Spokane. I attended the Erika Luckett concert at DiLuna's (AWESOME!). I played our second game of volleyball (losing both matches and thereby continuing our dead last position). I watched my favorite football team get creamed in Superbowl, and competed in Karaokee competition with my beautiful girls. I watched the last home basketball game in Clark Fork for our girls (again, awesome. Rayna Allen went out with a blaze!) and I visited with my son, who was down in our area for a week.

I also worked... a little bit. I taught my classes at Clark Fork (their newest newspaper should be out this week), and organized a meeting on our extra-curricular programs for the Booster Club. I did my bookkeeping work for the mad scientist. And I bought a new design program to do layout on the River Journal, and then lost myself playing with it on the computer for a couple of days, learning how to use it.

If I can figure this program out, it's going to save me a lot of time when putting together the pages for the paper, but until I do, the learning curve is going to be costly in terms of time spent. For example, it took me 35 minutes one day to figure out how to center text in a frame. And I still didn't actually figure it out - I mean, I didn't learn where the software stores that information. But I did find out a keyboard shortcut that works.

I have been putting together template pages for the next issue of the paper, and hopefully I'll be able to put those pages together without too much difficulty and in time for meeting my next deadline (next week). Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Volleyball update

2007-01-26T08:05:00.000-08:00

Last Tuesday night, the River Journal/Keokee co-ed volleyball team played our first matches of the Sandpoint City Rec season. After losing our first match (0-3) we realized our game problems were stemming from a complete lack of skill in, well, the fundamentals. That would be the bump, the set and the spike. Oh, and there were a few problems with serving, too.

I suspect the serving problems will iron out fairly quickly once we get used to having to hit the ball over the net on a full-length court. Our practice sessions on Sandpoint West's raquetball courts don't quite get you up to speed for sending a ball sailing over a net that's about 30 feet away from you.

And that net! About 8 feet high for co-ed, or a foot or a foot and a half higher than what we've practiced on. It doesn't seem that high until you're next to it, or until you see our teammate Carol Curtis (all 5 feet 1 inch of her) standing next to it. It intimidated the heck out of me. At least, that's my excuse for why I wasn't able to pop the ball over it when I was playing in the front row (much less jump up and slam the darn thing into the opponent's court).

We lost our second match, too, though we did win the final game. I had thought we had a chance in the first game until their power server took the court and aced us something like 14 straight times. Well, he didn't actually ace us, as we were connecting with the ball. We just weren't connecting with the ball correctly, as was evidenced by its wild path through the air and into the other courts out at the fairgrounds.

We practiced again last night, again at SWAC on the little court. I think I might have ticked everyone off a little bit when I insisted we work some passing drills. It just seemed to be that if we can't get control of the ball, then it's not gonna matter whether we can set or hit as we'll never get the chance to. Go ahead. Call me a volleyball nazi. I mean, I like to get out and play to have fun; don't get me wrong, it's not about winning. But I don't like losing! (I should mention, by the way, that if I had to rank my teammates in terms of their passing skills, I would have to place myself pretty near the bottom of the list. Like, right AT the bottom.)

I think we made some progress with the drills, and before our next game Tuesday night I'm hoping to have a little 'talk' about how to move your body from one part of the court to another, and where your feet and your shoulders should be pointing while you do it. I now appreciate the high school girls' drills on "shuffling." I'm kind of weak on that, too. I shuffle well enough from side to side, but when I have to go forward or back, I forget all about shuffling and try to run to the ball - which usually results in me tripping over my own feet.

We'll see whether they go for my 'pep talks' or whether they kick me off the team. I'll let ya know after the next game.

Behind the Scenes - 24 January 2007 River Journal

2007-01-23T16:37:00.000-08:00

It's 4:39 an I aim to be done with this post by 5 pm so I can call it a day. As I didn't start working until 7:30 this morning, it's a rather short one, especially considering that today was deadline. Yep, another paper has been uploaded to the printer - you can pick one up on Wednesday, or check it out here. You'll love Sherry Ramsey's investigation of the area's wine culture, and Marylyn Cork's sneak peek at the newly restored Naccarrato House in Priest River's Settlement.

That the paper is done is especially amazing given how I woke up a couple of mornings ago to find my computer had crashed and I have to say, it's not a nice way to start the day. (Read about it here)

It's also amazing as I've had just the slightest difficulty moving my arms. Yes, after waiting a full year to practice, the Keokee/River Journal volleyball team finally got together to practice last week. Surprisingly enough, we haven't improved over that year of no practice, which will make tonight's games (the first of our season) rather interesting.

Marianne Love's column this issue is a fascinating look at a term in the Peace Corps, seen through the eyes of Sandpoint's Betsy Dalessio. You can read it here, or at Marianne's blog (see the link to the right to Slight Detour) just as soon as I let her know she can post it.

We feature another new columnist this issue. Michael White, a Realtor with Sandpoint's Coldwell Banker Resort Realty and an estate land manager with a BS in Forest Resources and Ecosystem Management will endeavor, once a month, to keep our readers posted on the information that will help them manage their property wisely. Read his first column here.

Finally, we'll be sharing with you each issue a recipe from the Community Assistance League's new cookbook, "Savoring Sandpoint, Recipes from Across the Bridge." Here's a tasty treat to get you through the cold days of winter:
ELEGANT WINTER SOUP
Serves four to six
1 ½ C Onions, diced
3 T Olive oil
1t Garlic, minced
6 C Chicken broth
1 C Carrots, peeled & diced
1 C Sweet potatoes, peeled & diced
1 C Rutabaga , peeled & diced
1 C Celery root, peeled & diced
2 Chicken breasts
3T Tarragon
Salt & pepper
In a large saucepan, sauté onions in olive oil until soft. Add garlic and cook on medium heat until golden. Add broth, carrots, sweet potatoes and rutabaga, Partially cover and cook until vegetables are tender (about 20 minutes). Add celery root and chicken, cook about 5 minutes more. Add tarragon, salt & pepper to taste. Cook another 5 minutes until vegetables are soft but hold their shape. Serve immediately.
The above recipe is one of over 250, double tested, recipes in Savoring Sandpoint, Recipes Across the Bridge, a cook book published by the Community Assistance League. Copies of the book may be purchased only at the Bizarre Bazaar, 105 Vermeer Drive, Ponderay, Idaho 208-263-3400

10 Jan 2007 River Journal - a Behind the Scenes Peek

2007-01-09T12:20:00.000-08:00

The inhalation of the last Mounds candy bar leftover from the Christmas stockings coincided with the last file of the current issue of the River Journal being uploaded to the printer. You can read it here, but first, how about a sneak peek at the 'behind the scenes' action with this issue?

Of course, where to start? First off, you might notice I've been tinkering with the look of the front page again. I do that a lot, mostly because I'm self-taught at design and layout and figure it can always be improved. If you like how it looks, let's give credit where credit is due - to the never-ending thoughtful advice of Keokee's design wizard Laura Wahl, who is responsible for the wonderful look of Sandpoint Magazine.

A big change is the "where in the world is the River Journal?" photo is now just one column wide, leaving room for a timely picture of happenings in our area on the front page. This is another item I've avoided, mostly because I didn't want to make the time commitment to attending enough events to make sure each issue had a photo. And then it hit me - why not let our readers provide the photos? And so the "River Journal Hot Shot" was born. Bonner Awards is making the mugs as I type, and let me encourage each and every one of you, right now, to submit those photos!

This first issue of the year kicks off with the first column of our newest columnist - historian extraordinnaire Nancy Foster Renk. Her column, Backtracking, will take us through the last 100 years of happenings in Bonner County, in honor of the county's centennial this year. Look for her column in the first issue of each month.

Cassandra Cridland took on, without hesitation, the stories of the CIRCLES project, despite my crediting the last story she wrote to Sherry Ramsey. We got her name in there correctly this time, and she did a great job explaining how a small group of people in Bonner County are working to eliminate poverty in our area.

Jinx may have a few surprises in store for people when they read her story on Family Violence, as she talks about her own experience in living through such a situation. It was her hope that in describing some of what she lived through herself, she can encourage others in that type of situation to take the action necessary to get out.

You won't see it online, but the print edition of this issue kicks off our first-ever (I'm pretty sure) crossword puzzle. I'm not sure why so many readers have requested a crossword puzzle, but I was never that excited about providing one - I mean, you pay for those things and it didn't seem worthwhile to me. But some folks, at least, want one and it finally occurred to me - why not make up my own? And make it all with local questions? It's kind of a 'local trivia contest' and I thought the questions might be too easy - but so far, no one who got a 'sneak peak' has been able to get them all right. It will be interesting to see what people think of it.

Another new feature is the "Top News Stories" of the last few weeks. Kind of a USA Today approach to the news - my attempt to provide our readers with at least some information on what's been going on, without trying to find the time or the room for in-depth features. As lots of people keep telling me, "you know, not everyone reads the Bee." (or fill in their local paper.) One thing I like about RJ is we're still a free newspaper - so we provide access to information to any who want it.

Jody got his "Surrealist" column ("Reel" Good Bad Films) in early, as he took off for a week in California, taking my now 16-year-old daughter with him. It was a great trip, he said, and never fear - he's back in time to get the print edition delivered to Bonners Ferry and other points north of Sandpoint on Thursday.

Finally, Lou Springer sent in a great piece on a little happening in Heron this holiday season - when a community came together to make sure teacher Kathleen Huntley, widowed this year, was kept busy thinking about her "12 days of Christmas surprises." As Kathleen was quoted in the article, "This is why I choose to live here. The community is filled with caring people..." Yep. That's why I choose to live here, too. What a wonderful group of people we share our surroundings with. Kathleen, by the way, was a teacher's aide at Hope Elementary back when my almost-20-year-old son was in first grade. And as a left-hander, she was able to teach both my left-handed children how to tie their shoes, something I had been totally unable to do. (Thank goodness they'd come up with velcro by then.)

That's it for this issue. I head to Spokane bright and early in the morning to pick up our newest issue "hot off the presses" and get it delivered from North Idaho College to Clark Fork. (Jody gets it to Bonners Ferry... and my mama takes it out to all the Montana delivery points. Yeah, it's a family newspaper all right.)

Some feedback

2007-01-06T09:39:00.000-08:00

I sent my little "weekly" idea off to the River Journal writers, and some of their feedback is too precious not to share.

From Boots: "We're right behind ya!" (So don't bend over.)

From Jinx: "You are the RJ God, you can do what you want to." (Did you get that - the RJ God! I may have to change my title!)

From Lou: "Can you live with a weekly deadline? And a (boatload) of more work? If so, go for it!"

From Jim Tibbs: "Would that mean a weekly cartoon? I'd be happy to oblige."

From Susan: "That would be interesting. My advice: outsource everything!"

Looking for Feedback

2007-01-05T07:47:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year when I look over what the paper has done in the year before, and what I'd like to see it accomplish in the coming year. And I'm always looking for feedback. We're already making some changes, so look for 'em next week when the first issue of 2007 hits the streets.

Here's the big question, though: should the River Journal go weekly? That's the number one question I get asked about the paper, for the last five years.

I've always responded "Never," because it's too much work. But what if we did a smaller RJ every week, say, 12 pages as opposed to 20?

There's a lot of pros and cons to work out and, as always, I'm looking for feedback. What do you think? What do you see as the pluses and minuses of doing that? I'll be interested to hear from you.

I won't make a decision right away but if we do it, the target date is July 1.

Special for Tony

2007-01-02T18:40:00.000-08:00

If you want to comment on a post, simply click on the link at the bottom of each one that gives a number of comments (usually it says "0 comments"). That will bring up a screen that lets you leave a comment, or a pithy observance, or a sarcastic remark, or an explosive exposition... good thing I don't know where my thesaurus is, I'd go on all night.

Are these resolutions?

2007-01-02T18:28:00.000-08:00

I chained myself to the computer today as part of my goal to organize my time just a bit better this year, and got a number of pages of next week's River Journal laid out and ready to go. I also spent quite a bit of time on a new feature we'll be debuting. No, I'm not gonna say what it is, you'll have to pick up a paper to see. But I'm really excited about it. I also got to lay out our newest columnist's debut article - local historian Nancy Renk is joining our fold as of 10 January. I thought I would get 1099s done and ready for tomorrow's mail, only to discover, when I opened the envelope, that the IRS sent me 24 copies of the instructions for the 1099 instead of the 1099 itself. Hmm. Guess I'll be stopping at Vanderford's tomorrow.

I haven't quite kept up with the house stuff like I was planning to, but the night is still young. It's just possible the Christmas tree will come down and I'll fix that dryer vent yet tonight.

I'm back on the ab-buster (150 times a day) after getting ready for New Year's eve and discovering everything I own to wear is clingy. Even things that aren't supposed to be. The challenge now is whether I hate exercise even more than I hate my flab. Okay, the truth? 150 times on the ab-buster yesterday, none yet today. But as I said earlier, the night is still young.

I was thinking I would try to worry less about my kids this year, but so far it's not happening. The Princess (Amy) is on a trip to California with my brother Joe. They're in San Francisco tonight... and, of course, she's driving. Tomorrow she'll celebrate her 16th birthday in the big city and then the next day they'll head down the coast to Santa Barbara. I told her that it was up to her but, on the drive down (they flew into Portland, then rented a car there) I would prefer it if she didn't drive across the bridge at Lake Shasta. Lucky for me, she slept through that part of the drive. I would also prefer if she skips most of the coast (if they take 101) around Carmel, etc.., but I guess she's got to learn sometimes - and call her mother frequently to check in.

Then the Boy (Dustin) called tonight to let me know he's in the emergency room at Kootenai Medical having his leg stitched up. Seems he fell at work on a wet floor and landed on something not so comfortable. He told me he'd "text message" me a picture of the wound. I can hardly wait. I'm being good though... I'm not driving down to Coeur d'Alene. Yet.

I'm so glad we have New Year's. I might never make resolutions without it.

Happy New Year

2007-01-02T06:04:00.000-08:00

And 2007 begins.

Although I've been waiting for Ernie and Linda to post the news of their New Year's Eve activities (they said they were planning to be in Venice for the show) their blog still has some wonderful information/stories/pictures about their days in Italy so far. Check it out here.

Marianne Love has posted actively throughout the holiday season. Catch up on the Love family news (and check out the new spotted filly roaming the Central Valley) here.

Despite my grandiose plans for the holidays (all the stuff I was going to get done) I spent most of it sleeping. When not asleep, I was reading or watching movies. Didn't do much more than that, and boy, do I feel better than I have for a while.

My pics: check out (in theaters) Night at the Museum. Hilarious... one we'll buy when it comes out on DVD. On video/DVD: Invincible. (the story of Vince Papale and the Philadelphia Eagles.... and yes, Dustin, I cried.) In books: (hard to pick just one but...) Gerry Spence's Bloodthirsty Bitches and Pious Pimps of Power: the Rise and Risks of the New Conservative Hate Culture. It will make you think... and not just about conservative hate, but how we respond to it ourselves. (I haven't spotted any great non-fiction books I wanted to read in the last month, so I re-read Terry Brook's Shannara series. Yes, a lot of ideas stolen from Tolkien but still a good read after all these years.) Music: I've been enjoying the heck out of the Corinne Bailey Ray music Misty got for me.

Football Highlight of the New Year: No, I didn't watch the BSU game (no TV, remember?) but here's what David said: "what a game !! Boise St was beating OK, then OK came back and took the lead. then on 4th down Boise pulled off a touchdown to tie it with like 7 seconds left. then it went into overtime and Boise St went for two, after OK had already scored and gone for one extra point. It was win or lose and Boise won. The are undefeated, wow!"

Football Highlight of the Old Year: I'm not sure how they pulled it off, but Barb's Kansas City Chiefs are in the playoffs. Yay for Barb! (da Bears would have been my highlight, but they went and lost to the stupid Packers at Soldier Field. I'll never hear the end of it.)

Vacation's over so it's back to work for me. The next issue of the River Journal comes out January 10, plus I have to close out the year and do all that tax stuff. Gonna be a fun week.

A Tale of Two Trees. No. Two Tales of One Tree

2006-12-27T11:55:00.000-08:00

Trish's Story:
anyone who has read the pages of the river journal for very long already knows that Christmas trees and I have a slightly adversarial relationship. Whether it's breaking out in hives while decorating because I'm allergic to the needles; spending hours and hours (and sometimes days and days) getting one to an upright position in a stand; finally getting them up only to discover they're ALREADY DEAD and may catch on fire at any moment; or simply the adventure of finding the tree and transporting it home, there's hardly a season that goes by that Christmas trees don't give me something to write about.

This year, I thought, might be different. My grandson Tyler, and his godmama Susan, took on the task of obtaining a Christmas tree for me, and after a delightful hike in the woods on godmama's property, they found me a perfect one and delivered it to the house. It did lay on my dining room floor for a week, as I scrambled to finish the newspaper in time to print it, but when I finally got around to decorating it I could lift it with one hand, it rested in its stand perfectly on the first try, and I didn't break out in little red bumps when I decorated it. Finally, a Christmas with no tree trauma.

Of course, I forgot about the tree at Clark Fork High School.

Taking a page out of Kinderhaven's book, the booster club (which turned out to be me and my daughter, Amy) decorated a tree for the kids at school, then sold raffle tickets for it so that some lucky resident of eastern Bonner County would have a nice tree for Christmas at a minimal price.

Of course, I was busy, so I didn't actually have time to sell any raffle tickets.

On raffle-ticket-drawing-day, when I saw the pitifully few tickets that had been sold, I dug into my non-existent pile of money and bought some myself. After all, the tree had been MY idea. I won't tell you how many tickets I bought, but suffice it to say there wasn't much chance I was gonna lose in this drawing. Unless, of course, it were a drawing for something I actually wanted, in which case I wouldn't have had a hope in hell of winning.

At drawing time, surprise, surprise, my name was drawn. And drawn again. And again. I kept "donating" the tree back, but every name that came out of that can was mine. Finally, I gave up, and tried to come to terms with having TWO fully decorated trees for Christmas, plus the fact that one of the trees was going to have to be transported from the school.

The only thing to do was donate the tree to someone else, which I did. I signed a Quit Claim Deed (okay, no I didn't) transferring the tree's ownership to one Stacey and Banjo Service.

Which left delivery.

Now, I'm not as stupid as I might first appear. I knew ahead of time that delivery would be a pain in the butt, so I made sure that job got assigned to the men of the Booster Club, Barney Ruen and Dex Vogel.

Well, maybe I am as stupid as I appear. Because on the day of delivery, Dex was coaching the girl's basketball tournament all the way over in Newport, Washington and Barney (like always) wasn't answering his phone. (Darn that caller ID.)

Lucky for me, Stacey is the daughter of River Journal columnist extraordinnaire Jinx, and Jinx is almost as nuts as I am. She didn't hesitate when I told her she was gonna have to help me get the tree delivered. Welcome to the Booster Club, Jinx!

She didn't even hesitate when she realized we were gonna load and deliver it in Amy's Saturn, as my truck was out of commission for the day.

Have you ever tried to load a six-and-a-half foot Christmas tree into a Saturn?

Take my advice - don't.

Given the angle at which the tree was jutting out of the trunk, it was obvious that someone was going to have to ride in the trunk with it and hold it in. Jinx, who I guess is not as nuts as I thought she was, got herself behind the wheel of the Saturn so fast my eyeballs were burning from the friction of her movement.

And given that my arms are not four feet long, I had to take the extension cord for the tree, loop it around the trunk, and hold the tree up off the ground with that as I wedged my butt into the trunk of the car.

As I cracked my head against the trunk lid, I tried to pretend all the pretty stars I was seeing were decorations on the tree.

"Please drive slow," I asked Jinx, right before she jammed her foot down on the accelerator and screeched out of the parking lot.

Greg Flint once told me that God gave me a gift for telling stories and that's why She makes sure I have stories to tell. I love God.

I think the tears streaming from my eyes were from the wind howling past my face as we made the trip to Stacey's house, but maybe not. Maybe they came from the sheer fear gripping my heart as I watched the pavement race by, mere inches from my face as I hung onto that tree and the trunk lid for dear life.

Rather bravely (if I do say so myself) I sang "Santa Claus is coming to town" at the top of my lungs during the trip. I did. No matter what Jinx says.

Needless to say, I'm writing this now, so we got there in one piece, as people in their yards and on the street watched us pass in awestruck bemusement. (Is bemusement a word? It should be.) And God, in her almighty wisdom, made sure I had a Christmas tree tale to tell.

Jinx's Story:
Christmas time. A time of love and warmth and laughter, a time of fun andgiving and receiving. Nowhere in there does it say a time to laugh at Jinx. Nowhere.

My friend, Patty Speelmon told me that someone turned my girls infor a Christmas box, which was so nice, I was thrilled and the girls were soexcited. Not only that, but GRANDMA would get a picture of Billie Jaye andKelsie with Santa. How great was that?

Off to Hope Community Center we drovein the little Sunfire, borrowed from Carolyn Vogel. Jamie and I in the frontseat and Stacey wedged in the back seat with Billie Jaye and Kelsie in theircar seats. It was a tight fit, but Patty said they would get their picture made and have to pick up a turkey or a ham, so off we drove.

We arrived and unloaded the car, which was no small feat. Billie Jaye and Kelsie immediately wowed Santa with their cuteness and Patty sent me off to "shop"for gifts from the babies to their parents. It was so much fun and watching all the kids pick presents and they even had "Santa's helpers" to help wrap them. Then came the time to get our turkey and ham, finding out the Patty put my name in the mix and oh, could we deliver a turkey to another young lady in town? Well of course I said yes, I mean a couple of turkeys and aham can't take up THAT much room, can it?

I didn't pay much attention, just went out and opened up the trunk, turned around only to realize they were bringing Yokes to my car. My mouth had tohave fallen open, looking at the fruit and potatoes and everything they and brought to the car. Even Santa's helpers began laughing at me. They filled the trunk to its small capacity and I instructed Jamie and Stacey to go ahead and get in, so we could pack around their feet. Kelsie propped her feet up on one of the turkeys, Stacey held a box in her lap and looking out the back window was not an option.

I thought we were ready to go, but then a bright red Santa hat popped out the Hope Community Center doorway. "Wait", they called," you forgot your gifts!" Gifts? We were packed like stinky sardines in this poor little vehicle, its sides were already bulging. I laughed out loud, because we truly looked like the Beverly Hillbillies after Santa's helper handed us 3 garbage bags full of gifts.

We drove back to ClarkFork giggling hysterically, excited because Christmas was going to be quite the event at our house this year. Of course, that whole loaded to the gills with gifts and groceries wasn't to be my only embarrassing incident of the season.

It would seem that my friend Trish Gannon decorated this incredible tree forClark Fork High School, sold the tickets to herself and oh what a surprise, she won it!! However, Trish had already scoured the mountains and cut down a tree that her kids almost liked, so she didn't need the Wampus Cat tree. Mydaughter Stacey thought the tree might just be perfect, so Trish gave it to her.

I happened to pull up in Stacey's yard at the wrong moment and Trish coerced me into delivering it to Stacey. That doesn't really SEEM like that big of a deal, does it? Unfortunately, we were delivering it in Trishs' Saturn. You never realize how small a small car is, until you try to get a 6 and a half foot fully decorated tree in its trunk. Wrestling the tree out the school door was pretty difficult, putting it in the trunk, only to realize that Trish would have to ride back there WITH it in order to hold itup, now THAT was and experiment in terror.

Trish used an extenstion cord to hold it up with one hand and held the trunk with her other hand. "drive slow" Trish cautioned me. Drive slow? All I could think of was trying to answer the sheriffs questions. "Uh, ma'am, can you tell me again exactly how the Christmas Tree and the owner of The River Journal became one with the Saturn?"

Down Main Street we drove, I was singing Christmas Carols to Trish and she was shouting "Hail Mary" at the top of her lungs, which was mildly amusing even then because I know she's Baptist.

It's only a few blocks to Stacey's house from the high school, but it seemed like it was 10 miles at least. People were waving, pointing and it didn't help that Trish was still praying"oh my GOD, please don't let Jinx hit any bumps"! I didn't go fast, never even used the gas pedal, was terrified to even tap the breaks, and a corner was coming up. Exciting, huh? I could see Trish in my mind, flying around the corner, hanging onto the Christmas tree for dear life, cussing at me and praying to God and thinking what a great cartoon that it would make for Boots.

We made it back to Stacey's without incident though and I was pretty proud of myself as we set the tree up in her house. Proud that is until a little knock came to the door and LuciAnne Stevens was standing there, laughing at me, thanking me for giving her such an amusing moment. Tis the Season to be Jolly, I suppose, but couldn't we just this once find someone ELSE to laugh at?

Simpler times?

2006-12-12T10:40:00.000-08:00

The other day, while scrolling through my photos on the computer (my grandson and I were making a Christmas present) I came across one of David and myself this last Fourth of July (see below). In the picture, we look tired, but happy, and I put it on as my computer wallpaper for a while. I look at it every now and then and think back to "simpler times."

Of course, they weren't simpler - they just weren't right now, as I struggle to deal with all the year-end things that need to be dealt with. But I recall that prior to the picture being taken, I had spent nine straight hours working in the booster club's food booth. (You wouldn't believe how many people are willing to order hamburgers at 9 am on the fourth.) I'm sure I wasn't thinking of the day as "simple" while it was occurring.

What I really find myself wondering, however, is what things I might have done differently if, then, I could have known how the rest of the year would go, and just how doggone tired I would be here with just three weeks (more or less) left to go in the year.

For one, I would have gotten my firewood a heck of a lot sooner, so I wouldn't be struggling this morning with trying to keep a fire going with wet wood.

I would have written my columns for the newspaper much earlier in the week than I actually ever did.

I would have fixed those leaky tires before they went flat on me, and probably turned down some of the extra projects I instead said "yes" to.

In fact, I would have done a lot of things earlier, instead of putting them off until they became even more of a burden to accomplish.

Of course, it doesn't do us any good to spend a lot of time dwelling on the past and thinking about what we could have done differently then. The point is to figure out what we can do differently tomorrow.

So I wonder. At this time next year, will I look longingly at a picture and wishing my days were just a little simpler, or will I be proud of taking a lesson from this picture and staying on top of things a little better?

Using your work computer for personal "stuff"

2006-12-09T12:10:00.000-08:00

Seems like that's a big issue in the CDA/Spokane area these days. As such, I thought I should check the policy and procedures here at little ol' TRJ, and check out my employees' computers to see what I've been paying them to spend their time on.

Whoo Hoo! Lots of personal emails, chatting, blogging, reading of personal material, visiting questionable websites (I mean, Harpers? Come on!) This just can't continue.

My biggest problem, however, is determining how to deal with the problem. I mean, my only employee is... me. I'm the guilty party.

"But boss," I say to myself. "My work computer also happens to be my personal computer."

"Doesn't matter," I reply sternly. "If it's work time, you should be doing work."

"But boss," I meekly cringe, "I do work things outside of normal working hours. I can be working on the River Journal at 5 am, at 10 pm and heck, I'm working on the River Journal most weekends, too."

"Doesn't matter," I reply sternly again. "If it's work time, you should be doing work."

Okay, I don't want to make fun of what might be a serious problem in the south, but let's face it - I just can't relate. And I must admit - I don't hesitate to send personal emails to people during the times I KNOW they're at work. And I expect a response. Thank goodness, most of the people I know are either business owners or independent contractors.

But enough is enough. NO MORE PERSONAL STUFF FOR ME ON MY WORK TIME. That means, of course, that I'm going to have to re-define work time, a process that should fit hand and glove with my goal to GET MYSELF ORGANIZED, FINALLY! I'm gonna try to do that at the end of the month. I'll let you know how it goes.

Thank Goodness It's Saturday?

2006-12-02T06:59:00.000-08:00

When the alarm went off at 5 am, I slapped it off and went back to sleep. I can't remember why it's set for 5... I think I had to get Amy to a bus for a game way early a couple of weeks ago... but every morning when it goes off it occurs to me that I should re-set it for a more decent hour. Then I go back to sleep and forget about it.

I finally got about about 5:45 and began my Saturday. First, I heat up a cup of coffee left from the night before and start a fresh pot making. Then I check my email, and delete the 76 spam items that promise me low-interest home loans, the hottest new stock picks, and erections that will never end. That done, I take a look at the real mail I've gotten, and respond where necessary.

Then I catch up on the news. I start with the New York Times (today there was a great story on an old mission project in South America, and a new update on what must be one of the most bizarre stories I've read in a while - the (apparent) intentional poisoning with radiation of a Russian dissident. The Times done, I check out what my brother's up to with my "google alerts" and then move on to Dave Oliveria's Huckleberries blog, and catch up on what Marianne Love has to say. I see if there's anything new from Molly Ivins (there isn't yet... bummer) and, of course, find myself in a number of unexpected places following intriguing looking links. This all goes a lot faster, by the way, with my new high-speed internet connection.

My reading fix sated for the moment, I move on to work. This morning, I took all the final drafts of stories I could find and pasted them into the pages of what will be the latest issue of the CFHS newspaper. I do this so that when Amy finally wakes up this morning, she can begin formatting and playing around with the design so this paper can be published next week. I'm noticing a lot of items are missing - obviously, it's going to take longer than I thought to teach these kids the simple basics of publishing. (Saving final drafts to the stories folder, making sure all photos needed for stories are in the correct file, that type of thing.)

And then it's on to the River Journal, which also publishes next week. Many pages have to wait as quite a few of my writers did NOT meet their deadline of Thursday, and there's not much I can do until I have the words that need to be placed. What I can get done this morning is the Staccato Notes - cutting and paring the dozens of press releases I receive about what's going on in the area through the month of December. I'll go ahead and admit it - I hate Staccato Notes. It is the one job I'll put off as long as possible. Which is probably why I'm posting on this blog instead of actually beginning to work on those pages.

Now it's 7:15 and that first pot of coffee is almost done. I'll stop to eat something soon, if I remember, then work on pages as long as I can. I'm hoping to take some time off this afternoon to catch the CFHS girl's basketball team in a game at Sandpoint, then it will be back to this chair to see how much work I can get done.

I won't be heading in tonight for Kinderhaven's Festival of Trees - I neglected to buy tickets before they sold out - but go ahead and keep your fingers crossed for me that the tree the River Journal donated will raise lots of money for this deserving charity. Here's a pic of the tree - the theme is "have a celestial Christmas" and everything is space-related.

High Speed

2006-11-27T18:40:00.000-08:00

No, this is not my annual encouragement to just slow the hell down when the roads are bad, though you can go ahead and take that advice anyway. This is just me crowing that, as of about 4 pm today, I finally have satellite internet.

I'm on high speed baby, so bring it on - send me all those stupid emails with PowerPoint presentations, 32 photographs, huge sound and/or movie files that you just have to forward. I can handle it now!

I think. Hard to tell when I've only had high speed for about three hours. And of course, if you really do that to me, I'm gonna have to hunt you down and do something to you - in honor of the memory of ten years of dial-up.

A weekend project

2006-11-26T17:02:00.000-08:00

Tried to post to this blog last week but couldn't log on and then it was deadline... family visiting... the holidays... and other projects.

On Saturday, my daughter Amy and I went over to the high school here in Clark Fork and decorated a Christmas tree for the school. This was a booster club project... folks are welcome to buy a $1 raffle ticket, and one lucky winner is going to get a fully decorated Christmas tree delivered to their home.

The tree, a 6' fir purchased from Wilson Auto in Sandpoint at a discounted price, includes the stand, over 1100 lights, over 8 dozen ornaments, a wampus cat tree topper, a storage box for the ornaments, surge protector, glass vase, blue fleece blanket/tree skirt, and a CFHS stadium seat to cushion those bleachers during basketball season. Get a ticket by calling the school at 266-1131 or stopping by some day. The tree will be delivered December 16.

It's Landon!

2006-11-17T12:35:00.000-08:00

A warm welcome to David's third grandson, Landon Hughes. He was born about 11:15 this morning in Spokane. His parents are Erin and Nic Hughes, and his grandparents are Claire Biseline and Terry Gonzales of Hope, and David Broughton of Sandpoint. Landon weighed 7 pounds, 2 ounces at birth and was 19 inches long. Isn't he beautiful?

Monday Reflections

2006-11-13T18:22:00.000-08:00

The day started with a call from my oldest daughter, telling me that the television news said school was closed today. I told my youngest daughter to go back to bed. About 45 minutes later the oldest daughter called back to say the TV news apologized for the misinformation, Lake Pend Oreille School District schools were actually open (while the news bar scrolling school closures still had it listed). I woke youngest daughter and let her know she was going to be late for school.

I'm learning that if I don't put things on the calendar, I forget to do them. I think the days of keeping everything in my head might be gone. At 11:30 I had a call from Eve's Leaves wondering why I wasn't there to try on the clothes I'll be modeling on Holly Eve (Oh, yes, I model. Let that be a warning to you, stay away from Marilyn Sabella when she wants something.) I wasn't there because my HEAD said I was supposed to be there Wednesday morning. 30 minutes late before even leaving Clark Fork, I followed a car pulling a boat in today's gusty winds - he never made it over 35 mph. I applaud his sense of safety, but why does that always happen when I'm late?

Just FYI, Eve's Leaves carries clothes that will cover up a LOT of belly fat.

I got home around ten after five after doing all my "town" chores, checked my email, and found one that included an agenda for the Festival Board meeting - which started tonight at 5:30... in Sandpoint.

I called with my regrets. I rarely miss a meeting, and I HATE to miss one due to stupidity. My only excuse is that these meetings almost always take place on a deadline Monday - which would be NEXT Monday. See, the head is not reliable anymore.

I also had an email from Avista, letting me know where all the power outtages are. I'm so glad they email to let folks know. Why did that make me laugh?

I discovered that if you spray paint in the house, 'cause it's cold and windy and wet outside and the rain has blown all over the porch and gotten it wet, you will get high. You will also get paint on the kitchen floor that's almost impossible to remove, and you will discover the kitchen floor is much too close to the woodstove for spray painting.

If you spray paint a rubber ball, it takes a LONG time for it to dry. And yes, the fingerprints will show from checking.

If you spray paint golf tees, the spray shoots them all over the front porch (once you've moved there from the kitchen floor.)

If you're wondering why anyone would spray paint a rubber ball and golf tees, then you've never tried to create a tail for a wampus cat.

If you don't remember to make all the phone calls you need to make before you leave the house, then don't plan on remembering to take the phone numbers with you so you can make the calls from town on the cell phone.

And finally, if you're not willing to wait five minutes with the front door open while the cat decides whether it REALLY has to go outside when it's cold, rainy and windy outside, then the cat will pee on the floor.

No new stadium for Seattle

2006-11-13T07:41:00.000-08:00

With all the other election news, I missed this story about Seattle residents voting against a measure to pay for a new arena for the Sonics.

I gotta confess - as much as I love professional sports, I think they made the right choice, and my reasoning is reflected in the name of the group that opposed the measure: "Citizens for More Important Things."

Given the amount of money generated in pro sports, I find it hard to believe that there's no way to fund a stadium privately, or that there's no way for it to be funded publicly, but with taxpayers getting their money back.

If it costs $500 million to build - how long would it take to sell 500 million tickets that included a dollar surcharge to go back into the taxpayer kitty? Or even 50 million with a $10 surcharge?

Good job Seattle. I'm glad to see voters are finally getting smart about where their money is going.

New Issue is Online

2006-11-12T08:37:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm not sure what went wrong, but it seems to be fixed now and the current issue of the River Journal is available online to read here.

Of special interest - our newest columnist, Paul Rechnitzer, makes his debut. Paul was the former head of the Bonner County Republican Committee and is an avowed train buff. His first column talks about "post-election blues."

It's a championship issue as Marianne Love writes about a National Horse Judge champion and other winners from the area, and Scott Johnson writes about the championship athletes at Sandpoint High School.

Lou Springer tells us about a new book out from the Sanders County Historial Society on the 1910 fires; Cassandra Cridland talks about living in bear country; Marylyn Cork points us toward a "caring gift" for the holidays.

Check it out... see if you agree that there's more to life than just bad news, and that the River Journal is a "newspaper worth wading through."

12 November 2006

2006-11-12T07:41:00.000-08:00

Spent most of yesterday cleaning house and refusing to do any work on the newspaper at all. Then I got an email telling me my website is not displaying the current issue of the paper. I STILL refused to do any newspaper work, but that means I have to get to it this morning - plus write checks, do billing, do taxes and file a lot of paperwork. Still, it was nice to have at least one day off.

Now it's nose to the grindstone time.

The Story 'Behind' Cheney's Visit

2006-11-06T16:35:00.000-08:00

My David, who sells ads for the radio, likes to say, "tell me and I'll tell thousands." But I'm thinking Dave Oliveria, of Huckleberries fame, could give him a run for his money 'cause even stuck out here in Clark Fork I've already heard that at least a partial version of my story on Cheney's visit is making the rounds... courtesy of Dave.

So here it is - the story I promised days ago but am just now getting around to after spending a weekend doing volleyball in Spokane and trying to catch up on my newspaper deadline.

My David (this is to distinguish him from Dave O) emailed Wednesday to see if I'd like to attend the Cheney extravaganza with him, bringing my teenage daughter, Amy, with me, and by the way, respond within five mintues as we have to get our names/addresses in for approval.

Of course I said yes, even though it's fair to say Cheney is not one of my favorite people in the world. My David, however, IS.

I turned in my name and address (initially I said my name was Trish "Squeaky Fromme" Gannon but I figured the Secret Service would not see any humor in that... and to tell the truth, I didn't either. I'd rather wait for Cheney's black, evil heart to give out on him than see anyone try to help the process along.)

Despite what I'd heard about liberals like me being banned from the production, David and I were approved and off we went to CDA.

Like most people, we went to the airport, which was the wrong way, and turned around and entered an incredible line of traffic, whereupon we proceeded to sit and wait. Finally arriving at the parking for the airport, we exited the car to be greeted by what felt like sub-zero temperatures, howling winds, and freezing rain. I wondered if this location was chosen in order for Cheney to feel like he was at home in Wyoming.

We walked miles (only a slight exaggeration) and got in the line to enter the hanger. I was wearing two sweaters, a vest, a heavy coat and a scarf. David had been smart enough to bring an unbrella, as well, so we were somewhat protected from the weather, but for the most part we were as miserable as everyone else in the slow moving line.

Of course, I drove from Clark Fork to attend this event, had waited in line in the car for an awfully long time, was waiting in line again for an awfully long time, and have given birth to three kids. I had to pee. I REALLY had to pee.

I recognized the situation was becoming desperate when I found myself contemplating the relative merits of heading back to the parking lot WAY behind us, finding a spot between cars, and baring my bum to the freezing wind versus the warmth that might be generated if I just gave up and peed my pants. (I had neglected to wear long johns.)

Lucky for me, I spotted a guy with a badge coming in our direction down the line, so I stepped out from under the umbrella to ask, through gritted teeth, "where would I find the closest restroom, please, sir?"

"Just come with me," he replied.

Before I go any further with this story, if I have to speculate as to this man's identity, let's go with his being a member of the Secret Service. (After all, if there's any blame to be laid, let's lay it at the feet of those who were responsible, right?)

This gentleman, to my surprise, escorted me into the hanger, behind the security tables, and pointed me in the direction of a door that led to the executive office suite - then walked off and left.

I had free run, no one waiting to see if I ever came back out, and a plethora of optional exits if I so chose to use them. Bear in mind... no one, at any time, checked to see if I had a ticket to the event, asked to see my ID, or checked underneath my bulky outergarments to see if I was packing, say, a rifle or a bomb or even, God forbid, a "Cheney go home" sign (all of which would have fit).

Of course, I'm a good girl. I used the restroom, then walked back outside into the freezing rain to join my man.

I never got inside again. Long before we ever got to the front doors, they were closed and people in line were told to go home as the hanger was too full.

David and I followed the edge of the runway to make our way back to the car, parked at the farthest remove of the lot. It (the runway) was lined with big trucks - trucks like gravel trucks, dump trucks, even a grader - in what appeared to be an attempt to keep vehicles from driving out onto the runway and approaching Air Force Two. Of course, about two-thirds of the way back to our end of the parking lot, they ran out of trucks and the way was clear for anyone with a clear wish to do harm, or maybe even just to take close up pictures.

We watched Air Force Two land, (along with the fake AF2 as well) watched a convoy of about a dozen limos pull up to escort the VP and his entourage into the hanger, watched the VP descend from the plane (though I'm not sure about that part. It was too cold and I just wasn't interested enough, though David watched). We visited for a while with a young man with a camera, and I encouraged him to go out on the tarmac and get much closer to the plane than we were - after all, there was no one there until you got to two fire trucks about midway across the asphalt - but the kids wasn't as gutsy as I would have been at his age.

After a while we moved on to the car, escorting an elderly woman who had already fallen once on the ice (and thank goodness we came along, as she would have frozen to death if she had fallen again and couldn't get up - there were NO vehicles left but ours at that end of the parking lot by then). Then we pulled over to the empty place in the asphalt to watch some more. This time we stopped at the far end of the runway, and parked by a police vehicle, which, of course, we could have outrun if we really wanted to.

Security, I have to say, was a joke at this event.

And I'm still waiting for Dave Olivera or one of his "bloggers" to post the information - who paid for this boondoggle?

Procedures

2006-10-31T11:17:00.000-08:00

The witch at the dumpsters told me it probably wasn't going to hurt at all, but I decided that 11 am isn't too early to drink a few prophylactic beers.

This afternoon, in order to have a small tumor removed from my cervix, I'll be going in for a short procedure, where the doctor will use an electric knife in a place that should never get within a mile of any knife, and probably shouldn't be around electricity either.

I was assured that if I took four advil before going in, that should probably take care of any pain.

It's not the pain that I'm worried about, it's the fear! I just don't handle fear well.

I'm pretty frightened at the thought of sneezing at an inappropriate moment. Or coughing. Or even moving.

And why does it bother me that this is happening on Halloween? Did I watch too much Screaming Yellow Theater when I was growing up?

I'm also a little worried about my firewood. I mean, I worked all weekend, and I still have a pile of wood that now features an eighth of an inch of frozen snow on its surface.

I think the lawnmower's still out in the yard somewhere, too.

Of course, this year I'll have an excuse for that - my procedure.

Whew!

2006-10-28T16:01:00.000-07:00

It might not look like much, but I made some progress on my wood pile today. Need to get everything split before I have some minor surgery on Tuesday. Not sure if I'll get more done today as my hands hurt bad... I'm a weak little girl. Even more impressive, half my house is clean and I got almost all the laundry done... and the day is still young.

Stolen Email

2006-10-26T19:54:00.000-07:00

Now that I'm "staff" with the LPO School District, I get the "global" emails that go out to everyone. This one came from our new Superintendent, and I thought it was great writing so am re-posting it here. I sent him an email to let him know... but even though that email went out to something like 500 people, it's probably not kosher to do it. Still... I'm doing it. I'll take it off if he objects, but I'm betting he won't. In the meantime, enjoy.

I grew up in the city. I walked or rode my bike to school every day until I could drive to high school. It was a pretty simple plan. The only time I rode a school bus was when I went on a field trip and that did not happen very often. When it did, I really enjoyed that bus ride; big green seats, windows, and a noise level that was a kid’s idea of mayhem. In short, I loved the experience.

Many of our students ride the yellow bus to school as a day to day way of life. The friendly drivers are the first people they see who represent the school district. Each morning sleepy eyed students clamber on to warm buses for a journey that they will remember forever……I can’t tell you how many times I have heard ”Remember when Johnny did (you name it) on the bus?” U-Haul claims to be the” Adventure in Moving”. I am convinced transporting students to school is the real adventure in moving.

This week was School Bus Safety Week. Students practiced emergency exit drills, safe riding procedures, etc. It is important to be prepared However, for all of us, it is also a time to thank our drivers for the good work they do every day as they transport their precious cargo. I don’t know about you, but at aged 55, I am pretty tired of driving. Maybe if I sported around in a fancy car or a Vespa, it might be different. Yet, every morning I see drivers with smiles on their faces greeting students and making sure they safely arrive at school. I would be curious to know how many miles these folks have put in behind the wheel. Amazingly, they are still smiling.

I also like to sleep. That too may be a factor of age. How is it that these good people can get up before dawn to drive a huge machine down the road? How about driving that beast on snow or ice with young kids on board who might be singing, laughing, or doing what kids do? I know when my dad was behind the wheel of the 1959 Ford Fairlane, we had to take the oath of silence…even when there wasn’t snow. One word or giggle when he was driving a snowy road led to banishment to the basement of the house. It was serious business because we never knew what evil lurked in the basement. Only my mother could intervene at that point.

So, next time you see one of our drivers, doff your cap, salute, bow, or offer them a simple thank you for a great job. They are the first step in a successful day for many of our children. We appreciate all that they do. Enjoy your weekend.

Dick

Thinkin' 'bout Gunfights

2006-10-26T06:18:00.000-07:00

Scrolling through the morning news I came across this opinion in the New York Times regarding the "Gunfight at the OK Corral which took place 125 years ago today.

If the link doesn't work for you, consider this one paragraph. "Then there’s gun control. The Earps didn’t debate gun control; they enforced it, alienating those who considered it their God-given right to carry guns. A decade ago, Pat Buchanan, with gun belt, made a campaign stop in front of the O.K. Corral." If he had done that 125 years ago, he might have met the same fate as the cow-boys, at least two of whom were carrying guns in blatant defiance of town ordinance."

Even though I'm a history buff, I never knew that Tombstone (along with many other Western towns) had a gun control law. I always bought into the mythology that the wild west was just that - wild, and that laws of this type didn't come around until a lot more recently.

The opinion, by the way, isn't about gun control - it simply shows that issues of today were issues even then. It also mentions federal versus local law jurisdiction and illegal immigration. Something to think about going into a frosty Thursday.

Just for you Brad

2006-10-25T17:25:00.000-07:00

Brad, the only reason I don't have a dog is 'cause the one I want is owned by someone else and she won't give him to me. This is Kujo, my favorite dog in the whole world and the "top dog" at the Keokee Publishing office in Sandpoint. He and I always play when I'm there... almost every day.

I don't think the dog and cat thing is a conservative/liberal thing. As I wrote once years ago, it's far more complex. See, dog owners prefer to use a Mac, while cat owners like to use PCs.

;0)

If I'm hearing the gossip correctly, yes, a lot of liberals will be voting for Karl Dye this election.

It's Way too Early

2006-10-25T06:21:00.000-07:00

In fact, most of this week it has seemed way too early. This time, though, I have to get on the road to Spokane so I can take flyers from Larsons into the printer and have them inserted in the new issue of the River Journal. So I need to be on road in the next ten minutes or so. If you want a sneak peak at the paper, see it here.

I did it again

2006-10-24T14:29:00.000-07:00

The Doofus cat is stuck on the roof. He does this frequently. Once he's up there, he can't seem to figure out how to get down - he's more than earned his name. Whenever I go out on the porch, he runs to the edge of it, and cries for me to save him. If I try to crawl up on the porch railing and rescue him, though, he runs off. Doofus cat. He wants me to go find the ladder, crawl up on the roof, pick him up, cradle him in my arms, and crawl down with him again. He forgets that I'm afraid of heights. Or else he doesn't care.

The latest issue of the River Journal is uploading to the printer as I type this. I know I've said it before but... I HATE ELECTIONS! Glad this issue is done, and please pick it up and read all about the candidates because it took me hours and hours to put all this together. I'll let you know what I think about this election - after it's over. I'm not a fan of endorsements... it's just me here, and if you're relying on my opinion, you haven't been reading enough about the candidates and issues on your own.

Distribution tomorrow... wish me luck.

Another One Bites the Dust!

2006-10-23T20:03:00.000-07:00

And it only took 16 hours straight for me to catch up. Now tomorrow is free for proofreading, double-checking that everything's in there, creating pdf files and uploading pages to the printer. Oh, and cleaning the truck out so that I'm able to pick all the papers up in Spokane on Wednesday.

For now, though, I'm looking forward to a hot bath, and a good book, and an early night.

No Sympathy

2006-10-23T13:57:00.000-07:00

My Gandalf cat has absolutely no sympathy for how hard I'm having to work today, as you can see in this picture. For those of you keeping track (that's you, Jinx)I have five pages yet to go before the paper's done.

It's not my Friday

2006-10-23T04:48:00.000-07:00

In fact, it's not even a regular Monday. It's a deadline Monday and here I sit at 4:45 am with 11 pages yet to finish on this week's issue of the paper. Unfortunately, my anti-virus program is set to scan in the wee hours of the morning, and it makes everything run r e a l l y slow... especially my memory-hog design programs. Which gives me time to catch up on the blog before I catch up on the paper.

It was a busy weekend. Clark Fork hosted the District 1A (North Star League) volleyball championships on Saturday. I was at the school at 8 am and got home again close to 7 pm. Clark Fork's young team put up a bit of a fight for it, but will not be going to state. They came in third, beaten by the league champion Wallace Miners (for the third time this season) and losing a second match to Coeur d'Alene Charter, after taking them in three games in the first match. It was a fun day as a spectator/scorekeeper and one of the Wallace girls had a t-shirt I plan to buy for my oldest daughter. It read, "you WISH you could hit like a girl."

Yesterday David and I drove down to Coeur d'Alene for the North Idaho Aids Coalition Wine Auction where I once again proved that I should never be let loose in an auction with money. (Because I'll spend it.) I didn't do too badly, however. I bought two lift tickets to Schweitzer Mountain (I don't ski, but my children do) and a beautiful, black and white print of a barn with snow taken by the one and only Ernie Hawks.

Interesting email sent out today by Marcia Phillips, a compilation of some headlines from the Bud Mueller years as County Commissioner - or, what we used to refer to as the "Bud and Larry Show." (Bud is running again this election season after winning the Republican primary.) A republican herself, Marcia is encouraging people NOT to vote for Mueller or for Lewis Rich, who's also running for a commissioner's seat.

Oops... virus scan done so it's off to work on a newspaper.

It's a Volleyball Day

2006-10-21T06:08:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm awake now. Was drinking my first cup of coffee while sitting at the computer, taking care of emails and catching up on the news when my stereo system (that would be Windows Media Player)segued from a run of John Coltrane into a performance of Georgia... a RAP performance. I trade music with my kids all the time, but that was one I hadn't realized was in my list of songs. (And it shouldn't be - there's some rap I like, but Georgia? Man, that song's a classic and should remain untouched.) Of course, in the time it took me to write this, the music has now moved on to... a spoonful of sugar. It's quite a variety I listen to. :0)

I'll be heading over to Clark Fork High School shortly to set up a 'hospitality room' for the District 1A Volleyball tournament that we're hosting today. I'm the scorekeeper for Clark Fork, so will be at the school most of the day (the first game is at 10 am, the last is scheduled to begin at 3:30 pm). Lucky for me, volleyball coach extraordinaire Cindy Derr offered to share scorekeeping duties today, so I'm going to ask her to switch off with me this morning. It will be my first chance this season to get some pictures of the girls playing. If any turn out well (it's hard to take pictures of volleyball... at least, it is for me) I'll stick 'em up here.

Continued changes are going on at the River Journal. I'll be unveiling my newest "re-design" of the front page in our issue that comes out on the 25th and you'll meet a new columnist on November 8th. We're saying good-bye to Mike Gearlds this month (he's off to greener, and hopefully more lucrative, pastures after a disagreement over editorial content) and I'll miss his take on local issues. But we have a couple of interesting replacements lined up, and I think readers are going to enjoy our newest voice. Not that I know who it is yet... I'm waiting to hear if the "number one pick" wants to take on a monthly column, but the number two pick is also very good.

There's a chance we'll have a new cartoonist as well... so don't miss your River Journals in the issues to come and let me know what you think of the changes.

Okay, I have some Rice Krispie treats that still need to be made this morning so it's off to the kitchen.

Random Thoughts

2006-10-17T07:26:00.000-07:00

Been scrolling around through various news archives as is my early morning habit, and on Molly Ivins column (click here to read it) she gives the best description of a reporter's job I've ever heard, right in her opening sentence: "I sacrificed an hour Friday evening to watch the Texas gubernatorial debate on your behalf, since I knew none of you would do it."

The New York Times writes that "expunged" criminal records are still readily available through private "data companies" and that the offer to expunge records just doesn't mean much anymore. Here's a great quote from the story: "Thomas A. Wilder, the district clerk for Tarrant County in Fort Worth, said he had received harsh criticism for refusing, on principle, to sell criminal history records in bulk. “How the hell do I expunge anything,” Mr. Wilder asked, “if I sell tapes and disks all over the country?” "

Shouldn't it be illegal to sell information like that?

Project Censored (click here) asks an interesting question about the power of media: "If a national movement calling for the impeachment of the President is rapidly emerging and the corporate media are not covering it, is there really a national movement for the impeachment of the President?" Of course, what I really enjoyed was the "top 25 censored news stories of 2007." Do they know something we don't, or are they just as prone to numerical typos as the rest of us?

My dial-up internet connection has kept me away from two intriguing stories posted at the Mother Jones website: a radio piece on "is Google evil" and a video piece where Colin Powell discusses his termination. I did enjoy this piece, however, on more ethics violations in Congress. Do you ever get the feeling that, once elected, politicians (of whatever party) think that gives them open season to do whatever the hell they want?

Now, no one wants to take less than seriously a very serious situation, and Harpers Weekly reports just such a situation - but it happens to include one of the best quotes I've seen this week. (We writer-type people appreciate a good quote even more than a cold beer - most of the time.) No, it's not the soldier who said "that damn marijuana," (though that was good, too). Seems a couple in Virgina are trying to "give back" the 15-year old boy they adopted after discovering he's a sexual predator. The mom's comment? “They just told me he was hyperactive."

There's snow on both Bee Top and Scotchman today. Unless I want all my income to go to Avista this year, I'd best get away from the computer and build a fire in the wood stove, then build a fire in myself by splitting a little more firewood.

Should Athletes be More Accountable than Other Students?

2006-10-15T09:44:00.000-07:00

I was reading in the New York Times this morning about college and university responses to what happened at Duke University last year, when members of the Lacrosse team were accused of rape. (Here's a link to the Times story, but you may have to sign up for an account in order to read it.)

It seems a number of institutions are making tougher rules for their student athletes. According to the Times, "Scores of colleges and universities have begun enforcing codes of conduct for athletes that are more strict than those applied to the rest of the student body, officials said. More rigorous standards for athletes were among the recommendations of the panel investigating Duke’s internal response in the rape case."

I know we've been steadily developing a culture of "guilty until proven otherwise," but is this the wisest thing to do? And are we saying, "If you rape somebody, there's gonna be trouble, but if you happen to play football and get accused of rape, it's gonna be worse?"

I understand the temptation of the "Caeser's wife" approach - after all, the actions of an athlete are far more likely to be considered "newsworthy," - at least by the national media - than the actions of an average student. But I suspect that these new "rules" are just one more example of how we always seem to overreact to any new situation we face... or any situation that becomes news because, let's face it, accusations of rape are hardly uncommon on college campuses.

Of course, it's gone even farther than that. Some new rules (and some contracts) also hold the coach responsible for what their athletes do - even when not in school - and it's now clear that the coach can be fired based on student actions. "On the advice of United Educators and sometimes on the counsel of high-powered conference commissioners, colleges and universities have rewritten coaches’ contracts to specify that they can be fired for their players’ misbehavior."

When did we forget the simple truth that without authority, you can't have responsibility?

TGIF

2006-10-13T08:54:00.000-07:00

I like that phrase, "Thank god it's Friday." And I get to say it today, because it really is Friday for me. The next two days are the only two days I actually get "off" in the month. Of course, I have a lot of tax stuff I need to do, so I'll still be working a little bit... but hopefully not a lot.

I go tonight to see the Heron Players perform "The Pedigree Murders." I'm a little nervous - Dick Hale is an enormously talented and funny scriptwriter, and I hear in this play, the cast uses the River Journal to find the clues to solve the mystery.

Clark Fork hosts the District 1A volleyball tournament beginning Wednesday next week. The Lady Cats will go up against the Lakeside Knights.

I read in the New York Times today that China is considering implementing labor laws that will make unions more powerful - and American corporations are opposing it. I don't know enough about the issue to determine which side I believe is correct... but given China's image of labor abuse, I don't think this position makes our businesses look very good.

I had an email from Paul Krames telling me that his letter to the editor in the Bonner County Daily Bee had all references to myself and the River Journal 'purged.' It's something they do a lot. Our English teacher at Clark Fork had her class do a story on time management, and told the students the winning essay would be printed in the Bee (per an agreement with editor Caroline Lobsinger, who assured Chandra she'd be willing to print student work). My daughter won the contest... and she wrote about me. It will be interesting to see if the Bee keeps its promise.

The political season must be well underway 'cause I just heard some nasty (and completely untrue) rumors about Rep. George Eskridge this morning. I wonder why it is that people feel so comfortable in making up stuff about the candidate they don't want to vote for?

I just got the following from the Bonner County Democrats... a schedule of upcoming candidate forums.Mark your calendars and go learn firsthand what the candidates have to say:
Monday - October 16: Sandpoint Bee forum @ High School - County Candidates 6:30 p.m.Tuesday - October 17: Sandpoint Bee forum @ High School - State Candidates 6:30 p.m .Wednesday - October 18: Sandpoint Bee forum @ High School - All Candidates 6:30 p.m.Thursday - October 19: Priest River Chamber Forum @ PR Jr High - All Candidates 6 p.m.Friday - October 20: Blue Lake Grange Forum @ Blue Lake Grange - All Candidates 7 p.m.Saturday - October 21: Blanchard Grange Forum @ Blanchard Grange - All Candidates 6:30 p.m.Friday - October 27: Edgemere Grange Forum @ Edgemere Grange - All Candidates 7 p.m.

Oh My

2006-10-11T08:47:00.000-07:00

Well, another issue of the newspaper is off to the printer and should hit the streets this afternoon. Get a sneak peek if you want here.

Congratulations to Helen Newton, who won the contest to "Name that Column." Scott Johnson's new sports column now goes under the appellation: As I See It, Scott Johnson puts a Spotlight on Sports.

The "spotlight on sports" part was something Scott really liked, but As I See it was the winner in a contest that sported (pun intended) some rather odd entries. Here's what we had to choose from:
20/20 Sportstalk
Are you Ready to Fumble
Armchair Quarterback
As I Saw It
Balls Balls Balls
Critical Analysis
For Love of the Game
From the Sidelines
Game Gab
Jabbering Jocks
Jock Talk
Play by Play
Scoring with Scott
Scott's Hot Shots
Scott's Scoreboard
Scott's Sport Spotlight
Scott's Thoughts
Scott's Turf
Shoulda Coulda Woulda
Speaking of Sports
Sport Up North Idaho
Sports Cast
Sports Edge
Sports Splash
Sports Talk
Sports Yarns
Time Out with Scott
The Best Damn Sports Column Period
The Couch
The Couch Coach
The Crowd Goes Wild
The Inside Pitch
The Jock Strap
Unofficially Speaking
Wade Boggs
Wade Through Boggs

Tired this morning. We had a volleyball game in Mullan last night and, on the way home on the bus, one of the girls jammed her thumb badly and it looked like she might have broken it. So we spent a while at the emergency room at Bonner General. (The lady there was so cute - I had come in once to use the restroom and she slid open her little window to ask, "Do you have a busload of kids out there?" Yep, we did.)

Got home about midnight, then spent the next hour finishing uploading all the new stories to the River Journal website... plus the graphics that go along with the story about solutions to traffic congestion in Sandpoint. Hope people go to look at them (head to the homepage here). There's graphics showing the current road design at the railroad underpass just north of the chamber of commerce on Fifth Ave., and at the intersection of Highways 95 and 200, plus graphics showing how it could be, at little more than the price of paint. Sandpoint's Public Works committee was so impressed with the ideas they're recommending the City Council hold a special workshop to see if these changes couldn't be accomplished before the snow flies.

Okay, time to go pick up the paper and get it delivered. Happy Wednesday folks.

The Frost is on the Pumpkin

2006-10-09T06:37:00.000-07:00

Well, I don't have a pumpkin yet, but there's frost all over the firewood, so I guess that counts. It's a chilly fall morning here in Clark Fork today.

After a miserable day yesterday, I find I'm feeling much better this morning. The crud is moving out of my head and down to my chest. I don't much like the coughing part, but really appreciate that my head no longer weighs the 6,000 pounds it weighed yesterday.

Have you ever wondered just how much... well, snot a person can generate and carry around in their head? I have, and as is typical for me, once I come up with a question, I want to know the answer. So I started trolling the internet.

Well, I learned that sex can clear a stuffy nose (somehow it helps your body produce antihistamines) and that your ears secrete more ear wax when you're afraid than when you're not. Finally, in the 1800s, it was believed gin could cure stomach problems. Of course, we know now that it's whiskey that's the big cure all - according to my grandmother, there's nothing much that can't be fixed by a nice hot toddy.

The closest I came to learning about my original question, however, was one website that stated, during a cold... "enormous amounts" of phlegm can be produced. Well duh. Anyway, I have a newspaper to finish, so can't spend the time continuing to search. If anyone knows the answer, please let me know. Conversely, if I manage to find out the answer despite my deadline, I'll let you know.

On a Sick Friday

2006-10-06T10:03:00.000-07:00

Wonderful homecoming game last night at Clark Fork where we tromped the Lakeside Knights 28 to nothing. What fun, sitting in the stands with a bunch of friends, cheering 'til I was hoarse, watching my team on its way to victory.

Now I'm sick.

No, it wasn't the game probably, just the crud that's getting passed all around the county now that kids are back in school. Sore throat, achy eyes and the last thing I want is to be on deadline, but I am, so I'll sit here at the computer and work.

Of course, if this is the worst thing that happens to me this month, I've done good.

Happy Birthday plus one day

2006-10-04T19:33:00.000-07:00

Just to let Dave Olivera know... I'm not afraid of my age. I turned 44 yesterday - I'm just a spring chicken!

Okay, the girls didn't beat Wallace (said to be the best team in our conference) but man, did they give them a game. I haven't seen rallies that long in quite a while. I was really proud of our Lady Cats.

Long day today, though. I tried to post this morning, but the website was either down, or I just wasn't awake enough to make it function. The second is a distinct possibility. I got to bed about 1:30 THIS morning, and had to get up early to teach a class at the school. And the day has gone on... and on. Think I'll make it an early night tonight.

Happy Birthday to Me!

2006-10-03T07:27:00.000-07:00

Okay, everybody, sing it!

I'm thrilled to have made it to another birthday and look forward to a fun day of celebration with my friends and loved ones. And to a rousing game of volleyball, as the Clark Fork Lady Cats travel to Wallace and (hopefully) beat them in honor of my birthday. :0)

So just how modern are we?

2006-10-02T17:34:00.000-07:00

Here's a thought... would you vote for someone who does not utilize email? Not necessarily a fair question in this forum, as it's obvious that anyone here is probably fairly comfortable with computers. But I'm askin' anyway.

BTW- To answer my own question, I might, but they would have to be a pretty exceptional candidate.

Sunny Sundays

2006-10-01T15:56:00.000-07:00

Not much to post today as I spent most of it lazing around in bed, reading, or online doing genealogy research. And now it's time to head outside and split some firewood, so I can get it all stacked up under cover for the winter. Hope all are having a wonderfully relaxing Sunday, too.

On driving, teenagers, winter and Huckleberries

2006-09-30T07:57:00.000-07:00

The Spokesman-Review has consistently received kudos for their incorporation of the internet and their willingness to include the public in the news process, including a $1,000 Knight-Batten "Award of Distinction." (see story here) for "transparency in the newsroom." According to the judges, "they're doing what others don't have the guts to do."

I bring that up because my favorite part of the Spokesman online is Dave Olivera's Huckleberries - You can read it here. And he kindly gave a link to the post at our blog here on teen driving.

His readers suggested banning cell phones, radios, et al while the young 'uns are driving, taking 'em out in the winter to a big empty parking lot to practice skidding on ice and, probably one of the best pieces of advice for someone like me -"Don't be such a worrywart." (Click here to read the comments in full.)

As I say to others when I'm offered that advice (and yes, I'm offered it quite often) "But I do it so well!" It's hard to have a talent and not use it. :0)

I have taken all my children, at one time or another, down to the high school on an empty winter weekend to practice sliding around. (Probably illegally, so don't tell anyone, okay? I actually didn't realize that a parent can't teach their child to drive until after they finish driver's ed. And let me say right now, I think that's a dumb rule. I'm not letting my child behind the wheel of a car with anyone - not even a driver's ed teacher - until I know they understand the basics. Lucky for me, I don't have a child without at least a permit now, and yes, as soon as I learned I was breaking the law, I quit driving with my children.)

Back to winter driving. While I think it's great to teach children how to slide in big, empty parking lots, be aware... THIS IS NOT A FUN PROCESS. "Go," I would tell them and then, when they had reached an appropriate speed, "Quick, turn the wheel!" It's kind of like riding the tilt-a-whirl, but worse, and it's been many years now since I discovered that my body no longer likes to ride the tilt-a-whirl.

You can do this with your child until your stomach rebels, but at some point, don't forget that the point is to teach them how to steer out of the skid. It's best to try this with several different vehicles, as each one responds somewhat differently.

I have some more good "teach the kids how to drive stories" that I'll share later (let me remind myself right here to tell you about fording Lightning Creek) but this is long enough for now. Any stories of your own?

Traffic Accidents

2006-09-29T08:12:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday, our community of Clark Fork was rocked by the news of yet another traffic accident involving some of our kids - that makes three accidents, with seven of our children, in a 12 day period. From what we've heard, the first accident involved bad decisions - driving 80 miles an hour on US 95 because the kids were late getting home (two of those students are still in coma); the second was a student hit head on by someone passing, on a curve, in a no passing zone; and the third may have been as simple as turning in the sun, and failing to see the motorcycle coming down the road. The guy on the motorcycle died in that one, and now one of our students will live with that knowledge for the rest of his life, while a family somewhere is grieving at a loss that can never be repaired.

My Amy is supposed to get her driver's license in mid-October, just a few weeks from now. I confess, I'm wanting to ban her from getting it. This is my youngest child, and I worry enough with two other children driving on the roads - now I'll have a third who will undoubtedly keep me up nights with fear. Although she's a pretty good driver, she won't be on the road alone - and not all people make good decisions when behind the wheel of a lethal weapon.

So what's the answer? In the 15 years I've been driving between Sandpoint and Clark Fork, I've watched an amazing amount of idiot drivers - mostly those who pass when it's unsafe to do so, but also those who, in the winter, think four-wheel-drive makes them immune to the effects of ice on the roadway. Is there a way to make the highway safer, or is this just a reality we all have to live with?

A Beautiful Wednesday Morning

2006-09-27T07:19:00.000-07:00

The sun is peeking over Antelope now, and the coffee tastes especially good, given how early I got up, and how late I got home last night.

The new issue of the River Journal made it to the printer yesterday, and will be out in racks all over the place just as soon as I drive to Spokane today and get it. You can get a peek at it now, however, right here online.

This issue features our first sports column by Scott Johnson... I didn't think he was gonna make it, but he snuck it in under the wire. It needs a name, though, and to encourage your submissions, we're offering a $50 gift certificate to Dock of the Bay if you come up with the name we choose.

The forum last night, which the River Journal co-sponsored, was a resounding success if I do say so myself. There were some wonderful ideas for improving traffic now, which you'll read about in our next River Journal... that would be the October 11 issue.

Autumn is a busy time. We have our first Booster Club meeting tonight at Clark Fork High School, Homecoming is next week, I'll be out with students on Friday selling advertising for their yearbook and newspaper, we're celebrating my friend Jacque's 60th birthday on Saturday night, my own birthday is next Tuesday, we're already starting to look at the 2007 season for the Festival at Sandpoint, the winter issue of Sandpoint Magazine is getting really close to printing (and yes, Billie Jean, I'll get my story done REALLY soon)... and on it goes. Guess you'll be hearing about most all of this stuff here at some point.

Now it's time to get ready to hit the road. Don't forget to send those suggestions for a title for the sports column. You can email me at trish(at)riverjournal.com. Use the 'at' symbol of course... I'm just trying to avoid those spambots here.

2006-09-25T07:44:00.000-07:00

The second question asked at the Town Hall Meeting on education was "What strategies and resources must be brought to the fore at the middle school level, high school level and is there some strategy that might apply on the elementary level as well to increase success?"

In 20 years involvement with local education, the one consistent thing I've heard from teachers across grade levels is that students are not prepared when they reach their classroom. The same charge is made by colleges and universities: English information that was once contained in "bonehead" or "remedial" classes has now become English 101 as higher ed institutions have given up on getting new students who have the skills once expected to have been obtained in high school.

So where's our top-down construction of curriculum? Why aren't universities designing what students should be learning as seniors, high school teachers designing what students should be learning in middle school, etc etc etc. Although "curriculum committees" are generally lauded as "broad-based" and having participation from "important stakeholders" it's obvious that somewhere, the ball is getting dropped. That is, if the regular classroom teachers are correct in what they say about their incoming students.

Higher Education Part Two

2006-09-25T07:18:00.000-07:00

What do we want from higher education?

2006-09-21T22:22:00.000-07:00

It's 10:15 pm and I've been on the go since WAY too early this morning but before I head off to bed, I figured I'd better post something here, per Chris B's orders to "post something every day."

I had the pleasure tonight of attending a "Town Hall Meeting" on education, hosted by the Sandpoint Chamber of Commerce, with the intent of beginning a dialogue (and coming up with actual plans to implement) on what our community expects from education. I won't get into all of it here - if I did, I wouldn't have anything to write about in an article - but Dwight Johnson, Executive Director of the Idaho Board of Education, made a provocative point - the skills and knowledge that students need in order to be prepared for college, are now the skills and knowledge they also need for options after high school other than going on to traditional higher education.

The question was then asked... how do we get more of our students to graduate high school, and go on to further their education?

I could give you my opinion, but what this group wants is YOUR opinion. Go ahead and feel free to give it to them here... I will forward to them whatever you have to say. And I'll let you know as soon as they get their own blog up and running where you can go to share your thoughts with them directly.

20 September 2006

2006-09-20T07:01:00.000-07:00

This morning I get to meet with a group of students at Clark Fork Jr/Sr High School that I will be working with to produce a school yearbook. It's a first for me and, really, a first for them, too as we try to discuss quality publishing. Somehow I'll be taking these kids in hand to teach them how to sell and design advertising, take photos, design page layouts, scan photos, write copy, create collages, track finances....hmm, I hope I'm not biting off more than I can chew.

Had a meeting yesterday with Chris Bessler, the big cheese at Keokee Publishing, and John Reuter, the guy who's taking over publishing the Sandpoint Reader. We, along with the Daily Bee and KSPT radio, are sponsoring a forum in downtown Sandpoint next week to talk about "Conquering Gridlock." The focus is on what can be done to deal with traffic downtown, especially as it's been "three years since the (ITD) announced that construction on the Sand Creek Bypass will begin in the fall," as Chris put it in our press release. Hope to see lots of people show up - 6 pm at Sandpoint's Community Hall on Tuesday, September 26.

Ethics in Media

2006-09-19T07:57:00.000-07:00

Chris Bessler, owner of Keokee Publishing in Sandpoint and my guru on anything to do with the publishing world, tells me I actually have to post something in this blog EVERY DAY! I hadn't realized that, but when Chris suggests, I perform. (kind of)

Yesterday, I appeared with Priest River Times Publisher Terrie Ivey on Bill Litsinger's radio show (the Voice - 1400 KSPT, noon on Mondays). We were talking about ethics in journalism, though I'm not sure we ever got around to talking about it with any substance at all. An hour radio show isn't nearly as long as it sounds. Too bad... because I have some pretty strong opinions regarding journalistic ethics, and they don't always match those of the regular media. Maybe it's because I never went to J-school.

Talking in the parking lot after the show, the question was "is it okay to publish negative information on the front page about someone who's a 'pubic figure?'" My answer was tied up in my definition of news - being something the public has need of to know. So it depends on the public figure. If it's someone you're gonna vote for, or someone who works with your kids, or someone you may have given your money to... then yes, it's news. But if the information is on the front page and there's NO benefit to public knowledge, then we in the press need to butt out.

The people may have a right to know, but that information is available in the police blotter if they really want it. Newspapers make clear decisions about who gets pilloried on the front page - not EVERY person charged with a crime makes it there - and I suggest that many of those decisions are driven by the "if it bleeds, it leads" mentalitiy of the regular media. That's not a rule we follow at the River Journal.

The River Journal 13 September 2006

2006-09-14T12:41:00.000-07:00

The new issue is out. Read the stories at www.riverjournal.com, then post your comments below!

Assessments Ongoing by Trish Gannon - Bonner County residents still have some avenues left to pursue changes in their property valuation.
Study of Forestry Returns by Marylyn Cork - Priest River Lamanna High School students will start raising knapweed bugs next year.
Ulm Peak is Smokin' Up the Skies by Trish Gannon - fire blazing on the Idaho/Montana border.
Sunday Drive by Trish Gannon - Pack up the family and friends and head out to a high school athletic event.
From the Mouth of the River by Boots Reynolds - There's Aunts in the sugar bowl!
The Eighth Deadly Sin by Scott Clawson - When God looked for procrastination, he found man.
The Hawk's Nest by Ernie Hawks - Reflections on the role of water.
The Scenic Route with Sandy Compton - The Sanders County Fair
Sky King by Mike Gearlds - Library DVD brings a 'blast from the past.'
Faith Walk by Gary Payton - the season of terrorist attacks reminds us that Jesus gave us a demanding charge.
Prevention is Always Preferable to Destruction by Kate Wilson - Conservation Districts are the landowners local resource.
Research by Hobe Jenkins, PhD - a barrel full of data from Lake Pend Oreille
From the Files of the TRJ Surrealist Research Bureau by Jody Forest - Seeds of Great Cthulhu
Urban Legends by Trish Gannon- How stupid do you have to be to boycott a stamp?
Computer Help by Melody Martz- customizing Word for the things you do repeatedly.
A Seat in the House by ID Rep. George Eskridge- What, exactly, did the Legislature do about property tax relief?
Montana Viewpoint by MT Sen. Jim Elliott- As Montana's population increases, so does the need to direct the change.

Welcome to the River Journal's Blog!

2006-09-09T15:59:00.000-07:00

And so it begins.

I've been searching for a way to make the River Journal more interactive, and Marianne Love's addiction to blogs gave us just the answer. Now you can comment on the current edition of the paper, and get a response right back. Or as right back as my not always online workday can make it.

I'm cheating here - it's only Saturday afternoon, and no one will know about this 'til the next issue comes out on Wednesday, but I'll be delivering papers all day Wednesday and won't have time to write anything then. And I thought I should go ahead and start you all out.

Mike Gearld's cartoon in this issue takes on Bonner County Commissioner Karl Dye's write-in campaign for re-election this fall to the seat in District 3. Dye, a Republican, lost in the primaries to Lewis Rich. With no Democratic opponent for the seat, Rich was guaranteed the position without a write-in candidate.

That result created a schism in the local Republican party, it seems, as hundreds of registered Republicans signed a petition encouraging Dye to run as a write-in candidate. Seems they didn't want to vote for their party's official candidate.

With voters in the primaries casting a "throw the bums out" ballot, current commissioner Marcia Phillips was also defeated, by former Bonner County Commissioner Bud Mueller. He also seems to be less than acceptable to some of the Republican populace, who have vowed to cross party lines and vote for the Democratic candidate this fall.

Any comments on what's going on in the Republican party locally?