Huckleberries: Soldiers should all dine here
In these troubled times, it’s hard to find silver linings.
But Shelly Robins Zollman of Coeur d’Alene found one at Daft Badger, 1710 N. Second St., Wednesday.
Shelly and a friend had tuned in as two Army National Guardsmen talked at the end of their table. It was hard not to do so. The soldiers were expressing shock – and some awe – that someone had picked up the tab for their meals.
According to server Bonnie Jonmoore, the Guardsmen had enjoyed sandwiches of Brie cheese, green apple, and smoked bacon, with a side of Japanese Curry soup.
Server Bonnie told Shelly that the Guardsmen’s benefactor was a regular who had added a generous tip.
And one thing more.
Server Bonnie said three other customers also had lined up to pay for the meals.
Bottom line? Quit paying attention to social media chirpers, right or left. Many local people still love their neighbors, especially those in uniform.
Winning hand
Growth in Hayden is getting attention, as the commercial part of the former Finucane cow pasture fills in. This week, the Press published a front-page story and an editorial about booming Hayden. Old Matt Heyden would be thrilled to know of the fuss being made about the town that bears his name. As the legend goes, according to Robert Singletary’s “Kootenai Chronicles,” Heyden earned the right to name the lake in a card game of “seven-up” with other homesteaders. He won. And promptly named the picturesque lake after himself. The spelling of the lake’s name changed over the years. Whichever way it's spelled, “Hayden” is preferable to the one bestowed on it by Father Peter Desmet, founder of the Sacred Heart Mission at Cataldo. In 1846, according to author Singletary, Father Desmet sought to honor a donor to his mission by naming the lake – DeNuf. And DeNuf has been said of this item.
Huckleberries
• Poet’s Corner: No archers in sight/no bowmen at hand/yet more arrows here/than Custer’s Last Stand – The Bard of Sherman Avenue (“The Road Signs at Seltice & Highway 41”).
• The COVID Bug didn’t stop Chris Guggemos’s free summer concerts this year. Nor did the smoke blanketing the Inland Northwest. But the smoke did chase Chris and the Rhythm Dawgs inside Sunday for the final concert of the season. Now, fall is officially here.
• One hundred years ago today, Spirit Lake residents were petitioning the town board to hire a marshal. Why? In a word, “rowdyism.” But the town has remained rambunctious since.
• Bumpersnicker (from daughter, Amy, spotted in the Fred Meyer parking lot in East Portland, Ore.): “Money isn’t everything, but it keeps the kids in touch.” Nothing subliminal there.
• How bad was the smoke from burning forests, fields and houses this week? So bad, Facebook's Sid Smith, a former aide to U.S. Sen. Jim Risch, that he couldn’t see 4,100-foot Canfield Mountain from his property only a football field away.
• How Bad Was the Smoke II: Earl and Leslie Pleger of Hayden ran into smoke during their annual retreat to the Oregon Coast. The smoke was so thick that they were housebound except for a stroll along the waterfront at Cannon Beach, where they couldn’t see Haystack Rock.
• Bridgette Helstrom Lowry of Coeur d’Alene was checking out at her grocery store when the kid bagging goods pulls down his mask, sneezes into his hand, and then pulls his mask back up. And continues to bag Bridgette’s groceries. Neither the CDC nor the Panhandle Health District would approve of that. Nor did Bridgette.
Parting Shot
And now a word from Michelle Lippert of Post Falls: “If you type ‘air quality Post Falls ID’ into Google, you get a lot of different options. The numbers vary from 416 to 202. Hard to know what to believe.” That last sentence sums up this annoying year of our Lord 2020.
You can contact D.F. “Dave” Oliveria at dfo@cdapress.com.