Never too late for birthday wishes
Courtesy photo Bert Thoreson shows off some of his pocket knives.
After three decades and thousands of birthday wishes in this column, I’ll admit that many of the celebrants I’ve never met. It came to my attention last week that a loyal longtime reader of Main Street is having a birthday on Saturday and hasn’t yet been included in the Main Street Birthday Club.
I may be 92 years late to her birthday party but here’s a special wish for Hattie Hodge Gottschalk!
Born in 1929 in Virginia, when she was just 3 years old her family headed west to Post Falls from Tennessee, making their home in a little rock house in Pleasantview, near Corbin Park. Post Falls is still her home. Happy birthday and welcome to the club Hattie!
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So who are the kind of men who carry a pocket knife today? This question and conclusions were shared on Facebook. “They are typically utilitarian. They work hard for a living, fix what is broken and stand fearless in the face of a world filled with evil.
"If you find yourself in a tight spot and need some help, just ask the guy with the pocket knife. Although they’re few and far between these days, chances are he can and will be able to help you out.”
My husband, Bert, carries a Leatherman (all purpose tool) on his belt every day. So when he came home from work I asked him if he also carried a pocket knife. He reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out not one, but two pocket knives! What a guy.
More than three dozen friends commented under my post; most said their fathers and husbands carried pocket knives. Several women said they, too, carried pocket knives (maybe purse knives in that case.)
I loved Tatiana Monroe Harrison’s comment. She said her late father, Don, always told her to look for a boyfriend who carried a knife and wore a belt. I’m happy to report that Al, Tatiana’s husband of more than 40 years, made the cut.
Paulette Fabian wrote of her husband, “Donald would not be without one at all times — I find it sexy!”
It became apparent that there are and have been a lot of guys with pocket knives, good guys and gals who work hard for a living and fix things that are broken.
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Last year at this time (the March 4, 2020 Main Street): The Germans have a word for everything, including for hoarding items during a widespread panic, Hamsterkäufe, with a nod to hamsters who store food in their cheeks.
Cases of bottled water, hand sanitizer, cleaning supplies and toilet paper seem to be flying off the shelves and into grocery carts here and everywhere. "Hamsterkäufe" is a behavior, where people accumulate food and supplies to prepare for shortages, often creating the shortages in the first place. Kind of like running on a hamster wheel.
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Happy Main Street birthday today to Sari Walt, Rebecca Kilmer, Rich Henning, Jessica Coleman and Gail Kinloch. Tomorrow Michael Ward, Chris Guggemos, Sam Williamson, James Steffensen and Jon Newcomb celebrate.
On Friday Natalie Eckstein, Becky Funk, Jim Riley, Amy Tolzmann, Jennifer Harbour, Paula Ryan, Nicole Barnhart, Kelly Lattin, Hallie Gennett, Allison Mehan, Stacy Veach, Carly Hall and Matt Matthews put on their party hats. Saturday, Hattie Gottschalk (92!), Billie Dust, Rich Winter and Adam Johnson blow out their candles.
On Sunday my much younger sister, Janna Scharf, shares a birthday with Heidi Rogers, Jaime Jaworski, Todd Gilkey, Wayne Larson, James Barfoot and Julie Sandstrom. Monday Cyndie Hammond, Lisa Ferguson, Robert Page, Linda Koehler, Joni Morrow, Chelsea MacEntee, Kylie MacEntee and Veronicka Peacock will celebrate.
On March 9 Karen Roetter, Bob Frazey (60!), Giuliana Palmas-Rogers, Keith Van Slate, Debbie Myles Shawver, Joyce Connolly and Megan Round take another trip around the sun.
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Kerri Rankin Thoreson is a member of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and the former publisher of the Post Falls Tribune. Main Street appears every Wednesday in The Press and Kerri can be contacted on Facebook or via email mainstreet@cdapress.com. Follow her on Twitter @kerrithoreson.