Birthdays, girlfriends and bald-faced hornets

For the 52nd year, the Birthday Boys are celebrating their August birthdays together. When I first began penning this column for the Tribune in the early 1990s and later the Press, I would occasionally wish friends a happy birthday, especially if it was a milestone. Through the years, readers began sending me birthdays to include and for the past couple of decades the Main Street Birthday Club has grown to over 2,000 annually.

Early on, I learned that my friend, Art Flagan, and a couple of his good friends shared August birthdates close together. In 1974, these fellows were in their 30s when they first began marking the occasion together over a half century ago.

As I can attest, octogenarians Art, Ed Hatter and Warren Bakes are still going strong … the stories, along with laughter, the easy companionship and shared memories of adventures past created a strong bond.

Over the years, with their wives, they’ve taken trips including to Glacier Park, Leavenworth, Priest Lake and even to the opening of the Sheraton Hotel during Expo '74. They’ve cruised on the Sizzler and partied in the Hagadone Suite at The Coeur d’Alene Resort. In recent years, they stay closer to home, enjoying a dinner out.

Art, Nancy, Ed, Mike, Warren and Linda remind us of the blessing and beauty of enduring friendships and celebrating life while we’re living it. I look forward to wishing the boys many more happy birthdays.

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Speaking of good friends, since last week’s column, I joined longtime girlfriends for our annual gathering at our friend Anne’s Lake Coeur d’Alene cabin. None of us seem to remember how many years we’ve been doing this girls-only slumber party, but it’s probably a dozen or so. We spend a couple of days without an agenda, with a wardrobe of only a swimsuit and pajamas needed. We have no schedule, we eat well in between all of the junk food. The rule is if it’s consumed on the dock or the deck, there are no calories or carbs.

The best antidote to stress is being surrounded by friends who love you, warts and all, and laughter … lots of laughter and silliness. The world and the years melt away in the sunshine on the water under the pine trees.

Sometimes it just amazes me how blessed I am with these amazing women friends and to live in this incredible paradise.  

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While mowing the lawn on Sunday morning, Bert discovered a bald-faced hornets nest in our backyard lilac bush. He said he’d spray the nest after they returned for the night. We had dinner on the patio and enjoyed the leisurely August evening before I came inside to resume a project. Next thing I know, my husband is dressed in a black jacket zipped up at the collar. He wore gloves and a mechanic's lamp strapped to his head. He looked like a cross between a cat burglar and a ninja warrior. He was ready to do battle with the hornets.

Bert wasn't outside long before he came back inside, laughing as he told me they were still awake, which gave me an imagined visual of armed hornets guarding the perimeter. Fast forward to about 9:30 p.m. and I was in my home office working on this column when my black-clad husband returned from battle.

"I got 'em!" he exclaimed. The expression of victory on his face cracked me up.

Not only is my husband of four decades renowned for his lawn whispering skills, but I also now know he's a fearless hornet hunter. All is well on Powderhorn Street.

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Happy Main Street Birthdays today to Barrett Herman, Vicky Jo Carey, Scott Noordam, Amy Elder, Peter Woods and Frank Garcia. Tomorrow, Mary Condie, Nancy Scofield, Elaine Carda, Louise Gillespie, Christina Gardner, Gene Colley and Art Elliott celebrate. On Friday, Crystal Shofner-Moore, Jared Phay, Matthew Behringer and Doris McCaulley mark another year. On Saturday, Ed Hatter, Brett Seright, Leanne Campbell, Mary Gomer, Cathy Smith, David Walrath, Cecilia Peterson and Lilliana Raynor blow out the candles. Sunday celebrations for Art Flagan, Susie Heitstuman, Debbie Berger, Bobby Bunch, Donnie Goodnature and Rod Robins. On Monday, Peggy Turrell, Karen Sorbel, Mike Dodge, Linda Fox, Lori Chissie, Sarah Rasmussen and Eric Burgeson blow out the candles. JJ Jaegar, Jeff Selle, Ali Shute, Angie Penzkover, Rhonda Budvarson, Staci Anderson, Cindi Carlson, Jack Mannschreck and Lydia Myers take another trip around the sun Aug. 25.

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Kerri Rankin Thoreson is a member of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and a former publisher/editor with the Hagadone Newspaper division. Main Street appears every Wednesday in The Press. Kerri can be reached on Facebook or via email at [email protected].