November 16, 2008

• yesterday:  Tautiana and Gaebriel came up to play.  That is, Tautiana played.  Gaebriel wasn't feeling well.  Bit of a cough.  I tucked her in for a nap on the couch, and she didn't complain.

  

  After the girls' grandmother picked them up, we rushed to get our kids bathed and packed; brought Bri and Wilson to Jerry and Tommi's, Mari, Myra, Kendric and Logan to Gramma Betty's.

  A quick stop at Harvest Foods turned into a long in-the-car conversation in the parking lot.  Kirby described some of today's events at Greg's shop...  I have a new respect for people in service positions.  I thought it was bad enough to have a customer watching over your shoulder while you work, but when they want to have conversation with you... and you need to get the work done in a timely fashion... but you can't be rude to the customer and tell him to shut up...  Yikes.

  While we were sitting there, we noticed a young man walk in to the store.  Noticed, because he was wearing sunglasses.  At night.    Several minutes later, as we were stepping out of the car, he wandered out of the store, looking ... strange.  Tyler met us at the door, but abruptly turned back, muttering something about checking the [surveillance] tapes.  Kirby figured the kid must have stolen something, so he stayed at the door to visually track him.  Tyler came running back -- yes, the guy was a shoplifter, but Tyler was more concerned 'cause he was apparently out of his mind.  Stoned?  Drunk?  Whatever.  He called the sherrif; by the time we left, there were officers with flashlights combing the field across the highway.  Hopefully they found him before he passed out and froze to death...  (Bri:  "I hope they caught him. Then they could punish him for stealing.")

  today:  We drove to Hauser Lake, ID to check out a property.  Got there at the very same time as the realtor.  Ha.  The place was creepy / trashy, but Kirby sees much potential.  Yes, Kirby!  Usually it's I who can imagine a fresh coat of paint, a little trim, new landscaping, etc.
  

  Also drove to look at five acres of bare land.  (I prefer the location, but we can't afford to start a house from scratch.)  In the same place where I'd seen the quail before, two moose were nibbling on the side of the road:
  
  They moseyed up through a yard:
  

  We drove from the property to Kirby's prospective workplace to check the driving time against Google's estimate.  Even supposing that Saturday traffic is smoother than workday morning traffic, it was considerably faster.

  Stopped to see Riverfront Park / Spokane Falls on the way back:
  

  Downtown, a streetcorner protest occasionally interrupted the everyday sounds of the city.  Whenever a passing motorist honked in support, the crowd would cheer.  I suggested to Kirby that a smart protest group would send a good tenth of its numbers out in cars to keep up the sound.  Ha.

  
  Despite impressive architecture and quaint spots, I do not care for cities.  I am unspeakably grateful that Kirby is willing to make the commute so the children and I can spend our days Out of Town.

  Stopped at Cabela's to ask about Idaho's hunting regs:
  

  While Kirby visited with the guys in the Hunting department, I wandered the store looking at the impressive taxidermy displays:
  

  A Cabela's employee greeted me with some standard question, and I responded with the standard answer to the effect that I was just enjoying the scenery while waiting for my husband.

  "Taking pictures?  I'm sorry, ma'am, I'm going to have to confiscate your camera."    "I'm from Security blah blah blah" and "These animal mounts are the property of Cabela's blah blah blah."

  Wide eyed, I asked if there was some sort of posted notice at the door that I had missed.  Then, thinking of all my photos of the house, the park, etc., I asked if he would be willing to watch me delete all the photos I'd taken in the store.  Eventually (very eventually) he said, "Aw, I'm just messin' with you."

  By then, though, I was a mess of unnecessary guilt and shock, "Man, I just want to sit on the floor and cry!"  Well, I didn't sit on the floor -- but I did cry.  (Go ahead, laugh.)

  Then... it was his turn to be shocked.  "Hey, I was kidding!"  I assured him over and over that tears are a natural reaction to such a huge emotional load.  It didn't help that I was trying to laugh it off -- the tear fountain was on, and laughing only made it worse.  Poor guy.

  I found Kirby...  We blew a dollar at the "shooting range":
  

  Kirby phoned Jason to ask his advice about fixing the house. While they talked about floor joists and framing, I slept through Coeur d'Alene and much of 4th of July Pass.

  Jerry and Tommi were roasting hot dogs when we stopped to pick up Bri and Wilson.  Wilson heard Kirby's voice through the dark, and ran, "Daddy!"  Took him a while to realize I was there too, then he ran to me, "Mommy!"  Love that boy.

  Mom had stopped at Gramma Betty's on her way home from work, picked up Mari, Myra, Kendric and Logan so we wouldn't have to drive in to town.  Mari, Myra and Kendric wanted to walk home from Grandma Nancy's by the light of the car's headlamps.  They held hands and ran / skipped together.  What a sweet bunch of kids.

  • 12:17 am
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