Although most of the snow-birds are back in town for the summer, all the smoke in the air may cause them to question the wisdom of that move this summer. Then again, where are you going to land that is any better. Storms and floods from Oklahoma City, (really?), to Boston. Heat and fires in California, Oregon, Idaho and Montana. Then a news report that had our air quality worse then Beijing, China, the place on earth known as having the worst air. Then we get a local warning that seniors, like most of us, and young children, like our visiting grandson, should stay inside! What’s a man to do? Yes, whine!

A few weeks back, we went on vacation with the family to Priest Lake, Idaho, and stayed in a home next to the water that may have meaning to all the WSU fans and grads. It seems the place was built in the 1960’s for Jack Friel, legendary basketball coach, 1928-1958, and athletic director for the Cougars. The place is still in the family and accessible through VRBO. On the way home we stopped for lunch at the Viking Diner in Sprague, Washington. Not a 4-star restaurant. A lady at the next table had on a t-shirt from the Spruce Goose Café at the Jefferson County Airport. She is from Seattle, but thinks the Spruce Goose is a great café. Frankly, I am not sure the Viking Café is even in the same league as the Goose!

Our 5-year-old grandson was in town last week for the Marine Science Center’s Junior Explorer Camp. Every Day was a new experience featuring different themes of the center’s programs. For example, Tuesday was “Touch Tank Tuesday.” Wednesday was a “Walk in the Woods Wednesday.” You get the picture. He is now a fully qualified Junior Explorer. However, the highlight of his week may have been flying paper airplanes off our deck. He and BJ got a book on how to make them at the library so he had a great time launching them from the deck. In addition, he got some good exercise running down, picking them up in the yard, and running back up the steps. Neither BJ nor I joined him even though we should have.

Last week’s Rotary meeting featured the club’s foreign exchange student program. The “outbound” student we sponsored was Molly Meissner, daughter of Whitney Meissner, former Chimacum High School principal and now Superintendent of the LaConnor Schools. Molly went to Belgium and gave a nice presentation to the club about her experience. Whitney came to the meeting also and confesses to being very happy in her new position. Molly is only about a foot taller! Claire Jorgenson, our outbound student to Chile was also there with her folks enjoying the presentation. Our inbound student from The Netherlands arrived past weekend so the whole process starts again for the local schools, Rotary Clubs, and host families.

How about those Mariners! They are fun to watch most of the time. Talking about baseball and kids reminds me of what 8-year-old Greg said about love.

“Love is the most important thing in the world, but baseball is pretty good too.”

Love a curmudgeon and have a great week!

NedLuce@sbcglobal.net