Saturday, June 29, 2019

Three Beautiful Things 06/28/19: Stu at Sam's!, Hike and Road Trip, Remember When at the Elks

1. Stu was today's surprise visitor. At 5:55 this morning, he rolled up in front of the house and I darted out the door and we strolled down to Sam's for Friday breakfast and none of the other guys knew Stu was coming. Unfortunately, Ed couldn't stick around long because he got a last minute call to a job, but it was really fun having Stu join us.

2. I texted Byrdman this morning, wondering if we planned on being at his place up the river today. He wasn't going up, but suggested I come over to CdA for a combination hike and road trip. Sounded awesome to me. I drove to his house and we blasted just south of CdA to the Cougar Bay Nature Preserve and hiked for about two and half miles, first uphill a ways and then back down closer to the marshy wetland. I had known from other reading I've done about the benefits of leaving wetlands untouched, but I had never thought of wetlands as "nature's kidneys" before. One of the signs on the trail explained how, like the human kidneys, the wetlands filter and dilute contaminating materials, helping keep waterways (like Lake CdA) clean.

After our hike, Byrdman and I took a drive in the Cougar Gulch area, listened to classic rock, and then made our way up to the Westwood Brewery in Rathdrum where we sampled a pint of their fine Hobo Hazy IPA. We haven't been to Paragon since they started brewing beer on site, so we ended our outing with a half pint of their Windy Bay IPA and a mile high All-American burger with fries.

3. Back in Kellogg, I napped for about a half an hour and then headed uptown to the Elks. Jake and Carol Lee and Alan's band, Remember When, has a Saturday birthday party gig and need a night of practice. The Elks canceled their Friday night burger night so the band could get their legs back under them and play for a couple of hours or so and I went up a listened for about an hour and a half or so. Sharon, Danny, Wanda, Diane (and two of her sisters, Donna and Teresa), Ed, and others came to listen, giving Remember When a good audience.

I ended the night at the Lounge where I drank a tall glace of ice water. I had been away from Charly quite a bit today, so I left early, wanting to get back home and make sure she was doing all right. She was and both of us were ready to go to bed soon after I arrived.

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