In a drill managed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency—which will include all first responders in Latah County—police, fire and emergency management personnel will participate in a full-scale exercise that will simulate a zombie invasion.

Let’s see…Latah County—where have I heard that name before? Ah, yes. I live in the county seat of Moscow. Splendid. Will I need to participate in the drill if I’ve played Left 4 Dead?

via boiseweekly.com

When my buddy Tom asked in an email what I’d be doing over the weekend, I told him I had been nursing a nasty cold all week, and as such I’d probably be just hanging out on the couch trying to rest and get better. No sooner had I hit “send” on that email, friend and co-worker [redacted] asked, “Wanna go boatin’ tomorrow?”

I never claimed to be all that bright.

It was a great afternoon of kayaking down northern Idaho’s Clearwater River. I’ve decided that “ideal October Idaho boating conditions” simply means the wind is blowing the icy rain into the back of your helmet (as opposed to your eyes).

Quote of the day (in the context of passing all the surly Steelhead fisherman huddled miserably on their boats): “I would feel less silly if I weren’t dressed like a giant Power Ranger!” True, but we were warmer. And smiling.

Labor Day brought three generations of Maxfield’s together onto a relatively placid portion of the Clearwater River for a fun family float.

For Family Night last night, I loaded up a borrowed SUP board from work and trucked the Maxfield crew up to a local reservoir. Everyone got a turn (or two), plus the kids got in some swimming and rescue throw bag practice. Good times.

housing

There was an offer.

A ridiculous counter-offer.

A counter-counter-offer.

And a less-than-ideal-yet-not-entirely-ridiculous-counter-counter-counter-offer, which we bravely countered by accepting.

I can hear you now: “That’s crazy!” you say. “But congratulations. When do you move in?”

Not so fast; that entire dance was done on top of someone else’s offer (with the contingency that they—the first to succeed in having an offer approved—sell their existing house first). They can now choose to “act now!” as the TV pitchman might suggest and make all of the above for naught.

Which is to say, it’s still outside of our control.

Failure will bring frustration. Success will bring (ostensible) poverty.

I need a nap. Wake me in 24 hours when we know which ways the chips will fall.

I’ve never in my life had skis—of any kind—on my feet. Last week, my (WITSEC) buddy fixed that. He’s very kind, and I had a blast.

Bonus: give this two minutes of your life (or start right around the one minute mark) and you’ll have watched the thing that makes my wife collapse into a puddle of mean-spirited laughter. So there’s that.