Huckleberries: Bugs really, really bug this Coeur d’Alene businesswoman

First, you should know that Coeur d’Alene businesswoman Kari Glessner doesn’t like bugs. At all. Period. Now, onward. On Sunday, Kari and husband Ron were wiping down the dash inside the Metro Express car wash on Highway 95 when an unexpected close encounter of the worst kind (for her) occurred. On Facebook, Kari describes her ordeal: “All of a sudden my eyes met up with the eyes of a stink BUG, INSIDE the car, on the window on MY side.” The capitalizations explain all you need to know about Kari’s bug-o-phobia. Kari tried to suppress her anxiety. But failed. She lost it. She was trying to roll down the window when her husband’s voice cut through her fog of fear. “Whoa. Whoa. WHOA!” he said. That’s when Kari realized that she was still INSIDE the operating car wash AND that the bug was dead. In fact the bug was so dead it was dried out. It may have been haunting Kari’s side of the car for months, undetected. If the point hasn’t already been made, Kari concludes: “Bugs, spiders and snakes scare the ‘you know what’ out of me.” P’haps we scare the “you know what” out of bugs, too – just before we squish them.

Drum beat goes silent

Joan Harman, 62, of Coeur d’Alene, a prolific writer of letters to local newspaper editors, died Saturday, Nov. 19. The reclusive military veteran was a free spirit who offended some conservatives on my Huckleberries Online blog by identifying herself as an arch druid and a Republican. After interacting with her via email and Facebook, Paul Amador met her face-to-face in October during his successful campaign for the Idaho Legislature from House District 4 (Coeur d’Alene). Representative-elect Amador tells Huckleberries: “When she came to the door, she gave me a huge hug. Trust me. You don’t get many hugs knocking on doors during a political campaign.” Another blog reader, John Olsen of Spokane, remembers Joan as “iconic” and “of superior intellect combined with solid insights gained from her life experience. She shared with openness and tenacity and sometimes barbed humor.” Joan traveled to the beat of her own drum. That drum beat will be missed.

Huckleberries

Quotable Quote: “My kingdom for some kind of tech product that will allow me to never again have to see the words ‘Kanye West’ in any news feed. Is that too much to ask?” – former Coeur d’Alene councilman Mike Kennedy … Gina Emde Mote, of Coeur d’Alene, was driving with her family through Utah last Tuesday when she saw a billboard that claimed the world would end “tomorrow” (Wednesday). If you’re reading this, it didn’t … It’ll be costly, but Mayor Steve Widmyer wants the historic grandstand at Memorial Field to be fixed, not leveled, during the second phase of the “Four Corners” project near downtown Coeur d’Alene. Also, there are no plans to use Memorial Field for anything other than softball. The second phase will begin in the middle of 2017 and will add to the growing “wow” factor of the western entrance of downtown Coeur d’Alene … On the morning of Election Day, in writing, Huckleberries Online predicted the outcome of the presidential election: Republican Donald Trump would win with 282 electoral votes. Now, if we could only be that good in Fantasy Football … Readers of my Huckleberries blog (www.spokesman.com/blogs/hbo) turned their thumbs down when they heard of the Spokane restaurants that charge an automatic 16 percent service fee for meals. In lieu of tips. This comment from one of them summarizes the feelings of many: “I would not go back to that restaurant. The gratuity is supposed to be a compliment on good service and not a supplement for the owner who is too cheap to pay them a decent wage.” Bingo …Tod Marshall, poet laureate of Washington, tells Huckleberries that the book of poems written by our late friend Tom Wobker, The Bard of Sherman Avenue, is almost finished. Tod hopes to have the book ready for the holidays. Stay tuned … Poll: They say indifference, not hate, is the opposite of love. If so, the Coeur d’Alene music scene has a problem. Fifty-five percent of my blog readers had no idea how to describe the Coeur d’Alene music scene. Only 8 percent said “good” … Taryn Thompson, of Rathdrum, has “big hair” on her bucket list – you know, the ’do that featured hair piled on the heads of girls headed to their proms 50 or so years ago. Taryn was too young to sport the ’do. As one who survived the “big hair” era and a whole lot more, your Huckleberry Hound has a question about this item on her bucket list: “Why?”

Parting Shot

“Buckle up. You’d be missed” – SR photog colleague Kathy Plonka spotted this message on eastbound I-90, near the Huetter rest stop area readerboard on the way to work Monday. Last fall, as the NFL and college football geared up for another season, Deputy City Administrator Sam Taylor of Coeur d’Alene recalled that the same readerboard read: “Tailgating is for football, not driving.” Someone’s having fun with those messages – and bringing smiles to passing motorists.