Huckleberries: AP ‘reporterette’ Kruesi is several cuts above

Tweets Kimberlee Kruesi (@kkruesi), the fine Associated Press reporter in Boise: “The men in the (Idaho legislative) press room are currently shocked at how much we reporterettes (their word not Huckleberries’) spend on haircuts.” Huckleberries, of course, had to ask Kimberlee: How much do you pay for haircuts? Her answer: “It’s not unusual to pay $100 or more for highlights and a cut.” Which is 10 times as much as this columnist pays (with senior discount and before tip, of course) to the top-notch cutters at Sheer Madness for Hair on Coeur d’Alene’s Best Avenue. Kimberlee tries to space out her pricey haircuts to 10 weeks apart. She views them as an investment in her media career. Your columnist, meanwhile, is happy to still have hair to cut. No matter what the price.

Close Encounter #2

When we last visited Cathleen Ryan of Wallace, she had survived a pants-wetting encounter with a black bear. Br’er Bear was in the yard of Cathleen’s King Street home in fall 2015, about 10 feet away, when she spotted it. And “shrieked a lot.” Now fast forward to Monday. Cathleen was snow-shoeing with her dog, Elsie Pulaski (whom she acquired at a commemoration of the big 1910 fire). She and Elsie Pulaski were on their way home from the Pulaski Tunnel Trail, near Wallace, when she spotted the carcass of a large animal. And then the bobcat. Cathleen tells Huckleberries: “It was a good size, but it wasn’t nearly as scary as the bear in my yard.” Of the bear, Cathleen said at the time: “It had the cutest little ears.” And, finally: “Yes, totally peed myself.” And you would, too.

Huckleberries:

Poet’s Corner: “We have kidnapped your birds/and we won’t give them back/till you meet our demands,/plus you send us a snack” – Tom Wobker, The Bard of Sherman Avenue, Jan. 31, 2016 (“Ransom Note from Malheur Wildlife Refuge”) … Quotable Quote: “So much better. Turned off the news and turned on the reggae. It gon’ be alright, mon” – Steve Kane, of Post Falls, who once played a superb Tevya (“Fiddler on the Roof”) for Lake City Playhouse … Bumpersnicker: “It’s not that I’m old, you’re music really does suck” – in the front window of the Lucky Monkey in downtown Coeur d’Alene Thursday … Food for Thought: “When someone shares a post that starts with, ‘WHAT THE MEDIA WON’T TELL YOU,’ my brain translates it automatically to, ‘Here’s something I received through the fillings in my teeth.’ ” – Huckleberry Friend Ryan Hill, of Boise. Bingo!

Parting Shot

And to Think I Saw It in Downtown CdA: A chalkboard in front of Christmas at the Lake Thursday provided “Today’s Reason to Celebrate” – Groundhog Day. Then added: “Only 326 days until Christmas.” And that, my Huckleberry Friends, has to be the first Christmas notice of the year. Eatcher heart out Christmas display supervisor at Target.