To Know

Fluff, frills and froth are a more apt description of what is ostensibly touted as benefiting education – much less professional development – at the National School Board Association (NSBA) annual conferences.

Certainly so in light of the savings to be had, had the members of the Clover Park School District board just stayed home.

On an overnighter at Gran and Pappy’s house, she pushed the alarm panic button because she thought it was the light switch hanging as the button was from the lamp cord, made convenient for Pappy who has health issues.

Lakewood Police arrived to what turned out to be a false alarm.

The faster the boat went, the faster the mallard duck flew.

I later learned we’d never have outrun this crazed-winged beast. Not so much because mallard ducks have been clocked at 50-60 mph and there was no way our aged six-horse outboard was going to come anywhere remotely close to that threshold, but because this creature was addicted to Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.

We learn them from our parents (hopefully) even before pre-school: ‘a penny saved is a penny earned;’ and ‘penny wise but pound-foolish;’ and other such penny-pinching proverbs. ‘If we drive to six different grocery stores to get the best bargains on everything we buy, with gasoline so expensive, that’s penny-wise and pound-foolish.’

Lakewood’s Public Safety Advisory Committee (PSAC) – whose deliberations are found on the Lakewood Police Department’s website – may soon survey folks as to where – on the scale presumably of safety since that’s their middle name – shopping carts rank.

Description of missing item: Slant Top (attached stool) or maybe (with over 2,000 of ‘em it’s hard to remember) it was an Upright (no stool – player must stand while losing money). Credit meter (LED display) – the thing that keeps track of the payouts – only works intermittently. And the drop bucket – where excess coins are diverted from the hopper to the customer – had been disconnected (it was always a lark to see the payee scrambling about on the floor to retrieve his winnings before everybody else did).