Huckleberries: Like it or not, it’s supposed to be good for you

A rhyme about “Liver” by The Bard of Sherman Avenue triggered a discussion on Huckleberries Online last week. It read: “Packed with nutrients/so incredible,/it’s quite a shame the/stuff’s not edible.” Seems there are two types of people in this world: The supermajority who hate liver. And the few who can stomach it.

Cis Gors, of Kootenai, is among the former. She recalls spending hours at her table as a youth trying to force down the vile-tasting organ. If she didn’t finish the liver at dinner – or sneak it to the dog – she was served it for breakfast the next day. And, if necessary, lunch.

Decades later, she tells of listening to her mother complain about cooking liver for her father. Her mother confessed that she hated liver, too. Startled, Cis asked why – why! – did you make the kids eat liver. Her mother’s response? “It’s good for you.” Cis didn’t know whether to laugh or rage.

Cis’ children should be grateful to their grandmother. Cis never forced them to eat liver.

Baby, please don’t go

Gina Emde Mote, of Coeur d’Alene, summed up perfectly how many parents feel as they’re about to send a child off to college. In preparing to drop off daughter Bailey at a Colorado college, Gina Facebooked: “PANIC!!! No, not panic. Celebrate! No, not celebrate … 2 weeks from NOW, today, our baby girl and her daddy will pile into our over-loaded car and head to Colorado.  2 weeks to make memories that will last a lifetime. 2 weeks to sit across the table. 2 weeks to over-prepare a girl that’s already ready. She’s ready to fly like an eagle. She’s never been caged. UUUUUgggggggg!! I’m practicing some breathing techniques. And cleaning. Yes cleaning. That always helps. Otherwise I will melt.”

Huckleberries

Poet’s Corner: The Bard of Sherman Avenue had a follow-up post to the “Liver” rhyme: “Call it foie gras/if you will,/but nonetheless it’s/liver still” (Title: “Liver, Part 2, Deceit”) … Overheard: Couple at the weekly Coeur d’Alene Arts Alliance Riverstone concert Thursday, complaining about the wine and beer consumption within the designated amphitheater: Can’t they read the signs? she said. Meanwhile, they stroked their small lap dog. Which was also banned, according to park signs … Nugget culled from Coeur d’Alene PD’s weekly Downtown Coeur d’Alene Bar Report: “Officers responded to a call at JoJo’s Tattoos (1522 Sherman Ave.) of a male who keeps calling asking for swastika tattoos. The shop told him twice they do not do those, but he became irate and threatening.” JoJo’s deserves a hat tip for the NoNos … Among the garbage removed by Walkabout in her litter patrol of Coeur d’Alene’s Tubbs Hill last week: a plastic wrapper that once contained a legal – in Washington – Pineapple Express pre-rolled joint. Do you suppose littering is also legal in Washington? … The Chevron station on Government Way and Kathleen Avenue isn’t full-service. But Jeanne Helstrom, of Coeur d’Alene, still appreciated the helping hand she got while pumping gas last week – from a praying mantis that had hopped aboard the nozzle. Two of its mantis buds were praying nearby … How drunk are some of the skunks in downtown Coeur d’Alene on a given morning after? One, a 38-year-old Spokane man, was so soused in the alley off Fifth and Sherman recently that concerned citizens pushed dumpsters in place to box him in until the cavalry arrived.

Parting shot

Was that the old Thong Man sunning himself near City Beach last week? Or a newer version? Thong Man, as you may recall, won the right to wear as little as possible on the Coeur d’Alene waterfront by a 3-2 vote of the City Council in December 1994. Huckleberries hasn’t seen much of him since. Which is the way we prefer it.