Why I love living in Boyne City

Today is a great day to affirm why I love living in Northern Michigan, in general, and Boyne City in specific. It's 50 degrees, sunny, with no snow on the horizon - knock on wood. Yesterday morning as I did yard duty at school, I watch ducks flying and two bald eagles soaring. After school, there were four turkey vultures soaring out in back of the house. (Something must have died nearby.) Watching these big birds fly by gliding on air currents, swooping to the ground and back, is amazing.

This morning before school, we let the dogs out the back door. I started to make oatmeal and out the slider, no more than five yards away stood a beautiful doe. I saw her, but the dogs who were running around the yard didn't. She stood perfectly still watching me through the window and listening for the dogs. Jim and I had been seeing tracks for a while, but feared that three noisy dogs were more than deer wanted to mess with. We'd been startled in the dark by the running noises in the woods, but the actual deer sitings, other than the white tails floating like ghosts in the distance have been few and far between. I just watched the doe for five minutes, before Sassy and Molly picked up the scent, with Bo not far behind. Sassy barked twice and the doe and her companion deer ( just saw the tail), trotted off a bit further into the side woods. We could still see them. They had obviously figured out that the e-fence keeps the dogs from chasing into the woods. Jim and I watched a while longer. Sassy saw their movement, barked and they ambled slowly over the ridge, where they were out of sight.

I got to school and found out staff had nominated me twice in the last month for Rambler Pride award, an anonymous way for staff to give positive reinforcement to each other. Once was for understanding kids and handling discipline so well. The other was in conjunction with the principal for changing the school climate from a negative one to a postive one. So, that was nice, to say the least.

Today ten minutes before the end of school, a mother came in concerned that there had been a drunk man at the bus stop and that the kids had hovered in back of her to stay away from him. She worried about what would happen at the end of the day, because she was picking her kid up and there wouldn't be another adult there. I called the Boyne City Police Department and asked the dispatcher, if on five minutes notice, she could have a squad car at the bus stop to just wait and watch there until students had safely unloaded. She responded that she could. I literally hung up the phone and walked out to bus duty. The police car was already there making sure the buses hadn't left, yet. Then, it was off to wait at the bus stop.

No offense to my Vista friends, but I used to call from Alta to say there was a young man dealing drugs with his pitt bull half a block from the school, and school would let out in a few minutes. Rarely, was I able to get a police car dispatched, even if I called repeatedly. Sadly, the young man with the pitt bull was later shot and killed in a local park, leaving the dog tied to the fence. I've always mused, "If only someone had intervened sooner." He was only 16 or 17 years old. For contrast - here, it was possible a drunk MIGHT show up again at the bus stop, and the police were all over PREVENTION - what a concept! It's a small town.

Jeff sent two things from Korea, his guitar priority mail, and some videos book rate. I called the post office when the tapes didn't come in. I had been worried, because both Jim and I got calls about a package needing postage from Korea. A week later when I found out Jeff had sent two packages, I called the post office panicked that someone had called each of us for different packages and my ignoring the call made them send the one they called me for back. The clerk said only one package had arrived, but he had called both of our cells to make sure someone knew about it. He explained that book rate takes a long time. He said, surely they would have noticed another package from Asia. He told me not to worry, because if I hadn't called back, he would have tried again. Now that he knew I was looking for another box, he'd track the tapes and be on the lookout for them. Sure enough, yesterday, the tapes arrived - not in my mailbox (1/4 mile from the house), not with a note saying to go the post office to pick up - but right next to my downstairs front door. In Boyne City, even with governmental cutbacks, somehow, the basic systems aren't overwhelmed, like they are in Southern California.

Today, Jim had Molly at the Chamber office, so since it was a shortened day for Good Friday, we went to eat at Water Street Cafe, while Molly watched the Chamber office. Everyone who came in the Chamber was petting her and making a fuss. We knew half the folks at the restaurant. It felt like Vista's Curbside Cafe.

I went home to see the contractor working on my bathroom who explained where he was on the project. The interior designer had stopped by, let herself in, inspected and left grout color samples, but I'm sure she's picked one out. Sassy and Bo had the run of the house and yard. Those who know Sassy know the minor miracle it was that she had made her peace with both the interior designer and the contractor and basically ignored their comings and goings.

I frisbee-tossed with Bo in the yard. It's his second day with a Frisbee (actually a disc) and he's all over it. He's catching about a third of what I'm tossing. Sassy will chase it on the ground and then shake it and run away with it. Molly will catch, if she doesn't have to run and it's a perfect throw. Bo will be awesome, if I can ever learn how to throw the thing right.

Then, I remembered that I had two books due today at the library. When I got a library card, they gave me a PIN to renew books online, but of course I never went online to do it, and I lost the paper with the PIN. I phoned the library. Sue Conklin, whose husband runs the Main Street organization answered the phone. She renewed my books for me over the phone, and talked me through getting a new PIN to boot. No bureaucratic hassle.

I think of any of the things I've done so easily today, and how much a nightmare any one of them would be in a big city. There was no roaming wildlife in the woods, no Frisbee room in the yard for entertainment. There were contractor hassles, post office hassles, police response hassles, and library hassles. We DID have a great restaurant where we ate lunch and knew everyone, which we've replaced with a restaurant here. I thank my lucky stars for living in a small town and being able to enjoy wildlife in its natural environment.