Sam Bauman: Free show of kids at play until school starts

I think it would be great fun to bring a bunch of Carson City seniors to my place and put them on my small balcony so they could enjoy the show of hundreds of kids going around the multipurpose athletic center on their way to the big exercise green I see from my west-north facing apartment.

Won’t last much longer as school looms, but until the bells ring they will be crossing the new parking lot on their way to the green grass. (Miss the field of sagebrush that has been replaced by parking lot.)

Some run to the gate to the field, others saunter. The boys usually run straight out on the field, but the girls tend to stay close to the fence. There they do cartwheels, somersaults and other demanding exercises gracefully.

The boys, meanwhile, form lines under gentle supervision and take turns running between two lines of boys seeking to avoid capture.

There’s a large canvas cover in the northwest corner of the field and all the kids wind up there, jousting around. It’s a place out of the sun and a place to talk about upcoming school days.

I think the seniors would enjoy to turn back the clock and enjoy the show as much as I do and it may bring back childhood memories. It does for me.

I had forgotten how to skip, a fun way to get some place happily. I tried to skip but it didn’t come back to me. Just one of the things we let slide as we age, such as singing to yourself. I now practice singing when I’m alone in the car. Old songs like “You Always Hurt the One You Love” or “Up a Lazy River.” Mills Brothers or Ink Spot Tunes.

Meanwhile, all those seniors on my balcony have seen the show and had memories recalled.

Watching kids is a fine way to turn back the clock joyfully. You see yourself back when and remember those youthful days.

The kids are a local fountain of youth, well worth drinking of.

A new Tahoe mystery

Nevada’s prolific and popular writer Todd Borg is back with his 14th (I think) thriller, “Tahoe Dark,” and seniors who have enjoyed his work in the past will surely enjoy this one.

As almost always, Borg does more than tell of a mystery, he also shares some wisdom about dogs and thoughts about responsibility.

The book shares much of the cast of the past, ex-LAPD cop PI Owen McKenna, his great Dane “assistant” pooch, Owen’s lady Street with her bug expertise, and about all of various Tahoe police departments.

The book begins with a man named Mantrop enjoying his paddleboard while struggling with illness. He is putting his paddleboard away after an outing when he receives a phone call; his stepson Jonas has been kidnapped and only $25,000 cash will save him. Mantrop goes to the bank, withdraws the cash and follows instruction on how to deliver it, returns home and starts to put the board away when he is accosted about the ransom money. A scuffle ensues and Mantrop is slain with the paddleboard.

The action switches to a robbery of an armored car by four masked and hooded men. They succeed and flee with the money.

Meanwhile, Jonas is found bound in a hulk of a boat and Owen frees him. Owen is called in by the armored car company and the owner gives him the job of finding the cash destined for a Tahoe casino. Owen finds two of the robbers slain with ski poles.

Owen notes that a woman named Evan, a house cleaner, worked for Mantrop. She lives in a rundown motel with her mentally challenged sister Mia, who depends on Evan to live.

Owen’s evidence points to Evan as guilty and it’s up to Owen to clear her.

The plot is complex and involves a Reno high school group, which implicates Evan. And Owen is smart as he weaves through the plot complexity

No more on the complex and intricate plot, but Borg makes much of Owen’s sympathies for Evan and Mia and his knowledge of dogs well worth reading. His sympathy for characters such as Mia shows clearly.

Seniors who have helped Borg with sales often show up at his book signings, hoping to meet the dog Spot, but he only lives in Borg’s imagination. Borg will be doing book signings around Tahoe these days. He’ll announce them. But alone, no dog biscuits need to be taken to signings.

As always with Borg, it’s a fun read for all of us, seniors included.

Then there’s the Olympics

If watching the kids at play by the big MAC isn’t enough to rejuvenate your senior memories, you can watch the Rio ’16 Olympics. Colorful and the world’s best at play. Personally, I’m cheering for the U.S. women’s gymnastic team. Youth, beauty and skills all wrapped together.

Sam Bauman writes about senior affairs, among other things, for the Nevada Appeal.