Natano to the Rescue

When a house is a home, it is important to give it some TLC from time to time.  At Boomerang Creek, we try to take care of the small things ourselves before they become big chores. But for the big tasks and anything that requires a ladder or chainsaw, we call our wonderful nephew Nathan (a.k.a. Natano) and invite him to fly from his home in Hood River, OR for a week of fixit tasks and family reconnection.

Cathy Salter

I first met Nathan in the summer of 1978 when Kit, his children Hayden and Heidi, and I made a 6,000-mile road trip from Los Angeles to Amherst, MA and back in a Westphalia pop-top camper van.  Along the way,  I was introduced to a host of amazing Salters who welcomed me into their family circle.  On the eastward leg of our trip, we stopped in Rice Lake, WI to visit Kit’s sister-in-law Maggie, wife of his brother Joel, and their seven children—Annie, Nannie, Joel, Danny, Nathan, Heather and Sam.  

Nathan who was then in high school had built a substantial tree house and furnished it with a full-sized couch.  I do believe that he and his siblings could build just about anything they set their minds to creating.   His passion for the environment, recycling, and solar energy were already powerfully imbedded in his independent spirit and mindset.  I remember watching him ride his unicycle out to the compost pile to recycle the day’s kitchen scrapes.  Decades later, he ends every email with: “Waste is the visible face of inefficiency.”  That’s our Nathan in a nutshell. 

~ Read the rest in today’s Journal ~