What’s that saying — the boss is away, so the mice will play? It may be true some places, but not at the I-R — there’s no downtime here to be able to play. This is the one week I dread every year — Linda Mowery-Denning is on a well-deserved vacation.

Any time someone is absent from the paper for a week, it creates a hole that must be filled. The paper still has to go to press on time, shorthanded or not. Linda is the biggest reason the paper gets out on time as she works late on Mondays to make sure that happens. This leaves us with big shoes to fill when she is gone to keep things on schedule.

I hope I’m not jinxing us when I say this but something big always seems to happen during her vacation time. We can have quiet weeks leading up to the time she leaves but the minute she steps out of state, something usually happens that is a major breaking news story and I end up calling her and interrupting her time away to make sure we are handling the issue correctly. So far, I haven’t had to call her. She and I have texted back and forth a few times but it’s to check and make sure things are going smooth. A business owner truly never leaves their job behind. I’m keeping my fingers crossed it stays quiet the rest of the week.

By the time you receive your paper, it will be almost time for her to be back. I cannot wait.

Juanita Kepka, I-R business manager