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The news from Trout Falls: Teacher Bob spent most of the afternoon in the emergency room at Bellringer hospital yesterday after getting sliced and diced by a 32" Pike hat caught him on Island Lake. When he pulled it into the canoe the heavy duty dare devil lure had enough hooks dangling to catch the pike, his loose pants and his hairy leg. Uh oh. Have you ever been in a boat when a huge pike lands at the bottom of the boat? It might as well be an eight foot great white. There is nowhere to hide. You can never have a big enough boat, i.e Jaws. It will slap around that boat like a fresh brookie in a fry pan. the fish tore into Bobs left leg and it wasn't a pretty sight but fter five long minutes it finally popped free of the lure. Teacher Bob was one happy but bloody dude......I always carry a hammer in the Leaky Teaky Two for obvious reasons and this is why all the pictures of the pike I've caught have no head. Ha. When I was new to Trout Falls, I carried a small pistol but after shooting a hole in the floor of the Leaky Teaky One I gave up that idea after it sank and I swa, to shore. I now offer deep sea scuba diving tours on the spot where my ex boat lays in six feet of water. When GQ was here he could sit in it and his head would be above water. As for Teacher Mark....Plastic surgery will fix his leg but he will walk with a limp in long pants. He's taken up badminton..... The Big Fart River runs through Trout Falls and even though we have a swimming beach some of us like to take a dip at the dam south of town. The dam helps control the water level in the Big Fart but doesn't do much for the smell. No one has ever been able to figure out why the Big Fart smeels like rotten eggs. Tourists love to say, "What's that smell?" We say, "What smell?" Some prudists don't like saying Big Fart because it is considered a swear word so they started calling it the BF but that didn't last long after they figured out what BF might mean. Anyway, the key to swimming at the dam is to not get sucked through and get spit out the other side. Kind of like swimming uphill against the current in a dryer. Locals call it getting sucked through the dam or as we called it, getting flushed, and it has happened only once about thirty years ago and it stands as a bellringer in Trout Falls lore....Toivo popped out the other side ovciuosly in distress. Us kids jumped in to help him but he kept swimming in circles. Like he'd been spun around twenty times and asked to walk. We called him Wobbly after that he eventually left town to join a traveling circus where he worked the tilt a whirl.... Smart Mike is kind of an air head but one heck of a good guy. He'd lived in San Francisco during the sixties and after alll these years he is just an old, happy hippie. Smart Mike knows more about anything then anybody but could never quite figure what what do do with his life. He blew into Trout Falls in the eighties carrying his guitar when all hippies were trying to find a place to hide and still do their thing. He charmed the ladies and made a career of selling exotic flowers at his purple painted stand on the side of M-95. He did a blossoming business and offset the smell of the Big Fart immensely. Some came just to smell the good stuff. If you're a pretty lady he'll place one in your hair and sing of San Francisco, Scott Mckenzie...Mike lives in a shack he built himself with help from us locals. Left to his own doing the log cabin would have had thirty miles an hour winds, inside. I've been to his place many times and sometimes I envy Smart Mike. We've spent many nights feeding the woodstove over a few beers. We solved all the problems in the free world. The old hippie was happy. It amazes me because he has so little and wants even less. He's not a Teacher Bob with all his degrees but he majored in easy living graduating first in his class. Who is to say who has the best life? Or the best health. We are all the same but totally different inside. At 61, I am the same as I was when I was 18. I've gone through more changes then a rolling stone, Bob Dylan. The point is we all have to be ourself and travel our own road. Smart Mike is happy picking blackberries while Teacher Bob is a happy, family man living off a Blackberry. Wobbly came back home in his elder years and late at night a bunch of guys would build a fire by the damand Wobbly would tell his story again and again. We all need something to hang our hat on; Don't we. Seeya next week...in Trout Falls.... Easy...
P.S......When I feel down I head to Trout Falls. It's a fictional place where I get away to relax and find myself like Smart Mike. Teacher Bob lives in my other world; the one where I start my nine week radiation treatments on the 31st. I'm also working on a new book but I find it hard to get into the place I need to be to write. It's an up close open book of my life with Cancer, losing my dad last winter, the veterans and hopefully some laughs along the way. God bless......
I want to write a funny blog but it could end up sad. The difference between happy and sad is a smile. I want to play with words. I've always been funny. Sometimes, the words are harder to find. It's not easy but I am Easy. In grade school, the Heymaker sisters (honest) thought I looked funny and wouldn't dance with me. I wasn't quite yet... Gene Gene the dancing machine... Those twins still hurt me today. They bailed on me. Hey? Funny is relative and my Uncle Jim was my best. When we enjoyed a cool one in the local saloon someone would start the joke telling time to pass said time. Uncle Jim could tell a funny joke. Even lousy jokes were laughed at because it was a one act play and he was the star. He would lay in waiting like a cat for a mouse. After a lousy joke was told badly and when a half joke was half told by a guy who forgot the punch line thusly turning as red as Skelton. Yes, the long, run on sentences are funny. I think. I can still hear the Jaws music as Uncle Jim prepaired to pounce on the non laughing who were floundering for a laugh to not think of the lousy stuff in their own lives. I've watched my Uncle prepare for his first joke too many times but not enough because when he opens his mouth I smile. He would take a long pull on his beer to wet his lips while he lit a cig with a shiny, zippo lighter that has a funny metal sound I like. It was the Uncle Jim show as he told his first joke and one guy sprayed beer on his buddy who spilled his beer on the counter that rolled downhill and dripped slowly to he floor. "Towel"..... and again the funny train was leaving the station. If Uncle Jim was in front of a firing squad he would refuse a smoke and say, "Did you hear the one about the Penguin who woke up in a tanning booth with a Walrus?..... I supress my fears with comedy. A cloak of humor. Or, is it simply a mechanism to change my mood from sad to happy? I sure don't like fear. I sure do like to laugh and make others smile. The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. Franklin Roosevelt said that during the great depression. I don't want to be depressed even though some think I might be. I'm rock solid. I feared the Marine Corps when I joined up. Afraid that this pimply, insecure but determined kid could actually grow up to be a man. A Marine! I love lousy odds. Fires me up. Ha. I didn't laugh much in boot camp for obvious reasons but there is one picture of me sitting on my iron bucket cleaning my M-14 and I am smiling. It's bugged me for 40 some years but I've finally figured it out what the heck there was to smile about? I could clean that rifle all day and night and I still had trouble hitting the target. When I shot they stopped manuvers ten miles away. I was so nervous I was called 'Shaky'. Now, it is a lot easy..ier being nervous.... I've decided that in that picture I was very afraid but I was trying to laugh my so far miserable attempt learning to be a Marine away. Get it? Oh yaw. About that firing squad; If ten of me were taking aim a man could smoke a pack or tell a pack of jokes..... Happy Saturday my friends. I feel good. What's up this weekend? If you have a choice, tell a joke, laugh, and put the bad stuff aside until at least Monday, eh? God Bless!!! Easy......
I miss my dad. He's only been gone for a couple of months and when something good happens in my life I pick up the phone to call him and then I realize he is gone. It still hurts. Oddly enough, I don't want that feeling to go away. Not wanting to ever forget him like we forget things as the days, weeks and months go by just living until..we die and become a memory ourself. So. I know you are listening dad. You'll love this one.... I'm in Chicago and Janet and I have hit the Red Box for another movie we will watch that evening and this time it was her turn to pick. We don't like lousy flicks and I was a bit gun shy after selecting "Men Who Stare At Goats" which shall I say delicately...sucked. I digress, this isn't about the movie we picked or whether it was good or not it is what happened on the ride back to her house. Ever driven in Chicago? It's all about who can get to an open spot first. Janet drives like everyone else and unlike anything I've seen in the town of 700 where I live. It's like comparing the Concorde to a balsa airplane we tossed into the wind as kids. You have to understand Janet is a sweet gentle lady who is anything but a Nascar driver on a Sunday race at Daytona. Here I go again. I start one story and head off on another as quick as super glue dries. I guess after awhile you will figure this out about me. My writing is like a jigsaw puzzle that sonehow fits together. Sometimes I feel my style is like that last pice you can't find.... No cars either way and Janet pulls out and we follow the traffic in front of us. Blood pressure normal. She says, "See that license plate? Minoso3." I do see it and began to tell her about the day over 50 years ago when we were at the ballpark watching another Detroit Tiger game with our dad who taught me my love for this all American game. It was batting practice before the game and my little brother Jimmy and I were hanging over the railing and Minnie Minoso was in Left Field shagging fly balls. He played for the rival..hiss...boo..Chicago White Sox. A batted ball landed between him and us and we yelled to Minnie, "Give us a ball Minnie....please." I think or I like to think I said please. Anyway, he picked up the ball and walked over to us and with a huge smile he handed it to me. Of course, I had a pen in my pocket for my scorecard and he signed it and chatted with us while a few fly balls landed with a thud in the grass behind him. From that moment forward he was my favorite ballplayer next to Al Kaline who played for the Tigers and was my hero. Next to my dad. I've since lost that ball but it doesn't matter.... Janet, bless her heart, weaved in and out of traffic to catch up to that car and that tells you what kind of person she is. She knew how important that memory was to me and this is one of the reasons I was visiting her for the week. To relax and try not to think of cancer for a bit. She is a wonderful woman. We were once engaged to be married but after a year or so I broke it off because I missed my home in Upper Michigan. I missed the turtle pace of my life. I missed the solitude and my selfish Thoreaudesque lifestyle. It cost me dearly. We had trouble even being friends for awhile. It hurt. I knew I was wrong and that made it worse. Eventually we put it behind us and rekindled a friendship like the love we once had and have become best of friends. There I go again..... Janet finally pulls up alongside the car and I look in and see Minnie Minoso. It was him. He's 84 now; two years older then my dad. What are the chances of that? I reached for my phone but my dad is gone. Or is he? I like to think...no...I know dad was watching. I called my little brother Jimmy and told him and he remembered too. What goes around comes around again in a different and better way. Don't you think? Was it a coincidence? I think not.... Happy weekend. eh? Easy
I will miss Boomer. I will miss my friends. I will miss blogging. Back in 06, I was looking for an avenue to write my stories of life and living in Upper Michigan. I quickly found a home. I was returning to my penthouse cabin in the woods after a trying battle with Leukemia and I badly needed friends and a reason to wake up in the morning. I found that and so much more. I'd wake up every morning with a smile to join my new family for coffee and good thoughts. We laughed together and we cried together. We prayed hard for each other during the sad days and we rejoicerd in the good news. We've lossed friends like Bobbie. Babies have been born and joined our family. I met Janet (SavedbyGrace) and for that alone I am forever thankful. Without her as my friend I don't know where I would be now. I wish I could acknowledge all my friends I've met. But, I can't. You are all in my heart and on my mind today. Thank you for liking me and appreciating the words I wrote. I love all of you and if you need anything just drop me an email.....
You may have heard that my dad, George Plankey, died peacefully at home a couple weeks ago. You have been there through the whole journey with nice comments and some even sent cards to my dad. I thank all of you for the last time. I will never forget you and will always be in my prayers. Friends are forver. God Bless each and all of you.....
Like many, I drifted away but not because of the people or anything admin did. Life moves on in directions we know not. We evolve. We change. But, we never forget....
My email is Geneplankey@gmail.com if you'd care to stay in touch...
Keep smiling..
Easy (Gene)
Don't bring bad karma up my driveway. I have enough troubles of my own.... Be respectful when speaking of other nationalities. Our country is made up of a mix of minorities and we are all Americans... Throw litter on the road to the mailbox and I will put it in a bag and dump it into your back seat... Do not put garbage out until the morning of pickup. It is a bad erflection on me because I am the only full time resident. Plus, I have to pick it up what you threw out from the weekend. Catch a fish. Eat it. This is the Gracie amendment to basic Island Lake rules...Shoot a deer. Eat it. Or share it... If you come here trying to change the yooper way of life it won't work and your friends here will be few.. Relax. Enjoy... If you open a gate close it behind you... Pretend you don't have a care in the world... You may come here with AAA insurance but leave with AA meetings... Slow down pard.... Eat up. More Pike filets left.... And; most important....Bring beer.... Easy...
Burner stopped by yesterday and it was good to see anybody who could talk back. A few minutes later I regretted thinking that. We kind of had a difference of opinion and he railed me about my mood and of a "rush to judgement" attituide. What does that mean? I couldn't say much because he's right. It would be easy to use some lame excuse to condone my behavior but that doesn't hold water. Even if its froze. Do my personal issues, and they are many, give me the right to 'pick on' one of my few remaining best friends? Of course it doesn't. My life is an open book and I wear my feelings on my sleeve and share my life almost as it happens because it feels good to get it out and I can see it in front of me and it helps me figure out what is the best to do or say next. I wish I could figure out why I have such a hard time getting my opinion across to Burner without saying it in a way that always seems to come out so wrong. I did not mean to hurt Burner. I need him now more then ever. I value his opinion.It is not in my consicience nature to hurt anyone but seems to breed somewhere between my thoughts and what I say or write. I swear, I would give my life for Burner. I miss the time we don't have together because of something I said. I would cover his back 24/7 and I try hard not to judge him for his faults. So, why does he enjoy picking on mine? Or does he? Is it me and not him?. The world does not revolve around me. My friends don't lose sleep wondering what I'm thinking because they know what I am thinking. lol..IF I can get across to them what I really mean. Ha. Ha. Who'son first? No. He's on second....Yikes. So, what do I do? For one, I MUST start thinking before I spew out the world according to Gene. I've always shot from the hip and the backfire is wounding me in my heart of hearts. Have I turned into a person I have learned not to be? I want to always be a friend to Burner. One he can depend on day in and day out. I want him to have a good time with me and to relax and know I have no other ulterior motives. I do know my boundries. I do know right from wrong, good from bad and insults from affirmations. I just need to figure out which is which. It's costing me dearly because I guess I don't quite get it.. A rush to judgement, eh?.... Easy....
The snow is falling softly this morning and I just returned home from my morning walk. Henry David (Thoreau)... said, "An early morning walk is a blessing on the rest of the day". It surely is. I slept well last night and it was needed. My mood has been melancoly and I jump at any unexpected noise. Edgy as a red squirrel guarding his cache. I pulled the battery out of of my new wall clock because when I lay in bed at night it sounds like Stevie Wonder snapping his fingers keeping the beat to a 60's tune. All this new clock has done is fall off the wall and keep me up at night. I need a clock that doesn't tick out loud and one with super glue to seal it to the wall when I slam the door on my way out. I can tell what is on its way out. Hammer time.... Dad had life saving surgery on Sunday and it was unexpected. The Doc's have found a huge mass in his lung but couldn't do anything except take a biopsy, help him breath a little easier and he is back home now and sleeping mostly. I did talk to him for a minute and he told me to stay where I am. "I'm not going anywhere", and, I almost believe him. I cringe every time the phone rings ready to pack my bags and head out again. Until then, I try to enjoy the day as best I can. I'm really getting into my night walks which I have lengthened some. I used my axe to make a point on my walking stick just in case but so far I find the walks a pleasant experince during an unpleasant time. My body is tired and I go at a snails pace almost not wanting to get back to the safe confines of my cabin on the lake. The laptop sits here tempting me but the connection is so lousy right now I get as mad at it as I do the aformentioned clock. I try to write on my book. I try to write short stories. I try to write on facebook but I can't get into it right now. I've tried writing a blog on boomer for days and I may get it out this time. lol.... The thought of death forces me to think of life. What the heck and I doing with mine? Where am I going? I was happy a week ago and now I'm not. This happens. It's life. I pray for the guidance from our God to take away my negative thoughts and get back my faith I seem to lack. And, have lost. I haven't acted like the Christian man I want to be but this again is pretty normal. I have a lot on my plate these days and I am balancing those plates so they don't fall to the floor and break into a million peaces. If this was my life it would be hard picking up that mess..lol... I went out on the porch for some fresh air last night and yelled as loud as I could. Like barking at the moon. It echoed through the pines over and over and over. What a powerful feeling.. I did it out of frustration. I did it for hope. I did it because I can. No one heard it and that's the point...This is why I am here..... Good day to you... Easy....
The big snowstorm missed us this time. Dang. I hate it when that happens. Five deer have been in the yard already this morning and I enjoy their company. I'm never really alone. I've hit my winter groove and took a long walk skirting the shoreline of Island Lake but haven't ventured out to the island because I'm not sure how thick the ice is out in deep water. As it is, I don't see any deer tracks out there either and I do see tracks near shore. Deer know the score. I carry a long pole and never am far from land just in case. Seven vehicles around this area have already fallen through the ice and these idiots have mush for brains. Ice fishing is fun but fishing for bodies in trucks is not fun. I survive out here because I don't take chances when I am not sure. There is a time to go outside and there isd a time to stay inside. Gives us true yoopers a bad name.... My dad is hanging on by will alone and the blood transfusions aren't giving him the pick up it once did. I plan on heading back downstate in mid February (or sooner) for my cancer check up and it will be a short trip this time. God willing. I'm making slow progress on my short book about South Lyon, Michigan but having a new laptop now has given me a push in the right direction. Janet helped me pick it out when I stopped in Chicago to celebrate New Years Eve. We went to an IKEA store and that was a fun adventure. Gotta love those curtain rods. I hit two walls, one person and a rack of comforters with a cart I pushed around behind her.The free breakfast was priceless as was the company. We had a wonderful time as good friends should and it was great to see Pippen and his side kick Lego. Maybe I can get Janet to put up the pic of my Christmas present to Pippen. I have no shame.... I appear to be in good control of my life and I am happy with a positive attitude again. Being away as much as I have been I reallyappreciate my life here in my cabin on the lake. I thrive in the winter and it's no different then summer except it's colder. My sauna's alone take up three hours of my day. Getting water from the culvert is a bit testy because it is frozen solid where the water rushes out of Island Lake and now I have to reach over the bank where the water drains out to fill my pickle buckets. It was here I once fell face first into the water at midnight when it was below zero. I think of it every time I reach into the water and believe me when I say I have one arm holding firmly to a nearby tree. Ha. It's my life and I like it. Love it most times... Easy...
On my latest trip I met my share of characters... Milwaukee bus station. 9 PM and I'm reading a book my son gave me for Christmas when a older man came in from outside bringing the cold air behind him. He wore a thin, dirty jacket with a floppy wool cap that barely covered his ears and obviously a man down on his luck and living on the streets. I see others like him during my eternal adventures away from my cabin on the lake and it never gets easy. I care about people. I hurt when anyone hurts whether I know them or not. What put this seemingly healthy man in such a miserable plight? I do this to a fault. I always buy an extra pack of cig's and hand them out ot the right person who asks me for one or offers a quarter knowing no one takes it. My way of giving back...I soon found out what this man's problem is. He talks to himself. Out loud. He talked to the wall and he talked to the ATM machine. Hmmm. So far I am him too. Ten seconds ago I didn't realize this. Anyway, this man would not shut up. He had lots to say. I pictured him with a toga in the roman senate. Hmmm....The man grew tired of talking inside and went outside in the cold to orate more and I could see the steam coming out of his mouth but he didn't seem to mind the cold. I snuck out to have a smoke and see if he would hit me up for one. I'd gladly give him a pack but he never made eye contact and maybe that was a good thing. Some times I never shut up. I talk to myself. I'm thankful I live in the woods..... One night in the VFW I notice a guy who seems to be staring at me. I've seen him before but I have said hi. Something about him I couldn't figure out. Well dressed, tall and a scrappy black beard that reminds me of Billy Mays. Later, he ended up sitting next to me and my attention was again peeked. We exchanged small talk for a bit and then he said, "You don't remember me do you?" I looked closer now. Nope. Nothing. I sheepishly said, "Sorry. No." He grinned, "Remember last summer? I took you out metal detecting on that Island near where I live.".......Yikes.....It was Steve. A great guy and a great day out on his boat searching for lost treasure and I didn't even remember him. I felt terrible. I think I apologized ten times and I still feel lousy about it. He thought that I was avoiding him. I wanted to crawl into a hole. Oh wait. I do that all the time back home.....Steve said we were cool and we had a nice talk......I had a long talk with my Doctor recently about the brain surgery I had 15 years ago concerning the functions I have lost beside the loss of eyesight. Why else would I leave my cell phone at my neighbors three times in five visits? Why would I lose six pairs of sun glasses in 2009...... So. I plod on doing the best I can and not be so critical of myself. The older I get the more I learn.... I'm sitting in the "Hotel" bar in South Lyon playing Keno and drinking a dollar mug of Bud when a pretty lady sits down on my right and she smiles and says hello. After thanking the lonely gods I struck up a conversation and we hit it off. No wedding ring. Hmmm. Took me about seven seconds to tell her I was an author. My opening lines at 60 are as smooth as sandpaper but I go with what I got. I do have a brain. Well. Most of it....An hour goes by and I detect no bad vibes other than she drinks a bit much for my taste but I let that slide considering I've been in the woods too long. I ask her if she wants to go to the VFW thinking I had to get back that way soon. She agreed which I thought was a plus. A high five plus...We walked into the Vee and the happy faces of the patrons quickly turned sour as we found stools at the bar. I think my brother walked out the back door. A chill went up my spine. Like usual, everyone knew something I didn't. Does it only happen to me?.....When my lady not quite friend went to the bathroom a buddy sidled up next to me and said, "You DO know she's married, right?" I gulped and felt a tenseness creep through me. "Well. No." He laughed and walked away. Then, I think he laughed louder......... I told her goodbye and left the bar following my bro out the back door. He was gone. I was too. It was snowing and I pulled my wool cap down over my ears and put the hoodie over it zipping my coat to the top. The snow swirled in the parking lot and an idling car sent huge tufts of white snoke out the muffler. It was time for one of my long walks. Sort hings out. Somewhere past the Lutheran church and before the movie house in town I figured it out. I need warmer gloves. Ha. Ha. I realize that if an adventure seems too good to be true it probably is. Stick with what I have. They are my true friends......
I'm back and glad to be home. Brand new spiffy laptop that sings a pretty tune to me. Part 2 soon and I hope all of you had a great Christmas and new year. Dad is hanging on valiantly and I'll talk of that another day. Be good and do good deeds....
Easy.....
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