|
Viewing 100 - 108 out of 340 Blogs.
| Page:
|
|
|
|
|
12 |
|
|
|
|
|
I am an outsider in life and I wouldn't have it any other way. I come and go as I please and it's usually not far from home. Today, I woke up and a half a foot of snow had fallen over night and I revel in it. I think I will build a snowman in the yard and down the road I want to build a sculptor of some kind. Maybe a Hummer. I haven't decided what it will look like but it will come to me in due time. I have lots of time to ponder, scheme and orgainize my life more then it already is. I dictate my time and time means nothing to me other then organizing my days in a civilized manner acceptable to others who know me or of me. Not many really know me and I'm not sure I even know myself. I do know it is easier taking care of myself and not others... I look out my window this morning and I see my new bud who I call Blackie. I have many animal friends. They sense I will not harm them. I speak softly to them and I never yell. As soon as the sun comes up he comes out of his nest to eat some corn I always have in the yard. The bait pile is under the two huge Maples. One is a sugar Maple and the other a regular Maple. One has yellow leaves in the fall and one has bright red leaves that I prefer. I know this. I don't know which is which but plan on learning all the trees in the woods which may take some time. These two trees are always outside my window when I drink coffee after waking up. Blackie is a squirrel of a large size because I have been feeding these guys for ten years now. They know where their bread is buttered and I enjoy taking care of my friends. Mostly, it is kernel corn and it's a battle with the whitetail deer as to who gets to eat first. It's 10:30 now, the sun is up and it looks deceivingly nice outside where Blackie sits on his haunches eating breakfast. It's -15 on my thermometer and the snow on the little lake outside the window resembles the top on domed stadiums like the old home of my Detroit Lions. They are a bad team. They are the reason I moved to Upper Michigan. Naw. Just kidding. I must soon get my ice fishing gear together but I may wait until tomorrow. They are a mess in the shed. All tangled and hooked together in a quagmire. I wasn't smart putting them away last spring and I'm not so smart untangeling them now. You see the problems I have? I am not ashamed of it. I just wish I could do more today then I may do tomorrow. I probably won't ever change but I feel better when I think about changing. Like my cigarette smoking which I don't want to talk about now but I may one day. Tomorrow, I guess... I just got back from shoveling the deck and steps from the snow blowing from my little lake. I shoveled all the way to the outhouse down the hill and that left me tired. I get tired easy now. Lake Superior is 50 miles to the northeast and we get these fierce winds out of Canada and it is no fun sometimes. I make the best of it like I do in the one seator outhouse down the hill behind my cabin. It's not so bad though, I have a portable heater I can turn on from inside. I am used to it after all these years but I hope to get water and plumbing some day. I guess I live for those somedays. They will never let me down like yesterday's have. Someday...... Easy....
I'm on my way. Part of my new novel.....
I like to sit by the brook that runs through my backyard. I built a small bench to sit on and I look down on the water and listen to the sounds and see the animals who must come to the water and drink. I've thought of recording that sound of running water and listening to it when I lay down to sleep at night. I love to sleep and the older I get I look forward to it instead of fighting against it like when I was young. It's December now and it is a bit cold (-10) sitting on that bench. Does this make me weird? Watch out what you ask for;you will get an answer. I can sit in front of this computer all day and not have the good thoughts I do sitting out in the snow and cold. I like good thoughts. The huge pine trees are covered with tufts of snow that makes the limbs bend down and eventually get too heavy and fall into the water with a splash. It's like watching a picture show for free. No one in their right mind would pay for it or do it but I do. I'd rather be cold outside enjoying myself then comfy warm and bored inside. I enjoy it and that is all that matters. The Chickadee's flit over and around and I can hear their wings flapping. Their having fun and so am I. I like watching them. Ocassionaly an otter or mustrat will swin by searching for food. I guess. I shiver thinking how cold that water is but there are many things I don't understand. I hope to know them all before I die. I doubt I will but I will never stop trying. I just try to have as much fun as that Otter. How hard can it be?
Gene..
I was laying in bed the other night, two comforters, bothering no one and half way through a decent dream trapping beavers when I heard scratching somewhere in the penthouse cabin. Hmmm. I've heard deer walking on the deck, racoons fighting in the yard, birds flying in an open window, partridge bouncing off the siding of the cabin, Moose staring in the window, Northern Pike flapping in the sink and I've had ants and spiders too. One thing I haven't had is mice and I sat up on the bed, in the dark, and listened like in that E.F. Hutton commercial.... The noise was coming from the sink area which is a watermelon toss from my bedroom which is right next to the living room and next to my den where I hold court and I'm never guilty. I was in no hurry to open up the sink and feel around in the area where I put all the toxic stuff and anything else greasy I can't find a spot for. I carried a fly swatter in case it made a run for it. This is the place where the ant spray is, the WD-40, soaps and vegetable oil and those empty wine bottles the guy from Wisconsin brings me to test. Ok..maybe you don't have the wine bottles. I don't think I will give him the empties back but I feel better when I keep them for a month or two and then throw them away. Like used paint brushes, eh Gracie? I was putting on my rubber gloves that always reminds me of my cancer Doctor when he would say..naw..not going there...anyway, the scratching was coming from under the sink and on the ground beneath the floor. I have a plastic hose connected to the sink where the dish water drains outside and I had cut part of it off because it has frozen up with the cold temps. What does get through now has a bit of food that is now frozen into the ground. Thus the scratching...I don't want to know what kind of animal it is but I know there are no mice on my watch. I eat frozen food so I guess they can too.. I went back to sleep listening to the clock tick and the lake groaning outside as the ice settles in...Ever heard it?? Easy..
It's been pretty quiet around the penthouse cabin lately with biting cold winds whipping off the snow covered ice on Island lake. I see tornados of swirling snow backed up by blue ski and only here can one get three inches of snow when the sun is shining. Five deer were in the yard this morning until I coughed and that's how quiet it is out here. They bounded off almost flying through the air as graceful as a ballet dancer in the Nutcracker Suite. I went to town yesterday to play some pool badly and I didn't disappoint. Lately it has been my only day out for the week and I act like I just got out of solitary confinement. The talk was of the early deep freeze and Annie Oakley said she had -18 the other morning while she was feeding her chickens. She has an electric bowl that keeps water from freezing and us yoopers go to extreme measures to not freeze stuff. Door handles break off, cars with hoods up getting jumps and electric blankets over engines in the garage is the norm, Norm..... I bought two dozen brown eggs from Annie and a few of them are boiling now for egg salad and a rising loaf of bread is ready for the oven. When the bread is baked I turn down the furnace and open the oven door to let out that sweet smell of freshly baked bread and I think of my Gramma Antilla a long time ago. I won't bore you with the chunk of butter I'll lay on it in a bit... It's hard to ignore what is happening in Illinois with another corrupt politician and I wonder who lives in the real world; them or us? We can queue up the elected felons and the 'Gecco' greed alike and I'm beginning to think we are on our own folks. I don't think Detroit will get a bailout and I'm not sure they should. Either way, it's the working man and woman who will suffer while the fat cats land on those cushy golden parachutes at the expense of us boomers. When will it end? Or will it ever... I've been busy working on my new novel but it is a struggle. I even stream a Detroit radio station I listened to while writing my first book. Do I sound frustrated? Yup. I am. But, I'm plodding along writing without thinking much and to see what falls out. Life is Good and hope yours is too... Easy...
The sun is out this morning but it is scary cold on Island lake with the temp hovering just above zero. I let Pixie out while I tossed some corn for the squirrels and my feet crackled under my boots and the freeze crept into any opening in my clothes. It's my last full day with a dog as Mark will be here tomorrow to pick him up and it has been a learning experince for me and I have come to the conclusion that I won't be getting a dog of my own... The responsibility involved is more then I can handle on a daily basis and it became clear when Kris was here. It boils down to I forget things. I can tell you who won the NFL championship game in 1967, da Packers, but I can't quite remember that I have let Pixie outside or that I was heating turtillas in a pan on the stove; which burnt, more then once. These are only a couple examples and I promised Kris that I would let my VA Doctor know when I see her in March. My grampa Plankey got Alzeimers in his early sixties and I may not even have it but I must consider the possibility. It's probably just me getting old but.... I like to think I have been good to Pixie and he seems happy with me. He enjoys chasing squirrels, eating table scraps, chasing deer and sleeps under my feet at the command post. He licks my face, his tail wags and he moans like 'Pete' when I rub behind his ears. I've called him Pippen and I've compared him to Pippen and with Pixie maybe I can finally let go of Pippen like I will let go of Pixe tomorrow. I think it's best I only have to take care of myself and like Kris says; when I'm in the woods and I don't know where I am I may have a problem Houston. I'm a long ways from there because I know where I am right now and I feel good..... I found out yesterday that Kris will be coming for Christmas and that warms my heart for sure but he is disappointed he won't be spending it with his mom in Florida. He just can't afford it right now. A lot of that going around I'm sure. Looks like I may have to find a Christmas tree now. Wonder where I can find one?. Lol.... Have a great Friday and weekend too.. Easy...
Everyone has a story to tell me. I guess it comes with the territory. I wrote in TFC....."And that's the story of my life as a writer of other people's lives.Everyone has a story and if I stop listening it's time to give it up. That next story might be THE story" (Steve Dollar Bill).. Here's a few I've heard lately: "I took my my boys and his friends into the woods to enjoy the outdoors and I told them I could tell what time it is by making a sundial with a stick, a circle and using the sun. I found any stick and looked at the sun to find East. I drew a circle and stuck the stick into the ground and then I pondered.... Maybe scratched my chin.... Then I said it was 3:16 and I asked if one of them had a watch. Kris looked at his watch, his eyes lit up and said it was 3:16 and all the kids thought I was Daniel Boone. Definate oohs and ahhs. Little did they know I had a pocket watch that I checked discreetly when I 'found' the right stick. They still don't know to this day....Ok. It's my story.... "My brother and I were fishing for trout and with a full creel we headed home. We were about 10 I guess. On the trail to the road we met a bear coming our way and we dropped our poles, screamed and head back the way we came and through thick tag elder's that stick like velcro. We got through it and could hear the bear crashing behind us and Freddy said, "Lets give him the fish". He did, the bear stopped, we got away and when they got home we told our mom we didn't catch any fish....Burners story.... Ticky told me this one and it gives me shivers. As a kid he got lost in the woods and suddenly a coyote was right in front of him. They stared at each other and then the coyote turned and walked away down the trail. Ticky followed him for whatever reason and in ten minutes the coyote was on the road and Ticky wasn't lost. He looked at the coyote but it was gone... I asked a guy to tell me a story and he said this and I still don't understand it but I think I might. "Three loggers were sitting around the campfire and one says, 'I'm going to tell you a story about three loggers sitting around a campfire'..." That's it.....Hmmm... Easy...
Life as I have known it has changed for the better when my little house on a trailer called a sauna arrived Saturday. I'm sitting at the command post this morning with 30 mile an hour gusts outside and it is quite nasty as I sit here smelling like a bachelor about to go on a date with a pretty lady. I'm not though.... Pixie, my friend Mak's dog, is nestled on a blanket snoring like he's old and tired and when your 16 that's 112 in Lorne Greene years. He has cancer but doesn't show it except for a bad limp like Chester on Gunsmoke but when he sees one of the blimpie squirrels he runs like he is a kid and it reminds me of myself in an arf arf kind of way. I still try to do the things I once did and find it sometimes more then I can handle. It was great having Kris here to help with the unloading and setting up a spot for the sauna; my newest out building. For once, Kris said I have spent wisely and that is change I can put in my pocket... Kris left yesterday after 10 days of great fun and either he is more tolerant of my weird ways or he is mellowing a bit. I should be sad now but I'm not considering I know he is doing good out there on his own. He is hurting bad financially with hours cut and 401 losses. He spent hours in the woods and nothing to show for it except a stiff neck. And, the good news is that he may be here for Christmas which will be a first. I've spent so many Christmas' alone and I would need no presents having him here... Hoping your Monday isa good one and as much as I'd rather be in Georgia, I'm where I should be. I'm happy and I'm squeeky clean... Easy....
I'm thinking of my dad this thanksgiving morning while I was preparing the turkey dinner for Kris and I. I talked on the phone with him and he is downright giddy. At his last checkup the doctors say he has good circulation in his good leg and was bragging that he was good to go for another six months. How sweet is that? He will be 81 on December 11 and I know where I get my sisu (Finnish for determination) from... I remember thanksgiving back in 72 at my brother Jimmy's house. He had just gotten back from a tour in Nam with a purple heart pinned to his chest and I was jealous as heck. No, it was worse then that. I was the brother who'd joined tha Marines, and was supposed to go to Nam, not him, and it left me bitter and feeling like the most inept marine ever. My parents were there also and so was my wife Karen and our one year old son Jeff. The war came up like it always did back then between the sound of forks cutting into expensive plates and my dad was telling me that I could't join the VFW because I had been 500 miles away from the war in Japan. Believe me, my dad tried hard to get me in and he was more disappointed then I was. I let loose a cruel opinion that hung in the air like cheap cigar smoke, "I hate that VFW and I wouldn't join in a million years". My dad, being a commander three times, took offense to my comment and got up, threw his napkin at the table in disgust and walked out on the turkey and us. I had been the turkey..... I regret today what I said then and it isn't brought up anymore but I remember. I remember how young and bitter I was about the war in Vietnam. My dad forgave me the next day but I didn't forgive myself for many years. It took a top notch christian counselor named Janet M, no not the one you know as SavedbyGrace, to understand it isn't always about me and grow up kid and look to God. I did. I took her words and God into my heart...... Kris and I ate our... turkey breast, stuffing, scalloped potatos with cornbread muffins... dinner about noon and the tradition goes on but without the wishbone this year. Kris is out in the blind now with a stiff neck from too many hours gawking left and right at bait piles and tall birch trees. I've made some devil's food cupcakes for him when he gets back and they're loaded with icing. They smell real good and I've only eaten two and hope he gets back soon to try one...lol... I've been through the good and the bad of turkey days gone by. There has been far more good memories then bad and that's for sure. A time to be thankful of all we have been blessed with on this snowy day when the Detroit Lions always lose at home and the snow flies sideways. I'm never a loser at home. How can I when I have it all... God bless... Easy....
|
Lobo...
Posted On 11/25/2008 06:20:06
|
My revelations are like speghetti thrown against a wall; some stick and some don't. Kris and I were doing nothing, just talking as he loomed over his laptop on the couch and his long legs dangled out leaving me to wonder why I'm such a little guy. We talk like fathers and sons should talk but alas it's hard for me to talk to my oldest son, Jeff. Anyway, Kris says, "You got to put Trout Falls away for awhile. Write a book with all new characters and just do it and quit whining like everyone else who wants to write a first book. You wrote yours". I paraphrase a bit but you get the snow drift. Nothing else is working so I may give it a try.... We were watching a PBS show on a true story of a wolf named Lobo. Back in 1893, a man was hired to trap and kill the wolf which he did and the framers were most grateful. Very touching as Lobo was trapped trying to get at the dead body of his mate. The guy wrote a diary of the whole story. Love those diary writers. Are you one? Anyway, I'm sitting out in the blind before dark and I hear this lone wolf holwing between me and the camp. Doesn't happen often but they are around. Coincidence? No way pard. I cried for Lobo and I think the wolf last night was saying, "Thanks for caring". Ok. I'm weird... I live for today and barely know what day it is or care. I cherish these times with Kris. We grab the time we can together and when he leaves it will be a long six months before this bear comes out of hibernation. It's a great thing isn't it? Living here with all my critters and the ice fishing to come. I've set up a portable heater in the outhouse and I can turn it on when I get up without having to go outside. Nothing like a toilet seat frozen to your butt. Ok. My butt....
On that wise crack... Happy trail from Republic... Easy...
| Page:
|
|
|
|
|
12 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
