I went to the woods last weekend to figure out why I was feeling a bit depressed. I couldn't write and my computer is slower then a Detroit Lions running back. This was shocking to me because I have been on top of the world lately but I guess there is only one way to go from up there and that is down. It's not like I don't know why I was depressed because I do know but couldn't understand the why of it. Mt mental health is fragile and it wavers and bends like a windy hay field in Iowa.....

The problem I am having is all about the book I've been thinking about putting out next. A book of the best of my blogs. I keep thinking back to a line I wrote for "Trout Falls Chronicles" which said that he (Easy) would not put out a book of the best of his "Easy Does It" columns because he thought it would be taking money for something he had already written. This line did not make the cut when the book came out but I almost believe it now. Is this the best time to do a book on my blogs?. Do I want to put up thousands of dollars on that book or do I want to risk my money on the book I really want to write? It isn't even close.......

 So. I am going to put the blog book on the back burner for now and start working on another Easy and Pete book. The book I want to write. I'll have all winter to get it right and hopefully have it ready to print by spring time....

Yesterday, I called Janet to let her know my decision and suddenly I was laughing and back to my old ways again. She is an excellent listener and has a strong shoulder to lean on. I also told her I am going to get a dog hopefully this weekend if I can find one at the humane society near Iron Mountain. I do this knowing that if my cancer comes back I will have trouble caring for one but I'm not going to let the ifs of tomorrow affect today. I need a buddy. I need a pal who can walk in the woods with me and one that loves me no matter what. I need a friend for the long nights of winter in Upper Michigan.....

Have a great Tuesday! Cool here but I'm off this morning trout fishing. Today is the last day to fish for trout and I can't pass up this chance. Hope I don't fall in the water...

Easy....

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A few weeks ago I found out my old trailer had been torn down and dang it if I'm not tearing down another here behind the Penthouse Cabin. This is the rusty green trailer that I had my bad times after my divorce and both of my boys moved out of state. When it comes to this trailer, I would just as soon torch it and the bad memories inside. But, it kept me warm. I couldn't drive a car, I could barely read and had no electricity only a pot belly woodstove in the living room which was also my bedroom in the winter. I started drinking Vodka because it was easier to carry in my backpack. Try carrying a tirty pack some time, It hurts to tell you about those days so I won't but suffice to say I was an angry and disallusioned, doubting God and turning my back on the whole world. I dug a hole for two or three years and was too afraid to come out........

It's almost dinner time here at the camp tonight and I wish you could see the beautiful fall colors. A steady wind blows in off the lake and swishes through the trees and a yellow leaf floats down, ever so slow, to make a soft landing on the front yard with all the other leaves. I'll rake them up and use them in the garden as mulch. Never use oak leaves....

Burner and I started tearing the beast apart yesterday morning and worked most of the day tearing off the aluminum. We gave 'er' a good tug again today and I am sore and my back aches. No one said it would be easy and Easy doesn't much like work but I try hard and slowly. We hope to finish up tomorrow morning and load the metal up and take it to the scrap yard. We won't make a lot of money but I'm sure there will be enough left for a six pack when we get back home. And the trailer disappears.....

I also bought a portable Sauna from one of the Wisconsin bikers and I really got a deal. I'll set it on blocks right behind the cabin and I can get clean and stay clean all winter. My goals in life aren't much. I just want to be clean. This Sauna is only 5'x7' so I won't be having parties in there. Heck, I never have parties in the main house. lol. I fill the stove with wood and it gets hot on the rocks atop the stove and you pour water on the hot coals and yikes it can get hot fast. I've gotten one up to 220 degrees. This is why Finnlanders run from the Sauna to a hole in the ice and dive in. I only do that in the summer....

hope you are well and enjoying the Autumn weather. All I need now is some apple cider and about a half dozen of those fried sugar doughnuts. Pumpkins stacked by the barn next to a bail of hay. It's hayrides. It's caramal apples and elephant ears. And most of all is the beauty of it all....

Easy.....

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Blue was chomping at the carburetor to hit the road and that would be easy if I remembered the stuff I planned to take with me to town. This morning it was so cold I forgot my gloves and had to go back home when I had no feeling in my fingers and that is me in a frozen nutshell. I went back a second time because I thought I had left the coffee pot on which it wasn't. Finally, I bounced down the driveway and it was truly awesome to be back on the road again. A man loves horsepower under him. A man needs to do his thing and I was off to do nothing special and couldn't wait to get  to it.......
 
Blue has a sore right tire paw. Low on air. It's a brand new tire but it is from China and if I would have known I wouldn't have bought them at the cheap price I did. Guilty as charged. I try to buy American but I didn't. I think a lot of this is going around and that is why our country is in the mess it is.....
 
The breeze in my face. The feel of the open road and not having a care in the world other than soaking up life for what it is. I pull over at a spot in the sun to warm up a bit, close my eyes facing the heat of the sun and the chill of the morning goes away as fast as Blue will take me.....
 
I smell the bailed hay at Tuminen's farm where Janet saw those two Sandhill cranes grazing in the field last summer. I pass the Oja place where my good buddy died a couple years ago. I knock off a stiff salute as I go by. I'm careful not to run over the cow ornaments along the side of the Richards place as I look for the wild Turkeys that are always around their house.....
 
When I come to Trout Falls Creek I stop by the culvert under the road and study the water flowing by. Those white bubbles atop the water flow downstream and I can imagine the brookies lurking. Wish I had brought my pole. Only 12 days til the season is over and I have to hit my special spot one more time and then dream of that day all winter. I think of my son when we fished here together and I miss him. I take a minute call him and leave a message. Love you Kris. Wish you were here....
 
An hour has gone by and I haven't even hit town yet but much has happened. It doesn't have to be fireworks or deep thinking. It can just be a trip down the back road on an Indian summer day. It doesn't matter when I get to town. It is the road one travels to get there....
 
Travel that road my friends. The road less taken......
 
Easy...

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Last night while talking to Janet she wondered if it was true that Annie Oakley had pulled the breast out of the Partridge and fed the liver to Maggie. I told her that it really did happen just as I wrote it and now she is more confused then ever. I enjoy it when she isn't sure when I separate fact from fiction. My own son tells me he doesn't believe half of what I say and I find some cruel satisfaction in that half the time. In fact, almost all of my stuff is just that, fact. Poppatom appears to be on to me because we've met a couple of times and seen the real me which isn't much different from Easy even though Easy is a bit more sauve and a lot funnier. I'll sell him the Ambassador Bridge as soon as Kwame Kilpatrick gets his name off the title. I do take liberty here and there telling a story but the basic story is always true. When Annie Oakley shot three times and got two birds she actually shot 7 times and yelled to me for more ammo. I was too busy ducking. I sure don't want anyone to think she was a lousy shot even though she may be. You can tell her that though, I won't...

 I'm working on putting out a book of the best of my blogs here on boomer and wonder what you think of the idea. I've done over 350 since August of 06 and would like to test my talents on a national scale and not just the regional audience of my first book. A 'small town blogger' type of book. It would be impossible to do this project without your help and I'm asking you if you might send me your thoughts on what my blogs have meant to you and I would mix in your comments and those of others throughout the book.  This way you get something you wrote in print and more important, enjoy the ride with me. After all, if I hadn't received your nice comments after my daily blogs I wouldn't be writing them anymore. That would be like singing in an empty opera house. That would be like going bird hunting with blanks in the gun. What do you think?.....

I wish you could see my dad scoot down the halls of the VA hospital in Ann Arbor. He uses one of those silver strollers that look like the grill of a 58 Buick and I can barely keep up to him. He is alert and as positive as I ever remember and that's considering he has one leg and that one is giving him problems now. I look at him and tears come to my eyes. He has phantom pain in the foot he doesn't have but always has a smile for me. He 's a fighter, a survivor and he's the best dad any kid would want. I thank our Father for my Father....

Enjoy your day! I'm off to town to frolic, cause general mayhem and wake up tomorrow to tell you all about it. And that's the truth.....maybe....

Easy.....

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 My habits around camp change as fast as the yellow and red leaves on the tree in my front yard. The Geese cover the skies heading south honking for the right of way. It's a time of packing up the summer stuff and unpacking the winter stuff; my block M wool cap, my union suit, gloves and winter coat. Where are those dang boots? I do this with remorse seeing the warm weather slip away like the harvest moon slipping behind a cloud last night just after dark. The last of the green tomatos from the garden sit on the sill of my kitchen window a reminder of the seasons changing as I change my ways.....   

The chipmunks no longer cluck on the deck for sunflower seeds nor do the blimpie squirrels spend all day searching the yard for nuts. No more do the chickadees pound the feeder...Oh wait. I tore it down...No wonder I haven't seen them....

I find I don't sit as much in the woods lately because the days are getting shorter and it's cooler in the evening but the time I do spend watching the woods is savored like a skillet full of brookies knowing it will be months before I taste them again.....

I'm shaking off those fast paced and almost wasted weeks in the city and adjusting to the solitude of the woods and my home on the lake. I don't like that world out there but please don't take that personal. It's just me. I find it hard to be myself adapting to some of those city people I find myself with and most times don't really know them or want to be there. I even had some uncomfortable times with my own family and I detest that. I think I'm selfish but not sure what it means nor how to fix it other then praying for my salvation. It is very uncomfortable not knowing who I can trust. One who I can sit under a tree in their backyard and converse about my inane not so important stuff. Knowing I'm in good company. And to talk of country stuff....

In the city they look at the weather like the enemy but up here she is our friend. In the country every day is a Saturday and in the city they are Mondays. In the city you order out for chicken and up here Annie Oakley will wander out to the coop. In the city they always want to be up north and up here we are. In the city everyone wants to be where they aren't and up here I am exactly where I want to be. Bring on dat dare snow, eh?......

I tink I'm ready for winter. I've done it before under bad conditions and prepared to not make the mistakes that are costly when it's -30 and I'm out of water. The propane tank is filled, the canned goods are stacked, the winter clothes are folded in the chest of drawers and I guess I'm ready....

Ready to pound the keyboard and write a couple more books that are long overdue. I hope one will be out for a stocking stuffer and a third by mid summer.....

Thank you Lord for this day You have given us........

Easy....

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 I got a call from 'Annie Oakley' yesterday morning who asked me if I wanted a ride to town and since it was 46 degrees and raining outside I said sure I would. Little did I realize that it was opening day of bird season which means when I got into her car there was a .410 shotgun between us and her hunting dog 'Maggie' was salivating in my left ear waiting to get at one of those tasty Ruffed Grouse (Partridge). They taste like pre seasoned chicken. Road hunting is a popular hobby among yoopers and as long as one keeps the shotgun unloaded and encased it can be carried in the truck legally. No shooting is allowed through the open window even though a story in my book, "Bamm", does just that. But, that was fiction and my ride yesterday was fact. And, if you believe me 100%, I have a bridge you might want to buy......

She was also going to show me a short cut to Republic that I have been looking for like Marco Polo was looking for a sailing route west. I tire of riding the paved road to town and this scenic route also goes right past my favorite trout fishing stream on the 18 road. All I had to do was pay attention and remember it. Right.. It didn't take long before a partridge flushed from my side of the road and we stopped and she pulled out the shotgun and quietly got out of the car followed by Maggie who was sniffing those birds like I do a roast out of the oven. I sat in the car and cringed when I saw Annie point the gun and shoot. And shoot. And shoot....

When the smoke cleared and I had spit the gun powder residue out of my mouth I helped her collect the two birds she had shot dead. We took a couple of pictures and high fived like the Packers had run back a kick for a touchdown even though we are both Lions fans but they never score touchdowns. I could count on one hand the number of guys in town who could shoot like that. Annie is a bit different then most ladies and showed that when she tore open the chest and pulled the meat out of the bird and fed the liver to Maggie who put it down minus the onions in one gulp. Annies not my type and almost 20 years younger but is a good friend and like most men in Republic I fear her just a bit. I always try to stay on her good side and three paces behind her. Yikes....

She shot one more bird before we hit Republic and I had my directions which I probably will forget the next time I try it myself. But, that's the getting lost again blog I haven't written yet but will. I thanked Annie for the ride and hooked up with Burner in the Grove where we quaffed a couple and I told Annie Oakley stories and might even have room for it in my next book on the adventures of Easy and Pete. Burner wasn't in the hunting mood and I grabbed a Suana at his home before he brought me back to Island Lake the conventional way minus any weapons, dogs or gut piles which Annie buried under a pine tree to give it back to Mother Earth......

Just another day in the woods when I never know what is going to happen. I like it like that....

Easy... 

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 The trailer where I recovered from Cancer and wrote most of my book has been torn down. It's just gone. Last week, I stood on the concrete slab that was left, imagined where the living room was and where I sat at the computer pecking away with the only finger that worked on my right hand. That thought sent me back to a cscade of thoughts and memories when all seemed so lost and I was so sick. I remember missing home so much but knew I couldn't be there. It was a two year quest and the summer I got back I found boomer....

 I remember the walks around the trailer court that were more like force marches back in the Corps. Litter filled the street, trailers were in shambles needing to be torn down and drugs were as rampant as fights on a Saturday night. A man almost needed a felony to be let in. A pretty lady once picked me up walking home from the store and I knew her from the neighborhood and we had a nice conversation until she offered herself for a price. All I could think was she must be pretty hard up for money......

And now, I look for that physical presence and it is gone like those sick days I prayed would end. "Just give me one good day Lord". Maybe that is how it should be. A memory of a bad time that fades as the days go by and the miles go by on a Greyhound bus and we finally get off at that last stop. I'll put that trailer in my memory bank and I choose to think of all the good trimes I had there. I never gave up. I'm not so brave I was just trying to get through the day. I knew there was more good days out there and I knew where they were. It was at a little camp on a hill over looking a lake in Upper Michigan........

Have a great weekend...

Easy....

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Good morning boomers!! I sure am glad to be back home in da U.P. and to share my Dunkin Doughnuts coffee with you again. By now you have probably seen the videos of the 'real' me here on boomer or on youtube.com. Quite frankly, I have a hard time watching them but Poppa Tom believes in me and my art and that's enough to get me fired up. In an 'Easy' world everyone will buy my product, I get a lucrative publishing contract and we get new members here on myboomer place while everyone goes GOLD. Lets all do our part to keep this site alive and active......

I am no actor but I do know how to be me. Tom set me up in various country scenes in his vast backyard next to a man made pond. During one take a fish jumped in the water behind my right shoulder and I hope Tom was able to get it on tape. Tom lives in the country and I felt right at home, almost. lol. We had some interesting talks on my future as a writer and where I should go from here. I am incredibly excited and feel like my career is ready to explode. For this, I owe Tom much gratittude and appreciation. Your the best Tom. Thanks....

I have a notebook full of things I want to share with you but they will come in due time. I enjoyed my time in the city but my ride home changed his plans and I was not able to get to Chicago to see Janet and Pippen. I was telling Janet how much I would miss seeing her and not taking Pippen for a walk and she said that it's good that Pippen won't know what he missed and I said, "Were not so lucky". I feel terrible we couldn't meet. Janet is my trusted friend and confidant and she knows me better than I do. She lights up my life when I am down and I try to return the favor in kind. On the record, I declare, I'll see you in October Janet. Promise....

It's raining outside the Penthouse Cabin and the hint of dawn is creeping over the black shadow of the pine trees. Two suitcases are on the floor next to boxes of food I brought back from the city. It's the middle of winter canned supplies for when the snow is flying sideways. I'm ready for winter and I'm ready to write. So much to do and so little time...

Have a great Friday and it's great to be back. I missed you....

Easy....

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It's time to hit the road again and this will be my last blog for three or four weeks. My Dad is feeling poorly and when we last talked he asked if I could come down to see him. He has not bounced back from his last surgery and I made a quick call to the VA and got my appt. moved up to the 28th. I'll be leaving here Thursday morning with my neighbors who will be heading back downstate to where they live in Flint, Michigan. I'm blessed to catch a ride. I'll either take the bus to Ann Arbor or my brother will come and pick me up....

On the way home It will be nice to stop and see Janet and Pippen the wonder dog in Chicago. Lots of great memories there too. Want to go for a walk bud?  

I'll split my time at my brothers place and at my young protogee Sean's home in the trailer court I lived while recovering from Cancer a few years ago. That trailer court was the pits but will always be special to me. It was in trailer one I started writing my book after my stroke. Neighbors  called me dead man walking when they saw me on my daily walks that were slow and tiring. I knew if I didn't walk I would die and I never gave up. I never tire now at the smiling faces of those neighbors when I visit again....

The last couple months have probably been my best times here on Boomer. I cherish every single friend I have made. You are very special to me. We sure do know how to have fun without ever meeting each other. Poppa Tom started something special here and we sure have taken it places, eh? I'll have my notepad handy to take notes of the trip and when I get back I'll take you for a visual ride of the big city and my adventures....

So long for now....

Be safe...Be good...

Love...Easy...

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