Paddy's Wanderings

The Pink Soap

The t-k is a good helper, even when the foam brush is taller than him.

It was a nice day, not too warm, a little wind, but a good day to wash the Jeep. Ahh, to be six again, when the highlight of the day is to go with dad to the wash and scrub the Jeep.

Bug guts, it had to be bug guts. Being six means an endless supply of questions as well. I don't think he ever was happy with any answer I had for all the dead bugs on the bumper. He was happy we did not hit any good guy bumble bees(phew!). But, I got the shrug and we moved on.

I was in charge of the top because we did not have a ladder. His words. Good thing too, last thing I needed was him on a ladder trying to wash the 'high parts'. I did convince him not to hold the trigger, the force darned near put him on his butt!

There was just enough of a wind to create a fine mist in the wash bay. He was worried he was getting wet and he would drip all over the seat. Of course, it was not a problem. After all his aim is not as good as he thinks and I may have been a wee bit wetter then he was.

I remember two little boys who did the same thing. I was excited when they got old enough to cut grass, rake leaves, all of that stuff. Soon the t-k will be ready for more of that and I am happy. Not so much because it is one less thing I have to do, but it is one more thing he can learn to do.

Watching the wee ones grow up is a good thing. Enjoy it while you can, I have.

Happy Wanderings

 

 

Sheeple Camping, 50's Style

Better 1/2 and middle boyo like to hunt for treasure at estate sales. Once and awhile, they find a gem like this book right here. It was a quarter, not much to time travel back to the camping days of the 1950's if you ask me. This book has all kinds of good stuff in it for the hardy sheeple adventurer. Wanna take a peak?

 It has a lot in a little book, from planning where to go to what to take and what to eat. This is camping folks, so fueling the motor home is not covered. But, there are diagrams for packing bedrolls and checklists of what to take and what to do as part of the camper's chores. There is a chapter on how to build and tend a fire and good safety tips, all illustrated.

Food, very important when camping and hiking. There is some good advice on making 'poke' lunches, food in a bag tied in a bandana and tied to the belt or carried on a stick, 'hobo' style(book terminology, see it is from the 50's). For longer trips, there is some good advice on how to cook and a bunch of recipes.

There is a whole chapter devoted to knots and another to lashing, as in lashing wood together to make everything from tables to the framework for larger tents. Amazing what you can build with a scrap of canvas and rope. There is also a chapter on care of tools like knives and hatchets as well as some very good advice on first aid.

A lot of this stuff I learned in the Fashioned Challenged Seventies and passed along to the wee lads during the Roaring Nineties. Cool thing is, the boyos use it today when they go camping. Sure the language is dated a bit and maybe wax paper is not used in the younger generation as it once was(shame too, cause it works great for a lot of things), but a lot of the info shows up in camping guides today.

Good info works like that. Time to head out camping, take my poke bag, cook some frankfurters on a 'cabin' style fire and get outside. No cell phones allowed.

Happy Wandering

 

 

We're Having a Heatwave..

a tropical heatwave...

Let me back up a bit. This pic is of the techno-kid's snowman. Yep, I basically handed him snow and he sculpted. It's all him. Really, his first snowman all by himself. He had so much fun and that is worth the cold, wet snow. He was so proud and so happy it was infectious. That is awesome.

Me? Oh I had a blast. I could see him put on the old creative hat, squint at the snow, and go to creating. He was so into it, humming to himself, dancing a jig and in the moment. It was fun for me to see that freedom, to stand by and watch him make magic. It was pretty cool to see that.

Then he started singing.. we're having a heatwave.. a tropical heatwave...

Snapped that bubble right there. See, he wandered through while I was watching Grumpy Old Men one day and stated laughing. It was the scene when Matthau and Lemmon are fighting on the ice and, well we all know how funny that is. So he wanted to watch the movie, and I figured there was no harm in that. The worse language he would hear is putz and moron. He loved it of course(the apple dont fall far from the tree) and he was taken with the grumpy old guys, as he puts it.

He just doesnt get the song, good thing he doesnt. I asked, he said they are making fun of the cold, snowy winter. Which.. in a way they are. Funny how he associates the two, but then again, he is still a wee lad. He calls it like he sees it and all is good.

Of course, it got warm, and the snowman is much shorter today. He was a bit mad at that at first. Then he must have been thinking about it today. He kept telling me it was ok it was melting. I admit I just let it go and agreed, I could tell he was thinking on the situation.

Then he says to me, it's ok the snowman is melting, the water makes snow and when we get new snow, we can make another. You know, it's like sand castles.

It sure is.

 

Stone Statues

Is it the Moon? Or a Martian landscape? Maybe, it is a five year old on a beach stacking stones, making a bit of sand art. It is all in how you look at it.

Imagination is the key.

Children have a wonderful imagination. I think we all know that. They use imagination to fill in their world, to help to understand it. The techno-kid is filled with stories and explanations for everything from how bees make honey to, well to why there is a stone statue on a beach. At one time, this was a temple that Inyanna Jones explored looking for treasure.

The old saw a picture is worth a thousand words seems to be true. But if you are kid, and you really stretch the imagination, then it is worth a thousand stories. It is amazing how easy and free a mind can be when that mind is fresh to the world.

Here there be magic.

When I am in the midst of the January Blues, I can sit down, look at pictures like this one. I can talk with the t-k and have him tell me a story. I can smell the lake breeze, feel the sun on the sand, and for a moment, be free and see the world for the first time.

Remember..

 

Radio Waves

Imagine 1958, new set of wheels with a state of the art radio, cruising the strip. Brand new music from Elvis, Ricky Nelson, and the hot song from that summer, Purple People Eater.  Sure looks strange to me, especially that one horn.

Flash forward to the Fashioned Challenged Seventies and I am just a wee lad, riding in the back of a 1968 Pontiac. What did we listen to? You got it, AM Radio. I grew up on a steady diet of 70's AM Radio, and I am thankful I did. Some of the best music from that decade I first heard in a car. From short trips across town to long Sheeple Vacation Road Trips. If I played it right, I could convince my parents to play something other than country music, for a little while.

You gotta have Rock N' Roll.

Tuneage on the go. I still listened to AM Radio, but mostly just for baseball games. I moved on to FM and the hot 100. I was a teenager, what can I say. And, all of thirty years ago, is when I started listening to a local 'Oldies' station. It was hip man, all the cool cats tuned in to get a blast from the past, listen to the classics man. The squares were doing the hustle, you wanted to get a groove on, you caught this station.

At that time(remember this) they played 50's and 60's and I could dig it. This is long before we started putting a lower case i in front of everything, long before the net, you know, stone age days. Those tunes were hard to come by unless you caught a garage sale where some oldie who had lived past the hipster stage was selling old 45's. The magic of radio though.. yeah, it was all there, Elvis, Ricky, and even a Purple People Eater.

It sucks, but you grow up. I dont listen to the radio much anymore. That is a shame really. Just on ocassion, in the Jeeple, do I tune in the radio. I have a CD player, I can play whatever. I have a lot of those oldies on CD, so I can catch it then. I do not listen to that oldies station much anymore, but I did yesterday.

Caught some cool tunes by Seeger, Bowie, early 80's stuff. And.. that right there, my friends, is the problem. That station is STILL an oldies station. The oldies are the Hot 100 from the Fashioned Challenged Seventies and the Hazy Eighties. Yep, you gotta it, they bill themselves as playing all oldies, all the time.

Except.. the oldies are from my teeny bopper years.. Shazam! In the blink of an eye I have become that past their prime old hipster cat selling ancient cassette tapes at a yard sale. If that fifteen year old could see me now.. he would laugh, snap his fingers and say too bad old dude. Maybe you should listen to the 'current' Hot 100.

But I can't.. I just can't get into it. For kicks, I just looked at the Top 40.. I know a couple artists and recognize one song. Sad really.. truly sad. I think I understand how my grandparents felt when all their favorite radio shows, The Lone Ranger for example, got replaced with that loud, teenage rock and roll stuff. Funny how that works.

So I will keep trying. I will still catch a Hot 100 radio station, hoping something catches my ear. After all, you can't listen to only the oldies, not if you want to be a real cool hipster cat, and not some kinda square.

Happy Musical Wanderings

 

So Long Odd Year

The road through time.

Time is something that can be shaped and has variable speeds. Case in point, I had planned to finish this on the first but was sidetracked. That is a continuing story in itself. But I had a good excuse, I was watching Lord of the Rings with the techno-kid yeterday. So here it is, last year.

January was a whirlwind with the new job and very little posting. Actually there was very little posting last year in general. Working fifty plus hours and trying to juggle all the new stuff was a challenge, right at the begining of the new year.

Febuary and March was more of the same. Long hours away from the page was the continuing theme. Still looking for that kidney shaped table. We are still looking for a house for that matter, but our decorating aspirations are still early sixties.. weird, I know.

April had more exerpts from the blasted novel posted and a fun post about Easter Egg Hunting. I also started a Then & Now category. Kinda comparing me, from forty years ago, to the tecno-kid. Kinda illustrating the changes. I did more of that in May, the post about the changes to TV being the post with the most hits this past year, a post about Rabbit Ears.

The summer brought about the container garden and canning! It also gave us a chance to head north to The Farm.  So much to come, so much to write about that I will continue to fill the screen with stories and pics. I also did my favorite post of the year about building Sand Castles.

We did a lot of weekend Sheeple Trips. We went to the Fort at Mackinac, Mackinac Island, Mill Creek and of course Friday Night in Traverse City. Mix in trips to the Farm and it was a good time to be travelling. Been too long since we were able to go for a weekend and explore, I am pleased we were able to do so and look forward to this summer's adventures!

Cool new thing for the year, and there were many, was taking Better 1/2 to see the Tigers at Comerica(Tiger Stadium, it will always be Tiger Stadium). We had so much fun, and are planning to take the techno-kid this summer. It was my first game in the 'new' stadium, alas it has been that long, but we can make up for that now.

I finally wore out and ended up on the couch for two weeks with pneumonia. Recovered now, more or less, but that was a bad stretch. Had a good Christmas and New Year and looking forward to this year. More wandering, more writing, and more just doing, living. This is good.

Even numbered years are years of change and I am looking that right in the eye, lets do it. I am ready, do time warp, definitely wander.

Happy Wanderings!

 

Of Cats & Christmas Trees

Once again, there lays our Beloved Bully Bear, fallen from his carefully selected perch, the victim of the climbing hijinks of the baby black cat. It is of course, a Christmas tradition. Tree goes up, cat goes up tree, down comes Bully Bear.

This year we got the tree up a couple of weeks before the big day. Down it went before it was even fully decorated. A careening cat, diving into the tree at Mach 2, will surely bring down the most stalwart of trees. We have a nice artificial tree, sturdy, and for the most part, cat proof. This year.. not so much.

The base gave up the ghost, cracked almost beyond the wonders of super glue. It held, barely. Still, the tree spent two weeks on the floor, in various heaps. Nothing we tried dampened the persistance of that darn cat.

Canned air got her to hide under the couch until we let our guard down, then up the tree she went. Shoes and assorted projectiles did nothing. The momma cat hissing at her and batting the kitten ears barely registered. Even the dreadful moniker of Mundane Noodle, screamed at her as only a six year old can muster, did not deter her in the least.

I admit, I gave up.

Then on Christmas eve, we righted the tree in one last attempt to weather the kitten storm. Mom went to work. Me, middle son, and the t-k went over to my Dad's house. We arrived back home to find the tree, with momma cat sleeping on the skirting, still standing. As people owned by cats, we were cautiously optimistic and headed to bed.

Christmas morning and the tree still stood, presents flowing from underneath. Two cats perched on the outer edge, doing the catnap. All was good. The tree made it through the night and into the day.

Now, as I sit here, the little tree that could, is still standing. For the past five days, the wee kitten has ignored the tree. It is a cat thing. I am tempted to leave it right there until next year. Two can play that game. I am, after all, the top of the food chain! I am the master of my domain. My brain is as big as that cat and I can reason, use tools. I have opposable thumbs...

But it does occur to me, she is the cat.

And I, well I am.. the mouse.

 

 

 

At the Creek

This is Quinn Creek in early Autumn, before the change of color. There was a lot of rain at that time and the creek had swollen. This is the small section of creek running through the swamp end of The Farm. This picture is taken by my Dad from the gravel road as he stood on the old bridge.

I have tried, over the many years, to capture the essence of the creek. It is a small part of The Farm, just cuts across the corner of the swamp and there may be 250 yards of it actually on the property. It does not seem like much, but it is.

Simply put, the creek is time. It ebbs and flows, rises and falls, constantly changing, and yet, a constant. A touchstone, a marker from childhood, a sign post of the present, a guiding arrow to the future. The creek reflects images, in the still water of mid summer, to the gurgling flow of autumn, the bubbling rush of spring, the icy crystal of winter frost.

I do not own the creek. I borrow it, for a short time. It is there, and it is with me, always.

 

Surfing Quirky Sci-Fi

I have been hunting for a tv set just like that one. It is from 1950 and looks all kinds of sci-fi-ish and although in black & white, would be cool to watch. I think. It is my retro-ness peeking out again. What can I say, I like old things. Put the kidney table in front and a tall glass of something and I would be good to go.

For the past two weeks, I have been sick, super sick. My Doc assures me it is not Capt Tripps(my Doc has a good sense of humor, that is why I go back to him). I only say this in contet because really, you get enough health updates via other social media and the last thing you want to read about is that on a blog.

Being *cough* sick has led me to one of my favorite locations in the castle, in front of ye olde TV and plenty of stuff to watch. So I did, a lot. It was groovy and now that I am better, I can go back to work and have my fave shows back up again.

I know you want to know what I was watching, you are curious. Ok maybe not, but here goes anyways!

Lost:

No silly, not Lost in Space, but Lost, as in that show that was on and everyone hated the ending? Yeah that show. I caught a few stray episodes and was intrigued when it was airing, but somehow... always felt 'lost' in the story. Enter streaming video and voila! we watched the entire series over three weeks. Good thing too. If I had to wait until next week for the next epsiode or over the summer? I would have been really irritated. As it was, we got to watch begining to end and I loved it. Yes, I liked the ending, it made sense to me. Go ahead, yell at me, but it was good tv.

Eureka:

I never get to catch this series as much as I want, enter streaming vid. Picked up some lost episodes and love the show even more now. And.. still irked this is to be the final season starting in Jan. Major ticked off.  Oh Sci-Fi aka SyFy, you know we have a love/hate relationship and you fuel that fire. Either way, how can you not love a quirky show about screwed up uber-geeks in a town where anything can happen and often does? Kudos also to having Max Headroom as your dog catcher.

Warehouse 13:

Who does not want to be a secret agent/archaeologist/paranormal investigator? And... get to play with cool gizmos while tracking bad guys across the globe and recovering mysterious objects? Plus its quirky and funny, enough action to keep it going plus its a mystery! Bonus time.. it looks like its going to be on for awhile too.. crosses appendages.

And that was the two weeks of couch sitting. Lots of TV and lots of meds and it was groovy. Well, not the sick part, that part sucked dinosaur eggs. At least I wasn't bored out of my mind. Even if I was hacking so bad I had to pause playback and got nothing accomplished other than playing zombie on the couch. It was ok.

Tune in next time for...

 

 

Snow Maple Morning

Sunrise after the first snow storm of the season. Looks really cold, but it was not bad. I always like the look of frozen snow on evergreen trees, reminds me of many days spent in the swamp at the Farm. Of course, this pic is 2 1/2 hours south of the Farm, about three dozen years from boyhood. In other words, a long way from memory.

The storm was a Michigan nor'easter as you can tell by the snow and ice on ye olde maple. When the wind blows down from Ontario across Lake Huron right across the bay, it funnels into our valley and up the river. Makes for nice pics, plays havoc on the roads.

As a kid it means building snowmen and snow forts, ice skating on any frozen surface you can find and just having fun. As an adult, at least for this one, it seems to be just another obstacle in the mad rush of days. I have the sneaking suspicion I will become a snow bird, enjoy the first snow fall then make a bee line down the Great Road to the Land of Oranges, Gulf Courses, and beaches.

I did take a moment to enjoy that morning, there might be hope for me yet. Ask me in the depths of winter and you'll hear another story. Today, today I will enjoy the snow from behind the glass.