Paddy's Wanderings

At the Car Wash

It what seems like a long time ago and many light years away, I ran a Car Wash business with my family. We built, serviced, sold parts, really just did it all in the self serve car wash industry. It was a good job and we had a lot of fun doing it during the Roaring Nineties.

Owning your own business is hard work, a lot of hard work. Long hours, little to no vacation time and the constant go go go of doing. I can only imagine trying to do this kind of work in the era of everyone has a cell phone. It would drive me nuts. It was bad enough getting the Saturday night calls that could have waited until Monday.

But we had fun building them and doing the work. We didn't make a ton of money but there was always the fringe benefits. The going out to eat in a 'business meeting' and saying, someone say car wash and having the company pick up the tab, that was cool. Or the ability to schedule stuff around the kids activities, that was cool too.

We also got to go to conventions, like the one in Chicago that was so much fun. Heck we did the con and went to the aquarium and the museum and shopped downtown. I think that trip sold us on Chicago and we, as a family, love going there to this day whenever we can. You want to see traffic, go downtown on a Friday afternoon and dodge all the crazy sheeple heading home from work. Makes you think twice about that old saw, rubbin's racin'.

It was a good time that passed into other things, like the game store and now beyond. Hey, I learned a lot about a lot and that's what counts. And no, I have no idea why the picture turned out that way, we were just shooting for a pic showing our ability to build washes. There it is, sometimes the strangest things happen while your busy being all serious and such.

On that note, next time your washing your car in the Mid-Mitten area, chances are, we built that wash. So go clean that car and make it sparkle, gotta look good as you wander you know...

August Junk Drawer

Oh I have wandered here, there, almost everywhere this month. It almost feels like October it has been so cool, not complaining mind you! But, it still smells like August, if you get my meaning. Today is a junk day for the blog. In other words, the junk drawer is open.

I just finished Just after Sunset by Stephen King, a collection of short stories. I liked most of the stories, some were...eh. A good read and well worth the price of a book. I also just finished Da Vinci Code and enjoyed the book even more then the movie. Seen the movie twice, avoided the circus when the book was originally published, but after seeing it in the pile at the Library Book Sale, I had to read it. I am currently reading a Sci-Fi book on the first exploration of Mars, pretty cool if you ask me.

I have been watching plenty of anime lately and Jackie Chan movies. How can you not be awestruck by Jackie Chan? I started reading his blog and checking out his website. I have been a fan of Hong Kong cinema since a wee lad and a fan of Jackie's since I first discovered his films in the early nineties.

On the music front, I have been listening to XM Radio at work a lot. I like the jazz channels and listen to the Watercolors jazz channel often, it is...calming. I also like to listen to the two seventies channels, depending on my mood. I like the AM singles radio but when I am feeling goofy I love to listen to Disco. Yep, and you thought disco was dead, not so my friend.

I have been spending internet time devouring blogs. I admit it, I have become addicted to reading blogs, all kinds of blogs. It is like channel surfing, I hit about a dozen on a daily round and catch a little bit of everything. Some friends of mine blog and they got some good stuff I don't miss if I can help it.

Other then that, I have been taking pics with the toddler which is a blast. I have been chasing words across the screen in various story projects, even a poem or two. It has not been a big creative month for me, just kinda been eh. But, it is the calm before the storm. Autumn is a coming and that is my time to get really crazy with the creative side. Going into this year I am already bubbling pretty good, so I for see a few sleepless nights tip tapping away.

And that's it in the junk drawer, we don't want to go too deep into that abyss.

Happy Wanderings!

Canoe a Wandering River

Over the years, I have traveled via canoe across lakes and rivers and had a grand time doing it. The first trip as a Scout was baptism by fire. Then I had a few small trips until the day I went on the Big Boardman Adventure with Charlie. But however I have crossed the water, these are the two trips I remember in a canoe.

My first time, I was a Cub Scout and we were up at Camp Rotary. This was of course, way back in the Fashion Challenged Seventies. It was an early morning drive to Clare with carloads of Sheeple Scouts and a day filled with way cool activities. I loved camp and had so much fun from the obstacle course to shooting guns and bows, to swimming and the canoe trip on the lake.

The canoe trip was eventful to say the least. Some of my fellow scouts thought it would be funny to ram canoes into each other on the lake. Then when one of the boys got scarred, they decided to tip the canoe over. Of course we were wearing life jackets and we could all swim, but we were over the deepest part of the lake and you couldn’t see the bottom, so the poor kid was terrified. But we paddled around the lake and everyone settled down.

All in all it was a fun first time in a canoe for me. In the end, the miscreant in question got his for scarring the other kids. Funny how a big kid who bullies other kids can be so afraid of a wee garter snake down the shirt…

Over the years I have had several other trips down a river in a canoe, but the big trip, the trip to end all trips, was down the Boardman River in Traverse City. Back in the Roaring Nineties, my father-in-law bought a canoe, a real nice aluminum canoe to take down the rivers and lakes that dot the Mitten. This was going to be the first big trip and he asked me if I would go. So we left the women-folk back at the campground and started the journey early in the morning.

Now of course this was not going to be just a couple hours on the river, oh no. We were going to christen that canoe the right way. This was twenty plus miles down the river to the lakeshore in downtown Traverse. This was going to take all day, cover two portages around dams, two long pulls across lakes and a whole lot of fast moving water.

I am here to tell you, the day was sunny and warm, the river was cool and shady and it was smooth paddling for the first couple of hours. Then we hit a fast current that pushed us into a fallen tree and almost tipped the canoe. I lost a paddle, which we did recover quickly, and I lost a little skin on a branch. No big deal, first test passed.

Sure we got wet, but Charlie is smarter then the average bear and we had packed all of the food and whatnot in plastic bags. We were shaken a bit, but not stirred. Then we were into the first lake and it was just grand. We saw so many birds and animals it was like being on Safari, and in a very real sense, we were. It was just the two of us and the water and nature and smooth paddling.

Then the first dam portage was upon us and it was a tough haul. But we survived and then we rushing down stream to the next dam. Once again, the portage was tough carrying the canoe and everything over the road and down to the river. But hey, we were good and looking forward to big Boardman Pond.

Just before we entered the pond, we had to scoot under the road through a culvert. The water was moving fast and we had to paddle hard to make the turn so we could go through and we almost made it. Then boom! We hit the culvert and I thought my knees went through the bottom of the canoe. But we righted ourselves and pushed under the road, entering civilization and did the long, long paddle across the lake.

We went through downtown and out into the lake, we had made it. Sure we had a couple bruises, we had dented the front of the canoe and we were bone tired and sunburned a bit, but we made it. It was a great trip and a lot of fun as part of the big Sheeple Migration we did that summer. I hurt for a couple days and got sick from sunburn but it was worth it.

I am always ready for a canoe trip, even a daylong adventure!

Paddy's Poetry Corner (Aug Edition)

I have several poems that are just too long to ever get published in anything other then a book or some such place. So today I give you one of them.

I originally wrote this piece in 1990 and it has floated around for years. After publication in a book entitled Pieces of Eight by Wordsmith Publishing in 1991, the poem has just sat in my briefcase. Today it is going digital.

Summer of '76

The warm June day

blows through trees

in gentle waves of silence.

Putting the kite together;

my brother tests the wind

with paper, string and wood.

Our kite touches clouds

mingling with birdsong

high above grass and hill.

With wind's awakening pace,

power lines snare our bird,

ending our day bittersweet.

My grandfather wields

a homemade baseball bat

squinting into the sun.

Baseballs soar beyond

the barnyard fence;

my arm growing listless.

We switch places;

Grandpa catching pitiful

grounders from my bat.

Grandpa relives the past,

teaching me fundamentals

older then baseball.

The antique cane pole

quivers in the current

of the cool creek.

Using hand-tied flies

with years of fish,

colors skim on the surface.

Lurking brown trout

watch from fallen cedars,

testing childhood patience.

A string of triumph

is worth walking

the long road home.

Confetti and balloons

float through July haze,

coloring parade day.

Every marching band,

classic car and fire truck

passed through town.

Carnival noises and odors

drift through the county fair

enticing and delighting.

The clear night sky

explodes in memory

of pride and perseverance.

Another bale of hay

is stacked amid dust

mixed with summer sweat.

The old farmer's bent back

struggles through the chore

of keeping the farm alive.

Two young city boys

are fascinated by the farm

and the life they miss.

The wagon load is stacked

in the loft of the barn

amid dreams and livelihood.

Cars park on the lawn

where men and boys split

from the women carrying food.

The beer supply dwindles

as men talk business,

pitching worn horseshoes.

The women chat about family,

recipes and babies,

setting a banquet homemade.

The traditional reunion

bonds the diverse family

for a few hours of memories.

Downtown Candy Run

OldBldg, originally uploaded by paddy's wandering.

A couple of weekends ago, I took the toddler to downtown Bay City to walk around and just get out of the house. Sometimes, you just have to wander off.

Our first stop was at the candy store and we loaded a bag full of different candies. Now I will admit, I like hard candy and really dig root beer barrels. I would cross the road for root beer barrels, and have done so with reckless abandon. The toddler wasn't so sure. I'll give him credit, he tried the barrels, but in the end, he didn't like them..shucky darn.

But we had some candy and wandered around and took some pictures of all kinds of things. I had to share the camera because, much to my surprise, the toddler is a shutter bug. Unfortunately, he has yet to figure out how to keep his finger off of the lens and almost all of his pictures did not turn out. That is to bad too. He took some pics of geese wandering around Vets bridge and had a grand old time. He missed the geese and got his finger.

Good news is, we were using the cheap digital camera so no harm there. I can only imagine if I had shelled out money for developing the finger shots, that would have been very, very bad; might have led to colorful language.

But you know, I am not so good with the camera either, so I'll guess we will learn together. That's cool too. Now we have a mission to take pics and become experts!

Happy Wanderings!

The First Hundred

In a lot of endeavors, the first hundred...whatever...seems to be a significant milestone. Somehow I made it to one hundred blog posts. go figure. I do talk too much and I have just transferred that run on of the mouth to the 'puter screen.

I will say that some of my posts have been cool and were a lot of fun writing and doing. Some are just...eh. The price I pay for wandering from subject to subject and always being in a hurry. I have slowed the posting down, really writing something of substance and worthy of a few minutes read. At least, I hope so.

I have a lot of irons in the fire, what's knew? And I have a limited amount of time, again, what's knew? The goal is to do a bunch of writing on a daily basis. In that regard, I am achieving something. I also need to organize and sort and catagorise a ton of stuff from over the past years of writing and what not. That has been a task that has eluded me so far.

So far I have been happy with the direction, the amount of stuff accomplished and finished. So onward and upward!

Star Chasing

For the past few nights, I have driven home from work in anticipation of going out and watching the Perseid Meteor Shower. I leave work about midnight where there is too much reflective light to see anything very well except a full moon and drive home watching the stars more then the road.

 

Of course, I was excited about showing the toddler the shooting stars. The weather has had other plans. It has been partly cloudy the past few nights. I did catch a couple glimpses each night but the poor toddler just has not caught much of anything and he does not understand.

 

When the moon is full we go out and gaze at the moon, the toddler likes that. The moon is a good guy (I keep telling him she is a girl but he can’t say girl very well yet, so it is a good guy). When the sky is clear I take him out and we look at stars and constellations. We look for the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper, Orion and all the rest. I have been showing him a book on stars and we catch what we can and have fun.

 

Stargazing has been a pass time of mine since I was a wee lad. I used to love looking at the stars at my grand parents farm. The sky is so clear up north and you can see forever. There has been a few times where I thought I could climb the hill out back (it is a big, big hill) and walk right to the full moon. You can really see the Milky Way from out in the field.

 

I remember well gazing at Halley’s Comet with such awe back in the Hazy Eighties. I made a promise to see it next time around from space. Next visit by Earth is 2061 so I have some time to get into space for the big event. Maybe I will get lucky and humans will have space travel as easy as kiss my hand by then and I can catch a tourist shuttle or something. I just hope they let 96 year olds travel in space.

 

On a side note, but relative to moon and stargazing, I do love seeing an eclipse in person. That is something that stirs the primal juices in me. An event like that must have scared the loincloth off of prehistoric man. Heck it still scares the pants off modern man. But I love those types of events for all of the mystery and the unknown.

 

Pragmatically speaking, I am hoping come autumn we will be able to see the Leonid shower. Pictures are fine but there is nothing like going outside and looking up and seeing it for your self. Maybe the toddler will get a good view and be just as awed as I am by all things space. I think he may already be there, we’ll see.

Read a Book!

This past weekend was the Bay City Public Library Book Sale. Buy a hardcover for a buck, a paperback for fifty cents, then on Sunday fill a bag for a couple bucks. Yeah, that's awesome. Saginaw does it too and we hit that one up every year as well.

There are many good reasons to support this cause. We donate to both every year. We also buy books at the sale, read some and give some to folks who can not afford to buy new books all the time. It is also a good way to try a new author. The better 1/2 discovered a few authors that way and now she buys their new books when released. The libraries can get extra money to provide services and acquire new books.

Everybody wins, even authors. Yes authors get a boost as well. Sure you get a book or two used and the author does not see any royalties. But if the person likes their work, they will go out and buy other books at the store or on the internet and the author will get paid for those sales. It is a process that may pay small dividends short term, but I think in the long run, it is worth it.

So I say, support your libraries and support reading for everyone. We all benefit from a well read society.

Rainy Day Randomness

It is a Saturday and it is raining. The toddler and myself had planned on a wandering adventure, but we decided to stay home and watch movies. So we watched Secret of Nimh and Chicken Little. A good day while mom is working.

Last weekend we wandered around Bay City, taking pictures and having fun. As soon as I can get the 300 plus pics sorted, we will do a post on old buildings. It was a long day and the toddler loves taking pics, I think we both took a gajillion.

I am still trying to get used to the new schedule. From three to midnight to one to midnight does not sound like much, but it has thrown me for a loop. But hey, extra hours, more pay, still a day job, but hey no complaints. Just got to get used to it ya know?

This past week has been strange on the writing front. Got nothing of consequence done on any of the three white whales. Yeah, there are three of the beasties, have been for a long time. No worries for em there, I'll keep plodding along as I can.

But the shorts were rocking this week. A couple of nights I was going until 5 a.m.(and paid the price of no sleep, gladly) just tip tapping along and getting stuff accomplished! This is new stuff I have been dallying with since March. Five stories I fiddle with on a regular basis, all of which are in final, almost done, stages.

The old shorts that never got anywhere or really did anything for me anymore, they are in the dead letter file with the rejection slips. I took a couple things from each, and scrapped them. That's cool, I can live with that. There is some novel stuff in there that just never got going or went anywhere, they have good company.

On an interesting note, I am reading Just After Sunset by Stephen King; a collection of short stories. So far I have been pleased, the stories are rather good, as if they would not be? I like most of King's stuff, but not all, so I never know. There is an excellent story about a fella dealing with life after 9/11. That story really got me in the soft spot.

Today is a good day. Sitting here, organizing, writing some blog stuff for future posting. I am organizing some story stuff. Playing with pictures. Toddler is drawing and writing poems with me. Hey it is a good day just to wander around the house.

First Tree

FirstXmasTree, originally uploaded by paddy's wandering.

It seems to me, that even numbered years and every autumn is filled with events and changes. The year 1988 was no exception. Many firsts happened that year and just before the first sheeple kid was born right at the end, there was the first Christmas and the first tree in the first house.

Yup, it was a whirlwind year. We moved into that first house and between work, a blossomed better 1/2 and trying to pack, unpack and move and all that crazy stuff, the holiday was on us. Heck we were not unpacked, barely had time for anything when I decided I was going out to hunt a tree.

So I hunted for that perfect tree, and came home with the First Tree tied to the top of the Escort through wind and snow and icy roads. How I made it home is a mystery, but I did. Then out came a saw and the tree stand. How hard could it be?

Heck I watched my Dad bring in trees, expertly trim them, put them in a stand and set them up without breaking a sweat. Ahem, yeah. Well after nearly cutting off a finger or two, much inappropriate language and the occasional kicking of the stand and assorted snowbanks, I wrestled the beast up the steps into the house.

After bending tree and back in several yoga like positions, we came in through the front door into the living room, right into a pile of boxes that had yet to be unpacked. More inappropriate language and the kicking of a box or two and we were inside. I slammed the door on the blowing snow and pine needles and looked at the path that awaited.

I had to traverse all of fifteen feet between two chairs, pass the couch and bookcase, into the corner. I squinted my eyes, pulled off my gloves and coat, and prepared for the final assault. I thrust my hand into the bowels of the tree to grasp the trunk and haul it those final steps. The pine needles stung and my eyes watered, but we waddled into the corner, a prize fighter finishing off his opponent.

The better 1/2 had me turn the tree only a few times before it looked just right. I stepped back, leaving several layers of skin stuck to the trunk, slick with sap. I surveyed our prize and I was glad, the battle was over. So I swept the needles outside into the blustery gale and followed to put away saw and wrench and screw driver.

Yeah, I brought out the tool box in my initial assault, which at that time, consisted of a saw, a screw driver, a hammer and a crescent wrench. I came back inside, stomping snow and feeling pretty satisfied, to find better 1/2 looking at the tree with her head cocked to one side.

The tree was leaning! Not to worry, I filled the stand with water and spruced it up. Still leaning. I adjusted the little screws and fiddled with the stand, losing more skin to the dreaded bolts. Still leaning, but better.

Good enough to decorate. Through the kindness of our families, we had a mismatch of decorations that we put on the tree, but it was grand. Our first tree was up and with careful placement of the heavier ornaments, we got it to stand more or less straight.

Throughout all of this, our first cat, Cleo, was watching in cat bemusement from the bookcase/desk. She was silent as was the better 1/2 through my trial and tribulations, and for that I was grateful. So scritching her ears(actually both of their ears) I went off to wash the sap and blood and general mess that was my hands.

It was a small thing I guess, but I had conquered the First Tree test. As I washed my hands, I felt pretty good. Then I heard a crash, a bang and a cat yelling coming from the living room and I rushed out of the bathroom. There was our tree layed out on the floor and the cat sitting on the desk growling. The better 1/2 was trying not to laugh and failing.

Yup, the cat tried to climb the tree and down it came, cat, ornaments, and all. I muttered some more inappropriate language and tried to right the tree. I failed, it still leaned. After a couple of more attempts, I got it looking more or less right.

The cat looked at me, looked at better 1/2, did the cat butt wiggle and jumped onto the tree. Down it came. I sighed. It was to be the first of many. I started the year with the union with better 1/2, then the new place, the imminent birth of the first sheeple, and in all of that, a dog person such as myself, was talked into acquiring a cat.

In a flash of inspiration, I grabbed some string left over from the hauling of the tree, the hammer and a nail for hanging pictures. I looked at the cat and growled and got the LOOK from the better 1/2. She grabbed the little furball and harrumphed at me. It was to be the first of many.

I shrugged and went over to the wall, put in said nail only hitting my thumb once(I had been practicing in the shed), tied the string to the nail, then to the tree trunk. I didn't make a sound, just stepped back, adjusted the tension on the string, and looked with satisfaction at better 1/2.

She is the better 1/2 because she did not tell me it would not work. She would have been right of course, it did not work as well as I had hoped. Several times over those two weeks I had to tinker with the tree, but I never gave up. I had much to learn about trees and cats and the use of tools. But it was the first Christmas and the first tree and we all survived and had fun.

And in the end, that is what it is all about.