Paddy's Wanderings

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.

 

Junk Drawer, Feb 2012

I need a new pic for the Junk Drawer. Then again, it is a junk drawer and hasn't changed much in a long time. Maybe I should clean it.

Then again the wandering has not been happening much lately either. The nasty sickness from early December is back, not as bad, but back. It is a viral thing too.. Silly me asked the doctor to give me a broadbase anti-viral. He said there is no such thing. I have to tough it out for 2-3 months. It has been two months. I guess I watched too much SF because I would have swore they had stuff for viruses.

I wish. This thing makes it hard to work, let alone finish writing projects, or wander. But I am doing some of that wandering now, I sure am.

At The Farm, there is a mountain of work to do. I have started helping my Dad do some of that. We got a lot planned for Spring, so we have to get prepared. Being sick, and the relentless snow and cold, especially this weekend, is making it hard to get a lot done.There is so much to do, so much to transfer to the Old Barn, to preserve and save all those treasures.

We even plan to build a new house, which if you are keeping count, would be the third house on the property since it was homesteaded in 1882. I never saw the first one, still have not found a picture, but there is plenty to go through. I do remember the second one, but that is, sadly, now gone too. So we are gonna build another one.

I know complaing about the warm winter sounds funny, but up north here, there is plenty of snow and the wind off the hill cuts right through a person. I would swear that the winters of my childhood, back in the Fashioned Challenged Seventies, were much colder. I don't remember them that way at all. Might be my age,might be that there is no house or power or my Grandma baking cookies in the kitchen to come in to after being out in the cold barn.

The power is disconnected, first time since they put in electricity back in 1937. We'll get that hooked up in spring so we can use power tools. Unlike my great-great-grandfather, we'll want power for tools. Feels like cheating though, it really does. That is another post though. For now, we freeze and do our thing. Still not as tough as those old guys. no where near.

Other than that, January was a long month, and Febuary is going to be too. Thats ok, we'll get it done. Then we can spend the weekend at The Farm, not in a hotel. Better 1/2 has Grandma's recipes so maybe I can get her to bake some cookies.

Until next time...

 

 

The Gordy Elbow

I have not been posting much of late, but I have indeed been spinng yarns into the digi-verse. The following is but a small excerpt from the tentatively titled, A Sheeple Christmas...

 

It is a family tradition to gather on Christmas Eve. This year, we were gathering at my Peanut Butter Uncle’s house and we had a new addition to the gaggle of kids. After nine boys, we finally had a new cousin, and she was a girl! We always drew names amongst the boyos and we got to give a cousin a gift on Christmas Eve. Great when it’s a bunch of car crazy, squirt gun toting boys who built elaborate forts and played army, or Cowboys and Indians. Throw a girl into that mix and it is scratch your head time.

What do you get a girl?

It was also a time when my other uncle, who was a crazy hockey fan, would always be the last one at the table, trying to catch the latest game on the rabbit ears. That year, he sat next to me, the only seat left. We said grace, than commenced the passing of dishes. Now my Uncle Puck had a tendency to point and grunt. He was a man of few words, unless he was coaching us boys in the fine art of the body check. So he gave me a Gordy Elbow, grunted and pointed in the general direction of the rolls. I missed it.

Uncle Puck pointed and grunted a little louder.

I shrugged and grunted back questioningly.

It was perfect timing. Amidst the clatter and bang of the passing of the holiday meal, the exchange fell into that perfect silence. All the adults broke out into a huge laugh. Baby cousin giggled because the adults were laughing, but the boyos, they looked at me in shock.

No one questioned Coach. No one would dare make fun of him, but I had did just that. With a look that said I would be skating laps around the rink for the rest of my childhood, he gave me the Gordy Elbow and grunted and pointed. I passed the rolls, hoping I was correct. He nodded, grabbed one, and passed the bowl.

Again, a small taste of that one evening, there is much more to tell of this day and the days leading to and from Christmas. It was the Fashioned Challenged Seventies, a different time for sure. Until next time.. there just may be more of this story to leak out into the blog..