My journey downstate begins in about 11 hours, after a night's sleep, and I think I'm about as ready as I could be. The extra day to prepare turned out to be a good thing because it gave me time to think things through and--eek!--plan things out.
Yes, a plan! Honest! Complete with a written list on--get this--yellow legal paper!!!
If you know me, you're ROFLYAO. I'm not always the most organized guy. At least not on paper--I usually go through things in my head. But I can't count the number of times I've arrived at a meeting or a game without a pen. I've gotten so I stick a package of pens both in my camera bag and in my car. So a pen is never that far away.
The lists I wrote up today were labeled "Trunk" for things making the trip in the car's trunk--the tent, sleeping bag, bulky stuff like that. Then there's "Back Seat" for the cooler, blanket, pillow, the water bottles I bought, sandals and a category called "snackies." Hey, driving is hungry business--and without cooking gear making the trip, I'm going to call on the snackies from time to time.
List No. 3 is called "Box." As in a big cardboard box I got from the office, where I'm pitching this and that--the bug stuff, sun stuff, itch stuff (those are the actual names I use!), sweatshirt, plates and utensils, towels, lantern, etc.
List No. 4 is very short. "Front seat" consists entirely of "camera." As in the camera that is going to be out of reach whenever I see a woodland critter. As we all know, the critters only come out when the camera is out of reach.
List No. 1 is complete except for the backpack, which gets finished in the morning. List No. 2 is all checked off. List No. 3 is half-checked off (which means I'm going to double check this in the morning). List No. 4 is unchecked, but with one item to check, it shouldn't take too long.
So that's it. In the morning, I've got to look over some maps. Then, between 9 and 10 a.m., it's time for my bootheels to be wandering.
It'll be fun. I'm looking forward to it. I'm also looking forward to tomorrow night's weather down there--the low is supposed to be about 51F (10C). Glad I'm bringing the sweatshirt.
So I'll be gone for a few days. Happy Fourth of July to everyone. Happy Canada Day (Friday) to everyone north of the border, where (relative) political sanity can be found. If there's a holiday in Australia, enjoy it. Hey, it's the weekend, anyway, so enjoy that.
Till later ...
Thursday, June 30, 2005
A 24-hour delay
Under my original plan, I was going to hit the road tomorrow morning (Thursday) for my trip. But I have opted to delay departure by 24 hours. One fewer night on the road, plus it greatly reduced the stress on me to get everything finished at the office today. I have one story to finish tomorrow a.m., then work on some pictures and then lay out the page. I should be out of there around noon.
I'll have a few family/personal errands to do the rest of Thursday, including packing and picking up a few final things. I stopped at the local dollar store earlier today and got a few low-cost things for the trip, including a towel, a flashlight and some snacks for along the road. I went to a department store to look for a backpack, but they didn't have any. There is an old one in the attic, anyway.
My wife and I had some fun last night, and we sat together tonight and watched the end of movie we started last night ("My Uncle Silas 2" with Albert Finney), a Buster Keaton movie ("Sherlock Jr.") and some black and white Mickey Mouse cartoons. She's up to bed now, and I'm writing.
The radar says some strong storms will be moving through our area during the night. They've got warnings in the Duluth area and northwest Wisconsin, but we'll see how close they get to us. A few nights ago, some storms came marching in about midnight ... and promptly died out. We may have gotten a sprinkle, but the pavement outside was mostly dry when I got up in the morning.
We did get a nice storm Monday evening, while I was covering the local Little League title game. Suddenly thunder was booming, lightning was flashing and rain was pouring down. So much so that the field was partially inundated for a while, and about 10 people with brooms were needed to "sweep" the puddles away. It made for some interesting photos.
[g-276997]
[g-276998]
The game was delayed about 40 minutes, but once they resumed there was no other problems. The infield was even semi-dry.
That was the only serious thunder and lightning our area has had so far this year.
I also got a letter (e-mail) from a friend of mine, who lives about 60 miles away--I visit her from time to time, and we are due for another visit. She was telling me about a conference she attended recently, along with meeting up with a good friend and having a good time with him. She recently had a fence put around her backyard so she and her dogs can have some fun. She said she has been "brave" out there. "Brave" means she was sunbathing topless. "Real brave" means sunbathing nude. One time, about two years ago, long before the fence, she was being "real brave" when the meter reader arrived.
I'm looking forward to seeing her again. We usually got out for a pizza and then watch a Rolling Stones concert on DVD. We're both Stones fans and have been since the '60s.
Oops! Just heard some thunder outside, so I'd better check it out. It's not terribly warm or humid here, so there probably won't be any severe weather. But a thunderstorm would be fun. As I've written before, I enjoy them.
I'm going to check it out ...
Yes, it's lightninginging out there. I'm just checking out the weather radars, which indicate some storms moving due east from the Duluth area--and a strong batch of storms heading out way from Iowa and southwest Wisconsin (where I will be driving in two days). If they make it up here, it wouldn't be until the middle of the night. So will we have a light show in the early morning? Stay tuned.
At any rate, I'm going to stop here. I'll try to write more before leaving town on Friday morning.
I'll have a few family/personal errands to do the rest of Thursday, including packing and picking up a few final things. I stopped at the local dollar store earlier today and got a few low-cost things for the trip, including a towel, a flashlight and some snacks for along the road. I went to a department store to look for a backpack, but they didn't have any. There is an old one in the attic, anyway.
My wife and I had some fun last night, and we sat together tonight and watched the end of movie we started last night ("My Uncle Silas 2" with Albert Finney), a Buster Keaton movie ("Sherlock Jr.") and some black and white Mickey Mouse cartoons. She's up to bed now, and I'm writing.
The radar says some strong storms will be moving through our area during the night. They've got warnings in the Duluth area and northwest Wisconsin, but we'll see how close they get to us. A few nights ago, some storms came marching in about midnight ... and promptly died out. We may have gotten a sprinkle, but the pavement outside was mostly dry when I got up in the morning.
We did get a nice storm Monday evening, while I was covering the local Little League title game. Suddenly thunder was booming, lightning was flashing and rain was pouring down. So much so that the field was partially inundated for a while, and about 10 people with brooms were needed to "sweep" the puddles away. It made for some interesting photos.
[g-276997]
[g-276998]
The game was delayed about 40 minutes, but once they resumed there was no other problems. The infield was even semi-dry.
That was the only serious thunder and lightning our area has had so far this year.
I also got a letter (e-mail) from a friend of mine, who lives about 60 miles away--I visit her from time to time, and we are due for another visit. She was telling me about a conference she attended recently, along with meeting up with a good friend and having a good time with him. She recently had a fence put around her backyard so she and her dogs can have some fun. She said she has been "brave" out there. "Brave" means she was sunbathing topless. "Real brave" means sunbathing nude. One time, about two years ago, long before the fence, she was being "real brave" when the meter reader arrived.
I'm looking forward to seeing her again. We usually got out for a pizza and then watch a Rolling Stones concert on DVD. We're both Stones fans and have been since the '60s.
Oops! Just heard some thunder outside, so I'd better check it out. It's not terribly warm or humid here, so there probably won't be any severe weather. But a thunderstorm would be fun. As I've written before, I enjoy them.
I'm going to check it out ...
Yes, it's lightninginging out there. I'm just checking out the weather radars, which indicate some storms moving due east from the Duluth area--and a strong batch of storms heading out way from Iowa and southwest Wisconsin (where I will be driving in two days). If they make it up here, it wouldn't be until the middle of the night. So will we have a light show in the early morning? Stay tuned.
At any rate, I'm going to stop here. I'll try to write more before leaving town on Friday morning.
Tuesday, June 28, 2005
Links missing no more
OK, I did a little blogsite management. Not on the graphics (yes, I know that's badly needed) but on where this and that is. I added links, at the suggestion of BlinkFreak23, who is light years ahead of me in terms of artistic stuff and web graphics.
Now if your blog isn't listed in the Links section and I'm a regular customer, it's probably because I forgot. I've got that dreaded disease that regularly affects people my age, known as CRS. We have to start a CRS Foundation. If I can remember.
Also, I added some links to some sites that I find very cool. If you've never visited Ironic Times, check them out. Especially this week, check out the "ad" for "Empire MMV" at the bottom of the first page.
Time is tight. I will try to write more later today. But it's another of those short weeks (just like the one two weeks ago) with meetings, and I've got to hustle to get everything done so I can leave Thursday morning.
Later, dude.
Now if your blog isn't listed in the Links section and I'm a regular customer, it's probably because I forgot. I've got that dreaded disease that regularly affects people my age, known as CRS. We have to start a CRS Foundation. If I can remember.
Also, I added some links to some sites that I find very cool. If you've never visited Ironic Times, check them out. Especially this week, check out the "ad" for "Empire MMV" at the bottom of the first page.
Time is tight. I will try to write more later today. But it's another of those short weeks (just like the one two weeks ago) with meetings, and I've got to hustle to get everything done so I can leave Thursday morning.
Later, dude.
Sunday, June 26, 2005
Looking ahead
I am contractually obligated to write an blog entry today, but I'll warn you right now: There really isn't much interesting to report or any eye-opening insights. Hey, it's life--the exciting parts and the dull parts. This is one of the dull ones.
Most unusual event of the weekend was Saturday, when I went to a local ballpark to get a team picture--and ended up being the base umpire for a kids' game when someone else didn't show up. Well, I know my baseball rules pretty well, so that went OK. After that, off to a local "trout pond," sponsored by one the veterans groups in town for the kids to fish for trout with pieces of corn as bait. The trout didn't seem that interested and congregated in the middle of the pool, toward the bottom. They know what's good for them, I guess. I got a little sunburned from the ballgame and at the trout pond, but just around my neck.
From there, I picked up my wife from work and we all drove down to visit my mom. We went out to dinner, and I showed her some pictures from our trip last week.
The shopping was minimal. In fact, I did most of it, for my camping trip late this week. I bought things like a plate and bowl, a compass, some anti-itch stuff, a battery-powered lantern and a few other things. I thought I got a big fabric bag to store stuff like dirty clothes, but I must have left it behind. Well, I'll get another chance to get one on my way south in a few days.
Sunday, I did a little work around the office and then back home. I had a chance to take a nap and then watch some Buster Keaton movies on TV. Those are always fun.
Looking ahead: Monday is supposed to be hot, and I've got to cover a baseball game late in the day. Temperatures about 90F with a wind from the southwest. Should be interesting. It's the Little League local championship game. Hey, it's big stuff in a small town.
Tuesday, I've got a meeting in the afternoon. Wednesday, I'll be finishing up stuff at the office, and on Thursday I hit the road. It's about a six hour drive, down to southwestern Wisconsin.
I've been thinking a lot about what's going to happen down there. The people I met last weekend were very nice. But instead of about five others, this time there will be 30 to 40. And we'll be in our tents over several days. Most, I guess, will be about my age and a little younger--I don't really expect to see more than a couple young adults there. If there are, there will be young kids, too. That's fine.
Other things are on my mind, and I've got a couple days to ponder them. Namely:
---Food. As I wrote before, I'm not taking cooking gear there, so I'll just have to see. Most likely the folks there will be willing to share, especially if I make supply runs for them into town and buy stuff for them. I expect the folks will be generous--but I'm not relying on it. So the real Plan A is to make a trip into town each day for a warm meal and to replenish my supply of water and ice (I'm taking a small cooler along).
---Heat. Right now, it likely will be warm there, but not quite hot. It's up on a hill, so we'll be catching breezes, and the camping area is mostly shaded, so we won't get blasted by sunlight during the day. But you never know. There is no water up there, so we have to pack it in--no place to take a dip, skinny or otherwise, unless we go to a river nearby and find a suitable place.
---Outdoor life. I think I'm prepared, with the stuff I've bought over the last few weeks. It'll just be different. I think I'm better equipped than the last time I went camping. We'll see. Just sleeping in a tent, with the sounds of nature all around. One of my favorite ways to drop off to sleep is to put on a CD with nature sounds in the bedroom and drift off to that. This will be different. Plus, there could be wind and rain. Hmmm. Could be interesting.
---Internet. Much as I hate to admit it, I'm hooked on being online, and I'll want to find some way to keep tabs on civilization. Maybe every other day, I'll try to find a library nearby that is connected with the outside world.
---Home. I've got a cell phone, so I hope I can get a good enough signal so I can call my wife. Otherwise, I'll have to call from town. It's important for both of us to keep tabs on each other and hear each other's voice. The bigger issue is getting along for four days without seeing her. It's a fact that when I'm gone for a few days, I get lonely for home, and I know it will happen again. Yes, the people I'll be with will be friendly and share my feelings about nudity and sexuality--it's just part of life. They will be good with me, I know. But still ... I know I'll be eager to get back home, and I'm wondering whether I'll wind up leaving for home earlier than I plan, simply to get back with them.
All these emotions. We'll see what happens. I know I'll be happy when I get there. But I also know I'll be even happier when I get back home. That's a given. I'm planning to get back home about mid-afternoon on the 4th. Plenty of time to take everyone up to the airport at dusk to watch the Fourth of July fireworks from ground zero.
Most unusual event of the weekend was Saturday, when I went to a local ballpark to get a team picture--and ended up being the base umpire for a kids' game when someone else didn't show up. Well, I know my baseball rules pretty well, so that went OK. After that, off to a local "trout pond," sponsored by one the veterans groups in town for the kids to fish for trout with pieces of corn as bait. The trout didn't seem that interested and congregated in the middle of the pool, toward the bottom. They know what's good for them, I guess. I got a little sunburned from the ballgame and at the trout pond, but just around my neck.
From there, I picked up my wife from work and we all drove down to visit my mom. We went out to dinner, and I showed her some pictures from our trip last week.
The shopping was minimal. In fact, I did most of it, for my camping trip late this week. I bought things like a plate and bowl, a compass, some anti-itch stuff, a battery-powered lantern and a few other things. I thought I got a big fabric bag to store stuff like dirty clothes, but I must have left it behind. Well, I'll get another chance to get one on my way south in a few days.
Sunday, I did a little work around the office and then back home. I had a chance to take a nap and then watch some Buster Keaton movies on TV. Those are always fun.
Looking ahead: Monday is supposed to be hot, and I've got to cover a baseball game late in the day. Temperatures about 90F with a wind from the southwest. Should be interesting. It's the Little League local championship game. Hey, it's big stuff in a small town.
Tuesday, I've got a meeting in the afternoon. Wednesday, I'll be finishing up stuff at the office, and on Thursday I hit the road. It's about a six hour drive, down to southwestern Wisconsin.
I've been thinking a lot about what's going to happen down there. The people I met last weekend were very nice. But instead of about five others, this time there will be 30 to 40. And we'll be in our tents over several days. Most, I guess, will be about my age and a little younger--I don't really expect to see more than a couple young adults there. If there are, there will be young kids, too. That's fine.
Other things are on my mind, and I've got a couple days to ponder them. Namely:
---Food. As I wrote before, I'm not taking cooking gear there, so I'll just have to see. Most likely the folks there will be willing to share, especially if I make supply runs for them into town and buy stuff for them. I expect the folks will be generous--but I'm not relying on it. So the real Plan A is to make a trip into town each day for a warm meal and to replenish my supply of water and ice (I'm taking a small cooler along).
---Heat. Right now, it likely will be warm there, but not quite hot. It's up on a hill, so we'll be catching breezes, and the camping area is mostly shaded, so we won't get blasted by sunlight during the day. But you never know. There is no water up there, so we have to pack it in--no place to take a dip, skinny or otherwise, unless we go to a river nearby and find a suitable place.
---Outdoor life. I think I'm prepared, with the stuff I've bought over the last few weeks. It'll just be different. I think I'm better equipped than the last time I went camping. We'll see. Just sleeping in a tent, with the sounds of nature all around. One of my favorite ways to drop off to sleep is to put on a CD with nature sounds in the bedroom and drift off to that. This will be different. Plus, there could be wind and rain. Hmmm. Could be interesting.
---Internet. Much as I hate to admit it, I'm hooked on being online, and I'll want to find some way to keep tabs on civilization. Maybe every other day, I'll try to find a library nearby that is connected with the outside world.
---Home. I've got a cell phone, so I hope I can get a good enough signal so I can call my wife. Otherwise, I'll have to call from town. It's important for both of us to keep tabs on each other and hear each other's voice. The bigger issue is getting along for four days without seeing her. It's a fact that when I'm gone for a few days, I get lonely for home, and I know it will happen again. Yes, the people I'll be with will be friendly and share my feelings about nudity and sexuality--it's just part of life. They will be good with me, I know. But still ... I know I'll be eager to get back home, and I'm wondering whether I'll wind up leaving for home earlier than I plan, simply to get back with them.
All these emotions. We'll see what happens. I know I'll be happy when I get there. But I also know I'll be even happier when I get back home. That's a given. I'm planning to get back home about mid-afternoon on the 4th. Plenty of time to take everyone up to the airport at dusk to watch the Fourth of July fireworks from ground zero.
Friday, June 24, 2005
The drying-out process
Yes, it's late--right around midnight. Yes, I'm still up. I just took a shower to wash all the sweat off me, but now my hair is wet, and I want it to dry off before hitting the hay. If I don't, it will be impossible to deal with in the morning. And I don't want to use the hair dryer, since it's rather warm up here.
One thing I'll probably never have to worry about is baldness. That's to judge by my dad and grandpa. Both had straight, thick, white hair when they were old. My dad and I were both the first child of their parents, so if heredity means anything ...
My hair is straight and thick and light brown. The mustache, though, is mostly white. Coming attractions, I guess. The eyebrows and hair at my temples are making the transition, but most of the rest hasn't started yet. Just like me: procrastination.
No visit to the lake tonight. We ended up staying home, watching a few DVDs--nothing too long or intense. We went outside for a while to enjoy a breeze, then back inside to have a midnight snack (muskmelon, also known as cantaloupe). Then my wife went up to her air-conditioned bedroom (where I'll be heading soon), and I watched the end of the Pistons-Spurs game. Pistons just got outplayed in the fourth quarter.
Some storms were moving through northern Minnesota earlier tonight, but it looks like they're fizzling out. Regardless, with all the humidity in the air now, we're primed for some storms.
But I know we won't see rain overnight. Guaranteed. Why am I so certain? Because I closed the windows of the car late tonight. Nothing else in life, it seems, is more reliable than the relationship between closed car windows and lack of rain. Hardly ever fails. Now I'd like to see a scientific explanation of that!
Ah, to heck with waiting. I'm getting out the hair dryer and then am heading for bed.
One thing I'll probably never have to worry about is baldness. That's to judge by my dad and grandpa. Both had straight, thick, white hair when they were old. My dad and I were both the first child of their parents, so if heredity means anything ...
My hair is straight and thick and light brown. The mustache, though, is mostly white. Coming attractions, I guess. The eyebrows and hair at my temples are making the transition, but most of the rest hasn't started yet. Just like me: procrastination.
No visit to the lake tonight. We ended up staying home, watching a few DVDs--nothing too long or intense. We went outside for a while to enjoy a breeze, then back inside to have a midnight snack (muskmelon, also known as cantaloupe). Then my wife went up to her air-conditioned bedroom (where I'll be heading soon), and I watched the end of the Pistons-Spurs game. Pistons just got outplayed in the fourth quarter.
Some storms were moving through northern Minnesota earlier tonight, but it looks like they're fizzling out. Regardless, with all the humidity in the air now, we're primed for some storms.
But I know we won't see rain overnight. Guaranteed. Why am I so certain? Because I closed the windows of the car late tonight. Nothing else in life, it seems, is more reliable than the relationship between closed car windows and lack of rain. Hardly ever fails. Now I'd like to see a scientific explanation of that!
Ah, to heck with waiting. I'm getting out the hair dryer and then am heading for bed.
"Look at that!"
Last time, I wrote about the strange fact that closing your car windows magically insures that it won't rain overnight.
That, of course, is one of the many corollaries of Murphy's Law. Tonight and earlier in the week I ran into other ones. Well, not literally.
To explain: Tonight I opted to surprise my wife and take her out for a fish fry for dinner, just across the river in Wisconsin. She enjoys the buffet they have, and we had a nice meal of salad, chicken and, of course, fish. Yum!
Back in the car and on our way home, about a mile from the fish fry place and a mile from the bridge, we saw a jaywalker on the road ahead of us. It was fairly small, all black, on all fours and looked slightly confused. Yes, a bear cub was making his way across the road.
All I could say was "Look at that!" and slow down the car. All we could do was watch as the bear cub (the most dangerous animal in the North Woods, if you didn't know [explanation later]) ambled his way off the road and into the weeds on the other side.
Murphy's Law proven again, because my camera was back home, safe and sound, far from me and Nature's critters.
A couple days earlier (Wednesday, I think), I was driving out to get pictures at a golf outing nearby. On my way out there, I saw a doe (white-tailed deer) crossing the road. Yes, it was Bambi's mother! And right behind her was Bambi himself. I don't remember seeing country roads in the movie, but, hey, you got to adapt to your surroundings.
In this case, my camera was in the back seat--but I wasn't expecting the unexpected, and I would have needed 30 seconds--bare minimum--to get the camera out and switched on and pointed in the right direction. Bambi and his mom walked into the brush in less than 10 seconds.
Last year, in early June, I was driving my mom across Wisconsin to visit her sister-in-law, who lives north of the Twin Cities in Minnesota. For many, many years, she lived in a farming area, but urban sprawl has struck that area but good!
Anyway--it was about 10 a.m. on a sunny day, maybe 30 minutes after I picked her up. We were approaching Goodman, Wis., on U.S. 8 when I saw a big dog on the other side of the road, sitting on the road's gravel shoulder. I quickly realized this was no dog, and I slowed the car to a stop. "Look at that!" It was the size and build of a large German shepherd, only its colors were lighter, mostly cream and brown. Very intent, intelligent eyes and sharp-pointed ears.
I don't see how it could have been anything but a wolf! An amazing picture--if I could get it. Even by the time my car came to a stop, I was feeling under my legs for my camera bag, where I had put it. I found it, but it hit my leg and rolled away toward the door. It took a second or two to find it again. Then another second or two to get the Velcro flap and the plastic latch open. Meanwhile, the wolf started trotting towards me, on my side of the car. He had just passed the driver's side door when I finally got the camera free and switched on. By that time, my subject had reached the rear of the car, passed behind it and disappeared into the woods, on the other side. Maybe 15 or 20 seconds had passed.
Oh, I was mad at myself at the golden opportunity lost!
But about a half hour earlier, I was a lot luckier. We were on a county road at that time--we hadn't reached U.S. 8 yet. I was talking with my mom while driving along when I saw a black shape on the road ahead of me. A bear. (Where we live, they're all black bears.) "Look at that!"
My camera was right where I put it--in a paper bag on the back seat of the car. So I scrambled. And as I did that, the bear, which was halfway across the road, turned around and went back the way he came. I swore--under my breath because my mom was there.
But then you could see the lightbulb flash over the bear's head: "Duhhhh. Oh yeah! I wanted to cross the road!" So he turned around again and started crossing the road. And I got him!
[g-269775]
I got another woodland critter this April, when I took my wife for a ride to a quilt show near Marquette. To cut off a lot of miles (and a lot of time), I drove along some back roads, including gravel roads. We had a good time. On the way home, I made a turn and discovered this critter on the roadway. He apparently was so intent with what he was doing that he didn't notice the car that had come to a stop nearby and the camera that was pointing at him. Say cheese!
[g-269811]
While I have no photographic evidence to prove it, I've seen moose crossing the road twice. The first time was when I was driving my wife to Marquette (this time along the state highway) to see the doctor. He was about 300 yards ahead of me. This huge, dark brown shape clumsily crossing the road. "That's a moose!" I said cleverly to my wife, who has seen enough Bullwinkle cartoons to know a moose when she sees one.
The other time was two years ago, when I was driving down to Rhinelander with my younger son as part of my courtship of the used Mazda that would become my trusty steed (back about 40,000 miles ago). Anyway, we were driving home, a little east of Eagle River, when this big gangly critter starts crossing the road ahead of me. "Look at that!" I told my son. (I had, by that time, switched to a more generic exclamation.) He saw.
The lesson, I guess, is to keep that camera close whenever I'm in the car. Because you never know.
Of course, there is still another corollary of Murphy's law: "The closer you keep your camera in hopes of getting pictures of woodland critters, the fewer will dare reveal their presence to you."
By the way, why is a bear cub the most dangerous creature in the North Woods? Because Mama Bear is always nearby, and if she hears her kid bawling, she won't be very polite.
That, of course, is one of the many corollaries of Murphy's Law. Tonight and earlier in the week I ran into other ones. Well, not literally.
To explain: Tonight I opted to surprise my wife and take her out for a fish fry for dinner, just across the river in Wisconsin. She enjoys the buffet they have, and we had a nice meal of salad, chicken and, of course, fish. Yum!
Back in the car and on our way home, about a mile from the fish fry place and a mile from the bridge, we saw a jaywalker on the road ahead of us. It was fairly small, all black, on all fours and looked slightly confused. Yes, a bear cub was making his way across the road.
All I could say was "Look at that!" and slow down the car. All we could do was watch as the bear cub (the most dangerous animal in the North Woods, if you didn't know [explanation later]) ambled his way off the road and into the weeds on the other side.
Murphy's Law proven again, because my camera was back home, safe and sound, far from me and Nature's critters.
A couple days earlier (Wednesday, I think), I was driving out to get pictures at a golf outing nearby. On my way out there, I saw a doe (white-tailed deer) crossing the road. Yes, it was Bambi's mother! And right behind her was Bambi himself. I don't remember seeing country roads in the movie, but, hey, you got to adapt to your surroundings.
In this case, my camera was in the back seat--but I wasn't expecting the unexpected, and I would have needed 30 seconds--bare minimum--to get the camera out and switched on and pointed in the right direction. Bambi and his mom walked into the brush in less than 10 seconds.
Last year, in early June, I was driving my mom across Wisconsin to visit her sister-in-law, who lives north of the Twin Cities in Minnesota. For many, many years, she lived in a farming area, but urban sprawl has struck that area but good!
Anyway--it was about 10 a.m. on a sunny day, maybe 30 minutes after I picked her up. We were approaching Goodman, Wis., on U.S. 8 when I saw a big dog on the other side of the road, sitting on the road's gravel shoulder. I quickly realized this was no dog, and I slowed the car to a stop. "Look at that!" It was the size and build of a large German shepherd, only its colors were lighter, mostly cream and brown. Very intent, intelligent eyes and sharp-pointed ears.
I don't see how it could have been anything but a wolf! An amazing picture--if I could get it. Even by the time my car came to a stop, I was feeling under my legs for my camera bag, where I had put it. I found it, but it hit my leg and rolled away toward the door. It took a second or two to find it again. Then another second or two to get the Velcro flap and the plastic latch open. Meanwhile, the wolf started trotting towards me, on my side of the car. He had just passed the driver's side door when I finally got the camera free and switched on. By that time, my subject had reached the rear of the car, passed behind it and disappeared into the woods, on the other side. Maybe 15 or 20 seconds had passed.
Oh, I was mad at myself at the golden opportunity lost!
But about a half hour earlier, I was a lot luckier. We were on a county road at that time--we hadn't reached U.S. 8 yet. I was talking with my mom while driving along when I saw a black shape on the road ahead of me. A bear. (Where we live, they're all black bears.) "Look at that!"
My camera was right where I put it--in a paper bag on the back seat of the car. So I scrambled. And as I did that, the bear, which was halfway across the road, turned around and went back the way he came. I swore--under my breath because my mom was there.
But then you could see the lightbulb flash over the bear's head: "Duhhhh. Oh yeah! I wanted to cross the road!" So he turned around again and started crossing the road. And I got him!
[g-269775]
I got another woodland critter this April, when I took my wife for a ride to a quilt show near Marquette. To cut off a lot of miles (and a lot of time), I drove along some back roads, including gravel roads. We had a good time. On the way home, I made a turn and discovered this critter on the roadway. He apparently was so intent with what he was doing that he didn't notice the car that had come to a stop nearby and the camera that was pointing at him. Say cheese!
[g-269811]
While I have no photographic evidence to prove it, I've seen moose crossing the road twice. The first time was when I was driving my wife to Marquette (this time along the state highway) to see the doctor. He was about 300 yards ahead of me. This huge, dark brown shape clumsily crossing the road. "That's a moose!" I said cleverly to my wife, who has seen enough Bullwinkle cartoons to know a moose when she sees one.
The other time was two years ago, when I was driving down to Rhinelander with my younger son as part of my courtship of the used Mazda that would become my trusty steed (back about 40,000 miles ago). Anyway, we were driving home, a little east of Eagle River, when this big gangly critter starts crossing the road ahead of me. "Look at that!" I told my son. (I had, by that time, switched to a more generic exclamation.) He saw.
The lesson, I guess, is to keep that camera close whenever I'm in the car. Because you never know.
Of course, there is still another corollary of Murphy's law: "The closer you keep your camera in hopes of getting pictures of woodland critters, the fewer will dare reveal their presence to you."
By the way, why is a bear cub the most dangerous creature in the North Woods? Because Mama Bear is always nearby, and if she hears her kid bawling, she won't be very polite.
Thursday, June 23, 2005
Hot spot
Whooee! It just hit 90F outside.
Actually, it's not that bad yet because the dew point is below 65 and there's a bit of a breeze blowing. But the mercury is supposed to rise some more. We have a low of 63 forecast for tonight, which is a lot better than the 70 they were talking about earlier. It's still not going to be a good night for sleeping unless we remember to get the room AC switched on about 9 p.m.
Out in the Dakotas, where one of my FRB (frequently read bloggers) lives, it has been close to 100. I had thought it was more like that "dry heat" you hear about in Arizona (where temperatures have been around 110 the last few days).
That's what I had thought. Then I checked the weather maps.
The map says several places in both Dakotas and northern Minnesota have dew points right now as high as 75. Ouch! That's brutally high, even for Florida. Alligator weather. How does Lady Visine help her llamas keep their cool?
Plans for this evening are up in the air yet.
Actually, it's not that bad yet because the dew point is below 65 and there's a bit of a breeze blowing. But the mercury is supposed to rise some more. We have a low of 63 forecast for tonight, which is a lot better than the 70 they were talking about earlier. It's still not going to be a good night for sleeping unless we remember to get the room AC switched on about 9 p.m.
Out in the Dakotas, where one of my FRB (frequently read bloggers) lives, it has been close to 100. I had thought it was more like that "dry heat" you hear about in Arizona (where temperatures have been around 110 the last few days).
That's what I had thought. Then I checked the weather maps.
The map says several places in both Dakotas and northern Minnesota have dew points right now as high as 75. Ouch! That's brutally high, even for Florida. Alligator weather. How does Lady Visine help her llamas keep their cool?
Plans for this evening are up in the air yet.
Year's first scorcher on its way
The heat is moving in.
While summers are usually mild and dry around here, each year we are usually good for a couple scorchers. Hot, humid weather is uncommon around here, so when it comes, it comes hard and people know it.
Tomorrow, it's supposed to come hard. Highs are forecast in the low 90s, with lows in the low to mid 60s. True, not very impressive compared to most of the country. But for us, it's out of character.
My guess is that most of the homes around here don't have air conditioning. Why get something that you're only going to use once or twice a year? A few years ago, after a really scorching summer, we had a room air conditioner put in the bedroom. We used it once or twice that year. Last summer was a lot cooler than normal, and I don't think we used it at all. But now we've put it on notice--your services may be required soon, so be ready.
We decided on the room AC unit because we have a two-story home, and the heat rises to the upper floor in summer and just stays there. When it's hot, there's usually no breeze, so the hot air just sits around and calls in all its friends. It's not unusual to see the upstairs temperature reach the upper 80s. Now imagine trying to sleep in that! The room with my main computer is also upstairs. Oh, it gets hot, all right.
When it's really hot, we use some big fans upstairs and sometimes stay downstairs very late. I know back before AC, people/families used to sleep outside when their homes were so hot. Haven't done that yet, but it's an idea.
So what do we do? We lie very low and wait for it to end. While waiting, we sometimes go for rides with the car windows open. Other times, we head for one of the area lakes, where I usually "play" with the straps of my wife's swimsuit, encouraging the front part of it to drift further and further down in the water. She has been known to sort of bounce a little in the water to help it along. (Just having a little fun while letting her know that I still enjoy looking at her. She's 10 months younger than I am, FYI.)
We have a number of parks with lakes around here. You'd be surprised how cool the lake waters remain, even in a summer heat wave. Spend an hour or so of your evening in the lake, and you'll find your body temperature cooling off quite nicely. Until it's time to get out, go home and go back upstairs to that hot bedroom.
The cats don't care for the heat, either, and they can't take off their fur coats. So they just lie very still and, as incredible as it sounds, sleep even more than normal. They make up for it when the air finally cools off and the heat wave breaks. Then they're running around the house like crazy.
Usually the heat breaks with a bang and a boom--heavy rain, lightning, sometimes a little hail and strong winds. There have been tornadoes reported in this area, but strong gust fronts in front of thunderstorms are much more common and have left behind plenty of downed trees.
So we'll have to see what's in store this time. Maybe we'll go to the lake. Maybe the new root beer stand that just opened in town. Maybe a ride up and down the highway.
Whatever we decide, we'll do our best to keep our cool.
While summers are usually mild and dry around here, each year we are usually good for a couple scorchers. Hot, humid weather is uncommon around here, so when it comes, it comes hard and people know it.
Tomorrow, it's supposed to come hard. Highs are forecast in the low 90s, with lows in the low to mid 60s. True, not very impressive compared to most of the country. But for us, it's out of character.
My guess is that most of the homes around here don't have air conditioning. Why get something that you're only going to use once or twice a year? A few years ago, after a really scorching summer, we had a room air conditioner put in the bedroom. We used it once or twice that year. Last summer was a lot cooler than normal, and I don't think we used it at all. But now we've put it on notice--your services may be required soon, so be ready.
We decided on the room AC unit because we have a two-story home, and the heat rises to the upper floor in summer and just stays there. When it's hot, there's usually no breeze, so the hot air just sits around and calls in all its friends. It's not unusual to see the upstairs temperature reach the upper 80s. Now imagine trying to sleep in that! The room with my main computer is also upstairs. Oh, it gets hot, all right.
When it's really hot, we use some big fans upstairs and sometimes stay downstairs very late. I know back before AC, people/families used to sleep outside when their homes were so hot. Haven't done that yet, but it's an idea.
So what do we do? We lie very low and wait for it to end. While waiting, we sometimes go for rides with the car windows open. Other times, we head for one of the area lakes, where I usually "play" with the straps of my wife's swimsuit, encouraging the front part of it to drift further and further down in the water. She has been known to sort of bounce a little in the water to help it along. (Just having a little fun while letting her know that I still enjoy looking at her. She's 10 months younger than I am, FYI.)
We have a number of parks with lakes around here. You'd be surprised how cool the lake waters remain, even in a summer heat wave. Spend an hour or so of your evening in the lake, and you'll find your body temperature cooling off quite nicely. Until it's time to get out, go home and go back upstairs to that hot bedroom.
The cats don't care for the heat, either, and they can't take off their fur coats. So they just lie very still and, as incredible as it sounds, sleep even more than normal. They make up for it when the air finally cools off and the heat wave breaks. Then they're running around the house like crazy.
Usually the heat breaks with a bang and a boom--heavy rain, lightning, sometimes a little hail and strong winds. There have been tornadoes reported in this area, but strong gust fronts in front of thunderstorms are much more common and have left behind plenty of downed trees.
So we'll have to see what's in store this time. Maybe we'll go to the lake. Maybe the new root beer stand that just opened in town. Maybe a ride up and down the highway.
Whatever we decide, we'll do our best to keep our cool.
Wednesday, June 22, 2005
The relationship game
I'm feeling frustrated. About marriage. The topic of marriage, that is.
I really want to write something about marriage, but the thoughts aren't coming together yet. I know what some of the problems are. I know how they can be resolved. But I don't think many are willing to give up control over their "loved one" enough to take the prescription. (Yes, the quotation marks are deliberate.)
I have been reading a series of blogs lately, and they all seem to do with relationships and jealousy and possessiveness. I think jealousy is a poisonous ingredient for any relationship. Yeah, it's a part of life when you're in high school or college, but at some point people are supposed to mature and grow out of it. Too many "adults" act toward their partners like they are still treading the hallways of high school.
It's a topic I want to get into, but the creative thoughts just aren't working tonight. It's pretty vast, anyway, and the Liberated Christians website makes their point a lot better and succinctly than I can.
What does Liberated Christians do? They are about "Promoting Positive Intimacy and Sexuality Including Responsible Nonmonogamy or Polyamory as a legitimate CHOICE for Christians and others / Exposing false traditions of sexual repression that have no biblical basis."
Maybe you should look it over and see what you think.
* * * * * On a related note * * * * *
I have a good blogfriend (married) who recently rekindled an old affair. She had been thinking about him long and hard for a while, confiding it to her blog, of course. Recently, she wrote, an e-mail led to a dinner out of town, and that led to them making love.
So what would you say if she was your friend? Here's what I wrote: "My sweet friend, you didn't do anything wrong. You were being true to yourself. You love more than one man, and that's the way it is. It has made you so happy. It doesn't mean you love **** any less. Love isn't like money--if you give it away, you still have a lot more to give."
So I suppose you want to ask: "What if she was my wife? What would you say then? Huh?"
I'd say something like this: "Look. She's been part of my life for all these years. She's my best friend. I want her to have anything she wants. If sleeping with someone else once in a while makes her happy, how am I hurt? If she's responsible about her feelings and what she does, then let her be happy. When she's happy, I'm happy."
I think my friend is going to be careful to keep her love life with her hubby going strong. And I think her recent encounter will resolve a lot of uncertainty in her life--yes, they still love each other. Now she has two loves. I have a hard time seeing anything wrong with that.
I'll leave it at that until another day.
I really want to write something about marriage, but the thoughts aren't coming together yet. I know what some of the problems are. I know how they can be resolved. But I don't think many are willing to give up control over their "loved one" enough to take the prescription. (Yes, the quotation marks are deliberate.)
I have been reading a series of blogs lately, and they all seem to do with relationships and jealousy and possessiveness. I think jealousy is a poisonous ingredient for any relationship. Yeah, it's a part of life when you're in high school or college, but at some point people are supposed to mature and grow out of it. Too many "adults" act toward their partners like they are still treading the hallways of high school.
It's a topic I want to get into, but the creative thoughts just aren't working tonight. It's pretty vast, anyway, and the Liberated Christians website makes their point a lot better and succinctly than I can.
What does Liberated Christians do? They are about "Promoting Positive Intimacy and Sexuality Including Responsible Nonmonogamy or Polyamory as a legitimate CHOICE for Christians and others / Exposing false traditions of sexual repression that have no biblical basis."
Maybe you should look it over and see what you think.
* * * * * On a related note * * * * *
I have a good blogfriend (married) who recently rekindled an old affair. She had been thinking about him long and hard for a while, confiding it to her blog, of course. Recently, she wrote, an e-mail led to a dinner out of town, and that led to them making love.
So what would you say if she was your friend? Here's what I wrote: "My sweet friend, you didn't do anything wrong. You were being true to yourself. You love more than one man, and that's the way it is. It has made you so happy. It doesn't mean you love **** any less. Love isn't like money--if you give it away, you still have a lot more to give."
So I suppose you want to ask: "What if she was my wife? What would you say then? Huh?"
I'd say something like this: "Look. She's been part of my life for all these years. She's my best friend. I want her to have anything she wants. If sleeping with someone else once in a while makes her happy, how am I hurt? If she's responsible about her feelings and what she does, then let her be happy. When she's happy, I'm happy."
I think my friend is going to be careful to keep her love life with her hubby going strong. And I think her recent encounter will resolve a lot of uncertainty in her life--yes, they still love each other. Now she has two loves. I have a hard time seeing anything wrong with that.
I'll leave it at that until another day.
Tuesday, June 21, 2005
Just a few lines, more or less
I wanted to write something tonight, but I also wanted to write to a friend. The e-letter just went out--essentially, it was about the vacation, which I copied almost exactly from the blog--so now it's time for some blog-writing for myself.
The only problem is that I'm tired. But I'm determined to get something out tonight. In this corner, it's my oncoming sleepiness. In the other, it's my desire to write pawing the canvas. Fifteen rounds, and may the better force win.
Ding!
One thing I want to do pretty soon is upgrade this website. That's hard for a person with no artistic skills whatsoever to accomplish. I just want to include more interesting content--both in terms of graphics and in my usual verbosity.
I guess, though, I'm going to go with the flow of my mind and write what I've been thinking about. Namely, about a week and a half from now, when I'll be out camping for the first time in a few years.
That will be at the neopagan gathering I mentioned last time. This one will last several days, and I want to be part of it. So a-camping I will go.
Mind you, I had camped years ago back when I was with the Boy Scouts. Hmm, about 40 years ago. Those skills are kinda rusty. Then, a few years back, I went out to a gathering in southern Michigan and needed to camp, So I got a dome tent. Its most distinguishing characteristic is that it stands all of four feet tall at the peak of the dome (I'm about 5-11) and had about as much ventilation as my basement. Was it ever stuffy! I also had an old sleeping bag that had seen better days. I got along there all right. I survived. So I'll survive his one, right?
This time, though, I have found a good tent on sale at a local discount store and bought it. It's a dome that can sleep four (if need be) and is 6 feet tall at the dome. Cool. It has screened windows and all that good stuff.
I also invested in a sleeping bag. This one won't keep me from freezing in cold weather, but I'm not planning to use it in freezing weather. That's why there are motels. I also bought a tarp and an insulated pad for the sleeping bag.
The thing is ... I don't know how to cook. I can cook brats on the grill on the back porch (which is what we did for supper tonight), I can boil water, I can zap microwave popcorn and I have even been known to heat up some soup for myself in the microwave. But the odds of finding microwaves in the campground aren't that good. So what I'll probably end up doing is going into town for a warm meal each day and buy some goodies to take back to the tent. High-energy stuff. Crackers. Water. I've got a cooler that can keep cold stuff cold. That's cool.
Another "major investment" will be getting a small pair of binoculars, the better to enjoy the local bird population at the campsite. They make some nice lightweight ones now, and I hope they won't be too expensive.
I wanted to go further, but you get the picture by now. I'm yawning more and more, and I think it's time to put the laptop away for a while.
The only problem is that I'm tired. But I'm determined to get something out tonight. In this corner, it's my oncoming sleepiness. In the other, it's my desire to write pawing the canvas. Fifteen rounds, and may the better force win.
Ding!
One thing I want to do pretty soon is upgrade this website. That's hard for a person with no artistic skills whatsoever to accomplish. I just want to include more interesting content--both in terms of graphics and in my usual verbosity.
I guess, though, I'm going to go with the flow of my mind and write what I've been thinking about. Namely, about a week and a half from now, when I'll be out camping for the first time in a few years.
That will be at the neopagan gathering I mentioned last time. This one will last several days, and I want to be part of it. So a-camping I will go.
Mind you, I had camped years ago back when I was with the Boy Scouts. Hmm, about 40 years ago. Those skills are kinda rusty. Then, a few years back, I went out to a gathering in southern Michigan and needed to camp, So I got a dome tent. Its most distinguishing characteristic is that it stands all of four feet tall at the peak of the dome (I'm about 5-11) and had about as much ventilation as my basement. Was it ever stuffy! I also had an old sleeping bag that had seen better days. I got along there all right. I survived. So I'll survive his one, right?
This time, though, I have found a good tent on sale at a local discount store and bought it. It's a dome that can sleep four (if need be) and is 6 feet tall at the dome. Cool. It has screened windows and all that good stuff.
I also invested in a sleeping bag. This one won't keep me from freezing in cold weather, but I'm not planning to use it in freezing weather. That's why there are motels. I also bought a tarp and an insulated pad for the sleeping bag.
The thing is ... I don't know how to cook. I can cook brats on the grill on the back porch (which is what we did for supper tonight), I can boil water, I can zap microwave popcorn and I have even been known to heat up some soup for myself in the microwave. But the odds of finding microwaves in the campground aren't that good. So what I'll probably end up doing is going into town for a warm meal each day and buy some goodies to take back to the tent. High-energy stuff. Crackers. Water. I've got a cooler that can keep cold stuff cold. That's cool.
Another "major investment" will be getting a small pair of binoculars, the better to enjoy the local bird population at the campsite. They make some nice lightweight ones now, and I hope they won't be too expensive.
I wanted to go further, but you get the picture by now. I'm yawning more and more, and I think it's time to put the laptop away for a while.
Sunday, June 19, 2005
What I did on my summer vacation
Hey, there! Long time no see!
We got back from our long, long trip to southern Wisconsin Saturday night, about 9:40 p.m. Tired and a little worn out, but it was a great trip. I'll give you the basics:
--Weather: Absolutely first-class, every day. Not too hot. Not too cool. Not very humid. Not too cloudy. No rain. Just beautiful. This is the weather that we'll look back and say, "If only we had the weather like we did during our 2005 vacation ..."
--Day 1: We left at 9:45 a.m., about an hour after I had hoped, but that's OK. First major stop was in Wausau, where we hit the Barnes & Noble bookstore (bought an early Heinlein novel, a new book by/about R.Crumb and a third book that I can't remember at the moment). Then we searched around for two used bookstores in town. Found one. Didn't get anything (prices were high). Then doubled back to the B&N in search of a book I forgot about earlier. They didn't have it. Back on the road. Crossed the free ferry over the Wisconsin River at Merrimac. We had crossed it going to the other way many, many years ago. Various stops for pictures along the way. I wanted to stop at the nude beach along the river, but it was just getting too late, so we moved on to Spring Green and got a motel room there.
--Day 2: Slept a bit late, then got breakfast and made our way to the main stop of the vacation: the House on the Rock. Fantastic scenery. Camera was busy. Finally got to the House about 10:30. Vast. Bizarre. Very large. Self-guided foot tour that covers about 3 miles--we took about 5 hours, even after rushing through the later parts. (My wife's feet were getting tired. Mine, too, for that matter.) Many fabulous collections. I'm sure I'm not the only one who thought about "Citizen Kane" and all the stuff he collected.
Oh, was I busy with the pictures! I had the luxury of three sets of camera batteries in my bag, and after I got the "weak battery" signal in the viewfinder, I sat down to replace them with a fresh set. Guess what? The fresh set was dead!!! Not even a weak battery signal! I tried the other reserve set. Same thing! For a while I thought my camera was malfunctioning. Then I put the old set back in, and it worked--with the weak battery signal. So after that, I drastically cut down the number of photos I took. Even so, I wound up virtually filling up a 64meg memory card.
As for the House, it just got to be sensory overload after a while. Just so much to take in. So many collections. We opted to get a DVD set in the gift shop to show my mom, who has never been there.
We were bushed. We went back to the motel and lay down for a nap. Then up and got some supper at a nearby Culver's. Unlike our motel, the Culver's had wireless internet, so we went back to the motel and retured about an hour and a half later for "dessert" and a very welcome chance to catch up on things on the internet. My "unread blogs" number was about 23 by then. Then back to the motel. I was very tired, and I thought my wife was, too. But she wanted to play. So we played. I don't do that well when I'm really tired. I did well enough, at least, to make her happy. We slept like dead people.
Day 3: The thing is, I can get to sleep, but I wake up in the middle of the night and doze on and off after that. We got going and went off to a used bookstore my wife saw in a tourist paper. It proved to be closed, but she spotted a fabric shop next door, and as the saying goes, I think, You can never be too young or have too much fabric. She got a piece or two.
From there, off into the hills of southwestern Wisconsin and to a small neopagan gathering taking place that day. Seven people, including us. It was celebrating the summer solstice, the growth all around us and our personal growth as people. It was the first time I had been with this group, so there was a lot of learning. We celebrated the day and ourselves. Then a little feast--we contributed grapes and potato chips.
My wife wasn't ready to take part in the ritual (she would have been welcome), but she joined with everyone as we were munching together afterwards and didn't seem to bat an eye at the nudity. We were all naked during the ritual; the women partly covered up after, but the men (myself included) didn't.
It was nice. Very peaceful. Sunny day. Birds singing. The bugs apparently were busy elsewhere. Conversation about this and that--for my sake, a large part of it was about the history of the group and how they all got together. It didn't strike me at the time, but--with the exception of an 8-year-old girl--all of us were middle-aged/getting up there. The group is having a multi-day event at the end of June, and I'm attending that one by myself.
We were there until about 3:45 and then had to leave for the trip home, which lasted about six hours. My wife got her second meal at Arby's in three days (a rare treat for her, since there aren't any Arby's around where we live). We talked in the car. Listened to the radio. Held hands.
It was a nice way to end three very, very good days.
We got back from our long, long trip to southern Wisconsin Saturday night, about 9:40 p.m. Tired and a little worn out, but it was a great trip. I'll give you the basics:
--Weather: Absolutely first-class, every day. Not too hot. Not too cool. Not very humid. Not too cloudy. No rain. Just beautiful. This is the weather that we'll look back and say, "If only we had the weather like we did during our 2005 vacation ..."
--Day 1: We left at 9:45 a.m., about an hour after I had hoped, but that's OK. First major stop was in Wausau, where we hit the Barnes & Noble bookstore (bought an early Heinlein novel, a new book by/about R.Crumb and a third book that I can't remember at the moment). Then we searched around for two used bookstores in town. Found one. Didn't get anything (prices were high). Then doubled back to the B&N in search of a book I forgot about earlier. They didn't have it. Back on the road. Crossed the free ferry over the Wisconsin River at Merrimac. We had crossed it going to the other way many, many years ago. Various stops for pictures along the way. I wanted to stop at the nude beach along the river, but it was just getting too late, so we moved on to Spring Green and got a motel room there.
--Day 2: Slept a bit late, then got breakfast and made our way to the main stop of the vacation: the House on the Rock. Fantastic scenery. Camera was busy. Finally got to the House about 10:30. Vast. Bizarre. Very large. Self-guided foot tour that covers about 3 miles--we took about 5 hours, even after rushing through the later parts. (My wife's feet were getting tired. Mine, too, for that matter.) Many fabulous collections. I'm sure I'm not the only one who thought about "Citizen Kane" and all the stuff he collected.
Oh, was I busy with the pictures! I had the luxury of three sets of camera batteries in my bag, and after I got the "weak battery" signal in the viewfinder, I sat down to replace them with a fresh set. Guess what? The fresh set was dead!!! Not even a weak battery signal! I tried the other reserve set. Same thing! For a while I thought my camera was malfunctioning. Then I put the old set back in, and it worked--with the weak battery signal. So after that, I drastically cut down the number of photos I took. Even so, I wound up virtually filling up a 64meg memory card.
As for the House, it just got to be sensory overload after a while. Just so much to take in. So many collections. We opted to get a DVD set in the gift shop to show my mom, who has never been there.
We were bushed. We went back to the motel and lay down for a nap. Then up and got some supper at a nearby Culver's. Unlike our motel, the Culver's had wireless internet, so we went back to the motel and retured about an hour and a half later for "dessert" and a very welcome chance to catch up on things on the internet. My "unread blogs" number was about 23 by then. Then back to the motel. I was very tired, and I thought my wife was, too. But she wanted to play. So we played. I don't do that well when I'm really tired. I did well enough, at least, to make her happy. We slept like dead people.
Day 3: The thing is, I can get to sleep, but I wake up in the middle of the night and doze on and off after that. We got going and went off to a used bookstore my wife saw in a tourist paper. It proved to be closed, but she spotted a fabric shop next door, and as the saying goes, I think, You can never be too young or have too much fabric. She got a piece or two.
From there, off into the hills of southwestern Wisconsin and to a small neopagan gathering taking place that day. Seven people, including us. It was celebrating the summer solstice, the growth all around us and our personal growth as people. It was the first time I had been with this group, so there was a lot of learning. We celebrated the day and ourselves. Then a little feast--we contributed grapes and potato chips.
My wife wasn't ready to take part in the ritual (she would have been welcome), but she joined with everyone as we were munching together afterwards and didn't seem to bat an eye at the nudity. We were all naked during the ritual; the women partly covered up after, but the men (myself included) didn't.
It was nice. Very peaceful. Sunny day. Birds singing. The bugs apparently were busy elsewhere. Conversation about this and that--for my sake, a large part of it was about the history of the group and how they all got together. It didn't strike me at the time, but--with the exception of an 8-year-old girl--all of us were middle-aged/getting up there. The group is having a multi-day event at the end of June, and I'm attending that one by myself.
We were there until about 3:45 and then had to leave for the trip home, which lasted about six hours. My wife got her second meal at Arby's in three days (a rare treat for her, since there aren't any Arby's around where we live). We talked in the car. Listened to the radio. Held hands.
It was a nice way to end three very, very good days.
Thursday, June 16, 2005
Blogging into a parallel universe
I really didn't need this. w.bloggar, you bastard! If I weren't so tired, I'd use much more colorful language. But the sad truth about cussing is that it doesn't make you feel any better, and it doesn't help the situation. In my case, it won't make my lost blog come back. It's gone to some parallel universe in ModBlogland, some black hole in the World Wide Web. I reiterate: w.bloggar, you bastard!
I'm too damn tired to write the whole damn thing again. (You can see I'm pissed, right?) So here's the Readers Digest version:
It's been a very busy week for me, because I had to cover several meetings and write them all up before leaving town for a brief (three-day) vacation to southern Wisconsin. The thing is, with my job you have to bust your ass to do all your work for the week before you go because nobody is going to lift a finger to do it for you. The normal vacation rules don't seem to apply to me. So the question is: Is is really a "vacation"?
Anyway, my wife and I leave all that behind for a few days in southern Wisconsin. We'll be back late Saturday night.
The main part of the piece was that I'm taking my laptop along in hopes of staying at a motel with wireless internet access--as you've probably seen, these places are cecoming more common. That led to a discussion (tongue-in-cheek) of motel rooms I have known.
But it's too late to try to write it all again now, and I'm too angry at w.bloggar, you bastard! Why didn't you send my post? I didn't say anything mean about you. Until now, that is. You bastard!
And I still want to read the many friends' blogs that have been posted since this morning. And it's already 11:40 p.m. And we want to hit the road about 9 a.m. (though, frankly, it's a long shot). And I'm tired. And I'm still pissed. w.bloggar, you bastard!
Since I alluded to it earlier, I wanted to briefly mention that my doctor's appointment today went well. BP is down. The blood tests were fine. I'll survive a while longer, I guess.
I'll call it good for now. There's just one final thing I wanted to say: w.bloggar, you bastard!
I'm too damn tired to write the whole damn thing again. (You can see I'm pissed, right?) So here's the Readers Digest version:
It's been a very busy week for me, because I had to cover several meetings and write them all up before leaving town for a brief (three-day) vacation to southern Wisconsin. The thing is, with my job you have to bust your ass to do all your work for the week before you go because nobody is going to lift a finger to do it for you. The normal vacation rules don't seem to apply to me. So the question is: Is is really a "vacation"?
Anyway, my wife and I leave all that behind for a few days in southern Wisconsin. We'll be back late Saturday night.
The main part of the piece was that I'm taking my laptop along in hopes of staying at a motel with wireless internet access--as you've probably seen, these places are cecoming more common. That led to a discussion (tongue-in-cheek) of motel rooms I have known.
But it's too late to try to write it all again now, and I'm too angry at w.bloggar, you bastard! Why didn't you send my post? I didn't say anything mean about you. Until now, that is. You bastard!
And I still want to read the many friends' blogs that have been posted since this morning. And it's already 11:40 p.m. And we want to hit the road about 9 a.m. (though, frankly, it's a long shot). And I'm tired. And I'm still pissed. w.bloggar, you bastard!
Since I alluded to it earlier, I wanted to briefly mention that my doctor's appointment today went well. BP is down. The blood tests were fine. I'll survive a while longer, I guess.
I'll call it good for now. There's just one final thing I wanted to say: w.bloggar, you bastard!
Tuesday, June 14, 2005
Time is tight
This is proving to be a difficult week.
Part of the difficulty is keeping up with everyone else's blogs. When I see one I like, I hit the "add blog alert" line. So when the literary bug bites a lot of them, I'm reading a lot and not writing very much.
There just hasn't been a lot of free time lately, either. To wit: Sunday, we left town to visit my mom. A good day. Monday, a busy day at work, then a meeting across the county that should have lasted an hour and wound up at 2 1/2. A local city council, where every minor issue is examined in close detail.
Today, I have another meeting in the early afternoon. At least this one usually doesn't go so long. This evening, unless it gets too rainy (we've had some rain moving through last night and this morning), I'd better get some Little League pictures.
Tomorrow morning, another meeting at 7 a.m. Then, at 9 a.m., I have a doctor's apppointment, where he will ask how I'm doing with my high blood pressure. Insert your own joke here.
Starting Thursday: A "vacation" that is really more like a long weekend. Gone Thursday morning, back home late Saturday night.
I also managed to get someone on ModBlog mad at me. She had replied to one of my previous posts, and I typed a reply to her.
But instead of hitting "reply to post", I had hit "edit post." So when I hit the Submit button, all of a sudden my words were there instead of hers, under her name.
Alas, there's no Undo button on ModBlog. So I figured the only civil thing to do would be to (A) delete her reply, which I had just destroyed; and (B) write her a note to apologize and ask her to post her thoughts again.
She responded that she was mad, but since she doesn't go to sleep angry, she will forgive me.
Well, maybe she really means that, and maybe she doesn't. I'm not so sure. Time will tell. At any rate, she hasn't reposted what she wrote about what I wrote, and I'm suspecting our blogging friendship has been forever tarnished by my stupid and careless mistake of clicking the wrong button.
Good friendships have blown apart over far lesser things. Except when they do, were they ever really "friendships" to begin with?
Part of the difficulty is keeping up with everyone else's blogs. When I see one I like, I hit the "add blog alert" line. So when the literary bug bites a lot of them, I'm reading a lot and not writing very much.
There just hasn't been a lot of free time lately, either. To wit: Sunday, we left town to visit my mom. A good day. Monday, a busy day at work, then a meeting across the county that should have lasted an hour and wound up at 2 1/2. A local city council, where every minor issue is examined in close detail.
Today, I have another meeting in the early afternoon. At least this one usually doesn't go so long. This evening, unless it gets too rainy (we've had some rain moving through last night and this morning), I'd better get some Little League pictures.
Tomorrow morning, another meeting at 7 a.m. Then, at 9 a.m., I have a doctor's apppointment, where he will ask how I'm doing with my high blood pressure. Insert your own joke here.
Starting Thursday: A "vacation" that is really more like a long weekend. Gone Thursday morning, back home late Saturday night.
I also managed to get someone on ModBlog mad at me. She had replied to one of my previous posts, and I typed a reply to her.
But instead of hitting "reply to post", I had hit "edit post." So when I hit the Submit button, all of a sudden my words were there instead of hers, under her name.
Alas, there's no Undo button on ModBlog. So I figured the only civil thing to do would be to (A) delete her reply, which I had just destroyed; and (B) write her a note to apologize and ask her to post her thoughts again.
She responded that she was mad, but since she doesn't go to sleep angry, she will forgive me.
Well, maybe she really means that, and maybe she doesn't. I'm not so sure. Time will tell. At any rate, she hasn't reposted what she wrote about what I wrote, and I'm suspecting our blogging friendship has been forever tarnished by my stupid and careless mistake of clicking the wrong button.
Good friendships have blown apart over far lesser things. Except when they do, were they ever really "friendships" to begin with?
Saturday, June 11, 2005
Unanswered questions
This was inspired by a recent post by Gabriel's Trumpet, who wrote about the existence of God and her personal journey from Atheism to Theism.
I read it just after talking to my wife about my sister-in-law--they talked on the phone the other day. My wife is the oldest of eight, and my SIL is the youngest. And she has had a hard life. She got mixed up with drugs in high school, tried suicide, grew up a little but had the misfortune to fall in love with a series of nogoodniks, raising two kids basically by herself. In recent years, she has been having heart troubles and had a pacemaker put in her chest. She had to go on disability because of her heart condition.
And then things changed. A few years ago, she got involved in a local church, got religion for really the first time--and at about the same time met this older guy at the church, whom she fell in love with. He moved in with her, and they were happy. We met him. He seemed like a nice guy. Things were well. They were happy. Until he started having troubles with coughing, and the doctors discovered lung cancer.
He died last summer. They had married right at the very end, and he passed away that night. Can you imagine her heartbreak?
So now the anniversary is coming up, and she wants out of the home they lived in. She had been planning to move to a nearby city (where her son lives) and had been living in the house by herself. But now, with the anniversary coming up, she wants to move out now. My wife said she's depressed.
Anyway, last summer, as we were driving home from the funeral, I talked to my wife about it and told her that I was really having a hard time dealing with this. Look at my SIL. She has really had a hard life. Sort of ostracized from the rest of her family--my wife is the only sister she really can talk to. Yes, she's made plenty mistakes and has paid for them, in many ways. Two rotten marriages. And then she meets this other guy. And he gets her to go to church again for the first time in many years. My SIL feels really loved by a man for the first time in her life.
And what happens? They get a year together before he dies.
So, I told my wife, I don't know how to feel about this. What am I supposed to think? Was this some part of a heavenly "divine plan" for her? Is it "God's will" that she never feel loved? Did God want her to go through all the shit she had to, then find someone whom she could love and cherish--only to have it all taken away again?
That's cruel. And, I asked my wife, why? Why would God do this to her, especially after how she had turned to him again?
I didn't get an answer. I still don't have an answer. I still don't know why. Maybe I never will know. But what I do know is that today I have a lot less confidence in the divine presence that I was taught about in Sunday school. Maybe it's just another thing I learned when I was young that turns out to be something altogether different.
Hey, I want to thank everyone for their positive wishes this morning, in my test. It was an entry exam for getting a job with the Postal Service. Yep, the guys who bring you your snail mail, bills, credit card applications and tax forms.
They were testing on various skills, like comparing addresses, filling out forms, address zones and memorization (the part I was most worried about).
I think I did OK. They'll eventually send me my scores.
Do you want to guess how long I've been at the paper where I work? How about nearly 25 years? So why am I looking for a change? Money. The postal service may be deadly dull work by comparison, but even their entry level positions pay a lot better than the weekly newspaper biz, not to mention better insurance and other benefits. I figured it out--out of my gross pay last year, health insurance alone took away over 20% of it.
So we'll see what happens. They'll let me know how I did. If I did well enough, I'll get word of an opening once in a while. I'm not expecting anything to happen in the short term. Way too early to start counting chickens.
I read it just after talking to my wife about my sister-in-law--they talked on the phone the other day. My wife is the oldest of eight, and my SIL is the youngest. And she has had a hard life. She got mixed up with drugs in high school, tried suicide, grew up a little but had the misfortune to fall in love with a series of nogoodniks, raising two kids basically by herself. In recent years, she has been having heart troubles and had a pacemaker put in her chest. She had to go on disability because of her heart condition.
And then things changed. A few years ago, she got involved in a local church, got religion for really the first time--and at about the same time met this older guy at the church, whom she fell in love with. He moved in with her, and they were happy. We met him. He seemed like a nice guy. Things were well. They were happy. Until he started having troubles with coughing, and the doctors discovered lung cancer.
He died last summer. They had married right at the very end, and he passed away that night. Can you imagine her heartbreak?
So now the anniversary is coming up, and she wants out of the home they lived in. She had been planning to move to a nearby city (where her son lives) and had been living in the house by herself. But now, with the anniversary coming up, she wants to move out now. My wife said she's depressed.
Anyway, last summer, as we were driving home from the funeral, I talked to my wife about it and told her that I was really having a hard time dealing with this. Look at my SIL. She has really had a hard life. Sort of ostracized from the rest of her family--my wife is the only sister she really can talk to. Yes, she's made plenty mistakes and has paid for them, in many ways. Two rotten marriages. And then she meets this other guy. And he gets her to go to church again for the first time in many years. My SIL feels really loved by a man for the first time in her life.
And what happens? They get a year together before he dies.
So, I told my wife, I don't know how to feel about this. What am I supposed to think? Was this some part of a heavenly "divine plan" for her? Is it "God's will" that she never feel loved? Did God want her to go through all the shit she had to, then find someone whom she could love and cherish--only to have it all taken away again?
That's cruel. And, I asked my wife, why? Why would God do this to her, especially after how she had turned to him again?
I didn't get an answer. I still don't have an answer. I still don't know why. Maybe I never will know. But what I do know is that today I have a lot less confidence in the divine presence that I was taught about in Sunday school. Maybe it's just another thing I learned when I was young that turns out to be something altogether different.
Hey, I want to thank everyone for their positive wishes this morning, in my test. It was an entry exam for getting a job with the Postal Service. Yep, the guys who bring you your snail mail, bills, credit card applications and tax forms.
They were testing on various skills, like comparing addresses, filling out forms, address zones and memorization (the part I was most worried about).
I think I did OK. They'll eventually send me my scores.
Do you want to guess how long I've been at the paper where I work? How about nearly 25 years? So why am I looking for a change? Money. The postal service may be deadly dull work by comparison, but even their entry level positions pay a lot better than the weekly newspaper biz, not to mention better insurance and other benefits. I figured it out--out of my gross pay last year, health insurance alone took away over 20% of it.
So we'll see what happens. They'll let me know how I did. If I did well enough, I'll get word of an opening once in a while. I'm not expecting anything to happen in the short term. Way too early to start counting chickens.
Friday, June 10, 2005
Brief--I'm not joking--update
Hooray! I located those two missing DVDs last night. Both were hiding in bags--one was snuggled in with some T-shirts I bought recently.
The camera manual is still AWOL. I mislaid it someplace. Maybe if I ever clean up this desk, I'll get my hands on it.
The other bit of news is a little more serious, at least for me. I need some of you nice people to say something good on my behalf. Tomorrow morning--less than nine hours from now--I'm going to take an exam that could lead to me moving on to another job. I think I'll do OK--I sure hope so--but if you can send some magical brain boost my way, I'll be grateful. I'll tell you about it afterward.
Be good. Be gentle. Peace and love. And never thirst!
The camera manual is still AWOL. I mislaid it someplace. Maybe if I ever clean up this desk, I'll get my hands on it.
The other bit of news is a little more serious, at least for me. I need some of you nice people to say something good on my behalf. Tomorrow morning--less than nine hours from now--I'm going to take an exam that could lead to me moving on to another job. I think I'll do OK--I sure hope so--but if you can send some magical brain boost my way, I'll be grateful. I'll tell you about it afterward.
Be good. Be gentle. Peace and love. And never thirst!
Wednesday, June 8, 2005
Weekly update + my book report
Update time: So far this week, here's how I'm doing on my to-do list:
There's supposed to be a mass of rain coming in today from Minnesota. That's what the radar shows. Of course, that's what it showed yesterday, but it apparently got lost somewhere in northern Wisconsin. Took a wrong turn on U.S. 8, perhaps.
The other amazing piece of news is that my official ModBlog stats show that 8 people have visited my site today, and I have 142 page views. Uhh-huh!
According to the "latest visitors" column, exactly one person has stopped by since midnight.
I've been tagged to pass along info on my reading habits. That can, at times, be highly embarrassing. Not because of what I read but because of what I don't. Just out of college, I was pretty up on the best-sellers, but I got away from that.
Today, I like to watch sports and movies on TV and news, but that's about all. Regular TV prime-time fare: I barely give it a glance. What's this "Survivor" thing people seem so hepped up about? Don't people have anything better to do?
Instead, I search here and there on the internet, read blogs, occasionally write them, swap e-mails and try to learn new stuff.
The biggest challenge of this, frankly, is finding new people to "tag," since I think everyone in Modblogland has already been a tagee. Darn, and I wanted to tag someone so much! (I tagged my wife pretty good last night, by the way, so I'm feeling pleased with myself today.)
OK, back to business.
How many books to I have? Tons! There is no way to give even a remotely accurate figure. It's the old "books are friends" thing, and I don't like to let them go. I know I have to do a serious triage and get rid of a lot of them--maybe 2/3rds of them. It'll hurt--I know that. It won't be happy work.
Book I am currently reading: It's "The Last Juror" by John Grisham. About a little Mississippi town, a small newspaper, a murder and the search for vengeance. Just started reading it yesterday--so I can have a "book I am currently reading" reply for this questionnaire. Hey, I'm not dumb--am I?
Actually, it's been a fast read so far. A friend lent it to me, and I put off reading it until, in her last e-mail, she reminded me of it. So I'd better polish this one off. Lately, I've been staying up a little late, reading blogs and getting to bed late--that's when I usually read, to give my brain a workout before I go to sleep.
Last book I bought: Oh, that's the second question. Hmm. Let me think for a moment. The quilting/inspiration book I bought my wife yesterday probably doesn't count. I'll have to get back to you on that.
Last book I read again: That's easy. "Stranger in a Strange Land" by Robert Heinlein. I got the 1961 version, and now I'm going through the 1991 uncut version. (Wait: Are you reading two books at the same time? Actually, three or four. But the Grisham book is going to be at the front of the line for a while.)
More about "Strangers" later.
Five books I would take along to a desert island:
(This assumes I won't have to spent 95% of my waking hours seaching for food and water, fighting off wild animals (or mosquitoes) who know a tasty tidbit when they see one or straining to build a shelter to protect me from the world. Sort of like Tom Hanks in "Castaway.")
1. "Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain. This is a book about a boy named Huckleberry Finn. America was younger but it really wasn't an age of innocence. The fuse was burning when Huck and Jim went down the Mississippi on that raft. He saw nobility, he saw cowardice, he saw manipulation, he saw courage, and most of all he saw the humanity of his raftmate, whom he had thought of as only a slave. And when the chips were down and Huck had to decide whether to do the right thing (as he had been taught by 1840s society) or whether to condemn himself to hell, he said, "All right then, I'll go to hell!" He protected the runaway Jim, whom he thought of as the property of a man he didn't know, a man who had never done Huck any harm.
2. "Tom Jones" by Henry Fielding. What a wonderful book! What adventures Tom had! His lust for living and ladies got him into trouble time and again, but his basically honest nature saw him through the hard times. Fielding's book is wordy and very long--but very funny, with many keen insights into human nature that ring as true in the 21st century as they were in the 18th century, when it was written. I think this will be my next re-read.
3. "Death in the Afternoon" by Ernest Hemingway. I could name any of Papa's novels, but I choose this straightforward documentary on bullfighting in Spain from just after World War I. Warning: The punctuation is atrocious, as commas are used for semicolons, and vice versa. But I worked through it, mumbling under my breath at times, and I found it an engrossing book, a look into a world that few Americans know much about and practically none cares for. But how's this for a savage comment on man? Among the pictures is one of a dead bullfighter in a hospital room, surrounded by about a dozen men--one of them is looking down at the dead man, the rest at the camera. Hemingway's caption: "Only one man is concerned for Joselito. The rest are concerned with how they look in the picture." Who are the beasts, anyway?
4. "Stranger in a Strange Land" by Robert Heinlein. I had this book years ago, read about half of it, it got lost (or I got busy on something else), and I only got it again recently. And it absolutely blew me away! The book hit a very resonant chord with my beliefs about love and monogamy and caring for one another. "Thou art God!" How's that for a concept? What would the world be like if we chose to see the divine in one another instead of our failings? What would the world be like without jealousy and pettiness and spite and manipulation? What if we made a priority of giving each other pleasure and happiness? To me, it's very close to my notion of what Heaven is like. And if Heaven isn't like that, I don't think I want to go.
5. I wanted to put in a book by a woman. I had to think for a while, since my favorite authors are male. And then the lightbulb lit. Of course! "My Secret Garden" by Nancy Friday. Technically, she didn't write it. She collected the erotic fantasies of many women, and they shared dreams and wishes that are light years beyond those of mortal men. Erotic thoughts and dreams and wishes. I deeply respect those fantasies and the imagination they show. The book is not classic literature--but if I'm on an island by myself, with no female companionship at hand ... hey, I'm not dead yet, you know!
Next five to tag: Hey, any of you Modbloggers haven't been tagged yet? What about my dear young friend BlinkFreak? How about an English perspective, operaredhead? Have you done this yet, Disturbed Angel? And I'm dying to know what's in Purely Pink's bookcase. How many llama books does Lady Visine have? And Mystic Song shows her current read at her site. What else is there?
Wait a minute! That's six! Oh, well. Four of the six have probably done this already, but my pea-sized brain forgets. It's that dreaded disease among people my age, known as CRS.
As for myself, I'm going to try to track down "The Alchemist," because from what Squilla wrote, it looks like my kind of book. (And yes, I absolutely adore Gary Larson's cartoons, too.)
What a surprise! The latest cloudburst from the Gopher State has fallen apart. Looks like I won't have to build that ark after all.
- Written friends: Check!
- Found digital camera manual: No. Haven't started looking. But I downloaded a PDF version, so I have the info I need. Still want to find the manual, tho.
- Found missing DVDs: No. Barely looked.
- Planning trip: Check!
- Mowed grass: Check!
There's supposed to be a mass of rain coming in today from Minnesota. That's what the radar shows. Of course, that's what it showed yesterday, but it apparently got lost somewhere in northern Wisconsin. Took a wrong turn on U.S. 8, perhaps.
The other amazing piece of news is that my official ModBlog stats show that 8 people have visited my site today, and I have 142 page views. Uhh-huh!
According to the "latest visitors" column, exactly one person has stopped by since midnight.
I've been tagged to pass along info on my reading habits. That can, at times, be highly embarrassing. Not because of what I read but because of what I don't. Just out of college, I was pretty up on the best-sellers, but I got away from that.
Today, I like to watch sports and movies on TV and news, but that's about all. Regular TV prime-time fare: I barely give it a glance. What's this "Survivor" thing people seem so hepped up about? Don't people have anything better to do?
Instead, I search here and there on the internet, read blogs, occasionally write them, swap e-mails and try to learn new stuff.
The biggest challenge of this, frankly, is finding new people to "tag," since I think everyone in Modblogland has already been a tagee. Darn, and I wanted to tag someone so much! (I tagged my wife pretty good last night, by the way, so I'm feeling pleased with myself today.)
OK, back to business.
How many books to I have? Tons! There is no way to give even a remotely accurate figure. It's the old "books are friends" thing, and I don't like to let them go. I know I have to do a serious triage and get rid of a lot of them--maybe 2/3rds of them. It'll hurt--I know that. It won't be happy work.
Book I am currently reading: It's "The Last Juror" by John Grisham. About a little Mississippi town, a small newspaper, a murder and the search for vengeance. Just started reading it yesterday--so I can have a "book I am currently reading" reply for this questionnaire. Hey, I'm not dumb--am I?
Actually, it's been a fast read so far. A friend lent it to me, and I put off reading it until, in her last e-mail, she reminded me of it. So I'd better polish this one off. Lately, I've been staying up a little late, reading blogs and getting to bed late--that's when I usually read, to give my brain a workout before I go to sleep.
Last book I bought: Oh, that's the second question. Hmm. Let me think for a moment. The quilting/inspiration book I bought my wife yesterday probably doesn't count. I'll have to get back to you on that.
Last book I read again: That's easy. "Stranger in a Strange Land" by Robert Heinlein. I got the 1961 version, and now I'm going through the 1991 uncut version. (Wait: Are you reading two books at the same time? Actually, three or four. But the Grisham book is going to be at the front of the line for a while.)
More about "Strangers" later.
Five books I would take along to a desert island:
(This assumes I won't have to spent 95% of my waking hours seaching for food and water, fighting off wild animals (or mosquitoes) who know a tasty tidbit when they see one or straining to build a shelter to protect me from the world. Sort of like Tom Hanks in "Castaway.")
1. "Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain. This is a book about a boy named Huckleberry Finn. America was younger but it really wasn't an age of innocence. The fuse was burning when Huck and Jim went down the Mississippi on that raft. He saw nobility, he saw cowardice, he saw manipulation, he saw courage, and most of all he saw the humanity of his raftmate, whom he had thought of as only a slave. And when the chips were down and Huck had to decide whether to do the right thing (as he had been taught by 1840s society) or whether to condemn himself to hell, he said, "All right then, I'll go to hell!" He protected the runaway Jim, whom he thought of as the property of a man he didn't know, a man who had never done Huck any harm.
2. "Tom Jones" by Henry Fielding. What a wonderful book! What adventures Tom had! His lust for living and ladies got him into trouble time and again, but his basically honest nature saw him through the hard times. Fielding's book is wordy and very long--but very funny, with many keen insights into human nature that ring as true in the 21st century as they were in the 18th century, when it was written. I think this will be my next re-read.
3. "Death in the Afternoon" by Ernest Hemingway. I could name any of Papa's novels, but I choose this straightforward documentary on bullfighting in Spain from just after World War I. Warning: The punctuation is atrocious, as commas are used for semicolons, and vice versa. But I worked through it, mumbling under my breath at times, and I found it an engrossing book, a look into a world that few Americans know much about and practically none cares for. But how's this for a savage comment on man? Among the pictures is one of a dead bullfighter in a hospital room, surrounded by about a dozen men--one of them is looking down at the dead man, the rest at the camera. Hemingway's caption: "Only one man is concerned for Joselito. The rest are concerned with how they look in the picture." Who are the beasts, anyway?
4. "Stranger in a Strange Land" by Robert Heinlein. I had this book years ago, read about half of it, it got lost (or I got busy on something else), and I only got it again recently. And it absolutely blew me away! The book hit a very resonant chord with my beliefs about love and monogamy and caring for one another. "Thou art God!" How's that for a concept? What would the world be like if we chose to see the divine in one another instead of our failings? What would the world be like without jealousy and pettiness and spite and manipulation? What if we made a priority of giving each other pleasure and happiness? To me, it's very close to my notion of what Heaven is like. And if Heaven isn't like that, I don't think I want to go.
5. I wanted to put in a book by a woman. I had to think for a while, since my favorite authors are male. And then the lightbulb lit. Of course! "My Secret Garden" by Nancy Friday. Technically, she didn't write it. She collected the erotic fantasies of many women, and they shared dreams and wishes that are light years beyond those of mortal men. Erotic thoughts and dreams and wishes. I deeply respect those fantasies and the imagination they show. The book is not classic literature--but if I'm on an island by myself, with no female companionship at hand ... hey, I'm not dead yet, you know!
Next five to tag: Hey, any of you Modbloggers haven't been tagged yet? What about my dear young friend BlinkFreak? How about an English perspective, operaredhead? Have you done this yet, Disturbed Angel? And I'm dying to know what's in Purely Pink's bookcase. How many llama books does Lady Visine have? And Mystic Song shows her current read at her site. What else is there?
Wait a minute! That's six! Oh, well. Four of the six have probably done this already, but my pea-sized brain forgets. It's that dreaded disease among people my age, known as CRS.
As for myself, I'm going to try to track down "The Alchemist," because from what Squilla wrote, it looks like my kind of book. (And yes, I absolutely adore Gary Larson's cartoons, too.)
What a surprise! The latest cloudburst from the Gopher State has fallen apart. Looks like I won't have to build that ark after all.
Tuesday, June 7, 2005
In recovery mode
I think these last few days are catching up with me.
Sunday was spent writing, writing and more writing. Not much of a day off. Today, it was very intense work, writing some more, working up photos and getting the pages together.
I supposedly had a baseball game tonight, but when I got to the park, nobody was there. Evidently the schedule was changed, and they wanted to keep it a secret. So I went back home with the evening suddenly open. But I think I'm feeling the effects of the last few days. I caught up with a few friends' blogs, then I wanted to watch at least some of a Hitchcock movie ("Blackmail," his first talkie). But I just couldn't keep from dozing off on the couch, so that will have to wait.
Now I've got the NBA playoffs on, but I may be switching to something else. CBC has a docudrama about the huge explosion in Halifax in 1917, and I liked the first part last night (while I was trying to work on my stories), so I could watch that, checking in on the game during commercials. If I don't doze off again.
Really, it's probably just my body trying to catch up with itself. I have had such an intense few days, now it's time to recover a little.
Much less intense this week, fortunately. Among the things I have on the to-do list:
1. Where is that manual for my digital camera?
2. What in heck happened to my "Saved" and "House of Flying Daggers" DVDs? And just when I wanted to relax with one of them, too!
3. Write some friends. Basically, it's a condensed version of these blogs. That's how I think it's going to wind up. Just the interesting parts. In other words, not this part.
4. Plan a little trip out of town next week. Wife and I are going on a mini vacation, to southern Wisconsin. Three days. We can afford three-day vacations, as long as we pick low-cost motels.
Otherwise, I'm pissed about the Supreme Court's verdict on medical marijuana, issued earlier today. Please understand: I don't smoke it and I have tried it only once or twice in my life. (I have never been a smoker.) I don't have any friends or family who have problems with pot or who are battling major diseases. Drugs have never been a part of my life.
So this is my reaction to the Supreme Court decision: How asinine! To deny seriously ill people something that can help them feel a little better--how repulsively short-sighted!
I'll tell you, folks: I love my country, but I'm getting damn tired of being embarrassed to say I'm an American. That is getting real old.
Sunday was spent writing, writing and more writing. Not much of a day off. Today, it was very intense work, writing some more, working up photos and getting the pages together.
I supposedly had a baseball game tonight, but when I got to the park, nobody was there. Evidently the schedule was changed, and they wanted to keep it a secret. So I went back home with the evening suddenly open. But I think I'm feeling the effects of the last few days. I caught up with a few friends' blogs, then I wanted to watch at least some of a Hitchcock movie ("Blackmail," his first talkie). But I just couldn't keep from dozing off on the couch, so that will have to wait.
Now I've got the NBA playoffs on, but I may be switching to something else. CBC has a docudrama about the huge explosion in Halifax in 1917, and I liked the first part last night (while I was trying to work on my stories), so I could watch that, checking in on the game during commercials. If I don't doze off again.
Really, it's probably just my body trying to catch up with itself. I have had such an intense few days, now it's time to recover a little.
Much less intense this week, fortunately. Among the things I have on the to-do list:
1. Where is that manual for my digital camera?
2. What in heck happened to my "Saved" and "House of Flying Daggers" DVDs? And just when I wanted to relax with one of them, too!
3. Write some friends. Basically, it's a condensed version of these blogs. That's how I think it's going to wind up. Just the interesting parts. In other words, not this part.
4. Plan a little trip out of town next week. Wife and I are going on a mini vacation, to southern Wisconsin. Three days. We can afford three-day vacations, as long as we pick low-cost motels.
Otherwise, I'm pissed about the Supreme Court's verdict on medical marijuana, issued earlier today. Please understand: I don't smoke it and I have tried it only once or twice in my life. (I have never been a smoker.) I don't have any friends or family who have problems with pot or who are battling major diseases. Drugs have never been a part of my life.
So this is my reaction to the Supreme Court decision: How asinine! To deny seriously ill people something that can help them feel a little better--how repulsively short-sighted!
I'll tell you, folks: I love my country, but I'm getting damn tired of being embarrassed to say I'm an American. That is getting real old.
Sunday, June 5, 2005
An exhausting day
I haven't vanished off the face of the earth. But it's been hectically crazy these last few days with all the high school spring sports finals I've been trying to cover. The final one was today, the U.P. Finals track meet. I started there about 9 a.m. and it finally ended about 5 p.m. I won't even estimate how many miles I walked, except to note that the distance from A to B was never a straight line.
Often, the shortest path from one event to another was shaped like a "W," and each leg of the W was about 100 yards long. Back and forth all day, trying to keep up with events here and there. My legs are tired.
It was mostly cloudy and muggy, but the sun popped out at times--long enough for me to get my first sunburn of the year.
Tomorrow (Sunday) I've got to write everything up and go through all the photos I took so we can put the paper together on Monday.
But that's the last really crazy week now until the fall sports start in late August. We'll have things like the rodeo and county fair and other events during the summer, but that coverage won't have to be as intense. But we had a good track team this spring, and they wound up in second place as a team--probably their best finish ever.
When I got home, I took everyone out for a pizza, and now I'm trying to catch up with what's happened during the day.
What's happening now is that there's some storms moving north through Wisconsin and up toward us. We've got a tornado watch until late tonight, and it's supposed to be stormy tomorrow.
Nonetheless, I enjoy thunderstorms. They're fun--especially when they move through during the night. The light flashing. The thunder rumbling. Mind you, I'm not talking about the scary storms, but rather the garden variety storms, which don't come around here that often. If we do get storms, they will be our first for this year--and it's already early June.
Often, the shortest path from one event to another was shaped like a "W," and each leg of the W was about 100 yards long. Back and forth all day, trying to keep up with events here and there. My legs are tired.
It was mostly cloudy and muggy, but the sun popped out at times--long enough for me to get my first sunburn of the year.
Tomorrow (Sunday) I've got to write everything up and go through all the photos I took so we can put the paper together on Monday.
But that's the last really crazy week now until the fall sports start in late August. We'll have things like the rodeo and county fair and other events during the summer, but that coverage won't have to be as intense. But we had a good track team this spring, and they wound up in second place as a team--probably their best finish ever.
When I got home, I took everyone out for a pizza, and now I'm trying to catch up with what's happened during the day.
What's happening now is that there's some storms moving north through Wisconsin and up toward us. We've got a tornado watch until late tonight, and it's supposed to be stormy tomorrow.
Nonetheless, I enjoy thunderstorms. They're fun--especially when they move through during the night. The light flashing. The thunder rumbling. Mind you, I'm not talking about the scary storms, but rather the garden variety storms, which don't come around here that often. If we do get storms, they will be our first for this year--and it's already early June.
Thursday, June 2, 2005
From courtroom to blogroom
I am sort of in between articles this week, and the pile of stuff left to do is pretty small. Which is a good place to be on Thursday afternoon. It's really nice out today, too. And here I am, looking out the window.
On Friday, I'm out of town in the afternoon (high school golf finals) and then Saturday I'm busy all day (track finals). They're both about 50 to 60 miles away. More driving, more gas.
So I was looking over the news, and two major celebrity court cases caught my eye. "The Runaway Bride" and Michael Jackson.
The Runaway Bride. Sigh. It's too bad that this isn't the '30s and she doesn't look like Claudette Colbert and didn't meet up with Clark Gable along the way, with "the walls of Jericho" and everything. (Assuming you've seen "It Happened One Night"--and if you haven't, you should.) It's an old familiar story--cold feet just before the wedding. Infamously by men, but women get cold feet, too. Thinking about the life she'll be leaving behind, the terra incognita she will be entering. It can be damn scary.
In Claudette's case, it was her heart instructing her brain to flee from a worthless, pointless life with someone rich and dull. In the current case, the reasons are far from clear, and I guess she's getting the help she needs to sort her life out.
I guess you can get into a debate about marriage from there. Since I've been wed for so long, this may sound strange, but I really don't endorse it. I see plenty of problems with the "institution" as it exists today that aren't easily fixed. Like jealousy. Like monogamy. Like taking the other partner for granted. Like boredom.
And (let me add) while I am very hetero, I believe that gays/lesbians really do fall in love, too. So why aren't their relationships given the same legal seal of approval? Politicians and religious zealots, of course.
The Christian Taliban in Michigan pushed through a ballot proposal last fall, joining in the nationwide fad during the presidential election. Just think. If only the Massachusetts Supreme Court had just kept its big yap shut and not "legalized" gay marriage, it wouldn't have been a hot button issue in 2004 and George Bush would be a former president in 2005. [Sigh!]
Our other big legal case is, of course, Michael Jackson and what he supposedly did with a certain young boy. It's going before a jury in the next few hours.
Well, I'm definitely no Michael Jackson fan, but I have to wonder whether he's being prosecuted/persecuted just for being terminally weird. I'm old enough to remember the little lead singer with the Jackson 5, and I just can't understand how or why that happy little guy morphed into what we see today. What screwed up his mind so to make him want to change his appearance so much? My theory is that something must have really gone wrong when he was growing up. And I feel sorry for him. I really do.
I haven't followed the case closely enough to decide whether he really did something wrong with the kid or if this is just another round of celebrity leeches trying to rob someone in a courtroom.
But occasionally I say thanks to God for being poor and unknown. This is one of those times.
On Friday, I'm out of town in the afternoon (high school golf finals) and then Saturday I'm busy all day (track finals). They're both about 50 to 60 miles away. More driving, more gas.
So I was looking over the news, and two major celebrity court cases caught my eye. "The Runaway Bride" and Michael Jackson.
The Runaway Bride. Sigh. It's too bad that this isn't the '30s and she doesn't look like Claudette Colbert and didn't meet up with Clark Gable along the way, with "the walls of Jericho" and everything. (Assuming you've seen "It Happened One Night"--and if you haven't, you should.) It's an old familiar story--cold feet just before the wedding. Infamously by men, but women get cold feet, too. Thinking about the life she'll be leaving behind, the terra incognita she will be entering. It can be damn scary.
In Claudette's case, it was her heart instructing her brain to flee from a worthless, pointless life with someone rich and dull. In the current case, the reasons are far from clear, and I guess she's getting the help she needs to sort her life out.
I guess you can get into a debate about marriage from there. Since I've been wed for so long, this may sound strange, but I really don't endorse it. I see plenty of problems with the "institution" as it exists today that aren't easily fixed. Like jealousy. Like monogamy. Like taking the other partner for granted. Like boredom.
And (let me add) while I am very hetero, I believe that gays/lesbians really do fall in love, too. So why aren't their relationships given the same legal seal of approval? Politicians and religious zealots, of course.
The Christian Taliban in Michigan pushed through a ballot proposal last fall, joining in the nationwide fad during the presidential election. Just think. If only the Massachusetts Supreme Court had just kept its big yap shut and not "legalized" gay marriage, it wouldn't have been a hot button issue in 2004 and George Bush would be a former president in 2005. [Sigh!]
Our other big legal case is, of course, Michael Jackson and what he supposedly did with a certain young boy. It's going before a jury in the next few hours.
Well, I'm definitely no Michael Jackson fan, but I have to wonder whether he's being prosecuted/persecuted just for being terminally weird. I'm old enough to remember the little lead singer with the Jackson 5, and I just can't understand how or why that happy little guy morphed into what we see today. What screwed up his mind so to make him want to change his appearance so much? My theory is that something must have really gone wrong when he was growing up. And I feel sorry for him. I really do.
I haven't followed the case closely enough to decide whether he really did something wrong with the kid or if this is just another round of celebrity leeches trying to rob someone in a courtroom.
But occasionally I say thanks to God for being poor and unknown. This is one of those times.
Wednesday, June 1, 2005
I have nothing to say
This is one of those days when I really can't come up with a topic that's new or interesting. (Yeah, I can hear you saying: "Do you ever?")
It's late afternoon, it's lovely outside (about 75F/23C) and the sun is out, and I can think of about 1.2 jillion places I'd rather be than here right now. Even saw some girls outside, sunning themselves, while I was out running errands this morning.
Tonight, I have to cover a dinner. Well, it's a meal. At least David mowed the lawn this week. Don't know if he banged his head, loosing some controversial new insights into the world.
One more thing from over the holiday weekend I can report. We did visit my mom and went for another drive to see if the bison were any closer than last time. As it turned out, they were, and I got some nice pictures, which I'm sure I will be sharing with you before long. They looked like they were posing for the nickle.
I love those old, craggy beasts. I've never been out west, and the only buffalo I've seen have been on farms like these. I can only imagine about 150 years ago when the Great Plains were full of millions of them. That must have been a sight!
The sad truth is that I've never been able to travel much in my life. Never been out of the Great Lakes area. Never seen an ocean or a mountain or a city where English is not the main language. I've wanted to, but it's a matter of getting the time and the money at the same time, and that's the tricky part.
I'm not feeling bad for myself about it, but at the same time, I know that I have missed a lot in life--some good, some bad. But that's what life is, the good and the bad. And I feel you can't appreciate one without the other. I've always thought of it as the old yin-yang thing--you need the bad to appreciate the good, the cold to appreciate warmth, rejection to appreciate acceptance, etc. etc. etc.
I've always been searching for love, for people to accept my love. Can't get it unless you give it away. After all, we all know that the world could use lots more of it.
I'll probably pick up this topic some other day. Oops, here's some stuff I have to do before finishing work. Bye for now.
It's late afternoon, it's lovely outside (about 75F/23C) and the sun is out, and I can think of about 1.2 jillion places I'd rather be than here right now. Even saw some girls outside, sunning themselves, while I was out running errands this morning.
Tonight, I have to cover a dinner. Well, it's a meal. At least David mowed the lawn this week. Don't know if he banged his head, loosing some controversial new insights into the world.
One more thing from over the holiday weekend I can report. We did visit my mom and went for another drive to see if the bison were any closer than last time. As it turned out, they were, and I got some nice pictures, which I'm sure I will be sharing with you before long. They looked like they were posing for the nickle.
I love those old, craggy beasts. I've never been out west, and the only buffalo I've seen have been on farms like these. I can only imagine about 150 years ago when the Great Plains were full of millions of them. That must have been a sight!
The sad truth is that I've never been able to travel much in my life. Never been out of the Great Lakes area. Never seen an ocean or a mountain or a city where English is not the main language. I've wanted to, but it's a matter of getting the time and the money at the same time, and that's the tricky part.
I'm not feeling bad for myself about it, but at the same time, I know that I have missed a lot in life--some good, some bad. But that's what life is, the good and the bad. And I feel you can't appreciate one without the other. I've always thought of it as the old yin-yang thing--you need the bad to appreciate the good, the cold to appreciate warmth, rejection to appreciate acceptance, etc. etc. etc.
I've always been searching for love, for people to accept my love. Can't get it unless you give it away. After all, we all know that the world could use lots more of it.
I'll probably pick up this topic some other day. Oops, here's some stuff I have to do before finishing work. Bye for now.
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