Wilderness Blues- Ramblings from the Great Land

  I vividly recall walking in to one of the bedrooms in our house back in Ohio. It was an older home, and at the time the registers to transfer heat upstairs were on either side of the walls opposite each other, one in each bedroom. There were metal vents that could be opened or closed so that you could heat one room, but not the other, if you so desired.   I must have been around two or three years old, and for some reason I had awakened early, before my folks were up. I knew that there was a Santa Claus doll filled with sand in the bottom drawer of a dresser in the room I came in to. I had been told in the past not to play with it because the doll had a small hole in it, and the sand would leak out.   When you're a little kid, Santa is like a hero. He's never crabby, doesn't make you eat broccoli, and even if you're sometimes bad, he seems to have forgotten all that by the time Christmas rolls around, because he's brought you a bunch of toys. He never gives you so...

            I suppose the title probably doesn't line up with the picture when one thinks of peep shows. I did a little research and found out that peep shows have actually been around since sometime in the 1500's. The first known version was traced back to Europe to one Leon Battista Alberti. I think they started innocently enough.  Apparently, a vendor would wonder around the country with a box on their back. Inside the box would be drawings of far off places or miniature figurines, or theatrical scenes or other things of interest. A candle would be lit and for a small fee the customer could look inside the box through a hole. They used to be called Rarees short for rarity shows. In the 1890's, machines were created that projected slides of naked ladies. Go figure They eventually were given the name Peep Shows after a tailor, who allegedly cut a hole in the shutters in order to get a glimpse of Lady Godiva as she came riding by naked on her horse. Wh...

  I came down to the office the other day and opened up my email. I scanned through the usual stuff, most of which was of no interest to me whatsoever. Then I saw I had an email from ED Trick. That's a weird name. Who the hell is ED Trick, and what does he want? I don't know anyone named Ed. The last guy named Ed that I knew was a family friend who died years ago. It finally dawned on me that this was an advertisement for E D- not education- Erectile Dysfunction. What the heck? Why are they sending me this message? I've never asked about it. Frankly, I don't need it, and if I did, I wouldn't be inquiring about it on the internet. I guess because I'm old now, they naturally assume that I'm still interested in sex, which I have to admit I am, and that I need some help, which I don't. Aside from that, whose business is it anyway? I think its weird that nothing is off limits now, even on TV. If you fart a blue streak, there is a pill for that, and a commerci...

I'm a firm believer in the idea that the more gadgets you have, the more problems you're going to encounter. A case in point is a modern car. Not only do they cost as much as a house used to, you can't work on them yourself. I suppose I could change the oil if I wanted to climb underneath it and dismantle the cover beneath the car. Lord knows if I would be able to unscrew the filter and open the oil pan plug. I know that you can't grease the axles because they don't have zirc fittings anymore. I guess if something wears out, you have to buy a new one, at an enormous price. My car, which isn't fancy at all, has a back-up camera, which I love, as well as heated seats, which I'm also very fond of. There is also a feature that allows me to plug in my smart phone, but I don't have one, so I don't use it. At one time, stoves, refrigerators, and washers and dryers used to last twenty or more years. They had one job to do and they did it. They didn't cal...

  Almost every day, either Jan or I will ask the other "what do you want for supper?" I used to come up with a menu for the week, or at least I did for a few times, then I stopped doing it for some unknown reason. As much as I like to eat, you'd think that I could take the time to look in the refrigerator or the freezer and come up with a plan. It's not like we don't have anything to eat. For some reason, all the healthy stuff that I've bought, like the broccoli, lettuce and peppers are just sitting in the refrigerator getting brown and wilty, while the non- perishable canned goods get used up. What's that about? Do we have an aversion to healthy eating now? It almost seems that way. Produce costs too much to throw away. We eat the grapes and bananas pretty quickly, but I have a container of fresh spinach that Autumn gave us that hasn't been touched yet. What gives? I spoke to my friend Buffalo Bob the other day, and he was complaining that he just doe...

     I know that Christmas has come and gone, for better of for worse. Of course now comes the aftermath of having to pay for it all. It's always better to give than receive, until the Visa bill arrives. I'm just glad we don't have to give gifts on New Years Eve. As you can see at the top of the page, we completed the book that documented our trip through some of the southwest states on our way to the Grand Canyon. As I had mentioned in previous posts, Peeing Across America finally came about. We gave a copy to all the kids for Christmas, and the book seemed to be enjoyed. Unfortunately, Autumn got a first hand look at it because I didn't have the technical ability to put it together. So she knew she would be getting a copy for Christmas. Also, we used her pictures, although I had some great ones that probably looked a little bit better, sooo... I won't go in to all the gifts given or received. Let it suffice to say, I think we all had a pretty good Christmas. I had...