Wilderness Blues- Ramblings from the Great Land

Well, as I mentioned in my last blog post, I'm just like Rodney Dangerfield, I don't get no respect. It's very apparent what I meant by this picture that my youngest daughter sent me. Whatever happened to telephones that you just talk on? Now you can play games, watch a movie, take pictures, distort the pictures you take into unflattering and unrealistic visions of obscenity, and if you have the right app, I think you can turn your phone into a portable urinal with the touch of a button. Oh well. I would be content to just have the old black dial phone, but I guess those days are gone for good. I have to admit that it's mildly entertaining to look at some of these pictures. It would be even more so if the picture was of someone other than me.   On a different note, I 'm back up at the library using the computer. Mine had gotten so slow and unreliable that it was almost unbearable to work on it. When my son-in-law was here over Christmas he o...

 Without fail, whenever I answer the phone and my daughter Jen is on the line, her first words are "Hi Dad," and the second phrase is "What are you doing?" I don't know what her response would be if I  told her that I had installed a telephone in the bathroom and was talking to her while I was sitting on the john. I kind of doubt that she would even hang up-she would probably be silent for a minute while she thought of how to respond to that situation and then I think she would ask if I wanted to go on a walk later. It could be blowing a gale with sleet and tree branches being torn from their mooring and she would want to go on a walk. As you can see, on this particular day, I think it may have been January 1 of this  year, the sun happened to be shining. I think it was the last time I saw it until today- eighteen days later. Anyway, it was too nice of a day to stay inside so I decided to go with Autumn and Jen out to the cann...

    Back when I was in grade school, eons ago, we periodically would be given a paper with pictures of things that for the most part had something in common. Among the various things depicted would be one picture that wouldn't seem to quite fit in. We were suppose to circle the thing that didn't seem to follow the pattern of the other things. I'm not really sure how I did on those tests. I could always justify the odd picture being there  somehow. Frankly I don't know if there was even a correct answer to some of those tests. Even as a not so bright kid I felt like something was a little off in administering those tests. I guess I must have passed- they never came to get me for a psychological evaluation or anything and I managed somehow to make it through high school and even into the navy. When I was there they gave us the ink-blot test and asked us what each picture looked like. Is there a right or wrong answer? I don't know....

Holy Toledo getting this blog post to upload has been enough to give me ulcers. I don't know what's going on with my computer or the Internet or whatever, but I'm about ready to throw in the towel and draw stick figures on a cave. Perhaps some archaeologist will be entertained one day when he discovers it. I finally had to revert to coming to the library to do my blog post- a whole new fun experience in it's own right. A few weeks ago, during a relatively long cold snap, Jen and I took a walk out at the cannery. The tide was low and there was a good bit of the beach exposed.  As we walked around the point we came across incredible numbers of mussels and barnacles and other tidewater animals covering every inch of the reefs and rocks that lay uncovered. We passed by all manner of rocks, some with rings around them or laced with other material where pressure or heat has fused them together. Being with Jen was kind of like talking to B...

 Check out those shish-ka-bobs folks. Let me tell you, they were tasty. My daughter Autumn brought a pineapple home with her. I'm not sure why, but not wanting it to go to waste, I cut it up and skewered it with some peppers,onions and a zucchini, and of course some tasty venison that I shot earlier this year. I found a great marinade recipe for the meat so I let it soak all day and by evening it was ready to barbecue. Oh my that was delightful. As you can see, there was a little table top ping pong tournament being played out in the dining room last night. I don't know why I even attempt to try and watch a movie while so much noise is being created in the adjacent room. Jen brought over some jalapeno poppers and some potato skins, and I provided the beer, so we just celebrated the new year at home. It was pretty uneventful, except for trying to eat some of those poppers. They can be deceiving. The outer coating is pleasantly warm, one might even say invit...