Wilderness Blues- Ramblings from the Great Land

     I know this picture doesn't exactly look like the essence of tranquility, and I guess it's not. As you can see there is a little breeze blowing out of the Northwest I believe. However, the grey skies and rows of mist hovering over the mountains are a pleasant reprieve from the scalding hot weather we've been having. For what seemed like days on end we've had hot sunny weather. I know, I know, when it's cold and snowing and blowing, I'm complaining about that, so you would think that when the weather heated up and the sun came out I'd be tickled pink. It's more like sunburned red. If we could just experience a happy medium, you know, a few days of cloudy weather, maybe a day or so of refreshing rain and then two or three days of sunshine with temps up to about seventy degrees or so. When I 'm fishing I would prefer a high overcast sky or clouds with a misty rain so that I don't get drenched when I go out to the cockpit to pull a fish or t...

  I like sunny days, I really do. It makes you feel good to wake up in the morning and see the sun shining bright. The birds are all singing, the flowers are thriving and everyone is in a generally good mood. That's in the morning. By afternoon when the heat is really revving up and the wind is blowing the tops off the whitecaps I'm praying for a little cloud cover and a shower. Yesterday when I got in from fishing, fixed some supper and took care of some other chores, I decided to take the dog for a walk out to the cannery. It was hotter than blazes and we needed to get a break from the heat. This Celebrity ship was just leaving at 10:30. It was the second ship that day. I think it's pretty excessive to discharge all those tourists on this small town in one day. It's getting increasingly difficult to get around as now, not only do we have buses and touring vans from the cannery, but there is an influx of private vans and touring buses as well as...

For my birthday this year, I got a full blown case of shingles. How many folks can say that? It's not like I went to one of those exclusive catalogues and picked out an exotic gift like silk pillow cases or a diamond tie pin. No way.... anyone can get one of those. If  you want to have a really different gift that no one else would even think about, try a case of shingles, they're about as welcome as dog crap on a white carpet. Though the pictures aren't very good- a certain someone seems to have difficulty operating my camera, you kind of get the picture. To say that they hurt like crazy would be an understatement. As luck would have it, this isn't the first time I've experienced this lovely disease. I had them when I was twenty one. I was in the navy at the time and when I went to the infirmary on base I told the doctor that my back was itching and burning, so he had me lift my shirt. Then he says, " Well hey, this is odd. You usually don't see t...