Wilderness Blues- Ramblings from the Great Land

  My wife and I invited my friend Matt over for dinner last Sunday. He's been undergoing a number of medical procedures, and she had told him that after he returned from his stint at the hospital down in Seattle, she would invite him over for steak and cake. As it turned out, he didn't need to return to Seattle for further surgery, the gaping wound in his chest was healing nicely and at the rate he is going, he'll be in a position to qualify for a kidney in six months or so.    I believe I had mentioned in an earlier post about him, that he had lost his second leg, was on dialysis, and had surgery to replace a valve in his heart. He'd had to go to the hospital in Seattle at least once to correct an infection in the mesh  that was used to repair his heart. He was anticipating having to return to the hospital  and have his bottom rib removed to replace one of  his clavicles  which was broken and not mending, and they were going to try to fix the hole in ...

  Some years back, when I was living in Hoonah, I became the manager of the L. Kane Store. I always thought that it was a stupid name for a store, until a lady who was a friend of the family who owned the store mentioned that when it was established, back in 1893, women owning businesses was frowned upon. Her name was Louise Kane, and in order to do business with suppliers in Seattle, she shortened the name to L. Kane's. It was one of three stores in Hoonah at the time, and unfortunately was the one that a local fisherman named Frank preferred to shop at. He lived on his small wooden fishing boat with his Black Lab, appropriately named Blackie, in Spasski Bay. It was a protected harbor, regardless of which way the wind blew or how hard, and provided shelter year round, even during the fierce winter weather that blew in from Icy Strait. When I first met him he must have been in his seventies. He always seemed to have a few days' growth of beard and wore a dirty felt fedora, a kn...

  When I lived in Hoonah, I used to watch the news at night and listen as the announcer spoke of the various cities around Alaska. It wasn't until we moved north to Wasilla and could drive to many of the places that I'd only heard of that we finally visited. This past September Jan and I and our two daughters, Autumn and Liz and their husbands took a trip down to Valdez. The trip down was breathtaking, with the fall colors becoming more evident as we traveled closer to the coast. I was shocked at how much renting a room in a bed and breakfast was. Between the three families we dropped over $1200. 00 for two nights. There was nothing fancy about the place, and the breakfast was a kind of help yourself thing, no fancy pancakes or breakfast rolls. Cereal, juice and boiled eggs and of course coffee. They kind of had us by the short hairs though, so we paid up and kept quiet. Even though it was at the end of the salmon season, Dayville Road, where the public has access to the beach ...

  I was looking through the various contests at Fan Story, the writing site that I belong to, when I came across a writing prompt about what it would be like if the residents at a nursing home went off their meds and there was no one around to assist them. This is the story I came up with. It garnered my third place in the contest. I hope you enjoy it. I was about to enter the front door to the Morning Glory nursing facility when I saw Mrs. Culpepper sitting on the bench in the foyer with her Depends around her ankles. Thank God she had on her nightgown and was covered  from her shoulders to the top of her knees. I couldn't see if the floor underneath her was wet, or worse, but I was hoping she hadn't relieved herself yet or I'd be dealing with the mess once I got inside.   I tried the front door, but it wouldn't budge. I could see the red lights on a panel on the wall of the foyer, indicating the door was locked, but I didn't see any nurse or assistant around to un...

  I was with my daughter, Autumn yesterday, when she showed me a video clip from Saturday Night Live. I haven't watched the show in years because it became so political that it ceased to be funny. However, the clip she showed me was hilarious. It was a spoof of Yankee candles. It showed guests who had long overstayed their visit, and regardless of numerous hints, they just wouldn't leave the host's home. Finally, he resorted to lighting a candle that stank. Unlike Bayberry or Pumpkin, this candle was Get the ---- out of my house! It came in assorted smells like Rotten egg fart, Old Broccoli in a Plastic Bag, and Sweaty Crocs. It was really quite a hilarious skit, and as I was watching it, an unpleasant memory from my past came charging back into my mind. Some years back, when we were still living in Hoonah, I was working at one of the local stores that sold marine fuel. A fellow who I knew in passing came to the store and asked for some gas for his boat. While he was fuelin...

  I suppose one would have to be living under a rock to be unaware of the devastation that the most recent hurricane did to the Southeastern United States about a week ago. One of the hardest hit areas was Asheville, North Carolina, where something like thirty inches of rain fell in the mountains in twenty four hours, leaving an apocalyptic landscape behind. For as long as man has been on the earth there have been natural disasters, and if you haven't lived through one yet, there is a chance, and perhaps a good one, of experiencing one in your lifetime. Regardless of where we live, we either experience drought, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, mudslides or earthquakes or perhaps other catastrophes that aren't mentioned here. The point I'm trying to make is that none of us is exempt, and while we can watch the news of disasters in a place far away and be glad that it didn't happen to us, we're left with an opportunity to help those in need. I'm reminded of the pass...

  Have you ever been going through your day, minding your own business, not hurting anyone, in fact possibly trying to be helpful when the caca hits the fan? I know you have. It happens to everyone; I'm certain of it. What I don't understand is, why does it happen with such regularity to me? When I was living in Hoonah, the only way off the island was either by boat or plane. As most of you know, I happened to be in an airplane that crashed into the water in February. That was more than a -Oh woe is me moment, but I survived it, so life goes on. However, the other way off the island, as I said, was by boat, usually the Alaska Marine Highway system. A ferry. I happened to be on a ferry that broke down so many times in my forty five years there, that the ferry terminal assistants used to ask me when I was planning on traveling, so they could schedule a trip at a different time. When I was writing my first book, I wasn't too familiar with computers. I'm still not, but I gu...

  When I was sixteen, I bought my first shotgun. It was an H&R single shot twelve gauge. I wasn't really a hunter, but I thought it would give me a chance to spend more time outdoors when the fishing had slowed down. Though I had originally bought the gun for hunting rabbits or pheasants, or possibly quail, I never thought I'd have to use it on a spider. When the World War II ship I was stationed on in Key West was decommissioned around 1973, I was assigned to a much newer guided missile destroyer in Charleston, South Carolina. I didn't know anything about Charleston, except that it was in a southern state, and I was under the impression that a fellow who hailed from Ohio might not be all that welcome. I'd heard rumors that even though the civil war had been over for more than a hundred years, there were still some tender feelings. My fears were somewhat influenced by having just watched the movie, Deliverance, a few weeks prior to having to make the move. For those...

  I was visiting my friend Matt in a recovery facility the other day. I don't really know what to call it, or actually what all they do there. It's kind of like a holding facility for people who have had operations and need a place to recover for a few weeks or months. They provide a private room and meals and have a nursing assistant come and give you meds if you need them. They also have a van to escort people to various places like the doctors or for dialysis. Matt just recently had his left leg amputated. He'd already had the right one taken off some years ago. I won't go in to all of his physical issues. Suffice it to say he's suffered lots in this world, but nonetheless, has one of the best attitudes of anyone I have ever met. In any event, we were visiting. He was wearing a pair of shorts and a T-shirt and sitting in a wheel chair. He started rubbing his recent wound and making moaning sounds. "Hey Tom, hand me that blue tube over there on the counter wo...

Once in awhile I hear a country song that touches my heart. Of course there is no shortage of songs about  drinking or cheating but some of the songs are pretty funny. One song talks about the wife hiring a wino to decorate their home so her husband will feel comfortable and not have to go to the bar. Another one by a popular country star is about a fellow who is given an ultimatum. He can either spend the day on the lake fishing or he can be with his wife. He's singing about how he's going to miss her. I more or less understand. Fishing can be as exciting as sex sometimes, and it lasts longer too. When I moved north to Wasilla, I discovered that there was a classic country radio station right here in town, KAYO. Somehow when I was skipping through the various stations on the car radio, we invariably would run across this station, and I discovered that I actually was enjoying what I heard. Unlike the music that the younger generation is listening to, I've never seen a count...

   I like to watch movies, though for over forty years I never went into a movie theatre. We didn't have a movie theatre in Hoonah, so we never got to see the latest releases. However, that changed when we moved to Wasilla. They have a large movie theatre here, a big honking thing with something like seven screens. On Tuesdays, they have $5.00 matinees, so if something comes on that I want to see, it doesn't break the bank.   Last week my wife and I went to see a movie titled  The Sound of Hope.  It's a true story about the people in the town of Possum Trot Texas, a small town in East Texas without even a traffic light. The people who live there are predominately African American and for the most part they are desperately poor.   I believe there is only one church there, the Bennet Chapel, pastored by W. C. Martin and his wife Donna. They have two children, a son who was born mentally handicapped, and a daughter. Life was hard for them, struggling to make e...

  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~This is a poem that my Fan Story friend Adonna wrote. I never really cared for poetry until I started to read some of the work she put out. I've never known anyone who could put what was in their heart to words as well as she does. Her husband is suffering from dementia and she's been in need of some friends. I'm glad to be able to call her a friend, I only wish we lived closer to each other so I could help with some of the chores. My thanks to her for letting me use this fine poem on my blog. When I was a child I did not know how small the world could be. I did not know you were born only a few miles from where I lived, and if, perchance, I saw you at the grocery store clinging to your mother's hand as she reached for your favorite cereal, or smiling from a car window that passed me on the street, I did not know enough to smile back or to wave hello. I wish you had reached out for me then as I passed you by. If only I'd known you were so close. But God...

                   I know it has been quite awhile since I've written anything. I would like to take the blame, but honestly, I can't. The blame rests solely with my daughter Autumn. Let me explain. Some time in the not so distant past, I had mentioned to her that I would love to have a Hoochy Cake. Never having seen one before, I thought it would be a novel idea. My birthday came and went, and I believe I had a cake, which, though appreciated, wasn't all that memorable. I believe she baked me an apple pie though, that was pretty tasty. I prefer pie over cake. I think birthday pies should be offered at bakeries and supermarkets around the country. Perhaps I can work on selling the idea to various outlets.   In any event, I was a little disappointed that I didn't get a Hoochy Cake for my birthday. Low and behold, Father's Day arrived and Jan and I went out to Autumn's in-law's lake cabin to celebrate the day. We h...