Wilderness Blues- Ramblings from the Great Land

Normally, the phrase I used for the title of this post would be reserved for something other than fruit, but in this case, I felt that the description more or less fit the item I was describing. A few weeks ago, my oldest daughter, Jen, blessed us with a gift from Harry and David's for Mother's and Father's days combined. It sounds like for the next few months we'll be receiving whatever fruit is in season. I'm fairly certain they won't be sending any watermelons through the mail, but there may be peaches, plums or nectarines, I'm not really sure. This month it was strawberries, and as you can see, they dwarf any normal sized strawberries that most of us have ever seen. I didn't know what to compare them to, so I used a teaspoon to give you some idea of the size. Of course strawberries are easy to bruise, and it would be disappointing to open a box of them and find that they had been damaged in transit. The folks at H&D solved that problem with a cus...

         A couple of days ago, I went to the Jewel Rental Company and rented a lawn aerator, something I'd heard of a few years ago. Not being in the possession of either a pickup truck nor a flatbed trailer, I was able to get my neighbor to use his equipment to help me in retrieving the tool. I'd never used an aerator before, and had no idea how it really worked, nor the amount of difficulty it would be using one. I watched a few videos on Utube, and the people I saw using an aerator made it seem like a breeze. Of course they aren't me, and if I'm not mistaken, the brand of tool they were using was different than the one I rented. Jewell tool rental carried a Huskvarna  brand aerator. Huskvarna is a really reputable brand. The only time I really came into contact with anything they made was back on my years on the farm. There were a few folks who owned their chain saws and really liked them. Let me say upfront, there is a world of difference in a chain saw...

  The leaves have finally made an appearance here in Southcentral Alaska, and they are certainly welcome. It wasn't a very harsh winter, as winters go, but it was nonetheless painfully long, as most winters in the north are. Along with the leaves, the annual ritual known as spring cleaning has started. Actually Jan was working diligently a few weeks ago, wiping down the walls and going through the closets, sorting out things she didn't feel she needed anymore. Inevitably, she'll run out of her things, and start looking at mine. I never like it when that happens. I'm not a hoarder, but I can't see getting rid of something that I might need in the future just because it might be a little bit old, or even very old. We have a bookshelf full of books that we've already read, and while I seldom re-read most books, some of them I do. The others I can hardly stand the thought of parting with. When I look at some of Jan's books, I can see where getting rid of them wo...