Wilderness Blues- Ramblings from the Great Land

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...