Wilderness Blues- Ramblings from the Great Land

Years ago, when the L.Kane Store still sold groceries and fuel, there was a sign prominently displayed on the back wall of the office. You couldn't miss it if you entered. It said simply,  "Those requesting credit in this establishment will be pummeled repeatedly with punishing blows about the head and shoulders!"  I loved that sign. Unfortunately it was more humorous than factual because everyone and his brother would come in, give the manager a sob story and walk out with hundreds of dollars worth of goods or fuel which only occasionally was paid back. As you can imagine, the store eventually closed down; however, I'm not here to write about credit or Kane's or humorous signs,I'm here to write about this blasted snow. I've been shoveling massive quantities for days- so much so that I have almost nowhere else to pile it. The bottom picture shows the scene on my front porch. The snow that has slid off the roof is piled so high we almost don't have an...

This is my son Brian. He was a bit of a surprise when he was born. Even though Jan had been to the doctor's  we had no idea that there were two babies in the womb. Everything about his birth was unique. First, of course was the fact that he was even there with no one's knowledge.  After Jan delivered Ben and  the doctor was waiting for the placenta, he stuck his fist out , I guess just to let everyone know he was here. Everyone in the delivery room was in a bit of a state of shock, but it was a nice surprise in any event.  God in all his wisdom gave us two boys. One would never have done it for us. Jan mentioned that if there were only one she feared that he would either be a wimp or a bully. To this day they are each other's best friend. They've always been each other's best friend and fiercest competitor. Both boys excelled in wrestling and it wasn't unusual to hear an argument start upstairs between the two and before you know it the scuffling and thumping wo...

I was out driving around last week after I had dropped Jan off at work. That particular morning the skies were clearing and it was really cold. A heavy frost had settled on everything and layers of fog were playing hide and seek with the mountains. One moment the peak would show through the mist and the next it would be covered and only the bottom half would be exposed. I really wanted to capture the top of Ears Mountain showing through with the sun starting to highlight the snow in a breathtaking luminous pink glow, but by the time I ran home to grab the camera, the whole scene had transormed. The weather here is unpredictable and can change in a moments notice. Since I had the camera with me I decided to see if there was anything else worthy of a shot. That sounds almost snobbish I guess- it's all worthy. I live in one of the most beautiful places on earth so sometimes you have to kind of pick and choose what you want to photograph or you'll have so many pictures you'll...

Holy Smokes! I thought I would never get out fishing. I finally made it though last Wednsday. I had a little problem with the port side gurdies not wanting to turn around on Tuesday. I was all set to go fishing and when I turned on the gurdies at the dock to check that they would work, the port side didn't budge. I was fortunate enough to be able to engage the sevices of Dave Austin at Tideland Tackle. He manages the store there and also does all the hydraulic work, so he was good enough to come down and look at the situation and determined that the love joy coupling was frozen and rubbing against the mounting bracket. It took me all day to fix the problem and replace the coupling, but I got it. Love joy coupling. I love the name of that. I'll have to get a picture of one so anyone who isn't familiar with them will know what I'm talking about. It sounds almost sensual...