Wilderness Blues- Ramblings from the Great Land

  The picture in the upper photograph is of some stairs at the top of Hill Street that connect to the upper road. I think it's Douglas Drive, but I'm not certain. I seldom go up there and never pay any attention to the street names. When we first came to Hoonah, there were no street signs; everyone just kind of knew what street they lived on I guess. Strangers to the area could be lost for days trying to find where someone lived. To this day most of us still don't have numbers on our houses. We live at 265 Hill Street. It used to be 73 Hill Street I believe, but for some unknown reason it was changed. I guess it doesn't really matter. Most of the folks in town know where I live if they need to see me. Anyway, back to the stairs. For as long as I can remember the stairs have always been known as Jackass Pass. I have no idea why. To the best of my knowledge there have never been any mules or donkeys here. I checked on line and the definition of a ...

 I received a package yesterday from my son Brian. He had ordered some fishing gear for me for Christmas but he was in Spain at the time and postal freight being what it is and whatever other factors were involved, I just got it yesterday, which I think is kind of nice. In fact, I think it would be a great idea if everyone went shopping when they could get the best sales on things, and then sent part of the stuff after Christmas, so that you're not so overwhelmed at one time. It's kind of neat to not know when a gift is coming and it arrives out of the blue. All of this gear was packaged in a shirt box, so I figured he had bought me a shirt, which of course I'm always in need of because I have a tendency to be hard on my clothes. I don't know how one person can get a shirt and still have it five years later and it looks good enough to wear to church, and I get a shirt, and six months later my wife is telling me I need to get rid of it because it mak...

                There may be those who look at the title of this post and think that I might be writing about that ladies talk show on ABC with Joy Behar and Whoopie Goldberg and I don't know who else. Not sure if Barbara Walters is still on there or not. I recall hearing one radio commentator referring to the ladies on The View as a bunch of old harpies after their mean spirited comments about Sarah Palin. I had to agree, I didn't really think that they had so much to be putting anyone else down for. Anyway, this isn't about TV or harpies or Sarah Palin. It's about the view out my front window this morning. Kind of depressing isn't it? Last night it poured buckets, or as Mary Lou Lail, a family friend from North Carolina used to say, "It's raining like pouring pee out of a boot." I don't think I've ever had pee in my boots before, or at least not so much that I could pour it out. Perhaps there's been enough...

   No doubt you've heard of the ten commandments, that set of rules that God gave to Moses on Mount Sinai, but have you ever heard of the twenty- two commandments?  That is what is displayed in the picture above. This sign was hanging in room 405 at Hoonah City Schools some years back. I guess it was actually more of a request or pleading as opposed to a command. Some of the teachers at the time were hoping that a polite request would have the desired effect...ha,ha,ha... those silly people. What are the odds that any kid would actually listen to a polite request? It was always my experience that no middle or high school student was even remotely interested in doing what the teacher requested of them. It's just not in their nature. Of course when I was growing up, things were much different. We still didn't want to listen, but there was more of an incentive to follow the rules.Teachers were held in high esteem back then. Corporal punishment was an acceptable form of ...

 It's 2014! I hope everyone had a safe and happy new year. Hopefully you aren't reading this from a  hospital bed or jail cell after a night of unabashed celebration. I'm not all that much of a holiday fan. Jan and I are pretty low key. I spent New Years Eve watching The Twilight Zone marathon on TV and Jan and Jen played cards for a few hours. We had a little champagne mixed with orange juice and munched on some unhealthy snacks. I'm a real sucker for jalapeno poppers. I was being cheap so I bought some Western Family Cheese Puffs. Usually Western Family products are pretty good. These cheese puffs looked great inside the package, but looks are deceiving. Each one was the size of a  link sausage, but the flavor just wasn't there. It would have been false advertising it they had been called cheese flavored puffs. I don't what flavor they were, but definitely not something that will rocket them to the top of the snack line.Sometimes you ju...

  Ahhhh... Christmas. It's come and gone for this year. I hope yours was a delight, as mine was. It was fairly quiet this year. All of my children are grown up and gone. I'm left with the memories of Christmas's past when they were all growing up. Prior to moving to Hoonah the kids had never really experienced Christmas with a tree and the presents and a special dinner. The holiday wasn't celebrated at the time on the farm, so for ten years they had little idea that it was any different than any other day. Once we moved to town though, Christmas was celebrated in the Botts home with the tree, the dinner, the gifts and lots of love and laughter and noise. It was a lot of fun, and still is, just on a smaller scale. We had our annual Shoe Box Dinner at my daughter, Jennifer's house. She takes shoe boxes and decorates them with gift wrap and puts in a drink, some fruit, candy, chips and a small gift and then we enjoy a tuna melt sandwich. For me she put in ...

With one paw up waiting for his cereal Cereal is always better with a little milk on it     I'm sorry to say that I've allowed things to get completely out of hand around our house. We ( actually I) have stooped to new lows in coddling our dog Rigby. He was already pretty well spoiled, demanding that we share our food with him. From the red and green peppers, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and carrots that we put into our salad, to slices from our mandarin oranges that Jan receives from work at Christmas. Of course he's always insisted on having a sliver of cheese whenever I imbibe and on those occasions when we barbeque shish-ka-bobs he's unrelenting in his begging. Its enough to want to make you go out for dinner so you can enjoy your meal in peace. In the morning when we have bananas he insists on having a few slices, and if we aren't johnny on the spot in getting it for him, he fairly well squeals with the most intense, shrill bark that I've ever ...