Wilderness Blues- Ramblings from the Great Land

  Recently the company that makes exceptional work wear was in the news. Carhartts, a brand that is well known in America for it's durability, opted to require vaccines for it's employees, even though the supreme court ruled government mandates for private businesses unlawful. That's their business I suppose, though I don't agree with them. It won't keep me from buying their clothes; the stuff they make is tough as nails and is popular with people who make a living with their hands. The article reminded me of my younger brother, Brett. Many years ago, he had gotten a job shortly after he graduated from high school. It wasn't what he wanted to do, but he needed to work somewhere and while perusing the help wanted ads in the local paper, he saw an ad for a laborer at the Marion Bronze Company. He applied and got the job, though I believe he found that it wasn't a good fit for him. The men who worked at the foundry were tough; bristling with muscles. Tattooed b...

  Several weeks ago here in the Mat-Su valley, we were hit with a wind storm of such a magnitude that it was considered to qualify as a hurricane in terms of wind velocity. For several days the area was buffeted by winds that at times exceeded eighty miles per hour. It was NOT fun. The trees were shedding limbs by the armload. As I was laying in bed at night listening to the wind, every now and then a limb would strike the house with a loud bang. I was praying that the windows and door would be spared any damage. About nine in the morning on that Saturday I had just come down to the office and turned on the computer when we lost power. I wasn't overly concerned. I had spoken to my neighbor who has lived in Wasilla for years, and he mentioned that at the most the power in the past was only out for about three hours. No big deal. The outdoor temperature was hovering around zero with a wind chill of about thirty below. With the wind blowing steady at between forty and fifty miles per ...

 Well, here it is, almost the end of another year, and what a year it's been. I suppose that  a lot of people would like to forget this year all together. It's been a rough one. I won't go into all the problems that we've faced, we all know what they are. I'll let Dave Barry, the humorist, give us his take on the year. The one he did for 2020 was worthy of a prize. It was incredibly long, but I had tears streaming down my face as I read it. Actually, I was at a loss as to what to write. Since the economy seems to be heading down the toilet, what better way to protect ourselves than a toilet seat cover? I didn't see any that had pictures of hundred dollar bills on them, but perhaps I didn't look far enough. I clicked on Amazon and was a little surprised to see all the ones that are available. As you can see, there are fluffy ones, which I guess would feel good if the toilet seat has a tendency to be cold. I remember my dad complaining about using the toilet a...

  Today when I logged on to my favorite writing site, I saw a poem written by a friend of mine on Fan Story. Her name is Susan Newell, and she has a  lot of talent. What I especially appreciate about her is her willingness to delve into different things and discover the truth about them. She's really against the whole forced vaccination process, hates Comrade Fauci, and can't stand the way the government is being run. We have a lot in common. She wrote a very entertaining poem that she put to the old Christmas tune, It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas. I found it hilarious. I'm re-printing it with her permission. Enjoy. It's beginning to look a lot like China, everywhere you go Take a look at the local store, people masking up once more With vaccine cards their social virtue to show It's beginning to look a lot like China Gaps in every store But the scariest sight to see is the market that will be  On your own front door A pair of Moderna boosts for a vi...

 About a month or so ago, my good friends, Mark and Sarah Smith sent up a delightful assortment of snacks for me to try. I think they were hoping to see my reaction. I'm not sure if they expected me to eat them all in one fell swoop or what, but in the best of times I wouldn't be able to do that. My daughter, Autumn took some video to send to them. I had an ongoing commentary about each snack, trying to pronounce them the best I could. I wish I had hung on to the empty packages of the snacks that I've already tried. The first to go were some Mexican knock-offs of some Hostess products. There was a package of Snow balls, I can't remember what they were called- Snowso Ballistos or some such thing- actually that's not true, I just can't remember and want to fill in the blank. Then I of course had to try the Mexi-cupcake. It was good, but it wasn't as big as the American counterpart, and they only put one in the package. What is that about? Maybe south of the bo...

  I know it's been awhile since I've last posted anything here, but I truly do have a legitimate reason. About twelve days ago I went to the Mat-Su Regional Hospital here in Wasilla and got a knee replacement. I guess I didn't really understand the severity of the operation since it seems like everyone and his brother has had replacement surgery. Frankly, I'm still waiting to be happy about the decision. As of now, it still hurts quite a bit. I'm much more mobile than I was a few days ago, but there is quite a bit of pain associated with this surgery. I chose Dr. Greggory Strohmeyer, an orthopedic surgeon at Pioneer Peak Orthopedics to do the work. I had been in getting a hair cut at Great Clips a few months back and was talking to the gal cutting my hair. She was working 8 hour days, on her feet all day long and had mentioned she'd had both knees done, and recommended the good doctor. It was a good enough testimony for me. From what I can gather the surgery wen...

 In all my sixty nine years on this earth, I've never lived anywhere that had a septic system until we moved to Wasilla last year. I've lived on an end-time farm where we crapped in a fifty five gallon barrel and some unfortunate shmuck had to haul it away on a heavy metal sled driven by horses or tractor. Sometimes that schmuck was me. Not my favorite job. When I was in the navy, all the toilets flushed right into the very water that the ship was floating in. Fortunately the crap sank, unless someone had been eating a lot of really greasy food, but I don't even want to think about that. Everywhere else I lived, Ohio, Key West, Charleston, Hoonah, you went in, sat on the toilet, got relief and flushed all your troubles away, never to be seen or thought about again. However, in Wasilla, its a different story. I believe if you live in the city proper, you have a sewer system that flows through pipes and ultimately to a building where it's dealt with. However, we live on t...