Wilderness Blues- Ramblings from the Great Land

 Last year when we went East on vacation, I briefly mentioned stopping in Vermont and picking up my friend Buffalo Bob on our way down to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. We spent several days in Vermont looking around, and Buff knew all the local areas for miles around. Amongst the places we visited was the famous Vermont Country Store. Perhaps you've been there yourself or received one of their catalogues in the mail. I don't know if they still do mail order, I guess they sell primarily on line now. Anyway, I happened to be thinking of things from my childhood the other day, and one of the things I recall was Chum Gum. It was bubble gum, but it came in sticks like regular chewing gum. I think you used to be able to buy it in a pack of three, I'm not sure. Anyway, it was by far the best bubble gum on the market, sweet and soft and chewy. Like most bubble gum, the flavor didn't last very long, but it was sure satisfying while it lasted. Unfortunately, the company that...

  I haven't had much to write about lately. My life has been incredibly boring. I suppose if I were living in Iran or Israel right now, my life would be something they would envy. I did go fishing last week, which turned out to be a fiasco, but I'll write about that at a later date when I can get some pictures of the place I visited. I rented a boat, and I wasn't foolish enough to bring my camera with me, knowing full well it would probably end up in the bottom of the lake. So, I'm going to write about our trip down south last year. We visited the Ark in Kentucky, which I did write about I think, I'll have to check, then we made our way through our home town in Ohio, where we visited my sister and one of Jan's friends. We stopped off at Niagara Falls, New York, since we were passing through anyway on our way to Vermont to visit our friend Buffalo Bob Holden. Niagra Falls used to be a big honeymoon place when I was a kid. It runs in my mind that different game sh...

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...

      Last weekend I took my grandson Dante' to Home Depot to buy some toilets. We left the store with not one, not two, but three "comfort" toilets. I should point out that Dante' is a bit of an expert when it comes to toilets. You would think that I would be since I've had so much more experience using them down through the years. However, he's worked as a plumber, so I trust his knowledge. I once had a plumber tell me that there were only two things you needed to know in order to be plumber- crap flows down hill and payday is Friday. I have a feeling he was over simplifying the job, otherwise more of us would be making the big bucks that plumbers make. There was nothing wrong with the toilets that we had, they were just too short. After my knee surgery, I had a toilet riser that I borrowed from a charity that carries all manner of things needed for folks who have had surgery, wheelchairs, walkers, toilet risers, canes, shower seats and I don't know what...

  This past Wednesday morning, I had to roust out of my bed early so that I could make a trip to the hospital for a scheduled knee replacement surgery. I've been through this procedure once before, on my left knee, now it was time to experience the joy on my right one. Part of the reason I haven't been on Fan Story much lately is because of the preparation involved prior to the operation. I wanted to get all my papers together to send down to the accountant so I wouldn't be trying to do tax papers while I was in a pleasant stupor brought on by the powerful drugs that the doctor prescribed for the post surgery operation. I also wanted to get all the bills paid up and had the oil changed in the car so Jan wouldn't have to think about it, not that changing the oil in the car would have occurred to her otherwise, but just as a precaution. I'd forgotten about how many tests I'd have to undergo in the week or so prior to visiting the hospital. I had an EKG, a blood te...