Page Turn

Lent is complete, Easter initiated. Happy to say, I like it that way. Take a trip and never leave the farm, even if it means driving through Ohio.

"In spite of illness, in spite even of the archenemy sorrow, One can remain alive long past the usual date of disintegration if one is unafraid of change, insatiable in intellectual curiosity, interested in big things, and happy in small ways." -Edith Wharton

Reptillian Stoop

Middle March or early April, like a reptile, I sun myself on this stoop to reconnect with warm thoughts on the planet that has been in the ice age. There is only one prop in the picture, for as many of you might guess, the broom isn't normally there. I put the broom in place to make it a still life.

As Conner McLeod would say in Highlander, "Do you want to hear another theory?"

"The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well, on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be".

- Douglas Adams,

Floating but not Away

The snow from last weeks storm is melting away and the river is rising. Earlier at this location that would have been a problem. Fairly soon, It would be time to launch a canoe and search for the dock down the river and retrieve it.

Brother Joe solved this problem with his engineering skill. He designed a dock along the principles of Japanese buildings that are meant to withstand earthquakes. Now, you see, the dock floats up in high water rather than away. Ingenious!

Late the New Year

I have been looking for this quote since 2012.

"May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you're wonderful, and don't forget to make some art — write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself."
- Neil Gaiman

...Til You Get Your Picture Took

When I first read Keith Richard's autobiography Life, I didn't pay too much attention to the photo on the cover. I was really curious about his insight into rock and roll. In my family and friends has been lodged this cultural contest for years. Were the Beatles or the Rolling Stones the best band in rock?

Having read the book, I now have my own answer at least. Paul McCartney visited Keith and explained it this way. The Beatles were more of a vocalist group and the Stones

were more of a musician group. This rings true to my hearing. The book started out a little slow, but it moved into a great story. Now that I have finished the book, I keep thinking about the picture on the cover.

Calm After...

While it was still dark this morning, I heard water dripping. What? How can this be? My flashlight search revealed nothing inside the house. I stared at the wall baffled. It had to be coming from the great outdoors. Again, how could this be and yet it was. The temperature outside was a flaming 48 degrees. Snow was melting!

Sounds and Degrees

Very early Saturday morning, I was in bed wide awake wondering when the furnace would begin. Growing impatient, I got up to turn on a light. Two and two together made for a third, no light, no sound, all meant no power. What we have here is a overnight, classic winter storm. The sound of my chainsaw fills the morning air as I cut the many branches filling the driveway. Then I commence dragging the debris through the heavy snow to begin clearing it.

On the second day, the power company changed their forecast for the restoration from Sunday at four until Tuesday at 11. Naturally the house and the cabin were growing colder by degrees which meant in time my water pipes would burst. Not a pleasant visual.

About fifty years ago, I found out about portable power generators. This began my process of fifty years of procrastination until yesterday. I was able to get the only generator left in town to tool up for my problem solving adventure. Last night was the coldest night of the winter, and my new little "Cadillac", top of the line generator, was pressed hard in its efforts to stall freezing in two locations.

I had decided to stay up all night to keep it running, but as soon as it got dark, I realized that I couldn't see the opening to put in more fuel. Huddled in the dark on a couch, I finally heard it quit as it ran out of fuel. At the exact instant I was reaching for the door to take it out of the snow storm, another sound ticked my right ear.

What was this magic sound in the dark? Unbelievable, the furnace was firing up!

Primary Season

Fringe on fringe, steel on steel, & "Lighting your hair on fire". The two peninsulas picked up some media attention this week with the Republican primary. Both major candidates, who are currently unemployed, came looking for jobs. Both of them, had earlier, when times were tough (2008), dissed Detroit auto workers by voicing the position that their employers should just give up and go bankrupt. Well the workers... who needs them anyway?... realized that these candidates were missing something.

Now for the F-bomb. The former senator made the statement that he wants to "Throw up" at a JFK's speech about the importance of the separation of church and state (fifty years must be a long time to restrain yourself, but it does indicate discipline on your part ). What a bizarre statement! Do you have any concept of how the country you wish to rule was founded?

Farmer's Tan

Island time falls outside the zones of temporal parameters, but I drove 12 hours straight with my arm out the window hoping to pick up a tan. I'd been to the Island...St. George that is... along the forgotten coast of Florida. My initial route took me through the Black Forest at nightfall, but the scourge of a forest fire blighted my return by day "To the land of the wind chill factor".

Political Scientist

A Sixty Minutes interview of an Arab monarch was great. He was a very intelligent, thoughtful man who also had a "real politic" view of the world. It would be nice to have this guy as your neighbor, even if he didn't have untold wealth. At the end of the session, he was asked "What is going to happen in Afganastan. He stated, quite simply, "When the Americans leave, the Taliban will rule."

My mind flashed back to brother Joe on the eve of the first gulf war. We were talking about some of the things that might be expected. I had been reading many newspaper reports, and other articles that really had me nervous about gas warfare, etc. Joe was unconcerned. "When the carpet bombing starts, the end is in sight, three days is all." Joe's time in Vietnam, "The worlds biggest street fight" gave him the prescience of a political scientist.