For me, most holidays start with apprehension- I worry about people being able to make it home, and if they'll make it home safely. In the case of Christmas, this underlying current usually starts about the time Thanksgiving ends and it lasts up until the point where everyone is safely under one roof- usually the day or the days right before Christmas.
If someone has to run out for some reason, a forgotten gift maybe, or to meet a friend, then I take an intermission from the calm and comfort and worry about them making it back safely.
I'm not really sure why this is. It seems it's gotten worse as I've gotten older. But then again, there are more people living further away- which I guess is an indirect consequence of age, though not age itself. It's probably a little of both.
With all of that said, the holiday was wonderful. I like nothing better than to have everyone home. The best times for me have always been the visiting and the listening and sometimes just the sharing of space.
I hate to always be going back to when the kids were small, but...
When the kids were small, a typical Saturday was spent running errands and spending time together. It would usually start with going over to Grandma and Grandpa's house early in the morning, then maybe to the post office. Later, we would go to the outlet store before heading home for lunch.
When they were real young, I might put them down for naps, after which we might go feed the ducks or do a little grocery shopping or go to the video store where they would each pick out a tape to watch. Usually, it was all three.
Back at home, I would get dinner ready while the kids negotiated with each other in the living room over who's tape they were going to watch first. As I made dinner, they would talk and laugh and play. I would listen from the kitchen and watch as the golden, late afternoon sun would stream through the window, hitting a crystal which would cast a bright rainbow that stretched into the dining room.
After dinner was a time to relax and catch up and wind down before bed. Then we would head upstairs where the kids would take their showers and then pick out a bedtime story and they would negotiate once again over who's story would be read first.
It was great.
Except for the showers and the bedtime stories, that's what this Christmas was- making dinner while hearing laughter coming from the other room, sharing time in the car and at the grocery store, hearing about what was going on in their lives, catching up and sharing time together.
And now that Christmas is over, and everyone has gone in their different directions, all that's left to do is to put away the ornaments and the decorations and then begin my worrying about the new year ahead.
Wednesday, December 31, 2014
Saturday, December 27, 2014
A Birthday Message
Today is Mom's 90th birthday. I'm thinking of giving her the afternoon off. I figure there's no rush on my driveway. She can finish shoveling it tomorrow since I'm probably just going to be hanging around today anyway.
Besides, she was saying something about her back hurting her or something like that- I can't remember exactly, I wasn't really listening.
So, Happy Birthday, Mom! Enjoy your afternoon off! And by the way, last night's dinner could have used a little more salt. No big deal- I took care of it, but you might want to keep it in mind for next time.
Hope your back or your knee or whatever it was that you were going on about, feels better!
P.S. If you could be here extra early tomorrow to finish the shoveling, that would be great. I may want to get out to the comic book store later on. (If the porch light is off when you get here, try to be a little quiet when you shovel. I'm probably still sleeping.)
Happy birthday and thanks again! And don't forget- a little more salt next time.
Besides, she was saying something about her back hurting her or something like that- I can't remember exactly, I wasn't really listening.
So, Happy Birthday, Mom! Enjoy your afternoon off! And by the way, last night's dinner could have used a little more salt. No big deal- I took care of it, but you might want to keep it in mind for next time.
Hope your back or your knee or whatever it was that you were going on about, feels better!
P.S. If you could be here extra early tomorrow to finish the shoveling, that would be great. I may want to get out to the comic book store later on. (If the porch light is off when you get here, try to be a little quiet when you shovel. I'm probably still sleeping.)
Happy birthday and thanks again! And don't forget- a little more salt next time.
Thursday, December 25, 2014
Wednesday, December 24, 2014
Saturday, December 20, 2014
On the Hunt
I'm not a hunter but I've worked with many people who were. Years ago, I worked with a guy named Dan. Dan was a big time hunter. There was a point where Dan was going to be going on some hunting trip out west somewhere and he was looking forward to it the way most kids look forward to Christmas. As the trip got closer, it was all he could talk about. This went on for quite some time.
When the day finally came, off he flew to where ever it was. He was picked up at the airport by the tour guide or whatever they call them, and as he and his group were driven through the thick woods up to the hunting lodge, unsuspecting animals frolicked in abundance all around them.
That first night, Dan called home to tell his wife and kids how awesome the trip was going to be and he apparently did a lot of preliminary bragging over the almost guaranteed feast and footwear that he was going to be bringing home. The way he later told it, he hung up the phone just in time to hear the first clap of thunder announcing what turned out to be a week long deluge from which it seems, only the animals were smart enough to take refuge.
Whatever dreams Dan left home with, they had pretty much dissolved by sitting day after day in a cold, blinding rain where the only other living creatures in the woods were the other hunters.
When the day came to finally pack up and leave, Dan and his fellow soggy warriors climbed into the bus to head back to the airport. It was only then that the sun, and the once again frolicking animals, returned. Apparently the animals, at least, were well rested.
Dan was not a happy guy when he got back.
I was reminded of all of this the other day because I tried to get in touch with a guy named Jeff. I sent Jeff an email but I never got a response. Then I remembered that he was also a hunter. He wasn’t the borderline fanatic that Dan was, but I remember in years past, that he had been looking forward to his week off at hunting season, so maybe that’s the reason he couldn't get back to me.
I could have called Jeff to find out what was going on, but that’s not my style. My style is to go online and look up the dates for hunting season and figure it out from there.
When I surfed around, I came across a two page document from the state’s Fish and Wildlife Department. It’s full of various animals and the dates as to when the State allows you to hunt them. Seeing animals on there like bears or deer didn’t surprise me, but there were some animals on there that I didn’t expect.
For instance, I never knew our state had a hunting season for squirrels. This seems kind of weird to me. I’m not sure why anybody would want to waste their time hunting squirrels. I can’t imagine that people would do it for the thrill of the hunt. It must be more like revenge killings. I for one, have a bunch of squirrels hanging around my bird feeders that I wouldn’t mind seeing gone. But other than that, what would be the reason?
Assuming you are big on squirrel hunting, according to this chart, you can hunt squirrels in zones 1-9, wherever those are, on September 8th and keep on shooting all the way through January 2nd. But if you want to hunt them in zones 10-14, you’ll have to wait until October 18th before you can begin. I don’t know if this is because there are already fewer squirrels in zones 10-14 or what the reason is, but if you want to get the most out of your squirrel shooting, you’ll have to figure out where zones 1 through 9 are.
Another animal I’m surprised to see on that chart are bullfrogs. Who hunts bullfrogs? How do you even do it? You can’t shoot them with a gun or there won't be anything left. Do people get up in the early morning hours, put on their camo and then sit out in the reeds and brush all day with a sharp stick?
What is the value in this? Are bullfrogs worth something? Is there some vast, underground bullfrog market? All I can think of is that "hunters" might be selling them to those souvenir places that shellac them and stick little hats on them and make them hold little banjos. But even then, how much of a demand for those are there? I’ve never really been sure who would buy something like that anyway, except maybe the people that hunt them in the first place.
Another thing I don’t get is, how do they enforce the these laws? Does the state seriously send people around to brooks and ponds to see if there are people out there catching any illegal squirrels or bullfrogs? If you’ve got a deer lashed to the hood of your car, it’s pretty obvious what you’ve been up to. But with squirrels or bullfrogs, you could almost get away with stuffing them into your pockets.
Maybe all of this is old news to anyone that hunts, but as I said, I’m not a hunter. It never held any appeal to me and that's when I thought it only involved bears or deer or other large animals. It holds even less appeal to me now that I know it involves animals like bullfrogs. Squirrels are another matter.
When the day finally came, off he flew to where ever it was. He was picked up at the airport by the tour guide or whatever they call them, and as he and his group were driven through the thick woods up to the hunting lodge, unsuspecting animals frolicked in abundance all around them.
That first night, Dan called home to tell his wife and kids how awesome the trip was going to be and he apparently did a lot of preliminary bragging over the almost guaranteed feast and footwear that he was going to be bringing home. The way he later told it, he hung up the phone just in time to hear the first clap of thunder announcing what turned out to be a week long deluge from which it seems, only the animals were smart enough to take refuge.
Whatever dreams Dan left home with, they had pretty much dissolved by sitting day after day in a cold, blinding rain where the only other living creatures in the woods were the other hunters.
When the day came to finally pack up and leave, Dan and his fellow soggy warriors climbed into the bus to head back to the airport. It was only then that the sun, and the once again frolicking animals, returned. Apparently the animals, at least, were well rested.
Dan was not a happy guy when he got back.
I was reminded of all of this the other day because I tried to get in touch with a guy named Jeff. I sent Jeff an email but I never got a response. Then I remembered that he was also a hunter. He wasn’t the borderline fanatic that Dan was, but I remember in years past, that he had been looking forward to his week off at hunting season, so maybe that’s the reason he couldn't get back to me.
I could have called Jeff to find out what was going on, but that’s not my style. My style is to go online and look up the dates for hunting season and figure it out from there.
When I surfed around, I came across a two page document from the state’s Fish and Wildlife Department. It’s full of various animals and the dates as to when the State allows you to hunt them. Seeing animals on there like bears or deer didn’t surprise me, but there were some animals on there that I didn’t expect.
For instance, I never knew our state had a hunting season for squirrels. This seems kind of weird to me. I’m not sure why anybody would want to waste their time hunting squirrels. I can’t imagine that people would do it for the thrill of the hunt. It must be more like revenge killings. I for one, have a bunch of squirrels hanging around my bird feeders that I wouldn’t mind seeing gone. But other than that, what would be the reason?
Assuming you are big on squirrel hunting, according to this chart, you can hunt squirrels in zones 1-9, wherever those are, on September 8th and keep on shooting all the way through January 2nd. But if you want to hunt them in zones 10-14, you’ll have to wait until October 18th before you can begin. I don’t know if this is because there are already fewer squirrels in zones 10-14 or what the reason is, but if you want to get the most out of your squirrel shooting, you’ll have to figure out where zones 1 through 9 are.
Another animal I’m surprised to see on that chart are bullfrogs. Who hunts bullfrogs? How do you even do it? You can’t shoot them with a gun or there won't be anything left. Do people get up in the early morning hours, put on their camo and then sit out in the reeds and brush all day with a sharp stick?
What is the value in this? Are bullfrogs worth something? Is there some vast, underground bullfrog market? All I can think of is that "hunters" might be selling them to those souvenir places that shellac them and stick little hats on them and make them hold little banjos. But even then, how much of a demand for those are there? I’ve never really been sure who would buy something like that anyway, except maybe the people that hunt them in the first place.
Another thing I don’t get is, how do they enforce the these laws? Does the state seriously send people around to brooks and ponds to see if there are people out there catching any illegal squirrels or bullfrogs? If you’ve got a deer lashed to the hood of your car, it’s pretty obvious what you’ve been up to. But with squirrels or bullfrogs, you could almost get away with stuffing them into your pockets.
Maybe all of this is old news to anyone that hunts, but as I said, I’m not a hunter. It never held any appeal to me and that's when I thought it only involved bears or deer or other large animals. It holds even less appeal to me now that I know it involves animals like bullfrogs. Squirrels are another matter.
Thursday, December 18, 2014
One More Video
Well, it's been well over a month. Time for another depressing, but lovely song from Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris...
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