You are backpacking in the Ozark National Forest in north central Arkansas. Since it is 0230 you are in your tent. Because the ambient temperature is plus or minus 2 degrees of the freezing point of water, Fahrenheit, you have your down mummy sleeping bag zipped all the way up. In fact you have the cord on the hood portion cinched up so that all that is visible is your very manly proboscis. Because you are 68 going on 79 you have just woken up with an extraordinary Continue reading “Definition of Panic”
Funny? or to the point?
This last weekend my brother Mike and I hiked the extended Sylamore Creek Trail in Arkansas. The original trail was around 14 miles and I have hiked that section multiple times. They have extended the trail by 9 miles to connect with the Ozark Highland Trail. We hiked from the top of the new extension that starts at Cripple Turkey Trailhead in a southeasterly direction to Allison Trailhead. I picked this direction as it is “generally” downhill. However, if you have ever hiked in the Ozarks you know you spend your time going up then down, up then down…
At Allison Trailhead the first or last thing you need to do is ford North Sylamore Creek about a mile or so before it enters the White River. I have never made the ford without having to take off my hiking boots and sometimes more. This is the same ford that Robin lost her panties while crossing, but that is a story for another time. This weekend it was only a little above my knees.
As we were getting out of the creek crossing we encountered a elderly man, a younger man and a child of 4 of 5 years of age. The elderly man made some comment basically wanting to know what we had been doing.
I replied, “We are just finishing up a 23 mile hike.”
To which he replied in his slow Arkansas drawl, “Must have been a tough one!”
Keep well.
Chat with Ken Lee, Author of Voices from the Bible: An Anthology of Single-Character Plays
I have a friend, Jeanne Felfe, who writes novels and short stories. She also works with other authors to edit their work and aids them in bringing their books to the self-publishing marketplace.
She recently completed her work with one such individual, Ken Lee, and his book Voices from the Bible: An Anthology of Single-Character Plays
Long time readers of my blog will know that this is the type of book that would make me do an 180 and run off like a horsefly bitten colt. BUT I do know a lot of folks that this type of literature is right up their alley. So in the spirit of open mindedness I am sharing a link to Jeanne’s blog and a chat she had with the author.
To access Ken’s book on Amazon.com here is the link: Voices from the Bible: An Anthology of Single-Character Plays
Keep well.
Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #9,929
yeah I know you did not ask!
The Señora and I were “discussing” the setting on the thermostat. I was cold and she was hot.
She said to me, “Put on a sweater!”
I said to her, “Take off the 3 sweaters you have on!!!”
That is when she diagnosed me as suffering from hyperobnoxicity as if that was the debate clincher.
Is there a cure for hyperobnoxicity, or is it for a lifetime like herpes?
From NYT: It’s the Fauci Awards!
Back in the 80s I worked a dual function position in a rural county in Arkansas. On one side I was Administrator of the Local County Health Department. A function that was more or less office manager for the Health Unit and I interfaced with public officials in and outside the county. When I put on my other hat I was the County Sanitarian. As a Registered Sanitarian I had a wide range of duties Continue reading “From NYT: It’s the Fauci Awards!”
Something, something, something…
I met Robin’s father, Theodore – Ted, but I did not know him. When I started dating Robin in 2008 he had already been in a nursing home for many years due to Alzheimer’s. It had been years since he had recognized anyone, even his wife. I am not sure how long we had been dating before Robin took me by to visit her father, but a while. Robin did not visit her father, Ted, much in this period as her mother was still alive and primary caregiver. As alluded to elsewhere Robin’s relationship with her mother was “complicated”, and this put visiting her father in the same realm.
Ted’s grandfather had been the village blacksmith back in Mother Russia. Continue reading “Something, something, something…”
Delight to Sadness
A while ago I bought Robin a book, The Book of Delights: Essays by Ross Gay. I had heard the author interviewed on an NPR program during which he had also read a few passages from his book. I thought it might be something she would enjoy.
A week or two ago I put the book on the reading table next to the throne. I’ve been reading an essay or two each morning during my “meditation” time. For this reason I have been thinking a bit more of delight and joy than I normally do. Señora is not reticent about using the word grumpy Continue reading “Delight to Sadness”
Audio Book Snobbery
First a couple confessions… this is going to be a bit of a curmudgeonly rant. Secondly, my name is David, I am a former audio book snob.
What is an audio book snob? There are many folks out there that feel if the medium for accessing a book is not reading it is a bit of a cheat. If you listen to a novel rather than read it, you have violated some unwritten rule of the universe. I have a social acquaintance that knows I ingest a fair number of books annually. In response to his conversational gambit if I start talking about a recently partaken book, he will ask me with a slight sneer in his voice did I read it or listened to it. He discounts my experience with the book if I listened to it.
Not too soon after I met Robin the economic crisis of 2008 hit. I was contracting at the financial company Edward Jones. Their response to the crisis was to bid adieu to all their contract employees. So suddenly I was out of work in the middle Continue reading “Audio Book Snobbery”
Out, damned spot! Out, I say!
Out, damned spot! Out, I say!—One, two. Why, then, ’tis time to do ’t. Hell is murky!— Fie, my lord, fie! A soldier, and afeard? What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to account?—Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him.
The above is from Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 1. The first part is one of the most recognizable lines from any Shakespearean play. Whenever I have seen it performed, Lady Macbeth is wandering around the castle with a candle in hand.
Ever since I have know her Señora has liked to play computer solitaire. In the past she has always played it on her desktop computer. The last year or so she has started playing in on her smart phone, and of late she has been seen wandering around our castle, cell phone in hand, playing computer solitaire.
I am just waiting with bated breath to hear mumblings from her mouth…
Out, damned ace! Out, I say!—One, two. Why, then, ’tis time to shuffle. Hell is murky! — And so is this game!
Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #3,524
yeah I know you did not ask!
It is very windy today in this suburb of St. Louis. And it is November. Most of the trees have lost their leaves, but the passive aggressive pendejos on the sweet gum tree in our yard are persistently hanging on. Sweet gums generally drop their leaves 3 or 4 weeks after all their neighbors, prompting a new round of leaf raking with this curmudgeon mumbling something about pinche cabrón of a tree and inconsiderate timing.
I was pulling out of our driveway on this windy, fall day when a sweet gum leaf plastered itself on the driver’s door window. For a brief second or two or a dramatic 3 or 4, I felt like I was in a B-rated sci-fi movie and alien face suckers were coming to get me.
Yeah… I know.