The end

Tales from the backyard:  It was an early spring day, perfect to work the gardens in preparation for the onset of blossoms which would begin to appear and make the hot summer more bearable.  The day grew hotter and soon he had become overly taxed and needed to lie down.  He awoke with the dogs licking his face and whining, they must need to go out bad he thought as he arose.  The short nap had rejuvenated him, in fact, he felt better than he had in years.  If he hurried he could make the train and surprise his wife in the city, something he hadn’t done in years and maybe have an early dinner.  It was only a short walk to the train and when he reached the platform it was all but empty and he had made it just as the train approached.  Entering the car it too was empty and he found a seat with no problem.  The 40 minute ride to the ferry terminal was uneventful.  Everyone looking down or having their ears on and wanting to be invisible.  Soon they reached the terminal and he slide through the turnstiles into the main lobby just as the announcer called, “ the ferry will depart in 5 minutes through gate 2” and everyone began to gather at the gate, like sheep heading to slaughter without knowing it.  The ferry takes 20 minutes and he found a seat by a window so he could watch the water slide past, something he loved to do since his stint in the Navy.  The walk to her office takes less than five minutes and the Museum was especially busy and he slid by the check-point without them noticing and caught the elevator down just as the door was closing.  He walked down the hall and into the office right at 5 O’clock and they all were preparing to leave.  Dante looked up, smiled and nodded.  His wife was putting on her jacket, turned, picked up her bag and began walking toward him.  She must have had the day’s burdens still on her mind as she still did not notice him.  She walked past him, or should I say, through him, and that’s when he realized.

Madanline turns 1 today

How time has flown,  not a little puppy when she arrived but has grown none-the-less.  She is a real female now as she just finished her first heat, we kept her tightly wrapped and put Thai in a chastity belt.  Taking her afield, her legs have finally grown under her and she now runs with confidence, gone are the gangling appendages of her puppy hood.   Her stride is long and fast as she runs throughout the brush with her head high until she catches a scent, her head lowers little but you can see she's in a locate mode as she starts to sweep back and forth, no longer making the large arcs in front of me.  She has this funny Gazelle like hop to her gate which makes me laugh.  As a true Spaniel, she always comes back to check on my progress, staying not a second, then off again.  Watching her from the kitchen yesterday, she took a good 15 min's. to go from the porch to the way-back of the yard as a Morning Dove searched for food in the grass.  Slowly, step by step she stalked only to have Thai break her concentration, the temptation to great, so off she ran.  Can't wait for fall.

Life is good

The crossroads

Early Sept. and it was a beautiful Sunday to take a ride and do some scouting, so he packed the car with the family and they headed out of the park down into the Klamath Forest.  At this location the forest is mostly Ponderosa Pine with a scattering of Black and Sugar pines.  The logging road they were traveling on was just 2 tracks in the sand and everything looked the same.  The old adage "You can't see the forest for all the trees" was made from this location.  The road meandered through the trees and finally they came to a clearing about half the size of a football field.  In the center was a crossroads.  He came to a stop and said "which way", they shouted back, "Straight ahead", so off he drove.  His trusty friend, the sun, suddenly disappeared behind a low overcast sky.  He has always had a great sense of direction and was not at all worried.  He never uses a compass and normally he would know exactly where he was at by watching the sun, but today it had turned cloudy and everything looked the same.  Moss only grows on the north side of the tree doesn't work in the high plateau's where there is little rain.  He could use his watch to tell directions, but needed the sun for that too.  Soon he came to a fork in the road, just as an owl swooped down to catch a mouse and again asked for directions, "left they said", so left they went.  A half hour later he came to another clearing and crossroad and staying to his pattern for crossroads, he went straight again.  Soon he came to another fork, just as an owl swooped down to catch a mouse, this time he went right.  All thoughts of seeing wildlife had vanished and his speed had increased.  He drove for some time, his gas tank about half full, when he came upon another crossroad the car had become silent, sensing the urgency of finding their way out.  He stopped and looked, thinking he had been here before, that was the same old gnarly snag he had seen hours ago?   He said, “I know where we are, this is the same crossroad, we’re on our way home”, and took a left.  The car had come back to life and they began to laugh again until he came to the same crossroads, this time he could hear, "do do do do-do do do do, as he approached.  With the sound of Hotel California faintly in the background  he could hear Rod Serling talking about a family lost on the logging road of no return, one way in and no way out, he had entered the “Twilight Zone”.  He stopped, checked his gas and beyond worried now, he took the road left.  He came to the same fork and stopped.  Now starting to panic, he went right this time.  The gas tank was near empty and the car was dead silent when he approached the crossroads again.  Suddenly the sun peaked out from beneath the clouds and he breathed a sigh of relief, nodded to the dark haired man in the black suit standing in the crossroad as he drove by and took the road south and went home.

The rabbit hunt

In the early 70's:  The weather had finally warmed to freezing and a low pressure front was on the way, a perfect time to go Snowshoe Hare hunting.  I called my brother and he said yes, so did his wife.  So the 4 of us (my wife also) suited up and took off to one of our favorite spots, a little northeast of Milltown Wisc.  The snow was about waist deep, no bother for us, my brother and I, we had snowshoes,  the tag along's would have to wade through the deep stuff.  A Snowshoe Hare sitting on the snow is impossible to see, you have to look for its silhouette on a dark background, and when you finally do spot one its usually running away.   We slowly approached, we luckily spotted one sitting and shot it.  A little further Sharon (my brothers wife) yells, I see one.  We say where?  Under that tree!  I said its all trees.  She says RIGHT THERE!  I say where.  Right there, are you blind, give me the damn gun.  Now I'm the hunter, and there is no way I'm giving my gun up, especially to a W......  Times have changed since then and I am a more rational person now, in tune with the opposite sex.  Today if she asked for my gun I would just reply,  If you think you can do better than me, than take it.  The Hare? tired of our arguing and hopped off, I think I could hear it laughing.

Opening day

The morning was darker than usual, overcast and a new moon, as if there was a black hole sucking in all the light. He got out of the truck and put on his backpack and slung the rifle over his shoulder. He had an appointment, it was opening day. He was hunting the bottom lands along the Hudson river, an area he new well and had supported many fine deer for him. He hunts alone, to commune with Mother Nature he says, but in reality, he knows no one who hunts. Off he trudged into the brush and darkness. 20 or so minutes later he came to the spot he wanted to be, or so he thought, it was to dark to tell, so he sat and waited, he could re-position himself after first light. Morning light comes in waves and with each wave a little more clarity comes with it. Along the way your imagination takes over and you begin to see things that aren't really there. As it became lighter, out of boredom he raised his sight to his eye, there standing 20 feet from him was a large buck, he laughed, and lowered the gun, the morning light playing its tricks again. 10 minutes later the buck was still there, it hadn't moved a muscle. Raising the gun again he peered through the scope and if he looked just right, could make out the eyes and one ear, and wasn't that antlers instead of branches? Gunshots started in the distance so the day had begun. He put the cross hairs between the eyes and a little above and squeezed the trigger.

Steam Bath

When we were on shore leave in Sassabo Japan, my friends Tony, Don and myself thought it would be fun to go to a steam bath and get a massage.  They are not hard to find and when we went in they broke us up, Don in one room and Tony and I in another.  The young geisha? gave us camonas and told us to undress and left the room.  Coming back she put Tony in the steam vault (only head sticking out) and me in the hottest bath I've ever had.  After ten minutes or so she took Tony to a table and put me in the steamer.  Then she begins to message Tony and ending by walking up and down his spine, digging her toes into crevasses he didn't know he had.  Then we switch again, this time he gets the hot bath and I the message.  He eases into the bath and says," this is so hot I have to relieve myself".  I said  "Me too".  He said "WHAT" and I said "only kidding"  After 55 years I must confess, I lied.  By the way, we found the only steam bath in town where they really do give steam baths.

Moji

Tired and sore from a long day afield with the dogs, I stumbled coming up the back steps.  I was not hurt but it did remind me of a day we were site seeing in Moji Japan.  We had been selected to represent the US as the first ever warship to enter that port.  My friends and I had been walking through the Moji Mall, which is a glass covered street with all the markets below (wonder where we got that idea) and decided to eat.  Our restaurant was just ahead, but I was busy taking pictures with my new Canon to notice they were gone.  I turned just in time to see them go through the restaurant door, so off I ran.  Out of wind when I entered, I saw a flight of stairs to the restaurant door so up I ran.  2 young ladies were halfway up the stairs and just before I reached them I tripped and fell flat on my face.  What to do? being me, I curved one hand into a claw and held it by my chest and as I rose I uttered, ahr, ahr.  The ladies turned and flew down the stairs and the last I saw them they were still screaming, as they were running down the street.  Lessen learned, don't pull pranks in strange lands.