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.

Cady

Today we morn the 1 year anniversary of Cady's passing.  She made me smile and laugh with her girlish antics and I miss her so.  I didn't realize that my smile was gone until we brought this little brown dog into our lives a few weeks ago.  Chip and Thai are males, steadfast and true, affectionate and loving but there is something about having a female around.  Or maybe its the never ending exuberance and playfulness that I have craved.  Brown dog will never be a Cady, she will be a Madeline and she has wormed her way into our hearts already.

New back yard

Yesterday I drove up north to where I bought property to put my bees on ( to be known as "The Farm".  It is covered in Bayberry brush so I have been (painfully) chopping it down and burning it.  As I was working, evening suddenly appeared and I noticed the dogs looking toward the meadow and saw 5 deer munching away, not caring a thing as we watched.  Back to work to bring in the last pieces before dark and put them on the fire.  Then I opened a bottle of wine and sat.  Looking up the first star appeared, soon the sky was ablaze,  matching the fire before me.  I was admiring the Milky Way, something you can't see from the city,  as it stretched across the sky when a satellite past overhead and it took me back some some 59 years ago when my trusty companion, our golden retriever, Goldie, and I were skating on Green lake, one of my favorite winter things to do, and tiring, I lay down with my head on Goldie's chest, listening to the throb of her heart and rhythm of her breathing and saw Sputnik, the first ever satellite cross the sky, a night to remember.
                            

The bull

11/11/15  Tales from the backyard:  One morning while I was bow hunting a small woodlot not far from home, not having any luck, I started to return to the car across this meadow.  In the middle were two cows eating lazily, so, not wanting to disturb them, I cut up a small knoll, intending to drop down into the small valley and skirt around them.  Just as I rounded the hill, to my left I saw a huge bull standing about 40 feet away, looking at me.  At that time I was directly between him and his cows and he didn’t look happy.  It was about 150 yards or so to the fence and I knew if he came at me I would be toast, so I just continued walking hoping to get past but he began pawing and snorted a warning so I stopped.  I knew I couldn’t out run him and he wasn’t going to let me walk on so I just turned and began running straight at him yelling.

He then raised his head in astonishment so I turned and walked back to the truck to get the toilet paper.

A farewell to Cady

 Sitting here on the porch with Cady’s head in my lap, as usual, my hand caressing her soft silky fur.  Watching away the beautiful fall day, a lonesome fluffy cloud drifts by contrasting with the blue sky and the fall colors.  A vulture floats past and circles in the thermals, does it sense death is in the air?  A cat walks across the yard, Cady lifts her head but doesn't stir, her legs unable to hold her weight from the sudden onset of terminal cancer.  It seems like only yesterday we brought this black and white puppy into our lives.  It was just last week I took the dogs out on her now last hunting trip.  She just followed me around, thinking she was getting old, I let her.  Three days ago she was acting like a puppy again as her and Thai were goofing around as usual.  Now today she cannot stand, so we sit on the couch, me afraid to leave as she might go without me being there and her wanting to be in the flower bed, her favorite place to lull away the day.  I have succumbed and put her in the Hosta bed after another failed attempt of getting her to pee.  

The money clip

Tales from the backyard..  I was taking a bath this evening and as I stepped out onto the bath mat, I remembered some 20 odd years ago how I obtained it.  I was taking a course at Harper's Ferry, one of our training centers, and after class was walking around the old historic town, alone as always, taking in the history of this wonderful place.  At some point I reached into my pocket and upon pulling my hand out, my money clip with over a hundred dollars slid out and onto the sidewalk, without knowing, I kept walking.  One of the merchant’s across the street saw this and went over and found the clip, but I was long gone, too far to be hailed back.  Two nights later, walking the same area, I was hailed by the young owner of the store and she asked if I had been here two days before.  I said I had and she asked if I might have lost something, I said I did, “my money clip”.  She invited me in and handed me the clip with all the money.  I offered her a reward but she refused, but she couldn’t refuse a sale and so I purchased our $100 lovely handmade rag woven bath mat that matched our bathroom.  The world is so wondrous.