A walk on the beach

7/9/18  Tales from the Backyard… Tucked away in the northeast corner of Massachusetts, not far from our home in Newburyport, is a strip of land known as Plum Island Beach.  In the summer its always packed,  has limited high priced parking and the Green-head flies are atrocious.  Fall is the time to go, free parking and the beach is literally deserted, lest a few lovers walking hand in hand and the die-hard fishermen, hoping a school of Striped Bass will swim near.  It’s a beautiful fall day, sunny, a bit crisp, a great day for a walk.   We bundled ourselves for the cool wind and headed out.  We walked along the shore hand- in- hand- in- hand until she (our soon to be 2 yo) tires and says "carry me", so you pick her up and put her on your shoulders.  Soon she begins to fidget so you lower her, and then, toss her in the air, being careful to keep hold of her.  She screams with delight, as have the thousands that have preceded her in this tossing game every dad plays.  You don't let go of her foot, you need to feel you are in control and need to stay in contact, you are her protector.  She laughs out loud when you catch her and she screams "again".  This time you throw her higher, as high as your arm can reach because you still can't let go, she laughs even louder.  "Again,” she yells as she alights in your arms, “higher” she yells.  So you toss her higher, higher than ever before and this time feeling confident, you do let go.  With her arms spread wide like an Eagle, up, up, up she soars, but this time never comes down.  Then, faintly in the distance you hear her voice, "Dad, wake up Dad, you’re having another dream,  It’s time to get ready".   She has grown, in fact, today is her wedding day, and It’s in our Backyard…

Alignment

Sitting on the back porch this evening my eye was drawn to the big pine out back and I found myself aligning it with one of the columns of the porch to see how straight it was.  I realized that this has been a problem I have had forever and my wife frequently asks, "what are you looking at".  So it was one day as I was overseeing the work of a new beach complex at Delaware Water Gap NRA in Pa.  Late one afternoon I left the office (trailer) and walked out to the being constructed bathhouse.  They had just finished installing the porch overhang and as I walked the columns came into view, one after the other, and my eye instantly assessed the true-ness of them.  I could plainly see that three were not in line with the others, so I went to the front of the building and stopped.  Within minutes the entire crew stopped work and looked down at me and then the foreman said "whats wrong now", (I did my job well).  I said the columns were out of alignment and he said "bull shit, I did them myself".  I said " did you use a level or plumb-bob?  He shouted, 'get me my level" and down he came.  He placed the level to the first one and said, "perfect".  I said, "I didn't say which ones and he went to number 2 and checked, than said, "fuck , how can you see that from there."  I turned and went back to the office.  The next morning they were all straight and true.  I never did tell him.

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.