Thursday, March 26, 2009
YUCK Factor
So what is your yuck factor and how many do you have? You know what I mean. What makes you say yuck? My wife has lots of yuck factors and this is what started this. The other night I was cooking fish on the grill and I realized that my brush was worn out so I went and I got the wire brush that I use on the bones that I paint. Now you have to understand that some of the bones that I acquire aren't all pearly white when I get them. Some may have various pieces of flesh or dried skin and other things hanging on them. So before I can paint them I have to wire brush them or sometimes use a wood chisel to scrape things off. So while we were eating that delicious marinated Ahi Ahi from Trader Joe's I happened to mention to Sharon that I needed a new grill brush as I had to use my bone brush to clean the grill before I cooked the fish. YUCK ,of course, came out of her mouth. So I got thinking about it and realized that I can't think of any YUCK factors of my own. Sharon yucks blood, vomit, and dirty diapers amongst other things. So what makes you YUCK?
Friday, March 20, 2009
What Do You Do?
It is almost the weekend. What do you do on your weekends? My typical weekend starts by driving four hours to our little house in Northern Arizona. When I get up there on Friday night by 9:30 pm I will buy the local paper and sit and catch up on local events till I get sleepy but this is after I grind beans for coffee for the next morning.
Saturday morning we will drink coffee on the porch and watch the birds at the bird feeder. Then it will be off to the swap meet where you can buy most anything except small children. Things like guns & knives, goats, chickens, dogs and what have you. Last weekend I bought a GIRO bicycle helmet for a $1 and a knife and a case for my Gerber tool. I looked at a bunch of guns but I resisted the urge to buy. Then we might go to the county gravel pit to dig petrified wood. Remember I said that I have collections and rocks are one of them. Then we may go shopping as it is more fun to shop up there than it is to shop in Tucson where the traffic is abysmal. Then it's back home to relax with some reading. Sometimes instead of shopping it is off to do a hike or wander in the woods looking at stuff or looking for a new walking stick to carve. Aspen makes wonderful walking sticks.
Sunday morning it's back on the porch for coffee. Sharon will usually do some school work on Sunday so I will either go fishing in our creek in my kayack or else I'll do any chores that may need doing around the house. It is kind of a pain having two properties as you have double the upkeep but our Show Low house, "baby Hughes" is its name, is our way to keep our sanity from living in a sardine can in the desert. Do you name your stuff too. Like cars & blankets etc?
Anyway, if we aren't running up to baby Hughes we are usually off to La Jolla or down to Mexico for scuba diving. That's also why I have to do my chores around the sardine can during the week after work cuz after all weekends are meant for adventures!
Saturday morning we will drink coffee on the porch and watch the birds at the bird feeder. Then it will be off to the swap meet where you can buy most anything except small children. Things like guns & knives, goats, chickens, dogs and what have you. Last weekend I bought a GIRO bicycle helmet for a $1 and a knife and a case for my Gerber tool. I looked at a bunch of guns but I resisted the urge to buy. Then we might go to the county gravel pit to dig petrified wood. Remember I said that I have collections and rocks are one of them. Then we may go shopping as it is more fun to shop up there than it is to shop in Tucson where the traffic is abysmal. Then it's back home to relax with some reading. Sometimes instead of shopping it is off to do a hike or wander in the woods looking at stuff or looking for a new walking stick to carve. Aspen makes wonderful walking sticks.
Sunday morning it's back on the porch for coffee. Sharon will usually do some school work on Sunday so I will either go fishing in our creek in my kayack or else I'll do any chores that may need doing around the house. It is kind of a pain having two properties as you have double the upkeep but our Show Low house, "baby Hughes" is its name, is our way to keep our sanity from living in a sardine can in the desert. Do you name your stuff too. Like cars & blankets etc?
Anyway, if we aren't running up to baby Hughes we are usually off to La Jolla or down to Mexico for scuba diving. That's also why I have to do my chores around the sardine can during the week after work cuz after all weekends are meant for adventures!
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Why???
Have you ever noticed that the older you get time seems to go by faster? When you were a kid, days, especially during the summer, seemed to last forever. Now, boom, gone in a flash. Look at it. We are already into the third month of 2009. How did I get to be 55? When the heck did I get so old? I've already been at this job for 13 years which is a record for me. This summer Sharon and I will be married for 29 years and it seems like only yesterday that we were in college. Time definitely seems to go faster as you get older. Is it that we get so wrapped up in work and taking care of the house and stuff like that? I don't know. It is probably one of those vagaries of nature. I know that I have been trying to get some bones done so that I can send them to New Hampshire so Jen's friend can have some and it seems like I am always short on time. I'll try to get them done tonight so I can mail them this weekend, if I can find the time! HA
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Manpurse and Collections
So I'll admit it. I have a manpurse. Other people would call it a backpack but it really is a purse. It holds all my stuff. Things I might need in my everyday life. Binoculars, camera, first aid kit, knives,
a gun, flashlight, gerber tool, eyeglass cleaner, ibuprofin,wallet,cell phone,insect repellent, sun screen,tooth brush, toilet paper, and of course, my eyeglasses. There are other things in there too. Sometimes I have to go through it to remember what I have. Things like petrified wood, squished pennies and my two buddas! Oh yes and my old gold crown. Definitely essential stuff! Maybe that's why the dang thing weighs so much. But you gotta have it.
So do you collect things. I do but not to the point of obsession. I have a pretty fair collection of PEZs. I also have a bunch of knives. Plus I have a bunch of canes and walking sticks. I also have about 500 old albums that I started putting on CDs but it's a lot of work. I don't quite know why I have collected this stuff but once again I'm going to blame it on those genes of mine. The one thing I don't have in my house is a junk drawer but I'll bet you do cuz everyone has one. Usually they're in the kitchen. Actually I have a junk shelf out in my shed but at least it's not in the house. I'll bet you even have some old batteries in your junk drawer don't you. HA
a gun, flashlight, gerber tool, eyeglass cleaner, ibuprofin,wallet,cell phone,insect repellent, sun screen,tooth brush, toilet paper, and of course, my eyeglasses. There are other things in there too. Sometimes I have to go through it to remember what I have. Things like petrified wood, squished pennies and my two buddas! Oh yes and my old gold crown. Definitely essential stuff! Maybe that's why the dang thing weighs so much. But you gotta have it.
So do you collect things. I do but not to the point of obsession. I have a pretty fair collection of PEZs. I also have a bunch of knives. Plus I have a bunch of canes and walking sticks. I also have about 500 old albums that I started putting on CDs but it's a lot of work. I don't quite know why I have collected this stuff but once again I'm going to blame it on those genes of mine. The one thing I don't have in my house is a junk drawer but I'll bet you do cuz everyone has one. Usually they're in the kitchen. Actually I have a junk shelf out in my shed but at least it's not in the house. I'll bet you even have some old batteries in your junk drawer don't you. HA
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Signs & Manifestations
So I miss my mother in law and the other night while in my cups I got all teary and emotional. As my wife was hugging me I suddenly saw one of my sharpening steels start to swing from it's hook. At this point my wife and I both agreed that this was a sign from mom saying that she was OK. Now you have to understand this sharpening steel probably weighs around 2-3 pounds and hangs from a cup hook over my counter. There are actually two of them hanging near one another and the other one wasn't moving one iota. We were also standing about three feet away. It was actually very comforting to know that mom is in a place where she is OK.
The weird thing is that this has happened with this same steel before but in California. We lived in a house that was a tad bit haunted. The old owner had died there and strange things sometimes occurred. Like that steel all of a sudden moving or knocks on the door when no one was there or things disappearing and then later, maybe months later, reappearing.
Maybe I have inherited some of this from my mother. My mother has seen ghosts and had premonitions all her life. When she was a little girl her Aunt Mag used to sit on the end of her bed and call her name. The only problem was that Aunt Mag was dead. Then in Millbury, Massachusetts when we lived on Maple St. we had such things happen like flying tea cups, exploding fish tanks and The Man In The Red Shirt. When we moved to West St. in Fort Plain,NY the man in the red shirt came too. My dad also experienced some of this stuff so maybe my mother was a conduit. I don't know. I always told her that I would love to see a ghost but she said it is very scary and unsettling. I'd still like to try it out though. So there you have it. Now you know why I am like I am. It's those danged genes again.
By the way, I think people in California are so happy and out doorsy cuz they have all this amazing foliage around them all the time, along with the ocean and sunshine. At least it's like this in the La Jolla area. Here's a pic from our weekend there.
The weird thing is that this has happened with this same steel before but in California. We lived in a house that was a tad bit haunted. The old owner had died there and strange things sometimes occurred. Like that steel all of a sudden moving or knocks on the door when no one was there or things disappearing and then later, maybe months later, reappearing.
Maybe I have inherited some of this from my mother. My mother has seen ghosts and had premonitions all her life. When she was a little girl her Aunt Mag used to sit on the end of her bed and call her name. The only problem was that Aunt Mag was dead. Then in Millbury, Massachusetts when we lived on Maple St. we had such things happen like flying tea cups, exploding fish tanks and The Man In The Red Shirt. When we moved to West St. in Fort Plain,NY the man in the red shirt came too. My dad also experienced some of this stuff so maybe my mother was a conduit. I don't know. I always told her that I would love to see a ghost but she said it is very scary and unsettling. I'd still like to try it out though. So there you have it. Now you know why I am like I am. It's those danged genes again.
By the way, I think people in California are so happy and out doorsy cuz they have all this amazing foliage around them all the time, along with the ocean and sunshine. At least it's like this in the La Jolla area. Here's a pic from our weekend there.
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