lot of Saturday

Saturday, what a day. I have been looking forward to Saturday from the beginning.  It is the day of fun, to run and play. When I was little it was the day that dad was home and the day we went out and had fun. Saturday is the day to loaf in the sun of a summer day. Go fishing, ride a horse for fun, and have an adventure. Yup Saturday is the day.

porcupine dam looking out from camp

Now I have seen a Saturday or two about 24,012 counting this one; but who is counting.  There was one I think it was 7,637 or there about.  I got off work about 5:30 on Friday evening and the wife and I loaded up our ford station wagon we had at the time and head out for a weekend of fishing.  We headed up and over the mountain road from Eden to Avon then up the porcupine road to the scare canyon area and the porcupine dam.  As we got there it was dark and my wife did not want to ride in the car over the winding dirty rocky mountain road. There was a big drop off on her side of the car. she had been over the road in the day light  and did not like the road.  So I let her walk with our little dog peewee and I drove real slow so as to keep from running them over as they walk on the road in front. She and peewee made it clear that there was something out there following us. It was only about a quarter mile to the camp site, and it was pitch-dark, after stopping  a dozen times to reassure her that all is well and trying to get her to get back in the car; we made it to the camp site.

 They don’t call it scare canyon for nothing.  The hair on the back of your neck will give rise to the a occasion.

We got to the camp site and unloaded the car putting all our supplies and fishing gear under the car. Then we made our bed in the back of it.  As we were putting things under the car my wife shown the flashlight around the area and found old short tail peering around an old fifty-five gallon barrel what was used as a garbage can and target. Short tail is a mountain lion that inhabit the area and that another story.  Anyway I tried to reassure my wife she had nothing to fear from short tail.  She was a little unhinged playing peek-a-boo around the garbage can with a 130 pound mountain lion,she was sure it was what was following her.  It was after midnight and now Saturday. So it was off to bed and to an early rise to catch fish.  

Peewee could not be assured that all was ok he kept barking and running around the car as we tried to settle in and get some sleep.  I was about ready to put him outside the car so we could get to sleep when there was a flash of lighting and a loud clap of thunder, it was raining hard. You are not going to get out of the canyon after a heavy rain for a week and I had to be back to work Monday. The soil in the canyon is that red clay, and so is the road out of there, that turns into a sticky muddy bog that will hold you there till it dries out. So much for fishing, we need to get the well, you know make like a tree and leave.  We got up and run around the car putting our stuff back in the car.  When I stared up the car and turned on the head lights, there not fifteen feet in front of the car was a big black bear.

   Dog barking, wife screaming and tires spinning we were out of there for a dryer and less primitive place to camp and fish.

Yup Saturday is the day for adventure.  

What is your Saturday adventure?

Thank you for coming by and god bless.

Friday moment 4/13/12

This Moment

"A single photo – no words – capturing a simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember."

at 4am in the rain

spring shower this day

“This Moment” is a ritual found on Life inspired by the Wee Man adopted fromSouleMama which was introduced to me by Sarah-Jane. If you find yourself touched by a Moment and would like to participate, post your picture on a Friday and leave your link in the comments section.

Thank you for sharing this moment God Bless

lot of spring tonic

Yup it was about this time ever year when my Grandpa was alive; he would start making that awful stuff. He called it spring tonic. Now I never wrote down his recipe and thank the good lord that no one did. What I can remember is that he gathered up a number of leaves, bark and roots, one of which was dandelions. There was licorice, or black root, wild onions and a number of other plants.  Then there was coal oil and black strap molasses, sulfur and home made corn whiskey, he said it would make you fill your lungs. Grandpa would say if it tasted good it was not good for you. He would start cooking that stuff up and the smell, well the barn yard and out house smelt better.   

He would fill a pint whiskey bottle with the stuff, it was thick and black, kind of like pine tar, and it may have had some of that in it as well.

When you got your spoon full of it, it would make you sweat and run for the outhouse. It made you feel like you were on fire and that your insides would explode. When it finished  running its coercion on you, you felt pretty good. Believe me it would clean you out.The last time I remember him making it was in 1958, and my dad said he was not going to take any of it. It took a week but grandpa got him down on the front lawn and grandpa gave him a double dose. Grandma would make it better for us kids with a tablespoon of honey. You could run and hide, but grandpa would get you when you thought you were safe. It was fun playing the game of hide and seek with grandpa and he always won.

There is a lot to be said about the old time spring tonic most of it is how awful it tasted and how it make you go for three days. But in the end you felt better for it. Today if grandpa was around I would be in line to partake in the game maybe not the first, a little hide and seek makes it fun.

If you would like to try a spring tonic that is not so hard to take but is pretty good; go out and pull up some of the dandelions form your lawn, get some fresh onions, some new potatoes, and some good sage sausage.  Cut the flower and stem out of the dandelions and wash the root and leaves good in cold water. Then cut them up in 1 and ½ inch pieces boil till tender like spinach. Caramelizes the onions in a frying pan, brown the sausage, then put it all together. Mix up two table spoons of wild honey and a ¼ cup of apple or balsamic vinegar pour over the dandelions and onions. Sever with the new potatoes and sausage; this all taste good and who knows it may be good for you.

Fix some of this up and enjoy the old days. If you have memories of spring tonic I would like to here about them. Thank you for coming by and God bless

Lot of Never

         The end of never cannot be as never, never had a beginning. You have to have a beginning to have an end. Now I have heard of Never Never Land, but I have never been there so I don’t know if it has a beginning. There is a canyon of Never it is called Never Canyon but you can never go there. It is some place the other side of the twelfth of Never. Now that is a good song. 

Down deep in the canyon there is a mine its call never mind I guess it was never mind and never will. I think that a bird that never was. Had you ever been there, never was, so how could have been there.   Well I never or did I. have you ever never? This is beginning to sound like a never ending story.

Mouse what the heck have you been drinking?  “Never touched a drop, It’s that darn Leprechaun Canyon it will mess with your mine.” Did you find the leprechaun?  “Nope never saw one, but I thought I roped him, But I never miss.”  Well did you rope him?  “Well I guess I never.”  Mouse we got cattle to take care of. Get your head on straight and get to work.

I"m off to mow the lawn. thank you for stopping by God Bless

lot of wind

They call the wind Mariah. The title to a song back in the fifties from the musical Paint your wagon sung by many but the first to record it was the Kingston trio, another song about the wind is the Wayward Wind sung by Gogi Grant.  I have both here for you to take a listen to.

As you may know the wind paid me a visit on December 1 and I found out firsthand just how destructive the wind can be. My life has been turn upside down and backwards. Most of the recovery of my home is done, the house is in like new condition; but our daily lives are still in turmoil putting thing back where they belong, repairing something’s that were broke that cannot be replaced. There is a lot of thing to do in the backyard mostly clean up. I save the timbers from the old roof to build a deck on the back of the house. The timbers need to be clean up the nails pulled and inspected for damage, 

if that were not enough the grass need to be mowed.  Finding time to write and keep up with all on the net is a task that has had to take the backseat.

Last Wednesday night as my wife was getting ready for bed she got caught up in her pants and lost her balance and fell catching her foot in the toe kick of the drier breaking her ankle.  She will be laid up for six weeks.

Well the flowers are blooming and spring is getting a head start on me all the spring clean up is taking time away from my writing. 

And now it time to go and pick our meds, grocery, pay some more bills, get my taxes done, and smell the flowers.

Thank you for coming by and God Bless.