Close Shave

 

My muse was loaded and threw one at me while shaving today. I never know. I think she thinks she owes me one……… or maybe wants one up.

I needed it……. the shave. It’s 2pm and I should sit and relax for a bit, but I notice my ears were getting’ woolly and I don’t need my grand girls telling me I have hair in my ears again.

I was given this new multi-bladed hybrid razor for Christmas. It’s the best razor I’ve ever had I believe.

Why, I could take my truck on a cross country drive, and with some water and face butter, be clean when I got there.

There?

Ya, there!

There by the bridge at the south end of the lake. You know the one that has the dead tree that hangs out over the water off the point where the kingfisher has perched and hunted for years.

He was there 35 years ago and he was still there year before last.

You know.

I hollered across to the other side, “what’s happening?”

Whomever it was said, perch are bitten strange, but they’re bitten.

I bought a license when I came into Chamberlain earlier.  Just in case I wanted to stand on that concrete block and fish for the fish De jour.

I didn’t use it so my license is fresh and I am excited.   It’s one of my favorite spots, since I was old enough to drive. I could disappear there for a whole day, come home after dark and nobody even knew I was gone.

So, one pole, a nice light one with 6lb. Spin cast with the rod about six and a half feet long, a little limber.

I had a little shovel so I stuck it in the mud from the recent rain and found exactly the wiggly I needed. There were hoppers everywhere but I thought I try a thin worm first.

I rigged with a split shot and tied the line straight to the hook. “Biting strange” meant touch, feely.

I looked down at the water and saw that it was the time of the year when the water was running out enough to drift a worm over the top of the weeds that hadn’t reached within a foot of the surface yet, and were swaying with the surge. And you can see dark spots where you’d like that split shot to take it down until it disappeared.

It descends until a perch spots it and interrupts the drift of the line. Then a light pull up with the index finger….. No shoulder for this. Touchy, feely….. And if you didn’t get him, let it go and voila!!!! You made him mad and got him.

So, I’m standing there shaving in Tucson, watching myself fish at the bridge…..

…and I’m taken to another thought.

Gees I wish my kids were here to have this fun. Jaime loves to fish, Jesse, Brian and Scott. Kathy needs to be sitting there to watch what was happening.

All the while this is going on…. I’m shaving, Kathy’s watching the kids have a blast and get to live in my memory with me for a bit.

And my old mind moves back to a tricky spot to shave, now turn on the vibration for it’s final cut, rinse and dry. My CPAP is going to stick a little better tonight! LOL

I like this to happen, but we moved far away, my kids have grown and are dealing with middle adult life, money, sick kids, corporate disconnect, groceries and all of the stuff.

I don’t live in their back pockets. They don’t need my wild imagination and enthusiasm when their butts are draggin’ and they have their own little circle of timing and plans.

So kids, I just took you away to my land of dreams for the afternoon.

It was a carefree afternoon of fishing with honkers sounding and flying near.

I hope I was able to help, …………………

while I got a nice clean shave.

Your Dad

We Made It Through December

I remember one of the first few Christmases in Tucson. We had just run out of disposable funds about a week before Christmas.

I mean, we were holding our own, the bills were paid, there was just no extra. And I don’t remember the exact evening, but I did have a couple of bucks so I bought an Arizona lottery ticket, and I stayed up to watch the numbers, which I seldom do.
You know, sometimes people think I’m a little lite on the religion side.
Well, there’s plenty of that goin’ on already.
As for me, that night when we hit 4 and it might have been 5, numbers, I woke Kathy. It was going to be around $1800.

All of my life, I’ve felt something was watching over me. Things seemed to happen ‘just in time’ or ‘right place at the right time’ or something on my shoulder slapping my hands when I was about to make a mistake. I freely talk about it to the right people. Today I call it my ‘Muse’ whom I tease and taunt constantly. lol And sometimes…. I think I get paid back for that! lololol
But that evening and through the night I hardly slept.
And the next day, I don’t think my feet touched the ground. I took off early and went down to the lottery place and turned in my ticket.
The lady left my sight and came back with the cash (maybe a check) I think. Of course, I had to sign several times here and then there.
Anyway, 4 kids had a wonderful Christmas morning, we paid a few bills and I was left with a feeling…. I mean, within 4 days of Christmas, we were taken care of. What were the odds?
I didn’t get wordy in my thoughts. I just said ‘Thank You’ silently a hundred times.
It’s a kind of grateful that will make your nose run every time you think about it.
I got something in my eye right now.
Merry Christmas to all, Ron

So here’s Ol’ Merle Haggard tellin’ his story. It was an easy one for me to do …… we made it through December. rdd

If We Make It Through December (a Merle Haggard cover) Just click on the song title… rdd

 

 

I remember going goose and duck hunting on Lake Traverse, all by myself.

The ducks and geese would come off the lake and fly low over the haystacks up at the north end islands.

I’d climb to the top of the stacks, take off my heavy brush coat, and lay on my back, my coat a pillow, just watching them.

Even while they were within shooting range, I had plenty of shots all of the time there, so I’d just watch………… and maybe take a nap in the last days of the year, when you could do that in the heat of the sun in South Dakota.

I had no need to disturb anything while I watched, geese, ducks, clouds and the Indian Summer spider webs drift by.

……… Nature and I breathed in time. rdd