Dewey Gets a New Garbage Can!

I think us country folks spend a bit more time contending with the issue of garbage than do our city brethren.
Spring, summer and fall you don't dare bring your garbage down to the road until the morning of pickup. To bring it down the night before risks a visit from a bear. If that occurs, you will find your trash distributed over the tri-state area. If you don't know your geography, that's Minnesota, Wisconsin and the U.P. of Michigan. And, since our garbage man come so &^^&*(*))* early in the morning, one must get up at 5:45 A.M. to drag it down the driveway.
In the winter, however, you can drag it down the night before which is exactly what I did one week ago, along with our recyclable container. When I looked out the window the next morning, only one container was visible and it wasn't the garbage can. I put on my coat, assuming it had fallen in the ditch, and went outside to retrieve it. Problem was, it wasn't there. I looked up and down the road but no garbage can. My neighbor's garbage had been picked up so I knew the truck had been by.
"Great", I thought, now I gotta call the garbage company and tell them my can had disappeared. I wondered what that was gonna cost me. Well, the nice youg lady on the phone said that this happens all the time. Seems, sometimes the forks on the truck arm aren't tight enough and the can falls into the truck. At any rate, they sent me out a new can at no charge.
It's the little things in life that are important, isn't it?
I know folks are starting to wonder about the next compilation by "The Old Norwegian" and "Real Texas Fish". Well, Mel and Dewey's Greatest Hits Volume II "The Women of Rock, Country and Whatever" is starting to take shape. As with our previous effort, this will be a collectors item for sure.....
Lastly, I finally had a chance to go ice fishing on Lake Superior for some walleye but came down with a cold and had to cancel. I'm getting withdrawl pains for some fresh fish! Thanks Uwe for the offer!

41 Years Ago......

Yeah, 41 years ago Glenda and I were married. Hard to believe it's been that long. "Life is what happens while you are making other plans" - John Lennon. I know there was more than one person that thought we'd never make it. Fortunately, I never gave a rat's a__ about what some people thought or had to say anyway.
We've lived a life. Owned three houses in the Cities, chucked it all and moved up north during my "peak earning years". Then sold that house, quit our jobs and built a home in the woods in another state. And who said I was conservative??
We held each other tight when we buried our youngest son.... We've always done what we had to do and we've always done it together.
Don't know what the future will bring but we'll hit it head on as we always have. We don't look back or second guess. It does no good anyway......
Happy Anniversary Hon!!! Love, Me

Peace on Earth

Whoops!! Sorry about that. The holiday season is over and it's back to business as usual.
After the last snowfall, it was so pretty outside I just had to go out and snap some pictures. I'm, by nature, a lousy scenery photographer but in all fairness, it's hard to capture peace and tranquility on film. I don't know why I even try.
It's still possible to walk in the woods. It's quite a workout but worth it. Deer beds are everywhere and lots of little critters making tracks in the snow. Grouse season is still open but those birds like to bury themselves in the snow and you almost have to step on them in order to get them to fly. Then they blast out of the snow like a missile shot out of a submarine. Once one recovers from the near coronary, it's time to fire the shotgun, normally in a different direction than the bird is flying. Of course, since I now normally hunt by myself, I can always claim that I never shot.....
I've become a news junkie this winter and have become extremely knowledgeable on a wide variety of subjects. Global warming, health care, war, the economy, Norwegian rights (I just threw that one in). I don't care what side of the fence you are on, or even if you like to sit on top of it. EVERY senator and representative will tell you that they only have our best interests at heart (can you spell earmarks)?
Only two things scare me, a smiling congressman and a guy who can throw a good curveball......

I Usta Throw a Curveball

Drove down to the cities for Christmas. Weather was too dangerous for Johnny and the girls to come up here. We went over and saw our grandson and then had a quiet Christmas Eve at John's. Played some cards and had a couple of Captain Morgans and coke. John and I don't normally drink that but we know somebody who did so we always have a couple on Christmas Eve. Guess that's now our tradition.
Chaos reignith Christmas Day when the girls got there. After presents, we decided to play some Wii. My favorite was the bowling. No idea how many games I played. Then it was time for the snowball fight. I can hardly move my right arm.......And I thought I was in shape.
A three hour drive home took four hours yesterday. T'wasn't a lot of fun on the freeway. Blew out the driveway. One neighbor came over with some treats today and another showed up with his plow and plowed out my mailbox. It's funny. People live up here for the peace and privacy yet they always seem to be there when you need some help. You don't even have to ask. We really only knew one neighbor when we lived in BP and up here we know all five couples. Funny how that goes...
Oh, and speaking of that curveball. It's the only real pitch I had in Little League. I tried to throw one to my nephew about six years ago and tossed the ball into the lake. My arm hurt the next day after that effort as well. I never seem to learn.
Hope everyone had a nice Christmas. Be safe New Years Eve...

The Future? Oh Yeah, and Last Wednesday....

Ever notice how busy people are these days? It seems to get worse each year. At least to me it seems to. Ok, I'm retired so it's easy for me to talk, however, there are more ways to occupy ones time than ever before. Cell phones, that do darn near everything, computers, year around sports, school, work. It just goes on and on. It's the world we live in I guess and I'm just a spectator. I'm hoping these two and maybe my grandson will become hunters. Sure we can bond in many other ways but I might shoot a big deer again someday and I need someone to drag it out for me..... It builds character....
Ok, weather report. We got between 15-17 inches of snow Wednesday. Thursday was the start of the four day does only deer hunt. It was 6 below and Dewey Drive didn't look too inviting so I went back to bed. It was 17 below this morning. I would have loved to have gone out but had to drive to Superior to let the vampires have some blood. Darn.... I had fresh venison for dinner last night so the incentive really isn't there.
Ok, medical report. Took my last pill this morning and am feeling like my old self. This dang climate change is keeping those ticks active longer. After all, I got bit in November. Unless those little suckers have snowshoes, I should be safe now...

The Opener - 2009

Deer hunting tends to humble a person and this year was no exception. I started the day before opener by making a visit to the ER at St. Marys Hospital in Superior. I contracted Lyme's Disease and was about as sick as one could get. They gave me a shot in the hip and armed with 10 days worth of pills, I headed home. Didn't feel worth a damn on Saturday but hunted anyway.
Remember those big bucks from my previous blog? Well, we never saw them. I shot a nubbins buck Sunday afternoon and Johnny shot a doe Monday. Tuesday I was in the Cities and it poured all day Wednesday. Johnny and the girls came up for the Thanksgiving weekend and we hunted hard. He saw a couple of does and a buck but didn't have a shot. I heard one.....
I was still sitting in a tree when darkness hit Sunday night.
The trail camera is out and I'm already planning new stands. Watch out Mr. Buck, I'll be waiting for you next year......
Oh, and for you folks that wander out where ticks live, read up on Lyme's Disease. It can be wicked if not treated. I was in today for a follow up and though I feel fine, I have to be on pills for another 11 days. They told me if I didn't take them, I would be back inside of three months and that wouldn't be pretty...

Deer Hunting

These are a couple of the big boys roaming my land. I captured them with my trail camera and only posted them to get your attention.
Thirty or so years ago, a buddy of mine told me that his grandfather had once told him that if you hunt deer for nine days just for that split second when you pull the trigger you should probably find something else to do to occupy your time. The return on the investment wasn't worth it. For some reason I never forgot that.
I first started hunting deer when I was 15. I got to go with my dad the last 2 days of the 9 day season. There weren't many deer back in the 60's and by the last weekend, what few that were left were hiding out pretty good. I wore hand me down clothes, socks stuffed in old shoes and overshoes and stood in the snow carrying a gun I had never shot. Never did see any deer but dang it was cold!! My dad asked me later why I kept hunting considering the lack of deer and lousy clothing I was stuck with. I guess I was just too stubborn or maybe I just liked hanging out with my dad and my uncles Wally, Lenny and Vern. They enjoyed each others company more than they did shooting deer. What I group of guys to be able to hang out with. I miss all of them so much.
When I was 21, my dad bought me a used 30.06 semi-auto rifle. It was used but was in good shape. We also started to see some deer. The way we hunted in the woods was to get out to our stands in the dark and sit all day. I'd pass the time by reliving my life (that would take 5 minutes), thinking about work, wondering if the other guys were as cold as me and looking at birds and whatever creatures would wander by. Then, out of nowhere, a deer would appear like a grey ghost in the morning mist. I'd wonder how the heck did he get so close without me seeing him? My heart would pound so hard, I just knew he could hear it. As long as my heart keeps pounding, I'm not going to worry about the return on the investment.
Next Friday my son and the guys will arrive for Saturday's opener. The hunting party is changing again. One guy's gone but we've added a new hunter. We can tell him all our stories and plot our strategy for opening morning, which basically consists of all of us sitting in trees....
Opening morning I'll walk out to my stand in the dark. I'll sit there and, of course, relive my life. I'll look down at that old 30:06 I'm cradling in my arms. I'll think of my dad, I'll think about my sons and I'll wait for that grey ghost to appear out of the morning's mist......