R.I.P. Milton Anderson

Milt and Ernie, By Kim Sallaway

As soon as I get this ton of bricks that just landed on me pushed aside, I want to tell you about my good friend Milt Anderson. Milt passed away, I don’t even know when at this point. I just found out. I’ve been busy in my own little world. I should have known that something happened when I opened my email and found the photo, that you see, from Kim Sallaway. I went to read Kym Kemp’s blog this morning and saw her announcement of Milt’s passing.

Milt was a man of this earth. Anyone that knew Milt would tell you that if there is a “Father Nature” it was Milt. Milt only ate natural foods and he made his living working the earth, gardening, pruning and taking care of plants. Born of the earth, and now back to it. Milt is truly home now.

Milt was a man of contrasts. Other than the obvious that he was a black man living in a mostly white world, he was a good man living in a sometimes bad world. Milt didn’t like cheaters and came pretty close to hating a thief. Just a short time before he had a stroke he came into our store. As he was coming in, a man was leaving. Milt came to the counter and told the clerk working there that the man that had just left was a thief, and he was pretty sure that had stolen something. The clerk ignored him. Just then I walked in the back door and saw that Milt was agitated. Having known Milt for a very long time I have often been amazed by his uncanny ability to spot a cheater. We went back through the security videos, and sure enough the man had stolen a radio, tucked it under his shirt and left. We called to cops and showed them the video. Milt had followed the thief and took the cops to him.

We always have a pizza party for the employees when they catch a thief, we had our party and I tried to get milt to join us. I had even arraigned for an organic pizza for him. But, typical of Milt, he would have no part of it. He said that he was “glad to do it” and that I “didn’t owe him a thing for doing what was right”. And that he just “didn’t like to see his friends get ripped off.”

I can think of a thousand “Milt stories” through the years. He always made me feel like a special friend, as most everybody that knew him would say the same thing. I often wondered what I did to deserve being Milt’s friend. One story that I will tell is about how I learned to be a little more careful about being racially sensitive. A friend of Milts walked up to him and said: “Hello Milt. I haven’t seen you in a long time. I thought maybe they hanged you or something”.

Having been raised in a redneck world, I had often heard that expression between white folks. I really had not thought about the racial connotations that the expression had. Milt took it pretty much in stride but he said: “I know you didn’t mean anything by that, but I’ve seen my people hanged so I’d appreciate it if you didn’t say things like that around me”. It made me realize what a whitebread easy world that I had been raised in. Can you imagine seeing your folks hanged?

Another time Milt and I were sitting on a couple of chairs on the stage at the local Harley Run. I saw three or four Harley riders wearing KKK tee-shirts leaning against the fence leering at Milt. It started to worry me. I asked Milt: “Do those people bother you?” he said: “Nope, But if they come back stage, I’ll escort them clear out of the run”. I got to thinking about it, and he was probably right. With all the friends that Milt has, the KKK boys would have been in serious trouble if they had started anything.

A man of contrast, Milt was a working man in a lazy man's world of welfare recipients and lazy bums. I don’t think that I ever saw Milt that he wasn’t working. Even at the town parties, he was working for the security people. I asked him one time, in one of our numerous conversations. “Why is it that you are always working? Don’t you ever feel like just kicking back a little, and taking a rest?” He told me: “Yep, one time when I was a kid, I told my father that I didn’t feel like doing my chores. My father said that’s okay son, I’ll do your chores today, you just go ahead and enjoy yourself”. Milt said that supertime came and he went to the table. There was no plate set for him. He asked his dad why he didn’t have a plate. His dad told him: “You didn’t want to do your chores today, so I did them for you. I did your chores, so I get to eat your dinner. If you do your chores tomorrow, you can eat with the rest us that do their chores”. "You’ll soon find out in the real world, if you want to eat, you have to earn it”, Milt says that he has worked every day since then.

Milt was not a wealthy man, he was happy if he had food on the table. That is evidenced by all of the fruit trees that he kept picked. Milts wealth was in his friends. In friends, he was the wealthiest man in Garberville. Do you know anybody that had more friends? Milt wasn’t any kind of an activist, he didn’t cross barriers. He just lead a good life and the barriers crumbled around him.

Most of my grief is probably because I didn’t visit Milt in Eureka as often as I should have. After he had his stroke, I had heard that he was in terrible shape. I agonized about what I should do. Finally his son, Milton Anderson Jr. “Toadie” to Milt, came in the store and gave me an update. I found that he was able to have visitors. I told my wife that we were going to go up and visit him. We went up to see him. He was very matter of fact with me. He said that, “I Told Toadie that haven’t seen Ernie. He must not of heard yet or he would have been here”.

He said that he'd had a “Little stroke and that he was getting better real fast. He was going to get some physical therapy and he would be up and about again, in no time at all”. He showed me where the side of his face was all numb. He pinched it a few times, as if to show it who was boss. He said that it “is coming back real good, already it feels like a bee sting”.

I don’t know where the rest of you folks find the strength to not cry. But I was cheerful and upbeat for Milt and I was able to not cry…. Until now

Please click on the following link to Kym Kemp's Blog: http://lostcoastoutpost.com/2012/feb/25/local-favorite-milton-anderson-passes-away/#disqus_thread For more comment on Milt.



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Omai, Felix, what have you wrought?

Omai, Felix, what have you wrought?

Last November I did a post about my friend Felix Omai. Felix likes to stand up for the things that she believes in and feels is right. She felt a connection to the historic “Occupy Movement”. She identified with the downtrodden, and decided that she was going to think globally and act locally. She announced to several of her friends that she was going to join the “Occupy Bridges Day” and stage a protest on the Freeway/Sprowel Creek Bridge. She had assumed that some of her friends would show up, but none did.

She took a bed sheet, ripped it in two, and then painted “have you been occupied?” on both sides, then she clothes-pinned it to the fence on the side of the overpass. She employed some pretty clever symbolism in my opinion. It showed up like somebody airing dirty laundry.

Having assumed that some of her friends would show up, she didn’t feel completely alone. After she did find herself alone, she busied herself with doing some photography, thinking that they would probably be coming later. It was a slightly raining day, like we sometimes have in the fall. The sky had some large fluffy clouds, and the sun was peaking delightfully under them, like a child playing a game of peak-a-boo. She was in a good mood because it was a nice day, she was feeling good about herself and what she was doing.

As if to tell her that she was doing a good thing, a large lucky rainbow showed up in the sky over the town were she lives. She got into a position that showed her message, and the rainbow, and “her town” that she was defending like Joan of Arc.

All photos by Felix omai

Being in a good mood, she was feeling quite peaceful. Who wouldn’t be? She was in her element. About then, a lady from Caltrans pulled up, she introduced herself, and told Felix that it was against the law to place banners on bridges because of the potential risk to people and traffic, she explained that it could be a distraction and cause an accident. I wasn’t there, but I talked to Felix. I got the impression that Felix felt that the hazard to traffic was an acceptable risk for her to express her First Amendment rights. She told the Caltrans lady that she could take it down if she wanted to, but Felix was not about to take it down herself.

The Caltrans lady decided that it would be better if she involved law enforcement, so she called for back-up. When the C.H.P. showed up, they told her to take the sign down. Felix, who is a dog lover, said the hair on the back of her neck bristled at first sight of the one, rather large, CHP officer. She described her feelings as an immediate visceral response from him that she was in danger.

She reiterated her thoughts about the sign to the CHP, explaining that she would not take it down. At that point the juxtaposition between the CHP and Felix became confrontational. They asked her if she was armed. She handed the big officer the bag that she had with her, she said: “Yeah, sure…” and handed them the bag. She also told them: “I also told them there was a teency tiny leatherman on my key chain that had a blade maybe an inch and a ¼”.

Felix, being a trained photographer, had her camera on record the whole time. She said that the expression on the officers face was so classic that she automatically raised the camera to capture the moment. (My words, not hers) then: “wham they threw me to the ground.” (her words, not mine) The big officer jumped on her:

Felix: “I don't believe the word arrest had even been spoken. Now I'm on my face, tangled in my camera strap and with my left arm pinned underneath me. My "resistance" was my inability to comply with the order to give them my left hand for cuffing. With one cop standing on my feet and the big Nazi grinding my face into the pavement and kneeling on me in an anatomically inappropriate way. It was impossible. They knew they'd fucked up and took me to the hospital. They x-rayed me and took blood, cause somehow they can tell if you've got internal bleeding going on (with a blood test? Makes no sense to me, but I'm not a Doctor - but they knew they'd hurt me bad if they were looking for internal bleeding). They needed to stick me 3 times to hit a vein - inexcusable on someone as thin as I am - really piss-poor phlebotomy!”

The final injuries to Felix were, a broken rib, a scraped and bleeding hand, where they drug it out from under her squashed little broken body that they were holding down. A bruised face from where her camera had been smashed into it by the officers hand. Multiple bruises and strained tendons.

In talking to her, she had been disturbed by another person that had said that “Felix had been brutalized”. She said that she “had not been brutalized, simply injured.” I certainly hope that Felix never runs into a real brute.

Anyway, Felix’s court appearance will be tomorrow 2/24/12 at the Garberville court house. 10:00 AM. I really can’t imagine that her friends won’t show up this time. Even if you don’t know Felix, I expect this to be a Garberville landmark event, you should be a witness. I will be there!

Kym asked me to take pictures. Kym, didn’t you hear what happened to Felix for trying to take a picture???

Please read these links, the first being the post I did back in November, and the second being Kym Kemp's post that she did today.

Be there!




PLEASE CLICK ON THESE LINKS FOR MORE FELIX STORY:
http://ernielb.blogspot.com/2011/11/felix-for-crumb-sake.html
http://lostcoastoutpost.com/2012/feb/23/57-year-old-garberville-woman-faces-charges-tomorr/


If you should go to the hearing, be polite, respectful, quite, and be very, very observant.

It will do absolutely no good to make any disturbance at all. Remember, most judges have been around a long time and are very wise. Felix is very capable of telling her story, please let her tell her own story, and try to remember that you weren't there.

Seafood

Ben said...
Now, what I want to know is where to find some of the World's greatest sea food in Eureka...

Well Ben, the "worlds best seafood" is kinda subjective, but I've never gotten a bad crab at Botchies Crab Stand in King Salmon. The Woodley Island marina is a good place to try. The Sea Grill is a favorite with some locals.

Buy a sack of Humboldt Bay oysters. I love fresh grilled oysters, so they just open, with a little lemon, Fred's horseradish, and Tapatio Sauce. Yuuuum... A fresh caught local salmon is a great choice. Buy a, very fresh, albacore off the dock and cut into steaks, saute in wine, garlic and butter, serve in a dish with plenty of the sauce.

The problem with me is I never met a fish that I didn't like. Some people won't eat any fish at all. Some are fussy, and some are just plain ridiculous. I know people that won't even look at an oyster, because "they are all slimy, and people eat then raw, guts and all". Well... yeah, Humboldt Bay oysters are one of the seafoods that are certified to be eaten raw. Have you ever heard of anybody being harmed by eating raw Humboldt bay oysters? Now, compare that to people that have gotten food poisoning from eating raw sprouts. I prefer my oysters cooked rare, and still in their natural juices.

Just yesterday we were in Crescent City, we ate at the two story restaurant in the marina, (The Grotto?) I ordered their oysters. They sauteed them Scampi style... OH MY GOD, drop dead delicious. There is no other place in the world were you can get as fresh of a Humboldt Bay oyster as Eureka.

But we were talking about "where to find some of the World's greatest sea food". Anybody that eats a lot of seafood can tell you, the food that you get depends more on the person preparing it than the seafood itself. It has to be fresh! Or at least fresh frozen for a very minimum of time. Like Australian Lobster. I don't mind them being frozen for a week or so while they fly them to me. I like my lobster steamed, set on top the shell, brushed with butter, then broiled until lightly browned served with drawn butter and lemon.

I need to stop! I'm getting fat. However Ben, if you are careful what you order, about seven out of ten times you will get delicious seafood in Eureka. It makes it kinda' fun, in most cases the food is edible, and in some cases it is very rewarding. The north coast of California has the best seafood in the world!

Then, I haven't even talked about seafood that is available to us that live on the north coast, that you probably wont get anywhere else:
Clams, mussels, smoked salmon, ling cod, night fish, surf fish, abalone,... And the beat goes on. Ciopino, chowders, fish stews..........

A world of possibilities

It seems like the whole world is crazy, except for you and I, but some times I wonder about me. I’m to the age where I really shouldn’t give a rat-patooty which direction the economy is going, and, why should I care about the environment. I’m on social security, plus I can keep all the money that I feel like making on the side, so my earning years are fading into the past. I’m not going to be needing the environment as much as the kids that I see around me that can text 5,000 words per minute, with just one thumb, while driving down the highway at 70 MPH. However, it seems like they just don't pay attention, or they have swallowed the cool-aid that we are better off buying cheap offshore goods, just because they are cheaper.

We jumped at the chance to close the (potentially) worlds cleanest pulp mill. Our local people screamed bloody murder while the pulp mill operated, because of the “accidental” spills of pollution that they had. Did in occur to anybody that the mill was being run by the same Chinese companies that we now buy our toilet paper from. If we were so concerned about our environment that we forced the pulp mill to close, why are we so eager to buy the same toilet paper from them, that was manufactured without environmental restrictions, from their offshore, and dirty, pulp mill?

It almost seems like a plot… I believe in plots, maybe that’s why I seem crazy. But, wouldn’t it make sense for foreign markets to pump disinformation into our rather naive kids into believing that everything made in America is bad, and all semblance of industry has to be gone, to keep our air and waters clean, and our soil free from the dread genetically-modified produce.

These things are all honorable, I believe in all good things for the environment. But, it seems a lot like sweeping problems under the rug to push industry offshore. Why not force other countries to comply with our high standards, or their products be banned? Aren’t our kids tired of finding out that food from offshore is often polluted? Don’t they care about the fact that PCBs have been mixed with the food that they ship us? Don’t we care that toys are painted with lead paint? I could go on, but I don’t think that anybody is so naive and ignorant that they don’t know about that lack of standards on the products that offshore companies ship into the U.S. Think locally, act globally. Balance trade, we can't continue to buy more than we produce. Hint: we don't vote in China! Maybe we need to get better U.S. leaders... doncha' think?

The plot seems to be, to convince us that their products are worth the risk, because their products are much cheaper than we can make them. No matter how hard we try, they will always be able to compete, they have no employee benefits, they work as many as 12 hours a day, they have no standards to meet. They dam up the countries entire river system for free power for their factories. The big one; They manipulate the value of their money to always be less valuable than ours, that way their products will always be cheaper than we can make them. Go back and read that last sentence again, if you don’t understand how the American worker is being cheated out of their jobs, that is the key. Now matter how hard we work, it will never be hard enough to go around the fact that they cheat us!

Why are we closing and tearing down mills and factories that are the standard of non-pollution in the world? Our steel mills were cleaner, our textile mills were run by worker unions that had good employee benefits. Then to make matters worse, somehow we are convinced to instantly tear down our mills and factories to be shipped to China to be used as rebar re-enforcement in their dams.

Now, we are studying how to build a rail over the hill into the Sacramento Valley, to ship cheap Chinese goods inland. Call me foolish, but we already have a railroad, right-of-way and all, down the Eel River canyon. Why not repair it, in an environmentally sound way? Forget China, do it for America, and the north coast. Build it to passenger standards. Imagine the tourism possibilities. The rolling hills of Sonoma, not to mention the wines. Mendocino and the Ukiah Valley would be big. From there, through Willits and on into the scenic Eel river Canyon. A stop a Dyerville, or South Fork, where one of the worlds most outstanding forests exists. Building the railroad may cost less than a cruise ship, with some amazing possiblities that ships don’t have.

The rail could even continue into Eureka to take advantage of some of the worlds best seafoods. Have dinner, stay overnight and head back to San Francisco. The trip should last one week, the same as a world class cruise. Heck I would even sign-up for a trip like that. We would be the envy of the world. We already have these sights. Why not take advantage of them?

Now, watch the disinformation fly.

Earthquake! Monday, Feb 13, 2012 1:O7 pm

I was on the road in Garberville at the time. One of the people that works here felt it, I don't know if anybody else did. If you every wonder about an Earthquake scroll down the left hand side of this blog until you come to "World Earthquake Map". Keep clicking on the location, as you zoom in more details will become available. Lastly the script of details will come up. have fun!


DETAILS:
Magnitude 5.6 - NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

2012 February 13 21:07:02 UTC
This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.
Magnitude 5.6
Date-Time Monday, February 13, 2012 at 21:07:02 UTC
Monday, February 13, 2012 at 01:07:02 PM at epicenter

Location 41.153°N, 123.817°W
Depth 32.9 km (20.4 miles)
Region NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
Distances 10 km (6 miles) WSW (247°) from Weitchpec, CA
28 km (17 miles) ENE (63°) from Westhaven-Moonstone, CA
29 km (18 miles) ENE (70°) from Trinidad, CA
50 km (31 miles) NE (36°) from Eureka, CA
352 km (218 miles) NW (326°) from Sacramento, CA

Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 0.3 km (0.2 miles); depth +/- 0.8 km (0.5 miles)
Parameters Nph= 62, Dmin=17 km, Rmss=0.17 sec, Gp= 72°,
M-type=regional moment magnitude (Mw), Version=6
Source California Integrated Seismic Net:
USGS Caltech CGS UCB UCSD UNR


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Jerry Brown signs bill preserving school bus funds

Wow, Finally the wait is over. time to breathe.

Jerry Brown signs bill preserving school bus funds



By JUDY LIN Associated PressAssociated Press
Posted: 02/10/2012 03:03:39 PM PST

SACRAMENTO, Calif.—Gov. Jerry Brown has signed compromise legislation that allows school districts to preserve transportation funding after parents and advocates complained about losing school bus services.

The governor's office announced Friday that Brown signed SB81, which was passed by lawmakers earlier this month.

The bill alters a $248 million school transportation spending cut lawmakers included in the state budget they passed last summer. The cut was to take effect automatically at the start of the year because tax revenue was running well behind projections.

School officials say the cut would have had the greatest impact on rural districts, where students often travel long distances to get to and from schools.

The measure takes effect immediately. It allows school districts to absorb the spending cut anywhere in their overall budgets.




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The value of experience

Do you know what this is?

45 year old Greenstamp cuckoo

Click on photos for larger view.

If you are getting older like me, you start to wonder when the world passed you by. We were driving north today when we drove past the truck scales in Miranda. One of my CHP friends is the local truck cop. I noticed that he had four big-rigs and a bob-tail truck parked at his truck inspection point. I made the comment to my wife: “Wow, Brian sure has them cold-decked today”. She said: “Has them what? I said: “cold-decked”. She said: “What’s a cold-deck”? I said: “A cold deck, like where they back logs up at a sawmill by stacking them in decks. The newcomers call them log decks but the old-timers called them cold decks”. She said: “How the heck would I know that, I was born in San Jose”. I said: “sigh”.

“Cold decks” were the logs that the mills saved through the summer, so they would be able to make lumber in the winter. “Hot decks” were the logs that were fed into the mill for immediate sawing. I’m telling you that, just in case you were born in San Jose or one of those other far away and exotic places.

I was moving some parts in the shop the other day and ran across an oil can opener and pour spout. I put it in a box to take home, because I change the oil in my rigs at home. It occurred to me that they haven’t put oil in cans for years and that I wouldn’t need the spout. So, what did I do with it? Throw it out? Oh No! I kept it to see how many kids would know what it was. One of the kids that work for us at the store, who is quite an accomplished mechanic in his own right, had no idea what it was. He is 28 years old. Crap, Did the world slide by that fast? I was just using that darn oil can opener a short time ago.

We have a Cuckoo Clock that my wife got with S&H Green Stamps about 45 years ago. It needs a little adjusting from time-to-time to keep it accurate. When it stops all together, I take it apart and clean it. I take the mechanism out of the back and blast it clean with a can of WD-40 with a spout on it. I call it “giving the cuckoo a WD-40 enema.” I wipe it dry again, and it runs as good as new. As the clock got older it would stop ticking due to wear on the gears and shafts. I found that by adding just a few washers the winding weights, it would run just fine. That was about three years ago and it has kept fairly good time ever since.

Now, some people probably wonder why I would keep an old cuckoo clock running, when I have a smart phone in my shirt pocket that has completely accurate time. Well, I guess that it falls in the same category as many other incredibly stupid things that people do. The only answer that I can give is to act as smug as I can be, and say: “If you have to ask, you will never understand”.

When I was working on the clock the other day, it needed a timing adjustment, I asked my wife if she still had any S&H Green Stamps. She said, “Sure. They are in the chocolate box in the kitchen shelves, where I keep all of that kind of stuff”. I grinned and asked her if she got a lot of use out of them. She looked a little blank and walked off. That’s her way of dealing with an uncomfortable question. Being a firefighter, I was trained that every communication requires an acknowledgement. Walking away is not an acknowledgement. So, fools rush in where wise men fear to tread. I insisted that I see the collection of “Green Stamps”. Barely stifling a snicker, for her having saved those worthless Green Stamps, I remembered that I couldn’t throw away the cuckoo clock that she bought with them. Then I remembered the oil spout that I couldn’t throw out. So, I sobered-up my face and started digging though the chocolate box. It was a real trip back.

She had full books Green Stamps, and full books of Blue Chip stamps, still unredeemed, and now, unredeemable. I remember how hard she shopped and worked to fill those stamp books, to try to get us something nice as newlyweds. Our toaster was purchased with Blue Chip stamps. Our silverware came from Betty Crocker box tops. There were a few coins in the bottom of the box. Some old wheatstraw pennies, and some Mercury Head dimes that I had gotten from the pump of an old washing machine that I was repairing for sale in our Appliance store. Along with the stamps and coins were some old Betty Crocker box tops, with the price on them. I remembered when every grocer had a grease-pen that they used to mark the price on the packages. The Betty Crocker Marble Cake mix was 56 cents. Was that a good price back in the early 70s?

I got to thinking how rich and widely diversified our lives were back then. Nowadays, it seems like everybody’s life revolves around a smart-phone. If their phone breaks, they go into apoplexy. What are they going to do for memories? Their lives are digitized and compressed into MP3 files.

We had real music to listen to. The kids today don’t know what good music sounds like. MP3 files only give you 5% of the music, the rest is deleted as un-hearable anyway. However, even with my bad ears, I can hear the degradation. If you really want to hear some good music, you need the listen to a vinyl record with some good earphones. Choose a record like “Black Water” by the Doobie Brothers. Now, that was music.

School Bus Progress!

Southern Humboldt School Board member Dennis O'Sullivan just called me with some good news, SB-81 passed both the California Assembly and the Senate. It will now be placed on Governor Jerry Browns desk, where he is expected to sign it. It is now time to start breathing again, and time to start developing a plan where we can educate our kids with-in the available funding. With more flexibility in the school funding, it is expected that all departments will be cut, the school will stay open, and students will be able to attend.

Both my wife Janis and I attended a meeting in Sacramento, where our school board reps had a meeting with both Senator Noreen Evans and Assemblyman Wes Chesbro. They were very receptive to our pleas, and also very successful  representing us. I have to admit that I am a lot more optimistic that our voices can be heard, and we can make a difference. I fully understand that we need to cut budgets and save money, but first we need to save the school. Now, thankfully, we have some wiggle room.

In the photo below: The beautiful lady in the front with the two clips in her long hair is my wife Janis, she was doing her best to stay out of the photos. She didn't succeed.
On the far left, the lady with the red hair is Senator Noreen Evans, the man in the middle, shaking hands is Assemblyman Wesley Chesbro. Can anyone identify the persuasive young man shaking Chesbro's hand? I think that he was the one that sealed the deal. I'm (sob) not in the photo.....

The young man sealing the deal with a handshake has been identified by Jim Baker as
"Logan Hobbs".

More links! Just click on them!
http://asmdc.org/members/a01/

http://www.sacbee.com/2012/02/02/4234548/lawmakers-switch-preserves-school.html


Copy of Email send to Gov. Brown:

Governor Edmund G. Brown

Please sign SB-81 into law.

Senator Noreen Evans and Assemblyman Wesley Chesbro have both recently listend to the Southern Humboldt School District's, very compeling, plea for School Bus funding. SB-81 will be needed to keep our rural school district fuctioning. Both Evans and Chesbro will be more than glad to give you more information if you require it.

Thank-you in advance.
Ernest L. Branscomb

I also sent emails to both Senator Noreen Evans and Assembyman Wesley Chesbro thanking them.


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Happy Groundhog Day! (2-2-12)

Does this Groundhog see his shadow or not? Can you tell?

Groundhog day is the most significant holiday in my life. It has some of everything that I believe in. It gives me a reminder, and a promise of Spring. It’s about this time of year that I start to get sick and tired of “the dreaded drearies“. I freeze up and become torpid without sunshine. I can’t work outside, because my fingers freeze over. Most of the things that I do require that my fingers be exposed. Have you ever tried to drive nails with gloves on? Or use wrenches? It seems like everything I touch is cold steel. Usually I have to go inside and defrost about every hour.

If it’s not freezing outside… it’s raining. I don’t care what you think, I just can’t seem to be able to do much in the rain. It’s fun to ditch water and things like that, but it can get pretty boring. It’s way too early to plant flowers. Maybe peas and potatoes? Whoops, not enough sun on my side of the hill to plant anything but ferns. Maybe I should transplant some ferns. One of the most annoying things about the rain is the ultra-bubbly people that say things like, “don’t you just love the rain? It’s so fresh and refreshing”. I usually pretend that I have something to do and creep away from “Bubbly Person”. Mumbling that the darn rain is not so fresh after it runs off my head, down the back of my neck, down my backbone and …. Well, I won’t go any further. But it ends up not so “fresh”.
Usually by the time that I figure out something that I can do outside, the day is over and it is dark. It gets dark way before it is time to eat dinner, so I usually drink a beer and holler at the television. In the Summer dinner is usually ready before I’m ready to come inside. I just love the lazy, crazy, hazy, days of Summer.

Anyway, if the groundhog doesn’t see his shadow, spring will start immediately! But, if he does see his shadow it means that we will have six more weeks of winter. Drat! Doesn’t that sound backwards? I mean if he sees his shadow, that means the sun is shining! If he doesn’t, that means it’s cloudy!. Common sense should tell you that Clouds equal winter, Sun equals spring…. Duhhh! Maybe we should ask Congress to pass a new law that changes it. That way at least they would be getting something done.

Happy Groundhog Day!