Jogging in North Dakota. I picked up the Fargo Recreational Trail at 2nd Street South and turned right. The path is paved wide and open to the grass and trees of the Red River of the North’s flood plain. Flat grade and goes for miles. The trees are still bare now in mid April, but this is what it looks like during prime time. Nice! Who sez there is nothing to do in Fargo!
All posts by cs
and scenes from the wild
the yellow pollen from pines coats a fine layer on everything. The stuff settles on the roadway and is kicked up like dust by passing vehicles. Too large to make you sneeze but it sure is dirty. It’s that time of year. Rain helps to settle it but the only relief is for bio-degrade. Keep windows closed.
clumsily trying to split firewood to make kindling. I whacked my finger when the ax head droped on it. e-yow. I wondered that my ancestors, who used to depend on wood to cook by, might think that I was from the city.
sounds of two brothers chattering away in espaniol in the showers at the comfort station and then spontaneiously singing the chorus from Disco Inferno
the R.V. across the road from us with full water and electrical hookup. christmas tree lights strung the length of their awning. and blinking…
lavendar. meri macs or lylacks growing wild in the woods. you should bottle the smell.
night watch
The last time I had moored a boat and gone ashore for the night I woke up in the morning to find it slipped and no where to be seen. The lake had risen during the night and the dingy had drifted beyond my short horizon. So, with this lesson from years past, I slept less soundly with an ear to the ground. The boat draws 2 feet so I had secured it with a bow line and an 8 pound mushroom anchor off the stern. Sometime during the night and realizing changing conditions, I could hear light breeze in the tree tops and a new sound: small wavelets lapping on the shoreline. Time to make rounds. The boat in the surreal glow of the moon was riding easily with a gentle rocking motion but the previous calm was now a windward berth. I went back to camp, layed in the tent, trying to gauge changes in the wind realizing that if it really started to blow… we’d be in trouble. Next time haul out and put the boat on trailer for the night.
After a camp fire breakfast the wind did pipe up. The anchor began to drag, undersized for the conditions it was time to cut and run. It was KeystoneCops as S’man struggled with a line fouled in tree roots. I called for the ignition keys about then, thinking that it might be necessary to warm the engine. He heaved them but overshot the cockpit and they landed overboard into the drink. I wanted to cuss a blue streak (lucky they were attached to a floater) because the water was like ice and I was the one to be going after them! Glad to be doing this it in the daylight. Another lesson.
the next big thing
Free email from GOOGLE! Called GMAIL, it is currently in beta. Read a review
assembly line
Prone, neck turned, eyes facing the new assistant the dermatologistÿpokes my forehead with a novocainÿneedle. The assistant, looks on, chest beginning to heave as if hyper ventilating.ÿ The Doc asks how I’m doin’ and I say, “fine — but what aboutÿ the young lady with the clip boardÿÿ:-) ” The blemish removalÿprocedure complete, he says to me (in seriousness). “you are now in post operative recovery mode — just lie flat there for a few…”, (as if I would go bolt upright, get dizzy and collapse backward). These words were no sooner uttered when he wished me good day and rushed from the little room heading for the next and then immediately theÿassistant, composure restored invited me, “you can sit up now”. Post-Op was maybe, oh, ÿ25 seconds ? Must have been a CYA kinda thing. Heading past the back office counter (accts payable) for the exit to lobby a large truck driver sized arm reaches out and across asÿto snatch my doctors papers, debit card and extract payment. No words spoken but a ‘hold up there not so fast buster’ÿ was implied. What a process.
higher learning
The local high school is hazardous territory. The place is rife with inexperienced drivers and it seems like I’m witness to a multi-car chain reaction rearender most times when I’m out there. KB’s ride was not immune (even while parked and minding its own business). It was whomped hard by a learner. Luckily for us he did the right thing and came forward and ‘fessed up otherwise we would never know this story. Anyway, the lesson learned was: While backing out of parking spot, and wondering perplexed why the vehicle is not rolling too well — never pull the parking brake release handle. Like a sling shot! Stand-by for the ins. estimate…
easy way out
use a shovel next time! damn!
man overboard
and another career enderÿ… open mouth, insert _______
career buster
Poor Sap. Lost his cool for a second and now look.
field guide
Not exactly hunters or woodsman and certainly without Indian blood we tracked (and found) a lost Lab pup. With fresh 1-2 in. snow powder on the trail the dog made (wandering) tracks. At times there were several from which to distinquish and differentiate. Some weren’t at all fresh. There were big paws with long gates, others closely spaced with pixie shapes. Right where the tracks ended — there was our stray. Neat.