the big white cat!!

getting older

you know, sometimes you feel you need something. well for the past four months I've wanted something. didn't know what.  While driving the bus one day, a 1988 Jaguar jumped up and bit me on the eye.  Yep. I do not lie... It bit me right on the left eye..

.I tried not to look at it.. I really did, I drove by for two weeks looking to the right as I came into this particular block... Don't look I told myself.... Didn't work...

Sunny day, the guy that owned it has it in the street with a "For Sale "sign...they're killin' me...
 I stopped...worst thing to do...they got you hooked... I stepped out of the bus n he sees me looking..
What could happen? a look couldn't hurt... Wow! Nice!  How Much?   really? could you do better?
I'll come back with the wife to look.....

Dinner that night in a restaurant near the area where the Jag is parked..Do you want to take a look at a car that I saw?    SURE!  Good woman... she knows me like a book.  tries to talk me out of it..which convinces me more I can't live without it......

Bank, Mechanic, Insurance company, owner drives it to my house...MINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Motor Vehicle Office....MINE!!!!!!!! 12 cylinder, monster. white with a brown top. nice!!!!
25 gallon gas tank...Premium gas,... 12 qt. crankcase... I love it!!!! Got to show the "Boys"

Cruise down to the OBI...(Oak Beach Inn).[empty parking lot]... "what's that? where did you get it? good toy.. How much???   I"m NOT tellin!!!!!!!!!

Lookin' cool!   don't stop me now!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nothing to DO????

Nothing to Do?

Here it is august 3, 20n something and time is drifting by..
Had a great summer so far. Spent 10 days traveling to Florida ... thru  Florida, Around Florida and back home... WET.....That is what happened in Florida... Saw people, visited friends, went from the East coast to the West coast    BORINGLY  HOT!!!

Took the Auto train... 4 hr. delay going    8 hour delay returning  ...  train hit someone in  S. carolina. (sorry).. Trouble with the Motorcycle.. all in all not a fun trip...

Got home wife glad to see me..(me - her).  Fourth of July came visited friends , drank wine n watched fireworks.  Not as much fun as in the past.."Professional" pyrotechs being paid a major fortune  by some rich guy living on the bay..WOOP!!!

visited the ADirondaks on the SCooter this past weekend.. Upstate is pretty this time of the year... clearwater streams and lakes everywhere.  In three days I went thru N.Y.-N.J. VT..   New Hamp, Mass. & Conn..Saw some Old friends (younger than I)..

Wondering what I will do next weekend....TRAVELING THE 2-WHEEL HIGHWAY-SOMEWHERE...See Ya!!!!!

Drifting aimlessly

I was sitting by the computer the other day, wondering what am I doing here?? Pressing soil? Filling up space? Doing anything actually worthwhile?

The answer came to me after awhile.   NOPE!...
Wasting time, energy,money, space and anything else you can waste and get away with.  I figure, I need a new hobby.  Don't know what, No Idea how much to spend on it. No Idea where to go to buy it, or even what  IT  is....

Oh well, I guess it's just the start of Kayak season,,Wash them, polish them, check on old equipment, that sort of stuff.   BORING!!!!! I went to the local kayak store to look at anything that could be interesting. All I bought was a hat for myself and a whistle for my daughter's life jacket...Exciting!!!

People have asked when are you going in? I usually say when the water gets a bit warmer. You know you have to get wet a bit getting in and out of the sneaky little things.  I haven't even put the racks on the roof of the car yet...NO RUSH!!

Next I will tell myself it's too hot.... wait for a cool day to do all this clean-up and set-up stuff...YEAH!!!.  When that day comes most likely I'll sleep in for a bit...

But wait!   soon I will put one of those little plastic wizzers in the water n off I'll go.. Streams, LOOK OUT!...RIVERS---MADNESS!...OCEANS?  NAH!   That's for the young and frisky.
It's like a rejuvenation when you get into it, and start paddling. No real destination, no speed, NO COMFORT!!!  Just go and and be one with the boat..drifting, gliding aimlessly in a lazy manner. 

Where was I? Oh yeah, lost in space again. Drifting.gliding aimlessly.....Life is good isn't it?

THE STORY TELLER

ANYONE HAVE A SPARE KNEE?

Growing old sucks, but think of the alternate...coming up on the short side of 70, and all of  a sudden I have rust.  Not just everyday rust, but long time rust. not so you can see it, but on the inside. let me tell you what's happening...

Last month I started to have a small pain in the right leg. I assumed it was a hamsting muscle. It hurt, it ached, it went away, it came back... Aspirin that world famous painkiller we think will save the world worked a bit.   SOOO, I lived on that for about a week, Great!! Pain gone. Hurrah!! Youth wins out!!!

If you are a mature, fully formed middle-aged adult you know that is a complete lie. Aspirin is for  the hour.   Not a cure but just a Bandaid...I was walking up a flight of stairs this past friday about 4:00p.m. when I heard this horrendous sound.  Thunder? car crash? Building collapse?  None of the above.
This right leg of mine said"I've had it."  I QUIT! There I was having an arguement with my leg, right in the middle of the stairs.  Don't you quit on me now!  You supported me for these past years don't let me down now....

Sure, Crack, what do I care.. You are just a support system that has been on the job for many years..Looking for a retirement plan?  Are you looking for a buyout?.. NO, NO, No I say...
carry me back to the old homestead and we will talk.  Okay says the leg, limp, go ahead, drag youself
home, we will discuss it there. 

The bride sees me coming in, looking all my age, limping, cursing the leg, Damning the day it was made.. Sure I could complain to the manufacturer,  But they wouldn't listen anyhow..(Oh well)...
ICE!!! Please get me an ICE BAG??  (doesn't help).  Groan, Moan, whimp-out, wheese, complain,, Doesn't do any good. My dear wife does the good thing, Ice, feeling bad for me, helping whatever will work she tries.  NOTHING!!!!! ACHE, PAIN, NOTHING HELPS!!

Now we come to the sleep time.. wince... close eyes, show no pain... wow! This is going to be a tough night.  toss, turn, ache, I mean ACHE!!!  Little bits of sleep between pain.

Morning comes, that's it call the doctor.. Off I go, one  X RAY-two -XRAYS. Doctore says
You have a torn ligament in your ACL.. writes a perscription,  sells me a cain, and sends me on my way...Easy for him. Sends me to the Orthopedist.  Pain Killer and all working fine now..


Still Rusting,   now another doctor is going to tell me the same thing....Like I said, Growing old SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!

wishing & dreaming are two different things

When I was a kid, I thought I would own everything.  Big toys, cars, boats, motorcycles, all that JAZZ..

Well, it started about age 13.  I bought  my first boat.  10 foot long... fast...slick...beat everyone on the bay.(So I thought)  I brought it home on a kids wagon. I was dragging it toward m house when my dad came by and asked what I was doing....

You see, I worked cleaning out basements, polishing cars, cutting lawns, helping people doing  anything that would make money.  I saved up $100.00 and bought my friend's boat & motor.  Here I am, walking down the middle of  the street, pulling this wagon with a boat, Like I said and my dad is still looking at me saying   "What have you got there?" Well, I told him.  MY BOAT!!  

When I moved to the town I live in, I was 10 years old.  We live near the water.  I would ride my bike to the bay and dream of owning a boat.  My dad asked if I could swim.. I couldn't.  Dad said I couldn't own a boat if I could not swim.  I joined Boy Scouts  when I was eleven and went to scout camp...
first day there, you take a swim test.  Needless to say, I failed.  It took 28 days of pleading, coaxing, pushing and just plain yelling to get me into the water and swim.  Now there is swimming and there is swimming.  If you can get across a 50 foot length of water without touching the bottom, that is swimming...I could do that.!! My dad asked if I could rescue someone in  a boat  if there was a problem..NNOOO  I couldn't do that.   Next summer I went to Boy Scout camp and learned how to rescue people.. Big shot now was 12 years old!!

My dad said I could now buy a boat.  YEA FOR ME!!!  He asked me what size, what kind and how I was going to pay for the boat and the space to keep it in....Thirteen year olds don't think of things like that....

Now you know why I was cleaning basements, polishing cars and helping people with chores. I also found that you had to  put gas into boats.  I needed life jackets, rope, an anchor and a fire extinguisher too.

Five boats later, I stopped trying to fill that hole with money and got out of the boat part of my life...
Did I tell you about the MOTORCYCLES???

the story teller

Not too long ago I became involved with Motorcycles...

I came home one day with a small Moped-50 C.C. single cyl. engine by the name of 
Honda Commuter.  Needles to say, the wife, loved as she is, asked " What is That?"
That was in approximately 1983, my 40th year. I took that thing all - over.. JFK airport,
out to the Hamptons, along the north shore of Long Island..I mean 'everywhere'
Loved it!!

    Well, as it would happen, I was riding my moped and went  past a "motorcycle store"...
I doubled back and went in. Just like a kid in a candy store, my eyes were bigger than my stomach.  Had to have one.   I went home and talked to my beloved partner. "What are you going to do with that?"  Why, I said, go back n forth to work with it, saves on gas, and it's cool.
We went back to the shop and she bought a lock for security for me. She bought an alarm system for me. she bought a big windshield for me, and a bag to to keep my work clothes in.
You gotta love a wifey like that.

I had that bike about two years and a large bike came and bit me on the butt!!   New, Faster, LARGER, FASTER ,  COOLER!!! Had to have it!!  (did I say FASTER?)  This was a 700.c.c.  machine, V twin.  I could go further, be more comfortable, and "LOOK COOL"..65,000 miles later I bought my favorite bike, it was called 'that's it #4'

Mean, I mean really MEAN..1500c.c. v-twin mean! drove that everywhere, Florida 3 times
I went to Daytona with the BIG BOYS! We went to Nova Scotia,around the St.Lawrence seaway, all over New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Virginia,Ohio....You name it!

Now we are talking 1995, time flys when you ar having fun..Older mature man needs a different style of machine. I went into the Sport cruiser. You know spiffy style, moulded saddlebags, four cylinder, six speed all the bells & whistles. 80,000 mile later (after a double by-pass) the bride asked me if I was through with motorcycles.  Wellllll....."that's it # 6 was getting tired and I need a new look

Muscle Bikes came into being...Power, I mean Power like you can't possible imagine..Picture this,
a sixty year old man out there racing with the "Crotch-rockets"...And beating them!!....Great for the Image, Great for the libido, terrible for the back. 24,000 miles later,,yeah,,,gone!!

Now approaching 70, I have a comfortable cruiser, 1500 c.c. v-twin, 750 lb Barker Lounger with Tires ...35,000 lovely miles cruising around the Great lakes, or New Hampshire in the Lap of Luxury.
But wait.. What is that in the garage hiding on the side? A scooter?.. No, not just a scooter but an old man's super scooter, 105 m.p.h., automatic transmission, fully maintained by experts. On the side in bright green ink  so you can just see it..." that's it # 9...
Kids with their toys. There's no stopping them...

Long Years Ago..a tribe lived on a fast moving river.... the braves in this tribe would compete with each other trying to swim across to the other side to see who was the strongest. The chief's son, Skylooker, was not of the type to compete.

Skylooker was a brilliant man, but not of the type the chief could look to for taking over as leader of the tribe.  He studied the water,the fields, the animals of the plain and the mountains.  When asked if he wanted to compete with the other braves in swimming the river, he declined saying it was a waste of time and energy..

Further up the river live another tribe.   There were many squaws there , but not many braves.  Every
spring, the braves from downriver would try to swim up-river to capture a squaw and bring her home as his wife. Skylooker did not compete in this ritual.. As years went by, he grew wiser,older,more mature,and lonesome.  His mother said it was time for him to marry.  Two more springs went by when Skylooker's father said time is near, you must take a bride or leave the tribe. You are not contributing
anything to the growth of the community.

Many braves continued to swim up the river.  Some died in their attempt. Some were injured on the rocks.  Few actually made it to the other camp. One day, Skylooker started walking on the shore of the river..... As dusk came, he built a small fire to cook his dinner and to keep warm for the evening.

Along about this time a Maiden from the other tribe was hunting for her dinner, and was heading down -river looking for game.  She had set a small trap for a rabbit when she saw some smoke rising.
Suddenly she heard a snap! A large rabbit had been trapped by her lare.  She cleaned her catch and started to walk toward the smoke.  Her name was Evening sky. She entered a clearing and found Skylooker cooking his rabbit that he caught and asked if she could share his fire.

Skylooker,  being shy and inexperienced talking with maidens, mumbled and fumbled and stumbled
until finally he said she should join him..Evening sky took over the cooking of the two rabbits and
set about making camp for the evening.  Skylooker was so impressed, he asked her if she would join him at his camp and be his squaw.

They returned and lived together for many seasons.. Skylooker became the teacher of children,
and Evening star made sure he never ran out of students... 

the story teller

Long years ago,in the dim ages of the past, a tribe of Indians lived along the Delaware river. They were the Lenilanapi...

Their leader's name was Chingochgook. His son, Uncas...

A war broke out and his tribe was eliminated, all but he & his son... they left the area along the Delaware and traveled throughout the lands of the Delaware & Mohegan.  When asked what happen to the tribe, they told a story of woe.  All were lost but my son and I. We were driven out of our land by  "the Others"..they said they needed the land for their people. Our fields were destroyed, our tents torn down, the animals ran off.

The other tribes listened with fear. Chingochgook told this tale to many.Soon the word spread that "The Others"  were coming.
They asked, "What can we do?"  Stand strong he said. Band together and be as one. With many, you will be able to hold and remain proud or your heritage and keep posession of your lands.

When "the Others" came, the vast tribes that stood together discussed a treaty with "the Others" and a line was drawn. Uncas was asked to speak for the tribe, and he said, we want peace, land, and our our tradition respected. We have been here before the Sun and we will be here after you have left. 

Some say this is just a 'old fairytale', but I know better. This story has been passed from father to son over the centuries and will pass on from here.

The Story Teller  

The story Teller

DAY ONE...

Long years ago, in the dim ages of the past, Man, & his son, young man, walked down the path telling anyone who would listen, of the tale of their adventure.

Their story always began with the words "Long years ago in the dim ages of the past",,, Many things happened to them. they wondered if they happened to others also.They went from camp to camp telling their stories until they were no longer welcome.  They would then leave and head out to the next camp.

they would talk about their family, they would talk about people they met along the way.  Many of the stories continue today as old Indian tales..

I have been lucky in life to hear some of these stories and I will try to tell them here if anyone is interested.. 

We, the listeners and tellers are referred to as "Story tellers"..we did not originate them, we just repeat them as best we remember them.