Resolve to dissolve

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The new year is here and many folks are probably feeling the after effects of too much celebration. All too often, this is an annual occurrence and it seems that over the course of a year, we tend to forget just exactly what the morning-after feels like.

 

Of course no one wants to stifle New Year celebrations with their positive outlooks, hope for better days and time with friends. How else will we ever learn the lessons of over indulgence such as beer goggles, DUI's, close inspection of the porcelain throne and a maybe a compulsory fight or two?

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Sasquatch Walks Amongst Us

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Native American legend is filled with stories about a mystical creature known as Sasquatch.

According to the people who have seen him, this tall, hairy, man-like creature roams the forested areas of this country. Ever since the 1967 Patterson–Gimlin film of the Bigfoot in California, there has been an increase in not only reported sightings but actual pictures of this beast.

I always thought I would be the last person to see a Bigfoot until a summer day just outside Creede when both Trixie and I saw what we believed to be the elusive creature.

Now you may guffaw and look askance at us for claiming such a thing but her tee-totaling parents were along and the photo shows that we were not imbibing in local spirits. The sighting was also far in advance of the legalization of marijuana, not that I have ever done any of that either.

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Laundry is a snap

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There are vast differences in how women and men do their laundry. You might be surprised at the revelations I am about to uncover and how that will impact mankind and our survival in the future.

Cooper took over one of Trixie's high priced, California-dreaming pillows and used it for a bed long enough for it to start smelling like, well, a dog. A simple solution was to put it in the washer and so I began a search for the detergent.

The detergent, though, was nowhere to be found. Before Trixie left on her adventure to far flung places, she apparently decided to hide all the things she knew I would need.

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How high is your ying yang?

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During recent conversations with some friends in South Fork, I casually inquired how deep the snow was and was informed it was “up to your yin yang.”

Not knowing exactly where that would be on my person or whether it is at different heights on various people, I had to consult the dictionary for clarification. It seems that Yin and Yang is a part of Chinese philosophy indicating how two completely opposite things are connected: light and dark, hot and cold, life and death and so on.

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Baby-sitting flu right pass

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Becoming a Grandpa isn't so hard. All you have to do is raise your own child to adulthood and they usually take care of the rest. Sooner or later a baby comes along and you are suddenly qualified to be a grandparent.

 

Like many other fathers, I wasted all those free-wheeling years between when our own kids were raised and before the next generation came along to interrupt our oh-so-busy schedule of watching TV and sleeping late.

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Assembling Happiness

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The Christmas Season brings excitement for kids of all ages and a growing anxiety for all fathers. Fathers will be required to put up Christmas trees and lights as well as endure countless trips to toy stores, clothing venues and Santa's Village plus lugging endless armloads of presents to put under the tree.

His kids will become unbearable as their anticipation grows to the point of breaking. In order to maintain some semblance of household order, even the most normal, calm, well behaved children suddenly must be reminded often of Santa's words about “naughty or nice.”

The biggest fear any dad must face, however, during this season is the knowledge that any present opened on Christmas Day will require expert-level assembling skills for extremely anxious children. Luckily, any seven-year-old can connect a computer, stereo or program a television better than an adult, so that one is covered.

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Church Potluck

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Church is a funny place. It’s a different mix of people ranging from stiff necked-suit-and-tie denominations to pew-jumping-grandmas to tattooed-ex-cons and pleated skirted mountain hippies, bikers, cowboys and yuppies. But in spite of our differences, all of us seem to find righteousness in the same loving God through our worship.

Being the son of a pastor, I was forced to attend a lot of church services in my lifetime. As I grew to adulthood and was no longer forced to attend, I discovered that I actually enjoyed the people and have continued to attend when I can. Travel in the winter months allows me to visit churches of every flavor and persuasion and while all are in different locations, they all are willing to share their experience and their churches with a stranger.

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Gambling my way south

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With Willie Nelson’s “On The Road Again” playing on my speakers, Cooper and I left the San Luis Valley a few weeks ago to hunt and fish in warmer climes. We got as far as Walsenburg before Mafia Marvin, the king of all RV dealers, called.

He had a new 2014 fifth wheel with my name on it and made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. Cooper and I made a left hand turn onto I-25 and soon found ourselves driving a larger rig on our journey eastward. At 37’, it pulls like a dream and offers all the modern comforts of home.

So, from the falling snows of Colorado I traveled with my destination being deer hunting in Western Kansas, then a family wedding in Eastern Kansas with Cooper and Trixie as my faithful companions. With both of those events behind me, it was then time to head South to spend time with my son near Dallas.

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