Archives for June 2010

Jun 17 2010

Meet Jack, on FaceBark

Not having blogged since the disastrous skunk encounter, Jack, our dog of suspicious ancestry, has opted to join the information age by creating his own FaceBark page. Having failed miserably in his genealogy quest, and succumbing to multiple requests by ardent readers ( well, two, actually ) for updates, we decided to no longer ignore this ground swell of support.

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Jack is fluent in three languages, sadly, none of which are in regular usage (Jaqaru {Peru}, Wu {Tibet}, and Limburgish {Netherlands} *, so it is necessary to limit his narrative to photo captions. Translations are literal and may be inaccurate.

what’s on your mind ?

At my first “rally”, guarding a tent from foreign invaders. The first timer ribbon should have been an RV ( rookie virgin ) badge. Will I be a ‘two timer’ next year? In Sante Fe, NM. If you want to play with the big dogs, ya gotta pee in the tall grass.With Zimba, a hot black lab female from Naperville, IL, after meeting on eharmonysniff.com.“House hunting” for a fixer-upper, with the family in Patagonia, AZ

Upcoming Events

Returning to the rocky shoreline of Lake Huron in the U.P., fresh sniffing, and dreaming of a life at sea.Although I can not, or will not, accept donations, you (and that creep Michael Vick) are welcome to donate to my favorite charity.

* information plagiarized from Wikipedia.org

Jun 11 2010

Closed Captioning brought to you by

R & B Productions LLC. And were you expecting, the Real Housewives of Jackson Center ?

At Phil’s Market, a real cashier

Yes, the Alumapalooza Rally is a wrap. What began five days earlier, slowly, but inexorably, became a small community with a distinct personality. Although temporary, everyone had the positive vapor that the memory will become permanent, and it already has.

Here is the benchmark established by the most successful independent rally in the Airstream world.

No one bolted early
Everyone was reluctant to leave
Jimi Hendrix playing the National Anthem on Saturday morning
No ukelele concert

On a less serious note, you might consider early registration for 2011. Although the field can hold more than the 120 units this year, 200 is probably the maximum, and the popularity of the event will grow exponentially, rain or no rain.

Full disclosure: I have no financial interest in promoting the event, no stock options, no t-shirts or CDs for sale, and I will not accept comps or bribes (although I can be flexible here).

On the subject of flexibility, note the gurus of yoga, sKY and slaDE, on the right, demonstrating fly exercises. But can anyone explain the contortions of noted photographers, Bert Gildart and Alison Turner, who are both professionals.

Do not attempt without adult supervision

In Celina, OH, the J. A. Long Company, a good place to buy hides and butter, wholesale.

Many residents of Arizona employ phonetics to assist in spelling Tucson, i.e., “tucks on”, thereby placing the ‘c’ before the ‘s’. In rural western Ohio, near the Indiana border, lies the small burg of Tocsin. A local simply calls it TOXIN. Does the E.P.A. know ? Why not call it toxin, an easy name to remember? Xanax, Xerox, Kotex, Axion; see how easy it is to recall brand names with an ‘x’.

Rural Superfund site

A happy couple, with dog Jack, bidding a fond adieu to the Airstream backlot and papparazzi.

Perhaps next year the Saturday morning theme song will be the classic Cole Porter (Indiana born) song for aluminum lovers, the rendition by Sinatra;

I´ve got you under my skin.

I´ve got you deep in the heart of me.

So deep in my heart that you´re really a part of me.

I´ve got you under my skin.

The Old Chicago Trail from Detroit to Chicago

A sign erected in 1953, on an Indian path near Buchanan, MI. says it all.

Jun 05 2010

Greater Jackson Center Area Growth Association

May sound like a support group in need of surgery to remove an unsightly body appendage, but be assured is only a euphemism for the “chamber of commerce”. Never mind, the Pro hardware store sells a product labeled Poultry Netting which I would swear is chicken wire. Semantics aside, after four fun-filled Alumapalooza days, many revelers ventured downtown Friday night to the JC Community Days.

My objective; humming along with the lyrics as rendered by Petula Clark.

Just listen to the music of the traffic in the city

After dinner at the Cafe Verandah, we stroll over to the town center, a midway enclosed in an orange plastic version of poultry netting. Rides to attract youngsters, band stand, beer tent, ice cream, elephant ears, and yes, teenagers. Almost all the girls wear tight stretch jeans. There is a mating ritual in progress and we, the gracefully aged are here, privileged to witness it. The jeans constitute their courtship plumage. The local boys pretend not to notice, but how can they not ? It is a blatant effort to attract their attention. Trying to be cool, the boys play an elaborate game of not paying any mind. There is obvious signaling, pretending not to notice. The girls text furiously on hand held raspberries, to their friends less than a few feet away, anything to avoid face-to-face contact. It’s beautiful, the tension unbearable.

Linger on the sidewalks where the neon lights are pretty

Darwinian. Only yesterday morning, the legendary Bert Gildart presented a wildlife photography program, a portion of which demonstrated the courtship of rare pelicans in the wild. Same thing, only without I-Pads. And acne.

How can you lose ? The lights are much brighter there, you can forget all your troubles, forget all your cares

The JC entertainment is only slightly better than an impromptu concert by our own event staff only 3 nights earlier.

Picture three grown men, on stage, singing a gawdawful paraphrased version (now available on You Tube) of The National Anthem, to the delight of a small crowd. Although alcohol was not a factor, sleep deprivation, high humidity, and physical exhaustion from 20 hour days might have lead them to believe they have talent and the need to allow the true beauty of their souls to shine through. If this happens to you, you are not attractive, you are leaking.

Sadly, these same ‘entertainers’ rejected a request to include a scheduled dog show and parade, an activity considered by them as a lowering of the bar. “We’ve gone as low as we can go”

And go downtown

The pressure on an event organizer is intense, especially from the fourth estate, seen here under direct assault by papparazzi and a reporter. Note how he cleverly disguises his disdain for the press, cloaked in a wry, salacious grin.

Synopsis: the rally has been and is, without equivocation, a smashing success. No this is not Woodstock, although many of us have a memory of Bethel, NY in 1969. Here the tone is one of effervescence, lightness, and yet still intimate…..friendliness with no pretention in a warm and moist environment.