TubaOrNotTuba

The skit was funny. Involving Julie Nolke and the  PM-JT. Got your bearings yet? OK we will carry on this was a supposed job interview and the question that came out immediately after was how did she convince him to go in that skit? Again a reasonable question. There are some facts that you need to remember. JT is not the president. He is one of several 100 deputies even though he gets to sit in the big chair occasionally and if he would decide to go into a dramatic skit, keep in mind that he was trained as a drama teacher. Are we good yet? Carry on. What made this skit amusing for those of us in the know was that such a thing actually could happen. We live in Canada and we take our politicians as representatives of us. Not a God among them. They come and they go every few years. We might put up a statue occasionally or put their face on the dollar bill. Stop looking to the big name performers on the big stage. Some of the best material is available closer to home on the net. Change your ticket. Do something more.

Years ago people did not travel very far from home. There was no need. Most of your food was locally sourced and your school was just up the road and church was just a wagon ride away. I can remember the wagon sitting in the yard beside the woodpile. No horse attached because we already had our version of the horses carriage by that point. I can also remember when the roads were paved for the first time. Before that you waited for the snow to come then you waited for the end of mud season and in the middle of summer you could get out on the road beside the house and go down as far as the neighbours without needing to wade through the mud. It was a different age. My father one afternoon explained that he never made it to town until he was 16 which came as a shock because I thought I was well traveled by that point. I had been to town. But again there was no need. If you were sick the doctor came to the house if you died the priest came to the house if you had any other reason to go see someone they probably lived close enough by that there was no real difficulty. I live in one of those roads, now. Paved after a fashion. And I still don’t go to town anymore than I used to. I have Internet now. In the summertime when people come to visit the window of opportunity is narrow and we stay home waiting for them to come in the driveway. I am particularly interested in some old roads that run west of here along the cliff edge. The original roads from well over a century ago. At that point people still went from place to place by boat or by horse period. But the road is still visible is a credit to how deeply into the mud the wheels would go period. I should dig out some old pictures. Quite a contrast from later in life when I moved to the big cities. They had so much road they even had sidewalks. Imagine. And the horses are all gone. Too much trouble when you can just keep one of those contraptions in the driveway and put a little gasoline in the tank. Easy come an easy go. I watched a video this morning from a small island off the coast of Scotland and they went through the same cycle of inconvenience. The roads are still just one step above impossible. No need to go over there when you have everything at home. Anyhow I will not be traveling today. I cannot think of a single reason to go to town.

At this moment I am feeling rather pleased with myself. Self satisfied. I had been watching a video that made an obscure reference to a piece of classical music. Of course I went looking for the melody and upon hearing it I said to myself I recognize that. No idea why. It might date back to my time and senior band in high school. I don’t know but it proves to me that my musical education was worth everything I paid for it. We hear a lot of music in our lives and very little of it ever gets a title so when I have a chance to add a name to a tune I do so. Self education which brings South satisfaction. Not going to name the melody. Accept that it was an overture. And then dig for yourself. We’re getting a little rain this afternoon which comes from a hurricane that did not make it this far. Funny how that works. I mean we did not even get the wind. Just the water. So much less water then people to the South. I tried to imagine what you do when you get feet of water in an afternoon from the sky. Perhaps keeping a set of plans for an arc on a shelf are not as silly as we used to think. Anyhow I am at ease with my world. So much still to learn. We had a little feedback from the summer company and it seems that we met the grade. Will they come back? That I do not know because I am not a tour director. All I can offer is the place. Up to them to choose the time. I can at least keep listening to obscure tunes. I wonder how people who have a more artistic band handle such things. Do they draw pictures. Do they write poetry to commemorate the moment? I will settle for listening and mentioning.

The biscuit is gone. From what I understand it sneaked into the back of the car and made his way to a nearby landfill. This was not our first biscuit another one was abandoned in a garage summers in Quebec years ago. I should clarify this was our own term for one of those rooftop carriers that was made out of injected plastic and that allowed us to travel as a family with more luggage than we really need it. The kind of strapped onto bars on the roof and that was good as long as the wind did not get inside and starts sucking things out through the outside edge. Yes that too happened. We had moved on beyond the need for it but it was still taking up valuable room in the garage. How much room you ask? Look around they’re still in use you can still buy them at the auto centre those big squarish forms that are supposed to allow you to get away from it all as you bring everything with you. Truly a cultural icon. My only hope is that someone else will reclaim the biscuit from his new home and take it off on another series of adventures. I probably won’t recognize it when it passes me on the highway unless the sleeping bag is escaping once again through the outer edge. No wonder the auto industry moved to better luggage systems. This was one that you could pick up for a few $10 bills and then try to lose at least that amount of luggage as you roll down the highway.

This summer is different from other summers. We’re living in what seems to be an episode of the bang. Meaning more specifically the sounds of construction. You take a big truck and you let the tailgate slam enough times during the day it will keep me awake. I have an idea what is going on because there are some roads being dug in behind and also the potato warehouse is growing but the why of the noise is unclear. The trucks do not seem to go any place or come from any worse. From my point of view if you’re bringing in piles of dirt I should hear your truck go by but that’s not happening so I really am left with a mystery that will probably be resolved next year when the construction is done. About the same time that the big windmills get put in I suppose. I can’t blame them for wanting to make things better even if it is only their point of view. It’s easy to write history but history without progress does not add much to the volume. And so starting at just after dawn the noise begins. Now if I lived in a big city that would be one thing but I am in the country about as far from the big town as you can get and that’s why I can only wait to see what they’re building at the other end of the road. I will probably be astonished but then again my threshold is lower than it used to be. We just had a visit from people that we’ve known for many years through camping. People that we see for a day or two each year but we do see them each year. Perennials. They also love our weather and although they did not comment on the construction noise I’m sure that they also notice the changes taking place.

We need to keep the dreams alive. So many ways to do it. Just go online and shop period. Today I learned the star link has a new dish. Smaller than the dish we already own besides isn’t everything right. If we were to get this we could mount it somewheres out of sight out of mind on the RV. Perhaps. You can’t actually buy it yet in this part of the world but there is a review or two out there so it exists. And therein lies the dream. Use your science fiction mode for a few minutes. Imagine driving down the highway in your mobile home connected to a satellite at all times. Streaming video a when you can’t watch it because you’re driving. It is just a dream right. I look at this as a way to keep me keen. At some point we will travel again. We’ve already been home for a month. The urge is strong. And if we could have guaranteed communications with everyone else and listen to music when we want it and watch videos late at night that would be one step closer to an ideal existence. Again, keeping the dream alive. I am glad that certain companies want to keep me on their channel. I just wish they do it for free because that would be a really ideal experience. Anyhow I will wait. I am sure that in several months the deal will be improved yet again and we can once again go back into dreaming mode. Just in time for that snow.

From what I can tell being elected in the United states requires a fetching back story. We will ignore those who are at the top of the pile right now and go for a third candidate who came out this week but the kind of story that deserves a movie. He was out hunting in the woods with a falcon. Just like the rest of us. He did not talk about whether or not his hunt was successful but he said that on the way home he saw someone hit a bear with the car. Not his car. And so ever looking for success he decided to collect up the carcass and put it in his car so that he could take it home and skin it and eat it. I guess that’s what you do when you’re in high places. However he realized that he was a little short of time so instead he made a detour into the largest city in the nation to a large park and he deposited the bear carcass there with a bicycle on top. Apparently he also had the bicycle in the car which means that his car is too large for reality. And then he went off and the bear was discovered it made the news. It is taken years for the final chapter of the story to come out. In fact he probably would not have done so except the politician went and talked to a once famous comedian. That once famous is also part of the story. And because the statute of limitations had run out nothing more will happen. He will be known as the man who left a bear in Central Park. I would have thought that he already had enough fame to his name after some famous assassinations; plural. Most of us lead lives of common drudgery but for those that want to be successful in the world of politics you need a story that fetches. This one does. For all the wrong reasons. And if someone stops you and offers you a spare bear carcass, just say no. Isn’t that the message from another politician?

Imagine the bliss of a summer evening.

 Sitting there with crackers and marshmallows and chocolate making a tasty treat over an open fire. A campfire to be precise. Have you thought about the long term risks? According to a story I heard on the news this morning the particulates in a wood fire can be A cause for dementia. You do not need to set the whole of the West side of the continent on fire and then wait for the smoke to waft over to where you live. The danger might be closer to home. I know man has been cooking over an open wood fire for as long as man can remember but then again man’s always been a little crazy. Could this be the true cause of it all? I do not want to be someone setting the world on fire with silly ideas but neither do I want to breathe in the smoke from a campfire just because I can. We tend to think of such things as being what happens when there’s a large scale conflagration but maybe it’s the small ones with a bit of chocolate and marshmallow that are actually at the root of the problem. I was unaware of how many risks were waiting for me right at home. On a different note our house is back to being pretty much empty. The visitors have left. Is that all there is for this summer? Am I doomed to await a whole year before there is joy in the halls of the house? We shall see. In passing I have never made a s’mores so perhaps my risk is lowered. I also abstained from open fires either inside or outside. Too many other risks involved.

To be fair weather should be reported using numbers. Qualifiable numbers taken from calibrate instruments. But we don’t always get to there. I just opened the front door looked out and closed it again in case that insufferable heat and humidity come in to join me. Right now we need a thunderstorm but we probably won’t get one. We will just soldier on as I say. It is summer after all and there are places that have it worse than us. In fact I take far too many moments during my day to check to see what is coming. That newest hurricane down in Florida? It could come here. Must keep an eye on it if only from a distance. And we did have some rain last night although I was inside and did not get wet. I heard about it though. And I also realize from long experience but the periods we call hot summer and cold winter last for a short period of time each. A matter of days often a matter of weeks at best. I am glad that I do not live outside or in a nylon tent where every neurone becomes more pronounced period. I can sit inside in relative comfort and tell myself that this is a hot one right. Or that’s cold right. And when all is said and done we will reset the calendar and reset the sequence. I cannot say that any one year in my lifetime was better or worse than another. The law of averages. Imagine living where the snow never comes or never leaves. Completely outside my experience. Imagine a wind so strong that your house falls over. Not something we face around here but I have heard of it. I listen to a lot of stuff. And right now if I was a dog or a cat I will be hiding. Under the front step probably because proximity to the ground helps. Again I do not speak from personal experience. I have heard. And when I go to bed tonight I will have the option of suffering silently or complaining. But it will be my choice.

Son number one and his family are back on the road. Planning to be home sometime around sunset. And with them two dogs that have been making my life a little more challenging. No loud barking ever. One of them learned that if she planted herself in the floor she could trip anyone who went by. The other figured out that we were easy marks for food. Just drilling my toes until I gave up and handed over part of my bagel. It was fun for the whole family. We’re running the air almost all the time here so I have to listen more carefully because of that constant white noise. Quiet dogs turned it into a game. You cannot simply say Marco Polo and have a dog answer. You have to be more enticing. Yes a bagel with cheese does attract more than hungry boys. Outside the good weather continues. We had a moment of curiosity this morning when some heavy machinery appeared down below but it turned out to be a local farmer getting ready to adopt a new field. Potatoes. For me that means once every three years so no big deal. I might even know the farmer or his son. Have to check my records. Meanwhile the other half of the family was out on the Causeway collecting change. It is so easy to convince tourists to give up the heavy money in their pockets. And whatever was collected will be used to help in the community. All good. Now I sit back to see what happens in the next couple of weeks. Will we stay or will we go? I will hum this song and see what happens. So there you have it, Saturday in the country.