TubaOrNotTuba

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.

I heard a vehicle drive in while I was otherwise occupied. The actual truth was that I was folding laundry or we can’t let all the family secrets go at once. We have different cars in the driveway right now because we have company and as it is summer time they all go their separate ways during the daytime so I was surprised to hear anyone drive in. And so since I was busy I decided to just listen to see what I could figure out. The motor never stopped nor did the radio. Not the sort of tunes that anyone I knew would listen to. And then I heard a package drop on the front step. That changed the game right there. The only vehicles to come here during daytime hours tend to belong to delivery firms. And so it was. Gone are the days when you would wait for someone to come to the door or where a dog would bark either hungrily or happily. This was just a random radio noise and then it was gone. The whole episode lasted lasted less than a minute or two I guess. As I say I was busy and when you were folding laundry time loses all meaning. The ultimate Zen activity. I’m trying to keep the heat outside so I have the forced air running which brings noise and I had the drapes drawn which drops the light level. The cheapest way I know to cut sensory input. And since we’re already into the waning months of summer this too shall pass. I will be back to my normal quiet existence soon enough. And just for the record I rarely play the radio during the day. If you have ever listened to some of those announcers you will understand. I wonder what life will be like ten years from now. I guess you’ll have to come back here and read to find out.

Today the car was in the garage. We have been in the house for nine years and as far as anyone can remember this is the first time that a car is actually being parked inside. It was our way of transferring all of our belongings when we first moved here. The weigh station if you will. And then, like most home garages it became a depot. No need to put the car inside because it’s always being used. This is more of a someday we’ll do it. And so for the last couple of days my son has been hard at work trying to put some order into chaos. I can no longer assist and when it comes time to find stuff later I will simply write it off to experience. A sentence like I remember when we had will become part of vernacular. They have assured me that the car will not be staying inside. This is more just to see if they could. And so I did what anyone does. I took photos. A much better way to remember then counting on memory. And of course the the garage was large enough. We do not own a monster car. It is good to know that if we ever need to travel for who knows how long the car can be put out of sight and out of mind. I think that’s the main reason for having a garage after all. And it was nifty not neat but nifty to see occur inside where it was designed to be. If anyone ever asks if our garage is large enough we can now say yes tested and true. You open the door and you drive inside and you close the door. Not sure what else will do with it. After all we still store stuff there are tires and the kayak and a bike and some boxes and I imagine that they had to be shifted somewhat in place two for this adventure. But it has been done in the summer of 2024. And for the record our previous house did not have a garage. It barely had a driveway for a number of reasons. So it is good to see that we are making progress.