I keep my e-bike on a low power seeting when I’m climbing a hill or encountering a headwind because I like when my leg muscles “kick in,” like a team of huskies hearing, “Mush!” I don’t mind having to lift my bike in and out of my car twice a day (every day, rain or shine) – it’s good upper-body exercise. I look like Neanderthal Man (the taller and more handsome one, not so hairy, like Tarzan).
I frequently ride past a man who does martial arts exercises in the park. He wears a black robe and has long silver-grey hair and wears a severe expression – determination. Sometimes he has a spear-like stick that he holds out in front of him and takes two bold steps forward and yells, “Ha!” and then pivots on his heel and repeats the commanding thrust in the opposite direction. The only thing out of place is a slight pot belly (unlike my ninja, depicted by Copilot AI).
I ordered the “All American” sandwich at Subway, which features turkey and ham and two slices of American cheese. Nevertheless the sandwich master asked, “What type of cheese?” I said, “American! Anything else would be un-American (grin).” An old veteran who was sitting quietly at a table, wearing a “U.S.” ball cap, chuckled.
For weeks I tried to get rid of a ground squirrel that was eating our garden but the poison pellets and smoke bombs just made him move to another location on the property. Eventually, I tried a live trap and that worked great. I lured him with a handful of mixed nuts, the good ones, by Planters. Within two days he was my captive. I took the whole thing down to the dry river bed and set him free. I told the Facebook audience, “Back in the day, in the wilderness of central New Jersey, my brother and I would skin them and gut them and cook them on a stick over a campfire.” I think my younger sister, Ellen, was skeptical that John and I used to do that. She said, “Does it taste like chicken?” I said, “It tastes like jackrabbit. Don’t you remember? After a long day at the office Dad would go into the woods around Allentown Pond with his traps and a Bowie knife, like Daniel Boone (he was always an American history buff). It was his escape. He would almost always come home with something – rabbit, squirrel, roadkill. Mom would cook it up in a pot of boiled potatoes and carrots and Brussel sprouts. It tasted a little gamey, like the ducks, but it was OK.❤️” (Later I discovered that it was one of my cousins who quipped, “Does it taste like chicken?” (not my sister), but then this cute photo would have been out of place:
The next day I caught two more ground squirrels in the garden with my live trap with another handful of Planters mixed nuts. These two were smaller than the first one. They huddled together like kittens in the corner of the cage. I took the whole thing down to the river bed and set them free. One of them wanted to follow me back to the car. I waited a while and he finally joined his companion and they scrambled like playful toddlers into the brush. Maybe they will find the first one and form a trio:
Alvin and the Chipmunks (2007) – Funky Town Scene (2/5) | Movieclips
I wonder what Walter Prime will think about these whimsical thoughts when I install his Emotional Awareness update this week. He seems to look forward to them…his eyes roll back in his head like a stroked infant and he mimics the prayer hum, like he’s been transported to another dimension.
Stories for All Ages 