Our version of retirement: Living a childhood dream

Ho...lee...crap

This proofing/editing thing is rigorous/tedious/aggravating all rolled into a hand basket

I don't know how writers do it...or why

In my younger days, I did freelance editing/proofreading as one of many jobs I managed from home to keep food on the table. Still do some now and again to help out friends. I'm sure you have a wealth of resources for it, but if you get in a bind, I'm only ever an email away. The back-and-forth of a manuscript and the editing of same is so easy now compared to back in the day with reams of paper to transport, read, and red-pen!

Seriously @Gary O', I am more than happy to help if you need it.
 

I want to cry! He's so cute and lovable. 😢

Yeah, he's a cutie

I've fed a lota chippies and squirrels, but none like this one

He used to come to the shop door, get on his hind legs and sorta bitch me out when the feeding station was low on cracked corn

He'd also follow me to the well house a 100 yards away

Sometimes I'd be walking down the path, and sense another being near by
I'd look behind me, and there he'd be

We used to have face to face conversations at the wood pile or a stump

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He'd be a bit of a drama queen at times

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I do miss him

We both have our memories
...I think his is better than mine
 
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I am more than happy to help if you need it
Very kind, Ronni

I’m sure you’d be gentle

But you’d eventually come to dislike me, as my fractured prose are sometimes other worldly…..and I like them that way



I won’t do that to you

I don't even like to do it to me
 
Gary, mebbe he could become a city chipmunk?


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Fun Facts:geek:

One tiny chipmunk can gather up to 165 acorns in one day.

Chipmunks have pouches inside of their cheeks in which they store food when foraging.

The main entrance of a chipmunk burrow can extend up to 20 feet in length.

A group of chipmunks is called a scurry.
 
Im just getting a glimpse of your adventurous life now Gary. I could never do what you have done and are doing. What i like about the whole thing is your originality and single minded determination. Who cares what everyone else is doing! i will look for your name in the book stores.
 
Im just getting a glimpse of your adventurous life now Gary. I could never do what you have done and are doing. What i like about the whole thing is your originality and single minded determination
Well, Sir Hypo, we did it back in the '70s, and bailed when the goin' got tough (vehicles breaking down)
So, we kinda knew what we were gettin' in to
and
We bought this land back in '99, and kinda pecked at it 'til 2015 when I retired, and ran outa excuses why we hadn't made the plunge.
Truth be told, and I think I mentioned it early on in this thread, my lady was the ramrod.
I sorta wanted to move close but in town and continue dabbling with building this and that
She told me she was moving to the cabin
Told her I'd visit her in the spring
After a few weeks of retirement...and going nuts with being in her way around the house, I said screw it went whole hog
Kinda shocked her
She had a hard time keeping up
Heh, tent camping is fun...for a few days...weeks, but after a spring and summer of it, we were pretty weary of camping

So, I worked night and day 'til we were living inside....with wood heat...from a stove
I knew the rigors of toil from a life of hard work, but the huge rewards of this endeavor spurred me like nothing else
My lady kept me fed, the clothes washed, and the place tidy
I worked 'til I dropped
Winter was pressing

After that first season, it all became a challenge

After the challenges were met, face on, season after season, it just became redundant

The abundance of memories will never leave me, because, yes, I'm writing about it all

'I could never do what you have done'
You could if you wanted to
For sure if you had to

In a few days, I'll write a few things here about the folks we met, and their trials, and their triumphs (few as they were)
 
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When we moved out here, and even when we bought the land (back in ’99) we knew there’d be all kinds of folks spread out throughout this area

Loggin’ roads beget places

Access creates opportunity

Not necessarily legal opportunity

Renegades, squatters, call ‘em what you like
They’re here

A good lot can’t be in society

Drive any abandoned logging road, and you’ll eventually come up to a place

Or just a worn spot roadside
Wandering into the woods

One learns not to travel those, 4wd or no

Don’t need a no trespassing sign
Just common sense

You will get shot

If you happen onto a shack, and yer curious, best sound yer horn, or holler out

Never walk straight up to a place

You will get shot

If someone responds to yer sound, speak yer piece
Go light on the howdies

There’s renegades that seem friendly
They’re the ones to watch out for

My closest acquaintances have been the most wary
They tend to relax a bit after awhile, sometimes a long while
Those are the best


Some are here to play at things
They’re OK, but you can get shot by accident

One lad always played with his knives and guns
Always bragged about what he did with his knife
Cut this, cut that
Saved a life or two

The stories got redundant after a few versions

Funny thing, it came time to skin a rabbit
His scary fancy knife was too dull

My lady took care of it in minutes


I’ll write more on this and other folks out this way as it comes
 
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from Walt Garrison's Book

1970's

Characters: Walt Garrison, running back for Dallas Cowboys

Dick Buckus , Middle Linebacker, Chicago, a savage tackler



Walt Garrison ran through the line into the Bear’s territory;

Butkus hit him with a fearsome tackle.

Garrison was on the ground trying to recover from the tackle.

Butkus stood over him glowering, “Don’t come in my territory

again or I’ll bite your head off.”

Garrison responded, once he was able to speak, “If you do, it’ll be the first time you ever had any brains in your head.”
 
Visited with my Hungarian bud that has his cabin a couple miles down the path from ours.
He's calling it quits.
'Too many renegades'
Guess they're populating the area.
Told him they'll be gone by first snow.
He knows.
He's still done.
Damn, he's been there since the early 90s

I wish him well
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......


as far as renegades?

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Cute as they are, they know I'll come after 'em if they screw around with my stuff

So far, so good
 

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