Prince Albert's Wild Kingdom-with sideskick Merle.

These brave souls embark each year on a ferry to Beaver Island for deer camp. No power, no running water, no phone, no modern conveniences (well, per Merle they don't partake in the tavern on the island)just a canvas tent and woodstove....Everything to survive must fit in this truck (including them).....

One truck, one camp, one goal....

To be men...

And to conquer the great outdoors! NICE WORK MEN!

"The Slippery Slope" and a Twisty Hell Have Enraged My Buckets of Anger!

As my ethics training at work suggests, small acts of ill or failure to do the right thing lead us down the slippery slope to debauchery.......Acts of ommission can cause great troubles in our lives.....As my sister put on her blog this photo:

A shovel leaned against a tree (sin) grows into our life......




So, where am I going here. Well, I wanted to make a good introduction to these damn twisty things that someone began putting on toys in their packaging in the last few years that have become the misery of all parents at Christmas and birthday time.....I'm talking about the twisty ties that are now standard equipment on all toys.....I know, really no connection but the title is catchy, "The Slippery Slope and a Twisty Hell"......It's a combination of ethics and my buckets of anger.....The constant resistance that life throws at us....Everything resists the easy flow.....Cars breakdown.....Things in our house break....Bills keep coming.....Illness.....Boat motors won't start, knobs dissapear off cabinets......etc.....



Anyway, about these evil little twisty things installed on toys now..I can't figure out the purpose.....To keep things looking good for display? I doubt it.....I suspect in this "global economy" that these twisty ties are made on purpose to last the long boat ride from China as most of our gross product comes from there....We can't have a Care Bear upside down with it's hand on it's groin when it arrives to be put on the Walmart shelf......Oh no, we in America wouldn't tolerate a Barbie doll doing the splits over top of the Ken doll in a package because the El Nino made for rough seas on the ride.....(notice the gray China twistie around the neck that held this little baby firmly in the package in 10-12 foot seas....).

So HERE'S WHAT WE GET TO DEAL WITH! OVERUSE OF TWISTIES!

We have settled on getting CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP and the slippery slope has thrown us into a pile of twisty wires wrapped around all toys at the end of the slide chute! A small easy "I want the cheapest Walmart toys" has landed us into a TWISTY HELL!.....


Hope I don't end up looking up like this.....Perhaps it's time to move the shovel.....


.

Christmas-My side and hers....

Wow. The Holiday's were full this year. I would characterize it as overweight, speedy, BLOATED. Run here, run there.....Very nice holiday dinners, family time. A beautiful holiday......ITS ALL GOOD! (click family photos for legend) and I must admit fans I was derelict in getting sister in law pics....sorry...

It’s All Good

(exerpts from Montgomery Gentry)

Another bill in the box today,
New boat’s gonna have to wait.
My pickup truck just broke down


It’s all good
It’s alright
Lord, it’s always a good day
When you’re glad to be alive.
Everything I need ain’t too hard to find
I don’t waste my time complainin’
ITS ALL GOOD!

Thank you and God Bless my families!

p.s.-a little research on my part into one current mystery in my life is that the JOHN HANCOCK on the front of the mystery blog reader gift is also an investment company......hmmmm

And, the PAPER HAS STOPPED COMING AND SOMEONE TOOK OUR TRASH.....?AND IT WASN'T THE GARBAGE MAN....If some dope team or the ATF is looking for discarded moonshine remnants I hope you enjoy the dirty hot soup gravy stinky diapers!

Gotta love family......friends, holidays.......ITS ALL GOOD! No matter what is going on in your life, there is hope!


You know, I really do have a lot to be thankful for.....Although sometimes I look and want, I'VE GOT IT MADE....

PLANS

Since this weather is determined to continue, I am planning on some fishing on Friday. And Saturday, and Monday morning....(BACK TO WORK MONDAY NIGHT!)

Lest We forget the Truth.

OVER RUN

I gotta tell ya folks, between Christmas, several birthdays in November and December, and now THE TOOTH FAIRY, money is flying out the windows! Stand by for a post about Christmas morning stress and a tribute to whoever made the stupid twisty things that hold things down in boxes.......MERRY CHRISTMAS!

CHRISTMAS EVE FISHIE FISH

This weather is unbelievable and very puzzling to me. Went out fishing today in 40+ degree weather and trolled around today. After several hours, we have fresh fish for tonight's dinner!

A beautiful 24" Christmas Eve Pike from ol' Gun Lake!

Family Spirit at TEAM T IS ON OVERFLOW!

Made a run in the ol' Jeep Commanche Commander tonight and picked up a load of wood for the fireplace this holiday weekend.....Apple, Cherry, and other hardwood..........What a better way to spend this beautiful holiday season than with the precious loves of my TEAM T HEADQUARTERS! As I tooled down the road in this ol' pick up truck to get a load of wood for a nice fire tonight, I couldn't help but pull over and realize that I AM SO BLESSED! A beautiful wife who tolerates all my shinanigan bullshit and countless hours of fishing, four beautiful daughters, an absolutely perfect ol' rusty pickup truck(thanks brother for the deal of a lifetime!), a mansion, health, food, drink, a super job that provides for us..... THANK YOU GOD!

LOAD HER UP PA'!

PRICELESS TIMES BY THE FIRE WITH CHRISTMAS EGG NOG! (the darting eyes on the little one to the left in the picture show she has her father's tenacity and level of mischeviousness!)


p.s.--->>>>>>>And a quick thanks to whoever invented sour mash whiskey. How did someone think of it? I mean letting corn and sugar go sour? PURE GENIOUS I'D SAY.

An UNBELIEVABLE SURPRISE TODAY! AND A NEW MYSTERY!

I am so excited right now. Blown away. Flabbergasted. In a state of mental enjoyment....I treasure when someone "gets one up on me".

I took my normal 4 hour cruise out on Gun Lake today in the blowing rain.....I gave up after 12 passes through Robbins Bay with no hits. I was marking fish on the screen but could not get them to bite.....I also had a compelling reason to "shut her down" as my hands were too cold to strike the lighter for my ciggie...

Upon my arrival home, TEAM T WIFE was doing our babysitter's nails. As I entered our warm TEAM T HEADQUARTERS she piped up and said, "you received a package today honey. I don't know what it is or who its from."

My mind flashed with "federal subpeona", or a "lawsuit" amongst many other things......

So I picked it up and examined it:


Huh? I have no idea what this could be. It is addressed to "Jitters of Team T".....the return address is "123 Happy Reader Rd, Past Time, MI 49503."

As I opened the envelope, the anticipation began to grow in my mind like the heat from a old woodstove full of hot red coals! (like my brothers at deer camp this year!)

Inside, a bubble wrapped leather bound book in a beautiful cherry colored finish. Snuggled in with the beautifully elegant book was this note:

Dear Very Talented Writer,

I wanted to thank you for all of th enjoyment your blog brings.

You are thought provoking, humorous, adventurous, innovative, and a very entertaining writer. Apparently, in some capacity, you are also The Law. Thank you for keeping us safe. I would hate to be a criminal up against you and your very imaginative and sometimes somewhat twisted (in a good way) mind.

I have learned from your blog that you are a family man with a very attractive wife and 4 cute daughters. While I am inclined to suspect that you must try your wife's patience at times, I hope you are diligent in letting her know how much you love and value her. Since you seem to have a sensitive side, I'm quite sure you do. If not, start today!

I am not one to leave comments on blog sites. I had never read a blog until I was referred to yours by a friend. While I am too shy to comment, I wanted to find a way to thank you for enriching my otherwise boring life with your writing.

I noted that you are a wine lover, and thought you would certainly enjoy the gift that I am sending. With it, you can enjoy two of the things you seem to be passionate about-drinking and writing. Perhaps one fuels the other! Just remember, everything in moderation.

It was difficult to find a name and address for you, but I was determined to find a way to say thank you. I do want you to know that I am not a stalker, just an appreciative reader.

Best Wishes for a Merry Christmas and a very creative New Year.


I must say that I am absolutely floored by this warm gesture. Whoever did this is very perceptive of me and has stroaked a part of my soul that has sent warm chills of satisfaction through my entire body. I am absolutely stumped by this act of utter compassion devoid of any selfish motivations. Unbelievable!!!!!

I examined the contents further. The handsomely elegent book, "In Vino Veritas" by John Hancock is a "Libro dei Vini", Book of Wines. Each page contains a diary of sorts to catalog each wine tasting I partake in with passages for comments, taste, rating, bouquet, region of production, year, price, etc.....





I looked up "In Vino Veritas" and found the following:
(in VEE-noh VER-ee-tahs) A Latin phrase suggesting that people are more likely to say what they really feel under the influence of alcohol. It means, “There is truth in wine.”







I must say this to whoever you are: Your gift to me, the manner in which it was delivered, the sneaky wisdom and intelligent imagination you used to craft this entire idea has TOUCHED ME.

I am in awe.

THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH AND BEST WISHES TO YOU FOR A MERRY CHRISTMAS AS WELL. I WILL STRIVE TO MAKE THIS A "VERY CREATIVE NEW YEAR!"


(I should also tell this crafty soul that I am thoroughly dissecting each part of every number, word, sentence, and the entire idea to gather clues and devise a good guess as to who you may be. I believe that you have put some hints throughout this and I will endeavor to figure it out.) If I do come to a hypothesis in my whirlwind flea market mind, I will simply smile and enjoy it to myself even more.

Sing it George

"White Lightnin!"

"Well, a north of Carolina way back in the hills
Me and my ol’ pappy and he had him a still
He brewed White Lightnin’ ‘til the sun went down
And then he’d fill him a jug and pass it around
Mighty mighty pleasin’, pappys corn squeezin’

Well the "G" men and "T" men and revenuers too
Searchin’ for the place where he made his brew
But my pappy kept a cookin’Ooooooooooooooooh, WHITE LIGHTNIN!"

Ragged But Right

The "Ol' Possum" George Jones

I've searched and can't find if Tammy shot at him......However, it appears he abused her so its very possible!

"Jones' autobiography, I Lived to Tell It All, recounts in painfully stiff prose the one-way ticket to Hell his life became. All the stories are there, including the time Jones rode his lawn mower to the liquor store after being denied the car keys."

Hmm....that sounds odd. I don't recall if the TEAM T MOWER HAS EVER BEEN TO THE STORE UP THE STREET....

"Then, just a few years ago, he quit first coke and then booze, thanks, he says, to the persistence and love of his fifth wife (the only one of the five he admits to having beaten--what third spouse Tammy Wynette has said about him using his fists and nearly his guns on her is not true, Jones insists). His recollections, considerably assisted by Carter's interviewing of his associates to fill in the many blanks he admits drugs and booze have drawn in his mind, are filled with both plenty of regrets and lots of the rough, practical-joke humor, much of which arises from incidents that weren't funny at all at the time, that seems a constant in the lives of perpetually touring popular musicians."

"He lays bare his troubled past, including an account of his disastrous marriage to country singer Tammy Wynette. It's not a pleasant story, and Jones himself is amazed that his career has prospered in spite of everything he has done to destroy it. Now 65 and recovered from a triple bypass operation, he claims he has conquered his addictions and settled into a happy marriage. There are no insights here about his musical abilities or the reasons for his success, but Jones makes sobering comments on the state of country music today, which he observes is mass-marketed and mass-produced for the young with total disregard for the older performers like himself who started it all."

A Gun Lake Mystery

So, one very recent day I walk out in my slippers and boxer shorts to have a ciggie in the morning with my cup of coffee on the front porch..(wife advised against my better judgement not to include the picture)...Now, much to my surprise, I look out on the AVON mailbox we have on the half moon of our circle driveway and what do I see????

A fresh Grand Rapids Press hanging from the box.....hmmmmm. Did the wife order the Grand Rapids Fish Wrap? I cancelled long ago after they beat up on local popo departments with unfair articles. I walked out into the frigid morning air and snatched that fat Sunday edition off the box and stomped out my cig.....I then went in the house and asked her. The answer was NO!

Huh. That's odd. We didn't order the Press.....Must have been a mistake today.......However....The mystery continues and is growing as for several days after, A FRESH NEW PAPER IS HANGING ON THE BOX.....!!!!?????

WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON? Quite timely as the Team T Fireplace needs newspaper to get rollin'......But I gotta believe one of my neighbors is getting jipped and not getting a paper.....Hmmmmmm.

Well. It has gotten worse. As I backed out of the driveway for work several days ago, I was shocked to see the following:


A new Grand Rapids Press box had been installed....(Also notice the mangled mailbox that has been the target of vandals and the one Barry County SnowPlow who continually knocks her down. I REFUSE to purchase another one and simply keep a hammer handy so I can nail her back on. I'm actually contemplating on putting a plastic clothes basket or drywall screwing a Coleman cooler on the mailbox post) Now I'm wondering what is going on? Either someone out in almostgunlakerfanland is playing with us, or some PRESS CARRIER IS GOING TO BE IN BIG TROUBLE WHEN IT ALL GETS FIGURED OUT......

Do I call them and tell them I'm getting the paper for free and never ordered it? Do I wait and see if I get a bill? A GUN LAKE MYSTERY......YOU MAKE THE CALL!

To heighten the mystery, I must quickly tell you of a Gun Lake area legend: Don't be alarmed, but the Grand Rapids Press Box Installer Elves are known to frequent the area after dark....Here is one that was captured in the mid 1970's......


Wiley vicious little bastards and I wouldn't hesitate to pull out the single shot 12 gauge and level one of em' as they reproduce at an alarming rate!

A Stroll Down Memory Lane

For any of you between the ages of about 28 and 35, (its my blog, I can type numbers in number format and not spell them out per grammar rules) do I have a treat for you!!!? Want to have a little flashback to the 80's?


Well almostgunlaker fans, I present the TRAPPER KEEPER!

Oh these were a hot item! I believe I had one with the A-Team van on it......Did you have one? Man I remember getting pumped up for school to start and going with my mom, brother, and sister to Kmart or Meijer Thrifty Acres and gettin' a hot new spiffy TRAPPER KEEPER! MAN THOSE THINGS ROCKED!

Here is the Wikipedia definition:

"A Trapper Keeper is a brand of loose-leaf binder created by Mead. Popular with students of all grades in the United States and parts of Latin America during the 1980s and early 1990s, it featured sliding plastic rings (instead of standard snap-closed metal binder rings), folders and pockets to keep schoolwork and papers, and a wraparound flap with a Velcro closure but originally had a metal snap closure. They usually came with a theme, like a cartoon, tv show, or video game (e.g. The Sonic the Hedgehog Trapper Keeper).
It was called the "Trapper Keeper" because it was sold in combination with pocket folders designed by Mead called "Trappers". Trappers were different from other pocket folders in that the pockets' three sides connected with the bottom, outside edge, and top, as opposed to the bottom, outside edge, and spine of most pocket folders. This design prevented papers from coming out of the Trapper's pockets when it was closed. Trappers had standard three-hole punches in them so that they could be put in any notebook, including the Trapper Keeper."

Life is made up of simple little pleasures.........THE TRAPPER KEEPER

The Influence of Men

Where would all you women be without a man around? New country artist Brad Paisley tells it well:



You’ve sure got a real nice place
So, don’t take this the wrong way
But I can tell by your decorating taste
You’ve been alone too long

You’ve got more candles than a midnight mass
That fancy mirror adds a touch of class.
Do you know how good a mounted bass would look there on that wall?

You need a man around here
Can’t do it all by yourself
To me, its painfully clear
You could use a little help
Someone to kill the spiders
To change the channel on the tv.

Man I Love Christmas Time

Yep sportsfans, its Christmas Time :)

CALLING A SOLDIER!

ATTENTION! CALLING NOODLES! I SEE YOU POSTED ON MY BLOG. I KNOW WHO YOU ARE. YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE...PLEASE POST AND TELL ME YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS!

ITS BEEN SO LONG SINCE I'VE SEEN YOU AND I KNOW YOU ARE ABROAD PROTECTING OUR OIL INTERESTS.....PLEASE POST BUDDY!

SALUTING ANOTHER CLASSIC LEGEND!

Here's to "the ol' possum".....and his "rose colored glasses".....and his apparent lost battle with the demon of booooooooooze.


George Jones

some exerpts from his heart wrenching agony.....

A jukebox is playin’ a honky tonk song
“One more” I keep sayin’ and then I’ll go home.
What good would it do me.
I know what I’ll find…
An empty bottle, a broken heart, and you’re still on my mind.

yet another:::

I was standin’ in the tavern a feelin’ blue
My foot on the rail just a thinkin’ bout you
But I won’t be blue all day,
Because, relief,
Is just a swallow away…

......................................

The TEAM T TOWER OF FIRE POWER IS 10-41!

"10-41" is the callsign for "inservice". I'm back with good news! After re-purchasing more pipe from Menards today, (No, it doesn't look crooked. It's an optical illusion because the moon is in it's fourth quarter tonight.)

We have fire!

All hooked up and safety tested by me.......(Ran a hot four hour test fire and I stayed in the chimney chase with my Walleye Spelunking Headlight on. Pipe was so cold on the outside I could lick it)
Man do I love the smell of a nice fire!

And a few TEAMT roof shots for ya...

I wonder if I could hunt that field from up here?????

Shut her down.

I need a break......Limited postings and no words until further notice. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Happy BIRFDAY, HAPPY HANNAKUH, ETC.

Buckets of Anger

Tonight I finally had all I needed to finish the mechanical portion of the fireplace. 12' of double wall pipe, 7 tubes of fireproof caulk, flashing, a spark arrestor chimney cap, storm collar, nails, a hammer, and a bunch of "git-r-done" worked up in my head. I also had a sawzall.


So after I cut a hole in the roof of my chimney cap just big enough for the operation to be completed, challenge #1 began. RAIN.

Challenge #2: I placed the double wall chimney pipe on the fireplace per the instructions. It snapped into place beautifully. I must tell you it didn't look right, however. Anyhow, it is just like my stubborn self to argue with the directions if they don't appear right. After all, I'm smarter than a fireplace manufacturer. So I began to "work" with the pipe until I realized it was not fitting in the way I thought it should.

Here is the tally:

12' of double wall pipe from Menards: $127.00.

Gas for three round trips to Menards in 1992 Jeep Commanche Commander 4x4: $37.00

Getting poked back by nails sticking into chimney chase as I climbed up it with no ladder: Free.

Getting soaked while standing on roof in pouring rain at 10:30pm trying to figure out chimney pipe: Free.

Losing temper and standing in the rain in my underwear bending the life out of chimney pipe and smashing it in the backyard to relieve frustration: Priceless.

Here is the bucket I put in the fireplace to catch the water because there is no chimney pipe as of yet when you look upward from the flue............BUCKETS OF ANGER.