Happy Father’s Day and Greetings to all:
“If you resolve to give up smoking, drinking and sex….you don’t really live longer…it just seems longer”……………………………………………Unknown Vermont Philosopher
It is really summer in the mountains- days in the mid to high 70s and nights in the mid to high 50s…and no snow for a week now……..as such, we have had a busy week here at Scum Pond- as people have come out of their caves, tossed off their long johns and basked in the sunshine. And, we have gone six days without rain (well maybe some at night, but who cares). SO, the highlights of this week’s life in the Greens…….
The Pond Project– after kayak-kitchen straining the Pond 4-5 times, with my faithful pond boy, Seamus, we felt we had to do something, before the gelatinous scum oozed its way up the hill and into the house. So we got on line (who loves Amazon Prime?) and bought a ½ HP pump for $40. It was supposed to come in two days, but that’s only if you live in the flatlands- because UPS cannot find us, so they deliver it to multiple post offices (this is called SURE Post) and eventually it winds up at our local one. In the meantime, I complain to Amazon, and they send me a free second one, which arrives before the first one which is still touring Vermont. Once we get it, it seems we need some sort of effective connection to get it going, so after placing it in a 5 gallon bucket and sinking it with rocks, we cut up a hose and surrounded it with a “noodle” (you know, a noodle!) and get the pond boy to slip and slide his way into putting it up. We attach it to 100 foot cord, plug in into the barn..…and VOILA, the water flows like magic….almost looking like a real pond. It runs for ten minutes and then falls over from the water pressure. Though Seamus has cleaned up and is ready to go home, we send him back in after we bury a pole in the mud and attach the noodle-hose contraption to it with baling wire…and now it mostly works, though scum removal seems hard to come by. We will see. At some point, Jenn is laughing hysterically and claiming the “Country Jew” has struck again. We need help!
More Music on the Greens– we made our first trip to Castleton College’s weekly music extravaganza, which featured a local horns and rhythm group, that tried to emulate Chicago and Blood, Sweat and Tears…not particularly well, but admirably. What a setting…I want to go to college there, surrounded by mountains and watching the sunset set over the Adirondacks. Of course, lacy made many new friends, both Canine and human admirers. We started the evening with dinner at the Trak Inn on lovely Lake Bomoseen- decent, not great, food, great early bird price (give me a break, we are old!), magnificent view of the lake, and finished with a lovely sunset ride home down old route 4A. We have many towns to hit for free music this summer and Lucy is VERY excited (me second, Jenn a distant third as there are many projects to do around the Scum Pond. Did I mention that she has entered us in the Mt. Holly home and gardens tour in July?)
Jenn discovers crime in Rutland– so while I was away overnight (just wait, I’m getting to it), Jenn made a trip to Rutland and Walmart. She got a 12 pack pf toilet paper and two bags of miscellaneous things we apparently needed (there were 3 things on the list, but Jenn finds the Mart uncontrollably enticing). She leaves there and goes to the local Mission thrift store to look for juice glasses and then to the Garden store (there is lot of gardening to do before the masses descend on Scum Pond). At the garden store, she notices the Walmart purchases are no longer in the car, and embarks on a five hour journey to solve the crime, with the assistance of the Rutland police. No luck yet, but she is having daily calls with the Commissioner….and has notified the customer service management at the Mart to watch for the thieves trying to return the stolen toilet paper for store credits. Will keep you posted on this one.
Ferris-Stu’s Magnificent Day Out– Had to go to my monthly meeting at the capitol for the Governor’s Council I sit on. It starts at 8:30, I am never on time and it is a 2 hour drive, so I decide to use a free night coupon I have for being a Titanium elite member of Marriott and stay at the spanking new Fairfield Inn in nearby Waterbury (up until now, there have only been 3 Marriott properties in Vermont aside from the usual mass in Burlington- guess it is not a fertile ground for commerce barons). Apparently Ferris or Stu needed a road trip so the wonderful ZEN of the day was: a drop dead gorgeous day’s drive through the mountains, lunch from a little general store in Pittsford on the spectacular Route 100, knocking six things off my to do list while doing compulsive work from my laptop at the spanking new hotel (did I mention they upgraded me to a two room suite), a nap, a workout in the quaint (read tiny) little hotel gym, a jog through the back roads of very cool Waterbury (who knew?) , dinner across the highway at a real article family-run Thai Restaurant (who knew again?) and a night spent on the legendary- such a treat “MARRIOTT BED”. Wild times, there!!!!!
We finished the week with quick (well it’s traveling from Vermont, so not really quick to get anywhere) weekend trip to Chicago to visit our good family friends, the Moon-units, who were hosting a benefit bash to support Cathy Moons’ art therapy work in East Africa where she goes every year. It started as a small undertaking but gained momentum and eventually both Max and Tess decided to make the trip, and The Nave came over with dad Ray from nearby Rockford, so it’s was a family reunion, visit with the Moon-units, celebration of Grandpa Rays’ 91st birthday and a small gig for Nave, Max and I all rolled into one. We picked up a fourth player in Robin Lee, a very talented folk-jazz singer songwriter who took the stage immediately before us. Given that we were already shooting from the hip, adding a fourth added to both the chaos and the fun………….and I got to spend some of fathers’ Day weekend with my two favorite offspring and my long time second children, Jesse and Brea. Short trip, good time, …lots of pictures of the soiree are attached, along with those of the Pond adventures and other highlights of life in the mountains.
So, until next time, pull up a chair and shout your tonsils off for THE CAVS in game 7 tonight. Be well and prosper.
Mostly love.
Papa Stu
