Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Surprise. No, everybody. Surprise!

Let me tell you about cool friends. Cool friends will invite you out and not tell you where you're going. You have to trust them. But they will make certain you have a good time.

Let me tell you about doubly cool friends. Doubly cool friends will invite you out, tell you where to meet them, but pull a bait and switch to make sure you have a special day.

Now let me tell you about triply cool friends. Triply cool friends will be cool friends who organize a group outing, then be doubly cool friends to make sure you and your friends get there, and then make it all one big shindig.

The Ringleaders

I know all this because of my agent. Let's just call her Mom. She got me a gig that would be nearly all women and where I would be fed. I nearly jumped at it before I asked what was involved. It sounded pretty good to me already. Here was the catch. According to my agent, I would need to lead the group in singing Happy Birthday. Mom sometimes forgets I'm a bass player and that I rarely know the chords to anything. Also, I don't sing in public. I don't have restraining orders or anything, I just make it a point not to as a charitable act. I said yes.

On the Right ... My Agent

The event--the doubly cool event--was for a friend I'd just met last weekend. I don't want to infer that the event was decadent, but our friend is celebrating a few decades. Today. How many is immaterial. At some point, we all deserve a party. And so it was done.

It was my first solo gig and I played a D chord. The song kind of took off by itself after that. All to the good. Later, I was asked to speak about my blog. This blog. The one you're reading. So I did. And I told the gathered crowd how fulfilling it is to be able to post the occasional picture and also tell the story behind it. Like this.

Some people are fussy about having their picture taken. I didn't pay much attention to that. However, as a husband, the father of a daughter, and a brother between two lovely sisters, I'm aware that I should be particularly careful about showing people in a bad light. If your picture is in the following group and you don't care for it, please thank me next time you see me. I've already removed the less flattering ones.


Today was beastly hot and humid, which is not atypical for southern Indiana. We just call it Summer. Thankfully, there was a pleasant breeze blowing at the Don Gress Pavilion beside the lake at Eastside Park. When I arrived, people were hanging decorations, setting up the serving table, getting the drinks ready, or supervising.



Soon afterward, we had appropriately serenaded the birthday girl, prayed over the food, then made it disappear. After my brief explanation of blogging and an invitation to visit here, I was off to help set up for the 4-H fair. This was at the request of the only other carrier of a Y chromosome in attendance.


The Man

Here are some candid photographs of the people who attended. 


 


 

  

 

This group was nearby, if not exactly in attendance. I'm a bit envious. A quick paddle would have felt good today.




I've no idea if this one ever thought it was a duck.


And finally, a fowl version of a bad hair day.

So there it is. A brief catalog of the festivities, some photos, and this. If you are not already blogging, I encourage you to try it. It doesn't have to be every day. I'm strong testimony on this point. But it's a nice way to share some of the goodness of life, which includes really cool friends. Get one. Be one.

Friday, July 10, 2015

Friday Night at Dinky's

One of the prime cultural events in Daviess County is Friday nights at Dinky's. If I were to describe Dinky's it would sort of be Craigslist--The Live Version. It's where community gathers on a Friday night. And by community, based on the license plates I saw, I mean Daviess County, Indiana, southeastern Illinois, and northwestern Kentucky. Since Dinky's is 45 minutes east of the Illinois border and at least an hour from the nearest part of Kentucky (if you take those speed limit signs as well-intended suggestions), you might say Dinky's is kind of a big deal. And you might be right.

Dinky's Auction Center
9084 E 550 N, Montgomery, IN 47558
Your first impression will probably be that you have arrived at the cross-section of humanity. Everybody seems interested in being there and is lining up. They're lining up for food, lining up to get their bidding card, lining up for a good view of the action, or lining up to find out what the line they are standing in is for.

What's My Line?
So what's in those buildings? Well, what do you want? Based on a quick glance tonight you could have had hay, lumber, tools, furniture, old riding mowers, or this cute little windcatcher.

Look Ma, No Power Lines!
Another building had fruits, vegetables, wheels, and fishing  reels. Next door was rabbits, piglets, and critters that fit in boxes or small cages. And next door to that larger animals were being auctioned. For each selection somebody with a microphone was extolling the virtues of the offering and speaking just slowly enough to make you confident about what you were spending. And just quickly enough that you were not entirely certain.
Wagons. Buggies.

Wheels. Reels.The Thrill of Deals

If you're noticing a disproportionate number of patrons keeping their waistbands elevated with suspenders or coifs contained with bonnets, you need to know where Dinky's is. 

Dinky's lies in the heart of Daviess County's Amish and Mennonite communities. As you drive past these homes, there is marvelous pride of ownership. The yards are in shape, the flowerbeds are bursting with color, and you know an incredible amount of work is expended to keep things this way.

So how do you get to Dinky's? It really depends where you're coming from. It may even depend upon how you're getting there, as this sign suggests.

Not a Volkswagen Reference

The gathering of vehicles was as colorful as they folks who drove them there. Many were motorized. Here are some of my favorites.



 Most of these did not have really huge engines. My guess is about one horsepower. 


But the bodies were solid, well-tended, and in some cases imaginatively decorated.


Another item being offered in the buildings was food. Tonight the special was root beer floats. One of us got one of those. I do not like embarrassing my mother, so I won't share who it was. Thank you for understanding. The rest of us enjoyed either chicken tenders, a cheeseburger, or a tenderloin sandwich. Another selection available was cotton candy. It brings us to one of my favorite stories. See the booth? Mmm. Cotton candy. See the sign? We can help with what again? The booth and the Life Change business are owned by the same person. My mother asked one of the girls about it and she just smiled and said, "Well, we like to fatten them up a little before we help them lose weight." And that, my friends, is the soul of complementary business models.

Life Change Here. Start with the Cotton Candy.

See if you can figure out which person in the following picture is driving the hardest bargain. I'm not certain either, but we are having homemade egg noodle pasta with our eggs for breakfast tomorrow, so it seems like a win-win to me. Well done, Mrs. C!


In the food area, we could also have had candy bars. But we wouldn't eat Snickers. We might have had 5th Avenue. We might have had Almond Joy. We might have had a Heath bar, but we couldn't have had Snickers.

You see, not all the animals we saw were for sale. One fellow had the cutest black piglet cradled in his ample embrace. It was just relaxing there with its damp little nose occasionally twitching, more than willing to be carried anywhere that fellow was going. Another was a three-week-old kid whose mother had ignored it. So its humans took over.

Bottle Baby

The woman and young girl leading the kid around were doing a great job with him. I asked them what his name was and they said Snickers. I can see it, can't you? The chocolate leggings, the nougat coat, the touches of caramel. There's probably even a metaphor for nuts in there somewhere, but I'll leave that to your own vivid imagination. This little fellow was precious, hopping around, then jumping, then running back and forth.

Snickers

Before you run out and get your own Snickers, just let me remind you of something. Meet Zero.

Zero

Once upon a time, Zero was a lot like Snickers. I know. It's hard to believe. One day much sooner than you'd like to believe, it may be very difficult to find a halter that easily slips over Snicker's protuberances. Just think ahead, okay?

Even the best evenings end. This is done to make way for tomorrows. Unlike our neighbors, we left nearly as lightly loaded as we arrived. And it was good.

Homeward Bound
If you're in the neighborhood on a Friday night and you wonder where the action is, you just may find all you're looking for and more. At Dinky's.






























Monday, July 6, 2015

Milk & Honey and Being Available

Fairly significant changes are afoot. My lovely bride and I have relocated to The Land of Milk and Honey, also known as The Hoosier State. Our home in The Free State is on the market at this writing and due to be shown in successive open houses this weekend. This is not trivial. That home was purchased new by my in-laws in 1961 and has been owned by their family ever since. In addition to prying my dear wife away from nearly all she has ever known, we have uprooted ourselves with no jobs to go to and no discernible prospects. We have a firm grip on fun.



It has occurred to me that whoever coined the phrase "Land of Milk and Honey" was probably unfamiliar with lactose sensitivity and fluctuating sugar levels. But what the heck. We're here and we're generally very pleased that here is where we are. We are missing friends, but we're making new friends and finding richness in relationships that have been dormant for many seasons. We are ready to act and waiting for a couple of key data points to solidify.

They are:

Work/job. The defining difference between these two terms is that work can come from anywhere and in many cases can also be performed from anywhere. Work is where my heart lies. I want to ply my trade and touch as many businesses and people as possible. Jobs are not so flexible. The day is coming, I'm sure, but it's not fully here yet. Jobs entail a regular commute to and from someplace. If our income is job-based, it will affect the second data point.

Home. We are being housed, fed, and loved by two wonderful people right now. Having just entertained my sister's dog over the weekend, I am now fully aware that this is not an eternal welcome. I love my sister's dog. I love that she is my sister's dog. You get me?

So we need to give my parents their basement again, reclaim all our worldly possessions, and attempt to stuff them into a dwelling we can call our own.

I'm kind of excited about that. Really. The smaller the dwelling, the greater the likelihood that we will select the things most important to us and let go of the rest. This will fulfill our daughter's most fervent wish--"when you die, please die as minimalists." I'm not demonizing dear daughter. That may not, in fact, be her most fervent wish. But it's one of them. She's seen us wade through items floating in the wake of my in-laws' passing and she is taking a firm stance. Not me. Not now. Not ever. So we have our orders.

As I mentioned, homes are generally within relatively easy driving range of places of employment. So when we have the former, we'll have a likely location of the latter. Meanwhile, we have a mortgage for a home we own but do not occupy, we have a home we occupy but do not own, we have obligations but no income, and we have the makings of a glorious mess. Honestly, I have not had this much fun in years.

I was told in an interview today, "you guys (meaning technical writers) are hard to find." That may be so, but we're hiding about as well as two-year-olds. Short of jumping up and down, flapping my arms, and yelling "Over here! Over here!", I'm not sure what else to do. Frankly, I want to be It. Tag me!

In perspective, this is just Monday. There's a lot of week left. In that time God can close a lot of doors and open a lot of windows. And there will probably be another week after this one. So I will continue to be available, to be searching, and to be the right person for the right opportunity at the right time. I think that is being all that I can be.