Archive for the ‘The Junk Drawer’ Category

Posted on February 9, 2010 - by Hubba

Winter Work

This winter I have been helping a neighbor insulate his shop.

We began by installing new clear skylights.  Actually he did that and I handed him stuff from about halfway up the ladder.  I get dizzy on a tall horse.

Then we went inside to begin the insulation process.  I think in the beginning, the idea was to shuffle the contents of the shop around out of the road as we went along.  It didn’t take  long however to realize that wasn’t going to work.  This shop has been around for 23 years, and has accumulated stuff accordingly.  A person’s possessions are like government; they expand to fill the allotted space.

And so I began purging the shop of its contents.  Several generations of lubricants and oils, two cycle gasoline, cans of paint from the Nixon administration, a mind boggling array of tools, enough steel to rebuild the World Trade Center, hand tools, extra handles for hand tools, buckets, broken stuff (that stuff you hope will magically repair if you ignore it) etc. etc.  All on top of a base layer of dirt, metal filings, and cat poop.  I have been stuffing all of this stuff into every nook and cranny of every other building on the place.  Thank heaven for my excellent training in creating space during my employment at Wall Drug so long ago.

But we’re slogging away, and it’s looking really nice.  And it’s an indoor job, which counts for something this winter.

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Posted on January 3, 2010 - by Hubba

Let it Stop, Let it Stop, Let it STOP

This is the sixth major winter storm we’ve had in 20 months.  Before the May 4, 2008 blizzard we had several open winters, interrupted occasionally by very uncomfortable winter fronts, but no blizzards.  We of course were in a drought, and I can’t say that anyone wanted a blizzard, but at that time we wouldn’t have minded a good snowstorm. (more…)

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Posted on January 2, 2010 - by Hubba

Book Review: Going Rogue by Sarah Palin

I have begun my wintertime reading schedule. Actually my wintertime over-reading schedule. At least this year I’m not reading submarine thrillers.

For Christmas, someone got someone else Sarah Palin’s Going Rogue, and now I’m reading it.

When Mrs. Palin was chosen as vice-presidential candidate, I was as ignorant of her as everyone else in the Lower 48. I never became a fanatical Sarah Palin supporter, but I did admire what the media told us she had done, and I really couldn’t understand why the media didn’t. From what I heard, she was a strong-willed, almost Machiavellian woman who had helped Alaska grow and prosper. Of course, a person like that will make enemies, but I couldn’t understand why the rest of America, who idolizes the “man-eating” woman, turned on her so viciously. I also didn’t think she would be one bit worse than anyone else on the presidential ticket. (And for what it’s worth, I have been proven right.) (more…)

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Posted on September 30, 2009 - by Hubba

Fall Work

I just got in from helping the neighbors work cows.  We started at eight this morning and we were done by three, but we had a few odd jobs to do.

There were twelve of us, and it went really good.  I took my video camera and made a video, but between the wind and the cows, you couldn’t hear a thing.  I should have took the picture camera I guess.

Dang cowboys, always bringing a gun to a knife fight!

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Posted on September 28, 2009 - by Hubba

In Pictures; The Oxygen Kid

Bob Bosse of South Dakota Public Television wanted some old pictures of me for his Dakota Life segment (which should be out in May, by the way.)  I had been meaning for quite some time to find old photos and learn how to run the scanner, and this was the perfect opportunity.

I can now add ’scanner’ to the list of technological devices with which I have a tumultuous relationship.  But I got all the pictures scanned so I may as well share a few with you. (more…)

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