[date Tue, Sep 6, 2011 at 5:37 PM]
PN:
I was in Keremeos on Monday, calculating what it would cost me to “rescue” an old Ford truck from a well meaning but neglectful owner. Nice man – reminded me awfully much of Norm MacDonald in appearance and speech (not content or context) ( [youtube http://youtube.com/w/?v=0eKOyI6l03Q&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PL8BC144D428E86F04] ).
The point of sharing this is the privilege I had of working with him, and meeting two of his children. The boy wasn’t really relishing the return to school today, having experienced “schooling” four times previous. The girl was younger, and about to start kindergarten today. She was on her tiptoes in anticipation. They live in the “country” about 5 miles from downtown Keremeos (a thriving metropolis it’s not). Shy and curious, wondering what this strange man is doing with dad and that tired truck. They watched us struggle to resuscitate that old diesel beast for over 2 hours.
September light on the hills of Keremeos. Summer is past – you know this is true because the hornets you don’t see all summer have lost their purpose and direction. They become visibly aimless. They fly around your face, into your drink, land on your hair. They don’t know the end is nigh for them (do they?). The sun finally goes over the mountain at 4 p.m. My host says they don’t see the sun from the end of November until February – their farm is on the north side of a rather large mass of rock. A mountain, I reckon. They celebrate the return with a bonfire. Brrrrrr!
We finally coaxed the old Ford to start.
How do you tell a man the price he is asking is twice the value of the item while he is standing there with his children expecting a certain outcome?
I don’t know, so I didn’t.
I waved as I drove away, after assuring I would call in a day or so when I had time to review my notes on all the vehicles I saw during the rest of day.
The September sun, the beautiful children, the narrow valley, the hard working couple, the old Ford truck on a 5 acre dream along the river…….. bitter sweet dreams; bitter sweet memories. If you care to know, the closest most condensed packaging of how I felt is in a melancholy Lucinda Williams song called “Bus to Baton Rouge”. I’ve attached the song as an mp3 file.
Rock on…..
In the spirit of self development, in the interest of the number two conflict (man vs man) here’s some schoolin’ to kick off the annual alma mater-izing of us all.
Thomas Sowell is awesome – here’s a cogent essay underscoring the fact that wealth is NOT a zero sum argument:
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/276251/two-worlds-thomas-sowell
Another great essay from the OAO (one and only) Mark Steyn – one of my favorite Canadian Sons. Here’s a quote from an essay called “Gagging Me Softly”-
One of the great strengths of common law has been its general antipathy toward group rights—because the ultimate minority is the individual. The minute you have collective rights, you require dramatically enhanced state power to mediate the hierarchy of different victim groups. In a world of Islamophobic gays, homophobic Muslims, and white blacks, it is tempting to assume the whole racket will collapse under the weight of its own absurdity.
Read the entire article here:
http://www.steynonline.com/content/view/4409/26
Hot and sunny today. Expected high 31° C. Summer sun showing up a month late can lead to that most PC adversity named “Indian Summer”. We’ve got the heat, we’ve got the leaves turning, we’ve got the sumac and other bird fruit trees in full bloom. Haven’t had the “killing” frost yet, but a number of hard nippley cold mornings for sure.
We were denied the “dog days” this year. If fair was fair, I say Injun Summer for me! Woo woo!
The sun is over the yard arm. Aaarrrrgghh matey!
Joe (Shipwrecked) Mekanic
p.s. Ramirez is balm for a blistered psyche…..
This is an oldie but……
