Wow, Jim, you have a prolific brain, still going strong ! I fully enjoyed that endless creativity. My favorites:
Honorable mention for Poignancy:
Spaghetti Western: ---- > Theatre Signs Wept
Hercules the Great ------> Cheetahs Get Ruler
Smart Genius --------> Mastering Us
Honorable mention for Humor:
Tippling Nuns -----> Gulp Inn Pints
Bum Wine -------> I numb we (I wouldn't mind that party)
Ultimate Happiness ------> A Miss Athlete Pinup (smile)
Mariel Hemingway --------> Why Manlier Image (?) (To me, that's exceptionally funny.. your "personal best" in humor)
Honorable mention for the "so true" category:
Heroin addict ---------> Diehard Tonic
Greenwashing ----------> Naggers Whine
and the all-time winner in my book:
Extrasensory perception --------> A stoners epicenter proxy
and the one that triggered an old memory:
Wilt Chamberlain ---------> Balance Him Twirl
Wilt Chamberlain.... I'll never forget seeing the below words carved into a high school desk that I sat at in a 1974 Literature class (and the response that it illicited:)
JESUS SAVES
and Wilt Chamberlain scores on the rebound.
Whats up in the 49th State:
I'm figuring on departing the Alaska lifestyle in the early Fall of '16. Layli's working as a certified medical coder for a small doctor's office. That doctor is planning on retiring about then and closing the business. At that point, Layli will have the required 3 years coding experience, making her somewhat in demand in the Lower 48. She made a nice transition from 10 years a teacher into the health field now, which seems to hold more promise for the last 8 to 10 years of her working life. And she ended up with a small pension for the 10 years as a teacher.
I am surprised how I have slipped into the life of a Special Ed bus driver in Eagle River, now for the third year. The "bus barn" is a small communal family, with pot luck dinners, Christmas trees and all the things you'd associate with a small office. It's kind of like a family there, with a larger then usual number of days off around Christmas, Thanksgiving, Spring Break, etc, mirroring a typical school year, and with Alaska wages, it doesn't hurt, nipping up on $18 an hour. It's really not a bad aging baby-boomer job for someone relatively career-less who's looking towards the age of 60, and the gig can be done nearly anywhere, (though wages in the Lower 48 might be humbling enough to give it a rest for something unique).
I was thinking the other day how retro a school bus driver job is... and how it's likely to go the way of a phone booth in future environmentally sensitive times. I mean, with a special ed bus (with a ride-along paid female attendant similar to a teacher's assistant) we are driving up to about 10 kids in a smoky, particulate belching , low fuel efficiency 20,000 pound? hunk of heavy steel on routes not particularly optimized (as would the computers setting up UPS routes). Sounds kind of reptilian in a way, like a linotype operator ???
Last summer I installed a commercial 8-camera security system, and then remodeled an optometrists office (including new counter, sink, plumbing, shelving, paint & flooring) so hopefully this year I will pick up some interesting summer work, mixed with enjoying Alaska's long days. I don't have a strong enough back anymore to pick up those kind of moving jobs we used to do for cash in the Wood Rather Valley, but I sure do look on them with fond memories... I appreciated your friendship in sharing those. Remember how we'd consult on how to rotate on end a large heavy object to get it down a bended stairway and stuff like that? ..... so while we nearly got maimed, we never needed an ER visit, and still had a lotta laughs, too. Ah... happy times.
Back to Alaska: Layli and I both got a little under $1900 each for our PFD checks (permanent fund dividend) this year. Even though oil-producing Alaska will "take it on the rump" if the low fuel prices persist throughout 2015 and 16, the PFD won't be decimated for at least another year. One could also look at a PFD diminished in size as having been dolled out to you ahead of time, little by little with the low fuel prices that impinged upon it... (in Alaska we are $2.40 a gallon, and no less, but happy to accept that).
Last summer, we did some airline traveling to see my Mom in South Carolina, Layli's old Florida friends, then we rented a car and explored North Carolina (renting a fishing cabin on a river) in Robbinsville, NC up in the Blue Ridge Mountains, then saw Layli's daughter up near DC, coming in via I-66 past the place of your "wonder years."
Robbinsville NC was near where the old movie classic "Nell" was filmed with Jodi Foster. That's a gorgeous place to live the small town mountain life, but very isolated, too.
My father passed away in fall of 2013 in Denver, not sure that I mentioned that; was 86.
My son Cale (28) got married at a winery in Kuna, Idaho, September 13, and we flew down for a whirlwind weekend for that. We tried to blast over to the Valley, but there was not enough time. We only had time for a Lowman --- > Horseshoe Bend mountain loop in our rental car, but with the blue skies, it was quite thrilling. Gas prices were higher then, but we ended up renting a Ford C-Max hybrid getting the mid-40s in fuel economy. We learned later, that the car didn't even have a spare tire, (there's no room for one) so the manufacturer gives you basically a can of glorified fix-a-flat. Glad I didn't know that, because we could have missed Cale's wedding evening with a single flat tire in the mountains... yikes!
Where to move to next? My mom will probably be pro-active in picking out a retirement community ahead of time for 2016, so that could be either in the Carolinas, or more likely the Denver Colorado area, where most of our relatives live, including my sister and her sister.
Even though I like the Blue Ridge Mountains, the sunny side of Oregon is a strong consideration. Definitely a truck and camper will be critical to my old guy & gal adventuring future. Layli's a bit of a camper/road tripper personality. Her daughters, are far too professionally "mobile" for us to even try to locate near them to chase any grandchildren (one so far). We just better get a good ground traveling rig with some camping space in it to avoid as much flying as possible, and live where we want to live. Cale and Nic will probably always be in the Boise area. Anyway, no concrete decisions yet. We'll never fade away in places like Arizona or Florida.... climate has to be a 4-season one.
How's that for a sporadic ramble?
Glad you are still kicking around creatively, Jim !
Best regards back,
Brad
Comments