Who I Are and Why

Hi Carolyn,




Even though it's only been a week since I was here last, I feel like an epoch has passed. I mentioned before I left last time that I was going on the road to catch up with family of mine and of my LSBH ( Long Suffering Better Half ) in the interim.  Well, we did and here I am finally back again and feeling not unlike Marty in Back to the Future when he pops out of the DeLorean after his major adventure and its only been a short segment in present time since he left.






In fact, that timeless thing rules when it comes to family gatherings. If there's one experience that will remind you that you are not an entirely unique individual, or  the result of a spontaneous genetic crap shoot - it's a major family reunion event. It really gives you a front row seat on why you are who you are and how you got to be that way. I just finished an A-List event that unfolded over almost a week with my better half's family " up home". I also managed to combine a day and a bit with my own family so it was a familial double-header. Frankly, I'm family-ed out for now.




In some ways these events are not  comforting  reality checks. Reconnecting with relatives after a time away can really drive home  the  inexorable march of time and the relentless effects of aging and disease on those who came before us. On the other hand there are the latest offspring, from those barely able to walk to those barely able to tolerate being with stuffy starch collar adults,  there to remind one that the best shot we all have at physical immortality is through our genes - just like the best shot that we have at intellectual immortality is through our imaginations and what they produce.




 Okay, I admit that I did have more than a couple of those young'uns fix me with the " it's just some weird old uncle or something blabbing on " look.  Their parents instilled a healthy dose of  politeness in them, so they don't  roll their eyes and say " whatever ". But they think it! So would I have when I was in their shoes. Their turns in mine await.




 Oh yeah,  there were serendipitous moments. A rural teen cousin had parked his pimped up pickup close to the main event, and left the music on full tilt.  At an appropriate point it was blasting out Alice Cooper's " I'm Eighteen " That was my, as Jon Stewart calls it, " moment of zen " for that whole event, and I dug it immensely!




 Now I'm losing the deep and philosophical robes and gravitating towards matters  more ephemeral. In fact, gravity is the item du jour here .

I'm with you on the whole gravity thing, Carolyn. It's like electricity. It's there but I couldn't tell you in specifics what it is or how it actually works.  I do know that it's pretty desolate around most of Hudson Bay so it might be a pretty fierce tradeoff for anyone who wants to lose weight just by hanging out there. I'm sure the caribou and polar bears would be most appreciative of the new lighter you.

  Moving now to the riddle reunion. the last one I unleashed here actually came to me while cutting the lawn on a windy day. A particularly strong gust grabbed my cheapo plastic watering can and sent it bumping and bouncing away - I have since been leaving it partially full to avoid hiking down the road to fetch it again.  So the official answer would be a watering can and more specifically a crappy plastic one. Behold to your left a mug shot of the offending vessel.

 Did you know you can get an official " Haws" copper watering can like the ones used by the British Royal Groundskeepers for only about $120.00? Yikes. 







I am going to do something I quite hate having to do here - cry " Uncle" on your last riddle. I haven't had much time with it since I was out of touch with those of cyberspace for most of the time that I was "up home" so I just got my hands on this one a short bit ago. I have ideas but they all fall to the ground when the part about multiple elbows is factored into the mix.


I offer the following riddle for this time around:

 

Works in a pinch and with one

Springs into action and holds up well

A classic clothing hangup situation




Don