Winter Time Update

It's winter here and I've gone into hibernation. I haven't felt too creative as of late, but tonight, the creative juices are flowing and I feel the need to update this blog...

I haven't been doing too much with myself these days. I've been in the process of finding a new job/career so I've spent a lot of my time in front of the computer searching the classifieds, daydreaming of what my new job/career would be. There's all kinds of jobs out there, some more interesting than others so I've just been throwing my "resume darts" at the board and waiting for one to stick. Working at a printing press, printing circulars for newspapers. Working at the local bakery, baking burger buns, hotdog buns, dinner rolls, etc. Building dormitory furniture. Working for a water testing / purification company. Assembling aluminum trailers for equipment/ATV's. Operating a vending machine route. Operating a linen rental route, picking up and dropping off uniforms and other assorted linens.

The possibilities are endless really. I haven't been applying for carpentry jobs though, my previous profession. Given my situation, I thought it the perfect time to try something else. Why not? Sure, I could spend the rest of my life being a carpenter. Building commercial buildings was usually fulfilling but I figure that any job done right could be just as fulfilling. I spent 10 years (5 in the field, 5 in the office, estimating, procuring more work for the co.) working in the commercial carpentry industry. Building schools, offices, churches, strip malls and grocery stores but the industry started to get to me. After 5 years of competing against other companies, the whole thing started to rub me the wrong way. Everyone a cutthroat, trying to out-bid everyone else, dropping their prices so low they'd be losing money just to get work. I guess you have that in any industry really so it looks like I'll be trying to stay out of sales too.

 

The gas industry is booming up here but I'd rather not be part of that ugly monster either. That's a last resort type of career for me. I just can't get behind them and what they are doing to this beautiful land. Scarring the country side with pad sites and pipelines. Poisoning the ground water. All so some greedy corporate pigs can buy another house and fund more evil politicians.

 

Making a living is an unfortunate side of life but a necessary one. You got to pay the bills, right? No "darts" have hit the mark yet so I'll just keep throwing them and maybe one day soon I'll land a new career. But for now, I'll just keep on living. Doing what I love. Banging on the drums. Doodling. Listening to music. Smoking Hookahs. Playing Disc Golf. Exploring my backyard for hours on end. Daydreaming of a life that satisfies me endlessly...

Zephanie

I rarely like to spend money on myself, but once a year, around Christmas time, I splurge on one or two expensive things for myself. When I moved in to the Squirrel Inn in the fall, I didn't plan on getting myself anything because I felt living here was enough of a gift for a lifetime let alone a Christmas present. But shortly after moving in, I learned of a litter of puppies born October 2nd that my brother's class had visited on Agricultural Day. The farm they visited was home to my brother's teacher and her 2 dogs, a Black German Shepherd and Alaskan Malamute/Golden Retriever mix. My brother Jon's teacher even brought the puppies in to class on a few occasions to play with the kids. This breed was definitely made for families. The puppies were up for adoption and I just had to have one. Maybe I'd splurge on myself this year after all.

Pile of Puppies

After a few weeks, we went to visit the puppies and see which one wanted to come home with me. Each time my family has gotten a new pup, we've let the puppy choose us instead of us choosing the puppy. Jon and I sat on the floor with the 5 puppies (4 female, 1 male), all with typical German Shepherd markings except one all black female, and played for a few hours. I immediately took a shine to the all black one. I couldn't take my eyes off her midnight black coat with white accents on her chest and toes. She was most playful with Jon and I too! A couple of nips at my beard and I was sold. She was coming home with me! I "reserved" her and assured the owners I would be back for her as soon as she was old enough to leave home.

ADORABLE! 5 wks old.

Before I knew it, 2 weeks had passed and it was time to bring her home. My father, sister and brother piled into the truck with me and we headed for the farm. We arrived and the mother dog came out to greet us as we made our way to the house. The whole brood was out on the porch enjoying the sunshine, playing and romping and we joined in the fun for a few minutes, letting them know we were good people and that their sibling was in good hands. When it was time to go, I picked up my pup and headed for the truck. The mother followed us out and as we walked, I thanked her profusely for letting me have one of her pups. She seemed to understand what was happening and gave me some nudges of approval as we parted ways. The puppy nuzzled up in my coat and softly whimpered as we rode away to her new home, stealing my heart before we were even out of the driveway.

The ride home

 

I've always wanted a dog, but living in apartments ever since I moved out of the nest made it a bit difficult. And seeing as how I'm almost 30, I figured it was time for me to take on a parental roll of some kind and the cats, well, they didn't need much parenting. Moving in to the Squirrel Inn with no plans of ever moving again gave me the opportunity to finally get the dog I always wanted. I said I would wait for the right dog to come to me and it turns out I didn't have to wait very long. I was barely unpacked and she was here, peeing on my floor and chewing up my old socks. and I was in love.

 

Zephanie never leaves my side here on the mountain. We spend our days playing in the yard and taking walks. She loves chasing the tennis ball and Frisbee around the yard. She's already bringing them back to me and dropping them at my feet. What a smart pup! We went out for her first round of Disc Golf the other day and she didn't leave my side through the entire round. She only tried to pick up the disc 3 or 4 times, but always stopped when I said No. I think I just found a new disc golf partner. She was completely exhausted after the round and slept the afternoon away when we got home.

So now, I have a new best friend. My Parents finally have a "grandpuppy" and my family has another fantastic addition to the long line of great dogs that have kept us safe and happy through the years. She has some big shoes to fill when it comes to my family's dogs though. I hope she's up for the challenge.

 The best "Nanny" my family ever had, Shellie. 

 

 

Zephanie especially loves when people come to visit. Maybe you should come visit her (and me) soon before she grows up. Unfortunately, she won't be a puppy forever, but that's not such a bad thing. Maybe when she grows up, she'll stop pooping on my floor... Well, we can dream, can't we?

Deer Camp!

Every year, for as long as I can remember, the weekend after Thanksgiving, my father would head to the hills in search of the ever elusive White Tailed Deer. This tradition known to most as Deer Camp consists of a week-long Manfest in the woods, joined by a handful of your Manfriends, everyone enjoying copious amounts of Eating Manfoods, Drinking, Smoking, Story Telling, Card Playing and other Manly pastimes*. Then at 4am Monday morning, the men roll out of bed, eat a huge breakfast and head up the mountain in the darkness to their stands to wait for Sunrise and the hunt to begin. Some choose to use a blind, some a treestand, and some, like my father and I, choose to stalk the hillside in search of a trophy or in our case, a freezer full of Venison.

Around the age of 14, I was allowed to join in the fun (see below, hah!). As the youngest member of our camp, I was known as "The Greenhorn" for years. My duties included getting wood, water washing dishes and tying an old man's shoes (RIP Don). Over the years, I earned my keep and became a respected member of the Squirrel Inn gang.

Over the years, my father spent his free weekends keeping up the Squirrel Inn. He built foot bridges (flooding destroys the bridge every few years). He re-sided and put a new roof on the Cabin. He even put an addition on the House for Mazie. Most of all, we got innumerable cords of firewood down off the mountain to heat the cabin and neighbors, which I might add is one of my favorite pastimes. All in all, I think it's safe to say that my Father deserved to be left in charge of the Squirrel Inn and Burkhart Estate.

 

Happy Birthday Dad!

My duties here haven't changed much since I moved in. I still get the water and wood. But now I have some added duties. Like keeping the place clean, washing the sheets, and warming it up for guests in the winter months. I'm really looking forward to updating the cabin's furniture and cleaning out the years of junk that has accumulated in the sun room. I've already added WiFi to the list of services provided.

all that firewood ain't gonna cut itself...

The Squirrel Inn is going to be seeing much more than just hunters in the upcoming years. Hopefully all of you will come out for a visit. I want to share all of this beauty with as many people as possible. Maybe then you'll see that this world is a marvelous, magical world full of endless beauty and possibilities (the POSSIBILITIES!!) and not such a terrible place to live after all...

Photo by Matt Behling - Appalachian Trail, VA

*The only woman to ever grace us with her presence at camp was one Mazie J Burkhart, owner and proprietor of the Squirrel Inn. Therefore, it's a Manly pastime. Sorry, that's just the tradition of it all. Leave the Wives/Girlfriends at home!

I now walk Into The Wild.

I suggest you listen to this while you read on.



It seems Act 2 of this blessed life is upon me. After a long year of celebrating life and freedom I've relocated to the beautiful country side of the Appalachian Mountains in up state Pennsylvania. I am now the proud caretaker of the Squirrel Inn founded by a dear family friend, Mazie Burkhart. She passed away and named my father executor of her will. She wanted her property to live on and be protected from the evils of the gas industry and since my father knew the property better than anyone and lived down the road she left my father in charge of everything.  On the sprawling 160 acres of pristine Pennsylvania hard wood forest there's a small house,

a rustic back woods hunting cabin,  

 a 2 car garage with workshop,

and a small barn*.

My family and I had the delightful duty of cleaning out the house after Mazie left a lifetime (including her ancestor's) of possessions behind. Mazie was a rock/gem collector (had her own rock/gem shop in Williamsport for years) and the property shows it. There are small rocks and stones, some even cut and polished, strewn about her gardens and window sills. She was also quite the carpenter. She left a few pieces of her work behind including an octagon table with granite top. One of the benefits of this process was getting to claim small things like that table for myself. After weeks of boxing countless antiques and nicknacks, we moved the boxes and furniture out, now awaiting estate auction.

And now the settling in is underway. My cats and I have been living here for a few weeks now. They spend most of the day sleeping in the closet while I make myself at home in my new house. As I've been unpacking, I've been re-evaluating the "stuff" that I've moved along with me and have found much of those things getting packed right back into boxes from whence they came. So many unnecessary material objects, accumulated over years of living, moving from place to place, always acquiring more and more stuff. It dawned on me after I moved the 3rd Old TV I'll probably never plug back in, I really don't want any of it. I want to live a completely different life than the one that all that "stuff" represents. So to the estate auction that life goes, awaiting a new life with someone else.

Which leaves me here, staring out on a new horizon, mind and heart bursting with excitement at all the possibilities (the possibilities!!!), awaiting whatever the new day brings. I guess you could say I'm being borned again...

"You step into the Road, and if you don't keep your feet, 

there is no telling where you might be swept off to."

Special Thanks to my brother Jason for all his help moving

and sharing the first Hookahs with me.

*The barn was used to house a horse during Mazie's late 70s. She took care of the horse all by herself including shoveling manure and carting it away in a wheelbarrow across her proprety to "the dump". I find it very impressive that a woman of her age could perform such a grueling physical task. She was always doing things like this up to her dying days. I guess that's saying something about the mountain air.