EATING TRAIL MIX AND WATCHING CAPTAIN KANGAROO

It was, I reckon, along about

      Christmas-time of 2016

that

     someone gave us a 

medium-size sack of

     trail mix, and 

You know, 

     it has crunchy wheat, rice,

and corn chexes...curly pretzels,

     weird little round black 

crackers...a little nut or two

     of some kind

and I don't know whatall...

And then

BE finished it up with melted

     butter...and garlic and 

a shot of Worcestershire--

     Run-of-the-Mill Trail Mix,

customized

Can you guess what then happened?

Costco had a truck load sale

    about that time...of big bags

of: more trail mix, and someone

     gifted us a very large bag.

So alas...what to do?

     We were already stuffed with a 

season's quota of the stuff,

     and weren't out "burning it

up" on happy trails...

...but one Janaury day my wife tackled 

       the prob head on and 

tossed that huge bag of trail mix 

      into the freezer 

That was ten moths ago. There it

      languished.

Now then I walked into our

     kitchen last week, into

a room of marvelous odors,

    with butter sticks lying there

along with garlic pods, and a tsp

    of cominos lying there...

There were flat pans of mix

     lying all around, with whole

pecans, cashews, and various

     nuts having been sprinkled

on top...

The oven was going and several

     pans baking and the aroma

was...splendid.

My talented wife of sixty-one

    years proudly announced

"I dug out trail mix out of the

      freezer and I'm baking

it for Halloween!"

I suddenly stifled an urge

     to test that mix out

on the West Mesa, and

     almost got my hiking boots

out of the attic...

But for a week now I have been

      ensconced in my leather

Lazy Boy, wearing my hiking knife

     on my belt,..

... just chilling out, watching Andy,

Kangaroo....stuffing on trail mix,

    and reading Faulkner.

****************

BY MIL

20 OCTOBER 2017

THE LAST TOMATO

Beginning somewhere back in the long ago

mists of time, it seemed to be popular to 

name movies, books, songs, and so on, with

a "The Last..."

There was even a popular cowboy song dating

to the thirties or forties called "The Last 

Roundup."

One of the first movies with such a title was

"The Last Picture Show," and the beloved 

cowboy wrangler/ actor Ben Johnson won 

an Academy award for that one.

Others were "The Last of The Mohicans," "The

Last Tango in Paris," and "The Last Emperor."

"The Last" terminology seems to be alive and

well even in recent days, as we've had "The 

Last Man On Earth," "The Last Samurai," "The

Last Western Hero," and: "The Last Boy Scout."

And now, sadly..."THE LAST TOMATO" from me...

----------------

Everything on this earth

     seems to end

Tomato growing season is

     no exception

and this year it came 

     early

Last year we had dozens

      and dozens 

of beautiful shiny red ripe

      juicy tomatoes

and a photo of them 

     for the ages

This year, our twelfth year

     of planting in Earth Boxes,

began on May 25. a happy,

     cool spring day

as we planted ten plants

     in five boxes, with

one being a "cherry..."

It was especially hot during

     both June and July

and a "funny thing happened

     to our tomatoes on the way

to the kitchen table..."

They somehow caught a virus 

     and were brown and wilted

by mid-September...

Thus we got plenty of tiny cherry

      tomatoes 

but really a total of only about

      fifteen "big" ones...

the Early Girls, the Better Boys,

      and the Beefsteaks

all failed...

      They weren't early, better, 

or beefy...they withered

     on the vine...

My wife said yesterday, "I've been

      watching this last one ripen

and saving it for you.

      Do you want to slice it

to go with your bacon and eggs

      and then we'll be done?"

"Why not," I replied.

----------------

Last year!!

































\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

BY MIL

17 OCTOBER 2017

-------------

THE ANGELS ON THE BERRY COMMITTEE

....a thousand eons ago.... maybe.....

The Angels on the Berry Committee

      up in Heaven, helping the Creator

plan a nice "CREATION" for Man

had been meeting..."it seemed like

      forever," and they figured they had 

already thought up and 

      designed a few thousand,

or more berries...counting varieties in

     families....

When one day, an older thoughtful,

      "old-timey" angel named 

Petronius, who usually was laconic

     in debating berries

stood up and said:

"I have a proposal for a totally NEW

      BERRY...and it'll be called

a 'CHERRY.' It'll be dark red, bigger

    than a grape, and sweet.

It'll need a TREE to be grown from a 

    little tiny seed!"

"O great committee, keep in mind

       if we don't do this, there'll

be no:

              Cherry jelly

              Cherry Danishes

              Cherry tarts

              Mom's fried pies

              Cherry-nut ice cream

and      Cherries-sitting- atop- whipped-

                   cream on a thousand desserts."

Petronius further recommended a special

     cake to be called an "Angel Food Cake"

topped by a cherry icing.

He then produced a tiny seed and and said:

      "Like most of the other growing things,

this CHERRY TREE will grow from a tiny seed,

       and will eventually bear fruit."

So another miracle was added to the coming 

      Creation---

 along with ten million others...

Just a little-bitty seed...

*************

MIL

27 JULY 17