Hi, Dennis...Happy 60th, Ol' Timer! I have to be honest...my first knowledge of you left me less than impressed. The occasion? A practice shake-down when my son, Jay, was preparing for a Venture Crew outting with you. This was just a trial-run shake-down to show us "rookies" exactly what was needed. As a former Eagle Scout and a veteren of much winter tent camping, I honestly didn't get the whole "Cotton Kills" thing. Of course, back when I did the bulk of my winter camping, we didn't even know about materials like polypropylene or Gor-Tex. In many cases, good old denim jeans and cotton long-johns were good enough for us because that's all we had. I never remember freezing, but, looking back, I don't believe we were ever that far away from civilization either. So, if that was good enough for me then, why was it not good enough any more? Anyhow, going back to your shake-down, I remember wondering, "Who the hell does this guy think he is? I'm glad he's got money for all this fancy gear, but where the heck am I gonna' come up with that kind of cash?" I almost wondered if maybe you were getting kick-backs from the gear manufacturers or something.
Of course, this was simply a knee-jerk reaction. Being of sound mind, the more I thought about it, the more I began to see where you were coming from. Although I'm sure you wouldn't admit it, you were speaking from a genuine concern for the boys because you truly cared about them. And, in retrospect, I now know that you were 100% correct. Just because I had no access to such technology and materials in my day doesn't mean we shouldn't have taken advantage of them to keep us safer than I believed us to be through my former "rose-colored glasses".
Anyhow, the more I got to know you, the more I realized how many different facets their were to your being...and still are. From a rocky beginning, our friendship slowly developed. Unfortunately, because of my bizarre work schedule, my treks with you were few and far between. That didn't help to speed up our friendship any. I got to know you much better and learned more about you than ever before when I finally got to go on an Algonguin canoe trek with you (and Mike) back in 2001. It was on this trip that I learned of your wacky, off-the-wall sense-of-humor and your knack for the embellishment of stories that turned the mundane into the spectacular. In other words, you are a world-class BS'er, but I'm sure everyone reading this already knows that! Anyhow, on this particular trek, we were not permitted to have campfires at night because the weather had been extremely dry that summer. But we would still sit around and tell stories. I'll never forget our last night on trail. It was raining, but we were still sitting around the campfire pit (without a fire), having cigars and a beverage or two, as it got darker and darker. That's when you started philosophizing about our current circumstances and its reflection of life in general. It was a rather lengthy treatise (as most of your treatises tend to be), but the gist of it was: "Here we are sitting out in the rain, down in the mud, wallowing in it like pigs, smoking cigar stubs, and drinking cheap booze...we're no better off than homeless guys back in Rochester!"
You really had to be there, but, at the time, I thought the whole thing was one of the funniest things I'd ever heard. Had it been anyone else, it may not have even made a dent, but your expressions and voice inflections always give real life to your stories and other ramblings.And now we also brew and enjoy beer together, which brings a whole new set of experiences...and the accompanying stories...to the table. Linda, you have got to be a saint! But I am certain that life NEVER gets boring for the two of you. I can only imagine that living with you, Dennis, has got to be similar to living with a travelling circus.
But that's OK. I'm not knocking it. It just shows what a joy of life you have. I am honored to have met you and to be counted among your friends. Happy Birthday! And may God bless you for another 60 years or so!
Cheers, Turk
2 comments:
Of course the writer paints with a broad, though colorful brush as few readers will be truly interested in the minute details or in this case, the border line between obsession some personalities manifest.
Camping for example. There are those who prepare which is commendable especially for rain and other earth stopping events. Plastic bagging is acceptable I suppose for some however, the double baggers even triple baggers in Dennis's case. In almost some mystical trance he manages to encase each suceeding bagged layer with a knot I am sure Dr. Leakey great grand kids will marvel over. Of course to prevent even one drop of moisture from entering, the firs bag is swollowed first the top first then the botton, there by causing the debagger who is often in a rush, to unravel as in Russian doll like mannere, the contents of each layer one at a time in order to untie the encased item.
Then there is the sacred rite of examining each and every utensil, face cloth, cotton swab, combination knief which requires a binary code and with a quadratic equasion to activate the unleashing of even one blade, no less that 5 pair of sox, enough floss to rig the Nina, Penta and Santa Maria and finally the dead flash light which of course is now needed, as daylight as long since disappeared, to repack the entire ark.
All in good time I suppose, for one hell of a guy.
just a little more on all those plastic bags...
I've witnessed this man festoon a small forest with his bag collection - letting them all dry in the breeze before re-packing their former contents back into his pack. It looked like a Zip-Lock convention...
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