Merry Christmas Everyone

I'll be back after New Years

Taking a little time off.

How I start my day: 

            The other morning shortly after 5:00 am, with coffee cup in hand I opened the side  garage door to assess the morning and sort of sniff things out. When I did the light fell on a white tailed doe not 10 feet from me. She froze for an instant then launched into the darkness and was gone. I could hear the thumping of her little hooves for a second then I heard her going through the cedars. It was a good morning. My coffee was cold before I remembered what I had in my hand. For those who wonder why I choose to live in this part of the country there’s your answer. We don't have many of the amenities an urban area can offer, but things like that just don’t happen in New York City.

Merry Christmas, friends.

Remember the reason for the season.

Way back in the woods:

          As I was paddling upstream on a hot and muggy day last summer, I decided to go around the back side of one of the many small islands in the river. In normal times the water is too shallow to get behind some of those islands, but the water was pretty high. Plodding along I came to a small branch that I had never noticed before. It was heading off to the east and looked kind of interesting, so I took a chance. The stream was a virtual tunnel of overhanging trees, and the farther I went the darker it got. I was so intent on fighting the current that I didn’t noticed that there was not a sound to be heard. The ever present cicadas weren’t even singing. Actually, it was getting rather spooky. What little sunlight that filtered through the canopy had turned to no more that a green glow. As I often do, when I want to stop, I grabbed a low hanging tree branch. Then I heard it, way off in the woods, Dueling Banjos or the Theme from Deliverance. I grabbed a westbound current and slid out of there backwards. One wouldn’t think a kayak could go that fast in reverse.

“Life is much too important to be taken seriously.”

 Books by Lou Bradshaw available on Amazon Kindle

 A Fine Kettle of Fish – Hickory Jack – Blue – Ace High – Blue Norther – Cain

–  One Man Standing – Rubio –  Cain…just Cain….Spirit Valley….. Driftin’….Now available JL Tate Texas Ranger

Visit me on Facebook Lou Bradshaw Artist – Author or www.facebook.com/loubradshawarts

Or you can contact me at loubradshaw7@gmail.com

Or at Amazon Author Central www.amazon.com/author/loubradshaw

A Slower Pace:

          In September, my high school class had its 55^th reunion. We weren’t able to make it, and an old chum sent me an email asking me why. I tried to come up with all kinds of excuses, but I finally had to break down and tell him the truth. It concerns all those girls I used to chase. I suspect that a lot of them don’t run as fast as they did back then. Just what would I do if I caught one?

“Life is much too important to be taken seriously.”

 Books by Lou Bradshaw available on Amazon Kindle

 A Fine Kettle of Fish – Hickory Jack – Blue – Ace High – Blue Norther – Cain

–  One Man Standing – Rubio –  Cain…just Cain….Spirit Valley….. Driftin’….Now available JL Tate Texas Ranger

Visit me on Facebook Lou Bradshaw Artist – Author or www.facebook.com/loubradshawarts

Or you can contact me at loubradshaw7@gmail.com

Or at Amazon Author Central www.amazon.com/author/loubradshaw

Pergolas:

          Through the years and the ravages of Mother Nature, we have lost 2 large trees that shaded our deck. Needless to say, the sun in this part of the country can be and is summertime monster. Our deck became a place you didn’t want to spend much time. We looked at many solutions to the problem from awnings to moving to Idaho, but none gave us what we wanted. Avon found a thing called a pergola, which would give us the shade from mid-morning through late afternoon – perfect. And… the local Lowe’s store had (1) in stock, so off I went.

          When I got the 900 pound, 8 foot long carton home I read the directions, and they said I could be in the shade within 30 minutes – my heart was all aflutter. The pergola claimed to be 10 foot square, which was perfect because our deck is 10’ x 40’. Unfortunately, what the description didn’t say was that the pergola shades a 10’ square, but the actual footprint is 11 ½’ square. So, after deck modifications, rail notchings, and some highly acrobatic and risky balancing feats we sat under our pergola in total comfort. That 30 minute set up only took a little less than 9 hours.  

“Life is much too important to be taken seriously.”

 Books by Lou Bradshaw available on Amazon Kindle

 A Fine Kettle of Fish – Hickory Jack – Blue – Ace High – Blue Norther – Cain

–  One Man Standing – Rubio –  Cain…just Cain….Spirit Valley….. Driftin’….Now available JL Tate Texas Ranger

Visit me on Facebook Lou Bradshaw Artist – Author or www.facebook.com/loubradshawarts

Or you can contact me at loubradshaw7@gmail.com

Or at Amazon Author Central www.amazon.com/author/loubradshaw

I had myself worried:

          This morning I started to put on my hat and go outside, but I couldn’t get it on. I looked at the adjustment band and it hadn’t slipped or anything, so I tried it again – still wouldn’t fit. I thought, “I must be putting on weight.” I checked my belt and it was in the same notch as it’s been for the last 15 or 20 years. “Oh no,” I thought, “I’m getting a fat head!” I ran to the mirror to see how big that balloon on my shoulders had grown only to find that I already had one hat on my head and was trying to put another on top of it. I didn’t know whether to be happy that I wasn’t a fat head or be upset that I was an airhead.

“Life is much too important to be taken seriously.”

 Books by Lou Bradshaw available on Amazon Kindle

 A Fine Kettle of Fish – Hickory Jack – Blue – Ace High – Blue Norther – Cain

–  One Man Standing – Rubio –  Cain…just Cain….Spirit Valley….. Driftin’….Now available JL Tate Texas Ranger

Visit me on Facebook Lou Bradshaw Artist – Author or www.facebook.com/loubradshawarts

Or you can contact me at loubradshaw7@gmail.com

Or at Amazon Author Central www.amazon.com/author/loubradshaw

It makes one wonder: 

          Back when my son, Chris was still in high school (a time I try not to remember), he and I were loading hay into the horse barn, when we ran across a suspicious looking plant seemingly growing wild.* “Is that what I think it is?” He asked. Having a pretty good idea what he thought it was and wandering how he knew what he thought it was even looked like, I affirmed that it was. We both denied having any idea how it got there beside the barn. So… after giving our best efforts to come up with an answer as to how that stuff got there. We finally decided that Red the wonder horse had been smoking pot.

*I later learned, that during the WWII years, hemp was grown here in the Ozarks to support the war effort, with such things as rope, cord, and twine.

“Life is much too important to be taken seriously.”

 Books by Lou Bradshaw available on Amazon Kindle

 A Fine Kettle of Fish – Hickory Jack – Blue – Ace High – Blue Norther – Cain

–  One Man Standing – Rubio –  Cain…just Cain….Spirit Valley….. Driftin’….Now available JL Tate Texas Ranger

Visit me on Facebook Lou Bradshaw Artist – Author or www.facebook.com/loubradshawarts

Or you can contact me at loubradshaw7@gmail.com

Or at Amazon Author Central www.amazon.com/author/loubradshaw