Trail Report

Working at Gogebic Lodge today and Dutches on Friday.  Becker and I were both under the weather yesterday,  she is going to try and make it in to work today.

A cool Budweiser Commercial 

The day after his wife disappeared in a kayaking accident, a Claddaghduff, Ireland man answered his door to find a grim-faced Constable & one waiting in the front yard.

“We’re sorry, Mr. O’ Flynn, but we have some information about your dear wife, Maureen” said one of the officers.

“Tell me! Did you find her?” Michael Patrick O’Flynn asked.

The constables looked at each other and one said, “We have some bad news, some good news, and some really great news. Which would you like to hear first?”

Fearing the worst, Mr. O’ Flynn said, “Give me the bad news first.”

The constable said, “I’m sorry to tell you, sir, but early this morning we found your poor wife’s body in the bay.”

“Lord sufferin’ Jesus and Holy Mother of God!” exclaimed O’ Flynn. Swallowing hard, he asked, “What could possibly be the good news?”

The constable continued, “When we pulled the late, departed poor Maureen up, she had 12 of the best-looking Atlantic lobsters that you have ever seen clinging to her. Haven’t seen lobsters like that since the 1960’s, and we feel you are entitled to a share in the catch.”

Stunned, Mr. O’ Flynn demanded, “Glory be to God, if that’s the good news, then what’s the really great news?”

The constable replied, “We’re gonna pull her up again tomorrow.”

* How to Prepare for Snowmobiling in the 2018-2019 season **
1. Go to your local snowmobile dealer, smile and give the first guy you see $200. This will get you used to spending money there on a regular basis.
2. Fill a 45-gallon barrel with sand. Lower it into a hole. Now lift it out. If you can, add water to the sand and try it again. Do this 5 times per day. This will get your back in shape for lifting your sled out of the deep snow.
3. Tie a rope to a heavy-duty spring. Pull the rope repeatedly with each arm until the pain in your shoulders meets somewhere in middle your back. This will get you in shape for starting your bud’s sled, which he conveniently forgot was out of gas. It’s best to do this exercise while someone is spraying starting fluid into your nose and eyes also.
4. Drink four ounces of cod liver oil mixed with a strong laxative. Dress with long underwear, wool pants, snowmobile bibs, insulated boots and heavy coat. Walk far into the woods without any paper products and wait for a personal emergency. This get you prepare for the Beer chits that come out of nowhere, and at the wrong time.
5. Place your hands in a bucket of ice water for 20 minutes. Put the carburetor from your lawn mower in the bottom of your deep freeze. Now climb in the deep freeze, shut the lid and overhaul it while holding a pen light in your mouth. This gets you prepared to work on your sled in the freezing cold and black of night. Advanced riders do this with a leatherman tool.
6. Dress up in your new $350 snowmobile bibs. Pour 2 stroke oil down the right leg, gasoline down the other and Peppermint Schnapps and Beer all over the front. Fill your boots with ice cubes and ask your wife or girlfriend to dance. This will prepare her for the stops at the local bars during a ride.
7. Put on a Balaclava and a full-face helmet. Attempt to drink hot chocolate through the opening. Advanced riders attempt this while riding a lawn tractor over in the nearest farmers’ plowed field.
8. Find a place where you can pay $3.50 a litre for regular gas; $19.99 per litre of oil; $16 for a Hamburger and frozen French Fries; $3 for a coke and $160 to sleep in a cold cabin on a bed with springs sticking through the mattress. Stay for two nights, minimum. This will prepare you on the high cost of your future winter trips.
9. Practice explaining to your banker why you need another loan for a $70,000 truck to pull the four $20,000 sleds, on your
$15,000 trailer that you still owe $50,000 on.
* Now, you are 50% ready, and somewhat conditioned to head for the trails and ride your sled.

I don’t have a lot to say today, kind of a nice boring day, but going through my emails to find a joke, I can across Tom Miller. Not that Tom is a joke, he too has a very nice wife, Holly, kind of like Dave who has a nice wife, Julie.  Tom Miller share a nice email and this is what it said:

I grew up with practical parents. A mother, God love her, who washed aluminum foil after she cooked in it, then reused it. She was the original recycle queen before they had a name for it. A father who was happier getting old shoes fixed than buying new ones..    

 

Their marriage was good, their dreams focused. Their best friends lived barely a wave away.

 

I can see them now, Dad in trousers, tee shirt and a hat and Mom in a house dress, lawn mower in one hand, and dish-towel in the other. It was the time for fixing things. A curtain rod, the kitchen radio, screen door, the oven door, the hem in a dress. Things we keep.    

 

It was a way of life, and sometimes it made me crazy. All that re-fixing, eating, renewing, I wanted just once to be wasteful. Waste meant affluence. Throwing things away meant you knew there’d always be more.    

 

But then my mother died, and on that clear summer’s night, in the warmth of the hospital room, I was struck with the pain of learning that sometimes there isn’t any more.    

 

Sometimes, what we care about most gets all used up and goes away…never to return.. So… While we have it….. it’s best we love it… And care for it… And fix it when it’s broken……… And heal it when it’s sick.    

 

This is true. For marriage……. And old cars….. And children with bad report cards….. And dogs with bad hips….. And aging parents….. And grandparents. We keep them because they are worth it, because we are worth it.

Some things we keep. Like a best friend that moved away or a classmate we grew up with.

 

There are just some things that make life important, like people we know who are special…….. And so, we keep them close!    

 

I received this from someone who thinks I am a ‘keeper’, so I’ve sent it to the people I think of in the same way… Now it’s your turn to send this to those people that are “keepers” in your life. Good friends are like stars….. You don’t always see them, but you know they are always there. Keep them close!

Holy crap I got my ass kicked working the last few days, guess I’m just getting old. Busy at Dutches Saturday and yesterday at Gogebic Lodge. Oh then Dave comes in. Did I ever tell you how nice his wife Julie is? Julie’s friends were very nice too.

We had a rainy day yesterday but after it cleared up it sure turned into a beautiful day. I was pumping gas until dark yesterday. Becker even had to pitch in and do dishes for us last night, Thanks Honey.

Busy last night at Dutches watching the Michigan ND game. Just too bad they couldn’t pull it off. I never got into collage football but I may now because the NFL sucks the big one. Working at the Lodge this morning, not much sleep last night so I hope I’m not too crabby. Me crabby LOL.

Calendars are up to date for this winter’s rentals. I think I have everyone. If you see a date as open that you reserved please let me know ASAP.

I am working at Dutches in Marenisco tonight  if you are out and about. But be careful it is a holiday weekend.

I have all the web cams that are streaming video up and most of the still ones online. I still have a few that I am having problems with.

So far what I have checked looks OK on computer or mobile devices, leave me a comment if you see any problems on the facebook Tom’s trail report page.

Well it looks like things are going OK on the web site so far. Now I have to start adding all the content. I was mislead by godaddy last year and after spending a bunch of money with them all I was left with was a shitty web site that was a resource hog.  I’ll be doing this one on my own and relearning all the stuff I forgot the last few years. I will get google ads going again shortly so please click on them when something interests you, it helps support the site. Thanks for all your patients, and I hope to see you at Gogebic Lodge or Old Dutch’s Bar in Marenisco.

Man have I ever struggled with this shit. Hopefully I am up and running now. If I am I will start adding links and get my rental calendar back on line very soon.