Chris Loehmer Kincaid's Blog, page 4

Up North in the UP

Since I was just at Tahquamenon Falls in July, I thought I'd jump ahead on my journey journal and share my first trip there in 1975. 

Journal of our Journeys

Chapter 16 - Michigan's UP 

 

Manyweekend mornings throughout my childhood, we woke up early, and Mom packed usand a picnic lunch into the car. With Dad at the wheel, we'd drive to CopperFalls, Potato Falls, Saxon Harbor, and Ashland in Wisconsin. Just over theborder in Michigan, we'd go to Ironwood with its statue of the world's tallestIndian, Black River Harbor, the Porcupine Mountains, and the Lake of theClouds. I am indeed blessed to have been raised within a three-hour drive ofall of these wonderful places.

We had camped at some of these places onweekends before, but in 1975, we took a little more time and went a littlefurther north. All the way north, as a matter of fact, to the tip of thepeninsula.

The first night, however, was spent atMcLain State Park just outside of Hancock, Michigan. I don't know what it isabout this state park, but it has always held a fascination for me. I thinkit's the amazing sunrises and breathtaking sunsets that you can view from thebeach or from your campsite if you're lucky enough to get a spot on the lake.Even campsites that are not on Lake Superior (the sites Mom always picked) havea view of the lake through the trees. And late in the evening, when all isstill, you can hear the water lapping at the shore.

A couple who Mom and Dad knew from churchset up their trailer at McLain for the entire summer, so it was nice to stop inand visit them when we camped there. Mrs. Kleinfeldt even took her organcamping with her – a real, though small organ, not one of the keyboards of thelate twentieth century. She would play hymns on it on Sunday mornings for therest of the campers.

From McLain State Park, it is just a hop,skip, and jump to another State Park, Fort Wilkins. Fort Wilkins is a restored19th-century military fort. Settlers in the area were afraid that trouble withthe local Indians might arise, so they wanted a military presence nearby. As itturned out, there was no trouble with any Native Americans, and the base wasonly in operation for a few years. The buildings, having been allowed to decayover the years, have been painstakingly restored and tell a fascinating storyof a pioneer life where winters were frigid and the snow could reach the topsof roofs.

Somewhere along the highway, along LakeSuperior, there was a small gift shop on a bluff above the water. Theproprietor sold pieces of driftwood with paintings of birds on them, rocks withpaintings of birds on them, and framed paintings of birds, along with lots ofpolished stones from along the shore.

The building had a small tower. Up twoflights of stairs, there was a little windowed room with fantastic views of thelake. Occasionally, an iron ore freighter could be seen slowly moving along thehorizon. Only five months later, one of those freighters, the EdmondFitzgerald, along with its 29-man crew, would succumb to the will of the GreatLake during a November storm.

Further inland and to the east is anotherstate park, which hosts one of the largest waterfalls in the eastern UnitedStates. The campground at Tahquamenon Falls is as nice as any of the stateparks in the UP; they all have modern amenities, such as flush toilets, hotshowers, and electrical hookups. However, instead, we stayed at a small,private campground that we rated an "ugh" in the camping log.

We had a reason, though, for not stayingat the state park. We left the camper at Soo Junction, just north of the burgof Newberry, and rode the Toonerville Trolley through the tranquil woods andswamps to the Tahquamenon River. The small train rocked and rattled along itsnarrow track for an hour or so.

Then, we boarded a riverboat, which tookus within walking distance of the waterfalls. It was an interesting trip,unconventional in some ways. Still, we got to see a lot of the countryside, andthe scenery was fantastic. But then, it always is in the UP of Michigan.  

Over the years, I would return to all ofthose places, and the magic never got old. But, unfortunately, the ToonervilleTrolley and Riverboat Tour closed in the fall of 2024, after 96 seasons inoperation. It's a shame I never got to take my husband and our kids on thisexcursion.

(The pictures are of on the river boat that trip. You would think I would have pictures of the waterfalls, but I couldn't find any.)

Peter and John

 

Sincethe first of June, I’ve been sharing verses here on Sundays from the book ofActs. And just now, it dawned on me that I should back up that train.

Thefull name of this book of the Bible is the Book of the Acts of the Disciples.I’ve been writing mostly about what Paul did during this time, but there were otherspreaching with him and in other places without him.

You’veheard of the disciples Peter and John? Here’s one of their stories, from Acts chapter3, verses 1 through 16, from the Good News Translation.

One day Peter and John went to the Temple,and there at the Beautiful Gate, was a man who had been lame all his life.Every day he was carried to the gate to beg for money from the people who weregoing into the Temple. When he saw Peter and John going in, he begged them togive him something.

They looked straight at him, and Petersaid, “Look at us!” So he looked at them, expecting to get something from them.But Peter said to him, “I have no money at all, but I give you what I have: inthe name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth I order you to get up and walk!”

Then he took him by his right hand andhelped him up. At once the man's feet and ankles became strong; he jumped up,stood on his feet, and started walking around. Then he went into the Templewith them, walking and jumping and praising God. The people there saw himwalking and praising God, and when they recognized him as the beggar who hadsat at the Beautiful Gate, they were all surprised and amazed at what hadhappened to him.

          As the man held on to Peter and John, thepeople were amazed and ran to them. When Peter saw the people, he said to them,“Fellow Israelites, why are you surprised at this, and why do you stare at us?Do you think that it was by means of our own power or godliness that we madethis man walk? The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our ancestors,has given divine glory to his Servant Jesus. But you handed him over to theauthorities, and you rejected him in Pilate's presence, even after Pilate haddecided to set him free. He was holy and good, but you rejected him, andinstead you asked Pilate to do you the favor of turning loose a murderer. Youkilled the one who leads to life, but God raised him from death—and we arewitnesses to this. It was the power of his name that gave strength to this lameman. What you see and know was done by faith in his name; it was faith in Jesusthat has made him well, as you can all see.”

 

Peterhad more to say, but then he and John were stopped by some Jewish leaders.

          

Peter and John were still speaking to thepeople when some priests, the officer in charge of the Temple guards, and someSadducees arrived. They were annoyed because the two apostles were teaching thepeople that Jesus had risen from death, which proved that the dead will rise tolife. So they arrested them and put them in jail until the next day, since itwas already late.(Acts 4, verses 1 through 3, Good News Translation)

Allof the disciples were arrested at various times for sharing their faith inJesus Christ. All of them except for John were killed for their actions.

Ourworld is getting more and more crazy every day. I wonder how long beforeChristians in this country start to be persecuted. I wonder how many of us woulddefend our beliefs if faced with death. God will grant us the strength; we onlyneed to turn our lives over to Him and ask for His help.

(This picture above was taken at Green Lake Christian Conference Center when I was there for the Writers Conference in 2011. I'm sure it's nothing like the gate where John and Peter met the lame man, but it still is a beautiful gate. )

Summer Trip, Day #4 – Finally, Another Good Day

             Friday morning, two weeks ago, we left our Airbnb inNewberry, Michigan, at 7:25 am, eastern time (which is 6:25 in the morning backhome). Don’t know why we got up and got moving so early, but we just looked at eachother and said, “we might as well leave.” Hubby was still not in too much painfollowing his fall with multiple injuries two days before.

            Our big plan for the drive home was to stop at Kitch-iti-kipi(more on that later), but we had to drive through Manistique to get there. Abouthalf-way through the town, we drove past this old water tower, and I was like, “Igotta stop!” as I nearly slammed on the brakes. (One of many reasons why Hubby usuallydrives, but I took the wheel since his fall.)            

           The grounds included a period log cabin and museum.            

            But on to the “big show”.       

            Kitch-iti-kipi or the “Big Spring” is in Palms Book State Park. It is Michigan’s largest freshwater spring, 200-feet across and 40-foot deep.          

            Visitors ride an observation raft, powered by a rope pulled by whichever strong rider volunteers to show off their skills, across the pond. The scenery around the pool was beautiful that morning, but the scene under the water was fascinating and impossible to describe.

            Looking through the opening in the middle of our barge.

                            

            Fishes – they tell me they are trout – swimming past where the spring water bubbles up through the sand.

            I’ve been wanting to visit for several years. Hubby had just heard about it from some friends just the week before we went. Definitely worth the side trip there. 

Summer Trip Day #3 – A Mediocre Day

            You may recall that two weeks ago, while on vacation inthe UP, Hubby took a tumble and ended up in the ER. I thought we should end ourvacation then, but we decided that we could sit around the Airbnb as well as wecould sit around at home.

            So, Thursday morning, after I made pancakes forbreakfast, Hubby convinced me to take a ride with the dog for a couple hourswhile he relaxed alone.

            I drove up to Grand Marais, a cute little town along LakeSuperior. On a sunny day it would have been an intriguing place to explore, butalas, the clouds, which were in the sky when I left the house, opened up andset down the showers.

Hannahand I still walked around a little bit. Had to get a picture in front of thePickle Barrell House Museum, which was unfortunately closed that day.

Nextwe headed over to Sable Falls. Had the weather been better, I might have triedthe hike down and back up, but I just wasn’t feeling it.

Onthe way back to the Airbnb, I ran across this little rest area. Not sure ifthey plan on fixing up this place or not, but I thought it was cool.

Wegot back to the house and had something to eat for lunch. Then I convincedHubby to take a short ride with me. He was feeling pretty good, and I told himwe would take it easy. Also, the weather had become more acceptable.

Inthe tiny tourist town of Germfask is Northland Outfitters and Campground alongthe Manistique River. A walk past the campsites and cabins takes you to Bennythe Beard Fischer, who is a wooden troll created by artist Thomas Dambo in2023.

Veryunique.

Wedrove back to the house about half an hour later and settled in for the night.Not quite the day I had planned, but it was an okay day anyway.   

Imprisoned

 

I’vebeen sharing stories of the Apostle Paul here, and I only have a coupleepisodes left, so bear with me.

Paul,as well as many of those sharing the faith, was arrested and imprisonedmultiple times. It was for the same reason that Jesus was arrested – the Jewishleaders saw him as a threat and the Roman leaders just didn’t want to deal withthe disorder they blamed on him.  

So,here we have Paul and his partner Silas in jail in Philippi, in the book of Acts,chapter 16, verses 24-34, from the Good News Translation.

24 Upon receiving this order, the jailerthrew them into the inner cell and fastened their feet between heavy blocks ofwood.

25 About midnight Paul and Silas werepraying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening tothem. 26 Suddenly there was a violent earthquake, which shook the prison to itsfoundations. At once all the doors opened, and the chains fell off all theprisoners. 27 The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, hethought that the prisoners had escaped; so he pulled out his sword and wasabout to kill himself. 28 But Paul shouted at the top of his voice, “Don't harmyourself. We are all here!”

Paulknew that the earthquake was an act of God, and he knew that God had a biggerplan. The jailer didn’t know that. All he knew was that if the prisoners escapedon his watch, he rather kill himself, before his bosses would do it in a muchless humane way.

29 The jailer called for a light, rushedin, and fell trembling at the feet of Paul and Silas. 30 Then he led them outand asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

         

31 They answered, “Believe in the LordJesus, and you will be saved—you and your family.” 32 Then they preached theword of the Lord to him and to all the others in the house. 33 At that veryhour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; and he and allhis family were baptized at once. 34 Then he took Paul and Silas up into hishouse and gave them some food to eat. He and his family were filled with joy,because they now believed in God.

Thejailor was so relieved to see Paul and the other inmates still in their cells,that he knew he had witnessed a miracle and was ready to turn his life over toChrist.  

Ithink we witness acts of God every day. Just because these miracles aren’t asdramatic, doesn’t mean that God’s hand was not there.

(The picture above is at the old Florence County Jail in Florence Wisconsin. Even though it was built in 1889 and does not look very friendly, it was still a much nicer place than the prisons during Biblical times.)

Summer Trip - Day #2 – A Good Day Gone Horribly Wrong

            Wednesday morning, our first full day in the UP, our planwas to visit Tahquamenon Falls State Park, followed by Whitefish Point.

            We arrived at the Upper Falls and walked the paved path to several overlooks. It was quiet and peaceful, with not too many people out and about yet. The falls were beautiful.         

            We pulled into the Lower Falls parking lot about an hour and a half later.    

            We hiked the boardwalk, taking plenty of pictures. 

     

           And then headed across the bridge over the river to the island. There, we followed the dirt path that looped around the island and back to the bridge.

           We got to the far point in the trail, where the optimal photo op was a downed tree near the water's edge. I walked out that far and took a picture, but thought we should do the tourist thing and take a selfie of me, Hubby, and the dog. I picked my way across the rocks back to Hubby, just as the Brady Bunch Family showed up, so we had to wait for them to get all their pictures in.

Then we went out and perched on the log, trying to figure out how to get a selfie that included the unphotogenic dog. A sweet lady saw us and offered to snap some shots.

The last ones before tragedy struck.

            As I was walking back to the trail,holding Hannah's leash, out of the corner of my left eye, I saw Hubby flyingacross the ground, his arms over his head like he was Superman without a cape.Until he landed with all his weight on his face and chest. He had tripped on a tree root. 

Idon't know. For a moment, time stood still. What had I just seen? Was that myhusband laid out on the ground? Was he alive? How badly was he hurt? Or was hehurt at all? Surely, he'll bounce right up and be fine, as if my husband hasever bounced up, even on his best days, since I have known him.

Bythe time I was kneeling at his side, a woman had taken Hannah's leash from me,and two men were kneeling on each side of him, ready to hoist him up. As Iwatched him start to push himself up with his arms, I saw the blood drippingoff his face.

"Stop,don't get up," I commanded. I don't know what the men who were therewilling to help thought of this bossy wife. "Let me get your handkerchiefout of your pocket. You're bleeding all over."

           Or did I really say those words? I thought I said them, but I don't remembersaying anything. I just remember trying to get to all of his pockets in searchof that hanky.

           Once I had it stuffed up against his nose, he pushed himself up and turnedaround to sit on the ground, the two men each holding a shoulder. And thereHubby sat with a face that looked like – well – looked like it had beensmooshed into the pebble-strewn ground. His shirt did too, covered in sand anddrops of blood.

Iasked if anyone had a container of water, and a bottle of water appeared in myhand, along with a purse-size packet of Kleenex. I washed him off as best Icould, while he held his hanky against his bleeding nose.

           When he said he wanted to get up, those two guys lifted him to his feet andguided him to a bench, which was right next to us. All these things – thosekind people, whoever it was who took care of Hannah, the bench being rightthere. A person could look back on this and say, "Oh, your vacation wastotally ruined", but I said, "Thank You, God, for having everythingwe needed to take care of him."      

           When he seemed okay, I walked cautiously to the river's edge to wash mybloodied hands and rinse out his handkerchief. Hannah was sitting next to thebench, concern on her gentle face, and the woman handed me back her leash.

Someoneasked if we wanted them to get a cart to take him out – it was more than ahalf-mile walk through the woods to get back to the car. He said he'd be fine.At the time, since faces always bleed so much that it makes it look like thingsare worse than they are, I thought he was just banged up and nothing was brokenor needed stitching.

            The crowd slowly dissolved. When hewas ready, we started the slow walk back. I told him to keep his hat down overhis face and not to look up, so as not to scare the crowds of people we met aswe plodded along.

Atone point, I told him I thought we should go to the ER just to get checked out.When he instantly agreed, I thought, "Shoot, he really is hurt worse thanI thought." He hadn't told me yet about the pain in his chest. 

Sowe made it to the parking lot and he washed himself up a little bit more in therestroom, before we headed to the car.

            The half-hour drive to the hospitalin Newberry seemed to take much longer than that. But we finally arrived atHelen Newberry Joy Hospital. The staff there were all wonderful, and eventhough it's a small hospital in a small town, the ER was busy, but our waitwasn't too long.

TheER doc ordered a CT of his neck, head, and chest, and regular X-rays on hisleft hand – all places that were hurting.

            The doctor finally came in with theverdict – a fracture on each side of his nose, a fracture on that hand, twofractured ribs on one side, and three fractured ribs on the other side. So atotal of eight broken bones, which meant insurance would pay for an overnightstay, the doctor said, to which we said, we're sure we can handle this back atthe house.

            And off to our Airbnb we drove,stopping at the pharmacy for a prescription of pain pills, which I knew Hubbywouldn't take, antibiotic ointment, and bandages.

           What a nightmare of a day! But, looking back, it could have been so much worse. And the only thing I could do to make it better wasto run back to the store after supper for some ice cream for dessert.  

Summer Trip Day 1 - a Good Day

 Asyou may already know, Hubby and I took a short trip to the eastern UP lastweek. It was a long-anticipated trip, and we had high hopes that it would be awonderful and relaxing time. Many of you know how that turned out, but let me startwith the first day on the road, as that was a pretty good one.

            It was Hannah’s first big road trip with us, and she wastotally onboard with it.

            We took a lot of short potty breaks, but thefirst big stop we made was at Fayette State Park, just under 220 miles fromhome.  I’ve been there two or there times before, but any placethat has historic buildings is fascinating to me.

            Between 1867 and 1891, Fayette was an industrialcommunity that manufactured charcoal pig iron. It is located on the Big Bay deNoc of Lake Michigan, between Snail Shell Harbor and Sand Bay, about nine milessouth west of the tiny town of Garden.

Theblast furnaces at Fayette produced a total of 229,288 tons of iron during 24years of operation, using local hardwood forests for fuel and quarryinglimestone from the bluffs to purify the iron ore. When the charcoal iron marketbegan to decline, the Jackson Iron Company closed its Fayette smeltingoperations in 1891.

Overthe years since then, the property had several owners, but in general, the oldbuildings fell into disrepair.  

In1959, the state of Michigan acquired the site, restoring many of the buildingsand turning it into a state park. The town has been reconstructed into a livingmuseum, showing what life was like in this town in the late 19th century.

Geyser or Bust

Journal of Our Journeys 

Chapter 9 - Yellowstone 

In1872, Yellowstone National Park became the first ever park of its kind. It wasdedicated to the American people to be preserved for the enjoyment ofgenerations to come. At the time, however, since there had never been anational park anywhere before, the government and those put in charge of itdidn’t know what to do with it.

No one had allocated any funds for theupkeep and furtherance of the area. Poaching was common in that faraway place.At the time, the Wyoming territory was in what was considered a very remotearea of the country, so the public the park was created for had difficultygetting there.

Before long, however, railroads and roadsfound their way into the park. Though visitors on horseback were the first toexplore the park, automobiles began arriving by 1915. It is estimated thatstarting in that year, tourists drove 1,000 cars through the park a year.

When my family and I traveled toYellowstone in 1969, many more than a thousand vehicles were in the park. Itwas and still is the most visited national park. Still, the American populationwas also much smaller in the late 1960s. There were no hordes of people, justthe same hordes of bears that still hang out alongside the roads, blockingtraffic and looking for handouts.

Old Faithful was already very popular andeasily accessible. A crowd would gather when it was predicted to be due toerupt. The other geysers were just as fascinating, even when they weren’terupting. Just the thought that, at any moment, they could spew hundreds ofgallons of steaming water high into the air was enough for me.

Morning Glory Pool was gorgeous, and itwas hard to fathom that hot water bubbling out of the ground could attract suchamazingly colored algae and other organisms. Who knew that these microscopiclife forms could thrive in the hot water? The blues, greens, and pinks seemedto glow in various other pools under the nearly boiling water.

Some of the other geysers and pools were ashort hike from the parking lot. So, at one such place, Mom wasn’t feeling upto the walk and wanted to stay in the truck while Dad took me, Pat, and thecameras – both the regular one and the 8mm movie camera – to wander theboardwalks winding around the hot ponds and steaming pools.

We took our share of pictures and homemovies, Pat and me scampering in front of the camera for Dad. Even though wedidn’t view any other geysers discharging, we still had fun. When we returnedto where Dad had parked the camper along the far edge of the lot, Mom was allexcited. She pointed to a small lake not far away.

“A moose came right out of the woods andwent through the water,” she exclaimed. “He was just a couple hundred feetaway. His antlers were as wide as this camper is long. And you missed it, and Icouldn’t even take a picture because you had both the cameras.”

Sure, Mom.

And since we did have the cameras, therewas no way to prove it. As I said, the crowds were small, so no witnesses couldback up Mom’s story. We believed her but continued to give her a hard time,mainly because we were jealous that all we had seen was hot water.

Shipwreck

I’mstill writing about the Apostle Paul here on Sundays. He preached in the citiesof Ephesus, Corinth, Philippi, Thessalonica, Athens, Rome, Antioch, Iconium,Lystra, Jerusalem, and Damascus, and more. I’d love to write about theremarkable things that happened in each of these places, but you’ll just haveto pull out your Bible and, starting in Acts 13, read about all this yourself.

Duringmany of these visits, the leaders of the local Jewish churches accused Paul ofcausing trouble and spreading lies. He was run out of a lot of towns andarrested multiple times. At one point when he was in prison, he asked to go toRome to be tried. As a Roman citizen, he could appear before the Roman emperorto get a fair trial. This meant a long, long ship ride through theMediterranean Sea. 

Here'sthe story beginning in Acts 27, with Paul’s travel companion, Luke, narrating(and with me deleting a lot of it as the whole story gets pretty long).

7 We sailed slowly for several days andwith great difficulty finally arrived off the town of Cnidus. The wind wouldnot let us go any farther in that direction, so we sailed down the shelteredside of the island of Crete, passing by Cape Salmone. 8 We kept close to thecoast and with great difficulty came to a place called Safe Harbors, not farfrom the town of Lasea.

Paul told them, 10 “Men, I see that ourvoyage from here on will be dangerous; there will be great damage to the cargoand to the ship, and loss of life as well.”

 Butthose in charge ignored him.

13 A soft wind from the south began toblow, and the men thought that they could carry out their plan, so they pulledup the anchor and sailed as close as possible along the coast of Crete. 14 Butsoon a very strong wind—the one called “Northeaster”—blew down from the island.15 It hit the ship, and since it was impossible to keep the ship headed intothe wind, we gave up trying and let it be carried along by the wind.

         18 The violent storm continued, so on thenext day they began to throw some of the ship's cargo overboard, 19 and on thefollowing day they threw part of the ship's equipment overboard. 20 For manydays we could not see the sun or the stars, and the wind kept on blowing veryhard. We finally gave up all hope of being saved.

21 After everyone had gone a long timewithout food, Paul stood before them and said, “You should have listened to meand not have sailed from Crete; then we would have avoided all this damage andloss. 22 But now I beg you, take courage! Not one of you will lose your life;only the ship will be lost. 23 For last night an angel of the God to whom Ibelong and whom I worship came to me 24 and said, ‘Don't be afraid, Paul! Youmust stand before the Emperor. And God in his goodness to you has spared the livesof all those who are sailing with you.’ 25 So take courage, men! For I trust inGod that it will be just as I was told. 26 But we will be driven ashore on someisland.”

Thestorm continued for fourteen days.

33 Just before dawn, Paul begged them allto eat some food: “You have been waiting for fourteen days now, and all thistime you have not eaten a thing. 34 I beg you, then, eat some food; you need itin order to survive. Not even a hair of your heads will be lost.” 35 Aftersaying this, Paul took some bread, gave thanks to God before them all, brokeit, and began to eat. 36 They took courage, and every one of them also ate somefood. 37 There was a total of 276 of us on board. 38 After everyone had eatenenough, they lightened the ship by throwing all the wheat into the sea.

39 When day came, the sailors did notrecognize the coast, but they noticed a bay with a beach and decided that, ifpossible, they would run the ship aground there. Then they raised the sail atthe front of the ship so that the wind would blow the ship forward, and weheaded for shore. 41 But the ship hit a sandbank and went aground; the frontpart of the ship got stuck and could not move, while the back part was beingbroken to pieces by the violence of the waves.

42 The soldiers made a plan to kill allthe prisoners, in order to keep them from swimming ashore and escaping. 43 Butthe army officer wanted to save Paul, so he stopped them from doing this.Instead, he ordered everyone who could swim to jump overboard first and swimashore; 44 the rest were to follow, holding on to the planks or to some brokenpieces of the ship. And this was how we all got safely ashore.

Idon’t know. It sounds like the plot for a Hollywood block buster. It could havebeen Jack Dawson clinging to one of those planks, with Rose riding on top ofit. Or I hear the haunting tune of Gordon Lightfoot’s “The Wreck of the EdmundFitzgerald”, especially when I read about the men on Paul’s ship not eating forfourteen days.

Justlike the sinking of the Titanic and the Edmund Fitzgerald, Paul’s ship sank as well.But the crew and all the passengers survived! God had so much more planned for Hisservant Paul, and to prove that God is God over all, He saved everyone else onthat ship as well. 

(Of all the pictures I've taken on so many lakes, I didn't have any with a boat being tossed about. Probably a good thing. The photos above were both taken at Cave Point County Park in Door County in October of 2020. It was a brisk day.)

Don't Tell Mom

Isaw this meme on Facebook and had to steal it. I hate doing that; almost all ofthe pictures in my blog posts are ones that I've snapped at some point oranother. But here we are. I give full credit to whoever came up with this one.

Sure,my sister Pat and I had our share of "don't tell Mom" stories. Thetime Pat shot herself in the foot with an arrow or the time I got a nosebleedplaying "How high up the basement stairs are you willing to jump from tothe cement floor below?"

Butthe times that I remember most are when I was minding my own business on many asummer afternoon, and Dad came in the house and grabbed me. He'd drag me intothe bathroom, saying, "Don't tell Mom." Then he'd hold up his hand,wrapped with black electrician's tape securing a wad of paper towel to afinger, blood beginning to ooze through.  

I'dunwrap the wound and shove whatever was bleeding under a faucet running coldwater. The sink quickly turned pink with the mix of water and blood.

Eventhough Mom worked at a doctor's office, she didn't stock the linen closetnearly as well as I did mine in my adult life. No Coban wraps, gauze rolls, or evendecent medical tape. The only tape in any first aid kit back then was thick andunyielding, rolled on a metal ring in a metal case, which required Herculeanstrength to pop off. I could scrounge up a stiff piece of Telfa, but theantibiotic ointment was always expired. (But I must admit, my antibioticointment in my house now is always expired too.)

WhateverI managed to wrap him with, Dad was always satisfied and would sneak back outto his wood-working shop to see if he could cause any more damage.

Gofigure that I ended up working in the medical field.