Hackett......

..... you know, I've been hunting my whole life...... small game, big game, varmints....... but this little flick from back in my younger days still resonates with me beyond words......

..... and really?.... I haven't actively hunted anything bigger than a breadbasket since..... sure, I've wandered through the woods armed while looking for bigger beasts, but I was never successful..........

.... coyotes excepted, of course......

...... but, god, I miss Buddy Hackett.......

.... the quote of the day today comes from this little video clip...... "and now, we look out on the barren wasteland that is Adak..".... notice the southern wind zipping in his window when he rounds the corner of the building near the end?......... yeah, they didn't call Adak the "Birthplace of the Wind" for nothing..... and no, the "wind" in this post has nothing to do with the burritos that I wrote about yesterday...... ahem........

.... you know, I cannot count the times that I gleefully ate cold cheeseburgers brought back from that now-abandoned McDonalds, folks....... I lived "uptown" (about six miles away) at the foot of Mt. Adagdak.... so we only had McDonald's when someone made the trip and brought us back a bag....... and at the time - even stone cold - those burgers were a treat........

... but in retrospect?.... good god, that place sucked....

Aromas.....

.... cold, grey, damp day here...... and I'm rockin' the kitchen...... today has been deemed a "comfort food" day by the Powers That Be, and I've picked homemade chili-cheese burritos to try my hand at..... and so far?.... good god..... after taste testing the chili-cheese mixture while it has been cooking four or five times once or twice, I think we're in with a winner.....

.... I plan to spoon that gloop out into a warmed up tortilla, slather it with sharp cheddar cheese, diced onions, and Taco Bell taco sauce, and have one hell of a meal..... I may even add a side order of refried beans.....

... besides, it is supposed to be dank like this tomorrow as well..... and nothing takes your mind off of a dull, cloudy day like randomly walking into a noxious cloud of chili-cheese burrito after effects...... it's hard to look longingly out the window and into the gloom when you are too busy rolling around on the carpet frantically clutching your neck and making gagging noises...... right?......

... right....

.... hey, I DO try to keep this place entertaining.....

hiking.......

...... oww, oww, oww......... I am sore, boys and girls....... and my thighs are jelly, folks...... for lo, I climbed a mountain yesterday with fellow blogger, Elisson, and he kicked my ass......... the man is a mountain climbing, REI-clad machine........ and we had a wonderful time.....

.... snow, stars, a great dinner, one helluva view, whiskey, firewood and the a camp fire that followed...... all in all, it was one hell of a way to spend one's February 3rd........

.... as he said last night as the fire was beginning to dwindle down, "hell, anyone can camp in the summertime!........ it takes it up a notch to camp in the backwoods, build a fire, and have a GREAT time in the wintertime!"....... and not freeze to death, of course......

...... and you know, he was right..........

..... I am a bit sore today, but hey, I enjoyed every second of the good company, good conversation, and good booze............

...... sleeping outside when it's 26 degrees is a small challenge, sure, but it is a challenge that makes you feel very, very capable afterwards..........

....... and we had a GREAT time......

Hmmm.....

.... a year ago - in just a few weeks - I posted this little song-drive.... and now that whole area is covered in hardened snow......

.... and tomorrow?..... tomorrow Elisson and I are set to camping above the snowline on Starr Mountain..... and yes, even though taunted so blatantly like this, I have fixed my Petzl....... and no, I had no idea that petzl meant what he said it meant...... I was merely reading the name brand off of my climbing head lamp........

.... good grief..... y'all should be ashamed of yourselves!........

Petzl.....

..... I just found out today - as I was unpacking my hiking ruck and checking all of the equipment for wear, tear, and functionality - that my trusty old Petzl is broken......

... now, honestly?.... how's a fella supposed to survive life's ups and downs when he has a broken Petzl?...... all this, and we're camping in the snow on Starr Mountain this Wednesday, folks......

..... damn, it's like the lyrics from that old Bee Gee's song........ "oh, how can you mend a broken Peyeyetzl"?

.... oh, wait....... that's not quite right........ nevermind......

Snowmen....

..... well, thanks to the latest bit of snowfall, my front lawn is now decorated with two of the most hideous, lopsided, walking-dead looking snowmen that The World has ever seen..... evidently there is an artistic side to building snowmen that is lost once a snowman builder reaches a certain age...... anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it......

.... maybe it's like seeing ghosts?.... I was watching one of those crackpot paranormal thingies on TV last night, and they said that kiddies could see ghosts because of their "closeness" to "the other side"...... and that they'll continue to see ghosts until "societal cues" poo poo the idea of ghosties, and force the kid to act normal and stop being afraid of the monster in the closet... (mine was always under the bed, incidentally, but I digress..) .....

... then again, maybe I always just sucked at building snowmen but it never registered properly when I was sculpting them in my childhood front yard because I was six.......

..... anyway, I can now say that - at 37 years of age - I DID create two snowmen yesterday...... and while they both look as if they have recently downed a pint of vodka, they DO exist.....

.... hey, at least I donned my boots, gloves, fleece, and jacket and TRIED!.....

..... thankfully my camera is on the fritz...