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A little about me...
Age: 50s
Sex: Male
Interests: Meeting a rich woman with a big sailboat. Send picture of boat!
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Sandbaggage
(Some are concidered to have excess baggage. I call it sandbaggage)
I do not intend to display a lot of what might be considered excess baggage, but I think it is hard to avoid. Face it, we are raised with it, and we expected to be nourished by it to form our personalities. It might be thought of as stemming from the folklore, religion, family heritage, public and private education, etc. I hope to reflect an aspiration to grow from those influences rather than make a lot of pages that condone such a narrow focus.
So, I will give a bit of an overview. I stated at the site introduction that I have had periods of heavy seas in my life. Some of the pages in this site reflect those periods. When you read them, you may feel like I am dwelling in the past. You may also get a variety of perspectives and opinions of what they imply. I have been told by some friends who have read them, that they are a bit on the dark side. Though that may be true, the are only meant to reflect what I am trying growing from.
I was raised in a pretty rural environment. During my early years, my family lived in the small town of
Tahuya, Washington
on the Hood Canal. The town at the time had a population of about 150, one store, a Post Office, and a one room school for all 8 grades. Three generations of my family went to that school. My grandparents owned the store and my grandmother was the postmaster. They used to raise beef cattle as well as a having a pretty large oyster farm. The year-round oyster harvesting was another source of income for them. My dad worked for my uncles who had a small lumber mill.
When I was about four years old, my mom remarried and the family moved about 20 miles NE of Kelso Washington, near the foothills of Mt St Helens. As you might have guessed, it was pretty rural living there too. As the family developed there, we acquired 80 acers. About 60 acres if it was fenced in fields, and a river that ran though the property. The river in one place was about 30 feet wide and about fifteen feet deep. It was great for swimming and fishing for salmon, steelhead, and trout. We had 4 horses, pigs, chickens, turkeys and 20 head of cattle. Some of them were dairy and the rest were beef cattle. We used to milk the cows every morning before school, and every summer, we would raise about a half-acre garden. Due to the marriage, there were six boys and one girl in the family...
a lot of mouths to feed.
It was, as you may have guessed, it was pretty rural living. In a way, I feel a bit sorry for those that have not had the opportunity to live such an independent life style. As for food, we were quite self-sufficient. But still, trips to town were made bi-monthly to supplement what we could not produce ourselves.
When I think about it, it is almost unbelievable how much things have changed since then. In the earlier years of living there, it was an open range area. There was very few fences areas and typically everyone branded their cattle. As kids, we would often just go hiking or horse riding, exploring the nearby foot hills. At times we would find a heard of wild horses that were descendants of the horses turned loose when they were replaced by automobiles. Some of those horses were clydesdale's that were leftover's from the early days of the area's logging industry, when they were used for pulling logs. People in the area were quite self-sufficient by comparison to modern times.
I could probably go on and on about how much things have changed, but I will try to keep it brief.
It seams that long gone, are the days influenced by the Great Depression. A lot of what people used to do to maintain or develop their standard of living has been replaced by disposable materials, technology, and craftsmanship. We never heard of disposable income in those days. I can't help but chuckle about that concept. But what seems a shame to me, is the loss of craftsmanship and related technology. Manufacturing has become so automated and under the influence of "lean manufacturing" that craftsmanship and innovation has become mostly obsolete.
After finishing my freshman year in high school, I moved out to live with my grandparents on the Hood Canal and finished my education there. My cousin who was my next door neighbor and two years older than me, became my best friend. He was a senior in school at the time. He talked me into turning out for the wrestling team. At the time, it was probably one of the most positive influences of my life, both his friendship and joining the wrestling team. We would go to parties together after school and sometimes after wrestling practices. I never went to parties prior to that. I was most always a very reserve and quiet person. While at these parties, I spent most of the time observing the people making fools of themselves and some expressing their capacity to be rednecks. There was one place that I felt like it was some shelter from the storm. I never had much opportunity feel like that much before. It was where some of these parties took place. If it were not for the parents and their children, who put had parties, I probably would have developed very few social skills. They were very open-minded parents. Going there was a bit like going to a Hugh Hefner party, but more reserve, considering our ages, and the legal consequences. Both of their children became very good friends of mine. One of their kids that was also in the school band with me, taught me how to play drums. He had a great sense of humor, but was also quiet and expressed quite a bit of self-discipline. They were very kind people that inspired me to develop my social skills. I still am normally quite reserve, and far from the epitome of social graces, but I feel that their influence has helped me advance in many social situations, including my career...
I have worked in a variety of fields, not just pastures either. I have been employed as a social worker, in power plant construction, as a mechanic, and primarily over the past twenty years as a quality control inspector for the aerospace and medical manufacturing industries.
The Sandbaggage strewn over the winds of time...
There's a crack,
in everything,
that's how the light gets in.
Leonard Cohen
I mentioned in one of my pages that I referred to Yin and Yang as light and the absence of light.
Though I may not be correct in how I address Yin and Yang, I am using Yang as an expression of positive influences and
directions in my life and Yin to reflect the influences of ill will or lack of spirit.
In conclusion, a common expression is...
"the truth hurts".
In truth, what really hurts is the realization of, and
impact of ignorance!
The Good, Bad,
and in some cases,
Ugly...
In the following links, you may not see as much as you would like from the lighter side.
They are pages that reflect some of the stronger influences in my life.
Crass Roots
Blues Clues
A Working Class Hero
Glory Daze
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