Three Beautiful Things 12/27/06: Haircut, Birthday Party, Poachin' in Pottsville

1. I love getting a haircut and, when I wear a beard, a beard trim. Today's trim gave me that feeling that I'd lost several pounds of unwanted weight and it felt very good.

2. Several friends from high school and some spouses came to a party at my sister Carol's for my birthday party and potluck. Good Lord we've mellowed out. We sat in a semi-circle in the living room, plates of food on our laps, telling stories and not trying to shout over each other. Very little alcohol. So when/where was the tipping point? When did we tip from self-centered, manic, excessive drinking wild Kelloggians to Kelloggians with respect for each other and as happy with a bottle of water as a bottle of Olympia beer? (Dad used to always tell me that a lot of people think drinking is fun, but, he said, "It's hard work." I certainly felt more relaxed and rested after last night's party than I used to when these things were a alcohol-a-thon....[but I do miss those free drinking, red-faced days]).

The Pottsville Poach Pond?

3. Jake told one of my favorite stories at the party: he and Goose asked Goose's dad to use his car to go fishing. He said yes, be back by dark. Goose and Jake went to the 10,000 Silver Dollar bar in western Montana and got drunk and then drove to Wallace and a relative snuck them into bars for beers. They got drunker. It got dark. They hadn't returned. They knew Red, Goose's dad was going to be really pissed that they were late. Then one of them had a bright idea. They decided to go to Pottsville to the fish hatchery. They crawled along the ground to a fish tank, not wanting to disturb the motion sensor lights. They pulled twelve hatchery fish out of the pond, returned to their campsite, partied with Red until about 3 a.m. and told bullshit tall tales about why they were so late, including saying they caught the fish in a spot a long way away, Horshoe Creek or Horshoe Bend (something like that). Impressed by the fish Goose and Jake brought in, Red headed out the next day for the Horseshoe where Goose and Jake said they had caught the fish, and Red came up dry. I don't know if he ever realized that Goose and Jake had bullshit him.....or if he put two and two together when the Kellogg Evening News reported there'd been poachers at the hatchery and figured this two and two equalled Goose and Jake.