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No Post Today

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At least one baboon was alarmed at the apparent absence of a post yesterday, though she relaxed when I pointed out to her that it was located at The Baboondocks.

But it reminded me how we skate so close to the edge here at Trail Baboon.  The daily post (with Sundays off) is such a relied-upon accessory, one must wonder what might happen if the post didn’t materialize.

Like today.

Yes, because yesterday was such a busy day, I decided late last night that I simply wouldn’t be able to post today.  I was exhausted and  I was all too aware that this morning would bring a day-long chore that cannot be postponed.

My apologies, baboons.   Time ran out.

I briefly thought about quickly writing a post about how there was no post, hoping you’d catch the irony of it and my laziness would seem like inspiration.  You’d be mildly amused, and I’d get away with an easy win.

But I quickly realized you’d see right through that gimmick. Besides, I just don’t have it in me.  Lying takes energy!

So please forgive me for falling down on the job this time.  I hate to deliver less than a sub-par performance, but occasionally events conspire to create failures and disappointments.

No post today!

What th?

65 thoughts on “No Post Today”

  1. No, I couldn’t see through that at all. But then I put my glasses on. No. Still opaque, or I am opaque, or obtuse, or is it isosceles, but I know I am not right, which means nothing is left to chance, but a lot was left to Chance. All I can figure out is like an ex-career army guy told me me about how to make people think your too busy to get you work done. “Keep your head down, walk fast, and carry a clipboard.”
    So, Dale, where’s you secret sleeping place, then, huh?

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  2. Well, that’s a fine kettle of fish! But, since husband and I are headed out on a road trip to nowhere in particular today, and I haven’t packed yet, I’ll just get on it. Catch y’all later, baboons.

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  3. We could have given him the silent treatment ,like no comments today. But I blew it. Some sleep would help, some surcease of pain would be better. Or maybe he should just tell us whenever he feels like it to just talk on our own. Someday we should make the topic be is the fault in our stars or in ourselves that we are underwear?

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    1. Seems to me, Clyde, that we have demonstrated – time and again – that we don’t feel overly constricted by the day’s topic. We need no encouragement to talk amongst ourselves. Once tim is up and about, I predict a lively day on the trail.

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      1. I’ve been saying this for years (or at least thinking it), PJ. If Dale ever decided to go on a 3x weekly schedule, I think we could manage just fine.

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      2. I was at a coffee hose at 630 instead of in the steam room so i could trip the light baboonstic but they changed their password and by the time we figured it out my 730 appt was there
        Now here I am and I sure got a smile out of this
        I think dale should put this listing on file to copy later and use it once or twice a month
        No post today
        Wasn’t that a Herman’s Herman’s tune?

        http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CA4QyCkwAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DAuGWNshGM64&ei=J-tUVeziCoWjsAWL9IGIBw&usg=AFQjCNEdfOJ9YiNLDlp6v4Bjp324-yYK0A&sig2=5fT02vnBuZYEo5vOwyf61w

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  5. Small blog self-sufficiency

    I did most of my growing up in a small town. Unlike Carol Bly, who was a fan of small towns, I didn’t like it much. Grown-ups like Carol Bly liked it, but the small town world for grown-ups was quite unlike the small town world for kids and teenagers.

    One of the reasons for that difference was that grown ups like Carol Bly were more self-sufficient than kids and teenagers.

    Adults have more skills and abilities to make up their own things to do. They work. They get involved in church groups, golf clubs, bowling leagues, card parties. They go to study clubs and VFW bars. Non-adults don’t have as many choices. They can run around the neighborhood with friends until Mrs. Swenson down the block calls their mothers to complain that they’re running across her lawn. Older kids can cruise main street until Officer Prescott gives them a friendly warning that he’ll call their parents if he sees them come down the street one more time.

    All this thinking (if that’s what you call it) got started because I was in another small town recently. The lake cabin we retreat to regularly in the warm season (it was seven months to day from our last fall visit until our first spring trip) is near several small towns.

    The cabin has a garage. Previous owners had snow machines back when we had snow. Well, I have a little convertible that I store in the garage during the months when the weather is too cold for an un-insulated cabin or a topless car.

    Saturday afternoon I took the car cover off of the little toy in the garage, checked the floor for oil or water leaks, checked the engine compartment, trunk, and passenger compartment for mice. It all looked good. I reconnected the battery and started the car. Everything seemed fine.

    I backed the car out of the garage and into the sunshine. Then I noticed the flat tire. Quickly I drove the car back into the garage with its concrete floor. It’s a 20-year-old car, but I had never had the jack out before; nor the temporary spare tire.

    After some effort with a piece of steel pipe to extend the handle of the tire iron, I loosened the nuts. Then I did figure out how to use the jack (thanks to driver’s ed in small town school). However, then I discovered that the 20-year-old unused spare was not inflated enough to be useful.

    I threw the tires into our real car and headed to one of the nearby small towns. Okay, it was 3:00pm on Saturday, but, really, no one in small town America needs tire work on Saturday afternoon?

    Apparently not.

    There were no “service stations” in town. A gas station/convenience store clerk pointed me at the nearby Chevrolet dealership, but offered that it might not be open. The service department closed at 2:00pm on Saturdays.

    I guess that self-sufficiency extends beyond creating your own entertainments in small town America. I’ll wager that the smaller the town, the more self-sufficient you have to be.

    Plan ahead. Find out early in the day if you need professional service in small town America. Meanwhile, my tires are going home with me and will come back next week. There will be no cruising main street for at least a week.

    What’s created the most frustration because of your inability to be self-sufficient?

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    2. I grew up in a very small town in western Iowa, so I guess I’m pretty self-sufficient.

      We went back there this summer and I can see why you would feel small town life would be difficult for kids.

      It’s very different than when I grew up there (although the population is suprisingly the same). Nobody seems to have a garden, everybody seems to have a satellite dish. Didn’t see any kids on bikes.

      But think of the reading you could get done…

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      1. And for today’s adventures in self-sufficiency, I am hopefully fixing my printer. Very messy job.

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    3. Nice job, Ken. Like you, a grew up in a small town; unlike you, I loved it. I’m not sure that people who live in small towns are any more self-sufficient than people who live in big cities, it’s a matter of learning where your local resources are. .

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    4. I grew up in the small town that is Southwest Minneapolis. Thankfully, it’s nestled into the corner of a larger city, so amenities and services are plentiful. But Mrs. Swenson still called when the kids were running across her lawn too much…

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    5. Good one, Ken. Let me count the ways! Was going to sew most of my clothes at one point, cook or bake everything from scratch, learn to use the table saw for numerous projects. The one I’d like to really get going is to be my own motor – bike or walk instead of the car for any errand within a couple of miles.

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    6. I’m not self-sufficient and I’m happy to admit it. I try to be self-sufficient emotionally by not needing to be with people, but I can’t even do that. I can do it most of the time, but I can’t maintain it forever.

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  6. Self sufficiency is the byword out here. I think it comes from having so many farmers/ranchers who live so far from town. When you have to drive 100 miles for specialist medical care, specialty parts for your vehicle, and the nearest dry cleaner, you try to do as much as you can yourself. I am happy to report a new dry cleaner came to town in December, so that is one problem solved. There also seems to be a shame element here, in that it is viewed as wasteful, almost sinful, if you have someone else so things for you that you should be able to do for yourself.

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      1. Well… it depends.

        I’ve never made soap or lard or butchered a hog… or spun wool.
        And to be honest… I don’t really want to do any of those things either.

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  8. Rise and don’t post Baboons!

    Well, like everyone else posting about not posting, I will not post either.
    I will just live without all of you today.

    I am pouting in the corner.

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  9. Nice one, Ken. I will challenge you on one point. People in small towns don’t get by with self sufficiency. What do they do instead? I’ll tell a story.

    My erstwife and I were in a friend’s new car one January night close to midnight, the sky all full of dazzling stars. It was 20 below zero. We were on a highway where one can travel for 30 miles without seeing a town, business or even a private home. It is an undeveloped forest in Bayfield County in northern Wisconsin. We had to pull over to the side of the road because we had a flat tire, and of course John had failed to equip his new car with a spare and a jack. The car was also uninsured and unlicensed . . . but that’s John for you. He didn’t like government.

    While we hugged and huddled for warmth in the back of the car, John set out on foot to find a jack and a tire that would fit his new car. Maybe here I should mention that his new car was a 1940 Ford. We contemplated the odds of freezing before John, on foot in the middle of nowhere, dressed for warm weatgher, would come back with a wheel for a 1940 Ford.

    John was back in an hour or so, and he had the tire. How? Networking. John grew up in small towns, and he knew the answer to almost any problem is to talk to a friend who knows a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy who has parts for old cars.

    Networking. It makes the world go ’round in small towns.

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    1. The whole of North Dakota is like a small town, and one networks across the state all the time. The population is small enough that most people you encounter also know someone else you know. People can always tell you who to see for this or that most anywhere across the State.

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    2. its never been bigger than today. networing is called social media. facebook twitter instagram linkedin along with google and apple the world has a new mantra.

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    3. Networking is a wonderful supplement to self-sufficiency – or vice versa. But when you’re an outsider (like a summer person), the networks are invisible. That’s why I’m always asking locals for help.

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    1. That reminds me of the story told by the band OKGO when they were on Wits (a great show that I attended and which I have heard a few times rebroadcast).

      A couple of members of the band were in junior high or high school together and one of them, Tim, took an art class.

      There was an assistant to the art teacher who often seemed to be teaching under the influence of illegal substances; he was quite the hippy-dippy space cadet.

      (they weren’t sure how he was able to get away with it).

      As they were working on a project (a portrait, a still life, etc.), this assistant would hover behind Tim, saying, “You got it Tim? You ready Tim? You know how you’re going to approach this, Tim? Are you set Tim?” And finally, after a pause, he would say, “OK, Go!”

      They thought,”that would make a great band name. We don’t play instruments but we have to start so we can call our band OKGO.”

      I suspect they were joking about not playing instruments.

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  13. OT, but there is no OT today, so OT, but you know, the other O in OT: my d-i-l was sought out by a company. They said she would work for 3 months as an independent contractor and then be put on payroll with benefits and a big jump in pay. Today after 2 months they gave her a strong review and told her she cannot be put on payroll for another 6 months. I say this is a OS moment for her.

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    1. she is needing a doc or email stating they will do what they say or…. if we dont hire you we agree to retroactively increase your contractor pay. they should buy it if they are drinking the same kool aid they expecct her to drink.

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  15. yes 5 years of 6 days a week equals 1500 posts or so. every 1500 posts dale can have one off.
    agreed?
    i think he deserves it

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  16. to ken in northfields post
    i dont think anyone leves like they should today. the fear of letting your kid go outside should be less in small towns than in south minneapolis but im not sure it is. i miss being able to see kids on bikes and walking down by the river. people used to yell at us when i was a kid wanting to know what the heck we were doing bt we were clombing on tug boats and barges down by the river, going into some backwoods deadend road to find a place to cook hot dogs and raise hell out of the public eye. driving around became an excuse when bill henderson got his lisence when we were in 7th grade ( he had a garbage trck tip over on hi and he couldnt walk for a year and a half so he was older in 9th grade than anyone else.(59 chevy with the big fins) chip in for a dollars wortth of gas and fill er up with oil. the a&w root beer stand for fish sandwhich the dairy queen for onion rings drinking grain belt ponies (little 7 oz bottles)
    kid hood was good. youd arrest them today. its not samll town its a screwed up world. let em loose and see what they come up with, we had stock car drivers and business start ups with welding, going to live on the kabutz starting specialty business and finding the stuff you enjoy in life as a path to follow. today there is netflix and an iphone. too bad.

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  17. We’re in Decorah, Iowa! Had a lovely drive down along the river, everything is so incredibly lush and green. We’ve found a nice clean room for the night, so next on the agenda is finding an good place to eat. It’s tough being retired!

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        1. Oh, and Hans needs to get you a Quality Chick t-shirt from the Decorah Hatchery.

          And you also should get a cone from the Whippy Dip.

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        2. Years ago we drove to the Decorah Hatchery to pick up our very own baby chicks. Well, they only had a few bantam chicks left. So we got three geese to go with.
          Those damn geese; the devil they were. Gave the damn things away a few years later and was never sorry to see them go.
          Mind you, I’m not blaming the hatchery… it’s just all part of the story.

          My chicks come by mail from Hoovers hatchery and they’ve never sent me devil geese. Neurotic ducks, yes, but not evil geese.

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    4. Wish I had known ahead of time.

      If you see this in time for breakfast, I suggest you go to the little cafe on Water Street (can’t remember the name it is now called) and get a Ronnie’s Roll. Huge cinnamon roll that is an entire meal.

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  19. I spent the day setting up for MSP Comicon, happening this weekend in the Grandstand of the Minnesota State Fairgrounds. So, I’ve traded underpaid-to-be-in-front-of-a-steamroller day job insanity for volunteer-to-be-tied-to-a-railroad-track insanity. We just hope that with so many major roads torn up and shut down this weekend that people will be able to find a way to get to there.

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  21. Very cleaver Dale!

    I fairly self-sufficient, although I doubt I could sustain myself for too long if plopped down alone in the middle of nowhere w/ few to no resources.

    I grew up in a great big city (St. Louis) and my experience of small town living didn’t endear me to teeny locales. It really did seem like that proverbial fish bowl to me. So now I’m ensconced in, as Anna says, the small town of SW Minneaplis – just right!

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  22. see what you all did.
    you told him we could make it on our own and now here we are on our own
    good company ut lacking somehow
    i think we need ot consider giving dale a file of plug and play guset blogs for times of alpha funk.
    hang in the trail. we will make it through this.
    is guitar the only consideration for best instament ever and who are the favorite players. hendrix bb montoya segovia?

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