post 60. At the mall, the lotion lady.

So I am at the mall, and I walk past a kiosk and this young, attractive woman in her early 20 looks at me and tells me to hold out my hands. I see I'm getting a free sample of some kind of lotion.

I comply, she takes one look at my meathooks and recoils.

"My God! What do you do for a living?"

I looked at my paws, they were exceptionally clean and really not in too bad shape at all. They haven't looked that good in years. True, they are a little waxy and calloused and covered with the small scars and nicks of a lifetime of practical engineering, but the question is this:

Hasn't this young person ever seen a pair of hands that work for a living?

Mechanics hands generally look a whole lot worse than mine.

I didn't want to get into the Merchant Marine thing because that opens me up to twenty questions, so I told her I was a commercial fisherman, which is close enough.

Still, it makes me wonder.

I'd like to take that little chickie with me for a while aand teach a little school. Maybe feed her venison and show her that meat isn't magically produced in the back room of a supermarket and that having a nice yard requires work. In order to have a decent yard, SOMEONE has to get out there and work with their hands. Things don't just happen by magic.

On the other hand, maybe she is unteachable, who knows.

Anyway, when I got home I checked the crock pot and it smelled pretty good. There was a venison roast in it and it was coming along quite nicely.

Later when I ate it, it fell apart in my mouth.

Betcha that's one other thing the lotion lady has missed in her short, little protected life.
---------------------------------------------------------------
I've posted daily now for 60 days. It's been difficult at best sometimes, and I've almost missed a couple times, but managed to get the posts off with a laptop while sitting in a WiFi area.

Pretty neat. Too bad I couldn't get 60 days off of work and a flight to Afghanistan. I'd give my right arm to Blog the troops ala Ernie Pyle.

Pyle really didn't cover the global picture of the war, he covered the day to day lives of the troops. This is more up my alley, as everyone and their cousin wants to talk with General Whatsisname or General Whoseemajigger.

Truth is, what a war really is all about is Sergeant Localkid or Private Grewupdownthestreet.
This war, also, is a little closer to home because for the first time since Korea, we've put the reserves to work. This war is not just being fought by Regulars. There are a whole ringtailed passle of Citizen-Soldiers out there.

I'd just love to go over there and tell their story.
---------------------------------------------------------------------