I looked at my hands last night and it was depressing because

they have gotten soft since retirement. 

They used to be very hard, waxy and calloused. I was proud of them as they had made me a pretty good living. 

Since I started moving oil on the water the hard life callouses softened a bit because I wasn't swinging a hammer anymore. 

Then again, back in the day when I put down the hammer and went commercial fishing they softened a bit but got hard again when I went ashore. Still, as a fisherman I could look at my paws with pride and see the scars and nicks of being a working man which is/was a source of immense pride. (Then there's the scar on my right hand from the time of a heated discussion in Petersburg back in the day.)

My hands are an immense source of personal pride to me because they show me a life rather well lived. What's interesting is that I don't know where half of the scars and nicks came from. Most of them I probably patched up with duct or electrical tape and continued working.

________________________________

Another thing about the WASPs. 

There are times I wish I could run into Mister Peabody, Sherman and a sex change doctor. I would turn myself into an innocent looking bubbly 22 year 100 pound  old redhead tomboy with freckles and a big smile and mouthful of white teeth for about an hour and be transported to Congress in 1943.

Some congressman was saying that women had periods and would lose about 5 days a month because of that.

It would have brought me great joy to explain how women work and that there are things like sanitary napkins and things of that sort and how they are used in great detail and that he should ask the Surgeon General how women's bodies worked because obiously he didn't know.

And to top it off offer to explain to him how babies are made. 

The more I read the madder I get.

99999999999999999999999999999

ETA I am now looking for a job COMPLETELY out of my league.

Money is not the object here. Hopefully I can join a framing crew and get paid for what I am worth even thoug it ain't much at my age.

Subject to change.

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY