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Pam is working at her desk in her “craft room” and I see a cold drink with ice in the living room on a table…
Me: Do you want me to bring you your drink?
Pam: No, I’ll be out of here in a little while.
Me: It’s no problem.
Pam: No that’s okay.
Me: I’d really like to do it for you?
Pam: Why are you acting more weird than usual?
Me: I really want to do something nice for you?
Pam: Why?
Me: Because then you will owe me one.
True love.
Taking concert pictures was something that was nerve wracking at first. Now I enjoy doing it. The people at the Blue Gate are so great to be around and work with. They are a wonderful team. I spin around the periphery of what they do and admire their skill and team work.
If you get a change to come and see a concert you should do so and then spend the day at the Flea Market.
https://www.davidarment.photos/Curated-Concert-Images
Today Pam and I were listening to a person on YouTube. It was someone who is on the radio every day. Portions of their broadcast are replayed on YouTube.
This person was talking about some politicians who had done some really bad things… allegedly. The commentator was suggesting serious consequences for these naughty politicians .
I said out loud, “Hang ‘em!”
Pam said in enthusiastic agreement, “Yeah, like they used to do with cow wrestlers.”
Me: “Cow wrestlers? I don’t think you mean wresters, I think you mean rustlers.”
Pam started laughing and that short conversation was over.
It reminded me of my friend Mike.
My friend Mike wanted to be a worm wrangler.
Sometimes you have jobs that lead to long lasting friendships. Other times those friendships evaporate after you separate from an employer. My friend Mike was in this second category, so that I never found out if he got to be a wrangler.
When Mike wasn’t working I had the distinct notion that he spent a lot of time at the bait shop nearby to where he lived somewhere in that mysterious state of Arkansas. They drank coffee there at the bait shop, and were routinely interrupted to sell bait.
Men, retired and wishing they were retired, would go to the bait shop and drink coffee, talk about the weather, the fishing prospects and most importantly to swap stories. Mike was good at all of that.
Apparently he was also really good with worms.
He wanted to retire and be a “worm wrangler”. I don’t know if he was going to get paid in money or if he was going to be paid in coffee. If he were paid that would make him a professional and he might have to join the PWWA… Profession Worm Wrangler Association and pay union dues and go to meetings etc. So my bet would be that he just got paid in coffee, and maybe smokes. I don’t know if you can smoke in a bait shop, but if you can, Mike would.
Mike traveled in his job and I traveled in mine. Our jobs necessarily overlapped and we would find ourselves working together. When that happened we would drink coffee, talk about the weather and the people we worked with and how the world could be better if we were in charge. We did a lot of driving and that driving was intrrupted by calling on customers and wannabe customers. (Wannabe, meaning we wanted them to be customers, but they were reluctant for some unknown and unknowable reasons.)
On the occasion of meeting Mike I would ask him about his dream of working in the bait shop upon retirement. I would purposely mis-state his dream job by asking something like…
“Are they still holding open that job for you at the bait shop as ‘worm rustler’”
I knew this would cause fireworks. It always did and I was very entertained.
He would say, “What is wrong with you?!?!?! How many times do I have to tell you it ain’t rustler… it is wrangler!”
Mike was not a big person and he talked with his hands. So when he would get excited his hands would start beating the air and he would be shaking all over because of the flailing arms.
“Don’t you know the difference between a wrangler and a rustler? I’m a wrangler!”
I don’t think he ever fully explained the difference between a wrangler and a rustler.
Nor was there any instructions on how to wrangle a worm. In my pea sized brain you “herded” them into a styrofoam container making sure there was some dirt in there with them to make them feel good about their short lives and put a plastic lid on. Maybe you would write with a marker on the outside the container “Worms”. Or maybe you would scribble the type of worm “Night Crawlers”. Or “Red Worms”… if there is such a thing.
Was Mike an actor and played a part when asked about his future rustler endeavors? Did he really think that I couldn't remember that we had done the rustler vs wrangler bit many times? I couldn’t tell. He played his part over and over again and the theatre lasted until the friendship was over.
I hope Mike is wrangling worms somewhere in the hills of Arkansas…
… and I hope Pam does not take up cow wrestling.
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| Log Cabin at David Rogers Park |
One lady was waiting for something. She asked me if we had a child to drop off. She was waiting for a boy who had not shown up the day before and wasn't there today for camp. I opened the door of the truck and pointed inside at Dan and asked if she wanted him.
She didn't seem interested in Dan as a day camper. Her loss.
I told her we were going to take pictures of the cabins and we would NOT be getting any of her kids in them. She tried to tell me / us that they had signed waivers for picture taking. I listened, but we had no interest in her kids who had all but disappeared over the hill and were heading toward the pickle ball courts.
She told us that one of the cabins was going to be town down. The one in the picture above.
That is sad.
It does however need to come down because it is old and falling down anyway. It is an accident waiting to happen for someone not paying attention to their surroundings.
The park is a great park. The cabins are the centerpiece and they are going to disappear.
One cabin at a time they will go.
Then I don't know if it will be a park at all.
From a distant observer the county doesn't seem to know what to do with the propery. They put in a (or some) pickle ball courts. The area is very thinly populated so I doubt few will use them and they are at the bottom of a hill behind trees, so they are nearly hidden.
They put in some flower feature. That is why we went. To see how that was working out. Not so good so far. It's early June so maybe there will be some flowers later. But for now it is plowed ground and mountains of mulch.
The day campers loved to climb up and slide down the mulch mountains. I'm sure that was not the goal or intent, but it looked like fun!
Time marches on...
... we will see what happens next...
Today my friend Dan and I went to shoot pictures.
We had our normal gear. I had big camera's. I had big lenses. I took great pictures (I hope, maybe).
During the process we came up over a hill and there in our lane was a big turtle. We were on a country road with very little place to pull over so I jumped out of the truck and took these pictures with my cell phone.
The cows in the nearby field wanted to see what this creature was doing in the road. They were all crowded over by the fence to take a look.
I wonder if it bothered the turtle. Maybe he was on his way to that side of the road, but the herd stopped him. What do you think?
It reminded me of what I have often called myself, "The Restroom Photographer". That is not because i take pictures of restrooms. Instead it is because I have often seen my "work" in restrooms.
Once I approached a local business to buy and resell my pictures. The lady who I approached didn't say "no". I think she felt sorry for me and she purchased one framed piece. On a later visit when I had to go to the restroom I found it there.
Another time I was asked to accompany a local company to call on another establishment. So me and the owner of this other company went to call on a third company. Together we had created a sample for them to consider. It was custom made from one of my photos and made "ready to hang" by the process this company I was with was using. We thought this a good product for the company upon which we were calling that day.
We gave them the custom made sample we'd made for them.
They never purchased anything.
I saw the picture some time later... in the men's restroom.
And so many people are very complementary when they see my "work" for sale at a large, commercial tourist hot spot. And when they say nice things I just remember that in reality I am...
... The Restroom Photographer
