Friday's Dispatch

View of castle from the overlook

Zac leads the way into the unknown depths of a cave

View upstream from Turner Falls

Plaque on wall below castle. The retarded vandalism was done between  the end of summer and late this fall between our visits. Yep, for nearly 100 years it looked nearly as good as the day it was set, then one day some moron couldn't find a better way to amuse himself...

One clawed crayfish. He is called Ole Southpaw in those parts

I call this one A Study In Rootiness

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The falls (the trickle?)

An ancient water shoe- probably left behind by a Kickapoo Indian as he  fished along Honey Creek

Zac chunking rocks. He'll never tire of doing it and I'll never tire of watching (unless we're fishing)

This tore as I was taking it out of the package- some kind of karmic warning?

• Taking us back to 1987- here's one of my favorite Smiths songs- Girlfriend In A Coma.
• Just re watched Heat. Man, what a good movie. I was surprised at the number of new things I picked up on with this viewing.
• It is 12/25/012 @1621 and it is snowing like crazy. We're going to look at Xmas lights one more time as soon as it gets dark.
• It is nice to be included in the plans of another and to automatically include somebody else in plans you're mulling over in your mind.
• Some people freak out over the use of the term Xmas and incorrectly conclude it is being used to take Christ out of Christmas or whatever. In fact, it is a very old term used to describe the holiday and the X is meant to connote the cross. It is basically super Christian to use it.
• I need: an MP3 player, cel phone,  laptop, camping gear, all new clothes, small camera to carry in my pocket for snaps and new lenses for my SLR. No, I don't really need those things but I need them as much as anybody and I really hate knowing I need all that- it's a lot of money for a lot of stuff. I wish I could just shop for and part with the money for one of those big ticket items for a year or two.
• Dating pro tip: if you're going out with a younger person don't fall into the trap of identifying more than you have to with people you both interact with at the same time that happen to be closer to your age than his/hers.