Canoe Repair and the Sliding Scale

[Pierre Girard]

This would be about guilt. That would be the guilt I feel every time I buy or spend money on a canoe. The guilt was instilled by my father, mother, grandparents on both sides, and the sliding scale. That would be the sliding scale of depression era priorities.

Like many folks my age, my parents lived through the "great depression." I'm not sure what was so great about it, but I was raised with sayings like, " A Penny Saved is a Penny Earned, " and "Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do with out."

This has always been a problem when buying or making canoes, toboggans, snowshoes, packs. I'm the proud owner of a dozen Duluth packs. Is it because I spent a lot of money on them? No, It's because I inherited them or got them cheap and patched them.

Building tobaggons, when I was young, we'd snap three or four boards before we got one to bend into shape because we could only use the boards full of knots. The good boards had to be used for furniture or something useful.

The only reason we were able to build a lot of canoes when I was a teenager was because my father was able to get cheap gov't surplus fiber glass, and we were able to tear down a redwood water tower and salvage the redwood timbers for canoe planking.

The worst thing you could be when I was growing up was a "play-baby." That would be someone who was only interested in fun. Life was about work, and a "play-baby," was a useless thing and deserved only contempt. The only reason we were able to build canoes is - we could sell some and make some money. It was a fight to keep a few for our own use.

Turns out I've always been a "play-baby," much more interested in canoeing, camping and snowshoeing than working all the time. but I live with the guilt.

SLIDING SCALE OF DEPRESSION ERA PRIORITIES:

If it is a project for the betterment of the community or for the church you can spend a lot of money

If it is for work, or it will "Make You A Buck," you can spend a reasonable amount of money

If it is for something around the home - you can spend a little money

If it is for recreation - or "play," it is almost sinful - and you can spend no money without guilt

 

[Larry Meyer]

Not sure this is responsive to your's but,

Phillip Booth, a poet from Maine and author of one of my all-time favorite poems, “Eaton’s Boatyard” died last week, of Alzheimer’s.

I’ve spent a bit of time on the coast of Maine, near such a boatyard as Eaton’s and when I read this poem it reminded me as much of the kind of people who kept the yard, as of the boatyard itself. Which of course is what he wanted to do.

Since reading the poem for the first time, I have always been very grateful to Mr. Booth for putting it in words.

Eaton’s Boatyard

By Philip Booth

To make do, making a living:
to throw away nothing,
practically nothing, nothing that may
come in handy;
within an inertia of caked paintcans,
frozen C-clamps, blown strips of tarp, and
pulling-boat molds,
to be able to find,
for whatever its worth,
what has to be there:
the requisite tool
in this culch there’s no end to;
the drawshave buried in potwarp,
chain, manila jibsheets,
or, under a bench,
the piece that already may fit
the idea it begins
to shape up:
not to be put off by split rudders,
stripped outboards:
to forget for good
all the old years losses,
save for
what needs to be retrieved:
a life given to
how today feels:
to make of what’s here
what has to be made
to make do.

 

[Andre Cloutier]

Nice poem; a factory we did shutdown work in years ago while working through school had a crudely drawn sign over a bench that said " never be so busy making a living you forget to make a life"
growing up wishing my father had played more ensures I'll play lots with my kids.
Now if someone would tell me how long I'll live so I'd know how much money I'll need, I'd be set

 

[Pierre Girard]

Not sure this is responsive to your's but,

Phillip Booth, a poet from Maine and author of one of my all-time favorite poems, “Eaton’s Boatyard” died last week, of Alzheimer’s.

I’ve spent a bit of time on the coast of Maine, near such a boatyard as Eaton’s and when I read this poem it reminded me as much of the kind of people who kept the yard, as of the boatyard itself. Which of course is what he wanted to do.

Since reading the poem for the first time, I have always been very grateful to Mr. Booth for putting it in words.

Eaton’s Boatyard

By Philip Booth

To make do, making a living:
to throw away nothing,
practically nothing, nothing that may
come in handy;
within an inertia of caked paintcans,
frozen C-clamps, blown strips of tarp, and
pulling-boat molds,
to be able to find,
for whatever its worth,
what has to be there:
the requisite tool
in this culch there’s no end to;
the drawshave buried in potwarp,
chain, manila jibsheets,
or, under a bench,
the piece that already may fit
the idea it begins
to shape up:
not to be put off by split rudders,
stripped outboards:
to forget for good
all the old years losses,
save for
what needs to be retrieved:
a life given to
how today feels:
to make of what’s here
what has to be made
to make do.

Sounds like my dad's place. He sold it last year and moved into an apartment. Quite a shock to have to go buy parts and materials all the time now.

 

[pklonowski]

I printed this out & posted it by the light switch in my shop. And I thank you for sharing this!

 

[Larry Meyer]

What? The poem you put up? I’m glad.

I’m beginning to think poetry is the only use of language worth listening to these days. Sure beats “news” on the tv, blogs, advertising, preaching, and politics. The antidote to the truthlessness of the Internet age.

I emailed that poem around to some folks and it turns out a WCHA is a relative of Mr. Booth and grew up in and around the real Eaton’s’ boatyard.
`

 

[pklonowski]

... and don't forget "corporate executives" in your list...

...sorry, I just wasn't cut out for this rat race.

I'm not a big enough rat!

 

[MikeCav]

Remember the primary fact about the rat race - even the winners are still rats.

 

[Larry Meyer]

well newspapers may be good for something

Here is the Washington Post's Mensa Invitational which once again asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition. Enjoy!

THE WINNERS:


1. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period of time.


2. Ignoranus: A person who's both stupid and an asshole.


3 Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.


4. Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly.


5. Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.


6. Foreploy: Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of getting laid.


7. Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.


8. Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.


9. Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.


10. Hipatitis: Terminal coolness.


11. Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease. (This one got extr a credit.)


12. Karmageddon: It's when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, and then the Earth explodes and it's a serious bummer.


13. Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.


14. Glibido: All talk and no action.


15. Dopeler effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.


16. Arachnoleptic fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.


17. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.

18. Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding half a worm in the fruit you're eating.




The Washington Post has also published the winning submissions to its yearly contest, in which readers are asked to supply alternate meanings for common words. And the winners are:


1. Coffee, n. the person upon whom one coughs.


2. Flabbergasted, adj. appalled by discovering how much weight one has gained.


3 Abdicate, -v. to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.


4. Esplanade, v. to attempt an explanation while drunk.


5. Willy-nilly, adj. impotent.


6. Negligent, adj. absentmindedly answering the door when wearing only a nightgown.


7. Lymph, v. to walk with a lisp.


8. Gargoyle, n. olive-flavored mouthwash.


9. Flatulence, n. emergency vehicle that picks up someone who has been run over by a steamroller.


10. Balderdash, n. a rapidly receding hairline.


11. Testicle, n. a humorous question on an exam.


12. Rectitude, n. the formal, dignified bearing adopted by proctologists.


13. Pokemon, n. a Rastafarian proctologist.


14. Oyster, n. a person who sprinkles his conversation with Yiddishisms.


15. Frisbeetarianism, n. the belief that, after death, the soul flies up onto the roof and gets stuck there.


16. Circumvent, n. an opening in the front of boxer shorts worn by Jewish men

 

[Denis M. Kallery]

Larry
Thanks --I haven't laughed that hard for a loooooong time!!!
Denis