Muttley
by Duane Behrens
From 40 yards away, I saw Muttley bounding toward me as fast as his 6-inch legs could propel him. He put on the brakes, skidded to a stop at my feet and looked up at me, tail twitching, eyes blazing. Something big had happened, and he clearly ached to tell me what it was. The dog was on the verge of speech.
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Quiet Water
by Duane Behrens
It was almost time to put it all away for the season. But on this relatively balmy morning in mid-October, we managed to get the canoe out for one last day trip.
The previous month I'd put together a small, four-by-eight-foot brush trailer as a tool to help in clearing the front woods. Today, the same trailer would perform reasonably well as a canoe caddy. The rack is more than sturdy enough to support that heavy old Grumman - and loading a canoe onto a four-foot high trailer rack is much easier than wrestling it onto the top of the pickup/camper shell as we used to do.
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Staying True
by Duane Behrens
Finally, sadly, I closed up the cabin for the winter last week. Storm windows replaced as needed, inside windows locked, thermostat set to 55, timers set on lights, LP gas valve turned off, neighbors notified, straw on the septic tank . . . and all the other things that I would probably forget if not for this list my wife gave me. She's good like that, and I've dutifully checked off each item.
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Pickled Patooties
by Duane Behrens
My son and I spent yesterday hauling brush to the local disposal facility. (I'm old enough to remember when we called them "dumps.") Six loads of brush were pulled from that front stand of trees - 12 loads last week. Finally we're seeing the results; you can actually see the service road through that front grove now. The local landfill is good enough to accept this type of material without charge to local residents.
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