Latest update July 27, 1997 ... a BEAUTIFUL Sunday afternoon, although a thunderstorm is probably coming soon!
Ok, here you are, this is what I am: a single (nowadays, anyhow, though it's not my idea) guy living in a big old 1956 Frank Lloyd Wright-style schoolhouse, (for those of you not familiar, that means sprawling single-story masonry, like brick and concrete block with lots of glass and glass block to make it light and open) formerly known as Pleasant View School, south of Ludington, Michigan, about a half mile from Lake Michigan. I live here, on a long narrow property of about 8 acres, with three dogs, ten puppies that one of the younger dogs had 7 weeks ago Friday, three cats, and a box turtle from West Texas named Isabella. She's the oldest animal here, probably about 35 or so. I haven't any pictures to post at the moment, except one of my late buddy, Spike the iguana , but I can tell you a little about my interests. Not all of them, or in great detail... my fingers would wear out before I finished
The single part came on all of a sudden, and without warning last year. Love is a wonderful thing, while it lasts. It's a little strange, after fifteen years, to suddenly be one, not half of two. This, unfortunately, has left me living in this monster place alone. Now, don't get me wrong. I can handle alone. What's hard to handle is the cost of keeping the place up alone, heating it, etc, and being the only one here to keep all the animals happy. The other hard part is trying to find the necessary dollars to pay it all off and give she-who-isn't-here-because-she-suddenly-found someone-else-outta-nowhere her share, and therefore to put it all in my own name.
I really do love it here, though. The view is what the school was named after when they built it in 1956, to the highest standards of the day. Almost the entire West side is one large room. It was originally a double classroom, with a moveable divider between the two sides. It was meant to be the auditorium and/or gymnasium and cafeteria, and a local community center meeting hall, to seat up to 300 people. The West wall is mostly glass block, with lots of small aluminum windows embedded in it. Unless it's a really dark day, there's no need to turn on a light here from sunrise till sunset. I call this the living room, although I usually sleep in it too. It's about 30x60 feet.
I like to do precision target shooting with air rifles and pistols. On a cold winter day, it's fun to set up a regulation 50-foot range in one's own living room! Another big advantage is that if you throw a toy for a cat or dog to retrieve, they have a little room to chase. (Yes, cats can be trained to retrieve. In fact, only one of my dogs will bother to retrieve. All but a couple of the cats I've trained over the years have done well.)
My neighbors up on the hill on the West side are a very pleasant elderly couple. He's not in very good health, and doesn't get out much. She's in her late seventies, and keeps up a couple of acres of lawn and some really beautiful flower gardens, as well as making sure their thousand foot long driveway stays open in the winter. We don't see a lot of each other, because we're not physically very close, about an eighth of a mile apart. But we keep an eye on each other's well-being. Recently, I was out walking in the woods out back, and heard a horn honking and saw lights flashing up here.. turned out they'd noticed I'd left my car lights on, and since they couldn't raise me on the phone, she drove over and made all the commotion to get my attention.
On the East side, just to make up for them, I have the neighbor from Hell. It's another story entirely, but let's just say, don't ever let your cat knock a screen out of a window and explore the world outside if this neighbor's up from Florida. He's one of these really horrible old guys that's retired with money, has nothing to do, so therefore does all he can to cause trouble for others. Some people are like me, and like all sorts of furry creatures and even a lot of other people. Other people exist to make life miserable for others, and to kill any creature they can trap in their yard.
Of course, his story is that the traps are for all the 'feral cats' that have been dumped and turned wild. He claims they kill all the neighborhood wild bunnies. Right. Cats bring home their kills, and mine have brought maybe one rabbit home... then again, they've brought a number of weasels home. One weasel will kill a whole nest of bunnies for sport, and maybe only take a bite here and there of what they've killed. I've seen one stray cat, wearing a collar and a bell, in the years I've lived here, and when it saw me it headed in an obviously homeward direction. Hopefully, he'll decide to stay in Florida forever soon. Wouldn't it be nice if we could choose our neighbors? His latest claims are that he's going to beat me to a pulp, and kill my dogs if they ever get out of the pen again and come in his yard. That's a felony in Michigan. I don't want to lose my dogs, I love them dearly. But if takes one out, as he's promised to do, I'm going to try to get the full cooperation of the local authorities. The man is a danged Psycho.
The nicest part out here, though, is the back yard. It's only 270 feet wide, but it's almost a quarter mile long, through fields and woods, descending into a beautiful little valley with a tiny trickling creek at the bottom. The Water Lilies are blooming now. The deer laid out all the paths through here originally. I've opened a few of the paths up a little wider with a mower and a machete, but they still meander the way the deer do. The morel mushrooms came up in great profusion over in the Northeast corner late this spring. MMMM.... A king without morels is my inferior in the eating department..
The deer herd isn't as big as it used to be, since not many will live close to people, and the helicopters looking for pot fields scared a bunch away too. The ones that have stayed around are quite nice about it, though. Some I can get within 10 feet of when I'm walking through the woods. They seem especially easy to approach when I'm wearing a white jacket, but don't ask me why. They've apparently accepted me as the two-legged one that doesn't shoot them.
Although I thoroughly enjoy guns and target shooting, I don't care for wild meat, so I don't hunt. If it ever came down to starvation, I'd be a hunter, no problem. With the population of the Michigan State Rodent (Bambi) getting as big as it is, and considering how much damage they've done to cars of mine over the years, I encourage hunting. Kill a deer, save a car. Just do it legally and responsibly, and you're welcome to come to my property to hunt, once you ask permission.
Yes, I'm still setting this thing up.. but I'll wear your eyes out soon when I dump my word hoard on you.. haha.. see you again.. come back when you have a chance, and I'll try to toss in some more interesting stuff.
Lee