It’s not Wednesday, but Slim Randles is here as my guest anyway. He and the guys at the Mule Barn truck stop are pointing us in the direction of New Year’s, and those dreaded New Year Resolutions. Oh how eager we are on January first. 🙂
Grab a glass of bubbly and enjoy…
It was Herb who kicked things off at the world dilemma think tank at the philosophy counter in the Mule Barn truck stop. Herb is like Nature itself. He abhors a vacuum, too.
“Well,” Herb said, “it’s about that time again.”
Three heads swiveled to look at him.
“New Year’s resolutions … you know.”
Three nods.
“So Herb, what are your new resolves for the next year?”
“Glad you asked, Dud. I thought I might lose 15 pounds, take sailing lessons and come up with a good recipe for beef kidneys. How about you, Dud?”
Dud took a sip of coffee. “Going to finish the rewrite of my book, I guess.”
“The Duchess and the Truck Driver?” asked Doc.
“Well, Doc, its actual title is ‘Murder in the Soggy Bottoms.’”
Dud’s struggle with the plot of this novel is well known to most of us in town. (And most of us who keep up with the updates on the blog posts.)
Steve said, “For me, I think I’ll lose some weight, too, and paint the inside walls of the turret up at the cabin.”
“What color, Steve?”
“Burnt orange. You know, something like sunset in winter when the leaves are gone and the trees stand like lacy filigree against the sky.”
“Boys, I think we have a poet amongst us,” said Doc.
“Aw Doc, come on,” Steve said. “What about your resolutions for the coming year?”
Doc thought a minute.
“Fair enough. I have some. In the coming year, I resolve to grow grapes and make some wine for my friends. Then I believe I’ll put in a big effort to catch Ol’ Lunker on a fly down in Lewis Creek. If I have the time, I’ll try to keep my patients healthy, and I’ll top it off with making a concerted effort to locate Chipper.”
“Your imaginary squirrel?”
“Yep.”
“But Doc,” Herb said, “you already do those things now. Did you realize that?”
“Sure,” Doc grinned. “Really makes it easy to keep a resolution that way.”
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Brought to you by Slim’s new book The Fly Fisherman’s Bucket List that features 120 “reel” great places to fish in America before you kick it.
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Slim Randles writes a nationally syndicated column, “Home Country” that is featured in 380 newspapers across the country. He is also the author of a number of books including Saddle Up: A Cowboy Guide to Writing. That title, and others, are published by LPD Press. If you enjoy his columns here on the blog, you might want to check out the book Home Country. It features some of the best of the columns he has shared here with us, as well as the 4 million readers of the newspapers where his columns appear.
That’s all for me for the weekend, folks. I’ll be doing more holiday celebrating with family. I hope you have a weekend filled with good times and good cheer. Be safe. Be happy.
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