Herewith is my report of the Misspent adventures in the Northwoods. We left on a Friday, early, so POPS could get there and open everything up and be able to deal with any maintenance issues that arise. We left so early that I had to be rolled from bed, down the stairs, and into the back of the car. I am not accustomed to waking before the sun reaches its zenith. Because POPS decided to have his car come with a DVD player in the back I got to watch some DVDs. Which ones? I watched the recently released first season of Dr. Katz: Professional Therapist, which was one of my favorite shows on the early Comedy Central. This was so early in that mostly-useless channel's existence that we did not get it down in Chicago on our cable system, so the only time I was able to watch it was up in the Northwoods on the giant satellite. Fitting that I would watch it on the way up there after many years. I also watched Ghostbusters.
We lunched at Culver's. I had a double-butter burger and their root beer, which is really good. Every Culver's looks exactly the same. We arrived at the Misspent Summer Compound shortly after lunch. There was a broken pipe. POPS knew that that pipe was going to break. He is so prescient. So we waited for the service people to come, who POPS had already set up an appointment with. Again, prescient.
We went out for dinner, and it being Friday and the Northwoods, I had a fish fry. The rest of the week followed similarly. The weather was mostly cold and rainy, which was fine by me, but POPS and MOTHER were not pleased. We went out for dinner a few times, lunch a few times. Eating out is one of the reasons MOTHER and POPS go up there. MOTHER doesn't get to eat out much, so that makes her excited, and they talk about new restaurants and the fate of old favorites like they were friends of theirs. POPS tried the new Heineken Light, and I tried a new Leine's. Both were decent enough for their type.
POPS got a new dock. MOTHER got some flowers. DOG got a skin problem. We went on the boat only once or twice. POPS tried to fish once to no avail. I watched the first season of the Sci-Fi Channel's version of Battlestar Galactica at night. We made sure to watch the finales of our favorite shows. We also watched some Creature Comforts and the Academy of Country Music's award show. Man, Carrie Underwood did well for herself, winning a few awards. She is really good and its good to see her get some more honest recognition. It was really interesting to see how most of the artists were all about soldiers, America, the flag, and Jesus. I have a feeling that most fans of country music aren't fans because they like the music, but rather because they like the cultural connotations and pose that goes along with it. This is not different from most kinds of music, most likely. I would cite the vast difference between "classic" country music and the pseudo-rock/pop that makes up most of country music these days, besides of some key exceptions, of course. Also notable in their absence: the Dixie Chicks. I didn't see Tim McGraw and wife, either.
MOTHER read a lot of crappy book you can buy at the grocery store. POPS didn't read much of all because he was puttering around a lot. I read The Revolt of the Elites by Christopher Lasch and some Kierkegaard. Perhaps more on that later.
On our penultimate day there I fell down some stairs going down to our other dock, the one that POPS is not replacing, and hurt my ankle. I was pretty useless for the rest of that day and the day we left. But by the time we returned to the Misspent Suburban Compound it had healed well enough and now only hurts when I move it around, not really when I walk on it, in which case it is merely tender and gently sore. On the way back I watched Ghostbusters II.
I should make a note of my lack of internet activity. While POPS did have his computer, I do not have the passwords required to use it without his presence. Again, prescient. His computer is rather spastic, like the soon-to-be forgotten Taylor Hicks, so any time I did make it on was just to check the e-mail or such like before it would spazz out. Although I should say in the defense of POPS' computer that it did not spazz out like a constipated Joe Cocker.
Finally, no one but me has the keys to this blog. Take your conspiracy theories somewhere else.
The fake Misspent obviously had a better time in Wisconsin than the real one did.
Posted by: Peanut Gallery | 31 May 2006 at 02:35
Is that not often true for everyone?
Posted by: Misspent | 31 May 2006 at 02:42
Especially when they spend a cold, wet vacation reading Kierkegaard.
Posted by: Peanut Gallery | 31 May 2006 at 03:06
The weather was on the whole actually not too bad for this time of year. Misspent just thought it was bad. We also had more than the pipe that broke to fix. We also had a hole in the wall that a neighborhood squirrel had made during the winter. I am surprised that Misspent did not make more of that since he discovered it 5 minutes after we arrived while I was looking at the broken pipe that I knew was going to be broken. Just because one is paranoid does not mean that they are not out to get you.
Oh yes, that squirrel will be deported by the end of the summer with or without documentation. No amnesty allowed.
Posted by: POPS | 31 May 2006 at 05:51
I don't know how I forgot the squirrel and the broken valve. Especially since they found the replacement in a dumpster!
Posted by: Misspent | 31 May 2006 at 06:37
Well, that whole turn of events certainly puts Kierkegaard in the shade.
Posted by: Peanut Gallery | 31 May 2006 at 06:51
Geez, I sure hope this is a phoney Misspent. I'd hate to think this group of pipe-fixing, ankle turners who read grocery store literature and watch "Ghost Busters" is the real McCoy.
Someone, please tell me that the folks on the pontoon boat drinking cosmos, playing Sinatra, and having a good time are the real Misspents. Please! Please!!
Posted by: Citizens for Some Fun...ANY Fun | 31 May 2006 at 08:04
this is too funny. i had no idea people like this exist in real life! it's like watching a chimpanzee randomly trying to type the text of shakespeare's "king lear" on a typewriter.
Posted by: Skye | 31 May 2006 at 08:16
C'mon, if there was any excitement going on here it really couldn't be called The Misspent Life, could it? It'd have to be called "The Normal Life" or "The Fun Life" or something. It's time people realized that boring is the new fun. Plus, you can't really imagine there to be too much racy material on a family trip. It's not like it was a stag party or anything.
Also, be careful about mocking our friend SK. My pipe, the puffing kind, is named after him.
Posted by: Misspent | 31 May 2006 at 08:21
I feel constrained to note that it's not Kierkegaard who's being mocked.
Posted by: Peanut Gallery | 31 May 2006 at 08:27
By bringing him in on mocking me, you dirty him with my patheticity.
Posted by: Misspent | 31 May 2006 at 08:33
You have a point. I'll have to drag out my copy of Either/Or for some reparative reading.
Posted by: Peanut Gallery | 31 May 2006 at 08:49
A misspent life would be filled with profligacy. The life you're describing would be better described as the "ho-hum, pass the ketchup" life.
I just don't know if the Germans are gonna be ready for you. You'd better tell them to stock up on amphetamines so they can stay awake.
How about the Sominex Life?
Posted by: Please pass the uppers | 31 May 2006 at 08:58
You try spending two weeks with MOTHER and POPS, one of which was spent in close quarters and not be catatonic.
Posted by: Misspent | 31 May 2006 at 09:22
And where was the Misspent sibling through all of this?
Posted by: Inquiring Minds | 31 May 2006 at 09:33
Northern California, where he now lives.
Posted by: Misspent | 31 May 2006 at 10:32
Is he an older brother? Does he ever join the Misspent crew for holidays or vacations?
Posted by: Inquiring Minds | 31 May 2006 at 10:57
He is the younger. The Misspent family does not take "vacations" they just go up to Wisconsin and he always tagged along until now, since he is now a working man.
Posted by: Misspent | 31 May 2006 at 23:35