 This is a catalog time of year, a time for making plans and figuring
out how to do something even better than we did last year. There in
the fishing catalog is that new fly-tying vise. I know I'll be able
to tie flies faster and better with that, which will give me more
time to cruise up and down Lewis Creek with the fly rod. Well ... at
least that's the plan.And the housewares catalog has all kinds of
things in it to help us peel potatoes, boil things, slice things and
clean things. A few well-spent dollars on their 800 phone line, and
before you know it, our lives will be easier and our food tastier.
With the truck catalogs, we can get a little coffee maker that
plugs right into the cigarette lighter. Or we can get a little oven
that plugs right into the cigarette lighter, or a fan that plugs
right into the cigarette lighter. Let's hope the car makers continue
to make cigarette lighters even after cigarettes themselves
disappear. We'd miss out on a lot of fun without that plug-in.
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column]
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The mule needs his catalog, too. I'll do the reading for him, and
the ordering. But I think he'd appreciate one of those nice white
fleece cinches. They seem so soft on an old mule's belly. And a
matching saddle pad would be good, too. He's too old to rope on any
more, but a guy can still appreciate comfort in semi-retirement.
The land catalogs are the most fun. In these, there are always
lakes with wooded margins, begging for a little cabin. A small place
where a guy can hole up and think literary thoughts and type
quietly. Well, it's a thought, anyway. And that's what catalogs do,
stimulate our thinking.
Spring catalogs are the novels of optimistic lives.
[Text from file received from Slim Randles]
To buy Slim's books, go to
www.slimrandles.com.
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