Gramps Remembers

 Swingin’ on a Hook

The Law of Attraction talks about what we think about will manifest into our lives. We will see what we focus or “lock on” to with our thoughts. Some folks think of ships carrying their treasures, with such statements as “when my ship comes in.” My dad used “Someday when my ship comes in I’ll…………………”  I never knew what was on his ship, as he never finished the sentence for me and it did not appear to come in. Maybe it did, and he had sought some other “treasure” than I was used to seeing when younger.

Several years ago, I was in Portland, Maine on vacation and took a tour of the harbor. It was the Lovers Lighthouse Tour, and as the seas being choppy we never left the harbor, but we did see a lot of lighthouses and sights of local interest. The skipper gave us good explanations of what we were seeing, and off in the distance were several freighters that were at anchor.

In the harbor I saw crab fisherman tending nets, the old forts to protect the harbor during WWII, numerous smaller lighthouses, huge gun batteries on shore, and islands used by permanent residents as well as tourists. But what struck me was the skipper’s description of the freighters at anchor. He referred to them as “swingin’ on a hook” as they were just waiting outside the harbor for favorable prices for the goods that were in their holds. 

The country or business they were here to deliver the goods for were in phone contact with the freighters skippers, and would issue the order to unload when prices became most favorable for them. Until then, they rested at anchor, or “swingin’ on a hook” in nautical terms.  Once the order was given, then the freighters would pull anchor and head into the harbor, dock, and unload their goods to the warehouses, etc.

The whole sequence of events made me realize that this is the Law of Attraction. Except instead of the ship being off somewhere on the high seas, it is actually in our harbor or sphere of energy, and all we need to do is give the order to the universe to dock and unload. This is the allowing aspect of the Law of Attraction.

Gramps Remembers

 The Outsider

 
I grew up in NE Wisconsin on my dad’s farm. It was not very big, about 17 acres and mostly river bottoms that flooded every spring at ice-out. I often referred to it as my dad’s hobby farm, as he had maybe 5 acres of tillable land, an old barn, machine shed, and a small apple orchard.  It was situated on a high bank of the Peshtigo River in the middle sugar bush and considered by some to be the original farm in this valley in a bygone era. 

 

But back to their beginning.

Dad and mom grew up in central Illinois and after they were married, decided to relocate to a new area far from their families, as their parents did not approve of their marriage, and thus were also not accepted by the locals.

So, they made their move to Marinette County in 1950, to start over, with me riding in the front seat and my older sister in the back. They initially settled on a small farm on County Road G, and then moved to Marinette, WI.

 
Ten 10 years later, while driving the middle sugar bush roads looking for a new place to live, they found their forever home on the Peshtigo River. The nearest neighbor was ¼ mile away on the gravel road. Mom and dad liked their privacy and solitude with seldom getting visitors! The few exceptions were canvassers or people from a church that were out and about. Dad would send the church evangelicals packing as he did not want to listen to their dogmas.  

Mom nicknamed their farm “under the ledge” as it is in the Peshtigo River valley that flows thru the high limestone bluffs from the last glacial ice age. On a clear night, we could hear the semi-trucks tires howl on the pavement of highway 64 by Harmony WI as they traveled to their destinations and could see the northern lights dance across the northern sky.

I often told my mom that making friends was difficult and her reply was that we had moved here recently and unless my father and grandfather had walked the fields with local grandfathers and great grandfathers, we would never be accepted by neighbors, or I by my classmates. Trying to date local gals was often met with “I would not date or dance with you, even if you were the last boy on earth!” So, I seldom dated as my focus was on moving to a new area.

Mom encouraged me to find friends thru 4H from different areas rather than close to home.  I then became involved in 4H and its many projects, went to wrestling practice after school, read books, and helped dad on some projects, gardening, animal husbandry around the farm.

One classmate said several years later that it seemed my attention was focused on studies, 4H, and not concerned with making friends in school.

After graduating, I worked for the summer, before leaving for the University of Minnesota with an intent to study forestry management and seldom came back for a visit. Instead, of finishing college, my inner fires were stoked when I worked on a church in Cannon Falls MN as an apprentice carpenter, and from there started a new journey as a tradesman in carpentry. 

But, that is another story for later.....