Hi everyone!  I like mornings, and always have.  When dad and I went on our adventures, we always left as early as possible in the morning.  And, of course, we always picked a nice sunny day as well.  So, here we go with part 2… 

It is such a nice, warm, sunny morning with just a hint of a breeze.  Couldn’t be better weather for our insulator collecting trip.  Things have settled down to a more normal time, nothing happening to dad, finding a few nice insulators.  It has been a dry year.  And we now come upon a swampy type pond which is now quite dry for the most part.  And we spot insulators in the dry muddy bottom as we gaze down from up high on the railway tracks.  We decide to head down and check things out.  These embankments are quite steep and sometimes the gravel is loose, especially when it is dry, like it was then. I slipped this time, not dad, and down I went.  Unfortunately dad was in front of me so I yelled to him to get out of the way.  He looked back, eyes got big, and he did manage to jump out of the way in time.  I continued downhill, rather fast, but stopped in the bushes at the bottom with only a few scrapes and scratches.  But when dad jumped out of the way, he slipped as well and came down behind me.  I was standing and dad yelled, but too late.  He hit me and I sat down on his stomach.  OOOOOOOOOh, was the only sound from dad when I sat down.  But he did stop right away.

For some reason dad wanted to rest a bit, so I went looking for the insulators.  One dark purple insulator was just barely sticking up out of the mud.  A bit of digging and out it came, perfect!  There was another further away and closer to the water.  The mud was quite wet and a bit soft in that area but I decided to try and get it anyway.  It was still attached to the cross arm, so I decided to dig out the whole thing.  A big pull and out it came!  Rats.  Splattered with mud all over my shoes, I said to myself.  I turned around and just had to laugh. 

Dad was splattered with mud from head to foot!  Oddly, he didn’t see the comical aspect to this situation.  But there was a loud “Bonehead”, so I knew he was enjoying things.  I certainly was, laughing loud and long.  His glasses were covered with mud.  I offered to take them over to the stream and wash them.  Dad just said, stay away, as he backed away from me.  He went to  wash them off and I decided to wash the insulators.  Over there, dad pointed.  Seems he didn’t want me too close to him.  Strange.  Look at this one, I said as I tossed it over to dad.  Dad didn’t hear me, or at least, that is what he claimed. 

The insulator hit him on the knee.  All I heard was, AAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!  And he got up too quickly.  Dad would always get a bit dizzy when he did that so he lost his balance and landed in the stream.  Didn’t fall though.  But he did get his feet wet.  I think you enjoy getting wet, I said.  Dad just looked at me.  He ended up with a bit of a bruise on his knee.  We went up the next hill.  Good thing it is so warm, your feet will dry fast, I said.  No comment from dad.  Low poles ahead, easy pickings, well, it should be anyway.  But lunch first.

Look for part 3 coming tomorrow!  I hope you all have a great day and God bless!

Steve and Muffin.

© 2019 Steve McLeod.