Thoughts of TheGentleman Farmer

As I am approaching my 50th birthday, and as the Complaint Department Manager points out, I am so old that I fart dust, well, anyway, I have been asked by many friends, "What are you going to do for your birthday?"

Well, Counters, it is like this.

On my 30th birthday, my daughter's mom threw me a huge bash with about 75 people in attendance and it was a wild, wild night.

On my 40th birthday, a good friend of mine rented a huge limo type trolley and we pub crawled all around FantasyLand and had a fantastic, highly inebriated evening.

So, I think on my 50th, this oleman will peacefully relax at the Taj Mahal and enjoy a home cooked meal and a cold cocktail or two and, generally, reflect on how to continue to Celebrate Life into my 50's..

And, while I received invitations from many friends to celebrate my birthday in a more boisterous manner, this olelongrooffan will calmly move into my 50th year.

But the way I choose to celebrate my 50th is not what this blog is about.

Those of you Counting Along With Me will remember this recent experience, and You Counters will remember I am always looking for a way to get to test the Authority Of The Man.

So, as I am cruising north on my beach, after dealing with those MuffinTops, I shot the following image of that North Central Florida Beach I call home.


Fairly deserted for a Chamber of Commerce Sunday afternoon. But note the speed limit sign in the following image, quite unlike these days.

So, being the kind of guy that I am, I look at the speedometer on the olestationbus

and say H*ll Yeah!!! I got it to the Man again!!

Now while I was down at my favorite grocery store, I spotted, in the refrigerated section, a favorite snack of my Dad's, TheGentlemanFarmer.


Yeah, that's right, Pickled Herring and saltines.

Now remember, TheGentlemanFarmer and my Mom had 10 children, "All chiefs, no Indians," as Mom liked to point out.

Well, being raised on a farm there was not really a bunch of extra bucks around for "frivolous" desires, but, having said that, we never needed anything that we didn't get. It was a pretty communal upbringing and pretty much what was mine was thejeepjunkie's and vice versa.

But that cold jar of herring in the fridge belonged to TheGentlemanFarmer, make no mistake about it. Occassionally, while TheGentlemanFarmer was enjoying a fine ride on that Cutty Sark ship, he would indulge in that jar of pickled North Atlantic Ocean fish and, sometimes, if we were around, he would share a piece, or two, with us kids.

It was like a visit to BBB and Debra's place. Highly desired and greatly enjoyed.

As it has been years since this olelongrooffan has eaten any herring, I decided to pick up a small jar of that favorite snack of TheGentlemanFarmer to help celebrate my birthday and past memories.

As you will note, that is a single sleeve of saltines.

Well, get this, Publix only sells the large four sleeve boxes of saltines.

I never eat saltines and I knew if I purchased one of those four sleeved containing boxes, the remaining three sleeves would be stale before I ate them. So I, while I thought about going to Wendy's and snagging some free ones, I decided instead to head up to my favorite local convenience store to pick some up.

And, man, is that herring and saltine snack delicious!!! Thanks to TheGentlemanFarmer for many things, including this delicious, albeit rare, delicacy.

Oh, and just in case you are wondering, this is what the 50 year old left foot owning big toe looks like on this olelongrooffan! And, yeah, that is the toenail I lost while building that stone waterfall on BBB and Debra's pool deck many years ago. Luckily, it found me again.

Sorry for the visual.

And I hope you all can, as I do with herring, saltines and an upcoming milestone birthday,

Celebrate Life.