We’ve got cans! Don’t they make a wonderful display? I wouldn’t be surprised if some of these gas cans date from the 1950s or maybe even the 1940s. These gas cans have serviced a plethora of motorized vee-hickles over the years: boats of all descriptions, snowmobiles, dirt bikes, lawn mowers. Some of these cans are still in use. Others probably aren’t even legal any more.

When I first started hanging around with the GG at Houghton Lake, The Gumper was still in his prime, at the top of his career as a mechanical engineer, working in the Motor City as a machine tool salesman. If I have it right, robots were just starting to take over the assembly line in those days. (Correct me, you guys.) I remember the one and *only* time the GG has ever been between jobs (many years ago) and he and some of his siblings and various friends were hanging out in the backyard at the old Woodsboro house in Royal Joke. The Gumper came home from work at lunchtime. He stood there surveying all of the teens and 20-somethings sunning in his backyard while he worked. It’s scary to think that we are now about the age he was then but I’ll save that for some other day.

Anyway, The Gumper spent many weekends at his beloved cabin at Houghton Lake. When we joined him there on weekends, he was always busy with something, and that something more often than not involved tinkering with motors. Boats of all descriptions, snowmobiles, dirt bikes, lawn mowers. One early summer weekend of intermittent light rain, I think I helped him hoist a lawn mower up onto a picnic table (and back down) about a thousand times. He would want to work on it and the rain would stop and I would help him get it up there and three minutes later it would start raining again and I would help him get it down again. And yes, I did it because I loved him.

The GG and many of his siblings and a lot of the out-laws love motorized vee-hickles too (and after a few years of being outright snotty about motorboats, Kayak Woman here has learned to appreciate them again). But many of us also enjoy what Dogmomster long ago dubbed as Silent Sports. Hiking, cross-country skiing, kayaking. There are still plenty of motorboats up at Houghton Lake these days. And lawn-mowers. But the snowmobiles and dirt bikes are long gone. But we do have gas cans! I think they look pretty cool arranged like they are on those shelves next to the old refrigerator with the bicycle in front. Oh, and there is a Hills Brothers coffee can on the top shelf. I walked down to end of the point and back before we left for home today and I spied a gaaarrrage with a whole shelf unit FULL of Hills Brothers coffee cans! Hoarder? Or what.

And so, it was a gorgeous overnight at Houghton Lake. And now we’re back here on the Planet Ann Arbor thinking (or not) about the [work] week ahead. Love y’all and hope you had a great weekend. Miss all the days we were up there with Grandpa Garth.

Good night,
Kayak Woman

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 3rd, 2010 at 6:16 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.