Seven random things that might be facts

Most people who stop by Torch Lake Views live around here or keep cottages here (hey, snowbirds, it’s safe to come back – we’re looking forward to seeing you).  This is a small township.  Anyone who’s interested already knows everything about me, including the odd stuff.  However, Heather Uphilldowndale has tagged me in a game dear to the hearts of bloggers and I’ve decided to play.  This requires that I tell you seven things about me that you might NOT know.  I have asked around at Sonny’s and the IGA and it appears that all of these will be news to most of you, and certainly to Heather, who lives in the UK:

• I used to speak serviceable Spanish, although it’s fading fast.
• When I eat apples I eat ’em core and all.  The only thing left is the stem.  I really enjoy my Galas.  Also Macs and Jonagolds and Ida Reds and – you get the idea.
• You probably think my secret vice is chocolate, but that’s not a secret, is it?  My secret vice is potato chips.  Of course, that’s not a secret any more either.
• I’m running out of things – no, wait!  This one only my dad will know.  When I was little I loved to fish (wait, that’s not the secret, I know you know about the fishing thing and the muskies).  What I did not like was the cleaning of the fish.  I’d bring them back, leave the stringer on the back step, and go in to wash my hands.  I’d get distracted, forget about the fish rotting gently in the sun, and eventually hear about it from my mother, who was not amused.  She said she’d cook them, but I had to clean ’em or bury ’em.  This opened up a whole new opportunity. 
• I fished strictly with what we called “angleworms.”  I had lures, but they were so pretty I didn’t want to lose them in fish guts.  I didn’t mind digging for worms, or putting them on the hook, so there you go.  However, distracted by the prospect of actually fishing with the worms, I would often go off and leave the hole I’d dug.  This turned out to be unfortunate for my father, who walked into the back yard at dusk and twisted an ankle painfully.  That turned out to be unfortunate for me. 
• But now my mother had helped me to see a solution for all my problems.  Henceforth I would dig worms, catch fish, put the fish in the worm holes, cover ’em up, and go play.  It all seemed so – balanced.  And when I learned, in Gertrude Backstrom’s classroom at McCord Elementary School, that the Indians had taught the Pilgrims to fertilize their corn and bean plots by burying fish in the hills, I was sure I was doing Mother Nature’s work.  Years after we moved away from that house, the buyers marveled at the quality of the garden soil.
• I credit this early insight for my interest in mediation, which offers a dandy set of tools to craft win/win resolutions for problems.       

Now I think there are at LEAST seven random things somewhere in there, and they are most likely facts.  They certainly reflect the way I remember those days, and if he has a different take on it I’m sure Dad will let you know.

This next bit only matters to bloggers – the rest of you can go look at something else, or better yet, go to the list at the end and take a look at some of the interesting blogs!

Here are the rules, for those bloggers who decide to play along:
1) Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2) Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3) Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4) Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Now then, for those of you who are listed below, you do not have to play.  This is not a chain letter, and nothing bad will happen to your mother if you decide to ignore the whole thing.  The taggees:

John & Betsy King, who are most likely too busy for this foolishness, but maybe they’d like to post seven things we didn’t know about what’s going on at the orchard!  If you take a look at John’s recent posts, you’ll get a real sense of the challenges they deal with – and you’ll learn why the price of fuel can keep a farmer awake nights.

PJ Grath at Dog Ears Books over in Northport. Things are pretty busy over at Dog Ears, too, but maybe she’d like to tell you about seven new books – or old ones, for that matter.

Leslie at Kaleidoscope, who has some lovely photos of glass on her site.

Kajsa Danielsdotter. (OK, this one’s cheating. I don’t care.)

Lorelle at WordPress. This one is for people who are thinking about starting a blog. The rest of you will simply be amazed at the arcane world revealed on Lorelle.

Terry Miller.  Terry blogs on politics, which I have so far avoided, even though the Petoskey Pointe debacle has sorely tested my resolve.  I am positive that he will not be interested in playing the game, but I needed a seventh blogger for the list and I’m already counting John and Betsy King as two.  Besides, I think Terry might like to tell you seven pieces of political arcana – we are, after all, entering Silly Season.