OLD Skool...

When I was a freshman in college my parents sold the house we grew up in and forced me to move to their new house on a lake in Traverse City from the home I grew up in a western Detroit suburb. Not so rough looking back but boy-oh-boy did it completely S*#K! when it was happening. Since I was new to the area, my loving sister so generously "got me" a great job working at the MSU - Northwest Michigan Horticultural Research Station through a contact she had working at the state capitol.

I worked 40+ hours a week. I pulled tarp for cherries, picked fruit, picked rocks, weed wacked apple suckers, cleaned MSU farm dorms, mowed a S&^%load of lawns and didn't have a life because I was so tired and knew nobody. I was forced to listen to Rush Limbaugh and was in the best physical shape I have ever been in my life. Besides the brutal manual labor, I spent A LOT of time corrupting a girl named Marita who it's possible had never left her family farm in Leelanau County except to go to church or school. I prayed for rainy days so that we could work inside...I am sure it rained at least once that summer but those aren't the days I remember.

What I do remember was spending days in the field with my friend Nikki trying to get Marita to say the word "penis" out loud just once. I also remember eating giant meals because I was working so hard and not having lumpy fat thighs and fat belly. Perhaps when I am done with my post I will email my resume over. FOR SURE, I will be able to lose weight if somebody pays me!

Today, the Cherry Festival organizers had a trip to the station so we hopped on the bus with Curly Carter, Biker Boy, Blackport Carter, Willy, Colin and various adults and went up there. We tried to keep the focus off using the world penis, but with 6 little boys -- 2 who are in the process of potty training that was nearly impossible. And despite my violent bout' of post-traumatic stress syndrome when I figured out where the bus was taking us, we had a great time.

Bus Stop

Riding in the back of the bus with friends, food and and no carseats or seatbelts is as exciting as getting a free upgrade to first-class on a transatlantic flight for adults (this is an assumption because I have never been on a transatlantic flight).

Covered wagon pulled by a great, big, GREEN John Deer tractor
I even got to see my old partner-in-crime Nikki who is now has a Ph.D in entomology and is running the whole place. Even though she lives in Leelanau County, she hasn't run into Marita. However, paybacks are hell as she is now our nerdy boss', boss. I told her I had a few suggestions for his employee review.