THE NORTHERN MICHIGAN FUNGUS FESTIVAL
By Tim Collin
Editor In Chief,
Humor News Nuts Publications
This year marks the 300th anniversary of the annual Fungus Festival in the little northern village of Foot Michigan. The festival is very important to this little town since it is the only source of revenue to sustain 14 residents, two ducks and a black bear named Sandy. The festival is extremely important for Sandy since she is in charge of the towns sanitation department. Sandy really cleans up after the festival and gains an average of 200 lbs. Without having to forage for food anymore for the year Sandy can slip right into hibernation even though the Fungus Festival ends May 1st. What an enviable position; only having to work one week each year and then being able to lie around in your cave the other fifty one weeks.
Now the two ducks are the featured attraction at the towns petting zoo. They are the only live animals there and are joined by a stuffed fox, a Marten and a skunk. The little kids especially like to pet the skunk even though the display is getting kind of old and the glass eyes keep falling out. The town mayor has told me that Mr. Ziegler, who owns the farm at the end of 1st street, has agreed to donate his old dog Patches to the petting zoo when the animal passes on. The mayor seemed quite enthused about replacing the skunk with Patches since Patches was born with only three legs and no tail. Hence, the mayor said they could advertise a "Petting Zoo And Freak Show" on the billboard sign near the highway. The mayor hopes this will bring in some tourist business during the off-season when the Fungus Festival is over.
As for the Fungus Festival itself, it has been a bad year for fungus growth in the woods of Northern Michigan. In fact, there is still a foot of snow on the ground all around this quaint little village. To compensate for the lack of fungus growing in the forest, the town fathers cleaned out the township treasury and hitchhiked to and from the nearest supermarket which was located some 50 miles away. At the supermarket the town fathers bought up all the packages of fresh mushrooms that were available. Unfortunately, all the whole mushrooms were sold out and the only ones available were sliced. The mushrooms were white in color so they are very hard to see once sprinkled around in the snow.
Still, the tourists that have shown up so far were not too terribly troubled about the mushroom situation. Instead, they just showed up looking for a fun time and asking for directions on how to get to the Sou Locks. Hopefully, another vehicle will show up full of tourists who are equally as enthused about the Northern Michigan Foot Fungus Festival.
Showing posts with label FAKE NEWS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label FAKE NEWS. Show all posts
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Thursday, December 27, 2012
HUNTING LEPRECHAUNS IN MICHIGAN
By Ted Colin
Recently, my co-worker Gerrard and I went down to Mt. Pleasant to work on a story about co-eds and their behavior in night clubs that have live bands versus their behavior at night clubs that have a DJ. Gerrard had this theory that college women are more likely to go out on the dance floor and jump around if there is a DJ instead of a live band. I was kind of skeptical so, we thought we would do some research on Gerrard’s theory and then write an article about it. We figured we could get a room for a weekend in Mt. Pleasant paid for by our editor, my brother Tim. My cheap brother laughed at us as he said “No way you dumb…” Tim only uses colorful language when he talks about spending money.
It was just as well that Tim turned us down because I was able to borrow enough money from my brother Mike so that Gerrard and I could each get our own room. My brother Mike has a rich girlfriend that gave him a bunch of money. He claims his girlfriend is a vampire but, I don’t believe in such foolish stuff. Of course I really don’t care what she is as long as we got enough money out of Mike so that Gerrard and I can each have our own room. You need to have your own room when traveling with Gerrard because he always drinks too many beers then, he starts to drink shots and shooters and finally, he gets really sick for about two or three days. I think that’s why his mom makes him live down in the basement.
There are lots of motels and hotels to stay at in Mt. Pleasant. We stayed at one that had a night club in it with a large dance floor. This way we would not be driving while drinking. Just to make sure that we wouldn’t do anything stupid like try to drive somewhere after we were kicked out of the nightclub, I gave my keys to the front desk and asked them not to give me back the keys until the next day because I knew I would be unfit to drive anywhere. The front desk girl thought that I had a really good idea. I hoped I had scored some points with her since she was really nice looking. I asked her if she was going to be at the night club later on and she said she would and she’d look for me there.
I obviously scored some points with the front desk girl when I turned in my keys and showed her how responsible I was unfortunately, by the time she showed up at the night club I was already having problems standing and she quickly left the place after I accidentally fell on her. Evidently, she was not impressed. She should have been glad Gerrard didn’t fall on her because he weighs nearly twice as much as I do.
After watching the girls at the night club dance a little bit, the next thing I remember doing was wandering down the streets of a town called Clare. It was early morning and I could not figure out what had happened. Gerrard was also wandering around in a confused state. This little Irish town is located just about 15 miles North of Mt. Pleasant. Neither Gerrard nor I ever figured out just how we got there.
There was an Amish horse and buggy parked nearby and our shoes and pants were covered with horse manure. An Amish fellow also waved to us as he got in the cart and drove off. Maybe we hitched a ride. At any rate, we decided that we should find a place out of the cold. Luckily, Irish towns have plenty of pubs so we went in the nearest one and bellied up to the bar.
Gerrard and I didn’t want to spend too much money so we each ordered an Old Millpond draft. I was shocked because the draft was green colored. I said to the bartender, “What’s up with this? I never drank Old Millpond beer that was green like this.”
“It’s St. Patty’s Day. The beer just has green dye in it today, “replied the bartender as he busily unloaded his dishwasher.
I had forgotten that it was St. Patrick’s Day. I usually missed the holiday because I usually started celebrating way too early. After a couple of green beers I started to feel a bit more coherent. Gerrard also seemed to be coming out of his stupor. Then, Gerrard wondered out loud “I wonder if we can go hunting for leprechauns today. “
At that moment in time I thought maybe Gerrard had a good idea. “We couldn’t actually hunt one with a rifle since I left mine back home,” I said,” and, my lawn jarts are in the trunk of my car but, if we could capture one I think the DNR has some sort of reward for them.”
Gerrard finished off his beer and ordered up another one and said, “I think you get some sort of gold pot if you turn one in. I think that’s the bounty on them this time of year.”
The bartender brought over a frothy beer to Gerrard and said, “There, that’s your last beer for now. It’s only 9 o’clock in the morning and by the sound of things you fellows have already had too many. You need to sober up a bit so you can watch the big parade at noon today. There‘ll be leprechauns all over the place during the parade. ”
That was all Gerrard and I had to hear. We drank down our beers and just went pub crawling down the street for the next few hours. I was trying to steady myself on top of a bar stool when suddenly; I heard the blast of trumpets from a band. I used to play trumpet in High School so I know what they sound like. Gerrard was sleeping face down on the bar when I roused him to go outside to see if we could find a leprechaun to capture.
When we got to the sidewalk we witnessed a pretty good parade going by. It had floats and horses and marching bands. Then, suddenly, a whole bunch of leprechauns all dressed in traditional leprechaun cloths came marching down the street. The only thing odd about these leprechauns was that they were all pretty tall. Gerrard and I decided to go for the biggest one since we figured we’d get the biggest reward with his capture.
Mike came down from Traverse City and picked Gerrard and I up at the county building. There weren’t any charges filed against us but, we each got a pair of black eye shiners. The sheriff’s deputy explained that the guy we tried to capture was a national Golden Gloves champion and we were lucky he didn’t kill both of us with his bare hands. Mike took us back to our rooms at the hotel in Mt. Pleasant.
I think it is going to be a while before I go on another road trip. I’m not yet convinced that Mike’s girlfriend is a vampire but, she does have lots of money. That Jaguar Mike drives is a really nice car. I wonder if Mike’s vampire girlfriend has a rich vampire sister. Even if vampires bite, it is still better than getting beaten to death by the bare knuckle fists of a leprechaun.
Recently, my co-worker Gerrard and I went down to Mt. Pleasant to work on a story about co-eds and their behavior in night clubs that have live bands versus their behavior at night clubs that have a DJ. Gerrard had this theory that college women are more likely to go out on the dance floor and jump around if there is a DJ instead of a live band. I was kind of skeptical so, we thought we would do some research on Gerrard’s theory and then write an article about it. We figured we could get a room for a weekend in Mt. Pleasant paid for by our editor, my brother Tim. My cheap brother laughed at us as he said “No way you dumb…” Tim only uses colorful language when he talks about spending money.
It was just as well that Tim turned us down because I was able to borrow enough money from my brother Mike so that Gerrard and I could each get our own room. My brother Mike has a rich girlfriend that gave him a bunch of money. He claims his girlfriend is a vampire but, I don’t believe in such foolish stuff. Of course I really don’t care what she is as long as we got enough money out of Mike so that Gerrard and I can each have our own room. You need to have your own room when traveling with Gerrard because he always drinks too many beers then, he starts to drink shots and shooters and finally, he gets really sick for about two or three days. I think that’s why his mom makes him live down in the basement.
There are lots of motels and hotels to stay at in Mt. Pleasant. We stayed at one that had a night club in it with a large dance floor. This way we would not be driving while drinking. Just to make sure that we wouldn’t do anything stupid like try to drive somewhere after we were kicked out of the nightclub, I gave my keys to the front desk and asked them not to give me back the keys until the next day because I knew I would be unfit to drive anywhere. The front desk girl thought that I had a really good idea. I hoped I had scored some points with her since she was really nice looking. I asked her if she was going to be at the night club later on and she said she would and she’d look for me there.
I obviously scored some points with the front desk girl when I turned in my keys and showed her how responsible I was unfortunately, by the time she showed up at the night club I was already having problems standing and she quickly left the place after I accidentally fell on her. Evidently, she was not impressed. She should have been glad Gerrard didn’t fall on her because he weighs nearly twice as much as I do.
After watching the girls at the night club dance a little bit, the next thing I remember doing was wandering down the streets of a town called Clare. It was early morning and I could not figure out what had happened. Gerrard was also wandering around in a confused state. This little Irish town is located just about 15 miles North of Mt. Pleasant. Neither Gerrard nor I ever figured out just how we got there.
There was an Amish horse and buggy parked nearby and our shoes and pants were covered with horse manure. An Amish fellow also waved to us as he got in the cart and drove off. Maybe we hitched a ride. At any rate, we decided that we should find a place out of the cold. Luckily, Irish towns have plenty of pubs so we went in the nearest one and bellied up to the bar.
Gerrard and I didn’t want to spend too much money so we each ordered an Old Millpond draft. I was shocked because the draft was green colored. I said to the bartender, “What’s up with this? I never drank Old Millpond beer that was green like this.”
“It’s St. Patty’s Day. The beer just has green dye in it today, “replied the bartender as he busily unloaded his dishwasher.
I had forgotten that it was St. Patrick’s Day. I usually missed the holiday because I usually started celebrating way too early. After a couple of green beers I started to feel a bit more coherent. Gerrard also seemed to be coming out of his stupor. Then, Gerrard wondered out loud “I wonder if we can go hunting for leprechauns today. “
At that moment in time I thought maybe Gerrard had a good idea. “We couldn’t actually hunt one with a rifle since I left mine back home,” I said,” and, my lawn jarts are in the trunk of my car but, if we could capture one I think the DNR has some sort of reward for them.”
Gerrard finished off his beer and ordered up another one and said, “I think you get some sort of gold pot if you turn one in. I think that’s the bounty on them this time of year.”
The bartender brought over a frothy beer to Gerrard and said, “There, that’s your last beer for now. It’s only 9 o’clock in the morning and by the sound of things you fellows have already had too many. You need to sober up a bit so you can watch the big parade at noon today. There‘ll be leprechauns all over the place during the parade. ”
That was all Gerrard and I had to hear. We drank down our beers and just went pub crawling down the street for the next few hours. I was trying to steady myself on top of a bar stool when suddenly; I heard the blast of trumpets from a band. I used to play trumpet in High School so I know what they sound like. Gerrard was sleeping face down on the bar when I roused him to go outside to see if we could find a leprechaun to capture.
When we got to the sidewalk we witnessed a pretty good parade going by. It had floats and horses and marching bands. Then, suddenly, a whole bunch of leprechauns all dressed in traditional leprechaun cloths came marching down the street. The only thing odd about these leprechauns was that they were all pretty tall. Gerrard and I decided to go for the biggest one since we figured we’d get the biggest reward with his capture.
Mike came down from Traverse City and picked Gerrard and I up at the county building. There weren’t any charges filed against us but, we each got a pair of black eye shiners. The sheriff’s deputy explained that the guy we tried to capture was a national Golden Gloves champion and we were lucky he didn’t kill both of us with his bare hands. Mike took us back to our rooms at the hotel in Mt. Pleasant.
I think it is going to be a while before I go on another road trip. I’m not yet convinced that Mike’s girlfriend is a vampire but, she does have lots of money. That Jaguar Mike drives is a really nice car. I wonder if Mike’s vampire girlfriend has a rich vampire sister. Even if vampires bite, it is still better than getting beaten to death by the bare knuckle fists of a leprechaun.
Sunday, August 14, 2011
LAKE MICHIGAN IS LEAKING
By Tim Colin
Last summer I decided to go over to the town on Frankfort which is located on Lake Michigan. The problem is that when I got to Lake Michigan I found that it was almost gone. Lake Michigan had been reduced to just a hole that was less than a hundred yards across. I could see Utah. If I could get a valid Visa I would have swam over there to see my Mormon cousins. I love to travel to foreign countries.
Looking at Lake Michigan I could tell something was wrong. I have a scientific background (I took a geosciences class in 10Th grade). I kept looking at looking at Lake Michigan and it suddenly struck me that if this great lake had almost no water left in it then, the question should be “where did all the water go?’.
I started to remember that there was some guy named Al Gorekon, or Gornon or Gorman or something who said that the world was getting warmer. I wondered if maybe the world had gotten so warm that the water had boiled away out of Lake Michigan. All this thinking was giving me a real headache. After all, I only wanted to go fishing that day so, I decided to head over to the nearest pizza/bar and eat/drink my headache away.
After about a half hour at the pizza/bar, I started to feel comfortable talking to the strangers who sat around me. I said that it looks like Lake Michigan is boiling away. Two people got up and left the bar. The bartender then told me that if I didn’t shut up about global warming he’d kick my commie ass out the door. I decided to move to a private table. I ordered a pitcher of beer and went over to a table that was in a remote corner of the bar/pizza establishment.
I did not sit there for long before a scruffy, bearded old guy from the bar came over to my table and sat down with his mug of beer. I immediately thought that this guy is either gay or he wants me to share my pitcher of beer with him. In either case the answer would be “no”. The bearded, weirdo then said to me that he knew where there was a secret hole. He said I needed to come with him and he would show it to me.
“Now why would I want to go see your hole? I asked.
“Because I’m telling you I’m a scientist. I know why Lake Michigan is drying up.”
After I finished off my pitcher of beer I was pretty much game for anything so, I agreed to go and look at the scruffy mans old hole. I told him that looking was all I would do. I was emphatic that I would never climb down into it. I said that ever since I was a teenager I was very afraid of cold, dark places.
The old guy and I walked down to Lake Michigan. True to his word he showed me this deep hole which seemed to be sucking everything into it. I was truly amazed. It was like nothing I had ever seen before. Lake Michigan was gurgling down into an abyss. It was not global warming that was destroying Lake Michigan. Instead, it was some sort of large hole that seemed to be sucking Lake Michigan water into some sort of alternate dimension. But, where is the water ending up. If I had my brother with me I would have sent him into the hole to find out. For now, it must remain a great mystery. The water might be flowing into an alternate universe or, it might be getting sucked up by the bottled water plant down the road.
Last summer I decided to go over to the town on Frankfort which is located on Lake Michigan. The problem is that when I got to Lake Michigan I found that it was almost gone. Lake Michigan had been reduced to just a hole that was less than a hundred yards across. I could see Utah. If I could get a valid Visa I would have swam over there to see my Mormon cousins. I love to travel to foreign countries.
Looking at Lake Michigan I could tell something was wrong. I have a scientific background (I took a geosciences class in 10Th grade). I kept looking at looking at Lake Michigan and it suddenly struck me that if this great lake had almost no water left in it then, the question should be “where did all the water go?’.
I started to remember that there was some guy named Al Gorekon, or Gornon or Gorman or something who said that the world was getting warmer. I wondered if maybe the world had gotten so warm that the water had boiled away out of Lake Michigan. All this thinking was giving me a real headache. After all, I only wanted to go fishing that day so, I decided to head over to the nearest pizza/bar and eat/drink my headache away.
After about a half hour at the pizza/bar, I started to feel comfortable talking to the strangers who sat around me. I said that it looks like Lake Michigan is boiling away. Two people got up and left the bar. The bartender then told me that if I didn’t shut up about global warming he’d kick my commie ass out the door. I decided to move to a private table. I ordered a pitcher of beer and went over to a table that was in a remote corner of the bar/pizza establishment.
I did not sit there for long before a scruffy, bearded old guy from the bar came over to my table and sat down with his mug of beer. I immediately thought that this guy is either gay or he wants me to share my pitcher of beer with him. In either case the answer would be “no”. The bearded, weirdo then said to me that he knew where there was a secret hole. He said I needed to come with him and he would show it to me.
“Now why would I want to go see your hole? I asked.
“Because I’m telling you I’m a scientist. I know why Lake Michigan is drying up.”
After I finished off my pitcher of beer I was pretty much game for anything so, I agreed to go and look at the scruffy mans old hole. I told him that looking was all I would do. I was emphatic that I would never climb down into it. I said that ever since I was a teenager I was very afraid of cold, dark places.
The old guy and I walked down to Lake Michigan. True to his word he showed me this deep hole which seemed to be sucking everything into it. I was truly amazed. It was like nothing I had ever seen before. Lake Michigan was gurgling down into an abyss. It was not global warming that was destroying Lake Michigan. Instead, it was some sort of large hole that seemed to be sucking Lake Michigan water into some sort of alternate dimension. But, where is the water ending up. If I had my brother with me I would have sent him into the hole to find out. For now, it must remain a great mystery. The water might be flowing into an alternate universe or, it might be getting sucked up by the bottled water plant down the road.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
GUN SAFETY IN MICHIGAN
By Mike Colin
You have to be really careful with guns. I once shot my toes off when I was a kid but they grew back. For most people their toes don’t grow back but I guess I’m some sort of mutant because my dad used to feed us kids fish he caught at a nuclear generator cooling pond. I was born with webbed toes, webbed feet and a functioning set of gills. I’d be a regular fish-man excerpt I can only dive down two feet and then my ears start to pop.
Well, enough with my personal stuff. What I’m really trying to tell people is that gun safety is important. For one thing you should never walk around with a loaded gun and the safety off. Of course many backwoods people defunctionalize the safety on their gun because in the backwoods they think that safety is for sissies. But, the problem is that most people will not grow back a second set of toes if they happen to blow the first set off with a shotgun. Not only that but take it from a guy who did loose his first set of toes: it really hurts. Besides that mutants don’t have toes that grow back instantly like in the movies. It took nearly ten minutes before my second set of toes were completely back and functional.
Now, walking around with a gun that isn’t loaded still makes you look cool to the ladies. I know most of my friends can easily find a date just by driving around the county with a gun rack in their pick-up, with a variety to weapons of course and, a couple of half drank 40 oz beers on the top of the dash board. Chicks just love 40 ouncers. The size of a man’s beer bottle is very important to the kind of women you find in the backwoods. The half drank beer bottles also signal to the ladies that the man is safe to date. Because the bottles are half drank it means that this man has been dating women and that he has been giving them his 40 ouncers. If the guy had full 40 ouncers it would signal to a woman that he had never had a date before and that he was some sort of city slicker weirdo out in the county for heinous purposes.
I just hope that by reading this article you’ve learned a lot about gun safety. Let me end by telling you a little story about my aunt May. Now aunt May was blind as a beaver pup. She could not see anything and she also had a bad limp so, she always walked around using a double barrel shotgun as a cane. Well, one day when her cousin Big Hairy Larry came up behind her she turned around, thought she saw a big foot monster, and blew his head off. Of course she went to prison. The jury didn’t believe her story that she was just trying to protect herself from Bigfoot. Instead, they believed the prosecutor who said that May killed her husband because she had found out he was having a fling with her sister.
You have to be really careful with guns. I once shot my toes off when I was a kid but they grew back. For most people their toes don’t grow back but I guess I’m some sort of mutant because my dad used to feed us kids fish he caught at a nuclear generator cooling pond. I was born with webbed toes, webbed feet and a functioning set of gills. I’d be a regular fish-man excerpt I can only dive down two feet and then my ears start to pop.
Well, enough with my personal stuff. What I’m really trying to tell people is that gun safety is important. For one thing you should never walk around with a loaded gun and the safety off. Of course many backwoods people defunctionalize the safety on their gun because in the backwoods they think that safety is for sissies. But, the problem is that most people will not grow back a second set of toes if they happen to blow the first set off with a shotgun. Not only that but take it from a guy who did loose his first set of toes: it really hurts. Besides that mutants don’t have toes that grow back instantly like in the movies. It took nearly ten minutes before my second set of toes were completely back and functional.
Now, walking around with a gun that isn’t loaded still makes you look cool to the ladies. I know most of my friends can easily find a date just by driving around the county with a gun rack in their pick-up, with a variety to weapons of course and, a couple of half drank 40 oz beers on the top of the dash board. Chicks just love 40 ouncers. The size of a man’s beer bottle is very important to the kind of women you find in the backwoods. The half drank beer bottles also signal to the ladies that the man is safe to date. Because the bottles are half drank it means that this man has been dating women and that he has been giving them his 40 ouncers. If the guy had full 40 ouncers it would signal to a woman that he had never had a date before and that he was some sort of city slicker weirdo out in the county for heinous purposes.
I just hope that by reading this article you’ve learned a lot about gun safety. Let me end by telling you a little story about my aunt May. Now aunt May was blind as a beaver pup. She could not see anything and she also had a bad limp so, she always walked around using a double barrel shotgun as a cane. Well, one day when her cousin Big Hairy Larry came up behind her she turned around, thought she saw a big foot monster, and blew his head off. Of course she went to prison. The jury didn’t believe her story that she was just trying to protect herself from Bigfoot. Instead, they believed the prosecutor who said that May killed her husband because she had found out he was having a fling with her sister.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
MY FUNGI HUNTING BUSINESS HAS MUSHROOMED
By Tim Colin
When you live way up north you have to come up with creative ways of making a living. One business that I have done well at is giving city people backwoods tour guides. Last year I took people out to the swamp bogs so they could get a good look at quicksand. The funny thing is about half way through the tour everyone would disappear. I guess they thought my tour was boring and took off to the bar. I did learn to take cash up front before I gave a tour. Those people that lit out on me during my quicksand tours ended up not paying and they never answered their phones when I would call them.
This year I have a brand new tour. The annual Martin Mushroom Festival which I believe they have every year, seemed like a great backdrop for my new business, mushroom tours. All I would have to do is advertise in a big city that has a lot of rich people. Well, Detroit is broke but, Chicago has a lot of rich people so I decided to blanket that area with advertising. I did not have any money to spend but, my brother has a cell phone that has unlimited calling during the week provided you call after eleven o’clock at night.
I then offered a buddy of mine a free pitcher of OMB beer if could get me some people signed up for my mushroom hunting tour. He just had to make cold calls some night. It was only a couple of days later that my buddy got arrested for harassing people on the phone. But, before he went to jail he did hook me up with this couple from Chicago who were willing to pay me $500.00 to take them mushroom hunting for the Martin Mushroom festival. Now, not only was I about to make three months wages for just a couple of days work but, I got to drink the pitcher of OMB beer myself since my buddy was in jail and expected to stay there the rest of the spring and maybe part of the summer.
The Chicago couple had lots of bucks. He worked as a store manager and she worked as a nurse. They seemed nice. They were in their forties so they were too old for me to hang out with but, I took them to a nice sports bar where sometimes a former pro athlete drops by. I bought them each a shot of Absolute and then took them to their hotel and put them to bed. It was nine o’clock and I wanted these city slickers to get a good nights rest before I took them into the backwoods. They were both on the pudgy side so, I hoped neither of them would have a heart attack.
After I dropped the old folks off, I went to a topless bar. The next day when we got to the woods I regretted staying out until two. All the birds sounded like they were screaming in my ears and the swamp mold were doing a job to my sinuses. We walked through a swamp and then a black berry briar patch and then, we came across a whole slug of mushrooms. Since we were going to the morel mushroom festival, I figured these must be morel mushrooms. My brother once had his stomach pumped when he ate a mess of poison mushrooms. But, for $500.00 I was willing to take a chance that these were morels and anyway, these people should not be going mushroom hunting if they did not know what they were doing. Furthermore, the people at the mushroom festival would tell us if these were not morel mushrooms the geezers seemed real happy filling up their bag with the stringy pink capped beauties.
After we returned to the car we drove to Martin where the mushroom festival was held. Unfortunately, I was a bit off on my dates and the mushroom festival did not start until the following weekend. The couple was a little perturbed but, I suggested that they come back the next weekend and I would only charge them half price for my services. They agreed.
The couple returned to Chicago with their mushrooms. Three days went by and I had not heard from them in regards to their upcoming redeployment to the mushroom woods during the Martin Mushroom festival. Finally, on Thursday I gave them a call. Some strange lady answered the phone. When I asked to talk to my customers she said that she was their daughter and that her parents were both in the hospital. I immediately envisioned that my middle-aged meal tickets had been in some terrible accident. When I asked the daughter she said no, they had not been in a car accident. Instead, she said, her parents had gone up North to hunt mushrooms with some “creepy backwoods guy”. The daughter then told me that “the creep” had gotten her parents to pick some deadly poisonous mushrooms. She said her parents fried the mushrooms up like “the creep” told them to do and then, ate the mushrooms with steak and red wine. The daughter did say that her parents would be fine but, they would be turning “the creep” into the Better Business Bureau.
When the daughter asked who I was I decided I had better just hang up the phone. I decided that the next time I take people mushroom hunting I would first buy a bag of morel mushrooms and then just find a spot and stick them in the ground. (We do the same thing when we guide deer and moose hunters up here). The people would be happy to find the mushrooms and I would still get paid.
When you live way up north you have to come up with creative ways of making a living. One business that I have done well at is giving city people backwoods tour guides. Last year I took people out to the swamp bogs so they could get a good look at quicksand. The funny thing is about half way through the tour everyone would disappear. I guess they thought my tour was boring and took off to the bar. I did learn to take cash up front before I gave a tour. Those people that lit out on me during my quicksand tours ended up not paying and they never answered their phones when I would call them.
This year I have a brand new tour. The annual Martin Mushroom Festival which I believe they have every year, seemed like a great backdrop for my new business, mushroom tours. All I would have to do is advertise in a big city that has a lot of rich people. Well, Detroit is broke but, Chicago has a lot of rich people so I decided to blanket that area with advertising. I did not have any money to spend but, my brother has a cell phone that has unlimited calling during the week provided you call after eleven o’clock at night.
I then offered a buddy of mine a free pitcher of OMB beer if could get me some people signed up for my mushroom hunting tour. He just had to make cold calls some night. It was only a couple of days later that my buddy got arrested for harassing people on the phone. But, before he went to jail he did hook me up with this couple from Chicago who were willing to pay me $500.00 to take them mushroom hunting for the Martin Mushroom festival. Now, not only was I about to make three months wages for just a couple of days work but, I got to drink the pitcher of OMB beer myself since my buddy was in jail and expected to stay there the rest of the spring and maybe part of the summer.
The Chicago couple had lots of bucks. He worked as a store manager and she worked as a nurse. They seemed nice. They were in their forties so they were too old for me to hang out with but, I took them to a nice sports bar where sometimes a former pro athlete drops by. I bought them each a shot of Absolute and then took them to their hotel and put them to bed. It was nine o’clock and I wanted these city slickers to get a good nights rest before I took them into the backwoods. They were both on the pudgy side so, I hoped neither of them would have a heart attack.
After I dropped the old folks off, I went to a topless bar. The next day when we got to the woods I regretted staying out until two. All the birds sounded like they were screaming in my ears and the swamp mold were doing a job to my sinuses. We walked through a swamp and then a black berry briar patch and then, we came across a whole slug of mushrooms. Since we were going to the morel mushroom festival, I figured these must be morel mushrooms. My brother once had his stomach pumped when he ate a mess of poison mushrooms. But, for $500.00 I was willing to take a chance that these were morels and anyway, these people should not be going mushroom hunting if they did not know what they were doing. Furthermore, the people at the mushroom festival would tell us if these were not morel mushrooms the geezers seemed real happy filling up their bag with the stringy pink capped beauties.
After we returned to the car we drove to Martin where the mushroom festival was held. Unfortunately, I was a bit off on my dates and the mushroom festival did not start until the following weekend. The couple was a little perturbed but, I suggested that they come back the next weekend and I would only charge them half price for my services. They agreed.
The couple returned to Chicago with their mushrooms. Three days went by and I had not heard from them in regards to their upcoming redeployment to the mushroom woods during the Martin Mushroom festival. Finally, on Thursday I gave them a call. Some strange lady answered the phone. When I asked to talk to my customers she said that she was their daughter and that her parents were both in the hospital. I immediately envisioned that my middle-aged meal tickets had been in some terrible accident. When I asked the daughter she said no, they had not been in a car accident. Instead, she said, her parents had gone up North to hunt mushrooms with some “creepy backwoods guy”. The daughter then told me that “the creep” had gotten her parents to pick some deadly poisonous mushrooms. She said her parents fried the mushrooms up like “the creep” told them to do and then, ate the mushrooms with steak and red wine. The daughter did say that her parents would be fine but, they would be turning “the creep” into the Better Business Bureau.
When the daughter asked who I was I decided I had better just hang up the phone. I decided that the next time I take people mushroom hunting I would first buy a bag of morel mushrooms and then just find a spot and stick them in the ground. (We do the same thing when we guide deer and moose hunters up here). The people would be happy to find the mushrooms and I would still get paid.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
PAY TOILETS IN THE WOODS
By Tim Colin
As you wander along the forest trails of Northern Michigan, I’m sure you have probably been noticing the orange and purple pay chemical restrooms. These pay toilets are being placed everywhere in Michigan’s woodlands. The bright colors make them easy to spot from literally miles away. Virtually every scenic vista you look out upon will have an orange and purple public pay toilet so easily seen that your eyes will be drawn right to it. Because these pay toilets are so numerous, you don’t have to look far to find one. The price is much higher to get into one further out in the forest so, make sure you take along plenty of dollar bills and include some five dollar bills if you intend to go into the deep backwoods. Our facilities DO NOT MAKE CHANGE!!!
So, no longer will people be forced to hold back their natural urges in the forest and, for those less modest, they will no longer have to find a large bush or tree. Hikers in the woods will no longer have to be on the look out for hiker scat. A miss-step along any trail can result in scat tainted athletic shoes that may easily end with the ruin of a pair of expensive athletic sneakers.
Now having these public toilets so readily available to visitors is not only a matter of public privacy and decency but, it is also a matter of public safety. People who relieve themselves in the forest don’t realize it but, what they are doing is putting in a challenge to large predatory animals like cougars, bison, and tree toads. Many people disappear into the bellies of tree toads each year and many of the people I talk to believe it is because of joggers challenging the natural territorial boundaries of the adult, bull toad. People who use our facilities don’t need to worry about animals getting all crazed up because they smell a challenger for their territory. The chemicals in the toilets completely overpower all other smells for miles around. Many people can’t smell anything for days after a trip into one of these chemical safe houses. As an added bonus, people who have dry eyes can expect a surge in natural tear production after just one visit to our new toilet facilities.
Another safety issue is the one regarding poisonous plants which many people inadvertently use when they clean themselves in the woods. In addition to the poisonous plants, you also have to worry about rattlesnakes and venomous spiders whenever you let your guard down for even a moment in Michigan. I will not even talk about bumble bees and the damage they can do.
The cleanliness of our facilities will one day be ranked on a scale of one to five. We don’t have running water in our toilets however; we do have reusable sanitary hand wipes. To keep costs down and to protect the environment, we only issue one hand wipe per toilet per season. We also provide several sheets of toilet paper per facility per season.
Overall, we hope that you will find the use of our outdoor chemical toilets fun and worth using over and over again. I have to disclose that I do have an investment in these facilities therefore, I could get some money from their use however, I am really just glad that I can help to place these environmentally friendly yet, easily seen toilets all over Michigan. Just to remind you once again, please take plenty of one dollar and five dollar bills along with you because our facilities DO NOT MAKE CHANGE!!!
This has been an advertisement for the Load-off Chemical Toilet Company and in no way reflects the views of the owners of this blog. It does reflect poorly on the staff writer/editor who wrote it.
As you wander along the forest trails of Northern Michigan, I’m sure you have probably been noticing the orange and purple pay chemical restrooms. These pay toilets are being placed everywhere in Michigan’s woodlands. The bright colors make them easy to spot from literally miles away. Virtually every scenic vista you look out upon will have an orange and purple public pay toilet so easily seen that your eyes will be drawn right to it. Because these pay toilets are so numerous, you don’t have to look far to find one. The price is much higher to get into one further out in the forest so, make sure you take along plenty of dollar bills and include some five dollar bills if you intend to go into the deep backwoods. Our facilities DO NOT MAKE CHANGE!!!
So, no longer will people be forced to hold back their natural urges in the forest and, for those less modest, they will no longer have to find a large bush or tree. Hikers in the woods will no longer have to be on the look out for hiker scat. A miss-step along any trail can result in scat tainted athletic shoes that may easily end with the ruin of a pair of expensive athletic sneakers.
Now having these public toilets so readily available to visitors is not only a matter of public privacy and decency but, it is also a matter of public safety. People who relieve themselves in the forest don’t realize it but, what they are doing is putting in a challenge to large predatory animals like cougars, bison, and tree toads. Many people disappear into the bellies of tree toads each year and many of the people I talk to believe it is because of joggers challenging the natural territorial boundaries of the adult, bull toad. People who use our facilities don’t need to worry about animals getting all crazed up because they smell a challenger for their territory. The chemicals in the toilets completely overpower all other smells for miles around. Many people can’t smell anything for days after a trip into one of these chemical safe houses. As an added bonus, people who have dry eyes can expect a surge in natural tear production after just one visit to our new toilet facilities.
Another safety issue is the one regarding poisonous plants which many people inadvertently use when they clean themselves in the woods. In addition to the poisonous plants, you also have to worry about rattlesnakes and venomous spiders whenever you let your guard down for even a moment in Michigan. I will not even talk about bumble bees and the damage they can do.
The cleanliness of our facilities will one day be ranked on a scale of one to five. We don’t have running water in our toilets however; we do have reusable sanitary hand wipes. To keep costs down and to protect the environment, we only issue one hand wipe per toilet per season. We also provide several sheets of toilet paper per facility per season.
Overall, we hope that you will find the use of our outdoor chemical toilets fun and worth using over and over again. I have to disclose that I do have an investment in these facilities therefore, I could get some money from their use however, I am really just glad that I can help to place these environmentally friendly yet, easily seen toilets all over Michigan. Just to remind you once again, please take plenty of one dollar and five dollar bills along with you because our facilities DO NOT MAKE CHANGE!!!
This has been an advertisement for the Load-off Chemical Toilet Company and in no way reflects the views of the owners of this blog. It does reflect poorly on the staff writer/editor who wrote it.
Monday, November 15, 2010
LEADING NORTHERN MICHIGAN OUTDOORSMAN GOES OUT WITH A BANG
By Mike Colin
The greatest outdoorsman I have ever known has died in a tragic underground explosion. I am of course talking about my Great Uncle Oslo. Uncle Oslo was a hunting and fishing maverick. He invented new ways to hunt and fish faster than the government could pass laws to ban them. Thanks to Uncle Oslo you can no longer hunt geese using lawn jarts or, use horse shoes to hunt chickadees. His electric chair for the snow shoe hair was once featured in “The Alternative Hunter Magazine.” He was also on 60 Minutes before he went to jail for helping his friend, Dr. Kevorkian.
The local police believe that Oslo was blown up by a still he kept hidden in an old bear cave. My aunt told me that in fact, Uncle Oslo was getting ready to go fishing and was busy making up some home made dynamite when the explosion occurred. My dad said Uncle Oslo would be alive today if he had only stuck to the old family recipe for making dynamite instead of downloading one off the internet.
There is some good to come out of the tragic death of my uncle. It seems that Uncle Oslo never told anyone as to whether he wanted his remains cremated or buried after he died. Well, since his body was instantly vaporized in the blast and then the ashes were buried when the bear cave caved in, one way or the other my uncle’s final wishes have been carried out.
The greatest outdoorsman I have ever known has died in a tragic underground explosion. I am of course talking about my Great Uncle Oslo. Uncle Oslo was a hunting and fishing maverick. He invented new ways to hunt and fish faster than the government could pass laws to ban them. Thanks to Uncle Oslo you can no longer hunt geese using lawn jarts or, use horse shoes to hunt chickadees. His electric chair for the snow shoe hair was once featured in “The Alternative Hunter Magazine.” He was also on 60 Minutes before he went to jail for helping his friend, Dr. Kevorkian.
The local police believe that Oslo was blown up by a still he kept hidden in an old bear cave. My aunt told me that in fact, Uncle Oslo was getting ready to go fishing and was busy making up some home made dynamite when the explosion occurred. My dad said Uncle Oslo would be alive today if he had only stuck to the old family recipe for making dynamite instead of downloading one off the internet.
There is some good to come out of the tragic death of my uncle. It seems that Uncle Oslo never told anyone as to whether he wanted his remains cremated or buried after he died. Well, since his body was instantly vaporized in the blast and then the ashes were buried when the bear cave caved in, one way or the other my uncle’s final wishes have been carried out.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
Custom Search
Subscribe To
Posts
All Comments