bobsawatzki

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A Day With Jack

Wednesday, April 26, 2023 Two days ago, unable to sleep, Jack Acheson had the inspiration to get rid of all the plastic in his life and use only products made of natural fibers. But first, he needed me to drive him to Rancho Market for a box of fresh vegetables and squash for $27.00 “I got a cardboard box from the butcher to put it all in!” Jack crowed. “Absolutely the best fresh produce in…

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Coming of Age in America

I was a sophomore at Fairhaven College, Bellingham, Washington, 1974. “Coming of Age in America” was my self-chosen topic for a long overdue term paper. But the subject was so vast and my experience so limited that I didn’t know where to start. When I asked my faculty advisor for an extension he said why not just take an Incomplete? I didn’t even know that was an option. I walked out of college…

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Driving Ms. Cindy

Cindy calls Suzanne at 8:40 saying she needs a ride to 12th & Harrison at 9:00 a.m. Suzanne’s not dressed yet, so: “Can you drive Cindy?” she asks me. “Twelfth and Harrison at nine a.m.?” I said. “What is it, a drug deal?” “Kind of like that. She needs to pick up her heart medicine and pain meds at Smith’s Pharmacy.” Properly chastened, I hastened outside to scrape ice off the windshield and…

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2 Weeks in Issaquah

A cross section of employees stopped to talk with me while I sat on the couch in the showroom with my laptop and cellphone, broadcasting my plight and recharging batteries. Workers would periodically stop to chat while coming or going from the machine, just a few feet away. They were curious about how it came to be that I was living at Evergreen Chevrolet. Zoltan, especially, seemed simpatico.…

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2 Weeks @ Evergreen Chevrolet

Part 2There was no way I could get back to sleep after that dream. I lay laid there in the trailer listening to the freeway traffic until dawn then got up and made myself breakfast of oatmeal and instant coffee. The drain plug for my Coleman cooler had been lost long ago and in its place I had whittled a wine bottle cork. It was leaking onto the trailer floor so I dragged it outside and drained…

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Two Weeks at Evergreen Chevrolet

Part 1 It was late afternoon on Tuesday, August 8, when Midway Motors in Oak Harbor released my truck back to me after a week of impoundment—and payment of $382. Big Red seemed peppy as ever and ready to be hitched up once again to Priscilla, my 1965 Aladdin “Sultan’s Palace.” Priscilla’s previous owner had used the trailer as a backyard meeting place for her book club. She also had hand-sewn…

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Living in Limbo

August 5, 2023There are two other people living in their vehicles on the parking lot at Ken’s Korner. One guy in an old white family van whom I see fairly regularly unlocking his van in the evening, after the shops have closed. In the morning, he’s there again, climbing out of the van. One afternoon I saw him wearing a neon orange and yellow safety vest going around the grounds salvaging…

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A Week @ Ken's Korner

To my brother Jim in Portugaul:Writing to you from the Les Schwab Tire Center, Ken’s Corner, at the junction of Highway 525 and the road to Langley, Whidbey Island. My trailer brake issues started five years ago when my neighbor, Richard, installed a 7-pin plug and trailer brake controller in my truck for free. Richard is a good ‘ol boy shade tree mechanic. He rode with me to Utah Trailer…

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Beached, part 4

Midway Boulevard, four lanes of asphalt becomes a quiet country lane in the morning hours. A brisk walk in fresh air after what seemed like days on the bus. Then it’s back to Midway Mufflers, Brooke at her station dealing with the next problem. A tall gray haired crewcut in clean blue coveralls, reading his bill closely and pointing out the offending line in his bill: “I did not approve a…

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Beached, part 3

Brooke at Midway Muffler Full Service Auto Repair is charming when she so chooses, otherwise professionally opaque. A seven-year old boy who must be her son is in an office on the side, door ajar, sitting at a desk bent over a laptop plastic pc. “Is that the manager in there?” She laughs agreeably. Can’t make any promises. “We’re just super busy this week.” Just as she said last week. “We’re…

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Beached: Part 2

Tuesday, August 87:36 a.m.Onboard the #1 bus northbound for Oak Harbor to pick up my truck with transmission serviced yesterday at Midway Mufflers Auto Shop. I’ve been waiting six says since I paid $484 to Christian’s Towing to have my truck delivered to them. This is the fourth time towed by those guys in 5 years at ever increasing rates. First time was when my timing belt broke just after…

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Beached

Monday Aug.7Pickles Deli, Ken’s Corner, Whidbey Island$8.61 Breakfast Bonanza: 2 eggs, 2 bacon, fried potatoes with red onions, whole wheat toast. Brought my own to-go mug with fresh coffee from Les Schwab tires, just across the parking lot where I’ve been staying on a gravel strip by the side of the road behind their building Three hustling women running Pickles Deli, one singing along with a…

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A Family: Then & Now

Carl Larson’s family album: snapshots from a vanished world. Consider Mrs. Carl Larson. There she is in plate 5: “A Studio Idyl.” Hugely wide Bambi eyes, high, intelligent forehead, slim good looks and the pursed, ironic lips. The baby resting on her breast, the artist’s daughter. April 5, 1987 These kids have a lien on his attention; they are his constant companions; his entourage; his little…

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Intrusions & Distractions

Friday, May 22, 1987The story of my life. Okay, of anybody’s life. What would you call that phone call from Jim yesterday? A combination of the two, I suppose. I had been pounding nails into boards and it was time to go check on the kids but the phone rang as I passed by the kitchen, so, three times removed from what I really need to be doing, I warily picked up the receiver and said,…

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The Fence of Our Dreams

April, 1987That’s going to be one hellacious beautiful fence between us and our new neighbors Lavel & Carole Chadburn and their five kids and dogs. Lavel had imagined a 900-foot long six-foot high chain link fence on a poured concrete footing. “Our yard is gonna look like a dog run if you do that, Lavel,” I said. We wanted cedar boards, rails, and posts in alternating patterns for the near…

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Hostages to Fortune

Half-dressed and yawing in each other’s faces, ski resort staff jockey for position around the breakfast buffet in Jodie’s big white kitchen. High on the wall is Jodie’s flag: a white silk square printed with the cauldron hexagram from the I Ching, the symbol for nourishment. “So you’re a ski bum, the guy said to me,” says Lila, brandishing a copy of TIME magazine and tossing it onto the table…

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Four Poster Bed

Dec. 10, 1988Drove to the Deseret Industries store in Brigham City yesterday to pick up the parts for our new bed. Our four poster unfinished pinewood DI bed. Leaned the surprisingly heavy headboard against the wall and ratcheted six-inch lag screws into sturdy legs. Today we oiled the frame, and two guys from RC Willey delivered our Serenity® Heavenly Gold queen size, made in Bountiful, Utah.…