gramcracker 13

Are you superstitious. I usually am not. The number 13 is just a number to me. It comes after 12 and before 14 that's all.

We had a little celebration in our town yesterday. Every year as close to the 14th as possible, we celebrate the establishment of our city. The celebration is always held in a little park next to a lake that is near the golf course right at the edge of town. There are always jump rides and train rides and pony rides for the kids. The adults can play frisbee golf, bingo, and chess. There are also contests including shooting galleries, hat throw, and checkers.

To me the big event of the day is the snowmobile races. Yes, I said snowmobile. No, we don't usually still have snow in June, but we still have snowmobile races. It's amazing to watch those races. The drivers sit on their machines close to the edge of the water, then when the whistle blows they drive their snowmobile out into the lake. Yes, the snowmobiles actually will run across the surface of the water, if they are going fast enough and if they don't have far to go.

A few of the drivers will get clear across the lake. Now I am not very good at measurements, but if I were to look at the end of the lake where the races are held and compare it to sitting at a football game and looking from one end to the other, I would think that the lake is about two times as long as the football field. How far is that? Most of the drivers will only get about half way across when their engine starts to sputter and die and then the machine starts to sink.

One year one driver who was sinking put his right hand up in the air with the middle finger pointing up and just stood there while he sunk. It was reminiscent of that movie starring Paul Newman, I think, where at the end of the movie he is floating down a river (I believe) and he has his right hand straight up with his middle finger pointing to the sky. Do you remember that movie? Can't remember the title, only remember that my grampa and grandma wouldn't let me watch it because it was too scandalous. I watched it years later when I was living away from home.

Nuff Said
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