spike

spike

I found a railroad spike on the route yesterday…..surprisingly, right on the little hill that I go up to cross over the….railroad tracks.

It was right next to the tracks!!

A spike!!

I thought that I better stop and pick it up before it pops somebody’s tire.

Looking back, it was my next thought that was the weird one.

I thought, “Man….if there’s one loose spike laying by the tracks….then surely there must be more! I’ll bet that if I walked these tracks, I’d find more of these spikes….and soon I’d be able to build a big spike collection and would probably be able to find a place to display my collection….and ….that would be kind of cool.”

Of course, my thought wasn’t that fully formed when I had it.

I multi-task….but not so clearly as that.

It’s always more of an impression than a fully formed thought.

My thoughts are a breeze….not a hurricane.

I’m a mailman…I can’t afford to let my mind wander so ….lucidly.

But….what is it in me that when I find a spike, my immediate reaction is to wonder if I couldn’t find a whole lot more spikes with just a little industry?

What do I need with a bunch of railroad spikes?

I wonder if it’s just an excuse to walk the tracks?

Nobody else uses them…no trains ever pass….and the tops of the tracks are covered with rust.

It would be a safe place to walk….if I didn’t run into any BAD HOBOES.

I don’t need a bunch of spikes…but it’s cool knowing that they’re possibly out there for the picking.

Sparrow got up with me this morning….early.

I had to use the “potty”….and Jenny said that Sparrow would probably follow me in and then want to run back to the bedroom.

It’s a blessing that me going to the potty isn’t all that fascinating….because, sure enough, when I sat down to start my ritual, she turned around and went back to the bedroom….and when that didn’t work out for her, we started to watch some Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood….when I was done in the bathroom.

Daniel Tiger is a lot more entertaining than Daddy going to the potty.

It’s raining here…and we need an activity for the day with all the kids back with us.

Maybe we could walk the tracks and find more spikes!!

And I could explain, before we started walking……”THOSE SPIKES ARE DADDY’S.”

(I need more spikes….I know that now that I’ve found one…)

“day in the life of a railroad spike” Balsam Ridge

About Peter Rorvig

I'm a non-practicing artist, a mailman, a husband, a father...not listed in order of importance. I believe that things can always get better....and that things are usually better than we think.

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