Kerplunk!

Kerplunk! was the first Green Day album I purchased. It had some great songs (like "Who Wrote Holden Caufield?"), but it seemed to be inferior to their earlier work. I saw them twice touring for the album. The second time, I happened to be wearing a Green Day shirt and ran in to a guy trying to drum up support for a free show in Bryan, Texas. I didn't have a good way to get there, so he ended up hooking me up with a ride. I was traveling with the opening band and we had to go pick up Green Day. So, the only people I really knew at the concert were the performers. But they were just little bands then. Green Day, however, sounded like they were about to strike it big. There new songs, however, seemed to be going downhill, away from the "bubble-gum" punk to "Southpark" punk. They also seemed to be having trouble with their record label. (Thus the limited selection of merchandise for sale. However, they did have the shirt my friend requested - though she was annoyed I did not get it autographed. The thought just never crossed my mind.)

This blog entry, however, is about a totally different Kerplunk!, just about as far removed from Green Day as Idaho is from Berkeley.

This Kerplunk! is a book by Patrick F. McManus, an outdoor "humorist". The book contains a number of short humorous anecdotes related to outdoor life. After reading it, I had an itching to go deer hunting. I've never been deer hunting. However, the author does a wonderful job of making the stories applicable to everyone. While, they all address things particular to 'outdoorsmen', the underlying human foibles are applicable to many other situations.

Men don't like to ask for direction, because they have given directions, and no how useful those directions are. These things are especially problematic when it involves driving a few "looks" away just to get to another farmer that might know where to locate the ranch you are looking for.

And hooking up trailers to a car? Well, I've never done it, but I was laughing along with the story, and could easily relate to similar situations.

There are also plenty of other tales of fly-fishing, hunting, and dogs.

The author himself seems to have one foot in the outdoors, with another foot firmly in the city. The book, while focusing on the outdoors, is likely to appeal to both crowds.