From Voyageurs National Park on FB: Called “Catamaran” by locals, Bert Upton is among the strangest of historical characters on area waters. He lived in a hut built over a dug-out at Squirrel Narrows. Found frozen to death in the 1930s by Kettle Falls pioneer Oliver Knox; Upton was perched lifeless in the snow just a half-mile from his home. Shunning civilization, Upton defined the word hermit. First spotted rowing his crude log raft on Namakan, no one knows how he got there. Upton’s accent implied an English heritage but any personal inquiries brought a stony silence. Some suspected him a man fleeing the law; others saw a bizarre outcast; everyone knew he was peculiar. Just five feet tall and wildly unkempt, Catamaran wore hacked-off pants and walked barefoot with a stick. Winter demanded shoes but no socks, a cast-off Mackinaw, and a trailing cap made from the leg of old underwear. He was oddly religious, and suspicious of being poisoned. Surviving on snared rabbits and fish, he ofte...
I probably get static on this point at least twice a week. From helicopter parents.
ReplyDeleteI've never had anyone say anything to me, but I'm not a stay-at-home parent either so less opportunity. I would have a hard time controlling my temper with a stranger who critiqued my parenting technique.
ReplyDeleteOh let me clarify: It's never so obvious as someone tsking me in person. It's more like...rolled eyeballs and indignant huffs. Passive aggressive. But my kid is also a year or two more physically competent than her peers, because we've let her figure it out. So they're not wrong, not exactly -- their own children might very well be in danger if they tried the stuff Iris tries.
ReplyDeleteWe live in a house with stairs and sharp corners. We didn't kid-proof the house, we house-proofed the kid. She's taken some tumbles, cried, learned, and proceeded.
My wife's cousin's kids are barely allowed to walk past a coffee table without being told to be careful. And you're right, they're 7 and 5 and probably couldn't do things Coop can at 3.
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