Alpena Park

 ALPENA PARK

It was a relatively nice day here in Roscommon, MI. Me and my parents were going for a little drive out to Alpena, the way we started was by going near our old street behind town. Madre had just gotten a new iPod and it was my duty to download many of her CDs on there, we had a little trouble getting the device to play at first.

The drive was only a few hours long, but as always, I had a good time listening to my music and so did Madre hers. By now, it was lunchtime. Hank, Brittany and the kids pulled into the parking lot of this Cafe/Deli. There were cookies there, but Madre and Hank placed the orders for lunch. Outback was a unique garden called "Garden of Dreams", flowers surrounded by rocks and benches. I charted it while waiting for our meal. Madre had placed an order of chicken wings for me. Holland played around near the picnic table while we ate.

Just more than a mile away, was Hank's family's destination, Dinosaur Gardens. I had heard that there was gonna be swimming somewhere where we were going. Madre and GG stepped out of the car to go pay up at the front shack and so did Hank and Brittany.  Dinosaur Gardens was a tourist attraction with life sized sculptures of many different kinds of Dinosaurs and as I noticed, there were lots of ferns all around behind the fences, what a spot! At one point, there was an army of Indians with spears ready to attack, they almost had no clothes on, "Come on, Abe. Get up close" I joked, but we moved on. There was also a swiss cheese - like wall that Abe got to play in. Eventually, I decided that I had enough and beat the rest of the gang back to the entrance where I had to use the bathroom.

We went into downtown Alpena and our last main stop but the best as far as Hank's kids were concerned was the park behind a couple restaurants. I ran to the swing set carrying my iPod shuffle and headphones, there were also a few kids at the swing set. I was a little afraid when I started swinging because I was a big guy, the chain may not hold my weight, but the swing held onto me. On the East side, was a large vast ocean, it was beautiful. But after 15 minutes of listening to a song by Sting, my mood soon changed, it felt like a vain peace in my soul. Soon, I did see Hank and GG playing with Abraham underneath the sprinklers. I got tired of carrying my large headphones in my hands and they couldn't fit in my pocket. Just about everyone was having a good time, and it was soon time to go home. "Kiss my neck, Alpena Park" I sang to Elton John's Tiny Dancer. See, it wasn't a bad time at all, I just got bored after a while.

Bye Bye Otis (2)

 BYE BYE OTIS

Written by Axel Jacobs

It was a Friday afternoon in Roscommon, MI. Axel and his dad were taking Axel's newspapers place to place, and it was a somewhat stressful job for both of them on different levels. One of the last places they stopped to deliver was the Funeral home where Hank worked. Fran was taking a short vacation that evening and would be back tomorrow night. When the newspapers were all done, Jake suggested to Axel, "Hey, how 'bout tonight you and me could go get a drink at Jack's Place?" Axel thought that was a wonderful idea, so the two of them had a laid back hot dinner of Fish 'n chips, then lastly, made an errand at the gas station. That night, Axel and his dad were doing their own separate things. Axel was painting a picture on his iPad, and he had a very hard time figuring out what should be on the canvas, because these paintings represented nostalgic youth in Axel's younger life and eventually he got overwhelmed. Around 11 that night, he decided to go take a short walk out in the cold snowy weather. Jake had let the dog Otis out, "Axel," he called "Please make sure Otis comes in when you get in. I'm going to bed."  After Axel came inside, he had just remembered to let Otis in, and opened the door for him. "Otis, it's time to come inside, okay." So Otis did. Axel didn't think much of anything after closing the door, he was a little buzzed and a while after midnight, went to sleep.

Axel was fast asleep in his room, when at 2am he heard a terrified... "YELP!" Axel blindly ran down to the kitchen to see if Otis was alright, but he didn't see him anywhere, and went back to bed.                     And at 6 in the morning..... "Axel, did you let Otis in last night?" "yes." "Then where is he?" "I don't know." Jake searched all around the house for Otis, while Axel joined in the search party still tired.      "Oh, no Otis! Oh, no! Oooohhh, nooooooo!!!!" Jake sobbed. Axel hurdled down the basement and there was Otis paralyzed in a puddle of his own waste. Otis tried to get up but kept slumping. Axel started to cry feeling very guilty, Jake tried calling some emergency hotlines that were stationed in Traverse City or Saginaw. "You know he's not gonna make it, Axel." Jake sighed to his son after hanging up. Lastly, Jake called Fran on her cellphone in a hotel room with friends, he explained everything. Axel came up the stairs to try to get help on Facebook, but no one was online. When Axel came back downstairs, Otis completed stopped moving. Axel quietly hugged his dad still talking on the phone. "I love you too, Axel." he sobbed and hung up. "Otis, you made a mess all over my floor." Jake groaned. When Axel came back upstairs, he hugged Vivian and played a sad song by Irene Cara and Freddie Jackson called "Love Survives" and went back to sleep. When Axel awoke a few hours later, he saw Hank had brought his son Abraham over and they were hanging out. "Axel, will you help Hank carry Otis out to his car?" When Hank saw Otis under a blanket, he petted the late animal on his neck. "Oh, Ody." "This is awful" groaned Axel when he saw Hank starting to pick him up and he drove away. The loss left an emptiness in Axel and Jake's souls all day, and eventually Jake had to go to work. Axel went for a ride that evening. Madre finally came home from her Friday night vacation. 
"How was your trip, Madre?" Axel asked. "It was okay, would've been better if I hadn't heard the sad news." Axel eventually told his GF about the loss over Twitter, but they still continued to talk about certain things the next day. 

An Unsung Task for Axel

 AN UNSUNG TASK FOR AXEL - September 1, 2020

Written by
Axel Jacobs

One morning, Axel woke to his mother calling his name. "Axel, you need to get up, okay. I'll get breakfast ready for you."

Today, Axel's work skills were gonna be put to the test at his bus garage job, he was gonna deep clean all the buses there. Axel had maple bacon and greek yogurt. He killed a little bit of time in his room, his right ear was hurting him. "It's just about time for you to go" said Axel's mother. "I feel too sick to work", "No, you're going." So Axel left and brought his mask with him to work for the first time. It was sort of a chilly morning on the way to the bus garage.

Joe was in his office when Axel came in. "Hey, g'morning Axel, so, what we're gonna be doing today is you're gonna be wiping off all the seats in the buses with your spray bottle, I wrote your name on that, and your rag." This didn't sound much different compared to what Axel did before at this job, he knew this was important because of the pandemic, only difference was Axel was to clean EVERY bus on the same day. Anyhow, Axel got right to it. He sprayed seat after seat after seat, with his rag completely drenched. 

When Axel got done with each bus, he marked each one down on the chalk board, Axel was left handed, but today, he was practicing being "Right" handed which seemed to work. Axel did not rush his job, but he was a little worried, he realized he was gonna be doing this every single day of the week. 

After all the buses were cleaned, Axel stood in Joe's office while he was talking to an assistant. "What are we gonna do about sweeping?" asked Axel. "Well, that is a job for our bus drivers when they get done for the day, I'll just have you doing that every third day." 

Axel, however felt that it wouldn't hurt to just do a hint of sweeping, he grabbed a snow shovel, and a broom and swept out one bus, and THEN, he went home. Axel felt better because the hours were not that different.

Jake had told him when he got home that newspaper have been dropped off. How's Axel ear you may ask? 

Well, that'll have to wait until next time, probably not for kids anyway.

A Fun Way To Do A Job

A FUN WAY TO DO A JOB
Written by Axel Jacobs

One morning, Axel's mother had some things she had to do.
"Axel" she called "I'm running some errands today, I want you to take
care of all the rest of the newspapers on your own." Axel agreed to do it.
He hadn't done it since his first day on the job. Maybe this could give him
something to do. Axel grabbed a highlighter and highlighted the rest of the
places in which the papers needed to be dropped off, and one of his dad's backpacks
to place the papers in. Then he set off for Lake street. Axel noticed that there was a Hair Salon that had been around for many years and was still in business. "I'd love to go visit" he thought "ehh, maybe tomorrow or so."
Axel's first stop was his old Dentistry, but the door was closed. Then, he tried the Doctor's office, but that door was closed too.
So was the door to the Attorney's office. Axel didn't want to just not accomplish anything today, the newspapers really needed to be delivered. So he took a large rock from the sidewalk and set the papers half underneath the rock and half underneath the rug, and continued on his way. Axel continued into town and made a U turn toward the CRAF Center building and stopped
at the Children's Assessment Center. He pressed a button at the side of door.
"Can I help you?" a lady answered. "I'm here delivering the Up North Voice."
The lady came to the door and let Axel in, and he set the papers on the little table and went off once more.
At the local senior center, Axel was concerned because some of these places required for you to wear a mask, but the place was locked up. Axel took a large rock that held the door open, and set the papers both down the middle in half undeneath the rock and continued on his way.
Axel came back to the CRAF Center, but this place too required a mask. Then he saw his neighbor pulling into the driveway,
Axel came to the window and asked. "Hey can you do me a favor? Can you take these papers into the CRAF Center for me? I can't come in without a mask." "Sure, I can do that." Said the neighbor. Next, Axel tried Dave's Barber Shop, but Dave was on his lunchbreak, so Axel remembered to set the papers at his door step and continued on.
He returned to the Dentistry, and this time, the door was really unlocked and he had the papers turned to the secretary.
Axel also came back to the Hair Salon, he only wanted to come inside and see what that tiny building was like.
but upon realizing that the place only took appointments. So, Axel headed home.

Axel and the Whole Gang

AXEL AND THE WHOLE GANG,

February 20, 2020


It was just a normal winter's night in Roscommon, MI.
"Axel" said Axel's mother one night, "Tomorrow night we ARE going to Ma Deeter's."

Axel had to walk to the bus garage the morning after, and so he had taken a sleeping tablet.

He was up a 7am to shut off his computer, and saw his mother was running late for work.
After work, Axel had turned his computer back on so he could download a few songs on his iPod shuffle.

Late that afternoon, Axel's parents were ready to go, Axel had already changed out of his navy blue silk shirt into a black T shirt, but he only felt like wearing one of his dad's brown trousers.

(Luke Bryan playing on Axel's iPod during car ride)

Ma Deeter's was a well-received hangout for many in Northern Michigan in the small town of Luzerne, it used to be a 100 year old wooded built restaurant that was destroyed by fire but rebuilt, it wasn't the same but it was still bustling.

When Axel and his parents came inside, there was Hank, Brittany, Abraham and the niece.

The owners, Jean and Bob Evans were both so thrilled to see Axel, Fran and Jake.

"Do you all know what you would like?" Jean asked.
Axel looked for beverage options in the menu, "There's not any, honey." Jean said.
Both Hank and Axel decided they were each gonna have a root beer while Axel also decided on a water as an additional drink.

Axel had a quiet and gentle demeanor, so he wasn't much of a talker on nights like this, and
one of his specialties was observing the behavior of his nephew.

Brittany was feeding him one graham cracker after another, and a waitress game him a coloring book which he used, but then started pulling at the paperback cover, "Don't rip it." Axel said gently but it was too late. Abe also got to play with some toys that his mother had brought along, and they dropped all over the floor.

Axel tried grabbing one toy with his foot. "Axel, I've got it." Hank replied.

Soon, it was time for everybody to eat, "Are we Ready to order?" Hank and Axel again both ordered each of the same option, a Western Burger. It took quite a while for everybody's food to be ready and served. "This burger tastes a little off" said Hank. Axel thought the same thing and had tried some ketchup. "Why don't you put some ketchup on it, Hank?" But even Axel wasn't too sure about the meal.

After eating, Axel stepped outside under a wooden patio, it was getting slightly dark and cold. One of the things he decided to do to partly pass the time was rhythmically knock down icicles.

Ding.....ding......da ding, da ding.

Axel sat out in his dad's car for a few minutes, and decided to take a short walk and observe the small town of Luzerne, it was still dark and cold. Before long, he stepped back inside Ma Deeter's.

"Axel, do you want some more water?" asked Jean Evans.

"Yeah, I do."

"Welp, are we ready?" asked Fran to Jake. "I guess so, dear."

Axel had taken plenty of sips from his water when it was time to go,
"Oh, well. There's plenty of water around the world."

Lunch at Applebee's

                                     LUNCH AT APPLEBEE'S - February 3, 2020

(1)
It was a snowy Saturday morning in Roscommon, MI. This was a time of year in which there was nothing really going on, not even for Axel.

Axel was plucking on the keyboard upstairs in his room when his mother called "Axel, we're heading over to West Branch, do you wanna come along?" Axel of course, always liked to go on car rides.

There was a bunch of stuff in the backseat of the car, and Axel had headphones in his hands that he wanted to set down. Jake grew impatient as his son tried to set his headphones in the garage and a little cross.

Axel was cross too, but he immediately put the incident behind him as soon as they were on the road.

Axel's mother made a U turn around Tanger Outlet's and pulled smoothly into Applebee's.

Within minutes of being seated, "The waiter Sam will be with you shortly."

"I'm Sam, I'll be your waiter this afternoon..."

Axel had heard at one point that there were multiple choices of Lemonade flavors, he had gotten a strawberry, and his parents had two appetizers,

(Pretzel with cheese dips and chips with white dip.)

Axel saw so many options in the menus, "Eenie, Meenie, Mini, Moe..." but he still couldn't make a decision. Sam eventually came back, "What would you like young sir?" Axel's menus were opened and Sam out of the blue suggested an option for him. "The chicken bacon and Mac n Cheese, Oh, you'll love that. It's everyone's favorite around here." So the order for that was placed.

Axel was not at all a picky eater, he DID began diggin in, but this sort of Mac N Cheese wasn't like that of Kraft, he liked what was on top of his bowl, but he still enjoyed his meal.

When Sam came back to see how everything was going, Axel's parents' suggested for him to get a blue raspberry lemonade, "That's everyone's favorite, let me get that for you."

There was no time to finish the bowl of Chicken/Mac N Cheese.

"Can I get a box for that?" Frances (Axel's mother) asked Sam.

Axel and his folks hardly ever went out to lunch on a Winter's day, but today they did.

(2)
Next day, Axel's mother was planning on going back to West Branch.
She was to get some sugar cubes for a school student. Axel, again went along.

"Have you ever been to Rally's?" Frances asked Axel.
"Nope."
"Well, I'm gonna take you."
Axel usually liked getting burgers with bacon,
When Axel took a bite, it was good for the most part, but it had a hint of cheese too many.
Later, he and his mother went into Aldi's and Walmart.

(3)
After that, back at home, Axel decided to get off of his iPad and take in the outside world, he walked back and forth on the long secluded drive way.
One thing he noticed was that snow had become embedded onto the walkway, and Axel decided to get rid of the snow, like as though he was at a job.
He took a dirt shovel and clamped down on the icy snow a square foot at a time. Before long, the snow on the walkway was all gone. That snow was bugging Axel anyway.