Retriever

Move on, if you think today's post is going to be about cute puppies.
It's going to be about rugged man stuff: sawdust and cartoons.

When I visited my grandparents house in Westbrook, I'd often climb up next to the sink and stare off towards the Saunders Brothers mill in the distance. There was a gigantic spruce, off about a 1/2 mile in the distance, that had a misshapen top that to me resembled the antlers of Bulwinkle the moose on "Rocky and his Friends". It was a show I couldn't miss. Grampa needed his daily dose of a Hopalong Cassidy western, and I my madcap adventures of that crazy moose and friends. To this day, if I catch it on reruns, I'm captivated. Some things in life are beyond explanation. There was also one of these devices next to the 'moose tree' at the mill. It was huge compared to this one. There was also a large smokestack off to the right, but my eyes were drawn to this contraption. I didn't need to know what it was called or what it did. I just told Nana it was some sort of flying saucer landing near the house. These days I know that it's a sawdust and crap retriever. I'm sure it has a technical name, but for me it'll always remind me of an alien invasion and my pals Mr. Moose, Rocket J. Squirrel, Natasha, Boris, Sherman, Dudley Do-Right and those Fractured Fairy Tales.
Dog lovers, move on.
There's nothing to see here.