Spirit Log 15

Highway 23 back to Winnipeg is a portal to the past. 
It’s a time tunnel through our childhood. 
Our wonder years, complete with commercial soundtrack. 
How do you handle a hungry man?
You may remember that catchy ad for frozen TV dinners The answer rang true “The Man Handler”. 
It was the complete meal covering all the 60’s food groups; salt, fat and sugar. 
There was nothing like a Man Handler, a glass of Tang, (cause the astronauts drank it), a Pop Tart for desert, and Bonanza on the television. 
That was the 60’s in a box, conveniently packaged to save us trouble and keep us healthy. 


Well, times have indeed changed, 
Hoss, Little Joe, Adam and Ben have long gone sold the Ponderosa Ranch to their chef, who turned out to be a wealthy Chinese land developer. 
As it turned out, Tang flavour crystals were really crystal meth, that’s how Major Tom turned into a junky. 
But the Hungry Man lives to this day and is found at The 23 Diner in Baldur, Manitoba. 
It now comes on 2 plates. 
Not as convenient as the one stop, gobble it up, frozen tray, but truly more man handling. 
Drop a dime in the juke box, play the Bonanza theme song and drift back to a simpler time. 
A time when you’d watch commercials cause there were no “remotes” and you weren’t gonna get up and change the channel. 
A time when radio played, (as my friend Bill Netdud once stated) not only songs about trucks, but also songs about people who drive trucks. 
A perma ring memory of my adolescence spend in front of the TV (and later in front of Marshal stacks turned to 11. That would account for the permanent ring.)