And it's Saturday, Democratic Debates

So I watched em.  Hillary, who has been around the block at time or two and has figured out the rules of the game, vs Bernie.   So who is Hillary?  She's, ambitious and she's learned the rules of the game, played by them.  For my purpose here, I'm sure she has very good intentions.   She's also the one who has withstood the battles.  Under constant scrutiny and answering all questions during unrelenting hearings.  Accused of any number of humiliating actions.  She shows up every time and walks out head held high. She's earned every one of her battle scars.  And that's where my respect lies.  But she's also realistic.  Her goals are restrained, what she thinks she can accomplish. She got beat up trying to put together single payer health care in the 90's. She remembers the early 90's.  I know she has the shadow of a possible devastating email, or gasp, that something in her past can be somehow elevated to the level of well, Benghazi.  The war cry of those who get all excited about her presidency.  Wouldn't make a bump on a gnats ass compared to say,  the absolute crazy batshit spewed by the other side.  Killing families of terrorists, alienating a substantial segment of the population of not only the world, but the country.  So, I guess that's what you get by diverting all of that money from education to prisons.

Then there's Bernie.  Same message every time.  Thinks big and at this point of his life, willing to go all out.  But the reality is Bernie is just going to work.  It;s always been the same. He goes to work each and every day. Same issue.  Somebody on the other side says it's not unusual to not show up for work every day to earn a representative of the people's salary.  Personal stuff and Campaign stuff is more important. Some people are just, well, kind of special and deserve special consideration.   Not Bernie.  Hasn't missed a day since, well?  Anyway,the rich and the poor.  The minorities, the women and the children. Those are Bernie's target demographic and he thinks about them every day.  The coal miner's and the dock workers. Minimum wage and fast food workers.  Twenty years ago, Bernie got up in the morning, woke up by an old alarm clock and  donned one of three or four old suits and went to work, always a half hour early.  Bernie had the vision to see long in advance what was happening to the country. It was just which issue was to be a priority. They changed from day to day, week to week and month to month. He always supported the little guy. Who isn't getting the fair shake.  The message behind the message.  Yeah dangers await outside our borders, but most lie within. Bernie won't admit it I suspect but he's been scared a few times.  Maybe during the civil rights marches.  But he has always been mission specific.  Expose the hidden agendas of the rich and powerful who'd trade their six year old's birthday party for the future of your's.  And now at 74, he hasn't got a damned thing to gain from a president's salary. There's no after glory for him.  The presidency age's guys who are forty for Christs sake let alone a guy who is 74..  He'll be lucky to get through one term let alone two. He knows that everything he's promising will be an uphill battle. He doesn't know how many years he's got left.  But Bernie probably wakes up to the same alarm clock and wears one of the same three suits. Looks forward to going home to his wife's Chicken pot pie. Maybe the nightly martini.  In the old days he'd smoke a pipe, read some work stuff and then go to bed. Talk to his wife about the enormity of the job. She'd tell him this was just who he was and what he did.  And Bernie'd be satisfied with that.  Resolve intact, go to bed and ready himself to do it all again. Just going to the Office doing what he's always done and what he's always been meant to do.

For the sake of my children, I'm really hoping Bernie's got it in him. 

  

Talkin to the Ocean

Have been battling a bit of high blood pressure lately coupled with lazy assedness and gitcherassoffthecouch syndrome.  Decided to take a hike today after a few weeks of inactivity and headed to Port Aransas.. The first few miles were kinda painful, but then I just seemed to find my stride.  Specifically while listening to TED.  The end of the walk almost came to soon as they say.  See the Ocean does positive things to me. Refuels the soul. Talks to me if you will.  The tension ebbed from me as I more or less serenely sauntered over to enjoy a few more minutes of the cool breeze, salt smell and beautiful view.  Suddenly, the whole experience was cataclysmically destroyed when I ran my head into the overhead canopy seen above. Shattered my soul and returned me to that unhappy place I'd painfully left after the first few miles.  Waste of effort.  I'm still waiting for an apology from the damn Ocean.  Could'a warned me or something.

Am I the only one thinking Trump would be in a whole lot of trouble if he were saying the things he's saying today in middle school?  While watching a whole lot of journalists (term used lightly) trying to interpret these crazy things he's saying as anything more that the words spewing forth could mean.  Or trying to make excuses for the people who follow him.

Trippin through the Internet the other day, well, because right now there really isn't much else to do.  Come across a study I've provided a link to below, that I coined "Bullshit".  It states folks who believe in inspirational quotes tend to be religious, believe in the paranormal and are hmmmm...how to put it: Stupid comes to mind. or thats the result the author intends...  First glance at the jumbled word sentences they say are produced by a "New Age Bullshit Generator" fella tends to take a double take.  "The unexplainable is in the midst of boundless chaos" is a little weird.   Now I take this all a bit personal and at first I thought it might be a right wing think take retaliation against abundant studies that tend to lean towards Reds being slightly less intelligent than Blues.  But nope, found it in Huffpo and if anything the article could be viewed as skewing left.

Here's the thing. Though I've never seen one, I personally believe in little green men.  (Well maybe they aren't green)  But I think there is an abundance of evidence to believe something is out their and from time to time finds its way here.  Oops, seems like Stephen Hawking also shares this view or some version of it. Just keepin my eyes on the sky hoping to see one before I die.   I also tend to believe in believable conspiracies as well.  Voter suppression laws for instance are passed on a grand scale represented as preventing fraud. (Bullshit) Something that has been proven to be almost nonexistent.  Supporting Charter schools has twofold benefits. Gutting schools while controlling content with a dark agenda.  There are already disturbing indications coming from studies of voucher schools.

Bullshit

That people "hung out" with dinosaurs. dragons are real and Africa needs religion, all on the public dime blah blah.  More or less crazy stuff. And Climate Change denier's, just a whole lot of stupid people being led around by their nose by the rich few who pay for the propaganda palaces. And finally, Will Rogers, Stephen King, Albert Einstein, Krugman, Mark Twain, etc have all been quoted one time or other.  I tend to find considerable meaning in those words.  I'd add that I'm also not ready to consign honest people with deep seated beliefs to the above category as well.  So nuff said about that.

Lisa and I just finished an amazing Sci Fi channel flick.  Childhoods End, or something like that. Come a long way from Sharknado I and II. The weird thing is there are some disturbing similarities to a story I wrote last summer.  Mine is much more crude, but whoever did this produced the epitome of that tome.  Then it occurred to me that somewhere I'd read that there exist only so many plots that are recycled over and over.  And how Freaking interesting is that.

So, did I talk about Sake'?  I didn't did I?  Well maybe next time.  

"Good Health is entangled in a symphony of force fields"

                                             Mutton P. Head

So it's gonna be 90 tomorrow

Updates 

We made a couple of bucks last week working.  Our 2500 HD pulls our little Castle like it's nothing.  More like driving down the road more than "Hurling" like it felt with the Bronco.  Every corner a fight to stay on the road. 

We ...again scored health insurance after being rudely thrown of their roles last June.  We purchased a pretty good plan so I guess it's best not to put stuff         off any longer.  Dad just hit 85 and Mom's 86.   I envy that.  Course growing old is no picnic, but how do they say it? Oh yeah, the alternative is worse.

Since she rarely reads the blog, maybe I am that boring, but nobody is as much a pleasure to live with as my wife.  I've never met anyone that was so goal oriented.  She keeps us on plan pretty much no matter what.  In the process she also maintains this small space to a degree of such orderliness and cleanliness that crap, when she's gone I go through vertigo.  No kidding.  I have a bed "spritzed" for a nap.  Or maybe I need to shower more often.  Hmmm. While she nudges us with economic effort and unlimited patience, I sit around griping "I'm bored. I got an idea".  She says "No"  stick to the plan.  And while I know it will work. I'm the kind of guy that well, says "I'm bored, wait I got an idea".  Anyways.

We pretty much share the cooking.  Danny who lives across from us comes over for a couple meals a week.  That way we know he's not just eating potato chips and jerky, or protein shakes whatever.  We eat really really good as sometimes meal preparation is the major event of the day.  Yeah my extra two or three extra waist inches aren't an accident. We make some pretty spectacular stuff sometimes.  We have an indoor and outdoor kitchen.  Along with two ovens.  Thanksgiving was a breeze.  Now I'm hankering for seafood other than shrimp.  And Sake.  I have decided I like Sake.

 Leya gets a hold of us occasionally but we haven't heard a peep from her since she started her new job.  It's nice to see her and the grand baby on FB but just not the same as the real thing.  Piffy lived with us just short of a month before we came down here and transferred her back to mom and dad to go to Nevada.  But we heard she asked Santa for sand for Christmas so I suspect we'll be seeing her again.  Kody drives down from Yorktown once in a while.  When we were packing up to come back from our last gig, Kody arrived with the pup. Brutus came to say hello at a dead run, got half way through the Cattle guard and froze.  I didn't even know he was there until he started barking at me.  Awesome dog.  He's going to be a duck fetching sumbitch that dog.

 It's going to get near 90 tomorrow.  Not the 60's and 70's that I like. God it's December 11th.   Just after we invested in some fancy patio furniture that we intend for our place that we hope to get sometime next year.  A fire pit and four chairs.  Good start.  

This current RV park is the best we have found, but not only for the bargain.  There's a dark side to everything.  One might expect there'd just be retiree's in these places but there's a lot of folks who do the full time RV thing and folks who weekend and folks who on the outside seem pretty normal.  But as I found out a few months ago when camping next to someone I thought was pretty average,  he actually was kind of a disturbed kind of guy.  He was a war veteran. It was an interesting, if not intense time which I won't go into here, but glad I moved.  

Now periodically I talk about people we have met on the road and sadly, we hear that one gentleman we parked next to for several weeks a couple of years ago, had a stroke.  I got a pic with him, his wife, dog and a huge African Parrot they traveled with in their fifth wheel, while they were taking an evening walk.  We heard it from his wife.  They had been coming to this area and boon docking for many, I guess man years. Hope the best for him. Though we were "roughing it" in a popup, those are good memories for Lisa and I.  Makes one contemplate the good times don't last forever.  Just don't miss those middle of the night events stepping outside to pee a couple of hundred feet from the sign that said "Caution Alligators"

 While we are thoroughly enjoying it here, (actually this is the best park we have come to) some of these places are pretty dismal.  They look OK from the outside but the manner in which they are managed make a HOA seem like Switzerland.   No kidding, at the last place I was escorted off the property.  Really, by an old duffer in a golf cart who followed me out.  Now I kinda approached him to ask if that was what he was here for.  He said No No.  Just visiting.  But like I said, when I left, the ole duffer followed me out.   Now the leaving was a mutual understanding after three "Camp Hosts" came knocking at my door because I had a leaking check valve.  After that it's a bit like being stalked. I was told my spot had been reserved and there was no place to stay. And honest to god, one of them screeched. Really, it was a screech. Not at me but I heard em yelling at somebody else.  And y'know, that's just really something I don't need at this stage in my life.  Anybody coming down here, give me a buzz and I'll tell you which ones to avoid.

Damn, a cat hauled a small Copperhead home to it's owner from under a trailer about fifty yards from here the other night.  And that lady's and gents is why I never leave this adobe at night without a flashlight.

So it's late and I wanted to throw out this final ditty  Though it's five and a half months until substantially more economic freedom, this ole brain has learned a few things.   One, I truly regret "wishing my life away" when I was approaching retirement from my career occupation" .  I would go into my office late at night sometimes to make up work and think with satisfaction that it was the downward slide. Having a date in mind that I would walk away from it all.  Well I did.  And I discovered, as during most years of my life, there were always an abundance of good times and good memories.  It was always about the journey.    I was stressed getting the kids to school  Stressed getting to work on time.  Stressed getting to all of the family stuff that had to be met.  I feel bad now that I considered some of those things as stressful. As I remember it now,it was the crisp frosty fall mornings when I'd drive them to school.  The Saturday morning wrestling tournaments.  The Friday night football games. The trips to scout camp.  Remembering my pretty wife in her scout leader uniform talking to a crowd of parents who were a bit awed by her imagination all the amazing things their kids had been able to do.   The recitals, the shows, etc etc etc.  They were in fact the good times.  These days every day is the best day.   A million bucks can't replace contentment, family and awesomeness.  So yeah.  We'll have a few more bucks to play with in a few months.  But for now, well, great weather, great location and great company.

A talk with my conservative friend

Well if I gotta be up all night I'd just as soon be paid for it.  Money's a bit scarce these days so we grab it when we can.

Yes I shamelessly plugged the name of our blog on the above pic.  So sue me.  

I swear lately I've been dreaming of long ago arguments with my conservative buddy.  Arguments that got so heated that of course we'd migrate to the outer edges of extreme.  Maybe because I no longer have an outlet.  Guess old guy's need a good argument once in awhile.  Just to keep the juices going.  Funny thing about it, is his voice always got a little gruff, I wanted to say like Archie Bunker, but on reflection, I think it was more like Gruff the "Take a bite out of Crime"dog. Or that's how I remember it anyway.  They kind of went like this.  Especially after a few beers and maybe a good steak.  Sitting in his living room on his turf of course.  A topic or two might come up ripe for spirited conversation.

Me on Air Traffic Controller's after a near disaster from a sleepy controller:  'Yeah I think they should have a guy on reserve considering it's an exhausting job and the price of lives that might be lost in an accident."

Him:  "That guy should be fired.  It's a waste of money.  It's his responsibility."  

Me: " You mean even if you were on that plane, you wouldn't want somebody on reserve case the guy got tired?"

Him:  With kind of a growl here. " No! It's his responsibility and he should be held fully accountable.  That's what you hired him for."

Me: "Even if you were on that plane?"  Him:  "I'd be fine with that."

He'd chortle a little on this thinking there was no comeback.  And y' know there really wasn't one.  Sometimes there just wasn't sense to be made.  Corners picked and no surrender.  So we'd both agree to disagree and conversate onto another topic.

Me on health care:  "Every civilized country in the world has universal health care and view it as a right"

Him: " Everybody always wants something for nothing.  Where'd you get an idea like that."

Me: The US pays the most for healthcare and has the lowest outcomes.

Him:  God don't you get tired of reading those "Liberal Blogs".

Me, because I really didn't know of any liberal blogs at the time and didn't know this term was referenced all the time on FOX news,  " What liberal Blogs?"

Him:  "The one's you read all the time".

Me things getting a little louder now "You're so, so full of shit."

But the funniest thing about my buddy was what I have come to view as a fairly familiar comeback. Tie it to ACORN  as somehow  (ACORN) utterance of that word could explain everything,  You Know ACORN.  Automatic win.  And of course I've learned since what that acronym stands for, for the life of me how he'd been able to reference that in any argument still escapes me. 

 Or he could attack the source ,or "liberal media",which in his mind, were equally powerful end gamer's.  The type my fragile liberal mind couldn't conceive of in "Conservative World".

On comeback he once said "Cuz it's in the Bible" he growled.  Now the reason this is so funny is because I suspect the average prostitute has more confessions under her belt than my buddy who is suddenly quoting the bible here.  Fact is,  the only time he'd ever been in a church was for the occasional have to be there thing, like weddings and funerals. And I knew damned good and well he'd never read a lick of it.  So I reminded him that he could also be executed for eating shrimp.  "Bullshit, where does it say that"?  I said with my jaw tucked in, "Leviticus" which was the only section I could remember a name of, having heard it on television or somewhere's.  And handily, a word I could pronounce.  Like I really knew anything about Leviticus.  But I had heard something about shellfish being bad somewhere's. And damned if he didn't get a thoughtful look on his face and decided I must know what I was talking about. So he'd clam up. Argument won.  For ten minutes anyway.  So we'd sit  sipping beer for a bit, kind of like Hank Hill, while he flipped endlessly through the channels on tv.   Just try to get that remote and you'd be lucky to keep all your fingers. He'd even hijack your remote on the oft chance he'd come to your house. God help you if you were watching Bill Maher or MSNBC.

        So after a bit of silenece,  somebody might maybe pass a little gas, just for added insult. Then he would throw out the first volley,  "If I have to watch somebody sing or dance again, everybody's just singing and dancing all the time".  " I'm just going to stop watching TV".  Like that would've ever happened.  I'd get a grin on my face, a big one, the type you can feel stretch from from one side of your face to the other and the fight was on.  We could usually arrive at a consensus, but it might not be very pretty getting there.  Hell, we could've run the government a helluva lot better than it's being run now. But the reason I'm talking about it here is that I really remember these being the good times.  Conversations with a good friend over forty years.  He died sometime back.  Maybe those conversations evolved sometimes to something that an outsider would have some problems understanding. Especially between sixty year old guys approaching senior citizenship. Of course these words didn't reflect who he was, maybe even the exact opposite of what he was.  But he's gone now and those times are over.  And to tell the truth, I miss the hell out of him and them.

Drama Drama Drama.........I hate Drama

      I hate drama passionately.  IT seems to keep finding me but I hate it with both heart and soul.  I don't like the hangover it leaves me with and I don't like the fact that it places a damper on my whole world.


"There are times however, and this is one of them when even being right feels wrong......."

                                                        Excerpted in part, Hunter S. Thompson



    Today is damn cold.  Last night I couldn't sleep because of the heat and humidity and this morning I am sitting with blankets around me and it's under fifty degrees outside.  Gray clouds, wet ground.  I know forties don't sound that bad but couple it with the humidity I was talking about, and it chills to the bone.  Lisa has decided to more or less sleep all of this bad day away.  We had hot biscuits for breakfast and she just went back to bed, covered up in a comforter and started sawing logs.  So I figured Harmonica practice and blogging day.


     
Meet Brutus 3 month old Golden Lab

                                 Kody's new dog, making me remember why I like these guys so much.  Though Kody's schedule could use some improvement.  Brutus eats at 4:30 AM prompt  and an hour later starts nibbling at your toes cuz it's bathroom time.  Even so he's a good dog.



                           Texas hitch hiker trying to sell me Insurance?

                              He held on pretty bravely at 60 mph, doing a couple of 360's until it looked like he blew off.  Couldn't really stop because it was a highway.  Ominous feelings of bad Karma started creeping up on me.  I had one of these as a pet when I was a kid.  Got to the beach and there he was, glued to the side.  Peeled him off and watched him take to the high grass.  Bad Karma gone. Woot.

This is Heritage district in Rockport.  Next to the water. Coffee shops, art galleries and usual stuff.

                         

                                   


Another excellently made movie.  If you don't mind your blood pressure going up a bit.  This is a link to an older flick I haven't watched until recently that explains in surprisingly simple terms the meltdown of 2008 and what has and has not been done about it.  Seems in history every time deregulation of banks allows them to manipulate everybody else's money in order to ensure that only the few get rich,  while others go broke (hint middle class). Oh, also the economy melts down.  Thus requiring a federal bailout to keep those sweet, sweet bonuses coming in. Great Depression, Savings and loan meltdown in the 90's and the Great Recession.  All financial deregulation caused.    Check out why finance counselors were pushing bad investments.  Unbelievable.  Hint just listen to all the deregulation rhetoric for "mom and pop" businesses.  Yeah.

Inside Job



                                    ROCKPORT   BEACH SUNSET AND OTHER PICS

ROCKPORT MARINA PATIENTLY WAITING FOR MY BOAT

I CALL THIS ......... PALM TREE

Beach groomed each night

      I CALL THIS........FISHING PIER!

So, couple of days ago Danny, who's currently working at a gas station, says a Shrimper comes in early AM each morning for coffee.  Asks him if he'd like some fresh shrimp.  Danny, who hates shrimp thankfully said of course, thinking of us.   Danny shows up one morning with about five pounds of it.  At least a pound of it I wasted feeding the fish.  I tried putting it on the hook in every manner possible including tying it.  Each time stripped off in seconds.  Moral of the story:  everything loves shrimp.......except Danny.

HOMELESS GUY ON THE BEACH SHAMELESSLY PROMOTING UNPRODUCTIVE LIFESTYLE.

Other than that it always seems like we are on a hold pattern.  Waiting for a house to sell in order to start looking for something here.  Couple of upsides when the weather gets a little colder is the Mosquitoes thin some and Lisa gets all motivated to start cooking these kinds of things.  So for now, little bit o writing, annoying the general public and yes, eating.

Short Lazy Daze

     

The worst advice I have heard of as late to break writer's block

"Write about what your life might have been like if you had taken the path that it turned out you were too afraid to do."

Aaaaauuuuuuuugggghhhhhh

I'm better now.  Just watched my go to feel good movie.  2000's Replacements with Gene Hackman and Keneau Reeves.   That's about how exciting things get around here these days.  Lots of television and relaxing.   Still has the feeling of summer only it gets dark around 5:30.  With some regret I have slowly come to realize that our mom and pop business that sustained us the last couple of years is really fading into history. Of course the trade off is cheap gas which kinda softens the blow. I'm also down near the beach so note the "some regret".  It's the middle of November and temperatures are just now settling into the low eighties and high seventies the way I like them.  The downside are the skeeters and the damn ants. But I really can't remember the last time I wore long pants.  Once in the last two weeks I have actually put on shoes and socks in lieu of flip flops.  I'd really given up fishing the last year or so mostly due to lack of time (and interest) but now I think it is time to take it up again.

I was driving past the bay the other night after walking the beach which tends to have an incredible calming effect on my mind.  .  The lights reflecting off calm water.  Window down and salty sea breeze.  And I think why did it take so long?

Some other things banging around in my brain.

The French tragedy will likely rewrite the refugee crises.  As probably it should.   The concept that a significant portion of a country can leave and be absorbed by the rest of the world is shaky at best.  When there is not only the possibility, but the likelihood that dangerous radicals will be among them.

I'm reading books by Thomas Picketty and Joseph Stiglitz.  One a Nobel Prize winning Economist and the other a likely will be.  Gives a much more informed base when listening to the Presidential debates.  

   Seems like the inequality argument is resounding with the right as well as the left.   Though as one article put it  "The presidency ought not be an entry level political job".  Politicians work for the top tenth of one percent.  Some on the left try to hide it but the right is brazenly open about it as far as I can tell.  But one thing I'm sure of:  When all them social issue questions get a little uncomfortable to answer there's only one solution, go to war.  Drowns out those pesky things like raising the minimum wage, astronomical price hikes for health care and big govt giveaways.  Then everybody can get back to poor shaming and praising the poor guys coming back all f'd from a war.

I hear on and on and on it's a US problem.  But the thing that just won't go away in my mind is the 20000 strong Iraqi force that fled from just 800 crazy insurgents and left all that expensive US stuff. ( A decision the one's who were caught regretted I'm sure and likely in the back of the minds of the Kurdistan fighters).  A Saudi army of nearly 200000 and lord knows the size of the armies of the rest of the countries.

There has been another horrible tragedy although this time in another country.  The repercussions of which will probably set in motion another Three Trillion dollar war.  But when there is a tragedy here, of which there have been many,  initial reactions are meh! with the occasional "mental health" comment.  Then it all just dies away.

But I am in favor of everybody screaming to go to war have that opportunity.  That's right, young and old give em a gun and a plane ticket and let them go.  I just don't want my tax dollars invested or relatives to go.


       I do love being retired.  Though with each passing day I realize the difficulties of getting older. Walks that used to be around five miles get to be two to three and slower.  At sixty one I  Notice that I'm a bit more bald, maybe a tad fatter and this last thing, Arthritis in my hands.    I got this condition in my right hand about seven years ago called "Trigger Finger" in my middle finger. It's a bit of a handicap though not so much now that my road rage has softened and I am not in as  immediate need of my go to hand signal.  See I had saved a pile of money to get a couple of egress windows dug out in my basement.  I'd calculated it to the dime based on my phone calls to local contractors.  Unfortunately their phone estimates and their onsite estimates were not even close and the price during the construction boom had doubled seein's how the pickin's were so good.  I dug my feet in and decided to give er a go by myself.  So I got the holes dug and had some guys cut out some concrete windows.  Afterwards, with my careful planning I decided I needed to double the size of said windows.  To be completed with a skill saw, concrete chisel and iron bar.  Eventually all that banging with the bar damaged the joints in my hand and my middle finger locks up in the down position.  Sometimes so tight I have to soak it in hot water a period to loosen.  Well now for some reason completely different from the last time, my left hand now does this as well.  Cortisone shots help but in the US Doc's will only give two and then schedule you for surgery or as I like to call it, indentured servitude.  Now in Costa Rica they have no such limit and the Orthopedist I conversed with said I could pretty much have as much cortisone as I could pay for.  Surgery he quoted me at about fifteen hundred bucks.

So while I sit back and ruminate what the solution eventually will be, there have been a few rare occasions when the middle fingers of both hands have locked back at the same time.  Should anybody ever notice or look at me funny or ask stupid questions, well I'm just gonna say "I'm Spider Man" and walk the opposite direction with my hands pointing all different directions over my head like I'm shooting webs.  No wait, this Texas.  I'll probably get shot.  (sigh)

The house in Twin Falls has finally rented for a while easing that burden. I guess I am going to spend some time on projects.  I have started a fourth short story.  Are they crap?  I'm not sure.  But one thing I am sure of is as most of the greats say.  Finish it.  Leave it alone and then go back to it weeks or even months later.  So I would have to say at least one has been vastly improved as demonstrated by my most recent Kindle Select's rejection letter.

Yeah, I probably consider myself a writer like Ed Wood thought himself a film maker. But there is one BIG difference.......


                      I'm Spiderman


Bwahahahahahahhahahhahahhaha

Continued.......

Four months give or take since I have written one sentence on this blog.  I seriously considered maybe termination and starting something else.  But. like life, maybe it's OK for it to evolve, as we do.  

No time like the present to start again.  Hunkered down waiting for the remnants of Hurricane Patricia to show up and Drown us tomorrow night.  I'd like to say I missed those big assed thunderstorms but I'd be lying.   Guess this one is supposed to be the strongest one ever.   So I guess I will bring up to speed what is going on in our life.

The past few months have been busy. Construction, cleaning and at sixty one years old I am still putting my shoulder to the wheel- (literally) of moving heavy shit. Moving all of the accumulated stuff out of the house to be sold or rented, for family members living in other states.   The consequences have been reigniting old popping a cracking knees.  Yes I said both of them. On a side note, we attempted unsuccessfully several times to acquire a really cool old house in Ingleside these past few months  and learned once again, corruption is everywhere. I could go into more detail but  the audacity of some of these folks is truly amazing. Scars have taught us (me) one cannot fight every battle. Quickly lick your wounds and move on.   Lisa and I have been dealing with many issues.  Not all of them pleasant.  And therefore, likewise will not be aired here.


                           Said goodbye to a Past life.  Won't be doing much of this anymore

We did have a great time with the grand daughter seen above.  Awesome, isn't she?  And after five days of driving, actually for the most part took care of all the crap (literally) complicating our lives in Idaho.  Loaded it up in a big ass trailer and hauled it to Texas.  Didn't cut family ties but the ultimate goal is to get back into travel mode.  Mucho stuff I wanna see and do before I croak.

So we blew most of our seed money to upgrade our transportation and it will be awhile before we are able to look into buying again, pending the house sells, or somebody hits their numbers.  Hey, it can happen.  But damn, it's got real leather interior and was rather a pleasure to make the 2000 mile drive back.





                         Ta Dahh !

Danny and Leya had been looking after our trailer and paying our rent while we were gone,  But one tends to find out why these things were never meant to be lived in full time.  Buncha stuff didn't work at first, particularly the AC, which was probably twenty years old.  So I went with the least ghetto option and found an online deal for an 8000 btu portable compact roller job by Koldfront.  It'll last until I can get back up on the roof and fix and replace. Believe me, I'd gone with the trailer trash window unit rather than one more night of ninety plus 89 percent humidity.  That there is miserable.  

So we are sitting, in the probably mostly vain hope of making some money in the Oil fields.  But one would have to be in a coma not to know that business has pretty much died away.  The consolation is that gas down here runs around 1.75 to 1.90.  Still quite eerie driving through the Oil Patch noting the activity has decreased to about 0


Did I mention that my wrist and ass still hurts from that fall at HEB?  Anyway, somebody from Corporate called to inquire about my health about a week after I wrote about it.  In the best concerned crisp texas drawl reminiscent of Dolly Parton in Nine to Five, she asked how I felt.  I decided what the hell and disclosed every single twinge of pain I had experienced the past week since.  No, nothing about my bowels.  I'm not that rude. Then I asked her what she thought?  To her credit she stuck to script which mostly assumes that I want a million bucks and they don't want to give it to me. But they are really sorry, or she is anyway.   I mulled upon that a few minutes and decided to hang up mid call.  Don't get me wrong, I am a big fan of HEB stores, just these rich corporate bastards could either put in softer floors or pay folks to keep shit clean. I mean it damn it.

I have discovered some revelations about myself.  One that I appreciate music and have dedicated my life to learning the harp.  (That's hipster for Harmonica)  Well, couple of minutes a day, (here and there) anyway.  I have found that the area cats are very appreciative of my efforts.  I take progress where I find it.  My rendition of the Doobie Brother's Long Train Running seems particularly popular.  Really, really popular.

Second, I have written three short stories over the summer.  And re wrote em and re wrote em and re wrote em and re wrote em and.....  Anyway, I've been kind of immersing myself into some of Stephen King and Hemingway.  The first is too damn scary for me, the second puts me straight away to sleep after twenty minutes.  I could take drugs and "think" that I had talent, but these guys brilliance is more or less unequaled.  But below them are a hundred thousand authors, that well, are not that far below.  Myself, meh.  But I have sent a couple out to a couple of the zillion online and print magazines and even a podcast.  So I sit patiently waiting for my rejection letters.  I'm hoping that my one chance lies in that somebody will recognize what a scary place my brain is and that I actually have to live in there....alone.

I'm ashamed to admit that I paid little or no attention growing up that there was a huge Japanese Internment camp less than twenty miles away. Didn't visit it until my sixties. This camp had over ten thousand internees living in Tar paper shacks, when the temperatures ranged from minus teens to a hundred and some. Japanese Americans mostly lost their homes and belongings and were railroaded to this place in paradise amidst the Sagebrush near Twin Falls.  By all accounts endured stoically.  And thousands joined to fight in the war.  For those that are clueless as to what a tarpaper shack is, think a frame of two by's with loose fitting pine boards tacked to them, all covered by tar paper.  No insulation, nada. Eight feet of snow outside or a hundred degrees and dust. This was a big deal folks.  These were American citizens who went on to prove themselves over and over.  It's humbling.  This stuff could happen again.  We took a slew of pics but here are a few.  

I confess that sometimes I tend to focus on downsides more than upsides until Lisa reminds me of some of the out and out great times we have had the past few years. The great times to come and the great kids and grand daughter we have.  As well as for better or worse, we live in a time when great things are happening.  Probably more than any time in history. That man may be on Mars in less than twenty years and I'll be what, less than fifty  That friends and neighbors is amazing. 

 I apologize, kind of , to anybody that I might have offended with my politics.  But really, is it that hard to just agree with me?  Seriously, rather than being mad at me, just agree with me.  That's what I would do.

 Anyway, returning to Idaho I found that Mom and Dad are both in their mid eighties, still alive and awnry enough to boot.    Hell, there's hope.  I think Ninety is a sure thing with a hundred not out of the question.  

I'd like to wish Mooster a happy birthday.  Second one he missed by dying.  Schmuck. We'd get together and raise a few birthday brews sometime in between to celebrate.  Damn, I just realized that was what we were celebrating all along, our birthdays, all year long.  But I gotta say, love ya and miss ya man.

But for now, I am picking tiny little ants out of very private body areas. Most times not before the buggers have injected their tiny little fangs in me.  Getting reacquainted with these big ass Mosquitoes again and contemplating what tomorrow's temps are going to be while an airborne Ocean is headed this way. That's what CNN and the Weather Channel seem fixated on. 

So I'm going to stop drinking the very strong Coffee that I make and poor myself a glass of cheap wine.  Cheaper than the kind I usually drink because for a while times are gonna be lean.  I noticed also that when drinking the cheap stuff, for some reason, I probably should not be near a keyboard.  Expensive OK. I find that I am quite brilliant and witty with any brand costing more than eight bucks a bottle.  Cheap not so good.
                                                          
                  Arvwah
                                     ( That is incredibly funny,  Blogger says I misspelled arvwah, how the hell is it supposed to be spelled?)