Saturday, August 29, 2015

A Full Moon Mindful...

Had a very interesting day yesterday and I’m doing my best to be “mindful” of the synchronicities and positive manifestations when they happen…

Dropped a resume off for another part time gig as a bartender… Private Club… While conversing with the manager he noticed “standup comedian” on my resume… As the conversation shifted to... “Would you be interested in doing a show here sometime after October???”

In the Navy we called… 2.5 knowledge, as the ability to recognize the right answer…

“Let me grab a promo pack out of my truck.”

So yeah, I’d be real interested… Stay tuned…

It is “Grand Opening” weekend for the new owner at The Cellar restaurant… A wine tasting had the place full last night… So we were busy… Worked hard… But had fun… Really enjoyed talking to all the people… Even told a few jokes… Had a few laughs and came “home” happy to a beautiful full moon and my three wonderful boys…

As the boys and I walked in the moonlight I really was aware that Idaho isn’t such a bad place… I’ve certainly been to worse… It’s beautiful here… Pondering on that as we finished our walk… I sat on the farm house steps and remembered actually liking it here the first 4 months I was here in 2010…

I was ALONE in an apartment my first 4 months here in 2010… September thru December… I was making friends and enjoyed my work…

What brought about the change after that???

I was working straight days at INL the first 4 months I was here and though the days were still long… They weren’t shift work death sentence long…

Yes, moving to a house that wasn’t a “home” in a Mormon “Stepford” subdivision played a role also… But there had to be more reasons than that… Hell, I am enjoying it here now… The Mormons haven’t gone anywhere… They’re still here…

I’m mindful now of the “house that wasn’t a home” key… And the fact that shortly after moving to “Stepford” I began working the 14hr death sentence shift work schedule at INL…

“Neighbors” repeatedly knocking on my door within 5 minutes of my arrival home while working that schedule certainly didn’t help make it feel like home… 

It wasn’t coincidence… Once is coincidence… It’s a deliberate attack after that… Especially when the sign said I wasn’t interested… I’m still NOT interested… 

Never will be…

My idea of a “home” is that of a sanctuary… Somewhere safe… Somewhere I can escape to… I couldn’t escape the doorbell and my only escape inside the “house that wasn’t a home”... Was the half gallon of gin I was drinking each week…

I shared an apartment with my three dogs here for more than a year after escaping “Stepford”… But the 14hr death sentence shift work schedule I was still working, never made it feel like a real home… It was a place to nap before going back to work…

I was ALONE in an apartment my first 4 months here in 2010… September thru December… I’m ALONE here and sharing a 27ft RV, in need of work, with my three dogs now… It’s not a palace… But it’s a sanctuary… It’s happy and it IS a HOME!!! The dogs and I are on the same team… I’m mindful and aware of that…

Yes, this blog is followed… I have been unable to figure out how to block that… 

But this is my story to tell… If people wanted me to write warmly about them... They should have behaved better… Word of warning and not just to the ex… There are others… Don’t make me go into detail… I’m mindful and thankful that you’ve made me stronger…

I’m making new friends again and enjoying my work… I don’t have to explain shit to anyone… I only have to understand it all myself… Mindfulness… 

Thankfulness...

Thankful for the mindfulness… Thankful for the people who have helped…


Mindful of the peacefulness… Happy to be here… 

Thursday, August 20, 2015

The Prodigal Son in Wonderland...

Well, two weeks into our return to Idaho Falls… I’m working three nights a week and looking for some daytime work… We’re living on a farm in Shelley, ID… Thanks, Vicki… It a homecoming of sorts for the boys… They’ve spent a lot of time at this wonderland in the past…

The Prodigal Son??? Yes, I suppose my return to Idaho Falls could fall into that description… I’m sure some of you assumed that upon reading the title of this blog… I’m also sure some of you are “wondering” what the hell I’m doing back here… I’m “wondering”, too…

But we’re not here today to talk about me…

No… My “Prodigal Son” is in “Wonderland” with so much room to run and the wide variety of horse and cow shit to roll in… He’s already sampled various “bath shits” since we’ve been here…

He’s also disappeared several times “through the looking grass”… The grass fields surrounding the farm are high enough to hide him and leave me “wondering” where the hell he is…

After his latest adventure this afternoon… He came back tail wagging, a smile on his face and expecting a scolding…

But he came back happy, healthy and CLEAN!!! So there was no need to meet him soap and a washcloth…


My “Prodigal Son” was welcomed home with hugs and kisses… 


Thursday, August 13, 2015

... It's Time To Write Again...

Hello, my faithful readers… Hope this finds you on happy trails… ‘Cuz it’s time to write again… I also hope this finds you excited to know… I moved writing this ahead of taking a shower on my “things to get done today” list…

I do know this story won’t stink as bad as I do now… Minga… It’s gonna make a helluva good movie… It’s my year in review...

Yes, some details have been left out… Some names have been changed to protect the guilty… Other than that… At least most… OK, some… Of the story you are about to read is true… It’s called “Literary License” in the “writing biz”… Enjoy…

So… After Leaving Idaho Falls last August… I spent a week camped with friends in northern Utah… Nearly had the awning ripped off the RV during a windstorm that came out of nowhere…

From there it took me I think two days to get to Ventura… Initially parked at a friend’s house… I took part in The Ventura Comedy Festival last September…

Took a security job at the marina in Ventura… Took the RV to the beach and lived on the beach through the winter… Lots of RVer’s were… Met a lot of nice people… Made some good friends… Lots of people would hang out there… Bring guitars and stuff and sit around and jam… It was really cool and laid back…

The marina was right across the street… Could walk to work… Would take the boys to work with me… Since they don’t look or act like police dogs… I told everyone they were undercover police dogs…

Lost 20 pounds by changing my diet and all the walking I was doing…

The Ventura Comedy Club was right down the road… Could walk there, too…
Was doing comedy there regularly and also a weekly show in LA… Which was cool… But driving the RV from Ventura to LA once a week started to be a drag… It was an hour drive in LA traffic… Then I would have to hunt for a parking place… Sometimes not really close to the club… I would have to leave the boys in the RV and walk to the club… Walk back to the RV after the show and then drive an hour in traffic back to Ventura… Traffic doesn’t ever let up in LA no matter what time it is…

Spring came and when the weather got better, the city of Ventura decided they didn’t want RVer’s camping on the beach… So the cops were there daily to hassle people, give tickets for petty shit… They were pricks… Went toe to toe with a few of them… Figured sooner or later… Me or the dogs would get shot…

Didn’t have to be there and was really tired of going to LA in traffic… So Easter weekend we moved to northeast San Diego County… Ramona, CA… Good Friday… Should have been a 3hr drive… It took 7hrs in holiday weekend traffic… Parked at the VFW there… An old Navy friend was there… I worked at the VFW every morning for a few hours in exchange for the electric hook up… Sweet deal… But I wasn’t doing comedy…

Since I had to quit my job at the marina in Ventura to move… I got unemployment for 13 weeks… Another sweet deal… I made sure I wrote to Harbor Patrol and the Ventura Police Dept. to thank them…

While still in Ventura I had my annual physical at the VA back in January… Won’t go into detail but the doctor there told me I should file for Social Security Disability… So I did…

Well, the middle of June I am on the phone with the Social Security Office two towns over from Ramona… I was using the phone in the VFW Post… It was morning the bar didn’t open until 11am… I had told the guy that I was living there and given him the number there in case he had to call me back… Blah, Blah, Blah… He knew where I was…

Anyway… We were “discussing” my case… And I said… “If my disability payments get denied… I might as well take myself out.” Ah… The magic words… Think before engaging mouth, Steve…

No sooner do I hang up the phone and three San Diego County Sheriffs walk into the VFW… It’s funny now looking back… But…

Next thing I know… Handcuffed and on my way to the VA Hospital in San Diego for being “suicidal”… Then they transferred me to another place, since they didn’t have room there at the VA…

I ended up in the hospital for 12 days… Before I could convince them… I was pissed off and my mouth was running faster than my brain… Though I will say I do think it did me some good to be there…

My friends at the VFW took care of the boys while I was “gone”… I got back to Ramona and the weather was getting really hot… It’s inland so it’s a lot warmer than the beach in the summer…

So a few days before the end of June I decided to head north into the mountains for cooler weather… Spent 2 weeks camping at a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Campground overlooking Crowley Lake in the Sierra Mountains… We were camped at about 7200ft elevation… Cool temps and we got a lot of rain while there… The mountains around us got snow at the higher elevations… This was the first week of July…

I had planned on going into Yosemite Park… But they closed Sonoma Pass through Yosemite… It’s at 9600ft and they had so much snow they closed the road… Didn’t want any part of driving through snow… So when we headed north from Crowley Lake we ended up going through Reno and camping another two weeks in northern Nevada… While there I was trying to figure out where we wanted to go next…

We were having a great time at both places hiking every day, Riley doesn’t do the long hikes any more… He fell getting out of the truck right before I “went away”… Hurt his leg and I really thought I would have to put him down… But he’s made a great comeback… Now I lift him in and out of the RV… But once he is up and walking he is good and happy…

Campfires every night… Life is good… So anyway… While in Nevada I found out about Silver City, ID… About 2hrs south of Boise… In the mountains… An old 1800s mining town… Now a ghost town there’s a BLM campground within walking distance of the town… Sounded cool… It was… Hiked in the mountains everyday… No noise… No electric in the town… Some people still live there in the summer… Have solar for electric… Sherriff rides a horse… I put his picture of FB…

From there we started east… I was tired of driving so we stopped just west of American Falls, ID and camped along the Snake River for almost another two weeks… Sweet… Swam in the river every day…

Realizing I forgot to visit the Potato Museum when I lived here before… I headed east again… Intending to come through Idaho Falls and go to the Tetons for the rest of the summer… I started looking on line for part time jobs and found the one I started Wednesday here in Idaho Falls… Sent them a resume, blah, blah, blah… Working as a waiter/bartender…

If I stay that long… Still waiting to hear about SS disability, but in the meantime need the job… Still looking for other possibilities, too…

Sent a resume to a place about 2hrs north… A fishing lodge in Montana… Seasonal… through October… Live right there… They give you lodging and all your meals… They close for the winter so then I could go south and come back next spring… Would be cool… But who knows if I will get it…

So for now we are in Idaho Falls… Pulled into the Elks Lodge here Thursday 8/6 after stopping at the laundromat… Almost 8 weeks of camping laundry… Got to the Elks (I am a member here) went to the bar to get the key for the electric hook up… Realized it was the most human contact I had in almost 8 weeks… Except to stop for gas…

Also realized I kind of liked that… Spent 3 nights camped at the Elks Lodge… Then had planned on going to the mountains for a few days before starting work on Wednesday...

Stopped into Lowes on Sunday… To say hello to a friend… Walked past a cashier… Another friend of mine was there buying paint…

Well, she has an old farm house in Shelley, ID… A few miles south of Idaho Falls, it’s all tore up… It’s the house she grew up in… She and her boyfriend flip houses in Idaho Falls and they are trying to fix it up and so she can sell it… So she offered to let me use the electric plug in here for the RV… 

Hence, my status this past Sunday of life's surprises... 

So we are camped here now… It’s like coming home for the boys… They spent a lot of time here before… It’s not far from where I will be working… The boys have a lot of room to roam around and we are good…

So I think I am all caught up… Life is good… We are happy… Healthy and who knows might be getting Social Security soon… Then I won’t have to work the new job and can go anywhere… Anytime…

Might even try booking a comedy tour headed east… But want to be south again by winter if I can… Comedy would be nice… But all my decisions now are based on what is best for the boys… They are my family… So glad to have this year almost 24/7 with them…


And so… Happy Trails to you… Until I Write Again…