Thursday, June 23, 2016

Even The Locals Are From Somewhere Else...

Is it a precursor to Alzheimer’s??? Lately, I have been amazed at some of the things surfacing from the depths of memory… Songs, stories, events, etc… Sometimes with little to no connection to what might be happening around me… Be it working, walking, talking thinking…

Like this one today…

I think anyone who has been a regular reading of my blogs, facebook posts and tweets knows how much I am enjoying life and the freedom of the road in my RV…

Now work kamping in the mountains of eastern Washington… The Comedy Dog House is down to one dog… Well, yeah… Two, if you count Simon… We like it here…

So what happened today??? Get to the damn point!!!

Everyone who works here is from somewhere else… Even the locals are from somewhere else to me… A pretty cool thing…

So yeah, the point and how to Segway into it…

Well, I was going to write a blog about telling someone I work with that his personality, attitude and constant complaining about the job was just like the “drip, drip, drip of gonorrhea”.

There’s wheels on your RV… If you don’t like it here… Drive the fuck away… Or shut the FUCK UP!!

But it might be too negative to blog about that…

So I’ll write about how amazed I am at what surfaces from the depths of memory sometimes, instead...  

Friday, June 17, 2016

Hammer Time

So for a long time… With many starts and stops I’ve tried to put old columns together and piece together a book… I’ve even written about those efforts here… Yes, they are stopped again…

Stopped again… Maybe each time for the same reason… They weren’t saying what I wanted to say… Well, at least not “cutting to the chase” as fast as I would have liked… Oh yes, eventually they may have told the story… Maybe… Maybe it would have been missed??? Maybe eventually they’ll finally make it into a book??? Maybe it’ll finally be made into a movie???

Maybe this column will finally put into words what I have wanted to say all along… Hopefully it’ll make the book that much easier to write… The message will have already been said…

There’s a saying that the “Lessons in life will be repeated until they are learned”. 



Maybe… Just maybe I’ve finally learned what the lessons (over and over) had been trying to tell me for so long…

I worked a long time at jobs filled with unhealthy hours and stress… Unhappy while doing it… But doing what I thought I was “supposed” to do…

The only ones benefiting from those efforts being those who in the end gave no damn about me… Except when it was time to ask again… “What are you going to do for me today???”

Each time I would finally put my foot down to end the drama and to ask “What about what I want??? I would become the bad guy…

Repeatedly making bad choices in people to trust… Repeatedly trying to “earn love”… I’ll probably be faulted for quoting some scripture here… But I never said there isn’t any wisdom to be found there… 

As a matter of fact, this bit of wisdom is found twice in the Book of Proverbs… Proverbs 21:9 and 25:24

“Better to live on a corner of the roof
    than share a house with a quarrelsome wife.

Just wish I hadn’t been repeatedly fooled by those pretending not to fit the description…  

Repeatedly, repeating the lesson… Until it was learned… I’ve experienced lots of loss in this life… All those years of work with little to nothing material to show for my efforts…

It’s safe to say the lesson will not need to be repeated again… The lesson??? What’s important??? 

I finally have it figured out… And I’m living it now…

Living “small” now with the boys for the last two years, mostly out of my RV… Stress and drama free with an abundance of wisdom, better health, love, quality relationships not built on what someone can get from me, adventure, insight and freedom…

I’ll dip into the scripture bag one more time… Proverbs 15:17

“Better a small serving of vegetables with love
    than a fattened calf with hatred.

The Universe was trying to teach me this for a long time…. And yes, many of those old columns would have rehashed the lessons… But not moved me past them…


Yes, sometimes we just need to be hit in the head repeatedly with a bigger and bigger hammer until the lesson sinks in… Okay, I get it now…

Wednesday, June 15, 2016

How Much Is That Doggy In The Window???

I wrote this 12 years ago… Seems like a perfect time to re-post it… If you don’t cry you might be a terrorist…

Having just completed two weeks of evening and midnight shifts, I ventured out this morning headed to the country garden store. A time to reacquaint with myself as I loaded up on cat food, dog food and rawhide bones. I must have taped a sign on my back as I entered the store… "Bad A$$, but Soft Heart".  Hmm.....

As I checked out what should appear?  But a miniature Jack, so young and so pure.

We're looking for a home for this guy, said the checkout girl.  As I stopped to say hi and ogle the puppy. 

How old is he?

Six weeks, we call him JJ.

Of course he was cute, most puppies are. But a puppy was NOT on my shopping list this morning, so I proceeded to the door. Almost out to the safety of the truck, the big invisible hand held up a stop sign. Turning me around it drew the words right out of me.

How much is he?  Expecting to hear a figure high enough in the hundreds to justify NOT getting him.

Free, to a good home!

Put the dog food in the truck... I'll go buy some puppy chow.

So now Riley had a brother, JJ (for Jack Junior?) was here. Doolittle that is, so he was talking soon enough...


And talk he did for 12 straight years… Goodbye JJ… You were the best ever…I’ll be forever grateful to that big invisible hand that knew I needed you much more than you needed me… I will always love you… 

Requiem for a Heavyweight

Started this journey across America with 3 dogs and a cat…  The cat and a dog occupy two shallow graves in Idaho… Like the pioneers of yesteryear who left shallow graves across the American frontier… We dug another one today in the mountains of Central Washington…

Like the pioneers of old... He traveled west from NY to Idaho... Northwest to the Washington coast... Back to Idaho... Southwest to Southern California... Back to Idaho... and finally the mountains of Washington... Mountains, Deserts, Oceans, Rivers and long ago in a galaxy, far, far away a Great Lake...  

He lived a long… Though are they ever long enough??? A happy, adventurous life… No dog enjoyed this adventure like JJ… Always in the co-pilot seat… Scanning the horizon for danger and adventure as though in the front seat of a pioneer’s covered wagon…

Mischievous, fun, full of love… Though at times a “boog-a-loofer” not wanting to admit he loved the attention…

He went bravely and bright eyed today… With Riley, Jack and Buddy and all those before him there to greet him… The smallest of the three… He leaves me with the heaviest heart…

A heavy heart and Simon… “Heavy Si(gh)”… Long considered the “slowest” of the bunch… He continues to show how in tune he really is…

Leading him quietly to the grave site… Not saying a word… Sitting on the ground beside it… He walked over… Sat directly in front of me… Looked into my eyes and slobbered kisses all over my face… I think I might have to get Simon a kitty…


JJ’s pain is ended… Our love for him goes on…    

"Sugar" Jay