Al's Blog: Writing, Truck Camping, Recipes, Travel, and More!!

Aug 10, 2010

August 12th 2010.

(The pic above is a view from my new place that I can't rotate on this page, so view at by holding your screen sideways)!

August, 12th, 2010:

I had a good day. Waking late, I then hit the small thrift store a block away (see how thrifty I am people). I managed to buy 6 great books for about 3 bucks total. Half the books are hardbacks, all in excellent condition. Went to my school and did some internet insurance business which required a printer. Noticed that my neglected fish tank was needed some help so I did a 6 gallon water change, and need to buy another powerhead for the left side. The ammonia levels were crazy, but I inproved them, and will continue to do so until they stabilize. I love marine tanks. At least my crabs, urchines and snails are doing fine.

I also research on the net "How to steam Veggies in a rice cooker", Which totally enlightened me that most Asian countries use a rice cooker as their primary cooking device. They are cheap and efficient, and take up little space. I bought a little produce from the local "farmers market", local corn, squash and potatoes, then went to the grocery store to buy more things I can make in this wonderful cooking device. I had long known that I could steam veggies while the rice was cooking, but after reading up on it, There are way more things that people use these cheap cookers for. Steaming eggs in the upper steam basket is a great alternative to the old boiling scene. I even read how one user would cook an entire pot roast and ECT, which would take 24 hours on the "Warm", setting. Other folks would bake cakes using commercial cake mix! I cooked a few chunx of red potato in the boiler while steaming zucchini, onion, shittake shrooms, and a few small sections of baby corn on the cob up in the steamer. I also put two little breakfast sausage links into the mix, to provide a bit a flavor. To Westerners "Meat" is often the main course. But in many or most societies Meat, is merely a condiment used in order to provide flavor. I am increasingly changing my diet to Vegetarian, since I like the vegetarian fare better than the meaty stuff, but I refuse to become a vegitarian and have to enquire about all incredients or worry about whether my beans were fried in lard or veg oil. What a pain in the ass my vegetarian friends go through. I simply prefer a diet of mainly veggies, but include a bit of meat when needed. I mainly eat Indian food now, so its quite easy to avoid gnawing on a joint of beef like a bloody animal. But I reserve the right to "Gnaw" as much as I like, whenever I happen to hit a decent BBQ joint!

So the potato and zucchini combo was quite winning, since it had two ounces of sausage in it. A pound or more of veggies, and two ounces of meat. This is how it should be for most humans. Tonites giant meal costs less than a dollar.. I love being a cheap bastard! The 2 bucks I paid for the sausage will last for 6 more meals!

Logan and his friend "Melody" stopped in around 6 we played some music and drank a little. "Melody" is one hell of a guitar player and singer. She has an interesting voice, and can hit all her notes, spot on, and with complete authority. She loves the songs that I wrote years ago, and we plan to start a small group with logan being the bass player, drummer, and back up vocals. We had fun rockin' out this apartment, early enough to keep complaints down. I can wait to break out my sax once it gets fixed! So far my practice of "no cable TV nor Internet service at home), is working well... I have a guitar, hammond organ, inca flute, scottish fife, and soon I will have a beautiful "King Zephyr", alto sax to jam with! I love the ancient King Zephyr Saxes. I have a 1926 "King Voll True", which is the Zephyr predesessor, Since I still have the older King, and it has a neck which has a double socket like the much more sought after "zephyrs", I managed to buy a highly desirable "King Zephyr" model alto sax from the year 1942, which needed a neck. Neckless; I got the sax for a steal at $300 bucks. I plan to use my old King neck on it and should have a professioal quality horn to play around with. With a neck this sax would be worthbody 5 times the price I got it for. Of course this new sax will need a $380 repad, But now I am only $680 into the deal. These Saxes can scream like no other. to get one for under a grand, is a steal indeed.

I am now reading many books, since I have no other entertainment other than the radio. I have "The works of Dashiell Hammet" which is cool has heck! Never read the author before, but his 20's lured decriptions of good looking women and the accompanying slang is a treat to my senses. I will use this example: "She was tall an Pliantly tender, without angularity anywhere. Her body was erect and high-breasted, her legs long, her hands and feet narrow"... ECT.... She is described as a "Knock out"! I love reading this old stuff. Many of the words are the same, although many weren't allowed to be printed way back then. The words "Shit" and "Fuck", were in full use back in the 20's, yet from reading the authors of that time, you would never know it.

I also bought a book entitled "The F word", which is devoted to the origins and history of that one word! The author, meant the book to be humorous, but spends 300 pages or more going back into the actual history of the world from its German origins until now. I only read the first 10 pages but I can tell it will be a fun one!

I am also reading a Mark Twain classic, which is really a blog, or "ships log", talking about his 1868 cruise, to the Med and Black seas, spending 6 months on the commercial journey. One of the worlds first leasurly cruises, Twain describes in good detail and snide wit, the happenings at that time which took place just a couple years after the civil war. This fact particually hit home with me. two years after the civil war, Twain, pays a huge amount of money, along with a hundred other rich folks, in order to take a side-wheel steam ship, which wasn't very big, and risk their lives so they can visit Europe from the south. I believe that this is on of the first pleasure cruises I've ever heard about. They had a day to day itenerary, and even opportunities for side excurions just like the modern cruises do. Their "on board" entertainment was similar to the cruises I've been on, except for the church stuff, and prayer time, which Mark detested, but he went through the motions. I have read this book before so I will not go on. Go check it out yourself and tell me what you think. It is not no "Huckleberry Finn", but does give insite into Twain's character and the technology of the late 1860's, which was much higher than I expected. Twain is not the writer he was before the trip, but his snide-ness and humor, are still funny. Twain wasn't so much a writer but more a comedian/philosopher dude, who dazzled people where-ever he went. The title of the particular book Im reading is "Innocents Abroad".

I am also reading the Roman historian "Tacticus", which involves his own personal, critiques, of the Emperors "Augustus, Tiberius, Nero," and a few others, from a first person stand point. He only wrote about the Emperors that he personally knew while he was living. Tacticus, is a good writer, but he was parcial to certain Emporers, and other folKs, but was quite impartial to those his party didn't like. Like an ancient "Shaun Hannity", he would not give those out side his party, an inch of praise, no matter how much they deserved it. I personally have no use for people like Tacticus, Hannity, and a few other that I personally know. Arguement should be a method to discover truth, Not to prove who is right. It shouldn't be a personal emotional thing.

I am also reading, "Bird by Bird", which is a writers training inspirational manual. Anne Lamont's writings are most encouraging to a new writer. She is honest, tells you about your slim chances of getting publishes, then tells you that you better continue writing because true writers should never be concerned with tiny issues, like spending millions of hours or decades trying to sell your well-honed craft. She just urges you to continue on.. Maybe the fact that I continue writing, is because I have to write, at my age getting published isn't really a dream, nor is being a rock star. Writing is a dying art in my opinion. Yes, there will be a need for concise technical or news and script writers. But little need for creative or philisophical writers. But so what? I like to write, so I will continue to write.

I am also reading the "Upanshads", which is the most ancient book in the Hindu world. The book was written by unknown writers some 6 or 7 thousand years ago. I love this book. It's best to read it slow. Each passage contains a large amount of profound meaning. "All this is full. At that is full. From fullness, fullness comes. When fullness is taken from fullness. Fullness still remains. OM Shanti Shanti Shanti (a prayer). This last passage reads like the great book called the "Tao Te Ching", but its author "Lao Tzu", wrote the "Ching" some 4000 years later than this. Could it be that Lao Tzu was Parroting the "upanshads", Probably was is my guess, but I can see that he was furthering the book with his own observations as well. The Upanshads will be read one page at a time, and will easily take a couple years to conclude the book. But I do love it, and see its benefits to a screwed up world. The ancients, had more logic in their observations than most comtemporary writers of religion or philosophy.

I am also about to begin two more novels, "The Last Don" by Mario Puzo, and "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the Columbian writer, who's book "Love in the time of Cholera", was important to me 20 years back.

These are the substitutes for having no internet or TV this year. Depending on the book most should be finished in two months. I will spend a lifetime trying to sort the "Upanshads" out, but I've been reading the "Tao Te Ching", the Bible, The book of Buddha", and various other holy works, and plan to continue reading them always. I take my title of "Guru" of the Universal Life Church, very seriously. This is no joke to me. I am a man of the cloth.

I cant believe I've been writing all night like this. I have an engagement with my ex llama this afternoon, and will hate to be tired and lethergic when I arrive, But this is the way of me : Allen Barnes. I tend to forget the world and focus on the tasks and interests at hand.

After crashing at 3 AM and waking at waking at 1 PM I postponed the llama visit till Friday. ' Spent two hours cleaning, eating plain yoghurt with blackberries and sugar, made a decent cup of coffee and listened to Dr. Laura on the radio. Never been a big fan of celebrity psychologists, but Dr. Laura makes more sense than most of them. I will add more to this later.

August 10th, 2010

August 9th, 2010:

Had the morning breakfast at Ibis. A couple excellent jazz musicians were playing on the guitar and keyboards. Quite talented, Ibis, does its best to allow a venue for the local musicians. I can say nothing but good things about this place. I spent over an hour eating and putting up another blog. These blogs do take a bit of time to write, edit, find a picture, then put it all together on blogger. A labor of love I consider it, just being a humble writer in training.

Afterwards I bought a ton of groceries for my barren cupboards, but had a heck of a time strapping it all to my motorcycle. Imagine, 4 sacks of groceries on a motorbike. I drove home carefully. Now I can make Hotdogs with all the ingrediants. I also bought a pineapple, some peaches, a rice cooker/steamer, and a hot plate. Napkins, tonic water, frozen dinners, and a few other staples went along as well,

Came home and put everything away, then fell asleep for a couple hours, dreaming the most vivid dreams I've had in months. I really will miss that kind family, that lives under the bridge in central Dallas, who have a penchant for shortwave radios, whose kids are all intelligent and well behaved, since they all lived near a magical river, and everything was good and happy all the time. I will miss these folks, who do not actually exist, it was a damn shame to wake up again but I had to wake up and finish the day of leisure.

Went to the "Bee Hive", where Logan works, and they were slammed on a Sunday night. Perhaps, the fact that they are the only open restaurant in town, has something to do with this. I researched my current love, the s500 Mercedes, and found out where to plug in the obt2 code reader, and plan to check out the car while I have it out for a test drive. I plan to merely drive to the local auto parts store, borrow their obt2 code reader and plug it in while away from the dealership. I learned the secret place where I had to plug the device into. I also found a better 2001 "S600", by Mercedes, that has the 12 cylinder engine, and only 80,000 miles, which costs $135,000 new. I can get this for only $2000 more than the 96 model. I havent met the newer girl, but I'm sure I will be in love. These are the flagships of the Mercedes line. These are the biggest, most educated cars in the world. Most have a pair of flags on the front hood corners, and some "presidential" welcoming song is expected wherever they dock. Instead of calling these beasts the "S" class, the "U.S.S." class is probably more important.

As I previously stated: I do not need a car. But I do need one of these for a hobby or a misguided love affair at the very least. I love all things well-built and nautical. I will treat the S500 like the lady like she is. Since I only drive 1500 miles per year, she will be in capable hands. Tomorrow I will try out the 96' S500 again and check on its repairs. I already sent a credit application in for the 2001 S600, which has the monster v-12 engine. I hope to get one or the other. If not, I will be just fine with my truck and motorcycles. But the lust I have for these big Benzes will be fulfulled at some point in my life. Going 150 MPH while playing "God Save the Queen", is a sensation that I can't get out of my head. This baby would be a welcome diversion from the Spartan life which I now choose to lead.

Went home and "Gammed" (talked, according to Melville), with my friend Chuck for a couple hours. He is excited about his new place in Buffalo Wyoming. Even offered me a free tank of gas if I would visit him this week. I am considering the option. One last ride, before school starts again would be a good thing.

My favorite son "Logan", stopped by at midnight and spent a couple hours and I showed him the excellent apartment on the top floor. He liked the place and gave me the deposit for the place, which he should be moving into shortly. Logan is a veteran of the dark streets of Logan, Utah, and likes the idea, of living among the cities ancient rooftops!.

This is a pic of my ex-Llama "Sue", that was sent to me from my friend "Johanna", who used to teach in the classroom next door. She invited out to her parents place to see how great Sue is doing. Sue is in a much nicer place than in my old back yard, and gets much more human contact from Johanna and her family. I should be seeing her again later next week.

Aug 8, 2010

Aug 7th, 2010

August 6Th, 2010:

Had a cheap and excellent breakfast at the local hippy coffeehouse "Cafe Ibis". Ibis is owned by a couple conscientious old Hippies, who really do care about their customers and the environment as well. I find that many "Hippies" are just lazy and justify their behavior with a lot of bullshit rhetoric. But I know a few Hippies who do what they preach, they believe in using "effort" to achieve their dreams and not just a hand out. These owners of Ibis deserve all the good things that they have achieved.

I had a great breakfast consisting of local, free range, organic, eggs. Two pieces of high quality local baked bread known as "Deckard Five Seed", which will turn you into a bread lover real quick, and a small container of high grade organic jam, sugarless of course. And some chopped home grown potatoes, covered with some fine herb. And a large cup of their "Highland Grog" coffee. This was just good quality fare. Like the owners pay far more for the ingredients because they care about you. Every attention was put into detail. These people actually travel to the country and inspect the fields before they buy the coffee beans, which they grind themselves. They are not just name dropping pretentious bastards, all their stuff is first rate. Total cost for the best breakfast in town: Six dollars.

Ibis to me is the way all companies should be. They focus on a good healthy honest deal, not the bottom line. Their reward is a highly successfully business and the owners are quite well to do because of this. The Puritans from the Mayflower days used to prosecute businesses which made more than a 7 percent profit. Capitalism with no constraint is not good for anybody. Teddy Roosevelt and Dwight Eisenhower pointed out this in large block letters that people have managed to ignore. Huge profits are what pimps and drug dealers seek. Not good businesses like Cafe Ibis. Ibis has stolen more than a few customers from the bland, expensive local places for breakfast. Business is greatest when it is ran with a conscience and even "Love".

"Gammed" quite awhile with the 65 year old maintenance man, who enjoys the same first name as myself. Seen him around, thought him insane at first. This man is the spitting image of the actor "John Malkovich". This man rules the 22 lofts up here in the Logan, Utah sky. John (obviously not his real name), does not take any shit... PERIOD! He really seems to like me, and bends over backwards to help me get my apartment finished out (no door between bathroom and living area). John was on it immediately. Maybe he respects me because I am not indigent or live on public assistance like many others around here. Maybe its because I'm big and kind. I trust this man, and so does the owner of these fine living spaces. "Malkovich" is a good man to have on your side around here. He will probably have me help him bust some heads in the future. A job I will gladly assist in.

Spent some time tracking down my barber, who was a student at the local hairstylists academy. She has cut my hair and beard many times, in fact I trained her how to use the clippers on a beard and head about 12 months ago. Now, she is the only one I will allow to touch my head. We are pretty good friends, and things are comfortable between us professionally. I showed up and she was the only lady at the shop that had a customer. She trimmed off 6 months of beard and hair with the skill of a lawncutter. 15 minutes later, I looked like a new man, and her new place of business knows that she knows her shit when it comes to shaggy old men! Most hair stylists her age tend to treat me like "The Elephant Man". Mandi is like a daughter to me.

Went to the car dealer and was approved to buy a 96 "S" class Mercedes Benz, a giant four door sedan, and the most expensive of the Mercedes built that year. The original price was $87,000!!! It looks to be new, as I previously described, and very well maintained. I

will buy it for around 9 thousand! I don't need a car really, but this is more a love affair. I have been looking at her for a few weeks now, and with my hated newer motorbike as down payment, I can get her for $350 per month for only 2 years. The dealer loved the Kawasaki, since it is also new in appearance. I can't stop thinking about this "finest of all the cars in the world". Bad thing is: I really don't need a car. I am happy with my ancient truck, but wont drive it too far. This car has "Presidential" written all over it. And can cruise down the Auto Bahn at 140 MPH all day long, while holding tight to the road. This great black German built ship, is over 17 feet long and weighs nearly 5000 pounds. 335 horsepower makes it quite fast enough to enter the highway with complete, Teutonic authority!

I must have her... I must...

Saturday Nacht: Spending some time on the "back porch" or our large 140 year old building. The "porch" is a fire escape, with a wide deck of steel grate, before it becomes an ancient, spindly, steep set of stairs, some 30 feet off the ground. Takes a bit of time to get used to, but I can manage carrying two sacks of groceries, whilst ascending the sturdy old tangle of steel grate, and iron rails. The view from up here is incredible. Much calmer here than on the Main Street side of the building. Thankfully some kind soul put a large rubber mat on the deck and even an old folding metal chair (with wooden seat), on the mat, just so I can look out upon the back parking lot from up high like a god, who watches over his imagined creation of concrete, lamp posts, cars, and the night people.

Amazing all the human activity I can spy from up high in relative camouflage, These are not the same folks I see around here in the daytime. These are not Mormon people. who go to sleep at night up in their fine houses on the hillsides. These are the ones who sleep in the day, and smartly get to enjoy the cool weather, when they go on the prowl at 11 PM. Many are harmless college students on foot or bicycles, but I also witness the poor and destitute, walking to the local store for more ciggies and beer. A few are like sharks in cars slowly driving around looking for an easy piece of meat to steal. Then there are the cops. They are nearly everywhere. From my point of view it looks like a big cat and mouse game, with all participants avoiding the gaze of the "cats" (cops). I was interrupted from my observation from the giant insane man who lives down the hall from me. This dude seems harmless, but he really doesn't have a job, and brags about his diagnosis a bit too much. I loaned him a few dollars the other day for ciggies, and will not give him a dime, until it is repaid. Mainly the residents of my new community are elderly with a monthly pension. A few have lived here for twenty years. I might only stay for a year or two, or until I learn all there is to know about this area. So far I love this unique place. Its pretty much safe, interesting, and friendly. I wouldn't trade this loft or view for the nicest apartment in town.

So now it's 1 AM, and I can't seem to sleep, the big wooden radio is playing some cool music from the 40's and 50's and I'm simply having too much fun listening to it, in a pad that looks straight out of that time period. My furnishings, gleaned from the "D.I." (Deseret Industries, a Mormon giant "Good Will" store, which has really decent stuff,) I found a chair and two end tables, in perfect condition, for $40 for the set. All I need now is a small old table, which will serve as a desk and eating place. It will go next to the wall of big windows, which makes the front of my loft. I prefer to watch the street and traffic than TV at this point. Each nite this week has been quite rich and special, hard to fully describe in normal words. I can best describe it from a quote from the book, "The Great Gatsby", while the narrator was talking about how pleasant the hot August night in Long Island was during the time period of all those events. He said, something to the effect of: "This night is like a delicate delicious fruit, just waiting to be plucked". This is how I feel about these several nights I've spent up here in this loft. Each one is more intriguing than the previous, I can't wait to see what happens tomorrow up here.

Tomorrow I plan to explore the upper floor and navigate its complicated fire escape system, part of which crosses between two buildings, with chimneys sticking up like on the rooftops of old London, reminiscent of the movie "Mary Poppins", in the chimney scene. I can easily envision some of these locals dancing on the roof tops to the song "Step in Time", from that very movie. I also plan to hit up Cafe Ibis, because I constantly dream about their magical breakfast's. But that will be tomorrows adventure.... Nite..

Aug 5, 2010

August 6th, 2010

August 5Th, 2010:

My good friend Robert stopped in today to have me analyze some rocks which he found at the local "Bear Lake" today. Usually, when one of my students graduate, I never really see them again, so I was happy to see Robert. Robert was one of the best teachers aides I've ever had. Kind of like Sherlock Holmes "Watson", Robert is one of the most unique students I've been lucky enough to teach. He is smart, intellectual, and had no problem correcting me when I occasionally proved to be an asshole. I have the utmost respect for Robert, and he is also a writer, which makes him a bit tortured, which I completely understand. Robert is A man of keen intellect, ideas, creativity, and a certain knack of telling an entire classroom to "Shut their pie holes", OK maybe not an exact quote. But the classroom generally listened to him!

We wound up hanging out for 6 or more hours, hitting a coffee shop, then to the local thrift store to buy me some much needed furniture, and a few other errands. Damn its

good to have another like minded friend in this town. Most adults around here bore the piss out of me. Most are money grubbing, baby making machines it seems. Few

can see the world that exists in between making money, and raising kids. Most of the people I've met that exist in this obscure world, turn out to be Writers. Artists seem to be more self centered and focused on their own egos. Writers, learn as much as they can about what is around them. Few are stupid. I am far more proud to call myself a "Writer" than to admit that I am also a visual Artist, and a decent Musician. Ego is a thing which is best avoided.

Tomorrow, Robert and I will attempt to get thousand dollar organ from the pad, that my son was forced to vacate after a mere 6 weeks. It was a scene from "Animal House", but the bastard should have moved my organ first, and not just left it there.

I really don't understand how some of today's kids are so selfish. Hopefully we will

be able to get it back, it would look great here in my apartment, plus I love playing it!

Spent the rest of the night listening to "John Teshes" late night soft rock radio show on a local station, where "John" dispenses practical wisdom in between songs. Not classical wisdom, but advice like: " The studies show that people with fewer computer programs are less likely to get viruses". I miss a lot of the old songs that he plays, and I am completely sick of hearing "classic rock" which consists of the same thirty songs it seems, with "Hotel California" and "Free bird", completely overplayed.

After a dinner of Indian "MRE" food, which consisted of potato and Chana "Chickpeas", washed down with a few beers, I was able to kick back and enjoy the

sights and sounds of my new place. The city has a pulse and a life of its own which

changes hour by hour. I remember the old line from a Doors song "The cars hiss by my window, like the waves, out on the beach", and can see the similarity between the sounds of waves and traffic, that Jim Morrison seemed to notice. Traffic is not one

constant sound but a mixture of many different sounds, which ebb and flow in their intensity. Growing up next to a busy road allows me to keep my windows open, with the radio sounding in the foreground, and the waves of traffic in the background. It is a beautiful mixture of sound, and I can also do some reading while listening to this grand symphony.

Today with Robert, I bought a vintage green chair on casters, so I can roll it where I need it, and a matching pair of well built end tables, that are relics from the 1950's, both the chair and tables were outdated but in mint condition, and seem to fit in the

120 year old apartment with no clashes whatsoever. I don't want a couch, since I don;t plan on many guests at once, plus I want to save the floor space for walking around, and possibly doing a few more paintings. I also will require a desk for writing but the only ones available were huge and heavy. I might use a small card table or something, but would prefer something a bit more classy, like some of the small antique roll top desks that I've seen. I do need to watch the money since I also

plan to buy a professional saxophone, which I can play at the top of this building late at night, once I regain a certain amount of proficiency, that I have lost over the years.

Just to learn "Blue Trane" by John Coltrane, and play it with feeling, is mainly what

I aspire to do. I know I can play it, but to play it with finesse and love, should prove a challenge. In order to accomplish all this painting, music, and writing, I plan to

not subscribe to Cable or Internet this year. Of course I explained all that in my last blog.

So far being TV less has been easy. We will see once the days get shorter, and the sidewalks icier.

The next morning, I got up and had to clean the camping stuff out of my trailer. Then picked up Robert and Luiz (another one of my ex-students), and we managed to lift the organ from Logan's old place and into the trailer. The hard part was lifting 400 pounds of Hammond Organ up two flights of stairs, but luckily my wonderful son and his buddy, helped us get her into the apartment. I was truly beat.

Saw a gorgeous black Mercedes"S500 sedan, at the local car lot. It was black as hell, with black rims and very low profile tires. The car appeared to be perfect, and with only 118,000 miles, I fell in love with this beauty. So I took it for a test drive and loved it. Until the black smoke started coming from under the hood. I'm sure its just a small issue, like a tiny amount of oil leaking onto the exhaust manifold, but still. The car is $9000, and would cost me $350 per month for the next two years, and it better be perfect! I really don't need a car, but it would be nice to have this one, if only I could trust it. Of course I would have to keep her in a storage shed during the winter, so it would be like being married to Pamela Anderson, while living in another country.

Now I am having a giant salad and a beer at the restaurant where my son works. Been sitting here for two hours working on my blog and paying some bills. But my stay is getting a bit stale, so its time to return to my loft, and get the organ set up, install the foot key board, and jam the night away.

August 3rd,

Tuesday, August 3rd.

Lets start this from Sunday, Aug, 1st: Woke up from a phone call from my brother in law "Dave",

who was down stairs, waiting to take me to the DFW airport at 6:30 AM. After 4 hours of sleep

(I never get enough sleep before plane rides). Dave is a wonderful person. He goes all out

to help other people. He picked me up from the airport 12 days before, and has gone all out

as a kind host, along with my gracious sister "Robin", and three of their five wonderful children,

which were fun to visit with. This trip was a great success largely due to these fine folks. My

Mom, gets a lot of credit as well, she went all out for me to have a pleasant stay. I constantly

brag about my mom, mainly because she is a good human being, and really cares about me.

Got to DFW in plenty of time, didn't get strip searched or my nadz squeezed like the forward

trip, so things were fine.

Got held up in Denver for a few hours, which caused me to miss my ground transportation

from Salt Lake City, to Logan, but it turned out ok. Damn was I sleeping on each leg of the

journey! Both times I was next to some kid but once the plane flew, I was in "Lala" land,

so i didn't have to talk to them. Frontier, is a comfy ride as far as fat tall guys are concerned

avoid AA and Delta, if you are a big dude or lady.

The drive back to Logan was pleasant, with a very nice bus driver, who was fun to

talk to. Big, happy, corn-fed redneck, He "was constantly parroting the "Rush Limbaugh" version of the "State of American Politics",

but was such a novice that I countered with my liberal political views about what we really

should do regarding Health Care, and he didnt notice that I was a bit of a Socialist, I

did agree with much of his agenda, but he barely understood it himself. We had a nice

time, and before I knew it: I was finally home after 12 hours of travel and waiting. Funny

how by focusing on what you agree on rather than dwell on differences, can make a

normally volitile political arguement into a pleasant conversation. Hopefully the dude learned

something new. I didn't.

Dropped off at my school, where I had my Kawasaki waiting in my classroom. I drove to

the "Crystal Inn", and landed a room for a total of 65 bones per night. It was a step up from the

neighboring "Super 8", but was only 10 bucks more, and served dinner, as well as a full breakfast

which included eggs and meat for once. The jacuzzi sucked in comparison with the "8",

but one has to experience different things on occasion. Next time, I will flee back to the

place with the superior Jacuzzi, no matter how bad the rooms stink in there!

Monday morning, I booked another day at the Crystal Inn, thinking that I might need two days to

find a new place to live. Within 20 minutes I found a wonderful loft in Down Town Logan Utah!!!

This one was the best out of the 5 available. It is huge! in comparison to the others. I have a

beautiful view of Main Street, with the Gorgeous Mormon Temple, and the Wasatch Mountains in

the background. The Tabernacle is in view to the far right. And the County Seat and Courthouse

is nextdoor to the left. But the most important thing to me is that I live nearly above

the excellent "Chicago HotDog Stand" that hangs by the courthouse each day. I know and love

the "Gwynn" family who runs the stand, and they do have the best hotdogs in the entire

county! So "Hot Dog Stand" front property is highly important to me.

And the list of positives goes on and on: I can walk the half mile to where I work. The floor I

live on is an Art Gallery in the hallway, with paintings on each side of my door.

The Apartment itself is considered to be "A Penthouse Suite", since it is much larger and prettier

than the others up here. With 12 foot ceilings, and three great windows in the main room,

and a large bedroom, with the same ceiling, I pay $450 per month! This includes all bills,

cept cable and internet. I can finally bank some money this year!

The loft itself is beautiful! Inside is painted a "Van Gogh" Yellow. The floor a greenish brown,

which will soon be partially covered with my big chinese rug, my mother gave me long ago. The

carpet is a nice one. I plan to have it cleaned before I bring it into this nice place.

Since I essentially live in an Art Gallery, and I am an Art teacher, it is only natural to do a

bit of Art . I will due a few paintings and sculptures soon, but I don;t want my writing or

music to suffer. I am so inspired here at this place, that I believe that I will be producing Art,

Writing, Music, on a daily basis, without all the hassels i used to have regarding my dog, llama,

saltwater fish tank, son, mean neighbors, ect. Here I want to just creat some new stuff!

and I have the confidence that it will be an Amazing year for creativity!!!! To further enhance

the creative process, I plan to do without Cable Tv or the Internet. I will stick to my big

Grundig, wooden, modern radio, which is far mor entertaining than the tube. I got plenty

of internet during the day, and if I need internet for auctions or something outside working

hours, I can take the laptop to a variety of places, the best and closest is "Cafe Ibis", which

will also serve you some mindblowing coffee! This Apartment, looks like 20's technology,

and I plan to keep it as it was 90 years ago. I can read while I listen to the radio. Why pay

80 per month for cable. I still have a tv and dvd player, I can still watch that shit on the

weekends or something. I can still check my email and facebook on my phone. Why

pay 80 bucks for cable tv and internet, when I dont need or want it? I would rather save

the money and winter in Hawaii or something.

I finally got to spend my first night in my new place. I did spend some time during the day

here. I inflated my airbed, but the sheets and blanket on, put the matching pillow cases

on my new pillows, (yeah, I know its gay), but I bought a new bed and accessories for

less than a hundred bucks, and it looks cool and modern), with the built in air-pump, I

managed to get a firm twin sized bed that sits pretty high off the ground, for cheap, and

its quite comfy. I brought my snake in from Logans place, and bought a big plastic truck

box, which will do for a boa habitat, giving her much more space, and wheels to pull her

cage along without bothering her. So my 12 foot cube like bedroom has my bed and the

boa cage, and nothing else, cept the "WINDOW TO NOWHERE". The window is in the buried

interior of these old bulidings, and has been closed to the top, bottom, side, and just exists

as dead space. In fact. The space that my bedroom window looks out of , sees a dead

land without much much light. I can see a blocked off door, 6 feet from my window,

but it is barred shut, with no place to step if some soul happened to open it. I cant see the

botttom of the space between my window and that door. There is another door on my left,

and its blocked as well. The light above is blocked also. This space is a perfect cave!

I plan to unlock this mystery later, but it does bother me that my window facing there has

no lock at all. My front door is impenetrable. but this mysterious space, which is enclosed

like a tomb, can be opened from the inside or the OUTSIDE! I am at the mercy of the

inhabitants of this large dark crawl-space. I look down from that window, and can't see

the bottom. No worries, its impenetrable. I do worry that "Princess the Boa" might

escape, since she isn't locked in, and might push the screen open and crawl down that

abyss, that must certainly lead to HELL!

\Tonight: Was the first time I got to experience the Loft and the various, sites, sounds, voices,

ect. which comprise the total experience, of living ground zero of a small old metropolitan

area. Approaching 9 Pm,, the traffic declined and the temp was getting nicer. I took two

trips to bring the groceries and cleaning supplies to this new place. After putting things away,

I was finally able to kick back and listen to the radio and watch the traffic and people for

a while. The view of the nearby mountains with the sunset reflecting off of them was

amazing! These mountains ,were reflecting the sunset which occurred over the mountains

across the valley, from the western mountains.

Once, darkness, and loneliness set in I was flying, sitting alone in a dark massive room, with

all giant windows open to the unknown. I kept the main lights off, cept a big lavender candle in

the privy, which provided me with enough light, Song after Song was brilliant on the giant wooden

radio, I surfed the internet with my phone, and practically did a victory dance, on the beauty of living

in a cool place such as this! The magic continued all through the night, I was longing to write

about it, but kept getting amused by one thing or the other. I couldn't get to the computer fast enough,b

but finially got to it before all the magic was lost. Unfortunately, By the time i got the computer going,

the magic was lost. I will try to add more and describe it tomorrow night, the colors, the feeling, being

there, sounds, ect..... They were spectacular tonight. I hope to learn more for there is always much

more to learn, And Learning, is what I live for. I can't imagine not having the passion for learning.

view

Jul 28, 2010

July 28th, 2010

Dad and I hit the extensive breakfast bar, I had the biscuits and gravy, which was passible I must say. After going back to the room and sleeping that off, we headed to my old school in Elgin, Tx/, then another 30 miles to the old German town of Fedor, where I spent many nights of 7 years drinking with the local Germans, back when I had a ten acre paradise close by.

My old friend and storekeeper "Clarence", was still there as unchanged as the place that he had operated for the previous 30 years. Clarence is like the wise older brother that I never had. I spent thousands of hours talking to him, and still consider him one of the wisest and smartest people I've known. Never were we "running buddies", but he was more a teacher. Completely self-educated, and only a German speaker until the age 12, Clarence managed to educate himself, while making his own existence in the hot south Texas sun. For some reason, I spent 7 years going to "the School of Clarence" and I grew up considerably due to his influence, I am

lucky to have found a friend like him, and he seemed pleased with the way I have turned out, after many years of absence of contact. Clarence and I had a nice conversation, exchanged news (many of my drinking buddies were dead). After slowly drinking two beers, the conversation lapsed a bit, and there wasn't really much else to say. Dad and I then drove the 60 miles back to Austin in search of "Indian Food". I enjoyed the restaurant hunt, but my traveling companion was getting tired, so I gave up and drove to the nearby "Pappasitos", which is as lame as its ever been. Give me a tiny 6 tabled Mexican place, with a Mexican Mama as the cook, in the bad part of town, any day of the week.

After a 4:00 lunch, we went back to the palace and promptly feel asleep. Dad crashed for good it seems, but I've been kickin' back, watching, TV LAND, and surfing the net. Looks like

my $450 downtown Logan Art Studio Loft is still available! (I have to find some living space, in a few days after touching back down in Logan this Sunday). I'll probably go for the $650 town homes with garage, so I can work on my bike during the winter. I plan to try both out and make the choice next Monday, I'm excited about it!

I have had an excellent visit to Austin, but tomorrow... I must go. I could spend a month here and see a different friend everyday, and probably even meet some new ones. Many of the people in Logan, UT. are friendly, but its just not the same. The LDS in Logan are more "Church Friendly", which seems to run deep if you go to church. Most will always help you move, or build something, and most are positive on the surface, as are most Texan's. I am just more comfortable with the Texas way. Texan's are polite as a general rule. Since dueling was legal in Texas, far into this century, we tend towards politeness. We also fight when our honor is disrespected, (my last fight was only 5 years ago). The Utahns are very quick with aggressive driving (even in shopping carts), aggressive acting, they call you by your last name, even my students, but quickly get confused when you call them on it. I generally just close my tongue, and refrain from reacting to disrespect up in Utah. I feel as a visitor there, and I don't want to have to return too soon . Both places have good folks, but the Texan way is the way Im used to.

Utah, does have way nicer schools, and they spend far less money per student for this. Texas education systems would benefit by studying Utah's, I made about the same salary in both places, but Utah has better benefits, treatment and professional respect. Texas treated us like dogs by comparison. Maybe it was the particular school district I was in, but the benefits are much nicer in Utah in general.

Although, I have few good friends in Logan, I plan to give it one or two more years up there. I am tired of the long frozen winters, but since I plan to hook up a side-car to my bike, I will have a reason to get out and ride during the darkest cold days, and make the best of it. I am also going to be living totally alone for the first time since 1985 and 86, when I lived alone in Commerce, Texas, while working on my sculpture degree. It will be a challenge, but after being alone, most of the summer, I kind of liked the change. Probably be dating a bit more now, and the Mormon ladies are alright by me. Most seem to have their religion in check, and are pretty normal people. I am looking forward to this new school year, and I plan to

make the most of it.

Tomorrow morning, Dad and I will, have a final breakfast with my Daughter Athena, and her husband "Nick", who I don't know too well, but Athena is absolutely crazy about him after 6 months of marriage! Nick is soft spoken, puts off good vibes, I hope to hang around with him a bit more in the future. I like the guy!

Then we shall return to Dallas. I look forward to seeing my Sister and Brother in law, my Mom, my other sister and husband, old friends from Dominos, the Kiesers ect... I do know that my older Sis and her husband "Dave" will take me to dinner or allow me to hang out at their house, or swim in their pool. They are amazing hosts. I will be forever grateful for their kindness and class. I feel welcome in Dallas for sure...

Jul 27, 2010

July 27th, 2010

We arrived in Austin, Texas on July 26th, and drove around looking for a decent hotel for my dad and I. I wanted a place with a balcony so dad could read the paper and drink coffee for a few hours, and allow me to sleep. After much searching, we wound up at the "Drury Inn", although hard to pronounce, is a very nice place and a good deal. We got a suite, with separate kitchen and living room with can be closed off to the sleeping area. All this FOR 100 BUCKS A NIGHT! This does include free internet, cable, two hd tv's, free full breakfast, big cheap dinner buffet for free. And is situated next to an excellent Sports Bar in case I get tired of the free stuff.

They offer three free drinks per person as well!!!! I love this place... My only complaint is that they lack a hot tub or jacuzzi, but this room is as large as a one bedroom apartment, and perfect in every way. Usually I overlook minor things in a hotel room, but no hidden issues here.

My Daughter and her Husband stopped in an partied for a while, joined us for dinner, then left back to there townhome. My old bandmate "Ken" stopped in around 10 PM and we went to the sports bar next door and had a few laughs and drinks. We got back and drank a few more, since we had a lot to catch up on.

I woke up around 1 PM., went to find my daughters place, which turned out to take a long time. Seems the townhouses are practically under a huge highway clover leaf, but once we found it, we could see why she picked the place. It is a very well established group of townhouses, with three pools, large trees, and the sound of the nearby freeways were not really noticable. We watched "The Charge of the Light Brigade" with Errol Flynn, My daughter and hubby like cool old movies as much as I do. My dad was able to spot the actors, since he was alive during their time. We then left to get a lunch and wait for my other daughter and grandson to bring me my old paintings, which I left at my old house in Bastrop Texas.

Had another great night overall. Glad I decided to to visit my old city of Austin again, after three years. Going back to Utah, will be harder once spending time at the Capital of Texas. Utah, is not Texas. Utah, is quite A nice state, but it is "Not Texas", and Texas is my true home.

Jul 25, 2010

July 25th, 2010

Spent three nights in a row since July 20th with my Sister and Brother in law, and a few of their kids. As usual they treated me as an honored guest, taking me to dinner each night, and being kind in general. My older sis and husband, are the greatest hosts imaginable. My parents, being excellent hosts as well, set me up in a "catfree" room, and I have enjoyed my stay more than usual due to this.

I really enjoy the "Trinity Hall" restaurant in Allen, Texas, which is a quite authentic, Irish Pub with a fair amount of English cuisine.

Friday, I hung out with my old friends "Charles and Melissa", spent the night partying by their parents pool in a very large house out in the country of the North Dallas area. Met another old friend Brian that night, hadn't seen him for twenty years. We all played trivia, under the north Texas Stars. Wow! Its nice to know people!!!!!

Saturday, I hung out with my Persian (Iranian) friend "Reza", and a friend of his friend, a lovely lady in her late thirties, whom I'll refer to as "Mal", since I don't know her entire name.

Reza, took me to a couple Persian restaurants on Saturday, and our conversations, were mainly politics, but "Mal" a visitor, was decent in her English, and fun to talk to as well. Reza

is always trying to fix me up with Iranian women, and that "Mal", seemed a bit fluffy, but worth a second gander. She wouldn't make a very good camping companion is my guess.

Had a good time watching "Fiddler on the Roof", an although "the movie glorifies Jews", (in Rezas words), We both still enjoyed it due to the humor and choreography. Later Reza went to bed, and turned up the Persian radio, in the nearby hallway before he crashed. I didn't know why he likes a loud radio at night, but I forgot about it, and tried to watch another movie, and could only hear part of what was said. I tried to sleep and with the radio screaming in my ear, and the ambient 82 degree temperature I layed in a pool of sweat until four oclock in the morning. Finally, I pulled out my own radio and shoved the earphones in my ears, then it sounded like loud English bullshit, with the persian loudly in the background.

Two hours later, Reza spares no noise, and once I informed him of my lack of sleep, graciously allowed me a couple more hours, before the banging in the kitchen woke me up for good. He said it was my own fault for not waking him up about the noise, or the temperature... I told him that I don't feel that a humble guest should be a "complainer". Which is exactly what the bastard accused me of a bit later!

After a decent breakfast of cream cheese on bread, Reza starts to talk on the phone in Farsi, for the next hour or two, while pretending to make that evenings dinner. So I sit from 11 AM till 2 PM in a chair, with no TV, one Persian newspaper, and watch him talk on the phone and slowly prepare a meal, that might have taken me thirty minutes to cut up and put in the slow cooker. He did notice my total boredom and asked me if I was bored?

I said "Hell yeah! I'm bored", but I had no way out of there, and that "watching him talk on the phone for hours at a time in a foreign language, was going to cause me to kill myself, unless, he could kindly take me home to my parents". He said "Ok, but let me finish getting the cooking ready right quick".... So I remained in a chair for another hour...... then he went into his room, I assumed it was to get his keys and to drive me away from this dungeon. He didn't return, for the next thirty minutes.

By 3:30 PM, I had enough, by then I was relegated to sitting 4 and one half hours in the same chair with absolutely nothing to do, watch, talk to, or anything. This is the worst treatment I've ever experienced as a guest before, and I had no way to leave, since Reza is the one who brought me there. I had asked to go several times, but was kindly put off.

At 3:30 I was done. Voting with my feet, I left his house, slid down a few alleys, cut through a few yards, and was on a major street in the City of Plano, and went inside a "Starbucks", and had a cup of coffee. I was about to call a friend or taxi for a ride, but Reza soon called me, and picked me up, I told him I would only enter the car if guaranteed that I would get a ride straight home. Reza did apologize, I did as well, but I don't think he realized how rude he was. I did try to explain my point of view without damning his point of view. But Reza, is a bit thick once ya get to know him.

I wanted to stay a good friend, and I know he made a dinner for me. So 3 hours later, I went back to his place using my dads truck, (so I would have a way outta there), and went back to eat the dinner that he made for me. I enter the house, and Reza instantly talks on the phone ignoring my existince, for another 20 minutes, again speaking in a language that I could not follow at all. I cannot stand being ignored for that long, especially since I'm supposed to be an honored guest in his house. I simply DO NOT DO THAT SHIT TO PEOPLE!

Then he got off the phone for a minute and another phone call erupted at which point I went into his back yard, where I could at least look at a few trees and the sky or something FOR THE NEXT FUCKING 25 MINUTES!!!!!!!~

Once he got off, he came out back and I tried to explain to him how I felt, without bitching or anything. He said that he had 43 calls that day and that he would lose business if he shut of his phone. I tried to explain again how, as a guest, that listening to a 10 to 50 minute phone call, in a foreign language, with absolutely nothing else to do, is no fun at all. He really didn't get it. I was being real, informative, kind, but he could/would not grasp my point.

I ate my dinner fast, and was going to leave ASAP, when a couple of his friends showed up. I really enjoyed talking "Anthropology of the Iranian Race" with his friend "Syed", who was funny as well. We and Syeds girl were hitting it off quiet good, when Reza pointed out to them "What a complainer", I was. ( I guess he didn't want us to get along, he must have been pissed). But the ass, brings it up to his friend, Syed. I just casually threw it back at him, and Syed seemed to know what an old stick in the mud, Reza really could be. Syed, seemed to understand my side. Even told me "that Reza was just a politition and was running for the "Ayatollah of Dallas"! which was funny as heck.

I really didn't want a war with my old friend Reza, so I bid, Syed and his companion (most lovely lady), good bye, and left before it got dark. I don't like driving in the dark much, but I got home ok.

Damn, you think you know someone and DAMN! I guess people change.

Tomorrow or Wednesday, Dad and I are going down to Austin Tx. to see my daughter Athena, and her husband "Nick". I haven't seen them much over the years, and am really looking forward to it. I've had a nice visit to Dallas so far, and have seen many of my old friends, relatives, ect... One more week to go. I promise to keep you posted.

Jul 20, 2010

July 20th, 2010

Last night I started to turn in early, when a knock at the door in my outside hotel room surprised me at 10:30. It was my excellent son Logan who wanted to hang around a few hours before I left in the morning. Too bad my morning was to start at 6:am. So we sat on the balcony and drank more than a few beers, and actually had our first real time since, he moved out back in March. We both had a good time just talking and being real.

Went to bed around 2 AM, and took every precaution to insure I would wake up a scant 4 hours later. I set my phone alarm, called the desk for a wakeup call, tryed to set the hotel rooms alarm clock, even set an online alarm clock so the computer would wake me. Out of all this, my cell phone, and the front desk were the only precautions that woke me this morning. This computer doesn't stay on the online wakeup notice, so that one failed. I couldnt figure out how to set a modern cheap alarm clock that the hotel provided for me. But I did wake up!

Hit the excellent breakfast in the morning and they had meat!!!! The first complimentary breakfast, I've witnessed where one could dine on sausage, waffles, and all kinds of continental fare. I ate like a horse, and walked the three blocks to the shuttle pick-up sight, so I could get to the airport, by 10:30. The driver allowed me to ride shotgun in his Mercedes van, which was a nice ride for a shuttle service. I went in and out of consciousness for the long 80 mile drive to the Salt Lake City airport, still tired from the food and the lack of sleep.

I got to the airport, and neglected to remove a couple small swiss army penknives from my ruck sack, and even forgot about an 18 inch sharp wire saw, which could remove a human head in a matter of seconds. That combined with the Russian Passport cover I use, caused the powers of homeland security, to frisk and feel me up for 30 minutes, while asking personal questions, and searching carefully through my entire rucksack. I pointed out that the underwear in the rucksack might not be clean, but they laughed and continued doing an all to thorough job, including feeling up my privates, and butt crack, but they did wear gloves, so it wasn't humiliating for me at all. Then they mailed my weapons collection to my post office box back in Logan, and I was on my way. Nice to feel important, like I was a national security threat or something. Dumb-asses, prolly let a thousand Arabs pass me without searching any of them. I'm sorry, I see nothing wrong with racial profiling as long as its fast, professional, non-demeaning, then figuring out a record system so that it doesn't happen more the once.

Barely made the flight from SLC to Denver.

I must add that "Frontier" Airlines, actually has room for big and tall people to sit. Unlike Delta, and American Airlines, seating is not excruciatingly painful or uncomfortable for the person next to me! I hear "continental" is also humane to big fat folks and their neighbors.

My excellent Brother in Law, was most kind, and picked me up from the airport. He also took me out to dinner three nights in a row. My Brother in Law and Sister "Robin" are incredible hosts. I am very happy to be related to them. They have 5 excellent kids as well,

since they are wonderful parents. Trust me: I am a good judge of what makes an "Excellent" kid. Of course my parents were most kind also. They have bent over backwards in order to

make my stay comfortable. I am allergic to their two cats, but they created a "cat free" room for me to sleep in. This wasn't easy I imagine. Don't like to comment about my family life on a public forum too much. But it sure is nice to be living among family after two years of virtual solitude.

JULY 21st and 22nd: Nothing much to report, nice to be at home. Met up with my friend "Dan", and hung around for a couple hours. Then went back out to eat with my brother in law and parents, and had some large Margaritas, which got us all F' d up to some extent. Tried to watch some movie about the last days of "Tolstoy", dad and I were out like lights, but Mom watched the entire tear jerker. The music put me out pretty fast. Looked like a decent movie, but... it was sad.

Forgot to mention that I am bound for Austin next week in order to see my daughters, and pick up a bunch of my old Art work, which is too large to mail. My younger daughter and son-in law, are going to be teachers! Living in the City of Austin and starting their careers as educators makes this dad quite proud! I can't wait to see them.

Jul 19, 2010

July 17th, 2010

July 17th, 2010: Thought we were going to get some rain today, big storm clouds came in from Idaho

during the second day of 99 degree temps. 99 degrees is the hottest I've ever seen it here, but its stil

l a joke when compared to Texas standards. Yes, it went up to 100 degrees for 2 hours, after starting

the day at 60 degrees, and its already in the 70's by 8:00 PM. I still love hearing the people bitch

about it, and no humidity? Hell, I find the temps perfect as can be, but would like some rain, its

quite dusty in my campsite, and the rain would keep the road dust from covering my camp site.

Had a visitor today. I wasn't here but the bastard walked off with the hot dog buns, I had stashed in

my guitar case. No trace was left. What could it be? The tree and ground squirrels would have

broke in and made a big mess, leaving a holey bread bag, and crumbs behind. A bear would have broke

into the cooler and ate the hot dogs, drink mixers, milk, beer, ect... Then I saw the bastard, I should

have known that the three foot high mound at the edge of my campsite was built by an animal. The

"Bastard" is formally called a "Marmot", which is a very large rodent, about half the size of a beaver,

that weighs about 15 pounds and looks like a giant hamster. I have witnessed Marmots at a distance

before and I absolutely love these animals. Many are afraid of them, afterall they are essencially rats that

probably kick your ass if you pissed one off. I think they are cute.

I plan to buy them (they usually come in pairs)some food before I leave, maybe go to the feed store

and buy them a bag of corn for the wintertime. I will try to get a picture of their mound, they moved 1000's of

pounds of dirt to built this thing.

One my my favorite things about moving to a new state is to check out all the new life forms, with

insects and plants to capture my notice at first. But after three years, I've seen many new types of

birds, fish, mammals, and reptiles as well. For instance we have two types of mosquitos here. One

is a small slow lame-assed mozzy, that I can usually feel and squash before getting bitten. It does carry

the West Nile Virus, but not really many cases up here. The other type annoys me the most, called the

"tree hole mosquito, they live in holes filled with water in the trees. They are fast, large, and take a bite

and move before you can slap it. They are few, and do not spread the aforementioned virus.

After Borders, I went to see Logan again, had coffee with the boy, then went to grab some lunch before

taking him to work, we wound up eating at his restaurant. I try not to bug him too much, but after a

month without my own place, lonelyness begins to creep in. I find myself talking to strangers, blabbing

all kinds of personal shit, then leaving once they have that "this guy is wierd" look on their faces! Ok,

I exaggerate but this does happen from time to time.

Stopped in my classroom to feed my lion fish

and noticed that my custodian and friend "Cathy" beat me to it. She had a few goldfish, in a bucket

and the fish was laying on the ground in "digesting" mode. So I put the other ten fish in another bucket for

the lion fish to eat, when I visit Dallas in a few days. Today is a little over a month since I been camping

and hoteling it. I think I hoteled it about 60 percent of the time, a fact that I am ashamed of, but I did

have the money, and it becomes all too convienient and easy. But I'm committed to make it till Monday out

here which will be 6 days of constant camping, which is my record in the truck camper. I am still learning

and getting my camping logistics down, there is an awful lot of preparation when trying to assess the

things you really need and the things you can do without. Adequate clothing is essential, as is water

and a way to light a fire. But I didn't need 15 sets of clothing, since it takes up a ton of room, or three

different jackets, 7 knives, three guns, ect. I will get smarter each time, because the less clutter, the easier

it is to find the necessities. And the less weight the truck has to pull. Since I'm getting 7 miles to the gallon,

losing weight would need to happen on a long trip somewhere. The mileage is so bad, I've never had the truck

out of the valley.

So I passed the "Shit Time", and made it out alive once again. I plan to rename the "Shit Time" to the

"Bastard Time", but since there is a famous "Bastard Time" quote by John Steinbeck, and the meaning

a completely different one, but "Shit Time" sounds so crass, and "Bastard" is my all time favorite word,

I think its fitting to rename "Shit Time", to "Bastard Time". Sorry John, in your treatise you referred to

"Time" itself, as a "Bastard", and called the whole thing "That bastard Time"!

John knew the time was coming, the skinny Bastard died at age 68 from

a heart attack, to the chagrin of us fat bastards, who enjoy watching the skinny not outlast us. I know this is

morbid, but would you like to constantly here the tragic news that YOU were always gonna die early? I hear

it daily, I try to work on the weight issue, and the constant prognostication of my doom, are not appreciated.

I'm aware of my medical conditions, I work at it and many times am successful. My conditions are all stress

related in the first place. My job is what causes me stress. Hopefully it will cause me less stress this year.

But, when I hear of skinny people dieing of heart attacks at age 40 or 50, I do get a rush of confidence, though

I am not glad that the individual is gone. I really wish that Steinbeck would have lived 100 years or more. I feel

cheated, that he died so young. I love every thing the guy ever wrote. It was all good. I even liked his log

report when he helped his Zoologist friend with collecting little marine animals in the tide pools in the Sea of Cortez.

His friend was the crazy Zoologist, featured in his books "Cannery Row" and "Tortilla Flat", the best of Steinbeck.

So tonight was beautiful once again. I am nearly out of kerosene, so my camp is dark tonight, with only one

lamp protecting me. So I overdid the campfire, and sparks were flying into the dry trees and grass, so I shut it

down with a few shovels of dirt, some old water, and a piss or two. I don't want to be known as : "The teacher

who burned up Green Canyon", and it is dry and windy tonight. I am a paranoid careful bastard in times like

these. Maybe I'm old enough to learn from watching other peoples past mistakes.

The dark campsite tonight is really bringing out the stars and constellations. They are bright and easy to see,

since I don't have all the lanterns keeping out the wildlife. I am unafraid after spending last night in the total

dark till morning, and nothing happened. If the lions didn't live here, it probably wouldn't be as fun. And

the large male wolf that was shot last week, in Franklin County, about 18 miles north of here makes it even

more fun. Bears, haven't been seen in this part of the mountain range in years, but they do exist within 20 miles

of here, which means an odd one can make it here in one day. I'll live. I used to swim in lakes with large alligators

and many water moccasins, and 300 pound gar fish. Most animals just want to get along for the most part. Unless

wounded or hungry, or rabid, a big guy like me will be fine. Yet I do admit my fears freely, they are just another thing

to overcome. People that refuse to admit their shortcomings, generally are liars and self-deluders. Once ya start

lying to yourself, your credible life is over. Everything, is a fantasy after you start lying to yourself. People like

that are totally lost. Be honest with yourself above all else folks: then you can work on your issues. Keep telling

yourselves falsehoods, or blaming others, and things will not change for you. WORD.

I'm listening to some really old classics on the AM radio, by the campfire with little light and I can't see beyond

the picnic table I'm sitting at. Unless I look at the stars I am surrounded by total darkness. The lovely music

destracts me enough to sit here and write at One AM. I will retire soon due to the cold, but I want to squeeze out

a few more words before I go, perhaps I like to hear the sound of my own voice, and my own stream of conscience.

I did check out a nice apartment today. It was called a "Down town Penthouse", also an art studio, it looks pretty

cool, and I do love living in an old "DownTown" Building, which is right smack on main street, of a city of 50,000, souls.

The tall ceilings and brick walls are nice. The maze of ghetto hallways and the roof one has to walk across at night

looks to be a challenge, but for $450 per month? Its a steal.

July 17th, 2010: Thought we were going to get some rain today, big storm clouds came in from Idaho during the second day of 99 degree temps. 99 degrees is the hottest I've ever seen it here, but its still a joke when compared to Texas standards. Yes, it went up to 100 degrees for 2 hours, after starting the day at 60 degrees, and its already in the 70's by 8:00 PM. I still love hearing the people bitch

about it, and no humidity? Hell, I find the temps perfect as can be, but would like some rain, its

quite dusty in my campsite, and the rain would keep the road dust from covering my camp site.

Had a visitor today. I wasn't here but the bastard walked off with the hot dog buns, I had stashed in

my guitar case. No trace was left. What could it be? The tree and ground squirrels would have

broke in and made a big mess, leaving a holey bread bag, and crumbs behind. A bear would have broke

into the cooler and ate the hot dogs, drink mixers, milk, beer, ect... Then I saw the bastard, I should

have known that the three foot high mound at the edge of my campsite was built by an animal. The

"Bastard" is also called a "Marmot", which is a very large rodent, about half the size of a beaver,

that weighs about 15 pounds and looks like a giant hamster. I have witnessed Marmots at a distance

before and I absolutely love these animals. Many are afraid of them, afterall they are essencially rats that

probably kick your ass if you pissed one off. I think they are cute. I plan to buy them (they usually come in pairs)

some food before I leave, maybe go to the feed store and buy them a bag of corn for the wintertime

I will try to get a picture of their mound, they moved 1000's of pounds of dirt to built this thing.

One my my favorite things about moving to a new state is to check out all the new life forms, with

insects and plants to capture my notice at first. But after three years, I've seen many new types of

birds, fish, mammals, and reptiles as well. For instance we have two types of mosquitos here. One

is a small slow lame-assed mozzy, that I can usually feel and squash before getting bitten. It does carry

the West Nile Virus, but not really many cases up here. The other type annoys me the most, called the "tree

hole mosquito, they live in holes filled with water in the trees. They are fast, large, and take a bite and move

before you can slap it. They are few, and do not spread the aforementioned virus.