Lightning and shadows

Past time for the yearly update

2009-12-20T08:04:00.000-08:00

Lots of changes. Laura and I are separating. I'm moving out to the proper-T and Crystal and I will build out there. The gallery is mostly done. Laura will own and run it and if you ever pass through Monte Vista, Colorado you should stop by wildethyme Art at 1631 Grand. I might even be in there visiting and helping out.

OK, back to the chaos

Almost a year

2008-09-21T09:40:00.001-07:00

Since I posted here. I'll have to do a better job. I just posted to another one that I let go forever so I'll have to bop back here later on for some updating. :)

Only 5 months

2007-10-07T05:53:00.000-07:00

Since I last posted here. :) Too much to keep up with I think and it's getting to be a theme. I'm starting to wonder what I'm going to drop so that my life is enjoyable again.

The gallery? Nope. First I'd have to finish it before I dumped it.

My relationships? Nope, Never.

Union chores? Maybe, they don't take up much time but they sure do manage to contain a whole lot of aggravation in a short amount of exposure.

The Democrats? Probably. You work like hell to get them elected and in the end they don't look a whole lot different than the fucking republicans.

The Art Thing? Probably not. I might well scale back even further from what I do there though. I just don't really enjoy showing work as much as I like building the place to have it.

The Monte Vista Planning and Zoning Committee? Probably so. I got on it to help protect us from them. The frustration level is pretty high, and I don't enjoy getting blamed for shit I had nothing to do with.

Work? I would LOVE to quit work. Got a few years to go before any retirement is there though and I hate to waste the 20+ I have invested.

I'll have to mull the list over and eradicate some shit. Then see where it leaves me. Maybe with time to ride my bike.

Duties

2007-04-03T21:13:00.000-07:00

Anyone interested in donating something they value at $100 to the Rio Grande County Democrats for a fund raiser? I got roped into finding two donations.

Given a choice between burning all the skin off my forearms again or this?

I'd take the burns.

Snow and movies

2007-03-25T09:46:00.001-07:00

I am never going to get to the dump!

Took off Friday to hang with Laura and it was a nice relaxing quiet day. We went to a good lecture and show at Adams State in the afternoon/early evening. The speaker was a gallery owner from Sante Fe, and it was good to hear her stories of getting started and making a living. Good grounded information that sounds much like the plan we're following.

Yesterday we woke up to snow. Phone rang shortly after and I spent the next 10 hours fighting my way through snow and junky equiptment to keep the lights on. Not bad, just a little tired, a little sore here and there. It's funny, you'd think that a bucket truck that costs over 150K would work when it gets wet. Not.

It's the movie weekend otherwise. So far we've plowed through Casino Royale, Babel, and Borat. Casino was fun, and I enjoyed the return to the old Bond. Babel was just freakin sad and sometimes I wonder why I rent movies that I know are downers just because they're supposed to be important. I guess I'm glad I saw it........ but JEEPERS dont' these peoople have any happy stories? Borat? Funny, revolting, uncomfortable, untilmately worth a look for the laughs you take with you. Later today we'll see the not terribly well known film by Jack Black called "Pick or Destiny". Rumor has it that it's funny. I hope so, I would much like to laugh today.

Gonna go load some junk and maybe get the pugmill tuned up today. And perhaps bid on a wheel in Phoenix today. Big, heavy, steel potter's wheel. It's by a company called Lockerbie and I like them a whole heap. It's the one I want and always have wanted and this person wants $350 for a wheel that went for nearly a grand brand new. Good deal if it works.

Poly will be over today, and that's a good thing. Havent' seen her much this week. I prefer otherwise.

At the moment? It's Sunday Morning on CBS and Laura is napping. The dogs have quieted down and the cats haven't gotten started yet. We've enough money, heat, food, water and love.

Life is good.

My words to the wind

2007-03-10T10:51:00.001-08:00

"Where they have burned books, they will end in burning human beings."
-- Heinrich Heine

I am often in the minority here in our little community, if not in the country I live in. I am an avowed pacifist, yet filled with outrage (and just plain rage). I watch the news, read the nets, and watch the threads merge and seperate. I live in a country that trumpets the advantages of freedom and liberty, yet I find myself believing that what they really mean is capitalism and conformity. I watch the corporate giants gobble up the independants and then decide who gets heard and who does not. It's the technological equlivient of book burning. In the world we now live in, it is not the printed page but access that is the tool of censorship.

I watch the slowly tightening noose of censorship choke the life from freedom of speech and expression. I watch the religous groups fall into line behind those who would eliminate the free will their claimed god gave to us by devine right. I watch good intentions perverted by faulty reason and feigned logic until good people make decisions based on the worst of dark and twisted chains of logic in which (through no fault of their own) they are the weakest link.

The burning of the books has already happened, and the burning of the bodies takes place within the shell. No outward signs are visible. In the end souless husks of humans walk and talk and appear to make decisions when it fact all they do is regurgitate what they're programed to speak.

Hitler was overt. The truly evil people learn and adapt. Like the story of the antichrist they wear the guise of nobility which looks good from the outside. It meets the objective criteria of what's right. Only in the details of it's implementation can the evil be ferreted out. And now the evil has learned to mute the child who points out that the emporer has no clothes.

I want very much to be wrong. I want there to be good people. I want the voice of truth to be heard. I want love to be something we all aspire to, and seek to allow others to have. I want people who say freedom to mean it, who speak of liberty to wish it to be, who profess to want equality to actually be willing to embrace it.

And sometimes I just want my head to be quiet so I can sleep.

Blow me

2007-02-25T16:52:00.000-08:00

It's windy. It isn't supposed to be windy yet. The wind isn't supposed to start up for another couple weeks. Then it'll blow like a freakin freight train constantly for 2 or 3 months. I'll come home from work with wind in my hair, teeth and ears. After the first few weeks I'll start to question my sanity and my thoughts begin to feel like they're being sieved through a kitchen strainer. At the near end of the Spring blow we'll all be ready to kill someone and for a few days as it begins to move toward summer there will be a slight calming in the night and we'll walk outside, prepared to brace ourselves into the teeth of it only to find a relative calm. An hour later there will be a slight *puff* against our skin, and moments later it will be like the door has been torn off a cold section of hell.

I'm sick of winter

Fucking bring it on.

New Year

2007-01-01T12:53:00.000-08:00

OK, I reckon a person with a blog really should update at least at the new year. :) Life is good. I mostly post to toadfire when I do it regularly, or my other blog which is called withoutsin. It's been a pretty good year, really good in most ways. Lately I'm fighting some car problems and not having much fun with the fight. Mostly I'm working on my building these days now that Laura has graduated and there's a bit of spare time in my schegule.

Resolutions? I don't make resolutions, I figure if I AM resolute there's just no need to.

We're having a quiet Sunday here at the house with internet and leftovers and the tree slowly drying in the living room. I got some work done on my building over the weekend so I can start the year with a little feeling of accomplishment. I'm still mostly heating it with a woodstove and waiting on my drywall finishing so I can start throwing and having clay fun.

I'll try ot get back here from time to time. Otherwise I should just really delete it.

Time change

2006-10-29T07:07:00.000-08:00

It's always a bit weird when the time changes. We're watching our favorite Sunday show: CBS Sunday Morning. It feels late and like my day is taking forever to start. I like this part, but there's a whole heap of work I want to get done today and I'd like to use the light to my advantage.

Odd thoughts for a Sunday Morning:

If the Republicans win I'll know the fix is in.

I like daylight savings time lots more than I like standard time. I think we should fall back an hour per week.

I'm old and tired, but I refuse to quit living just because things hurt.

Things always take, like, 4 times as long as I think they should.

I'm not ready for Winter.

I don't understand why anyone thinks being conservative is a good thing.

In televised political debates why don't the candidates just piss on each other and be done with it?

I don't manipulate digital images, I think it'slying.

There is no end to the internet but I keep looking for it.

Chillin, and only a little nervous about the winter

2006-10-21T07:47:00.000-07:00

There's a touch of snow on the ground this morning. I think it's there to remind me that I need to get the new house closed up and heated properly for the winter. I'm slow getting to stuff and if I have to heat that thing with electricity it'll take a big loan to do it!

Other than that? Every one seems to be sleeping this morning. So I'm sitting here running through the internet looking for the end of it. I like this whouse when it's quiet. I'm in my big purple chair with a blanket on my feet and a big old flannel shirt on, comfy as I can be.

Let's see what today brings

Broken record

2006-09-02T06:49:00.000-07:00

Yep, I sound like a broken record. This week I took my old truck over to get a spray in bedliner installed. On the third day that they had it I called to ask what was up. They informed me that they couldn't do the bedliner because of a rust spot. Oddly enough they'd known that the first day but I have no idea why they kept my truck and didn't tell me before that. :) My new radio got here on Tuesday and it's been sitting there taunting me ever since. I am GOING to put it in today. Have I mentioned how nice it is to have a place out of the weather to work on a vehicle? It is. It very much is nice. Other than that...... I'm waiting on my other seat to get done so that two people can ride in said pickup and at some point I need to take it for a REAL ride and put a few miles on it. I've gotten lax and busy at the same time. Changed the oil in my red nissan this week and I thought I'd waited about 5.000 miles only to discover that I'd actually waited 8.000 miles. Bad me. Gotta change at 3 next time, that oil was BLACK!

I'll also do a bit more work on the electrical at the studio this weekend. I've no help so it'll be nice and quiet. I still have to figure out the lighting scheme. I'm planning on flourescents at this point because you CAN get good bulbs and they're much more efficient to run. Damned power company (whom I work for) sure does charge a lot for electricity.

OK, better get moving to get to those yard sales!

Better news

2006-08-20T09:08:00.000-07:00

The old blue Nissan seems to be running. I'm a little suspicious but moving forward anyhow. Spent yesterday afternoon and evening getting it all cleaned up. Windex, 409, Armor All, vacuming, feebreeze, new headlight, retighten bolts, replace water with antifreeze, clean out a bunch of mud, took a seat to the reupholstery place and I'll take the other one when the first one is done. Today I ordered a new radio for it since the old one sucks. The new on is an Alpine (I'm partial to those) and it will have a direct ipod connection and I can add blue tooth and digital radio later if I wish. The bluetooth makes it possible to do hands free phone thru the radio, crazy huh? So I'll put in that with a new antenna when it comes in, and that'll about complete the fix up. Well...... this week I'll probably take it to the auto place to have the bed done with the "spray in" bedliner. That should take care of my worst rusty spots. Then I'll sand and undercoat the other spots with rust, there aren't many.

Today I'll be at the studio/gallery doing some wiring. My friend Marian will stop by and Crystal might come by to help. I need to get that thing dried in before winter!

And with that I better get my ass to work!

It was RIGHT there. :)

2006-08-16T17:19:00.000-07:00

So my old blue truck is back in the shop. On the way home from trip two to Alamosa it started running like shit. So rather than tear my hair out and throw things I just took it to the shop (coasted in because it died on the way) and walked home. There's something up with vehicles this summer. LOTS of crappy vehicle shit. I'm getting really really tired of it.

RATS

2006-08-14T19:44:00.000-07:00

Took my old blue Nissan to Del Norte tonight. It runs. I guess that's something. It's still noisy and the motor that was completely rebuilt leaks fucking oil. It's making me insane. There's nothing like having a giant dissappointment and no one to get mad at. I can't get mad at the fact that NO ONE IN THE FUCKING WORLD seems to know how to fix a 22 year old truck. It's too non-specific. Can't get mad at my dear friend who now has traumatic brain injury, not being able to finish is so not his fault. So mostly I'm left with getting mad at myself for hoping my dear, sweet old truck could be put back into a wonderful driving sort of shape. I guess I'm just a dumb fuck for hoping on this one. It'll get me down for a while and then the optimism will creep back in. Fucking optimism anyway!

Had a pretty good weekend. Put in a waterline, put in a window at the studio, went to Denver to an organizational meeting for the Democratic Party. Got back late, slept well, worked hard today.
Life is good.

Fucking optimism.

Quiet weekend

2006-07-02T18:10:00.000-07:00

It's been a quiet weekend. A weekend of afternoon rains, and yard sales and picking away at the tiniest bit of stuff to be gotten done. Got a few dishes done, did some yard watering, got cool stuff at yard sales. Layin around and watching TV and chasing dogs and making a little food now and then. Funny, it was really pleasant and all, that is just never a good way to generate lots of words for a post. Perhaps I'll have a horrible day soon and have more to write about. :)

Planned Parenthood of Colorado gives away plan B

2006-06-28T20:48:00.000-07:00

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_4803529,00.html

Morning-after pills to be free
Planned Parenthood sets symbolic gesture
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By Lynn Bartels, Rocky Mountain News
June 27, 2006
Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains will dispense free emergency contraception on Friday to draw attention to Gov. Bill Owens' vetoes of measures that would have made it easier for women to obtain the morning-after pill.
"Gov. Bill Owens has turned his back on the women of Colorado, but Planned Parenthood won't," said Kate Horle, vice president of public affairs for the group.

Planned Parenthood will hand out free packets of the drug at its 24 centers statewide.

"Every woman should have it in their medicine cabinets, in case of birth control failure, or worse, sexual assault," said Vicki Cowart, president of Planned Parenthood.

Owens this year vetoed a bill that would have allowed pharmacists to dispense the drug to women without a prescription.

Opponents, including lawmakers who had supported earlier emergency contraception proposals, blasted the measure, saying there were no age restrictions and that they feared older boyfriends would pressure young girls into having sex.

Owens last year vetoed a measure requiring hospitals to provide information about the drug to rape victims. Catholic hospitals opposed the bill.

Both times, supporters of emergency contraception said the measures would reduce unwanted pregnancies and, thus, abortions.

But Planned Parenthood's giveaway on Friday illustrates why the governor didn't believe the emergency contraception measures were needed, said Owens' spokesman Dan Hopkins.

"The governor's point was this drug was already available at Planned Parenthood," Hopkins said.

The drug, called Plan B, must be taken within 72 hours of sex, and the manufacturers say it will not affect an existing pregnancy.

I just had to post this. Because it's important to women and important to the population at large and important for people's freedom.

Dude, I am SO off.

2006-06-17T06:33:00.000-07:00

For a week! A whole week I'm off. I'm pumped about it. We'll spend the week working on the gallery building like demons. And if I can fit it in I'll even get my old Nissan put together. After towing it back from LaJunta last Tuesday it resides in my garage but it's in the door that I'll be closing in so I have to put together all of it I can and then get it running and out of there. We'll just have to see how I do. Crystal is off as well and wants to help put stuff together. I'll probably ask Marian for some wiring and sweat help. And I'll call here and there to see who else might want to pitch in.

Mostly I'm just really really really glad to be off work for a week and not liable to get called in. At least after Monday morning.

Been workin

2006-06-04T20:35:00.000-07:00

So it's been really busy around the casa. :) Last week was fence building and dirt moving and today was planting and shining up the gallery. It's been nice, and felt good, and felt worthwhile. I love working with my hands and working with my family and working on our homes. It very much helps put everything into perspective. Yes, George Bush is a complete fucking idiot running around talking about gay marriage while Iraq burns, but somehow putting your hands into the nice warm moist soil and putting plants into it and turning a really crappy property into something beautiful is both small enough and important enough to make it all seem hopeful.

I feel hopeful.

And I like it.

Sometimes people make me nuts

2006-05-25T20:25:00.000-07:00

I find myself in a mixture of emotions this evening. Things seem a bit contridictory. There are things I don't understand. It comes from all the corners of the internet and real life that I visit.

My company keeps putting in "improvements" that are anything but. Every new computer system they install does less and takes longer to operate than the one before.

The city I live in (OK, tiny little town) raises water rates and then hires more people.

George Bush's answer to a foundering economy is to increase spending and cut taxes. Oh yeah and kill people.

People appear nekid online in personal ads and then claim to be shy.

A woman I know does art that she claims is about community building but is the most abrasive controlling person I know.

A community forum I belong to that claims to be about love is actually full of folks that spend more time sniping than loving.

Most days I look and see the good, and find the smiles, and trust the goodness of the folks around me. Today? Not so much. Probably has something to do with the Urology appointment tomorrow in the town 2 1/2 miles away that I'll be driving to. Oh well, I get to pick up fencing materials at Home Depot. Life isn't all strange and bad. I still get to nail things up.

Work work work......

2006-05-23T19:32:00.000-07:00

A day in the life is sometimes a couple days long. :)

I got back from Denver on Sunday night and it was getting late. Then up and off to work at 8 AM like usual. That afternoon found me on a snow cat at 11,000 feet looking for bad spots in the powerlines. :) Yesterday finished up at 12:30 PM and I didn't get called out for a whole 6 hours! Lucky huh?

So now we're home and watching movies and relaxing. I'm all showered and starting to feel quite weary. So tonight will be quiet and slow and relaxed. Funny how a day can be a couple days that all run together and funnier still how it can end up quiet and happy.

Life's funny. ...........

Grad weekend

2006-05-07T07:49:00.000-07:00

I don't get to my projects very often in the Spring. First work is a bit overwhelming during this trasnsition from Winter sloth to Summer production in the fields. There's lots of fixing of transformer banks, burned off poles from field burning, spring snow storms and the starting of service for deep well field pumps. Then there are the social obligations. Graduation happens and I did have a number of friends graduate from college and a few of the neighbor kids from High School. Then there are the unusual things, helping LoLo with her grad school stuff by trying to take any load off her that isn't school related, fixing cars, doing computer stuff for friends, putting out fires for other friends in college during finals week (they get SO stressed and things that are normally easy for them are difficult during that last couple weeks). And my niece is getting a huge surgury for Cerebral Palsey (she's 8) this month so we have things to worry over and do about that.

It's odd, this school thing. I went to night school for 12 years total to get my BA. I like to tell folks I kept getting left back :) This is my first semester out of college in over a decade. I'm having a bit of trouble with scheguling. It's really NICE to be able to sit and play a bit, but then there's so much work to do............

And the gallery/studio project. It's so BIG I have trouble staying on task. :) I have decided to finish the yard clean up and studio first so that I can get to work in there at least one weekend a month on pottery. It's important to keep working at what you love. I really do believe that. I'll spend May on our home and go ovver there in June. We'll see how I do.

And there are politics in May. I'm secretary for our local/county democratic party. People whine a lot about how politics sucks but most of them don't get involved. If you don't get involved and complain about it? Shut the fuck up, you don't know what your're talking about and aren't doing anything to fix it. Do we need a different party system? Yes, hell yes. How do you think you're gonna get it? By sitting around and gabbing with like minded do nothing friends who lament the situation or by working to get enough people elected through the process we have to reach a tipping point that allows it to happen. #1 has no chance of success without a bloody revolution, #2 is far fetched but possible. I'm all in favor of a bloody revolution, I think we need one, but most of the whiners shy from actually putting their money where their mouth is. No play there.

ANYHOW, I digress. Spring is party meetings and the selection of candidates for the ballot. If you're an "independant" voter you do not participate in this process and get to choose who I pick for you to vote on. Our Colorado State meeting is May 19th in Greeley, Colorado. It's Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Should be fun.

Then there's body stuff I'm fighting. The slow reduction to kibble will happen. I'd rather keep it working well for a while. Doctor appointments to follow, non-gory details will be posted.

That's my update. I'll be back.

Too many people to kill today

2006-04-27T16:53:00.000-07:00

Some days there are just too many assholes that the planet would be better off without. Today the people who are on my list:

1) George Bush, he is ALWAYS on my list. We have a crisis and the first thing he does is look for ways to repeal environmental regulations. Does he not understand that we need a planet to LIVE on so we can drive the SUV's?

2) Each and every ignorant son of a bitch that doesn't want the National Anthem sung in another language.

3) The same dumb fuckers that want to keep the Mexican people from having jobs here, or making them citizens, or listening to the words inscribed on the plaque at the pedestal of the Statue of LIberty:

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

4) SUV driving people with one person in the car and ANYONE driving a Hummer. I look at a Hummer and I see dead people. These were the vehicles put on the holy land by the first George Bush that incited the ire of the Islamic world. One is hard pressed to find a symbol in a vehicle that more personifies what's wrong with the U.S. of North America.

5) Overpaid corporate leaders who drive their companies to ruin while putting a tidy sum away for themselves.

6) Oil Companies. Yes. All of them. Record profits and where do they put them? Into finding more oil. This is a DYING industry. A smart person would invest in the NEXT energy market and make a killing that way. Nope. These dumb fucks are putting their heads firmly in the sand and trying to smell out more oil.

7) Churches and everyone that attends them who use their holy books to find ways to be hateful. The books are about love you screaming, screeching, hidebound, IGNORANT dumb mother fuckers. Yes, I know how that sounds. I'm not one of them, and then I remember I'm a pacifist and shouldn't kill all these rediculous people.

Really all I have to do is wait and they'll kill eachother off much more efficiently and with much more prejudice than I could ever muster.

mumbling off into the distance now..........

Line day........

2006-04-16T20:19:00.000-07:00

Yesterday:

Woke up to a phone call at 4 AM. Crew needed help with a down wire in Manassa. I said OK, since they couldn't find anyone else and headed down. It sounded simple so I wore my sneakers. Got there and lo and behold it was a huge I-Beam and tin roofed hay shed that had blown clear across the road and through a powerline, breaking a pole and all the wires. At 9:30 I had to go back to Alamosa to pick up a laptop that someone was giving us for our niece Emma so that she'll have something good when she has her big surgery next month. It was a really nice little laptop too! Wonderful people, they have a little girl with autism.

Got done with the pick up and the guy shooting trouble on the West end called to say the line to Summitville was out. Summitville is a now defunct goldmine that used arsnic heap leaching and the power has to stay on for proper reclimation of the toxic stuff left behind. It sits up at 11,000 feet and is impassable in the winter.

So I loaded up the snowcat with everything imaginable and headed up the hill. When the road gave out to snow, I and the guy I met up there unloaded the snowcat and startedd riding up the mountain. First thing we find is a tree through the line and so we climbed the poles and replaced them and spliced the wires back together after we cut the tree out of the way. Then we patrolled the rest of the way up to the mine. We got back down just as it was getting dark and drove back to Alamosa to unload everything. I got back home at 10:15 PM. Snowcats sound a lot like fun, but after a while they're just noisy and bumpy. Good thing I brought my ipod. :)

The guys I left in Manassa were headed in when another roof blew through the line in Antonito, followed by a huge cottonwood in LaJara. The funny thing was we found out Thursday that the company is in the hole because they underestimated costs again and we're supposed to cut back whereever possible. I'm thinking an 18 hour day for 6 guys will cut into the budget a bit. :O

I got home so danged tired I fell into the bath and internetted a little bit to calm down and hit the bed. Sleep felt good. I might do it again tonight. :)

2006-04-12T06:30:00.000-07:00

So....... Laura and Crystal hit a deer on their way home from class last night. They're both shaken and sad, the deer is pretty surely dead. I'm cruizing junk yards for some parts for a '94 Saturn. Funny....... I've hated that car from a couple years after I bought it. In the first week the passenger door got ripped off in an alley. It has a hole in the left rear door, and the front right was dinged before this. I crashed the shit out of it on I-25 in Denver and it wasn't driveable. Now it needs: new hood, front right quarter panel, Right hand headlight assembly and a passenger door mirror. OK, it HAS to have the hood and headlight, the rest is kinda optional since I'm giving it away as soon as my baby is rebuilt. My baby is an old 85 Nissan pickup truck that I bought brand new and Crystal's brother and sister in law (Christy) and a friend (Carlos) are finishing up rebuilding for me. It got kinda interrupted when Daniel was nearly killed in a car wreck last Summer.

I'm really glad no one was hurt in this smash up last night.

I've seen how bad it can get, I wouldn't want that to happen to my loves. Not any more of them anyway.

Saturday is chair day.... now

2006-04-08T09:36:00.000-07:00

I found a fun site that's been entertaining me this morning. http://www.albinoblacksheep.com It's fun, I recommed going to the Flash Movies section and two that I really liked are the "Everyone else has had more sex than me", and the "gollum rap". Very fun and I'm needing it today.

This morning my knee decided to take a trip to pain-ville. I was just getting up outta my chair (yes the wonderful big purple one) and it made a lovely audible snap (which Laura heard from the sofa) followed by a significant amount of discomfort communicated to my brain via the nervous system. In other words? Ouch.

I have an idea why this happened, sometimes I over-do a bit. On Tuesday night I dug a 50 trench for the gas pipe for my friend Sharon's new brick reduction kiln. I also did some pole climbing, and carried lots of heavy stuff up the ladder to my bucket truck. Doesn't sound like much, but crossarm with all the hardware is about 60 pounds, balanced on one shoulder while you climb an 8 foot ladder one handed and then twist around to get it landed before you fall off. :) Mostly it's fun, but it mighta been a bit much. All in all it adds up to me spending the day resting my knee with compression and elevation. Ice would help too but I hate ice. I really need to get to work on that gallery, but lately I'm feeling pretty broken. Between the bad knees, the sore back, the cranky shoulders and the prostate problems I'm feeling a bit grumpy about it all.

This week......

2006-04-02T08:47:00.000-07:00

It's been an interesting week. I started a blog over at toadfire but I'll be keeping this one because it's not a community board so I don't have to worry that' I'm posting too much and taking up the front page. :) Every community has little rules.

I'm worried this week. I'm having prostate problems. My grandpa died of prostate cancer. My dad has had surgury for it twice. My brother has problems with his, I guess I'm just doomed. :) OK, I do have a better diet than those folks and a much more active sex life and that's supposed to help as well. But it hurts damnit! It makes it difficult to want to be intimate and I ALWAYS want to be intimate. I'm worried that my body is riddled with cancer and the tests will come back this week and I'll have 6 months to live. (Have I mentioned that I'm a worrier)? I'd hate to lose my life and the people in it, and if that happens I'll just have to make sure I've taken care of them as best I can.

I've been working on the gallery. I've brought home two sets of garage doors with the hardware and have finally figured out that I should measure BEFORE going to get them. :) I now have two sets of 7 foot doors to give away. I still need a couple sets of 8 foot doors. I might end up walling in one door and just having one open. That would be more energy efficient. In other news I get to try to fill the pond out front today! I finished digging it yesterday and swept it all out and it's really cool. Today I'll get the rest of the front yard cleaned out and move the piles of shredded trees out to where they'll live for landscaping purposes. I'll haul boards out back and pile wood against the house and shine up the fence I dropped a tree on. I'll probably also haul a couple loads of cabinets over to the garage/studio and pile them for when I get it ready. It'll be a full day.

Tomorrow starts early, I go to KRZA (our local radio station) to do a two hour stint during the spring fund drive. I like our little station, it's worth some effort. Oddly enough I listen to it about half the time because I quickly tire of the classical 2 hours in the afternoon and the spanish language part at night just leaves me behind. I wouldn't want them to change that stuff though. It serves other folks and every thing isn't about me.

I got in on the last day of the cheap tickets for the Crestone Music Festival in Crestone, Colorado in August. It's a good time. Every year I want to go and I often forget until too late. So I got tickets for Me and Laura and Crystal and Pablo. AND I got a tent site. :) We'll see if we use it but at least I got it. I saved like $20 per ticket for the three days per person, so that's $80 over all! Not bad. Now we just have to use 'em. I'm gonna use MINE, I know that.

I want to go to Valley View Hot Springs, really bad. I think my body needs a vacation there to heal what ails it. This is supported by no logical evidence at all. I just know it. I need three days there to soak and think about nothing other than then wind and the sky and what to eat for dinner. I just wish I could manage it.

Taxes this week. I'm scared. Really scared. If we have to pay much, I don't have it. Hopefully I did the right things last year to bring us out OK. We'll see. Cross your fingers.

Time for relaxing

2006-04-01T18:59:00.000-08:00

I have a big purple chair. It sits off to the side of the TV in the living room and it's MY chair. It has an ottoman for my legs so I can sit with my feet up and a nice blanket and there are tables to put food and drinks and laptops on.

I'm sitting in it.

Why is that? Well, because today saw: the unloading of 20 linear feet of upper level cabinets, 2 seven foot garage doors, all the attendant hardware and springs, and a bit more of this and that; a trip to the dump that saw the last of a big drum of crap, lots of broken glasss, pallets, some siding, a bit of exercise equiptment, car parts, and piles of unnamed crap from everywhere; the digging out of the last of the dirt in the pond; and the spreading of lots and lots of shredded tree crap. It was a really long day of digging and moving stuff and I'm beat. I've already taken the bath I neeeded and now?

Settled into the big purple chair. We all need one.

Quiet weekend

2006-03-19T10:21:00.000-08:00

It's cold and wintery here this weekend. Actually cold and Springy. We get NO snow in the Winter but this weekend it is wet out. This means I don't wanna do any work outside. This is the downside of working outside for my day job. :) Something about getting cold and wet during the week that means I don't want to do it for my play time. I wanted to get to the dump but about the time I was getting ready the wind came up, there is no dumping in a high wind (they close up). So I'm laying around the house, playing on the internet and bugging Laura. She spent all day at school yesterday. It's odd for me to have a lay around the house by myself day. I think I liked it.

Now next week I'll HAVE to get to the dump on Monday. Anybody wanna help?

There and back again

2006-03-13T15:52:00.000-08:00

I'm home. Left last Tuesday. Got back today (Sunday). Our trip started out oddly. Marian and I were headed to the airport wieh we discovered that we had mistaken the landing time for the departure time. So we had about 30 minutes to make it to the airport.This was a somewhat difficult way to begin. :) We managed and took off for Denver where we had to run like hell from one concourse to another. made that too.

Then we landed and had a lovely fun time. I met a few folks and heard good talks and stuff about wood kilns and wonder of wonders the conference was opened with words from one of my herosl

David Suzuki.

There was a book signing and I put my vehement dislike of crowds aside long enough to move my way to the book table and get a signature. The book? Good News for a Change, but David Suzuki et al. It's quite worth a read, give it a try.

I had a good time. It was the usual thing. :) I had bouts of argument and contention with my traveling companions. That's cause I don't choose wimps for friends. I rather like strong personalities and find that it's much more fun to be around people that have opininos and act on them

There was a Starbucks or some other coffee place on nearly EVERY corner. It was a bit odd. Drank a lot of coffee. Ate a lot of food. Did a lot of walking. The public transportation system there is simply amazing. The trip back was fine if one ignores the incident where in I was tempted to KILL the woman who kept touching me. One of those people who is constantly brushing an arm or flipping a hand or leaning a shoulder and doesn't even notice that they're doing it. Makes my skin crawl. With my "history" as a kid and the fact that I have to be acutely aware of my body and it's location or die from electrocution I'm really really sensitive to being touched. I certainly don't mind it when it's welcome and intentional. This was neither and I couldn't get away from that person fast enough. UG.

And I got to meet Tiff who is lovely. Pleasant and nice and a bit driven if you ask me. :) I think most folks would have bagged coming the rest of the way if they had a carload of kids and a flat tire, but not this one. :) Showed up and sat and visited over coffee and Zachery like nothing bad had ever happened that day. Kind and gracious and nice, just like she presents herself here.

Nice to have met you Tiff.

Back home now. Prizes handed out. Stuff put away. Movie watched and dinner eaten. Back to work tomorrow and then on to working on my studio. I've come back with a desire to make "Pots for Peace" and some work for the "Empty Bowls Project". Let's hope I keep energized and get some stuff going!

Packing

2006-03-05T10:29:00.000-08:00

My big yearly trip to NCECA happens on Tuesday. Today is a bit more of the getting ready to go. Turning on the water under the house and to the back yard so that Laura can make paper and water the yard while I'm off to Portland. A bit of cooking and cleaning and all that jazz. Got to do some dishes and some laundry to get my limited amount of clothing together for a bag. I most often travel with the barest of things in my kit. My extravagance this time will be a goodly number of clean socks. Portland weather during my trip promises to be "highs in the 40's and 50's and rain or showers every day but one". So I'm thinking that clean dry socks will be invaluable. As will a change of shoes.

There are three of we friends going to the clay conference. Myself and Marian and Sharon. Oddly enough we're having Sharon take the single room, she is a beastly room mate, snores and has insomnia. Not the nice quiet kind of insomnia either, but the type that requires her to bang about the room and raise a ruckus ensuring that no one else sleeps either. We'll have a great time! Running thru the vendor booths, collecting cheap souviners, finding the cool yet funky shopping district, eating out and giving each other shit all the live long day. Should be a good time, as long as those two don't go all mental on me.

I'll get back on Sunday. We got lucky and found a travel deal that lets us fly out of the local airport rather than take a 3 to 5 hour drive to the nearest large one.

Now I just have to decide what to take. Certainly all the fun electronic gadgets that earned me a similar nickname for it. My sweet LoLo calls me "gadget guy" and I end up having to admit that it fits. In as much as a caveman can master the internet and fix computers with a hammer I suppose I'm the gadget guy. Then the usuals, a couple/three changes of clothing and a spare daypack with hydropack. :) Gotta be prepared you know.

Oh, and definately a raincoat!

Some days are just fun!

2006-03-03T16:16:00.000-08:00

The last couple days at work have been really fun. Running around, driving all over the place, jumping on wires, pulling and throwing things, touching the live wires.

Fun. No other way to put it. Some days just make you glad to be a lineman. Yesterday I was reminded of just how good I am at what I do. It feels nice.

Waitin on Laura and Poly to get home from class. Did the grocery shopping today. I love doing the grocery shopping. And cleaning. I love cleaning too. Washed my pickup and unearthed the pantry floor. :) And they said it couldn't be done! Got new light bulbs, took the trash out.

Life is good.

Now if only I were rich.

Oh wait.

I am.

Starting anew

2006-02-28T17:51:00.000-08:00

Well, I had a nice spot on the internet with it's own little community and interaction. It's about to be eaten by the lords of chaos. To that end I'm starting up a new one. I've thought about moving the archives from aetheri to here, but then I start to wonder....... what was precious there? The simple answer is that it was the community of folks that found each other and interacted. It's not like that can't be recreated to a large degree here on blogger.

I used to have a blog. I have a seperate one that's all about a gallery I'm building. I took my oldest one down when life got all twisted up and I didn't want a web presence that could be used against me or the folks I care about. That case is old and done (in as far as they ever are) SO I'll do another. I like haveing a place to put my thoughts. And losing the old entrys? Not so big a deal.

So I get to decide what I'm going to put here. Lay out groundrules. Make up what goes where and when. In short? Most anything goes and I'll rant and scream and cuss and love my way from one end of it to the other.

Here we go............