So Long Russ

First off, you need to understand that I was not real close to Russ. Sure we were shirt-tail relatives, and I saw him at family functions, and my daughter worked for him for a couple of years, but that was about it. We had a few friends in common, but we weren't buddies.

He gave my brother Bill a great deal on a 100th Anniversary Road King, and that gains him points in my book.

Russ was the Golden Child. He had it all. All the toys, the cars, the big house on the lake, and connections all over the West Coast (and beyond). More money than he knew what to do with.

I was green with envy for the things he had, but here I am living and he is not. All of the things he had couldn't give him one extra moment when his number came up. I feel so sorry for his daughter and his mom and dad, and the rest of his family.

I didn't particularly like Russ. He was so arrogant and self assured. To be fair to him, my perceptions were skewed because he had all the things I wanted. He was a very tallented custom bike builder, and won all kinds of awards for his bikes. He could schmooze with the best of them, and managed to keep things on an even keel under some pretty chaotic circumstances.
He got along with everyone.

I remember R. talking about The Banditos coming down when she worked there and basically taking over the store. But Russ kept it all under control. He did equally well when Evil Kenival was there demanding attention.

So I will go out and get a small bottle of Crown Royal tonight and sit down and toast Russ.

Russ, wherever you are I hope they have a special fast machine for you, be it helicopter, car, boat or bike. Your flame burned too bright and went out too quickly.

But I'm much better now........

I was a big fan of Night Court. There was such an endless parade of characters. One of the bit parts was Harry's dad, played by John Aston (he was Gomez on the original Adams Family) he had spent some time in a mental institution, and when asked about it would go into some bizarre tale, which always ended with "But I'm much better now."

It always helps to write it down, get it out. Think of it as popping a big mental Zit. It hurts like hell until it is done, but a lot of relief afterwards.

So yesterday was one zit-popping pus draining post.

But I'm much better now.

So the memorial for Russ is Saturday. I was talking to my sis last night and they are expecting about 5,000 motorcyclists from all over the Northwest.

The chapel only seats 1,500.

It is going to be a complete circus. Little sis wants me there for support, and I want to be there for her and her hubby. One of my other sisters called her up yesterday and asked if she wanted her and mom to come, but she told them they didn't need to go, because Al would be there.

Guess I'm stuck now.

If nothing else, it should be entertaining.

I'll take pictures.

Avoidance

I've been puting off writing this for a whole bunch of reasons.

Like the wounds are too fresh and it is uncomfortable poking at them.

Let's start off by saying last weekend was not the best weekend I've ever had.

R. called Saturday morning and asked me to come and get her. There was some cursing involved. She was pissed at her room mate and wanted to move back home. As long as she is straight and making a sincere attempt too clean up her life, it is OK with me.

Mrs. A went off to the gym to work out. I had agreed to do the brakes on her Pathfinder, so I went down to the Auto Parts store and got new front pads. I waited for her to come home

and waited

and waited

and waited.

Four hours later she rolls into the driveway, so I can finally get started on the brakes. She pops out of the car and says "Let's go to Chang's for lunch." Well R. had just had a long conversation with her room mate and wanted to go back to her place, so I said "OK, but let me run R. home first."

Mrs A came unglued. After ranting and raving for a couple of minutes, she went and found R and lit in to her "Would you please make up your mind what the HELL you are doing.....blah, blah,blah"

R got pisseed off and stormed off saying "I'll walk, you old witch" and refused my offer of a ride. I haven't seen or heard from her since. She was having a real hard time getting herself straight, and Mrs A just dropped a turd in her punchbowl.

I have been worried about Mrs As mental state lately. Now that we have our house back and everything, I figured she would relax and lighten up. If anything, she has gotten worse. She goes aroung crying for no apparent reason. I mean, nothing bad is going on, but she has worked hersulf into such a state that tears start.

She said maybe it would be better if she just moved out. Now, nothing had happened between the two of us, just between her and R. This came from WWAAAYYY out in left field.

After spending considerable time and effort with her, she calmed down, and finally she asked "Do you think we are going to make it? You know, stay married?"

This is not the first time she has asked this, but it was the first time I couldn't be sure of the answer.

Then on Sunday, my brother-in-law's brother was killed in a hellicopter accident.

Russ Tom

I just don't want to think about any of this shit any more.

Geek Joke

OK, so yesterdays post was a geek joke.

Heisenberg was a physicist. He came up with the idea that you could never be 100% certain what the position of an electron was in the subatomic world, because just by observing it, you had altered it. In other words, you could tell where it USED to be, but could never predict where it currently was, or where it would be.

This is called Heisenbergs Uncertainty Principle.

This is a very important scientific theory, because it signals the end of the Clockwork Universe theory, and is considered by many to be the father of Chaos Theory.

For centuries, scientific theory was that through observation we could ultamitely predict atomic behavior if we just knew enough facts about the laws that govern it. In a gross sense this theory works, but when observing complex systems in nature, you cannot predict thier bahavior over time. Weather models can predict the future for only a very short time, then the variance from the models very quickly expands to the point of uselessness.

One explanation of this is called the Butterfly Effect. If a butterfly in the steppes of Russia flaps his wings, it causes a rainstorm in Paris.

The simple explanation goes something like this: A herd of caribou is feeding. A caribou sees a spot of color and goes over to investigate. It turns out to be a butterfly, who upon seeing the caribou, becomes disturbed, and flys off. This in turn startles the caribou, who gallops off, in turn startling the leader of the herd, who thinks something must be terribly wrong.

The herd leader running off causes the whole herd to gallop off, raising a large cloud of dust. This dust travels in the air, and provides the condensation nucleus for rain which in turn causes a rainstorm in Paris.

Is this predictable? no way.

Up with Chaos!

?

Heisenberg may have been here.

Dreams

I take Metformin for my diabetes. It is a little hard on my stomach, so I have to be careful what I eat, because I get a terrible upset stomach from overindulging in a lot of things.

For instance I can have a couple of beers, but if I have more than a couple, I will be up all night with an upset stomach. Same with Pizza. Any more than two slices guarantees a restless night.

So last night I had three slices of pizza and four beers. I woke up at 2:30 with my digestive track making the most entertaining noises. Repeated doses of Pepto didn't really do anything for me.

I tossed and turned and didn't really get back to a solid sleep, but drifted in and out of awareness.

The trouble was, I kept having nightmares.

In the first one, I was riding in a bus around Alki, across the bay from Seattle, when it was hit with a carpet bombing attack. Skyscrapers were falling, fires were burning, and a fighter turned and headed for the bus. I could see the water spouts as the machine gun rounds walked across the water towards the bus. I was trying to figure out how to get out when the rounds started hitting the bus.

I woke up in a sweat, looking for a way out.

When I drifted out to lala land again, I had managed to make it home, but someone had nailed all of the doors shut, covered over the windows, and set the house on fire with Carol and I inside. I had to pry a sheet of plywood off of the big window in the living room, and jump through the glass to escape.

When I got outside a guy was over in front of the house with a knife, cutting the hose in two so that I couldn't put out the fire. I was too late to stop him.

So I picked him up by the throat with my left hand and stated pounding him in the solar plexus as hard as I could. I pummelled him into unconsciousness, then woke up.

Although I was still real tired, I was also relieved when the alarm went off.

Squirrely blog

We were sitting around waiting for the Evacuation Drill this morning. We weren't supposed to know that it would be at 9:00, but I have my sources......

We started telling critter stories, and I remembered this one:

We had a family of squirrels that lived in to top of and old lightning struck Pine in the back of the yard. I have no great feeling for squirrels one way or the other, but females seem to find them "Cute".

So my daughter and my ex decided to hand feed them on the deck right off of the living room. After a couple of months, they had gotten to the point where the squirrels would take food from their hands. They would wait outside the sliding glass door, and all you had to do was crack the door open, and stick your hand out, and they would come up and take food right from your hand.

I wasn't real enthused about it. I could see a home invasion in the near future.

R. had gone to the store with her mom and gotten a big chocolate bar. She had taken the outer wrapper off, realized she was going to want a glass of milk to go with it, laid it down on the floor still in it's silver wrapping, and gone off to the kitchen.

A squirrel had been watching from out on the deck. The sliding glass door was open.

Mr. Squirrel darted in and started dragging her candy bar away.

"Hey R. you better get out here and rescue your candy bar. Your friend the squirrel just stole it!"

She comes running out of the kitchen as he makes his break for the door, R. in hot pursuit.

The candy bar was heavy enough that he couldn't jump up on the handrail of the deck and into the tree beside it.

But he was determined to keep it. So they ran around and around the deck for several circuits.

Finally he got tired dropped the candy bar and fled. R. brought the candy bar in and I looked it over. Other than a few tooth marks in one corner it was still fine, so I trimmed off the chewed on part and let her eat the rest of it.

I sure wish I had had a cam corder at the time.

Hi Ho

Hi Ho, it's off to work we go.

Yeah, the Seven Dwarves going off to their mine.

Did you ever stop to think that if you walked up to someone in certain parts of the country and started the conversation with those words, you'd likely end up with a mouthfull of bloody chicklets?

Oh well.

This was a good weekend. We went up to Bremerton with the band for a show at the Roxy theater. The band was in fine form. Too bad there wasn't a larger crowd.

We stayed at the Hampton Inn. It was Mrs A. and me and V. and R. We ate dinner at a Pizza place around the corner from the Hotel. Best Pizza I have eaten is a long time.

The Plaza outside the Hotel has a real cool fountain. It has a program that lasts about 20 minutes with all sorts of spurts and splashed chasing each other around the fountain. Watching the kids around the fountain was a real trip.

When we came back home, I took the long way, down the Eastern shore of Hood Canal. It was a beautiful drive, with the fall leaves just beginning to turn, the sun shining off the water and filtered though the trees. They air had that early fall kinda blue haze to it. I took some random turns and wandered in and out of the National Forest. We stopped and gawked and talked.

It was how short road trips are supposed to be.

And they're off....

In more ways than one.

We are going to Bremerton this weekend with the band for a show. We are spending the night in a Hotel, so it will be a nice change. Since the performance is in a theater, we don't have to set up lights and sound system, just the drums and a couple of speakers and maybe a spare amp, and the keyboard. That will leave up plenty of time to just relax, go to dinner, and listen to the show.

Yesterday was an absolutely perfect fall day.

I woke up feeling so good, I decided I felt too good to go to work. I have been in need of a day all by myself for quite some time now. I haven't been able to take one for the last six months, and since the kids moved out, I have been waiting for the "right" day.

I slept in, I read a book some, I went and got my hair cut, I went out and looked at cars, wrote in my blog, curled up and took a nap (without any threat of being disturbed!)

It was gloriously, totally quiet.

I could feel the tension leaving like the water in the bathtub when you pull the plug.

In the evening R and a friend came by. Ms. B came over with brownies baked in the shape of a heart, and all was well with the world.

Life is great when the clouds clear and the sun breaks through and you find yourself standing in a beam of light.

Al to the rescue

I was sitting on the couch half watching the Mariners lose yet another game while reading a classic John D. MacDonald Travis McGee (The Deep Blue Goodbye) when the phone rang.

It was Ms B, the lady next door, and she was a little shaky and shrill. She is a very nice single mom with two girls, the oldest in her last year of middle school. Her former husband lost his job and couldn't find another, so he ran off to Florida and divorced her.

I occasionally do guy stuff for her. NO NOT THAT KIND OF STUFF. Sheesh, get your mind out of your pants.

"There's a rat in the toilet, what should I do?!!"

I talked to her while trying to find my BB gun, but it was nowhere to be seen.

After a little thought I asked her if she had a bowl shaped pasta strainer. No, but she had a flat one. I told her I would get my bowl shaped strainer and be over in a minute.

After being guided to the throne room, I flipped the lid, and sure enough, there was a full grown live rat.

I scooped him up with the pasta strainer and put the flat strainer over the top. Rat under control. Of course he was not happy with the situation and was trying to escpae, but I kept the lid firmly in place.

"I don't have a cage or anything, what do we do with him?" inquired the lady. She is the sort that couldn't stand to have me crush his little vermin ridden skull right there on the batroom tile.

"Tell you what I'm going to do. I'm going to take him for a little walk, and I'll be back with your pasta strainer in a little bit."

I had a cardboard box that was covered in plastic. about 12" square and only had a small opening. I sprayed Mr. Rat down with Thrust to calm him, and dropped him in the box. I then sprayed some more into the opening and then covered it.

Thirty seconds later Mr Rat was anesthetized.

Fatally.

Painlessly.

I went over to return the strainer and told Ms B that he had taken a long and permanent nap.

That would have been a real shock. Lift the lid, prepared to expose your most sensitive parts, glance down and there, swimming in the bowl is a big hairy wet rat. It would make you reluctant to expose yourself, make yourself vulnerable.

Of couse, being male I would never have the problem. I never put the seat down except when I have to.

Got any dragons you need slain? Princesses you need rescued from a fate worse than death?

Fall Back

As in the time correction for Daylight Savings Time: Spring Forward, Fall Back. It is an appropriate reflection for reasons other than setting the clock.

Whenever Fall rolls around in the great cyclic spiral, I go back in my mind to previous Autumns. A lot of good things happened in late Summer, early Fall.

Here's a memory from one October a long time ago.

We had gone out to the U. District to score some weed. I used to hang out there a lot, so I knew a lot of people. Bruce, J.B, Dave and I. We were wandering up the Ave tring to find the best deal on a lid. When we did, the dude wanted $12.00 for a lid of some "Special Shit". We went over to the Drug Store to get change (Ironic, huh?)

We all came back out and headed down the street. Bruce noticed some guys following us. We decided to split up. When an opportunity presented itself, J.B. quietly split to go make the deal, and the rest of us headed back towards the car. Sure enough, we had the same two guys following us, so we cut over to the alley, and then back over to the street,

We had no idea who there guys were, but they were big and ugly and looked vaguely crimnal.

When we stopped at the light, one of them rushed up and grabbed Bruce by the shoulder. Bruce turned around and belted the guy in the mouth.

A whole lot of yelling and pushing ensued, during which we found out that they were undercover cops. I ended up being the mediator between us and the cops, a position I ususally got stuck with. I explained to them that they had never identified themselves as Police, so we were well withing our rights to defend ourselves. Although there was a curfew on, we were all over 18 and therefore exempt.

They said they were going to arrest us on suspision of posession. I volunteered that we were all clean, and they could search us right there. Eventually cooler heads prevailed, and they let us go.

Little did I know that Bruce was standing there with his stash in his shoe.

We hooked back up with J.B.. It was a little after noon, so we headed out for a drive in the country. Of course we had to check out the quality of our purchase.

We were on a two lane counrty road out in the middle of nowhere. J.B. was driving. All the sudden he swerved to the left, then to the right.

"WTF J.B., what are you doing?"

"Don't you see them?"

"See what?"

"The Wooley Bear caterpillars!"

He was veering the car back and forth on the road to run over Wooley Bear Caterpillars. You know, the big puffy orange and black ones. They were all over the place. Now that we knew what he was looking for, we started spotting them for him.

I have always wondered if they were really there.

Dust Bunnies

When I was stumbling down the aisle on my way to get jump started with a 20 0z. Diet Coke this morning, I was viciously attacked by a commando dust bunny. I thought he resembled the head of Osama Bin Missing. Luckily the adrenalin rush keyed up my response and I not only escaped serious injury, I eliminated the threat for the good of my fellow countrymen.

This is not the first time I have withstood attack by forces of unsuspected and misunderstood nature.

When I was not as rational and mature as I am now I was once attacked by a force of nature that was unsuspected.

I love watching cheap horror movies. I don't know what impulse it is that drives me to always look under the rock to see what lurks there, but said impulse is a part of my nature.

Back when I was having one of my "Unassisted by a female presence" periods in my life, I was staying up late watching horror movies. What movie I was watching escapes me, but it was a classic. Perhaps "Atom Man Vs the Mole People", or maybe "Godzilla Vs MechniKong".

The house was silent except for the settling noises a house makes at night to get revenge on the owners. I caught a motion out of the corner of my eye.

As I turned my head to look. It was a very large dust bunny comeing out from under a chair. It start moving towards me. Neither one of those things was by itself alarming. I mean, dust bunnys bred under every piece of furniture, and occasionally a breeze would inspire wanderlust in one and it would set off in search of a new lair.

What was disturbing is that THERE WAS NO BREEZE!

As I watched I saw the mutant dust bunny deliberately move towards me! Yes, It was moving by it's free will. In other words IT WAS ALIVE!!!!!

As my heart beat faster and my palms started sweating, in an act of foolish bravado I got off of the couch and got down on the floor to look more closely, knowing full well that I was exposing my jugular to whatever freak of nature lurked there by the telephone table. Oh shit, it was trying to cut me off from the phone!

Heedless of my danger, I got close enough to inspect it

It was mouse gray, and about three inches in diameter. It lunged forward towards my exposed flesh, and I jumped back.

Retreating to the kitchen, I got a chopstick, and came back and with trepidation and trembling hands, poked at it.

It jumped in a frenzy of activity, trying to make it under the telephone table.

Thinking quickly and using my lightning fast reflexes, I got an empty mayonaise jar and and dropped it over my ferocious invader, and put the lid on.

Holding up the jar I looked at its underside, trying to figure out what manner af predator had invaded my sanctuary.

It had webbed feet and toe pads.

A light came on, and I started to laugh.

My son had been raiseing tree frogs in his room. One of them had disappeared a couple of days ago.

In an effort to bluff his way out of the house, he had built himself a gillie suit out of volunteer dust bunnies, who readily attached themselves to his slimy sides so they could make a break for it.

It was their unfortunate luck to run into me, standiing guard over home and family.

The frog was cleaned and returned to Froggie Bottom Detention Facility, where his sentence was extended to life.

The recalcitrant dust bunnies did not fare so well. I destroyed them and their sanctuary.

Ever since, I have been concerned that they were out for revenge.

King Albuchadnezzar

You are King Albuchadnezzar, the emperor of Babylon. You are part of a long tradition of Middle Eastern dictators. Like any good dictator, you possess the attributes of pride and ambition in good measure. Your ambitious nature drove you to conquer much of the Middle East, including the kingdom of Israel. You subsequently put the people of Israel into bondage. You also tend to be very direct with your friends and enemies alike. You prefer to tell people exactly what you’re going to do and how you’re going to do it. Your position in society and your imperial army give you the ability to do this with impunity. Unlike many Middle Eastern despots, you are a very good ruler and you happen to treat your own people quite well. You might be a biblical villain, but I’m sure you’d make a good dictator in the 21st century, if given the chance.

Brownies for breakfast

I was going to be good......

Honest....

No REALLY!!

When I got in today, there were two things on the communal table. Salsa, and brownies.

Salsa is good for you. Lots of veggies and spices. No sugar. No carbs.

But we're talking brownies here. A 12'" X 18" slab of brownies.

Since no one else would step forward and cut the slab, I did the honors. The sheet was very firmly stuck to the cardboard, so on my second attempt to cut a square loose, I butchered it. We didn't have a spatula of any kind, so I was using a butter knife.

Well, I couldn't foist off a butchered brownie on someone else, could I. I mean I have standards.

So I had to destroy it.

So you see, it really wasn't my fault.

I should have known better....

When the kids left, Mrs. A was still wound up tighter than a recoil starter. One little pull and she would go WHIRRRRR and little parts would start flying off.

I told her to relax, that it was over. She told me "Oh no, it's not over!"

As usual she knew what she was talking about.

They showed up at her workplace yesterday, and more or less demanded money from her. She relented and gave them $20. They complained "This is all you are going to give us?" Of all the unmitigated gall.

They were trying to make it sound like they could not feed K. unless we gave them money.

Mrs A. told them if they couldn't feed K. that didn't make her a bad grandma, but it did make them bad parents. Needless to say that did not go over well.

Evidently they think they are above going to the food bank to get some groceries. Probably couldn't fit in between their busy social life and the time they need for playing video games.

Mrs A. told me she doesn't want to see or talk to them.

Fine by me. Now if she will just stick with it..........

For Clyde II

In a e-mail conversation with Rick the other day, he made a remark about "What if someone in the future was looking at your blog, what would they see?" or some such.

Although I like the poem, I suppose it might not make a lot of sense to anyone without some context.

When I was first learning my trade as a Manufacturing Engineer, I was working at Boeing Aerospace's Electronic Systems Division in Kent. We were doing some state of the art electronics Research and Development.

I had a lead man named Clyde Sparks, who was quite a character. One of his favorite sayings was "We are all just monkeys walking around with suits on". So I wrote the poem.

BTW a hire-suit is a tuxedo like you rent for a wedding, which is of course also known as a monkey suit.

So although the poem is light and maybe even humorous, it asks the bigger question about determinism.

We like to maintain the illusion that we are in charge, but who's to say we arent marching to someone elses music. Are we in charge of our destiny?

Or are we just monkeys in suits?

For Clyde

This image was around last week. It was one of those "Write a story of 500 words or less" things. Well I didn't do it but it reminded me of this:

.

.

.

.

.

.

For Clyde

The mustacioed organ grinder

and his hire-suited charge

cavorted on the waterfront

Beside a rottin barge.

In the failing light of evening

they divided up the loot

the man he kept the cup of coins

the monkey kept the fruit.

And when it all was over

And each received his due

I wasn't sure if I ground the organ

or wore the monkey suit.

A Ray of Sunshine

The clouds for the moment have lifted, and a solitary ray of sunshine has found its way through the overcast and lit up our little corner of the world for at least this brief moment.

And the weather's not bad either.

Mrs. A came away from out counselling appointment yesterday feeling much better about everything. She really needs to have her actions validated by a Professional. I tell her the exact same things the Therapist does, but because I am sitting on the same side of the room as her, my words just don't carry the same weight.

At any rate, the weather was beautiful. The hard rain had cleared the air of all the pollen and pollutants, and the sun was shining in that half hazy end of summer light that seems to carry all sorts of subliminal messages. It probably has something to do with the change of seasons bringing out some ancestral migration urge.

We went in to Redmond Town center. Several years ago they built this huge area that is all upscale shops, restaraunts, craft stores. The have a real nice All-you-can-eat Sushi place called Todai's. I have been trying to get Mrs. A to go there, but she isn't as enthusiastic about sushi as I am. (BTW for all you troglodites not all sushi is raw fish).

At any rate, when we got to the map, I noticed that there was a Thai Ginger place, so we elected go there. The food was great.

We took the long way home, around Lake Samamaish. The sun was low in the sky and being reflected off of the lake. The air was still and we were in no hurry. It was beautiful. Too bad I didn't bring the camera.

When we got home, the kids were moved out, so now it is just Carol and me and Vinnie. Carol and I got up this morning with smiles on out faces. Vinnie is a teenager, so to him morning is an evil thing.

I sure hope the little ray of sunshine hangs around.

Hump Day

If Mrs A. and I can just make it through today,Ii believe we will be over the hump. The kids went down to Sumner and got the trailer yesterday. They are getting a heck of a deal. It is a 30' Fleetwood travel trailer, complete with working appliances. I was afraid they would end up in some 12' tin can. At least now they have something worth working on.

They are moving the rest of their stuff today, and I am giving them the rest of the money so they can get the trailer moved into a trailer park.

Mrs A and I have an appointment with a therapist this afternoon. She feels a need to have things validated by someone outside the situation. I feel no such need, but if that is what it takes to help her, I'm all for it. Having worked in the field myself, I have no illusions about what can or cannot be accomplished by therapy, but if it makes her feel more secure in her choices, it certanly can't hurt.

The upside is that I get to take off work a couple of hours early.

Too bad it is raining like a cow peeing on a flat rock.

Shootout at the not-so-OK Corral

Mrs A. has been teetering on the edge of a blowout for the last couple of weeks. We have both been hovering on the edge of a major confrontation with the kids.

Some time back I told them that September would be a good time for them to find other accommodations. They basically told us that there wasn't anything available in their price range (free) so we would have to cosign a lease for them to move. This didn't set well with us.

So they have been mooching off of us and "Borrowing" money. You could feel the pressure building up like the air feels right before a thunderstorm.

Mrs. A. was trying to get ready for work this morning when the kids got into a fight. Nothing unusual about that. So it was F this and F that so Mrs A yelled at them to just knock it off. They took exception, so she told them to just get the Hell out.

They called me and told me that in order to move they need $450.00. That is $200 for a trailer and $250 for a space in a Trailer Park.

I told them I would be home at lunch time to give them the $200.00, and could give them the rest tomorrow. It is worth it to me to get them the heck out of our house, but mostly for Mrs. A's peace of mind.

Dreams

I woke up this morning with this absolutely great idea for a blog entry for today.

Of course I imediately went back to sleep and forgot it. I should have written it down. Several times now I have awakened from a dream that would make a great short story and thought "I should write that down" but of course I don't, and by the time I am fully awake, it is long gone.

On the other hand, frequently after waking, and in the harsh light of reality, the ideas suck.

I have had a series of related dreams for years, that actually hang together as a coherent story. The Government has been overthrown and I am leading a small group of rebels going around attacking government outposts. We are living in the mountains in Eastern Washington or North Idaho and conducting guerilla warfare. I never die or get hurt in these dreams, but get a great deal of satisfaction blowing things up.

Wonder what Sigmund would have to say on the subject.

I wear a black stud in my left ear to remember 9/11. I swore I would wear it until they brought the twisted mental defectives who thought up this terrible act to justice. It is too bad that five years later I still wear it.

I have no vendetta against the Arab peoples of this planet. Like any other people, they are mostly good people trying to survive in a very confusing and complicated world. Doing the best they can.

So remember the victims and heros today.

ps: I "Borrowed" the picture from Rick's Blog.

Short week, long day

It always seems to me like life demands that you have to take so much crap at work every week.

It doesn't matter how many hours you work, you still have to account for the same amount of crap. So weeks with a Holiday in them mean the crap just has to be shifted to the other days to make up. The weeks that are really bad make up for the sick days you took when you weren't really sick, or the time you go on vacation.

Don't get me wrong, I love my job and have a hard time thinking of doing anything different, but there is always a certain amount of crap to go along with the gravy. (Now there's a nasty visual).

So hope everyone has a great Friday and a better weekend, and be careful of the lumps in the gravy.

Parrot Joke

A guy I know has a pet parrot. He fed it by hand. Hepoured some nuts or sunflower seeds in his hand, and the bird would eat them out of his hand.

The problem with this was that the bird was an agressive feeder and sometimes would bite his hand. As a result his hands were always sore.

He decided that the best solution would be to file off some of the parrot's beak.

He went down to the hardware store to buy a file. The clerk asked him what he needed, and he said "I'm here to buy a file."

The clerk asked "What kind of file we have flat files, round files, rasps, even half round bastards. What are you going to use it for?."

The guy explained that he was going to use it to file off part of the beak of his parrot.

The clerk said "You can't do that, the parrot will starve!"

The guy said "I didn't ask for advice, just a file!"

So he bought a file and went home.

A couple of weeks later he was back at the hardware store and ran into the same clerk.

The clerk asks "So hows the Parrot?"

The guy says "Oh, he died."

The clerk says "HA!!! I told you he would starve without his beak!!!"

The guy says " You don't know anything. He was already dead when I took his head out of the vise!"

Last Deck Post

So, I promise I won't bore you any more with anything to do with my new deck, But I did promise to publish a photo of it when it was done.

Here it is with the new furniture. We've had dinner out on the new deck the last couple of days. It was real nice.

I sure am glad to be done with it.

Welcome back Blogger

For the last couple of weeks, Blogger has not allowed me to access the site from work. Don't ask me why.

I felt like someone stole my binkie, and I didn't have my blankie to console me.

Today everything has returned to the status quo (you notice I didn't say normal).

The deck is done. Yesterday, Mrs A and I went out looking for outdoor furniture for the deck. We found a very nice aluminum and wood table and chairs marked down from $699 to $349 on an end-of-season sale. Unfortunately it had no umbrella, and they were all out of replacements. They suggested I go straight to the manufacturer.

So we had hamburgers outside on the deck last night, and it made it worth all the hard work and cusswords. I hope my neighbors have recovered from the shock and the blue sulfurous cloud that hung over that corner of the house during construction.

So long to Steve Irwin, who was way too cocky and obviuosly took too many risks, but entertained millions of nature lovers. He will be missed.

Dynamite

My mother's side of the family has traditionally held a family reunion on the Fourth of July every year. I have always enjoyed getting together with the relatives I don't see the rest of the year and see what everyone has been doing. Not the same people show up every year, so there is always someone different to talk to. It is always potluck, with everyone bringing something they make especially well or are proud of (not necessarily the same thing). It is pretty much a traditional Fourth of July.
Except for the dynamite.
My Aunt and Uncle live on the South end of Vashon Island, where they have a sizeable chunk of property. It is a very rural setting. The land is mostly second growth timber and brush. At the time, because they were clearing land, they could but dynamite (for agricultural purposes only) at the Co-op. Anyone who has spent time on the business end of a muck stick and prybar trying to get a stubborn stump out of the ground can really appreciate the pristine beauty of a couple of well placed sticks of dynamite. Not to mention the fact that it is a heck of a lot of fun to make things go BOOM. Both the relatives on Vashon and my family in Idaho had obtained and used dynamite for a number of years.
For the family get-together, people would usually start arriving around noon, and start out with the veggies-and-dip, and chips and snacks. Around the same time the first fireworks would show up. The policy towards fireworks has never been consistent in the State of Washington. Heck, it is not even consistent from block to block. It is literally possible to buy fireworks, walk a couple of blocks and be arrested for setting them off. It is not a policy designed to to build a great deal of respect for the law and its enforcement. To complicate matters, the Indian Reservations are only subject to Federal Law, so you can get a lot more of "The Good Stuff" from the Indians, including some stuff that is outside Federal guidelines.
Every year, McCord Air Force Base in Tacoma holds an Airshow to celebrate the Fourth. They generally flew North out of the base and turned around at the North end of Vashon. During the day we would see all kinds of Aircraft from fighters to cargo carriers, to bombers. We would hear them coming and rush outside to see if we could identify the type and model of the plane.
The fireworks would typically start with the younger kids lighting snakes and smoke bombs, then progress through lady fingers, regular firecrackers, bottle rockets and the usual small fireworks. Since we had to take the last ferry back to the mainland at around 7:00 we never got into the more elaborate airborne displays. We spent the afternoon and early evening, when not occupied eating, inventing new and more elaborate ways of blowing things up.
Firecrackers were placed under tin cans.
Holes were punched in tin cans to pass the fuse through, and then the cans pushed down into mud or soft sand. The idea is to see how high in the air you can blow the can. My personal favorite was an Old El Paso chilies can inside a regular soup can partly filled with water. If you didn't get the fuse wet, it was good for at least a hundred feet of altitude.
I suppose that it was inevitable that we would someday come to the conclusion that since we had dynamite, and there were stumps to be blown, there was no reason we couldn't blow stumps an the Fourth of July. We didn't do this every year, just when the urge was irresistible.
One year after sending cans flying as high as possible, we started speculating how high in the air we could send something if dynamite provided the propulsive force and we could find something sturdy enough to not disintegrate. First we took an old wellhead, dropped a lit stick of dynamite down it, followed by a section of madrona. It made a satisfactory BOOM, but the wood disappeared completely. We never saw it after it left the pipe.
Next we saw a car wheel laying out by the barn. Perfect!
We put the car wheel on a flat place over the top of a stick of dynamite, lit the fuse and got back.
BOOM!
Totally unsatisfactory. The wheel, spinning madly went about thirty feet in the air. Heck we could blow tin cans a lot higher than that. The problem seemed to be that the force of the explosion needed to be focused. Not an insurmountable problem. Having experienced the benefits of the fact that water is not compressible, we decided to dig a pit slightly larger than the wheel about a foot deep, fill it with water and try again. And since one stick of dynamite didn't provide enough propulsive force, three ought to do the job!
We finished digging our pit and filling it with water. Actually, but the time it soaked in, it was more like thin mud than water, but we were pretty sure it would do the job. We had waterproof fuse, so we didn't have to worry about the fuse going out. We set three sticks of dynamite equally spaced in the pit, and dropped in the wheel. We lit the fuse and got the heck out of there.
Just as we lit the fuse ad retreated, we heard a thumping noise on the horizon. It was a flight of six helicopter. Surely they wouldn't be coming anywhere near us! But they kept on a course that would bring them right overhead.
OH SHIT!
We looked at the wheel with the dynamite under it. The fuse got shorter. No one was willing to go near it to pull the fuse. A mistake would probably be fatal.
The helicopters came closer.
The fuse got shorter
Closer
Shorter
BOOM!!!
We had succeeded in our plans, for the wheel flew a couple of hundred feet in the air.
Right into the view of the helicopters. They must have seen it, because the formation split apart and headed away.
We figured we were in huge trouble. The first thing we did was put the dynamite back in the powder shed. Then we all went in and watched some sporting event on TV and prayed nothing came of it. Every time a car went by, we figured it was going to turn in the driveway, filled with guys in grey trenchcoats and black fedoras, but we never heard a thing.
I always wondered what the Flight Leader reported. I don't think he would want to report that they were under attack by car wheels. Maybe they never said a thing and that's why we never heard anything.
The only thing I know for sure is that the next time we went to the Co-op to buy dynamite, they wouldn't sell us any.

At Last.

So I am taking tomorrow off to help Rose move.She is going to be staying here at least part of the time. If she is genuinely trying to get herself together, it is a good thing, although I foresee some stormy weather ahead.

I haven't managed to get much done on the deck lately. All I have left to do is nail in the 2 X 2's to close it in so kids can't fall off and get hurt (or growed-ups either). I wanted to get done by Friday so I could actually take a couple of days off and maybe swill a couple of beers and read a book. I just bought Dean Koontz's latest (The Husband) but haven't had a chance to crack the cover yet. Maybe when I get through here.

I haven't written anything here lately because there has been too much other stuff going on. I need to order up a couple of extra hours a day.

Tonight it is raining, so I had to give up on working on the deck. OK with me. I have spent nearly every available moment working on it for the last couple of weeks.

I know there is a good story roaming around in my head somewhere, but I haven't had time to do much with any of them lately. Maybe I'll pull something out of some orifice or the other.

So, here's the deck. I am getting set to start on the handrail.

On the homefront, both L & N have jobs, so they are looking for apartments. Mrs. A and I had to co-sign the lease, but we will be dropped off of the lease after six months.

R. comes and goes. I'm not sure of what her plans are. She referred to the spare bedroom as "My room" so she may be moving back in. When N and L move out she can have the big bedroom in the basement. She and I can work together to fix it up.

I had my annual diabetes checkup yesterday, and my hemoglobin acl was 7.1 which is very good control. Everything else was normal too, so I guess I haven't abused my body too badly. The one complaint I had was not being able to sleep, so the doc prescribed some sleeping pills, with the understanding I only use them occasionally. I think I will try one Saturday night. I have been averaging only about 5 hours a night, and I'm getting pretty raggedy. Thank God for caffeine

Back to the grind

My computer at work will no longer allow me to log on to update my blog, so I have to do it from home. No big deal, I just used my lunch and breaks to do stuff.

I am not quite done with the deck. Still need to do the handrail and ballisters. I don't have any pictures at the moment.

It was hard to get up and go to work today, having slept in for a while.

R. spent the weekend. It's the first time she has been around for any significant amount of time for months. Emotionally she is all over the map. I hate to see her suffer, but she chose to go down the junkie path, and I can only support her if she is trying to go straight.

At one point she wanted somebody to drive her over to her suppliers house, but everyone told her we loved her too much to do that, so she left on the bus.

It is awfully hard on me to let her go, but I need to separate myself if I am to survive.

Get'n 'er done

Progress on the Deck. I think one more day and the deck will be done, less the handrails and that kind of stuff. And my life will return to its normal state of chaos.

I hurt in all sorts of places from doing things my body isn't used to.

Surprisingly, the sholder that was operated on last October hasn't hurt in particular, and it hasn't hampered me from doing whatever I wanted.

Some progress

So here is the progress on the deck so far. Things are taking a lot longer than I anticipated. I guess there probably won't be a camping trip at the end of the week.

Damn!

And so it begins

Bolgger is messed up and won't let me upload any more photo's for now. I wanted to show the progress we have made. The framing is about 40% done.

We went with Morning Light this weekend for a concert in Centralia, so Saturday was a great but long day, Sunday after church there wasn't much time to get started on the deck, but today we put in about 6 hours. I have to admit that V. was a big help, which surprised me. Of course I let him use my new cordless power tools, so that had a lot to do with it.

More pictures tomorrow, if Blogger allows.
Here's where the deck will go. It's a real mess at the moment

Here'e the big pile of wood dropped in our driveway Hard to believe it cost almost $7,000.00

V.A.C.A.T.I.O.N.

Tomorrow we are going to jail.

We are going with Morning Light to Maple Lane in Centralia for a concert. They will load up the truck with 13,000 lbs of gear tonight and we will head out in the morning. When we get there, we will set up a full sound system with light show. Not to mention setting up chairs for a couple of hundred kids. Two one hour shows, then break it all down and go back home. It is one long day.

Here's a picture of the crew and band from last time:



















I am on vacation as of tomorrow. Oh yeah, I have a deck to build, but I am looking forward to it. The deal is that whenever I take on a major project at home, I get to buy a new toy (oops, I mean tool). Since I will be puting the deck down with deck screws, it will require the purchase of a new cordless drill.

And I will be working with my hands, which I don't get to do all that much. It is a nice change from my normal work.

I had to move to a different cubicle today, first thing this morning, fourth time in the last month. I have it down to a science now. It took me an hour from when I started until I had the computer up and running and was handling my e-mail.

Happy Friday everyone. Have a great weekend.

Deck

They delivered the materials for the deck yesterday. They mixed up some of the order, but I'm not going to complain. I ordered treated redwood decking, and they deliverd Redwood composite decking. I priced the composite stuff, and it was almost $1000.00 more. I won't be returning it. Someone also threw in a 14' treated 4 X 6 that doesn't appear on the manifest.

I am taking off next week to build the deck, but I may get started tonight. I need to remember to take pictures as I go along.

Saturday we are going with Morning Light to jail for a concert. That is always a lot of work, and a lot of fun, and a long day. I'll try to remember to take the camera. I am hoping R. will go with us. They have a lot of resources for recovering drug addicts and alcoholics. But you can't help someone who doesn't want to be helped.

STAR

Chapter VIII of STAR is available at http://star-pat.blogspot.com/

Deck

Today they deliver the materials for the deck. I went to Lowe's hardware and they have a program where you just put in the dimensions and what kind of wood you want and it spits out plans and a complete materials list.

Right down to how many nails you need.

So I have spent several hours going over the materials list and the plans and trying to make sense of it all in my head. It shouldn't bee too difficult for me, after all I am a Manufacturing Engineer. And decks are a whole lot easier to build than 737s.

Nonetheless, when I awoke at 3:00 this morning, my mind immediately went to work building the deck, getting the exact sequence of events set in my mind. And of course revising the plans as I go to accomplish what I want.

I am taking next week off to get the deck built. Hopefully we will get done a little early so Mrs A. and I can disappear into the mountains for a short camping trip.

I have a special place in mind, but will have to sedate Mrs A. to get her there. She has this fear of going off the road and into water and drowning. The place I want to go is 23 miles of bad road out in the wilderness, a lot of it with a cliff on one side and a dropoff on the other, plus the last barrier to the campground is you have to ford a stream with the car.

The payoff is one of the most beautiful camp grounds on the face of the Earth.

I think if I get her to take a couple of benadryl before we leave she will be enough in LALA land that by the time she realizes what is going on, we will be there. Of course this means she won't be helping me set up camp.

And then there is the trip back.

Another fine mess

I mentioned a while back that R. was back on meth again. I love my daughter with all of my heart, but I had come to the point that I had to let her go.

Completely.

Be prepared for the phonecall from the Police or the Hospital. It hurt like Hell, but I did it. Not that you can ever be prepared for those phone calls.

She got her head straight, and got clean (or so she claims). I have had a couple of conversations with her recently, and she seemed all right.

Last night I got a call, and she is all in tears and practically incoherent. She had this boyfriend. He was hit and dragged by a Metro bus a couple of years ago, and his settlement with the Transportation Department was several million dollars.

He is also a junkie.

They had a big fight a couple of weeks ago, and started not coming home at night.

Last night he showed up with a couple of his "homies" to get his stuff. They of course got into a big shouting match, and she got choked into unconsciousness.

One of the neighbors called the police, but he was gone by the time they got there.

While the Police were there, he called her on the phone and told her he was going to kill her, kill me and Mrs A. and everyone in the house. She told me not to answer the door for anyone I didn't know, and she was scared half to death. She said that the police checked and he has outstanding warrants, and so do the two guys that were with him.

Doesn't really worry me particularly.

First of all, I can take care of myself. I have no compuntion to "fight fair" and the quicker you can take them out, the better off you will be.

Second of all, most of these punks run on hot air and intimidation. If they were going to kill anyone, they would have started with R. when they had her. The threat to kill the whole lot of us is just a lot of hot air.

Mind you, I did put a baseball bat under the seat of my car just in case.

It's Only Money

So I went out over the weekend and spent a whole lot of money (by my standards anyway).

The deck off of the living room here at Moneypit Estates has been deteriorating for quite some time. It was bad when I bought the place 20 years ago, so I reskinned the deck with some nice cedar decking. But the underpinnings were rotting out, so it was time to start all over.

While Mrs A. and I were in Mexico I had N. tear the old deck off of the house. He thought it might be a good idea to run under the deck, hammer on the support beams and run out before the deck fell.

Of course that didn't work, and the deck fell on him and he ended up in the Emergency room. Luckily there were no major injuries. I pointed out to him that there were several lenghts of chain hanging in the shop that he could have used to PULL it down with, but he kinda got the "Deer in the headlights" look.

Shortly after that, he flicked a cigarette butt into the pile of debris from the deck, and set it on fire. Luckily they managed to put it out before the house caught on fire. The only casualty was my old yellow cooler.

Saturday we finished up cleaning up the boards from the old deck and got them neatly stacked in the back yard. I plan on using them to build raised beds in the back yard to plant vegetables in.

So Sunday after church, we went down to Lowe's and sat down with the computer and plugged in my design and it spit out the bill of materials.

I about had a heart attack when I saw the bottom line.

$6746.17 of my hard earned dollars just for the materials.

Luckily we have been saving for this for over a year and already have the money set aside.

Wednesday they are delivering the wood. Then comes the hard part: turning a pile of lumber and hardware into something approximating a deck.

Thanks Denny

I was so inspired by Denny's declaration of yesterday to be a national holiday dedicated to laziness that I stayed home from work today.

Since I found out too late to celebrate yesterday, I figured today was the next best thing.

Whew, that was tiring.

Think I had better go take a nap.

Home Blogging

So is home blogging kinda like home schooling? You don't have the interaction with the other delinquents, so it is safer, but the social skills are somewhat questionable?

I guess all of our social skills are questionable anyway.

I kicked V. off of the computer, partly because I felt he was beginning to morph with it, partly because I had not been able to use it for a couple of days. Withdrawal.

I haven't been able to blog at work, because it has been so damn busy I can hardly use my lunch time to catch up with my work.

If anybody gives a shit, here is an example

We buy a wire bundle from a company in Morocco. At the end of it it has a sensor that has six wires coming out of it, and a bunch of nuts and washers to adjust it. This is the flap sensor unit. It sends a signal to the cockpit to tell the pilot when the flaps have been fully deployed. The wire bundle and sensor and engineering are perfect. The unit goes on every airplane.

When we get the wire bundle, it goes to Everett, where it is integrated with other wire bundles. When we get it, it has a small bag with a bunch of hardware taped to the wire bundle.

A couple of nuts, a keyed washer, a lock washer. Well the routing of the wire bundle happens a couple of days before we install the switches and adjust them on a rigging job. Some times the little bag of parts gets lost.

Because we don't ever order the adjustment hardware as a separate item, there is no allowance in the procurement system to order them separately. However, the switch and attached wires IS an orderable item, so when presented with a missing washer or locknut, the mechanics have been ordering the whole switch, stealing the washers and throwing away the switch itself. The switch is a hundred bucks, the hardware, probably a couple of bucks.

So my mission for this week has been to figure out how to get a little bag of parts that costs a couple of bucks, but saves the company a bunch.

I am almost there. I have a couple of technical hurdles to get over tomorrow, but a small problem that costs thousands annually is about to be fixed. Other people have worked on this for several years. but no one could figure it out.

I can't tell you how I did it, or I would have to brain wash you.

If we can produce the most affordable and reliable aircraft if the world, the world comes to us.

We have that product. Now if we can make it even MORE affordable...............

That is one of several problems I have been trying to fix this week.

I always told Mrs A. I am happiest when I am juggling at leat three balls at the same time. This is one.

Busy day

No time to blog today. I am burried in work.

The main problem is that I am only here through Monday and I have several problems that I want to get resolved before I go back to my other job.

Got to get back to the rat race!

Statler and Waldorf

Statler and Waldorf are the two old guys that sat up on the balcony and heckled the cast on The Muppet Show. The were always one of my favorites.

At work , Billy and I sit at the shipside support area (called The Barge). We are a couple of well known curmudgeons, and somebody told us this morning that we reminded him of Statler and Waldorf.

Actually what he said was we reminded him of "the two old dudes in the balcony who heckled everyone"

Art imitates life, and life in turn imitates art.

I am now complete.

I am Muppet, hear me gripe.

Blogstipation

I tried to blog yesterday, but nothing came out.

It's not that there was nothing there, I just kept getting inturrupted. People expecting me to do stuff and all. Then when I got home, V. was firmly entrenched, playing Warcraft. He has just gotten a new subscription card, and it has been over a month since he was able to play, so I figured "WTF let him play, I'm blogstipated anyway."

Sunday I got up at zero dark thirty to go fishing. Here I live in a major metropolitan city, and at certain times, you can go catch a limit of salmon in the lake right here. There is a sockeye salmon run that goes up the Ballard Locks, through Lake Union, out into Lake Washington, down thru Renton and up the Cedar River to spawn.

They linger in the lake for a couple of weeks until whatever internal clock drives their lives clicks over and they get the urge. That urge must be pretty powerful, because the minute they hit fresh water, they start breaking down.

Spawning=death.

I am all enthusiastic about sex and everything, but death as a consequence would definitely make me think twice.

"Oh baby, oh baby I need you so bad"

"OK, but you're going to die"

"Can I reconsider this?"

At least with fish, it is equitable, because the fish BOTH die.

Not like praying mantises where the female literally bites the males head off WHILE they are copulating.

Where was I?

Oh yeah, sockeye.

The thing was, I also has a family reunion on Sunday, and I had to go pick up my mom.

So down to the lake, catch my limit of two fish, back home to clean and filet them, back down to bring my mom fresh salmon and pick her up for the reunion, back home to pick up Mrs A., off to the ferry terminal to catch the boat to Vashon Island. And all of this before noon. We missed the first boat by three cars, but that was OK with me. It gave me a chance to catch my breath.

Sockeye are wierd.

You don't use any bait or anything. By the time they hit the fresh water, they have quit feeding. So you use a flasher and trailing behind it about 18", bare hooks. For some reason they strike at bare hooks.

Oh, not just any bare hooks, they have to be red.

Why do they do it?

Not a clue.

We're all Bozos on this bus

Which was the title of a Firesign Theater album (remember albums: big black discs that used a special rotating platter to produce music?)

At any rate, we're all crazy. I'm crazy, you're crazy, and the people next door are for sure crazy. As my mom used to put it "Everyone's crazy except for you and me, and I'm not so sure about you."

Some crazy dude in downtown Seattle went into a Jewish center, yelled that he was pissed at Israel and started shooting women.. Killed one and injured five, a couple of them critically. Boy that sure showed them Israelis.

For the first time in a long time V. is spending the weekend with his dad. His dad's new wife is crazy. She had started telling us how to do things. And I don't mean advice, it was orders. When she started telling us how to raise V. I called her on it, told her that she wasn't Vs mom. That didn't go well, but it is the truth. Besides, the woman has never raised a child so she doesn't know what she is talking about.

At any rate, N. called to double check that everything was OK about him picking up V. I said, sure, no problem, but I could hear her in the background "Since we aren't family he needs to give us a written statement that it is OK for us to have V."

When this was relayed to me my reply was short:

"HORSESHIT!!" and that is a quote. Who the hell does she think she is telling me what to do.

Mrs A. found it highly amusing.

All crazy.

Every one.

Friday is finally here

This week seems like it was about ten days long. It is hard to believe that one week ago today I was still in Mexico, and all that went on from there.

I didn't write anything in my blog yesterday, because things were just WAY too busy. I had just transitioned to a new job. and since I was no longer directly supporting the shop, had adjusted my start time from 6:00 to 7:00 so I could grab an extra hour in the morning in the sack.

Well the first day that I started my new shift time, as soon as I got to work, my cell phone rings and it is the shop. Could I come out and go back to my old job as pit boss for a couple of weeks?

I said I would be willing, but they had to go through my new management and get an OK, and I would need to "loan in" while I was there.

So an hour later, there I was back at my old job.

Well, they didn't ask for me to come back because everything was going according to plan. So I was busy scrambling to try to figure out what was going on while handling the new stuff coming in.

This was a real win-win situation for me.

I made brownie points with the shop and shipside support for being willing to come out and support them. I made more brownie points with my management because the shop requested me by name to come out and help, and I was willing to do it. I plan to milk this one for all I can get.

Too bad were not up for salary review right now.

The Downside

Lest all y'all go down the road fat dumb and happy, thinking the Mexico trip was a walk in the park, I need to include the other side of the coin.

One of the things I failed to include in my list of things to be thankful for was PEACE AND QUIET!

Living in a barracks full of teenage boys was a real challenge. The noise level went from a low roar to complete chaos. The trips on the bus to wherever we were going were so loud, I finally begged a set of earplugs from one of the other adults. I believe they saved my sanity. (or did they????)

I got mighty sick of beans and rice. It filled me and kept me going, but the food was just basic fuel for the body.

Mrs. A. had a real problem with the lack of structure. Most of the time it was pretty chaotic, and no one seemed to be in charge. Either no one was, or everyone seemed to be trying to be at the same time. Secretly, I think Mrs A. thought SHE should be in charge. She'd whup 'em into line.

the last day and journey home were a real nightmare. Four of the group came down with the Tijuana-two-step. They all started running off at both ends at about 4:00 in the morning, of the day we were to go home. Mrs A. finally made it back to work today.

One of the guys was seriously ill. We were waiting in 105 degree temperatures for a couple of hours. I was in the women's barracks taking care of Mrs A, and about six people were over by the mens barracks taking care of the kid (I think he was 14 or so). they were cooling him down with wet cloths and making sure he forced fluids.

I heard it when he went into hyperventiliation, and nobody seemed to know what to do, so after five minutes or so, I left Mrs. A, and went over and told them "He is in hyperventilation. You need to get a paper bag, and have him breathe into it." I saw the lights go on in a couple of heads. It was like "Oh, I knew that" but they had never seen the real thing before, and didn't recognize it. It took a quite a while to get things under control. His temperature was 102 when they started to treat the hyperventilation, and it was back down to normal by the time we got to the border (about an hours bus ride). It was pretty scary. Glad I was there to remind them what to do. Mrs. A did not pass a bathroom without examining the facilities up close and personal. She told me she was sitting on the pot, puking on the floor at the bathroom on the border.

That was where I threatened the Border Guard. She was very weak and needed support to walk, so I helped her up to the check station. The Border Guard kinda sneered and told me "One at a time". I told him "This is my wife, and she is very ill. I am helping her up to the counter. If you give me any more $%^&* I will come over this counter and see if I can change your attitude." Probably not the brightest move I have made recently. The other Border guard distracted me, and took me over to the side and very politely got me through. The young guy that was so sick had to be essentially carried through the checkpoint. I think I must have softened up the guards, because they were REAL polite to everyone else.

Same thing at the airport. The check-in clerk was ignoring us and waited on several people who got there after us. When I interrupted her she told me she was the only one on duty, so I could either shut up or get out of the line, I told her that Mrs A. was the only one in line she had skipped over, and also the only one who was likey to barf all over her nice neat counter. All the sudden there were a couple more people specifically to help us through.

The flight home was no joy. Mrs. A. and the three other people that were sick had to take turns rushing to the bathroom.

On of the kids right behind them started making barfing noises, and I turned around and told him "If you don't stop that, I am going to come back there and slap the shit out of you!" I think I stunned a couple of people, but it got the job done.

The first day we were there, I let my blood sugar get so low I almost passed out. I was hot, had been moving dirt, and was thirsty, so I went over and sat down for a second and took a drink of water. When I got up everything went black and I sat down VERY abruptly. I was seeing stars, which happened when my blood sugar gets too low. There was another diabetic there, along with her mom. I knew that they carried hard candy, so I begged a piece from them, and it brought me back. I made sure I always carried hard candy with me after that.

But I was sure asking myself "What have I gotten myself into?

More Mexico Pics

Mexico Pictures

So, here are a bunch of images from the trip to Mexico.














Here is the portable theater that we used to present stuff all over the area.















The "Chain gang" digging footings for a new wall. We found scorpions, black widow spiders, and something the locals called "The face of the child" and assured us "Es Mortal!"














One of my favorite images.
















Doing crafts with one of the kids















Making comcrete the old way. Sand, cement, rocks and water on the bare ground.














That's me with the white headband.

















The crew















Water wars.
















The kids absolutely LOVED the personal Mister/sprayer.

















Our favorite place. Shaded, and there was always a breeze.















Building walls. The ambient temperature was 105 degrees, but it must have been 120 degrees between the walls.

More images to come!

Back to the grind

I'm back at work today. No pictures of the trip to Mexico yet.

I downloaded the pictures to my computer at home, and burned them onto a CD, but of course I left the CD at home. I will definitely try and get to posting a few pics tonight.

First of all, I just want to say what a humbling experience it was, going on a mission to Mexico to El Rancho de la Sus Ninos. Their water supply is from a well, and limited, so the running water is limited. Showers consist of a bucket and a cup. Electricity is from a generator. No air conditioning. Food is beans and rice and an entree.

The orphanage houses around 100 permanent resident kids, ranging from under 1 yr old, to teens. It is not supported by the state and all services are free. It is solely supported by donations from Christian Organizations. It supports a day care that supports around 100 kids, several outreach churches in the Tijuana area, and a bible college.

All of the facilities have been built with volunteer labor, with donated materials or materials bought with donated money. It has been in existence for 20 years and started out with absolutely nothing. It has teetered on the edge of dissolution several times, but always at the last minute and enexpected donation has come along and pulled them back from the brink.

The mission was physically challenging. I avoid physical labor, and digging ditches and pouring concrete in 105 degree weather was taxing (I lost 10 lbs in 7 days). It was also behaviorally challenging. Canvassing, participating in presentations and skits and Evangelizing is outside my comfort zone, but I always push myself to do things that are a challenge. Riding herd on a bunch of teenage kids was also a challenge.

But I didn't kill a single one of then, although I did threaten to "Come back there and slap the shit out of" a couple of them. Maybe not the best of language, but I guarantee you the message got across.

Sunday Blog

I don't normally blog on Sunday, because I am generally too busy on the weekends to take the time to sit down at the computer and write anything.

Today is different for a couple of reasons.

I had to run Mrs. A. in to the Emergency room last night.

She brought home a case of Montezuma's Revenge with her from Mexico. She has had a case of the scoots since the middle of the night on Friday, and is still wearing a path in the carpet from the bedroom to the bathroom. She has been miserable, and the fact that the temperature has been in the high 90's has not helped the situation.

She was so weak and miserable last night that I called the Consulting Nurse for Group Health, and she recommended that I take her in just to double-check and get her rehydrated and get her Electrolites ballanced.

Any thime you have to go to the Emergency room, it is a pain in the ass (and after almost 40 hours of the scoots, that is literal). So they put her on an IV and checked her out. Everything is fine, but she is still doin' the Tiajuana Two-step. Sure hope she will be better soon.

Besides being at the hospital until midnight, I got a call from The Lazy B this morning, and they needed me to come in to work to straighten out some Electrical problems.

The rules are that if they call you in on your day off, they have to pay you for four hours if you are there for more than a half an hour. Sunday is also double time, so basically I got 8 hours pay for a couple of hours work.

Since I only live about ten minutes from the plant and I wasn't up to doing much anyway, I went in to our nice air-condiotioned office and worked for a couple of hours.

Now nobody expects me to do anything because I am tired from the trip, and had to work besides.

I think I need to go rehydrate.

Otra Cervesa Por Favor!

What a trip!

Too much to say, and not a bit of it thought through yet, but the trip to Mexico was... well, it was a trip.

I have about 100 pictures, which I have not even had a chance to download. There was SOOOOO much that happened, and a little more challenge than I was prepared for.

I was laying in my bunk at the orphanage this morning trying to figure out how to go about this, and got........nowhere.

I have only been able to take "Bucket Showers" for the last week, so when I sign off here, I am going to go celebrate the major triumph of Western Civilivation, hot running water right in your house, and stand under the shower for at least 20 minutes, and then go celebrate sleeping in my own bed with Mrs. A at my side.

Deadly insects....heat stroke.......back breaking labor.......beautiful orphan childern...........evangilism............bad food.........wonderful campanionship........

Am I glad to be home?????

Hell yes!!!!

Would I do it again????

In an instant!

TTFN

Which is a direct quote from our buddy Tigger and means Ta Ta For Now.

It has been a hectic day, getting ready for the trip. I am just about fully packed, just waiting for a pair of shorts and a pair of loose cotton pants to make it through the drier.

Mrs A. went to the Podiatrist this morning to get a final checkout of her foot, and everything is OK, although I imagine it will be invoked to get her dispensation from any physical labor.

After that we had to go find Mrs. A a bigger suitcase, either that or I would be working naked, as she had appropriated most of the storage capacity of my suitcase.

Had to get the bills paid so they didn't reposess Alville while I was gone (Although I am grateful I have the ability to pay the bills, I still hate paying them).

So I will be gone from Blogville for a week. No computer access, no phone service no running water. I will miss everyone in the blogasphere.

When I get back home, after taking a LOOOONNNGGG hot shower and catching up on sleep, I will be loading up some pictures from the trip.

N. is supposed to tear the deck off of the house while we are gone. It will be really strange to pull in the driveway and have the deck gone. Tearing it down will be the easy part. Then I have to build the new one. I'll get to that after we are back.

So wish me luck and if you are the praying sort, say a little prayer for us.

Pushin' the Limits

I am not a person that is satisfied to sit in a chair and watch TV and look out at life passing by on the street. So I tend to try and challenge myself to do things that are not easy for me.

Oh, I don't mean jump off of buildings or free climb mountains. I have done those things before, but I am getting a little long in the tooth for those kinds of physical challenge.

I mean other kinds of challenges, like going to Mexico on a mission with the church. For me this is pushing the envelope in a totally different way. Part of it has to do with puting myself under someone elses control, which has always been an issue for me. And getting up in front of a group and doing testimony makes my knees quiver. But I don't let that stop me.

Getting involved with Morning Light and helping with Prison Ministry was a push, but on the other hand there aren't a lot of people willing to take on that job. The right message to the right group at the right time could do more to change peoples lives than anything else I could be involved in.

Life is a journey, and the path is always there if we will just have faith and take the first step. But that first step is always the hardest.

I am taking tomorrow off, to finish packing and take care of last minute business. I went out and got a case of CDs from Morning Light last night to distribute among the young people when we go on our mission.

I pulled a muscle in my shoulder last night helping April unload a keyboard from her car. I keep forgetting that I had surgery on my shoulder last October, and it keeps reminding me that I am not quite ready to use it like I used to. Getting closer all the time.

Lots of stuff to double check before we take off on Friday.

Packin' it in

Friday we are leaving for Mexico.

Not your Cabo-san-pulco-juana. A little villiage in the middle of nowhere, where we are spending a week with a missionary group providing slave labor at an orpanage, pouring comcrete and building walls.

One peice of luggage not weighing more than 50 lbs. One carry-on. Need to bring bedding and water bottles. Doesn't leave a lot of room for anything but the necessities (Like toilet paper, which is NOT provided)

Showers are by bucket.

There isn't a whole lot of room for luxuries. My question to you is: given a limited amount of space and weight, and disallowing expensive electronic devices like mp3 plaayers, what would you just not live without? Limit yourself to a couple of items.

I just got a water spray bottle with a built-in fan, and a wind up flashlight that doesn't require batteries.

Mickey Mouse Mechanics

If your car breaks down in the middle of nowhere, it is late and no parts store is open, I'm the guy that can usually figure out how to get the car home. I drove so many beaters for so many years that I can usually figure out a way to Mickey Mouse things together.

An Example: I was driving a 1938 Graham Supercharger, and got caught in a snowstorm. This car had vacuum operated windshield wipers. When you are going up a hill or accelerating, they don't work very effectively. The snow kept building up on the wipers, so I kept having to stop and clear them.

Under the dash there was a little "ping", and the wipers stopped working. They would go over, but they wouldn't come back.

I pulled over and messed around with them, and found that if you bumped the wiper blades when they were all the way over they would come back.

Scrounging around the car I came up with a half a dozen rubber bands, which I daisy-chained together, attached them to the wiper blade, wound the other end around the wing window handle, started up the car, and drove the rest of the way home.

I performed an emergency repair so Mickey Mouse this weakend, that EVEN I was ashamed. But of course it worked.

Green Jean, the '73 Mercedes, decided to quit working last Thursday. It was over at R's apartment. I suspected the battery had been run dead, but wasn't sure.

Saturday, N. and I went down to grab the battery out and bring it home and charge it. When we got there, I asked N. to see if the car would start. To my surprise, it turned over, but it wouldn't start.

I had adjusted the points recently, so I popped of the distributor cap to see if they had slipped. No, the points were fine.

I happened to glance at the underside of the cap, and the little center button that made the electrical contact with the rotor was MISSING. Something I had never heard of happening before.

No contact, no spark.

There is a little spring up in the body of the cap that pushes the button forward.

I took that spring out, bent the last 1/8 inch 90%, put it back in the distributor cap, put the cap back on the car.

Not only did it start, but we drove it all the way home.

We went and tried to get a new distributor cap. but it was too late, everything was closed. The one place that was open didn't carry anything that old.

This was Saturday night, and I was tired, so I decided to sleep on it.

When I got up Sunday, I went to reconoiter the situation.

I have a parts car for my Z sitting in the driveway. I pulled the distributor cap off of it, and it looked like the little button would fit in the Mercedes.

I pulled on it and it came right out, so I went over and it went right in the Mercedes distributor cap. The car runs like a champ.

Well, they are both 280's.

New digs

I am at a new job and new location starting today. So far I have managed to unpack, hook up the phone, hook up the computer and process one item for the group. Not bad for a couple of hours.

It is downright painful to try to remember how to do some of this stuff. The information eventually works its way to the surface, but it is more like a splinter that has to fester and work its way to the surface than an information retrieval system.

As I put it this morning "The storage system functions perfectly, but the information retrieval system seems to have broken down".

I am leaving at lunch. Mrs A and I are going to see a counselor to get some advice as to what would be the best approach towards our freeloading children.

I know, I know. Kick their ass out.

DOGGOD

The other night when things were working on towards dark, on the Fourth, a thunderstorm cell wandered through and put on it's own little fireworks show. Kinda upstaged the later stuff. It also reminded me of this:

a couple of years ago in August, we had a most unusual weather day. Thunderstorm cells moved in one after the other all afternoon and evening. I love storms, so I spent a lot of the day outside where I could watch things.

We were living in a tiny 800 sq. ft house in West Seattle, just my son Nathan and I. At just about dark, I noticed we were just about out of milk, so we walked up to the Safeway a block away. It was a warm windy evening with occasional flashes of lightning and claps of thunder.

We had gotten our milk and were on the way home.

As we passed a side alley a deranged dog came roaring out of the alley at us. His eyes were dilated and there was foam at the corners of his mouth. He was showing his teeth and growling. It was not a small dog, but I believe a Rodesian Ridgeback. I think all the thunder and lightning had unhinged him.

Scared the hell out of me.

As he charged at us, with my right hand, I pushed my son behind me, and turned to face the dog. I pointed at the dog and yelled "Get the hell away from us!".

At the exact moment I pointed and yelled, the entire sky lit up and a lightning bolt hit very, very close by. The Dogs eyes got so big it looked like they would pop out of his head, as he skidded to a stop.

He turned tail and "Yipe, yipe yipe" as he turned tail and ran the other way as fast as he could.

The release of tension and sight of the dog running away was so immediate and so intense that my son and I looked at each other and broke out in laughter. We laughed off and on for the rest of the evening.

Maybe he thought he had tried to bite God.

Redeye!

There are a lot of people stumbling around with red eyes this morning for various reasons, myself included. Some of the reasons are:

1) Lack of sleep. I know it sounded like a war zone last night, and it didn't taper off until after midnight.

2) consumption of massive amounts of alcohol.

3) close range contact to smoke from various exploding or sparking substances.

4) inhaling illegal herbal substances.

5) all of the above.

I am guilty of numbers one and three. I would like to think I have outgrown numbers two and four, but we are all one moment away from our next Homer moment.

If overindulgence in good food could cause red eyes, I would be guilty of that also. I brought egg rolls, of course. Each time I go to a potluck, I make a few more in the hopes that there will be a couple left over that I can take home. So far I am batting a big zero.

We all made it through with all of our parts intact, although V. was doing a study of the difference between Black Cat and Titanium firecrackers, and to his dismay found the Black Cat fuses burned a a much quicker rate. His fingers are smarting and his ears are ringing, but no permanent damage.

Hope everyone out there had a glorious Fourth and came through it in good shape.

Hectic!

Things always get busy this time of year. This weekend and the upcoming weeks are no exception.

Saturday was V.s fourteenth birthday, so he had some friends over for pizza and sodas, and they played x-box for six solid hours. I got out a book and retired to the music room, where I was far enough away to escape the bubble and boil, but close enough to make sure nothing burned. All in all, it was a successful day.

We also gave L. her birthday present, which was a couple of days early, her b-day being today. They wanted to go camping, and we bought them a full camping set, which included about everything except the reservations. It was a cool set, but of course this being an extended weekend for a lot of people, they couldn't find an open place, everything already being full.

Sunday was Church and grocery shopping, plus I took V down to the Mall to spend his birthday money. While I was there I picked up a computer game (Heroes of Might and Magic V) and a book (Whistling Season by Ivan Doig). We also went to the Asian market to get the ingredients for egg rolls, which we are going to bring to a party on the 4th.

So we need to make the egg rolls tonight for consumption tomorrow. I also need to get in touch with the band and get a case of CDs to take to Mexico, since we are leaving on the 14th.

Thursday is my last day at my present job, and Friday I transition to my new job, which has been pretty poorly defined. Guess I'll find out what it entails when I get there. I guess I'll be writing processes and Procedures for MMA.

I still haven't figured out when I will find the time to tear off the deck and build the new one off of the living room, but hopefully before the summer is over.

And I still haven't had time t get started putting the ground effects kit on the Z.

IT'S ALIVE!

After a couple of very frustrating weeks, I have gotten the home computer back to working. It had gotten so bad that I couldn'y get it to do anything, so I did the dreaded RESTORE. which puts it back to the configuration it was when you bought it.

Since I had installed a high speed cable connection after I bought it, it wouldn't recognize the cable modem, and I didn't have the drive disc for it since I had Comcast do that when I had the cable hooked up.

I had wanted to put in a wireless router anyway, so I decided now was a good time to do it.

After I got the wireless router working, I downloaded McAfee anti-virus and did a full virus screening. It came up with 1124 spyware and questionalble programs. It took me all day to run and delete all of the crap, but after I got done it ran. The only problem is that it still takes about 20 minutes to boot it up from off.

I also installed an administrative lock at turn-on. Most of the spyware and stuff was gotten by various kids downloading things from the internet. They have already asked me for the password three times in the last 24 hours. I find excuses.

I think they are beginning to get the idea that I am not going to hand it out.