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.