I had something else in mind, but...

…I’ll save it for another time.

Wednesday - another day of not having to fight the wretched commute 34 miles into the Valley of Death. I don’t miss that, not one fucking bit! Now that I think about it, I don’t miss much there at all – a few friends, but they continue to call and bitch about how bad it is and how friggin lucky I was to get out.

So, what’s after scaling the mountain of paperwork that’s necessary to join the ranks of the un-enjoyed? Well I’ve become a slave to my own lists. I didn’t realize how many things were falling by the wayside before and now is my time to get ‘er done.

No more pills to help me sleep only to be followed by gallons of coffee to keep me awake. No more life endangering commutes on highways too crowded for anyone’s good. No more Napoleonic CEOs who think the world lives to kiss his ass – what was god thinking when she put the likes of that (and other vermin) in our path? (and if you are reading this you sick fuck, I hope you choke on a hockey puck and your own greed!) No more daily March of the Lemmings to observe. No more paycheck…what!...oh…right…I had prepared for this for a year…HA!

So, it’s house, family, friends and loves – not necessarily in that order – they are what is most important now.

Will I work again? You betcha! I was happiest when I worked for me and I was the architect of my own disasters. May not have made as much, but that doesn’t seem so important anymore.

Welcome to my Ride of the Valkyries – and if you hear Brünnhilde shouting "Ho-Jo-To-Ho” over the next rise it’s probably just a male version…me. Duck!

Post Holiday Spins

Today my brain feels like this:

This has been the kind of holiday weekend that works for me in the main, some company, some entertainment, some more company, some really good food, some more entertainment and a WHOLE LOT of doing nothing. Some recent events and introspections have left me in a bit of a blur - nothing that a few projects around the house, paper mountains to climb and a whole lot of soul searching won't cure - a rediscovery of the essential Seamus. Sorting out what's important, what's real and finding me in the cacophony of feelings that are in this centrifuge called my head.

We did go see the new Harry Potter movie at the IMAX Theater Thursday night – if you have access to an IMAX and they are playing HP – go see it! Even if you’ve already seen it on a typical screen go see it again in IMAX – AWESOME! If you are fortunate enough to have an IMAX that is playing this they are probably playing The Polar Express as well (in 3D) – go see this too (just don’t eat beforehand)!

The commercial part of this post is now over!

Recent events have left me a little less than grounded so it was nice to have friends and family around this weekend to help take the sting out of it.

Varla Vixen was in town with family and yesterday we got together with my youngest, Saucy Free, and embarked on a photo safari late yesterday. So instead of searching for available game, we were searching for available light. It was wonderful seeing her again – we don’t do this often enough – stoopid distance!

So the rest of the post is simply eye candy from the late afternoon. I hope everyone had a GREAT weekend!

Wednesday potpourri

1st ~ the pics are some more of a series, but this time you get to see the model as well! It was a fun shoot with sometimes crappy light, but it still worked. Besides, it was a great distraction from everything else going on.

2nd ~ the Buffledog comes home today. He’s already getting up on his own and going to pee, requiring only minimal support from the technicians there. Pics of the boy will be up tomorrow – he’ll get to share HNT!

3rd ~ Dad was also in surgery on Monday to repair some radiation damage to his bladder. He’s home and ok, but he’s become pretty despondent with all his recent medical activity. He’ll recover and snap out of it, but it’s hard to watch and listen to.

4th ~ I don’t think I’ve shared with the “sphere” that the company I worked for was being sold - gobbled up by a foreign conglomerate. Typical to form (a.k.a. corporate greed) we all expected a bloodbath right after the conclusion of sale and that expectation was spot on. So, those of us who had become “too expensive” were “set free” on Monday the 21st. So, before anyone fires off a sympathy, empathy or “those fuckers” comment let me say that I’m really pretty happy with the outcome. I fully expect to enjoy a few months respite from corporate madness and get lots of things done that I’ve been neglecting for a long time. Besides, I’m pretty cheap help compared to the bids we’ve had for things like painting, plumbing, sheetrock and electrical work – I also do better work!

I’ve been preparing for this eventuality for over a year and I’m glad for it to finally come down. A little financial restructuring, a lot of time to look in and find me again and maybe, just maybe, find a renewal of body , mind and spirit that I gave away – no, prostituted – to the corporate machine that neither cares nor appreciates what one brings to the table unless it’s cold, hard cash. C’est la vie!

Perhaps now I can find “right livelihood” and follow my bliss. I’m dancing – dance with me!

"the model"

HAPPY HUMP DAY!

collisions

BUFFLEDOG UPDATE (Tuesday Morning): The Buffleboy has once again come through his surgery with flying colors. His recovery should be much quicker than the previous one because he'll be able to support himself on the left leg that was repaired first. I just got off the phone with the night technician and she said he was doing fine, blissed out on happy drugs. The grandest hope is that he'll come home tomorrow.

waking
sleeping

seeing
hiding

doing
waiting

long and long
today

IN AND OUT

The dog searches until he finds me upstairs,

lies down with a clatter of elbows,

puts his head on my foot.

Sometimes the sound of his breathing

saves my life -- in and out,

in and out; a pause, a long sigh. . . .

from Jane Kenyon's - Having it Out with Melancholy

Pink Gold

Pink Gold

“Zeniquin” – super antibiotic – super pricey – super working – but christ on a cracker, this is expensive shit!

Today’s gold price = $487.80 Troy oz.
Today’s Zeniquin price = $299.97 Troy oz.

It’s also the first really significant improvement in the Buffledog’s tenacious skin infection – for that I am grateful, but Jeeze Louise I hope those pharmaceutical folks are enjoying their tropical island beach house ‘cause it won’t be me affording it! 1 1/2 pills a day for 30 days at $13.50 per pill - you do the math. If you were thinking Christmas from Seamus and the Buffledog - think again! :o)~

Buffledog’s next scheduled surgery is Monday, 11/21 – YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TGIF!

My life as a bug...and sometimes windshield!

So I was working at home last night (for some of you it was the wee hours of the morning), being generally pissed off because what I’d rather be doing doesn’t pay the mortgage and a few other things to boot. Now I was staring at a recalcitrant Word Doc Template – project due tomorrow and I do what I always do in these situations – dream up some other task to procrastinate until my mind glues itself back together again. So I reach over and pick up the guitar off the stand and began to idly pick away at some non-descript tune and my thoughts went back to a time long ago and far away; remembering more pleasant times of a misspent youth.

My older brother was working in a bistro – a live music venue – back in a day when beer was cheap, dope was cheaper and sex was relatively safe. I spent a lot of time there swilling beer and surrounding myself in the aura of entertainers of note or soon to be note. Because of my familial connection I had a permanent back room pass and discovered that many of the performers were complete assholes, accentuated by the altering substance of choice; and then there was the occasional few that stood out as real and genuine. As I was picking away last night I found myself repeating a riff that I learned from Chuck Mitchell. I was too altered then to remember the whole tune, but when I’m bothered by something these little riffs become my security blanket. Chuck was married to Joni Mitchell prior to this time but was certainly his own person and had a style that I identified with a lot. He had a voice that could carry a room full of drunken patrons and he delivered. I always thought he should have gone on to bigger and better, but alas he did not hit the Big Time. Probably one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met. We had a long, drunken philosophical discussion one night about bouncing off the dichotomies that life presents – I think the beer won over conclusion that night.

This morning on the way in I got sick of listening to NPR babble on so I punched up the CD and this song was queued up – my life and a continuation of a discussion from many years ago:

Dire Straits - The Bug

well it's a strange old game - you learn it slow
one step forward and it's back to go
you're standing on the throttle
you're standing on the breaks
in the groove 'til you make a mistake

sometimes you're the windshield
sometimes you're the bug
sometimes it all comes together baby
sometimes you're a fool in love
sometimes you're the louisville slugger
sometimes you're the ball
sometimes it all comes together baby
sometimes you're going to lose it all

you gotta know happy - you gotta know glad
because you're gonna know lonely
and you're gonna know bad
when you're rippin' and a ridin'
and you're coming on strong
you start slippin' and slidin'
and it all goes wrong because

sometimes you're the windshield
sometimes you're the bug
sometimes it all comes together baby
sometimes you're a fool in love
sometimes you're the louisville slugger baby
sometimes you're the ball
sometimes it all comes together baby
sometimes you're going to lose it all

one day you got the glory
one day you got none
one day you're a diamond
and then you're a stone
everything can change
in the blink of an eye
so let the good times roll
before we say goodbye, because

sometimes you're the windshield
sometimes you're the bug
sometimes it all comes together baby
sometimes you're a fool in love
sometimes you're the louisville slugger baby
sometimes you're the ball
sometimes it all comes together baby
sometimes you're going to lose it all

HAPPY HUMP DAY ALL!

Responsibility for yesterday's birthday

Here are more old photos from the archive. I found these in a box that was about to get tossed while packing up stuff at Dad’s. Since he can’t see very well he had directed someone to “toss that old box of papers”. Fortunately I intercepted the box on its way out and nearly had a heart attack when I saw what it contained. In his defense all he saw was some old newspaper in the top and assumed it was trash – ha! Needless to say, I did not let anything go to the trash that I didn’t peruse after that. Makes me wonder what got tossed while I wasn’t there!

Here’s Mom circa 1945 and 1950.

Happy nearly Hump Day!

Double Nickel

UPDATE - Sunday 11/13: ok, ok! Maybe my birthday is a good thing and I'll try and enjoy it; especially after the F40 arrives! Bwahahaha! Thank you all in advance! :)

OK - real update - here is the Buffledog yesterday morning - he is doing much better. Looks like the surgery is a GO for the 21st.

I am not fond of my birthday – never have been. I don’t have a good reason for it – perhaps I just don’t like being the center of attention. Even the lure of presents isn’t enough – most of my family has pretty much given up on it – well, except for my older brother and with him I have to suffer through a 2 hour annual phone call (a.k.a. brother’s pity party) - spare me.

I really hate the “What do you want for your birthday?” question. Maybe it’s just that my wants are so big and seemingly unattainable. What if they knew I was serious when I said I wanted an F40 Ferrari? Or a Lancair Legacy? Or some internal peace – happiness? Fuck! Perhaps just a small dose of contentment – the convenient 2 oz size would be splendid?

Now I love everyone else’s birthdays. Dreaming up new and different surprises and putting thought into it – making it happen. Go figure!

See? A diametric Seamus. I’ve often wondered if there was a factory recall that I missed along the way. That they/she/he left out a wadget when they assembled this widget.

Well guess what? This WIDGET is turning 55 on Monday - the big double nickel. How do I feel about that? Truth is I don’t see it and most days I don’t feel it. Sometimes walking to the bathroom in the wee hours of the morning I half expect to see someone different in the mirror – older, grayer, wiser – some achromatic vestige of a former reckless self. I don’t though – it’s still Seamus in the Morning with blue eyes framed in red and stubble like 40 grit sandpaper that surrounds a dragon breath that could wipe out a small country. But it’s still Seamus staring back at me with the glimmer of hope hidden somewhere back in the nether-regions of the baby blues. Before long (somewhere between toothpaste and razor) I don the mantle of “whatever it takes to make it through this day” and I start to crack the tiniest of smiles. Then it all changes as I hear the Buffledog padding through the kitchen when he finally realizes I’m upright and mobile and I set down the razor for safety’s sake and steel myself for a cold nose Buffle-goose of epic proportions. All sense of philosophical wonderment leaves in a rush and all I see is me, Seamus – neither old nor young, just me. I think I like it like that!

So Monday it’ll be Seamus in the Morning Double Nickel and sometime during the day I’ll tilt a glass to hope and my friend in the mirror. Maybe the F40 will be in front of the house with a big Ferrari Red bow this year – hahahahahaha!

"Can you hear me now?"

I posted this a while back, but it goes with the HNT pic! Besides I love this story!

So for the benefit of those who haven't seen it - "Can you hear me now?"

Back up car - hear sickening "crunch".
Get out of car and pick up pieces of cell phone.
Think: Hmmm, 2nd loss in as many years.

note to self: some of us are not meant for electronic leashes!

Actually the first loss was far more entertaining:

The wind was gently blowing on a late spring day and I was enjoying the quiet and the sun on my face.

Obnoxious musical ring (Wm. Tell Overture)

"Hey dad? Is your phone leaking?"

I ignore the question and continue to hold my life by the fingertips of one hand while while trying to set a chock in a very small crack on the rock face with the other.

Obnoxious musical ring stops and I smile the smallest of smiles.

I finally find an accommodating space and the chock is set and I clip in and relax a wee amount. I look down and nod to Saucy-C, who's perched on a small ledge 30 feet below me, and turn to contemplate my next move (hopefully in an upward direction). 40 feet left on this 4th and final pitch and I look down to see the Buffledog 140 feet below, exploring some delicious new bit of doggie news. I change hands on the tenuous hold and dip the free hand in the chalk bag...

Obnoxious musical ring (Wm. Tell Overture)

"Hey dad! Your phone's leaking again."

I take the previously chalked up paw and retrieve phone from clip and flip it open in a white cloud of dust.

me - "Hello?"

caller - "Where are you?"

me - "Who's this?"

caller - "Trish. Where are you?"

me - "I'm not there!"

Trish - "Are you gonna sign off on these parts?"

me - "Today?"

Trish - "Yes, today. Customer wants them overnight! Where are you? You coming in."

me - "No."

...pregnant pause...

Trish - "You're the project engineer."

me - "What's your point? Did you check my calendar? Outlook does work someti..."

Trish - "NO!"

Switch hands while trying to cradle tiny phone, wishing I had a prehensile tail and wishing that I hadn't forgot to turn off and remove phone from belt at base of wall - or better yet, the truck.

me - "J can sign."

Trish - "She's not here either!"

me - "Did you check her calendar?"

Trish - "NO!"

me - "Find JR."

...pregnant pause...a long pregnant pause...

Wish again for prehensile tail and attempt to shift hands again...

Phone falls...

me shouting - "ROCK!"

...a very long way!

"Hey dad! Your phone's toast!"

I look down and the Buffledog was safely out of range.

I smile a much larger smile and insert free hand into chalk bag.

note to self: never again! Never, never again!

me shouting - "CLIMBING!"

Answer Day!!!

Julie said...
If you could have any job on earth, what would it be?

1. “Beauty Pageant” answer ~ the avenger, wreaking havoc on abusers of children, women/men and animals.
2. Developer of affordable, green/sustainable and interesting housing.

Boo said...
Ummmmmm......2 questions...what is your shoe size and favorite brand of jeans? ;)

1. 8 – 8.5 US or 40.5 – 41 Euro! Unless we’re talking about climbing shoes, then knock off 1 size.
2. Eddie Bauer or Lee

Inanna said...
Questions? why am I always stumped about what to ask? That's my question.

Because it’s only 9:34 AM and you’re still sleepy or hung-over?

lime said...
a question or two. you list an interest as travel. where is your favorite place you have travelled and why? where do you want to go that you haven't been and why?

1. There are 3 actually:

• Caracas, Venezuela ~ an interesting a diverse city with an eclectic mix of Portuguese, Spanish and German influence.
• The Grand Canyon ~ because it is simply magnificent.
• Hawaii ~ my Hawaii post says it all!

2. New Zealand ~ there be Hobbits there! :)

J. said...
If you could buy any piece of candy, knowing that it would be the ONLY candy (not the only food) you would eat for 50 years, what would it be?

Gosh, if it’s that scarce why bother at all? Oh, ok! I’m not a big candy eater (nor sweets in general) but I suppose a chocolate toffee.

Laura at VitaminSea said...
How did you end up living in Seattle and do you like living there? Where would you recommend a visitor stay if they came to the city, and if they're outdoorsy people ... what activities would you recommend they check out?

My sister lived in Seattle in ’82 and recommended the place highly knowing who I am. Youngest child lived with her dad in BC and after visiting there we came through Seattle and it jumped to #1. It wasn’t until the end of a year’s sabbatical and travel that we moved here in ’98.

Yes, I like living here, except when it rains and is gray for days – winter crap – but over the years I’m far more acclimated.

There are a brazillion places to stay here and depends on what you are looking to do!

As for outdoorsy activities – you name the interest and it is here. Sea to snow in an hour and a half – a paradise of geographical eye candy – rain forest to desert and sea level to 14,000 ft.

One last thing, Buffledog's monthly food bill is

A) half the mortgage payment

B) Twice the car payment ... or

C) three times the Gross National Product?

80.00 for kibble, chicken and assorted vegetables and treats
80.00 for Rx
70.00 for assorted supplements
Didn’t think I’d really answer that did you? :) Fooled you!

Monkey said...
boxers or briefs? :)

Both and none! Not all at the same time! ;)

noonie said...
If you were only allowed to keep one pet, would it be a cat or a dog?

DOG!!!!!!!!!!! ( I love my cats but if only one could be had… )

Carolyn said...
The only ?? I can think of right now is: "What does 'Seamus' mean & why do you use it as your nic?"

Seamus (SHAY-mus) is an Irish variant of James (me) and was my godfather’s pet name for me. So it is a “real” nom de plume.

... and.."If I were a genie and granted you the one thing in the world you want most right now for yourself, what would it be?"

Internal peace!

Simply Satisfied said...
I always get stumped at what to ask... how 'bout a favorite childhood memory?

Hmmm…so many! Ok! Spending the summers on my Great Uncle’s farm, learning about the “three Ls” – life, love and lunacy. Lot’s of firsts happened there – love, kisses, sex, daylight to dark-thirty work, real biscuits and real bacon, skinny-dipping, driving, making/drinking ‘shine, and earning the respect and friendship of a sharecropper (and distiller) who lived/worked on the property and who taught me more about life than anyone before or since.

I also learned NOT to walk barefoot in the dew-wet Johnson grass next to the electric fence. Shocking experience!

kenju said...
Was he a professional photographer? I suspect he was; the composition of the photos is so good.

Yes, my Great Grandfather had the first photo studio in Bessemer, Alabama.

Jill said...
What is your biggest fear?

Dying unfinished and unhappy.

Ariella said...
Questions...hmmmmmmmquestions for Seamus...Does it look better when I sit like this...or like this?

If you sit like “this” and I stand like “that” it looks damn good – but if you sit like “that” and I stand like “this” it looks pretty damn good also!

veronica said...
Forgiveness, how do you put it in motion. ?

With a smile and a hand (and a lot of internal dialog)! :)

se7en said...
I can never think of good questions, I suppose I'll never be able to realize my dream of becoming a news journalist! Hehe

Well you aren’t getting off the hook that easy so here’s the answer to one that you could have asked:
I started drag racing at the age of 15, lying about my age and license status and I was DAMN good - going from “F Stock” to “A Modified Production”. No, not anymore, but not from lack of interest – just lack of time and money.

Inanna said...
Another question... If you could prove, without question or doubt, that a Higher Power exists, would you? Or do you believe that faith is more powerful when unproven?

Yay! Esoteria! Yes I think I would, thus saving all that angst for something else. Besides, if you “know” then “faith” would seem unnecessary!

Aimee said...
What are your views, in a nutshell, on religion?

Hmmm … it’ll fit in a nutshell for sure. I was raised Catholic and went to a parochial school for 9 interminable years, suffering the hypocrisy of nuns and priest alike. At the age of 14 I declared myself an “independent” regarding religion and haven’t looked back. I think that religion is fine for those that need and/or want it. I don’t want anyone to foist their beliefs on me unless I ask about it. I have a relationship with a Higher Power and it is personal and I have a great respect for it. Yes, I pray (for lack of a better term). Saying all of that I remain comfortable in a church and have a great fondness for Gregorian Chants.

schnoodlepooh said...
My questions: Do you live in Fremont? What kind of work do you do? Do you and Taylor ever go to the dog park at Marymoor? (when he's in one piece, of course) How is your life? Are you happy?

1. Not in Fremont, but just north of Green Lake.
2. Manufacturing Engineering. I work in industry because of the income – my heart is far more artistically bent. Therefore, internal struggle is rampant often (see #4).
3. Taylor hasn’t been to Marymoor – Magnuson usually. May be a while before he’s up to that again.
4. My life is a shifting conundrum. I have a wonderful family, married to a wonderful woman in a seasoned marriage that has varying bouts of instability and contention, a great dog, a great house, loyal friends and all of you! … therefore …
5. I am happy with parts of my life and miserable with others. I am working on fixing the miserable parts. I am happy in my own skin, except when it occasionally rebels.

rizlablue said...
My question would probably come under the category of sacred cow, so I'll remain cyber-vegetarian :lol:

Take it off-line if you want! :)

Tricia said...
If you were stuck on a deserted island what 2 books would you want to have with you?

Ulysses - James Joyce
Illusions – Richard Bach

Which 2 movies? (assuming it is a deserted island with one weird electrical outlet and a VCR)

Oh! You turned the electricity back on!

The English Patient
LOTR Trilogy

Who would you want there with you?

The tall, green eyed blonde with a big smile :)

Mushster said...
Hmmm questions, thinking, thinking ... ok! How much longer do we have to put up with Bush and is there any way of getting rid of him sooner? lol ;)

1. Until the gods and goddesses of mercy and retribution open their eyes!
2. Pray to the above gods and goddesses!

Sol said...
What's your favorite holiday?

Christmas!

Bonnie said...
What are your favorite Seattle haunts?

The Five Spot on Queen Anne
SAM (Seattle Art Museum)
The Frye
Pike Place Market
The Arboretum (& Japanese Garden)
Mae’s on Phinney Ridge
Molbak’s Nursery
Broadway on Capitol Hill
Volunteer Park & Conservatory
Seattle Repertory Theater
Fremont
Burke-Gilman Bike Trail
Stone Gardens
Ballard Locks
The Magnolia Bluffs

Kim said...
I was wondering what ya'll do on Thanksgiving and Christmas? I like to imagine whet my friends are doing on those days.

It’s a fine question. ( We generally alternate between coasts for Thanksgiving and Christmas. We do one or the other with family and the other a quiet time at home. Mom was the Christmas Queen and now that she’s gone we are floundering about a bit but we’re getting it back together.

Muse said...
1. Seems everyone’s life has some sort of regret. Do you have any, and why?

Regret is a funny thing and often times the thing that we regret today becomes a boon later – that has certainly been true in my life. I think with anything I would list here I could put an “Ah but” with it. One is that I never finished my degree. Another is that I did not exploit my talents more fully earlier. Even as I write this I realize that perhaps it is not so much that I regret things done or left undone, but they are simply disappointments. I believe that things happen for a reason, even that which seems disappointing helps us grow in some measure.

2. If when we die we are permitted to come back, what or who would you want to be and would you want to come back at all?

I’ll answer in reverse order. Yes, I would want to come back if there are still lessons to be learned. I do believe that we circle the block more than once. I’m not sure that I can voice the first part as I’m not sure how much influence we would have (or would want) over the surprise. ;)

3. Define what love means to you?

I’m going to assume here that you mean romantic love, but perhaps this covers it all:

Love is “Limbas” – a way-bread of life, which even taken in small bites can sustain a person for a long time.

Love is life and needs nurturing itself and without such can exhaust and die.

Love comes from a deep place within and from the expanse without, often without rhyme or reason. Thomas Moore writes, “The heart has its own reasons.” Also, “The heart is a mystery – not a puzzle that can’t be solved, but a mystery in the religious sense: unfathomable, beyond manipulating, showing traces of the finger of God at work.”

Love is sacred, not profane. Love stretches from the spiritual to the temporal. Love heals and never wounds. Love is not blind, but sees and forgives. Love frees and is not binding. Love builds and does not destroy. Love is infinite and yet fragile in the hands of mankind. Love lifts and encourages, yet stands fast in the face of failure.

LOVE IS A GIFT!

Brighton said...
Ok, question. What is your idea of perfect?

Perfect? I’m not convinced that perfect is attainable or even exist!

Perhaps close in life would be an amalgam of health, love, family and plenty.

Perfect mate would be the one that completes us.

Perfect anything would be that which needs nothing added, that it is and of itself complete.

Catharine said...
You inherited your great-grandfather's every-which-way hair. It looks better on you, of course. But he's more dapper than you are. Have you ever considered adopting the starched dickey as a fashion trademark?

I’ll pass on it as fashion, but perhaps incorporate it as a “trademark”!

lucidkim said...
You are always so positive and supportive of people (you have a way of making me feel good about myself and i think it is the way you make most people feel) - a) have you always been this way and b) are you like this in person just the same?

Now I’m blushing and flattered

The short answers are: a. yes b. yes

Just my nature. (I also have my dark moments!)


And……….that’s all folks. It was good for me, was it good for you? :)

Friday Shorts and Q & A

Monday AM update: ANSWER POST will be on Tuesday! Hope everyone had a great weekend! Buffledog continues to improve. :)

Buffledog update: after a visit to the surgeon a date of November 21st for the second surgery has been decided on. Dr. P was pleased with the progress, as am I. Taylor is bearing more weight on the repaired leg and is being more eager to walk about. It’ll still be February before he’s going to be back to some sense of normalcy. I so can’t wait!

Q&A (inspired by Sloth & Muse ): ok gang, after so little “personal” stuff posted here I’m opening up the floor to questions. Go for it! I only have a few “sacred cows” and they are probably similar to most of yours. Post the questions in the comments and I’ll answer in a post early next week. Here’s your chance for the inside skinny since there were so few “palmist” in the gallery!

More from the Master:

This is the man that made all these wonderful photos – my Great Grandfather.

Great Aunts – circa 1900 (approx)

Favorite Great Aunt – 1910???

Have a GREAT weekend!

Hump Day Rant

If you are from the coastal SE you might as well pass right on by because I know that you’ve seen much worse in the last months. That being said, I work in a fucking medieval castle … with its very own MOAT! Yep! You read that right – a fucking moat!

I’m not even going to lower myself to bitchin’ about the recent rains here - it is the North Wet and it is approaching winter and I am moldy already and I’ve already had to have my webs trimmed twice. No, what I’m bitchin’ about is a parking lot around the plant (a.k.a. Castle) that has 6 – 8 inches of standing water. I’m not talking about a few puddles that you can hop around or gleefully stomp through; I’m talking about 40 – 150 feet of retention pond. The goddamn city is using our parking lot as a retention pond to control flooding supposedly. WTF about “our” GD flood? They control the pumps that remove the water and we slogged through it for two mornings in a row. By day 2 some came prepared with rubber boots but most didn’t believe that they would have the audacity to leave the “pond” for another 24 hours. WTF were they smoking when they planned this? This is no way to start a week of RAIN!!!!

I’m buying oars. It’s a good thing I’m not fond of guns!

Rant over!

HAPPY HUMP DAY!

...because it'll make somebody smile!