Worlds Colliding Writing is something I find very soothing to do. I was recently so upset about an incident involving gun laws and some people I know who are involved at the most sordid end of the gun manufacturing business, that I wrote a story denouncing the whole affair and sent it to a subgroup of related friends for consideration. The reaction I got back was difficult for me. I spent a moment wearing a…
Advice and Nonsense I mentioned in my recent Into Thin Air story that I was heading to my local REI (Recreational Equipment, Inc.) store to buy rock climbing gear for my latest rock climbing wall project. I mentioned that I would be seeking their advice, but I had no idea what a tale that would become all by itself. I have been to REI and survived that experience, coming out with about 75% of what…
Downhill Racer Last night I made Kim watch A History of Violence, the 2005 film directed by David Cronenberg and staring Vigo Mortensen, Maria Bello, Ed Harris and William Hurt. While Cronenberg leans more to the macabre and gory than I generally prefer, I have always like Vigo and there is always something appealing about the guy who wants to be at peace but gets dragged back into his violent past by circumstance (John Wick,…
A Dental Damn OK, admit it, you just had to start reading this story with a title like that, didn’t you? Don’t worry, this story has nothing to do with the latex product sold by that similar name, though I bet a lot of you are as curious about the device as I am. I have no particular reason to be so curious, but its just one of those things that you hear about along…
Arbor Arboretum Arbutus Carborundum Trees are once again on my mind at the moment. In the same way that I felt compelled last year to hire a consulting horticulturalist to teach me what I didn’t know about gardening (his message can be distilled to two words – MORE MULCH), I have just hired and spent two hours with a consulting arborist. I found him much more professional and credible than the horticulturalist, though they did…
Captain Redux Not so long ago I wrote a piece called Captain America that was about my plans for an upcoming transcontinental ride this summer from Des Moines back to my hillside. Everything about that ride in terms of the reasons for doing it have changed as things do, so I am finding myself in change mode. The sequence went like this: first the testimony I was to give in Des Moines has been pushed…
A Fistfull of Vomit One of my personal quirks is that I have only very rarely thrown-up over my 68 years. I know this isn’t a particularly pleasant topic, but it is one of life’s little events that we almost all have to face every once in a while. For my part, I can recall facing that physical requirement once in the 60s, once in the 70s and again once in the 90s. The first…
The Danger Zone Yesterday was Memorial Day, the day when we are supposed to honor those Americans who have given their vitality and perhaps their very lives in defense of our country, in defense of democracy. It is a day I take quite seriously and I made that small gesture of flying the American flag out in front of the house, like I try to do every year. You see, I was too young for…
Totems My life is now all about one totem after another. We all know what a totem pole is, but I’m not sure many of us have stopped to wonder about the underlying reasons why native people display them. A totem is a cultural symbol that tells people who we are and what we respect. They are most often a natural object or an animal that is believed by someone to have spiritual significance. I…
Adieu ADU There are two subjects that I keep returning to consider like a bee drawn to a flower. The first is getting an RV and using it to travel around the country. I think that one may finally have been put to rest two years ago when we rented a Sprinter van and went up to Ojai for what was supposed to be three days and turned out to be only two. That is…