Another abandoned object.
Not the guy in the van, that is good friend David.
This is besides one of the character building back roads in Death Valley.
The van died and unless someone feels duty bound to haul it the 75 or so miles to what passes as civilization, it will stay here a very long time. It won't even rust.
Another time we went to the tourist part of the valley.
There were rows and rows and rows of very spendy motor homes, all tethered to the power and water lines.
If you asked the owners, they would say there were "camping!"
I will be very old when I go back again.

iron mike

There was a piece in the paper about Mike Tyson.

I am not a fan of Mike’s or of boxing, but the rest of the headline caught my attention: “…the ex-world champion learns to love the boring life.”

That is all I need to understand. I didn’t read the rest of the piece, it was enough.

When you are world champion anything, particularly something that has a lot of money involved, it is pretty hard not to live pretty fast, I would guess. Seems like I remember that Mike made zillions of dollars and is pretty well (if not totally) broke now.

Not too long ago I was looking at a series of photographs of abandoned building around the world. There were a lot of former mental hospitals, TB hospitals and such, but there was also a picture of Mike’s gym, the one he had custom made for him in his mansion somewhere.

The suggestion was made that he did not own it any more, probably some bank somewhere does, I don’t know.

The gym had long been abandoned and neglected as had Mike’s fast life. It was sad, even if I did not know the details.

Now he is getting used to the boring life.

Welcome, Mike.

But actually, the boring part is still in your head.

I don't remember my step dad's 36 Ford having that many carburetors.

early up

I am up early this morning.

Way too early, and I will pay later. It is the staying asleep part that I have troubles with, hence these early hours.

One of my neighbors goes to work early. That is OK, but he starts his car and let's it idle while he showers, eats breakfast, combs his hair, walks the dog and does his taxes.

In short that car will idle for a long, long time.

In my subterranean home, I can feel the vibrations of the engine. It is a big engine, probably a V8 and it throbs.

Around here, any caring about the natural world that surrounds and sustains us is considered un-American, so I should not worry, or think of impinging on this man's freedom.

And I don't wish to maim is freedom, but I do wonder about his wisdom and his logic.


When I get up this early, I might start a fire in the stove. I really should. But, usually when I get up very early, I go back to bed after an hour and a half or two, and it would waste firewood to build a fire and abandon it, so my logic goes.

Instead I get out my 1979 North Face Cats Meow sleeping bag and cuddle inside it while sitting in my recliner. The Meow has done well though the years. It was good for it's 20 degree rating for a couple of decades, but now I use it to avoid building a fire.

Oh well.

OK the picture is a "few" years old.
Since I do not have a mustache, it was the Texas years, which was another century!
The picture is of me with my brother and sister.

Happy Happy

This is my brother's birthday. He is XX old now!

My father was killed when I was 4, and when I was 8 mom married brother's dad, so technically we are half brothers.

But technical can go fly!

Happy birthday Bro.

This is the granddaughter Jessica that we went to visit.
She was cute then, now she is beautiful.
We enjoyed our visit.

restrooms etc

Grandparent weekend was a big deal.

The grandparent to student ratio was pretty high, maybe 1/1, when you remember that most students had two grandparents, at least.

When I went to check out and give my room key back at the end of the weekend. I had my checkbook ready to pay for the room (the earlier information was that there was a small charge). But when I went to pay the kind girls dean said: “There is no charge for Grandparents.”

I am sure they would appreciate it if a few grandparents left checks that had a lot of zeros left of the decimal point, but nothing was ever said that direction. I did leave a check, but I am afraid it did not have any where enough of those zeros.

One interesting thing happened.

We stayed in the girls dorm. They have a section that has doors keeping it separate from the rest of the dorm. Guys (even Grandguys) are not allowed past that door without an announcement: “Man on 2nd floor.”

The bathroom in the part where we stayed was for women, of course, but while we were there it was re-designated for the men visitors. The proper women’s restroom was past those big doors and down the hall.

I sent Miriam down there a couple of times, then had to get someone to go rescue her. She would make the wrong turns and end up the wrong way.

So I decided I would take her into the mens bathroom instead.

There was a stall right by the door. I would announce my intentions, in case one of the other stalls was occupied, and then usher Miriam into the end stall by the door.

That is the proper way to handle that detail of life when you are with a handicapped person, as I am told. For durn sure I am not going to go into the Women’s room for any reason other than tile repair.

It worked well and we got to spend a good bit of time with granddaughter Jessica. It was a good weekend.

Ok, I stole the image and for sure it not our farm.
In more ways than I can tell, I am glad my place is not this large.
But no matter how humble it is good to be home.

back to Idaho

we are home.

once more, a short 5 or 6 day trip got extended. I am glad the extension was not because of some calamity, for sure.

it was good to see family and spend serious time with them, but it is oh so good to be home again.

more later

“Stay hungry, stay foolish.” Steward Brand in The Last Whole Earth Catalog, later quoted by Steve Jobs.

matt's new job

Today was grandson Matt’s first day on the job.

Yesterday was his birthday. He is 15 now.

It’s a volunteer job, no pay. He signed a contract that he will volunteer a minimum number of hours each week -- for a year. He will exceed that, grandpa predicts.

It’s not like he is working to assist the janitor, which would be good, except not for this child. He is a first wash computer geek, after his father and oldest brother.

So he is working with the computer development people in a small but expanding TV station. The station is christian and its influence is moving into new areas, and growing.

I remember when Miriam started to College a lot of years back. I had been a full time student in the same department. At noon I went up to see how she was doing. Her eyes were saucer wide: “These people know how to do art and they want to teach me. “ It was an astute observation and was so true.

Matt will likely have the same deer-in-the-headlights look when we see him later today.

As he was leaving, I gave him one bit of Grandpa advice: “Don’t be a smart aleck. Be humble and teachable.”

I have a hunch he will do both.

ahh

Memories are strange things.

Miriam still remembers the old days well, but necessarily, with great accuracy.

She told me this year for the first time that her birthday was the same day as her grandmother. They do share the same day of the month, but not the same month. Still, I had not heard that until this year.

I am routinely told that my grandmother had black hair (it was not all white, but mostly) and that my other grandmother was “fat” (she was not). One grandfather lived to be 98, and rode his bicycle for many years (he had a Model T early in his life, but then was carless during the depression, getting his first “modern car”, (a 1936 Ford 5 window coupe) a couple of years before I met Miriam.

She is sure she saw grandpa riding his bicycle, but I am pretty sure she did not.

She remembers that her mother was 5 feet tall and weighed 100 pounds, but the rest of us say she was closer to 5’ 3” and weighted about 120.

Most of these changes memory have happened after Miriams diagnosis, so I think they are related to the disease more than to real fabrication.

If you think you can change her mind about any of this, think again. Mostly it does not matter.

Or does it?

We cut out the stuffed animal collection that was left over from Emily's childhood. Not all went to recycle.
Miriam found these and arranged them with her nurses cap.