Well, I'm officially in Chill out mode at the moment. Finishing the last vodka and V8 splash for the night, listening to 'Shine on Crazy Diamond' by Pink Floyd and relaxing. Its about 2 AM and I need to get to bed soon, but I figured I'd throw something out here since I'm making a genuine attempt to write at least something every day. I was watching re-runs of MASH on DVD earlier and it struck me how truly amazing the writers of that show were. The 'Tuttle' episode was the one that really caught my attention. The creativity required to conceive of and then write that episode is truly comedic art in its highest form. I hope one day I can write something half that good. Speaking of writing, I'm going to throw another one of my short ones from school up here. I actually had a lot of fun writing it. This one stemmed from a picture the instructor posted of an old reel to reel tape player sitting on the floor agains the wall and we were supposed to write a short story that used it as a focal point. This is what I came up with: Hmm..I guess you are going to have to wait for that one- I can't find it at the moment. I'll toss up a different one for you. This was another 'story from a picture'. This one showed a classic GTO parked next to a phone pole on a quiet street. Its not one of my favorites, but it turned out ok, I guess..

Calvin Mathers rode his electric blue Schwinn past the same black car that he had seen across the street from the bank every day this week. His eyes narrowed suspiciously as he stared at it, slowing down to get a closer look. He noticed there was no license plate on the classic Pontiac.  Without even realizing it he stopped pedaling, his bike coasting to a stop next to the old car. 

Suddenly a head appeared in the window. Calvin’s eyes widened in shock as he stared at the man staring back at him. He froze, mouth open in surprise at the sudden appearance of someone in what he thought was an abandoned car. The man blinked a few times, rubbing his eyes. Obviously he had been napping in the warm afternoon sun. He smiled at Calvin as he put a cigarette in his mouth and lit it. “She’s a beaut, Ain’t she, Kid? “ He reached up and adjusted his battered old fedora. “Don’t see many like this baby these days, do ya?”  Calvin shook his head, still staring at the odd man.

The door of the car opened and the man stepped out onto the sidewalk. He stretched, groaning loudly and the scratched the dark stubble on his cheek. “Oh, Man, I’m stiff!” He chuckled. “She’s pretty, but the seats aren’t the best for sleeping on.” He looked down curiously at the boy. “Don’t talk much, do you?” He held out his hand. “I’m Benny.” Calvin stared at the rough hand in front of him for a moment as if it was a snake that might bite him. Finally he reached out and shook the calloused hand tentatively. “I’m Calvin.” He finally managed to squeak softly.

The man chuckled softly, dropping his cigarette on the sidewalk and crushing it with the toe of  his scuffed black oxford. “So, you can talk, hmm? Well, Calvin, I was wondering if you could maybe give me some information? It’s worth a soda if you can.” Calvin’s eyes narrowed suspiciously as he looked up at the man in front of him. “I’m not supposed to talk to strangers, mister.”  Benny nodded thoughtfully, reaching into his wrinkled black suit coat to grab a dark pair of sunglasses and slip them on. As he did the jacket swung open and Calvin saw the butt of a gun hidden in a shoulder holster. He nearly wet himself. This man WAS a bank robber! He looked around wildly, trying to figure out how to escape so he could go tell someone about him. Maybe he should go to the police station and tell them. There might even be a reward for this guy! He smiled as he thought about the headlines in the paper. “Local 12 year old boy captures bank robber single handedly!”

Suddenly Benny spoke again, shattering the daydream and reminding the boy he was still standing on the sidewalk next to a bank robber! “Well, Calvin, I figure since we introduced ourselves I’m not a stranger anymore, right?  So, maybe you can help me out? I just need to know if you’ve seen a big armored car showing up at the bank on a certain day while you’re out riding your bike.” Calvin looked thoughtful for a moment, as if pondering the question. “Geez, how stupid does this guy think I am?” he thought to himself, stalling for time. “If I tell him they might arrest me for helping him!” The boy idly scuffed the toe of his worn Ked across the sidewalk, making a show of thinking hard for the man in front of him. Finally a plan flashed into his head.

Of course! All he had to do was tell this guy when the armored car showed up and then run to the police station to tell his dad! This guy didn’t know that Dad was a captain on the police department. It was PERFECT! They’d know just when to nab him! The boy opened his mouth and spoke, hesitantly. “Um…Thu…Thursday, I think. Around 3:oo in the afternoon.” Benny smiled and nodded, reaching down.

Calvin thought for a moment he was going to grab him, lift him up and shake him until he confessed to masterminding this man’s inevitable arrest, but he just ruffled his hair and smiled. “Thanks, Kid. I appreciate it. That really helps me out. Here, I got something for you.” He turned and leaned into the car rummaging in the back seat. Calvin saw this as his opportunity to escape cleanly and jumped on his bicycle, pedaling away as fast as his legs could push him.

Benny stood up from digging in the car, a coke from the ice chest in the back seat dripping water on the sidewalk, three free passes to the circus in his hand. “Huh?” He thought to himself, seeing that the little boy was gone. “I guess he don’t like the circus! Oh well, the boss will be happy when I can get that check for the payroll cashed on Thursday. It’ll be good to be able to pay all the boys before we pack up and move on.” Mopping his sweaty brow with the ice-cold bottle he leaned against the car and watched the life going on in this tiny midwestern town. “Boy, not much going on here. I bet nothing exciting ever happens in this place!” 

See? I TOLD you'd I'd try to write more often! I don't really have much today to write about, though, so I figured I'd put some more writing up. This is a piece of 'Flash Fiction' which is a less than 600 word self-contained story. We write quite a bit of flash fiction for school to get used to getting our point across quickly and with a minimum of words. I've been kicking around thoughts about the gold rush days up here recently, and what it must have been like for the people that dropped everything and headed off into the gold fields, so I wrote this one. It wasn't for school, I just wrote this one because I felt like it. I hope you enjoy!

She closed the book, placed it on the table, and finally, decided to walk through the door. She paused, looking back through the door at the things that had been so important to her in her old life. The china tea set which had been a gift from Charles on their anniversary, the books that she had read lovingly so many times. She glanced down the walk at the waiting carriage. Luckily the driver had her trunk loaded already or she might have lost her nerve and never gone on what was going to be her great adventure.

She closed the door firmly, locking it and moving purposefully down the front walk. She smiled at him as he helped her up into the carriage. “Good day, Madame!” He gave her a smile as he closed the door. “It’ll be the train station we’re gong to, Is that correct?” She nodded to him as she settled back into her seat. “That’s right. I have a 12:00 train to Seattle I need to catch.” His eyes widened a bit at that. “Seattle Washington? That’s quite a trip from Boston! Are you visiting family out there?” She shook her head, anticipating the look of surprise on his face. “No, Sir, I’m going there to meet a ship. I’m heading for the gold fields in Alaska.” His eyebrows shot up in shock, but he chose not to comment. “Oh, my! We better get going then!” he swung onto his seat and began moving the carriage forward.

As they moved through the crowded streets she removed her bonnet, shaking her hair free. She considered what her friends would say if they saw her like this. She was 24 years old and a widow, since Charles’ accident. A simple messenger had shattered her whole world. Until that day the thought of leaving everyone and everything she knew and taking off on a wild adventure had been nothing more than a pleasant afternoon daydream. The idea of Alaska had become her favorite fantasy in those simple days. She couldn’t get the idea out of her head of Charles and her heading for the Klondike together since she had first read about the gold rush.

She knew it was never meant to be, of course. Charles had been a good, solid man, rising in the ranks of the banking world. He would never consider leaving on what he called ‘a fool’s errand’. The smile faded from her lips as she thought about what he would say if he could talk to her now. The way he looked so disapprovingly at one of his friends from Harvard when he stopped by to let them know he was heading for Alaska. She could hear his contempt even now. “You’re a damned fool, Theodore! Men don’t get rich in the gold fields! Most of them wind up penniless, begging for enough money to come crawling home. Why don’t you let me speak to them at the bank? I know your qualifications, you would do quite well there.” If he could see her now she’d get the same disapproving glare, the same type of lecture.

 She set her jaw resolutely. No, Charles was gone now. It was her life, her decision. The carriage pulled up to the train station. She opened the door and stepped out before the driver had a chance to open the door for her. As she looked at the train waiting at the station she nearly giggled, suddenly filled with a sense of exuberance as she gazed at it and the promise of the adventures in front of her.

Yeah, I know, its been forever since I've written. Sorry about that. I've been in a bit of a strange place lately. I guess I sort of just hit a wall for a few weeks. It was like every creative cell in my body just went dormant for a bit. I spent a lot of time wondering if I wanted to write because I love to write, or if I was actually in love with the idea of being a writer. So, i decided to take a short break from it and see how much I missed it. I actually looked into truck driving school because, lets face it, writing isn't the most definite source of income in the world. I've done some fishing with Beenie, learned how to trim a goat's hooves, tried to get the kids through the last few weeks of school and, in general, just existed. There have been a few times I've thought about getting on here and ranting about this or that that has made me blatantly angry, but I really don't want to turn this into a bitching post so I decided not to. In general spring is here, I saw the first robin so it must be. Snow is melting (still) and my yard is an absolute sea of mud. I'm getting ready to go bear hunting in a few weeks so I've been pulling out all the hunting gear, sharpening, cleaning and waterproofing. One thing that I've learned without question is that up here you have to make absolutely sure your gear is going to do what you expect it to or you're likely to either end up REALLY miserable or die, neither of which I'm all that willing to do. Oh, here's a cool bit of news, I'm planning on getting a new tattoo soon. A very good friend of mine is drawing it for me and it is absolutely AWESOME! I have a particular bond with ravens that I can't really explain, I like them and they seem really fond of me and so this drawing is of a norse designed raven that she has put some very native flourishes on. It's a beautiful blending of cultures and since I'm half norwegian and I've adopted Alaska so completely it seems to fit into my somewhat esoteric philosophies perfectly. A tattoo isn't something I should probably be wasting money on right now, but for some reason it feels like the right time and the right design so I'm not going to argue. I've definitely begun going with those strange feelings lately and somehow they always seem to steer me in the right direction so who am I to argue? Anyway, when I get it I'll put a picture of it up here so everyone can see how it turns out. I promise, I'll try to do better with writing more frequently. I've been through my first writers slump and faced it head on, and came out still wanting to write so I guess things are good in general. I hope everyone has a wonderful day and I'll write again soon!

Hmm..I just had a passing thought. it strikes me how much the people correlate with the vehicles in our world . We have some that are slow, like the Yugos and the Pintos. Not particularly fast, but they usually get where they're going eventually. Some people are like sports cars, always tearing around, being flashy and getting a lot of attention, but never doing anything really practical. Some are busses, carrying the weight of everyone else with them as they go about their lives. Then you have the top fuel dragsters. These people's brains travel fantastically fast- in one direction. At everything else in life they're pretty useless. When you stop to think about it its a pretty interesting concept. Hell, if I put some effort into it I could probably put together some sort of inspirational self help book about it. Unfortunately I think I've run out of gas temporarily. Always remember- The human brain is the most amazing as well as the most dangerous machine in the world. Please operate it safely.

I decided it was time to write again. I'm not really sure what I'm writing about, but if I don't do it I never will and that's just not cool. So, I see I was right about the whole Florida shooting thing. It appears they are trying to use it in New York to strengthen their already ludicrous gun laws. I really don't understand these anti-gun people. I've heard some of their actions defended by "Well, if it was YOUR family member that was killed by a gun you'd want them outlawed too!" I guess by that kind of screwed up logic I should be campaigning for the outlawing of snow machines. Cars would DEFINITELY be a thing of the past as would many other things that have contributed to the demise of individuals through the years. I'm thinking its either the kitchen or the bathroom that is the most dangerous room in the house.We'll say the bathroom for the point of argument, feel free to disagree. I want to see some yutz holding a poster campaigning to make the bathroom a controlled place. License the use of toilets..make people go through a weekend of training before they are able to use the shower. People drive me crazy. I was just reading some "Catcher in the Rye" quotes. Great book if you've never read it. Teenage rebellion at its finest. See? I TOLD you I didn't have a lot to write about. In fact, you're probably better off grabbing a fresh cup of coffee and cruising over to the news or a good comic page instead of wasting your time with this post. But, if you're still around I'll keep writing I guess! We are now smack in the middle of breakup up here. It's been absolutely beautiful the last 3 weeks. Sunny, 45-50 degrees, etc. The snow is coming down at a perfect rate. We've lost over 3 feet already. Of course, Casa del Dan has a lovely moat right now, but that's an annual thing so its to be expected. The bears are waking up, I've heard multiple people who have found scat (That's poop for my less woodsy readers) and tracks. Its going to be interesting to see how effective my buddy Eddie the goat is going to be at functioning as bear bait. Since he's still living on my porch I fully expect to wake up some morning and find him dining with Yogi on Sweet tarts (Eddie's favorite treat, By the way) I am, of course, getting the hunting bug BIG time. I am currently completely out of bear meat, a situation the kids find highly unacceptable. They got spoiled with my last bear, I hope I can shoot one that is just as tasty this year. Hmm..let me see, what else has been plucking at the back of my brain? I was irritated at the media calling for Ted Nugent to be arrested because he said that if Obama gets re-elected he'll be in jail before the end of his second term. They are howling for him to be brought up on charges. Funny, I can't see why that should be. He MIGHT be insinuating that if Obama gets re-elected he'll go to jail because he'll have to rob a bank to pay for his gas. Sure, we all know what he likely means, but I don't think that is necessarily grounds to arrest someone. Oh, wait, I guess to some people it is as long as the 1st amendment is being used to say something they don't like. Either way, I am getting SO tired of election stuff. I just want it to be over. I might be able to work up the energy to care if I thought that A. My vote would really make a difference, B. There was ANYONE I was vaguely impressed by that was running, and C. whoever got elected would really make things different one way or another. Let's face it, people. The system has failed. Democrat, Republican, it doesn't really matter who gets elected, the American people lose across the board. The only difference between which party is elected is which of our rights each one goes after first. I find it really hard to care when all dust settling at the end of the day when elections are finished and the losers are whining and calling for a recount and the winners are chuckling and spending the taxpayers money I'm STILL going to lose my house. (Yeah, its a run on sentence, I know. I warned all you grammar nazis earlier that this wasn't my best work!) I've decided this is going to happen. My house is going to be leaving my possession. I've been fighting it for a long time, but I've decided it is an inevitable fact. I don't qualify for any of the 'stimulus' programs I've been told, due to the fact that I'm caucasian and I live in a 'rural' area. Apparently there are no 'Wife died so he has to stay home and raise his kids instead of working 80 miles away' stimulus packages. Its actually okay, though. Foreclosure has been put off for a while and I think I have a place to move to that will work out much better for the whole family. Its within 1/4 mile of here, so we don't have to leave the area. More on that as things develop. At this point I'm trying for a controlled withdrawal, going to try to sell the place and save what little is left of my financial butt. If it doesn't happen, oh well, I'm among many others who have tried and failed. I have learned a couple of valuable lessons from this whole thing, though. The first is that large financial institutions suck. I always suspected that, but now I know for sure. The second thing is that the government certainly doesn't care. Stimulus packages are fluff and dust, promises are lies and all they really want is to collect tax money and take away liberty and freedom. At the end of the day even if it costs me a house, I was here when my kids needed me. Material possessions are nothing compared to that. I'd gladly walk away from the Playboy mansion and all it contains if it means that life is a little easier for my kids. I do have to say, its been an interesting year. For most of their lives I've been working. Most of the time I've been working a LOT. IT jobs seems to develop a life of their own sometimes. I've spent a lot of hours doing server upgrades and trouble shooting applications while Glenda was home raising the kids. My eyes have been opened. To all parents who stay at home and raise your kids- you have my eternal respect and admiration! The other thing that has happened over the last year is that I've really gotten to know my kids. I THOUGHT I did before, but I was sorely mistaken. Although the circumstances around it sucked, I've been glad I have this opportunity. Now I can say I'm proud of them and actually KNOW what I'm proud of. They are impressive little devils and I expect great things from them. We've weathered what has been the hardest year of my life and unquestionably the hardest of theirs and they have never failed to impress me. (Well, their rooms could use some help, but other than that-) Anyway, I think I've rambled enough for the night. The heat pack I have on my neck and upper back at the moment seems to be working. (I woke up this morning with a crazy pain in my neck. Ah, you have to love it when your body seeks vengeance for past digressions) and I might actually be able to sleep for a while. Have a good night, everyone, and an amazing day tomorrow!

Well, I've been working all morning on a new project. Its a blog for Alaska Custom Firearms, a gunshot in Anchorage a good friend of mine owns. It should be interesting if you all want to pop over and take a look. The address is : http://alaskacustomfirearms.blogspot.com Some of the guys around the shop and I got talking and we're going to try to build a virtual gun shop where some of the work that Steve does will be showcased. We'll be doing some articles around the gun world, too, and probably building some stuff and posting pictures of it just for fun. Anyway- The weather continues to get warmer out and the urge to be outside and doing things is getting stronger so hopefully I'll be having some fun things to post pretty soon. Snow shoeing is apparently out for the year, as evidenced by me falling through the snow pack continuously yesterday and having to crawl out of the still 4+ feet of wet snow, so I'll have to find other fun things to do. Anyway, have a good one and we'll talk soon!

Well, its Easter. It doesn't have as much meaning anymore for us. Glenda was the one who was really into the holidays. The Bunny visited, of course, he brought candy and a new stuffed animal for Aiobheann, but there won't be a fancy cooked dinner or easter outfits or any of the other stuff. Instead, this afternoon I need to go down into the ravine and look for signs that a grizzly has woken up and is moving around the house. I haven't seen him yet, but judging by the reactions the goat and the dogs have been having I have a strong suspicion he's around. Unfortunately we aren't quite far enough into spring for Yogi to be awake yet. There's not a whole lot of picnic basket options for him yet so tasty morsels like goats and kids can become more attractive. We got another few inches of snow yesterday, enough to break the record in Anchorage. (over 133" there for the year) I'm not sure how much we got, the further away from the ity you are the less anyone is concerned with records, it just becomes a lot of snow! Anyway- Need to run and let Beenie have her easter joy. I hope everyone has a great day!