Monday's Missives

The theory is that is a space ship over Washington's right shoulder. My guess is if we dug it would be found to be something much more pedestrian and possibly Bible based imagery but I'm not sure.

• For back pain sufferers it is hard to go wrong with a high quality air mattress. Forgo the Intek brand,
  spend a little more and get a Serta. The queen size is about a 150 bucks and a thing of beauty. I first bought one for the kids to use when they came over and checked it out one day at nap time and have slept on one since. Queen frames, toppers and sheets etc. fit them like a traditional mattress. You can get them at Walmart online with free shipping.
• I'm lightening my gear and a buddy has been scoring big on my heavier camping items. Some I give him, some I offer cheap. He hasn't turned down either.
• I may also sell Big Agnes as my closet looks like Campmor and REI got drunk together, hooked up and then vomited their guts up in there. The vestibule to her has never even been out of the house.
• We love the Timberline Eureka! tent. The setup is very intuitive and ventilation great.
• The REI XT85 is a great- great large volume pack. It is like I designed it myself. 
• The other day I stumbled on a yoochoobs playlist for Clutch. I listened for hours to them- great, great music.
• It is quiet in the house. Everyone is asleep except for me. It is like I'm alone in the world but I know I'm not- and it is a good feeling.
• There are green-ish logs in the fireplace I have been trying to get lit for 2 weeks now. What a mess it will be to clean it out when fireplace season is totally over. Although, if Spring is ever going to get sprung it needs to get on the stick and get it done- it is March 29, 2014 and in the mid 40s outside.
• It is odd to me when people compliment other on having pretty eyes or nice hair when the eyes are colored contacts and the hair is extensions- so what? It isn't a matter of time spent taking care of natural hair or even good genetics. Colored contacts are popped into the eye or another persons hair or synthetic imitation is weaved into the hair after paying a lot of money the person maybe could not really afford.

We assault the outback of Mineral Wells State Park at dawn Saturday morning. I am now fully geared up and have everything I need for a life outdoors and am only lacking for a few things I want. Included on my packing list and your next must read- if you know what is good for you is, River Of Doubt a history of TRs expedition to the Amazon River. It is a great- great book. I woke up early to resume it after staying up way late and crashing out with it in the bed.

Monday's Missives

How to tell if pasketti noodles are done- take a strand and throw it against the cabinet door. If it sticks you're good to go.

• 11/24/2013 My moms first name was Vera- she hated it. 
• It is freezing rain outside. Although it is a ridiculous thought because I would be miserable, I wish I were in a tent somewhere dragging myself out of a sleeping bag.
• The best Army slang for anything? A sleeping bag is called a fart sack. Isn't that the best?

  

  I found this little skull, drilled it out and glued it onto this pencil and gave it to the medical records clerk in my office for Halloween.

  
  

  

  Found in Town Creek. Those are crumbled up soda crackers. 

  
  
  
• 11/23/2013 at 2132 there is a simply awful SYFY movie on called Stonado. The premise seems to be there is a tornado that is full of stones. Said stones explode when they're touched after landing. There are not words for how terrible that movie is. The actors seem mostly competent but literally mortified to be in that abortion of a movie.
• We had passable crepes at the Country Ranch Cafe (I think that is what it is called) on Main street. The coffee was exquisitely terrible though. It was so bad it was interesting to savor the flavor and ruminate over the cup- it even smelled bad.
• Last night (11/22/2013) I went into the attic to oil that screaming turbine. There was a grizzly bear wolverine squirrel face to face with me when I first drug myself up. He was huge. I didn't get a picture but I did get a picture of the sparrow it had torn to shreds and left in front of it's nest. He stretched himself out behind a joist to hide from me after leaving the nest.

  

  Camping pro tip: Shove silk underwear and a beanie into a pair of wool socks and roll them up in your sleeping bag.  They'll make a little pillow when it isn't too cold and be easier to find and be all in spot to get into them easily when it is freezing up in there.

  
  
  
• We went to Copper Creek last night (11/20/2013). The food was good, the atmosphere great and the music awesome. Kirk House was there jamming. We carried the last part of the show with him by making all the requests. I requested Jolene- in the manner of Jack White. He played around with it for a minute but felt like he hadn't practiced it enough to play it publicly. We requested Country Boy Can Survive. He busted out laughing and said, OK, I'll try not to blackify this too much but if I do, don't hold it against me- it just comes natural. He is a good, super talented guy.
• I want  love to walk right up and bite me grab a hold of me and fight me leave me dying on the ground.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Wednesday's Digressions

What will they think of next?

Ankle bracelet I made for FG

Braided utility rope I made out of 550 cord to hang lights etc from a tent ceiling.

• I finally (11/23/2013) watched There Will be Blood. I'm still thinking... Something I can't get over though, is how poorly matched to the story the music seemed. I may be wrong but it just seemed oddly out of place and/or inappropriate to the scene it was building or supporting- from start to finish
• Multiple times (3+) I have killed a post that might have been scheduled to publish for days as Barry also commented on the same obscure thing on the same day mine was set to publish. We might have had the same take on the issue or be diametrically opposed. Regardless, I didn't want to look like I was arguing with him or sucking up/stealing so I reverted the post to draft. What really made me think about this though is on the exact day I was going to comment previously on this fact, Barry commented on how he and Keith Geeding would also make posts similar to each other on the same days.
• Weird.

  

  Oddly, I don't recall where we saw this rig.

  
  

  

  Mineral Wells lake is dry. Wish they had the means/wherewithal to dredge it during this droughty apocalypse.

  
  
  
  
  

  

  Park store at MWSP. It was built by the WPA The open area in the middle has always intrigued- I think it must have had a purpose but I'm not sure what that was- firewood storage?

• I continue to engage in word salad use and being increasingly forgetful. FG asked if I had or was having  a stroke yesterday. I am watching myself to see if something is really going on or if it is just stress and well- life happening at dangerously close to 50. I'll probably approach the subject with my doc. Trivialities seem suddenly important to me and what others would consider very important don't interest me at all. I have been very nostalgic while simultaneously having trouble recalling people and place names and at the same time being somewhat emotionally distant (known as detachment) from present people. I will attempt to put a box of cereal instead of the milk in the fridge which could happen to anybody but I find myself standing in front of the fridge instead unsure what I am supposed to being doing with the box or, more correctly- unsure why standing there instead of in front of the pantry feels weird.  If a person laid these things out to me from their heart I would say they are  possibly in the early stages of dementia or even entering the death process- weeks to some months away. Oddly, on impulse during enrollment at work a couple of days ago I took out a policy on me for FG and gave her an ITEOMD envelope and gave her some instructions in case of my being unable to intellectually to make decisions for myself.
• I am not scared. I may be vaguely a bit sad though.
• It is important that my doc is both super smart and a practical thinker. It is cool that she is super cute.
• Old doc saying I just love that can be used to prevent young doctors jumping to wrong conclusions: We live in Texas- when you hear hoof beats don't look up and expect to see zebras.
• There is a show on now about body language which uses Susan Smith's televised plea for the return of her children to demonstrate how her body language gave her away. Interestingly, I commented when I saw it back then that she was absolutely lying but I think without knowing it I compared her to her hubby at her side as the so called experts did on the television show. He seemed genuinely grief stricken and stunned- she did not.
• Recently RPM commented on the quality of some pictures I took. Also recently, somebody at work bagged on me and discounted some other pics I had printed and brought to the office as my camera, Was so expensive- it does all the work. No wonder the pictures are good! A funny thing about that: the new camera is loaded down with features I cannot use yet. Also, it might be slower than my old camera meaning I don't capture all the shots I would have gotten with my old setup. It is harder (to me) to use the more artistic settings on the new rig so I mostly use the auto setting which won't always produce the best (or most pleasing) pictures, meaning I took many better pictures with my old, cheap camera.
• Good grief- I just saw the Brown-Goldman murders on MSN in an article about famous unsolved cases. Good guhrief. Yes, I'm face palming hard in case you're wondering.
• Retarded: a headline on my new browser indicates that people are already lining up at stores for Black Friday- which starts 6 days from this writing. People are killing themselves to buy crap they don't need with money they don't have. 
• We are our own worst enemies. 

Turner Falls

Somehow after spending over 2 hours picking great pics and thinking of clever stories related to our Turner Falls trip with my finger hovering over the mouse pad I somehow pushed the wrong key and deleted everything. I think I'm going to be sick. I'll come back to it later for now I'm going to put this machine away and decide if I want to have a stroke or a myocardial infarction over it.