Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Buck up, girl

Ever feel like life is handing you one shit sandwich after another? Yeah, that's me lately. Legal troubles are bringing me down, man. Things catching up with me, other things rearing up as a result of inattention. Trying to keep a very honeybadger approach to life right now (my natural outlook) is the only thing keeping me from walking on down the road with what I can carry - a fantasy that I play out in my mind too often. Like the late great Levon Helm advises, "There's no running from your troubles / Or you're sure to make them double."

I am thinking more and more about how - after dogs aren't part of our lives - we can get out of here and become tramps/hobos/wanderers (Jules: "You know, like Caine in Kung Fu: walk from place to place, meet people, get into adventures."). Migrant work, web-based work, whatever. I am just ready to un-tie and become part of the underground economy. Being childfree we will have that luxury after we no longer have dogs. And that time is probably drawing near. Lazlo blew out his ACL on his rear left leg so he's on indefinite restricted activity (as the $3,00 surgery to repair it is obviously not an option) and I tried to convince Keith to make a doggy wheelchair but Lazlo seems to be doing better since we've cabled him to a tree in the yard when we're all outside + put him on a diet. Both dogs are about 9, so while we of course love them, we're kind of also counting down to freedom. 

Going back to PT work is awesome - such a relief, less responsibility, more time to myself/at home. I actually finished a book - maybe the first of the year? and continue to find a plethora of amazing articles via Longreads. Here a few that really stood out to me recently:

Scandals of Classic Hollywood: The Ecstasy of Hedy Lamarr (sex + brains in early Hollywood)
Wildcatting: A Stripper’s Guide to the Modern American Boomtown (the stripper circuit, who knew?)
The Boy Who Heard Too Much (phone hackers - fascinating)
Sinkholes: When the Earth Opens Up (environmental warning tale)
Natural Born Tourists (hilarious passive-agressive guestbook entries)
Superchief Interviews Zeb From POPO (never heard of this guy, but love the interview style)
Riding the rails: A report from the National Hobo Convention ("hobos were the first migrant workers and that they helped to build America")

Friday, August 9, 2013

Summer here

Going for short morning jogs, taking in the beauty of the world, listening to the neighborhood

Coming home to collapse in the hammock in the shade

Sitting in the yard with Lazlo, torn ACL means limited activity from here on out (8 weeks at least - hoping the other doesn't go)

Making plans to go camping and then, for various reasons, cancelling plans

Making hay while the sun shines, Keith has been busy lately with outside projects. which is good for the bank but we haven't done any house projects in over a year, 'bout time to see some hammering'

Grilling sweet corn, wishing we had garden produce, watering my container tomatillo and peppers, pick a hot Thai pepper to go in chili lime noodles

Streaming movies and tv shows on the porch - The Killing, Sunny in Philadelphia, Breaking Bad (re-watching), Queen in concert

Watching the pear tree's limbs bend hard full of fruit, someone needs to prune them, like a professional