My crappy little homemade card (with macaroni glued on it) to all you moms

I'm up early with the flower arrangements and getting the kids to help out with the Mother's Day breakfast (Lox & Bagels, mimosas), placing the cards and presents, doing what I can to give MBS her due on this, her day.

The moms-in-law-to-be, her boyfriend, bro-in-law and his family, the brood times two, MBS and I will be heading to Williams Creek Resevoir for a picnic. If there's time, I'll prowl along the irrigation ditches on the land and clear out some of the brush (I'll post some more on THAT task later in the week).

Moms: I hope you're having a wonderful day and are reading this a day or two later. A belated happy Mother's Day to you all. Or, if you're taking it easy and using your down time to surf the net, I hope your day is a splash.

Now, answer me this, please - the kids "got" MBS cards and a retro-ish vase (that I picked up from a consignment store - we need the vase, btw), I got flowers to put in the vase; I also gave her a copy of One Hundred Years of Solitude. Did I do well?

Trying my best...

Bomb the moms!

Didn't Jenna get married today?

Wasn't it just a couple years ago that these mouthbreathers were high-fiving each other over the notion of a "permanent majority"?

On Wednesday afternoon, the House had just voted, 412 to 0, to pass H. Res. 1113, "Celebrating the role of mothers in the United States and supporting the goals and ideals of Mother's Day," when Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.), rose in protest.

"Mr. Speaker, I move to reconsider the vote," he announced.

Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.), who has two young daughters, moved to table Tiahrt's request, setting up a revote. This time, 178 Republicans cast their votes against mothers.

It has long been the custom to compare a popular piece of legislation to motherhood and apple pie. Evidently, that is no longer the standard. Worse, Republicans are now confronted with a John Kerry-esque predicament: They actually voted for motherhood before they voted against it.

Republicans, unhappy with the Democratic majority, have been using such procedural tactics as this all week to bring the House to a standstill, but the assault on mothers may have gone too far. House Minority Leader John Boehner, asked yesterday to explain why he and 177 of his colleagues switched their votes, answered: "Oh, we just wanted to make sure that everyone was on record in support of Mother's Day."

By voting against it?

The whole story is here.

Am I alone in thinking that these folks keep sticking their tongues in light sockets to see what electricity tastes like?

Anyway, have a happy Mother's Day, willya'?

Reasons why I am head over heels in love with her, #8

Well the kids are all hopped up and ready to go


She loves most of the same music I love.

Gawdahmighty I was trying the daily post thing in earnest but between the unreasonable demands of my pesky editor at the paper (who knew the whole "deadline" thing was so serious-like? sheesh), cuddles on the couch with MBS to watch The Third Man, and oh, you know, taking care of the brood times two, well, ain't it funny not how time slips away but blogging takes a backseat to having a life?

Maybe I need a little more time to figure this all out. Posting daily, that is.

Sunday found me on rafting our little class-2 river. Not so much a thrill-ride as a drink some PBR and talk politics ride. A beautiful day that made me crave a little more whitewater. However, no craving to jump on here and write about the excursion. The rest of the week... bad habit, this not writing.

And all you get today is Reason #8, timely in that we're going to see these guys at The Santa Fe Brewing Company June 6:

Really, how can life get any better with MBS at my side, slam-dancing to X We're too old to "mosh"), and getting cooled by the local brew. Better yet, these cats are opening:

I stumbled on The Detroit Cobras a little while ago and put one of their songs on a mix I made for MBS while we wuz a-courtin'. After she got the mix she had to know what band it was (I never label my song lists) and ended up downloading a bunch of their stuff.

MBS is off to Durango with her girlfriends for a bachelorette's night on the town. I'm making tacos for the brood times two, cleaning the garage while a fight over the video choice rages upstairs. An example of life being somewhat fair, I think.

Reasons why I am head over heels in love with her, #16

Tis' better to trip than fall
She says she can dress me up and take me out.

A night on the town for MBS and I, at her suggestion, a date night that we take some R&R; going to see celtic guitarist Jerry Barlow perform, have a little dinner, and a nightcap.

Stuck here at the agency. A group earlier and now just doing the drug-testing thing. Ugh.

I should be using this downtime to crank out some quick articles for my newspaper (my editor wants them in first thing Monday for a supplement which is, in his words, "a big money-maker for the paper"). Maybe ol' Lefty has the answer to how I'll get it done:

HT to skippy

Throw in a few fingers of Cutty Sark and it's a done deal.

A two-fisted drinker in a two-job economy

Dammit, I need a bottle...
To clarify a bit of Wednesday's post (which I didn't get around to posting until today - oddly playing with the timeline...), I in fact continue to work in the mental health field. Yes, I'm working two jobs. Writing for a small town paper, covering town politics and business is where my heart is at, obviously. But as I said in that post, it's not yet a full-time gig and working as a lowly stringer doesn't feed the bulldog (or anyone else, for that matter).

Whatever time I have left after hunting down and writing stories, doing far less than my share of raising six kids, planning a wedding, and this blog thing (ok, knock off the giggling), I spend running groups for DUI offenders and monitoring drug testing (i.e. watching guys piss into a cup). The more the newspaper job demands, the less I want to be at the D&A agency. There's no dilemma - I want to write. It's just that the part-time / piecemeal aspect of my writing job makes it impossible to break from being a DUI counselor.

OK, enough bitching and whining... time for some fun:

Reasons why I am head over heels in love with her, #239

She buys me energy drinks, even though she's totally opposed to them (she's such a health nut). And, she rarely gives me shit about drinking them.

With that, here's some Sony Rollins to smooth out your day:

Until you've walked a mile in my shoes, you won't know how my feet smell

If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?
Ah, the glory of being a city-desk reporter. Or editor. Or something. Hell, I'm just a stringer. And it's not so much a "city-desk" as a "small town-desk".

I mean, the town is small, not the desk. There isn't even a desk, really, just a cell phone that my editor calls on to tell me what to cover, write about.

Again, not entirely true. Doing the wildcat thing makes it incumbent that I chase down the stray story, since I'm getting paid by the piece. The light posting here the past few days has been a reflection of that. Attending meetings, making calls, dropping in on town officials, stirring things up to see what rises from within the mire, all in the service of a few column inches; this past week has been balls to the wall. And if the gods are with me (my editor seems to be), I'll have five articles to my name in this latest edition.

Working hard for a pittance, yes - but having the time of my life. And sometimes, compensation is not measured by the size of paycheck, at least not for me. One of the reasons I stayed in the mental health field for so long was decidedly not because I thought I'd get rich; with the exception of a driven few or the therapists on the tee vee, people in the mental health field are not motivated by wealth. The more I work at this journalsim gig, the more the same seems to be true of my colleagues, that money is not the motivation.

Posting everyday (as I've been attempting to do the past week or so) isn't as easy as it sounds... WAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!

My write-in vote for precedent

We're all Bozos on this bus
Deadline's tomorrow and although I've cranked out 5 lengthy articles for this next edition (we won't mention the quality, mmm-kay?), I still have some writing to do.

So, hopefully, after the deadline has past, you'll get another dollop of my meandering drivel.

If you take the dollop I've given you and throw it at HRC, I'll give you five bucks. Scout's honor.

Hey, get a clue

My son has REALLY had it with you people...

Small town news has me preoccupied, yo...

Nothing to see here, move along....

With, oh, 6 or so articles needing to go live by Wednesday and very little to show that they're even close to being finished, posting will be light for the next 36 hours or so. As if if you're surprised.

And while you're wondering whatever happened to me, I wonder what happened to these guys - gals - um, penguines or something.

Confession time, episode # 337

...and my life has never been the same.

So now you know... there's a reason why blog posts have been scant the past few months.

Falling in love again, never wanted to; what am I to do? Can't help it...

Be good and you will be lonely

Not going to linger here, much, but only to say I am enamored... and humbled.

I've been enthralled by the meandering and brilliant short stories of Alice Munro this past week, kind of feeling like I should get back to bed and start my entire life over. When I regard someone writing circles around me, well, I am thrilled and a little bit shamed.

I wish I had more to say but I have 5 articles to complete this week and this here is a break from my writing and reading.

Carry on....

It's not so much all the blood and such but the screaming - that's what gets to you, eventually

“If you define cowardice as running away at the first sign of danger, screaming and tripping and begging for mercy, then yes, Mr. Brave man, I guess I'm a coward.”
My eldest stepdaughter, R, officially entered into that phase of life that we all dread to deal with as outsiders, yet endured ourselves with such relish (and spastic angst).

This has been an auspicious year for R. Aside from turning 13 today, the remodel of this house to accomodate my brood included adding a room downstairs, effectively moving R away from the great unwashed upstairs (i.e. the rest of us), creating a sanctuary for her, alone, segregated from parents and little kids alike. And what else could a teenager ask for? Hell, it's like a whole other universe or something, the teen-o-sphere.

The festivities today included having two of her friends stay for a sleepover, the teen club downstairs while the rest of us hunkered down above, watching "Raiders of the Lost Ark," perhaps as some kind of training film (I have no idea what I'm talking about, BTW).

Actually, R is an awesome kid - er, "young lady" now - smart as a whip and handling the addition of three new siblings with exceptional grace. Despite my sorry ass stabs at snark (jokes at the expense of teens is a bit like screaming "toss the bum out!" at one of Z's T-ball games), I have to admit that she impresses me; I'm lucky to have her leading this mixed brood. Also, I enjoy her company: she's funny and engaging and sweet in a non-sentimental way.

Oh, but gods help us, she now has a cell phone. She can now text her friends that I have indeed indulged in far too many cracks at teenagers and that I'm lame and my music sucks and whatnot. That and my haircut is ugly.

Sweet day at the park for the "Say Hey Kid"

So say hey Willie, tell Ty Cobb and Joe DiMaggio;
Don’t say "it ain’t so", you know the time is now.
Spring has sauntered in here at the Crown of Valhala. Snow some days, accumulations that melt almost as soon as it's gathered, but otherwise our shoulders are warmed with a soft blanket of afternoon sun. Prairie dogs stand timorously at their doors, elk herds stand in the road with noble indifference and there's bluebirds a-plenty. The river rises as the peaks shed their white shrouds, announcing the end of winter with a mighty roar.

And then there's the call of "Play ball!"

Z started T-ball earlier this week and his love of the game has daddy all misty with pride and nostalgia. Spring is, by far, my favorite time of the year, and if there's anything that signals the end of cold, dark days it's the smell of fresh-cut grass and a groomed infield. Although my days of aspiring to the big leagues are long past, his days of dreaming have just opened up, a field of possibilities stretching past the horizon, "farther than those hills,
farther than the seas,
close to the stars,"
- beyond the crimson kiss of the setting sun. There is nothing that tomorrow can't offer him, he reckons.

At his first practice, Z took a nasty spill and his little face bears the raspberry badges that bubble up from the heart, scabs on his nose and cheeks and lips that attest to his dedication and spirit. Because, he indeed plays with all his heart. He's by no means the best player out there but oh, he fields a heart larger and more insurmountable than the Green Monster. At yesterday's practice, the coach told everyone that they were welcome to go ("I know some of you are tired") or they could stay and practice more fielding. Z ran full force to me, asking me if he could stay, beaming sunstrong and soul-deep as he turned to run just as fast back to the field.

Another dad at practice today, his son chided and cajoled and criticized, how to stand, how to place his glove, the poor kid not allowed to have fun and be five years old. No time to dream, not allowed to just breathe in the sweet aroma of the grass. Somewhere it was lost that we're supposed to "play" the game not "work" the game. Time enough to work, one day, everyday, and that day will come too soon.

For me, watching Z run after the ball he missed then pick it up, throw it towards first base and then do a little dance as the ball actually made it there - that was enough. No time to chide or demand perfection, no inclination to do anything but just bask in the warmth of the moment, Z's heart-so-big that there's no escaping the enthusiasm and love, presence and intention, the embrace of my own memories.

"Well, beat the drum and hold the phone - the sun came out today!
We’re born again, there’s new grass on the field."

Some of this, some of that, some of youse dis an dat

I'm waiting for my nomination as "Worst blogger of the year". Not so much with blogging, eh, maybe once a month nor not reading anyone else's blog or commenting (though, in defense of myself, not commenting doesn't mean I'm not reading your blog) but mostly, egad, I don't really write much worth reading.

Such is this metablogging puissant; writing about you not reading. Or caring.

Thing is, I need to work on my chops and this seems to be the place to work em'. The few of you who remain following me (and all of this) might be interested to know that I'm writing for the local paper, covering town government. Or maybe not, who knows. At least the local paper pays for me to write.

Nonetheless, I figure my chops need to be honed and those of you who remain within this tiny sphere will get my castoffs, I guess.

So... I just got back from New Mexico, Santa Fe and thereabouts. Stayed with cool people and figured things out. Goddamn, this would be so much more interesting if I wasn't playing catch-up. Shee-it.

To the chops, man.

This whole blog jinx thing has me jittery

You must remember this...

Well, if any of you had showed up here back in January we'd be pulling you out of the ice melt, like some frozen Wooly Mammoth or something. There's a reason for everything, I'm told (though not by anyone I respect) and given the complications that scotched our wedding plans, I'm apt to agree. Afterall, we're now getting married during decent weather and at a damned decent place.

Check out the website if you don't believe me:

http://www.jimandmara.com/

That's all I'll say for the moment. Hopefully, there's more to be revealed.

Getting rid of my Mickey Mouse job to take a Minnie Mouse one

...and if the kids aren't happy, then what's the use?

For the last month I've been toiling as a baker for a chain grocery outlet during the graveyard shift. Not the worst job I've ever had (working on an road crew laying asphalt in the Alabama backwater during mid-summer was much worse) but I'm sick of making donuts, "fresh" bread, and lifting heavy pans until daybreak. More than that, the hours have taken a heavy toll. The day sleeping does nothing for my relationship with MBS or seeing to the care and butt-kicking of our 6-kid crew. It hasn't been a happy time here where one drowns in snow.

My brood has done fairly well adapting to the change of clime and addition of 3 siblings. One of these days I need to indulge in several posts describing the full cast of characters but until then, I'll leave it to you dear readers to let your imaginations flit about and make things up. That aside, I've been pleasantly surprised at how well all kids involved have transitioned, especially MBS's girls (they've been marvelous taking my kids under their wing). Unfortunately (as you saw in my last post), we've had to endure the worst winter in 30 years and that has led to a bit of cabin fever. Frustrations run high at times and nerves fray.

Taking a graveyard shift was one of the worst decisions I've ever made. It put a nasty chock under the tire of a new relationship as well as making me a nasty ass (I have been surly, to say the least). MBS has had to take the lion's share of caring for all the kids, a burden she shouldn't have to shoulder. A few more days of this (hopefully) and I'll be moved to days, manning a cash register.

Spring can't arrive soon enough. The forecast is calling for a winter storm warning and although the accumulations forecast measures in inches instead of feet, I think we're all done being buried by this brutal winter. As you can see from the last post, there's nowhere else to put the load. The load is on us and the rafters are creaking.

If there's a crocus emerging anwhere, it has about 5 feet of snow to push through - a record-setting flower, obviously. Enough records have been broken; it's time to mend.

The other day I saw tracks heading up to the mother-in-law's house, prints that probably belonged to a mountain lion. The winter has been hard on the critters around here. A couple days later, a black spot in the snow about 50 feet from the house marked where something had taken one of the turkeys that waddle down our roads. MBS put on her snowshoes today to take a walk around the land and surveyed the carnage and reports it was apparently a lion that killed the big bird. Later, she saw the puma in the distance, it's back arched as it leapt through the deep snow, it's graceful cat moves reduced to awkward lurches. It watched MBS as she watched it and I'm sure the psychic exchange was not one of fear but of quiet resignation, "Yeah, me too."

Up to my neck in snow & kids, thus the pain there with

No children were hurt during the taking of this photograph

MBS has been wicked ill the past couple of days, my trail by fire especially since the Gods dropped another 3 feet of snow on us. The lead-off pic is no photoshop trick, it's the kids standing in the walkway to our front door (the door you would have come thru had the wedding taken place three weeks ago), sure a bit topped off with shoveling (oy) but for the most part, representative of what's hit us. To give you, the reader (I dare not use a plural there) some perspective, those cross marks in the snow is where I shoveled in - AGAIN - to prevent minor avalanches. The oldest and biggest in the pic is about 4'11" so yeah, that's about 6' of snow, much of that packed down from previous storms. And yeah, if you look in the background, you see that the snow is up to the eaves. Our first floor is under water, so to speak.

We've been waiting 3 days to get dug out; I had carte blanche on a tractor but apparently I did something that put it tits up and now that's a nonstarter. This 30-year snow has kept us close to the ranch, the kids pretty much stuck in front of the tube and me sore with moving what I can move (per the pic above, someone had to move that snow off the walk). 6 kids indoors was not as bad as you might imagine, they were actually great considering that MBS was down the past couple of days and I was mostly outside moving snow.


They stand with me in the movement to eliminate snow where snow should not be. Kind of a negative of the Republican platform.

Considering the 50-or-so dead in the South from freak storms, there's nadda to complain about here and indeed, we've held our own with aplomb, our thoughts and prayers go out to those who were hit with worse weather than this.

Still, MBS and I stepped into an agreement that included 100% more children and we've managed not to toss bodies into the snow stands for at least a huzzah. Buy us a drink or something.

Or something - sheesh.
Guy's out plowing us out near midnight, I think it's my duty to offer him some coffee. If you have pics of bigger snow, pony up or STFU, it's time for coffee and to riff a little more on what it's like to do the dad thing with six instead of three.

Even with help of all the people hanging around, we'd never have gotten that ship out of there

Doh! Goddamn lazy kids, Americans, jackass tourists, titheads, what is this world coming to?

While I’m trying to figure out what needs to be said, I’ll do one of those “random 10” things, or at least random things, while we git this dun, heeyup, MBS bought me a Classic IPod for Christmas and I can finally play that game; if the list is heavy on the Nick Cave or Nellie McKay or shoe-gazing shit or what have you, forgive me, it’s a new iPod and I’m still tweaking the technology.

I’m Not – Panda Bear

I think the only problem westwards was Zeke walking in on nekkid girls, in Kingman, AZ, decent Murkun technology to help me, my last cigarette the day we left.

All 6, all on their way to the coast

Harmony in My Head - Buzzcocks

For those of you who've never smoked and imagine this as some small victory, fuck off, I'd have had your head as well

Darktown Strutter's Ball - Ella Fitzgerald

Perfect Kiss - New Order


"Where's my Perfect Kiss?" she asks

moments before being tossed onto the

Wichita Cathedral - Butthole Surfers

a City of Refuge - Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds

Obviously, not more than child's play, hey,


heh, hrrrrrrr, hmmmmmm,

Ring Them Bells - Sufjan Stevens

or that freakin 3-dollar cotten-candy and faces hidden within....

Bodhi Sappy Weekend - Broken Social Scene
Those of us who waited decided that, afterwards, the ride wasn't nearly as good as the photo and all that...


Run Run Run - The Velvet Underground

Stop the World (And Let Me Off) - Patsy Cline

Bat You'll Fly - Animal Collective

It was fun and a long time ago, dumbo

So long, I can't remember why

It was not just the whiteness of the whale's skin but what was written on it

My ass would say hello as well but it's waiting for the next frickin' foot of snow.


The cabin fever has almost passed; not completely – there are shards of me still grinning maniacally and reflecting moonlight – but the worst is over. Tomorrow promises more sun and no snow, the wee ones a full day in school, my love and I a day in Durango. Just in time, is all I have to say, the three-some feet of snow we had (and the resulting 20-hour power outage), the four days stranded inside and the eight of us wondering when the Donner Party would commence was enough to send even the most stable of us careering downhill aimed quite deliberately at the sturdiest pine. The White Noise was consuming bone and nail and thank the Gods for small favors that we’re not eating our shoes, or something.


Scarlett waves beneath her blanket because she's Image 0420, a ha, ha ha, ha ha, ah hell, hmmmm, whatever...

So yeah, I’m back here and all that, you know - THAT. Except I have 4 other people to write about now and the whole "Patriside" joke seems, well, a bit stale. The times they are indeed a'changin' or at least a wap-bap-a-loop-bap-a damn sight different. If anyone has an idea for a new blog title, by all means, give it up, I could use something besides a good smoke, don't ya' know.


And like any good smoke, save a ton for later.

So, aside from computer problems and, mainly, the logitics of moving myself and my kids here, the sky had to dump itself all over the place, massively, just to mess up my thing, this thing, why you're here reading and all that.


A whole heap o' reasons


It's all good?


Yes, all good...


To the ends of the Earth,


Through the labyrinth.