Home a week now. Weather has been wonderful, for the most part. Daytime highs in the 70's or low 89's and nighttime low's in the 50's. It is scary, how nice it has been. Somehow, I suspect we will pay.

No luck finding any temp work, but haven't been looking as hard as I might.

The light pole in the camp dooryard has snapped off at its base from years of little buggies boring their little teeth off. This poses a problem as the transformer on the powerline is also off. Can't very well ask the faceless bureaicrats at Bangor Hydro-Electric Company to replace the busted transformer when it'll just short out again from the lines coming in contact with the trees the yard pole is leaning against. Need over a grand to replace the pole. THAT isn't going to happen any time soon. That's like a weeks wages around here, assuming one can find a job that pays anything close to $25 an hour. And So It Goes.

Juris Impudence

A long slog got us to The Uncle's in Maryland on Monday. Tuesday spent working on projects which had accumulated since November. Had a really nice crab feed on Tuesday night at Ford's Restaurant in Rock Hall. The service left a lot to be desired, but the food was tasty and the quantity was good. Four adults, no booze, two crab meals, one 3 pound lobster and a liver and onions plate came to a total of $80. Not bad, everything considered. Wednesday I collapsed - accumulated fatigue from the hard driving and anticipation of the final legs home. Thursday we awoke to a loud thunderclap about 5AM followed by a spectacular lightning storm. I rolled over and went back to sleep. Friday morning finished up the last of the projects and loaded up the truck and made ready for departure. Waited out the weekend get-away traffic and set out towards Maine at 2AM Saturday. Made good time, having taken my wife straight through the middle of New York City -- a first for her. Cross-Bronx Expressway hasn't improved one bit during my 25 year absence from the city. Skyline is so sad without the Twin Towers. Drove as far as Southern Connecticut on the old standby, I-95, by late morning.

We ate lunch and then napped for a couple of hours in the heat of the day as the Saturday beach traffic had been bugging me no end -- it was supposed to be easy driving on a Saturday, not bumper-to-bumper white knuckling nonsense. The nap delay did the trick. Easy sailing Northward. Had to detour on I-297 due to a bridge out in Pawtucket, RI so didn't have the fun of driving through Providence or Boston. We pulled into Bangor, Maine at dusk, about 8:00PM, making for a very LONG DAY. Parked in the dooryard at the house and went straight to bed after a meal of our favorite Chinese take-out. Sunday dawned clear and crisp at 67° at 8:00 AM, so we pulled out and headed straight to camp. Discovered some miscreants had broken in the front door during our sojourn in the Southland. Not a lot of things missing, but the place was pretty trashed. Bah Humbug. To add insult to injury, the power doesn't seem to be working, but I can't find my voltmeter to check the wires coming in to the camp to see if power is being delivered to the building. Note to self: Tomorrow - must find my meter.

Went through the 3 month accumulation of mail and discovered to my horror that I'd be summonsed to serve on the Traverse Jury for Superior Court. For August. Starting with a mandatory appearance on Monday, 2 August 2010. Tried calling first thing this morning, but all I got was voicemail. Went in this afternoon and ascertained that a bench warrant had NOT been issued for my failure to appear. However, they promptly signed me up for the October session, which begins in September and runs into November?

Phooey - I was hoping to make enough money to make it back down South for the winter. Hard to do when you have to be in court for 6 weeks...

And So It Goes.

Neuse To Me...

We're tucked in amongst the Loblolly Pines and Gum Trees of the Croatan National Forest campground at the Neuse Rive (AKA Flanners Beach). That's about 12 miles southeast of the town of New Bern, North Carolina. It has about 35 wooded RV sites with electricity (water available to carry and there is a sewage dump site). The bathroom is clean and the price is right - $17US. We arrived late this afternoon (early evening, really). So, I will try for a photo of the waterfront for you in the morning as it is too dark to be banging around an unlit riverbank (no moon at all). Met a fellow from New Hampshire who was admiring our whisper-quiet air conditioner. He's in a tent in this 95° heat. He and his wife are on the way to Charleston, S.C. They had the misfortune of having a sparkplug blow out of the engine Friday night in Virginia while waiting to cross the Chesapeake Bay Bridge & Tunnel. About $500 and two days later, they are on the way again. He was sort of glad that they'd opted to only bring a tent for this quick trip to South Carolina. He figures the towing cost of both the truck and trailer, plus the repairs, would have left them stranded. Times are tough, folks. No doubt about it.

Tomorrow, if all goes well, we will head to Uncle's in Maryland. It is a solid 400 miles of secondary roads, more than I usually choose to drive in a day, but we'll give it the old college try.

Holed Up

We made it all the way to the Buck Horn Recreation Area in the Francis Marion National Forest at Mcclenndon, South Carolina. This 14 lot campground is basically a convenience for fishermen. Lots have electric (30&50 amp) and water. There is a bath house and sewer dump for self-contained units.

Did I mention it is right on the Inter-coastal Waterway, less than 30 miles north of Charleston, South Carolina? Yep. Every other facility near the water might be full, but this one has a few openings so long as it isn't the middle of shrimping or sea bass (striper) season...

So, we will stay here through the weekend to avoid the crowds.

Valdosta?

Yes, indeedy. Valdosta, Georgia is where we landed tonight, after a quiet day and a half at the Mystic Springs Cove, Inc., an Airstream Park about 25 miles north of Pensacola on the Escambia River and site of our close call last November when flood waters covered the road one early morning.

We got a middling late start after breakfast and then poked along on Interstate 10 for a bit before turning the nose of the Ford northward for Georgia. It will come as no surprise to anyone between Key West and Boston that it was a hot day, in the upper 90's for the most part, so there was no sense of urgency. Just walking from the truck to a rest room was enough to soak my clothing. Actually working in these temperatures and humidity levels can be excruciating. I was so heat sick on Monday before I quit that I contemplated hospitalization!

We did manage to score some fresh tomatoes, Vidalia onions, peaches and the best boiled peanuts I've ever had, hands down, from a little stand at the junction of a couple of secondary roads in Georgia. Drove through Havana, Florida, named after Havana, Cuba as the town took up cigar production for a thirty year period (1940's through the late 1960's). Also Cairo, Georgia, the birthplace of Jackie Robinson, and got to admire the range of architecture in that fair burg after a wrong turn (darn GPS) forced me to travel over several residential and downtown streets to get where I wanted to go. Almost had a cute blonde officer as an escort vehicle, but she circled the block and made sure we left town without causing too much mischief. Damn Yankees! Hrumph!

No pictures today - too busy driving, I guess.

Arrived in Valdosta just before sundown. I hate setting up in the dark as I always seem to injure or break something, so I was unwarrantedly PO'd when my dear wife's navigational skills had us retracing our path multiple times trying to locate the campground entrance. After doubling back yet another time we hit upon the magic combination of chicken bones and tea leaves and found the place, right where they said they'd be. Funny, that.

That's about all for tonight. No excitement. Cooked a mean mess of sauteed onions and Chicken-Spinach and roasted garlic sausages (the last of our stash of Sam's Club tube steaks) along with a [late of fresh tomato wedges and pickled beets for supper. Finished up with a still warm, juicy Georgia Peach. Yum!


Well, off to sleep. Who knows what tomorrow may bring?

We're Off

After a teary-eyed departure, we have hit the road. Here is a view of the Kiln, Mississippi picnic area. A "BAYFIELD BUNCH LUNCH" (PB&J) has just been consumed. Much pleasure derived by all. Ignatz has annointed all tree trunks and other vertical objects in sight so he's happy, too. Off to Pensacola...

WX Delay

The heat has defeated me. It is 95* in the shade. In the direct sun it is much worse. Typical Louisiana humidity, i.e. wringing wet. In fact, someone ran me through the wringer and left me for dead. No more truck loading until sun down. Sucks to get old. Maybe we'll leave in the morning.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless Phone

Finally!

Getting ready to pull out of Baton Rouge for Maine in the morning. First stop will be in the Pensacola, Florida area.

We expect to be turning North at Jacksonville. Then next stop somewhere around Charlotte, S.C.

More as we actually hit the road.



Update: Corrected a misspelling & deleted the gratuitous line about my cell phone service. It hit 103°F. this afternoon - not much packing done. Can't imagine why...

Not all spills get International responses...

I realize that the flood of news these days combined with the hectic pace we all seem to maintain is an easy excuse for overlooking serious events elsewhere. Like the woman who allegedly (admittedly) killed eight babies she has born since 1989 (Dunai - Nord, France). And so much punditry, hot air and national exhibitions of know-nothingness have been expended on the disastrous oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico that this little story on CNN may have escaped your attention:
Photo Credit: CNN

"(CNN) -- Rising waters from flooding in northeastern China hit a chemical plant and washed thousands of containers filled with explosive chemicals into a river, state media said Thursday."

Read the rest of the tale, here.

From the frying pan and into the fire...

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Why I Hate Doctors...

Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net

Guess that means there's no shooting team, huh?

Do you remember when it wasn't a "sanitary landfill"? It was "the dump" and we used to go out when I was a teenager on a Saturday evening before it got dark enough to go to the drive-in and shoot rats at "the dump". There were thousands (so it seemed; more like hundreds, in actuality) and you could shoot a "brick" of .22LR ammo easily with just a bolt-action 22 rifle or six-shot pistol - no sense eating up more of your allowance on more expensive loads - leave that to the young bucks with paying jobs in construction or fishing or cutting timber. They could afford the .357 or .45 caliber loads -- too rich for my blood.

It wasn't something frowned upon by the elders, either. The town fathers considered it a service, particularly as the dump attendant was a heavy drinker and likely in town, tying one on, if you know what I mean. The local police didn't even bother to respond to reports of gunfire at the dump -- they just figured we were out shooting rats.

Somehow, in the intervening years between sneaking into drive-ins in the trunk of a car and getting busy in the backseat with Cindy-Lou or Bettyjo, they changed the rules. Now, the mere possession of a rifle in your trunk is enough to send the police off the deep end. Any attempt at shooting vermin at the "Sanitary Landfill" would likely get me, at minimum, a night in jail and a court summons for trespassing on municipal property.

I was reminded of all of this because I saw (sorry, no phone or camera with me to take a picture) that they'd repainted the sign at the local high school in anticipation of a new school year. What sign, you ask? The one that warns it is a felony to bring a weapon onto school property by anyone, other than an on-duty police officer, responding to a disturbance at the school. Heck, when I was a kid, the rule was you could bring your hunting rifle in your truck to school provided it remained locked in your truck. If you were riding the bus and going hunting after school, you were allowed to bring your rifle or shotgun direct to the office and leave it in the principal's office until closing bell. Now, you'd go to prison if you tried that.

The times, they have changed. And not for the better...

What the ...?

Still cooking over a fire of toasted crawfish in Louisiana, again ungainfully unemployed. Hoping to leave for Maine soon as we straighten out some bureaucratic snafus here in the Sportsman's Oil Mecca of the USA. Night breezes often are redolent with wafted Mexican Crude.

Found this Fionavar Tapestry Character Test over on Paul's blog, Aurora Walking Vacation. So, what the heck, I took the "personality test" and this is what appeared. Me, stubborn? Do pigs fly on Sundays?



I'm Aileron!
Take The Fionavar Tapestry Character Test today!
Created with Rum and Monkey's Personality Test Generator.

You are Aileron, High King of Brennin. Taciturn and stubborn, you are skilled in many areas and find yourself taking a leadership role. You are a hard worker and hold fast to your beliefs, only rarely allowing your humour and feelings to show forth.

BP's "Wide, Wide, River"

With no apologies for the use of The Fugs' song "Wide, Wide, River" comes this visual critique of the mess the BP busted oil well has made of the Gulf of Mexico:



Here's the original:

Ramses The Second Is Dead, My Love...

And so, too, is one of the most formative influences of my twisted psyche, from the Beats of my Generation -- Tuli Kupferberg. Read his New York Times obituary here. Yes, Tuli, I, too, 'like boobs alot.' May your heaven be full of them...


The Fugs -- "Boobs A Lot" from the First Album* - 1965

Appropriately titled, “The Village Fugs Sing Ballads of Contemporary Protest, Points of View and General Dissatisfaction.”

"Always A Rebel" - Vinnie Morris (YouTube)

A talented singer-songwriter applies his talents to immortalizing the crab fishing industry on the Bering Sea off Alaska.

Rain, rain, go away...

Had a good, uneventful run to Fort Worth on Sunday night - Monday morning. A thousand miles in 18 hours, with a lunch stop and three fuelings. No photos to share as when I wasn't driving, I was sleeping. Here, today, we got rained out with over an inch this morning and many more to follow. The PTB's at the FEMA yard are saying it will likely be next week before anymore trailers can come out -- they've shut the yard down for the week due to the flooding. That pretty much means the end of it for us -- time to head North. Just in time for that heat wave y'all are having. It only managed to get to 81° here while up home it got to 90°! Something is wrong with that...

Leaving out for our last trip to Texas (there aren't any more trailers ready to go) in a few hours, then we'll see.

Stay cool and hydrated, my friends. This (heat wave) shall pass.

Early in the Morning (Buddy Holly Cover)

Now here's a young woman with a wicked load of raw talent, Samatha Smith. Her rendition of "Early In The Morning," a cover of the Buddy Holly tune, has a haunting quality to the vocalization, despite the limitations of the venue's acoustics. Below that is the eerily beautiful rendition of her own song, "Ventriloquism."





If Samantha ever gets a record contract, look out world ... this chick is going places.

Seven Years Old

Happy Birthday, dear Daily Snooze, happy birthday 2U.

This is the third incarnation of this blog -- the second on Blogger. It started back in April, 2003, but that version was mostly unread and certainly unremarked upon. I don't even recall getting anything but spam comments! I erased that one after discovering that AOL was starting a blog service with no archive. What did I know about posterity?

I alpha- and then beta-tested the AOL Journals product from July 1 through the 27th of July when it was declared "ready for prime time" or some such. Lost the first few entries when the entire AOL Journals edifice collapsed after 2 days. But, you will find everything in the archives from July 30th, 2003 onward in the archives, if you care to look.

"Daily" is a misnomer, I know now. Hell, I'm lucky to produce an entry once a week, most of the time. No real excuse -- I'm just not as chatty. Some flack for posts over the years resulted in a severe curtailment of anything pertaining to family members and I have never spoken about business colleagues or acquaintances on the "Snooze." Thus, sources for material have died up almost as fast as my libido. I mean, just how much interest is there in the quality of my bowel movements, anyhow?

Alright, I know. TMI. But that's just the thing -- I find I must walk a fine line between telling too much, thus adversely affecting my chances for some super job I want in future, and saying so little that you stop visiting to read what I have to share.

Oh well, fuck it. I have been sweating in the 95° heat with humidity to match, driving ugly FEMA trailers (not safe for habitation) from one lot to another. Made some pocket change, a few enemies and sunburned my nose and ears. Managed to avoid the wasp bites that others haven't (a good thing, given the anaphylactic shock I am likely to enter if they do get me) but not the spiders -- I have had two bites, one on each hand. I'm so tired by the time I get back I can barely breathe. Sleep -- that's what I want these days. Blogging doesn't even appear on the radar.

I'm getting older, too, and it sucks. But you don't care. Time is taking its toll upon you just as fast as me. You have your own problems, I'm sure. So, you take care of you and I will try to do the same. Catch you again, real soon now.

Cutest Photo? Zombie Toddler Eats Kitten!

"After you've finished sucking out the brain, start on the eyes, dear."

photo credit: Huffington Post