When the Smoke Clears

Someone come up with it. I feel a rasping and burning coming on in my lungs. I need to be better. Right away. No choice. On Thursday I am to leave with a bunch of soldiers on four days of training to serve as their medic… yet again. The weather is calling for some really [...]

Well, I am safely back from my trip to Virginia. The road called and I was able to take my time. I thought that the day away from work would be good as well and I enjoy a drive, especially a nice somewhat long drive to different places, even better when I am meandering no [...]

Yep, the big storm amounted to nothing for us: some ice scattered about and I had to take a long walk around the deck to get to the Jeep. I have a porch that wraps around the entire cabin, and the cabin is wheelchair accessible. One design flaw is that the ramp near the front [...]

So there I was, minding my own business when I was kidnapped, kidnapped against my will and whisked away for the weekend. Indeed, 24 or so young ones gathered together and plotted my destruction, bundling me into my own Jeep which I was then forced to drive, laden down with gear and cold-weather clothing as [...]

Last night was a great night. It made taking today much more bearable. In fact it was the first time in a long time I really felt like I had taken a break, a for-real break from the world.
A close friend bought me “down in front along the stage” tickets to Cirque du Soleil [...]

Oprah doesn’t require good press. The lady owns enough of it. I don’t know where her politics sit, but I have my suspicions as she is part of the daytime talk show lineup. I could be wrong. Doesn’t matter, celebrity gossip is not my beat.
Oprah has founded and opened a school for girls in [...]

I know it may not be seen as a good thing right now by some critics, and I’m sure there will be constant mention of it in any report on a violent attack, but with Sad-dam Hussein executed, I hope the Kurds especially find some peace of mind.
I don’t celebrate the death of an [...]

I know most of y’all only check in sporadically but I am about to sit down with Tammi and That1Guy at a little Ale-house in Tampa. But I have some time to wait before they both show and I was here studying when I saw the free Wi-fi sign. Oh yeah, I’m here, I’m having [...]

The road beckons. Time to travel. I had hoped to be able to enjoy another holiday in the cabin, but no one can come to me this year for various reasons, so I must go to them.
The Jeep is loaded down with essential gear, books, emergency equipment and medical gear, CamelBaks™ filled. Often during [...]

Went hiking today, several times. I’m looking for different photos to put in the masthead up there… different ideas, foggy streams, misty obstacle courses, Blue Ridge Mountains.
But a buddy of mine and I went hiking out at a nearby waterfall this afternoon. The following photo is exactly how it turned out on my camera, [...]

Back from the weekend with the mountaineering unit (again.)
The Rock-face: slippery. Rains over the last week have left bubbling flows at the top of the mountain, meaning lots of little sometimes waterfalls coming down the side.
The View: beautiful with the changing of the leaves. It’s one thing to drive through it. Quite another to [...]

When you have to be made conscious of your breathing, your day has probably extended well past where it should.
The last few days have been a bit blurry, some of it good, some of it challenging. I like to use this space often as the way of putting together my last thoughts for the [...]

Saturday afternoon, atop a hill under an old oak tree as the sun was setting casting a glow across their faces, two good friends of mine were married. The top of the tree yellow and orange, green farther down as if the altitude was great enough to only create the autumn effect on the upper [...]

Written on the back of a scrap of paper a few days ago…
Friday – Sunset – Somewhere on base – It’s not a moment of perfect peace with the occasional fly buzzing around my head, but right now all I can really hear is the wind in the pines like a distant ocean wave never [...]

- Two glowing eyes darting up and down in the pitch black woods: a deer. Two eyes moving side to side in the woods: probably a bear.
- When someone starts yelling, you can try to listen for the underlying message behind the voice, or shut them the f- out if they can’t figure out how [...]