Circling

Double El had chemo a few years ago. Her oncologist pronounced her Free & Clear the other day and suggested she get her port removed. (A port is an implant that enables drugs, the chemo and others, to be injected and blood to be drawn without individual "stabs." It makes it painless too.) You can see the lump from it just below her clavicle but it's never caused any discomfort. The removal is one of those "rites of passage" I want to be there for so I'll return (to ABQ) on the 7th. In the meantime, Smith & I are working hard at finding a serendipitous route that's maybe a bit warmer.

We're in Wilcox, Arizona on Interstate 10 thinking of dropping down to Cochise Stronghold in the Dragoon Mountains. Then maybe over to Tombstone and up to Benson to Beat-feet it back. OR...we could go down to Douglas and then head up toward Rodeo. I haven't been to Tombstone but the prospect of Benson and the long haul back on the freeway doesn't appeal. So, this is where that stuff about whim (I've written about) comes in. The goddess'll provide....she hasn't failed us yet


Smith's lookin' pretty sleek these days, dontchyuh tink?

A Library

This surfaced while piddling through the hard drive. It was (originally) in the window in Beatty, Nevada....was that May? Might have been April.

Still need to sow those Calif poppy seeds in the front 40, then begin packing. Should be camped, instead of "housed," by tomorrow afternoon. Still, it's always tough leaving the Michellles. 

Accordion Babes 2017 Calendar

Nine days left to preorder the Accordion Babes Pinup calendar. Mine came today and it's awesome!!! And it comes with a CD that includes a tune by each of the women. Here's the link.

Two vids of Calendar Project Leader: Renee de le Prade

Nerd Love

Her latest....

Get out the Lube America

Follow Renee on Twitter at....

https://twitter.com/reneesqueezebox

But Will It Make Your Clit Tingle?

Distasio hangs out at a boutique coffee shop where he gets his social fixes. One of the guys has a porsche which, Vince shared in a cynical tone, he said when he drove it it gave him an erection.

Today a friend of Double El stopped by in her new BMW. It happens to be Michelle's fav color and to celebrate they took off to find some pie. Before she left I had to ask the question. She acknowledged it was the most fun you could have with yer clothes on. 

It's a manual shift, six speed. When I commented she asked, "You'd buy a car like this with an automatic?!!"

Phoebe, being a stick-shift gal herself, nodded appreciatively while politely refraining from mentioning how it's pretty much limited to pavement. Still, it IS a nice color.

Annual Physical & Sylvia Murphy's Blog

Yes, even *I* get checked once a year for STIs. These years it's nothing more than a tradition; a reminder of yesteryears when I could, at least, with only a little exaggeration, manufacture some risk. 

This glowing tube is birdwatching.

For those interested in Colorado, you might enjoy Sylvia Murphy's blog.

Angeles National Forest

My right hand, the one used in a former life for breaking boards, begins to hurt after a week of seaside proximity. So, in spite of the perfect weather, we headed inland. It was dark when we dropped into 4WD low, crawled up the hill to settle on the ridge. 

In the morning we hiked down and found the plaque telling about how the resort, a going concern in 1915, catered, unlike the other, plebian places that served truckers, to the motor stage. 

Is there correlation between discarded Bud Light (Rednecks counting calories!) cans and the defacement of signs?

It Ain't Kansas - Los Padres National Forest

It ain''t Kansas. They drive like they gots sumwharz tuh go and they wants YOU tuh git outa the way. If you get outa line it may take uh halfn hour for yuh tuh git an opening so as tuh git back in. Yessir, there's peoples end-tuh-end. And no end in sight.

But we're be'un watched out for. (I guess since I ain't no drunk thet meenz ah mus be uh phool.) 

As preface to what follows, please take a moment to read An Average Life's blogpost of 10/25/16; it lends fine context to my tale.

At a remote campground that was empty I got out to read the regs & fees. I then went up the road where I stopped to look over the walk-in tent sites, remembering to roll up the window so the cat couldn't get out. A little further I came to the main campground and toodled about, stopping to compliment a young woman on her beautiful, full length, aubergine gown. It was nice to see someone dressed in something more original than the grey t-shirt 'n' khaki shorts uniform. I returned to the remote place, filled out the form, paid the fee and discovered, upon unloading the car, that I didn't have a cat.

I suffer from loss issues. Thus, my first reaction was, "Oh well, it was inevitable. I'll get over it." But then, after about ten minutes, years of therapy kicked in and I began thinking of where she might've gotten out. I began calling as I walked back to the C.G. pay station. Circling the area and continuing to call, I practically fell over when she came trotting across an open area heading for the nearby woods. She stopped to sniff the leg of a picnic table (she enjoys making fun of dogs) before jumping onto a low limb of a tree and and (are you watching?) pantomiming checking the tie-downs on her packboard before heading off into the wilds. I called and she paused, letting me get near enough (sssoOOO beneficent) to grab her. Cuddling her in my arms, I asked if she wanted to leave, if she was unhappy with me. Her quick glance with frightened eyes reassured me it wasn't about me. She's just a kitten and wanted to get out. 

The next evening, after driving for too long, we were forced into a campground where many of the sites, although empty, were reserved. With nowhere else to go, I chose the first one, fortuitously separated from the others, and unloaded the absolute minimum. I figured we'd keep it warm for them and when they showed up it'd take mere minutes to get packed and out of the way. I hoped to get a few hours sleep, enough to be able to drive on to somewhere. The ranger, who was kind enough to have waited until we finished our repast, was having none of it. "Move on, buddy. And be quick about it." I know I'd have been grateful if I'd been the reservee.

In my haste I forgot to close the back door. I'd looped the end of Smith's lead over the gearshift lever but, about 500 feet from the campsite, looked down and noticed it wasn't there. As I braked to a stop, the back door slammed shut. I soon realized, I was, once again, catless.

It was pitch dark and the woods were dense. A steep ravine, a fav exploratorium of hers, loomed its depths next to the road. I walked about with my flashlight, hoping no one else would show up and scare her. I scanned the campsite, calling into the night. I imagined her entangled lead, preventing her from responding. Existentialist correlaries and Waiting for Godot played about my (alleged) psyche. 

She came trotting down the boulevard with her lead trailing, "Thanks for waiting. You left the door open so I figured it was okay to get out. Ha, ha!" When I stooped to intercept her, she veered and quickened her pace, but my foot, always chancey with one eye (the left is blind), found its mark and I was able to reel her in.  An hour later, crispy-crittered to the hilt, we checked into the aforementioned remote C.G.  

The next day was better. After 12 miles of steep, narrow and winding up to the Figueroa Recreation Area (Hah! No muttering of generators up here!), we found a little knoll. There, between the steepyer (like pointyer but slantyer) slopes of the Sierra Madre mountains in the Los Padres National Forest, amongst the oaks, where much of the land is either up or down, I noticed a faint track of tires. Walking it, they soon disappeared. But upon turning to return, and with the light now behind me, I could see a vague suggestion. And we didn't even need 4WD. With all the trees (uhg!) Smith was in heaven!

Her exuberance is wonderful. It brought a full-on laugh when she came racing out of the forest, leaped in through the bathroom window and, with zuchinni tail in full-fluff (mock anger/terror), exited, still at fullspeed, stage right, through the front passenger door. My hair, blown by the afterdraft, streamed out beside my head and I reeled back expecting a herd of jackals to be hot on her heels.

The next day A few miles down the road the gods had left this little hidey-hole (see photo) open. It's atop the mountain overlooking Santa Barbara about 1,000 feet before the gun club (BLAM!! BLAM!! BLAM, BLAM, BLAM!!!). We surmised they'd forgotten their night vision stuff cuz it got quiet after dark.

The weather's fyne. Upper 70s to low 80s during the day. Nights in the 60s and, at these elevations, no fog.


NOTE: The local Nat'l Forest cop gave hard time cuz yer sposedly only ''llowed tuh be one car length fum duh pavement. Everything I've read said 300 feet, but, of course, I didn't have it to hand. As per his authority, he took umbrage at the suggestion he didn't know the law.