Author Archives: Joel

We’re getting our first taste of winter here at the Secret Lair. The sky’s been all socked in, lots of snow flurries. The mud hasn’t frozen hard yet but there’s ice in the puddles. It’s only November so we’re not … Continue reading →

More heavy overcast this morning, capping a lovely wet weekend. I keep looking over my shoulder to see if Landlady is lurking anywhere. Actually in fairness Saturday was the prettiest day we’ll probably see till May, but it’s a faded … Continue reading →

J&H may have sold their house, but J didn’t sell his little Plan D RV trailer. So, today’s task is to move it somewhere else. Simplicity itself! The Jeep may have trouble stopping a heavy load, but it has no … Continue reading →

Like approximately 100% of my countrymen, when I heard about those terrorist attacks in Paris yesterday I immediately jumped to the conclusion “Moslems*.” And of course, reading this morning’s hysterical post-mortems, I was completely right. I don’t know about you, … Continue reading →

The cookware in the Interim Lair was a hodgepodge of stuff, either abandoned there by previous occupants or acquired at the local dollar store. Little of that made the trip to the Secret Lair. Landlady gave me grazing rights to … Continue reading →

I was cleaning up inside and around the Lair’s woodstove when I saw this odd-looking thing. It apparently flew off while I was splitting kindling… Pretty sure I know how that happened. In the summer I broke up Ian’s old … Continue reading →

Woke this morning to an email from my older brother with a link to this article, appending it with his own headline: Sentenced to Eight Years in Prison for not having a penis Prosecutors say 25-year-old Gayle Newland went to … Continue reading →

The Jeep’s ride changes abruptly. And you look behind you. And you know that heavily-laden trailer you were hauling a minute ago? Oh, yeah. This is great. It’s almost five, the light will be going soon, I’m tired and footsore, … Continue reading →

It is often and truly said that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, and I have no doubt that if I took every bit of the stuff I dealt with this morning, buried it in a cave, and came … Continue reading →

I just thought it was one of those insipid, boring things you have to sit through when you’ve got a little kid. All that time I was microaggressing against my daughter, and missed the fun of knowing it. By way … Continue reading →

Police Probe Alleged Raiders Player’s Taunting Of K-9 At Heinz Field “We were immediately notified about the incident, and we immediately initiated a criminal investigation into the matter. Sheriff’s Office supervisors interviewed witnesses and reviewed video surveillance recordings at Heinz … Continue reading →

Just spent three hours over at Former Neighbor J&H’s place with D&L, for the second episode of the “Give All J&H’s Stuff Away” show. L, having been closer to H than I ever was, looked at a lot of this … Continue reading →

When I was in my teens I used to hitchhike for hours to get to Ann Arbor, just so I could hang out at this wonderful, magical place I knew I’d never actually attend. They all seemed so focused, so … Continue reading →

And especially you can tell when you’re at J&H’s hilltop home. Traded some texts with J this morning concerning stuff that needs to be shipped east, then headed over there to get work done. Everything was fine, simply fine, until … Continue reading →

The song in my head is Mandolin Wind, which is one of my favorite old Rod Stewarts, except it seems to be about a guy living out on the prairie where winter can kill you, and contains the line “Except … Continue reading →

Via the Captain’s Journal, this fine “past hunter and active skeet shooter” skools us on what we don’t need… [W]hat is the actual benefit of making that noise less audible? Is it to avoid hurting the shooter’s ears? Is it … Continue reading →

A fellow likes to have a good supply of the things he depends on. Rarely eat oatmeal in summer, but in winter it’s pretty much a daily thing. And I don’t mean that library paste they sell at the supermarket. … Continue reading →

Was never so happy to get poor again. Went to town this morning, bummed an envelope from D&L, stopped at the post office and paid much money for a skinny little money order, which I then put in the envelope … Continue reading →

The boys only have two functions: Pretend to listen respectfully while I expound deep philosophical musings at them, and keep the bad critters at bay. The first duty is purely ceremonial. Except for Ghost’s undoglike tendency to walk away unbidden … Continue reading →

Do you guys remember when you were kids and were promised some toy, or a trip to Disneyland or something, but it wasn’t going to happen for a month? All that anticipation, delicious and excruciating at the same time, as … Continue reading →