Author Archives: Joel

From this MSNBC article… At a Department of Justice program this morning celebrating African American History Month, the nation’s first black attorney general — Eric Holder — said the United States is a “nation of cowards” when it comes to … Continue reading →

I spent last evening as I spend nearly every evening before retiring, reading a book and communing with the dogs and cats. Click has become much saucier over the past couple of weeks, not spending all her time hiding in … Continue reading →

And it’s pretty good stuff. I don’t subscribe to some nice things the writer/narrator has to say about the first GW in comparison with Lincoln, but other than that I can find little to quibble with.

We sit inside the scriptorium and surf the web. I’ve been blocked so long it’s hard to remember sometimes that part of my original reason for coming out here was so I could write. I did write a novel, one … Continue reading →

Between five-thirty and six, as things were settling down in the lair after Snacky Time, Ghost suddenly came out of his curl and shot for the door. This wasn’t a “woof, dammit, forgot to go bark at the coyotes” sort … Continue reading →

I hear that you’re buildingYour little houseDeep in the desert…You’re living for nothing nowI hope you’re keepingSome kind of record…Leonard Cohen, Famous Blue Raincoat The shell of Joel’s Secret Lair was actually supposed to have been complete before winter, but … Continue reading →

Sometimes, as CM said, even us hermity types get busy. Landlady was due this weekend, and Friday was basically just one of those days when nothing worth – or even seemingly worth – blogging occurred to me. So there’s a … Continue reading →

I wake long before the sky goes light on the other side of the ridge, as I always do. Fritz has been lying still, watching me. I can feel his eyes on me. Ghost also looks for a sign. They … Continue reading →

Some days are just made for cocooning indoors. I’m sorry if that makes me a wuss, it just happens to be true. The temperature never got above freezing, or not enough to matter. The wind isn’t howling and hurling things … Continue reading →

The weather forecast has been unusually accurate for the past couple of weeks, but yesterday it let me down just a bit. It called for rain all day, but the morning was sunny and still if quite a bit colder … Continue reading →

When you buy a new gasoline-powered generator, you’ll notice it is covered with all sorts of blood-curdling messages about how you must never run one indoors, or carbon monoxide will kill you in mere milliseconds and your kids will all … Continue reading →

…and I wondered why my landlady had scheduled him and not told me, but it turned out he just decided to come by. We’re installing a furnace and water heater in the barn, and one of those big propane tanks … Continue reading →

Big cats are rare, but they happen. I don’t even see tracks very often, and I’ve only seen a lion once. Bobcats, yes. But I don’t think this is a bobcat.

On the tamer walks, Butch likes to tag along. It’s about the only time he gets along with the boys, and even that only within limits. I…am Mighty Cat! And into the wash we go, for there are so many … Continue reading →

…when you don’t have to worry about building inspectors. 🙂 When I hauled Serenity away, (it was sitting about where the wheelbarrow is in the first pic) a small problem arose. The area available for driveway was now substantially wider, … Continue reading →

Five gallons of dirt, shoveled into a bucket from a particular pile and then tamped down hard with a length of 4X4, weighs just about exactly 75 pounds. Just so you know. I could tell you why I needed to … Continue reading →

I woke up this morning humming a song I’m sure I haven’t even thought of in decades. All day long it wouldn’t go away. But I couldn’t remember the !@#$! words! Thanks to YouTube and thousands of people with way … Continue reading →

I feel ripped off, and I didn’t even pay for it. Engine by Cummins, genset by Onan. That was the advertisement. Reality – not so much. The landlady is going to be pissed. A trip to town is a big … Continue reading →

Continued from here. Begins here. I’m an extreme case; I’m a beardo who lives alone in the desert. Nobody cares what I do. I was able to do this because I’m old enough that those who legitimately depended on me … Continue reading →

Continued from here. Begins here. It’s all about power. But authority without the means to enforce your wishes isn’t really power at all. So in the end, it’s really all about money. And money, as we all know, has been … Continue reading →