just one of those day, woke up, and the urge to hear something (other than the ringing in my ears) was strong.   

Moved the ‘speakers’ around a little bit. one on one side of the house, the other in opposite corner; sub dead middle between near wall.

I’m sitting here wakin’ the neigborhood up.  I turned my house into one big set of headphones and cranked the shit out of stuff I haven’t heard in awhile.  CLARITY!!!

The ears ain’t what they used ta be, and volume makes up for the loss.   AND, I needed this.  Apologies to any that may have been rudely awakened by it: you’ll live and get over it.

Boston, Hitchin a ride    Tears in my eyes as my soul went back in time 40+years,,,,   JOY LOSS PAIN LOVE

you get it, I’m sure.   Your tune may be something different, but the feelings are there, deep inside, locked up to pull out and examine when the time is right.

That time for me was this AM

and now, its time to get a boat wet and feel the REAL WORLD around me, not this Kabuki theater crap that has been all over the place and nowhere at the same time.     T’ain’t wool that is getting pulled over eyes, but the deth-throes of a machine that should have been dismantled before it was ever built, back in 2001. (talking about the growth that came to be after the Patriot act version 1)     I dunno if we will see the end of it or if it is going to be like a cancer surgery gone wrong: where the cancer comes back with a vengeance and overtakes the host.      

The ONLY good thing coming about: the masks are fully off and the crazy is on full display.    I can only hope more wake up to the nightmare that has been and demand a FIX.  

I am not belittling Trumped 2.0 nor Musk and DOGE,,, BUT, without scouring the regulations with a scraper and bleach, none of thier efforts will last longer than the headlines, never making it into history.  

And there are the carrots they keep playing with: Epstein lists and JFK records,,,,        JUST RELEASE THE DAMNED THINGS AND LET THE PUBLIC DECIDE.    All of this reminds me that INTEL and STATE are the real powers behind the curtain, NOT the ELECTED, the supposed voice of the people.   And the Judiciary is showing a certain amount of extra-constitutional power, really fuggin’ up the mix.

fu’this,,, gotta get a boat wet.  Gonna destroy the good vibes I started this day with if I keep at it.

y’all take care this day and I’ll see you on domestics Sonday.

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Whu’can’I say,,, I’za lazy bastich come winters,,,,  Let that hair flow,,,,     Last hair cut is usually late September, early October, and I let the ‘curls fly’ until the last cold snap of March.

That was last night according to the weather liars.  

Now that I have a fresh head shave, I’ma bettin’ that mama-nature is gonna have a snow storm as a party favor.   Irony can be her forte,,,

I’s freeday, with workin’ hours behind me.   Puttin’ out fires day was on my schedule.   I kinda like those days, other than the driving side of things.   But I get to pick the order and route so’s I can minimize the drive time.    Times long passed, I used to love driving.   Then I got a CDL and grew to dislike it.    Can still drive long distance as needed, safely, without droopin’ eyelids.   Does not mean I enjoy it; at least not like I did when younger and dumber.    A couple Cincy to the left coast runs (and back) and you’ll figure out what I mean.    (OH, and DO NOT take 10 from the right coast to the left coast, unless you are a TOTAL glutton for punishment: AMHIK,,,,)

Tomorrow is looking up for a paddle day.   No plans on kayakamping this round (still waiting on a package from the Zon to complete my plans for such.) but just getting out and paddling for a spell to warm up the soul and stretch out the back and core muscles after a winter hiatus (the first since I started this adventure.  SHOCK!!!)(no excuses either, all in my efforts, or lack of; I have the gear for it, this year was the first where I didn’t have the inclination.  Mehbe its just age, but I doubt it.  There are other kayakers, much older than I, that still get out year round.)   This was also the first year I did not paddle the equinox or solstice days.  

me thinks its time to get back to church and spend time in conversation with the higher powers.

Will still need dry/wet gear but not the full dry suit: the waters are still chilled.  

Time to settle down to the weekend routine, get my mind in order, and convince my body “its ok to relax for a minute now”   No need to rush into a thing at this point.

more later as I find something worth writing about.  

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Where’d the week go?

Spring springin’ out all over,,, buds in the trees can been seen from distance now.   FEELS GOOD!!

‘ceptin’ tonight is back down into the basement for a one night ‘welcome back’ tour.    Was seeing flakes in the air at the jobsite as we were wrappin’ up for the day.  Temps had been falling from the word go and it was getting a might chilly, to say the least.

Spring,,,    Longer days.   More jobs for the J.O.B. which means more hours for your’s truly, which does make me happy (less stress on the finances means more happy me)   AND 

Kayakin’ is getting ‘freindlier’ to the skin and bod.  Less gear needed ‘just to paddle’, and my mental state will improve accordingly.

With the improved mental state, improved work levels, better financial states; the weeks FLY BY and the weekends are never long enough (even when I was doing the ‘Four on, three off’, they weren’t long enough,,, wanted more, (but there is a balance where income loss overrides frivolity.)

As an aside,,, to fill in the imagry of cold weather making a short comeback tour.  When I came home today, EVERY FOUR FOOT was happily in the house and in full hibernate mode.  All three of the puddie-tats and the stinky dawg; in the livin’room and sprawled.  (I knew it was gonna get cold and left the space heater running to maintain the house temps.)   Usually Mama and LB are waiting at the porch for ‘fresh ded kow’, but not today.   ‘Kold out there, Da! feedz us in here!’

Four Foots fed, Hot shower later, and my eyes are droopin’,,,    That was when it hit me, “its thurzday, one more then weekendz, OORAH!!!” 

Like the saying ‘rather look at it than for it’ is a truth, there is also the idea of, ‘Busy days make for short weeks’: and this’un has BLOWN by.   (and it may help some that I am no longer playing chauffer to Burnout,,,,)

——————————————————

Saw more of the Kabuki theater while visitin’ Da today.    Seems no one can get the story straight about anything now.   The usual leftard media is running amok with their hair on fire, the voices that were feeding them are either silent or no longer have the reins in hand, and the kraykray is in full swing.   Told dad that, IMO, the only way the DNC can make a comeback from this in 2026 is for a complete WORLD WIDE financial meltdown, and even with that, they are going to be climbing UP A CLIFF.   The masks are off and people are waking up to the insanity ENMASS.    There are still the dedicated brainwashed that listen, and those are the ones burning Tesla’s and what not (or are still getting paid to play the latest thing,,,)  but more and more are looking and asking things like, ” How can they be mad that we want waste spending cut to the bone?  “, and when those questions start, the next one is the usual “Cui Bono?” ‘who benefits?’.   I can only hope that line of questioning leads to more and more masks being ripped off and

well, maybe some people getting held accountable,,,,,

Ain’t gonna hold my breath for it though.    As long as the waste gets cut, the fat trimmed, and the actual size of the gooberment cut (A LOT, MORE NEEDED IMO) I’ll be satisfied with this go-round.    More is going to be needed, but with the age of the grift, 4 years ain’t gonna be enough to clean that swamp.

more later, getting the yawnies,,,

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really do not like making the calls I made today.    Mostly because I DESPISE talking  to robots,,,,    Anywhoooz,,, Called UPS about the shipment that has been in question.    Run-around with Robotic voice that says “shipment was delayed for reschedule by (garbled) and will arrive on the new agreed upon date.   Does this answer your question?”

Um, NO!! What was the new agreed upon date? 

Start the whole process over but this time, every question is answered with “I wanna talk to a person”.  ONLY took 6 questions for the robot to give in and re-direct my call.

And amazingly, an NATIVE english speaker!!!   If not born in Good Ol’ U, S, of A, at least spent enough time here or with GOOD tutors to fake it.

Lots of apologies and sorries and well’s  but the end result being “we don’t rightly KNOW where your package is: you will need to start an investigation through your shipper,,,,”    IE, Driver saw what it was, liked it enough to risk job and took it home,,,,   At least that MY opinion.    (FYI, the item in question is camping gear,,,,)

SO,,,, Now armed with a reference number courtesy of UPS, I call the Zon and start another robotic tap and dance, but this time, I go straight for proper body temperature and cognizence, telling ol Robbie the Robot, ‘piss off and let me talk to your programmer”

Robbie the robot offers “if you want to wait on hold the wait is 7 minutes, or we can call you back at (this) number,,,,  Do you want to wait for our call?”

What the hell, I have had to deal with this once before with The Zon and they do have GOOD CUSTOMER SERVICE, (which finding out that UPS is rather archaic and stone-agey, was a shock) “call me back”

Five minutes later, I am on phone with a HUMAN BEING, and while not native speaker of the ol’Amurikan, not bad and I only had to ask him to repeat himself ONCE,,,,

New item on its way, (within three days) no charge to my card and I got a $20 rebate applied as well ‘for your inconvenience’. AND, this time around, in a plain brown box so prying eyes don’t know whats being delivered.   I swear that is what happened (though obviously, I don’t know for certain: I can only extrapolate.  BUT, current location and the fact that ‘rural’ ‘outdoorsman types’ and oppurtunity,,,,,  )  When I mentioned this, the operator/CSR didn’t outright say he agreed, but his tone was ‘ya, you’re probably right, and not the first time I have heard THIS story,,,,’.

So, while not satisfied YET, I have rectified the situation to some extent.   When the item arrives, THEN, I will fill out the questionaire asking how it went.   (email from CSR after the fact)

Today at J.O.B. was uneventful, still on the grumpy side but mostly because Ol’ Arthur came to visit last night and ALL OF THE OLD WOUNDS in my right arm were out in full force.  Even the old hairline fracture of my ulna felt fresh and alive.   I slept very little, and a handful of OTC’s, some topical stuff and a compression bandage on the wrist/thumb area,,, I was ‘mostly functional’.   My biggest asset is between my ears, so I was still able to do my job, even if not physically able to handle things (much,,, I still did, but my right hand grip was near non-existent.)

Shit still hurts, but at least I can control my hand again.   I wasn’t even able to move the first two fingers or my thumb until around noon.     Fingertips to shoulderblade, one big mess of pains.

This gettin’ old shit SUCKS,,,,

Little story from Brudda B.   Seems he has been bouncing around a pair of alternate realities lately.     Working at his shop, work, cleanups, work cleanups,  wash rinse repeat, over the last two weeks: he found one of these

Then today, in the same spot, after a full cleaning of house, FOUND ANOTHER.

Funny thing is, I have one myself.  I know where mine came from, and it wasn’t dropped in my path by goofy gremlins with a sick sense of humor.  (I will tell that one at some point, just not now.)

Seriously, serendipity or syncrhonicity?   You decide.  

Or maybe it was the Nazi scientists playing with a remote time viewer and left him a gift,,,,   WTFK, right?

SO, without going into all the Kabuki theater taking place, (who wants to talk wars and shit.  WATCH, yes,  Talk about it,,,, Nottasomuch,,,,) I leave you with some thinks,,,,,

CYA on the morrow

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A day much like any other day, but Muhndaze are unique,,,

If it could, it likely did, and this day was no exception.    Good and Bad ‘coulds’ all around.  

Burnout is no longer being chauffered by your faithful blogger and curmudgeonly character called Diogenes.   He moved into the trailer across the street from the J.O.B. and my obligations (self acquired, admittedly) are OVER.   I wish him well and Godspeed in his efforts to re-enter the human race as a (somewhat) respectable Citizen.

That was one of the goods.

A package that is already overdue by five days is now showing ‘re-scheduled for future date: we’ll let you know ASAP when to expect it.’,,,,    Umkay,,,,   The UPS guy has been by the shop every day since it arrived to the distrbution center, but no love,,,,    ’bout ready to call the distro center and request I COME GET IT,,,, its only 45 minutes away,,,,,

That was the ‘actually sort of expected this’ bad.

and thats just a taste of one of Dio’s muhndaze,,,   

At least I got in a full 8 today.  Froze my nads off with the windchill factor (wasn’t dressed for being atop a hill, exposed to freezing winds out of the north.  

BUT, I survived (obviously) and continue the good fight…

That cold wears a man down with an intensity, and my years caught up to me.  Not one person on the crew didn’t feel the lash of the tongue,,,   I was sarcastic and more than a little ornery in my lead today.   At least the last couple of hours I was able to turn things over to Burnout to handle and I went off and did Dio stuff by my lonesome.   I swear, you could hear the sigh of relief from the rest of the crew, from 100 yards away.

Hatez mundaze!!!!

Hatez the Kold,,,,

Most definitely don’t like the body failing me as time goes by, either.   Gettin’ old ain’t for wimps, as Brutha Rusty usedta say,,,,  (paraphrased as his was less family oriented,,,,)

Gonna warm up in the shower and call it a night.  y’all take care, Kay?

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Laugh (tryin’, truly I am.)

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Temps are dropping into the basement tonight, but things are definitely perkin’ up in the Spring department.  

Last couple of days have been windy as F!, WET! and sorta gloomy with occasional breaks of really spectacular sunlight breaking through; usually short spelled, but depression breaking for certain.

Spent all weekend dealing with house/’stead.  FINALLY cleaned out that closet of “clothes whore” issue,,,   MamaKat was NOT happy about it as she was trying to sleep on the pile of clean clothes I had on the bed (waiting to be put away as I reorganized) and I kept tossing stuff on top of her.   We ended up having a tiff over a danged sock that she was clinging to.   I was bitten, TWICE, trying to get that sock away, and she ended up with a thumped forhead and hissing at me about it.

We did make up later,,,   Fresh DedKow always makes the grumpy take a backburner.

Camp gear is all cleaned and reorganized now as well.   Funny how ONE small item that gets misplaced can instigate a complete overhaul of gear.   I managed to misplace the gas canister support for my campstoves.   I know, KNOW, I put it in a particular bag so it wouldn’t get misplaced and NOW, sure as shit,,, M.I.A.

and you know how this works,,,, I’ll finally break down, order a replacement and FIND the missing part BEFORE the replacement shows up, but can’t be canceled because its enroute.

EVERY

FRELLIN’

TIME.

ROFLMAO,,,,  Is what it is,,,

Two is one, one is none,,,  Preppers mantra.   Better to be looking at it than looking for it.

The part is only meant to keep the canister off direct contact with cold surfaces so it can evaporate better when the temps are down.   Nothing critical, but would have been nice to have last trip as the stove was acting a bit anemic.   I was able to get the stove back up to operating temps by stuffing papertowels between it and the table it was on, AND blocking the wind.   And the sole use of that stove last trip?   Making coffee.  Nothing else, but damn! So critical to sanity.  (I’m a fair hand at campfire cooking, but that percolator HATES campfires and will boil over long before it perks.   Next time, probably just take french press and be done with it.  Smaller volume, but more control of the final product.)

Observations about the REAL WORLD  ( it ain’t, for one)

Lots of noize being generated from the voters: We WANT to see ARRESTS DAMMIT.     With the amount of grift and graft being exposed, and the amount of damned near if not outright TREASONOUS activity being exposed, WHY ARE WE NOT SEEING PEOPLE BEING ESCORTED TO TRANSPORTS IN CUFFS?

Until I start seeing the likes of Peelouzy and Screw-em-more getting stuffed into cruisers, I am keeping a lid on my actual feelings about whats going on

With one exception.

KABUKI THEATER,,,,

it never ceases, does it?

and on that note, Its time to prepare my carcass for going back to the mines tomorrow, Dunno WHAT we have in store for the week, but I DO KNOW, I am going to need to use the RR right of way to get out.   The river was still coming up at 3pm and was in the road in three places making use of it verboten.    Love this time of year: rattle my truck to peices sort of thing.    At least it lets  me know if the kayaks are loose in the cradles or not.

Till tomorrow

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Rainy day, thunderboomer day, curdled the cream day (ever try to add curdled cream to coffe?  Blech)(yes, thunderstorms DO curdle cream, I have a couple years of experiance on this note.)

So what does an introverted cat afficianado do when the kats is bored and perturbed about Thunderboomers and Alabama pissing contests moving into the area?

I make lists,,,

Introverts LOVE lists,   they give us foundation later when said list is put into use.  Todays list was “What should I have ready in tote to go camping on a moments notice?”  and the key point of that list was not determined by car camping, kayakamping, or hike out camping.   It was general ‘this is the bare bones stock, all else can be picked up enroute’ list.

Shelter list

H&H list (health and hygiene, to include the mental sort.)

Cooking items list

I know, completely boring and muhndaine(yes, I intentionally mis-spelled that,,,)  BUT, it kept me occupied on a day when idle hands will drive a man to thinkin’ and goin’ just a bit batty,,,,

And I found I need to purchase nothing to make those lists complete (other than food stuffs, and coffee,,,, but those are perishables, and will be the ‘enroute’ purchases.) (I will pick up a better sleep-pad, but its not essential at this stage.)

So now, I am setting that tote up, cuz this krazy ol’ Foo is gonna go camping again sometime soon.    Weather is one of the factors that was covered in the lists, and Brudda B and I had a refresher course in “Weather WILL turn on you” last time out.  It was WAY colder than predicted and I was shy a couple of items (I didn’t bring ANY fleecewear, and thats a no-no when the weather can get below ‘freeze your dick off while peeing’ cold.) (as well as forgeting my camp chair and other small items I thought I had, but found were still at home,,,,)

The only real difference between the types listed is weight: what can you carry,,, Car Camping is luxurious since you can pack most everything including the kitchen sink and maybe even a throne for the calls of nature,,,,  

Kayakamping is similar, but has space restrictions and some small weight restrictions (you ain’t bringing a bunch of castiron cookware on your trip,,,)(And extensive use of dry bags for ‘reasons’,,,,)

Obviously, the Hiking thing restricts you even more.    The current bag I carry comes in around 50# when loaded for bear.   Toss in a rifle (like my Henry .22) and ammo, and I am toting my max and limiting how far I can go a day to 10 miles.   These knees don’t absorb the abuse they did when I was Marine,,,, (and those loads were “OMG what was I thinking when I put THAT in there?????”    Typically 60%+ of my body mass was the norm.)  (and I am a Colonel  Cooper student: The only reason you need a pistol is to get back to the rifle you laid down.)(but I do like “ol Ugly” the 1911,,, gotta large soft spot for that pistolla, I do,,,,)

Thats not to say I NEED all those toys,,, I could and have gone with bare bones, knife on hip and some cordage, camping trips a time or three.    I enjoy them since they really get the brainium working hard, but Hey,,, I ain’t twenty sumpin these days; that shit wears quick.   Good to know I can, but that doesn’t mean its desirable. (AND, you will end up with ticks in strange places, EVERY! FRELLIN! TIME!,,,,AMHIK)  The upside to those sort of trips: you can cover a TON of ground when its just your body weight and the cloths on your back. 

You’ll also smell worse than a pig in a wallow when you return.  I don’t care how clean you keep yourself during the trip: Humans STINK, and our modern world will tell you that, when you look at all the ways we try to cover/mask the stenches. (and this is something that ANYONE that’s visited a Turd-world shithole can tell you with confidence.)

But, the day wanes, my tote is packed and secured for my future efforts, and I has an ELBee buzzin’ in me lap.   Makes me sleepy (and the rain is helping loads)  time for nap,,,

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