After the 26th Amendment set up the system which would allow me to, I eagerly went to the polls and voted against that damned peanut farmer who would so thoroughly demonstrate later how inept he was in office as POTUS. And each election cycle thereafter I rocked my voting power to keep liberals at bay as they aggressively pushed their socialistic agendas. Then the republicans began flexing their fascist muscles to the point now that Trump and Project 2025 closely resembles th

As the 20th century was ending, a very long, leisurly road trip seemed appropriate. So I bought a sport model 2-Door Tahoe 4x4, strapped the well-worn DY Special to its roof rack, loaded the SUV with paddle, PFD, three weeks of clothing, food and camping gear including a little gin, tonic and a few limes, and struck out on a northwesterly vector. I had a week to get to my destination at Port McNiell on the northern end of Vancouver Island where I would spend a week kayaking a

I used to snowshoe a lot when the snow was deep enough to. The longer the trek the better it was each time when the homestead was once again within easy reach. A few times the trek was almost too long and too arduous, tapping too much strength and energy reserves before spotting the homestead in the distance. When that happened musical compositions would begin playing in my mind and with that came an energy from deep within to keep slogging on through the snow to get back ins

On the day I left the lowlands to spend two decades living, working, and playing at much higher altitudes, I stopped at the Prairie Dog Town Fork bridge to have lunch and daydream of future potentials. The spot was a favorite for lingering when out that way, no matter the weather conditions. A prairie dog town there usually provided a sighting or two of the little creatures which were always a delight to see. And I never encountered another humanbeing there, ever. Besides, a

At age eight I watched an early-morning TV program featuring a herpatologist from the zoo in Oklahoma City showing and talking about the only leggless lizard in the state, the Western Glass Lizard. Fascinated I recall him saying that the lizard could be found in every part of the state except the far western reaches of No Man's Land in the panhandle. From that day forward I kept my eye peeled for one whenever I was roaming about outside. More than three decades later while dr

When my senior year in college finally rolled around, I was renting a tiny old house with one room large enough for desk, bed and bookshelves, a bathroom with a decent 1940s era clawfoot tub in it, and down a short hallway was a kitchen. It had an old-fashioned sink with porcelain countertop, a gas cook range and a full-size refrigerator/freezer. A tiny closet off the hallway contained a gas waterheater. Its yard was miniscule but it had a nice front driveway where I could pa

After the dot com bubble burst to set me foot loose and fancy free for four short months, I wintered through on the front range near the base of Pikes Peak pursuing lifelong dreams roaming far into the Colorado Rockies as weather permitted to more throughly see and feel them in that season than ever before, performing at various wonderfully intimate venues where connection with audiences was easily achieved, returning and relaxing at home beside a nicely crackling fire, savor

100º F at the top of the escarpment, a distant thunderstorm midway between Punta del Chorro and Mesa Huerfana offered prospect for cooler, moving air possibly enhanced by rainfall. Twenty minutes later driving down the Corazano drainage temperature peaked at 104º but the edge of the storm was within reach, straddling Hwy 104 and still dropping rain. Ten minutes later rain was falling on the new truck. Then came hail. Fresh off the lot in Santa Fe, that made me tense up a bit,

Shortly after my final year in public school began, a bright, beautiful sunset greeted me as I exited my grandparent's house on a Sunday evening in early October. To this day I can't explain why I decided to do it, but I went back inside the house, loaded up a backpack, walked up Route 66 to a gas station my friend Ricky was working at and announced that I was leaving town. Ricky grinned, thinking I was kidding, then saw by my expression that I wasn't. And then he did somethi

Upon returning from their home near Sabzevar in the spring of 1973, friends of our family gave us several large tins full of pistachios grown in that region of northeastern Iran. A cashew addict since first taste of that wonderful seed, I was hooked on these little cousin seed meats just a quickly, and permanently. Until then, I had never eaten any but I think I do remember seeing them in vending machines at O'Hare International at some point in the early 70s, probably as we

It's good to see one of these again.

In youth I damn near lived on the road, moving almost every year to places progressively more distant and different, and continued in adulthood frequently moving around until hitting the half-century point in life. Then came a period of relieved settlement in one place spanning seventeen years and I felt I had finally arrived at a place I would stay until my death. Then an incompetent district forest ranger decided to ignore the advice of local people to not be doing any pres

When my career working as an employee was on final approach to end my dog Paddy and I climbed to a high place to relax and reflect. The view was excellent, the weather clear and mild. No storms in the forecast which was good. The high place was too exposed to lightning strikes. A blue moon was rising that evening and skies were perfect for that event. Paddy dug the view and distant sound of vehicles rushing along the interstate highway below. There was no one else on the smal

In the summer of 1986 I was seeing glimmers of the end living as a part time college student paying a lot of money for institutionalized learning opportunities to finally transition into life as a professional learning a lot of new stuff to perform work I could be earning a lot of money for doing well. It was high time for this phase change of life and I was looking forward to it. After finishing second summer session classes with high grades I traveled north a few hundred mi

When I saw this single sprig growing on Great Sand Dunes National Monument almost three decades ago it immediately made me think of time and how creatures of the universe(s) mark it. Usually content with passage of time and whether or not past, present and future are actually all the same, when I fall ill time becomes the enemy. Ten hours after getting COVID and Flu vaccines late last week I began feeling side effects and by sunrise the next morning I was too sickened by them

After being laid off midwinter, in spring 2001 I was wandering the western slopes of the Rockies performing wherever a venue would have me. Met a lot of nice people and was enjoying the road life more than I expected I would, making just enough money to buy gas and food and to stay in the occasional motel to have a shower and sleep deeply on an actual bed beneath actual sheets and down comforters. Eventually I wandered westward beyond the mountains into slickrock country and

When I was still in grade school my parents would take us out on weekends into the real world where actual learning happened. We would hike and camp and climb mountains and swim and fish. One of the places we would stop for bait when we went fishing was at the crossroads of highways 6 and 283. It was called Four Corners Bait Shop, a very cool place. What made it cool was a galvanized water tank full of salamanders the proprietor was raising and selling for fishing bait. Hellb

Fleeting moments lasting mere seconds are sometimes the finest. A live performer eliciting unexpectadely superb phrase of melody and harmony from mind and musical instrument are my favorites. When that happens intense chills race up my spine and the music transports me to somewhere no one else can be in that instance of time–the rarity and brevity of the event a rainbow gate appearing over a remote stretch of sublimity.

Two decades ago I was settling into a new job located in high desert after a four-month stint performing as a singer songwriter recently laid off from the fabulous dot-com job I had chased a year earlier to the front range of the Rocky Mountains. I had thoroughly enjoyed the dot-com job which lasted all of eight months before the company lost its funding sources–as a lot of them did during the bust–and I had enjoyed even more roaming along the front range and higher into the

So yeah, my own government burned me out of house and home thanks to an incompetent ass of a district forest ranger unqualified for directing any prescribed burn. Me and more than four hundred other people living within more than three hundred forty-one thousand acres of old-growth forest carpeting the Sangre de Cristo Mountains are now dealing with the aftermath of that district ranger's decision to start the prescribed burn during extreme drought conditions at the windiest