I wish I looked half as good in a cowboy hat as Michael Stipe. The man had panache.
This week started with the kidnapping of Venezualan president Maduro by US special forces and ended with ICE agents brutally executing a woman on the streets of Minneapolis.
Tolling for the aching ones
whose wounds cannot be nursed
For the countless confused, accused, misused, strung-out ones an’ worse
An’ for every hung-up person in the whole wide universe
An’ we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashingBob Dylan
So here we are. In America. Where our government is now openly murdering men and women on the streets. It used to be local cops, now it’s the feds. These ICE agents are cheap thugs. Stupid. Illiterate, unemployable gun-toting racists who we are now paying $50,000 signing bonuses. Kristi suits them up in military grade swat armor, arms them with heavy artillery, fuels them up on endless cases of Red Bull, tells them they are doing gods work and sends them in to do battle with unarmed housewives.
If there’s one thing to be thankful for, as we embark on this new year, it’s this.
I can now charge every single one of my devices on a single charger. My work PC, my personal MacBook, my work iPad, my personal iPad and my Apple Watch. And as a bonus, Brittany can use the same charger for her phone and her laptops. That is progress.
We had a nice few days in Roanoke with Brittany’s family over Christmas. They are lovely. Great fun. A very nice reminder that we are not alone in this craziness. We have people. We can get through this if we remember we are supported. We enjoyed all the best of holiday stuff — good food, a few drinks, laughs, decorations, gifts. A reminder that we are blessed. The lucky ones. We are in out of the cold and have money enough to eat and enjoy our lives.
We got in some good walks and visited our favorite wine bar there. We got to see Eze. 19 months and charming everyone he encounters.
We were with Marti at a dog park in Roanoke when I called Dwayne to take some gravel up and spread it on my driveway. Especially the steep part after the 2nd hard switchback. Dwayne knew what I was talking about. He’s cared for that road for years. The hard frost followed by thaw and rain had done a number on the road. And with all my construction, the trucks are making it worse.
I normally share the costs with Richard and Barry. But this is my mess since Richard is only up there once or twice a week and I’ve got a crew of 3 going up multiple times a day plus the delivery trucks bringing building materials from northern Virginia. So, my mess, my cost. 39 tons of 1 1/2″ crusher run. 3 big loads.
Dwayne could teach a master class in dump truck driving. He’s 82 or 87, I can’t remember which. Or maybe 89. Maybe no one knows for sure.
He’s wealthy. Land and equipment wealthy for sure; and since no one has seen him spend a nickel for over a decade, presumably also cash wealthy. He literally has dozens of dump trucks, caterpillars, 18-wheelers, elevators, graders and all kinds of other equipment on his 1,000+ acre property. He has no employees mind you.
When Dwayne showed up with the gravel the day after Christmas, he was wearing a completely threadbare CPO type jacket that was held together by large safety pins — the zipper long worn out. When I commented on it, he told me his mother had died in 2015, she was giving him grief about the state of the jacket. In that time, he had not replaced it. His boots were of similar quality. He told me he bought them 2nd hand around 10 years ago and they immediately started falling apart. But there they were, split at the seams and faux leather stripping off all over the place.
Dwayne showed up once with his cousin and I offered them both a bottle of Black Dog Ridge Whiskey. Dwayne immediately grabbed both bottles and said “he don’t drink, I’ll take his‘. Turns out his cousin had lost his 3,000 acre holdings by gambling it all away. He used to own a local bar, but lost it, regained it, and lost it again in poker games.
For good reasons it would seem, he no longer drinks.
To call Dwayne a character is like calling Trump a little brash. The words are not enough.
But goddamn he can spread a load of gravel as even as you please on a muddy 15 degree slope with overhanging tree branches and power lines dancing around the top of the truck bed.
39 tons of gravel.
But the story I meant to tell was when I called Dwayne on Christmas Eve to ask him to bring the gravel. Once we got through hello and pleasantries, he immediately told me two jokes. Then he sang a song to us over the phone. I put him on speaker so Brittany could hear and off he goes about ‘Randolph the Red Nosed cowboy, had a very shiny gun. And if you ever saw it, you would turn around and run‘…..He sang the entire song. Four verses.
Trump, who is a notorious coward and who sought and received multiple deferments from military draft due to his family’s wealth, is censuring Mark Kelly and taking away some of his retirement pay. Kelly is a retired and highly decorated Navy captain.
So, when you think it can’t get weirder, take another hit Molly. And strap in. There’s time enough yet to see what the edge of the envelope looks like on this starship. Meanwhile, the wheels on the bus go round and round.
Humbly Submitted
Robert Myres – Portneuf Valley Rugby Football Club, Flanker (ret.)
The Martini Tales 