Thanks Terri

Cheryl starts the fruit and veg fest

Big Bear Lake was a good trip. I got up to the cabin in Fawnskin, which is the north and far less populous side of the lake. The cabin Terri G. let me use was the original post office, right on Main St. and built around 1870 (the front room). Her family owned this place when she was a kid, and she was renting it for a few months for old-time sakes. It seems the whole of Main Street is for sale, business is dying as the economy worsens.


When I arrived Wed. night, the Garmin led me all over Fawnskin, and I had to call Terri to guide me in, and it was right there in front of me. Listening skills. I opened up the cabin and was greeted by the smell of 70,000 Vegas smoking rooms. Ho-dang. It was a challenge to open 140 year-old windows in the front, but I got it done. Turned on the ceiling fans, lit a candle, and it started to clear up. The place was clean, but the old carpet and furniture had really soaked up the smell.

The front room was set up as a parlor/bedroom, with a queen bed, so I slept there the first night since it was already midnight, and then moved to the added on BR in the back and gave Frank and Cheryl the double. The front room had aired out pretty good when they arrived on Thursday, and I had a fold out air bed for my room, so it was all comfy. Good bathroom, kitchen, everything we needed, and we settled in. Met all the locals, got fishing permits and dropped a line down the street, traded laughs with the fish, went touring the local scenery, and ate.

The deal was supposed to be that I would bring all the groceries, and I did. But, when F&C arrived, they had stopped at some grocery that had great deals on vegetables, and Cheryl had these giant grocery bags packed with stuff. The refrigerator and freezer were stuffed to the gills. This picture shows how it was on Saturday night, after 3 days of salads, roasted veggies, desserts of strawberries, canteloupe, yogurt and granola. Man, we tested that plumbing!




We had a great time, eating and yakking and pooping, and Frank and I rented a canoe and had deeper fish tell us jokes, ha ha. I should have taken some pics, and Frank will undoubtedly send me some of his, which I will add. I am searching for the local Indian tribe in Big Bear, the Serranos, and some investors, to buy, rebuild and open the Fawn Lodge as the Serrano Casino. A few tens of millions will get it done. Who is in?

I had to get back here for an appointment with the Social Security people on Monday afternoon, but they called me and postponed it until the 23rd. So today son Mike and I are leaving for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, stopping tonight to camp at Lassen Volcano National Park (hopefully), about 7 hours, then 3-4 hours to Glenyan Campground in Ashland, 4 miles outside of town, on the river in the shade. It is going to be hot. High end campground with lots of facilities. We have the last 2 tickets to Pride & Prejudice on Friday night, up close but to the side, and center balcony seats Saturday night for Twelfth Night. This is a renowned festival, big doings for a city of 20K people, and lots going on.

On Sunday we will break camp and mosey down the Oregon and CA coast, serendipitous to some extent, and get back Wednesday. Chemo on Thursday, Social Security on Friday.

Healthwise, my platelets are 1/3rd what they should be, so anything I bang into leaves a purple mark for 2 weeks, and I am a spaz with no balance. I look like Chinese cabbage, and my ankles are spilling over my socks, like my grandma's used to. Slightly anemic, and cutting back on prednisone to 2.5 every other day. I have a little nadir going right now, very mild, no nausea, just bedraggled, perfect for a 3:30 am wakeup and 7 hour drive. We won't leave until Mike wakes up at 8 or later, and I have stuff to do anyway.

Everybody stay cool out there.

the finger
by Charles Bukowski

the drivers of automobiles
have very little recourse or
originality.
when upset with
another
driver
they often give him the
FINGER.

I have seen two adult
men
florid of face
driving along
giving each other the
FINGER.

well, we all know what
this means, it's no
secret.

still, this gesture is
so overused it has
lost most of its
impact.

some of the men who give
the FINGER are captains of
industry, city councilmen,
insurance adjusters,
accountants and/or the just plain
unemployed.
no matter.
it is their favorite
response.

people will never admit
that they drive
badly.

the FINGER is their
reply.

I see grown men
FINGERING each other
throughout the day.

it gives me pause.
when I consider
the state of our cities,
the state of our states,
the state of our country,
I begin to
understand.

the FINGER is a mind-
set.
we are the FINGERERS.
we give it
to each other.
we give it coming and
going.
we don't know how
else to respond.

what a hell of a way
to not
live.