So. It’s my day off, but I have to take my beloved (leased) Honda Civic Sport into town today for that yearly “let’s look it over and see how we can possibly make this fantastic car even better at almost no cost to you!!”

BUT!!!

After that’s done, my favorite Q-following friend in town and I are meeting for lunch! Yay!!

Nope.

We’re not going to Tequilaville.

This time, we’re going to Panera!!

And to this specific one! Because it’s very close to not only her house, but also the Honda dealership.

Recently, a client sent me out to pick her up some soups and sandwiches from this specific Panera. I hadn’t been to Panera in many years. Just walking in the door filled me with great memories of the one that used to be just down the street from my old house.

So I texted my favorite Q-following friend and asked her if she wanted to meet at Panera’s and she was all for it!!

So, even though it will be, literally, 17 degrees Fahrenheit out there, she still wants to meet for lunch, so it should be great fun!

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Okay.

The bad news first, gang.

Sadly, Phyllis Stein posted yesterday, that she was likely done posting to Instagram:

She’s only posted close to 6,000 posts, and usually each post contains several photos. All of them from her 70s & 80s glam/punk days. Mostly in NYC.

I’m not exactly sure why she thinks that’s enough.

She’s probably going to do something lame, like spend more time with her new grandbaby. Be here now, and let go of the past. Something weird like that.

I was, of course, heartbroken. But on we go.

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Meanwhile–

She posted this early yesterday.

David Johansen and his then-wife Cyrinda Foxe (they married for almost a year in 1977, when she left David to marry Steven Tyler, lead singer for Aerosmith):

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And here’s this!!

Honestly. I could look at this photo all day. I just love it.

Keith, smoking and looking pensive:

And this!

Keith, a handful of decades later, on a boat, wearing a Velvet Underground t-shirt!!

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A friend of mine in London — a writer, poet, archivist, biographer — Rehan Qayoom, tagged me on Instagram yesterday with this lovely image!!

He had recently read the book and had very kind words to say:

(By the way, Freak Parade is only available in print right now. Until I fix everything and all the eBooks come back.)

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Okay. So.

Some really good news!!

From NewstreasonChannel17 — all about the Trump Accounts!! Launching this July 4th!!

“Listen very closely. Listen to just how much money is being donated by private individuals and companies to the Trump Account initiative.

“IMHO this is not just “benevolent” charity, this is the direction of massive amounts of assets to be given to this program.

‘When Trump Accounts officially launch on July 4th of this year, every parent will be able to activate their accounts and access the funds at TrumpAccounts.gov … On that glorious day, we also expect to have commitments from generous private individuals in ALL 50 states who will be making additional contributions for children in their own states.‘”

What a fantastic thing, gang. NESARA (publicly) begins.

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And here’s this!

A couple of photos from the Brisbane show:

The Melbourne shows start tomorrow, but only Sunday’s show still has tickets. You can buy one HERE!

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Okay.

This is excerpted from the James Tabor Zoom meeting that I missed on Sunday, but we can all listen now together!

James Tabor – Is There Archaeological Evidence for Earliest Christianity? (2 hrs):

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And now I gotta try to pay some bills before I have to leave for town.

Honestly, it is such a pretty day out there, even though it’s really cold. I’m looking forward to getting out there and having some fun with my gf!!

Enjoy your Thursday, wherever you are in the world!

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

**********

I leave you with this!

From my playlist yeterday!

Yes! I honestly listen to this stuff. I just love the old Rudy Vallee songs. (Just listen to the opening of this number and tell me it doesn’t make you feel like dancing all over the room, even while driving your car!)

“Page Miss Glory”, Rudy Vallee, 1935!! Enjoy, gang.

We had such freakin’ high winds yesterday, that it blew almost all the snow completely away!

So, even though it is a hearty FOUR degrees Fahrenheit out there today (with high winds making it “feel like” -2), at least it’s sunny and I don’t have to remove any ice or snow from my car.

Yay.

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Well, yesterday, I did re-read the play “Cowboy Mouth” (written by Sam Shepard and Patti Smith in 1971). And I was indeed sort of fascinated by it.

If you missed my various posts about that play — I first read it 50 years ago, while in a mental hospital after a suicide attempt, and it was my first exposure to both Sam Shepard and Patti Smith. And I was completely in love with Patti Smith from that moment on — she gave me hope for my own life and a reason to go on living.

In fact, about a year after I was released (after Horses had also come out), I wrote Patti a letter, telling her that her writing had saved my life, not knowing that her mom got all Patti’s fan mail back then and her mom wrote me back the most beautiful, heartfelt, handwritten letter.

By then, I was 16, and that letter meant so much to me, gang. Kindness was in really short supply in my life back then. And I never forgot how that letter from Patti’s mom made me feel.

You know, in the decades when my books and short stories were really popular, I would always reply whenever readers would write to me. In the early days, before personal computers and email, they were handwritten letters, forwarded to me by various publishers. And I always wrote back. Even to that one guy in Oregon, who had written to say how much he hated a short story of mine which he had just read. I wrote him back a short note, thanking him for taking the time to write to me, you know? For expressing himself. And that, while I didn’t agree, it hadn’t fallen on deaf ears.

Anyway. Back to the play.

What an insane play. One act. About 21 pages. But what totally intense pages they are. It’s basically funny but it did take a lot of risks. With language and vivid imagery. And I can see why I was so taken with it — no woman on Earth that I had been exposed to by that point ever used language the way Patti did.

[From the late Sam Shepard’s website.]

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All righty.

Here’s this!

Another lovely photo of Johnny Thunders in LA in September 1973:

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And the photos from the Adelaide concert (just finishing up as I type), are already getting posted to Instagram!!

This photo, though — I’m not sure if it’s from Adelaide. but I’m guessing it is:

And the Nick Cave newsletter went out this morning, with some great reviews of the Perth show:

“…an electrifying crescendo of faith, fury and fragile joy”
The Guardian

“From the moment Cave sauntered onstage and greeted the crowd with a wave and a high kick, it was as though there was a pact with the audience – much like his Red Hand Files website and mailing list, Cave and his people were here for each other.”
Rolling Stone

“…his artistic evolution as a musician over the past 40 years is extraordinary.”
WA Today

“Cave conducting the Fremantle Park choir. It was a truly special moment to end an amazing, intense show which reinforced the sheer power and beauty of music as art.”
100% Rock Magazine

And you can buy tickets to the Sydney shows HERE! (January 23rd & 24th)

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After completing the final edit, the publisher of my upcoming novel, The Curse of Our Profound Disorder, sent me a one-sentence email yesterday:

“It’s a beautiful book.”

Wow, gang. That made my day. Especially since this particular novel sort of stresses me out a lot.

**********

Other than that, I guess I better scoot. I want to head into town early and run some quick errands before my shift.

Have a terrific Tuesday, wherever you are in the world.

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

**********

I leave you with this!!

My “get up and make your bed and start your day already” listening music! From the CD currently in my retro boombox: Billy idol’s Greatest Hits.

And this song makes it really easy to get up and out of bed and do stuff! (If you’re having trouble getting moving today, try listening to this!!)

From my absolute early days in NYC (released in the US in 1981) — “Dancing With Myself”. Enjoy. gang!

I don’t have to shovel the snow off my car today because I ain’t goin’ nowhere!!

Here is a photo I took of the view outside my bedroom window at 7AM, but we’ve since gotten about 2 more inches of snow, and it’s still snowing…

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Okay.

Today, it is Martin Luther King Day in America. A federal holiday. (Don’t quote me on this, but I’m thinking they give you a federal holiday when the CIA murders you for being against the Vietnam War and then they blame your murder on a lone deranged gunman??) Not sure. Anyway.

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Today is also the day that the plumber stops by to look at the bathroom pipes and fixtures again, before he signs off on his estimate to the USDA to get started on my home repairs!!

I’m guessing he’s going to be really happy to be out, driving around in all this snow today…

We shall soon see!

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Before I forget–

The late Sam Shepard’s website offers free PDF downloads of some of his plays.

After seeing that wonderful photo of Sam that the Hotel Chelsea posted to Instagram (it’s on my post from yesterday), it got me thinking again about that play he wrote with Patti Smith in 1971, “Cowboy Mouth”.

I looked but I don’t have a copy of it here in the house, although I have 7 of his other plays.

So I was curious if it was offered free online anywhere. I wanted to revisit it, to see why it had been so important to me, when I read it in the mental hospital when I was 15 (it was my first introduction to Patti Smith, too — just a few months before she released Horses and my life changed forever).

It turns out, it is free to download on Sam’s website! You can download or read it HERE if you’re interested!

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Two days ago, Jami, one of Neal Cassidy’s daughters, died. She was 76.

The Kerouac Estate posted this to Instagram — Jack with Jami, a long, long time ago:

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UPDATE!!

Plumber has come and gone!!

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Okay.

Two more great photos from Perth:

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds’ Wild God Tour of Australia continues tomorrow in Adelaide! You can buy tickets here.

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I follow a few different Native American accounts on Instagram.

I have no idea who this young man is, or which tribal nation he’s from, I only know his birthday was yesterday and he is gorgeous!!

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If you’re interested–

Although my great-great grandmother was a fullblood Black Foot, so I am Black Foot through the May family, but only because my grandmother married into the May family.

My great-great-great-great Uncle, on the May side, who was from Germany originally, had the privilege of being killed here in southern Ohio by the legendary Chief Blue Jacket!

The Mays helped settle the State of Kentucky, and my great-great-great-great Uncle kept crossing the Ohio River and heading up here into Shawnee territory. (The Shawnee lived all over Muskingum County, too, which is where I live now. How cool is that?)

Anyway.

Chief Blue Jacket told my great-great-great-great Uncle that if he came back into this part of Ohio again, Chief Blue Jacket was going to kill my great-great-great-great Uncle.

And my Uncle came back.

And Chief Blue jacket killed him.

Here are two things we know to be true:

• The Mays basically do whatever the fuck they want to do
• Chief Blue Jacket was a man of his word

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This was really good.

From Ross K. Nichols Sunday School from yesterday:

“In this class, we examine a select group of archaeological inscriptions from the ancient Near East. These independent sources attest to the historical reality of certain biblical figures and events while offering alternative perspectives that confirm, expand, or contrast the narratives in Scripture. Can archaeology supply the missing pieces? Can foreign voices round out stories we thought we knew?”

The Bible’s Missing Pieces (1 hr 15 mins):

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I suppose I better close this and get my day started around here.

The laundry is already done. The plumber has come & gone. And I have a lot of work to do on the synopsis notes that Sandra sent over on Thursday. And I also want to get some work done on my contribution to the M. Christian tribute anthology. And I also really, really want to read “Cowboy Mouth” again! (After 50 years…)

So let’s get this snowy Hinterlands party started.

Enjoy your Monday, wherever you are in the world!

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

*************

Let’s leave with this!

It was my driving-home-from-town music last night. (On repeat.)

Once again, Tom Petty, with Mudcrutch in 2016, saving my life!

“Dreams of Flying”. Enjoy, gang.

“Dreams Of Flying”

See the bright lights of Memphis
I got a friend lives down there

And I don’t know
If I’ll go back again
Givin’ up feels like dying

I get dreams of flying
I get dreams of flying

Whatcha do lies behind us
Better roll your window down
And let it go
Crashing down the road
Truth is it ain’t worth lying

I get dreams of flying
I get dreams of flying

Got a diamond on my finger
Got a sapphire through my ear
And for all I know
I might go back again
See what’s in there hiding

I get dreams of flying
I get dreams of flying

Ooh, I get dreams of flying
Yeah, I get dreams of flying
Oh well, I get dreams of flying

c – 2016- Tom Petty

Another sermon that was almost entirely political, gang.

You know, when I went to have my meeting with the new minister at the new church, we did talk about politics and its role in the church.

I felt it should be kept out of it. That Sunday mornings should be a break from all that, and focus on the teachings of the Bible. How things effected the people in the Bible, why things happened, and how it might resonate for us here, today.

And the new minister, in all fairness, disagreed. He felt politics in church was very important.

But I guess I wasn’t expecting to be hit over the head with politics. It makes for a really joyless atmosphere in the whole place.

And since the only thing I can genuinely look forward to is sitting next to that stained-glass window on Sundays…

I decided today, as I was leaving the church in a decidedly unjoyful state of mind… I won’t be going back.

It was really disappointing. But, no, I’m still not gonna start my own church…

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But all that aside —

I still have plenty to be joyful about!

For instance, here’s this:

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And this!

Wow, gang.

I don’t remember which post it was, but a few months back, I wrote about how the play written by Sam Shepard and Patti Smith, “Cowboy Mouth,” helped me survive being in the mental institution when I was 15.

I follow the Hotel Chelsea on Instagram, and yesterday they posted this absolute gem — Sam Shepard, smoking, in 1971:

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And, of course, in the JOY department–

There is this!!

Luckily, it seems like Australians are really great about taking photos at concerts and immediately posting them online! Yay! (Or, as is the case in the photo below taken by Carly Paradis, even members of the Bad Seeds are great at taking photos at concerts and immediately posting them online!)

From Nick Cave Official:

And you can buy tickets for the show in Adelaide, on January 20th, here!

And here’s the set list from the show in Perth:

There were actually quite a lot of photos from the show that I liked, but I was with my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man when all the photos started to appear on Instagram, and it would have been rude to start taking a bunch of screen shots right then, and then there got to be too many of them. So I leave it with the above for today.

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I have to start getting ready to head out and see the retired Minister and his lovely wife and cat, but tomorrow morning, if I remember, I’ll tell you about what happened when I called in sick on Friday.

Meanwhile, enjoy what’s left of your Sunday, wherever you are in the world.

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

************

Let’s close with this today, in lieu of hearing a sermon that I actually enjoyed…

James Tabor:

“In this informal lecture I explore on a non-technical level some of the overarching themes of the Hebrew Bible, that surface in a composite way, here and there, in the Torah, the Prophets, and the Psalms. What are human beings? Do they have any purpose or destiny beyond this world? What about death? What of the human future?”

Outside the Gates of Eden: The Hebrew View of Life, Death, and the Future (51 mins.):

Before I forget–

Yesterday, my best friend in the Universe, Valerie in Brooklyn, finally got word from her doctor regarding her heart problem. (Can you believe it took that long??)

But — YES– it’s looking like those two near-heart-attack episodes she had were caused by a bad reaction to a prescription drug she was taking (which she stopped taking a couple months ago, switching to herbal supplements from a Naturopath instead).

So when she went in for the heart surgery, the doctor couldn’t perform it only because he found nothing wrong…

So. Yay, gang. What a relief. (In fact, when I spoke to her on the phone, she sounded better than she’s sounded in a really long time. Another score for supplements over pharmaceuticals.)

In other news, though —

I am home “sick” today. Actually, I’m home trying not to be extremely depressed.

I was in such a bad state yesterday, which I couldn’t snap out of, that by early afternoon, I called the Agency and took today as a sick day. This gave them plenty of time to find someone to cover my shift with my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man today.

I was doing fine yesterday until I started researching/making notes for my contribution to the tribute to M. Christian.

It wasn’t so much that I got depressed over Chris’s death, but the anthology I was skimming through, from 24 years ago, was filled with erotic works by terrific writers that I used to work with all the time — back before the global economy and self-publishing technology completely decimated the traditional literary erotica market — the anthology also included work by Bill Brent and Michael Hemmingson, writers with whom I was very, very close for many years, who are both also dead and have been for a while. And all three of us worked with M. Christian a lot.

It just got to me. How much fun we used to have. How intense it used to be. The incredibly great work that writers, filmmakers, painters, poets were doing back then in the erotic arts. And because I was a publisher, editor, and a multi-media producer (and a constant marketer beyond your ability to comprehend), I got to work with ALL of them, from all over the world, in one capacity or another. (This was not traditional porn; this was art created by people, internationally, who were trying to make a statement about the eternal effects of Eros.)

It was so different from what most people create nowadays. Just because technology has just gone on in this unstoppable direction. Everything changed. You can’t go back. Perhaps people don’t even want to go back.

Well, it exhausted me, thinking about how Time is galloping on. It all went by so fast.

And since I couldn’t find a vacant spot to lie down on, on my own bed, because it was filled with many peacefully sleeping cats, instead, I went downstairs and laid down on the couch in the family room. Tried not to think about suicide. Tried to focus on people (and animals) who are counting on me to not die right now. Tried to take a nap.

But this change of location wound up having its own emotional perils because so many of my beloved books are down there in the family room–

And for some reason, I kept getting up from the couch, grabbing a book that I hadn’t read in decades, and would then start flipping through it.

Only to be confronted by the works of writers from the 20th Century — writers I loved but never knew personally; writers who all pushed the boundaries and paved the way for writers like me; who all knew each other and who were all published by a truly legendary publisher who was not afraid to take monumental risks to get the writers’ works out there–

Barney Rosset, 1922 – 2012

And all of those writers are dead now, too, and have been for a long time.

There it was again — Time galloping away.

I consider myself so fortunate to have met Barney Rosset when I was a writer in NYC, and to have been published by one of his imprints (not Grove Press, though), before he permanently retired (Blue Moon Books published the mass market edition of Neptune & Surf, but Barney was semi-retired by then).

And when I founded the Erotic Authors Association, to get better recognition (and better pay) for erotic authors worldwide, once a year, we gave out actual awards (engraved plaques), for Lifetime Achievements, and I was truly honored to be able to give out our first one to Barney Rosset and his legendary Grove Press.

And then when the Federal Government back then made it excruciatingly clear that if I kept up with the erotic literature stuff on the Internet, then I was going to prison –like, you know, they were going to frighten me or something…

Well, they frightened the fucking fuck out of me. And the moment I got home from my day of testimony in Supreme Court in Philadelphia, after having very, very politely explained to the Judge that erotic literature was not illegal (and even though the Judge sided with us and we won), I stepped down from the Erotic Authors Association and turned it over to other people who ended up trashing the whole venture and turning it into a porn site…

Anyway.

First I picked up Lost Words; The Final Journals of William S. Burroughs, which Wayne had bought me for Christmas in 2000. Edited and with an introduction by James Grauerholz (who had also just fucking died on New Year’s Day). But I couldn’t get past the part where James described how eccentric William was about cats — he’d had SIX of them. I have almost three times that many…

So I picked up another book. This one, by Jim Thompson. Wayne had bought that one for me, also. But when I saw how Wayne had inscribed it:

Well, that sort of devastated me because I didn’t recall Wayne ever having loved me at all. I was under the impression we’d been “really good friends” throughout our marriage and for the 19 years since our divorce….

There’s that pesky Time thing again.

But, at last! I picked up The Selected Letters of Jack Kerouac: 1940-1956.

599 pages(!!) of letters he’d written in the space of only 16 (!!) years, BEFORE he got famous(!).

And immediately, I was lost in something so beautiful. So full of fun and enthusiasm and passion. The book is just beautiful. The pages are brown and fragile now. But, wow, all of the Time that galloped out of Jack Kerouac’s life are still preserved there. And I read that for quite a while.

And I felt a little better about Time, because it comes for everybody. It’s simply part of being here.

And I calmed down.

And I felt like I should go back upstairs, do some yoga, listen to another lecture in James Tabor’s new course, “Christianity Before Paul” and be here now, and get my head back on straight.

And as luck would have it, just as I got back up to my cat-filled room, Sandra called and we had an extremely productive chat about both the TV series we’re developing, and the screenplay version of “Tell My Bones: The Helen LaFrance Story”. And you know, at least she and I both agree, we are in the final quarter of the 4th Act. We have to do our very best work now.

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And then I started listening to this last night. A free audio book. The guy reading it, Andy Marin, does a really terrific job. It’s been about 40 years since I read The Subterraneans, so it feels like it’s brand new, which is kind of a thrill:

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And even though this is going on and on–

Here’s this!!

Keith backstage in a hat:

And this!

David Lee Roth in a hat in 1982:

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And tomorrow it begins!!!

Buy tickets HERE!!

And here’s this!!

Nick Cave and Iggy Pop. Eternally beautiful and priceless.

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And now I’m gonna get this day underway, even though it is half over.

Enjoy what’s left of your Friday, gang, wherever you are in the world.

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya.

Yes!!

A goat!!

However…

I’m actually just sponsoring him. He won’t be living here.

I’m sponsoring the black goat, named Maverick, on the left:

Remember a couple months ago, I posted here that Goats of Anarchy, the animal rescue farm in New Jersey, needed additional donations?

Yesterday, I changed my monthly “use as needed” donation, to one that sponsors a specific animal. The 2 goats above were just recently rescued and needed sponsors. They are both over 10 years old, and Maverick, specifically, has ongoing medical conditions.

So he’s my goat now!! Yay!!

GOA’s mission: “Goats of Anarchy is a sanctuary for farmed animals with disabilities. Animals come to us broken, battered, and abused, but they never stop fighting—so neither do we. Miracles happen here!”

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Before I forget, I listened to this video while making my dinner yesterday, and it was really great, so I’m posting it here, in the event you are interested!

“Every desire that is hatched within your awareness, is not just possible, it’s probable.” (14 mins):

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And THIS GUY wants to tell you about a girl….

From the Wild God Tour in Paris — Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, “From Her to Eternity”:

And here’s this — part of the soundtrack from my not-so-wee bonny but often crazy bedroom in that Paradise Apartment on E.12th Street, in the East Village in NYC, 1984:

And in TWO MORE DAYS!! Buy tickets here! (Unless you are Paul from New Zealand):

And here’s this!

From Ross Waterman today on Instagram:

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Well!

Wow, was it cold again last night. Down to about 5 degrees Fahrenheit, with super high winds and snow, so I actually made Kon Tiki stay indoors all night.

She was not happy about that, but at least I knew she was safe and warm.

When I went down at 4:15AM to let her back out this morning, she took off like a big furry rocket into the dark, freezing snow and didn’t even stick around for her breakfast!!

It is still very cold today, and sort of lightly snowing, off and on. I’m not planning on going anywhere, though, so I don’t really mind. I’m going to be working at my desk today, and hopefully just relax a little, too, and even do some reading!

So I am expecting an easy day today. We shall see!

However, I have the milkhouse heater on up here today, to keep the bathroom pipes from freezing, and the entire upstairs is like a fucking sauna!!

So, I’m guessing we’ll have plenty of iced tea up here today, too!! Otherwise, I won’t be able to think…

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Here’s this!

I loved this photo. Getting ready for Martin Luther King Day here in the States:

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And here’s this!

Keith, getting ready for something, but I’m sorta thinking it’s not for Martin Luther King Day:

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Okay, I think that’s actually kind of it for now. People are texting me about various things to do with my home repairs and it is distracting me.

So, have a great Thursday, wherever you are in the world!

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

***********

I leave you with this today!!

Since the (exceedingly noisy) train is passing by my window right this very minute!

One of my all-time favorite songs, ever!!

From my wee bonny girlhood– live at Folsom Prison!! 1968. Johnny Cash, “Folsom Prison Blues”. Enjoy, gang!!