Zona

Movie line of the week.

From the Coen brothers' film No Country For Old Men.

The scene is out in the middle of nowhere. Five large off road trucks. Seven dead bodies on the ground. Automatic weapons and spent shell casings are scattered all around. It was a drug deal gone bad. Surveying the scene are the Sheriff and his deputy.

Deputy: "It's a mess".

Sheriff: "It'll do 'til a better one comes along".

My laptop is telling me that it's 6:43AM. When I look at the time of day I often wonder what many of you are doing. Chloe and JaG and Missy are having afternoon snacks or tea. Jay is up and about doing something or other and I wonder what she has on. Some of you are asleep.

I'm sitting on the sofa listening to Crosby and Nash's CD on Itunes. So if you're as weird as me and that's what you guessed I would be doing you were correct. But why was I up so early on a day off you ask? Actually it's late when you consider I get up at 3AM on work days.

There is an open can of Coca Cola on the end table.

I somehow hit some key button on my laptop so now it tells me when something I write is not spelled correctly.

It tells me that my last name is spelled wrong.

Maybe that's the root of my problems.

The house is nice and quiet and I like that. I've even contemplated getting up at 3AM on my days off just to have 4 hours of quiet time all to myself.

But that would be insane.

When I wake up that early my first thought is to reset my alarm for 4:30 and call in sick when it goes off. I want to go back to sleep. But when I sleep in on my days off I seem to think that it throws my sleep pattern off and messes up the first two days of the work week. I'm also not in the best of moods and feel absolutely no beneficial effects of the extra sleep.

Now I need something to eat. Crackers.

BRB

Club crackers. Earth Wind and Fire playing.

So we went and saw No Country for Old Men yesterday. I love the Coen Brothers and they made another good movie with a great script.

Lookie there, their name is spelled wrong too. Maybe we're in the same boat.

But anyway the BEST part of the movie, for me, was that the actor who played the sociopathic killer in this one, played the main character in Love In The Time of Cholera which we saw last week. From scoring major tail to a killer with a unique approach to picking locks.

Wait until they come out on DVD and watch one right after the other. It doesn't matter which one first. Should be one hell of a double bill for you. Have a close friend over. Make popcorn. Neck during both films.

I hear one of the showers going upstairs. Time's almost up.

So if you can remember, tell me what you were doing when i was wondering.

Tell me what you were wearing Jay.

Happy Birthday Jimi

I'm swaying back and forth to The Brothers Johnson's Strawberry Letter 22. What a cool song of my high school daze.

So I want to pose a question to the blogosphere.

I want you to think up your answer BEFORE looking at what others had to say.

What side are you on?

A very attractive young woman came up to me at work today. Slender, long blonde hair, dressed very nice. As I attended to her I noticed her perfume. It was very nice and subtle. Whenever a woman has a nice outfit or perfume I tell her. They seem to like it.

"You smell very nice. What do you have on?", I asked.

"Oh, I'm embarrassed to say. It's the Paris Hilton perfume.", she replied.

I told her that I thought the perfume really worked on her and that when people asked she should lie and say she bought it at a small perfume boutique that makes it's own fragrances.

Sorry Paris but it aint like YOU came up with the formula.

Two things

1) The day after Thanksgiving gives me one of my fave sammiches. Turkey, mayo, stuffing, and cranberry sauce. All cold. Today it's on wheat bread but white is just as good.

2) My father drops by to check in on us. My granddaughter sees him. I know this to be true because there are times when I hold her while sitting on the sofa that she looks at the spot in front of the picture of him and my mom. You know how you can tell when somebody is looking AT something versus merely staring into space? That's the look she has.

Then there are times when I hold her near the picture and she starts giggling and making noises as if he had just made a face to make her laugh.

It makes me happy to know that he gets to see the little ones.

Feelings of dispair and satisfaction in the week of Thanksgiving.

My salary is deposited directly into my checking account every other Sunday. That means that if I am off on that Monday we are down in Bellingham doing our shopping for food and household needs. This morning we got up early in order to avoid the long line at the border. My wife asked me what the amount of my pay was so I got online and accessed my pay statement. A momentary thought to call the bank's automated teller and check the overall balance was dismissed by me as an unnecesary delay.

So off we go on a cold gray morning. We only have to wait at the border for about 15 minutes and are cruising down I-5. Just miles short of Bellingham is the town of Ferndale and breakfast at Denny's.

After that we're in Target doing the household goods shopping. Plus we buy some clothes for the grandkids and I'm particularly interested in getting some shoes for the baby because she's walking now and i worry about her slipping on the tile floor with the soft soled shoes she has now. So we have everything and we pile it all on the counter at the checkout lane. Debit card swiped and pin number entered.

Not accepted.

Try again.

Not accepted.

The cashier nonchalantly mentions the nearby ATM. I am anything BUT nonchalant inside. I check the balance of my account to see that my paycheck has not gone in to my account.

Now I make good money. In fact for my education I make very good money. I have bills. I support family. But now I feel embarrassed. I feel shame for having gone up to the checkout with a cartload of items that I now, cannot pay for. I feel terrible inside because I cannot provide my granddaughter with shoes. I feel terrible because two Christmas presents for my grandson must now go back to the shelves. It's like things are out of reach. Yes, this is a temporary situation but there is only what I feel right now

So we leave Target and decide to go to the grocery store. We have enough to get the groceries we need. If we spend $100 on groceries where we shop we get our Thanksgiving turkey for free. We have that much and more. So we shop for groceries after I drain our account at the ATM and cash in a $2 winning lottery ticket. We get our groceries, and our turkey and we're about to walk out the store. We've decided that we'll go home and drive back down the next day. I know that we're going to hit a long line at the border but what can we do? I turn to my wife,

"You wait, we'll get home and call the bank and the gal will tell us that our money has been deposited in our account".

My wife gave me a look that illustrated our emotion. That it was too little too late and more effort that should have been needed had to be used. The same voice that told me to check the balance before we left the house told me something. I laughed, and it confused my wife. Then I reached in my wallet and pulled out my ATM card and stuck it in the nearby ATM machine. I pressed the button to check the balance. It had been one hour since we left Target. I pulled the receipt, looked at it, and laughed. My pay was in the account.

Relief was the word of the moment. As we walked out the door we saw the Salvation Army kettle and the man ringing the bell. I pulled money out of my pocket and stuffed it in the kettle.

Back to Target. The toy, the shoes, some clothes for the little ones. In the cart, through the checkout, and into the car. Then on to Costco for more things. We had seen some things on sale at the grocery store and we had a short list of groceries for our local church missionaries. We got those items and the sale items and some other things. We always end or grocery shopping in the produce section. I looked at my wife.

"Let's get out of here before we qualify for another turkey." (meaning another $100 in groceries. 200+ is are normal amount when we shop after payday)

Over to the checkout. $115.00. I ask the lady at the checkout if we can get a second turkey. "Of course!" she answers. I run over to the freezer holding the frozen turkeys and grab a 20 pound bird. Out the door we go.....to the man ringing the bell. He gives me directions to the Salvation Army Chapel. We drive over and drop off the turkey.

I passed through momentary despair to end up with two Thanksgiving turkeys. One will feed me and my family and one will feed another man and his family.

Now one turkey is not a great thing when you consider the amount of people who the Salvation Army will feed this Thursday. But the feeling of one man, who for a moment felt what many fathers less fortunate feel, will make that man feel that much more blessed as he sits down to eat with his family this year.

Are you running low on fuel brothers and sisters?

I LOVE the road. Here are 4 versions of Arizona roads

I heard that there was an old abandoned Port of Entry at the ghost town of Lochiel, Arizona. Now I love to explore and I work at a Port of Entry and have pictures of close to 50 POE's so you KNOW that I had to go. I drove in from Nogales, Arizona past the sign in the top photo.

It was a beautiful sunny day and the dirt road was pretty well maintained. The road goes over a small mountaion range so you would be well advised to have an SUV at least. It IS an easy drive however.

Lochiel is located in the San Rafael Valley and it's one of hidden gems of the earth. Peaceful and spectaucular. It would be easy to live there if not for the heavy human and drug smuggling traffic that now passes through there on a regualr basis.

In 1539 Fray Marcos de Niza became the first white man to enter the San Rafael valley and what is now Arizona. He is recognized as the first white man west of the Rockies. He would begin the establishment of Catolic Missions. There are varying opinions on the effect of that and I line myself up with those who believe the priests sent hundreds, if not thousands, of natives to their deaths in the gold and silver mines.

There are people currently living in the valley and cattle ranches abound. I did not see a soul while I was there and I have heard that the residents are not very open to visitors. I can't blame them. Between the smugglers cutting fences and the Border Patrol Agents flying down the dirt roads I'm sure they just would prefer to be left alone.

One Liners

I heard a song on the radio yesterday called Alcohol and Ass by a band named Hell Yeah.

I pulled up to the guard shack at the visitors parking lot at Brigham Young University and the girl asked me if I was a visitor. I stroked the two week + growth on my face and said, "oh yeah, they won't let me stay with this".

My sister almost pissed herself when I told her my idea for scariest halloween costume competitions in Utah. I would send two teenage boys in as a same sex couple.

I pulled up to the drive thru of a Jack in the Box. (fast food burgers) The nuimber three on the menu board is what I always get. It SAYS, "Jumbo Jack with cheese" and comes with fries (chips for you Euros) and a drink.

When the lady asked what I wanted I responded.

I want the number three with NO pickles and NO catsup, a coke, and onion rings instead of fries.

There is a screen where you can see your order typed as you order.

#3
no catsup
no pickles
sub rings
coke

Then the lady asked me if I wanted cheese on the burger.

"Of course", I responded, "it says right there, Jumbo Jack WITH cheese".

She got mad.

"That's the way I do my job sir."

So I pull up to the window and she's apologetic and such and everything's cool again. She explains that many people return after ordering the #3 meal which is the Jumbo Jack with cheese to complain because there's cheese on it. So I tell her that she should give the morons shit and not the guys who are ordering a burger with cheese because they WANT a burger with cheese. They should SUPPORT literate people and scold the ignorant. So I pay for my food and drive back home to eat.

Remember how I told you that there was a screen by the drive up menu?

3#
no catsup
no pickles
sub rings
coke

The screen that confirms what I asked for? There's probably something similar over the grill so the workers know how to prepare the orders. I KNOW it to be so.

There was catsup on my Jumbo Jack.

I always kick myself for not checking my orders at drive thru windows. I'm too considerate to the people waiting behind me. People who probably are going to come back and complain that they got what they ordered but not what they wanted.

A trip back to Douglas is a trip back to the past. There is a strong feeling when I'm there because I've spent so much time there. We were there for seven years and then on to Canada where we will have been living for nine years when all is over.

It makes me wonder if I've made the right decisions. As the father I chose the environment in which my children grew up. I took them out of California at a young age for economic reasons. I took them out of Douglas because of fears I had. I saw young women date scum bags and have kids. I saw young men turn into scum bags for money. So much dope flowing up the interstate and new cars with loud stereos and wide tires. And so few of them went to jail for it. So few pregnant girls married the fathers.

I look at the kids now and wonder if I made the right decisions. Is there a way to go back and see how they would have come out in the small border town versus Calgary and Vancouver?

Now we are getting ready to move again and it's has the potential of being very hairy. They're all coming back and while this is great it means big adjustments. It means a potential battle with work and me hoping that I make the right decisions.

Did I dance on the coals to avoid the volcano only to have it come into the picture anyway?

Only time will tell. It makes me gray.

The Day of the Dead found me surrounded by death.

First there was the visit to my nephew's grave outside Benson. It's been a few years since I've been there. Then yesterday found me in Douglas visiting the graves of my grandparents and aunts and uncles and great-grandparents. My cousin who was murdered resting next to her brother who died of leukemia when he was only eight.

I wandered a bit and found a friend of my son who was claimed by cancer at the age of 10. Some yards away I happened upon the grave of a Civil War veteran.

Then as I drove up to Clifton and Morenci I saw roadside crosses and "adopt a highway" signs all seeming to be "in memory" of somebody. I stopped by the cemetery in Morenci and wandered through graves marked with wooden crosses and fence enclosures. Graves that stand unidentified now on top of a rocky hill.

Soon I will go visit with my dad for a bit.