Happy Charlie Bravo Day! Words mean things; but sometimes it's hearing a word used in a different way that makes perfect sense as well. A buddy of mine was telling me of an old truck he had bought on a whim, and he was hoping that the vehicle wouldn't swarm him with too many problems. "Swarm". I had never heard the word used that way, but it described such a feeling perfectly, just as when…

Proceed with caution: Run-On Sentence Zone ahead... Zero Dark Thirty; the dogs are sprawled out on the bed in such a fashion that it is uncanny how much it resembles a jump zone where the person responsible for packing the parachutes was having an off day. Charlie has crammed herself over into my alloted 8.75" of Posturpedic real estate as I go doomscrolling through stories of errant Chinese ballons; balloons? Really? Aren't these the cats…

I heard an intriguing question today: are you doing enough? It made me stop and think, and the only answer I could come up with is that it has everything to do with where we're each at on our particular journeys. Let me explain; even though we hadn't met yet back in November of 2018, Charlie and I were in very similar conditions. She had been left to die of neglect in her crate, and…

There is a place west of Taos, NM that is one of the most special places on the planet. Its a barren place with no amenities save the rocky ground to set up a tent, where the desert abruptly vanishes south, (straight down), into the vast Rio Grande Gorge. It's a fantastic place, with a steep, rocky trail that descends almost a thousand feet down to a series of hot springs on the banks of…

Playing solitaire 'til dawn, with a deck of fifty-one... it's difficult to finish a game that requires a full deck. This is not an easy conversation to have. Last Monday was a normal day until suddenly it wasn't; as I left the gym that morning, I noticed a tingling in my hands as well as a peculiar light-headedness. Not a problem, I thought, just a touch of heat exhaustion, just needed to get something solid…

Part II of the story: People often think that loneliness is one of the hardest things about traveling solo; they couldn't be farther from the truth. The real difficulty occurs when you cross paths with a "random" someone at just the right time and place on the journey; then you must go your seperate ways. The pain of that seperation is in some ways to the loss of a favorite dog. You know that it's…

Can I tell you a story? This is one of many stories that, for many reasons, I had decided to keep under wraps for years. They are many of my absolute favorites, but due to my particular location on life's road at the time they occurred, work wise/church wise, etc, I thought it wise to let the statute of limitations expire before "telling off" on myself. I have been known to do some pretty ridiculous…