Paradigm shift As the Jude Bear spends every Tuesday at the Casa, often he will spend the night before as well; this is so he can sleep in if he feels the need. And to be totally honest, it gives me the chance to get some writing done before Hurricane Jude makes landfall. Yesterday morning, I heard him get up to go to the bathroom; that's odd, as usually he spends a inordinate amount of…

Dad here; Charlie has always been such a diva that anytime she hears a song she likes, she feels like she needs to re-write to be about her. She has done so many over the years that I'm thinking of compiling them all into a book; she has that many. When she started putting on a few extra pounds a few years ago, she heard "Fat Bottom Girls" by Queen, and just had to put…

Years ago, I had a dream; well, not really a dream, much more like a nightmare. In this dream, I found myself wandering freely about in an insane asylum straight out of the 1920's, or at least how I envision such a place; creeping kudzu covering the exterior walls, Linoleum floors curled by the smell of urine, flickering, underpowered, incandescent lights, and everywhere the mentally and physically afflicted. Some were shuffling about in a thorazine…

August 2005: Hurricane Katrina had just demolished the southern coast of the United States, and Rita was lining up off shore to finish the job her bitchy sister had started. The flood of refugees had impacted southern Arkansas, bringing with it not only the unfortunate souls displaced by the flooding, but also the predatory gang members looking to expand their territories north from New Orleans. These parasitical bottom feeders started a cycle of mayhem that…

This. Means. War. I was ready to let bygones be bygones, to forgive and forget. Live and let live. To put the scars of our last encounter behind us, and be able to live the rest of my life in a state of armistice. But that time has passed. I was just minding my own business, blissfully unaware that a forthcoming attack was being planned to bring about my absolute demise. And I'm talking about…

Back to the trip; Chama, NM After the night that Duff and I had on the Road from Hell north of Dulce, we elected to wimp out on the whole camping thing and instead splurged on a motel room in Chama. Macduff was so tired that he refused the can of kibble that I made a special trip to retrieve. Chama is the home of Fina's Diner, known across New Mexico for their breakfast menu;…

Durango to Dulce', or why I will never trust Google Maps again. Due to reports over the years of excessive UFO activity at Archuleta Mesa as well as my own experience in the area just south of there, I decided that Dulce, NM was to be on my itinerary. So I checked Google for possible routes out of Durango. One was east to Pagosa Springs, then south; problem is, I hate 160 as much as…