[update #5 – part 1]

The Big Drive North

Not sure if you knew this – but I am essentially what, in the industry, is known as a long distance driver extraordinaire . . . it is a gift (curse) that I discovered way back in the day – and is more than likely directly linked to my unbridled stubbornness – or in other terms . . . I can sometimes be just too dumb to know when to quit – which should not to be confused with the times that I quit with hair-splitting lightning-like dexterity –

Yeah – even though I sometimes usually never change my mind – there are times when I tend to directly contradict myself – immediately after making a declarative statement . . . which tends make my mind change itself – at which point I inevitably sit down – take in the countryside with a deep breath – and throw in a white flag of surrender.

Back to the story?!

The other day (after heading a sad and hearty fare thee well to a bunch of nice people) I packed the car so full of stuff that [Seriously funny analogy/call back type line here ala “that car was so fat” “how fat was it” “that car was so fat that instead of ‘wash me’ the back window started speaking Spanish . . . it was all like ‘nada mas. . .’ all like ‘lo siento – pues este es muy necessaro que tu throw some of this junk out!!’ heh heh heh” – yeah – definitely something like all of that.] – so full that it was very full – what more can I say?

The dog (Irving Brown Socks) was also making the trip – and the worst part of the whole ordeal came early on for him when after attempting to leave my first stop out of town . . . I hopped into the car to find him whining and whimpering – very urgently – and after quickly checking him out to figure out the problem – my stomach turned when I found that the tip – and seriously just just the tip of his tail was stuck in the door. He received multiple treats – and I am happy to say that he has shown no ill effects since this little misunderstanding happened – although I did notice that the trip to the rocking chair factory that he had organized for the family in North Carolina at the end of the month has been cancelled – so that is a bit sad.

More to be continued

small friday drawing [1]

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[update #4]

A Scary Hat Up There.

I was up in the unfinished attic the other night – you know – the attic where you need to step on the top-most part of a 7 (seven) foot ladder to get into . . . the attic where once you do pull yourself up (and it is dusk turning into night) all you have is a flashlight and a little of the moon to guide your way around the creaking wood slat floor? Yeah – well this is that attic.

I was installing cable into a couple of the bedrooms in the temporary headquarters – and couldn’t figure out how to get over the rooms where the cable was supposed to go – there was a wall blocking my way – a creepy black wall that was maybe made of some sort of tar paper or something. It was one of those odd moments where the space that you are in isn’t matching up with the space that your brain is expecting/anticipating/calculating – where something just feels a bit off . . . So I started to run the flashlight over the wall (at which point it really started to feel like what I would imagine being an explorer – or at the very least an explorer in a video game would feel like) and then I found a seam in the wall – which lead to a hinge – boy was this getting exciting! I took a couple of steps back and then as clear as day there was a door in the middle of the wall with an old-timey metal sliding latch to keep it shut. I am not even going to lie – it was a scary entrance.

I took a quick breath and then unlocked the latch. The door opened – scraping the floor as it went – and there was the space from the room that my brain had been looking for – along with some old headboards, a crib and a shelf.

I ran the wires over the wall and then had to situate myself under the shelf so that I could pull them in the rest of the way . . . that was when I started to notice the things that were on the different shelves. There wasn’t all that much stuff and most of it was just old (like crumble when you touch it type of old) papers and a couple of those pull down and then flap-flap-flap when they go back up window shades. But then my flashlight hit the tip of a ribbon that was mostly buried under a bunch of bits of stuff – so I brushed some of the crumbles away – and had to back up (yes – I took a step back – indeed) – because there it was . . . a creepy creepy hat.

After shaking the hat off I showed it to my wire installing helper – who was stationed at the bottom of the ladder – and who seconded the notion that it was indeed a hat of the creepy variety . . . I put it back in it’s place – and went on about my cable installing business – always conscious of that hat on that shelf.

I don’t know the history of the hat – but I’m not sure that I need to. All I do need know is that it is about 12 (twelve) feet up and 8 (eight) feet to the right of where I sleep . . . and that the hat is in no way my friend.

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