The Prairie Dogs

The Prairie Dogs played at Shakabrah Java last Friday night. In some ways I felt unfocused throughout most of it, perhaps due in some part to working with a new sound person, or the group of three men sitting at a table near the front who were talking louder than the PA system, or the fact that I was recording the whole thing onto an eight-track deck I borrowed from a friend and any type of engineering tends to put the other half of my brain to work, kicking the ass of the delicate musician area already under heavy attack by the left beer lobe.

But I wouldn’t say this was the case throughout the whole gig. The men eventually shut their pie holes after one of them left. Right near the second third of the set we seemed to hit our stride and pulled off some really nice stuff. Dave brought his stand up double bass, which he played a few songs with and I thought it really added something to the whole affair.


We had a nice turnout, getting a number of our friends who hadn’t seen us before to come out and listen. One of the nice things about playing Shakabrah is that people bring their families and don’t stress out about getting a baby sitter. The kids, for the most part, behave very well and can even add a little humor into what at times can be a rather maudlin set list.

Sweetie and I, however, left the kids at home with a sitter. We don’t get out much these days and when we do it’s nice to fill it with adult conversation. We’re working on getting out together where she doesn’t have to sit around listening to me sing for the hundredth time, perhaps dinner and a movie or some such. Something with linear train-of-thought conversation, not punctuated with “mommy, mommy, mommy”, or “AhhhhhhhYaaa!!! a-dahh adahhh!”


I had brought the camera in the hope of getting some pictures of us playing together, but promptly forgot all about it when I arrived. I did have the good fortune to remember it when we were putting our equipment away though, so I snapped a few shots of us wrapping things up. I had to take my own picture though…in case you were wondering why my freakin head is so damn big.

In The Hospital

Ike is in the hospital for the next few days. It’s not like it’s something that we didn’t know was gonna happen or anything. In fact we’ve been putting it off for the past few months, not wanting to have to spend the required 48 hours that is needed for this particular test. Didn’t want to watch him get his head all dressed up like a lab rat with wires, confined to his bed for two days as a computer monitors all brain activity and checks for seizures.

We’re two doors down from the room we stayed in August. Outside his window now is a crane and construction crew working to add three floors to the roof next door. This will block the views of all rooms on this side of the hospital. Mt. Rainier, downtown Tacoma and Wright’s park will all just look like gray-brown cement with dark tinted windows for added accent.

We’re ready for the stay this time. Seems that every time we come back here we’re a little more together, a little more prepared. We got toys, stuffed animals, CD player, meds, blankets and just about anything else we could think of and carry in one trip. We’re close enough to home that going back and fourth wouldn’t be a big deal but once we’re here we rarely leave. We settle down like it’s a cold winter night.

The good news is that Ike is pretty agreeable to the whole thing. Didn’t much like it when they were attaching the leads to his head but other than that he seemed to enjoy it actually. He was downright hysterical when the lady was drawing on his head with a red grease pencil. Thought that was just about the funniest thing he’s seen in quite a while.
He’s got enough lead to move him about the room. When I left him and Sweetie, he was sitting up in his stroller trying to smack a toy we’d brought for him, having a little lunch and staring me down like he was daring me to leave.

Sun Rise

The sun came up all hazy this morning. It was bright enough and turned the sky all pink and orange as it came up over the stand of cedars at the end of the drive. Next door, Heather and Earl’s place is all quiet and dark, due to the fact that they’re away to bury Heathers mother who passed this last weekend. On the other side, Dewy and Ham took their mobile home down to Oregon City to the end of the Oregon Trail. Ham was meeting up with her brother’s family from Missouri who had spent the month of September following the trail from beginning to the end. So that just leaves us on our little spur, for the most part.

Spent the past weekend getting the last of the tomatoes off of the vine and putting the garden to rest. I must have harvested around forty or fifty pounds of them this season and that was just off of three plants. I guess I found a good place to grow them around here, near the back of the garage away from the wind where they sit in the sun all day. I’ve been giving them away to just about everyone I know since I filled my freezer with about 30 pounds of them. Yesterday, Corlis’ mom brought us over some spaghetti sauce that she made out of the ones I gave her and we had that for diner last night.

Things are slowly getting back to normal around the singlewide. Ike’s been working hard in therapy trying to get his strength back after the hip surgery and yesterday had a real good day working with his hands. The older boy started his reading group this week and though I think he had approached it with some trepidation, he told me yesterday that the lessons were actually fun.

The end of the year is nearly upon us. Hard to believe that in just two more months we start it all over again. Ike had his two-year anniversary of his liver transplant this past week, the site had it’s five thousandth visitor, Sweeties eyes are on the mend and the old cat is hanging in there.

The 402 reluctantly turned over as I set out for the mill this morning. In that hazy pink/orange sky, my breath making little ghosts and the car windows all wet with dew.

First Day Of School

This is the story of a boy on his first day of school.

He had spent the second half of his life at Apple-A-Day-Care where he was quite happy. Learning his letters and a number of silly songs. Where he learned that using the toilet would allow him to go on field trips and where, when he turned four, was finally able to go up on the big toy.

He turned out kind and caring, willing to give out hugs and kisses easily. He learned to share and take turns and hold hands crossing the street. Say please and thank you. Deal with conflict without (for the most part) using his fists.

When starting school this year there were only two students who knew more letters than he did in his class and they were both kindergarteners. He’s the only preschooler in the reading group that starts next week. He’s very excited about the whole thing.

The parents of this boy would like to take credit for what they feel like is a fine and upstanding citizen. (Even though he is only now just turning five) They would like to say to the world “See what we’ve done? This child we’ve raised turned out ok so far, we should be proud.”

But they also know that credit should be given where credit is due.

They want to say thank you so much for all that you did, not only for their boy but for them as well. They could not have made it through the last two years without your help, your flexibility, caring and understanding.

When Hiatt left Apple-A-Day-Care They didn’t think they said that adequately enough so they wanted to send you this.

This is a picture of a boy on his first day of school. He’s pretty damn happy about the whole thing, I-tell-you-what.

Quiet

Well the house seems to be back on the mend. Sweeties eye is doing better and the cold that had taken hold of the rest of us seems to have finally run its course. The weekend was spent rambling around in the yard, giving the flowerbeds that final rake of the year before the rains come sticking the leaves to the ground.

I spent some time writing songs and cleaning the house. Sweetie’s taken the last two weeks off to give her eye time to heal. It’s been fun having the weekends to putter about together, though for us getting the dinning room table cleaned off was about the extent of it.

It’s the end of the quarter here at the mill so I’ve been a little lax in updating my site this past week. The days have a way of just slipping by and before you know it another week has passed.

The Prairie Dogs have a gig at Shakabrah at the end of the month. We’re going to be recording it for possible use on an upcoming CD we want to put out this winter. We’ll be recording onto digital 8-track so I’m hopeful it’ll sound ok. I guess now we’ll really have to learn the songs.

Other than that things are kinda sleepy around here. It’s just a goal of ours to take it easy and not try to do more than we’re capable of. There really is no substitute for sleep.