Random Musings of a Ramblin' Fool XIX

Oy Vey

Bills are piling up, things are getting a bit scary and I'm feeling a bit besieged tonight .... tempted to question my assumptions about this being the correct path in life for me.
However, everybody I know who has been successful in business has had one or more of these periods but stuck it out and ultimately prevailed.
Fortunately I have a show this coming weekend which is a perfect segue into my next topic...

Anderson Gem & Mineral Show

This weekend I will be doing the Superior California Gem & Mineral Association's club show in Anderson, CA. It will run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. both Friday and Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday. The show is being held at the Shasta County Fairgrounds. I hope to see some of you there.

Where Are My Show Bloggings You Ask?

There in the queue of bloggings I need to publish but none are finished and most aren't even started but I hope this month to get caught up.

I Gotses Me Some Workses!

Steve Shears has hired me to do farm work for him and today was my first day.
We moved (with a tractor) and split (with hand tools) and stacked firewood (about one to one and a half tiers) and planted some trees (one fig, two persimmons), and fixed a tractor.
Today was only a half day as he and I had other things going on earlier in the day.
I am scheduled to be out there again tomorrow.
This is a good gig as it is part-time and on-call but will not effect my shows.
In fact, Steve is a dealer, too, selling display cases and such at shows, including rock shows.

What Really Caused the Jesusita Fire

I can now tell you with absolute certainty that my hairbrained hypothesis that it was caused by some errant hot debris falling off of a Delta II rocket launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) at about the same time simply isn't true. It has now been authoritatively determined to have been caused by day laborers cutting brush from a trail using power tools during the heat of the day during a Sundowner Wind event.

Whatever Happened To Those Sundowners?

All through this past weekend Sundowners were predicted to move into the Santa Barbara area and thus the Jesusita Fire burn area but they never materialized. However, they are forecasted to strike tomorrow and Wednesday.

Cerro Grande Fire Anniversary

Yesterday was the 9th anniversary of the start of the Cerro Grande Fire in New Mexico.
The fire started as a prescribed burn on the Bandelier National Monument near Los Alamos, NM. A cold front came through the area shortly after the burn was initiated and high winds associates with it caused it to flare up and run and spot and burn right into Los Alamos, both the city as well as Los Alamos National Laboratory.
The fire consumed 47,650 acres and 260 homes.

Schwein Flu

The rampant hysteria seems to be finally subsiding after it had killed a whole one American citizen....in the meantime a myriad of other hazards killed far more people during the same period. Of course, before that it was the notion that the sky was falling with the economy as some breathless commentators were even deigned to compare it to the Great Depression.
So, now it appears we, the people, have to move on to the next hysteria du jour.

Speaking of the economy

Anybody notice the ongoing trend of good economic news (or economic news less bad then anticipated)? I'm also experiencing my own anecdotal verification to this by way of noticing more construction occurring in the North County region of San Luis Obispo County. People also seem more optimistic and less fidgety than they were late last year into early this year.

AHS Class of 1989 Reunion

This is my first mention of this on Eclectic Arcania but hardly the last. I have been tasked by the organizers with finding those of you who went to school with me (and were in my class) but are not on the list of you with whom we have contact to send RSVP's and such. If any of you are reading this please contact me and let me know your email address and/or phone number and/or mailing address so we can talk about the reunion.

Tempus Fugit

It feels somewhat surreal thinking in terms of having a 20-year high school class reunion coming up....can it be possible? Where did the time go? Where did my youth go? Oh, I know, I squandered both! Oh well, at least I know now and am making corrections which are ongoing.

Dad's Days & Mine

Speaking of time passing, my late father, James Gordon Noyes, was born on November 1, 1946, and died on November 26, 1985, meaning he died at 39 years, 25 days.

I reached 39 years, 25 days yesterday, Mothers Day, Sunday, May 10, 2009, having been born on April 15, 1970.

For a number of years now I've set it as a goal to make it past Dad in terms of days spent on this Earth given how Dad died tragically prematurely in a freak electrocution accident in the hills east of Atascadero, CA.

To me it was a straightforward goal to achieve if God willed it. However, tonight, while on the phone with my girlfriend I suddenly saw this matter in an entirely new and deeper context and was temporarily overwhelmed with sadness and melancholy.

It dawned on me that I have more than simply lived to be older than Dad but now am into territory Dad never traveled.

I suddenly realized it is as if for Dad the clock stopped at 39 years, 25 days and will never move forward for him again while the clock for me continues to move past where it permanently stopped for him.

I was and am now treading territory that he never traveled.

From now on it is no longer the case that he has been down this road before and thus I can take comfort in the thought that he made it and so can I.

I now feel more alone and in some respects feel Dad is now further away than before.

Kimmer