The Birthday Update

It's been a crazy month or so. We successfully moved out of the old Walnut Street house and into our brand new Coleman camper. Everything is working well, and we are cozy. Warm when we need to be, cool when it's hot out. It's been wonderful. The place we parked had full hookups and everything we need to stay self contained. And the view is spectacular.

Double Down Time

This is a van full of life. My life. My family's life. It's going to go away, and we are moving into a tiny camper, hopefully soon, pulled by this very BattleWagon. The camper is our means to see the world, to refuse to acknowledge the bullshit world that is destroying so many lives. I refuse. We refuse. Life is ours.

Reinvention...

A short time ago in a high mountain river valley, relatively closeby...

Things are happening over here.  The BattleWagon Chronicles have been dormant for too long.  The old Safari van has been dead for almost 15 years.  The big gray van died in Alaska.  BW3 had it's own tale in Alaska, where it was left to vanish.  The original BattleWagon, the Blue Bomber, the Big Blue Van, is still kicking, and it's what we have.  Between that and our '86 Tercel, we are doing okay.

The homestead is going away as of the end of this month, about a week from today.  Our replacement for our home rental is going to be some iteration of a bunkhouse camper.  It'll be me, the wife, and our three kids for the summer, with our dogs.  We got a bomber parking spot with full hookups.  It's a lot to take in, as we would prefer to buy a house.  However, it's 2023, and it's Colorado, and houses are for rich people and corporations, so here we are.

The long-term goal this time around is to save enough money to either buy property to build on, or build on property that our family owns outright.  Either way, it's beyond our reach at the moment, but we'll get there.  One tiny step at a time, but we'll get there.

In the meantime, family fun and adventures will be the themes for the summer.  Any chance we get to go fishing, hiking, climbing, driving, camping, whatever we want to do, we are going to do.  I feel like tricky things are coming, and I worry that, without each other, we won't survive.  But I'm optimistic that we'll all have each other, and that we'll be alright, no matter what.

Who Knows

Who cares?

That's where we are this morning. Contemplating our five months from homelessness. Coming to terms with the punishment exacted at us for simply being... us.

Pit Bulls

Before a couple of years ago, if anyone asked me if I was gonna have a Pit Bull, i would have called you crazy. Now, though, my puppy is over two years old, and he's been exemplary. He's smart, he's kind to my kids, protective of my house, and learning from my old shepherd. It's been a wonderful experience. Dogs, it turns out, are like people, in that the biggest assholes were usually taught by even bigger assholes.

The Crater

Today was something like our third time as a family up to The Crater, an old worn out, long dormant volcanic vent of some sort. My three-year-old scrambled the whole way, up and back. He only asked to be carried once, and he didn't whine about going home until we were almost back to the car. Proud of both of them littles.

The Bailing

dont panic they'll be pay

for most of us

it wont matter anyway they fear us

dont worry about the blame

bestowed to us

while we're laughing all the way

they'll clear us

at the seams we're broken

while they fail us another time

they concealed the culprit

as they bailed another out

dont panic they'll be pay

for most of us

it wont matter anyway they fear us

dont worry about the blame

bestowed to us

dont panic they are on to some of us

it wont matter anyway they'll see us

it wont matter anyway they'll hear us

we'll pilfer most

then take an oath

because it doesn't matter

at the seams we're broken

while they fail another time

they concealed the culprit

in the failed and nervous sky

they bailed another out

we wont make it on our own

all the lies I'm told

all the lies I'm told

stealing safely from us all

we'll be fine I'm told

we'll be fine I'm told