The Rise of Freckle Face

Today i sit here at the Chaffee County Fairgrounds in a big, empty concrete floor gymnasium. The occasion is roller derby practice. The competitor whose corner I'm representing is for Freckle Face. She's a fierce second grader who likes mini golf and LOL Surprise dolls. She's loud, opinionated, and is small enough to sneak in between your lame jammers. 

Dogs in the Sun

As long as I can remember, I've been around big dogs. For some reason, coincidentally, most of them have been big, black dogs. My parents had black lab/retriever mixes, and we have a mutt shepherd and a pit bull, all black. One thing they all had in common, and other dogs that i can recall, is they all love laying on the floor by a window where the sun is shining in. That's their favorite. I admire the simplicity...

Who Knows

I'm trying to post more regularly in hopes that my mindless rambling may form some sort of discernable pattern. I have yet to come to any such determination. I can read the news and see that I'm not alone, however, and that provides me some slight comfort.

Prepping Progress

I had the day off today, so i took the time to go through my camping trailer and organize the hell out of it. I secured everything large, stowed fuel and cooking gear, and organized what sleeping geari could find. In a pinch, we will require minimal packing. I'm hoping to optimize that in the coming days/weeks.

Reassessing "Duty"

There's a lot of crazy things going on in the world right now, and lots of it, globally, nationally, locally, personally... it has me thinking about what my job is now.

I'm a cook, a father, and a house-husband, but I'm also a citizen, a neighbor, and part of a community. Whether i enjoy those things or not is moot. I am in these situations by consequence of my own actions and inactions. Now I have a commitment to honor those in my way, and i need to figure out what that means. All of this in the context of another potential shift in lifestyle with a looming third global war (thanks for the warmup Covid).

So what is the best course of action? Talk to neighbors? Participate in local government? Jon a political party? Protest with the kids? Enlist? Volunteer? Object? It's a crazy time to be alive, but whatever happens, don't forget where you came from and how you got where you are.

State of the Homestead

These are unprecedented times.  We're still on the tail end of the Covid pandemic, two straight years of a contagious and dangerous virus and the political shock waves that accompanied everything about it from wearing masks to getting vaccines to gathering in public.

Now there's a European war, and we are wondering what's going to happen here in the United States.  My friends in Alaska, relatively close to the aggressor, Russia, aren't too concerned yet, but likely will be if things escalate.  That being said, Alaskans are tough, and would likely be the second to say "go fuck yourself".  Here in our little Coloradan hamlet, 100 miles from one of the US military's most strategically important command centers, we are simply hoping for a nice, constant, easterly breeze if things go wonky.

The preparations are, however, commencing.  All of our camping and survival gear has gone into our little trailer.  Income tax returns will help fund the maintenance needed for the vehicles.  The question has been raised on whether or not arming up is the best idea.  We aren't there yet, but I have to admit, I have shopped around for a pump-action 12-gauge.  But as much as I do respect being prepared, my first choice would be to avoid making these BattleWagon Chronicles about actual Battle.  I would rather take my family and go to places I know will be off the radar, places where we can live off the land in peace and safety, learning and using skills to accomplish this as a family, as a team.

I don't know what's going to happen in the coming days, weeks, or months.  But I do know that we can explore the world, see the mountains, the deserts, the oceans, the plains, on our time, regardless of whatever the rest of the world sees fit to get itself into.  That is freedom.

Ukraine

I don't know what the future is going to look like, but if it resembles the past at all, I'm not excited.