Hens n’ chicks…

First,

a Wolf crest princess vanished from an up river village…

She vanished without a trace…

And her clansmen from all the villages loped along the trails,

alert for some sign of her…

They searched the shorelines…

They questioned travelers…

“Have you seen any sign of the Wolf princess???”

they asked the traveling arrowmaker…

He was a strange old man who traveled from place to place with his marvelous arrows…

And though he was tall and as spare as any young paddler,

his face was so wrinkled that he seemed to have lived forever…

— in Mouse Woman and the Vanishing Princesses by Christie Harris

I’m all for anarchy,

and refusing the authority of those who think they’re in the know,

but not when it comes to fiddling with something so small,

and so powerful,

it can dump gallons of water into your mainframe,

within seconds…

In such cases I encourage immediate consultation,

with an expert…

FYI:

the heads of in house sprinkler systems are not for hanging up clothes,

or balloons,

or anything else…

They’re for putting out fires…

And if one of them in your house,

or apartment,

or condo,

starts to drip,

DO NOT take matters into your own hands,

and try to fix it yourself…

Or you could end up spending two months in another jurisdiction,

until the proper repairs are made,

by a certified restoration company…

Except for,

if that hadn’t happened to someone whom I know,

I wouldn’t have received the gift of a visit with a green-eyed cat,

who sneaks up my wooden staircase in the night,

kneads my belly with his paws,

runs his motor like a panther in pure ecstasy,

and moves around my house like a stealth bomber…

The other day Little Gem, Starshine and I were in our big red car,

on our way to the beach…

And I was asked why I had my Fm dial tuned into JR Country…

I said,

Omigod!!!!

Are you kidding me???!!!!

Listen to this stuff…

It’s classic…

There are only so many stations where you can go from crying to laughing,

when you went for one and stayed ’til 2…

Little Gem belted it,

eyes closed,

from her back seat booster,

Yeah, I’m pretty good at drinking beer…

Country music is a staple…

It’s the bread,

and butter,

of the playing man,

the writing woman,

and the singing team…

Simple,

and basic,

as swan bones…

Sometimes it’s all I can do,

not to turn my 18 wheeler around,

and head straight for Nashville,

because you look good in my shirt,

when I haven’t written the song yet,

and I can’t even play guitar…

Three years ago I was caught up,

in a major cranial-sacral session…

In one sequence of experience,

I felt a hook right near my heart,

pulling my rib cage,

up into the air,

right off the table…

The practitioner asked me,

Are you going to fight,

or are you going to trust it,

and go???

Due to conditioning,

it took thirty minutes or so,

with a ton of pressure,

for my head to get in line with my heart…

But once you’re on board,

for the long haul,

well leavin’ just ain’t an option…

Blame it on the hat,

those boots,

and the lure of that two-step…