Nothing

The weather is changing here today. The warm sunshine and tease of spring is being replaced by a north wind, black clouds, cold rain and dropping temperatures. Winter is returning for the latter half of February. The driveway is returning to mud. Wood consumption is rising quickly.
Finally, California may get some rain. More importantly, the mountains on the California-Oregon border are getting snow. My property needs the water.
Watching CNN today, I see that citizens that have lost their homes are protesting in front of the homes of CEOs of various lending institutions guilty of predatory lending. The idea is to 'personalize' the victims to the culprit. Remember this desperate day; the victims are forecasting an attitude and frustration that is going to explode nationwide.
As one friend put it, "This $900 billion give away is the grease that will send this fine country into the big black shit hole. The poor will be in the streets looting. The folks with anything left will retreat." Predatory Bankers better hide now. It would appear when the guillotines are dragged out their heads will be the first to roll.
If this was China, their greed and crimes would have already brought death. Maybe we can learn something from our Pacific rim partners. Misuse of public trust and power should be punishable by death. We wouldn't have to kill many politicians before Washington straightened itself out. Think if we killed just a few and all of the lobbyists.
It's only the beginning, too. As the race downhill proceeds (like a snowball) people will get angrier, hungrier, more unsatisfied. Public unrest is coming. Tax-payer revolt is coming. The ball gets bigger and rolls faster every day.
Americans have lived fat and sassy, and will not be satisfied by a simple subsistence survival. For awhile everybody had money, and everyone got a taste of having a little wealth; watch how we revolt against being poor.
And why shouldn't we? It's the people's money keeping the whole system afloat. Why don't the people now own the system? The banks, the automakers, insurance, housing, They should all be the people's now, and so should their profits! The privatization of profits and socialization of losses is plain robbery. These bailouts are just continuations of the robbery. A few heads should roll, literally. No, a lot of heads should roll.
As the house of cards falls the terror from within will begin. Eventually there will be no good or bad guys; people will fear both the government and the enemies of the state. I guess the retreat part comes into play about then.
The world is changing. America can no longer afford to support the rest of the world with her unbridled consumption, just as America cannot afford to police the rest of the world. Maybe it's time we focused on saving ourselves.
The sky is black now. Snow is starting to fall, swirling in the winds, carrying the latest storm into southern Oregon. It's late in the afternoon. The sky will only darken, the day become night, and the cold deepen before the storm passes.

A Note to My Oldest Son

What's up Son,
Have you no opinion on American politics? Perfectly fine really, I know nothing about Britain except everybody in London is from somewhere else, and you can meet women from everywhere in the world and never leave the city limits. Oh, and look right or die, 'cause that's the direction from which traffic approaches! Find a good bakery for coffee and a foreign girl, (since I'm a foreigner in London) and it's a hook.
Woke up to snow flakes this morning. Cold. Winter doesn't want to release the mountains from it's grip. When the sun comes out Spring warmth is in it's light though. Meanwhile I'm forced to cut firewood daily to keep warm. Exercise. Next year I'll stock 10 cord of wood, not 2. I can deal with the solitude as long as there is food and firewood in the house. The basics; food, shelter, warmth. Love, laughter, music.
Perverted perceptions of the basics are wrong; green bud and easy money were not part of the original formula. Sugar babies weren't either. I slept with several last night in the pocket of my pajamas. During the night they slipped out of my pocket and proceeded to glue me to the bed. They were still good eating after being removed with a pocketknife. Like honey. The perfect food.
Your cousin got a 60 day notice to move out of the trailer. His dad agreed, and he's got 30 days left and not a clue. It's bite the bullet and grow up for your cousin. I might bring him to southern Oregon as an indentured laborer.
I figure your cousin, Carlos, you and me and it'll be THE PONDEROSA! BonannnnnnnZaaaaaaa!

The End of Winter‏

The flag waves lazily today under cloudy skies with patches of blue. Penetrating sunlight reflects brightly in the distant ridges where the last of winters fleeting army of white is on the retreat. Not even reinforcements in March will prevent the inevitable meltdown of the oncoming new season: Spring.

My old friends, six grey mule deer, wander up the hill behind the shack. Stopping to eat the new grass beginning to bud, they quickly look up when I gently tap the upstairs window with a pen (I should hear so well!). I try to get Croco-Dog to look out the window (he likes the deer ), but despite my efforts his attention cannot be distracted from his ball.

The house, much easier to heat now that temperatures are staying above freezing, is comfortable and roomy for one person. It will soon be expanded: Opposite the kitchen and upstairs, on the back of the house, I'll add a living room with windows that face south and west. Someplace for a big screen and a pool table. This time next year I want the pictures to reflect another years work.

When I compare pictures twelve months apart I realize how much progress has been made. Like most accomplishments achieved over years on a day by day basis, looking back, it is hard to fathom the depth of the accomplishment immediately upon completion. Remember that when you stop to take a breath in your educations.

The pictures help to illustrate my feelings. Wouldn't it be nice if we could photo the human mind to graphically show and encourage the new graduate, who on occasion will look around and say, "For what did I work so hard?'' The fruit of ones labor is not always apparent to the producer.

This second summer the shack and my property will blossom dramatically if I can only apply myself as I did last year. That will be the hard part; my incentives, my fears, my desires have changed. I have waited 51 years for this Spring. With good luck my new home will be a success, a springboard, and history: sold for enough profit to do it again on property without a mortgage where I can apply what I've learned here. Can I get a Hallelujah?

With bad luck anything can happen, but I never forget that we make our own luck for the most part, and hard work goes a long way to influence an outcome in most circumstances.

With no luck (or no buyer) I'll set steel post and build the aforementioned living room.