Slathered... Slaked

Can you say that 3 times?
Real fast?

Kennedy gold mine, Jackson, California
As it looks today

Never mind, here's the real point
(As if there could be one?)

On the day before today
The Coyote and I
Decided to break out the Harleys
For a little pre-Spring run

To the NorCal foothills
Mining country, gold that is...
Jackson was our destination
Mel and Faye's diner for a damn fine late breakfast

Jackson is an old gold mining town
Named after "Alden Appola Moore Jackson"
Helluva name wouldn't you say?

Tyler you are lucky I didn't know about this
When you were born
"Alden Appola Moore Campbell?"  Hmmmm....

I have been there dozens of times
In my Harley riding life
And it has been beautiful each time

The forecast was 70
It was in the fifties on our way up
In the sixties on our way back

Cruising... handlebar to handlebar
On the stretches less traveled
Two throaty, rumbling Harleys making music

On one stretch of the return
I picked up the scent of a bakery
There is nothing quite like it

Unless you consider similar smells picked up while outdoors
Like bacon frying in the pan
Or potatoes and onions frying in butter

The thought then struck me
In my scented reverie
"Slaked and Slathered"... or vice-versa

Flashback to the Azore Islands
Fresh made bread
Slathered with dollops of the world's richest, most delicious butter

Coupled with home-made wine - made using genuine Portuguese feet
Bottled in old liquor containers
Two bits each - to slake your thirst

Why "slake"?  
Consider a National Geographic special
On Africa; commentator, Alec Baldwin


Alec had the world's worst script writer
So every time the animals stopped to drink
Alec said they were "slaking their thirst."


That's why


Anyway, where was I?
Oh yes, Slathering and Slaking
Two things you definitely want to do
If you are ever in the Azores.

The River

The "River"
Otherwise known as "Fifth Street"

The Pocket

In the game of chance: Texas Hold'em

In Hold'em, each player at the table
Is dealt two cards, face down
This is the "Pocket" as no other players
Can see them

Next comes the "Flop"
Three cards face up on the table
To be shared by each player
In determining the best hand

Next; the "Turn" or "Fourth Street"
Is turned up on the table to join the first three
Finally the "River or "Fifth Street"
A card that has made and destroyed many fortunes.

Wagers are placed
At the completion of each step
The "Pocket", the "Flop", "Fourth" and "Fifth Street"
The player with the best combination of five cards wins

Tournaments are held that typically begin
With many tables of 10 players each
As each players loses all their chips
They are eliminated from the competition

When the last 10 players remain
The "Final Table" is formed
And each is typically "in the money"

From there they play on until the last person remains
Or until the players mutually agree to "chop" or tie
For the remaining cash pay outs

Yesterday, from a beginning field of 80 or so
I made the final table
I was a little "short stacked" or behind the average chip count
But at about 35,000 I had a fair share

In the second hand my pocket was Ace and Ten of Hearts
Blinds and antes were fairly high at that time
So there were over 10 thousand in chips in the pot
Before wagering even began

One player in front of me
Placed a raise to 12,000 chips
To call would have taken almost half my chips
I guessed my opponent had a middle pair

I decided I could out race him
So I shoved my chips in the pot; "All-in"
The remaining players folded to the raiser
Who called my all-in bet and showed pocket queens

The Flop came, a small heart and two Aces
Giving me a huge lead with a Set of Aces
The Turn came, a King of Hearts
Giving me a flush draw on top of my set

The River.... a Queen of Hearts
Giving me a flush as well as a set
But giving my opponent a full house
Queens over Aces

Some amazing cards hit that table
And I got "Rivered"
Knocked out of the tournament in 10th place
With a little cash and a bruise on Lady Luck

I cashed yet I left a huge stack of chips back there
That was mine for the first six cards
If that first heart on the flop would have been a Jack
I would have had a Royal Straight Flush


Damn I love this game!

Robbie

Sometimes... one thing leads to another.

Lajes Field on Terciera Island,
The Azores Portugal, Circa 1966

They were Air Force medics at the Lajes Hospital
They were also room mates in the enlisted dorm
Located on the hospital grounds

Robbie was a dental technician
His room mate was a public health technician
Robbie was Dr. William "Hands" Malde's assistant
All the medics called him "Hands" in tribute to his dentistry skills

In those days docs supplied pilots
With "go, no-go" pills clearly marked
Red for "Go" - Blue for "No-go"
Two small bottles taped to
Either end of a tongue depressor

When on long missions, if needed, pilots would take stimulants
Most often dexedrine to stay awake
And some form of sleeping pills to rest between missions
It was common practice then
And likely still is today

Robbie liked "go" pills
He took them fairly frequently, perhaps from "Hands"
As they were little controlled and abundantly available
Never the less, he was known as a terrific technician
...Quiet yet quick to smile and good at his craft

Robbie also had a taste for scotch and cigarettes
Of course, the majority of medics smoked back then
Ignorant of any potential consequences
And somehow Robbie knew how to make his small paycheck
Last much longer than his room mate's.

His room mate didn't have the same taste for go pills
But did acquire a taste for scotch
As often just before payday
Scotch was the only booze
Available in the  room to drink

Robbie and his room mate got along well for a couple of years
Then Robbie's tour ended and he was honorably
Discharged from the Air Force
He returned to his home area of Tacoma,  Washington

Robbie's friend and room mate
Was also discharged
A few months later
And returned to his home area of Seattle, Washington

After a couple of months
Robbie's old pal
Looked him up
And they decided to get together

Robbie picked him up in his Corvair
And they headed to downtown Seattle
The Queen Anne District
Where one of Robbie's friends lived

When they entered the house
There were perhaps a dozen young people
All seemed to be nodding,  eyes glazed over or closed
As if on drugs (heroin?)

Robbie didn't seem startled at all by the scene
He talked to a friend for a few minutes
Then he and his old Azores room mate left
It was the last time they would meet

Shortly thereafter, Robbie's friend
Rejoined the Air Force
To get back in action
Seattle somehow had become boring

A few years later
His friend was home again in Seattle
And decided to try to track down Robbie in Tacoma
He found Robbie's parents phone number and called

Robbie's Dad informed him that Robbie had passed away
A few years earlier
He did not offer any details
Robbie would have been in his mid-twenties then

To this day, his old friend and room mate
Believes Robbie succumbed to drugs
He misses his brother Robbie
And thinks of him on occasion, when he tips a drink of scotch

So easy in this life... to take a step in the wrong direction

Black Out II

This one doesn't have a hole poked in it
Person who prepared it doesn't have any class...

To the House, its SOPA
To the Senate, its PIPA
Together, that spells SOPAPIPA

Could be thought of as a variation on the word, Sopapilla
A delicious Mexican concoction that often involves
Frying a puffed up pastry
Then while its hot
Poking a small hole in it and filling it with honey
Then making a mess of things while trying to consume it

SOPAPIPA and Sopapilla
They both seem to share the "puffed up"
And "making a mess" characteristics
Do they not?!

Could be flogging a dead horse here though
As both chambers seem to be backing off
To find a better way for protecting against online piracy
Rather than some Orwellian concoction

You know these silly little elected officials
Only work a few days a year
And they have shiploads of staff
Waiting on them hand and foot

Couldn't they find a way
To better vet their ideas
Before taking them to floor
Wasting our time and theirs?

When was the last time
Congress put something on the table
And we all sat back and said;
Jeez, they did a great job with that?

Black Out II?
Here's one connection
I could eat sopapillas until I black out
Just love'em, no kidding

Blacked Out

Blacked out


blacked out


blacked out


SOPA

2 Hunnert - This Life

Looking back
Two hundred posts on this blog
Reflections, near and far term
Of one life, just one life is all

The essence of life... mine
The mistakes of life... mine
The achievements of life... mine
The mistakes... ah, the mistakes...

I did not imagine this
It happened
I did not deserve this
It happened anyway

I just stepped off the curb
Without looking
And there it was
Life large and in my face

So I wrote about those close to me
Testimonials to our family of four
Testimonials to our goldy, Molly
Testimonials to friends
Testimonials about the human condition

Right now... I feel the love of family
As they laugh and talk
While preparing Christmas dinner
I peeled the spuds - that was enough
Love is warm

We're not done.
We. Are. Not. Done.
There's more to say
Until there's life, no more.

To all who see this; Merry Christmas

Herding Cats

Julieann Marie Campbell
Receiving  Air Force Certificate of Appreciation 

I asked her recently
If she had ever though of herself
As beautiful
She was surprised, and answered "No".

Then I showed her a photo
Taken of her when we left the Air Force
Years ago and said, "See"?
She remained surprised

*****

Once she said she regretted
That she had not completed college
I said, "Are you kidding?

You have four college degrees

One in Economics
A Masters in Health Care Administration
Another degree in Digital Media
And this coming Spring a degree in Philosophy"

The point being there likely would be no degrees
In our family were it not for her
Her energy, her optimism and her belief in all of us
Brought us to this point

She has been corralling three lefties all this time...
Like herding cats right?!

*****

In recent years I have noticed, and admired

Her sense of things is to give way in deference

To oncoming traffic 

On foot, in cars, in conversation... in everything

Her time is yours, in all things

I wish I was more like that

I wish we all were more like that

To step back, to let another in, to listen

Note:  This is my 200th post in the past four years.  Without Julieann Marie Campbell there would be zero - as in no posts.  That is a fact - I am so fortunate to be able to do something like this, that I love... and to be with someone I love.  I'm not sure she is done racking up college degrees either!