You crammed your peanut butter into my chocolate
Sometimes odd pairing work out….
Hey I am all about a good ” Fudgicle slathered w/ chunky peanut butter”
This week I had several things I thought about..Just ask Ma…She finally ran out of the room , hands over her ears crying “LALALALALALALA!”…. I have that effect on people.. More than once I have noticed people turning and RUNNING to get away from me as I walk the halls.. Wouldn’t have noticed if they wouldn’t have fallen then curled up in a ball….There may have been thumb sucking.. It was on my right side as I passed them …
IN any case…
A funny thing happened as we were hangin’ around the porch this morning…Ma was on the porch as I watered the ” Test Garden”. Ma calls out
” A Bunnie a Bunnie!!”
I was a’thinkin’ ” Ok… I know Bunnie was sitting on the porch earlier and that was cute and all… OH SHIITE! A BUNNIE! ”
Yes , Yes.. I know yer confused…
I am the one that converted Ma from ;
” A Fawn A Fawn!”
to
” A Bunnie a Bunnie!!”
………………
If it weren’t for the fact that when the fawns are so young that they look more like bunnies than deer I wouldn’t have started calling them ” Bunnies”
If ” Bunnie” wouldn’t have been sitting up on the raised covered porch this morning, I would have caught on quicker….
…….once again………..In any case….
I finally got the gist ;
” OH CRAP! A BUNNIE!!!! “..” I’ll never get my camera in time!”
I tossed the hose down, leaped up the steps…Ran into the rail..” CRAP!” Barreled through the door..Almost..” CRAP!” as I ran into the door frame, spinning like a Prima Ballerina ..Until I slid face first into the Harvest Table…Grabbed the camera…Rinse repeat on the door frame..Sliding across the porch like a frickin Ninja, leg sliding out as I spin, up and snapsnapsnapsnap!…….”Friggin auto-focus!”
I had several awesome pictures of the tree just off to the side of the deer.
” CRAPCRAPCRAP!”…
Running maual, I snapped off a dozen more pics………………………………………………….
Then I noticed the doe was snickering at me..and I believe the wee leetle bunnie was laughing too as they stood waiting for their picture to be taken.
…………………………………………………….”WHATEVER!”………………………………………………………………
I reset the camera and took a few more pics while the two waited. I set the camera down and the girls smiled and walked off….
Hey!… In my mind it was a harrowing experience ……………yeh well up until the time I saw they were sitting waiting until I calmed the hell down for the photo op ….
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Snow wonder
So… If you haven’t read too many of the Sunday Posts..as in back on the original site, you may not have seen the ” Snow in July” reports….
Weather changes constantly..everywhere.. nature of the beast.. On Zen , we run in fairly natural patterns….
” Oh Look ! It’s Windy!”
or
” Oh look! It’s Windy!”
In between and or during we have changes..Normally We get a cold blast somewhere between the end of May and Mid June, I have pics of snow about now…
The first year I moved up here, I watched Fireworks out my window while I stood next to the blazing fire in the wood stove.
This weekend we had a good chance of snow.. Fortunately , it only got down to around 40..which is the norm anyway… No plant loss to temps..
Test Kitty..Revised…AGAIN..yes I know…
The few that have waded through a few of these know ” Who” Test Kitty is…
“Test Kitty” is the guitar I built from the ground up when I decided to try to start playing guitar again.
Some thirty years after a car accident that took my music career away made a turn. While doctors worked on other crap, one notice the problems that had kept me from playing and eventually repaired some of it… There is always Hope…
I , at that point didn’t really want to try to start from scratch after I had gotten as far as I had the first time round….Ma and I had to run up to my parents’ house some few years later , only to notice that several of my guitars , and some amps..and other stuff, missing.. I brought back what I could find …I looked at all of it for a while before I broke down to try to play….. It was BAD!……
I felt like I was desecrating these pieces of art….My few guitars were, and are still , collectors … I couldn’t do it.
I decided that if I wanted to try to start over, I would make a guitar. If I started from scratch , it had no history and we could build one together. Or Not…
So………. I did………..
No for a side trip…….NANANANANANANA!
The original Test Kitty
Ok so the Original “Test Kitty” was actually a kitten. I am a dog guy… my Ex was a ” OOH I want This!”..Unfortunately for both me and ” BABA” yes, I named him….She decided that day she wanted a cat. I came home to find the thing in the house…..
” Um …No! ”
” Well You can’t put him outside!”
” The Hell!”
I had a 100+ pound Male Malamute sitting on the porch….. I tossed ” Test Kitty ” at him….Only one way to find out if cats could live in this household………….Keeping in mind that I knew ” Wolffie” wouldn’t do anything unless the cat tried to eat his food…
“Test Kitty” landed in “Wolffie’s” lap . “Wolffie” Leaped up and;
” What the Hell?!?!”
” Test Kitty” Stretched up to claw him in the nose. “Wolff” Looked at me, I shrugged and closed the door.
” Ok..The cat can stay .”
Muffled from outside I heard Wolffie from the doorway;
” Again…What the Hell?”
and so ” Test Kitty” was born……….. Anything I make to see if it will blow up is called…
Yup
“Test Kitty”
…………………………..Back to the story ……………………….
Test Kitty : The guitar
She was my first build. I tried, and still do , all kinds of crazy stuff or new techniques for building guitars.
She always comes out of it……………..sometimes with the;
” Again…………What the Hell?!? ”
So..for me….She was there for my ” rebirth” into playing right along with Ma.. They both suffered through months of me trying to do anything then getting frustrated and laying “Test Kitty” off to the side for weeks or months at a time.
I built some other guitars, some pretty cool, and I picked up some very nice guitars , mostly to replace the ones that came up missing… But all in all , ” Test Kitty” is more family than just a guitar.
As I changed in my playing , I changed her…We learned things together and then the day came…………
I was working on a new fret job on her. I finished up what I was able to at the time…
Within days is when I lost my sight in my right eye , with her still on the bench.. For a year I couldn’t do what I wanted to, let alone finish up something with the detail she needed. Worse was yet to come….
I hung ” Test Kitty ” on the wall in my office and that looked to be her new home. After a year of migraines day and night…
My eye actually spazzed again. I loss more colors but the intense pain light gave me dimmed a bit.. I’ll take what I can get. ” Tryx” had already decided to give things a go and I just kept looking at her. Now fighting with the cramps and pain in my hands wrists joints and so on I was getting fed up. I couldn’t work on music let alone her.
I finally pulled ” Test Kitty” down to see how bad she was….It was worse than I remembered.
But Wait , it gets better……
The high ” E” string didn’t pick up sound nor did the Low “E” string . The pickups sound have still been fine, heck they only had a matter of hours on them for all of that.
The edging on all of the frets actually cut you if you tried to use the guitar.. I hadn’t gotten that far yet…. I sighed and put her back , tellin Ma I just didn’t know what to do.
Test Kitty rides again
I honestly though I could actually turn out crippled if I wasn’t careful.
Friday was Graduation Night for our High School. I had twisted my wrists just with five chairs earlier in the week. We had two thousand to fold stack and band along with some sixty fence posts to pull..and more…That night.
I wrapped my hands before I headed out..We got the job done. I got home late ,munching on Excedrin and juicing my hands and back down. Funnily enough, Saturday Morning I was sore but I wasn’t worse than Friday.
I stood looking at ” Test Kitty” that morning and just grabbed her down. I got my tools together and opened shop.
Some time later I had her stringed back up. The big test: I turned on my amp and squealed like a little girl when she screamed out at me.
“It’s Alive! “
Yes, I did have a stupid grin then and still have a sh!!tte eating grin on now. I have been bouncing around like a little kid on eight pounds of Hershey Bars.
” Test Kitty ” is goin to the show!
Final Thoughts
Did I mention the part where I can barely see today? Yeah , not a clue. Something out of place, right eye overly swollen…I just know I am having a heck of a time writing or reading today so let’s wind her down.
Bunnies and Bunnies
Our cottontails are all over the place this week as well as seeing our first fawn of the season. It’s that time of year again.
We always like watching the wee ones popping out. Soon the Dino kids ( baby turkeys) will be fuddling about . I need to get some feed out for them.
There should be a lot more Bunnies about soon now. This is around when we generally start seeing them.
Snow thanks
Well , looks like we missed the snow storm. I know it wasn’t too much higher than Zen , but I am all good with just rain thank you very much.
Here is the funny thing….
We are looking at a 50F jump in temps by the end of the week…Holy Crap!
Literally wood stove to AC in a few days time… Gosh..Wonder if the wind will blow…
Test Garden
I put up plastic around the test garden today. The winds are brutal again this year and it has been cool so I thought I’d better take steps. When the temps break , the heat will roll out of there anyway so no harm.
Two of the lot of asparagus plants didn’t do anything yet.. we will see if it warms up. Too late for eating now but at least a show would be nice.
Peppers tomatoes , snow peas all are getting some growth, the basil looked great until the wind started stripping them …ergo plastic sheets .
Quest for Fire
Still trying to get my act together…
With only days to go , I am just now able to grip anything . I played yesterday a bit and today a bit in between chores. I have some 11 more songs to try to figure out at least something that sounds close enough for ” Live” I’ll keep working on it of course and now ” Test Kitty” is back in the mix. I know I had fun with her yesterday..Less than 12 hours after fixing and stringing her …. I broke a string… This is the first guitar string I have managed to break since I restarted… We get a little crazy together ( goin all Thelma and Louise ) it seems .. Hopefully it’ll make a bit of a show .
Other than that , over all things are going ok.. I just need my hands to stay like they are today and we will be good. I can learn if I can play.
Zentastic: the remix
The winds had finally calm to a breeze. I worked around the East side of the house in the Lavender gardens and the Test Garden. Pulling at weeds as I went I watered here and there enjoying just looking at the growth from just the last few days in the plants.
The skies grey with rain clouds , the air moist with a fine constant mist. Occasionally rains would patter about the grounds.
Hummie overhead watched me from his feeder. I turned aways to water when I felt him zip between my arm and my body , under the hose..
” Ya goof!!”
“Hehehehehe!”
The young Bluebirds flit about strengthening their muscles , getting ready to head off. We will still have them for a bit but every day the kids get stronger.
I see one of our cottontails ripping about between the junipers and off to the North.
Ma walks out from her work, standing on the porch as I water.
” A Bunnie a Bunnie!!”
I was a’thinkin’ ” Ok… I know Bunnie was sitting on the porch earlier and that was cute and all… OH SHIITE! A BUNNIE! ”
…………………………..
And so we see the beginning of yet
Just another day on Zen Mountain
Zen Mountain's Sunday Post and Short Stories 