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and then earlier
Was tired last night and went to bed early, 9:00 pm. Probably a mistake because instead of waking at 3 I woke at 2. I forced myself to do some progressive relaxation. Cleared my mind but didn’t help me go back to sleep. I’m done with that stuff. 5 hours is the new normal. On the plus side it’ll add hours to my day but there are down sides. Once things slow at work and that should be Tuesday unless I truly am a workaholic (I think not, I think I just care about people and believe in working hard) will make a doctor’s appointment for that trazodone I’ve been fantasizing about.
I think the real deal is that my brain is in overload with swallowing all the changes in my life, new information pouring in, new challenges, new activities, tons of new people. No time to process it all. I am one to take things a little slower. Takes time to ruminate, look at it from a more relaxed and creative space. That’s why my thoughts seem intrusive at night and sleep is elusive. Maybe blogging will help. At least I am not bogged down with doubt or second guessing. There are a lot of political calculations that go into even a local race and I am able to see some errors but I am doing a lot of things right as well.
There is a local guy who aggregates local news and writes some columns. He declared me the winner in my race, “thoughtful and eloquent”. I had a narrow lead on the online poll in spite of not voting for myself or gaming the system. I’m not above pointing out a poll to some friends, created some votes for Confederacy of Dunces in the library One Read program. (Next year I will create more. They don’t respect the intellectual capacity of the common person and that will not stand.) But you have to be an online subscriber and I am a read an actual piece of paper kind of guy. I tried to buy the online subscription but couldn’t figure out how to add it on to my subscription. I will have to call their subscription desk I guess. I have an outlet that stopped working too. I checked the fuses and they were cool, the outside light on the same switch works so it can’t be that. Its hard to be poor and helpless. My broken step needs attention, scares the house guests. Think I’ll pop over to gmail and start dealing with that one right now. Done.
Let out a big yawn, maybe getting up in the middle of the night and blogging was not a bad idea. I might have zoned out in front of the TV but only one channel comes in and it was an infomercial. I also drank some ice tea that has some of that Organic Nighty Night, powerful stuff.
Hit a lot of doors, did a lot of walking. Walked Fido early and no one was at the park so we took a lap around a pond and then a woman with her standard poodle came and they played a bit and I chatted her up and gave her a card. Sarah came over and laid out my turf and we finished my first precinct. She drove, kept me organized and walked with me. It made it fun on a cold and drizzly, to outright rain that could have been miserable. We had Korean for lunch (they stopped doing the Be Bim Bop in a stone bowl, won’t be eating there again any time soon).
I went out again and got more doors. Doing my own precinct now. Did my street and found less support then I’d hoped. It would be nice to generate more signs. Missed a couple of houses including one I’d hoped to hit up for some money. Don’t have very many friends, or neighbors for that matter, with dollars. But I had forgotten the West was off their address so they were in a different place. Had to change my patter being I had hit most of them up for signatures to get on the ballot and after a long day in the rain I wasn’t as shiny as I would have liked. Got back on my rhythm (big word for no vowels) but by then to late for my street.
Called a couple of sitting councilpersons. Had long talks so didn’t have to arrange meetings. Both very supportive and encouraging with some good tidbits. Mostly keep doing what you’re doing, talking to voters, steering clear of trouble. Finished my follow up calls and ready to go to bed early and sleep the sleep of the just. Feel ready to give it another try now. thanks for reading faithful reader, looking forward to bringing the blog back public soon and mixing it up. Using it more for therapy these days. Let these rampant thoughts out, decompress. sleep.
up early again
Woke up about 3:00, forced myself to stay in bed until 5:00. Had a long and strange dream. I had gone back to Amsterdam but it seemed more like Austin. I was following up on some mystery from my last visit but it was more like a detective show then the actual mysteries I encountered in my eventful Amsterdam trip. There was political intrigue. I remember being in the situation where I knew I couldn’t remember most of what had happened in the last trip so people knew me but I didn’t know them. I remember someone taking my car. Eventually I encounter these business guys who did it and they think it is a pretty funny bit of hazing and I remember grabbing this heavyset bald guy in a suit and telling him that he just committed a felony and that if this shit doesn’t end right now I am having him prosecuted. I remember walking around with people I know through long tenement type apartment buildings and walking through people’s apartments and introducing ourselves. Flea markets with a big radio station promotion.
“Are you awake now?” I ask myself lying in bed allowing the details of the dream to come back in my mind. Dreams are cool and well worth cultivating. They’re just thoughts that we experience differently. The visual acuity, the sense of emotion, the heavy emotive content and lack of logic and social norms. The overall feeling (really the only thing that matters in dream interpretation) was one of discovery and adventure. A challenged sense of purpose that bounces back strong. Only a touch of confusion and that tempered by acceptance. I must be in a good place. Fido too, he slept in his own room last night.
Might take him for a walk even though I just did yesterday. I’ve got the time. All the house really needs is dishes done. Too rainy for laundry and it will force me to delve into my second tier dress clothes. All the walking and Marcus Aurelius is getting me more fit and trim. Wouldn’t mind growing down into some of my older dress shirts for example. My brown pants are fitting nice where I used to not be able to wear them with a shirt tucked in and they had fallen into the only to be worn in a pinch category.
Glad to have a tough week behind me at work. Closing or transferring all my cases has been grueling. A lot of details and good documentation essential for the hand off. Saying goodbye. “Mike, sorry I missed our appt. can I reschedule” “Well actually no you can’t, sorry I didn’t get to see you…good luck with the next guy”. I’m the only one who really meets people where they’re at all the time without exception. Some clients need that, everyone likes it. Everyone gets a step down in service.
The advantage of being a human being who talks to other human beings instead of the dis-empowering counselor to client relationship is they all care about me as a person too. Even though it sucks for them, none of them like people stepping out of their lives, they are happy for me and want me to be happy. They are proud to see me looking good and stepping into the spotlight. They know what I can do and can imagine that in the City Council. But its sad nonetheless.
I had a driver for my doors last night. Ann is a pilot and an interesting character who had some good tips and some things I hadn’t thought about. We hit the scattered houses in the precinct in the brand new neighborhood. All this generic America development. It was rainy and we saw the construction sites running with water mud pouring into the feeder creeks. In one site we saw the barrier material still in its rolls while the red mud pours into the creek. Everyone has a security system. The few people at home are content with the city. My picture and quotations are in that days paper and no one knows who I am.
Sarah is driving me today, might try her hand at door knocking. I am afraid its a little early for a surrogate. It definitely bombed when I tried having some help with signature gathering. If Sarah wants to do it we’ll give it a shot. Mostly she wants to hang out and be supportive which I appreciate. I got caught up on my follow up calls but it seemed late to be calling my assigned political contacts I need to reach out to. That’ll be today, Lord Willing and the creek don’t rise. Its supposed to be a rainy one. Need to figure out better plastic for my clipboard. Tried a comicbook bag cut in half which has the right size but was to flimsy.
The garage is flooded. I’ll need to get the subpump outflow extension back on track I suspect. Should have left well enough alone when I was messing in there. Dad usually had a reason for doing stuff. I miss him this morning. His wisdom, his unabashed self interest, which I always seem to run a little short on and causes me trouble.
Ordered beans yesterday. Will run short and probably have to pick up half a pound. Don’t even know if Z-Best is still at the market been roasting my own for so long. I’ll chat ’em up if they’re there. I hope the bread lady has some sliced. I ate the last of Jeff’s last night. I’d make myself some eggs but no bread. Eggs have been around awhile and will probably hard boil them. That or get the bacon out of the freezer. A pound of bacon is a big commitment for a household of one. (Sorry Fido no salt and nitrates for you buddy, I want you to live to be 20 so you’ll stay on dog cereal.)
Guess I’ll get my second cup of coffee, made it stronger today as this Guat is not that flavorful, hope the next is better. Got a Guat, Sumatran, Ethiopian and a Rwandan for the next round. Was going to treat myself to a pound of Kona or Jamaican Blue Mountain, damn the expense but they’re both out of season.
wow, what a day
I didn’t post yesterday. I hit a wall, stymied by trying to complete a campaign ethics report online and then navigating through establishing online banking for the campaign account. Ate up my day light and I didn’t get to talk to any voters. It was a stressful day at work, with a tight frenetic pace and no longer have the option to just work a little longer to wrap it all up. But if going the extra mile were easy it wouldn’t be a commandment and everyone would do it.
Today was a good day. I went to bed early last night not even finishing my absinthe, served classically. Thanks John for the absinthe spoon, a rarely used but much appreciated kitchen gadget. If you don’t know you serve absinthe by pouring the shot over a sugar cube which rests on a slotted spoon that has a little bump to go over the edge of the glass. It clouds the water in a particular way and hard on the liver I hear so I drink sparingly. Last night I had the barest sip before deciding to hit the hay and let the glass sit on the counter. Left the house smelling like licorice and I finished it tonight after canvassing.
Woke at 4:00 and felt pretty good but lay in bed and pretended to sleep until 6:30. I got dressed, business casual, that’s probably reason enough for my work to be proud I’m running, finally dressing like your supposed to. Creates a hurdle to engage with folks who are more ghetto for lack of a better word. Poor people make assumptions about people in ties, usually correct ones. Now people are surprised when I talk about my sister who is addicted to crack (3 years clean though, so no shame there, nothing wrong with being an addict just doing drugs. some of the best people I know are addicts.) They used to take it as a given, I was more like them.
April 4th I go back to being me.
Today I put on slacks (long johns underneath for canvassing), dress shoes, dress shirt and cardigan. Debated the tie and realized it was Saturday. I made the call as all the city staffers and managers were dressed in their business casual/fancy casual except the deputy manager of a department who was filling in for his boss. He had a suit cuz he didn’t know. The Ward 6 candidate was in a tie, he didn’t know either. I sat next to him and we related as candidates.
His opposition is closer to me politically. It was nice meeting her and getting her perspective. I also introduced myself to the conservative council person who came even though he’s not up for re-election this year. He told a funny story about goofy constituent calls where someone complained about the parking enforcement double parking while they wrote him a parking ticket. The councilman brought up the beer trucks that block the street willy nilly servicing the bars downtown. “Well I like beer trucks”.
I heard presentations on city government by the city manager, and all the department heads and the municipal court judge. It was really informative and I am largely impressed with how the city is run. Columbia is the best governed place I’ve ever lived (with apologies to 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place Monroe, Michigan; Berkeley, California, and Toledo, Ohio. Honorable mention to Rossford, Ohio because I didn’t know enough to follow local politics in my 19-20 years).
I learned that at our current funding for street repair we will repave the streets every 57 years. Streets last 30 years. We also have big pension underfunding issues, a storm water situation that is not getting the resources it needs and revenue is flat to down. We’re going to have to be really smart with what we do with our little dollars.
I was most impressed with the city manager who is personable, smart and a good leader. Seems like he is taking the city in a good direction. I am also impressed that we have maintained good reserves which has cushioned us through the tough times except for transit which is going to need some additional revenue or major cuts to services.
Neither of my opponents showed up. In a way it was cool, allowed me to relax and be treated as the heir apparent. I also learned one of my opponents had voted against GetAboutColumbia a $4.3 million (this year) Federal grant for non-motorized transportation as a Parks and Rec Commission guy because some people don’t like it. Its controversial, blow back by motorists who feels bicyclists are getting uppity or something but damn, that’s got to be a majority issue, even if you hate trails that’s a lot of jobs to be against.
I got interviewed so imagine I’ll be in the paper. Hope my professional head shot got in to the paper in time, although I like the unflattering float trip pic. they pulled off Facebook for the first story. Keeps me humble being a homely mug with a giant melon. Canvassing and staying on my dog walking schedule is going to have me looking good by April. I’ll have to come up with a scheme to keep it up.
After the interview I grabbed some Indian food, delicious downtown and hit the streets to canvass. The new flyer is out and looks a lot better with the new photo. Tomorrow I need to schedule another photo shoot, get the dog in the picture. I let him out and then canvassed until dark. I had a brief hiatus to wait for flyers but some down time was appreciated.
Had some good houses today. Met an anti-obesity community organizer and talked quite a bit. I went to one house and no one came to the door even though only the storm door was closed. A kid came up with a scooter and I gave her a flyer and asked her to give it to her parents. She said, “I don’t have parents, just a mom. I had two moms but one moved out.” I was thinking I was sorry I missed her as with a story like that it has to be someone I know and sure enough I heard Mike, Mike shouted down the block and got caught up with an old friend.
I’ve hit 126 doors. Not to shabby though I am off pace. It may not be realistic. I am going to try to recruit a driver to speed the process. I made my follow up calls. I talked at length with an older couple about the state of the neighborhood and they are going to talk to some neighbors and may gather a group to meet me. They live in the same block as the sweet old lady I talked to at length about not knowing her neighbors when she didn’t come to the door. When I left a message for one she had specifically mentioned she did not know I mentioned the possibility of a meeting.
I have this dream where the older folks meet the newer folks and everyone feels a little safer and a little more neighborly. To rekindle our cross-generational interactions. It might start on Garden Drive. I’ve been praying for that little old lady. After that did some business and looking to wind down and get some shut eye. Tomorrow morning is my own, you can’t canvass before noon on Sunday as you are supposed to be in church. If its at all nice I will walk Fido to the dog park and try to chat up some dog people. Fido has been getting his walks but its been after dark and he needs to see more dogs to have as much life satisfaction as i would like him to have. John was sweet enough to remind me that even with being busy Fido has a better life then most.
I know that. I got no room for guilt. I’ve been working hard all day, every day and get to sleep the sleep of the just. Its a good thing to work hard and try to help. There’s a lot of mess out there but there’s a lot of room for growth if you’ve got a little hustle and a lot of compassion.
long week
Wow what a week. I have been on the go in a way that I wouldn’t have imagined was possible. I have made pervasive changes to my life and moved into a, if not frenetic, a one thing after another from rise until bed kind of being. I have certainly been this way before but not for a long time. Feels good in some ways, put a pep in my step, but had a hard hard week at work and its left me a little rung out.
I’m tired, which is good. When you don’t sleep and your not tired, that way madness lays. Fido misses me. He was acting out, chewing leaves off the kiefer lime tree. Yesterday I walked him to the dog park and spent a fair amount of time there for a cold day. There were the regulars and I am getting much better at introducing myself to strangers and chatting people up. People like to be listened to and everyone has ideas about how things ought to be better.
Chris, a guy with a Great Pyrenees named Harry (he had another Chester but he passed on recently) had tried to walk an older lady down the side of the ravine but she couldn’t hop across the icy rocks to get across Bear Creek. I asked if he was heading back that way if I could walk with him always wondering if there was a back way in. Gave us a good chance to talk and he told me about the history of the park. It used to be all an off leash areas. The city at one time wanted to fill in all the wetlands and put in soccer fields but the neighbors organized and stopped it. But eventually they rounded the dogs up into a smallish fenced in area. Probably good for the water fowl and such but we could use more space and some solar lights perhaps.
The trail was pretty cool, snakes through the woods leaving the dog park following the creek. The river crossing was a little hairy with one rock completely covered in ice so a little leap was involved. Probably wear my water proof shoes next time and I won’t be so nervous. When John and I were kids we would go down to “the creek” [actually a drainage ditch to my adult eyes, memory is a funny thing, or maybe kids just see better] and play on the ice. We often stayed until one of us broke through and we got “a soaker” and we would have to wrap it up. It was always a cold walk back to the house with one or two wet shoes in the winter. Now there’s goretex.
This morning I went to a legislative update with 3 state reps. I introduced myself to Chris Kelly who is my favorite Missouri politician. He was a judge and I was in his court a number of time with clients and he was always funny and fair. He used to be in the state legislature and when term limits devastated wiped out the population of experienced legislature he came out of retirement to show the kids how to pass law. He’s a democrat in a state with a Republican super-majority and he still got a committee chair. He’s the master of the political compromise. They just passed a cap on spending bill so that if revenues go up again the extra goes into rainy day and school funds so we get out of this boom or bust cycle. He got some nice concessions from the Republicans and was the only Democrat to support it. He’s that kind of guy.
In his speech he railed against the Governator (Nixon of all people, Missouri’s funny) for his 12% cut to higher ed this year even though Nixon’s a Democrat. He praised the Republicans in charge and then raised the question why he’s not a Republican. Then he said “the crazy train” is leaving the station and they will pass laws about prayer, guns and bullets even though no one is threatening those so they can hide the fact they’re selling out the state to big corporations. None of the Republicans countered it. It was amusing.
I also introduced myself to Joe Bechtold of “Truck Stop Missouri”. I told him I was a fan before he had a reality show and told him about Dad being a truck driver and we would visit there and sometimes stay in his hotel, go the restaurant and bar and make a weekend of it. He seemed touched even though he carries himself like a bit of a rock star.
After work I went out for a happy hour at Ragtag with Trevor and an improbable assemblage of former Peace Corps Zambia folks (five, would have been six if Lisa wasn’t baby sitting). I had a Schlafely barley wine which was really good. Since I probably only slept a couple hours last night I was spun on a glass. We had good conversation and I chatted some people up. Got word on a possible housemate. An artist and hipster gal I think highly of. Might to a full or partial labor swap and see if I can advance some projects. Might not, you never know and Fido and I are pretty content.
Well Fido’s not. He just pulled the squeaky out of his cheap ass donkey I got him for Christmas. Its been leaking stuffing all week. Gonna have to take him toy shopping soon. I have had two offers to hang out with him. I should brush him. I have a photo shoot tomorrow and I am going to take him to see if he will play with the photographer’s Newfoundland puppy. Maybe he’ll get his picture taken.
Gepetto, I want to be a real boy
Good morning faithful reader. Here in Missouri we had a beautiful weekend of weather and I unexpectedly had a little time on my hands. Yesterday I got some serious time in the garden and completed the cold frame. It was sunny in the 60s and it was too windy to finish raking the backyard. I also futzed around with the big compost bin and remembered to leave it open before the big rain last night. I finished shoveling the cold frame bed and pulled out the grass clumps because the biggest chunk of it was yard prior to the Fall.
I planted lettuce and leaf lettuce. I was out of seed, the seed catalog sitting on my counter unread, so I added some broccoli, cabbage, and peas figuring I would eat the little plantlings in salads. I didn’t have much luck with keeping the deer out of them to growing to adulthood. That sort of thing is supposed to be really nutritious and I would like to eat more salads.
Its been strange living by myself. Its hard to cook for one. I’ve been making a big meal and then eating it for days until it is gone. I made this bowl of dressing that has been two meals thus far with many to come. It was really quite delicious. I took my stale bread crusts, mostly whole wheat store bread, some whole grain white, some wheat/rye made slow to stretch the yeast (14 lbs of flour with the yeast pack) made in a clay oven in the woods in a 19th century camp out by my friend Jeff, and some holiday bread from my sister Betty that got stale on me.
I had sliced and all that dry, I keep a dish of it going through the winter and make dressing when I get a bowl full. I had frozen some Thanksgiving turkey and the drippings and I added that. I also added a bunch of celery, 1/2 red onion, yellow onion, 6 cloves garlic, maybe a tsp of thyme, 1/4 tsp mace, and the rest of my dried white sage from the garden I had dried last year (maybe 2 tbsp).
I baked it in my biggest glass mixing bowl with foil for an hour and without file for 1/2 hour at 400 degrees. Let it cool and yum. The mace really sets it off. Its a powerful spice. I added lots of fresh ground pepper as I didn’t put any in to cook. For left overs I sliced out a piece and baked it in the toaster oven with some smoked gouda and served it with a couple of farm eggs over easy. Will likely do the same for lunch. Better think about dinner, maybe salmon patties and a salad.
Saturday I took Fido for a hike. We were at the dog park but it was such a nice day everyone was there and there were to many big dogs for Fido to relax and run. So we walked down to the trails by Cosmo. Actually that was Sunday, yesterday felt like Sunday but it was Monday being MLK day yesterday. Saturday I did campaign stuff all day. I have two plans to go forward with and am awaiting someone else’s decision which created this space. I also closed down my Facebook account. Hadn’t realized how much I relied on it for pseudosocialization. Maybe I will go out and be a real person instead.
11 weeks
Coming to terms that I need to be doing campaign stuff every day, though Trevor recommended keeping a day of rest and that seems like good advice. I don’t want to feel pressured by expectations of what a candidate ought to do. I feel like what makes me a good candidate is who I am as a person so changing that more then is necessary seems foolish. The transition music on Christian television is ear shattering. Reminds to surf the other 3 channels and see what’s on. Caught some great Bob Newhart show earlier, it was a nice change from campaign filing requirements. Seems relatively straightforward. I have a lead on an experienced treasurer who has done some campaigns. Also have a lead on someone to handle media stuff and I have a draft of some literature I’m thinking about:
My name is Michael Trapp and I am asking you to join your neighbors in making Columbia’s Ward 2 and Columbia a safer, more vibrant community by electing me to City Council. As your city council representative I will advocate for Livable Streets, Good Governance, and a Future Focus to create a city that is a better place for our children and their children after. As someone who lives and works in Columbia’s Second Ward I am passionate to make our neighborhoods stronger. As a substance abuse counselor at Phoenix Programs, and a former case manager at Columbia’s domestic violence shelter I have insight into the lives of struggling people. If we create city services that are accessible and meaningful for the least amongst us we will have a city that works for all of us.
Livable Streets. With livable streets comes a greater opportunity for outside activity. This puts more eyes on the street and contributes to public safety and neighborliness. We all benefit from safe sidewalks. Those with modest means need good sidewalks and bicycle paths even more. Sidewalks improve traffic safety by moving pedestrians off busy roads. Bicycle routes and paths tell drivers and riders where to be on the street for smooth traffic flow. Livable streets promote a culture of snow and ice removal. They foster cultural opportunities and neighborhood events to decrease isolation. I support greater use of school crossing guards to monitor on-street parking regulations thus ensuring safety near our schools.
Good Governance: I bring common sense decision-making in the best interest of the City and the ward. I am a good istener so Second Ward voters can expect excellent constituent service. Maintaining fiscal responsibility and solid reserves. Passing laws in a deliberate and proactive manner. Avoiding costly boondoggles like Garagezilla.
Future Focus: We will be judged by the city we pass on to our children. Measures of our success will be how we considered future constraints as seen in our transportation planning, school and utility siting and other intensive infrastructure. Decisions should be made with a future focus and a cautious respect of the enormous power of bad decisions that look good in the short term. Protecting our community’s health and safety should always be our highest priority. Maintain what we like about Columbia but position our city to continue to grow into the future.
Mark your calendar for April 3.
Choose Mike Trapp for Second Ward City Council
Paid for by Corporate America. Dick Cheney, Treasurer*
*for purpose of satire only, the internet is still free
Yesterday looked over the budget. Looks complex how projects get put forward there’s a process. Only 3% of the city budget on sidewalks. Not a lot of projects in the Second Ward from a cursory glance. I was asked by the Tribune reporter about getting up to speed and I downplayed that but I know a lot of what I don’t know now and I have a much healthier respect for the learning curve. Ultimately its about applying values and people are stepping forward to help me. Which is good asking for help is not a strength. I have a healthy maybe overhealthy tendency towards self reliance.
I am thankful for unasked for support. Kahlil Gibran says, at least how I remember it “To give when asked is good, to give without being asked, out of knowledge is better”. I am a little nervous. Did get my mind off of it and walked Fido to the park. Mentioned my candidacy to one person not to another. I don’t want to campaign all the time or be on the make, even for votes. Fido got some good play with Robin and Miley which is awesome because their people are on the same schedule. Its staying light out later, that’s going to be nice. The stress of work has become a bit of a sanctuary. It is terribly engaging and demands you to be present almost all the time. Its amazing how things change with perspective.
I want to end with a story. A counselor was asked why the state spent so much money on prisons and so little on treatment in a group of struggling folk. The counselor said “The whole premise of the question is flawed. Your assuming that the state acts under reason and common sense. I have never seen any evidence of that. How things work is that older people vote more then younger people so the electorate skews old. Those folks, your grandparents, aunt, uncles, what have you are pandered too by politicians who promise to make them safe with tough talk about criminals.
They don’t mean you, your well meaning but scared relatives. They think they are these “Criminals” out there, not you who just fell in with the wrong crowd or made a couple bad decisions. Politicians don’t want to look soft on crime and they sell you out. You can’t even vote them out because we have created this permanent group of second class citizens called felons. But things are getting better. The state can no longer afford to just lock people out, there’s not enough money and alternatives are going to have to be looked at. Hopefully one day the Department of Corrections will not be the largest mental health provider in the state.” We can respond to people’s legitimate concerns about personal safety without sacrificing our children to penal serfdom.
“i am mostly water, 70 percent, don’t worry about the rent”
Listening to an alt country mix John made for me a long time ago. Great stuff, late 90s. Feeling grateful and content. Last week was a veritable whirlwind and until now I have subscribed to a drama free lifestyle for a long time. But not always and even as I’ve gone about a more ordinary existence I have known a penchant for action lays. Certainly won’t have to worry about boredom anytime soon as it looks.
Fido has been sleeping all day getting up only to follow me to whatever room I’m in and crashing. After better then a week of Olive 24/7 I think he just wants rest. We did walk down to the park and he played a bit with a 6 month old Blue Sheltie. I don’t think I’d ever seen one that cute. She got Fido to chase her but she was slow and they didn’t figure out how to play anything else so we walked the trail home.
I was tired today, slept poorly and slept in for me. I lay down for a nap but didn’t go down and ended up just reading a Spider Man comic. The 70s stuff has a strong since of nostalgia for me. “Peter Parker The Spectacular Spider Man” I remember well from when I was a boy. Tarantula is the villain and I remember drawing him, even the foreshortened right leg and having to imagine the toe spike that’s imbedded in the wall. He was like if Spider Man and Zorro had a kid being Hispanic and the half mask. Some of the stuffs pretty solid but there’s a cheese factor. My next one features the “Death Dance of the Hypno Hustler!”
I forgot this song is on the CD, awesome. Whenever I hear myself its unsettling and hard not to listen to myself and yet its not entirely pleasant (and not just because I’m such a bad singer).
Jeff and Becky and their kiddos came over for dinner. I was hoping Fido would get over his weirded out by kids thing if he had some sustained time with kids but no such luck. I had made minestrone soup yesterday. As a a base I used all my canned tomatoes (pretty much done with canned food all things being equal, I’ll pass on the skyrocketing BPA levels thank you very much).
While I got that going I took 2 local pasture raised cube steaks, floured them in whole wheat flour and browned in the cast iron skillet. Chopped them into little pieces and all the drippings and even the saucer of flour figuring it would thicken. I would later regret that move because I was going to someone who was gluten frees house for a potluck I thought but it was a chile supper and I was late so it didn’t matter anyway. Had a gluten free beer speaking of nostalgia. (Long term readers will remember I lost my papa and gluten free this and that was a frequent blog topic for awhile.)
Oh yeah, I fried the cube steaks in bacon grease, its not much meat for a giant pot of soup and the extra flavor didn’t hurt. I then added the giant kolrabi (well half of it, going to use it for chickpea potato salad with some russets for the work potluck), a couple of Michigan carrots, 3 Michigan red onions, a green pepper, half a bottle of homemade cherry wine (my sainted Mama taught me to add a little sweet to take the bite out of tomatoes), 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley, some spinach, and purple cabbage. Whoop fresh green beans snapped real short, the black eyed peas I’d made at New Years, and a sizable amount of dried basil from the garden and Turkish oregano. At the end I added most of a can of black olives I had from Thanksgiving and some whole wheat spiral pasta.
It was yummy, pretty healthy too, and had a minestrone taste to it. Ended up adding a tsp of Better then Bullion too. Jeff and Becky are traveling and to hang out a few hours in the afternoon I thought soup and salad would be nice. I did an all local salad with market lettuce, spinach, purple cabbage, shredded carrot, heart nuts (a cross of Black and English walnuts) from the Michigan market, and Michigan apples.
I made a homemade dressing as well. I added apple cider vinegar to the last of the tahini in its own jar and some Michigan honey (boy you know local honey is cool but the honey that’s like the honey that I grew up on is just more honeyer to me), a little turmeric, a lot of freshly ground mustard (the kids enjoyed the mortar and pestle), maybe something else, I was gabbing with the guests.
Jeff brought a loaf of wheat/rye bread he’d made in the woods in a clay oven. He’s a history buff and reenactor who has a big 19th century or so camp out in Missouri every year at this time and we hang out for a bit before or after. Jeff hosted me on my first visit to Columbia and showed me the town I fell in love with. Its funny in the campaign I say “I love Columbia” and people always say “How long have you been here?”, its funny. He made it old school stretching the yeast, using only a packet for 14 pounds of flour like they would have in the olden days and stuff was expensive. They bought yeast from brewers who grew it.
Early in that paragraph I hopped over to Facebook and told a friend one of my favorite stories about my dad when she had mentioned David Bowie, here it is [One time a long time ago Dad called from the road and asked my mom to speak to me. He said, “Have you ever heard of David Bowie?” “Um, yeah Dad I’ve heard of him why.” “Well I went to get fuel last night about 3:00 in the morning and all the fuel pumps were blocked by these tour buses, so I went inside and I said ‘Hey whose buses are blocking the fuel pumps?’ and this anemic little fuck came up and said ‘They’re my buses I’m David Bowie'” Dad went on “So I said are you any relation to Jim Bowie? He had a knife that could cut his hair, you could use a knife like that.” This was 80s Bowie so his hair wasn’t that long but Dad was sensitive about stuff like that. A couple years ago I showed him The Man Who Fell to Earth and told him that’s who he’d told off.]
Well its getting late and I still have dishes to wash.
Sunny Saturday
Good morning world. Its a sunny and beautiful day here in Columbia Missouri and plan to spend the better part of it outside. The dogs got me up this morning and I have spent a fair amount of time dog butlering. Olive has been working on a bone outside and prefers to hang out. Fido likes to be with me. Neither likes being alone so Olive won’t come in and then barks and Fido has to go out to hang with her even though he doesn’t really want to sit in the grass and watch her eat an old bone and so barks to come inside and the whole cycle starts again.
I did get my dishes done, my laundry on the line (I don’t normally start laundry midweek but slopped some Mexican food on my shirt) and started another load (slopped more Mexican food on a second shirt at lunch yesterday, when it rains it pours). I’ve been to the market (local brown eggs, spinach, lettuce (I am going to eat more salads I tell you), and purple cabbage. Oops Olive gave her lonely bark, have to go let Fido out for five minutes. Wish it were a mite warmer and would just leave the backdoor open.
Yesterday Kevin came over after work and helped me collect signatures. He had a rough time of it, with no one ever having heard of me and him not being me made it a much tougher sell. I also cut us some bad turf trying to move up Texas which apparently has had some break ins or something some scared old Dude around the corner told me. He had run Kevin off and flagged me down when I came up the other side of the street a bit later. He doesn’t like strangers coming to the door especially after dark but as we talked it dawned on him that it gets dark early this time of year and it is the price you pay to live in a democracy and signed my petition. Had a lot of people just ignore me at their door and just continuing on to set their table or whatever.
I did meet a ventriloquist and a guy who operates a ministry for the homeless but neither was registered to vote. Got a card on the ventriloquist though, that might come in handy some time. Even for a rough night of it met some really nice people. I’ve enjoyed the canvassing more then I had anticipated, not having enjoyed it at all trying to raise money for Greenpeace back in the day. One of the low points of my life actually, trying to make enough money for Christmas presents on December evenings in Michigan not really feeling good about myself or where my life was at. This is very different.
Another candidate announced yesterday. Seems like a nice enough fellow but different from me. He didn’t spell out his views on anything being a blank slate ready to listen. Damn, he took my position. Still determining how aggressively I will campaign based on how the race shakes out. There is some concern in progressive circles of two progressives running and splitting the vote to make way for a pro-business candidate like Daryl Dudley who brought in saying the Pledge and wanted to put a giant flagpole on the top of Garagezilla the biggest boondoggle/eye sore in the history of the city. I’m not about that and only want to campaign if its going to help the city. I’m not really into self promotion and am already a little nostalgic for my anonymity. I’ll know more by the end of next week and I’ll keep you posted, faithful readers.
2nd ward city council
So my life appears to have gotten a lot more interesting. Its been weird adjusting to an empty house with Dad gone, and John and Kevin moved on with their lives. I have kind of appreciated the silence and aloneness, being social for a living. I was looking forward to getting a little more productive around the house and being more physically active with the dog. But I read the paper.
Last weekend I saw my city council rep Jason Thornhill in the paper with an article that nobody is running for city council in the second ward. Hmmm. They had contingency plans of write in elections if no one applies to be on the ballot or even Jason out of the goodness of his heart said he would continue to serve if no one ran. That seems insane and so I thought, well shit, I am just sitting around with the dog why don’t I do it. I had cancelled my satellite, my DVD player broke and only one channel comes in so its not like I can sit around and watch TV. If I blog more, I’ll start losing subscribers.
So I posted on Facebook, “should I run for 2nd ward city council? Nobody else is.” People liked it and it got 20 comments. Only one cautionary “It’ll cut into your reading time.” But I’m not that into reading anymore, except for comic books (mid 70s Spider Man now). The novel I’m reading has footnotes, that’s kind of wrong in some ways.
It was a holiday weekend so I got to sit on the idea without any way to move it forward. Did hash it around with Trevor and he put me on to a ward map and pushed me to call the city clerk instead of just dropping by as had been my plan. That was a good move. She was very cool. Don’t tell me anything, the media calls every day to see what’s up. My address and phone number will become a public record. Might be OK, right now no one calls and I pay a chunk of change for the phone. I can always just turn off the ringers.
I feel like my address is already an open book. Every drunk and drug addict in town knows where I live because I live a block from the substance abuse treatment agency I work at. I just try to be nice to people and I feel safe.
At lunch I picked up the forms and talked to the city clerk. She was cool and organized. My lunch runs 11:30-12:30 so I can get business done if I’m lucky and I was today. You only need 50 signatures to get on the ballot but you can only submit 75. That makes me nervous because I don’t know if I’ll make the cut off to get them checked and have time to get more. I got 25 today, and turned one down because I didn’t want to go back out which I regret now so I feel pretty good about it. If I knocked them all out by Thursday night I could maybe find out in time to get a few more Tuesday, the cut off day. It would be a nice sign of organizational strength to do it. I have been careful to be clear I need registered voters and have steered clear of rentals when I know of them.
It was surprisingly fun collecting signatures. I went to Henry’s first and he showed me his remodeling project. Our houses were built by the same developer so his copper pipes welded to steel nipples corrosion problem could be an issue for me. I don’t know. John and Mary were next and then I had to hit strangers. It gets dark early so some people thought it was a little sketchy but most were really nice. Some had me in and rounded up the family to sign. At one house there was a dog party so the pug and chihuahua were wearing tutus. The 17 year old demanded an anti-chihuahua policy to win his vote. I had to stand mute and took the political stance that I was pro dog.
An older woman gave me the third degree and couldn’t figure out where I’d seen her before, it came out she was animal control and I got to thank her for her service. The Shaws offered me ginger ale and we got caught up and reintroduced. The guy in his boxers with the pistol in the waste band is now my Facebook friend. I went to almost every house on my street and introduced myself. It was really really cool.
“Are you a Republican or a Democrat?” was the most common question. “I am an independent” I would say which was never good enough so sometimes I would add “I lean to the left though” although once I said “well, I’m actually an anarchist but that seems too complicated to talk about on someone’s stoop”.
i didn’t tell anyone i’m casual about punctuation and capitalization if someone is not paying me to write. the stipend doesn’t kick in for two years so its half a volunteer gig. sacrifice for the community. i’ll pay it but i won’t pay muting my autthentic voice or pretending to be something i’m not.
People want more cops and people want less cops. Maybe its what side of the street your on. Some people want to know what you stand for, and the neighborhood watch was alerted. someone was “canvassing the neighborhood”. He had a cap and had a beard and I’d never heard of his address. He said he was collecting signatures for 2nd ward City Council.
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