Greetings all,
A few years have gone by, again.  Wow, where does the time go?  Things here at The Compound are pretty much the same.  The restaurant didn't work out. We did the research and found the best way to do it would be out of the budget we had going in. So...we didn't do it. Probably saved all of Da's investment and our time and investment ,too. 

The dags are well. The Bleu pup grew up and got herself all knocked up! Dumb dag. Nine pups from a Blockhead-ed pit bull. They turned out gorgeous and plenty smart, we found great homes for them all and, of course, we kept the all black one. She's Dot, turned out that she had a tiny spot of white on her chest and one on the tip of her chin. So 2 Dot she is. Fast as heck and a stone cold tree-rat killer! The brown dag, Faun, and her are the terror of the Compound, barking at all who pass and the stray breeze or critter that's dumb enough to go by.

We got to go visit Oregon this summer for the 70th anniversary of me Da's birth! Spent a few days with him and his lovely bride Anne. Went out to the Valley and caught up with my brother from another mother, Cole, and his boys. All seems well there, despite a contentious divorce. His heart is broken but he continues to impart great wisdom and an excellent example to those young men of his and they are thriving. We went back out to the Eastern desert and spent a few more days at Da's enjoying the family and celebrating his birthday.  Good to see my Aunt Marty, Uncle Gene and my cousin Graham. I hadn't seen them or him in more than 15 years! It was good to catch up. My sister, Sarah and her young men came down from Spokane for the shin-dig and allowed as she had an old car that was just taking up space and money at her place and did we want to have it? Now you'll recall that I had gotten an old Honda from my great friend Craig a few years back. Well, the one my Sis had is 5 years newer and has 70k miles less that that old one. So me being the pragmatic that I am said "Sure! We'd love to take that car off your hands!" and then it dawned on me that it was 3000+ miles back to The Compound from Spokane and our budget was low at best. So began the fastest and least expensive trip across our Great Republic that I've ever taken. Five days from coast to coast with a couple stops at relatives of The Rev's on the way. We had a good visit with her Sis in Missouri and a day with Her Ma in Shreveport. We stopped in the Big Easy for a drink and a snack and made it home from Shreveport with the stop in NOLA in 16 hours! Long trip in just a few days, but we got to hit the monuments in South Dakota and Wyoming and a couple of battlefields in between there and home. Good trip all in all, if brief.

A special congratulations to my Ma in Oregon, Anne Graham. She having been duly elected by her city to serve on the City Counsel! She's going to be  a great asset to that community! She's surely been good for our family and a sweeter lady you'll never meet.  So, good luck, Annie, do good work!!

The big red bike is finally getting a revamp! Yay! I managed to save enough on my pittance salary and some help from the family to get it fixed a year or more ago and then the poor Rev's implants deflated. Poor dear was heartbroken. So, the bike fund turned into the boob fund. I sent her off to Shreveport to Ma's place and The Rev's old friend, Dr. Dan, fixed her all up!  Oh my, does she look good!  That old friend of hers did a bang up warranty job on her, sent the old bags back to the factory and got her the newest and hottest technology. As I said, whew! She sure looks great! Thankful for all the help from those who donated, you know who you are.

So I saved and scraped up and another few bucks and found a used motor with low miles online for cheap. Drove to Melbourne and dragged it back home. Got the old broken one out of the big red bike a few weeks ago and dropped the new (to me) motor and a couple of boxes of parts off at the bike Dr. and it should up and going here in a few days!  I can't wait to feel that breeze in my face and taste the bugs in my teeth again! It'll be good for my soul, I NEED that ride daily to keep myself sane. It's been way too long and I am like a junkie waiting for my next fix.

So I'm getting close to the letter limit of my poor old hands and in closing...I'd like to say thanks to all who help us get through this wonderful life in all the ways that you do help. All the supportive love and collective good wishes, not to mention a few bucks here and there, continue to bear us up. Thank you all so very much.

Enjoy the life you have, it's the only one you get here.
Rainman

greetings all,

looks like it's been a few YEARS since I've written anything! holy lazy blogger, Batman!

speaking of Batman, my old friend the cat from North Dakota has gone to meet his maker. I guess he wasn't fast enough to get out of the way when the car that crushed him sped by and never even slowed down. nary a brake light did we see...bastards. he was a darn good cat, for 15 years he patrolled the neighborhood keeping those evil tree-rats and a few regular rats at bay.  I miss him.

the puppy and old dags are well, Bleu turned out to be a girl dag, and she's a durn good 'un. The Rev brought home an orphan mutt from the alley behind her old job, and she is Fawn Liebowitz, back from the dead. silly lil thing and definitely NOT a black dag. first NOT black dag I've had in forever. really can't remember when, must have been all the way back in New Mexico days. Bleu is just useless as a life coach so Jake has to take up all the slack. they're good friends to us and we are thankful for them.

things here at the Compound are mosey-ing right along. no big news.

I'm still at the Metz's and have since bought and sold a share of another bar since I was last here. we're in the process of getting the math and recipes together to take a stab at opening a lil restaurant, A Cajun Soul Eatery. The Rev's coon ass cookin' and some of our friend Joe's home style southern Georgia grub. we just need a few good customers and we'll be alright, I reckon, both he and she are damn fine cooks and I can figure out the maths. we'll open sometime after the new year, hopefully in time for the next season, if we can get it all organized by then. wish us luck, we'll surely need it. I read that 80% of new businesses fail, with a lil luck we won't. she wants it real badly and I'll do what it takes to help her, whatever it takes. 

the big red bike broke down a few months ago, so I've been bummed a bit, but the old Sporty is getting spruced up and should be running soon. knock wood. having issues with the front brakes, but I'll figure it out, or I'll get help figurin'.

the Heep needs a new master cylinder and the dang old Mystery Machine's tranny broke, so thank the Gods for a great friend in Craig Belcher, who just plain gave us an old Honda. seems he won't need it having moved to Cali a few months back so....I guess it'll be ours. can't thank him enough for the hand up he's given us, just hope we can find a way to repay the kindness in the future. he's found a beautiful life out there and we wish him and his new family well, it's the  happiest I've seen him since we met oh those many years ago.

well, it seems I've gotten a cramp from all the typing, and I've caught you up on our lives, so i guess that's all the news that fit to print. I'll try to keep you posted a bit more.

enjoy the life you have, it's the only one you get.
rainman

I'm an American-American

i was at my bar earlier and a young, black man was there and i overheard him say to some other people,
"I'm not an African-American. I'm an American-American!"
this statement was one of the most beautiful that i've heard in the last few years, it gave me hope for our nation. this person has cast aside all of the pre-conceived notions of race and made the most extraordinary statement.
people, there is hope, real and visceral, and it is embodied in this statement.
spread the word....
we aren't:

irish-american
scottish-american
italian-american
polish-american
german-american
african-american
and so on, etc, etc.

we are all, american-americans.

thanks for reading,
rainman in daytona

the wedding, labor day and sundry...

greetings all,
well, once again i've managed to let a few weeks go by and haven't written a thing. been getting ready to get hitched in a couple of days. it hasn't taken to much effort, just get some vittles for the guests and send out invites. gonna do the ceremony offshore on uncle stingray's friend's boat then a reception at our buddy colleen's. we've invited folks from all over the country and it should be a good time, some folks know each other and some don't. can't wait to see the folks meeting each other, should be interesting!!
just wanted to touch base and i'll try to write more........but i've said that before, i think.
anyway, i'll keep in touch,
seeya, folks
rainman

the passing of a friend

this morning i had to give my friend, Bouncer, the fatal dose.........he'd been laying around for the last few days and couldn't walk any more. he wouldn't even eat bacon. poor guy. well, he lived a very good life, killed a few tree-rats and an 'possum, or two. oh, yeah, and that little poodle that REALLY wanted in the fence. turned out she really DIDN'T want it. oh, well.
he was a good and loyal friend to me and mine, raised a good replacment dog in Jake, who'll hopefully keep up his good name. we've got a new pup in the works already, so hopefully Jake is up to the task of training him. Blue will be his name and he'll come to us when he's been weaned from his ma. he was just born a couple of weeks ago, so it'll be a few more til he moves in. can't wait.
buried the old boy in the front yard, next to a newly growing oak tree, hopefully the shade will keep him cool for the rest of time. sad day at the graham compound.

things here have been good these last few months, summer is here and it's hot. the rev is doing well, aside from some internal pains, hope we can get her to the doc and get it straightened out soon. we're gonna get hitched on 9-9-09, so if you're in the neighborhood, stop in and have a glass of cheer with us. my folks are coming from the great northwest and maybe her ma will make it, too. hope so.

well, that's most of the news that's fit to print, i'll try to get more on here than i've done this last few months, just doesn't seem like the everyday stuff is worth printing here. you know, work, tourist season, the like. when something does happen out of the usual i'll be sure to write.

have a great day,
rainman

follow this blog

just signed up to follow Niel Gussman's journey to the suck. check him out at http://armynow.blogspot.com/.

springtime in daytona beach

greetings all,

things here at chez graham are mosying right along. the spring breakers have come and gone for the year, bike week was kind of busy, and the racing was as fine as ever. both bars are in their little grooves and don't need much correcting day by day. just touch them up every now and then and they keep on rolling.

lost an old friend to a train crash last month and am real sorry i didn't talk to Kai Bodtker for a few years. the last time i saw him was at my buddy cole's place out in oregon a few years ago when my grandfolks had their 50 anniversary. he seemed ok then but since then he had lost his girlfriend and was feeling down for a while. there seems to be some debate whether or not he stopped on the track on purpose or not. doesn't much matter, i reckon, just knowing he's gone to the creator is sad enuff for me. if he did stop then it was his life and his choice. i only hope he found a better place for himself and i'll never knop til it's my turn to take the big journey. hopefully, i'll make it here for a bit longer, i'm curious to see what's gonna happen in the near future and the far, too!!

uncle stingray has spent a few bucks on the old boat this month and it's sitting in the boat slip right now. we're just gonna clean her up a bit and get some small stuff finished on her and we'll be out kill'n fish soon. or at least fishin' for 'em. i hear tell there's a reason they don't call it catchin' ..... don't know much about it myself, but uncle stingray is the scourge of the river, or so he says, so i'll get plenty of learnin' either way!! can't wait to get on the water, tho, i miss bein' out there.

life with the rev and me is pretty darn nice. we're still figurin' each other out but we don't seem to find much to argue about and what we do find is usually not worth spending to much time on. we have been getting better and better at understanding each other and i reckon it'll just get easier and easier. she's got a little garden going out on the deck and we cooked our first pan of lasagna the other night....best one i've ever been involved with, near 12 lbs. of noodles. meat, and cheesy goodness. froze most of it and nibbled the rest right to the bottom of the pan, licked the sides and the critters didn't even get a taste!! too bad for them, it is sure good food!! we have cooked some great meals together this year, and we seem to like the same kind of stuff, lots of meat and 'taters, some sushi bar every now and then, and some veg and rice to keep the body working right. we've both gained a few lbs. but that just seems to be 'cause we're awful happy.

well, that's about all the news that's fit to print. gotta get her up and fed before work and the laundry needs to go on the line, so......

have great days and nights til i talk to you again,
rainman