"It's A Business Doing Pleasure With You"

"Welcome Home." If you ever go to a Rainbow Family Gathering of the Tribes, that's what The Rainbow People say to everybody as they arrive. "Welcome Home." That's kinda how I feel as I watch more and more folks descend out of the clouds and land back here in the real world. Reality strikes. People have been trying to point out for decades that living beyond a certain level is fun while it lasts, but--one way or another--it can't go on forever. Surprise!

It's summertime. That sure doesn't mean the same as when I was on the road and living outside most of the time, but it still sure has a nice ring to it. Long days, no coats needed, the river. I did a lot of outside work over the years, clearing brush, cutting firewood, planting trees, caring for critters, picking apples, digging various holes in the ground, and I enjoy mowing grass. Besides getting a free work-out as I performed my duties, and making a few bucks of course, I liked up in Mendocino County where I worked sometimes, the sound of the wind through the trees. Always made me think of a 1949 or '50 black and white movie wind-through-the-mountains soundtrack. And whenever I got one of those jobs, it was always fun as I broke the people in to that I'd have one or two tall Budweisers during the day. It's never been a problem, so that is non-negotiable in any agreement to work that looks like it's going to go over a day or two. I never asked about how much the pay was, I'd leave it to the people who needed my help to bring it up. It really didn't matter to me; however much it was, after the job I'd spend it until it was gone. So any money would do. If anybody seemed too cheap, I just wouldn't work for them again. I'd bounce around an area until things to do ran out, then stick out my thumb and move on down the road. Zero overhead. Summertime. (And some winters, but that's another story.)

I heard on the radio today, I think it was Philadelphia, that there are a number of spots around town with vehicles which people can register to use as needed, like for a grocery run or to pick somebody up at the airport. But you don't have to maintain your own personal vehicle 24/7. NOW you're talkin'!

There have been some fine, funny TV commercials over the years, and some I even looked forward to. I like when I recognize actors in multiple commercials and can informally follow their careers. But many commercials have me flying for the mute button every time. I even compare the psychology of some spots to various crimes. That commercial would be a sneak thief, or a hustler, and that one just took a club to people's heads. Ones that really drive me up the wall are those that suggest to varying degrees--in a society that is trying to totally restrict a citizen's sexual options to get married, abstain, or wear an ankle bracelet until you're 90--that if you buy this product you'll get sex. Those I think of as nothing less than forcible rape.

I just got a recorded message from the library. Two items I put on hold are in. One is a DVD showing how to play Texas Hold'um. I love playing poker. Not playing more in my life is one of my few regrets. But every time I've run into a chance to play, I've loved it. One of my favorite poker books was "Poker According To Maverick", written through the eyes of Bret Maverick. "My old Pappy always used to say . . . " But I've never played this new game. I've read how to play it a couple places, but I think actually watching a few hands on DVD would be worth a thousand words. Just in case I should run into a chance to play and that's the game. And the second item is a book written in the late 1940s about Bible questions to ask children. I need some fresh facts to stump Believers who start in on me in public. It never takes long to have a religious person talking in circles, but it's more interesting for me when I find new circles to travel with them. I know I can't win--eternal life vs logic--but I gotta do SOMETHING while I'm waiting for the bus. It's an old book, but unlike science, travel, discovery, medicine, music, communication, and everything else in the world, religion is unchanged from when it was first invented by people who thought the world was flat and were always on the lookout for witches and demons, so an old children's book is just as good for finding new questions to challenge untenable convictions as a book just published last week.

Lots of folks are scrambling to come up with new ways to live on less and help save our life-support system here on Planet Earth. The reluctant new hippies. Welcome Home.