Arizona and Montana are Where My Heart Lives...

Whittled a project the last day before I hauled out.

 Some time back I built the first evolution of a braiding stand. Trouble with it was that it was just too bulky a set up for my cramped and limited cargo capacity.

I ended up a few months ago cutting the working bits out of it... hoping I'd come up with a better idea.

Finally, either sippin' a brew or a shot of vodka ;) I hit on an idea.

I took those working bits and whittled on them a bit to organize them in a way that they can mount up on my stitching horse to do my braiding.

Wasn't but a day or so after I done that when I up and decided that I'd ought to be goin' if I was goin'...

... and so with my rig loaded with me, Arlo and my Cora... we went.

 I'm not truly certain that a Missouri summer is a deal I'm ready for... Yet something inside calls for me to go and do what my Daughter might need.

We left Cochise and started rolling east bound for New Mexico and Missouri off beyon. Ambivalent about both the summer and the truck we made the first day without issue. I'd decided to run a two day run in three or four... to make the trip as easy as I could on a mare that don't care for trailer travel. That's doing a 1200 mile run in 300+- legs.

That afternoon we rolled into a "Horse Motel" in south New Mexico. I'm one for boondocking. Not paying precious cash for an overnight nap. Just a man, free on the earth... but when you've got a horse in the trailer out back, her needs override your own.

So, this trip I found a "Horse Motel" just up on the north side of Alamogordo. Turned out to be the best night of the trip... and if they were all like that one... I'd never change from it.

Surrounded by horses, and horse people taking care of their own animals... that feed their souls and give them the strength to continue on in this insane world... It was a fine and restful evening.

*Copper Penny Ranch in Alamogordo*

A soft night. A cool brew watching the New Mexico sunset sitting outside the rig on a lil' patch of grass. My mare Cora was off just a short ways in a solid and safe pipe corral. All was good.

Yeah... right up until the next morning when she'd already decided she was done with interstate travel. Took better'n two and a half hours to get her loaded back up.

Ok fine... she's in the rig and we can still make the next stop, Amarillo, a good long while before dark so off we go.

The day rolled by with little issue beyond the necessity to be on guard for them that have no ability to operate a motor vehicle and no understanding that as drivers they are a threat to all unfortunate travelers that cross their paths. In spite of the efforts of morons in 3000 pound cars attempting to defy physics and the ability of 17,000 pound plus rigs to maneuver and stop, we split the wind to a spot 75 miles west of Amarillo.

It was 'bout there that I glanced down and saw the voltage gauge telling me there was none. Or no more than 'bout maybe 10 volts. Now... knowing that it should be up better'n 14 and that the fuel pump requires juice, as well as the computer that runs the whole dang show I'm thinkin' that bein' too poor to pony up the tariff to renew that Horseman's towing service might could have been a genuine political error. 

Yeah... running down the road with a pony in the back and really not wanting to spend the night on the shoulder of I-40 with not enough for both a tow bill AND a fresh alternator... that 75 mile run into the west side of Amarillo was a fun ride.

But! We made it without a burp. I got plugged in at the noisiest "Horse Motel" you could imagine that was arranged alongside an on ramp to I-40. I Won't complain though. Cora had a big pen, noisy as it was and we were off the road ok. Being plugged in juiced the batteries up so I could run the five miles to the nearest parts house - where I swapped alternators in the parking lot the next morning that was a Sunday.

But then... of course... Ms. Cora maintained her growing Hell Bitch rep. This time it only took a half hour... I learned/remembered a trick in Alamogordo that I used sooner in Texas... and we were on the road again. Late but rolling. (I had the hunger to return to Horse an rekindle my horsemanship... Ms. Cora is doing her part to make sure I've plenty of inspiration!")

Goin' down the road I decided rather than make another stop, If Cora was going to be a Diva... she could Deva along for a LONG day rather than another 300 mile haul... That would put us into Missouri late... but we'd be done rolling for a long while... So I set about to making that long haul...

and then... Oklahoma... Well... CRAP!

Two axles on the truck... two on the Lakota... it'll cost a fella $22 to get from Oklahoma City to the Missouri line. That's right... TWO toll sections at the rate of $11 bucks each...

Wouldn't chap my hide so much if I wasn't payin' out so much in Fuel tax, Fed excise on tires, registration fees, et al...

Oh well... it just teaches me to be more careful on route selection through Oklahoma...

... and we rolled on... until I look down... a hundred miles or so from the end of the trail... and another light is blazing on the dash...

This time it's the "4WD" light... now, four wheel drive should not be engaged on dry asphalt... tears stuff up... I'm road weary, beat down, cross eyed tired... and I believed the damned light.

So I slowed up, pulled off... and no matter what  I did I couldn't get the rig out of four by... and wondering how in the hell it got engaged in the first place! and it "Felt" like it was in. I swear I could feel the tugging and vibration of 4wd. Ended up running the last 75 miles or so at lowest legal interstate speed, hoping it all don't blow to hell leaving me stranded.

Made it... and two days later a "Motorhead" my kid knows looked at it and told me it's only the gear position sensor that indicates in or out of 4wd had failed... OOOOOFFFFFF... Made for a rough end of trip but Good News!

Well... been here 10 days or so... ten days of rain and mud! Lost some ground on Cora. Haven't been able to swing a leg 'cause of the mud and weather! Hoping for tomorrow...

...Felt like I needed to do something productive... so I got my Tooling muscles warmed up and started work on the first Pictorial Carving I've done in years...

Been working the last few days between squalls to get some new critter pens and a raised bed garden built for my Missouri Daughter... and knocked out a few thousand words on a "Ben Jensen" story.

One thing the whole deal has shown me... I belong straddling a kak out on the desert... or up in the High Lonesome... struggling down the super slab dodging prius suicide drivers and forcing my Buckskin into the unnatural confines of an Aluminum box rattling down the road at 65 mph doesn't bring me the salvation it once did.

Arizona winters and Montana summers has a sweet sound...Those runs, spring and fall make sense to me, and I can deal twice a year... but two runs now I've been forced to take athletic evasive action to avoid killing morons who seem to have no knowledge of what "Yield" or "Merge" mean... or the reality of physics.

The first time it was only me. But this trip there was a horse in back. One of these idiots cause injury to one of my horses? The Sheriff will be doing an investigation... I Vow.

*One of the Few Breaks in ten days of solid wet and overcast*

Now... if this cold, wet, muddy stuff will yield me some time for Cora and me to put on some Missouri miles, my grump will fade some.

Ms. Cora... The ONLY time a feel right... is when I'm out there with her... Soon as I step back into -THIS- world... and I'm off... wrong, out-of-time...

My task is to find the way to ride out my string... with her and any others I'm fortunate enough to roll into my string... and push -THIS- world away... 

- Brian

Chasing the Wind and The Road Leads Me On...

Seems like I'm never gonna figure out just what it is I'm gonna be when I grow up... Cowboy, Soldier, Writer, Leather Carver... Drifter...

I keep running at it but when you've a bad case of AADD compounded by a Cowboy's restless feet it's purt near impossible to stay focused on any one thing long enough to say "This... This is what I'll be doin'..." and so I keep on following that "Road" that leads me on, wherever it takes me.

Which in a few days it will be pulling me along again...

*Life seen through a horses ears*

Cochise Camp will be left to bake in the sun for another season... or two...

*Cochise Camp

About the time I started to think about which way I'd wander north again, and all the twists and differences that wandering with a horse aboard would require... another trail forked off that hadn't been figured in.

Family needs draw me back to Missouri... and this time for the summer. Whew. Summer in Southwest Missouri is something I'm not so sure I want to experience! By October, I should be pretty good at finding a cool brew, a chair and some shade!

Thinking of cool Montana High Country will make that Missouri sojourn all the harder. Because, if Arizona is my first Love, (for places) Montana is its twin sister.

Been working on some small projects to take myself in other directions and keep the issue confused as much as I can...

Needed/Wanted some slobber leathers for reins on a snaffle, so I whittled up a set.

Needed to reawaken my old leather carving skills a mite as well.

They're ok... but still need to "wake up" a bit more!

Hoping to do quite a bit more carving in the coming months. It will be a nice brain freshening exercise as I keep Cora working and I keep my own work on the next book going.

"They say there's a place where dreams have all gone__They never said where but I think I know..."

Time will tell if I've any idea where the buggers are hiding...

... got to get to packin' gear away for the 1200 mile run to the Ozarks... It'll be a slow trip. Just 300 miles or so a day. That's long enough for this mare to stand in the back. Hauling don't really shine for her so I want to take it a little easy on her and let her "season" a bit without beating her up too bad.

... and I can roll slower and easier on my poor old truck... maybe this years harvest can go into a bit of "restoration" work on it. Better that than the price they want for "new" these days!

Unless of course my published stories suddenly caught fire and left me with a pile of cash that needed disposal! :) Ha Ha! The last book, "For My Horses" is coming close to release on March 20. It's sold the most on pre-order so far so that's a good thing! I just need to keep up that momentum this time and get the next book coming along and ready to go!

... there I go again... this way, that way... flit flit flit... I'm as fickle as a school girl! ;) So I'll just hustle my fickle butt off toward Missouri and see where I end up.

Anyhoo...This run, I'll be using two or three "Horse Motels" for my night stops...as the road stretching out in front leads me right through where wall the awful fires have devastated so many families... pretty much shrinks my lil difficulties into a proper perspective.

- Brian

Books and Buckskins

In between jogs across the desert I've managed to get my next story published. for my Horses is now available for Pre-order purchase at Amazon and also in the Smashwords network.

The book will be released on the 20th of March 2017. If you pre-order now it will automatically download on the release day. The benefit for me is that all the pre-order sales will be "registered" on that release day which gives the Title a real kick in ranking, helping a lot with visibility.

If you know anyone who enjoys western stories whittled by genuine cantankerous old busters... share my link with 'em. Me and the critters I feed will all be very appreciative.

If you've not read any of my stories you can go to my author page at Amazon and download for FREE the first book of each series; A Matter of Honor and A Pair of Second Chances... see if you like 'em... can't get hurt much considering they're FREE! ;-)

In the mean time, while I wait for the book to be released, I'll get back to Cora. She and I are doin' 'bout five miles a day now. Not lengthening the distance any but little by little picking up the speed. As she catches on to my cues, and as I get sharper again at clean cues she's getting into fairly decent shape.

And now that the work on "for my Horses" is mostly done... I'll start digging into Ben Jensen's next story that's scattered around in my lap top!

- Brian

Back Where I Always Belonged

*Arizona Winter Camp Sunset*

This has been one of those "Bow your head grit your teeth and ride into the wind" deals for sure. I stepped out to make some big changes more than two years ago. Every time I got close or seemed to make significant progress__WHAP! I'd get smacked.

More than once I came close up to quittin the deal. But I didn't...

Met Cora in the summer of 2015. She was just a long 3 then.

*2015*

*Thanksgiving 2016*

Things come apart and I figured late last winter that I'd lost her... the gelding, Cody Jack did get lost to me... and that still cuts.

When you keep even the tiniest spark of Hope alive, sometimes things will find a way to work out a little.

Somehow, just in the nick of time Cora found her way back to me just before thanksgiving... or I found my way back to her.

In the intervening year, she got a little tubby...  and she's winter shaggy...

I chose to have a guy I found restart her for me... she had some issues that had developed when she was gone. After all the ordeals...I had decided my head wasn't in the "right" place to do those things my self and be fair to her. I felt like she deserved a good and proper chance without all the fool jiggin' around everyone's been doin' with her.

Well he did what I wanted... and she's back now...

With her on the "diet" I put her on in November and a month under saddle with the fella I found that does things the way I would, she's calm again and willing... and some of that soggy belly is working itself off...

Best of all... For ME...

*First ride in TOO long*

I'm finally, after all the struggle and strife... Right back where I've always belonged.

There's quite a bit of work for me to do. I've got some little effort to make to get my feet, my hands and my head all going the same dang direction!

But if she'll give me a little slack to get my crap in one sack, and I put out the effort... It's looking bright! She's one of the better horses I've ever owned... and them that let her slide away from them, will learn I believe to regret their mistakes.

We've had a couple light rides... the weather isn't co-operating again. Into the second day of rain. It's times like this that I sometimes wish I was rich and had a nice big covered arena! :)

But there's no lack of work to do. I buttoned up the last chapter of my latest book; "For My Horses" a few days ago. The editing and book cover work is proceeding leading me to believe an early to mid March Publishing date is pretty doable.

It's not sunny in the desert but it's feeling pretty fair just now.

- Brian

Every Day a Little Progress

Was walking through the "local" Family Dollar the other day picking up a few cheap odds 'n ends, razors, paper plates, yadda yadda...

Been wanting for a bit, a few of those clip bars that hold papers on the wall at a desk or work bench etc. I had 'em in my old leather shop. Handy as hell for keeping all sorts of things organized.

Trouble is they're pricey. $12 or $14 a piece and you have to order 'em... pita.

 So anyway, I'm stumbling around the Dollar store for my few little things and Blink! That lil' light came on when a package of old fashioned clothes pins crossed my vision. $1.75 too. Not a dozen bucks for each!

Well I grabbed that lil package and started working on the deal. Got four siliconed up on the side wall... was sittin' and gazin' at my cleverness and another light blinked on; "Another pair could fit on the window valance. 😆 ... and then a third...

I get a lot of disjointed notes when I'm working on a book. Scrambled Ideas and unexpected conversations with my characters happen all the time. I scribble down those things before the idea escapes me. Might be 2 in the a.m. Then I have to find some way to organize 'em in a workable way...

I've gone through several evolutions of "story boards" for my writing shed... I believe this evolution of that writing shed is developing real well.

Another day or two and I'll tool up lil' leather overlays to dress up those clothes pins! Yep. Kuh-lassy! 😎

 - Brian