Slackjaw's Forum

We took off for the ocean this past weekend. Packed to boys into their car seats put the cooler in the back and off we went. It’s been awhile since we’ve been out there, at least in the winter, when you brace yourself for every storm that passes, by sitting in front of a fire and watching the rain. We went to Moclips near the Indian reservation where we used to go before Tommy died. My brother-in-law was a large man, who had spent his life in produce, working the various grocery stores in Tacoma until he was no longer able. Two years ago last Thanksgiving he finally got caught by the cancer that had been chasing him. I have a picture of him flying his kite out there. Standing at the golden hour right before the sun sets: hood up, beard poking out and a great flash of white teeth in a smile that said it all. Tommy was someone whose great joy was just being in the moment. You can see it in that picture by the ocean, kite string in hand and you could see it the first time you...

It had all the makings of an ordinary weekend. Sweetie had to work on Sunday and that left the boys and I to hold down the fort. Earl and Heather had a get together for all of us living in the trailer park on Sunday afternoon. I guess Heather had gotten most of the numbers right on her lotto ticket and thought it would be fun to use a little of it for a party. Corlis and his new fiancé were there having trouble keeping their hands off of each other and I met our new neighbors Chris and Sondra that are living in the Hubert’s old spot, down past the community lodge. They seemed nice enough and all but my mind wasn’t too focused on the party to tell you the truth. Zane, our old cat lost her sight this weekend. We noticed it on Saturday when we were trying out a new vacuum Sweetie found at a garage sale down on Carr hill. She had been hiding under the bed and when sweetie started up the vacuum she took off like a shot. Only she couldn’t find the way out, she just kept bumping into the wall...

Well I’m not sure how well this is working out…I keep exceeding my “data transfer” amount since I put the music up. So, if there have been some times when people have tried to get on my site and have been unable to this last week, I apologize. Before last week I didn’t even know there was such a thing as “data transfer” rates and now here I am, getting the site shut down. Well the good news is they just shut the site down for an hour when it happens and then send me a nasty letter telling me I should upgrade my site. I’m not sure what I want to do about it. I could just put up less music, like just one song a week or something. Or I could spend the nine dollars a month, have my own domain name and there would probably be no “data transfer” problems. I’m not really sure I want the added pressure of writing under a financial burden. I try and update the site at least one a week but if I were spending $100 a year on it I would probably feel obligated to get my moneys worth. Wo...

There’s a dead crow lying on the ground right next to where I park my car. It’s been there for the last week looking for the most part intact and unharmed. No blood or torn wing is showing. No hole where he might have been shot. The garage at work is covered and I have to use a key to open the large doors that let me inside. Next to where I park are a couple of full trash cans and a wheelbarrow full of rotting gypsum that fell when the roof leaked. People clean their cars out and leave it all around the cans. I don’t remember the cans ever being cleaned since they appeared last spring after the heavy rains flooded the building. A mound of fast-food paper bags rise above the trashcan like an installation titled,  America Eats Itself To Death. I don’t know how the crow got there, how he died or anything. I suppose he could have flown in, in the brief moment the large doors were open. I suppose that’s the way it must have been. Years ago when I was in school I had a roommat...