Uuugh!

The last few days have been filled with urinary tract drama and I will let it go at that...the rest is way TMI...LOL
I am home in TorC again and seem to be on the mend....
Thanks for the prayers and warm thoughts from my friends and family....you are the best!

Peace,
MWB

Changing views...

These last few months have been enlightening to me as I find that I REALLY enjoy being grounded in one place.

I spent my entire life living the life of a nomad....honestly, from the first I remember traveling across the US on a train with my mother and sister and I was maybe 4 years old...to the last long trip on the moto-rig, I have adventured and lived much of my life on the road and moving about the country and some of the world.

When I was going through the ironing out of my Vietnam war experiences, I spent a lot of time with a VA counselor and VA psychiatrist. One thing the counselor mentioned to me during our journey together was that the one thing I had never done in my life was to stay somewhere and grow roots...ooof, I didn't really think that had a lot of interest to me so I put it on a back burner. Maybe sometime in the future I might find somewhere that actually felt like a place I would call home and I would revisit the idea.

Well it has happened and I am finding it to be refreshing, comfortable and perfectly natural feeling for me to be here in the present, in my chosen (or that the Universe provided) place on the planet....

What an interesting thing for a guy addicted to motion and movement to find out!

I can go anywhere in this little town and meet friends and acquaintances, most of whom I like and enjoy, and have a conversation or just a quick howdy do and feel like I know my neighbors. Our conversations pick up where they left off the last time we met and leave off again where we stop talking...

I guess this has something to do with roots...I don't really know...it is, as I say, a foreign concept to me. I always find it easy to talk to and meet people wherever I am...it is a gift I enjoy....but to have the continuity is really pretty nice.

Here I am invested, financially, politically, emotionally and very much a citizen among citizens...here I can make a difference even if it is just a smile and asking how someone's loved one is faring....

Maybe this is old hat for some...maybe it is your turn to live the nomadic life and I honor that. It is good. But I don't carry envy, just a gratitude for having lived my life as full as it has been and to find that in the later years I can enjoy the comfort of a hometown....

Peace,
MWB

Lately...

I don't have much to report of late. Lots of doctor stuff trying to stay ahead of the cancer and be sure nothing else is sneaking up on this 'ol boy. I truly want to be healthy enough to travel in September.

Also I am hosting some CT90 building in my yard and shop...we bought 7 and I had one in pieces already...Ed is building two, Dick took one back to MI for his grandson and Steve is heading toward building one for himself....fun for me, helpful to them and the ultimate goal and my main agenda is to have more buddies on them to go explore the desert with. I don't do it alone any more because at my age and medical issues, not a good idea to be a lone wolf.

I slowly go through the material stuff that is clogging my space and sell it on Ebay or give it away, or in some extreme cases, throw it out...argh, yeah I know....it's only when it is in the last ditch. (grin)

My spiritual life has reached another dimension and I know I have talked about it already...it just expands and resonates for me. I have been really inspired by my native American friends who have embraced their oral traditions and how it has given them such a better a grasp on their roots and inspired them to learn and keep alive those traditions.

After a particularly amazing Navajo sweat with several of my local brothers up in Window Rock, one of whom is a full blood Native American, I was encouraged to pursue my own roots as I have deep roots in the UK. My forebears sat in sweat lodges as well and invoked the same earth spirits. I know it was transforming for me and the impetus I needed to pursue the path I am on.

I am on that path now and amazed at how the traditions resonate with me.....

So I hope to meet some of you on the path,

Blessings be,

MWB

A little gem....

This is by a fellow named carverdoug....after you listen to it his weblog is worth a look too, incredibly talented carver as well as songster....

http://www.carverdoug.com/audio/bigbookboogie.mp3

I hope you enjoy....
MWB

Ride up Emory Pass..

I was invited yesterday to do a day ride up in the Black Range with a couple of friends. Pat and Fred and I took a nice ride up to the Emory Pass overlook and it was the first time I had seen the burn from the Silver fire and how extensively  it had affected one of the most scenic rides in southern New Mexico.

It was pretty stunning to say the least. I took a pic from the overlook and it is of an  area that was completely treed and green a month ago....

And here are a couple of the view from Truth or Consequences while the fire was raging.

For those who aren't aware, this was a fire in Kit's forest and what has occupied her dispatch center for the last few weeks....it is effectively out now with the advent of the monsoonal rains...thankfully.

Peace,
MWB

Latest personal news....

I am excited to share that I have gotten a great, clear set of  health reports that covered my entire body! I still have cancer and emphysema and a bad back but the rest is good. In some cases really good....

The drugs I take to manage these things appear to be working and I am relieved to say the least.

So on to more fun and interesting things like.......oh, I don't know...motorcycles? Yeah, that's the ticket...motorcycles!

Peace to all and thanks for the warm thoughts and prayers....

MWB

I know I have said I wanted to keep my blog advert free and I do. However my good friend Ed Adkins, a mildly eccentric and delightful inventor has invented something that I think is a wonderful tool and I want to share it.

He has initiated a crowd-funding for it on Indiegogo and if you like, you can take a look. I don't get anything but the enjoyment of seeing him be successful with the product. I did buy the DIY kit for my own garage. And I really look forward to receiving it in January or February.....

Anyway, here you go...look or not and it cost nothing to look....you decide....

http://igg.me/at/centipede-sawhorse
Peace,
MWB