Primitive UFO's

I had tickets to see the Slackers at Minto Island Growers festival in Salem yesterday. but I stayed home, to isolate. I already gave it to one of my house-mates, and I don't want to spread the love.

Oregon Country Fair was great, but there were people bragging about their fake vax cards....

Scheumack Broom Company had record sales. I went to "The Ritz" (the bath house) and had some great food.

I tested several times after retuning, and got positive results late thursday. Thurman kept saying he just had a cold, and when asked he said he tested twice with negative result, but Dana (she knows him best) said that is probably BS, she didn't think he had any tests, and she said thats the kind of thing he might not be honest about.... ?!?!? Obv'ly, she used words that are a little less kind....

I've been working in the broom shop when I can, avoiding times when anyone else is in the shop. I wound 30 kids brooms wednesday, theres no one around to do the sewing or platting, though. I wound another 25 witch's brooms friday. I'll sew as many of these brooms as I can today.

Also, on Friday, our broom corn shipment arrived, and it was just me and Thurman here, so the bails have sat outside since then. I will attempt to get them inside the shop today, but I'm not at my full strength yet. sigh.

Stay safe out there, kids!

The Bro Factor on these videos is quite high, but if you turn off the sound, you won't have to hear it...





Please mute the videos......
"Sacrifice the Nar" ?
Yes, the narration is super-cringe, but the video footage is actually pretty hyper-focused on the bike riding. RIGHT? Mute, please.




I have not yet ridden the ATCA route, both of these bros took the shuttle bus to various points along the route, this option will be available to me next month.

The buyers were planning to fix and flip the house.
I am not crazy about the way it looks now, and without the shade trees in front, they will definitely need air conditioning.
but ...
"Not my monkeys,
Not my circus"

and I'm glad to be free of it.

it looks very different to me now, and that's helpful in as far as it goes in letting go, which is a process......

Letting go is a process
Recovery is a process

I'm planning to upload some of my goPro footage from my bike rides. yes, I'm becoming the worst thing on earth, a YouTuber. anyway, I'm dipping my toe. I know some people who have monetized youtube channels, and they are worst, being all at once self-absorbed, and also complete butt-kissers. I will ty to avoid those pitfalls, and more importantly, I really do NOT want to inspire more people to come out and ride on the trails in and around Oakridge. its already a mountain biking destination. and I don't want to give away my plumb spots and see them over-run. hmm.

it snowed in oakridge on monday. it hasn't stuck, but it has continued to snow there on-and-off.

I got a Nintendo Switch, on the advice of my co-workers at the shop, Walt, Waldo and Brody. They are all pretty hard-core gamers. Walt was especially excited for me to play Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and all the pokemon games. Since there is no wi-fi in Oakridge, I will just use the switch off-line while I'm there. I've ordered breath of the wild and mario world games, and I will pick them up at the post office in oakridge this afternoon

Here's my video, its 8 minutes long but I was OK with this rough cut, it includes me riding the old clunker on salmon creek trail, right outside the door from where I live, the trail is an abbsolute monster in places, with crazy ascents and drops. There are 2 spots where I had to portage (Carry the bike over the water) and one bit where the path goes VERY close to the edge of the river,
some troubles with the camera that I thought would absolutely RUIN the footage, aren't all that terrible, my reflexes were pretty quick, AGAIN, this was only my second time on this trail, and only my second time using the grope, and my first time using that particular attachment (I probably won't use that one again....)
so, that said, there's really not much there to entertain you, other than the ASMR in some spots, of riding through the mossy forest floor, with the canopy above, sunlight dappled throughout the trees. the quality is not that great :{





My storage unit is down to about half the size it was, and if I keep it another month, I will get a smaller unit.

YAY!

I need a new mattress for my trailer, and for my Oakridge place.

and I'm still actively looking for a place to park my trailer that isn't right against the railroad tracks.






goodbye POLK house.

 I'm back in my mountain retreat, watching the new Ronny Chieng "special" on Netflix.  Its a comedy show,  don't you know.

Last week, I attended a cruise, The Salty Dog Cruise.  The attendees call themselves 'shipmates' and some of them are obsessively posting every moment of their lives on the Facebook group.

I can understand, if people are in bands, or entertainment, or promotion otherwise, or I guess for purposes of philanthropy, that their story is exciting enough to follow along via facebook or instagram or whatever....

And I'm not aspiring to become a social media star or whatever!  Ha!  but I will put up my goofy pictures from the cruise here.

As I'd mentioned last time, X has been a favorite of mine for a long long time.



ALSO On the the boat were DESCENDENTS:


Me and Bill Stevenson (famed drummer of Black Flag, ALL, DESCENDENTS) picture taken by Stephen Egerton.


Milo Aikerman, vocalist for DESCENDENTS


Stephen Egerton, guitarist.  Milo, vocalist DESCENDENTS

 

Hey Y';all

I had a nice quiet, mellow birthday.  My friend made me an apple fritter cake, that was out of this world.  My sister sent me a dynamite care package with chocolates, butterfly gummies (I recommend!), dried fruit, guitar strings and a paperback copy of The Donnelly Murders.  I will now torture you with pictures of said items.








I've been making leather handles for carved walking sticks, and I got myself some unusual colors of leather while Thurman and I were at the leather shop.  So  I will be doing some 'one-off' custom pieces, its through the shop, I;'m doing the work here and using work equipment, but Thurman is totally cool and encouraging about any side-projects that can be created, and its a good use of my time, since my kids are pretty much grown and independent in their way, but at least pretty far distant, and neither of them drive.  (!)

I got purple leather and some shiny gold and extra shiny black.  I also want to incorporate denim, easy enough to find plenty of it, I may pick up some today.  This might lead to me getting an etsy account.  (!)



and I'm back in love with my bicycle.  Though I am still recovering from a knee boo-boo in June 2020, I'm able to do squats and biking stretches again.

I've got a little bike workshop arranged in the stick /storage room at the shop.

I'm riding 2 bikes:  my Bianchi Eros road bike and the Diamondback Ascent EX Mountain bike.  I got a full face helmet, after all, and its the BELL Sanction model.  Its a tight fit for the Large Adult size, which was the biggest I could get.  But I know the snug will play out as it gets used, and i know how motorcycle helmets are supposed to fit, and they should be snug.  Meantime, I ran across another mountain bike helmet which I immediately fell in love with, and it was inexpensive and a great fit.  Not a full face hemet, but it goes generously lower in the back, where the only times I've ever hit my head on the back, that was the area of impact.  So I have the two, I will use them both, and you'll have to hear me crying about it.




I have three active running handwritten journals , which float about and are added to at random.  Often just to catch lists fort to-do items, and many sketches for carvings that are floating around in my addled brain.  I have yet to really do much tiki carving, and I'm keen to study more about how these might be viewed as appropriation, or if there is a way to pay tribute, to the originators, or it its enough to just make mine different enough.  IDK.

Hi!  I'm Brian.  Carver of Graven Images.

OH!  and willing participant of witchcraft and wizardry.




My brother Tim is attending a witchcraft conference next month.  this is an out-growth of a conference known as Pantheicon, which discontinued, and "Between The Veils" seems to have taken its place.  BTV is billed as a Pagan Conference.  anyway, it takes place in san jose california, not far from Tim, and he has a friend that lives nearby to put him up there, and Tim's friend Kenny (who is a kind of a Wiccan warlock) attends every year.  Between the Veils has its vendors listed on their website and...... NO BROOMS?!?!?!  WTF people.I don't think this would be a good time for me to start vending at such an event, but maybe in the future?  I've been making plenty of wands and staffs.  Thurman is not really into the spiritual aspect, in that, he views the brooms as utilitarian, in in the sense that, he makes them and he doesn't imbue them any special thought of magic, he sees those things as kind of silly and irrational.  He's still a county boy, deep down, in some ways.

The Scheumack Broom Company is actually doing VERY well right now, I am happy to say.  there is more demand than ever.  I always say it's a product that "hearkens back" to a distant past.  

We've started seeing Walk-In customers, to the fright of us working in the shop.  This RARELY ever happened in the time I've worked here.  and there used to be times when folks could find our booth at the country fair (OCF)  also, Holiday Market, and in the distant past, they used to vend at Saturday Market.  Anyway, walk-in customers kind of started in october, when someone called and Thurman told them to 'come on down' and  walked in, Masked and doing distancing as best they could, and it wasn't invasive or unsafe as far as I could tell.  but

but

but then we got a group that were wearing masks, yet proclaimed that they were not vaccinated.  (!)

After that I put up a sign.  There hadn't been one.  Thurman was going to print one out from the computer, and I just grabbed a sharpie and wrote MASK REQUIRED. THANKS!  and drew a little happy face with a mask on, so a face with a mask on...

ANYWAY





thanks for finding me here again

PEACE
LOVE
BE GROOVY

Happy Solstice!
This is a post that I had started last week.....

I had dinner with Melissa, James and Atlas at Farmhouse Thai Thai food restaurant, on the corner of the block where James lives, SE33rd and Hawthorne (hipsterville USA)  Then I went back to South-Southwest for a bit to see my Dad and stash my bike, and generally wait long enough to be "Fashionably Late?"

anyway, 
I went to see Fishbone at the Bossanova Ballroom in Portland on saturday.. What a great show!
The box office took my temp with a laser thermometer, but did NOT look at my tax card.  I got a pat-down by security, but they did not verify vaccination..... 

hmmm
I really didn't expect to be skanking  in the front of a mosh pit, but.... there I was, keeping my spot with my big Danner workboots on.  working up quite  a sweat under the mask!  I didn't spend any money in the venue.  I just rocked out, from the back, and as the crowd thinned out a bit, I wriggled up very near the front, where I could see well, and dance ecstatically, without getting too much in peoples' faces,  of course, I would be rammed from behind (phrasing?)  I would get slammed from behind, by moshers who were moshing, vigorously.
Only once did I get annoyed, someone's errant elbow bonked me on the noggin.  Not unexpected, but, for myself, I've learned to mostly keep my arms down, and that way, i don't wind up bonking anyone (phrasing?)

PARTY AT GROUND ZERO!
after the show, I went back to my dad's place and
Sunday morning, I drove him to Elmer's for Dutch Baby ("German Pancake")

12/26/21
Its snowing in Oakridge and in Eugene.  So work may be a little bit slow for a few days, as the snow is expected to continue....

HAPPY SOLSTICE AND WHATEVER HOLIDAY OR OBSERVANCE OF THE RETURN OF THE SUN

Peace, Love and Happiness to the very best of your ability
I'm so thankful for all you humans

ahoy, scurvy!




I flew down to L.A. Tuesday. I'd waited too long to purchase tickets, and the price was very high (sigh)


my mom and stepdad are very traditional about thanksgiving.

.... more like

WANKSGIVING



i find that there is always a certain amount of waste involved, I feel like turkey is not the tastiest meat but they roast a big bird
and make tons of sides, some of which barely get eaten during the meal. Jell-O with fruit in it? yes. that happened.
Arnie went absolutely crazy nuts bonkers at canter's (famous jewish bakery in L.A./Fairfax area. )
He bought potato knishes. (Sic?) they are SO. DAMN. GOOD.
we had most of the Canter's items on Tuesday night, shortly after I arrived. My brother Tim was visiting , and my Uncle Neal was there.
I probably would not have made the trip, except that Uncle Neal had recently lost his wife, my Aunt Jackie. I was at their wedding. My 2 brothers and I carried aunt Jackie on a chair, I ciaught the garter, and put it on a lady's leg, according to the band's instructions. I had never known about this tradition before that day, The groom tosses a garter, and the bride throws a bouquet.
(did you vomit a little when you heard that?)

Howdy Folks! Hang on to your hats and glasses, 'cause this here is the WILDEST ride in the Wilderness.

(WARNING: brief SJW rant ahead!)

My United Staes of America is reeling from its racist acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse, the teen assassin of BLM protestors. Yes, they were protestors, not looters or rioters, and to 'color' the protestors as rioters is an obviously racist take. To call this kid a Vigilante is also a false narrative: he is an assassin, a rogue soldier, a lone wolf, a dangerous and hasty one-man jury, judge and executioner.

OK, enough about that. There IS some encouraging news as of late as well, including : The Q Shaman was sentenced to over 3 years in jail. I'm sure he will get his organic food, while he's there, though. And he will probably get a book deal, at the very least.

And Steve Bannon took a perp walk. He might finally face some form of justice.

Lots of other seditionists have been sentenced

That's that.

I'm splitting time between Eugene and Oakridge, now. The weather will get pretty chilly up here, in the mountains but there are easily 80 miles of mountain bike trails nearby that I'm really excited to explore, so I've been looking at E-Bikes with the big puffy tires, that can roll through/over mud, snow, ice, sand, etc.

and, of course, some protective equipment.    I'm looking at helmets.  The "Full-Face" helmets are a little pricey, but its worth it to protect my head, I hope to do some aggressive riding, especially once I get used to the local trails.  

The models I'm looking at are the BELL Sanction



and the FOX Racing v1




Whichever helmet I get, I will modify it for higher visibility.  I'm not a dang ninja, and I want my mangled body to eventually be found, at the very least. 

There is a cool bakery here in Oakridge, called the Lion Bakery.  I will being some brooms to sell on consignment there.

speaking of brooms,

I am carving as fast as I can, and the demand keeps increasing.  Every few weeks, it feels like maybe we've 'turned a corner' and the orders will slow down, and each time, we are amazed, delighted, (and exhausted) to find sales records are being blown away.



I got a ticket to see Fishbone at the Bossavova Ballroom on December 11th, and next week, I'll be down in L.A. to visit family and give thanks.

I'm thankful that y'all found me here, and delighted if you actually made it down this far.  I'm feeling blessed, and living my best life.

Peace

Good News, Everyone! I've moved to Oakridge.





On Halloween day, I drove to Portland to drop some items for Atlas and JP, then went to Scappoose to pick up Krysta and bring her back to Eugene to get her bus that she had been letting me use.




Now, I'm up in Oak Ridge. Living near hiking trails, mountain bike trails, Salmon Creek and Green Waters park, not far from Hills Creek Reservoir. Its about a one hour drive to town, so I'll stay over at the broom shop a few nights during the week. I'm working on a plan to do some traveling to sell brooms, partly with the help of something called Harvest Host








Thats about all I have to report for now. I am enjoying being closer to nature and simplifying.

Have a Great Day, people