Hollyhock Farms

To Russia with Love

You have got to love it...six Russian dancers (four real dancers two word dancers).  Two from London, hip-hop, samba/mamba, and an occasional ballroom thrown in.  Two from Huntington Beach...they have a fifty-foot yacht and hold dance parties every weekend.  We were invited but had to decline...my tap shoes are being re-tapped.  But I did dance with Anna and Vladamir...word dance that is...we shaped the new world order...very gluten-free.  Vladimir has a new idea...some sort of turny-twisty thing when you do pushups...your wrists and arm turn outward as you go down to do the push up...trouble is I don't have enough strength to push back up ...so I take a nap and feel like I had a workout.  Kim works out on a Stair-master...I work out on a Chair-master.  So, I tip my martini glass to Anna, Vladimir, Irena, Olga, Igor and Nikoli.  I am humming the Russian National Anthem.

A Day in the Life

Okay, up and up em at 5:30...brew coffee, get the fire started, and check to see of the paper arrived yet...most often not.  Two cups and a crossword puzzle later it is out to feed "Twitch" our resident cat at the Bungalow, then feed the chickens (three houses) and feed the sheep.  Then it is up on the roof to find an irksome leak...finally off the roof in time to hook up the trailer and haul some rocks to build a wall, and not having enough back breaking labor decide to go and load up a trailer load of wood for the fireplace and split some of the same.  I am telling you this to alert you to the fact that retirement is not a valid word...more appropriate would be the word refocussed...something not always desired but comes about through natural forces.  Chippewa Ferguson could tell you what all the above means...I'll leave it to him. Hasta lumbego.

Chippewa Ferguson and his friends

Who are some of my friends?  Glad you asked.  Try Warren Thompson in Kotzebue, Alaska.  When I was flying bush in northern Alaska, Thompson had been doing it for years.  Soon, he will be 80 (December) and will have logged about 44,000 hours in the air...and still flying.  Then there was John Ball (deceased), author of "In the Heat of the Night") who was also a friend of the LA County Sheriff's Dept. who took an interest in my writing and gave me the kind of enthusiasm that could lead to something. Of course, there is my wife, Kim, who has been the source of my being for decades...life would be so empty if she were not part of it.  I would hope that I could somehow put something together to give one the immense scope of how important this kind of friend can be.  Then there was Frankie, Terrible Ivan, Hamiltion...we ruled the woods in Whiskey Point in Brookline, Mass.  He died a few years back, but the elixir of wild, rebellious youth, the tonic that gave some substance to our lives then still remains within the old guy.  We could kick ass and take names back then.  Still comes in handy.  Chippewa says, "eat your veggies".

Anna of the Ukraine

Every now and then we are fortunate enough to meet someone who makes memorable impacts on our lives.  I have experienced such a event in the person of Anna Kaarishnakovishi (I'm joking...I forgot her last name) and her husband's name is Alexsi (I think)...anyway, she is robust, honest...brutally honest and everyone's mom.  She is also gluten free.  You may recall, I'm into soap and Alexsi and Anna think I should market the stuff as gluten free...why?  I'll tell you why...that way, when you wash the little twerps mouth out for saying things like f**k, he will not lapse into a catatonic something or other.  Also, the very fact it is gluten free will cause many to just buy the stuff...just like a "greenie" will buy anything organic.  Anna is into train travel as well.  She wants to accompany me on the Trans Siberian train trip.  She will tell you there is much to see in Russia.  Babuskas (common spelling), drunk people lying down, ultra modern rail coaches with very symetrical holes in floor to pop into.  She could be a travel agent for Russian travel...could be...maybe not.  Anna, you brighten our day...you too, Alexsi...or is it Bob?