Update

So another year has rolled around on my personal calendar. Unless we get rained out on Sunday, we're going to get a bunch together and go play miniature golf. This ought to be a hoot and a half, though one of us grew up on a putt-putt course, but the rest of us are normal folk and haven't played in years.

I'm still planning on getting out of the RV and into a structure of some kind. I actually have plans on how to do it.

Sundry celebrity folk have died who were of passing interest to me but not enough to merit a blog post.

My brother is two weeks away from starting his deep-sea sailing career. He says he may never come back. That's okay. Survival is what counts.

I appreciate all the people in my life, the ones right here in Asheville and the ones whose blogs I follow. Thanks, all.

Freya the husky is blowing out her coat again so tufts of downy whiteness are everywhere. She gets combed every day now and each day there's enough to make a new dog. Good bird nest material. She's such a great dog.

I just finished a job of work, proofing and copy-editing an 80-page mss. of what the author calls "prose poems." Whatever. I love doing this kind of work, and we did all over the computer and have never met. Cool.

So, life's rocking along and will continue to do so for some years, one hopes.

RIPs

Elaine Stritch, actress
Johnny Winter, musician

RIPs

•Ruby Dee, actress, activist, partner to Ossie Davis for decades, great lady.
•Eli Wallach, actor, chewed scenery in many iconic movies, such as "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" and "The Magnificent Seven," but one almost no-one has seen his turn as a head in a barrel of oil (his body has dissolved away) in a martial arts film conceived by Bruce Lee, who died before he could star in it -- it's called "Circle of Iron."

Goats at Work

There are at least three goats in this picture. See that wall of green at the back? That's what the whole area looked like -- an impenetrable jungle. Not to goats, though -- they just started eating.

Lots of trash was found, as well as many loose stumps and a few logs and stomped-down remnants of a wire fence with barbed wire on top. Tillman is going to help me take away the brush piles left by the goats (just branches and sticks too big for the goats to eat). There are massive vines hanging off the trees where they cut the lower parts for the goats to eat. The hope is that the vines will die and eventually drop off the trees (and not kill them).

I'm probably going to have to have someone come regularly for basic maintenance -- I don't have the tools, knowledge, or strength to beat back a jungle every month.

At least now I can run a line from corner to corner and see what I've got. I'm pleased with the goats.

RIP

Maya Angelou

Sad sad sad. A great voice, stilled.

Goatness

Goats are coming, goats are coming.

Half my land is choked with vegetation, including some wild rose vines that will climb and then smother trees (like kudzu). It's so thick you can't see through it, which means that I can't use half my lot.

So, I've contracted with the Goat Lady to bring 4-5 goats, plus goatherder, to eat everything that's not nailed down. It'll take about five days. Goats will happily eat poison ivy, too. And they don't reseed in their shit. Seems that their stomachs are acid factories so seeds don't survive intact, unlike in horse and cow shit.

After that's done, I'll be able to tell where the lot line is and where I want to place my dwelling. Speaking of which, I think I've found what I want to buy for me to live in -- it's an Amish-built "cottage" (meant for storage) shed, 12x24 (288sf) that comes fully insulated with 3 windows and wired for electricity. All I'd need to do is plumb it.

What I'd like to do is build a deck of 24x24 and then put the shed on top of the deck, automatically getting the shed off the ground while leaving workspace underneath and providing an outdoor space to hang out on.

There's trees ringing the whole space so very little direct sunlight get in, except right where the extant mobile home is, which would suit me fine.

We'll see how it all goes. After I get my dwelling (of whatever kind) situated, I'll be selling my RV (sob).

Grand Budapest Hotel

Just saw this movie Friday and the word to describing it is "charming."

It's the first time I've seen Ralph Fiennes in a role that I liked him in. The story within a story within a story is satisfyingly convoluted, and is obviously a pre-WW II corollary. The many cameos were amusing (Bill Murray etc). Ed Norton is pitch-perfect as a military officer. And F. Murray Abraham is his usual brilliant self. Tilda Swinton is unrecognizable and excellent as a raddled old peeress. Harvey Keitel is almost wasted in a minor role but, as usual, does it well. And then there was Willem Dafoe who stole every scene he was in, even when he's just standing silent in a corner.

But the locations trumped everything. There were several real castles (in Germany) used and they were magnificent -- wood-paneled libraries, sumptuous dining rooms, and more. Fabulous scenery, too.

All in all, a fun flick.