yep!

 well, can tell school started back up bc just looked at this site & noticed i haven't posted or even thought of posting in over a month. but this is tomorrow. please come, if you at all can.

james made this flyer.

next weekend, we play the kernville blues festival. that should be interesting.

the past months have been a blur of trailer searching & house improvement. first the bathroom renovation. i even knocked out walls. got to use all kinds of materials i've been saving for years, in some cases, most luckily a lot of neat tile from other states, antique stores, even the vacant lot outside the desert hots springs spa hotel. the tiles look wonderful. it's a joy now to take a shower. my hands did it! i am fortunate.

lately has been the new trailer renovation. spent months after selling the lil loafer completely obsessed w finding a larger trailer. james said he was an internet widower. i finally saw a msg about one in santa barbara so jumped in the car on a sat morn & by sun afternoon, it was here, a broken-down mess with good bones, a screaming deal. i had to jump, & i did. the friendly seller, 20+ yrs in the demo business, sent one of his employees to deliver it. as soon as the behemoth was here, i dove into fixing it up. let's say it's 58% there right now. 

james even has helped some, tho he's not neurotically fixated on making stuff out of junk like i am. he's outside the basement right now, singing happily & framing new windows. i hope the family will come stay now that there's "an extra house." if not, it should flip for quite a profit. i have never made a profit selling stuff, so this all is new. quite a surprise.

we'll see what happens. i mean, it'd be better if family would stay since we now have so much more room. i'll post pix soon of its scary original looks versus what we've done. incredible the change, just so far. a new coat of paint sure did it wonders.

a problem is, my hands have been ruined in past months by constant painting, hammering, prying, lifting, pounding, carrying, wrenching, twisting... i play the keyboard at school every day, little patriotic songs the kids sing, but i haven't really played in a spell, so last night i sat down to loosen up at the piano in prep for the gig & ohhhhhh my, what pain. i need to be more careful so i don't end up too arthritic to play. 

 two nights ago my friend bill messaged & that's how i found out my buffalo gusgus had passed away. i was quite heartbroken, but when my ex-husband sent a pic of old man gus w/his two new little dog bros, i felt much better. gus obviously had been treated so well, & it was his time to go. later my sis sent me this pic,  which brian had posted in the photo montage homage to gussy. i think this was one of the last times i saw him, so that would've been 2012 or so...

dogs are proof of god, & they break our hearts... but i wouldn't want life without them in it.