As you may have noticed, I've been somewhat absent on the site over the last week ever since I put up my big Toxic High School tribute. It just happens to be one of those extremely busy months for me where I have trouble finding the time to eat, let alone get my daily site work done. This past week, an old friend (and roommate) from Virginia came out to visit us here in L.A., so we gave him the grand tour o' the town. I now have only a few days to play catch-up on all of my work because my brother is coming out to visit this weekend and I'll be showing him all around the city as well. So as you can imagine, being a Los Angeles tour guide for almost two weeks straight is leaving me very little time to work on the site. I'm also going to be doing some traveling this month as well, but at least that will lead to some good photos and stories I'll be able to share with ya. (more...)
As a young man I spent several summers employed at an Adirondack Camp that catered to the artistically inclined, emotionally frail offspring of New York Jews. Not exclusively, you understand, but it’s what we got a lot of, god bless every one of them and all their inhalers. Though tips were not allowed it still paid better than migrant farm work and most days you got to swim. Counselors, as we were called, were required to arrive at least a week before the children, to ‘prep’ the camp for their arrival, and it was under these auspices that that I was asked to accompany Dennis the handyman and address a problem involving underground bees. The few sad horses we kept were stabled near the entrance to the camp, quite a hike from the lake, bunks and other out buildings and while he was repairing the winters damage to various fences, the boss noticed bees flying up out of the ground. Lots more folks are afraid of bees than of horses which strikes me as stupid, horses being so much bigger, but the boss did not think any children would venture out to the horses if bees were coming up out of the ground. As horseback riding was one of the things he charged extra for, there was no way the current state of affairs could be allowed to continue. (more...)