joined on 08/08/06
last updated 12/01/08
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about me
I'm a husband, a father, a good friend, a darn fine herbalist. I've tried to do good things in my life for others...friends and lovers...students and strangers. I currently have a condition called RSDS which is often quite painful, and there is no cure. But I try to stay upbeat. Music especially helps me stay on an even keel. Writing poetry and fiction also helps. And I've got to say, I do love my garden. Roses, roses, and more roses. Oh yeah, the veggie garden is fun too. My wife Lynn cans and preserve much of what we grow out back. We love making jams and jellies for the county fairs in our area. No one can beat her molasses-ginger cookies. My friends say I'm a good cook, and it must be so, as they keep showing up for dinner.
In a past life I know I lived in Scotland. I have three daughters I adore...Jennifer, Sarah, and Cathy. I have good and honorable friends from San Francisco bay to the Chesapeake.
When I die, I want my ashes buried on Sonora Pass in the high Sierra, just at tree line. Spending eternity resting in the Sierra Nevada isn't a bad memorial for anyone. If there is a god, I want her to meet me there and say, "You picked a great spot, Chuck. Now how about a bbq."
Re: Self sufficiency
(in Backyard Garden Survivalists)
We use half wine barrels, perforated at the bottom for drainage. Rocks line the bottom and soil is placed a little more than half way to the top. We used the eyes of red potatoes in one barrel, and Yukon golds in the other. When the plants come up...
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discussion post on Sun, November 8, 2009 - 11:47 PM
Other meat other than Turkey??
(in Backyard Garden Survivalists)
A friend of mine, a butcher, refuses to have Turkey on Thanksgiving. He burnt on turkey as a young man, doing the Renissance Faires circuit thru several states. He was the guy who cooked the turkey legs. He once estimated he cooked close to half m...
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discussion post on Sun, November 8, 2009 - 2:00 PM
Re: Self sufficiency
(in Backyard Garden Survivalists)
Well we live in the city. We have a corner lot and two raised beds for our vegetable. We also started growing potatoes in barrels this year. We are pretty much self sufficient when it comes to veggies. We put up alot of salsa and tomatoes each yea...
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discussion post on Sun, November 8, 2009 - 1:50 PM
strawberry autumn
(in Backyard Garden Survivalists)
Two days ago the temps nearly hit 80 degrees. The sun was hot and T-shirts were the required wear. My roses exploded into color. A few seeds left behind in my garden took root. It was lemonade time. The air was filled with the aroma of barbecue fr...
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discussion post on Thu, November 5, 2009 - 2:28 PM
Re: Closing in on Turkey day
(in Backyard Garden Survivalists)
That's not a movie. That's an annual fact!
discussion post on Thu, November 5, 2009 - 2:19 PM
It's hard to explain what type of music I like. It runs the gamut of folk to fusion. But I always come back to singer/song writers like Townes Van Zandt, Iris Dement, Kate Wolf, Tom Russel, Gordon Lightfoot and the like.
Recently I listened to several versions of a Townes Van Zandt tune called If I Needed You. I sang it myself in my travel folk band days. As I grew older (and as I grow older) it's taken on different meanings to me. Originally for this old harp player, it was a simple love song. Later a song for a baby daughter, and now a tune for those special lady friends who have shared my heart instead of my bed. So if you're unaware of this tune, go find it. I doubt you will be disappointed. This is the version I sing.
If I needed you, would you come to me?
Would you come to me and ease my pain?
If you needed me, I would come you.
I would swim the sea to ease your pain.
In the night forlorn, the morning's born.
And the morning shines, with the lights of love.
You will miss sunrise, if you close your eyes.
And that would break my heart in two.
If I needed you, would you come to me?
Would you come to me and ease my pain?
If you needed me, I would come you.
I would swim the sea to ease your pain.
Baby's with me now, since I showed her how
To lay her lily hand in mine.
Who could ill agree, she's a sight to see.
A treasure for the poor to find.
If I needed you, would you come to me?
Would you come to me and ease my pain?
If you needed me, I would come you.
I would swim this sea to ease your pain.
Thu, June 19, 2008 - 5:51 PM
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There are numerous quotes from Lincoln and just as many great anecdotes about the man. When I was a child our Justice Court Judge, William Staley gave me a book entitled Abraham Lincoln, the Great Leader. I kept that child's book beside my bed for over a decade. It disappeared far after my childhood was over. I wish I had it now. It probably started my love of history, and love of my country. Please understand, most Hispanics, and those of us who call ourselves Californios (the original settlers of the state from the 1700's) never felt a great connection to the area east of the Rockies. California is our country, just as Robert E. Lee considered Virginia his country. To Lee and most people of their time, the United States was an amalgamation of places they would never see, and had no desire to see.
For as long as I could remember, I wanted to see America. Over the years, in dribs and drabs, I saw her. While I've thoroughly enjoyed her cities and nightlife, there was always something more special at a county fair, or a small city museum. The famous restaurants I've dined in left me filled and a bit lighter in the pocket book...but I remember the taste of strawberry rhubarb pie and the taste of a cheese burger dripping with juice at some back road diner more easily than lobster Newburg. And I certainly have never taken a photo of a first rate hotel room along Central Park...but I have pictures of sunset in Yosemite and Mesa Verde where my wife and I huddled together in the early autumn mornings.
So what does this have to do with Mr. Lincoln? Only this. Lately my life has been irritated by angry bigots of various shades of skin color.
There jibes do hurt me. And their threats do frighten me.
But sometimes when I recall the kindness of an Ohio State Trooper, the filling station owner in Alabama, the Negro minister at a Baptist Church in Louisiana, the family in the next tent site in Yosemite, the deaf couple flying back from Mexico, the concierge in New York, the displaced Brit in Hawaii, the Trackers in Maryland...it helps me remember me this:
"If you search for the bad in mankind, you will surely find it. If you wait for the good in mankind, it will surely find you."
A. Lincoln
Sat, March 22, 2008 - 12:09 AM
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For the last two years I've noticed a rise in angry words, epithets, and general looks of hatred at myself. Recently a sweet looking little old lady in Safeway, glared at me and hissed, "I wish you'd go back to where you're from! This country was a better place before all you people showed up!"
I probably looked a bit puzzled, thinking, why the hell would I want to go back to Stanislaus county California, The summers are brutal there!
Which is exactly what I told her with a smile.
But it hurt. Not as much as the woman who slapped me in Trader Joe's when her kid fell out of the cart and I caught her and gave her back. It didn't scare me near as much as the black guy who tried to pick a fight with me when I entered a liquor store to grab a diet Coke. He got my ethnicity wrong and called me a rag-head. (I was wearing my Oakland A's cap I should note.)
Or the redneck in Jersey who called me dune-nigger and came at me.
Perhaps I should stay out of Safeway's, Trader Joe's, booze 'r us stores, and the Pine Barrens.
Being a native hispanic and part native American, with s Sigmund Freud type beard, swarthy complexion, and 30 extra pounds I need to work off, I can see why people would mistake me for a border jumping illegal or a Koran spouting terrorist.
The fact the one side of the family has been here 200 years and the other side has been here about 10,000 doesn't seem to come up.
Or the fact that I am a good citizen. A former law enforcement officer. A medically retired public school special education teacher.
One "funny" incident occurred due to my shade of brown. I've been shopping at quite a few nurseries and garden supply stores, trying to get my garden ready. I went to a large well known nursery to look for large bags of potting soil. A man walked up to me and said, "Glad you're here, We need those pallets in the corner moved to the rear of the lot. The fork lift is ready but it's in the shed."
I looked at him and said, "Well, I'm really more of people person. I think I'd do better up front, and I've got some great ideas for advertising."
He stared at me and slowly said, "You're not here for the job are you?"
I said, "Nooooo, but it's obvious you can spot great manual labor."
He apologised profusely.
But I'm tired of it now.
How much longer will it take before I'm an American again?
Thu, March 20, 2008 - 4:13 PM
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As an herbalist I believe no plant, no matter how maligned, from dandelion weeds to cannabis sativa should be outlawed. When injustice has reared its ugly head the first to strike back have been....folk singers. So I hereby offer the pot growers national anthem...The Free Mexican Air Force by Mr. Peter Rowan.
In the Morenos Mountains campesinos are planting their fields
While the ghost of Zapata rides a horse that can still outrun the wheel
There, free in the sky high above, nearly clear out of sight
It's the Free Mexican Air Force flyin' tonight
In the City of Angels, a cowboy is cooling his heels
Remembering that God gave us herbs and the fruits of the fields
But a criminal law that makes outlaws of those seeking light
Made the Free Mexican Air Force -- Mescalito riding his white horse --
Yeah, the Free Mexican Air Force is flyin' tonight!
Flying so high - yi - hiyeeeee! ...
How strange that an innocent herb causes money to burn
They'll jail you or kill you for making those rich fat cats squirm
They're the fools who make rules with no difference between wrong or right
That's why the Free Mexican Air Force is flyin' tonight
Uncle Sam in his misery put a nix on the fields of Guerrero
Sayin', "Shoot down all gringos and wetbacks who dare wear sombreros!"
Either run for your life, surrender, or stand up and fight --
Or join the Free Mexican Air Force -- Mescalito riding his white horse --
Yeah, the Free Mexican Air Force is flying tonight!
Flying so high - yi - hiyeeeee! ...
It is not marijuana destroying the minds of the young
But confusion continued for power and greed in all forms
Well, the borders of evil will fall to the smugglers of light!
We're the Free Mexican Air Force and we're flyin' tonight!
In San Antonio, they tell me that power and money are one
They can buy us or sell you to keep you afraid, on the run
But no one can stop us! My vision is clearly in sight!
And the Free Mexican Air Force -- Mescalito riding his white horse --
Yeah, the Free Mexican Air Force is flyin' tonight!
Flying so high - yi - hiyeeeee! ...
Some were smoking colitas while other were loading their guns
Blowing smoke from their six-shooters, spinning their barrels for fun
Contrabandistas, banditos alike --
We're the Free Mexican Air Force and we're flyin' tonight!
High in the hills we are harvesting sweet sensimillia
Yeah, the law wants it all 'cause they know that the wild weed can free ya
And freedom for us is a prison for the rulers of might!
That's why the Free Mexican Air Force -- Mescalito riding his white horse --
Yeah, the Free Texican Air Force is flyin' tonight!
Flyin' so high- yi- yee...
Flyin' tonight!
Wed, January 16, 2008 - 3:41 PM
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I hate resolutions, so I resolve not to make any. I will on the other hand HOPE.
I hope my wife and I are able to attend the Mid Atlantic Primitive Skills Meet again, and have a wonderful time.
I hope my heart-daughter Cathy comes to California and gets the love she needs from her family.
I hope my daughter Jennifer comes home for a visit in May...and we can treat her and the GUY to a few days in Vegas.
I hope my daughter Sarah has a great time dancing in 42nd Street!
I hope my friends from near and far can come home...in peace.
I hope I finish that damn novel!
I hope I learn to waltz better.
I hope I look better in a tuxedo this year. Okay, I'll admit it, next week!
I hope Lynn and I can pull off another fun Sierra Herbal Fest this summer.
I hope I get the black powder pistol I really want.
I hope my blackberry jam finally wins Best of Show.
I hope a miracle happens and I get a CCW permit.
I hope the pain clinic really works out.
I hope the prostate probe doesn't hurt too much.
I hope my wife and I can take a cruise and begin to enjoy middle age.
I hope I can get rid of this middle aged spread.
I hope middle age is all it is cracked up to be.
I hope I get more god-children this year.
I hope I'm accepted into the old man rock band I'm trying out for next month.
I hope my students are just as great this year as they were last year.
I hope I get students.
I guess that's about all the hope I got.
Sun, January 6, 2008 - 11:43 PM
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March 20, 2008
This is what I think of Doc...
IF
*****
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you.
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream - and not make your dreams your master
If you can think - and not make your thoughts your aim
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools.
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!
--Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)
:-) You Rock, Doc! One of the strongest and hardest-working men I know.
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