I'm weird but comfortable with it

As I’ve whined about on here before, I am primarily nocturnal. Most people are not. The “normal” person is a diurnal (Daytime) creature. I don’t feel well if I have to get out of bed before the crack of noon. It’s not that it hurts me, but I just don’t feel well in the early morning. And, by early, I mean anything before 10AM! Everyone (except others like me) laughs at me when I gripe about getting up “early” at 7 or 8 in the morning. Most of you just don’t understand.

Also, I watch all those with “good jobs”, heading in to work at 8, herding themselves home at 5, working in the same cubicle day after day, doing the same things in the same way with only eventual retirement as an incentive. They feel so lucky because they have good, steady jobs.

The regular life model just doesn’t appeal to me. I’m glad that I have reduced my commitments to the point where I can live on very little so I can try to make it with music, fix a few computers, play some pool and just be semi-retired while I can still enjoy it. If I were doing the day-to-day cubicle thing I’d wind up running screaming down the street. As I look at how others live, I begin to understand alcoholism and other drug addictions!

Winter is here

Last summer (can it only be a couple of months ago?!) I overheard a lady in West Yellowstone say: I hope it doesn't snow until December this year. I really didn't like last winter." I was astonished. I couldn't help but interject: "Are you kidding?" She looked at me and replied: "No. It was really cold and snowy last winter." I said: "You do know that this is West Yellowstone, Montana, right? You'll have snow on the ground here from Halloween until Fathers Day." She said: "Oh no, no one wants that." I just shook my head and said: "Sorry ma'am but you moved to the wrong place. You should consider Tombstone or Yuma."

What do these people think? That the West Yellowstone they see in the summer is what it's like here year around?

Anyway, the snow didn't stay on the ground here in Townsend yet but it looks like West has it's foundation already. Wish I was there instead of here even with the cold and snow.

Criminals at Black Sands Spring!

I am a third generation West Yellowstone resident. My Grandfather worked on the railroad into West and my Grandmother worked in the dining hall. My Grandfather and his brothers logged in this area for many years and my family worked at the sawmill. I grew up here and was raised with a reverence for this area in particular and our surroundings and environment in general.
I don’t get to live here year around anymore but I have been blessed with the opportunity to live and work in West Yellowstone during the summertime so that I can still enjoy my real home as much as possible. When I am here I spend as much time as I can in the outdoors, fishing, hiking and just enjoying our “Yellowstoneland”, soaking it in so that I can carry some of it back north during the winter.
As I have driven, hiked and biked around this summer, I have been disgusted by the number of beer cans, candy wrappers, cigarette butts and general trash I have seen along our back roads and trails. I have taken to carrying a sack just for such things wherever I go but the contempt people seem to have for our area has saddened me. Then, on the morning of Sunday, Aug 7th, 2011, I encountered a scene that was utterly ridiculous.
As I drove into the Black Sand Spring parking area, I noticed smoke rising from the firepit and I saw beer cans, beer bottles, vodka bottles, cigarettes…the whole parking area strewn with trash and litter! Obviously, a big party had been held there on Saturday night and everyone just walked away, leaving the mess for the rest of us to enjoy. I cleaned up as much as I could and I put the smoldering fire out but the whole thing sickened me. I can’t express the disgust and loathing I feel for all of you who were at that party and left that mess behind.
What’s really bad is that, on reflection, I realize that it was most likely West Yellowstone residents who did it. I seriously doubt that our tourists know enough about the area to hold their party at Black Sands so these were probably at least summer residents. I certainly hope that none of our few permanent residents would leave such a disaster behind but; well, who knows anymore.
The complete contempt, disrespect and carelessness shown by this group is hard for me to even imagine. Leaving a fire burning in the forrest? Scattering your garbage and leaving it behind? Come on!! I don’t have to explain the concept of “pack it in, pack it out” any more than I have to explain why litter is a bad thing. Ask any little tourist kid about it if you don’t understand and they can help you.
Presumably, you moved here because this is such a beautiful area and such a nice place to live and then you treat it like this? I can’t speak for everyone but in my opinion, if you have no reverence or respect for our land, such utter disregard for other people, creatures and our environment…go back to where you came from! Scatter your beer cans in your own living room or on the streets of your home town. Leave your fires in your city parks.
I’ll bet many of you were sitting around, cursing Montana for their handling of the Buffalo situation while you decried Man-made Global warming and other environmental issues.
I am happily cooperating with Law Enforcement to try and identify those involved. The trouble is that if they are found and cited, they will only be fined or do some little jail time. I only wish banishment were still an option!

On summer hours

I haven't been posting this summer because I'm living in my camper in the West Yellowstone area and it's not easy to get internet access very often for very long.

I've been playing daily at the City Creamery on Canyon Street in West. It's a sattelite shop of the Virginia City Creamery. I've basically done as well here in tips and CD sales as I would have at the Virginia City Cafe and I'm not using nearly the gas! In my pickup/camper at 8MPG, this makes a big difference.

Still doing Parade Rest Ranch on Mondays and Fridays as I have for several years. So far, it's been a pretty decent summer.

Our Medical Attitudes

I had the "opportunity" yesterday to deal with some Doctors and some of the attitudes and problems in our Medical system became very clear.

First, Doctors continually advocate our constant contact with medical professionals. Regular checkups, respond to Medical facilities when there is ANY possible sign of problems. You should have a regular provider who has seen you enough to know you. Whether or not you are sick, you should be constantly seeking medical advice. No wonder everyone "needs" health insurance or coverage of some kind and also no wonder the prices are so ridiculously high.

I had chest pains yesterday afternoon and, since I was in Helena and at the ER for another matter anyway, I checked in to the ER. I will first have to be very positive about the conduct of hospital personnel. The didn't ask about insurance (don't have any) or ability to pay. They took me into an ER room and got me ready for whatever might happen. Within ten minutes, I was IV'd and hooked up to all the machines with my blood work being done and my ECG completed and printed. Very quick and efficient.

Later, however, in comes a nurse with some medications for me. She told me that they hadn't found anything wrong yet but they wanted to give me some meds to rule out other problems. What I heard from this was: "We don't know that there is anything wrong with you but here are some drugs anyway." I wouldn't take the meds.

Eventually they admitted that they couldn't find a problem. and they sent me home. I still had the tightness in my chest but it apparently wasn't dangerous. I can accept that. Could be muscle tension or many other things. They had shown that the heart was fine and not in danger.

Then, my friend had some necessary prescriptions to fill but she doesn't have insurance either. So, the pharmacy discounted 20% of the prescription price. Any idiot can see that, if they can discount 20% for the uninsured then the sticker price MUST be over 20% higher than necessary, just to get more out of insurance companies.

So, here are the current conclusions. First, medical care is available to everyone without regard to insurance or ability to pay. So much for the need for Obamacare. But, on the negative side, we Americans are far too dependent on out "medical professionals". Why do we need to be going to Dr.s when we are not sick? Why this constant care situation? And, the Doctors are prescribing medications when they are not really needed just to make us believe we are in need of constant services. A vicious circle.

If we were going to Doctors only when needed then insurance would be more affordable, thus more of us would have it and Doctors would not be worrying as much about non-payment. If drug prices were not so overinflated then, again, insurance prices would be less and it would be more affordable to the "working class" people.

Beartooth NBC TV spot for the Townsend Gathering

For the 10th annual Townsend Cowboy Entertainer Gathering we will be doing things a little differently this year. We will not be doing the three day, Day-Show/Night-Show format. Instead, we will be having the Pit Roasted Pig dinner, followed by a Night Show which features the performers we've had the most requests for over the last ten years. Remember, proceeds from all the Gathering activities go to the Broadwater Rural Fire District!

Saturday, June 11th, there will be a Pit Roast Pig dinner held in the School Cafeteria beginning at 5PM. This will be hosted by the Rural Fire personnel and we are asking everyone to pre-purchase tickets to the dinner/show so we know how many we will be feeding.

A local artist, Mariah Saltzman, will open our show at 6:30PM. The main opening ceremonies will be at 7:00PM with the posting of the colors and an opening prayer. Then John Westbrook and Larry Gibson will get together again for the first time this year. John will be coming all the way from Virginia!

Wayne Nelson will be here from American Falls Idaho.

Our final act will be the High Strung Band from Cove, Oregon. Of all the performers we've had here in the past ten years, this family has gotten the most response and we are happy to see them back in Townsend again.

Dinner/show tickets are pre-sale @ $18 per person. If you want to come to just the show; show tickets are $8 for 13YOA and older. Please call either Larry Gibson @ 406-266-3946 or Joann Shindoll @ 406-266-5771

Follow up to Charlie Ray Music

Although I have talked with numerous other performers and promoters, i have found no one who has had any dealings with Charlie Ray. My personal decision has been to not sign with him for anything. If anyone has had positive dealings with him or has a different take on this whole thing there are lots of us out here who would like to hear from you.

New Reliv Comment

Ok. I've been semi-interested in these Reliv Products for quite some time and have posted info about them before. I've finally come completely around to being a "missionary" about them.

I'm a diabetic. Not seriously so but I have pretty high blood sugars which the Doctors want to control with drugs. For quite some time I hadn't been going to the VA Doctors for personal reasons. But I started back again about two months ago and went back on the Metformin drug which is supposed to lower my blood sugar.

When I first started taking the Metformin, I felt terrible. My head felt huge and heavy and all I wanted to do was lie in bed. It took two or three days of regular drug use for these feelings to subside but I never really felt all that great. also, my blood sugar really wasn't going down much.

I got a little more serious about Reliv's product for diabetics; "Glucaffect" which I had been taking a little of for a long time. I read more about it and found that Reliv reccomends three to four scoops of Glucaffect per day for someone trying to get their sugars under control. I had only been taking one a day. So, I started doing what they said and watching my blood sugars carefully. I found that my blood sugars normally went down noticeably after I drank a Glucaffect shake. during this time, the Doctor had prescribed doubling my Metformin dose to try and get my sugars down. I went through two more days of reaction to that and kind of decided that my body didn't like Metformin. As a personal experiment, I went off the Metformin entirely, going through two days of withdrawl as a result.

For a week, I did nothing but take three to four Glucaffect/Now shakes a day but no drugs. When I checked my blood sugar after that week, it was the same as when I was taking the drugs, but without the drug reactions. I felt very well.

I've now been off the Metformin for over two weeks, using just the Reliv products. My blood sugar levels are lower. When my sugars are at their highest, the are lower than the highest while on drugs and the lower readings are lower than when I used the drugs.

Bottom line? The drugs weren't working and the Reliv products seem to be.

So, I have been doing some research. My conclusions? The current medical community efforts are to drug away the symptoms of most diseases. Drugs to lower the blood sugars, to relieve (mask or hide) pain, lower cholestorol and lower bblood pressure. Drugs...and more drugs into our bodies.

Our bodies are capable or fixing themselves with the right nutrition. If we give our bodies what they need, our bodies will often heal themselves. Instead of hiding the symptoms, the body can often naturally fix the underlying problem. My blood sugars are going down, not because Glucaffect makes them do so but because my body is beginning to function more correctly. This process takes time. It isn't an instant fix but a long road. It has taken me over 50 years to get to the condition I'm in now. It will take a while for me to get back.

Drugs appear to be an instant fix because they force our bodies to respond unnaturally but they often are only hiding the true issues.

Reliv products are not medicine. they are not drugs nor does the FDA agree that they help us in any way. Reliv products are simply food . Check it out. www.relivingpartners.com or www.reliv.com . Read and learn as have I.

Back Again

I like to stay up late at night (way into the early morning hours) and sleep late in the daytime. I don’t like to deal with morning. This is very anti-establishment! Remember the movie “True Grit”? Matty finds Rooster still in bed and says; “I’ve never seen anyone in bed at 10:00 who wasn’t sick.”? Well, that’s the prevalent attitude of society.

I remember how disgusted my Grandfather was with my father’s sleep habits as they were much like mine. Granddad was pretty disdainful of anyone who slept ‘til noon.

Joann doesn’t understand. She often is sarcastic about my sleeping habits. She doesn’t like my staying out in the bars until closing time and sleeping until noon or even later. To her, these are signs of poor character or even downright disreputableness

Well, I just happen to run on a different schedule than the rest of you. I not only like the pool-playing life of late nights in the bars but I just like being out at night. I love the smell of a cool late night. The stars and the moon are my favorite lighting. It’s not uncommon for me to sit out in my yard at 3AM, just enjoying the night.

But, getting up in the morning is almost painful, even if I go to bed early for a change. My eyes hurt and my mind is as sluggish as my body until I’ve been up for a while. Even while running my computer repair business, I like to get started late in the morning. Often, computers that I bring in to the shop don’t see me until after midnight.

Also, just recently, Joann was disdainful of my lifestyle, saying: “Other people have lives. They don’t sit around playing on the computer or watching movies all the time.” I have an answer for this.

Other people don’t have “lives”. They have jobs. Think about it. Most of us are tied to our possessions; indentured to some employer for most of our waking hours (usually daytime again) with no freedom in sight. Working to try and pay off all the “things” we have and hoping that we can save enough to retire one day when we are too old to really enjoy it.

I’ve decided not to do that. Look at my present situation. I am sitting quietly in my house (mine, by the way!), watching a video while I write down my thoughts. Later, I will take a nice long walk down by the lake and then go play some pool for a while. It’s my choice, not the choice of some employer. The only real problem I have right now is that I have wasted so much money gambling that I may have to take a regular job for a while to replenish it.

Another Montana day

Not much for me in the music world this time of year. I was hoping to get a gig in Elko during the Big Gathering but that doesn't look like it will fly. Oh well. There are a couple of local pool tournaments I'll play in to make a few bucks and I'm back to fixing computers once in a while.

I'm using the time to learn some "new" songs to put in my list. There are several that I have been meaning to get together for years but I never just sat down and worked on them.

That brings up another of my profound insights. I have often wondered why it bothered me to see "performers" doing a karoke kind of show. I know of one locally who not only has the music playing in the background but he has a screen with the lyrics scrolling by! It offends me because of how hard I have to work to get a good rendition of a song arranged. I spend hours learning the lyrics and chords, getting a good strumming pattern going, even a little bit of lead, now that Westbrook has abandoned me.

All the Karoke guy has to do is learn to read!

Anyway, here's a couple that I'm working on:

Dirty Old Man by George Hamilton IV
Lucky One by: Alisson Krause

What I really need to do is get some writing done. A couple of new originals wouldn't hurt anything.

It's good to be home but it sure is cold. We haven't gotten into the really terrible cold temps this winter but we are staying around zero a lot. I've never minded Montana winters and this one is ok. It just seems that my furnace runs a lot and that will mean a pretty interesting power bill later this month! We Montana folks would really like to be included in this Global Warming thing!