I got a message from UPS that Shelby's package had arrived, so I texted her, thinking she was upstairs surrounded by three laptops and working remotely.

No, she was working at her office today, and a few hours from home. But now she's back and the cutting board set may have found it's place.

Shelby's great-great-grandmother's blanket looks amazing in her spot on the couch. It's a beautiful link to her great proud heritige.

My local clinic/primary care place, just told me that they aren't refilling my main Parkinson's drug, because of my enhanced liver enzymes.

So the main drug that I've been taking for years now, which controls the tremors, is being taken away from me, because I drink!

They tested my B/P twice and it remained high. The nurse asked if I was taking meds for this, and I said nope. Hmmm, somewhat disconcerting.

I told the primary care guy that I wanted to see the images from my ultrasound. When he came back he said everything looked fine except for the fatty liver. They let me down today, writing me off as some old fool who wouldn't know what to do with photos if he held them in his hand inside a thumb drive.

I'll hit the hospital next week, where they want ninety one bucks. That should give me the leverage to obtain those photos of the inside of my old abdomen.

It's a cold day here in the South, staying warm, keeping tight. Waiting for a "Package Has Arrived!" message from UPS.

I was thinking tonight, about things I want to achieve this year.

Have a beautiful young sweet friend drop by, picking up cash off the table as she walks with a wabble out my front door.

To find peace with my many demons, embrace and accept them, and take them quietly to my grave, thank you...

To plan my future journeys out into the world based on family connections, not life's distractions.

To be as real as I can fucking be, with a cap on the sharing, but putting the rest of it out right here!

Hmmm, I sit alone is this little place, with everything I need to keep me alive, and moving forward, while still hangin high on the branch.

Movies and music massage my mind, memories and fantasies embrace my body, while passion, love, family and friendship, feed my soul.

So I send out a greeting tonight, to anyone who happens to drop by, being alone sometimes ain't bad! The more you accept it, the more real you become.

I don't need a partner to define me, I define myself!

Alive, moving forward, and high up on the branch. Free, mobile, with a great mancave over my head. Not broke, yet.

I'm accepting reality when it comes to women. I don't expect that to happen again, and it makes me sad.

My Christmas fingernails are still rocking and entertaining folks. I have no plans for the near future, or the far future, for that matter...

My neighbor and friend Daniel asked me if I would like to go to Harbor Freight with him this morning. I thought there was nothing there that I needed, but as we slow crawled each aisle, embracing the beautiful tools and equipment that humankind has come to create at this moment, it was a sensual experience!

I got me some double sided sticky tape to secure my backup camera and my GPS to the front window. No more shifting around with my camera falling over...

Daniel convinced me that I needed these lights that I can velcro inside the two compartments of my truck, or use the magnets behind.

And you can never have too many zip-ties. All for ten bucks.

Zinny is Shelby's little partner/dog. When I showed up over Christmas, she recognized me and was excitedly jumping all over me.

I picked her lighted self up and used her to chat up a hottie wearing similar lighted colorful lights, at the boat parade in Tampa.

Whenever Shelby and I sat at her couch to eat food, Zinny was like a rocket to the spot, assuming her position to the right of me, her eyes riveted to mine.

As I ate my food, I always gently shared it with her. Zinny and I are good friends now, and I miss my Tampa girls.

Their box arrives tomorrow and I spoke with a UPS agent today, making sure Shelby's building and unit number are on there. It's a huge complex and our local guy left it off the packing slip.

Daniel is speaking Water Heater with his step dad Carl. They're talking valves and pressure and overflow things. You can't go dumpster diving with an empty cup, I always say! And we found a great box behind True Value!

Daniel did his mechanical magic on it and everything, cutting board, rolling pin, and a hundred year old blanket, fit in there tight and ready to head South. It was a long flat box, that he cut down to size, made a new box out of it, and taped it up!

This is Daniel's Christmas present to you, my Beautiful Favorite Grand Daughter. Heritage, culture, love and friendship, from us to you, Shelby!

Heading over to UPS shortly, to launch this box into the world, and have it land gently at my grand-daughters front door...

My chair is the center of the small world I live in, my TV is the window to the outside, while the keyboard before me is my voice. I speak to the world with carefully crafted words, ones that attempt to define who I am, but often they end up like the flat strips of dough these folks around here try to pass off as dumplins.

Now everything is starting to move forward, I think. I feel a somewhat positive energy emanating from me, my long lost self is crying to get out. I have no idea what's going to happen to us next, but hey baby, welcome back.

The hospital has sent me a bill of $99.11 for that liver ultrasound. So much for a $35 copay. When they hand over a copy of all of the images that led to that lame ass diagnosis of a Fatty Liver, I'll give them their $99 bucks.

I'm heading up to the main UPS store in Columbia tomorrow. I've got a big cutting board, a rolling pin, and a family heirloom red blanket, to ship down to Shelby.

How in the hell did I end up at the Muscle Shoals National Recreational Trail on New Years Day, at 1000?

Sometimes life gets a little bit out of control, and you land where you shouldn't. But I made it back home safely, and alone.

It's 1350 in the afternoon, in my little house, first day of 2024. and I absolutely can't believe I made it this far!

If I could go back in time, I would advise my young soul, to expect to live this long, and take better care of yourself.

I remember when I honestly didn't think I would live past 30. As that birthday approached, I rolled into Kansas City, Missouri, in a white sports car, with my Japanese wife and a young lady we were helping get back to California.

We got a room, happy 30th birthday, to me.