On the Hill

[judih]

and now, i've got it!

[the mingo]

* *

[the mingo]

One thing about the Tug - it has so many tucked-away places - fields that used to be farmed now going back to forest - people & houses all back behind the trees - ( wait, I have to make some coffee ) - ... - so many back roads - I get back in there ya know - I curse the ridges I have to climb some times but then there is the down slope - when you're flying down one of those you get to thinking if a deer jumps out of the woods on me - ( the trees come right to the edge or almost to the edge of the pavement or gravel ) no time to react - then I'm fucked - but I ride anyway goin' down this road and that road - 'ku hunts - I mean active hunting - I get back in the bush and poke around - run 'em down or watch them get away or end up with nothing to show for the trail - I have to watch myself in these pursuits - don't want to end up an artist - that would be a death worse than fate - if fate exists that is - I'm not convinced by any means -
I'm not convinced life exists - way too many variables to come to any conclusion 'bout these kinds of things - best to hold fire 'til you see the white of the eye - watch out for snakes, for on their belly they will go -

[the mingo]

The Tug - up here on the Hill, it does things to ya - this landscape - to your mind, body, down to your soul - people don't like that word soul, they say it's an abstraction - hell every word in the language is an abstraction - if I were to live by other's lights I'd darkness be unable to understand anything - The Bible says, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" - that makes more & more sense to me as my body slows and things about it no longer work the way they once did - knowledge, we are still chasing it, it ain't meant nothin' but trouble from the beginning to now -

There is a fly on my lampshade - I killed him there two day ago - good old-fashioned flyswatter -
when I struck him his guts flew out - they have hardened and now that fly is stuck to the lampshade by the glue of his own guts -

Was out on a lawn job today - I like lawn work - it's simple, mowing, weed whacking, raking - the job was over on a part of the Plateau I ain't been on for a good long while - it's a bit wilder over there than here - the primitive shows through - I like seeing that -

no 'ku today - I was too busy with work - did the lawn job to get money for new tubes for one of my bikes - maybe even get lights for it - all my lights are on the Ghost since she's my pony, my main runner - she's been an amazing bike - no trouble from her - minimalist all the way

[the mingo]

rollick - i like that word - it's got sand, ya know ? - the black & white meaning is to move or behave in a carefree joyous manner - plus it's an intransitive verb - "An intransitive verb has two characteristics. First, it is an action verb, expressing a doable activity like arrive, go, lie, sneeze, sit, die, etc. Second, unlike a transitive verb, it will not have a direct object receiving the action ... this shit gets deep real quick, don't it ?

This kind of thing happens up here on the Tug all the time - ya know, i been living up here for a year & seven months - lately it's the land itself been growing in my soul - no explanation - it will be on my mind like a deep vibration ... and that song, "Cisco Kid" keeps rolling thru my head ever since that dog attacked me when i was out riding my bike a month ago - it's the end of August, maybe that's it, August is when the spirits begin moving around in prep for the coming autumn - there is a spiritual aspect to everything, felt with the emotions -

this place is getting into me bones -

We no longer need knowledge - we have Google - what a relief !

[the mingo]

I start on my own and go - it's the only way I have ever found anything worth finding - later this morning I will mount a bike and strike off in a direction - a bike is a damn amazing machine -
You are its engine - it has no source of power of it's own - it can't go off without a rider - it converts your energy, your biologic, emotional, spiritual energy to motion - forward motion - and it's as a direct transmission of that power - a bicycle is Zen, no three ways about it - a bicycle is wheels within wheels within wheels - e.g. take just the front wheel, the spokes (usually round) support the rim (round) the spokes are attached to the hub (round) inside the hub is the axle (round) the axle (round) rides on bearings (round) and spins round -
That's just the front wheel - the same philosophy continues through the rest of the machine, fore to aft -

If God were to ride anything He would be riding a bike -

[the mingo]

GOF - Gang of Freaks -

You don't have to be a poet to write a poem

Post or Die !

[the mingo]

dawn ... dark clouds going over - moving right along too, there must be wind high up, there is none on the ground - the push & pull of things ... cricket sounding just off the deck, another one going off further down the bank, closer to the river - a lone motorcyclist gains the hill then disappears over it - when there is no traffic up on the state route it is very quiet, the sounds of this location as if there were no human habitation at all - the state road is very wide for a two laner - folks to the west of here use it to get to the interstate, to go north to Watertown or south to Syracuse to get to work - folks get to rolling on it, above the speed limits for sure - because of this I don't bike it except as a jump-off to the backroads - I'm long past being young and past middle age too so traffic that is traveling 60 or 70 miles an hour passing within two feet of me on a bike is something I don't indulge in any more than I have to - when you look in the small rear view mirror attached to your handlebars and see a car coming down on you at 70 miles an hour & notice the driver is messing with his cellphone you have the realization that you can just as easily be taken out by an idiot as by
someone acquainted with the use of intelligence -

the clouds have passed - gonna be another bright and probably hot day -

traffic going past
standing still I'm also
going past

[WIREMAN]

wary of that traffic
smart move
the dogs too
keep ridin mingo
all hail Mongolia

[the mingo]

wary of that traffic
smart move
the dogs too
keep ridin mingo
all hail Mongolia

Always watchin' the traffic, Wireman - not much problem up here being on the edge of the boonies & all but went down by bike to Cicero today,about 20 mile south of here to pick up inner tubes for one of my bikes - once you hit Central Square you start running into thick traffic and by the time you get to Brewerton it's bumper to bumper - and Cicero? forget it - you're into North Syracuse then, no bike lanes - you have taken your ass into your hands - after today's experience I think I'll be ordering my tubes & tires, shit like that, off the web - these back roads up here have pampered my flat Indian ass silly - don't want much to do with heavy traffic - as for the dogs I've decided to go with a can of bear spray, not only for it's potency but because it's in fogger cans - it blows out a cloud of whup-ass bad enough to stop a grizzly at the touch of a finger - so gonna equip myself with some of that and the next dog come at me to do me some pain I'm gonna aim that can and introduce him to my Mongolian dreams - ... so I'm still ridin' and plan to do so til I can't - How's it going for you ?

[WIREMAN]

bear spray a solid solution....I'm in the walker mode still,I fell a couple a times with just cane....so it's a no brainer.....it's really hard concentrating on the iPad and reading is a laugh....writing is hard...
speaking much better &
singing ....2 weeks since the stroke ugh!.....glad to be progressing....being real bout expectations....my mind is good....can't write for shit....or draw.....gonna try and wire it up soon.....thank goodness for my brother and sister in law, I'm blessed ....on to the future, gonna keep on keepin on

[the mingo]

Thx, Mark, for letting us know how it's going - appreciate

[judih]

can't write or draw, but can sing! and manage to navigate a studio8 text box. All welcome signs of wireman energy.
thanks to your bro and s.i.l for helping this process and keeping you in love

[the mingo]

yeah - what judih said

[the mingo]

Bread, milk, more complicated than they seem - rain falling, complicated too - the roads that grew from animal trails to footpaths to cart roads, wagon roads, roads worn into the earth
then built on top of it and graveled then asphalted - I ride down one of those roads today on two wheels, my favored way to travel these days - I'm under threat of rain - from the side of the road a grasshopper jumps directly into my path at the last possible moment everything was lined right up and fell right into place - my front wheel killed him, my back wheel cemented him into the asphalt and sealed the deal. I rode on without breaking cadence - here comes the rain.

passing traffic
rain
tires go swish