News Flash! Giant Pete Endorses Joe Biden And Kamala Harris for 2020 Presidential Ticket! Read All About It!

     Hi My Name is Pete I’m a girl Toy Poodle and I write a blog. All my friends call me Giant Pete! The things is lately I can't hang with President Trump any more. I call him Mr Strump because I can't respect him.  I think he has brought dishonor and shame to the office of the Presidency of the United States of America. I did not know what a Narcissist was until recently. My Mom turned me on to quora.com and it explained how it relates to Mr. Strump and his inability to be a functioning member of American Society,  I actually feel very sad for him and for our country also.
     I have recently watched President Strump talk about the coronavirus and I have decided to Endorse Joe Biden for President. He is truthful, forthright and a humanitarian, unlike Mr. Strump and his fake bone spurs. Mr Strump I turn my back on you!
Don't be Sad Kamala!
I think you're REALLY PRETTY! Especially in your Mask! I hope you are picked as Pop,Pop Joe's running Mate!

You can check out my blog at Pete's Playhouse

Nantucket Yacht Club Slip Blue

Eerie early morning drizzle dripping
off yellow Sears rain slickers
blue fog steaming
Captain Zoom's coke bottled bottomed
John Lennon glasses.

"Did I know you
were legally blind
without them?"

Starring through streaming
streaking shiny bright brass
framed teak deck
yacht port holes
filled with rainbow colored
crystal  decanters
bustling blue uniformed crews.

 You said,
"certainly some have not
what the others have>

Your vision was perfect
for the fall of 1973.
Today's Song
Downeaster Alexa' Billy Joel

Upon The Mountains

                                                       

Go upon the mountains 

my beautiful innocent children.

Leave the cities far behind.

For they in their ingratitude.

Condemn themselves to their solitude.
Today's Song
                                                                      It's A Beautiful Day

How it should be

Some men grow
and they go away to war.
My friends and I
we went to ski.
It is how it should be.

Todays Song
"Release," Pearl Jam

Ikon Ski Pass

There is a new pass for skiers that I think is adeal. It is the Ikon Pass that allows for incredible skiing options. It is one that should be checked out. I love it now but it would have been my dream pass in my youth. Check it out. A-Basin a mountain I write about in stories, poems and blogs is one of those destinations. Incredible offer that should't be missed even by and Old Broken Ski Bum!

Today's Song
"Sierra," Boz Scaggs

2 cents overdrawn

                           (The Further Trials Of The Worlds Greatest Ski Bum)

Mick Jagger on a full screen
MTV Video screaming
"I'm just waiting on a lady
I'm just waiting on a friend."

Golden Peak restaurant bar
warming my hands on a
steaming ceramic coffee filled mug.
Arriving one day later than,
the Vail Mountain employee draw.

Being 2 cents overdrawn and scribbling
like Gollum caressing his precious, precious,
my powder snow poetry.

Leaving the restaurant like that,
I mean blue words
on a white paper napkin
thinking them worth much
more than 2 missing pennies.

Pulling on down gloves
trudging into the wilderness,
like Strider the Ranger.

Never really fitting in
like a brown wood log cabin
mud caulked chinked
with a grey stone chimney
sizzling snowshoe rabbit.
Smoke billowing wafting
through silent Aspens.

It hangs drifting like
cotton ball clouds
sparkling crystals
bending emerald
boughs of pines.

A skinny ski trail snaking around
deep powder tree wells
to a stoked glowing fireplace
in the White River National Forest
warding off dusk.
Today's Song
"Please Come to Boston," Joan Baez

Wild Horses

    Wyoming, early morning prairie dews
seep deep enough, pooling and reflecting
a wild chestnut stallion's eyes.

His hooves kicking pebbles rippling
little waves, flowing and trickling in to streams
of mirages dissipating into noon day vapors
and pastured greens of rattle snake plains.
Today's Song
"Wild Horses," Rolling Stones

Old Man

Old Man
sittin in a chair
ain't goin nowhere
so you've been to war.

I guess you know the score.

Old Man,
your hair turned grey
whatta you goin to do today.

Old Man,
your high on life.

Old Man,
you got a skinny old wife.

Young Man writing down his rhyme
Old Man taught you all about time.
Today's Song
"Old Man," Neil Young

Restless Spirits, Harnessed Spirits

Green Fields
spirits
running wild
across and endless eternity.

Hooves pounding on the turf
trodden by many men's souls
before
slowing, slowing
only to a walk.

For at last a fence it is harnessed in.

Assimilation

                                                                Assimilation

It is from deep inside
I do perceive
the vicious web
society weaves.

When you are young
and your mind still blank
they assimilate you through
their ungodly rank.

Where,

Conform! Conform!
are the words  well worn
and individuality
pays
the price of scorn.
Today's Song
"Dust in the Wind," Kansas

Poodle Tricks

My name is Pete

and I'm a poodle pup.

My tricks are many

for treats I love.

My parents have loved me

since the day I came

They knew from the start

that I would find fame.

Art of Hitch Hiking

     I briefly touched on the art of hitch hiking in my last blog, but I firmly believe that there is a fine art to it. I suppose that you can make the argument that people that hitch hikers are destitute or down and out. However there are, or there once was, a group that did it because it was fun. Even if you are destitute you have to present yourself as someone who you would pick up. You don't have to wear your Sunday best, but being filthy is not the answer. The rules as I see them are Look like you want a ride. Be attentive to the road and traffic so that you can make eye contact with your potential driver.
So that when and if they are going to pick you up you are at least aware of it happening. Circumstances put people in all kinds of positions, I never thought that it was beneath me to hitch a ride. Once I hitched on old route 20 from Albany, New York to Rochester with my old dog Dusty. We actually did well and got good rides. Although he was a very cool dog. It was a great experience.
     Many of my short stories have the central character as a wayfarer. In fact I once got a rejection letter telling me my central character should have obvious means of support to be a role model for young children. I think that only fueled my Pied Piper Complex. If traveling and hitching were truly to be an Art. My characters would be stellar examples of it.
     So I will continue to make The Art of Hitch Hiking a theme to write about. For all the children out there I will leave you with one of my Poems from Of Mountains and Men.

                                                       Upon The Mountains


Go upon the mountains
My beautiful innocent children
Leave the cities far behind.
For they in their ingratitude
Condemn themselves to their solitude!
Today's Song
Take To The Highway, James Taylor

The Traveling Man

There is a fine art to being a successful traveler. My greatest asset was my Tough Traveler Backpack.https://toughtraveler.com/
It was every Hitch Hiker's dream. It was so long ago and unfortunately I don't remember what model the pack was. However I do remember that the zipper broke on the pack and I brought it back to the company and was ready to pay to have a new one installed and they said that they would warranty the zipper and install a new one for me for free. They are Tough Traveler of Schenectady, New York. I was so impressed that I have had my character Tyler Thompson pic up his Tough Traveler backpack in several of my ski bum stories to date. You can search my stories on back blogs and count the times. There is no substitution for quality workmanship in the market place today. They didn't need to send me an email and ask how they were doing they just delivered. The Art of Being a good Hitch Hiker is directly related to the Art of Traveling and I hopefully can conjure up some new stories to showcase them. The memories are all you get.

Mornings with Jack London

        I was reminded this weekend of my early mornings on our rescue ranch with our orphaned paint colt Slick Little Fox. He was born with congenital flexural deformity and the breeder's wanted to put him down. I am and Equine Massage Therapist, and Yogi I have dedicated my life to healing and not killing and I knew we could help his crooked little legs so we persuaded the owners to let us take the young colt. We orphaned him at just a few days old and needed a companion for him so we purchased a nubian alpine goat that I named Jack London. He was very young himself. I had him in the trailer so that when the colt came in he would at least have another animal to be with. Over the days I fed Bubba (my pet name for him) with a bottle and worked on his legs around the clock. The progress was wonderful and to make a long story short his legs grew strait and true and he became a fine young colt. Once he was weaned, we fed him folac a supplemental nutritional feed to help him grow because he did not have his mother's milk. Jack London took a liking to the feed and would push my friend Bubba away from it. I tried everything including raising the feeder above his reach. He still managed to get to it. He became angry and would try to head butt me to keep me from pushing him away. The days moved on and Bubba grew and Jack became known as folac Jack. Until one morning I went in to feed and the little colt stepped in front of his companion cocked his head raised his front legs and head butted me right in the chest. Down I went and the folac went flying all over the stall floor. So that Jack London could get it. Needless to say we stopped that behavior quickly.

1. "Love Song" Elton John Tumbleweed Connection

The Art of Retirement

      Ok the big day has come and gone. It seems that the last few months became unbearable. Once you give yourself permission to stop being in the work world you are not. Several years before deciding to retire my wife, Kathy, set up this blog for me for when I retire. She has always supported my writing mindset. My editor, confidant, critic, and fan Kathy has always encouraged my writing. I would not have a book on Amazon nor would I be writing under the name of Write My Fire. I am fortunate to have gotten the girl!
     The question now about retirement is where do you go from here. Is writing just for pleasure? Should I try to make money or publish a product? The need being is to supplement my income so that we can travel to do the things that we enjoy and also gather the experiences to draw future writing from. The natural thing for me is to do what I know. I have been told before to write about what you know. However I have never wanted to write a Plumbing and Heating blog nor have I ever wanted to write about pipes. The answer to the question may be to reinvent yourself. Is this what Grandma Moses did? Don't know what she did before picking up a paintbrush!
     What it really appears to be to me is an opportunity. There are many things in my life that I have left unfinished. Writing projects started but no completed. If you were to go back and look at all of my blogs from the beginning you would see that there are stories and thoughts that were begun but not pursued. A Historical novel that I have an outline, first chapter and notes for as well as a first act of a screen play. I even enrolled in a screenwriting workshop in Aspen when I was living there. Then there is a novel about writers estranged wishing to write with one another that is almost complete. It lacks a better beginning and a couple middle chapters in order to be complete. I wrote the book by writing separate short stories with the same characters designed to be linked together into a novel. Completion is not that far away.
     The answer is in the list. Like writing an outline, a list of half started works and ideas could be fleshed out and completed and turned into finished works. Not to mention many ideas and short stories that have been begun like blogs started and sitting in my blog sphere with the big red label of Draft on them. Yes there is also all of my poetry that was not included in Of Mountains and Men. Finish what you start!

Letting Your Inner Hippie Out!

 I have always been a Hippie as long as I can remember. Through out my life I have tried to suppress the hippie in me at various stages and times when it wasn't convenient for a job, life or whatever. It never worked the hippie always came back. For me I think the the hippie surged in eleventh grade in high school with my English teacher Mr. Cocker. I wore these really sharp leather moccasins, made by Quoddy Moccasins on upstate New York, and jeans and flannel shirts. I sat on top of my desk in the back of the class with my legs crossed Indian style and wrote poems instead of my assignments. The great thing about the teacher is that he graded us on our writing and encouraged us to continue. He actually celebrated our individuality. Rare for 1970 Public School where conformity was the general rule. He would often bring in his guitar and play music for us. It seemed so counter culture.

   My hippiedom only increased the more I pursued skiing in my youth. I became more anti-societal and way more earthy. Rejecting the norms of my time and being fortunate to be the first year in the draft lottery and drawing a high number insured my freedom to pursue my dreams, mountain dreams. It seemed perfectly normal to me to take a year off from college to pursue my ski bumming dream. What I did not for see at the time is that I would find myself 40 years later living in Western Colorado getting ready to retire and pursuing my writing dreams after a lifetime of sunsets, snowflakes and mountain sides.

   Has it been a rough an rocky road? Yes. Would I wish to change it and have become and Industrial Engineer and have developed Industry in third world countries as was my young man business goals. Nope not really. The life of the open road was my calling. I think that it still may be. I am not sure that I will not always wonder what lies just beyond the horizon and over the hill. Even now that I have a wonderful home, with a great work shop and am assured of a decent retirement, I think of the ocean and walking on the beach with my wife Kathy my best friend and better half, and talking about my stories and their plots and of sunsets and ocean tides. Instead of white powder and steep slopes I think of ebooks and stealing little children from secure careers as doctors and lawyers and setting their feet upon the road.
Let your inner hippie out!