Homeless - Part 10

One of the major areas that I have to be concerned with is fuel for the vehicle - the other being food. I'm trying to limit myself to a gallon or less a day which works out to 16 -19 miles of driving a day. My truck has a 5.7L engine and it seems to like the petrol. However, it does seem to be driving better since I've been driving it everyday. In my previous life, I only drove it a couple of times a week taking care of errands. There have been a couple of times since 5/11/07 that I didn't move it all day. I'm having to be more careful about where I go and how fast I drive. So no more going warp 90 until circumstances change for the better.


Another limit that I'm observing is $3 - $4 per day for food. Some days I get by on spending less - eating fruit that I bought the previous day. Bananas and apples are cheap and they remain fresh for a while and don't require refrigeration that I'm lacking at the moment. It seems that I have one in the morning and one for dinner with a somewhat heavier lunch. Today's lunch was a roast beef sandwich - 2 slices of meat, 1 tomato, ethnic bread, bag of chips and a soda...all for $2.78. Heaven! The only thing that would've made it better is if the bread was slightly toasted. Maybe next time, I'll ask the bakery to do that...yeah, right!


Annnddd there is one more challenge that I'm having to confront - tobacco usage. Up until a couple of weeks ago, I easily consumed a carton a week (2 packs a day) but not anymore. I tried a few times to quit before but was unable to do without for more than 12 hours. Testy and irritable would be grossly understating how I felt and, not to mention, the danger that I posed to humanity at large during those times. The number of fools that I encountered while I was in those moods had no idea how close to annihilation they were. Fortunately for them, and others, the launch codes that I had for the orbital weapons platforms had expired.

But I think I may have stumbled across a doable strategy; at least, it has been working for the past couple days. First of all buy a pack of the cheapest cigarettes that you can find, and cheapest equals nasty. I cam across a brand that cost $1.50 a pack and, yes, you guessed it; they are the nastiest, foulest smelling smoke I've ever encountered. They smell so bad I don't smoke them in the truck; I get out and walk around...and they give me a headache. I have a pack of my regular brand and between the two of them, they have lasted me three days. And I have yet to damage some fool that is babbling inanities at me...yet!

I guess I could've forgone the buying of that nasty pack and when I felt the urge, popped open the hood of the vehicle and put my tongue on the battery...but I'm too much of a wimp.

But we'll see how it goes.

ojuice5 lii.

Homeless - Part 9

I worked out Monday night and watched the 2 hour season finale of 24. Those people do put in a very tough day now and again. It's always good to see most of the good guys make it thru to the end. My current circumstances may not be what I consider optimal but at least no one is shooting at me or trying to blow me up. Anyway, I was done with the StairMaster and halfway thru the weights segment of my workout when it started. I pulled up a stationary bike and watched it. During the commercial breaks, I finished the remainder of the workout and noticed that there was nearly 75 minutes of 24 left. So I implemented a tactic I read about somewhere that suggested that every time someone got shot, tortured, threatened, injured, a weapon discharged or there was an explosion, do 5 reps of something.

And I did - that had to be the longest workout I've ever had. Needless to say, towards the end of the show, it was down to 2 - 3 reps of something. The hot tub had my name on it for early Tuesday morning.


It rained just after midnight Monday. Some people don't care for it but I'm one of those that like it. To sleep during a rainstorm, assuming there is adequate shelter, is an extremely enjoyable experience for me. However, it was for the first time sleeping in my vehicle; rain against metal is somewhat louder that rain against roof.

I was reminded of the times when I was living with my maternal grandmother in rural southwestern Louisiana. I slept in the portion of her house that was closest to the hen house that was covered with a tin roof which amplified the sound. For some reason that sound always had a cleansing, restful effect on me. I always listen to it - not quite asleep but not quite awake either.

Homeless - Part 8

As you are aware of by now, my daily schedule currently enjoys an unparalleled attribute of flexibility and, as such, I've had the time and patience to see some things that I couldn't have while I was a cube rat.


I usually awake between 4:30 and 5:00 AM regardless of where I went to sleep at. It seems that shortly thereafter, some of the neighborhood birds gather in a nearby tree(s) and start raising all sorts of a ruckus - I mean all types of birds, of every size, stripe and color...no prejudice that I can see. After seemingly trying to out sing each other for a short time, they fly off to attend to the day's chores whatever those might be. Is that their equivalent of morning coffee where they outline their game plan for the day much like we humans do? Maybe with some socializing thrown in? Maybe some trash talking? Their duties have to include more than eating and procreating. Day in and day out of that would seem to get old very quickly...not that I've had the opportunity to participate in such a lifestyle.

I have spent some time at some nearby parks and just took in the day, and more often than not, eating lunch in the great open outdoors watching the wind blow through the trees, people coming and going, and the parks true inhabitants...our little jungle friends. I've always thought that birds hung out with other birds, squirrels with squirrels, cats with...well, who really knows about cats? The point is that I've watched a squirrel and a bird screw around with each other, a rabbit and a bird, and a squirrel and bird. Were they contesting some resource such as food or territory or just engaging in 'play'? I choose to believe that they were playing around since there wasn't any blood or lost limbs lying about. It is nice to know that nature isn't as dog eat dog as some information points to. I guess my belief is as comforting as any other mirage.

As I'm writing this, I recall watching a nature show in the mid-90's about a region in Africa that focused on a particular species of tree that produces fruit only 1-2 days a year. The fruit would ripen and fall to the ground and ferment. Lions, monkeys, baboons, elephants, zebras and others would arrive without the prey/predator interactions occurring and consume the fruit which had become slightly alcoholic . It seemed that all had called time-out from the struggle of daily survival to kick back and get hammered. During the course of the 'social' - a drunk elephant staggering around that had to steady himself by using his trunk against a tree, a baboon grooming the head of a lioness that was sprawled out, monkeys trying to walk and failing, a monkey pounding on a right flank of a passed out lion that was lying on its' side, and two gazelles(?) trying to spar but missing each other entirely due to some overly complicated footwork. And the hangovers the next morning were just as amusing to watch.


In all the above instances, I have to wonder how they communicate their intentions? How do they say' Wanna play?'


Of course, in the case of the city parks, all those city animals clear the field when a dog or cat shows up. Dogs probably play too rough, have larger teeth and are loud; while cats...well, who really knows about cats anyway?