Golden Feather Series
Author's Update

December 24, 2009

MERRY CHRISTMAS

I bought boxes of Christmas cards, fully intending to send one to everyone in our address book. They are still unopened.

During the July "tornado" and violent hail storm that hit a huge swath of Denver, our RV sustained $15,000 in damage. We were close to having it totaled, and it took until two weeks after Thanksgiving to finish all the repairs. The new roof took 3 weeks and we had to deliver it to Loveland, CO for the duration. Jim and I stayed with my sister and her husband during that time. We picked our RV up on Dec. 11th, and are still getting settled back in.

Jim flew to Boise yesterday (12-22) to spend Christmas with his son, Brandon. This will be our first Christmas apart in 37 years. It's only been one day, and I already miss him.

Jim is in dire need of a hip replacement and lower disc surgery. The hip replacement will be late January, 2010, and the back surgery will be 3 months later, we hope, since it's extremely difficult and painful for him to walk.

I felt worried and guilty leaving Jim at Frontier's outside check-in area of the airport yesterday, but Jim insisted that he needed to do everything himself. I said Hail Marys the entire 30 miles home, but I'd no sooner got inside the RV when Jim called. The first thing he said was, "You've been saying Hail Marys, haven't you." I shrugged and admitted it. He said, "Well, they worked. As soon as you drove away, a man scooped me into a wheel chair. He took me through security, on the train and right to the gate."

A little Christmas miracle.

I've been griping for years that it's "always Christmas," dismayed by the buying and the selling. However, I think I need to concentrate on the tangible bliss of this season and start hoping that Christmas stays around all year.

It's snowing as I write this, but I won't cuss out loud. After living in South Park, Colorado for 5 years, we're tired of snow, driving through ground blizzards and cold--except for Andy, our Great Bernese. Andy loves the snow and recently sprained his knee while wildly romping in it. Doc's orders: For a month, he can't run, but he can roll in the snow. Andy's ok with the rule, and takes full advantage of his rolls in the snow. He gets sopping wet, but he's improving greatly. Merry Christmas. And we truly hope it is Merry.

Love,

Dave, Jim and Andy

P.S. Jim called from Boise. He said a woman was waiting by the arriving plane with a wheel chair and whisked him to baggage claim and to Brandon and Linda.

August 9, 2009

So far, 2009 has been an up and down year.

Since we managed, free of charge, my sister Marilyn and Doug's mansion many times in 2008 while they were traveling, last Feb., 2009, they took us on a 2 ½ week trip in thanks for our efforts. We all flew to San Jose, Costa Rica and were there for 3 days. Then we took a bus to the Pacific coast and boarded the Crystal Symphony cruise ship. After traveling through the Panama Canal, we visited 4 islands in the Caribbean, finally docking in Miami. It was a grand time! We thank them very much.

San Jose, Costa Rica

Panama City at dawn from a distance.

There was one foot on each side for the container ship in the lock next to us through the Panama Canal.

Our ship is going into the locks and on to Gatun Lake in the middle of Panama. Notice the cog train (on the left) stabilizing the ship as we slowly traveled through the locks.

Sunset in the Caribbean

The ship's dining room

At one point on the cruise, Marilyn asked us, "Why do all the waiters know your and Jim's names?" I chuckled and said, "Marilyn, look around. Many of the waiters are gay friendly and Jim and I are the only gays aboard." She smiled and said, "It's wonderful how they take such good care of you."

Our beloved waiters.

Oranjestad, Aruba

The countryside in Aruba.

Some, in Aruba, grow their fences with cactus.

The Dutch St. Maartin countryside.

The French side of St. Maartin from a tour bus.

Jim (right foreground) and Doug on the main street in St. Barts. It was teeming with activity.

Me and Jim having strong French coffee in St. Barts. The main street is on the right.

While we were having coffee, a woman rented the inflatable boat and took off to parts unknown.

Two guys and a woman rented another boat. St. Barts is a busy place. People-watching was enjoyable.

We're ready to go in Tortola.

The four of us on an island off Tortola. Thank you, kind lady, for taking this. We all laughed the entire trip. I forgot to bring my cowboy hat and had to have the beginnings of skin cancer burned off my nose and cheeks when we returned home.

The beach on a Tortola island. Tortola is in the distance.

Miami.

Dawson and Andy had been staying in a kennel for those "weeks that seemed like years" for all 4 of us. Dawson had tear marks down his face when we rescued them. The first night in the kennel, Andy destroyed the bed we'd made for their stay. He remained pissed at us for a week after we got back.

Dawson, our beloved Bouvier, must have known he was near the end. His "kennel cough" was really cancer surrounding his heart and lungs. We'd known about it but Dos suddenly succumbed two weeks later, only one day after his 10th birthday. We were stunned.

Dos was our fearless bear and coyote chaser when we lived in the mountains. Certain coyotes, however, would often linger in the area and "talk" to Dawson by yipping the same bark pattern that Dos would use. He would answer their yips. The coyotes in Cherry Hills Village, at Marilyn and Doug's home in Denver, did the same.

Dos was gentle with everyone and had the deepest bark of any dog I've ever known, which terrified strangers. In South Park, we finally met the people who lived at the bottom of the valley and they asked me who owned the dog with the ultra-deep bark. When I said we did, they grinned and stated, "When he barks, we listen." However, when Dos would beg for a treat he'd let out an ultra-high pitched squeak that would make us laugh.

Dawson will always be missed for his loyalty and undying love for us. He considered this RV Park his and sniffed every RV, car and truck on our late night walks. Everyone loved him even though he'd stick his nose in people's crotches, often from behind, which made them jump in astonishment.

Andy mourned Dawson's passing for three days, then realized he was now top dog, something he'd aspired to his entire 4 years. He became a "grown-up" within two weeks. He now walks at whatever pace we go, allows children to hug him and leans on women. Since a man in Fairplay, 3 years ago, kicked him while I wasn't nearby, he won't come near most men unless they totally ignore him and let him make friends with them on his own terms. Some, who must look like his attacker, he may never get close to. But, he's forgetting about that trauma, little by little. The man who kicked Andy needs to be bitten in the ass, but maybe that's why he kicks dogs.

Andy is a new breed called a Great Bernese. He's a cross between Great Pyrenees and Bernese Mountain Dog. Nearly every other Great Bernese I've seen looks exactly like Andy.

Comments we get from passers-by on walks with Andy range from, "He's gorgeous!" "He's huge!" "He's so well behaved." Andy is all that. And he became well behaved because he decided to. After all, he's now top dog.

Andy wraps his front leg around us when we love on him. Our dear lesbian friend, Mo, said that's his hug. Mo and Andy have a special thing between them. They sit on the couch together with Andy's head in her lap her entire visit. She loves coming to our RV for her "Andy fix." Andy loves no one else like he loves Mo, not even Jim or me.

As a result of Jim's bicycle accident last year, he underwent his second surgery on his broken neck in April, 09. It was extremely painful for Jim the first two weeks after the surgery and twice I rushed him to the emergency room for pain control. Now, after three months, his neck no longer hurts, but the degeneration in his lower spine makes it hard for him to walk because of extreme sciatica. Once his neck is totally healed and his neck brace can come off (the end of August), he can have his lower back worked on. I bought Jim an electric scooter (1/4 the cost at an estate sale) so he can zip about the park and nature trails near the RV Park. He takes Andy except when he goes to the grocery store a mile away. Andy always seems to have a smile when he goes with Jim.

On June 7th, here in Denver, we had an afternoon rain with hail and a few tornados. Nearly every day thereafter, we had torrential rains with hail, flooding, dangerous lightning and many weak tornados, even in the Denver area but mostly in eastern Colorado. We came within one tenth of an inch of setting a new record for wetness in June (the wettest was in 1882).

Only one torrent in the RV Park that lasted an hour. We got over an inch and a half of rain with this one.

I've loved this weather. This has been like the Junes I grew up with here in Denver. Colorado has experienced a severe drought for the past 10 years. Last summer, it rained only 3 times. In 2005, while we were still living in the mountains, it was so bone dry, all the plants and grasses and many aspens died from thirst as did much of the wildlife.

The local news stated that this year, 2009, Colorado resembles Ireland.

The moisture may not last. This July, we are entering a period of very hot and dry conditions. The unusually tall grasses and undergrowth can completely dry out and become fire tinder in 2 weeks if we don't get any more rain.

Book Six is on its way and I'm relishing the accounts coming in from Jake and Wiley. I'm glad they're back in touch. I've missed them. I'm writing all their travels down as soon as they arrive." I'm also reading all the books again to get back into the thick of things. I still laugh at Jake. He's his own person. I have absolutely no control over him.

Jim's health is my top priority right now. He can't drive and won't be able to drive for another month or so. It's a new experience for both of us to go to the grocery store. Since he can barely walk, Jim maneuvers through the store in an electric cart and he wants me to walk ahead making sure he doesn't run over anyone, including me. He knocked down a few displays at first, but now has the hang of operating the carts. If the cart conks out in the back of the store, I drive him up a new cart since he'd never make it to the front of the store from the pain of walking that far. I bashed into a meat cooler the first time I brought him a new cart. That dent raises its eyebrow at me very time I walk by it. It knows I snickered when Jim collapsed his first display.

Let's keep track of what's going on in the government. We gays seem to know who's telling the truth. We need to unite against the rampant lies. And the lies come from both sides. Greed rules this country with an iron fist. Let's pray Obama doesn't get strangled by Greed, like we are.

One last thought. I learned from some straight construction workers in Up-State New York to use Avon's "Skin So Soft' to keep mosquitoes away. After investigating, I found that Avon uses lavender oil in "Skin So Soft." I bought a vial of lavender oil and a cheap unscented lotion. I mixed in 5-6 drops of the potent lavender oil into the lotion and voila...a mosquito repellant that works and doesn't smell like hell. I don't think Jake would use it even though the lavender scent lingers only a short while, but the protection lasts for hours. Colorado is one of the top states this year for the West Nile Virus.

Have a great summer! Use sunscreen and mosquito repellant.

Thanks for liking Jake and Wiley, et al. We all miss them! I'm working on it!

The very night that I was going to send this to Cowboy Frank to put on the website, Monday, July 20, 2009, we had the most violent storm I've ever been in. It lasted only 20 minutes. We could hear the roar of it coming and it was extremely scary. Suddenly, wind, hail and rain blasted the area. All three of our skylights were destroyed instantly by the nickel-size hail and we were scrambling with towels and tubs to catch the rain and hail pouring into the RV. Our bed got soaked before we could get a tub under the deluge. Our awning collapsed from the wind and hail and we couldn't get out the door. I had to cut it away to open the door. Ten trees were toppled in the RV Park and two of them crashed into RVs. Twice, I could feel our RV rise up from the ground. Then, the storm was gone. A huge area of northwest Denver was wracked by the same storm. Trees were downed in a vast area of the city. The next day the weather people couldn't decide if the downed trees were caused by tornados that didn't touch the ground or micro bursts.

In the pictures, the awning is ours. The potted flowers, tomato and peppers survived because I'd sprayed them with bug killer and knowing rain was on the way, I didn't want it washed off so I put them under the awning. When the awning collapsed, the tomato plant was knocked off the table. It survived but we lost 3 tomatoes. We now have only 12 tomatoes on the plant.

No one expected the violence. The storm happened at 10 p.m. We and 50,000 others were without power all night. The pictures were taken the next morning.

We're fine and we have a mobile RV repair service that will fix everything here so we don't have to move our home anywhere. Neither of us is in any physical condition to get the RV mobile right now. DM RV Repair is a God-send. The awning is already down and two of the skylights are replaced. They are members of the BBB. If our insurance company denies the claim, saying it's "our fault" like it did the last time, I'm calling my lawyer and texting President Obama.

Hey, read my books again, like I'm doing. I still laugh at Jake. Like I said, I have absolutely no control over him.

Dave Brown

Email Golden Feather Series Dave2@GoldenFeatherPress.com