Happedy hap haps

WELP, I am officially unemployed. It ended yesterday,the 9th. The intimidation, abuse, belittling and bigotry are officially a thing of the past, forever. Today starts a new chapter in your hero's life. One filled with adventure and babes! Robots! Dinosaurs! Awesome!

All seriousness aside, I am going back to cooking. I was in the shower, doing what I do best ( not that), and I think that the last time I was really happy at work was when I was cooking. I like the atmosphere. Restaurants are,by necessity, staffed by nuts, and I like nuts. A bit of crazy is good. I think you find the same in tattoo shops, indy motorcycle shops, and theaters. So, I am going to, as I have said here before, open a food truck. It will be called Route 66, and it will serve hamburgers,cheeseburgers, fries,onion rings, and the like. It will be unique here in Grenoble, but not unique in France. It will be successful, and FUN.

Speaking of abuse, I have had to separate myself from my brother. He suddenly became very abusive toward me and Jessica, making impossible threats, accusing us of things... Real schoolyard bully behavior. He has done this sort of thing before, and I have always forgiven and forgotten, but this time is different. I cannot have such negative people in my life, even if they are family, so I have needed to step away. Some might think that I  am turning my back on my family,and that is fine. I don't see it that way, it's just for my family's safety,and my mental health. I believe he is dangerous and unbalanced, so, goodbye for now, K. Until you can clean up your own kitchen, please stay away from mine.


Did you know that I am not 20 years old anymore? Neither did I!! I was on my bike, being the Action Sports Hero that I was born to be, and I fell off. Bent my Fuck You finger back towards the back of my hand. This was just before June 17, Fathers Day.

Exactly like this.

Anyhoo, it's been 3 weeks now, and the pain is mostly gone but the swelling is still present, and it doesn't like to move so much. Its not broken, but the Doctor says that I might need surgery anyway. WOOT! Then, last week, I responsibly removed the splint, again, grabbed my bike and my kid, and hit the same trail! Fell again! Using skills taught to me by ninjas in the far east (Indiana) ( HOOSIERS!! WOO!!!), I deftly broke my fall by impaling my wrist on the crank gear teeth on my bike. Picture it. On a steep mountainside, no cell service, on a weekday so few if any hikers, bleeding like a stuck pig with 2 fresh gouges in your wrist. With your slightly panicked 14 year old. Good times. Adventures suck when you are having them. Long story short, I am now banned ( grounded) from my bike until I have healed somewhat. Taaaaariffic.

My mom will be here in a couple weeks, so we are all pretty excited about that. It's gonna be pretty low key, no GIANT parties, a barbecue on the 28th, a day trip to Nyons, another to Lyon, a lazy boat ride in Pont-en-Royans, and a lot of lizard style lazin in the sun. Cow tipping. Fondues. Wine. You know,the usual nightmarish things one must endure, living in a third world shithole like France.

That's all I got. Peace.

The happenin haps

Really,just the same old,same old,as the kids say. My job will be over July 4, I have been hiking and biking a lot,  and I am still on track to start My Own Business. Lots and lots of family drama, here and back in the States. My mother will be here in three weeks,or so,and will be staying three weeks. Life here in the Alps is boring as shit, and that is how we like it. We have a whole bunch of new cows, and they are super friendly. I have taken a bunch of new pictures, you can find em https://www.facebook.com/picturesoffrance right there. I am really into graffiti.

Daniel is out of school for the year, and I hope next year goes better than this one did. It didn't go bad, but this whole teenage thing... I dunno. I hope this passes.

Thats about it, for now. No news, I guess, is good news.

Summer

Welp, warm weather has arrived, and with it, the cows. As I have said, we live on a mellow ski slope,  a total of 6 buildings, and  June comes with a bonus; Cows! Calves, really, they were born last fall, and are almost fully grown cows. Friggin adorable.

These cows belong to the folks who run a fromagerie on the Charmant Som. They have a little cafe up there, serve pies and coffee to the hikers, and sell cheese. These cows you see here will spend the summer with us, then go wherever they go for the winter, then next summer will be living up top, making milk for cheese.

Every year there are one or two cows that are friendlier than the others. This bunch is kinda funny, though, they have taken a liking to Mountain Man's dog, that he keeps tied up outside. Dog howls, cows moo. The first cow to come and try to eat my shirt, her name is 1370. She's  cool. My mother will love her.

 Thats all I got. Job bullshit is about over, and a new chapter in my life is about to begin. The future is looking good.

Peace.

To Chambery, and beyond!

Chambery is a city North East of Mont Moi, according to Wikipedia, and it only has about 57000 folks living there, but it feels much larger. It is in the Savoie region, and I am in love with their food. I fucking LOVE savoyard munchies. Just so you know, am I am writing this, Holland just won the election. He is a Socialist, so he may have the Politburo come liquidate me, you never know.

Where was I? Oh yeah, Chambery. They have a bitchen pedestrian district, a cool castle, which now is home to a museum, and some government offices. See more here.
http://www.chambery.fr/

In the center of town there is a weird fountain with elephants all over it. A little out of place in the Alps, yeah? It is a sort of memorial to a guy who went off to the Indies to be a soldier for France and make his fortune. He did, retired, came back to Chambery, and gave the city the gift of a shitload of money. They thanked him with a cool fountain.

After Chambery, nature struck!! Dom dom dommmm!

Please forgive this post. I think that I am a little drunk on a bitchen badass day, and the first barbeque of the summer, and today was a great day. If you want to see some more pics, go to my FB page.

https://www.facebook.com/picturesoffrance

Peace.

Here's a  few new pictures for your approval. They are of a hike I went on Friday, and a day in Grenoble yesterday. I think I told you, I got a new to me, not very gently used camera from my kid. Takes way better pictures than my cell phone.

I saw this big ass bunny, and I was afraid that it was that killer rabbit from the Monty python movie, because it was running straight at me, but it turned and an away.

In the event of a zombie apocalypse, you can find us here.

That was Friday. Saturday, Jessica and I saddled up the horses and rode into town.

An open container violation in the States, downtown flea market day here.

This building has public toilets. It's in a new park, and the outside is mirrored, and on the mirrors are the words and music to Imagine, by John Lennon.

The view of Grenoble, from Fort St. Eynard.


If you want to see the rest, go here.
https://www.facebook.com/picturesoffrance

Peace.

I got a new toy.

Oh,a year ago,or so, Daniel got himself a new camera. Unfortunately, he never used it too much. Last week, he 'gave' it to me. I am using it for my new thing which is taking pictures of  graffiti. Some is, of course, unsightly, or maybe sending gang messages,or just mindless, but some is amazing. Behold.

This one is my favorite.

Hang in there, I have a bunch more.

As you know, when I got the cell phone I'm currently rocking, I kinda started going nuts with the pics.  See more here, on this Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/picturesoffrance

Plenty of other news, now that I think about it. Jessica may need yet another operation on the ankle, Daniel is being a giant pain in the ass teenager ( growing up is fucking hard) , and my brother has decided that me and my family are no longer worthy of his love, and has 'divorced' us. Sorry, my family and I. My cat, Taco, is a window licker, but we try not to judge him too harshly.

I hope that the snow has fallen for the last time this year, it snowed every damn night for the two weeks during the middle of this month, and I am sick of it. My mother will arrive in July for 3 weeks, so needless to say,I am looking forward to that.

Thats about all I got. I need suggestions for the name of my restaurant truck. It's gonna serve burgers and fries, hot dogs and onion rings, maybe quesadillas. I had chosen Sans Fourchette ( without a fork) but someone here doesn't like it.

You may have noticed a lack of bitching about, say, the TSA on todays post. There is a couple reasons for that. First, it doesn't change shit, my complaining. Honestly, there are lots and lots of blogs that do nothing but bitch about the TSA, if that is what you want, it is easy to find. Second, I only bitch about a country that I no longer live in, and may never live there again. The farther I manage to distance myself from the States, I see them in a different light. 'Freedom' there is more and more of an illusion every day, the police see the citizens as the enemy, thanks to the Department of Homeland Security. So,in an effort to preserve my own sanity, as I do love the United States of America, I am just not going to bitch about shit that I cannot change anyway. Or, just not quite as much. It's like an addiction.

I just got a book, it's called On The Bro'd, it's a parody of On The Road, maybe you have heard of it. It is wildly entertaining, and I give it five out of five fist pumps.

Peace.