Chapter One...Loose Ends Installment #2

INSTALLMENT #2
Kevin:
Kevin Jackson traced a raindrop down the inside of the
window pane with a well manicured fingernail. It had been a
rough day at work and he was homesick. He had left
Massachusetts 5 months earlier to follow a dream to San
Francisco and now he wondered if he had thought the whole
thing completely through. Boston had been home for two years
and he had a lot of friends there. San Francisco was proving to be
harder than it should be. Of course before Boston, it had been
Dallas and before that Denver, followed by Kansas City. It was
not that he was a drifter, it was just that his jobs became boring
after a time and a change of scenery was in order. But San
Francisco should have been better. They had the largest gay
population and programs and doctors to help him manage his
HIV/AIDS, so why was he unhappy now? Work was great and
the staff he worked with in Alameda County was a bunch of
caring people. The program was one he had wanted to oversee
and was a challenge which helped bolster his resume in case he
ever decided to move to another hospital.
Then there was that little problem of home ownership. In
Boston he had rented but he still had $150,000 in his escrow
account from the sale of his home in Dallas. But this was
California and that kind of money would not even make a good
down payment on a home of any kind. So he contented himself
with an apartment on the second floor of a complex 45 minutes
from the hospital where he worked. The view was of the next row
of apartments, but there was the little courtyard so it was not that
bad. Usually any extra time would be spent on the trail running.
Kevin liked to do at least 3 miles every day and the weekends
were good for 7-10, but not in the rain. Rain was good for
9
keeping him inside and being inside was depressing. It made him
think too much. Like now.
His mind drifted back to Montana and a very lonely
childhood. Mom tried, but mom did not understand the teenage
boy struggling with his sexuality. Then along came Tommy. Tom
was great, but by then he knew and there was no reason to talk it
over with anyone. He was a freak who liked boys. Talk was
cheap. Just how to keep mom from finding out now.
He remembered the move to Colorado. He tried to fit in at
the high school, but found no acceptance until he joined the
Drama Club. They were his kind of friends. Eric and he really
hit it off. He remembered the night of the Senior prom. He and
Eric both had dates and after the dance they took them home.
Then he and Eric had gone to the Nature Center to walk along
the river. That was his first experience with a person, male or
female and it was not an easy memory to recall. They were both
new at this, but they knew what they wanted. So long ago and far
away. Now there were only fond memories of Eric and there
would never be any more made. Eric had died in 1997 while
Kevin was away at College.
No one had told him. No one had told him how Eric
suffered with the Pneumonia that is common in AIDS cases. He
learned from his mom on Christmas break that Eric had died of
cancer or some such thing.
“Did you know him well, honey?”
“No, mom, not real well.”
Only as well as I knew myself and loved him with every
fiber of my being, because he was just like me. But those were
thoughts best kept to himself. Or they were until he had gone in
for regular testing a year later and learned that love was not the
only thing he shared with Eric. He left the trail of the rain drop
down the window and reached up to trace the tracks of his own
tears. Today was not a good day. Would there ever be another
good day in his life? Oh, Eric!

Chapter One...Loose Ends

Chapter One...Loose Ends

INSTALLMENT #1
*Meg
Meg Parker stood very still in the gathering dusk as she
watched the sun slowly slip below the western rim of the
Rocky Mountains. This little farm in the foothills had been very
good to her. True it was lonely, but not really. Since Tommy
had been killed in the avalanche three years ago, she had made
new friends and kept the old ones. The acre here in "next to
paradise" gave her security and enough to support her volunteer
causes. What had begun as a hobby of a few chickens for eggs
had grown into a chicken farm that put money in her pocket.
Lot of dirty work, but she liked work.
Hard work and perseverance by both her and Tommy
had actually been a blessing in disguise. Tommy had been an
over the road trucker all of his life. When they had met in a
truck stop in Montana back in 1990 it was the end of the road
for both of them. Kevin was just 14 and almost past the need for
a daddy, but he and Tommy had hit it off as buddies. Since
Kevin had never known his father it seemed an ideal
arrangement.
Meg sighed as she remembered the man she knew only
as John Horner. She had been working in a cafe in Selda,
Kansas at the time. Selda was her home and the only one she
knew until John came along. She had graduated and gone to
work at the Steak Shop instead of going to college as her
parents had hoped. Waiting tables paid good in tips and while
there were no benefits, there was a lot to be said for the social
contacts and meals were free. She never tired of the banter with
the customers and sometimes even accepted a date with one of
the fellows. She had just celebrated her 19th birthday when
John Horner walked into her life and turned it completely
upside down.
Meg knew when the door opened and the tall stranger
walked in that he was different from the local boys. And she
was right! He was over 6 foot tall and walked with an air
about him that made everyone's eyes follow him across the
room and to the counter. He knew who he was and he knew
what he wanted. Tonight he wanted food. As Meg handed
him the menu their fingers touched briefly and their eyes
met. As she stared into his brown eyes she felt a jolt to the
bottom of her soul. This was fate as surely as fate had ever
walked, and it had just walked into her life.
The next two days were spent in an agitated state as she
waited for him to enter the Steak Shop again. And then, there
he was. He gave her a fleeting smile as he settled at the
counter. But tonight she had the dining room and Greta had the
counter. Greta was married with kids at home and the stranger
held no interest for her, but Meg could not help but admire him
as he chatted with a couple at the counter and with the cook
who was running the Charcoal that night. After an agonizing
period of time he paid his bill and left without a backward
glance. Meg was crushed. Then Greta handed her a napkin.
"Your sweetie pie left you this. Quite taken with you, I
think. Asked a million questions, but you better watch him.
Guys like that leave girls like us crying in the dust." Then she
laughed and began wiping the counter.
Meg stared at the note in her hand. "Tomorrow-7:30.
Ted's Roadhouse. Drinks and a dance." There was nowhere to
check yes or no. No telephone to call and say "Sorry, can't make
it." Presumptuous bastard! Then she smiled softly to herself. No
reason not to go. She was off the next two nights and this man
gave her an itch she could not scratch. She would go, just out of
idle curiosity was all. Just find out who this guy was.
And find out she did! John was a pipe fitter working on
the construction at the new hospital on the east side of town. He
was from Nebraska; twenty-six years old and still lived at home
with mom and dad on the farm. He had a wonderful sense of
humor and as he guided her to the dance floor and took her in his
arms she knew that life as she knew it was over. And the last
thing that went through her mind as she drifted off to sleep in his
bed at the Motel 6 that night was an old adage she had heard
years ago…”Eyes of blue; a love that’s true. Eyes of brown will
let you down.” But tonight was not a night for adages, it was a
night for new beginnings.
Meg began to dread the day the hospital would be done
as she knew John would leave; probably. Days were spent in
work and nights were spent in his arms. They laughed, they
loved and talked of future plans. It seemed they lived in an
idyllic world and were not touched by the mundane. He talked
little about his life in Nebraska and not at all about his plans
when the job here was done.
Two months and she was late on her period. She
wondered briefly what John would say, but instinctively knew he
would be happy. They could start their lives together. As she
walked across the hotel lobby to pick up the room key a
headline caught her eye. She stopped to study the front page.
HOSPITAL NEARS COMPLETION.
Well, there it was. Things were nearing completion and
her and John could make some decisions. She reached the desk
and smiled at the clerk. Nebraska might be a welcome change
from the humidity of Kansas.
“Room 609, please.”
The clerk looked at her kn er knowingly. “Sorry, Meg, he
checked out this morning. He is gone.”
“No! He is not.”
“Here. See for yourself.” The clerk smirked as he handed
her the key.
Meg took the key which suddenly felt very big and very
cold and started the ascent in the elevator. At room 609 she
placed the key in the lock and turned it to the right. The door
swung open into a big, cold, empty room. It smelled of Lysol
and Tropical Flowers, but not of John Horner. There was
nothing personal anywhere. No sign that John had ever been
there. No warmth or laughter or anything that would show how
much happiness she had known.
On feet of lead she approached the desk for the second
time and handed the key to the clerk, Brian, she recalled
suddenly.
“When did he check out?”
“Right after you left this morning. Hell bent on putting
this town behind him, it seemed.”
“Did he leave a forwarding address?” She suddenly
remembered all the things they had not discussed. “Where do
you send the final bill?”
“Paid cash, Meg. His business here is done.” Brian
smiled ruefully. “Sorry, I
know you really had the hots for him, but maybe now somebody
else will have a chance.” He winked playfully and Meg suddenly
felt a sob welling up in her throat and
turned and ran from the Motel 6 and into the bright sun outside.
Meg wiped a tear from her eye as she noticed it was
dark now and the sun was only a bit or rose color on the far
horizon. She had hoped against hope that John would come
back, but he hadn’t. When she had inquired at the construction
company about him, they had never heard of John Horner. Was
she insane? Maybe, but the child growing inside of her was not
a figment of her imagination. So she had taken her meager
saving and moved to Montana to at least spare her mom and
dad the humiliation of her transgressions. Kevin Lee Jackson
was born in the county hospital and his bill was paid by the
state of Montana. A welfare baby. But her baby.
And it was all water under the bridge because now she
was a widow in Colorado and Kevin was a computer
programmer and system analyst in San Francisco. And he was
gay and he was HIV positive. He had his life and she had hers.
She had Tommy’s ashes on the nightstand by her bed and a very
long road to travel before she could ever reach the prize
whatever it might be.
As Meg turned toward the house she once more heard a
country western song play through her mind, “Brown Eyed
Handsome Man“ She rarely thought of John Horner and the
eyes of brown that let her down and she would not think of him
tonight. Tonight she would remember her Tommy. Tommy, 5’9”
and eyes of sky blue. Tommy with his laughter and honesty and
kindness and love that had brought her from the footloose girl in
Montana to the settled, secure, kind, caring, compassionate,
giving woman in Colorado; the woman who faced the West and
had no desire to cross the mountain.

I will show you how simple this can be!

This is one of the signs we used 2 years ago at a march against Monsanto.  Finally got a an initiative on the ballot to label our food.  Course you know what happened...big business flooded our little state with advertising for a "NO" vote.  Sad little farmers cleaned up and in their white shirts and cowboy hats explained how if this measure passed, they would have to spend soooooooo  much money for storage and labels that they would go broke and the prices at the grocery stores would sky rocket and they were just trying to make a living while keeping our costs down.   The end result was that almost 70%  of the voters bought that crap.  So now we are back to the drawing board, but I have a better idea.

This is a bag of chips I bought at Whole Foods, or Vitamin Cottage or Natural Grocers or what ever name you know them by up on 29th.

See.  Gluten Free, Natural Foods right there on the front of the package.  Boulder Canyon Natural Foods.  Cost me 99 cents.  But look down here in the corner.

See that little sign in the lower right hand corner?  That says "NON GMO Project Verified.  These are damn good chips, but the packaging is to die for.  They had me on the front of the package, but when I turned it over, it was love at first sight!  I don't have to dig out my list and see if this stuff has been violated by the same people who make agent orange. and expect me to eat corn that makes a worm hemmorage and die.

Starting on the top left and reading to the right are all these bits of info that I need to make an informed decision about what I am putting in my mouth.  All Natural, Non GMO Project Verified, No Trans Fat, No Cholesterol, No MSG, Certified Gluten Free, Kosher, Vegan, We Use Green Energy.  Of course the list of ingredients lists everything inside the bag.  What more could we ask for?

Now I realize we can get another ballot initiative on in a year or so, but that would just entail millions of dollars in advertising and there are people who vote the best ads and we know it.  So wouldn't it be nice if the products that were NOT Genetically Modified or  GMO as we know them would clearly label them as such?  There are lists of companies which use GMO's readilly available on the Internet, but those need to be carried with you.  It would be so much easier if the companies voluntarily did this.  Oh, I am hoping, because I am a lazy girl and this makes my lot in life much easier.  

So instead of haranging my congressman who really does not give a shit about what I want, I think I will start putting kind words in the big companies ears.  I know the grocery stores are beginning to pay attention to us and are stocking thier shelves with non-GMO products.  I shop that way.

Remember, it is your body and your children depend on you to keep them safe, so lets take back our world, but for now I am sleepy so I am off to bed.

Peace and Happiness!

DiSanti Farm is one busy little place his fall.

They are just like little ants up there getting the harvest in and furnishing us with what we need to make our lives full and our tables heavily laden.  I ran up to the store the other day and happened to notice that DiSanti had trucks in the field loading the pumpkins.  Do you know what that means/  That means I have to get busy and get my peppers in the freezer or I will be making Green Chile with that crap from Hatch, New Mexico.  So I turned the little gray Ford and headed east up South Road.  Ah Hah!

Been doing this for years so I know how it is done!  First I have to circle around in the store, much like a Vulture looking for something the other birds missed.  After picking up a few things to satisfy my vegetarian side, I see my peppers are ready.

Oh, let me just read this menu.  I may come back a little later and pick up something to eat that I do not have to actually cook.

But since it was early and the kitchen was not open, I was out of luck for this morning.  So, being the good little girl I am, I took my purchases home and began the task of rinsing, deseeding and bagging the jewels of Pueblo Mesa farmers.

Now I need to tell you that several people have told me the best way to do these is to simply put small bags of them up with out removing the seeds or the skins.  Then when you take them out to use, you defrost them, rinse the skins off, grab the stem and pull out all the seeds and membranes.  They swear that this retains the smokey roast flavor.  Am I missing something here?  I began to eyeball the peppers and wondered.  Perhaps there was something to that.  I reached down in the bag and pinched off a piece of a pepper and wiped the skin off and popped it in my mouth.

Holy Shinola!  My head made three complete rotations, much like that gal in the Exorcist!  I have yet to find my right eyeball.  My throat is completely gone and my left leg is still twitching.  To say it was very hot would be an understatement.  If it  had a distinct smokey flavor I missed that.  I have had less pain in childbirth.  When I finally quit crying and sobbing, I finished my job, secure in the knowledge that this years chile is going to be wonderful!

So, you do need to remember to wear your rubber gloves.  I keep these around by the case and once when my friend and I were cooking he asked if I had any rubber gloves and I directed him to the drawer.  When he saw my stash he looked at me and said, "Are you a Proctologist?"  Poor fellow has no idea, does he?

To view my youtube trip to DiSanti Farms click here

DiSanti Farms is located at 29114.  The phone number is 719-948-2526 and be sure and tell them Lou Mercer sent you.  They will go nuts trying to figure out who I am!

Enjoy the fruits of Pueblo County while they are fresh!

And stop and see me cause you just drove past my house!

Mother's Day Out PreSchool Program at First Congregational United Church of Christ.

Start you off with a rousing little tour there.  Love to make those things.  Sure hope they are free!

Last Thursday was open house at our church to promote the PreSchool that we sponsor.  All the teachers were there.  Somebody made cookies and something purple to drink.   I kind of shy away from that stuff cause I am trying to watch my waistline and it is ever changing.  Ooops!  back to business.

Enter Tracy Lyn.  Lot better.

Oh, that looks like fun!

Oh, oh!  Going to do lessons.  Alphabet, add and subtract, sing songs, salute the flag, little bit of bible stories, learn to love one another...  I wish I could go to school.   I just love school.  I especially like a new notebook, a spiral, a sharp pencil.  A blank sheet of paper is my fondest possession's and I really love this word program because I have a limitless supply of blank pages.

I did not get a picture of the playground, but the kids just love it.  And Pastor Steve comes with his guitar and teaches them songs.  Pastor Jeanine pops in for Chapel.  Worry about sending the wee ones out into the cold cruel world of school without a firm foundation?  Then Mother's Day Out is here to the rescue.  Kids need to learn kindness and empathy while they are young and the public school system would be much better served with kids that know how to bring out the best in other kids.

Check this out.  See if it will work for your little treasures.  It is very reasonably priced and teaches values the kids will carry with them into adulthood.  Trust me on this.

ColorSplash Paintball 2403 Santa Fe Drive,is way more than that!

I have a step daughter named Jackie Chacanaca who calls me 5 mornings a week to check on me.  I am fine the other 2, apparently.  Any way, after the call she is off to work at her business in Blende, out here on the Mesa.  I am sure you have driven past it on your way into town. You probably never stopped because you are not into Paintball, but the bottom two lines should have got your attention if you have wee ones in school and they need a uniform.  That is what makes the machines rattle!  And I sometimes get to go in early and help her.  That is what happened yesterday.

She called at 6:00 AM and she was already at the shop so I grabbed coffee and headed her way.

Ah, shit!  There is stuff piled every where!

All 6 machines are hammering away embroidering more jackets for me to trim and snip the threads. 

Lord help me! 

The front of the shop is very neat and orderly and pretty well stocked.  She does uniforms for lots of the schools and has a very quick turn around and is priced reasonably.  She not only does school uniforms, but also for the different sports teams.  She is working on carrying scrubs as well.  Needless to say, she is also looking at expansion so we don't have to work back there in the tiny sweat shop area.

This is the painball area which draws the kids, both big and little and those that wish they were in.  She has a field out by the airport which is open on most weekends.  Be sure and call first to be sure.

Oh, Irene is here to help me!  I will be out of here and back home by 8:30.  Hooray!

Floor is cleared!

Boxes are packed.

And I am out of here, but leaving you with  (click on the underlined part)  a link to the sweatshop

Peace to you all, I am sleeping in tomorrow!!

Peppers Plus, 2115 Santa Fe Drive out here in Blende on the Mesa.

Right here in the heart of all the action, yet out on the Mesa, is a mecca of fresh vegetables, yard art,  heavenly smelling flowers, a couple cats, and a dog to keep them in line.  When I first moved out here in 1983, Kenny took me out on the highway to Prutch's farms.  That is where I bought all my peppers, tomatoes, onions, fresh corn and what ever else we required to make the shelves of the food storage area full.  The trip out was always worth it, but then they moved into the heart of the Blende area.  I do not remember what year that was, but here they are.  It had to be more than 15 years ago.

The little pond in the corner of the yard has gone from just a little pond to thisaA place to relax and enjoy a little bit of piece and quiet along the Highway 50 bypass through Blende.  I think I heard a frog chirp.  Might have been my imagination though.  

This is absolutely the best use I have found for a 3 tiered fountain and it requires a lot less water and smells so good!

All kinds of veggies inside and how I got out without a picture of the corn is beyond me!

I bought 2 eggplants, 3 peaches, 3 pablo (?) chiles to stuff and something else.  My purchase was sanctioned by the cat,

and the dog

and my friend, Cheri, who is the head honcho.

And I headed on into town to do a few errands.  You can see all the goodies at the store on my youtube link click here

I may need to turn the music down a little on this one, but later on that.  Got to show you the heart of Mesa Gardens.  It is this!

The mighty Chile Pepper rules our world out here.  Every fall it is required that everyone freeze at least one bushel of chile.  Right now the roasters set idle.

Don't they look harmless there?  Soon they will be spinning bushels of the chile peppers over the propane torch and the aroma will fill the air.  Peppers, garlic, smoke....makes my mouth water to think and talk about it.  Chile roasting time in Pueblo, Colorado is an expeience that can not be explained, but rather has to be lived.  Peppers Plus is open every day until 6:00.  They are located at 2115 Snta Fe Drive, Pueblo, Colorado.  The phone # is 719-546-3137.  Give them a call and they can tell you when the peppers are ready.

Prutch Farms has been out here in business since Pueblo came to be.  They are a very respected business, honest, caring and always happy to see a new face.  They will make you feel right at home.  And as always, tell them Lou Mercer sent you.  (Has not got anyone hung yet!)