rock and roll musings by Tim Byrnes

Remains of the Days: A Vey Special Episode of punk rock blues

 Hello again friends. I'm so glad to see you. Sorry I've been gone for so long it's been a happening month. Regular readers may recall that my sister Tara and I had something of a falling out about a year and a half ago. I'm happy to say that we've since buried whatever hatchets we had and have spent the last month moving our Aunt Maura from her home here in Fowler, Colorado (population: 1200 saaaaaa-luuuuute!) to a nursing home. Maura requires dialysis 3 times a week and had been traveling 60 miles back and forth for almost a year, now she gets it done 'on site' so to speak. She's well, actually, eating better now that she has a staff and happy.

     So Tara and I have been packing 84 years of collected items into boxes; divvying furniture, appliances and knick knacks up between ex- husbands, landlords, neighbors and each other. All the while ignoring the 800 pound gorilla in the room.

     Maura's going to die.

     Not tonight, not even soon (I hope), but inevitably. And of course such thoughts of mortality wander off into thoughts of our own but we push all that back, like we do every day, and get on with the task at hand. Which is like a very localized arheological dig. One minute yr wrapping plates in newspaper. You open the next drawer and see it. A photo. A Xmas Card, a piece of costume jewelery or something that you haven't seen in 40 years but the minute you see it yr there. In that moment. A 6 year old, 7 year old boy and yr Aunt's a real tomato again; laughing loudly at a cookout in some 1960's backyard. And for that semisecond flash of rememberance yr Mother's not dead. Yr Father's not dead. Yr somehow safe in the confusion of youth, not threatened because ........... and that's where the feeling fades.

     My Aunt has a small 13 yr old Llapso-Apso (I probably spelled that wrong. I certainly can't pronounce it so I just call him an Apaloosa, which I probably also misspelled but yr gonna have to take my word on it that I can pronounce it) named Sammy Davis Jr. who I've inherited. Buster gets a brother while Mickey and Bleek get a scratching post. The poor guy's got like 2 teeth left and has been an old lady's dog his whole life. As luck would have it, my buddy Everett's place became available recently and while I probably can't really afford it. my landlord kinda pushed me to take it. I've been doing little repairs around the 'complex' lately and while I don't often have the whole rent, he never has to come looking for me to get what I do give him which apparently is not the case w/some if not most of the other tenants here.

     My landlord, Clarence is a 93 year old saint. The Sunset West Apartments, where I live, is basically the Ghetto of Fowler. Where all the poorest of the poor live. Where guys like me wind up when they leave their wives (saw Lynn at a softball game the other day, she says 'hi') and where kids just out of high school move in, party like it's 1999 for a few months and then move out in the middle of the night. So Clarence sees that I'm actually trying and cuts me a break for which I'm very thankful. The new place is an actual house. After 2 years of basements, friend's couches and my one room studio I'm really looking forward (and I mean that it more ways than one) to having seperate rooms for cooking, sleeping and eating. And the best part is IT HAS AN UPSTAIRS!! An attic really with a door out to the roof! I'm gonna give guitar lessons up there. At least that's the plan. Actually the best part is that it has a small, fenced yard so Buster and Sammy (I'm thinking of changing his name to Marilyn Manson to goof on the neighbors, whattaya think?) can run.

     Traded my car for a used computer and $100. Haven't seen the hundred yet but the computer was the 1st thing Ii moved into the new house. No net access yet, but soon. Been getting more hours at work and am looking into setting up an ebay store to help my sister get rid of some of our Aunts stuff. Might turn it into a cottage industry. Music's on the back burner for now but life itself is shaping up interestingly. New beginnings and all that crap.

    Stick around cause I'm gonna and maybe next time I'll actually write something about music instead of all this 'Oh, Christ, I'm just a cashier' nonsense.

Posted by: timbyrnes at 17:31 | link | comments (2)

Comments:

#1  22 June 2006 - 19:25

 

wow tim -- good work you're doing for your family and you deserve the decent new digs. while going in and out of the time warp again as well, eh? and glad you got the dog. hope it all works out among the critters. good to hear from you. take care.

limine

#2  06 July 2006 - 03:34

 

Hope the new place works out great, and paryers for the whole situation with your aunt. glad to hear that you and your sister made up.

Jim

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