MADDOGS

THE ADVENTURE CREW: Master, The Nomad, Sweet Bird of Freedom (aka Freeta Roam), Pixie & Pod, Miss Cycle, Ivan the writing muse, Jude, and the brains of the crew--Croc. DOUBLE-CLICK ON ANY PHOTO TO ENLARGE

Sunday, July 30, 2006

Say "NO" to Crack!

Jude's been housesitting for the past 10 days. A few more to go, then we get a couple days break before going to the next house.

The Crew's decided we need a break when all this housesitting is done AND after Megan and Adam get married August 25th. The Nomad's put his vote in for Fort Bragg and the rest of us agreed. We're thinking the first part of September we will resume our wandering ways.

Oh yeah, Louise and Jude finished their latest screenplay 10 Million Reasons to Die. Now they're slaving away to make all the dialogue pop pop pop. Watch for them on the Academy Awards.

posted by crow # 3:44 PM 0 comments

Monday, July 17, 2006

Beastie Sitting the Gurls

Jude's been beatsie sitting the Gurls at Sandy and Terry's in 100+ weather, while they were off enjoying the cool weather on the coast. Besides playing with the Furry Burrys, she wrote, read, and watched some movies. Now it's one night at the stickhouse, then on to another housesitting gig.

Tonight Jude went out to talk and eat with friends--Susan, Maureen & Melody. The friends all drank watermellon Margureittas and got quite buzzed (yes, Jude did abstain), becoming extremely entertaining and quite giggly. (Truth be known, Jude didn't need Margreittas. She was already buzzed and quite giggly.) Added to the mix was the singing waiter who didn't seem to mind that dinner stretched into a three hour affair.

posted by crow # 9:48 PM 0 comments

Serial Killer Theory

So Louise has this Serial Killer Theory that The Crew gets rousted by cops because the Nomad is a van--a white van ta-boot! And what does the majority of serial killers drive? White vans.

Oh Boy! Are we in trouble now! How do we improve our image so the cops don't think Jude is a serial killer?

1--Should she comb her hair and tone down her appearance?
2--Have the X tattoo lazered off her forehead?
3--Hide her axes under the front seat, instead of displaying them on the dash?
4--Join the Any non-serial killers from Ohio group? "Oh hi there. I'm Jude from Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. You know, just down the road from where Jeffrey Dahmer lived."
5--Paint the Nomad to look like a giant killer bee?
6--ALL OF THE ABOVE

Jude has got to work on this serial killer image thing.

FYI--in case you didn't know, the above pics are of Rob Zombie, one of Jude's favorite music groups.

Call of the Zombie Lyrics
And out of the darkness, the Zombie did call
True pain and suffering he brought to them all
Away ran the children to hide in their beds,
For fear that the devil would chop off their heads.

posted by crow # 8:44 AM 0 comments

Thursday, July 13, 2006

Neon Electric

OK. OK. Jude kept thinking about that NEON thing and decided to give it a whirl.

As stated previously, Jude's decided to work on her creative side of photography (thanks to Nan Goldin). She may not know what she's doing, but she is having fun. All of which has been a good thing because...

Instead of wiling away the evening hours (read "wasting time"), she's been making actual plans and doing something. Sometimes photography, sometimes poetry, sometimes getting rid of collected junk. All in all this is good for The Crew because Jude is less prone to whining.

posted by crow # 8:26 AM 0 comments

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Electric Still Life

You may have been thinking "NEON," but Jude was thinking "HARD WIRE."

Post by Jude:
In my lifetime thus far, I've owned two vans. A Ford Econoline cargo LB, and a Chrysler minivan. I turned both into camping vans.

The Ford didn't have any electricity and was a rough-and-make-do type affair, the only thing remotely electric was a flashlight.

The Chrysler (In retrospect I would've gotten a full-size van)...
Q: Where in the world was my head?
A: Stuffed up my ASS no doubt.
...is luxurious in that it has an electrical system. Meaning I have and can use, a computer, TV, VCR, DVD, radio/CD player, and fan. There is also a fantastic-fan in the ceiling.

My next van will be full-size, but I'm going to install a more complex electrical system. With that in mind, my wish-book list includes:

Managing 12-volts --by Howard Barre
Living on 12 Volts With Ample Power --by David Smead
Basic Electricity --published by Onan generators

posted by crow # 10:42 AM 0 comments

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

In the Mirror

Jude's kids and their friends invented the tradition of taking their photos outside of public restrooms, usually in GQ poses. On the beach, in airports, am/pm's, whatever. Wherever they traveled, restroom photos came home. Outing to Disneyland, trip to Mexico or New York--our collection of restroom photos rival any in the world--in fact, it may be the only collection.

So in keeping with tradition, Jude has moved inside the restroom, taking self-portraits in restroom mirrors. One day soon there will be enough to put into a book: In the Mirror.

Is this a great idea or what?

Feel free to offer your opinion. It undoubtedly won't be taken into consideration, but at least you'll get it off your chest.

posted by crow # 10:23 PM 0 comments

On a Quest

Sunday, Terry left a one-word message on Jude's cell: ROADTRIP!

The ensuing conversation:
J--When?
T--Tomorrow (Monday).
J--Time?
T--9:30am.
J--OK.
T--Don't you want to know where we're going?
J--Surprise me.

We went to San Francisco--on a quest...

...for angels with swords.

And the quest led us to Mission Delores. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission_San_Francisco_de_Asis)

posted by crow # 8:50 AM 0 comments

Thursday, July 06, 2006

Rousted Again!

So here The Crew was, minding our own business at Merritts Landing--nothing illegal here. Enjoying the river, the shade, and the slight breeze--nothing illegal here. Reading a little, writing a little, straightening the Nomad a little--ditto. It was about 8:15pm, still at least 45 minutes away from sunset (meaning when the sun disappears beyond the horizon)--ditto.

And we are rousted by the Yolo County Sheriff's. Officer Keister on the driver's side, another unknown officer on the other--hands on still-holstered guns. They just wanted to see if Jude was doing anything "illegal" (Does she even know how to do anything illegal?) AND to inform us that the sunset was coming in about an hour (like we were stupid). AND to intimidate us for being there in a perfectly legal place.

We held our ground--Jude even pushed the envelope by letting them know the harsh feelings she had about them trying to roust us AND we stayed until sunset--the legal quitting time.

Merritts is the closest place we have to get somewhat away from city life, and we are not about to give it up. One day we may move away, but for now we're willing to do battle with the Yolo County Sheriffs for our rights.

posted by crow # 10:26 PM 0 comments

Saturday, July 01, 2006

Pet Peeve 4,972

You may think that 4,972 are a lot of pet peeves. We'll let us tell you, it takes alot of $ to keep those peeves in food. If Jude could drop them all off at the Yolo County Shelter for homeless pets, she would--they'd deserve the added expense.

O.K. These are the signs that were posted about two years ago on the Yolo County side of the Sac River. And we can not tell you how many times the cops have rousted The Crew.

Q: How can access to the river (a maritime river no less) be denied?

A: The reclamation committee is none other than the land owners, and they've decided no one can park or have access because they want sole fishing rights. There are fishing docks all along the river--they have access. There are places to park--they park. If anyone else parks, the cops run them off, saying that parked cars damage the levees. Why is it that the land owners & marina renters' cars don't damage the levee and everyone else's does?

Jude says, "If they can claim access, forbidding others, then let them maintain the levees--not the tax payers." Of course they scream bloody murder about that.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOLO COUNTY? They are a bunch of idiots and we hope they get bit in the ass--HARD!

OK...on to other topics...
We saw this boat whenThe Crew did their Saturday morning thing, where we go to Merritts (the only place anyone can go on the Yolo side without getting run off) and Jude calls her moms and talks until her cell dies of over-activity. While talking, she cleaned, dusted, and tidied The Nomad.

Then she was soooo tired, she HAD to take a short snooze. This was the view from the bed.

Then on the way back to the stickhouse (had to go there so Jude could screenplay write with Louise over the speaker phone), we saw this sailboat. It was tall enough that the Freeport draw bridge had to open up to let it through.

We had fun in spite of the STINKIN' YOLO COUNTY.

posted by crow # 8:58 PM 0 comments