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December 17, 2005 Saturday. Sweet glorious restful Saturday. I’m lounging alone, happy and content. After delivering close to a thousand or more packages last week, I need this weekend to get ready for next. Kathy and I gave it all we had, by the time she dropped me off at Madison Auto parts after dark last night we were both spent, but hey, WE DELIVERED! It’s fascinating riding that truck like crazy all over beautiful Cherokee Village. Deer and Squirrel flee, turkey and hawks caught off guard as we turn corners suddenly.. Persimmon, juniper, serviceberry, hackberry, Russian olive and mock orange, even Osage orange and crabapple and many others decorate the revolving landscape. Deep ravines with rocky outcrops drain water to Southfork River, a precious waterway snaking through the heart of the Village. Shiny lakes and world class golf courses please the eye immensely. Toward the end of the day watersheds switch direction, much of the south golf course runoff starts off toward Strawberry river, another precious waterway not far away. This UPS gig is what really started me thinking about clean water, I would see a construction site on a certain street, clay mud pouring from it during rain, then around the corner I would see how that one site would discolor the river from undisturbed green to sickly orange. Sediment fencing regulations are enforced a little better now, but there is still much a contractor or equipment operator could do to ensure that newly disturbed soil does not make it to the creeks and rivers. I won’t get into it now, but it is important, and relatively easy if key individuals care at all. The subject of my Panadox documentary(The Spirit of Seventy Six), Tammy’s son Joey got all State! Congratulations Joey Westmoreland, number seventy six for the Highland Rebels!
December 13, 2005 Exhausted. Thoroughly beat. Legs like lead. Veggin’ in the crib. Many packages delivered with Kathy Starr as Christmas peak creeps in. I’m living hard, from about nine in the morning to dark at five thirty, no lunch, not much of a break. ‘Tis the season. Rain nears slowly. I keep two fires going, one in my wood heater and another in the larger one out in the shop. In my line of work it’s crazy not to burn wood. Geezer helps me split it. My little house unit only takes a foot long piece, fourteen inches at the most, the shop heater takes massive thirty inch logs. I like the grocery store. I worked in grocery stores for three or four years way back in the seventies, I started on my sixteenth birthday in seventy nine, the day after we won state in baseball. Warren’s IGA. I also did a Safeway stint at tanglewood in Little Rock. That was mostly for the chicks. I loved the neighborhood, the Heights. I loved my eight years in the Rock, but Spring River drew me home, and LaLa was born(Lauren—Erosion—Live Music). Sincerely, Alan.
December 12, 2005 Hey hey hey hey now now now. Got knocked off line a while. I’ve been busting it for you, though, Running those packages for UPS, I’ll post you a picture soon. I’m inspecting the tree work done in Cherokee Village, some looks decent, some horrible. Topping and stubbing abound, sometimes I see a good cut, then I’ll spy the spike marks. Or a stub and a flush cut side by side, angled stubs, angled flush cuts. Totally unprofessional. I’m sure it’s a nationwide problem, It’s not because homeowners and municipalities here are particularly ignorant of codes and standards, more than say Idaho or Virginia. I think people just don’t understand their importance. I didn’t before I entered the industry in 1989. But after a few months of certified climbing and trimming, the ugly reality of improper pruning dawned on me. First stored energy is transferred from good heartwood of the tree to generate new tissue. This enables pathogens to invade the heartwood, basically eating the heartwood so that there is nothing there. Then the system fails, at times in horrific ways. This is probably a horrible teaching analogy, but it’s really simple, ANSI standard. No Topping no spikes, standard collar cuts. Guidelines for over pruning. It’s kind of like Hacky Sack. Three rules. I’m ready to play music at Copper Feather Thursday the 22. Ten PM.(EROSION) And Slick Rock Blue Collar Rock is taking shape quickly, I hope to have all details hammered down by New Year’s. This will so Rock! I rock! You Rock!
December 9, 2005 Friday. Long week of running and gunning ends. Kathy Starr got us through another icy day, every step ultra careful, every road harboring shady shiny spots of solid slick ass ice. I’m loving it, though, great for a change, I’m jogging gingerly, breaking into sprint when dry ways unfold. Mom is back from New York, her porch light across the way is reassuring. Tammy is getting some money from her family farm mineral rights(I had no idea.) I have seen some decent tree work. But often prominent cuts are proper, a little extra looking around usually reveal non standard word, often gratuitous stubs. I’ve seen every tree in two yards with decent pruning at first glance, then realized each of several dozen cuts were “flush” with the trunk. This is against ANSI standard, and while less obvious than stubs, in many ways just as harmful. Do I ever violate standard? Sometimes I will risk overpruning to please a customer, sunscald and poor root zone protection compound with other stresses. I do not Top trees, this malpractice is expressly forbidden in ANSI standard and hundreds of city ordinances. I’m just a man that loves life. If you have ever used Rebel Tree Care you got solid work that would pass inspection anywhere. With the others you are often dealing with people who have never done a job to standard. Rebel Tree Care—the difference is huge
December 8, 2005 Cold cold greetings from Highland. Kathy Starr and I started off in slushy snow a couple inches deep. Things melted off by late afternoon, but footing was way precarious all day. We get it done. So good to see all the folks, smiles and greetings to all the businesses who know me and share a laugh amid the hustle. Beautiful Cherokee Village unfolds before me, breathtaking corners and views cascading . By dark we’re back to Highland, grocery store lines welcome rest.
December 6, 2005 D-Day. A time when millions rejoiced, a few days after Atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Maybe my history is flawed, probably is, although I did pass college history at College of the Ozarks. Now University of the Ozarks, in Clarksville Arkansas. Professer Basham. Smash ‘em Basham: passionate in oratory, loathing for tobacco evident in lectures. I had a partial scholarship in Basketball, and a dorm room amidst a crazy third floor. I got outnumbered and pinned down in a water balloon fight so I rifled a frozen squirrel into a crowd. My room was on an old elevator shaft, I made my way about a secret passage way to split the resident monitor or whatever’s tv cable, we wired up the whole third floor with weak cable, mostly so we could watch Benny Hill. I had a shopping cart with a car battery and car stereo, with home speakers, it held all the shower equipment, we would jam in steam showers, drinking beer. When we had an empty we would hoist a ceiling panel and fling the container far down the attic space. Hundreds of empties littered the ceiling, any third floor ceiling panel was bound to have a couple. I don’t even remember clearly a pretty girl said I climbed high in a Sycamore to fetch some mistletoe. I must have wanted a kiss. I have fond memories of the place, though I was cut from the team at semester, I did score points in practice games and I loved to dunk. The local sporting goods store picked a few of us up that no longer had scholarships, and we went undefeated in the local men’s league, flying high and piling points on like over one hundred average. In Little Rock Jimmy Pippen ran a tough game, his brother Scotty had incredible success. Friday night before the Lakers Bulls game The Chicago Bulls plan to retire Pippen’s jersey into the rafters. Pete Meyers was tough, I don’t think I ever beat him, and we played straight up one on one every weekday for a month one June. He went on to guard Michael Jordan in practice for several years, and started the year Jordan retired to play baseball. What people don’t realize is even without Jordan, the Bulls took the eventual division champion New York knicks seven games. The knicks then lost in seven to Houston. The Bulls almost won another one without Michael. Pippen would have had another still for the Blazers, if Rasheed Wallace hadn’t of chumped out so many times. I’m getting emotional, I better sign off for now…
December 4, 2005 Here is a message I sent today to an Arborist Discussion board: Treeseer, I totally respect you. As Alex Shigo says: Tree discussion cannot be an attempt to get the last word. Malpractice is probably defined a thousand ways right here on this wonderful site. An arborist, certified or not, rarely needs to make non-standard cuts. Or perhaps sub standard? I’m relatively new to the forum, TreeSeer, though you, Tom Dunlap and most others seem right on. What do you think might become a catch phrase to connect good arborists with lay folks: Non standard cuts(bad) sub standard cuts(bad) Standard cuts(good), Decisions based on standards and guidelines(good). Spikes, bad. Flush Cuts, bad, stubs, bad, overpruning, bad. Root Zone Cover. We have to connect with Joe average guy on the huge difference in tree service. I really wouldn’t mind losing a bid if I knew standard work would be done.
December 2, 2005 Whew. Tired. Daylight found me heading to Cherokee Village to remove red oaks by a house. They had been topped years ago, this and other factors were considered. Also a huge post oak had large stubbs toward the roof, I got those and some other branches cut back to collars(ANSI standard). Also a redbud had been topped, ugly gnarled snarl of rotten trunks and abnormal growth. I removed most of it, leaving one natural stem. Then it was UPS, Kathy Starr driving us around, me running driveways, grabbing the door handle, clipping my seatbelt, updating the DIAD(electronic clipboard), It get’s rough at times, cold, precarious, fatiguing, difficult, but I lay it on the line for Kathy. We’ve been friends since before she started running the route in 1980. This is my ninth or tenth year to help her. The razorbacks are fired up playing Missouri. What’s up with Michael Finley playing for the San Antonio Spurs? How does the world champion team add the toughest player on the planet? Dwayne Wade and Shack will beat them in June though. Tomorrow it’s splitting and stacking firewood. Feet on the ground, good safe grunt work. I’m loving it, are you?
November 30, 2005 Night falls. I’m alone. Blue on Black. Trey Stafford is the way and the truth! A great, well spoken man(as a weatherman should be.). I was disappointed many times as I rode the UPS truck around Cherokee Village today. Everywhere topping and stubbing. The many thousand trees I have pruned equipped with certified standard still look fine up to sixteen years later. I waited for UPS at a new memorial park. John Cooper founded Cherokee Village in 1955. I trimmed every tree in the center twelve years ago. Few need attention now. Tommorow I take down two red oaks topped previously. Hollow, weak wood will hold abnormal branches until they rip off, attacking the ground like a thrown tomahawk. Topping is bad, people, get it straight. All you need to know is that the tree service puts in writing that all pruning be done to ANSI standard. When you realize how important these standards are, and who in the past has ignored or mocked ANSI standards, and who has practiced the standards without exception for seventeen years, gaining experience to become a master pruner, you will without a doubt see the wisdom in consulting Rebel Tree Care. Cities must enact simple standards. The national arbor day foundation works with municipalities. Individual homeowners can insist upon all work being done to ANSI standard. Evidence of fraud is easily checked in most cases. Also customs must change to coexist in harmony with trees. Root zones must be covered, tiers and burms of wood chips placed strategically and aesthetically. If we want trees, we must care for all of them. The future is not in cutting and pruning trees to make them conform, but preparing the root zone for protection, moderation; long term maintenance with little annual expense.
November 29, 2005 Greetings lovers and fighters. The week woudn’t be complete without your journal fix now would it? Oh, wait, this is Tuesday. Oh, well… Lunch with Tammy at Loujo’s was incredible. The location is special to me, looking out over the driving range of the South Golf course, many a day about the place. Craig Dunbar grew up in the house at the end of the driving range, many snow days I spent playing tackle football or sledding. Terry Jamieson, an all state baseball player hit Jim Dunbar’s roof driving a golf ball nearly 400 yards. The water tower antics changed a couple of us. We didn’t drink, thank God. Craig hung one handed from a water tower several hundred feet up. Never been a golfer though, I’ve played nine there on the South Course way back and nine on the North, but that’s the extent of my golf. Except of course, for Frisbee golf. I beat Bryan! He won’t admit it, but I did it. Go figure. Two of the finer Golf Courses in the state within five miles of where I live, but I’m a Frisbee golfer. Canoe trips early in spring could begin as a group finishes a round of golf. Putting in one hundred yards from the parking lot of the North Course at 12 noon leisurely trip to Hardy Beach. Watch out for the knockers.
November 27, 2005 Lazy overcast windy Sunday afternoon. Tammy pops extra buttery as we watch movies. Last night MIKE GRAY and Company rocked the house in Pocahontas. Awesome jams with WILSON and MARK, of course JOHN, with Hal Mantooth providing relief as Drummer JOHN suffered with flu. He was able to rest a full set at least. MARK FENDER showboated at bass, he’s off an Amsterdam gig with TOTO guitarist Tony SPINNER and WILSON sweated and riffed in his corner, beer bottles accumulating on his amp. Many songs unrehearsed, the live jam set in well. Friday GERRY MOSS and ROADKILL did their thing, hot blues with ballsy, soulful delivery. Tammy and I jammed before late, Red Mule awaited.(Erosion—Live Music.) Geezer got beat up by LAUREN’s dog Tipsy. He wanted to take on Hal’s pit bull Dick, but luckily for Dick I didn’t let Geezer out of the van. It was my sister Debby’s celebration of her and Mike’s thirtieth wedding anniversary. Fun night with friends and family. UPS kicks up next week, the money is not that good, but I enjoy doing this every year. Kathy Starr and I set the record for packages delivered in a day—almost four hundred packages with almost three hundred stops on Christmas Eve in 91 or thereabouts. God, I could run the basketball court back then, full court pressing for an hour, two, three… Saw an old friend on TV. PHILIP SWEET of LITTLE BIG TOWN. They have a top ten video for the song BOONDOCKS. Maybe we’ll have SLICK ROCK COUNTRY ROCK this year. All is well in Highland. Went to Rock Creek, I love the water there. Did you know that my house in Highland is within five miles of three different extraordinary resource waterways? Spring River, SouthFork River, and Strawberry river all lie a decent mountain bike ride from here. Let’s go for a ride. The last leg is almost always downhill.(River adventures—Mountain Bike statement) Let’s all pitch in and save this damn eight ball. I’ll be posting links to congressional offices and clean water initiatives. National forests need to be preserved, top priority given environmental concerns. Status and wealth are temporary, but our legacy is forever.
November 25, 2005 Lazy dusk. Cold gnaws. Geezer curled tightly, fire pops. What can I say? Reiterate my wish for a cleaner river, I hope 2006 sees new awareness of industrial and construction pollution on Spring River. Small farmers can stop manipulating creek beds for their own whim, Gravel mining is against the law. Bulldozer and backhoes can be regulated, construction runoff from storm water contained. Cattle farms could be dismantled, replaced with forest. Sources of fecal matter can be pinpointed and exposed, fines could discourage arrogant businessmen and farmers. What’s the worst that could happen to them, maybe they’ll sell an SUV. If I’m not already hated by polluters, hopefully I will be in the next year. They can destroy me, but I will have taken the higher ground. Don’t let bullshit politics; spin and double talk muddle the issue: clean water. Clean water now, clean water for the future. Oklahoma sued us, and rightly so, for polluting rivers with chicken plants and other stuff, sending horrible water to the native Americans there. Instead of taking the problem by the horns as a good attorney general, and investigating the illegal actions of huge poultry producers(Tyson), Arkansas Attorney General Mike Beebe took steps to insure the matter would be tangled in a myriad for many years, he sued Oklahoma for suing us. Asinine, mr attorney general(lower case). This is the man who will probably win Governor, and watch the money he receives from big poultry. We cannot inspect such matters with our resources tied up in an illegal war. Our national guard cannot protect us from Iraq. Hugo Chavez, president of Venezuala is selling poor and native Americans heating oil much cheaper than American firms will sell it. As a result, Pat Robertson wants him assassinated and I figure he’s in the crosshairs. Couldn’t we all just take a small cut in our incredible standard of living? Would it kill us to cut that third first class flight and plant a garden? Would a drunken teenager really be embarrassed to drive a gas guzzler from last century? And it’s not all about rich people either, how many on welfare smoke a pack a day? Did I waste thousands of dollars on beer in my twenties when I could have been a monk in the peace corps? Yes. I don’t know all the answers, but something is wrong when it costs six dollars for a box of cereal, and millionaire farmers get paid for doing nothing. Where does the middle class really begin? If one obscenely rich Tyson executive was to have an epiphany, and say, “hey take this thirteen million dollar quarterly bonus and build a new holding pond and put a new filter on it,” that alone might clean up a lot of the problem. But we’ll never know because Mike Beebe is first and foremost a bottom feeder. Road Kill w/Gerry Moss at Copper Feather tonight.
November 21, 2005 Awesome day at the Rebel Records downhill 20k. Hardy beach was incredible. Man I found this water spider stone that is a trip. It proves an ancient Cherokee “myth” when taken literally. Grandmother water spider went into the sun to catch fire. You might remember the story from way back. The Cherokee people needed fire. The animal spirits met. Buzzard was chosen for his tenacity and ease of travel. Buzzard tried hard to get fire from the sun, but flew too close and burned all of the feathers from his head. That is why Buzzard is bald today. Possum would try to catch fire from the sun. He tried as hard as he could, turning away at the last minute and all of the hair was burned from his tail. That is why the possum to this day has no hair on his tail. Grandmother water spider said she would do this thing. She wove a cloak and spun a basket and used her webs and shrouds to capture fire from the sun. Taken literally, this would mean that canoers from the Tennessee and ohio rivers would head into the sun at all means, for as long as it took to find good firm rocky soil, rock cliffs on which to build cabins, clear green water for all to share. After weeks of cypress swamp from the river bottoms of what is now Kentucky, Oak homes in the Ozark foothills must have felt strong. Maybe the area was burning, decades of forest fire may have kept smoky ridges hazy. Maybe the Osage north had claimed Mammoth Spring to the north, but ventured little further south. The water spider clan would slide easily into a gravel bar, instantly celebrating, unloading, preparing… Maybe grandmother was ill, would she spread a pallet and watch the chaos and order, serenity welling within as grandchildren played about her? Maybe grandmother had already passed, the journey hurried and terse. Would she be laid to rest there at fire camp? Some braves and scouts returned immediately, retracing the route, back to Ravenden(named for the bird who haunted it’s slopes back then?). Imboden(Norse for my wood house perhaps?, Black Rock(moss covered cliffs here greeted travelers in a featureless flat swamp for some time, Reyno was a key point, check it out on Topo Map and you’ll see shy. I know some guys from I think Foley Alabama that canoe the Buffalo river much. I wonder if they would be interested in a recreation of the water spider route next spring. Watch for Water Spider Trail in Rebel River Adventures. I hope you like the owl. Larry Baty of Williford,(the Williford Indians, Hello?) Arkansas did that for me for turning him on to some good carving walnut and more. Hell of a man, he could swivel and work logs well. His shop burned down, I don’t know that he does much, now but it’s good work. He left it at Miller’s car sales for some time before I finally picked it up. I left it at my mom’s for awhile. The album collage behind is the motif of my house. Albums. No pictures of the band. Artwork. Peace.
November 19, 2005 Down in the southwest corner of Arkansas is the town of Nashville. In nineteen eighty one a tough Nashville Scrapper team came up to be defeated by Highland on the Rebels way to a state championship. Hopes for another State championship were derailed Friday night as Highland’s season ended. The spirit of seventy six(#76 Joey Westmoreland, Tammy’s son) will go on to the marines or college football next summer. I hope I will make him a video to carry and be proud of. Panadox has compiled many hours of footage that now must be catalogued and edited into a worthy film. I remember after my last basketball game, I went behind a dumpster and beat up a cardboard box. It was a grocery worker thing. In baseball we lost the state finals, emotional but more fulfilling. I turned the camera off at the end, just an appreciative fan. This Panadox project will give them a time capsule of the 2005 season. I hope to show it at Slick Rock Thursday April 12, 2006, the night before Slick Rock Blue Collar Rock begins.
November 17, 2005 Geezer is a Peek-a-poo. Go figure. The little bitch is cute too. I saw a boy dog I’d like to mate Geezer to. But Geezer is a boy too. He does have issues, but couldn’t make puppies. In Evening Shade Cale and I dropped a dead sugar maple, and quick trimmed a red oak on the roof and a white oak disrupting satellite television. Rebel Tree Care is booking January. I always have two to six weeks of winter work lined up. Soft yards don’t affect me much, I use a ladder to climb the tree, never needed a bucket truck, don’t believe they are designed for proper pruning. Ninety percent of what I do could not be duplicated by a man in a bucket. Occasionally, yes, I recommend getting a bucket if hazard is imminent. Free consultation. Starting to get into shape, mountain biking at least a few miles each weekday now for a couple of weeks. At least it’s finally crisp and cool. Sewer line installation here in Highland will finish off many trees, removals will be frequent. UPS orientation is next week, and EROSION plays Copper Feather Thursday the twenty fourth, I believe thanksgiving. Ironic, isn’t it? At the very spot where ancient Cherokee danced a metal band romps in 2005. Get this a dog barks in Peru---at the exact same instant a Philadelphia housewife drops her spoon---because Bill Clinton goosed her.
November 14, 2005 Rain begins in earnest. Earnest Arkansas, land of toothless billygoats. Cool time at the crib, wood fire crackling, cold rain infrequently misting Geezer curled happily on the porch. Geezer missed rain. Remember last year around this time all the rain? Every day or so for months. Nothing supersubstantial, we’re still way down on the water tables. Watch for BLOG ARCHIVE, and you can see what I wrote back then if you want. I remember I worked for UPS, and the huge sleetstorm just before Christmas. EROSION debuted this weekend, rained out before WARREN PEACE could lead GERRY MOSS and CALE RILEY to a finished song. Then it was a frantic breakdown, and over to Copper Feather where ROADKILL delivered the goods. BlackN played a killer set of originals( I think) and at least one BLACK LABEL SOCIETY song. I shot a video of them, also got some good video of ROAD KILL doing KENNY WAYNE SHEPHARD’s Blue on Black with awesome PANADOX visuals. ROAD KILL w/ GERRY MOSS does this BB KING’s Blues medley like nobody’s business. Effin incredible. Forgot to do digital on them, though, so I can’t show you. Rebel Tree Care may be on hold until January if I get this UPS gig again. Depends on their start date, I may squeeze another Memphis trip in. That would rule. I keep telling them I don’t need orientation, but it’s by the book there. Thunder rolls.
November 9, 2005 Hot day. Record heat, mid eighties in mid November. Crazy. I love cold weather, give me twenty degrees and a tall red oak. We put down a shield of mulch, old composted stuff we moved with a pitchfork, and topped that with a little fresh stuff from our trimming. Looks great, perfect circle to the southwest of a tall red oak by a house. Hoping they will continue the theme with a huge post oak and cool looking mulberry. Everywhere leaves fly, circles of color surround many trees, gold maple leaves, crimson Bradford pear, even orange pine needles fall in symmetrical circles. Circles, man, it’s all about circles.
November 8, 2005 Get this, I’m watching channel 8, KAIT Jonesboro, and hear the familiar jingle: Petals-n-Lace. There my two beautiful great nieces go as miniature brides and flower girls. Darby and Colbi are great great nieces. Then lovely Lauren models, another wonderful niece, and my beautiful sister is shown at work arranging flowers. She directs weddings also, decorates, set up, all of it. She was in Pocahontas for twenty five years, for the last five or so in Jonesboro. Free flower delivery, private parties. http://www.petalsandlaceonline.com/
November 7, 2005 Welcome. Beautiful afternoon here in Highland Arkansas. Busy morning in Hardy dropping a huge dead red oak, big dead white oak leaning over a guest house, and an old dead something leaning in another red oak. Then I had to trim up a small sturdy walnut that took a beating. Then it was over to the other side of town, light trimming two hickories over the house and dropping a dying red oak over a weight room. Lunch at Price Chopper was quite good. Been riding mountain bikes more and more, feeling good and looking trim. Tomorrow it’s a huge post oak, a dying peach, and miscellaneous trimming above a trail. Life rocks.
November 5, 2005 Sweet morning in Highland. The Rebels delivered a 20-10 win over the Newport Greyhounds last night for a conference championship. My Panadox video is going to be so much better now! The Rebels host the state tournament next Friday. Beautiful fall foliage graces the Ozarks. Crimson dogwoods, pale redbud, orange oak and maple, lavender black gum, blazing yellow hickory… Me and Geezer are digging life! (Geezer and I) Looks like a mountain bike ride in store, and puttering—winterizing. Looks like Erosion may debut at Copper Feather Thursday November 24. We’ll feature full Panadox video and Gerry Moss at lead guitar, with Cale Riley on drums. I will sing lead and set the tone and tune with my bass guitar. Rebel Tree Care is set for next week. Root Zone-- look into it.
November 1, 2005 Cool Night here in Memphis. Chinese food delivered(you can’t get that in Arkansas!) Good Rebel Tree Care wrapped up in Germantown. We’ve trimmed a massive red oak damaged by hurricane Katrina, and a black gum over a house. Also an elm over a path, a prominent red oak, black gum, and another red oak, two more black gums, dogwood elm, Bradford pears, umbrella tree… Tomorrow it’s a pecan and cherry in Cordova, then over to Jonesboro Arkansas for culling and miscellaneous pruning. Geezer is happy, he got a field romp in while /Bryan and I played Frisbee golf—river adventures—frisbee games. Also lot’s of new toys and snacks from a wonderful client. Uneventful so far, that’s the way I prefer it. Shit tends to happen anyway. Tomorrow is Shaq and the Miami Heat in Fed Ex forum, then over to Hard Rock Café for a couple of six dollar beers. Livin’ large.
October 29, 2005 Yo. It’s Shelbi’s birthday! She’s a Ten-ager! OMIGOSH! Go Highland! Next Friday at Newport the Rebels take on the Greyhounds for the district championship. Nuff said. Bottom line.(phone ring) Gotta go look at a tree. What are you doing to save the planet today? Maybe the unrest in Washington will result in cleaner air and water. Pollution caused by bleaching tree pulp to make paper could be eased by Industrial hemp, helping small farms. Gas prices could force produce suppliers to use locally grown vegetables. Horse drawn mowers could quietly maintain our lawns, reducing several forms of pollution while helping small farmers. Bicycles could reduce our dependency on oil, saving small businesses money, and saving our government money by reducing individual medical costs associated with obesity. Any of these things could be connected, causing a chain reaction of good when triggered by one selfless act. But if that is true, how do you explain Danny Bonaduce?
October 28, 2005 Friday. Quick trim of a tall red oak with storm damage. Extensive pruning is on hold for now, most people appreciate it when I tell them to wait, others get the chumps. I’ve got hurricane Katrina damage in Memphis for next week, and lot’s of miscellaneous pruning and some very tall pines. Also some consultation and culling in Jonesboro Arkansas. Incredulabulous day. I’ve cleaned and sorted, burned, bagged, folded, raked, ran down errands… Tonight is a big game as the Highland Rebels take on conference rival Hoxie in a crucial matchup. Yes, Panadox will watch, running film, searching for angles, questing, if you will, for that perfect vision. I’m gonna try to get coach Wiggins’ pregame speech, that always plays well on television: Al Pacino in Any Given Sunday, that old win one for the Gipper flick, Bryan’s Song, Hoosier’s, that one where Whoopi Goldberg coaches the Knicks, the Mighty Ducks, Angel’s in the outfield, Bull Durham, North Dallas Forty, the Longest Yard, even the manager’s spiel in This is Spinal Tap. Sun shines, I pluck Mr. Player(my acoustic bass) to excited wrens and mockingbirds. They actually respond when I play, and Geezer stays near, it must not be bothering him. Sometimes if I’m a little drunk, playing Mr. Alvarez(my electric bass), he will grumpily stomp down the hall. I’m super happy now, I was fiddling with this IBM Thinkpad, testing inputs for my projector(Panadox) and lo and behold it started working again! I think it’s fixed! Total veg time here in Highland. Things will quicken, they always do. And with river time and puttering time under my belt, I’m less likely to stress out when the rush begins. Memphis bustle, Tammy and her family concerns, deadlines, commitments, what to leave in…What to leave out…(Bob Seager lyric).
October 27, 2005 Yo. Thought I better check in. My IBM stinkpad went on the fritz barely two months out of warranty. Journal entries may be sporadic for a while. What’s been going on? Gosh, Rebel Tree Care is plugging along, postponing major pruning operations till winter, as I’ve done every year. We’re taking down dead red oaks, blackjacks, and mimosa’s this week. Yesterday on Wahpeton Hill was psycho time. Looks like Memphis Tennessee next week. Rebel River Adventures—we’ve lined up prime walleye territory, canoe destinations, and music adventures are in the works. Erosion—I cut a double cd with guitar master Gerry Moss putting lead to my songs. Incredible weekend. Panadox, compiling raw footage for documentary
of the football season(featuring #76)
October 21, 2005 Nice cool sleepy time this Friday afternoon. Huge red oak over a house down safely, cedar over a wire down, and Walnut pruned. Cave City. Home of the Cavemen. Tonight is Highland homecoming, look for Panadox stalking number 76(the spirit of seventy six.) Then Tammy and I may sojourn to the Copper Feather. Got the truck primed in stately gray. Next step is oversized oak leaves in flat black. This is gonna be awesome!
October 19, 2005 Yo. Panadox in the shop. We’re doing this thing like Orange County Choppers. The Houston Astros beat the St Louis Cardinals. I’m a state champion baseball player. It was the last game in Busch Stadium. I remember seeing the Astros live in Busch stadium. Cesar Cedano was the center fielder for the Astros. He wore a batting helmet in the field. I realized why when I saw him make the best catch I’ve seen live or on t.v. I mean I saw Joe Rudy on the wall for the A’s and Griffey elevating his feet eight feet above the top of the wall in Seattle. But Cesar ran headlong at full speed to catch a near home run and that batting helmet saved his life. Unbelievable. Cesar Cedeno. We started restoring a seventy nine Chevy truck. In eighty I delivered auto parts in it, the hottest, driest summer on record until this year. Spring River was even lower than now, big white rocks everywhere, Southfork was a creek. That truck could corner so well, my sixty nine Mustang had great acceleration, but sucked on corners. I could get a spark plug from Berry Auto Parts to Village Exxon in like a minute or whatever the official time was. Tomorrow it’s a huge red oak over a house, and a cedar over the wire. Also a walnut. Rebel Tree Care—the difference is huge.
October 18, 2005 Fine morning in Highland trimming Barberry, rose of Sharon, mulberry, peach, dogwood, Russian olive, oak. Yesterday was cutting up red oak in Cherokee Village, and storm damage: cherry, oak, pecan, redbud… Diggin’ life. The Cardinals are still in the playoffs, I’ve got the old white truck running, blue jays stay away when I’m puttering. My chops are up on Bass, I’ve been shredding the acoustic, but need to hit the mountain bike, and kick bag, and jump rope, and push ups… tomorrow it’s a southern magnolia and holly in Cherokee Village. And removing a hickory, and landscaping a root zone. Rebel Tree Care---I do the work myself.
October 15, 2005 All is well in Hardy. After appearances at the Stage Stop, Flashbacks, Charlie’s Good Times, Blues City Café, then quickly over to Pocahontas, Highland’s dreams of an undefeated season came to an end, 14-7. Panadox roamed, warned by police to stay back. Chelsea was there! Tammy went to work Allison, Darby, Colby, Lauren and mom were there! Finished up the week with a dead red oak side trunk over a house in Germantown, then comprehensive pruning a prominent willow oak in Bartlett. Good week over, Monday begins anew. Let’s get ‘er done, ya’ll!
October 13, 2005 Yo from Mympho. Heading to Open Band Jam at Stage Stop. Nickel Sluts. Flashbacks, too. Tomorrow it’s Beale Street, Tammy wants Blues City ribs. Then straight to Pocahontas versus Highland. Fred Belitnikoff was my favorite player from the time I’m six years old. In Seventy Seven he finally got a Super Bowl MVP trophy. He lost that trophy in a poker game in Little Rock Arkansas. Geezer is melancholy. Bryan said he’s the “Mulch Yard Dog.” Get it? Instead of Junk Yard Dog? Wrestling is cool again. My favorite wrestler as a kid was Roughhouse Fargo. You have to dig pretty deep to find Roughhouse Fargo. His brother Jacky was a popular wrestler, I dug him, he would team with Jerry Jarrett, but sometimes Roughhouse would wrestle, a Tazmanian Devil, so wild he was confined in a box or chains until tagged by Jacky. I forget how the keys were produced, but Roughhouse would proceed to clean house. He would beat up both bad guys. He would beat up the bad guys manager. He would beat up the ref, the announcer, Jacky, and cameramen or fans. I forget how he would eventually be subdued live or on television. It was the south in the sixties. I love Graceland. I want to take a picture in the gold record hall. Elvis had like a hundred gold records. Sun Records would be a good cool picture, on the sidewalk in front on a cold windy day? Panadox is always thinking, once I’m done climbing and working. I’d like to get a great picture. Tomorrow night at Pocahontas I can use my method of zoom and pan to quickly follow number seventy six Joey Westmoreland and action on the ball. He’s a lineman, playing most downs on offense and defense. The drummer for BACKFLASH works at the zoo here, we may try to find him.
October 11, 2005 Nice feeling. Ruby Tuesday down the hatch. Six or eight Bradford pears and a Japanese maple properly pruned. Elm tree down. Tomorrow it’s a big white oak in a deck, two big red oaks over the roof, assorted trimming all around, and removing a skinny elm. Another big day, another dollar. Geezer digs the road, he’s a wizened old traveler. I feel good, tired but not stoved, loose and ready, hitting the sack now, Rebel Tree Care.
October 10, 2005 Busy afternoon in Cordova Tennessee cleaning up damage from hurricane Katrina. Two positively massive pecan trees with hanging branches or side trunks. Tight vee crotches with included bark will give way surprisingly easy. Also redbuds, dogwoods, catalpa, walnut, etc. quick pruned of storm damage and old stubs. Bryan cleaned it up, Geezer helps, too. Tomorrow it’s over to Germantown, maybe Wednesday too, then to midtown. I want to get back by Friday, PANADOX will be back on the Highland Rebel sideline, this time in Pocahontas. With both teams undefeated at six and 0, and an intense rivalry dating back to my days, this promises high drama. Need a shower big time.
October 8, 2005 Quiet time in the van in the shade. Bike games going on. Slow moving freight train honks many times. Slow ride, keg roll, gulp the weeny, swinging nuts, condom cucumbers, wet tee shirts, mud wrestling… I eat good, it’s not too pricey for festival food. The seven dollar pita and four dollar lemonade was sticker shock, but good. I needed some quiet time, last night was madness, MIKE’s bass player didn’t show, I tuned up Mr. Alvarez, offering it up for someone to play, but MIKE WICKER showed to save the day. TOMMY filled in some at guitar, PANADOX went well, I showed the classic biker ads and got good framing and color for action sequences. Live shots are not having the impact I wanted, it’s a troublesome lighting issue, I need perfect spot lighting to get great shots, and with the business and urgency of live music, the coordination, cost, and hassle of an extra man to move spots is prohibitive. I haven’t reviewed the tape, but I’m sure that many segments will warrant copying to an archive scrapbook. I just took a cool video of the KENTUCKY HEADHUNTER’s tour bus slowly cruising the loop. Special thanks to Sonny Chaffin for coordinating with us on lighting. He runs a top notch deal here at Riverside.
October 7, 2005 Cool overcast morning at Riverside Resort. Bikers and crazies(redundant) make way to showers, food, ice… Dry and clearing now, Panadox is ready for Mike’s show. I had to do some high wire crap but the stage has a rolling scaffold. Also new artwork by Sassy, a painting of three riders. Spring River flows smooth and clear just aside. I haven’t checked al the booth for souvenirs, late night BACKFLASH rocked. More on them later. Uh-oh, I said moron. This is hard on me. Garret and a few other joined me for sporadic viewing of parts of Heavy Metal, I showed some of my Harley ads. A video I made for this show last year, a slide show of album covers, Harley ads, and round objects. Then I’ll play first set tape continuous through breaks. Ideally I will need only to switch tapes at two hours. I guess Joey’s documentary is off for a week. It’ll be the crucial point anyway, will Highland be Seven and 0 that night? If he goes both ways(on offense and defense, pervs,) on an undefeated team., that would look good on a resume’. Need to get out more. Here comes the sun, Bikes are firing up, Guys are running to Mammoth Spring and Thayer There creeps the ambulance. Freight trains are on alert, slowly honking much. All is well this Friday morning.
October 5, 2005 Yo. Long day on Lake Thunderbird. Five large post oaks and a pine look great now. We survived a red wasp, two barky dogs, blue jays… Rueben baskets at Carol’s Lakeview restaurant fueled us up midday. Tami met us for lunch again. Tomorrow it’s a hickory over the house and a big dead red oak. Rebel Tree Care—marching the hell on.
October 4, 2005 Tough morning in Cherokee Village. Only one mishap, I misjudged a let down, the huge red oak branch dashed the tin roof a little harder than I like, the result was a tiny tear. We did some extra work to make up for it. A big dead blackjack had fallen onto the neighbors yard, I cut it up and chipped some. Still warm in the sun, I think we’re over ninety here in October. Man, Al Gore was right. Tomorrow It’s more of the same, then begins the long weekend, we’ll be canoing upper Spring Thursday, then partying at Riverside Resort and setting up the projector and screens Thursday night. Maybe get a jam in!
October 3, 2005 Warm day on Southfork river. Bryan and I started with installation of lightning protection. This involved a climb of a white oak, no spikes mind you, into the canopy at ninety feet. Placing copper rods and rubber insulators, very light trimming back to the distant ground. Also dropped a huge near dead red oak. Tomorrow it’s over to lake thunderbird, three tall red oaks over the house. Wednesday it’s large post oaks over houses, loblolly pine, and red oak. Rebel Tree Care—It’s what I do. Look for Panadox at Riverside Resort Friday night. Mike Gray is set to rock from nine till one, the big screens behind will dance and explode. I’ll go live also, and Lauren will get plenty of screen time. I can’t wait, Thursday I’ll be calibrating the projector and such. We may even get a Rebel River adventure in.
October 1, 2005 Cool morning puttering and planning. EROSION is in the house. I quit for a while, playing very little after the demo a couple of months ago. Then I was talking to GERRY about completing Problematic and Cyclops. And I’m nearing public gig status, I need to be sharp and mean. Pinky may get a callous this time. It’s just that I live across the field from my mother, and screaming about opium slaves is best done in the confines of the Jungle Room for now. MIKE at Southern Gray records would do it for me, but that’s in my sister’s house, it’ll be hard to muster the urgency and terror I want. Panadox worked the Rebel sideline last evening, capturing video moments en route to a fifty two to fourteen or thereabouts thrashing of the Yellow Jackets. Highland goes to 5-0! Hung out with the great Sam Hill. He’s retired, but still observes and consults, occasionally unleashing that savage bark to an official. Early in his career, Coach Hill was lucky, Highland had a young tradition of excellence fostered by visionaries and winners. Cherokee Village brought some great players from up north, for instance the Hansen brothers. John Katrosh regiment and regime. Jim Bowlin had instilled winning instinct through an outstanding Little League program. A.L. Hutson pushed stadium bank lighting, making night games at Highland extra special. So many elements were already here when Sam Hill coached junior high and senior high football at Highland. What he did was carry the torch. The thread of quality went on through Sam Hill. A part of so many district and State titles in the late seventies and early eighties, he also engineered several district champion and state champion contenders in the late eighties, nineties, and this century. His sons Stuart and Spencer were instrumental in many. When I was in ninth grade, we were the original mighty mites, Corning was the only team to beat us. I started as defensive back, noone ever scored on my side of the field. Not that I had that much to do with it, exceptional talent at linebacker and defensive ends made my job easy. I only made four or five unassisted tackles all year, and guarded my wide out decent enough. Ed French, Terry Jamieson, Kevin Rolli, Kieth Hulen, Jeff Byler, Michael Graddy, they were the nucleus. Anyway, I was skinny and slow, barely able through quickness and desire to compete as I entered tenth grade. But coach Sam Hill had faith in me, and as a scared, skinny, not that fast, pathetic really sophomore I was set to start the first game on the kickoff squad, designated as outside contain man. Sure enough, that big Thayer Bobcat came my way, got outside of me, past me, I never hit anybody, just trotted wimpily through. Just behind me a gang of rabid starters led by John Orosz and Bobby Clark creamed the guy. The coaches thought I made the play, Coaches Hill and Joe Sample screaming, “way to be the man Alan Williams,” or something to that effect. Next day it was truth time, called to the coaches office, the film and big screen was running. The coaches liked me, Coach Hill had went to bat for me as a guy that never missed tackles, Sample liked me, we were both stortstops in baseball, but that was the end of my Senior high football career, I think I played maybe three more times the rest of the year, then quit after the season to focus on baseball and basketball. From four autumns from seventh through tenth grade, Sam Hill’s voice still makes me want to stick somebody, or leap on a fumble.
September 29, 2005 Long morning at an absolutely beautiful home on scenic Southfork river. Massive white oak topped, dropped, and cut up. Declining post oak topped and trimmed. Tired and squinting, cool weather soothes, cricket crescendo this evening comforts. Another trip to Memphis Tennessee in the works, maintenance and puttering will rule next few days. Highland goes to Mountain View tomorrow night to take on the yellow jackets. The Ozark folk center will be rocking with blue grass music. Panadox with stalk the sideline with artistic vision, filming number 76 in gray. Go Rebels!
September 28, 2005 Rain races into Highland, thunder and lightning combine to make a wondrous crescendo. Quickly the trio break, infrequent dripping pops tin roof now. Productive, precarious day completed, Bryan and I anticipate another. Geezer helped finish up. Storm damage is always a little iffy, numerous ropes rigged and tied. Dead oaks abound these days, frequent drought and red oak borers, then storms of many types, and neglected root zones. I’ve included a picture of the Old Kia Kima Camp, one of numerous old buildings recently remodeled. I didn’t stop and read the plaque, but I plan to, I’m a plaque reader. Did you know that Tom Lee was a riverboat captain that saved many people in a Mississippi River accident. Did you know that Saint Bernard sent eighty monks to their deaths to battle the plague in Medieval Europe? Tomorrow it’s a removal of a huge dead white oak, topping of a dying post oak, and installing lightning protection. Rebel Tree Care—do you get it yet?
September 27, 2005 Cool morning dropping dead red oaks(recurring theme). Also fighting dreaded Bermuda grass. Then I thinned out the blue jay flock, it’s nice and quiet now. Lunch at the wing shack in Highland was really good(formerly crispy kone). I know the owner, she was my class sponsor way back in school. She sponsors the Highland cheerleaders each year, cyber kudos Judy. Good jobs for the next few days on opposite sides of Southfork river. Tropical storm Rita hit Old Kia Kima boy scout camp pretty good. Over at Star Falls harsh construction methods keep claiming beautiful oaks. There are solutions, but they are tough answers. Joe bulldozer does not like trees, he has to be made to conform. My father was a bulldozer man for years, creating dams and lakes in Hidden Valley and Ozark Acres, he was not wise in tree care(though very wise in other areas), seeking to force trees to conform, burning valuable mulch each fall, burning undergrowth with harsh fires, spreading Bermuda seed liberally, grand vision of mowing and battling the landscape carried on by my mother today. Our huge oaks die more each year, fuel and equipment costs outlandish, mulch still considered a nuisance, little value placed on reversing the decline with green stewardship. This is the norm nation wide, especially in the traditional south, where rolling green lawns and the busy work and expense needed for the upkeep symbolize status and wealth. Truly wise folks have harmonious landscapes, close to zero maintenance, with layers of urban forest, seclusion areas and wildlife sanctuary. Rain water is conserved, runoff is cleaner, waste is recycled, fuel is conserved, noise pollution is way down, cooler in summer from dense shade, warmer in winter from windbreaks, beautiful from flowering trees needing little pruning, certainly not frequent shrubbing. I beseech you, join the National Arbor Day Foundation for a nominal fee to learn about these and many other benefits to an eco friendly landscape. http://www.arborday.org/
September 25, 2005 Tropical storm Rita pounds Sharp County. Rain splatters inside through screened windows. Geezer steps inside gratefully after a night of worrisome wind gusts and thunder. After a night of wine and song with Gerry, Mark and Cale of ROAD KILL, Tami and I lounge and loll, slightly frightened when Rita blows my authentic, heavy dreamcatcher from it’s perch of several years at my bedroom window. I imagine some trees and limbs are down in the area. Now rain persists, but radar shows the rain band moving on out to the boot heel of Missouri. Look for EROSION at Jungle Room Recording this afternoon. Formerly Rebel Records, Gerry Moss operates this professional studio, engineering album and live sessions, filling in on drums and guitar. Garret is back...
September 24, 2005 Sweet cool Saturday. Lazy and idle, I putter and pad naked and alone. Slade and Shelbi are due to mom’s for breakfast soon, I’ll join them for home cooked breakfast and niece and nephew fun. Geezer needs a bath. I’m gonna play bass today, clean up the shop, spray Bermuda grass(I loathe Bermuda grass with all of my fiber!) Last night the Highland Rebels went to 4 and 0(undedefeated) with a convincing 36-13 win over Heber Springs High School. Trounced on Homecoming, tough night for the Panthers. The Panadox documentary of Joey’s senior football season is coming along nicely, I do have experience in this sort of thing from filming Mike Gray, or Tim (Burn) Branscum. I let whim and mood move the camera, trying to capture the essence of the moment. My philosophy is to let the camera roll, eat up tape, that way the final edit will have that much more flexibility. All is well in Highland.
September 23, 2005 Tough morning in Cherokee Village. Massive post oak over the roof, massive red oak over the roof, three other tall red oaks over the roof, all look spectacular now, and an hour glass shaped chip bed and timbers protect the post oak from erosion. Rebel Tree Care—insurance certificate. Operating just as I have for sixteen years- strict adherence to codes and standards of tree care. Most others are all talk. They violate standard in some way on every job, fraud and malpractice is rampant in the residential arborist field, maybe that’s why I’m continually booked in advance without door knocking or advertising. I consistently climb sixty, seventy feet without spikes, I have never used spikes if the procedure is not a removal, I never top trees, or leave stubs, or, another less obvious breach of standard, the flush cut. Since 1989 I have followed these standards, even before they were official ANSI standard, used in courts of law and inspection services. The others violate these standards more often then adhering, the proof is all around us. Hey, they’re free men. Tonight it’s Highland Rebels at Heber Springs. Look for Panadox, working documentary angles and sampling concessions. Hurricane Rita wreaks havoc down south, gas prices will surge, New Orleans floods again. Rita is weakening slightly, maybe she will keep carnage down, and send rain north. Maybe she’ll set up over Arkansas for a few weeks.
September 22, 2005 A young dumb blue jay squawks in ignorance just outside. I don’t put up with it long. Dead Evening Shade red oaks manageable now, new moon shape protecting a live one. My cousin Mike Williams(hacky statement) was a wonderful guy, taught me a lot about life and having one arm. I learn lessons, retain them. My dad taught me the most important thing about tree work when I was probably pre teen—bend your knees. In twenty years of the green industry, I’ve yet to see maybe a couple guys or girls do it. Had good help today, a man who remembered his father’s habits and honored them, a navy son who knew a little about ropes. All is well. Shelby is cool, we’re gonna play War Machine. I wanna jam too, then mountain bike over to Tami’s. Burt Reynolds kicked at Geezer.
September 21, 2005 Dead white oak gone from Lake Thunderbird shores now. Good efficient job, no mishaps. The trunk rolled and almost hit a yard light, but stopped just in time. Yesterday was a road trip to Ouachita National Forest, mountain biking old trails, down Hickory Nut hill, and wonderful Charleton swimming area. Lakes Hamilton and Ouachita, sprinkled with myriad islands, peninsulas and recreation areas. Wonderful. That makes five days in a row on the bike, hope I can keep it up. Tomorrow it’s Evening Shade(yes it’s a real town!).
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