High on a mountain.

High in the mountains

By Mikel K (Photos by Just Joan).

There is this kool place to eat in Mableton called Martin’s. We were in line in the drive through to get some Sunday morning biscuits, and a woman tried to force her way in line in front of the car in front of us. The car in front of us did not let the woman in and we decided not to let her in, either, because we were blocking in a man parked next to us, who had just gotten his biscuits, and we did not want to honor her obnoxious behavior.

The woman forced her way in behind us and started beeping her horn at us. I shot her the bird and honked our horn at her. (I need Dave Sloan to step in here and say that I should have said that I loved her!) The woman’s look was a cross between Tammy Faye Baker and Paula Deen on Quaaludes and methamphetamine at the same time. As she honked her horn, she was putting make up on. Joan joked that the woman was probably late for church; was late in bringing biscuits to the church.

The stop at Martin’s marked the beginning of our Sunday day trip to the North Georgia Mountains. We were headed to climb the hills that lead to Amicalola Mountain to climb up to Amicalola Falls, the tallest falls east of the Mississippi.

We just drove by a place called Norman Carpets and I thought how that if you dropped the R from Norman, that you would have No Man Carpets! I wondered if young kids ever made fun of Norman in that way, or other ways, as they did me when I was a kid.

We just drove by the Lockheed factory in Marietta. It borders Dobbins Air Force Base. According to Joan, inside this large facility, they build BIG planes for the military, the kind that soldiers drive tanks onto. I’m sitting in this car, on this highway, thinking that if man can figure out how to fly tanks around the world to kill people, that man ought to be smart enough to figure out how to achieve world peace.

I am drinking my coffee, on this ride, through a straw for the first time in my life as Joan and I drive and chat. I am not sure of the significance of this, other than I am wearing a white t shirt and I don’t want to show up at the mountain with it covered in brown stains. I often wear black. Black shirts. Black pants. Black socks. I am not trying to make any statement with this style of clothing; it is just how I feel comfortable dressing. I have a bad habit of putting a black shirt on in the morning and then brushing my teeth. Sometimes, I drool toothpaste and saliva onto my black shirt and have to change into another black shirt. I am not sure of the significance of this, either: one thought just seems to lead to another, sometimes.

John Lennon is singing, “I just had to let it go…,” on our car radio.  I think that letting go is a good thing to do. I should have let the Paula Deen-Tammy Faye Baker lady go in my mind, if not in line.

I don’t like to let the behavior of others make me behave in a stupid, or angry, way. To have let her in the line would have been unfair to the man who was trying to back out of the space next to us, though, and to all the people behind us who were doing the right thing by waiting their turn in line. I don’t want to play God. I really don’t.

Some people wash their car a lot. We don’t. I am always thankful for the new shine that a hard rain brings to our car’s finish. Nature, sometimes, has a way of saving a person’s back. Joan says that being in nature rejuvenates her. We are about to be rejuvenated!

We just passed another Waffle House. Back when I weighed almost 300 pounds, I used to eat at The Waffle House a lot. I love The Waffle House, but you know what they say about garbage in garbage out. I love them greasy eggs and smattered, tattered, smothered, and smooth hash browns, but I just had to let them go.

I just realized that my license is missing from my wallet. I think that I left it in a pair of jogging shorts that I wear when I walk the dogs. I do not like to wander about the land of the free without id.

We are, now, on a beautiful winding mountain road that cuts through some of the greenest and most beautiful trees in America.

We just passed a house that has been built underground. You see the neatest things in the North Georgia mountains. Joan and I just shared a drink from the cooler that Joan filled before we left the house. She said that it has sea algae in it.

“CLG,” I said, thinking it was some kind of exotic and important nutrient.

“No,” she said, “sea algae,” with a big grin on her face.

We didn’t have too much trouble finding a parking place, though there were a lot of people who had arrived at the base of the mountain planning to do the same hike that we were going to embark on. Joan was disappointed that the Park Rangers had built stairs on top of the old path that she and her kids used to take to the top of the mountain. We stopped many times on the stairs for photo opts. The running water and beautiful woods were great backdrops for beautiful photos, and were wonderful pictures in and of themselves.

I said hello to everyone coming down the stairs, and asked them if they had made it to the top. Many said yes, but many, also, said that they had started at the top! We got to a sign that said 175 steps difficulty: strenuous. Joan is scared of heights. She said that she was never scared on the old path, but these scares were jamming her transmission.

We made it to the platform where there was a beautiful view of the falls at about the halfway point in their existence. It was well  worth the climb, and the drive, to get to this point. I wanted to get someone to take Joan and I’s picture. As I was standing, waiting to ask a fellow who was videotaping the falls if he would mind snapping a shot or two of us, a young lady, with a big smile on her face, came up to us and said, “Do you want me to take your picture?” Her name was Kendra, and she was in a group with her husband, John, his mother, Loretta, and John and Kendra’s two beautiful kids. Her son came up to us with a big grin on his face covered in water from the falls. He had taken a plunge into the cold water.

We wound up taking a group picture with Kendra and her family. At one point I joked to the group that there were no republicans or democrats up here, just one people with a goal to scale them thar hills. Loretta quipped, “I am into the constitution.” I nodded my head in agreement!

After we parted ways with these wonderful people, Joan found a map on the side of the trail. We had decided to not scale the 400 and something more steep steps to get to the top of the falls on this outing. On the map that Joan found was a trail called the orange trail. You got to it by walking a pleasant trail for wheelchair users that was made out of ground up automobile tires. The orange trail zigzagged through amazing woods back to the base of the mountain. An amazing thing about that trail is that Joan and I were the only ones on it. We had the trees, and the rocks, and the acorns all to ourselves and were proud to think of ourselves as folk who walked off the beaten trail.

Calm and Peaceful

June 25, 2013

My baby turtles, George and John, know that it is feeding time when I slide the cover to their cage back an inch, or so, so that I can drop bits of sun-dried red shrimp into their cage. They scurry to the edge of their aquarium where they know that their food will land. I find this to be a very cute and intelligent behavior. My turtles tickle my funny bone. When they are done eating their shrimp, I drop green floating food pellets in to them. They then, happily, devour these. Feeding my turtles is a very pleasant way to start my day. 

June 26, 2013

I’m interested in listening to the song, “Pissed off and mad about it,” by a group called Texas Hippie Coalition, a four piece outfit that looks like a gathering of Hell’s Angels straight out of Hunter Thompson’s great book, “Hell’s Angels,” but the heavy metal intro proves to be too much for me to take at 5:45 am. Mostly, I listen to George Harrison at this time of day. I find the spirituality of his music to be a soothing way to ease into a new day. Today, I opt for Josef Islam’s greatest hits. I find the man formerly known as Cat Stevens’ songs to be soothing also. Despite the Bush administration’s opposition to Mr. Islam’s entrance into our country I find his music very spiritual. Did you know that George Bush does not much leave this country because there are warrants for his arrest in many countries around the world?

Blackberry Smoke, a homegrown Atlanta band, are going to appear on Jay Leno on July 10. I am really proud of these guys. I love their music and know that they have worked hard, very hard, to get where they are today. It would not surprise me to see them opening for The Rolling Stones sometime soon! Congrats to singer/songwriter Charlie Starr, the Turner Boys, and all the band!

I don’t know what to do next about my brother Tommy’s situation. He has been referred to a neurologist, but we don’t have the money to see one. I am praying hard on this matter, and would appreciate your continued prayers and positive vibrations.

He appears to be suffering from niacin poisoning. It is eating his system up, causing him to go blind, among other things, but no one knows how to treat it. Sucks.

Despite this challenge, I am looking forward to this day. They say that God does not give us more than we can handle, and I believe this. I have faith. I have faith that today will be a good day for me, and for you. God bless us all.

Joan taught my brother, Tommy, and I how to play Yahtzee, tonight. Tommy bought us a pizza, and then beat Joan and I at Yahtzee. I used to get bored playing board games, but had fun tonight. Joan is trying to remember how to play back gammon so that she can teach Tommy and I how to play.

Tommy and I have been playing a lot of 21, while we try to figure out what his next move should be medically. He is suffering from niacin poisoning. It is eating all his muscles away, and is causing him to go bline.

I’m reading a book that I can’t put down. It is called, “Caged,” and it was written by Cameron Conaway. It is a memoir of a young man finding his way in the world as an MMA fighter and a poet. The early scenes that Cameron depicts with his violent father remind me a lot of what Tommy and I went through with our dad, though our dad was not as brutal physically as Cameron’s was to him at a very young age.

A friend of our family was shot to death while working at his small jewelry store, today, in Villa Rica. One of the four fucking piece of shits who killed has been caught. He’ll narc out the other three, and I hope that the state puts a bullet in all four of their heads.

June 27 2013

I went to bed mad, last night. A friend of Joan's family was murdered yesterday, shot dead, as four thugs held him up in his small family jewelry business. I used to be anti-death penalty, thinking that it was administered unfairly, but I hope they fry these four cocksuckers. What kind of resistance could this family man, a grandfather have offered to these killers...a please, please don't kill me, I have kids??

When I was younger I gravitated toward angry punk rock music. These days, I mostly listen to mellow music, people such as The Grateful Dead, George Harrison, Josef Islam, and Julian Lennon.

I think that what you program in is what you put out. Listening to songs with lyrics like, "They hate us, we hate them," by Black Flag, and "What you going to do about the man in blue," by G.B.H. lead me to a massive confrontation with a police officer on the night that I got my only dui. I wound up with seven charges, which I did 15 days in county jail for, served several years on probation, paid a hefty fine, and a hundred dollars for the cop’s destroyed clip board.

When I listen to peace and love lyrics, I find myself in a better mood and more willing to try Dave Sloan's "I Love You," program, where Dave says that we should silently say I love you to everyone who we encounter in our day. I find myself driving by houses in my neighborhood saying I love you to neighbors who I don’t particularly care about, saying I love you to people who look scary or mean. This is good for me. I think that I was programmed to hate from a young age. Our society is full of hate. My father was full of hate. I don’t want to hate. Don’t say hate.

We had a dinner guest tonight. A mud covered turtle who we named Neil Young came strolling into our backyard while we were having tuna melts and pot stickers. Joan screamed so loud when she saw him that I thought she had seen one of the neighborhood dogs down there pissing on her tomato plants. John photo-opt, I fed Neil two big strawberries, and we watched him head back to the woods as we ate our desert.

July 3 2013

I am glad to be alive this morning. I am glad to be alive every morning that I wake up still here. The first thing I say is, “Thank you, Lord, for letting me see a new day, breathe the air of a new day.” Life is my/our most precious gift. It is worth more than money. It is worth more than fame. It is worth more than houses, cars, jobs.

I have been reliving my past a bit, for the last couple of days. I got an instant message from Mary Logan Bikoff, of Atlanta Magazine, saying that she wanted to interview me about the 80’s Atlanta Punk Scene. Gosh, what I remember I will be happy to share!!

The prayer that I mentioned above is one that I learned in jail. I had a bad drinking problem when I was part of the ‘80’s Atlanta Punk Scene. Many of the punks that I knew from that era were as wild, or wilder than I was. Many of them are dead.

I am glad to be living, today. Instead of attending wild punk rock music shows, and drinking with other punks, I am sober today. I like walking my dogs, cutting the lawn, taking hikes in the mountains, going to the beach: simple things that I didn’t much appreciate when I was “out there.”

I thank my Higher Power for life, and I thank you for reading this.

“What an illusion! In 1776 the few privileged white landowners in the 'New World' declare economic Independence from the parent company. Walmart and Monsanto are their legacy.”—Mudcat

Everybody works at Wal-Mart,
and they drink Coca Colas,
while watching American Idol.

--Mikel K

Tonight is an excuse for drunks to scare my dogs with home grown fireworks. I don’t much care for either…fireworks, or drunks. Kevin Eaton, a.k.a. Phreddie Vomit, the musician, a mainstay of the ‘80’s punk rock scene in Atlanta, asked the question, recenty, on his Facebook page, “what kind of world do we live in where police think it is appropriate to pull a gun on a 20-year-old college student who they think has purchased a 12-pack of beer?”

We live in a world where our government, we now all know what we really knew before, listens in our phone conversations, and snoops in our email. We live in a world where local police forces are armed like only the military special forces used to be. And we thought that we had a liberal president…

We live in a world where a very small population controls a very large part of the wealth. We live in a world where many, many Americans, in the land of the free and home of the brave live below the poverty line. I could go on and on, but, in spite of all the encroachments on our "freedom," I choose to still view the glass as half full.

There is a lot good about our nation, but the good does not lie in our politicians and in much of the corporate world. Self-interest runs rampant, not the interest of the people. Profits come first, not workers, or even customers. Look at what Monsanto is selling us. Look at what Walmart and Home Depot and Lowe’s have done to small business people. “Take a look around see which way the wind blow…”—James Douglas Morrison

I love my friends and I love my family. They are good people. There are a lot of good, good people living in our country, but they are not the ones running things. I will get togther with friends and family today and celebrate the great things in our lives, the great things in our country, and I will try not to dwell on the bad things.

I hope that you enjoy your fourth. Please don't set fireworks off near my dogs!!

Mikel K
July 4, 2013

July 5 2013

We should celebrate freedom as much on the 5^th of July as we do on the 4^th of July. We should celebrate freedom every day of our lives, as we work to ensure that we truly are free. It is our country, we the people. The nation does not belong to politicians or to big business.

I had a great fourth. I got to hang out with my grandkids on Joan’s side of the family yesterday, and with the Bob Genchi clan, last night: what great people. I thank Dan and Dana Pritchett for having us in their beautiful home, and letting us share time with their kids Audrey and Anna. Dana’s brother, Brad, was there, also, with his young son, Carter, who is a joy to be around. Great people. Great food. What a wonderful way to celebrate freedom.

Today, we are on our way, soon to go see my other grand kids, Elliot and Winston, children to my son, William and his wife, Tomi. I can’t wait to hang out with these guys.

Life is beautiful if you just let it be. I hope you have a great, great day.


July 6, 2013

Over the past couple of days, I got to hang out with all of my grandkids, the ones on Joan’s side, and the one’s on my side. In all, I have six wonderful grandkids in my life. I don’t feel like a grandfather, but I am so very glad that I am one. I love all my grandkids so.

I haven’t been playing the guitar as much as I should, recently. I have been picking it up, almost every day, and strumming on it for five, or ten, minutes. I used to pick it up for a half hour to an hour. I need to get back to that.

We are going to Movie Night at our friends Mike and Kathy’s house, tonight. A couple of times, each summer, Mike and Kathy erect a screen in their back yard and show a movie. I am looking forward to watching the stars under the stars with this great couple and the other wonderful people who they have invited over to share their home with them, tonight.

Life is good if you let it be, is something that I have been thinking over the last couple of days. Often, we, or at least I, make things harder than they have to be. Let it be. Let it be. The Beatles were wiser than I even thought. I haven’t had a drink in over 22 years. That has certainly made things easier for me. A drunk is much better off not drinking!!

It is 4:30 am and I am up for the day. I hope that you have a great day.

The Daily K July 9 2013

The thought occurred to me as I sent the poem, “You can talk to God anywhere,” to Poetry Magazine, that maybe the people at the publication don’t believe in God, and would reject it because they don’t believe in God; but that didn’t stop me from submitting the poem, any more than people who don’t believe in God stop me from having faith.

I can’t really define, “God,” beyond The Higher Power concept that I was taught. God is something greater than myself. When I have faith and turn my life over to this higher power, things run smoother for me. When I don’t have to be/try to be in charge of all things all of the time things just happen instead of things being forced to happen. Turning it over doesn’t mean that I lay down and wait for miracles. Miracles happen when I believe in them and work for them.

I once went to a Grateful Dead show with no cash, no ticket to get it, but I had a bunch of beads from an old car seat that I made into necklaces and sold outside the show. (The most fun at the show was being part of the wild bizarre of folks and things that existed outside the show). When I had sold a number of necklaces, a person appeared and sold me a ticket, way under face value, to the show. I had just gotten sober, and find it interesting that a Grateful Dead show, of all things, was one of my first sober shows. My miracle ticket had appeared, but I had worked for it.

Perhaps a miracle in my life is that I have found love. I always have wanted love, but something always seemed to conspire to stop that love from being for forever. That thing was me and it appears that I have, finally, gotten out of my own way to let love rule.

They say that God does not give us more than we can handle. I have found this to be true in my life, despite having been in some very dire situations along the way. I hope that your day is brilliant.