Today is TSO

To explain the significance and importance of Trans Siberian Orchestra in my life, in this our story is pretty near impossible.  But I gotta try.  

It was the winter.  That winter.  A couple of fine folks in Colorado got me tickets to see them since I was there while Murphy was receiving care at CSU.  And it was my birthday.  

Being the music lover I am, I was sure I heard of them.  But even if I did, nothing could've prepared me for it...

An Angel Came Down was the first piece they performed and I was blown away. To put it into context, I've seen Pavarotti live, the three tenors, and Yo Yo Ma and even Kitaro... There was a hot, hot girl in a red sequined dress playing the electric violin that I still think about from time to time... 

Anyway, I was in rapture.  Pop culture has ruined the word 'awesome' but it was.  I was a kid witnessing the spirit of Christmas for the first time.  

And yet I hated it.  Because somewhere in a distant parking lot, alone and cold was Murphy.  He never left my side and the TSO concert was as far as I went from him.  We didn't stay for the second set because I couldn't. Even though thoroughly bundled up in the SUV.

And then after Murphy died, I was up in Bowling Green KY (heh, that's my TX roots showing - everything is 'up'), for two reasons.  To meet Indy for the first time and attend a fundraiser for their animal shelter.  It was the coolest of its kind - it was in a cave that Jesse James and his gang hung out in if my memory serves me well. 

Even amidst all the beauty, glamour, and glitz that I was graciously invited to be a part of, I didn't stay long, 30 minutes maybe, because I couldn't.  I left there and drove to a church parking lot and put my TSO CD in, listening to it for hours.  It must've been hours because someone called the police.  

The officer politely asked me why I was there.  I didn't know if he meant why I was in The City of White Squirrels, the parking lot of a church in the middle of the night, or asking a more theological question.  But I only had one answer.  

"I miss my son."  

He nodded and said goodnight.  I never asked his name.  

This is my Christmas story

Scentsy Fundraiser for 2 Million Dogs

Out of all of those nights the boys and I slept in a tent, I've had my fair share of wet, stinky fuzzybutt smell.  And maybe I had a mighty good stink on myself a time or two.  

A few months back a dear friend of ours from Bowling Green and dog rescue coordinator, Deana Wehr, turned me on to Scentsy candles and this holiday season, she is donating a percentage of sales to 2 Million Dogs.  

Click on the nearby pic of Pooki bear or here to purchase some of these clever candles and they don't burn with a traditional flame so there's no risk of setting the house on fire.  The fundraiser is from today until December 18th, the last day to place an order and receive it by Christmas day.  

Thank a ton Deana and Happy Holidays to all our friends in the City of White Squirrels!

24 Stones

Murphy's life expectancy got downgraded last week. That pisses me off but like I recently posted on facebook, I don't know whether I have more fight or faith in me but his metastatic cancer is not going to keep us down...

Here's what's in store for us this week:

Monday December 20th

- Drop Murphy off at CSU for first radiation treatment
- Afterwards pick up our good friend John Stalls (http://kivawalk.com ) and his dog Kanoa and head to Eldorado Springs State Park for a nite of camping and knuckleheadedness

Tuesday December 21st

- Sober up by 6am - say see ya to John. He's a good kid...
- Murphy's second treatment
- Gotta grab some gifts for my nieces b/f I go back to TX. Didn't make it to Archie McPhee's when we were in Seattle so I'm sort of at a loss. Educational or irreverance are the only gifts I buy people. There's a family pack of wrestling masks at McPhee's that's out of stock I wish I could get my hands on for me & the boys - Los Perros Loco Lucha Libre...

Wednesday December 22nd

- Third and final dose of radiation
- Denver. My friends here in Fort Collins got tickets to see Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Don't know if it's YMCA meets Slovenia yet but Murphy's coming with us and we all know how good he looks in a tool belt.
- Afterwards we'll take him to the Buckhorn Exhchange for a beefy treat he's never had before

Thursday December 23rd

- Make Murphy Xmas Sammiches for CSU patients. While Murphy's the greatest lover of (http://thehonestkitchen.com ) even he likes to share during the holiday season. We'll be making a coupla pies for cancer patients today.

Friday December 24th

- Take Murphy on a tour of Xmas lights.
- Leave cookies, coke & cigarettes out hoping Tony Bourdain (http://anthonybourdain.net), my new hero, shows up and doesn't confuse Hudson & Murphy for albino possums and tries to make them into a stew.

Saturday December 25th

- Open House at Claire's. It's a sushi Christmas and our last real day in Colorado. Grab a pair of chopsticks, stop by for the Ginger Grinch, the Murphy Maki, & whatever the hell else I come up with

Sunda... never mind not going to happen. Snuggle Snuggle with Murphy...

Monday December 27th

- Leave 3am for TX. God I need my family now...