The Hellish Handbasket

Morning sniff walks with the small dog called Maddie are both tedious and fraught. I can only describe Maddie's approach to walking as c...

I've landed in Scottsdale for a couple weeks to serve as the beck-and-call girl for the little dog called Maddie. I'm looking forwar...

I'm blogging to you today from the windy high desert plateau near Sonoita, Arizona. If you are wondering what this terrain looks like, g...

I've been a nomad for a little over a month, skulking mostly around Tucson. The plan was to stick around for the month of April for a se...

It might be human nature to want to feel significant, to know we've made a difference by existing. I remember reading stories of pioneer...

My quest to escape the Tucson heat this week inspired me to relocate to higher elevation. I'd noticed on the weather forecasts that Sier...

My younger brother used to be able to shoot down house flies with rubber bands. That takes some real skill. I don't have that skill. I r...

I can only remark that life is so strange so many times before it stops being strange and starts being the new normal. Everyone has challeng...

A new freedom can lead to a new happiness. So they say. I was skeptical. The hardest part, I discovered, is launching from the familiar into...

I was sifting through my hundreds of raw source drawings, created over many years of sitting in meetings trying not to argue, cry, laugh out...

After an interminable week of debilitating pain, it seems my clenched jaw has finally relaxed. What a relief. There's a thing called TMJ...

Last week I left you with a cliffhanger—would I survive the dental debacle or would I run screaming like a crybaby into oncoming traffic? We...

Here we are again. I'm here for my weekly therapeutic blog dump. Stand back, all four of you blogbots, so you don't get spattered. U...

To avoid living in the present, which is fraught with fear to the point of frantic dissociation, I am employing a technique known as visioni...

In spite of the general and specific terrors of living with other humans, for some reason, I have been enjoying my interactions with people....

The neurologist was everything I'd expected but not quite what I had hoped for. I knew I was setting myself up for disappointment. How c...

What was I saying last week about suffering being optional? Oh, brother. I stand corrected. Suffering is mandatory. It's the human condi...

The Chronic Malcontent here, coming to you from open desert somewhere between Parker, AZ, and Lake Havasu City. I’m parked on a swath of BLM...

I’m writing to you from Bureau of Land Management (BLM) desert land outside of Quartzsite, Arizona. BLM land out here occupies many square m...