When it is a grey and raining and slow day – like it is today – there is not much I can do on the farm. The only thing I seem to be doing is cleaning the paws of five dogs that, unfortunately, on this day, need to go outside to do their business. And, afterward, naturally, they want to come back inside the home to keep warm and dry.

They are also a stinking, muddy wreck when they come back in. There are paws prints all over the floor, mud on the new furniture, and a good deal of cleaning to do. All of them coming in at once can be frustration – a pain in the ass.

But, they are OUR dogs.

They are my alarm clocks, my night watchmen, my therapists.

This will be the first thing I have written & posted since moving into the new home. Aned what an adventure it has been. Fast & happy is all I have to say about it… maybe a little frustration. But at the end of the night, before I go to bed with the wonderful & beautiful that will soon be my wife, I MARVEL. I marvel at the fact this is my HOME! – That I am HOME! My books are placed, temporally, on a temporary shelf (my Special Lady Friend, Tara, and I will be making special, built-in bookshelves on the entire left-side wall of the home) my RAMBO knives our displayed – and I now have all of them.

There is a “Special Room” to the far, backside of the home for special and not so uncomplicated to figure out special needs.

We have a bed. I have a bed, that is shared with someone so remarkable I can’t even conceive of a God that would permit me to have such a privilege…

but he did…

some things should not be questioned, I guess.

Goethe wrote: “Moreover, I hate everything that only instructs me without increasing or immediately stimulating my own activity.”

Well, now, it seems like everything is increasing & stimulating me. It’s a rare feeling, for me, to have the type of home & family again that makes me want to do well. To do something RIGHT.

Tonight: I will be cooking steaks & Gudda pasta for my girl.

There will be laughter. There will probably be some serious conversation about the future. What I do know is, in the morning, I will be in a warm bed with her, in OUR home.

And for those of you that don’t know it, that it is the best thing in the world.

It is raining outside… I remember waking up in cold rain… in cold, grey, and terrible and horrible places.

There is no point in going back to that. And, dear Readers, NO ONE needs to go through that!

There will always be a warm bed for anyone that is honest. That will fight what is wrong. It can be lonely at times when you are in the midst of a battle, not just the REWARD, but the assurance of gaining what has been fought for is there.

I can promise you that.

Never stop fighting!