It was a dark, but very clear night as the two of us stood alone on the tenement roof top. Bruce had very little to say as he was thinking. After three-months of marriage he was coming to regret his saying ‘I do.’

Unfortunately, there was nothing I could do for him, as this was a situation he’d have to work out on his own. There are only so many things a guy is able to do for a friend – and marital interference isn’t one of them.

I could see his situation had him down and pressed so heavily on him that he’d taken up smoking to relieve the pressure – something I had discussed with him before. He said he could stop anytime he wanted too.

“Well,” Bruce growled in a graveled-whisper, crushing out his cigarette, “Better get home. Looks like I have milk to pick up.”

“I completely understand,” I said, ‘Being a married man myself.”

We both looked up at the beam where the word ‘milk’ shined in the center shape of the well-known winged mammal. With a heavy sigh, the Batman disappeared into the black void of the city and I wondered if I should talk to his missus, reminding her that her grocery lists are not what the Bat Light’s designed for.

Humor is the art of pointing out societies ills in such a way that even a Communist will laugh.

When you hear thunder, you think lightning, not Zebras.

Jesus says: ‘Stay on path,’ few listen; National Park Service says: ‘Stay on path,’ majority obeys.

I love people with ‘potty mouths’ as long as they aren’t full of shit.

Prospecting in the winter is as tough as it is during the summer months. One simply exchanges a broiling heat for frigid temperatures, as I very well knew.

The hill before me had a number of Pinion pine covering it and I wanted to see what might lay beyond it. While I didn’t expect much change in the scenery, I knew I was looking for that something that told me I might find a few gem stones, or a small gold vein.

What I didn’t expect was to find a coyote, tangled in a tree with a throwing-rope around his neck. While surprised at the sight of him, he was none to happy to see me as he bared his teeth as a warning not to draw any closer.

Once I understood what had happened to this coyote, I was instantly reminded of the poem, ‘The Belled Coyote,’ written by Bob Fletcher. It’s the poem on which Cole Porter based his 1934 hit song, “Don’t Fence Me In.”

So, I stood silently and watched him as he tried in desperation to escape the rope. He was having no success and it was obvious that he’d been at it for days, as his frame showed the gaunt ravaged of a slow starvation.

Realizing this, I felt for my six-shooter, thinking I should put him out of his misery, but the more I saw his struggle, the less heart I had to do so. There was something in his eyes and in his action that screamed survival and I couldn’t refuse the call.

Instead, I set about figuring how to release him from the predicament he had found himself tangled in. The first thing I needed was a long branch from one of the Pinions as I planned to use it to keep him at bay while I cut the rope from the tree he become entangled on.

As I knelt on the snow-covered ground, I could hear him issuing warnings in his guttural language. However the more I worked, ignoring his complaints, the more he calmed and the less he showed me his fangs.

Sizing up the rope, I knew I had to cut it as close to the coyote as possible, lest he end up getting entangled again. That meant untangling the rope from the tree or simply cutting it would be ineffective in the long run.

Knowing that my rescue of the coyote called for a different plan, I decided to withdraw from the tree and fetch some jerky from my pack. I tossed him a small piece, which he initially tried to run from.

Eventually, his nose caught scent of the meat and he began investigating it. After he gobbled it down, for the first time his ears perked up and he didn’t snarl at me.

After feeding him a couple of more pieces of jerky, I concluded that there was only one way to get him free – and that it involved perfect timing – because I might not get a second chance and worse, he could bite me. With my branch in hand, being dragged behind me, I worked myself up closer and closer to the beast, until I was about five-feet from him.

Offering jerky bits, helped alleviate his natural fear, as his hunger was far greater than his fear. Finally I tossed a piece of meat over his back and as he turned to retrieve it, I lunged forward with the branch and trapped his body to the ground.

To say he was unhappy is an understatement as he did everything he could to escape from where I had him pinned. Using the branch as a step, I held him tight to the ground and moved closer to where the rope embedded in his fur.

Then in a very uncharacteristic action, the coyote simply submitted as I quickly pulled the would-be noose from his neck and yanked it over his head. Then I sprung back, creating some distance between us.

The coyote jumped to his feet and raced off down the far side of hill. Laughing at how quickly he high-tailed it away, I shouted after him, “You’re welcome.”

Returning to the tree in which he’d been tangled, I set about working out how to unwrap the rope. It took me about 15 minutes, and once done, I began coiling it up, having realized I now had a new throwing-rope.

As I loaded my pack up, I saw my ‘friend’ had returned. I knew it wasn’t about coming back to say ‘thank you’ or anything like that – as coyotes, like dogs live in the ‘now’ – he knew I had food.

Then and there, I decided to leave him the rest of my beef jerky.

Not all ideas are not gemstones; some are costume jewelry, but are jus’ as useful.

Is anyone else having problems with adding blog sites to their WP reader?

I am have a terrible time with the feature. Sometimes, I will add a site and it’ll appear in my list of ‘Blogs that I Follow,” only to disappear when the site it refreshed or reloaded.

And then every time I try to add a blog through my WP reader’s manage page, I’ll get the green ‘Followed’ message, which disappears instantly, then replaced by: “Sorry, there was a problem following ____________. Please try again.” The blank is the web address of the site I’d like to add to my WP reader.

And so far, though I’ve reached out for help from WP and their Forum, I’ve had no word back about correcting this problem. This is so frustrating!

Being called ‘lazy’ is so demeaning — I prefer ‘selective participation.’

MAGA: Make Alexandria (Ocasio-Cortez) Go Away!