My first blog... just because it seems that no one has been here in around a year, so chances are no one will see it for quite a while anyway. I have popped in a couple of times just to see if there …

[Trimaddog]

My first blog... just because it seems that no one has been here in around a year, so chances are no one will see it for quite a while anyway. I have popped in a couple of times just to see if there was anything new to see, hear or read, but all seems quiet on the Arkian Sea. The years have surely flown by since the days of LiveVideo and it sure is good to still be waking up each morning and wondering what exciting things may happen that will leave me in a state of open mouthed awe! My life has changed so much over the years since LV. I still am fighting the inevitability of becoming a grumpy old man, but it has been hard the reminders of those advancing years crop up... welcome to AARP 49, deciding to accept the Senior discounts to movies 55, retiring from 24 years of teaching 58, collecting Social security at 62, and finally Medicare at 65! Now the only remaining milestones are birthdays and anniversaries... this month 67th birthday and next month 25th wedding anniversary! But still fight the progressing decline by running, bicycling, eating well yoga stretching, annual physical checkups, playing music, refurbishing ancient stringed instruments to playability, and finding other activities to stimulate my forgetful brain! The key is to try to age gracefully, with a positive attitude, and a smile on my face that makes people wonder what I’ve been up to!  When I do do my final exit I hope not to leave too large of a smudge upon this planet I call home.

Peace & Love to you all, wherever y’all are at!!

Maddog Wille

[ThatGirl]

Hi there Willie.

Life is like that, the number just keep growing but you are a healthy active guy and once you stop thinking about age the only reminders will be when you have to think about the SS.  There is always something that may surprise you to learn in this life. Making sure to be always learning and SEEKING is a key that might help you settle into the numbers game... Think about today , ... check in more often. I assure you I will eventually see it, I come out of my own hellscape whenever possible. sometimes Im elated at still being here other times Im looking for life to connect with outside the hellscape . 

Glad to know some people here are still alive. and well. I Imagine everyone has been through some special kinds of trauma and loss these last few years. If im wrong about that maybe its only the environment Ive been in that makes it so prominent its impossible to look away  but i do hope to hear from others and so glad to hear from you. 

I used to always come to keep trying to document as It started to feel really obvious my days of being able  were winding down and my one son was going through a hell I wasnt sure I'd make it through or that we both would.  I didnt have any equipment anymore aftr forced to move and then never got it back so even though Id get ideas I never had the tools or time to produce them.. then no one was here and it got sadder. 

You are loved and thought of often. as with all the people who were our little collective soul...souls...

dont want to say too much more except I have watched your refurb videos... at times I do better communicating visually. I write alot when I am really just writing for myself...so please excuse the absence of comments but i always would like things so people know i was there and watched the whole thing. The disruption to life is so chaotic and unpredictable these days ..i hope to see more people pop in once in a while but its been a silent tundra... sometimes I wonder... about alot of things. Being as its 3AM where I am, thats a little picture of how weird and unsettled life has gotten. Wishing you peace and hoping you check in again soon. 

[Trimaddog]

I didn’t hit the hay till after 3 am myself the other night! Yes, it has been a crazy last few years... not just you, though the different environments we all occupy can vary the amounts of crazy! Your boys must all be grown up by now! Time flies! I don’t know anything other than what you just wrote, but I hope all has settled down to have allowed time to breath! I still teach a Yin Yoga class on Fridays for a few students who just don’t want to quit even after we closed our Studio. They have adapted to the Zoom classes and seem to enjoy the calm, even though they no longer get the hands on treatment!

    So glad you responded, I always wonder what you are up to and it is so good to hear from you! I’ll try to check in more often maybe some others will do so as well.

    Stay well and I hope to hear from you and maybe some of the others again soon!

Willie

[NatureJunkie]

Hello Willie. I apologize that I have not visited the Ark in several weeks and therefore missed the posting of your blog in a timely way. I think of the Ark very often, actually, and when I do, I always think, "I gotta make a video about my banjo strings and ask Trimaddog what I need to do." What can I say?

What I can say for sure is, I'm grateful that Chig has left this place up for now. I know that someday it will go, and when it does, I'll feel like some vital piece of my personal history went with it. I'm not a lonely person, but I expect that the disappearance of the Ark will indeed feel lonely.

I'm glad to hear you're doing so well and enjoying "retirement." And remember that to folks like Mick Jagger and Paul McCartney, you're just a baby.

[Trimaddog]

Definitely post that banjo string video and hopefully I can help you out. Yes, the ARK is a part of my history as well, but I’m always creating more history with every day that I’m given to wake up and get out of bed!

   Now I spend a lot of time on different facebook groups where people are focused on vintage guitars, antique banjos, History of the same, music, Etc. I find that the in groups the focus is almost always on the subject and seldom strays off into the stuff that turns people off of FB. Unlike many, I have a mostly positive view of FB because of how I use it. I learn a lot about the things I'm currently focused on. 

    I do need to start making more videos myself or at least finish up some of the ones I’ve started and nearly completed! I keep meaning to post some videos for Tune of the Month on some of the clawhammer groups, but have not done so in spite of the many attempts at recording myself playing. I always end up deleting what I’ve done because I think I can do better next time LOL!! "Take number 15, 16, 17, ....!"

    Inside I still feel like I have another 50 or so years left, but nothing is guaranteed so I have to live like each month could be my last! (I’m shooting for 150)

    Hope to see your video soon!

Peace and Love,

Willie