2000 lbs of Weasel!

 Wyl closed the door on the little girl and turned in the direction of the wood, walking easily through the snow his mind already churning.  They were going to be late reporting in because of the delay but there really was no rush when you are using the trip as an excuse to think.  And think Wyl did.  What to do?  His fall from favor was almost legendary and learning to keep his mouth shut was a lesson in futility.  He was the butt of every joke in court but those that knew the truth of things understood that without him their lives were about to take a drastic turn for the worst.

Wyl opened the shed and started gathering a large armful of wood the smell of dried fir almost over-powering.  He was going home, well the land of his birth anyway he now had no real home to call his own.  He caught the eye of his horse Shadow who looked at him with curiosity.

“Don’t worry girl I’ll get to you in just a minute”

Wyl looked at the pommel of the sword sticking from the saddle wondering how much trouble he was in for having the weapon and not caring much.

He kicked at the door gently and after a slight hesitation the little girl opened the door.  He passed by her and set the wood in a stack by the fireplace.  Hal looked to be getting better by the minute.

“I’m gonna get a couple more armloads and then tend to the horses, mine is the one with the good footing”

Hal barked a quick laugh and turned on his side facing the fire, which was now roaring.

Wyl turned to look at the little girl, “I suppose I should make up for my rudeness and introduce us.  I am Wyl Barlett and this bag of cold bones is Haltern McHenry.”  Hal turned back and gave a little wave just above the blankets as introduction.

The little girl grabbed the sides of her sleeping gown and curtsied properly to the surprise of both men.

“My name is Maiden Flint”, the girl answered in a small voice after the bow and looked both expectantly and seriously in Wyl’s eyes.

Wyl stood and bowed as in court

“Well met…umm did you say Maiden was your name?”

Maiden nodded

“Forgive me for saying so but that is quite a strange name.”

Maiden frowned and stated pointedly “That is my name, I don’t see what is strange about it, it is who I am… and I am not strange.”

“As you say Maiden,” Wyl smiled “and again well met.”

He left the house for round 2 with the wood now thinking more of the strangely named girl.  It was very surprising to see someone this far out in the country who greeted formerly.  Generally hand shakes or just nods were the norm although it wasn’t unheard of, maybe her grandparents were just sticklers about protocol. Wyl wondered why she was with her grandparents in the first place.  What had happened to her parents?  Wyl’s head was abuzz, he felt he was missing something…more than something.  Suddenly he stopped and looked around the yard in the dawning light and then it hit him.  The tracks, he looked harder at the tracks, it had been snowing but not heavily for the last few days and even so there was no trace of other tracks but those of himself and the little girl.  Even with the cold and snow and tracks expanding there could be no doubt.

Wyl turned and ran into the house startling both Hal and Maiden.

“Maiden, how long ago did your grandparents go to get the deer?”

Maiden looked up, worry suddenly on her face then she looked to the floor “It’s been a long time”

 Pt 2

Moustache leaped off of Maiden’s feet at the sound and scurried away toward the kitchen.  The fire had burned low and Maiden threw a chunk of wood on it automatically even as she tried to understand what was going on.  Another bang on the door gave clarity to the fog in her head.  A gruff male voice from beyond the door said

 ”Hello, we have need of shelter”, there was a sense of desperation to the mans tone.

Maiden cautiously crept to the door somehow sensing if she didn’t open the man would break it in.  She lifted the latch and let the cold night air in, usually she would see the snow covered yard beyond but the entire view was blocked by a large man holding up another slightly smaller man who was shaking uncontrollably.

“Forgive the intrusion, Hal fell off his horse fording the stream he is soaked to the bone and has need the warmth of your fire.”

The large man moved past Maiden, she caught the mixed smell of leather, oil, sweat and animal fur. He settled Hal to the floor on her blankets by the flames and immediately started removing his clothes.

“Great horseman my arse…” he muttered under his breath, “Girl close that door and get a kettle on”.

Maiden quickly closed the door and started out for the kitchen, the man’s voice had a very commanding quality to it; she knew if she followed his directions everything would be right with the world.  After filling the kettle with some water from the bucket Maiden struggled with the load back to the fire, the large man took it from her with ease and placed it on a hook over the flame thanking her with a quick nod.  Hal was all wrapped up in her blankets now but had a blue tinge to his face and lips the large man began rubbing Hal’s feet and hands vigorously. 

“Gget yur bbigg mits off me ya lug” Hal forced through chattering teeth.

“Oh so you’ve decided to stay among the living eh?” the large man replied stopping his ministrations and smiling at his companion.

“Lllucky for you…” Hal managed, he seemed to have more to say in the way of retort but couldn’t get it out

The large man let out a big laugh and patted Hal on the shoulder then reached over and threw the remaining pieces of wood on the fire making it larger than Maiden ever dared.

“Do you have any more wood?” he asked turning his attention her way

“Uh yes in the shed”, she gestured in the general direction to one of the outbuidings.

The large man seemed to take stock of her and his surroundings for the first time.

“Where are your folks young lady?”

“My grandpa got a deer but it fell in the ravine so him and my grandma went to get it out”

The large man nodded, “I hope they don’t mind the use of their home briefly, we will pay for the wood and hospitality”

Maiden could see her grandparents helping the men out and refusing payment but for answer she just looked up at the kneeling man and rubbed some sleep out of one eye. He smiled and stood to his full height, he was by far the largest man she had ever seen and had to duck a little to exit the door on his quest for more wood.  Just before the door closed she caught a glimpse of 2 horses outside and sticking out from the saddle of each was the pommel of a sword.  Maiden started, her grandma had always told her to be wary of people carrying swords most were men with evil intent.  Hal was watching her as she turned from the door and gave her a weak sympathetic smile, his blue eyes meeting her brown.

Went to a buddy of mines last night to play a round of Texas Hold ‘em.  It was a $20 buy in with a $5 side pot for high hand.  There were 12 of us, 6 on each table, when half from each table went out we combined the remaining players on one table.  I made it all the way to 3rd place which got me my money back but I lost the high hand of the night putting me $5 in the hole.  Then we played a cash game that I went in for $10 and took 3rd again but this time got nothing for my efforts making the night cost a grand total of $15.  I really debated about going with money being so tight and had decided not to but after talking to my Mom she convinced me to go just to hang out with some friends for a bit (me thinks the family is worried about my mental state).  It was a good time and everyone was very cool, my performance at the tables would rate an A-, if I would have slow played a hand or 2 it would’ve been an A…maybe next time.  Working more on this blog to get it up and running the way I want, well actually my “work” consists of hounding Coco when he has free time with questions.  Trying my hand at fictional writing for a bit.  I am posting it in small parts here so if you wish to read it it will be under “Maiden”.  Pt 1 is up and pt2 is finished and I am currently in the middle of pt3, comments are greatly appreciated, the grammar and punctuation are not perfect and they aren’t the final edits that I am posting but writers that I know say it is more important to get the story down and worry about the details later…so that is what I am doing. 

One Ton Weasel

Maiden pt1

Maiden continued to stoke the fire, the wood was snapped up hungrily by the eager flames brightening the interior of the little house.  She stared around the cozy living room that turned a warm flickering orange hoping to catch a familiar sight or sound of her grandparents but none came.  They are fine she thought and they gave her a big responsibility,

 ”You keep that fire going young lady and don’t leave the house, we will return shortly.” said her Nanna

 Her grandfather leaned down to her and cupped her cheek in his work hardened hand “Now don’t fret honey there is plenty of wood and we shouldn’t be too long, just keep the fire going and when we get back we will have a feast”, he winked and smiled, Maiden giggled and returned the smile tenfold

She had done what they asked and knew they would be proud of her, she had kept the fire going, she had made her own meals, done the dishes, the washing, fed the chickens and goats, collected eggs and milk, cooked and even cleaned up like her grandma did.  It was hard work for an adult let alone a child of almost 6 years and the snow didn’t help.  It was piled up almost 2 feet now and she swept it away as best she could from the door almost hourly.  Her one companion was moustache the grey tabby cat that now stretched languorously all the way out on his side to accept the heat from the fire. 

On trips outside to fetch water or feed the animals in the 2 small outbuildings Moustache would bound along running carefully ahead on top of the whiteness then look back exasperated as Maiden struggled waist deep with either a basketful of eggs or dragging a bucket of water.

“Don’t look at me like that, you could help ya know”.

 Moustache would just blink in response

 ”Grandpa says you have to work hard to make your own meal and you don’t do nothing but play”

Moustache would run up to get a quick pet while Maiden took a break, then scamper back when she continued her trudge, she spit through heavy breaths,

“Times get too tough I’ll be having a cat stew” copying what her grandpa said while he pet the feline.

At night she would gather some hot coals from the fire in an iron pot with ash like her grandma did and leave the lid almost closed in case she couldn’t get the fire going in the morning.  It was an extra precaution that she didn’t need.  Instead of sleeping in her bed she curled up with some blankets and Moustache by the fire to make sure she could get it going as soon as she woke.

Late one night there was a loud bang on the door jarring her awake…

This is the worst part, I have done all that I can including harassing my contacts to make sure they get me an interview…and now I wait.  Fortunately(?) my main desktop took this opportunity to blow up so I have been repairing it all day.  I believe I have found the culprit to be a (gone bad) strip of RAM, so far it seems to be running stable on 1gig instead of 2 and I currently am having Norton run a scan just to be doubly sure it isn’t viral.  When that is done I will try the RAM again in a different slot hoping that the Mboard just crapped out on that strip.  Got a call from my youngest who is vacationing over in E. WA with their mothers grandparents (spring break), she talked my ear off for about an hour telling me all that they have been doing.  Well Norton is done and no viruses…off to put it all back together.

One Ton Weasel

I have been rather busy lately job hunting and after some extensive networking I have 3 good “ins” at 3 good companies.  The first is at an indian casino, I played softball with a lot of the (now) directors of different departments and they will get me into one of 2 departments (fingers crossed).  Second is the WA state lottery, my cousin works there and sent me a position which would work out nicely.  Third and most ironic is a guy from my current ballteam has a line on a job with NW Cascade (great company btw).  Who is NW Cascade?  Well they do construction and other things and I would be applying for one of the “other” things…their Honeybucket division.  Honeybuckets are portable bathrooms to those not around the NW so I would go from nice cushy job to cleaning out crappers…I can see the movie of my life now.

 One Ton Weasel

Still trying to find a theme that works.

So what is someone who knows nothing about web design, blogging and even myspace doing with a fully customizable blog?  Not a whole heck of a lot as you can see.  This is going to be a slow process learning all the way so bear with me as I give it a shot.