April 18, 2008
Eating lots of fruit and greens. Had strawberries and cantaloupe for breakfast. My chickens absolutely love the leftovers. Buddy watches them like a video game, sometimes for hours. I'll come out on the patio and there he is at the top of the steps, peering out at the chicken house like it's Halo or sumthin'.

E Street Exit
NEW YORK (April 18) - Danny Federici, the longtime keyboard player for Bruce Springsteen whose stylish work helped define the E Street Band's sound on hits from "Hungry Heart" through "The Rising," died Thursday. He was 58.

So young. I read somewhere that pop musicians in the U.K. have a life expectancy of 31 years (all those twenty-something overdoses factored in). Also, NFL players tend to check out sooner than later (I think their number is 64).

Retiring Regimen
"The first two paragraphs of your April 16th blog (with exception of taking medication) make it sound as if you have the routine for retirement down pretty good."
—Gus Walker

The June issue of True West went out the door yesterday (actually uploaded online to Kansas City). I went into the office and proofed the pdfs. I had very little to do with this issue. Mark Boardman wrote Classic Gunfights and Meghan and Robert Ray schmoozed the layout to look like me, poaching a piece of my art from another gunfight. The whole issue is quite good and I'm proud they carried on with such style and wit.

Drove down to Aaron Brothers at Desert Ridge yesterday afternoon to get some much needed art supplies. Farthest I have driven since my date with the Kingman Regional ER crew. Woman almost turned in front of me at Dynamite and Tatum on a yellow light(she made the feint, then stopped and I snaked around her going through the yellow). I made it through and shuddered. Wouldn't that have been something to have survived two heart attacks and pneumonia only to crap out in a traffic accident?

"Death is never at a loss for an occasion."
—Old Vaquero Saying