RIP Little Douglas Squirrelio

Could be considered gross, weird, or gross.

Not a lot of people have an affinity for the squirrel. In fact, most people really do not like the squirrel. And I understand why in a lot of ways. There was a crazy attack squirrel that lived in my friends yard growing up deemed Psycho Squirrel. It would chase you walking to or from the front door and bite you if it could.

But, this summer I fed a lot of wee bebe squirrelios and found that the little Douglas Squirrels were super cute with their reddish/orange and grey coloring and anything wee bebe is pretty cute - obviously. I mean, they eat nuts with their little hands and shit. Pretty cute.

I also vehemently hate the fact that roadkill is a thing. When a living being is killed by a car on a roadway and then run over about 75 times and/or until its tissues are paper thin, it just bothers me. It's largely, if not entirely, the humans fault that this happens - with our cars encroaching upon an animals habitat and we confuse them. Squirrel or not, it bugs.

On Christmas Eve afternoon, my pop, brother and I piled in Big White - a 1967 3/4 Ton Ford Pickup (it has a choke) that my mama learned to drive on way back when. We were driving over to the Derby House to check out the construction (looking good!) and were behind a car that hit a squirrel.

It was still moving when we passed.

After checking out Derby, I got in the other car with the other half of the family - my mom driving - and decided that we needed to stop and pick wee squirrel up. It's not right leaving him there to be run over time and again, especially during the holidays.

So my mom pulled over, she and I hopped out and using a blue tarp, I picked him up (likely run over at least 3-4 times since we passed about 30 minutes prior). Couldn't you holiday drivers swerve a little - JEEZ!

Sure, it's gross. But it just seemed like the right thing to do. It's also not the first time that she and/or I will do this separately or together.

RIP Douglas Squirrel. You might not be missed by many, but your life was worth something to us.

Road Shoes: Sandalia

Nothing like a trip to E WA during Christmas to find a Road Shoe in the middle of the bridge between campus and downtown. Spotted on 12/23/09 on the way to Moscow Idaho.

This is a Road Sandal. The kind my pop wears with socks all year long - snow+ice or not. Last I checked he had a full set on, but I think I'll double check to be sure.

Long Shot

Sub-Category: Open Toe

It's true, but it's still not a tree.

My mom likes REI. It's one of her favorite places.

When I was small I went to REI a lot with my family. And like many brands, REI places their logos on everything.

You'll notice that there's an image of a tree just before the R. And that REI is spelled well, R-E-I.

I thought that REI was a very fancy place and given such fanciness, naturally thought that the people creating REI's logo were very clever... Take the T - make it a TREE and switch up an E for an I and wam-bam-thank you...we have TREE (Superstore for everything outdoors and relating to trees!)!

It really made a lot of sense.

Road Shoes: JAZZ

This is a Road Shoe. A Jazz Shoe to be exact. For a teener probably about age 14.

I found this Jazz Shoe in the PCC parking lot in my neighborhood in Seattle - the day before Thanksgiving of this year.

Sorry Jazzerina, you lost a shoe.

Long shot.

Sub-Category: Workout

Road Shoes

This is an exceptionally important post because really, I wanted to make a blog about Road Shoes not about Friends with Jeans. But 6 months passed and I slept, so Plan B. Friends with Jeans controls all and is mastermind of Road Shoes and Road Stuff, Road Things, Road Everything and everything else.

Road Shoes are everywhere. Actually there's just shit alongside just about any road. Shoes are interesting though because you wonder just how'd the get there and what do you do with a single shoe once you lose its mate. Certain things I understand like a coffee cup, bottles, road construction crap. Shoes make me wonder though.

Once I initially started noticing I realized that there are a TON of road shoes! Of all kinds and means. I used to be stuck in 520 traffic all the time and if you know 520 - it creeps. Slow. That's actually the best kind of traffic for Road Shoe research, but I also drive a truck so there's not a backseat for an associate and I don't have a super special under carriage truck camera I could set up to click away while I creep or zoom by.

Photo taking whilst driving is dangerous FYI.

So my gathering of research and evidence has been especially slow. Stay tuned. If you like stuff and shoes and me and things, you might be interested. And if you HAVE any Road Evidence and would like to contribute to this subject or want to discuss how interesting this topic and we both are, let me know. I'm down.

They Are Tight

Friends with Jeans was my Myspace. That was a long time ago.

The reason for Friends with Jeans in the first place was as follows:

I was new. I didn't reeeaaaallllyyyy understand quite how the entire system worked. Who I should be friends. Who not. So I was friends with anyone that wanted to be friends - why not!...at first. This included a 15 year old fellow whose myspace domain was something funny like Tight With Jesus. I misread it as Tight With Jeans. I thought it was funny, so yes, odd 15 year old fellow, we can be friends.

After our friendship started, this guy kept posting stuff about JESUS JESUS JESUS...and though I can certainly understand enthusiasm for just about anything I realized that 1 - It's weird that he's 15. 2 - I don't know him. 3 - He likes Jesus a LOT and sure, that's not the problem, it's just that I don't need to hear about it so much.

Being new to myspace I talked to my in real life friends about it. I explained about this fellow and they helped me see the above. I also explained my initial read on his name which I think is really clever still (Tight With Jeans!)... We made jokes about the situation, about my friend (it's true) and about me (obviously).

So I immediately ended our sudden and short history and pilfered a version of his domain: Friends with Jeans. GREAT IDEA!

One of my clever friends posted what to date may be my most favorite comment anywhere of all time (especially because it makes sense): They Are Tight. Thanks Lish. It's just about the funniest thing ever.

No one ever immediately understood the name. I don't blame them. But, if you knew the story, it's pretty funny... at least to myself and my funny friends. So, if you understand and also think it's funny it's because it probably is and we're probably friends (love you!).

Friends with Jeans in relation to myspace is gone forever, but its memory lives on through eternity. But, most importantly, let us never forget our dear 15 (now maybe 19, 20, 21) year old friend: Tight With Jesus. Peace be with you.