News From The Line Camp

It's all about guitars over at the Line Camp, but that's what I intended for it to be from the start.  I bought the place in late 2003, started working on it early the next year.  It was a small house with a shop area built onto the back, and it was in bad shape.  I started renovations with some things in mind - a working shop area to build and repair guitars, a showroom, an office, a kitchen and bathroom, and a set-up area to work on guitars once they were almost complete.  After about six months, I had the place looking pretty good both inside and out.  I built lots of bookcases and shelves to store things, and I covered the walls with stuff I'd collected over the years.  It's definitely cowboy, a man's abode, and it is now home to six inside cats.  Got another six who hang around outside.

But I got older and less able to do hard work, so the outside area now looks run down again.  Got an old boat, car, and utility trailer in the yard, all sorts of other stuff.  That's a pending clean-up project.  Inside, the place still looks good, but it's much more than a guitar shop now.  Since it's a quiet place, it's good for writing.  My old computers are there, and they still have some stories on them written back in the 1980s and 1990s.  There's some audio equipment, and lots of tapes and records.  Yeah, a good place to crank up the old stereo and listen to some classic rock, country when it was country, or even classical music.   And sometimes, I do some playing myself.  I own about 60 guitars, and most of them are there at the Line Camp.  I've got a music room here at home, but it's small and cramped.  I'm not allowed to spread out here.  Female restrictions, you know.

But it's sad at the Line Camp these days because something is missing now.  My favorite shop cat was killed on the highway a few weeks ago.  She's buried in the back yard now, along with several other cats who died there.  I loved that cat, and I'm still angry at myself for not keeping her up at night.  She loved being outside, begged to go out, and I allowed it, and now she's gone.  Dammit!  My heart drops out every time I go there now because she's not waiting on me at the back door.  Oh, cats are still waiting - Toby, Tinker, Rusty, Big Mama, and a couple of new kitten.  I still have cat buddies, but I sure miss the one that's gone.  And her best friend, a grey tabby that was always with her, is here at my residence across town now.  I at least had the good sense to make sure she was safe.

My day will start before long with a trip across town to feed cats, clean litter boxes, and piddle around with whatever else needs doing.  Now that cooler weather is here, I'll be spending more time there.  My writing projects are coming along well, time to get back to
working on some guitars.  I need the work.  I've been blue lately, and blue isn't a good mood for writing.  I need to get my hands on some wood and see if I can make it come alive again.
Creation is good for the soul, and mine needs a little help right now.  My hands are less able these days to work the magic they once did, but they still work.  Yeah, today I'll work with wood.