Cowboy Coffee! Yes I said it. Cowboy coffee is when you use that speckled blue enamel coated metal coffee pot with no screen or basket in it that you see in the camping section of your favorite store that has that sort of thing. You have to be out on the prairie or deep in the forest by the river, or mountains,miles away from anyone else but your camp on a crisp sunny morning. You boil the coffee (freshly ground, manually, on the spot) with clean water for about ten minutes on the hook over a wood fire. Not a hard boil , a slow loping boil. Take it off the fire, then you pour a small stream of cold water around the edge to knock all the grounds to the bottom of the pot. Pour it high to watch the steam! Mmmmmm

 My Harley is getting closer and closer to getting the final assembly. I've just about got all the parts I need. As soon as I fire that baby up, then will be time to think about getting that boat! I've decided for a live aboard a sailboat would be too narrow and small inside. I'll be going for a motorized cabin cruiser. More to come!...

 An awesome sunny day here in B-Town. I was reflecting on the fact that in just over three years from now I will have been tattooing professionally for 50 years! Who knew it would pass by so quickly.

Today is the anniversary of the 64 Good Friday earthquake in Alaska. March 27th 1964. I know things are scary right now, ( right in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic) but back then it seemed bad enough with our town totally knocked down and ripped up. To this day, it it still the largest earthquake ever recorded in the western hemisphere. Here is my memory that I posted over in the Anchorage group Facebook page, when asked "where were you during this?" :

I was in the back seat of a car in the driveway of a house over by the L st. apt. bldg, with my big sis and her friend. I was 8 years old and sis was stuck with me. We had just left JC Penny's, we were parked in that very space in front where that poor lady was crushed in her car while parked there, by the falling front wall face. I remember waving at her from the back seat as we pulled out and she pulled in. Less than 5 mins. later we parked and shut off the engine, next thing, I'm watching entire houses disappear to their roofs in the splitting ground, and seeing huge cracks running fast up the concrete walls of the L. St. bldg, looking like spider webs with huge chunks of wall falling off the bldg. The car was not shook but actually rocking side to side as if in a boat during a bad tide change. I remember my sisters friend yelling and wanting to get out of the car, my sis was level headed enough to say "No! Stay in the car, things won't fall on us!" For the next few minutes (which lasted forever it seemed) I just watched as the row of houses and the street that they lined moved like a snake with boxes on it's back. To think, the day started out awesome, a sunny day and I just watched an episode of "Fireball XL-5" on our black and white RCA tv, when big Sis says "Hey, want to go for a ride to Penny's with us?"

This was my friend the great "Playboy Buddy Rose" of pro wrestling fame. He's been gone since spring of 2009 and I miss him and his antics, crazy fast dangerous driving, and ribbing. When I first met him and his partner "Col. DeBeers" (also a veteran pro wrestler) it was in 2007 downtown Portland Oregon, one of my all time favorite cities. They came to pick me up in Buddy's yellow Lincoln Continental with a big pair of rubber testicles on the back bumper, and Col. DeBeers in the back, death gripping the seat and giving me a big grin when I got in the front telling me that "I'm a brave one aren't I..." that should have told me something right there. It was a big car, but Buddy was a really big man so he was crammed in there with the steering wheel set low in his lap and his foot all the way down on that accelerator. I was white knuckled gripping that passenger handle as we screetched around corners and flew through intersections with sparks flying out from the bottom of the car as the steel frame scraped the pavement at high speeds after catching air and landing hard! I was glad to be alive when I got out of that car! I was also happy that I had just met one of the coolest people ever, and was looking forward to doing business with him and the Colonel. I've never regretted doing work in showbiz throughout my life. Whether producing a stand up comedy show or performing in one, to announcing for MMA and pro wrestling, it's all been a blast of an experience and I meet the coolest people ever!
#playboybuddyrose #michaeloneilannouncer #prowrestling

It's almost 2018 (in about a week) and I'm back at the tattoo shop full time. The bar has been closed since Oct. and I'm taking a break to get back into my art again. Feels good! This Spring/Summer will be when the bar gets re-opened with a new name, look, location and business model. Stay tuned, more to come! Cheers, Smitty

There just is absolutely nothing in this world like some real deal New York City pizza! I love going there just to eat and drink my time away. With a good show or performance fit in along the way!