Hello friends and readers, vagrants and carpet-walkers alike. I thank you for another impressive year of discussion, thought, travel and well-being. I greet this New-Year with resolution and forward-thought.
Why not e-mail me your own resolution in this New Year? TrainTomOtt@Gmail.com. The mail-bag is always open, friends.
Train Tom's 10 Resolutions for 2013:
10.) Update The Transient Way - A Hobo Blog more regularly. Our readership is increasing and interest is coming in from all angles. This makes my heart glad.
9.) Travel more. This may seem to go in contrast to Resolution #10, but really, in today's age, it does not. I can travel from place to place and still find a way to get on-line, be it at the local public or a community center. My foot has healed well and it is time for me to get back on the road. I've missed you, Lady Travel, ever so dearly.
8.) RIDE THE RAILS. An accouterment to Resolution #9. This former Train Man has not ridden on the bosom of an iron horse in near four years. I miss the wind in my hair and the sun shining bright overhead. 2013 will see my return to the tracks, believe you me.
7.) Render more wild game. Too much of my food has been processed by another in recent months, even years. It's high time for me to again master the skill of Forage, particularly in rendering my own dietary meat and grease. I've always enjoyed butchering, but takes time...not to mention the skill of the hunt. It's time to stop making excuses and enjoy the fruits of the wild once more.
6.) Meet someone new every day. This seems like an odd resolution for a man of the transient persuasion, but there are often days where I am my own company, lying close to the fire and not inviting social graces. Time spent alone can be a wonderful reprise, but time spent with others is heavenly.
5.) Invite more outside participation in The Transient Way - A Hobo Blog. By far the most-read articles on this site are the Questions of the Week and the Op-Ed pieces by guest essayists. Both of those require the utilization of outside thoughts. I resolve to incorporate ever more thoughts and opinions in this forum other than mine own.
4.) Bathe in a hot spring. For those of you who like to geo-track my progress around the nation, here's a head's up: I plan to spend a portion of 2013 down Arkansas way.
3.) See a white-tail Cottonal Dewee. It's one of the legendary beasts whose lore is passed down from one generation of vagrant to the next. A creature so rare that it's not ever been found, classified or studied by modern animal scientists, only observed by transients who have the closer relationship with nature. I saw a small gray-tailed one many years ago, but I'd love to see a full-size White. They are said to roam the high forests of the American Southeast, a mixture of deer and hare, with the face of a man frozen in death's scream.
4.) Brew some of my famous Pickle Brau and serve it to friends old and new.
3.) Find my old friend, Huckleberry Builder. Huck is a self-taught stone-mason, who builds his own remarkable additions to existing stone structures (usually old stone foundations in the woods). I was hoping this web-log would attract ol' Huck to contact me, but so far it has not. I do, however, have a tip on a structure he build some years ago, so I'm hoping to travel to that area to see if he's still in the vicinity.
2.) Find a recipe for a nice, therapeutic balm to help with muscle and joint aches.
1.) Convince my friend Gumball to author at least three to four essays throughout the year. He's a treasure, his essays always spark the greatest social media discussions and feedback to my e-mail bag. To be honest, he would be a better Hobo Blog moderator than I (although he has quite firmly rejected the notion a number of times). We all love hearing from Gumball, so my #1 Resolution for this new year is to continue to gently press him for more words of wisdom and encouragement. He's quite an amazing individual.
How about you, good friends and neighbors? What are your resolutions? Do any of them match mine? E-mail them in, friends. If I get a goodly amount of responses I will contribute a day's wordage to them. TrainTomOtt@Gmail.com.
In solidarity,
Train Tom
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