[MD] Where I'm at

[John Carl]

A story Marsha?

Sure.  I like Dave and the Ronettes, just fine, but I'll tell you a story
about Limbo.

Limbo is a place.  As a place, the best description I have for it is "not
this, not that".  I'm not real familiar with Catholic theology, but as I
understand it,  Limbo  describes where pagans .  and unchristened babies go
after they die.  Sounds like my kind of people, actually.   I think good
Catholics are supposed to pray their loved ones out of limbo and into
heaven.  But I always wondered why.  Limbo sounds like the middle way to me.

When I say I'm living in Limbo, I mean my property, my home of 18 years, my
old miner's cabin which dangles over the diggins behind the house, and
fronts onto HWY 49.  If I stand in my front yard I can hear Harleys and Semi
Trucks going by.  If I stand in the back I'm bordering on BLM land,
thousands of acres of it, below the level of an 80 foot cliff that shunts
sounds over my head and leaves me in peace.  I live on the knife edge of
ambiguity.  This can be maddening, or frustrating or quite liberating,
depending on how you wanna look at it.  A couple of events have conspired to
bring the knife edge of ambiguity to a razor sharp hone.

First, on Sept. 2nd, Lu was issued a ticket by Nevada County to appear in
court on criminal charges.  These charges concern the condition of our
property and septic disposal.

At the same time, JP Morgan Chase has somehow "lost" our modification
documents, which they say gives them the power to renegotiate our mortgage
modification.  I hear stories all the time about such antics.  How the
government gives money to banks to make up their losses and foolishness.
How the banks take the money, and keep the property, in the hopes of milking
more money out of these "financial instruments".  Good luck with that.
Sooner or later, something real needs to happen.

Yesterday a shelf, burdened with books fell down and I had to pick up the
books.  I found one I didn't even know I had, it was from so long ago - a
thin brown book of poetry by Gary Snyder -

"Some critic tried to put me down--
'your poems lack the Basic Truth of Tao'
And I recall the old-timers
Who were poor and didn't care.
I have to laugh at him,
He misses the point entirely,
Men like that
Ought to stick to making money."

Between the bank and the county, who both stick my home in Limbo, I find the
perfect stand.  To the county I say, "Hey, it's not even certain that it's
my property.  Go find JP Morgan/Chase and ask him to cut the grass, get rid
of the unregistered vehicles and ancient school bus moldering in apple
orchard."  To JP Morgan Chase I say, "hey, why should I sign your
modification agreement when the property isn't even livable?  The county has
red-tagged it and here is the supporting documentation to prove what I
say".  All threats cancel each other out and just thrusts me deeper into
limbo.

Pray for me, then.  Not to leave limbo for heaven, but to turn Limbo into
heaven, without interference from demons.

John