Sleepless in Minneapolis

I am sitting in bed at 4 in the morning because whenever I come home it takes a week minimum for me to be able to get on a regular sleep schedule.

I am home again for another summer of sleeping in the wine cellar of the basement of my parents house in Shoreview, MN. I am graduated from Westmont College with a Social Science degree and an emphasis in History. I have written papers, taken tests, traveled around the world, and study fro hours on end. Now I am looking for a job. I have an amazing summer planned for myself that includes going to Williamsburg, NYC, Wisconsin and back to California. I have weddings to attend, friends to hang out with, hobbies to discover and master, new places to travel and weight to lose! Couldn't be more excited to start the blog again and meet some goals!

This summer will prove to be yet another Tall Tale that will go down in the books with the greats. Watch out Jonny Appleseed and Mr. Bunyon. Im coming for you! And so, I leave you with this poem by the great Shel Silverstein that inspired this blog since day one...

Paul.

He rode through the woods on a big blue ox,

He had fists as hard as choppin' blocks.

Five hundred pounds and nine feet tall,

That's Paul.

Talk about workin', when he swung his axe,

You could hear it ring for a mile and a half

Then he'd yell "Timber!" and down she'd fall...

For Paul.

You talk about drinkin', that man's so mean

That he wouldn't drink nothin' but kerosene

And a 5-gallon can is a little bit small...

For Paul.

You talk about tough, well he once had a fight

With a thunderstorm one cold dark night.

I ain't sayin' who won,

But it don't storm at all... 'round here...

Thanks to Paul.

He was ninety years when he said with a sigh.

"I think I'm gonna lay right down and die.

'Cause sunshine and sorrow, I've seen it all",

Says Paul.

He says, "There ain't no man alive can kill me,

Ain't no woman 'round can thrill me,

And I think heaven just might be a ball"

Says Paul.

So he died... and we cried.

It took eighteen men just to bust the ground.

Took twenty-four more to lower him down.

And we covered him up, and we figured that was all...

For Paul.

But one night the trees started shakin',

The dogs started howlin' and the earth started quakin',

And out of the ground with a "Hi, y'all"...

Come Paul.

He shook the dirt from off his clothes,

He scratched his butt and he wiped his nose.

"Y'know, bein' dead wasn't no fun at all"...

Says Paul.

He says, "Up in heaven they got harps on their knees.

They got clouds and wings but they got no trees.

I don't think that's much of a heaven at all"...

Says Paul.

So he jumps on his ox with a fare-thee-well,

He says, "I'll find out if they's trees in hell".

And he rode away and that was all...we ever seen

Of Paul.

But the next time you hear a "Timber!" yell

That sounds like it's comin' from the pits of hell,

Then a weird and devilish ghostly wail

Like somebody choppin' on the devil's tail,

Then a shout, a call, a crash, a fall...

That ain't no mortal man at all...

That's Paul.