A few Thursdays back the Pilgrim Monument here in P’town turned 100. It is the largest free-standing, granite structure in the U.S. and it is P’town’s claim to fame… among other things.

I knew there would be fireworks, but thought that by turning the radio on high and the AC on loud it would smother the noise for PD. At 9:30 I was serving one of my last tables and had a feeling that I should go home quickly and check on the dog. I was 3 minutes away by bike and my boss was kind enough to let me go.

As you might have imagined PD was gone. He had managed to flip his crate upside down and separate the walls to escape and push open the back door (by the grace of God I did choose to lock it, otherwise there would have been extensive damage done to the apt before he finally managed to get out, which he would have).

I returned to work only to say that I had to go and search for the dog. The town was packed; I have never seen so many people and I knew that the increase in population would only serve as a terrible obstacle. I asked anybody who was standing outside if they had seen a white dog run by. A couple of people said they had seen a “wild dog” tear through there about 20 minutes before. Shit. I knew what state he was in and the direction he was heading toward was bad. I got into my truck to look for a body on the side of the road… I gave up realizing that I had to go home and wait. PD has tags and angels so I was comforted in trusting that would take care of him.

At 3AM I got a phone call asking me if I was the owner of a dog named PD. 10 minutes later he arrived in the back of a Honda with some hippie dudes who were brave and kind enough to pick him up. He was filthy, scared and covered with scratches. I bathed him, welcomed him home and we went to bed. It was the next morning during our walk that I noticed a limp… upon further investigation I could see that the pads beneath his paws were worn down with chunks cut out of the larger portion of the pad.

My vet got us in and bandaged 3 of PD’s paws. I was instructed to keep them really dry and was given IV bags to keep the paws protected. That so did not last. After a weekend of the bandages and that dreadful collar they came off. For one day I had to keep them covered yet still allow air to get to them. This was a challenge as a simple sock was not doing the trick. After some drainstorming and creative flow I designed a garter belt looking thing that attracted much attention and questions from passers by; for the entire day we took back roads and avoided eye contact with anybody… PD of course I feel felt the sympathy and opted to cash in on it any chance he got. At the end of the day… I’m glad he was found and the shit makes for a good story.

At the gym the other day I over heard one of the guys talking about “Whitewater” and how his dog slipped on a rock, cut her foot and fell into the river. Wait a minute? River? Was he talking about some state park up north? I didn’t know so in between presses I casually asked him what Whitewater was only to find out that 20 minutes from my condo is a preserve in Whitewater Canyon. All this time and I never knew an actual river flowed through this area from the mountains. Needless to say, I canceled my plans for the next day and told Petey we were going to see some water.

I was stoked to find how close this thing was to me. The drive east into the mountains became cooler and greener; always a good indication at this time of year. The road took us to a Ranger Station. All around the log cabin were warnings of mountain lions, rattlesnakes, black bears and bighorn sheep. It was nearly 100 degrees out so the only thing I really had to worry about was the rattlers and since my plan was to be in or around the river I wasn’t that concerned. Besides, those guys are pretty considerate when it comes to letting you know that you or your dog is too close for their liking.

A short walk along a very primitive stone-lined path led us west to a beautiful oasis-like scene. It was a river, not a creek, but a wide, flowing river that moved so fast in some spaces that it became “white water” from the small waves that crested over the rocks and such. I felt like it was Christmas morning! I unleashed Petey and jumped down the small dirt cliff, slid all the way down to the river and ran into the water. As I sat on a rock and felt the water creep up my legs and soak my shorts, I looked down and schools of tadpoles in all sorts of development were wiggling all around my feet. The water was so clear that I was tempted to dunk my head and have a drink, but for obvious reasons, I did not. About an hour into the walk we came upon a rugged shelter made of sticks, twine and brush. This is the shit that you see on that Discovery Channel show about the guy who is in the Outback or somewhere completely remote and drinks his piss and eats worms.

Being here has not been easy, but having this jewel in my backyard makes it a little better for sure.

Today I’m heading up to Utah for a Valentine’s event and I just couldn’t leave without saying something, ANYthing on the blog since I’ve been so negligent lately. Sometimes you just fall out of the groove, you know? I was thinking about religion last night and how religious people kind of get a bad rap from all of the fanatics, but then I realized an entry about that would be a major endeavor so another Friday the 13th blog op was missed. And of course I have fuck all to say about love, which means a Valentine entry is out of the question. Don’t even get me started on this “holiday” or I’ll never make my plane. Let me just say in shorthand, “Why do we NEED a day to do things for those we love?”

Then it hit me! I have a fun little video we made just for kicks and I can use it to overshadow the fact that I don’t want to write a fucking thing! They will love it and I can ease my guilt for being such a rotten host! You see how that works?

Last month I received a pdf of the article about me in the September issue of Unzipped. Naturally I had to wait until the magazine was on the newsstands before I could show it here and it sort of fell off my radar until now.

Ma Hazzard came out for my birthday for a ten day visit. It was SO much fun. The last thing on my mind was work, but we did get a ton of pictures and some priceless video so there’s plenty to look forward to on that front. Now back to the topic at hand.

Everybody went ape over the Eric Schwabel photos and Andrew Epstein’s layout. On a recent Rascal shoot there were many positive comments passed about this article and exchanging compliments is not exactly standard practice on a porn set. Needless to say I was and am very pleased. So was Ma Hazzard, btw.

In order to pretend like I didn’t forget all about this even though I claim to love it, I am putting this post on the 30th even though it’s the 2nd. At least then it’s in the correct month. Enjoy the photos. As always, Hazzard Central members get the full size (and unedited in this case) versions.

Wow, all sorts of crazy things have been going on with me. It’s madness, I tell you! When my personal life is packed with conflict and whatnot it becomes easier for me to completely overlook important events. What could I be talking about? Oh I don’t know… maybe… same sex marriage is now recognized by the state of California?!

This issue doesn’t affect me in any way and I’ve always suspected it was a plot by the Republicans to divert media attention away from whatever insidious plots they were developing at the time. All that aside I was so fucking pleased that we won the right to be recognized as regular citizens that I very nearly peed in my pants. It isn’t special treatment, it’s EQUAL treatment. Now queers can legally wed and watch as their spirit slowly dies in a loveless union just like breeders!

To commemorate this major thrust forward in the gay movement the Pacific Design Center put on a special display and I was there to capture the action.