Doug Van Pelt

Paris Hilton and I are no longer on speaking terms.

(Do you mean to say that you were once on speaking terms, Doug?)
Well, no, not actually.

When I was young, I was convinced my mom was a witch. My imagination was working overtime. The show Dark Shadows was on primetime and I used to watch the vampires and other dark figures in the doomy show. My mom had this cool dark grey cape with black trim that was real thick like a blanket. I put two and two together and wondered at some point if she practiced witchcraft. Oh, and in our family closet shelf was a Ouiji board, along with other board games like Monopoly, etc. I think my wonderful mom played bridge with some friends during this time, but otherwise was always around the house. I guess there was never really any time to devote to witchcraft. It's funny what a young mind might fixate on.

I'm looking forward to hanging out with Jason Dodd (former Managing Editor here) tonight in Austin. It's been a long time.

My parents have been mad at work on a new shed here at the HM Ranch. Levi and I occasionally go out and help lift heavier items. We stocked up on shingles for the roof last night. Those packages are real heavy. Our little kittens are really having fun outside, because the cloud cover makes it a lot cooler than it's been lately (in the 100 degree range). I've been listening to the new Extreme album. Looks like I'm going to Houston next week to check them out with King's X. Levi is supposed to go see The Smoking Popes tonight in Austin. That should be a good show. I hope it's packed. I watched 10,000 BC last night. The folks at my house didn't get interested, but I liked it. Maybe it's the warrior spirit inside me.
:?)

I love my mom and am glad she wasn't really in a coven back in the late 60s and early 70s. My dad remembers how enthusiastic the whole family was to turn him on to the Jesus Christ Superstar album when he returned from Vietnam. It wasn't more than a year later that he and most of our family gave our hearts to Christ.