Seven Things...

This post brought to you by the lucky Number Seven
(And Madam Blavatsky, for some reason)

Well, I slipped, I ducked, I made every attempt to avoid getting hit. But you know it was bound to happen—Nathan at TDA training nailed me with the “Blog Tag”.
Here are the rules:

· Link to the person who tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
· Share 7 random or weird things about yourself.
· Tag 7 random people at the end of your post, and include links to their Blog
· Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their Blog
So, as much as this sucks, here goes:

1. I climbed Mount St. Helens in Washington twice before it blew in 1980, the first time was on my fourteenth birthday. I also climbed four other mountains in the Oregon Cascades. We almost got killed once.
2. My best friend and I took a year off college and went deep into the coast range in Oregon and built a log cabin with just hand tools. We caught Salmon, shot deer, elk, pigeons and squirrels for food. Once a week we’d hike out to get beer and supplies, occasionally driving to the University of Oregon to visit with the girls. It changed my life.
3. I lived on and managed a farm in Oregon for eight years. It was on a large island in the Columbia River. I moved to Washington State where I live on another Island and managed an organic vegetable farm for the first four years I lived here. It has become my destiny to live and farm on islands.
4. The farm in Oregon was sold to an extremely wealthy individual who kept me on as an employee. He started one of the biggest Ostrich ranches in Oregon. At one point, we had about 150 Ostriches. Those birds are freakin’ dangerous, I almost got killed a couple of times.
5. I wrote for two “alternative” newspapers in Portland. After writing articles about a local CIA contract airline and a certain “black-bag” operative, I received threats.
6. I was investigated by an agency of the Federal Government. I was cleared by the U.S. Attorney and said agency. I submitted a Freedom Of Information Act Request for my file to see what they were interested in. I received it and it’s around thirty pages. Case closed.
7. I have always owned dogs. I think each one is better and smarter than the last.

So there you have it.
As you know, Dojo Rats are known to “bend the rules”. Therefore, due to the fact that so many Blogs have already been “tagged”, I will only select one Blog to “tag”.
I would like to choose my all-time favorite, Richard at “Uchi Deshi”. Richard is a live-in member of an Aikido Dojo, and has one of the best narratives of life in the Dojo I have ever read. Please check it out—even if he is indeed editing out some of the “good stuff” his traditional Sensei disapproves of!