The weather does not look all that good but I will be pushing off here maybe a little earlier than I have before. Hopefully it will not be snowing much this morning. It looks like Portland is going to be pretty wet. I hope mikey is okay and maybe I will hear from MM. I paid some bills – storage, prescription, and propane. I need to pack some shit and then I will be ready to take off.

That was one miserable drive to Portland. It started snowing at Arlington and got progressively worse the further I went. It was about 25 miles east of Troutdale before it was warm again and mainly rain. It was just hanging around freezing enough to keep a guy nervous.

I called Mikey and he sounded a little excited I was thirty minutes away. I knocked on the door and he let me in. he immediately showed me a piano he can sort of play. I am not sure whom it belongs to. Annie reminded him it was not his. Anyway he and she got into an argument over a stick he brought in the house. And it sort of went down hill. Finally he retreated to the back of the house and she came back and started in on Katie. I asked her how she was doing and she says. I really don’t know though she calls every day. She says she wants to take Mikey to California and I do not intend to stand in the way anymore. She said she has tried this before and it did not work. She said I would send her money to return to Portland but none to return to California. She says he has really been acting up lately. He misses his mother. He wants to go to California to be with her. Mikey is now out the back room and he says he sorry and he can go with me. She says that we can go shopping with the WalMart card because it is too far away for her in this weather. She says he needs some pants and some lotion to put on his arms. They are scaly sort of like eczema - plus some groceries. Anyway she says I have been supporting Mikey and I will continue but it is a chore to go get him every day from school, etc. She said he is doing very well and is well liked and is learning to read. She makes a shopping list and we tell her we will probably swim, eat and go to the hockey game. She said fine just keep her posted.

When we get in the car he says he is not hungry. I ask him about Bernie and he says he us something else. It is different having him around there. I am just not used to him – not like my dad – I liked having him around. He said you know Adrian has long hair, I say no XI did not know that. He says if I move to California I wont get to see you any more. I said hey man you cannot move any place on earth and get rid of me. I told him I’ll be around I come to California if I have to not as often as Portland but I’ll see you and talk to you every night no matter where you are. I say Mikey with you and me today is the important day. We have to have fun. Wee have to love one another. We have to look after one another. At the end of the day we will have something nobody can take from us. If out luck holds out we’ll have a whole bunch of them. But none of them are going to be as sweet as today. I told him we couldn’t get hung up on a lot of “what it’s”. He seemed a little better.