I hadn't seen him for a few weeks, so I checked his page and sure enough no comments since February 22nd. So, I googled him and found some things I expected I would find, but nothing current. Then I googled his name with his home state - Alabama. Just in case the worst had happened. It had. I found his obit. He died on February 23rd and was buried on February 27th.
Paul Crabtree...that was his real life name.
I Got The News Today. I got the news about the very first friend I made on Daily Kos.
Please join me below in a celebration of his life.
Should this diary find it's way to Paul's family, please accept my deepest condolences on your loss and my prayers for comfort in the weeks and months ahead. Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace. Amen.
(As this diary was written through many tears and some laughter and a heart that is broken, I am sure it's full of spelling and grammatical errors for which I apologize. I'm certain you all will understand and forgive.)
In the fall of '08 I would sign onto Dkos and as I compulsively refreshed the page every two minutes, waiting anxiously for the Research 2000 poll to update for the day, I stumbled across a regular early morning diary series called Morning Reaction by kula2316. I began reading this pundit round-up type diary and finally took the plunge from lurker to poster. Besides the excellent work by the diarist and the best early morning wake-up evah courtesy of Patch Adams:
there I found my first and best friend on Daily Kos...theghostofkarlafayetucker. (He later changed his user name to bamabikeguy).
When Kula moved, the Morning Reaction series became what is now known as Morning Feature hosted by NCrissieB and bbguy continued posting there until the end. The "krew" enjoyed regular updates from life in Holly Pond which, with bbguy living there, was by no means boring.
ghost/bbguy/Paul was a motorized bicycle builder, rider and enthusiast. He did an entire series on motorized bicycles (MB); the last one was in preparation for a trip with his newly built recumbent "Rucio". His first bike was named "Rocinante". Bbguy once gave me a link to a MB forum where he'd published some of his "biking road trip" stories in a piecemeal fashion. From that forum is the origin of the naming of his first MB:
And when you get running, go see the Deadhead owner of Sancho's Broken Arrow over on Colfax Ave, and the guys at the Oriental Theater, tell them the "idiot on the red bike from Alabama" sent you.
I think there are three brothers involved in three bars with the Cervantes theme, but the Sancho's owner "took the shirt off his back", gave me this nice long sleeve "Steal Your Face" logo WITH handy pocket.
He's the one who named my bike "Rocinante", "the Noble Nag" ridden by Don Quixote.
Many of bbguy's road trips were planned around a Grateful Dead concert as he was a dedicated deadhead...
He never met a stranger on his trips:
I'm the ONLY one on the road today whose colder than you, Officer..." He had a radar gun, but I was disappointed he didn't use it on me, that would have been cool, a citation for "doing 23 mph in a 45 mph zone." Believe me, I asked for such a momento right off the bat !
It started out 35 degrees that Tuesday, and dropped during the course of the day.
First time I ever had sleet bop me in the goggles.
One morning a comment about a suicidal goat along with a photo from bbguy brought about the first ever baptism by spewed coffee to my monitor. He later incorporated the incident into one of his diaries: Hope & Change in the barnyard
Oh, Oh, dealios...dealios. Never heard the word before and probably never will again. Well you know what Paul???? YOU were the REAL dealio.
As his obit states, bbguy was a farmer, but one would need to use that term loosely to explain his activities. He once described his scientific method for determining where to plant bulbs and flowers. He would get a bucketfull of golf balls, sling them into the air and plant something wherever a ball fell.
Then there were his goats: Crossbred Doelings and Bucks
and his llamas: The brown one he named "Kula"
Yesterday evening, I was sitting on the bucket facing west, Bessie eating and Kula humming, with the setting sun making these neat effects on her brown coat (of which there may be 20 shades flecking throughout). She finally sniffed my outstretched hand, after 2 weeks of sweettalking.
I know nuttin' about nuttin', but she looks blue ribbon llamawise to me.
"A browner shade of shale"
The other 3 are llumaxes by comparison.
and his Great Pyrenees Purebreds
I wonder what will happen to all his beloved beautiful animals now...
One thing bbguy embodied was getting the most out of every moment of life. Whether it was his always having his camera at the ready to record those barnyard hijinks or to catch that ever elusive pileated woodpecker or while he was toolin' along at 23 mph and relishing the scenery that we 65+mph car folks miss every day. It is his legacy to me and to you all as well I hope.
College football will never be the same for me again without the University of Florida, Tim Tebow and Nick Saban bashing:
I named one of my cats "Tebow" a real crier.
Tebow Tears, in Alabama they are like gravy on biscuits.
He spoke frequently about his nephew in Afghanistan and tried to hide how worried he was about him. He was so proud that he'd sent a big "care package" box of books to his nephew's unit. I'm sure he was their hero when the package arrived.
No one could beat his one liners:
Tis my b'day, thinking about old age...So I'm NOT 53, I'm 18, with 35 years of experience.
The only exercise I get is pushing my luck and jumping to conclusions!!
Bama, 53 was too damn early to leave us...
Now is the time I have to climb on a soapbox. The news of his death was a shock; sudden and unexpected. Everyone's favorite nurse, KelleyRN2 addressed this type of situation in a recent diary: Nurse Kelley Sez: If you die, how will we know?. I beg you all to read this important diary and take the necessary steps so that your online friends are never left wondering.
He was the most special of people; he was my friend.
Please share your stories in the comment section if you are so moved.
I began a Group candle under bbg if you would like to light one in his memory.
There is a guest book section provided in the obit if any of you would like to leave a comment there.
Unless anyone has a better suggestion, I intend to send a link to this diary to both the Holly Pond Funeral Home and the Sacred Heart Convent with a request that they forward it to Paul's family along with our condolences.
So this is goodbye bbguy. Whenever I'm at mass I'll be in the back pew saving the spot next to me for you. Thanks for being my friend.