J.B. Sommerset

"Boozy the Bear" (c) J.B. Sommerset If you want to get caught up on the story so far you can read part 3 here:  "Foils in the yard and meth out back" PART 3 , or if you'd like to start at the beginning you can go here: "How I wound up on this mountain..." PART 1 . Back to the story at hand. Where was I, oh yes, American-flag Speedo guy. It was that summer I discovered the depravity of people and how much they will lie to your face in order to keep a scam going. If some of these people worked as hard at an honest job, like they do at scamming people, they'd have some serious, and well earned cash. But some people just can't put their best foot forward no matter how many opportunities they are given. Their default setting, their prime disposition, just happens to be self sabotage. My wife called these dispositions "personality disorders", and she is qualified say to make such a claim. American flag speedo guy sure couldn't resist a ...

The Lonely Cougar (c) J.B. Sommerset 2026 Continued from PART 2: "Hey hon... some dude tried to stab me out in the yard, is our insurance up to date?" Over the next few weeks we talked a lot about that old dream. The one where we sell most of our things and move to the woods. A dream in which get away from it all and make a new life with the wild animals and the trees. We were still kind of joking about it, but also kind of not joking.  After the tattooed miscreant had tried to stab me, "the dream" became a standard conversation in our house. One that got more and more attention as the world became "enshittified" under the Tangerine Mussolini's first attempt at ruining the world. At the time, it wasn't going too good for his diapered ass. Congress and his own incompetence had stifled his forward momentum. But that didn't mean things were hunky-dory, all "gorsh and good times" and shit. No, they were far from that. Most people could fe...

  "Moose and calf" J.B. Sommerset (c) 2025 Continued from Part 1: "How I wound up on this mountain..." We used to live in the city, back so long ago on that proverbial Tuesday I previously referred to. This story actually starts then, in 2016. I and my wife had just sold our previous house. We got bored and decided to start over again in a smaller more manageable house with less electrical issues, newer plumbing and a bigger yard. But also, we wanted a nicer neighborhood. At first, that little place had everything we wanted.   We bought that small house on a busy street corner. When I think back to how much we paid for that house I get a little teary eyed. It was in the "before times". Our mortgage was $700.00 a month. This was pre-COVID, things were better back then. However, at the time, the mortgage on the new place was more than the place we left, mostly because it was a double lot with a detached shop in the back. For the most part we were doing alri...

"Bear in the way" (c) J.B. Sommerset 2026 This all starts with a gang member, an attempted stabbing, and the follow up fentanyl foil in our yard... Wait, wait, hold on...  What is this story about? Well, as it turns out, its about how I wound up on this mountain and why I chose to live here, in the middle of the woods, thirteen miles from town. I figure this one has several parts, so strap in and buckle up and stay locked in, there are going to be a number of these. This is going to be a longer story, so lets back up and start in the "way back then" so the context will be firm and in place before we arrive in the "here and now". Lets go back to the beginning of this and then I will walk you through the process that led us (me and the wife) to where we are.  Context is everything, so lets define that context, bare with me while I walk you from through a few years of my life. This part, or more specifically these parts, are my origin story. Everyone has that...

It's all too often that I try and switch up my drawing styles; I like variety.  Below is a more recent doodle I did on my google tablet. I find drawing on a tablet to be easier than drawing on paper. There are never any eraser marks, I can layer it, I can select specific parts and delete them, I can paint without the mess, and so on.  However, it's for the same reason I find that real skill comes from pen and ink on paper. It's more a challenge to create on paper. Also, there is a tactile sensation that can not be replicated by any kind of device. Especially the feel of good paper as the pen glides across it.  It's been hard recently, as a musician, writer, or artist. We are all being replaced by A.I. generated slop and soon we will have to rely on our small communities who still appreciate "man-made". And those communities are growing fewer and further between. I am generally very careful with my art, in fact I make sure that most of mine are water marked. An...

I woke up this morning, in march, after a very minimal winter to see a foot of new snow on the ground. This was very surprising, and also a little concerning. For years I have watched as the weather has changed. I should say the climate has changed. This winter has had around a foot total- for the whole winter.  When I was a child, a light winter in the state I live in, was four feet. I have watched this over the past three decades, it has changed. Specifically the last ten years. It seem rare that we get snow down in the low lands. Up where I live on the mountain the average cumulative snowfall is around seven feet, or at least it used to be. We only had a week of snow this year. And most of that was in March.  It got me thinking about climate change. I know, I know, a lot of you people here in the states think it's a hoax- well spoiler alert, most Americans are idiots. Even If I didn't know what it was, I would suspect that something was happening in our environment. The gra...