✍️ BLACKJACK RANCH CHRONICLES

Prologue

A dream that refused to evaporate despite the Serbian bureaucracy and the stubbornness of the acacia and hawthorn bushes

If someone had told me a few years ago that I would be writing a book about a small house on a hillside overlooking the Danube, I would have laughed.

After all, I had already written another book. Of over 1,000 pages.

Its title was Being David. It chronicled eight decades of adventures, businesses, wars, travels, mountains, music, and encounters with people from all walks of life. It was, in many ways, the story of a lifetime.

So why another book?

Because Blackjack Ranch is not merely a house.

It is a dream that refused to evaporate despite the ineptness of the Serbian bureaucracy and the stubbornness of the acacia and hawthorn bushes.

The story begins with a neglected hillside in Višnjica, a suburb of Belgrade. To most people it was little more than  a steep parcel of land covered with weeds, acacias, hawthorns, dog-roses and brush. To me it was something else entirely. I saw possibilities where others saw obstacles.

That has been a recurring theme throughout my life. 

In Arizona, Australia, Hawaii, and now Serbia, I have often found myself standing before what looked like a jungle and imagining a Garden of Eden. Before a vacant lot and imagining a home. Before a challenge and imagining an opportunity.

Sometimes those visions worked out.

Sometimes they did not.

Blackjack Ranch became one of the successes.

The house itself is not grand. The stories are not.

The ranch acquired its name almost by accident.

When the project was still little more than a dream, my wife remarked that the property had “pao nam je kao kec na deset”— (“it fell like a ten on an ace”) – a Serbian expression roughly equivalent to drawing the perfect card at precisely the right moment.

The phrase immediately reminded me of blackjack, the card game in which an ace and a ten-value card form the winning hand. The name stuck.

Yet the symbolism turned out to be deeper than a lucky draw.

Blackjack is not merely a game of chance. It is a game of judgment, patience, calculated risks, and knowing when to stand your ground. Looking back, those same qualities proved essential in transforming a steep hillside covered with weeds and acacias into a home overlooking the Danube.

And so Blackjack Ranch was born—not because of a card game, but because sometimes life unexpectedly deals us exactly the card we need.

There were contractors and controversies. Bureaucrats and bulldozers. Neighbors and new friends. Storms that seemed scripted by Hollywood. Sunsets that no camera could adequately capture. Injuries, triumphs, frustrations, laughter, music, and the endless surprises that accompany any attempt to transform a dream into reality.

Along the way, Blackjack Ranch became much more than a construction project. It became a soundstage where nature was the director and I merely the photographer. 

The characters include my wife Olivera—better known in these pages as Pivot because most things seem to revolve around her—our family, our friends, our neighbors, a succession of craftsmen and contractors, an assortment of animals, and occasionally Counterpoint, my AI companion, whose observations sometimes proved surprisingly insightful and occasionally amusing.

Most of the stories that follow were written shortly after the events occurred. They therefore retain the freshness, humor, frustrations, and emotions of the moment. Some are funny. Some are reflective. A few are unexpectedly profound. All are true.

Together they chronicle not merely the creation of a home but the creation of a place.

A place where grandchildren gather.

A place where music is played.

A place where sunsets stop conversations.

A place where dreams continue to grow.

Welcome to Blackjack Ranch.

The view is worth the climb. And the stories are both entertainment and enlightenment. 

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Current edition: June 26, 2026 — 150 pages

BLACKJACK RANCH CHRONICLES

Table of Contents

Prologue 6

Part 1: BIRTHING 12

MOVE-IN DAY AT BLACKJACK RANCH 12

THE GRAY WALL 28

MAN VERSUS TECHNOLOGY 3:0 44

COFFEE DREAM 72

BEING VIŠNJIČAR 78

QUEST FOR ELUSIVE TRASH BIN 94

THE PUMA AND THE GLOBE 118

FROM SHIT TO HEAVEN IN NINE MONTHS 132

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