Bighorn Sheep on Wild Horse Island

I took this picture of a Bighorn Sheep on Wild Horse Island this morning. There were three rams down by the shore feeding but this one was the biggest. He has a scar on his nose from bumping heads. These things are imposing animals. They are much bigger in real life than they look in pictures.

Kick the dog

It was one of those days when I wanted to come home and kick the dog. But,.. I don't have a dog...

I used to have a cat but it died. (not from me kicking it) I wouldn't have kicked it anyway as I always felt sorry for the cat. That was why I got it in the first place. I wouldn't kick a dog either BTW, it was just one of those days.

So I guess I'll just kick McCain and Palin around a little... They deserve it today anyway.

When I first heard that McCain was pulling out of this debate I thought, there he goes again... Pandering for votes and trying to get Obama to agree saying it was the patriotic thing to do. My gosh! I'd like to hear what the next world leader has say about all of this. I see no point in putting off the debate unless McCain is unprepared. That's something I'd do!... I don't want a leader who is unprepared.

I listened to Bush define the crisis to the nation last night... Judas Priest!... It was so pathetic.

Then there is Palin. Oh.. my.. gosh... Now I'm pretty sure I'd rather have Katie Couric as VP... I can see why they don't allow Palin to give interviews.

When asked today by Couric why she didn't get a passport until last year, her smug response was that her parents didn't buy her a passport and a backpack. She had to work two jobs until she got married and had children. Well many of the young people I know of who have been traveling abroad are teaching or volunteering. And I think they just might be some of our best representatives.

Then Palin defined who the good guys and the bad guys are in the middle east...In her world. (?) Curious choice of words. I'd leave that one alone but I think if you get to know people from different countries you don't have such simplistic viewpoints of who is good and who is bad.

Ok,. Now I've kicked the dogs.

Pat Robertson on drilling in ANWAR

I was flipping through the channels yesterday during lunch and landed on The 700 Club. Pat Robertson said this on drilling for oil in ANWAR; "There's nothing up there but ugly tundra."

Hm,.. God made "ugly tundra" I thought...

He went on to say that nobody goes there because there aren't any vehicles that can take us there. I wonder how we'd get there to drill for oil then?.. Perhaps we counld drive there in Toyota Tundras. They're kind of ugly come to think of it...

"We need oil!" Robertson went on to say. When we make piplines the caribou flourish because the pipelines are warm.

Are caribou ugly? I wondered...

Tour des Lacs photos

My helmet is off to those who rode in the Tour des Lacs today... If you rode today in the rain either you are from Seattle, or you take your cycling way too seriously! :) I'm just kidding,.. good for you if you rode today. I know that's what you want to hear...

This is a picture of a lady cyclist who had more courage than I did today. I took it throught the windshield of my van. (didn't want to get my camera wet) I took more pictures but I think this one tells the story. Man, she has to be cold! She doesn't even have leg warmers or booties on! I doubt it was even 60 degrees out. Hard to believe it was 90 degrees on Friday. Goodby cruel summer,.. forget about fall,.. Hello winter!

HERE are photos I took last year on the second day of Tour des Lacs.

Twin Lakes Idaho

I took the new canoe out for my first paddle in it. It was as nice as I'd imagined it would be. I went to Twin Lakes Idaho. They are two mountain lakes that are connected by a small channel. The boat launch is in the middle so you can go to Upper Twin or Lower Twin. Pretty cool. I made my way through the lilly pads and out onto Upper Twin Lake first.

I soon re-learned my paddling skills, so I could paddle on one side and keep the canoe going in the direction I wanted. The water was calm and I had the place to myself. The forest smelled good in the cool morning air. I went about half way up the lake exploring the shoreline of Upper Twin. Then I ventured down onto Lower Twin for a a while. It's a pretty nice place and only about 20 minutes away. A good way to spend a Saturday morning. I'll be going back there but I have some other lakes to explore first.

Comb over

A fan would come on in the middle of the night that I could hear through the heating and cooling ducts. It would start out slow and then gain in rotation,.. d. d. d. d. d. d. d.d.d.dddd.... and then air would start to come out of the vent with a whosh. It was calming as I tried to sleep. It would come on and go off throughout the night.

The guest room in their house was comfortable but left me with a somewhat of an empty feeling. At least one of the kids didn't get kicked out of their room so I could sleep in a bed, I thought,.. I'd hate to look them in the face at breakfast knowing that I had kicked them out of their bedroom... as I ate the over cooked sausage, and competed for their orange juice and toast.

The guy for the weather service on the TV had a serious comb-over. I mean clearly this guy combed over the hair from one side of his head to the other over a great void, and then stuck it down with something, and come to think of it his hair was really dark for his age. Black against his pale skin. I could only think that his hair had become a frontal view mutation of what it had once been.

This is how we grow old I thought. We hang on to a vision of our former self. We look into the mirror and justify.

The other weather service guy on the TV had a full head of hair, but he didn't look any better. He just looked like an old guy with a full head of hair. The loose skin on his neck gave him away.

"Look at this fine thing" Chief Dan George said as he held up the salp of a white man. I could hear the fan as it came back on. d. d. d. d. d. d. d.d.d ddd. Then whosh. It was calming to hear the air come through that vent.

New canoe

They say that the two happiest days in a man's life are the day when he buys a boat, and the day when he sells the boat. (Where do I come up with these sayings?...) I don't think it applies to canoes anyway...

I decided that I needed a canoe. Well you just about can't get by without one around here...I bought a used one as I hardly ever buy anything new. Oh I thought about getting a kayak alright,.. and I'm not saying I won't get one at some point. I think a small canoe like this meets my needs better than a kayak. I can get lots of gear in it and also take someone else along if the need might arise. It will work well on the rivers as well as the lakes. They let the water level down in the winter on Flathead Lake making it hard to get a regular boat out most of the year and that was my main motivation for wanting something like this. There are lots of beautiful calm days up there in the fall winter and spring when a canoe would be a great way to enjoy the morning coffee.

Best thing, it didn't cost very much, and doesn't take any gas once on the lake. (and it just fits on the top of my car.) Yes, a canoe is a good thing for a man like me. I just might have to shake it down on Satruday as there are several lakes right here where I live. Pictures will follow if I go out. Then Sunday is bike tour day.

Endless summer

They say there are two things a man can love. I woman and a boat. I have a boat...

I love sailing the Hobie Cat on Flathead Lake in September. The sun is low on the horizon and it reflects off of the bay, and I always have it all to myself. The great big summer homes are empty.

Today the wind wasn't too strong next to the shore as I left the dock because the hills block it, but out in the bay it was a strong with white caps making it easy to goof up and capsize the boat, so I wore my wet suit. Nobody would notice if I turned over way out there unless they happened to be watching at just the right moment. They wouldn't be able to see me without my sails up. The distances are too great. Most likely I wouldn't be able to right it.

I've been thinking recently that it's really important to live in the moment. I thought about it the whole time I was sailing today. If something is good, then really drink it in. Life all too short. I don't know if it is selective memory or what, but I used to have endless summers.

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This bites

I finally got home after a long day at work and also after work. I looked around and got lost on the internet a little. Had Ugly Betty going on the TV. First time I've ever "watched" that program. It really wasn't that bad. Mindless. I can relate to that... Then I checked out the other programs that I could possibly watch. There was this one on Discovery called "I Was Bitten". An examination of animal bites...

On the subject of biting, not long ago I watched a show on BBC America called "Brittan's Worst Teeth". It was a show about these people who had really bad dental health... My gosh. And I watched it! They pulled several of this one guys teeth out. I even talked about it with my dental hygienist the last time I went in. She said that she saw it listed and wanted to watch it but missed it,.. so I told her about it.

SpokeFest photos

Here are some pictures from SpokeFest. It was the first year for this event and I thought it was a huge success.

It was only 21 miles but they had a shorter ride for the shorter riders. That butterfly is from EXPO 74, the first World's Fair with an environmetal theme. I think there used to be several these butterflies and they used to have fabric on the wings. They would fly and change direction in the wind. They saved this one.

Quite a few people were out to show their support and take a morning ride.

We all rode out of town together, and I really like doing that.

Talk about having a horn on your bike!

The route was beautiful. I was able to keep pace pretty well on my single speed but there were times I would have liked to have had a granny gear. "Doomsday Hill" was pretty tough with only one gear, but I made it to the top without stopping.

I don't know the name of this bluegrass band but these guys rocked! (or they grassed,..grazed?.) Whatever you call it, I'm not kidding, they were really really good! I had to just sit and listen for a while. Outstanding!

And to top things off, they gave me a police escort back into town :) Well done SpokeFest people!

Appaloosa

I went down into the Palouse country the other day so I took a couple of photos. It's a great place for photography as the landscape is unusual, but my first attempt wasn't so great. Here is a picture I took of a horse and rider. I don't think that horse is an APPALOOSA , it's so far away it's hard to tell, but I took a picture of one a few years ago in Montana.

I'm more at home on my bike than on a horse, but I'd love to have a horse like this. Lots of horses will walk right up to you, but this one wanted nothing to do with me.

Spokefest Spokane

I guess if I get up early enough tomorrow I'll do this SPOKEFEST ride. It's the first year for this ride and it's only 21 miles and that really isn't that far for one of these things. Usually the short rides for this sort of thing are 40 or 50 miles and the long rides are 100 miles or more. So I'll be curious so see if these people have found a niche in families and people who just don't think they can ride much farther. 21 miles is just so odd.

I wonder if the serious cyclists just blow it off? I bet the local club racers will show up and treat it like a 21 mile group time trial and try to do it in less than an hour. I think that would be kind of vulgar and of out of the spirit of this ride. not to mention somewhat dangerous on the trail section. We will see.

I plan to ride my single speed as it won't require the road racing bike. The single speed only has one gear, no shiters. There is one climb on it called "Dooms Day Hill" which is part of the BLOOMSDAY Marathon course. Not a great big deal on a bike, but might be kind of tough with only one gear I don't know. I've never been on it, but it can't be that bad.

***
While eating breakfast and filling out my entry form for the bike ride I realized it wasn't until Sunday...Since it was a beautiful morning I decided to go for a bike ride anyway. I rode the single speed 21 miles just to see how it would be. I averaged 15.2 mph and it took an one 1 hour 22 min. I wasn't trying to go fast but came back into a headwind. I realized that "Doomsday Hill won't be that easy at the end of that ride. So I'll just conserve the whole ride until then.

Sarah Palin goes down a dirt road

Well I just got done watching Sarah Palin give her acceptance speech. At first I was thinking, she's pretty cool. The speech could have been great and it was heading in that direction, but as it went on it became a little shallow. Instead of taking the high road, Sarah took a turn and went down the dirt road.

It was one thing for Giuliani mock Obama the way he did it, (he still reminds me of Bugs Bunny) but when Palin mocked Obama, it moved the speech and my impression of her from kind of cool to kind of tacky. I'm surprised she didn't criticize Madonna too. These "strong statements" as they have been called, just reminded me of office bickering. Well she might think she's a Pit Bull in lipstick, but I'm pretty sure I know a receptionist who could chew her up, spit her out, and then drop kick her just for an extra point... When Palin brought up Harry Reid it was clear to me that she was preaching to the Rush Limbaugh choir. If she wanted to win someone like me over, she won't do it that way.

There was that moment when they hauled someone out of the audience. I was glad to see that it wasn't one of the black people. I was getting kind of worried for their safety at times.

Bike Squad is on patrol

You can sleep at night here knowing that BIKE SQUAD is on patrol. They pulled this Toyota Pickup over for obvious reasons... No hubcaps, improper front bumper, and Idaho plates. That's more than enough reason to shake him down. No doubt there is a loose wire in that truck or he has a tire that isn't properly inflated or he has a torn seat cover.

We don't want his kind here. Give him a citation and he'll think twice about coming back!

I had to take this shot from the grassy knowl. They don't allow photography of certian things. I could get a citation for it or even go to jail for a couple of years. I'm probably on a surveillance camera and it won't be long until they find me. So if this blog goes down you'll know why. But I'll protest. The officer writing out the citation is out of uniform. His helmet doesn't match. He can't be out there writing citations like that!

Climate change

Two weeks ago it was 104 degrees in Spokane, thankfully I was in Seattle were it was only 94. Today in Montana it's only supposed to get up to 41 in Butte, and in Glacier and other parts of western Montana they are having a winter storm advisory. They say it will warm up later in the week but I'm thinking about winterizing my boat this morning. There's a search going on for a hiker in Glacier who's been missing for several weeks.

Here is a picture of Gustav from last night while it was still out in the gulf. I checked the same view of Katrina before it made landfall. Katrina looked much the same except it had a more clearly defined "eye" in the center. I wish those folks well. You can also see a great big clound haning over Montana.