Cycling along the Mission Mountains

When I was in school I used to ride my bike up and down the Mission Valley to and from Flathead Lake. It was my first taste of freedom as a kid. Each summer I'd usually leave Missoula on a Friday morning and return on a Monday morning. I'd get my bike ready the night before, and I'd put quarters in my socks to use in pop machines along the way. I did it weekend after weekend.

Now and then I'd rope a friend into going along on the ride with me and they suffered like animals. Only one guy named Scott didn't suffer. He had a nice bike and knew how to ride it, but most of the time I rode alone.

I'd sleep in the basement of my parent's house and I'd keep my bike down there next to my bedroom. There was a stairway out of the basement that went up to the backyard. I'd walk my bike along the house through a gate to the frontyard, ride down the sidewalk to the end of the block and out into the street. I'd ride under the canopy of trees out of my neighborhood and out of town to the interstate. After ten miles riding west on I 90 I'd turn north on highway 93. Leaving Missoula on my bike like that was like leaving orbit and venturing out into space. The distances seemed vast. The reality out on the open road was often harsh. Wind heat and highway traffic. It was nothing like riding a bike around town.

I can never drive down highway 93 now without thinking back to those summers and all of those bike rides.

Today the clouds were closing in on the mountains and it was very bright and hard to get a picture without just blowing out the sky. So this is kind of a wierd picture.

I keep looking back

I keep looking back and not forward. I used to think that the days lasted forever when I was a kid. My childhood days on the lake. Time moved so slowly. I just wanted to move forward. Now I'm starting to want to move back.

I'm such a redneck

So I'm walking down the haul at work today trying to look artistic, with art thoughts on my mind. Design projects and stuff like that, and I pass this 21 year old girl who works for us. She looks at me and says "you're such a redneck.." I'm like, "What?!.." Well I was eating a hotdog, but I fail to see how that qualifies me as a redneck... Earlier I was comparing my "farmer/ bicycle tan with her spray-on tan... Perhaps that was it.

But the fact is, she saw right through me. I wish I could see the world so clearly.. So I put up a redneck bicycle log header. I have all of these cattle pictures and I continue to take more, so I might as well use one. I could change the name of my blog to redneck log, bovine log or prehaps Cattle log... Hey! I like that :)

I could call my blog, outside of the barnyard, cattle log...

***

Well today was an interesting news cycle. Obama spoke to the torture issue and Cheney spoke to the "enhanced interrogation" issue. I don't know why Cheney can't just be honest and call it what it is.

You'd think since I'm such a redneck that I'd agree with Cheney, but I heard somewhere that there are three things a democracy needs to survive. A lack of corruption in government, a legal system that is fair and just, and a banking system people can trust. Now that we've gotten back on track, I can't understand for the life of me why Dick insists on smelling up the clean air.

I don't think we should need to find reasons to be against torture, but Obama made several points. The most important I think was that torture undermines the rule of law. Bush has been quiet on the issue as has McCain. Why is McCain so silent right now? It would be nice if he would step up and put Cheney in his place. It's no wonder he lost the election. McCain clearly didn't have what it takes to be a leader.

Calm water

It wasn't the best weekend for photography but it was nice and calm on Flathead Lake for my canoe.

***
I know,.. I haven't been saying too much. I'm getting cynical about everything. I've been watching a lot of TV.

I've been watching a televanglist tonight. I won't name him but he has a wife and an announcer and he quotes scripture and turns it all into proof that the end time is near. He's been doing it for years and the end time never happens. We've been close a couple of times though. I thought for sure Clinton was the anti-christ...

See what happens when I stop watching the food channel..

Cheney has been on TV a lot lately. What if you had him as an uncle or something? You'd have to invite him over for dinner on Thanksgiving. He could help you cook. "Just put that turkey in boiling oil!"... he'd say....

Dogs and cats

This drawing caught my eye yesterday as we were looking through student artwork. I think I know that dog on the left...

Camas Prairie Montana picture

The Camas Prairie picture slightly re-sized.

I retain the rights to all of my photos.  Please do not use without permission.

Betty Baker pasta

Sorry I haven't been too active posting. I've been out riding my bike. I do have something to share however.

I do a lot of cooking. I've found what I think is a really good dry spaghetti, and I've tried a lot of different ones. BETTY BAKER. I'm not kidding it's really good. I bought it just by chance the first time although now I see that they have a plant here. That might explain why it's so good but there must be more to it than just that. I'm not associated with them in any way and I'm not trying to plug a local company, but if you can find it where you are buy it. No sodium and no cholesterol too.

And to go with it I've found a pretty good pasta sauce in a jar. It's Ragu, Sundrided Tomato & Sweet Basil. It actually has sundried tomatoes in it and I love those. It's not as amazing as the Betty Baker pasta but it's pretty good for something out of a jar.

***
I recently heard you have to be careful what you endorse on your blog. So I want to make it clear, I'm not being paid by Betty Baker Pasta. I don't know anyone who works there, and I don't work for them. I didn't even know they made pasta here. But I eat pasta and this really is good.

Stop eating animals

But that would take the fun out of cooking...

Well it's one thing for me to give up meat, but I recently heard on the news that some vegeterians insist that their cats be vegetarians too. That might be going too far.. I'm not going to force my rabbit to eat meat, but who knows, it might already be a carnivore. I put a carrot out for it and it didn't touch it. Perhaps rabbits don't eat carrots. That might just be a stereotype. Come to think of it, other than Bugs Bunny I've never actually seen a rabbit eat a carrot...

***
And on the subject of food,.. Today at work we celebrated Cinco de Mayo. We all brought in "mexican" food...It was like a bunch of atheists celebrating Christmas.

But there was one high point. One lady made some outstanding salsa.

Stuck in a right wing rut

With the right wing nuts... Why I moved here I will never know.

My mind seems to be like the transmission of a Hyundai. It just won't go into gear. I don't know what it is. Ski season is over. Even if I had vacation I wouldn't be able to get away from work. I've been taking pictures that I don't like. Even my rabbit just lays around in the yard and does nothing. I'm still thinking about a name for it. I'm afraid it isn't spunky enought to be named Spunky.

Spunky used to go crazy at night. One time I woke up in the middle of the night and in a half sleep state, I went to the fridge to get a drink of milk. Out of the darkness, Spunky charged me and clamped onto my leg. Gosh it freaked me out, and hurt! I let out a yelp and and off she bolted, back into the darkness. No, the rabbit isn't half the beast that Spunky was.. The rabbit belongs on Teletubbies or something. Tinky Winky, or Laa Laa would be better names for the rabbit than Spunky. Spunky was a serious vicious animal, and would have been more at home on the Sopranos. If she had been a little bigger she would have killed and eaten me. Here's Spunky's mug shot.

No such excitement around here now. To make matters worse it seems that all of the people who voted for McCain and Palin live right here where I live. All 300 of them,.. What a constant source of annoyance. They are ticked off, and buying more guns and amo than anyone would could shoot in a liftetime, or a thousand hunting seasons for that matter. Well it's crazy... I don't think I go through a day without hearing one of them complain about the government. "Government is a self-feeding cancer." I remember a nice old lady saying on a public access radio program while speaking out about gun rights.

Most of these people couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with their guns but It might be a good idea to ramp down their radio propoganda for a while.