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.

Name my rabbit

I've been aware that I had a rabbit in my back since yard last summer. My cat Spunky died in the spring of last year. She never would have tolerated a rabbit in her yard. But now I seem to have one. It ate my tomato and pepper plants that I planted in the yard last summer. This year I'm going to have plants on my deck. I think they will be safe from the rabbit. At some point I'd like to have a garden and then the rabbit would be a problem but for now I'm ok with it.

It's kind of a low maintenance pet. Lives outside. Lives through the winter, (and it was a harsh winter) Don't have to take it to the vet. Not bad.

Just need a name for it. So if you have any ideas besides Peter and Roger, I might consider it. I was thinking Russell, but 'm open to anything, and it doesn't have to be an american name either.

Crush you like the wolf

Another anti-Canadian Wolf bumper sticker. I took this picture as people were driving their Super Duties to work the other day. As you can see by the small car behind the Ford F350, small cars aren't safe. It's been all over the news. People in Super Duties just can't see you back there and if they hit you they will crush you like the Canadian wolf lover that you are.

I'm almost eye level with the bumper of this Silverado. Is it my little car that isn't safe or the big truck? In the news they singled out the Toyota Yaris, Smart Car, and one other small car. They ran a Mercedes into a Smart Car and concluded that the Smart Car wasn't safe. That's sort of like having an elk hunter shoot a wolf and concluding that the wolf wasn't safe.

Well maybe not,.. but I've been thinking that the elk aren't exactly safe either.

Camas Prairie Montana

Here's a picture of the Camas Pairie in Montana that I took today on my way to Flathead Lake. It's the first picture on my blog that I've taken with my new camera. I think we're going to get along ok. This is one of my favorite places even though a rattlesnake almost bit me here once. I heard it buzz and I looked down to see it coil back. It's a good place to wear your cowboy boots, but today it was too cold for snakes.

***
For some reason my mind always comes back to this place when I look into my past. The trips in the back seat of the car with my parents.. It's still like it was back then. The air still smells the same. Even the dirt here seems clean.

***

I'm still getting used to my new camera. Monitors make such a big difference in how things look on screen. So I re-posted it. It looked ok on my laptop, dark on my NEC but way too saturated on this Samsung.

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

Endless winter

I went skiing again today as they ran the lifts once again. The skiing got better as the day went on. The sun would come out then it would snow. Hard to believe only a couple of days ago it was 80 degrees and I was riding my bike in shorts and a jersey and thinking how much I don't like hot weather. A lot of people made the mistake of not dressing warm enough, but not me. I knew it would snow. When I got done skiing I drove on into Montana.

A talk with the sky

The sky at lunch today. "What are you doing don?" the sky asked. "I'm taking your picture." I responded. "Well all right then." the sky said.

A template of convenience

I changed the template of my blog. I guess in a way the relationship between a person and their blog is sort of like any relationship. Now and then it's time for a change. Even though the relationship isn't working you just can't bring youself to break away.

I was never really in love with my old template. It was a template of convenience. When I chose my old template it was the best one I could find. As time went on, I changed and my template did not. I tried to change it, but outside of the bubble it was much the same. It just wouldn't let me do some of the things I wanted to do. Gosh, I feel a little bad about it now,..

It's for the best. My old template will meet new bloggers and we can both move on.

How to set a bike computer

As you can see in my bike photo above,.. that's my bike BTW, looking down on it today as I rode to work this morning,.. anyway as you can see the speedo/ computer is dead. I needed a new battery. So I went to the local bike shop and bought a replacement. Then I had to set the computer. They are all different and I have several different ones. Of course I couldn't find the instructions to the one I was using. You have to set the wheel size and kilometers or miles.

Well there are only two buttons on it, so some combination will let you in to set it. I finally figured out the combination of holding down the buttons and in which menue. Then I did a wheel roll out to set the wheel size. Bla bla bla. If you came here looking for that information, hold a button down and wait until the display flashes. If there's a four digit number in the display, Roll the wheel out one complete turn and measure it in cm. Just put a metric tape on the floor, and start with the stem on 0. A typical mountain bike wheel will be 2075 and a typical road bike wheel will be 2124. That's close enough. Don't get anal about it, but roll the wheel out if you must.

I'm not too hung up about recording miles or anything. I've ridden enough to know pretty much how far I've gone each summer, but if you tour, race or distance ride, a working computer/ speedo is really valuable to measure your effort during the day. Other than that my advice to people new to cycling is don't get to hung up on how many miles you ride. It's not the best reason to get on a bike.

Snowcat skiing

Today might have been my last day of skiing this year. It was a pretty good day to end on. Plus I lived through it.. I ran into my friend Russell who I went to school in Bozeman with so I skied with him and his friends a for a while. They were giving people free snowcat rides to a peak you usually have to hike up to so Russell and I made the last trip of the day in it. We were the 12th and 13th people and they only take 13. So it worked out perfect.

The snowcat arives to pick us up.

The driver will lower that basket and some of the

people will ride up there with the skis and boards.

We rode in the coach in the back.

My friend Russell on the ride up. He looks docile in this picture, but he's insane.

Looking forward in the snowcat.

I wanted to ride up there with the driver, but it didn't work out that way.

Some fellow snowcat riders. Anthony Hopkins and Miguel Indurain. Well not really.. Who is Miguel Indurain anyway?

Here's Russell dropping in. Fancy pants! I'm always a little nervous when I ski with him. I had to stow my camera and then chase after him and it was pretty steep.

Digging Bear and the Schwinn Varsity

A few years back, I was in Montana, down in a dumpster digging through the garbage,..and I heard a pickup truck back up. I looked up to see a native American guy looking down at me. (it happend to be on an indian reservation) "One man's trash is another man's treasure." I said up to him. He just looked down at me, pushed his lips together and nodded. It was sort of a Dances With Wolves moment.

Flash forward to today. I found some bike fenders on Craigslist. The ad said they came off of a Schwinn Varsity years and years ago as when this guy got a new Varsity he took them off because he thought they weren't cool. Like new, never used, ten bucks or best offer. "So you want ten bucks for them?" I asked. "You can look at them and make an offer." the guy said... (like I'm going to offer $7.50 and see if anyone beats it)

It wasn't far from where I live so I drove out there. No one was home but there were the fenders on the front step. This was out in the country. I had an envelope in my car and I put two five dollar bills in it and put it in his door above the door handle and took the fenders. I felt wierd about doing that. (unlike digging in the garbage on an indian reservation, I'm perfectly comfortable doing that...) I couldn't just leave $7.50 without dealing face to face with the guy. That would be just plain cheap of me! So when I got home I called the guy and left a message on his machine that said where I put the money, and if he didn't get it to give me a call.

The reason I was in the dumpster was someone had thrown away a perfectly good Schwinn Varsity bicycle. In my size! Old yes, but not bad enough to just throw away. Even if I didn't really need it, I hate to see that kind of waste. Some bikes aren't worth saving but this one was. It was older than any Varsity I'd ever seen. It even had brazed on down tube shifters. It didn't take much to get it working. I got it all lined out so I could seriously ride it and it's an extra bike for visitors at the lake. It would also be a nice city bike to ride to work or the store when you don't want to leave something expensive out. Now I have NOS chrome fenders for it. Bonus!

One time I as on a 20 mile morning ride with my dumpster Varsity. Not an easy ride BTW. Several big climbs. I noticed a tick tick tick noise developing. A pin on the chain was coming out. I didn't have a chain tool with me so I used a rock to pound it back into place. It worked and I haven't had a problem with it since. Well the Schwinn Varsity is sort of the model T of road bikes. The first mass produced american road racing type bicycle. And this one is an early example. There was a plate on it that said 1963.

Ski season is coming to an end

I'm fading away!

Church on credit

I was talking to someone I know about going to church this Easter. She grew up on a farm in Kansas. So she likes traditional things as do I. Especially when it comes to church.

There's this whole new church thing going on around here. Mega style rock and roll church. Cowboy church. Wear your visor cap while you drink coffee church, you name it. She can't relate to that and wants a traditional service. There's a lot of people who feel this way. People have to decied which church is right for them, just like they do with their medication.

A light bulb went on in my head. So I directed her to a traditional church that I've gone to with an organ, bell ringers, hymnal... If I can get her to go, it would be like buying carbon credits and I won't have to go..

And I wonder if the pastors get any hecklers at the rock and roll church when the sermon isn't going over very well? "Dude!.. Know any Deuteronomy?!" "Let's hear some Proverbs man!"

Ok I think I'm pushing my luck here..., but church has become such a consumer item, like everything else. Talk to your pastor about which service is right for you.

Easter service

I went to Easter church service today. The church was packed. We sat in the very last row in the balcony. The very very last seats. Any place else they would have been the worst seats, but in my opinion, at church the seats in the very back are the best ones. I hate sitting way up front. The pastor can look right at you and see your face. If I sit up front I feel like I have to have an expression neutral face. If the pastor says something I think is stupid I can't let my face say "Oh geez!" If you sit way in the back you don't have to worry about it, and of course there's the whole issue about faking when you sing. It's much harder to fake when you sing if you sit up front.

I think they ought to make new people at church sit in the back and work their way forward. Earn their wings.. New people don't want to sit right up front anyway.

So I'm sitting there way in the back way up in the balcony enjoying the view,.. The pastor is going getting into his sermon. People were bringing out chairs and sitting on them here and there as it was so croweded.

This one older guy who kind of looked like a mortician in his dark suit sat in a chair just around a corner from my view. After he sat down, all I could see was his right leg. Dark pant and dark sock and dark dress shoe. He had RLS, restless leg syndrome. The moment he sat down his foot and leg went into motion. It was really wierd. I imagined that shoe must spend most of its time in his closet lifleless. On him it was a dancing shoe. All I could see was this skinny leg with this dancing shoe on it. At first it reminded me of an insect leg moving with no logic to it. Pure reflex. But then I started to recognize patterns. It would go heel toe, heel toe. heel heel heel toe. Like that. Then he did this sideways heel toe heel toe, to the left, then heel toe heel toe to the right. A serpentine dancing shoe move. Hey! I know that song!

There was boy about 14 years old or so sitting in the pew in front of me. I noticed he was looking at something. I thought it was a cell phone at first but it was his watch. He'd taken off of his wrist and was goofing around with it. He saw that the flat crystal reflected a spot of light on the wall so he was playing with that. It was hard for me to ignore. He would move the spot around and trace the architecture of the sanctuary with it. Now and then he'd write words on the wall.

It was a very nice service

Riding chairlifts

I spent Saturday riding chairlifts. It felt like the middle of winter once again. It snowed pretty hard at one point. I skied at one place then drove down the road about 30 min and skied at another place for the rest of the day. Both were kind of foggy but the second place was nicer and the backside was clear, plus it was thier last day and it was free. It might have been my last day of skiing this year. I'm one day away from reaching my goal of skiing at least 30 days.

Good Friday

They should call it Really Good Friday, and give everyone the day off. Here's what it looked like this morning on my way to work.

Kalashnikov justice

I've figured out what do do with these guys who insist on owning asault style weapons like the Kalashnikov.

We could put them to work on freight ships off of the cost of Somalia. They could shoot pirates instead of their wives, children and former co-workers.

Ok I'm being sarcastic, but honestly, how hard could it be to protect a big ship like that? Just have a few guys on lookout who could pick them off before they ever got close. I don't get it. Or while they are trying to crawl up on the ship throw big bags of wheat at them. I don't really think throwing money at them is a sustainable answer to their problems.

Back to the gun issue. I was listening to a local radio talk program while I ate lunch where I ski in north Idaho. Must have been some sort of public access program. Local elderly people were talking about the 2nd amendment and how Obama and Pelosi were bent on taking away gun ownership rights. It was hosted by a nice older lady and man. The lady did most of the talking. Clearly the talking points were scripted out of an NRA magazine, and there were also Rush Limbaugh buzz words like "drive by media" thrown in, but what really got me was the last thing she said, and I quote, "government is a self feeding cancer."

Wait a minute.. My dad worked for the government..

Ski picture

Here's a picture of a skier that I took today. There's only one day left of ski season where I ski, but I'll ski at least one more day next week.

Across the state line

People travel across the state line into Idaho to buy cigarettes. From what I understand they are $20 less a carton in Idaho than they are in Washington. They put up an illuminated sign to advertise the products and their costs. Sometimes the authorities will set up a sting to catch people from Washington who buy cigarettes and bring them back into the state.

I don't smoke, but when I go in the stop and go, I'm amazed at the variety and selection of cigarettes. If I took up smoking I wouldn't know where to start. I guess I'd start with Pall Mall.

This sign really stands out in the weather. They've cracked down on signs on the Washington side too.

Brownie Flash Six-20

Here's a picture of one of my vintage cameras. A 1939 Kodak Brownie Flash Six-20 with the flash attachement and unexposed flash bulb. Pretty cool don't you think? I can't remember if I used this camera or not. For a while we wound 120 film on 620 spools to use 620 cameras, but I have other old 120 cameras that I used and you could just throw the roll of film in them. I tended to favor the 120 cameras.

Stormy weather

I guess I'll write a house cleaning post. Not really about cleaning my house even though I did do some of that last weekend on Sunday when I couldn't go skiing due to the stormy weather. (That's a great song BTW) It's snowing right now here too. I just hope there won't be so much snow that I can't drive my my van up the mountain to go skiing. My car is in the shop with a broken transmission and my van is rear wheel drive. To make matters worse I had to take the studded tires off of the van as you can't have them here now after April 1rst.

Despite all of this snow my resort is closing this weekend. They keep rolling back the closing date earlier each year and I think that really sucks because now I'll have to pay to ski somewhere else. It's like winter here now. The skiing is great and they close the resort? I'm going to complain.. That's just all there is to it.

My car. I talked the dealership into cutting me a break on the parts and labor. I just said, "Do you think you could give me a break?." So I talked them down $250.

Well I bought the car used and haven't put any money into it for a couple of years execpt I replaced the alternator last year. It konked on my way back home from Montana to be with my mom who was recovering from cancer surgery. You can read about that adventure Here . What the heck... That time, I understood the problem and thankfully I had my tools with me. But changing a transmisson is a little more than I want to take on. Don't get me wrong, the alternator was no small feat either as there is no room to work on these little cars. I wasn't really sure if I could do it without taking the whole car apart, but my options weren't that great and I had to try. I had to be back at work the next day. I replaced the alternator that night, exchanged the core part the next morning and then drove 200 miles back to work and got there two hours late. I'd missed so much work being with my mom for her whole cancer situation, that I had to do what I could to get back to work as fast as I could.

The situation now is much more relaxed than it was back then.

The family

I've added a new blog to my side bar family. La familia. Joining my side bar is like joining the mafia Jules. You don't have much of a choice when you join and there aren't very many ways out. I still miss Monica...

A little bit of Jules makes everyone's day brighter. Vivid Intellect.

Vacation day

I've been watching the weather for a clear day to go skiing and finally the sun came out and it got cold after several days of snowing in the mountains. So I took the day off and went skiing. It was the best day of skiing I've had all year. I ran into a guy I know on the mountain and took some runs with him. The sun was so bright on the snow that the sky above looked almost black. It's as if you are riding the chair out of the atmosphere and into space. It's really a cool effect and I've seen it a few times, but today was the most intense I've seen it like that.

So I stayed until they closed the lifts and I had a whole run to myself as I made my way back to my car in the parking lot. Actually there were very few people on the hill all day and I often had the whole run to myself. Anyway I got back to my car and made my way down the mountain. I was driving along and heard a bang. I though I hit a pothole. So at a switchback I got out and looked under my car to see if I was loosing any fluid. Nothing. So on home I went. I got about half way home, about 35 miles, and the car started to slip out of gear like you were putting in the clutch but this is an automatic. The transmission had failed. It became clear I wasn't going much farther. So I pulled out into sort of a turnout and collected my camera bag and a few other things including a bottle of pop. I lifted the hood on the car and stuck out my thumb.

In about 5 minutes a guy in a pickup turned around and came back and gave me a lift. A really cool guy named Joe. That's one thing about living here, people are willing to help you out if you get in a bind. The same is true in Montana. I knew it would only take me a few minutes to get a lift. You do have to stay by your car though. We got to talking and I told him where I lived and found out he didn't live too far from me and offered to drop me off, but he said he had to stop and drop something off first at work in a different town. I found out he worked at a rental center. So I asked him if they had tow dollys and if he'd rent me one. They were closed, but he agreed to get one hook it to his truck and drop it and me off at my place. What a guy! I couldn't have possibly have been picked up buy a better guy. Then I got my van and a friend and went back to get my car.

Here's a picture of my car when I got it home. So it's all good... Well except the transmission in my car is out. All in all it was a good day. There are some really cool people out there.

Christian American

Another bumper sticker from North Idaho.

The best one I've seen recently but couldn't get a snap of read: "Lord, help me to be half the person my dog thinks I am."

Contrail picture

I usually try to avoid having contrails in pictures as they can really ruin a good shot. It's something I'm always aware of, but this time I just went with it. This is what it looked like while I was on my way to work a few weeks ago.

I don't think I posted this before. If I have I'm really loosing it. I was on my way to re-hab one morning...

Bodie Miller in Olympics

Bodie Miller is certianly outside of the bubble. I can respect that. I got to see him ski once and he really is amazing. He left the US Ski team and is doing his own thing. I thought the criticizm of him at the Olympics in Torino was totally unfair.

Miller was on Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel this week and talked about leaving the US Ski Team. It sounded to me like they didn't give too many options, but I've only heard his side of the story. As far as the Olympics go, the media put all of these expectations on him to win every event in Torino. That just doesn't always happen in ski racing. We wouldn't know because until recently our ski racing coverage has been so limited. So of course the public was disappointed.

I had to edit this because the google seach made it look like I was criticizing Bodie Miller which I am not. It made it sound like my criticism of past Olympic TV coverage was criticism of Miller. My complaint is with the media not Miller. Sometimes google searches can be very misleading.

Anyway I hope Miller does go to the Olympics but I can understand why he wouldn't.

Wind storm picture

Right now there's a wind storm outside. That's not too unusual around here when the weather changes. Here's what it looked like tonight. Dust was getting kicked up from the plains to the west. It was hard to hold the camera still.

Daylight savings time

There are two kinds of people. People who think daylight savings time is a good idea and people who don't. I haven't met too many people who think it's a good idea. So If I were president, I'd introduce legislation that would split the difference by a half hour and leave the time alone after that.

Nikon warranty update

My Coolpix L16 was covered under warranty, so it's all cool with my Coolpix. Good for Nikon. Be sure you keep your receipt and warranty card. They sent me a new one as I thought they might as this was the cheapest camera they make. It must have been more expensive for them to take the old one apart and repair it. Either way I don't care I just want a working camera and it does again. I did have to pay for shipping the old camera to them. That's the only thing, but I'm happy with how they took care of the problem.

Running in the snow

Nothing stops some people from running. I really don't get it... I sort of get it, but I don't get it. This couple lives at the foot of a great ski resort and they aren't skiing, they are running on an epic pow day. "Let's go for a run with the dog honey."

Hmm..

Well I don't have a wife or a dog, and perhaps if I did I'd be willing to run with them in a snow storm. I seriously doubt it though. The last time I ran in the snow I think it was at a track meet in Butte Montana. I froze my hind end off. They had to force us out of the school bus. Track took all of the fun out of running for me. I was a sprinter when I was in school and was the anchor man on a relay team. It's not that I need to have fun while I'm working out either, and I often don't have fun when I cycle, but the bike can be fun at times. Skiing is always fun for me, but after track I never wanted to run again.

You couldn't even pay me to run now,.. but this couple seems to enjoy it. I don't think the dog knows any better.

Bike to work

A better man than me. What's my excuse? It didn't stop snowing,.. and I don't want to get my bike dirty.

Laundry boy

This is how the drive down the mountain looked Saturday. It was a real snow storm. I know you shouldn't talk on a cell phone when you drive... Photography is different...

I was talking to Diane about some of the conversations I have had with strangers on the chairlift. Some of the people you kind of temporarliy bond with. She said there was this "single serving friend" concept in the movie Fight Club. I thought that was a good way to look at it. It sounded to me like something Andy Warhol might have come up with.

I rode up the chairlift with a young woman this weekend and struck up a conversation. I asked her what she did, and she said she worked in the laundry at the hospital. Well when I was in school I had a job in a motel laundry. My title was Laundry Boy. Yes they had a position called laundry boy... Of course only boys were hired to be laundry boys.

I worked in the laundry room, of all places, with all of the maids. (housekeepers) All of the maids were girls. My duties were different than the maids. I mostly did laundry, although I did wash glasses and put them in paper wrappers. I took the job as a stepping stone to become a desk clerk. (I was a climber in the hospitality industry.) So after a summer of being laundry boy, I had learned all of the rooms in the motel and knew what beds were in each one. So then I became a desk clerk. Night clerk actually and it was a good job to have while going to school, and a big step up from the laundry boy position.

I observed that women never promoted out of the maid position into the desk clerk position. There were several female desk clerks however, but no female night clerks after one of them got tied up and robbed. I always thought I'd be robbed, and I think I came close one night but it never actually happened.

Anyway I had a lot to talk about with this girl who worked in the hospital laundry. Of course hospital laundry is slightly different than motel laundry. We talked about washers and dryers and folding laundry. This sort of thing. I really enjoyed the conversation.

Chairlift

I've had a lot of conversations with people on the chairlift. I guess it's like on Forest Gump. You never know what you're going to get, and you get just a few minutes to talk to someone. The ride up the hill.

Sometimes there is no conversation, and no desire talk, and people just want to be left alone. I don't always feel like talking myself. Sometimes you meet someone who you find out you want nothing to do with and you can't wait to get off of the lift to get away from them. But other times you meet someone who you can tell is a very special person, and the time you get to spend with them is something of great value.

You get to the top of the hill and the ride is over. Probably never see them again. I guess I'll leave it at that.

It's all good

This is what it looked like tonight when I went home after work. It was beautiful along the train tracks. Cold and clear. A little cold crescent moon up in the sky was flirting with a distant star.

It was one of those weeks when I just have to say, good gosh, I'm glad that week is over.. But then if I think about it, it's one less week of my life I have to live, and that sucks.. if I think about it.

The up-side is,..Well, it is after all still ski season, the sun will be out tomorrow (that sounds really corny) and I'll be up on the mountain skiing. Plus my skis have a fresh race tune done by Fred, and in Fred's words, when I left my skis at his shop this week without getting a claim ticket,. "It's all good."

Who invented the automobile?

I never thought I'd be correcting Barack Obama... We (the United States) did not invent the automobile as President Obama said in his speech tonight, and no,.. Al Gore had nothing to do with it either... Karl Benz invented the first car with a gas motor.

Ford was just first to make the automobile a consumer item. We can hang our hat on that.

I was listening to NPR today and there was one thought put out by a caller who said, perhaps the economy would be rebuilt with less of a consumer mentality and that consumerism was a large part of our economic problem in the first place. That resonated with me. People are buying cars and houses they can't afford, and everything else, and they are going in debt over it. (bigger houses than they need and bigger cars) Cars are a great example of people buying more than they need or in many / most cases, can afford. If we continue to beileve in this model of prosperity, the big car, bigh house standard, where will it lead us?

The caller was rebuked by the hosts of the program who said that becoming less of a consumer based society wasn't good for the economy.. (?) I'm thinking,. What the heck? Where does it all end? When people buy more than they need and go in debt doing it then there's bound to be a problem. How can this be good for the economy?

Other than this one criticism I thought Obama gave a very nice talk...

Nikon Coolpix is inside the bubble

My little Nikon Coolpix L16 died, so I'm sending it in for repair as it's still under warranty. I just turned it on and it said "lens error". So far my contact with Nikon has been good. They said the lens motor was stuck and they usually replace those. For now this little Coolpix is inside the bubble wrap. I'll let you know how it comes out and how Nikon deals with the situation.

My favorite pot

Tonight I broke one of my favorite pots that I use for cooking darn it!. A Visions one like THIS. It was a gift from an ex-girlfriend. She bought me a whole set of them. "These are really nice Don." I remember her saying. What did I know? Well they are really nice... You can cook on the stove top with them, oven and even microwave although this one was too big to go in my little microwave. I love them, but I didn't realize this one was $60 nice... I'll have to get another as I used this all of the time and,.. well,.. I'm set in my ways.. My cooking ways anyways.

And this reminds me of a story.

My friend's father was called up for Jury duty. He was being asked questions to see if they wanted to seat him. "What are some of your interests?" one of the attorneys asked. "Well I like to cook." "What's your favorite dish?" "Melmac" he responded.

Ba dump bump.

Wild turkey photo

I was going up the hill today and came across this wild turkey. It's not a great picture as I had to scramble to find the camera. It was a difficult lighting situation and the darn turkey wouldn't stand still. It kept running around and finally it ran off. So this was the best I could do, but it's a very nice turkey as wild turkeys go. I know one guy who would love to shoot this!..

Right America Feeling Wronged

I just watched the HBO documentary by Alexandra Pelosi, Right America Feeling Wronged. SYNOPSIS IS HERE What a trip.

The film showcases staunch republicans and McCain to his credit had to reel them in.

I took some notes of quotes from McCain supporters featured in the film. It's a little hard to take. It would be hard to believe if I didn't know myself that there's more than just a little truth in it.

I can't resist sharing a few quotes. There was no shortage of bad ones. "If you drink beer, if you go to titty bars for some reason you're a bad person."

(wait a minute,..I drink beer..)

And this about Obama; "I think he hates all people, I think he wants to destroy this earth." "Obama's never lived in real America, he's never seen it." "666 crossed my mind." "Oh my gosh this is him." (the anti Christ)

My gosh is right...McCain isn't the real loser in this election.

Going ape

By now most of us have heard the story of the chimp that went ape. From what I heard his owner was sleeping with him. Sharing a bed anyway. Not a good idea. Not for me anyway. When I first got my late cat Spunky, I made it clear that my bedroom was off limits. There has to be some boundries in the pet / owner relationship, and I'm alergic anyway. I'd wake up all stuffed up.

But the thought of sleeping with a big hairy beast in a diaper...

Conversion to DTV

Tonight is the early switch to DTV from analog. Most of the stations here in are changing over now. I went to the coupon website the very day they ran out of funds. So I put my name on a waiting list. I only asked for one coupon as I only need one in Montana. There were many people who got the coupons and didn't use them before they expired. So last week I received my coupon, actually like a gift card, and I went to the store and used it to buy a converter. They only had one converter left at the store where I went.

Over the weekend I listened to a piece on NPR about a woman who started using one of these converters somewhere in Arizona if I think it was. She reported that it worked only when the signal was strong and often pixelated out. So she said she pretty much stopped watching TV. The story went on to report that the testing they did was based on an outdoor antenna 30 feet up in the air, like on a rooftop. What I came away with from that report was that you really need a good antenna and a strong signal for digital over the airwaves to work well. The nice thing about analog was that if the signal was weak the picture might be fuzzy but you could still see what was going on. It's often like that in remote places. I remember watching the World Series one time on a little black and white TV in the bunkhouse of a ranch way out in the middle of Montana miles from the nearest town. The picture was fuzzy and the sound scratchy but we could tell what was going on and that was all that mattered. It sounds to me like rabbit ears inside a house may not work unless there is a very strong signal.

So tomorrow I'm going to hook up my little TV with its little indoor antenna and see what happens. Right now I'm getting all three networks and one public station analog. One network, CBS is weak. The real test will be in Montana when I go to the cabin.

***
Morning of the 18th: The digital converter is working well with the indoor antenna. The channel that had been weak analog is smaller on the screen for some reason, but the rest of the channels are fine and there are more of them actually incuding Universal Sports. (the ski racing channel) So that's a pleasant development. :)

Happy Valentine's Day

Lady with an Ermine

I call this picture, Lady with an Ermine. Or Lady with a Weasel, around her neck. She might have just caught it! Might be weasel season in Idaho for all I know...

Wolves, pickup trucks, and culture

I took one of my friends to the cabin in Montana for some fishing. On the way we picked up a local want ad paper. He was reading the personals,.. "Here's one for you Don.."

SWF,.. I like wolves, pickup trucks, and culture...

Bear painting

These painted bears are here and there thoughout town in Missoula. I think they are kind of cool.

Resi Stiegler is a hit

I've been getting an unusual amount of hits out of Europe on a blog post I wrote about RESI STIEGLER last year. It's kind of wierd and I'm tempted to bring down that post because of it. It might be because of the World Chapionships that are going on right now in France. Stiegler crashed out of a GS race last year in Lienz a year ago and goofed up her knee. Then she screwed it up again playing soccer or something. From what I understand she pre-ran the slalom in Garmisch last week so she must be on the mend.

Lindsey Vonn won that slalom in Germany BTW and I actually got to watch it as Universal Sports just came on my cable system and I just watched her win the Super G at worlds. I can't tell you how happy it makes me to be able to watch these races on TV now. It's actually better coverage than I used to get on the Outdoor Life Network. Sadly OLN morphed into the realm of cage fighting and reality shows. It had been good ski racing coverage and I got to see all of the racers both men and women. But now this Universal Sports Network coveraged has been as good if not way better. Makes me want to contribute to the US Ski Team once again.

You know, this stuff is really interesting to just watch. They don't have to dumb it down for a TV audience. Just show the sport and people will lean and understand it and get into it. That was what used to be so cool about Wide World of Sports. Their ability to race is what makes these people interesting, not a lengthy bio about them. If they couldn't race we wouldn't care about them, we'd just watch reality shows about people who couldn't do anything special, and that's getting really old if you ask me.

Canada wolves

Or should that read "Canada Wolves" ?...

Forget about dogs playing poker... Canada has wolves smoking cigarettes!.. They've always been more edgy than we are,.. those crazy Canada people...

I'm kidding of course... I didn't realize we were blaming Canada for our wolf problem,.. I mean wolf issue... situation...

Flathead Lake photo

The same view of Flathead Lake, more water and less sky. I guess I should have posted this one first. I've just been going through pictures I haven't really looked at. I'll take a whole bunch of pictures and then just look at a couple of them. I have more fun cooking than eating.

Flathead Lake picture

Here's another picture of Flathead Lake in Montana that I took back in October.

Sun dog rainbow

This is what it looked like when I made my way down the mountain after skiing today. The cold was brutal up there this weekend. There was no way to escape the the wind and no warm place except in the lodge. It was just about all you could do to survive a ride up the chair lift, at about 10 degrees F and winds gusting. Today they closed most of the lifts due to wind.

This it what it looked like Saturday morning as I drove up the mountain. There was an unusual sun dog type rainbow in the sky.

Barack Obama's BlackBerry "to break out of the bubble"

I've been a little concerned that Barack Obama would give up his BlackBerry when he became president. I think if he did that he'd become too isolated and might morph into someone other than he is now. That will no doubt happen anyway, but I was relieved to hear tonight on the News Hour that he wanted to keep the BlackBerry in his words, "to break out of the bubble".

That's close enough!... I can relate to this guy.

The cost of gas

I didn't intend for this photo to have any social/ political significance. I was just out taking pictures. We are having an inversion here and that's when high pressure keeps the air stagnant in the valleys and that reduces air quality, so they enforce buring bans. Unfortunately it also gets cold as there are few clouds and we suffer radiational cooling at the same time. So right when you need your woodstove to stay warm they say you can't use it. I have an EPA approved one BTW as it burns cleaner but even those are banned sometimes. They have different stages of burning bans. You can see the polution in the air next to the horizon.

I think it's a trade off. If we use electricity something has to make it, and gas isn't without it's cost to produce and either. Just like with CFL bulbs, I don't think there is really any free lunch to heating either.

I wish I could remember that quote from the Russian physicist who said about Chernobyl something like; nothing is free and you pay when you check out. Something like that...

And why would anyone pay $1.79 for Super+ when you can get gas for $1.59 ? It seems like a lot to pay now. People are complaining about gas rising ten cents while oil is actually dropping in price. How quickly we have forgotten about $4.50 a gallon.

Spreading the love

Love you too,.. I said to myself after I hung up the phone.

Did I just hear what I thought I heard, I wondered?.. I called my dentist office to confirm my appointment. The receptionist, after thanking me for confirming said "love you" right before she hung up the phone. The force of habit I guess as she must have just talked to a loved one.

But hey, I'll take what I can get...

Helmet art

It has been said that skiing is a form of self-expression, and if skiing is, then snowboarding is for sure. I rode the chair up with this snowboarder kid's father. The kid modified his helmet with paint and what looks like a broom sticking out of it. I told his dad that I'd make him clean his room with it... :)

Miss January

I've been taking pictures so I'll post a couple. Here's a tree from where I ski.

View of Lake Pend Oreille

Here's a picture from the top of the mountain today. I didn't ski very well but it was really nice out. I left the house without my lunch, so all I had to eat was a salted nut roll candy bar,.. So I stopped into the Outback Bar and got a can of Pabst, parked myself with a view of the lake, and took in some rays.

Click on photo if you want to see it bigger.

Riding chairlifts

I spend a lot of time riding chairlifts each winter. It was nice being on the mountain today as it was the only place to get above the fog. All of the people in the valleys are stuck in the fog and it has lasted for days now. It starts to get to you after a while. That's the thing I always like about skiing. It gets you up and out of the fog, and it really makes a difference in your attitude.

Today was the most pleasant day of skiing I've had this year. No wind, no people, sunshine, and fast snow. It just doesn't get any better than this.

Chill out

There's something about fog that chills you to the bone. Fog and wind... Fog, wind and mist.. If they ask me what I did over the weekend I'll just say I chilled out.

Spokane melt down

I didn't think I'd ever like to see the so called "Pinapple Express", the warm winds coming in from the south pacific, as it usually melts the ski snow, but this year it was a welcome event. Eastern Washington state got 77 inches of snow in the last couple of weeks and it was just too much all at once as 16 inches is normal for this time of year. For a while I could barely get in and out of my neighborhood with my truck chained up. My car was useless as it was just too low to the ground. It didn't seem to let up. As recently as Monday we got another 6 inches or so of wet snow. Since then it has been melting and everyone is happy. Now most of the roads are bare and wet. I went up on our roof at work to clear out the drains yesterday and there was a lot of snow ice and water up there. Lots of flat roofs like that have been falling in. Today I went up there and there was no snow and just a little water and ice. It's been an amazing transformation in just two days. This weekend it is going to cool back down and that will freeze up the ski hill and make a nice solid base.

Dog snowshoes

It's been a hard winter and it's just getting started. It's been very hard on dogs too. Here's a picture of Max in his winter coat complete with racing stripe, although he wasn't in much of a hurry to go anywhere. Max is also sporting some very nice looking dog snowshoes custom made by his owner. He's a lucky dog as it was very cold today, around 10 degrees F. (F for F'n cold) I think Max would have been just as happy to stay inside by the fire today.

I was going to remove Other Peoples Dogs from my blog and I started doing that but It's kind of important to me for some odd reason. Just not presented well.

On the other hand it's only so important to me. I've been told that I need a dog. Like if I had a dog I wouldn't be so screwed up.. or something. I wrote about it (You Need a Dog on the sidebar) but I read what I wrote and thought, Man I really am screwed up... Maybe I do need a dog...

But I can't really see myself making dog snowshoes and dressing up a dog to go for a walk. Not that other people shouldn't...

Cubical doorbell

I got this cubical doorbell at our company gift exchange. Now when people come to pester me,.. I mean, when they come to work out urgent business, instead of screaming at me in crisis mode they can ring the bell first. It has a number of sounds from a cat to ah-oo-ga, but I like the regular doorbell sound. It's the most civilized. The ah-oo-ga sound might be more appropriate though... Ah-oo-ga! Ah-oo-ga! Incoming! Dive! Dive!

Jesus Camp and Operation Filmmaker

I'd have to say that this is my least favorite time of the year. December anyway. I usually can't wait until all if the holiday season is over so I can ski, but so far it's been difficult to get up to the mountain. That will soon change I hope.

So I have been watching a lot of TV. Documentaries are my favorite kind of TV program. I shovel snow then I come in and watch a documentary. Shovel snow, documentary. Shovel snow, news. Snow, documentary. Snow, Leave it to Beaver, and so on..

Two documentaries have left an impression on me lately. The first one was Jesus Camp. Somewhere in North Dakota religious right people bring their kids to be drilled on how to be just like their parents. That was a trip. At one point one of the instructors/ pastors got out a little case with little fetus dolls in it at different stages of development and showed them to the kids. My gosh I thought. That just felt wrong to me for kids that age. It was difficult to watch actually. Talk about kids growing up too fast. They had kids crying and leaning how to protest abortion. I think Boy Scout/ Girl Scout camp might be a better option. Perhaps they could learn to value life by enjoying it. Teach them how to canoe and this sort of thing...

Jesus Camp had kind of a cool ending though. This woman was driving her SUV or mini-van down this business strip with the flag flying over a KFC and saying how she loved the american life. Then she drove it into an automatic car wash while she listend to religious radio confirm her belief system. That was pretty well done.

The next one that left an impression on me was on Independent Lens called Operation Filmmaker. It was about bringing an Iraqi young person interested in filmmaking out of Iraq and letting him work on the set of Everything Is Iluminated and then following his struggle to not go back to Iraq after the filming was over. Nina Davenport made the documentary. It was also a trip. I've heard different things about this film. My impression of it was that many of the movie/ TV people, except the star of Doom (Dwayne Johnson/ The Rock?) couldn't really grasp the reality of this guys situation. I think everything in this documentary illuminated how removed from the Iraq war we've all been, with the exception of those who have been doing the fighting, (and The Rock who is a very nice guy)

It also had a cool ending. (Before I gave too much of it away, so I'll change this to say that this is a good film and worth watching. They do re-air them a few times but usually it's in the middle of the night so you might have to set your recorder.)