Local news at 7:31

I've been rummaging around over at the wayback machine this morning. Great place. Anyway, they cached this page from my website years ago, before I nuked it and then lost the backup files. Always, always backup anything you want to keep! I still do not, so there you have it. However, thanks to them, Sweet Lorraine's wonderful silver polishing tip lives on. May she rest in peace. Handy, as my silver is in need of polishing and lately I've been lamenting the loss of her recipe.



If you have trouble getting the polish out of the cracks of your silver jewelry here's a handy trick I learned from my friend Lorraine, who always wore gobs of silver and turquoise jewelry. She was a very cool lady who knew how to do things the easy way. It works. It really does.


Ingredients:
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 sheet of aluminum foil
1 quart water

Add dry ingredients to 1 quart boiling water.
Submerge foil in water.
Drop silver onto foil.
Tarnish will immediately disappear.
Remove silver from water.
Place on drying cloth.
Allow to dry.
To enhance affect, gently rub silver but it's not necessary.
It will come out of the water shiny as new.

Baby updates

Baby Thea is now 16 days old. YIKES! I wish I were there, at her house, holding her. The best I get these days is video cam phone calls which are delightful but I WANT TO HOLD HER! Oh well. I'll have to get used to it. Besides, half the time all you can see of her are her little feet curling up towards her mama's chin. That little girl has the appetite of a lumberjack but her mama keeps up so everybody is happy.

The eaglet I've been following is also growing up fast. She's totally changed. It's interesting watching her explore her wings. She practices flying by lifting herself from one side of the nest to the other. Her wings are gigantic. She also spends a lot of time contemplating the world from the edge of nest. It won't be long.

Flections

I have been in deep Baby Thea withdrawal since leaving Portland. It's awful. She is growing up too fast and too far away. In four minutes she will be a full 10 days old! I want to reach right though this miserable computer screen, lift her out of the photo, into my arms and cuddle up a cascade of smiles.



We are working our way back home but at the moment are in Southern Oregon celebrating my other granddaughter's graduation from high school. Things were different when she was born. It's very painful to recall but I didn't participate much in her birth or early years so spending time with her is especially sweet.

Funny how life turns. I hate to admit what an idiot I was but I once considered almost everything "maya". What else have I totally scrambled? At least I finally turned the corner and see life as an exquisite, fragile gift rather than a "sentence" to be "endured".

Baby Girl Nelson

I know you guys have been waiting for photos of The Babeh and I'm sorry to be so slow posting any. I can be painfully private sometimes, but I wanted to make sure it was okay with her Mama first. Of course, it's fine. In fact, Baby Thea now has her own personal Flickr account, so if you'd like to see more photos of her you can find them at Baby Girl Nelson. Isn't she beautiful? I am totally smitten.

There is a baby!

YAY!!! Whew!

Local news at 10:11

No baby yet. Twenty-three hours and counting. It's been a long day.

Eagle cam update

That baby eagle I posted about a month ago (to the day) is now hopping around the nest, trying out her wings. If you want to see her again before she flies off, better go now. She's pretty cool.

Local news at 8:44

I've been busy lately. Lots going on and it hasn't slowed down yet. I just wanted to check and refresh the page but, at the moment, don't have time for more than this quick note. Number one, we are now in the single digit countdown waiting for the baby. Mr. Lee and I have reserved a room in Portland starting next Sunday. I hope she waits till then but babies are on their own time. My friend here, whose due date was the 21st, had her baby yesterday so there you have it. It could be any moment. I just hope, if she comes "early", that we arrive before she does.

Other than that, my complimentary issue of Skidrow Penthouse #10 arrived the other day. I'd completely forgotten I submitted poems to them so it was a pleasant surprise. Now that they are published, I will post them at my other blog when I get the time. And I spent the weekend at a Parelli workshop in Reno this weekend. I don't have a horse and I doubt I ever will have a horse but I got a super saver ticket through the HSUS and couldn't pass it up. I've always wanted to sit in on one of these sessions. Parelli is the real deal. Like their tshit says, "Change horses can believe in." Okay. More later. Gotta go.

Oh. And I testified at a sub-committee hearing on the Senate Bill 132, the Anti-Tethering Bill. In the final vote, it passed 32 to 8. Now it goes on to our infamous Governor Jim Gibbons for signing. He'll probably sign it. As one of the Legislators pointed out, Gibbons dog gets better treatment than his wife. Nevada. Gotta love it. We are the last state in the Union to make dog and cock fighting illegal, that is, if the bill before the Legislature passed this session. Anyway, I'll post my testimony later as well. It was really fun.

Happy Bad Mother's Day

So the day's almost over. Sue me. It's Bad Mother's Day. Watdayawant? Anyway, for those of us who were not always, ummmmm ... shall we say ... the best of mothers, Happy Bad Mother's day. I have a lot to be grateful for today because, in spite of everything, my children not only survived me, but grew up to be wonderful human beings. I am very proud of them. Kids are like that, you know. Resilient. And love is like that. Resourceful. It finds a way.

So, to celebrate what's left of the day, here are a few photos of bad parents. If you're down in the dumps, perhaps you'll find someone here you can feel superior to. Good luck.
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Protect Seals update

Wonderful news for baby seals in Canada. The European Union has officially banned the trade of Canadian seal products. This is historic. It has been a huge battle for many years but finally smart, sane, compassionate, persistent citizens defeated the industry's army of scummy lobbyists defending this barbaric trade. This is the beginning of the end of Canada's cruel commercial seal hunt. I am extremely grateful to everyone involved, whether they are mere petition signers like myself or front line fighters on the ice, at the Humane Society International and in the courts. This is victory we can all celebrate. Don't know about Canada's seal trade? Learn about it here.

Tic

The deadline for the newsletter I edit is a week off and I have spent my morning slogging through a bog of niggling details. It is time to revisit one of my all-time favorite video Superstars. I love this guy!

TIC

Friends

A photo from the neighborhood...

Baby T

Uncle Monkey, Baby T, Sweet William, Ugly Bear

Today Uncle Monkey proudly introduced Baby T to the troupe here at the Invisible Theatre. Everyone made a huge fuss over her. They were smitten.

Taliban Lite, as seen at Walmart

What is it about COPS and donuts?


It's a drag being so obsessive. I had no intention of doing it but I spent hours today cleaning up the blur in this fucking photograph. Otherwise, I didn't change it at all. The COP is as she was...at Walmart, or Wallowmart as I like to call it. Anyway, if you want a copy to enhance your bathroom, garage or whatever, there's a larger version at flickr. I don't know this woman personally but she is the kind of people who give me the deep creeps, whatever "god" they worship. Talk about mark of the beast.


Taliban Evangelical Christianity Walmart Mark of the Beast 666 salvation creep

Leonard Cohen live in London

"I was 60 years old, just a kid with a crazy dream"
(Live In London screenshot)

Just passing this along. Some nice music here.

One week only. Leonard Cohen: Live in London

Investigate torture

If the Justice Department gives the Bush Administration a pass on torture, they will be responsible finalizing civilization's return to the Dark Ages.


Ask Attorney General Holder to investigate

torture memos

After images 1

Jupiter's influence

Magpie's secret peanut

The 7 O'clock Magpie has a secret peanut stash. I'm sure it's her. She comes in the evening at dusk and in the morning before it's light, before everyone else, just like last year and the year before that. At the beginning of the day, she grabs all the peanuts and tucks them around the park for later. I don't think she always remembers where she put them because I find them from time to time. And she drops by at night for a final look around, and yes, I put a few goodies out for her. How can I not?

The other morning, I saw her rummaging in the gravel around the trailer, picking pieces up, moving them around. The way she was digging, I thought she was searching for peanut chips. When I went out later, I discovered she had built a SECRET PEANUT STASH. Shsssssss... don't tell anyone.



Here's a link to a video of her I made a couple of years ago. WARNING: It's hard core Bird Park. The magpie doesn't even make her appearance until half way though. A lone crow plays support. Scratchy background music by Low. 7 O'clock Magpie

Hawk & Sparrow

Warning: hard core Bird Park. No car crashes. No steamy sex scenes. No mind numbing violence. No rhyme. No reason. Well, the lyrics are rhymed.

"For every prayer there is an equal and opposite prayer."
~ Animal Life
Music: "Saturday Sun" by Nick Drake

No. This unlucky little fellow is not the bird in the header.

Hairy and Bela

Hairy and Bela, Return

After spending centuries cloistered in an astral monastery, during which time he got a few things straightened out, Hairy returns, reconciles with Bela, and is accepted into the troupe at the Invisible Theatre.

Faded views

In answer to my daughter's question, no, I didn't visit any of the graveyards in Tonopah this trip, although the town itself is haunted and melancholy as any. I didn't have time to do any more than show a friend, new to the place, a bit of the downtown.

Salvadore was still there, and still doing his fine fade
from the world. I kind of spooked her when I pulled his
photo out from between the stones but I had to check in
on him. He's one of my current favorite time lapse windows
on the past.

She had a $5000 dollar camera with a $3000 lens.
As you might imagine, her photo of this room is better than mine.

Sleepy spring in Tonopah.

Tonopah never forgets.

Roadside distractions

 A couple of photos from my recent trip to Tonopah.


Still standing. Still for sale.

Opening late 2006

Lovely, downtown Tonopah

Local news at 8:24

How's your day going? It's 8:23 AM and I am already overwhelmed. Ah well. This too shall pass.

Window in the sea

Road to Tonopah

Just got back from my bi-annual Tonopah, 12th in row. Here's a few photos from the trip down. Nevada's a strange place.