Crow talk

photo by Life Writer

"I shall live bad if I do not write, and I shall write bad if I do not live." ~ Françoise Sagan


And to this end, Mr. Lee has dedicated himself to see that I LIVE. Fuck him. Tomorrow he is dragging me out into the Great Basin for an off road, off the grid, out in the true heart of fucking Nowhere for yet another wilderness experience. I am sneak writing this. Mr. Lee has his eye on me because, at this point, TIME HAS RUN OUT. I should be packing but I am barely packed however I am charging my two camera batteries and have amassed a pile of pens, pencils, erasers, notebooks, and sketch pads to comfort me out there. We go to very remote places. In one favorite location, a military plane crashed and wasn't found for 50 years. Do you have any idea how that makes me feel?

For the last few days I have been scaling down the amount of food I shovel out into the Bird Park so that it won't be a total shock when the food dries up but, even as I write this, my old friend Minerva, and her similarity decrepit buddy, have showed up for a mid-morning peanut. I am sorry to say that the crows are winning the contest of who trains who. The other day Minerva landed and clomped (crows don't hop, they clomp) straight to my bedroom window (she not only knows where my office is, she knows where I sleep!) and demanded a treat. Unchecked, this will not end well. Crows have a hot-line. I fear that, before long, hundreds, perhaps thousands, will take up cawing at my window. I suppose it is better we go to the desert a while. Let things cool off.

And when we get back, if we do, it's off to Portland to see Baby Thea (a good thing), then LA (a just okay thing), Tonapah (an okay thing) and, on October 1, we leave for Costa Rica. Yikes and ey yi yi! It feels like a yawning chasm has opened up beneath me into which I plummet.

Beco's Tub Toy

At least somebody is having fun.

I don't believe elephants should be hostage to a circus or confined to zoos, but this little guy at the Columbus Zoo is making the best of it and, with the dummies on the reactionary right pitching absurd, hysterical tantrums at town hall meetings across the country, don't know about you, but I need a time out from the madness, even if it is only 01:27.

Local news at 12:56

Detail in a painting
Getty Museum in LA.

It is all in the details and today the details are driving me crazy so I thought I'd drop in here and complain a bit. Not only are we leaving for Costa Rica on Oct. 1, we are busy pretty much up to that time. It's all good but I am overwhelmed.

Do you like the photo? Sorry I don't remember the artist or the painting, something at the Getty. You'll have to go and see for yourself. One of the many great things about the Getty is that you are allowed to take photos, JUST NO FLASH. But back to work. Thanks for the shoulder.

Rest in peace Koala Sam

Sam the little koala rescued by firefighter David Tree during Australia's devastating wildfires earlier this year died yesterday. She was euthanized during surgery after the veterinarian found the cysts that threatened her life were inoperable.


Sadness upon sadness, Sam's cysts were caused by stress and these days are very common among Australia's koala population. One bright spot is that her life, rescue and death have helped raise awareness and support not only for koalas, who are in serious trouble throughout Australia, but has also helped highlight the plight of wildlife worldwide. Bye-bye little Sam. I am so sorry it ended this way.

Full story here

Local news at 11:24

The Bird Park is full of little birds today. They must be fueling up for bad weather. Snow is predicted above 9000 ft. in the lovely Sierra at whose feet we are nestled. I am in the hamster wheel today. Too much to do and too little time to do it all. We are going to Costa Rica on Nov. 1 for six weeks and already the long shadow is upon me. It would be wise to layout the newsletters through the end of the year. And I just volunteered to do a blog for a local animal welfare group. I got the url and did a mock up for it last night but much remains to be done before it's functional. So far I am 0 for 2 on this kind of thing but what the hell? Three is supposed to be a charm. The one I started for the shelter in Nicaragua turned out to be a terrible experience. The director was impossible to work with. Anyway, I should already be out the door, but just had to come here first and cry. It's a tradition.

Oh, and Baby Thea is now 12 lbs. 6 oz.
and more beautiful than ever, if that is even possible.

Here's a couple of thoughts

It seems that most biological mechanisms of action show that life involves far-from-equilibrium conditions beyond the stability of the threshold of the thermodynamic branch. It is therefore very tempting to suggest that the origin of life may be related to successive instabilities somewhat analogous to the successive bifurcations that have lead to a state of matter of increasing coherence. — Ilya Prigogine

Progress, then, is a property of the evolution of life as a whole by almost any conceivable intuitive standard.... Let us not pretend to deny in our philosophy what we know in our hearts to be true. — Edward O. Wilson

Saturday musings

Today's Daily Thea really knocked me out.

Spring is a great time to be born,
with the entire summer ahead
to kick back and take it all in.

Seems everywhere I look,

babies are doing their thing.

Even the Invisible Theatre has a new little one,

Buug and Hawgwahr.
(long o as in true blue)

Lucky for Buug,
Trusty Hawgwahr is there by his side

Buug, Hawgwahr and Rat Woman

keeping an eye on things. After all...

Buug, Hawgwahr and Rat Woman

you never know who you're going to meet along the way.

Baby Thea at the park

Plus having a special friendmakes every adventure a whole lot more fun.

FOUND! Who gives a fuck?

The missing Who Gives a Fuck? icon was found today and, as promised, a grand prize will awarded to the finder.

Me.

i just want to make one thing clear. I did not rummage though my archives looking for it. I just happened to find it when I was looking though the E Drive for a photo I want to submit to a magazine. Anyway, I get to choose my prize from three things ... either a peanut TLC bar, a cool Nevada rock, or an ice cold Pepsi.

Seeing as how I just had a bar and the rock is already "mine", as much as anyone can "own" a rock given that the rock is already about a million years old and will still be around when the sun implodes, I'm going to chose the Pepsi, gas station soda fountain in a cup with ice style. We don't drink soda much anymore, not since finally admitting to ourselves how terribly unhealthy it is. So soda. Tomorrow, when I go to Reno, I will buy a soda.

So, there he is. Have at him. ladies. Thanks Asia and JudyBlueSky. It is great to have the little guy back.

The good, the bad, and the ugly

Looking to up your chances of getting published?

Want a fast response to your submission?

Want to know where the pain is?

I just stumbled on this neat ratings site for magazines that publish poetry and fiction. They promise the lowdown on the good, the bad and the ugly.

Check it out. Duotorpe's Digest

Bird Park update,

It's been awhile since I posted any news from the Bird Park but a lot has been going on. This little family was one of the spring highlights. Dwayne says that the parents nested on his side of the fence, under the wood pile.



Fun surprise at about 0:57.

Larger screen here.

Naturally, they brought their little brood to the Bird Park. It was a quail paradise. I say was because the damn FAT neighborhood cats started hunting them. Everyday there was one less baby, until all six were gone! I have reverted to the way I saw my father act a couple of times when protecting us kids. I'll tell you what. Those bastards fly. The second a cat appears in the Bird Park, I drop everything and run out into the yard flailing my arms wildly in the air, yelling growls like a murderous beast. It scares the crap out of those bastards and M. Lee. I can be pretty ferocious when the situation calls for it. Savage. Barbaric. Bestial. Truculent. Positively primeval.

For now, the cats are lying low and that young couple has started hanging out in the Bird Park again although we were looking forward to seeing the usual 30 or 40 quail by this time. It's really peaceful watching them lounge around in the shade of the lilacs, peck for treats in Old Man Hills, take dirt baths by the hour, and nibble up after the finches. But no... the cats ruined all that for awhile.

But in the evening a crow comes with her still downy baby. I chop the peanuts for them. I've been making friends with her and sometimes I can even open the window and toss out a peanut without her flying away. And the 7 o'clock magpie still comes for dinner.

America has a Chance!

The Daily Thea just arrived in my inbox.
Here's a happy little patriot!
America is reborn and has a Chance!!!!!

Happy 4th, World!

In case you missed it, Baby Thea is wearing her swimsuit.

Reminds me that, for however corny this holiday has become, freedom must be protected and shared, not just with our family and friends, but with the world. After all, everybody is somebody's baby. Including animals.



Don't forget the animals.

They love their babies too.

And friends.



And speaking of animals, here's an update on some famous pals.

Watch this. Find out! Do....

Tarra and Bella go to Hollywood?
Sorry. You have to endure a 14 sec. commercial first
but it's worth it. I promise. Just turn your sound down.



Ps. There is a book though, Tarra & Bella by Carol Buckley. Carol is the director at the Elephant Sanctuary. I pre-ordered one for Baby Thea's first Christmas. I think she's going to like it.

Celebrating Palin's resignation

photo by linchbell

And now...
Keyboard Cat will play her off...


Ps. Send your old shoes to the new George W. Bush library.

Sarah Palin Keyboard Cat

Who gives a fuck?

Asia reminded us about it and JudyBlueSky replied, "I want the icon. I NEED the icon. I AM the icon."

Indeed.

Perhaps I am just being academic but, in case you missed the conversation, I think Mr. Smiley Face's sign said, "WHO GIVES A FUCK?" rather than "WHO GIVES A SHIT?"

But you know how it is. Where once people may have viewed it with a less than passing glance, now that it is lost, this tiny gif is legend, like The One Ring Which Rules Them All. To find it would require battle with titanic forces, in this case, Inertia. Don't laugh. Inertia is responsible, or not responsible, for more of history than exists.

So, you may wonder, why did I lose the Mr. Smiley Face "WHO GIVES A SHIT/FUCK?" icon in the first place? Simple, and here's the moral of the story, I failed to back my icon file up before switching to a new hard drive. However, and this is the good part, the little punk is buried in my blog somewhere but locating it would require an episodic, page by page search. I gave it a quick try but lost heart even though I am looking for a diversion from that inventory of poems I inflicted on myself now that Baby Thea's box is in the mail.

So...to sweeten the pot, I am offering a reward to anyone who manages to unearth the damn thing. It is, after all, very tiny and, on it's own, not worth the effort, so if you find it, I will send you a prize, exactly what TBA. Here's a clue. It's probably with posts that are about two years old. Okay. Now, I've gotta get back to work. At the moment, I am tortured by that horrible feeling I get when squandering irreplaceable time. I set out today, after all, to get a poetry submission in the mail before five.

Baby T's tees

.So, I finished six tees for Baby Thea. I'd love to post the drawings but Her Self must see them first. I am mailing the box today. One, in particular, came out a bit weird but I'm sending it anyway. That's how it is with, ahem, works in progress. Well, I suppose they're all a bit weird, or at least not ordinary baby fashion.

Inventory update

To tell you the truth, my poetry inventory is not going so well. It has... well... for the moment... stalled out... and been replaced by the production of Baby T ts. Awhile ago, back before Baby Thea was born, her mama requested a silkscreened version of this blackbird on a onesie. Onesies are clothes sized 0 to 3 months, baby clothes in other words. While I am extremely flattered she liked the drawing enough to request it, I haven't gotten around to getting it silkscreened yet. I don't know how it will be received but I decided to draw directly on the garment instead. Silkscreening is costly but I can see doing it for a bag or a bib, something that will be in use for a while, but Baby Thea will outgrow a onesie in a minute.

Secondly, and here's where artistic considerations come in. Everyone has reproductions but how many people wear clothes that are themselves one-of-a-kind works of art? Seems to me Baby Thea deserves no less. (Kimberlee, your baby too, if you're interested) So, I decided to give it a whirl. I picked up six onsies at the second hand store. What's to lose? I did one drawing yesterday. It may be too strange but there's no going back once the pen touches the cloth. This is the bird that emerged from the ink. Too odd for a baby? Maybe. I've got five more onsies to go. Meanwhile, my fault alone, the writing inventory languishes, the folders stacked and set to the side. I will get back to it. Really.

"Remember: 75% goes in the shredder. At the advice of an actual editor, not the one living in my head, I'm going through the old manuscript with a firm and unsentimental hand. I have 100 pages to go. Whack whack. Does a body good. Don't flinch." JudyBlueSky's comment. She's right, of course, but she's working on a prose draft. If I whack whacked 75% of this file, there'd be about five pages. In my defense I must say, for every page that has made it this far, 75 were whack whacked before the ink dried. Poetry is a brutal craft.

Inventory time

The time has come for me to inventory my written work, especially the poetry and, to that end, I recently printed out what I have, for years, been filing away. This is why I am currently sitting here in my favorite chair, cup of coffee nearby, writing this blog post. I need to give myself a pep talk.

Poetic license only goes so far, if you are serious about writing well. Likewise, this "body of work" idea can remain amorphous only so long before it becomes, well, pointless. Personally, I have a high tolerance for ambiguity. Granted it's a bit messy, but it also allows me to overestimate exactly how much and what I have done. The downside, of course, is that ambiguity sours in an especially nasty manner. And for me it has. So, it's time to open the box, see what's actually what and, more importantly perhaps, what is not. Face the demons. Crap.

Man with a hat

The truth about writers

Hilarious editorial from last Sunday's LA Times. At least for me it is oh so true.

The truth about writers by J. Robert Lennon

Baby Thea's ride

Local news at 6:41 AM

Fat-bellied bird barely
lifting from the dirt
takes a wiggling worm
to the nest.

Daily Thea 06.25.09

Got this photo in the mail today, my Daily Thea. I'm so hooked on this little girl. I can't wait hold her again. My god! She's growing up so fast. But we have to hunker down for the rest of this month. That trip to Portland wasn't free. M. Lee is researching the possibility of getting a truck and trailer. That way we could park in Baby Thea's driveway instead of being in an expensive hotel across town.

~mother and grub~

And I am so wowed by what a great mother my daughter is. She is THE VERY BEST! It just doesn't get any better than this.

Summer's first day

Happy Summer Solstice.

¡Viva la Vegolución!

"The revolution is not an apple that falls when it is ripe. You have to make it fall." —Che Guevara

Here's a bit of good news for animals and animal lovers alike. Che Guevara's granddaughter Lydia Guevara, herself a vegetarian, posed in New York the other day for PETA's first campaign promoting vegetarianism in South America. It will be launched first in Argentina, where Che Guevara was born, and then internationally. The poster will debut in October in magazines and posters. My 19-year-old grandson loved the Che tshirt we brought back for him from Guatemala last fall. Think he'll like a Lydia poster for his birthday this fall?

New (old) poems

A while ago I promised to post those two poems (Skin Trade and Pele) that I recently published in Skidrow Penthouse. I finally did it. They are at my new poetry blog Anna Sadhorse.

Bye- bye baby, bye-bye...

Our eaglet has flown the nest. Unfortunately, I missed it but greencashew did not and was kind enough to post the Big Event on YouTube, along with a video of her return to the nest 48 minutes later.


Sooner Bald Eagle fledges 06/16/09 6am


She also made a nifty time lapse history of our lovely bird-child beginning back when she was a wobbly little tuck and ends with her doing a a little poop squirt while wiggling to get under her mama. Parents of newborns, you know about that. In this particular slice-of-eagle-life you may wonder why greencashew included so many less than stellar images of the surrounding area. My guess is to establish emotionally the patience involved in tending the nest. With that in mind, and helped along by a a rather emotive sound track, I am moved to near tears every time I watch it. I'm easy.



And if that's not enough eaglie goodness for you, greencashew also posted a ton more of our Sutton Girl, including one of a parent swallowing a rat whole.

And if you still want more, greencashew has more. She also documented other fledglings this spring. Just a warning. If you do go to her personal YouTube page, be prepared for an eye-blasting background loop of lightening in an evening sky, a snazzy little clip greencashew recorded from her front porch. It hurts.

And, by the way, you can still see our little fledgling live on the Sutton Center eaglecam as she continues to hang around the lake. According to their latest entry, she's a little fatty, baby fat that is, so not eating every day. Typically, the parents feed the hell out the babies to get them off to a good start and it seems hers did. So there you have it. Off to a good start. Yay!

your way begins on the other side

become the sky

take an axe to the prison wall,

escape

walk out like someone

suddenly born into color

do it now.


~Rumi~