This Land is MY Land, quoeth the Cliven

Many thanks to William Valenti for writing this song and making the video. Plus, as I live in the Great State of Nevada, seems only fitting to repost it here.




And, to celebrate the arrest of Cliven Bundy last night at Portland's PDX, here's a link to a snippet from the "rebel radio broadcast of the remaining last four psycho idiots "holed up" at the Malheur Refuge. As these bone heads love "holing up" so much, they are going to LOVE jail.

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Since this morning these last four "freedom" fighters at Malheur have surrendered. Now begins the long clean-up.

Cool Photoshop hack

Note to self:

Next time you want to remove someone or thing from a photo try this:

Morning report and Salvador Dali's dream

It's snowing this morning and Shelby the hawk stopped by for breakfast. As I've said before, hunting in the Bird Park is not okay. I'll have to post a sign. Of course hawks have to eat and feed their young but this place is a tiny little refuge not a free-for-all. There are enormous open spaces right nearby, compete with wild horses and bears. He can hunt there like everybody else.

Usually just opening the door is enough to empty the Bird Park. Not Shelby. He didn't even bother to look my way. I got almost all the way up to him, and was beginning to fantasize tapping him on the shoulder and telling him to go, before he finally got the hint.

At the moment Shelby is the only hunter who hunts here but, if I let him stay, soon enough the fence would be lined with raptors. It's calving season. The valley is filled with predators and soon all that would be left of my little friends would piles of drifting feathers.

So... now a peak at some of the cool exhibits going on at the Dali Museum in St. Petersburg Florida.


Source: Huffington Post and The Dali Museum on YouTube

Artist as Visionary

Jean Dubuffet working in his studio in France.*

I found a very entertaining compilation of photos at Pinterest titled Artist as Visionary. The board is part of a greater collection of art, music and literature related photos all collected by an artist named Kim Zoph. Well worth a coffee break.

*Photo saved from ackermansfineart.com via Artist as Visionary (Pinterest)

Squirrel Appreciation day 2016

 photo credit: djpsychochild

It's never the wrong time to appreciate squirrels but today, Jan 21, is their official day. However, if you missed today, get some peanuts and do it tomorrow or the next day or the next — whenever you can. These plucky little guys always appreciate being appreciated.

Booklice and giants

I read in the Guardian this morning that entomologists studying “clean and normal” homes in Raleigh, North Carolina found more than 100 species living there and this was without opening drawers or ripping carpets up. Their list included spiders (that do and don't make webs), lice, centipedes, flies, beetles, ants, telephone pole beetles, miniature crickets and booklice.

Booklice. I had to look that one up. The image of books infested with their own special variety of lice is disturbing. And yes — according to the Wikipedia article — books do have lice. But books, or more specifically the paste holding books together, is a newly acquired taste for booklice. These guys have been around for 295–248 million years. But if you're a reader, don't worry. The article is quite clear that booklice don't eat humans, even if your book is an ebook.

Researchers also observed creatures never before seen in the wild including the world's smallest wasp. Of course, findings would vary probably in other locations. Maybe here in Nevada we have microscopic desert lizards on our walls.

The idea of our homes being teeming microcosms doesn't bother or surprise me. After all, there's more than the eye can see and we humans used to live in caves and, before that, trees so no big deal. Now we live in a microscopic jungle. That means we get to be the giants.

Allen Rickman, farewell.

WTF?! Now Allen Rickman dies? I'm not prepared for all this. David Bowie now him? Damn. Meanwhile, out in the Bird Park, the Flicker eagerly pummeled one apple to a husk and is now working on another. Her day is off to a good start anyway.

So, Allen Rickman. I loved that guy. They say his irrepressible glimmer redefined Hollywood's idea of villainy. Whatever the role, he was a great actor and, as I read, a wonderfully intelligent, kind man. This clip even brought a tear to my eye. What more can I say?

As Joshua Madoc wrote, "By Grabthar's Hammer, Sir, by the suns of Warvan... you shall be dearly missed."

Breakfast at 07:54

Well we're home and, as per, Maggie the 7 o'clock Magpie just dropped in for breakfast. First day, as usual. That's my girl. So far it's just her. She took one peanut and flew off but she must have gone off to tell the rest of the tidings because they all just arrived plus a few grackles, the Dove couple and a beautiful Northern Flicker with red underwings. Home again.

And, now that we're home, I'm hoping to get some writing done. It seems impossible when we're in Portland. Kids consume the time. I don't even have have the energy to do a blog post when we're there, yet I goad the Deconstructionist for letting her blog go dormant. It's been 10 months since her last post. However, I hear mumbling coming from her direction. I suspect a new entry is in the works.

Morning update 09:16

"The world always seems brighter when you've just made something that wasn't there before."
- Neil Gaiman

This morning, being gray as yesterday, calls for another log on the fire and a hot cup of coffee to get things kicked off or, if you have neither, perhaps the Neil Gaiman quote would do. It got me going. Also along with my lukewarm morning cup of coffee, I read a good article at The Atlantic by Colleen Gillard titled "Why the British Tell Better Children’s Stories". It's worth reading if you have young kids or if you're any kind of storyteller.

So, that's it for the moment. I've been away from my post here in the borderlands, tending grandchildren for awhile. It was wonderful but now we're back in the swirl, moving south and, by next week, we'll be back in Nevada though M. Lee is already planning a next adventure.

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Note: There is a good discussion of Gillard's article on Metafilter. On the whole, seems the Mefites are quite critical of it. Lots of good points. 

The longest night

Happy New Year!

Last night we rode Santa's holiday train

The winter solstice this year occurs on Tuesday, December 22, 2015 at 04:49 UTC. At the moment, I'm in Portland Oregon so that means the solstice happens here today, the 21st, at 8:49 PM. For me, the winter solstice marks the end of the old year and the beginning of the new so .... wishing all a good new year.

Baby Chance wasn't so sure about Santa
but he liked the candy cane, his first.

The train wasn't going very fast. Cyclists were passing us on the bike path that follows the tracks but it was enough to make for a thrilling ride and shaky cam photos.

Off into the longest night

Somebody cares

Love Song to the Earth

Shelby morning update

Nobody likes Shelby. Nobody, that is, except M. Lee. M. Lee is Shelby's one and only advocate here at the Bird Park. This morning the magpies refused to come down from the trees for breakfast and that can only mean that either Shelby is lurking somewhere nearby or he recently killed somebody and everyone is still spooked.

Of course Shelby has a right to eat. That's M's argument, circle of life, it's only fair, a hawk's gotta eat. Mine is that the Bird Park is not a natural environment. Peanuts, tiny puppy kibble and piles of seed do not naturally appear every morning in the Nevada desert. To Shelby the Bird Park is a fast food joint. Next Bubba will appear, then Hank and Tootsie Pie, Mable and Jack and in about a week they will have eaten everyone. So I run Shelby off.

Local news at 11:05, or if you prefer, 23:05

Barcelona street

Moving on. Not that I have anything particular to say this evening. I'm just tired of looking at the last post. What did I do today? Mostly organized stuff, cleaned things. Printed out some notes I took this summer that I many eventually work into a poem. And I repaired a painting I did about 25 years ago. At some point it had picked up cardboard fuzz or something. Whatever it was I sponged it off with q-tips.

And I had a nice, long phone conversation with my daughter-in-law this afternoon. Seems Baby Chance is fully committed to walking now and, in fact, insisted on it during their mile+ forest hike today. By the time we see him in December I expect he'll be unstoppable. That'll be fun.

Happy Tofurky Day

I posted this image on Imgur. If anything it will probably cause a shitstorm. Go figure. Anyway, Happy Gratitude day to everyone.

View post on imgur.com

Local news at 2:11

It's snowing. That explains why so many birds dropped by for breakfast this morning. Even Plonk's pigeon brigade stopped in, including one very lovely, all white bird. Nobody is there now as I write this but I'm sure the quail are cozy under the very bushy twin lilacs. Anyway, it's not very cold but it is sticking and kind of pretty.

Bird Park November update

The little birds showed up today. Like I said, it takes them about a week to catch on that I'm back. Finches, they're not the brightest birds in the world. Now everyone's here, Maggie and her tiding, the quail, the doves, the finches and sparrows and Penny Robin. News travels fast. I put out apples a couple of days ago and Penny Robin came this morning. Robins love apples.

But wait a minute. The pigeons haven't come by yet. They're part of the gang. And Minerva, Charlie and the rest of the murder have yet to put in an appearance. I would love to see Charlie again. Before we started our trip last spring, he and I were beginning to bond. Last spring he established a secret meeting place so that he could get his very own peanuts and eat them in peace. Maybe this winter, once we finally settle in for awhile, we can pick up where we left off.

Holiday turn around

We're back in Nevada now. We got back to the states a month ago but went right to Oregon to visit family. Big changes. Baby Chance is starting to walk. Thea is now in first grade. Leo is in pre-K and Frank started pre-school. Of course it was wonderful seeing everyone but the gkids absolutely enchant me. We'll return in a few weeks for a holiday visit. Among other things we'll get to see Thea be a princess soldier in "The Children's Nutcracker", her first ballet, and afterwards we'll take all the kids on the Portland Holiday Express.

In all, we were gone seven months but I was certain that Maggie Magpie would show up at the Bird Park the next morning. I put the seeds, peanuts and tiny puppy kibble out and indeed she was. The surprising thing was that she was not alone. Lots of magpies came plus some blackbirds and this morning the quail were out there as well. The little birds haven't showed up yet. Generally it takes them about a week to catch on. When they do, the Bird Park will be in full swing. It's good to be back but M. Lee is already planning the next adventure.

Gothic morning though a dirty window

This was this morning.

It's about midnight now and we're headed for the airport and back to the US. Travel time will be, in all, about 48 hours.

Bosnia's Old Bridge

View of the bridge (Stari Most, 1558) .... taken from the top of the minaret (1617) at the Koski Mehmed Paša Mosque (1552).

View from the bridge .... the mosque and minaret are just left of center.

Sadly, after two days of shelling, the original bridge was deliberately destroyed by Croat forces in 1993 during the civil war. The commanding officer who ordered its destruction was tried as a war criminal and sentenced to 25 years in prison. Thanks to an international coalition, an exact reconstruction of the bridge began in 2001 and completed in June of 2004. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

#extremecivilisation

Life or art? Who imitates who?
Art installation at Tate Modern
August 20, 2015

George Monbiot, author and blogger at the UK Guardian, recently launched the hashtag #extremecivilisation and invited suggestions. Here, for your reading pleasure, is an excerpt from his blog at the Guardian listing some of the modern breakthroughs by today's geniuses which are sure to make our lives better and easier on planet Earth.

There may be flowing water on Mars. But is there intelligent life on Earth?
~George Monbiot

A couple of weeks ago I launched the hashtag #extremecivilisation, and invited suggestions. They have flooded in. Here are just a few of the products my correspondents have found. All of them, as far as I can tell, are real.

An egg tray for your fridge that syncs with your phone to let you know how many eggs are left. A gadget for scrambling them – inside the shell. Wigs for babies, to allow “baby girls with little or no hair at all the opportunity to have a beautifully realistic hair style”.The iPotty, which permits toddlers to keep playing on their iPads while toilet training. A £2,000 spider-proof shed. A snow sauna, on sale in the United Arab Emirates, in which you can create a winter wonderland with the flick of a switch. A refrigerated watermelon case on wheels: indispensable for picnics – or perhaps not, as it weighs more than the melon. Anal bleaching cream, for… to be honest, I don’t want to know. An “automatic watch rotator” that saves you the bother of winding your luxury wrist-candy. A smartphone for dogs, with which they can take pictures of themselves. Pre-peeled bananas, in polystyrene trays covered in clingfilm; Just peel back the packaging.

#extremecivilisation

Cool hermitage

Fabulous 16th century hermitage built into the cliff face in Marjan Park - Split, Croatia

Supermoon over the Seven Seas

Adriatic sea from Split's bell tower

We're going to miss tonight's supermoon eclipse. It happens here in Croatia at the very inconvenient time of 3:47 AM tomorrow morning and I just can't seem to talk myself into getting up at three to climb the hill in the middle of the park to see it. I'm sure I'll kick myself when I see all the photographs in the morning. But we are hoping to see the supermoon rise over the Adriatic Sea this evening. The Riva promenade in front of Diocletian's palace is right on the water. That should be a good place to watch moon rise if it's not cloudy.

As for the palace itself, Diocletian built it some 1,700 years ago. It was his retirement home after stepping down as Emperor of Rome. Supposedly, he just wanted to kick back and garden but, being the iron-fisted bigoted bastard he was, retirement didn't stop him from having people put to death because he didn't like their religion. I think a lot of people must have been relieved when, after five years of "retirement", he died but Romans did built to last. Sections of his palace stand to this day and are the main attraction for the flood of tourists who visit here. We've spent the last couple of weeks exploring it and the rest of the jumbled maze of streets, stairs and buildings built into, on, over, under, against and often with the enormous stone blocks that were once the palace. The ancient city of Split is a small but amazing place.

So.... on with the night.




via i.space

Late at night....

Late at night and almost beyond the edge of human hearing, giraffes hum....



Via New Scientist

Happy Autumn Equinox 2015

Event Time in UTC, Time Zone

8:22 AM

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

That's 10:22 AM here in Croatia.

Once again, they are saying that tomorrow it's supposed to rain. In any case, today is a lovely day for the equinox. I hope you are enjoying it as well.

Worlds within worlds

Split, Croatia

Our first day here we walked from our apartment to the water and thought, small town. Got it! On our second day here we entered the old city, a maze of Roman, medieval and 19th century overlays. Okay, it's not huge but, if you take a lot of photos, stop to read all the plaques and get an ice cream cone... before you know it, you're deeply into the layers and layers of history wrapped within it's walls.

Ok. Day three. As usual, gotta go. Photos to follow