Outback and Apple Pie

It's late and we're leaving early in the morning for the back country. Sorry. I hate calling it that. Sounds so affected. But it's better than saying "outback", even thought it's perhaps a more accurate image. But "outback" sounds completely phony to me. What the hell? I'm not in Australia. But Nevada is a true and great wilderness. We will be completely off the grid. Sorry for using another cliche but it's a good image. That's exactly where we'll be. A cell phone wouldn't work, if we had one. The jeep is packed and both Mr. Lee and I are drooped over our keyboards, too wired to sleep. But we're leaving in 5 hours so I'm going to go now.

But one thing. I'm kind of superstitious about mentioning good things until I know for sure, but I'm going to take a risk and tell you anyway. Otherwise, I won't be able to say anything for a week or two. My son John is coming home! He's not going to Iraq after all, at least right now. If you don't know, he was recently deployed along with the rest of his Montana National Guard Unit and has been training in Texas for the last couple of months. But Congress sets tine limits on overseas duty and because he has already served abroad he would exceed them before the rest of his Unit. He wasn't told before he left. Once they're deployed, some guys "volunteer" to extend. He didn't, thank god. He was supposed to arrive home today but I haven't heard anything yet. Anita told me that he called the university when he found out he was returning and got permission to start classes late. I'm delighted! What a twist!! Oh my god!!! Last I heard, she stayed up late last night and baked him an apple pie.

Liar's Test

How can you tell when President Bush is lying?
His lips are moving.

You Don't Have to be Smart to be Mean

Finch and Feeders.

Case in point. I bought a cheap ass bird feeder the other day for the finches. Now finches are in need of a little TLC. They are those tiny song birds about 2 inches tall and, due to all the development and in particular the neighborhood cats, they are disappearing at an alarming rate. So a while ago I bought them a bird sock. They love it. The problem is the bigger birds love it too, gobble the seeds and in the process, drill out the holes. So I bought this cheap ass tube. It's clear plastic with four feeder posts. You can easily see the seed through the tube but the only way to get at it is via the slits made exclusively for finches. I envision a day when only the tiny song birds will dine at the tube. Of course they all hate it and have, for the most part, been ignoring the damn thing. The bag is much more bird-friendly. It's made of soft, perforated material they can easily cling to and nibble to their hearts content. And sometimes I think they riding the bag in the windjust for the fun of it. Anyway, I am slowly weaning them off of it. I only fill it a little bit and letting it hang empty for a while everything it gets empty. The result is that gradually the finches are using the new feeder and the larger birds are going elsewhere.

But not the dummy. This afternoon, two finches were eating from the new tube and one big guy. One big, dumb guy. He was pecking at the clear plastic and couldn't figure out for the life of him why he wasn't getting what what he so clearly saw right in front of him. He's like George Bush. Bush's words and actions don't match either, they don't even make any sense. Anyway, sorry for the slip into politics. Where was I? Oh yes. Birds. The other day the dummy noticed that the finches were getting seed, so he reached over, pecked them away then went back to the pecking at the outside of the tube. Dumb and mean. Like Bush.

GOBs

SICK and TIRED of government "by the GOBs, for the GOBs? Me too. Here's a good rant on subject. GOBs, of course being the "Good Old Boys". If they make it through this upcoming election, we have only ourselves to blame.

Polling Place Locater

Don't know where you're supposed to go to vote? Use this handy polling place locater. Click here or the JUST VOTE icon below. This site has everything, maps, sample ballots. You can even check on the status of your voter's registeration card. During the last election, I wasn't allowed to vote. They claimed I wasn't registered, which was bullshit because I was.


POLLING PLACE LOCATER

Crow's Breath

This morning it was cold enough to see a crow's breath. I've never noticed a crow's breath before. I've never noticed any bird's breath before. It was a cool way to start the day.

The crows are here a lot. They're intelligent. They can make and use tools. They're social. They can learn words. Perhaps I can strike up an acquaintance with one; share some small talk now and then. I'm not a full on birdwatcher but the crows are here anyway so what the heck? It's not a formal project but perhaps the birds and I will have a little fun. It's a chance that it's always the same crow on roof broadcasting the morning news so I'll start with her.

Also, speaking of birds.... Plonk and his girlfriend were here this morning for breakfast, so she's okay after all.

"It was the saying of Bion, that though boys throw stones at frogs in sport, yet the frogs do not die in sport but in earnest." --Plutarch

Birds in the Bush

It's the down side of being a small world. Things get around and even though deserts aren't mosquitoes friendly places, the West Nile virus has finally gotten around to Nevada.

No mosquitoes, please.

The advance of the virus is tracked by the trail of dead birds left in its wake but, as usual, anything other than human is suffering gets little press. The Reno Gazette-Journel did publish a good article on the subject though. It's definitely worth a read. I sure hope Plonk will be okay. At least he's been around lately. I haven't seen his girlfriend though so I'm worried about her. I'm worried about them all... the roudy, morning bunch of crows, the tiny finches, sparrows, and big, lovely magpies. They are all at risk, and perhaps the crows in particular. And I've been complaining about them. How quickly things can change. Sad. Very sad.

Plonk (L) and his girlfriend.

Sometimes good things happen to bad people.

It rained last night. The smell of damp sage is coming in through my window, along with the sound of dripping water. The desert light is soft and bright. And my new keyboard arrived. A belated birthday present from Mr. Lee. It's a Yamaha s90. Holy crap!

Zero G Hotel