Return

Earth dreaming sky

We're back from our shake down trip in the Nevada interior. I'm exhausted. Facing the bitter, sad history of the land, the animals, suspended, crumbling into the vastness, emptied me. Oh yes. It was also invigorating and wonderful. There are a few bugs to still work out but, tor the most part, the new gear worked just fine. It was very different having a base camp instead of changing locations every couple of days. We took on too much, drove to many miles trying to cover too much territory. From now on, with a base camp, we can limit ourselves to a radius and get into the details. We did hike about half way up from the floor of the basin to the Alta Toquima snowman, but didn't make it to the top. Not on the agenda this time, thank the gods.

I took several photos and a few videos. As soon as they are ready, I'll post a few. At the moment, I'm moving pretty slow. Nice to be back but the desert hangs over my head like a vulture reminding me that these towns, these comforts forced upon it are, like everything and everyone that has tried establishing itself in this land, passing.

In a couple of days, we leave for Portland and The Wedding.

Hasta la vista

We're leaving in the morning for a four day shake-down camping trip to the middle of Nevada. Time to try out the off road trailer Lee built. We'll skirt the northern boundary of Area 51 for a bit before turning north into the Alta Toquima wilderness. That's where, a few Julys ago, I was lucky enough to photograph the famous, highly elusive Alta Toquima snowman. So, take care. Don't burn down the house. Vote for the Elephant Sanctuary (thanks Asia!) and save my place at the Busy Bee.

Vote for Elephants!

Queenie

Okay, this is going to require a bit of dedication but you can do it. This month, please vote every day you possibly can for the Elephant Sanctuary. It's a vote for elephants. I know that's asking a lot but the voting lasts for the whole month. Yes, its a clever way to get traffic to the ReZoom site but the prize is $100,000 donated to the winning charity. What the hell? It's a just a click. Come on. You can do it.

War costs: 12 Billion a month

Hilarious
Bush blog

In case you haven't heard, this reich wing war is costing us 12, that's TWELVE - BILLION - DOLLARS A - MONTH. For this we can all thank our very own American Idol, The Decider.




Bush blog

Flowin' with the flow

A funny thing happened after I did that I Ching reading the other day. First off, I let go of the whole 5th Friday thing and felt instant relief. That's not so amazing in itself. Letting go of any blocked energy generally has that effect. I had been at the cafe for a couple of hours by then but, except for a few minutes when I first arrived, June was too busy to talk. Free of it all, I started packing up my computer, preparing to leave. After all, I don't need a big event to read a little poetry. There's always Jen's open mic, or I can read in Reno or set something up for myself in Carson City and it doesn't have to be on a 5th Friday or any "special" day. I turned around and June was there saying, "I only have 5 minutes". We had a great talk, at least 15 minutes. She suggested I keep my mind and the night open. Scale it down. Maybe have more open mic spots. Just do a reading. Whatever. Cancel the day of the show if I don't think it's going well. After all, that's Comma Coffee. Do it and see what happens. Or don't.

I'm always one for starting small, working with what is, so I can get down with that. Pause in the jangled rush of the day. That's why I like Comma Coffee in the first place. So that's it. I'm hangin' with it. No decision at the moment. Goin' with the flow. But I did let Mr. Lee know that, as he makes camping plans for what's left of the summer, I've got my eye on that date.

Bird Park, Sunday morning

As I've mentioned before, Minerva and her companion are not the only old birds that frequent the Bird Park but I have been watching them the longest. Minerva was quite the champion last year when she drove off a Magpie hassling a flock of smaller birds trying to eat at the feeder. This spring, I was shocked to see how much she aged over the winter.

Another old bird showed up here this morning, a small black one. Even its legs were spindly and that's saying something as all bird's legs are spindly anyway. Like the other old birds that come here, she had the ragged feathers, tottering gate and was just generally the worse for wear. I like to think that any old bird that finds its way to the Bird Park must be especially delighted knowing what a hard place the desert can be. The young ones who come here right out the egg have no idea.

Minerva and her companion with the wild feather sticking out of one of her wings just left. I tried capturing a little video of them for your viewing pleasure but, although they don't mind me watching them from my window, the second I raised my camera, off they went. Birds.

Mirrors and oracles

I don't leave important decisions up to oracles anymore than I leave them to the face looking back at me from the mirror but I do use both to study what I already see. So, while sitting here at Comma Coffee, I consulted the I Ching about what is the correct path for me to take regarding 5th Friday at this time and got

Return: Not far and returning without respecting aversion. Good fortune.

changing to

Removal: Removing something. Before this is doine it is not practical to make plans.

All which is to say that letting it go at this time feels right. Like tossing a coin, it's how one feels about the toss, not the yes or no attached to a particular side, that one needs to pay attention to. Sometimes a timely retreat is the best way forward.

Poe's law

Sadly true. Poe's law from the Urban Dictionary:

"Without a winking smiley or other blatant display of humor, it is impossible to create a parody of Fundamentalism that SOMEONE won't mistake for the real thing."

5th Friday photos & slideshow

There was a good turnout for the 5th Friday event at Comma Coffee in Carson City. The evening included dance, drama, poetry, weird fiction, comedy, and an open mic.

Comma Coffee before the show

Four Ash Canyon poets read during the open mike segment and they were excellent. I mixed a track for my reading. It worked out pretty good so I may do more of that in the future.

Lucky Pierre

The biggest event for me was that a long time friend from the Ashland days, Barbara Bonomo showed up with her charming friend Pete the dog. It was great seeing them. She made a special point to drop in for the show on her way home to Arizona. They were at the Comma when I got there that night. Pete sat up and watched Scot Sarni's rendition of Hamlet but slept through most everything else.

Monsieur La Chance and Lucky Pierre

Rita Geil was Mistress of Ceremonies. Poet Susan Botich read. Dave Fritz performed original music. Ellen Hopkins, Lindsey Stoeberl, Roman Valenzuela, Zach Trippiedi read from Impulse. Susan Priest did a performance art piece as Palisades. Also, every time I turned around, Lucky Pierre was sitting somewhere else.

Ellen Hopkins and Haley Bennett reading from Crank.

Perhaps the biggest surprise was how much June Joplin, the proprietor of Comma Coffee, liked the show. Afterwards she emphatically encouraged us to go on but at this point, it doesn't look like we'll be doing another show. Too many personality clashes putting it together. I'm just not into that kind of thing. It got to be a big drag. Anyway, glad we did it. Glad it's done.

Barbara, Pete the dog, Lucky Pierre and Monsieur La Chance

Barbara posted photos and a slideshow from 5th Friday on her blog The First Chakra. Check it out.

Guest post - Brandon

Brandon has had several digital incarnations since I first started reading him, among them being One Child Left Behind. I grow dependent on favorite writers so I was dismayed and disoriented when he suddenly pulled the plug on his blog. It's a terrible thing to do to your readers. It's like going out one starry midnight to revel in the beauty and joy of the heavens and seeing that, since the night before, one of your favorite constellations has vanished ... poof! ... It's NOT RIGHT!!! Several fine writers who make up my cosmos have done that and I HATE IT!!! You know who you are.

We who are left behind to lament the emptiness have one consolation. Blogging is addicting and happily very hard to kick so I was delighted, but not entirely surprised, to see that eventually Brandon resurfaced at The Blog Formerly Known as One Child Left Behind, from which he ventures out to do guest posts.

As the muses would have it, today Brandon is my guest here at this lonely outpost along the language barrier. I am honored. Here is the piece he wrote exclusively for this world that does not yet exist. Thanks Brandon and happy Independence Day!

oh oh oh
I like fishing next to this mountain alder, 'cause he chose a pretty view over a hale and hearty existence, disregarded the hidden costs of prime real estate, and even now the bottom leaves are yellowed in the cherry of spring, the roots bared by rising waters, doing his best salty mangrove. He's like an old refugee, managed to elbow his way to the front of the breadline, only to be knocked down by the crowd, watch the sacks of grain go by overhead, rise with fists.

This shore is littered with the trunks of trees that peeked too far over the edge, peaked too soon after a few years, piqued the interest of too many birds now nipping at the buds that sprout too far into the lake. The uppermost branches, once home to tanagers and flickers now occupy basement apartments for sand shrimp and mosquito hawks. I like this stupid old tree, the choice he made, give him a playful shove with my shoulder, like when we were kids, and we'd play along the highway and we all knew someone would push another kid out into traffic, the throughway, thoroughfare, arteries, et cetera, but no one would ever get hurt. A car might blare a horn and a boy would get a taste of the kind of mortality this alder's got no interest in. Don't push the trees, I think.

I don't begrudge this tree his real estate, nor do I fear his short time. I fret over confinement, my need to perch atop a hill and see the remnants of friends from faraway, to bear the harsh weather, to crack beneath the growing sun, to battle the erosion of the dirt between my toes, to stretch my arms throughout my space and offer my hands to the shrikes, the wee hawks confined to their sparrow bodies, that they might rend lizards upon my thorns, long after the barbed wire fences have rusted away.

When I find my spot, the seed I will plant will be a hawthorn, crooked and pale, with a vista over all the space I cannot seem to live without. I think I could stack 1,000 of those days on top of me and I wouldn't notice the added weight, how lightly I flow through the atmosphere, and oh. oh. I can remember learning to float on my back in those moments, winning the equilibrium that keeps naught but your lips above the crest of water, so close to breaking its bonds with your skin, flowing into your mouth. The sun was so hot in those days. Your toes would dip just below the thermal layer, feel the cold retained by the milfoil, force you to suck in a bit more air and rise. And rise. And rise.

You would hardly miss a thing, and have all of 700 years not to do so.

- Brandon

Soft on treason

Olbermann's Worst Person in the World award


President Bush, poster boy for the Reich-wing GOP, commuted Scooter Libby's jail time. Naturally. The guy is soft on treason. It's a traitors of a feather stick together kind of thing. I am disgusted but, of course, not surprised. Bush considers himself a man deserving of all privilege and he especially loves his presidential privilege, and why not? It cost his dad a bundle and he's the only kid on his block who has it. Well, that's not quite true. There is the little matter of Dick Cheney's stick up his ass. Anyway, the gang can't have one of their own rotting in prison now can they? Makes the whole lot look bad.

I have to admit that during the real estate bubble that is currently collapsing around our ears, looks like the best deal had was the Bu$h family's purchase of the White House.

July afternoon

Life in a tea kettle.

This is a busy month. My daughter's upcoming wedding holds the spotlight. It is now 20 days and counting until the grand event! It's going to be really lovely.

We're staying home over the 4th (too crowded everywhere) but before the wedding, if we can, we're going to take a short run to see how the new off road trailer that has been Lee's backyard project since last summer, shakes out.

This photo, life in a tea kettle, is from a camping trip we took a couple of years ago. Lovely trees, eh? You'd never know it but this verdant riparian hideaway is very close to Area 51, so I'm including this little video by Chinodavis as compliment. Enjoy the mystery.


As close to Area 51 as you will ever get

NICO 60/40

This is clip of Nico singing somewhere in New York in the early '80's (thanks Jose) and is a painfully sad footnote to her heroin addiction.


NICO 60/40

5th Friday report

I haven't had time to do a recap of our 5th Friday performance at Comma Coffee but my long time friend MSB of from the first chakra, who surprised the hell out of me by showing up for the event from Arizona, did a very nice review on her blog. I'll post some of my photos later but at the moment I'm still running to catch up with my life, pre-5th Friday. She also posted a slide show of the event here.

Sicko

Where can I see the film?

trailer

According to CNN.com, the facts
in Michael Moore's latest film mostly check out.

"As Americans continue to spend $2 trillion a year on health care, everyone agrees on one point: Things need to change, and it will take more than a movie to figure out how to get there."

- A. Chris Gajilan, CNN

Complete article here.

Michael Moore Sicko free download

5th Friday eve

Tomorrow is the rare 5th Friday of the month. There are only four this year and believe me, at this point, I'd say four is more than enough. Tomorrow night some friends and I are producing and performing in what is essentially a variety show at Comma Coffee and calling it 5th Friday, expérience des arts. None of us are hot about the tag but we got stuck with it for "advertising purposes" otherwise, as the argument went, nobody will know what the hell 5th Friday is about.

Finally the day arrives. Ooooh for the simple life. If only the truth could be told. Anyway, I mixed a sound track over which I'll do a live reading of some weird fiction I wrote a few years back. It was interesting putting the two together, so what the hell?!

Cheney slide show, Washington Post

If you haven't been following the Washington Post four part investigative series into vice president Dick Cheney's astounding corruption of power, here's a quick and easy way to do a little catch up. They have provided a nice little slide show for people on the run.

Cheney - DC's best kept secret

The Washington Post's four part investigative series on vice president Dirty Dick Cheney offers the best peek yet into the super secret shocking reality of the inner workings of his office and the Bush administration as a whole. Cheney really is the power and he is completely mad with it. For a quick recap, Keith Olbermann is doing a fine job of covering the story. Don't miss it. It's chilling. We are at a real crossroad. Either we wake up, suit up and stop this insanity or America slides past the point of no return into a nightmare we never imagined possible in the "land of the free".



Countdown: Dirty Dick Cheney



Article links to date:

1) A Different Understanding with the President
2) Pushing the Envelope on Presidential Power
3) A Strong Push from Backstage
4) Leaving no Tracks


Also, there is much to suggest that Dick Cheney was one of the masterminds of the 9-11 attack.



Dick Cheney angler Secret/SCI vice president

Talk is Cheap

A hilarious new video by overunderwear.

Talk is Cheap

Dulary's Pond

If you've been following Dulary's adventures at her new home in the Elephant Sanctuary you may be wondering if she has discovered the lake yet. No, she hasn't yet and no, the staff is not going to take her there. Their thinking is that the elephants have been poked and prodded by humans all their lives and they not going to do it, not even for something fun like helping Dulary, who LOVES water, find the lake. She will find it eventually but it's a big place and her discovery. Anyway, it's summer and everyone wants her to have a swimming hole so ... next best thing ... build her a pond. I chipped in my ten bucks. You can do it too, for fun and for free. Go ahead. Total cost: $4000, that's minus my ten, of course. And no, I'm not a shill for the Sanctuary. I just love elephants.

Dick Cheney, SECRET/SCI

Ironic that Dick Cheney sees himself as a kind of superhuman enema for what he views as the "constipation" of rule by law. The fact is he is the big impacted turd fouling things up. What will it take to blow this war profiteer out the backside and clear the pipes?

Perhaps four heart attacks spurred him on to take shortcuts to political immortality. In any case, he is a puppet master, Bush his shill and we are their peanut gallery. Cheney is also doing everything covertly possible to banish Congress, the House of Representatives and the Supreme Court to the nose bleed seats. But we, the "consumers", are the ones paying for the show. We are its all important audience. The neoCons impeached Clinton over a blow job. What's up the Dems? We elected them to clean house. Start by impeaching Cheney's craven ass and throw Howdy Doody Bush in for good measure.

Here's the math. Cheney's extraordinary secret authority is inversely proportional to the level of public scrutiny. It is a pleasure imagining how this human turd is squirming under the harsh light now being turned on him, as in this article at washingpost.com. Treat yourself to it.

Excerpt from Washington Post article "A Different Understanding with the President" by Barton Gellman and Jo Becker:"Stealth is among Cheney's most effective tools. Man-size Mosler safes, used elsewhere in government for classified secrets, store the workaday business of the office of the vice president. Even talking points for reporters are sometimes stamped "Treated As: Top Secret/SCI." Experts in and out of government said Cheney's office appears to have invented that designation, which alludes to "sensitive compartmented information," the most closely guarded category of government secrets. By adding the words "treated as," they said, Cheney seeks to protect unclassified work as though its disclosure would cause "exceptionally grave damage to national security.""

Dick Cheney angler Secret/SCI vice president

Cheney, our shadow government

This is rich! Olbermann emails White House as they flip-flop about Cheney's claims that he is above the law but still the bastard continues operating as our very own Shadow Government and Secret Dictator. In fact, America is being ruled by the same hostile, foreign government (the NeoCons) that is running roughshod in Iraq and Afghanistan and itching to start a war in Iran. I wonder if this means Cheney would nuke the US if we don't bend to his will?


*PRIVATE DICK* CHENEY ABOVE THE LAW?

Crazy Dick Cheney

Dick Cheney officially declared himself above the law several years ago and continues refusing to reveal what he's up to as our elected Vice-President. I have no doubt that this guy belongs behind bars, at least for crafting the outing of a CIA secret operative during a time of war and demanding the removal of Democratic Attorney Generals nation wide to protect his partisan, political, criminal agenda.

You may have already caught Keith Olberman's comments on Cheney excusing himself from the Executive branch of government in order to avoid scrutiny but here is the clip anyway for people like me who don't watch television or missed the show. Cheney is not only wrong, he is insane.


Crazy Dick

Summer solstice 2007

Summer solstice once again. A blessing on all that you see.

Unlike last year, I had no ceremony with which to greet the longest day. Perhaps this afternoon I will have time to pause and take in a bit of this midsummer day. At the moment, I am mired in details.

Take time.

Moving on

I'm still in Portland and on one of the NW's more perfect June days. Or at least the sky was blue this morning. I see now, out through the cafe window, that a fine haze of clouds has formed but the street is still sunny. I'll take it. It's nice to be in the city. Actually, according to Find Your Spot, Portland is one of the top 5 most compatible places for me to live and, other than the weather, I have to agree. Plus, Edison my sweetheart and favorite Golden Retriever in the world, is feeling good today in spite of his cancer, I've helped out some with my daughter's upcoming wedding and it's sunny so I call that good. Of course, I know back that back home the Bird Park has wound down by now, making for a less than perfect week for a bunch-o-birds, but I'll be back tomorrow and wind it up again.

The second day I was here, I made a new friend ...a rat ... a friend of a friend I guess you could say, as it was Someone from JudyBlueSky who liberated this rat from the rack at the coffee shop. Unthinkingly, you might take her for a puppet but I assure you that you'd be gravely mistaken. She is an actor and newest member of Invisible Theatre. I'm a bit concerned that the Shipping Squirrel, the troupe's resident Bad Ass, might not be very friendly at first, but he's just rude. Under all the huff and blow, he's a marshmallow but don't quote me on that. I'll deny it.

Anyway, back to work.