They’re called that for a reason. Summer or winter, they’re a bad place to be. The climate is unpredictable and extreme, as in -40°F to 116°F, and you can look forward to the thunderstorms and blizzards.
Steep slopes, loose dry soil, slick clay, and deep sand. Lots of fossils, so people who hate the idea of evolution must also hate the place. The Lakota knew they were looking at fossils, that the area must have been underwater at some time and the petrified bones and turtle shells they found belonged to species that no longer existed. Read below the fold...
Now that it's Xmas carol season, I would like to suggest that maybe it's time to change the lyrics to those beloved carols.
"Jingle bells / Hippies smell / Must suck for you they're right..."
"I'm dreaming of a fair Charistmas / With no one dying of monoxide poisoning because they had no heat and their kids were freezing and they lit a charcoal grill in their car to stay warm / With food banks empty / because no one's hungry / especially little kids who should never go hungry in this country because that's just wrong..."
"Rudolph the commie reindeer / Had a very weird idea / That people shouldn't get crapped on / And laws should apply equally to everybody regardless of their bank account..." Read below the fold...
23.5' diameter, 14' at the peak. 3/4" EMT as the frame, bolted together. It's sitting on weed barrier, but I didn't do a very good job leveling the site and now I'm thinking I need to move the damn thing and put in some base material. But maybe not. Read below the fold...
I wrote a large check last night for my 2010 income taxes. The fab GF and I each had to file extensions this year because of this funny law that was passed in MARCH ferchrissakes that forces registered domestic partners (or those of us who have a legal relationship equivalent to RDP) to pool income, divide the total by two, and then use this total to figure income tax.
We can't split deductions, of course. And she's getting a refund, though not enough to offset the amount on that check I wrote. Yes, the law is structured to force us to pay more taxes than hetero people who are married couples. Intentionally. Cause everyone knows teh gaies are rich rich rich.
This is a great performance. Ignore the dancing. I don't mind Cyndi Lauper's chicken dance (when she walks around jerking her head back and forth) as it just seems natural, but here she seems physically uncomfortable.
But not vocally. Vocally, she is superb.
Her interpretation of this song forces me to reconsider it---I am not a fan of Joni Mitchell, though I understand why people would be. But this version of this song causes me to think Deep Thoughts once the song has stopped reverberating throughout my entire self.
And when someone has found the thing she is supposed to do, that calls the best from her, well, that is glorious and to be celebrated. Read below the fold...
Pal of mine is a member of an urban search and rescue group. She's working with the bloodhounds in this video.
Bloodhounds are great dogs and terrible pets. Just terrible. But if you want to work with dogs doing trailing, etc., they are amazing. They really are. The brown one is Kismet, the black and tan is Soze (whe is a doofus and is pretty young still, hence the doofusness).
If you want a dog to lay on the porch sleeping, you need a boozehound. Read below the fold...
French polishing refers to a way to finish wood using shellac and other cool stuff. Shellac is made by harvesting the shells of lac beetles. The shells are ground up, sifted, blah blah blah---what am I? Wikipedia?---and sometimes bleached to get it very clear. There are varying grades and colors, some shellac is waxed, some isn't, and so on.
It is very easy to apply---drop some flaked in a container, add alcohol (but not the vodka, I'm using that), and shake very gently to dissolve the shellac. Strain through a paper coffee filter. You can apply by wiping it on with a cotton rag all bunched up or spraying with an HVLP system. Read below the fold...
My pal Vicki Cain set out to make a documentary about her journey to retrace the steps of John Steinbeck from his book, Travels with Charley. This was a huge undertaking for someone with experience, but Vicki had never made a doc before---she didn't even know how to use a camera. Read below the fold...
I have become increasingly interested in the life and times of yeast. I am not yet a fan. I mean, if yeast had a Twitter feed I wouldn't subscribe. Well, probably not. Well, not all yeasts. I have standards. Okay, maybe not standards in the strictest sense, but I have limited time. That's my story and I'm sticking with it. Read below the fold...
