Sunday, March 27, 2005

An open letter to a friend...

Your parting shot at me last week was "post it to the blog, I'll read it later". You were adamant about that. Normally I wouldn't bring the world into this discussion but you prompted it. No, you encouraged it and in fact demanded it. "Let the whole world see. We'll all be so much more enlightened. I want you to do that. I want the others to read it. I want them to read the results of our discussions".

Soooo, after several days of "should I" or "shouldn't I" arguments with myself and after our Saturday afternoon telephone conversation prompted by you I've decided to honor your request, your insistence that I "post" the "details" to the blog... of course, not all of the details will be posted. No need to air your dirty laundry to the world. That wouldn't be appropriate. You have enough challenges ahead of you and the "friend" part of me won't let me do it.

How do I start this without sounding calloused, offensive? You know me. I wear my heart on my sleeve. We've been friends for quite some time and early on you were chosen by me to help solve puzzles. Hand selected because of your attitude, abilities, confidence and dedication. What happened? I know we talked about it last week. You offered a myriad of excuses... yes, just that... excuses. I'm not the first to use the line but "the maximum effective range of an excuse is from the tip of your tongue to your lips". You're a good man with good intentions. At least, you were. You've let things slip... check that!... you've let things collapse around you, professionally and (my belief) personally...

(03/30/2005 3:00 p.m. The rest of this post was deleted after having left it online for awhile. I did what you requested... let the others read it but I see no positive need for keeping the remainder of it on here. As we discussed earlier today, you have to work through your "issues" and get back on track. If and when you make your decision let me know and we'll work with it. However, time is of the essence and I need a whole team before April 16).

Enough said...

Saturday, March 19, 2005


Me walking back from feeding the horses. Taken 7 years ago. No more horses now. Posted by Hello

Wildland fires tend to consume vegetation like there's no tomorrow when they get a good wind. Be careful out there. Posted by Hello

Too little time, too many thoughts...

I've decided to post to this blog once a week rather than trying to post on a daily or every other day basis. There's just so little time and too many thoughts to keep up. My rationale is to let the happenings of the week fester until the week's end and then post the most memorable of the week to the blog.

I'm tired, can't sleep at night past 03:30 a.m. no matter what time I go to bed and when I do sleep I seem to wake up every twenty or so minutes. Just thought I'd share that with you. Not much I can do about it other than "talk" errr, "post" about it. Damndest thing I've ever seen... well, not exactly. I've seen some pretty "damndest things" in my life.

I don't understand a lot of things going on in this world right now and I'm certainly not trying to understand some of them but I just visited another blog called "Congo Watch"... have you been there? It's horrid. The inhumanity of it all! Humans are by far the most ruthless, destructive creatures on the face of this earth. I bookmarked the blog so I can monitor the happenings there, in the Congo. Not that I fear Congo tribal invasions of the State of Washington, USA but because I want to see what the U.N. is going to do and how they're going to go about it. Obviously they haven't done much to date and the massacres go on in earnest.

Another thing, who in the Hell designed roundabouts and why the Hell do they think they're so much more effective than stop lights? Whoever did ought to have their head examined. These little circles of frustration on the highways of life are places where people go to test their courage, driving skills, patience and proficiency in the art of profanity. Whoever designed these things should be strapped into a Radio Flyer wagon and towed by one of those very large SUV's through these blasted circles of confusion at fifty miles an hour... the average speed if you want to get through them unscathed. Perhaps then, at the hubcap/eyeball perspective that I have they can get the true feel of the meaning of the word "anxiety".

A bit about wildland fires... they tend to consume a lot of vegetation when they burn. I went out to "look" at several last weekend... part of my job. I was summoned to go out and poke around... you know, determine where and how they started. They were all human caused. Go figure. One in particular was a bit perplexing and somewhat humorous I might add. Picture a person fishing on a river bank at 07:30 a.m. on a cold, dry winter day. This person builds a small warming fire, typical for us "steel-headers" here in Washington State. From time to time the person leaves his fishing pole at it's pole holder and walks upslope approximately ten feet to the fire to warm up a bit. As time goes on the day gets warmer, the fire becomes less important and he/she eventually lets it "burn out". Around 11:00 a.m., while still fishing and enjoying the warming sun he/she hears a "crackling" noise behind him/her. That fire that had burned out came back to life with a vengeance! It was fueled by the oxygen ladened strong and dry east winds gusting at approximately 20 miles per hour and had left it's little 1 foot by 1 foot warming fire circle, spreading into the light vegetative fuels immediately adjacent to it. By the time the fisherperson turned around and saw the scene developing behind him/her it was too late... the fire had burned into the layered brushes dried by a long period of drought and, again pushed by those easterlies, was rapidly moving towards his/her fishing spot and along the river's bank.

Judging from the footprints left at the site the fisherperson left in quite a rush! At one point having to jump through the advancing wall of flame to get to his/her vehicle and eventual escape. Left behind was a half consumed can of Budweiser beer and the remains of a plastic "hook caddy". Most likely this person had to shower and change their underwear when they got home.

Speaking of underwear... have you ever forgot to put yours on? I'm not being crude here... just mentioning it because I did. Yesterday morning, garbage day, I forgot. I woke up at my usual "oh-dark-thirty" and went about my business of building a pot of coffee, etc. while wearing my pajama bottoms (lounge pants to most people). I remembered the garbage had to go out and remembered a time when I took it out in my pajama bottoms before. I was spied by one of my neighbor's wives (not Rod's) who just happened to be driving by at the time. She stopped, backed up and commented about how "cute" I looked in my flannel 'jama bottoms. I vowed that would be the last time I would wear them out of the house. Well, true to form and realizing it was garbage day I gathered the garbage in the house, took it all to the garbage can outside of the garage door and put it inside of that can. Then I went back inside and changed from my pajama bottoms into my Levi jeans. I usually sleep nude so I didn't have my underwear on. I could hear the truck the next block over so I was in a hurry to get the can to the curb and threw my Levi's on "a-la-natural" reminding myself to put some underwear on when I completed my task. Simply, I forgot. I even forgot to shave. Either way, everywhere I went yesterday I imagined people staring at my crotch as I approached. Sensuous in a way yet embarrassing in another way. Overall though, the feeling of freedom for the twins and their "friend" was quite nice. Even with boxers (which I wear) I haven't experienced that much "freedom" down there.

Well, enough of this. I'm sure this has conjured up some rather unpleasant images so I'll leave on that note. Take care all.

Saturday, March 12, 2005


J doing deck work. A Spring effort. Posted by Hello

Influenza, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Taiwan and the Pope...

Influenza. A highly contagious disease characterized by nasal catarrh, bronchial inflamation, and prostration... (Webster Handy College Dictionary). It doesn't mention the fever, cramps, trots, vomitting, joint aches and a myriad of other "symptoms" or "characteristics" associated with it. Ask the Pope, he knows.

Crap, I just got over it then I got something else... my mouth filled up with "shingle" like bumps and I was miserable. Either way, it put me down for quite awhile! Sooo much fun! Natures way of keeping me in line I guess. I was getting to cocky in life and had to be brought back down to earth. But Hell, what a ride!

If you haven't had that wonderful opportunity to participate in the influenza weight loss program then count yourself lucky. You lose weight, travel "out of body" repeatedly throughout the fever stages and tone your abs via those commode hugging heaves. Not to mention the natural purging of anything... yes anything you might have in your intestinal system and stomach.

Let's think about this. Folks join gyms to tone up, lose weight and purify their system. They pay beaucoup bucks monthly to participate in programs designed to isolate abdominal muscles, to take that unwanted weight off and to purge the bad food containing carbs, bad proteins and cholesterol laden foods from their systems. Why??? Why pay that money when all you need to do is catch the flu? Influenza is a crash weight loss and purification program. Besides, if you play your cards right and catch a "good", strong strain you can have those fantastic "out of body" experiences brought about by the fevers. I've seen people pay for drugs that affect them in ways comparative to a good fever. But I'd imagine those drugs provide only a fraction of the effects that an influenza induced fever can induce.

Either way, it's over. I'm down ten pound, my abs are a bit more toned, my system is accepting "wholesome" foods again and I have a head start on quitting cigarettes. See, in the end it's all good! Except for those friggin "shingle-like" bumps in my mouth. Those definitely weren't fun and the medicine I had to ingest to rid myself of them wasn't palatable at all... cherry flavored at that!

Have you heard the big secret that's been let out??? Like North Korea, Iran is enriching uranium. Go figure. And they insist it's only going to be used for domestic power. Of course. We have no cause to assume otherwise... they need the electricity. After all, they've certainly established they're honor and are known for their honesty throughout the world. At least North Korea leaves no question as to what they're going to do with their uranium. Hell, they've already announced to the world that they intend on creating warheads with it... claim to have already done so and have produced "delivery systems" for these warheads that are capable of reaching out and touching others far, far away. Give North Korea a "star" for at least being "up front" with the rest of the world regarding their production... though their intentions aren't quite known yet.

Perhaps Iran and North Korea will share their secrets with their Iraqi "associates" and in the end, ensure this world will be less chaotic and safe once again. Let alone less populated. Oh well, out of my hands. There's nothing I can do about it sitting here at my computer in this office in my garage while recovering from my crash weight loss and conditioning program.

I also read where China has passed a "law" allowing it to invade Taiwan if Taiwan pursues their intent to secede from the mainland. Hmmm... I don't know about you but I lived in Taiwan for a bit... Formosa... when I was a kid. I don't recall everything but do recall being there and noting the residents of Taiwan really looked like Chinese people. They talked like them too. China claims they are and, by golly I think they might have a valid argument. Though I'm a layman at this. Imagine if Japan held on to the Aleutians after World War II... you know, in 1949 or there abouts. Wouldn't the good ol' USA take a bit of offense to that? I'd put my money on the belief that we would. And I'd put my money on the United States "taking back" what was "rightfully" ours, regardless of how long it took.

As for the residents of Taiwan, well they've become accustomed to the foreign influence over the years and would most likely resist the "liberation" efforts... at first. I mean, there's a lot of Chinese out there! One helluva lot of them. Bunches and bunches of them. And they're smart too! Not to mention intent on re-unifying their citizens... whether those citizens be in Hong Kong, Peking or Formosa.

Another one I can't handle from this little office in the garage.

Alright, I'm going to get out of my "comfortable" clothes now and into my "yard work" clothes so I can cut the grass, trim the bushes, prune the pear trees and clean up the yard. I was going to do this last month... February... but the flu had different plans for me. With the weather being the way it has been this year our spring growth is at least 6 weeks ahead of schedule and our most recent governor who was "elected" by theft and deception (dead people's votes do count!) has declared a drought, asserting her authority on us in her usual, self serving, ego feeding style. So, there's going to be a lot of restrictions coming down the "pike". But then again, that's another story for another day. The "governor", weather, drought and restrictions.

Relocating to Montana never looked so good!

Take care.