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December 2006
~Proverbs 13:18~“He who ignores discipline comes to poverty and shame
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Rivenrock Archives
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December 31, 2006 New Year's Eve, 2006 Diablo Canyon The Day Before New Years
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| A beautiful sunset in Lompoc Rivenrock Gardens Screensaver of the beautiful sunset in Lompoc on Dec 21, 2006, the shortest day of the year. This series of shots were taken from Harris Grade, above Lompoc/Mission Hills/Vandenberg Village and looking West to the Ocean. 1.2 MG This screensaver has seven photographs of a most beautiful sunset. |
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December 21, 2006
There’s a storm across the valley, clouds are rollin' in
The afternoon is heavy on your shoulders
There’s a truck out on the four lane a mile or more away
The whinin' of his wheels just makes it colder
He's an hour away from ridin' on your prayers up in the sky
And ten days on the road are barely gone
There’s a fire softly burnin’, supper's on the stove
But it's the light in your eyes that makes him warm
Hey its good to be back home again
Sometimes this old farm feels like a long-lost friend
Yes n hey, it feels good to be back home again
A storm moving to the desert. The California Coast is some sixty miles to the left, where the clouds are coming from. The High Desert of Palmdale is to the right, where the clear skies are.
December 20, 2006
A Nipomo Sunrise behind palm trees.
December 13, 2006
A Nipomo Sunrise.
December 12, 2006
These sequence of four images is the same set of clouds, the photos taken a few minutes apart from one another. It is so interesting how the sky can change from moment to moment.
Watching the sky is like watching birds, it can be an ever-changing series of pirouetting clouds, like a ballet performing high overhead.
Ancient man had a lot to learn of the world. And in some ways, the study of the sky is among the most important to people who live in the country. The sky tells us what to expect that day.
It is said that in some of the old tribes, the elders would get together for a meeting each day, they would be able to predict the coming weather for the next few days by the signs that the animals and the sky gave.
Look always to the sky, but keep your feet on the gound.
December 10, 2006
Good morning Jah, Your world is prettier today
see all the children, running around at play
Keep their little hearts pure and clean
help them on their way
Save them Father, from the sins of today
This morning Jah
I put the world in Your hands
You seem to be the only one, who understands
the way to life is love and peace
like in the days of old
Dear Father, their love has grown cold
Palmdale Highway.
Palmdale Highway
Yesterday I ran out to Palmdale for the day. I was in warm sunny desert, while it was raining all day long at home.
When I left home at 3AM, we had driving rain but warm temperatures (likeable for the cactus). When I got ninety miles from home I ran out of the rain. When I got to Palmdale at 7:15 AM, it was in the low thirties, but already warming up.
The desert sky was clear with no clouds. By noon, the temperatures were in the low seventies and sunny with clear blue skies. Leaving there and heading home near sundown, I ran into clouds within twenty miles of Palmdale, and then back into the driving rain the closer I got to home.
This is our first major rain since April or so. It is a welcome rain, we need it here for sure, both for local crops, but also for the people and animals that depend on life-giving water.
This trip also shows what an incredibly diverse landscape California has. In a four hour drive I drove along a hundred twenty miles of California coastline, from the Central Coast to the Ventura area. Then I turned inland, and within sixty miles the vegetation turned from the common California scrub and chaparral to the sparse bushes and tough grasses of the semi-desert. Another forty miles and I was in the California 'High Desert'.
December 11, 2006
Joshua Trees dot the landscape in some parts of this desert.
Rocky crags, framed by Joshua Trees
A Joshua Tree close-up
December 09, 2006
December 08, 2006
Meth labs are a concern also, the unregulated nature of the labs is a chemical hazard to all around them. And 'tweakers' cruising into side canyons at 3 AM with their badly maintained cars, trying to find their connection so they can stay up for a few days more are a hassle. I've gotten out to talk to them when they pull up here, and warn them to tell the chemist to hand out maps to his place so they won't pull up in my driveway in the middle of the night. After that, the chemist moved out.
Cock fights are a regular bust here. Every year it seems a big fight is broken up by the police. One time I found some Mexican field workers broke down on the side of the road early in the morning, I stopped to render assistance. We decided we could do nothing for their truck right then, but I told them I'd take them up the road to their friend's house they were heading to. They told me it was a big cockfight, and they had rolls of bills in their pockets to bet on their favorite birds. I was a bit honored that these fellows would invite me (a Gringo and unknown to them) to their illegal activity, but I had somewhere to go to, and I'm not fond of being arrested or participating in activities that might result in me having to pay fines and get in trouble, and I am no fan of cockfights or other forms of animal cruelty. So I graciously declined. They were nice fellows, and I wish them well in this country, but it's a shame when people come here starting off their American lives illegally from their first border crossing (these fellows seemed illegal to me, but who knows) and continue the illegal activity with stolen Social Security numbers, under-the-table work, sometimes non-payment of taxes, and illegal cockfights.
December 07, 2006
Santa Maria is a farm town. The streets are full of pickups and tractors. The usual traffic alert is for loose cattle or horses. You are more likely to see shops selling work shirts and boots than fine linens and doilies.
While this sounds horrendous to some folks, it is the way we live here on the Central Coast. We tend to be a bit Provincial in our tastes. Mud Bogs and Tractor Pulls are more numerous than Fine Arts Concerts. The local Rodeo is still the biggest attraction in the town each year, and stores go all out with decorations, and everyone wears Western clothing for that week.
But, while we are a bit laid back and casual, we still wipe our boots before we enter our homes, and we are getting some culture in these parts thanks to the nice vineyards that are sprouting up all over the Tri-County area. We have art galleries in Los Olivos and Los Alamos, just down the road. And the local theatre company sells out it's shows on a regular basis.
So, if ever you come to Santa Maria, you can bring a nice suit and mingle with the crowd at an afternoon wine tasting affair, and you can bring your denim, boots and hat and take in the rodeo all in one weekend.
When I was a kid growing up in Lompoc, Santa Maria was much larger than our town, with stores that Lompoc did not have. Our family and the neighbors would all pile into a car every year for an annual shopping trip to Santa Maria's '88 cent store'. With all the pennies (literally in a penny jar) the two families had saved, the kids would do our little Holiday Shopping Trip.
My, times have changed, but Santa Maria still has some good shopping. And it even has a '99 cent store' which is Vickie's favorite shopping store. You can acquire the basic needs of family consumables and small items for a cheap cost at those stores. They really make the pennies stretch much further.
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A great interview with Zombietime.
December 06, 2006
December 05, 2006
Agave attenuata is a good plant for warm weather areas. It does OK with
little water, although like many other succulents it does quite well indeed with regular
watering and good soil.
Now, technically, Agave is not a cactus, it is a succulent. This is a
technical and abstract concept to many people, and I won't bother you with the details.
Agave is actually in the lily family, not cactus at all.
All cactus are succulents, but not all succulents are cactus.
Like the related Agave americana a few pictures below, these ones are
in flower. And spectacular blooms they are too.
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To love to learn is one of life's greatest pleasures. I highly
encourage all the young people I meet to learn to learn, and to love to learn. Learning
should be made as 'user friendly' as possible. that is, make it stimulating and
interesting, and the instructions will more easily seep into that little sponge we call a
brain. It is in that light that this site is created (besides being a marketing tool to
let the world know of and have access to the cactus we grow).
We often get e-mails from students who tell us that the information on
cactus and animals on this site helped them with some portion of their homework, and we
are stoked every time that happens. We believe that learning the Earth Sciences is the
basic building block for a well rounded education in all aspects.
We are pleased when we find ourselves listed on sites of teacher
resources web pages such as 3rd grade
science skills and 5th grade science skills.
To the teachers and instructors out there, keep up the good work folks;
you people have got a big huge responsibility on your shoulders, but we all know the value
of good instruction in all aspects of life, and you are working on those initial building
blocks in young lives. Hurray for you, and for us all when a young one 'gets it'!
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We also feature many murals on our site at Lompoc Murals. We get visitors referred from the premiere murals
source on the web at World Murals Links. Now, that is a site that has pulled together some
of the best murals sites on the web into one huge consortium of murals intrigue, and we're
included!
December 04, 2006
While we're looking at the Hollywood sign, let's see what The Hollyweird news
is today....
And we can get good tips on visiting the sign, as well as photographing it (which I
promise to read and take to heart) at The official Hollywood Sign Website.
You can also see live webcams of the sign 24 hours a day, Hollywood History, and a
satellite view of the famous sign. This site is well worth the visit!
December 03, 2006
Chewing on a piece of grass
Walking down the road
Tell me, how long you gonna stay here, Joe?
Some people say this town don’t look good in snow
You don’t care, I know
Ventura highway in the sunshine
Where the days are longer
The nights are stronger than moonshine
You’re gonna go I know
cause the free wind is blowin’ through your hair
And the days surround your daylight there
Seasons crying no despair
Alligator lizards in the air
Agave americana on a Ventura beach. This is the season to flower for many desert plants.
The seeds will mature in the late winter, and be blown far from the mother plant during
storms, and be able to grow well in the moist soils of spring.
You can see Santa Cruz Island across the waters.
California has some lovely seaside views.
These Para gliders often roam the air over the Ventura Highway 101. They get updrafts of
air from the cliffs along the coast. The view of the coastline from up there must be so
very awesome. One is on a three wheeled airship, the other one is a seat from which the
pilot is hung below the canopy. Both are powered by a prop behind the pilot. This is one
sport in which you must tie your hair down. Also, you must wear a helmet, if you fall you
want to protect your noggin.
Another view of the islands.
This section of the Ventura Highway has been named 'The Screaming Eagles Highway' in honor
of the 101 Airborne group that bears the Screaming Eagle patch.
While in the Army, we used to kid a buddy of ours who had that patch from his prior unit,
we called it the 'Puking Buzzard' patch. But it was all in good fun, as we wore the 'Third
Armored Division (Spearhead) patch. Our saying for our group was "the Spearhead
always gets the shaft".
My hat's off to all in the 101, both now and from the beginning of that esteemed group.
The Santa Barbara Region of the California coast is called 'California's Riviera'. Many of
the beaches face south, and have great 'micro climates'.
It is so great to live in such a cool place that has great weather all year. I'm glad that
I still enjoy everything that I see, and have not gotten jaded by the constant procession
of beauty that parades before me each day.
Tracing Wealth Back to
the Stone Age. An interesting article on the technology of people building their
prosperity.
December 02, 2006
“Cursed be the man before Jehovah that riseth up and buildeth
this city Jericho:
with the loss of his firstborn shall he lay the foundation thereof,
and with the loss of his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it”.
Woah, that's a pretty heavy warning there! And that is the way that
the first season of the series 'Jericho' is going so far.
Perhaps it is the times, but there are several apocalyptic series on
television right now. I think the sense of foreboding is finally starting to creep into
the public conscience. Things are not as serene as they seem, we are not at peace and are
threatened by an enemy. In times such as those it is good to talk things through, to
research, and even to deal with the 'possible trauma heading our way' by watching such
programs in a detached way.
But are the times really all that different except by degree of
magnitude? But is even the magnitude that much greater when seen from a tribal
perspective? In olden times a tribe might be dozens or thousands of people. With rare
exceptions, tribes were never counted in millions of members until the last few centuries.
A small tribe could be wiped out in a night, their entire culture, distinctive artwork,
language and customs wiped away for all eternity, perhaps never to be seen even in
museums. Human history is replete with innumerable instances of the most unspeakable
barbarity and inhuman behavior.
We are a people who to a large measure have never personally had to go
without, been invaded, had our lands taken, or been forced to change religion and culture.
Yet there are some among us who came to this land as a result of those actions. They were
run off their own lands by war and acquisition and came here as a refuge from hostilities.
And paradoxically, we are a nation torn with it's own pride in strength
and stability, happy at helping others when they are beset by demons. We wrestle with the
notion that we, like every other nation and culture before it in history fought and killed
to acquire this land, and to hold it for this long. You do not hold what you have without
continual struggle, to possess, is to be possessed. These twin thoughts propel us to do
good, so that the sacrifices of all in the history of this country, both in it's building,
and the struggle against it's building shall not be made a vain and pathetic attempt at
humanities greatest experiment.
There are many things that happen here and are caused to happen by this
country to other lands that deserves some looking into, and revision when appropriate. Yet
there is no other culture in history that has been such an overwhelming source of good
will and helps other cultures, in this case the entire world.
It is the knowing of this history that will cause people to finally
come along in the coming years, and to realizing that once again, a storm is building.
When the storm causes the falling barometer, most ignore it, while some see the signs and
start to do their storm-prep. When the winds come up, and dark clouds form, most of the
others start their work also, as the signs are full in the sky. But there will be some
who, even when the winds are hurricane strength, and the rains are falling sideways, they
will still not see the signs as a full indication of the enormity of the situation. It is
when the waters are at their knees that they know the full sense of dread, and start to
move. But in all situations, there is a ‘point-of-no-return’, in which any
action taken is vain and futile. We are not there yet, but there are many people in our
own culture who not only do not see the falling barometer, they are denying it and indeed
flinging open the storm shutters, putting out the clothes on the line, and even worse,
they hurl accusations at those who point to the barometer.
We are not the same people our grandparents were in World War Two, and
this is a source of great worry for many. But we are in essence of the same stock, and we
have the infusions of those who have come here from shell-shocked countries in the last
decades. When the fires are lit, a stronger people will be annealed. At that time we will
see our selves as Americans, not as Hyphenated-Americans.
There will be some dicey times in the future. Just as the characters in
the series ‘Jericho’ have discovered, things can change rapidly, and in the time
it takes for something to blow up, your life can be driven down an unfamiliar course. That
is what is so good about programs like this, it makes the imagination take on alien or
unwanted subjects that must be addressed. At this point we are like the American tribes of
long ago, who had recently acquired horses, and knew they came from the ‘hairy faced
men’ they had heard of . But they were a fractious lot, with their own intertribal
warfare, with some tribes aligning with the European invaders to defeat a neighboring
enemy, only to be hoodwinked by the Europeans. The modern media in so many ways seem to
devote much time to these pursuits.
War and survival can be messy things, and it is better if all can just
sit down and farm and be happy with commerce. But some will always invade, and for them
you must have a bow ready to string, a strong lance, and a tough shield. Keep up with the
technology, because it does not matter who is right and good, sometimes the barbarians
win. And when they defeat a world power, they plunge the world into a thousand years of
darkness.
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David Selbourne wrote an excellent article entitled Apocalypse on the US blogosphere that goes well with this particular
writing of mine.
December 01, 2006
Where I come from isn't all that great
My automobile is a piece of crap
My fashion sense is a little whack
And my friends are just as screwy as me
I didn't go to boarding schools
Preppy girls never looked at me
Why should they I ain't nobody
Got nothing in my pocket
Beverly Hills - That's where I want to be!
Living in Beverly Hills...
Beverly Hills - Rolling like a celebrity!
Living in Beverly Hills...
Look at all those movie stars
They're all so beautiful and clean
When the housemaids scrub the floors
They get the spaces in between
I wanna live a life like that
I wanna be just like a king
Take my picture by the pool
Cause I'm the next big thing in Beverly Hills
The truth is...I don't stand a chance
It's something that you're born into...
And I just don't belong...
No I don't - I'm just a no class, beat down fool
And I will always be that way
I might as well enjoy my life
And watch the stars play
This is a country that offers enormous promise to all who will take
the time to look for the opportunity. In the olden days of the Celtic people, the legend
went that the Leprechauns had the fabled pot of gold hidden deep within the mythic
forests. I am sure there were people who went looking for that gold. Yet in our country we
see all around us evidence of that self-same gold flowing through the coffers of
businesses large and small. All it takes is the recognition that opportunity exists, and
the wherewithal to reach and scrabble for it.
Perhaps that is why the children of immigrants do so well in this
country, their parents came from a place where people had to scrabble hard just to stay
alive, and now here the same amount of scrabbling will eventually get you the 'American
Dream', the house in the suburbs, and a couple of cars, Wealth unimaginable to most people
in the world! This can all be passed on to the next generation, with the hope that they
will preserve it and add onto it, so that your descendents will eventually attain a
comfortable living from the outset.
So often however it is that those born with the proverbial 'silver
spoon' are dead in some way, and unable to continue the family fortune. In time they will
use it faster than it accrues, and by the end of their life, the family fortune built over
generations is gone, with nothing left to pass on. This is the way it so often happens as
is so well stated in the book "The Millionaire Next Door".
We live in the wealthiest nation in the world, with the green grass of
prosperity at our feet, there is no reason to sit and whine, get out there and get
something done, it is what built this nation.
Palm Trees line the main drag in Beverly Hills
On the same boulevard, stands a piece of Modern Art, I think it symbolizes man's eternal
quest for domination over nature and his intrinsic search for meaning from life.
Now, before anyone misunderstands me, I just go to Beverly Hills when
business calls me there. To be truthful, even though it's an interesting place, with
plenty of fine people who tend to be nice and open and friendly, I like the hills and
trees and bushes of our home in the country where the houses are so far apart you cannot
see nor hear your neighbors. But Beverly Hills serves as a metaphor for prosperity and
attainment, so when I drive through it, I am awed by the sense of prosperity that oozes
out onto the sidewalks from the tightly packed mansions.
In reality I have all that the song above wishes for...true, we don't
have a pool or a maid, but we are fifteen miles from great beaches which beat a pool by a
country mile. And our linoleum is so easy to wipe clean that we don't have to have a maid
to scrub spaces between tiles! I am the King of my own Holler, and all who venture here
have to come through me!
NEWS and BLOGS WE READ
Online Integrity
A comitment to blogging principles
A Family in Baghdad
An Air Force Family
An American Expat in S.E. Asia
Ann Coulter
Anti-Mulla.com
Atlas Shrugs
Cactus Blog
Captain's Quarters
Cry
Me a Riverbend
Daily Kos
Days of My Life
Debka File
Dennis Prager
Facts of Israel
Fact Check.Org
First Church of
the neo-Con
Fjordman
Files
Free Republic
FrontPageMag
Gates of Vienna
In from the Cold
Iran Press News
Iraqi Bloggers Central
Islam Q&A
Jihad Watch
Jill St. Claire
La Voz de Aztlan
Laura Mansfield
Little Green Footballs
Mad Professor
Melanie Phillips
Michael Medved
Michael Savage
Michael Totten
Michelle
Malkin
MidEast Research Inst.
Midnight Flyer
Minuteman Project
Mondo Hollywood
Neal Boortz
NewsMax
Protest Warrior
Raed in the Middle
Regime-Change Iran
Sachs Report
Salam Pax
Sgt. Hook-This we'll defend
Secrets in Baghdad
Spirit of Man
Stand With Us
The Business of
America is Business
The Drudge Report
The Hollywood
Reporter
The Religion of Peace
The Viking Observer
The Village Voice
Townhall.com
Valley Girl
Victor Davis Hanson
Wildfire Jo
Worldnet Daily
World Threats.Com
YNet/Israeli News
You Big Mouth, You
Zombie Time
WEBSITES WE LIKE
Smartmoney Finance
American Poems
The 'Otherpages'
Poems
HTML Goodies
Israel
National News
Deaf
Dude's 70's Lyrics
The Way
is Tao
Treeclimbing.com
Celtic
Lyrics Corner
The Quote Garden
Spaceflight Now
Papercrete and other houses
Paper 'Dobe, similar to above
California/Nevada
Earthquakes
Factcheck.org
Sand Fantasy
Versions of
Tao
Doctor Laura
Clark Howard
Talk Like a Pirate Day
Analects of
Confucius
The Serpent's Wall
The Prophet
Native
American Literature
The Onion
Financial Literacy
Ancient Sites
Don's PC Pages
Patriot Guard Riders
Periodic Table
Death Valley
Always On The Run
Wounded
Warriors
Religious Tolerance.org
Truth or Fiction.com
WikiPedia
War Veterans Poetry
Poem Hunter
Philosophy Resources
S.C.O.R.E.
S.C.O.R.E. L.A.
Indian Child.com
Intense Individuals
Backwoods Home
Solar System Simulator
FAMILY WEBSITES
Jason,
John's nephew
and the beautiful graphics artwork he makes
Tamara,
John's niece
and her beautiful necklaces she makes
Butch Dicus (Elvis
Impersonator)
of Arkansas
John Dicus
Wildlife Biologist in Arizona
Dr.
Chris Dicus
Cal Poly (SLO) Fire Science Dept.
John Dicus
the Consultant in Ohio
The Dicus Slough
on the Sacramento River
Patricia
Nora Dicus
Montana Poet
Dicus Farm of Arizona
Miniature Dachsunds & Chihuahuas
John Dicus
HOME
FRESHLY HARVESTED EDIBLE CACTUS LEAVES
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