“ Knowing is not enough, you must apply;
willing is not enough, you must do."
~Bruce Lee~
“ Man is fully responsible for his nature and his choices"
~ Jean P. Satre~
“ The television,
that insidious beast,
that Medusa which freezes a billion people to stone every night, staring fixedly,
that Siren which called and sang and promised so much and gave, after all, so little."
February 29, 2008
New Rivenrock Gardens Edible Cactus Brochure
We've been using little tri-fold brochures for marketing for
the last five years or so. They give a quick identification of our company, our product,
and how the cactus leaves we sell can be easily handled and prepared.
We've gone through several revisions of the brochure through the years, I
think they keep getting better and convey the needed information well.
We send these out in the early summer when we have our best leaves coming off
the plants in the greatest quantities. All new customers also get a brochure so they
learn a bit about us and our cactus when they first order from us.
This latest incarnation of the brochure was perfected by my nephew Jason Brink.
He did a great job, and we're happy to be able to show the finished product
off to you all.
This is the outside of the brochure.
And this is the inside
Clicking either image will bring up a full size .pdf file if you should
choose to print out your own copy.
February 28, 2008
Elephants, and Sharks, Buckley and Obama.
South Africa is thinking about starting up 'Elephant Hunting' now
that it's elephant stocks have 'recovered' and the elephants and humans are starting to
have more clashes.
We can sympathize with the African farmers who must protect their crops from
behemoths that eat hundreds of pounds of forage daily. In comparison, our little
deer are nothing, and we're living on 'Easy Street'.
While there is no denying that Elephants and humans share many sociological
traits, and that they seem among the most intelligent life on earth, it must also be
acknowledged that they are a huge threat to the meager food stocks of many third world
farmers, as well as a physical threat to the farmers and their families. How many times
yearly do we hear of rampaging drunk elephants in India causing great harm to people?
The trick I suppose is for the humans to band together and for them all to
invest in huge electrified fences that will surround their villages and the communities'
land plots. This is a huge investment in infrastructure beyond the ability financial and
political for most of those communities. Perhaps a solution might be to permit
limited hunting of trophy bull elephants with a huge fee structure in place. The meat of
the kill to go to the local community, the ivory to be sold on the open market as legal
trade ivory, and the hunter to be able to keep the trophies he desires (including having
to pay the spot price for the ivory if he desires to keep it). The money he uses for the
tags would then be put into a fund for electrified fencing in the local areas.
In this way there is a bit of a compromise in place. The villages would
in time be able to afford the fencing that might well protect their crops the elephants
would be seen as a positive, not a negative by the people. They would in turn be angry
when poachers killed elephants, because the community would not be getting fees and meat.
If cull-hunting is not allowed, in time the elephant population would become
so large, they would be starving and tearing down the people's meager fences all over, and
destroying huge amounts of crops. In time everyone would be so upset, they would not care
if poachers come along, because they would see the poachers as a solution to their
problem.
Often in life, huge compromises have to be made. A compromise is when both
sides of the agreement feel they did not get what they wanted, but they got enough they
can live with it. I don't feel 100% conservation measures can be fully implemented. We are
another species on the earth, and we need our space as well. There must be allowances made
for productivity and human growth. Our technology in time should continue to allow us to
maintain the equilibrium of the earth while maintaining our own standard of living.
Meanwhile, the world's population of sharks is being severely reduced
bit by bit.
Sharks are not known for their great social aspects and intellect like
elephants are, so they lose in the 'cuteness test' of social activism. Yet a huge decline
in sharks may well have a negative impact on the marine ecosystem.
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A fitting and beautifully written memorium
to William F. Buckley
This is good news indeed. With an ever rising global
population, political instability in many areas that mine the raw materials for
fertilizers, and increasing demands for fertilizers to produce bio-fuels, a hit on the
availability of fertilizers would definitely put a crimp in world food and fuel
production, raising prices even more for all materials.
Sadly, the majority of the world is still using chemo-petro-based
fertilizers, and not the best fertilizers available, organic fertilizers. The modern
process of fertilizer building results in acidification of the soil, destruction of the
flora/fauna of the soil, and destruction of the soil structure, resulting often in a
hardpan layer called caliche that inhibits water infiltration below the plowline.
Organics is the way to go, with organics soil can be used for high production
for an indefinite time, constantly getting better, and more fertile.
Yeah, the writer Andy Eckardt gives a pretty good little
insight into the German fascination with orderliness (Ordnungswahn).
Personally, I tend to think the German people take this to a bit of an
extreme. You will often find Germans sweeping off their roofs, handwashing the tiles on
the front of their houses, and scrubbing their sidewalks with soapy water and huge
brushes, or otherwise obsessively cleaning and tidying up everything within their center
of influence. Now, I must say in their defense, this makes for a very beautiful tidy and
orderly countryside and towns. But the village of Rümmelsheim has had a small and
perplexing fly fall into the ointment, and they are digging around the fly, rather than
digging it out. This has left them with an odd series of little items in their town.
February 25, 2008
Ninja Humor, Can't you hear the Thunder?
I said to the man, "are you trying to tempt me
Because I come from the land of plenty?"
Poise, dedication and timing!
'Safety Dance'
~Men without Hats~
We can dance if we want too.
we can leave your friends behind,
cause if you friends don't dance then they're no friends of mine
'Men at Work'
~Land 'Down-Under'~
Travelling in a fried-out combie
On a Hippie trail, head full of Zombie
I met a strange lady, she made me nervous
She took me in and gave me breakfast
And she said,
"Do you come from a land down under?
Where women glow and men plunder?
Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder?
You better run, you better take cover."
Buying bread from a man in Brussels
He was six foot four and full of muscles
I said, do you speak-a my language?
He just smiled and gave me a Vegemite sandwich
And he said,
"I come from a land down under
Where beer does flow and men chunder
Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder?
You better run, you better take cover."
Lying in a den in bombay
With a slack jaw, and not much to say
I said to the man, "are you trying to tempt me
Because I come from the land of plenty?"
And he said,
"Oh! Do you come from a land down under? (oh yeah yeah)
Where women glow and men plunder?
Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder?
You better run, you better take cover."
February 24, 2008
Talk Like
a Physicist Day it's an amusing and fun Blog.
March 14, Einstein's Birthday (makes perfect sense, no?)
It's also International Pi Day (another 'no-brainer')
(I'll gladly pay you on Tuesday for a chocolate pie today)
Who ever said scientists are staid boring folks?
Lemme tell y'all bout a field that gets me going.
It's hip like a thong, and it flies like a Boeing!
It's super-scientific and it's semi-pseudo-mystical,
so now it's time... to get physical!
So, here's the story from alpha to zeta,
eta, theta, iota to omega.
If you got a quantity to quantify,
it sounds cooler in Greek... don't ask me why!
The Roar Building on Wilshire in Los Angeles
Just down the road, another great and interesting building
February 23, 2008
Deep Sea Mysteries, Devastation, Rodeo Drive
Rodeo Drive and Wilshire, Beverly Hills CA.
A lot of the cars you see here are pretty darn nice.
You don't see many 'Canyon Cars' with the tell-tale red dust/mud along the sides here,
not unless I'm in town.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch....
These little deer were out enjoying the fresh greens of springtime when I interrupted
their breakfast.
You can see these deer already seem to be shedding their winter hairs as evidenced by the
close up below.
They are cute little critters, but dang, do they cause us problems!
But Hollywood has wildlife too, and not just Lindsey, Brittany and Paris...
The rare and endangered Hollywood Crane.
But...what the heck is a Dallas Cowboys fan doing driving around in Los Angeles?
February 21, 2008
Getting my Goat
A story of life on the
farm, amusing, and so very real.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Peace has come to Zimbabwe
~Stevie Wonder~
'Master Blaster'
They want us to join their fighting
But our answer today
Is to let all our worries
Like the breeze through our fingers slip away
Peace has come to Zimbabwe
Third World's right on the one
Now's the time for celebration
'Cause we've only just begun
So many people love to suport ruthless dictators. Chavez of
Venezuela, Castro
of Cuba, Ahmadinejad
of Iran, and Mugabe
of Zimbabwe. If a dictator is Anti-American, he will find many Americans and
Europeans willing to listen to him, and eager to blame the USA for the dismal conditions
these tyrants bring to their own country.
Gas (methane) hydrates, found deep in the ocean strata. It
is thought these might be the source for some boat capcisngs when the strata shift and
release the bubbles that sometimes form from these frozen gasses.
I once watched a video of a chunk of this frozen gas hydrates being
burned....odd to see ice burning.
I'm glad that his wife Michelle, a Yale Law School graduate, who has benefitted in this
country for so long, is finally proud of her country for the first time in her adult life.
You rolled over in bed this morning
A lazy kitten, all long legs and feline sleepiness
One of my old T-shirts hitched above your thighs
Your dark eyes rising like the moon opening over the ocean
Holding my face in your gaze
And you whispered, "Take me to Spain."
You on the back of my Harley again.
Legs straddling the saddle
Your arms wrapped around me like soft vines
Your cheek against my shoulder
As the sun-parched yellow plains where Cervantes rode
And Picasso strode
And the green hills where Pablo and Maria and Pilar hid
Whisk out under our wheels.
Take you to Spain.
Then would you laugh again?
Would I find the warmth of that Spanish sun
Again in your dark executioner's eyes?
I hitched my head across the deep white pillow and kissed your cheek
Maybe for the last time - we never know
I'll take you to Spain, baby.
But what I said was, "I'll put the coffee on."
A friend of mine, Gary Satterfield of 'Third Stone Imagery' took this
photo of the moon.
This is the Astrophotography setup he used...
Celestron 130mm f/5 Newtonian,
Orion 100mm f/6 Achro Refractor w/Canon 300D Prime Focus.
Celestron CG5-ASGT mount
Nice setup Gary.
February 17, 2008
Art Horses in Malibu
Art Horses at the Rancho Calamigos
entrance in Malibu Canyon
Rancho Calamigos is a 130 acre property in Malibu Canyon that hosts weddings, bar
mitzvahs, company picnics and other hosted events. It really is a pretty place with
stunning visual scenes of the hills and really nice architectural styles to the buildings.
Glenn Reynolds brings up an important point... namely many
Americans do not know how to do many of the things that were once taken for granted as
common knowledge by previous generations. A couple of generations ago, it seemed
most of the older fellows could wire a house, fix their cars, skin a deer, drive a tractor
and big truck, roof their house, do their plumbing, pour concrete and add on a garage and
so on. Now, none of these things were necessarily done to the highest standards we might
expect from a skilled tradesman, but generally they were adequately done. Nowadays
lots of folks can't do much of these skills to even a poor degree. Heck, all that stuff is
fun (kinda), put a hammer in your hand and nail some boards together somewhere.
An opposing point of view I bring up is.... nowadays the counties and cities
in their desire to improve the public's safety and ensure incoming tax revenue require
permits for everything built. In addition, they require these items built be
constructed to the standards set in modern times. Many of the old construction techniques
were somewhat haphazard and might not stand scrutiny under the modern standards.
Improperly built structures might imperil the inhabitants, and wiring done wrong could
cause fires that can bring down an entire neighborhood. The old cars were technologically
inefficient, but easy to maintain with just simple hand tools, but the modern cars are
very efficient yet more difficult to maintain once something goes wrong (but it goes wrong
much less often). To work in a modern shop taking care of the newer cars requires a
great deal of technical savvy and schooling, the days of the 'kinda-screwy' mechanic are
long gone.
Life is not like it used to be, specialization has required people to go
through many years of schooling to learn one trade well enough to stay at the top of the
career ladder, and there has to be a trade-off. And if the city says that
contractors have to build the add-on, you are stuck with having to work at your job while
you pay someone to work on your house for you.
Things change.
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The future of hybrids, it all sounds pretty good to me. Reducing
our oil use is a fine idea.
February 15, 2008
Devil, Take the Farmer
'Devil, Take the Farmer'
~Dry Branch Fire Squad~
I am Corvey Swanson, and these are Swanson lands,
For pert near hunerd’ fifty years worked by Swanson hands.
Now the land boys wanna’ buy me,
And I’d rather I was dead.
But Hi-Ho-A-Dairy-O, The Farmer’s In The Red.
When Laura May was livin’, Lord,
weren’t we livin’ high,
Sausage, steak and bacon, puddin’ cake and pie.
Now when I’ve got a cow down, the vet knows I can’t pay,
I don’t even have enough to put my bones away.
And the weather takes its toll, and the
years take your life.
The City takes the children, and the fever takes a wife.
The dry wind takes the wheat, and the bills take the beans,
And the Devil take the Farmer in the Land of the Big Machines.
They don’t know good from bad land,
they don’t know corn from wheat.
They don’t want the houses,
They only want the deed.
They use it as a tax-dodge,
They use it as a shield.
With half the stuff they hand me I could fertilize a field.
And the weather takes its toll, and the
years take your life.
The City takes the children, and the fever takes a wife.
The dry wind takes the wheat, and the bills take the beans,
And the Devil take the Farmer in the Land of the Big Machines.
They don’t care whose home
they’re taken’
They don’t care whose land they grab.
They sit out in the boilin’ sun in an air-conditioned cab.
They got a button sayin’ ‘Harvest’, another sayin’ ‘Seed’,
The third one just says ‘MONEY’ and it pours in while they sleep.
And the weather takes its toll, and the
years take your life.
The City takes the children, and the fever takes a wife.
The dry wind takes the wheat, and the bills take the beans,
And the Devil take the Farmer in the Land of the Big Machines.
The Farmer stands alone,
the Farmer stands alone,
I ain’t even got enough to bury my own bones.
There is a long-standing tradition of 'small landowner/businessman' in the
USA. It is part of the huge transformation of perception among the people that occurred in
the late eighteenth century as the twin concepts of Democracy and Freedom took hold on
this continent, eventually to spread across the globe.
But there is a duality-of-being in this concept, one hand says to produce and
be a private business, the other hand is 'The invisible hand of the marketplace' spoken of
by Adam Smith in his book 'Wealth of Nations'. In this premise the 'economy of
scale' will occur that will force the small business owners out as the giant
Mega-companies provide the same service but in a more efficient manner due to their
ability to procure raw materials and equipment at lower rates, and then pass that savings
onto the consumer.
Economy-of-scale works hand-in-hand with 'economy-of-motion'. It is one thing
to drive a tractor down a five hundred foot strip to the end of a ten acre field, then
using your fifteen foot roadway, turn the beast around to make the next pass the next set
of rows over. The turning time is a substantial percentage of the time, energy and
equipment costs involved. What if you could have a five thousand foot row and only have to
turn one tenth the time for a greater efficiency? What if you could reduce the roadways
used just for turning tractors by removing fencing, roadways and houses and combine a
great many farms into one huge monopoly that gives you greater economies?
This is what modern corporate farming is doing. It gives huge advantages in the
marketplace as far as pricing. The huge corporate farm can buy supplies at great discounts
by buying in bulk. They can use their economic muscle to buy advisors that will enable
them to out-compete less well provided competitors. The political connections they might
procure can ensure they will have lenient laws for their products and methods. As they
grow and gain competitive advantage they can begin to force smaller less well-equipped
competition out of the marketplace, drying up demand for their goods. Eventually
they might reduce them to an economic level where they can buy their farms to increase
their own efficiencies by tearing out the fencerows and treelines that serve as
traditional borders and buffers between farms.
This is much the same thing Wal-Mart has done in this country. Wal-Mart can
bring a new store to an area, and with it's huge reserves of cash and ability to procure
the things we buy at a low cost with it's scale, it can resell those items to the public
at a large discount, eventually drying out the Mom-and-Pop stores in the local economy.
This causes a quandary in many people who like the concept of a competitive
marketplace with few governmental controls. A market should go to the one who can provide
the best product for the best price. Yet the small business owner is the heart of the
economy. More jobs are provided by small business owners than by all large businesses. Yet
how to ensure the competitive forces that can keep these small businesses running when in
competition with the eight hundred pound gorilla? Certainly social programs and social
engineering by government will not work. Most social programs seem to generate problems of
their own as they encourage ineptitude and sloth. And governmental interference is
anathema to the concept of individual rights and responsibilities as set about in our
traditions.
At any rate, the numbers of family farms is slowly being reduced. Year by
year they are being swallowed by large corporations that have less input from the 'boots
on the ground'. But an inherent dislike for monopolies and mega corporations exists
in this country...yet we still reach for the lower priced bread in the market.
February 13, 2008
Sourgrass
This is a type of Oxalis we call 'sourgrass'.
It has a sour-lemony taste when you chew into the flower stem. It grows well in the spring
and into the early summer. When we were kids, we'd often have a sprig of this in our
mouths.
AG as it is known locally, is the town north of us.
Technically it is the town we are attached to, our phone bill says we are in AG. But
in our canyon, we prefer to say we are in Nipomo, because it is just over the hill.
AG is a very nice town. It has a flavor of the West combined with a hint of
'East Coast'. The people here are really interesting also, there is a very substantial
hint of 'Old Hippie' in this town...I fit right in.
I like AG for the architecture, the old buildings, many from the late 1800's
and early 1900's. False-front Western-style buildings rub shoulders with stone or brick
buildings that look like they were brought over from Massachusetts. There is a huge
diversity of shops, antique stores and boutiques which will keep many people browsing for
hours. There are also some specialty butchers who process the wild game which is taken in
the nearby hills, you can get some great sausage made at my favorite butcher shop on this
street.
AG also has some fine bars and pubs. The one in this photo
is an Irish pub, and has a lion in the front window.
The village of AG has a lot of reasons that tourists and travelers
should stop by for a day or two. One of them is the strange 'Swinging Bridge' that
joins the two sides of the town as it crosses over the arroyo. This bridge was actually
originally constructed in 1875 by a fellow named Newton Short who own property on both
sides. He built it as a suspension bridge without sides. The sides were added in 1902.
When the village of Arroyo Grande was incorporated in 1911, Mr. Short donated the bridge
to the city.
It's fun to walk across this little bridge, it swings and
sways, and you have a nice look deep into the gulch it is built over. Even more fun is
watching the people who cross it, many people cannot seem to keep from standing in the
center and making it swing just a bit side to side. Grown men become little boys when they
are on something like this.
This is a view from the bottom of the gully, looking up over the
rushing waters from the recent rain, at the swinging bridge. It is easy to see why Mr.
Short would have wanted a bridge to cross over the gully, it would considerably shorten
the daily walks back and forth. But having it built without sides is a bit of a perplexing
thing. But I suppose after walking over it a few times without sides, it would
become a regular part of the day, and not a big worry after all. Much like working
alongside a busy freeway or high up in the air on a building. Bit by bit, the human
organism becomes accustomed to the things that cause worry and consternation when first
introduced.
Arroyo Grande is right on Highway 101, about halfway between
Los Angeles and San Francisco (a bit closer to LA), so anytime you are cruising through,
do take the time to pull off for a pleasant break in a quaint little town.
February 11, 2008
Wet Circle Track
The Santa Maria Speedway
got a bit wet from our recent rains.
This photo was taken about a week after the last rain.
The Santa Maria Speedway is on the Nipomo side of the Sisquoc River. It is
in San Luis Obispo County, Santa Maria is in Santa Barbara County (the river is the
boundary). But why does it carry the name of the large city (the largest in SB County) to
our South?
Santa Barbara County was always considered a hard county to get building
permits in. But cross the river and you are in a land with fewer restrictions on building
and lower costs associated (read: more individual freedoms and commerce). I suspect
that at the time the circle track was proposed, the costs would be much smaller if located
across the river in SLO County... so there it was constructed.
The circle track draws huge crowds on Saturday nights, and it is fun watching
the cars slide around the dirt track. All in all, whether it be named 'Santa Maria
Speedway', or 'Nipomo Speedway', I am happy to have a good wholesome fun family activity
in the area.
The racetrack sits at a low spot, and it tends to gather
water at times. Once a few years ago, the rains were so intense that this spot had water
some six feet deep, deep enough in fact to cover one lane of the nearby highway 101 and
closing the north/south freeway for a short time.
February 10, 2008
A week after the Super Bowl
Last week we went to the neighbor's house for the Super Bowl.
Here are some photos of a Nipomo-style celebration.
This is our neighbor's barbecue grill. It's fairly standard for the area in many respects.
But our neighbor is something of a mechanical genius, and makes anything really
strong, hearty and robust. Ergo, his BBQ grill is especially sturdily built.
Some of the meats that came off the grill; Beef Tri-Tip, Chicken, Sweetbreads and Brats
were enjoyed by the visitors. Food is such a huge part of celebration in almost any
culture.
Sometimes, just the act of laying out the food seems a celebration in itself.
Dang, I love good food!
This is a view from the neighbor's house. We live pretty far back in the hills...from this
particular house, any which way you look all in a circle at night, you can see the lights
from maybe seven homes in total.
This is the view looking the other direction.
It's surprising how many people don't realize how hilly much
of California is.
We had someone coming out to visit one time, and they brought their in-laws
who were visiting from Nebraska. Half way up the hill, the poor Neb Lady was so terrified
at the cliffs, steep inclines and narrow roads that she insisted they stop the car and let
her out immediately, she would not go any further! They let her and her husband out and
drove quickly to our house to let us know they'd not be visiting after all. Then they
turned around to pick up their in-laws and run them down the hill before they suffered
from 'altitude sickness'.
Yeah, it's a bit inconvenient living so far back. When you start to cook and
realize you forgot to get butter when you went shopping... well, it's over an hour trip to
the store and back, so you'll just have to eat your bread without the grease on it. And if
you have an addiction, and make a trip into town just to satisfy your cravings (that
qualifies as an addiction), you'll find that four dollar pack of cigarettes costs you ten
dollars when you factor in the gasoline and wear-and-tear. It's better not to have any
addictions anyways, but when you are so far from your dealers and suppliers, it makes it
even more problematic. Better is a clean life.
~Staind~
'It's Been A While'
It's been a while
Since I could hold my head up high
and it's been a while
Since I first saw you
It's been a while
since I could stand on my own two feet again
and it's been a while
since I could call you
And everything I can't remember
as f###d up as it all may seem
the consequences that are rendered
I've stretched myself beyond my means
It's been a while
since I could say that I wasn't addicted and
It's been a while
Since I could say I love myself as well and
It's been a while
Since I've gone and f###d things up just like I always do
It's been a while
But all that s##t seems to disappear when I'm with you
And everything I can't remember
as f###d up as it all may seem
the consequences that I've rendered
I've gone and f###d things up again
Why must I feel this way?
just make this go away
just one more peaceful day...
Its been awhile
Since I could look at myself straight
and it's been a while
since I said I'm sorry
It's been awhile
Since I've seen the way the candles light your face
It's been awhile
But I can still remember just the way you taste
And everything I can't remember
as f###d up as it may seem
I know it's me
I cannot blame this on my father
he did the best he could for me
It's been a while
Since I could hold my head up high
and it's been a while since I said i'm sorry
I'd love to work on this song as a video, being part of the creative process of bringing
it to life.
I've got a great storyline on this, two stories in one, two addictions concurrently
residing in the protagonist. One addiction he is fighting, and missing. Another he lost
due to the other, and is missing it also...but which is which? When he stares into the
spoon of brown liquid, the candles lighting it's face, does he see the liquid, or does he
see her reflection?
I first became interested in addiction in another life I lived in Europe. I was a Military
Policeman in the Army and saw several addicts going through withdrawal. It was among the
saddest sights I've ever seen. Later I worked in a Federal Prison and met scores of
addicts, smugglers and dealers. I enjoyed speaking with them of the lives they had lived,
and I came away with many stories. One convict gave me this poem, which I've kept all
these nearly thirty years...
'The King's White Horse'
~Author Unknown to me~
Beware my friend, my name is King Heroin,
Known to all as the destroyer of men.
Where first I was born, no one knows,
But I come from the land where the poppy grows.
I'm a world of power, and you'll know it's true;
Use me once, and you'll know it too.
I entered the country without a passport,
Ever since then I've been hunted and sought,
By addicts and pushers and plainclothes dicks,
But most by junkies who want a quick fix.
My little white grains are nothing but waste,
I'm soft and deadly, so bitter to taste.
I'll make a schoolboy forget his books,
And make a world beauty forget her looks.
I'll cause a good husband to cast out his wife,
And send a greedy pusher to prison for life.
I'm King of Crime, the Prince of Corruption,
I'll capture your soul and cause your destruction.
Am I not a just king, a god to behold,
More treasured than diamonds, more precious than gold.
If you wish to hear more of the things I can do,
Of the men I've delighted and the women I slew;
I'll make a man shabby that once dressed so nice,
And all who use me will go down in vice.
I'll control your mind and then your whole brain,
With a full course of torment, first pleasure, then pain.
Ah, the fuzz have taken you from under my wing,
They dare to defy me, I who am king.
Nights you'll toss and turn and won't sleep,
You'll rise in the morning so humble and weak.
You'll be hot, then cold, and you'll vomit and cough,
After ten days of madness you might throw it off.
You'll curse my name, and down me in speech,
But you'd pick me up again if I were in reach.
And nights, when you lie awake planning your fate,
You know I'll be waiting just beyond the gate.
I firmly believe we are all here for some reason known only to God. Some people
have a huge part to play in life, others who seem to have no part might be here to serve
as an illustration to others of how not to live their lives.
When I worked daily with Federal prisoners, mostly in for drug offences, I
became on quite good terms with most of them. I was genuinely interested in their lives
and the stories they shared with me. They called me 'Slim' (I was a thin kid then). I
can't recall now who gave me the poem above, but it is a standard in the heroin-addiction
movement. And now, looking back through older eyes, I understand what these fellows
were trying to tell me.... thanks guys. And I hope you all got your own lives
straightened out, but I know from what most of you said, that sadly, no, your lives will
never be right, because you got that monkey on your back, and IT tells you what to do.
The main thing I got from these guys is....don't EVER start using
drugs.
And I heard it from the mouths of the ones who know,
it was NOT an abstract concept at all.
To the man who gave me this poem;
I hope when you walked out the gates (if you ever did),
that the 'Horse' never whinnied to you.
In memory of the ones in 'J' Unit, Lompoc USP,
a type of home and college of sorts for a short while for me.
I learned so much about people in that short time,
and my own life is forever changed,
for the better.
Thanks be to God.
February 09, 2008
We Rode in Trucks
(I've got my Country-Flag Flyin' Today!)
'We rode in trucks'
~Luke Bryan~
Down where I was born it was heaven on earth.
The Flint River washes that red Georgia dirt.
The sun sets slow and the stars shine bright.
We raised cotton, and corn, a little cane, and kids.
You either lived on a farm or wish you did.
Jesus always walked close by our side.
Where I grew up, we rode in trucks.
There's a lot about life we learned on a bus,
How to lie, how to fight, how to kiss, how to cuss.
The closer we sat to the back, the smarter we got.
We were poor, we were ugly, we were all best friends.
White-eyed, baptized, and still wantin' to sin.
Thank God we get more than just one shot.
Where I grew up, we rode in trucks.
That's us, haulin' hay in the field with the radio on.
That's us, headin' straight into town when the work is done.
In my mind, I can still see us now, ridin' down Buck Island Road.
It wasn't that long ago.
We thought tobacco and beer in a can
Was all it would take to be like our old man.
Then I saw how it made my momma cry.
It was huntin' and fishin' and football games.
Then it was girls, and everything changed,
In our lives.
Fallin' in and out of love, we rode in trucks.
That's us with our tailgates down in the parking lot.
That's us with mud on our tires when it rained a lot.
In my mind, I can still see us now, ridin' down Buck Island Road.
It wasn't that long ago, it's a part of my soul.
Down where I was born, it was heaven on earth.
The Flint River washes that red Georgia dirt.
The sun sets slow and the stars shine bright.
Where I grew up, we rode in trucks.
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'I got my Game on'
Trace Adkins
I interviewed for a part in this video. It was the
part to play the bum (yeah, I'm typecast as a bum in Hollywood). I didn't get the part. I
imagine some of the reason is that I had my arm in a cast when I went to the interview.
Perhaps the larger reason is the fact that the fellow they got is a really good actor who
I've met a few times and worked with once, he even played a couple seasons on 'Deadwood'.
But it was fun watching the video, and I bet they had fun filming it too. But I'm
all ready for the next Trace Adkins video if they want me, my arm is healed and I'm ready
to roll.....I got my game on!
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'Ladies love Country Boys'
~Trace Adkins~
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'Old Dogs, and Children, and Watermelon Wine
~Tom T. Hall~
"Old dogs care about you, even when you make mistakes,
God bless little children, while they're still too young to hate"
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'Watermelon Crawl'
~Tracy Byrd~
"If you drink don't drive, do the Watermelon Crawl'"
February 08, 2008
It's Turner Time
"Buy land—they ain’t making any more of
it" ~Will Rogers~
Ted Turner is a fellow with a lot of money, he also has a
lot of land. He currently owns nearly two
million acres of American land, mostly in the form of ranches in the Midwest. To put
two million acres in perspective, if his ranches were all adjacent, and a mile wide, they
could stretch from sea to shining sea. Now, that's a lot of land for one person to own.
There are some folks who worry that he might be trying to corral all the
above-ground land over the nations largest (known) underground water resource, the Ogallala Aquifer,
a huge patch of waterlogged underground soil that is being pumped to water corn and other
crops. There are some worries this water resource is shrinking, that it is indeed 'fossil
water' leftover from the melting of the ancient glaciers. If any one person happens to own
this water resource, they will be richer than any oil Sheik ever dreamed. Because, it is
one thing when you can't drive, it's quite another when you can't eat or drink.
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'The Old Home Place'
~J.D. Crowe~
It's been ten long years since I left my home,
In the holler where I was born.
Where the cool fall nights make the wood smoke rise,
And the fox hunter blows his horn.
I fell in love with a girl from the town, I thought that she would be true.
I ran away down to Charlottesville and worked in a sawmill or two.
What have they done to the old home place,
why did they tear it down?
And why did I leave the plow in the field,
and look for a job in the town?
Well, the girl ran off with somebody else, the taverns they took all my pay.
And here I stand where the old home stood, before they took it away.
Now the geese fly south and the cold wind moans, as I stand here and hang my head.
I've lost my love, I've lost my home, and now I wish that I was dead.
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Bluegrass, wow, what lovely music it can be. I recall one time my brother came out from
the North Carolina Mountains to visit. While we were driving around (in California) he saw
a music store and just had to go in. When we got in there, he axed the people at the
counter where the 'Bluegrass' section was. They all had blank looks on their faces and
could only shrug... "sorry Bra, we don't have any Bluegrass here".
He's funny also cause anytime we go into a restaurant he always asks for the 'non-smoking
section'. Ha, we haven't had smoking in California restaurants for fifteen years or so.
Here's a couple fellers performing the song written above.
February 06, 2008
Santa Monica Mural
A mural in a parking garage in Santa Monica.
This showing the Santa
Monica Pier.
February 04, 2008
The hole in the wall
With the recent rains, the ground is now saturated. Any small rain
results in runoff because the ground cannot accept any more water until time has allowed
what is there to sink deeper in. In this photo, we can see water running out of a hole in
the ground.
Further downstream, we have cold clear water running through Rivenrock Creek.
February 03, 2008
Views near our house.
The wet weather had gotten the grass to growing well.
When the grass is long enough and green, it covers the folds of the hills like a velvet
carpet.
California is at its most beautiful in early spring, when the grass is green,
and many fields are dotted with colorful wildflowers.
February 02, 2008
Bats in the belfry
We came up with a bat in one of our sheds. We hung him on a fence and
filmed him for a bit. It was fun, but what we were looking for, for him to spread his
leathery wings did not happen.
