“I was made to work. If you are equally industrious, you will be equally successful.
~Anne Morrow Lindbergh~
"Only in growth, reform and change, paradoxically enough, is true security to be found.
~President Harry S. Truman~
"In reading the lives of great men and women, I found that the first victory they won was over themselves. Self-discipline with all of them came first.
Who Fartlek'd? If you do not know what a Fartlek is, you are not a runner
It is a pleasure seeing people using their God-given abilities in all manners. Especially in the Greek ideals of a healthy mind and a healthy body.
That is why it was a pleasure to find some visitors to our site who came from the running girls at The Running Duo. They are a couple of young ladies who train consistently for long distance, and have an interesting website that covers a variety of health related topics along with an internet podcast show that mentioned our cactus site recently. We are always happy to have more visitors to our site, and we wish to reciprocate by passing on their site to you.
Keeping healthy is a very important thing, and I encourage all to move, move, move. It does not matter so much what you do, train within your abilities, but get out there and weed your garden, walk to the store, ride a bike, hike in the beautiful hills given to us, or take a simple walk in the park. But get some muscle action going, and enjoy the benefits of a healthier body.
November 29, 2006
The World's Smallest Room
We in the canyon were rained out this last winter and spring. Finally in April after what seemed like weeks of rain, we got a break in the weather. With soil too wet to work, and minds and bodies wanting outside air and exercise, a group of us all got together for a walk deep into the side canyons, where people seldom go. It was a beautiful walk, and reminded me of some parts of the East and Germany with the steep hills and greenery from all the rain. While on the walk, I snapped this little photo of a mushroom.
Some of my friends are accomplished surfers, and they've been surfing for some thirty years now. The other day one was showing me some of the web cams he uses to find where the surf is hitting good. These guys are really savvy surf riders, and will drop all they are doing to dash to their trucks already loaded with boards and wetsuits so they can jam to The Rincon, Jalama, Tajigues, Tarantulas, or wherever the web tells them the surf will be strong.
Here are some of the sites they told me they tend to look over...
Surfline seems to be their number one resource for surf news and web cams. You can get buoy and tidal info from this site, all supplied by the NOAA satellites the government put up to monitor ocean currents and temperatures.
Tow Surfer is a site dedicated to the fellows who take on the big 'Gigantanormous' waves in the relatively inaccessible sites that are too hard and dangerous to paddle out to, you have to be towed on a jet ski, and dropped off at the top of giant waves, with sharp coral or rocks just a few feet below the surface of the water....intense action bro!
Ghost tree is one of those areas, this is a rocky stretch of beach on the Mendocino Coast a bit North of us. It has forty foot waves that can only be accessed by jet ski. There is some really awesome video to watch on that page!!
Cortez Bank, 100 miles off the coast of San Diego, is another tow zone. Giant waves, no locals. What more can a Beach-Bum ask for? It is a strange spot because you are out of sight of land, but there is an underwater mountaintop just a few feet from the surface that raises giant waves when the four conditions of swell, wind, current, and tides are met. The 'Perfect Storm' of Surfdom!
Mav Surfer is a site dedicated to informing all about the great surfing opportunities for the 'Big Wave Riders' at Mavericks, up the coast from here at Half Moon Bay. Some really gnarly footage here. The site is a bit slow to load, but has some of the best Big Wave Riding slides you can find. Mavericks has become a legend in the Big Surf world, and it was not really surfed until some ten years ago!
I recall Nina Hagen in Germany in the seventies. She was definitely off-beat, and counter-culture, and has since become known there as 'The Mother of Punk'. the odd thing that I recall was that she had come from East Germany (the erstwhile Deutsche Democratische Republik). She made it across the wall somehow, and I've always been a bit interested in her success as it validates my own perceptions of the dominance of the Free-Enterprise system.
Nina Hagen has an operatic quality to her songs, but she also has a Rob Zombie-like obsession with 'The Dark Side'. She is a most beautiful woman, except her make-up and wiggy hairdos make her quite scary. I imagine that is theatrical for the stage, and when in street clothes and make-up she would be barely recognized by most.
One of her most interesting videos is below, I like it for the technical qualities of the performance. the song itself isn't too bad either, and her voice is wide ranging. The song is called 'So Bad'.
For another look to listen in on Nina's voice qualities, you can go the embedded video below, while the video is of low quality audio-wise, it does a good job of showing the range of her voice. Her girlish silliness also comes through in this one.
Another clip that shows her abilities is this one, which is a short clip taken from a German movie she was in.
I guess I like the qualities of her voice much more than I like the music she plays, I mean, I enjoy the ability she has, not so much the way she uses it. I'd be interested in going to an opera she is in even though I don't really like opera, and have never been to one. But I bet she'd spice it up some.
The clip below is of her singing a Bluesy Tune called 'Gonna Live the Life' oh dang, she hits this one right on!
Below this, she plays Ziggy Stardust in a strangely intoxicating way. This is from her early Punk years, her makeup reminds me of the eye makeup Alice Cooper used to wear. And yes, that is a cymbal she has in her hair.
The clip below is from 1978 at the Rock Palast (Rock Palace) in Berlin. She screams out her vocals very well, I'd LOVE to see her and Roger Waters team up on 'Breath', she'd ace that one for sure.
That woman's crazy! You can see her rapping a little poem called 'Was es ist' (what it is) in German. It's hard for me to follow, she goes so quickly, but it is delightful to watch her speak.
David Letterman interviewed her in 1985, a fine interview, she's really cute...Although he did not really know what a talent she is (even though her style of music is not my cup of tea). He ‘dissed her the whole way through. And her accent is adorable!
The clip below supposedly was written in 1943 and celebrated the end of the Hitler times. The video starts out very conservative and 'Old German', the way her voice is best used (in my opinion). It quickly degenerates into a montage of her different styles and looks, but the ending of the video is again nice and slowly operatic. It is a hard video to see all the way through.
November 25, 2006
Mayflower in November Wir sind alle....Ein We are all One
The descendents list of Mayflower website has a listing of some famous people who have ancestors that came over here on the Mayflower. On my dad's side we've got our family traced back to arriving in Massachusetts in the 1650's, which means that probability is high that some ancestors of mine married into the Mayflower people also. In fact, the stats say that some twelve percent of Americans have some ancestor who was on that small ship so long ago.
On the Mayflower website I see that Presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams, Marilyn Monroe, Orson Welles, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and William Cullen Bryant, all had a common Mayflower ancestor; one John Alden.
That is what is so interesting about geneology, we see that we are all related at some time, near or distant. We are all one.
USA Weekend Magazine has another fine article on this phenomenon. I do consider it a phenomenon because never in history has such an amalgam of diverse cultures existed in one spot with a high degree of blending and ease. When two dissimilar metals are fused, the blending can often be a stronger metal, and I do believe it is this blending of many cultures and blood-strains that makes this country the strong energetic beast it is and has been since before it's inception.
November 24, 2006
Diamonds and Rust ~Joan Baez~
Well I'll be damned
Here comes your ghost again
But that's not unusual
It's just that the moon is full
And you happened to call
And here I sit
Hand on the telephone
Hearing a voice I'd known
A couple of light years ago
Heading straight for a fall
As I remember your eyes
Were bluer than robin's eggs
My poetry was lousy you said
Where are you calling from?
A booth in the Midwest
Ten years ago
I bought you some cufflinks
You brought me something
We both know what memories can bring
They bring diamonds and rust
Well you burst on the scene
Already a legend
The unwashed phenomenon
The original vagabond
You strayed into my arms
And there you stayed
Temporarily lost at sea
The Madonna was yours for free
Yes the girl on the half-shell
Would keep you unharmed
Now I see you standing
With brown leaves falling around
And snow in your hair
Now you're smiling out the window
Of that crummy hotel
Over Washington Square
Our breath comes out white clouds
Mingles and hangs in the air
Speaking strictly for me
We both could have died then and there
Now you're telling me
You're not nostalgic
Then give me another word for it
You who are so good with words
And at keeping things vague
Because I need some of that vagueness now
It's all come back too clearly
Yes I loved you dearly
And if you're offering me diamonds and rust
I've already paid
I recall walking through the snow-bound streets of a German city when I first saw this album cover in a store window. Joan Baez has such a clear voice that can sing a melancholy tune. You can see a video with photos of her and Bob Dylan of whom the song is supposedly referring to at the video posted below on Youtube.
November 22, 2006
Santa Paula California: The Citrus Capital of the World
Looking West, from Santa Paula California
Hwy 126 is a shortcut I take to get to the Los Angeles area. It bypasses the traffic jams found when you get to the Liberty Canyon section of Hwy 101 in the Calabasas area and tend to stay unrelenting all the way into the Big City.
Santa Paula is only an hour (when traffic flows well) from Los Angeles, but it is like wide open country here, orange groves and pastures, dry hills with few houses. Orange County was like that when Vickie grew up there as a child.
November 21, 2006
Pickup Man ~Joe Diffie~
I got my first truck when I was three,
drove a hundred thousand miles on my knees
Hauled marbles and rocks and thought twice before
I hauled a Barbie doll bed for the girl next door.
She tried to pay me with a kiss and i began to understand,
there’s somethin’ women like about a pick up man
When I turned sixteen I saved a few hundred bucks
my first car was a pick up truck
I was cruisin' the town and the first girl I see was
Bobby Joe Gentry; the homecoming Queen
She flagged me down and climbed up in the cab and said
"I never knew you were a pick up man"
You could set my truck on fire and roll it down a hill,
and I still wouldn't trade it for a Coupe de Ville.
I've got an 8 foot bed that never has to be made,
you know if it weren't for trucks we wouldn't have tail gates.
I met all my wives in traffic jams there's just somethin women
like about a pickup man
Most Friday nights I can be found,
in the bed of my truck on an old chaise lounge.
Backed into my spot at the drive-in show
You know a cargo-light gives off a romantic glow.
I never have to wait in line at the popcorn stand
cause there's somethin' women like about a pickup man
You could set my truck on fire and roll it down a hill,
and I still wouldn't trade it for a coupe de Ville.
I've got an 8 foot bed that never has to be made,
you know if it weren't for trucks we wouldn't have tail gates.
I met all my wives in traffic jams, there's just somethin' women
like about a pickup man
A bucket of rust or a brand new machine,
once around the block and you'll know what I mean
You could set my truck on fire and roll it down a hill,
and I still wouldn't trade it for a Coupe de Ville.
I've got an 8 foot bed that never has to be made,
you know if it weren't for trucks we wouldn't have tail gates.
I met all my wives in traffic jams there's just somethin' women
like about a pickup man
Trucks in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties, California
A nice SUV in Santa Maria California
A nice looking Truck in Santa Maria California.
Both of the trucks above were photographed on the streets of Santa Maria California. They are both beautifully engineered and executed vehicles, with a high degree of cleanliness, that would be a shame to take onto rocks, dirt and mud.
Our neighbor Lane however has a Hummer that is the most off-road worthy yet street drivable vehicles I have ever seen. He drove it up this steep cut bank to make more room for his guests at a party. He has scratches on the side of his vehicle that prove that he takes it into the bush.
A beautiful, pristine, scratch free vehicle is a thing to behold and admire, but a vehicle that gets used for it's intended engineering is a thing that shows the 'highest and best use' of the engineering.
Our own 'Rivenrock' truck, a modified 1981 GMC with winch and dumping bed (very handy).
It's not as flashy as the first two trucks shown, and it's not anything as strong or off-roadish as Lane's Hummer, but it's hauled a lot more mulch than most trucks around. It is used for it's own 'highest and best use', and it does so well, with just a 'little soul'.
November 20, 2006
"Driftin' away on the thin ice of the new day"
I love to drive things. For thirty years most of my work has involved driving things, whether it be tillers, tractors, cars, motorcycles or trucks, put me behind the wheel and point me the way....I'm gone!
Here in the States, the land of high-power V-8's in heavy vehicles, we have traditionally focused on the Nascar style racing or even more on the quarter-mile acceleration sprint (I had a fourteen second car once).
Browsing around on YouTube (I love being able to see the world without leaving the canyon) I came upon a video of some guys in the South powering their little cars in the technique popularized in Japan called 'Drifting'. It made for a most compelling video as it was well put together and has great music!
It's been some twenty-five years since I've done any racing or even driving fast, I log some fifty thousand miles a year and have become such a 'stick-in-the-mud' that I habitually obey speed limits and practice safe and courteous driving techniques. But one day, I'm gonna get me some little souped-up sports car and blaze over to Barstow and get there in a 'personal best'.
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One of the marketing techniques I follow is to see where our site visitors come from. There are several hundred websites that bring people to our site. One of these is Family Farms Around the World, who in describing our site said "Edible and ornamental cacti. Superb photos. Deutsch & English". It is the 'Superb Photos' that got me. I am so glad that someone liked the photos we put on the site.
A couple of years ago we got a winter-time E-Mail from some poor Godforsaken fellow in Alaska who wrote us that he happened upon our site while freezing to death and wishing for warm climes.
We hope that our photos and website give enjoyment and information to all who visit.
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Speaking of our Superb Photos (dang, how I love that phrase), I found another site that compiles photos from the web. Their listing for photos associated with the search term 'Rivenrock' shows many of our 'Superb Photos at
Rivenrock's Superb Photos!!!
Google has an even more complete selection of our hundreds of superb Photos!
November 19, 2006
"Hot days, tillin’ under the sun"
It is such a pleasure living on the Central Coast. The temperatures the last couple of weeks have been in the eighties during the midday.
Of course that makes it hard to really get work done in the heat of the day. But it is bringing out a new flush of growth on the cactus plants, so we should be able to open up our order forms completely very soon.
We have been very busy the last couple of weeks with a large order recently made, and also trimming the cactus plants in one area, and doing maintenance that is long overdue. We’ve been hauling mulch in nearly everyday, and spreading it on the ground of the cactus plantings to hold the moisture and summertime heat in. This will have the effect of a blanket over the plant root systems, moderating temperatures, moisture and PH levels. It will provide a beneficial space for soil micro-organisms and earthworms which will in turn enrich the soil.
Mulching is one of the things I enjoy; each hour spent mulching is several hours less of weeding in the same spot sometime in the future. The benefits of mulch are so huge, that is is a wonder it is not more commonly practiced. Although things have changed a lot in the last twenty years. It used to be people would look at me quizzically when I asked them to bring truckloads of wood chips by, and they would oblige for free to reduce their own dumping costs. But now, the landfills will often not accept bio-refuse like that, it must be taken to another plant where it is composted. Those people might be inclined to pay for the delivery as the compost after refining is valuable.
I often see the municipal woodchip trucks dropping their loads of wood chips off along the highways where workers spread it about to mulch the highway medians and shoulders. This is the mulch I used to get for free, but now have trouble locating for free on a reliable basis. But right now, there are many eucalyptus trees being mulched in this area, and I am able to get truckloads of fine mulch free for the loading and hauling. So each day, another two yards comes in on our GMC (professional grade) truck. It is a dump bed which helps immeasurably when it comes time to drop it off.
Today while tilling the terraces with our Barreto Roto-Tiller I kept having a wisp of song come to my mind. It over-rode the tillers 16HP four-stroke V-Twin overhead-valve internal-combustion engine with strains from a song that just would not leave me alone today, so I leave you with the lyrics from Waylon Jenning's song below....
Don't You Think This Outlaw Bit's Done Got Out of Hand ~Waylon Jennings~
I'm for law and order, the way that it should be.
This song's about the night they spent protecting you from me.
Someone called us outlaws, in some ol' magazine.
New York sent a posse down like I ain't never seen.
Don'chya'll think this outlaw bit has done got out of hand?
What started out to be a joke, the law don't understand.
Was it singing through my nose that got me busted by the man?
Maybe this here outlaw bit just done got out of hand.
We were wrapped up in our music, that's why we never saw,
The cars pulled up, the boys got out and the room filled up with law.
They came pounding through the back door in the middle of the song.
They got me for possession of something that was gone, long gone.
Don'chya'll think this outlaw bit jus' done got out of hand?
What started out to be a joke, the law don't understand.
Was it singing through my nose that got me busted by the man?
I think that this here outlaw bit just done got out of hand.
It's funny how the different things I do seem to call for different music. When I'm tilling, driving the tractor, or weedwhacking I seem to gravitate to Country Western Music. When I used to ride the Hawg, I'd be more into Bluesy-Country-Rock, and when weeding by hand in the garden I like to listen to Celtic or New Age Music.
I have hearing protectors that can plug into my MP3 player so I can protect my hearing from the loud machines I operate while I blast out my hearing with music which keeps me occupied mentally while working monotonous tasks such as going down a row, turning around and coming back again, for long and long. It is a good age to be living in when we can have these little tools that make life just a bit easier to endure.
November 15, 2006
"Borat overtaking America"
Vickie and I have been fans of the comedian Sacha Baron Cohen for years since we first saw him in his three characters on HBO.
Borat has always been a favorite of mine, as somehow he reminds me of people I've seen in other parts of the world, walking about enthralled with the modern world, and seeming a bit backward to our way of thinking.
Since my mother came to this country as an immigrant, she is particularly reminded by Borat of her own home in the small village in Hungary where she was born. The ramshackle brick buildings, no forced-air heating or hot water, and dirt pathways between houses were familiar to her. She wanted to see the movie because she believes that she also had the halting, backward speech patterns of Borat when she first came to this country as a young woman with me in her arms.
I like the Borat skits I've seen because they illustrate to me the magnificence of the American people. Borat enters the house of an American who is going to show the visitor a bit about America, Borat in his rustic bumbling foreign way insults the hosts, makes clumsy overtures that are reprehensible by our standards, but are excused by his 'victims' as the awkward bumbling of a foreigner.
Borat has taken the country by storm, finishing first two weekends in a row. This is regarded by some as a surprise, but if they'd have asked me, I'd have predicted such a result. Americans are an open gregarious people, very tolerant of other people and cultures, while at the same time, pretty assured of our own culture's superiority. When Borat makes asses of his hosts by acting the buffoon he is showing the tolerance of American society, something you do not see as much in many other cultures.
On a more serious note, how much water and fertilizer does it take to make a pair of jeans? If they are organically grown, or even better yet, made of hemp you will pollute less, it is all about making a smaller footprint on the earth. An article on organic clothes has some interesting statistics. Organic ain't just for Hippies anymore.
November 14, 2006
"Whiskey's for drinkin' Water's for fightin' over" ~Mark Twain~
Fresh water, nature's marvel
Water is quickly becoming a more contentious commodity. Everyone needs it, but not all have it at hand. Our own stream only runs for a week or a couple of months in the winter, but down the hill there are springs that run year around. Some of our neighbors still get their daily water from free flowing springs.
November 13, 2006
To Live Is To Fly ~Cowboy Junkies~
We all got holes to fill
and them holes are all that's real
some fall on you like a storm
sometimes you dig your own
But choice is yours to make
time is yours to take
some dive into the sea
some toil upon the stone
To live is to fly low and high
so shake the dust off of your wings
the sleep out of your eyes
Pelicans at Shell Beach, California
Shell Beach is a most amazing spot, rivaling some of the most highly rated beaches in the world. The tides and waves cut channels into the rocky coast. This leaves large rocks isolated from the mainland, sometimes by only yards. But an open span of twenty feet is enough to keep humans away from the sites these pelicans like to rest.
This flat topped mass of rock rises with sheer cliffs some forty feet from the sea, yet it is separated from the mainland by only fifteen feet or so. But it is enough to give this crowd of pelicans a secure spot, safe from animals and humans that might interrupt their sleep and social activities.
I was happy to get a nice shot of this pelican coming in for a landing.
This rock is near the water, at the base of the large mass pictured above. I suppose this might be where the birds lower on the 'pecking order' have to while away their time.
Notice the birds have yellow heads, and red throats. Also notice the 'natural organic fertilizer' staining the rocks with the white streaks.
I really enjoy watching pelicans fly, they skim above the water surface trolling for food, just feet off the water. I imagine the heavier air mass right above the water surface keeps them flying with little effort. They are able to rise with the upwelling of the waves, the air mass pushing them up as the water rises as it encounters rocks or higher sand areas.
When they are flying in the 'Vee' formation, each one is breaking the wind for his buddy behind him. This makes it easier for the ones to fly who have another in front of them. The one in the front is breaking the airflow for them all, he has to work harder. This is why they often 'rotate' the lead position. When the one in front gets tired and falls back, one of the 'second ones' takes the 'point man' position, while the former lead man takes up the rear of the formation (trail-end Charlie).
In this way they all get the benefits of having someone break the wind for them, helping them ride the winds easier. They are very social birds, and always seem to be in groups. It is a spectacular sight to see them diving into the sea from eighty feet up. One after another they dive in and catch a fish, then rise out of the water, and rise high to do it again.
November 12, 2006
Jonathan Livingston Seagull
I want to fly where no seagull has flown before. I want to know what there is to know about life! Listen, everybody! There's no limit to how high we can fly! We can dive for fish and never have to live on garbage again!
Seagulls at Shell Beach, California
This gull amused me with his acrobatics near me. I assume he is used to getting fed in return for delighting his audiences.
They say "If you wanna' make a living, you gotta' put on a good show".
The rocky coast here keeps crowds down, this makes for more wildlife. It is a spectacular area to live in.
This young fellow was getting set to take off.
This old fellow was a bit perturbed at me for interrupting his rest on this windy day.
Here’s a seagull doing his best impersonation of our National Emblem, the Bald Eagle.
November 11, 2006
Pirate's Cove, San Luis Obispo County, California
The central California Coast has some areas that are rocky and create perfect little 'secret beaches'. One of these is the Pirates Cove area just south of Avila Bay. These are some of the craggy rocks that jut out into the ocean separating one sandy (or often as not, rocky) beach from the next.
In this photo you can see many pelicans and seagulls on the rocks below. The pelicans especially are a bit wary of people, and like to rest away from human activity. So they pick these isolated rocks on lonely beaches where few people will venture.
This photo is from the top of the Pirates Cove cliffs, looking North toward Avila Bay. You can see the Avila Pier jutting out beyond the rocky spit called 'Whaler's Rock'.
This area is also called Cave Landing. This is a close up of the middle rocks from the photo above. You can see the hole the rushing waves carved through the wall of rock.
These rocks and hills dropping off into the blue sea remind me of the Mediterranean coast in so many respects.
We have a similar climate and vegetation.
Now honestly, couldn't this be Greece or Southern France?
This area got the 'Pirate's Cove' moniker because it is reputed that liquor smugglers (bootleggers) brought contraband liquor ashore onto these isolated beaches to be carried up the cliffs, and to the local towns where the bootleggers had some popular support since they were seen as providing a 'Public Service'.
A nice rock arch carved into the San Luis coast from eons of wave activity.
November 10, 2006
Port San Luis
They that go down to the sea in ships
that do business in great waves,
These see the works of the Lord,
and His wonders in the deep.
Inscription on the Fisherman’s Memorial in Port San Luis Bay ~Psalms 107 v23 to 24~
Port San Luis is one of the first places I went looking for work when I got out of the Army.
I took the 'water taxi' from boat to boat. Finally one tuna boat needed someone who would work cheap, and had a car that the departing crew member could use to drive to the home port in San Diego. It seemed like a fair trade, so I signed on. Two weeks later we unloaded the catch in San Diego, and I returned home to Lompoc with good news of another job waiting for me that had come up while I was at sea.
Those two weeks were some of the most memorable in my life, the waking at dawn to the whales rubbing their backs on the keel, the sight of dolphins and whales hopping out of the water. The sunrises and sunsets when a hundred miles to sea are spectacular. It was not a job that lasted except in my memory, and that is a treasure that cannot be taken away from me.
The boat was the 'Balboa', and a fine vessel it was. The first mate was a mighty sailor man, the skipper brave and true....
November 09, 2006
DISTVRB NOT THE SLEEP OF DEATH
We have our very own pyramid in San Luis Obispo County, California
It is a mausoleum, dedicated to housing the mortal remains of a man and wife, and their son.
The building techniques are of high quality, you cannot slip a knife blade between the blocks of cut stone.
Here we see the warning which is standard on pyramids, this is to keep busy-bodies and treasure seekers alike from the abode of the spirits.
And now we find out why the building techniques are so advanced, it was built by the Freemasons, a secret society (or as they say, a society with secrets) of which I know nothing even though I have family members in it. But as they say, "2 be one, ask one", and I've not asked.
Here we see the inscription left behind to notify all of who lies within. It is a sad and fitting epitaph, that this man, who's son and wife both seem to have died from childbirth dedicated this stone monument to their memory. Family is all we really have in this life, preserve it well, treasure it always, and when it is gone, etch it in stone.
November 08, 2006
Caravanserai
~Loreena McKennitt~
This glancing life is like a morning star
A setting sun, or rolling waves at sea
A gentle breeze or lightning in a storm
A dancing dream of all eternity
The sand was shimmering in the morning light
And dancing off the dunes so far away
The night held music so sweet, so long
And there we lay until the break of day
We woke that morning at the onward call
Our camels bridled up, our howdahs full
The sun was rising in the eastern sky
Just as we set out to the desert's cry
Calling, yearning, pulling, home to you
The tents grew smaller as we rode away
On earth that tells of many passing days
The months of peace and all the years of war
The lives of love and all the lives of fears
Calling, yearning, pulling, home to you
We crossed the river beds all etched in stone
And up the mighty mountains ever known
Beyond the valleys in the searing heat
Until we reached the caravanserai
Calling, yearning, pulling, home to you
Calling, yearning, pulling, home to you
What is this life that pulls me far away
What is that home where we cannot reside
What is that quest that pulls me onward
My heart is full when you are by my side
Calling, yearning, pulling, home to you
Desert lands hold such intrigue for those who know to look below the surface of the inhospitable rocks and sands. Scratch away the detritus of eons and you often find evidence of ancient civilizations and proof of once-moist periods in which the desert was home to water-loving animals and a stable human population. Such is the nature of ecological change, that weather patterns change, and humans and animals must change and adapt, or leave.
In all of my travels I cannot think of anything more thrilling than the African Tribesmen charging through Moroccan alleyways on their thundering horses, swords and ancient muskets on their saddles, and pom-poms swinging from the horses bridles during their civil war in the seventies. Equally romantic were the images I saw of the camels striding across the desert, their wide feet spreading as they encounter the soft sand, their human companions swaying up high in that lofty perch.
My family has some mild contact with Africa, myself in Morocco, and my father in Libya and Kenya in the fifties. An uncle in Ghana for decades working on construction projects, and some family relatives in South Africa. So any news from Africa is heartily read and digested, especially if it concerns these countries, or Namibia with which I have a personal concern.
Victor Davis Hanson, the Historian in California who is so eloquent with his words, and so widely traveled, recently was invited to visit Libya and lecture to the passengers on a cruise ship. His report on the progress of Libya from a despotic regime to the beginnings of a modern economy and perhaps to a stable democratic government in the coming decades is heartening and stirring. We could only wish the best for the people of the world, that their leaders embrace social and economic change to allow the populations to experience the fullness of life.
Libya was perhaps the beginnings of my father's love of history, as it holds some of the most well preserved (read; least destructed) Roman ruins in the world. You can see a website full of these most glorious ruins.
It was in the fifties while my Dad was there that the remains of the WWII bomber Lady Be Good and it's crew were found in the Libyan Desert. The crew members were found in a mummified state alone in the desert with their journals intact, describing the horrendous states they had attained (succumbed) to.
History can teach us many things, perhaps one of the greatest lessons is that the desert can preserve many things, and we do not know what treasures the arid sands still hold for us in the dawning of the twenty-first century.
November 07, 2006
"With our progress we have destroyed our only weapon against tedium: that rare weakness we call imagination." ~Oriana Fallaci~
Heroes, Sisquoc, and Four-1 Liberation Front
~Tagline from tonight’s 'HEROS'~
You do not choose your own destiny...
it chooses you.
And those who knew you before Fate took you by the hand,
cannot understand the depth of the changes inside
I've been watching a new series on TV this last month. It is called 'Heros' and it's shown on NBC. I am beguiled by the complex interactions of the myriad characters and their new 'super-powers' as a catastrophe of monumental proportions looms over the horizon.
Normally I'm a realist, and I like to view all things through the prism of logic and reality. But it is interesting and a relief for the practical mind to take a trip past the sidelines, to the world of flying men and shape shifters and time travelers. The world of man has always been one of terrifying beasts and dark foreboding forests, and we fight the hobgoblins there with a short foray into a netherworld of our own making, deep into the human psyche and we find there the tools with which to slay these mythical dragons.
Fantasy is not just an idle pursuit, it is time for the mind to cease from it's relentless dissection of the real world, and lets it spin it's tires some, fishtailing down the slippery slope of the human experience. We are unlike other animals, and while we don't know to what extent their minds experience unreality, we seem to be predisposed to meander into the foggy ethereal realms. The psychology behind 'woolgathering' seems to be a release from fears, or at least a way of looking into our fears and confronting the most dire of them in some way with our 'new found powers' given to us in this realm.
I do not subscribe to living in fantasy, because the world is made of hard flesh and harder substance, but a brief walk in the fantasy land does banish for a moment this reality we live in. Since the days of sitting by a fire in a cave, the storyteller has woven tales both simple and complex, fantastic and mundane, and given us brief respite from our day-to-day world whether it be a hunter-gatherer existence, or a space-age technocratic experience, we all need that tiny time from our world in which we walk in another world, even if in our imagination.
For now, 'Heros' is fulfilling it's promise to provide that escape.
This is the Sisquoc River (pronounced Sis'-quock) near Santa Maria in early November at daybreak. The light and clouds were so right, and the hills so 'southwest' looking, that I had to take the photo. We have our little cactus farm in those selfsame hills, some people call this area 'God's Country', I call it Home.
I have some friends who have put together an interesting website called Four 1 Liberation Front, to promote their new movie (of the same name). Do visit it, and spread the word.
November 06, 2006
Itsy Bitsy Spider
We are organically certified. While there are certain herbicides we are approved to use, they are selective, meaning they do not indiscriminately kill all life they encounter. For this reason we have a thriving population of creatures great and small running around with us, traipsing through the cactus. An example is this spider egg sack.
This is the 'Mama-Spider'. I don't know the species of this spider, but it surely is a pretty creature. This bright yellow is very attractive. We do take care to not ship spiders out with our cactus leaves. But we are happy that we can have a place and a crop that we don't have to poison the ground and local environment to produce an economical crop product.
November 05, 2006
Sailing
~Christopher Cross~
It's not far down to paradise
At least it's not for me
And if the wind is right you can sail away
And find tranquility
The canvas can do miracles
Just you wait and see
Believe me
It's not far to never never land
No reason to pretend
And if the wind is right you can find the joy
Of innocence again
The canvas can do miracles
Just you wait and see
Believe me
Sailing
Takes me away
To where I've always heard it could be
Just a dream and the wind to carry me
And soon I will be free
Fantasy
It gets the best of me
When I'm sailing
All caught up in the reverie
Every word is a symphony
Won't you believe me
It's not far back to sanity
At least it's not for me
And when the wind is right you can sail away
And find serenity
The canvas can do miracles
Just you wait and see
Believe me
Sailing does seem like a relaxing exercise that also requires knowledge and instinct melding into an amalgam that will help with safety and enjoyment.
This sailboat was getting pretty close to shore, he was not all that far outside of the breakers. But it was a very calm day yesterday, and he must have felt like increasing the enjoyment, adding a layer of complexity to his cruise by running closer to shore and it's attendant dangers.
November 04, 2006
I’m Just a Farmer, Plain and Simple
~By Bobby Collier~
I'm just a farmer,
Plain and simple.
Not of a royal birth
But rather, a worker of the earth.
I know not of riches
But rather, of patches on my britches
I know of draught and rain,
Of pleasure and pain.
I know of the good and the bad,
The happy and the sad.
I am a man of emotions.
A man who loves this land,
And the beauty of its sand.
I know of a spring's fresh flow
And autumn's golden glow,
Of a newborn calf's hesitation,
And the eagle's destination.
I know of tall pines,
And long, waiting lines.
Of the warmth of campfires,
And the agony of flat tires.
But I am a man who loves his job
And the life I live.
I am a man who works with God,
I cannot succeed without His help,
For you see,
I'm just a farmer
Plain and simple.
November 02, 2006
Sometimes...you have to fight
~Merle Haggard~ Fightin' Side of Me
I hear people talkin' bad,
About the way we have to live here in this country,
Harpin' on the wars we fight,
An' gripin' 'bout the way things oughta be.
An' I don't mind 'em switchin' sides,
An' standin' up for things that they believe in.
When they're runnin' down my country, man,
They're walkin' on the fightin' side of me.
Yeah, walkin' on the fightin' side of me.
Runnin' down the way of life,
Our fightin' men have fought and died to keep.
If you don't love it, leave it:
Let this song that I'm singin' be a warnin'.
If you're runnin' down my country, man,
You're walkin' on the fightin' side of me.
I read about some squirrely guy,
Who claims, he just don't believe in fightin'.
An' I wonder just how long,
The rest of us can count on bein' free.
They love our milk an' honey,
But they preach about some other way of livin'.
When they're runnin' down my country, hoss,
They're walkin' on the fightin' side of me.
Yeah, walkin' on the fightin' side of me.
Runnin' down the way of life,
Our fightin' men have fought and died to keep.
If you don't love it, leave it:
Let this song I'm singin' be a warnin'.
If you're runnin' down my country, man,
You're walkin' on the fightin' side of me.
November 01, 2006
Halp, Pleeze
I've been around military people my entire life. I was an 'Air-Force brat'. Most of the people I work with were in the military at one time or another. Most of those people were (and are) quite smart enough, thank you.
The modern military is a place full of intricate equipment with exacting maintenance requirements. A modern force is not a place for dummies, regardless what some folks might (or might not, depends when you ask them) think.
An example is this little self-deprecating poke in the ribs to the brain of John Kerry. These folks would not be clowning around like this if they really felt they were lazy, stupid people. They not only keep up on current events (one of the tests given for military advancement is such), they have a sense of humor too!
You folks out there in 'The sandbox', manning the listening posts and the Chow Halls, keep up the good work, there are plenty of Americans who know the good you do for us all!
