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September, 2005
September 30, 2005
A shrunken head museum online. It is sad, thinking that each one of
these heads was once a person, killed for a trophy. I read a most interesting book written
in 1912 called The Sea and the Jungle. It was about an expedition up the Amazon. At
one point in the true story the local shopkeeper heard of a gold strike in the jungle, he
left and was never heard from again. Some months later a native came through with some
heads he had purchased from inland tribes. And one of them was the European shopkeeper.
His friends bought the head to remember him. Who knows where it is now.
September 28, 2005
Zombie Time
gives us a little glimpse into the omission of facts that is so common in the media. This
same media that the leftists say distorts the truth to help the administration actually
seems more to omit facts to cover up who is the prime motivators behind the 'Anti-War'
movement. In their essay Anatomy of a Photograph we see that a recent Anti War rally had
several teenagers directed by an openly Communist organizer who even walks with the flag
of Communist Vietnam on her shirt. The Newspapers will not show people like her, they will
show the 'Mother Sheehans' to elicit sympathy. If the average American knew that it is our
own enemies in this country, people who have an interest in overthrowing our government
and enslaving anyone who does not think like a communist were behind these rallies,
perhaps they would not feel the same for the protestors that so many do right now.
September 25, 2005
I am sometimes invited to organic and vegetarian festivities. And
with my 'easy-going-hippie-type' demeanor, long hair and casual speech, I fall right in
with the crowd. You would not pick me out from a bunch of anarchists or peaceniks at all.
But I am something of a 'back-to-the-lander' survivalist type, and definitely not a
left-wing liberal or socialist. But sometimes I rub shoulders with these types, and I have
learned to hold my speech. Because when I am with a group of them, if they find out how
conservative I am, they all gang up on me, ringing me in a large circle and shouting at
me. These folks don't care to debate in a rational manner, they prefer to shout down their
opponent with invectives and slogans and 'out-of-left-field' oddball statements (like
"baby killer").
Sometimes the folks I run across are the types such as the anarchists.
These are scary folks, people. Now believe me, if anyone should be for anarchy it should
be me, cause I'm one of the biggest, baddest and potentially meanest summabitches ya ever
met. And if there is a line and I wanted to push my way to the front not many people would
care to quarrel with me. And if it's anarchy you want, I've got a load of buckshot for you
if you decide to raid MY food stockpile, Sunshine!
These anarchists such as 'The Coalition Against
Civilization' remind me of the 'White Power' trash you see on TV interviews (not the
true Aryan Nation guys from prison who really ARE bad dudes). Many of these anarchists
seem to be unemployed layabouts and college kids living on their parents capitalist
dollars while they fight the 'Capitalist system' that gives them their blue jeans, college
education and food, as well as the fuel to drive to their rallies where they rage against
the corporations and smash windows like a bunch of Brown-shirt Nazis from 1938's Kristallnacht.
PrimalWar.org
is an interesting link. I must admit, I have a bit of a yearning for a simpler lifestyle,
riding a horse about in the wilderness, finding smoke from some distant settlement,
sneaking up there in the middle of the night, burning houses, killing people, stealing
their children to raise as my own, their women to use as slaves, eating all the food they
worked hard to grow, and taking their horses to carry my plunder. That is what anarchy is
all about people, and when some skinny pimple-faced kid tells me he is an anarchist, I
wonder if he would even try to prevent me from just snatching up his hemp-shirted and
mini-skirted girlfriend (dang, I LOVE those hippie chicks), tossing her over my shoulder
and riding off into the sunset with her, while he runs to the cops complaining 'cause
"this 250 lb giant took his girlie away" from him "Waaaahhhh!!!!"
Yes folks, that is the face of anarchy, and that is what will happen if
the barbarians win, and these kids burning buildings and trying to uproot fiber optic
cables are the modern barbarians, and sometimes the barbarians win.
For a more detailed field of vision on this than I gave, you might
want to visit 'Visualize Industrial Collapse' They have done an excellent job of
illustrating the perils in the anarchists vision to society. In short, the anarchists
think most people in an anarchistic society would be cool, act right and righteous to one
another. But I know better about human nature. I know that when the constraints of society
are removed, people tend to become animals again, a feral species that is out for blood
and responds first and formost to the reptilian brain and the Four 'Fs' (Fighting,
Fleeing, Feeding, and Sex). It is the policeman standing between me and the pimply faced
kid and his sexy girlfriend who is the ultimate deterrence to me carting her off over my
shoulder. And that kid is the one who wants the cop to quite his job. Believe you me; I
know about Feral, I was this close (holds finger and thumb real close together) to being
feral at one point in my life. Ferality (I made that word up) is not the higher evolution
of our species, it is retrograde; a degenerative step back in time.
For further information from the anarchists perspective you might visit The Primitivist Primer
by John Moore. Note that it refers to 'Industrial Society and Its Future' (the
Unabomber's manifesto) as one of it's suggested reading sources along with a collection of
writings from such luminaries as Che Guevara, and a gaggle of "Essays against
civilization, industrialism, and modernity". Very interesting, that we have these
people living in our midst.
September 25, 2005
Here is a Skunk Spray Antidote I got from Paul Krebaum
In a plastic bucket, mix well the following ingredients:
1 quart of 3% Hydrogen Peroxide
1/4 cup of baking soda
1 to 2 teaspoons liquid soap
for very large pets one quart of tepid tap water may be added to enable
complete coverage.
Wash pet promptly and thoroughly, work the solution deep into the fur.
Let your nose guide you, leave the solution on about 5 minutes or until the odor is gone.
Some heavily oiled areas may require a "rinse and repeat" washing.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Now reading Paul's info was interesting, and I am sure our dog (who's
been sprayed four times) will appreciate it. I think he's crazy (our dog, not Paul)
because anyone who gets sprayed three times should know enough not to get sprayed a fourth
time.
Paul is an interesting guy, he comes across as a kind of brainy chemist.
I know a couple of chemists, and when a down-to-earth type explains molecular structures
and recombinations of molecules and things like cation exchange, I really feel like I
understand what he is talking about. And then I want to run home to tell Vickie what I
learned that day, and when I start to explain it to her, I don't know how to phrase it the
way I'd had it explained to me.
Paul also has a 'weird theories' page you will see on his site, it
reminds me of my whacky
theories page I made up. I think Paul and I might get along well, He has little skunk
toys people have given him. Just as I have a little skunk toy Vickie gave me after I
started obsessing about the skunk living under our patio.
September 22, 2005
Hurricanes, will the presence of man make them more virulent? There are conflicting
theories on this, I like this analysis.
Why, oh why
are there so many hurricanes this year???? Good question. See what an expert says.
Hurricane
expert predicts years of more storms
The forecaster says "The Atlantic is in a cycle of increased activity that may last
10-20 years".
For years we've been reading that we were in a period of fewer
hurricanes. And that we were experiencing a housing boom along the coasts where people
used to know they were in danger of having their homes blown and washed away. People used
to know the government could not really help them. Now were are a population of people
that expects the government to come around at the last moment; bugles blaring and swoop us
onto the saddle just before the deluge happens. Well, I've got some sad news for you
sunshine, the cavalry is no faster now than it was one hundred years ago. We have more
people in the way of danger, and when bad things happen those people will be exposed.
September 21, 2005 The value of money
Lordy, Lordy, Lordy, here's a woman who decided to have her husband's
lover killed. She contacted a private eye and paid him nearly ten thousand dollars to
carry out the execution, suggesting he chase her on a motorcycle in a tunnel and spray her
with a biological agent. Then when he did not kill her fast enough she went to the police
and REPORTED HIM to the
Police for not carrying out his end of the bargain.
Now, we thought property was going for a lot in Cali. But here's a tool shed that sold for
hundreds of thousands in Dublin.
September 19, 2005 God has cared for these trees, saved
them from drought, disease, avalanches,
and a thousand tempests and floods. But he cannot save them from fools.
~John Muir
Yes, I like our trees. We have nearly one hundred Monterey Pines. Many
of them are nearly one hundred feet tall. These are huge magnificent specimens. I love
walking along the driveway with these behemoths rising up on both sides of me. But I
cannot grow the cactus under them. The roots of the pines reach under the areas I have
tilled and pull moisture and nutrients from the cactus. Their huge roots, thick as an
elephant's leg are in the way when I want to go and build a new terrace. We have our
cactus areas, and our pine areas, and never the twain shall meet.
For a year or two I've been grousing to people about these two
particular pines. They are confounding me with their presence, and I did not wish to try
cutting them myself due to the proximity of power lines. Finally a friend of mine decided
to help me out, so he came over to top and fell the trees, leaving me to do the work of
cutting up the remains. But that's OK, because I just needed help on the tricky part.
But what was amazing was the dexterity of my buddy in that tree. He's as
skilled with a chainsaw as Ted Nugent is with a guitar, and he's as comfortable in his
arboreal world as a squirrel. He gave me plenty of tips and we had a good time having a
few beers after the scary part was done. He pulled up a website about his hometown in
Mexico called Temastian. He showed
me his little Pueblito, he pointed out all the places he knew, and several people who he
was acquainted with. He misses his home, and I understand that. When I was in Germany I
missed the good ol' USA. I was lucky enough to have family there to visit and assuage some
of that heartache, and now I miss Germany some. But to be so far from a home you really
love is a bummer.
Allejandro is a good example of the benefits and rewards of the work
ethic. He works hard, and works smart. He has a dream of saving his money, and moving back
to Mexico to open his own restaurant on land he has already bought by the city gate. And
you know what....? I bet he's gonna do it, and make a good go at his dream. He has the
initiative, and the drive to bring his dream into fruition. He is also a heck of a
philosopher; he and I spoke several hours of the differences between the US and Mexico,
and I have always felt that the German/Hungarian tradition in my family is very similar to
the old time Mexican traditions. This country can give you all you want, you just have to
keep your eyes on the prize, and work toward that end result.
Enclosed are some photos of the trees before the cutting, and also some
of Allejandro in the trees working his art.
The pine trees before we took the saw to them
Allejandro in the trees, cutting away
September 18, 2005 Squeal Like a Pig!!
K-PIG is a local
radio station. It has the most interesting mix of music I have ever heard on a radio
station. If you like Blues, Bluegrass, American-Country Folk music and more, then you
would like this station. The best thing is they even have a simulcast from their website.
They have a play list that shows you what has been playing in the last eight hours. Pig
Squeals is where you can post comments.
A Local events calendar is fun for us locals.
September 17, 2005 Because of our traditions, we've kept
our balance for many, many years.
Here in Anatolka, we have traditions for everything,
How to sleep, how to eat, how to work...how to wear clothes.
For instance; we always keep our heads covered, and always wear a little prayer shawl,
this shows our constant devotion to God.
You may ask, "how did this tradition get started?"
I'll tell you; I don't know. But it's a tradition.
And because of our traditions...
every one of us knows who he is and what God expects him to do.
~Fiddler on the Roof
My nephew came over today to BBQ with us. It is a pleasure when your kid
sister's kids are old enough to come by on their own, but even a greater pleasure when
they are old enough that they bring food with them!
Jason
brought over the traditional foods for this area; beef Tri-Tip,
salsa, and garlic bread, ready to put on the grill. We provided the traditional salad,
more salsa (this
made with cactus), and a local sausage favorite called kielbasa. We also tossed in some
non-traditional BBQ ingredients such as green bell pepper, carrots, corn on the cob,
potatos, and cactus leaves.
The local area has a deep lore of BBQ that goes back over two hundred
years. In the seventeen hundreds when the large Spanish land grants were being handed out,
and the California coast was abuzz with cattle ranches, the yearly roundups on the
unfenced lands would be done as a community effort by all the local ranches. Whoever had
the gang over to their ranch for the roundup that day was expected to slaughter a steer
upon which the party would feast that day and the next.
This tradition has been continued to the present day. All over the
Central Coast weekends are full of civic groups with moveable BBQ trailers, cookin' up a
storm. Chicken and Tri Tip are the foods most often found at these shindigs.
Families will gather at parks, backyards, and courtyards all around,
sharing the blessings of this land and the beauty of this area and it's people. When you
have decent health, and family, you have the world at your door. You can experience the
world without ever looking out your window if you have friends and family to share with
you the things they have seen.
Family is really the only thing of value we have in this world, share
your best time with your family. And here that includes the BBQ grill.
September 16, 2005 No job is done until the paperwork is
completed.
I heard a fellow the other day on the radio, he was saying that the cost
of illegal immigrants to Texas alone costs each family some $720 yearly in additional
taxes. He thought that this entitles each Texan family to get an alien and make him mow
his lawn, hang wallboard, or clean his house until he has $720 worth of services
performed.
I like this idea; I could use a weed picker in the cactus garden. You
have no idea how difficult it is to pick weeds in a patch of plants with spines on them!
You have to be very careful where your tush goes when you bend over to pull a weed. You
learn very quickly that you really don’t have any friends when you need someone to
pull a spine out of your butt.
The beauty of this system is that you would not even need to file
federal, state and local papers to hire these illegals. Since they are illegal it is
illegal to hire them, so papers would be a dead giveaway. It’d be like those stoned
dope growers who complain to the police that their plants got stolen! (What a dope!).
Workers comp can be a pain when you deal with a plant that is spiny, and
has mean terrible creatures like rattlesnakes, tarantulas, scorpions and mountain lions
hanging around ready to pounce on some unsuspecting cactus picker. With illegals not
having to have papers, we’d not need worker’s comp (We don’t need no
stinkin’ worker’s comp!!).
But if I did this we’d not be able to proudly state that we comply
with all local, state federal and moral principles as to the treatment of our people
(which so far is Vickie and me, and a dozen mouse catchers who work on a barter system).
We also comply with the avowed aims and methods of organic production as stated in the new
Federal Organic Standards law, and are registered and inspected for complience by CCOF,
and are organically approved for international production principles in accordance with
IFOAM certification standards.
All this, and I am a guy who hates paperwork and bureaucracy.
September 13, 2005 Man- the upright Ape.
The Bible says that man is made in the image of God, and was created to
be above all other creation, even the angels. When I listen to music it makes me think
that perhaps the tones I hear, put into a harmonious arrangement by man is proof enough of
the existence of a Creator.
But when I see the pit that mankind will sometimes sink into I have to
remind myself that it is freewill given to us by the Creator that enables us to ruin the
world we were so graciously given.
Then, there is the mix of both that I see in the new bands rising from
the despondent peoples of the world who have been run over by the larger popular culture;
groups that have taken the lessons and technology of this time and blended it into an
amalgam of styles new to the world, but that would still find the ear of an ancient from
that culture.
I think of this as I watch a video of a band from New Zealand called Te Vaka.
This band uses modern instruments and weaves traditional rhythms, chants
and vocalizations into a new style of music that is pleasing to the ear. And to watch them
perform on my television is a delight, after all, Polynesian dancing girls in grass skirts
are always a good idea.
When one culture subdues another with force, enmity is a sure result.
There may be a handful of generations of people grown with the idea that they and their
culture are substandard. They may feel like they have no hope in their life to be able to
get out of the despair of second-class citizenship.
This has happened many times in history, and it is no big surprise now.
It happened to the German peoples when the Romans conquered them and the Gauls two
thousand years ago. Both of these peoples learned from the Romans, and adapted the new
technology they learned to create a new world, different from the Roman world, but
markedly changed form the original culture they knew.
This band Te Vaka is a good example of the resurgence of cultures that
we are likely to see in the coming decades. These cultures are not going to be like the
original cultures from hundreds of years ago, but they will be harkening back to an
earlier time, of memories when those tribes knew only each other, and the outside world
was across the mountaintop, or over the ocean.
September 11, 2005
I’m finding myself intrigued with the HBO series ‘Rome’.
For a web page with critiques of the show you can go to UNRV
History
Particularly interesting is the collaboration between the History
Channel and HBO, with the History Channel showing a series this week on Roman history It
features cuts from the series, as well as using some of the actors as narrators. It is fun
having a series based in an ancient land, and using some sequence of factual events. They
weave in a fictional storyline also, using secondary characters. This series illustrates
that history is indeed made up of real people, and in some ways they shared much of the
same hopes, and fears that we face.
One Way Donkey Ride by Mary Black
There you may stand in your splendor and jewels
Swaying me in both directions
One is the right one, the other for fools
How do I make my selection?
The city lies silent in the warm morning light
The sand is as golden as saffron
Oasis of love, sweet water of life
God bless the poor ones who have none though they have tried
Someone is drowning down there in the flood
But this river will dry by tomorrow
Is it ocean or stream, this love in my blood?
Bringer of joy or of sorrow?
The end of the journey must soon be in sight
Birth is the start of the swansong
Oasis of love, sweet water of life
God bless the poor ones who want some, but are denied
No one is given the map to their dreams
All we can do is to trace it
See where we go to, know where we've been
Build up the courage to face it
While we fumble in the darkness where once there was light
Roaming the land of the ancients
Oasis of love, sweet water of life
God bless the poor ones whose patience never died
While we stumble in blindness where once there
was sight
Searching for trees in the forest
Oasis of love, sweet water of life
God bless the poor ones who have none though they have tried
God bless the poor ones who want some, but are
denied
God bless the poor ones whose patience never died
God bless the poor ones on that one-way donkey ride
September 04, 2005 It appears that the people with the most
courage were the first to die here. Maybe that is true everywhere~Elena Filatova
Europe along with most of the rest of the world has seen a
continuous succession of wars. Rarely is a generation allowed to go without some conflict
between itself and some neighbors. When one studies history one can become quickly caught
up in the futility of humankind; how our petty squabbles can degenerate into full-scale
warfare and the killing of millions.
And now I find a website with some really interesting first-hand
amateur excavations along the sites of both ancient and more recent wars in the Ukraine.
This is particularly fascinating to me since some of my own family fought in this area in
the Second World War. The website is called The Serpents Wall due
to the ancient town fortifications stretching for miles along the river.
The author has a companion site called Gulag Tales in which she has stories
she got from local inhabitants of the Soviet Prison System called the gulag (again, I had
two uncles locked into that miasma).
And she also has another site; Chernobyl-Revisited,
detailing her motorcycle rides through the Chernobyl area. She carries a Geiger counter
and has information on the effects of radiation. It is a striking montage of photos of a
place she calls 'The Land of the Wolves' as nature is now reclaiming this area from the
humans who had to leave after the nuclear disaster of 1986.
Sideways
is a different kind of movie. It won high awards and acclaim from many major movie critics
and independent film reviews.
But locally it is very popular due to the fact that the majority of the
filming was done in Santa Barbara County in the Buellton/Lompoc area. It also features
wineries quite prominently, and the beauty of the local wineries and the scenery of the
miles of vineyards in the area cannot be beat.
The main character of the movie talks throughout the movie of his love
of a particular wine grape and the resulting wine; a locally-grown grave vine called Pinot
Noir. I am no wine aficionado, yet I found it interesting to hear the 'Wine talk' in this
movie. I felt like I learned a lot about wine, but what's the use since I don't really go
for wine? (I'll take a good stout brew over a wine any day).
An interesting thing about this Pinot Noir wine grape that I learned
from the movie, is the fact that it is a thin skinned grape, and as such it responds more
quickly to environmental changes. The warm days (for months the daytime temps have been in
the mid eighties, and the cool nights on the Central Coast (in the mid fifties, even down
to the high forties here in the canyon). This quick reversal of temperatures causes the
grape to fill to bursting with rich juices, making for a richer full-bodied wine.
That is what is explained in the movie, and it's a good lesson. But
there is another side to this movie. It is a story about 'Jack' (played by Thomas Haden Church) who is
getting married in a week, and desires to spend a last week with wine aficionado 'Miles'
(played by Paul Giamatti)
who is an aspiring writer. These two unsavory characters careen along on a wild orgy of
wine tasting and partying with the 'soon-to-be-married' man on the prowl to find women
with whom to spend his last days of 'freedom'. This bothers the hero of the story, but why
I don't know. He already had proven himself to be a low-life by stealing money from his
little-old-lady mom while stopping by to say hello on his way to peruse the wineries of
the Santa Ynez area.
If one is easily offended do not watch this movie. It has a fair
amount of cursing and some lewd and raunchy behavior with the occasional foray into
criminal misadventure. But when one watches the whole movie one sees that this is not a
paean to an immoral lifestyle, for both protagonists suffer damage as a direct result of
their actions.
But the highlight of the movie was the scenes of businesses I have
been in, roads I have driven. To watch the evening haze coming in from the Pacific as the
sun sets is a marvelous sight. But to see the same scene on television and knowing that
what you see every day millions across the world can now see, that is an exciting
prospect. The people here all know of the special scenery we have that we drive through
daily, but when one passes beauty daily it can become commonplace. It is nice to see that
beauty out there for all others to admire.
All-in-all I enjoyed the movie immensely (mostly due to the local
scenes). But young children might perhaps be better off when shielded from this language
and behavior.
September 01, 2005
We get the neighbor's cattle coming into our place on an occasional
basis. It's not too much of a problem for us, although they sometimes eat things we plant,
usually they eat the brush on the hillside and the grasses growing among our landscape.
Our dog Whitie likes to herd them away from the house, and he's really
cute as he chases them off, and continually looks back at us to make sure we approve and
that he is doing the right thing. Also, it's really funny to see a chihuahua run along
chasing off a herd of two thousand pound cattle.
I submit a couple of photos of our neighbor's cattle grazing at our
place.
On the Origin of Cactus
This is from an e-mail I sent out regarding the origin of some of our
varieties of cactus.
We got the 'Burbank's Spineless' in 1993 from a fellow at a nursery
in Fresno, I think it was 'Henrietta's Nursery. As he himself (since deceased) said, the
Burbank's 'spineless' is not really spineless at all. But he said it was one of the
varieties Luther Burbank put together. I don't actually have any use for it, other than a
curiosity since I so admire Burbank. So we sell it, but with the disclaimer that it is not
spineless at all, and the 'Santa Ynez', 'Santa Maria' and 'Lynnwood' are much superior for
fruit production. But I don't know of Burbank growing any of these particular ones.
'Santa Ynez', 'Santa Maria' and 'Lynwood' were all named by me in the
absence of any particular names by the people who I got them from.
Here is the background on these three:
'Santa Ynez', is named after the town near where we got this plant. A
woman in her eighties who had come to California some years ago to live with her daughter
gave us some cuttings. She came from somewhere in New Mexico and was Navajo. She said her
family had been growing this variety for over three hundred years. And that she had always
been told her family had bred the spines out. We got it in 1991. It was our primary
variety for some years. She had no name for the plant other than Nopal (Spanish for
Cactus). This one has spineless fruit when ripe. It is a pleasure to harvest. She used it
mostly for the fruit.
'Santa Maria' we got from the town of Santa Maria. I saw it growing
along the side of a house, and when knocking on the door to inquire about it, I found a
Spanish speaking man who told me that his grandfather had brought the plant from Mexico in
the late forties. This guy ate the leaves, but it has good fruit with few spines. Very
high quality.
'Lynwood' we got about 1994 in the town of Lynnwood near LA. It was
growing along the back wall in a nursery, and the (mostly Mexican) nursery workers were
taking their lunch near that wall, sitting on the benches eating and cutting off leaves of
this plant and eating them there for an ingredient in their lunch. None of them knew how
long the plant had been there, nor it's history. It is a bit spiny. The two above are less
so. The fruit on this one is very spiny, but easy to clean.
'Nopalea Grande' is the best for leaf production. I got it through some
people affiliated with Texas A&M who had found it in a Mayan village in the Yucatan
area of Mexico. I've since run across a few people who have seen it there since. And one
plant that a family from Mexico had brought in and plated at their house. It is not yet
widely grown, and seems better suited to most Anglos than the other four varieties. But
most people I've met who tried them all and grew up eating cactus in Mexico seem to prefer
the 'Santa Maria' and 'Santa Ynez'. Although presumably the people in the Yucatan would
prefer the 'Nopalea Grande' since that is what they grew up with and were accustomed to. |
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