Say Hello To My Leettle Fren

This squirrel has been hanging out at our house lately. He is pretty cool I guess. He plays the blues and sometimes makes me cry. I have named him Coltrain.

The Eagles Have Landed

The eagles are back in Coeur d'Alene. They come in droves this time of year to feast on the kokanee salmon in Lake Coeur d'Alene. The fish have spawned and are weakening and floating near the surface. The great birds dive and catch them in their talons, take them to a lofty perch in a pine tree and eat them, sushi style. They will not eat dead fish. Very cool to watch, just in the one bay of the lake there will be over 100 eagles flying around and in the trees. The spawn will be over in a few weeks and the ealges will be gone, except for the ones that stay here year round. Eagles are cool.

Ryhme This

The sky is in encased in a grey steel vault
The wind roars and the pine trees bend to the breaking point
The ground is rigid, frozen in time
The piles of snow decline and grow in a ceaseless dance of futility.
The air is cutting, frozen vapors hang in an icy claw.
The water is still, molecules silenced under the unrelenting ice.
The songbirds are silenced, the flower long gone.
Holy freakin shit this winter is long.

Resolution

My New Year's Resolution is to quit being so damn nice. No more Mr. Nice Guy. Like Thoreau said "If I apologize for anything it is my good behavior, what demon possessed me to make me act this way." I was going to loose some weight but this one is more important, I have started on it right away.

Happy New Year

2007 is here, much to the dismay of the end of the world crowd who get proved wrong on an annual basis. Predicting the end is a tricky thing, when you are proved wrong you act relieved and chalk it up to your prayers for deliverance. I have heard the end of the road crap going back to some of my earliest memories. Back when I was 11 or 12 the big play taking the Wastach Front by storm was Saturday's Warrior - gripping theater, preying on folks worst fears. Tearfull audiences resolving to get their shit together now - I really really mean it this time man. Catch up on tithing, store some beans and rice, get the home teaching done, forgive all the bastards that wronged you. Hmm... 30 something years ago. I remember sunday school and priesthood advsiors solemly predicting that we would not have families of our own but we might be able to squeeze in a mission if we were lucky. Even the Nostradamus prohpecies fell on their butt the last couple of years. Of course Iran, Korea and their lot are making an honest effort in that direction and give them a few years and nuclear holecaust could be the big hope. Natural disasters in my opinion are probably gonna do the most damage, a couple of big tsunamis, huge earthquake and a big ass hurricane all at the same time would cause some serious problems, maybe the beginning of the end. Maybe the the icecaps will melt and everyone in San Francisco will end up in Butte Montana and the culture clash will leave no one standing. For the record I do believe in storing food and supplies but you could get lucky and take a well timed trip to Costco in the pickup truck and stock up at the last minute much to the dismay of the people who's food storage is about to hit the expiration date. Still the main problem I have is there are a fair number who are not just wanting the end, they are counting on it and can't wait for the pagan bastards to get what's coming to them. The world is has a lot of evil, horrible stuff out there, bad people too. If you read much history it has always been that way and to tell you the truth some of the worst of it ain't happening now. People are mean to each other and that isn't going to change, not even in the last day of the last days, whatever that means. One good thing for the doom and gloomers - one of these days your gonna be right! I'm going to Costco. Peace.

Update on Snowblower

It has snowed five more times since my post about snowblowers. I am having a change of heart. If I woke up and there was a snowblower in the garage I wouldn't care too much. Just sayin.

Snow Blower

Woke up to snow falling and about 6 new inches of snow on the ground. This is the third snowstorm in the last 5 days. As I gazed out on the beautiful white wonderland one thought went through my mind - Crap I have to shovel snow. I actually don't mind shoveling snow, it's a good workout and its usually nice and peaceful out there. Our driveway is pretty big, very wide so it takes awhile. The main problem is the neighbors, this place is dominated by mostly retired old guys. Let me put it this way; to fit in you need a snow blower and an enlarged prostate.
After a good storm they come out one by one. Dressed for battle with beanie hats and big boots they emerge from their garages with their snow blowers fired up, steely eyed with their wives waving hankies from the window. Their are two types involved here: the get out early crowd, who usually end up doing it twice, and the later crowd who emerge around noon after a cup of tea and Matlock is over. As you look down the street you see snow flying in the air and the sound of internal combustion engines whining. They look with pity at me and my pathetic snow shovel. Bastards think their better than me. Lisa keeps asking me if I want a snow blower, hell no I say. A point of honor is at stake, I don't need no stinkin machine. The day might come when I can no longer shovel my driveway but it is not today my friend. Give me my shovel and get the hell out of my way.

Make It Stop

Sometimes in the mornings Lisa has the TV on watching but more like listening to it while she gets ready. I soon discovered that as I tried to read my daily two morning newspapers that the most annoying background noise in the world is Regis and Kelly. The painfully irritating banter between these two is exceeded only by the goofy giggling and cackling of their studio audience. I've seen little parts of the program here and there and holy crap what a bunch of tripe. I don't know what gender good old Reeg is but he isn't a man. When Lisa fires up her blow dryer I run in and shut the TV off, but she always turns it back on. I use to think this program was the worst of the bunch but now I have unluckily discovered one that makes this look like Masterpiece Theater. Can you guess? Of course you can. The View with Rosie O'Douchebag has set a new low in irritating programming. The grating, bossy, bitchy voice of hers is like fingers on a blackboard. Never mind her left wing liberal femi-nazi opinions, which are bad enough, but just the sound of her voice is punishment enough. The View was horrible by itself before she came on but now, oh dear lord, make it stop.

Road Rage

Think your roads are bad? Check these out.

http://thrillingwonder.blogspot.com/2006/11/most-dangerous-roads-in-world.html

The Wind Blewed

This home not far from us was one of many that had trees down. 65 mile an hour winds tore up the area. Luckily none of our trees went down. We were without power for one night only. The wind blewed and blewed and then it blewed some more. Andy and the King Cove crowd would scoff at a measly 65 mph wind but then they don't have any freakin trees either.
Of course blewed is not a word but blowed is in the dictionary - says it is used chiefly in the Southern U.S. (redneck central) - past tense of blow is blowed, sorry but that sounds worse than blewed.
The wind is not blewing anymore and has blowed itself out, the effects of the blowning still are evident and we are still blowned away by it. We hope it does not blowed again anytime soon. .

Oh Tannebaum

The saga of this year's Christmas Tree started late. It was December 16 and we still had not gotten a tree, so I asked Boo if he wanted to go out and cut one in the National Forest, he agreed and we set out. After a stop at the Coeur d'Alene Forest Service office for a five dollar permit we took the road up to Fernan Saddle to get us a tree. If you have ever been to North Idaho you know we have a few trees here. The weather was turning nasty with snow falling and the wind blowing - we got up there after kicking in the four wheel drive. Once at the top we started looking for a likely victim, only it was hard because if you stepped off of the snowmobile tracks you sunk to your waist in the deep snow. It had a crust on it so you would break through after a few seconds which made it worse, to walk 50 feet took about 10 minutes. You are supposed to go 200 feet off of the road but since we couldn't actually get that far we looked closer in. The selection was grim, and our standards dropped by the minute. We finally settled for one that looked okay and cut it down. Dragging it out was harder than expected but I made Boo do most of it while I supervised. Once we got to the truck we stood it up and was surprised to see it was about 15 feet tall. I cut off a few feet and threw it in. The dogs didn't like sharing the back of the truck with it but they lived. Once we got home I measured the ceiling where it would go and went out and cut off another few feet and put it in a stand. Hmmm, it looked like crap. I took it in anyway and set it up. Lisa actually cried a little when she saw it and I was preparing to haul it out the door but she said no. We decided it fit this Christmas. She asked if I could put a few more branches in to fill some spots, when I told her I already had she cried again. She tried to put a hand blown glass ornament on it that Boo had made and the branch drooped to the floor. I threw some lights on it, two lightweight strands was all it could handle and washed my hands of the whole business. Lisa set to work on it and using only lightweight ornaments, stuffed animals and who knows what else, she transformed our sorry little tree. That night with the lights on and a glow from the fireplace it was a beautiful tree symbolic of our saga, starting with high hopes, hardened by reality, tempered with conflict and ending with the family finally settling. It was a Christmas Miracle. Hallelujah - I need some eggnog.

Visit From Dr. Nick & Family

We got to see Nick and Emily and the kids for a few days this week. They flew into Spokane and stayed with us for two nights on their way to Richland Washington for a job interview for Nick.
We had a great time with them and although the Richland job isn't going to pan out I tried talking them into pursuing jobs in Kallispell and Billings Montana - who knows. Anything to get some family up in the Northland. Plus if Nick lived in Kallispell can you imagine the fishing? I mean really dude......
I definitely know the twins very well now and which is Savanna and which is Sophia. They have totally different personalities and looks but they are both little sweethearts. Isaac was great, a happy kid who loves to draw and color and get on the computer and google search: he went non stop running around the house bouncing on a exercise ball and taking the dogs for walks at the English Point trails. He ran after Farley for miles giggling and calling to him. He cracked us up with how he wrote our names - I am SeaJay and there is Antleca and Tasha Recort. He kept careful track of their itineary and always knew the dates and times with great detail. Nick and Em are very busy keeping track of all this and do a great job. It made me tired just watching them. Well, Nick is still considering where to take a job and they would like to be in Utah of course but if not I hope they find something in this area. SeaJay out -

L'il Buck Crackers!

Here is the new Pony! L'il Buck Crackers! Adam thinks it's a Shetling Pony, har, oh course everyone knows there is no such thing as a Shetling. Funny Adam. Here's another funny thing say "L'il Buck Crackers" real fast three times. Hee hee, that ought keep the kiddies laughing. Shetland ponies are what you get when it's time to teach your kids to swear properly. Welcome L'il Buck Crackers you stupid *!x*&*#! We love you.

Oh Snap

Well Boo has learned how to snap his fingers. Oh, yea big deal around here. He has been trying off and on for 16 years but finally mastered it last week. To tell you the truth it is wearing thin already. He came up last week and said hey lookee I can snap my fingers! yea! I tried to be supportive but let's face it; if he was five it would have been more of a triumph.. Still, I gave him a attaboy and he went around snapping non-stop for days. It's like having a jazz hands freak around, snap snap snap. I was trying to have a nap sunday afternoon and was woke up by the distinct snapping sounds of a jackass. I kindly said "Stop the finger snapping or I will break them off" There was silence then a definite softening of the snapping sound in the distance. Point taken. He pointed out that his new part in the play Biloxi Blues requires him to snap his fingers. So, just in time. It's all good I guess - if I don't snap first.

Spam -Not Just For Breakfast

Actual e-mail spam I have received:


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Cautioning Nobs to silence,

Poetry man poetry. Lost me on the cautioning nobs thing though

You should drop by at
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Umm no.

From: Harnod Sharief
Is your dik like from doll world?
Change sizes......
After introducing myself to product
I find myself to suspicously grow..

That one is gold

Word

Dogs

Im with the Japanese on this one.

Hmmm

A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything. - Nietzche

Weather Man

"The trouble with weather forecasting is that it's right too often for us to ignore it and wrong too often for us to rely on it."

True words. Not sure who said them but they knew what they were talking about. When I lived in Southern Utah the weather predicting was pretty accurate especially one or two days out. They had a long time to track those storms coming out of California or up from AZ. But up here in the panhandle of Idaho it is a wild ass guess. They have plenty of excuses - they say that the weather patterns come from 7 directions whatever that means. Too far north, close to the coast and then all the mountain ranges surrounding us - Cascades, Selkirks, Bitterroots, ect. And you cant trust the Canadians, flakey socialist wimps. Anyway the one day forecast is sketchy, two day is not reliable and the 5 or 10 day is funny made up stuff. Oh well the weather is constantly changing here so does keep it interesting. It was 13 degrees on Haloween night, cut down on the trick or treaters. Now it is raining and 60 degrees, tomorrow who knows - Im keeping my short pants handy just in case we get a heat wave (or as they call them in King Cove AK "shorty pants" ) I am going to take the dogs for a walk in the rain so here are some weather related quotes:

The best thing one can do when it's raining is to let it rain.
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Weather forecast for tonight: dark. ~George Carlin

Don't knock the weather; nine-tenths of the people couldn't start a conversation if it didn't change once in a while.
~Kin Hubbard

Anyone who says sunshine brings happiness has never danced in the rain. ~Author Unknown

Some people walk in the rain, others just get wet. ~Roger Miller