And the Winner is

Anonymous! Congratulations. The answer is The McLaughlin Cabin. Please send your social security number, bank account number and bank routing number and I will transfer your prize to you.

Does this help? This is the same cabin from behind. This image includes the stove pipe. Another hint: Not famous, not politically charged (like Ted Kaczynski's) and Mark Twain never slept in it.

Quiz

Does anyone recognize the cabin used on the header? Hint: it is not my cabin; nor is it Abraham Lincoln’s.

I miss writing the old fashioned way, you know, putting pen to paper, dipping my quill in a bottle of ink, that sort of thing. So the rest of this entry will be hand written and sent through the mail.

Back to my thesis

The above is a variation on “board and batt,” siding, very common in cabin construction. The above uses split saplings for battens.

Tattoo

Everything is Connected

Did you know that Warren Earl (Burger) replaced Earl Warren as Supreme Court Justice?
Which reminds me of the unlikely fact that Lee Iacocca's last name is an accidental acronym for his former job title: “I am chairman of Chrysler Corporation of America.” And Lee designed the ford Mustang. Ford owns Jaguar. A Jaguar is a large cat native to Mexico. Mexico is an anagram for coexim, which is meaningless. See how everything is connected? It’s like the butterfly effect that is best described as: a butterfly in the Amazon flaps it’s wings and attracts the attention of a bird who eats the butterfly, lands on the ground to digest and is eaten by a Jaguar which is a large cat native to parts of the Amazon and Mexico which, as we discovered earlier, is an anagram for coexim, among other non words. It makes you think.

Fashion

This is what I show my class when we get to the section I call, "Abusing your Subjects."

Root Canal

The lengths some Americans will go to in order to get free dental.

Reggae Royalty

King Tubby, King Cry Cry, King Stitt, King Jammy, King Smiley, King Chubby, King Iwah, King Sporty, King Sighter, King Kong, Prince Alla, Prince Buster, Prince Charles, Prince Django, Prince Douglas,Prince Far I, Prince Francis, Prince Garthie, Prince Hammer, Prince Heron, Prince Irey, Prince Jammy, Prince Jazzbo, Prince Junior, Prince Lincoln Thompson, Prince Malachi, Prince Miller, Prince Mohammed, Prince Moonie, Prince Of Darkness, Prince Phillip, Prince Pompidou, Prince Ras Murray, Prince Student, Prince Tallis, Prince Tonys All Stars, Prince Ugly, Prince Williams, Lord Briscoe, Lord Brynner, Lord Comic, Lord Creator, Lord Cristo, Lord Invader, Lord Ivanhoe, Lord Jellicoe, Lord Kitchener, Lord Koos, Lord Laro, Lord Power, Lord Sassafrass, Lord Spoon, Lord Tanamo, Sir Lord Comic.

Prince Far I and King Cry Cry are the same person - both dead as of September 1983.
I paricularly like the names, "Prince Student," "Prince Ugly," and "Lord Sassafrass."

Winter

headphones

A problem with wearing headphones, besides talking loudly, is all the other loud sounds one might make. For example: the person sitting across from me, when he sips his water, finishes with a loud kissing sound. He also keeps sighing – loudly. And he is muttering curse words from time to time – presumably louder than he thanks he is. He is listening to David Bowie.

Adventure

Someday I would like to sail across an ocean with a parrot. I would probably start with a small ocean like Lake Michigan.

Bills

Paying bills feels good. I like knowing that at least that one chore is taken care of. The one bill that feels best of course is the last one. I'm glad to have something to look forward to in the year 2039.

Altman

Two nights ago, in anticipation of Robert Altman’s looming death, I watched Brewster Mcloud with my roommate and another friend. The movie is riddled with references to birds and photography. Without giving away plot, there is a raven that flies around setting caged birds free. That alone should be enough to make you seek out this hard to find film.

“A cult is not enough people to make a minority.”
Robert Altman
February 20 1920 - November 20 2006

Lights, Camera, Etc.

I am looking for more songs about photography. It turns out, if a rap group has a song with the word “camera” in it, the phrase will most likely be, “Lights, camera, action.” An exception is the EPMD song, “It’s Going Down,” where the line is “No lights, no camera, no action.”

Washington D.C.

I took this photo of the President's dog while I was in town lecturing at the Phillips Collection.

Two Years Ago Today

Moths

It kind of looks like the Big Dipper.

What's on Eddy Merckx's iPod?

Lance Armstrong won the Tour De France like 50 times. That and the fact that he did it after a bad case of the cancer is enough. But he shouldn’t talk. He shouldn’t have a celebrity iTunes list. And what is it with people who, when they like a rap song, have to qualify it by first saying, “I don’t like rap but…?” It reminds me of people who start sentences with, “I’m not prejudice but…”

Happy Halloween

Here is a Halloween song sung by the incomparable Eben Portnoy.



Thank you Ken for emailing the song to me today.

Sunset

The photo accompanying this post is from a hike I took last summer with my chum Chuckie V. AKA Charles Veylupek. Chuck has almost completed his PCT hike from Mexico to Canada. I have heard that there is some snow in his path.

There are a finite number of smells in the universe so, unfortunately, some things have to share - like a Subway sandwich and an armpit. Sure, in the heat of passion that smell can be tolerated but how passionate can one get about a sandwich?

Do you know what made me think of the above? I bought a Subway sandwich (Veggie Delight) and it smelled like sweat.

Adolf or Arnold

The Lillian Gish fan walked into the coffee shop and said, with his hand raised in salute, “Field Marshal Rommel reporting.” Then he said, “He probably doesn’t even know who that is. They don’t study history at that damn school.” Then he said, as if to himself, something about Rommel being faithful to his wife. Turning to (or on) two college gals he asked, “Do you know the name of Alexander the Great’s horse?” To which I said, “Trigger.” No one seemed to hear me. He continued, “or do you just study sex parties at that school?” As he exited he said, “Heil Hitler, I mean Schwarzenegger, I’m getting my fuhrers mixed up.”

Fever

One of my students today said to me, “If you have a fever you should go to the doctor.” I wondered aloud why she brought it up. She said that she has, “Hand, foot and mouth disease.”
I said, "What a mouthfull." And I wondered if it was really a disease. It is and it's a common one.

Mayonnaise

Ever wonder what happens if mayonnaise is allowed to freeze? It turns beautiful.

To many births or not enough deaths?

The U.S. population hit 300,000,000 yesterday morning at 7:46 EST. One person will be born every 7 seconds and one person (hopefully a different person) will die every 13 seconds. To slow population growth, we need to reverse this trend.

At the time of this writing the population has grown to 300,011,026. Click to see what the population is now.

Fish Too

There are two fish species discovered every week compared with two bird species every year.
Look, my blog is developing a theme.

Mouse

Luke thinks I'm avicentric when it comes to newly discovered species. Here's a little something for you mammal lovers.

Yet yet another newly discovered bird.

Abu Ayyub al-Masri

The great thing about killing the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq is that we (you? One?) can do it every few months. It makes a great news story: “US Military has killed the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, (insert name here).” The only part of the headline that needs editing is the name of the leader. It’s kind of like knocking over weebles. They wobble but they don’t fall down. If we knock over a red and white weeble a blue and white one pops up. Sure, it looks different but it serves the same purpose.

Today is the birthday of my pal Pam, and my Dad. Happy Birthdays.

maths

I never knew math, or "maths," as they say in England, could be so much fun.

My Fellow Americans

As president, do you get an expressway named after you? I was wondering this while listening to the traffic report in Chicago. The Kennedy and Eisenhower Expressways are always mentioned – though I never seem to know which one I am on. As I drove I wondered if Reagan has an expressway. Moments later the road I was on became the Ronald Reagan Toll way - not an expressway, but close. Further along it changed to the Ronald Reagan Highway. This all brings to mind Presidential Libraries: if I were Pres I would not want a highway of any kind to go by my name – Jon. And I would not want a library built in my name. I do not want to be responsible for the use of resources that would go into building a Library. I would accept an existing library renamed after me or an abandoned building turned into the Jonathan Sadler Presidential Library. So, yes! I accept your nomination to run for President of the United States of America, still the most powerful country in the world (for the time being).

Somehow, in spite of repeated warnings, I let the bedbugs bite.

More on the Croc Hunter

Steve Irwin’s producer was on the BBC today talking about watching Steve perform mouth to mouth and CPR on a crocodile for over an hour.
(I noticed if you change the title of this post a little it says, "Croc Hunter the More On," but I like Steve Irwin so I will leave the title as it is.)

Rain

Northern New Mexico, August.

Poor Steer

This poor animal had a tire stuck on its head. The top of the tire was hooked on his horn and the bottom covered his mouth. I got out of my car to try to help but quickly realized I would have to be much faster and stronger than I am to catch a steer and hold him still while tring to pull a tire off his head. So I took pictures instead.

Yet another newly discovered bird

If someone can get me a pair of these birds (for my collection) I’ll make it worth your effort.

Hobo Days

When I was in college in California, on the edge of the redwoods, it became fashionable to hop trains. It was also fashionable to take on a moniker or hobo name, mine was Lobo. There was a guy we used to call the Caldwell Kid (Luke) and there was Artichoke, Diamond and many, many more.

Lillian Gish

A man in his 90s, maybe his 100s, walked into a bookstore. I was there too. He was talking as he did things, for instance as he stuffed a piece of paper in his back pocket he said, “put that there . . .” Then he started looking at a book of Hollywood portraits and as he thumbed through it he said, “Lillian Gish, Lillian Gish. That’s the problem with these critics, they’re so damn young they don’t know the great movie stars. Lillian Gish.”

Either Sing or Swim

Singing and swimming are similar. They both involve a fair amount of exhaling. I am sure if you are good at singing or swimming, the breathing in and out are equal, but I am not good at either of them I feel like I breathe out more than in. But the two activities are not interchangeable. If you find your self in the middle of a lake or a river, don’t sing, swim.

Drive-thru

While getting some food at a drive-thru window – I wont say which restaurant because I do not wish to indorse this particular Mcstablishment – I noticed the young man in the window looking past my car across the lot. Following his gaze, my eyes landed at or near the rear ends of two women. The young man asked if I liked what I saw. I will not cast judgment on these women but I will say that they would not have normally caught my eye. I told him that I was trying to see what he was looking at. He said with a knowing grin (that turned out not to know much), “Same thing you are my friend.”

Justin’s Birthday

He’s a mere 26 but his sense of humor is like that of an 80 or 90 year old, very mature. Happy Birthday Justin.
This one I wrote after midnight on the 7th - Justin's birthday- but blogger claims I wrote it on the 6th - Luke's birthday.

Luke's Birthday

I posted this this morning at 1am because I wanted to be the first to wish Luke a happy birthday. Happy Birthday Luke. But for some reason it didn't show up until 11 something pm.

Crikey!

The moment I heard of Steve Irwin’s death I said that if I wrote obituaries the headline would read, “Crikey!” But I forgot that I had a blog and could have written just such a headline. The New York Times used ”Crikey” for a headline in today’s paper.
Oh, crikey, I've got to go to class.

Mammals vs Reptiles

Why is it that large dog breeds do not live as long as the small breeds but large tortoise breeds live much longer than the small ones? Sometimes nature doesn’t make sense. I know what you’re thinking, “what’s natural about a dog?” You’re right. Not much. So, I suppose, the next logical step is to have giant tortoises for pets so we never have that awful experience of losing a pet because the pet will live 150 years.

Good-bye summer

Summer is really over. I know - not really over. Saying “Summer is pretty over,” doesn’t have the same effect.
For some reason blogger is underling my words.
If you clicked on the title of this post and then were asked for a password, I have fixed that. But I have not fixed the underlining.

MTV

The Pussycat Dolls, Panic! at the Disco, and the All-American Rejects all won awards on the MTV Video Music Awards yesterday. I know that sometimes it’s fashionable to appear out of touch with pop culture but I have not heard of any of these groups.

Would you rather win a $1 million Nobel Prize or win a $25 million lottery?

New Catalogue Image

used for Photo New York advertising in Art in America and the Photo New York website.

These are all people that I have been told I look like.

Iowa

Iowa has Internet access at their rest stops. I tried it last night but it didn’t work; still, I appreciate the effort. Now I am in a café in Grinnell drinking a syrupy Italian soda while the sweat that covers my body solidifies so I can brush it off before getting back into my un-air conditioned truck.

When I drive I like to listen to books on tape. Yesterday I was listening to “My Dog Skip,” which I knew was a dangerous choice because the dog in a dog story always dies. When Skip finally died I cried almost as hard as when my dog died. I realized then that I have no more room for grief so nothing sad can happen for a while.

Hopes and desires:

I hope to never have cable TV. Please do not hold that against me while I am sitting on your couch or big leather easy chair watching your cable TV. I like your cable TV.

A wise woman once said, “Money can too buy happiness.” I would like some money. Just the right amount so I never run out.

That’s my list.

Colorado

Here is your road conditions report for Interstate 25 in Colorado, Saturday, August 19, 2006. Rainy with periods of driving rain, scary at times.

Heading East or Midwest

A few miles past Barstow I saw a sign that read, “Last Chance Fuel #2,” which I thought might be better named, “2nd to Last chance Fuel,” or “Penultimate Fuel.”

In Williams Arizona there is a café called “Java Cycle.” Java cycle is closed but the kid at the counter is kind enough to let me compute while he closes shop. Also in Williams is a beautiful, street flooding thunderstorm. I pulled over because the truck was hydroplaning on Interstate 40.

Back to the Midwest

Robert’s memorial service was Saturday at UCLA. I am still in LA until tomorrow when I will drive to Albuquerque, or half way. This is the start of my annual migration East. You know the routine: put dog to sleep, pack belongings, head to LA for memorial of dear friend, blah, blah, blah…

Good-bye

????-August 9, 2006

August is the Sunday of Summer

As a kid I hated Sundays because the next day was Monday (and there were no cartoons on Sunday morning). It’s bad when you start worrying about Sunday on Saturday or even Friday, which is what I am doing now. It’s July 18th and I am thinking about August because September comes after August. This reminds me of stressing about Christmas when Halloween decorations start to appear. One year I considered buying Christmas presents December 26th but I decided to hold off until the 24th. All this is to say that I love summer, mountains, wildflowers, lakes, birds, granite, Lodge pole pines, Jeffery pines (they smell like candy), Red firs, Mountain ash, Quaking aspen, Marmots, and I don’t like it when summer threatens to end, which it does before it begins. The day after the longest day of the year is the beginning of the (quick) march toward the shortest day of the year. And the dumb-head in me thinks about how June 22nd is a slightly shorter day than June 21st. But optimistically I think about how December 22nd is slightly longer than the 21st. That is when I start thinking about and looking forward to summer. Once I told my dad that I whished I could go to sleep in September and wake up in June. He yelled at me not to wish to miss any of my life. “But what about the school parts?” I thought.

White Crab Spider

Here's another crab spider. This one did not land on me but it did look like it wanted to beat me up.

Crab Spider

This is the spider that landed - with a thunk - on my shoulder.

Sad

If I had more hair, this is what I would look like today. I took Taffy, the beautiful dog, to the vet. She has a tumor on her right leg that makes her limp and hurts. The options are not good. One is to amputate. The vet says it might give her a few more months. The other is to keep her on painkillers and then decide when here discomfort outweighs her happiness and then put her to sleep.
It is a strange position to be in. If money were no object I would amputate. But money is an object - a scarce one. It seems a little sick to let money be part of this kind of decision.

Limb Amputation

Anesthesia (Inhalant) $51.98
Additional Anesthesia $19.00
Surgical Monitoring and Recovery $13.00
Hospitalization per day $49.50
Major Surgical Pack $38.85
Surgery $600-$800
IV Catheter Open $48.00
Injections per Day Open
Intravenous Fluids/Administration X1 $135.00
Prescriptions Open
E-collar $19.00
Buprenex inj x2 $90.90
Cefazolin inj x 2 $90.90

Total - $1165.33 – $1365.33

Plus $338.00 to check for more cancer before surgery.

It's been a quiet week in Lake...

I am finally in the cabin that inspired the name Cabin. Except that I am not in the cabin, I am in Bob Dog’s pizza. Bob Dog has free Internet. But I am living in the cabin for the next couple of months. I will be sharing the cabin with my nephew AJ and various friend’s and relatives throughout the summer. Mostly Aj’s friend’s. He was up for less than a day and had five different visitors. It’s cool of AJ to hook me up with a bunch of 19 and 20 year old girls to hang out with. I always said AJ’s got the hook up.

My tan is coming along nicely, for a farmer.

This post was meant for last Wednesday

We left Chicago 9ish and arrived at my apartment in Milwaukee at 11:45. We took the valuables out of the truck, carried them up the stairs, unlocked the deadbolt and the door was still locked. It turns out there is another lock that we normally do not lock. I do not have a key for that lock. I knew who had the keys but it was late and I didn’t have her phone number. Luckily Alice has a cousin in Milwaukee who kindly took us in. We eventually got into the apartment at noon the next day to get my tent and camping equipment but those things were in Chicago apparently. My sleeping bag is there too. My iPod wont hold a charge. I got a parking ticket.

Thank you Maria for helping me customize my blog.

Remember when I mentioned all the White-throated sparrows singing in Milwaukee a few weeks ago? I didn't think so. Listen here.

Strawberry grouper for lunch.

"Most contradictory of species, man alone creates sanctuaries for his victims."

Jacques Cousteau

Electric Raccoon

We went to Lake Michigan yesterday and this was one of many raccons shooting lazer beams at us.

Justin sent this picture of yours truly (that's what I call me) and Robert. Thanks Justin.

Conservation

This thing gets much better mileage than a car which makes me feel good about riding it. Of course the rides I took were rides I wouldn't have gotten in the car for, like doing circles in the driveway.

And Ruffed Grouse.

Birds I saw in Wisconsin this Weekend.

Red-eyed Vireo, Black-throated green warbler, Ovenbird, Black-capped chickadee, Bald eagle, Yellow-bellied sapsucker, Hairy woodpecker, White-breasted nuthatch, Red-breasted nuthatch, Red-breasted merganser, Hooded merganser, Chipping sparrow, White-throated sparrow, Red-bellied woodpecker, Common loon, Mallard, Double-crested cormorant, Starling, Brown thrasher, House wren, Yellow-rumped warbler, Gray catbird, Sandhill crane, Common grackle, Red-winged blackbird, robin, Crow, Raven, Hermit thrush, Blue jay, Cooper’s hawk, Red-ailed hawk, Eastern bluebird, Easter Kingbird, Belted kingfisher, Pileated woodpecker, Northern flicker, Chestnut-sided warbler, Great blue heron, Ring-billed gull, Canada goose, Song sparrow, American goldfinch.

Luke spotted the Eagles and Jen spotted the Pileated woodpecker.

1931-2006

Robert, my great friend, mentor, boss, and so much more, died Friday. To say he will be missed is not a strong enough statement. If I wrote pages about Robert and ended it with “He will be missed,” it would all feel like faint praise. This is not a situation where I am at a loss for words. The more I say, the more I want to say. I am just not sure what to say and what not to say. What I want people who read this to know is that I loved him. He was like a father and a son at the same time. This is a real loss.

Jorgy and Taffy

Perhaps you are familiar with a man named Jorgy. Perhaps you are also familiar with a yellow dog named Taffy. If you are familiar with Jorgy than you know he died a few years ago: three? Four? And it was some years (two, three?) before his death that he was healthy enough to walk the roads and trails near Echo Lake. In those days when Jorgy was alive and walking, Taffy and I used to walk with him pretty regularly and Jorgy would praise and pet Taffy. But then he would tell me that Taffy was getting old and that I would have to be brave and put her down someday – someday in the not so distant future. He would go on about how putting Misty down was one of the hardest Goddamn things he had ever done. I would listen because he was the wise, old man of Echo Lake. I did not bother arguing that she was only five or six years old, etc. As of this writing, Taffy is still alive and healthy and Jorgy has been dead for something like thirty dog years. Jorgy was one of my favorite Lakers; right up there with you. I enjoyed listening to his stories of the Sierra Nevada in the 40s and 50s, and his advice on killing trout (do it quickly by breaking their necks.) But, six or seven years later, I am glad I have not yet taken Jorgy’s advice and killed my dog. Wow, that’s 49 dog years!

I just watched Gus, a dog, pull a plastic bag out of a waste basket, put it on the floor, and then pee on it. What a smart dog.

The last day of school

I was following this warbler down the street, trying to get a better look at him. I thought, "I wish I could pick it up to get a good look at him." So I walked over and picked him up. Upon closer examination I concluded it is an ovenbird.

In Maricopa County, Arizona, the Sheriff makes prisoners wear pink underwear and eat green bologna sandwiches. He also organized a posse to round up illegal immigrants. He has a cleaver interpretation of a law that, in his mind, allows for arresting illegal immigrants for smuggling themselves. Isn’t that like arresting runaways for kidnapping themselves?

I heard about a couple that was married in a cemetery. It sounded interesting but it also sounded like a bad idea. But, it turned out, I had misheard. The couple was buried in a cemetery. A better idea, but not that interesting.

I have a love/hate relationship with the world (not the Earth).
I love Flowers and I love fruit trees because they produce a lot of flowers. I love the flowers more than the fruit, which I also love.
I hate war. I think it is wrong. It is: barbaric, old fashioned, not necessary, unproductive, expensive (money and lives – lots of young lives), uncivilized, not pretty, hell, and bad for the environment.

Old Lady

Imagine, ten or twelve years after the civil war. I do not know what was happening in El Salvador in 1878 other than this woman's birth. It was year 1 of the Gilded Age here in the USA. The American Cereal Co. introduced Quaker Oats as the first mass-marketed breakfast food. This panorama of San Francisco was taken by E. Muybridge in 1878. Cruz Hernandez was 88 when I was born.

I ordered a dark chocolate frappe at Alterra on Lincoln Memorial drive on my way to Chicago. I pronounced it “frapp,” and the clerk corrected me saying, “Frapp-ay.” I am not sure why, but I decided to tell him that it is really pronounced, “Frapp.” This is what I said: “In the Northeast it is pronounced Frapp.” I wanted to tell him that the northeast is where frappes were invented but before I could he said, “Frapp-ay.” Part of me thought that perhaps there is a difference in the pronunciation because, in New England, frappe is a regional term for milk shake and the frappe I was buying was a blended ice coffee drink. But that part of me was very quiet, I almost didn’t even notice it. I just thought it more important to argue about pronunciation with some poor guy working in a cafe. In case you aren’t convinced of my pettiness yet, I checked the pronunciation on dictionary.com when I got home:
frappe (frap) (there is suposed to be a 'u' shaped symbol above the 'a' but I can't find one).
n. Rhode Island & Southeastern Massachusetts

See milk shake. See Regional Note at milk shake

I was right. Unfortunately, so was he. And he was even more right, because my pronunciation really only refers to a milk shake.

The Year of the Beard

Archive

I took these pictures the day before my 30th birthday. I was driving through the Sacramento Valley with Toby (Placer High, class of ’84). The man in the photo gave us a talk about cockfighting and how it is illegal so he does not fight his (I think I detected a wink when he said it). Then he talked about how there are humane ways to fight chickens. He said someone has come up with little chicken boxing gloves with electronic sensors for keeping score.

White-throated Sparrow

For those of you keeping track, the White-throated sparrows (this one is named Robert McDonald) are back in Milwaukee. I did not hear any last week. When I left the house this morning I could hear them singing from every direction. In Canada, birdwatchers describe the song "Oh Sweet Canada, Canada, Canada" while American birdwatchers describe it as "Old Sam Peabody, Peabody, Peabody," or "Oh Sweet Jonathan, Jonathan, Jonathan."

Book Review

"How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life," is okay at best. But, to be fair, I did not like “Sloppy Firsts,” or, the decidedly worse, “Second Helpings.” The titles of the latter two volumes implied a titillating narrative that they simply did not deliver.

Happy Birthday Mom

Today is my mother’s birthday. She doesn’t read blogs. She never liked them, even as a kid. She didn’t even read Roosevelt’s Fireside Blog.

I wonder if people will start naming their sons Judas now that he’s a good guy.
"Judas! Let go of your sister's ponytail!"
"Judas! Time for dinner!"
"Now Judas, no one likes a tattle tail."
Just trying it on for size.

Coffee

I’ve lived in Milwaukee for, what? 10 years? 15 years? 8 months?, and the coffee still sucks. I find that in order to make the coffee in Milwaukee palatable I have to put twice as much sugar in it. If my teeth rot I will blame Wisconsin.
What do you think of the idea of a tattoo of Wisconsin? Maybe under the map it will say, “Wisconsin, where the winters are bitter and so is the coffee.”

Do you know what the worst thing a public radio station can do?
Play music.

New Car

Ever since Luke bought a BMW, we have noticed a lot more idiots on the road.

Money Saving Plan

In anticipation of higher gas prices, I decided to buy my gas now. I bought 250 gallons. That should get me through the summer. I’ll feel pretty good knowing I only spent $2.89.9 instead of $3.15.9 or what ever the summer price ends up being.

Not MySpace anymore

I quit MySpace. I admit to feeling bad for the people who asked me to be their friend - both of them, but the feeling of deleting my account was so much better than the feeling of opening a MySpace account.
When I logged on to MySpace today I promised MySelf that if my browser, Firefox, froze while attempting to log in, I would keep logging in until I succeeded so I could cancel my account. Firefox froze, twice.
While I write this there is a story on the radio about how MySpace is a haven for child molesters. Whew. I got out just in time.
Also, I tried to create a link to MySpace but when I opened MySpace my browsers froze and I lost this post and had to re-write it.

Whooping Cranes

Luke emailed this story about Whooping Cranes in Chicago, which reminded me that on my way home from work a Golden-crowned kinglet fluttered in front of me like a butterfly and then landed a couple feet from me on the sidewalk.
P.S. None of the bird photos are by me unless they are really bad.

Beggerman

When someone approaches and says, “Excuse me, can I ask you something?” And then says, loudly, “I am not a Bum, or a derelict, or a panhandler,” you know that the next thing they are going to do is ask for money, which, by definition, makes the person at least one of the above. Yesterday a man of about 60 approached me at the Lake Forest Oasis on my way to my car. He had a pretty long story about the car braking down and him having money for the towing and his buddy – who waved at me from the driver’s seat of the car – having had the money for the repair. Now they needed money for gas. It seemed only right that I should pay my share so I gave him money but I did consider asking for a receipt because, as a charitable contribution, it is deductible.

If you are a panhandler find me. I cannot say no. I do not like giving money away, but I usually do it to get away from the situation as fast as possible.

Two More Newly Discovered

Species. Someone should do a study to make sure extinction is keeping up with the rate of new species discoveries before we run out of room. I just checked. We’ll be okay. Extinction is way ahead.

Happy Birthday Laurie

I spent a long time on this cake. But I accidentally put 1/4 cup of salt instead of a 1/4 teaspoon so it does not taste good.

President

Saddam Hussein is hilarious. Eminem too.

Tomorrow morning at

1:02:03 on 04/05 /06 I plan to look at my digital watch. Or just keep sleeping. One or the other.

Coming Soon

I saw an advance copy of Alice Shaw's book and it is really good. It should be out soon.
Alice also has a show in San Francisco at SFAC Gallery. It is only up until April 8th, so hurry.