Belted Kingfisher

Unfortunately this bird will fish no more. Is it ironic that he was killed by fishing line?

Starlings

If you read only part of the above, make it the last sentence.

Hear hear!

Bunkum

Scroll to the bottom of this page and you’ll see a banner ad for a CD compilation featuring the band Bunkum. If you like potty humor (and who doesn’t?) buy this CD now. If you aren’t a big fan of that brand of humor, buy the CD later. This is one of America’s longest-lived bands. They formed way back in 1982 or 1983 and have been together (with all the original members and then some) ever since. And if all that is not enough, they are friends of mine. I might even be thought of as the Pete Best of Bunkum if I played the drums or the Stewart Sutcliffe if I had died in art school. But alas, I survived art school.

Hardball

Every once in a while I write about politics.
In Boise we have a famous senator, famous for being openly gay to everyone but himself. Yesterday Idaho’s junior republican senator, Mike Crapo (pronounced just the way it looks) said he is “stepping in to make sure no balls are dropped…” It seemed to be exactly the appropriate thing to say in this situation.

Boise Observations

I am in a café in Boise. There is a table chock-full o’ teenagers next to me. They look about the same as teenagers looked when I was one but these have different things pierced. I was going to say, “they have more piercings,” but people had plenty in my time but they tended to be relegated to the ears or in some cases an ear. One teenager is eating packets of jelly from the condiment counter. Another is the cynical leader with a voice that could curdle milk or curl teeth or at least make you feel dumb if she talked to you. Paradoxically, if you were among her peers, you’d feel privileged if she talked to you. I know the type.
Low battery, must go.

Dog

This is my dog, Diego, and he is a Chihuahua. There, I said it. He tends to have wet eyes and that's what that dark crescent shape under his eye is.

Olden Days

I was doing a scanning demo for my class so I grabbed a bunch of old slides from my collection of old slides that I keep in a drawer marked, "Old Slides." This is our old dock.

My Home: a cabin it ain't

My new shower curtain makes my entire apartment smell like freshly finished floors. I believe that is what is referred to as "off gassing."

Haiku

In the cicada's cry
No sign can foretell
How soon it must die.

Basho, Matsuo. (1644-1694).

I assume this was originally written in Japanese but it rhymes in English.

This was sent to me from Rob Thurlow.

Western Idaho Fair

Here we have a young bison trying to nurse from billy goat. For those of you who do not know, a billy goat is a male goat, also called a buck. Only occasionally did he let his frustration with the bison bother him enough to butt the calf with his horns.
This activity raises quite a few questions, non of which will I address here. This is not that kind of blog.

Loaded Landscape

Here is a review from a show that Luke and I are in at the Museum of Contemporary Photography.
We are only named as "New Catalogue."

America Me

As a fifth generation Californian, I have a tendency to defend the state when people make fun of it for its hippy/mellow/earthy population. But today I went into a store in South Lake Tahoe and overheard two co-workers’ conversation. One of them asked, “What are you?” There must be dozens of possible answers to that question: a woman, a human, a girl, an American, a Democrat. But she knew the answer, a Virgo. He was an Aries. They agreed that those two signs are not meant for each other - romantically speaking. He said, “I need to find a Sag,” (short for Sagittarius). So all of your preconceived notions about Californians are correct: always warm, earthquakes, hippies. We’ve got it all.

But I don’t live in California. I live in Boise, Idaho. My current mailing address is in Chicago, Illinois, my car is registered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, I have a Massachusetts drivers license, and my area code is New Mexican.

This is the picture I meant to post

Pete on Letterman

Apparently David Letterman also just read Dishwasher. My apologies to Pete - the TV I watched this on stretches people out a bit. Pete did a great job on television. He was funny and he even told people to turn off their TVs - Pete does not watch TV.

Practice Run

This truck/trailer combo seemed big until we parked it next to the big boys.
Luke and I drove this thing from Albuquerque to Chicago over the weekend. Next weekend we are driving a similar but smaller truck to Boise. See you there.

Tomorrow I am giving my computer back to the institution that owns it. I’ll get a new one in about a month from another institution, so I’ll be blogging with a typewriter like in the olden days.

New Residence

One of these is my new home in Boise. Next time your in Boise stop by.

Boise

Boise is pronounced with a hard 's,' as in Boy C. This is what I saw more than anything else during my four days in Boise - it's called "Rufus."