"Home is the sailor, home from the sea, And the hunter home from the hill." - Robert Louis Stevenson

Well, actually I wasn't sailing or hunting, but I did get home.

We came home Monday afternoon, but I've been so busy catching up on stuff around the yard I haven't had much of a chance to post until now. It was cool and raining here in Salt Lake, so the grass and weeds grew into a jungle. I've also been tilling and planting a vegetable garden, so I've been fairly busy.

*********************************************************

We took our time going to Moab; it is only about a four hour drive, so we did some stops on the way.
One of stops we made was the Natural History Museum in Price, Utah.

As usual, click on the pictures if you want to see the full-size version.  These are only a small portion of the pictures, I may post some more later.

Not far from the town they have been pulling out some mammoth skeletons, such as this guy.

They also had a few dinosaur skeletons, allosaurus, stegasaurus, triceratops, and a few others.

*********************************************************

Coming into Moab, it is necessary to cross the Colorado River.

The first picture shows the highway crossing the river.
The second picture is taken from the bridge for foot and bicycle traffic.

*********************************************************

We spent quite a bit of time south of Moab; our first stop was a small museum in Blanding that was built next to a small Anasazi village. The Anasazi were the ancestors of the modern Pueblo people; their culture collapsed during the time of the 13th and 14th centuries BC. The name Anasazi means "the ancient enemy" in the Navajo language. The ancestors of the Navajo and Apache peoples raided the Anasazi, hence the name.

Some ruins.

Some of the pottery recovered from the ruins.

We next went on to Hovenweep, another Anasazi settlement.

Hovenweep is in a small valley, and has towers along the edge.  I took pictures of some of the towers.

*********************************************************

Some time was spent around the Canyonlands area. There was some wind that day, so the air was a little hazy in some areas due to dust.
The first two are from Sixshooter Viewpoint.
The other two are from on top of Island in the Sky area.

We also saw various wildlife, such as raptors, elk, and pronghorns.

I couldn't pass up some of the flowers blooming at this time.
The first two are cactus.
The third is wild hollyhocks, a type of mallow.
Wild irises.

 












When coming home on Monday, it was fair weather until we reached Soldier Summit.
My wife was driving at the time, and I took this picture(through the windshield while we were moving) of a blizzard we had to pass through. It was actually worse than it looks.

We also stopped by the Sundance Institute to check out the mountain roads in the Wasatch area. The road going over to American Fork was still closed, and snow was still present at Sundance in many of the shaded areas. I got a picture of the sculpture there when the sun was out.

All in all, we had a good time.

*********************************************************

A lot of oldies in this bunch.

"It's My Life" by Bon Jovi
"Lightnin' Strikes" by Lou Christie
"Season of the Witch" by Donovan
"Shape of Things to Come" by Max Frost and the Troopers
"American Pie" by Don McLean
"She's My Girl" by The Turtles
"Brown Sugar" by The Rolling Stones
"Burnin' For You" by Blue Öyster Cult
"Rock Me" by Steppenwolf
"I Drink Alone" by George Thorogood

Letters from the road

Just dropped in to say hi; I'm on my wife's laptop here in Moab, Utah. We've done a lot of goofing off, seen some interesting rock formations, some Anasazi ruins, a few critters. Having a good time just relaxing and seeing the sights, also went to the art festival happening this weekend. Should have a few interesting photos when we get back in a few days.
Hope you're all having a good weekend.
W00t!

And now for a drive-by post

Finally got some sunlight; the past few days have been almost constant rain, until we are having some flooding in some areas of Utah. When the ground dries a bit over the next few days, I hope to get the garden ready. There are lots of perennial herbs that I have been able to use, and some of the greens, but it has been a bit chilly for stuff like tomatoes, peppers, and squash.

***********************************************

Some areas of the country are getting hit pretty hard; my best wishes go out to the flood victims of Mississippi, and for the people in Missouri who are fighting with tornadoes.

***********************************************

I've been getting stuff ready for a vacation; my wife and I are leaving for southern Utah tomorrow morning, and will get back sometime Monday. Hope to have a good time and bring back a few interesting photos.

***********************************************

A mix, with mostly oldies. Any favorites in this list?

"Gimme All Your Lovin'" by ZZ Top
"Immigrant Song" by Led Zeppelin
"Sometimes I's A Bitch" by Stevie Nicks
"You're No Good" by Linda Ronstadt
"My Way" by Frank Sinatra
"White Rabbit" by Jefferson Airplane
"Termination" by Iron Butterfly
"Thinking Of You" by Christian Kane
"Conquer Me" by Blues Traveler
"Summertime" by Janis Joplin


A CW song by actor Christian Kane; he may be familiar to you from the series Angel, and is currently one of the main characters in the series Leverage.



One of my favorites from a blues group that has been around for a while.



An old blues song from one of the greatest of the blues ladies. Janis looked like ten miles of bad road, and had a voice like the day after too much booze and cigarettes, but she sang with a passion and feeling that gave her music a depth of soul that most singers only can aspire to.




***********************************************

Yep, I'm still here

Been having joint problems; until a few days ago the air pressure was on a roller coaster and we were alternating with snow, rain, and sunny weather. It seems to have leveled out a bit for now, so we are getting some sun.
Friday night my wife and I had to go out of town for a bit when she got out off work. She had some accounting to do over in Ft. Duchesne, so we drover over to there. Ran into some snow on the way there, but it wasn't too bad, just a mild blizzard.

On the way back however, it was a different story. We were coming down Daniels Canyon at about midnight and ran into a whiteout. The snow was coming down hard, and had enough wind to blow it horizontally, and directly at us. It was impossible to see past the hood of my vehicle. The road was covered with a thin layer of ice and snow, and the paint on the road was invisible, and we couldn't see far enough to see where the road ended and the dropoff began. The only thing I could make out, with my window rolled down, was the faint texture differnce on the road where the rumble strips were, and some times when the snow drifted higher, they were invisible. We crept along like that down the canyon, rarely going over 5 mph until we got into Heber, where it was snowing a little lighter, and we could see the road. From there we were able to drive over the Wasatch Mountains and down into Salt Lake, but we didn't get home until after 1:30 AM. A long stressful night. I've been in whiteouts before, and they are nasty.

***********************************************************

The military got Osama finally. I'm not going to shoot off a rocket, or celebrate, any more than I would celebrate after shooting a rabid skunk. The garbage has been taken out, so let's move on.
And quit giving the guy in the White House credit for it; it was done by our people in uniform, not that wishy-washy character who would have probably apologized if 9-11 had happened under his watch, and then gone on another golf vacation.

***********************************************************

I notice most of the media is still ignoring the investigation of Project Gunwalker; if you're unfamiliar with it, it was a project where the ATF ordered a number of gun sellers to sell firearms to people they knew were smuggling guns to the Mexican drug cartels, and then lost track of them. The guns numbered in the thousands, and one of them was used in the murder of a border patrol officer. The ATF denied it for some time, until some ATF whistle blowers agreed to testify. When the ATF when called on it, they refused to cooperate. It has also been shown that it was run by the Department of Justice, who is also refusing to cooperate with Congress, even after an order from a judge. The Obama administration has been doing its best to block all investigation, but luckily some of the representatives have been pursuing it. Holder testified yesterday, under order of Congress. He claims to know nothing about it, and never heard of it, though it has been running since 2009. He is either incompetent, or a liar. My personal opinion is that it could go either way, but I tend to lean toward the later. This administration and the ATF are both very much against firearms and the Second Amendment, and have been trying to blame the American guns in Mexico on American gun sellers, in order to chip away at the Second Amendment in the same way they have been doing to the rest of the Bill of Rights.

***********************************************************

My brother had to have some "minor" surgery (minor to anyone but the patient, anyway), so I've been trying to be available in case he needs anything. His birthday is in a few days, so this is sort of a bummer for him.

***********************************************************

Sort of a mixed bag in this playlist.

"Guantanamera" by Trini Lopez
"Here I Go Again" by Whitesnake
"Magical Mystery Tour" by The Beatles
"Nothing Is Easy" by Jethro Tull
"This Ain't the Summer of Love" by Blue Öyster Cult
"I'll See You In Hell" by Lewis Ray Cammarata
"The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence" by Gene Pitney
"Night Moves" by Bob Seger
"Never Comes the Day" by The Moody Blues
"I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" by Hank Williams


One of my favorites of his.



One of my favorite groups of all time.



If you can't identify with this one, you must not have been around much.

A peek of spring

Decided I wasn't in the mood to comment on all the gloomy bullshit happening in the world today, and we have warm weather and sunshine, so I figured I'd post more of my sappy spring photos that I took today.
As usual, click on them to humongify (yeah, I know that isn't a word, but WTF)

Picture 1: Blood Plum blossoms
Picture 2: Daffodils next to my front porch
Picture 3: Bi-colored daffodil
Picture 4: Miniature daffodils (the flowers are only an inch across)
Pictures 5 and 6:  the first tulips opening in my yard; the rest are getting ready to bloom

******************************************************************

The stuff up above I typed in Saturday.  Just after I had saved it, I heard a whining form my computer, and my hard drive expired.  Put a new one in, and decided to upgrade my operating system from XP to Win 7.  Just getting things set up from backups.

******************************************************************

Lately I've been in the mood for a lot of old stuff; I don't know how much anyone will recognize.


         "To Cry You A Song" by Jethro Tull
 "Brown Eyed Girl" by Van Morrison
        "King of the Road" by Roger Miller
         "Substitute" by The Who
         "Under the Boardwalk" by The Drifters
         "Yesterday's Gone" by Chad and Jeremy
         "Homeward Bound" by Simon and Garfunkel
         "Runaway" by Del Shannon
         "All Your Love" by John Mayall, Eric Clapton, and the Bluesbreakers
        "Sunday Morning Coming Down" by Johnny Cash


Who could forget this tune?

An oldie from some of the best of the blues players.




I think a lot of us can empathize with this song; written by Kris Kristofferson and done by the Man in Black.

Hi again

Anyone else getting tired of winter? Around here it has been a roller coaster the past few days; we get a half foot of snow, then it turns sunny for a day, then it snows again, then it is sunny, until you don't know what the weather is like until you look outside, and if you wait a couple of hours, you better look again, because it may have changed. (Damn, that was an awfully long sentence, with too many commas.)
I was finally able to hobble to the gym today and do some work on the machines; I still can't use a treadmill because of the pain in my left leg, and I don't dare use the free weights. Still trying to get the strength up in my bad shoulder so it will be ready when spring finally comes.

**************************************************************

Saw this little item the other day; if the reviews on it turn out well, I may have to look into one, especially for that price. Check out some of the stuff you can do with infra-red.

**************************************************************

Have you seen the people that the Stupid Party (Republicans) have been coming up with? I think Tamara pretty much sums it up better than I could express it.

**************************************************************

I see the feds are still battling about the national debt. There is no way they are going to come up with a good solution; you cannot pay off something when the money out is more than the money coming in, and anyone who thinks just raising taxes will solve it is an idiot. The government has raised taxes in the past, and it never works, because they do the same thing that some families do; when they start making more money, they just start spending more, so it doesn't help them relieve the debts at all. Both parties will do their song-and-dance, make a lot of noise, and not solve a damn thing. I have a bad feeling that the charade will go on until the camel's back breaks, and then we will have an economic crash that will make the Great Depression look like a party. I hope I'm wrong.

**************************************************************

A bunch of oldies in this batch.

"Waltzing Matilda" by Slim Dusty
"Society's Child" by Janis Ian
"Lovely to See You" by The Moody Blues
"Maggie May" by Rod Stewart
"Lazy Bones" by Leon Redbone
"I Heard It Through the Grapevine" by Marvin Gaye
"Can't Find My Way Home" by Blind Faith
"Lady Willpower" by Gary Puckett and the Union Gap
"California Nights" by Lesley Gore
"All Along the Watchtower" by Jimi Hendrix

Anyone around in the sixties should remember this group.




A lot of her songs were "bubble-gum"; this was one of her best.




What can you say about this version? It speaks for itself.

And Mother Nature plays her game...

Yesterday it was 70ºF, during the night a storm moved in; I woke up to the yard covered with snow. Around the neighborhood quite a few branches got broken off; some of mine are bent to the ground.

#1: you can see from my birdbath that there is about 6-8" in my back yard.
#2. some trees in my front yard.  The snow isn't as deep because it is all on the trees, bending them to the ground
#3: looking into my driveway from the street.  I had to knock snow loose to drive out.
#4: looking out into the street from my driveway.

The sun came out a couple of hours ago, so hopefully some of this will melt away.

***************************************************************

It appears someone burned a Qu'ran; so now people are rioting over in the middle east, and killing people who have no relation whatsoever to the person who burnt it. Bunch of savages still stuck in the dark ages.

***************************************************************

Will try to post more often; sometimes I have the focus and energy, sometimes not. If my health gets better that will probably help.

***************************************************************

Any familiar ones in this bunch?

"Knockin' On Heaven's Door" by Bob Dylan
"Fire and Ice" by Pat Benatar
"I'm Eighteen" by Alice Cooper
"Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue" by Crystal Gayle
"Dark Night" by The Blasters
"Once Bitten, Twice Shy" by Great White
"Morgana" by John Renbourn
"Black Unicorn" Heather Alexander
"Take Me to Heart" by Quarterflash
"Don't Fear the Reaper" by Blue Öyster Cult

"In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on." - Robert Frost

Was hoping to get here sooner; I've been laid up with sciatica for the past couple of weeks. Feels like my left kidney, hip, and leg are being beaten with baseball bats, and that's on a good day. When it gets acting up badly, it feels even worse, and throbs continually. I'm feeling a bit better today, so I'm able to focus a little better.  My wife is visiting her brother for the weekend (I'll be taking her to the airport in just a few minutes), so I'm going to be a bachelor for a couple of days.

*******************************************************

I don't know what is going to happen in the Middle East, everything seems in an uproar over there. It will probably turn out the way it usually does; whoever has the most soldiers and the best weapons will bully and beat everyone else into submission, and run things like usual. Nothing really changes over there, a bunch of neo-barbarian tribes fighting it out, only they can afford better guns these days.
I just hope the idiots in DC keep us out of it; nothing good ever comes of messing around in other people's civil wars.

*******************************************************

We're getting a taste of spring, but it could still rain and snow this weekend; around here the weather is sort of odd.  The daffodils, hyacinths, and crocuses are blooming well; the tulips should be opening up soon.

At least the flowers are brightening up things a bit.
Picture 1: a miniature daffodil; it is only one inch across.
Picture 2: full size daffodils
Picture 3: periwinkle
Picture 4: violets
Picture 5: catkins on a quaking aspen

*******************************************************

Any favorites in this bunch?

"As Time Goes By" by Rosemary Clooney
"One" by Three Dog Night
"Saginaw Michigan" by Lefty Frizzell
"Squeeze Box" by The Who
"Those Were the Days" by Cream
"Cats in the Cradle" by Harry Chapin
"Jump" by Van Halen
"Waiting for the Sun" The Doors
"Dark Eyed Woman" by Spirit
"Sometimes in Winter" by Blood, Sweat, and Tears

Hello again.

It's been way too long since I've been here. I've been concentrating on getting my arm better, and have been sleeping poorly, which leaves a person sort of apathetic and unfocused. I finally finished up my physical therapy; now the rest is up to me. I can say with confidence that I feel able to arm wrestle a ten-year old girl and could probably win! The extent of my injury is such that the doctors said it could take twelve to eighteen months to get near my original strength back, so I have a lot of work ahead over the next few months. At least I have full mobility with some strength at this point.

*********************************************************************

Spring is peeking around the corner. Around here we get teased by spring a lot, but end up getting snow clear into early May sometimes. Just a few days ago we got several inches of snow, now we have flowers blooming.
Picture 1 and 2: crocuses
Picture 3: catkins on a quaking aspen.

I'm getting cabin fever really bad.

*********************************************************************

The videos and photos coming out of Japan are horrendous; I can only hope they don't get bad aftershocks; I don't know how much that little country can take of being pounded on by Mother Nature.

*********************************************************************

I was reading over the president's speech on gun control the other day; that was a waste of a good teleprompter. That guy has a definite talent for weaving a skein of drivel a mile long without really saying anything of substance. If he was half as smart as he and his followers think he is, he would fire 99% of the people advising him and hire some people with a bit of experience and something to their credit besides being able to kiss his ass.

*********************************************************************

Looking at my calendar, I just noticed that my blog will be five years old on Friday. W00t!

*********************************************************************

Anyone out there having problems with Firefox crashing? It just started doing it the other day. I uninstalled and then reinstalled it, but it still crashes, even without adding any extensions. The only time it doesn't crash is running it in safe mode. I have a suspicion some sort of glitch in the latest flash software is doing it, but I'm not certain. Right now I'm using Chrome (I HATE Internet Explorer), but I wish it was more customizable.

*********************************************************************


Any favorites in this bunch?

"I'll Pay You Back With Interest" by The Hollies
"Jupiter's Child" by Steppenwolf
"Someone to Watch over Me" by Reneé Olstead
"Eight Miles High" by Leo Kottke
"Summertime Blues" by Blue Cheer
"Wichita Lineman" by Glen Campbell
"Kashmir" by Led Zeppelin
"I Never Cry" Alice Cooper
"There Ain't No Good Chain Gang" by Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings
"Don't Come Around Here No More" by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers


One of my favorites of Alice Cooper



A classic by two of the best country singers; I miss these guys



One of my favorite groups and one of the best videos from the eighties.

Posting again already.

Looks like I have some new neighbors moving into my front yard. A pair of magpies have decided to open house in one of my trees. We have quite a few of them in the neighborhood, along with mourning doves and (in summer) a ridiculous amount of robins and finches. I sometimes get hummingbird nests in my trees, and always welcome them.

Picture 1: View of nest from the street.
Picture 2. View of nest from my yard. That black thing is the tail of one of the magpies while it is working on the nest.
Picture 3: Nothing to do with birds, just happy to see the daffodils coming up, finally.

********************************************************

Looks like Swiss have decided to stay free; they voted against government restrictions on their right to keep and bear arms.

"If the 'Yes' goes through, it really risks destroying the country," Xavier Schwitzguebel, an army reservist officer, was earlier quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.
"If we take away the weapon, which represents this trust, that means that we are breaking the sacred union between democracy and citizen."

That explains it better than just about anything; a government that does not trust its citizens has drawn a line between the people and the government, and they become subjects rather than citizens.

"When you disarm your subjects you offend them by showing that either from cowardliness or lack of faith, you distrust them; and either conclusion will induce them to hate you."
--Niccolo Machiavelli - The Prince

********************************************************

Some of you have probably already seen this; I just wish we would bring them all home. If you can watch this without feeling moved, then you have an empty spot where your heart should be.
H/T to Borepatch and Life and Times of An Average Guy



********************************************************

Some of these should be familiar, depending on your age and what type music you like. I tend to listen to a broad range; about the only kinds I won't listen to are disco and rap.


"Magic" by Olivia Newton-John
"The Wanderer" by Dion
"Not Fade Away" by Buddy Holly
"Take the "A" Train" by Duke Ellington
"It's Only Make Believe" by Conway Twitty
"Mama Tried" by Merle Haggard
"Exodus" by Ferrante and Teicher
"You Know What I Mean" by The Turtles
"Fallen Hero" by Vixen
"With You There to Help Me" by Jethro Tull


One of my favorite bands from the sixties.







Another great band from the sixties and seventies.

I'm surprised anyone is still visiting, considering how infrequently I blog.

I was hoping to be posting before this, but it seems that stuff kept coming up.  I'm still planning on blogging more often.

I've been watching the action in Egypt in the news for a few days now; I'm not certain where they are going to be once the dust settles. I just hope we don't get people in DC who think we need to go poking our fingers into that hornet's nest; I'm still waiting for them to bring our soldiers back from the mess they've got them into in Iraq and Afghanistan.

*********************************************

Went out to my mom's last week to do a bit of repair at her place. The fog was interesting that I ran into at spots on the way. The thickest was at the last leg from Grantsville going south to her place.  Once I got onto higher ground, I came out of the fog, and it was sunny the rest of the way.
Click on pictures to enlarge.
The first two pictures are taken halfway through the fog; the first one is facing south, the second is facing north.
The third picture is right after I came out of the fog, but you can't really appreciate the size of it from the photo.  It was a vertical wall, several hundred feet high, and it flowed along the ground without breaking up, like watching a tsunami in slow motion.
The last three pictures are taken at my mom's place, where the sunlight had not burned away the rime yet.

*********************************************

Very cool; check it out.




*********************************************

Any of these look familiar to anyone?

"Hang On Sloopy" by The McCoys
"Fallen Hero" by Vixen
"Moon River" by Andy Williams
"No More Words" by Berlin
"The Tide is High" by Blondie
"Midnight Rider" by The Allman Brothers
"Moonlight Seranade" by Glenn Miller
"Sitting at the Wheel" by The Moody Blues
"Renaissance Faire" by Blackmore's Night
"With You There to Help Me" by Jethro Tull

Another trip around the sun

This is number 59 for me, as a matter of fact. On Jan 20, 1952, I came into this world as a breech baby, and have been doing things ass-backwards since. My mom had her birthday on the eighteenth, so my younger brother took our mom and me to lunch that day.(Thanks again, Rich)

*******************************************

We seem to be having a mid-January thaw around here; it has been either sunny or raining for several days now, and all the gray snow is about gone. It's a nice break from the cold and ice we've been experiencing.

*******************************************

Still spending a lot of time working on my shoulder. I have full range of motion, but my strength leaves something to be desired. Right now , if I tried really hard, I could probably arm-wrestle an eight-year-old to a draw.
I try to spend some time on my lower body with the machines at the gym, and walking on an inclined treadmill. Strangely enough, I haven't lost any pounds, but I've had to tighten my belt almost four inches, so something must be taking place.

*******************************************

No comments on the news; most of it is a mixture of WTF? and bullshit, and hopefully the smoke will clear soon.

*******************************************

There has to be a favorite or two in here; if there isn't one, there should be.

"Touch of Gray" by Grateful Dead
"Blue Suede Shoes" by Carl Perkins
"Come Stay With Me" by Marianne Faithful
"Small Town" by John Mellencamp
"Beg, Borrow, and Steal" by Rare Breed
"Our Guessing Game" by The Moody Blues
"Legs" by ZZ Top
"Hurt" by Johnny Cash
"Kerosene" by Miranda Lambert
"With You There to Help Me" by Jethro Tull

This song was originally done by Nine-Inch Nails. The Man in Black does a haunting rendition of it, not long before he passed away.



A hot song from a firecracker of a lady.



One of my favorites of Jethro Tull.

"Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia." - Charles M. Schulz

From the looks of it, however, Australia is taking quite a beating from Mother Nature.  Of course, they were assured that (according to Al Gore & Co.)  it would be a dry, warm year down there.  

************************************************

So much for New Year resolutions; I was going to try and blog more often, and have failed dismally.

************************************************

I'm not going to say much about the killings in Tucson; right now I've pretty disgusted with the way media and the left wing have behaved like a bunch of hyenas and vultures. I don't care for either party, but this occasion has been nothing more than a bunch of jerks trying to capitalize on the tragedy by dancing in the blood.

"There is something about a Republican that you can only stand him just so long; and on the other hand, there is something about a Democrat that you can't stand him quite that long."
- Will Rogers

************************************************

Snow, and more snow. Wish it would get up to freezing for a change; we've been well below freezing night and day now for at least a week or two. It's getting tiresome.

************************************************

Didn't see much to photograph the last few days; one pile of dirty gray snow looks like another. Thought I'd post a few pictures taken before I started blogging. These are all of warmer weather, which may be of interest
to some of you.  Click to enlarge.

Picture 1: my wife took this one down by Deadhorse Point.  She spotted this buck running into the brush, stopped our Jeep, and was out of the door with her camera before it came to a full stop.  The buck was cleaning the last of the velvet from his antlers, so she caught several shots of him sparring with a bush.
Picture 2: sunset above the Colorado River, right outside of Moab, Utah.
Picture 3: river coming out of mountain.  The river starts on the other side; it was diverted by tunneling through the mountain and channeling the river through it.  It runs down to a small lake in Spanish Valley.
Picture 4: closeup where river comes out.
Picture 5: Upheaval Dome.  An old meteorite crater outside of Moab.  You can find it in Google Earth at lat=38.4370537, lon=-109.9293747.

************************************************

Any favorites in this bunch? Any comments or anecdotes?

"Hold Me" by Fleetwood Mac
"The Warrior" by Patty Smyth
"Promises in the Dark" by Pat Benatar
"Runnin' Blues" by The Doors
"Pictures of Matchstick Men" by Status Quo
"I Thought I Heard the Devil" by John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers
"Have a Nice Day" by Bon Jovi
"Rock Me" by Steppenwolf
"We Gotta Get Out Of This Place" by Eric Burdon and the Animals
"Shot of Poison" by Lita Ford


A rockin' song from a great group of the sixties.



At a place I used to work, whenever this song came on, everyone sang along with the chorus, even the people who normally didn't like rock music. One of the great classics of the sixties.



A hot lady in leather with a hard rock guitar. Gotta love rock 'n roll...

Getting tired of snow

It's been snowing for a couple of days now, and is coming down good as I write this.
These pictures are from yesterday morning; it snowed all day yesterday, last night, and is still coming down.  It's dropped a good eight inches since then, and I didn't feel like going out to take pictures today.

Picture 1: View from my mailbox to the west.  Can't even see the Oquirrh Mountains.
Picture 2:  Birdbath in my back yard.  The birds are out of luck.

The snow does have its own kind of beauty though; the two shots below show that.

*******************************************************

Another year is winding down, ready to end. Looking back, a lot happened from my viewpoint. The economy, a fire at my mom's place, my injury and the long recovery I'm working on, being diagnosed with diabetes, etc. Hopefully next year will be a lot better, at least for me.
I don't feel too hopeful for the economy; even if things pick up, it's going to take a while to get the momentum going.
The federal government? We changed one bunch of crooks for another, hopefully this bunch will have a little more sense of self-preservation and start listening to their constituents instead of just passing more pork and ignoring the public. I'm not holding my breath until it happens, however. As far as the the White House goes, I don't have much confidence in that bunch; a bunch of elitists who look down their noses as anyone not of their persuasion, and seem to think they can get by by blaming everything on the past administration. None of them seems to know a damn thing about business or economics, yet they keep coming up with more bullshit to fling out into the economy.

"The larger the mob, the harder the test. In small areas, before small electorates, a first-rate man occasionally fights his way through, carrying even the mob with him by force of personality. But when the field is nationwide, and the fight must be waged chiefly at second and third hand, and the force of personality cannot so readily make itself felt, then all the odds are on the man who is, intrinsically, the most devious and mediocre - the man who can most easily adeptly disperse the notion that his mind is a virtual vacuum.
The Presidency tends, year by year, to go to such men. As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”
-H.L. Mencken

Just my opinion.

*******************************************************

There should be some familiar tunes in this bunch.

"Lights" by Journey
"You're No Good" by Linda Ronstadt
"Edge of Seventeen" by Stevie Nicks
"Cold, Cold Heart" by Hank Williams
"Against the Wind" by Bob Seger
"Nickel Romeo" by The Bangles
"The Sound of Silence" by Simon and Garfunkel
"If I Were A Carpenter" by Bobby Darin
"The Lonely One" by Duane Eddy
"I Just Want To Make Love To You" by LMuddy Waters

A Bob Dylan tune done by the late Bobby Darin. Great version of a good song.



Duane Eddy had a distinctive style that makes him one of the classic guitarists of oldies rock.



Blues, from an old master.

Too long between posting, sorry about that.

I was looking at the international news, and noticed a strange thing happening over in Switzerland.
In most countries, the governments are always trying to disarm the populace; the sheep are easier to govern when they feel helpless. In Switzerland, however, we have the opposite thing happening; the government is trying to keep the population armed, and are urging the people not to disarm themselves. It would seem there is a group pushing for strict gun control, and locking up all the guns, which would completely negate the reserves and militia. WTF?

***************************************

Winter is in full swing, and has afforded a few opportunities for photos. I hope to get more later, as I'm now able to get out more.
These were taken out at my mom's place last week.   

Click pictures to enlarge.

Picture 1: Looking east toward the Oquirrh Mountains from the back yard.
Pictures 2 and 3 are a couple of trees.  These were taken in the afternoon, which goes to show how cold the air is out there.

***************************************

There was a wreath ceremony at Arlington for the fallen. Our fallen soldiers don't get the recognition they deserve. For one of the best posts I've seen in a long time, drop over to Brigid's blog and read it. If you don't find that to be a moving article, your heart is in the wrong place. 

***************************************

December 15 is Bill of Rights Day, for those who didn't know. It wouldn't hurt to get out a copy (or pull one up off the Web) and look it over. It is one of the most amazing and ignored documents in the history of human rights.
Most paperwork associated with the formation of governments deals with the powers of the government, and what rights are "given" to the subjects, through the magnanimity of the rulers. The Bill of Rights is unique; it does not grant rights to the people (who are citizens, NOT subjects), but enumerates them as things that the government has no power to negate; only the people themselves have that right. The rest of the Constitution lists the powers of the government, but they are to take second place to the rights of the people themselves.
Sadly, over the last few decades the lines have been blurred by those in power; they talk of the "rights" of the government, and try to squeeze the boundaries of the rights of the citizens. It is time that people start looking at the what has been happening and taking stock of what has happened. When the government starts re-defining your rights, then you are no longer a citizen, you are a subject.

"It's not an endlessly expanding list of rights — the 'right' to education, the 'right' to health care, the 'right' to food and housing. That's not freedom, that's dependency. Those aren't rights, those are the rations of slavery — hay and a barn for human cattle."
- P.J. O'Rourke

***************************************

There must be a few people who have some favorites in this bunch.

"Bat Out of Hell" by Meat Loaf
"Crackerbox Palace" by George Harrison
"Bring Me Some Water" by Melissa Etheridge
"Question" by The Moody Blues
"That'll Be the Day" by Buddy Holly
"Beg, Borrow, and Steal" by Rare Breed
"Songs to Aging Children Come" by Joni Mitchell
"Sweet Cream Ladies, Forward March" by The Boxtops
"Over You" by Gary Puckett & The Union Gap
"As If" by Sara Evans


An under-appreciated group in the lat sixties, The Boxtops were good at rock, blues, and odd stuff. This one was banned in some areas when it came out, because of the subject matter. I though it was a hoot, myself.



Another group of the sixties, this one was fairly popular due to the lead singer.



One of the better female country singers (and easy to look at). This one is for Terri, who is a Sara Evans fan.

At least the holidays were good.

Thanksgiving Day at my in-laws was good; I watched what I ate, so my diabetes didn't give me any trouble. Cold day, but clear.
The following day we visited my mom; my brother and his wife were out there also.
The weather was also good that day, which is good since my mom lives an hour away from Salt Lake. We have to swing around the Great Salt Lake to and from, so I got a couple of photos on the way back.

Picture 1: the Oquirrh Mountains (Salt Lake is on the other side of them)
Picture2: another view of the Oquirrh Mountains, reflected in a bit of the lake

*********************************************************

Today's weather was a whole different story. Got over a foot last night, and the streets were nasty when I went to physical therapy.

Picture 1: Looking west from my driveway (those mountains in the back are the Oquirrh Mountains seen from this side)
Picture 2: my front yard
Picture 3: getting to my vehicle.  The snow was actually high enough to block the door; I had to brush snow away to open it.

*********************************************************

Everyone's excited about Wikileak; personally I think it might be a good thing to air out some dirty laundry and stir the pot.

*********************************************************

         "Promises in the Dark" by Pat Benatar
         "Ring of Fire" by Johnny Cash
         "2000 Light Years From Home" by The Rolling Stones
         "Poison" by Alice Cooper
         "Tube Steak Boogie" by ZZ Top
         "My Mirage" by Iron Butterfly
         "Sugar Town" by Nancy Sinatra
         "Sultans of Swing" by Dire Straits
         "Come As You Are" by Mindy Abair
         "I Think I Love You Too Much" by Jeff Healey

Who could forget Dire Straits?




For when you are in the mood for some light jazz.




The late Jeff Healey (you may remember him from the movie Roadhouse); cancer took his sight at eight months old, and ended his life when he was only 42. Great blues guitarist.

Global warming strikes again.

Nasty business with the weather; we got a foot of snow Saturday night. One big problem is that the temperatures haven't really been cold enough to drop all the leaves, so the snow is building up on trees, and I expect quite a few broken branches around the valley.

Picture 1 This is a tree in front of my house (you can see my mailbox in the lower left corner)
Picture 2 This is my driveway, as seen from the center of the street
Picture 3 The birds are out of luck
Picture 4 My neighborhood, looking to the west

Click to enlarge

This stuff would be of more use up in the mountains; down here it is just a PITA.

**************************************************

I imagine everyone has heard quite a bit about dissatisfaction with TSA; it seems like they like hiring idiots, bullies, and goons.
If you want to really get pissed off, take look at this. Check me if I'm wrong, but when the TSA does stuff like that, shouldn't it be considered a health hazard? Seems to me that the asshole who checked the passenger should be fired for something like that; there is NO excuse for that sort of bullshit.

**************************************************

Any favorites in this bunch of tunes?

"Free Fallin'" by Tom Petty
"A Hazy Shade of Winter" by Simon and Garfunkel
"Flight of the Bumblebee" by Al Hirt
"Shot of Poison" by Lita Ford
"For My Lady" by The Moody Blues
"Walk Away Renee" by The Left Banke
"Find Another Fool" by Quarterflash
"When God-Fearin' Women Get the Blues" by Martina McBride
"Lawyers, Guns, and Money" by Warren Zevon
"Alone" by Heart


This one always cracks me up



One of my favorite songwriters; the late great Warren Zevon



One of my favorite groups of the eighties.

"Heroes are often the most ordinary of men." - Henry David Thoreau

Since it's Veterans Day, I'd like to take this time to pay tribute to America's veterans. 
At the south end of Salt Lake valley is the Camp Williams Memorial Park, a cemetery for American veterans.  My brother put this clip together, in honor of this country's veterans, and I'd like show it here.  At the end of the video there are three marker stones shown; the first one is my dad's brother (Korean War, Vietnam), the second is his brother-in-law (WWII), and the last is my dad's marker (WWII, Korea War).
Thank you to everyone who has worn our nation's uniform.




********************************************

I was finally able to drive myself a couple of days ago (I've been unable to drive since July 6); just about wore me out. My arm is getting stronger, but still has a long way to go.
I seem to be doing ok on controlling my diabetes; I check my blood sugar morning and evening, it seems to be running between 95 and 125 most of the time, which isn't too bad. Enough about me.

********************************************

For some reason, I feel more like oldies today; probably has a lot to do with the weather, cold and rainy. Anyone out there remember these? Any favorites?

My Way by Frank Sinatra
The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald by Gordon Lightfoot
No Milk Today by Herman's Hermits
Heart and Soul by Hoagy Carmichael
The Pusher by Steppenwolf
Gimme Shelter by The Rolling Stones
American Pie by Don McClean
The Ballad of Ira Hayes by Johnny Cash
Kentucky Rain by Elvis Presley
Tuxedo Junction by Glen Miller