tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-44732781638353085512024-03-28T07:17:49.012-07:00Scott R. : The Quillayute CowboyScott R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17353655165012542492noreply@blogger.comBlogger83125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4473278163835308551.post-18996476329298758212022-08-24T15:56:00.000-07:002022-08-24T15:56:22.119-07:00Cold Turkey<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjARSybTIR2piDQXUKfJLxevzGN11UlJ0E0Gz97qjOvbhl-YS4tv7_OdUVRRSuoOh-_rs6QPG_FCYAM785I2uktBEltDr7PndZp5z6iVG5qPmeOSk09VfzW-k7eIR-scUZRaGYT2vwgiwrfeN5aKYhssbowADoOhoKe-6dyOn8F0NwntYWjPWIx-F2GXQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3240" data-original-width="4320" height="355" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjARSybTIR2piDQXUKfJLxevzGN11UlJ0E0Gz97qjOvbhl-YS4tv7_OdUVRRSuoOh-_rs6QPG_FCYAM785I2uktBEltDr7PndZp5z6iVG5qPmeOSk09VfzW-k7eIR-scUZRaGYT2vwgiwrfeN5aKYhssbowADoOhoKe-6dyOn8F0NwntYWjPWIx-F2GXQ=w473-h355" width="473" /></a></div><p></p><p> A sad..., sad message</p><p> <span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px;">No…, not by choice.</span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px;">An early morning lightening storm over a week ago Wednesday (8/10/22) caused a loss of CenturyLink phone and internet service here on The Ranch.</span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px;">I am still not sure how big an area was effected…, with no phone or internet access we couldn’t determine if it was just our place or if there was a bigger problem. On a trip to town for mail and groceries I asked a convenience store clerk, grocery store clerk, post office clerk, public utility district clerk, and hardware store clerk if they knew anything about the CenturyLink outage…, to no avail.</span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px;">That evening Julie had her daughter use her cell phone to call the CenturyLink toll free number and we found out via automated response, that there was “an outage in our area” and it was estimated that it would be repaired by the following morning.</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">No big problem…, we thought. But by Friday afternoon we still had no phone or internet access. I generaIly spend a few hours on the internet every morning with my coffee…, checking the weather forecast, stock market, oil price, Google News, email, several blogs that I follow…, and of course…, Facebook. I really did not want to miss my Friday Nite Video song posting on Facebook. I do it regularly because I don’t post much or share much during the week. So…, I went to town to the local library and asked to use a computer. I showed them my 20+ year old card…, that I was actually surprised that I still had in my old wallet. On the CenturyLink website I was only able to get the “canned” response of…, “sorry, there is an outage in your area” and the estimated repair date was…, you guessed it…, “tomorrow morning”. I wanted to communicate with someone in person so I could find out how large an outage and just what the problem was. Yeah…, right.</p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I really didn’t expect the problem to be resolved over the weekend…, but nothing Monday…, or Tuesday. I began to wonder if maybe the big problem was now solved…, and maybe we had a personal issue. One lightening strike was particularly close and lit the place right up. I was afraid that it had fried my computers…, but the power surge just shut them down. It did knock out the phone and internet service though. I was missing the internet…, but my biggest worry was the phone. A month or so ago Julie’s doctor called a couple days after an appointment and said the the lab report on her blood work had come back…, and she should get down to the hospital emergency room right away. It proved to be unnecessary…, but something like that or a family emergency could occur. So we went to town to our friends house and Julie’s friend said that she had called five or six times and left messages and was beginning to worry when Julie had not returned any of the calls. I got on their computer and got the “canned” response again…, “sorry, there is an outage in your area” and the estimated repair date was…, you guessed it…, “tomorrow morning”. There was a link for…, “if you are not satisfied with our response, you can complain further”. Of course I hit the link and got a little testy with the verbiage I used. I got a little automated “canned” response that I didn’t care for…, so I submitted another even more testy “complaint”. </p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Luckily…, I have an email account through another service provider that I can check remotely from another computer…, so I did that. Sure enough I already had a response ”signed off” by some titled person…, the exact same form letter for both complaints. Yeah…, more automated “canned” responses. And an email from the veterinarian who had come out to The Ranch to geld our little stud horse, Charlie. I had told her in a previous email when we were scheduling Charlie’s procedure that we also had an old mare that could probably use a teeth floating. She had spaced that out…, but went ahead when I told her that I had indeed mentioned it previously. But she said in the email that she needed a little more information about the old mare before she could submit the invoice. She had sent the email on Wednesday…, the day of our outage. I suppose she was thinking that I was stalling for nearly a week. I was able to respond to her email and explain what had happened. I hope she understands.</p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">So…, I figured we better get some kind of communication device before there were even worse matters missed. I had a cell phone briefly 25 years ago when I was just “on call” for the new job. After I got hired on permanently I forgot about the cell phone and dropped the coverage. I went to the city…, sixty miles away and got a cheap cell phone and cheap plan. I don’t know what a $1000 I-Phone can do that the $40 one I got can’t do? It appears I can do anything I want…, once I figure out how to use it. It even gives short massages when I activate some features…, I just haven’t dialed in just which features they are so I can get a deep healing massage. But before I got those massages…, I find out that when you buy a cell phone because you have no phone service…, you need a phone to activate the damn cell phone you bought because you don’t have a phone. I guess I should have taken a class in logic or something. Anyway…, after many frustrating hours…, it is off to town to seek our friends help once again. We tried the phone number with no luck…, but we managed get on-line and things were moving along well…, until…, it asked us to put in the pin number on the plan card I bought. I had somehow left it at The Ranch…, 10 miles back home and 10 miles back to town we finally got it activated !!! I decided to check the CenturyLink site again on the friends computer…, and it now said…, “there are no outages in your area.” Go figure.</p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">End of story right…, yeah…, in my dreams. I get back to The Ranch…, and no phone or internet service. It was getting late and I was more interested in consuming more than my daily quota of beer than trying to diagnose the problem that evening. Julie made a few calls on the new cell phone to let some friends and family know that we weren’t snubbing them and we hadn’t been snapped up by aliens or government goons.</p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The next morning I thought maybe the phones got fried…, so I dug through the fire rubble in an old closet and found an old phone and plugged it into the company phone box…, and I got what I interpreted as a “busy” signal. But when I punched a button it stopped and let me call our number and leave a message. But when I plugged the old phone into the splitter device that has a DSL port and a Phone port…, there was no service. I found out that when I plugged our regular phone directly into the box port it worked too. I tried plugging the internet line directly into the box port and it would not work. So…, I figured that the splitter thing must be bad. I leave our regular phone plugged into the box port and head to town…, after Julie informed me that the beep-beep-beep was not a busy signal…, just a signal that we had phone messages. And yeah…, there was a phone message from the veterinarian from last week too…, requesting more information so she could complete the billing process. Neither hardware store had a splitter that I needed…, but one clerk said…, with a laugh…, I could get one for free from CenturyLink Customer Service. I found out what the laugh was all about when I got back to The Ranch.</p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I am sure that I don’t have to describe to you the “phone tree” bullshit these days. When I finally got through to a “technician” after about a half an hour…, it took a lot of explaining, but I finally convinced her that I needed to replace the splitter thing first…, because it was no doubt stopping the phone from connecting and mighty likely stopping the internet connection. She kept wanting to try to diagnose the internet problem and said Customer Service would have to supply the splitter and she could not contact a service repairman in the area to stop by with one. She said she would transfer me to CS. The transfer didn’t work, so I had to call and go through the phone tree…, and wait for a “representative” to come on while I listened to the automated spiel about going on-line to quickly solve my issues. When I got a person on the phone he said I needed to contact the tech/repair branch. I told him that I had just talked to them and they said the CS had to provide me with the splitter. He asked me to hold for a minute while he checked that out. About a half hour later the operator came on with a “if you would like to make a call…, hang up and try again” message. I called again…, phone tree…, wait for “representative”…, “your call is important to us”…, “you can go to the website to solve your issues”. I finally got another real person…, explained my problem again and he said I needed to contact tech support…, I told him I had already talked to them…, he said he would put me on hold and check it out. I didn’t wait for the operator to come on this time…, after 10 or 15 minutes I hung up…, and dialed back in. Actually I went and got the cell phone and was connecting with Amazon during the “wait time”. I don’t see how people can use those damn cell phones…, when I finally logged in and searched, I found the splitter on the second search…, for $7.99. I hit shopping cart…, and wanted to pick the fastest shipping speed…, regardless of the cost…, but the font was so small…, I had to just guess which one to pick. Anyway…, same story waiting for a human on the real phone…, but this guy listened to my story and said he would check it out…, and get back to me. I thought…, yeah right. But he did come back on and said I was right…, they would send one right out for free !!! So I got one splitter coming USPS and one coming UPS. I hope !!!</p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I sit here typing this on Friday morning (8/19/22). Doesn’t look like I will be posting a Friday Nite Video song on Facebook tonight…, or wishing Julie a Happy Anniversary tomorrow…, and I doubt I will be able wish my dear old Dad a heavenly happy birthday on 8/23 either. But I will get this piece up on The Quillayute Cowboy Blog…, when we know…, as Paul Harvey used to say…, “The Rest of the Story”. </p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I am a bit concerned about this Cold Turkey internet quitting. The DT’s haven’t been too bad…, yet. It has aged me considerably though…, as you can see from the before and after pictures below. But I have been to Alcohol School…, and learned that when a real addict relapses…, he doesn’t got back to where he left off…, no matter how many months or years…, he goes back to where he would be if he had continued to drink all that time. That is why so many folks end up dead when they fall off the wagon. Well…, it has only been a week off the screen for me…, so far anyway…, so the relapse shouldn’t be too severe…, I hope. </p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhXL5WMhGNAROv_uNxymt_6NO-NxCvFK-bWr7Dj2-j_kVAdC2NyenSZZTOQDuaZa7Pn-h305FpBXt7_EGSBmRLnEtGc7JIh5YVQwElvjHDHT0ZVHh2n8wm__mBKqKkkblEuzMRF01VXF-1h_MXfzOfsD-S4r31kzRS06gS3APDF8yKGmNrtZQh3TfJ4Mg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="720" height="526" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhXL5WMhGNAROv_uNxymt_6NO-NxCvFK-bWr7Dj2-j_kVAdC2NyenSZZTOQDuaZa7Pn-h305FpBXt7_EGSBmRLnEtGc7JIh5YVQwElvjHDHT0ZVHh2n8wm__mBKqKkkblEuzMRF01VXF-1h_MXfzOfsD-S4r31kzRS06gS3APDF8yKGmNrtZQh3TfJ4Mg=w395-h526" width="395" /></a></div><p></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;">Before the internet outage</p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgkx6Pn3Eiwbi0C0R1HiRfDp_HA7ObFqisYvJSgo3yDsLjfUxpi0WR_ZQ1bFbgkj9ZMywWpO3jpM6N3fjbiIvPBi68AnygAjzgtZWjsVCrk34dDu8mztRO6GBvwmolvDZS48rm20eKeW4yFW_UPFLEcI2_5hCFmJcECtIPLSQtPdzz2-_h-UisnmwQz2w" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3240" data-original-width="4320" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgkx6Pn3Eiwbi0C0R1HiRfDp_HA7ObFqisYvJSgo3yDsLjfUxpi0WR_ZQ1bFbgkj9ZMywWpO3jpM6N3fjbiIvPBi68AnygAjzgtZWjsVCrk34dDu8mztRO6GBvwmolvDZS48rm20eKeW4yFW_UPFLEcI2_5hCFmJcECtIPLSQtPdzz2-_h-UisnmwQz2w=w388-h291" width="388" /></a></div><p></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;">After the internet outage</p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;">The Rest of the Story</p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Friday Afternoon 8/19/22 : Well…, that didn’t take long. I thought I was seeing a mirage…, the UPS truck pulling up to the gate at the end of the driveway…, but the dogs convinced me that it was real…, so I gave a holler to him that I would come down and pick up the delivery. I began to immediately think about taking back some of the bad things I had been thinking…, and saying…, about CenturyLink. They had sent me…, the package…, that I assumed would be the “splitter” as I described it. Yeah I was thinking…, they are the greatest phone company of all time…, sending the “splitter” via overnight UPS Express !!! Then I opened the package. Need I tell you…, it weren’t no “splitter”. It was a “Single Port Inline DSL Filter - PT-DSL-ILF”…, single being the operative word…, hard to split a single…, I needed…, and asked for a PT-DSL-ILF-“T”. Was it an honest “failure to communicate”…, or was it a…, “This asshole has been hounding and harassing us for days now…, let’s f-with him some more”?</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"> </p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjtJFdbCY3wcBbcTLzqG3hpSAYQCa4gY30sPl_1QHFZWgYTk1CU6q8rTj2VthzG1Qvy56grwOkzKlzx6cfa-UltRTp14R3HVUE0ICuPii73EJ0dP2qA8SOwSUqqWZaeHmTR8QMDM3rgQeWHaZTZP9_Uad4zwd8nHnqqVHT8vTXmJo5GEK-M4ggcRPBoXw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3240" data-original-width="4320" height="305" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjtJFdbCY3wcBbcTLzqG3hpSAYQCa4gY30sPl_1QHFZWgYTk1CU6q8rTj2VthzG1Qvy56grwOkzKlzx6cfa-UltRTp14R3HVUE0ICuPii73EJ0dP2qA8SOwSUqqWZaeHmTR8QMDM3rgQeWHaZTZP9_Uad4zwd8nHnqqVHT8vTXmJo5GEK-M4ggcRPBoXw=w406-h305" width="406" /></a></div><p></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> The faulty one I had on the right…, the replacement they sent on the left.</p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I thought that whatever the intention…, the one port filter would let me connect to the internet…, and Julie could survive a few hours without a phone while I ignored porn on the internet. But the new filter…, filtered out any connection at all…, I guess. When I clicked in directly…, my modem/router would blink the DSL light…, like was at least trying to connect. If I “filtered” it with the new one…, I got no blinking lights? Go figure.</p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Yeah…, you know the drill…, phone tree…, “request representative”…, for crying out loud. Luckily…, it only took one beer…, or was it two, errr…, ? Before I got to talk to a lady who promised to send out a technician…, next Tuesday…, and took $50 bucks off my bill…, she said.</p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">So…, here I am Friday Nite, and you without a Video song…, I thought it was going to be “Stairway to Heaven” when the UPS driver handed me the package…, but I have suffered bigger disappointments in my day…, I just can’t remember…, exactly…, when. Things like that happen when we age…, I guess. I sincerely apologize for CenturyLink letting you down…, beyond my control…, I guess. Oh well…, I won’t have to use one hand to handle the mouse…, I can double fist the beers tonight !!!</p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;">The Rest…, of the Rest of the Story </p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Sunday Morning 8/21/22 : I had hoped The Little Green Guys would be gone…, but they are still here. Yeah…, they showed up late Friday night…, I thought it was just a bad dream…, but when I came to Saturday morning I had to face reality. They let me get coffee, then insisted that I try to connect to the internet. I told them that I had tried every combination of hook up available to me…, but they firmly insisted that I try again. I went through the direct hook ups and the two filter hook ups and unplugged and reset the modem/router with no luck and explained that we would just have to wait for the repair man to arrive on Tuesday. OH MY GOSH !!! All hell broke loose…, The Little Green Guys were climbing the walls and threatening me with physical violence and torture that would make waterboarding look like French tickler treatment. I tried to explain that I had chores that needed done…, but they would have none of it. They made it clear that getting back on the internet was more important than ANYTHING else and I would be dedicating my efforts full time to that. So I sit here typing this…, telling them that I am trying different codes…, then running out to try the different combinations of hook ups again…, and again. I would start on the beer this morning…, but The Little Green Guys have drank it all up here in The Library…, and I haven’t been able to slip out to The Saddle Bar to replenish the supply. I hope I can survive long enough to get this posted to The Blog…, if I ever get the internet back.</p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Monday afternoon 8/22/22 : Julie had a prescription at the pharmacy in town to pick up…, so I of course checked the mail. YEAH…, a package from Amazon !!! I had to rein in the little Tacoma on the way home…, to keep from obliterating the speed limits. The splitter worked perfectly…, for the phone portion…, but still no internet connection. At least the DSL light was blinking on the router/modem thingy. So me and The Little Green Guys are all climbing the walls…, waiting for the repair man to show up tomorrow…, sometime between 8am and 5pm.</p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Tuesday morning 6am : The Little Green Guys have me up and on the computer trying the same things again…, and again. And asking every 10 minutes…, What time is it? When is he coming? Can’t you call him? WHERE IS HE???” </p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">11:15am…, he finally calls and says he is about five minutes away…, and shows up about 10 minutes later. He tests out the connection and finds that the Chinese Amazon “splitter” is not letting through as good a connection as it should…, a new one is letting through the proper connection…, but the modem is still not processing it. He says my old modem is bad and he can replace it with an up to date model for no charge…, and we are back on line after he dials it in. I make sure I can connect to Pandora on my Grace radio via the CenturyLink WiFi and that my C. Crane radio can connect with my Belkin WiFi router…, and let him proceed on his merry way with many thanks.</p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Wednesday morning 6am : There was quite a celebration yesterday afternoon and evening…, after I got to The Saddle Bar and replenished the beer supply for me and The Boys…, but this morning it feels more like I drank all the beer myself last night instead of sharing it with The Little Green Guys…, who have mysteriously disappeared.</p><div><br /></div>Scott R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17353655165012542492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4473278163835308551.post-32682121306239828652022-06-05T10:30:00.001-07:002022-06-05T10:30:46.337-07:00Blue Mountain Improved<iframe style="background-image:url(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/nCB2hwxFVrI/hqdefault.jpg)" width="480" height="360" src="https://youtube.com/embed/nCB2hwxFVrI" frameborder="0"></iframe>Scott R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17353655165012542492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4473278163835308551.post-21518254284251129862022-05-13T17:19:00.002-07:002022-05-14T07:01:12.202-07:00Blue Mountain Rock Festival - Moscow, ID - 1974<iframe frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://youtube.com/embed/YkC8TN0QCtw" style="background-image: url(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/YkC8TN0QCtw/hqdefault.jpg);" width="480"></iframe>Scott R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17353655165012542492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4473278163835308551.post-91722222072995723822022-04-18T20:25:00.000-07:002022-04-18T20:25:20.652-07:00A Pirate Looks at 70 !!!<p> <span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px;">Well…, I graduated High School in 1970…, and now some 50 plus a couple of years later…, I am turning 70 on my birthday.</span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px;">Yeah…, I figured that I should retire at 70 to secure the top level of Social Security dividends.</span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px;">A few hundred extra dollars a month may not seem like much…, unless you need it…, for food or meds or beer.</span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px;">But as important as that stipend was…, the fact that Julie and her health problems would be 65 years old and Medicare eligible just a couple of weeks after I turned 70 were a major financial consideration.</span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px;">I planned to keep the job and the medical coverage it provided until then.</span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px;">But our WA state governor decided that it was within his authority to mandate experimental “vaccinations” for COVID-19 for state employees by October of 2021…, or termination.</span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px;">It cost us over a thousand dollars a month to keep the medical coverage in effect and a few hundred a month off SS retirement and probably less than a few hundred in reduced WA state retirement benefits from the early retirement.</span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px;">And that isn’t all…, unused annual leave is paid at full rate…, and I could have garnered close to three or four thousand extra dollars for six or seven more months on the job in addition to the decent salary during that time period.</span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px;">Sick Leave was only reimbursed at 25%…, it would have added a few hundred dollars to the stash that already measured nearly 15K.</span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px;">Yeah…, I didn’t abuse…, or even use much sick leave over just short of 25 years…, little things add up.</span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px;">It was put into an untaxed medical account that we have been using to pay the extra medical insurance premiums that the “early” retirement has cost us…, and there will be a little left over now that Julie will be Medicare covered in less than a month.</span></p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Yeah…, refusing to bend over and take the jabs cost Julie and I a pretty penny…, but I am feeling better about it every day. If you voluntarily took the jabs…, and now the "boosters"..., or if you were forced to…, I recommend that you don’t read a certain book by a well known deceased political figure’s son. It scares me for all of you…, but I want to make clear that I hope with all sincerity that he is as wrong as the main stream media and the powers that be who are shielding you from his investigation by censoring coverage of the book and labeling it “misinformation” and "propaganda"…, even though it is meticulously footnoted for authentication.</p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Back in 2017 I signed off on my birthday blog post…, <a href="http://scottrthequillayutecowboy.blogspot.com/2017/04/another-trip-around-sun.html" target="_blank">“Now…, let’s all hang on…, and I do mean hang on tight…, and do our very best to enjoy our remaining rides around the sun.”</a> And three years later I started my birthday blog with…, <a href="http://scottrthequillayutecowboy.blogspot.com/2020/05/ruminations-2020.html" target="_blank">“Well..., you can’t say I didn’t warn you to hold on tight three years ago..., when I last updated The Blog.”</a> I commented on the medical healthcare system, climate change, The Chump…, and COVID-19. I said, “Yeah..., take some common sense precautions if you are healthy..., and more precaution if you are at risk..., but I don’t believe that there is reason to panic or carry things too far. The thinking that we can keep this lockdown and mask up routine going until they find a vaccine is pie in the sky hopium. We have never found a vaccine for the common cold virus and we won’t find a miracle cure for this one.” I’ll stand by that statement…, but I ended the piece with this warning…, “Oh..., and don’t forget to hang on tight..., this ride is going to be one to remember.” </p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I was more worried about the world financial situation and the “growth at any cost” neoliberal capitalistic push…, and it appears very near now. In the 2017 piece I said, “And the military industrial complex…, or as I refer to it…, the Bomb and Bullet Builders, are about the only economic engine still firing these days. I have always contended that the Wee Bush drug us into the Iraq War with lies about weapons of mass destruction and mushroom clouds on the horizon in order to ‘get the economy going.’” Still true today…, we poked the bear with a shape stick for so long he had finally had enough and no choice but to turn around and confront the stick. We don’t care…, we will just supply our surrogate with more sticks and we won’t have to wield them ourselves…, but our “defense industry” will reap the profits. Not to worry…, the folks screaming nuclear war don’t have a clue. The “shot callers” are only in it for the money…, and nukes would end that game. <a href="http://scottrthequillayutecowboy.blogspot.com/2016/07/the-russians-are-coming.html" target="_blank">Yeah..., I have been making fun of the big bad bear stories since 2016</a>…, but we have finally managed to to poke him to the point we think we can blame him for the consequences…, and it is sad that so many have bought that line.</p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Well…, I guess your take away on this birthday post could be…, OH MY GOSH…, things are still getting worse…, climate change, medical coverage, COVID-19, war games and financial manipulation…, or you can say that none of those things have killed us yet so I am just a screaming Karen and pay no attention to me when I say again…, “Hang On…, Hang On Tight”. </p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Yeah…, these ’20’s have not been kind to us personally…, <a href="http://scottrthequillayutecowboy.blogspot.com/2020/05/ruminations-2020.html" target="_blank">a house fire in the middle of winter in 2020</a>…, <a href="http://scottrthequillayutecowboy.blogspot.com/2020/09/john-savage-thompson.html" target="_blank">lost an unforgettable partner in late 2020</a>…, <a href="http://scottrthequillayutecowboy.blogspot.com/2021/10/my-brother-larry-spence-born-february-7.html" target="_blank">lost my only brother in late 2021</a>…, and now a forced early retirement in 2021. But we are hanging in there and are as happy as we can be and looking forward to better times ahead here on The Ranch…, and wishing you all the same…, better times that is.</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3ijXyhBsxhy7Ki3JegogP6ZYySTin7yzku8rQlFML5HzRFL5NhsXXo_XB_u8iM0k8Kp97nTDhjiwq-Blq_C58Ds449YfPgT3461to61_1LCFnAnVB9xzQgRhQAKcBwr3s28183xetrGLFoXbC3OendJT-npfJRfAIv26RM_-Kgdp4U3_yjeKzH72Msg/s4320/4F234EAC-438D-402E-9EE5-7284E8F7D065.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3240" data-original-width="4320" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3ijXyhBsxhy7Ki3JegogP6ZYySTin7yzku8rQlFML5HzRFL5NhsXXo_XB_u8iM0k8Kp97nTDhjiwq-Blq_C58Ds449YfPgT3461to61_1LCFnAnVB9xzQgRhQAKcBwr3s28183xetrGLFoXbC3OendJT-npfJRfAIv26RM_-Kgdp4U3_yjeKzH72Msg/w640-h480/4F234EAC-438D-402E-9EE5-7284E8F7D065.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p>Scott R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17353655165012542492noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4473278163835308551.post-28511115370048367862021-10-06T07:39:00.005-07:002023-12-09T16:13:58.689-08:00MY BROTHER - Larry Spence<p><br /></p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Born February 7, 1954</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Passed October 5, 2021</p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4dz_1Tp7m6n__5X9Sau5GvbUre3_7wPShLGLClonLCo8AzPHtS1JU4_DXI12ge3h0SX-pA8z6d6sQcQojg0CICjFMkpriHwCyRfhx-3TiJ6MU3fS5P7zsVpKje5-AvqSbzKD9s023sNrw/s1536/Brother+Larry+sittin%2527+on+the+old+Skagit.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1076" data-original-width="1536" height="378" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4dz_1Tp7m6n__5X9Sau5GvbUre3_7wPShLGLClonLCo8AzPHtS1JU4_DXI12ge3h0SX-pA8z6d6sQcQojg0CICjFMkpriHwCyRfhx-3TiJ6MU3fS5P7zsVpKje5-AvqSbzKD9s023sNrw/w540-h378/Brother+Larry+sittin%2527+on+the+old+Skagit.jpg" width="540" /></a></div><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>This picture is a little water damaged…, but I believe it is the one he would want</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>posted…, sitting on the old Skagit with a perfectly spooling mainline drum.</p><div><br /></div><div><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Well…, the pain, misery and medical problems that plagued him these last few years are at a merciful end for my Brother and Best Friend Larry. He passed away peacefully after his boys, Keith, A.J., Bert and their significant others, Chelsea Spence and Rebecca Brackett helped make that transition as meaningful and pain free as possible at his longtime home in Weippe, ID.</span></p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: large; text-align: center;"><span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0Q24OUlDTyQi_FnBtUCXhgN6aqlTc9yjhBfj79QYiZ4ij-jsEjmkVUXLDmjyDA-GNPSxQOcbbr54Cfkhc5xNoLuURRMurGYnNOoIy2ixT24suDWvDXjKx9QuCp2dxT4A750VpsBRNaesr/s960/The+Spence+Boys...%252C+and+Hailey+Kay.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="366" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0Q24OUlDTyQi_FnBtUCXhgN6aqlTc9yjhBfj79QYiZ4ij-jsEjmkVUXLDmjyDA-GNPSxQOcbbr54Cfkhc5xNoLuURRMurGYnNOoIy2ixT24suDWvDXjKx9QuCp2dxT4A750VpsBRNaesr/w488-h366/The+Spence+Boys...%252C+and+Hailey+Kay.jpg" width="488" /></a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span><span style="font-size: x-small;">The High-Powered Spence Boys (and Hailey Kay)..., Scott R., A.J., Keith, Brother Larry, Hailey Kay, Bert..., and the Red Headed High-Baller..., Reid.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: large; text-align: center;"><span><br /></span></div><span><span style="font-size: medium;">A few years ago, in an attempt to rescue a small child next to him, when a stunt riding motorcyclist lost control, entered the crowd watching and the high revving and hot cycle landed atop the toddler. The effort on Larry’s part saved the little girl from more severe injury…, but cost him a nearly disabling broken ankle. Then while on the mend he went to work before the doctor had released him to return…, and a heavy pipe dropped on the same ankle causing another year long recuperation and pain. He was also suffering from diabetes and losing teeth…, most of which he pulled himself. He made it clear that he felt there was no longterm bright future ahead and was ready to face whatever was to come with dignity and courage and not fight what he felt would eventually be a losing battle from some hospital or nursing home bed. So he made out his will with the help of his boys and made them promise to stand by his wishes to remain at home until the end…., and as tough as it was for them.., they honored that wish.</span></span><p></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Larry was born to That Good Lookin’ Al and Wanda Spence and lived in Weippe his entire life, He went to school there and eventually graduated from the consolidated Weippe-Pierce High School of Timberline in 1972. </span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjplxzOpVHD-3SiP_dFzxOgslIm0qNo_txDSU2dQMwvPls8m3rfKjmaYe5vVFdEoYCz0peYHQrKFnMaGCevAd47AZ8HQP6km0NvRVLpmpFxjjt-sJP3rSY3jcvW5gQKkp2LcQeETDCE494K/s1600/ED170887-9438-4ED4-9C89-F6475AE3DC71.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1147" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjplxzOpVHD-3SiP_dFzxOgslIm0qNo_txDSU2dQMwvPls8m3rfKjmaYe5vVFdEoYCz0peYHQrKFnMaGCevAd47AZ8HQP6km0NvRVLpmpFxjjt-sJP3rSY3jcvW5gQKkp2LcQeETDCE494K/w344-h480/ED170887-9438-4ED4-9C89-F6475AE3DC71.jpeg" width="344" /></a></div><span style="font-size: medium;"> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: x-small;">Me...., Larry<br /></span><p></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span><span><span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: x-small;">Mom - Wanda..., Dad- Good Lookin' Al </span><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">He then went to work for Bill Maki of Maki Manufacturing, Inc. for several years. He always considered that experience as one of the most fruitful and fulfilling of his life and considered Bill his lifelong mentor. I was fortunate enough to witness, on many occasions, those skills as Larry and I worked for Carney Pole for a few years and then bought an old Skagit SJ4 RT swing yarder and became contract loggers for about eight years. There is no doubt that Larry’s mechanical abilities learned under Bill’s watchful eye were a major contribution to the success of both ventures…, and the most meaningful of the last visitors Larry had was Bill Maki.</span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxwjTC-wBe8Toieorfz5W9tXc1jcQ20B4-U_ydoOhhGSB9ZD8k4W3xnzPaYBPt5hqxKfYUSMsCPEtoTzwdQkyJnrx2_q_aNGIKXw4cHrgu57Xsau_xLrVtM6o9zFKzvkPJz00ZHy3F1Jzo/s895/02169712-7007-44DF-814A-42818EE881D8.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="895" data-original-width="650" height="489" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxwjTC-wBe8Toieorfz5W9tXc1jcQ20B4-U_ydoOhhGSB9ZD8k4W3xnzPaYBPt5hqxKfYUSMsCPEtoTzwdQkyJnrx2_q_aNGIKXw4cHrgu57Xsau_xLrVtM6o9zFKzvkPJz00ZHy3F1Jzo/w354-h489/02169712-7007-44DF-814A-42818EE881D8.jpeg" width="354" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p></p>
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<p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue;">About the only thing that Larry liked better than mechanicing on heavy equipment and being a machinist…, was operating a yarder, cable loader, cat or grader..., and by unanimous conscientious..., he excelled in all of the above. He continued to operate the equipment acquired by Spence Brothers Logging and bought me out after I moved to Forks, WA in 1987. <span style="font-family: Helvetica;">He went on to acquire even more logging equipment under his business Idaho Crane and Machine.</span> More than he could fit into his world class dream shop that he finally got built on his Weippe property. </span></span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX7PcdFoivDiuwY9EJ-67Ibl-hf3GMnUsRi6yPqbdeDGfABHwyAGPQRVLuhV52eBp36JI1ajskl3i1bs1pDIJhqgvyRbt5nfnkLCMlN-Jnogy4bgfX4CGl0Bsx5_-lOzBSKnpGR0unHAdX/s604/404ADAFE-23B3-4AFC-8B98-CFF3AFC861A7.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="453" data-original-width="604" height="304" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX7PcdFoivDiuwY9EJ-67Ibl-hf3GMnUsRi6yPqbdeDGfABHwyAGPQRVLuhV52eBp36JI1ajskl3i1bs1pDIJhqgvyRbt5nfnkLCMlN-Jnogy4bgfX4CGl0Bsx5_-lOzBSKnpGR0unHAdX/w406-h304/404ADAFE-23B3-4AFC-8B98-CFF3AFC861A7.jpeg" width="406" /></a></div><span><div><span><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">Larry's World Class Shop</span></div><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <span> <span> </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjROzzl0i4FPqTfUL5YGbCi38ln87GWvmVnnJft1LiJhV6mCfR7i-DMiyHH2gBjl0Pw75hahBjTbFfeDxOrdstvt3zAeeg7pAOq6Fa1DSrmY2kdMz96qo8zXasVmWORGczE3wxfvI3gTSB5/s1456/Larry+-+Skagit.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1456" height="304" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjROzzl0i4FPqTfUL5YGbCi38ln87GWvmVnnJft1LiJhV6mCfR7i-DMiyHH2gBjl0Pw75hahBjTbFfeDxOrdstvt3zAeeg7pAOq6Fa1DSrmY2kdMz96qo8zXasVmWORGczE3wxfvI3gTSB5/w432-h304/Larry+-+Skagit.jpg" width="432" /></a></div><span><span style="font-size: x-small;">Larry operating the old Skagit</span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span><span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span><span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span><span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtoblEEoV2gOHc4-ZePSdadHxfo-ymj9jsx7rhD9Dt2ynPPJNUZI7VEMwYPs0IOIWo11FqrWnwRauNEYuGX4BgDWYmf_MZkYOXD69wvVjsCAdqiv48Q80uxjbfyD8mSb8qOX9Z1MAvRJoM/s1504/The+Old+Skagit.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1504" data-original-width="992" height="547" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtoblEEoV2gOHc4-ZePSdadHxfo-ymj9jsx7rhD9Dt2ynPPJNUZI7VEMwYPs0IOIWo11FqrWnwRauNEYuGX4BgDWYmf_MZkYOXD69wvVjsCAdqiv48Q80uxjbfyD8mSb8qOX9Z1MAvRJoM/w361-h547/The+Old+Skagit.jpg" width="361" /></a></div><span style="font-size: x-small;">The Old Skagit</span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span><span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span><span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjK_cXc_5SO2TEaykwrLbEmFhsgDGDHq2rWwQMT1N8hP5c4bB53TX9nZY27I8z-sm_rTVjTijXVC8kLc5Q9DuyYHaYMFv91pZ2EUZwNmZRMNG77dRg5p6piMyeZym6rqvWZ7RHHtemPbx5/s827/Getting+Some+Logs.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="541" data-original-width="827" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjK_cXc_5SO2TEaykwrLbEmFhsgDGDHq2rWwQMT1N8hP5c4bB53TX9nZY27I8z-sm_rTVjTijXVC8kLc5Q9DuyYHaYMFv91pZ2EUZwNmZRMNG77dRg5p6piMyeZym6rqvWZ7RHHtemPbx5/w399-h261/Getting+Some+Logs.jpg" width="399" /></a></div>That's Cousin Jimmy Spence watching a big one come up</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span><span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span><span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span><span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimyXN5fEl4sWoCa0ikOMmaiPEvBDTyY7vhdiSy-CvQbmEL1k83geEWPZSjhk6tYMgI2u4zbbH6r_8PMIVUKxi9eZxawPHOMRtqU4TiMfAGFCQpCW2JfmSERejsM7bvkqAWrQ5IU-qOBd0d/s1504/Loader+Over.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="992" data-original-width="1504" height="292" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimyXN5fEl4sWoCa0ikOMmaiPEvBDTyY7vhdiSy-CvQbmEL1k83geEWPZSjhk6tYMgI2u4zbbH6r_8PMIVUKxi9eZxawPHOMRtqU4TiMfAGFCQpCW2JfmSERejsM7bvkqAWrQ5IU-qOBd0d/w443-h292/Loader+Over.jpg" width="443" /></a></div><span style="font-size: x-small;">We didn't always yard logs..., sometimes we yarded loaders or log trucks over the bank :) </span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span><span><span style="font-size: x-small;">Brother Larry is far left and I am far right.</span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span><span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span><span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjw-T3Ny0dpRsQXhvwDxTtmfvX05E7C8CKUWyP16pExBdvDf4KCHJn2XFBVqeYvVs93CL7qUNmRE4MA1YRhm2YKJT4YfdRgnzKTicSnVDoe8M35xQ7mbim5fGrxBVvexQHWP3ahSTtORJ4/s1504/Eagle+Point.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="992" data-original-width="1504" height="295" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjw-T3Ny0dpRsQXhvwDxTtmfvX05E7C8CKUWyP16pExBdvDf4KCHJn2XFBVqeYvVs93CL7qUNmRE4MA1YRhm2YKJT4YfdRgnzKTicSnVDoe8M35xQ7mbim5fGrxBVvexQHWP3ahSTtORJ4/w448-h295/Eagle+Point.jpg" width="448" /></a></div><span style="font-size: x-small;">We spent several summers on this Eagle Point job..., this viewpoint is about 3000 vertical feet</span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span><span><span style="font-size: x-small;">above the North Fork of the Clearwater River. This is one of our best crews on a Friday after work.</span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span><span><span style="font-size: x-small;">Jimmy Spence on the left, Jack Smith, Big Jerry Johnstun, Brother Larry and Dave Daniels.</span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue;"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkYJTw5dVQkz3mylZgtjF8vIp-i3EsrAuD1NMj65gXlWkOfiJmagC6tK2xPJw_DDABlzIX_44e5OijjU8S7XkhqISueIrfB41Gxtp3K5_CGLR-4wcTZR1_Zi7gBStYp-bdcY4gWGHpdwc_/s828/Trestle+picture.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="582" data-original-width="828" height="322" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkYJTw5dVQkz3mylZgtjF8vIp-i3EsrAuD1NMj65gXlWkOfiJmagC6tK2xPJw_DDABlzIX_44e5OijjU8S7XkhqISueIrfB41Gxtp3K5_CGLR-4wcTZR1_Zi7gBStYp-bdcY4gWGHpdwc_/w458-h322/Trestle+picture.jpeg" width="458" /></a></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>When he was on his own he got a job dismantling railroad<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue";"> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>trestles between Headquarters and Jaype. He hadn't <span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue";"> started this one yet.</span><p></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-fT2aypSAsTJ0Y5iiM_pSdSdSUVInroSgexuV6rR_TTIXVnzjdI1ylB5WqLoXobiIwpN36raZY_9u4rkb5TjRoybfWOD_rXHRwlhHTeHY72l0dNnrkZrX5eF040hFK2EmKjXeviux7AGl/s828/In+Work+Trestle.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="555" data-original-width="828" height="282" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-fT2aypSAsTJ0Y5iiM_pSdSdSUVInroSgexuV6rR_TTIXVnzjdI1ylB5WqLoXobiIwpN36raZY_9u4rkb5TjRoybfWOD_rXHRwlhHTeHY72l0dNnrkZrX5eF040hFK2EmKjXeviux7AGl/w421-h282/In+Work+Trestle.jpg" width="421" /></a></div><span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> This one is about half way down</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><p></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8r-W8NDrRuRWL_aItBeSnnGspBBWucDVvt7gCHx9s5okrHMgJ-glUaPi1GX97r18KhCkPUe2_Y56TzLrwzQ1TWih3m9lx2VQMNgr_M1ITGH4wxBD22Kni_C6SCLStWHy3QAWRaOE5ZR-2/s828/Scary+Trestle.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="547" data-original-width="828" height="306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8r-W8NDrRuRWL_aItBeSnnGspBBWucDVvt7gCHx9s5okrHMgJ-glUaPi1GX97r18KhCkPUe2_Y56TzLrwzQ1TWih3m9lx2VQMNgr_M1ITGH4wxBD22Kni_C6SCLStWHy3QAWRaOE5ZR-2/w463-h306/Scary+Trestle.jpg" width="463" /></a></div><p></p><span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span><span> I don't know who was running the cat..., glad it wasn't me !!!!</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1X7zaQgpBExDahYn2kRgmrhBK2bW0Dsfk4HYsooHmbjvrtBo44P9pzf8uN8USGbzMMa6DjE8rOdhyphenhyphenFfnhZFekqJ-oJBxi6sW7D-JOp5I1R0eIiAif6_s8ymF2mKCPQf9FyIowk1A3Hycj/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="602" height="395" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1X7zaQgpBExDahYn2kRgmrhBK2bW0Dsfk4HYsooHmbjvrtBo44P9pzf8uN8USGbzMMa6DjE8rOdhyphenhyphenFfnhZFekqJ-oJBxi6sW7D-JOp5I1R0eIiAif6_s8ymF2mKCPQf9FyIowk1A3Hycj/w298-h395/Snowy+Trestle.jpg" width="298" /></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: large; text-align: left;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; text-align: left;"> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></div><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: large; text-align: center;"></div><span><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Plenty of Work Ahead</span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br /><p></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In later years he hired on for the Weippe chapter of the Clearwater County Road Department and was well known and highly praised county wide as the best grader operator ever…, whether it was shaping up and maintaining gravel roads or keeping them and many driveways clear of snow in the winter time. The shop I mentioned now houses lathes, drill presses, milling machines, compressors, cutting torches, welders and tools that I have no idea how to operate, That “shed” as he referred to it was one bright spot over the last few years…, but not the brightest.</span><span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieTfjwz9HGEWbYMrWXi1MyqsQcy5wD41kI44j0jO7wpYp1It0fzfJ2J4rrp6JxD5Mz4qcLpqKGxRyxH-wQ0SCjYxvnfonKBrk3EzBBJq0IxMIut0Thijil-FWnc2CUEXEZA4B-BsevXC-a/s206/Snowy+Trestle.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4TlkB3vnNRTIuLzXxjpORdHrAIlY8LTq2btCg7V1KlR49K2B9UvlFpxMHaal0dxFsUuh0nfNljJNaZ58lPnZmgMJHSjkWmflvmZVLK8t6N1BNmiBJOfBirXSmdPh4QUD5cFrO_fGgRc6P/s2048/1Well...%252C+it+wasn%2527t+quit+my+birthday+yet5_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4TlkB3vnNRTIuLzXxjpORdHrAIlY8LTq2btCg7V1KlR49K2B9UvlFpxMHaal0dxFsUuh0nfNljJNaZ58lPnZmgMJHSjkWmflvmZVLK8t6N1BNmiBJOfBirXSmdPh4QUD5cFrO_fGgRc6P/w420-h236/1Well...%252C+it+wasn%2527t+quit+my+birthday+yet5_n.jpg" width="420" /></a></div><span><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">A few beers with friends in the "shed" :) </span></span>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3unATD8rGNbfH3BsLsEiwM9KT9_ldO7g_3Svz5L4D-9Eh-RWgDAGfHgvMxXwKtcJWkczRT6a_p8fDdx_p8ZLQ0dUyK0_Jm9CiXxkBX5TCm51ZhZBONa3jErm_ltaEMks76xKRGSaJAtih/s320/He+didn%2527t+have+the+walls+finished+yet.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="320" height="289" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3unATD8rGNbfH3BsLsEiwM9KT9_ldO7g_3Svz5L4D-9Eh-RWgDAGfHgvMxXwKtcJWkczRT6a_p8fDdx_p8ZLQ0dUyK0_Jm9CiXxkBX5TCm51ZhZBONa3jErm_ltaEMks76xKRGSaJAtih/w386-h289/He+didn%2527t+have+the+walls+finished+yet.jpeg" width="386" /></a></div><span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">He hadn't finished the walls yet.</span></span><br /></span><p></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijQB-F7TZ5D8-qpErxAWtPujvrhUuUjc8ACQJGjaJSv82Ks3RXkNdjvQM2Ey25Q1vXRsbna5SCLxT6GMVPphT8Z_Lh0_z8S8HZFY7PKV67KAPFWlHZd_0TeSFaw1erdVp1-H8ifpKWtII6/s320/Too+busy+practicing+his+long+range+shooting+I+guess.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="320" height="297" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijQB-F7TZ5D8-qpErxAWtPujvrhUuUjc8ACQJGjaJSv82Ks3RXkNdjvQM2Ey25Q1vXRsbna5SCLxT6GMVPphT8Z_Lh0_z8S8HZFY7PKV67KAPFWlHZd_0TeSFaw1erdVp1-H8ifpKWtII6/w396-h297/Too+busy+practicing+his+long+range+shooting+I+guess.jpeg" width="396" /></a></div><span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span style="font-size: x-small;">Probably because he was too busy shooing :) </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDQRrLdXLFp_bLZArGYCNjG1tYad4bzwWIsD0lahBnJ8QEr4JbMXq3e9EHNFu1o2DlO0lyK-oJzlh-yZBOg1sJS-ED7kxHXO5xVGwx8xstEOCZO1AI3pCA-MuukBWQ0j_Z7pasiOGJQRXh/s320/That%2527s+looking+a+little+better.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="320" height="311" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDQRrLdXLFp_bLZArGYCNjG1tYad4bzwWIsD0lahBnJ8QEr4JbMXq3e9EHNFu1o2DlO0lyK-oJzlh-yZBOg1sJS-ED7kxHXO5xVGwx8xstEOCZO1AI3pCA-MuukBWQ0j_Z7pasiOGJQRXh/w415-h311/That%2527s+looking+a+little+better.jpeg" width="415" /></a></div><span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> The walls are looking better now...,</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ_1BcsQNmZCsrRmdA-c-he_TFD-MtHqvxLTH12SEgl8GQ3TnF7pF8LIh06xXXyVKb2hqxMY2Y70sVmtcMB9eugUfPNl94zFQ8A0RU1xac0H1R9g6ilCOp17HC6KTZDdpPGBoONYJ4rk7G/s320/And+starting+to+fill+up+a+little.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="320" height="322" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ_1BcsQNmZCsrRmdA-c-he_TFD-MtHqvxLTH12SEgl8GQ3TnF7pF8LIh06xXXyVKb2hqxMY2Y70sVmtcMB9eugUfPNl94zFQ8A0RU1xac0H1R9g6ilCOp17HC6KTZDdpPGBoONYJ4rk7G/w429-h322/And+starting+to+fill+up+a+little.jpeg" width="429" /></a></div><span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span style="font-size: x-small;">Just getting started on filling it up..., </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br /><p></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span>The brightest would be the birth of his grandson Reid in 2019 and his granddaughter Hailey Kay in 2021. </span><span> </span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6vvBcDvy9ePnmrSGGUDsF0Y6bxK-BajK7X7CB50ggk6RAEVtapbuFKHUCoWQE82FHLLWUBaDsphIffKGr7QVhf2IfBLN_w5NModuF7_e8e17REYVDjPXSgBU8yPHXifcmRMV37U1h7mA3/s414/3404350D-A4AE-4FF3-B46F-D795551E39B4.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="414" data-original-width="414" height="427" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6vvBcDvy9ePnmrSGGUDsF0Y6bxK-BajK7X7CB50ggk6RAEVtapbuFKHUCoWQE82FHLLWUBaDsphIffKGr7QVhf2IfBLN_w5NModuF7_e8e17REYVDjPXSgBU8yPHXifcmRMV37U1h7mA3/w427-h427/3404350D-A4AE-4FF3-B46F-D795551E39B4.jpeg" width="427" /></a></div></div><div><span><span></span></span><span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> Reid and Hailey Kay Spence</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC4X3yw4Dq6-niLkIXDrT-vKtezo6nRcdi6jCT6PKytL1grAxG7XTp5I_3ogYYOrgM7y-HSdnSiGKFpMjwFCFI6zeynfh24q4me6NGvISOO9GZp-5miBTE7x-e1FMzXcXwJHRA4p4QiLKA/s960/D6B41C33-42B4-4EB7-AC2D-7FD0E90A0666.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="667" data-original-width="960" height="303" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC4X3yw4Dq6-niLkIXDrT-vKtezo6nRcdi6jCT6PKytL1grAxG7XTp5I_3ogYYOrgM7y-HSdnSiGKFpMjwFCFI6zeynfh24q4me6NGvISOO9GZp-5miBTE7x-e1FMzXcXwJHRA4p4QiLKA/w436-h303/D6B41C33-42B4-4EB7-AC2D-7FD0E90A0666.jpeg" width="436" /></a></div><span><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">Hailey Kay Spence</span></span></div><div><span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPkOaqsRRojk5GO8kkbTZeSTaSKqmP_SpXau_QftJ1Zjq5JtpuMgQOGpv5T66D4mNvBr2kaFiMS-HuyQLk1CbMUMpZerK3FRUrfBKNkzWqxHdiYAZF7L9M48fSS0C5nWCGDte0haRRDskD/s960/Reid+and+Hailey+on+theSsddle.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="329" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPkOaqsRRojk5GO8kkbTZeSTaSKqmP_SpXau_QftJ1Zjq5JtpuMgQOGpv5T66D4mNvBr2kaFiMS-HuyQLk1CbMUMpZerK3FRUrfBKNkzWqxHdiYAZF7L9M48fSS0C5nWCGDte0haRRDskD/w438-h329/Reid+and+Hailey+on+theSsddle.jpg" width="438" /></a></div><span> <span> <span><span><span> <span> <span> A boy needs his own saddle..., so I gave him one..., and he gave his sister a ride.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></span></div><div><span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: medium; text-align: left;"> </span></div></span><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Larry married twice, neither of which lasted, but the first marriage produced Keith Spence of Lewiston and A.J. Spence (Rebecca Brackett) of Lewiston. The second marriage produced Bert Spence (Chelsea) of Orofino. </span><span style="font-size: medium;">He also adopted Brianne Page (Christopher) and Stacy Wright (Glen) of Orofino and has five adopted grandchildren via them…, Evan, Megan, and Taran and Phoenix and Aevlyn, respectively. His parents proceeded him in passing but he is survived by the aforementioned children and grandchildren as well as his brother Scott R of Forks, WA, and many cousins and friends scattered throughout the Pacific Northwest.</span></p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">At his request he will be cremated and no services are planned. The family asks that he only be remembered for his kindness, consideration and generosity to everyone who knew him.</span></p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">RIP Brother Larry.</span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlwKetmEF-ph7TRCDztT3JDIjmBxuvNrh6coS6pVg3HRDbZyXPgmEA9M6hpXdjeUAAJjgogJqFGj-eDURxOVP-YKWaM7a_VWvfAE7BDXQTPLOWt2z38bH55u8DZs_H4aqKTXEKuzBtIJ7a/s1439/Larry+and+Me+.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1439" data-original-width="1080" height="488" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlwKetmEF-ph7TRCDztT3JDIjmBxuvNrh6coS6pVg3HRDbZyXPgmEA9M6hpXdjeUAAJjgogJqFGj-eDURxOVP-YKWaM7a_VWvfAE7BDXQTPLOWt2z38bH55u8DZs_H4aqKTXEKuzBtIJ7a/w366-h488/Larry+and+Me+.jpg" width="366" /></a></div></div><div><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: x-small;">Larry and Me</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br /></div><div><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYKx_NZoATaq7QgJcqDbkqG-DDtPVtaNmXKjuPa7VoEgT7eJz-oWbSI3PYa4o5YqOMG7cEiuOBvCmOow-PkHWWierxRhNrPDfpYk5KuvQJYTHmQStLsTwnWwk4oZTNQMaTmsPr7EAfifQ4/s320/Santa+picture.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="223" data-original-width="320" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYKx_NZoATaq7QgJcqDbkqG-DDtPVtaNmXKjuPa7VoEgT7eJz-oWbSI3PYa4o5YqOMG7cEiuOBvCmOow-PkHWWierxRhNrPDfpYk5KuvQJYTHmQStLsTwnWwk4oZTNQMaTmsPr7EAfifQ4/w417-h291/Santa+picture.jpeg" width="417" /></a></div><span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span><span style="font-size: x-small;">Larry and Me</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpzyBgNOLdZawXdi22R1kmZiyKtiYiScnK_S2JdUh7jcfSpPrFB-hSx3Pp1n02aiKdcQg_P4e-4fxLpFX7h0-4xQ66URxXXL4CYV-HaRP0Wm_I4SYZ23biVnen4BbKPs5yvPe3Sfm4BBpc/s320/Larry%252C+Jack+Smith+%2526+Me.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="206" data-original-width="320" height="304" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpzyBgNOLdZawXdi22R1kmZiyKtiYiScnK_S2JdUh7jcfSpPrFB-hSx3Pp1n02aiKdcQg_P4e-4fxLpFX7h0-4xQ66URxXXL4CYV-HaRP0Wm_I4SYZ23biVnen4BbKPs5yvPe3Sfm4BBpc/w472-h304/Larry%252C+Jack+Smith+%2526+Me.jpeg" width="472" /></a></div><span> <span> <span> <span><span><span><span><span>I have often referred to this picture as me and my two brothers, Larry and Jack Smith.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixjvdJ-_FAsAVRWJpX6r-HbxOY41zt9-76CRVyHzWqsk222K0fM7gQJy8Ca-OEPWz-fc9KVaKZzWNLlEgY22XIBHwUQL2KPxy08j60thd1W0cwAX_5Iy7AlOTweB41-8GSyHn-e2lOABSa/s278/A+little+heavier+here.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="278" data-original-width="240" height="430" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixjvdJ-_FAsAVRWJpX6r-HbxOY41zt9-76CRVyHzWqsk222K0fM7gQJy8Ca-OEPWz-fc9KVaKZzWNLlEgY22XIBHwUQL2KPxy08j60thd1W0cwAX_5Iy7AlOTweB41-8GSyHn-e2lOABSa/w372-h430/A+little+heavier+here.jpeg" width="372" /></a></div><span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span><span><span>Larry was big boned and aways a little on the heavy side.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span><span><span><span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWw3XDAU6iatBtGDuORCODq3OPP4YU2cgxMrDyelGEu_T8HkrYHGcqElqEhNGkzMJ0BFwJ2noRLN35f6CuI5v1Q7VlPHBYOdhXJq308hnfe_emapozGM-CZPQmQ-IJqX8RHZOoGCoMOksZ/s446/Lost+weight.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="446" data-original-width="424" height="429" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWw3XDAU6iatBtGDuORCODq3OPP4YU2cgxMrDyelGEu_T8HkrYHGcqElqEhNGkzMJ0BFwJ2noRLN35f6CuI5v1Q7VlPHBYOdhXJq308hnfe_emapozGM-CZPQmQ-IJqX8RHZOoGCoMOksZ/w407-h429/Lost+weight.jpg" width="407" /></a></div><span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span><span><span><span>He knew that losing weight the way he was, was not a healthy sign.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br /><span><br /><span><br /><span face="Programme, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 20.25px;">"Lay down my brother</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Programme, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20.25px;" /><span face="Programme, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 20.25px;">Take it easy, take it slow</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Programme, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20.25px;" /><span face="Programme, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 20.25px;">Lay down my brother</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Programme, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20.25px;" /><span face="Programme, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 20.25px;">Rest a while, let it go</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Programme, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20.25px;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Programme, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20.25px;" /><span face="Programme, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 20.25px;">It's a long hard road in the wind and the rain</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Programme, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20.25px;" /><span face="Programme, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 20.25px;">But you finally made it through</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Programme, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20.25px;" /><span face="Programme, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 20.25px;">Odds are you'll be goin' again</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Programme, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20.25px;" /><span face="Programme, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 20.25px;">But the odds won't be ridin' with you</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Programme, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20.25px;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Programme, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20.25px;" /><span face="Programme, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 20.25px;">You've been workin' every minute, every hour, every day</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Programme, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20.25px;" /><span face="Programme, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 20.25px;">Still the work is never done</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Programme, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20.25px;" /><span face="Programme, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 20.25px;">The life you love is passin' away</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Programme, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20.25px;" /><span face="Programme, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 20.25px;">But you feel you've only begun"</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span face="Programme, Arial, sans-serif"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 20.25px;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span face="Programme, Arial, sans-serif"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 20.25px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white;">Robert Earl Keen<br /></span></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://youtube.com/embed/rhOpmY408Eo?si=LC_8jWCXEpyyKlQT" width="480"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>Scott R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17353655165012542492noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4473278163835308551.post-49766123167179043242020-09-18T20:06:00.009-07:002023-12-09T16:32:43.987-08:00John "Savage" Thompson<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgilmRsA6UNlgNpRU4Tqxk8yAq0LOTppHRcJ3dSfEAX5xkfla6xFyiINp1gZWD2IUWHwFMNc7Q2sPQnXv8h-ZO4WzCRhrWmIwIfcbaCGiXPXPgIGUS8mvwDdC7pU_bjOSk43eqnSWv61wYE/s2048/John+Thompson.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1435" data-original-width="2048" height="450" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgilmRsA6UNlgNpRU4Tqxk8yAq0LOTppHRcJ3dSfEAX5xkfla6xFyiINp1gZWD2IUWHwFMNc7Q2sPQnXv8h-ZO4WzCRhrWmIwIfcbaCGiXPXPgIGUS8mvwDdC7pU_bjOSk43eqnSWv61wYE/w640-h450/John+Thompson.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">John "Savage" Thompson<br />Born : March 18, 1950<br />Passed: August 9, 2020</td></tr></tbody></table><p> <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">Well…, he always said, “They’ll never take me alive”…, and there is no chance of it now.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">He passed away of natural causes on August 9, 2020.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">I thought 2020 was cruel and depraved and sadistic after the fire and all…, not to mention climate change…, COVID-19…, financial Armagedon.., and the political three ring circus running non-stop through this country…, yeah…, “clowns to the left of me…, jokers to the right…, stuck in the middle”… wish you were still here to help pilot me through this quagmire.</span></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;">Whoever is calling the shots now days got this one completely wrong. Not that it could not have happened at other times back down the road on some pretty wild rides. And I was along on a few of them. Did you notice the missing ring finger on his left hand on the photo above? Yeah…, I was along on that ride. </span></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;">Happy Hour at The Clearwater Club is over…, we pile into his Mazda pickup with three of wildest of the wild women…, it was a bit crowded and that caused a wide turn and little detour up over the wrong side of the road curb…, that a cop happened to witness and thought he ought to investigate. It was just two blocks to his parents house…, and we beat the cop there and Savage headed into Mom’s house…, thee Wild Woman…, who would spend the rest of her life with him .., stepped up and told the cop that it was her that piloted the Mazda up over wrong side of the curb and pulled into John Thompson’s Mom’s driveway. OK.., this cop is a bit more Andy than he is Barney …, and says, “Look I am sure I saw John Thompson exit this vehicle and run towards the house…, “ and Jeannie says.., “No, no.., it was me.., “ .., and Mom arrives on the scene…, and Andy departs the scene grinning and shaking his head.</span></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;">HOME FREE !!! Thunder Storm brewing…, and The Great Escape executed…. Somewhere near Zan’s Beach on the way to Weippe…, it cut loose …., and so did the traction on the Mazda…, and it didn’t seem like too bad a deal to be upright and perched atop a boulder battling the Clearwater River. Seemed like a secure position at the moment…. , and nobody was injured…, so Savage was in the bed of the little truck gettting a suitcase…., and I thought it would be a good idea to get the bottle of R&R from under the seat in the cab. I was about half way inside the cab on my stomach reaching under the seat when the little truck cut loose from the boulder. It kind of catapulted me over the top of the rolling pickup on down into the river and I remember being on my hands and knees in the water and making a wild scramble to get out of the way of the little pickup rolling my way. When I made it back up to the highway there was Savage…, with a missing finger. A couple of friends from up on The Hill made a timely entrance and got us all to the hospital.</span></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;">That wasn’t the first time we exchanged pleasantries between us in a hospital…, but I do believe it was the last. The first was after the Blue Mountain Rock Festival at the University of Idaho in Moscow. Yeah…, it must have been The Russians…, witnessing Savage taking a little nap during the festivities…, delivered a swift kick to the jaw. The next day I stopped in at the hospital to listen to him talk through a wired shut mouth. The other time it was he who took me to the hospital to get a split lip stitched up. And well he should have…, he was the one who took us to the biker gang, Highwaymen’s Club House in Lewiston…, and by the time we left there…, with four of us in an old Dodge Power Wagon…, our driver decided to do a burn out from the stop sign before turning right on Snake River Avenue. It took us by surprise and the momentum pushed that driver nearly out the door that was not properly secured…, hanging onto the steering wheel with one hand to keep from landing out on the street does not allow you to straighten out the turn…, and we crashed right into the rock wall. We all kind of went our separate ways…, but managed to find our way back to Savage’s house in Clarkston, WA…., without my 10x Beaver Stetson cowboy hat I might add. I didn’t think things were that bad…, the bleeding had pretty much stopped and we had opened up a new bottle of 100 proof Wild Turkey…, and after a few shots I let them take me to the hospital…, where my mustache got shaved for the only time in the last 40 some years.</span></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;">Hey…, they weren’t all bat shit crazy adventures…, but when he bought the raft…, I went right down and bought a Stearns life vest…, and still have it. But I never bought a parachute when he bought the hang glider…, and I never went along on any of those rides. And I am glad that he had provided wet suits that spring day when we rafted the Irish Railroad Rapids of the North Fork of the Clearwater River. As we scouted the rapids I told his drop dead gorgeous sister Ellen…, that she should position herself with her 35mm camera right below a big flat rock where the main channel was hitting hard…, I told her we would probably end up right on top of it. Well…, we did slide right up there…, held steady for a moment…, and slide right back into the main channel…, and hit it with a little more force than I was prepared for. It threw me right out of the raft…, but I managed to grab the life line on the raft with my free hand…, and kept my beer upright with the other hand. Knowing the priorities…, Rob Christopherson saved my beer first…, then dragged me back into the raft. And ever foxy Ellen has the pictures to prove it. Speaking of Ellen,,., reminds me of the Marshall Tucker Band concert in Pullman, WA that Savage secured tickets for me and her…, thank you brother…, many thanks indeed. I just could not seem to secure a date with her on my own.</span></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;">And another big thank you for coming all the way up to Weippe…, tracking me down and taking me to Troy, OR…, for The River Bottom Stomp. Yeah…, when Credence Clearwater Revival broke up…, John Fogerty found the most isolated place that I have ever been…, and settled in. But every year they held a little get together in Troy…, there were even Hollywood stunt men there doing flaming dives off the bridge over the Grand Ronde River and rockin’ all night. I was never a CCR fan prior to that…, but I have been a Fogerty fan ever since.</span></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;">I am not sure that I had really met “Savage”…, and never could figure out how he acquired that handle…, he was a lot more fun lovin’ and full of laughs and good humor than anything else… but on the night of The Weippe Rodeo…, I got a little ahead of myself and had to take a little nap…, and a gal that I had admonished a few days before for waking me up on a work night and not performing as she should have…, woke me up again with intentions of making things right. Well…, as we we headed for my bedroom.., we found it occupied by Savage and another female figure. And not many weeks later after I knew him better he caught up with me at The Logger’s Lodge…, I was eating a cheeseburger…, in paradise…, and he says that he was just over at my place and the cops were there…, asking questions. Well…, I knew that there was some stuff there that I didn’t want discovered.., so I went to a friends house to spend the night. We had to work the next day so I head to my place to suit up and build a lunch about four in he morning…, when I hear the gravel crunching of a slow moving vehicle outside…, I peek out the window to see a F-ing cop car! Well…, I have had some panic attacks in my day…, but if that isn’t the Oscar winner…, I don’t know what is. I am sure you have all had to double flush a toilet…, and waiting for the bowl to fill back up can seem a little slow…, but when you are expecting the front door to be busted open by jack booted thugs…, time can literally stand still. Well…, that door didn’t get busted down…, and my heart held up…, but some other stuff went needlessly down the drain. Found out later that the boys living downstairs were the suspects…, they had robbed the local store for food…, my friend Jack Smith wrote a song about it…, “Weippe Hamburgers Don’t Turn Me On.”</span></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;">One night up in Weippe we were in the apartment of my cousin and her friend…, they had managed to ditch us…, can’t imagine why… but they hadn’t locked the door to their apartment…, and there we were…, Savage pulls out his 380 Walther and aims it at the door knob…, I am thinking he is bluffing…, I should have known better. Well…, no more damage than that Belgein made Walther 380 made to that cheap door knob…, he graduated to a Smith & Wesson Model 59 with a 15 round clip soon after.</span></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;">Probably a good thing that he didn’t have it when he and another guy got back from a logging gig in AK. Yeah…, they had a bit of cash and hit Tacoma where some guys were brewing a concoction they called Mescaline…, that tested out to be LSD. Well…, they did take him alive that night…, and when his partner made it back to Weippe and told the story…, I volunteered to drive back to Tacoma to help bail him out. I didn’t have the money to bail him out…, his partner did…,but when they told him that if he waited until until he appeared in court on Monday he would be release with a $25 fine instead of a $250 bail. His partner opted for the $25 option…, I wish I would have had the money partner…, you would have come home with us.</span></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;">RIP brother…, nah…, raise a little hell…, a lot of hell…, it will make it easier for me to track you down…, and you won’t have any trouble recognizing me…, I will be the guy in the cowboy hat with the orange Stearns life jacket on..., lookin' for another ride!!!</span></p><p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR3iv3Grz8sWgUqhOnY79l0Y94vuaVp4aX22bV4uyY7o_yY_rsDzbfa5S9H1hEjIvWwQZEIaiqOR6vyim2J9xwVe_nxb2CYkWONgCARHEb2MgtBI84UpjI4poNwXZ7kJ7j1nPx3gGeH1yK/s1470/John+%2522Savage%2522+Thompson.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1470" data-original-width="1020" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR3iv3Grz8sWgUqhOnY79l0Y94vuaVp4aX22bV4uyY7o_yY_rsDzbfa5S9H1hEjIvWwQZEIaiqOR6vyim2J9xwVe_nxb2CYkWONgCARHEb2MgtBI84UpjI4poNwXZ7kJ7j1nPx3gGeH1yK/w446-h640/John+%2522Savage%2522+Thompson.jpg" width="446" /></a></div><br /><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><br /></span><p></p><p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><div class="ujudUb" jsname="U8S5sf" style="caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 36); color: #202124; font-family: arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 12px;"><span jsname="YS01Ge">"I got this old black leather jacket. Got this pack of Marlboro reds.</span><br aria-hidden="true" /><span jsname="YS01Ge">Got this stash here in my pocket. Got these thoughts in my own head.</span><br aria-hidden="true" /><span jsname="YS01Ge">I'm gonna run until I have to walk, until I have to crawl.</span><br aria-hidden="true" /><span jsname="YS01Ge">Got this moment that I'm living in and nothing else at all.</span></div><div class="ujudUb" jsname="U8S5sf" style="caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 36); color: #202124; font-family: arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 12px;"><span jsname="YS01Ge">"Play a train song, pour me one more round.</span><br aria-hidden="true" /><span jsname="YS01Ge">Make 'em leave my boots on; on the day they lay me down.</span><br aria-hidden="true" /><span jsname="YS01Ge">I am a runaway locomotive, out of my one-track mind.</span><br aria-hidden="true" /><span jsname="YS01Ge">Play a train song. Play a train song."</span></div><p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://youtube.com/embed/aMJdUXvZ7pQ?si=7UM1n9aqbBqkNulz" width="480"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="ujudUb" jsname="U8S5sf" style="caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 36); color: #202124; font-family: arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 12px; text-align: start;">I am sure he had his boots on..., Whites no doubt..., </div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; text-align: start;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><br /></span><p></p>Scott R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17353655165012542492noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4473278163835308551.post-391726043152979592020-05-02T19:58:00.000-07:002020-05-02T19:58:09.740-07:00Ruminations - 2020<div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well..., you can’t say I didn’t warn you to hold on tight three years ago..., when I last updated The Blog. And it is damn good thing I took my own advise to heart. These last three years have been quite the rides around the sun..., let me tell you. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From a personal perspective it appears to be one speed bump after another. In December of 2017 I took Julie to Bremerton for what was supposed to be a minor surgery..., as I was out in the waiting room the doctor came out and said there were some major issues and she would be in the hospital for a while. I didn’t even have a tooth brush or razor with me..., I had to buy those and get a motel room. She ended up spending four days in the Intensive Care Unit. We didn’t own a cell phone (still don’t) and I had to borrow a cell phone from someone at the hospital to call the job supervisor and say, “I don’t know when I will be back”. And the gals running the Motel 6 flipped a switch for me so I could make some long distance calls to let some folks know what was going on. If I had had my address book with me I could have alerted a few more people. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A few lessons were learned from that one..., the most important..., was the importance of medical insurance. When they send you a statement they make sure to remind you of that fact..., they show you in 20 point font what it would have cost you without it. Over $378,000. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Even if we only had to pay the price the insurance was charged..., under half price..., it would have been financially devastating for us. A lot of folks out at the job ask me when I will be retiring..., with an air of, “Shouldn’t an old fart like you be put out to pasture already?” I have a copy of the insurance statement on my desk and tell them I won’t be retiring until Julie is old enough to get on Medicare. That will be a couple more years down the road for sure..., now that Bernie has dropped out of the Presidential campaign. Not too likely that we would get Medicare for All even if he had been elected..., too many politicians..., from both parties..., are raking in too much money from those health insurance companies that are raking in billions to see that happen.</span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And don’t believe for a minute that those health insurance companies will be hurt by this COVID-19 debacle. Since Obama Care was enacted they are operating virtually on a cost plus agenda. They are guaranteed a profit margin..., so the more money they have to spend..., the more money they get to make by raising cost of their plans. And after all the bluff that the Republicans spewed with vote after vote to repeal Obama Care while the Democrats were in control and all the bluster from The Chump that one of his first priorities would be to repeal it..., when they had the chance with control of the Executive, House and Senate..., it didn’t happen..., see above..., too many politicians are raking in too much money from those health insurance companies to see that happen. It is all a big money game..., and the big money is literally flowing out..., again..., to rescue the mighty corporations while they sit on their asses..., and our asses are ordered to stay home and wait for a check that might cover the rent..., for a month..., if we are lucky.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yeah..., keep on hanging on. According to Google..., “In 2017, 335 natural disaster affected over 95.6 million people, killing an additional 9,697 and costing a total of US $335 billion.” “In 2018, there were 315 natural disaster events recored with 11,804 deaths, over 68 million people affected and US $ 131.7 billion in economic losses across the world.” “In 2019, there were a total of 409 natural disasters events worldwide.” Hurricanes, typhoons, wildfires, heat waves, droughts, flooding, earthquakes, tsunamis, melting polar icecaps, warming and acidifying oceans, coral reef bleaching, fresh water shortage, global warming and climate change are raging..., and nothing is being done about it.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What’s in store for the 2020’s? I hope our personal experience isn’t a harbinger. Yeah..., on 1/31/20 I pulled into the driveway of The Ranch after a day at the job..., to see the double wide afire. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I can’t blame that on The Chump or Climate Change..., or maybe I can. The Chump denies it..., and the storm that caused the generator to be started because of the power outage could be Climate Change related. But no need to dwell on that..., it is what it is. The place didn’t burn to the ground..., we saved a lot of stuff..., my computers, my guns, art work, too many books and record albums, lots of clothes..., but the place is not fixable and The Saddle Bar(n) is now crammed full of that “stuff”. No human or animal casualties..., thankfully. We had a little stash of money that enabled us to buy a small camper trailer and we are getting by just fine..., wondering what the future will bring us next. </span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One thing that I am sure of is that we won’t have The Chump to kick around much longer. I have commented to several friends on Facebook not to worry when they say that he will get re-elected. No matter how hard the Doofus Democrats try to give it away..., and good gosh they are doing everything they can..., short of running Hillary again. And don’t be shocked if they replace babbling Joe Biden with her..., or if she gets chosen as Vice President running mate for The Babbler. Yeah..., even Hillary would win against The Chump this time. She won the popular vote by nearly three million votes last time..., and all the folks that stayed out of the voting booths because they could not stomach a vote for her and because all the polls and pundits said she was a sure thing last time will be out there voting against The Chump this time. The Chump may not have lost any supporters..., even after needlessly killing a lot of folks by waffling on the COVID-19 response until the situation was so dire, even he could no longer deny it..., yeah they still love and support him. But he hasn’t gained any new supporters and he has earned the wrath of many who just thought he was a doofus and a joke.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Speaking of COVID-19..., the delayed response and failure to isolate and contain it early on led to an explosion of infections that was indeed scary. In the beginning the number of positive cases in the U.S. was doubling about every four days and increasing nearly 20% every 24 hours. The number of deaths in 24 hours was doubling every three days and increasing at a rate of 36%. With numbers like that it is easy to see why alarm bells were ringing and the projections were for millions of deaths in America alone. But it has tapered off immensely..., as of 5/1/20..., about a month later..., it is taking almost 25 days to double the number of positive cases and they are increasing at just a 3% clip. The deaths are taking 21 days to double and increasing at a 3% rate. This trend is most definitely a good sign..., that isn’t getting much attention. Here's a link <span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: #000099;">https://www.ianwelsh.net/may-1st-us-covid-data/</span> The media like to report just the numbers..., “2000” deaths a day the headlines scream! Don’t get me wrong..., that is bad..., but not nearly so bad as it would be if the initial numbers had continued in the manner they started out at. And a couple days in late April only recorded 1000 deaths. It is debatable whether the “lockdown” has actually been the cause of this trend..., I tend to side with those who say it was unnecessary and ineffective. Mike Whitney says <a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/55111.htm"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: #000099;">http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/55111.htm</span></a> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The lockdown was conjured up by made-for-TV infectious disease experts who based their recommendations on the results of discredited computer models that don’t square with reality. In short, their calculations were wrong, thus, the policy they cobbled together, is also wrong. This is not a liberal vs conservative issue. This is not a Democrat vs Republican issue. The issue is whether policy should be shaped by data and science or by fake computer models and the relentless fear-mongering of the media. That is the heart of the matter.</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The virus isn’t something we choose or don’t choose, and it’s certainly not something that can be avoided by bolting the door and hiding under the bed. There are only two paths to immunity: Vaccine or the natural immune response of antibodies. That’s it! There is no third path. Self quarantine is not a solution, at best it’s a temporary fix. Eventually, everyone will have to emerge from their respective spider-holes and reenter the real world. What other choice is there?</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The social distancing certainly helps..., we have known that for years just from dealing with cold and flu virus..., but the masks are really only necessary if you are around someone infected or if you yourself are infected. I know..., you never know who might have it or even if you might have it yourself..., but if you don’t get close enough to let people drool on you..., you shouldn’t be in too much danger. Yeah..., take some common sense precautions if you are healthy..., and more precaution if you are at risk..., but I don’t believe that there is reason to panic or carry things too far. The thinking that we can keep this lockdown and mask up routine going until they find a vaccine is pie in the sky hopium. We have never found a vaccine for the common cold virus and we won’t find a miracle cure for this one. Keep in mind that this virus didn’t “wipe out” any cruise ships or nursing homes..., the survivors significantly out numbered the deaths..., so there is some kind of immunity in our bodies that can be tapped..., and it looks to me like that immunity is being spread. Let’s hope that it is spreading faster than the virus. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We must not forget about the financial-economic situation that this COVID-19 calamity has “caused”..., bullshit..., I call bullshit. It is a a “God send” I am sure Goldman Sachs is saying..., something to blame the the meltdown on. In 2008 Goldman and all the other To Big to Fail Banks and Wall Street were bailed out and given a new lease on life by the Federal Reserve and the bought and paid for politicians..., with not so much as a reprimand or corrective action taken. In fact..., nothing was done to insure that this would never happen again. Well..., here we are..., with another bailout that literally dwarfs the 2008 one. And me and you are still waiting for $1200 “stimulus checks” to see us through a stay home with no income lockdown and a make your own mask pandemic..., while the plutocrats are raking in $billions. Yeah..., and to pay for it..., our taxes will be transferred from safely net programs to million and billioniers to pay for their tax cuts. Who needs food stamp money when we can give it to rich bastards that know how to put the money to good use..., by buying back stocks, paying out dividends to stock holders and “compensating” CEO’s and other executives for screwing over the hired help? </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well..., I guess that is about enough for now..., hope you are fairing a bit better than us. We will keep plugging along..., for as long as they let us. Oh..., and don’t forget to hang on tight..., this ride is going to be one to remember.</span></span></div>
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Scott R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17353655165012542492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4473278163835308551.post-2100708140243008822017-04-14T20:00:00.000-07:002017-04-14T20:00:07.920-07:00Another Trip Around the Sun<div class="p1">
Oh yeah…, another trip around the sun…, and damn, that was a quick one. But they all are these days. This trip won’t officially end for me for a few more days yet…, but it is close enough to reflect back on it a bit…, I guess. I did manage to slow down long enough to slip a secret weapon into my wallet before I turn 65…, though I do hope to hell that I don’t get any more use out of that Medicare Card than I got out of the secret weapon that wore out a couple of wallets back in the junior and high school days…, when it seemed like the years would never end…, and it seemed that I would never get a chance to get that secret weapon out and use it.</div>
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<b><i>Hear 'em singing happy birthday</i></b></div>
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<b><i>Better think about the wish I make</i></b></div>
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<b><i>This year gone by</i></b></div>
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<b><i>Ain't been a piece a cake.</i></b></div>
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<b><i>Everyday’s a revolution</i></b></div>
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<b><i>Pull it together and it comes undone</i></b></div>
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<b><i>Just one more candle</i></b></div>
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<b><i>And a trip around the sun.</i></b></div>
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Well…, I don’t know what I could wish for.., that I haven’t already got…, and I just don’t have room for much more of any material things anyway. OK…, I’ll just wish for one more ice cold beer…, and that’s never far out of reach here in The Saddle Bar(n). You can keep the cake…, but I will warn you that <a href="http://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/sugar-facts-myths-zmaz71sozgoe">processed white sugar is not good for you</a>..., there is ample evidence that white sugar robs the body of B vitamins, disrupts calcium metabolism and has a deleterious effect on the nervous system.</div>
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I guess I could wish for world peace…, but that isn’t conducive to economic growth. And the military industrial complex…, or as I refer to it…, the Bomb and Bullet Builders, are about the only economic engine still firing these days. I have always contended that the Wee Bush drug us into the Iraq War with lies about weapons of mass destruction and mushroom clouds on the horizon in order to “get the economy going.” That worked just well enough to get him re-elected…, and if the economy would have held on just a little longer and it hadn’t all blown up in his face…, he could have smirked off to paint his toe nails in his bathtub…, swearing that it was all Obama’s fault. Obama knew the score as well…, but played the game a little better. Not nearly as many empty American boots on parade during his watch…, but maybe I should add “Drones” to my Bomb and Bullet Builders tag…, and note that he left a lot of bootless foreign bodies behind in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Somalia, Yemen, Pakistan…, and who knows where all else. Now…, the current degenerate killer occupying the White House seems to be catching on quick and forgetting what he campaigned on. Yeah…, 59 Tomahawk missiles, <a href="http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/2017/04/06/">at about 1.59 million dollars apiece</a> to Raytheon, unleashed for reasons <a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/2017/04/14/an-assessment-of-the-white-house-intelligence-report-about-the-nerve-agent-attack-in-khan-shaykhun-syria/">at least as dubious as the reasons</a> for the Wee Bush’s 15 year war on Iraq. More troops are being sent into battle in more hot spots and more US strikes have been carried out in Yemen during a recent five day period than were launched during any other full year on record. As I write this…, there is a US Navy task force steaming full speed ahead to North Korean waters and Trump has unleashed a MOAB…, <a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/2017/04/14/chocolate-cake-the-moab-and-hexavalent-chromium-let-the-good-times-roll/">Mother Of All Bombs on Afghanistan</a> . Why waste a wish…, who knows how many more I will get? I’m not taking any chances with that damn processed white sugar though…, so maybe I will fare thee well for a few more trips around the sun yet.</div>
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I<b><i>'m just hangin’ on while this old world keeps spinnin’</i></b></div>
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<b><i>And it's good to know it's out of my control.</i></b></div>
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<b><i>If there's one thing that I've learned from all this livin’</i></b></div>
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<b><i>Is that it wouldn't change a thing if I let go.</i></b></div>
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Well…, don’t worry. I’m not about to let go. I wouldn’t miss this upcoming circus for all the tea in China. Speaking of China…, they seem to be building <a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/08/19/dangerous-seas-china-and-the-usa/">some suspicious looking island just off their coast</a> and over 10,000 miles off our US coast…, and we are squealing like stuck pigs that it is a military provocation directed at our Homeland. Practically an act of war…, I am sure John McCain would say. While at the same time…, we are shocked! And I do meant SHOCKED !…, that the damn Russians have the nerve to say, “What the fuck?” when we instigate a coup in Ukraine, <a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/12/11/ukraine-and-nato-threats-against-russia-continue/">accuse them of "invading" Crimea,</a> and deploy missiles and the biggest troop and tank contingent since WW II in Poland…, about <a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/07/19/us-nato-border-confrontation-with-russia-risking-nuclear-war/">10 miles from the Russian border</a> . Is it any wonder that they want to find out what is going on in our muddled minds? There is no doubt that during the campaign, there was a massive electronic “phishing” expedition by the Russians. I made fun of it on my blog…, noting that I got some 800 hits in a month. It didn’t seem to scare me as much as it did the surveillance sleuths in our deep state “intelligence” agencies…, and if the Russians really meant any harm…, there is no evidence of it. And if they did help to defeat the blond toadstool who was hell bent on seeing just how far she could push them…, many thanks men…, many, many thanks. Or so I thought…, until the Trumpster showed his true toadstool colors. I would still much rather shake my head and wonder what goofy, oddball, doomed for failure plan the Trumpster will come up with next…, than sit here wondering just when the cackling hen would panic over another “phishing expedition” and pounce on the big red button…, or heaven forbid…, get loose with a bayonet in hand. I am pretty sure that she imbibed in excess processed white sugar in the past…, and the visual evidence confirms that she still does.</div>
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<b><i>No you never see it comin’</i></b></div>
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<b><i>Always wind up wondering where it went</i></b></div>
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<b><i>Only time will tell</i></b></div>
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<b><i>If it was time well spent.</i></b></div>
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<b><i>It’s another revelation</i></b></div>
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<b><i>Celebrating what I should have done</i></b></div>
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<b><i>With these souvenirs </i></b></div>
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<b><i>Of my trip around the sun.</i></b></div>
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A couple trips around the sun ago…, I penned a piece about the old home stomping grounds in north central Idaho and climate change. Since that time the area has experienced the worst forest fire season in history during the summer of 2015. While I was on the phone with my brother Larry…, he said, “Hold on…, the cops are here!” Hold on hell…, I made a run for it. Old Hippie habits die hard. It was OK though…, I grabbed a couple more beers out of The Saddle Bar(n) while I was out there. When I got back to the phone he said they were there issuing warnings…, not a mandatory evacuation at that time…, but to be ready for one if things got worse. Luckily they didn’t. This winter of 2016 – 17…, they got what still hasn’t been called…, but could be record snowfall…, with an abrupt warming and rain to follow close on. Flooding, slides and washouts…, the County issued a disaster declaration to free up funds so repair work could begin immediately, without a bid process. He works on a road crew for Clearwater County and I was expecting that he would probably be out working when I called. He returned my call about a week later and said that he had indeed been busy and that he had never seen anything like the weather they were experiencing. Yeah…, the Arctic has experienced 30 degree above normal temperatures, records are being broken monthly for temperatures and ice loss. An iceberg the size of Delaware is ready to calve off the ice shelf in the Antarctic and the glaciers there are melting at alarming rates, Greenland is pouring fresh water from its melting glaciers into the ocean and <a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/02/02/abrupt-climate-change-is-here/">sea levels are rising the world over</a> Practically the entire world got together and adopted the Paris Climate agreement during this last trip around the sun, determining that we had to do something about climate change immediately. But we needn’t worry…, it’s all a hoax…, so says our new President. I think someone has been slipping him the processed white sugar…, in bigly yuge doses.</div>
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<b><i>I'm just hanging on while this old world keeps spinnin’</i></b></div>
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<b><i>And it's good to know it's out of my control.</i></b></div>
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<b><i>If there's one thing that I've learned from all this livin’</i></b></div>
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<b><i>Is that it wouldn't change a thing if I let go.</i></b></div>
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Yeah…, I plan to hang around and watch the show…, maybe even participate in it now and then…, when the need arises. The CO2 levels that are widely believed to be a significant factor in warming up our little spaceship earth…, seems to have been kind to the potato garden and the pastures last year and the Spruce trees were producing cones like I have never seen. There were record worldwide grain crops last year and there is no place to store all the excess grain that the farmers <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-grains-storage-analysis-idUSKBN17D0EO">don't want to sell at the low prices offered</a> Yeah…, excess food and low prices…, world hunger solved…, right? Yeah…, make a wish. Anyway…, the dogs, horses, cats, chickens and ducks don’t seem too alarmed about the climate…, so I am not ready to panic either. The people of the world seem to almost yearn for some sort of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_dates_predicted_for_apocalyptic_events">catastrophic, world ending apocalypse</a>…, whether it is Nostradamus predictions, the Mayan Calendar, the Hale Bopp Comet…, or Nibiru. I am more of a <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008UX3KY2/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1">"Long Emergency"</a> and <a href="http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.com/2011/01/onset-of-catabolic-collapse.html">"Catabolic Collapse"</a> believer myself. The climate doomers feel that <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_methane_emissions">massive methane releases</a> in the Arctic will dramatically accelerate the warming trend. I think old mother earth is trying to cool and de-acidify our dying oceans to hold off that methane release by feeding all that ice cold glacier melt into them. So…, I guess I really don’t know for sure what is going to happen…, but I do know one thing for sure…, I don’t want any processed white sugar…, but I will have another ice cold beer…, thank you…, and maybe a shot of 1800 reposado gold tequila.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijR2kp8C7LW8UEKw2iWWcPbmAWrrVIUXsm184BfTEn_dY7af438Ba6T9WnD4IJB8GvcyrBiJllr_CqBk7CWXJyZla1_CIMsC3S7n1fD1C8bCpApeYW79IRFhpOdFd7eXcSiyi7lock1KKD/s1600/P1010194.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijR2kp8C7LW8UEKw2iWWcPbmAWrrVIUXsm184BfTEn_dY7af438Ba6T9WnD4IJB8GvcyrBiJllr_CqBk7CWXJyZla1_CIMsC3S7n1fD1C8bCpApeYW79IRFhpOdFd7eXcSiyi7lock1KKD/s320/P1010194.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Now…, let’s all hang on…, and I do mean hang on tight…, and do our very best to enjoy our remaining rides around the sun.</div>
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Y<b><i>es I'll make a resolution</i></b></div>
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<b><i>Then I'll never make another one.</i></b></div>
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<b><i>Just enjoy this ride on my</i></b></div>
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<b><i>Trip around the sun.</i></b></div>
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<b><i><br /></i></b></div>
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<b><i>Just enjoy this ride</i></b></div>
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<b><i>On my trip around the sun</i></b></div>
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<b><i>Just enjoy this ride</i></b></div>
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<b><i>Till the ride is done.</i></b></div>
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<b><i><br /></i></b></div>
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<b><i>Written by Al Anderson, Stephen Bruton, and Sharon Vaughn.</i></b></div>
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<b><i>Performed by Jimmy Buffett and Martina McBride</i></b></div>
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Scott R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17353655165012542492noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4473278163835308551.post-26770208574671732902016-12-10T12:34:00.000-08:002016-12-10T12:34:47.909-08:00Ceremonies of the Horsemen<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih0NFw0Xuwac1Is17TqM5jsBgRtDpm30ZncxtxokabrnsaNHcXedRotQCkVD6rEcJOOMzQOvWyGxAwXaE8Zst_T3fVGU_JnnlB69Qx9J_dKwX2j0hHB8Ya8cX_j4EYobHDjMudwd09kygr/s1600/Tom+Russell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih0NFw0Xuwac1Is17TqM5jsBgRtDpm30ZncxtxokabrnsaNHcXedRotQCkVD6rEcJOOMzQOvWyGxAwXaE8Zst_T3fVGU_JnnlB69Qx9J_dKwX2j0hHB8Ya8cX_j4EYobHDjMudwd09kygr/s640/Tom+Russell.jpg" width="425" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When the Tom McGuane book, <i>"Some Horses"</i> came out in 1999..., I had Amazon send a hard copy edition to <a href="http://scottrthequillayutecowboy.blogspot.com/2010/05/that-good-lookin-al-spence.html">my dear old Dad</a>. I got a call from him soon after. He said that he was surprised when it unexpectedly arrived in the mail and that he opened the package up at the post office..., then went straight home..., and read it through. Well..., if the old boy was still around..., he would be getting another book in the mail. The one pictured here.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yeah..., I was first exposed to Tom Russell by his writing on his old blog..., and that drew me to his music..., which I have written about..., <a href="http://scottrthequillayutecowboy.blogspot.com/2011/01/father-time_14.html">here</a>..., and..., <a href="http://scottrthequillayutecowboy.blogspot.com/2012/03/crushed.html">here</a>. I even fashioned a few YouTube video slide shows..., <a href="http://scottrthequillayutecowboy.blogspot.com/2013/10/a-tribute-to-julie.html">here</a>..., <a href="http://scottrthequillayutecowboy.blogspot.com/2014/04/birthday-eve-ruminations.html">here</a>..., and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKTLT9OYtDE">here</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">About five years ago Tom started writing a column for an online magazine called Ranch & Reata. It was a high class and beautiful production..., though a bit slow and clunky loading for those of us still stuck in the dial up dark ages out on the ranch. I only got to read a couple of the essays before the magazine hid behind a pay wall. So I was pretty excited to see that the essays had been collected in book form..., and I was not disappointed.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From the opening essay about the famous bronc rider Casey Tibbs and scattered though out the book I was having flashbacks of that dear old Dad of mine. I don't recall us specifically seeing Casey ride at The Lewiston Roundup..., but it is a distinct possibility..., and I certainly knew his name as one of the great ones. And I pretty much grew up with a Johnny Cash sound track in my head..., along with Marty Robbins, Tex Ritter and Hank Williams...., all of whom appear in book. And Tom writes of the pack horse men like Rayburn Crane in the high Sierra and Russ Knox in the Grand Canyon that bring back hunting camp memories. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">OK..., not all of the memories that Tom brought back are so fondly remembered..., I wish I could forget an incident of my own that involved the subject of Tom's essay on Tequila...,</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After reaching the bottom and eating the worm I thought my chair was dancing the <i>cumbia</i>. I toppled over backwards, spun a few times, and passed out. I was ushered into a long and nightmare laden sleep, broken only by the sounds of six a.m. garbage trucks at first light, and the smell of bagels steaming up from the shop below. I was alive. There were no mystic revelation in the journey. No Aztec maidens or <i>curanderos</i> named <i>Don Juan</i>. My tongue felt like it had swept the bottom of the Sonora desert. Lesson learned. From the worm.</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I haven't been too fond of Tequila since I did my own tongue sweeping of something way worse tasting than any desert sand. But it is a testament to the quality of Tom's writing..., that I find myself wanting to seek out a 100% Agave <i>Reposado..., </i>maybe..., after I get this posted and the chores done today.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yeah..., if you are a fan of anything western in nature you will find something that will utterly delight you in many of the 25 essays found in <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Ceremonies-Horsemen-Ranch-Reata-Essays/dp/0989070158/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1481401268&sr=1-1&keywords=tom+russell+ceremonies+of+the+horsemen"><i>"Ceremonies of the Horseman: The Ranch and Riata Essays"</i></a>. And those that don't utterly delight you..., will certainly be more than pleasing. My only disappointments..., were running out of stories..., and not being able to share them with my dear old Dad.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So I will share them with you..., get the book.</span><br />
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Scott R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17353655165012542492noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4473278163835308551.post-12448661947430931702016-11-12T10:46:00.000-08:002016-11-12T21:44:57.592-08:00Have the Frogs..., Finally..., Hopped Out of the Pot?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl3_pknalan4pCYUWCiipVsRBel74hY4LRKEq4VwTtQ3QOb1J-4q7JgL_5I9BX3vxwDG67kYSImlRa8VXhItcKziLgx3l683nRe-GV2N6jCsjEttBArj-rU3toiNwhsSsNsuhR1k4xJhLI/s1600/habits-for-personal-success-with-frogs-7-638.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl3_pknalan4pCYUWCiipVsRBel74hY4LRKEq4VwTtQ3QOb1J-4q7JgL_5I9BX3vxwDG67kYSImlRa8VXhItcKziLgx3l683nRe-GV2N6jCsjEttBArj-rU3toiNwhsSsNsuhR1k4xJhLI/s320/habits-for-personal-success-with-frogs-7-638.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Over on Facebook I commented..., on a couple of posts..., regarding the protests of the Donald's election. The posts were denegrating the protesters. My comment...,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: #f6f7f9; color: #1d2129; line-height: 16.08px;"><i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Well..., I am glad to see people in the streets..., it might be a bit misguided in this instance..., but that's what it took to turn this country around after ten years of war in Vietnam..., hope that it doesn't take the National Guard to start killing students to put a stop to the last 15 years of war. Whatever it takes.</span></i></span></blockquote>
Yeah..., the mainstream media is trying to portray..., spin?... the protests as only being about Trumps personality shortcoming..., and many they are. They also seem to be saying that the protesters are all Hillary supporters and are displaying a "poor loser" mentality. But the MSM has been so wrong about everything else throughout this election that I don't put much faith in their analysis of anything. <br />
<br />
The protesters appear to me to be the frogs that have been simmering in that pot of water..., and instead of getting that gradually increasing temperature rise that a Hillary victory would have surely cooked them..., the temperature was cranked up by the Trump victory and they have hopped right out of the pot to protest. Right on I say. If a Trump victory is what it takes to shake people up then I will celebrate it..., though I was not a Trump or Hillary supporter..., I wrote in Bernie on my ballot. I endorsed and gave money to Bernie early on..., when I thought that plutocrats and oligarchs of the GOP would run Jeb Bush against Hillary. <a href="http://scottrthequillayutecowboy.blogspot.com/2015/08/the-first-time.html">The First Time.</a>..., posted in August 2015.<br />
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Later in February of 2016..., when it became apparent that Trump had..., to my disbelief..., somehow thwarted the powers that be in the GOP and would be their nominee..., I doubled down on Bernie..., because of my fear and loathing of both Hillary and Trump. Here is a snip of the comment I made over at The Agonist Blog some ten months ago...,<br />
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Earlier this week I floated another $100 to Bernie…, and now my emails asking for more are addressed to “Scott R.” instead of just “Scott”. Makes you think that there are real and thoughtful people running his show.</div>
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I do think though…, that a lot of Bernie supporters are really just anti-Hillaryers. If it comes down to her and Trump…, the only way she will win is if the Republicans vote for her out of spite for Trump. And a lot of Bernie supporters are likely to vote for Trump rather than Hillary. I sit on that fence myself.</div>
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So..., maybe I shouldn't have been so surprised that Trump won..., I called it back then. But with the MSM, the military industrial complex, the fossil fuel industry, big pharma and health insurance industries..., and most of all..., Wall Street and Goldman Sachs..., not to mention all the shot callers in the GOP..., pushing and pulling for her..., and all the polls showing she would win..., I grudgingly accepted it. I went to bed about 9:30 Tuesday night thinking that there was no way that the powers that be would let her lose..., even after Florida had been called for Trump. After all..., the Dow futures had dropped 1000 points when it looked like a tighter race than predicated. Wall Street had a whole lot of money invested in Hillary..., and they were showing their displeasure at the prospects of a Trump win. But it didn't take them long to face up to reality when Trump actually won. Yeah..., the Dow didn't just bounce back..., it hopped up to near a record high. They really aren't that alarmed about the Trump victory..., and neither am I. <br />
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As Dave Lindorff over at CounterPunch says in <a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/11/11/the-silver-linings-in-trumps-win/">The Silver Linings in Trumps Win</a>...,<br />
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<i>Let’s look on the bright side.</i></div>
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<i>Donald J. Trump is the next president of the United States. His stunning victory over Hillary Clinton came after he had first crushed the Republican Party establishment, steamrollering all the candidates it put forward and defeating party leaders’ concerted efforts to deny him the nomination as he rolled up victory after victory in that party’s primaries.</i></div>
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<i>But Trump did more than that. He also, along with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, smashed the Democratic Party establishment too.</i></blockquote>
</blockquote>
He goes on to say...,<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "georgia" , serif; line-height: 30.6px;"><i>Most importantly, it seems likely that we will no longer have to worry about the US going to war with Russia. While Hillary Clinton, with her stated desire to establish a “no-fly zone” in Syria that even leading generals said would mean “war with Russia,” Donald Trump throughout the campaign made it clear that he did not want the US confronting Russia. He said, to the consternation of most establishment Republicans, that he thought the two countries “should be working together.” That view, if he is serious, bodes well for Syrians, and for Ukrainians as well. Trump has also condemned NATO, which since the collapse of the Soviet Union has been converted into a military adjunct to aggressive US efforts around the globe to sow chaos, mayhem and regime change — something Trump has opposed. With luck Trump, who recognizes that Americans do not want endless war, may act to neuter NATO, hopefully by withdrawing US funding for the organization and allowing it to fade away — something that should have happened in 1990 when the Berlin Wall came down.</i></span> </blockquote>
Lindorff goes on to chronicle all of Trumps shortcoming..., as I have already acknowledged..., there are many..., but says...,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "georgia" , serif; line-height: 30.6px;"><i>On balance though, I would argue that Trump’s victory and his drubbing of a Democratic Party that has been fleeing from its New Deal and Great Society past for decades, is what is needed if we are to have any hope of restoring any kind of popular sovereignty in a US that was sleep-walking into a kind of corporatist oligarchy. Trump, along with the Sanders movement during the Democratic primaries, effectively tossed a molotov cocktail into that whole system.</i></span></blockquote>
He sums up his piece this way...,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "georgia" , serif; line-height: 30.6px;">But that’s all history now. At this point, it’s on all of us on the left, and in the rest of the Democratic base — the working class, union rank-and-file, people of color, immigrants, feminists, environmental activists and peace activists — to pick up the pieces and to build a movement of resistance </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "georgia" , serif; line-height: 30.6px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">and</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "georgia" , serif; line-height: 30.6px;"> a new political party of the left to keep socialism on the political agenda in America </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "georgia" , serif; line-height: 30.6px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">and</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "georgia" , serif; line-height: 30.6px;"> to fight for real progressive change and real democracy.</span></i></blockquote>
Which brings us back to the current protests. I think that the MSM is wrong about those people out in the streets. They don't look like Hillary supporters to me..., they look more like Bernie supporters. In rally after rally it was noted that young voters were out in force..., and I also believe that the violence is being pumped up and misapplied..., just as it was during the Trump rallies. I believe that there has been a seething anger building in this county for quite some time now and has been ready to boil over. The current election has demonstrated the very worst that this county has to offer. The protests may be a bit misguided at this point..., my hope is that the anger can be harnessed and applied in a positive way. Martin Luther King preached none violent protest with eloquent words..., but it took people in the streets to accomplish what was accomplished. The Vietnam War might still be going on if it wasn't for people in the streets..., how long have we been in Afghanistan and Iraq? OccupyWall Street was a good..., but short lived start. Standing Rock is hanging on.<br />
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Yeah..., Lindorff may say that the..., "...US has been sleepwalking into a corpratist oligarchy"..., but I say that we have been a batch of frogs slowly snoozing and simmering away in the pot. I hope we have hopped out of that pot now.<br />
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Scott R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17353655165012542492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4473278163835308551.post-74103724588831490652016-07-31T11:51:00.000-07:002016-10-02T10:03:12.158-07:00THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING !!!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjccDkmQAorqoHxlHMVxjUcVb3ERQOx7TEqbb6KzquNW5w3Im82t4Hh3OMyTKFTba7Rv2uaL_wcVnElpEuRs0Uq5SvsJPM_4YcnGOmn-0NKYKAyBExQ1ONcIFPbbt8acJRVe7UQiWq_MzJX/s1600/images.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjccDkmQAorqoHxlHMVxjUcVb3ERQOx7TEqbb6KzquNW5w3Im82t4Hh3OMyTKFTba7Rv2uaL_wcVnElpEuRs0Uq5SvsJPM_4YcnGOmn-0NKYKAyBExQ1ONcIFPbbt8acJRVe7UQiWq_MzJX/s320/images.jpeg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0px;">At least to my blog. Yeah..., <a href="http://scottrthequillayutecowboy.blogspot.com/">the Scott R. - The Quillayute Cowboy</a> blog has been getting an unprecedented number of hits lately. I usually get a bit of a bounce when I link to a new post on my Facebook page..., but I haven’t posted a new piece since <a href="http://scottrthequillayutecowboy.blogspot.com/2016/07/those-good-ole-days.html">“Those Good Ole Days”</a> back on 7/8/16..., and it only garnered 83 hits since then. And my best recent post, <a href="http://scottrthequillayutecowboy.blogspot.com/2016/04/the-drive.html">“The Drive”</a> got 446 hits since 4/30/16. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">So..., I was a bit curious about who was hitting my blog so hard the last three weeks or so. Blogger Dashboard shows this for the last month...,</span></div>
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<br /></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: #f3f7fb; border-color: #f3f7fb #f3f7fb #eeeeee #f3f7fb; border-style: solid; border-width: 2.0px 2.0px 2.0px 2.0px; height: 29.0px; padding: 8.5px 8.5px 8.5px 8.5px; width: 72.0px;" valign="top"><div style="color: #232323; font: 13.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">300</span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="background-color: #eeeeee; border-color: #eeeeee #eeeeee #eeeeee #eeeeee; border-style: solid; border-width: 2.0px 2.0px 2.0px 2.0px; height: 29.0px; padding: 8.5px 8.5px 8.5px 8.5px; width: 115.0px;" valign="top"><div style="color: #232323; font: 13.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Mauritius</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;">
<br /></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: #eeeeee; border-color: #eeeeee #eeeeee #eeeeee #eeeeee; border-style: solid; border-width: 2.0px 2.0px 2.0px 2.0px; height: 29.0px; padding: 8.5px 8.5px 8.5px 8.5px; width: 72.0px;" valign="top"><div style="color: #232323; font: 13.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">110</span></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: helvetica; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">And just last week it was...,</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="background-color: white; border-collapse: collapse;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="background-color: white; border-color: #ffffff #ffffff #eeeeee #ffffff; border-style: solid; border-width: 2.0px 2.0px 2.0px 2.0px; height: 29.0px; padding: 8.5px 8.5px 8.5px 8.5px; width: 115.0px;" valign="top"><div style="color: #232323; font: 13.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Russia</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;">
<br /></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: white; border-color: #ffffff #ffffff #eeeeee #ffffff; border-style: solid; border-width: 2.0px 2.0px 2.0px 2.0px; height: 29.0px; padding: 8.5px 8.5px 8.5px 8.5px; width: 72.0px;" valign="top"><div style="color: #232323; font: 13.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">392</span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="background-color: #eeeeee; border-color: #eeeeee #eeeeee #eeeeee #eeeeee; border-style: solid; border-width: 2.0px 2.0px 2.0px 2.0px; height: 29.0px; padding: 8.5px 8.5px 8.5px 8.5px; width: 115.0px;" valign="top"><div style="color: #232323; font: 13.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">United States</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;">
<br /></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: #eeeeee; border-color: #eeeeee #eeeeee #eeeeee #eeeeee; border-style: solid; border-width: 2.0px 2.0px 2.0px 2.0px; height: 29.0px; padding: 8.5px 8.5px 8.5px 8.5px; width: 72.0px;" valign="top"><div style="color: #232323; font: 13.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">27</span></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /><br /><a name='more'></a><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "times" , sans-serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 28px;"><span class="KonaFilter image-container float_right no-rightrail" style="display: inline-block; float: right; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 30px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 5px; max-width: 720px !important; min-width: 250px; width: 1200px;"><span class="image" data-post-image="" style="margin-bottom: 0px;"><span class="source-only" style="display: block; line-height: 1.25em; margin-top: 4px;"><span class="source" style="color: #999999; display: inline-block; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.25em;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">Reute</span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="font-family: helvetica; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span><br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0px;">And from the hits to individual posts the last week it is undeniable..., a slam dunk..., that those evil ones..., and most likely Putin in particular..., they are after my George Lawrence saddles and my Saddle Bar(n). Yeah I have seen the picture of Putin horseback.., he is in need of a good saddle..., and shirt.</span></span></div>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">
</span>
<br />
<div>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">
</span>
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><table __gwtcellbasedwidgetimpldispatchingblur="true" __gwtcellbasedwidgetimpldispatchingfocus="true" cellspacing="0" class="OMGM5KC-gc-y" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></table>
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><table __gwtcellbasedwidgetimpldispatchingblur="true" __gwtcellbasedwidgetimpldispatchingfocus="true" cellspacing="0" class="OMGM5KC-gc-y" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></table>
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><table __gwtcellbasedwidgetimpldispatchingblur="true" __gwtcellbasedwidgetimpldispatchingfocus="true" cellspacing="0" class="OMGM5KC-gc-y" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><tbody style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<tr __gwt_row="0" __gwt_subrow="0" class="OMGM5KC-gc-b" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><td class="OMGM5KC-gc-a OMGM5KC-gc-c OMGM5KC-gc-d" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 2px; border-color: initial; border-left-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 2px; border-right-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 2px; border-style: initial; border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 2px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 15px; padding-right: 15px; padding-top: 2px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div __gwt_cell="cell-gwt-uid-581" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-style: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" tabindex="0">
<div class="OMGM5KC-d-k" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-overflow: ellipsis; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: nowrap; width: 220px;">
<a href="http://scottrthequillayutecowboy.blogspot.com/2011/05/george-lawrence-saddle-collection.html" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #1155cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">George Lawrence Saddle Collection</a></div>
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May 15, 2011, 24 comments</div>
</div>
</td><td class="OMGM5KC-gc-a OMGM5KC-gc-c" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 2px; border-color: initial; border-left-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 2px; border-right-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 2px; border-style: initial; border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 2px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 15px; padding-right: 15px; padding-top: 2px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div __gwt_cell="cell-gwt-uid-582" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-style: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
26</div>
</td><td class="OMGM5KC-gc-a OMGM5KC-gc-c OMGM5KC-gc-n" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 2px; border-color: initial; border-left-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 2px; border-right-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 2px; border-style: initial; border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 2px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 15px; padding-right: 15px; padding-top: 2px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div __gwt_cell="cell-gwt-uid-583" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-style: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<table style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><tbody style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<tr style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><td style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="50px"><div class="OMGM5KC-d-e" style="background-color: #5b8fc3; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: 10px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 44px;">
</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="50px"><div class="OMGM5KC-d-e" style="background-color: #5b8fc3; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: 10px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 44px;">
</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="50px"><div class="OMGM5KC-d-e" style="background-color: #5b8fc3; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: 10px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 44px;">
</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="50px"><div class="OMGM5KC-d-e" style="background-color: #5b8fc3; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: 10px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 44px;">
</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="50px"><div class="OMGM5KC-d-e" style="background-color: #5b8fc3; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: 10px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 44px;">
</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="50px"><div class="OMGM5KC-d-e" style="background-color: #5b8fc3; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: 10px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 45px;">
</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="50px"><div class="OMGM5KC-d-e" style="background-color: #5b8fc3; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: 10px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 45px;">
</div>
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<div class="OMGM5KC-d-k" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-overflow: ellipsis; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: nowrap; width: 220px;">
<a href="http://scottrthequillayutecowboy.blogspot.com/2010/04/george-lawrence-saddles.html" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #1155cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">George Lawrence Saddles</a></div>
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Apr 11, 2010, 10 comments</div>
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22</div>
</td><td class="OMGM5KC-gc-a OMGM5KC-gc-s OMGM5KC-gc-n" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(243, 247, 251); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 2px; border-color: initial; border-left-color: rgb(243, 247, 251); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 2px; border-right-color: rgb(243, 247, 251); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 2px; border-style: initial; border-top-color: rgb(243, 247, 251); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 2px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 15px; padding-right: 15px; padding-top: 2px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div __gwt_cell="cell-gwt-uid-583" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-style: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
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</div>
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</div>
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</div>
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</div>
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</div>
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</div>
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</div>
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</div>
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<div class="OMGM5KC-d-k" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-overflow: ellipsis; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: nowrap; width: 220px;">
<a href="http://scottrthequillayutecowboy.blogspot.com/2010/06/saddle-barn.html" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #1155cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">The Saddle Bar(n)</a></div>
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Jun 6, 2010, 6 comments</div>
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19</div>
</td><td class="OMGM5KC-gc-a OMGM5KC-gc-c OMGM5KC-gc-n OMGM5KC-gc-j" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 2px; border-color: initial; border-left-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 2px; border-right-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 2px; border-style: initial; border-top-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 2px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 15px; padding-right: 15px; padding-top: 2px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div __gwt_cell="cell-gwt-uid-583" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-style: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<table style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><tbody style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<tr style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><td style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="50px"><div class="OMGM5KC-d-e" style="background-color: #5b8fc3; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: 10px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 44px;">
</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="50px"><div class="OMGM5KC-d-e" style="background-color: #5b8fc3; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: 10px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 44px;">
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</td><td style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="50px"><div class="OMGM5KC-d-e" style="background-color: #5b8fc3; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: 10px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 44px;">
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</td><td style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="50px"><div class="OMGM5KC-d-e" style="background-color: #5b8fc3; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: 10px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 44px;">
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</td><td style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="50px"><div class="OMGM5KC-d-e" style="background-color: #5b8fc3; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: 10px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 0px;">
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</td><td style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="50px"><div class="OMGM5KC-d-e" style="background-color: #5b8fc3; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: 10px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 0px;">
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</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">I have often said that I hate to admit it when I am wrong..., but some subconscious mental deficiency makes me do it. I was sure that the mainstream media hype about the Russian threat was all about funneling money into the hands of the military-security industrial complex..., that then funneled it into the pockets of pandering politicians. But I can’t deny the facts..., as much as I want too..., the threat is REAL !!!</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Yeah..., I was in complete agreement with <a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/09/08/what-russian-invasion/">Dave Lindorff over at CounterPunch</a> when he penned this one almost two years ago...,</span></span></div>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The US, having seen its $5 billion plan for a NATO puppet state on Russia’s southern flank resoundingly crushed, is still pushing disconsolately for a more threatening NATO stance against Russia, with more weapons and troops posted near to Russia’s western border, for example in the Baltic states and in Poland, Rumania and Poland. But saner heads in Europe, particularly in Germany, are balking, noting that NATO and Russia have a treaty that bars the placing of permanent military bases in those countries. European NATO countries area also largely ignoring US calls for them to boost their military spending to bring it to 2% of GDP (US military spending is officially 3.8% of GDP, among the highest rates in the world, according to the World Bank, though adding in interest on war funding debt, veterans benefits and health care and the intelligence budget, it is really closer to 5%).</blockquote>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">But I say again..., this time the threat is REAL. Luckily for us we will most likely have a new president who will take this threat seriously..., as this piece by <a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/06/10/all-hail-the-queen-of-exceptionalistan/">Pepe Escobar over at CounterPunch</a> lays out...,</span></span></span></div>
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Hillary Clinton’s record shows that she fully supported Bubba’s military adventures in the Balkans, Dubya’s disastrous wars on Afghanistan and Iraq and Obama’s Afghan surge. But her masterpiece as Secretary of State was of course the destruction of Libya – followed by her enthusiastic support for weaponizing “moderate rebels”, a.k.a hardcore jihadis, in Syria.<br />
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R2P (“responsibility to protect”) would have remained no more than a hollow smart power-related concept without the Three Harpies (Hillary, Samantha Power and Susan Rice) lobbying non-stop for its implementation in Libya. Libya was the battling ground supposed to gloriously elevate the <a href="https://consortiumnews.com/2015/07/01/hillary-clintons-failed-libya-doctrine/">Clinton Doctrine</a> to the apex of foreign policy smartness.<br />
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R2P – as in humanitarian imperialism deployed towards regime change – should have been duly paraded throughout the 2016 presidential campaign. But alas, even with <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fgcd1ghag5Y">We Came, We Saw, He Died</a> the descent of Libya into a militia hell scotched all those elaborate plans. It was – and remains – more of a case of I came, I Saw and I Got Tangled Up in Benghazi.</blockquote>
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</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #101010;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Yeah..., it is pretty damn obvious that the Queen of Chaos will not stand by and let the Russians come and take a working man's saddles or bar(n)..., she is so perceptiv that she saw it coming even before I did..., as noted by another </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"> <span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/07/28/blame-it-on-the-russians/">CounterPunch piece by Renee Parsons</a>...,</span></span></span></span></div>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Indeed, the DNC and Clinton campaign are spending much valuable time spinning a narrative that the Russians are coming, the Russians are coming rather than focusing on the upcoming race against Donald Trump which promises to be a very tight election. At what point, do the Democrats with egg on their face end up looking foolish, inept and desperate.</blockquote>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #101010;">J</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #101010;">ust for the record..., and to make it absolutely crystal clear..., I am NOT admitting here that I am wrong about my prior denunciations of Hillary Clinton. I would much rather stay here and defend my own George Lawrence saddles and my Saddle Bar(n) by myself..., I want her help in no way what-so-ever.</span> </span></div>
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<br />Scott R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17353655165012542492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4473278163835308551.post-5314488443034197612016-07-08T20:06:00.000-07:002016-10-02T09:44:23.285-07:00Those Good Ole Days<div class="p1">
<b>I was born in 1952…, so when I try to sum up my life in as few words as possible…, I say that I was born in the 50’s…., grew up in the 60’s…, came of age in the 70’s…, somehow survived the 80’s…, built a nest in the 90’s…, tried to feather the nest in in the 00’s…, and am sometimes wondering why in these 10’s?</b><br />
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<b>Sometime in those 80’s I tried to pen the lyrics to a song about those 70’s…, a time that those of us around my age were trying to recreate the magic of the psychedelic 60’s that we were a little too young to experience firsthand. Why couldn’t we have our own Woodstock? We tried.</b></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilBvTjc-H1VX3EynKinZ-uROv0G-xPIZoe3PwjQWAevkhglwxk8Hqy4ZjM5BftI7uk_z3WgZUCL9Dh8d7C7DoF6ROBCpumaEgiMam_TL6TtxuVq5qlAJ8EEyN2hKrXfqV1-UldSbZiXSvE/s1600/Picture+%2528Device+Independent+Bitmap%2529+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="167" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilBvTjc-H1VX3EynKinZ-uROv0G-xPIZoe3PwjQWAevkhglwxk8Hqy4ZjM5BftI7uk_z3WgZUCL9Dh8d7C7DoF6ROBCpumaEgiMam_TL6TtxuVq5qlAJ8EEyN2hKrXfqV1-UldSbZiXSvE/s320/Picture+%2528Device+Independent+Bitmap%2529+1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="p2">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Those Good Ole Days</b></span></div>
<div class="p1">
Been tunin’ up all day,</div>
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Now we’re feelin’ right.</div>
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Gonna head out for Tacoma,</div>
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In the middle of the night.</div>
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Jerry’s passed out in the backseat,</div>
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Got Bruce behind the wheel.</div>
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Goin’ mostly for the party,</div>
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But just might make a deal.<br />
<a name='more'></a></div>
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I still remember those good ole days,</div>
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Like they were yesterday.</div>
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I think about ‘em often,</div>
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But don’t have much to say.</div>
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You lit a fire in me girl,</div>
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That still smolders…, sometimes burns.</div>
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But somewhere along the road,</div>
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We took our separate turns.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Rock and roll all day long,</div>
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And halfway through the night.</div>
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There was no way baby,</div>
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I could let you out of sight.</div>
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That summer passed before us,</div>
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Just like a shooting star.</div>
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Just along for the ride,</div>
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We weren’t goin’ all that far.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
I still remember those good ole days,</div>
<div class="p1">
Like they were yesterday.</div>
<div class="p1">
I think about ‘em often,</div>
<div class="p1">
But don’t have much to say.</div>
<div class="p1">
You lit a fire in me girl,</div>
<div class="p1">
That still smolders…, sometimes burns.</div>
<div class="p1">
But somewhere along the road,</div>
<div class="p1">
We took our separate turns.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
I wish all of the memories,</div>
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Were as sweet as those.</div>
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I can’t explain the reason,</div>
<div class="p1">
We chose those separate roads.</div>
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But sometimes I still wake up,</div>
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In the middle of the night.</div>
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And wonder where we’d be right now,</div>
<div class="p1">
If things had turned out right.</div>
<div class="p1">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
I still remember those good ole days,</div>
<div class="p1">
Like they were yesterday.</div>
<div class="p1">
I think about ‘em often,</div>
<div class="p1">
But don’t have much to say.</div>
<div class="p1">
You lit a fire in me girl,</div>
<div class="p1">
That still smolders…, sometimes burns.</div>
<div class="p1">
But somewhere along the road,</div>
<div class="p1">
We took our separate turns.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>There were a few things that brought that one back to mind. I have read <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Daydream-Sunset-Ron-Jacobs/dp/069238961X">Ron Jacobs, “Daydream Sunset: Sixties Counterculture in the Seventies”</a> three times now. Yeah…, having a Kindle is like carrying around a library in your pocket. And nobody on the bus can tell that you are reading the same book for the third time. Jacobs tracks the decade through the music mostly…, and that’s the hook for me…, but the political commentary and analysis isn’t overbearing. He was also a big Grateful Dead fan…, but they just never caught on with me. But Bruce Springsteen and Jackson Browne had heavy influence and are a couple of my heavyweights…, “Daydream Sunset” isn’t far from a fourth reading. Here is the Amazon description of the book:</b></div>
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The 1960s are remembered for radical politics, explorations of sexuality, drug experimentation and rock and roll. All of these elements composed the 60s counterculture. Then things changed. Richard Nixon got elected president, and together with Congress, made the war on drugs a cultural and political crusade replete with lots of cops, guns and constitutional violations. Youthful protesters were murdered by authorities in Berkeley, Kent State and Jackson State. Divisions over tactics and politics combined with police repression to splinter and dissipate the left political movement. The Vietnam war finally ended and Abbie Hoffman went underground after a cocaine bust. Meanwhile, in one of its most manipulative moments, corporate America was quickly figuring out how to put sex, drugs and rock and roll up for sale. Hippies became freaks; Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and Pigpen died untimely deaths, but the rock show went on. The 1970s were the decade the Sixties spirit struggled to survive while becoming a shadow of its dreams. Daydream Sunset is the story Ron Jacobs tells in his colorful history of the 1970s. From the Fillmore East to Oakland Coliseum; from Berkeley's Telegraph Ave to the streets of Europe, this alternative history of this fraught time will make you feel like dancing in your seats and wondering what might have been. One part reminiscence and several parts cultural history, Jacobs has crafted a thrilling and intimate narrative that takes the reader on a trip through a crazy history some people don't remember and others want us to forget.</blockquote>
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<b>I really need to show some initiative and write a customer review on Amazon and email Jacobs and let him know how much I enjoyed his book…, but us Old Hippies are not that easy to get motivated.</b><br />
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<b>Jacobs is a couple years younger than I was…, and one of the other nudges came from a writer a couple years older. I ran across <a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/07/06/my-generation-one-last-scream-on-the-way-out/">John Eskow’s, <i>My Generation: One Last Scream on the Way Out</i></a> on the CounterPunch Blog the other day. It begins:</b></div>
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I was born the same year as Bonnie Raitt, Jeff Bridges, Pam Grier, and Bruce Springsteen—which, unless all the calendars have somehow been altered, makes us 66 years old. And if the actuarial tables remain consistent, that means that all of us—good and bad, kindhearted and creepy, George Foreman and Gene Simmons alike—we’re all due to be bundled up pretty soon and dropped off into that Great Recycling Bin of the Cosmos.</blockquote>
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It’s a curious bunch. Hank Williams Jr—with whom, as a fledgling journalist, I stood in an Alabama field, firing rifles, machine-guns and his prize bazooka—unforgettable detonations! Even then, Hank Jr—with his deep bass voice and Oedipal backstory, his face scarred up from a terrible fall down a mountainside—seemed much older than me. “Well, <i>Jawn,”</i> he allowed, “I’ve just had a few more oil changes than you.” Great line. And the truly magical Phillipe Petit, with whom I used to play badminton inside a poet’s Soho loft–back in the ‘70s, when Soho lofts were dirt-cheap, because no one wanted to live there. Ann Romney, George’s wife, with whom I never did anything. Jessica Lange, still a major crush—though not as big a crush as Pam Grier; one kiss from Pam Grier could still power entire cities. Cool Sissy Spacek and sleazy Don Johnson. The always-underestimated Larry Holmes. Twiggy. Caitlyn Jenner, world-famous for being a creep in two different genders. Jeremy Corbyn. Rick Springfield.</blockquote>
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The mulch-pit awaits us all. What traces will we leave behind?</blockquote>
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<b>And he sums it up:</b></div>
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Chelsea Clinton’s wedding cost $3,000,000– while the single mothers whose pitiful lifeline was cut off by Bill Clinton turn tricks behind dumpsters to feed their kids.</blockquote>
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They say one good thing about getting old is you can speak your mind more freely. I really hope that’s true, because my generation still has a right, and a duty to speak—no, to scream. Now more than ever. Now louder than ever.</blockquote>
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And by the way: I still haven’t given up completely on Pam Grier.</blockquote>
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<b>Oh…, that last little nudge was more like a kick in the butt…, I leave you with The Who and “My Generation”.</b></div>
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Scott R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17353655165012542492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4473278163835308551.post-84580623096802143122016-06-10T21:23:00.000-07:002016-10-02T09:46:06.556-07:00What Do You Call It?<div class="p1">
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Irony? I once wrote that I may not be able to define irony for you…, but I know it when it slaps me upside the head. The dictionary says, “… a state of affairs or an event that seems deliberately contrary to what one expects…”. Or maybe you should call it disrespect…, or insulting?</div>
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I am sure it was merely coincidence that the five part-eight hour documentary “OJ: Made in America” was scheduled for TV release on June 11, 2016…, just a week after the passing of Muhammad Ali. OJ and Ali were both great athletes…, but only one was a great man…, The Greatest. If there is any doubt in your mind about which one that is…, don’t bother reading any further.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>I am also sure that the release of the OJ film was scheduled for release long ago…, it has already made the rounds at film festivals…, but I am not sure why that TV release could not…, and should not have been rescheduled. There is little doubt that it was some sort of monetary consideration and contract obligations. Both men had diametrically opposed views on money and obligations. Ali gave up his heavyweight championship, millions of dollars, and several years of his prime athletic life for his principles, his “people”, and his religion…, by refusing to be inducted into the US Army. About that same time OJ was winning a Heisman Trophy and already counting the millions he was going to demand from the NFL team the drafted him. He held out until he got it too. He once remarked that, “I’m not black…, I’m OJ.” If he ever did anything for anyone but OJ…, it was just for the good publicity it would get him…, and the money that would follow.</div>
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I was still in high school when Ali refused the draft in 67 and OJ won the Heisman in 68. I had different opinions of them back then. I thought Ali was a loud mouth, uppity nigger who feigned religion and was a coward and a draft dodger…, he deserved whatever he got. OJ was a tremendous athlete who knew his place…, and deserved whatever he got. Fifty years can change a man’s view, his attitudes…, and philosophy of life. It didn’t happen overnight…, getting drafted myself…, serving in the South in the early 70’s had quite an impact on me. I began to realize that Ali was right about the war…, and a lot more…, and was probably the greatest boxer ever. OJ on the other hand was a media made star. He was fast…, but not a great runner. He would go a whole game with nothing but two, three or four yards a carry…, until the one big hole opened up and he burst through for an eighty yard run. The year he set the rushing record with over 2000 years in a season wasn’t because he had such a great year…, it was because it was set up to be his big season…, OJ was the offense. All those carries probably took a few years off his career…, but he was eying Hollywood anyway. He never led his pro team to a championship.</div>
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The movie is getting rave reviews…, “essential and momentous”…, “has grandeur and authority”…, “thought-provoking, astonishing, sobering, hilarious, tragic”…, “Historically meticulous, thematically compelling and deeply human… a masterwork of scholarship, journalism and cinematic art.” </div>
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I won’t be watching it. I have no respect for OJ and what he did. One review states, “… should be a conversation-starter, a way to discuss what happened in the ‘80’s and ‘90’s in terms of race and celebrity and what it says about today.” No…, I don’t buy that. Ali and OJ grew up in the same era and I would say that Ali faced far more racism, hatred, and prejudice in Louisville than OJ did in San Francisco. Ali stood up to it and backed it down. OJ bowed down to it. They were both big celebrities…, Ali accepted it and lived with it…, OJ spent his life trying to exploit it. </div>
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No…, if I want to learn something about life…, give me The Ali story. Don’t slap me upside the head.</div>
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Rest In Peace Champ…, it was just a sad coincidence.</div>
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Scott R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17353655165012542492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4473278163835308551.post-36854300863268779102016-06-03T20:43:00.000-07:002016-10-02T10:01:07.337-07:00There's A Double Trouble Bubble Brewing<div class="p1">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCJSc1Ds9eXQO0K8oYuF88LFlRcEUg6BC0K-jr4LxJwHW2lSqRV-zimLYY3nClgLu3GhgWW_BL_EAnXLB4WDmT_hYsJT8GnSi6MST0GncqD8QqhUnDGEpWzU6r53qqNValdy_uyM6RmRX7/s1600/P1010144.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCJSc1Ds9eXQO0K8oYuF88LFlRcEUg6BC0K-jr4LxJwHW2lSqRV-zimLYY3nClgLu3GhgWW_BL_EAnXLB4WDmT_hYsJT8GnSi6MST0GncqD8QqhUnDGEpWzU6r53qqNValdy_uyM6RmRX7/s320/P1010144.JPG" width="320" /></a>We’ve seen and survived some pretty nasty bubbles in the past. The Tulip Bubble, The South Sea Company Bubble, The Florida Real Estate Bubble, The 1929 Stock Market Bubble, The Japanese Asset Price Bubble, The Dot- Com Bubble, The Housing Bubble(s), The Subprime Bubble, The Debt Bubble, The Financial Bubble…, and no one saw this one coming either. But we may have a chance to turn it around before this Bubble Bursts. And by “us”…, I mean the working man or woman, common folks, debt serfs…, beer drinkers. I doubt that we will have much help from the plutocrats and oligarchs or the politicians or CEO’s or other scum of the earth. They aren’t beer drinkers and wouldn’t stoop to buying a beer for a working man…, if they ever got close enough to one to do so.</div>
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Say what? I am speaking of The Beer Bubble. Haven’t heard of it? I told you already that no one saw it coming…, but here it is…, <a href="http://americancraftbeer.com/item/world-domination-the-chinese-now-drink-more-beer-than-anybody.html">World Domination - the Chinese Now Drink More Beer Than Anyone</a> . And the Double Bubble I referred to? Here it is…, <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2016/05/budweiser-beer-markets-corporate-africa">Corprate Overlords Will Soon Own 1 Out of Every 3 Beers Made On Earth</a><span class="s2">.</span><br />
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Yeah…, we know what too much money in too few hands can produce…, but that pales in comparison to what too much beer in too few hands looks like. I have seen it first hand and a little too close up and personal a time or two…, on a small scale anyway. I can guarantee you that you don’t want to even view the pictures of what a mess a Bursting Beer Bubble would produce on a planetary scale. The corporate conglomerates have consolidated and monopolized everything from media to airlines to banks…, it shouldn’t surprise us that they are coming for our beer now. They want to make sure that they are too big to fail. Some foreign outfit has captured Budweiser…, that iconic red, white and blue can will now be emblazoned with “America” on it…, until after the elections I hear. That’s just in the US…, I don’t think it would go over so well in other than a very few nations left on Earth that have any respect…, let alone love…, for America these days. I am not sure just how to battle a behemoth like that…, the thought of a beer boycott leaves me with cotton mouth…, and the shakes.</div>
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But regarding that first Bubble Trouble mentioned…, we can make damn sure those Chinese don’t out drink us! I mean the gall…, what do they think…, that they built our railroads or something? This calls for action of the two fisted kind…, yeah…, a beer in each hand. Whatever it takes. We all know how those aforementioned Bubbles played out…, and we can’t allow something like that to happen to such a vital and essential area of our economy and mainstay of our very existence. We can’t let this Brew Bubble Burst…, we have to keep pouring it on to keep that from happening. What the hell…, if we double down on our beer consumption we might be able to wipe out the deficit in the bargain. I mean…, the sin taxes alone on beer are enormous. Think of the revenue the government will reap. And look how much more malt, grain, barley, hops, yeast, water, aluminum and glass will need to be produced…, not to mention the brewers, truck drivers, stock and checkout clerks, bartenders and waitresses.., we are talking a major jobs program here folks…, and it won’t cost the government any money and the Republicans won’t be able to block it…, because there will be no vote. Do you suppose the Repugs will suggest cutting the beer tax? Dream on. Tax cuts for billionaires are a religious necessity for them…, but a tax cut for the working man or woman beer drinker…, forgetaboutit. This could be the stimulus, the jump-start, the turnaround…, that the economy has been searching in vain for since 2009.</div>
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When the Great Recession burst on the scene along with Housing Bubble and the stock market crashed…, everything but beer bottles were thrown at the problem. $700 million in TARP funds…, to the Banksteers that caused the problem…, and an $800 million dollar stimulus package that pretty much ended up in those same Banksteer pockets. The idea was that the Banksteers would lend out that money for investment in productive industry and create jobs and an economic recovery. Trouble was that no one wanted to borrow any money…, at least not the working man or woman who were already well over their eyeballs in debt…, because inflation adjusted incomes were still stuck in the 70’s. And with no consumer spending to speak of…, the giant corporations had no incentive to invest in increased production of any consumer products. Though the CEO’s and stockholders were happy to borrow that low interest money and buy back their own shares…, which lined their pockets…, and little else. Then there was Quantitative Easing…, I…, II…, and III. Some say that all these efforts produced another stock market bubble that’s bound to burst…., but it hasn’t…, yet.</div>
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There is another option of course…, the lesson from the Euro Zone and the IMF…, austerity. Not just no…, <b>HELL NO</b> !!! There is no way that any self-respecting beer drinker would set foot on that Greecey slope. That would result in nothing but a not so slow slide to the bottom of the barrel…, and there to remain.</div>
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So…, there is a lesson here for us beer drinkers…, we can learn from history. We need to Bailout the Banksteers if we are going to save our Beer Bubble. They got all that low (nearly no) interest rate money to lead out to us at 29% on our credit cards. Hell…, they may be getting some of those negative interest rate loans soon…, and can therefore jack up the interest rates they charge us on our cards. Speaking of those negative interest rates that are all the rage in Europe and Japan…, I asked our local banksteer for a negative interest rate loan to buy yet another Toyota…, she didn’t think it was as funny as I hope you do. Anyway…, we have to buy up as much beer as possible…, on credit of course…, and drink it up. We can’t just throw a tarp over it and save it for the hotter days coming our way soon. No…, that would just delay the Bursting of the Beer Bubble until a later date…, pulling demand forward is the technical term…, and it only works for a short while. We have to keep turning that beer and the money printing machine over and over in a sustainable manner if we want to keep the flow going. It’s tough duty…, I know. But someone has to do it.</div>
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Obama will probably back us up. He already earned a Nobel Peace Prize for averting a major conflagration between a couple of beer drinkers…, by sitting down and downing a couple beers with the parties in question. Well…, at least that is the only thing I can think of that he did to deserve the Nobel medal…, and money. He hasn’t stopped any wars since he took office and he continues to bomb and drone and kill in some seven countries…, that we know of.</div>
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If it doesn’t happen on Obama’s watch…, I doubt that President Trump will be any help. He will of course, want to “Make America Great Again”…, and probably suggest building a wall across the Pacific Ocean…, using the Great Wall of China for material…, hire Chinese laborers to build it for pennies an hour…, then bring those jobs back home when they are done. But that is all just talk…, The Donald probably never drank a beer…, nothing but Dom Pérignon Champaign at $200 a bottle for him. He may pander to us beer drinkers and try to impress us with his tough talk (it seems to work with a significant number of us)…, but I don’t believe that he is even close to being a real working man (or woman?)…, or near as tough as he thinks he is. That’s all just talk too. He’s the kind of guy that I would like to punch in the nose when he talks like that.</div>
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President Hillary will go on the attack immediately…, bombs on the beaches and bayonets up the butt (hee hee hee she says) are her style of doing business. And while we are busy and bloody and distracted in the Asian pivot…, she will be handing over the Social Security Trust Fund to Goldman Sachs. You don’t really think that they invited her back twice at $200,000 a pop to hear her tell them how she would clamp down on their blood funnel tactics, insider trading, high frequency trading, shoddy securitization, interest rate rigging, etc…, yeah…, over $100 billion in fines paid already to keep from being prosecuted and Hillary tells them, “You ain’t seen nothing yet…, just wait till I take office.” <i>Please come back and tell us again…, and again Hillary?</i> No wonder she won’t release the transcripts. We have a lot more to worry about than a Bursting Beer Bubble if that Queen is Crowned.</div>
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Bernie seems like a beer guy to me. That’s not why I supported him…, I like his policies. It’s looking now like my campaign donations may have been more wisely spent on beer…, but it ain’t over until the Fat Queen Sings. I am sure that Bernie would not like the idea of the Chinese taking our beer drinking jobs. We need to keep our beer here in America…, and drink it ourselves. Now, I don’t mind so much if the Chinese take our dirty, polluting, and all round nasty jobs…, we don’t really need polluted rivers on fire or acid rain or brown outs or brown lung…, the Chinese are choking and dying on those jobs over there now…, but taking our good clean beer drinking jobs…, even if they don’t pay all that well…, is a red line in the sand that shall not be crossed. I believe that Bernie would help build a bridge and lead us through this Beer Bubble to that banquet on the other side. And I am sure it would be a lot better bridge than the one that the last Clinton to run for President promised to help us build to the 21<span class="s3"><sup>st</sup></span> Century…, and failed to deliver on.</div>
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But that new President taking office is still over seven months away…, and we dare not wait that long. So…, beer drinkers unite and rally in the streets…, roll up your sleeves, get thirsty…, it’s time to boot up and get those Tony Lama’s out on the ground (not behind the wheel now)…, and help keep this Brewing Bubble from Bursting.</div>
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Double Cheers Squared<br />
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Postscript - Here's that bridge to the 21st Century that we had to build ourselves...<br />
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Scott R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17353655165012542492noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4473278163835308551.post-57255837648761738092016-04-30T12:43:00.000-07:002016-10-02T10:02:26.777-07:00The Drive<div class="p1">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfaOddTe_gimoLl4k7cdeXKW7rbmgSKjuTpiBNdKiVWEryYg2CrUDc8EwA1RXWvGTVe7oLf0ybmQmI3S9BEdqiI19leFbyhTCfmaXJVKV0_MPAoQWFXZ8jMbzo6IqcNQ-gpV4Xa0c36ZY_/s1600/FHS4917th.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="257" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfaOddTe_gimoLl4k7cdeXKW7rbmgSKjuTpiBNdKiVWEryYg2CrUDc8EwA1RXWvGTVe7oLf0ybmQmI3S9BEdqiI19leFbyhTCfmaXJVKV0_MPAoQWFXZ8jMbzo6IqcNQ-gpV4Xa0c36ZY_/s320/FHS4917th.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEHZRYxmH_yYqlUkql89EtkmOy-KZ4NMKviY2h0r4WYRdlnJxl2CidO4q5Xx0HWXr7VzifbyW8EbeVTxmmf9AL37WTCRlyPWDnWJlnaAx76NikZeM2SohNDFpZQAY86QZC5-G8zMIK1L6Z/s1600/potlatch-paper-mill-along-the-clearwater-river-in-lewiston-idaho-D1EJBR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEHZRYxmH_yYqlUkql89EtkmOy-KZ4NMKviY2h0r4WYRdlnJxl2CidO4q5Xx0HWXr7VzifbyW8EbeVTxmmf9AL37WTCRlyPWDnWJlnaAx76NikZeM2SohNDFpZQAY86QZC5-G8zMIK1L6Z/s320/potlatch-paper-mill-along-the-clearwater-river-in-lewiston-idaho-D1EJBR.jpg" width="320" /></a>Along about April or May of every year when the high county around Hemlock Butte and Rocky Ridge Lake were still socked in and buried in perhaps 10 feet or more of frozen snow at over 5,600 feet in elevation…, Lewiston, ID at barely 700 feet above sea level…, had been snow free for many months and the flower and vegetable gardeners weren’t much worried about any killing frosts. As we would head east up US 12 along the Clearwater River toward Weippe and home in our old car, my Dad would look across the river at that giant, smoke belching, rotten-egg smelling, Potlatch Forests, Inc. pulp mill and say, “Well…, looks like they are getting mighty short of logs…, guess I better sign on for The Drive this year.” He never did sign on when I knew him though. He had been on a couple, or maybe a few, before I was born, or when I was too young to remember. Strange how those little details never seem to matter…, until it is too late to sort them out.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>The Clearwater River Log Drive was an ever present piece of that logging aura and mystic that was as much a part of my life growing up as such legends like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Bunyan">Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox</a>. But I will never forget being in the fourth or fifth grade when our teacher brought to class a July 1951 issue of <i>National Geographic Magazine</i>. There was a feature in it about the 1950 Clearwater Log Drive titled <i>“Idaho Loggers Battle a River”</i>. I was just trying to be funny when I quipped, “I’ll show you guys a picture of my Dad in here!” The boast got way more scoffs than laughs, but no one was more shocked or surprised than I was…, to see him there on page 120 and 129.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP2RFwJkL8c4QkEFlPOHb4F336WvqtYW79Pd4ElBwwGg537Gtbgmx9Tf9h7d5b9o3q8PhP-1auLYhz-a4XC7kYe9s6Roma11xODLGWYuaEZmb3yR8z6u_PVbeiBC4ZjEjhoMnutry3KTa3/s1600/P1010134.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="207" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP2RFwJkL8c4QkEFlPOHb4F336WvqtYW79Pd4ElBwwGg537Gtbgmx9Tf9h7d5b9o3q8PhP-1auLYhz-a4XC7kYe9s6Roma11xODLGWYuaEZmb3yR8z6u_PVbeiBC4ZjEjhoMnutry3KTa3/s320/P1010134.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Second guy on the right is That Good Lookin' Al Spence</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The guy on the left.<br />
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This year of 2016 will mark the 45year anniversary of the last Clearwater River Log Drive. In 1971, it was most likely the last major white-water sawlog river drive in the United States. I doubt that the practice would have survived much longer, even if the huge concrete plug…, known as the Dwoarshak Dam…, hadn’t choked off the North Fork branch of the Clearwater. It was boom time in American back then, it was, build bigger and better roads, bigger and faster trucks to haul those logs, and with the fuel for them measured in pennies to the gallon, The Drive wouldn’t have survived much longer even without the dam. With diesel fuel over $4.00 per gallon at times these days and environmentalists calling for breaching dams to allow historic salmon and steelhead fish runs to resume…, one wonders if there might not be another Clearwater River Log Drive in the future? </div>
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My days as a working logger are long gone…, with few regrets that those back breaking days are behind me now at age 64. But I would sign on without hesitation for a future Drive as a camp “flunky”…, swamping out the floating bunkhouses and serving food to those working loggers in the cookhouse portion of the floating camp called the “wannigan”. Oh yeah…, I’d sign on for whatever menial, low-down, dirty, job that I had to …, to take part in The Drive. A two or three week whitewater rafting and boating vacation, three all-you can eat hot meals a day, being rocked to sleep at night in warm and dry bunk on the water…, and getting paid to do it. Hell…, I’d do it for free if I ever get the chance. Oh…, there was some hard and dangerous work involved, but all aspects of logging are that way.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBigUNaDT4B6MQekBjUUdpZzQmJrO_SKIr3TjPJn8PmvYgElVn3cl_8-emw3DksoPS9H9QiMhKhJWlnUwrm1Fq787WObxpESqYWF57m6IfWpDPMAreiwJ8JmOrPIwsg_KjVAVSFIslaC8N/s1600/FHS5044th.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBigUNaDT4B6MQekBjUUdpZzQmJrO_SKIr3TjPJn8PmvYgElVn3cl_8-emw3DksoPS9H9QiMhKhJWlnUwrm1Fq787WObxpESqYWF57m6IfWpDPMAreiwJ8JmOrPIwsg_KjVAVSFIslaC8N/s320/FHS5044th.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>In the early </i><span class="s2"><i>1950</i></span><i>’s, the wanigan was fitted with full swing motor</i><i>mounts and outboard motors instead of just the sweeps. It progressed</i><i>from log rafts to three sections of Army engineered bridge pontoons</i><i>made out of synthetic rubber with air in numerous air compartments. </i><i>This wanigan would house the </i><span class="s2"><i>34</i></span><i>-man crew along with a </i><i>cook, cookhouse, and two bunkhouses, one on each end of the cookhouse. </i><i>The wanigan was over </i><span class="s2"><i>117</i></span><i> feet long and </i><span class="s2"><i>26</i></span><i> feet wide. This </i><i>photo was taken in </i><span class="s2"><i>1951</i></span><i> about </i><span class="s2"><i>3</i></span><i> miles north of Ahsahka.</i></div>
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<i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN1HBxS9XxND0e5eTI_YKEtDFnq8G3zmlEup5sC2e4Z3SPTdekQi69VkDhRF673P2E_rQOQlRT-IiVfhxIQgzeeWv_VAe_cmszj9H1adR2FPU1xxsaV0a2OSJ5755lYEvBNMOxlupt6n_s/s1600/FHS5053th.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN1HBxS9XxND0e5eTI_YKEtDFnq8G3zmlEup5sC2e4Z3SPTdekQi69VkDhRF673P2E_rQOQlRT-IiVfhxIQgzeeWv_VAe_cmszj9H1adR2FPU1xxsaV0a2OSJ5755lYEvBNMOxlupt6n_s/s320/FHS5053th.jpg" width="320" /></a></i></div>
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<i>Working in a space smaller than the average home kitchen, chief </i><i>cook Harvey Spears prepares more than </i><span class="s2"><i>100</i></span><i> hot meals daily to satisfy </i><i>the hearty appetites of the Potlatch rearing crews.</i></div>
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From 1928 to 1971 there were 40 log drives, they generally started 50 miles up the North Fork of the Clearwater River from Isabella Landing. 50 miles of wild, untamed river that ran through a wilderness of nearly uninhabited country. The few access roads available were there to get the timber to the water. At the mouth of the North Fork, the logs and their drivers merged with the Middle Fork, and from there rode the main Clearwater River another 40 miles down to Lewiston and the mill pond. In the early years a series of flumes were used to get the logs into the river. A flume was like a theme park water slide for logs…, and I’ve been told that some of the poorly designed flumes gave those logs quite a ride. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB9H-zgnO8XLGz3krVZvRO0zom7HTjOX84g5E62XstTrUj0pmCkufK5xGZfemadudk_uz1Vmks88SKpaMs2MM3UpIweG9FolwbZF9N34ed1Rk10zJs6YJN-svdc49AM94dYGtCdOVvKPIe/s1600/flume1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB9H-zgnO8XLGz3krVZvRO0zom7HTjOX84g5E62XstTrUj0pmCkufK5xGZfemadudk_uz1Vmks88SKpaMs2MM3UpIweG9FolwbZF9N34ed1Rk10zJs6YJN-svdc49AM94dYGtCdOVvKPIe/s1600/flume1.jpg" /></a></div>
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<i>In the early years of the drive, flumes transported logs from the woods </i><i>to the bank of the river throughout the logging season. Tree lengths </i><i>were skidded to this flume landing and then “bucked” by sawyers </i><i>into saw logs about sixteen and a half feet in length. Peavy men then </i><i>rolled the logs into the flume.Water would be released from flume </i><i>dams as needed to float the logs to the river. There would be several</i><i>log landings along a flume depending on different logging sites and </i><i>available water sources. Each flume design was unique to particular</i></div>
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<i>terrain and water sources. The original length of this particular </i><i>flume was about eight miles. It entered the river below the Little </i><i>North Fork, on the opposite side, fed by the waters of Elkberry Creek. </i><i>From the late </i><span class="s2"><i>1920</i></span><i>’s to the mid-</i><span class="s2"><i>1950</i></span><i>’s, flumes were the cheapest and </i><i>the most efficient way to handle the logs. Heavy machinery was not </i><i>yet available to build the roads, handle the logs, or haul them great </i><i>distances. Water did the work. Flumes varied from one mile </i><i>to several miles in length and created a capillary system that fed logs </i><i>into the river. Over two dozen flumes and fluming camps were </i><i>constructed along the North Fork.</i></div>
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Also in the old days the boats were man-powered and it took a lot of skill to avoid a lot of extra hard work. The advent of first…, outboard motors…, and later…, jet boats made things a lot easier and safer for all the crew members.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgThUepo3fOoac_dxM241Y-jQLvIyEqCNXPubirgdDS5ALAG4KpgPgt9JB_vHVIjnz-gYA-jPP9mdFLPYbzHNagHnzhyphenhyphenCOAYn241TgSQSsQRGRon4obG5F0xGtrS-ew-C37YlQAIilXQ8HU/s1600/FHS4957th.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgThUepo3fOoac_dxM241Y-jQLvIyEqCNXPubirgdDS5ALAG4KpgPgt9JB_vHVIjnz-gYA-jPP9mdFLPYbzHNagHnzhyphenhyphenCOAYn241TgSQSsQRGRon4obG5F0xGtrS-ew-C37YlQAIilXQ8HU/s320/FHS4957th.jpg" width="320" /></a><i></i></div>
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<i>“Head’s Up, she’s a pullin’.” The bateaux crew pulling a small center </i><i>jam in the North Fork of the Clearwater River. The men in the </i><i>picture are leaping to the safety of the bateaux as everything is moving </i><i>and the jam is breaking up.</i><br />
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<i>Boat crews are working the slack water at the </i><i>lower end of the Clearwater River, close to the </i><i>Lewiston mill.</i></div>
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In those days it wasn’t so much a drive, as it was a round-up. The logs were allowed to just float to the mill at their leisure and once a year, or when the logs stopped showing up at the mill, a crew went down to help along the ones that got stranded in shallow riffles, or eddies, or got hung up on islands. But a couple of huge log jams that blocked the entire width of the river and extended for miles up stream ended that practice. When a big jam like that cuts loose in mass…, things like bridges are in no small peril. </div>
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So the practice of decking the logs up along the river at various “camp” sites throughout the season and making a controlled drive once a year was established. Timing was of critical importance. If the water was rising, the logs would tend to float in the center of the river, if the water was falling the logs would tend to float toward the banks of the river were they were more likely to get hung up. With a huge snowpack still stashed away in the high country, it was that melting snow that would determine the flow of the river. Start too early and the snow up high stays frozen, start too late and you are liable to get caught at flood stage, which presents a whole set of new problems. That happened one year before there were dams built that helped with flood control…, the logs burst through the log boom that was stretched across the river to corral them in the log pond at Lewiston…, and high-tailed it on down the Snake River. On down the Columbia River. All the way to Longview, WA before they were recaptured…, by another logging company. So the decision of when to start The Drive was not taken lightly or left in the hands of just anyone.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFnBaO7NSFFQzAVCsBrfb0UNqcgyayi-i4F2zkBFO6n-8pO-EiOW6LvMpuZzushh-yYWJF3TT2kN_bINLoJ3vPL-DuMsBrbVL5lJK3ffS5HBn_tSsk0D4dtV9KFnVgFBLFAcyJfB5oXDht/s1600/FHS4945th.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFnBaO7NSFFQzAVCsBrfb0UNqcgyayi-i4F2zkBFO6n-8pO-EiOW6LvMpuZzushh-yYWJF3TT2kN_bINLoJ3vPL-DuMsBrbVL5lJK3ffS5HBn_tSsk0D4dtV9KFnVgFBLFAcyJfB5oXDht/s320/FHS4945th.jpg" width="252" /></a> </div>
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<i>Bull O’ The Woods! Potlatch log drive foreman </i><i>Charles “Red” McCollister sizes up the river </i><i>before sending his rearing crews onto the frigid </i><i>Clearwater River.</i></div>
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<i>He worked the drive from </i><span class="s2"><i>1950</i></span><i> to </i><span class="s2"><i>1971</i></span><i> and</i></div>
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<i>was foreman for its last </i><span class="s2"><i>17</i></span><i> years. </i></div>
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The fellow that made that call for the last 17 years of The Drive, was Charles “Red” McCollister. “Charlie Red” we called him when I worked for him a few years after The Drive was history. I wish I could have worked for him on one of them. I gave it some thought, I was 18 in 1971, but I wasn’t even working for Potlatch at the time. There wouldn’t have been any chance of me getting on anyway. I am sure the list was a long one for that Last Drive. I wonder how Charlie Red decided who got the privilege to participate in it? He said in a 1964 article in The Idaho Forester, “New recruits were chosen carefully from young men with as much consideration given to their safety attitude and individual judgment as to their physical ability.” With only 34 positions to fill the crew, I am sure Charlie had some tough calls to make…, but there is no man that I would sooner trust than Charlie Red to make a tough call. But once again…, it is a little too late to ask him about those little details. He passed away in 2010. I’ll be writing more about <a href="http://media.spokesman.com/documents/2010/02/Document4_.pdf">this remarkable man</a> in the future. For now…, you should check out another link to this <a href="http://www.foresthistory.org/publications/FHT/FHTFall2000/mccollister.pdf">Forest History Today</a> magazine photo-journal that was written by Charlie Red and his daughter Sandra McCollister about The Drive…, and I sure hope she doesn’t mind that I “borrowed” some of her and Charlie’s pictures and captions (in italics) for this piece. I would have asked…, but I lost her email address in one of my computer harddrive crashes. </div>
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There is a wealth of old logging and log drive picture at <a href="http://www.foresthistory.org/Research/Galleries/Logging_LogDrives_Drivers_Gallery/index.htm">Forest History Society site</a>…, and I did get their permission to use their photos…, some of which are credited to them in Charlie and Sandra’s story.</div>
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There is also a chapter about The Drive in Earl Roberge’s beautifully written and photographed book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Timber-Country-Logging-Great-Northwest/dp/0870042351">"Timber Country"</a>…, and I hope he doesn’t mind if I post a couple of his pictures here. I have a copy of the book myself…, about the only wise investment I made back in the “hippie days”…, and I bought another as a gift for an old partner not so long ago.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG2aDM3S9aWUAJYzLxUNqG3nNXTnNzAZyN_l_bz_sb1XkqCnHXed1DW5gjB5ulw2gww-3bs2cxB3a5rx3YFiWzuLH7SlD0FTJGIs4Z9L0EyNbe4W8CX3hk3zFtS29eqkI3ZPThA9Ius4EB/s1600/P1010139.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG2aDM3S9aWUAJYzLxUNqG3nNXTnNzAZyN_l_bz_sb1XkqCnHXed1DW5gjB5ulw2gww-3bs2cxB3a5rx3YFiWzuLH7SlD0FTJGIs4Z9L0EyNbe4W8CX3hk3zFtS29eqkI3ZPThA9Ius4EB/s320/P1010139.JPG" width="308" /></a></div>
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There are several YouTube videos of various aspects of The Drive you can Google up…, or try these links:</div>
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<span class="s4"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJKDp58qDqI">Clearwater Log Drives</a></span></div>
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<span class="s6"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-P9EpuFSv4">Clearwater River Log Drive, 1930's</a></span><span class="s4"><i>”</i></span></div>
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“The Company”…, was the moniker most often used to referred to Potlatch Corporation by those of us who worked there…, was foresighted enough to hire a film company to record the last log drive and Charlie Red narrated the film…, but I can’t seem to locate it for viewing anywhere on the Internet. That is a real shame…, it is a piece of history that should be available for all to see.</div>
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Another great film that features a fairly significant amount of footage of the log drive is the Disney film, <i>“Charlie the Lonesome Cougar”</i>. It doesn’t identify in the story that the log drive portion was actually shot in Idaho on the North Fork of the Clearwater River…, but the credits do. And oh yeah…, Charles “Red” McCollister acquitted himself in the extremely professional manner that he always brought to any job he undertook…,while performing his part in the film.</div>
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<span class="s8"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Charlie-Lonesome-Cougar-Rex-Allen/dp/B0001I55P6">Check out a copy from Amazon here.</a></span></div>
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Scott R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17353655165012542492noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4473278163835308551.post-8416050045285965182016-04-09T10:24:00.000-07:002016-10-02T09:50:04.631-07:00"Rack'em Up !"<div class="p1">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3j5EB8ibSlKkkDqBbKHfeTdcC5R0oLaihl0GKAKxY4z_NkNSbTjIwmCZImnxkh_uvDW5rfzEL39GQVjkdpLGAQOh9RsVDPYMWLrycC7e0pBjrx3hqu8o6NJLn25ZJwlR7eIhTkZ6w75Ns/s1600/pjd8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3j5EB8ibSlKkkDqBbKHfeTdcC5R0oLaihl0GKAKxY4z_NkNSbTjIwmCZImnxkh_uvDW5rfzEL39GQVjkdpLGAQOh9RsVDPYMWLrycC7e0pBjrx3hqu8o6NJLn25ZJwlR7eIhTkZ6w75Ns/s320/pjd8.jpg" width="320" /></a>It isn’t a feeling that I get often…, or ever often got for that matter. It’s been a good many years since I shuffled around a pool table…, and even back in the days when it was an all too common occurrence…, I did way more rackin’ myself than I ever did instructing others to do so.</div>
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But every once in while…, OK, make that, <i>great</i> while…, I had one of those nights when the stars all aligned and that old pool cue had a laser light in the tip. And you could literally feel the fear and self-doubt building in the local hustler as game after game was slipping away…, and after sinking another 8-ball…, you take a long pull out of a bottle of ice cold Hamm’s…, sit it down firmly…, look him in the eye…, and say, “Rack’em up!”</div>
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<a name='more'></a>I got that feeling on Tuesday night when I saw the projected results of Bernie Sanders Wisconsin Primary win. Yeah…, that’s seven out of eight now…, and this was another double digit win in what was supposed to be a close contest. A couple weeks back the three states that I have lived in, Idaho, Alaska and now Washington…, were on the agenda and once again the main stream media were doing their best to sow doubts about Bernie’s prospects…, or ignoring him altogether. I even found an excuse to get to town on caucus day, “Honey…, the empty beer cans are piling up on the back porch. I better make a run to town and dump them at the Boy Scout recycle bin.” She didn’t question why I couldn’t wait until Monday when I would be going anyway…, or why I was taking the check book. I drove by the high school…, hoping that there would be a group of Bernie supporters like me…, too principled to publicly testify to being a Democrat…, standing around outside with signs and such. There weren’t…, I didn’t need the check book. Back at The Ranch…, I tried to concentrate on chores to keep my mind off of the pending results…, but I had built up a substantial nest egg of new empty beer cans on the back porch before I came inside to check on the outcome. The glow that I already had on, set off on a whole new trajectory. I couldn’t have been prouder of my fellow statesmen. Bernie literally wiped the table with Hillary that night…, in all three of my patron states.</div>
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Also last night, <a href="https://www.blogger.com/%E2%80%9Dhttp://www.thomhartmann.com/blog/2016/04/democratic-party-danger-losing-next-generation-voters%E2%80%9C">Thom Hartmann</a> tried to remind Democrats about…, what he thought were…, some important points regarding this primary. It was obviously recorded prior to any knowledge of the Wisconsin results:</div>
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<i>The Democratic Party is facing a serious existential question. And if the party doesn't make the right moves in 2016 -- if it doesn't hang onto the Independent voters and first-time voters who are turning out in droves to vote for Bernie Sanders and other progressive challengers to the Democratic National Committee establishment -- the Democratic Party seriously risks alienating an entire generation of voters.</i></blockquote>
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<i>…</i></blockquote>
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<i>But the reality is that the people who are turning out to vote for Sanders -- the people who seem to endlessly share Sanders memes online, the people who are turning out by the tens of thousands just to hear him speak -- are mostly average, hard-working American men and women of all races and ethnic and economic backgrounds who are sick and tired of a rigged political system and a rigged economy.</i></blockquote>
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<i>What the Democratic Party needs to realize is that many of Sanders' supporters are voting for the first time, whether they're 18, 30 or 50 years old. And just as importantly, even if they have voted before, many of them are voting as Democrats for the very first time.</i></blockquote>
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<i>…</i></blockquote>
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<i>Sanders' supporters can't force the Democratic Party to embrace universal health care and tuition-free college; they can't force the party to embrace expanding Social Security and raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour; they can't force the party to make overturning Citizens United and ending our dependence on fossil fuels into core parts of the Democratic platform. And they can't cause a riot to force the Democrats to embrace a true progressive vision for America.</i></blockquote>
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<i>But they shouldn't have to.</i></blockquote>
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I think Thom is wasting his breath. This is the first time in a long, long, time that there is a serious contender to vote <span class="s1"><b><u>for</u></b></span> and the Sanders supporters are supporting him. The Democratic Party isn’t going to hold many of those voters…, and most definitely not this one…, once Bernie is out of the race. And no…, no amount Bernie’s emails or Thom’s essays…, are going to entice me to support Hillary or the Democratic Party on their merits.</div>
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<span class="s2">A while back <a href="http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.com/2016/02/the-decline-and-fall-of-hillary-clinton.html">J<span class="s1">ohn</span> Michael Greer</a> </span>weighed in with these comments on Hillary:</div>
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<i>To a very real extent, Hillary Clinton’s faltering presidential campaign is a perfect microcosm of what Spengler was talking about in his cold analysis of democracy in extremis. Her entire platform presupposes that the only policies the United States can follow are those that have been welded in place since the turn of the millennium: more government largesse for corporations and the rich, more austerity for everyone else, more malign neglect for the national infrastructure and the environment, more wars in the Middle East, and more of the fantastically stupid policy of confrontation—<a href="http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.com/2015/06/an-affirming-flame.html"><span class="s3">there really is no gentler way to describe it</span></a>—that has succeeded, against all odds, in uniting Russia, China, Iran, and an assortment of smaller nations against the United States, by convincing their leaders that they have nothing to gain from a US-centric world order and nothing to lose by challenging it.</i></blockquote>
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<i>It’s possible—indeed, I think it’s likely—that Clinton will manage to squeeze past Sanders and get the Democratic nomination by fair means or foul; it’s considerably less likely that she’ll be able to overcome Trump in the general election; but even if she does, others will follow where Trump and Sanders lead, and sooner or later one of them will triumph.</i></blockquote>
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<i>The more likely option just now, I think, is that the Clinton campaign will meet a crushing defeat at Trump’s hands, and the decline and fall of Hillary Clinton will also mark the end of the failed consensus that has dominated American politics for decades. That fact alone doesn’t guarantee improvement; no law requires that whatever policies replace the conventional wisdom must be better. Nonetheless, things will change, and it’s at least possible that some of the changes might remove at least a few of the worst features of the bleak era now stumbling to its end around us.</i></blockquote>
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<span class="s2">And <a href="http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_revenge_of_the_lower_classes_and_the_rise_of_american_fascism_20160302">Chris Hedges</a></span> offered up this:</div>
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<i>The Democrats are playing a very dangerous game by anointing Hillary Clinton as their presidential candidate. She epitomizes the double-dealing of the college-educated elites, those who speak the feel-your-pain language of ordinary men and women, who hold up the bible of political correctness, while selling out the poor and the working class to corporate power.</i></blockquote>
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So…, this good feeling might not last too much longer. April 19<span class="s4"><sup>th</sup></span> is the next “critically important” primary…, as so many have already been called this year. While there has been speculation about Hillary being able to finally “put Bernie away” previously…, that all too real possibility looms large in the New York primary. It is a closed primary…, we independents are barred from voting…, and we are Bernie's strong suit. And April 19<span class="s4"><sup>th</sup></span> and dates close to it have some bad connotations….,</div>
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1889 – 4-20 – Adolf Hitler Born</div>
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1906 – 4-18 – San Francisco Earthquake</div>
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1912 – 4-15 – Titanic Sunk</div>
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1927 – 4-15 – Great Mississippi Flood</div>
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1993 – 4-19 - an FBI siege ended at Waco, TX with the death of 81 people.</div>
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1995 – 4-19 - Oklahoma City Bombing</div>
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1997 – 4-19 - Red River Floods</div>
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1999 – 4-20 – Columbine School Shooting</div>
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2010 – 4-20 – Deepwater Horizon Blowup</div>
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2013 – 4-15 - Boston Marathon Bombing</div>
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They weren’t all tragic events though…, some good things happened on 4-19 as well:</div>
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1775 – 4-19 - first shots fired in the American Revolutionary War</div>
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1943 – 4-19 - Dr. Albert Hofmann discovers LSD</div>
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1952 – 4-19 - I was born. </div>
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So…, anyone who has read my blog knows that I will at least be <a href="http://scottrthequillayutecowboy.blogspot.com/2011/03/april-birthdays-party.html">celebrating my birthday</a>…, if not something else…, on 4-19-16 this year. Yeah…, Bernie has a long way to go yet and the likelihood of him prying the nomination from the greedy fingers of the plutocrats and oligarchs and blood sucking vampire squids that have those fingers already firmly wrapped around the likes of Hillary and another Clinton Catastrophe for the working class…, and the world…, are about the same as my chances of running the table…, but it is the only chance I see… so…,</div>
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“RACK’EM UP !”</div>
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Scott R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17353655165012542492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4473278163835308551.post-40834870720438883712015-11-21T13:00:00.000-08:002016-10-02T09:50:35.202-07:00First Frost..., 11-19-15<br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">That ought to finish off the spud plants in <a href="http://scottrthequillayutecowboy.blogspot.com/2010/08/garden.html">The Garden</a>. Yeah…, about half of them were still green and hanging in there. OK…, the monsoon rains had beat them down pretty good…, but they were still green laying there on the ground.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">A few very short years ago…, yeah the years are slipping away <i><b>way</b></i> too fast these days…, I wrote a piece for The Agonist called, <a href="http://scottrthequillayutecowboy.blogspot.com/2010/05/bisquits-gravey-and-first-killing-frost.html">“Biscuits and Gravy and the First Killing Frost”</a>. It was dated 10/12/09. A very late first freeze this year…, and a very early spring and summer that helped set off a fire season for the record books in the Pacific Northwest. The dry spell during the summer browned up our grass pastures here on the Olympic Peninsula to a state that I haven’t witnessed in my 25 years here. We got some early rain this fall…, enough to green the pastures back up…, but it didn’t seem to cool off that much. September furnished us with some hot flashes..., but not much out of the ordinary. October was about average…, during the days..., it seemed. But I noticed that it didn’t cool off much during the night.</span></div>
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<a name='more'></a><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">There is a state weather station at the old Quillayute Airport just a mile or so up the road from us and it reports the weather there in hourly increments on the Internet. During the week I get up about 4:00 am to get ready for the job and I usually check the site…, along with the news…, to see how much it has rained. But I started noticing that sometimes the temperature would be over 60 degrees through the night and at that early hour…, and it was almost always in the mid to high 50’s overnight. A few weeks back I was talking on the phone to my brother Larry over in Idaho…, and remarked that though I didn’t think that the daytime temperatures in October set any records…, I bet that the average temperature set some.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Looks like I was right about that.., with room to spare. And it wasn’t just here in the Northwest..,</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/story/hottest-october-on-record-is-bad-news-for-polar-bears-2015-11-19">http://www.marketwatch.com/story/hottest-october-on-record-is-bad-news-for-polar-bears-2015-11-19</a></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The average temperature over land and ocean surfaces was the highest since records began in 1880, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">And it wasn’t just the NOAA making those claims...,</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><a href="http://mashable.com/2015/11/17/october-crosses-global-warming-threshold/#mgrLHDe.taqR">http://mashable.com/2015/11/17/october-crosses-global-warming-threshold/#mgrLHDe.taqR</a></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The planet has not been only record warm this year, it's been so unusually mild that the temperature records themselves have set records of their own. This is the case with October 2015, according to new preliminary NASA data released Tuesday.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The information shows that October 2015 was by far the warmest October on record, dating back to 1880. Not only that, but October also had the largest temperature departure from average of any month on record.The scorchingly hot October seals the deal: 2015 is almost certain to become the Earth’s hottest year since instrument records began in 1880. This means the year will beat out 2014, and become yet another data point showing that manmade global warming, plus natural climate variability, is pushing the climate into new territory.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Importantly, this was also the first time that a single month exceeded the 1-degree Celsius temperature anomaly, surpassing the 0.97 degree Celsius temperature anomaly in January 2007. This is a symbolic milestone, but one that will be broken more frequently as the climate continues to warm due to increasing amounts of greenhouse gases in the air because of human activities.</span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">For the year as a whole, global average surface temperatures are likely to reach 1 degree Celsius, or 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit, above preindustrial temperatures for the first time, according to the UK Met Office, NOAA and now NASA as well.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The 1-degree mark means that the world is already halfway to the internationally agreed warming target of 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), above preindustrial levels. Since the stated goal of the Paris Climate Summit, which kicks off on Nov. 30, is to craft an agreement that will limit global warming to the 2-degree target or lower, it's clear that diplomats do not have an easy task before them.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Yeah..., when I wrote “... Killing Frost ...” six years ago..., I was concerned about the Great Financial Crisis. Some say we have conquered it..., some say we have only curtailed it. There may be room for debate about that issue..., but there is no room for debate about climate change. We need to take some dramatic action..., NOW.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Let’s hope that they realize that in Paris at the Climate Summit.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">As I said in <a href="http://scottrthequillayutecowboy.blogspot.com/2014/04/birthday-eve-ruminations.html">"Birthday Eve Ruminations"</a> back in 2014, “Even if it is just a futile gesture…, I think we owe it to her [Mother Earth] to at least try…, out of respect and in gratitude for what she’s already given us.”</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">And I better get out there and see how many potatoes she has bestowed on me this year.</span></div>
Scott R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17353655165012542492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4473278163835308551.post-13556188331661293742015-11-01T12:21:00.001-08:002021-11-25T12:56:58.827-08:00Totally Pure - Joe Bageant Drops Out<br />
I posted pieces about Joe’s books, “Deer Hunting in America: Dispatches from the Class War” and “Waltzing at the Doomsday Ball”and “Rainbow Pie”. I noted that it took a few essays to really set the hook at first…, but hooked I was…, and am. Probably…, hell…, no doubt…, my favorite essay is, <a href="https://www.joebageant.com/joe/2007/05/ghosts_of_tim_l.html%E2%80%9D">Ghosts of Tim Leary and Hunter S. Thompson</a>. Yeah…, Joe and I had a lot of likes, loves and lusts in common…, liquid libations, lovely ladies and Lysergic Acid Diethylamide. And always..., always..., some music in the background. The dedication to that piece was a teaser too, “This essay is dedicated to Gypsy Joe Hess (1919-1988).”<br />
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The intro to it was this…,<br />
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<em>Everything Americans think they know, they learned from a televised morality play. It's all theater. You root for some good guy and boo some bad guy. You pick your own, but you dance to the tune of the men running the show. It's mind control, pure and simple, and if there is an American immune to it, then he is probably living in a snow cave somewhere in Alaska.</em></blockquote>
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-- Gypsy Joe Hess (1919-1988), prospector, self-educated philosopher and horse trader<br />
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Damn right I Googled “Gypsy Joe Hess” when I read the essay a couple years back…, and got no hits. I do now though…, after this title piece by John Lingan was run at <a href="https://www.thebaffler.com/salvos/toxically-pure%E2%80%9D">The Baffler - Totally Pure - Joe Bageant drops out</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://48ic4g3gr5iyzszh237mlfcm9b.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Bageant-GypsyJoe-Lingan-small.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://48ic4g3gr5iyzszh237mlfcm9b.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Bageant-GypsyJoe-Lingan-small.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv5YGCZAFfjnvpwoGDweTYoW9orPmmsia4zsOOQ_BrgwTUhQloCudA1ndwr0ThBbgdD54mBfRQ_GiO35RVIXS9eVJ0S4nyEUC-HuJOBCRSjW47HFP4xVTWwitwZsmZWb-N2ojK56x5O4s1/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="225" data-original-width="225" height="311" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv5YGCZAFfjnvpwoGDweTYoW9orPmmsia4zsOOQ_BrgwTUhQloCudA1ndwr0ThBbgdD54mBfRQ_GiO35RVIXS9eVJ0S4nyEUC-HuJOBCRSjW47HFP4xVTWwitwZsmZWb-N2ojK56x5O4s1/w311-h311/Unknown-1-1.jpeg" width="311" /></a></div><br /></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Gypsy Joe Hess & Joe Bageant</span></div>
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<a name='more'></a>We are offered glimpses of Joe’s life in his books and essays…, but most of them are from his life back in West Virginia in his early years or later in life when he returned. Lingan paints a very nice portrait of Joe’s life throughout…, with plenty of quotes from Joe’s work..., and I found out that we had a lot more in common than I thought…,<br />
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<em>They bought the shack in 1982, with no electricity, running water, or address. It was on a dirt road about halfway up a mountain, which must have recalled Shanghai Road. Joe worked tirelessly, clearing forest and planting a garden behind the house. He built a barn for horses and livestock.</em></blockquote>
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That “shack” was near St. Maries, Idaho, just a couple hours from my old home stomping grounds in north central Idaho. I remember spending a long afternoon in The Sasquatch Bar there in about 1984 or so. But I wouldn’t have known Joe Bageant if he had been sitting beside me…, and probably wouldn’t have let him interrupt my concentration on the cute little bar maid anyway. And in the summer of 1986 my brother and I hired out a couple of machines and ourselves on a powerline construction project well north of St. Maries…, so I made weekly trips through there for four or five months. I kind a like to think that this old hippie met that old hippie on the road a time or two. <br />
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<em>Often at my speaking engagements or readings, I see one or more of them in the audience,” he wrote, “long gray hair, loose-fitting, sensible, well-worn clothing, soft eyes, and perhaps an herbal amulet around the neck or in the hair. . . . Immediately after the reading or talk or whatever, I seek them out if at all possible (press agents sometimes screw this up). Always there is the big smile and the hug.</em></blockquote>
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<em>And we are again brothers and sisters, as we used to sincerely address each other on the street. And again I have been granted the gift, that brief spark of unquestioned mutual love and goodwill in a darkening time.</em></blockquote>
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I made a move to Forks, WA in 87 and he moved to Moscow, ID in 88…, he went to Eugene, OR in 91 or 2 and I went to southeast AK in 91. I came back to Forks in 94 and the property we bought didn’t even have the shack on it…, let alone running water. But we got the horses and a barn and a garden and a Bar(n) now.<br />
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So I don’t think I will be following Joe’s path down Mexico way…, at least not anytime soon. I will hold out here..., tend the garden and the horses..., and hope for more ghosts like “Toxically Pure” to appear.Scott R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17353655165012542492noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4473278163835308551.post-40309095007986737712015-08-29T09:38:00.000-07:002016-10-02T09:54:32.071-07:00The First Time<br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I thought it would be more painful. It wasn’t completely painless, to be sure…, but after 63 years of absolute abstinence, there was bound to be a little discomfort, at the least. Luckily, it didn’t last long. It was over almost before I knew it. I was left with some feelings of guilt…, maybe remorse. Time will tell about that…, I guess. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I left my name, mailing address, phone number and email address. No physical address. I learned that lesson many years ago. When all I used to give out was a post office box for an address and had an unlisted phone number…, not even the IRS could track me down. And they were trying…, family and ex-employers told me so. Two weeks after I got a phone listed in my name for a house I was sharing with the rest of the logging crew working on an out of town job…, an IRS agent left a note on the door for me. But I digress…, in this case I want some acknowledgement of my contribution. Then again…, I don’t want it to turn into a constant and relentless demanding…, or begging…, for more.</span></div>
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<a name='more'></a><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Yeah…, it’s already started. It wasn’t a demand or a beg really…, more of a thank you note via email, with a not so subtle hint that it would be ever so helpful if I could give again. Maybe I shouldn’t have been so generous the first time…, probably should have taken it a little slower and easier. But after all these years, I felt that if I was going to do it…, I was going to do it right and go all the way. Or at least as far as I felt I could, without feeling some real pain. So I clicked that $100 button…, and it was over and done with. No turning back now. And I am not feeling too bad about it at this time…, I guess.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Yeah…, I donated to Bernie Sanders campaign. The first time ever, that I have contributed as much as a single penny to a politician. I might just do it again before it’s all over…, though most of the pundits in the media say he doesn’t stand a snowball’s chance in this global warming climate of acing out Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination. I don’t know…, those same pundits were saying the same things about Obama and Hillary six years ago. Think about that for a moment…, after you consider what’s been in the news about black men out on the streets of America lately. That a black man was able to woo voters away from Hillary says a lot about her. I think voters were looking for an anything but Hillary nearly eight years ago…, and they may be again. Sure, all the big time Wall Street money is bet on her…, and believe me…, that money will be pouring out like water over Niagara Falls for her if Bernie starts to gain some traction. Well…, I don’t know just how afraid the oligarchs and plutocrats are of him right now…, but if his common sense approach to the issues starts to resonate with the voters of this country and sparks a bit of a fire…, we could see some real panic in the boardrooms…, not to mention the Clinton bedroom. “NOOOO…, not AGAIN !!!” And that will be before we get out of the primaries.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I only voted in one presidential election…, ever. And never in a primary. They say now-a-days that it makes no difference if you vote Democrat or Republican…, they are one in the same. I thought that for years before folks started saying it. Then the Wee Bush got elected…, twice. Yeah…, I voted against him the only time I ever voted for (make that against) a president. And I was physically sick when he got re-elected. That experience doesn’t give me a whole lot of faith in the voters of this country. That they couldn’t see then, the train wreck that was riding the rails of a Wee Bush re-election still flabbergasts me. Well…, a hell of a lot of them woke up after that train wreck. As the late Joe Bageant described that awakening, “Either they have suddenly developed a streak of conscience, or they simply don’t want to be associated with the trail of crime, blood and feces Bush and his cronies have obviously tracked across the carpet of American history. My bet is on the latter.” Yeah…, a pumpkin-headed pogo stick could have trounced any Republican candidate after the stench and stigma left on the Grand Old Party by the Wee Bush. The stench was so complete and long lasting that a pumpkin-headed pogo stick could probably do it again in 2016…, and probably will…, if we don’t find some way to wake up some rank and file, common sense voters to get out and vote for Bernie Sanders in the primaries. They say that big money buys elections these days…, but this is a chance to show the oligarchs and plutocrats that their money is not always well spent. I don’t know how many more presidential elections I will have the chance to participate in at my age…, but at least this one could be a chance to vote FOR someone…, as opposed to voting for the least worst option. And I am not at all sure if there is a least worst option between Hillary and another Bush.? </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Sanders is running on the Democratic ticket as a strategic move…, but he has served 20 some years in Congress as an Independent and describes himself as a “democratic socialist”. That won’t scare the educated and thoughtful folks who understand what socialism really is…, but for the knuckle dragging, Neanderthal, FOX news, Rush Limbaugh junkies and Republicans? Well…, I just wish that Stephan Colbert and Jon Stewart were going to be around to have me rolling on the floor, pissing my pants laughing, as they make fun of the talking heads screaming bloody murder, the sky is falling and the barbarians are at the gate…, as Sanders gains in the polls. The Scandinavian countries have survived and thrived quite nicely with a socialist form of government. And after bearing witness to the free market, private enterprise example of the too big to fail and too big to jail Wall Street banks and banksteers…, I would welcome the nationalization of those entities…, not to mention the nationalization of the health care industry where private insurance companies run a cost plus, monopoly business model.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Here’s the “platform” statement from Bernie’s “thank you” email:</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b><i>Income and wealth inequality:</i></b><i> In the United States today we have the most unequal wealth and income distribution of any major country on earth -- worse than at any time since the 1920s. This is an economy that must be changed in fundamental ways. </i></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i> </i><b><i>Jobs and income</i></b><i>: In my view, we need a massive federal jobs program which puts millions of our people back to work. We must end our disastrous trade policies. We need to raise the minimum wage to a living wage. And we have to fight for pay equity for women. </i></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b><i>Campaign finance reform</i></b><i>: As a result of the Citizens United Supreme Court decision, American democracy is being undermined by the ability of the Koch brothers and other billionaire families. These wealthy contributors can literally buy politicians and elections by spending hundreds of millions of dollars in support of the candidates of their choice. We need to overturn Citizens United and move toward public funding of elections so that all candidates can run for office without being beholden to the wealthy and powerful. </i></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b><i>Climate change</i></b><i>: Climate change is real, caused by human activity and already devastating our nation and planet. The United States must lead the world in combating climate change and transforming our energy system away from fossil fuels and toward energy efficiency and sustainability. </i></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b><i>College affordability</i></b><i>: Every person in this country who has the desire and ability should be able to get all the education they need regardless of the income of their family. This is not a radical idea. In Germany, Scandinavia and many other countries, higher education is either free or very inexpensive. We must do the same. </i></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b><i>Health care</i></b><i>: Shamefully, the United States remains the only major country on earth that does not guarantee health care to all people. The United States must move toward a Medicare-for-all single-payer system. Health care is a right, not a privilege. </i></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b><i>Poverty</i></b><i>: The United States has more people living in poverty than at almost any time in the modern history of our country. I believe that in a democratic, civilized society none of our people should be hungry or living in desperation. We need to expand Social Security, not cut it. We need to increase funding for nutrition programs, not cut them. </i></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b><i>Tax reform:</i></b><i> We need real tax reform which makes the rich and profitable corporations begin to pay their fair share of taxes. We need a tax system which is fair and progressive. Children should not go hungry in this country while profitable corporations and the wealthy avoid their tax responsibilities by stashing their money in the Cayman Islands. </i></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i>And these are just some of the issues that we will be dealing with. </i></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Yeah…, common sense, down to earth, plain and simple, to the point, easy to understand…, and impossible to argue against. I am not saying that it will be easy for Bernie to get any of those things implemented if the gets elected…, the man is honest enough to tell you that himself. I will say that I am as certain as I have been about anything in this long life…, that none of those things will be implemented by Hillary Clinton or Jebby. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Here’s the link to the Bill Moye’s interview on the PBS TV program:</span></div>
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<u><a href="http://billmoyers.com/episode/bernie-sanders-breaking-big-moneys-grip-elections/">Bernie Sanders - Breaking Big Moneys Grip on Elections</a></u></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">And a quote from the program:</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b><i>BERNIE SANDERS:</i></b><i> Yes. The only point, there is a difference between social issues and the economic issues. And I will not deny for one moment that taking on the ruling class of this country and the billionaire class, it’s tough stuff. It is tough stuff. So I don’t have any magical solutions. But what I do know is that if we do not create an economy that works for ordinary people, if we do not end the fact that 95 percent of all new income now goes to the top one percent. We’ve got to end it, and the only way I know to do that is to rally ordinary people around the progressive agenda. So our job is to create a 50 state, grassroots movement around a progressive agenda.</i></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I also posted that link to the Moyer’s show on my Facebook page with the comment that if Bernie ran…, “I will get involved”. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">He did…, and I am…, for the first time. And I am feeling better about it all the time…, and that ain’t no guess.</span></div>
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Scott R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17353655165012542492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4473278163835308551.post-18683110924184296182014-05-25T10:49:00.000-07:002016-10-02T09:57:11.081-07:00I Think I'll Skip Piketty's Book<br />
<b><i>Note: I submitted this one to <a href="http://agonist.org/i-think-ill-skip-pikettys-book/">The Agonist</a> a few weeks ago. Got a few comments on it there.</i></b><br />
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Thee Book to read these days is Thomas Piketty’s “Capital in the Twenty First Century”…, or so I have heard. But my bookcases are all overflowing and I mostly buy books on the Kindle now…, and am just finishing up <a href="https://www.blogger.com/michael-hudson.com/">Michael Hudson’s</a> (highly recommended) “The Bubble and Beyond”…, so I don’t feel the need or desire to tackle Piketty’s “Capital…”. At 700 pages, it seems like a lot of space to tell me what <a href="http://www.regressiveantidote.net/Articles/All_The_Bad_News_Fit_To_Print.html">David Michael Green</a> told me on his blog a few years ago…, and that I shared with all The Agonistas around at the time.<br />
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Let me make it simple, in case anyone wants to share this essay with their idiotic, Republican (pardon the redundancy) cousin Buford: The story of American politics over the last generation is the story of the transfer of wealth from the people to the plutocrats. If you think there is anything else essential going on here, you don’t get it.</blockquote>
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I got it right off. I guess it takes academics like Paul Krugman a few more pages…, say about 700 more…, before they get the point. PK seemed genuinely amazed, on the <a href="http://billmoyers.com/2014/04/18/reactions-to-capital-in-the-twenty-first-century/">Bill Moyers</a> show last week, to find out that there are some people getting filthy rich…, while some others are wishing they had the bottom of a barrel to scrape. He admitted that he should have “realized it” himself. I wanted to ask him if he realized that upwards of 90% of the additional Keynesian Stimulus money that he keeps wanting to throw at this Great Recession would go right into the pockets of those same plutocrats that have been sucking it up before it hits the masses for the last 40 years? I’m not sure he really “gets it”.<br />
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<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>Harold Meyerson says in his article from The American Prospect, “<a href="http://prospect.org/article/40-year-slump">The Forty-Year Slump</a>”:<br />
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Hardly anyone paid attention to a story that seemed no more than a statistical oddity: That year [1974], for the first time since the end of World War II, Americans’ wages declined.</blockquote>
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Since 1947, Americans at all points on the economic spectrum had become a little better off with each passing year. The economy’s rising tide, as President John F. Kennedy had famously said, was lifting all boats. Productivity had risen by 97 percent in the preceding quarter-century, and median wages had risen by 95 percent. As economist John Kenneth Galbraith noted in The Affluent Society, this newly middle-class nation had become more egalitarian. The poorest fifth had seen their incomes increase by 42 percent since the end of the war, while the wealthiest fifth had seen their incomes rise by just 8 percent. Economists have dubbed the period the “Great Compression". </blockquote>
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During that time, median family income more than doubled.</blockquote>
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What no one grasped at the time was that this wasn’t a one-year anomaly, that 1974 would mark a fundamental breakpoint in American economic history. In the years since, the tide has continued to rise, but a growing number of boats have been chained to the bottom. Productivity has increased by 80 percent, but median compensation (that’s wages plus benefits) has risen by just 11 percent during that time. The middle-income jobs of the nation’s postwar boom years have disproportionately vanished. Low-wage jobs have disproportionately burgeoned. Employment has become less secure. Benefits have been cut. The dictionary definition of “layoff” has changed, from denoting a temporary severance from one’s job to denoting a permanent severance.</blockquote>
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As their incomes flat-lined, Americans struggled to maintain their standard of living. In most families, both adults entered the workforce. They worked longer hours. When paychecks stopped increasing, they tried to keep up by incurring an enormous amount of debt. The combination of skyrocketing debt and stagnating income proved predictably calamitous (though few predicted it). Since the crash of 2008, that debt has been called in. </blockquote>
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All the factors that had slowly been eroding Americans’ economic lives over the preceding three decades—globalization, deunionization, financialization, Wal-Martization, robotization, the whole megillah of nefarious –izations—have now descended en masse on the American people. Since 2000, even as the economy has grown by 18 percent, the median income of households headed by people under 65 has declined by 12.4 percent. Since 2001, employment in low-wage occupations has increased by 8.7 percent while employment in middle-wage occupations has decreased by 7.3 percent. Since 2003, the median wage has not grown at all. </blockquote>
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Over at CounterPunch, Robert Urie chimed in with, “<a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/08/03/say-goodbye-to-social-security/">Say Goodbye to Social Security</a>”:<br />
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With corporations and the rich who own them receiving a larger proportion of what labor produces and paying less in taxes, there is now little left to pay for necessary social programs such as schools, health care and pensions. But this shortfall is no accident. It is the intended result of four decades of policies specifically designed to enrich the ruling class at the expense of labor, the middle class and the poor.</blockquote>
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The economy is only a catastrophe for working people, the middle class and the poor. The ruling class is doing better than it has since the 1930s. Under the guidance of Republican and Democratic administrations, labor’s take in wages and salaries has fallen from 53% of GDP in 1970 to 44% in 2012 (link). The effective tax rate on corporations is currently half of what it was in 1970 (source: BEA). Likewise, tax rates on the wealthy have been dramatically reduced. And these policies have produced exactly the outcomes they were designed to produce.</blockquote>
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For forty years the rich and connected, the ruling class, have used their representatives in government to take exactly what they wanted. Tax cuts, executive payouts and stock dividends were paid instead of promised pension contributions. Social institutions such as schools have been turned into cash cows for connected capitalists who have no intention of educating our children. Environmental standards have been gutted in return for promised jobs that never materialized. And while the ruling class has taken what it wanted without apology, the chattering class—liberals and progressives, has acted as if it’s at a debate club meeting. </blockquote>
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Robert Reich has been hitting this theme hard as well…, and even has a new film out on the topic called “<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inequality_for_All">Inequality For All</a>”:<br />
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…the rich have been getting a larger and larger portion of total income. From 9 percent in 1980, the top 1 percent’s take increased to 23.5 percent by 2007. CEOs who in the 1970s took home 40 times the compensation of average workers now rake in 350 times.” (“Confessions of a Class Warrior,” August 22, 2010).</blockquote>
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Yet even as their share of the nation’s total income has withered, the tax burden on average workers has grown. They’re shelling out a far bigger chunk of incomes in payroll taxes, sales taxes and property taxes than 30 years ago. It’s just the opposite for the superrich. Over the last three decades, the richest 1 percent’s share of national income has doubled (from 10 percent in 1981 to well over 20 percent now). The share going to the richest one-tenth of 1 percent has tripled. And they’re doing better than ever. The median pay for top executives at 200 major companies was $9.6 million last year, topping pre-recession highs. Total compensation on Wall Street hit a record $135 billion. The heads of the top 25 hedge funds made almost $1 billion each. Yet, remarkably, tax rates on the very rich have plummeted. From the 1940s until 1980, the top income-tax rate on the highest earners in America was at least 70 percent. In the 1950s, it was 91 percent. Now it’s 35 percent. Even if you include deductions and credits, the rich are paying a far lower share of their incomes in taxes than at any time since World War II” (“Wealthy Americans not paying fair share of taxes,” April 17, 2011). </blockquote>
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Yeah…, everybody has an opinion regarding what the hell happened. There were numerous factors that combined to get us here. Maybe Piketty hits them all in his long winded attempt to explain it all…, globalization, financialization, foreign competition, NAFTA, out sourcing of jobs, technology, robotics, credit, debt, liar’s loans, NINJA loans, adjustable interest loans, no interest loans, not enough loans, unearned income, economic rent, carried interest, tax breaks, loopholes, offshore bank accounts, bonuses, stock buybacks, regulation, de-regulation, CO2, methane, ocean acidification, ozone, global warming, climate change, peak oil, military-industrial complex, unions, non-unions, pensions, Social Security, Medicare, welfare, food stamps, Republicans, Democrats, Federal Reserve, Glass-Steagall, nannycrats, plutocrats, and oligarchs. From what I can gather, Piketty seems to be saying that it is just a natural outcome of the capitalist system…, that the rich are going to get richer and everyone else is going to get poorer when the rate of return on capital exceeds the rate of growth. Paul Krugman seems to think that Piketty has discovered the magic bullet.<br />
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I haven’t read the book…, but the reviews that I have read don’t seem to mention that the plutocrats and oligarchs have made a conscious and concerted effort over the last forty years to buy the judges and politicians who make and break the laws that allow the economic elite to pay a lower tax rate on their multi-millions…, if they pay taxes at all after taking advantage of all the tax breaks and loopholes…, than the tax rate us ordinary people pay on our low tens of thousands…, if we are lucky enough to still have a job that is. And it wasn’t just tax laws that were rewritten…, it was a whole host of financial laws and policies that were rewritten or repealed that created a wealth shift the likes of which the world has never seen…, well…, at least since the roaring ‘20’s. Everybody knows what happened in 1929. It wasn’t some accident or law of economics that has created the current inequality and rising oligarchy…, it was a well-designed and executed plan that was laid out by a Lewis F. Powell Jr. in a 1971 memo…, not long before he was appointed Supreme Court justice. If you haven’t checked out the film, “<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heist:_Who_Stole_the_American_Dream%3F">Heist: Who Stole the American Dream</a>”…, you need to. It was on Link TV recently. From Wiki:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Heist: Who Stole the American Dream? is a 2011 documentary film which argues that government deregulation led to the Great Recession. It was directed and produced by Donald Goldmacher and journalist Frances Causey and narrated by Thom Hartmann. The documentary is partially based on Jeff Faux's 2006 book The Global Class War.[1] The film traces the roots of the Great Recession to Virginia lawyer Lewis F. Powell, Jr., whose 1971 memo to the United States Chamber of Commerce urged corporate America to become more aggressive in molding politics and law.</blockquote>
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Filmmakers Goldmacher and Causey started work on Heist in 2006 after they had been investigating the exploitation of undocumented workers near the Arizona border.[3] Heist explores the premise that Roosevelt's New Deal is being dismantled piecewise. It documents the aggressive push for free trade agreements such as the North American Free Trade Agreement as well as the deregulation of financial products as evidenced by the repeal of the Glass–Steagall Act and the passage of the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000.[2] Heist lays the blame for the crisis on the cozy relationship between politicians and corporations, citing the Reagan administration as well as the actions of Presidents Clinton and Obama.[4] The documentary ends with suggestions for how people might organize, including tactics employed by Occupy Wall Street. </blockquote>
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<a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/08/01/rule-by-sociopaths/">Morris Berman</a> reviewed it over at CounterPunch:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Beyond generating dialogue, Heist provides an alternative narrative to what’s been going on in this country since 1981. “Reaganomics,” or what we now call “neoliberalism,” is the philosophy that economic growth is the answer to all our problems, because as the rich make more money, some of that will supposedly “trickle down” to the rest of us. This has been the dominant narrative in this country for the last thirty years, and what Heist clearly demonstrates is that it’s nothing more than pure kaka. What actually happened under this narrative was that wealth got transferred upward; that the rich got richer and the poor got poorer; that virtually nothing “trickled down”; that unions were busted, public services gutted, American manufacturing crippled, the media collapsed into six major corporations and turned into corporate propaganda mouthpieces, and so on. In other words, Reagonomics gave us the America we have today, in which 1 out of every 5 of us is without work and without prospect of same for at least a decade, and in which 2 out of every 3 of us lives from paycheck to paycheck, hoping that some major accident won’t occur in our lives and put us underwater for good.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Heist is thus an exercise in counter-brainwashing: Reagan and his ilk, the Powell Memorandum and the so-called think tanks (read: propaganda machines) of the political Right (American Heritage Foundation, American Enterprise Institute, Cato Institute, etc.) all sold us a bill of goods, stole the American Dream out from under us, and we need to recognize that we’ve been economically and intellectually fleeced. Unless we can debunk the dominant narrative, and realize what really went down since 1981, we will not be able to take back the American Dream—which Causey and Goldmacher define as everyone getting a fair share of the economic pie.</blockquote>
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Yeah…, if Piketty thinks that diagnosing the intricacies of economic theory and coming up with a simple solution of “taxing away” the wealth of the plutocrats and oligarchs that have spent the last 40 years securing the legal and political means of acquiring and keeping that wealth…, well…, he’s just dreaming. And I am not sure Krugman has woken up since I called him, "Kick the Can Krugman” here at The Agonist five or six years ago. We need nothing short of wholesale Senate and House cleaning and meaningful campaign finance reform to just begin to undo the damage already done. Who knows what it will take to repair the coming damage.<br />
<br />
A few comments from <a href="https://www.joebageant.com/%E2%80%9C">Joe Bageant</a> ought to fit in well here:<br />
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Yes, it looks big time from the cheap seats. But the truth is that when we are looking at the political elite, we are looking at the dancing monkey, not the organ grinder who calls the tune. Washington's political class is about as upwardly removed from ordinary citizens as the ruling class is from the political class. For instance, they do not work for a living in the normal sense of a job, but rather obtain their income from abstractions such as investment and law, neither of which ever gave anybody a hernia or carpal tunnel. By comparison, the ruling class does not work at all.</blockquote>
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Yessiree, it was gonna be a "systemic collapse," by god, and if you needed proof, just look at the way both George Bush and Barack Obama agreed that some American corporations were too big to let sink, therefore it was time for the public to start bailing out the boat. Meanwhile, the royal economists were unanimous in that this "rescue" was going to require another 10 trillion bucks somewhere down the pike -- a very short pike. So it must all be damned serious and we gotta do this thing. Right folks?</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
In an unusual display of common sense, the American public said "Bullshit," by margins of three or four to one, depending upon region. That did not bother political and economic elites much. What the fuck do the proles know anyway?</blockquote>
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No…, there is no magic bullet economic theory…, not even 700 pages of it…, that will cure our ills. But I will say…, I am glad that Piketty’s book is bringing attention to the problem and am glad that Krugman is helping spread the word…, however misguided their solutions are. I hope Krugman is finally…, at least starting…, to “get it”.Scott R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17353655165012542492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4473278163835308551.post-91073870878731365882014-04-19T19:35:00.000-07:002014-04-19T19:35:12.424-07:00Complete List of All Stories<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Just over to the right here..., I have added a link to a "Complete List of Stories". <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;">This page is mostly for me. Searching for stories when I don't remember when I wrote them is somewhat tedious..., at the least..., on the home page. So now I can search for titles here and know just what year and month to click on to find them. And now you do too, if you have a favorite old story you would like to read again..., at least I hope there some you would like to read again :)</span></span>Scott R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17353655165012542492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4473278163835308551.post-257851588811620102014-04-18T11:35:00.000-07:002016-10-02T09:58:58.303-07:00Birthday Eve Ruminations<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLLuMCcj_l7tRudFi8xF_qBUCTGMJVFSAq0-hpiH7-19qdrzbLufYnZpKNrqt4aJNQRznQ_peTjZS3ZI5yl8jysZOIvb7R87cMdxOi1qjeOy0DXpBBcbPMiGB5-rl33CQT3d55Zsarlp_A/s1600/P1000880.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLLuMCcj_l7tRudFi8xF_qBUCTGMJVFSAq0-hpiH7-19qdrzbLufYnZpKNrqt4aJNQRznQ_peTjZS3ZI5yl8jysZOIvb7R87cMdxOi1qjeOy0DXpBBcbPMiGB5-rl33CQT3d55Zsarlp_A/s1600/P1000880.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Clearwater River looking down<br />
on the Greer Bridge</td></tr>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Well…, I was going to say that I have now put my sixty-second winter safely behind me. But after the winters that most of the folks east of me suffered through in the winter of ’13-’14…, I won’t be making any rash weather predictions. Monumental snow and cold in the mid-west and northeast…, drought in California and Texas, hurricanes and floods, disappearing glaciers and the arctic ice pack. There are still a good many politicians that are climate change deniers…, but nobody with a lick of sense or smidgen of self-respect will try to deny that what we have been doing…, and are continuing to do…, to this poor old planet is causing anything but great damage. And there are some well-respected and credentialed folks like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Hansen">James Hanson</a> and <a href="http://scottrthequillayutecowboy.blogspot.com/2011/11/walking-away-from-empire.html">Guy R. McPherson</a> who say that what he have already done has pushed us past the tipping point of being able to do anything about stopping runaway climate change in the not so distant future. </span></b></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">So I will try to drown that sobering thought with a few more ice cold Hamm’s as I wait for midnight to officially put my sixty-second year behind me…, and listen to a great song from <a href="http://scottrthequillayutecowboy.blogspot.com/2011/01/father-time_14.html">Tom Russell</a> that brings back a lot of old memories.</span></b></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“Ain’t no more cane on the Brazos,</span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">It’s all been ground down to molasses “</span></i></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I always wondered what the little opening refrain of the song was all about…, so I Googled it up when I started writing this. Wiki says that it is an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ain't_No_More_Cane">old traditional song</a> that was sung by prisoners on the Texas chain gangs. I would have a hard time defining irony for you…, but I recognize it when it slaps me in the face.</span></b></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Saw a red iron sunset, from a rust iron bridge</span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">In the Indian country, of the Mockingbird Kid.</span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Saw the moon in box car, being carried as freight</span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Through sixty-two winters, through forty-eight states</span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">In an old Chinese graveyard, I slept in the weeds</span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">When a song and a story, was all a kid needs.</span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Yeah, the rhymes and the rattles, of those runaway trains</span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">And the songs of the cowboys, and the sound of the rain.</span></i></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Yeah…, I’ve seen some spectacular sunsets. From Alaska to Mexico to Virginia…, and from many points inside that devil’s triangle. They don’t get any better than the ones viewed from the bluffs overlooking Lower Ford’s Creek and the Clearwater Valley in Idaho though. I’ve crossed at lot of bridges over the years…, and hope that I haven’t burned any behind me. I tried Googling up The Mockingbird Kid, with no success…, I guess he wasn’t as notable a character as Chief Joseph of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nez_Perce_people">Nez Perce tribe</a> that roamed the country…, both west to Oregon-Washington and east to Montana…, of the area of Idaho that I grew up in. I never rode on a train…, but if I ever do…, I hope it is in a box car on a full moon lit night. Oh…, I might settle for a <a href="http://www.rootsontherails.com/2012-trips-portland-rose">Tom Russell Songwriters Train ride</a>…, I guess. So…, as I put this sixty-two years behind me and start working on sixty-three, I know that there are still a lot of those forty-eight states that I haven’t seen…, but I don’t know if I would rather see some new ones…, or see some old haunts again. I’ve never slept in an old Chinese graveyard…, but I have rolled an old sleeping bag out in some pretty strange places…, and have scared myself walking around in the dark near the old <a href="http://www.noplaceproject.com/idaho/pierce.html">Chinese Hanging Tree</a> historical site outside of Pierce. Yeah…, it’s all about the songs and the stories, the rhyme and the rattle…, and the sound of the rain. Sometimes in <a href="http://scottrthequillayutecowboy.blogspot.com/2010/06/saddle-barn.html">The Saddle Bar(n)</a> I will get up and turn the stereo down low to hear the sound of the rain on the tin roof…, and sometimes I don’t have to turn the stereo down to hear it here on the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic_Peninsula">Olympic Peninsula.</a></span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Chorus</span></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">And it’s Momma I miss you, I woke up and screamed</span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">These American rivers, they roll deep through my dreams.</span></i></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Colorado, Allegheny, Shenandoah, </i><i>Susquehaynee</i></span></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">And the Wabash, and the Hudson and the brave Rio Grande</span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I was a kid there, asleep in the sand, near your waters.</span></i></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">No…, I don’t dream of my <a href="http://scottrthequillayutecowboy.blogspot.com/2013/05/my-mom.html">Mom</a>…, but I do miss her. Before my Aunt Ethel passed on, she assured me that Mom had made a peaceful entry to the other side…, because she didn’t dream about Mom either. Me and the <a href="http://scottrthequillayutecowboy.blogspot.com/2010/05/that-good-lookin-al-spence.html">Old Man</a>, on the other hand…, must still have some rivers yet to cross before he finds his peace. Or is it mine? We always find something to argue about in my dreams. I have seen and crossed many of the rivers in the song…, and still have a vow to uphold that I will go back and explore more of the mighty Colorado and its awe inspiring Grand Canyon. They tell me that you can rent a mule and ride the trail down to the bottom of the canyon and back…, that’s a ride I would like to take some day…, if they will let me use one of my <a href="http://scottrthequillayutecowboy.blogspot.com/2011/05/george-lawrence-saddle-collection.html">George Lawrence saddles.</a> And down at the river I will spool out that old bedroll and sleep in the sand near its waters.</span></b></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">We named them for Indians, our guilt to forsake</span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The Delaware the Blackfoot, the Flathead the Snake.</span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Now they flow past casinos, and old hamburger stands</span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">They are waving farewell to the kid on the land.</span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">With their jig-sawed old arteries, all clogged and defiled</span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">No open heart miracle, is gonna turn ‘em back wild.</span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Past towns gone to bankers, past fields gone to seed</span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">All cut up and carved out, so divided by greed.</span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">And old grandfather catfish, with his whiskers so long</span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">And his life in a struggle, cause the oxygen’s gone.</span></i></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><b>Yeah…, there is a whole lot of guilt to forsake. The story of what we did to the Indians during the westward expansion of the American Empire is a tragedy of epic proportions. I always thought that the river of my youth…, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clearwater_River_(Idaho)">Clearwater River</a>…, should have been named for the Nez Perce. They were the tribe that Lewis & Clark met when they stumbled out of the Bitterroot Mountains onto the Weippe Prairie in the late fall of 1804, cold, shivering, and nearly starved to death. Those Indians fed and sheltered the strange white men and helped The Corp of Discovery build canoes to float down the Clearwater to the Snake and the Columbia to the Pacific Ocean. The Nez Perce took care of the herd of horses the explorers left with them through the winter…, and returned every one the next year when The Corp made it back from the coast. There are no Indian tribes that are spoken more highly of in the journals of Lewis and Clark than the Nez Perce. There is the town of Nez Perce nearby…, but they deserve a river named after them. And yes…, there are a couple of casinos belonging to the tribe along the Clearwater now.</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><b>The story of what we are doing to our planet and its environment..., that is now evident to anyone willing to open their eyes and is a proven scientific fact to anyone but the diehard deniers…, is likely to make the aforementioned tragedy look like a romantic comedy in comparison to what Hanson and <a href="http://guymcpherson.com/2014/04/crystallizing/">McPherson</a> are predicting. They aren’t talking about a race or an ethnic group being nearly exterminated…, they are talking about human species survival. There may be room for debate about the survival of our species…, but there should be no debate about the fact that we should be acting in an aggressive manner to curtail the burning of fossil fuels to the point where it is physically painful. It was around eighty years ago that it must have looked like the end of the world to the folks anywhere near the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dust_Bowl">Dust Bowl.</a> It was brought about by poor farming practices…, and it took a massive effort to overcome and correct the damage done…, but it was accomplished. Back forty years ago or so we got serious about clean air and clean water…, after the </b><span style="color: black;"><b>Cuyahoga River caught on fire and acid rain was creating havoc in the industrial mid-west. Back then the Big Business Men, Banksteers, and the politicians in their pockets, yapped and howled like a pack of coyotes that the added expense of clean air and water regulation would bankrupt industry and be the downfall of the nation’s economic prowess. Just like they are doing today. You damn right it hurt. But it didn’t kill us. What will kill us…, is doing nothing. Yeah…, a lot of people lost a lot of dirty jobs. The Chinese are choking on them now over in Beijing. Yeah…, it’s not just an American problem any longer. This old Mother Earth can’t take much more. Some say she can’t take what we’ve already given her. As Guy R. McPherson says, “Nature Bats Last.” Well…, old Mother Nature has shown me that she’s a clutch hitter when we back her up. She laid off the dust storms when we started treating her right…, and she quit pelting us with acid rain when we showed her a little kindness. Who can say for sure that if we scratch out a couple of hits and get a couple of runners in scoring position…, ole Mother Nature won’t clear the bases with a mighty swing of the bat. Even if it is just a futile gesture…, I think we owe it to her to at least try…, out of respect and in gratitude for what she’s already given us. Things like the Crooked Fork and White Sands Creeks that flow out of the mountains along the Idaho-Montana border to form the Lochsa…, that is later joined by the Selway to form the Clearwater…, that is itself jointed by its own South and North Forks...., until the mighty river empties into the great Snake before it leaves Idaho.</b></span></span></div>
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Those Idaho rivers still flow through my dreams.</span></b><br />
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">And it’s Momma I miss you, I woke up and screamed</span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">These American rivers, they’ve poisoned my dreams.</span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Colorado, Allegheny, Shenandoah, Susquehaynee</span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">And the Wabash, and the Hudson and the brave Rio Grande</span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I was a kid there, I was asleep in the sand, near your waters.</span></i></div>
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Scott R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17353655165012542492noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4473278163835308551.post-2964611606155646352013-11-27T20:13:00.000-08:002023-12-09T15:38:33.127-08:00Dave McIntosh<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Born on 6-19-56<br />
Passed 11-22-13</td></tr>
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The last few years I have been doing a bit more than my share of bitching about getting old. But last weekend after I completed the chores and was feeling ever older, I had a few cold beers in The Saddle Bar(n) and I started feeling a little frisky and particularly witty…, so I thought I better go into the house, log on to Facebook and have a little fun. Yeah…, I thought I had a couple of good one-liners to post up and hope for a few “likes”. Then I saw that an old friend, Dave McIntosh, who was four years younger than me…, wasn’t going to get any older. The only words I could muster to another dear friend and his partner of 20 plus years were, “Oh my gosh Ellen…, oh my gosh…”. And it still isn’t easy coming up with any words.<br />
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We called him “Snake” when he was a high school freshman playing basketball. A little on the skinny side, mostly knees and elbows, but lightning quick, and sneaky too. In the later years after high school, he put on a little weight and was a big, raw boned, lanky, fireball throwing fast pitch softball pitcher. Unfortunately for our Fraser Hippie ball team…, he played for the Timber Inn from Pierce. I’m sure it is a result of my old age and the Alzheimer’s that I can’t recall for you all the hits I used to get off him!!! Yeah…, Dave would get a laugh out of that one, for reasons I swear..., I can’t recall. But he was easy to get a laugh out of. In fact he was always laughing…, well…, almost always. . I do remember that one game when he was just learning to pitch…, and having a little bit of a control problem. Of course our team was getting on him about it and he started getting a little frustrated, and like sharks smelling blood…, we laid it on. You could see that he was getting mad…., and my cousin Jimmy started calling him “Mad Mac”. Dave pretty much lost it there on the mound and said, “I’ll see you after the game Spencey!”…, and that wasn’t all he said. When he gets up near those pearly gates on that field of dreams he is on his way to…, he’s gonna have some explaining to do about his language that day. But after the game, he laughed it off…, and we were all real relieved. Yeah…, he was always trying to make a joke out of everything. He was always the life of the party…, though he wasn’t trying to be…, he was just trying to make sure that everyone was enjoying themselves as much as he was. None did…, but it wasn’t for his lack of effort to make it so.<br />
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I never had the pleasure of working on the same logging crew with Dave…, but I have no doubt that all the glowing reports of his abilities, efforts and ethics that I heard from others in the business were true. I can attest to the fact that he could be Johnnie on the spot and keep his cool in a pressure situation though. I mentioned his role when I wrecked the crummy in the Robert Earl Keen story and video…, and Jimmy’s wife Debbie let me know that was only half the story. Dave had to drive Jimmy and I on home that night. I cropped out the missing finger on John Thompson’s left hand in the photo above…, Dave and another friend just happened to be on their way to Orofino when they happened upon the accident that resulted in the loss of that finger. He got us to the hospital and a scene there that we needn’t describe here. We got to have a good laugh about that one when I got to see him and John this summer out on the North Fork.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQl4W_Hyn0jSsi9FGsKVqtTghJE4HY-eIDCkb60iyqcAR6SkpAkNFB6B64dPL9_OG15qlv51ORi8uMIqg39W0q7v-fnL50arJUPwSm8Gi35GlK29TBEgQu5HBHfnw__oGn09N5pKKzukoP/s1600/193323_201094993245198_7632262_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQl4W_Hyn0jSsi9FGsKVqtTghJE4HY-eIDCkb60iyqcAR6SkpAkNFB6B64dPL9_OG15qlv51ORi8uMIqg39W0q7v-fnL50arJUPwSm8Gi35GlK29TBEgQu5HBHfnw__oGn09N5pKKzukoP/s320/193323_201094993245198_7632262_o.jpg" width="320" /></a>Dave wasn’t a singer or musician like the fellow in this Eagles song…, but he was certainly an entertainer who touched a lot of hearts. So, this one’s for you Dave…, and for you too Ellenor.<br />
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Scott R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17353655165012542492noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4473278163835308551.post-88359048233998143112013-10-20T13:32:00.000-07:002013-10-20T13:32:35.958-07:00One More Mountain To Climb..., One More River To Run <br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">While putting together the “Tribute to Julie” video I went through a lot of old pictures from back in my “running days”..., and was reminded of my feeble attempt to write some song lyrics one night at our hunting camp at Weitas Meadows. If I had met Julie around that period of my life I would probably have been writing it for her. The truth of the matter is..., I was wishing I had a girlfriend to write it for. If I had known her then my life would probably have been a lot different. Anyway..., here are the lyrics and some old pictures.</span></div>
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<b>One More Mountain To Climb..., One More River To Run </b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNlbMewyAleqzPWz_JlEFTms-91hpyeoxZZBYITeUrgiUtQU4RvbSPwvGJKWxJZnmH7i5Zn_3xU5jlThGfxwW0E03pjGIlIaFgX6dzqgoneq26wVm1tvoFn5dJaHQz-Upz_N8KNYolHRsd/s1600/P1000954.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNlbMewyAleqzPWz_JlEFTms-91hpyeoxZZBYITeUrgiUtQU4RvbSPwvGJKWxJZnmH7i5Zn_3xU5jlThGfxwW0E03pjGIlIaFgX6dzqgoneq26wVm1tvoFn5dJaHQz-Upz_N8KNYolHRsd/s200/P1000954.JPG" width="200" /></a><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Raindrops are fallin' on this old canvas tent</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Are you still wonderin' just where it was I went?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Huntin' season’s almost over, tomorrow there’ll be snow</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I’m sittin’ here sippin' whiskey, wonderin' where to go?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Maybe I’ll head south, just followin’ the sun</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Hope you’ll forgive me someday, for what it was I done.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">There’s just one more mountain to climb, one more river to run</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I’ll be back to get you babe, when I find that shinin' sun.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">But I can’t be happy with you, until I’m satisfied with me</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNefXNt-YhZayvFbgCRZSwipJhlFOSNLq5DT86m9KvEFrd92AWjSAE9E9T0ZgVecg2ZVvv-iylBVPJ-NOPKwGMGHbEm9w_er5BLeUj7g1xrUoIDQdw-FxAmGL185xf77SIpLVuZvU2fDxN/s1600/P1000952.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="135" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNefXNt-YhZayvFbgCRZSwipJhlFOSNLq5DT86m9KvEFrd92AWjSAE9E9T0ZgVecg2ZVvv-iylBVPJ-NOPKwGMGHbEm9w_er5BLeUj7g1xrUoIDQdw-FxAmGL185xf77SIpLVuZvU2fDxN/s200/P1000952.JPG" width="200" /></a><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I’ll be back to get you someday, just you wait and see.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Guess I should have stayed that mornin’, just to say goodbye</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">But knew I couldn’t leave, if I had to watch you cry.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Remember almost drownin' in the rapids, below that rocky point?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We laughed about it later, as we passed around a joint</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">But that night as I held you, by the dyin' campfire light</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I could feel you holdin' on just a little bit too tight.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">There’s just one more mountain to climb, one more river to run</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQwGJgTaFH4YB5IJIaZACeBOUNbb8UWO_eVd23mdLGBp0lq9YLmmgYr7fx2OXifZPFTwZyx182a7VEBDFoYAH290CtM-2NH9AyCQdaOyZsKgc9fCiKVrw_CEMJv467lE6vUJSQhMNh7OdD/s1600/P1000961.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="117" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQwGJgTaFH4YB5IJIaZACeBOUNbb8UWO_eVd23mdLGBp0lq9YLmmgYr7fx2OXifZPFTwZyx182a7VEBDFoYAH290CtM-2NH9AyCQdaOyZsKgc9fCiKVrw_CEMJv467lE6vUJSQhMNh7OdD/s200/P1000961.JPG" width="200" /></a><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I’ll be back to get you babe, when I find that shinin' sun.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">But I can’t be happy with you, until I’m satisfied with me</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I’ll be back to get you someday, just you wait and see.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The horses are gettin' restless, guess it’s time to hit the trail</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Next hunter headed out, I’ll have him drop this letter in the mail.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Can’t say that I would blame you, if you hate me now</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-rIs9ryWsooqAq7Vf54H4vEZxAMEsARROXTPvD21jfXQ74gTFfFsWbSF3VBIk5OSpxuOHSkalgsvKdD7P1kdjHQjYX1gKb51Z8bhPWUrUxrIg6DKTRWO5_j1MN98y13oDAWOGfiDRECRw/s1600/P1000960.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="138" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-rIs9ryWsooqAq7Vf54H4vEZxAMEsARROXTPvD21jfXQ74gTFfFsWbSF3VBIk5OSpxuOHSkalgsvKdD7P1kdjHQjYX1gKb51Z8bhPWUrUxrIg6DKTRWO5_j1MN98y13oDAWOGfiDRECRw/s200/P1000960.JPG" width="200" /></a><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">But if you can hold on a little longer, I swear I’ll make it up somehow.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">And I was lyin' just a little, in that line about goodbye</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The truth is babe, I didn’t want you to see the teardrops in my eye.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">There’s just one more mountain to climb, one more river to run</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I’ll be back to get you babe, when I find that shinin' sun.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">But I can’t be happy with you, until I’m satisfied with me</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I’ll be back to get you someday, hope you’re still waitin' there for me.</span></div>
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Scott R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17353655165012542492noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4473278163835308551.post-54705639780569610822013-10-13T11:01:00.001-07:002013-10-14T06:00:40.283-07:00A Tribute to Julie<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/YVz-r3S9dY8" width="420"></iframe><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is one of my favorite <a href="http://scottrthequillayutecowboy.blogspot.com/2011/01/father-time_14.html">Tom Russell</a> songs. I don't know why it wasn't included on his "Anthology" double CD set. It is off his "Box of Visions" album..., and from the first time I heard <i>Heart of Hearts</i> it had special meaning to me. I had been single all my life, always on the run, until Julie and I got together in 1987 when I was 35 years old. I've written about Julie and our life together in a couple of pieces here on the blog..., <a href="http://scottrthequillayutecowboy.blogspot.com/2010/07/40-year-class-reunion.html">40 Year Class Reunion</a> and <a href="http://scottrthequillayutecowboy.blogspot.com/2010/09/my-wife-julie.html">My Wife..., Julie</a>..., and you can get a taste of what my life was like before we got together in <a href="http://scottrthequillayutecowboy.blogspot.com/2013/07/robert-earl-keen.html">Robert Earl Keen</a>.</span><br />
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The photographs of dubious quality are a result of trying to take pictures of old photos with a digital camera. The first half of the pictures range from Missoula, MT, to Orofino and Weippe, ID, Glacier National Park, on a sailboat on Priest Lake in Idaho and rafting on the North Fork of the Clearwater River. I hope that they demonstrate that I had, "... always been the running kind," as Tom says in the song. It wasn't that I stopped all that running when Julie and I hooked up..., but I had the best running partner I ever had. The pictures of Julie were taken around Forks, WA and our nearby ranch on the Quillayute Prairie and on Prince of Wales Island in Alaska where we spent a few seasons in a logging camp at Labouchere Bay.</span><br />
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I hope you enjoy viewing and listening to this as much as I have enjoyed putting it together.</span>Scott R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17353655165012542492noreply@blogger.com3