A Good Buzz

Back in the old daze..., a good buzz meant something entirely different than it does here on The Ranch today..., or yesterday to be precise.

It was still early..., that’s before noon..., now days.  The temperature was already approaching 60 degrees and the weather man had promised mid-seventies for a daytime high.  The preceding week hadn’t been hot..., but it had been dry and The Barnyard was dry enough to get a two wheel drive pickup up to The Barn with a load of hay.  The little two horse barn won’t hold enough hay to feed three horses, so we have to replenish the supply when the weather cooperates..., or we will be lugging bales by hand through a muddy mess.

Thee Game

 Standing: Robert Brown, Joe Henson, Jerry Johnstun, Terry Durham, Mike Green, Don Judd, Asst. Coach Fred Durham, Head Coach Elmer Wessels

Kneeling:  Kirk Gangewer, Dennis Hesler, Tom Wyatt, Dave Daniels, Scott Spence, Ken Wilson, Mike Estes

March Madness and the college basketball season are behind us now…, and if there were any real memorable moments…, I missed them.  But I didn’t watch many games this year.  Never was a big fan…, I usually don’t pay much attention until the NCAA tournament starts.  This year I didn’t watch any games until the Final Four.  So I missed seeing one of those, “It’s all over now…, no…, wait…, it‘s a miracle comeback in the final seconds…, unbelievable!”  Those are the exciting moments you long for when you really have no interest in who wins or loses.  It can become memorable if a sentimental favorite team pulls it off and you experience it from in front of the TV.  But it becomes an indelible memory if you have a front row seat at the game.  If you were a high school junior sitting on the bench watching your teammates pull off one of those miracle finishes to secure the District Championship and vault you into the State Tournament…, it becomes something more like myth or legend.  I know…, I was that kid in 1969.  It was Thee Game.

CRUSHED !!!!!

I was on a high last weekend that I haven’t experienced since the Hippie Days..., oh so many years ago.  These days..., with a 60 year old birthday looming just two months away..., those bouts of inspiration still happen..., occasionally.  Usually after the chores are done and the sweat has been replenished with a few ice cold beers in The Saddle Bar(n).  And such was the case last weekend.

I was listening to Tom Russell singing, “Bucking Horse Moon"

Down a one lane road there’s a dusty fairground 

Where I learned the bronc trade..., I fell in love 

With a blue-eyed twister and her smokey whisper 

She said, “They call me the Cimarron Dove” 

We’d spool our bedrolls on down together 

My calloused hands combed through her hair 

She’d stare at a star through an old mesquite tree 

“See that moon shadow, there’s a bucking horse there” 

Sweet bird of youth, no easy keeper 

Flown with the seasons all too soon 

Beneath Montana’s blue roan skies 

Nevada starlight and a bucking horse moon.

Thanks For The Liberty Mr. Roberts..., Thanks For Everything

Oh yeah..., there are lines from movies and passages from books that stick with you.  The Agonist is one of those that have passed the test of time..., and will endure..., thanks to the foundation you have laid Sean-Paul.  Many thanks partner..., many, many thanks.

“It’s been a wild ride.”  Oh yeah..., to say the least.  I “found” The Agonist while my wife Julie and I were living in the Dial-Up Dark Ages in a cracker box camper trailer here on what was then just The Property.  With no TV and the slow loading high profile, image and advertisement loaded web sites delivering anything but timely updates on the “war” news..., The Agonist was far and away the go to site for me.  And has been ever since then.  Even today with high speed Internet and satellite TV here on The Ranch.  It seems that the growth and development of your site and our Ranch have gone hand in hand over the years.  With a bruised thumb or two along the way.  The hammer didn’t always hit the nail, but those pains were short lived.  But I understand your frustrations and motivations.  As the building and development stagnates..., and you are left with just the day to day maintenance..., you feel that you are missing something and need a change of pace to get those old juices of inspiration flowing again.

I “lurked” here for many years before I signed on as a “user” when you posted Second Chances? over four and a half years ago.  It took me over a year from that time..., and a very disturbing experience..., to work up the gumption to post a Diary entry of my own, I Had A Dream.  I don’t have the words to describe the feeling I got when it was elevated to the Front Page.  That move inspired me to send the piece about the Border Patrol Checkpoints to my congressional representatives and other government officials.  The good news is that I haven’t experienced any more bus boardings by thugs in uniform.  The bad news is that it inspired me to become a regular “ab-user” of The Agonist.

Oh yeah..., over 40 Diary entries..., and I am not going to try to count the number of comments.  Thanks for your indulgence..., and for elevating a few of the pieces to the Front Page..., it is still a thrill.  I read a lot of blogs but hardly ever bother to read comments..., and even rarer..., comment on them.  The users here are a rare breed indeed and it is a testament to your personal magnetism that we are all here.  If there is another site that attracts the likes of Don Henry Ford Jr., Numerian, Mauberly, Tina, Raja, Lex, JustPlainDave, Scotjen61, yogi-one, Celsius 233, chalo, Hong Pong, steeleweed, Bolo, Peter C..., I hope someone points it out to me.  Wow..., the list could go on..., and on.  I wish I could name all the contributors who help make The Agonist what it is..., and my apologies to those I had to leave off the list here.  This is quite a community that you have pulled together here Sean-Paul..., you should be very proud.  I know I am proud to consider myself to be a small part of it.

So..., I guess I will close where I started and paraphrase what I told you in my first comment here.  Never look back with regret at past decisions to move onward.  Look forward to the new experiences with much anticipation and enthusiasm.  We will all miss your continual presence of the past..., but will appreciate whatever sporadic posts you continue to contribute in the future.

Right on partner..., write on.

And..., thanks for the liberty Mr. Kelley..., thanks for everything.  

Walking Away From Empire

The financial news from Europe is worse every day.  Now (11/23/11) the most stable country in Euro-Land..., Germany, has no buyers for its bonds.  Maybe the Federal Reserve will save the world (again) and Bail Out Germany and the rest of the world’s banks and bond holders..., like they clandestinely did in 2008.  The Fed doesn’t have to buy American T-bonds with QE-2 anymore..., everyone is buying them up now.  Lots of money left to buy Euro-Bonds.  QE-3..., if they  don’t get caught.

I know one guy who hopes they don’t get away with it..., or hopes it fails..., if they do. He hopes the whole shebang comes falling down like the famous bridge in the children’s rhyme. He hopes..., or knows..., that the whole industrial economy of this fragile planet needs to come to a screeching halt in short order. The sooner the better for this Spaceship Earth that we call “ours”. It’s our only hope. He says that if we keep burning the fossil fuels that sustain our industrial economy at the present rate..., let alone at the rate at which it would take to “grow” the current economy enough too “rescue” us from fiscal and monetary collapse..., it would fuel world climate change and global warming to the extent of total extinction of most living species...., including our own.

Some nut-case doomer..., this guy..., you ask? No..., this guy..., is Guy R. McPherson. 

Blog Enhancements...,

or at least that is the intention.  We got two inches of rain yesterday..., so I spent a lot of time at the computer.  I finally mastered..., OK..., figured out..., how to insert hyperlinks into the body of a story..., sometimes.  Lots of frustration at times..., but I think it really is an enhancement.  For those of you..., like my brother Larry..., who is a heck of an equipment operator..., but not so much of a computer operator..., a hyperlink takes you to another web site that relates to the statement highlighted.  Like the phase "my brother Larry" is highlighted and if you hover the mouse over it and click on it..., it takes you to a picture of Larry on my Facebook site.  Hit the "back" button and it takes you back to the blog.  Anyway..., I have updated several of the stories I've posted with these hyperlinks..., like links to pictures of the people I profiled in The April Birthday's Party story.  Let me know if you like it or not.  I primarily wanted to link to the Clearwater Log Drive story by Charlie and Sandra McCollister that I mentioned in Shipping Our Jobs Overseas story..., and the idea sort of took over !!!!

Shipping Our Jobs Overseas

My dear, sweet Aunt Ethel sent me some old family photographs recently.  Of primary interest to me were the ones of my Granddad and his team of logging horses.  The photos date from some time in the 1930’s and they are a reminder of an era long gone.  There are few…, if any…, occupations in life that I could imagine as being more satisfying than working beside and behind horses all day and attending to their care and feeding in the evening after a hard and productive day’s work.  But I will never know that satisfaction…, because, “those jobs have been shipped overseas”.  Whoops…, excuse me…, it seems that I have read and heard that phrase so many times that it just pops out on its own.  And the image of Granddad sending his horses over to China so some low wage coolies could cut the timber and drive the team and save him a little money compared to a high paid American worker and lower his tax base as well, that is precisely the image a lot of folks want you to believe in. 

You Just Don't Get It..., Unless...,

..., you read David Michael Green.  Here's a link to the full story..., well worth the read.  I quoted a few snippets from the piece to lure you into clicking on the link.

http://www.regressiveantidote.net/Articles/All_The_Bad_News_Fit_To_Print.html

All the Bad News Fit to Print

Sometimes, when certain species (you know who you are) are too utterly daft to recognize the obvious, the Universe sees fit to scream it out in the form of big, bold block letters.
...
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.

You're Not Alone

Another selection from my friend..., Jackson.

Windmills On My Mind

Windmills windmills windmills, a photo by Sam Beebe / Ecotrust on Flickr.

I didn't take my camera..., and I would need many hundreds of photos to show the number of windmills we saw on the trip.

My brother Larry and I were on our way in his car to Newport, OR for the wedding of his son Bert.  Larry and I only see each other once a year at best, now that our parents are gone..., so the trip was a good excuse to spend some time together.  I flew from Forks, WA to Lewiston, ID and Larry met me there.  I saw some windmills from the plane..., and we were a few miles west of Pomeroy, WA when the giant sentinels began appearing.  Larry..., as always..., knew a bit about them and filled me in on what he knew.  We talked about them and marveled at what a huge undertaking the project must have been.  We had worked together on a big Bonneville Power line job back in the 80’s when we were partners in Spence Brothers Logging, so we weren’t just idling speculating.  Those big windmills  were impressive and intimidating..., but they did nothing to prepare us for the immensity of the scene in the Columbia River Gorge.  Hundreds upon hundreds of windmills..., mile after mile after mile of them.