south dakota 4-b

we had lunch at crazy horse and enjoyed looking through the museums and the gift shop (one of the best gift shops i've ever been in), then we drove down palmer gulch road toward the poet's cabin...

and enjoyed a lovely country road...


and prettily-colored aspens...


and, of course, bev doolittle beauty...


and then saw some interesting rocks which looked as if someone had taken a very sharp knife to them and made them into bite-size pieces ... for a giant.
 

south dakota 4-a

tuesday we got up and headed out into another beautiful day.

here is a preview of coming attractions -- can you tell what it is?


and who are they fooling with that sign? obviously the hill does NOT block the view (see above)...


but the view is far and away better from inside the crazy horse monument grounds. this shows the finished product in such a way that you can immediately see the results of the work in progress...


this is a picture of a picture (sorry about the flash) which shows the superimposed image...


doesn't it look like it will take them centuries to finish? it is a labor of love since they do not accept government funding of any sort. the person who started this endeavour was Korczak Ziolkowski who, with his wife Ruth and their 10 children, worked hard on their dream of a tribute to Crazy Horse and all Native Americans. when the children grew up, they were free to go or to stay and work on this huge project. today Korczak is dead but his wife, seven of the children, and a number of grandchildren continue to work on this enormous carving. there is even a webcam of the site.

south dakota 3-f

here is a traditional view of rushmore...


and this view shows the character of the surrounding rocks to give you an idea of what it may have looked like before they started blasting away...


do you see the maintenance men?


a parting shot...


after we left the memorial we went over a couple of miles to the tourist trap known as keystone. it's a fun place to ramble through and we had lunch there.

after keystone we took the beautiful little back road from keystone to hill city, crossing and re-crossing the 1880 train tracks a number of times (that gauge track is no longer in use today except for the special 1880 train which runs on these tracks. the train is based out of hill city). i love that drive.


after we got to hill city, we headed back down to our home base in custer, first making a stop at an old quartz quarry before the sun went behind the hills for the evening. M couldn't help it, she picked up another ton of rocks, and i even picked up a few myself -- it was fun! even though the quarry looked like it had been abandoned for quite awhile, it didn't look like it had the last time i'd seen it, way back whenever. looked bigger, like they had mined some rock. oh well, it was very neat to see it again and think about old times.

from there we went to the motel and made supper out of whatever appealed to us from our much-handled, very-wrinkled grocery bag. another satisfying end to a really fabulous day!

south dakota 3-e

after going through the clever tunnels, we crossed a series of pigtail bridges -- structures that have delighted and amazed me since i first saw them years ago!

this looks like a bridge which ends abruptly in the rock...


but, ha! if you approach from under the bridge (are you a troll?), you curve left and back around leading you up and across the bridge and into a tunnel!!! wheeeeee...


at this bridge, if you start in the center bottom of the picture, you proceed into a right turn under the bridge, continuing the right turn toward the right side of the picture, then onto the bridge which continues the turning across the center to the left side of the picture, and then off toward the right into the unknown in the back of the center of the picture. is that cool or what?!


a few minutes after you've passed all the delightful bridges, you get your first glimpse of mt. rushmore...

singing!

i forgot to post that My Younger Son went to an opera the other day! he and several friends got all dressed up and proceeded to enjoy mozart's La Finta Giardiniera, K.196. he said it was delightfully funny even though it was sung in italian and was 3.5 hours long -- he also mentioned that mozart had only been 18 when he wrote it. wow. definitely, wow.

go here for some behind-the-scenes commentary.

south dakota 3-d

we took the iron mountain road, with its great pigtail bridges, and went through a couple of tunnels on our way to mt rushmore. they were done back in the 1930's give or take 20+ years and are very clever.

here's the approach...


the entry...


and the tunnel view as you've been approaching and entering is this: mt rushmore!


this is another tunnel closer to the mountain...


cool, huh?! and nicely done!!! 

south dakota 3-c

different places along the way we saw wildlife.

pronghorn antelope have two white stripes on their throats and are the fastest mammals in north america -- top recorded speed was 61 mph (only a cheetah can run faster) -- however, they cannot really jump...


these donkeys didn't move the whole time we were there. mules in disguise?


we saw a stag...


and later a mom and offspring...


wild turkeys were in bunches all over the place. except for these two...

south dakota 3-b

i had to lighten the picture to show you the tunnel -- it's to the left of the woman's neck and a car is going through it -- you can just barely see trees through there...



then we continued on the needles highway and thought the rocks were neat...


and definitely looked like needles...


here's a quiet part of the drive...


M continued her rock collecting at the old mica mine...

south dakota 3-a

monday we drove over to the needles. aren't they neat?

do you see M?


you can't see it, but the road turns left into a tunnel...


just like their name...


and more of them...

south dakota 2

sunday we left the motel and drove under sunny skies through beautiful, beautiful spearfish canyon -- we couldn't have planned the trip any better because the scenery was gorgeous the whole time we were in the hills. we took the road down through teeny tiny rocheford and then past mystic. the mickelson trail is a fabulous thing for the hills to have and there were people riding their bicycles on it between rocheford and mystic. it even incorporates a train trestle -- wish the trail had been in place when we were spending all our vacations there, way back when.

we discovered to our dismay that the alpine inn in hill city is closed on sundays, so we had the lunch buffet, which actually turned out to be very good, at a little cafe in town. from there we headed on down to custer and proceeded to spend the next three days from our base at the rock creek inn. the room we had (one of the so-called duplexes) was HUGE and worked out just perfectly. they had some darling little cabins which would have been fun, but were a little pricey and not quite as spacious. we had supper at the elk canyon cafe and settled in for the evening. yes, there were a few pictures, but they didn't turn out real great so ... none again.

south dakota 1

our trip this year ended up being a little bit over 3,000 miles for me and a little bit under for M -- my drive down to and back from her place being the difference.

we got up early and left renton wa around 7am thursday, stopped at ellensburg wa for a latte (for M, not me) at a neat little shop which makes great lattes and gives you one of those little caffeine drops for free (which means nothing to me since i have no knowledge of that coffee game -- i prefer tea), then had lunch at mickey d's in ritzville wa, drove across idaho (that part of the drive, across idaho, took about an hour -- hahaha, it's so leetle...) and stopped for supper and beds at deer lodge, montana.

the restaurant where we ate supper has great food (we both had liver and onions) and is owned by the people who have the motel -- they're right next door to each other. it rained off and on throughout the day and there aren't any pictures.

the next morning (friday) it became windy, began raining in earnest, and continued being inclement all day long. we pulled into spearfish, at the north end of the hills, about 7 or 8 pm. we had been stopped for 45 minutes for construction about 20 miles from spearfish and figured oh well.

as it turned out, the universe was doing us a favor because when we got to the motel (we had not made any reservations) the guy at the desk said they had just had a cancellation and it was all that was available. thanks, universe! we had a late supper (rain still coming down in buckets) at perkins and decided we would spend the next day at the same place since we couldn't do a whole lot of sightseeing through the rain anyhow. still no pictures.

saturday we drove over to sturgis (M wanted to be able to say she'd been there) and looked around, then headed back to spearfish, and decided to have a late lunch at the latch string inn. it is a relatively new building -- definitely not the one i first saw in 1976. we then decided to catch a movie but arrived just in time to be an hour late, due to the time zone change. oh well, again, so we grabbed some food from the giant wal-mart, took it back to the motel, and lazed around reading and watching tv the rest of the evening. still no pictures.

yoda the nun

My Younger Son gets such a kick out of the Dooce blog and sent me this link to enjoy. here's a preview...



i looked for cc information but couldn't find any and hope that i'm not treading on toes to show her picture. all credit goes to dooce (pronounced deuce, like the card).

sand castles on the beach

my excellent sister-in-law, CA, sent these pictures to me to enjoy. i don't know where or when the sand castle competition took place, but it looks like a lovely location. there were more pictures, but these grabbed me because of their humor. let me know if you want me to e-mail you the whole set.

Dragon Eating Sand Castler...
i didn't realize it was a dangerous hobby!


The Arms Race...


hard to see, but the dogs ears are flappin'...


i don't know -- i just love it!
 

vignette

People aren’t dying when they’re supposed to. I mean, everybody knows that when you’re born, your die-date shows up faintly on your forehead. It stays visible for a couple of days, then fades away. And when you get old enough to talk you can recall what that date is so that everyone always knows when they’re going to die. How you’re going to meet your demise is the big unknown, but having the time to plan ahead for the end is comforting to everybody.

But something is a little off. Lately a few people haven’t died on schedule. It’s nerve-wracking when that happens, and sends people straight to the mental hospital. At first it was thought that the unfortunately still-alive victim had just somehow forgotten their die-date. But then it happened to a few more people, and then a few more, the most famous person to date being Mabel Morbly, the opera singer.

And that’s where I come in. The name’s Slazy. Jack Slazy, P.I., and before you start thinking you possess unusually clever insights, before you go saying something that might get you your own atypical end date, just remember -- I’ve heard it all before. So stop your clock and just listen.

Mabel Morbly, otherwise known as the Marvelous Morbly, was ... sorry ... is a very successful opera singer whose rise to fame and fortune has given her a comfortable and enjoyable life ... up ‘til now, anyway. She has, er, had three homes, traveled all over the world, and has fans up the wazoo.

Her die-date was scheduled for two weeks ago last Thursday, three months after she turned 62. She had fabulous good-bye parties, auctioned off her London house (giving the proceeds to charity), gave her Siam house to her lawyer, and left her Aspen condo to her housekeeper. Shorn of her earthly trappings, she went to bed in the evening of the appointed day.

And then she didn’t die!

It was devastating. She awoke, confused after having expected to be ceremoniously ushered into Heaven, instead finding her angry housekeeper insisting that the undertakers take her away since that was the schedule and the housekeeper had other things to do than put up with a snotty old bag who couldn’t die on time.

Morbly herself, morbidly ashamed at this turn of events, leapt hysterically from her bed, grabbed her unappreciative housekeeper and threw her out the third-story window, abruptly and effectively changing the housekeeper’s die-date.

Morbly is in an asylum, the condo is in probate, the lawyers are scratching their heads, and the bank wants me to see what I can find out. The President is insisting he wants some answers by the time he gets back from his vacation which gives us three months to figure out what is going on.

Since the FBI, CIA, and the Denver chapter of Die-Date Celebrations Inc. are all scurrying to figure out the situation, I am looking for answers in other places. My friend Snazzy’s girlfriend has a cousin whose neighbor knows a psychic who swears she knows what’s going on and I’m on my way now to talk with her. I don’t expect much, but hell, she might actually be able to explain it. I just wish it wasn't raining.

if you have money...

want to see a pretty $3,500,000 house? go to http://www.windermere.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Listing.ListingDetail&ListingID=7150471 and click on the photo gallery to look at the neat pictures.

if that web address doesn't work, go to http://www.windermere.com/ and insert the mls #26078359.

nice to look at but i'd hate to be the one who had to keep up with the dusting.

the restaurant

have i been remiss in sharing the fullness of my life? let me remedy that.

our neighbor across the street (not the strange canadian and her drum-beating delinquent wanna-be from next door) is a sweet-natured, good-hearted, gospel-loving, half-cherokee, half-black gal from atlanta via hawaii. she had a restaurant in atlanta that ended up making her and her first husband an awful lot of money. they retired to hawaii (she's my age). he secretly invested their whole fortune in enron. things fell apart. they divorced, she ended up here with no money and no savings.

cutting out a lot of detail, she now has a tiny place in our small shopping center and doesn't have near the space she needs to be successful (which means a lot of catering and selling baked goods with the restaurant as a sideline). her second husband, of four months, decided he didn't want to be involved with her trying to expand and they split up.

enter my husband. she's still broke and trying to hang on, so hubby (who's been looking for a hobby ever since he retired almost three years ago) decided to volunteer at her place since she was struggling to do everything by herself. he has enjoyed that and has been instrumental in helping her get semi-control of her run-away situation. somehow i got involved in helping and became totally immersed, until my lymphedema up and said, "No more!"

i have spent the last eight days resting and willing my condition to get better. after all, i am not indispensable, plus i am still waiting to hear if i will make the interview stage of my application to the border patrol (as secretary, not gun-carrying agent).

so .... our involvement with 'the restaurant' is strictly as volunteers and hubby is very much enjoying himself (even if he does spend a lot of time shaking his head or complaining about things he sees). jean is a pleasure to be around, her accent is delightful, and her optimism is contagious. i don't know how long we'll be this involved in this endeavor, but in the meantime, what a ride!

circus comes to town

about an hour ago it started blowing like crazy. i heard an unexpected noise and investigated. our large grill -- black metal, curved lid, on legs with wheels, a shelf, large propane tank, about 30+ lbs, complete with large green plastic enveloping cover -- had been blown eastward onto its side and completely off our patio.....about a 12 inch drop.

i called hubby and he came home, righted the thing, disconnected the tank, and left it off the patio snugged up next to the house. he came in to talk a bit before heading back to the restaurant.

just as he was about to leave, i heard another noise and looked up to watch the grill sail across and off the patio to the west. i might not have believed it except that i watched it happen. up 12 inches, across the 10 feet of patio, and down the other 12 inches. amazing!

it is now in the garage.

dunderheads

"If current trends of overfishing and pollution continue, by 2050 the populations of just about all seafood face collapse, defined as 90 percent depletion, a team of ecologists and economists warns in a study published in Friday’s issue of the journal Science.

The National Fisheries Institute, a trade association for the seafood industry, does not share the researchers alarm." http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15532333/

stupidity takes all forms...

who's the enemy again???

good grief. republicans just can't stop making the wrong decisions. when will it end?

"The nation’s top intelligence official took down a government Web site with captured Saddam Hussein-era Iraqi documents, after questions were raised whether it provided too much information about making atomic bombs.

Pressed by Republican members of Congress, Negroponte’s office last March ordered the unprecedented release of millions of pages of Iraqi documents, most of them in Arabic, collected by the U.S. government over more than a decade.

Intelligence officials had objected at the time — but were overruled by President Bush." http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15540188/

mandala

i just went to hedonistica for the first time in awhile and found it has bitten the dust. the guy is apparently sort of melding with geekologie, although there's no provision for comments at this time.

mark that ballot

it's voting time again and here are some apropos quotes:

"In democracy it's your vote that counts...a great improvement over feudalism where your count votes." -Alan Joseph

"Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote." -George Jean Nathan

"The short memories of American voters is what keeps our politicians in office." -Will Rogers

"I never vote for anyone. I always vote against." -W. C. Fields

sounds

lately, groovera.com has been playing a group i really like -- Delerium. i don't usually care for any vocals, but this compilation has recordings with different females and i like every one that i've heard. count me surprised!

other groups that rank right up at the top include Bass 305, Chris Coco, Goldfrapp, Jeff Woodall, Jon Hopkins, and Yello. if you're in a cruising mood, enjoy!

oh yes

hubby and i felt like eating pumpkin pie yesterday, for some reason. so he went out and bought a marie callendar's pumpkin pie. it was GREAT! just the seasoning we like, and with whipped cream it was yums!!

curious

lately i've been preoccupied with the word 'wonky'.
i don't know why.

vignette

Retirement was turning out to be more work than she’d thought. They had finished their retirement counseling in good time, had all their financial solutions in place, and now they had about three months left to decide where they wanted to live before they were required to move.

Everyone followed the same procedure and the retirement move was reporteded to be easy, but she had begun to think that was just a PR campaign on the council’s part. The initial process was fairly straightforward: they would each make a list of all the places they had worked and rank them according to how they enjoyed, or got along with, their co-workers. Then they would compare their lists and cull out the places which had people they absolutely would not want to be around until, finally, they would have everything distilled down to a minimum number of groups to decide between. After they made a decision, they would move to that planet, asteroid, moon, wherever, and live in the retirement colony associated with the group they’d chosen. Simple.

Well, it was supposed to be simple. But they’d been working on their lists for several months and it was turning out to be harder than she thought. Hopefully she wouldn’t start second-guessing herself, because she finally had her list down to two entries: the first was the surveyor’s group she’d worked with on the Beta Asteroid dig; the second was the interspacial-living group she joined on Histon 5, after her marriage.

She hadn’t spoken to Pad about his list yet. They weren’t supposed to influence each other and he hadn’t given her any indication he’d made any headway. Like a lot of things in their marriage, they had calmly put off making any decision, figuring that something would come along and help them make up their minds, like it usually did. But the waiting list for working housing was long and the time was slipping by -- they really needed to make a decision.

“Pad, how are you coming on your retirement location list?”

Pad looked up from the article he was reading on the latest solar sail design. She could see his mind changing gears from technical to domestic as she patiently waited for his answer. “Well, I’ve got it down to two. I suppose it’s getting on time to talk about it; do you want to do it now?”

She sighed. “I think we need to decide and there’s really no use in putting it off. The moderator asked me yesterday where we were going to move to, and you know that once they start asking, you better be ready to go.”

Lacy walked off to get her list as Pad thought about the move. He felt awful about deceiving her, but he’d been sworn to secrecy. He wasn’t really retired, wasn’t sure he’d ever be allowed to retire, but had been told to go along with things so no one would get suspicious.

Once they moved he was going to share everything with her. They’d always had a close relationship and he wasn’t going to make keeping secrets a habit. Besides, the mess he’d been assigned to keep tabs on was going to cause so many problems, it would be easier for her if she didn’t know anything until later. He needed her calm and clear-thinking. She’d never been good for much when she worried about him, and this job was right up there on the stress-o-meter.

She walked back into the courtyard with her list and sat beside him. The suns were setting, the evening birds were singing, and the night flowers were starting to open. “Pad,” she said softly, “I don’t think I want to be retired.”

“Aw, Lacy,” he said, putting his arm around her and drawing her close, “Things are going to be all right. We’ll find something interesting to do.”

watch out

uh, oh -- be careful what kind of cold virus you get:

"Infection of the central nervous system by the common cold and other viruses may lead to memory loss late in life, Mayo Clinic researchers report. 'Our study suggests that virus-induced memory loss could accumulate over the lifetime of an individual and eventually lead to clinical cognitive memory deficits,' neuroscientist Charles L. Howe, corresponding study author, said in a prepared statement. In studies with mice, his team found that a nervous system infection linked to a pathogen called picornavirus could have a permanent effect on memory. The findings are published in the November issue of the journal Neurobiology of Disease." http://health.msn.com/guides/coldandflu/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100147597&GT1=8618

that's it. i'm not having anything else to do with those guys! hahahaha...

online radio

my favorite internet listening station, Groovera >>Low Mercury<< (previously OverXposure) has been having troubles lately. they've added servers, changed isp's, whatever, and it has caused them (and the listeners) no end of grief. the latest error message just presented itself:



can you read it? it says, "yep". hahahaha... yeah, they're still my favorite thing to listen to.

nice wine

hubby and i are definitely NOT wine connoisseurs -- we tend to prefer wine that doesn't have tannins and which is related to colored water. it's probably not quite that bad, but close. anyhow, we found a wine earlier this week that we think is pretty good: Beringer's White Merlot. it was light and smooth without causing us distress. if you have similar preferences, you will probably enjoy it, too.

foreign travel

traveling to neighboring countries? i just saw this blurb this morning:

"Last week, President Bush signed an amendment to the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative that delays the requirement that all U.S. travelers to Canada, Mexico and most Caribbean countries have a passport beginning Jan. 8, 2007. Under the revised regulations, only air travelers will need to hold a passport by that date; cruise travelers and those crossing by land will not be required to show a passport until June 1, 2009." http://travel.msn.com/Guides/article.aspx?cp-documentid=375729&GT1=8709

so i went to the government website to confirm and here's what's officially said:

"On January 8, 2007, ALL persons, including U.S. citizens, traveling by air between the United States and Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean, and Bermuda will be required to present a valid passport, Air NEXUS card, or U.S. Coast Guard Merchant Mariner Document.

As early as January 1, 2008, ALL persons, including U.S. citizens, traveling between the U.S. and Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean, and Bermuda by land or sea (including ferries), may be required to present a valid passport or other documents as determined by the Department of Homeland Security. While recent legislative changes permit a later deadline, the Departments of State and Homeland Security are working to meet all requirements as soon as possible. Ample advance notice will be provided to enable the public to obtain passports or passport cards for land/sea entries." http://travel.state.gov/travel/cbpmc/cbpmc_2223.html

(i added green color for emphasis.) i think i will follow the official version.

such is life

my lymphedema is acting up again. i've been going along just fine for weeks, working at the restaurant and helping get the new one ready to go -- but today, wham! my left hand was hurting, then it started puffing up and now i'm not going to be able to do any work for at least the next 4 days. i really don't have time to slow down my chores, but i guess the universe thinks otherwise. dangit. oh well.

here's a pumpkin carving exercise for you to enjoy!

i can't stand paris

of course, no reasonable person can stand paris hilton -- the immature, uncultured, snotty slut of hollywood.

but this entry is about the country. daughter-in-law just got back from scotland/paris and said she loves the city but that the people are incredibly rude and apathetic toward foreigners. just now i read an article which said that japanese visitors to paris can suffer such mental anguish over the reality of parisians vs their before-paris perceptions, that it can cause them to need psychological treatment.

i can't recall what it was that led to my disgust of paris, but i've had it since high school and it's been reinforced in the ensuing years. in the interest of kindness it's unreasonable to think that parisians have no redeeming qualities; in the interest of reality, i don't think i've ever heard anyone rave about them, their manners, or their concern for the brotherhood of man.

if i ever take a trip to europe, i'll visit scotland, wales, england, and... uh... hmmm... well, i guess that's it.

true crime -- small town beat

October 14: A woman reported the violation of a “no contact” order by a former acquaintance. Officers investigated, located the offender, and arrested the 39-year-old resident for the order violation as well as a county warrant for DUI and reckless driving.

October 14: Officers investigated a report of an intoxicated erratic driver. They found out the motorist was indeed affected by drink. It’s surprising how distracting non-alcoholic refreshments can be when they spill in your lap.

October 14: An officer on patrol located a traffic collision. He investigated and arrested the 31-year old driver for driving under the influence of alcohol and having no valid driver’s license, and for providing a false name to officers. The arrestee was processed and released as there was no room to book him into jail. His vehicle was impounded. A mandatory court date was given, and the driver was released to a responsible family member.

October 13: Officers investigated a report of a resident confused and driving while under the influence of medication.

October 11: A mother notified police that her 13-year-old daughter had disappeared after school. Officers located the teen at church activities and mom was advised.

a day at work

helping our neighbor with her restaurant is incredibly tiring. it's just she, the hubby, and i doing everything and today it got really busy. instead of doing my usual thing of washing dishes, i somehow got tagged to work the front -- taking orders, taking money, running credit cards, and answering the phone. i hadn't done that before and was nervous about it, especially since a number of people had to wait, and it takes awhile for things to cook and be put together.

yes, the stuff is very fresh, but people can get antsy. a couple of guys today were put out about my inexperience which was unnerving to me. i must be a lot more insecure than i thought. not that they said anything out of order, but dark looks, deep sighs, and whispered asides can be lethal. oh well, i guess. but i sure didn't like it.

how is it, do you suppose, that some people have the ability to say 'the hell with those types of people' and just blow it off without another thought? i'd like some of that, please.

be brave

getting old is such an adventure. i look in the mirror and discover new wrinkles every day. i mean you always know they're coming but really, do they have to be so... umm, in your face?!

it's a little different for everyone, of course. i noticed small changes about four years ago, then things seemed to sort of just coast along, then wham!! the changes became more pronounced about a year ago and now they're all having some kind of race to an ill-defined finish line. or lines, actually i guess.

but definitely this is an adventure, i mean, how else can you look at it? some would call it a disaster, but that is depressing. some would say they haven't changed at all but that's living in fantasy-land. most of us just check out the mirror with a mixture of doom, macabre curiosity, and awe which, if we're lucky, gently turns into the acceptance that will carry us with grace and humor and dignity all the way to the end.

vignette

Shurl hadn’t know her partner long. Well, she’d heard of him, his reputation anyway, for several years, but hadn’t met him until this assignment. So far he seemed to be an okay, hard-working guy. She supposed it was only a matter of time before his hard-ass side came out, but so far so good.

They were posted in the unexplored sector this year and, thank god, the tour was about over. She was tired of being around the same 12 team members, several of whom were extremely hard to work with. But being partnered with Dak had kept her out of the worst of the infighting, and she would have enough saved after this tour that she could ground down and take a home job. She never in her wildest dreams would have chosen a home job, but yeah, now the time was right.

Things were quiet today. The small planet they were charting was pretty and interesting, a good combination. The team had scattered in the double-shot formation which took a little longer, but was always a good choice .... fewer chances of being caught off-guard or having to deal with a problem by yourself.

Dak was using the scanner while she took notes. She preferred taking notes, actually, since it gave her time to really look around at things. A pale blue sky, breatheable atmosphere, land, water, vegetation, animals -- this little planet had it all. Which wasn’t that unusual, really. When men finally left Earth and spread out through the universe, they discovered a large number of liveable planets, most of which were so similar to Earth as to be siblings. It was a happy surprise, especially since things on Earth had gotten so rotten there at the end.

History lessons wandered through her mind along with her observations about this planet. It was so new, so peaceful, so happy. “Dreaming about possibilities?” asked Dak quietly.

Shurl took a deep breath and sighed, “Yes. It just seems so .... so clean, so untouched by evil. I like it here.”

Dak studied her a moment longer, then shifted his attention back to the scanner. She was okay .... smarter than the other females he knew and pretty good about keeping her mouth shut. He couldn’t stand being around women who yakked and yakked and yakked -- drove him crazy. But out of all the partner choices, she was the best -- even better than the guys. God they had some dumb ones along on this tour. He couldn’t wait to report back to headquarters then take a long-overdue 3-month vacation .... all by himself.

It was another couple of minutes before he noticed the solid red light on his display. That wasn’t good. He checked the levels, scrolled through the read-outs, looked at the possibilites, figured the odds, micro-grieved his missed vacation, then turned to Shurl and calmly said, “We’re stuck in this place. The ship has mysteriously disappeared, 8 of the others are dead, 2 are missing. We are alone, unable to call for help, and unaware of what, specifically, happened to the others. We’re going to have to stay alert and cover each other’s back.” He watched as it moved across her face -- surprise, alarm, curiosity, humor, resignation, somber readiness. He continued, “Come on kid, let’s find a place to secure a camp. Your untouched place has some kind of evil after all.”

true crime -- small town beat

October 10: A person asked officers to check on the safety of some kids after observing a man near them was acting strangely. Officers found the man: he had grown expressively frustrated while working on his car, but his kids appeared unfazed by the passing storm and did not appear to be in danger. Officers cleared without incident.

October 9: Dispatch advised they received a complaint of people loudly arguing in a vehicle parked at a gas station. Officers arrived and found three siblings arguing over music while their parents were away from the car. The family was reunited for a pleasant evening drive back across the border.

October 8: Police responded to a report of a large group of unsupervised teenagers drinking alcohol at a party. Officers investigated and contacted 15 area juveniles. Several who had been drinking were arrested. The parents of all the kids were contacted. A report of the incident was forwarded to the Juvenile Prosecutor for charging.

October 6: A resident reported hearing screams and the sound of someone stomping around in heavy woods near the border. A border patrol agent and police officer tracked the disturbance down to a pair of pranksters. Profiling indicates it was probably the screech owl's idea, but their deer friend did the legwork.

October 5: Officers responded to a home on a reported domestic dispute in progress. When police arrived, the male half of the incident locked himself in the bathroom and refused to come out, probably because he was wanted on a Superior Court felony warrant and two Municipal Court warrants. Officers flushed the suspect from his hidey hole in the cabinet under the bathroom sink and booked him into the county jail.

October 4: Police were dispatched to a residence regarding a family member who was violating his probation. The officer contacted the parties involved, investigated, and advised the family it appeared the son's use of profanity was not an explicit violation of his court order.

a little bit

i haven't had time lately to put up the info about my trip to the black hills 'cause we've been helping our neighbor get her new place ready to move into -- she has a small restaurant and there's quite a bit of work that needs doin' before she can move into the new, excellent location.

but here are some pictures to pique your interest.....

one of the views from the poet's cabin --


a woodpecker cafe --


lovely sylvan lake --
 

a word

husband and i got our flu shots yesterday. we were heading into the drug store when i noticed their sign, so ... $25 later i am once again protected from that dastardly scourge of evil. at least from that particular strain.

i encourage you to get your shot. especially those of you with asthma or other lung conditions. better safe than sorry, it helps to be prepared, early to bed, an apple a day, and, after all, why not.

a sign

ooooOOOOOOOooooohhh -- it's foggy outside .....



i just love weather like this 'cause it means it's getting cooler and soon i'll have to wear my flannels and my polartec and snuggle up under blankies .....

heaven!!!

eschew your dentist? come to mine!

i love my dentist! she's very adept and is a total sweetheart! if you are in the bellingham area and want a great dentist, call Dr. Kelsey Ullsmith's office at 360.647.1715 and Courtney can make an appointment for you. Beth and Lorie are Dr. K's excellent assistants, and Debbie is the excellent hygienist.

Dr. K doesn't lay any guilt on you and is not pushy (although she does get in your face *grin*) and she's one of only a handful of professionals i've come across who sincerely and honestly deals with you and delicately deals with your gums and teeth. she plays different kinds of music, there are live flower arrangements scattered around, and candles burn soothingly in the waiting room. it's a gentle, quietly competent place, which is certainly what i want when i go to a dentist.

i highly recommend Dr. Ullsmith and her dream team!

vignette

“... so now let’s talk a little bit about what you want from this next life.”

“Hmmm. Well, there are a number of things that would be fun to try, but I guess the things that I think are most important are to have long thick beautiful dark hair and to have a lovely singing voice.”

“And the hair is important because ...”

“In my previous life my hair was the bane of my existence. It was thin and fine so it would never stay the way it was styled, and I had this natural part a little ways down from the top of my head so it always looked funny. So if my hair is pretty, maybe I’ll feel pretty and I won’t be so intimidated by the other girls and I can really enjoy myself when I’m flirting with all the boys.”

“I see ... pretty hair. Okay, and the singing ...”

“In my last life I was sort of an alto. I mean, I had a limited range, not much talent, and my voice seemed to break a lot, sort of like a yodel, and it was horrible so even though I enjoyed singing I couldn’t really sing in public since it sounded so bad. It was an awful thing to deal with. So in this life I would love to be able to sing soprano anytime anywhere and to sound like Barbra Streisand.”

“A wonderful voice ... and is that all? Special talent? Special skill?”

“No. Well, I guess I’d like to be pretty, too. Or at least attractive so I’ll have lots of boyfriends.”

“Okay. Have you given any thought to the main thing you’d like to work on in this next life?”

“Weeeell, I guess I need to be more patient and to stop being so bossy and to be nicer to the boys. But honestly, guys can be so stupid! And they never get jokes and they think slow and they take longer to grow up and it’s just frustrating. So like I said, maybe I need more patience.”

“All right. We’ve had a good discussion and now you will be moving on to the retreat where you will rest and quietly prepare yourself for your next journey. Remember that your gifts and challenges will be presented in a unique way so that your learning experience can be explored to the fullest.”

Some time later in rural west Texas, a young redneck and his spunky wife welcomed their first child into the world -- a beautiful, dark-haired baby boy.

true crime -- small town beat

October 2: A resident reported vandalism to the exterior of their home. Cretins spray-painted graffiti on a garage door and placed nails on the driveway.

October 2: A person reported a man possibly trapping/killing ducks near the shore of the bay. An officer contacted the suspect and found he was a uniformed Fish and Wildlife officer, who was conducting a bona fide government health study of waterfowl which did not involve harm to the animals.

September 30: Officer was contacted by a mother who said her son refused to get into her car at the school. An officer met the parent at the school and talked to the eight-year-old, who ultimately agreed to accept transportation from his parent.

September 26: An officer responded to an emergency hang-up call and discovered the homeowner had been cleaning the phone and accidentally dialed 911. The housekeeping was under control.

September 24: An officer on routine patrol noticed a man acting suspiciously near a vehicle parked in the corner of a parking lot late at night. On contact the officer observed two marijuana joints in the vehicle. The driver said he had stopped to recover the marijuana, which he had hidden there earlier before crossing the border. Officer arrested the driver.

September 24: A family reported that someone entered their carport and took four bicycles valued at $305. Officers investigated, recovered the bicycles, and arrested the teenagers who had stolen them.

September 24: Police officers spent several hours tending to a herd of northbound motorists who were stranded on the truck route and interstate by a sudden lack of Canadian Customs inspectors. State patrol troopers and state DOT personnel assisted our officers in commiserating with motorists who were stacked two lanes deep for three miles down the freeway. Customs Canada supervisors kept as many lanes as possible open until their staffing returned to normal late in the evening.

September 24: Residents reported a housemate behaving strangely. Officers met with a gentleman who was very irritated and very demonstrative about his share of the housekeeping burden. Officers calmed him down and determined no crime was committed.

busted

well. it happened. the kid next door who kept playing his drums too loudly and drives a brightly-(hand)painted yellow van with rude slogans painted on it was taken away in handcuffs in the middle of the night last night.

the dad moved out last year, the mother was gone for the weekend (not for the first time and what is she thinking?!) and the kid, not for the first time in the last few months, had 'adult' beverages on hand and an open door. i noticed cars coming and going, kids in groups outside, and later a kid weaving his way to a waiting car before i went to bed at 10:30 pm.

this time, however, cops showed up around midnight (our neighbor called us to see if we were sick or had a problem, thank you jean) and after parents drove up to collect kids, coulton was lead to a waiting police car (which for some reason was parked blocking our driveway), cuffed, and at about 2 am was taken away into the night.

the mother will instantly blame us, although my thought is that the parents of the weaving kid called the cops. coulton is either being a stupid kid, crying out for help, needing a good spanking, or headed on a life of crime. yeah, he's still just a kid, but he's a high school senior and should be at least starting to make good decisions.

i like to see happy endings but sometimes it doesn't turn out that way. i wonder what's down the road for coulton...

wow! what a trip!

i've been busy helping the hubby with his hobby over at the cafe, so i haven't had time to organize my thoughts and pictures to bring you a synopsis of the trip.

but i will.