Posted inDogs

Video of dogs playing: what the world needs now

There's a lot going on in the world at the moment. Russia and Georgia are going at it. Afghanistan and Pakistan are their usually messy selves. Economic indicators are looking worse. So it wasn't hard for me to decide on my blog post subject tonight: Dogs playing! A few days ago the family pet, Serena, had an unexpected play date. A Golden Retriver'ish dog came to visit while we were at our cabin in Camp Sherman, Oregon. I grabbed my Flip Video camera when I saw that Serena and her new friend hit it off instantly. Sometimes it takes a…
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Posted inHome life

Chipmunk stalking, Kentucky TV, and Benzedrine

Ah, now that's a terrific blog post title. I'm sure it will generate lots of hits on Google searches as the masses interested in these (obviously) closely related subjects will be led to this bloggish musing on the nature of focused concentration. Such was greatly in evidence today. Not from a Homo sapiens, but from a Canis familiaris – our resident house dog, Serena. It's often said that life should be lived to its fullest. I thought of that adage frequently from about 12:10 to 1:30 pm this afternoon, as I spent well over an hour of my steadily shrinking…
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Posted inHumor

Poking fun (gently) at Harley riders

I'm putting this post in my blog's "humor" category because Harley Davidson motorcycle riders take their bikes pretty damn seriously, and I don't want to tick off any of the brothers or sisters. Anyway, I used to have a motorcycle myself – a Yamaha Seca II – until my old lady (what I called my wife during the period I owned a bike, which helps to explain why I no longer have it) told me so many times that I was going to kill myself on it, I got afraid that I really would have a serious accident, become paralyzed,…
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Posted inTai Chi

Tai Chi – about to be Olympics trendy?

With the Olympics opening ceremony being shown on American TV tonight, I'm enthused about the possibility of Tai Chi becoming trendy in this country. I've been learning Tai Chi for almost four years and do a modified version of the Cheng Man-ch'ing "short form" several times a week on the wood floor of a weights room at our athletic club. So far I've been asked what I'm doing exactly once – by a couple who took Tai Chi at the club until classes ended, and hoped that I could lobby the manager to get them reinstated (or, teach them myself).…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

My tire gauge says, “Obama’s right”

I've always had a tire gauge in my car, way before Barack Obama made it a symbol of how we can reduce our dependence on foreign oil. We're so close – the tire gauge and me – I've been able to channel its thoughts about the recent attempt by John McCain and his Republican know-nothings to belittle the importance of keeping tires properly inflated. "Obama's right!" My tire gauge has a high squeaky voice befitting its slim stature. But I can make out these words just fine. It's a fact: proper tire pressure on the nation's cars would have much…
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Posted inHome life

Snakes in a pond (and pump)

Snakes creep me out. Big time. Even little garden snakes. To my mind, this is proof of evolution, because I've got an inbred distaste for creatures that used to kill my distant ancestors. Also, I grew up in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains (California), where rattlesnakes abounded. So hearing their unmistakable sound as a kid while crawling over some rocks also serves to explain my current Yikes! whenever I see a slithery form with no legs. Yesterday one of those forms also had almost no body – just a few inches of what obviously once was a much…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Victoria Taft is wrong again

It's hardly news when right-wing talk radio spews forth erroneous information. But since I'm on a mini-roll on this subject, having pointed out the murderous insanity of Michael Savage, et. al. recently, there's a special delight in catching Victoria Taft (a local Portland, Oregon talk show host) in one of her frequent blab first and check facts later moments. Yesterday Taft was going on and on about how a CBS News report said that Al Qaida's #2, Ayman al-Zawahiri, had been killed or severely injured by a recent United States missile strike. Taft praised American special forces, talked about what…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

No bike helmet for this free (headed) spirit

Darn. My outrage over a front page story in today's Oregonian about a proposal to require every bicycle rider to wear a helmet has been cut short. There's no better blog subject than my righteous indignation (RI). So it was sort of disappointing to learn that state Sen. Floyd Prozanski has backed off his notion of an Oregon adult bike helmet mandate (those under 17 already are required to wear one). Sounds like other bloggers beat me to the RI. The Eugene Democrat says he's still all in favor of helmets. In fact, he says he survived a bike crash…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Murderous insanity of right-wing talk radio

Right off the bat I suspected that the man who killed two people in the Unitarian church shooting would be a devotee of Michael Savage, Bill O'Reilly, and Sean Hannity. And I was right. I'm no Sherlock Holmes, but when the news reports said that Jim Adkisson railed against the Unitarian Universalist congregation for being "liberal," including its advocacy for gay rights, I recalled all the hate speech that spews daily from the right-wing blabbermouths. Savage is the worst of these nuts. He's off his rocker, yet has the gall to write a book called "Liberalism is a Mental Disorder."…
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Posted inDogs

The Amazing Dog Hair Net Seed in Ear Preventer

I want to say, "Order now! Call the toll-free number within the next 30 minutes and we'll send you three, yes three, Amazing Dog Hair Net Seed in Ear Preventers for the price of one." Except…we don't have a toll-free number. And this afternoon I paid $1.95 for a package of three hair nets at the Sisters, Oregon drug store. So since Laurel and I would be re-selling them over late night cable TV for, say, $19.95 (plus shipping), you're better off buying them on your own if you want a more or less workable way of keeping seeds out…
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Posted inMeasure 37

How to survive a Measure 37 vested rights hearing

Yesterday Marion County held a public hearing on the Ridge View Estates (a.k.a. Laack subdivision) application for a vested rights determination. Meaning, LeRoy Laack hopes to show that he's done enough work on the 43-home, 217 acre project to be able to continue on with it, even though Measure 49, which was voted in last November, prohibits more than three homes on high value farmland or groundwater limited land – which this property is. The Salem Statesman Journal had a front page story on the hearing today, "Arguments churn at vested rights land-use hearing." Well, not just arguments. My stomach…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Obama’s right-on Iraq policy: not lost in translation

I'm really enjoying how McCain and Bush are squirming, now that the Iraqi prime minister has endorsed Obama's timeline for withdrawing U.S. troops from his country. They've been chanting the mantra "no timeline, no timeline" for so long, and bashing Dems at any mention of setting a date for withdrawal, it's become almost a sacred policy position. Yet Bush also has said that the U.S. goal is to have Iraq stand on its own. So neither he nor McCain can publicly chastise Nuri al-Maliki for expressing ideas that mesh with Obama's. But al-Maliki surely has gotten an earful privately from…
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Posted inSalem

Salem Art Fair purchases reflect my sophistication

I'm such a patron of the arts. Well, once a year anyway – when Laurel and I visit the marvelous Salem Art Fair, which opened today and continues through Sunday. Here's two artistic creations that I brought home this afternoon. I'm deeply pleased with them. I'd set out for the fair this morning with a primal intention: to find a coffee cup. We only have two that possess the correct vibe (and capacity) to hold my pre-meditation dose of caffeine, which, after thirty or so years of meditative practice, I've found is the main cause of the uplift that I…
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Posted inFamily

In praise of expensive stuff

Kudos to my daughter, Celeste, for defending $350 sunglasses in a comment to my post about her company, Barton Perreira, being mentioned in a New York Times story as being "a brand coveted by aficionados." Another commenter gave me grief for talking about such apparent excess so favorably. Heck, I want some Barton Perreiras. What are my chances of getting a free pair from Celeste if I talk them down? [Note: actually they can cost quite a bit more than $350.] Anyway, I agree with what my brilliant, insightful, well spoken child (a chip off of the genetic block, for…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Nothing wrong with Obama coming to the middle

I'm a Libra. I like balance (though I don't believe in astrology, I'll unashamedly use it to make a point). So I think it's great that Obama is moving more toward the middle of the political spectrum, now that he's secured the Democratic presidential nomination. A few days ago I read a great column in the Portland Oregonian by some woman whose name I can't remember. I'd be quoting it like crazy, but my wife took our newspapers to the recycling center today, screwing up my blog post research. Regardless, I'll unashamedly use the columnist's ideas as if they were…
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Posted inFamily

My daughter is in the New York Times! (sort of)

Since my favorite (and only) child is the sales director for a high-end designer eyewear company, my eyes snapped to attention when I noticed a New York Times story today: "Love Your Sunglasses (Should I Know You?)" I hoped to read that the demand for expensive sunglasses wasn't going the way of expensive homes: down. Reassuringly, the story said that "statement sunglasses are one luxury that consumers are still willing to splurge on." Whew! Good news. Even better was what I came across a few paragraphs further on. "Sunglasses aren't armor anymore — they're not about saying don't touch me,"…
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Posted inSustainability

I’m hot. Global warming is to blame.

It was 90 degrees today in Oregon's generally temperate northern Willamette Valley. Last month we reached 100 degrees, breaking records for this time of year. I had to do some field mowing today. It was hotter than I wanted it to be. Who do I blame? Global warming! And the climate change deniers who love to say, "Sure, we're getting more hurricanes (or tornados, floods, heat waves, melting sea ice, etc.) but there's always been natural variations in the weather." Newsweek's Sharon Begley demolishes that argument in her persuasive piece, "Global Warming is a Cause of This Year's Extreme Weather."…
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Posted inHome life

Since ten acres hasn’t killed me, a condo can wait

Many couples about our age (late 50's, early 60's) are contemplating condo life, the travails of home ownership not meshing with their view of what retirement, or semi-retirement, should be about. Well, notwithstanding my occasional lustings for a potted plant on a deck, rather than ten acres of natural Oregon land in the lower reaches of the south Salem hills, we're following the "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" adage. And believe me, maintaining our tree, brush, and grass filled property (with enough remaining poison oak and blackberry vines to keep my wife's sprayer busy) sometimes feels like dying,…
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Posted inHome life

Am I living with a terrorist?!

I just read about the FBI's proposed new policy of finding terrorists by using racial and ethnic profiling. Ever on the alert, I decided to take a closer look around our neighborhood for suspects. Didn't have to go far. There she was, sitting on what I now recognize as a prayer rug, right by our front door, clad in a semblance of her native Islamic garb. Thank you, Attorney General Mukasey. My eyes have been opened. I'm now seeing some disturbing resemblances. That nose…that dark facial hair…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

What’s wrong with flip-flopping?

I'm trying to get my head around the current craze for screaming "Flip flopper!" at political candidates who change their minds. Hey, flip flopping works for me when I make pancakes. They don't cook as well when you cleave to consistency and let the batter lie where it lays until one side is burnt and the other is half done. Obama's remarks on Iraq have stimulated the latest media flip flop feeding frenzy. Oh my God! A presidential candidate is open to adjusting his policies based on new information and further thought! Can we trust him?! Shouldn't his ideas remain…
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