Rambler

This hurricane near Tampa is really scary. Pray for minimal destruction and loss of life. 

As a side note, a major storm in northern Florida could wreak havoc on the country's epicenter for sexually active senior citizens who like to swing and who incidentally have one of the highest rates of STDs in the entire country.

Forget the endangered Florida panther, how about a little love for the old Florida cougars facing extinction in this major storm.

Tampa STD rates even surpass the randy and notorious Villages in the sexually transmitted disease metric. 

So it may not be just food, water and beds that these people require, how about sending a little lube and some anti-biotics in case things suddenly get hot and heavy in the shelters.

Show them you care.

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On an entirely different topic, Heidi and Kent have just come back from Kruger and South Africa. Looks like a great trip, wish they had a better camera. I have been to Africa once if I ever return I am going to get some shots of a lifetime with my good gear.

This hornbill is cool.

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I was walking in the Los Jilgueros preserve the other day when I saw this orange tree fruiting, something I don't recall seeing down there. I was part of the initial plant of the preserve way back when and I don't remember orange trees on the property. Kind of cool.

I really enjoy my morning walks down there.

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I think I may be a touch obsessive compulsive on this meat thing.  I bought a new chest freezer at Best Buy in Murrieta yesterday, ran home, unpacked and installed it and then went to Costco with Dr. Neo and bought about $400 dollars worth of choice and prime ribeye subprimals.

I

Once again I sold steak shares to defray the cost. 

I went over to Neon's and Deb's and butchered the beef.

Now I have a freezer stocked with beautiful steaks for the cold Fallbrook winter.

Candidly, I think I need professional help.

Speaking of neon, he had this cool early orange label on his wall that I have never seen before.

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Beth and Beth are back from Scotland. 

I talked to Beth I this morning. 

They breathlessly watched the coronation of the new Porridge King, wielder of the Golden Spurtle.

You really have to wonder what is left after you attend what had to be such a life changing experience.

Bravo to you both, may your gruel never be lumpy!

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Peter sent me this. I like Steely Dan as much as the next time but I go to these audiophile group sessions where Aja and Gaucho are played so incessantly that I could scream.

I'm like hey, throw in a little Royal Scam or Pretzel Logic, will you?

I think that is all I got.

Leslie Sommers for FUESD

 

Many of you do not know this but my wife is running for a seat on the Fallbrook Union Elementary School Board, Area 2.

I am proud of her for wanting to give back to her community and take an active role that will require a lot of time and energy and also confident that if elected, she will do a great job. 

She is very intelligent and has lived here for well over three decades and been a retailer on Main Avenue for over twenty years.

Leven Jester called yesterday and said that he just voted for her on his mail ballot.

She has received several key endorsements.

Leslie is going to get her signs this week and will put them up as soon as she can. I mocked the purple one up that you see above but she went with something else.

Please give her your vote and support.

Steve Morse

Stay in touch

The blog has been around for what, seventeen years now? Sometimes I wonder about the old regulars that have drifted off, do you ever still come back to check in or lurk around maybe, without commenting? 

People like KJ, Grumpy, Window Dancer, Randy Walters, MMWB, or the old guy up in Oregon maybe, among others? You guys still around?

Would be nice to now that you are still alive. The guy in Oregon was old, he probably passed. You never know. I am getting to that point in my life where a lot of people in my contact list are no longer with us.

 Can't bear to erase their names from my phone.

I had heard that some people had passed in town recently and found my way to the Village News obit page. I don't often read the local paper and was astounded to read that Dick Schillig had passed. Liked him a lot, great sense of humor. His ex catered our wedding.

Just heard about Fred Caso's passing from his daughter.

Paul Garrett has gone into the night too. All fine people who contributed to our community and will be greatly missed.

But if you don't see it or hear about it, you assume everything is copacetic with people.

When they are gone, they are gone. Keep them in your hearts. And stay in touch.

Suzy Boguss

"Those people" are at it again...

“Other evils there are that may come; for Sauron is himself but a servant or emissary. Yet it is not our part to master all the tides of the world,  but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till. What weather they shall have is not ours to rule.” Gandalf - Lord of the Rings

"I am no weather-master, nor is aught that goes on two legs."
Tom Bombadil

“Yes they can control the weather. It’s ridiculous for anyone to lie and say it can’t be done.” Marjorie Taylor Greene 

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I guess that we are back to the Jewish space laser thing. Our ability to control the weather is now out of the bag.

Check out today's Washington Post, Officials face antisemitic attacks over Hurricane Helene response.

Top officials in North Carolina and at the Federal Emergency Management Agency responding to Helene are being subjected to a flurry of antisemitic attacks, causing some of them to fear for their safety as they prepare for another hurricane to strike Florida.

The attacks, which include wild claims that Jewish officials are conspiring to orchestrate the disasters, sabotage the recovery or even seize victims’ property, are being fomented largely on Elon Musk’s X. Antisemitic tropes have commingled on the site with false rumors and conspiracy theories amid the chaos of the recovery effort, according to a report released Tuesday by the nonprofit Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD).

The online vitriol is compounding the challenges facing emergency management officials dealing with the aftermath of Helene and readying a response to Milton, a Category 5 hurricane barreling toward Florida. The volume and virulence of the X posts have dismayed experts who warn that they risk undermining lifesaving response measures.

A lot of the misinformation is coming through X, of course. And they refuse to either pull the posts or comment.

The report focused on 33 recent viral X posts that spread misinformation about Helene, which made landfall in Florida as a major hurricane last month and caused at least 231 deaths and widespread devastation in six states.

The posts collectively attracted 159 million views, even though their claims were thoroughly debunked by local residents, FEMA, the White House and other government officials. Ten of the posts contained antisemitic sentiments and collectively drew 17.1 million views.

The report noted that antisemitic sentiments were largely directed at three individual officials: FEMA director of public affairs Jaclyn Rothenberg, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Asheville, N.C., Mayor Esther Manheimer. Many came from accounts that have also trafficked in other forms of misinformation on X, including false claims about Haitians eating pets in Springfield, Ohio, the war in Ukraine, and the 2020 presidential election.

As of Monday evening, X had not removed any of the 33 posts, three of which received “community notes” appending fact-checks or additional context to the original post, according to ISD. While X’s rules prohibit hateful tropes or personal attacks based on ethnicity or religion, the company, previously known as Twitter, has pulled back on content moderation and reinstated prominent accounts banned for violating those policies since Musk bought it in 2022.

Another reason never to buy a Tesla. Or vote for certain candidates that knowingly promote false information.

Dirty Business

Buon Appetito, Amici

Leslie and I had a busy day yesterday. She made me a wonderful breakfast of ribeye and eggs and then we drove down to Ocean Beach to pick up a large Millard Sheets watercolor of Hawaii that I just bought.

Afterwards we visited Tracy and Stanley in La Jolla. 

Been way too long.

I had told Lena that we would stop by her house and she was a little irked because she was waiting around and I was a lot later than I had expected to be.

But we were starving by this point in the afternoon so I suggested that we go out for a bite.

Lena assented, Ron was into football and she grabbed a really nice bottle of chianti.

We went to Buona Forchetta in Encinitas. I had never been there and Lena loves it. I was thinking Il Truli or Devanti Enoteca but hey, try something new.

We got there at the perfect afternoon time, practically had it to ourselves. Started off with foccacia and garlic.

We ordered a margarita pizza with porcini, and their homemade pappardelle with the eponymous buona forchetta (good fork) cream, egg yolk and tomato sauce.

We also ordered a brussels sprout pancetta thing.

I think they get their flour from Italy. The crust was perfect, the pasta was rich. What a great meal!

The food was wonderful as was the company and the vino.

We had planned on bringing food home to Ron.

This is what he got. 

An empty box. 

We thought we had ordered so much food but we managed to polish it all off.

We felt bad and ordered him his own pizza.

We had rich canolli with fruit for dessert.

Damn, do I look happy or what?

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I made scones the other day after I made the ribeye.

Raspberry, cranberry, blueberry, walnut and ginger.

I know it sounds like overkill but think of a really good fruitcake.

And to top it all off, I stuck a bunch of chocolate chips in Leslie's because she loves chocolate!

Hate to say it but they are darn good. Very moist with all the raspberry juice but I kind of like it.

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Today I went to Photastic for stir fry. For a place that used to suck, it has become a go to. All sorts of great things on the menu. If you haven't been before, give it a try! And the new owners have a wonderful attitude.

We are lucky to have them in our town. From the Bahn Minh sandwiches to the pho, the vermicelli and the broken rice dishes, I have not had a bad meal there yet.

Alabam

Hairpipes and birds

I received this email today:

Morning Robert. Haven’t seen a blast since June. I look over P’s shoulder from time to time to read and look at your pic’s. Any reason why I’m not on the list anymore?

Curious minds

          W

I responded:

I have no idea. It is pretty random, will get you back on. Sorry.

all the best,

R

The truth is that I pick names to send the blast to randomly, there is no master list. Why? I guess that I do it by feel. I don't want to burn people out by constantly hitting them over the head with this and I can be so prolific that it can quickly descend into overkill.

I have conservative readers and liberal readers and if I am on a seriously political jag I may let up on the gas and miss a few partisans from time to time that I don't want to offend. Or I just forget.

Anyway the other reason is that I can't always remember who wants to keep receiving this and I figure that people can always follow or bookmark and just check in from time to time so as not to miss out on anything. Good chance you will see something new.

But W, rest assured you are back on the blue heron bus. Seven million views will be here before we know it at the viewership rate we are at, which is huge. Blowing up in Manchuria, I hear.

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I was down at Los Jilgueros walking today and I heard a kildeer. Sort of rare in these parts, I have never seen one down there.

I have seen them up at Waterwise in Bonsall.

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My brain has been quite active of late, throwing out bad puns and jokes with reckless abandon.

Soon to be playing at the Sapphire Lounge at a Ramada Inn located at a freeway offramp near you. 

Turnpike 23.

Anyway I was cracking wise with myself yesterday and came up with these:

My friend called and said that the doctor called and said he had prostrate cancer.

I told him not to take the news lying down.

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I need to buy a new bicycle tire pump but there's really no pressure.

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I'm at Grocery Outlet yesterday and the elderly lady behind me has a plastic box of baby spinach. "I can't buy that," I solemnly intoned. "To deprive them a chance to mature and live a long, healthy life." Checker tried to her best not to lose it, lady cracked up too.

It never stops. Unfortunately.

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I was supposed to go out shooting and stargazing with Kip tonight in the Anza Borrego but he wasn't feeling up to it.

He has the big telescope.

The draconids start tonight and there is a very slivery moon to capture.

Maybe next time. 

Not going out by myself to get lost again.

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I was looking at my photo outflow from 2022, so many great shots and excursions, I really have not been in a productive photo zone for so long.

Hurts really, have to find that muse again.

Been too busy with work.

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Stagecoach Sunday tomorrow at the Los Palomares House. 11 to 3.

Fallbrook Land Conservancy is the best group in Fallbrook.

I have to go to San Diego and pick up a Millard Sheets painting and will miss it but would like to be there.

They are auctioning off one of my photographs.

This one.

Go buy it really cheap, for a good cause.

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Here is one of the cool things I bought in New Mexico recently, a hairpipe necklace.

Red Cloud, Oglala

Hairpipe necklaces and breastplates were popular apparel among Native Americans from about 1878 to 1910. They started in the Southern Plains but eventually reached all the way west, though rarely ever east of the Mississippi with the exception of the Chippewa. There are even photographs of Pueblo natives wearing hairpipe pieces.

You often see them in old photographs of Native Americans.

Originally made of shell they eventually were made out of hollowed out bone.

Quannah Parker (Comanche) with hairpipe necklace

Mine has padre beads on top and has old American coins dangling from the bottom, many indian head, the newest dating from 1910.

The story of the hairpipe bead is that a trader named Joseph Sherburne introduced them to the Ponca Indians of Oklahoma and Nebraska in 1878. 

This was right after their own "Trail of tears."

This nation comprised the modern-day Ponca, Omaha, Kaw, Osage, and Quapaw peoples until the mid-17th century when the people sought to establish their nation west of the Mississippi River as a result of the Beaver Wars. By the end of the 18th century, the Ponca people had established themselves at the mouth of the Niobrara River near its confluence with the Missouri River, remaining there until 1877 when the United States forcibly removed the Ponca people from the Ponca Reservation in the Dakota Territory to the Indian Territory. This event, known as the Ponca Trail of Tears, resulted in the deaths of hundreds of Ponca civilians and the splintering of the nation.

Pablino Diaz - Kiowa

He sold them corncob pipes. The natives threw away the cob and kept the pipes which they fashioned into these magnificent creations.

The natives loved them and traded them and soon a New York firm named S.A. Frost started making the hairpipes in bulk to keep up with the great demand.

While only men wore the breastplates, both men and women of the Sioux tribes wore the necklaces. And contrary to the Smithsonian author, there are many pictures extant of men from other tribes than the Sioux wearing the necklaces.

In contrast with the breastplate, which was always a man's ornament, the necklace of hair pipes continued to be worn by both men and women in the period 1880-1910. Of the tribes of Plains Indians known to have worn hair-pipe necklaces in earlier days, photographic sources illustrate their use by Cheyenne, Crow, Kiowa, Mandan, Oglala, Osage, and Sauk and Fox after 1880. Among all these tribes except the Oglala the necklace is shown as a woman's ornament.

From the Smithsonian:

In the period of general economic depression among the Plains Indians following the extermination of the buffalo, during which they subsisted largely upon Government rations, possession of an elaborate hair-pipe breastplate or necklace was a coveted symbol of greater-than-average prosperity among these proud people. Not only did the Indians wear these ornaments when they attended ceremonies and participated in traditional social dances on their own reservations, but they wore them when they dressed to visit the Great White Father in Washington, when they took part in wildwest shows, such as the famous one organized by William F. Cody (Buffalo Bill) in 1883, and when they appeared in costume at national, regional, State, and local exhibitions or fairs.

The cessation of intertribal wars after the Plains Indians were settled on reservations was followed by a period of increased friendly contacts between neighboring tribes formerly hostile to one another. Visits back and forth among these Indians were accompanied by the exchange of gifts between members of different tribes. These conditions encouraged diffusion of hair-pipe breastplates and necklaces during the Reservation Period.

They were also adopted as bandoliers, and slung over a shoulder, like in this picture from 1901 of a Yakima Indian.

Here is a long and beautiful necklace worn by a Teton Dakota woman in the 19th century.

My friend has one of these necklaces similar to mine with a Peace Medal hanging off the bottom. 

This is the first one I have ever owned. It is quite lovely.

I have been selling some wonderful Plains material. 

Try to stop by and check it out before it is all gone.

Paul Butterfield Blues Band

Just ask the axis

We caught the Hendrix Experience show at the Rady Shell last night. 

It was really good for me, a huge Jimi Hendrix fan. 

If you are not it might have been a bit much.

There is a fluid roster of performers at the various shows on this tour, we did not see Robby Krieger or Samantha Fish.

But what we did see was mostly very, very good.

It was a gray and foggy evening down at the Convention Center. 

The blue shell juxtaposed beautifully with the monochromatic background.

Some people really got into the spirit of the thing and wore swinging sixties psychedelic duds.

I saw some cool madras bell bottoms.

The music?

I loved it. 

My favorite was Eric Johnson, so smooth, elegant and sublime. 

Kenny Wayne Shepherd was a powerhouse. 

His vocalist Noah was the best singer of the night.

Dweezil Zappa was great, the lap steel guys the slide brothers were great, Taj was great, Kingfish was great. Ayron Jones was really good.

If you are a Hendrix style gunslinger getting up on this stage you better be able to play.

Who wasn't great?

Zakk Wylde, Ozzy's ex guitar player, is not particularly to my taste.

Leslie thought we were watching Spinal Tap.

Pointy guitar shredder, metal guy, flexing, playing with his teeth and behind his neck, very hard for me and the people sitting next to me to sit through.

But I am sure some people loved him, just not my bag.

Mitch Mitchell was my all time favorite drummer. The drummer last night was not Mitch Mitchell (but who is?) in fact he had very little energy at all.

But all in all a great time with friends, was gifted upgrade seats, all good.