Go take a walk!

I had to go to the coast to visit my accountant yesterday. Afterwards I indulged in one of my long time guilty pleasures, an open faced turkey sandwich with hot gravy, mashed potatoes and cranberry at the venerable Encinitas Cafe. On Wonder Bread, no less!

It was delicious, as usual. One of a kind. I had to give them my name and phone number for covid tracing, a first for me.

Afterwards I decided to take a hike down in the San Elijo Lagoon and see what is up. They have been working on their restoration project forever.

I called Ron and Lena, who have been cloistered pretty tight at home and we arranged to meet at the parking lot of the Nature Center. Properly masked of course.

Knowing that the damaged trail would still not be opened (they have been working on it for over a year, interminably) we headed left, clockwise, in order to get a good walk in.

It was pretty uneventful but it still felt good to be out for a brisk walkabout and laugh with my wonderful friends, nonetheless.

Not much fauna around, with the exception of a silhouetted cormorant and a couple egrets.

Lovely day, in any case. Fish were jumping out of the water, everybody was happy. 

I was still rocking the zoom on the camera, the faster 400mm prime is such a beast and I wasn't ready to haul it around yet.

We were amazed when we reached the midpoint of the trail. While there is still a lot of planting work left to be done, the trail is now fixed!

There are two beautiful new bridges open. This allows the walker or birdwatcher to penetrate areas of the lagoon completely unapproachable before.

Hot damn!

The people that were responsible for this did an absolute first rate job. I am elated. How often can you say that about a public project?

Place is great and will only get better when the trails systems are completed.

We walked around, I grabbed some shots. Lots of misses, just like the day before. The 2.8 prime spoils you although even my shots with that looked lousy the other day.

The highlight of the day was seeing a peregrine falcon on a power pole. Not sure I have ever seen one here before, or if so maybe only once.

Didn't have the proper speed locked in, going from stationary to flying can be a trick. But you get the idea, it was a beautiful bird.

I look forward to returning soon and taking some more trails, capturing better images. Next time I bring the heavy artillery. Get outside and take a walk!

Golden Tree Snake

Shawn sent some pictures from Thailand. I am not a snake guy whatsoever but the patterns are certainly pretty.

I asked him for more information and he sent back this:

Chrysopelea ornata ornattissima, The Golden tree snake.  (ngu kieo lai dok mak) in Thai. Probably the most (or second most) commonly observed snake around here. They have a unique bone structure that they can control to create an airfoil that allows them to do controlled glides...once watched a tree lizard with the same feature climb a coconut tree to escape one of these guys. Both climbed about 20 meters up the tree and then both launched and glided to the next coconut tree five meters away and began climbing again. David Attenborrough moment! Shawn

Bonnie Raitt - Dimming of the day

SJWA 10/08/20

 

There are red tailed hawks and then there are red tailed hawks. So many different morphs and color combinations. 

This bird was on the ground as I left yesterday and was striking in his or her rich colors and contrast.

As usual, there were tons of kestrels around. Where you find dragonflies you find this small raptor and there were plenty of both.

I met the man who takes care of the Ramona Duck Club, Elmer, yesterday. He and his wife drove out to check on their property, nice couple.

He told me that a pair of swans has been hanging out in Mystic Lake of late. I never saw them.

But I did see a bunch of pretty yellow headed blackbirds on an island of reeds across the lake.

They are a lovely bird. Yesterday they were mixed in with the red winged blackbirds.

I was shooting with the 400mm so they were still a little out of my reach.

Here is a power line full of tree swallows. They are a neat little bird, iridescent in their aqua feathering.

The water district is filling the lakes up, there is measurably more water at the preserve than the last time I was there but still nowhere near full.

With the heat and water were mosquitos. I got nailed on my hike.

Felt great to stretch my legs, push myself a little bit, having been in a long covid slumber. 

I stuck the zoom lens on for the hike. It is a lot lighter and gave me some extra reach, although I lose a bit optically.

There were a lot of red tailed hawks around, this one was perched on a far ledge.

And a grebe popped up to survey the situation.

I ran into this lovely female harrier on the ground assessing the situation. 

They have been doing a lot of mowing so all the raptors were on gopher patrol. 

Didn't have the right speed settings so I sort of flubbed what could have been a nice shot. Oh well, there is always another day!

I mostly shot red tailed yesterday. Saw a Coopers and heard red shouldered but didn't get any shots.

I will get back into the swing of things. Just need to keep shooting, work the kinks out. Get my muscle memory back.

Hopefully.

I did see the white tailed kite overhead at one point, always a big thrill for me. 

Wish he had not been so far away.

Anyway I am like a broken record, I know. But without regular trips to the wild, I am pretty much worthless. Need to keep my battery charged.

That is pretty much all for yesterday. Of course I shot today too when I was on the coast. Will share some of those shots tomorrow.

Time out

 

I have been trying to be productive for two or three weeks and it just hasn't been working. 

As hard as I work, the things I need to do are just not getting accomplished, other things are jumping out and getting in the way.

I decided yesterday that I would try a new tact. I need to have a little fun, restore my work/play balance. 

Can't keep the pedal down all the time, my life doesn't work right and my efficiency goes to hell. Getting sick with the infection didn't help either.

I bugged out to the nature preserve yesterday afternoon. Haven't been there in a month. 

It wasn't epic by any means. It was a little hot and the camera was heavy, my body sluggish. 

But I managed to get my normal walk in and see some beautiful birds.

I don't have time to process the pictures, truth be told, I don't care what I captured. Will get to it when I can. and post a few for you.

It was a much needed break and I would be surprised if I don't get my groove back soon.

The Rolling Stones

Time factor

There seems to be a lot of crap and bad science swirling around Covid. Or maybe I am just really dumb. One of the wealthy doyennes at the Bedminster Club's recent $250k fundraiser said that she would personally not get tested because she was only in close proximity to him for a moment.

Mike Pence was seated in front of the infected Mike Lee in the middle of the big covid infestation at the superspreader event for Amy Barrett in the Rose Garden. But not to worry, he isn't going to quarantine because some doofus scientist says the exposure has to be for at least fifteen minutes in order to catch the dreaded microbe. 

The President of the United States wants to start campaigning again Monday but assures everybody that he doesn't feel contagious. Now the experts say he will be shedding the virus for at least ten days and is most certainly contagious but you know, you have to trust this guy's gut feeling, don't you?

I am busy and I am not going to belabor this but it will not surprise me at all when they find out that Covid does not need fifteen minutes to infect anyone, that a second or two of direct exposure will be plainly sufficient.

*

A cattleman on dexamethasone.

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And Pence's wife refuses to wear a mask.

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A fly's perspective.

Requiem for a fly

 

Johnny Nash

Schmucks

The orthodox jews in Borough Park, New York are crying foul over the mayor's call to limit religious gatherings.

From the New York Times:

Orthodox Jewish and other religious leaders lashed out at Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on Wednesday over new coronavirus restrictions on schools, businesses and houses of worship as protests broke out in Brooklyn overnight, leading to scenes of chaos and an attack on at least one person.

The frustration was reflected on the street, where video shared widely on social media showed hundreds of ultra-Orthodox men, most of them without masks, gathering after midnight and setting fires and burning masks along 13th Avenue in the Borough Park neighborhood.

In a statement on Wednesday, Agudath Israel of America, an Orthodox umbrella organization, called the order to limit worship to 10 people “appalling to all people of religion and good faith” and “deeply offensive.”

Setting fires, burning masks? Jews? Oy vey! I've said it before and I will say it again, this goes to show that deep down we jews are just as stupid and full of shit as any other creed that believes in the science fiction we call religion.

These mumzers beat up a hasidic man and called him a snitch. Honestly I can't stand these people and I never could. Go back to the 18th century you stinky wannabe Amish. Cuomo and de Blasio are trying their best to keep you idiots from getting sick. I guess fundamentalists are fundamentalists, no matter what brand of koolaid you are drinking, even the rabbinically blessed.

At the protests earlier Wednesday, Mr. Yeger spoke against the plan, telling gatherers in Brooklyn that the state was interfering with their right to practice religion.

“We are not going to be deprived of the right that we have in America, like everybody else in America, to observe our religion,” Mr. Yeger said, according to video posted online by Boro Park News, an Orthodox Jewish news organization. “I don’t care who in government thinks that they can stop us. They are wrong. Let them try.”

Mr. Yeger was joined by Heshy Tischler, a local activist who disrupted a city news conference on the coronavirus uptick and has spent recent days decrying the recent rise in cases as a hoax.

Way to sound like goyim, idiots. Nobody is going to interfere with our right to kill ourselves and who cares who we infect? By the way, Covid is blowing up in the Orthodox areas of New York.

The restrictions came amid clusters of Covid-19 cases in parts of Brooklyn, Queens and outlying NYC suburbs of Rockland and Orange counties. The clusters are in areas with large Orthodox Jewish populations, and Cuomo has blamed the outbreaks in part on a lack of mask-wearing in the community.

The clusters of cases have alarmed officials in the city, which just reopened schools for in-person classes last week. Further spread of Covid-19 in these neighborhoods and elsewhere could jeopardize that reopening for the entire city.

Hey Boy George! Wear a mask! It's to keep you safe.

Holey Moley

 

Spirit

Supreme Court wussed out and screwed Spirit big time today with the Taurus non ruling. Led Zeppelin stole much from their one time tour mates. Sardonicus is one of the greatest albums ever recorded. Long live the late Randy California! Zep, go to hell!

Cass Sunstein on equality and originalism

Excellent piece if you can get through the Bloomberg paywall.

Originalist Judges Have a Problem With Equality. Supreme Court conservatives know that race and sex discrimination by the federal government isn’t barred by the Constitution’s original meaning.

Judges who are committed to the “original public meaning” of the Constitution would almost certainly have to allow the federal government to say, “No women need apply.” They would probably have to conclude that if Congress wants federal agencies to pay men twice as much as women, the Constitution does not stand in the way. Originalist judges would find it exceedingly difficult not to rule that under the Constitution, Congress can segregate the schools in the District of Columbia. Originalist judges would probably have to conclude that if Congress wants to restrict African-Americans to lower-level positions within the federal government, the Constitution is not an obstacle. On originalist premises, a “whites only” policy would be constitutionally fine, insofar as we are speaking of the decisions of the U.S. government. Here’s why. The Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, adopted in the aftermath of the Civil War, applies only to the states, which may not “deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." The Bill of Rights, which does apply to the federal government, does not contain anything like an Equal Protection Clause, or any kind of ban on discrimination on the basis of race or sex.

Sort of matches my tan

Dane Cloutier R.I.P.

 

Al Green

Lockstep

In the last Pew polling (2019) Americans supported the right to an abortion in all or most cases by 61%. 38% said it should be illegal in all or most cases. This was the highest plurality recorded in over two decades. 

Today, Justices Thomas and Alito railed against Obergefell, the case that allowed same sex marriage. An even greater percentage of Americans view Same Sex marriage as a positive step, 61 to 37%. "Religious Liberty" is a new code word designed to undo all of the societal advancement and equality we have achieved in this country since Dred Scott.

Hillary Clinton won 2.9 million more votes in the last Presidential election than did her opponent Donald J. Trump. Al Gore received over 543,000 more votes than his opponent George Bush in 2000. But they both lost. Because the GOP has this thing wired up tighter than a drum and will not stop at thwarting the will of the American people.

*

Many are looking at opposition to Amy Barrett as an anti Catholic vendetta. My opposition has nothing to do with her religion, in fact the man I am voting for for President is a Catholic. My problem is with her conservative ideology. Five to three conservatives will soon be six to three thanks to the utter malignant gamesmanship of Mitch McConnell in the Merrick Garland nomination and the hypocrisy of the GOP after the death of Justice Ginsburg.

This ideological balance does not represent the makeup of our country. As a liberal I believe the court should at least roughly represent the values of our country's population. A conservative friend suggested that the court have four liberals and four conservatives and let them work it out. I have no problem with that. 

But the current hyper partisan lockstep of Thomas, Gorsuch, Alito and Kavanaugh is nauseating. Breyer and Kagen will go the other way and join the right on occasion, the conservative "originalists" or "textualists" or whatever bullshit moniker they are using this week, never do. They recite straight Federalist Society pablum and lack an iota of intellectual integrity. Corporations over people, and big business interests always trump the environment. Bought and paid for. All the horseshit about adjudicating and not legislating total b.s., they are activists of the worst order looking for a predetermined end result that rarely if ever belies their conservative instincts.

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The balance is totally out of whack. Minority rules and has expertly baked in their dominion. The rural and evangelical heartland has the coasts and urban America by the shorthairs. Their vote counts six of my votes. I don't believe our founders ever envisaged a system where a small but entrenched minority ran roughshod over the rest of us.

Pack the courts, kill the electoral college, institute term limits for SCOTUS, do whatever you have to do to provide equal representation and follow the will of the American people. It is called democracy. Continue to thumb your nose at what the majority of this country believe and you will not like the result whatsoever.

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Interesting article at Politico: For the Supreme Court, 8 Justices Would be Better than 9

As it happens, an even-numbered Supreme Court was good enough for the Founders and the first Congress. The Constitution does not specify how many justices should serve on the Supreme Court; it is up to Congress to determine the number. The very first Congress created a six-person court (one chief justice and five associate justices) when it passed the Judiciary Act of 1789.

The court’s path from six justices to nine was not a straight one. Two years after the nation’s first Judiciary Act, President John Adams and his Federalist allies shifted the court from six justices to five. Soon after, President Thomas Jefferson and Republicans returned the court’s size to six justices. Congress added a seventh justice in 1807. Congress again expanded the size of the court to nine justices 30 years later and to 10 justices during the Civil War. After the war, Congress reduced the court’s size to nine justices—where it stands today.

Power of Prayer

A lady goes to her priest one day and tells him, "Father, I have a problem. I have two female talking parrots, but they only know how to say one thing."

"What do they say?" the priest inquired.

 
"They say 'Hi, we're prostitutes. Do you want to have some fun?'"

"That's obscene!" the priest exclaimed. Then he thought for a moment. 

"You know," he said, "I may have a solution to your problem. I have two male talking parrots whom I have taught to pray and read the Bible. Bring your two female parrots over to my house, and we'll put them in the cage with Francis and Job. My parrots can teach your parrots to praise and worship and your parrots are sure to stop saying that phrase...in time."

"Thank you," the woman responded, "this may very well be the solution."

The next day, she brought her female parrots to the priest's house. As he ushered her in, she saw that his two male parrots were inside their cage, holding rosary beads and praying. Impressed, she walked over and placed her parrots in with them.

 
After a few minutes, the female parrots cried out in unison: "Hi, we're prostitutes. Do you want to have some fun?"

There was a stunned silence. Finally, one male parrot looked over at the other male parrot and exclaimed, "Put the beads away, Francis, our prayers have been answered!"     

Trump almost died for you.

The Covid 19 infections associated with the Rose Garden superspreader event just keep rolling down the pike. 

The pastor at the event, Greg Laurie, the press secretary, her two assistants, three reporters, the hits just keep on coming. And surely they are not done yet.

It would be one thing if they had used a little common sense. 

Not to covid shame but the President and his people were so damn cavalier about their teflon resistance to a microbe that has already killed over a million people worldwide. I don't quite get it.

But of course the faithful have not been moved an inch. They stand by their President with a furor that borders on religiosity. I saw a headline yesterday on a right wing blog that said that Trump got Covid for you and all I could think of was Jesus dying for your sins. Seriously? Others point to his "god tier" genetics as proof of his divine super powers.

"I think I'll be back soon." he said. "The therapeutics, which I'm taking right now ... they look like they're miracles coming down from God." Donald Trump

Today Trump tweeted,"I will be leaving the great Walter Reed Medical Center today at 6:30 P.M. Feeling really good! Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life. We have developed, under the Trump Administration, some really great drugs & knowledge. I feel better than I did 20 years ago!"

That's nice Mr. President. The 208,000 Americans who have already died and their families and loved ones are not so lucky. The many injured people who will now be battling the results of this pandemic for possibly the rest of their lives sadly are going to have Covid dominate their life for the foreseeable future. They didn't get experimental therapies or boutique medicine. And they listened to you say that it wasn't such a big deal, again and again. Over and over.

The Trump campaign is trying to treat the medical issue as a plus. See Trump Campaign Attacks Joe Biden for Not Having COVID-19. They are actually going after Joe Biden for not contracting the disease.

Director of Communications Erin Perrine says “Firsthand experience is always going to change how someone relates to something that’s been happening,” she said. “The president has coronavirus right now. He is battling it head on, as toughly, as only President Trump can. And of course that’s going to change the way that he speaks of it because it will be a firsthand experience.”

When Smith pressed Perrine to explain why the pandemic has taken a backseat to the economy and “law and order” in the Trump campaign’s messaging, the aide insisted that he’s “talked about coronavirus as well.”

“He’s talked about it all,” she continued. “And listen, he has experience as commander-in-chief, he has experience as a businessman, he has experience, now, fighting the coronavirus as an individual. Those firsthand experiences, Joe Biden, he doesn’t have those.”

Lumping in contracting COVID-19 with the president’s record of “creating jobs” and serving a commander-in-chief, Perrine concluded, “Those firsthand experiences are what are going to get President Trump four more years. So of course he talks about it differently now that he has lived through it.”

If I were you Donald I would get back to work lickety split. You have an election to win. Forget the doctors telling you to take it easy. You are the chosen one, the miracle man, never forget. Time's a wasting. God wants you to win. Or so I've heard.

WILLIAM PENN FYVE - Swami

This came up on my YouTube feed today. Great Garage Psych. More here. I didn't know Mickey Hart ever played with them. Interesting notes in the description, including these:

Though their only single was issued under the name The William Penn Fyve, this band actually performed as William Penn and His Pals. They formed in late 1964 at the College of San Mateo in California and had many personnel changes prior to the release of the 45. Original singer Neil Holtman took the stage name William Penn (after the founder of the Province of Pennsylvania), but after he left the group vocal duties were mainly handled by keyboard player Gregg Rolie, who went on to join Santana and then Journey. At one point the band had two drummers, one of whom was Mickey Hart, later of The Grateful Dead.

To fit in with the historical associations of their name, the band played in old fashioned English long coats and tri-cornered hats, though they updated their image when they opened for Paul Revere and The Raiders, as they didn’t want to be seen as imitating the American Revolutionary War-era uniforms that the headliners often wore.
Aside from high school and junior college gigs, the group also played at the likes of the Longshoreman’s Hall in San Francisco, took part in a Battle of the Bands against The Warlocks (the early Grateful Dead), and were supported on one occasion by Big Brother and the Holding Company.
William Penn and His Pals had recorded demos for Fantasy Records, including an early version of ‘Blow My Mind’ with the dual drummer line-up, but in the end opted for their 45 to be released on the Thunderbird label in November 1966.

For Lovin' Me

Not Eddie Arnold, Eddie Albert. Yes, that one. Very interesting bio by the way. Bronze star winner, circus trapeze performer, spy, activist, eventually blacklisted. Moved to Hooterville.

A walk on the Avenue.

I have seen a few things in my six decades of life that I can not entirely explain. Some of these oddities I would be a fool to confess, even today, for fear of being taken for a mere drunkard or a lunatic, some I trust shall lie with me unspoken until my grave, as they border on the paranormal or occult.

But one thing I saw still keeps me craving for an explanation and I believe that there must be a fairly simple and concrete one somewhere. You see my dear wife Leslie was with me and she saw it too. And I believe that the hallucination that is borne collectively has at least double the usual verité, no?

We were in Paris, strolling one brisk morning on the Champs Elysees. In those days we liked to stay in Arrondissement 14, the Consular district. The right bank offers one a peace that can rarely be found in the loud streets of St. Germaine. We enjoyed the little cheese and patisserie shops we found near our favorite Hotel, the Kepler.

And while it is true we had both quenched our thirst the night before with a delicious bottle or two of cheap St. Emilion from Lussac, I swear we were both of sound mind and temperament on that particular day.

I won't belabor this. We were walking past the closed shops when suddenly a glass tube rose right silently out of the sidewalk, as if by hydraulics or suction. A man in a black coat and a bowler hat and fairly blank expression, carrying a briefcase and an umbrella, stepped out of the tube and onto the quiet street, the fellow quickly vanished into the urban landscape.

No sooner did he make his exit than the tube descended and soundlessly disappeared back into the concrete, leaving nary a trace of its very existence. We both looked at each other in amazement. Did we just see that? Have we entered a private hallucination of Renée Magritte? Our brains cried out for a rational explanation. We looked around for confirmation but we happened to be the only people on the street at that singular moment.

I have asked a few Parisians to explain what we saw, these glass silos capable of popping a bowler capped man on the sidewalk and then silently vanishing, but have truthfully never received a proper explanation of what exactly took place. Forgive me for sounding so ignorant, after all we were merely two young uneducated souls from the rural provinces.

But now with the internet, in my older age, I figure I can now ask such a question without fear of scorn or opprobrium. What exactly were we witnessing that day? Perhaps you have seen it too?

Dawg's Breath

The brilliant Hedy Lamarr

Ill feelings

 

It is tough to wish ill on any other human being. 

Unless, they are a real son of a bitch and have it coming, of course.

Let's say their actions and ineptitude have caused several hundred thousand lives to prematurely expire for instance.

Or their carelessness and cluelessness puts many others at needless risk.

But please understand I am only talking hypotheticals here. 

Still it is tough to be frank in situations like this without looking like an asshole. Even when people have put their head in their own noose through sheer stupidity and ineptitude.

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Poor Claudia Conway is probably on restriction again after outing her mother's new Covid 19 diagnosis on TikTok.

“My mom coughing all around the house after trump tested positive for covid,” she captioned one video, which featured audio of Cardi B saying, “That’s suspicious.” In another video, she describes her own symptoms, writing, “when my lungs hurt and its hard for me to breathe,” though in a livestream shortly following mom Kellyanne’s announcement, she says she hasn’t been tested as of yet, but would be tomorrow and is, unfortunately, “pretty sure” she has it.

'“Update my mom has covid,” Claudia Conway wrote on one post. “im furious. Wear your masks. dont listen to our idiot fucking president piece of shit. protect yourself and those around you,” she posted on another.

Good for you Claudia. No one is going to go after a fifteen year old for speaking the truth so you get a pass. Some serious straight talk about your mother's boss. Sounds like she has her head on straight. Takes after her father. But she could use a little help with her punctuation.

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Seriously, the gall of the GOP, now rushing into their victim mode, for not obeying the most basic precautions which are not only designed to help protect them but everybody else. Maskless super spreader events in the Rose Garden and in Minnesota, flouting conventions and rules like the entire Trump family refusing to wear masks at the recent event in Cleveland (taking them off when the event started) or Trump arriving at the last debate too late to get tested as required. Refusing to wear masks, refusing to quarantine.

The rules only apply to some I guess. And now the chickens are coming home to roost. Stepian, Tillis, Christie, Johnson, Conway, Lee, Jenkins McDaniel, Hicks, Trump, all infected and surely more to come. All mask nonbelievers.

The people I feel sorry for are the press, who were forced to cover these stooges, Several are now themselves infected.

Of course, the reaction from the right wing press and blogosphere is typical and predictable. 

It is either a targeted Chinese plot, because so few dems have gotten sick or it is god's will and was bound to happen eventually anyway. Never take responsibility for anything.

Beautiful.

Chin Music

 

Bob Gibson has passed. The extremely talented pitcher, who played his whole career with the Cardinals, was one of the greatest pitchers of his generation and all time, winning multiple Cy Youngs and MVP awards. He had an ERA of 1.12 in 1968 and was so dominant that baseball lowered the mound the next year to give hitters a chance.

And he, along with Drysdale, was one of the two fiercest competitors I have ever seen. Man would flat knock you down. And you didn't pull Bob Gibson out of a game, a fast worker, he had 251 wins in 255 complete games. Not like these little babies we have today. They don't make them like Bob Gibson anymore.

Marty Balin (1942-2018)

Dealt Lemons, Make Lemonade!

 

Sadly, our poor president has been infected with the very microbe that he has tried to minimize and ridicule so much in the last year. Should have worn a mask but really, who knew? Hoax, Shmoax! Everything is a hoax until its your fat in the fryer, I suppose.

All of our best wishes certainly go out for a speedy culmination to his current travails and best wishes to his wonderful family. 

But I had a thought, perhaps he can still turn this whole deal around and to his advantage. FDR had Fireside chats, how about Ventilator side chats with the American people?  More like a ginormous 24/7 reality show and hopefully one with a Kardashian tie in. We can pretend she is a nurse. Get me the one with the big rear end. And someone with a huge head of hair like Dr. Zorba.

The ratings will be through the roof! The eminent radiologist Dr. Scott Atlas can sit on the foot of the bed and continually tell him how great he is doing. Mark Meadows can have bedpan duty. Maybe time to bring Sean Spicer back for a guest appearance? He can do crowd counts. Nobody has played the role of the obsequious toady quite like he did. Whole country will watch and be cheered by El Prez's joi de vivre and infectious optimism. Can't wait for the series. It will be y-u-u-u-u-u-ge!

From Roxanne

 

Rocky Raccoon

It's only a scratch, I'll be better as soon as I am able. So Donnie Raccoon, fell back in his room, only to find Gideon's bible...

Egret, San Elijo

 

karma

Ohio coal magnate Robert Murray has filed for black lung benefits, report says

Amazing turn of events

Wow, who could have seen this one coming? The President and wife now positive for covid. Guess Biden wasn't so dumb to wear a mask and take precautions against the big hoax after all. Wonder if Dr. Scott Atlas will be treating him?

Expecting the wurst

Wisconsin GOP Deeply Worried About Racing Sausages At Polling Places

 There's a headline that certainly caught my eye:

The Wisconsin GOP is very concerned that giant racing sausages might get people excited about voting in this election, and the party is seeking to ban them from early voting locations. 

Seriously? Is the sight of a dancing kielbasa so utterly tempting that it could actually cause you to change your vote or even to vote at all?

Yeah, me too.

Delmore Brothers

Carla

 

I found out yesterday that one of my favorite Fallbrookians passed away in May. Somehow, not being a local paper reader, the news escaped me.

Carla Tinker was a child of the south, from Virginia, I believe. Or maybe North Carolina. Sharp as a tack, smart as a whip, could curse like a sailor and always let you know how she felt. Didn't pussyfoot around about things. Didn't suffer fools.

I was very impressed with Carla because she had a stint at the CIA but she would downplay whatever actual role she had there. Carried mail in Fallbrook for a long time.

She was a loving soul and good friend. I will never forget her support when I was going through my early medical issues.  I tried to repay the favor when she went through her own bad stretch. Never forget her standing in line at Major Market looking frail as a bird right after a hard surgery. Tough but tender. One of a kind.

I will miss her.

One chance...

I had a rather gripping dream last night that I thought I would recount, along with a personal real life anecdote. It's fading now and slightly fuzzy but it went something like this:

I am in tall brush, perched above a path on a high hill, when I spot the grizzly bear, that looks rather angry, heading straight up the mountain for me. Out of the corner of my eye, I notice a wild mustang also converging to the same point. If he does run right by me I have one chance of survival, if I can cleanly mount him and not lose my seat I might get away from the bear and live. I was engaged in wild calculation when the dream ended, can't tell you how things worked out.

But it did make me think of a real life corollary. It is the late 1970's and I am a project manager building a subdivision in Carlsbad, off of Tamarack. I have a construction trailer parked at the end of a street, with a steep canyon behind the trailer.

I am driving out of the street when I hear the phone ring in the trailer. There were no cell phones back then, remember, we actually used land lines, they were essential. I jumped out of the pickup to get the phone.

As I ran into the trailer to get the call, I noticed that I had failed to set the brake on my Mazda pickup truck, the bat out of hell fast one with the Wankel engine. Which was at that very moment slowly rolling its way towards the cliff. I was jogging next to it, keeping up with it, now even with the door. I just might have time to open the door and set the brake and stop it, but there was an equal chance that my time window was now so short that I would end up going over the cliff with it if I tried. Hmmm?

Discretion won over valor this time and I forlornly watched the yellow pickup with cab slowly go end over end and tumble down the steep grade. Very frustrating. Miraculously, I had a loader operator hook a chain on it and drag it back up out of the ravine. Even with the double flip in pike position, with the exception of a small dent or two in the cab it was no worse for wear. That was a great pickup truck.

Surely beats getting mauled by a grizzly bear.

Another letter from Pat across the pond.

 Hey Robert,

I hope this finds your infection gone...

I was intrigued to read about Steelhead trout in yer blog.

When I worked in the salmon industry in SE Alaska it was fairly common to see a Steelhead come in.

Not sure some of the fishermen knew the difference between them and salmon.

Quite similar to a Coho in looks but a little sleeker and longer.

Commonly a troll boat would land a selection of Chinook (king), Coho (silver), Sockeye, Chum (dog) and pink (humpies) salmon with the odd Steelhead, Red Snapper, Brown Bomber and cod thrown in.

I don't think any of the Steelhead made it out of the plant, probably being snaffled by employees before they got frozen.

My personal favourite was Sockeye. Such a beautiful fish. Many were diverted from the grading line into my fridge.

I do believe at that time most of the Coho were sent to France for smoking. The Chinook mostly went for fancy banquets and barbecues as they were so big. 

I thought the pinks were destined for cat food but have seen it tinned in shops...not that I would ever eat one. Smelly vile things.

Given the choice, I would always opt for the Steelhead or the Sockeye. (and the king crab - but we don't want to tell too much....)

And on another note - when I was growing up (ed. in Scotland), my father usually had a gill net out as he didn't have much money and 5 kids to feed.

Quite regularly we had sea trout for dinner. Not sure if that was some Atlantic species or just salmon called by another name to avoid being called a poacher...

All the best

Px