U. Utah Phillips

I just learned that Bruce "U. Utah" Phllips passed on May 23, 2008. I didn't know him well, and in fact only met him once, in the early 1970's. It was at a recording session at Philo Records, in No. Ferrisburg, Vermont. I was there with my friend Martin Grosswendt, who was doing session work on the mandolin, if I recall correctly. With me were my then-girlfriend Glenda and her young daughter Gretchen. Gretchen, about three, asked if she could sit on Bruce's lap. He growled in a friendly way, "how do I know if you're housebroke?" as he slid her onto his lap.

RIP Bruce.

Don't Go to the Doghouse this Christmas

Think Before You Sign

Sign the petition to ban Di-Hydrogen Monoxide??? Think again.

In the Oval Office

I did not vote for Barack Obama. I did not want him to be president, but as of January 20, 2009, he will be my President, and I wish him success.

From Beldar Blog: Ann Althouse is right: This photograph of Dubya and Obama in the Oval Office is "[a]rtfully composed and deeply historic." It's flattering to both men, and although it cannot soothe all or even most of my worries about the impending Obama Administration, it's nevertheless reassuring in many important ways.

No, this isn't me... It's the Gman on his C109RT on a bilind 25 mph right hander.

Rattlesnake Grade

Saturday morning saw me warming up the bike and heading over to Ed and Susie's to meet up with them for a ride over to Clarkston and on to Rattlesnake Grade. My first ride on the Grade!!! The weather was coolish, and I was glad I wore my heavier riding jacket and fall gloves. Later it warmed up into the mid-to-upper 70's, just about the best riding weather you can ask for.

About 5 miles east of Dayton, we were riding along at the speed limit when a large deer jumped across the road in front of Ed and Susie, who were riding on their Goldwing. I was behind a bit and a sportbike rider was behind me. Luckily, the deer was 10-20 yards in front of the bike when it jumped, so there was no danger of a hit. We all slowed down, though, because where there's one, there are usually others. Didn't see any more deer until the ride back, and the one I saw was well off roadway.

We stopped in Clarkston for gas, then got underway. From this point, it was all new roadway to me. Rattlesnake Grade lives up to its reputation. Lots of ttwisties, and an excellent motorcycle road. We followed a BMW 1200R with sidecar down the last part of the grade, and into the parking lot at Boggan's Oasis. Talking later with the sidecar rider, we were informed the sidecar setup cost him $10,000. Yikes!!!

Tom and Mary Ellen Carter had ridden over Friday on their Goldwing, towing trailer, and were camped by the Grande Ronde River. We visited with them at their campsite for a while, and then we all headed up to the restaurant for hamburgers, real homemade potato salad and homemade pie. Bill and Betty were great hosts and made us feel right at home. This place is a must-stop destination for anyone riding between Clarkston and Enterprise.

We got on the road around 2:30 pm and headed back up the way we came. Ed had led on the way down, and I led on the way out. The twisties on this road are not to be trifled with. At the beginning of the twisties, the sign says "25 mph next 9 miles." Needless to say, we exceeded that guideline by a little bit. Stopped on the way up for pictures. Outstanding views from up there.

The rest of the ride back to Walla Walla was uneventful, although about 2 miles east of Dayton, we came on a motorcyclist at the side of the road waving us down. We stopped for the new Harley V-Rod (complete with temporary tags) and I flipped up my helmet. The other rider (a woman) said, "I know you." Turned out it was [name omitted to prevent embarrassment], who had run out of gas. Ed and Susie rode down the road to the house of a friend, who wasn't home, but they found a gas can in the barn and brought back a 12 oz water bottle full of gas, which was enough to get [name omitted to prevent embarrassment] onto Dayton, where she gassed up.

I pulled into the driveway around 5:45, tired and 275 miles in the saddle on this fine fall day.

Ride pics posted at SmugMug

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!!!

Happy Fourth of July to one and all!

Dave Matthews - "Dream Girl"

One of my favorite Dave Matthews songs. The video is a little off-beat, if you ask me.

Stop-Loss - Another Hollywood War Movie Disaster

Well, the Hollywood Elites continue not to understand why average Americans want to have nothing to do with the anti-war tripe that tinseltown continues to push on us. Fortunately, no one is forced to part with hard-earned money to watch this stuff.

MTV Films' "Stop-Loss" opened Friday with a box-office take of... drumroll... $1.6 million.

"Stop-Loss" DOA
I’m told #7 Stop-Loss opened to only $1.6 million Friday from just 1,291 plays and should eke out $4 M. Although the drama from MTV Films was the best-reviewed movie opening this weekend, Paramount wasn’t expecting much because no Iraq war-themed movie has yet to perform at the box office. “It’s not looking good,” a studio source told me before the weekend. “No one wants to see Iraq war movies. No matter what we put out there in terms of great cast or trailers, people were completely turned off. It’s a function of the marketplace not being ready to address this conflict in a dramatic way because the war itself is something that’s unresolved yet. It’s a shame because it’s a good movie that’s just ahead of its time.”

Dirty Harry at Libertas has this to say about the movie (among other things):

What is possibly left to say about a poorly produced, poorly acted, poorly directed, and very poorly written anti-war film that defames our troops…? What’s left to say that hasn’t been said about the dozen or so that came before? The only new angle here is that we’re told Stop-Loss is co-written by a conservative. Either this poor guy was steamrolled flat in story meetings or it’s true that Hollywood’s idea of a conservative is someone who only kinda hates President Bush.

and this...

Stop-Loss is just an unforgivably cruel and stupid movie. Would an Army deserter wear Army fatigues? Do Hispanic soldiers really hope to get killed so their family will receive green cards? Is that even true? Would a soldier discharged in 2007 be so caught off-guard by a stop-loss order after years of publicity about it?

Hollywood needs to make a movie about the film industry. They could name it "DOA," except that name's already taken.

This is way cool!!! I want one!!!

Politics, Politics, Politics

Why do I like this picture???
(click on pic to enlarge)

Observations on Birds

We've had a bird feeder on the side of the house since last year. It's one of those tube-type feeders that has 6 feeding stations with perches. They're designed to attract smaller birds, such as Finches. This year, word was out about our feeder, which has played host to large numbers of smallish birds. After some searching online, I've identified them as Oregon Juncos and House Finches. Both are gregarious birds, who seem to get along with each other quite well.

Six weeks ago, I bought a feeder designed for thistle seed. The package represented it is good for attracting finches (I thought I already had them - House Finches?). I hung it on the window of the room we call the "library," where I spend most of my time.

Well... after a week or so, the thistle seed was discovered by the biggest flock of American Goldfinches you'd ever want to see. They are very pretty birds, and a bit smaller than the Juncos and House Finches. The males are brightly colored with yellow plumage. "Great," I thought. More birds. Not so quick. Turns out these little guys are very aggressive. They fight each other, and they even fight the other birds, and were chasing them away. My solution has been to move the thistle feeder to a window farther away from the other feeder, and I plan to move it in stages until it is on the other side of the house.

Stevens Pass from 20,000 Feet

The flight from Detroit to Seattle's Seatac Airport was pleasant and uneventful. I checked in on-line the night before and discovered Northwest had me seated in a middle seat. I changed the seat selection to Seat 40A on the Northwest 757. That is the next to the last row and the window seat on the left side of the plane. Back in my days with DOJ, this area of the plane, which is separated from the main cabin by a bulkhead, was the smoking section. I recall Dave Monson used to like sitting back there to puff on cigarettes on the short flights back from Detroit to D.C. Those days are long gone, as are the days when I could leave home at 7:30 am for an 8:10 flight out of National Airport to Detroit and be seated well in time for my flight.

Back to the journey back to wine country. The women next to me, in 40B and 40C were excellent seatmates. I rarely enjoy talking a lot with strangers on airplanes and today was no different. Luckily, neither of my seatmates wanted to engage in any extensive conversation and we all slept off and on most of the way across the country.

The day was sunny and the Cascades were magnificent. I could see Mt. Rainier, Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Adams to the south. It was not clear enough to pick up a view of Mt. Hood. No doubt Glacier Peak and Mt. Baker were in view from the right side of the plane.

This truly is a wonderful, beautiful state with a lot of variety in the landscape. The approach to Seattle took us past Wenatchee, and I could pick out Rt. 2 below and to the south. I watched for the Stevens Pass summit and sure enough was able to pick it out. It's easily identifiable from the air with the parking areas on either side of Rt. 2. We followed Rte. 2 and I was able to pick out Gold Bar (I think. Might have been Sultan). We tracked in to the North of Redmond, likely right over your house and then turned south once we were over Bothell or Lake Forest Park and flew over Seattle.

I was on the left side of the plane, so did not get a view of downtown Seattle, but the view of Lake Washington was wonderful. I even got a little nostalgic that I don't live in the area anymore.

Had a burrito at Qdoba at Seatac and caught my flight to Pasco. Shortly before I left, I watched an exchange between a woman, probably in her mid-70's, who reminded me of my mother, and the Horizon staff. Apparently the woman had been sitting there at the gate for 2 hrs waiting for a flight (to Missoula, I believe). She want up to check on the flight status and the woman at the desk told her they'd paged her 30 mins. before and she didn't respond. Apparently, her gate was changed (a frequent occurrence with Horizon - they did it to me) and the flight had left 10 minutes before. My heart went out to this woman, and I hope the airline made it right and got her on a flight to her destination.

Unfortunately, I found my battery was stone dead when I got there, so had to call AAA for a jump. Got home around 6:45 pm.

The weather in Walla Walla is snowy, cold and damp, about the same as in Michigan. I'm ready for a Mexican vacation.

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Off to Michigan

Up at 3:30 am to finish packing and the cold drive along a deserted US-12 to Pasco for the flight to Detroit, by way of Salt Lake City. My mother, who lives in SE Michigan, near Ann Arbor, has been feeling fatigued since at least spring. Her doctor was convinced her history as a long-time smoker (since the age of 14) required a diagnosis that involved pulmonary problems. He was wrong. She had an angiogram in mid-December, and significant occlusion of the coronary arteries was identified as the culprit. So, January 15 found me headed to Michigan to be there to help out and possibly for one last good-bye in case she did not make it through the surgery. After an uneventful flight from Salt Lake City on Delta, I arrived at Detroit Metro Airport at 2:30 EDT and was picked up by sister Martha and her husband Ike.