dooot tooo dooot tooot otoot (crow humming along)

It's a winter wonderland out there and I'm so nice and snuggly in the crow's nest. Pixie has the place all primed with candles, wintry tunes and such. I'd invite you all over but, we'll be out for a while enjoying the snow from inside our favorite local Italian restaurant.

ciao

Happy Thanksgiving!

Monday Morning Hog

Just your average morning bike commute. Helmet, Check. Garage door closed, Check. Fat lady in a minivan yelling at me obey traffic laws, Check. Me responding by telling her to shut her pie hole, Check. Getting the fuck you finger before 7 am, Check and priceless.

Here’s the thing, I was wrong. I scooted around you a few mornings ago, and I did it again today. I like to run the light there at Pacific and Rockefeller because when I do, I have a better chance of riding the length of Pacific Ave. without having to stop at every stinking, west-bound traffic control light. It’s the golden ride when the morning commute is stop free. Mmmm, the golden ride. So, minivan-driving-fatty, get used to me buzzing by your crappy van, which probably represents your crappy life, because I’m not going to stop chasing the golden ride because of your sour puss flipping me off in the morning.

May I make a suggestion? Why not park your van a few blocks away, for free, and waddle that fat ass of yours into work a few times a week? And hey, if it suits you, maybe you can j-walk just to piss off those suckers trapped at the light in their gas guzzling automobiles. It’ll be fun, and I promises, I won’t tell on you.

Veteran, Father, Husband, Man

Armistices Day, known in the United States as Veterans Day began on November 11, 1918, the day World War I came to a screeching halt. Guns were thrown down, parades celebrating the end of fighting erupted, and the world began to move toward life without war.

Veterans day is about the men and women who are serving, or have served and are still living.

So on Veterans Day, I remember and honor my father, a living veteran of the United States Air Force. I don’t know too much about my father’s service, or what he did for America. He kept this portion of his life private, perhaps to protect his children from the grim reality of a soldier’s duty. Strangely, I hear more stories about the Air Force when he is sharing “war stories” with a few of my friends who are currently serving.

While I don’t have a clear picture of my father’s service, I do remember certain specific details. I clearly recall that he sometimes wore a green, one-piece flight suit that he called “The bag.” Closer to the end of his career, he mostly wore tidy, dark blue slacks and a crisp, light blue, short-sleeve shirt. One snowy grey day, my grade school sent the students home early. The roads were horribly slippery. My bus lost traction and ground to a complete stop while negotiating a steep up-hill stretch. My father happened upon the bus, while in his blues, and asked the driver if he could help. Yes! was the answer. In a few short minutes my father had spread enough sand under the wheels of the bus get us going safely. As the bus slowly labored away, I remember looking out the steamy window to see my father standing, ready, at the side of the road incase the bus’s progress stalled again. This was the type of soldier my father was, and I was never so proud.

Today, he is soldiering in a different battle. Daily, he struggles to care for my mom who suffered a debilitating stoke several years ago. She is paralyzed on the left side of her body and suffers near total speech and writing limitations. Without my father, my mom could not survive outside a cold, impersonal, long-term care institution.

He is her daily savior. He tenderly checks her blood three times a day (due to her diabetes) and logs the results in a hand written chart of his own making. He cooks, cleans, mows the lawn when it’s not flooded and feeds the dog. He talks on the telephone in speakerphone-mode so my mom can hear, and so he can add color or needed explanation to supplement her five-word vocabulary. He effective translates an ever-growing non-verbal language, which they share, including the many meanings of my mom’s favorite spoken word, “Zahugh.” As I encourage my father to chop off the few remaining holdouts on his failing comb-over, he assists my mom to color her hair as she always has. They shop on Tuesdays, gamble and have lunch out on Wednesdays and make hair or doctors appointments on Thursdays. Of course, in all activities, my dad patiently totes a heavy wheelchair, assists my mom in and out of the car and generally helps her get to where they are going.

He never asks for help.

They are two people, my dad and mom, but these days it is truly as though they function as one unit. My dad’s Air Force sensibility will bristle at this next sentiment. My father truly is an army of one. This is the type of soldier, father, husband and man he is, and I’ve never been so proud.

Voting, cows and old ladies

Ahh, it looks like all the voting good stuff has been realized. However, I’ll reserve glee for a later date. In the mean time, cows are floating away up in the Snohomish River Valley. Whoever is doing the rain dance in the closet; you can stop now. Today I saw livestock being led to higher ground. Wow. The humans helping the animals had a strange sober look that I’m sure I’ve never seen before. I took one photo of an outhouse floating by, but I didn’t think much of the shot. Instead, I’ve included this nice old women hiding in Brooklyn. Enjoy!

Let it rain

Hello all you I-933 supporters out there. Ah, the end of those pesky government takings is almost upon us. For those speculative folks out there, I’ve taken the liberty of snapping this photo of some land currently under water, due to flooding, which will be prime land for development when the flood waters recede. It’s flat, in the flood plain, and close to a major road. Plus, who doesn’t want riverfront views? Of course, the mean ol’ government now has regulations that prevent development of this outstanding lot nestled smack dab in the middle of the Snohomish River riparian area. With the potential passage of I-933, you could sue the government because they won’t let you build a gas station here. Think of all the money you’ll lose if your were to be prevented from burying several 50,000 gallon underground fuel storage tanks on this lot. Don’t worry; meteorologists say that this type of storm and record flooding will only occur once a decade. Of course, if heavy rains and flood waters diluting your fuel supply get you down, you could just take the easy way out, keep it natural, and accept a fat pay-off from the tax payers of Washington State. Remember; with I-933 when your real-estate investment tanks because of oppressive, intrusive and completely-out-of-line regulation, like no building in a flood plain, then you are entitled to compensation. Enjoy! PS, this photo was taken at noon. High tide will be at 8pm tonight. Count on another 1-3 feet of water rise. Hmm, that would be where I was standing … on top of the dike.

Sunday Mind Blog

This should be the Sunday mind numbing blog or perhaps the Sunday never mind blog.... The thought has crossed my mind to just post this post without editing or spell checking. That would be truly dangerous and a direct window in to my small crow intellect.

Anyhow, Check out YELP.com. It's a cool review it type website.

Lots of the places you like to go, or would like to go and have never been due to no knowledge. Well, yelp to the rescue. People like you have likely yelped most places. It takes a little of the guesswork out of what ever it is that you want to do. If no yelping has occurred and you are the first, well you can log a first yelp review on the site.

Cheers.

who hayers and poo pooers!

Andrew, Dem nay-sayers and GOP hay-makers, your whole shtick about the poor soldiers and how long it took Kerry to apologize smacks of so much hypocrisy. First, it’s an army comprised of “volunteers” from woefully economically disadvantaged regions of our country. The presumption that our soldiers are straight off of the Microsoft campus is silly. These are kids who are agreeing to carry an American gun in a dangerous, hostile place with the hope of making better life back home. So you gotta ask, what is going on back home that they are willing to volunteer and risk death to make a better life for themselves? So, props to our soldiers. Second, it’s all GOP political spin to take voters' eyes off the real issues. (See blog entry, The Truth, 10/26.) GOPies have seized on Kerry’s statement, the lack of apology and the “flip flop.” Blah Blah Blah. Kerry made a statement, realized it was received poorly, heard calls for an apology and finally tried to make amends with those he has offended. By contrast, Bush and Co have made decisions to go to war, ignored mounting evidence that it was going poorly and stayed the course, heard calls for change and stayed the course, endured mounting death tolls and still stayed the course. Kerry made a statement that offended. Bush and co. make decisions that end with dead soldiers and 338 billion dollars in spending for what end?

Stupid

So Kerry made a mistake. So what? Various hay makers are noting that Kerry basically said that if you are stupid, you’ll end up in Iraq. Soldiers are up in arms. GOP leaders are gnashing their teeth, while Bush demands an apology. Who is Bush to demand an apology from the dude he beat two years ago? Besides, it’s not as if Bush has never said anything stupid. The fact that the GOP is latching on to Kerry’s lame statement is just proof that there is not substance to anything else they are saying.

Lets examine the sentiment of Kerry’s statement. If you are stupid you’ll end up in Iraq. Hello, we’ve been mired there four years with a dogged get ‘er done/ stay the course policy. We’ve killed more than 2000 service men and women, maimed countless others, ravaged Iraqi country side and heaped massive costs upon ourselves and for what great result? We attacked a country that had no WMD and can’t do anything about the other two axi of evil who freely admit to having or wanting nuclear weapons. Reliable sources note we are less safe now with regard to terrorism than ever before.

So yes, Kerry made a mistake. He has apologized and will likely continue to prostrate himself for the next several days. The fact remains though that Kerry didn’t put soldiers on the ground in Iraq. Bush and Co did. Kerry hasn’t maintained a stay the course attitude in the stark face of failure. Bush and Co has. Kerry didn’t vote for Bush in the last two elections, but just enough American voters did. So, who is stupid now?

WAR

Still counting away at the cash spent in Iraq. Whoholamama that’s a lot of cash! Why are we, as a country, spending so much money in little ol’ Iraq? Oh yeah, the war. That’s right folks, we are at war. You know war; it’s where we send our people to other countries to kill other people and be killed by the people we sent our people to kill. You know, war! War is a bunch of killing, shooting to kill, killing to prevent more killing and killing to prevent the fear of killing in the name of terror. I think, though, there has not been enough killing to awaken the consciousness of America. Perhaps the good citizens of America whom only endure a yearly excess of 20,000 firearm related deaths, (according the CDC,) need to experience more killing in the name of war to get the picture. Perhaps more killing is necessary for citizens to realize that war is brutal, fucked up, tortured POWs, child killing, wholesale human slaughter, and that just staying the course might not be such a great idea. Perhaps more photographs of the killing zone or army hospital operating rooms piled high with amputated legs, arms and ruined lives need to flood our sanitized media. Perhaps all the cheap crap imported from China should be rationed so we can actually feel the killing we are paying so much money for. Perhaps voters won’t be mislead by all manner of distraction in the few days prior to NOVEMBER 7th. I know John Kerry likes to stick his foot in his mouth, but don’t forget, no matter how the GOP spins his dufusoidal jokes, war still grinds on. WAR WAR WAR! Four years of war and killing folks! Perhaps, the entirety of the Christian right and all the social conservatives hell bent on abolishing choice and preventing gays from marriage will realize that the side show in which they so fervently believe is just a spectacle distracting the masses from the real, grim reality of death by war. Remember, it’s the war with all that killing that’s costin’ 330 billion and counting.