Sets the Mood

Led Zeppelin - Immigrant Song (1972)
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Chuang qian ming yue guang

Yi shi di shang shuang.

Ju tou wang ming yue,

Di tou si gu xiang.

Before bed bright moon light

Looks like frost on the ground

Lift head to gaze at bright moon

Lower head to dream of home.

Student production from Jilin Normal University, located in Shenyang. I will be teaching at Dongbei Normal University which is in Changchun.

We'll Be Waiting

Hope this author misses Powell's for his book tour. Dublin ain't got nothin on PDX. Flip-flops! We'll be throwing our caulks.

This war criminal decided to go to war.

That's my Peeps!

DUBLIN – Protesters hurled shoes and eggs Saturday at former British Prime Minister and Carlyle Group whore Tony Blair who held the first public signing of his memoir amid high security in Ireland's capital. Hundreds more people lined up to have their books autographed — evidence that the divisions left by Blair's decade as British leader have yet to heal.

Blair's new book, "A Journey," has angered opponents of his policies, especially the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

About 200 demonstrators chanted that Blair had "blood on his hands" as the warmonger and profiteer arrived at a Dublin bookstore. Shoes, eggs and other projectiles were thrown toward Blair as he emerged from a car, but did not hit him. A flip-flop could be seen lying on the roof of a BMW in Blair's motorcade.

I can only hope that Bush gets the same treatment when he goes on book tour, not to mention Cheney. Blair says in the book that he is not sorry for his decision to enter the U.S.-led war, although he has wept for its victims. He is donating all proceeds from the book to a charity for wounded troops. How about the dead ones?

Dominating the News Cycle

Visited His Vorpal Sword today and read this. You should too. I have only read Ben Smith in other people's commentary on the web, and the same for Politico. Sarah Palin's climb to the top of the media whore mountain reminds me of something...

Broke 80 Today

Played 18 at Glendoveer today, and finally had a day where I putted well and played well. I could tell I am out of shape though as I faded down the stretch and started leaving things out to the right. No doubles, one 6, one birdie. Drove the ball great, played from the fairway all day.

Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 out 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 in tot

Par 4-4-4-3-4-4-4-4-5 36 4-4-3-4-4-5-4-4-3 35 71

Brian 4-4-5-3-3-4-4-4-5 37 5-4-3-5-5-6-5-4-4 41 78

Land Visit

Margo & I camped on the property this week. Weather was beautiful, shooting stars were infrequent (Persids, next week) but large. We mowed the meadow, cut brush until the handle broke on the machine, and chainsawed. And picked up the tarpaper that winter had ripped off the platform. Margo watered the trees by the road.

Land Visit 08/2010

Social Security

James Roosevelt is right on.

Star Trek In The Park

Went to see a performance of the episode Space Seed, the episode which introduces the character Khan. The performance was a word for word show of the teleplay. Totally awesome. Rode our bikes over to Woodlawn Park with our neighbors Dan & Michelle, and picnicked.

The night before we had attended the R. Crumb show at the Portland Art Museum (NO PICTURES!!11!).

Seal Rock

Lois' Viewing Platform

The Mission: Raise Lois' swivel rocking chair so she doesn't have to climb the stairs several times a day, and can still enjoy her view. Our simple but elegant and sustainable solution was to build the platform from 3 pallets of the appropriate size and lay down a plywood sheet and screw the pallets to the sheet.

We then used two pallets, of slightly smaller size to make a tiered step. We had materials to build one more tier, but lois tried it out at both levels and decided to go with two. I could tell she liked it by the time we left.

I like that it is portable and can be carried out when not needed. Would make a great travelling band stand.

Wine Bottle Brick Wall

Margo has been building a Wine bottle wall in the space of the old garage door.

Healthy Bees

My Bees have returned strong this year. I await the Fall and see if they leave again.

2010 Oregon Country Fair

2010 OCF

More Like This!!

From one good move and Boing Boing. Looks like a touchdown to me!

Damn! Bike Stolen!

Blue Specialized Mountain Bike Black Rack Head Lamp Tail Lamp. Ride to work every day. Nothing Fancy, Good Dependable Ride.

Stolen from my back yard, I hadn't locked up the chickens and knew my bike was unlocked but on the patio. Easy to see my pile of parts bikes through the fence, If I had my shoes on would have caught him.

Suspect: Black Male 6ft Avg build White T shirt Black/Blue jeans. Last seen turning south on NE 9th at Jessup.

Wow! What happens on a day off.

Man drowns Monday while clam digging near Fort Stevens State Park.

Gotta watch out for those sneaker waves. The clamming was great. We had fried razor clams for breakfast Saturday morning in Astoria. Glad I wasn't at work.

New Job!

Been trained on a lot of things at work, but mostly will be checking people in at registration, then at the end of my shift touring the loops looking for messes and any problems, driving out to the Peter Iredale (P.I. in the lingo) and Lot D to lock the restrooms, lock the gates at Coffenbury and Battery Russell, et cetera. Rode my bike to work a couple of times, saw big herd of elk. One night locking up the P.I. saw the biggest cow elk! Like a moose.

People I work with are great. Ft Stevens largest campground west of the Mississippi. All sites have power and water, half have water, power, and sewer. Only one loop for tent campers, and one loop for bicycle campers (can use the regular sites anyway). We are booked every weekend through the summer starting next weekend, and many weeks through the middle of the summer are fully booked.

[Took a break for dinner and to get back in uniform so Margo could take a picture.]

Deceased Minke whale beached on Clatsop Spit, was buried before I could see it. Cause of death: alleged ingested plastic bags. Big wind storm this week, very low pressure system, but no problems this time.

Liquified Natural Gas Port and Pipeline

Bradford Landing LNG port and pipeline deal is "suspended". I believe the business term is "sunk costs".

NorthernStar Natural Gas Inc. said Tuesday that it is suspending efforts to develop a liquefied natural gas import terminal on the Columbia River, 25 miles east of Astoria. The announcement ends a six-year effort that consumed as much as $100 million of investors' capital and countless hours of regulatory work while sparking a firestorm of public opposition from property owners and environmentalists. The Houston-based energy development company sent out a one-page news release Tuesday afternoon quoting NorthernStar President Paul Soanes saying extended delays in state and federal permitting and the difficult investment environment "have forced us to suspend development." The company characterized its move as a "suspension" of the project, not a termination. It did not return follow-up calls on Tuesday.

Evolve!

Ten resistant species of weeds in at least 22 states are infesting millions of acres.

But farmers sprayed so much Roundup that weeds quickly evolved to survive it. Read the whole thing here.