tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73512452024-03-13T12:43:45.885-07:00SkystrideriaJeremyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14270395146672933398noreply@blogger.comBlogger196125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7351245.post-33425130657608910262020-01-10T22:02:00.002-08:002020-01-10T22:02:21.454-08:00Effects of the Pill on Marine LifeI first read an article about this in a newspaper in the late 00's. But Jack at Sigma Frame has <a href="https://sigmaframe.wordpress.com/abortion-and-birth-control/">a series</a> on the detrimental effects of the birth control pill on humans. So I decided to do some more research on the detrimental effects of the pill on marine life.<br />
<br />
It turns out that estrogen, and many other hormones, is
filtered from the bloodstream and peed away. It enters the sewer system,
and then the sewage treatment plant. Does the sewage treatment plant
treat the hormones? Here in the USA the EPA does not require that to
happen. So the estrogen, both natural and synthetic, is discharged
downstream by the sewage system. So now anything that lives in or drinks
from that body of water receives elevated estrogen levels.<br />
<br />
A number of studies have been done to look at the effects of this
estrogen on marine life. They have observed feminizing effects on a
number of male organisms. One of the most interesting studies was the
first one to compare the genetic sex of frogs which had been exposed to
synthetic estrogen to the sexual organs on those frogs. Previous studies
had just watched frogs develop after they had hatched. But this one
found the genetic sex of the tadpoles first and then watched them
develop. For one of the species of frog they studied, 100% of the
genetic males developed as females.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160404090836.htm" rel="nofollow ugc">https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160404090836.htm</a><br />
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Then there was this study in Canada. The researchers helpfully put up all their findings on a Google Site.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://sites.google.com/site/experimentallakearea/4/collapse-of-a-fish-population-after-exposure-to-a-synthetic-estrogen" rel="nofollow ugc">https://sites.google.com/site/experimentallakearea/4/collapse-of-a-fish-population-after-exposure-to-a-synthetic-estrogen</a><br />
<br />
They ran an experiment where they pumped synthetic estrogen into a
lake at levels similar to that discharged by sewage systems. After
several years, the fathead minnow population had almost disappeared
because they were not able to reproduce. This then reduced the
population of the lake trout that eats them. They call it “estrogen
pollution” and they have some thoughts on the developing world, where fish are an important source of protein.<br />
<br />
I drink fresh water from my own well, as <a href="https://biblehub.com/nasb/proverbs/5.htm" rel="nofollow ugc">Solomon recommends.</a>
So I can’t blame my lack of gainz on this particular source of
estrogen. But it proves that the pill has even more detrimental effects
on us and God’s other creatures.Jeremy VanGelderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08108522223092798020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7351245.post-6016781015520684562019-10-08T14:34:00.001-07:002019-10-08T14:34:43.634-07:00The video I promised <a href="http://skystrider.blogspot.com/2019/01/layoff-projects.html">last January</a>.<br /><br /><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/X5W-VjyL_os" width="560"></iframe>Jeremy VanGelderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08108522223092798020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7351245.post-50737763003807804312019-01-28T21:01:00.001-08:002019-01-28T21:01:41.452-08:00Project time comes to an endTomorrow I begin my new job at a civil engineering firm here in Vancouver. I expect I will draft for them for years. So I wanted to spend today well. In the morning I worked on some illustrations for the <a href="http://www.innovativetrainingsolutions.info/">electrical workbook</a> that has been on my backburner for years. Between Dad's edits and my illustrations we should publish it this Spring. The mail brought two of my four W-2s for last year, so I entered them into TurboTax. By this time we had eaten lunch and the sun was shining. So I went outside with my machete and cleared some blackberries from the perrenial stream on the west side of our property. I've wanted to build a brush dam there to deepen the little pond, so I did that. I took deadfall branches from across the field, prunings from one of our apple trees, and a pine tree that had fallen over. Then I poured leaves on the upstream side of the dam to help it seal.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pFu1G-3SYnw/XE_Zp0uR6wI/AAAAAAAAB-s/fqLXhEY0JqktcitNHFPozY6oWCnRnRTeACLcBGAs/s1600/WP_001504.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pFu1G-3SYnw/XE_Zp0uR6wI/AAAAAAAAB-s/fqLXhEY0JqktcitNHFPozY6oWCnRnRTeACLcBGAs/s400/WP_001504.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Living trees interlaced with brush dam</td></tr>
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Maybe the pond will be a few inches higher after the next rainstorm. It will dry up next Summer, but we might not have to irrigate this area as early as we have before.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RkEbS2xMiuQ/XE_aXaJVvWI/AAAAAAAAB-0/kZzTukeBq8YM5yo-WTCHVzX0p-h-xnj3ACLcBGAs/s1600/WP_001505.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RkEbS2xMiuQ/XE_aXaJVvWI/AAAAAAAAB-0/kZzTukeBq8YM5yo-WTCHVzX0p-h-xnj3ACLcBGAs/s320/WP_001505.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Upstream from the dam</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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In this photo, notice the <a href="https://infogalactic.com/info/Water-meadow#Uses_of_water-meadows">water-meadow effect</a> in the stream. The moving water keeps frosts away, which helps the grass keep growing through the winter. There are several places in our field where this effect can be observed.<br />
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After finishing the brush dam I stacked some logs from our apple tree pruning last December (Lynae got me an electric chainsaw for my birthday) and put some more leaves on the garden. I <a href="https://dalrock.wordpress.com/2019/01/28/the-symbolism-of-the-line-of-men-grilling-in-the-gillette-ad/">toxically masculinized</a> some hamburgers for dinner and then I sharpened by chainsaw and put it away. So it was a good day with sunshine, sweat, and projects completed.<br />
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Speaking of completed projects, I found this spare clamp-on vise while I was working on my car. I had just watched <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2jNeObHnZY">this video</a> on YouTube, so I grabbed some sand paper and shined it up. I worked on it on and off over the past two weeks. There was still some rust on it, so I primed it with some Rust Converter and then painted it in brown and green.<br />
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Does anyone know what kind of soft jaws fit into that recess?Jeremy VanGelderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08108522223092798020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7351245.post-34578750334999867412019-01-16T16:56:00.001-08:002019-10-08T14:33:24.578-07:00Layoff ProjectsLast Friday was my last day at Pivotal Communications. So I have been banging out some of my projects at home. Since then I have:<br />
<ul>
<li>Changed my car's timing belt</li>
<li>Installed the diaper sprayer on our toilet</li>
<li>Installed a baby gate at the top of our stairs</li>
<li>Cleaned rust off of Dad's drill press</li>
<li>Cleaned, peened and sharpened my scythe blade</li>
<li>Repaired the shoulder at SR 500 and 65th Street (video later</li>
<li>Changed the CV joint in a friend's car</li>
<li>Been to dentist and chiropractor appointments</li>
</ul>
A lot of things that have been on my to-do list I knocked out in four days. I am looking for work, but it is harder to motivate myself to find a job when I am so productive working for myself. Of course, if anyone needs a GIS Analyst or drafter, let me know. I can send out my resume.Jeremy VanGelderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08108522223092798020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7351245.post-57000308616628312152019-01-06T17:53:00.002-08:002019-01-06T17:53:09.327-08:00Fire LookoutsThe men who built and staffed fire lookouts back in the 1910s and '20s were some determined dudes. They moved the materials for these cabins to the top of some of the tallest of the Cascades. Often by pack mule, but by hand when they had too. And then they spent long summers alone, waiting to call in the location of any fire. Once World War II started the lookouts used for the Aircraft Warning Service were often staffed through the Winter as well. Long cold nights at the top of a mountain. My hat is off to them.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.willhiteweb.com/hiking/south_cascades/silver_star_mountain/silverstar1964.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.willhiteweb.com/hiking/south_cascades/silver_star_mountain/silverstar1964.jpg" data-original-height="647" data-original-width="644" height="320" width="318" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Silver Star Mountain Lookout in 1964</td></tr>
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You can read some of the stories of the lookouts and the men who manned them at <a href="http://www.willhiteweb.com/washington/fire_lookouts/former_sites/cascades_461.htm">Eric Willhite's excellent website</a>. There were lookouts on <a href="http://www.willhiteweb.com/washington_fire_lookouts/cook_creek_tree/pete_millers_treehouse_197.htm">trees</a>, peaks and mountains all across the state. At many places a foundation is all that remains. Eric has visited nearly all of the sites and taken pictures of them. He also shows panoramic pictures taken when the Forest Service was deciding to build one at a given location. It's fascinating to look back at a time when our forests were being developed. To see old maps marking ranger stations which were decommissioned long before I was born.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.willhiteweb.com/washington_fire_lookouts/cook_creek_tree/cook-creek-from-below.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.willhiteweb.com/washington_fire_lookouts/cook_creek_tree/cook-creek-from-below.jpg" data-original-height="560" data-original-width="454" height="320" width="259" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Cook Creek Lookout</td></tr>
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These men were determined problem solvers. I am planning an <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/225934898288858/permalink/225934901622191/?notif_t=feedback_reaction_generic&notif_id=1546740252057756">event to maintain one of the roads</a> they used. It will be an honor to follow in their steps.Jeremy VanGelderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08108522223092798020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7351245.post-17965506640943815172018-12-10T19:36:00.000-08:002018-12-10T19:36:18.651-08:00This is a little map I am making in ArcGIS Online. It highlights the area where I and a bunch of my friends plan to repair <a href="https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/giffordpinchot/recarea/?recid=74203">Gifford Pinchot Forest Road 41</a> next year. Let's see if the map embeds properly.<br /><br /><style>.embed-container {position: relative; padding-bottom: 67%; height: 0; max-width: 100%;} .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container iframe{position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%;} small{position: absolute; z-index: 40; bottom: 0; margin-bottom: -15px;}</style><div class="embed-container">
<small><a href="https://jvangeld.maps.arcgis.com/apps/Embed/index.html?webmap=a71fc5bbf9d247bc8210c74eda92c71c&extent=-122.2716,45.7612,-122.1736,45.8329&zoom=true&scale=true&disable_scroll=true&theme=light" style="color: blue; text-align: left;" target="_blank">View larger map</a></small><br /><iframe frameborder="0" height="200" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//jvangeld.maps.arcgis.com/apps/Embed/index.html?webmap=a71fc5bbf9d247bc8210c74eda92c71c&extent=-122.2716,45.7612,-122.1736,45.8329&zoom=true&previewImage=false&scale=true&disable_scroll=true&theme=light" title="Road Repair" width="300"></iframe></div>
Jeremy VanGelderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08108522223092798020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7351245.post-84932658938902059732018-11-13T23:16:00.000-08:002018-11-23T23:16:36.795-08:00But What About Second Saturday?Today my boss sent us all home because the server (located across the country) wouldn't let us log on. I really enjoy it when this sort of thing happens. It is like a second Saturday has been tacked on to my week. <br />
<br />
Our living arrangements help with this as well. The place we live in is a rental owned by a partnership of my Dad, a brother and myself. Which means that I am paid for any work I do to maintain or improve the value of the place. Gardening doesn't count. But the pergo floor we installed in our landing room does. The pay is just a bit less than my day job, and my house is a bit nicer at the end of the day.<br />
<br />
Anyways, I took advantage of that arrangement today by putting up the bead board in our bathroom. And then we took a long nap. After dinner I put up some trim in our landing room. So it was an excellent Tuesday.Jeremy VanGelderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08108522223092798020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7351245.post-33601217027287232722018-11-11T14:47:00.002-08:002018-11-12T20:22:18.824-08:00Weekly Project Roundup November 11,2018I think that I will start writing a summary of my weekly projects every Sunday for awhile. I am working on a post about how I got married to Lynae. And I have a few other philosophical ones in my drafts. But project summaries are easy and so they will help me get back into blogging.<br />
<br />
Last Monday was our second anniversary. So I came home early and grilled some steak.<br />
<br />
On Thursday Devin and I changed my brake pads and rotors. Just before we got married, I put some <a href="https://ebcbrakesdirect.com/automotive/kia/rio-dc/1.5-2002-2005/6146">high performance brake pads</a> from Britain on my car. I often distract myself when I drive. So anything that can reduce my stopping distance is a good thing. The brake pads worked well, but they started grinding this Summer. So I bought some ceramic pads to try. During installation we found that a nut was missing from the passenger side ball joint. We found a new nut, put it on, and now my steering is more responsive. So that was a good night's work.<br />
<br />
On Saturday we finished cleaning up the garden. The first frost happened on Tuesday night, so the tomatoes and nasturtiums were done. Inter-planting nasturtiums worked perfectly. It kept the bugs off of the cabbages and tomatoes. In 2017 cabbage bugs were constantly chewing up our cabbages. Not this year. We will do that again. Though they generated so many seeds that they might naturalize in those beds.<br />
<br />
Later in the day Lynae did some baking while I built a spear. There is at least one mountain lion patrolling our area. So I figured that a spear might be useful. That, and LindyBeige <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afqhBODc_8U">goes on about the benefits of spears</a>. So I took an old rake handle, JB-welded a 6 inch nail into the end of it, and hammered a sixteen-penny nail through the side to use as a hook. My brother-in-law made a gaff for the blackberry harvest this year, and I wanted one, too. So now I have a tool that is half-spear, half-pruning hook.<br />
<br />
Finally, I cut some bead board to close in the hot water heater in our bathroom. Someone worked on the water heater a number of years ago, but did not replace the panel in front of it when they were done. The panel was set out in the garage and then burned after a garage cleaning. But we found some bead board, cut it to fit, and tomorrow I will fasten it in place.<br />
<br />
So those were the projects I worked on last week. I am sending Lynae and my son to Minnesota to see family for Thanksgiving. So I have a bunch of projects planned for then.Jeremy VanGelderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08108522223092798020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7351245.post-46077261143032341642018-11-03T16:02:00.000-07:002018-11-12T20:23:44.081-08:002018 Garden Cleanup Report<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4chzdlNTbfg/W94cY_V_gGI/AAAAAAAAB8o/lRPFtzIYC5AVKrxSXtYZTWliY1nq-UCMACLcBGAs/s1600/WP_001493.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4chzdlNTbfg/W94cY_V_gGI/AAAAAAAAB8o/lRPFtzIYC5AVKrxSXtYZTWliY1nq-UCMACLcBGAs/s400/WP_001493.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Today we cleaned up the garden for the year. That is the before picture. The after picture is below. Garlic, strawberries, carrots, tomatoes rhubarb are still in the ground. But we cleaned up the cornstalks, green beans (which were still producing), squashes, cabbages and sunflowers. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Zuchinni, cabbage, green beans, potato and crook neck squash</td></tr>
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The deer and rabbits were still getting into the garden this year. They decimated the cabbages and tomatoes, in addition to attacking the carrots and squashes. We double fenced the corners where the deer were jumping in. And we arched chicken wire over some of the crops. Next year I will just have to build an 8 foot tall fence. But in addition to that, a friend with a hunting license came out and harvested a beautiful buck this week. Two more friends will stop by for late deer season in two weeks. So that should help reduce browsing pressures.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vCMCatkwp8Y/W94lpAvmsPI/AAAAAAAAB9A/jpITM8kW1YkdnZhjA_vECLY6e0Hkc4d7gCEwYBhgL/s1600/WP_001488.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vCMCatkwp8Y/W94lpAvmsPI/AAAAAAAAB9A/jpITM8kW1YkdnZhjA_vECLY6e0Hkc4d7gCEwYBhgL/s320/WP_001488.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our man-child is very comfortable outside</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Productive wife</td></tr>
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We spent two hours today with the fork and hoe to weed the beds. My
siblings have orders to move piles of leaves onto the beds this next
week. After three years of battling blackberries, it sure is nice to
pull the leaves off in the Spring and have beds that are softer than they
were in the Fall.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beds ready for leaves</td></tr>
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For next year we want to do more of the same, but with no deer.Jeremy VanGelderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08108522223092798020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7351245.post-70345015488424719222018-09-08T17:17:00.002-07:002018-09-09T14:36:40.846-07:00Use the Crutch<br />
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<br />
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<iframe allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1L4SNay-X0I" width="560"></iframe><br />
<br />
When I was addicted to porn, there were good things I held on to. Gentle rebukes that would help me see out of the fog. This song was one of them.<br />
<br />
But the fact was; I needed help. I could see out of the fog, but I couldn't walk out of it by myself.<br />
<br />
Of course, my pride got in the way of admitting this truth. Of telling people that I couldn't control my porn addiction. Of telling them that I needed help.<br />
<br />
To confess is to agree with the truth.<br />
<br />
Confession blew a hole in my pride. I found that it became easier to resist porn with every single person I admitted my problem to. Some people didn't want to help, some people didn't seem to care. But every time I confessed to someone else another hole was blown in my pride-boat.<br />
<br />
We have so many defenses for our pride. "That's just a crutch." "It won't actually solve the problem." It's true. Crutches don't heal. But they support you while you heal. They let you return to a semblance of normalcy while you heal.<br />
<br />
So use the crutch. Admit that you are lying in the hospital bed, immobile. Let your pride-boat sink so that its cargo of porn drowns.<br />
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And keep good music on your phone. When I say, "good music" I mean "music that is good for you." The sort of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Hide-Em-Your-Heart-Vol/dp/B000THGTPE/ref=tmm_msc_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=&dpID=51uidpb4IOL&preST=_SX342_QL70_&dpSrc=detail">Bible memory stuff</a> you listened to as a kid. Don't be ashamed of the crutch; use it.Jeremy VanGelderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08108522223092798020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7351245.post-6166609388098019122018-06-08T15:58:00.002-07:002018-06-08T15:58:34.658-07:00What makes a good cartographer? For that matter, what makes good cartography? When I was in college my instructors often spoke as if the means of cartographic mastery were a mystery. "A map needs to be accurate, but it should also be beautiful, but it should be precise, but it should look good." "It's got a scientific aspect and an aesthetic aspect." They found this balance between art and precision to be an intractable dilemma, only achieved by a few masters of the craft. And it is a difficult problem, but after a couple years of reflection I realized that it is not a unique problem. Where else do you need to present true data in a pleasing manner? Or, to look at a different aspect, when do you go through so many revisions while you try to get things just right? Well, whenever you write.<br /><br />You see, map making is just another form of communication. It has it's own grammar and memes. It is a technical skill, but it has room for beauty.Jeremy VanGelderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08108522223092798020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7351245.post-48385822273684908012018-06-03T22:07:00.000-07:002018-06-03T22:07:06.491-07:00<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; font-family: "lucida grande" , "tahoma" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Travel’s greatest purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one. --William Hazlitt</span></blockquote>
Jeremy VanGelderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08108522223092798020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7351245.post-54464876249288722952018-06-03T18:45:00.001-07:002018-06-03T18:45:38.971-07:00Doughgob CampThis weekend Lynae and I spent a night at Doughgob Camp on Forest Road 41 in the GPNF. It's an unimproved site on the side of a ridge, surrounded by huckleberry bushes. This was the first time I have camped there, but it has been a place of formative experiences for me in the past. And this time was no different, because I wanted to drive the length of road 41.<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_KfAAsXBGtE/WxRZLznSOTI/AAAAAAAAB34/Wk-N1bBfOIoxsF341vNPiVe2864vKHP3gCLcBGAs/s1600/Doughgob%2BMap.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="658" data-original-width="650" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_KfAAsXBGtE/WxRZLznSOTI/AAAAAAAAB34/Wk-N1bBfOIoxsF341vNPiVe2864vKHP3gCLcBGAs/s320/Doughgob%2BMap.PNG" width="316" /></a></div>
According to the Forest Service's latest update, " From Lookout Mountain to Sunset Falls the road [41] is rough and slow going. High clearance vehicle recommended." That was posted this Spring, but locals know it has been true for the past fifteen years at least. This road is known for its potholes, waterblocks and ruts. And the only vehicle I had to drive on it was my Kia Rio. I had some trepidation, but I gave us extra time in case we got stranded, and I prepared my car. So after I got off work on Friday we ate dinner, packed the rest of our gear, and left.<br /><br />We left before 7 PM because I wanted to arrive before sunset at 8:45. The road was as terrible as usual but I was able to crawl along in first gear at about 8 mph all the way up to Bluff Mountain trailhead. Which is a beautiful place. It's on the ridge looking West across the Copper Creek valley to Silver Star Mountain and to the East across the Washougal River valley to Mt. Hood and Mt. Jefferson. This is the area where I saw my first bear. We took a quick look before continuing. There we encountered the first feature that I thought might be impassable; a deep hole on the downhill side of the road. Fortunately there was room on the uphill side to get around it.<br />
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Doughgob itself is easy to miss. It is a sheltered grassy spot with a rock fire pit and the busted remains of a picnic table. The nearest water is a quarter mile down the gravel road which turns off just east of the camp site. You could pitch two tents, but after that you would probably run out of flat ground. We arrived around 8:40, set up the tent and got a fire going. Over the fire we roasted doughbobs, which is just biscuit dough roasted on the fat end of a stick. The night passed peacefully<br />
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On Saturday morning I made bacon and pancakes for breakfast. Then we spent some time picking up trash in the site and took a walk down the adjacent road. By ten we had packed everything up, said a quick prayer, and we started to drive East on road 41. The road was the same quality as it had been. We followed the <a href="https://prd-tnm.s3.amazonaws.com/StagedProducts/Maps/USTopo/PDF/WA/WA_Lookout_Mountain_20170314_TM_geo.pdf">US Topo map</a> for Lookout Mountain and found it to be accurate.<br />
<h4>
Fourth of July and Spring Camps</h4>
There are two more unimproved camps on the ridge along road 41; Fourth of July camp and Springs Camp. Fourth of July Camp is located on a shoulder of Lookout Mountain and has room for a number of campers. It looks out over the East Fork of the Lewis River. There is even a developed spring. Just follow a trail to the West and listen for the sound of falling water. It will lead you down to an old metal pipe that supplied water to an old cabin. The wooden foundation and collapsed walls are still there. If I were ever to organize an event to fill in some of Road 41's potholes (I would really like to), I might base it out of 4th of July camp. Spring Camp is another single-site, unimproved camp immediately Northeast of Little Lookout Mountain. It is a little more open to the road than Doughgob. Someone had lashed together a wood table off to the side of the site. Winter snows had partially collapsed it, but we set it back up. If I ever hike Lookout Mountain, I would like to stay at Spring Camp. I would probably drive to it from Forest road 43.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-v_fHktt4KY4/WxSXbskdbEI/AAAAAAAAB4g/3PFQRNuwR68WS1zybmlWy7xJHzPwc0OHQCLcBGAs/s1600/Doughgob%2BCamp%2B041.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-v_fHktt4KY4/WxSXbskdbEI/AAAAAAAAB4g/3PFQRNuwR68WS1zybmlWy7xJHzPwc0OHQCLcBGAs/s400/Doughgob%2BCamp%2B041.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At Spring Camp with Little Lookout Mountain behind.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The junction with Forest Road 43 is two miles East of Spring Camp. That is where we left Road 41 to head down to Hemlock and Carson. Road 43 is in much better condition. We finished out our adventure by visiting the Gorge Interpretive Center in Stevenson on our way home. In all, it was an enjoyable and rewarding trip.Jeremy VanGelderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08108522223092798020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7351245.post-29825100010070221352013-10-18T16:40:00.000-07:002018-11-03T16:42:41.916-07:00Tuna Fish Soup[I plan to move a lot of my social media time back to blogging. So I am extracting some of my Facebook posts and placing them here]<br /><br />
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So,
I went to mix up two cans of tuna. You know, not too much for one
person to eat in a couple of days, particularly if that person likes
tuna. So I get out the can opener and open the first can. Everything
looks good so far. I squeeze out the water, even though the lids on
these cans are way wimpier than the big Costco cans. You have to use all
your fingers to distribute the pressure evenly or the lid will buckle
in on you. I like my tuna dry, not too much water, not too much
mayonnaise. The lids on the Costco cans are much stronger. Strong enough
that, once you've pushed the lid in about 1/3 of the way, you can hold
the base of the can in your right hand, tilt it onto it's side, and then
push your left fist into the lid to squirt out the remaining water. But
I wasn't working with a Costco can, and remembering that fact was going
to be important. So I finish squeezing the first can, empty it into my
container, and start on the second one. Everything still looks good. I
dump the second can into the container, and it looks fine. Then I reach
into the fridge to get the mayonnaise. I put a great big forkful of mayo
in the container with the tuna. Yup, everything is going well. 2,3,4,5
heaping forkfuls of mayo and I have just enough mayo to start mixing.
I'll add more once I get this mixed in and<br />
<br />
Wait a second.<br />
<br />
Why is there as much mayonnaise as tuna in the bowl?<br />
<br />
Why is there so little tuna in the bowl?<br />
<br />
WHY IS THE BOWL SO SMALL?<br />
<br />
Aww, crud. I'm not cooking for fifteen people anymore.<br />
<br />
Well, I had to make the best of it, so I start mixing. (Do you even
know how fast two dinky cans of tuna mix up? You don't have to use your
elbow grease or anything.) And the results were... tuna soup. A tuna
fish sandwich, especially if it has cucumber products on it, is one of
the best foods known to man. Tuna soup is one of the worst. When a
sibling (or my wonderful mom) produces tuna soup, I helpfully suggest
that they put less mayonnaise in it next time. I, of course, have not
created tuna soup ever since we started buying Costco cans. And back
when I did create tuna soup, when we still used the dinky cans, there
was always more tuna that I could use to thicken it up. But I did not
have that option this time because I had only bought two cans. So, I had
a dilemma. How do you thicken up over-mayoed tuna if you don't have
anymore tuna?<br />
<br />
Ah, that's it. What other sandwich topping do you
make by mixing something with mayonnaise? Egg-salad! So I boil up three
eggs and put them in. Problem solved.</div>
Jeremy VanGelderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08108522223092798020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7351245.post-88386710759188155192013-08-23T21:48:00.001-07:002018-11-03T16:53:07.079-07:00San Francisco: Week OneWell, I am now in an apartment is Berkeley, CA, looking out at the campus and the hills. I am here to do drafting for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. They are replacing a bunch of their waterlines, digging up about six blocks at a time. They have been doing this since 2003, and they are almost done. Once this is complete, they have another project that is scheduled to take twenty-two years, or at least I think that is what they said. Fortunately, I don't have to worry about the full scope of the project. Right now I am just assigned to two of the sub-projects, a pipeline replacement along one street, and a waterline replacement on another street. The work is easy. Right now I simply have to show all of the existing utilities under the street so that the engineer will be able to avoid them when he designs the new pipes. After I have finished drawing the existing utilities we will go out to the site and check them. The engineer I am working for is a very nice, younger guy. In fact, everyone in the Engineering Management department is quite chill. They have been doing the same thing for a long time and their system just works. This is a stark contrast to most of my projects, where we are trying to help clients do something they have never done before. Moreover, the engineer has done all the research for me, he finds the utility drawings, I just have to draft them. Usually clients just dump a bunch of data on us and say, "Hey, could you help us sort this out." I'm not complaining, we provide that service gladly. But it is reassuring to see that some agencies actually have a system that works. So, work is going well, and I am happy.<br />
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<div>
Life-wise, the first part of the week was crazy, as I tried to feed myself from convenience stores, restaurants and a grocery store. My plane was very late, it didn't arrive in Portland until well after it was supposed to drop us off in SF. I got to the apartment in Berkeley at 8:30 PM after taking the wrong BART stop. After that, I walked a block to a 7-eleven and bought some peanut butter, milk, cereal, and some energy bars. I called those items "Dinner" and "Breakfast" and I went to bed after consuming the former. Monday morning came quickly, and I got to BART with lots of time to spare. Once I arrived at SFPUC I met with the CAD manager and he showed me their drafting standards. After an hour of orientation, he broughy me up to the Engineering department and introduced me to the people I would be working with. My engineer was not in that day, but they had me start on one of the projects anyways. One of the drafters, a nice Asian gentleman who works for a company that is two links up the contracting chain from mine, showed me the restaurants around the SFPUC building and we bought lunch at a Subway. After work I went to <a href="http://www.berkeleybowl.com/">Berkeley Bowl</a>, which is exactly the kind of grocery store you would expect to find here. There were a number of Hemp products. The display of bath salts caught my attention, but it seemed to be the normal kind. One of the things I appreciated was the magazine rack at the checkout line. It had magazines that I would actually read, like Make. So I bought one, along with some chickens, more cereal, eggs, bread, green onions and a cucumber. (Cause cucumbers are awesome).</div>
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Tuesday was crazy in a similar way. I made scrambled eggs for breakfast (the food bootstrapping plan was starting to pay off) and I met my engineer later in the morning. I still had to go to Subway for lunch, but after work I made another trip to Berkeley Bowl so that I could buy jam and honey for sandwiches. I also bought rice, and made this masterpiece:</div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QjXDEvzstGc/W940yQt6vEI/AAAAAAAAB90/QvewEW3RWkkkYq3QZX8IYLt5PZoVTDl9QCLcBGAs/s1600/ChickenNRice.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="719" data-original-width="539" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QjXDEvzstGc/W940yQt6vEI/AAAAAAAAB90/QvewEW3RWkkkYq3QZX8IYLt5PZoVTDl9QCLcBGAs/s320/ChickenNRice.jpg" width="239" /></a></div>
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Two chicken breasts and a bunch of rice</div>
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I'm still eating the leftovers. That sums up my shopping experience. I've still eaten at a restaurant once or twice since then. But my life has settled down and I made it through the rest of the week. Tomorrow </div>
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I will probably explore Berkeley some more, particularly the campus. Blessings to everyone back home. On Bart today I saw a family with five little kids who had just flown in from Israel and it made me think of you.</div>
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Jeremy</div>
Jeremy VanGelderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08108522223092798020noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7351245.post-62219700484314822162011-12-14T20:14:00.000-08:002011-12-14T21:13:03.820-08:00Blog Introductions: What's Wrong With the WorldFrom time to time I post links to articles I have read to my various <a href="http://twitter.com/jvangeld">social</a> <a href="https://plus.google.com/116063797052604315558/posts">networking</a> <a href="http://www.facebook.com/jeremy.vangelder?ref=tn_tnmn">platforms</a>. These articles often come from three blogs that I really like. So, I thought that I would give you all a proper introduction to these blogs and their authors.
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.whatswrongwiththeworld.net/">What's Wrong With The World</a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
This motley crew claims to write in the defense of "Christendom, the civilization made by the men of the Cross of Christ." The authors are all very conservative in the proper sense of the word, they want to conserve something. But they rarely agree on what they want to conserve, and how to conserve it. So you have <a href="http://www.whatswrongwiththeworld.net/author.php?author_id=0&nic=Lydia%20McGrew">Lydia McGrew</a> who keeps us up to date on hate laws and abortion laws and Progressive progress. The tone of her articles would be familiar to anyone who reads World Magazine. Then there is <a href="http://www.whatswrongwiththeworld.net/author.php?author_id=0&nic=Jeff%20Culbreath">Jeff Culbreath</a>, who doesn't think that Capitalism is worth conserving (more on that later). Another author is so conservative that he thinks we should have a king. The discussions over there are raucous and serve as proof that Conservatism is far more diverse than one might imagine.<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Up next: A blog introduction to <a href="http://distributistreview.com/mag/">The Distributist Review</a></span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Jeremy VanGelderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08108522223092798020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7351245.post-23810880834462832622010-08-12T23:17:00.001-07:002010-08-12T23:17:35.545-07:00The Herd of Cattle<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; background-color: transparent; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; "><span id="internal-source-marker_0.04710201546549797" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">The Herd of Cattle</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Well perhaps you’ve heard me prattle,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Of when I got mixed up with some cattle,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Just a herd of eighty two,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">That us kids were driving through,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">A bunch of steers they sold for beef,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Never dreamed we’d meet a thief,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Would have sent along the men,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">But they all were busy then,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">You can bet us kids were proud of ourselves,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">For the six of us were only twelve,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">And to make us think that we were men,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">They handed us our first guns then,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">They were thirty twos I think,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">With home made bullets made of zinc,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">But they’d have to do they said.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">As we had run out of lead,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">We had about two hundred miles to go,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">And were told to take it slow,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">And as near as I can say,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">We made twenty miles a day,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Our cook was a kid we all called fat,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">But he was pretty good at that,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">And he fed us good alright,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Kept our belt buckles good and tight,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">But we had orders for to stay,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">At a place we should reach on the ninth day,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">They said it was a small frog pond,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">With the water mostly gone,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">But the grass that round it grew,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Would last the steers a day or two,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Well the steers had reached the bank,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">And were filling up their tanks,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">When five men were standing there,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">They appeared out of thin air,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">They told us kids to just skidoo,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">That our cattle drive was through,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">But we knew our men would come,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Then we knew there’d be some fun,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">We hid up among the brush,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Hoped our men would make a rush,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">We sent one kid back down the trail,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">To meet our men he couldn’t fail,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">And it proved to be the ticket,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">They left their horses in a thicket,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">So they approached the camp a walking,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">And you bet they wasn’t talking,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">The camp fire was burning down low,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Gosh I thought our guys are slow,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Then I heard our foreman cry,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Stick your paws up to the sky,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Then the guns began to bellow,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">And I saw they had hit one fellow,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Three pair of paws went in the air,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">But the fifth man wasn’t there,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">He had made his bed alone,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Somewhere up among the stones,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">But when he saw they’d lost they day,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">He was coming right my way,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">And when I yeld for him to freeze,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">He couldn’t see me in the trees,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">And his gun just started blazing,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">And the under brush he was hazing,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">And before I could even think,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">I handed him a piece of zink,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Then our men came on the fly,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Threw a rope around the guy,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Told us kids we better run,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Not stick around to see the fun,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">But it wasn’t too much fun I hope,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">For the next day we were short of ropes,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Must have droped them on the ground,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Didn’t stop to look around,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Said we’d understand when we were grown,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">But told us to skidoo for home.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">A.D. Brown,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Aug, 9th, 1977</span></div>Jeremy VanGelderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08108522223092798020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7351245.post-24022643353486690322010-08-11T01:08:00.000-07:002010-08-11T01:09:06.485-07:00The Armistice Dance<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; background-color: transparent; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; "><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">One day I walked out on the street,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Where an old friend I chanced to meet,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Hadn’t seen the man for years,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Would have passed him by I fear,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">But he stopped and turned around,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">And asked me if my name was Brown,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">He looked familiar in a way,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">But who he was I couldn’t say,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">His face was hid behind a beard,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">So he had the advantage of me I feared,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Then he mentioned iSt, Marillion France,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">And the night of the Armistice Dance,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Then his name to my mind came,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">For I knew it was Hank Lane,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">They held it in a vacant store,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">And charged you two franks at the door,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">So we thought we’d try our luck.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">They let us in for half a buck.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">The music was a harp and a fiddle,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">But it could tease your feet to diddle,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">There was chairs along the wall,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">And a table in the center of the hall,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Upon which the fiddler stood,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">So every one could hear him good,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Those french girls could cut it neat,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Though some were dancing in bare feet,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">We had to mind our Ps and Qs,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">For we were wearing army shoes,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Well every thing was going fine,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Until they opened a keg of wine,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">And they said the wine was free,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">So every one had a drink but me,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">For I never touch the stuff,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">When I’m sober I’m fool enough.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">They all danced till three A,M.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Things were getting hectic then,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Though the harp was doing fine,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">The fiddler couldn’t keep the time.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">I felt sorry for the jerk,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">But the wine had done it’s dirty work.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">They didn’t know what to do,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">And was afraid the dance was through,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">But it seems I saved the day,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">When I started in to play,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">The harpest didn’t know my tunes.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">But she cut in pretty soon,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">And we got along quite fine,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">And forgot about the time.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Untill we heard the town clock strike,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">And we saw that it was getting light,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Then they started gathering round,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">As I put the fiddle down,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Then the dance was at an end,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">But I’d made a lot of friends,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">They said they would pass the hat</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">But I told them none of that.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">I told them I’d had fun,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">And I thanked them every one,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">It was then a little miss,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Came and gave me a big kiss,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">But the harpest stepd between,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">She was jelous so it seems.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">And she said that we should go.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Well she lived in a Chateau,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">So you see that she would be. To stuck up for one like me.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Then I thought of my friend Hank,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">And I found that he got tanked,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">And left the dance with a red head,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Well I guess enough is said,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">I never ask him where he went,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Or just how the night was spent.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">But as for me it was no riddle,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">For I spent my time with a fiddle.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">A.D.Brown</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Sept. 30, 1979</span></div>Jeremy VanGelderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08108522223092798020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7351245.post-44541531386689452772010-07-14T00:21:00.001-07:002010-07-14T00:48:34.206-07:00Back in 2008, we often complained about the lack of candidates who were willing to take any kind of principled stand. This year, we have the incredible fortune of having two men running for national offices who actually are taking a stand. David Hedricks and Clint Didier are running for the House and Senate respectively. This quote from <a href="http://www.clintdidier.org/issues.html">Didier's platform page</a> should sound familiar.<br /><br /><strong></strong><blockquote><strong>I am pro-life – from conception until natural death. Our Declaration of Independence states our inalienable rights are “<em>life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness: and “That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men…” </em>Therefore, it is the express job of government to protect all innocent human life. Taking a public policy position otherwise leaves all lives in jeopardy.</strong></blockquote><br /><a href="http://davidwhedrick.com/issues">Hedrick's site</a> lists a similar stand for life, as well as this in regards to the Second Amendment:<br /><br /><blockquote style="font-weight: bold;"><p>When the Second Amendment states “the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed”, it means, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. Period.</p> <p>When in Congress, I will never vote for any piece of legislation that infringes an American’s right to keep and bear arms and I will actively advance legislation that supports this right.</p></blockquote>In addition to these, you can find many more statements were both men take obvious joy in the hallowed American tradition of government-bashing. With men like these to support, we would be fools to miss the Washington primary on August 17th.<br /><blockquote></blockquote>Jeremy VanGelderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08108522223092798020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7351245.post-65491670729902827952010-07-02T13:13:00.000-07:002010-07-02T13:35:47.478-07:00A number of years ago, my Great Grandpa Brown put a lot of his experiences and observations into a series of poems. Last Thanksgiving, I scanned over one hundred pages which were held in a single binder. Grandpa Brown has two more binders, as well as some loose pages. Over the next several days, I plan to type up several of the more remarkable poems. I have already posted the first, titled, "The Rattle Snaker." You can also expect posts titled, "The Armistice Dance" and "The Herd of Steers." The latter might sound rather boring, but I can assure you that Great Grandpa was a master in the art of understatement.Jeremy VanGelderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08108522223092798020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7351245.post-50672855623152732142010-07-02T13:09:00.001-07:002010-07-02T13:12:34.869-07:00The Rattle Snaker<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; background-color: transparent; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; "><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap; ">When walking in the woods one day,</span></div><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><div style="text-align: center;">Off the path I chanced to stray,</div></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><div style="text-align: center;">And as I went a step to take,</div></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><div style="text-align: center;">I saw a coiled up rattle snake,</div></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><div style="text-align: center;">But the snake was playing fair,</div></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><div style="text-align: center;">He rattled to warn me he was there,</div></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><div style="text-align: center;">So I quickly regained the path,</div></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><div style="text-align: center;">And decided for to leave there fast,</div></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><div style="text-align: center;">For where a rattle snake is found,</div></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><div style="text-align: center;">Other ones may be around,</div></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><div style="text-align: center;">I told the farmer where I’d been,</div></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><div style="text-align: center;">And he said lets take care of him,</div></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><div style="text-align: center;">So he went out to his pig yard,</div></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><div style="text-align: center;">And got a sow that was fat as lard,</div></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><div style="text-align: center;">She seemed to know just what was up,</div></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><div style="text-align: center;">For she followed him just like a pup,</div></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><div style="text-align: center;">And when we got into the brush,</div></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><div style="text-align: center;">Ahead of us she made a rush,</div></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><div style="text-align: center;">And in less time than the telling takes,</div></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><div style="text-align: center;">She came back with mister snake,</div></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><div style="text-align: center;">And it was fun to see that beast,</div></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><div style="text-align: center;">As she finished up her feast,</div></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><div style="text-align: center;">Then back in the brush she run,</div></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><div style="text-align: center;">And came back with another one,</div></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><div style="text-align: center;">Well the farmer said she done quite fair,</div></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><div style="text-align: center;">For you can see she got the pair,</div></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><div style="text-align: center;">He had refused for to the market take her,</div></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><div style="text-align: center;">For she was a perfect rattle snaker,</div></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><div style="text-align: center;">He said he wouldn’t sell that sow,</div></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><div style="text-align: center;">For she had got two dozen now,</div></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><div style="text-align: center;">And she knew she’d have a snake dinner then,</div></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><div style="text-align: center;">Each time he took her from the pen,</div></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><div style="text-align: center;">For if there were any snakes about,</div></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><div style="text-align: center;">She would always smell them out,</div></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><div style="text-align: center;">It didn’t matter what kind of snake,</div></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><div style="text-align: center;">She’d take any breed or make,</div></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><div style="text-align: center;">Before he taught the sow to follow,</div></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><div style="text-align: center;">The place was known as rattle snake hollow,</div></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><div style="text-align: center;">But he had turned the old sow loose,</div></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><div style="text-align: center;">And of the snakes she made good use,</div></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><div style="text-align: center;">But one would show up now and then,</div></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><div style="text-align: center;">Then he would take her from the pen,</div></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><div style="text-align: center;">And she seemed to have it in her mind,</div></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><div style="text-align: center;">He expected her a snake to find,</div></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><div style="text-align: center;">And she would show it to him atleast,</div></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><div style="text-align: center;">Before she was set to have her feast,</div></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><div style="text-align: center;">Well you say she’s just a hog,</div></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><div style="text-align: center;">But pigs are just as smart as any dog,</div></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><div style="text-align: center;">You can take any pig you pick,</div></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><div style="text-align: center;">You can easely teach him tricks,</div></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><div style="text-align: center;">And he will follow you like a dog,</div></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><div style="text-align: center;">And you will tip your topper to that hog.</div></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">A.D. Brown, Sept, 7, 1977</span></div>Jeremy VanGelderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08108522223092798020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7351245.post-41956753633845250332010-07-01T00:02:00.000-07:002010-07-01T01:57:02.195-07:00In the past several years, the arrival of fireworks season in Clark County has been accompanied by new restrictions. Several years ago, it became illegal to sell or use fireworks during New Years. This year, it is illegal to sell or use fireworks on July 5th, the day when retailers usually mark down their prices by fifty percent or more. But there is something unique about this latest infringement on our freedoms. On April 21st 2009, when the changes to the laws were passed, Tom Mielke was on the Board of Commissioners. This was the Tom Mielke who campaigned on a platform of small government. And yet, he sat in the hearing room and joined Marc Boldt and Steve Stuart in passing this measure unanimously. The <a href="http://www.co.clark.wa.us/bocc/documents/042109Minutes.pdf">minutes from that meeting</a> only record a few short lines from Mielke, in which he implies that we are fortunate that they did not decide to abolish the entire season. This is how tyranny happens. When even the good guys take the side of big government on issues that seem too small to matter.<div><br /></div><div>Now, you may be wondering why I am getting so upset by the elimination of one day in the fireworks season. I am disturbed precisely because this issue appears so trivial. It is true that there are many bigger problems in the world, with abortion and euthanasia claiming innocent lives daily. But this is a problem because it is a slow removal of one of the little joys that makes life worth living. When you read the accounts of people who lived in Nazi slave camps or Soviet countries, you read about many evils. You can discover a life lived behind barbed wire, with barely enough food to survive. But the victims of these barbarities did not long for freedom of movement as much as they longed for that swing under the big oak at home. The food doled out to a Russian child might have been sufficient, but it could never match the pink cake with white frosting which Momma made before the shortages began. When you remove silly little pleasures from someone's life, you actively destroy their joy.</div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; "><pre style="word-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap; "><blockquote>Dog-stealer, horse-stealer, man-stealer--can you think of anything so base as a toy-stealer? -- GK Chesterton</blockquote></pre></span></div>Jeremy VanGelderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08108522223092798020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7351245.post-35224305591135838292010-06-29T12:35:00.000-07:002010-06-29T12:39:48.294-07:00I don't think this picture needs much explanation. How are everyone else's peas doing?<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_RJvnjM5vZ9U/TCpLShEZBtI/AAAAAAAAAR0/YBDrfkIUZlY/s1600/P1210220.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_RJvnjM5vZ9U/TCpLShEZBtI/AAAAAAAAAR0/YBDrfkIUZlY/s320/P1210220.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5488281877390886610" border="0" /></a>Jeremy VanGelderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08108522223092798020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7351245.post-79599467605880953702010-05-08T21:54:00.000-07:002010-05-08T21:54:43.845-07:00Peas<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_y8PRReENgyY/S-Y5QfnosEI/AAAAAAAAAV8/7Kq2I6vhZkE/s1600/P1190869.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_y8PRReENgyY/S-Y5QfnosEI/AAAAAAAAAV8/7Kq2I6vhZkE/s400/P1190869.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<br />
This year we started our garden on time. These pea plants have been growing quickly ever since they were planted in February. Faced with a lot of peas which were obviously looking for something to grow on, we decided to try a very stiff kind of fencing normally used for cows. Our<a href="http://www.agdirectorywest.com/listing/lacamas_pellets_feed.html"> neighborhood feed store</a> had the fencing, and soon we were able to assemble some very sturdy trellis'.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_y8PRReENgyY/S-Y56M-XneI/AAAAAAAAAWE/B3e9FnhLo_M/s1600/P1190871.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_y8PRReENgyY/S-Y56M-XneI/AAAAAAAAAWE/B3e9FnhLo_M/s400/P1190871.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>The fencing came in 16'x52" panels. We used bolt-cutters to cut them into sections that are roughly 5' long, with three sections that are quite a bit longer. We used one of the longer sections to span this diagonal row of peas.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_y8PRReENgyY/S-Y5_drpg8I/AAAAAAAAAWM/l3A6V0WyFgo/s1600/P1190872.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_y8PRReENgyY/S-Y5_drpg8I/AAAAAAAAAWM/l3A6V0WyFgo/s400/P1190872.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>Here you can see last year's solution, which was shorter and far less robust. Further back, you can see one of our new 12" boxes, where Hannah planted some carrots today.Jeremyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14270395146672933398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7351245.post-53250786252276532012009-12-23T20:39:00.000-08:002009-12-23T20:45:57.815-08:00Letter to My SenatorsThis is a short letter I sent to my senators regarding the current health care bill. It is written in the Social Contract style, with repeated references to the beginning of the Declaration of Independence and the three rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Thus it lacks any moral force beyond what is inherent the Declaration. Still, it should cause my representatives to realize that they may not be re-elected if they continue to be so devoted to alienating our rights.<br /><br /><blockquote>According to the Declaration of Independence, I have a God-given right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Unfortunately, the Health Care Bill currently being debated in the Senate is an assault on all of these rights. Firstly, it has no protections for the right of unborn babies to live. By actively encouraging and supporting the termination of one group of American's lives, this bill also threatens my own right to life. If it is acceptable for the government to fund the murder of thousands of American babies, why should it not fund the murder of Americans twenty-one year olds like myself? In comparison to the violation of the rights of Americans to live, the violation of the other two God given rights seem less important. However, your voting record leads me to conclude that you may not be concerned with the lives of your constituents. Therefore, I will discuss the topic of liberty, especially as it has to do with money. By forcing Americans to buy health care, whether they buy it from private or public entities, you actually force Americans. Do you comprehend this? You would actually force Americans to take an action. We could argue about the need for health care in this nation. However, it is not the duty of Congress to make this kind of choice for American citizens. It is a brazen affront to the rights of American citizens to make their own decisions. Which leads me to the final right discussed by the Declaration. This bill would tell me how I should pursue happiness. It would tell me that I can only be happy if I spend my money in a certain manner, unless I happen to enjoy tax prison. It completely ignores the fact that I may think that I could be happy by spending my money in some other pursuit than health care. Therefore, it infringes on my right to pursue happiness in the way I see fit. All in all, this bill is a sore offense against my rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. As my elected representative before the government of the United States, I ask you to defend my rights by voting against this tyrannical bill. There may still be time to act before America's freedoms return to the state they were in when King George III ruled our land.<br /><br />Thank you,<br />Jeremy VanGelder</blockquote>Jeremyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14270395146672933398noreply@blogger.com1