Sunday Greetings

(Dateline: 2456662) Sunday Greetings!  This Morning Edition continues to be dominated by the giant, weird weather gig back in the Midwest.

We will focus on only two aspects of this huge story--football and food.

First, football.  The California Coastal Boyz (AKA: The San Francisco 49ers) are playing AT Green Bay, Wisconsin today.  Kickoff is 2:40 pm Arizona Time, which makes it danged near 5 pm back in The Land of the Cheese Heads.  It looks like Frozen Tundra Fans copped a huge break this afternoon.  The gametime temperature is expected to be a rather balmy high of perhaps 3-5 degrees and the windchill only maybe near zero to perhaps a few degrees below zero.  Those kind of conditions should be a downright yawner for lifelong Packers fans.

There was some talk that today's game could have been the coldest ever played, surpassing the famous Ice Bowl (December 31, 1967) when it was 13 below zero.  Nah, this game will be a walk in the park compared to -13!

Heck, it's going to be so balmy in Green Bay, the NWS actually CANCELLED today's Wind Chill advisory.  Check it out:   "THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREEN BAY HAS CANCELLED THE WIND CHILL ADVISORY...WHICH WAS IN EFFECT FOR TODAY. WIND CHILLS ARE ONLY EXPECTED TO BE IN THE SINGLE DIGITS AND TEENS BELOW ZERO TODAY...SO THE WIND CHILL ADVISORY HAS BEEN CANCELLED."

This is classic Green Bay stuff here, folks.  Even if you are not a football fan, you really must tune into the pre-game this afternoon to watch the TV cameras zoom in on the fans in the stands.  They will be wearing all sorts of unimaginable warm clothes.  It's going to be a classic sight to see and we won't miss it, even if we have to go to a sports bar to see it.  Packers Fans are the hardest of the hard core when it comes to watching football in the worst possible weather conditions.  Chicago Bears fans come in a distant second place in that dubious distinction.

For a nice generic weather article about the impending storm, see: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2014/01/03/an-astonishing-dangerous-cold-snap-is-about-to-descend-on-the-u-s/

OK, let's move on to food, shall we.  As you know, I grew up in Lafayette, Indiana, and spent well over half my life in the Heart of The Midwest.  So, what's been going on back there is a generic Food Panic.  It happens every single time there is a Great Big Hoop-Dee-Doo Snowstorm in the forecast.   The TV people absolutely LOVE to scare the bee-jee-burrs out of their viewers.  Typically, if you are watching a local TV channel at a time like this, you probably think this is your absolute LAST CHANCE to survive Armageddon but ONLY if you get to the store RIGHT NOW and buy absolutely everything you can possibly fit into your cart.

I've personally witnessed this amazing phenomena many a time during my life in the Midwest.  It's incredible.  You should see the look in people's eyes.  You can't believe how full their carts are.  Once in Northwest Indianapolis, I saw a full blown fist fight break out in a group of men struggling to get the last loaves of bread from the shelves.  I've seen people crying in front of empty shelves.  It's freaking pathetic.  I once saw a near riot when a bread truck actually made it to a grocery store.  The poor delivery guy actually had to hide in the truck and let the looters ransack his truck.  Better that than get trampled!

Anyway, here is a rather tame article about the Food Gig from my Home Town, Lafayette, Indiana.

http://www.jconline.com/article/20140104/NEWS07/301040025/Shopping-frenzy-before-storm

As you know, we are no longer using Google News.  This development has caused us to go searching for other news sources.  We've now set our Google Chrome browser to open on the front page of "The Washington Post."  Of course, we are checking out all sorts of other news outlets and media sources but we're going to start each day with the WP.

Why's that?  Well, it's all about Amazon Dot Com and the guy who started Amazon way back in the early dawn of the internet--Jeff Bezos.  Bezos is clearly a genius and has become a billionaire who knows how many times over.  We were quite surprised not long ago when Bezos up and dropped $250-million cash to buy The Washington Post, lock, stock and barrel, as they once said back in the day of flintlock firearms.

We have high hopes that Bezos is going to gradually reinvent the WP and make it a global leader in comprehensive, balanced news coverage.  We suppose the staid old WP is going through a huge sea change with Bezos at the helm.  Naturally, whenever something happens to the owner, you can bet it's going to get covered by the WP, even if it's about Bezos getting stoned in the Galapagos Islands--kidney stoned, that is.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/bezos-floored-by-kidney-stone-on-vacation/2014/01/04/4ffcc9d4-7592-11e3-8def-a33011492df2_story.html

While we may not be very interested in what's going on with the innards of the owner, are are finding the WP headlines far less salacious that those of Google News...and that alone makes it worthwhile to use the WP as our morning gateway page.

OK, moving right along, we will be watching this news outfit pretty closely, too.

http://mountainwestnews.org

Indian Country Today is going to be on our daily hit list as well.  Here's a great article from ICT for your Sunday morning reading:

http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/01/02/indians-rule-10-ways-natives-made-waves-arts-and-culture-2013-152939

Most of the High Country News is behind a paywall and unavailable.  However, there are some items available for free public reading.  We got a kick out of this humorous look at Bozeman, Montana.  When we passed through in 2005, it's nickname at the time was "Boze Angeles."

http://www.hcn.org/blogs/goat/top-10-reasons-not-to-move-to-bozeman

The Voice of America has been around since like maybe George Washington.  You can count on VOA to avoid sensationalizing the news.  You can also count on VOA to help you learn about such esoteric things as "mosquito neurons."  No kidding.

Why would we be interested in Mosquito Neurons?  Well, trust me, mosquito repellent is a REAL BIG DEAL with us.  Bears and mosquitoes own The Best Country left in America.  Us humans need a different kind of spray to keep each creature at bay.  Any news of a more effective and economical repellant for either menace is very welcome news.

http://www.voanews.com/content/promising-mosquito-repellent-announced/1822921.html

In local news, the Camp Verde ALCO is closing:

http://cvbugle.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=40949

Nothing of note happening in the Salt Lake or Idaho Falls newspapers.

From Challis, Idaho, we learn:

From the Challis Messenger:

The HUB -- Help Us Build -- donated $35,140 to 31 Custer County civic and charitable causes in 2013, eclipsing the $32,800 raised during 2012. Since the thrift store first opened its doors in 1976-77, it has helped raise $660,799 for charitable causes. The money raised in 2013 went to volunteer and nonprofits in Challis, Clayton, Stanley, Mackay and the Pahsimeroi Valley.

Most of our Dear Friends know of our ten-year Love Affair with the HUB.  (HUB = Helping Us Build).  The HUB is Planet Earth's Finest Thrift Store, bar none.  To know The HUB is to Love The HUB.  Oh, the stories we can tell you about The HUB!  After shopping at the HUB for four summers, we finally got a chance to honor the HUB in late 2007 after we became Director of the Eastern Idaho Retired & Senior Volunteer Program.  Here is the photo album of that memorable day in Challis when we got to shower the HUB Volunteers with the Love they so richly deserve!

https://picasaweb.google.com/117214000776076564030/ChallisRecognition

And, finally, we will always and forever check in on the Pickles cartoon strip.
Our personal narrative is below these strips from Thursday and Friday.

Yesterday was an incredibly fun day.  We visited three sites here in The Edge of Flat Earth Country.  Marika, John, Chip, Kathy, Jodi, Dexter, Jean and we traipsed out into the hinterlands to view various interesting things that cannot be described in detail here (or anywhere) because of their cultural sensitivity. While we were out and about, we quite literally stumbled into Steve Ayers and his wife doing a day hike with their dogs.  We got to see some really interesting stuff and enjoy some flowing water, too.

Today, I will be taking picture of a flag raising this morning and then rigging for my bi-weekly Guy Gig which takes places tomorrow morning.  Susun will be resuming leadership of her Sunday Stroll and then visiting Betty at Sedona Winds.

Lastly, one of our Dear Facebook Friends is Sue Malone.  We met Sue when we read what you see below on her Facebook sometime this summer.  We were so smitten with her writing, we introduced ourself online and said, "Hey, your'e a good writer!"  We asked Sue to put this on her blog and she did so a few weeks ago.  We decided to put it here because it's such a classic little piece of writing.  We are enjoying Sue's blog as she begins a three month Road Trip that will take her from Oregon to Florida and back.

Well, that's all, folks.  Thanks for reading and Many Happy Cheers!  jp

by Sue Malone

I remember chocolate colored water thick with sticks and rocks hurtling down the wash behind our house during the monsoon floods.      Leaping with a thrill from huge boulder to huge boulder they used as fill to try to stem the flow, which for me was a magic wilderness of danger and roaring water.      I remember the soft bellies of horny toads when you caught them, the sharp prick of stickers in your feet from goatheads...who ever wore shoes?          the smell of dust when the first drops of rain hit after all those dry months.      How incredibly green the San Gabriel Mountains looked in April with the tall candles of yucca backlit against a setting sun. The muted happy sound of kids voices on the playground as I lay on my back watching sky so blue it looked very nearly black.      The milky way and pungent pines of Mt. Baldy on a summer night of camping.      I remember the sweet sad feeling of yearning when the winds blew and the smog vanished leaving behind air that was so sharp and clear that you could actually see the sparkles floating around it in...dreaming of a magic place to live where the air was like that all the time. climbing to the top of the hill in Sierra Madre Canyon, among the prickly pear and agave and morning glory and old live oaks to the digger pine that was high enough to let me see Catalina.      I remember how golden a warm apricot tastes when picked from your hiding place in the tree, and how bitter a surprise an unripe olive can be. ...Childhood in LA in the 50's.... .....Warm as an apricot and bitter as an uncured olive.

The Goat Woman

from Johnny Rustywire

One day on the Western Navajo, just East of the Grand Canyon, at a 
place on Highway 89 not far from Tuba City there is Gray Mountain. 
Like any small place you have people stopping to buy gas and head on 
down the road. 

There were some old Navajo men standing around there visiting with 
each other. There was Hosteen Acothley from a place call the Gap who 
was talking in a small group of old men standing near the door to
the store.

There was a Yellowman from Coppermine, a Bedonie from Navajo
Mountain and old man Sloan from up by Marble Canyon way near Page,
Arizona.

They stood in a group with worn straw hats and a Stetson with a
silver band.

Hosteen Yellowman said, Way over by Skeleton Mesa, one of those
Blackhair boys came home maybe two or three weeks ago they say...one
of Johnny Blackhair's boys...

Acothley said, Yes I heard about that boy, what was he called?

Johnny Blackhair, the one we call Curly Toes from Shonto in the
Navajo way of speaking, it is his son.

Yes, that's the one. His son came home from California, brought a
white girl from over there. There was a Sing over near there, by
Kaibeto a little ways from there...

When was this?

Probably a few days ago, maybe two three weeks ago, I guess.

This woman came with big hair, it looked white, blonde they say in a
big car with big wheels and sat there they say. She never been to
the
place before, just sat there while he went in and visited.

After a while the people there said to him, Why don't you go get her
and bring her in so we can talk to her.

He said, she has never been here before. she doesn't know what to
think of the place.

Go get her, and so the women followed him out there to the big car
and spoke to her and she got out...

Someone cleared a place in the Chaoh-shade house for her and brought
some stew and frybread. Her clothes were bright colored they say,
yellow with pink pants, some said she looked like the colors of
dawn...

She sat down and ate the food, and then after a while she went out
of the Chaoh and the women didn't see her for a long time.

Someone said where did she go...taking a look outside she was not in
the car and was not in the crowd looking around.

What happened to her?

There was a goat, one of those kind that likes to run off, so it was
kept around the house. It was a billy goat with small horns. It
followed the old lady around...

What about the white woman?

She went to the outhouse someone said and didn't come out. She was
in there for a long time, it sat in the cedar trees a little ways away.
Some would look at it and see that someone was in there, so they
didn't bother them.

After a long time, someone said what is wrong with her, how come she
is staying there a long time? You better go and find out what is
wrong with her...

Curly Toes son, went over there and stood by the door, and spoke to
her to find out what is wrong, they said.

She was in there, and she was afraid to come out they say.

Why?

That one, the old goat saw that woman with the big hair when she got
out of the car and had never seen anything like that before I guess,
a woman with hair all puffed up and white, blonde they say and
dressed like the colors of dawn. That goat sat there and watched her
eat they say...when she was done...it followed her to the outhouse,
some say...

That goat chased her inside and banged his head against the
door...when she was inside, some say. She sat in there and after a
while every time the door opened the goat would run up and ram the
door they say...she sat there for a long time and the goat guarded
that door they say...

She was in there for a long time...some say maybe three or four
songs....an hour maybe two some say...

The people thought she must be sick or have stomach trouble...and
after a while they made him, Curly Toes' son go check on her.

She finally came out they say and went back to the big car and
wouldn't get out they say and then she left with him they say...

The old men stood there listening to this talk, there by Gray
Mountain Store. Their wrinkled faces seeing this as . they stood
there listening to Old Man Acothley saying this to them.

What happened then? they asked him. He leaned against the wall and
gazed to the East and with his lips pointed over to the front of the
store, where a woman was coming out of the place, a white woman with
big hair. Old Man Acothley said, there she goes walking right
there...

The group of old men turned and looked toward the gas pumps and
could see her walking. What is she called, they said.

Asdzaa Tliizhi'- the Goat Woman...and they laughed.

johnny rustywire

New Nose for News

( Dateline: 2456661 )   Happy Saturday Morning!  Time once again for another not-so-thrilling episode of The Daily News Morning Edition.

So whazzup with the title of this blog post?  Very simple--we've "offed" Google News.  We are no longer going to EVER look at Google News again.  We simply can't abide by a a purported news outlet that serves up such insensitive, salacious and revolting stories.  We tried everything yesterday to attempt to edit out such stories.  We were unsuccessful.  Our only option was to "Delete All and simply forget about Google News.

As a result, our Morning Editions will now be comprised entirely of items we find on more mainstream, well-established media outlets that are actually edited by real human people instead of computer algorithms.  It's going to take longer to compile each morning as we settle into our "New Nose for News" routine.

From now on, all notes about our own daily activities will always appear at the end of the Morning Edition.  Ok, let's move along, shall we?

Did you read about the lucky guy who won the other half of the giant MegaMillions lottery?  Truly a funny story.  We got a chuckle out of it and suspect you will, too.  Here 'tis:

http://www.startribune.com/nation/238619731.html

Today there's a Lego Contest going on up in Salt Lake City.  It's actually quite an evolved and interesting gig run by the University of Utah. Here's the main link to the UU's Lego website: http://utfll.utah.edu
Here's a great little 4+ minute video of the Lego action.


If the video won't load, here's the link:
http://youtu.be/NpUCjdm1gBs

As you may recall some time ago when news broke about the new megaload route, we speculated that the "Howe Corner" would be a real puzzle for the haulers.  Well, apparently, the "Howe Corner" wasn't much of a problem but an overheated engine was.  Now the megaload appears stuck in Howe, Idaho, a middle-of-nowhere hamlet not far from Who, What, Where, When and Why, Idaho.

Here's a great quote from this morning's article in "The Post-Register"

Cleo Amy, 85, of Howe, said the megaload was the biggest news to hit the town since much of its downtown was destroyed in a 2012 fire.

"It's the second time in less than two years that we've had a big excitement," she said. Amy said she wouldn't mind if the rig stuck around to draw visitors to the town with a population of 358.

"This could be a major tourist attraction," she said. "Just about everybody from all over has been to see it."

Howe residents provided refreshments to driving crews tied to the megaload. "One of the guys said Howe was the nicest place he'd ever been. And we agreed with him," Amy said.

Here's a fun factoid about the megaload.  The equipment owner(s) and hauler(s) took off through Idaho without getting a permit to go through Montana to get to Canada.  No kidding, can you believe that?  Here's the quotes from this morning's article:

Montana highway officials said Friday that they had yet to sign off on a revised route proposed late last month by Omega Morgan. Montana did not expect to issue the megaload a travel permit before the middle of next week.

"No permit, no entry," said Lori Ryan, a spokeswoman for Montana's Motor Carrier Services Division.

It was not known Friday where the giant rig would be stationed while awaiting approval to cross through Montana. "They'll just have to park somewhere and wait," King said.

You may not know that the megaload was originally supposed to travel Highway 12 along the Lochsa River and up and over Lolo Pass.  The Nez Perce put a stop to that!  We copied some photos of The Nez Perce stopping the megaload and made a Facebook album about 4 months ago.  Here is the link to it:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.215573078605966.1073741897.100004598250156&type=1&l=1158f7a74b

In our Blog-O-Sphere, Sue Malone put up another great Road Trip post.  We sure enjoy her writing!  It's a great way to armchair travel vicariously on her three month journey.

http://mohotravels.blogspot.com/2014/01/1-3-2014-it-has-something-to-do-with.html

Nanette South Clark writes again about Nikola Tesla and the first robotic dog.

http://anengineersaspect.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-worlds-first-robotic-dog.html

We don't know for sure but we think Nanette has written more about Nikola Tesla than any other blogger on The Planet Earth.  Surely, Nikola is smiling somewhere in his science lab in the sky.

Yes, it's cold back there in the Midwest but it's going to get a lot colder.  They-who-think-they-know are saying wind chill could exceed -40 in certain locations tomorrow.  As we've said and continue to say, as long as that kind of weather happens east of the Mississippi, Arizona and other Sun Belt states will continue to grow.  Absolutely NO doubt about it.  Speaking from personal experience growing up in Lafayette, Indiana, when this type of brutal cold hits, all you can think of is "How quickly can I get out of here?"  It makes me shiver just thinking about that kind of cold.  We're progged for another day in the 60-degree range here.

We have some Dear Friends coming by about mid-day to go on a hike in nearby, familiar terrain.  We're very happy we started the New Year off on the right foot: Two Days. Two new Trails.

Not much to report otherwise.  Life Is Good.  Have a Great day & Many Happy Cheers!  jp









http://anengineersaspect.blogspot.com

http://mohotravels.blogspot.com

A Hangover kinda day

Here's 110 photos of our Hangover Trail hike Friday. If this slideshow won't load, here's the link to the photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/117214000776076564030/HangoverTrail010314?authuser=0&feat=directlink

The material below was posted prior to the hike and a couple of Editor's Notes have been added.

For those of you who are following this blog whenever a new post appears, here's what we are planning today--the famous or infamous Hangover Trail.

It appears to be either a 4.3 or a 4.7 mile loop from the Cow Pies Trail Head. About a mile of the hike will be walking back uphill next to the rough Schnebly Hill Road on the Munds Wagon Trail.  The crux of the hikes is on the north side of this above illustration.  (Editor's Note: It turned out to be a 5.07 mile loop.)

In addition to extraordinary terrain hazards, the real danger with this trail is out-of-control, high speed, yahoo mountain bikers.  The Hangover Trail has a high machismo rating and testosterone-charged males come from all over America to strut their trick mountain bike stuff on this trail.

We will be taking SuziQ because the Forest Circus has let Schnebly Hill Road fall apart.  Schnebly once was sedan-capable but not any more. (Editor's Note: You have NO IDEA how bad the Schnebly Road has become.  It is atrocious and a total embarrassment to the Forest Circus.  It is HORRIBLE!)

Here's a Flagstaff newspaper article on the trail.  Note that the author's mileages are all wrong because the author is calculating the distance from the Huckaby Trailhead where the pavement ends.

http://azdailysun.com/sports/recreation/a-delightful-hangover/article_92e599d5-1067-586e-96f1-44dd8f7577c9.html

Here is the Trimble website where we obtained the graphic shown at the top of this post:

http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/2094089

Here's some macho video links to the trail:

http://youtu.be/gDbUaQDvnK0
https://vimeo.com/62806855

You can Google "Hangover Trail Sedona Arizona" for lots more stuff on this adventure.

Gonna be interesting!

Off On The Right Foot

( Dateline: 2456660 )  Greeting Dear Friends and especially Dear Facebook Friends who take time to mosey over here and read what we have to say.  Today, we're putting the discussion of what we've done at the bottom instead of the top.  We're going to start with news and morning reading material first.

The biggest news is the ridiculous weather back in the Midwest and the East.  Yes, we're all accustomed to reading about ridiculous weather but this cold front is epic.  It could easily produce some of the coldest weather Indiana has seen in at least 20 years and probably some of the coldest weather in recorded weather history.  Here's what the Indianapolis NWS has to say about it in their morning AFD today:

Meanwhile--Warm & Dry here.

THIS WILL BRING THE COLDEST TEMPERATURES CENTRAL INDIANA HAS SEEN IN 20 YEARS WITH THE POTENTIAL FOR AN EXTENDED PERIOD OF SUBZERO TEMPS ON THE ORDER OF 36 TO 48 HOURS ACROSS A LARGE PART OF THE FORECAST AREA....AND EXPECT COLDEST TEMPS WILL BE FELT MONDAY NIGHT. HAVE LOWS FROM -17 TO -10F ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA AND FRANKLY THIS MAY STILL BE CONSERVATIVE CONSIDERING MODEL TRENDS THE LAST FEW DAYS.

TO PUT THIS COLD BLAST INTO PERSPECTIVE...INDY HAS EXPERIENCED JUST SEVEN DAYS WITH LOWS OF -10 OR LOWER SINCE THE RECORD COLD OF JANUARY 1994. WE MAY ADD TWO DAYS TO THAT LIST EARLY NEXT WEEK. EVEN MORE IMPRESSIVE...THE COLDEST HIGH IN RECORDED HISTORY IS -11 FROM
JAN 20 1985. ONLY 16 DAYS IN THE INDY PERIOD OF RECORD HAVE EXPERIENCED SUBZERO HIGHS. MONDAY AND TUESDAY MAY BE ADDED TO THIS VERY SHORT LIST.

DANGEROUS WIND CHILLS WILL BE A PROBLEM IN TANDEM WITH THE TEMPS...
AS THE SHARP PRESSURE GRADIENT BEHIND THE RAPIDLY STRENGTHENING LOW
WILL MAINTAIN GUSTS IN THE 20-30MPH RANGE MONDAY AND MONDAY NIGHT.
WIND CHILLS ARE LIKELY TO BOTTOM OUT AT -40 TO -30F MONDAY THROUGH
TUESDAY.

Here is a link to an article in my Home Town newspaper, "The Lafayette Journal and Courier."  My heart goes out to all those folks I know back there along the Banks of The Wabash.

http://www.jconline.com/article/20140103/NEWS07/301030006/Weather-Partly-sunny-highs-under-10-says-Paul-Poteet

Meanwhile, NOAA says this winter will bring no relief to the drought-stricken Southwest.  The news in this article is not good.

http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2013/20131121_winteroutlook.html

Moving on to a brighter, funner topic, here's an article from the Tucson newspaper about a new guide to The Arizona Trail.  This particular guide is long overdue and will become an instant hit with both hikers and people who collect trail guide books (AKA: Little Yonni).

http://azstarnet.com/news/local/new-guidebook-spotlights-arizona-trail/article_ac948de7-0400-54b0-9859-115433134679.html

Whoever heard of a Chamber of Commerce "being mothballed."  At first we thought it was some sort of pest control gig.  But no, it's true.  Only in Camp Verde, of course:

http://cvbugle.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=40934

The Coconino National Forest is FINALLY revising their Master Plan...finally as  in after TWENTY SEVEN YEARS!  YIKES!  We clearly remember the 1987 charade they called a Master Plan back then.  It was simply a justification of "business as usual."  Luckily, it's obvious this new master plan will be far more in touch with the realities of our time.  We will highlight various portions of it over the coming days.

http://go.usa.gov/jHnY

And, finally, once again in the news today--The MegaLoad!  No, it's not a new lottery.

This article was written by Laura Zuckerman and is Copyright 2014 by "The Post-Register."  It is used here with permission from the publisher.

SALMON -- A giant load of oilfield equipment bound for the tar sands of Canada is expected to make its way through Salmon tonight, Idaho Transportation Department officials said Thursday.

The so-called megaload hauled by Oregon shipper Omega Morgan weighs 901,000 pounds, is 76 feet longer than a football field and stands nearly as tall as a two-story house. It needs two lanes for travel.

The megaload was to travel through Lemhi County overnight Thursday and be on the southern outskirts of Salmon this morning. Local officials said the load could move through Salmon as early as 8 p.m. today. But ITD spokesman Bruce King said the megaload was not authorized to begin the trek until 10 p.m.

Under the terms of its Idaho permit, the megaload can travel only from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.

It was unknown how long the trip through Salmon might take or how long the load would block a Salmon River bridge that connects the city's east and west sides. The megaload will turn off the bridge onto U.S. Highway 93 North and ultimately cross Lost Trail Pass into Montana.

The megaload is one of three massive shipments planned by Omega Morgan in the coming weeks. All will travel a route through Idaho that includes passing through the communities of Arco, Leadore and Salmon.

Idaho State Patrol troopers were expected to flank the megaload tonight to address any protests similar to the ones that slowed its pace through Oregon.

Salmon was among cities listed by Wild Idaho Rising Tide as a possible site for protests by those at odds with ongoing expansion of the oil and gas industry. Other protesters have objected to transforming Pacific Northwest states into "high and wide" industrial corridors.

Lemhi County Emergency Management Director Janet Nelson said emergency vehicles would be placed on either side of the Salmon River bridge so first responders could address any medical, fire or other emergency that may arise. Officials hope no emergency calls will require transferring patients between the local hospital and medical centers in Montana while the route is taken up by the megaload.

"That would be a problem," Nelson said.

The Shoshone-Bannock tribes on Thursday expressed concern about the megaload's impact on their homelands along the Salmon and other Idaho rivers, where they still exercise fishing and hunting rights. Tribal leaders criticized the ITD for failing to consult with them before issuing the permit to Omega Morgan. They said they expected "full and complete mitigation" linked to any damages or incidents tied to the megaload's passage along river corridors.


Idaho has not required a bond for the shipment.

------------end of Zuckerman article-------------

Spent a slow Thursday morning messing with the blog and writing up the first morning edition.  Stopped by the Red Rock Visitor Center to see if any new trails were recently created.  Finally got on the actual trail at 12:30 pm.  Hiked for 3 hours.  Back home with plenty of time to process and post photos.

Today (Friday) is more of the same.  Mess with this blog, take off and go hiking, come home and enjoy 60-degree weather.  Maybe rustle up a camp fire.  Enjoy Happy Hour.

Thanks for reading.  Many Cheers, jp

PS---Speaking of reading, You have helped create a real bump up in the readership of this blog.  Our own visits are not counted in the statistics.  Our "Statistics Week" ends at at 12:01 am Friday morning (today)  This week, we averaged 16 visitors and 43 page views per day with an average time spent on the blog of five minutes sixteen seconds.  

For the past four week, we averaged four visitors per day who logged an average of 8 page views per day and spent less than 30 seconds total on the blog.  Most visitors are reading the blog between 9-10 am and again at 6 pm.  THANK YOU for reading!

First Hike of Year 2014

January 2nd started off real slowly.  We didn't really know where we were going.  So, we drove over to Grand Central Station (AKA: The Red Rock Visitor Center).  We quizzed the kind volunteers and paid staff about changes to what's called the "System Trails" during Year 2013 and then decided to check out a trail we've talked about for years.

It's called the Llama Trail we we think it first appeared on the radar 4-5-6 years ago, maybe longer.  Us Rimrockers can't tell time very well, living here on The Edge of The Flat Earth as we do.  It turned out to be a perfect hike for us today.  We covered a mere 4 miles in a little over 3 hours.  Only two hours were spent actually hiking so we kept our 2 mph average intact.  We spent one hour 11 minutes lolly gagging around, having lunch, taking picture, doing whatever. You know the drill.  It's quite a fun trail and all the photos in this albums actually have captions.

If the slideshow below won't load, simple click on this link to view the photos the old fashioned way--one at a time!

https://picasaweb.google.com/117214000776076564030/LlamaTrail010214?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Dawn of a New Day

January 2 pre-sunrise over The Mogollon Rim is reminiscent of Georgia O'Keeffe

( Dateline: 2456659 ) Good Morning, Rimrock! Today's the very first day of our new online paradigm. Here's how it works.  We're gonna get up each day and enjoy our morning reading.  As you know, we roam far and wide through various blogs, newspaper, articles, websites and whatever else we can find.  We love morning reading and we are grateful for the time and freedom to pursue whatever topics strike our fancy.

Then we're going to make a few notes about yesterday and today and then we're going to create a digest of the interesting stuff we found during our morning reading.  And then we're turning this machine OFF and getting out into The Real World as soon as possible each day.  The goal is to reduce the time we spend sitting here in front of this laptop.

Yesterday was a very fun New Year's Day.  On New Year's Eve we couldn't start the Big Truck so we drove over to Jodi and Dexter's Place in the little truck.  This meant we couldn't spend the night as planned.  We stayed a few hours and were back home by 9 pm.  This year, Jodi & Dexter had a huge party with all kinds of adults, kids, dogs and more food than an army could eat.  We enjoyed talking with a lot of our Dear Friends.

It was great to wake up in our own home New Year's Day.  It would be have been fun to wake up in Jodi and Dexter's driveway, too, but you know how it goes.  Most of New Year's Day morning was spent messing with the blog and pontificating about how we are going to eschew Facebook and get back to basics here on Da Blog.  For those few who trudged dutifully through such self-serving writing, THANK YOU!  Also a special Thanks to Maggie for her many supportive emails yesterday.  Thanks to Sue Malone, Brad, Terry and Sweetie Susun for their kind and supportive comments.  We're gonna make it happen one day at a time.

After hours on the blog gig, we headed over to Cottonwood for some serious grocery shopping.  The first Wednesday of the month mean 10% off for us of the Senior Persuasion.  Typically, we can easily pay for the gas cost for the 50 mile round trip simply with the 10% savings.  In addition to the 10% bonus, we managed to save over 50% on everything we bought, as usual.  So far, in our first two months here we have managed to save well 50% on ALL of our grocery shopping.

Back at home we enjoyed a 65 degree afternoon and tinkered with this and that.  The evening was spent trying to learn GIMP and you know how that went.

Today we're planning on going somewhere.  There's been talk of Loy Canyon.  It's a long haul to Loy.  There was talk of heading to Williams today but neither of us is in the mood for that much work.  Not sure where we will go but it will be somewhere.

OK, on to the morning reading...

First, the blogs:

Sue Malone writes a great blog even when she's at her Oregon Home.  However, it's obvious Sue really Shines when she's on the road again.  Her New Year's Day blog is great and fun to read.  We enjoy Sue's writing style and look forward to the posts she's going to put up during her three month trip ahead.

Click here for Sue's Blog:
http://mohotravels.blogspot.com

Nanette South Clark is an excellent blogger.  Today she put up one of her fictional self-help magazine covers.  Nanette has a wide-ranging sense of humor that finds its way into her writing, various cartoons, quips, quotes and, yes, fictional magazine covers, too.

Click here for Nanette's blog:
http://anengineersaspect.blogspot.com/

Dear Friend Kirsty has some incredible bouts with depression.  Kirsty is also incredibly upfront and public about her struggles with depression.  Her latest blog post is a true testimony to Kirsty's incredible spirit.

Click here for Kirsty's blog:
http://www.momedysketch.com

Wayne Ranney's blog was recently honored by being included in a list of 105 top geology blogs and websites.  Wayne's blog was listed #16 of 105 blogs and websites.  Way to go, Wayne.  The latest post on Wayne's blog is about an epic highway slump we will discuss farther down in today's post.

Click here for Wayne's Blog:
http://earthly-musings.blogspot.com

We mentioned earlier today's sunrise reminds us of Georgia O'Keeffe.  Well, the famed artist's work is on display at the Heard Museum until March 3rd and it's a HIGH priority to get there to see it.  O'Keeffe is easily one of Sweetie Susun's all-time FAVE artists.  Here's the Heard website on the exhibit:

http://www.heard.org/okeeffe/

OK, moving along to the news of the morning.  Thanks to Wayne Ranney for alerting us to the humongous highway slump 56 miles below the US Border south of San Diego.  YIKES!  Anyone who has followed the US 89 highway slump south of Page, Arizona, will howl with laughter at this silly comment from a Mexican official.

"Frontera reports that Rosa María Castañeda, regional director of the Federal Roads and Bridges agency responsible for the highway, has said that it might only take a week until the road reopens."

Yeah, maybe it will open to burros and donkeys and foot traffic but it ain't opening to vehicle traffic unless they are monster Bubba Trucks!

There's stuff on Wayne's blog about it and that's where we found the link to this article.  Thanks, Wayne!

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/dec/28/tijuana-ensenada-road-collapse/

OK, up in Idaho Falls, renowned Outdoor Sports Writer and Author Jerry Painter did a great article today on fat bikes.  Early mountain bikes were known as fat tire bikes.  Well, apparently, those tires weren't fat enough and now we have REALLY FAT bikes!  Here's a couple of photos to help you get the drift, so to speak.

And here's Jerry's article in today's Post-Register.

By Jerry Painter, Copyright 2014 "The Post-Register"

The first thing I learned about riding a fat bike was that the consistency of the snow makes a big difference.

Scott Hurst, the manager of the Outdoor Recreation Center at Brigham Young University-Idaho, offered to loan me and a couple of friends fat bikes that his center recently acquired.

Fat bikes are similar to mountain bikes but have the geometry to allow them to use 4- to 5-inch wide, light, knobby tires. These wide tires allow riders to go over soft surfaces such as snow or sand. They look like motorcycle tires on a bicycle.

We gathered at the Teton Canyon Road winter parking area to start our ride on Saturday. Other groups -- Teton Valley Trails and Pathways, Fitzgeralds Bicycles of Victor and Peaked Sports and Yostmark in Driggs -- were also there demonstrating skate skiing and fat bikes. The trails organization oversees the grooming of Teton Canyon Road and other local trails.

The first mile of the road is open to the sun, causing the snow to be packed a bit harder. We found ourselves cruising along and enjoying the ride. When the road passed into the forest, the snow became softer and our tires sunk in. I found my rear wheel fishtailing and my pedaling more labored. When the road passed through another open area more exposed to the sun, the pedaling became easier again. After a few miles, Hurst let some air out of my rear tire. I noticed the difference immediately. The flatter tire, with more surface area, floated on the snow better.

"It's a lot like mountain biking," said Craig Stoddard of Rigby who joined us with his wife, Shelli. "Except you don't get the payoff at the end when you come back down."

Only two body parts seemed to get chilled: My finger tips and toe tips. The rest of my body wanted to sweat. With a few adjustments, both problems can be solved.

Fat bikes used to be only built by smaller specialty bike companies, but in recent months, major players such as Trek and Specialized have entered the market with new models. Snow rider races -- generally long endurance affairs -- are cropping up around the country. The Island Park area will be the site of the Backyard Fat Pursuit race March 1. Sponsored by Fitzgeralds Bicycles and famed Teton Valley biker Jay Petervary, the race will follow snowmobile trails over a 60k and 200k course.

"When I first showed up at one of the snowmobile meetings, they were wondering what I was doing there," Petervary said Saturday, "But after we contributed to their grooming fund and told them what we wanted to do, they've warmed up to the idea and are behind it."

Petervary said he doesn't expect too big a crowd for the first race -- maybe a dozen for the 200k and 30 to 40 for the 60k -- but he does expect it to grow in the coming years.

"It has the potential of becoming a big deal," he said. "I've done the races in Alaska, and there's no reason we can't do them here."

Finally, how about the megaload?  Well, it made a 123-trip earlier this week and then stopped east of Arco to await today's next leg.  The famous "Howe Corner" lies just up the road from the truck's resting place.  Sometime in the next day or two or three, the 376-foot load will be going through Salmon, Idaho and that's when it's going to get "very interesting," as Arte Johnson would say on the old Laugh-In TV show.

Okie, dokie, Smokey, this concludes our first edition of the New Online Paradigm here at the Edge of The Flat Earth in The Rimrock Megapolis.  Have a great day and Many Happy January Cheers!

Trick Photography

We all grew up with something called Trick Photography.  These days it's called "Photoshopped."  to say that something has been Photoshopped is a derogatory comment...a slur to some.  but NOT to us!

Nope, we'd LOVE to know how to Photoshop stuff.  It's been a Big Goal of ours since like forever.  Nowadays, you can download the totally free GIMP software and do with GIMP mostly what you could do with Photoshop, as least from a pedestrian point-of-view.

We are currently trying to learn GIMP and thought we'd mess with our two fave Facebook cover photos.  Susun's fave is the Green River Headwaters.  Mine is Teton Valley.  The goal is to blend them in some sort of coherent manner.  By Jove, I think we have made some progress this evening.

First off here's our most hilarious error when we sunk the truck.

Opps, it appears as if The Teton Valley has been inundated and our poor Nissan Marvie is long gone under the lake waters.  Nope, it's not twue!

This is more of what we had in mind.  The waters of Green River Lake blend into the BACK of the truck with Sweetie Susun superimposed over those waters while at the front of the truck she is celebrating with the Tetons in the background.

Yeah, this is pretty low rent Photoshop-style stuff but it works for us.  We're happy with our first attempt tonight at this stuff.

Status Report 2456658

Oh, this is Rich Stuff!  Check it out: "Status Report 2456658" is the title of this post.  Guess what?  Tomorrow, there's might be Status Report 2456659!

What is the number and why are we doing this?  Good questions.  The number is the Julian Day for January 1st, 2014.  It is a truly unique number assigned to this day and NO other day in human history has such a number.  There will be only ONE Julian Day 2456658!  (Click here to read all about Julian Days.)

So why Julian Days?  Simple--We need to be able to search for content on this blog.  As the blog ages, it's going to get more and more difficult to search for a specific day.  Trust me, a Julian Day number is as specific as you can possibly get.  So, when we type in any given 7 digit Julian Day number, we're going right to the Status Report for that particular day.

Our Daily Status Reports are going to be a general overview of each day for which we choose to write such a report.  No, we aren't going to do them every day.  YIKES, that would be so extraordinarily Type A it would freak us out!  However, on whatever day we decide to write a Status Report, we will look up the Julian Day number and assign it to that report.  It's essentially a File Titling paradigm.

Here is the best Julian day converted to be found online:

http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/JulianDate.php

So, what is a Status Report going to include?

A Status Report (SR) is going to be the modern guy equivalent of a clasped"Dear Diary" entry from yesteryear.  That's just another way of saying it will be whatever BS we feel like slinging forth on any given day.  Luckily, thanks to Julian Days, we're finally going to have a way to "Get Back."

Jojo was a man who thought he was a loner
But he knew it couldn't last.
Jojo left his home in Tucson, Arizona
For some California grass.
Get back, get back.
Get back to where you once belonged
Get back, get back.
Get back to where you once belonged.
Get back Jojo, go home
Get back, get back.
Get back to where you once belonged
Get back, get back.
Back to where you once belonged.
Get back Jo.

But, we digress.

Whatever we want to say about today goes down below here in the big white space.....

And so it goes....with Status Report 2456658....

Two months

Incredible Blue Bird New Year's Day marked our 2 month anniversary here with a high temp of 65 degrees!

Our Arizona Season is more than one third over--it's actually 36% over as of today.  We arrived here November 1st and we've been here 60 days.  We will be leaving to head north on April 17.  So, we have 106 days left.

This is always about the time we begin to feel really "settled in".  It's always kind of a blur in the run up to New Year's Day.  Once we get to January 1st, we can really kick back and enjoy ourselves here.  The first two months are so full of it, so to speak.  Were really looking forward to the next 106 days.

How are those days going to shake out?

January is a time when we can really hit our stride here with numerous day hikes, Road Trips and visits with Dear Friends.  It's also a great time to do some work on the house and the grounds.  No matter what the weather during January, there's always something fun and productive we can do.

February 1st is our annual Big Mid-Winter Party.  Susun flies out of Phoenix for Kauai on February 5th.  She returns February 16th.  That's a Sunday.  Chances are we will stay down in Phoenix for a couple of days early that week.  We won't get settled back in here in Rimrock until late that week.

Meanwhile, the following week, John goes off on his Grand Canyon hike with Wayne.  John won't be returning until March 1st or 2nd.  So, basically, you can see January is a great month to do a lot of stuff and February is basically spoken for and mostly booked up solid.

Wayne Ranney looks on as Susun and John
do the very first work on April 1st 1994.

March is the next month when we can do stuff--lots of day hiking and some Road Trips and whatever remains to be done to the house and grounds.  We will also have the first partial week of April lumped in with the lazy days of March.  Chances are we will be having another (smaller) party on either Tuesday, April 1st or Saturday, April 5th?  Why's that?  Well, April 1st 2014 will mark the 20th Anniversary of the day we began construction of our Straw Bale House.  We simply can't let that date slip by without some sort of ceremony or party or whatever.

Susun will be flying out to San Diego on or about April 7th or 8th for Gage's Birthday.  Only a couple of days after her return, we're driving north to Susan Kliewer's Place in Vermilion Cliffs.

Yes, the Arizona Season really does go by that quickly!  It's always amazing. That's why we look forward so much to January and March.  For all practical purposes those two months are the Heart of our Quality Time here in Arizona.  As you can see by our Arizona Bucket List, we have more than enough stuff to potentially occupy our free time in January and March.

Mesquite & Blogger Shadows New Year's Day.  We're Blessed & Grateful to be Here.  Happy January 1st!

Let The Record Show

This New Year's Day weather is outrageous...in a great way.  The temperature just before 3:30 pm is a ridiculous 64 degrees, NINE degrees above average. Yes, its very much fun and highly enjoyable but the bottom line is that it's not supposed to be this way. (The record for this date is 70 degrees set in 1981.)

We need cold, rain, snow and lots of it.  Sure, the Chamber of Commerce loves this kind of weather but this drought just has to end.  Pity the poor land, plants and critters.  With each day that ticks off the calendar there are that many fewer days left to get the precipitation we need.  THINK SNOW!

To keep an eye on Rimrock weather go here:
http://www.wunderground.com/weatherstation/WXDailyHistory.asp?ID=KAZLAKEM2

Skunked

What made us think we would be successful in the BLM's monthly lottery for Coyote Buttes North?  Was it the "Powerball Mentality?"  You know that mentality.  You buy a Powerball and you automatically think you're going to win.  You even begin mentally spending the money from your Powerball winnings.

Back on December 16th, we wrote this post about how my Mom played the Powerball:

"Well, the Lotto is probably gonna be over $600-million tomorrow. As you know, the odds of winning are one in a quarter-billion. My Dearly Departed Mom loved it when the lotto fever ran high. She would always go buy one or two tickets. Then she would call me and tell me everything she was going to do with the money like she had already won it and was trying to decide how to spend it. Lots of her theoretical spending spree was always directed toward me, myself and I. This put me in a position of having to thank Mom for spending so much money on my behalf. She'd say stuff like, "I'm gonna send you around the world, first class all the way," or some such thing. Well, what are ya gonna do? So, I would always say (quite nicely), "Thank You, Mom, that's very Sweet, I am looking forward to it." Mom generally only spent two bucks on lotto tickets. But she sure got her money's worth out of those two bucks. Her days were filled with delicious fantasies of a wild geriatric spending spree..PLUS she figured out to get me to say Thank You without ever really having to spend any money. It was a Sweet Scam and I loved her for it. I never tried to tell her she was crazy and talking through her hat. I just said lots of "Thank You, Mom" and let her totally believe her two bucks was her passport to Fantasy Island. It's quite innocent fun, actually. I am going to go spend two bucks in honor of my Mom. Then, I am going to pull her trick on some folks I know. I will call them up all breathless about how I am going to dump loads of money in their lap. It was be interesting to see how they react. What would you do with the lotto loot if you won?"

Anyway, we did the same danged thing with the BLM lottery.  We assumed we were going to win and starting thinking about the trip and who was going to come along with us and what a great day it was going to be and on and on and ON.  Why do we do this?

This morning, bright and early, we receive this cheery New Year's note from the BLM:

"Lottery run date: January 1, 2014
Dear John Parsons,

Unfortunately the dates and entries you chose did not become available to you in our lottery application process for a Coyote Buttes North permit. It is remotely possible the date and entries selected for your trip will be forfeited by the winners because of nonpayment or release.  If that happens, the dates and entries will become publicly available via the calendar application process.

Your unsuccessful lottery application was for:
Area: Coyote Buttes North
Number in group: 4
Requested Dates: 4/21/2014, 4/22/2014, 4/18/2014

As you were already made aware, your lottery application fee was non-refundable.  It cannot be credited towards any other permit you might be eligible for through any other lottery or calendar application process, now or in the future, for this or any other area.

However, your non-refundable fee will be used only for continued recreational enjoyment of the Paria Canyon and Coyote Buttes area, to the benefit of yourself and other visitors that will hopefully have the opportunity to visit some other time.  We sincerely appreciate your patronage and the critical assistance your non-refundable fee provides.  Thank you."

Well, we try to justify this craziness by saying it was a fun way to waste five dollars.  Actually, we all know that's pure BS.  Five bucks could have done a lot of other fun stuff us besides making us a loser on New Year's Day.  Who wants to be a loser on New Year's?  Huh?  Just tell me know wants to be a lower today?

Well, that's what we get for our five bucks.  A fine "how-do-ya-do," if ya ask me!

And so it goes...

We are off on a Happy New Year Blogging Binge.  So far this morning, we've put up 7 posts.  That's 3 more posts than we we did in all of November and December. (Combined Total = 4)

Here is The Plan A Top Five:

First, We're going to try really, really hard to get back to recording significant events of each day and week.

Second, We're going to work really, really hard to transfer Year 2013 Facebook photo albums over here to the blog where we can always and forever find them.

Third, As the events of our Year 2014 evolve, we're going to put the lion's share of photos and narrative HERE and NOT on Facebook.  For example, if we want to post 100 photos--they are going to go HERE.  Then we might post one or two photos on Facebook and say, "Hey, all the other photos are on the blog."

Fourth, we're going to cut WAY back on the time we spend on Facebook--hopefully slice and dice it by 95%.  We're spending far too much time on Facebook and that has to stop beginning today.

Fifth, Whatever rambling narratives we care to write will appear there and not on Facebook.

And so it goes....

Young - Tonto Trip

We finally got it together to visit Young, Arizona, and the Tonto Basin on March 27-28, 2013. We created several Facebook albums of the trip. This is one single photo album that combines all of the Facebook albums.

 Here's the link if the slideshow won't load: https://picasaweb.google.com/117214000776076564030/YoungTontoBasin2013?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Two Calendar Sites

The V Bar V Heritage Site is well known and visited by thousands of people each year.  It's the best Verde Valley place to ponder petroglyphs and wonder about how The Ancient Ones kept track of celestial time.

We went to V Bar V this year to listen to renowned amateur archaeologist Ken Zoll talk about how he deciphered the role of the markings as  "calendar site."  A few days later we found a spot within an hour of Rimrock that we're also confident served the same function.

All these photos were first put up on Facebook but we've cross posted them here so we will always have easy access to them.

Here are the direct links to the two albums:

V Bar V: https://picasaweb.google.com/117214000776076564030/VBARVWinterSolstice?authuser=0&feat=directlink

The other site: https://picasaweb.google.com/117214000776076564030/AnotherCalendarSite?authuser=0&feat=directlink

The Verde River is Home to Me

Thanks to Billie J. Helm for writing this incredibly awesome poem.  Thanks to Bill Cowan for making sure it could be properly posted online.  This sums it up for all of us.  What a great way to start the New Year!

THE VERDE RIVER IS HOME TO ME

Written by Billie J. Helm May 2009 

GREW UP NEXT TO THE VERDE RIVER

FROM THE TIME I WAS THREE, SO THE

VERDE HAS ALWAYS BEEN HOME TO ME.

WINDING THROUGH THE VALLEY SHE FLOWS 

SO FREE - GIVING LIFE TO EVERYTHING

AROUND HER THE WAY GOD WANTS IT TO BE.

AS A CHILD, PLAYED ALONG HER BANKS

CAUGHT FISH AND TURTLES, SWAM AND

LAYED OUT IN THE SUN - THIS WAS MY FUN.

GAVE CATTAILS AS GIFTS WHEN THEY WERE

PAINTED AND DRIED. WATCHED THE CLOUDS AS

THEY ROLLED BY - DREAMED OF THE FUTURE, 

LAUGHED AND CRIED. CAME HERE FOR COMFORT

WHEN A PET OR LOVED ONE DIED. NOW YOU CAN

SEE - WHY THE VERDE RIVER HAS ALWAYS

BEEN HOME TO ME.

AS A TEENAGER, RODE INNER TUBES DOWN 

HER MIDDLE, WALKED ALONG HER SHORES, 

BURNED CAMPFIRE COALS FOR HOTDOGS AND

S’MORES, TALKED AND SANG WITH FRIENDS

AS WE WATCHED THE MOON AND STARS.

LISTENED TO THE BULL FROGS AS THEY SANG

THEIR SONGS WITH GLEE. THIS ALSO MADE THE

VERDE RIVER HOME TO ME.

AS THE VERDE RIVER WINDS THROUGH

THE CANYONS AND IS FED BY NATURAL SPRINGS

AS SHE ROLLS ALONG - THE TREES, GRASS, 

FLOWERS, BIRDS, WILDLIFE, AND PEOPLE OF

THE VALLEYS TO HER SOUL BELONG.

LISTEN TO HER STORY AS IT IS TOLD IN 

THE WORDS OF A STORY OR SONG.

THE VERDE RIVER IS THE LIFE BLOOD OF

CENTRAL ARIZONA AND FOR THIS VERY REASON

HER USE MUST BE PROJECTED. SHE CAN BE

ENJOYED BUT HER RIBBON OF LIFE MUST

BE PROTECTED. SHE’S THE LAST OF HER KIND, 

ANOTHER LIKE HER YOU WILL NOT FIND.

SHE MUST BE USED ONLY AS GOD HAD IN MIND.

AND THEN YOU’LL SEE, THE RIVER

THROUGH OUT THE VERDE VALLEY WILL

ALWAYS BE HOME TO YOU AND ME!

Facebook Cover Photos

Here's 74 of our favorite Facebook cover photos from Year 2013.  This isn't as good as having each of the photos be part of individual blog posts but it's better than nothing.
If you odn't have Flash players on your computer the embedded slide show won't play.  In that case, here's the link to view the photos one at a time,
https://picasaweb.google.com/117214000776076564030/FacebookCoverPhotos?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Two fave fotos

We spent quite a bit of time during the last couple of weeks going over Road Trip pictures from Year 2013.  These two ranked as our favorites.  Susun's favorite is the one with the Green River headwaters in the background.  My favorite is with the Teton Range in the background.  We definitely plan to visit both those places again in Year 2014.

Four Years, Now What?

Four years ago today we created a blog called "Y2Ten" and proceeded to become a blogoholic, putting up a blizzard of blogging for what seemed like forever.  The years passed.  This morning as we look back, we see we've put 1605 blog posts, even though only 200 were written in Year 2013.

What happened to the past six months?  Where do we stand?  How will we proceed?

Facebook consumed us during the second half of Year 2013.  If Facebook provided a most coherent archive, we'd probably continue putting all our energy into Facebook.  However, Facebook's archives are a joke.  Yesterday, we downloaded our entire Facebook dossier.  It's impossible to make true sense of it.  Yes, everything shard and speck of everything we ever did on Facebook is in the portfolio.  But it's an incoherent, chaotic mess.

The true Beauty of a Blog, particularly THIS blog, is its archival relevance.  Whenever we wish to see whatever it was we did on a certain date or during a certain time period, VIOLA, it's SOOOO Simple!  We just go back to that time period with a few mouse clicks and all the photos and narratives are readily available.  Everything is so neatly arranged in a logical chronological order.

We are danged proud of putting up 1605 blog posts here in the past four years.  We have to admit, we are sheepish and somewhat shamed by neglecting this blog during the past six months.  There really has been no excuse.  Facebook is a mere toy compared to the solid structure of a blog such as this.  Facebook is also quite probably an addiction that holds easy appeal to OCD people such as ourselves.

After studying our Facebook portfolio yesterday, we really had to look ourselves in the mirror and ask, "Self, what are you doing?"  We simply can't justify spending so much time and putting so much stuff onto Facebook.  It runs totally against the grain of why we started this blog in the first place four years ago.

Yes, it's going to be tough to turn our back on Facebook and walk away but we have to do it.  As of yesterday, that simple fact became crystal clear.  if we wish to truly create the equivalent of a "life archive," then there is no other choice.  Facebook is pure entertainment.  Facebook can even be pure fun, too.  But Facebook is definitely not a "life archive."  That's just not part of the Facebook business model and the billionaires who run the asylum have no intentions of creating such an arcane thing as a "life archive".  Only a blog can do that.  Only a blog is suitable for such a thing.

As we read what we wrote four years ago, we really feel a stronger resolve to stand tall and eschew Facebook.  Very few people will ever read this blog. Frankly, very few EVER read this blog--at least compared to the readership we have enjoyed on Facebook.  But readership is not the point.

Readership is here today and gone tomorrow.  However, a blog is forever and it withstands the test of time.
So....there you have it.  Will we or won't we?  The proof will be in the doing.  Talk is cheap, Johnny.  Let's see you stand and deliver, Dude!

And with that, we'd like to resurrect one of our very first blog posts from four years ago.  It was written on January 3rd, 2010 and sums up the happiness and joy this blog brought to my life.  It was entitled: "This Blog's For Me."

It's only been a couple of days since I created this blog and I can already tell you it fits me like a comfortable slipper.  I didn't realize that I didn't have a blog just for my own miscellaneous ramblings.  Of those 34 or more blogs I mentioned the other day--this is really the only one that doesn't have a truly specific and focused purpose.  It's great to be able to write whatever I want about anything under the sun.  Heck, I should have been doing this a long time ago.  I think the last time I did this sort of recreational writing was back in earl 2001 when we were in Rocky Point, Mexico.  Blogs weren't very well established back then and the word "blog" wasn't a household word like it is today.  I woke up in the middle of the night in a poptop camper on the beach and wrote on Notepad on an old Windows 3.1 machine and saved to a floppy disk.  Then, we'd go into town and rent a computer for 20 pesos an hour.  I'd transfer the ASCII files to the WIN95 machine and then upload to a website, painstakingly creating a new web page for each entry.  It was terribly complex and time consuming.  People really enjoyed reading my stuff and I still get comments about that writing.

I enjoy writing aimlessly.  I enjoy writing stuff that's focused, too, of course.  But writing about nothing in particular is a fat lot of fun.  It's like taking a mental hike through some pleasant landscapes.  I can go off trail any time I want without the Trail Police giving me a ticket.  Be forewarned that this blog actually DOES have some slim purpose.  As noted in the original post, we're going to attempt to use it to help make some big lifestyle transitions this year.  However, in the meantime, I am having fun letting the fingers roam at will hither and yon across this QWERTY keyboard.

Susun asked me the other day why it's called a QWERTY keyboard.  Well, look at the first six letters on the left side of the top row.  It dates clear back to 1874 and you can read the Wiki about it by clicking here.

I never took a typing lesson so I generally use only 4-6 fingers at any given time, usually four.  Perhaps that explains the plethora of typos.  I don't much care about typos.  I know typos drive some people to the edge of insanity.  Back in the 1970's, I actually had newspaper readers come to my office and yell and scream at me about my typos.  It rolled harmlessly off my back.  Back then, typos where a Big Mortal Sin.  Now, they are merely annoying and as our illiterate younger generation comes of age, typos are much more accepted.  Heck, look at the texting lingo.  It's all one great big typo!  Who cares any more?  Certainly not me.