Dry Suits Rock

Thank you Jon S for finding those dry suits for $25 each!  Being cold water-proof changes everything.

Never saw myself as a motor-head, but I like to tinker and I do enjoy scooting around.  Dad's '89 500cc water pumps with seats came into my life this fall, and puttering with them this winter was a blast. They are running sweet.

The Clearwater was calling me yesterday.  Unseasonably warm.  Water was gin clear.  Saw two boats the whole day and I climbed from Lewiston up to almost Orofino, gas was half gone when I turned around, but it was all downhill home.  Only made one mistake on the way back; took the wrong side of an island on a stretch that is new to me. It got a little skinny. I never touched the glass on a rock, though I did get startled looks from a couple bank fishermen as I squeaked by them through a tiny channel.  Making turns on glass smooth cold water in the sunshine is feeding my need to ski this snow-less winter.  Saw Bald Eagles on the river and Meadow Larks on top of the grade.  

'91 S10 with the penguin box and a homemade canoe rack: On Display.

Google Street View is a wonderful way to visit places both familiar and new.  I've traveled many lanes through Google's cameras.  Love it.  So when the iconic car passed by me I knew I would have to wait for the next update to see if the camera was rolling.  Sure as shit,, there I am in Little Red, coming and going.   

Someone who should know once told me Bill Gates drives a Blue Ford Focus.  Made my day.  The old Chevy S10, my vehicle of choice,  morphed from eyesore into exquisite social camouflage fit for a king.  I enjoy the freedom of driving an old beater. It helps me get out of self, into the picture, to feel unimportant, and know we are trivial.  That is where I am calmest.  Feel free to judge me by my cover, it only has 125k miles, will never depreciate, and I don't care if it gets scratched.  Perfect.

Trolling around trying to find myself in street view,  I came across the camera's shadow just around the corner. First one I have ever noticed,  but now that I look I can find them everywhere,, like Duh, moving  360 degree camera arrays are often taking pictures of their own shadow. Obvious in hindsight, like most truths. 

Christmas with Friends

The day before Christmas we awoke to a big dump of snow.  On Christmas morning the sun broke out, I bundled up, and the birds came in. 

New Balance

Turns out the Mayans were right about their world ending.

I wasn't the only one who noticed, was I?   For me the significance was too obvious to deny. On 12/22/12, the day after the Mayan calendar failed to predict the end of the world, the women of India, millions and millions of them, realized that they didn't have to be raped. The machismo and bravado of men on a joy ride, met the mothers and daughters. And they are clearly saying, “women have power and a voice here, too”. 

Was it a coincidence that the NRA broke it's silence on that day and among all the possible explanations and solutions to the murder of children in a classroom, access to stacked clips goes unmentioned, but the grand supporters of liberty suggest we need to make lists of people and have the government track them. The ignorance was deafening, and the mothers across the country said, "women have power and a voice here, too”. 

The balance of power has tipped. The voice of women got a little bit louder and a few more men starting listening respectfully to the women in their lives. There is now more female energy in this world than male. It isn't a sudden lighting of the darkness, but a shifting of the sands. This call to reason has taken centuries. The times when men could claim superiority and never admit an error are passing away. 

The Mayan blood sacrifice, the slaughter of innocence for mythology, that had to be a man's idea. As their calendar fades, so does the arrogance of men. Close your eyes and feel it. On that day the female energy of the planet nudged past the male energy in both size and stature. I embrace a future were the steady determined voices of great women are there to help guide us all.

Multiplumiform Wings

When I stopped Dr. Turner to ask him about this beauty, I started by saying, "it looked like a moth but it had wings,," I looked at my hand and spread out my fingers and he gave me Genus and species. She is a specialist on Synphocarpus alba, snow berry, a common native shrub. Never seen a wing like that and I've lived around snow berries for the last couple of decades. Keeping my eyes open, now.

Contrast

HAD to share this! A picture from Dad's trip up the Amazon. He called as he approached the equator and was counting down the minutes of a degree as he approached zero. He's heading south into summer, now. Finally snowing in ernest here.

Star and Stripes

With the help of my lovely bride and a lot of rope, the old star has been hoisted over its third home and is lighting another night.