nyc


There and back. It's only 2500 miles from here to there, but feels more like we have returned from another galaxy. We arrived home when one of the biggest events of the year was underway, with every motel room sold out, and yet, by comparison, the streets seemed deserted.

We had a great time and will have to post more photos and some comments as time allows, but right now, I have to Get Behind the Mule, and Plow.

A city like a web to intricate to understand,
and I'm not going to try.


Went to see the gypsy,
Stayin' in a big hotel.
He smiled when he saw me coming,
And he said, "Well, well, well."
His room was dark and crowded,
Lights were low and dim.
"How are you?" he said to me,
I said it back to him.

I went down to the lobby
To make a small call out.
A pretty dancing girl was there,
And she began to shout,
"Go on back to see the gypsy.
He can move you from the rear,
Drive you from your fear,
Bring you through the mirror.
He did it in Las Vegas,
And he can do it here."

Bling~Bling

So the big Reno Rodeo is coming up soon. The "Wildest, Richest Rodeo in the West". The local tv stations are doing lots of short features covering the run-up to the event. On the morning news the other day they cut to a local western wear store to discuss what's in style to wear to the rodeo this year. The store owner said "This year it's all about the 'BLING'." A lovely young model was standing nearby to showoff all the rinestone, silver, and jewel covered boots, pants, belts, blouses, vests, hats and even a holster for the ever present cell phone. Looked almost like she stepped off the cover of a 2000 Cash Money recording, except of course she was a cowgirl in western wear, and it was mostly silver not gold. I couldn't see her rims. She too said "It's all about the bling-bling".

Funny, how even the die hard cowboys in Nevada are being affected by rap music culture.

Imagine that.


Bling-Bling

Summer Time


Seems like this has turned into a local weather blog, but then when you wake up on a fine June morning and find fresh snowfall on the mountains, it seems worth a mention.

Big River

The Humboldt - In Flood


From Winnemucca Mountain, looking upstream, from about Reinhart Lane to Button Point.

Bloody Run Hills


Some times I wonder how this range came by the name "Bloody Run Hills". Not too many places you'll find such a nice view on the way to the local dump. Infrastructure!

Extra Water


The Humboldt is at flood stage, the highest the water has been in 20 years. The folks are a bit on edge as the stuff starts to creep into town. At this point nothing is threatened and the predictors think we're near the peak. This shot was taken just minutes before the highway department closed down Reinhart Lane because there is too much water running over it to allow traffic continue.

heavytrash: :

'Something there is that does not love a wall?
That wants it down?'
-Robert Frost, Mending Wall

I was stumbling around today, and happened across this.

Interesting, a group called "Heavy Trash" is building viewing platforms outside of gated communities, so the rest of us can have a peak inside.

2:00 PM and it's snowing really hard. Snow flakes as big as ashtrays. The kind you can easily catch on your tongue. Day before yesteday was beautiful, yestday was windy, and by Sunday it will probably be sunny and warm again. Ah Spring.

Live frog found in airline meal:

"An airline passenger received a shock when she found a frog in her in-flight meal, New Zealand authorities say. "

Apples, oranges, frogs; all kinds of things trying to sneak into that county.

Crow


So the David Jacob-Strain Band is coming to Winnemucca in just three days, and at last check we had only sold about 25 tickets. I'm worried, so I have to get to work and see if I can't peddle some more. But the thing is, I'm going to miss this show myself and I hate that, and it's because of the JOB. Rats!

Oh, I haven't given up, but I have been real busy. I have to make a trip to Carson City on Wednesday to appear at the Commission on Economic Development, and then participate in a panel discussion on "Water and Its Impact on Economic Development" at the Rural Nevada Water Association meeting at the Silver Legacy in Reno on Thursday afternoon. So needless to say, I've been trying to learn something about economic development and something about water for the past couple of weeks....

The tulips are coming up though the decorative rock again, and the daffodils are blooming in the backyard. For a week or so it looked like summer was on the way, but the last couple of days remind us that it's still spring. We had heavy sleet at times, then sunshine, then sleet again with thunder.

Frank Zappa said:

"Winos don't march."

This came to me while thinking about the recent death of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson.

Shoveling Snow With Buddha

In the usual iconography of the temple or the local Wok
you would never see him doing such a thing,
tossing the dry snow over a mountain
of his bare, round shoulder,
his hair tied in a knot,
a model of concentration.

Sitting is more his speed, if that is the word
for what he does, or does not do.

Even the season is wrong for him.
In all his manifestations, is it not warm or slightly humid?
Is this not implied by his serene expression,
that smile so wide it wraps itself around the waist of the universe?

But here we are, working our way down the driveway,
one shovelful at a time.
We toss the light powder into the clear air.
We feel the cold mist on our faces.
And with every heave we disappear
and become lost to each other
in these sudden clouds of our own making,
these fountain-bursts of snow.

This is so much better than a sermon in church,
I say out loud, but Buddha keeps on shoveling.
This is the true religion, the religion of snow,
and sunlight and winter geese barking in the sky,
I say, but he is too busy to hear me.

He has thrown himself into shoveling snow
as if it were the purpose of existence,
as if the sign of a perfect life were a clear driveway
you could back the car down easily
and drive off into the vanities of the world
with a broken heater fan and a song on the radio.

All morning long we work side by side,
me with my commentary
and he inside his generous pocket of silence,
until the hour is nearly noon
and the snow is piled high all around us;
then, I hear him speak.

After this, he asks,
can we go inside and play cards?

Certainly, I reply, and I will heat some milk
and bring cups of hot chocolate to the table
while you shuffle the deck.
and our boots stand dripping by the door.

Aaah, says the Buddha, lifting his eyes
and leaning for a moment on his shovel
before he drives the thin blade again
deep into the glittering white snow.

Billy Collins

Happy Valentine's Day

Smiley


What you see here is me taking some advantage of Morsa. I'm hopeful that someone in her vast net of friends will provide me with some technical assistance.

So I'll get right to it. Here is the question. How do I get my website to rise to the top of the list when I google the name of my delightful little city?

A Cartoon


Lewis Lapham's Notebook in the current issue of Harper's explains the recent election about as well as anything I've seen. (I did have to keep the dictionary at close hand, and took me three readings to finally get it.)

SpongeBob and Friends: Splendor in the Kelp:

"SpongeBob creator Stephen Hillenburg, who has a background in marine biology, had to be aware that in creating a cartoon sponge he'd be opening himself up to charge of marine-based immorality. Sponges can reproduce asexually, for example. And if Dobson's followers don't object to that, I'm sure they'll be distressed to learn that they also can be hermaphrodites. Single sponges not only produce both sperm and eggs but are broadcast spawners, indiscriminately releasing sperm in such profusion as to turn seawater smoky white.

Life in the sea, in fact, is largely about reproduction, not traditional family values. "

Ah, here is someone that may actually provide Microsoft with a challange!
Google Hires Web Browser Programmer:

I've missed the reading about tools in the Whole Earth. But have discovered that Kevin Kelly is keeping up the tradition on line.

COOL TOOLS

Here is an example:

Catagory -- Learning

Best audio university

The concept is exquisite. Scour the world for the best professors and record their lectures. Paying customers get world-class university courses, at less than world-class university prices, while attending the class at their convenience. I've audited a dozen classes this way (while driving). My favorite so far is Robert Greenberg's celebrated forty-eight lessons on "How to Understand and Listen to Great Music." It was absolutely superb. No, it was stellar. More than a music appreciation class, it was a view of western civilization through music. Professionally recorded, lively, insightful, fast-paced, authoritative, and memorable. What more could you want from college on a cassette? Other favorites have been an overview of Egyptian history taught by a mummy expert and a decent introduction to western philosophy. The Teaching Company catalog lists an eclectic range of other seminars; I'd love to hear recommendations from others. One caveat: these courses seem expensive for many individuals. But they are a) way cheap for college, and b) way cheap by the tape (most courses are at least forty or so tapes; also available on DC, DVD, and other formats). You can also check your library, which is where I borrow mine from, or form a course club to share costs.

-- KK

The Teaching Company

Radical!

Every since our personal source of music dried up I've felt real disconnected. Been listening to the same 65 CD's loaded on my computer at work in a shuffling rotation. But not catching anything new or interesting. Those of you that know, understand that the alternatives (radio etc.) in the Big Empty are pretty limited to the hits of the 50's, 80's, or 00's top 40. Today I rediscovered net radio. I used to listen to the Village Voice Radio, with everything,Bennie Goodman, Frank Zappa, Ani, Mos Def, Greg Brown, Eminem, Lou Reed, Hank Snow, Iris Dement, Bob Marley, anyway, an amazing mix of great music.....but their net radio feature is gone.

I do however still have KEXP from the University of Washington in Seattle. It's a great station and keeps a running archive of everything they played....both text and audio archives....so you can go back and hear it again if you'd like. Check it out.

If you have any recommendations for additional stations, the kind you actually listen to, let me know.