miss you little george

To make a Lord of The Ring's reference

Understand the nature of Sauron's power and see that the key to his power is the One Ring. Rather than fight Sauron directly, or try to wield The Ring's corrupting influence, seek to remove the source of Sauron's power. Seek to destroy the privilege granted by governments to corporations, seek to destroy the One Ring.

If government had no deals and privileges to dole out to the well connected then couldn't a free and fair market occur? So, we must destroy the One Ring and only a union of Occupy Wall Street, The Tea Parties, Independents, and Libertarians, (and even Democrats and Republicans) can make it happen. Unite! Destroy the One Ring. Honor the Earth.

In These Times...

"Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword."
~Matthew 10:34

Jesus changed his tune after he went to the desert and fasted for 40 days...and confronted his own demons. Remember, Peter cut off the High Priest's slave's ear and Jesus rebuked him while healing the ear? Earlier, when Jesus had left for his fast his disciples were ready to take up arms and begin the revolution upon his return...that was the intent. The demon he confronted was whether he actually wanted to be king and ringleader of an armed revolution or did he wish to show passivity? His decision was more Gandhi than Che...I suppose that is the decision we are all about to make....

Quantum Leaping

Many, many years ago I recall watching a Nova program on PBS about Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson first hearing the cosmic background radiation backing the Big Bang theory.

At first, they couldn't figure out where the noise was coming from. They ruled out military testing. And then, inside the horn of the big antenna, they found droppings from pigeons that were nesting there. The scientists tried to trap the birds and release them 30 miles away, but they kept flying back. Penzias says the team had no choice but to kill the pigeons. "It seemed like the only way out of our dilemma," he says.

The pigeons were gone, but the noise remained. And it was coming from every direction.

Not highway noise, not military testing, not pigeons...Why...IT MUST BE THE BEGINNING OF THE UNIVERSE!

Talk about quantum leaping.

Penzias and Wilson in 1978 won the Nobel Prize for physics for what has been called the most important scientific find of the 20th century.

I remember, as a young teen, 'ditching' church one Sunday morning in 1962 and hitching a ride to the Palms Theater on Central Avenue in Phoenix...to see Lawrence of Arabia...I was fascinated. I'd already read The Seven Pillars of Wisdom and was so excited to see in Cinerama which was a widescreen process that, originally, simultaneously projected images from three synchronized 35 mm projectors onto a huge, deeply curved screen. I sat so close and was so enthralled that my head was going back and forth as if I was at a tennis match (and I swear I got sand in my eyes)...Thank you, Peter O'Toole, for that experience and wonderful memory. May you rest in peace.

A long time between posts...perhaps that's because I feel as if I live on Gethen

We're in the last throes of imperialism...The imperial tree falls not because the challenges are too great but because the core of the tree has been weakened by the gradual loss of surplus, purpose, institutional effectiveness, intellectual vigor and productive investment. Rome didn't fall so much as erode away, its many strengths squandered on in-fighting, mismanagement and personal aggrandizement/corruption.

It is the lower middle class—that strata of independent farmers, small shopkeepers, craft and highly skilled workers, and small-scale entrepreneurs—that has been hit hardest by globalization. “Western industry has displaced traditional crafts—female as well as male—and large-scale multinational-controlled agriculture has downgraded the independent farmer to the status of hired hand,” writes journalist Barbara Ehrenreich. This has resulted in massive male displacement—migration, downward mobility. It has been felt the most not by the adult men who were the tradesmen, shopkeepers, and skilled workers, but by their sons, by the young men whose inheritance has been seemingly stolen from them. They feel entitled and deprived—and furious. These angry young men are the foot soldiers of the armies of rage that have sprung up around the world.

A Clarion Call

 Dr. William Catton's qualified speculations have been for a long time that the global population will be approx. 10% of current levels by the end of the century. and that has evolved to now broader discussions in a much larger consensus of science to the "NTE", the Near Term Extinction of most mammalian species , including us within 30 to 40 years. I suspect that the reason this is not discussed openly and weighing on the general population because it's far too large and scary to contemplate. I would imagine the social construct would disintegrate in a flash and the chaos is too much to consider. The Great Spirit has a very large "soul harvest" unfolding. When the Union of Concerned Scientists published their "Warnings to Humanity" in November 1992 about the potential consequences of the destruction of our biosphere.. it barely made the news. Here it was on the 12th page of the paper while the front page was concerned with a hockey franchise debate.. a collective archetype walking willingly towards a disaster of immeasurable and incomprehensible scale.
~Ronald Douglas Bunston

Looking back at the future

"...Once the experience of war makes visible the possibility of death that lies locked up in each moment, our thoughts cannot travel from one day to the next without meeting death’s face.” 

~Simone Weil

In defense of chores

There are times that chores are not so pressing, although it isn't only in the autumn we are "chopping wood, carrying water"...and I'm thankful for that.
***
When I work outdoors all day, every day, as I do now, in the fall,
getting ready for winter, tearing up the garden, digging potatoes,
gathering the squash, cutting firewood, making kindling, repairing
bridges over the brook, clearing trails in the woods, doing the last of
the fall mowing, pruning apple trees, taking down the screens,
putting up the storm windows, banking the house - all these things,
as preparation for the coming cold...

when I am every day all day all body and no mind, when I am
physically, wholly and completely, in this world with the birds,
the deer, the sky, the wind, the trees...

when day after day I think of nothing but what the next chore is,
when I go from clearing woods roads, to sharpening a chain saw,
to changing the oil in a mower, to stacking wood, when I am
all body and no mind...

when I am only here and now and nowhere else - then, and only 
then, do I see the crippling power of mind, the curse of thought,
and I pause and wonder why I so seldom find
this shining moment in the now. 
~David Budbil

In defense of beer:

According to numerous independent studies, moderate drinkers live longer and better than drunks or teetotalers. Beer is perfect for moderate drinking because of its lower alcohol content and larger volume compared with wine or spirits. And as that old radical Thomas Jefferson said, "Beer, if drank with moderation, softens the temper, cheers the spirit, and promotes health."

The truth is that beer is as all-natural as orange juice or milk (maybe even more so – some of those milk & OJ labels will surprise you). Beer doesn't need preservatives because it has alcohol and hops, both of which are natural preservatives. Beer is only "processed" in the sense that bread is: It is cooked and fermented, then filtered and packaged.

Twelve ounces of Guinness has the same number of calories as 12 ounces of skim milk: about 125. That's less than orange juice (150 calories), which is about the same as your standard, "full-calorie" beer. If beer were your only source of nutrition, you'd have to drink one every waking hour just to reach your recommended daily allowance of calories (2,000 to 2,500). And nobody's recommending you drink that many.

Beer not only has no cholesterol, it can actually improve the cholesterol in your body. In fact, drinking beer regularly and moderately will tilt your HDL/LDL cholesterol ratios the right way. You've got two kinds of cholesterol in your system: HDL, the "good" cholesterol that armor-plates your veins and keeps things flowing, and LDL, the "bad" cholesterol that builds up in your veins like sludge in your bathtub drain. Beer power-flushes the system and keeps the HDL levels up. According to some studies, as little as one beer a day can boost your HDL by up to 4 percent. 

Beer, especially unfiltered or lightly filtered beer, turns out to be quite nutritious, despite the years of suppression of those facts by various anti-alcohol groups. Beer has high levels of B vitamins, particularly folic acid, which is believed to help prevent heart attacks. After all, they sell brewer's yeast tablets in drug stores as vitamin B supplements; 

If you're someplace where you are advised not to drink the water, the local beer is always a safer bet. It's even safer than the local bottled water. 

The most amazing beer and health connection is something called xanthohumol, a flavonoid found only in hops. Xanthohumol is a potent antioxidant that inhibits cancer-causing enzymes,

Most studies have found that people who drink beer regularly (and moderately) not only don't develop beer bellies – they weigh less than non-drinkers. Beer can boost your metabolism, keep your body from absorbing fat and otherwise make you a healthier, less disgusting slob. Just drink it in moderation, as part of an otherwise healthy diet.

So that's it. Drink beer. You'll live longer and be happier. You won't get fat. In fact, you may weigh less. You'll boost your metabolism, improve your health and reduce your risk of clogged arteries, heart attack and cancer. What more could you want?

Loaded the electric truck. Putting things away

 

 

 

The end of summer finds us busy as bees, shuttling 'stuff' around with the electric zap truck.

Ghost Road Song by Deborah Miranda

I need a song.
I need a song like a river, cool and dark and wet,
like a battered old oak; gnarled bark,
bitter acorns,
a song like a dragonfly:
shimmer – hover – swerve -
like embers, too hot to touch.

I need a song like my father’s hands:
scarred, callused, blunt,
a song like a wheel,
like June rain, seep of solstice,
tang of waking earth.

I need a song like a seed:
a hard and shiny promise,
a song like ashes:
gritty, fine, scattered;
a song like abalone, tough as stone,
smooth as a ripple at the edge of the bay.

I need a song so soft, it won’t sting my wounds,
so true, no anger can blunt it,
so deep, no one can mine it.

I need a song with a heart wrapped in barbed wire.

I need a song that sheds no tears,
I need a song that sobs.
I need a song that skates along the edge of black ice,
howls with coyotes,
a song with a good set of lungs,
a song that won’t give out, give up,
give in, give way:
I need a song with guts.

I need a song like lightning, just one blaze of insight.

I need a song like a hurricane,
spiraled winds of chaos,
a snake-charming song,
a bullshit-busting song,
a shut-up-and-listen-to-the-Creator song.
I need a song that rears its head up like a granite peak
and greets the eastern sky.

I need a song small enough to fit in my pocket,
big enough to wrap around
the wide shoulders of my grief,
a song with a melody like thunder,
chords that won’t get lost,
rhythm that can’t steal away.
I need a song that forgives me my lack of voice.

I need a song that forgives my lack of forgiveness.

I need a song so right
that the first note splinters me like crystal,
spits the shards out into the universe
like sleek seedlings of stars; yes,
that’s the song
I need,

the song to accompany you
on your first steps
along the Milky Way,
that song with ragged edges,
a worn-out sun;
the song that lets a burnt red rim
slip away into the Pacific,
leaves my throat
healed at last.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Most Menial Job I've ever had...

My most menial labor? It was winter here (back in 1983, I believe) and I headed south for Mexico...found a beat up VW camper with a good engine in Phoenix, AZ for 400 bucks (which was my savings) and so went looking for itinerant day labor. Got a job shoveling colored gravel on a large property in Fountain Hills (an upper crust community) working alongside a couple of Mexican laborers. A few days of backbreaking shoveling and the Mexicans quit. I stopped the next morning at a Denny's to get a bite to eat for breakfast, parking lot loaded with Cadillacs and Mercedes, etc...the menu I had to choose from cost double of that of the 'seniors' with fancy cars. That day while shoveling, I noticed a woman drive a pink cadillac out of the garage across the street...then she went back in and pulled a blue cadillac out of the garage. Standing next to them she looked alternately at the cars and her clothing, cars, clothing. Pulled the pink one back into the garage...and then drove off in the one that best went with her outfit. I quit that afternoon.

Crossed the border a few days later, spent two months camping by a hot spring in the mountains of Mexico...playing guitar, writing, drawing. Would go to a village 15 miles distant once a week to get fresh veggies and corn tortillas...to supplement my stores of beans and rice. I soaked in the springs at least 3 times each day. Spent 60 dollars US in as many days, including fuel. Returned to Minnesota with what I had left and built the homestead I now live on.

so, in many ways my most menial labor also became my most rewarding.

Autumn's bounty

Last night brought much needed rains followed by a coolness not felt in awhile. The harvest is quickly coming in, the summer coming to an end. Tomatoes and peppers are being frozen, sauerkraut is in the crocks, kimchi is nearly ready to supplement our plates. Apples are fermenting into hard cider for winter's enjoyment. Potatoes, onions and garlic are drying for storage. Wild rice harvest will be upon us soon. Wood is stacked and the sheds are full. Soon also, it will be time with the cool days, to cut dead and dying trees to clear an area at the cabin. The trees will be split and stacked to become future tenants in our wood sheds, and heat for aching bones. Winter squash is ripening on the vines, basil is ready for picking and making into pesto which will be frozen for winter's use. Fall greens are doing well and will provide a couple of months of bounty. Seedlings of various lettuces will be in the greenhouse in the next few weeks. Brussels sprouts are filling out and are always better after frost. These days we so cherish.

Autumn
~John Keats

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, 
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless 
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees, 
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core; 
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells 
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees, 
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.

Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store? 
Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor, 
Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep, 
Drowsed with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep 
Steady thy laden head across a brook; 
Or by a cider-press, with patient look,
Thou watchest the last oozings, hours by hours.

Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they? 
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,--
While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day, 
And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn 
Among the river sallows, borne aloft
Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies; 
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn; 
Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
The redbreast whistles from a garden-croft, 
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

around and about and making hard cider

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wake up America

93 million eligible voters did not vote in 2012...we have no solidarity. We live in a 70% consumer based economy and we could cripple the status quo with a unified strike, don't buy, don't travel for three days...but, we have no 'one big union', we have no solidarity. Remember, the solidarity movement has worked in many countries around the world...Poland is an example...Reagan even supported the solidarity union, although he busted unions in the USA. We hold the purse strings. We can make change, but only if we all get together and out of our deep slumber.
It’s the truth that nobody wants to acknowledge. It’s so much easier to blame somebody else – Extremists in Congress, the Military, the unchecked Corporations otherwise known as The Bigs – Big Oil, Big Coal, Big Agro, Big Pharma, Big Insurance, Big X – Big Y – Big Z – when the truth is that none of these powerful perceived villains would ever have gotten their power or grown to their cancerous size without our buy-in…our votes (or non-votes)…our taxes…our energy and dietary and health care choices…our “therapeutic” shopping…feeding them.

Add these to the mix

 

 

 

Another Today, 21 July 2013