I Shall Return

I'm going on a bit of a trip and don't know what kind of computer access I will have whilst I am out.

Speachless Phos

Oh no another dog picture! Couldn't help myself, this one belongs to a trainer at a nearby pet store.

Yeah, I'm being lazy...

Mute and Not So Mute

The not so mute part:

When I read I tend to juggle books a bit, switching from one to the next. I am reading one behind the scenes look at the birth of our Constitution derived from James Madison's copious notes and another, a distilled version of Ralph Waldo Emerson's Essays. Both interesting books, but the Emerson essays on Self-Reliance are truly riveting. He does speak of god, but not as a being, but an abstract concept that holds every particle of the universe together, interconnecting those particles in a Universal Soul of which we are part. He inspires one to look inside him or herself to find the truth, to find their way in the world. The editor of the book compared it to several radio stations playing at the same time and a person tuning in just one, going beyond the static of every day life to find the god within. Emerson was very Buddhist like in his thoughts. In fact he wrote an essay on transcendentalism and recommended periods of silent thought to allow the true voice to come out. I have a long ways to go through these abridged essays, but I feel very inspired so far. He likened life to a river that has obstacles on one side and clear sailing on the other. It is up to us to recognize our particular talents and allow then to guide us through the unobstructed part of the river.

Sad but I remember banging my head against the desk in high school trying to induce unconsciousness to make the lessons on Emerson stop, but now have a very different point of view and find in them answers to questions that have plagued me for some time. The interconnection between everything in the universe, including myself and my fellow man is something that I have long thought about and these essays are bringing it all into sharp focus. The title of the book is "Self-Reliance: The Wisdom of Ralph Waldo Emerson as Inspiration for Daily Living," edited by Richard Whelan.

All Show, No Go

Lots of clouds but no snow for Santa's sleigh unfortunately. Despite the the lack of snow, Santa did visit the Big Banks with bags of taxpayer loot for major bailouts. This is what happens when your economy is run on greed and the government prints more money out of thin air. It is time to go old school and back our currency with precious metal and not loan money to people that can't pay it back, Also time to cut foreign aid that finances despots while their citizens starve and drink out of mud puddles.

Merry X-Mas

Let me be the first to wish you a wondrous Christmas, or "holiday season" if you prefer.

On the bright side the merchants hauling out all this crap before Halloween is even here gives me something to bitch about besides the state our country is in - maybe that's the idea....

Onalaska 1972

Cravens and me would pile into his green ‘56

Case of Pabst between us on the seat

Long dry trip to Onalaska and beyond.

I was Timberwolf then, yet another persona

Another life with failure in the wind

Long hair drinking too much

A rabid howling beast

All too ready to cut loose

Making a stop in some no name town for more beer, empties rattling in the back,

Keeping time wihth the staticy AM radio

First stop was Bev and Bill’s

Clapboard corner bar

Plastic Pabst Blue Ribbbon sign sa becon

To thristyt ravelerws

Blue collar crowd of men

Wives wondering where they were

Or knowing qall to well

Country on the juke box

Not the crap they play to day but the good stuff

Charcoal Charlie and the bunch

Crystal Chandeliers

Keys in the mail box

Thank God and Greyhound She’s Gone

ARednecks, White Socks, and Blue Ribbon Beer

A piture on the house

Off into the wild night for dinner

Then the Macumba club, formally the Surf

The Office, the Oxford club

Come across the Lacrosse bunch

Won’t drink a beer with any old man

Unless he is a Sig Pi Man

Invited to a to do at the Chapter House Saturday night

Crashing in Craven’s basement

Waking late lunch with his folks, big plans for the night

Off to the Sig Pi House at WSU-L

The twins dad worked at Hielmans so they got beer for free

A Keg of the Green Death already tapped

A blur of names and secret handshakes

Blow through the keg BSing over the Beach Boys

Then off to hit the strip downtown.

On the stage at the Blue Tiger someone’s grandma peeling down to a G-string

The Grainbelt taste slike panther piss

The next girl scrawny an dout of step with the music,

On to the next bar and the next

Oen hidden away in the back of some rundown hotel

Barry mixes the best Bloody Mary’s in the world

Must be the Tabasco

Crashing on the Chapter Hosue floor

Wake early to find breakfastsmell of fryng bacon

Stomach revolts \

And I run to be alone

Defile a cannon made from the plates

Of The Old Maine

But feel myself again

Hook back up with Cravens, a trip to the Bluff

The scenic overlook

Scattered with empty beer cans and used prophylactics testifying to lost virginities

But a gorgeous view of the valley

Hit some dive at the bottom of the hill

Dog bites, beer tastes good

Hair of the dog that bit

Back on the road, stopping for another case of beer for the trip

Screaming down the road on back to Platteville.

Happy Constitution Day

This celebrates when the US dumped the Articles of Confederation and adopted a document that unified 13 squabbling states into a unified country, established a bicameral government with an executive and judiciary branch providing a system of checks and balances.

Now wouldr be a good time for Americans to reread the document produced by our founding fathers and our government to return to the wisdom of those constitutional authors.

Moonset

Mr. Desert is not Your Friend

I love hiking out into the desert, but there are a lot of things out there that aren't happy to see you. Most everything bites, stings, scrapes, scratches, or stabs. As if that weren't enough it is easy to dehydrate, the sweat evaporates so quickly that you don't notice it until you suddenly pass out. Despite all that it is an interesting place to visit. I've been in other people's deserts and so far I prefer ours.

Mute Monday: C is for: