Lives in a Shoe

Trained with Beggin' Strips and Snausages

Hero dog helped snare Osama.

Wow

Two years ago geography students at UCLA predicted there was an 88.9 percent chance that bin Laden was hiding out "in a city less than 300 km from his last known location in Tora Bora: a region that included Abbottabad, Pakistan..."

OJ Simpson is reported to be contacting them for help locating the real killers...

Kitty Sunroom

The boy, CuddleFluff, is at top and Noodley the girl is toward the bottom -- both are being actively doted upon by Marcella.  Not that they're spoiled or anything.  This is a cat room Geoffrey built on a stand that Mary left behind -- she had a slightly different setup for her cats when they lived here.  You can see the kitty bridge leading from the house window to the enclosure.  It can be closed at night.

The cats love this thing -- they can go out and watch birds or bugs or just hang in the fresh air.  I think more and more people are going to have indoor-only cats so enclosures like this one will be common.  Marcella's cats travel -- they have their own travel playpen and are accustomed to a leash.  They have been up to the ski condo several times and come to hang out at our house often.  Sophisticated kitties.

 

 

Everybody Knows...

..that.the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. 

Huh?  What?  Oh, wait...Well, never mind...turns out while the rich have indeed been getting richer, for the last 30 years so too have the poor and middle class.  "[T]he reason the country has not gotten in a civil war is because things are not that bad.  In fact everybody has done better."

Peer Review

Larry and Curly agreed that Moe is awesome, just as Curly and Moe agreed that Larry is awesome, and just as Larry and Moe agreed that Curly is awesome. 

(But the whole thing was exposed as a farce when they tried to pretend that Shemp was awesome.  -- Gagdad Bob)

From the always excellent American Digest.

The Herd

Spring grass and lots of it.  At first I kept the babies in a separate enclosure but now the little guys are out in the pasture with the adults.  They have bonded just fine.  Bubba is the BEST big brother evah -- both little ones follow him around.  Bub lowers his big head and washes their ears.  Margaret is more matter-of-fact but seems to enjoy the additional company.

 
 
Left to right:  Isaac Hays, Mickey Moo, Elmer Cudd (Bubba), Margaret Thatcher.

Look carefully -- notice the heart shape on Mickey's right flank.  He was chosen to be exhibited in the Petting Farm at the Evergreen State Fair during the summer ibecause of that little heart.  And now his destiny has changed from being made into hamburger to being a steer of leisure whose occupation is grass-munching.

Stocky Hereford Isaac is the most intelligent little calf.  When he was at the fair, our friend Harmen -- who knows cows -- agreed that this was one bright little calf .  Now that I know him better I am convinced he has a sense of humor.  Lucky too -- Isaac has a sponsor.  Seattle lawyer Barbara has sent a generous check to contribute to his upkeep.  I'm sure those moos include expressions of gratitude from Isaac, even though he probably does not realize she saved his life.  All of us hope she will find time to come up for a visit.  We would love to meet her and thank her in person.

 

Easter

 

Well Done

ACLU gets it right.  Terry Jones cannot be denied his right to demonstrate in front of a mosque in Dearborn.  And the transit worker who burned a Quran has been reinstated after being fired for doing so.

"The fact that society may find speech offensive is not a sufficient reason for suppressing it. Indeed, if it is the speaker's opinion that gives offense, that consequence is a reason for according it constitutional protection. For it is a central tenet of the First Amendment that the government must remain neutral in the marketplace of ideas."

Chief Justice Rehnquist, HUSTLER MAGAZINE v. FALWELL, 1988

 

Two Years in Peeps

 Thanks to Mary Katherine Ham.

Lyrics below -- you KNOW you want to sing it just once.

Joe Bonamassa

Joe Bonamassa -- Royal Albert Hall spring 2009.  Is That a Gigliotti Guitar?  Maybe.

I'm posting this now because the local PBS station is having a pledge drive using "Joe Bonamassa Live at Royal Albert Hall".  When Joe was playing in Las Vegas, George went with his friend Pat who was doing something with the guitars he had custom built for Joe.  George was backstage acting as a roadie -- and he had the time of his life. 

So below is a repost from December 07 when we first saw Joe in person.  I remember seeing him somehow on television when he was about 12 and opening for BB King.

 

REPOST --

Wednesday, 07 December 2005

I'll take Nightlife for Five Hundred, Alex -- and please throw in a pair of those Texas socks

What a wonderful time we had last night.  Husband George has known Pat Gigliotti for years.  Pat has started a new career building custom guitars.  Last night blues musician Joe Bonamassa played the first of two sold-out appearances at Jazz Alley in Seattle, and we were there with our friend Carolyn, in blue..

Thanks to Pat's courtesy we sat at stageside so we were able to see and hear just great.  Joe changes guitars maybe six times in a 90-minute set, and last night three of the guitars he chose were crafted by Pat.  The instruments are beautiful - go see them at Pat's site.

It was like watching lightning, like hearing something entirely new, but old as the blues at the same time. Worth hearing.   

But if you get a chance to see him perform do not pass it up.  Steal your kid's lunch money, pretend you forgot Mothers Day, buy bologna that has passed the pull date, quit your job -- whatever risk it may take, cast your fate to the winds and go. Even if he is playing in Duluth and you live in Taos, go.  He's that good.

Getting home late, too happy to sleep right away.  So I walked AROUND the NEVERENDING AFGHAN that is partially completed for my demanding, slave driving sister-in-law Diana -- I didn't give it so much as a glance, carefully avoided making eye contact with the thing, even though I could FEEL it whining for attention --  grabbed the Texas yarn and cruised on the Texas socks.  They're a sweet color, works up nice; Sockotta and double circs.  Less bubble-gummy, more orange and red than they appear in this photo.  They might do for my evil stepdaughter Marcella for Christmas.  We'll see how they turn out.

Wednesday, 07 December 2005 | Permalink