January 5, 2010
comments 6

I’m glad I’m not planning to fly to America

OK, let me get this straight….

There was a guy who wanted to blow up a plane.
His father contacted authorities to tell them this guy was a security threat.
The potential bomber bought a one-way ticket then tried to fly without a passport.
Nobody stopped the guy as he got on board an airplane with explosives strapped to his body.

Solution: do pat-down searches on everybody and severely limit carry-on luggage.

There is something way wrong with this picture. It doesn’t give me much confidence in the systems in place to protect our security when flying. The whole business makes options like driving, taking the bus or the train, or just avoiding America a lot more attractive.  I expect that creating more effective security without the line-ups will be very expensive and travelers will have to pay for it. Without actually blowing anything up, the terrorists have managed to create airport chaos and unease. I expect the airline companies will suffer badly if a viable solution isn’t found soon.

Will you wait for hours to fly or will you change your plans?

January 4, 2010
comments 5

Just one more reason to have a dog

Did you read about the cougar in Boston Bar BC that attacked the 11 year old child? The boy’s dog saved the day and fought the cougar off until help arrived. Boy and dog are both going to be OK.

I don’t know if Memphis has that kind of instinct. She might just roll over and think, “a cougar, how boring….does anyone have a snack?”  or “Wanna play with the stick?.”

January 3, 2010
comments 3

Cold Morning

It is very cold this morning. We fired up the woodstove up in the family room to toast up. I see smoke coming out the chimney of the house across the way. They had the same idea. On the good news front, the days are getting longer. Slowly.

My knee is so much better. When I stopped fly fishing in the heat of summer, I stopped for the season. I didn’t know what my knee problem was all about and I was afraid of doing some damage, slipping while wading a stream. I feel I will have no problem wading again next season. One of these days I’ll have to hunker down at the tying bench and tie some trout flies for the early season.

At the same time trout start actively feeding on mayflies in my neck of the woods, we’ll start to see some morels. I started foraging for mushrooms after morel season last year. I’ve never looked for them, and I can’t recall stumbling upon them previously. I’ve learned though that I rarely see what I’m not looking for. When I started looking carefully for mushrooms, a whole world opened up. It took me the longest time last year before I saw a lobster mushroom poke up from leaves on the forest floor. I’m sure I passed over plenty of them. It’s the same with looking for trout in a stream. Before I started really slowing down and looking, I couldn’t see much trout behaviour. Now, because I’ve learned to tune in, I see trout nymphing on the bottom, and I detect various different sorts of rise forms. I’ve learned to watch to see what bugs the fish are eating.

I’ve started thinking about some places to look for morels. The answer to the question, where do you find them is clearly, they’re everywhere. In other words, don’t ask, just figure it out. The problem though is not just to figure it out, but also to find a place that every morel hunter in the province doesn’t pounce on. I’ve read about some vague criteria. It’s all pretty mysterious. As a bonus, they’re not so easy to see.

All this rambling about spring is just to say that I haven’t bothered to get showered and dressed yet, and I suppose it’s time to brave the day. Good morning.

January 3, 2010
comments 2

Books

I started reading a highly acclaimed novel before Christmas, called Blackstrap Hawco. It’s reported to be an epic masterwork about Newfoundland’s working class. For whatever reason, this book has not been drawing me in. I leave it alone for days at a time, pick it up, read a few pages, forget them, pick it up again, read a few pages, and so on. It may just not be the right time and place for me to read this one.

Today, I decided the best thing to do would be to put it down and read another book or two or three and then come back to it afresh somewhere down the line. I have two books on deck. I haven’t decided which to pick up first. There is The Manual of Detection by Jedediah Berry….”an unlikely detective, armed only with an umbrella and a singular handbook, must untangle a string of crimes committed in and through people’s dreams”. The other is Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell…”Dr. Peter Brown is an intern at Manhattan’s worst hospital. He has a talent for medicine, a shift from hell and a past he’d prefer to keep hidden.”

I’ll keep you posted….

January 2, 2010
comment 1

Got You Covered

Crying Time

This is a great old Buck Owens tune. Buck Owens, before selling his soul to HeeHaw was one of the originators of the Bakersfield Sound, a healthy Honky Tonk infused reaction to the slick country pop music coming out of Nashville in the late 50s.

Here it is on Chemnitzer Concertina.

Here’s  Freddy Fender…

Roy Orbison took an interesting shot at this one, messing with the rhythm

How about The Teenage Prayers and Quincy Coleman…

Finally, here’s the author of the song, Buck Owens with Ray Charles.

January 1, 2010
comments 4

Jerry (The Champ)

The Champ

Jerry has been with us since 2002. We don’t know how old he was when he came to us but he was no kitten, that’s for sure. He has everything wrong with him – FIV, a chronic skin condition, a heart murmur and bad teeth. Last time we had him to the vet, she said he looked  better than she’s ever seen him. He’s the champ.

December 31, 2009
comments 5

List-free Zone Today

From time to time I will share in the fun of making lists. The last one here was instigated by my brother, who started a list of favourite Westerns. But today, I’m on list overload. It’s the end of another year and of a decade and that has generated more lists than my little brain can cope with. Today, this is a list-free zone. When you’ve overloaded on lists elsewhere, you can come here for some respite. Scroll down and listen to a little accordion music to soothe your soul.

I’ve never been a big devotee of New Years celebrations, although I have participated in a few. I vaguely recall a party some years ago when a guitar picker told me a story about a guy who lived on nothing but hamburgers for a year, with no tomatoes, no lettuce, no onion, no condiments….and developed scurvy. As unlikely a story as that may have been, it’s a sticky one and still lingers in a dark cave on the edges of my consciousness. I believe I awoke the next day at A&B’s place and the Rose Bowl was on television, very loud. I recall another party from the 80s that involved the Buzz Upshaw Blues Band and an old loft space. I don’t recall much from that party except how exceptionally good the band was. Even then, I was somewhat socially awkward at parties, and was saved by a great band.

In recent years Tuffy P and I have enjoyed very low-key New Years. It’s an evening in which we hang out together.  Some years we order in some food. Tonight, I think we’ll watch a marathon of Mad Men episodes (Tuffy had the forsight to bring home season 2 on DVD the other day).  We’re early risers these days. Sleeping in for us means 6:00 a.m. The beasts who share our house with us don’t understand the idea of sleeping in, so if we fail to get up when we’re supposed to (at the usual time, thank you very much), the cats start taking measures designed to wake us up.  As a result, tonight, I’m not sure if we’ll even see midnight. We’ll be letting 2010 sneak in quietly, without a lot of recap or fanfare, and we like it that way.

For those of you who like the big party, have fun, and to all our friends, best wishes for 2010.