Been working on a couple of pieces of Oak that I'm almost finished with. The top one was pretty much bark removal to reveal the swirling threads beneath. The second one was also mostly bark removal from the back part to reveal a moon-like surface. The part I'm showing is a cross section of the branch that this ball was growing on. There are around 100 rings visible meaning that this strange growth started around the 1920's.
I'm working on another piece of Oak that's also getting its bark removed. Unfortunately that piece was cut at the wrong time of the year for the bark to be easily removed (The two above were cut at the right time of the year for the bark to come off easily)(Bonus points for knowing what those cutting times are). This makes it a slow punishing process to expose the burl for viewing. I love these because once they're completed you can spend hours contemplating their complexity. The only problem used to be the amount of time I'd invest for a project that failed to launch and the only reason I worried about it was I had a limited amount of free time to invest in something that ended up being firewood. That reason is no longer valid so I'm enjoying rediscovering one of my favorite pass times. For me it's like meditation when I'm in the zone. Just sayin'.
Have I ever told you that I really dislike clowns? Dishonest painted faces covering whatever damage that particular human suffers from. They are basically faceless and that makes it hard to trust their behavior under any circumstances.
Stupid people chap my hide even more than clowns do. The amount of damage a stupid person with power can do is difficult to imagine but we're getting a good look at it now.
The Stupid MAGA Republican Clown Show is in town and America's bills are not getting paid because of it. Watching these pathetic losers doing their fearless leader's bidding would be hilarious if it wasn't so potentially damaging to some of our poorest citizens. Possibly the stupidest part of this train wreck is Trump saying/thinking that causing a government shutdown will stop the persecutions against him. Not so MAGA Don. Oh, and remember when MTG (the T actually stands for Taylor Trash) called Biden a liar after he said that certain Republicans wanted to cut Social Security? I'd say she owes Biden an apology but we know she'll never do the correct thing. Trailer Trash Women don't do correct.
In other news closer to home, I'd like to take this opportunity to share some sad news. Our two Blue Jay friends, Pete and Repete, have met a violent end due to one of our murderous cats. Thumper craves violence towards all living things that are substantially smaller than him and there's not much we can do about it. Nancy got a dove out of his mouth the other day though. The bird could still fly and it immediately made a beeline to the tallest Oak tree in the area. Hopefully it survived but from what our neighbors tell us, Thumper regularly climbs to the tops of those trees so I'm doubtful. We have a bell on him now but the lizards don't seem to hear it well enough or know whom it tolls for. Hopefully the surviving birds
Back to the other MAGA extravaganza, the Impeachment Inquiry. Not one piece of evidence do they fucking have. NOT ONE! This is The Stupid MAGA Republican Clown Show at it's best, dancing to their fearless leader's words. The fearless leader who's New York businesses have just been seized for his fantasy real estate games, one of his first grifts. How does it feel you sad excuse for a human being? Where's your daddy now? Sad. So sad. Just sayin'.
Nancy and I were driving back from a long overdue visit to her trailer that sits on her property outside of Willits. It was a mess as a bear had broken in and generally trashed the place. That along with several other issues resulted in us pushing pretty hard to get it done while we were there. Sadly it wasn't to be and we'll be returning next week to finish up. So as we hit the pavement and headed down the hill a vulture flew in front of us then stayed there for at least a quarter mile. Since vultures are about cleaning up some dead waste I thought it was an appropriate sign to be given at that time. It should indicate that we're on the right track (finally) when it comes to the trailer. Just sayin'.
Way too busy lately. Watching the cats play last night while carving on a new piece of cedar. Wondering at the fact that I was there and happy along with my sweetie after the long strange trip we've both been on. Then I contemplated some possible future removals from that same piece of cedar, all the while checking out the current color of the sky. Once I decided what to remove from that piece of wood I prepared a piece of 80 grit sandpaper to make some more sawdust. While I was sanding, the current state of our planet invaded my thoughts and temporarily brought me down. Then I focused on my piece of wood and everything became calm again. So when you see me carving, don't think that's all that's going on in my head. Sometimes I'm self medicating with whatever piece of wood takes my fancy. Just sayin'.
So I was sitting on our front porch when movement on the pavement in front of me caught my attention. It was a Bumblebee crawling across the driveway with intention. It was going somewhere. It had someplace to be. I wondered why it was crawling rather than flying and surmised that it was reaching old age, soon to die. I wondered if I should intervene but quickly rejected the idea that there was anything positive that I could accomplish towards rehabilitating this Bumblebee. Still, all sorts of possibilities presented themselves as I continued to watch it progress across the pavement. I though that it was headed towards some shade but it continued past those cooler areas towards the morning sun. Just as I gave up all thoughts of rescue and contemplated ending it's obvious suffering it flew away. So much for my astute observations. Just sayin'.
Armageddon's Haiku Samurai is where I post a Haiku a day and have since April 1st of this year. They are intended to point out some of the factors involved with the eventual failure of our current civilization. Stupidity at alarming levels is already infecting all levels of our society, in particular the top 1%. You know, those folks who own nearly all there is to own and continue to take what they want from the rest of us. How much power do they fucking need to sooth their fear of facing any consequences for what they did to get it? Everyday I keep my eyes open for the next atrocity to hit social media in one form or another. There are signs everyday that I acknowledge and keep to myself. Signs of some bad shit to come in our near future. Just sayin'.
We hit 109 degrees today. Just another Summer day here in Northern California. Lately Summers have been too long and too hot for us to get much done around here. At least this Summer was preceded by unusually wet and cool weather until nearly the end of June. Needless to say I've been watching the weather disaster videos which show us the 500 to 1,000 year floods and other unreasonable weather chaos that has been brought to us by Climate Change. We have it pretty good where we're at (so far) so moving isn't on our minds. If we lived in any of the Southern states we'd be either working on moving elsewhere or moved by now. All things considered we live in a place that may survive some of the coming problems associated with Climate Change. Then again we may not. Just sayin.
Thankful as usual for all the good things in my life. I have everything I could ask for except possibly winning the Powerball jackpot but I'd have to buy tickets to have a shot at that. There are two cats in the yard and yes, life used to be so hard but now it's peaches and cream. Stay happy world. Enjoy the time we have left before we destroy our civilization or some asteroid does. Just sayin'.
It was unseasonably cool before it became Summer suddenly. Last year we were usually 5-6 degrees above whatever temps were reported for Nice, California. Now we hit about 10 degrees above whatever it reports for our area. What's that all about?
At least Trump is gradually feeling the consequences of his illegal choices. Looks like justice is slowly grinding away at that pile of shit and as all the cockroaches hidden underneath scurry away they're dropping dimes on their formerly fearless leader. Like rats leaving a ship, they provide a sign of things to come. Karma is a bitch best left alone. Just sayin'.
So five people were killed when their submarine imploded while taking a scenic cruise to view the Titanic. Some of those folks paid $250,000 for a quick ticket to oblivion. For some it was a very bad day at work that more than likely ended with a bang. Am I feeling sorry for these adventurous fools and their tragic demise or am I faintly amused at their choices? Let's explore the latter.
First bad choice was trusting your life to someone trying to make bank (see per seat cost above) with a sub that wasn't certified for the depth it needed to be at to view the wreck of the Titanic.
Second bad choice was wanting to see the wreck in person in the first place when there are plenty of YouTube videos that will give you an even better view of one of humanity's more instructional disasters.
The third bad choice was convincing yourselves that this adventure would be something that could better your lives in some manner and leave you with fond memories you could share with your friends.
What I'm saying is that they made some bad choices trying to jazz up their travel resume. Possibly a tropical cruise would have had a similar effect for some but that wasn't out there enough for these folks. Being terrified of being trapped in small spaces makes their choices even more removed from anything I would even consider as a choice. What the fuck were these morons thinking? Wild horses couldn't make me get in a sub of any sort. I have issues about the one at Disneyland let alone a real one. Anyway I guess I'm not as advanced a human being as I'd like to think because I'm feeling no connection to these folks biting the dust the way they did. Seems like they made some pretty bad choices and Darwin took care of the rest. Just sayin'.
Forbes had an article recently that detailed an interviewers interaction with Trump in one of his offices (their October/November 2022 issue). It was filled with memorabilia that included Brady's signed football helmet and Super Bowl footballs which he was showing off to his interviewer. I got the impression of a young boy bragging about his treasures. Much like what's described in the indictments that were released yesterday. MAGA folks be mad that their cult leader is facing the consequences of his illegal and harmful actions. Fuck them. They'll get their day in court too. Just sayin'.
