CONTENTS

NOTES: transcribed
:August:
Year In Review
:September:
Back To Calif
:October:
Back In Calif

ACCOUNTS

JOURNALS index

SouthWest Slide

Go2 Newsletter

SkeptiLog: Sightings

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Ridge Rat News

River Rat News

Desert Rat News

Eat It! Food News

Thursday 26 August 2004

My old friends Tom and Jacque in Lincoln, Nebraska rate not just an email, but a full overview of the year-to-date:

Ah, I see y've tracked me down. Here's a summary of the year:

Pre-XMas thru New Years: that nasty ER / hospital stuff. After passing out intermittantly over a span of years, I finally got a firm diagnosis: VENTRICULAR FIBRILLATION. And the treatment: one drug, a few vitamins, and a great dearth of alcohol and caffiene. So far, it seems to work.

Early spring: We left on a long-planned journey across the southwest. And we returned after only a few days because of Maureen's serious back / arm /shoulder pain. Another few weeks of therapy and we tried again.

Late spring: Off we ventured in the RV, surviving each others' constant company for nearly three months. The Liar's Contest; the Verde Valley RR; the disappointment of Arcosanti and Biosphere; and then Old Bisbee. We bought a house here, a tiny old adobe that we think will be a better retirement investment than a CD. Then we continued across the southwest.

Summer: We closed up the Sierras CA place and hauled a pile of stuff to Bisbee. The plan: be here a couple months; then Maureen and her sister and mother go off to Switzerland for October whilst I tool the RV down the Pacific coast; then we're back in Bisbee til January when we can pay off the house and put it up for short-term rentals. And then? Drive to Guatemala!

Currently: It's monsoon season, but dry today. We just did a long-day trip to Tucson where we celebrated with my sister Marsha who just sold her house in Riverside CA (that took a week) and found a new house north of Tucson (that took two days) and will be moving her family at precisely the same time we leave for our October journeys. Hopefully we'll do XMas together.

Meanwhile: The cellphone has been suspended because it doesn't work around here and we haven't needed to bother getting new service, which is spotty around Bisbee anyway. This is a mountain town just minutes from Mexico and cell service varies between doorways (many of which are only accessible via long stone stairways).

Gotta go now - more later.

--Ric

Monday 30 August 2004

FULL MOON: The tape was wiped out!! I think I noted being up Sonora View Road overlooking the San Jose district and Naco and Pico de San Jose in Mexico and all that lies beyond. In the dark hours I went up this rocky road, trying to capture long-exposure images, but the results were disappointing. As dawn neared I found myself at the edge of a small steep desert valley market with PRIVATE PROPERTY signs. I took more ineffective photos, and then... was it this time or later, with Maureen? Headlights approached, we took off madly westward across the ragged landscape, eventually cutting north on a side road running lost into the mountains... Dawn broke, dogs barked, giant sahuaros loomed, and the full moon dipped into nothingness.

After what we judged to be a safe interval, we went back south, took that earlier trail west again, and found ourselves on the outskirts of Hereford -- but cut off by washes and private property. We crawled about the low flat terrain past homesteads and mini-ranches and tracts of nothingness. Eventually we reached Highway 90, and escaped our escapade. At least, that's how I recall it now...

Or maybe today's notes we dictated whilst doing laundry, recounting mundane recent events. I just don't remember. Doh..

Meanwhile, this is part of an email I sent to sister Marsha today:

Our ATT cell doesn't work here, and we haven't had the need (yet) to root up a new cell service. We probably will, in the next month or so. Hopefully we'll keep the same number, but for now we're only reachable by landline or email.

We drove 8 miles to the border yesterday, were going to walk across at Naco but huge pounding monsoon rains washed away that idea. And in Old Bisbee there was nary a drop, everything high and dry. That may change tomorrow. If ya don't like the weather, wait or drive.

--Rico, dripping...

Thursday 3 September 2004

Our old friends Pete and Mary up on the Columbia River also rate a year-to-date summary:

Hiya Kids:

I got an email from you a few weeks ago and just neglected it. Past, present and future events are as follows (briefly):

PAST: We drove around the SouthWest for almost 3 months, primarily in Arizona and New Mexico. We bought a house in Bisbee AZ (for investment purposes, and to have a getaway near Mexico). We returned to Volcano CA for a few weeks to handle personal business, then returned to Bisbee.

PRESENT: Due to our purchase deal, we're living in Bisbee until January. We're taking in the local sights and preparing for more. We've been here for a bit over a month now. I've been photographing and printing and getting ready for an art show (NEXT WEEKEND!) while Maureen improves the house and we both improve the little yard. The toil never ends...

FUTURE: In 3 weeks we'll head back to Volcano, then Maureen and her sister Sharon and mother Bobbie will fly off to Switzerland for most of October. During that time I'll roll up to Southern Oregon to see family, then RV down US 101 taking pictures of missions etc. At the end of October we'll return to Bisbee for the duration.

FAMILY: Meanwhile, my sister Marsha is moving to Tucson, just a couple hours from Bisbee. And Sharon may sell her New Jersey house soon and rent a place around Volcano while her new house there is being built. Sharon has offered to house our cat Petrushka, which frees us up for the nest stage:

MORE FUTURE: In January we'll pay off the Bisbee place, put it up for short-term rentals, and hopefully (sans cat) slowly drive across Mexico to Guatemala and Costa Rica. That's the fantasy. We'll see what happens.
_ _ _ _ _

MORE PRESENT: We're in Old Bisbee, a quaint artsy-retiree sort of walkable village, like an Italian hill town without the Italians. We're at 5300 feet in the Mule Mtns, less than a dozen miles from Mexico. Major shopping is just 30 miles away, in Sierra Vista (Ft Huachuca) or Douglas. REALLY major shopping is in Tucson. The distances are the same as from Pioneer to Jackson and Sacramento, but the air is better here.

We're on School Hill (the 4-storey high school building has ground-level entrances on each floor) above the confluence of Tombstone Canyon and Brewery Gulch. Old Bisbee is full of refurbished miners' shacks with great views; Lower Bisbee is full of contemporary miners' houses with UDAs (aka wetbacks) running thru the yards. But not up here.

The house is small (850 sq ft) and encloses a small yard, all secluded from the nearby downtown. The adobe portion dates to at least 1904, the frame portion to at least 1914, but it was refurbed a couple years ago. We're fitting it out for short-term rentals, which should bring in $500/wk during tourist season. Unlike much of Old Bisbee, where some 'streets' are steep stairways, we're nearly at grade and parking is nearby.

It's Friday night; a band is playing nearby. Today's monsoon bypassed Old Bisbee again, but it's been cool and cloudy and windy. Tomorrow we'll visit the Tombstone Shootout; Sunday we'll partake of Brewery Gulch Daze; and after the Gallery Walk next weekend, we may drive down to Barrancas de CObre (Copper Canyon) for a week. And then October looms...

I think I'll go see where the music is coming from. More later.

Ciao --Ric

September 14th or so

YET ANOTHER LAUNDRY DAY: Tuesday morning, Old Bisbee. A couple weeks since the last laundry day. This is yet another laundry day. Hot and clear. Threat of monsoon yesterday, clouds but no rain, pounding winds last night. The last couple weeks, let's see, what was that? A couple weekends ago? The Tombstone GunFest was a farce. or a scam I should say -- another lure to get tourists into the paid shows, shootout shows. Brewery Gulch Days in Old Bisbee was cute, especially the animal parade. Otherwise not much.

During the week we went over to the Huachuca Mountains, drove up the steep Carr Canyon Road, up thousands of feet -- amazing views across the San Pedro River valley. Up a steep sharp road, gravel -- kinda like the road from Sacapulas up towards the Ixil triangle in Guatemala -- just climbing and climbing and climbing... with the world hangout below, but not having to contend with semi-truck traffic in both directions on a one-lane gravel road.

And othewise we're just noodling around the house, or doing drives to Sierra Vista and Douglas. We haven't crossed the border again yet. Maureen is a bit rashy, seems she's allergic to cortisone. She spread some creme on for a bugbite and just got covered with rash. So we are staying away from drives into hot country until the redness goes down. And anyway it's less than two weeks until we leave for California and Maureen embarks for Switzerland. And all that IS HAPPENING -- yesterday Sharon went in for surgery for gallstones and is now AOK and will be ready to travel. Excellent.

ART WALK: This past weekend was the Second Saturday Art Walk; I wasn't ready with any photos to show, so I'll work on that for another time. Wes at the BIC: Bisbee Internet Cafe, says he'll help me out with the wireless connectivity stuff. That'll be great. He told us that we missed a regular event, the CROSS-DRESSER'S PARADE. 40 guys and gals in bras and garters walking around town, bar-hopping. Maybe next time.

On our drives to Sierra Vista we stopped at Hastings bookstore which has a large section of very cheap books. We've been grabbing a few of those -- I got some on doing Flash animations, and have been studying that technology and playing with that software for the last few days. Very interesting stuff. I feel like I'm about ready to become a film-maker, yes indeed. Or at least an animation-maker.

Something else to do when not processing photos: reading about post-modernist design; working on the house and yard; and plotting further journeys. The local office selling Mexico auto insurance is FINALLY open today -- it's supposed to be open on Tuesdays but this is the first time it's actually been manned. And I'm getting excited, yes! Insurance for Mexico, yes! Driving across Mexico, yes! All we have to do is stash Petrushka the cat. If we can convince Sharon to sell her New Jersey house right away and rent a place around Volcano then we will be free to go.

SOCIALIZING: We did our first social event on Sunday. Had Judy and Mike, and Caroline and Allen over, chatted away for hours. Loads of fun. Ah, Judy is a pillar of the community. Mike is out hiking around a lot. Allen, besides being a writer and former editor, is also or has been a working musician. We are told to get off to Ireland and England and make music in public places -- people actually listen. We learned many other things -- maybe Maureen will notate some of them.

We still have to get Maureen up to speed on her new little Sony Vaio sublaptop computer in the next couple weeks. She's going to need it when she's off in Switzerland, to take voice notes and to stash digital camera images.

Ah, back to the laundry. That's all for now.

---

Tuesday 14 September 2004

Sister Barbi in New York City emailed us her alarm over news accounts of border penetrations in our area:

I was in a Dr's office yesterday and saw the 9/20 edition of Time mag and relocated the mag from the office to my purse (I'll leave them a Sunset next time I go). Good article about your part of the country. I attempted to scan and send but it wasn't happening so I'll just type in an excerpt.

And then she included a hand-entered extract. I responded with my take on the situation:

I hope all that typing was good exercise. The article is online, I read it a couple days ago: http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101040920/

That story is slightly exaggerated, but not much. We haven't seen UDAs (UnDocumented Aliens aka wetbacks) hanging out at the BK (Burger King, in the Safeway center), or really cong­regating anywhere in public - just noticed groups rounded up here-and-there, waiting to be kicked back across the border. We hear about trespassing down in Lower Bisbee, and there's supposedly a cubbyhole in Brewery Gulch up here in Old Bisbee, but it just doesn't feel like an invasion.

On the border (both sides) below Bisbee is Naco, which has a 12-foot fence running thru, extending a couple miles either side of the town(s). Both ends of the fence are heavily patrolled - the stretch on the east end is unappetizing desert - to the west is the San Pedro River valley, and most of the crossings seem to be there. A highway runs near the border all along here. BP (Border Patrol) presence is heavy all around, and Ft Huachuca is just a little ways down the San Pedro, with an AeroStat (wired balloon) keeping watch over the region.

Ah, if the US hadn't supported vicious Latin American dicta­torships that kept their peoples impoverished and repressed, there might not be hordes of desperate UDAs heading for El Norte, eh? Note that Costa Rica has no army, no police state, no rebellions, and there ain't many Costa Ricans in the UDA flood. Coincidence? But without cheap illegal labor, the US economy would grind to a halt. I guess we'd better destab­ilize Costa Rica too...

Cheers --Ric

Tuesday 19 September 2004

An article about medical qualities of 'Chaparral' (a.k.a. the Creosote Bush) was posted on one of my frequented email lists:

----- Original Message -----
From: [PLANETNEWS@aol.com]
Subject: Ancient remedy 'shrinks cancer'

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/health/3555566.stm
Chaparral, an evergreen desert shrub, has long been used by native Americans to treat cancer, colds, wounds, bronchitis, warts, and ringworm. But experts dismissed its worth, and warned it could be dangerous. Now researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina have shown an extract may shrink some tumours. [yada yada yada...]

Naturally, I swelled my chest, filled my lungs, and pontificated responded:

I've long been interested in the chaparral plant community, so I tried to follow the links on the BBC story. Unfortun­ately those sites claiming to have positive results from a chaparral compound (Cancer Research UK and Medical University of South Carolina) have no links to chaparral, and their search engines provide no hits. It's only when I get to the other two sites (US Food and Drug Administration and American Cancer Society) that I find which chaparral plant was involved - and that there are repeated reports of LIVER DAMAGE from drinking chaparral tea.

The chaparral cited is my old friend, Creosote Bush (Larrea tridentata, aka L. divaricata var. tridentata). I used to live in a field of Larrea near 29 Palms, California, back when I was studying desert botany. Larrea has a distinctive odor when wet - on the Mohave Desert it's known as "the smell of rain" and I encountered that smell just yesterday as I drove across southern Arizona under the fringes of a Pacific hurricane. The scent of rain fills the air...

Larrea is well-known for its phytotoxins, plant poisons. Fields of Larrea appear almost to be purposely cultivated, each plant is so uniformly spaced. That spacing occurs because the roots exude poisons that kill most other plants (including its own seedlings) within the range of its root system. Very little can grow near a Creosote Bush. The volatile oils in its leaves discourage nibbling by insects, animals and humans alike. Nobody eats it. Larrea is an extremely tough and hardy plant, and those who turn to it for medicine do so only because there's little else available.

It's been awhile since I studied Indian uses of desert plants and my notes are in another location, but those interested might refer to the classic book TEMELPAKH or google for "creosote.bush indian use OR uses" - I'll think you'll find that its uses were quite limited. I wouldn't be surprised if some of its compounds were physiologically active and medically useful, but drinking its tea is dangerous and has never been popular, even among those ancient locals who had little else to avail themselves of.

Remember, just because something is 'herbal' or 'organic' doesn't mean it is SAFE. Hemlock is organic. Think about it.

--Ric Carter

Then I emailed sister Marsha, newly-relocated on a gravel road north of Tucson, :

I hope y'all have got your galoshes handy, it's POURING rain around here (Douglas to Oracle and beyond) with FLASH FLOOD WARNINGS in effect. Rain has been coming down at an inch per hour in some places. The desert will sprout yet again, after enough roads have been washed out. I hope your road is still intact. If not, well, there are always rafts, eh?

--Rainy Ric

Wednesday 22 September 2004

Still preparing for the Switzerland trip, Maureen just had to give Beth and Brad a personal update of life here:

Hi cousins...

Javier pushed us into fall two days ago...temps dropped to a daily avg high of 78 in Bisbee, and all our shrubs are in flower. The hurricane soaked us with rain at 1 inch per hour. Now we know what we need to do to make this house safe from water damage..not much..whoopee.

Your road trip south sounds grand, especially in the new convertible. I want a convertible when the Exploder gives out. But. something for off road too, to keep Ric happy. So far the engine is running smoooth and giving 20 mpg. Be sure to look for the seals on the beach directly across from the coast entry to the Hearst castle. Sometimes they gathump onto the highway...

This Saturday night we are going to the Bisbee Pie Social and Motown Concert. We are hopeful that the pie comes from Charlie's Daily Diner...the best rhubarb since your mom's. Charlie skateboard's down our hilly main street every morning with his dog and sings bass in the chorus. Amazingly this chorus has 75 members. Bisbee is filled with artists and musicians. The theater here is doing an original musical that we will catch later on this fall...

With love and ocotillos ...Maureen

Our several-months' sojourn in Bisbee is interrupted for the month of October. Well, at least this means that it takes longer to become Arizona residents, which has implications with automobile and drivers' licences, taxes, voting, and probably astrology and auras too. But it doesn't do Petrushka the cat any good.

Sunday 26 September 2004

MORNING: Seligman, Arizona, on old Route 66. We-ell, a few days ago in Bisbee we had thunderous rain from Hurricane Javier; it lasted a couple days. Then it cleared up. Then we packed. And now we're on our -- welp, I'm getting ahead of myself.

Last night we went out for the Pie Social and Motown Music Special for and by the Bisbee Community Chorus. The music ranged from truly dreadful to really wonderful and a little bit of in-between. Uh, let's see... All the women singing I HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE dressed up in lots of colored balloons as though they were grapes; that sequence was, well, indescribable. (Maureen cackles.) But the Chain Gang was pretty good. And the chorus director doing his Jackie Wilson impression for HIGHER AND HIGHER was superb.

So anyway, we got all packed up, and now we're making our run back from Bisbee to Volcano. Three days on the road, with cat. Fun fun fun.

TODAY: For today's drive, we left Bisbee under skies studded with brilliant clouds. Drove up through Tombstone -- no shootouts at the moment. On past a SPURS AND WINGS event at the Tombstone Airport -- I guess it was something involving airplanes and horses. Hopefully, not dropping one from the other. On up the margins of the San Pedro River valley, up to the Interstate and on over to Tucson. A little shopping for dozens on $1 DVDs of old movies and cartoons at the 99-Cent Only store.

Then on to Phoenix -- stuck on the Interstate interminably by road construction. Then up to the cutoff to Prescott. Just after Prescott we started seeing pronghorn antelope by the side of the road, a herd of more than a dozen at first, and then a much smaller group. Then we got up to Interstate 40 and started heading towards Kingman, and there's another half-dozen in a herd. More pronghorns than we've ever seen.

TONIGHT: The sky is smoky, there's a forest fire off towards Flagstaff. The rising moon was near-full. We're looking out across high desert landscape with shrub-covered mountains beyond, the smoky sky, the moon burning through -- a certain kind of Old West feel, there. And now we're here at our Highway 66 motel with its Coyote Pizza Parlor. We should have asked for a coyote pizza, instead of pepperoni.

Monday 27 September 2004

MIDDAY: Indian Springs, Nevada, 25 miles of Las Vegas. Well that StageStop 66 Motel in Seligman kinda sucked. It was away from the highway but right next to the train tracks, and freights lumbered through all night. It didn't smell too good -- old stains from dogs on the pet-friendly carpet. Not good for a return visit.

So we cruised on to Kingman, then northwards through the clear morning skies. We got up to Boulder Dam -- before Boulder Dam we had a security check, yes. There were police stopping everyone, asking questions. But then, they're kinda touchy about what they let drive across Hoover Dam these days. Then Boulder City and on to Vegas and boy, is the air BAD there... Not excruciatingly hot, only the low 90s, but the atmospheric layers are thick and brown, a shit soup for the lungs.

We stopped in Indian Springs at the casino restaurant, the only place around for food, for lunch. It's also not worthy of a return trip. So little here is...

Sunday 3 October 2004

VERY EARLY MORNING: Back in greater Volcano. We returned from Bisbee on Tuesday night and collapsed. Wednesday, down to Jackson for business, otherwise we rested. Thursday, worked around the house and had Beth and Brad over for dinner. Friday, back down to Jackson again for business and voting. Then we're all prepared to pack up and go, and the RV won't start, and Maureen's computer died. That means she can't use her digital camera, we had to dig out the old film-laden Olympus. So Saturday morning I drove Maureen and her mother down to the Sacramento airport in the SUV, off on their Switzerland trip.

Now I'm walking out now under the full moon, a couple days past full. Tomorrow, Monday, I'll consider what to do with the RV. See about fixing it, how much it costs, and then where to go. Is this the right time to visit family in Oregon? Mt St Helens erupted slightly and promises to erupt more soon, and the winds are from the north. Then, do I want to spend gas/food money to do the whole California coast, the Mission Trail? That would be costly.] So I'm not sure what direction to head, or even if to head in any direction. It would be cheaper and easier to just stay up here, work on pictures.

At the moment I'm stomping around with camera and tripod to capture some moonlight starlit scenes. After that, Petrushka the cat and I will figure out what to do for the rest of most of the month.

SUNDAY EVENING: I got the call -- Maureen and Bobbie are off at Sharon's in New Jersey, en route to Switzerland. I am sitting here at home. Yesterday evening about this time, a heavy thunderstorm blew in. Lightning striking nearby, rain pouring down. I sat naked on the porch with the cat running around. She did not feel like venturing off into the wet beyond.

High up the mountain is the Fish Springs fire lookout. We were there a year ago; the lookout keeper told us to come by after a rain, when the skies would be clear of civilized haze. Well, it rained; I thought this was a good time to head up the hill. A different lookout keeper this time, Charley, filling in for Tony for a couple days. Charley is a recently retired mechanical engineer, interested in traveling to Central America; we spoke thereof for awhile.

Ah, but before I got there, up around Peddler Hill, I tried driving up a dirt track and ended up stuck, backed against a large rock. Luckily a citizen drove by in a big pickup and with a bit of effort and maneuvering and tugging with lines attached, I managed to get pulled out, and proceeded.

The highways... ah, beautiful skies, rain again up near the crest, up beyond the Carson Spur, between the spur and the summit around the avalanche zone. Many porcupines and dead deer by the roadside along the way.

Thursday 7 October 2004

LATE EVENING: At home in the mountains. Went down the mountain for mailing and shopping on Tuesday, been laying around the house keyboarding like a maniac otherwise. Went out strolling the last couple days, around the ridge -- I need the exercise. Then this afternoon I drove up to Peddler Hill, 22 miles up the road, to take some infrared photos. At the fire station just below Peddler Hill, a large contingent of fire crews was assembled -- trucks, cars, gear, people. I got up to Peddler Hill, could look out over Bear Creek Resevoir and see the smoke rising. I drove the dirt and rock roads up there -- unlike the other day, I didn't get stuck. Not quite. Did a lot of shooting with Maureen's camera with the infrared filter -- I'll see how those turn out.

Let's see, was that Tuesday or Wednesday night? I actually listened to the vice-presidential debate. Interesting. Is it true that only morons haven't decided who they're voting for yet? I don't much mention politics in these tapes because my concerns are too great to just talk about here. Bush has been an absolute disaster. Will enough votes be counted to counter that? I don't know.

Meanwhile I am getting more rested-up; and in a day or two I should call up Harry and Gayle, and me Mum, and see about driving up to Oregon for a couple days to visit. And after another week or so, I might go up to Reno for a couple days, see if I can get a deal at the Sands again.

So far I've managed to stay occupied, web-surfing and photo-processing. Should have a handle on the videos here pretty soon, get them all converted to AVIs. Let's see if I can force myself to construct a movie out of the moving images I've shot. Who knows, I might even shoot some more.

Friday 8 October 2004

A CNN feature on inventiveness asked for what we thought were our substantial ideas, inventions that never were. Here's my entry:

Hello:

Twenty years ago I conceived of a computer control interface which has yet to be realized. It would consist of a holographic 3-dimensional display unit, and ultrasonic sensors to monitor the user's movements. The user would sit or stand at the display. A workspace image would be projected, containing useful objects: images, icons, tools, and texts. The user would reach into the display to manipulate the objects - typing at a virtual keyboard, 'writing' and drawing with finger gestures, reaching to compose shapes and sounds, manipulating virtual controls. Standing, the user would be 'dancing' with the computer (and would certainly get more exercise that they would by desk-jockeying). Add voice-recognition technology, and the computer would become the user's complete invisible friend.

Ric Carter
retired software engineer
(burnt-out ex-programmer)

Thursday 14 October 2004

DOWNHILL: In Jackson, California. Been very busy this last week. Up the hill again to look at the forest and see the fire crews. Down the hill for shopping and then traveling. Went off to southern Oregon over the weekend. Drove all day Saturday to get to Curry County, Jackson County. Sat around Saturday evening, talking with Mom and Phil. Stayed with Harry and Gayle til Tuesday -- sat around all weekend talking. Jean and Luc were over for dinner Monday. Jean's not completely with it but not completely out of it either. Luc is totally pissed about Dubya trying to wreck Social Security.

All day Tuesday, driving back here with the CHECK ENGINE light on. I am at this very moment in Jackson, having the car looked at to see why that was, although the warning light shut off just after I left Jackson on Tuesday, heading back up the hill.

Petrushka the cat is very glad to see me, having been left Home Alone with less-than-superb food. Poor kitty.

FIRE! FIRE! Then yesterday, I hardly dared to go out -- the flames are burning, the air is full of smoke. Today it's even worse. Smoke from the Sierra fires covering all of Northern California. Oh, coming down from Oregon, there were strings of fires along the Coast Range from Redding to Sacramento, visible from the freeway there. If it wasn't for the car and the cat, I would have been gone yesterday -- although, where to? I don't know where there's someplace that ISN'T smoky -- but as it is, I don't dare go out walking, exercising...

Meanwhile, I'm just about caught up with still-picture processing. Been shooting a lot if infrared. Now I have to go and finish the video processing that I've assigned myself. Then see about arranging some of the footage into a short video, a walking tour of Bisbee. Why? I dunno, just because I can, I hope.

No word from Switzerland; hope Maureen, Bobby and Sharon are having a great time. No word from Tucson; hope Marsha, Dave and Bruce are OK. No word from New York; hope Barbi and Bill are working out their future. Apparently she wants to come to Arizona and he wants to go to Florida. So, we'll see...

Monday, 18 October 2004

UPHILL: At home on the ridge, Monday afternoon.

Last Thursday and Friday were pretty grim. Smoke from the fires uphill, both from around Salt Creek Resevoir and further north around Kyburz, hung low and thick -- it's not fit to venture outside except for absolutely necessary tasks. Saturday I couldn't stand hanging around any more. Drove across the grain of the mountains to the south, to highway 4 and up to Ebbetts Pass. Smoke was very thick crossing the canyon of the Mokelumne, getting thinner as I got further and higher. Just about all facilities up towards Ebbetts were closed -- end of summer season, not yet winter season. Returned on forest roads, only got lost a little. Had a few viewpoints where I could look down at the flames and swirling smoke.

And then late Saturday night it started raining. And Sunday it poured rain all day. Reports are of a winter storm, snow down to 6000 feet, flash-flood alerts for the eastern part of the county in areas burnt-off by the fires.

And this morning, got up early, drove down to Jackson for the necessary car repairs. And then headed up-country, up above Peddler Hill. Got into snow. Still saw smoke rising from hot spots. At one point a truck towing a smashed-up CalTrans truck, along the road. A little too much excitement there. Sorry, not towing, it was mounted on the back, being transported, the wreckage.

QUANDRY: But now I'm in a quandry. The cost of the car repairs pretty much shot what budget I had. I could still afford to drive over to Reno, thinking of staying there for a couple of nights, poke around parts of the area I haven't seen before and parts that I have. But now -- well, I couldn't do that a few days ago because there was a likelihood that roads for returning would not be open because of the [fires and] smoke. And now there's the possibility that if I got over there, further storms would block the roads. So I don't know just what the hell I'll do, probably hang around here and work more on the computers, and bug out for day trips every now and then, and hope I don't get the flu.

It's difficult to drive very far now. Gas price today is up to $2.45 per gallon down in Jackson. I heard a report that Bridgeport's paying the highest amount in the country, $2.99 per gallon of unleaded regular. Pretty terrible when the cheapest gas around here isn't that far behind.

CRISES: There's the oil and gas crisis, and the flu vaccine crisis, and all the usual political-military crises. I heard an interview with Michael Moore today; I think I'll go down to the video store, rent FARENHEIT 911, immerse myself in that. And/or immerse myself in some of the one-dollar DVDs of ancient cartoons and melodramas and oaters and sci-fi and horror flicks that have accumulated lately. And if I start feeling sick, I can just lay in bed and write some songs. And mentally compose the little videos I've been thinking of but but haven't really gone to work on yet.

Tuesday, 19 October 2004

EVENING: At home, necessarily. Well, did a bit on pictures, stills and videos today, but not that much, although I did shoot some short clips of myself, moving around in funny ways. Saw a website featuring stop-motion photography, small forat, of people doing apparently impossible things, which can be done with stop-motion. I can replicate some of that by just assuming strange postures every now and then, filming the whole thing, and clipping out any unnecessary frames. So, a little bit of image-editing today, but mostly wasting time on the web.

It's been raining all day, raining very heavily just a few minutes ago. We definately have a winter storm up here. And just as I finished cooking dinner, a bit after 7:00 this evening, the power went out. The lines are dead dead dead... I have some candles lit. It wasn't easy, all the flishlights were also dead. I had to use the smallest laptop computer as a light to find matches.

CAT TALK: Petrushka the cat has been acting very lonely and needy. She's taken up (once again) to howling at blank corners and dark windows. When I go to sleep, she's curled up against my back. When I sit down, she's reaching up, clawing my leg, trying to gain purchase. (Sounds: cat vocalizations.)

The rain has slackened a bit. I open the window, I can hear generators off in the distance; and a relentless drip. drip from the eaves; and more gusts of wind.

Retiring to my bedroom; the one lantern I could dig up, an oil lamp, sitting on the headboard. Petrushka is up there, sniffing at it, poking at it, looking for what? We've now been Home Alone Together for a bi over two weeks, a week-and-a-half to go. It's amazing how clean and orderly the place still is, given my natural propensity for discordia.

EXTERNALITIES: Meanwhile, the world goes on. I listen to the radio, read news and conspiracies on the web, contribute my own. There's no sense mentioning any of the political bullshit here; it'll be long cold by the time I transcribe this. Someone once said they only read newspapers that were ten years old (mumble) so they could apply some perspective to what they read, have better idea of what was important and what wasn't. Hopefully, today's current events will seen totally stale in a month or two. If not, then we are in deep deep trouble. Of course, we're in deep deep trouble right now. But...

So I'm reading MADE IN AMERICA: An Informal History of the English Language in the United States, by Bill Bryson. And in his chapters on the early days of the American Republic, we learn that many of the great revolutionary phrases we learned in school were never said by those they're attributed to. TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION IS TYRANNY! Well, nobody noticed that at the time it was supposed to have been said. Patrick Henry: IF THIS BE TREASON, MAKE THE MOST OF IT! And what's this other one? I KNOW NOT WHAT COURSE OTHERS MAY TAKE; BUT AS FOR ME, GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH! He didn't say either of those. He did say a few hot-headed things in the legislature, but then apologized for doing so. He was "a country bumpkin, unread, poorly educated and famously indolent. Yes, he was a master of words, but they were words that would put you to sleep. And after he had spoken, nobody was quite sure what he had said."

Yet we American live by these myths, political gospels, as true as any others. The Boston Massacre: bogus. Paul Revere's ride: bogus. The Revolutionary Spirit: bogus. The Revolution being won by Americans: bogus. It was the French military who did that for us. One risks mentioning these truths in public discourse upon pain of being ignored, or worse.

ESCAPISM: Petrushka the cat is sleeping on my arm, or trying to sleep. She has no concerns about such matters. Maybe I shouldn't, either. I should focus more on photography and videography; do more research on stop-motion filming; think about writing funny memoirs, stories, whatever; or any stories, especially those that can be set in a visual context.

And a little later, the rain is picking up again. The forecast is for four feet or more of snow up in the higher elevations...

Friday 30 October 2004

Maureen's back from Switzerland. Just as we were about to return to Bisbee, sister Marsha in Tucson asked how things were. Here's my reply:

> How was Maureen's trip and when do you guys get back down here?

Maureen's trip was great. My time was dreary - Oregon was OK but engine trouble on the way back, expensive repairs, then stuck here in forestfire smoke, then snow, with blown budget. Grumble grumble. I'd wanted to get away for a couple days, over to Reno maybe (cheap rates at the Sands) but there was never a guarantee that the trans-Sierra highways would be open.

So Maureen and Bobbie arrived in Sac around midnite Thursday. Then the long drive home. Our plan was to rest Friday, then leave this morning. But then the cat started pissing pink. Not good. So we saw a vet this morning (mild bladder infection) and we'll take off tomorrow morning. Stay over in Victorville, reach Bisbee by Monday night, totally missing the Hallowe'en and Dias de Los Muertos festivities. Ratz.

We figured we'll come up to Tucson next weekend for shopping etc. Maybe y'all can show us the botanic garden or something. We'll call this week...

Ah well, it's time now to chase and catch and cook a rabbit or something. Under the near-full moon, hunting should be good. I had a few in my headlights last night. Nyah-ha-haaaa...

Yr moonstruck bro,