RUFFLED-CAMPAIGN FEATHERS AND CLOUDS

GET OVER IT NEWT, IT WAS A JOKE!

     The latest flap in the presidential wars underscores a

couple of things.  1)As a nation our sense of humor is rapidly diminishing.  2)Newt Gingrich becomes more sanctimonious 

by the moment.

     Actor Robert De Niro cracked wise at an Obama fundraiser and the desperate Gingrich sought to make some political hay.

      Here is the "offending" joke:

    "Callista Gingrich. Karen Santorum. Ann Romney. Now do you really think our country is ready for a white First Lady?" he asked the crowd. "Too soon, right?"

      Even the Obama camp, when pressed for a response,

said it was inappropriate.  Well, what else could they say?

It was "edgy" I suppose, but if we can't laugh at ourselves

we are taking it all too seriously.  

       I think if one can joke about color, ethnicity, sexual preferences and yes even religion in appropriate, non offensive language, then it shows maturity and real cultural health.  Isn't that coming closer to being color blind than Newt's little hissy fit would be representative of?

      Accept facts for what they are. If you are a person of color the line may have been funny for reasons beyond the fact it was a good line and made even better by the edginess of it. Both the edginess and the personal color matters fueled the effectiveness of the joke, and obviously the Gingrich lack of humor.

      You know what they say you can do if you can't take a joke. Humor is a balm for frayed nerves.  We should all laugh a bit more.  Lighten up!   

DAY BOOK

RUFFLED SKY

Heard any jokes about thrice married candidates?

See you down the trail.

PINK SLIME & METAL AND GREEN

DO YOU REALLY WANT TO EAT IT?

      I was surprised to learn that 70% of all ground beef sold in the US contains pink slime. That is the popular name for Lean Finely Textured Beef (LFTB) which is a fancy name for a processed product now at the center of a growing controversy.

      Pink slime is made by boiling beef bones under pressure to separate what normally sticks to the bone.  The remains are then run through a centrifuge to separate the meat.  The USDA says this process separates "most" of the fat from the meat which is then treated with an ammonia process to kill germs.  Voila-to the market.  

      This procedure, pioneered in the 1980's and "improved" in the 90's  allows marketers to sell older and less fresh beef.  The pink slime is worked into hamburger, frozen hamburgers and most school lunch programs.

      Healthy eating and consumer groups have roiled up enough public reaction the USDA is now undertaking a process to allow schools to opt out of buying food with pink slime for just regular non ammonia gas exposed beef.

       Nancy Huehnergarth, a founder of the New York State

Healthy Eating and Physical Activity Alliance posted the 

following quote in her Huffington Post blog

John Turenne, the president and founder of Sustainable Food Systems LLC, which works with schools to create healthier, sustainable food programs, nicely summed up this past week's collective anger: "Agribusiness is corrupting society with processed garbage," said Turenne. "The fact that chemicals like ammonia are being used on so much of our food, without our knowledge, is infuriating. Let's stick to real food."

           To which I add, amen!

DAY BOOK
METAL AND GREEN
Wherein iron and nature dance together, nicely and with a touch of whimsey.

A lot of intersecting lines and planes in the frame below.

By the way, the iron work is by Sergio Olivares, black smith and welder who works on the Central Coast.
See you down the trail.

THE WEEKENDER :) NAP TIME FUNNIES & SOMETHING EXTRAORDINARY

THIS IS GOOD FOR YOU

     Those naps we took as kids were good for us then, and so they are now.  So are smiles. And we know that new thoughts  cause our brains to continue their elasticity. So we've wrapped them all up for you in this WEEKENDER :)

        My friends Beverly and Brian were the first to send

our first video.  You don't need to speak German to enjoy.

Here's a shot for the Luddites against our amazing technology and in an amusing 30 seconds.

Coming up below a mind blowing video

but first, a little Nap Time humor.

DAY BOOK

NAP TIME AT LOW TIDE

A lazy Central California day-ideal for napping.

WHILE THE BIG GUYS DO IT, HERE'S A LITTLE CAT NAPPING

The Further Adventures of Luke and Hemingway

Any Where, Any Time is Nap Time

      "What do you think Hemingway, time for a nap?"

      "My eyes are so heavy.  I just want lay here. What about you?"

     "Think I'll doze just standing here pal. Zzzz"

      "Zzzzzzzzz, um yea. Zzzzzzzzz"

    An old friend, a former network newsman and later college professor said at his retirement he read that napping was good for you.  So he said he thought he'd experiment with it and told his friends not to call him for a couple of hours after lunch because he would be in the laboratory, doing research.

    UNLESS YOU'VE SEEN THIS VIDEO, YOU'VE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE THIS

I suggest you watch this on full YouTube at the

largest screen size you can.

Wow!!

     Have great weekend.  See you down the trail.

A TOUGH QUESTION & EXQUISITE BEAUTY

HOW DO YOU CLEAN A BATTLEFIELD?

     It is more than a rhetorical question, but the answer is fleeting.  I ask because I watched a friend present a report on his mission to Kuwait to supervise the cleaning of a target range on an American base.  Specifically they were charged with removing uranium shells or bullets that had been fired into a mound of sand. 

      Laborers from Pakistan and India were hired to dig out the material, struggling in 3 digit temperatures, using Geiger counters.  The gathered debris was brought back to the U.S. where it was disposed of in Washington state in one of only few sites approved for such nuclear waste.

       As he noted, the battle fields themselves still have not been cleaned.  Uranium at the grade of weapons has a half life of relative eternity. Another legacy of modern warfare.

DAY BOOK

LOVE THOSE FLOWERING TREES

See you down the trail.

A "MIRACLE", BRACKET RE DO's & OLD VINES

A MINOR MIRACLE

     You may find this hard to believe during this time of acrimony, division and rancor.  Yesterday a group of about 50 Cambrians with enormously divergent political and philosophical views sat together in a moderated discussion on American Health Care.  It was a time of fellowship and social mixing, but the agenda was a discussion of what to do about American Health Care.  I can not state emphatically enough how divergent were the views.  Well, after a couple of hours this group agreed to ten basic principals. There was discussion, debate, soul searching and these people from the right, left, republican, democrat, Christian, objectivist, agnostic, libertarian and Buddhist  agreed on ten principals.  It gave this old boomer a sense of optimism.

FOR TRUE BASKETBALL JUNKIES

     Don't you think there should be some way to re-do your brackets, now that Syracuse star Fab Melo has been declared ineligible?  The 7 foot Brazilian is a key weapon for the Orangemen and with him out, the highly rated, and in some cases favored, Syracuse will likely not be as strong.  I know

I wish I could re-do my bracket.

DAY BOOK
CENTRAL COAST SCENES

              Some of the oldest vines in California are Zinfandel vines in Paso Robles and these are among the oldest in the region. They some of the old Pesenti vines, on  the west side of the 101 above and on the east side below.  

Though we remain well below our average rain this year,
the passes along the Green Valley remain green.

See you down the trail.

HOOPS TO GO & WRITE ON + SPRING PINK & MOON

BETTER THAN IT USED TO BE

     If you enjoy March Madness as much as I do, you have to love the way you can now stay connected with your phone

or tablet. The NCAA and CBS provide mobile links to all of the action.

      Oh how that could have made life easier a few years ago!

When the girls were in school, we'd take an annual spring break tonic of sun and beach on beautiful Sanibel Island.  As its was, that day of air travel conflicted with key games in

the big dance.  Having a couple of Indiana teams, or more,

that I was passionate about, it was torture to be in the air or car and away from seeing the tourney. 

      There were many years I'd ask the ATA flight attendant to ask the pilot to keep us up to date on scores.  Since the Indianapolis based flight crew and the plane full of passengers, for the most part, had the same basketball jones, they did a great job.  Still nothing like being able to

watch it on your phone.  Somethings in the good old days

weren't so good as they are now eh?! 

LOTS OF COMPANY AS WE WRITE ON

      I caught an amazing statistic in this blog. What you are reading now is one of 181 million blogs in the world!  Mind boggling.  As we used to say in television news, "Thanks for tuning in here. We know you have choices." And the number keeps growing.

DAY BOOK

SPRING PINK

&

FULL MOON

       An afternoon glass of wine and picnic.

       Full moon rising over the Santa Lucias.
       See you down the trail.

MYSTICAL MESSAGES THRU TIME?

AMERICAN CAVE PAINTINGS

ON THE CARRIZO PLAIN

      Extraordinary occurrences have taken place here in Painted Rock on the exotic Carrizo plain in San Luis Obispo County. Some look at this formation and see lizards or turtles.

          Pictographs, like the frame above fill the inner chamber of what is a sacred site for Chumash and Yokut Indians.

      The Carrizo Plain is a ten mile wide and almost 50 mile long valley in the eastern portion of San Luis Obispo County between the Temblor and Caliente mountain ranges.  In the 
middle of the northern plain lays Soda Lake, the remains of a prehistoric sea.

      In the rare rainy season the lake becomes 3000 acres of water and a winter home for Sandhill Cranes, but most of the year it is a salt bed.
      Nestled on the western edge of plain is Painted Rock, a curved bowl, not unlike an amphitheater. It is a religious site.  

      It is inside the Painted Rock that shamans and holy men 
of Chumash and Yokut people and perhaps other tribes, have held rituals and left traces of visions.

      The walls are rich with pictographs that are some of the most valuable and rare native paintings in the world.  These
are said to have been made 500 to 2000 years ago.

      The red pigments were made with ochre, the white by shale and gypsum and the black by charcoal.

      Look carefully and you see layers of history and earlier ages speaking through time. 

     Earlier visitors desecrated the ancient paintings, so now
the Painted Rock is open only by appointment.

   

      Imagine the time when a native shaman conducted sacred ritual or activity amidst these stones that were said to resemble specific shapes or powers.

    Ancient California history is visible on the Carrizo Plain national monument, just 90 minutes from Cambria.

     See you down the trail.