Horse Tradin'

It's official: my husband, Rittmeister Frye (aka Uber Gordon) is putting his demon horse Twister up for sale. He's not really a demon horse, he's just more horse than we need for what we do. This pony wants to go out and cut cattle and rope steers and run around barrels, etc.. He also needs to be worked more than once or twice a week. His replacement looks to be...Woody (pic above)! A Quarterhorse/ Percheron mix. This guy looks like a warhorse should: nice and sturdy.

It's a Bird, It's a Plane...

Need a quick diversion? Take this Rorschach test...

Also, speaking of birds, Iris (my grey auracana) started laying again! Now we can have green eggs and ham (the other chicken lays pink ones).

Nabila's New Gig

Nabila, my "belly dancing" alter-ego finally made it onto a poster...of sorts. It's a bit of a drive down to Modesto (about an hour), but it's a job, and the pay is FAR better than my last gig down there. These folks know how the game is played. I danced for the grand opening last Saturday night. It's a very family-oriented place, and I ended up staying there long past my bedtime (heck, the first set alone was past my bedtime!) dancing with some little girls and then trailing along like a feeble white person at the tail end of an impromptu "debke" or other kind of line-dance. I'll be back there next Friday (Oct 8), somebody else can do the Saturday gig this week, I have a cavalry class to help Gordon with and then we're off to El Morocco for good food and MORE "raqs al sharki" (that's "belly dance" to the rest of you)! Our 3rd wedding anniversary is tomorrow, so we're just going to celebrate a couple of days late since I'm teaching (belly dance, of course) tomorrow night. I'm a dancin' fool...

Uber Gordon

Gordon, in his quest to become goal-oriented, went off to the RMS's annual Schuetzenfest (Shooting Festival) with the aim (pun intended) of winning the trophy. Well: he did! When he walked in the door last night, he said, "Guess who's the new Schuetzenkoenig?" and handed me the trophy (pewter stein above). He gets to keep it until somebody can win it away from him (insert evil laugh here). Ah, the joy of early firearms. For a shot (ha) of Gordo firing his pistol, click here.

This just in: Gordon's #1 daughter just plopped a bunch of related pics on her photoblog...

"The Rape Jihad"

For those who still haven't figured out that Islam is not just a colorful, ethnic version of Christianity, I offer the article "The Rape Jihad" by Robert Spencer. Ethical, moral Muslims the world over need to do some serious soul-searching and think about what kind of God they want to serve.

I'm not surprised that this entry has stimulated the first real storm of comments on this blog. People the world over are wondering about Islam and related topics. The nature of God, truth, and religion should be the big topics of the day. Russell Mann has been dealing with the same topic, with some of the same comment contributors.

“Memogate” and the (ongoing) Disgrace of the Left

Something that causes me mental tailspins on occasion is the sad fact that the people and movements who seemed so idealistic, creative, progressive, and full of moral loftiness in the 60s are now the overbearing, self-righteous, controlling, power-hungry establishment they used to rail against. Was it all show? Was it always “the end justifies the means”? Maybe it just boils down to Winston Churchill’s oft-quoted truism, “Any man who is under 30, and is not a liberal, has not heart; and any man who is over 30, and is not a conservative, has no brains.” This must explain why so many young academics are still buying into the lies and hypocrisy of the oh-so-self-righteous Left.

Over at the National Review, Victor Davis Hanson, in an article entitled "The Fall", writes of the long downward slide of Liberal journalism, citing the current Dan Rather FUBAR as a possible turning point in the future of alphabet network (the big three) news:

“Hypocrisy and aristocratic smugness are drawing the ancient regime to its death. Rather's now-ossified generation came of age in the heady Vietnam era, on the apparent premise that Main Street, USA, and the Kiwanis had given us Vietnam, Watergate, racism, and the other isms and phobias — and that only hip, swashbuckling 60s-types could tell the American people the ‘truth’ about what
the ‘establishment’ was up to.

“Ever so incrementally along this inevitable road to Rathergate, John Kerry's searing ambodia-patrol story, and Kitty Kelley's Reagan and Bush pseudographies, many Americans began to worry about the ends-justifying-the-means culture of the sanctimonious Left. The counterculture was defended on the dubious premise that the activists needed to fight fire with fire as they exposed everything from Nixon's lies to the embarrassing Pentagon Papers.

“But in the process there also began a professional devolution, as questionable legal and ethical methods were excused in the name of the greater good.” (entire article here)

World o' Birds

On the avian front, Iris is finally growing her tail feathers back (she molted and quit laying a month ago). She no longer resembles a giant Guinea Hen. This morning at first light the local gang of rogue feral parrots swarmed our end of the street, squawking and hooting and calling maniacally to each other for about a half hour. Gordon says the crows were a bit befuddled by it all. Unless you were raised in a jungle, it's pretty near impossible to sleep through such a racket. I didn't. Gimli sat out in the front yard looking up in to the parrot infested trees with a stunned expression.

World o' Katz

Sad day, today; we sent Spot, one of the feral cats, off to the kitty great beyond, courtesy of the local animal shelter. We were only able to catch him because one of his back legs was so far-gone from infection that he looked like a refugee from a Wes Craven horror flick. He was bitten by something a month or so ago, but I didn't catch him in time to deal with abscesses, etc., plus he was just SO wild that I'm not sure I would have been able to help him, anyway. He's beyond suffering, now, and although it breaks me up to have to euthanize any creature I am TOTALLY against prolonging suffering unecessarily. RIP, Spotty! :-(

On a happier note, over the weekend we had a visit from little cousin 'Stella (now adopted by Gordon's oldest, Lizzie), whom Gimli adores. Well, he likes to wrassle and torment her, but that's ok because she's even more of a monkey than he is. For starters, she's the ONLY cat who will stand up to Iris (our grey auracana chicken). This is the chicken who chases our alpha cat, Eric the Red (16 lbs). Tiny little 'Stella gets endless amusement out of lying in wait for Iris then jumping out and sending her straight up into the air, gobbling like a turkey. Whee! She also seems to like rolls of paper towels and was shredding one behind my back while I attempted a little tidying up. Gimli (pictured under the wheelbarrow) is the real paper shredder, though. He can reduce a brown grocery bag to compost in under five minutes. Need documents shredded? He's on the job.

The News: Rather Odd

I won't mince words: what passes for "news" here in the USA isn't, on the whole, honest reportage. OK, I minced just a little. What I mean to say is: mainstream "news" in the USA is about as honest as an episode of "Survivor". If that puzzles any of you, let me be the first to enlighten (or "break the story", as they say in the news biz) on the workings of those so-called reality show: they are carefully produced, heavily stage-managed id-gratification from start to finish. They are about as spontaneous as a NASA rocket launch. But I digress.

Even with my attempts to avoid contact with the latest hoo-hah in the Bush/Kerry mudfest...er...campaigns, a dogged pen-pal of mine managed to slip me an article that I think sums up the whole "memogate" thing quite nicely. So here I go, joining the buzz of bloggers commenting on the amazing sham that is mainstream news reporting. It's pretty obvious to most sentient beings that the memos are frauds, so why are CBS (and others) stubbornly clinging to their weak and inconsequential claims? Mark Steyn, writing for the Chicago Sun Times yesterday (9-19-04), opines thusly:

As the network put it last week, ''In accordance with longstanding journalistic ethics, CBS News is not prepared to reveal its confidential sources or the method by which '60 Minutes' Wednesday received the documents.'' But, once they admit the documents are fake, they can no longer claim ''journalistic ethics'' as an excuse to protect their source. There's no legal or First Amendment protection afforded to a man who peddles a fraud. You'd think CBS would be mad as hell to find whoever it was who stitched them up and made them look idiots.

So why aren't they? The only reasonable conclusion is that the source -- or trail of sources -- is even more incriminating than the fake documents. Why else would Heyward and Rather allow the CBS news division to commit slow, public suicide? (entire article)

For my money, it's a good summary of this latest newsmedia diversionary tactic to distract us from actual news. Meanwhile, Michelle Malkin weighs in as well, noting the media's slippery use of buzz words like "candor" and "confident" when the facts are somewhat less than factual.

RAIN!

A few days ago the weather finally turned the corner from "late Summer" to "almost Fall", and today we actually have rain (a bit, anyway). What a relief. Cooler temperatures mean I'll actually feel motivated to DO things around here. Hopefully we won't have the phenomenon that I've experienced in other regions (Japan, the Carolinas, etc.) where they go from sweltering Summer to bitter cold in less than two weeks. As they say, anything could happen.

Ready to go home

Here's Cheryl, ready to get out of the hospital. We're now back at the nice hotel.

Today's Engrish: a tad bitter

The Japanese seem to be into niche marketing with this one. Is it racial profiling? Don't ask me, I'm bitter... This one was my discovery. Want more Engrish fun? Click this link.

Miyako Hotel

This is our room at the Miyako. I'll be bringing Cheryl back here today to sleep and watch movies. I doubt she'll be up for much else. It has everything but tatami mats! Nice shoji screen window shutters and solid panels instead of curtains. I'd like to take the bathroom home with me...

Nurse Neb

Here's Nurse Neb, from yet another episode of "World's Astonishing News" or whatever they're calling it in Japan these days. It's supposed to be the 1930s; I tried my best with the hair and makeup. The "skirt" is a bedsheet; they tried to put me in pants but I explained that women didn't wear trousers in the '30s. Not to work, anyway. Hey, at least I wasn't a cop this time (was starting to feel typecast...).

Mini Japan Vacation

I'm not really in Japan, but it's darn close. My sister is in San Francisco for a surgery, and I've driven over to hang with her and help her out if she feels too "urpy" afterward. We're staying a few blocks from the hospital at the Radisson Miyako, and it's very Japanese. I'm having major Japan flashbacks. I just wish Gordon were here to enjoy it with me! Cheryl stays at the hospital tonight and I have the place to myself. I may wander down to the Marrakech to say "hi" to Nader & the gang and boogie a bit, but it's a long walk and I can't afford a cab. I'm just having fun exploring Japan Town and drinking in all the Engrish. Our room has a Japanese-styl bathroom. The toilet is in a separate room AS IT SHOULD BE. I had a "peel & press" seaweed rice ball for lunch, and the store across the street sells musubis and "Crunky" bars. Life is good.

9/11 3rd Anniversary

Don't have time today to sit and type, but I didn't want to let this day go by without remembrance of the most significant terrorist action on US soil. For a nice piece that sums it up for me, see Adrian Warnock's entry for today.

Dynamic Duo

Found some kind of gaming website where you can build your own superhero, so I "built" Gordon and me as a crimefighting team. Kind of fun...

The Four Plagues

The next 12 months are going to bring some big changes in my life. I'd lay a wager on it. Somehow I think that Satan is working overtime to pound me and soften me up so I'll be too tired to cope. For starters, this has been the buggiest year I've ever experienced outside or Texas or the Carolinas. First there are the mosquitos. I worked in the bush in Alaska last year, and I have more mosquito bites right now than I had my whole two months up there! We've had to put netting over our bed so we can get some peace at night, and when I go out to water in the evening I'm swarmed!

Second, there's been the plague of spiders: I can't keep up with the daddy-long-legs in the house. I appreciate the little monsters, really I do, but do I really need one in every 5 feet of ceiling/wall interface? Then there are the nasty spiders. I'm getting bites, I guess during the night, that can't be anything but spider bites, which creeps me out. This morning I followed the buzzing outside and found a big black wood bee trapped in the web of a BLACK WIDOW! Outside in broad daylight! Under my kitchen window! The BW is now a smear on the patio (after being stunned by my trusty bug zapper racket). Anybody who knows BW spiders knows they like quiet, dark places. I have NEVER seen one out like that, but then I ran into (almost literally) one out in the pool house a month or so ago when I hadn't been out there for awhile which was unnerving in itself.

The third plague is fleas. Not an unusual plague, mind you, but I've never had a problem like this here in Stockton. We have no wall-to-wall carpeting, and so it's easy to keep the buggage to a minimum. Plus, I treat all the cats with Frontline. Yet I'm still finding little "blood spots" on our bed sheets from flea dirt on the cats, and Gordon is getting flea bites on his feet. It's nuts.

Fourthly, and I'm pushing it here; it's just dang hot. You can see my local weather on the little "weather bug" at the bottom of this page. The weather people keep taunting me with predictions of falling temps...then it suddenly bounces back up to 100f. So much for getting yardwork (or anything else, for that matter) done during daylight hours.

Well, just thought I gripe a bit.

Getting Their Knickers in a Twist: "Code Pink"

As an example of how many so called "peace" activists are anything but peaceable, I often cite a story that my friend Floyd told me about the years he lived in Santa "Nuclear Free" Cruz, CA. It seems there was, and likely still is, a contingent of very vocal anti-gun activists in this sleepy (drug use will do that to you) little beach community. Seems their fearless leader disagreed so strongly with the local NRA honcho that one night, are you ready for this?, he lobbed a rock through a window in the guy’s house. Go peaceniks!

In keeping with this spirit of “peace”, there has arisen a contingent of women calling themselves “Code Pink” (frankly, I would have picked a different name: Nyuk, nyuk. Wink), who seem to be quite skilled in the “Personal Assaults for Peace” arena. Michele Malkin has her finger on the pulse of this gang of plucky protestors…

UN Ends Global Terrorism! (aka Empty Orders)

The UN strikes again! Doing what they do best: shaking their heads admonishing us all to "just get along". Michelle Malkin points out the obvious: the UN are "a load of useless bloody loonies"*:

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan yesterday strongly condemned terrorist attacks in Israel and Russia and the gruesome murder of 12 Nepalese civilians in
Iraq. The UN Security Council condemned the Israeli suicide bombings and “all other acts of terrorism.” (more...)

*Ford Prefect to the Galgafrynchan (sp) middle managers,
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams.

Just My Type

The Proverbial Wife is putting a Christian twist on personality typing! What is this, you may ask? Well, back in the late '80s, when I hit the bottom of my depression trough and sought professional help, the book Please Understand Me was recommended by a very good counsellor. It offers a way to break down the components of your personality in a fairly useful way, so you can understand yourself and others better. I found it very instructive and helpful at the time, and periodically re-do the test (we all change as we mature...hopefully). It turns out there's a new, improved version out these days, Please Understand Me II: Temperament, Character, Intelligence . She even has a link to a site that carries the test...