September morn

lil howse. This child is claiming my attention. Painting commences downstairs -- Agnes, my roomate is 'redding' up the place for move in. Brother moving into his house, sister moving back in now that the renu is done We got furniture all over the place. When they say it's going to take twice the time and three times the money, they were right.

Whoo hoo! Whyfor does Venusian clouds look like they're shifting all the time? Could it be cuz it's so hot??? Question was posed by the Discover channel and I said, 'because its hot and the atmosphere boils like oatmeal'. I dunno anyway, Just an impulse thing. What if I'm correct?
Tomorrow we empty the truck again. I just working at shoehorning three households into one cute lil 3 and 2 the third household will be in when the basement is finished. THEN we will have a great savenger hunt followed by the mother of all garage sales.

Golly, September! Just around the corner. Dust off the pumpkins!

wELL WHY NOT I BEEN POSTING? Well it's a loooong story.. in short I bought me a new computer. Moved. Got 'charcot' foot in my other foot and it's painful. Does wonders to your concentration. But here I am, and soldering on. Bought a new house!!!! wonderful. now finishing basement and moving in stuff from everywhere. Since my mother passed on, there's her house, and mine, and my roomate's..... I could use about ten good stout young men. All I got is one old crippled me, and I'll admit one very amazing boyfriend who while 4 years older than I MUCH stronger.

Get to your young and tender while you can!!!! The habit of packratting ways has got to be eradicated! Moving is good for your garbage.

The pic is me standing in my boyfriend's kitchen. I promise not to let months go by from here on in. Blog on!!! And yes, I have been voting but I'm not sure why. Haven't 'won' a single election involving presidents since I started voting.

Well, it's March onward to ====

LOOKING FOR A HOUSE. WANTS 3 BEDS, 2 BATHS, BASEMENT, GARAAGE, FENCED BACKYARD. \So we are scouring our immediate neighborhood. We uuns with not much money have to scour.Be ready to pounce. Listen to the sound of foreclosure ----
Almost nailed one with 'contract, but didn't get fund okay in time. Poo. But we will find some humble digs to park me and my priceless stuff in.. INTO MY THIRD WEEK OF HUNTING..


"KILL THE RABBIT, KILL THE RABBIT --"

Construction begins --

I guess this will give you more access to me ===we'll see.

They moved the goalposts again

What a Year.

It's the Great Dying year for me. My girlfriend, my aunt, and now my mother passed over to The Other Side. It's an interesting feeling, she's gone physically but she's not gone. She's in my head and I can hear her talk and comment on things as if she's right by me in a physical sense. I am not overwhelmed by loss. I feel no loss -- just a change. We all got a bit weepy eyed, but for the most part, it was as if she just went 'out' --Still around but not a physical living flesh. Very interesting.

hot items

I repeat, this is not an actual photo. it is a doctored one. nice things, computers, no?

Now on the other hand, it is November but in the southern tip of Wyoming, we've had weather in the sixties and low seventies. Holy Global Warming!

basics

now howzzat? Dave took this picture just off his patio. It's glass-in so he just peered around the corner gently and this buck was within 6 feet of him. Some rack 'ey? Right in the city of Cheyenne, well on the edges of it He was accompanied by a doe who was a bit shyer.

Falling leaves already?

Aha, here is my by proxy grandson, a Rhodesian Ridgeback by the name of BEN. Actually he goes by Boney, sometimes, or BoneyBen or The Bone. He's a yearling son, and does not have a clue to his size or strength. The original floppy hounddawg. I went to PA this summer to visit my vet daughter and all of the surrounding Mercer County countryside. She's got geriatric horses and nice acreage with a pond and unbelievable scenery. Yow! Further news, NASA is getting around to the gravity thing, (good) and the random teeny poison flashes drifting around a bajuillion mph, and all the other dangers out there -- did you realize that a good stout poke with a pen could have pierced the luna lander's outer wall?? No sharpies there, please! I didn't know that. It pays to watch DISCOVERY channel. Science marches on at a breakneck pace, and in redoing my ms for my novel, discovered I had to upgrade the electronic gadgets and I've got to do RESEARCH!! ewww. Don't write epic journey novels that are set in present-near future... even if your characters are like mine, back country -- (even electronically challenged). Pluto is not a planet. Looky. Look at it's orbit. It's wonky. It goes beyond the plane of all the other relatively well-behaved planets, and it cuts rudely in front of Neptune in places. Also, Its a wee thing. So, I'm with the guys who demoted Pluto. I'm sure it's feelings aren't hurt a bit.

Whazzamattawiyou?????

Illustration is a wall I did for my friends in Fresno. Circa date about 1977 or so. Before I saw Hubble. If I had I would have done more color!!!

Now my subject. I am seeing and hearing and reading about the misuse of BLOGS online. Now it has become a unsavory buzzword. Various species of pondscum, and you know who you are, seem to take a very lovely and wonderful media vehicle and turned into your petri dish of filth. Apparently homo sap can sink to lows further than ones imagined by Dante in Paradise Lost. At least those sinners were in excrement only to their chins.

*Sighs* all around. I'm sorry peoples. Those of us who genuinely try to amuse, enlighten and otherwise comment, please carry on. We need more viable brilliance, not obvious afterbirth waste. Of course now, afterbirth has its value, at least for stem cell research and development.

I hear the hummm of watercoolers and air conditioners. Ya. Global warming is alive and well and cooking away. Shall we spike our electrical loads by the river??? Can I hear a new song for the ages?

Its all a matter of trust. If you are having problems with the animals in your midst, it's because they don't trust you. To solve the problem learn to establish trust within the language of the beast. Then, they'll meet you halfway.

I still like the idea of life on our planets and moons, if only eensy teensy microbials. That's enough for me to hope for the continuation of our species. Find Our Brethern!

Shall I hope for a settlement of gas prices? Let us see. Garbage may be our new platimum. Man It's been a month, and now Hoo-ly the fourth. Happy firework display!

Hooray Dr. Death!

He's out. Finally. Gross injustice here. Damnit, if people want to die, it's between them and God, not the courts or the law or any other nosy parker that want to butt in. So he can tell people how to do it. So he made a mistake in letting people know what he was doing. I think human dignity is worth something, and suffering is sujective. Please, we grant our animal friends more compassion!

Picture 102

Picture 102,
originally uploaded by Popokiknut.

Looks like the gremlin hi-jacked my personal photo

Yeah. Gotta replace the pic, which I will as soon as I find which CD it's on. Yes I label, but according to what is on the entire CD not listed as to each. It's narrowed down to photo CD's thank goodness. In the meantime, I'll download my Avatar.

Burning bit of trivia. You can purchase Mars globes for under $100 and get a Mars marble for a lot less -- the marble is about an inch. Same with Earth marbles. You type in Mars Globes in your search and go to where they are selling 'em. Sponsored by NASA.

I wants at least the marbles. Yum! Fit into my collection of wonderful agate balls and stuff. Am I a 'horrible collector'? well, reformed. I've become very very selective. You get older, downsize to a single bdrm apt, and you'll see what's important to keep.

Stuff -- here's one. a lot of people, especially female, seem to let their lives be dictated by what their parents tell them -- not pretty enough, too fat, too this or that --- look. All that's going to do in the long run is kill you and make you miserable in the process. Example?? Jennifer Aniston. Okay, celebrity unhappy about how her nose looks now. The septum was corrected. She can breathe now. I saw the before and after pics and I'd love to say to her, stop it. The swelling will continue to go down and stop thinking of yourself as an ugly duckling. You're not. You have a wonderful personality that the camera picks up and thinks it's attractive. Believe you me, that means more than some physical real-estate! I personally think her doctor did a wonderful job!

Whaddaya want? Michael Jackson????

eeeeegh!

Now that's sad, I don't care who you are, and nevermind the starving pygmies in New Guinea.

Yes I am.

Madly in love with four guys young enough to be my sons.

Enough for that particular deal.

Ohmiyghod what a hassle

6 months I got around to getting on the Google train and now able to access my blog. What a deal. Of course I'm also struggling the the StoreOnLine dealie, where they rope you in for a free luncehon and make you sign up for a wonderful 'easy way' to crate an on-line store, and then what you pay for is about the hardest software I've ever seen to deal with via internet. That made this Google thing easy. hehe. Anyway I've been thinking alot about Global Warming (I live in Wyoming so the idea seems attractive) -- and Al Gore, (yeaaa I voted for him. I haven't won a presidential election with my choice since Kennedy which REALLY dates me.) (Not to mention my politics --oy But back to A.G. and G, W. -- I agree. See his movie?? Ditto, ditto and dittto. Looks like we should All be just a bit more contentious about what we consume and buy. God intended us to be caretakers of the world, not despoilers and rapists. So there. Ah gee, I want to say alot for ya this time, but Parttimers gets ahold of me and it's hard. Lately I've lost two girl friends and an aunt. The Aunt was easy. She was 94. She didn't go easy, but we knew we were going to lose her. We ain't lost her anyway. I believe in THE OTHER SIDE. Oh by the way, I mentioned God, didn't I. Well, It's my generic label for my supreme being. You can call him Allah, or Mr or Mrs God, Mother God, Father, Great Spirit --by all labels we puny little hoomo saps can put to him/her, it's all the same. God has no sex. God is everywhere, and yes, he's here with each and every one. Don't limit God by human failings. Anyway at 66, or will be in a matter of days, I've been a little bit more aware of mortality --

The Mind Of Popo Knut

The Mind Of Popo Knut

Right now they are moving the goalposts again -- And poor ol WIN95 and modem dialup32 is slower than molasses in Jan and I gotta save up money to upgrade and in the meantime -- no I haven't forgot all you guys ... Stay tuned!

Phew!!! Lots of stuff on my mind. One: Stephen Hawking is right, Matter is not lost in a black hole, i say it comes out in another string or reality in a parallel universe. Yay! Its all relative. Wouldn't that be a kick if STAR TREK was right? And the Koran and the Bible and Buddha ---

Yes, I'm serious. Yes and I'm going to vote too. We gotta at least try. It might work....

Sylvia Browne and John Edward have been a source of great help and information these days. Hug your local (honest) psychic!

I guess 2006 is the time of the "Great Dying"

Now, my aunt, my mother's sister has passed. Good in this case, she was suffering and quite old. 93, and if she had lived three more months she would have seen 94.
Like I said before, Falling is the Greatest extreme sport an oldster has. Bones break. Bed ridden is not a good idea. Body doesn't like it.

October. Oy. I'm not sure I want winter this year, hey as if I had a choice. Politics and current events leave me feeling like 'deja vu' all over again. Man, Homo sap refuses to learn anything.

I suspect we bred the Neanderthal out. Seized the women and made em tan hides.
Science will prove someday that they are our brothers and sisters, not distant cousins. Betcha. Ya, me and the life-on-Mars nuts.

Lets go back to the moon, if only to establish a base. Keep us busy colonizing and out of each other's face. Man was born to tinker, monkey with, and otherwise fiddle. We will back into our salvation someday. I'm an optimist.

It beats the hell out of second place.

Can't wait to see what Stephen Hawkings says. As for us being endangered unless we really move on getting off this planet successfully, hey I agree. The BIG ROCK is coming, if the supervolcano don't get us first.

Yes! Optimist! I think we will snatch this out in a sudden death overtime!!!!!

cool stuff

You Should Rule Saturn

Saturn is a mysterious planet that can rarely be seen with the naked eye. You are perfect to rule Saturn because like its rings, you don't always follow the rules of nature. And like Saturn, to really be able to understand you, someone delve beyond your appearance. You are not an easy person to befriend. However, once you enter a friendship, you'll be a friend for life. You think slowly but deeply. You only gain great understanding after a situation has past.

What Planet Should You Rule?

Intersting, whot? Saturn! Well does that mean I rule Iepetus and Titan too??? Wouldn't that be nice. Onward!

Here We Go, Part 2

Well, it's Sept 26th'iish -- hell maybe even 28th, I haven't looked at the calendar, but it's Monday for sure. I've lost one of my soul-buddies. This gal and I went through a torrid seventies and eighties together, through StarTrek, Spock fandom and divorce things ---we had a lot in common, thrown together by a puckish man who will always claim he's more dignified than his innate secret nature. LN. His initials. Anything more and I might have to pay royalties. hehe. We had a good time. Kids Cats Sacks and Wives, we meandered to St. Ives, and on the way learned a great deal about life. It's very good to have a buddy, and I'll tell you, I replaced Nana with THREE good buddies. Dave, my male bestest, Verna, my diabetes twin, and Agnes, the i-dotter and t-crosser in my life. Nana was all of those when I lived in California, and now bless me, (and He Has) I have three to help me along, along with the spirit guide and several angels. I can just see Nana now, having a great time sharing a spiritual diet Pepsi with my spirit guide, talking over how difficult I was, and as my SG says, "She still is!" and Nana says, "why am I not surprised." well, so long good buddy, I loved you and your family very much. I need to e-mail your baby John.

Damn Diabetes. It weakened her. One operation too many.

Hmmmm. I think I'll forgo any more operations.

She and I were the same age! Yikes.

knee

knee
Originally uploaded by Popokiknut.

Hi-dee! I'm back! With knee. That is what the x-ray looked like, minus my lil 'watchers' that is. It's called a "Striker Knee" for those of you who are interested, and yes, they whack off the joint. cement the bones to the new joint. Now. The knee is fine. I can even walk more normally than I have in three years. Beginning to climb stairs with both legs. Now, the stitches and the skin and all the muscles and liniments and stuff, those will take time. They need to stretch. That aches. Tne more I move, the less the ache (they say). So planted a new garden, more sunflowers this year. aand they say Cosmos reseed???? I got a jillion of those new plants that look like Cosmos everywhere IN the garden. Right outside??? not nary a one. Hmmm. Is they Cosmos? We shall see!!! Got tomatoes, peppers and other assorted herbs and spices. Also flowers of marigolds painted daisies...you know, stuff. 4th hooly coming up. Be careful out there. K.

Knew Knee!

Whoooo! Blew right through March! Here it is April 4, and dang it, it's time for a new knee. Yes. I march (hobble) into the hospital and have surgery done and I guess it will make me more bionic. Out with the old knee, in with the StrikerKnee! So the sweet Lord knows when I will get to this blogspot. Stay tuned.

In like a Lamb

Well, up here, anyway. Chey. WY. Danged decent. Upper 40s, 50s, and 60s I'm getting antsy for lil green sprouts again. I know, I jump the gun every year. Gotta go inspect the garden and see what the deer left. I'm hoping for Columbine. Watching the documentaries on Julius Caesar and Abe Lincoln -- Yes, it's time, and it's interesting how people really get involved in such like murder investigations of the long past.

What do they do for a living?? Who pays their salaries? I'd love to do research but I don't see a grant coming and knocking on my door. Oh? I gotta go get it? Phooey, that's no fun.

Man is a curious beast. We 'monkey' with stuff. Actually we put monkeys to shame, the way we pick and ponder and ask questions, and dig into stuff and ferret out the arcane and obscure. Me, I'm just hoping we can get the latest Mars hardware into orbit! Tain't as easy as lobbing it around the earth or moon.

C'mon Discovery Channel!! Start the new season!

Now about Bush and Cheney? Good thing Bush wasn't out hunting with him or possibly we'd have headlines about Bush being shot in the Bush?

OH dear.

This will work

Today is looking good. Snow on ground, more coming down -- we have been so dry this year, the air crackles. They have promised 3 days of this... Dare we see it?? hmm. Valentine's Day has come and gone. Lovely day if you are a twosome or in loving bosoms of family. If not, well, hug yourself and catch best wishes -- St. Paddy's Day is a'coming!

We are going to see amazing things in medical science. I predict that in the next fifty years (if not sooner) we will be able to create an artificial eyeball that will connect to the optic nerve just like the real one. This will be a beginning of eradicating blindness. Cloning, you know, is going to happen. Organs that are YOU, will be created as replacements for the diseased ones you have. This isn't cloning people or creating monster babies, this is just taking the cells that have the ability to become any organ in the body, and programming it to your own DNA.

Dare I predict that homo sapiens will quit being idiots and denying their own animal nature? To stop murder? Pride and Greed in the name of arrogance? Until we learn to get along with ourselves and the Cosmos, then we cannot truly claim to be an intelligent species. There. I said it. It's my blog, and I'll rant if I want to.

Take a moment --
Stop and see --
Your life, the beauty, the joy
It's there, you must look, just look, don't deny
It's all relative, subjective, Truth and Not
Seen through the kaleidoscope
Of your own understanding.

Be gentle with yourself.

That's my valentine. Sneaky, huh

Portraits??

Who Should Paint You: M.C. Escher

Open and raw, you would let your true self show for your portrait. And even if your painting turned out a bit dark, it would be honest.

What Artist Should Paint Your Portrait?

Hmmmm.

Husky!!

609652-R1-039-18
Originally uploaded by Popokiknut.

Hang on. This lovely girl is not a Mal. She's a husky. Mals cannot be shown or registered with blue eyes. Otherwise, it's hard to tell the breeds apart unless you are a 'professional' judge or have lived with these guys for a long time. The Movie, 6 Below by Disney, have these guys as heroes. Those are huskies.

609652-R1-033-15

609652-R1-033-15
Originally uploaded by Popokiknut.

Here's my friend Kareon, with her lovely Sashie. She was a stray, took her to pound, and after time, and proper channels, Kareon's family decided to keep her. She's about a year old, and gorgeous, conformation etc --- great disposition. Man, if she had papers, she'd be show quality!

Pictures coming soon!

I don't recognize myself. Been thinking about milestones, and the decades past as I remember, and the person I was at that time, I am and am not now. There's a constant state of renewal going on, and I will tell you something. Nothing is forever. Not even the basic you, as other people perceive you to be. I remember me at 20, then at 30, 40, 50 ... through the haze of time --- And it's interesting how it all came out. I no longer think that heartbreak is permanent. I don't even fret about the things that used to upset me. The further I go along in life, the more I realize how much the past has influenced me, I am a product of my environment, my politics, beliefs mirror the area in which I was born. It's really amazing -- considering myself as an experiment in my own private lab. Onward! Pass the beaker and the bunsen burner. Oh that dates me!

Cheerio!

Well now let's see. Traveling pain. It has been my experience that random piques of pain travel through the body. The hip for example. Aches. Then the knee, which stops the hip. Now the hip is fine. It's the knee. No, now it's the tummy, or the toe, or section of jaw. When one pain starts, the other stops. Very interesting.

Handy hint section: If you have lived in a house over 20 years, and the furnace is not doing as it should, and making noises -- call the duct cleaner and have the furnace cleaned. You'd be surprised.

Recent television series. "Book of Daniel", about a Methodist minister and his family. Canceled. Apparently some very powerful people do not like this show to the point of swiping it off the air. Now, there have been some interesting points that have been discussed on the program, and surely many find it offensive if they insist on taking it literally seriously, which obviously they have. Personally, I found it a witty and provocative hour, with some parts in it sure to shake the fundamentalist to the core. Talking to Jesus was one such. Personally, I agreed with all said. I do advocate people taking moral responsibility for their own actions. Certain things were mentioned that some would speak of in terms of 'blasphemy' , but I do not think so. But boy, the uproar! The rapid snatching off the air! Blatant suppression! In the name of What -- status quo of the majority? I find that a bit offensive. Crying out loud, it's a story, a story. Not real. Fiction! Oh well.

Perversity, thy name is January ---

Midmonth. It's supposed to be winter here. It is, sometimes, but we are having a warming trend. This week, however, in the 30s and wind. Typical for this state. Drives people mad. This state is reknown for a high rate of suicide. It's the wind, cussed, relentless, all consuming, threatening to blow your body to Nebraska with all the other loose stuff. The specials on Presidents abounding on the TV waves puts forth the reminder that we are all fallible, and sometimes outrageously so. In spite of that, some individuals rise above the stew, letters in alphabet soup. Hi ho!

Life is quite funny. Sometimes, 'ha-ha' and sometimes just plain weird. It's to keep our souls on tippy-toes, alert and ready. Some will tell you that life on this old world IS Hell -- that we are sojourning through it to learn and refine our self. At any rate, stop right now and give yourself a hug. You are alive on this Planet Earth and that makes you one courageous being! Suspense novels are just varifications, to tell you that, yes, it's not your imagination. We are all in our own perilous journey.

God invented time to keep everything from happening at once.

Soon I will have more good pictures!

festoons

festoons
Originally uploaded by Popokiknut.

Oh yummy! Blueberries and Mars bar chunks! Actually this is one nice little picture from the Rovers -- and is a lovely argument for WATER! Great, huh.

The older I get dept.

Man. Take this as an example. The hoo ha about the mega volcano at Yellowstone. Worst case scenario is always hyped because it's the most exciting. All part of the simplification and dumbing down of information. Take all the news you hear, add salt. Nothing is AS horrible as projected, and many times it's a mild version, quite manageable. Every once in a while we get a mega 'bad news' but should speculation of possibilities be catastrophic ALL of the time? Food for thought.

DNA goo is everywhere

Partial Ingredients for DNA and Protein Found Around Star
For Release: December 20, 2005



NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has discovered some of life's most basic ingredients in the dust swirling around a young star. The ingredients -- gaseous precursors to DNA and protein -- were detected in the star's terrestrial planet zone, a region where rocky planets such as Earth are thought to be born.

The findings represent the first time that these gases, called acetylene and hydrogen cyanide, have been found in a terrestrial planet zone outside of our own.

"This infant system might look a lot like ours did billions of years ago, before life arose on Earth," said Fred Lahuis of Leiden Observatory in the Netherlands and the Dutch space research institute called SRON. Lahuis is lead author of a paper to be published in the Jan. 10 issue of the Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Lahuis and his colleagues spotted the organic, or carbon-containing, gases around a star called IRS 46. The star is in the Ophiuchus (pronounced OFF-ee-YOO-kuss), or "snake carrier," constellation about 375 light-years from Earth. This constellation harbors a huge cloud of gas and dust in the process of a major stellar baby boom. Like most of the young stars here and elsewhere, IRS 46 is circled by a flat disk of spinning gas and dust that might ultimately clump together to form planets.

When the astronomers probed this star's disk with Spitzer's powerful infrared spectrometer instrument, they were surprised to find the molecular "barcodes" of large amounts of acetylene and hydrogen cyanide gases, as well as carbon dioxide gas. The team observed 100 similar young stars, but only one, IRS 46, showed unambiguous signs of the organic mix.

"The star's disk was oriented in just the right way to allow us to peer into it," said Lahuis.

The Spitzer data also revealed that the organic gases are hot. So hot, in fact, that they are most likely located near the star, about the same distance away as Earth is from our sun.

"The gases are very warm, close to or somewhat above the boiling point of water on Earth," said Dr. Adwin Boogert of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena. "These high temperatures helped to pinpoint the location of the gases in the disk."

Organic gases such as those found around IRS 46 are found in our own solar system, in the atmospheres of the giant planets and Saturn's moon Titan, and on the icy surfaces of comets. They have also been seen around massive stars by the European Space Agency's Infrared Space Observatory, though these stars are thought to be less likely than sun-like stars to form life-bearing planets.

Here on Earth, the molecules are believed to have arrived billions of years ago, possibly via comets or comet dust that rained down from the sky. Acetylene and hydrogen cyanide link up together in the presence of water to form some of the chemical units of life's most essential compounds, DNA and protein. These chemical units are several of the 20 amino acids that make up protein and one of the four chemical bases that make up DNA.

"If you add hydrogen cyanide, acetylene and water together in a test tube and give them an appropriate surface on which to be concentrated and react, you'll get a slew of organic compounds including amino acids and a DNA purine base called adenine," said Dr. Geoffrey Blake of Caltech, a co-author of the paper. "And now, we can detect these same molecules in the planet zone of a star hundreds of light-years away."

Follow-up observations with the W.M. Keck Telescope atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii confirmed the Spitzer findings and suggested the presence of a wind emerging from the inner region of IRS 46's disk. This wind will blow away debris in the disk, clearing the way for the possible formation of Earth-like planets.

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the Spitzer Space Telescope mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Science operations are conducted at the Spitzer Science Center at Caltech. JPL is a division of Caltech. Spitzer's infrared spectrograph was built by Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y. Its development was led by Dr. Jim Houck of Cornell.

For graphics and more information about Spitzer, visit http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/spitzer. For more information about NASA and agency programs on the Web, visit http://www.nasa.gov/home/.


HOwzat. More goodies from "Out there". Soon we creatures on the little blue dot are going to have to commit to a major attitude change.

About time, I say!

God At His Desk

best2005_cosmic_bunny_03
Originally uploaded by Popokiknut.

Whence we came from, stardust as we are, where we are going, one way or another. I'd like to say to Clone science nay-sayers -- we need to change our physical selves -- our bodies as they are, are Earth-bound, and need gravity, air, water, etc. Wouldn't it be easier to explore the universe without lugging all that around? If God didn't want us to explore, we would have never found a way to tamper with it all. Period. Use the brain given to us! Please! Also, we do need to go, oh you people who would we never step into space. Earth is not finite. Neither is the sun. It's time to learn how to high-tail out and find another planet and another solar system. Again we have the tools, we have the imagination. Let's get on with it! Every time we venture out and explore we come back with much more than we ever dreamed. The universe awaits!!! I'd rather see us, going as homo sapiens sapiens than just motes of dust from our exploded existences. We have the stuff. Let's go for it!

About 2 weeks --

The 'Hmmm" Department. Apparently some mega churches are closing Christmas Sunday. No services at all. Doors are closed. Now I'd like to say 'howscum'?? Even if it's NOT Christ's birthday, it's officially that. Some bureaucrats have been smoking too much interference potion. C'mon guys. Please, the human beings have far too much trivia to 'worry about' without adding some more.

Carl Sagan said it right. If you have been tuning into COSMOS running on DISCOVERY channel -- you'd know what I mean. We have far too much at stake to continue fighting over space in our sandbox. Let's call it a rest. Keep your religion to yourself in the best way you know how, and let others practice theirs the best way they know. Put away weapons. Put down arms. Stop committing murder in the name of a God. Our liittle blue marble in space is much too precious and vulnerable and humanity needs to grow up or it will perish.

Hug your mother. If she irritates you, hug her harder. The thorny roses have the best bloom and best perfume.

Stop whining "Why me", "I didn't ask to be born" and other put downs to rail at fate. For one, why not you. You charted for this when you asked for life, and Oh yes you did ask to be born. Most definitely. You don't remember because you aren't supposed to. No cheating!! Live your life, have fun, and stop being a crybaby.

Pain is a given on this planet. There is a lot more of Pain than of anything else. There's a reason for that too. Suck it up!

God answers ALL prayers. Sometimes He says 'no'. Sometimes He says not now. In all answers, he sends you love. He does care.

Death is this world's way of making room. You do not pass into oblivion, your essential being is still present, as is everyone's. Who wants to hang onto a diseased, warn out old carcass anyway?? Rather be 30 years old and flying!

And you will.

Trust me.

Have fun wrapping presents and spreading love --- K

Bambi2

Bambi2
Originally uploaded by Popokiknut.

Good ol Wyoming. Over at Dave's 'little house on the prairie about a mile out of town. The deer come in when it gets cold, apparently. This lady brought her half-grown fawns and it makes it a nice addition to our fauna pics.

Kitty poem

12 Days of Christmas - A Cat's Rendition

On the twelfth day of Christmas my human gave to me:
Twelve bags of catnip!
Eleven tarter Pounce treats,
Ten ornaments hanging,
Nine wads of Kleenex,
Eight peacock feathers,
Seven stolen Q-tips,
Six feathered balls,
Five MILK JUG RINGS!
Four munchy house plants,
Three running faucets,
Two fuzzy mousies,
And a hamste-e-er in a plastic ball!!

Brings back memories for me. Its windy in my state. Hurricane force winds. Gusts up to 100 mph. Yowie. Don't open your coat, you'll be sailed off to Nebraska! Of course *ahem* that's not a blizzard. You gotta have SNOW for that, and so far --the blizzard conditions affect all living creatures shorter than a foot off the ground. That's how high up the 'white out' conditions are with the miniscule bit we've been getting. I should declare equal opportunity things and find poems for dogs and other critters... Pass the Ritz Bits! It's beginning to look like Christmas.

moose & Turtle

moose & Turtle
Originally uploaded by Popokiknut.

"I think this is the business end --" Moose is investigating turtle -- first time for the old dawg. Moose is now in Green Pastures but a beloved dog of my step-daughter-in-law. We are in the midst of jolly season time, and while I predict a lot of us are going to be tight this year, still, Christmas will be Christmas, and by the way --it's silly to be so politically correct as to call them 'holiday trees'. C'mon, the tradition is Christmas Tree!! and before that, pagan holidays so what does it matter?? Golly people can get worked up into a foamy swivet over the darndest thing. Christmas Tree! Get over it! Ol Moose here is more direct and pragmatic of something new within her line of sight. Turtle! Turtle! I think this is her backside!!Yup!!! Yup!!! Seasonal backside?? Who cares. From this end I don't get bitten!

Just for the hali-but ---

Not not cod. Not the wandering eye fish. Halibut. Honestly, I've got to clean out my memory closet. In the wrong file. Tis halibut that makes that transformation. Doesn't affect the taste tho. yummm. Oh now, oh, is it --- flounder??? Dang it, but I hate having to look it up. It's one of those fishes. All edible. If I were a scientist, I'd be more careful with my wild fluctuations.

Now, UFO's. Looky. I'm with the most sane. If the UFO's are extraterrestrials, they are not out to 'get us'. Or they have, would have already. I think they are naturalists, tourists, and whatever they need from butchering cows with lasers, I don't think we can help.

There are too many self-important, holier than thou hoaxers on our Planet who feel that somehow they are enlightening us as a species by their antics. You! Human! Cut that out!!! And I don't mean cow eyeballs and sex organs.

Word to the wise. Don't wait to become your idea, or your parents' idea of perfect. Have fun now. Love, Be Passionate, Cuddle! Don't wait on life. Grab it by the handles and go with it! I'm fair, fat and sixty. Can't see, can't hear, diabetic and a walking case for congestive heart failure. But I got a boyfriend! And we pounce on each other like you 20's do ---those who aren't "waiting for life to make them perfect." And dang it I'm happy and so is he!

track to nowhere

011_8a
Originally uploaded by Popokiknut.

At least at one time, it went somewhere, but now, not, sitting in a vacant lot next to the UP railroad Switch -- was taking pics of old trains and decided this looked nice.

Thanksgiving weekend. Gulp! All done, with a prime rib dinner at Dave's house with family. The poinsettas are coming, marching up the stairs ---I have 5 plants now. One to go to girlfriend...maybe another... I love em in all colors! Hijacked a turkey breast, bought it home so we could have the leftover turkey sandwiches. Goodness, Thanksgiving without cranberries and leftover turkey sandwiches?? Not possible. Not in my world. Winter finally arrived today, with nippy 25 degree and 50 mph winds... yikes! Drove me to put on my car coat! Now it's off to Ft. Collins to shop. That's traditional here on the front range. I25 becomes the 'mall corridor from Cheyenne south through Denver. Will it snow?

Odd as a cod, b'god --

Which start life as ordinary fish. Swimming normal, eye on each side. Then the eye drifts and the cod begins to swim sideways, no eye side down. Hmm, or is that flounder??
Know what you get when you cross an elephant with a rhino?? Hell if I know.

I've been staring at the moon too long. Realized that it has a tilt in its axis, just like earth does. The pole isn't "up" and the south bit isn't "down". If it were, you could no longer see 'the man in the moon.'(unless you tilted yourself, that is --)

Is it the 'ides of November'? Dang soon, it'll be mad mad shopping days, turkey day, and we will be having prime rib. Time to flush out all the holiday decorated sweatshirts. I have not yet succumbed to vibrant violet and hussy red outfits. I suspect years of being a redhead naturally and unnaturally has put a crimp in the urge. Now my hair color is gray and apricot streaks. The loud purple will have to wait a few more seasons.

I refuse to be THAT annoying. Had a loud discussion with one of my best friends. Don't worry, we are still friends! About I maintain that there is not one original thought from mankind since the very first written down. That dragons were at one time real creatures, and from a little speck of primordial memory, we took fossils from the ground and cobbled up creatures such as Griffons. All stories come from 5 or 6 basic plots, and whatever creativity we possess comes from acute observation.

She says No Way. Dragons and dinosaurs are not fictional cousins. I sez they are.
Loud discussion commences. I say psychics are the real deal, she says no way. I predict this will take a extended debate.

I'm on the side of angels.

Outlook --furry

cat_dakota
Originally uploaded by Popokiknut.

Those of you --remember the idylic decades of the 40's 50's and 60's?? The end of a war, everyone off to the suburbs, full of optimism, and high visions of the future. The weather was steady, predictable, and prosperity seemed within everyone's grasp. Inventions bombarded us, as new cars --every year a new model, trade your old one in. 2.6 children, a pet and a home with a yard. Television became a household member, and electronics were born, with marvels everywhere one looked. Computers were coming, ready or not, and many appliances had them in already, however primitive. The microchip changed the world. Satellites --onward, upward!!!

Then things have changed. The weather is no longer reliable. That which we had taken for granted is no longer. We are not safe on our shores or in our homes. We must become flexible and responsible for our surroundings. No longer can we afford to leave rotting bodies in buildings for months, as had been done during hurricane Katrina.

Cabin 30 miles from Cheyenne

cabin
Originally uploaded by Popokiknut.

Now in the town of Cheyenne, it's flat. Pretty much. In the distance are mountains, but nothing dramatic like down Denver way. But, hop in your car and drive west toward Laramie on I80, and soon enough you are in as wild and bumpy country as you can desire. We got billions and billions of 'photo op's' in the roadside -- from micro view to magnabig. Sorta like a time-pocket, where there hasn't been much change in 100 years or so. Out here you can easily imagine such desperadoes such a Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid riding by.

Got to talking about Psychics today. Lately thanks to Halloween, there have been TV programs about paranormal and other spooky stuff. Imagination. Such a maligned title for a little understood ability! We, as a species, look upon 'imagination' as something a bit unsavory. Its not the truth. When you realize that the table you are sitting near, and can rap on, isn't as solid as it appears, or that the air we breathe has volume and weight, we should know better than to accept proof of our five senses as a reliable gauge of 'reality'. Psychics are. We can all be psychic at one time or another, and some are much better at it than others. The reality of an artist existing, producing fine paintings to stir the souls of others, or of a signer able to transport an auditorium into the sublime -- proves that our species is, multidimensional in ability.

And that means knowing the 'unknowable'. Psychics are. Unfortunately, it is a skill that is uncertain. It is known that psychics rarely are psychic about themselves. They cannot rely on their talent for their own gain. It's hard to measure. It's hard to prove. But nevertheless, it does exist! Imagination cannot be spun out of whole cloth. There must be a seed or starter in it somewhere. Just as sure as there were once dragons! Of course there were, can't you believe it? We find bones all the time.

People do me a favor. When coming upon imagination in flower, in a child, in a story, in a person -- do not squelch it! Do not put it down, bad-mouth it, or degrade it in any way! Touch not the rare thing! It's probably the most -real thing one can come across in life. It's bad enough we grind down on psychics! Nearly lost that gift, what price will be paid if we lose imagination?

Killer Blogs!

Yikes. According to FORBES, November issue, there are certain blogs that slander and libel companies. Those often express ill-informed or partially formed ideas that are not flattering, and determental. Now look. This is a new member of the Fourth Estate, mass media, and it comes with responsibility. Ethics. If you don't know the word, look it up. I just did. When perusing a blog, the caveat emptor is brought to mind, as well as grains of salt --which I might admit might apply to enough salt drained from the Lake in Utah. What is 'said' in media is not necessarily gospel. It is an opinon. It could be gospel truth. It is often not total truth because that is difficult. Subjective opinion is that. Subjective, and that means it's how the author views it. Your right to say a thing in public is limited to ethical considerations -- fight back! Flag those offensive blogs! Submit your opinions! Just don't misrepresent them as more than your own idea about things.

We have a brave new world. It is public mass media. We had wanted something like this for ages. Well, with internet and e-mail and public broadcasting comes a huge responsibility for civilized behavior. Altrustic behavior. Let us grow up, behave ourselves and be on our best!

George Carlin on New Orleans

George Carlin on New Orleans
"Been sitting here with my ass in a wad, wanting to speak out about the
bull --t going on in New Orleans. For the people of New Orleans... First we
would like to say, Sorry for your loss. With that said, Let's go through a
few hurricane rules: (Unlike an earthquake, we know it's coming)

#1. A mandatory evacuation means just that...Get the hell out. Don't blame the Government after they tell you to go. If they hadn't said anything, I can see the argument. They said get out... if you didn't, it's your fault, not theirs. (We don't want to hear it, even if you don't have a car, you can get out.)

#2. If there is an emergency, stock up on water and non-perishables. If you
didn't do this, it's not the Government's fault you're starving.

#2a. If you run out of food and water, find a store that has some.
(Remember, shoes, TV's, DVD's and CD's are not edible. Leave them alone.)

#2b. If the local store has been looted of food or water, leave your
neighbor's TV and stereo alone.(See #2a) They worked hard to get their
stuff. Just because they were smart enough to leave during a mandatory
evacuation, doesn't give you the right to take their stuff...it's theirs, not yours.

#3. If someone comes in to help you, don't shoot at them and then complain no one is helping you. I'm not getting shot to help save some dumbass who didn't leave when told to do so.

#4. If you are in your house that is completely under water, your belongings
are probably too far gone for anyone to want them. If someone does want
them, let them have them and hopefully they'll die in the filth. Just leave!
(It's New Orleans, find a voodoo warrior and put a curse on them.)

#5. My tax money should not pay to rebuild a 2 million dollar house, a
sports stadium or a floating casino. Also, my tax money shouldn't go to
rebuild a city that is under sea level. You wouldn't build your house on
quicksand would you? You want to live below sea-level, do your country some good and join the Navy.

#6. Regardless of what Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton want you to believe, The US Government didn't create the Hurricane as a way to eradicate the black people of New Orleans; (Neither did Russia as a way to destroy America). The US Government didn't cause global warming that caused the hurricane (We've been coming out of an ice age for over a million years).

#7. The government isn't responsible for giving you anything. This is the land of the free and the home of the brave, but you gotta work for what you want. McDonalds and Wal-Mart are always hiring, get a damn job and stop spooning off the people who are actually working for a living. President Kennedy said it best..."Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country."

Thank you for allowing me to rant.


Now, THIS IS NOT ME. It's George. I copied because its become public domain via e-mail and I don't think he'd mind. Now what IS me, is that 99% of it I agree with totally. I know there were a few people who couldn't leave because they were taking care of the crippled, infirm, deathly ill etc. But, you know, in an ideal world they could have been shipped out too.

Different Planes

Let's discuss ghosts. We have several flavors of 'em, the kind that are residual, appearing over and over like a recording in a certain place. We have the ones that seem to see you, and those probably need help of some kind. Then there are poltergeists, the problem child ones who feed off the energy of a pubescent teen or very young adult. In most cases, it is often people who are haunted, rather than places. There will be resident ghosts but it takes a certain person to bring them out. They feed on energy, and if the energy is favorable, they come out to play. Like cats, they know when skeptics and non-believers come, and often will not manifest at all. This is because of negative energy. Ghosts are electrical and so are we. We can see them, hear them, smell them, get feelings from them. Any one, or all happen. Why do I say ghosts are a fact? Because there is far too much said on the subject. If they didn't exist, there would be no discussion at all. Are they dead people? we don't know.

My main thing is: if they are dead people, why don't they go to the light and go onto the next phase? If some do, and 'visit' back, what is the motive? I think haunting phenonema are like the weather. Caused by various factors, some overlapping and related, some not.

And yes, we will find out what these things are, someday. Without dying to do it.

Wyoming Aspen

Wyoming Aspen
Originally uploaded by Popokiknut.

Yep. Pretty mountain tree. Got em in various states, only thing they want is altitude, although we can kid some to grow in town at a measely 6000+ feet.

It's Boo! Night!!!!

clip_art_landing_page_26
Originally uploaded by Popokiknut.

Into the bag, that is!! Tonite, the ghosties drift, and I'm gonna put on Most Haunted on the telly -- That show, I'm still wondering if it's just entertainment or a pinch of truth copped up in a whole bunch of imagination. Like the tilting tables tho. Those of you who know Pacheco Pass in California raise your hands. Well, I do, and it's very interesting. I've driven through it in the wee hours of morning... several times. I did not know the history of this road, and wondered why I felt positively spooked driving that stretch. I am not a scardey-bones, have driven alone at night many times. Many places. But that one stretch of road makes me feel awfully uneasy and anxious. Well, imagine my surprise, and 'no wonder!' when I found out that the highway is haunted. No, I didn't see anything, hear anything, just had the willie-jumps and foreboding -- couldn't wait to get to Gilroy. It just so happens the stretch is in a vortex. Lots of really odd and unusual things have been experienced in that area. The depression-feeling is palpable. Many did report seeing covered wagons, people wandering the road, lights, spooky stuff. But I will stand on saying, Pacheco Pass is a really strange experience!

64and a half

Okay you. Since you asked. What is it like to be 64 and a half? Years? Old?? If you didn't ask, well then pook, I am going to tell you anyway. My grandmother didn't tell me. I thought you just got old, wrinkly and eventually white. Then one day your heart went kerthump one last time. Mother told me, but I largely ignored her in spite of seeing how distressing true some of her predictions were. I wasn't going to be that way. But --- I discovered that I did postpone a lot of random pain until I reached the double nickel (55) but it caught up with me. Random pain is pain you get when you are minding your own business and all the of sudden a category 4 twinge courses up your knee. Or you get the bursitis and it goes away in two days but now you have heartburn. Then that stops but your toes hurt. You get the idea. Random -- no obvious earthly cause. You get those, and the docs blithely label em as arthritis. Then of course some of your friends you grew up with die. Keel over with Cancer or a motorcycle accident. You go to reunions to see who is still alive. You read the obituaries because you don't wanna go around saying "How's ol so-an-so?" and find out he's been dead for a month. You go to doctors more often and find that they don't know much either. All the know is tests, and more tests which may or may not pinpoint the problem. I find, for instance that one 'sign of Cancer' is coughing. Well, that's a sign for a lot of stuff -- much of it annoying but harmless. Symptoms tell you less than you think they should. "It hurts when I do this!" "Don't do it!"
And then my favorite... stay in bed. Look doc, I live alone. Who's going to be my nurse and errand runner and maid?? You volunteering? Something has to be done with assisted living. Our society is very uncaring for the elderly. "Take a Pill! be Young again" and some 65 year old freak is running down the road 'exercising' with a grin on his face. Yep. Take the camera away and he comes to a screeching halt, they carry him away, and the smile on his face is gone, only coaxed back by a big paycheck. Look. Build houses with mommy-in -law apartments on. Educate via guys like Dr. Phil that it isn't cool to abandon mommy and poppy in a state home. People sometimes take better care of their animals! Make it a socially acceptable thing to have some old folks in residence!! Pay 'em a little! Getting old is not for wimps, people. Those venerable people need your respect and admiration! We will all go there if we keep breathing. Okay I did my monthly rant. Take care of your Moms.

MidOctober mutterings

laffin
Originally uploaded by Popokiknut.

Every day this happens. Some human somewhere gets himself or herself in a dilly of a fix. If by some chance you have not, it's because you can't get out, or even off your chair, bed, whatever. It's good to see that scary costumes are popular again on Halloween. We've kinda gotten over the most immediate scare of 911. What we have going now is earthquakes and hurricanes. Kinda hard to dress up as those. Read that people should have their DNA analyzed to see just what they should eat. Danged good idea. Too bad that most people who need this service can't afford it. Some people just can eat cake! Gorge on it!! Some of us should never even get downwind from one. Did you know your sense of smell makes your body anticipate what it perceives? Then the digestive apparatus gears up for the food?? You can gain weight on weeds if you are smelling chocolate, gravy, and hot dogs.

009_6

009_6
Originally uploaded by Popokiknut.

Nice ol Wyoming stuff --lessn 30 minutes from Cheyenne

scold

scold
Originally uploaded by Popokiknut.

a little chocolate is good for you!!! The Darker the better!! and shame on the M&M people for introducing the lovely dark chocolate bits and then discontinue! Yes, I am one of THOSE people. Gimmee my DARK chocolate.

For all you who try to sell me something in comments, or get me interested in what you got going on commercially, you HAD BETTER at least give me a short review on my blogs!! (BIG SMILE) Gotta draw that, and put it in my picture file, huh.

Oh! My friends brother, his apartment in Southern Texas near the gulf. Last news on it, untouched. Power on, water on. His, and my take on the whole thing --two hurricanes, that while awful in many places, was exaggerated. Some parts barely got any lasting damage at all. While this isn't making light of the many deaths, injuries and property damage, still some media will exaggerate beyond fact. The yellow kid* strikes again!

*For those who aren't a certain age, look up 'yellow journalism' in newspaper history)

creature2

creature2
Originally uploaded by Popokiknut.

Boo!!! Do have fun, and for all you fathers among you, and those mothers who are guilty --don't help your kids divvy up their candy and help yourself to the best ones!!! HA! This year I think I will go as a mysterious Knock -- open the door and no one is there...Boo! I will look before I open my door. I do not want to invite my doppelganger inside! Happy Halloween and Smashing Pumpkin day!

October Meanderings

Like leaves, crunching and falling, all sorts of organic colors -- I do like the season with its apple-crisp air, but I don't like what comes after. I do not like snow because I cannot walk in snow. I can drive on snow and ice better than I can walk on it. My problem. I love the new white blanket, the non-smell, the big doilies falling from the sky, but once it's on the ground... HELP!

Born and raised here, I have noticed Global Warming. Here it isn't too bad once you realize it's going to be DRY! Tough on farmers and aranchers and gardeners but at least I can get out without falling on my non-padded rear end! I"m a fluffy person, weigh far more than I should, but I got an old-man non-existant butt. (Nice picture, huh.) Gotta protect those hip bones! Gotta learn to flip in the air and land on my generous tummy!

Well anyway -- More on quantum stuff -- all the Murphy's Laws do address the phenonemon. Also why we cannot prove Psychic ability. It relies on probability and is by nature random, but with a high predicability if you know how to measure it. Like trying to catch a greasy cat. Psychic ability does exist. The trick is: Prove it. Well, prove it isn't. If we want to travel someday like STARTREK, in transporters, we had better consider quantum theory.

Good stuff to ponder upon near Halloween.

snowbranches

snowbranches
Originally uploaded by Popokiknut.

wintry stuff in Wyoming starts in October -- sometimes it can be awfully lovely.


Hey, Been watching story of Einstein, and how he had trouble with the Quantum Mechanics, well actually I think I've discovered proof of Quantum mechanics. Life. The experience of life is full of probabilities. String theory, Just because everything happens identically, it doesn't mean the outcome will be identical. Life, the process, is proof that quantum mechanics is part of Physics, even though it appears not to adhere to laws in physics. It has to do with the random particles that caroom around in space, playing havoc with DNA chains causing mutations. Life. It's all organic, and being organic, you are dealing with probabilities not absolutes. It's like being a snake. Some of this stuff you have to unhinge your jaw to swallow.

sunny

sunny
Originally uploaded by Popokiknut.

There's my old garden varieties. Had some doubles, with fuzzy middles, and you see a Cosmo pink in back. Got a lotta those. Gotta get me more next year!!!

Black sunnies

Black sunnies
Originally uploaded by Popokiknut.

Here they go. Had to go back to "Flicker" to get em on. I dunno what's with the Blogger picture machine. Anyway...yep. My black sunnies.

Sunflower (song)

Ummm I am having trouble with the pictures. My computer likes 'em fine but the blogger portal for them won't load up. hmmm. I was bringing in sunflowers. The pretty dark ones. Ever seen? They are a real dark mahogany brown with tips of yellow.
rats. Okay, we have comments!!!! Real Comments and I am so wildly happy and pleased. Good good good. Atta-girls on my shoulder. Keep forging onward! Thank you thank you thank you. Really made my day. I am being read. Kvelling!! Dance of Joy!! ok, enough.

Glad for all the good news in the media. Rita didn't do as much damage but a friend of mine has no idea how his apartment fared. He guesses it's underwater. stay tuned on that lil tidbit. He's coming to visit his sister Friday. He has lived in South America for quite a few years and the culture shock is getting to him. He's furious with our government. Oh well!!!! Do you guys know the old joke about the black man who pulled a snake out of his pants and said, I knew you were big, I knew you were black but where'd you get those baby blue eyes???? Our snake in grass government has to learn they can't fool us people as much as they used to.

Baby blue eyes.

Didya see the pictures they got back from Mars about the same space of land, several years (months) apart, and lo there is in the latest one, a channel looking suspiciously like a water rivulet where there hadn't been before? Hmmm. It's alive...

Well, thank the girls Katrina and Rita for putting a kbosh on NASA funding. I think many things will now go on back burners as the expen$$$$es mount. The way they talk about money, it sure doesn't seem real, does it? I predict a skinny scrawny Christmas season. And a verrrry interesting 2006! I know, I know. But all the retailers are jumping the season, I gotta do something to top the trend! Then when people ask me, "Can you believe it's (such and such date) already???" I can say, yes, heck I've been ready for weeks.

I'm off to talk to the picture wizard.

Way down yonder in New Orleans ---

Okay, we agree. This is a full-blown disaster. EVERYONE is going to feel this one. Bush was cought flat-footed on vacation, but lets lay the blame where it begins, FEMA and Brown. HE should have called BUSH immediately, but then Bush had to call him!! He-llooo! This is not a simulation. This is not a dry-run. It's a disaster, involving many many thousands of people and consequently, the whole nation. FEMA is a federal agency, sposed to field the emergency, get rolling and fix it. The governor of Louisiana needs to step aside and let the nation roll in there and do stuff. She wants the 'control' of this to stay in Louisiana. uh, he-lloo again, what control??? It's out of control! Disease is gonna have a field day! No sanitation, no water, --won't be long folks until various epidemics are going to check in, decimating all those who stayed, either by choice or by circumstance. Does anyone care that the busses supposed to ship people out of the area were left in a shopping center, to be drowned to the rooftops with water??? And water! Being drained into reservoirs via 4 " pipes. Okay. Can a body transverse through those pipes? Small ones, loaded with bacteria and other delights? It's time to roll, people. Never mind the finger pointing. Just do what needs to be done. ORGANIZE! ORGANIZE! i HAVE NEVER SEEN SUCH DENIAL ! FEMA shame! Shame! What part of Emergency do you not understand?

And oh by the way. Check out Richard Hoagland. He's got some theories on ol Katrinka. What if. Dare we suggest? That Katrinka was an engineered storm? That Mother Nature got an assist from some really nasty if brilliant people? Follow the evidence, follow the events. Sure looks rather odd. If you slot in the (impossible!!) possibility that Katrinka was an artifically enhanced hurricane, then that explains all the footdragging, and stupidity that's been going on. oh well, I find it hard to swallow myself, but ----!!

*click!* Know what???

Hokay we have a buncha stuff -- for example "Yes dear, I paint."

I been thinking, which I do, all the time, (unfortunately) and I realize the older I get, the more conventional wisdom makes sense. What your mommy and daddy told you is true, unless they are natural jokers. God DOES have a sense of humor, and we are at the brunt of it. Remedy?? Laugh.

UFO's. My what a subject. Lets tackle UFO's, extraterrestrial type; never mind how they got here. They do not let us know what they are because we aren't ready to know. We are almost ready, thus they are sending us puzzles to figure out. They are not dwelling on the same sensory/reality plane as we do. Nor will we, once we die.
No, I have not tossed out the possibility that they are angels.

It's silly to be afraid of them, in any case.

The older I get the more I realize (sadly!!!) that being an expert or a doctor in any field does not mean that person is all-wise. Geniuses have the same ability to really pull a duh-doofus-boner as the rest of us. 'Caveat!!!'

I wanna go to Mars. I can't. Damnnit. Love to go, sink my fingers into the sand, explore the caverns and caves and ice fields. Can't. Body won't let us, yet. Send on the drones!!!! All those wonderful rovers and cameras. Dare we guess that the 'little green men' types are nothing but machinery?

I wonder if Venus, the planet, is only in a phase, and will eventually cool off, and change climate and become habitable??? Earth has done similiar things dozens of times. Ice Planet, Hot planet, No-life planet -- earth has been there, done that, and still the lil microbes keep on ticking.

And there's a lot still out on the other solar system balls.

Politics is an old ploy. It is a means of survival, that your genes will be passed on. In the name of politics, one cheats, lies, connives, plots, maneuvers, collects markers and grooms others. To render us worth saving as a species we are going to have to jettison some of these behaviors. Don't ask me which. It's a giant Gordian Knot, and one written about since the age of written language.

Will we panic when the "martians" come?? Or the Andorians, or the Romulans or the whatever CP3O arrives?? I don't think we'll do the "War of the worlds" thing but then I remain still the pie-eyed optimist I have been for decades.

Chow, Baby!!

paper or plastic

The latest from the smart fellas in the world of NASA and affiliates... plastic may be the skin of future spaceships. Hmmm Why do I think of Ziplock??

Travel

The latest from my buddy who took a plane to the East coast --- We should do these now. Airplane travel these days is slightly better than a livestock trailer haul. No food. Forgotten drinks, frisking and unpacking ... Let's do amtrack!
ALL ABOARD!!!!

now try this

Hey is that water I see??? Ice??? Good ol Mars. Keep us guessing.

Now about NASA and shuttles and repairs. Poor NASA is a political thing. The whole shebang is run by the goverment "committee". That means there will be grandstanding by people who don't really do anything except listen to lobbyists. Also the 'nervous nellies' in any program are going to continue to piss and moan about everything. Until private enterprise gets itself into space, this will continue-- with veiled threats to scrub the whole mission etc. Perhaps we need to repair --to the moon! Again. There is lots there to make useful, water (again with that!) god-awful many minerals -- a frontier strange and wonderful. An extended space station as we have now is crippled by the fact that human beings can only go so long without gravity. We are going to have to deal with that if we expect to get anywhere. Mars needs much exploration, by robots and man. For that matter robots on the moon too, doing the job of mining, exploration, pictures ---

And don't forget, we need to learn how to make nanotubes and buckyballs to utilize in space.

Hooray for the brave crew who patched up the Discovery! In spite of hand-wringing by publicity-minded nay-sayers, to save their little CYA campaign, the whole thing still can be successful. All the pessimism by such Cassandras are often blown out of proportion

It's okay, people. It's okay. Don't sweat it. We are going to have more casualties. We are going to have more accidents. Steady as she goes!

Party's Over

Well, the last day of our Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo, last full week in JULY. Bunting comes down, people go home, over for another year --yippy skippy but as usual, a good rodeo party. Ridem Cowboy! Come back Next year!

And our astronauts are upstairs. Godspeed, guys

Another planet??? Depends on it's orbit, I think. Got a lot of rocks in our solar system. Me, I still wanna bum around Mars.

Flowers are blooming! Tomatoes are getting red! At least some things are alive in the garden. Oh by the way, a thought -- there is no such thing as a real cold call. The caller has to have SOME information handy.

Short story: it was late and dark, we were watching tv. a cat jumped up into the kitchen window and looked in on us from kitchen to living room. We have no cats, that we acknowledge anyway. Nothin but occasional wild cats --- I said, oh! kitty in the window! and Dave says, "Is he a peeping Tom?"

Play taps. Play Amazing Grace. Our lovely buddy, Jimmy is gone. To the enterprise in the other side. Bones was waiting for him, as well as all his past peoples -- we send our love and thank him for his life.

My Stars!

Circle October 30th of this year on your calendars. Mars visits us again darned near as close as it did 2 years ago. Umm! Saw it that time, nice and red and purdy in the sky -- Those of you with telescopes will have a little treat if it's not cloudy.

Discovery is still Earth-bound. Well, let's check it out, gang. I personally think the shuttles are a tad old. They need new models with new wiring and all that good stuff. In the meantime, lets not kill astronauts just to fire 'em off the Earth!! Go, by all means, but go safely. Gee yes, let's have a hand for that idea.

Off and Running

Tomorrow the Discovery goes off. I'm crossing my fingers and praying. We need this mission. Here's a little known fact. Sure you need this. It will be indelible in your mind forever. Sumi wrestlers never wash their loin cloths. The reasoning is: it would diminish their strength.

Okay-ee

Watched a crow this weekend while I was fishing. It was raining and we were waiting in the car for it to blow over. A crow hopped up to a picnic table and picked up something in it's beak -- then dropped it. Picked up. Dropped. Flew away; came back, picked up, and took it to the lake edge and dropped it in. Then it ate it. Flew up, got another. This is repeated 4 times. I went to investigate. Dog kibble! Way to go, Mother Nature!

Dogs don't think they are human. They think we are dogs. Funny weird dogs that act very stupid sometimes but they love us anyway.

Here's looking at you, Kid ---

Okay, in the field, we started a flower garden. Virgin field. I picked up a cactus, plunked it in, and several days later ---Bloom! Must have been holding my mouth right or something ---

Wet Birds Don't Fly At Night

Surveyor is a weird looking word. In fact so is Survey. The longer you look at it, the less it looks like it means. We are in the middle of June. IN Wyoming, the gardens are just barely going. Dang, just a short three months in clay soil 'tis tough coming up with anything. We try tho. That's what I've been doing, and healing a knee. Takes longer than you think. A major joint. Growl! Getting up and down off the ground or floor is harder than you think without knees.

Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens probably did get very chummy chummy. It depends on the situation and and the opportunity. The DNA stuff is still out on that score. Oh by the way, DNA!!! Did you know that chimeras can have two sets of DNA and depending on which organ or body parts are checked?? It's a result of very early twinning and then doubling up. If two sexes are involved, you get hemoprodites. One person, one body, two makeups. So, DNA is NOT infallible beyond all!

horses run

horses run
Originally uploaded by Popokiknut.

Run! Run! They want to pen you up and put ropes on you! --- It was as ball watching the city police attempting to round up horses. Those horses knew better and will get rounded up when they are darned good and ready.

Here we go again, for the umpteenth time

Creationists vs Evolutionists. The Bible thumpers insist that the Book squelches all arguments. "Literally True!" they sing out, but my dears, have they READ the Book? In Genesis, word for word, step by step, it outlines exactly how life was formed on the Earth. Guess what. It's just like the evolutionists say! God created, light, day, night, sea, land, vegetables, animals.... in that order. Also the grass was formed before trees. Yep Yep Yep. It seems to me that God gave man a brain. Use It! If you really read it, and study evolution in it's classic sense, you'll see that lo! there are no dichotomies, no arguments, no disagreements. One just proves the other. I just think its amazing that the early writers of the Bible managed to get so much correctly, centuries before modern Archeology, Biology, DNA and all that technology tooling we can do today. C'mon people. Wakey wakey. Its time to recognize the essential study of mankind. We must understand our beginnings before we can evolve into the beings we could achieve, beings worthy of continuation. If we don't, well the, extinction of our species will be 100% certain.

creature2

creature2
Originally uploaded by Popokiknut.

All right you hoaxers. Stop it stop it stop it!! Put your models away, your boards and measuring string. Stop making with the crop circles and the UFO sightings and other nutty stuff you think is 'oh so clever' to create. There is enough actual 'questionables' going on, on this planet without you nudnicks horning in with your cute jokes. Scientists do not find you amusing. We, who have open questioning minds, tire of the jerking around. It's not funny, it's not productive, it's taking advantage of general good nature of people. Spend the energy in investigating the various phenonemas you are copying! Dang it, I never could understand the drive that makes people 'one up' on their fellows by practical jokery. You STILL have not explained all the crop circles!! Put the boards away, you idiots.

Stitches out!

Ping! Ping! Ping! Not too bad. It does sting tho -- which makes me a physical wimp. owell. Now it's time for me to exercise and bend knee ... walk, stretch, get it back into servicable order. The House passed the Cloning thing from placentas. Okay, senate next, and a lot of us are not really happy with Bush right now. Around the universe, things are as per normal. Nothing new but I'm happy to see the rover Opportunity is trying to dig out of the sand trap. Golf on Mars??? Do I dare predict that this will be a sport?

Ok so it was three holes

I'm back! Ambulatory. Three lil holes. Still achy,sore. Let us heal!!!! HEAL!!!It's Sunday!!! I am going to do a thing on me! HEAL!! I need to get back into the walkin' thing, as in exception to the hobbling thing. The garden awaits!!! all the seeds. Enough exclamation points. The seeds are in and are germinating as I type.

Get Out There. Outer space. Enough timid poking. Let's get on with the successes and explore the moon, get space stations out there, and traject to Mars. Send our cameras and our lil tiny shovels. It's time to play in that sandbox! Our robotics are getting awfully clever so I don't mind sending them out to gather.

Was it three shots or four ( or more?) Does it matter. Conspiracy monspiracy. The main point is: the government will have to find another way to handle our instant communication --- coverups are SO twentieth century, guys. Stop the lying. It doesn't work. It never did, really, but now we got the technology to prove you guys are confabulating big fibs. Cut it out.

P.S. trach tubes for general anesthesia are NOT fun.

tired

tired
Originally uploaded by Popokiknut.

So I kinda wore self out, going to store, Wallyworld, library, stocking up for fact that I'm gonna be on a walker and it's my driving knee --- no drivey car for awhile....Ahhhhgggghh! And of course I live in a 3rd floor walkup, no elevators, sweeties. And I've done this before, and So I Went Shopping!!! to stock up so I can hibernate a bit. Got walker in the car!! Off to see the wizard with his knife! Don't take your knees for granted, kiddies.

On to Disneyland ---

Tomorrow, its general anethesia time. Just for two lil holes in the knee. Dangit. But on the good side, I get a nice nap out of it. Don't get 'football' injuries when you are on the other side of 60!! take care of knees!! They really can be stinkers if they go on ya. What my problem is -a torn tendon, or ligament, or somesuch rubberband like thing that lets you pivot and twist on the knee joint. When you don't pivot anymore or twist, it's amazing what you can't do. Very well. Went to get a pic of how I feel tonite. Kinda pooped. Not in the mood for tomorrow. Can't eat until it's over and that's tomorrow night. Oh am I glad I'm gonna be asleep for part of it???? I don't do operations well. Tend to be confining, if you catch my drift. Specially on legs!!!!

UP Depot, Cheyenne, WY

Picture 076
Originally uploaded by Popokiknut.

Allright. I gotta go in for a bit of knee surgery -- a coupla holes here and there, pick put arthritis and repair torn tendon ... so It may be awhile with the blog. This pic?? Well it's a bit of Union Pacific history in Cheyenne. Part of the beautiful UP Depot downtown, backside next to tracks. Neat stuff.

Cystis Fibrosis

Hello Ladies and Gentle beings --Got a bit of "wonderful news" (drip sarcasm here) -- seems my 4 year old grandchild, Megan has Cystis Fibrosis. Ahhh, nice. Well it did explain a lot of mysterious things in her short life from birth, and now we are armed with the knowledge, it's time for attack. I have been looking up this disease and find it's interesting, a possible connection in gene structure to chronic bronchitis, diabetes, and other digestive problems. I suspect with all the nice things I have, that I am probably a carrier, and so is my daughter who married a carrier and Bingo! As Krista said, "We should have played the lottery that day" (when they met...)Poor little Megan! Any of you people who wish you could eat everything and remain slender and petite, be careful of what you wish for. It's a good symptom of CF, meaning you aren't getting all your benefits from food and you have to eat a whole lot of it, plus supplements... ahhhh!

Our whole family is falling apart. Eldest daughter has diabetes. I can tell you from first hand experience, that's a joy.

So! Color me a pro-gene research person!!! Let's bring on the clones!~! Fight these diseases!! Remember, gene research and cell cloning does NOT mean killing babies. We can harvest those from placentas. There are many ways to clone for organs, (I need a new pancreas myself) --- While there is no truth to ostriches hiding heads in the sand, we homo saps do have a tendency to hide our ability to think and discover under dogma and outmoded belief systems.

Jump (More on Discovery Article)

Jump
Originally uploaded by Popokiknut.

Great minds think alike dept: No sooner do I blog about the Discovery article, than next day I get card from daughter --"Well trained by their mother, they were perfectly content just to watch their friends jump off a bridge and felt no compulsion to join them"---

Lil Loco Train

Lil Loco Train
Originally uploaded by Popokiknut.

Lil loco train from our old trainyard, UP railroad in Cheyenne. This one is in a city park. I remember those when they were running!

Follow the Leader

Discovery peoples have an article in their mag this month -- that sheep, and other herding animals will go however a few leaders go. Schools of fish, birds in air do same thing. It's not mental telepathy as much as just going where the few individuals take. Hmm. Peoples do same thing. A few leaders can influence a whole 'herd' of people. yeahhh, but not ALL Lemmings go over the cliff - some actually say "Hey waitaminit ---" and put on brakes. Okay, okay, they don't actually do that, but some will stop and not go over. So with people. Some do not go with the crowd. Therein lies the difference that sometimes makes a few changes resulting in increased survival of species. Jump? Or not jump? That is a common choice we all have. It never continues to amaze me how people insist we do not have instincts that guide our behavior. We do. The trick is, to know it and base choices upon that awareness. We are in for a wet week. Spring is doing its thing out here on the prairie! Still not enough water.

Kick this over!

goalpostcat
Originally uploaded by Popokiknut.

Lately saw a program on Decisions That Changed the World, and it was an article On Lyndon B. Johnson. Maligned and devalued, he nevertheless made some very important strides in legistation to fix segregation. But, never mind his problem with the Viet Nam War, his real problem is he's uglier than JFK. We still react very much to charisma and good looks, not that its not deserved, but often it stacks the favors. I am not a real dog, kinda cute, grandmotherly, don't scare horses or small children, but I have been at the crux of such discrimination. It bites, both ways. When the time will come when homo sapiens is truly wise, and no longer judges by surface impressions only, then perhaps we can finally progress as human beings worthy of continuation as a species. Ugly is as Ugly does, but dumb, stupid ignorance is to the bone.