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.