Forgetfulness

Creeping alzheimer's most likely. Early-stage dementia. I can no longer leave the room...the kitchen that is. These were a splendid array of pork robs until I turned my back. 

Trixie, the cat, tried to alert Michelle, but she was engrossed in a tiling project.

Finally, the smoke got to her. Fortunately, nothing caught fire.

Pumpkins

Numero Uno.

30.Okt

The End of A Dream

She left Ghost Ranch Monday morning and drove to La Posada in Winslow. 

She laid over a day, recovering from packing, the turmoil of leave-taking and the 6-hour drive. 

It was a month that passed too quickly. Filled with new friends, art-making, beautiful scenery, much hilarity and good food, it might've gone on indefinitely.

One participant is dying of cancer of the spine. Another received her diagnosis two days after her arrival and will undergo a double mastectomy two days after she leaves.

Despite the above, everyone participated fully. It was an amazing time.

Today she moves from Winslow to Barstow.

Al Christensen Stopped By

My Overlanding tenant* is having to make due with vicarious experiences. Despite the deterioration of the infrastructure, it's enthusiasm hasn't diminished a bit. Thus, I check the blogs I follow several times a day. RollingSteelTent provides the most frequent "fixes."

We've known each other for a number of years and if it weren't for the fact that we've tended to be at widely separated places most of the time, we might've hung out together more often.

Though we've traveled many of the same roads and been to many of the same places, this was our second face-to-face. Typical I think of both our personalities, it felt as if there'd been no gap. And since we both know of the separate but shared travel experiences, we skipped the road stories and launched into swapping tales of our former work lives. I hadn't a clue Al had visited Montreal via Toronto and been to Frankfürt and Beijing.

My limited stamina means I usually set a timer for an hour, but this time I wanted to see how I'd do. It seemed as if it'd been only a few minutes when an hour and a half slipped by. 

He had already driven over two and a half hours getting to Albuquerque and had anothet 2.5 - 3 to reach his destination. 

I was glad to read my baking passed muster.

I can't believe I didn't get a photo.

* We are, according to Kristen, comprised of multiple tenants. Each one steps into its role as occassion demands or permits.

Jetsonorama Post

This 2013 article in Mens' Journal describes physician Chip Thomas's work on the Navajo Rez.

The article below appeared today and is about Chip's latest collaboration in Cincinatti, Ohio.

https://jetsonorama.net/2024/10/19/sight-does-not-equal-vision/

Two Peas Inna Pod

 

More From Ghost Ranch

 

Observations

Gretel Ehrlich is one of those extraordinary people. She's done cattle-ranching in Wyoming, spent 23 years dogsledding in Greenland, has explored Japan and survived being struck by lightning.

From Unsolaced: Along the Way to All That Is comes this observation by a Greenlander whose family has, for MANY generations before Wyoming was even thought of, hunted the nothern country.

Robin Magowan's dad married Robert Merrill's daughter thereby becoming Mr. Merrill's adjutant. Robin, deeply influenced by his uncle, James Merrill, traveled and wrote.  Improbable Journeys describes his time in the Mideast.

The quote, indirectly attributed to Omar (1048-1141), echoes today's sentiments around "disinformation." Some things never change.

O'er the Mesa

 Ghost Ranch

It whar a good day. They played a risque round of Haikubes followed by Jenga in which much drama was shared; she toppled the tower.

New Mexico!!

They went out to O'Keefe's house. They were gonna paint; she was gonna amble about.

SpaceX - Launch & Recovery

Return of the booster, a milestone in engineering.

Bruce Potts

He was closely scrutinizing his receipt, but when I drew alongside he paused and I asked, "Could I video you?" he said "Sure."

I waited outside talking with Tim, the security guard. Tim said he's here often. 

When he emerged I asked a few questions. Bruce was pleasantly unaffected and told how he'd taught highschool in Gallup for 25 years and after getting his Masters degree taught public speaking at the University of New Mexico.

The video wasn't good but I got the above "still" from it.

His Über showed up and we parted. He said he had a website but all I could find was a few isolated references. 

The first 7 minutes of this YT video are about him.

A couple of pictures. The link to the article returns a 404 error. 

Pegasus Massage

The sciatica flares, on average, every 18 months; just long enough between times for me to forget. Of course, there's the expense, but I suspect if I'd kept on it at least once a month it may not have gotten as bad...if at all. 

As it is, I'm into the tenth or more massage with Pegasus. Fortunately, they're celebrating a decade of being in business by offering a reduced rate. Normally $100/hr, for the time being it's $60.00.

It's odd how similar it is to psychotherapy in that though I'm getting better, old aches and pains are surfacing. My highschool hip injury from running hurdles is back and the sprained ankle from a bad leap on the tennis court a decade or so ago is haunting me.

April is amazingly strong and I've had to ask her, now & then, to lighten up. 

Despite my skepticism, the cupping helped.

Longitudinal View

Padma Hejmadi & Peter Beagle

His wife from 1989-2001, Padma Hejmadi writes in her biography on her website:

Writing came with studying English at age seven. Usually a constant, it could also come and go as it pleased, past ardor, past ability or disability, past discipline or the lack of it – resulting in that sense of what Henry James calls donnee (the given) where you can neither question its visitations nor sanction its rules. Where like so many others you might learn to make friends with failure or success in varying definitions, but can never lose your love for the perfectly chosen word. Virginia Woolf says, "After all, what is a perfect phrase? One that mops up as much truth as it can hold."

And artist Agnes Martin adds: "There's no such thing as a false step in art, there's only a next step." That's what you hope when, thanks to encouraging friends, you fall into photography in your forties and visual art in your fifties: an autodidact continually making mistakes but somehow enjoying it, and presuming that at least longevity, if not dedication or an earned skill, will take you to that next step!

Her photography:

http://padmahejmadi.com/photos.html

Press & hold an image to stop the slideshow. You can then enlarge the image by spreading your fingers.

Ghost Ranch

See descriptions accompanying each video.

Casita

Studio

Pie!

We'd gone as long as we could. Self-restraint had lost its thrall.

Peach & Plum

Most of the edge fell off while prising the crust from its pan. I flipped it over and firmly patted it into place, slathered it with a beaten egg and 'prinkled it liberally with Trader Joe's crusty sugar.

These crusts are surprisingly flavorful.

Burston on Fromm

In Popova's article on Henry Miller there's (an instance of singularity; thus the correct usage of there's) mention of E. Graham Howe's influence on him. Googling HOWE brought me to Ian Charles Edwards's dissertation, Truth as Relationship: The Psychology of E. Graham Howe which, on p. 7, Edwards quotes Daniel Burston (see image below).

Spred fingers to largen image below

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Burston

Burston, it turns out, is a fan of Fromm and has written THE biography which sheds light on his deceptively simple theories. (Akin to Rogers, he was, due to his lack of jargon, ignored.) 

2023 Defense Bill

The NDAA is a policy bill that sets policy and authorizes appropriations for the Department of Defense and other defense-related activities. It does not provide budget authority for government activities. 

Though the bill is an annual that has to be written each year, something drove me to look at the 2023 authorization.

On December 23, 2022, President Biden signed the bilateral, bicameral 2023 Defense Authorization Bill (Wiki article) into law.

Link to National Defense Authorization Act dot gov webpage for 2023 bill. The 4,409 page bill can be accessed directly.

A brief description.

A summary of the bill (pdf)

I tumbled into this warren when I stumbled upon an article about the Navy's problem child, the Littoral Combat Ship progeam.

Austal USA is the lead contractor for The Program. In this March 26, 2024 article,  attendees at the Surface Navy Association  National symposium are invited to "share" their disrespect for the program (excerpt below). Insatiably curtious (as was Elephant's Child), I wondered who is supporting it and why?

The Littoral Combat Ship was meant to start the Navy’s operational renaissance. But a chorus of naysayers and critics have put service leaders on the defensive, insisting that the troubled program has turned a corner

A recent panel discussion on the ship at the Surface Navy Association’s national symposium began by asking its audience for a show of hands.

"Raise your hand if you’ve ever said something bad about the Littoral Combat Ship,” the panel host said. “Raise your hand if you’re still saying bad things about the Littoral Combat Ship.”

Perhaps more significant than the sea of hands and knowing laughter was the fact that a panel focused on the program’s merits began by acknowledging its unpopularity.

This article describes Austal giving a delegation of high-ranking Marine Corp personnel and Congressmen a tour of the Mobile, Alabama shipyard on March 3, 2023.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Defense_Authorization_Act_for_Fiscal_Year_2023

This Feb., 24 2022 report from the Gov Acctng Office (GAO) lists a number of problems with the program and gives the Navy's estimate of $60B to fund it (it doesn't say over what period of time).

Kenneth Braithwaite (Wiki article) was nominated by President Donald Trump^[22] to serve as the U.S. ambassador to Norway. His nomination was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on December 21, 2017, by voice vote.^[22]

On November 24, 2019, after the firing of Richard V. Spencer, Trump appointed Braithwaite to become the U.S. secretary of the Navy. He was formally nominated on March 2, 2020,^[23] confirmed by voice vote on May 21,^[24] and sworn in on May 29, 2020.^[25][26][27]

In his 8 months as Secretary of the Navy, Braithwaite incurred approximately $2.4 million in travel costs paid by taxpayer funds. At the time, other senior civilian staff reduced their travel due to the COVID-19 pandemic; Braithwaite travelled more than any other senior Pentagon civilian. The week prior to Joe Biden's inauguration, Braithwaite spent $232,000 to fly to Wake Island, a tiny atoll where no sailors or Marines are stationed. He spent more than $24,000 to attend the Army–Navy football game. He made more than one visit to Hawaii during his 8 months. Braithwaite defended his extensive travel at taxpayer expense, saying, "I submit it's impossible to lead men and women deployed around the world from behind a desk in Washington."^[28]

Richard V. Spencer was fired for not following chain of command in the Edward Gallager case.

Edward R. Gallager was accused of murdering an ISIS operative. Charges were eventually dropped.

The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2024 includes non-defense related authorizations, such as: 

 

Human trafficking

Requires a plan to counter human trafficking operations, including those by transnational criminal organizations 

 

Border wall materials

Requires the Department of Defense to reutilize, transfer, or donate any border wall construction materials 

 

Maritime domain awareness

Directs a strategy to improve maritime domain awareness and interdiction capabilities to counter seaborne threats in the Middle East 

 

Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative

Modifies the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative to add an additional two-year period of performance 

 

Training Eastern European national security forces

Extends the authority to train Eastern European national security forces, and includes Cyprus among the countries eligible to receive training 

 

Engagement with Armenia

Encourages DOD to strengthen engagement with Armenia 

 

Study on commerciality

Requires DoD to conduct a study on the feasibility and advisability of establishing a default determination that acquired products and services are commercial 

And curiously of all....

this year's bill includes the Unidentified Anomolous Phenomena amendment. 

$883.7B

2024 Defense bill (pdf download)

Tannoy

Tannoy Westminster Royal Gold

Reference Loudspeaker

$21,999.00 (each. sold in pairs)

The Brochure (A pdf. The interior design ideas will not disappoint)

https://upscaleaudio.com/products/tannoy-westminster-gold-reference-loudspeaker?variant=41204641759416&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&adpos=&scid=scplpshopify_US_6561430661_41204641759416&sc_intid=shopify_US_6561430661_41204641759416&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwpP63BhDYARIsAOQkATZKsrEsluexYzrkEOCI4oaWhxambvytqLBUEvFcdA5weNmR2mog7EkaAuMFEALw_wcB

Lentil Meatloaf

11:42 pm - wide awake. I stuck my nose out the back door. The air was cool and inviting. The barking dog & traffic discouraged me from going further. Last night I made her a lentil meatloaf.

6.Okt.24

Quiche

Tho we don't have a problem mit glüten, der glüten-free crust ist tastier.

Cookie!

It's been decades since i watched my weight spiral upward. Astonished, i kept a pad in the bathroom cabinet to record it. It was 155 when I tested for 1st degree black-belt in '93. Despite trips to the faculty weight-room at lunch, extra workouts at home on the heavy bag and riding bicycle eight miles to and from the University, when, almost five years later, it neared 200 I went to the doctor; my thyroid had given out.

Every now & then i have a cookie.

Balloon Fiesta

Hit whar uh nice event in The '70s. The smog was so bad in the '80s & '90s we figured the only people who came didn't know any better. Since then a couple of coal-fired generating stations have closed and more stringent vehicle emissions standards have improved visibility...somewhat. As you see, the mountains a mere mile away are occluded. Air-quality today is "moderate."

Mañuel got new, shinier wheels for his truck. The old ones are serving as yard decor in front of the house. He has a GREAT stereo system that announces his arrival; loud muffler BLATS signal departure.

Project 2025

 

Sound of Music Parody

Fire-breathing Alligator

 

The horizon line drawn by the escarpment of the West Mesa a lava flow from a mere 20,000 years earlier.