Bear Tooth Mountains, Montana
Photo by Zooey
The Bear Tooth Mountains are one of many natural wonders in Montana. I hope the Obama family is enjoying their visit to Yellowstone Park this weekend. It’s one of my favorite places on earth.
It’s the middle of August and we’re having a very strange bit of cooling in Idaho. Yesterday we had a high of 64, and today it will only be 72. Not that I’m complaining, it’s usually about 100 degrees at this time in August. :)
What’s on your mind today?
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Today is also Zoo Sr’s 27th birthday.
It’s weird how he keeps getting older, but I just stay the same.
Happy Birthday to Sr.
This morning, I attended the Berks County Democratic Committee meeting and Congressman Joe Sestak was there to speak to us about health care reform and other important issues. Joe is a huge supporter of women’s rights, the public option for health care, and renewable energy. He will be running for the PA Senate seat in next year’s primary against Arlen Specter. So far, Sestak has my vote and my support. He would make a really good Senator.
Now some other news…
Organizing for America is doing door knocking today in Berks County PA. This morning as the group of volunteers were meeting to organize their walk, the screaming tea baggers showed up with bull horns, shouting at the volunteers and attempting to intimidate. This is how truly awful these ignorant people are. Not only do they disrupt town hall meetings, they shout and scream at anyone that doesn’t agree with them.
That’s so cool, Cats.
I wish my Dem Rep wasn’t a frackin’ Blue Dog. He’s have a phone town hall meeting, and he provided a number where we could call to ask him to vote NO on health care reform. I’d call the number to tell him otherwise, but I’m afraid it’s a robo number that will simply record my call as a NO.
I’ll continue emailing the twit.
Good god, the Waynebro circle jerk is STILL going on this morning.
Waynebro got some sleep and is raring to go?
Apparently. Jesus, what a freak.
BTW, any South American will refer to him/herself as an “American.” That idiot is dead wrong, but I’m not going to contribute to trashing that thread any more than it already is.
I actually had birthers/healthcare crazies/afraid of “coloreds” come to my door this afternoon with tracts of non-facts and pushy attitudes (Chicago ‘burbs, which believe me is not Chicago-D). It was a husband-and-wife team, and the lady got really insulting when I told her I thought she was evil and should exit my property.
I have a lot of first-generation Mexican-Americans in my neighborhood. I wonder if Mr. and Mrs. Omadhaun will make it out unscathed.
I suppose I should go and power wash my porch now…
Oh, and happy birthday!
I love it, prim8. Those morons come to YOUR door, asking you to support their stupidity, and then get abusive when you don’t go along with the program.
You should hose those idiots down if you see them again.
I’ll be ready for them next time, Zooey, but like I said, they’re really in the wrong neighborhood for what they’re selling.
But still, being confronted on my own porch really got me. I was quietly reading my book in my hammock and they just walked up on me. I won’t get all dramatic and say I felt violated, but they did ruin a perfectly good John Updike reverie.
I should have let Shorty loose on them, but she’d just follow them and bark, then come back demanding a treat …
There are days when I thank god/fate/FSM that I made one intelligent decision in my life and moved back to Portland. The only people that ever knock on my door are seeking support for the environment, civil rights, the environment, the environment, poor people, and, um, the environment. Oh, and a guy trying to sell me a different broadband service.
Having written these words, I have cursed myself and await the tappity-tap of the Mormons.
I get the Mormons, gummtich, and the Jehovah’s Witnesses.
I need to get the fuck out of here…
Good for you prim8.
Z – a group of people in my Congressional District are planning on meeting with our congressman later next week. He is a blue dog and it is difficult for him because the Lebanon (Leb’nin) 9-12 teabaggers are in his district. This is going to be a very small group, say maybe 10 to 15 people. Guess I’m lucky in that sense. Zooey – you live a beautiful part of the country. Too bad, there are so many dumbf**ks in your State. Pennsyltucky is filled with these dumbf**ks. Fortunately for us, we have Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, with very large metro population to keep PA blue.
Believe it or not, Idaho used to be a blue state. Then came the Reaganites and the fundie anti-choice crowds, and this place turned red virtually overnight. These pasty white rice crackas love to vote against their own best interests…
Yeah for John Updike book. He grew up in my neighborhood.
What’s on my mind today?
Well mostly that WAYNEBRO is a deranged lunatic, when am I gonna write this paper about inquiry as an educational pedogogy, what the hell am I going to do with all this salmon, how do I get the woman downstairs to like me, and what fun stuff can I do with my dad while he visits this week….
You asked….
dbadass, what is the origin of your avatar? Sorry, gravatar…
It’s an avatar, prim8.
It is Kurt Vonneget’s drawing of an asshole…
Vonnegut! Jesus I am an idiot some times…
db, you have an edit button…
OK, dbadass, I guessed that last night on another thread! Breakfast of Champions is the first of his books I read, and I was hooked at age 11.
Hi All!
Tis a sad, sad day over at TP. What the hell is going on? Someone needs to visit his doc for a rebalancing of meds…
It must be Thanksgiving babies who emerged from wombs in August because we have many birthday parties to attend this weekend. “No, honey, I said put the turkey in the oven!” (no offense intended, Z)
The traditional summer weather has finally arrived and it’s hot, humid and hot. Plus humid.
I wish I was artistic because I have a cartoon in my head of Glen Blech dresses as Paul Revere, riding a horse and shouting “The Socialists are coming! The Socialists are coming! Grab your Medicare cards, forward your Social Security checks and come hide with me in my tax-exempt church basement because… The Socialists are coming!”
Enjoy your day, and I’ll check back later to see if the cesspool is open for business!
“No, honey, I said put the turkey in the oven!”
Ha!!
Sorry Spencersmom
I am way guilty of egging it on. I really am gonna write that paper. Beside the gal downstairs just got home…
db, you have an edit button…
I know but I also have to consider my style… Oh and stop trying to use my “….’s”
Hey cats if you are about my old man will be here tomorrow. He has promised to work with my girls on their potter’s wheel and do some paper sculpture and maiche stuff with them. As hard as it may be for those like you that know him he has actually aged into a sort of reasonable grandpa. I think damn near dying helped him reassess some things.
I’m through being the good corpo-drone for the weekend. I put in my requested six hours and next week we are only scheduled for 40 hours, so why was I asked to work today when nothing I did couldn’t have waited?
Whilst I was urging prim8 (on the Pink Floyd thread) to visit a bit more often, I see that prim8 needed no further invite! It seems my condescending invitations have been wasted! Harrumph!
Hi House O’ Bob – and it’s not a corporation if they can’t put a crimp in your weekend!
la casa del roberto,
Need you ask? How long have you worked in las mondial des corporacions? Oy gevalt!
hi there prim8!
Are you well? Because your avatar now looks like a virally infected slice of zombie cucumber. I don’t mean to get all ‘fashionista’ on you, but…
.
Am I correct that the 2009 Federal Budget was proposed and signed by Bush? And that Obama’s first budget doesn’t happen until fiscal 2010?
As I said on the4 Pink Floyd thread, 5th, I’m just waiting for that perfect pic of a ham sandwich…
Hello to all. It is a hot and humid, just mowed the lawn, 3 Shower Day. I need about a gallon of cold water on the inside first.
5th, are you still on your zombie kick?
It’s the hottest part of the day in Moscow, and it’s only 67 degrees. Weird!
Yeah baby. This malbec is sweet especially since I just submitted the last paper of my educational experience unless of course I decide to get that phd. Hello 7 grand raise…
Hokey smokes, Bullwinkle! I see the Waynebro-athon is over 1,000 posts. Sort of like the Twilight Zone Marathon at New Years on SyFy.
Yeah, Med. And apparently IT’S ALL MY FAULT.
Well, Bart has gone to the garden to eat a worm. Again.
db – I don’t know your father. Never met him. My friend Breezy knows him.
Yes, it’s summer time in PA which means hot and humid. And it rains almost every day.
I refuse to enter TP comments once they exceed 150.
“I refuse to enter TP comments once they exceed 150.”
A wise decision, with which I concur.
Just out of curiosity, what is the record for # of posts on a single thread at TP?
Your fault? What. you are some sort of sinister drill instructor coordinating people to post in shifts to see how long it takes before Waynebro realizes he is getting his chain yanked?
Apparently.
I never realized how much power I have. And it’s so nice of those morons to keep handing it to me.
Med, I’ve seen one that got over 7000. It was one of the first TP ever ran about hate radio, and the slobbering dittoheads went frackin’ insane. After a while, it looked like someone had rigged up some sort of robo-responder. Essentially the same comment over and over, but with a different name on it. It was insane.
Well, you can hardly blame them. Quite a few just crave the idea of a mommy figure who will spank them when they are naughty.
Oh puke…
Wow. I almost feel bad for contributing last night but it was so much fun tweaking his nose. Made even funnier because he just never saw it. For penance I guess I’ll have to read something by Franken or Carlin and drink two beers.
It’s hard to resist sometimes, Med. He’s so full of himself that he can’t even see you guys were messing with him. He’s like my ex in that he thinks his way of thinking is the only way. Any deviation means YOU’RE WRONG.
Alright. You can all shame me but I still find weirdos and oddballd intersting…
sorry cats for the confusion I though Allen and you both knew Carlos…Tell Breezy the Badass’s wish him well.
So now that I have completed my crap. Does anyone have any suggestions for like 8 nice pieces of salmon? Some of it is king and some sockeye. I am so tired of my usual miso marinated, leek and mushroom quiche, and salmon chowder…
db, we all were having fun pinging the putz. Like Zooey said, he has the idea he is right and it is his duty to ejimicate those less fortunate.
At least he is hilarious in his clueless pomposity.
My favorite way to do salmon is a very low heat, high smoke fire in the grill, all shoved to the side with an occasional basting with white wine, a tad of butter and some dill.
I found out on my recent trip that salmon likes me about as much as shrimp does. *sad face*
Don’t pay the ransom, I escaped!
Oh, there you are, Reggie. Where ya been?
My sincerest condolences, Zooey. If I couldn’t eat shrimp I would seriously wonder why I am on the planet.
My sister has allergies to certain seafoods. Something about the extra iodine or something. Many years ago I made stuffing for the TDay bird with oysters. Dang near killed her. I felt really bad.
I really love shrimp, too.
And I’ve always wanted to try Alaska King crab, but now I don’t dare.
Jesus Zooey, If this no crab no salmon, no shrimp, no sushi shit keeps up, I may have to cancel our date. Now I know lentils are out so what if we just went to that loco gringo place and you ordered for both of us?
No sushi?
It’s not as if I want it to be that way, db! My tummy is revolting!
Mmmm yeah, I love that place.
Zooey:
I have been keeping a low profile for a few weeks, it’s wasn’t a good time to stir up the trolls anymore than they already were.
Cesspool is up!
Med, I’ve never had sushi, but I’d love to try it. It probably won’t be pretty…
“If I couldn’t eat shrimp I would seriously wonder why I am on the planet.”
Amen, med. And they absorb seasoning better than anything else on the planet.
OMG, Bear Tooth Pass. Ride it with your 85 year old father, who’s driving his Harley Davidson F150 dragging a camper to the strains of Sweet Caroline, cranked to 11, while he’s giggling the whole time… It must be done… It’s the ride of your life. I actually did this with my dad two years ago, and I’m so glad I did it and I’d do it again. It was a wonderful experience with my dad. Here’s the post I made to rec.music.gdead at the time:
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.music.gdead/msg/f90b08d3a4fdb558
Well, I’m back from my trip west with my 85 year old Father and 14
year old son. We started off by spending a full 7 days camping in
Yellowstone National Park and exploring the park. If I have a lesson
in life, it’s this: Get Thee to Yellowstone. The absolute splendor of
the park, the flowers, the wildlife, and just the ‘air’ says go.
Living all my life on the East Coast, I have never seen such
landscape. Yellowstone is truly a National Treasure. There’s the
thermal springs, the geysers, the near freezing mornings (37 degrees
at 5AM in July), the lonesome songs the Coyotes sing to each other
late at night, the boiling mud pots and the 80 degree temperature
during the day. Couple this with the magnificent view of the mountains
and you don’t want to go home. You forget summer is down below the
mountains.
We took Interstate 70 West and 287 North going in (I think) (heading
toward the South Enterance), so it was a bit boring from Kansas City
until we hit Split Rock. At Split Rock, we could still see the old
wagon train ruts cut into the ground from the pioneers driving the
Oregon Trail of the 1800s. A few hours later, we stopped at a
Shoshone Indian burial ground in the Wind River Reservation at Fort
Washakie and saw where Sacagawea is buried. Sacagawea, and her young
son Bazil, were prominent figures in the Lewis and Clark Expeditions
out west. They’re both buried in Fort Washakie. The Shoshone decorate
the graves of their loved ones very gaily. The buriel grounds are
colorful and extemelyly well groomed. You can’t tell if a loved one
passed last week or a hundred years ago. Believe it or not, that
cemetary is a happy place. A bit more driving and we hit the Teton
Mountain Range, just south of the Yellowstone entrance. We spent a
full day at the Tetons. Years ago, my sister and her little girls
spent time playing in the river and climbing the trails up Mount
Moran. I fiddled with my camera and have some Ansell Adams-type black
and white photos of Mount Moran (used a red filter to darken the sky,
but kept the clouds white; the photos look terrific).
On the way home, we took one of the most breathtaking routes this
country has to offer. We took the Northeast entrance out of
Yellowstone and headed home on US 212; Beartooth Pass. You feel like
you’re on top of the world. It takes you from the canyon floor and
climbs almost 4,000 feet in elevation (up from the 7,000 feet where
you are when you begin the drive), taking you past rock slides and red
and yellow rock outcroppings. Expect hairpin curves, U-curves, and
sinuous S-curves in the road as you climb to the canyon rim past
forests, rugged cliffs, pristine lakes, mountain peaks, alpine tundra,
and snow banks, even in August. This road takes you to 11,000 feet
above sea level, above the tree line and it’s only open 4.5 months a
year. If possible, I could scoop up snow in my right hand if my father
moved just a little to the right (not advisable since he was towing a
camper and I had a death grip on that suicide handle in the truck).
While we were driving Beartooth Pass, Dad remembered he had Neil
Diamond in his CD player. Yeah, it’s coming. Dad is completely deaf in
his right ear, and almost so in his left ear (when the batteries are
working). ~~~ Must hear Neil Diamond ~~~. The stereo is blaring at 11.
We’re driving up a narrow, traverse on Beartooth Pass, looking down
into a straight 3,000 foot drop into some yet to be named ravine to
the strains of Sweet Caroline. But the view was spectacular. Sweet
Caroline will never be the same. The 35-40 miles of this road must be
seen, Neil Diamond or not. However, one must have a spare “panty
change”, just in case when you hit the safe, lower ground. I’ve never
been so scared in my life, but also never so awed at the same time.
After Beartooth Pass, the trip home was a bit fuzzy but I did make Dad
stop at Red Lodge, Montana, so I could suck down a cold Sierra Nevada
Pale Ale from the cooler; but we did do, in an order that I forget:
Devil’s Tower, Mount Rushmore, Little Big Horn National Park, and the
Badlands.
On the flight from Kansas City to Newark, I decompressed to some ’73
show my son, Connor, selected from one of my iPods… Don’t remember the
date, but it had a relaxing Me and Bobby McGee and China Cat…
Glad to be back East where the land is flat and I can’t fall too far.
Theresa
Theresa,
Thank you for sharing your wonderful story! I’ve never taken that Beartooth Pass route, but now I really want to!
My grandma was born in Red Lodge.
I did the Badlands, Devils Tower and Mt Rushmore last summer. I’d really love to get back to Devils Tower one day.
I went to the Little Bighorn park several years ago. The quiet of that place is eerie, and the tombstones sticking out of the grass… I couldn’t find it in myself to feel sorry for Custer and his men.
Funny, when I get on flat land I feel totally exposed, and I expect to be struck by lightning at any moment.