Archive
Gepetto, I want to be a real boy
Good morning faithful reader. Here in Missouri we had a beautiful weekend of weather and I unexpectedly had a little time on my hands. Yesterday I got some serious time in the garden and completed the cold frame. It was sunny in the 60s and it was too windy to finish raking the backyard. I also futzed around with the big compost bin and remembered to leave it open before the big rain last night. I finished shoveling the cold frame bed and pulled out the grass clumps because the biggest chunk of it was yard prior to the Fall.
I planted lettuce and leaf lettuce. I was out of seed, the seed catalog sitting on my counter unread, so I added some broccoli, cabbage, and peas figuring I would eat the little plantlings in salads. I didn’t have much luck with keeping the deer out of them to growing to adulthood. That sort of thing is supposed to be really nutritious and I would like to eat more salads.
Its been strange living by myself. Its hard to cook for one. I’ve been making a big meal and then eating it for days until it is gone. I made this bowl of dressing that has been two meals thus far with many to come. It was really quite delicious. I took my stale bread crusts, mostly whole wheat store bread, some whole grain white, some wheat/rye made slow to stretch the yeast (14 lbs of flour with the yeast pack) made in a clay oven in the woods in a 19th century camp out by my friend Jeff, and some holiday bread from my sister Betty that got stale on me.
I had sliced and all that dry, I keep a dish of it going through the winter and make dressing when I get a bowl full. I had frozen some Thanksgiving turkey and the drippings and I added that. I also added a bunch of celery, 1/2 red onion, yellow onion, 6 cloves garlic, maybe a tsp of thyme, 1/4 tsp mace, and the rest of my dried white sage from the garden I had dried last year (maybe 2 tbsp).
I baked it in my biggest glass mixing bowl with foil for an hour and without file for 1/2 hour at 400 degrees. Let it cool and yum. The mace really sets it off. Its a powerful spice. I added lots of fresh ground pepper as I didn’t put any in to cook. For left overs I sliced out a piece and baked it in the toaster oven with some smoked gouda and served it with a couple of farm eggs over easy. Will likely do the same for lunch. Better think about dinner, maybe salmon patties and a salad.
Saturday I took Fido for a hike. We were at the dog park but it was such a nice day everyone was there and there were to many big dogs for Fido to relax and run. So we walked down to the trails by Cosmo. Actually that was Sunday, yesterday felt like Sunday but it was Monday being MLK day yesterday. Saturday I did campaign stuff all day. I have two plans to go forward with and am awaiting someone else’s decision which created this space. I also closed down my Facebook account. Hadn’t realized how much I relied on it for pseudosocialization. Maybe I will go out and be a real person instead.
Vermin Supreme
Had the great pleasure to meet New Hampshire presidential candidate Mr. Vermin Supreme back in 1995, I believe. He was as big a character then as now but had not yet taken to wearing a boot on his head or identifying himself as a “friendly fascist”. He was still a vocal proponent of a mandatory tooth brushing law and was carrying around a giant brush at the time. He was pretty funny and supporting himself largely by being a subject in pharmaceutical testing. I feel for his mom having to live on his kidney. My favorite Vermin line from some flyers he gave me was: “They say we cannot have both guns and butter. I say if we have the guns, we can take the butter.”
11 weeks
Coming to terms that I need to be doing campaign stuff every day, though Trevor recommended keeping a day of rest and that seems like good advice. I don’t want to feel pressured by expectations of what a candidate ought to do. I feel like what makes me a good candidate is who I am as a person so changing that more then is necessary seems foolish. The transition music on Christian television is ear shattering. Reminds to surf the other 3 channels and see what’s on. Caught some great Bob Newhart show earlier, it was a nice change from campaign filing requirements. Seems relatively straightforward. I have a lead on an experienced treasurer who has done some campaigns. Also have a lead on someone to handle media stuff and I have a draft of some literature I’m thinking about:
My name is Michael Trapp and I am asking you to join your neighbors in making Columbia’s Ward 2 and Columbia a safer, more vibrant community by electing me to City Council. As your city council representative I will advocate for Livable Streets, Good Governance, and a Future Focus to create a city that is a better place for our children and their children after. As someone who lives and works in Columbia’s Second Ward I am passionate to make our neighborhoods stronger. As a substance abuse counselor at Phoenix Programs, and a former case manager at Columbia’s domestic violence shelter I have insight into the lives of struggling people. If we create city services that are accessible and meaningful for the least amongst us we will have a city that works for all of us.
Livable Streets. With livable streets comes a greater opportunity for outside activity. This puts more eyes on the street and contributes to public safety and neighborliness. We all benefit from safe sidewalks. Those with modest means need good sidewalks and bicycle paths even more. Sidewalks improve traffic safety by moving pedestrians off busy roads. Bicycle routes and paths tell drivers and riders where to be on the street for smooth traffic flow. Livable streets promote a culture of snow and ice removal. They foster cultural opportunities and neighborhood events to decrease isolation. I support greater use of school crossing guards to monitor on-street parking regulations thus ensuring safety near our schools.
Good Governance: I bring common sense decision-making in the best interest of the City and the ward. I am a good istener so Second Ward voters can expect excellent constituent service. Maintaining fiscal responsibility and solid reserves. Passing laws in a deliberate and proactive manner. Avoiding costly boondoggles like Garagezilla.
Future Focus: We will be judged by the city we pass on to our children. Measures of our success will be how we considered future constraints as seen in our transportation planning, school and utility siting and other intensive infrastructure. Decisions should be made with a future focus and a cautious respect of the enormous power of bad decisions that look good in the short term. Protecting our community’s health and safety should always be our highest priority. Maintain what we like about Columbia but position our city to continue to grow into the future.
Mark your calendar for April 3.
Choose Mike Trapp for Second Ward City Council
Paid for by Corporate America. Dick Cheney, Treasurer*
*for purpose of satire only, the internet is still free
Yesterday looked over the budget. Looks complex how projects get put forward there’s a process. Only 3% of the city budget on sidewalks. Not a lot of projects in the Second Ward from a cursory glance. I was asked by the Tribune reporter about getting up to speed and I downplayed that but I know a lot of what I don’t know now and I have a much healthier respect for the learning curve. Ultimately its about applying values and people are stepping forward to help me. Which is good asking for help is not a strength. I have a healthy maybe overhealthy tendency towards self reliance.
I am thankful for unasked for support. Kahlil Gibran says, at least how I remember it “To give when asked is good, to give without being asked, out of knowledge is better”. I am a little nervous. Did get my mind off of it and walked Fido to the park. Mentioned my candidacy to one person not to another. I don’t want to campaign all the time or be on the make, even for votes. Fido got some good play with Robin and Miley which is awesome because their people are on the same schedule. Its staying light out later, that’s going to be nice. The stress of work has become a bit of a sanctuary. It is terribly engaging and demands you to be present almost all the time. Its amazing how things change with perspective.
I want to end with a story. A counselor was asked why the state spent so much money on prisons and so little on treatment in a group of struggling folk. The counselor said “The whole premise of the question is flawed. Your assuming that the state acts under reason and common sense. I have never seen any evidence of that. How things work is that older people vote more then younger people so the electorate skews old. Those folks, your grandparents, aunt, uncles, what have you are pandered too by politicians who promise to make them safe with tough talk about criminals.
They don’t mean you, your well meaning but scared relatives. They think they are these “Criminals” out there, not you who just fell in with the wrong crowd or made a couple bad decisions. Politicians don’t want to look soft on crime and they sell you out. You can’t even vote them out because we have created this permanent group of second class citizens called felons. But things are getting better. The state can no longer afford to just lock people out, there’s not enough money and alternatives are going to have to be looked at. Hopefully one day the Department of Corrections will not be the largest mental health provider in the state.” We can respond to people’s legitimate concerns about personal safety without sacrificing our children to penal serfdom.
Sunny Saturday
Good morning world. Its a sunny and beautiful day here in Columbia Missouri and plan to spend the better part of it outside. The dogs got me up this morning and I have spent a fair amount of time dog butlering. Olive has been working on a bone outside and prefers to hang out. Fido likes to be with me. Neither likes being alone so Olive won’t come in and then barks and Fido has to go out to hang with her even though he doesn’t really want to sit in the grass and watch her eat an old bone and so barks to come inside and the whole cycle starts again.
I did get my dishes done, my laundry on the line (I don’t normally start laundry midweek but slopped some Mexican food on my shirt) and started another load (slopped more Mexican food on a second shirt at lunch yesterday, when it rains it pours). I’ve been to the market (local brown eggs, spinach, lettuce (I am going to eat more salads I tell you), and purple cabbage. Oops Olive gave her lonely bark, have to go let Fido out for five minutes. Wish it were a mite warmer and would just leave the backdoor open.
Yesterday Kevin came over after work and helped me collect signatures. He had a rough time of it, with no one ever having heard of me and him not being me made it a much tougher sell. I also cut us some bad turf trying to move up Texas which apparently has had some break ins or something some scared old Dude around the corner told me. He had run Kevin off and flagged me down when I came up the other side of the street a bit later. He doesn’t like strangers coming to the door especially after dark but as we talked it dawned on him that it gets dark early this time of year and it is the price you pay to live in a democracy and signed my petition. Had a lot of people just ignore me at their door and just continuing on to set their table or whatever.
I did meet a ventriloquist and a guy who operates a ministry for the homeless but neither was registered to vote. Got a card on the ventriloquist though, that might come in handy some time. Even for a rough night of it met some really nice people. I’ve enjoyed the canvassing more then I had anticipated, not having enjoyed it at all trying to raise money for Greenpeace back in the day. One of the low points of my life actually, trying to make enough money for Christmas presents on December evenings in Michigan not really feeling good about myself or where my life was at. This is very different.
Another candidate announced yesterday. Seems like a nice enough fellow but different from me. He didn’t spell out his views on anything being a blank slate ready to listen. Damn, he took my position. Still determining how aggressively I will campaign based on how the race shakes out. There is some concern in progressive circles of two progressives running and splitting the vote to make way for a pro-business candidate like Daryl Dudley who brought in saying the Pledge and wanted to put a giant flagpole on the top of Garagezilla the biggest boondoggle/eye sore in the history of the city. I’m not about that and only want to campaign if its going to help the city. I’m not really into self promotion and am already a little nostalgic for my anonymity. I’ll know more by the end of next week and I’ll keep you posted, faithful readers.
political self censor
I wrote a post yesterday and didn’t post it. Am I self censoring now that I am semi-officially pursuing a seat on the Columbia City Council. No, of course not. I am self censoring for quality. I want to have an interesting blog and I wrote a brief happenings of the day, which was kind of charming I think and then launched into laying out a platform. Getting messaged by the Trib asking for a call when I file my papers generated some pressure to get organized about my political agenda. I had dashed off a Facebook comment on that and used it as an outline. It was crappy and boring and hard to write and not up to what I want to do with the blog.
I get a lot of compliments on the style. I want it to just flow. I want my life to be like that to [too?]. Except for the number those words have stymied me my whole life except for brief periods when it just seems so obvious I’ve wondered how I’ve spent most of my life not knowing.
So what’s been going on. Pretty busy. Yesterday was my late night so I ran some errands in the morning. I sent back all the stuff I accidentally carried away from Michigan and also accrued my first campaign expense by getting some petitions copied in case I get some help on the signature gathering. That is going well and I am over half way to my 75 and I feel like the quality is good.
I tried a little Wednesday morning but a block of Garth showed me why canvassing is done in the evenings and weekends. A block of nobody homes and one wild eyed older woman barely holding a pit bull back shouting some unintelligible name was not home. Getting off at 8, well if I was doing it for a living I would go out until 9:00, later if I was in the flow or desperate. As a hobbyist I like the 5:30-8:00. Even moving towards 8 it feels late. Certainly couldn’t raise the gumption to go out and do it after a long day of work.
Today I met with some folks after work and had dinner at Agave. It was a pretty free form question and answer about the recent city controversies. I was familiar with all of them so reading the paper every day since I moved here has been a good thing. Not counting the opinions of the guy from the Third Ward and the Canadian I won the support of 2 out of 3. It would have been a feat but doable to have caught all three and I learned a lot in the exchange.
Keeping it free form and just try to answer the questions seems like might be a better way then to elucidate talking points and try to work them in. I know I’m sick of the worst excesses of that mentality and maybe being its antithesis is a strength. Its hard for me to want to be political.
I worked on a political campaign and got very turned off by politics. I didn’t like only telling the piece of the truth that helped you win. I didn’t like that narrow focus of a political win and the gamesmanship of it just felt wrong and dirty. I won’t use people or even look at everyone from the lens of what can they do for me.
After dinner I gathered more signatures. Nothing that funny. Leslie Lane is full of characters. I see how I ended up here, I fit right in. Most folks are real nice. The scared ones though, the ones who won’t come to their door, the one who locked their car when they saw me walking up the street, it really breaks my heart. I wish I had a way to tell them there is no need for fear, we can trust each other, we’re all in this together.
2nd ward city council
So my life appears to have gotten a lot more interesting. Its been weird adjusting to an empty house with Dad gone, and John and Kevin moved on with their lives. I have kind of appreciated the silence and aloneness, being social for a living. I was looking forward to getting a little more productive around the house and being more physically active with the dog. But I read the paper.
Last weekend I saw my city council rep Jason Thornhill in the paper with an article that nobody is running for city council in the second ward. Hmmm. They had contingency plans of write in elections if no one applies to be on the ballot or even Jason out of the goodness of his heart said he would continue to serve if no one ran. That seems insane and so I thought, well shit, I am just sitting around with the dog why don’t I do it. I had cancelled my satellite, my DVD player broke and only one channel comes in so its not like I can sit around and watch TV. If I blog more, I’ll start losing subscribers.
So I posted on Facebook, “should I run for 2nd ward city council? Nobody else is.” People liked it and it got 20 comments. Only one cautionary “It’ll cut into your reading time.” But I’m not that into reading anymore, except for comic books (mid 70s Spider Man now). The novel I’m reading has footnotes, that’s kind of wrong in some ways.
It was a holiday weekend so I got to sit on the idea without any way to move it forward. Did hash it around with Trevor and he put me on to a ward map and pushed me to call the city clerk instead of just dropping by as had been my plan. That was a good move. She was very cool. Don’t tell me anything, the media calls every day to see what’s up. My address and phone number will become a public record. Might be OK, right now no one calls and I pay a chunk of change for the phone. I can always just turn off the ringers.
I feel like my address is already an open book. Every drunk and drug addict in town knows where I live because I live a block from the substance abuse treatment agency I work at. I just try to be nice to people and I feel safe.
At lunch I picked up the forms and talked to the city clerk. She was cool and organized. My lunch runs 11:30-12:30 so I can get business done if I’m lucky and I was today. You only need 50 signatures to get on the ballot but you can only submit 75. That makes me nervous because I don’t know if I’ll make the cut off to get them checked and have time to get more. I got 25 today, and turned one down because I didn’t want to go back out which I regret now so I feel pretty good about it. If I knocked them all out by Thursday night I could maybe find out in time to get a few more Tuesday, the cut off day. It would be a nice sign of organizational strength to do it. I have been careful to be clear I need registered voters and have steered clear of rentals when I know of them.
It was surprisingly fun collecting signatures. I went to Henry’s first and he showed me his remodeling project. Our houses were built by the same developer so his copper pipes welded to steel nipples corrosion problem could be an issue for me. I don’t know. John and Mary were next and then I had to hit strangers. It gets dark early so some people thought it was a little sketchy but most were really nice. Some had me in and rounded up the family to sign. At one house there was a dog party so the pug and chihuahua were wearing tutus. The 17 year old demanded an anti-chihuahua policy to win his vote. I had to stand mute and took the political stance that I was pro dog.
An older woman gave me the third degree and couldn’t figure out where I’d seen her before, it came out she was animal control and I got to thank her for her service. The Shaws offered me ginger ale and we got caught up and reintroduced. The guy in his boxers with the pistol in the waste band is now my Facebook friend. I went to almost every house on my street and introduced myself. It was really really cool.
“Are you a Republican or a Democrat?” was the most common question. “I am an independent” I would say which was never good enough so sometimes I would add “I lean to the left though” although once I said “well, I’m actually an anarchist but that seems too complicated to talk about on someone’s stoop”.
i didn’t tell anyone i’m casual about punctuation and capitalization if someone is not paying me to write. the stipend doesn’t kick in for two years so its half a volunteer gig. sacrifice for the community. i’ll pay it but i won’t pay muting my autthentic voice or pretending to be something i’m not.
People want more cops and people want less cops. Maybe its what side of the street your on. Some people want to know what you stand for, and the neighborhood watch was alerted. someone was “canvassing the neighborhood”. He had a cap and had a beard and I’d never heard of his address. He said he was collecting signatures for 2nd ward City Council.
‘live it like it might be your last’
Only about 3 hours left here in 2011. I’ve been puttering, listening to some music, hanging out with the dogs. I am having people over tomorrow to usher in the New Year and don’t mind having a quiet night at home. My dad always preached that, not to be going out with all the drunks on the road. I hadn’t been listening to much music but two weeks with a dog and no TV my taste for it came back. Its been a real joy listening to some alt country I didn’t know I had, the Bottle Rockets ‘Songs for Sahm’ a really great album, and Larry Norman’s ‘Something New Under the Son’ which is highly singable and I know it well and “Its today that counts, live it like it might be your last”. Been my watchwords tonight.
Made me change my plans from going to bed early to better deal with a big today tomorrow but not if it might be my last. Better to ring in the New Year with the dogs. Drink some Chai with Baileys and listen to Garcia and Grisman. Its made me realize I’m at peace. I wouldn’t call anyone or try to shake something up, there’s not really thing I have left unsaid. Puttering listening to some familiar tunes putting a little buzz on, in PJs and house shoes, fat and grateful. “If you go down to the woods today, you’d better go in disguise, for every bear there ever was…. Today’s the day the teddy bears have their picnic”.
I have a pork roast thawing on the counter and black eyed peas soaking for my lucky dishes themed dinner party. Cleaned out the garden bed that’s not a raised bed and if its not to windy I will have the fire there. I have a metal container and will get my first hearty guest to help carry the picnic table down to the vegetable garden area. With the bench and my lawn chairs should be fine, I’m not expecting the masses. Unless you come and bring a few friends. (I’ve got enough grub and goodies come on by).
The Amaryllis I got on discount late is blooming right on time. Christmas is overrated. I like a New Years Day gathering because its pretty well over and its the easiest time to show off the Christmas finery at least once. It seems silly to go through the trouble and expense of a tree and such and not have anyone see it. Not that I’m getting all fancy or anything. To much clutter and unfinished projects for that but the tree is still pretty.Monday I’ll break it down perhaps, although with Jeff and Becky coming over the following weekend if its still sucking water may let it go another week.
I do rather like it. I guess plotting the fate of the Christmas Tree isn’t in keeping with living like it might be your last. I do like to think of it with popcorn and cranberries in the back yard for its next phase.
I am seriously considering a run for city council. I read in the paper no one is running yet and its 5 days until intentions need to be made to get on the ballot. I think its only 50 signatures to get on I need to look into it. The newspaper called my Ward “apathetic”. I am offended. I am not apathetic even I haven’t been to a city council meeting or done a lot of lobbying. I considered contacting my current Council member Jason Thornhill about getting a sidewalk on my block. With the treatment center up the street and just generally people walking there’s a lot of foot traffic and speedy cars on a steep hill. But then I learned he wasn’t running for re-election so I thought he wouldn’t really care what I wanted on his way out. But I vote, read the paper every day, talk to my neighbors (I know almost everyone on the block), walk the neighborhoods and keep an eye on things, work in the neighborhood, pick up beer cans, whiskey bottles and such. My neighbors garden, belong to CSAs or shop at the Farmer’s Market like I do. We recycle and say ‘Hi’ to each other. Apathetic my ass.
It would mean being busier. Having other commitments. But I think there’s a stipend and my life is dull enough I could afford an outside project and what an opportunity. Might get a chance to do some good as well. I floated the idea on Facebook and won some offers of help and support. I’ve kind of swore off politics but it was the campaigning, the only telling the parts of the truth that help you, the focus on the political win at the expense of greater questions about Truth and Equity that bugged me. The campaign would be short and if I run unopposed perhaps I can just tell the truth and talk to my neighbors like it is sort of supposed to be. Then it just becomes a question of governance which seems a little less problematic.
My other potential life complicating project is going solar. Kevin has offered me a deal on panels, they are already in my garage and he’s pledged some assistance and a payment plan. Hard to say no even though I don’t use much electricity. It seems like such the right thing to do and very cool. What a 2012 it would be if I could pull those things off, plus a little home improvement a bit more self improvement. Getting closer to the life I would like to live, ‘live it like it might be your last’.
we don’t make flags here anymore
Merry Christmas faithful reader and I am glad I got a chance to post before the big holiday celebration. It feels good to be up in Michigan. I have been ill all week but am feeling much better, mostly recuperated except for a bit of a cough. Fido held up OK on the trip. We enjoyed stopping in St Louis Thursday night and seeing Mark and Sarah and having some Thai food at King & I. Yummy.
Fido enjoyed eating all the chicken bones he found on our walks in St Louis. He’s not used to walks in the big city where the streets are paved in chicken bones. He also enjoyed when we stopped for a hike at a metro-park in suburban Dayton. We hiked a 1.2 mile loop which was about all I could handle yesterday. Today we walked up town and did the river walk, Monroe is a cute town and there a few nice views of downtown we found. The economic downturn is at least a boon for preservation as things are less changed then in past visits.
Have a family gathering tonight, breakfast tomorrow and another dinner tomorrow as well. Doing this Christmas thing up right. We went to the farmers market today and I was impressed with the winter offerings. Got apples, red onions, shallots, black strap molasses, honey, yukon golds [do you capitalize when a place is the name of a thing, like Yukon golds? doesn’t look right, I think not.], plus some christmas cookies to buff out the ones I got from Sarah, so I can serve them at tomorrow’s dinner. I got this German kind I’ve never had before. I also got these green eggs. I’ve never seen such a thing, but its an heirloom chicken variety. Quite impressive and a distinct taste the farmer said. I also got a kohlrabi as big as your head, I’ve never seen one so big.
The big reason I wanted to post though is I have a poem I wrote on the way up passing through a small town in Ohio:
Welcome to Findlay
Home of Flag City
But we don’t make flags here anymore
They’re all made in Red China
Which shouldn’t surprise ya
It’s like everything else in the whole damn store.
So there ain’t no good jobs
Cuz some soulless corporation
Didn’t think their workers had a right to a living wage
So they took all our good jobs
And sent them to the Third World
Just to make a few more dollars, its a brazen age.
So welcome to Findlay
Home of Flag City
But we don’t make flags here anymore
They’re all made in Red China
Which shouldn’t surprise ya
It’s like everything else in the big box store.
If you’re lucky enough to have a job
It’s probably part time
Its a tough old world in the service line
And I will serve you and you will serve me
But ain’t none us making no money
Cuz we ain’t making nothing, nothing but time.
So welcome to Findlay
Home of Flag City
But we don’t make flags here anymore…
Waiting for the Sunday Paper
I don’t like to blog this early on a Sunday morning. I like to drink coffee and read the newspaper, cover to cover, less the adds and sports. But no paper. I see Mary across the street looking under all the cars and wandering around the front yard. Its tough for the newspapers in this brave new world we’re creating. The newspaper continues to shrink, both in content and type size, while the price continues to climb.
I have more compassion for my ever changing cast of newspaper delivery folks. They seem on average to last about 6 weeks, some a little more, some a lot less. Its a tough gig, piece work pay, hard wear and tear on the vehicle, tough hours, especially on the weekends and your paid as independent contractor so no taxes taken out and that wicked 11% Self Employment tax coming next April. Probably good none of them make it. Its mostly black folks here in Columbia. I’ve had 2 clients land this job or helping their girlfriends do this job because the Tribune won’t let Felons deliver the newspaper.
Its a mean old world I tell people, almost every day. Most people don’t know, they think they’re losers and fuck ups and young ones don’t know that it used to be different. If you stay on track you mostly catch some traction and move forward. Unless your on the sex offender registry and live in a tent in the woods. Then you do the right thing just to keep death at bay and stave off the inevitable physical decline as best you can until some random tragedy closes this chapter.
I am bitter without a newspaper, my little church of knowing what happened yesterday. That’s where they put the good stuff too, the funnies in color, the gardening column, the travelogues, and high art biopics that my brother found amusing for redneck Missouri.
My legs are a little sore. Did some serious damage on the strawberry patch. Last years month of super hot hit them hard and the zoysa grass is quick to fill the gap. Its hard to pull those long roots all intertwined with the surviving berries. But I keep plugging away and putting in the super cheap off season tulip bulbs I bought. Its not helping me get other things done with Christmas coming but its getting more off season every day so it too has its time pressures. It’ll be worth it in the Spring.
Made Split Pea Dal for Erica and Jamie’s Solstice party. It was fun. Make a dish that looks like baby poop if you want a lot of leftovers to take home. I also took some green tomato chutney in a santa cup. Glad I did because Erica gave me one of her Skin Grin All Purpose Herbal Salve. Gave me a tour of her garden with keyhole beds and discussed her experience with chickens (layers doing nicely, eating chickens were more trouble in that stretch of heat I mentioned). It was fun making the scene and hanging out around the fire. I have a reputation as a sort of recluse (“an Indian who stays close to the fort”, Jamie said.) So people made a big deal of my showing up.
Also Kevin is starting to move out so with just Fido around, he’s running around with his Santa doll now, pretty cute. I think he’s watching for the paper as well. I’m probably projecting though. I helped him with a load yesterday and promised to help him today but I have a lot on my agenda. This being social thing takes time. Sarah and I are doing a little Christmas shopping and hope to catch Christina in the Christmas Chorale this afternoon. I also pledged to go to the off leash areas by Cosmo park with Michael and Olive. I am hoping Olive will teach Fido to stay closer when we’re on the trails.
Hold that thought. I’m drinking some medium-light Ethiopian this morning. Pretty yummy. Whoops there’s the paper. TTFN faithful reader.
Good News for Chimps
I just saw a story that the NIH is getting rid of almost all animal testing on our closest cousins chimpanzees. I’ve got a soft spot for chimps and grant them a certain level of personhood. Its not complete but its pretty close. Now we need to protect their habitat and keep extant their natural culture and genetic diversity and start building from that. I was all fire for chimps back in the day and wrote this song that kind of speaks for itself
Chimp Poem
Out in the jungle were some chimpanzees
Eating some fruit, swinging through the trees
Minding their own business, not hurting anyone
Raising their babies, and having fun
Until that fateful day when they were nabbed
And shipped to the States for a research lab
They were poked and prodded, separated from their mates
Ninety five percent of chimps shared the same fate
But our superior intellect the scientists say
Gives us the right to do what we may
Torture the dumb chimps in our quest for knowledge
Because that’s what the ethicist taught us in college.
Driving through the suburbs in their SUV
Was an upper middle class American family
They were driving to Junior’s first soccer game
On that fateful day when the aliens came
Sucked up to a saucer by a tractor beam
They were sent to another world by a teleport machine
They were poked and prodded, separated from their mates
Ninety five percent of humans shared the same fate
But our superior intellect the aliens say
Gives us the right to do what we may
Torture the dumb humans in our quest for knowledge
Because that’s what our ethicist taught us in college.
Believe it or not half of this tale is true
And you know you wouldn’t want it to happen to you
So keep in mind the Golden Rule
And don’t use chimps as your research tool
The wild chimps should be left alone
They need habitat to call their own
The research chimps should all be set free
To be the wild things God wants them to be
To be the wild things God wants them to be.
#######
Multiconstruct 
Recent Comments