August 31, 2010 by mike.

The puppy, it turns out is a cross between an Akita and a Malamute/husky.  I took her in for some shots yesterday and quite by coincidence ran into a woman who had one of her litter mates.  That is how I know the breed.  I had never heard of the Akita breed before.  So I did the Google thing and found out about it.

It turns out that they are from Northern Japan and they get their name from the Prefecture where they were first bred.  I knew that puppy was going to be a big dog.  But, not until I read about the breed did I realize how big.  Females will get to between eighty and one hundred pounds.  They are an intelligent, loyal and friendly breed.

She was whelped on the 21st of June.  So she will be a”puppy” for a little while yet.  She is definitely an outside dog and we have been keeping her on the front porch.  I doubt that she sleeps through the night.  But, she has quit whining in the middle and most of the night.  Yet by full light she does give a howl.  So I get up and go out to pet and play with her for a bit.

I am surprised how well June has taken to her (she was her Idea).  Still no name.  We are waiting either for the right one to come to us or for her personality to express one.  In any case,  my sleep-in days are over.

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August 29, 2010 by mike.

Generally people inherit things from their parents.  My siblings and I have inherited our genes from our mother and father.  Thank-you very much.  They are good, strong and carry true.  When inheritance is talked of, most people think of the deathbed bequeaths to children.

There is an instance when parents inherit from their children.  That is the case I am addressing.  I have inherited a puppy from my son.  Many years ago I inherited one from my daughter also.  That particular puppy was a cross between a herd dog and a German Sheppard.  She was a very smart dog and I kept her for fifteen years.

It is hard to tell at this point if my new puppy will be smart or not.  We have not yet named her, but she will be a big dog.  From the look and the lines she is a cross between a golden lab and a malamute.  With that in mind she will be an outside dog.

Still as far as puppies go she is cute and energetic.  A little shy but friendly.   I will wait to see if she will be a good dog or not.  I do believe though that this will be the last one I take in.

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July 27, 2010 by mike.

   This past week I have finished hacking down the tall grass and then mowing the lawn.  Since that time I’ve noticed the robins, at least, have come back.  I have also refilled my hummingbird feeder and they have shown up in force.

The squirrels and chipmunks are still back in the woods.  There are new visitors.  A neighbor’s dog has been coming around and crapping in the yard.  A deer. at least I think it is a deer, is breaking down my rose bushes and eating the new tender leaves.  I have seen this before.  I think that there is some sort of nutrition in them, vitamin C maybe.

Then, the other morning I went out and there was a raptor high in a tree over looking the clear cut.  It could have been an owl.  I didn’t get a real good look.

But, I have refilled the hummingbird feeder and  the ones that are here are fighting over the juice.  It has been warm and I have seen the little birds flitting around and feeding on small flowers and flower bunches hanging from the trees.  Once I replenished their feeder, though, they have been fighting over the territory around the immediate area.

They have been as aggressive as if it were spring time and nesting was their imperative. They are young and have none of an adults’ plumage.  So is this just a innate response.  Or are they the animal equivalent of “I’ve got mine, now, screw you”?

It is a real question.  But, I am curious.

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July 21, 2010 by mike.

   When we returned from our three week absence, the first thing I noticed was that most of my lawn was four feet deep in grass.  I knew that it would be, but seeing it put me back anyway.  The next thing that I noticed was the lack of animals.  Specifically, the birds.

The blue-jays, robins, chickadees, hummingbirds, even the grackles nesting under my eves.  The chipmunks I could hear back in the trees, but no squirrels.  I do have two new visitors, cats.

One is an old female.  I guess she is a female.  She’s a calico and I’ve been told only females are calico.   Actually she has been around for a number of years.  In the past I would ding her with my BB gun (just to keep her on her toes).  Lately though I think we have reached an accord.  I no longer ding her and she leaves little gifts on my front step.  A couple of moles and another time a dead mouse.  That has been in the two weeks since we’ve been home.

I have spent the last two weeks knocking down the grass.  This cat then in the evening stalks the new short grass hunting the now exposed mole holes and their deep grass runs.  In any case, the two of us seem to be getting along better than in the past.

Still the birds have all moved on.  Maybe, the nesting is done and it was time to move on.  Or the food source just got scarce.  I sure do miss their activity though.

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July 7, 2010 by mike.

We are more or less done with our road trip. Currently we are in Kennewick, Wa. Tonight we had a salmon feed at our daughter’s house. While we were eating, the news from MSNBC was on in the background. As it happened the hour long report was from Afganistan. I could not help but be reminded of a time fourty years ago, when we would sit down and have dinner with the reports of the war in Viet Nam issuing from the TV. It made me sad. Both the memories and the current reality. There is really nothing more to say. We have come no further than then.

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June 26, 2010 by mike.

   In transit would be a better description.  We were in Rapid City this past week at another of June’s conferences.  The last one I’m pretty sure, since June won’t be running for re-election this year.  We did some of the touristy stuff.  Drove out to Devil’s Tower, called Bears Lodge by Native America.  And then out to The Crazy Horse Memorial and a quick swing by Mt Rushmore.  As far as sightseeing that’s all we really did around the Black Hills.

   Then, Thursday morning we bombed on down to The Rocky Mountain National Park.  It was the first time that we’ve ever been there.  The mountains were/are magnificent.  The last of the fourteen thousand foot peaks of the Rockies. Nothing north of there, in the states is that high.  Very pretty.  We drove the road up and over the continental divide from the east side to the west.  The road just kept going up and up.  Every time I thought that we had run out of up, We would come around the shoulder of a mountain and there would be another mountain and on up we would continue.  The pass was near twelve thousand feet.  Nose bleed territory.

   Our camp was at seven thousand foot plus in a very sparse campground where the trees had been removed.  The entire park and a great deal of the surrounding area is infested with pine bark beetles and most of the lodge pole pine and more than a few of the  Ponderosa pine are dead.  It was a sad thing to see.

   In our true fashion, we took off early this morning and arrived here in Moab, Utah,  during the heat of the day.  We did get a room, after three days I am in need of some cleaning.  Hopefully,  We can get out to the Canyonlands Park in the cool of the morning.  I’ve never seen it, so it will be something new. 

   But, tonight we have WI-FI (FREE at a dumpy little motel), and a hot shower.  Tomorrow and for a couple of days after we’ll be camping.  So I will again be incommunicado. 

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June 23, 2010 by mike.

   When I start My morning walk on the web, My first stop is the USGS earthquake site.  This past week there was a four point two quake  about a mile and a half down on the eastern slopes of the Cascades, East of Mt Adams.  It is the first time I have seen one in that area.  There is a fault line that runs Northwest by Southeast beneath that  general spot, from the Puget Sound South into Oregon.

  What makes this curious, to me, is that the earthquake was North of a town named Maupin, Or.  Which sits on a parallel NW by SE trending fault line, that  runs under Mt. St. Helens South into Oregon.  There have been quakes in the general area of Maupin over the last three years or more.  All subsequent to the cessation of the most recent volcanic activity at Mt. St. Helens.  Most of those quakes, have been in the 3 point range, plus or minus.  The distance between the quake sites is less than one hundred miles apart, north from south.

  Does it mean anything more than the earth is continuing it’s forever motion.  That I don’t know.  But it is fun to look at and wonder about.

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June 22, 2010 by mike.

   It was on this date in history, June 22, 1633, that the Papal Condemnation of Galileo was signed and published.  We can look back on this now and see that it was an assault on science.  Not just a censoring or dilution of knowledge.  But a direct abuse of scientific thought.  The basis of the pillorying of Galileo was the bible.  The implied and interpreted word of god as sacrosanct and infallible.

  Well, Galileo was right then and will always be right.  But, there are still a tremendous number of people who not only disavow the knowledge of scientific thought and reason.  They still use the silly simplistic interpretations of the bible to justify their adherence to stupid.

   We look back at the “church” of that time and smirk at their stupid.  It is no different than the stupid that exists today regarding evolution.  I am not the first to say this “The Flintstones is not a documentary”.  Yet, religionists believe that man and dinosaurs coexisted.  That the reason they went extinct, is either they were too big to fit onto Noah’s boat or that they were hiding with the unicorns.  Take your pick, they do.

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June 20, 2010 by mike.

   The time that I have been letting life slip past has been, unlike me, moving many other things along.  My backyard has become a lunch counter for more different critters than at any time in the past.  I have always had Hummingbirds nest close by.  Then a few years ago a pair of Robins.  About four years ago the Flickers moved in followed by a pair of Pileated woodpeckers.  Then doves.

   There are  some birds that have only fed and migrated through in the past.  But, now seem to have taken up residence.  Even though I don’t much care for Grackles, I have left the pair that are nesting in the gutter on my roof, alone.  I am nowhere near the expert that my mother is or the aficionado that my sister is. So any attempt by me to describe the other birds would be a woeful exercise.

   Aside from the large number of different types of birds.  My resident chipmunk population has jumped by one.  Making a pair.  As has my squirrel census increased by one.  Chipmunks feed in the AM, squirrels in the PM.  Even a pair of Blue Jays have nested somewhere back in brush.  Speaking of which, is part of the wet spring’s growth.  Along with the grass in my yard.  In the past I have joked that the grass was high enough to lose a dog or small child.  This year, as if by prophecy, it is true.  Yes, as I was mouldering, there has been an explosion of life all around me.  I can’t say I haven’t noticed.  Just that I haven’t been part of it.

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June 20, 2010 by mike.

If May was such a pissy month, why haven’t I done anything so far into June?  Well, I’ve been resting from this entire past winter/spring.  Since January, I’ve been accompanying June on her excursions and duties for the tribe.  Mostly, those have been around Oregon and Washington.  It seemed for a while that we were spending three days at home and four on the road.  It wore me down.  And is probably why I got sick last month.

   May did end on a high note with brother Tim’s wedding, followed by a grandson’s graduation.  But the overall tenor of the season did not move me much from my fog.  So what has happened to re-motivate me?  I guess I’m just forcing myself forward.  I don’t think it’s the current trip, But maybe.  In any case I will catch up with spring just in time for summer.

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