Why are we in this hand basket and where are we going?

I haven't done a political rant for a while, but that doesn't mean it isn't pretty depressing out there with gushing oil rigs, markets melting down, and various never-ending wars.

In spite of the fact that it looks like the economy has bottomed out, I've never quite trusted the financial "recovery." Unemployment is high, housing is still in the toilet, and bankers seem to be back to business as usual. I came across this scary video during my morning net-surf. The ups and downs of the current market are eerily like those of a couple of years ago.

Watch it and weep. Or have another drink.

Alberta Oil Sands

Normally I'm proud of my Canadian roots and the fact that Canada really is a kinder gentler nation than my adopted homeland. Canadians don't torture people as a matter of government policy; they have universal healthcare; right-wing-whacko fundamentalist politicians are rare; and on and on and on. But on environmental issues, Canada is not so kind and gentle. One big one overshadows all others.


H2oil animated sequences from Dale Hayward on Vimeo.

Fiddler on the Roof

Having earned a well-deserved reputation for sleeping through various musicals, operas and plays over the years, I was pleasantly surprised that my eyelids stayed in the upright and open position for the entire performance of Fiddler on the Roof last night at The Paramount.

I think this is probably one of the best musicals of all time - not only because I stayed awake but because, unlike a lot of musicals and operas, the music and storyline are understandable, moving and entertaining.

Megan the Elder loves the musical and the movie. She owns a videotape (how 80's is that?!) of the movie and brought it to my place a few months ago to watch it with me. I was vaguely familiar with the storyline, but I had never seen the play or watched the movie in its entirety. And in spite of the fact that musical movies don't usually work for me, I was quite prepared to do my boyfriendly duty and watch it with her. I was unprepared to enjoy it as much as I did.

So when this highly professional production came to the Paramount, I jumped at the chance to grab a couple of tickets to see the real thing. Having already seen the movie, seeing the stage production was a bit like reading the book after seeing the movie. I was prepared to be disappointed because there usually are big and sometimes huge differences between the original and the movie. But not in this case. The movie was a faithful reproduction of the the stage version, and both are fabulous!

Big Boy Toys

In some ways it seems kinda odd that such a low-tech exercise like digging a trench is necessary for such a hi-tech convenience like the internet. And yes, I know that things like wireless internet through the cellular network and WiMax via a cellular-like infrastructure can bring modern communications to a lot of places without digging a trench to that place, but neither of them are available at my CITW. And no, I haven't forgotten that back in the day when I used to work for a living, I made a good living (which continues to this day) on the low-tech side of the very high-tech communications revolution of the 90's.

In Chelan County, as well as providing power, the Chelan County PUD (a semi-communistic power co-op) provides the fiber optic cable that various internet, CATV, and telephone providers use to compete for customers like me. Normally, the PUD would simply pull the fiber through the existing underground conduit that brings power to homes and cabins like mine. And they would do this at no cost to me! But unfortunately, my cabin was built in 1974, about the time that underground power installations were shifting from direct burial cables to cables in conduit. My cabin is fed with direct burial cables. In those cases, the PUD would trench in the new conduit for the fiber, again at no cost to me. But with recessions and budget cutbacks, the PUD no longer supplies underground conduit runs of more than 50'. The run from the road to my place is more like 150'. So after some conversations with the PUD, they offered to supply the conduit at no charge if I took care of installing it.

I leapt at the chance to rent a giant Tonka Toy and brought Hal along to join in the fun. The object was to dig a trench from the house to the utility pole by the driveway without cutting the existing power and water lines. I had a locate service mark all the underground lines and fortunately they were all on one side of the driveway. We only had to be extra careful and dig by hand in the areas right at the pole and near the house. And while we were in the digging mode, I bought a 20' culvert to install at the driveway.

If I had grown up in the video game age, operating the excavator might have come more naturally. There are two 4-way hand controlled joysticks, two 2-way foot controls, and for extra added excitement, one of the hand controls has two extra directional functions. So by my calculations, there are at least 14 different ways to move things, and all of those functions can be engaged simultaneously with any one or more of the other functions. To calculate the permutations and possibilities are beyond my limited mathematical capabilities, but trust me, the possibilities are endless!

Here's Hal at the helm. Fortunately we never came to blows about whose turn it was to be the operator and whose turn it was to portray the typical utility worker leaning on a shovel.

Now it's my turn. It takes a while to get all the moves coordinated, and then just when you think the machine has become an extension of your body, it all falls apart and you have to think about every move.

Notice the look of intense concentration. And jeez... is my gut really that big? I guess that's what happens when I haven't played racquetball for three months. But then again, if I ever have to rejoin the labor force, I could get a dirty wife-beater T-shirt, some tattoos and a cigar so I could pass as a heavy equipment operator.

The trench has a nice graceful curve to it, don't you think?

Amazingly enough, we managed to install both the conduit and the culvert without breaking anything. I tried to use the excavator to do some badly needed grading in the yard, but the machine and my limited operating skills weren't up to the task. So I'll have to leave that for another time on a different machine.

I can hardly wait!

The trip back

I had a good visit with my Mom and family back in the Homeland. And if anyone doesn't think I was in the Homeland, get a load of this:

And a half block away:

These shots were taken in Rosthern, Saskatchewan, the town closest to the villages that my parents grew up in.

The trip back was great. Sister Marian and I drove from Saskatoon to Edmonton listening to several episodes of This American Life. I spent the night there, drinking beer and playing dominos with the Dukovacs, including  Sarah and Alvin who recently moved to the wilds of Alberta from the wilds of Zambia. It was good to see them all.

I had a good drive back to Seattle, leaving St. Albert at 5:30AM and arriving back in Seattle at six in the evening. The drive through the mountains was fabulous, with lots of sunshine and lots of deer, elk, and even a couple of black bears.

I took a few shots of Mount Robson, which more often than not is shrouded in cloud. I tried something different this time, taking multiple exposures of the same shots, and then manipulating them in a program to get high dynamic range (HDR) photos. Here's the normally exposed original photo:

Here are the underexposed and overexposed shots.

With the magic of computer manipulation, here a couple of the results:

Here's another variation:

I'll have to play with this program some more, but it looks pretty cool. You can get anything from almost comic book to painting effects. I've meant to play with this style of photography ever since I did the Left Five Dead photoshoot. You might remember this photo from that series. It was done in the same HDR style.

Carbon Footprint Expanders

I delivered my latest toys up to the CITW yesterday.

I unloaded them and put them in the garage to wait for next winter. I don't feel too bad about my carbon footprint. I figure that expansion is at least somewhat cancelled out by the two zero emission toys next to them.

Oh, and Hal said if I buy two more of anything, he's going to start calling me Noah.

I'm in East Glacier, Montana right now after a long day on the road from the CITW. I drove through driving rain, snow and lots of sunshine in between. Here in East Glacier, the temperature is 24 degrees and there's lots of white stuff on the ground. The roads were wet, but clear. I hope it doesn't get any worse and the drive to Saskatoon tomorrow isn't too "interesting."

The Price of a Trip to Canada

Since I'll be heading up to Canada tomorrow for a week or so, I thought it would be a good time to examine some of the costs.

 

The semi-disposable wood fiber (fibre for you Canadians) dish cloths I can find only at Home Hardware in Canada. 

$1.99

Roger's Golden Syrup. A sugar cane syrup that is far tastier than any of the corn syrups so readily available in the States.

$2.59

Mother's Day with my mother.

Priceless!

Espressicano

Whenever I go into a coffee shop, I know what I want but I don't know how to order it. I usually ask for a short, double-shot Americano with lots of room, or I ask for a double espresso with a double shot of hot water. What I want is a cross between an Americano and an espresso, but I don't want to use ten words to describe such a simple drink. So the other day I came up with espressicano, and ordered one at my favorite drive-up coffee stand on the way up to the CITW. The barista laughed, but she knew what I wanted.

Cool! Maybe we can start a trend. If each you, my six loyal readers, used espressicano to order a coffee, it could go viral! Who knows, it could be another "shot heard 'round the world."