KEYHOLE GARDENS

KEYHOLE GARDENS

I'm always a little late to the trend, style and taste included, but last year we experimented with this “new” concept of a keyhole garden. It's a idea that is being pushed in dry areas of the world like Africa. One of our misgivings about a garden out here in our dry, hot, and sandy desert is the large amount of water it takes to produce a tomato, egg plant, cucumber or whatever. I mean the cost of water alone could buy bushels of veggies at the market. Throw in fertilizer and time, well while I'd like to be all “green”, sustainable, and you know, kind to Mother Earth but economically it just doesn't make sense and I'm a poor man. So when I came across the keyhole idea from a Saturday morning presentation by the El Paso water company we decided to give it a try.

The concept is very simple. Create a somewhat raised garden so all plants can be reached within an arm's length. Make a place in the middle of the garden to put kitchen compost and water it. That's about it.

We chose to use sandbags, but the perimeter wall can be just about anything you can find, rocks, bricks, logs.

We found an old water purifier fiberglass tank, but some use wire or five-gallon buckets. Again your imagination for the container and what you have on hand is your basic limits for the container. Mainly it should hold compost and allow for drainage of water. As you can see I drilled holes in ours.

For the floor you put anything that will slow the water down but at the same time be porous. We used cardboard, sticks, leaves, paper and more.

On the inside of the walls we put up some tar paper to keep the moisture from getting to the sandbags.

Put about 12 to 18 inches of topsoil. (We used good old West Texas sand and some mulch)

Make a lid to put on the compost bin. Add the kitchen scraps. Sow the seeds and you're off.

The watering is done through the compost bin. ( We did cheat and water outside the bin until the sprouts came out.) The idea is that in 3^rd world countries they would dump their dishwater into the bin.

Early on you can see how pretty the cabbage, lettuce, peas and our one tomato plant are doing. We harvested lettuce, some peas, and tomatoes. The beautiful cabbage had been eaten badly by those beautiful white butterflies that visited. (actually, their larva and subsequent caterpillars) while we were on vacation. But that tomato plant grew and grew and grew and you can see in the photo of Kamala in front of the garden it had taken over the entire garden.

 By Autumn's end we had collected a bounty great tomatoes (and I love vine ripened tomatoes). When our first freeze hit I counted over 200 green tomatoes, golf ball size or bigger.

Our second keyhole-

We also tried another keyhole garden, but by digging down in the ground a couple of feet, throwing in cardboard, paper and leaves. We used some old earthen roof tiles to build up the sides to about a foot above the ground level. We used a 5 gallon bucket with holes drilled in the sides for the compost bin. Unfortunately the picture doesn't show off the construction very well but it does show it's production.

I should add to this little bit musings that neither of us have the gift of a green thumb, so while this is only our first year, not much of an experiment yet, it seems to me that the keyhole concept must be most important factor of success.

If you were really interested in making one these guys do a much better job of explaining it, visit

keyhold garden

WITNESS

ENJOY THE RIDE

I offer up this bit of brain drippings knowing full well I may be wrong in my attempt see into the nature of humans.

"Proof of One's facts doesn't always prove the theory."

(I said that.)

Still the Question begs to be answered so I dally on with my thoughts and perceptions.  The following is a sharing of those meanderings.

THE PURPOSE OF LIFE

Let me be right up front here. If there be purpose to this stream of Chaos, it's  to bare witness to the marvelous flow of this mystical world in this magical time.

NEXT BIG QUESTION

The next question is not; Is there a God? but Is there a Me?

Dust Devil -

Out here in West Texas we've got these little whirlwinds that twist their erratic paths across the dry landscape picking up sand, leaves, sticks and whatever trash it comes across high into air. If you get blindsided by one of these little critters you'll end up with eyes blinded , your mouth crunching sand and your favorite hat flying fast circles above your head then spit out 30 yards away in the middle of cactus patch (in West Texas the hat thing is particularly offensive). Now a Dust Devil is made up of air molecules, hot and hotter, exchanging places and in the process takes on an individual character by picking up environmental trimmings (sand, tumbleweeds,  roofing panels, whatever).

There's a sameness in all Dust Devils because of air exchange (swirly wind)  and all

are individuals due to the uniqueness of what they grab. Nothing static about these guys. They suck things in and spit things out in such rapid motion that within minutes every part of our little whirlwind has changed (air molecules to garbage can lids) Yet we see the little bugger continue twisting it's way through neighborhoods. Eventually it will simply die with a phizzle. This strange creature consists of nothing except what it does. It's a process more than a thing.

Well if we take a close look at ourselves we are a bit like our friend the Dust Devil, a whirlpool of chemicals, molecules and atoms which within their journey in and out of the whirlpool produce an experience and an awareness. With just a moment's attention, One can see this flow in thoughts, events, sensations. You are, literally, not the same person you were yesterday. New chemicals have danced into your body hooking up to form new cells which push old ones out. In time, all of the body is replaced. We, then, like the Dust Devil, are a happening, not a thing. Obviously, there are a lot of differences between the human processes and the whirlwind processes and, as far as we know the Dust Devil processes don't produce an awareness.   But who knows for sure?

The awesomeness of Awareness is to produce a sensation of a static self with a strong feeling of control over both itself and the world around it. But couldn't that just be another illusion? I mean we've yet to come up with any real evidence for the ghost in the machine You know, the the little character riding around up there in your head,  pulling the levers, experiencing the world through your body, making Life's big decisions and exercising Will Power over your, sometimes, unruly body. Obviously, my culture tells me, and it sure feels like my "permanent" Self, or Soul is along for the ride and I'm a not just some fleeting awareness.

Free Will, well yes and no

When we take an honest look at ourselves we have to admit a lot of what we are is, thanks to dear old Mom and Dad, a glorious mix of that ancestral gene pool.

The body is, perhaps, the most obvious gift of genes. Size, strength, hair and eye. Of course, a whole hosts of  negatives in the form of disease  can be inherited. Our self image has a lot to do with this bundle of hair, skin, guts, and bones that has a lineage that stretches back into the obscurity of human beginnings.

Next, comes family and culture. The strength of their influence on us lies in fact they were Blessings from our youth, our very first description of the world, our Prime Paradigm.  Having no other descriptions to interfere with these group messages, we embraced them tightly and lovingly.

Mom and Dad (and our extended family) teach us, by their doings, what the world is like and how to react to it. From the "no,no s" that we get as rug rats to formal education a world view is laid out for us.

A beautiful thing about travel through or the study of other cultures is to realize just how many of our habits, styles, tastes, choices are gifts from our culture/subculture. Everything from what and how we eat to mate selection is shaped by our culture.

So, we're genes and culture running headlong into the unknown.  Bumping into rain, sunshine,  trees, bees, people,  sabertooth tigers (well not lately, but you get the picture) and a whole lot of other stuff that make up this environment thing. Now the first time we run into our neighborhood sabertooth tiger we have only our bodies and what Daddy told us about saber tooth tigers to form an appropriate behavior regarding said tiger. If you, somehow, manage to survive the first encounter then you would then have genes, culture, AND EXPERIENCE at your disposal for your next encounter. But lest we forget, experience is formed by what we already have, culture and genes.  

Now we could postulate our soul coming along for the ride, but between the body/culture/experience interaction with the changing environment there just ain’t much in the line of ‘work’ a soul would  be able to contribute except ride around and enjoy the ride (or not!). Clearly, no matter how you theorize this “soul” entity the only job he could possibly perform is to observe since all behavioral actions have already been taken.

A WORLD OF POSSIBILITIES-

The the soul is a fleeting, mystical  thing (created by the brain) which will dissipate with the end of this body.  Well, ENJOY THE RIDE!

The soul is an eternal entity which will continue long after the body ceases to function.  Ok, but there is still nothing for it to do, but observe, of course.  ENJOY THE RIDE!

The soul is a spiritual being, just here in this world to accomplish some mission, or maybe polish it’s own self until it has reached perfection.  Well, sorry, there really isn't too much to do here. You know, body, culture, experience and environment have already got it all covered.  So, come along for the ride, maybe you can learn something by just watching.  ENJOY THE RIDE?

So FREE WILL?  Sure, in the sense, that you can do “WHATEVER YOU WANT”.  Yes, you can do what you want to do.  But remember, every action that you take is dependent on how you body ‘feels” and  what you've learned up to this point.  This constantly changing WHIRLWIND self acts and reacts to it’s world according to the attributes it possesses(physical and mental) at any given time. It does what it wants to do. As actions and reactions lead to changes in our decision maker. They all have effects on our world and they, in turn, will have effects on both us and our world. Therefore, go forth in this world and make decisions and perform actions as you see fit and do so with confidence. Wait, wait I know that since you are free, you may choose to make all those actions without confidence, but, hey, I mean, Come on, it’s a lot more fun with confidence.

The kicker is that while we have all this Free Will and we get to go about making decisions and initiating actions, and parrying actions made upon us it could be pointed out that due to one’s physical body, the exact impact of family and culture, and the accumulation of experience leading up to now our decisions and actions could have been nothing other than what they were/are/ or will be.  Yep, our Free Will is completely predetermined. Again, forge ahead, with confidence.  Or not.

One last way of looking at this Free Will dilemma, which I tend to embrace, is that the self/soul is an awareness created by the brain/body which itself is transitory and changing as the whirlwind spirals off into the Existence performing actions which it wants but at the same time, it could do nothing else. Free Will or not, I choose to live life as if I had total control and accept total responsibility for my actions……... even if the Devil made me do it.

ENJOY THE RIDE.  

Hope to see you around.

In my youth I was a Seeker but all of that fell away and now in my old age, I'm just a Wanderer,and my vision is so much clearer for it.

Don’t like my paradigm?  Try The Egg by Andy Weir.  It’s a neat little short story. Or, hey, let's hear your's.

Attitude and bicycle touring

A long distant trip on a tandem bicycle is fun, awe inspiring, with beautiful sites, great food, and good conversations, but at the same time it is a continual exercise of polishing one's attitude.  It's not a real big secret that a person's attitude is one's filter of the world. On second thought maybe it is.  That gal who wrote THE SECRET sure made herself a bundle off the idea.  But, hey, the idea has been kicking around for a long time. 

My favorite story is about the guy who is running from a tiger, falls off a cliff and then grabs a grapevine to keep from falling to his death.  Death below, death above and right there in his hand is a grapevine with a cluster of grapes on it.  About that time he sees 2 little mice, one white and one black, gnawing away at his grapevine.  What to do? What to do?  Yep, he eats the grapes; delicious. Enjoy that moment!

As a teacher I've come across lots of people that simply hate where they live and can't wait to get away from there, but, if you engage them in some conversation, invariably their life sucks in general.  And it's that the crap in their life through which they see and pin their misery on where they live. We humans project our inner world out there on the environment. Attitude is everything!  Well, that might be a little too much, I mean that it might be possible to effect the material world with our thoughts.  Maybe Mohammad really did have the mountain come to him rather than him going to it simply by believing (he must have also "believed" it back, as no one reported a missing mountain).  However, that's not a philosophical stance that I'm prepared to defend, but I do KNOW that Attitude is a big part of our trips, and if you're going to do  some long distance touring then make a resolution to find  of little ways to do polish your attitude and keep it fresh and positive. 

The first thing I would recommend if you wanted to keep a glowing, happy attitude is to take Kamala along. Sorry, if she's already riding with me she's unavailable.  Kamala is a romantic optimist that will find something good in even really funky situations.  She is the PR person on our team.  She waves and yells at kids, she says hello to old ladies, when some guy yells the typical contact statement given to tandemists, "Hey she's not pedaling,"  she puts her fingers to her lips and smilingly mouths the words , "Don't tell." She talks sweetly to cats, and dogs, horses and cows. I swear, at a farm in Kansas she started sweetly talking to a herd of cows and before it was over they were galloping, (Yes, cows galloping) along with us.  When I start worrying about where  we're going to throw out our bed roll for the night, she just cheerfully retorts.  "Oh, don't worry, we'll find something."  Don't get me wrong, Kamala is not just some Pollyanna with her head in the clouds, but she just has the ability to see good in most people and most situations.  But ever once in a while she can get down and that's when I'm supposed to be MR. POSITIVE. The advantage of the tandem is that you always have someone there to help up you up.  If you can't get Kamala, get someone who sees the world through those rose-colored glasses. I cannot imagine doing a long trip with a pessimist. 

Obviously, attitude is, at least in someways, tied to a person's personality, but little things help. Like here's a little game that we call Omens.  Now before I get into this, Kamala and I consider ourselves spiritual but not religious.  Does that confuse you?  It's just that you can't get out into Nature very much to realize that there's something a tad bigger than our little egos, but religious dogma seems contrived and made up.  It's okay, whatever works for you, go for it!  For us, we kind of enjoy giving special meaning to objects, plants, and animals.  We make up our own omens. This game did not originate on bike trips, but from one of our other lives when we used to do quite a few long road trips into the Mexican backcountry, but it fits perfectly into a bike tour.  It requires being aware of the natural world that you're pedaling through and it polishes a good attitude at the same time.

Let me explain by example.  There is a beautiful rose-violet colored thistle plant out here in the Southwest.  I believe people actually call it a Rose Thistle, but Kamala and I have another association with it.  Years ago, on a particular hike in the Sacramento Mountains we took a little dog we had named Whisky (because whisky is a licker, get it? licker? liquor?) The bright thistles were everywhere.  Now Whisky was a beautiful spirit that just showed up one day and gave us about a year's worth of joy and then disappeared just as quickly.  So we call the Rose Thistles "Whisky Thistles"  and the meaning  we gave to it was that "You need to enjoy what you have and don't take anything for granted."  As we go pedaling, up hill or down, good road or bad, when we see a whisky thistle we have  to look at our lives and appreciate what we have.  It's always a positive and makes us feel better. How's that for polishing your spirit.  Whisky Thistles became the trip flower the year we went to Seattle.

The white Lilly Thistle represents a "tough but beautiful journey" and was our flower the year we rode mountains in New Mexico  and Colorado.

Poppies became the "Can Do" flower for our European trip when we began to see so many on tough stretches of road.

Hawks are hunter's and as such represent good hunting, meaning you should be looking at yourself and determining exactly what it is that you're looking for, or something you're looking for is at hand; pay attention.

You get the picture?  So these prophetic symbols are pure fantasy from our little "Cognitive Factory" (or are they?) .  They're fun to play with.  When something keeps coming across our consciousness we tag a positive meaning to it.  And you can stick a positive meaning to most anything; take crows.  Crows mean Death, but we take it as, not some creepy, gloomy premonition of our immediate death, but as - are we living like we are prepared to die.  That's just another way of saying - of all the things I could of done, I chose to be here on this bike at this time (tough or easy), So am I making this my first priority or is my mind somewhere else - Pay Attention!.  Some stick and stay around for years, some just last for a few days and fizzle into oblivion. 

Try it! I think you'll enjoy it. We do. Give something a meaning and then treat it as if it's true.  Just keep it positive.

I don't want to give the impression that we're two buddhas, floating over the landscape.  While we've got a long, strong, loving relationship that has just seems to keep improving with age there are "Times".  Times when the day is long, the legs are tired and the stress from the ride has made the cognition fuzzy at best. At these times one, or both of us get a little "cranky".  I get too harsh in my retorts.  Kamala begins to "wobble" in her thought process.  We just don't click and a conversation that is usually clear and understandable seems to be coming out of different realities. Kamala's trick to disagreements is to just to stop pedaling.  Where's that fellow that always yells, "She's not pedaling," when you need him? Now that really stops progress on a tandem.  My options are too limited.  I could yell and curse, but I learned a long time ago that's just going to get us deeper in the muck.  I have gotten off the bike and just sit down, but, although the thought has arisen, I have never just walked off.  Now, luckily, since 99% of our disagreements are frustrations from displacements and once we realize that the other person is getting hurt, we back off and after a few minutes of silence, we regroup, apologize and try to figure out what needs to be done to get on down the road. What we have found that the more we "polish" our general attitude, the less these little crazy times occur.

Sensing

Sitting quietly in the cactus garden, 

Sensing motors pulling/pushing,

Tires singing on the pavement, 

The breeze against body/face,

Birds talking, cat brushing legs, 

Muscle twitch, cheek itch,

Day dreams surface then vanish into a stream of thought that comes in waves

And as the wave begins to slow,

Awareness shows the point/portal/crater/mouth from which the world is said.

Sometimes sad/mean/cruel, but often sweet.

I love this life!

Charley's Electric Bluegrass Acid Trip

Charley's Electric Bluegrass Acid Trip

Kamala and I leave El Paso with the intention of going to northern New Mexico, but at the last minute we hear about Bluegrass Festival in Weed, New Mexico up in the cool Sacramento Mountains. We've enjoyed these all day events before so we detour and head out to Weed, a thriving little community of about 20 houses (maybe), a couple of churches, a store and gas station, and a school. We arrive about 30 minutes early and right away the scene turns a bit surrealistic as the parking attendant, a big gal in a day-glow vest is mounted on a great big horse. She bends down and instructs us to park..."Over yonder on the hill." And so we do and are met almost instantly by a couple of smiling guys, an old man and a teenage boy, wearing maroon Weed Bluegrass Festival T-shirts and driving a golf cart. "Ya want a ride over to the Gym?" they enthusiastically offer. Kamala and I look across the street at a large building which is about 200 yards away and, obviously the only place in the whole town big enough for this kind of shindig. Strange, I mean, it's so close, but, hey the natives are very friendly and, what the hell, we haven't ridden in a golf cart recently so we jump on. "Wheeeee!"

There are only a few people there as we pay and get our wrist bands. We find a good seat about half way back and on the side, I'm beginning to feel this buzz which I attribute to the fresh mountain air, but as I study the people coming in the I'm beginning to sense some sort of "Distorted Reality". Something is off. There are a few young people, but the crowd is definitely older. I remember, at one time, thinking, 'This will be considered a successful festival if no one breaks a hip.' The crowd seems to be a mixture of local families, mostly cowboy, old geezers down from their isolated mountain cabins, and affluent tourists. I'm not sure which category we fit; tourist I guess, but we're sure as hell not affluent.

The music starts and it is good. However, I keep getting drawn back to the crowd as it enters, mills around, greets one another and gossips. The chatter and the mood seems perfectly normal and yet the crowd? Well, it's strange. The acid must be kicking in now because the crowd is full of all these caricatures. Like the short, clean cut, gentleman with a black New York T-shirt that has a nose and ears that would be big on a man 3 times his size, or the crooked lady that had an extreme lean to one side when she walked, or the old gal with dark, penciled in eyebrows, or an older women dressed in a black shirt, black pants and new cowboy boots that seemed to lean and lurch herself forward in stumbling sort of gait that I continually feared she would go head first into the crowd or a wall, or the cowboy dandy that was all dressed up with a long sleeve shirt and a bandana around his neck in the hot weather (even old farts sometimes have to sacrifice comfort for 'cool'). Most people seemed to have some sort of exaggerated quality about their body, hair style or of mode of dress.

'Wow, this acid is some bad shit,' I think, 'I wonder what I look like?' And then I remember...'This ain't the 60's and I don't do that stuff no more. (tired of waking up on the floor).'

So I wonder, 'If I haven't done any drugs, nope, not even alcohol, what's going on with the crowd? Is it just that as we get older our "weirdness" both physical and behavioral become more accented? Oh my God, I wonder what mine are?'

Well the music was good, and the weird people? Well, I just went with it and rather enjoyed the strangeness. We had a real enjoyable time, but I wasn't able to look in a mirror for about 3 days for fear of what I might see.

"Dreams are real while they last, what more can be said of life?"

This is one of my favorite quotes, I guess because it cuts neatly and simply to the paradox of existence. All systems based on binary or dyadic dichotomies are circular and can make sense in and of themselves. That is, they work well if you've got a little faith. But they are ultimately lacking in any absolute resolution of the nature of existence so those of us among the unfaithful are left with "they are real while they last".
I've always loved dreams. As a young boy I can remember actually liking to go to bed at night and slip into a dream world that I actually had some control over. (Years later this would be called lucid dreaming. Who knew? I sure as hell didn't, but in my slipping into sleep I would build an underground world with miniature cars and colorful plastic buildings, populated with small people and talking animals.
Our wise modern psychologists insist that dreams are just yesterday's trash of the mind being thrown away so you can start afresh in the morning and they really have no meaning. And, you know, it kind'a makes sense, I can buy into that. But tell that to the gal that is dreaming that her mother-in-law is chasing her with a butcher knife.
Of course there is that one dream that sticks with you because it is so,so,so real that you can't get it out of your head and you really want to know what it means, but you just can't figure it out. My scariest nightmare was like that. My mother-in-law chasing me, I could understand, but this scary dream shouldn't have been scary at all. I mean no monsters or anything. It was a stark white room. There was a small high window with white filmy curtains and a little girl all dressed in white (no one I knew) and she was pretty but with a rather passive expression. And it was terrifying. Go figure!
Maybe the dreams have no meaning and it's all in the interpretation. I mean maybe the Pharaoh dreamed of 7 fat calves and 7 lean calves (just waste from the day before) but when he asked Joseph to tell him what it meant (Joseph made it real through interpreting it )And the reality was that Egypt was in for 7 years of good times and then 7 years of bad times came to light. (You know God sure makes it hard for some by talking in parables, or riddles, like the fat and skinny cows, but then he must like others more because he gets real direct, "Noah, build a boat.")
I don't actually remember too many of my dreams like I did while I was younger. I once worked with a lady in a dream workshop that came to the meeting with 3 or 4 dreams that she remembered from the previous night, but then she really, really believed that ALL dreams were messages from God and she was supposed to figure each one out. Actually kind'a neat!
As for the meaning of dreams, I find myself leaning toward the interpretation of dreams as having more meaning than the actual dream because you can pick up someone else's dream, treat it as your own and give it meaning **FOR YOU** But that being said, the realness of the dream belongs to the dreamer.
Actually the quote works just as well backwards. "Life is real while it lasts, what more could be said of dreams."
Have you had any good dreams lately?

Way Cool! The century plant by our carport is off and running this spring. The stalk is shooting to the sky and soon, like fireworks on the 4th of July, it will bust out with it's mating finery. It's always such a display of beauty and strength when one blooms! Alas, of course, it is it's final huurah. Now, I've got to give God a thumbs up on this one. I mean, I'm not always so sure of a lot of his work. You know, like crooked mountain ranges and wiggly shore lines. And where did he come up with that taste for black olives or 99% of all wine? Or how about Chinese opera? But, generally, I'm willing to overlook some of those "less than perfect" works (even pizza with pineapple and anchovies) , I figure everyone's entitled to their little weird tastes, even God. But the idea he came up with on the agave was sheer genius. Just let it grow, and grow, and grow and get more and more beautiful and then with every ounce of energy in it bursts forth with a glorious display that seems to celebrate life and then dies. The question is, if he already had this gimmick in his bag of tricks before humans came on the scene, why didn't he use it on us? Why is the human dying process so damn ugly and nasty and, frankly, a lot of work? I know, I know, the Lord works in mysterious ways. Oh well!

Who knows when it's spring in the desert Southwest?

We're riding down the valley the other day and the Weeping Willows along the road were putting on their spring show of green. These guys always want to be the first ones out. A light shade of almost fluorescent green one day and then, pop! a full outfit of green leaves the next. However, when it comes to predicting Spring, it's not always the smartest flora in the field. Like we've had a very warm March so far, often in the 80s, but Mother Nature is, at heart, a trickster and I've seen a 30-inch snow in April so some of those earlier risers are quite likely to get their buds frozen off. In fact, the Weeping Willows bursting forth with new costumes doesn't indicate Spring, it indicates that we've had a few nights of warm weather.
On the other hand......

Mesquite trees know their shit when it comes predicting Spring. When they finally started sprouting new foliage, you know it's Spring. And, as you can see by this one beside my shop, not a single speck of green.

Weather and Global Warming has kind of been kicked to the back by the Economy now a days, but, at least the big boys are beginning to pay attention. No doubt that things are changing, but just how much is the human family shitting in their nest and how much is just the order of things in nature? (More than likely, a little of both) The last couple of years around here we've had more than normal rainfall which has resulted in the desert sprouting grass (2 to 3 feet high) History books talk about it being belly high on a horse, but I had never seen it before. In, even my short stay here on the planet we've experienced high temps and extreme droughts, before anyone noticed the hole in the ozone layer. I guess it matters very little, at this point, just what's causing it, but the idea that even if we didn't cause it, we should be doing things to alleviate it seems the way to go. (Sorry, Rush Limbaugh) Actually, the Economy crisis just might have a silver lining in it if we really re-examine classic capitalism and materialism.

Forced Education, I don't think so!

I've done two tours as an educator in public schools. An eight-year stint in the '70s and then another from the late '80s, up until last year, and I've got to tell you that both were real enjoyable. Look, it's not like a real job. You get to bullshit a lot and you get to play with other kids all day long. I don't want to give the idea that there was no work involved; but, like anything you really enjoy, just putting a lot of time toward an activity that you feel passionate about is not necessarily work.


Anyway, I throw out this tidbit of my past to justify my right to have an opinion of public education today. I think that most people will recognize that public schools are just an extension of the society that we live in and to look at them as if they were some independent entity would be a mistake. There are a lot of good things happening, from technology, to methods, to enrichment programs; but in general the state of public education today sucks. And nearly all that's bad in public schools has been brought on, not by evil doers, slackers, or lazy teachers, it has been created by WOULD BE SAVIORS, WITH GOOD INTENTIONS.


Let me give you a little example from Obama's stimulus package. One analysis I read points out that they are going to pump over 200 billion into education for things like hiring better teachers, (who can argue with that?), fixing up old buildings (no problem there), but a big sum is going to "create a better test"(Barack has been listening to some well meaning administrative idiots again). Any teacher that is semi-conscious can tell you after 4 or 5 weeks just where his/her students stand academically. So where does this need for a better test come from? It comes from well intentioned people who want to fix something but who have no contact with students in the classroom and all they have to work with is numbers. By the way, here in Texas, we (the taxpayers) have already dumped billions on the task of building a "better test" and, in fact, we have created an whole TESTING industry headed by ex-administrators, most of whom sleep well at night, convinced that their work is that of helping students. It is not, it is a disease, and you and I, as tax payers, are getting screwed along with the kids.

My point is that GOOD INTENTIONS are nice if you're trying to make yourself feel good, but they often miss the mark and they're everywhere. State legislators who read some sociological study that shows people with high school education earn more money over a lifetime (Duh?) so they write a law that a certain percentage of high school students must graduate (in Texas it's 95% and our principals get real creative with numbers to avoid breaking this law). Or one of my favorites, Texas legislators attempted to "help" increase standards by moving the failing grade of 60 up to 70 (guess what happened?). Social workers who push for laws to make sure that kids with exceptional needs get special attention and they do often by putting them in dumbed down classes and creating a really lazy kid because teachers become fearful of pushing too hard or failing the student (As a parent, my special needs child would have to be almost comatose before I would consent to putting him in one of those "well meaning" resource classes). Parents, teachers and administrators who have an elite educational bias and push all students toward college (The high school where I taught mandated students take a pre-SAT test. You and I paid for these pre-SAT tests for all students even though only about 15% would end up going to college). Public school administrators are so driven by test scores (their high paying jobs depend on it) fiddle with the only things that they can, numbers, tests, and teachers. They create so many little cutesy programs for teachers that the average teacher has no real time for planning or coming up with neat, fun-type activities that make teaching to both the students and the teachers a joy. Instead they spend their "planning time" going to in-service meetings, common planning, researching statistics, blah, blah blah........You should be getting the idea by now. It's hard to get upset at people that are really trying to help, but when it's not only costing the taxpayer a lot and it is actually harming students' opportunities to do something with their lives then somebody needs to say something.


Let me propose some radical steps to save public education from our top-heavy educational bureaucracy and social do-gooders. First, free education from prekindergarten to University. Second, get rid of forced education. Third, let teachers teach.

Free Education- Obama has proposed "helping" students with college and trade schools, and I think that's great,but, if education is the driving force for a healthy nation, socially and economically, (AND IT IS) how come we are not encouraging each and everyone of us to pursue the sharpening of our talents by offering all education as FREE education, to all, not just the wealthy. Now this should offered to only those who succeed. If you fail, you need to lay out for a "cooling off" period or you should pay your own way. Obviously anyone should be encouraged to continue their education and many non-traditional avenues should be counted amongst the education track.


Forced Education - One of the most discouraging situations that I saw as a high school teacher was that there was a large percentage of students (10 -30 %) that were just treading water until they could legally leave. They were taking up space, taking up my time, robbing time from other students, and, of course, they represented wasted money. Let them leave and, certainly, let them return. If they want to take that all important exit test, let them take it. If they pass it, and remember it is just a minimal skills test that at least half the sophomores in high school can pass, then give them a diploma, a pat on the back and smile as they walk out the door. In a FREE EDUCATION society they might want to pursue some sort of trade, let them. Chronic failures, obviously after remedial courses have been offered, should be shown the door or pay their own way, or return after a "cooling off" period.


Something has to be said about teachers. Most teachers really try. They want to be successful. They want students to learn. Pay them like professionals, treat them like professionals, give them goals and then get out of their way and let each use his or her unique talents to get the job done. Don't think that there is a cookie cutter mold for a good teacher. Now some people are naturals, some need a little help and experience before they come around and some very good people should not be teaching. Give teachers a probation period, say 3 years, to get it together, to master this student/teacher thing. During that probation period give them mentors, skills training, whatever, but after 3 years it should be evident whether they are going to make it or not. If not, let them go (parents, students, coworkers, should have input on this, but the principal should do it) and help them find other work. ***By the way that 3 year probationary period would work well for principles and school superintendents too!


Actually, our economic downturn, could be a blessing for education. The Juggernaut of our bloated, top heavy educational bureaucracy feeds at the trough of easy public money. A little tightening of the money supply might be good, especially if the traditional purse strings were given to those who had contact with students (how long with those stupid, time wasting in-services last when stacked up against real classroom needs?.

Ah well, I can dream, can't I?

Happy Birthday Charlie Darwin

painting by Werner Horvath



Happy Birthday Charlie!



I love this guy. Yeah, I tend to think his ideas about evolution were at least leaning in the right direction, but it's not just that basic agreement that makes me like the guy. Look at all the shit that this guy stirred up. I mean if you want to talk about about a rebel, Charlie's your guy. Just a little book and a few lectures among Britain's intellectual elite and this fellow set people to arguing for decades (Feb 7 =200 years) and the fire is still going strong. Come on! Wouldn't you like to come up with a simple little thought that would create a bubbling pot of shit that would still be causing book burnings and really fun to watch school board meetings long after you've departed from this world?



The Pius vs. the Atheistic Scientist, ahh, now that's a match. Okay, I know it's not that simple to most people, but you've got to admit that a lot of people who have never read anything by Darwin, nor really understand his real position on evolution have very strong opinions on this. Actually, he has caused just the right amount frustration and animosity and chaos which let people on both sides get angry and vent in all kinds of ways, from ugly to comical, yet he hasn't sparked any wars that I know of. We can probably be thankful that he didn't claim any divinity 'cause that might have pushed it over in to the war zone. But, Charlie, I'd like to believe that somehow, somewhere you're smiling about the whole fuss.

Stairway to Heaven

Stairway to Heaven.

Ok, ok, maybe not sitting around all blissed out talking scriptures with JC and Big Daddy. Not even an oasis full of virgins waiting to service my every need, but, hey, it's heaven. These are the stairs at the beginning of a nice little loop trail just as you're approaching Cloud Croft, New Mexico. Stepping up each of these is a step toward heaven. Yeah, I know, I huff and I puff and I can feel my knees begin to burn. But, I'm alive. I'm smelling the pines, and listening to the birds. Zig zagging between tall pines and firs, I find myself walking off the trial to avoid the ice, vistas of White Sands and Cloud Croft present themselves as the trail winds around the mountain. Mountain meadows, covered in last week's snow lay beside stands of, now denuded, aspins as Kamala, Halalujah and I meander along the trail until the ice on the trail tells us to turn back.

It's a cool, crisp Saturday and we are the only ones on the trail. I used to watch a lot of sports on TV, but about 12 years ago I gave it up. I loved it, but I just got tired of watching and made a decision to stop being a spectator and get out in IT. It was a really good decision. Now, I'm not a fanatic about it. If we go over to someone's house and they are watching a game, I watch, I participate, I can still appreciate a good shot, a good play, a nice, bone crunching tackle. but, frankly, none of them can come anywhere near the feeling of a walk in the woods, or a ride on the bike, or a paddle across the lake in a canoe. It's the DOING, that make the difference. I have gone to High School sporting events, not for the thrill or the excitement, but because I knew the students playing in them. I got excited for them; yelled in support, felt great when they won and sad when they lost, but, I've got to tell you watching the most exciting sport doesn't even come close to "climbing that stairway to heaven". Nike had it right in their slogan, "Just do it" . And, here's a little secret, do it with a really good friend and it's like icing on the cake.

With hard economic times upon us I think the time is ripe to put this "retro" stove on the market. That's right, the Hobo Stove that you loved and used during the 1930s is poised to return to it's time of greatness. A 2 gallon can of beans or hominy, a drill, a can opener, and a pair of tin snips and we are set for production. I figure we could recruit an army of out of work bankers to go dumpster diving to find the tin cans. Since the tin is even lighter that it was in the 30's, even a dull drill will work. Snip the legs and bend the section between the legs in to make the support for the bottom, which, of course, is the cut out top. Drill a few holes in the bottom and the side; zip, zip and you have a finished product. At a couple of bucks apiece, we'll be millionaires in no time if times are going to be as bad as all the newspeople seem to think. How about it?
You in? I know that is so easy to make that you might think that people would just make their own, but, hey, 70% of the newly poor don't even know how to program the clock on their VCR. Most just resort to taping something over the flashing numbers. I tell you the market is going to be big.

The Ultimate

This James. He's from Australia. He's a cross country cyclist that came by a few days ago. He stayed the night with us before pushing on to Albuquerque. We had an enjoyable encounter and he has gone. You know there was a time when I thought that the Ultimate was some kind of blissed-out state (high) that one got when he or she was able to "give up" this life. (Ahh, my misunderstood Buddhism). I'm sure that most good Christians would call me an atheist. (I'm not) but I sure as hell can't see the Ultimate as sitting around and breaking bread with God and Jesus, talking about pious stuff. I'm sorry, but I can't even make myself believe, and I've certainly tried, in an anthropomorphic god. But what I do believe in is relationships. Whether they are brief encounters like James floating through our lives or like Kamala who profoundly and deeply effects my here and now. That delicious pressing together of two or more spirits, not possessing or capturing. but simply EXPERIENCING the suchness of other sparks of life in the currents of space. Those experiences of relationships, good or bad, (And, frankly, at the risk of being out of touch with my Zen nature, I have greatly preferred the good even though I realize those assholes in my life have added luster to all the others) brief or long, deep or superficial seem to me to have a greater value than any possession, or destination, or even my very soul .(should one actually exist along with Santa and the tooth fairy) I just want to thank all of you out there who have ever shared that touching of spirits with me and, by damn, I think we ought to do it again before it's too late.

Why is Kamala hiding?

Why is Kamala hiding?

She's hiding from work! After 8 months of retirement there is still that gnawing feeling that we are supposed to be at work. Even here, on this mid-week hike in the Franklins, when all of our friends are busy at work, there is that touch of guilt that we are playing hooky or something. The other day we were over in the Northeast, near Irvin High School, where we worked (and played) for many years and we both had the urge to check around and see if anyone had spotted us so we could duck if we had to. Added to that feeling that we are enjoying ourselves while others toil away are these comments by people we know.

"Where are you working now that you have retired?"

"Are you substituting?"

"That's great Kamala, now you can use your CPA background to do taxes at Tax Time."

Just what part of RETIREMENT do they not understand? I feel sure that these "naughty" feelings that we are getting away with something (not working) will eventually fade, but for the moment, we are keeping a low profile and relishing them.

Discovery: Dragon's egg

Hi guys, I thought I'd let you in on this discovery before I go public with it. On Christmas day this year we were exploring a huge, dry arroyo just east of Presidio Texas. And then, there it was, right in front of us, a strange object that looked like a rock inside a rock. We did not realize what it was at first, neither of us having seen anything like it before, but then, bang, an eureka moment, and we realized that we had discovered a dragon's egg. It was obviously shaped like an egg and as hard as it was, what could burst out of an egg like that? Yep, it has to be a dragon. So now we are just waiting for it to hatch and I'm sure that won't be long because the rock like, outer layer is already starting to peel. We've sit up a little area in the workshop with a heat lamp on the egg. I can hardly wait. I've always wanted a pet dragon. I wonder just how long it will take before it's big enough for me to ride and it can take me flying. I'm just not sure whether I should call the National Inquirer now or wait for the hatching. I'll keep you posted.

"Dreams are real while they last, what more can be said of life."

I had number of coaches through out my adolescence, and to a person they were all idealists. "You've got to believe that you can. If you believe, then you can". I mean most of them would have loved "The Secret" , as long as they could have seen the movie and not have had to read the book. "Just believe and all things come true." In some form or another most people are attracted to the idea that we can do things with our mind. "He's going to miss the field goal, miss the field goal, miss it, miss it, miss....", "I'm going to take my last few bucks and buy a lottery ticket."
Of course, if you don't win the game or you don't mentally block the other team's free throw then it's because you didn't believe enough. Today was a consequence of my unbelief. What was actually a pretty good day, fell short of a great day because I got a speck of (%$!!UCK##) in my eye. And being, rather weak in my spirituality lately, I was unable to "think" the damn thing away. It would have been depressing as all hell, it I wasn't able to compartmentalize my own philosophical approach. I was not a victim, but merely exist in a mechanistic material world that has all kinds of minuscule specks blowing around in the environment of which I'm just another part of and that speck and my eye met up. Actually this having different reality paradigms, often quite conflicting, seems to be the norm rather than the exception, like a Christian Fundamentalist who believes in dinosaurs, or that a woman could be a preacher. As a psychological gimmick it not only relieves a lot of stress, but lets the scientific fellow enjoy the ghost stories. It is only the fanatic that seems to be able to hold only one paradigm and give service to only it. But all in all, after all these years the real truth is probably that they all equal, and all are hollow. It's that some are a little more entertaining than others. Anyway, my eye feels better now just talking about it.

Kamala and I have finally completed our project of restoring the little pop-up trailer. Kamala has done a fantastic job of sewing the canvas. I mean great. Not having sewn very much in her life and to take the old canvas, cut a pattern from it and sew the heavy material together is just amazing. I have played more of a support role, you know, giving my opinion, making Kamala a cup of coffee, putting a microwave dinner on or telling her what a wonderful job she's doing. It's been a little tough, but fun at the same time and now it's ready to roll, so we are taking off for a couple of weeks. The list has been checked, the bike and the dog packed and we'll be rolling out tomorrow morning. Actually it's just a little test run around West Texas and eastern New Mexico as we have to be back in a couple of weeks, so Kamala can do her civic duty as a juror and then I have my own jury duty the first week of January. I've been thinking of committing some minor crime, not enough to go to jail, but just enough to get convicted of a felony so I won't have to do this jury crap. I'd rather dispense soup at the homeless shelter or give free condoms to hookers... ah, but that's another rant for another time.

Why I've decided to vote Republican.

Why I've decided to vote Republican.

My wife owns a brewery and made 6 million dollars last year. No, wait that's McCain, but if we were in that tax bracket I'd sure as hell vote Republican. Even a couple of hundred thousand a year would probably financially justify being a Republican, but alas, I don't, so that's not the reason.

The war in Iraq, now there's a good war, a just war, one that we can be proud of. Don't be like those wimpy liberals and go crying that there was no WMDs or no real evidence that they had ties to Al Qaeda or 9-11. You don't have to be a genius to see they look alike and they're Muslims. for Christ's sake. I mean what a weird religion. (72 virgins and cool, flowing streams, with all kinds of fruit just for the picking; what a screwed up idea! Haven't they ever heard the true story about streets of gold and getting to sit around and talk to Jesus and God all day?)
And, like George said, "We won!" (the last 5 years have just been a little cleaning up action) And every American generation needs to kick a little ass and feel good about itself. And it's good for business, just ask Halliburton, and don't give me any of that shit about Cheney's ex-company (the world is full of coincidences) And did you realize that ammo, bombs and all that stuff will just deteriorate in storage?Just think of the training we're getting for all our troops in case a real war pops up. (Think about all those monotheistic rag heads in Iran) Now all you namby pamby liberals shedding tears over a few dead American kids make me sick. We've lost less than 5,000 total (Hell, we kill more than that in couple of months in car wreaks here at home and it doesn't even compare with 50,000 plus in Viet Nam) I know, I know, what about those brave solders who lost an arm or a leg.-- Just remember, "What does not kill me makes me stronger'. They will emerge with a stronger character - just look at all those old WWII vets. Now don't get me wrong I applaud our fighting men and women over there risking their lives. And now, with an all volunteer military, good ole capitalistic supply and demand is giving economic opportunity to lower class Americans everywhere. But, no it's not the war that will make me vote Republican (even the Democrats promise a least another year and a half of it).

Cuba, now there's a good reason to vote Republican. Damn Communists! The Democrats would even "talk" to Raul Castro. (McCarthy is turning over in his grave).
Republicans have it right when they draw the line at doing any business with communists or socialists. ( Well, except for China, India, and Europe and besides, who needs their damn cigars anyway).

In fact, by not talking to Cuba, Iran, N.Korea, Hamas, Chavez, your mother-in-law (anyone that you don't like) things will get better and Republicans recognize that. (ok, ok, I know that they still communicate with these people through 3 parties, but it's not the same and we've got to keep our respect, huh?) But, no it's not really the Republican's stand on Communist and Dictators that's going to get my vote.

Is it the high gas prices. McCain wants to drill. No I'm just not moved by this one (didn't we all know that eventually all those environmental sanctuaries would eventually be tapped when times got tight--ah come on, you knew that). And just because it will take 20 years for us to experience the financial gains from it, that's no reason not to do it, besides I don't own any beachfront property. And when was the last time you ate a caribou steak? Don't go whining about the environment being lost to future generations---Where are your kids now? With TV, the internet, video games, cell phones, and I-pods the farthest activity that 99% of them want to do is get out in nature. They don't want to go camping in Alaska!

I can't say Obama is any better on this one. Inflate your tires! Sure inflate your tires, drive 20 -30 miles BELOW the speed limit, consider your "carbon footprint", and "look for alternatives.

If either one of these guys really gave a damn about gas prices, and the environment they would give up their big houses and stop flying all across the country burning ton, after ton of jet fuel. No I'm sorry, I think this one is out of the hands of politicians, it's good ole supply and demand and demographic preferences both here and the world. So this issues is sure not going to get my vote one way or the other.

Then there's the health care issue. As usual, the Democrats want to basically socialize medicine and we all know that doesn't work, just ask Canada, Great Britain, France, Sweden, The Netherlands. The Republicans on the other hand want to leave it to the private sector and that seems great to me, but I'm a little worried that all that money the big drug companies and insurance companies are "donating" millions of dollars to our politicians (Republicans and Democrats) is not really making in a true competition among all interested parties (pure capitalism doesn't need to make laws to protect the drug and insurance companies). So, unless John calls for legislators to not take any more bribes, sorry donations, it isn't this issue that's going to get my vote.

Then there is that perennial issue of family values of which I've just go to side with the Republican's here. I mean, the Constitution is all well and good, but let's face what is more important than God, Mom, apple pie, and the flag? I don't know about you, but my life is so much more serene since they added "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance.

Abortion, well I'm against it. Is there anyone out there that really has a campaign going on out there to kill more unborn babies? Quite Frankly, I'm much more concerned that we had over 3 million reports of child abuse last year, but I kind of think that it is a little easier and simplistic to march against killing unborn babies. And shouldn't we give unborn babies full rights like the right to inherit property or be counted in a census? Why don't people demonstrate for that?

Homosexuality- Now this is bound to be bad, because it is mentioned in the Bible. (slavery ok, homosexuality- bad) Oh the word isn't really in the Bible, but we have insinuations, like it's a no-no for a man to lie down with another man (didn't say anything about just bending over) Obviously, if everyone became a homosexual that humans would die out and we can't have that. But I think we ought to try to "bring them around" to a hetero-like lifestyle, you know make'm get married ( hell, they're going to diddle each other, just like heterosexuals, whether you approve of it or not), get divorced, pay alimony, pay for insurance for their partners. We should be ever alert for a major push to "homofi" the general population though, just in case; 'cause I not sure "you" could withstand the pressure.

Cloning -- I'm sure this is wrong, especially when I think that George Bush might be cloned.

Prayer in schools--Well, okay go ahead. I can remember when I played high school football, we would say a prayer before every game. More often than not we got the crap beat out of us but we always knew that God was on our side (obviously watching more than helping, but it made me the man I am today.) ***As a school teacher, I was always suspicious that the students weren't really using that "moment of silence" we had each morning to pray, if we made them pray out loud I'm sure their grades on the state test would go up. Amen!

So all these family values that Republicans believe in, I go along with (did I mention guns? I got guns too!), but that's not why I'm voting Republican.

And then there was this really convincing e-mail that I got that made fun of Obama's name (You have to admit Obama sounds more like a comic book sound than an American President). And that Osama Bin Laden's name was a little like Obama's and then the kicker----Sen. Kennedy slipped (Freudian, I do believe) and called Obama, Osama ( If that's not a sign of true evil, what is? Huh?) I was ready to vote Republican right then and there and then I realized that McCain rhymes with Hussein. Oh my, with George Washington Bush it was all so simple!

And, of course, the claim that Obama is an uppity black man (he never even had a "slave" name to change), but then couldn't that be explained by Harvard, I mean aren't all those Ivy Leaguers a bit uppity. Think of all those past Presidents that wouldn't have made it if disqualified Ivy Leaguers. Hell, G.W. went to Yale (Cs do count in college, don't they?) And doesn't anyone have to be a bit egotistical to think that they are best suited to lead the most powerful country in the free world. I would hope J.M. would be too!

This next one, almost was the clincher to vote for McCain. Obama does not wear an American Flag in his lapel! And on his airplane is a modern stylistic symbol of American "strips" and not "Old Glory". The horrors of it all. I know, in my life, symbols have always been so much more important than substance. (like I said, I used to be a teacher). In fact, I think that all good Republican women should get a cute little American flag tattoo in the small of their back so that when they're...., you know....., that doggie thing, well the guy could be.... loving old glory....

Another factor was a recent poll that showed McCain was leading in the group of white, male, uneducated workers. I mean how could all those Bubbas be wrong.

These are all good reasons, but I was still leaning toward the Democratic side until the other day, I rounded a corner and there in one of my neighbor's yard was the deciding factor in my decision to vote Republican. A yard sign that read
John McCain for President. God bless yard signs!