Thursday, May 31, 2007

IF ONLY U.S.A. WOULD SUPPORT CLEANER POWER MODELS

I'm riled-up by news of new regulations trying to be pushed through by the powers-that-be in Washington to further squash WIND and SOLAR energy development and use by anyone but the richest, most-subsidized farmers and consumers. They teach alternative power types in schools and yet when these same students enter the real world- they'll find that the HUGE COSTS of "professional design" and "inspection" of even the most minimal home off-grid power systems are WAY beyond their reach.
How sweet it would be instead if the government could create programs to make it attractive and possible for ALL economic brackets to experiment with solar and wind power. Some systems, such as windmills, require much tweaking and fussing, re: location and wiring setup, before you can dial in the correct configuration for your needs. But if you've paid enormous amounts already to just get "design & approval" for ONE type of setup--you're stuck.
What a shame. When we could be joining the REST of the planet by HELPING people use cleaner energy forms.

Mom and Pop and lower-income families COULD be provided with some programs to help them achieve this- and yet our government is instead trying to make it harder than ever to put up ONE freaking windmill on their farm to generate electricity.
The message is as clear as ever: OIL, GAS, COAL, NUCLEAR, AND MORE OIL are the methods approved by our great leaders. Anything else just doesn't make the OIL MOBSTERS enough money.
And unfortunately the OIL MOB has been running things (why are we at war, for instance?) for a long time.
It's just really really sad- our obsession with private vehicles and planet-killing "freedoms" has led us to ridiculous fake-o "solutions" like ethanol, which is wasting lots of good farmland and resources, and doesn't even get real mileage---it's harder on the planet than OIL, for heaven's sake!
A shame, really, when once again, the U.S. could set a great example (since we already consume SO much more power and resources per person than ANY country anywhere) by PROMOTING less oil dependence.
STOP THE PRESSES: This just in: (June 1st) Perhaps you read my recent BlogSpot "jest" about the "Peak-Beer Shortages"-? Well now it appears that there WILL be a possible TEQUILA shortage. Why? Because more farmers are leaving behind food crops/agave/anything useful, to run and grow CORN for the ETHANOL BOONDOGGLE. Yes, farmers in Mexico, who are no doubt in even more desperate straights than their U.S. brethren, are now switching their fields over to fuel-production to try and stay solvent. Thus furthering the RULING CLASS PROGRAM for the Overall Culling Of The Unwanted/Overabundant Masses. And cutting-back on our tequila supply. Gulp-!

Sorry pal---- if you wire up your OWN system (and of course I can understand why they don't want just ANYONE wiring up off-grid systems) you better watch out for Mr. Inspector Man a-comin' to hit you with the BIG fine!
EVERYTHING right now depends on oil. Our food supply, EVERYTHING. We gotta get this turned-around. The privations and shortages that are DEFINITELY coming are going to be hard on us all! Expect your electricity and gas supplier to soon deny service on certain days (they DON'T guarantee you 24/7 service-read your contract), the same at the gas pump---I already lived through rationing once; and also your WATER will be rationed severely, too. Sound fun?
And who will choose who gets power and gas at what times? When will the hospital get it, or the grocery store, or the UPS truck...and on and on.

By being a sustainable organic farmer who ISN'T rich and/or heavily subsidized--you will become CRIMINALIZED by your choice of: housing (try and put up a YURT on your property!), farming (try growing with MEAN AG farms spraying herbicide all around your acreage, and running off into your water table/blowing over the fence), and so on...
NOT a friendly country to be in -- especially when one grew up with SO much talk of "ecology" and "conservation"... what a load of rubbish they fed us-really. It was never backed-up with action.
Lets change this.
Walter watches. (and thinks: "Who Took My Tequila??")

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

TARGETS : Art For Our Target Range

Guests were to arrive with the desire to do some shooting practice in our dry pond; some time ago I had thought of doing some very reprehensible and irresponsible target art, and these factors converged this past weekend into these targets, made to be blown up.
We'll start with one of my faves the "(Startled) Toddler", and then go into a few of the weaker ones, ending with my favorite two. These were done very quickly, about 90 minutes (on a very hot day on the front porch) for the whole lot, and they're large- averaging three or four feet tall.

Even after many rounds were put into all of these from the nine millimeter, the 22, the crossbows, and the shotgun, they were still in good enough shape to use for sheet mulching around the farm- which is what they had been destined for to begin with; being art drawn on scrap cardboard.
The Cyclist --I thought they'd have a hard time hitting 'im- but he got pegged with great accuracy all around. I thought about shooting "after" photos of all of these, 'cuz they have some lovely damage now, but I have a video of it, anyhow.


Yup, I do have a sick sense of humor... I made a Cop Pinata once for a Dumpapalootza event and have done a lot of intricate art over the years that was designed to be sturdy-yet destroyed utterly at some point in it's functional life.

Sightings of our local tri-city Turkeymonster have continued. No live specimens have been caught, though.

That's about it for this installment- I wanted to share my twisted target art (not being a big "shooter" by any means myself, by the way- but since we are zoned to have our own gun club out here...).
Just another day in Dogtown / Lower Bottom below. Glad I live further away from there now.
Some URBAN FORAGERS from an old magazine illo of mine (below).
It's best to assume at this point that the powers that be are not telling us the whole ugly truth (resulting panic, economic turmoil, etc.) about global warming (even though what we do hear is bloody awful) -
and now-
the food supply is (obviously) contaminated (refusal of enormous amounts of Chinese food additives and products at the borders) to a degree that the ruling class will only barely dare to hint at. Well, it's grim indeed, and I'm glad I don't eat much packaged food at all annually, or have pets that I must cook for weekly. The dystopian and nihilist novels of my youth I enjoyed, sure, but who wanted to see them coming to life with such vigor- and so soon in my life- after all of that 1970s talk from the adult world about how these things were sewed-up and taken care of-!
The nerve of that era- to abandon hippie and green and feminist and racial equality ideals and learn nothing at all from oil rationing and govenment corruption of unimaginable proportions.
What a scenario... what poetry.

Monday, May 14, 2007

50 CHICKS 50 / the balls of FLUFFINS arrive

EXTRA! EXTRA!-- With a mighty din of peeping, the chicks have arrived!
UPS called and we went to go get the 50 fuzzballs of love.
Ceramic chickens look on from a nearby coop.

They fan out in a wave of pecking, peeping, charging and foraging.
Meanwhile antique celluloid hens sit in the shade, so as not to melt or deform.
"Ready or not- here we come!"
Following are many merit badges from the 1940 Boy Scout manual. I love the old printing and odd shades.
You can't squeeze just one.


CHEF wandered by, holding his buddy, and watched the new chicken house being finished up.
Thirsty after their long plane ride.
Nestling in a pool of sunlight.


Salt and Pepper Hen checks in, with two huge eggs she somehow painfully laid.
Widescreen Chick Action!

Mom watches from above.
And that's about all for this quick EXTRA update; I'll leave you with this chart of hobo signs, useful for your future trips by rail. "Easy Mark, Sucker" sure reminds me of something...
Until we meet again- "PEEP! PEEP! . . . PEEP!"