Burrowing Owl

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While out on our walk in the desert yesterday afternoon we saw a couple of these burrowing owls.

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LINK: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burrowing_owl

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Devil's Horn

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Sacred Indian Elephants

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My nephew Greg is married to a delightful lady who is a Basque Princess.

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For my birthday they gave me a matching pair of sacred Indian Elephants.

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Jesus and Mo

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--------------- This is wonderful.

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------------------------------------- LINKs: http://www.jesusandmo.net/ and -- http://www.jesusandmo.net/2007/11/09/blood/

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Susanne Winter, an Austrian politician has called Mohamed a child molester: http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,528549,00.html

Virga

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Sometimes out here in the desert the air is so dry that rain evaporates before it reaches the ground. This is called virga.

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I have flown small airplanes through this rain while down on the ground it was a perfectly dry day. Automatic airplane washer.

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This bird was flying around above us today hoping to find a quick meal.

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Inu Loves To Chase Balls

Nikon D40

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Fifty years ago my father got great amusement from calling rabbit scat "smart pills."
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I wonder if global warming will raise the sea level 1,200 meters. If it does this will be prime beach front property.
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My little black dog Inu goes just about everywhere with me.

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An old mattress that was left out in the desert.

Out In The Desert

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A friend of mine and his dogs joined us this morning on our walk out in the desert.
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We had a nice walk, and he found two pieces of prehistoric pottery shards.
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Vaseline Glass

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Some people call it Uranium Glass, others Vaseline Glass (because in normal light it is roughly the color of vaseline).

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It has enough uranium mixed into the glass making formulation that when illuminated by UV light it fluoresces. The uranium is at such a low level though to not represent a health risk - any more than the glow in the dark numbers on your watch.

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Much of my collection came from various antique sales in Europe. Most of it dates to the late 1800s. Wikipedia has a good article on it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaseline_glass

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I have been watching the beautiful little bunny rabbit for about 6 months. It was in the front window of an antiques dealer. They finally got somewhat more reasonable on the price a week or so ago so Mr. Jack Rabbit, or maybe his name is Peter, joined my little zoo. Both names seem oddly phallic. I guess this association is because rabbits multiply so readily.

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This is a link to some of my other vaseline glass photos:

http://flickr.com/photos/paul_garland/sets/72157600602448583/

or http://flickr.com/groups/662516@N22/

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Not A Telephoto Lens

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If I planned on taking many pictures like this I would need a good telephoto lens.

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But I really am not.

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George Junior

Duh...

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Otero Mesa

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We were out on Otero Mesa in far southern New Mexico today.

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Link to some nearby rock art: http://tinyurl.com/39oda8

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1005/662115129_c096ff1343_b.jpg

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The Public Has Caused Britney's Problems

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I was reading the news from the BBC this morning, and I came across this quote in an article about all these famous chicks who are imploding. imploding weird chicks.
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LINK: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7177345.stm

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The theme of the article was largely that these people like Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, and Lindsey Lohan are not really responsible for their problems. The idea is that the public vicariously enjoying watching them is more at fault than the celebrity.

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-------------HORSESHIT!

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Drugs, alcohol, and arrogance combined with too much money, and far too little humility, responsibility, and education (both book learning and world travel) are at fault. These girls don't realize that it is perfectly possible to be as sexually wanton and loose as a Parisian Whore while remaining sober. In fact not being wasted on drugs or alcohol results in the pleasure being far more intense.
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I wish I could put a little bit of the blame on the American culture's Puritanism and religious fanaticsm, but I can't seem to figure out a way to tie it in.

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Diana Gabaldon

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I got an e-mail overnight from Diana Gabaldon's assistant Rosana.
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She confims that Diana is working on the seventh book in the Outlander series which will be called "An Echo in the Bone."
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How exciting. Now that I know she is actively working on book 7 in the series, I will go ahead and read book 6. I have had it for more than a year, but I have been holding back. Now I can get on with the program.
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Texas Presidential Primary

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By the time Texas has its primary election on the 4th of March virtually all of the other states will have already made their choice. In other words Texas residents essentially have no influence on who runs.
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Here is a flash link from DW in Germany to the date of the primary in each state in America. If it won't run on your computer no big deal: http://www.spiegel.de/flash/0,5532,16945,00.html
or try this one: http://www.npr.org/news/specials/election2008/popup.html#/primaries/
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Texans in general drive these revolting, gigantic vehicles that normally get about 10 - 12 miles per gallon fuel economy. And there are a lot of Christian religious fanatics in the state of Texas, so I guess maybe it is just as well.

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Never Mind The Dog, Watch Out For The Owner

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A friend of mine gave me this sign as a present.

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Pretty nice Huh?

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Must Keep His Identity Secret - Maybe The Stig?

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Some great ideas and advice from one of my more normal, sensible, and sane Jewish friends. My Guru:
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Hi ZZ,
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Thanks for including me in your blog. You embellished what I said a bit and were way more eloquent that I was as well.
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The Roman empire lasted 900 years. I think the American Empire, if it can really be called one, may have a much shorter run. But do we really have one or we living in a corporate empire?
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The Chinese may be the next world rulers. They can shift huge populations to foreign countries and have immense financial resources at their disposal. They have already moved millions of people into Africa, and the Arab world right under our noses. They don't pay lip service to human rights and they probably need natural resources worse than we do to maintain their 1.4 billion population.
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A friend of mine is a banker in china to the agriculture sector and he said that the chinese consume 850 million pigs a year and hold 50 million in reserve to forestall food riots The world price of corn, soy and wheat have tripled in the past two years and we are cruising into a food war situation.
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I met up with a guy from Nestle at the ANUGA and he said it ain't about high prices anymore it's about actual shortages. That's scary.
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It don't matter if a nigger, a bitch, a Kike (fatchance), a holy roller preacher, or a polygamous Mormon gets in the White House. The natural dis taster that we have helped exacerbate over the last 60 years are not going to be solved in two terms or even 10.
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Carpe diem. Buy lots of canned food, dog food, and water and hole up in the mountains. I feel a bad moon rising.
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Love,


XXXXXXXX
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Look Ma, No Body

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Yesterday and today walking around the nearby desert we have seen all sorts of little furry bodily parts strewn around the desert.

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It is obvious that some kind of a carnivorous predator is having a field day out there. My dog was sniffing all around this morning at sunrise. It was apparent that his sensitive canine nose was detecting something very interesting indeed. Maybe the predator. But also just as likely maybe just some horny, good looking little bitch in heat. Or maybe both! The evil male eating spider dawg. No doubt she is a Republican too.

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Intolerance In America

I got a long e-mail from a friend yesterday. He grew up in the Pacific Northwest and is now an aging ex-hippie who lives in Europe. He was telling me that I am being completely unrealistic and idealistic thinking that the voters in America are ready to elect either a black man or a woman as president.

He feels that there is a largely undercover and hidden reservoir of bigotry, prejudice, and intolerance which will come out as the campaign evolves. That at the end of the day the people who actually do come out to vote in the general election will make their choices on a purely cynical and self-centered basis. And that both Senator Obama and Senator Clinton will end up losing.

He may be right. I hope not, but we sure need to be certain that somehow we insure that the country doesn’t have to suffer through another Republican administration. It is a tragedy what these guys who have been leading the government for the last 7 years have done to the country.

These bozo Republicans have almost bankrupted the economy, they have managed to send most of the good manufacturing jobs overseas, the U.S. Dollar has undergone an unprecedented devaluation, environmental and civil rights regulations have been relaxed, and they have reduced taxation greatly on the rich people making over $200,000- per year. These are the folks who are the most able to pay and those who are most able to help out the less fortunate. The congress in Washington D.C. does nothing but bicker anymore. They talk and pontificate, but they don’t listen to each other. The government is in complete partisan gridlock because of men like Cheney, Trent Lott, and the George Bush dynasty. Under the guise of being Christians these evil Republicans have behaved like a pack of ravenous wolves. What a bunch of greedy, self centered, evil, wicked men.

America really is better than this. We can rise above this. But perhaps we won’t. The Roman Empire didn’t last forever. In fact the peak of it only lasted a few hundred years. It finally fell, and it did so largely due to rampant dishonesty and greed. Maybe the American Dream is deceased and now lays six feet underground gradually decaying. I sure hope not.

Full Beard

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Now that I am a grey beard (this is sort of the equivalent of being a silver back except that you don't get as much sex), I have had two friends in the last few days say that I remind them of that little old Texas band.

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Of course my friends are of the age where the synapses are mis-firing a bit. So neither could bring up the name: ZZ Top.

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Surely this must be what they meant. Wow. What a super compliment!

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