Author Archives: Joel

“You come into my library carrying a shotgun and acting like an asshole, I’m going to call the cops on you too.” – Breda Okay, I open carry, and not just out in the boonies.  I’m not an “activist,” I … Continue reading →

This morning I had breakfast over at S&L’s, and D&L were there.  D’s been laid up with a knee replacement that didn’t go real well, but this morning that wasn’t what had him upset.  Seems there was this big lawsuit … Continue reading →

…for two hundred pounds of well-composted horse shit. That was the deal L, my weekender neighbor, made with me.  I’ve been cut off from my regular supply of my favorite coffee (I’ll eat rice and beans every meal without too … Continue reading →

…Because my back is extremely delicate. I spent five hours yesterday, splitting firewood. Five hours! I couldn’t have kept that up for as much as an hour back in my former life. And this is after most (oh god I … Continue reading →

Sometimes things just work out. I dunno why, but it does seem to happen a lot lately. My only ongoing, every-week job nets me a big $30. That’s $30 a week I can count on, except for the rare weeks … Continue reading →

Iranian Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi officially stopped being all that. Since then, Iran has become a veritable earthly paradise, source of all unicorns and niceness. On this date in 2011, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak gave himself the axe, reportedly turning … Continue reading →

In the matter of inter-species relations, it’s important not to anthropomorphize (sp?) the other species. That’s a standard tenet of science fiction, well known to me from my misspent childhood. But it also works in dealing with dogs. Dogs Are … Continue reading →

…which, I suppose, makes me a geek of the wrong sort to fully appreciate this. But my favorite coat is brown, after all. H/T to Irons in the Fire.

Why can’t the US legalize drugs? “There’s too much money in it.” In what will likely be seen as something of a Freudian slip by the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton said recently in a Mexican news interview that … Continue reading →

So Monday was gloriosky beautiful, like I said. Sometime Monday night the wind started blowing, and to experience a wind like this you have to go to the plains of Wyoming or, you know, here. Howling wind. “Is the Lair … Continue reading →

Just got back from a LONG walkie with Ghost and LB. It was one of those outings we do from time to time, where I set out to go to a particular place and come back, but when we get … Continue reading →

Via Joe Huffman comes this heart-warming appeal to reason… In many other arenas we limit individual freedom to protect the lives of others. When someone has a highly communicable disease, she or he is quarantined. Even dogs with rabies are … Continue reading →

Well, we’re back in the Interim Lair. I had planned to wait that decision until today or Monday, but Click had other ideas. None of the animals was very happy about the decision to move. The cold didn’t seem to … Continue reading →

A warm wind started blowing. The temperature climbed to almost 50 in the space of two hours, all the snow abruptly melted, we’re now knee-deep in clay mud. My water tap at the cabin gushed forth a little more than … Continue reading →

But that’s okay, because we’re all terrorists now. A bunch of clowns denounce a bunch of dicks. In this scenario, does it really matter which is which? But here’s my question. Why, after this sort of display, do they (and … Continue reading →

It’s cold. That’s the first and most important thing. It’s also the second through the fourth thing. I can’t think further than that any more. Cold. Frozen – not liquid, frozen – nitrogen cold. Dear God What Am I Doing … Continue reading →

RING RING I fumble for my cell phone. Opening it, I see a telephone number I don’t recognize. Against my normal inclination I answer the phone. “Yes?” A voice with a pronounced foreign accent, sounding for all the world as … Continue reading →

They’re everywhere! Sometimes coming out of the sky like tiny, silent paratroopers, sometimes hard and fast assaults whose direction and angle of attack can change at any second. I’ve run through all my ammo and most of M’s: pound for … Continue reading →

If it’s wrong, why does it feel so right? These days, no popular movement goes without an Internet presence of some kind, whether it’s organizing on Facebook or spreading the word through Twitter. And as we’ve seen in Egypt, that … Continue reading →

Bloomberg gets his facts, rhetoric, and the location of his nose completely wrong. And finds some inkstained wretch willing to write all about it. “Our investigation shows how easy it is for anyone to buy a semiautomatic handgun and a … Continue reading →