Author Archives: Joel

…on the new Cummins/Onan generator, because it hasn’t arrived yet. I’ve promised a product review for those interested in consumer-grade portable generators, but I can’t review what I haven’t seen. Hope it didn’t get lost in shipping, I’m getting a … Continue reading →

I have an on-going dispute with the boys. I keep asking them to stop treating cattle in the meadow as if they’re a horde of mutant zombie bikers climbing the slope with knives in their teeth. They keep explaining, ‘But … Continue reading →

I’m reading a lot of angst from my freedomista friends about the coronation of The Anointed One. You know the line – he’s a socialist, he’s an uber-gungrabber. Basically, the consensus is that he’s the antichrist. Off my intended topic … Continue reading →

Yesterday the boys and I went substantially farther into the big canyon we’ve been exploring than ever before. I got sidetracked for a while by interest in a tributary, but this time I wanted to know what’s really around that … Continue reading →

The dogs have been very patient with me so far this morning, but I can tell by the way they twitch every time I engage in an act of pandiculation (:-) word of the day!) that my quiet time is … Continue reading →

Are you ready? Are we ready?

Missed it last week, but I’m totally not making this up. The President today declared an emergency exists in the District of Columbia and ordered Federal aid to supplement the District’s response efforts in support of the 56th Presidential Inauguration. … Continue reading →

Once upon a time, boys and girls, there was a family. It was a perfectly nice family; husband, wife, teenage son – but this was a family with a peculiarity. This family had a dream of a desert retreat, all … Continue reading →

So I spent most of yesterday stomping around in a really bad mood. Didn’t accomplish a damned useful thing; trying to pull out an inconvenient fence rail, the rope broke and dumped me on my ass. Freekin’ improvised wifi got … Continue reading →

I promised myself I wasn’t going to do this. I’m done with all this political bullshit, I said: Let them do whatever they want, because they will anyway and I’m off to find my own little piece of freedom. This … Continue reading →

When I sally forth to seek my preyI help myself in a royal way.I sink a few more ships, it’s true,Than a well-bred monarch ought to do;But many a king on a first-class throne,If he wants to call his crown … Continue reading →

Ever since installing a freebie version of Sitemeter, it has become a minor daily hobby to see how I’m doing in terms of readership. Hardly a matter of world-shaking importance, but it’s still kind of a kick to see whether … Continue reading →

I read this morning that Johannes Mehserle, the BART cop who shot an unarmed and immobilized man in the back in full view of half the camera phones in Oakland, was actually arrested. In Nevada, where he’d allegedly fled to … Continue reading →

Magnus has a habit I really wish he’d lose. Not likely. There are two couches in the lair, and one of them is my bed. Fritz and Magnus just barely share the other between them. Every evening before I can … Continue reading →

Do you know how much a trillion is? Neither do I, really. I mean, I know it’s a million million, which is a lot. But I can’t picture it. A million million. It’s impossible to wrap your mind around a … Continue reading →

Up to now I haven’t had a thing to say about who-all got elected to this or that shiny office in the national government. This is because I don’t care which of those idiotic would-be rulers you chose as the … Continue reading →

No, not for curing the common cold. For keeping the cold out of your stuff. I was reminded of this while poking around this morning. The boys and I went for an early walk – I’ve finally got feeling back … Continue reading →

A little over a week ago I installed Sitemeter here, because the other freebie hit meter I’d tried didn’t work for crap. Sitemeter worked a bit too well; it gave me the information I was interested in and a whole … Continue reading →

This is sort of a continuation of the previous post, so if you just got here, scroll down and read that one first. There’s a writer I’ve encountered, who goes by the name of Claire Wolfe. If you’re not familiar … Continue reading →

A while back somebody suggested that I revise my blog profile, which currently is just a continuation of the mission statement. He said it would warm things up a bit if new viewers knew something more about me. I thought … Continue reading →