Blue Heron in b&w

Thought maybe we all needed an uplift after a day of rain...

Canadian Geese and their young

Suddenly they are upon us. Again. Not so many this spring as in years past.

Spring: When a Young Man's Fancy Turns to...

...golf, baseball, track, the end of school, summertime, swimming, sleeping in, a good book, but never of love. Okay, they probably think about girls, maybe a little bit. For the Monochrome Maniacs out there. Go here for similar b&w's from around the world.

Portrait of a Yound Lady

The youthful Mrenda.

Coo bird

A mourning dove is sitting on a couple of tiny white eggs on top of the clubhouse's air conditioner. Just noticed her the other day though Junior says she's been up there a while. Must be just about hatching time. Don't tell the neighborhood cats...

Paul Krugman: Reclaiming America's Soul

The economist takes on the torture mess and declares the investigations of torture as well as the march to war must go on to reclaim America's soul. It's all here. Good read and, need I say, I thoroughly agree. Laws matter.

Mirror Image

Friday sunset as seen through the rear view mirror as I was on my way home Friday night.

Abandoned

Four goose eggs abandoned by prospective parents. Don't know why; they, the adult geese, were protective for a while but I haven't seen them for a couple of days. Oh well.

Notes on a Wednesday morning

-The news and blogs are full of torture stories. And the horror of it all is beginning to sink in. Good. Truth will out. Actions have consequences. Send them all to jail for thirty or forty or fifty years. And, yes, I mean Bush and his whole cabal.

-saw the Pete Seeger show again last night on pbs - a fund raising event. Super. I missed him back in the '50's and '60's - doing other stuff - but sure appreciate him now. Pete Seeger: strong advocate for freedom of speech and the power of song.

-just watched Swimming in Auschwitz on PBS World. Another reminder of the horrors that were inflicted on millions of people in the '40's. The stories of six Jewish women who survived the Auschwitz concentration camp during the Holocaust.

-most of the way through Tennozan: The Battle of Okinawa and the Atomic Bomb by George Feifer. More horror stories, this time from over in the Pacific theatre of WWII. I keep wondering why this island, like so many, was not hopscotched. Turned out to be a most horrendous battle. Also regret not having done my homework before serving over in Japan for three years back in the '60's. Would have appreciated my time there so much more. Note to the young: do your homework - life will be much more memorable and full.

-it's well after 11 and time for something to eat. Oatmeal, raisins, craisins, blueberries, banana, milk and some ersatz sugar.

Expanding a garden plot

Diane's got the garden bug again. Go here to see her plans for an expanded garden, one that harkens back to the mid '70s when we had a hugh garden over at our Lost River homestead.

Course Rules

Don't expect the robin gives a hoot one way or the other. Maybe a tweet...

Saturday Morning Fisher Folk

Boys enjoying some time out at Boggs Lake on a Saturday morning.

Swallows and Martins in the area

These birds are such a delight as they swoop and soar all over the place. These happened to be doing such right at the shoreline and the dam but they also follow the mowers around and put on quite a show picking up the bugs and such stirred up by the grass cutters. Guess they are feeding their babes housed over at the restaurant.

Neighborhood Cat

"If I keep my eyes closed, I can not see the little birdies. And they can't see me, right?"

"I'm afraid that if they saw me with my eyes open, they could see right off what my intent was: to have them over for breakfast. Well, not really over."

Neighborhood cat underneath our east window bird feeding station yesterday morning.

Chained Guard Dog

He's just a friendly feller who always has something to say at whatever time of day to whomever is in the area. I gave him a whatfor and a howdoyoudo in return. Took the photo when I was down visiting with Jim and Wilma yesterday morning.

Monochromes: Boys at Lakeside

Taken late yesterday afternoon as the boys were just past the midway point in their round of golf on a lovely Saturday afternoon. They were in no hurry and spent a lot of time looking for golf balls that disappeared into the setting sun. More monochromes from around the world can be found at Aileni's.

Happy Easter and Rachel Getting Married

The Easter bunny showed up a little late this morning but she did leave us some goodies in a colorful little basket. Yesterday was a full day around here with Diane going to Odon for grandson's baseball games and me spending most of the day and well into the evening at the golf course (both playing and covering the clubhouse). And then, once I got home, we watched a movie that all but destroyed Diane though I came away from it liking it - gave it a four on a five point scale. The movie: Rachel Getting Married, and you really should go read a few of the reviews which bounce from the lowly one to the majestic five - a love it or hate it kind of affair. It's all about disfunction, something which was wrenching; but also about family and weddings and music and a big poodle who every now and then would make an appearance but comment only at the very end with a solitary woof. Not an entirely Easter kind of movie though there was a sliver of hope at the end.

Fisher People at Work

Or is it play? Photo shot on Thursday out at Boggs.

Three Perspectives of Nature at Work

One of Diane's tulips opening itself fully for the sun god.

An Eastern bluebird who I espied coming out of one of the bluebird nesting boxes over at the golf course. Eric and Diane, who put them up several years ago, will be happy to hear they are being used.

And, finally, clouds with yellow linings. That must mean all sorts of good things on thier way, right?

The money we spend on guns and bullets and not on butter

The last few days have seen much news coverage and commentary on the 'supposed' cut in defense programs. Yes, there has been a cut in some defense programs but that hasn't gone on to a similar cut in defense spending - that budget continues to rise. Pardon my English but this is all very stupid just as war is stupid. I want you to take a minute and think about how much we, the United States, spend on the military. It's a lot. Now think about how much other countries spend on its military - say, Russia, China, France, North Korea, Iran. Don't have any idea, right? Well, go here and take a gander at the bar graph (a little ways down) and then tell me what in heavens we are doing. I'm not going to sit on the edge of my seat and hold my breath waiting for a sensible or sane answer cause I don't think one exists.

Three Herons on the Wing

What an unusual sight yesterday out at Boggs Lake: Three herons together. This bird is a loner around these parts so to see three of them together is a wonderment. Just happened to have my camera with me as I walked the dam late yesterday afternoon.

Notes on an April Monday Morning

-Remember 'actions have consequences' and 'the truth will out'? Well, those in the last US government administration who promoted and justified torture may be in for a comeuppance directly. Via tpm.com: From The New Yorker, Jane Meyer reports on a book (Philippe Sands' Torture Team: Rumsfeld's Memo and the Betrayal of American Values) which has apparently been instrumental in a Spanish case being instigated that goes after those who broke the law. From the article:

Last week, Sands’s accusations suddenly did not seem so outlandish. A Spanish court took the first steps toward starting a criminal investigation of the same six former Bush Administration officials he had named, weighing charges that they had enabled and abetted torture by justifying the abuse of terrorism suspects. Among those whom the court singled out was Feith, the former Under-Secretary of Defense for Policy, along with former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales; John Yoo, a former Justice Department lawyer; and David Addington, the chief of staff and the principal legal adviser to Vice-President Dick Cheney.

My oh my. So soon. Go read the whole article; it's very short.

-Just about done with a second reading of another John Irving book, A Prayer for Owen Meany. Super, and deals with growing up in the '50's, living through the '60's, and commenting on the '80's. Vietnam plays a big part, as does religion and faith. Full of mirth and death, as was The World According to Garp. Pick them both up and spend a little time away from the miseries of the current realities. Update: late afternoon - finished it. Add fate as a major theme.

-Snow and cold here in Loogootee today.

Indy Street Scene

Taken several weeks back when I was in the Hoosier capital for the girls' state basketball tournament. For the Monochrome Maniacs out there. More b&w's here at Aileni's.

Spring Colors

From Diane's garden.

Circling Geese

Early nesters out at the golf course, here a little concerned that I am so close to their future brood.

Erin at the Hilltop Buffet

The Hilltop Buffet opened for business at 11 yesterday morning and Jim, Wilma, Diane and I, along with an unexpected and most welcome guest, Erin, were some of its first customers. Above, a smiling Erin, rests her elbows prior to lunch.

Goats revisited

We raised a lot of goats back in the late '70's and the early '80's, for milk and meat. And guess what was on page one of the NYTimes online today:

How I Learned to Love Goat Meat

Wow. Surprised me. Did you know that goat meat is the most widely consumed meat in the world? I didn't either. In the photo above, Danielle and Eric (the Goat Boy!) cuddle with a Spring crop of kids back in '79 or '80. Cute.

Notes on a Wednesday Morning

-Diane and I have both been afflicted with head colds and persistent coughs these last few weeks and really unfit for any kind of commerce with the outside world. However, with the grand opening of the Hilltop Buffet, we're chancing some public exposure. Ribbon cutting is at 10:30; we'll be there with Jim and Wilma at 11 for brunch.

-Eric is at the golf course waiting on the reels for the greens mower and the utility mower - coming in tomorrow so the new grass is about ready to be trimmed. Hurray!

-The Notre Dame Men's basketball team looked pretty bad last night in losing to Penn State in the quarter finals of the NIT. Both the inside and outside games were effectively shut down. I watched a bit of it on espn360 but found Frontline and its discussion of the broken health care system here in the US much more riveting.

-In case you haven't heard it recently, war is still stupid. Here's an article by Juan Cole taking Obama to task for repeating the same old s**t and failing to 'talk straight' about the war in Afghanistan. He titles it Obama's Domino Theory.

-Speaking of domino theories: I added Good Morning, Vietnam to my Netfliz queue after watching Robin Williams in The World According to Garp last night. Very entertaining but just a shadow of the brilliance of the book.

-Still reading The Lead Dog by Willaim Strange. It's a good look at life here in Martin County back in the '30's and 40's. It's also pretty neat to read some, then go talk with the author's brother (Dave) and compare notes with the fictional character of the book, something his brother carefully noted on the flyleaf of the copy he sent to Dave.

-It's April Fools Day. Did you know that in some countries (not here though) the hoaxing only goes till noon? And that any prank after that made the perpetrator the April Fool? I didn't either. So, watch your back and be on your toes. Of course, you don't have to do anything foolish today.

-And that reminds me of the pbs program that came on after Frontline last night where the ladies are intent on having fun and not feeling a bit foolish in their red hats and purple garb: the Remarkable Red Hat Society. You have to be a lady and over fifty to belong. Have seen some of them around here although none recently. The society started small with just a few out in California back in the late '90's and is now hugh. It's cool and, yes, there have been spinoffs - ladies under fifty can join a Pink Hat group.

-Going to go get on with the day...