Thanksgiving Baby!

Long Story Short:

We had a Black F-350. We decided for various reasons that it no longer worked for our situation, and Voila! Big Black begat Baby Black! And ooooh is he nice! We might be poor but at least we have a nice car :)

Happy Thanksgiving to all, we are grateful for our family's love and support and want to wish them all the best this Holiday Season!

Oh, This is a Rorschach

Cats... Rorschachs of Humanity

The Spotted Boy

George Alexander was a black child with a skin pigmentation disorder known as piebaldism. For much of his short life he was exhibited for show, described as ‘the Beautiful Spotted Negro Boy’ and ‘a fanciful child of nature formed in her most playful mood’.

George was born to black African parents who were slaves on a plantation on the Caribbean island of St. Vincent. From birth George attracted attention and curiosity, and as a baby he was displayed in his local town for a fee of one dollar. When he was just 15 months old he was transported to Bristol where he was delivered into the care of a travelling showman named John Richardson. He was baptised at Newington Church in Surrey on 22 July 1810.

George was the star attraction in Richardson’s travelling theatre. He was exhibited at fairs and shows, and was shown privately to wealthy patrons. Although Richardson was said to have behaved with ‘great kindness’ George was often exhibited for up to twelve hours a day.
This schedule may have affected his health. George died on 3 February 1813 of a tumour in the jaw. He was buried at All Saints Church in Richardson’s hometown in Marlow. By his own request, Richardson was later buried in the same vault as George and their tombstones were bolted together.

From "A Visible Difference: Skin, Race, and Identity: 1720-1820," an exhibition by the Royal College of Surgeons of England

Babies! Babies!

Donkey babies, especially wild yet timidly inquisitive ones, might just be the best thing since butter! Yes that little black thing tucked away in the sagebrush that looks like a creature comprised soley of ears, is a week old baby. Too cute.

My Life this Last Week...

Okay, I know that it has been a long time, (in blog days) since I last posted, but now I am back. Let me give you a long convoluted summary :)

I was away in Medford Oregon, where I underwent training on my new position, aka "Teller School". It was fun, and for the first time in a long time, I can say that I actually think that I will like this company. Realy like them. Anyways, I arrived home late Friday evening, and promptly left Klamath again, at 4:30 a.m., this time to head to Salt Lake City. We have discovered that Kenya isn't pregnant anymore and so we were taking her back to the breeder so we can try this all again. We dropped her off Saturday night as soon as we arrived in Salt Lake, and left to return to Klamath again, very early this morning, whereupon we just arrived home in Klamath Falls. Oh and did I mention that the drive is 12 hours, one direction? I am tired, nevertheless, (which also accounts for my broken syntax and basic sentence structure debacle).

Now to what was really important, at least to me, was that the drive to Utah passes through a Wildlife Reserve out in the middle of the desert otherwise known as nowhere/the moon. There is absolutley nothing out there, no towns, really lucky to even have the road paved. Anyways, Sheldon used to be where the Cavalry turned out their remounts after WWI. And after the Cavalry was disbanded, they just left the horses and some donkeys out there to fend for themselves. These mustangs and burros are a rare sight and on this trip we saw a full family group of 9 mustangs (with which you could trace lineage based on the phenotypical color genetics) and 42 (!!) burros, including two babies!!! One of which was clearly less than a week old, and the cutest little jahonkey in the world! They were all just right off the road, and we were able to get some pretty good pictures. One of the other cool things was a bachelor band of burros, with some of the young jacks sparring and play fighting, all of which we caught on film.

Makes the whole week and subsequent horrid road trip, worth it!!

Glory Hallelujah!

Its official, I have a job! I will now be working at Sterling Savings Bank, and so glad of it too! Hopefully it will be interesting and fast pace enough to keep this little Corax distracted enough to not be bored to tears. You know how I am, always looking out for shiny things!

To each his own..

The spice of life... though you might not want to cook with it!

Leave it to the Japanese

Convenient looking, isn't it...

Kinetic Sculpture

To Bribe...

Travis is learning the art of bribery with our horses. And after being chased down relentlessly as a result, he has also learned that bribery is generally not all that profitable, at least when it comes to 3 year old 'nerd' geldings. The seagulls from 'Finding Nemo" come to mind. Mine mine mine mine mine

Yes, IT happened...

Well it happened. We went to let the dogs out, and Kenya, the big cow who never listens (don't ask, wasn't our problem until now) ran after a skunk. And completely contrary to all of our shouted protests, chased a skunk under the trailer and tried to bite it, even though it had sprayed her, all over her neck and chin, and then finally, into her mouth. Needless to say, the whole place, house, yard, garage, everything.... REEKS! I have never really had anything against skunks, even found them mildly interesting and I daresay cute-ish. Never more. If I have power over the situation, their certain death will be my only pleasure... Ughh, after staying up nearly all night and much washing, scrubbing and deoderizing, I still can't get the smell out of my soft palate. Poor Lynn and Anne and Travis...

Autumnal Voyage

This last Friday, Lynn and Anne took us on a trip to Medford to shop for Brad and Molly's reception, to get out of town and to see if we could see some of the Autumn scenery. We of course became sidetracked, gloriously and discovered a wonderland of Aspen. It was absolutley beautiful. I love that Lynn discribed it as "a flower... except 30 feet tall!" Travis took the camera and was able to take some pictures, like the one of us guys. I only was able to snap a couple, but it was all worth it. Too bad the photos don't do the real thing justice. The crisp air, the smell of damp leaves, the breeze whispering through the trees. Good golly I love Autumn!

The Crossroads of Sark

Sark, the smallest of the Channel Islands, in Great Britain is the last bastion of feudalism in Europe. Rob Crossan of the Guardian writes:
Nobody has tried to change things on Sark for some time. Its arcane system dates back to Elizabethan times, with the head of the feudal government, or seigneur, owning everything, including anything that gets washed up on the island's shores. The present incumbent, Michael Beaumont, has held the position for more than 30 years. Sark's tenants are required to own a musket - a relic of the time Elizabeth I sent 40 Jersey men there to quell debauchery and piracy in the 16th century. There are no paved roads or cars, and bucolic harmony has reigned pretty much unchallenged (bar occupation by the Nazis) for more than 500 years.

Now Sark has fallen afoul of the EU because, as Seigneur Beaumont so disarmingly puts it, "Nothing much is human-rights compliant here." So, the tenants have three options. They can vote to retain the status quo and risk the wrath of Strasbourg, decide to bring in democracy straight away, or adopt a transition phase, which would mean a parliament of 28 people, of whom 16 would be elected.

And now, very probably, we will have to bid godspeed to Elizabethan Sark. The ruffs, the stomachers, and even the codpieces will have to go into mothballs, all for the sake of modernization.