Monday, August 29, 2011

Trickle-Up

I originally bought my auto and home insurance locally when we moved back to Spring City, trying to at least deal with local people and keep a couple of the dollars close to home.
First, my auto agent sold his "business" to a gentleman in Salem, Utah, a place about fifty miles from here with a much larger economy than we have here in Sanpete. Then, four years later, the Salem guy sold me downstream to another agent in Provo, around seventy miles away and upscale in economy and otherwise than even Salem.
A similar thing happened recently to my homeowner's insurance. The agent went independent and sold his business to a lady in Gunnison, a place forty miles south of here. Not much in the way of economic change form here, but it is a step up.  I'm just waiting for her to sell us south to Richfield or Cedar City, remaining true to the trickle-up theory that I see digressing with even my dumb insurance policies and money that goes into them.
Seems pretty normal to me in the grand scheme these days.

Sunday, August 28, 2011





Went up the Wales Divide to see how the seasons were progressing. There was a lull in work action and a deep need to see the face of God; that's where the fates guided.
I took a break on the top in an area with a wide flat where one could see far and all 'round. I sat in a chair and watched the thunderclouds form; haven't really seen that for a while. The clouds came up from the south, materialized over the eastern plateau, and climbed into the stratosphere in a wave stretching from south to north.
As the thunderclouds began climbing the west side of the valley, I thought I'd best head down from the top. Wish I didn't have such an aversion to lightning.
The rain was delicious down a little too; I was just glad to get away from those static prickles on top of my head...



As things really started progressing on the east side. 
Spring City's down there at center.









The young Aussie had a good time 'sploring the top, canyons and creeks.

Friday, August 26, 2011



Took a quick drive over the Payson loop again today after work.  Caught in a couple of storms on the road and on the trail; it was so nice to be out after this long week that it was worth every minute wet and cold. Deep, thick scents and similar light all along the way. The squirrels are busy and active on the edge of the clearings; I wonder how they plan their forays. Well, on second thought, they probably don't plan. Anthropomorphism is a tempting pattern. Who knows?
It was warm enough toward the valley that I dried of nice and quickly; August is a pretty good time to be alive.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Aniversary



Lo, these twenty many years ago, my sweetheart allowed me into her heart for good.
Each day better than the rest, every year built upon the last by better and worse; for me the sum total is that of joy and love that I cannot express other than by saying her name: Diedre Ann.
Thanks for staying with me, DrieAnya.

Monday, August 22, 2011

Divide and Conquor

From a young age, we're trained to be individuals defined by what we bring into our area of influence and control, and that we should associate with those of our own 'class' or group.  Schools, churches, zoned and income-based neighborhoods, and to an extent, the even more primally-based family organization give us to understand ourselves as part of divided and homogenized groups.
This makes it even more difficult to expand our minds past preconceptions and into understanding of ourselves as summed constructs and consciousness capable of new input and outlooks. Stasis of the mind as a result of group-based thinking is a comfortable place; affirmation of  belief and action is all around us and as close as another member of the group, usually someone very close geographically and quite used to similar input, both environmental and internal.
Though the group affords affirmation at a level numerically far above that of an individual, the most isolate unit of our society, the effect is ultimately to isolate each group form another based on the ideals and concepts mentioned before.  The difficulty of getting groups to cooperate and change based on new information and input is as difficult or more than getting an individual to understand the importance of close examination of ideas and ideals.
Thus, the society proceeds along a course set previously; either on a course of its own or manipulated by entities or individuals capable of mass communication and possessed of an understanding of these simple principals.
It's not easy to be self-determined and consciously autonomous; it's not to my mind and perspective even very simple to break down and examine.  Nevertheless, I see it as about the only way we're ever going to make it out of the  benighted social order we find ourselves bound by in most quarters of the world. I can only realistically hope that I can figure out my own silly self before going too far into the hole to dig myself out.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

The Searcher's Quandary

Those who crawl the straight-razor’s edge between the ideal and harsh reality (a fine line because of the expedience of perception, certainly nothing based in the real world) know the bitterness of day-to-day despair and the joy of a stranger’s smile. That’s the way the mind and heart of the searcher negotiates the teeter-totter of life.
Whether that searcher is one born to the quest, having lived a life seeking hopeful equilibrium in the face of the hopelessness of cosmological unity or the newly initiated having stumbled upon or sought out further light and knowledge in a place unexpected or previously proscribed, the searcher is more often than not a person with economic and social difficulties. The Law of Conservation of Resources is a cruel taskmaster in a society like ours, especially cruel for the propaganda that says that we have a life of ease and relative leisure compared to that of our ancestors.  The reality of our world is that of a body and psyche not changed much from those of our forefathers and mothers roving the prairies and tundras of the Pleistocene, competing with Sabrecats and Dire Wolves for Steppe Bison and ancient Caribou. Those psyches are being exploited today by enemies more cunning many times over than any competing apex predator species ever was, those working to market products and services or profit from human’s desire for power, security or status.
These needs, whether real or simply perceived as such, are in the same constant demand of attention and energy in our day as they ever were in the past. Maslow’s hierarchy demands that the lower needs are met before satisfying the next, and as ever, if any of the lower needs are threatened, the higher-ups get starved of attention or forgotten completely until stability down lower is restored.
Thus what Thoreau termed ‘The examined life’ becomes a luxury beyond the reach of the average Joe and Jane, and ‘a life of quiet desperation’ becomes the norm, even for those who seek something better and more beautiful.
More to come…      
Divide and Conquer

Thoughts on Belief and Hope

Expansion of one’s basis of thought, or at least expanding one’s understanding of his or her beliefs is fundamentally difficult, especially in this particular society.
The Law of Conservation of Resources, one of the bases upon which human survival and success hinges upon, dictates that we spend as little time and energy upon that which demands the least attention to maintain and more upon that which requires that energy in order to maintain life and ‘progress’ of the self or species.  Thus, our own ordering of the cosmological universe, so important to many early in life because of relative importance in the perspective of youth and newness, is ratcheted down in that preeminence as our inner perspectives come into some sort of focus and equilibrium with the outside world and society. 
For some, however, that equilibrium is never really reached, or is kicked out of an earlier, perhaps less-than-inclusive continuum with the rest of one’s society at large. When that happens, the universe is not at rest, nor is it easy to bring into a focus or harmony between the individual and his or her community.
The conflict between society and the individual is difficult for both parties; the community often perceives the individual at conflict as insane, anti social, or worse, while the individual attempting to come back into harmony with their place in the universe can feel conflicted, alone, and often, betrayed by their newly out-of-synch system of belief and those yet in adherence to that system.
To be continued…
The Searcher's Quandary

Saturday, August 20, 2011

The power's on!
Been so for a half hour or so...
That was a quick one.

Here you are, the dope on our outage:

It's apparently a 'loss of transmission'...
From the Rocky Mountain Power Outage page-

Moroni, Mt Pleasant, Chester, Pleasant Grove, Fountain Green, Indianola, and Birdseye

• Area of outage: Zip codes 84646, 84647, 84623, 84632, 84629 and 84062.
• Estimated time of restoration: 9:00 p.m. MDT.
• Cause: Loss of transmission.
• Customers affected: Approximately 2,263 customers are without power.
• Crew: On site and repairs are underway.
Updated 4:35 p.m. MDT on August 20
Sigh. Nine. That means around 12:30am.

Power's out again in our third-world retirement enclave...

A series of thunderstorms is swirling about the valley, and though none of them have actually blessed us with rain, we are now recipients of yet another power outage. Been off for about an hour and a half now, with not a blink of info.


We're all out in the blessed shade from surrounding clouds doing things that ought to have been done long ago, so things are not without a silver lining. I'll get back when things change or have prognoses...

Monday, August 15, 2011

Presenting Michelle Bachmann: the Winner of the Iowa Straw Poll



Along with other like, extremist thinking, right-wing candidate wants to abolish the EPA.




What a sweetheart. We'll be hearing more, I'm sure, soon.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Mobile Entry


The evening is sunny and cool; fall seems to be making her first forays into this maturing summer...

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Tor the Treasure Finder

Tor has been trolling the newly dry stream bed that goes through town down from our house for cottonwood seedlings. He always finds other cool stuff, like old ice-skates, amazing rocks and curious-looking bottles. He found one this afternoon that was particularly odd; sort of like a large baby food bottle with a built-in well. I thought is looked noteworthy, so we washed it up and found on the bottom a patent number with no name or brand.
Enter the power of the web.
We googled the patent number and came up with this webpage. Our little bottle was about halfway down the page:



From the author's site:




The Ink Market Was Once Competitive
Mr. Owen E. Raab's Patented Ink Bottle (No. 1,759,866)
It Makes it Easy to Fill Your Pen
Click here if you want to learn how to get Patent Drawings

Society is indebted to Mr. Owen E. Raab of Seattle, Washington for the invention of a "significant improvement in combined wells and bottles". His Patent No. 1,759,866 was granted on May 27, 1930 and signalled the demise of the penwiper industry.











Anyhow, a fun little find; the boy has the treasure-finding gift. Perhaps he got it from his genetic link to Hyrum and his brother Joseph...


Thursday, August 11, 2011

A Trip in a Sort of Southerly Direction


467.3 miles.
That’s a tally that includes round-trip to and from our little house in SpringTown to the Escalante Plateau and a few little trips to and fro. Quite a few miles to drive, but that’s alright.
There is water and sky and stars and earth and fish and bobcats and trees there. And much else, too. It’s an area I’ve spent lots of time in, at least the environs thereabout. I love the place and have learned much of myself and my surroundings while there.
Ryan suggested we head out that way as the summer winds down and our teaching assignments begin tugging at heart and mind; he’s been there quite a bit with his own family this year. They were pro companions; our family had a splendid time and wanted to stay much longer.
Nights started cool, and in that the air was dry, they got downright cold by the time dawn made its way ‘round to our place on the earth. The sky was clear, too, and the stars typically spellbinding in brilliance and number. I found myself staring into the sky more than a few times as I woke up in the thick of night for one reason or another; my reward was bliss and at least six long-lived meteorites of different colors across the dome of dappled black and light.
The days were fair hot. Our time spent at Calf Creek was spent mostly in the water, immersed or wading, by the majority in the two families. The stones and cool, clear liquid danced with the imaginations of the children, and as they played, they engaged in exploration; pretend restaurant, painting each other with naturally pigmented clay, extemporaneous hide-and-seek, and other games too short-lived or unnoticed by adult eyes.
Again, it was time well given and though not long near enough to wholly heal hearts and minds pricked by day-to-day life and rationalized decisions of survival and expedience, it did much good for us ‘round this little house in SpringTown.

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Late Summer Ornamentals




Dang these little red berries; they are juicy and abundant, but they don't make the belly happy.
I remember that from when I was a kid.
I haven't asked my kids if they are as silly about food experimentation as I was when I was younger...

Friday, August 5, 2011

Garden















The garden and high desert acre seem to be flourishing in this year of abundant snow and persistant rains.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Huaraches!






Just made our first pair of huraraches today, and they happen to be for the little girl who can seldom find a pair of shoes other than her mud boots... Anwyn.
So now that she has a pair of home made sandals and a new dress made by her mom, she's looking pretty darned stylish.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011


Since my audio isn't showing unless you go to the feedburner crazy 'feed' site, I'll spread the good news about the garden.
The corn has begun to tassel! That makes me feel pretty happy.

First Audio Attempt!

I thought I'd try out my new microphone and 'Garage Band' setup this morning between assignments. Inasmuch that I don't have much recent recording or broadcasting experience and I don't have any confidence to speak of with the program, here's a reading of Little Gidding by the Old Guy, T.S. Eliot.
This will probably be a bit large and/or messy at first, but as I figure out the settings and such I'll get it whittled down to size and efficiency.
You can always turn it down or off if it gets reeeealy annoying...
Eah. I just decided to link to the file the good, old-oldfashioned way.

Little Gidding by TS Eliot