There Outta Be a Law

Dear Moi,

On behalf of the State of New Mexico Dog Protective Services Department, we have determined that you looking after your neighbor's dogs while they go to work every day is a direct violation of Dumass Rule 371.4 in the State Regulatory Code governing the licensing of doggy day cares.

In other words, if you want to do your neighbor a good turn and help him out, we are going to have to get a cut of the action.

Sincerely,
The All Knowing, All Seeing, All Powerful State

• • •

Seriously, Party People, we're so silly, I'm beginning to wonder if we don't deserve what we get.

Mute Monday: The Eighties

Time, Time, Time

Where does it go? And when it gets there, will they be serving margaritas? What does it do with itself? Who keeps it? Is it bossed around, corraled in, horded up in some fortressed Federal Reserve Time Bank in the Sky and meted out to people over the course of an eternity's worth of reincarnations? Or does it simply disappear, like a handful of powdered sugar blown into a wind storm, its molecules self-dividing into increasingly smaller particles forever and ever and ever, on into infinity?

I have no idea. All I know is, I don't like the way it flies.

But, fly it has since the last time I posted something to the Undaunted Baker, so I just bridged the gap. Hop on over, why don't you, for a tasty cookie treat that will have you thinking: "Gee, where have these Key Lime Frosties been all my life?" Click here.

And I'll just sit right here and ponder the temporal/spatial implications of eating an entire plate of these in the face of an impending five mile run, which, it seems, is the only kind of time that doesn't fly as far as I'm concerned.

The Sky is a Hazy Shade of Winter

Two days ago a cold front slammed into us with the force of a semi truck to the back end of a Ford Focus, and today I smelled winter while out on my run. Not fall, winter. That peculiar, acrid blend of organic matter already rotted and wood burning in cast iron stoves and moisture in the air that's heavier than rain. Last week we were swimming outside beneath azure skies and full on sun. We were sweating in shorts and tees on long runs and throwing off the covers at night. This week, the pool water churns untouched beneath its protective cover and we're bundling up for runs in hat, gloves, and long tights. This morning, we woke with the comforter tucked up over our faces and a dog wedged between us.

Right now, outside my window, I'm watching the wind churn and the sky darken to that wispy, steel grey sheen that portends snow. In the garden, my tomatoes made it fine thanks to a fleecy covering of sheet, but a couple more nights like this and my sunny summer yellow marigolds will most definitely fade to black. The number of hummingbirds buzzing around the feeder has been reduced by at least half. I haven't seen a robin since last week and this morning two baby lizards were belly up on the porch, victim either to Maddie or last night's near freeze.

Yes, it's way too early to be this cold. But I've learned never to discount the vagaries of weather out here in the East Mountains. One morning, we can wake to this:

And the next, to this:

So, what's it doing out your way?

Mute Monday: Angst

Gonna Find Me Someone to Share a Common Disaster

Best use of music in a movie in the past twenty years:



Not even five minutes in and we got Leonard Cohen AND L-7. How could I not love this.

What's your favorite movie musical? Or even your favorite use of music in a movie?

They Don't Give a Damn, They're Done Dead Already

You know what else fall means?

NEW ZOMBIE MOVIE POR MOI!

Mute Monday: Back to School

Bow Down Before the One You Serve

I think today is as good a day as any to remember how oppression is born. It is born when one body of people want to wield power and control over another, and they do so by setting in place a doctrine of rigid rules, predicated upon false assumptions about what is "good" – ideologically, spiritually, economically – for those who submit to rule. And those who submit, do so because they are weak and fearful.

In President Obama's speech on health care the other night, I heard two false assumptions about health care that on the surface look to be good for us, but which will not only NOT provide us with better, more affordable health care, but which will lead to even greater limits on our personal freedoms. As long as the majority of people in this country persist in believing these assumptions, we will never reform health care. Those two assumptions are:

1. That health care is a right.
2. That we can only contract for health care by having a health insurance policy.

President Obama said he could see the logic of certain elements of the two extreme opposing views of health care: On the Left, the idea that universal care is a moral imperative and a right; on the Right, that it should be returned to the free market. However, he iterated, implementing either of these extremes would result in way too big of a disruption of how we currently do business.

Did you hear that? He doesn't want to piss off the insurance companies. Because a move to either end would mean the destruction – or at least the reigning in and reassigning back to their original purpose – of the behemoth insurance companies who have even this "radical" president under their thumb.

THIS from the president who said he was going to shake up the way things were done in Washington? Meh. Color me unimpressed. Just another poseur in a nice suit.

So what we're going to get instead is the same old same old, only now with Washington playing even a bigger role. You know, the same Washington that is so GOOD at controlling every other aspect of our lives.

Hell, we don't need another 9/11 to bring us crashing to the ground. We're doing it ourselves. And we going to get what we deserve for our lack of vigilance over liberty.

I Got Your Hopey Changey Right Here

Learn more about Gary:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2EhAVQS2V8&feature=related

Mute Monday: Babe

Nothing Gold Can Stay

I loves me some summer. I truly do. If I had my way, Mother Nature would ensure all sunshine, all day, every day. But it's September 4 and let's face it, folks, we can no longer fool ourselves it's still summer. Well, unless "we" live in southern Florida or Louisiana. Or Texas. But that just ain't right. I loves me some four seasons as well because how would we know what it is we truly love unless it goes away and leaves us on occasion? And, besides, it's awfully tough to wear cashmere in July.

Anyway.

My surest indications that summer is waving its goodbyes is that my dear friend Wicked goes back to wiping snot off her pants instead of beach sand. That the smell of green chile supplants the smell of forest fires in the air. And that for two weeks each September, I begin to count down the days to the New Mexico State Fair.

Seven days, Party People. Seven days.

What is it you like best about fall?

Smile Though Your Heart is Breaking

Render Unto Caesar - Or, Not

I don't know if this is actually an old fable or not. I ran across it in Isaac Asimov's novel Foundation, in which one character explains to a recently defeated enemy how to exert one's will without resorting to out-and-out force.

In desperation to preserve its life, a horse seeks an ally in its war against a powerful and dangerous enemy, the wolf. He approaches a man and suggests an alliance, pointing out that the wolf is likewise an enemy of man.

The man accepts the partnership, but only if the horse is willing to place its greater speed and agility at the man's disposal. The horse agrees, allowing the man to outfit it with bridle, bit, and saddle. The man mounts the horse, spurs it on, and together they hunt down the wolf and kill it.

The horse, joyful and relieved, thanks the man and says, "Now that we have defeated our common enemy, please remove your bridle and saddle and restore me to my former freedom."

Whereupon the man laughs loudly and replies, "Never!" and proceeds to re-apply the spurs.

I don't know about you, but my back hurts.