Beaters

[degringolade]

Sitting at the Kitchen table on Sunday morning.  Laundry is in the washer and I am on my second cup of tea. 

Gonna head into the salt mines as soon as the clothes are folded and try to get back to 100% in a soon-to-fail attempt to make certain that I can't be blamed for too much during my absence.  I always hope that the rule "the person to be blamed is the person who isn't in the room" can be circumvented.  I don't hold out too much hope.

As all are aware, JMG is a bit of a man crush for me.  I am fairly certain that I had a chat with him years ago in Ashland (Shakespeare Festival) as kinda a random thing while browsing a bookstore during a portion of the trip where I wanted to escape my ex-mother in law.  The younger man that I remember bears a resemblance to JMG now that he has hit the big time. 

I was listening to a podcast where he was being interviewed by what sounded like a perky young thing.  I fell asleep around halfway through the conversation but I remember how the perky young thing gushed over the idea of the de-industrialization of the West, but then seemed to make jarring asides showing that she really struggled hard to really get the idea that her lifestyle would change.  My favorite was "we decided that we would not fly to Europe unless we were going to stay more than two months". 

I guess that all one can do is try.  JMG appears to walk the walk.  Truth be told, I have to get better at it myself.  I thought that I had jettisoned the van, but it has reappeared in my life and I have to figure out what to do about that.  I will never get on another plane.  I tend to eat low on the food chain.  My 525 sq. feet of living space is pretty small, my electrical consumption is 226 kwh in August.  I brew my own beer. 

I do agree with JMG about the Internet not being forever.  I have been a "cord cutter" for several years now, with my cell phone being my connection.  My computer is a used laptop running Linux that I purchased for $120 and has been serving me well for several years now.  Since it was made in 2011, I think that I will be able to choke a bit more life out of it.  

I think that I have things pared down as far I want to pare them, but with a realization that I may well be required to pare even more. 

But overall I have a pretty good life. 

A Golden Retriever in Portlandia
By Michael

If one were to offer the news to a resident of Portlandia, that a fairly recent ancestor of theirs was known to be an extreme racist who participated in a lynching or two, the resident will be fascinated and want to know more - to the extent that they will research old newspapers, etc. to establish that the bastard related to them really was that bad. When they determine that he was, they will be eager to spread the news to their friends about what they have discovered.

But if you were to offer the news to the same resident that a fairly recent ancestor of their dog once, for apparently no good reason, killed a few sheep, the resident will be appalled and won’t want to hear about it.

The explanation must be that the resident is extremely proud of how far they have come, but not so sure about their dog.