Christmas Wish List

Well, in case you haven't shopped for me yet, I have finally decided what I want for Christmas. It's called SWORDS and it's a robot. I hear they're hard to get though. I did get a picture of one in case you're out shopping and you happen to see one. It has a machine gun that can hit a target 3,000 feet away. Hmm, maybe a good replacement for my home security system. Make sure nobody takes my stuff. Oh, and now I've read that there are 3 of them in Iraq. More to come too. I wonder how long until our local police force is replaced by SWORDS. We ain't seen nothin' yet. Stand by. Stay tuned. Be safe. Have fun! Merry Christmas.

I Just Wanna Have Fun

Is it annoying that the music comes on when you open this page? Go ahead, turn it off if you can. I can handle it.
I just love upbeat music right now. It seems to make me happy, but feel free to tell me if it's annoying. I know Kathy is waiting for me to get back into my Van Halen phase, which reminds me I have to listen to my "Strumming with the Devil" CD featuring David Lee Roth from Van Halen and a great bunch of musicians including David Grisman on at least one track and the John Jorgenson band. I'll fill you in on this when I've checked it out. In the meantime, check out the youtube video on the right of John Jorgenson. Wow!

Do You Know Where This Is?

Have you been here? Where is it? What is it called?

Holiday Colors

Kathy, Dani, Ricky and I went on the Studio Tour on Bainbrige Island yesterday. Breakfast was at the Streamliner Diner (Dani copied me and took the same picture ((or was it the reverse?))). The ornaments were hanging at Mesolini's Glass Studio and the Jeep and minivan (headlight) were just around.

It's Hot in Here!

Water Bottle Found

Breaking story from Poulsbo. I found my water bottle. Now I can go home and maybe I'll find my mug.

Hot Jazz - Baby!

More and more of what I'm listening to lately seems to be what is called "Hot Club" jazz. "Founded" by legendary gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli, violinist, the genre usually included 3 guitars, a violinist and a stand-up bass player. Of course over the years there have been many variations. There actually was a "Hot Club" where they played in Paris in the 30's plus there was a French music society called the Hot Club de France. Mark O'Connor has a couple of albums out in this style. If you like really hot guitar and violin with a stand-up bass holding down the beat, you would really enjoy "Hot Swing!" The guitarist on this album is Frank Vignola who is incredible!

Thoughts for the day:

1. I am thankful for my typing teacher in Junior High. Who would have thought we'd all be spending so much time typing (I think it might be called keyboarding now though). I know I missed quite a bit of the class and that's why I have problems with the punctuation keys and the numbers.
2. I am thankful that I have many interests. I like rounded things. It may not make ME well-rounded, but I realized lately that so many things that I like are kind of rounded. Examples you ask? Airstream trailers. MacBooks. DC-3 airplanes. 1952 Chevy pick ups. iphones. Certain girl parts. And the list goes on...
3. Has anybody seen my SIGG mug that I just got? And now the SIGG water bottle is missing too. I only had them for a couple of weeks!

Al Gore for President in 2008

After reading Al Gore's recent book "Assault on Reason" and seeing "An Inconvenient Truth" I realized that this may just be the guy that is most qualified to lead our nation at this time. Smart, articulate, caring, 2007 Nobel Peace Prize winner Mr. Gore needs to be convinced to run in 2008. The Al Gore 2008 Draft Campaign web site has a petition you can sign "asking Al Gore to run in 2008". Several polls show that if he were to run, he would be the leading Democratic candidate at this time.
ACTION: read the book, see the movie, sign the petition and pass it on!

Dawg Music at Jazz Alley

Sunday night’s secret location was Jazz Alley in Seattle where we saw the incredible mandolinist David Grisman. It was one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. The inventor of the all-acoustic instrumental “dawg music” has been well-known in music circles since the 70’s when he came out with the first David Grisman Quintet album. This genre of music that combines jazz, swing and newgrass music is very much inspired by Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli, members of the Quintette of the Hot Club of France, as well as bluegrass music. The latest addition to the David Grisman Quintet is Frank Vignola one of the highest rated guitar players at this time. This band blew us away!
You can sample and purchase Grisman’s music at the Acoustic Disc web site. And... there is a free daily download available there, just to get you in the swingin’ mood...

Happy Birthday Shorty!

Having just returned from a 2-week road trip through the SW, what could possibly top that? Shorty's birthday of course! Happy Birthday Shorty, my traveling companion through the NW, the SW, and life. I love you, Boo.
P.S. - Guess where we're going tomorrow night?
Shorty doesn't know, can you guess?

What Can a Swiss Boy Do?

Today Kathy bought me a SIGG THERMO mug (made in Switzerland like me) so whenever I go to a coffeehouse I won't be wasting a paper cup or a plastic one. Boy, do I feel like I'm doing my part now! However, nothing like what Al Gore, Robert F. Kennedy and so many others are doing. Several years ago I saw Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speak in Seattle. He's done a lot of work on environmental issues and was a very passionate and inspiring speaker. After his speech someone in the audience asked him "what is the single most important thing I can do for the environment?" He replied that one would think that buying a hybrid car or recycling would be the biggest thing, but he said the best thing one can do is to support the organizations that lobby on behalf of the environment in Washington DC. I just thought I'd pass that on...

Living in Taos Pueblo

What a privilege to be able to visit the ancient homes of our first people. We witnessed the cliff dwellings in the Gila wilderness, the homes at Chaco Cultural Sight, dwellings at Bandelier National Monument and ruins of the Hohokums. We also visited a place where Native Americans have lived for a long time. The Taos Pueblo has been lived in for over 1,000 years. Many of the "cliff dwellers" left for the pueblos along the Rio Grande in the 1500's for reasons unknown (of course there are theories: overuse of resources, droughts...). During our visit to the Pueblo a meeting of the tribal council adjourned and the elders walked right by us. We are looking forward to our next visit to the pueblos of New Mexico!

Sacred Grounds

"The Great Spirit gives everyone a song" Monument Valley is a sacred area for the Navajo tribe.

Driving Day

Drive-Ins are alive and well in New Mexico. Sonics Drive-Ins are everywhere. Recommended: chocolate shakes.

Bandelier National Monument

The Anasazi's lived in these cliff dwellings a thousand years ago. We climbed up into one of the caves and looked down at the ruins of their canyon dwelling which may have contained 400 rooms. "If one can wonder, the gift of knowledge comes." Native American proverb

22 degrees in TAOS NM

Yesterday is ashes - today is fire - tomorrow is wood. Old Eskimo saying. Greetings from the Taos Pueblo.

Snow Country & Western

Sunday - we discover Madrid NM. Funky art galleries galore. End up spending the afternoon at the Mine Shaft tavern (see pic) listening to Rue Barb. It don't get no more real than that. This morning we completed a short nature hike at Sandia Peak. Elevation - 10,768 feet, temperature - minus 4 Degrees with wind chill. And alas, we just got our first SNOW!

Great Frontier Food

8 people take your order for New-Mex cuisine which you pick up almost instantly. The price is right and the Frontier gets my road trip seal of approval.

Saturday night finds us at the Frontier Restaurant in Albuquerque.

Just leaving the Gila Wilderness, largest Roadless area in the US. Temperature = 91.

Breakfast for Champions

Everyone enjoys a good breakfast on the road. Recommended: Dot's diner in BIsbee AZ. It's great to be in the land of the sun! Almost everyone we meet is from WA. They all site sunshine as a main reason for moving here. Today was a travel day. We are in Silver City heading North.

Hoodoo you love.

They caught the bear! We did run across a coral snake AND got his pic. Here is a pic of the Hoodoos. PHONE BLOG from Chiricahua, AZ.

Climbing for reception

We had to climb to the top of Sugarloaf Mountain to send this phone post. No cell reception anywhere else. The wind is howling and we have to get back down and see if they have caught the bear yet that is in our campground.

Airstream Heaven BIsbee yes!

We spent the night in a 1947 AirStream Trailer at Shady Dell trailer park in BIsbee AZ. Talk about time travel - everything here is straight out of Twilight Zone! Tomorrow it's off to Chiracuhua National Monument.

Welcome to BIsbee!

We fell in love with BIsbee, AZ today. A liberal oasis in a conservative desert. Formerly an old mining town, BIsbee has become a haven for artists and musicians.

wanted: 100 Year old saguaro

A big cactus ate my girlfriend. the cacti are amazing. this phone post is coming from saguaro national park, AZ, one of the most spectacular places on earth.

Dessert sunset

Day one. will camp here near tucson.

Blogging for the Environment

Southwest here we come!

So Shorty and I are heading for the Southwest on Saturday. We'll be in Arizona and New Mexico for 2 weeks and will be exploring the habitats of the many people who lived there for thousands of years. Hopefully we'll see lots of cacti and desert wildlife as well as spectacular rock formations. Right now we're doing lots of research! I will be updating my blog via cell phone, so the picture quality won't be that great, but I will keep you up to date on our latest adventures.

Desserts are my life!

It's not often that we find a Melting Chocolate Cake in a restaurant here in Kitsap county. So when we found one on the menu at Anthonys in Bremerton WE COULD NOT RESIST! We've decided to come back one night just for dessert. I'll keep you posted.

Dannica's party

This picture is from Dannica's going away party. We will all miss her!
Thanks for 10 great great years here at Rubber Soul!

Shorty says:

shorty is worried. she's worried that i'll spend all my time on the computer making a blog. and so far i guess it's true. and it's all my sister's fault. she has a blog and i don't, well now i do, but shorty's worried. we are getting ready for a camping road trip to arizona and new mexico. stay tuned while i learn how to make a blog.

Another day at the beach

deer on coast

hiking down the washington coast line we ran into some deer grazing on the beach. they were definitely not shy.