Space Cadets

I spent three days in Anchorage with an old high school pal who's had a very serious medical issue.  Fortunately, this visit was to remove a medical appliance since he is, for the moment, cancer free.  Everything went well.

It was seriously cold in Anchorage.  We stayed at Quality Suites which was quite nice.  Took the Alaska Native Medical Center (ANMC) shuttle bus to and from the hospital.  Worked well.

I have spent many, many weeks at Anchorage hospitals with my dad.  I was generally pleased with the care he received.  But I was REALLY, REALLY impressed by ANMC.  First of all, the facility is gorgeous - if that term is ever applicable to a hospital.  The artwork in the facility is amazing.

Sorry about the lighting...but this is one stunning piece of art

 Kinda looks like the crew I play cards with...

I really like this piece...a picture of a caribou body...with a protruding caribou head...and BIRDS!

But art aside, the atmosphere of the place was incredible.  Very friendly and relaxed - the staff was without fail courteous and helpful.  An outstanding facility in my opinion.

In other news, I got home on Wednesday night to find well over two feet of snow in the driveway. Woke-up Thursday morning.  The snow was still there - plus an inch or two or three.  SHIT!!!!

So...without further ado I proceeded to shovel.  A little shoveling work at mom's and that was about 4 1/2 hours.

Today - another three inches at my place.  Cleaned my digs, a little shoveling at mom's, and auntie's roof.  Another 4 1/2 or so hours.  I think I'm in good shape since the forecast is for no more than an inch or so tonight.  So...tomorrow I will shovel a path (this will actually be more like ditch digging) to my oil tank and will be caught-up at that point.

Finally, the Republican race to the bottom continues with Newt and Mitt in a serious lip-lock - although it seems that Newt may be fading - perhaps, in part, from his suggestion last night that we need a colony on the moon... 

I thought Mitt would counter with a promise we would ALL have Cayman Island bank accounts - but he threw away the opportunity...

As predicted, both candidates have been successful in pointing out the serious flaws in their respective opponent's characters and resumes.  The Pilsbury Doughboy VS the Empty Suit.  The Grand Old Party indeed...pretty sad.  The Republicans are simply not fit to govern..

Happy Trails!

On to the Sunshine State

Well, well, well...Mr. Gingrich pulled a fast one.  A sizable margin of victory in the Palmetto State.  So on to Florida and the first big diverse state where one would think that organization and money would trump Newt's seat-of-the-pants campaign.  Still, Newt's no stranger to fund raising and he is crowing that he's made a million in the past twenty-four hours.  And the Super PAC flying Newt's flag is apparently backed by some very deep pockets.  This next week should be long on entertainment although almost certainly short on any discussion of the issues.  But then I guess that's pretty much the nature of the Republican Party these days...

Newt is apparently going to continue to tee-off on the Mittster as a "vulture capitalist," plutocrat, and someone generally out-of-touch with the many trials and tribulations facing the middle class; while Mr. Romney's Super PAC will be cluck-clucking about Mr. Gingrich's serial adultery and general history as a shameless opportunist and huckster.  I am confident that both campaigns will be able to land solid blows since both have a great deal of factual support for their respective cases.  Go to it boys...

Mr. Santorum came in a distant third and I find it hard to believe that he can survive beyond Florida.  Despite the blessing bestowed by the self-anointed leaders of evangelicals at a meeting in Texas last week it appears that Mr. Gingrich carried a plurality of the double-dipped baptist vote in South Carolina.  Amazing! 

In other news, it has been classic winter weather here in the ol' hometown.  Clear, cold and windy during much of the week.  I had a minor frozen pipe problem.  It clouded-up and started snowing yesterday afternoon and I had six inches of snow to shovel this morning.  Good exercise.

Tonight I will be headed to Anchorage for a couple of days.  I am serving as medical escort for an old high school colleague.

Later gang!

Squat & Gobble

Another beautiful day - in a very chilly sort of way.  Just got home and it's about 7 degrees.  Brrrrrrrr.

There are lots of folks skating on Twin Lakes; but the sun has set behind Douglas Island and I'm not inclined to brave the cold for picture taking.  Maybe tomorrow.  Supposed to stay clear and cold all week so I should have other opportunities.

Mom and I drove out North Douglas to visit John and Cindy Chapman.  Their house is on the edge of a meadow and is very cool.  A beautiful piece of property - almost an acre - and lots of great potential for gardening.  Lots of critters, too.  In fact they've had an uninvited guest, an ermine, that somehow got into the house.  They tried a live trap; but no luck and haven't seen the varmint in a few days.  Ermine are supposed to be great mousers - so I guess that's the upside of having a weasel as a boarder...

Mom really enjoyed the visit.  Me too.

Cindy, John and mom

In other news, the Palmetto State battle continues apace.  I haven't seen a poll in a day or two; but it appears that Mr. Romney continues to lead the Republican pack notwithstanding the barrage of negative ads put forward by his competitors.  John Huntsman threw in the towel today and endorsed the Mittster.  Mr. Santorum snidely commented that this simply represented one moderate endorsing another moderate.  No room for moderation in Mr. Santorum's world view.  Amazing.

Meanwhile, the other Rick is getting no traction whatsoever.  A very sad piece in the Washington Post today documenting the pathetic turn-out for Mr. Perry. 

Texas Gov. Rick Perry is stalking the country-cookin’ places around the mid-state Piedmont. After finishing last among major candidates in Iowa and finding fewer than 2,000 votes in New Hampshire, he’s looking for love along the steam tables of South Carolina: Duke’s Barbecue, Lizard's Thicket, Doc’s, the Squat &Gobble.

One can only wonder who might be inclined to dine at a restaurant named the Squat & Gobble...

The most amusing element of the South Carolina race is comedian Stephen Colbert's faux campaign.  Six months or so ago he established his own Super PAC - and his show has featured a series of highly amusing pieces describing how these appalling organizations work.  Since announcing the creation of an exploratory committee for his run as President of South Carolina he has since turned the reins of his PAC over to fellow funny man, Jon Stewart.  The most recent product of his PAC being the following ad:  Mitt the Ripper

Excellent.

Classic Cruisin'

Well, kinda a rough week.  Came down with a cold early in the week and while I feel much better my sinuses are still in an uproar.  Could be the weather too - as we transition from serious southeast wind with rain and snow to even more serious Taku winds with cold and dry.  Supposed to get down below zero early next week - and for my Canadian and South African friends - that's fahrenheit.  The barometer is rapidly moving from low to high.  Still, it will be nice to see the sun!  And I believe that while my home is very exposed to southeast wind it should be calm here during a Taku event.

We'll see...  With any luck I should have some nice pics of folks playing hockey on the lake in front of my place in a few days - it's open water right now; but that ain't gonna last. 

So...lots of reading and TV this week.  I had never watched "30 Rock" before but I am becoming a devotee.  Tina Fey has a sense of humor that is very congenial to someone with my tastes.

I have spent more time sorting through Eric's photos and was very pleased to discover several taken of and on the Gadget, Alison's dad's classic 1929 motor yacht.  Kinda small for what we call yachts in this era; but back in the day it would have certainly qualified. 

These pics were taken during the annual fall quackfest where Newt would take the youngsters (Eric, Doug and various other hangers-on) well south of Juneau to party-down and harass the more dim-witted sort of waterfowl who had a death wish.  Good times - or so I'm told as I never participated in these adventures.

My reference point for the Gadget was the spring and summer season weekend trips - typically to Taku Harbor.  These were similar to the duck hunting expeditions without the ducks.  Dungeness crab and occasionally salmon were on the agenda however.  The Taku Harbor excursions were also co-ed with Alison and her mom in attendance so dining was always of the first cut and caliber.  Thelma made a wicked Sunday brunch invariably featuring eggs benedict.  Very pleasant memories indeed.

 The Gadget and Captain Newt  Photo courtesy of Eric Swanson

 A beautiful boat  Photo courtesy of Eric Swanson

First Mate Doug  Photo courtesy of Eric Swanson

Lookin' for a nibble...  Photo courtesy of Eric Swanson

Sadly, the Gadget was sold a year or so after Newt's death.  As nice as the vessel was it was also an OLD wooden boat.  Pretty much a full-time job to keep up with the maintenance and it was time for lots of serious repairs - not of the sort that corn-fed bureaucrats like Doug, Eric or I could reasonably take-on.  At last report the Gadget was in Port Townsend...

So there you have it.  Have a great weekend everyone.  I am feeling the need for a very light workout and a steam bath.

Baby Lindstrom 1994-2012

A long week and a particularly bad one for Aunt Emilie.  She lost her beloved kitty on Friday after a long week of nursing a very sick cat.  It was rough going for auntie for a couple of days; but she has rallied and is doing well. She spent the night at my digs on Friday; but neither of my guest beds were satisfactory - one too hard and one too soft.  She opted for the too soft one and apparently rolled-off the bed at some point during the night.  No harm done however.

I hosted my sister and a couple of her old high school friends for supper on Saturday.  I think everyone enjoyed themselves.  I know I did.

The weather remains warm and windy.  In fact I don't recall a December/January that has seen so many big southeasters.  And it is mighty breezy at my house which is on a point and very exposed.  I reckon we've been getting all the big storms which typically roll into the Pacific Northwest this time of year.  They have little snow in the Cascades.  Our little ski area, Eaglecrest, has more snow than any other ski resort in North America.  All the rain we've got at sea level has been snow above 1200 feet or so.  I'm ready for some sun - even if it comes with cold temperatures and Taku winds.

In other news, Eric has been scanning a bunch of old family and friends pics and sharing them via email with his pals.  Some amusing stuff. 

Yours truly behind the wheel of his beloved '65 Pontiac  Photo courtesy of Eric Swanson

Eric demonstrates how to sleep on the job  Photo courtesy of Eric Swanson

Born to be wild  Photo courtesy of Eric Swanson 

On the political front, the New Hampshire primary is tomorrow and all the polls point to a clear victory for Mr. Romney.  Attacks on the front runner by the rest of the pack have apparently fallen flat although it is amusing to me to listen to his fellow Republicans attacking him for his role as a private equity mogul.

Private equity is the most opaque, murky and unregulated field of American finance. It's practitioners like to portray it as an heroic endeavor that creates value from feeble or failing firms.  While this may be true in some instances, the process by which it typically occurs is similar to the way jackals or hyenas create value from feeble or failing wildebeest.  And of course much of the added value accrues to the holders of private equity (folks like Mitt), while others - like many of the employees of the firms involved (folks like you and me) - are given the bum's rush.

Since all of the Republicans profess support for red-meat unfettered capitalism it strikes me as less than honest for the likes of Mr. Gingrich to question the ethics of Mr. Romney's former occupation.  More on this later...

Culling the Herd Part 2: Amber Waves of Grain

Well, the Iowa caucuses are now behind us.  And so is Michelle Bachmann - at least as a Presidential hopeful.  I was a mite surprised at Mr. Perry's decision to stay in the race; he says he's now pinning his hopes on South Carolina.  The pundits have offered a number of theories to explain the Texas Governor's decision -  some plausible - some not so much. 

One suggestion is that he is in cahoots with Mr. Romney to keep the right wing of the party divided.  Another is that he is convinced he will cadge the double-dipped Baptist vote big time in South Carolina where both Mr. Santorum and Mr. Gingrich will be shunned for their presumed allegiance to the Bishop of Rome and the LDS Church is regarded as a cult.  A third theory posits that his Texas-sized ego simply refuses to accept the evidence that not even the most crazed of the right wing of his party believes he is competent to serve as President.

I confess I did not watch much of the live coverage of the caucuses on Tuesday.  I did catch Mr. Romney's "Victory Speech" which was truly shocking for its banality - even by current Republican Standards.  The lyrics of "America the Beautiful" will never be the same for me...

The question on the mind of all pundits now is whether or not the right wing of the party will be able to unite behind Mr. Santorum in an "anybody but Mitt" alliance.  I do not plan to fatigue myself by spending a lot of time contemplating this possibility for the simple reason I strongly suspect it does not matter.  Mr. Romney simply has too much money and his national organization too deep for any other candidate to seriously challenge him over the long-haul.  He is the prohibitive favorite to win New Hampshire. And while South Carolina may cause him some discomfort the pace of the primary season thereafter will inevitably favor the moneyed candidate over those more adept at retail politics.

The right wing of the party may have the passion; but Mitt's got the deep pockets.  This time around I'm betting on the cash.

Still, one can only hope that Rick, Newt, Ron, and the other Rick stick to their guns (only figuratively, of course).  Money and organization notwithstanding, Mr. Romney is a deeply flawed candidate and I, for one, have no objection to his fellow Republicans softening him up a bit before the main event.

Culling the Herd Part 1

Caucus day in Iowa and I suspect that by this time tomorrow the herd of Republican Presidential aspirants will have been culled by at least one and perhaps even two failed candidates.  This will be a decidedly mixed blessing insofar as the longer the internecine warfare continues on the Republican side the more likely that Democratic sanity will prevail next November.  On the other hand, how could one fail to cheer the withdrawal of the likes of Michelle Bachman?

The last six months of Republican whack-a-mole has been both entertaining and frightening as each candidate took a turn as "front-runner" - rising and falling like the tide.  Every couple of weeks a new candidate would wash-up on the beach, receive all the fawning attention of a stranded baby whale for a week or so and then expire after enduring a second week of mostly self-inflicted injuries - the rotting corpse then towed to deep water to sink without a trace.

And I DO mean without a trace - for the salient point of the Republican contest thus far is simple:  The GOP has absolute nothing intelligent or insightful to say about any of the very serious challenges facing the nation.

More on this subject tomorrow...

In other news, I have hosted a doggie visitor for the past few days.  Sitka the Golden Retriever will be picked-up by her owners Wednesday evening.  She is a sweet gal in the dopey and furry manner associated with her breed.  I have taken some pictures of the hound but have thus far refused to pay Google the rent they are demanding to store additional blog photos.  I have no doubt they will prevail in their extortion; but I am determined to pout for at least a couple more days before caving-in.

Later gang...