Making Paper

I wonder how many trees get turned into paper each year just to satisfy
the government's fondness for reports?

That's what I'm doing today, paperstuff. I would put it off longer but the
Registrar of Wills, completely clueless as to how things are done in this
lumbercamp, is talking about court appearances if I don't get a report
turned in. Sheesh. I do have a defense; the instructions for composing
this "account" are pretty vague. Turning me loose on a report without clear
instructions on what it is to include is pretty reckless on their part. I only
have a first draft at this point, but twice already I have had to stop myself
from going into how having dogs has impacted my ability to produce an
accurate accounting of the estate. (well, one was my usual, "the dog ate my
homework," excuse... and that one may reappear in the final draft)
Anyway, this has to get finished today because we'll be going to the lake
for a last kid-fling before school starts. Probably be gone until next
Wednesday.

Protest?

That's odd. On Drudge Report there's a story about protesters confronting
soldiers at Walter Reed Army hospital. The odd part is that you can't get to the
hospital unless you have a good reason to be on the base. There's an ID check,
and often a vehicle search. Something fishy sounds.

Update: Ah... It was at the medical center. The hospital is further up in Maryland.
OK, so that's believable. Also believable is that these kind and gentle liberals would
taunt wounded soldiers.

And more:
Came across this while searching technocrati on the Walter Reed story:

Thibeault, 22, of Riverside, Calif., spent about seven months at Walter Reed after his left hand was blown off by a grenade that was tossed into the Humvee he was driving through a crowded marketplace in Kandahar, Afghanistan, on Dec. 3, 2003. Thibeault, an Army specialist with the 110th Military Intelligence Battalion of the 10th Mountain Division out of Fort Drum, N.Y., grabbed the grenade and tossed it under his seat. He said the grenade had a seven-second fuse, and just about the time he got it under the seat, it exploded, ripping off most of his hand and cutting up his legs with a shower of shrapnel.

His reaction was purely logical. "My buddy didn't see it, and so that's why I grabbed it. My thought process was, if it crossed over my body as I threw it out the window, it might have killed me and my buddy. If I threw it out into a crowd on the side of the road, it would have killed innocent women and children, and we would have all kinds of bad propaganda." So he ditched it under his seat, and when he pulled up his arm, his hand was pretty much gone except for his little finger. He kept driving with the hand he had left, getting himself and his buddy to safety and treatment.....

The article is about the problems faced by Thibeault in getting on with his life. It's a
situation that many wounded veterans must face. Thinking about it though, as hard as it
is to imagine that there are people in this country that would like to make that job
harder for Victor and his fellow wounded soldiers, aren't they really just gnats
to guys like these? I'm even thinking that the protesters ought to watch their step; guys
this tough can still slap them snottless, with one hand or two.

Lance

Great googily-moogily, those French are cheesed-off at Lance for taking the Tour
de France so many times. It's funny to watch, really, as now they try to spin again
that he couldn't have beat them fair and square. Anyway, this is the quote that
really tickled me:

Leblanc [director of the Tour] suggested that in the future, urine samples
could be stashed away for future testing as detection methods improve — another possible
weapon in the fight against doping.

"We're so tired of doping that all means are good as long as they are morally acceptable,"
he told L'Equipe.

"morally acceptable" to a Frenchman? I'd say the field is wide open then.

Finally Cooler Weather

and I'm stuck doing paperwork.... If anyone ever asks if you'd *like* to administer
an estate, tell them sorry, you don't speak english. Sheesh, it gets tedious. And it's
not helped by realtors, stock brokers, and accountants who all want a piece of the pie.
Thankfully, they aren't all crooks. And the people at the county Registrar
of Wills office are helpful, well, except that they're going to make me go to court
if I don't complete these forms in time. They obviously are unaware of how things
are done in lumberjack land. We wait until the sheriff is at the door.

Ah well, good news is, just one more form, then an amended form, and I'll be
caught up. I might even go out to work today... and leave the paperwork until tonight.
(late) Or maybe tomorrow...

See how it is?

Double Half-Calf Latte

A short that captures where this whole coffee thing is going.
Looking around the site, looks like most are ok for work, though they all have sound.

Mmmmm...

I wouldn't lead you astray. Best eaten when nobody else is home, so as
to avoid the inevitable "What's all that moaning about?" questions.

Top of the World, Ma

bellrock, originally uploaded by lumberjack.

Where she belongs.

at the bottom

!glugglug, originally uploaded by lumberjack.

At the bottom, giving the international, "the anbulances
won't be needed" signal.

Time Waster

Here's a great time waster if you get the time.
First catch, then throw paper into the trash can. It took soooo long to learn how to throw.
Turns out short throwing motions are best... [and don't expect to see my name on the high-scores]

Wet Day

But at least the rain has cooled things off.
So I'm doing kid transport and then real work. I kind of feel blah-ish about
the real work... taking time off sort of poisons the work ethic thing. Still,
I know I'll feel more enthusiastic once I get out there with a chainsaw, destroying
mother nature. Watch out birdies, look out squirrels, your houses are coming down.

Update: The squirrels and birdies get an el passo. Rained out I was.

Air America

Har. Still waiting for them to relegate Rush Limbaugh to the trash heap with
their edgy, smirky, cutting, humor, and ratings, and cash stolen from disadvantaged
youths.
Great coverage, by the way, of the scandal/misunderstanding on The Radio Equalizer.
I say misunderstanding because I'm sure there must be a good explanation as to why the
honest and fair people at Air America *still* haven't paid back the youths.

Update:
I'll put the link up here, from the comment:

This Sunday evening at 9pm est Brian Maloney of The Radio Equalizer will be our guest on Pundit Review Radio. Brian will get us up-to-date on the latest developments in the ever expanding Air America Radio scandal. Here is a link announcing his appearance.

You can stream the show live at WRKO.com and call us with questions at 877.469.4322

Too hot

I don't know if it's too hot for most people but I decided it was too hot for me today.
I'll do paperwork, well, as soon as I'm through reading about the latest scandals on
the www. Speaking of which, I see Eminem is cracking up. Who could have predicted
that? Well, if he quits touring, that will give him more time to comment on world events.
Sure hope he's not on our side.

While You Were Out

I buy parts from these guys every once in awhile.
And while I've never had a problem with their products, I often regret ordering from
them. Why?

Yesterday an investigator was here getting my information for a friend's security clearance. Just
a standard thing in these parts. So as I was answering her questions, I noticed her looking
at my while-you-were-out sticker from UPS. It was sitting there on the table to remind me to
leave a check for my C.O.D. parts. And after noticing her glance at it several times, I realized
why. It was from Assembled Products, and it asked me to leave a check for something like
$228.00. But the UPS guy didn't have time to write out "assembled products." He abbreviated it, as
they always do as, "ass prod". So I'm trying to convince this investigator that my friend
is of good character... but I'm sitting there with the paperwork for a package for $228 worth of
ass prods. Lord only knows what was going through her head.

I racked my brain for an innocent way to comment on the sticker, "Oh, that reminds me that I must
leave a check for these perfectly innocent ass prod parts...." But I knew from a lifetime of being
misunderstood that there was nothing I could say that wouldn't make it worse. I was just happy
that the UPS guy didn't show up with my [huge] box of parts while she was there.

They should get out of Iraq

Oh wait, they aren't in Iraq.

DHAKA (AFP) - More than 250 small bombs exploded within an hour of each other across Bangladesh, killing two people and injuring 50 in an unprecedented attack initially linked to a banned Islamic extremist group.

The bombs, which killed a man and a 10-year-old boy, exploded in almost all of Bangladesh's 64 towns and cities including the capital Dhaka, between 10:30am and 11:30am (0430 and 0530 GMT), the Home Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

And the beheaded Budists of southern Thailand don't seem to be in Iraq either. Wait, and
the biggest bomb plot in Spain (the thwarted one) was after the Spanish government
did their little-girl act and ran from Iraq with their tails between their frail Spanish legs.

Could it be that these wild eyed evil curs are just psyco? Could it be that the world will
have to live with terrorists until their will is broken or the worldwide caliphate is in place?
You bet, and I vote to break their will.

Cindy Sheehan

What an easy thing to ignore. Not because you could find many more
mothers of war dead that disagree. Not because she repeats the silly
it's-for-the-oil nonsense. Because she's embarrassing herself and the
polite thing to do is look away.

Early early early

I sort of half suspected that the reason I couldn't find Air America on
my radio dial was that it came on early in the morning, maybe opposite
the farm reports and public service announcements. But I've been getting
up with the squirrels for a week now and I still can't find it. From what I've
heard they haven't aired anything funny yet, but I would like to hear them
at least once before they fade away. Course, now there's this:

Here's what is known thus far. On Friday,
Air America confirmed that last year it did in fact take
money from a city-funded nonprofit that runs programs
in the Bronx for children and Alzheimer's sufferers....

You won't find any major media covering it yet, maybe it won't ever make the
Washington Post. I start to suspect that Air America will be like that Segway
thing, something you hear about a lot, but nobody's ever seen.

Fit Crazy Guys

I searched for a michael moore or ted kennedy jogging picture but no such luck. I'll bet
michael's running is confined to short sprints to the refrigerator. Ah well. Again today, sloth
will be my watchword. I'll go to work but take it easy. Probably end up as tired as Oprah's
goat regardless.

Fit Lumberjack

Whew. In keeping with the not-overdoing-it plan, I quit early today.
Still, I ended up the kind of hot and sweaty you usually can't find without
going into Oprah's back jean pockets on horseback riding day.
All in all, it wasn't so bad. Now, like ewan, I rest.

Fit President

Isn't it amazing how, out of 100 photos, they'll always go with the one fluke
that makes the Prez look like he's getting an unseen electrical shock?
Anyway, it's good to hear he's [amazingly] fit. I'm [amazingly] not, so I took it easy
today.

Stumble-mutter-yawn

Looks like I'll be up early all week... driving the world's loveliest vacation
bible school helper to her post.
[yawn]