State by State

One by one states will legalize marijuana, and one day the Feds will have to address this one way or another. I hope it's for full legalization, but you never know. Trust no Republicans.

White Forest

I worry about the birds out in the forest. What do they do? How do they stay warm? Poor little birds.

All the poor little creatures out in the snow.

Sense of his soul

As you might recall in long ago history, W. was the President of the US of A and was awesome. He was also total bro's with Vladimir Putin, and thus brought peace between the USSR and America. And he did it with the power of being Born Again. W. on Putin:

“I looked the man in the eye. I found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy. We had a very good dialogue. I was able to get a sense of his soul; a man deeply committed to his country and the best interests of his country.”

You see, once you get a sense of someone's soul, you're best buds, and will totally exchange information regarding TERROR.

Where's your Global Warming now?

Snow Demon

Of course, as soon as it gets cold or snows in the Winter, your witty Wingnut will mockingly ask "What happened to Global Warming"? I tell them that Snow Demon is unpredictable and easily offended. And boy has he been offended this Winter!

Portland ME after 30 plus inches in early February.

Skiing to work! Up here in Gondolin it started snowing in early December and hasn't really stopped. Producing scenes like:

Redshirt photos. So yeah, funny story - Global Warming can cause all kinds of different weather conditions, including increased snowfall amounts. Warming temperatures worldwide will cause more extreme variations of weather in different locales, but yes, there could be far more snow in certain areas because of GW. Good luck trying to explain this to Mr. Wingnut. But then, maybe I will. Tomorrow.

Until then, pray with me to the Snow Demon to accept our offerings and mercifully stop sending snow. My back beseeches you!

Fryeburg Fair

Ayuh. At the Fair. The Oxen Pull was pahticularly excitin'. The weather was wicked nice let me tell you. Indian Summer they call it.

Click for big. All identities protected. Except for Joe Bolf. Both pics redshirt represented.

Under a Midnight Sky

All the photos in this post were taken by me, redshirt, on a full Moon night in mid August, 2012, around Midnight. I used a tripod and a remote shutter release, which allows you to take steady shots for as long as you want. Most of these pics were either 15 or 30 seconds. I've got tons, but here's the best. Not Instagrammed, btw. Enjoy, I hope. That's Mt. Washington far off in the center of this picture.

The Big Dipper! The best Northern Constellation, yes? Two fun facts - to find the North star, trace a line straight up from the two stars forming the right side of the dipper. You can't see Polaris in this picture though. Also, get some binoculars sometime and take a look at the second star from the left, in the handle of the Big Dipper. This is actually two stars - Mizar and Alcor. You'll see them both through binoculars, and also in this picture.  Click for big, as always.

Headin' down the mountain. Midnight, remember. And here's a good point to remind you why the Moon shines - because of sunlight bouncing off it and then hitting our eyes. Literally. A photon is created in the center of the Sun millions of years ago, spends a long time trying to escape, and when it finally does it joins many gazillions of its fellows racing towards Earth in 8 minutes. Anything that reflects (pretty much everything) then bounces these photons elsewhere, where in turn they bounce of something else, so on until there's just no energy to bounce anymore. This is light, this is sight, and color - the materials of the reflector change the photon's "color", and thus we see blue, or red, or green, and all the colors in between.

A bit back up. And in this little valley I created a stream over the past year, and now it is truly a thing of beauty, though no picture seems able to do it justice. Created is the wrong word, however. Channeled is a better idea, though does not do justice to the tons of rocks I moved to make it so. But still, it is thus, and aptly describes all our human endeavors - channeling existing materials, in some manner or other. We cannot possibly create or destroy; it is only our place to rearrange.

Gondolin, occluded. Solar lights provide the ethereal glow. I work by obsesion, I've come to realize. Not sure if this is normal or healthy or good at all, but when I obsess on something, by gum it shall be done. My latest obsession has been in manicuring a natural wall of pine trees, as a fence of sorts. I've cleared all the forest around Gondolin of dead wood and leaves (tons of work), cut down many leaf trees, and carefully nurtured every little baby pine tree that pokes its head above ground. Soon (10-20 years), I will be surrounded by lovely, sweet smelling Balsams, and these damn leaf trees can go fly a kite. Raking! It sucks! And in the Winter, where are you then, oh Oak? That's right, bare assed and creepy.

Red Shirt Is

Green where there was only brown before, forever. It's magical. For comparison:

The harsh light of construction. Does it ever look good? Better always to see the final product than the steps along the way. If consumer you be, rather than producer. Me?

I love the nitty gritty in the production and am often bored with the results. To my detriment!

Gondolin Water Works

Here's Gondolin, as of May 5, 2012.

That wall with the pine shadow is about 10 feet tall. Protecting against the natural inclination of the mountain, which is to drain right there, and to other side. When I found Gondolin some years back, there was a bog to the back and right of the garage shown above, all due to a drainage pipe further up the hill passing on water from still yet further up the mountain. This bog was relatively new and had just killed most of the pine trees in the vicinity, to my chagrin, for it opened up a gap in my fence of pine and wood. And so with all long term considerations given, this must be addressed by draining the bog. And so I dug (and dug, and dug, and dug...) a stream:

You can see a portion of it in the upper left. Here's a closeup of that stretch:

Not the best picture, and for that I am further chagrined. But you get the drift, I hope? A small channel dug into the ground corralling a previously creeping, spreading flow of water that soaked a large area. Another shot, of the newly dug lower stretch:

I also just cleared the deciduous trees and shrubs to the right, as I am truly gardening the forest, pruning deciduous where I can in favor of conifers. You can see the new leafy trees directly ahead, probably 10-15 years old and grown in since this land was first clear. They claim any new land first, and I wonder how the conifers ever gained a foot hold at all. Fun fact to know and share - the entire conifer family is only approximately 300 million years old.

Anywho, the bog is gone, and the stream is now some 400 feet long, all dug out and waiting to be prettified. The amount of water channeled through this system is incredible, and even more so, I've got projects here in Gondolin to last a lifetime. I envy myself.

As a goodbye, here's an artistic blurry photo of a deciduous bloom, in honor of all its fallen sisters:

Bull Moose Rally

Not a sight to see when you Rally around a forested corner. I'd punch it - but that's always my reaction. It might be wiser in this situation to come to full stop, and pray to whatever God it is you pretend to worship.

Pool Party

Protip: If you ever see a mother moose in a pool with her kids, jump in! Mooses love pool parties, and the more the merrier! Especially with non-moose.

Boil the Bath Water

Aww, poor baby lobster, destined for the bubbles. Just remember, the screams you hear are simply gases escaping from its shells.

For real! I had the cliche childhood "Befriend a lobster only to lose him to the pot" experience, happily playing along only to have my friend ripped from my hands and thrown into the boiling turmoil, to a high pitched shriek. NOOOO! I never forgot you li'l buddy! And despite being from Maine and surrounded by lobster at all times, I never ate your brothers or sisters. Except once, but there was a good reason.

There's no good reason for this. Except the LULZ, of course. And as you know, that's more than enough.

Inappropriate Seasonal Symbols

Too much candy! It's a powerful lesson to learn as a child, since perhaps up to the moment of barfing, there is a belief that there can never be too much candy. Oh, how we learn.

I got 15 inches of snow up at New Gondolin! It was amazing/depressing. I've never seen such a display of colors - the reds and yellows and brown fall leaves with green pines and white, white, white everywhere. It looked like Fruity Pebbles in milk. I'm not a fan of winter, but I have to accept it. Maine, and all.

Still, death to all snowmen!

Kitty Ali

Of course the fight (Ali v. Liston) was fixed - could you hit a kitty in the face? Also, this was the only Heavyweight title fight ever held in the state of Maine. Lewiston, if you can believe it! I hardly can.

Indian Summer (Winter is coming)

Indian Summer is defined in Maine as any warm day past September 1st. Why it's called "Indian" is not for the curry. It's easy to forget, in the Summer, that Maine is cold, and way up North. And kinda weird. But boy, in the Summer - it can be perfection. I had the BEST Summer in quite some time, due to the fully operational New Gondolin. Take a look - 

Due Northwest. That's my favorite corner.

From the great wall of Redshirt, newly constructed. It was amazing to see the change in the wall and the leaves this past week - from nothing to full on. Some change I like, other change I'm not so keen on. I'm going to miss the Summer and I know I've forgotten: Winter is coming:

Brrr!

A canvas of life (getting bigger)

Breeding is art via flesh, working traits and physical characteristics through the generations, sculpting a new creature into this world of miracles. Dog breeding has been a genetic science for some time, and is evolution in action. All dogs - from the smallest Chihuahua to this monster Irish Wolf Hound - are very related to wolves. They can still interbreed, which means of course they are the same species, but wolves and domesticated dogs are quite different, as we all know. Barking, for example. I read on the interweb today that dog barking is a human influenced evolutionary change in behavior. Wolves don't bark, the adults at least - child wolves do, for attention. And is that not what we've taught our dogs to do? And so through the many generations barking became a genetic behavior lasting into adulthood, since it was rewarded. Evolution in action, in the span of 10-20,000 years or so. And thus consider the many hundreds of thousands, of millions and billions of years evolution has worked through life on Earth. Thus, whales were once hippo-like creatures roaming the land. Just for example - never forget our Monkey brethren!

EVOLUTION people! That this is a debatable subject across America, and sadly spreading across the world, is testament to the ignorant power of Religion.

Cat breeding is a different subject entirely. But still, progress continues, albeit slowly. Giant Maine Coon, y'all!

Could be a trick of perspective, small lady, but still, that's one big cat.

Look upon my works

Feel free to come up with a "Losing his mind" joke. Take your time, and remember: The journey is the destination.

 Do you remember? 4 TOES!!!! I miss Lost a whole bunch, but specifically, talking to others about it. As for me, I still watch Lost almost daily (it's a part of my workout routine) and I've been writing snarky episode reviews... elsewhere. If there is a clamor for these reviews here, let me know. I'd create a new section.

General rule of thumb: No matter how dumb you think something is, somewhere, someone is probably proud of it. Case in point!

 Paul Bunyan, Bangor ME. I looked upon this statue many times as a child in horror/wonder. And then disillusionment, when I learned Mr. Bunyan was in no way a part of any Maine mythology - so why is there such a prominent statue of him then? Good question! Doing my usual 60 seconds of research, I've found Mr. Bunyan statues all over America, but it does appear Bangor's claim to have the largest is accurate. Chock one up for Bangor! Hooray!

 Contractual obligation. Cool Supes statue though - I'm surprised it's not defaced.

Barack Obama Appreciation Station

You may have noticed a precipitous drop in political postings here at old Redshirt's Lament, and there's a good reason for that: I can't stand politics any more. I don't watch any news, I've stopped reading most of the political sites, and I've not read a newspaper in over a decade. That said, I still faithfully read The Economist, so I am well aware of what's happening in the world. I just skip the politics sections. Why?


Because I know all I need to know, and there's no point in trying to learn anything more. In summary: The Republican Party is actively evil, and will do everything they can to wreck America and the World. Only one man stands against them: Obama. The Democratic Party has many good people in it, but also many corporate shills and weak-spined cowards, so they can be counted on to reliably fold in the face of whatever particular crazy the Wingnuts are manufacturing that day.


And to be 100% clear: I still LOVE Obama - in fact, more than ever. He's everything I knew he'd be when I spent thousands of dollars towards his election, and actually got involved in politics - I knocked on doors! I made phone calls. And I will do it again in 2012. Till then, I rest easy in my relative ignorance, knowing Obama's there, working on my behalf. 

 
And with that, here's a bunch of Obama pictures. 

(Yeah, right - Whoomp! There it is)

 Who's more star struck here?

 These pics are near and dear my heart - taken last summer during Obama's weekend "vacation" in Acadia National Park, Bar Harbor Maine. I was born right down the road, so I consider this my homeland, and it was a great source of pride to see and read about his trip. I wish I could have visited at the same time.

 Not only is Barack a great President, but he appears to be a perfect Father as well. 

 Suck on it, racist wingnuts.

 Uh-oh, Vlad! Someone might be in the running for your "World's Sexiest Leader" title. Better hit the gym - I saw a lot of flab in those shirtless, by the river pics.