Last Post? from Freeacre and Murph
I think it may be time to pull up the
tent stakes and move on. I find myself in the curious position that
in many ways, my personal dreams have, to a large extent, come true.
I have my tipi now. We have prepared for a somewhat sustainable
future for ourselves, with the animals and gardening. We have
established ourselves in the community and made many good friends
here.
We have known that huge surveillance
has been going on for a long time. We decided to continue the
conversation in spite of it. We’ve had a good run. Seven years. I
think we’ve said all we needed to say regarding our political
situation, the collapse, the rise of the police state, the
deterioration of our liberty, the collusion of the financiers, the
drug lords, and our responses and preparations.
But, now that Snowden has brought it
out to the general public, it feels qualitatively different.
Countries are deciding to rebel. South American countries as well as
S. Africa, Germany, Iceland, etc. have registered their
dissatisfaction at being monitored and stalked by the NSA and
corporate overlords. Snowden is getting at least moral support from
many places. ‘Mericka seems ever more belligerent, and looking
more and more hypocritical and out of control.
When the deputy Joint Chief of Staff is
arrested for espionage, for leaking the information on Stuxnet virus,
that’s HUGE. There is some serious shit going on, and it’s only
going to get worse. The implications to the stock markets, the
reserve currency, the Federal Reserve, the money-laundering central
banks, and on and on, could become staggering. It may be the end of
the goodwill that the world has had for our country since WWII.
I do not expect the U.S. to take this
with any sort of grace or sense of remorse. I believe that we are in
for some sort of war, perhaps many wars. It could get real ugly.
Disagreement or dissent will be interpreted as sedition, and punished
accordingly. It is already being done. Take a look at this video of
the internment camps now set up for dissidents:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=oyauWrG6CM4
More than that, putting ourselves on
Front Street is just making it easier for them. I am not comfortable
with that. I am not comfortable with creating a forum where my
cyber-tribe is endangered.
I keep wondering what effect this
unrelenting surveillance will have on the children growing up with no
privacy. That is the real horror. God save us all, it would be like
creating The Borg. I don’t know how one remains human with no
private moments or conversations. How can you have a love life? What
if your genetic code is accessible to your potential employers? Will
it be like “Gattika,” where you are tracked into menial labor or
professional or scientific employment based on your genetics? With
all your history, financial information, social status, relationships
and everything about you documented for all time in some computer
banks somewhere, the plug could be pulled on you at any time you are
deemed to be out of compliance.
It’s not just about having “nothing
to hide.” It’s about having nothing to live for.
SO…. What is the appropriate
response? Charles Hugh Smith says that cooking your own healthy meals
and living a happy life is a revolutionary act. I go along with that.
Maintaining friendships and loyalty to each other is important as
well. But, I question whether continuing to use the internet is
justified. It feels like it is like putting the noose around our own
necks. Shunning the corporate globalist miscreants seems appropriate
to me. Visiting each other in person would be good. Focusing on our
own hometown neighbors and friends. Cultivating a lifestyle that is
exemplary, in terms of health, compassion, regard for the Earth
-those things do not enable them and they are soothing to us.
I admit to being addicted to
alternative news. I will not give it up real soon. I don’t want to
be unaware. But, I don’t want to be enmeshed either. I don’t
believe that there is only one way to be. It depends on your
individual circumstances, age, family obligations, and lots of
things. Each of us is going to have to access how it is for them, and
how best to protect one’s self and loved ones from the shit storm
that may be coming.
I’m still hoping that Universe and
our Mother, the Earth, will somehow level the playing field. Or maybe
these goofball, tattooed, millennials will come up with something
totally out of the box that will change it all.
But, in terms of this blogsite, it’s
time to pack it in. We still have e-mail, if we want to continue the
conversation a bit less publicly. The conversation around our cyber
fire has been reduced to more or less the same few anyway over the
last several months. I still have a few things on my bucket list that
I would like to accomplish, and I feel that my time and energy are
dissipating quickly. We need to re-build around here, and that takes
a lot of energy that we don’t have. I want to paint some things.
I’d like to visit some friends and family – maybe take a ride on
a train. I plan to spend a lot less time on the Net. It only
encourages ‘em.
I have said all I have to say, except
that I love you guys, and the tipi is here for anyone of you who
wants to visit.
And, now, thoughts from the
Murphinator:
I will admit that I have conflicting
emotions concerning dropping the blog. It certainly has been a
rather important nitch in our lives. And yet, I agree with Freeacre
on the subject.
Personally, I am finding that my energy
available for different tasks, including this blog, has diminished
quite a bit. Something has to give. I've run out of things to say
and it has been that way for some time. I'm not doing near the
amount of research and cross checking of data that I used to do. I
certainly am not a Charles Smith who writes a column every day 5 days
a week or a Carl Denniger who writes 7 days a week.
We proposed some time ago that it was
time to close down the blog for several reasons and after some
discussion, decided to continue anyway. Since our rather disastrous
fire, the question is again raised.
The point raised by Freeacre is whether
we should feel threatened to any degree by the state surveillance
system. Are we at risk? While it appears that all communications
are recorded and monitored, is the public discussion on a blog
increasing the risk of retribution by simple association over time? How
far will the PTB go in squashing dissent? How far down the
ladder of influence will they go? This blog is for all practical
importance a non entity and yet....? Our readership is very small
and therefore of little consequence, and yet....
What are your thoughts on the subject?
61 comments:
Funeral Blues
Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.
Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message 'He is Dead'.
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.
He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong.
The stars are not wanted now; put out every one,
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun,
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood;
For nothing now can ever come to any good.
by W.H. Auden
Perhaps this will bring lights out to the internet this Fall:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDBtIKSvq1E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNMWjjC11l4
Gotta listen to this one.
Had many similar thoughts of late. Not running a blog, so don't feel particularly visible or exposed, but for better or worse (no doubt worse) it's all being compiled somewhere even so. Beyond that, there is something to be said for being mindful of our precious time and energy, and also recognizing that in many ways the net has become an echo chamber for a lot of unhealthy sentiment that really doesn't change much of anything anyway.
The drama will play out as it must with or without us. Best of luck.
Nice to hear from you, Izzy.
I've been reading a little more about the Kali Yuga - how it is the bottom-of-the-barrel, whacked times. And, yugas last, like, 300,000 years or something. So, "what is a motherfucker to do?" (to quote our dear elder, Montana Freeman).
It seems the thing to do is to learn to live as righteous, compassionate, thoughtful, healthy, and happy a life as you can. And to avoid conflict if you can, without enabling injustice. Well, that's what I glean from watching many martial arts films.
There is much to be learned from the so-called "junk genes" that compose 95% of our genetic code. The Russians have been studying it, apparently. We may be on the brink of a new view of ourselves and our capabilities that boggle the mind.
I want to work on changing the vibration that I resonate on. Maybe that would be the best way that I can effect anything, assuming that we are all energetically connected.
aho
Ho Hum, I'm a bit lost for words.
Take care everyone, FA, Murph, rp, SATS, randy, Palooka, Bexar, Whitewater Fraggle, MF, Seeker, even HSW if you're still out there.
Keep on strummin gang.
Gd.
I can't disagree with anything both of you are saying. Certainly, there is more empowerment and pleasure in working the land and fulfilling your personal dreams. I think this is yet another major part of recovering from the fire, maybe the most important and there is more good to come that really should be allowed time and space in your lives. Just do what you need to do and see how it goes. You may find that there is still a place for communication with your friends online. What we write about does not always have to be awful stuff, it can be anything you want to share because after all this time we now have an undeniable connection and sharing is better and more hopeful than leaving. It is for me anyway, after so much moving around in the past year, it was never lonely, the group support kept me going, and still does. You know Murph, if you take that train, I want to hear about it and see photos! I know I am not alone. I want to see how the pups are developing. I'd love to see your new gardens and eventually your woodworks. I want to see what Freeacre is cooking and what awesome otherworld thoughts and videos she brings to the table. But I most want to see you both happy, doing what you want. And if these things can be transmitted to my morning coffee with the laptop, the whole world changes for the better.
It is likely you need a break. Do it. But if you want to come back, on whatever basis, you will have my support because I'm staying. I am staying because the alternative is an absurd loss compounding more loss.
That it does not have to be a total loss is up to us. Fun, joy, sharing is there for the taking.
Changing that vibration is a very important goal for ALL I think and if I can share my own personal observations, leaving the "echo chamber" as described above is a great way to start down that path. We find what we seek, and with the internet all varieties are at hand instantly to reinforce ANY mindset. A loop is created and the space between the ears that keeps telling us we are being "informed" demands more. One needs some serious powers of discernment (ok, a top-notch BS meter) and yet even after spending endless hours scanning the 'net for that one-elusive-thing......
....we find we are still where we are with those we share our lives with and nothing has changed "out there" but may have internally.
I don't know how many times I have read a comment that expresses deep dismay at all the "idiots" that "just don't see" because they are "too stupid, sheep, non-souled entities, agents of darkness", whatever. Too often the post includes the sadness of losing friends, family, and other loved-ones just because there was not an acceptance of the information being presented. People are gobbling up stories on the 'net, adopting stances, and holding fast to their detriment.
Sorry if this is sounding rantish. I have just come to believe that there iust so much misinformation "out there" that one is best checking with internal sources and doing the best one can with intuition and hopefully some accumulated wisdom.
This says it all really.
"It seems the thing to do is to learn to live as righteous, compassionate, thoughtful, healthy, and happy a life as you can. And to avoid conflict if you can, without enabling injustice."
We humans have become to fascinated by our ability to "think" and have forgotten the way of the heart. All of those things you mentioned above come not from the head, but from our caring center lower on the carcass.
Much Love to you folks and all who have visited this fine place, extending out to ALL. I know I have only been a silent lurker for some time now, but I ran out of things to say too.
Z
This:
But now that the economy is tanking, the hippy values of peace and brother/sisterhood, ecology, communal living, etc. might have a chance to rise again. Because, the greedhead lifestyle is unsustainable. I think that if we can come to a place of acceptance that things are going to be tough, but offer alternative and satisfying ways to deal with the new realities of peak everything, it will be attractive, even to those who are woefully late in coming to the party. We can function as a sort of vanguard, and be ready to lead the way out of this mess. We will have to be smarter this time. Hopefully, we will have learned from our mistakes, and won't allow ourselves to let the corporates take over. In ten years, I don't want to be watching the "Collapse Channel."
Posted by Freeacre on Feb 5, 2008
She lives what she says. I admire that and agree with all my heart.
Hey -love the trout on the teepee wall!
So, ahhh -you're done, calling it quits, FIN, had enough, throwing in the towel, kallass (Arabic for "finished" -one of the few words I can still remember from my time in the ME besides "Zeg!" which means "shit")? Well... ok, understand where you're coming from, but then I also agree with a lot of what Nina said. The posts that dealt with everyday stuff -not the insane antics of TPTB -were so much more enjoyable to read and comment on. I like to hear about your teepee, your hens and chicks, the late Brie, SciFi flicks, RP's poetry, SATS's world across the pond, HSW's hikes, GD's musical prowess, etc. But yeah, you're right, Murph, we've pretty much hashed-out a bunch of important issues that are, will or might affect our lives, but, all the "hashing-out" we do on this blog doesn't really have much of an effect on us or anyone we know except maybe to inform. I mean, we all know that we're...
you know...
DOOMED!
(HA! -just HAD to put it in there donchaknow)
I'm constantly fighting with these two common phrases:
"Ignorance is bliss."
"What you don't know can hurt you."
Not sure which one to is best.
Anyway, if you'd like to send me more of your teepee pics, restoration pics and updates, and your future train ride, PLEASE do so, you have my email address. And I, in turn, could bore you with my small garden updates, antics of the "Attack Kitties" and steel tongue drumming if you'd like. And...
Well, it's really been a lot of fun sitting around the fire talking about everything and anything with ya'll these past, what, 8 or 9 years? -wow, that's a long time really. All the way back to "Cyclone's Real Deal." Heck, I've only been married for 7. But, I've been toying with starting my own blog. Thinking on naming it, "Yougottabeshittinme.bloogspot.com"
Ok. Naw. Probably not a good idea. Better stick with brewing beer and drumming.
Adios, au revoir, auf wiedersehen and
toodaloo!
-Randy
OUT
SATS
Time to draw the curtains and put out the light in the porch. If some insist on coming, it will not be from this direction. I know what a torment this question is because right at this moment I am in a position to be able to share the honour of the tepee. I have the same doubts of whether I would see the outside of the airport. Far fetched? There are stories out there of aeroplanes in transit over US air space being forced to land and the occupants rendered. We can only assume they must have done something to upset someone but as to the what, we are never likely to know. You guys picked up the baton from Cyclone and you have fulfilled your role excellently, I don't know anyone that could have done it better but now it is time for the better part of valour and a more fulfilling life.
I don't believe it is not having anything to talk about either. After the Russian epic, I decided to let you guys have the talking stick for a while. Should have seen it coming really but I didn't. If you want another post I will guarantee to have one by the time the comments reach 90. But as you explained, that is the minor part of the problem.
So how far will this democracy go in pursuing those with different views? I really don't know. How far did Hitler go in pursuing Jews? To him, one from a ghetto was as good as one from a banking dynasty.
I suppose we all do our little bits of inconsequential minor protest. There is an old lady that always sits on the first till in the local supermarket. If she doesn't look up she will say something like “Have you got your card for your points”? And I say “You know why I don't have store cards” And she smiles as she says “Oh it's you”. I saw a documentary on TV a few years back although there is no record of it on the internet. It was called “Finding Roger”. A TV station hired two private detectives and gave them five weeks to find a real British person called Roger. Roger lived his normal life albeit with a camera crew. The detectives were told Roger's full name, his address and that he travelled with his job and could spend a couple of days a month in mainland Europe. Within a couple of hours they had his bank details and his credit card numbers. For a couple of weeks they were one day behind him, even stayed in the same hotel he did in Germany. Roger then laid low in a cabin (hut) in a Scottish forest for a couple of days just to confound them but then he decided he was not playing fair so went back to his normal life. The the detectives had a break. The found out his wife was pregnant and at three and a half weeks from the start they got him coming out of one of those pre natal classes with his wife. The point of this story is that despite my silly protests over the store cards, every detail of our lives is available to those who want to look for it. The question then becomes why we should put our views on the internet for all to see and collate, or why should we not do it.
SATS 2
Orwell was an insider who knew he was dying and fought against the disease long enough to complete his major work 1984 because he was telling what he knew in a narrative form.
Nobs (Nobody) another gutsy blogger (Forthright views R us), dropped out about 18 months ago but that was because he was slandered on his own blog by a woman scorned. But he was only one of many who are no longer active. Perhaps this is how the internet will end.
Another I regularly follow is Arthur Silber. He is nearly on the end of his heart and can't even afford his rent let alone medical tourism. He has decided to go down with guns blazing and taking as many as he can with him. This is a, when your back is to the wall then the only way to go is forward scenario which doesn't apply to most of us. But it is true that very soon there wont be anything to turn the computer on for. Who will be left to report on the western worlds out of control government and its (s)elected leader – the gift that keeps on giving?
Apart from all these musings, I do think it is time to lower the curtains and gracefully exit stage left, unless you want another post, that is :-) And thanks for making the last seven years fulfilling.
Aho
The Importance of the Journey
Ithaca
When you set out for Ithaka
ask that your way be long,
full of adventure, full of instruction.
The Laistrygonians and the Cyclops,
angry Poseidon – do not fear them:
such as these you will never find
as long as your thought is lofty, as long as a rare
emotion touch your spirit and your body.
The Laistrygonians and the Cyclops,
angry Poseidon – you will not meet them
unless you carry them in your soul,
unless your soul raise them up before you.
Ask that your way be long.
At many a Summer dawn to enter
with what gratitude, what joy -
ports seen for the first time;
to stop at Phonetician trading centres,
and to buy good merchandise,
mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
and sensuous perfumes of every kind,
sensuous perfumes as lavishly as you can;
to visit many Egyptian cities,
to gather stores of knowledge from the learned.
Have Ithaka always in your mind.
Your arrival there is what you are destined for.
But don’t in the least hurry the journey.
Better it last for years,
so that when you reach the island you are old,
rich with all you have gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaka to give you wealth.
Ithaka gave you a splendid journey.
Without her you would not have set out.
She hasn’t anything else to give you.
And if you find her poor, Ithaka hasn’t deceived you.
So wise you have become, of such experience,
that already you’ll have understood what these Ithakas mean.
by Constantine P Cavafy
Yes GD, I'm still out here, never left, just quiet :-) Regarding your TCC blog Murph and Freeacre, it has been, and could well continue to be a convenient and worthwhile place for you guys and the others that come here to continue to share their thoughts and ideas. The content of the sharing could be, much as it is already, a collection of whatever it is you wish to coverse about, all the way from rabbit hutches to 1984 style NSA spying.
I really think there is zero possiblility that you guys are ever going to be set upon by the PTB in some direct manner, like them coming to your home and wisking you off to some detention center for your blogging activities.
The header post could be about anything at all really, even something as simple as a new photo and a few lines about something, and from there always comments will flow, in one form or another, offering up a more convenient place for expression, much more so in my opinion than people trying to independently convey and take in all that they want with eachother through just private e-mails.
You may very well find that if you do " pull up the stakes " on TCC, that somehwere down the road you will find that you still do desire to say something, express yourself to your friends like you have done for so long at TCC. At times there will be spells of course where you are engaged in the other areas of new focus like you mentioned, while others carrying on the conversation, and then something in their sharing of ideas sparks your interest to share some other aspect of your thoughts.
For myself, I do not ever want to stop learning about this world, understanding just what is going on as best I can, and sharing my thoughts about it all, when I feel the need to. Look around the world and you see evidence everywhere that basic folks are striking back in so many ways against the ills impacting their lives. The same will ome to the US, sooner or later, it will happen. And as these protest of all sorts intensify, the powerfull people of ill intent and actions will have their hands full just trying to stay on top putting out huge fires of social unrest, and I would bet TCC will never ever be on their radar.
So you will do whats feels right, whats best for you, but even if your engagement in the day to day TCC flow is diminished to whatever extent, I think TCC would still carry on its flow of myriad ideas because of the people who care for it as a place of sharing, because they all have the common interest of loving the little refuge in the coming storm that you have provide all of these years :-)
On another subject, I think your Tepee looks magnificent. What a wonderful place within which to spend time. In reading Murphs accountings of his travails in putting it up, I never thought they were so involved, more to it than I ever relized :-)
Waiting For The Signal
These pages that bring us together
are the fire in the cave above the stream,
no dream we move in and out of, faceless,
expendable, waiting for a burst of wings
to spill our pooled bones like coins
over the chilled and silent ground
we fell in love with so long ago,
singing the green hills home
under that shovel-shouldered sun.
Fatigue works grim the stone of souls.
No talk is needed to believe the bleeding
will be ours all too soon. Needled dust,
that settled itself in honest lungs, cut
with each rasp, yet the bleeding
wasn't stemmed. Quick, black tongues
flicked from windows, floors below dustified
slabs, while the Street slumped with peanuts
and a beer, cheering each new diversion.
In our rush of voices a stream curses
the murmur of pines. In our names,
what we begged for never to be done,
is done with no shame. And the day
drags its blindered self to toil. Night trades
whiskey pete for oil, while down slope,
death-drummer birds with blazing eyes
ascend the holy crags to raze dissent
before we waking innocent arise.
YEAH! -what everyone else said!
And I forgot something...
Thank you.
Really, thank you both.
-Randy
Hey Guys,
All good things must come to an end. I keep trying to tell myself when I start feeling anxious that everything is just temporary.
Thanks for the fire. Learned a lot, from wood gasifiers to wood chips and everywhere in between.
The invitation is still open if you ever get the itch for some whitewater.
Peace gang!
To my clan...
You have been my haven when I was in sore need of respite and connection after long self imposed isolation. A community of eclectic intelligent beings. I have bonded and do not want this clan scattered.
I want to picture Gd practicing his G and C runs until his fingers ache and his songs coalesce in his head. Living his life with his mate and their animals and nature surrounding them.
His intelligent,provenance based views set out in a logical precise fashion. Living a green,well thought out, sustainable lifestyle with honesty and grace. He gave me the gift of Wonderwall and Doc Martin.
I want to see Sats,perusing his film and book library; eclectic, intense subject matter to be explored and perused depending upon sense of context or need.
Highly intelligent with a questing nature. A geocentric viewpoint with an in depth knowledge about the severe imbalances and injustices that are rolling in our microcosm.
A man that lives under the radar and leaves a small ecological footprint.A love of mate and family. He gave me The Promise, and Motherland.
Then there is Rockpicker; the erudite poet and gardener of wondrous green bounty. An artist who rides the outer edges of our collective interactions with each other.Ear to the ground,sussing out truth or potential of disaster.And again, deep love for mate and family. He gave me "the girl, smart as a whip, taking her stand...or was she just running?"
Montana Freeman&Langosta of course... What can I say. His perspectives and viewpoints set out on planes that border on other dimensional. All, couched in articulate, many layered humor, that covers an intelligent, driven human being, seeking a hard won truth that can sustain him through grief and life's endurance runs.
He gave me opening to grieve and rage over the loss of my son.
Palooka' s Revenge: He once called me a benchmark mama.
He is a benchmark man. A being that is committed to an all inclusive realignment of balance and completion in spirit,body,soul and will. All inside of love. A reawakening of fragmented searching aspects, coalescing forward into their pure forms. A coming together of magnetic polarities that have been apart for so long.A manifester of deeds and an artist on the written page. He gave me the key to all of my boxes and doors.
To continue,Seeker
My Clan,onward to completion.
All the previous; bonded members of my clan.
And what of Murph and Freeacre?
The tenders of the flame and leaders of this clan.
Throwing open their lives and perspectives to a journey of self and family. Opening their hearts to react to the questing wind that is freshening their future choices and stands. They have laid out a cord of welcome to those that will choose to pick it up.
These people that I write about. These members of the clan.
They welcomed me. Gave me haven and sustenance. Beginnings came back onto my life, heart and mind.
And so, to this end, I send out a call....
For community
For heart
For clan
This is indeed a universe of free will with limited choices, so I choose my actions accordingly. Well aware of the power of movement of the micro shifting the roll of the macro.
I have laid out my lines and they hold true. They are there to be accessed, should any want to continue the interactive humanity and openings that have occurred between us all.
In ending
I am otter,of the river, swimming deep and true in the currents. Living in the "now" and open to the wonder, and appreciation to the coming...
Twists and turns in this living, rolling, beautiful body of water that is our lives.
Aho
Seeker/Otter
Tina
http://www.infowars.com/obama-planned-to-kill-peaceful-protesters-in-sniper-attacks/
http://thecommonsenseshow.com/2013/07/25/putin-controls-the-chessboard-obamas-in-deep-trouble/
This is no time to disband,
to pack up camp, roll
the heavy stone bowls over
in the creek and say good-byes.
In good times we gather round the fire to tell stories and laugh, to sing and dance and drum blunt
the sharp corners of the day.
But hard times, like these,
these are when we need the fire
most. Words spoken here
are carried like medicine.
They strengthen us, like sweet
smoke. Sometimes they admonish.
Always there is purpose in the words. Now, for everyone, a shadow
threatens the light. Some of our bravest truth-tellers are now dead for speaking against the darkness. Though we mourn their passing, we honor their sacrifice
by finding our courage.
Aho
my brothers, my sisters, the smoke signals we at one time sent to one another as setting in a sacred teepee and the drum beat describing the passing of the pipe which also was of special significance and a song which sang, ''its time to break camp and and move to new ground and let this place be the work of our mother the earth''.for it is only she that can perform the miracle of rebirth and a year from now we will see the handiwork of our mother in the freshness of new life.
we seek to understand these things and come up with what is called the great mystery by those that consider such wonders.
we understand that there is no need to be or do other then those things that join us with the naturalness that surrounds us as clothing for the soul, for we are found within the hand of this same great mystery and may it always be so.
the new journey we are about to take is blessed and the friendships that have come to be as a result of all that attend this sacred place in the house of our mother shall not disappear but remain in our hearts until there is the time of no time.
we are as one as they say and what does this mean? i think it means that in the very nature of things we ride a rainbow of many colors and sit as a drop of water resting on a blade of grass reflecting those colors of life itself.
we will carry these with us as we seek the happy hunting grounds from which all things begin and end in that cycle of sweet grass burning and filling us with wonder at the simplicity
of it all.
the talking stick is passed and the love of this one is passed with it in the tradition of our people to know one another in that way.
with tsi (love)
aho
montana freeman
Clan readers, friends.
We all pretty much agree that we are living in occupied territory, at the least, in a figurative sense. Most of our daily activities are forced to do business to some extent with known scammers, thieves, con men, opportunists and lier's. Here is a brief update on our experiences.
We are still fighting, after 9 years, with the local ptb over water and septic issues. The fight has been carried to the state level of government. The issues still have not been resolved. Our 9 year old organization CAG (Citizens Action Group) has made progress, but the ptb have dug in and still refuse to deal with reality. Our contention is that it is all tied up with the UN agenda 21 NWO stuff that has been pushed for many years now. Those with the money and political power want it all, want to control everything right down to the last detail, and all to their advantage of course. The rest of us be damned.
On the home front, it appears that our fight with the insurance company for our home owners policy is also going to be a drawn out battle. All of our friends have contacted their insurance agents to check their policies. It appears that their policies have the same exclusions and limitations that ours have and that we had no idea of them to begin with, at least for the folks that have reported back to us. These policies have no problems with catastrophic exclusions for buildings claimed in a loss up to the limits of the insurance. The problem is with
the contents.
In our case, the contents were of far greater value than the value of the building. The adjuster is now telling us that he is depreciating all the replacement costs of personal contents by 50% and he has sent a check for that amount. But, as we replace contents, we send him receipts and he will pay the difference between the 50% depreciation and the actual cost. This makes no sense to me at all. Of course, they are banking on the idea that we not replace everything or even most of it and will thus not have to pay that difference up to the limit of the policy. We were under the delusion that they would pay replacement value up to the policy limit, with no question.
Check your home-owners policy carefully and get in writing what they will pay or not pay. Look for those little statements of exclusions and restrictions. Look for the area that deals with "What We Will Pay For" and "How We Will pay for" paragraphs and multiple "OR" embedded in it. Things like "will pay difference of value before the loss and the value after loss, OR pay replacement value OR we will replace with like value OR..." There is absolutely no way that we are going to be able to replace the burned up shop to the capabilities it had before the fire. Partly because it was our own fault for being underinsured and partly because we didn't understand these restrictions and partly because we didn't have a full copy of those restrictions. The summary page of the policy does not tell even a small part of the story.
Continued in next comment
Continuing,
I have told the adjuster that I had a lot of supplies that are not subject to depreciation. I can understand the logic of depreciation for power tools since as they are used, they decrease in value. But still, we were under the delusion that we were insured for replacement value, again, up to the limits of the insurance. The adjuster told me that if we had receipts that they would pay on the cost of the loss. I had to laugh. I had the receipts, a stack I had saved for the last 20 years that was 6 inches thick. They were in a file in the shop.
So, this pay out by the insurance company is going to be a drawn out affair with much gnashing of teeth, a lot of phone calls and a lot of paper work. And, because of their exclusions, I will never get even a small percentage of it back in cash for the excluded items, some of them high value stuff.
On top of it all, is the county fees that will be levied upon us to do the rebuilding which frankly are excessive as hell. So, we are doing a careful re examination of our alternatives.
Too late we get smart, too soon we get hurt.
It appears to us that the state of Oregon is quick stepping into a highly restricted and highly regulated being, much like California and other states. All in accordance with the NWO. We have been talking about having to move out of the state and going where there are less restrictions. At our age, we shudder at the thought of starting over AGAIN. Freeacre and I both, for our whole lives, has been a story of moves for much the same reasons contained in these comments.
I suppose that we could have focused on working for some government entity and been fat dumb and happy, except neither of us could compromise our integrity to that extent. As it is, we have both gone to battle with the civilian employers we did work for. Neither of us have done well at shutting up and doing what we were told, even when it was to our advantage to do so. Neither of us have done well in dealing with hierarchy that permeates our society. Just too damned many compromises we were unwilling to make. We've paid our dues and just want to be left alone for what time we have left in this life. We thought we had found the place to do that, but it wasn't to be. For the most part, being in integrity is expensive we have found.
How are the younger folks going to deal with all of this? We fear for their well being.
first of all, a comment as to the extinguishing of this camp fire... all i can say right now is that i'm soaking. there is much i could say but these things are in a form or forms that have not coalesced as yet except to say that it pains my heart, given the depth of connections that have been nurtured over so many years, that is has come to this. and then, particularly in the past 3 months or so, had begun to reach for a depth that had, from my view and feelings of things, brought real value in my life. and a richer value to all of us. stuff thats real. the kinda stuff you don't hang on the wall.
i will NOT deny that and thus not lose that and will, instead, cherish it forever for the richness it has brought to my life. to see and feel and connect with sides, aspects of each of you i could only dream about. for such to have manifested here and begun to grow rests easy within my whole being and reminds me of home. a place i could only hold space for and yearn for. even as a boy back on that farm in iowa who, it seems, only knew loneliness and could not even know that such is what i wanted, yearned for, in this thing, this experience, called life. if this place shuts down in this form i will miss deeply what might have been.
and now, to springboard off murph's comment. the first part as that is all that was here as i write this. as u all know i am the eternal optimist. i truely believe there are good things woven into the mortar of what is the human potential. i'm reminded of what GD said recently. that good things can and are easily turned to bad. which, in a nutshell, is where we find ourselves. and its reached a point that, no matter where we look, we see this playing out in various forms. we see how we've allowed ourselves to be hijacked into a system flawed by definition. and thus, to attempt to 'fix' it is to futher empower it.
i don't mean that as a negative criticism or judgement against those, particularly the murphs who are, at least from what i know and see here, the most pro-active amongst us in this regard. rather, i have the utmost respect for, first of all, the intent, which i know is pure. for it is out of intent that bad things are turned to good. are brought back inside of love. sustaining life as we move forward in the now. the very thing futures are made of. and conversely, good things can and are turned to bad.
2nd of all, i can only admire, respect, and seek to aspire toward, such tenacity as has been displayed. and the grit with which the battle is fought.
however, i must stand upon what i see as only a receipe for reversal. and for failure. that such is a battle that cannot be won. for we are up aginst forces that, by definition, always win in the end. thats the kind of battle it is and as long as they have us drawn into such, we're fucked!
and so i close for now. once again saying that the only way to win is to do everything we can to not play their game. even as it has become almost impossible to not play that game. this is one way we can reclaim our personal power. a power that is our birthright. for it is our denied personal power that empowers what we call TPTB.
i want to leave you all with this thought.... WE... YOU, ME, US! WE ARE THE POWERS THAT BE!! ... p
I have been re-reading all of your comments. And, it has been a pleasure to hear from ones who have not posted in awhile. I'd like to know who else is out there that I thought had gone. I miss Stoney, Ras, Eli, mrs.p, and Dave.
The poems are amazing. Brought tears. Hot Springs is probably right that we are probably small potatoes and not at much risk. So, I guess it is up to all of us what we want to comment about.
This is no time to disband,
to pack up camp, roll
the heavy stone bowls over
in the creek and say good-byes.
In good times we gather round the fire to tell stories and laugh, to sing and dance and drum blunt
the sharp corners of the day.
But hard times, like these,
these are when we need the fire
most. Words spoken here
are carried like medicine.
They strengthen us, like sweet
smoke. Sometimes they admonish.
Always there is purpose in the words. Now, for everyone, a shadow
threatens the light. Some of our bravest truth-tellers are now dead for speaking against the darkness. Though we mourn their passing, we honor their sacrifice
by finding our courage.
Forgive me, Guys, for my feintness of heart. With all the challenges facing us, now is not the time to stop holding each other's hands. As Z and Randy and several others note, we can change the focus of the blog as we change our responses to whatever is going on. Maybe Randy could take a turn posting a YouTube video of his playing his drum, and things like that.
The reality of trying to keep in touch through e-mail is more difficult than I thought. Plus, it would not include people who read, but don't comment. And the reality of not having my dearest people in my life would be a severe impoverishment.
SO... I have changed my mind. Throw another log on the fire, and we'll continue to tell our stories to each other. Can't think of a finer way to deal with the Kali Yuga.
aho
OK, here's one for you:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOznLthmnlk
:)
Ahh seems some clarity has set in :)
I agree with HSW (nice to see you again matey) in that we're all small fry, but I also think what we say now, has the potential to come back and bite us in the ass in yrs to come.
If you think some anonymous gov minion holds too much power now, you ain't seen nothin yet IMO, give it 10 or 20 yrs and the (unbelievable) stories we hear now, e.g. arrested for filming in public, arrested because it's illegal to harvest rainwater (some US states), taxing the sun (happening in Spain now) and many other such stories will be much more common. That's when it will be dangerous to challenge the system, because that's when the possibility some anonymous gov minion targets you, to be made an example loser to show everyone the system wins every time, this is when they will gather everything you say retrospectively, and use it against you, looking back 10 or 20 yrs. So yeah, some self censorship is wise IMO, doesn't mean we have to stop the conversation tho, just be aware of the potential.
Sometimes we have to measure the risk/reward balance too though. Personally I get more reward from the campfire and the clan than I consider I'm risking, but then I don't put too much out there either, noting to identify me, nothing to make it easy for the spotty gov minion who will be my nemesis, who is probably still in diapers, or hasn't even been born yet.
If this were my blog, knowing a bit of the history, I'd have deleted it by now and started the conversation again from scratch, just for piece of mind.
After playing round our campfire on Friday night, I had a good chopsing (long talk putting the world to rights) with an old flatpicker who I consider to be awakened. I had thought he must be well read to hold such in depth views, but in fact he never researched at all, he is just very observant. It was good for me to be reminded that we don't have to spend hours pouring over the details of collapse, we just need to see the "protest banner headline" to be aware, we don't need to see the stitching on the individual letters to get what we need once we see the bigger picture.
Glad that was sorted out :)
RAWSACO .. Rush Around.. Wait.. Stop and... Carry on. Gd.
SATS
Freeacre, there is nothing to forgive. Should we admonish you for being uncertain of your own future in these uncertain times? How stupid does that sound? I can understand that most want to carry on as before after all it is what we all know and what we all love. Perhaps changing to a less contentious emphasis is a good thing although I don't think others have given enough thought to your own personal position in all of this. Maybe we are too small to bother with however if I and others put contentious things up then you as the hosts are guilty by association. When we carry on we will all have to keep this in our minds. I think we should all take a measure of responsibility for keeping things going and not rely too much on Murph and Freeacre, they have other things to occupy them. A post doesn't have to be a great epistle. A photo or web link to discuss would do. Maybe Nina could change our direction in a more artistic way if she has the time, some folks have a musical strand going. Maybe Randy with his drums or Freeacre with her drumming experience, Gd and Seeker with their guitars. I am just thinking as I am writing. Maybe we don't need a post at all and the comments could go into the thousands. Whichever way it goes we should respect M & F 's position in this, we sure don't want a similar situation to come around again in a few months time.
Okay you have made a decision and that is fine, the only thing I will say is that if you change your mind again, I am not going to know what to write. I sat in front of a blank screen for long enough this time :-) How do You really suggest we move on from here or is that an unfair question.
This post sure got me thinking about some of the old names, fairly recent ones like Ras and Mrs p and HSW – hope you stay back in, and others like Stoney and Ely, Carl from PA and Singapore Guy with his endless prep lists. Got in touch with Reality a couple of computers ago, lovely guy, helped me with a problem and I thought it might be a jog for him to come back in but no such luck. What ever happened to Caroline, a lovely lady who taught me the correct way to roll out pastry, are you still out there? There was another young lady with an unusual name that's not coming to me, very active for a time and then dropped out.
Changing the subject completely now, anybody know anything about animal psychology? We have had a parakeet for a couple of months now. Chris being Chris wanted it to have a friend so got another today. They are both young and both have browny white cere's but at this age this is no absolute guarantee of sex (both female). They are supposed to be sociable birds but the old one has attacked the new one since we got home with it mid afternoon. I don't know if it is jealousy which will settle down shortly or if they are both males. We haven't got an alternative but to put them in the same cage. To try to protect the new one I have been spraying the old one with water from a plastic bottle with a small hole in the top whenever it launched an attack. All is calm now that we have put the night time cover on but not sure what tomorrow will bring. Gd or anyone got any suggestions?
Well, as much as I respected your original decision, I can't say I'm unhappy about the change of heart. This site is, after all, a very soulful and honest little place.
And I love the pix of your tipi.
SATS we had a love bird given to us 10 ago, my wife thought it was lonely so got another to keep it company, our experience sounds the same as yours, one attacked the other constantly, the bullied bird was so stressed it died in a week or so. We think it was a territorial issue, had similar problems introducing new chickens into our flock, which we no longer do. We had to re-home the lone bird, it made so much noise after winning the dispute, such a high pitched piercing shrill at all hours got on our nerves.
My experiences with poultry says it's best to separate them, which can be difficult I know, but constant stress on poultry will never work out well. Gd.
censorship in the guise of protecting children from porn, seems we might not have to worry about things said online, won't be long before no-one is able to see whatever we might have been talking about anyway ;) Gd
http://www.activistpost.com/2013/07/uk-internet-porn-censor-to-also-block.html
this from Steve Quayle's alerts page:
JIM WILLIE:MAJOR EXPOSE :THE USGOVT LEADERS AND BANK LEADERS ARE SUDDENLY AT GREAT RISK, DUE TO HACKED SECURITY AGENCY DATA BASES
◄$$$ THE USGOVT LEADERS AND BANK LEADERS ARE SUDDENLY AT GREAT RISK, DUE TO HACKED SECURITY AGENCY DATA BASES. A LAUNDRY LIST OF POTENTIAL DISCLOSURES BY SNOWDEN'S CAMP IS VERY REAL. THE ISSUE OF PATRIOT VERSUS TRAITOR PERTAINS TO DEFENSE OF THE FASCIST DICTATORSHIP IN POWER. $$$
An entire laundry list of potential disclosures is on the verge. The US and UK vast database has suddenly been put at risk of exposure. The Snowden team (surely he is the front man for a vast organization) has reportedly installed at least 50 back doors to the giant database, according to my source. It contains communications at the USDept State, USDept Treasury, USGovt Embassies, the USMilitary, surely the big US banks, major Pentagon contractors, as well as the obvious USGovt security and legal offices like the now infamous FBI. As footnote the FBI is rumored to be the chief organizer, planner, and execution manager for domestic events such as the Boston Marathon (an orchestrated fake incident) and Sandy Hook (a detailed child abduction).
My best security system source rarely provides information, but when it comes, it is juicy. His past information has been reliable, confirmed in cross methods with another source. He has deep security contacts in four nations. He informed me that his security agency connections warn of numerous highly embarrassing stories coming out as a nasty high volume stream in the next several months that will put the USGovt and UKGovt on the extreme defensive in a manner never seen before in modern history. He wrote, "The entireUK and US electronic surveillance infrastructure is wide open for the others to now actually download and read in real-time the entire data flow. It is called gyroscopic mirroring. It is impossible to plug the channels, since there are millions of back doors in the system that the programmers put there to get into the system for regular maintenance. Info Tech guys like Snowden have pretty much unrestricted system access, as they leave no traces wherever and whenever they go inside these systems. There will be brutal information batches to be disclosed that will put the US and UK under horrific pressure. To be sure, their credibility will be very badly damaged. You can control machines but you cannot control people or human behaviour. So the risk is high for some big false flag incident being staged to divert attention." Expect UK and US political policy to be hampered perhaps to the point of crippling the nati ons.
That the USGovt pretends to be a nation of liberty and freedom is a gigantic egregious affront, outrage, indignation, and insult to intelligence. Instead the United States has emerged as the central axis for Fascism, a loudspeaker for Propaganda, a core for Bank Fraud, a base for export of Terrorism, the monopoly for Global Narcotics, and the spawning ground for Predatory War. President Raphael Correa of Ecuador boldly put it well in direct rebuttal, as nation after nation is confronting the United States. Imagine the USGovt being reprimanded by a Banana Republic! Prepare for the United States to be isolated, then slide into the De-Industrialized Third Worl
Jul 28, 2013
SATS
Gd Got woken up at 6:30 this morning with a bird fight going on inside the cage so got got my back off the bed and let both birds out. There was animosity throughout the morning so thought there was no alternative but to bite the bullet and buy another cage. After doing a tour of all the pet stores in the greater region I finished up with one a bit bigger than the other that cost me nearly four times what I paid for the original on the Antwerp Sunday market. That peeved me a bit but I didn't think the situation would last the week out. Both birds have been sitting on top of their respective cages staring each other out for an hour but now the Parrot That Be has been making a territorial bid for the new cage and has been determinedly resisting the water treatment. For the moment it is back to the stand off with one wet bird. I am waiting for one of them to go into their cage so I can close it and they can sleep the night in their own cages. I have a feeling that even though I have separated them for the time being, this situation isn't going to go away, sigh.
Update, Have to go out shortly so have just had to catch the new one in a towel and stuff it inside its cage and close the door. We will see what happens now.
I think Hodges made good points suggesting the Obama administration needs, and most likely will stage, another major false flag terror event. Explains why Hastings was blown to smithereens, too, assuming he was in on what Snowden and Wikileaks have.
Max Keiser recently interviewed Alastair MacCloud who said the Bank of England's reported gold bullion holdings for July are down to the tune of 1300 tonnes since January. Could this help explain gold's recent price tumble? Obviously, the spot price is being manipulated by global financial forces, as demand continues to increase while prices slide lower. If the laws of supply and demand still work at all, it seems obvious someone has been increasing supply, albeit quietly. Taking it out of vaults and sending it to Asia to depress the global spot price can only go on for so long, and then...?
cont. below
Last week Keiser twittered that his source in Germany told him Deutsche Bank's derivative exposure greater than the entire world economy, and that it would soon go belly up. I think it's safe to assume , if it goes, many more will follow suit.
It's beginning to look a lot like Aug., 2008, to me. Hodges points out the pressure the banks are putting on puppet Obama to take out Iran, because of the damage it's doing to the petro-dollar by accepting gold in exchange for oil. But there are a couple of problems with launching a war against the old Persian Empire. First, according to Hodges, the American public is about fed-up with war and may not stand for any more foreign adventurism. (Wishful thinking, IMO)
Second, and more profoundly, Russia and China have both warned us "don't". Line in the sand time.
So if the Rothschild bankers say "jump", what're O's options? On what pretext could he attack Iran, sans some new "catalyzing" event?
Now throw into the pot what Jim Willie is saying and the typical August doldrums could morph into the dog-eat-dog days of summer.
SATS
I seem to remember the Deutche Bank exposure was mentioned at least two months ago. Could tame Germany's animosity over the Snowden leaks re the depth of US espionage.
SATS, That's right. I first read about it on Quayle's site. The info came from someone calling himself "V", the guerilla economist. Now Max is saying the same thing.
And the U.S. just keeps digging its grave deeper and deeper. We all know Europe has soundly rejected both glyphosate and gmo's, so Monsanto has decided to "retaliate" against individual countries, and apparently has engaged Blackwater and the U.S. military to help them succeed.
So much for spreading democracy.
http://www.naturalnews.com/041396_Monsanto_GMOs_US_government.html
Freeacre, I was very happy to see that you have reconsidered, and have chosen to carry on with the Trout Clan Campfire :-) I think to myself, if the PTB were to get what they want, scare us all into hiding under rocks and being silent, then who is left to speak the truth, and is that really the life we want for ourselves, our voices, hearts and souls sealed out of fear.
The link below is to a recent photo of mine, and its form has before and still does remind me of the warm space of your campfire, with the center stone being the person with the talking stick :-)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hotspringswizard/9235573587/
I think let the conversation flow where it will, keeping things as simple or complex as each feels the need for. But the desire to share by those who attend TCC has been, and will always be there. So never be without more logs to put on this special fire because IMHO, there is no need for it ever to end :-)
Tonight the water trine of Jupiter/mars in cancer,Saturn in Scorpio and Neptune in Pisces is overlaid by the earth trine of Moon in Taurus, Venus in Virgo, and Pluto in Capricorn.
A powerful configuration that signifies powerful energy flows with female rising and a lessening of the veils between dimensions and planes. Go out and access some energy and power . It is a seminal time for manifestation and vibration and movement . Use it wisely.
Seeker/Otter
Is called by some, Star of David... diamond heart...a thing of beauty the power of three by three. A stargate if you will.
Google is your friend. Look it up for more in depth info and definition, but access the power for it is there.
Walked down to Rattlesnake Creek last night around 11:30 to suss out openings and send out calls and to give thanks for this beautiful,sentient entity that we are evolving with.
Took my 10 year old and our Great pyrenees/Newfie protector Elijah.
My girl and I are both a bit afeared of the dark, but I always try to translate fear into a tool, and am teaching my girl to do the same.
The night was beautiful and the current was flowing, but , every time I would get myself somewhat centered and ready to send out and receive, Ryan would startle at something and my reverie would be broken. After the third disruption ,I sent up a silent apology and we walked back home, with me instead vesting my daughter in defense measures that females should use when walking alone in dark territory. We walked down the middle of our street with Eli padding along beside us, necks cranes backwards, getting stop and dash vignettes of stars interspersed amongst the maple tree canopies above us. It was a good time and will be treasured
Thought I would share a bit of our evening in Montana.
Seeker
Songs to go to...
Bruises, by Train
Pirates,So long lonely avenue, by Rickie LeeJones
Wv, astgiv( ask and give)
Rolling out to our horses. Will send regards from clan.
Gd, Any more news of Dizzy and Runners and how are the dogs doing and how are your songwriting gatherings going?
Seeker
Hi Seeker, Dizzy has taken up with the Mallard pair I mentioned previously, no sign of any juveniles, so the remaining chicks either made it and went on their way, or went to lunch with the Pike. The runners are huge, now lost most of their juvenile feathers, Mother goose released them yesterday but they're still hanging around the same spot so far. A few of the resident Moorhens have double brooded this yr, so we might see more chicks from the quackers yet.
Guitar gatherings have been a bit sparse this week everyone is away down the river, and we have visitors, had a big gathering on Friday last week, 7 guitars, 2 mandolins, a banjo, a double bass, and someone drumming a beat box (like a wooden drum with a snare inside) made for much musicality. We must have played dueling banjos a half dozen times, at least one 15 minute marathon at full speed almost had my arm falling off LOL, first time I managed to keep up full speed that long tho :) Still can't play a good guitar break for "moma don't low" so I do a bit of mad strumming instead, also learned "Little Maggie" which I can sing and play, but not got the guitar break down for that either (more mad stumming instead LOL) bit more challenging on the break as it has the dreaded F run. I'm definitely lacking a US accent to get the cadence right on the lyrics, I can't imagine what it would sound like to you guys LOL
I've been getting more into bluegrass so I can get these lead breaks down, but it's looking like I'll have to go back and learn some scales to get anywhere close to the roots of it, so I'm at a bit of a crossroads, do I bite the bullet and learn these scales, or just learn a couple of breaks parrot fashion from tab? I'm trying both atm, we'll see which route wins out in the long run ;) Gd.
Gd, I would love to hear bluegrass played with an English accent:-)
I can only imagine how difficult an "F" run would be.
I down loaded Little Maggie. Your style and learning curve are so eclectic... I love it. I had no idea that the mallards were polygamous.
Seeker
Seeker if you fancy having a go at little maggie, Richard Matteson (from bluegrass messengers)shows you the chords and some solo licks in this lesson if you need any bluegrass lyrics chances are Richard has them on his site with the history of bluegrass he's written worth reading too.
RM makes it look a bit difficult to learn as he's showing it full speed IMO, if you can get the "dum-chick-dum-chick" strum down or even a "D DUD DU" strum the chords aren't too bad (GGFFGDG) and the lyrics fit real easy, just start v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y ;)Gd.
I have just found this place and have been learning much since 6:00 am this morning (it is now 11:16 pm). I wish I knew all of you personally. I'll be brief to contribute what I know to Anonymous about my knowledge of the psychology of parrots, as I have had many (including a most beloved macaw). Parrots bond with humans when other parrots are not around. Your older parakeet has bonded with you and resents the new one. Water sprays might work for cats, but not for parrots. It is most likely they will never get along. I could go on but I am still backtracking through all the posts. Will keep in touch. Mimi
SATS
Hi Mimi, Welcome to the Campfire. Thanks for that info. I only used the water spray as a measure of last resort for 24 hours or so, when we didn't have an alternative but to put them together before we got the second cage. After that I never sprayed the older one. I call Pico, the older one only to distinguish between them but in truth we only had it for about a month. I don't know how much it bonded with us. Even though we spent time talking to it in a soft voice It was always a nervous bird, flying around and clinging to the bars at the back of its cage in response to slow, un-provocative (to us) bonding gestures. It would do this even if we showed it a peanut, which it likes very much, and slowly placed it on top of its cage. The new one seems calm enough when it is not being threatened and could bond with us but if the situation is never going to come good then I not sure where to go. Maybe the daughter will take one of them, maybe.
By the way, although I have been commenting and posting here (and there), for years I never registered with Blogspot. I posted anonymously with a handle. First this was “From Belgium”, which is where I live, which got shortened to FB. Then another person gave me the nickname SATS. If you go back far enough you will find out what it means :-)
Changing subject, I decided to give political comments a wide birth in order to see how the new direction of the Campfire goes. However, just this one. It is Edward Snowden's response to those who think we are too insignificant to bother with. It now seems likely that NSA are storing Gd's G runs and C runs for a month just to see if any terrorising lyrics get attached to them.
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/07/31-2
Heh, I just leaned that the younger, techi set, is thinking that a way to fuck up the surveillance state is for everybody to begin logging in to various sites under different names with different pseudonyms. That ought to drive 'em nuts.
And, welcome, Mimi. I am flattered that you have spent so much time becoming acquainted with the campfire. Good folks here, and plenty of room for you.
Hey, Belgium. We had a problem with bringing in a new bird into the chicken coop. Turns out one of the pullets was a young rooster. All hell broke loose, and our normally mellow rooster wanted to kill the new guy. So, we ate him, sparing him many problems. Just sayin'....
Hi Mimi,
Welcome.
This is mostly an open blog where anything and everything gets talked about and examined. As we said in our header to the blog, our strength is in our comments and discussion.
This blog has been running for 7 years now, I think it is. Originally it began with Cyclone's blog and morphed into this one. That is lot of past postings and comments to catch up on. lol
I just came across an interview with Aldus Huxley and Mike Wallace from 1958. REALLY interesting. Huge difference in the way interview are handled now, for instance. It's about how things could trend toward totalitarianism. I had never seen Huxley before - way cool.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ePNGa0m3XA#at=41
SATS
Freeacre, I was considering having the family round for parrot pie and hoping that none of them were very hungry :-) Fingers crossed, we – hopefully – have solved the parakeet problem. Again, thanks for the info, Mimi, we have received the same “It is never going to come good” message from a number of sources. One said they knew of one that came good in six months but that was unusual and a lot of hard work. So today we covered Pico's cage with the night cover and took him back to the Antwerp bird market where we bought him. I explained the situation to the stall holder, that we probably had two males that were fighting like hell and it was an impossible situation. We were prepared to cut our losses and put it down to experience but make sure the bird was dealt with properly. “Okay” he said, “So you want me to swap it for a female”? “Huh – yes” said I. The remaining bird Lucky is light blue / grey so I asked him if we could swap it for a bluey grey one instead of a green one. Sure he said but they are more unusual so it will cost you 25 bucks more. “That's all right” said Chris, so now we have a male and female that are nearly the same colour. We left them for an hour looking at each other in silence before letting Lucky out and he sat on top of the new ones cage for three hours. Then we let the new one out and they seem to be friends – still getting to know each other and tonight they were tweeting in unison. Chris decided to call the new one Bella. There was a little bit of a priceless moment when Bella decided to hop from the top one cage to the other but didn't realise the top of the destination cage was open, completely misjudged it and crash landed spread eagled on the bottom of the cage. No harm done but not a very good first impression. Waited for them to go in for something to eat before closing them up for the night. They are in each others cages but they don't seem to mind. It was a bit sad on Pico but I guess that's life and at least he will find a new home.
By the way, some gratuitous info. The Antwerp Sunday market is an open air market and has always been known as the Vogel (bird) Market but the birds are in one side street and you can get any sort of cage birds or song birds and also most sorts of fowl and game birds. There are also the cage merchants and seed merchants etc. The main market is big, I am guessing there must be well over 300 stalls. I must count them some time. You can get anything from cloths to food to electrical goods to flowers to bikes and always the latest gimmicks that are on the advertising channel, I believe. I tend to look but not buy much. If I do it will probably be a T shirt sometimes tools if I have a job that requires something I have not already got. There are many Moroccan food stalls and I got my ceramic tagine from one of those guys, so if you are looking for something out of the ordinary you can usually find it there.
Btw, saw the Huxley interview and it really was quite perceptive for the times.
Murph, Freeacre, you are right, it has been a good run. Will miss the campfire touches, yet spend more time with friends and loved ones than on the net. Should you get a hankerin for cooler days and such check our coastal life in curry an del norte. Good gardens and good people.
Best to you both, steve
Awesome, SATS! You came up with the perfect solution. Remember when we used to have Norman, our dove, and later his offspring as well, fly around the house most of the time? That was so fun. And, they'd ride on our shoulder outside, even, and never fly away. Birds are cool.
And, Steve. Nice to hear from you. I think we are not going to stop now. I think we still need to hold hands during this trying time.
SATS
There has been a lot of blog activity very recently particularly the blow back from Snowden's revelations. Some has credibility and some is very OTT, some a mixture of both. What I do know for sure is that in Europe, train guards now have the right to see your pass or identity card. All citizens in countries within the EU except UK has these. In the first half of 2013 security staff carried out 487 identity checks, which is a three fold increase over the same period in 2112. Free movement within the Shengin area is a basic principle of the EU participating countries (The EU excluding the big island and its close neighbour Ireland). Strangely, Norway and Iceland are in Shengin but are not part of the EU. The authorities have the right to check anyone entering Shengin but once that person is in no further checks should be necessary unless that person has committed a crime. That fact apart, over the last four days or so there has been greatly increased visible security and security checks in Brussels (Zaventem) International Airport and on international trains within the EU. I am not talking about immigration control here.
On tonight's news a US Government official, didn't catch his name, said that all was quiet within the Middle East particularly Egypt as we are approaching the end of Ramadan. Is that news, and does it imply they are not expecting things to stay calm after Ramadan? He ended by saying that they had picked up increased 'Chatter' of a similar kind to that experienced before 9/11. Now that spoke volumes and set red alarm bells ringing. Does that mean we are in for another false flag incident in the US similar to 9/11 together with copycat incidents in Europe similar to the London Tube and bus bombings and the Madrid train explosion?
Cutting through all the BS around, something is definitely in the air and Dave Hodges article linked by Rockpicker above seems to have the most lucid analysis IMO.
SATS; Something is definitely up. I think the embassy scare has to do with Obama's Benghazi problem. If we'd been smart, we would have demanded full disclosure on the Stevens affair before we re-elected the usurper-in-chief, but we're not that quick on our feet anymore.
CIA operatives are saying as many as 35 agents were on the ground in Benghazi when the fighting broke out. What the fuck were they doing there? There was a warehouse of rpg's involved, allegedly, and rumors that Stevens had met with the Turkish ambassador just an hour before the attack began. Well.
Now CIA personnel are saying through back channels that the agency is polygraphing them on a monthly basis to keep the lid on whatever happened in Libya.
Then I read that Morsi promised, when running for election, that he'd do a prisoner exchange and gain the blind sheik's freedom. He's the guy convicted of masterminding the first World Trade Center attack.
So, now the embassies are all closed for business, and we're supposed to be really, really scared of Al Ciada blowing us up in another 9/11 false flag distraction. Hey, it worked before...
http://www.infowars.com/benghazi-bombshell-insiders-confirm-cia-sent-missiles-to-fsa-rebels/
I've been busy navigating the ever changing currents and flow of transition and evolution of personal territory. Ryan and I were lucky enough to have the help of someone who was integral in the fabric of Nick's and my past.
My son's driftwood sculpture is up and shining out from the grotto, where we placed him. A ceremony of love, longing and thanks was offered up. The sense of peace and protection that I feel when I look off my porch over to Nick's place is all encompassing.
Our generator, christened Glo-worm is ensconced safely and securely behind our storage shed in its very own little lean-to, growling it's message of power and comfort on a need to basis. Help,support and altruistic kindness came to our aid, when I was starting to flag and by this person's very prescience and hard work helped my daughter and myself over a hard bump in our journey to personal freedom and openings.
This coming weekend I will be laying out the power lines and configurations of my son's garden. Yellow and purple iris will form the outlines while flowers and herbs will spell out the messages and balance points in the language of flowers and green. All plants and flowers have deeper symbolic meanings for anyone who looks in the right knowledge areas to find them. This will be an ongoing work of creation and love that will come together piece by piece as the right time occurs for each synchronistic step toward completion and natural balance.
I am at peace when working in the soil and look forward to this time of contemplation with the memories of my son.
Hoping this post finds everyone in good space, music and balance.
Seeker
On the heavenly front; Heads and eyes up! The Perseids meteorite shower peaks August 10 through the 13 th. There will be 50 to 100 meteorites per hour with fireballs( meteorites brighter than Jupiter or Venus), being prevalent, so keep your back on the ground and your eyes on the night sky. This shower can be seen all over the world, so everyone can see and experience this beautiful passing.
Seeker
FA... thx 4 the good news! from my view the benefits of keepin the fire burnin far outweigh the potential risks. energetically, via the connectedness if nothing else, the whole of the campfire is greater than the sum of its parts. each of us draw comfort.
good find on the AH thing. his/orwell's future dictatorship is here and it is different than forms of the past. ie, its multi-headed now. and his analysis of orwell's pov that the MO would be thur methods of physical and emotional violence, aka, terror? nothing could be closer to the truth today.
sats... the bird saga is a hoot!
seeker... so some very special assistance showed up at a much needed time eh? sounds to me like this sez as much about you and your ability to draw to you what and whom is needed in the moment as it does about your friend's alturism and kindness.
as to the coming project, i can only guess that stuff like the interactions between colors, species, placement and so on have high significance. would luv to hear about any of that you feel safe and appropriate to share. sounds to me there is a method to the madness (so to speak). i'd luv to hear you translate the language of the flora to the tune of the lay of the land and in context of nick, yourself, and your family as you move along with this... p
SATS
p Typed the below and just realised that AH was indeed Aldus Huxley – Never mind I thought it was a typo and referred to Michael Hastings, the journalist that was allegedly murdered.
http://thecommonsenseshow.com/2013/07/23/why-was-michael-hastings-murdered/
I got this from one of the comments on the blog. Follow this link and then scroll down to the video with Sound Lab News on the front page and then blow it up to full screen. It is a speed camera video of Michael Hastings running a red light moments before the fatal crash when his car hit a tree. If you can apply frame advance from about 8 seconds in well and good otherwise you are going to have to be nimble with the play/pause button. It took me about 10 – 15 goes to get it just right. Try to stop the speeding car just as it passes the brightly lit shop at about 8.3 – 8.5 seconds in and look into the car lit by the lights of the shop. There is nobody in the car, no occupants, no driver, nothing. See if you agree. Curiouser and curiouser said Alice.
Seeker - Pleased things are taking a right turn.
Late commentary here from Lucretiasheart...
I really don't think people like you are going to be targeted to any real extent. I've been expecting this to unfold all my life and keeping well-informed, and now that things are happening as I thought, I feel I have some sense of perspective on it.
Some thoughts to consider:
1. The internet is FULL of people grumbling about "the gov'mint" and being, in their view, "paranoid and reactionary." Unless you're advocating decisive action aside from gardening and preparedness, you're not enough to bother with. Not with literally thousands of other people ahead of you.
2. Because of the effort involved in going after so many people, most would be threatened FIRST. You'll get a warning to scare you before any action is taken. They know most people would shit themselves with any real threat and so they count on that in order to be the most effective with the least effort. Keep in mind that monitoring, identifying, and actually going after transgressors takes some real energy and manpower. They won't waste it if they can help it.
3. A few whistle-blowers being targeted is not the crisis it would take for them to over-react against ordinary citizens en masse. You'll know when it starts-- it won't be just informational hackers or deep insiders who go public that get the Nazi treatment, it'll be a whole lot of others, and there will be obvious scapegoats that will start to be talked about openly on the propaganda... er... news.
4. Those concentration camps? They're not for any citizens who don't like what they see. Again, too many to count. No, they're for a specific purpose from what I understand and the people taken there won't be people like you-- it'll be people like ME. Not that I'm all proud of that or anything, but I think its about a specific group of people (like we talked about in person?) who don't actually choose who and what they are, you dig?
5. I do agree that a time is coming when all of us who "stick out" at odd angles will have to go "radio silent" but not even because of Big Brother, but rather because the media will have successfully turned some American citizens against other American citizens, and you'll have to not be so easy to find for vigilantes. However, I don't think we're quite there yet. Believe me, you'll know!
I confess to having an ulterior motive in not wanting to lose your regular voice online just yet. So weigh everything I've said above with that.
Love you guys! Will come visit one of these days. Miss you!
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