A busy day today. Left the house after 10am and didn't get home until about 7pm or so. My hands are completely cooked, but this week will pay the AMTA for my first year of professional dues. Yayyyyy....well, kinda. It gives me insurance and a link on the massage finder portion of their website....and a few more requirements for continuing education.

The LW had a meeting today, so she dropped CP off at Oma Darlene's place. It was our first time giving her up where we were actually more than 20 feet away from her. I guess she did pretty well since she loves her Oma, but was quite perturbed when she realized that the rescue-boobies were out of range.

The Halloween decorations are out and there's nothing cooler than your first ever set of yard skulls and reflective bats. We've had a good time putting up all of the bats and the other stuff. It's the first time that we've ever done it and the LW especially liked it....a second chance at being a kid it seems. We went to the zoo last night for their little Halloween shindig for the kids. We didn't dress CP up since it probably would have made for a rough evening and it's just as well since she has no idea what's going on anyway. Next year though....look out! The Deatherages were there with the little one(s). It seemed as though we all ran off and left something at the house. A hat, a wallet, an extra umbrella.... It was raining when we left the house and I was worried what we were getting ourselves into, but it stopped when we got out of the car and turned out to be a really fun time. There were so many cute little ones out and about. Good stuff. Blogger won't upload the photos, so check out the flickr badge on the right.

Well, it's finally done. I got George's blog up and running. The first post is up and I think that it looks good, but it will still need a little detail work. WordPress is great and I can see why alot of people are running it now. The garden newsletter was sent on its way on Friday and we'll see what happens there. I'll call on Monday to see if it showed up in their inbox.

It's a bit cloudy and overcast today, which is nice considering that it's always sunny here. CP has been up, played, and is now sleeping before we take off to meet a friend, and fellow LMT John, at a nearby coffee shop. We're going to discuss what days and hours I will work at his office. He got into it a while back and the main person has moved on. He and the others will now operate it as a co-op type business. Everyone takes a share of the hours that the place is available and that gets divvied up based on expenses every month. It's a great way of doing things and allows for everyone to do things their way without compromising the integrity of the group. I'm looking forward to this. I'll have the office in the evenings, since I mainly work evenings anyway, although tomorrow is an exception. I've wanted to work with John since I met him. He and I do the same kind of work and avoid the same kinds of metaphysical methods. This will be good.

The LW sits with her laptop reading some sort of funny blog writing this morning. She's chuckling in the background. Other than her chortles, the only noise is the birds chirping.

"The specter of Vietnam has been buried forever in the desert sands of the Arabian peninsula."
George Bush Sr. - 1991

A beautiful day today and we didn't even get out of the house until about 5pm. The LW went out back and planted some lettuce seeds in the plot closest to the fence. Hopefully it'll shade them a bit and keep them from bolting. We put CP in her swing in the garden and she did pretty well. We put in small broccoli, cabbage, and romaine lettuce yesterday before the rain came. It was nice to hear, but with every storm I'm reminded that our water storage tank still needs a concrete base.

I've been trying to get the CGT newsletter out the door for the past two days and it just isn't working out. Most of the space is filled and I've almost completed it, but the input this time outside of the regular contributors was, to put it nicely, scant. I really don't know what to do to get more people involved, but something has to change. There are a world of interesting topics out there without even going outside the vegetable realm. Getting into it and picking a topic is the hard part and our gardeners already pay their money and take care of their plots/gardens. It's a tough spot.

CP is constantly surprising us with funny stuff. This evening she looked right at the LW and said, "mama". The LW said that it was just a fluke, but I know better. That kid already knows which side her bread is buttered on. Today was also the first full solid poo day.....yayy! Our sprout is growing fast.

The trip to the zoo last week with the MomDems went well. CP had a good time and enjoyed seeing all of the other small people. We still have not fed the giraffes yet, but someday she'll hand that big beast a biscuit. This Thursday, I think we'll go somewhere that has swings.

The LW needed some quiet sleep time this morning since CP kept her up most of the night, so CP and I took off in the SS Chariot for spin around 'da'hood'. We stopped at Wilshire Heights park and sat in the swings for a while before returning home to find a sleepy, but refreshed LW.

This past weekend was the CGT pot luck dinner. It went well although the turnout was a bit lighter than I had hoped for. All in attendance seemed to enjoy it and most got some sort of raffle gift to take home. I loaded up with stuff from Lee Valley and I can't wait to hear some reports of how the soil thermometer readings affect the planting dates and the dialogue among the gardeners.

We haven't been doing much lately and the walls are getting a bit close. I look forward to handing CP off to someone for an afternoon and enjoying some "just us" time with the LW. I also look forward to her overnighting somewhere else some time soon. Mmmmm quiet. We're noticing that CP is staring to shift more toward and depend more on solid foods. She's been enjoying cantelope, avocado, and pears......broccoli, not so much. We'll see how this food transition plays out. To me, it would be nice to have CP not depend on the boobies every two hours or so. CP and I could then go places and do things without having to worry about the 3-hour meltdown limit. It's not pretty.

I was actually able to sneak into the garden the other day before everyone woke up and turn over some of the ground. I pulled about 9 big watermelons out and cleaned out the vine. One of the cherry tomato plants got yanked and the garden area is somewhat tidy again. I think that the doves line up on the wires when they see me turning over dirt in the garden. I always toss the fat grubs that I find over the fence into an open area right below them. George has some broccoli plants that need to be moved soon and I will probably take as many as possible. Some will go to our garden plot and some will go in the yard. The soil still looks good in a few of the backyard lots, but a trip to get steer manure and other amendments is in order. We're getting a reeeeally late start, but it can't be helped.

I don't really know where yesterday went. It seems as though since the weather cooled down a bit, I've been skipping days on the calendar. It is an odd thing to get to Friday and not know where your week went.

This morning was another wonderful ride down to the U and back. This time we stopped at Wild Oats for a smoothie and some decaf coffee. It was good fun and CP enjoyed watching the traffice on Speedway. We went a little later this time and were caught up in the flow of bicycles headed for school. It was akin to the scene where Nemo falls into the current with the turtles. The LW absolutely loved it and CP got plenty of smiles as folks passed by the SS Chariot.

I was asked last week if I would like to take over a room in a Chiropractor's office and I declined this week. After doing that, the next day I got a call from a good friend and fellow LMT who wants me to throw in with him and a few other LMTs in an already established office. I'd thought after I met this guy that he and I would make a good team. We have similar training backgrounds and we don't really buy into the whole feel-your-groovy-aura kind of massage and bodywork. That stuff is fine if you do it, but it's not my gig...and it's not his either. It looks to be a wonderful opportunity to have an office address and will work well with my limited schedule. CP got a little unruly about two weeks ago and ever since then, I've been required by the boss to work in the evening after she's done pecking on her laptop. It's what we'd planned when we started on this baby journey anyway, I just hadn't been forcing the issue with my clients. I'm really excited about it and I had hoped that something like this would happen if I just held out long enough.

CP got her picture in the paper today. I wondered when it would run. They listed me as a democrat although I run in the independent crowd and find the two-party fiasco rather distasteful.

I talked to my dad today and he said that his Clyde and mom's Bonnie were in today and that they should be able to pick them up soon. I'm glad to see that they're going to get out and about and can't wait until we can take them around Tucson next year.....all five of us! Dad said that he didn't know about the 15 mile run down to the U and back, but he'll do it and not even know it. Just keep watching that grandbaby and the miles will click on and on and on......

Last night was a mommy marathon. CP just wouldn't stay asleep and kept waking up crying for some reason. Teeth? Bellyache? Just don't know. We both wondered if she had somehow found some of the cactus spines that I had to pull out of the LW's behind. Ya'see.. the LW was watering the front yard (gray water) and got a bit too close to the prickly pear. CP slept on the couch with the LW until almost 8am this morning as a result of her evening fun and games. When they woke up it was too late to get out for a bike ride, so we just settled into the routine and had breakfast.

CP's been sitting up and standing up more when propped. She hasn't figured out how to go from lying down to sitting up. She tries to pull herself up whenever she can grasp anything, but she can't get traction. I know that she curses the slippery surfaces and the socks that we put on her somehow through all of that drool.

Tonight we went out to Beyond Bread with some friends. Kermit and his girlfriend Alice met us there (with their swanky VW bus) and we had a nice time. Good people. Alice told me how she had made this book. It's pretty wild looking and it was cool to hear how she did it. Alice also knew about Mr. K's BBQ here in town. I had never heard of it, but she said that is was somewhat of a hodgepodge, dirty, and well, very similar to some of the hole-in-the-wall places that existed where we grew up; she in South Carolina and me in Mississippi. I can't wait to try it out!

Mmmmmmmmmmm..I don't think that anything will ever compare to Chuck's Dairy Bar in Rolling Fork though.... If you've never had slaw and Chili on a hamburger, you're missin' out! As kids, that was THE treat ..to get to go over to Chuck's for burgers and fries when we were visiting my grandparents in Cary. My parents went there when they were young and still know a good many people there. I took the LW (then lovely girlfriend) there one time, back in her consistently vegetarian days, and it was a funny thing to see the look on that lady's face behind the counter when the LW, asked for a grilled cheese sandwich with tomatoes and onions. Ooooooh, that was a classic! It was that semi-polite "yuainfrom rounhere isya?" looks.

Kermit's on his way to Mexico to do some dirt bike riding soon and it makes me want to get the XR out of the storage room and dust it off. The only problem is, the Datsun diesel is in the way of the door and it doesn't run yet. I may get it pushed into the back yard or something soon. Anyway, dinner was nice and CP was, as is the case most of the time, happy. I look forward to hearing the stories from Mexico....Kermit's a good rider. He and I went riding once and I thought I was doing good to be able to see his dust before it blew away or settled back to the ground. It was one of my few rides in AZ.

A new video clip is up this morning. I wish that there was a way for all of the relatives that live in the red-state boonies to see it using dial-up connections, but that just isn't possible. It's a good thing that private companies willingly put in cable out there for the public good.

It's pretty funny stuff to watch CP eat...or at least attempt to eat. Most of it ends up on the bib, but she has fun with it. We picked up a booster seat lately since holding onto her while feeding her solids was getting to be a problem. I actually found one that at least says that it was made in the USA, although the Marianas sweatshop manufacturers come to mind when I see that now.

The LW made craisin and raisin scones this morning for breakfast and they are great. Ths house still smells like them a bit. Aunt Cyndi should get out of the hospital today and head home after having the dangling vestigial portion of her large intestine removed. The LW is having a co-worker over for lunch to discuss some of the tricks for DITA. I've got to work tonight and then run home for the neighborhood association meeting. It should be a good time. All of the grandmothers present latch onto CP whenever she's there and she really enjoys the attention.

I don't know where Sunday and Monday went. Did anyone see 'em?

Our tour of the neighborhood went well this morning until I started looking around and the LW stopped calling out her turns. By the time that I saw the SS Chariot making its turn to port, I could only jam the brakes and hop off of the pedals. The back end of the bike came up and hit me in the family jewels, but I avoided hitting CP's little ship. Even with this small incident, we all had a good time. CP was out by the time we headed for home and happily bounced homeward in dreamland.

This weekend is the Great Tucson Beer Festival and Tucson Meet Yourself. We went to the latter festival last year and I got to load up on Phillipino food. Mmmmmm adobo! I think that we'll visit both this year since we garden with Sam Wymer, one of the folks setting up the beer festival. I'll play designated driver since beer isn't on my list of favorite things.

I wouldn't mind going to see The Life And Death Of The Peoples Temple tonight at the El Con, but the neighborhood association board meeting is tonight at the same time. I've heard the story of Ol' Jim before, but this documentary is supposed to have some footage made by some of the people who were in line for some of the kool aid.

That's going to be three non-profit board meetings this week. At least I'm getting them all out of the way at one time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7hOSuvIRPE

The LW made it to the stork sale at the birth center this morning and found CP some new clothes. I would have posted the direct link tags into the blog, but my html skills are nonexistent and the image shifts everything in the blog.

Made it over to the Corbett Garden this morning and it was a busy place. The Mantis got a real workout and the garden looks like it should. It's time to get the fall plants going and I hope to catch up with everyone else and get my green things into the ground soon. I've been bothered with a bit of cervical spine pain today and the oxycodone is all that seems to keep it at bay. Yes, I know, I need a massage. This coming week will be a chiro visit and a massage.

Just talked to my folks who are visiting my bro up while camping up near Smithville lake. They are excited to get bicycles and start exercising and the LW and I are excited for them. They've been looking at Electra Townie 7s and I hope that's what they get. We're going to have a great time in Feb when they come out to visit. I told mom that I could switch the skewers out and that she could pull CP around town in the SS Chariot when they get here.

The LW picked up her Raleigh today at Pima Street after the garden meeting. Her friend Brandy is going to commute on it. We pulled it out of the backyard shed and dropped it off on Thursday.....Phil and Judy really hooked the LW and Brandy up. If you're in town or visiting and need anything bike related, Pima Street is the place to go. Their service is unbeatable. We're so happy to see the bike actually getting used and cared for. I think that CP is looking forward to a bike outing with Aunt Brandy some time soon.

A smooth day full of smiles and giggles from CP. I got to play with her on her fun mat this afternoon for a while and it was pure joy. She really likes standing up now and whenever she is put into a sitting position she digs her heels in and will lift herself off of the ground. I don't know if she'll crawl or not. Maybe she's just hardheaded like her dad and will go jumping in with both feet without even thinking much about it.

Read a bit more of the Economic Hit Man tonight and got to read about how, covered over by the charges of drug smuggling and other stuff, the real reason that we invaded Panama, killed a whole bunch of folks, and snatched Noriega was because he went up against Bechtel. That was after his predecessor was assasinated by the CIA, of course. No wonder the USA isn't very well liked...anywhere. The more historical information that I dig up, the more I realize that this country has been run by corrupt or inept rich white rats almost since its inception. Bush had led the CIA and Cheney was the SecDef at the time. These rats have to go. It's a wonder that they haven't been charged with treason....or worse.

The LW's been looking for work in other countries since it looks like this one is headed down the crapper. It would be nice if I had a degree and a million bucks to pump up our immigration points, but I don't see either of those happening any time soon. The thing is, if we leave here, it'll just make it all the easier for the inmates to run this nuthouse.

The LW read this and had to laugh out loud today. I don't know why. Honestly....

This morning was the Democrat(ic) PlayGroup at Ried Park. I think that it was one of the first meetings and there were a few of us there with 5 little ones total. CP enjoyed visiting with the other small people. Patti and Mamta from the AZ Daily Star were there as well. They interviewed us and took pictures of CP. They were really nice and it will be fun to see what gets printed and what gets snipped.

It was great to get out of the house and get to meet some other folks who will actually discuss what's going on. I'm sure that we won't always agree on issues, but if today was any indication, I know that I'll enjoy the company and the discussions. This country needs more "impolite" company. You know, you're not supposed to discuss politics or religion in "polite" company. That's just plain BS. I wonder who made that statement popular...queen victoria? hitler? pol pot? All it does is discourage the discourse and exchange of ideas that democracy depends on. If we're all just passively listening, what gets done? I'll tell ya a little about what gets done. Things like offshoring in the Bahamas and "Made In The USA" labels get attached to garments made in the Marianas sweatshops. Thugs like Willie Tan get to do whatever they damn well please, which includes shaking hands and rubbing elbows with the crooks that "we the people" seem to keep electing. We watched the Moyers On America show last night about the traitors Jack Abramoff, Tom Delay, and Mr. Xtian Coalition himself, Ralph Reed. These guys and their antics like the Native American Casino scandal are proof of what happens when the populace and the media are basically asleep at the switch.

CP was up blathering on about small furry animals and her need for nourishment at the butt-crack of dawn this morning before the sun was even remotely considering the act of cresting the Rincons. We decided that there was no sleep in her immediate future and broke out the bicycles. It was early and there was very little traffic, so we hopped onto the #2 bike path and headed toward the U. It was just cool enough that you wouldn't heat up, but warm enough that a jacket wasn't really needed. We saw lots of interesting landscaping and fence ideas in the neighborhoods as we passed through and even saw one nice lady who was out for a walk with her leashed ferret. He was cruising along and seemed to be enjoying his trip around the neighborhood.

Just as we crossed at Alvernon, Ralph Phillips came by in the lead spot on the Wednesday morning Fair Wheel ride. The group was all smiles.

We made it back home in time for the LW to start work and for me to get out and grab some groceries for breakfast. CP is asleep and the day has fallen back into it's slow hum. The weatherguessers say that it's supposed to get up to almost 100 degrees today. Ahhh the desert.

Last night we bundled CP up in a footed onesy and whisked her down to the UofA for a movie. It was a part of the Monday Night Film/Lecture series and the movie is called "The Power Of Community". We really enjoyed the proof of concept stuff with the local agronomy and power solutions, although I was a bit skeptical about the times and reasons given for the peak oil portion of the movie. I'd really like to go there someday and see the way that they grow things and find out more about the biological garden pest control methods that they have discovered. The LW and I were left wondering what would happen to all of the gardening knowledge and techniques if the embargo were to be lifted one day. Would all of these folks be suckered into buying seeds from Monsanto or into allowing a big Wal-Mart into every small town? They survived their oil imports being cut by 2/3. Would we be able to do it?

CP was out of it toward the end of the movie and she went to bed quietly after the short ride home. We learned our Americano lesson well. Yesterday was a tough day. This morning, it was cold watermelon at breakfast and she really enjoyed gumming it once the LW had eaten it almost down to the rind. She worked this piece of watermelon over thoroughly. She's been asleep for a while and I actually got some housekeeping done. Now that there should cause some shock and awe folks. Me doing housework.... The LW is off to drop some things by for the BWHC Stork Sale, pick up some dry ice, and to get some blood drawn for the Milk Bank in Denver. Our freezer space is going to grow this afternoon when that box of breast milk leaves town.

This morning's bike ride took us around the mall and we stopped at the Starbucks there. It was a good break, but I wish that we'd been there earlier and had the place to ourselves. As it was, we got to watch a steady stream of workaday folks in for their morning jolt. One nice lady actually took her 4 kids in for cocoa. I can't imagine being their caregiver after that good shot of sugar. Yikes! We sat near enough to 3 Paris Hiltons in scrubs to smell their smoke and hear little bits of their idle cursing. We believed them to be a representative sample of the trite tramps that Auntie Melissa must have had to work with at various health care establishments in the not-so distant past. We motored home after that and CP has been really cranky for some reason .....after she started the day off with a breast-milk Americano.

Off to meet Carie soon. The LW has some baby stuff to return. The rest will be going to the Stork Sale that's coming up at the birth center. We will soon have to actually buy clothes for CP. With all of the things that she got, we could have changed her 3 times a day and never had to use the same thing twice in a week. We really hope that the Birth Center can make a good deal of money from the sale and use it to further the great work that they do.

The LW will be out protesting the Shrub in Chief this week. There's going to be a rally down at the UofA and she'll be there...probably with the baby. I hope that the TPD doesn't get all goofy again this time.

....and now this.

I didn't count them, but there must've been 10 police cars and a CSI van out in front of the house this morning during breakfast. It seems that some of the neighbors had a visit from one of the wandering crackheads in the area who was looking to score something to sell for his next fix. The police said that they had already hauled the guy away before I could get a good look at him, but at least they caught the clown this time. I asked when they were going to shut down Lon's Hot Kitchen (aka Crack Central) and they said that was an entire mess unto its own.

They advised us to continue to lock our stuff up, watch out for the neighbors, and to install motion lights when we could. This should fuel the neighborhood rumor mill. The last time the police were here, one of our elderly neighbors said that they must have been checking for blood in my neighbor's car. It's pretty interesting to see someone who has lived through the great depression and countless wars be so quick to cower and to judge a book by its cover. She did grow up in Kansas City, so I guess it just has to be (rock) chalked up to that.

The LW broke out the Jamis Aurora and went out for a spin this morning up toward Mt. Lemmon with some friends. She said that she only had to stop once - riding with a gut full of fried eggs and oatmeal just wasn't treatin' her right there for a while, but she made it through and came home with the biggest smile I've seen in a while.

This afternoon we went to see the moths at the UofA art museum. It was pretty cool and CP really enjoyed it....and the ladies in the museum. We went from there over to the CCP and got to see some great triptychs and other collected photos by Milton Rogovin. The LW was moved to tears by some of the lower east side photos and I really enjoyed seeing what he had done. It's hard to believe that this guy was labeled as a communist and persecuted for some of his views on social inequity. What do the people who do this today get called? Liberals? Traitors? Number One Communists? It's sad how history repeats.....