A Man in Black...

"I wore black because I like it. I still do, and wearing it still means something to me. It's still my symbol of rebellion--against a stagnant status quo, against our hypocritical houses of God, against people whose minds are closed to other's ideas."

My favorite speech from LDS General Conference...

"What an insidious thing is this culture amidst which we live. It permeates our environment, and we think we are being reasonable and logical when, all too often, we have been molded by the ethos, what the Germans call the zeitgeist, or the culture of our place and time...People in every culture move within a cocoon of self-satisfied self-deception, fully convinced that the way they see things is the way things really are.

Our culture tends to determine what foods we like, how we dress, what constitutes polite behavior, what sports we should follow, what our taste in music should be, the importance of education, and our attitudes toward honesty. It also influences men as to the importance of recreation or religion, influences women about the priority of career or childbearing, and has a powerful effect on how we approach procreation and moral issues. All too often, we are like puppets on a string, as our culture determines what is "cool."" Elder David Stone, April Conference 2006.

'Brokeback' and why I likely will never...

The following was excerpted from Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia:

"The Western is an American genre in literature and film. Westerns are art works – films, literature, sculpture, television and radio shows, and paintings – devoted to telling stories set in the American West (and sometimes Mexico), often portraying it in a romanticized light.

While the Western has been popular throughout the history of movies, it has begun to diminish in importance as the United States progresses farther away from the period depicted. Westerns, by definition, are set in the American West, almost always in the 19th century, generally between the 1860's and 1900. Some incorporate the Civil War. Westerns often involve semi-nomadic wanderers, often cowboys, with life reduced to its elements. Their sole possessions consisting of: 1. clothing, 2. a gun, and 3. a horse.

The high technology of the era – such as the telegraph, printing press, and railroad – may appear, usually symbolizing the coming end of the frontier soon to give way to the march of civilization. The Western takes these simple elements and uses them to tell simple morality tales, usually set against the spectacular scenery of the American West. Westerns often stress the harshness of the wilderness and frequently set the action in a desert-like landscape. Specific settings include lonely isolated forts, ranches, the isolated homestead, the saloon or the jail. Other iconic elements in westerns include Stetsons and Spurs, Colt .45s, prostitutes and the faithful steed.

The Western depicts a society organized around codes of honor, rather than the law, in which persons have no social order larger than their immediate peers, family, or perhaps themselves alone. In the Western, these themes are forefronted, to the extent that the arrival of law and "civilization" is often portrayed as regrettable, if inevitable."

Bold talk for a one-eyed fat man...

"Ned Pepper: What's your intention? Do you think one on four is a dogfight?
Rooster Cogburn: I mean to kill you in one minute, Ned. Or see you hanged in Fort Smith at Judge Parker's convenience.
Which'll it be?
Ned Pepper: I call that bold talk for a one-eyed fat man.
Rooster Cogburn: Fill your hands with iron, you son of a bitch."

"True Grit", 1969 with John Wayne and Robert Duval as the protagonists.

Mi espanol no es tan bueno, pero...

Hoy soy secretario financiero de la Rama Monte de Sion. Es muy bueno!

From my friend Mr. T. Thorpe

A West Texas cowboy was herding his herd in a remote pasture when suddenly a Brand new BMW advanced out of a dust cloud towards him. The driver, a young man in a Brioni suit, Gucci shoes, Ray Ban sunglasses and YSL tie, leans out the window and asks the cowboy, "If I tell you exactly how many cows and calves you have in your herd, will you give me a calf?"

The cowboy looks at the man, then looks at his peacefully grazing herd and calmly answers, "Sure, Why not?"

The man parks his car, whips out his Dell notebook computer, connects it to his AT&T cell phone, and surfs to a NASA page on the Internet, where he calls up a GPS satellite navigation system to get an exact fix on his location which he then feeds to another NASA satellite that scans the area in an ultra-high-resolution photo.

The young man then opens the digital photo in Adobe Photoshop and exports it to an image processing facility in Hamburg, Germany. Within seconds, he receives an email on his Palm Pilot that the image has been processed and the data stored. He then accesses a MS-SQL database through an ODBC connected excel spreadsheet with email on his Blackberry and, after a few minutes, receives a response.

Then, he prints out a full color, 150 page report on his Hi-tech, miniaturized HP Laser Jet printer and finally turns to the cowboy and says, "You have exactly 1586 cows and calves."

"That's right. Well, I guess you can take one of my calves," says the cowboy. He watches the young man select one of the animals and looks on amused as the young man stuffs it into the trunk of his car.

Then the cowboy says to the young man, "Hey, if I can tell you exactly what your business is, will you give me back my calf?"

The young man thinks about it for a second and then says, "Okay, why not?"

"You're a consultant for the National Republican Party." says the cowboy.

"Wow! That's correct," says the young man, "but how did you guess that?"

"No guessing required." answered the cowboy. "You showed up here even though nobody called you; you want to get paid for an answer I already knew, to a question I never asked. You tried to show me how much smarter than me you are; and you don't know a damn thing about cows........Now give me back my dog."

Mary Brown Malouf and her review of the Mandarin...

I sent this in the form of an email to the Living Editor of the
SL Tribine today:

"Regarding the 25th of April review of the Mandarin and
other reviews, I confess I have been annoyed and in general
"flummoxed" by Ms. Malouf's reviews.

I had deliberately sought, (but no longer), new eating
establishments based on her reviews. I have to add my voice
to others who would question her ability as a food critic.
Maybe Page, AZ, or Ticaboo, Utah, needs such a food
critic. Could be some really good seasonal hamburger/truck
stops there, simpler menus, simpler sauces to critique,
i.e. Heinz vs. Hunt's catsup. Perhaps we could look forward
to an article on the origins, flavors and differences between
'ketchup' and 'catsup'.

In thinking about this wholly inaccurate and unjustified
review I think I have discovered a means to use her reviews
in a positive way. I am recommending this to my friends
as well. That is, just use the inverse of her four star rating.
A rating of 1 or 1 and 1/2 stars means the very best, four
stars being the lowest. I can now look forward once again
to her recommendations and know where the best food
is found in Utah."

Boat building 101

Click here to see some of the stages of construction

A view inside...

Another interior image

These are from the Devlin 25' plans. The wood is beautiful. Some of the captains with Volvo Penta IO diesel drives have used hot water from the cooling manifold to provide heat to bring warm heated air into the cabin for those cool mornings when we are making our way north to fish off Westport or to whale watch.

Of course we will need complete built in IPod and JBL features too.

A change in plans

Well, a change in plans for the Noyo King. It seems the boat was not what it was advertised as. Photos were sent to the Radon Boat Works in Goleta CA and they disavow the boat and recommend staying away from it. Some hours were then spent in searching for "project" boats such as Hurricane Katrina damaged craft. Some possibilities exist, but at this point we are leaning toward construction of a 25' to 28' offshore skiff or cruiser. I have spoken with a designer on the east coast, Dave Gerr, N.A., and also looked at other web sites for wood and epoxy construction. Devlinboat.com have something very appealing called a Surfscoter 25. Wood and epoxy offer some advantages in esthetics, strength and weight and offer a shorter time to the launch date. Water trials likely would include a cruise on Lake Powell, perhaps to the mouth of Dark Canyon for camping and hiking.

Anyone wishing to volunteer to assist in construction is welcome. Attached is one rendition of this design.

Sky of blue and sea of green...

This site is dedicated to the monitoring of the refit and overhaul of the good ship ‘Noyo King’. The project starts in April 2006 when an ad was placed in the Ft. Bragg Advocate announcing a “free boat to a good home”. Delivery is expected during the week of 24th of April. The Noyo King is a 24’ solid fiberglass coastal boat utilized in its life as a commercial fishing craft in the waters off Northern CA.

As progress is made this site will be updated and as pictures become available. The attached image is of another similar boat from the Radon, (rhymes with ‘cabin’), Boat Company. We are still waiting for the current owner to send photos to us.

Get your reservations in early as we expect to have full bookings for bottom fishing, salmon and albacore. In addition we will be taking cruises for whale watching and also making abalone diving trips in the waters off Ft. Bragg and Westport CA.

“And our friends are all aboard…As we live our life of ease, everyone one of us has all we need, sky of blue, and sea of green, in our Noyo King…”