Dang Blizzard Anyway

 Yesterday the "DC Peaks 50" contingent of masochist marathoners held an 'ultra marathon', whatever that might be, along the Wasatch Front. The mountainous Wasatch Front. The really rugged and dang high up Wasatch Front. So it is not uncommon for storms to bring rain to the valley and snow to the higher elevations especially in October. That's Utah. Anyway and, the 'ultra marathon' had been scheduled for some time and the marathoners were not about to let a little inclement weather spoil their fun. Fun? The runners began their 'ultra marathon' at 05:00 hours and that would be in the a.m.. About four hours later and as the runners were heading to the top of Francis Peak which by the way is at 9,560 feet in elevation,  pretty dang high up there no doubt, the winter storm that had been predicted by ALL the weather folk in and around the localized area hit with a blizzard like vengeance. Estimated totals for the top of Francis Peak were estimated to be at 12 to 18 inches of early winter snow. What that means in regular Utah terms is that the snow will NOT be like that ever so famous Utah powder snow oh hell no. Early winter snow along the Wasatch is wet cold slushy icy-like snow and the runners were running their way right into the heart of aforementioned storm. Snowstorms at the upper elevations of Francis Peak aren't like regular snowstorms, pretty much the entire mountain is shrouded in blinding blizzard snow and the wind is a real bitch. Cuts right through a person. So the runners being prepared for all manner of running conditions, not, are wearing running shoes, shorts, and teeshirts with those fancy marathon numbers hanging off the front of a teeshirt. Not a one of the well prepared runners was prepared for what they met when they started one serious damn climb to Francis Peak. I've been to the top of Frances Peak more than a few times and you do NOT want to be up there IF the weather turns a crapper. The Davis County Sheriff Search and Rescue team had to be called in to get the runners off the mountain while there were runners still alive. Runners had to be treated for hypothermia, one runner was treated for a fall, and Davis County Sheriff Kelly Sparks said that none of the runners had to be hospitalized. However just about all the marathoners were soaked to the bone and their feets were freezing damn cold. Wet running shoes are so uncomfortable. Just a few of the weather highlights on top of Francis Peak where the ambient air temperature is about 20 degrees Fahrenheit, wind speeds at about 30 mph and swirling, and maybe 18 inches of snow. The ancillary weather details are accurate as the National Weather Service has a weather station at the top of Francis Peak so the conditions a way up there are Weather Service accurate. Damn lousy conditions for a marathon ultra or otherwise. Now the weather forecast had called for exactly what was happening along the ultra marathon route and it isn't like the runners hadn't been informed of what to expect. The marathon planners maintain their ultra-freeze out race will go on next year come hell or deep snow. That just might be exactly what the runners will get. A mountain marathon in October is just begging for trouble. But the Davis County Sheriff Search and Rescue squad got all the runners off the mountain and that's probably a good thing. Personally, I think the fuckers are just nuts (the marathoners). Especially so if a marathon is scheduled for October when the snow begins to fly in mountainous Utah. Oh well, what are you gonna do? I know what I'm gonna do and that would be to post up the machine art and be grateful I'm not an "ultra marathoner."

cherry -

Vincent's boots -

those ultra marathoners are probably lucky they still have all their toes. frostbite will take those toes in a blink. 😆

It's Here It's Finally Here

 Autumn that is. Throw in a splash of monsoonal rainfall and the autumn season is on for reals. Saturday October 9, 2021 and it's raining buckets of wet a way out here behind the Zion Curtain. Rain falls on the lower elevations and SNOW is falling up the mountains. Elevation is key to the snow crap. This time of year it's still mild enough for rain to fall but up in the mountains where elevation is everything, snow and snow and more snow. The highway guys closed the Mirror Lake Highway on account of snow. That happens this time of year. It is a relief to see the rain. Bless the rains and not down in Africa. Bless the rains right here in about to be a river city. Because it is raining that hard. Couldn't even get the dog to go out the back door for a morning pee. Dog looked out the door and said "I'm not going out there it's raining." Dog turned around and headed back to her bed. Yes my dog is a 'her' and she doesn't buy into any of that nonbinary gender bullshit. My dog is a lady and don't try to convince her otherwise. She'll bite your dang face off but she's gonna start at your ankles and work her way up. You ought to see what our dog does to the neighborhood rats. Well and mice, birds, balloons, and she'd really tear up squirrels IF she could catch one. The squirrels are smart enough to know when to taunt the dog and when to beat those little squirrel feets and head up the nearest tree. Our neighborhood squirrels are pretty smart and pretty dang funny too. Anyway that's all I've got for this here Saturday and now we'll move on to the machine art portion of today's program.

river runs -

egg'd oh yeah -

I was watching the volcano erupting on la Palma last night. fascinating television for me but not for folks living on la Palma. 😲

Friday Wrap Up

 Made it to Friday. Whew...things were touch and go there for a wee while. Britney Spears has been freed from slavery to her father. News? I don't think so. Trump is back in the news, again, for an attempted coup back on January 6, 2021. How is that tub of guts not locked away in prison? The asshole should be tried for subversion AND treason then when found guilty, the fucker should be frog marched out on the National Mall and made to face a military firing squad. That would be worth the price of admission all in and of itself. President Joe Biden, according to the political rumors, will reinstate the Bears Ears National Monument to its original size and shape today along with Grand Staircase - Escalante and a marine monument somewhere off the New England coast. How can a national monument be under water? I suppose it can and will but should it? It isn't like you can just drive out there and have a lookit at the monument. You'll need a boat, scuba gear, possible a shark cage, breathing apparatus, and it might be a good idea to let the Coast Guard know what you're up to. Bears Ears and the Grand Staircase you can actually drive to and get out your car and have a walkabout with very little trouble other than making sure you've topped off your car's gas tank. Bears Ears and the Grand Staircase are a long way from civilization and if you consider that the monuments are in Utah, well, civilization as we all know and love it takes on a somewhat different interpretation. There's some weird shit goes on a way out there. If you intend to visit Bears Ears or Grand Staircase, have a stop in Tropic, Utah. Now we're talking X-Files weird. Scully and Mulder might know the truth about Tropic. Anyone else that might know isn't saying squat about Tropic. It's Utah and there isn't much can be done about that. Okay and so it's Friday so get out there and enjoy what little we all have left us. Machine art is up right about now.

chixlet -

winter cometh and that right soon -

so much excitement to look forward to. yeah yeah sure sure...👽

Insanity And The County Sheriff

 Utah is NOT known for having intellectual lawmen. Most of Utah's lawmen are decent enough folk. Just not necessarily towering strengths of intellectual prowess. A case in point, Cache County Utah has for their sheriff one Chad Jensen. Sheriff Jensen really likes to shoot his mouth off. Jensen likes to shoot his mouth off almost as much as he likes to fire off his shootin' iron. Shootin' iron is Utahese for gun. Anyway, the Utah Department of Public Safety's Bureau of Criminal Investigation released a report on crime rates in Utah. The report covered the year 2020. It would seem that crime is on the rise in good ole Mormon Utah. Utah's Sheriffs Association, which is headed by Cache County Utah's Sheriff Chad Jensen, issued a retort on the report. Retort on the report...almost whimsically rhythmic. Back to the topic of the day which would be the intellectual ability of one Sheriff Chad Jensen. Jensen acting in his capacity as head of the Utah Sheriffs Association stated, "the George Soros catch and release, cashless bail, defund the police, radical agenda is good for criminals and a disaster for public safety." But wait there's more..."Unfortunately it (the George Soros catch and release scenario) has caught up with us. The result is a seemingly endless cycle of career criminal who believe there are few consequences for their actions. They (career criminals) will continue to offend, get released, and re-offend until we stop this nonsense." The nonsense being that "George Soros catch and release plan." It is worth noting here that Utah's Bureau of Criminal Investigation report was about crime rates and had absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with George Soros having a plan for catch and release. The term 'catch and release' is a favorite Utah slogan for fishermen to use when fishing Utah's famous trout rivers and streams. Catch a fish and put that fish back in the water so's a fisherman can catch the fish one more time. Please note that criminals do NOT inhabit Utah's trout fisheries. It would seem that good ole Sheriff Jensen was jousting at windmills here and his disconnect from any daily reality of a non George Soros world is striking. Sheriff Jensen is straight up batshit insane and his heavily rightwing world view is prohibiting his (Jensen's) ability to function rationally as a county sheriff. Unfortunately for Utah and the good citizens of Cache County Utah, Jensen holds the office of Cache County Sheriff by vote of the registered voters living in Cache County Utah. Yes, there is NOT much hope for the citizens of Cache County Utah. On an unrelated note, George Soros is a 91 year old Hungarian born naturalized American that earned a gigantic pile of good ole American money doing some damn thing or another and has ended up as the boogey man for fascist rightwing America. I have no idea how Soros made his money. I really don't care. But Soros seems to piss off the really crazy side of American fascist politics and I find that a good thing. Good god the wingers are straight up fucking nuts and so would be Cache County Sheriff Chad Jensen. Jensen is of course the product of Utah polygamy and Mormon inbreeding. So there you go and let us now move on the really important stuff here and that would be machine art.

exposed -

home is where you plant your keister at -

and that's all folks. 🙈🙉🙊

A Day In The Middle

 I'll say no more on that topic. Today being that one day, it might be time to take stock of where America is at. You know, socially/politically/hypocritically so here we go. Socially, America is lost. Due to pandemic lockdowns, masks, vaccines, presidential elections, military retreats, presidential retreats, Halloween treats, and that list could grow exponentially. Politically, America is stuck in the middle with a putrid collection of villains, poltroons, wishy-washy wanna-bees (wanna-bes? wanna to be or not to be?), spineless lying asshats, and of course Sen. Lindsey Graham. Hypocritically, America is all of that. The 'right-to-life' crowd will defend a proto-plasmic fetus yet scream bucket loads of "kill 'em dead" when it comes to executions in America. The 'right-to-lifers' scream for those dang nasty criminals to get the guillotine, sew the head back on and then guillotine the criminals again. Black Americans have grievances. Latino Americans have grievances. First Nation Americans have grievances. The First Nation Americans have legitimate grievance and had grievance even before Black Americans were brought to America aboard slave ships in slavery chains. Jewish Americans have grievances on account of their being Jews. Irish Americans same same, Asian Americans same same, and we can bitch up a streak here counting off what group is aggrieved for whatever the reason. I can't get a leg up in the art world and I'm aggrieved. So what can we do about any of this? Not a thing. Not one damn thing can be done about any of it so...suck it up. Get over yourselves. Get over myself. Just get the fuck over and that is EXACTLY what America does any day of a week you'd care to choose. Get over and get gone. Machine art comes next.

rural somewhere -

aggrieved for some reason -

there's a lesson to be learned here. I don't exactly know what that lesson might be BUT, there's a lesson. there's always a lesson to be learned. 😆

Busy Busy Busy

 Stuff to do on this fine day and so...today's post will be brief. Hopefully pointed, yet brief. Y'alls can thank me later.

in the throes of an oil soaked death -

the last autumn -

the rise of Yorick again -

take some time today to enjoy what you have. 😮

Breaker Breaker

 Today is a throwback to days long gone bye. Think Burt Reynolds, Jerry Reed, and trucker movies galore. Tearing up the big road and talking all manner of bullshit on CB radios. A CB radio stands for 'citizen band'. Not high frequency enough for FCC enforcement but, suitable for truckers wanting to chat politely with one another. 'Chat politely', that's funny. Anyway and back in them olden days when truckers wanted to get a leg in on the CB chatter, a driver would grab his CB microphone and say "breaker breaker 1 9." That was the signal that interrupting trucker had something important to say on his CB. Whether whatever it was the driver wanted to say being important or not was usually irrelevant. So the trucker would speak his piece and then say 10-4. And that brings us to today's date...10-4. You know October 4, 2021. 10-4? Get it? Yeah that's pretty weak and I can admit that. However and what with volcanos blasting away on the Canary Islands, Kilauea the really big Hawaiian volcano, Grundesspeckkenzieberg Volcano on Iceland, Mount Etna in Sicily, some dang volcano in the Andes, and that other Russian volcano going off in Kamchatka, well there just isn't very much to prattle on about so...that about wraps things up for a 10-4. Machine art inserts about right here.

invective -

over past -

so there you go and on a Monday 10-4. 💣

Where's A Pope When You Need One

 La Palma. The city/island/state of la Palma is in the throws of a volcanic temper tantrum. So where's the Pope? Isn't the Pope supposed to head for la Palma and utter some papal supplication to placate Cumbre Vieja? Cumbre Vieja is the volcano going ape-shit on la Palma. The Canary Islands and la Palma in particular are Spanish occupied territories. Have been since the Canary Islands were conquered and occupied by Spain in the fifteenth century. Spain and therefore by extension, Canary Islands, are Catholic. There's even a name for the Canary Islands being grabbed up by Spain. That grand and ignoble affront is called "Conquista Betancuriana." I did not know that. I know it now. Anyway, the Pope should head for la Palma and offer up one vestal virgin Catholic Nun to Cumbre Vieja and thereby calm the frayed nerves of everyone living on la Palma. Aren't popes supposed to offer virgins to spitting volcanos? Seems to have worked at Vesuvius. That's a little known Catholic secret that nobody's supposed to talk about. Popes offering vestal virgin Catholic nuns to volcanos so as to calm a freaking out volcano. 'Papal Authority' you see. Popes have authority to offer up vestal virgin Catholic nuns. Catholics wonder why it's difficult to recruit vestal virgin nuns. Go figure. There's probably some arcane Catholic ritualistic chant that popes can use to chant over a spitting volcano and then everyone is supposed to feel better. Might not be much use to quell a violently hissing spitting volcano but what the hell. Nothing ventured nothing gained. So and on account of today being Sunday, we'll move on to the machine art portion of today's episode and cease if not desist pissing off the Catholics. :}

fish eye blind -

bridge 2 somewhere -

maybe President Joe could call on the Pope to offer a prayer that might help get Congress to pass Joe's legislative agenda...President Joe is Catholic you see. 🙇

Attack Of The Crazy Lady

 Salt Lake City has a park located in the icky part of town. The park is named 'Pioneer Park' and the park has a nasty reputation as a cruel place to park. So to speak. Salt Lake's homeless have called Pioneer Park home for quite some time. Pioneer Park is also home to junkies, muggers, and thieves. The nasty reputation of Pioneer Park is notorious. Anyway, Salt Lake's "city leaders" have been trying to clean up the place and make it "respectable" for a number of years and the clean up efforts haven't yielded much in the way of effectively eradicating the park problems. So fast forward to yesterday and that would have been October 1, there's this crazy lady going crazy in the park. Seriously if not dangerously crazy. The crazy woman has been throwing rocks and whatever else she can manage to pick up and is breaking windows and threatening the good citizens of Salt Lake for better part of a couple of hours. Side note inserts here...Salt Lake City is home to the mothership for the Mormon Church. The ever so famous Salt Lake Temple. Ground zero for Mormons. Twice a year and that would be on the first weekend in April and the first weekend in October for 'general conference'. It's time for the October Mormon General Conference so having a crazy homeless lady throwing rocks and stuff while screaming obscenities at Salt Lake citizens and Mormons visiting Salt Lake for 'Conference' is never and I do mean never ever to be tolerated. So crazy lady ends up at Pioneer Park on account of that's where the homelessly insane or otherwise hang out. Crazy lady is still taunting people, throwing rocks, and being an overall in general nuisance. With some ancillary collateral damage thrown in for spite. Salt Lake's Police show up at the already under discussion Pioneer Park to get crazy lady under some type of police control. With all the visiting Mormons and other types in Salt Lake, well, Salt Lake's Police really don't want to have to shoot the woman. This would be the only time of any year that Salt Lake Police don't shoot to kill an insane woman being a public nuisance. Back to the narrative, two of Salt Lake's finest engage with the crazy lady and crazy lady clocks one of the Salt Lake cops with a rock and the officer gets his bell rung. The second cop tasers the woman and the taser is only partially effective. A third Salt Lake cop gets in on the action and with some serious scratch marks and biting from crazy lady, they finally get the woman pinned to the ground and in handcuffs. The peaceful and tranquil atmosphere the park is noted for (?) is restored and all is well. Crazy lady is on her way to jail with charges pending. Charges like vandalism, assault on an officer of the peace, disturbing the peace, and being an all around pain in the ass. Yes you can be charged with being a pain in the ass in Salt Lake City and especially so if it's anywhere near the Mormon General Conferences. Salt Lake does NOT like anyone mucking up the scenery at Conference time. The name of the crazy lady taken into custody has not been released at this point in space/time/Conference history. Crazy lady will end up at University Hospital's really crazy and violently so lockdown unit and with any luck that will be the end of the story. Maybe. The crazy woman must have been a handful of hissing spitting whirly draw blood antics as it took more than three yes count three Salt Lake Police officers to bring her down. The wounded officers drove themselves to a nearby clinic for tetanus shots and bandaids. The officers then took the rest of the day off to lick those humiliating wounds. Dang lady was all kinds of nut up. Now for some none threatening machine art.

dead man's violin -

spanners -

and furthermore, crazy lady is damn lucky it's 'General Conference' time. or maybe she wanted to get shot to ease her mental duress. 🙀

The First

 Today is October 1, 2021. Today is Friday the first Friday in October 2021. Gosh is that about some big news or what. Come next Monday which just so happens to be the first Monday in October 2021, the Supremes will be back in session. You see the United States Supreme Court begins every new session on the first Monday in October. I'm not sure why that might be but the U.S. Constitution mandates the court being back in session the first Monday in October. Dang 'mandates' anyway. So with "nonbinary" being ever so in vogue, shouldn't any 'mandate' be referred to as 'themdates'? 'It' dates? 'Ain't about to play' date? 'Calendar' dates? 'Calendar' girls? Anyone cares date? Whatever. The Supremes will be fixing all those "judicial mistakes" made by America's courts and that's their job. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh has the Covid-19. Yes indeed the judicial horse's ass comes down with the Covid and his getting slapped with a Covid subpoena seems like some well deserved karma. Isolate Judge Grabby and get well sooner or later. Whatever. I wonder whatever happened to that F.B.I. investigation into Kavanaugh's lying under oath. You see Kavanaugh lied to a Senate committee during his nomination proceeding about his playing grab ass with young women. Playing grab ass with young women is almost an American man sport. However men (sometimes women) aren't allowed to play grab ass IF those men (sometimes women) have designs to make it to the Supreme Court. Kavanaugh had NO designs to be on the SCOTUS and the buffoon sort of stumbled drunk into a nomination by trump. Damn that just so figures. One womanizing stumble drunk is served by a second womanizing stumble drunk. That's how the "vetting process" works for SCOTUS nominations. Supreme nominations didn't always work that way but recently, that seems to be how the vetting process works. Let's move on to the really 'supreme' notion of machine art. The very first machine art for the month of October 2021.

every blooming thing -

chaotic bonanza -

I wonder if Kavanaugh does that "three martini and a quickie" for his supreme lunch? 🙇