Adventures in the Valley

Spring

2009-03-01T20:01:00.001-08:00

I planted a bunch of garlick bulbs last November. I got them from territorial. Fireball and music are the types. The Fireball sprouted quickly, similarly to my first (unsuccessful) attempt at growing garlick.

There they are today. The bigger green clumps.

The Music didn't sprout right away and I thought was going to be unsuccessful again. Well last week I looked and they're coming up!!

Looks like they're gonna be huge.

This week I need to get the cabbage seed started so that this fall I can make fresh sauerkraut from what we grow.

-- Post From Remote Control

Bread

2009-02-24T22:44:00.000-08:00

Made a loaf of whole wheat bread with a bit of rye and some whole grains

Here's the dough in my rising bowl.

This is my coppertop work table

Post first rise

I love my stone loaf pan

Sharp knives are helpful

While waiting for the bread to bake it's fungo chase doggies around and try to take a picture.

And it's pretty!!

With a nice crumb. The hippie chick says it tastes good too!
-- Post From Remote Control

Working in the garden

2009-02-20T17:21:00.001-08:00

I spent a couple of hours digging the beds today. This year I'm making a concerted effort to get rid of the crabgrass, which slows the process down immensely. Also, I'm triple digging to loosen the soil deeply. Almost done with the lower bed though.

The chickens came to help me

They really like the worms! And we have slot and some are monsters.

She just found one

For some reason pirate chicken stayed away from the worm feast. Hopefully eggs tomorrow. We have been getting between 1 and 2 eggs every day lately with a couple 3 egg days.

Planting peas starting Sunday a row a week for three weeks I think
-- Post From My iPhone

Christmas crazinesses

2008-12-25T22:20:00.001-08:00

It's been far too long since I've mentioned anything around here. Worky work and holiday busynesses have abounded. Now that it's mostly over it's time to relax, well at least until next weekend when I get to go up on the roof and take down the lights, and put everything away. Fun times.

So, my Mom has collected these ceramic village houses for years. They had to move to a much smaller place, so I inherited a bunch of them. So far I have received 3 bigass boxes of houses. We got to display some of them this year on the mantel in the living room.

Here's an overview of them with the lights on. We set it up so from right to left we go from the skating pond to the farm, bad side of town, town hall, good side of town and finally to the harbor with lighthouse.Here we can see the town hall with the carolers. To the right is the "good" Post Office, to the left you can see the "bad" side of the tracks Post Office. It's connected to the fabric store.

In the foreground is the Smoke house and in the background is the Ironworks.

This is the long view from the farmhouse end.

During the day, you can see the lighthouse, and the dock. To the left is the Navigational Charts and Maps store, and then the B&B

Next to the B&B is the "good" part of town Post Office, on the hill is the town hall. To the left of town hall is the "bad" side of town Post Office and fabric store combo.

To the left of the P.O./fabric store combo is the General store, then the bell caster.

On top of the small hill is the Ironworks, and you can see Sinterklaus on his horse. To the left is the Smokehouse.

Finall we see the woodshop on the small hill behind the farmhouse. To the left is the ice cutters working away next to the skating pond.

And here's a view from the wharfside of town.

Pretty freakin' cool, eh? It's actually kind of fun to put up and get organized. Apparently there's another 3 bigass boxes of houses coming my way.

So, we also decided to make a gingerbread house from scratch this year. We made several batches of gingerbread and glued together with icing. Putting the first two walls together is a total pain in the ass. After that it gets rather easy. Putting all the junk on is alot of fun.

Here's a front view of the house. Awesome aint it?

And a closeup. Notice the lack of back wall.

Side view. Notice the icicles.

Right side of the house. Look at lower right corner.

And a closeup. Damn dog got to the house when we were out. Ate half the back wall and chewed up the corner.

Here's the Christmas devil herself. Not only chewed on the house, but was looking behind the tree for foodbits and knocked it over!! Fortunately only one ornament was broken.

This is a view of the backyard showing the snow covered bird house and feeders.

Here's our garden buddha.

And it's been far, far too long for pirate chicken. Here she is in all her glory. Notice the good compost heat on the edge of the nest box. About the only thing these damn chickens are good for is making chicken shit for the compost heap.

All pictures taken with my Xmas present to myself, my new Apple iPhone telephonic device that is keeping me from paying any attention to the hippie chick. She's now an iPhone widow.

I'm back

2008-10-07T16:09:00.000-07:00

It's been a long summer, including lots of garden work. The garden was nicely productive, with the tomatoes very very tasterific right now.

Another trial today. Not Guilty on the felony count, guilty on the misdemeanor counts. Right where I anticipated it landing, and better than the State's offer.

Bang your head, Metal health will drive you mad, OR maybe I AM getting old

2008-07-19T23:14:00.000-07:00

I'm watching VH-1's classic rock. Which reminded me of an incident at camp. Teenage girl (15) asks me if I like "classic" rock. I ask her what she means, and she responds, "Oh, you know, Cindi Lauper, Motley Crue, the Bangles." I was thinking (hoping) that maybe she was meaning Chuck Berry, or possibly Jimi. Nope.

I laughed and said yes. So, apparently it takes 20-25 years for a song or band to become "classic".

And therefore, maybe I AM really getting old.

Recap

2008-07-18T12:27:00.000-07:00

Man, has it been crazy lately. Lot's of stuff done, with lot's of stuff to do, and more coming down the pike.

Took three weeks vaca. First week was Camp. I worked with the teen boys again, they are alot of fun. We had a very successful year, no real problems. Only some minor blowups that went away rather quickly.

The hippie chick and I went to Breitenbush Hotsprings for a couple of nights after that. Restful as all hell. Lot's of soaking and lot's of sauna. Their food is amazing, though I was jonesin' for some bacon by the end. All veggie food there. I likes me my meat!!

After that I spent some days building up a new chicken coop. The actual coop is done, door, walls and roof. Built a snazzy ass nest box. All looks great. This weekend I get to make the chicken yard. Gotta put 3 posts in the ground, pound them in nicely and string up some chicken wire. Ideally I'll get it all done tomorrow and then take some pictures.

I've been in trial regularly for awhile now. 3 straight wins against the same DA!! One was car theft that my guy would have merely served 10 days if he'd pled out. He sat for 60 and got a Not Guilty from the jury. AWESOME. Had a trial last week with that DA, Assault case. Step Dad was trying to provide discipline to unruly child. Not Guilty. Awesome part to that, my client was African American in a predominately white area and a prior Rape conviction. They believed my client!! Yesterday it was another assault case. Big huge fracas at a restaurant. DA didn't ask questions of alleged victim regarding pain or injury. Judge granted a Judgment of Acquittal. Basically saying, "Hey, DA, you didn't do your job" Three wins, 2 within 2 weeks of each other.

Two trials next week, ideally I'll stay on my roll. Not getting my hopes up. But, I am keeping on the fight.

I really do love my job, but I really do not like sex abuse cases. No matter the outcome everyone loses. Families are irreparably damaged, lives are inalterably changed and a huge stigma is attached to all. I'll take an assault case any day over a sex case.

It's been far too long

2008-07-10T13:44:00.000-07:00

since I've been around here. Let's see. Went on a 3 week vaca. Spent a week at camp!!! Fun fun fun! Went to Breitenbush, which was utterly nice! you should go sometime.

Built most of a chicken coop. Not entirely done yet, but will be soonish. I'll get some pictures soon as well. My nest boxes actually are solid and not some rickety ass piece of crap.

Found this today. A copy was in my break room. If you love Hints from Heloise, then you'll LOVE this magazine. Funny shit

Crazy Tuesday

2008-05-27T14:31:00.000-07:00

Busy, busy day here. Too many things to do in too many places, and unfortunately for me, all at the same time. Ah, well that's the life.

Tomorrow I get to ride again, which I'm looking forward to. More data from the cycloputer!! On my way home Friday it kept resetting itself. I think, and hope, it was just that the battery was just jiggling a bit. I think that is resolved. I'll know tomorrow.

The weather has been nutso. It's now drizzly and cooler than normal. Overall, good for the lettuces. I think the tomatoes are OK, they're still young.

That's all. Rather boringish. Two trials set for next week, and one two day trial the week after. I'm all prepped up for them so it's just jail time for the rest of the next two weeks.

New toy

2008-05-23T10:41:00.000-07:00

Got my bike computer yesterday. Totally awesome.

I had previously estimated that the distance to my office from home was 16 miles. It's actually 16.9 miles. So, I'm riding 33.8 miles every day I ride. I live at ~2,000 feet elevation according to a couple of topo maps I reviewed. The 2,000 foot line goes through my neighbors property. Therefore I might be 2005-2010 feet. Close enough for me. Looking at the topo for my office it appeared that the office was approximately 1370 feet. The altimeter showed 1371 when I got here, currently it reads 1388. Again, close enough for me.

Starting temp this morning 43 degrees F, 45 when I got to the office. Avg speed 14.8 mph, max speed 24.5 mph. Average grade 2%, max grade 9%. I lost approximately 630 feet from home to office. Ride time 1:08:19.

It was rainy so the bike was wet when I got to work. Left a bit of a trail on the floors and new carpets. Office manager wasn't real happy with me. So, the bossman bought a bike rack for us. It'll be installed next week. Apparently I'm an expensive employee. Well, it'll clear up my office not having a bicycle in here.

I really like my new toy/bday present!!!

New Digs

2008-05-06T20:30:00.001-07:00

Well, we've moved in completely, and 99.9% unpacked and arranged. We've switched from getting things organized in the house to getting the outside and the gardens ready. It's a tad late, but it's all coming together. This is the backyard, looking towards the house. You can see the picnic table, there's a firepit just in front of it. The structure to the left and behind the tree is the back of the house. The chicken shaped things are the hippie chicks metal garden chickens. The chicken enclosure is just behind me.Here's my compost structure. I brought a bunch of compost from the Ranch, and also the year old horse crap. I finished the structure last weekend. It's just smal cinder blocks stacked on one another with stakes to reinforce so it doesn't fall over. We added grass clippings from the mowing. I checked the compost tonight. It's heated up well and hitting the right temperature. Should be some good compost to add to the garden beds this fall.
Here's garden bed #1. It used to be a bed that the past renters hadn't used in probably 4 years. I was digging thick turf. We'll be taking weeds out galore all summer. You can see the lettuces the hippie chick planted last weekend after I had finished turning the bed. We're adding zucchini, squash, eggplant, onion and carrots. We also planted sunflowers, marigolds and a border mix.
I'm working on turning garden bed #2. It's to the right of the picnic table above. It will get full sun all day long this summer. So, it should be totally awesome for our tomatoes. We've got 7 plants now and I want a few more. We're also doing beans, basil, and a few others that I can't remember now.

I wanted a third bed, but it is where a shed used to be and my attempts to dig that soil were as productive as diggin in cement. So, we're planting echinacea, pumpkins and gourds. Should loosen the soil a bit. If it only makes it better for grass, so much the better for the yard.

We love our new digs!!!!

Grey Tuesday

2008-04-29T15:55:00.000-07:00

I am definitely tired of spring not being here yet. We keep getting these nice tastes of spring like behaviour, then it goes away. Last weekend, gorgeous, Today, gray, gloomy, chilly and off and on drizzly. (yah, bad use of commas. I don't really give a rat's ass)

I rode today for the first time in forever. A tad on the chilly side, but not too bad. I expect to ride again tomorrow. I feel horribly out of shape and I love getting energized for the day with a ride in, and the ride home is a great way to destress.

This morning got that weird compliment from a client. He thanked me for spending the time to explain things to him and stated no one else really did in the past. I always have to wonder, is it just because so many of my clients are low functioning and other defense attorneys actually DID explain things thoroughly (which is what I hope happens). Or is it that things weren't properly explained in the past. I dunno, but I do make an effort to explain things thoroughly.

Got another dismissal on speedy trial grounds today. Which means, no more prepping for hearing tomorrow. Instead it's prep for two Fail to Report as a Sex Offender, an Assault (by vehicle), and a DUII (with no witnesses of driving). Thankfully all give me a couple of weeks.

Why I dig that Hippie Chick

2008-04-19T21:57:00.000-07:00

1. Cuz she's the bestest at cooking rice.
2. She understands that I'm distracted when I'm in trial and my primary focus is on my client the night before trial.
3. She thinks I'm funny and shit.
4. She puts up with my bullshit.
5. She calls me on my bullshit, and won't let me get by with stupidity.
6. She holds me to my standards. Mine being more severe than hers. But will let me slide, so far as it hits her standards.
7. She lives with my weird idiosyncrasies, and doesn't criticize them, except for the really weird ones that only make sense to me. But, even the criticisms are made in a humorous way and she still accepts that I'm a weird idiosyncratic nutjob.
8. Cuz she's sexy and hawt and gots it going on!!
9. She has a similar taste in philosophy, books, and way of thinking, but different enough that we can carry on a good conversation, and still respects my opinion even though she may totally disagree with what I'm stating.
10. She has a higher opinion of my abilities and capabilities than I do and puts me in my place when I get too self effacing. She doesn't doubt that I can do what I need to do.

She's definitely the best part of my life and I only hope to be the person she thinks I am.

Good Stuff

2008-04-19T11:41:00.000-07:00

And some bad stuff as well.

This was the busiest week I've ever had. I think.

So, Tuesday was a domestic violence trial. My client is a somewhat challenged individual and I thought had good argument. Unfortunately jury just didn't see it and he was found guilty. Now will try to convince the Judge that a probationary sentence is more appropriate than a prison sentence. This one hit me really hard.

Wednesday was Failure to Report as a Sex Offender. Client was arrested on other charges on the 10th day. And testified that his intention was to return to the homeless shelter where he was registered. Judge didn't accept factual argument that the state interfered with his ability to register properly, or the constitutional argument that homeless people shouldn't be treated any differently than non-homeless. guilty, but did convince the judge that an enhanced prison sentence was not appropriate. This case will be appealed.

Thursday was a client charged with unlawfully taking a car. That was a grueling day. Client decided to testify after the State was finished. He testified very well, the ADA got very frustrated with him. My client wouldn't be fazed. During close the ADA's primary argument was that we had fashioned up my client's testimony after hearing the State's case. After about an hour of deliberation the jury came back with Not Guilty. I was rather relieved. My client gave me a big hug.

The hippie chick then sent me flowers yesterday. Gerbera daisies. Which are my favorites.

Oh, and also, Tuesday night we went to see Ani DiFranco. That was a good show. She's really good.

So, this weekend we're heading out to get some vino. and maybe hanging pictures on the walls. Tomorrow is trial prep for my next trial. Tuesday. Assault, and it's with the same ADA as I was in trial with on Thursday. He's really full of himself and if I could get two wins in a row against him I'd be really happy.

All moved!!

2008-04-10T12:23:00.001-07:00

It's been a crazy ass month.

We went to see Barak Hussein Obama when he visited our area. Jam-packed and we had to stand. It was good though. He's definitely inspiring and actually SAID a few things. Most of it was fluff and I'm still not overly impressed.

There was a similarity between him and us though.

He had looming bodyguards, here's ours.

We thoroughly enjoyed easter as well. We decorated eggs.

Meet Eggbert, he tasted great!!!

We moved last weekend. Uggh, I'm way freakin' sore and very tired, but it's done. And after the last couple of days we have most of our crap put away. There's a few incidentals to put away inside, and I need to organize the huge amount of books we collectively own. This weekend I'm hoping to get the roses back in the ground and the lilac trees as well. And ideally get our first garden plot dug out, turned and ready for planting. Oh, and get the compost pile started up. I brought 3 big garbage cans of compost and horse shit. Some of that is going in with the roses and lilacs when they're planted. I'll be enjoying several of these whilst working.

It's supposed to be around 80 degrees fahrenheit so a beer refreshing will be great!!

On the work front. After weeks and months of no trials, next week three are scheduled. Domestic Violence, Fail to register as a sex offender and car theft. I have lock solid arguments on the register case, and good factual arguments on the other two. I have high hopes of a very successful week. Unfortunately, I'm gonna be exhausted. Looking down the road I have a case that looks to be a knock down drag out fight that may well turn out to be somewhat of a trainwreck. That's gonna be soooo much fun.

Enjoy. We have pirate chicken with us still. I have to build a chicken mansion. Once the chicken mansion is complete we'll have new pics of pirate chicken up.

Not Dead Yet

2008-03-15T15:16:00.001-07:00

Life has been crazy busy of late. We're in the process of looking for new digs. Ideally we'll keep pirate chicken and some of her siblings, but it aint looking good that we will. We've got a few people who will take most of the birds, so that's good.

Let's see, work. That's been freaky crazy. I've got a few troublesome cases that I'm working right now that are keeping me up at nights. The clients that are the most heartwrenching are those who have the most to lose. They seem to get the worst plea offers from the State. I've got one guy who did something terrible, but not what the State has alleged. He has little to lose, so we're going to trial. Likely we will have trial.

Yesterday was the Hippie Chick's B-day so we celebrated by having a nice dinner out and then eating fudge cake baked by yours truly. She changed up her gift wish on Thursday, so I wasn't able to present a proper present until today. I think she's happy with the gift.

That's about all. I'm off to play more ToME. That's been occupying my free time lately. I keep dying dammit!!

SNOW!!!

2008-01-28T09:22:00.001-08:00

It SNOWED yesterday. ALOT. Big fluffy deep snow. And somewhat wet. I really would rather go to snow. When it comes to me I'm kinda slightly annoyed. Ah, well. It is rather beautiful.

Here's a view towards the ranch house, you can see the porch light to the left. Here's a view out to the dry lot area. In the background is the neighbor's barn.
We built a snowman!! Not the best of pictures, but you can see how big it is. The dark person shaped blob on the left is 6'4", the less dark taller thing in the middle is the snowman.
I also baked bread yesterday. It was a yeasty day of fun. Rye bread, bagels and pizza dough. Here's the rye bread near the end of baking. The loaves are beautiful. This was my second time making a rye bread.
Rye bread is difficult to put together. Rye flour is very hydrophilic and if you pump all the liquid in at the beginning of putting the dough together it gets really slimy and makes a very dense bread. According to Laurel's Bread book it is best to work in the last cup of water whilst kneading. Which is what I did. This means a good half hour or so of kneading a rather stiff dough. My arms hurt today. But I made good bread.

I found a 1st edition of the Laurel's book in excellent condition at Powell's about a year ago. It's slowly accumulating the gunk of touching a book while kneading dough.

Sometimes it's the little things

2008-01-25T14:31:00.000-08:00

A couple of the cherished items in my office are two letters from ex-clients expressing their gratitude for work well done. Interestingly our relationships did not start very well. They were highly frustrated with me, I was highly frustrated with them. One was a contempt hearing, the other a misdo trial. The contempt client was found not in contempt, the misdo was a NG. They both wrote very nice letters. One got me beer, the other some champagne. It was so refreshing to get the expressions of gratitude. I keep the letters on the bookshelf behind my desk.

Today I was at court checking in with a homeless client. I have no way to contact him and he lives at the mission. The DA and I have locked horns on a legal issue pertaining to his sentence. If I'm right (and I AM) he has no more jail, If DA is right (and she certainly ISN'T) he serves another 8 months. She wanted to reschedule the sentencing hearing and informed me yesterday. So, I went over to talk with client, who was not too upset. Amazingly he maintains better contact with me than nearly any other client. Went back to ensure the Judge's staff knew about the continuance. Judge joked around that I was causing problems. Then said that he thought I was doing an admirable job and was impressed with the way I handle my cases.

A small pat on the back just helps at times.

At least it's sunny

2008-01-22T15:43:00.000-08:00

Work has been rather hectic and highly frustrating of late. Prosecutors backing out of agreements we've spent hours getting hammered down, Judges basically saying that they don't have the "resources" to assist someone who really, really wants treatment and transition into "normal" life and clients who are either slowly killing themselves with drink and drugs, or actively attempting to kill themselves.

Thankfully, I've got a couple of weeks where I have no trials, which gives me time to get ready for the next slamfest of trials set one after the other.

The most difficult part of working a PD load is the mental health aspect. I continue to get clients who are alleged to have technically violated the law, but really what they need is mental health treatment, and it's so difficult to obtain. They tend to be the most fragile of clients and are the most heartwrenching to work with. Fortunately the prosecutors occasionally have hearts and will work something out, and occasionally a Judge with a smattering of a heart will force a prosecutor into at least pretending to have a heart.

Chickens are producing lots of eggs. One of the roosters is highly aggressive and is attacking some of the more docile hens. We've been putting goop on the pecked hens, but it's still too early to tell. If that don't work, I guess I'll be doing my "duty" again.

All ready to go

2008-01-08T09:38:00.000-08:00

And today's trial gets continued. Uggh! Lately my trial cases are either settled or continued on the day of trial. I really hate getting all geared up for nothing. And I haven't been in trial for far too long.

Well, it's a day where nothing else was scheduled. So maybe I can start attacking this huge pile of caselaw behind me that I've been meaning to organize for a long time.

Naive

2008-01-05T09:41:00.000-08:00

The Hippie Chick didn't know what a dingleberry was until today.

Not that either of us had one. It was one of those weird internerd things that popped up randomly in a search.

Eeeks

2008-01-05T09:17:00.000-08:00

Busy, busy, busy.

Holidays WERE fun. I baked alot of bread for us, family and for friends. I have someone in my office who pays me for making french bread. The family said it was the best they'd had.

I also made some Challah for a friend that she and her family really enjoyed.

The pickled eggs turned out great again. I used a bit of balsamic vinegar this time. Was good, but not great. Next time I'll stick with real cider vinegar only.

So, work. I had a major sex case that got resolved at the very last second on a fairly decent plea. If my client had been a U.S citizen it would have been a totally sweet deal. He's not, so I think it's a decent outcome.

I've got two major felony cases set for trial this week. One with a really good deal, but client adamently wants trial. One with crapass deal, but long prison sentence if we lose.

Lately I've been very very restless before trial. The night before is crapass sleeping. I hear from the attorney's who have been doing this for longer than I've been alive that they still are like that. So, I guess it's to be expected.

All in all though, all is good.

Candy

2008-01-04T21:05:00.000-08:00

Hmm, a new candy? I think the hippie chick might be jealous if I eat these though.

Edited: This is an actual candy machine at a really crapass "chinese" restaurant here locally. I put it in quotes because it actually tastes like the bland old people food you find in Iowa old people restaurants. The fried wontons had NO cream cheese and one teeny tiny little piece of what I can only assume was pork. We went only because I'd never been there, and I really really really really wanted either General Tso's or Kung Pao.

Michael's Busy

2008-01-03T10:50:00.001-08:00

Holiday Season 2007-08 was a huge success and loads of fun. Michael's holiday ham was perfect, as was the chocolate cheesecake. We had a little get-together for New Year's Eve and got to drink, eat and play with fire. Always fun. We even fit in a sledding day. So nice to have a boyfriend who can drive in the snow!

It's back to the grind for Michael- he's been really busy with trials and court stuff. As for me, I have told Michael he is a very fattening boyfriend- bread, pizza, beer, cheesecake. Geeze- time for me to hit the gym.

Happy New Year!

Xmas Eve

2007-12-24T11:33:00.000-08:00

It's been some time since I last typed in anything here. Been busy. I've got a few big trials coming up early in the new year. A couple look good. Well, good in that I think I actually have a chance at a win.

People have left the office and so I moved into a corner office with a window!! Plants galore and a view out into the parking lot. It's smaller and my desk is much smaller. But I like it.

We're gearing up for a feast tomorrow. HAM!!! Bread and such. Oh and a chocolate cheesecake!!

Merry Christmas and all that jazz to anyone still perusing this space. We hopefully will have pirate chicken up in the near future.

Tree!!!

2007-12-03T09:46:00.001-08:00

Well, we did get a tree. After much wrangling and walking around the U-cut we coerced the Hippie Chick into getting a tree that is freaking HUGE!! It really does dominate the living room/dining room. But, look at it, it's totally AWESOME!!! It may be slightly cramped come Xmas dinner, but what the hey! If you can't go a little extreme at Xmas when can you?

worky work and christmasy stuff

2007-12-02T13:24:00.000-08:00

For the first time I'm working most of this weekend. Big 7 to 10 day trial starts Tuesday. Wading through a bunch of stuff today.

Yesterday that Hippie Chick and I went out to Troon vineyards to get our winter shipment of vino. As always the folks there were friendly and nice. We met Dick Troon and Alice. Very nice people. It's so nice to go out there.

Later today we're heading out to the U-cut Christmas tree farm. Later tonight we'll warm up the mulled wine we got yesterday and decorate the tree whilst listening to such classics as Holly Jolly Christmas, Bing, Very old school christmas, and other fun stuff.

Goose 2007

2007-11-20T22:09:00.000-08:00

This years goose!! Looks good, eh? Jealous? You should be!

experimentation

2007-11-12T20:18:00.000-08:00

Today was a jam packed full day.

Read the paper, like I do everyday. I put together the beginnings of a compost structure, and started up the new compost pile. I pulled out the ol' chipper shredder and shredded up the woody stemmed plants from the garden. Next weekend we'll be raking leaves and I'll run those throw the shredder too.

We ran to the store so's the hippie chick could get her ingredients to put together a fruit cake. Yup, apparently people actually DO make fruit cakes. I'm betting it'll be fuckin awesome cuz the fruit and nuts smell freakin awesome.

I bought some cheap low fat beef. After I went to the office to finalize prep for a trial tomorrow, and take clothes to my jailed client I came home and cut it up for jerky. I just put the meat in the convection oven and it smells amazing. We're all wanting to eat it all up.

I also bought 10 pounds of cabbage and shredded that up and salted it and garlicked it. In a month and a half we'll be eating sauerkraut!!! It's already brined up and should start fermenting away here real soon.

Mmmmm, I do love me my preserving shit. Tons o' fun!!

Holiday beers

2007-11-10T16:29:00.001-08:00

I've tried several holiday beers this season. Celebration Ale by Sierra Nevada, Jubelale from Deschutes brewery, Winter Hook from Red Hook and Snow Cap from Pyramid brewery. (Note: the redhook site is kinda annoying)

Celebration Ale is a good beer and very hoppilicious. However, in my opinion is not a good holiday beer. Far too hoppy and not enough of a holiday spice flavor. I loves me my hops, but not so much in my holiday brew. Overall, good beer, but more of a summer brew.

This years Jubel is somewhat disappointing. It's not quite on par with past Jubels. I like it, but I think last years was the best they've done.

Winter Hook is good, but it's the same year to year. I really enjoy it, but it's kinda forgettable.

Snow Cap is freakin awesome this year. Without a doubt it is my most favorite holiday brew this year. Solid brew, and it's got everything a holiday brew should have. Malty goodnesses, spicinesses and just the right amount of hoppinesses.

If you can get some Snow Cap get it!

Shacked Up Oatmeal Stout

2007-11-04T15:53:00.001-08:00

First beer of the season, first beer at the Ranch shacked up with the Hippie Chick! Hence the name.

1lb scottish style oats (from the Butte Creek Mill)

1 lb Crystal Malt (120L)

1/2 lb Black Patent Malt

1/4 lb roast barley

1/2 C Chocolate Malt

8 lbs dark liquid extract

2 oz. Willamette hop pellets (4.6 HBU) boil

2 oz. Chinook hop pellets (12.2 HBU) finish

British Ale II yeast Wyeast 1335

Cooked up the oats 3 C to 9 C H2O ~5 minutes

grains and oatmeal mush in 2 gallons H2O at 150 - 160 degree F for ~45 minutes. Mush in a grain bag.

Removed grains and oatmeal. Squoze out goop from oatmeal bag.

Added the liquid extract, brought to a boil, added boiling hops. 50 minute boil, added finish hops for 10 minutes.

1.060 Sp. G., 8% pot alc.

Busy

2007-11-03T13:57:00.000-07:00

That's me lately. I had two trials early this week. Both lost. Of course. Both of those days were trial in the am, done by 2 and at the jail until 5:15. The rest of the week was mostly spent in court and at the jail. I was exhausted by the end of the week. And the major felonies continue to come into my hands. The workload is rough at times, though I'm not carrying as much as some PDs I know. So, I guess I can't complain too loudly. And I love the job. Looks like I'm moving out of my batcave and into an office with window. The outer wall is mostly window. It'll be nice. I'll certainly miss the batcave. and maybe I'll break the curse on the new office. The last 4 people who have left the office left within 6 months of taking over this space. I love the job and won't be leaving for insurance litigation. (Not that insurance litigation is a bad thing, just not for me in any way) (I say that without knowing much other than I wouldn't see court again for 3-4 years and do mostly depositions, which hell I might like) Basically I ain't leaving for awhile. It's a stable job, with the most awesomest boss ever and I don't have the headache of running an office or the headache of some jackass partner who thinks because he's partner he can treat me like a piece of shit. fuck that, I didn't go to med school because I didn't want some fuckwad resident telling me how stupid I am, I don't need that from some partner just because that's how he came up through the ranks.

Bottom line is I'm freakin busy as hell, but I like it.

So, what else. The hippie chick has the flu this weekend. :( She's miserable and it sucks ass for her, but I'm trying to make sure she's got hot tea and other liquids at all times. I made english muffins for the first time last night. They were OK, need a bit of work. This morning I made up a Hollandaise and poached up some eggs and put them together for some yummilicious eggs benedict. It turned out freakin awesome!!!! Best hollandaise I've had. It's rather easy, but exceptionally rich. I didn't realize the ingredients were merely egg yolk, butter and lemon.

The chickens have been starting to lay regularly, right now we're at 6-8 eggs a day. The cuckoo marans have apparently started laying and the Welsummers. I'm not sure which of them laid this egg, but it could have been either.

We're not sure which chicken laid this egg, but it's huge! And we've gotten a couple others this size.

And those turn out to be double yolkers!! I love the double yolkers. I think they taste better.

Root Beer

2007-10-15T09:16:00.000-07:00

Made some root beer yesterday. I've never done any before, so I have no idea how it'll turn out. I'm mostly hoping that I don't have too many bottles explode on me. It smells good and has a decent taste when I bottled. If it is drinkable and not too many turn out to be small explosives I'll have to work on more.

Spent most of the weekend on chores. One was cleaning out the old shack at the ranch. We're going to remake it into a workshop and the old summer kitchen into a greenhouse/potting area. Saturday we planted garlick. I'm really looking forward to garlick. Can't eat enough of that yummy stuff. I also spent some time deconstructing a POS fence that may have been decent 20 years ago, but now is falling down of it's own accord. Eventually we're going to expand the garden area into the pasture that the "fence" encloses. In about 5 years we'll have this immense beautiful garden!!

Jerky

2007-10-10T14:15:00.000-07:00

No, not me silly!!

The Mountain Man came by today!! I loves me my jerky!! However, the best jerky around is from Schulzke's Sausage. Good stuff

Busy boy

2007-10-04T11:02:00.001-07:00

Everything continues to be crazy busy around here.

My cases are getting more complex in nature. It's good as my trial skills continue to grow, but the possible penalties that my clients are facing become much greater.

I continue to have severely mentally ill clients. I worked with two this past week. One, fortunately for him, is finally receiving the aid he requires to get "normalized." He's actually happy with where things are going for him. I hope he can continue with his meds and treatment.

I'm very satisfied with how my professional life is progressing.

And on the chicken front, we have another americauna laying eggs now!! We're impatiently awaiting more and more eggs.

OH, and Tuesday we went to see Camper Van Beethoven. We went to a small little venue here locally. Great show! The average age there was about 45. I vaguely remember seeing them in Iowa City sometime between '87 and '89.

Pizza!!

2007-09-30T17:05:00.001-07:00

Well, it's Sunday here at the Ranch. Which means PIZZA!! I've been perfecting my pizza dough and getting closer and closer to that perfect dough. I got a pizza board and a peel to make the process easier. It's alot of fun and everyone gets to make their own pizza.

So, it's been crazy busy around here and in work life the past couple of weeks.

A week and a half ago I was in Court watching the progress of an ex-client of mine. He had wanted to represent himself and after another attorney after me he got his wish. So, I was seeing what was happening at his trial. As the Judge was sending for a jury panel he saw me and ordered me to assist the person. Well, not much to do in that position except to make a clear record that I once represented the person, that I hadn't looked at the case in months and was appointed to assist that day. Ended up getting a Not Guilty on one charge. The charge that the DA had the weakest case on.

I got a tad sick last week and was feeling totally crapalicious for most of the week. Not good. Feeling good now though.

Finalized the move out to the Ranch yesterday. Glad the move is done, now it's coordinate with the Hippie Chick and the boys and organize the stuff that goes to storage.

OH, and the Pirate Chicken laid two eggs this week. Yahoo!!! Hopefully all the other hens start laying too. We're getting rather impatient waiting for fresh eggs!!!

Cannibal Chickens

2007-09-23T21:36:00.000-07:00

Michael was going to post tonight and tell everyone about our cannibalistic chickens but our internet connection went down, then his bluetooth thingy went down and now he is watching The Family Guy. Sunday night is about the only TV night here since all we get is FOX. I kinda like it that way, actually. I think TV sucks so here I am posting on my boyfriend's blog.

So Michael cooked a bunch of chicken the other night (not ours, but from the store) and after he trimmed the fat, we fed it to the chickens (ours, not the ones from the store) and they go crazy for it. They eat their own fat, meat and eggs if given the chance. Kinda gross, huh?

Roosters!!

2007-09-16T17:42:00.001-07:00

Turns out we had at least FOUR freakin' roosters. The egg production that we had started getting drastically dropped off. And when we would go feed two guys would peck the hell out of the hens. The hens tail feathers were being pulled out and the hens were being constantly humped. Friday morning we heard 3 distinct crows. So, we picked out the two most aggressive roosters for killing. So, after dark last night I went out and grabbed those asswipes and wrung their necks and tossed 'em up on Rooster Knoll. The neighborhood hawks were circling around this afternoon. Free meals for them!!

This morning when I went out to feed and water I heard two distinct crows and saw that one of the Splash Rosecombs was crowing. It's the most pathetic crow ever.

I screwed up some pizza dough tonight. We took it into the chickens and they went nuts, total feeding frenzy!!!
And here ya go!! Pirate chicken!! She's really getting beautiful!! Her tail feathers are gone, but growing back in.
And here's a closeup. Look at those gorgeous neck feathers. You can sorta see her cheeks. Americaunas have puffy cheeks.

Hopefully now that the asshole aggressive roosters are gone the hens will calm down and get back to what they're getting fed for. Namely EGGS!!!

satan

2007-09-13T12:03:00.001-07:00

Apparently I'm as evil as Satan!! Yahooo!! for me

Your Score: Satan

You scored 65% Pride, 70% Envy, 80% Ambition, and 80% Deceitfulness!

You are Satan, the consummate villain, and the ascendant figure in the unholy trinity. Throughout history you have been called The Serpent, The Accuser, The Devil, Lucifer, The Prince of the Power of the Air, and The Dragon, among other things. Your "compatriots" in the unholy trinity, the Antichrist and the False Prophet, are merely pawns in your futile struggle with God. Though, they probably don?t know this. This is because you are a master of deception; indeed the Bible calls you "The Father of All Lies". You are also very ambitious, and you strive to be in positions of the utmost authority. Unfortunately, it was impossible for you to obtain the highest title in heaven and this is part of the reason why you decided to leave. Of course, you couldn?t just leave by yourself, so you managed to use your deceptive abilities to get one third of the angels in heaven to join with you in revolt. God put down the rebellion and expelled you from heaven. To most people, it would seem foolish to start a war against God, but pride can sometimes cause people to do foolish things. In heaven, you were the most beautiful and powerful of all angels and you were well aware of this. Unfortunately, you let your pride consume you and your passions led you down the road to perdition. After you were expelled from heaven, you let another one of your attributes consume you?envy. You knew that you could never defeat God, but you could attempt to destroy humanity, his most beloved creation. Your goal is to bring as many people as possible to suffer in Hell with you. Fortunately for you, but unfortunately for the rest of us, you?ve been endowed with all of the attributes necessary (deceptiveness, confidence, ruthlessness, and ambition) to do a terribly good job at this.

OTHER BIBLICAL VILLAINS A Child of Israel The Serpent The Phillistine Judas Iscariot Jonah The Demon The Fallen Angel The False Prophet Goliath Pharaoh King Nebuchadnezzar Caiaphas King Saul Cain The Antichrist Satan

Link: The Which Biblical Villain Are You Test written by MetalliScats on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:

You scored higher than 99% on Pride

You scored higher than 99% on Envy

You scored higher than 99% on Ambition

You scored higher than 99% on Deceitfulness

Tomatoes!!!

2007-09-12T12:37:00.000-07:00

Our tomater plants have been happily productive. We have a roma plant that is full of tomatoes. So yummilicious. I've been taking some of them to make paste for freezing. We also took several tomatoes and sun dried a bunch. Wow!!!! Talk about flavour filled. They're gonna be so freakin awesome this winter.

Just ordered three types of garlic and a winter lettuce. We're getting (hopefully the stock isn't all gone) Inchelium Red, Early Italian Purple, and Western Rose. The lettuce is Drunken Woman Frizzy Headed. Looks yummy and I love the name. I'm hoping we can protect the lettuce in such a way that we have lettuce all winter long. It's an experiment in lovely food!!

Back in the Grind

2007-09-07T16:19:00.001-07:00

I am really enjoying my job again. I was getting really exhausted, but last week really helped rejuvenate me again. Some days are better than others, today is one of the good ones.

Harvesting

2007-09-04T19:17:00.000-07:00

Seattle was a blastola and a half. The Hippie chick got to see where Starbucks started ruining the coffee world. She was moderately impressed. We got to drink good beers from Big Time. Yummmm!!! We had the BEST fish 'n' chips anywhere at the Elysian. And some really awesome beer. We went to an awesome B-day party and drank some more beers. Are we lushes? Yes for me, still waiting to determine whether the hippie chick is or not.

We harvested from the Ranch's garden today. Here's one picture. Flowers, basil, roma tomatoes, cucumber, jalapeno and cayenne peppers.

Here's another picture also showing a bell pepper, yellow pear cherry tomatoes, Sweet million cherry tomatoes and red pear cherry tomatoes.
I took the jalapenos and the cayennes, strung them up and hung in the kitchen window. Won't take too long and they'll be dried and red and ready for cooking use all winter.

I've been very lax on chicken updates for awhile, well at least showing pictures. The young'uns have started to lay eggs. We're getting little white eggs and little green eggs. Right now about 3-5 a day. Soon we should be getting nearly a dozen a day. They are so YUMMILICIOUS!! Well, here's a picture of Bloo. She's blueish and pretty. Here you can see her fuzzy feet and legs. She's cool, though very loud.

And of course can't forget Pirate Chicken. She's getting big!! It looks like I'm totally ramming her on my shoulder and holding her there, but I'm not. I'm only petting her. Gotsta love that pirate chicken.

In the annoying news, I went back to work today. And promptly remembered why I hated my last job as I had to deal with the same type of crap today. I really hate dealing with dumbasses.

Bugs that eat bugs

2007-08-28T15:58:00.001-07:00

There are alot of bugs at the ranch, wasps(as I ran into yesterday) flies, dragonflies, aphids(which I hate) the occasional mosquito, and also praying mantises. These pics didn't come out great as it was in the sunshine and just couldn't get right. The mantis was looking at me. I'd never seen a real live mantis prior to hanging at the ranch. They're cool as hell. That Hippie Chick told me that she had bought an egg case a couple years back. Looks like they love the ranch.

Day 2

2007-08-28T13:57:00.000-07:00

Gotta love vacation. I totally prefer the one where for most of it you're at home basically living a long, long weekend with maybe a trip out of town.

Finished up the chicken run by tying the top to the sides using the wire the rolls of chicken wire are tied up with. Chicken wire is a total pain in the ass to work with. But, the run is done and the chickens love it, they all immediately ran out and started eating grass and horse poop.

Then went and finished ripping out the old fence in the near wetlands. Was alot of work, but next year I'm hoping to have that little seating area done. After that I started pruning off the dead branches and crossed branches from the magnolia. Got alot of that done, the center of the tree is more clear, but there's new growth that'll fill it in within the next couple of years. Need to get a ladder to finish it up and work on the japanese maple.

It was a productive day. Now I think I'll just chill and enjoy vacation for the rest of today. Drinking with a friend tonight while the hippie chick goes to listen to Chicago.

Wasps, Injuries and dehydration, Oh My!!

2007-08-27T21:05:00.000-07:00

Shit, maybe vacation is NOT a good idea for me. First weekday and I nearly had to go to the Emergency Room.

So, I'm working on the chicken run this morning. Unfortunately I ran out of staples for the staple gun and the extras were at my place. (Why? I don't know I'm the dumbass that put my phone through the wash remember). So, I started working on tearing down the useless fence out in the near wetland.

It's useless because it is about 5 feet away from the property line fence and there's nothing but grass, mint and willow in those 5 feet. I want to make a nice secluded seating area in the tall grasses with some bamboo and tall grasses making the area slightly secluded. Once I get the area figured out and determine the area I might be able to make a teeny pond next to the seating area. I'm hoping I can. It sure would be nice to have some Koi and maybe frogs and
shit. So, while I was tearing out the fence all of a sudden I heard this buzzing in my ear and felt this horrid pain in my earlobe. I backed away very quickly and at the same time I began to feel the throbbing in my earlobe I saw the wasp. Fucking piece of shit stung me at least 2 or 3 times. I went in and iced the lobe for a few minutes then grabbed the bee/wasp/evil piece of shit killer spray and went out to find the nest. Found it and sprayed the shit out of it killing those evil pieces of shit. You can still see a couple of their dead asses in the nest.

Went back to the Love Den and picked up the staples. (note: I did have other plans that were followed through, just irrelevant to this story) Came back and began working on the chicken run. (Damn wiki and goog only bring up that stupid fucking movie.)

Soon afterwards I realized that maybe being at work would be better for my general health than staying on vacation.

So, there's that spot on the far right at the base of my forefinger. I was pounding a stake into the ground to staple the chicken wire to. Well an sliver of wood about a half inch wide slipped off the wood and was pounded into my hand nearly a half inch. Then the spot near my knuckle is where I apparently decided I needed to hit my hand with the hammer. Oh,, then the teeny spot near my wrist is where I decided to totally whack my hand with the hammer. Shit, I thought for a few minutes I just might have broken my hand. Well, I plugged through, finished up most of the run. (Just need to cut a hole in the wall for the chickens to actually get into it, and tie the top down to the sides.) I guess I'll do that tomorrow, avoid hammers and always carry evil piece of shit spray with me.

Gorgeous Sunday

2007-08-26T14:15:00.000-07:00

It's a beautiful late summer day here. And I'm on a week of vacation!! Spent yesterday and today working on cleaning and organizing the bachelor pad (aka the Love Den) to begin a move out to the ranch.

For vaca I'm doing a bit of more work here and build a chicken run for the chickens to get out of the coop. Maybe cut a path into the blackberry bramble near the far wetland. I think I'll begin work to create a seating area in the near wetland. Also do some measurements to build a fence between the ranch and the jackass neighbor.

Then next weekend we're making a foray up to the Emerald City to visit old friends.

Am I going to miss the office? Not a snowball's chance in hell!!

Those best words

2007-08-15T20:38:00.001-07:00

I finally heard those two words that I work for. Not Guilty.

I wasn't entirely excited about this case at the beginning but became a true believer as time went on. I lost a motion for acquittal that I thought was great. That was discouraging today, but I plugged on and after an hour of deliberation the jury came back. Justice was served.

I am exhausted, but feel really good.

Hell yah!!

2007-08-10T11:02:00.000-07:00

I have the bestest boss ever!! We're shutting down the office in just a little bit (it's 11 am) and he's taking us rafting. When we're done with that, he's gonna booze us up and feed us.

Awesome boss!!!

Bogland

2007-08-07T11:49:00.001-07:00

Last night the Hippie chick and I walked out to the far bogland to pick some blackberries for eating some ice cream. The flood irrigation just stopped on Sunday. So, it was rather boggy. The cattails out there are ripening up and are telling me that fall is not that far away. This is looking back at the ranch house. The building is the rickety-ass barn. The breeze was blowing through the cottonwoods. The sunsets around the place are truly amazing.

Saucy!

2007-08-06T14:08:00.000-07:00

I received my shipment of Cookies Barbeque Sauce today. This stuff is freakin awesome!! I add brown sugar, molasses, honey, cayenne and other spices. Brown the outside of the ribs and chicken then slather sauce on and turn constantly until done. The sauce caramelizes wonderfully and is completely tasterriffic!!!

The BBQ in two weeks is gonna kick some serious ass!!

Here I am

2007-08-05T19:04:00.001-07:00

Earlier this year the Hippie Chick had a horrible smell about the Ranch house. I ended up crawling under the Ranch house and found a dead raccoon. We buried it up on the back knoll above the back swampland. After finishing up the coop I went out and dug the fucker up. Tacked it's skull to the wall as a warning to other predators. No more free lunches asswipes!! Something was grabbing the younger chicks until we figured out where a couple of holes were. Blocked them up and now the chickens are doing better, but I want to let those fuckers to stay the hell away!! So here's the warning.

Last night we went to a wedding reception for a good friend of mine. It was at the Del Rio vineyards. This is a picture of the area. We live in an amazingly beautiful place.

Pickles

2007-08-03T15:30:00.001-07:00

The summer season is fully upon us. That means harvesting, and buying produce at the grower's market. That hippie chic and I went yesterday and got a buncha stuff. Cucumbers, garlick, lettuce, squash and beans. Yumm. I've made a couple of batches of fermented garlick dill cucumber pickles from our garden. They turned out really good. So I got a bunch of bigger cukes from the market and started a gallon batch last night. Looks pretty don't it? In another day it'll start bubbling as it begins to ferment. The brine gets cloudy and really yummy. In about 2 weeks the pickles are fully fermented.
On the left is the gallon jar of the beans. Garlick, dill, and jalpeno green (and purple) bean pickles. They should be good in bloody marys. Or straight out of the jar I'd bet. We're wondering if the purple beans will stay purple through the fermentation process. I say they will as there isn't any heat applied to the beans.

I also picked up a bunch of pigs feet. Gonna try my hand at pickled pigs feet. Also gonna try pickled beef tongue. I think they'll all be really really yummy. But, then I do have an iron gut.

Clients can be interesting

2007-08-01T16:07:00.001-07:00

I love it when my clients wear clothing that matches their alleged crime.

Examples
Client charged with a drug offense that comes in wearing a T-shirt with an MJ leaf on it.

Client charged with domestic violence charges comes in wearing a wife-beater.

Too funny!!!

New coop

2007-07-29T16:00:00.000-07:00

I spentFriday afternoon and all day Saturday working on refurbishing the chicken coop. The chickens needed more roosting spots and new nesting boxes. The roosting spots were easy.I just cut and nailed some 4x4s to an old table without the top. This was where the old nest boxes were. I nailed some short 2x4s to the 4x4s to nail the bottom plank to. This was all old scrap lumber sitting around the ranch. As you can see there's a good amount of room for the chickens. They like sitting on the two planks. We may add another plank just so they have a bit more room. All of the chickens sit on the two planks at night.
Here's the rickety ass nest boxes. The chickens are starting to sit in them and carve out a nest. No laying yet. It's not very pretty, but it should work. They seem to be just the right size, just barely big enough to fit a chicken. It's all lopsided and shit, but the hippie chick says that makes it more charming. As you can see the top left has a huge gap. I guess I can blame it on the scrap lumber which has been weathered and warped (kinda like my brain). You can see the screen door on the right. All this cost was 15 bucks on the new 4x4s that are the posts the screen door is hinged to and shut against. You can also see how big the youngsterTs are getting. They are molting right now and we expect egg production to begin in a month or so.

The next step is building the chicken run out in the pasture. All that'll entail is putting up chicken wire with a top so they can't get out. That way they can scratch outside, eat grass and make yummilicious eggs. The older laying hens stopped for awhile, mostly because something (likely a skunk) was getting in the coop and chomping on chickens. A bunch of them are missing tail feathers from the predator grabbing at the tails. They are growing back in thankfully. I believe we've got the coop all blocked up from predatory intrusion.

Lastly here's a new pic of Kittie She's pretty isn't she.

Woosh, but I'm tired from the work yesterday. Cutting, pounding nails, digging two post holes and all that in 95 degree temp mostly in the sun wore me out. Fortunately there's no real hard work for awhile now. It's just get the ranch grounds ready for our Partay on the 18th. Just some rose pruning and dead grass watering.

What a weekend

2007-07-22T21:17:00.000-07:00

It was a busy weekend.

I left work early on Friday. I have a bunch of vacation days I need to burn up before September. So, I went home and got my laundry together to head to the coffeeshop and do the laundry next door. I popped it all in, started up the machines and suddenly realized that I had left my phone in my shorts. So, now I need a new phone. I'm a dumbass.

Saturday went with the Hippie Chick to see her oldest in A Midsummer's Night's Dream. He was Nick Bottom and totally kicked ass. He was utterly funny. It was a production from the Oregon Conservatory of Performing Arts. The kids were awesome and it was so great to see them.

Today we went to the County Fair. It was the hottest day of the last two weeks. Went on a bunch of rides, listened to some good music, and ate a corn dog. Unfortunately no footlong corndogs. I guess you only get those in Iowa. There were alot women wearing tube tops, short shorts and generally looking skankerrific. I also saw several clients. Ugggh. Fortunately they didn't see me. The fair is a good place to see really ugly people.

I started a batch of fermented garlic dill pickles about a week ago. I just tried one. Damn but it was good. Not quite ready yet. That batch should actually be ready in a few days. Pickling is weird. Just take some cukes, put in a quart jar, add some dill, some garlick and fill the jar with brine. Let it go for awhile and suddenly you have pickles. Yummmmmmm!!! We've also got a batch of pickled garlic going. That's just vinegar, sugar, salt, garlic and a jalapeno. In a month it should kickass.

Life's pretty damn good.

Annoying jerkwads

2007-07-20T22:02:00.000-07:00

An ad was just on the evil TV. It really, really, really pissed me off. Some jackass that announced himself as a bigwig with a payday loan company. First of all, I am of the opinion that payday loans are uttterly, utterly evil. If it were up to me they'd either be illegal or taxed into oblivion. This asswipe was telling me that if I would choose a payday loan I should be responsible with making one. OK, on the surface I agree. I think I should go into debt only to the point I can afford. The problem is that the interest rate on those "loans" is in the realm of loan shark. No one can truly afford these "loans". He's passing the buck. What pisses me off is that he's blaming the victim for the problems his "help" causes.

People who have no other recourse go to these places. Let's say you've got a limited income and no access to credit. And alot of people have no access to "real" credit. I've been there (that's another story) and it sucks ass. Your whell bearing goes out on the only vehicle you have. What do you do? You can't go buy a new or used car because your credit is crap. So, you go to payday loan because you only need 200 bucks. But, you don't make much (again another reason for shitty credit) and now you have to pay back the 200 plus 23 percent interest. At the end of the day you're screwed.

Granted, I'm simplifying the situation. But, I'm just annoyed. Sometimes the job situation is just shit. The MAN holds all the cards, and I can deal with it generally. But, when the MAN chooses to change it's mind AFTER my client pleads on a case I'm frustrated. Generally it's for the worse. Today I had two clients who admitted to their charges and then the recommended jail sentence was worse than what I'd told them to expect. It's frustrating and also very tiring.

Ah well, such is the life. Blech

Weird weather

2007-07-18T16:18:00.000-07:00

This has been the strangest summer on the weather front. It's been rainy, cold and just weird.

A year ago it was a high of about 105 F. Today we are in the upper 60s and was cloudy all day. Right now sitting on the hippie chicks porch and it's downpouring. Normally we're in near drought conditions at this time of year. A week ago we had a midwest style thunderstorm with bolt after bolt of lightening. Which was sorta cool, esp since I really miss night time thunderstorms. But, here they are dangerous. Ironically rainstorms start fires. It's been very smoky because of fires in N. CA.

My trusty laptop I bought in law school bit the dust last week. So I went and got a new puter. Apparently I really have improved my credit score. The sad thing is that 7 years ago I nearly had to beg to get an apartment in Seattle because my credit sucked so bad, but now it's much better. Makes me feel sorta accomplished, though all I did was pay my bills.

More chickens

2007-07-08T20:25:00.000-07:00

I know that I've been lax on the chicken updates. Was at camp having fun for 10 days. Then spent a couple of weeks attempting to get caught up at work. So, now we have new chix photos!!! Oh and we've moved the younguns in with the older chickens. So, now we are learning their pecking order.

This one is one of what we think is a splash rosecomb. They are so butt ugly right now though. Hopefully they'll get pretty. They are both the smallest of all the chickens (see later) but they are some of the most dominant.
And here's Blue. She's basically just a puffball. But she's high on the pecking order.
This is one of the chickens we allowed a Silkie to raise. They're fairly wild, and this one is a cross between an Americauna and a Silkie. Weird, but pretty. It appears it or it's siblings are laying eggs.
These two are the same age!!! Buff Orpington vs. Splash Rosecomb (we think).
And here is PIRATE CHICKEN!! I know we've not had any pirate chicken photos for far too long, but here she is!!!.

As I was putting the Silkie/Americauna cross down I noticed she is a mutant. Note the two claws coming out of the last toe. Creepy!!!

Damn but the chickens are fun!!!

I can smell it in the air

2007-07-06T16:59:00.000-07:00

We just finished up the 4th celebration with a bunch of beer, mojitos, burgers, potato salad and fireworks. It was a blastola!!

The weekend before gave us the biggest laugh however. We shot off some Crackering Ball and magic whips. Oh, and some smoke balls. We heard the crotchety ass woman next door complain to her ass of a son that "those kids are setting off fireworks. I can smell it in the air!!" So, now "I can smell it in the air" spoken in a crotchety ass old lady voice is the joke around.

Note: The bag actually reads Crackering Ball.
Note (a) We only did single magic whips, next year doing the string!!

chickens galore!!

2007-06-13T11:47:00.001-07:00

A few days late, but finally a bit of time to post new chicken photos. I know that my 2 people who occasionally peruse here for new chicken pictures will be happy.

This is a Golden laced Wyandotte. Very pretty

These two are of Blue. She's got fuzzy feets!!

A man and his chicken is a wonderful thing! (I think the hippie chick is a little jealous of my relationship with the chicken)

And in triumphant return is the pirate chicken!!!

The roses are going crazy. Since this picture I've added a small trellis to start training this guy upwards. The plan is to build an 8 ft tall trellis structure and layer the climbing rose to have a cascading waterfall of roses all summer long. There's another rose that we discovered under a nearby cedar that is orange/yellow and absolutely beautiful. I believe it is a climber as well. We're gonna try to set it in a good spot and build a nice trellis for it as well. That hippie chick loves it when I prune roses as she says I smell like roses when I'm done. Apparently that is nicer than my usual funk.

Monday is not a funday

2007-06-04T15:46:00.000-07:00

Another crazy monday for me. They almost always are.

But, one of the DDAs finally caved in and gave me the offer I was looking for on a case I have set for trial on Wednesday. WooHoo!!

The batcave is rather hot today. I think it's going to be really bad in the dark hot depths of summer. Oh, well. I love my batcave.

New pics of the chicks taken by that hippie chick will be posted soonish.

And she made me eat fruit and granola and yogurt for breakfast on Sunday!! Seriously, what the hell kind of breakfast is that?!@?! She keeps trying to push oatmeal on me, YUCKOLA!! And now she's making me celebrate my day of birth this weekend. A whole weekend of fun and frivolity that she's forcing on me.

Damn her!!

Friday afternoon insanity

2007-06-01T17:14:00.000-07:00

Just walked over to the courthouse to view a car that slammed into the building. It apparently flew through the air hitting the building about 4 ft from ground level and then smashed down into the below ground level walkway.

The driver apparently was zooming down the street careening off of other cars before this.

Generalities

2007-05-30T13:47:00.000-07:00

This has to be my most favorite time of the year to ride my bike into work and home. Just a twinge chilly in the am, and just a twinge hot in the pm. The flowers are blooming, so everything smells good. It's just really nice.

Got my cholesterol checked last week. Looks like my addiction with bacon just may be catching up with me. :( Ah, well. I think I can live without my weekendly bacon infusion. I'll switch up the diet a bit, less animal fats, more fruits and veggies. More grains and shit. I'll get checked again about a month or so post camp. (There's little to nothing healthy about camp food, or how much I eat of it) Guess it's back to the mostly meatless diet I was on about a year ago.

Peeps are doing great. I'll have to work on some new pics soonish.

chick update

2007-05-23T10:50:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since I updated about all of the chicks, so here's some new pictures. This one is one of those bonnet babies. We're calling her Mo junior. Looking kinda gangly.
This one is a Buff Orpington I believe. She's gonna be BIG.

This one is one of the Splash Rosecombs. They are still smaller than the rest, but definitely are holding their own with the bigger ones. The two are almost always hanging out together. They love each other alot.

If I remember correctly this one is a cochin. She's gonna be really pretty
And this one is a Silver Laced Wyandotte.

The chicks are growing really fast and are so much fun. We'll be overrun with eggs in about 9 months or so.

Today

2007-05-15T16:02:00.000-07:00

It's gorgeous!!! This has to be one of the most beautiful Springs ever!

Today on my bicycle ride to work I saw
cows
cashmere goats
Amazingly green hills (that'll be brown very soonish)
And a horse that was taking it easy. The horse was laying down on its side with its head on some hay and stretching its lips to grab the hay for eating. Too freakin funny.
A ton of jackrabbits. (they were HUGE)

I run into people often who are surprised when I (or others) comment on how beautiful it is here. It really is beautiful

More chicks

2007-05-08T12:41:00.000-07:00

We got a new batch of chicks last week. They were very healthy and strong. Just look at that one looking up at the camera!!

Check out this little dude!! It's a Polish chick. The mop tops they get when they're adults is freakin cool!! Because they look like they have bonnets, they're the bonnet babies!

Here she is just a few days older. Getting bigger and stronger.

The first batch are getting huge. They're all very healthy and are beginning to molt out their fuzzy down and are growing in their real feathers.

This is little hawk. She's an Ameraucauna. Her beak is totally curved down and she kinda looks like a raptor. She seems to like sitting on my shoulder. When I put her up there she pecks at my shirt for food, bobs her head, and chirps at me. I'm hoping that she'll like sitting on my shoulder so that I can act like some sort of weird pirate with a 5 lb chicken sitting on my shoulder instead of a parrot.

Woosh

2007-05-03T15:32:00.000-07:00

Well, ended up settling the Felony case in the manner I'd been asking for. The DA still was utterly appalled that I'd be concerned about her future legal ramifications. Ended up with the same level of misdemeanor that he was asking for. He kept saying that he wasn't sure how the facts fit with the charge I was asking for. The Judge told him to find a bigger hammer.

The peeps continue to grow, though I haven't been able to go and see them for several days. It's been one of those annoying weeks where I don't get to see the Hippie chick as much as I'd like. Our lettuce and peas also continue to grow. It's been raining somewhat these past couple of days, so hopefully the sunflowers we planted on Sunday will sprout relatively soon. Can't wait to see the Black Russian ones. Apparently they can get up to 12 ft tall with a 15-18 inch flower span.

Life is crazy at times

2007-05-01T16:27:00.000-07:00

Got my first Felony level trial tomorrow. DA is being all pissy about the fact that I'm taking my client's future legal interests to heart in negotiating a possible plea. Working hard on the trial. This one is the most stressful yet.

On a fun note, the peeps are growing fast!! The teeny tiny ones are still smaller than the rest, but they are totally keeping up with the bigger brutes. There's gonna be another shipment in a few days.

We tried to chicken proof the pasture, but the fence is a wire fence with huge spacing, big enough for all but the rooster to crawl through. Fortunately they know where they live and are learning how to get back. Looks like we're just gonna have to erect a chicken wire fence around the compost pile. They love scratching around in that. Which isn't too bad, except that it gets spread out and cools down too much. Ah well, the crazy feathered dinosaurs are just too cool to be upset with them.

Chicks rule!!

2007-04-28T16:22:00.000-07:00

We got our chicks a few days ago!!! Totally awesome. They're really cute and rather noisy. And a bit stinky. But fun!!

This is most of them. The little guy in the center is a Splash Rosecomb. She (or maybe he) is rather teeny and the big galoots were kinda beating her up and her sister(brother) so they're in a separate care facility.

That's the two of them in their separate facility. They are now sharing with another couple who were a bit sickly. The hippie chick's been a really awesome nursemaid and they are all now very healthy. Just small.

And here's one of the small dudes in my hand. They're really teeny.

On the work note, it's Saturday. It's gorgeous, like nearly 80 or above. In other words perfect bicycling weather. What am I doing (well other than wasting time posting chick pics)? Working. Such is the life of a public defender. I have been researching what would constitute a "Crime of Moral Turpitude". No one really knows, but they do when they see it. I have my first Felony level trial on Wednesday and trying to work out a possible compromise with the DDA. On monday I'll find out if we can work something out, otherwise I'll be holed up in my batcave all day monday and all day tuesday. (Note: My office is the batcave) It is a great office, but no natural light.

Updated 04/30/07 the teeny chicks are the splash rosecomb, not the japanese. Good thing that hippie chick keeps my shit straight, eh?

Tired and just a bit sore

2007-04-23T11:41:00.000-07:00

Went to a totally smoky dive bar on Friday night with that Hippie chick I've been hanging out with all the time. Completely client central. Saw a dude that I tried to put in jail in my prior incarnation as a DDA. He didn't like me much, fortunately he didn't recognize me.

Sunday we cleaned up her barn in order to build up a chicken coop to move her chickens into. The prior owner had drywall on the ground. Yep, you did read that correctly. The dude seems like a total dumbass, just from stupid crap like that. We've got the outer wall fenced and chicken wired up to keep the chickens in and nasty critters out. Put up their old nesting box and put together a bunch of roosting spots for them. On the inside we put up a temporary fence wall. Later this fall we'll build up a ceiling that'll be insulated and some insulated walls and a door on the inside of the barn. Then build some insulated panels we can hang covering the outer fence wall. It looks great and they seem very contented to be in their new digs.

Tomorrow she gets baby chicks in the mail. Yup, again you read correctly. Companies will mail you baby chicks. Gotta love the chickens, they are basically teeny tiny Tyrannosaurous Rexes. And they run really funny, especially when you're chasing them down in order to transfer them to a new coop.

It's the little things

2007-04-20T16:21:00.000-07:00

It was a slightly rough week. Lost a trial that I was rather invested in.

But, today ran into an ex-client as I was walking to court. The man had wanted to stick him away for 6 months and I successfully argued for 10 days jail and continued probation. The man wasn't happy with me. My ex-client told me today that he actually is following through with what he said he'd do. My advice to him back then was, the best way to stick it to them is play their game better than they do and do exactly what they ask you to do. Since they are adamently stating he can't follow through by doing so they have the egg on their face.

It was good to see that I helped out someone and made a difference in their life.

full belly

2007-04-10T13:11:00.000-07:00

Hell ya baby!! Not only french fries but General Tso's chicken!!! Found an all you can eat pan-asian buffet for a decent lunch time price! Almost too good. The last time I had access to all you can eat buffets that I really liked, I weighed 25 lbs more than I currently do. Ah, well with the biking I should be OK!

Biking and food

2007-04-10T10:30:00.000-07:00

I've been riding more regularly again!! And today my legs weren't killing me halfway through the am ride. I'm slowly getting into shape!!

But, the weird thing is that the more I ride the more I crave french fries. I've been really really wanting french fries for a couple of weeks. Maybe today.

Lamb = Good!!

2007-04-09T09:47:00.000-07:00

Spent a wonderful weekend enjoying spectacular Springish weather.

The cute hippie chick and I moved a couple of roses so as to plant Hydrangeas in a good spot and allow the roses better sunshine. During the entire process I totally whacked my elbow into a hugeass rose thorn on a different rose. Arm hurt for hours. You might think I'd learn to be more careful around thorny bushy things, but NO.

Cooked up a leg o' lamb yesterday for her extended family. Went over amazingly well. Damn good stuff!!

That's about it, except I've been playing God of War II a bunch, totally awesome game!!!!

Mindblown

2007-03-29T09:57:00.000-07:00

Just had a conversation with a prosecutor who is widely known for being belligerent and holier than thou. Often pulls out old police reports the day of trial threatening new charges, and always says the same thing. "I just didn't know about this until 5 minutes ago."

So I was talking about a case with this person, a minor case in the whole realm of everything. And once again, no possibility of reasonableness from this person. Won't even entertain any discussion, and gets quite huffy when a discussion is attempted. Then the gall to complain to me that it's exhausting that I get annoyed. After biting my tongue for a few minutes and let the person harangue and spout off, I finally said that it goes both ways and that I only get annoyed when no respect or thought is given to me. Annoying

TGIF

2007-03-23T11:54:00.000-07:00

Some weeks are more exasperating than others. This was one.

Started off totally freakin amazing. Went out to the Coast with the cute hippie chick.

This was the view from our room. The surf was right below our door. It was an utterly amazing and relaxing weekend.

Had a trial scheduled for Wednesday. As usual the DDA came in with a report (a month old mind you) and waved it around. If my client didn't plead today he was going to be taken into custody on a violation of his release conditions, no matter the result of the trial. And of course, once again her comment was "I didn't know about this report until just today." I find it interesting that the cops sat on this for a month and didn't bother trying to find my client until the day before trial.

I'll be preparing my clients to just be ready to go into custody on the day of trial when we are dealing with this DDA. Of course if my clients wouldn't contact the alleged victim in a case until AFTER we're done, like I TELL them to do we wouldn't be in this mess. But if it weren't for people who have poor decision making abilities I'd be mostly out of work.

Then that afternoon I had a client's mother ask me if her daughter shouldn't hire an attorney and could I recommend one. After testily telling her I WAS her daughter's attorney and that I had a law degree and sat for the bar, but if she'd like to hire a private attorney for a $5G retainer please feel free, she decided that maybe I was acceptable.

But, this mornign I had my little victory. My client's probation officer isn't happy with me, and actually told me she was surprised at the outcome. Instead of a revocation, 6 months in jail and 1 year post prison supervision, he's got 9 months more of probation, and 40 days in jail. I wanted to tell her that we could have come to this without the embarassment of losing an argument if she wasn't utterly hardnosed. But I got it done. And in front of the Judge whom I'm still convinced thinks I'm an utter idiot.

Gotta give thanks for the minor victories, since they seem to be the only thing I've got to hang my hat on for the time being.

Course, now it's a beautiful early Spring day, and we're planting more lettuce, some spinach and doing some weeding in the garden tomorrow. The lettuce and peas are growing like crazy!!! We'll be eating fresh garden greens soon. Be jealous!!!

Not Dead yet

2007-03-16T10:36:00.000-07:00

Nope, not dead, just busy as all hell lately.

Yesterday I won a minor victory at Court. Which is awesome!! Any push against the man is good. Basically I got my guy a year license suspsension rather than a lifetime suspension and a $1,000 fine rather than a $2,000 fine. The funny thing is that the DA on the case really helped my guy out at the hearing, but thought he was screwing my guy. I love it when the other side makes my argument for me, especially when they think they're sinking me. HA!

Totally taking that cute hippie chick out of town tomorrow. An overnight of indulgence of wine, champagne and being silly together.

Will be fun!!

Snow!! reprised

2007-02-22T08:37:00.000-08:00

Once again I woke up to THIS crap!

One primary reason I like living where I do is that it doesn't do this. Last winter and the winter before we had one time where we got less than an inch of snow. Now this winter, BLECH!! I want winter to go away!!!

(It is kinda pretty, though)

Purgatory

2007-02-05T14:17:00.000-08:00

Saturday went to a nice surprise party with that cute hippie chick. Didn't know anyone, but was a good time, and her friends were really cool!! Unfortunately for me I've been suffering from some horrible crud that I'm sure I picked up at the happiest place on the earth. It was good nonetheless.

Then we decided to check in on a friend of hers who was out on a "date" with some dude who took her to a motel lounge. Seriously wtf?!?!?! But, OK, I'm more than willing to foray into some dingy horrible dive bars so a lounge couldn't be too bad, could it? Well, normally the lack of ANY ventilation whatsoever wouldn't bother me, but the crud thing was holding me back from full enjoyment. After a bit of being there this "band" started playing, well if you call playing strumming their instruments in a slightly less than decent or acceptable version of a wide variety of covers. And then people started dancing!!!! Yup, oh, and the people. Oh my it was an assortment of very interesting characters with some lively background I'm sure. The place was rife with down and out, cheat on your wife/husband, just plain drunky drunk, youngster uberironic hipster and attempt to remember being cool in high school story characters. There were two "couples" dancing occasionally. They were too intimate to have only just met in the lounge, but the interaction when they stopped dancing was like people getting to know each other. By the way the women were dressed, nicely with very high heels, and the fact the dudes totally looked like business dudes staying in the motel, I'm fairly certain the women were escorts. There was this hipster chick dressed in knee high boots, tights, a short tight skirt and a pleather looking top. She was too far away to tell if she was an aging hipster or a youngster hipster, or just someone who was playing at it in small town oregon. The clothes were all black, but she had the blank stare of a hipster, it just looks like she stepped out of seattle or portland from 5 years ago.

As we walked out we walked by table after table of single people in their mid 40s to late 50s sucking on their beer, and puffing frantically on their Basic 100s. The dudes were oggling any and every woman walking by, and the chicks were puffing out their boobs and playing with their hair in the direction of any single looking dude they didn't already know. That cute hippie chick leaned over and yelled in my ear (because of the loudness of the "band") that this is what purgatory must be like. She's far too idealistic, I'm fairly certain that is what the first circle of hell is gonna be like. I expect to be much further down in the circles, but it's nice to know what the best I can hope for is.

Sugar Magnolia

2007-01-25T20:51:00.000-08:00

I bottled my newest beer last night. Sugar Magnolia Steam.

I brewed it on December 30.
8 lb Dry Amber Extract
1 lb Crystal Malt (40L)
2/3 C Chocolate Malt

2 oz Northern Brewers hops (7.5%) boiling
1.5 oz Hallertauer (4.0%) dry hopped (after the blow off was done)

CA lager yeast (Wyeast 2112)

grains were at ~`165 degree for 30 min

dissolved the extract and boiled for an hour

9% pot alc
1.068 sp gr
17 balling

at bottling
3% pot alc
1.022 sp gr
6 balling

great hoppy flavor, very drinkable, great color.

Name's from that Cute Hippie Chick who helped me brew! Can't hardly wait to drinking in two weeks with her!!

Flogging a Dead horse

2007-01-24T16:32:00.000-08:00

Yet again, I'm appalled at the lack of acceptable mental health care in my area. Note that I say "acceptable" rather than decent or good or workable. It's frustrating to see.

Well, on a good note... I've made forays into bagel making that have turned out wonderful. So much so that that cute hippie chick asked me to make some for a breakfast business meeting she's hosting this weekend. Talk about pressure. Crap, what happens if her colleagues fall over from the gripe or gout or even worse Derbyshire Neck?!?!? Career busting bagels!! Well, none of my colleagues have fallen prey to any of those yet, so that's a good sign.

Nearly Unbelievable

2007-01-21T20:59:00.000-08:00

Damn that woman!!! I actually voluntarily, all by myself, without her around chose to listen to, OMG!!! the Dead. The Dead!!

Crap, I really hope I don't become a Deadhead. I'm almost certain that'd be a fate worse than death. Ugggh, she definitely is getting under my skin.

Ah, well, I guess I'll chalk it up to glove!

weekend fun times

2007-01-21T20:00:00.000-08:00

What a nice weekend!! The cute chick and I cut down a cedar tree that was blocking a really nice old rose. I pruned the rose and another rose. She's got several different rose bushes around her place that I'm so excited to prune up and get some amazing roses this summer. Today I ripped out some blackberry vines wrapped around her big beautiful lilac, that I also pruned. We should be seeing some amazing flowers out of that. In the process of cutting out the blackberries I found another old rose bush that is now out in the open and should have some great sun. We're so excited to be gardening together!

Then this morning we got to spend a few hours reading the Sunday NYT and talking about the different issues there. It's so nice to talk about things with someone who can and will intelligently argue about fine points of difference. We agree on so much, but there's enough difference to make it interesting.

On top of all that goodness I also got some work in. I spent the afternoon on Friday at the jail talking with a client who is highly frustrating to deal with and didn't get all the trial prep done I'd have liked. Got it nearly done in a couple hours at the coffeeshop this morning. My trials this week should be fun and challenging. I expect to lose, but I think I've got good cases and arguments.

Life is GREAT right now.

People are strange

2007-01-19T10:34:00.000-08:00

One of the most difficult and trying aspects of public defense is that a fair number of my clients have mental health issues. Some have more severe issues than others.

Working with people who have severe mental health problems can range from the perversely funny, to extremely sad, to highly frustrating. Not that the problems my clients face is ever funny, but sometimes the things people will say or do can be somewhat funny. More often than not I'm saddened and disheartened to see what these difficulties do to people. And, more unfortunately, I find it very difficult to truly help them.

I have clients who seem to have gotten their lives more on track after I've counseled and worked with them. But, the mentally ill continue to be so, and unfortunately seem to come back quickly. Jail is not the place for the mentally ill to be and it always seems they spiral down. I only hope I do help them out as best I can.

Snow!!

2007-01-17T09:12:00.000-08:00

One reason I DON'T miss the damn midwest is the snow. But it had to follow me eventually I guess. Snowed like crazy yesterday. Driving in Iowa in the winter blows bad enough, but at least those dumbasses sorta know how to drive in it. Here, where I'm convinced that most people are handed their driver's license when they pay entrance fee to the county fair, people are even stupider about driving in the snow.

Yesterday I had a lunch meeting at a place that is a 20 minute drive away from the office. Was snowing a bit when I left. Drove back to the office an hour later only to find that it took me 45 minutes AND the office was closed for the afternoon. So I turned around and drove home. Which btw was a short walk from my lunch time meeting. GAAAAH!!!

Oh, here's my newly found kittie. She's a doll faced himalayan I believe. She's got the siamese markings.

Update: So as to not link to any breeder, especially one that may not be a good one, I've changed the link to a wiki link. Kittie still rocks!!!

Winter time complaints

2007-01-10T09:47:00.000-08:00

It's cold and snowy here. Not that I mind either too much, but I like the summer time extreme heat in S. Or. much better. Partly because of complaint #2.

Which is, I think I've got a cold coming down. And the day before a trial. Which further means I'm likely gonna feel like a huge pile of dog poop tomorrow. Poop. What an interesting word.

So, drinking lots of tea with echinacea, a ton of dihydrogen oxide and Vitamin C. Ideally I'll only feel like a small pile of steaming dog poop tomorrow.

Fun in the muck and mud

2007-01-08T16:10:00.000-08:00

Sheesh, I'm lazy at writing and stuff!! Oh well.

Last Saturday was out at the cute girl's place looking over the garden plots. She has some raised beds because the land is flood irrigated. The beds are well situated and we'll be growing some good food stuffs. I weed whacked around some of the beds and will be back out soonish to yank out the volunteer grasses in the beds. I looked over the roses and they appear to be nearly ready for spring pruning. We may be in for an early spring here. The other thing was getting the compost heap piled up and turned. We should have some really good stuff soonish.

I'm really looking forward to eating fresh veggies that I helped grow and nurture. We may be growing some hops that I'll hopefully be using in beers in the relatively near future.

We then went out to Butte Falls and had prime rib at the Cafe. BEST prime rib I've EVER had!! We may be heading back out for Bfast in the near future.

Girls are distracting

2006-12-28T14:56:00.000-08:00

Why are girls so distracting? I dunno, but it's nice let me tell you! The distraction has kept me from posting anything or even reading most of the blogs I enjoy. Basically my brain has been trying to stay focused on work when it's not focused on the girl. Fortunately I've been able to stay on top of all my worky work stuff.

So, had my first trial. Went well enough, and the outcome I predicted came true. Of course I lost, but I sure did my damndest. The Judge, clerks and bailiff all expressed that I have a really good courtroom demeanor and was effective with what I had. So, I count that as good.

Public defense work is so satisfying. I met with a client yesterday and unfortunately had to tell her that she's gonna go to jail. However, after talking with her for awhile and learning about all of the difficulties she's faced in the past year I was able to help her leave my office feeling better about where she's at and the next steps she has to take to get her life together. Believing that I've made a positive impact on her life made my day. Just a week ago I was getting gas and an ex-client who served a 30 day stint was pumping my gas for me.* He was so excited to see me and was telling me all about how he's got his life in order and following through with all of the things we talked about when we met at the jail. I may not get people off of their charges very often, but I can at least show them the way to make their life better.

*I live in Oregon, you cannot pump your own gas.

On living

2006-12-09T14:12:00.000-08:00

Yet another navel gazing post, just a warning for you to stop reading now.

"...the desire to survive and the desire to live are two different desires, and the second is more conscious, more deliberate, more a matter of education and cultural choice than the first." Wendell Berry, Life is a Miracle.

This lesson is one that I believe a person must learn firsthand. In my experience it seems to me that far too many people merely exist, merely survive. It's HARD to live, because it IS a conscious choice. To live, as Nazim Hikmet tells us is to live with great seriousness, without looking for anything above or beyond LIFE. This seriousness is not staid, nor is it stern, more of a knowledge of the importance of experiencing life and being involved without a worry of the imminence of death.

I merely existed for several years. I'm reading through my journals from that time period. It was bleak, stagnating and unfortunate for me. It's unfulfilling, though easy. Because of my current work I counsel people almost everyday who are barely surviving. Somedays are very difficult and I come home utterly exhausted. What keeps me going on those days is the hope that my counsel can help my clients improve their lives. In addition to that hope I have relationships, some older, some new and developing in such promising hopeful ways, which allow me to participate in life and learn and grow.

The woes of public defense

2006-12-09T09:56:00.000-08:00

As time passes I'm learning the frustrations of defense. My frustrations though are different than what some defense attorneys complain about.

A common complaint of defense attorneys seems to be that it's a constant struggle of begging the DA, begging the courts, and begging the probation department. I guess I'm begging for things on behalf of my clients. But, it seems to me to be more of telling my clients' stories. It occasionally reduces the sentence. What it does though is vindicate my client. Each one leaves the court satisfied that the Judge heard their story and satisfied that I did something for them.

My frustration is mostly along the line of the prosecutor not listening to, what I think is, reason. I can understand some rationales on some cases, but others make little sense to me. Maybe I'll get used to it.

Can't complain too loudly, I love my job, it's going really well. My personal life is getting on track and going where I want it to.

Morning times

2006-12-08T08:17:00.000-08:00

I live in a beautiful place!! My living room window faces north and looks at the huge hill that my town is next to. Woke up this morning and was reading the nyt when the light suddenly changed it's tone. I got up and looked out the window and this is what I saw!! One of the most beautiful sunrises EVER!!

I almost hate taking pictures because they rarely do justice to the real thing. This comes real close. For those who live near, wasn't it freaking AWESOME!! For those who live far, be jealous, be very jealous!!!

I'm far too giddy

2006-12-06T11:16:00.000-08:00

This is me with my fun fuzzy orange hat! (Thank you Seattle!!!) Oh, btw, off subject for this sillyness, buuuuut, I get so many compliments on this hat. Or stares, but I ignore them because they're boring, boring people with nothing better to do but think, "Hey, that's a weird guy, let's stare" It's big, it's orange and it's fuzzy!!!

This is her!! See, she's pretty!! you can tell because she's got huge blue eyes and a pretty smile and long pretty hair. and you can tell she's a girl because she's wearing a skirt.

This is me today!! Can you see the difference? There's floaty thingies around my fuzzy orange hat!!!

My crazy life

2006-12-05T20:49:00.000-08:00

So, bread baking. I've really come a long way with it. I'm very happy with my daily bread. It's a mostly wheat bread with a touch of rye for extra flavor. Now that I've got the amount of water worked out and the technique it's absolutely amazing. Last comment by someone was "This is the way a crumb is supposed to be!!"* I bake this about every 4-6 days, depending on how much I eat at bfast. I just pile the flour mix on my table, make a fountain and go at it. Very little mess to clean up.

My french bread is now amazing. Baked a batch for my office manager for her to take to family thanksgiving. Everyone loved it!! Baked a batch last Sunday and brought to the office. The two baguettes were gone in a half hour, and there was a small piece of the round loaf left at 11:30. The office manager is asking for two batches for Xmas. Since I am planning on taking a batch out to A's family for Xmas, well, lotso baking right before Xmas. Good thing I bought 25 lbs of flour yesterday.

OK, well other life stuff, third date with D. Wow!! just wow!! Cooking dinner for her on sunday. Bread, of course!! Debating about what else. Soup? Easy and can be impressive. Cornish gamehens? maybe, they are cool, easy and amazingly impressive for the ease involved. Risotto? Kinda leaning there, yummilicious, impressive and not too hard. We'll see. I'll know on Sunday.

Life, well when it's good it's GOOD!!

*When talking about bread a crumb is the interior of the bread.

Damage Control

2006-11-30T20:59:00.000-08:00

Alot of criminal defense work seems to fall into this category. Alot of the time that's about all I CAN do. My client's did the deed, the police did their work properly and there isn't much of an argument to make.

So, now we get into the question, what can I say to the Judge to lighten the sentence? What can I do to show my client is basically a decent human being?

That's been my job this week. I really do not like to be in the position of having to go talk to an incarcerated client and basically say "Dude you're fucked, and you're going to the State Pen for the next year or more." Mostly it's talk, let them vent a bit, talk some more, let them vent a bit more, point out that I'd love to give them something different, but reality is rearing it's ugly head.

But, then on the other hand I did get a sweetass deal for my client this week that we were looking at a trial. No criminal history, merely a fine. Only thing better is a dismissal. It was a good resolution at the end of the day.

I'm loving this job more than I thought I would, and believe I'm doing it as well as I thought I could. Hopefully better in the near future. Well, hopefully better everyday I work it.

Things that rock!

2006-11-27T20:18:00.000-08:00

I love to fly! Even though I feel really weird for days.

Why? There's something really cool about staring out the window and watch everything go from lifesize to small, and then tiny. Then I also like to sit so I can look out and watch the wing. It's so coolio to watch it flop around like it's ready to fall off.

Then everything goes opposite. teeny tiny, then bigger and bigger. So cool

Traveling and such

2006-11-22T18:00:00.000-08:00

Holiday vacation time!!!!

Heading to the hinterlands of Omaha Nebraska tomorrow. For the first time since '00 I get to see the fam at a holiday. They bug the hell out of me, but I dig 'em.

My bro and sis in law live there. My parents are flying in as well. My bro and I are going to bug the hell out of our mom by pounding beers and she's gonna bug the hell out of us by telling us how to live our lives. Since at the end of the day she knows we're gonna ignore her it all works out.

Apparently we also are going to see a hockey game. Oh and we'll be playing Xbox all weekend also.

Good times should be had. Hopefully the weather won't be too bad Sunday night. I get back home at 2 am. Then I scheduled far too many things on Monday. I meet with a client at 9 am. Stupid DA has NOT sent a freakin offer over and he's spent more time in custody than is necessary so I think we may just plea out for time served without an offer. GRRR. Then I tell the court whether my two trials will go this week. One yes, the other, dunno. Then on my trial that is going, I have a hearing on a motion to suppress at 3 pm. I'm gonna be way exhausted at the end of the day

Unearned joys

2006-11-20T21:31:00.000-08:00

Do NOT read this unless you want to read a bit of self indulgent introspection.

Lately I've started back on a life path that I started about 20 years ago and stepped off of about 7 or 8 years ago. (Crap, I'm already sounding like a neo-hippy, but I kinda am one in many ways so screw you if you don't like it, I told you to NOT read) Anyone who knows me in any way knows I had cancer. And I've been reviewing that, and my reaction to my personal life lately. It's been very difficult and highly emotionally charged.

I read something tonight that blew me away. And fits in what I'm trying to learn about myself. I'm a midwesterner born, bred and raised. Those "values" are important, but some are somewhat stifling. "The bruises go away, and so does how you hate, and so does the feeling that everything you receive in life is something you have earned." The most important things in life, like love, aren't earned. And it's been eye opening to have that basically shoved in my face recently.

OK, that's enough navel gazing for the evening.

Addiction

2006-11-19T12:02:00.000-08:00

I'm starting to get concerned. I may have a bit of a problem. It's not affecting my life.....yet.

I think I may be addicted to bacon. So far I've been able to keep it under control and only eat it on the weekends. But, it's up to a half pound on sat and a half pound on sun. And now I really, really, really want garlic pepper bacon.

I keep telling myself that it's all OK. I eat healthy every other day. It's a "mostly" meatless diet with brown rice and broccoli as sides at least 4 nights a week. But still a pound of bacon!?!?!?!

Of course now that I've gone to the website I now want some hams, and sausages. I'm not even hungry but I wanna eat ham. Oh, and since it's based in Le Mars IA I actually almost feel good about clogging my arteries.

Lazy weekends

2006-11-18T11:01:00.000-08:00

Sheesh!! For a month I wasn't at home to be able to relax. Last weekend was the first I was able to just chill, but it didn't feel very relaxing. I was working at it, which really isn't relaxing.

This weekend, well, the apt is clean so no worries on that front. It's cooler and more humid, so most of the plants don't need watering. Hmm, yeah, I have two semi obsessions. I love books and prefer to own them. I am now at the point where instead of shelving or actually organizing my books in any sense of order, I have piles. One of these piles, which is about 3 feet tall, is entirely books I've either bought, or geekboy has given me. I should stop buying and start reading. But it's an obsession I tell you!!!

OH,yeah the other. Plants. Love 'em. My apt is a jungle. Plants fill all the available window sill space, available coffee table space (that isn't covered in books) and occasionally there'll be a plant on the kitchen table. I spend a half hour every weekend checking the moisture level and watering. I had a friend water for me whilst I was driving my ass all over the midwest last summer. She sorta freaked out because she'd think she'd watered them all, and find a new one. I have my OCD pattern.

OK, so bottom line is I get to relax this weekend!!! Well, other than doing laundry. But, I just do that next to the coffeeshop that I'll be at anyway.

Goal for the day: Do NOT obsess over "missed" opportunities. The outcome is not necessarily what I think it may have been.

Yeasty days of yeast

2006-11-12T13:47:00.000-08:00

It suddenly got cold here. Looks like no warmer than maybe 50 today. Thar's snow up in them thar hills also. I like it, but the chillness in the apt makes for slower than normal on the rising of the bread dough.

Today, I'm experimenting with a new method of putting a bread together. I've got a "poolish" going. It's also commonly called the "sponge" method.

When using commercial yeast, there are two ways to put the bread together. The first is the "direct" where you proof your yeast and immediately mix with the flours, salt and any sugars you may use. The bread then is allowed to rise. The second, sponge, is when you mix some liquid, flour and yeast together and let rise and fall. Takes approximately 4-8 hours. Then add the remaining liquids and flours and make your dough and let rise.

I'm learning that HOW the bread is put together and handled has more of an effect on the outcome than nearly any other aspect of bread.

Note: Sauerkraut is nearly done!! Looks like canning it later this week. The garlic dill pickles smell awesome, and the brine tastes wonderful.