rain!

la la la la la la lala la la laaaa. la la lala la la la lala la laaaa. (smurfs song)

grape tomatoes

grape tomatoes, originally uploaded by skippy haha.

have you ever had tomatoes so good they taste like lobster?

holey hell

i'm going back to the dentist because i can't chew on one side. i got fillings a couple weeks ago and one of them started hurting so badly last thursday i've been unable to chew on it. it doesn't hurt during the day, only chewing. i am upset about the whole thing for many reasons:

1. at my checkup in june i had a brand new hygienist, it was her first day
2. she used the new 'diagnodent' laser machine to test teeth for cavities before she cleaned my teeth
3. you're supposed to use it AFTER cleaning the teeth
4. i have never had pain or sensitivity in any of my teeth at all, but they diagnosed me as having SIX cavities
5. i had the top 3 drilled and filled last week
6. they filled it with plastic containing BPA - the cancerous ingredient in baby bottles and water bottles and that whole mess
7. afterwards i asked how long they should last - like 15 or 20 years? and the hygienist laughed & said no only about 5 years
8. they charged me close to $1000 for all this
9. there's icy hot deep nerve pain every time i chew on the left side

i'm fairly furious about a lot of this, and i have cancelled my october appointment to get the bottom three 'cavities' filled. they want me to let them drill holes into my unpainful/unsensitive teeth, fill them with cancerous/dementia-causing plastic, charge me a thousand bucks, and get me to come back and re-fill them in some goddamn emergency situation when they fall out in the next five years for another $300 a tooth? are you fucking kidding?

my dentist is going to check it out today but i may need a root canal now in the painful tooth, this is all so ridiculous.

obama vs mccain on taxes

from the washington post



note the set sign } "bottom three groups amount to 60% of taxpayers".

look who gets the biggest cut from each. this is stark

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/06/09/ST2008060900950.html

outside lands webcast

currently rocking face at outside lands music festival in san francisco -
steve winwood
http://attblueroom.com/music/Outside-Lands-Music-Festival/live-webcast.php

inland seafood?

inland seafood, originally uploaded by skippy haha.

such as...? trout? and catfish? is that inland riverfood?

1-2-3-4 1-2-3-4

spots on the ceiling
things on the wall
when times get rough
stare at them all

trevor solo stream

Trevor Garrod's solo performance from Evanston SPACE will be webcast by BigAG tonight from 8:00 - 9:30pm CST.

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/biga-space

Live Streaming by Ustream.TV

kickball

a lot going on, originally uploaded by skippy haha.

kickball in asheville is a lot different from kickball in san diego. it is much more laid back, there are no set teams, 2 new captains pick boy girl boy girl from whoever shows up every time. there are babies on the field. there are no uniforms or cleats or refs. it is absolutely just as much fun.

i tried to spread the catching technique of 'the tuckoop' yesterday. when a pop fly is coming, get in a tuck/scoop position, and finish with 'squeeze the pillow.' there's no reason to fear the big red ball!

spilled pepto

spilled pepto, originally uploaded by skippy haha.

sometimes from error comes pretty

follow thru

follow thru, originally uploaded by skippy haha.

going to get holden a blood test to make sure he's clear to have surgery next week. i finally got a tax refund yesterday and have money and his tumors are getting really big. he has about 8 now, two are as big as if his testicles regrew on his chest, and one is the size of a big mac. the other 5 are small like grape or cherry tomatoes.

sofa kingdom

sofa kingdom, originally uploaded by skippy haha.

trying not to be the queen of this

drought

everybody turns their head up
when stepping outside
to see if the dark sky
might get darker
and wash us all with rain
and soak us all with rain
or if again today
these stone gray puffed castles
will glide march overhead
with slightest far off rumbles
refusing still to cry

connect

connect the dots. click to see what it looks like when you make a big star made up of 6 little stars with one continuous line. i think this is how morning glories grow. this came to me in 7th grade math class.

perfect penny circle trick

rainy leaf heart

rainy green heart, originally uploaded by skippy haha.

alleluia! more rain last night!

red flag

red flag, originally uploaded by skippy haha.

wouldn't it be nice if all piles of shit came with red flags this visible?

(this is especially for john edwards, the lying slime besmirching the reputation of unc law school and north carolina in general.)

keep dancing

a t-shirt from a 1984 zeta beta tau dance marathon in philly led me to this juicy account of the 19 day dance marathon at the seattle armory that led to the ban on dance marathons in seattle:

"The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported that two nurses would be on duty night and day "in constant watch over the dancers" and that doctors would examine the dancers "frequently." Besides this William Raths, director of a Bellingham physical culture school, would "direct a corps of trainers and rubbers” (Seattle P-I, July 21, 1928)."
...

"By August 11, it was over. The couple that finished first won $1000 prize money. On August 22, 1928, however, the Armory marathon was on page one again. Gladys Lenz, the dancer whose partner had punched her when he went "squirrelly," had attempted suicide."

all this and so much more, including contestants demanding new phonograph records, hysterical giggling, and an Oriental Garden in a crenelated fortress can be found here:

HistoryLink.org - The Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History - Essay - "Dance Marathon closes in Seattle after 19 days on August 11, 1928."

pumpkin patch

pumpkin patch, originally uploaded by skippy haha.

pretty sure this came from spitting seeds and was not a planned planting behind a dorm at unc-asheville

would you buy

dollar store rubbers?

i would not.
(but it's a good band name)

how dry i am

extremely fucking dry. the Salisbury Post has the stats:

U.S. Geological Survey

Streamflow in the French Broad River at Asheville has reached the lowest level since 1895, when the U.S. Geological Survey first began making measurements at the site. On Sunday, the streamflow was about 121 million gallons per day (Mgd), or 188 cubic feet per second.

Previously, the lowest flow at the site occurred in 2002 when the flow was 139 Mgd.

Before 2002, streamflow in the French Broad River at Asheville had not been below 155 Mgd since 1925.

Last year, when much of North Carolina was in exceptional drought, the lowest flow in the French Broad was 199 Mgd.

Most of southwest North Carolina (18 counties) remains in an exceptional drought and virtually all of western North Carolina is in extreme (15 counties) or severe (8 counties) drought as the state moves into the driest time of the year. (See http://www.ncdrought.org for the latest North Carolina drought conditions.)

Monthly average streamflows were at all-time record lows for the months of June and July at more than half of the USGS long-term streamflow gages in western North Carolina. For example, in the French Broad River at Asheville, the July 2008 flow was 20 percent lower than the previous lowest July average flow in 1986.

Minimum record streamflows also are being recorded in the Yadkin, Catawba and Broad River basins of North Carolina. With a few exceptions, streamflows throughout much of the rest of the state remain at about half, or less, of normal conditions for this time of year

Ground-water levels in western North Carolina are about 2 to 5 feet below normal for this time of year, although no record minimum levels have been recorded. The number of ground-water monitoring wells across the state is relatively small, and records only extend back about 30 years at a few sites.

A monthly summary of conditions at unregulated streamflow sites and ground-water monitoring sites is available at http://nc.water.usgs.gov/monthly/index.html and all North Carolina USGS streamflow and ground-water data are available at http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nc/nwis/nwis.

i may be overreacting, but things are dry as hell around here. i took nacho for a hike yesterday on some trails about 20 minutes away and the water he jumped in that used to be a creek and swimming holes was basically standing water and he smelled like ass.

thanks ashevegas for calling my attention to this article.

open up & say ah

say ah, originally uploaded by skippy haha.

today is the day i go for my first dental fillings. their fancy new machine found some cavities back in june and then holden needed major surgery so i put off having them filled til today. i've been flossing twice a day for the past two months and i'm hoping the cavities are gone and they will tell me to go home. not very likely.

mmm...

mmm..., originally uploaded by skippy haha.

donuts

it rained!

it just rained! for at least 2 whole minutes. for the first time in at least a couple weeks. but rain fell. ahhhh.

tps report

megavan!, originally uploaded by skippy haha.

the transportation director of phoreal records has just left this jedi council meeting and is driving a megavan on the road back west. mega fun & safe travels!

eat smart move more

eat smart move more, originally uploaded by skippy haha.

some good advice from the county

new mexico

new mexico, originally uploaded by skippy haha.

modelfest last night was SUPER! en fuego! special guest models from santa cruz! yeah doggy!

the answer my friend

DSC_0004, originally uploaded by skippy haha.

it is HOT as hell! fans in every room don't quite cut it

Goethe, Faust

A longing pure and not to be described drove me to wander over woods and fields, and in a mist of hot abundant tears I felt a world arise and live for me.

michael jackson was here

mj was here, originally uploaded by skippy haha.

i was 8 years old and full of lies!

Michael Jackson was here when you weren't!
P.S. I could bring you an autographed poster!

itch

i highly recommend tea tree oil - a drop straight on a mosquito bite as soon as you feel the itch - it will stop itching immediately and be gone the next day - no more red mountains of mosquito on your limbs

the difference

field, originally uploaded by skippy haha.

here's what happens to grass in a drought, exactly one year later

not too drastic but there's less green

parched

the southeast is in a drought.

where i am it is higher than extreme - it is exceptional.

i moved here from southern california because i missed rain. i felt guilty every time i turned on the faucet knowing that they dammed the colorado river to get water to san diego, a desert, and that's not right.

the past couple weeks ive really started to notice all the lawns in asheville are brown like hay.

it's depressing.

there's nothing i can do about it but move.

i don't have to live here - my job is on the internet and i can live anywhere with electricity.

i love it here and i love all the people i've met.

i feel guilty about sucking water out of an overtaxed system.

i absolutely would not have moved here had i known about this drought.

i'm thinking of vermont. i'm thinking of colorado. i'm thinking of oregon.

is that crazy?

i hate feeling guilty, and every time i use water that's just how i feel.

the rivers are way down, the lakes are way down, trees and bushes are dying of thirst, this is no good.

happy birthday queen bee MOM

smile, originally uploaded by skippy haha.

hope you have a wunnaful day! thanks for making everybody smile! i hope that rascal henry is bringing you breakfast in bed right this second.

vintage vantage hunk

vintage vantage hunk, originally uploaded by skippy haha.

tijuana - city of tomorrow in the window of hunk in downtown asheville today

vintage vantage dot com

54 years experience

54 years experience, originally uploaded by skippy haha.

that's a lot of years at one job

where's zach's cd?

can you find zach gill's new cd? can you find the mappy camper? can you hear guadalajara joe?




good stuff!

zachgill.com
brushfirerecords.com

Foods from Fresh Water

Bait

As a general rule, fish bite bait taken from their native water. Look in the water near the shores for crabs, fish eggs, and minnows and on the bank for worms and insects. If you catch a fish, inspect its stomach to see what it has been eating; then try to duplicate this food. Use its intestines and eyes for bait if other sources are unproductive.

- from the 1969 Dept. of the Army Field Manual Survival Evasion and Escape

she's ba-aaaack!

she's ba-aaaack!, originally uploaded by skippy haha.

for the next week and two days nacho will be chased around by this whiskerfaced bitch! he likes it.

damn chocolate

my neighbor brought over a giant chocolate chip cookie that she baked this morning. it was probably the size of 6 cookies. and i ate half of it before going to see my friends' band play a party tonight. it was a potluck dinner & i didn't have too much there & when i got home at midnight i had the other half of the cookie. i'm still wide awake and it's 5:41.

i need to remember this next time i want to eat a bunch of chocolate on an empty stomach at bedtime.

the party was great fun, i love live music, but i love it even more when it's my friends playing it, and they sound good!

here's video of a post-show unplugged acoustic jam, complete with playing of the spoons.

deeply missed

deeply missed, originally uploaded by skippy haha.

"Whoa whoa whoa, Miss Lippy. The part of the story I don't like is that the little boy gave up looking for Happy after an hour. He didn't put posters up or anything, he just sat on the porch like a goon and waited. That little boy's gotta think 'You got a pet. You got a responsibility.' If your dog is lost you don't look for an hour then call it quits. You get your ass out there and you find that fucking dog."

knock on a tree, my dogs haven't escaped in over a year. when they have gotten out, they stick together and someone has always seen a black & white dog roaming the street and herded them inside & called me. when holden was a puppy he ran away for an overnight at some strangers' house down the street where they had a chocolate lab. they called the vet & said they found him, and i called the vet & said i lost him, and i got him back. that's the longest he's been missing.

ratrace

ratrace
Originally uploaded by skippy haha

a little song on one string of a ukulele

laura reed & deep pocket

laura reed & deep pocket, originally uploaded by skippy haha.

this band is funky and groovy and laura reed does what she wants! there's an electric clarinet, there's a dready dynamo on harmonica, there's positive conscious intelligent energy flowing all over the stage. two thumbs UP.

http://www.myspace.com/laurareedmusic

greenlife soup update

time again to compare today's soup at greenlife in asheville to the soup at greenlife in chattanooga.

asheville:

• Chicken Noodle
• Lentil Soup
  
• Beef Chili
• Spicy Dal
• Vegan Asian Peanut
• Vegan Split Pea

chattanooga:

• Creamy Pesto Tomato
• Roasted Carrot
• Fennel & Potatoes
• Creole Chicken
• Roasted Red Pepper Chickpea & Sausage
• Black Bean Chili
• Szechuan Plum Chicken

i sent the asheville store an email in may about doing a recipe swap, but nothing has happened. i hope they google themselves and see this and get shamed into some new soup recipes.

firecrackers

firecrackers, originally uploaded by skippy haha.

make the most of the weekend even if it's sitting on the porch watching explosives miles away

great news

friday september 19
tea leaf green
the orange peel

calling to the south

calling to the south, originally uploaded by skippy haha.

my friend katie is moving next week to honduras to teach at a school there for two years. she is an amazing person with boundless energy, creativity, warmth and SPUNK. if homemade peach cobbler could be a person, it would be katie. some ladies went for a hike and a picnic to say goodbye to her last night. here anne was calling to the four directions. katie has the flower crown. i know katie and ethan are going to have irreplaceable adventures in central america, but i really wish they were staying here.

riddle

i will never take a picture of my camera's battery. why not?

morning moon

morning moon, originally uploaded by skippy haha.

why only sometimes

no outlet

no outlet, originally uploaded by skippy haha.

the red eyes are looking at me and they're saying