Signs for politicians, including one who once sold an airplane that later crashed with me at the stick

I am back in Wasilla for what I expect to be a fairly brief time. I was unable to post my last couple of days in Barrow or yesterday in Fairbanks and I do need to catch up a bit and to say something of that time and I will. But I am too tired right now. I just want to go to bed and get some sleep. Yet, I need to put something up, so that readers know I am still blogging. So here you have the something - the only picture that I have taken since I arrived back in Wasilla late this afternoon. I took it when I had to stop for about 1 second for a red light at the corner of the Parks and Palmer-Wasilla highways, where people were campaigning for their candidates in the upcoming primary. See the blue sign? The one that says, "Gatto"? That is Carl Gatto and he is the man from whom I bought my now crashed airplane, the Running Dog, back in 1986, for $15,900. At the time, Gatto told me that he didn't really want to sell it, but his wife had had enough of him being an aircraft owner and flying around risking his life and so he was selling it. I did not yet have my pilot's license, so we agreed that I would come over to his house, where he had his own private airstrip and he would fly the plane with me in it to Palmer to the mechanic who was going to annual it for me. When I arrived, the ceiling was maybe 1500 feet, not bad at all, but Carl looked at it and said it was too low and he was not going to be able to fly me over this day. He just didn't want to part with the airplane. So I drove to Palmer where my mechanic waited for me. I told him that Carl had refused to fly because of the "low ceiling." My mechanic looked at the clouds, said that was ridiculous and so we headed back to Carl's airstrip and we stole my own airplane - right off Carl's strip. After the annual, Carl called me up. He wanted to rent the airplane from me, but I wouldn't let him. I will always be grateful to him for selling me that airplane, but that doesn't mean I would ever vote for him. I've told this story before, but what the hell. I just told it again. I'll probably repeat it again sometime in the future. As there is only one image in this post, I did not make a slide show, but if you want to see the picture bigger, just click on it. It looks better bigger.

Kalib at the beginning and end, Wasilla's Coffee Party in between, plus sled and snowmachine riders

Last night, I wrote that it was my intent to devote today's entry to the images I took of Kalib yesterday but did not post because I did the 12 studies on Jobe. I noted that one never knows what might come up but was pretty sure I would follow through.

Well, something did come up - nothing more important or more interesting than Kalib, mind you, but something that does have a bit of a time element to it, so I feel that I should put it up right now and hold the pictures of Kalib for a bit.

But I won't leave him out altogether.

When Margie and I came home last night, we brought Kalib with us. He checked out the tail of his old buddy, Royce. I wonder what he saw?  I doubt that Kalib has any idea of how much Royce has declined in the past few months, but maybe he notices something different.

I then spent a few hours here in my office, both working and goofing off on my computer, but finally I was worn out and so went back into the house. This is what I found. Margie and I then had a discussion as to whether we should push the coffee table next to the couch to make certain that Kalib would not roll off and then just let him sleep right here, or if I should carry him back to his old room and put him on the mattress that lies on the floor.

It was a cold night, well below zero and we had run completely out of firewood and were now warming the house with expensive electric heaters - including one that we had placed in Kalib's old room. It warmed it up quite nicely, so I carried him back and put him to bed.

By then it was 2:30 AM. Margie and I went to bed shortly after that, but we didn't go to sleep, because we had to keep double checking things to make certain that Kalib could rest undisturbed. We did not really settle down until well after 3:00 AM.

I had received an invite to a gathering Saturday morning at Metro Cafe at 10:00 AM. Even after I settle down, it usually takes me a good hour to go to sleep and then I wake up frequently, so I did not feel inclined to go to anything that started at 10:00 AM.

Worse yet, I came wide awake a bit after 5:00 AM and could not get back to sleep until after 7:00. 

There was no way that I was going to go a 10:00 o'clock gathering - not even at Metro Cafe.

About 9:00 AM, Jimmy reached out and lightly placed the claws of his right paw in my beard. This meant that he wanted to get under the blankets, so I made space and under he came. I then went back to sleep. Next, I woke up at 9:45, but refused to get up before 10:00, just in case I might find a way to sleep for another hour or two.

Come ten, I knew I wasn't going to sleep anymore, but I did not feel at all ambitious. I got up, but didn't hurry to do anything. I staggered lazily to my office, got onto my computer, checked to see that this blog had posted properly, read the comments, checked the number of hits, then went back in, mixed oatmeal with walnuts, blueberries and water, set it to cooking and then came back to my computer.

I checked a few other sites and blogs, including The Mudflats. 

There, I saw an announcement of "Coffee Parties" that were being held all across the USA, including one at Metro Cafe in Wasilla, with this explanation:

"MISSION: The Coffee Party Movement gives voice to Americans who want to see cooperation in government. We recognize that the federal government is not the enemy of the people, but the expression of our collective will, and that we must participate in the democratic process in order to address the challenges that we face as Americans. As voters and grassroots volunteers, we will support leaders who work toward positive solutions, and hold accountable those who obstruct them."

Oh, for hell's sake! Something like this was going on in Wasilla and I had stayed away just because I wanted a little more sleep? When do I ever get enough sleep? NEVER. Well, almost never. Maybe half-a-dozen times a year, after I've worked 30 or 40 hours straight.

I went back into the house and started to eat my oatmeal.

"Oh, hell," I said again (sorry, Riana), "I had better run up there. There's probably going to be a few people still hanging out." So I left my oatmeal to Margie and Kalib and off I went. 

I got there a few minutes after 11:00 AM. It was all over, but there were a few people still hanging around, chatting. Here are two of them: Bob, whose last name I do not know, at the left and Jay Cross at right. 

Among other things, Cross is a pilot and aircraft owner. If I recall correctly, he flies a Super Cub, but he might fly other planes as well.

I can't report on what they talked about at the meeting, because I missed it.

Do you know that I dream about airplanes almost every single night? 

The fellow on the left taking my picture is Philip Munger, musician and classical composer whose most recent work is Hindu Kush, an orchestral work dedicated to the mountain range of the same name between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Munger is a Progressive activist blogger, and you can read what he wrote about the Coffee Party here. Munger writes that he made a joke at Sarah Palin's expense but was upbraided by another participant for doing so - and adds that she was right to upbraid him.

Apparently, it was more of a get-acquainted and plan for future get-togethers than a strategy session. 

At left is Sarah Welton, current Vice-President and former President of the Board of the Mat-Su Borough School District, Anne Kilkenny who wrote a very famous letter about Sarah Palin and Dianne Woodruff, who sits on the Wasilla City Council.

It was Kilkenny who Munger says took exception to his Sarah Palin joke.

This is Rosemary, who introduced herself to me almost as soon as I stepped into Metro. She told me she reads this blog every day. And right now, that is all I know about her - but that's enough to make me appreciate her.

Carmen was kept very busy. As I have noted before, Carmen runs not only a bipartisan but multipartisan business. Republicans, Democrats, Independents, Apathetics - all are welcome at Metro Cafe.

Bob, with a cup of Carmen's coffee.

This is Michael Janecek. He told me about his Maine Coon cat. This is a cat that I must photograph one day soon.

I lingered for awhile afterwards and visited with Woodruff. You might suspect that all those who participated would have been Democrats, but not Dianne. She has been a Republican, but lately has been put off by what has happened in that party, as exemplified by the likes of Rush Limbaugh. 

She says she would like to see people quit demonizing each other and instead to talk intelligently together, to discuss vigorously but thoughtfully, to seek to find solutions rather than to obstruct.

She said a lot more, too, but it is 1:30 AM and in half an hour it will be 3:00 AM, due to the leap to daylight time, so I will leave it at that and move on.

This is Carmen with her friend and former co-worker at Northern Air Cargo, Elaine Nisson. 

Right after Carmen introduced her, Nisson patted her flat chest and told me, "I'm tit-less Elaine." She lost both of her breasts to cancer.

She did not lose her sense of humor, or her will to live and persevere. 

I need to make it very clear that Elaine did not come to participate in the Coffee Party. She is a Republican and feels strongly about it. She came to be of assistance to her good friend, Carmen, who had a need for assistance this day.

The pink ribbon has become the symbol of support for women who must fight breast cancer. Elaine carries this one around with her. Carmen holds the ribbon in her hand, and Elaine holds the hand of Carmen.

Just before 4:00 PM, I returned to Metro Cafe so that I could buy a cup and have it in the car with me while I listened to the news. Elaine was still there, and I took one of my reknowned "Through the Metro Window" studies of her together with Carmen, but I will save it for another post.

Not long after I drove away, sipping, listening to the news, I saw some kids walking up a sledding hill, with mountains behind and blue sky above. I decided to stop and take a picture.

These three stopped, too, got out of their car and headed toward the hill. Before they reached it, Kelley and Kiara jumped on their sled and zipped down a smaller hill that leads to the base of the bigger hill.

This is the bigger hill. That's Kelley and Kiara, at the upper right, sledding down the hill.

This is a kid on a snowmachine that I passed on my way home. I passed him easy enough, going about 40-45, but he didn't seem to like being passed, because he really gunned it after that. In my review mirror, I could see him, and two boys on a second machine a short distance behind him tearing up the snow, bouncing over the many bumps, going airborne, seemingly determined to match my speed or maybe catch me and pass me up.

Then a couple of other snowmachiners came down the trail in the opposite direction, directly towards them and they had to slow down or crash.

Kalib and Royce, late Saturday evening.

Well, it's 1:55. In five minutes, it will be 3:00. 

That's it for this day.

I journey backwards and bump into Joe Lieberman in Boston, I come forward to find a man walking; honest, forthright, horses and Kalib feeding fish

That's Boston down there, over six years ago - May 12, 2003. I had no intention of posting this in today's blog, or any day's blog. In fact, I had forgotten I had ever taken such a picture, until today, when I stumbled across this while looking for something else. 

This is not what I was looking for, but I did at least remember taking this picture, shortly after the above airplane landed in Boston, MA.

I was on my way to Washington, DC, and was slightly surprised to bump into Joe, who was going there, too - Joe Lieberman, who was then the Democratic Senator from Connecticut. He's still the Senator from Connecticut but I am not quite sure what he is.

At that time, he was running for Vice-President with John Kerry and we thought he was a Democrat.

I was independent of all political parties, but knew that I would be voting for Kerry and Lieberman.

Lieberman was friendly and personable and we had a nice little chat.

I wish that I could have another chat with him now, so that I could tell him how how my health insurance company has failed me, how it has proven to be an obstacle to my health care rather than a benefit.

I would ask him why he stands up for them and against me and my health.

After we finished our visit, these two ladies came along. They got pretty excited. "Look!" one of them said to the other. "That's Joe Lieberman! He's going to be President of the United States."

Now, I come back to the present - or at least, to one-half hour ago, when Kalib came into my office to feed my fish.

It's only one picture, but I hope it makes you smile, Mary.

Earlier in the day, a little after noon, as I drove down Seldon with Margie, I saw a man walking.

And later I saw these horses, all of whom were upright and honest individuals of great character, living together in a community of peace, love and harmony, where everyone shares their hay equally. Yet, the picture is exceptionally deceiving, for it was very nearly dark when I took it. The snow was dim to look at and the horses were mere forms against it.

But, to see what would happen, in Lightroom, I hit the auto-adjust. It brightened up, but in a strange metallic, blue, hue. I color-balanced it a bit and this is how it turned out.

It is a lie, honestly told.

This is the original exposure and is pretty close to how the scene actually appeared, except that this might be a little lighter than it looked to the eye. Pretty close, though.

I drive past Iditarod Musher Vern Halter as he runs for Borough Assembly - other election day images as seen from my bike and the car

I began election day by spending three hours at my desk, working on my project, during which time I composed one single paragraph - a short one at that. Yet, coupled with the photographs that it will run with, I think it is a paragraph that sings. It will make a strong statement about life and death and I know it will bring tears to some people's eyes. It brought tears to mine.

Afterward, I took a bike ride and as I pedaled, this Cessna flew over my head. It is very difficult to photograph an airplane flying by directly overhead while you are pedaling a bike, but I did it.

I had not been able to get Margie out of the house for a few days, but today I succeeded. I took her and Kalib to a fine lunch at A&W/KFC. Along the way, we passed people raising signs urging me to vote for Taffina Katkus for the Wasilla City Council. A little girl inspected a crash pole.

I did not vote for Kaffina. I did not vote against Kaffina. I could not. I cannot vote for anyone who runs for Wasilla City Council, Wasilla Mayor, or any damn thing like that. It's because I live in the unincorporated part of Wasilla - that part where we get to pay all of the sales taxes that fund the city, just like those who live in the incorporated part, but reap none of the benefits.

Mayor Rupright is trying to change that, trying to bring us in.

I don't know if he will succeed. The only time I really cared was when I had to make a citizens arrest of the drunken ice cream good humor lady and hold her for a full hour while I waited for the State Troopers to arrive, as the Wasilla Police would not come.

Taffina is an artist, by the way, and she makes postcards.

I had two hot dogs and fries; Margie had a hamburger and onion rings, which were better than my fries. Kalib had a bowl of macaroni and cheese.

As we were about to leave the Fred Meyer complex parking lot back onto the Parks Highway, we saw these four students of the old Russian faith entering the trail that leads past Wasilla Lake.

The day was one of exquisite beauty, sunny, the air wonderfully clean, crisp and brisk and Margie suddenly decided that she wanted to stay out for awhile. So, even though I could not afford the time, I took advantage of that feeling and drove her up to Pittman Road. More people were campaigning on the corner of Parks Highway and Pittman, but I only had a second and instead of photographing the sign carriers, I photographed these members of the support crew, also of the old Russian faith, in the back of their van.

Not far down Pittman Road, we came upon more people carrying signs, this time for Vern Halter, who everybody in Alaska knows, because he is a famous Iditarod musher. And there was Vern, right in the middle of them, waving at us.

I did not want to be rude, so I waved back. It is pretty hard to take a picture while waving at a famous Iditarod musher as you drive past, but I did it.

It was very safe, because there was no other traffic and I was going slow and the only people nearby were these folks and they were on the other side of the road and I never looked through my camera, I just pointed it and clicked and it took less than one second, so don't get excited.

Notwithstanding this big trip, come 4:00 PM, when All Things Considered comes on the radio, I again broke away from my project to take my coffee break. Margie did not want to come. As I sat waiting in the drive-through at The Metro Cafe, I took this image in my rear-view mirror of these workers pouring asphalt.

Let me make one thing very clear: there were stories in the news today about bloggers accepting cash and gifts from sponsors that they then praise highly, but never reveal that they were compensated for the endorsement.

I have never done this. I never will do this. When you see a photograph in my blog of someone making coffee or serving me a hotdog with Pepsi and then you read my words and I tell you that the coffee was superb and the hot dogs delicious, you can trust my integrity.

I have not received one cent for my endorsements. In fact, in all cases, I pay for the product myself. These merchants cannot buy me. I buy my own damn hot dogs!

As for Vern Halter, I just learned from another blog that he won his assembly seat.

The tile of the post included these words, "Weird, huh?"

I don't know. Two actors have been governor of California, one went on to become President of the United States and all kinds of lawyers run for office.

So what's weird about a dog musher running - and winning?

Good dog mushers are smart people. They have patience. They think, they know how to communicate - with dogs, at least.

Then, of course, Bev Masek was a dog musher and she ran and won state house. In fact, for a while, she was my representative, although I voted against her. Now she is going to jail, for not only taking payola but soliciting it. Sad story.

But see how wise I was?

I know her, too, a little bit - I interviewed her a couple of times when she was mushing; later, I chatted with her in White Mountain, when she pulled in with her dogs. I once briefly shared a cabin with her brother in Tanana. He is a good guy. 

I have a feeling Vern will do better. I hope so.

Technically, I remain in Cocoon Mode, but I overdid it, put in 53 minutes, so this post does not qualify.

Cocoon mode* - day 13: Three shots through the windshield: rain falls, I see the darkness of the day in the clouds above me and on the road in front of me; Taco Bell money taker

It has been a unusually warm and pleasant September, but today was cool and rain fell from dark clouds. A voice on the radio said there could be significant snowfall in Hatcher Pass tonight. That's fine with me. Let the snow come. Let it move swiftly down the mountains to cover this valley in white, because the colors that have taken the green from our trees will now fall fast. The light of the day will grow ever more brief and dim. I will welcome the white of the snow.

Not all the darkness that I saw while driving today came from the clouds above me.

The Wasilla Taco Bell is rebuilt and open. This young woman is about to take my money. In exchange, a young man at the next window will give me tacos, burritos and Pepsi. 

*Cocoon mode: Until I finish up a big project that I am working on, I am keeping this blog at bare-minimum simple. I anticipate about one month.