I’m preparing to fly to Mesquite, Texas (right next to Dallas) for the Red Shed Media Self Reliance Expo February 10-11. Backwoods Home Magazine has partnered with Red Shed Media Group to help ensure these expos are a success. We are doing our new radio show in partnership with them also. I plan to attend all four of the shows they hold this year.

Big storm over, little one left

The biggest Pacific storms have passed by and we’re due for much calmer weather tomorrow. Here’s the weather forecast:

Tonight: Rain. Temperature rising to around 43 by 5am. Breezy, with a south wind between 17 and 25 mph, with gusts as high as 38 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%.

Sunday: Rain. Temperature falling to around 39 by 4pm. Windy, with a south wind between 40 and 43 mph, with gusts as high as 65 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%.

Imagine that — only 65 mph winds!

Here’s a photo of Pistol River (also taken by Robert K. Oliver), on my road 7 miles to my north:

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Oops! With deadline for the next issue just finished and and the enormous Pacific Northwest storms that are causing flooding, mudslides, and general havoc here, I forgot to mention that the BHM Radio Show begins tonight at 8 pm Central time. Jackie Clay and Massad Ayoob will be the first two guests. Click here to listen.

The following photo was taken by Robert K. Oliver. It is the road my house is on. This slide is about six miles south of me.

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My wood pile is starting to get the best of me. I’ve got a cord of seasoned, but gnarly oak and fir left over from last year, and a couple of new cords of barely seasoned oak. I have to pick through the pile to find something I can split. Maybe it’s finally time for me to get a wood splitter. I hate to admit that I lack the strength I used to have, or that I’m afraid of injuring myself if I go at the wood with too hefty a chopping stroke.

Luckily, Jake and Robby will be home this evening for Thanksgiving, so Jake will split a lot of wood for me. He, like me, loves splitting firewood. And he’s as strong as an ox.

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He didn’t exactly win the President’s Cup, but he scored the clinching point after playing brilliantly. Take that, Stevie Williams!

The week prior, Tiger played well to take third in the Australian Open.

I’m a big fan of Tiger. I like people who excel at what they do. I was a big fan of Muhammad Ali, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Wayne Gretsky, Michael Vick, etc.  I would love to see Michael Vick succeed because he’s a brilliant athlete who got too much punishment for his bad dog rap .

Golf has made Woods a millionaire, but it’s not all about the money. He’s lost many endorsements since his car crash in 2006, such as AT&T, Accenture, Tag Heuer, Gatorade, and Gillette. Last week he gained a deal with Fuse Science, Inc., a Florida-based sports nutrition company, and before that with Rolex watches.

Next week Lenie and I will watch Tiger in person at the Chevron World Challenge in Southern California, my old home town area (I lived in Oxnard and Ventura). I expect him to win it.

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I’m one of those pissed off about Steve Williams comments about Tiger Woods. How stupid can you be! This could cause a lot of damage to golf at a time when golf is at a low ebb due to the loss of its greatest star, Tiger Woods. I don’t think Stevie is a racist at all, but how else could much of the non-golfing world interpret his comments. Golf is a great game, and it needs to be represented with proper conduct.

I’m hoping a good Tiger performance the next couple of weeks at the Australian Open  and Presidents Cup will revitalize golf.

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Molly is our 13-year-old black Lab. She’s been sick for quite a while. We’ve been putting off the decision to put her down. She can move only one leg properly, limping along when she has to walk. Some of her medicine no longer works, or we’ve had to stop it because the vet said it’s destroying other vital organs. But her mind is as sharp as ever. We even have to protect her from our new kitten, who likes to play with Molly’s tail and legs and realizes the big dog will do it no harm.

This is the problem with dogs: they wiggle their way into your heart and mind, becoming indispensable to your view of the world, then they die long before you’re ready to give them up. Molly has become part of our family. She is a superb animal — calm with kids but fiercely protective against those who she perceived as outsiders. She’s never bitten anyone, and she’ll take a treat from your hand like you offered it on a silk handkerchief. We’ve all got our stories about her.  How do you put a member of your family down? How do you deal with the memories. It seems barbaric, even after rationalizing in the suffering you’re trying to alleviate.

Lenie and I told our kids we’d consult with them before any decision is made. I’m still searching for a way out of this.

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Got home at 4 am this morning, after arriving at Portland airport and spending the day helping Jake and Robby move into their dorm rooms. Jake’s got the better room, a private room on the 10^th floor of a Portland State University dorm overlooking Portland. Robby’s room in Corvallis at Oregon State University is much smaller with no view and he’s sharing it with another student.

Kind of weird with only Sammy at home now. He rose on time for school this morning, even though he nabbed only four hours sleep. That was the deal: He can do these Expos and miss a day or so at school, but he’s got to be able to get up and go to school when we get back. Otherwise, no more shows. He liked the show a lot so made sure he got up.

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You’ve probably already heard Washington D.C. had a 5.8 earthquake yesterday. Someone posted on Facebook: “Don’t worry, it wasn’t an earthquake. It was just our founding fathers rolling over in their graves.”

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