Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

And so it is for the politically and morally bankrupt Kevin McCarthy.

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Fight them, without becoming them!

Ah, the different things are different argument.

Come on, man.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

The new temporary speaker of the house is a spiteful little shit.

“woke” is the new caravan.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

The willow is too close to the house.

No Justins, No Peace

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On The Road – Captain C – Amsterdam, October 2023, Part 3

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Everybody, please send in your holiday photos!  I have one set from Albatrossity for Monday, but we typically do the holiday pics for the 2 weeks before Christmas, so there are 9 more slots to fill.  If you have just one or two holiday photos, you can either submit them as an OTR post, or you can send email attachments with an email message. Otherwise submitting the photos using the form is the way to go.

Captain C

The next three sets are all from the Maritime Museum (Scheepvaartmuseum), perhaps my favorite in Amsterdam.  This set covers my arrival and the first part of the photos from the replica of the Amsterdam.

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The Scheepvaartmuseum, with the Amsterdam replica on the left.

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On The Road – Captain C – Amsterdam, October 2023, Part 2

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Everybody, please send in your holiday photos!  I have one set from Albatrossity for Monday, but we typically do the holiday pics for the 2 weeks before Christmas, so there are 9 more slots to fill.  If you have just one or two or a few photos, you can either submit them as an OTR post, or you can send email attachments with an email message.

Amsterdam

This round of photos are mostly from the Dutch Masters collection at the Rijksmuseum, the first of several I visited this trip.

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Rijksmuseum

This is a detail from Jan Steen’s 1668 painting ‘The Merry Family’.  Apparently, it was meant as some sort of warning against this behavior, but they did look like they were having a lot of fun.

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On The Road – Captain C – Amsterdam, October 2023, Part 1

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Captain C

A few weeks ago I left New York State for the first time since before the pandemic.  I chose to go to Amsterdam for a long week (leave Friday on the redeye, arrive Saturday, depart the following Sunday) ,it’s my favorite city to visit.  There are a number of reasons for this:  I love the city’s vibe and rhythm, there’s lots of good culture and sights and suchlike to choose from, and I have numerous relatives there (I saw a Tante [aunt], Uncle [The Oom of his name in our family was larger than life both physically and character-wise, so…], and seven cousins of assorted flavor.  This first set of 8 covers my first few days.

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We start with the Tilted House, which has been there every time I’ve been in Amsterdam.  It’s located near Waterlooplein and the Stopera, and houses a cafe.

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On The Road – dmbeaster – Spring bloom, California

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For years, I follow the weather and relevant websites concerning the predictions and progress of the Spring wildflower bloom in California.  One of the better sites.

This year was spectacular due to the historic rainfall, but it is likely that the next year may be even better based on an historic El Nino that is coming.  In particular, Death Valley may get an historic superbloom based on the devastating Fall rains that closed the park for a month.  Death Valley was not good this year as it is triggered by its own cycle, and the key is some Fall rain.  Well, we had epic Fall rains this year.

One of my favorite destinations is the Carrizo Plains in the inland coastal mountain ranges.  Its in an obscure location not near anything.  The first few pictures are just a taste of what I saw.

 

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Carrizo Plains

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On The Road – Albatrossity – Mid-September in Flyover Country

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We have birds and flowers and a trip to Amsterdam, should be a great week!

Also, we’re coming up on the holidays, so please send in your pics from when you were little so we can do a week or two of those before the holidays.

You can either submit your holiday pics as an OTR post or you can send the pictures to me as email attachments.

(click the image below for a bigger, non-blurry version of the schedule)

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Albatrossity

Mid-September in Flyover Country is one of the finest times to be here. Decent temperatures, fall flowers in abundance, and, of course, bird migration all combine to make it a very pleasant interlude between hotter-than-holy-hell summers and icy wind-blasted winters. So here are some pics from September in my part of the galaxy. And some links to the three 2024 bird photo calendars I have created this year. Enjoy!

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Konza PrairieSeptember 10, 2023

Liatris (Gayfeather) usually is done blooming by the end of August, but this patch had different ideas. Click here for larger image.

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On The Road – lashonharangue – Green River 2023 – Part 2

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lashonrangue

As I mentioned in the previous OTR, we spent 3 nights at Upper Cabin Bottom on the Green River. There are the remains of a cabin a very short distance up an arroyo from the campsite. There is also a trail along the river to the south that will take you to Ancestral Puebloan petroglyphs.

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Lower Cabin Bottom Mile 25.0

I got up early one morning and hiked a foot path that goes a short distance to the next campsite – Lower Cabin Bottom. This was taken just before the sun rose above the far cliffs.

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On The Road – lashonharangue – Green River – Part 1

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lashonharangue

My spouse and I have taken canoe trips on the Green River about 10 times –  a couple of times with a group, but usually just by ourselves. In 2022 I had back issues that made the trip problematic. We didn’t want to give up these trips so we made some adjustments for 2023.

First, we cut down on the number of miles we had to paddle. We chose a put in location closer to the confluence of the Green with the Colorado River. This allowed us to paddle fewer hours between camping spots. Second, I used a seat that had back support. Third, we used smaller dry bags for our gear so loading and unloading the canoe was easier. Finally, we scheduled rest days where we just relaxed in camp. These accommodations to getting older made the trip much more enjoyable.

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Mineral Bottom - Mile 52.1

Our outfitter drove us from Moab through Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land to the start of the trip. I took this picture just before we loaded our gear into the canoe. Sometimes rangers from Canyonlands National Park (which you enter seven miles downstream) will be there to check your permit. However, no one was there that day.

Note: Locations on the Green River are noted based on the distance to where it empties into the Colorado. They are derived from “Guide to the Colorado & Green Rivers in the Canyonlands of Utah & Colorado” by Tom Martin and Duwain Whitis. Please do not rely on these posts when planning a trip as conditions vary considerably based on river levels.

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