I Feel Like Blogging Tonight

I haven't felt this way in a long time......... which is to say, I feel like blogging. It's been a month since I came home from Idaho to a beautifully deep cleaned house. I've been doing a pretty good job most of the time keeping up on things and not falling too far behind with my domestic duties. But as I was cleaning up tonight, and turned around to see more messes and piles of laundry to be folded, and knowing there were messes upstairs as well, I suddenly had an overwhelming desire to blog - go figure. And dammit, I'm not leaving this computer or doing anything productive until I finish this post!!! Apparently, and unfortunately too, the frequency of my blog posting is directly proportionate to the number of messes in my house......... I bet somebody could do some scientific research about that. And I bet there's at least one scientist who would say that blogging decreases cholesterol and or blood pressure. Probably a scientific findings like that would be picked up for the evening news cycle :D

And now I will try actually blog about something, as opposed to droning on and on about nothing, whilst lowering my cholesterol and or blood pressure :)

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It rained this afternoon, which is always wonderful. Eva and Sophie went out to play with the neighbors after everything had been soaked, and they found a frog sitting in the gutter. It escaped capture by jumping into a storm drain however (thankfully). But the kids decided to rescue it, which is simply just another way of saying they tried to score a new pet.

Sophie turned the kitchen upside down trying to find just the right container for her new frog

Here she is lowering the frog a life line - the water level was about 30 inches below the grate

Eva and company had long since given up their rescue efforts by the time I came out to see what was happening to my kitchen stuff

Sophie, looking strangely frog-like here - she didn't get it from me!

Desperation set in as she realized the frog was gone and she probably wouldn't be getting new pet. She wouldn't have gotten a new pet though, even if she had captured it, but that's beside the point

And finally, DESPAIR, bless her little heart. It's much better though that the frog broke her heart and not me...

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Speaking of rain, it made for some actual greenery here in Reno during the month of June, which made for some beautiful backdrops against which to shoot wild horses.

It made for lots of water too

Rain rain, please don't go away

Thunder Mountain Visit and The Crying Indian

This is how it's been with me and blogging lately... I can't brain. Maybe summer has something to do with it, or maybe it's the Facebook thumbs up, quickie status updates and various Facebook apps. Possibly it's a combination of it all. Giving a simple thumbs up to some one's Facebook status, photo/photo album or quiz result is so much easier than reading and commenting on a blog post. And making a 'top five' list or posting a quiz result is soooooo much easier than actually writing a blog post. But they're all just cheap substitutes, and I miss blogging, so I'm back - I think...

Here's the blog post I started July 3. It's obviously old news and even I don't care about anymore, but it contains two AWESOME/ICONIC 'Crying Indian' videos... so how can I not post it? I just have to fix a few things and write a little more. Maybe I can actually brain for a few minutes and finish...

While thinking on our way to Idaho, I had planned on writing an in-depth description of our amazingly exciting twelve hour journey, but now too much time has passed and it doesn't seem like it was actually all that exciting after all. So, I will not be giving a detailed account of some note worthy stuff that happened, like when we stopped at a gas station in Carlen to buy something sharp with which to pop the boil on Eva's bum that was bothering her (I settled on a miniature exacto blade - it was the only thing available) and the drama that ensued in said gas station's bathroom. Or about the spiritual moment I had listening to a Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin duet near Jackpot, Nevada, and how I contemplated what it would be like if they conducted the music for Sacrament meetings. Instead, I'll have to shorten the twelve hour drive post to only the stop we made in Imlay, Nevada, at the Thunder Mountain Indian Monument.

Most of the time, people leave behind little mementos of their lives for future generations, like photo albums, family heirlooms, quilts, small works of art, journals, etc.. And then other times people leave behind Indian Monuments in the desert made out of scrap metal, old appliances, cement sculptures, old cars, and beer and wine bottles. Such is the case with Frank Van Zant, a.k.a. Chief Rolling Mountain Thunder. He spent twenty years of his life building a monument to honor the plight of Native Americans, just off the highway on I-80, in a teensy weensy tiny little place called Imlay.

Usually I wouldn't stop to sight see on such a long drive, but I had allowed the girls to hook up Ella's i-pod, so it was time to take a break from the Jonas Brothers when Imlay came into view. Eva isn't in any of these pictures though because she was too creeped out and didn't want anything to with it.

What's so creepy about this?

Or this?

Or... oh, that is getting a little creepy...

Okay, that's creepy :D

This is detail of the south side of the main house which, as you can see, was mainly constructed with bottles. LOVE the toilet!!!

Chief Rolling Mountain Thunder was the ultimate recycler. I mean, he wouldn't be a phony like the rest of us if he were to be seen toting around, and or wearing, 'Go Green' products. But then, do you think he would actually buy something mass produced and made in China that said 'go green' on it to help save the environment and raise awareness? I don't think so. I think CRMT would raise awareness by just actually using a tote bag he already owned and wearing an old t-shirt.

I love rusty old junk in the desert

What does it mean and what does it have to do with Indians?

This brought back memories of my own banana seat bike from back in the day

My banana seat was pink with a large orange heart - this is me on my banana seat bike circa 1977

Sophie investigates beneath an Indian spirit

Ella

Is this Pompeii meets Imlay?

I love this picture

To say the Thunder Mountain Indian Monument was strange is an understatement. But on the other hand, it was kind of inspiring too. I had the distinct impression that Chief Mountain Rolling Thunder lived what he preached - whatever that was. You get the feeling that if he were a celebrity today giving advice like, "turn your heater down and put a sweater on", that he would actually be writing such advice from his cold modest Indian Monument home and wearing a sweater. Not from a mansion in Malibu or Beverly Hills with a ten car garage - and not wearing a sweater.

And all of this reminded me of something I hadn't thought of in YEARS - The Crying Indian. I wonder how much Iron Eyes Cody (rumored to actually be an Italian) inspired CRMT? Who didn't love these commercials? I mean really, who wasn't incensed when that fast food garbage so carelessly was tossed at the Crying Indian's feet? I would never do something like that - toss my fast food garbage at an Indian. How rude ;-)

But seriously, these two commercials, and especially those tears at the endings, are etched in my mind forever!!!