Thoughts in Random Patterns

First Crocus of Spring

I thought the first sign of spring was supposed to be a robin sighting, but when I looked out into my "yard" this morning I saw lots of little purple crocus blooming.  I guess it makes sense since the forecast high temperature for today is 71 degrees, but it's still February, right?  (Barely.)

Bill Ritter for Governor

I just got off the phone with Bill Ritter, who is a Democratic candidate for governor of Colorado, and am happy to say that I am supporting his campaign and candidacy.  As a pro-choice voter, I had been concerned about his stance on reproductive issues -- and am relieved that my concerns have been addressed in a direct, articulate, and convincing way. 

In advance of the call, I had told Brad that the only acceptable answer to the question, "What would you do if the South Dakota abortion legislation arrived on your desk as governor?" was "Veto" -- which is exactly what Bill said.

In addition, he said that he would oppose the referendum which is likely to appear on the Colorado ballot this fall banning late term abortions and would restore funding to Planned Parenthood which was cut under the current Owens administration.

I am not a single issue voter, but I believe that a candidate's stance on reproductive rights is a bellwether for other issues.  In our conversation today, Bill Ritter said that he supports civil marriages, which is another issue that is important to me and means that we are closer on the social issues spectrum than I would have thought prior to our conversation, which is a good thing.  I actually think that education is the most imporant issue to me, and I like everything I see on the Ritter for Governor website about his plans for strenthening education in Colorado. 

I appreciate Bill's willingness to take the time to speak with Brad and me today and to discuss a complex and difficult issue directly. 

Ski Bunny

I've been loving living in Colorado while skiing at Bachelor Gulch in Beaver Creek for the past few days.  Brad, Seth, Chris, and any number of Mobius entrepreneurs were at the Venture Capital in the Rockies conference and I took the opportunity to play while they worked (actually had great fun skiing with Chris on Friday, and with Seth, too).  Every time I get out on the slopes I have a great time -- it just doesn't happen very often, which is kind of ridiculous since Vail is 100 miles away.  I end up in these looping conversations with myself about buying a ski place, or at least renting one for a long stretch in the winter, and then I remember that I'm married to a person who doesn't ski or snowboard.  I still think that next winter might be about Amy being a ski bunny..

When I Say I Love Horses

I don't mean I love them as food.

I just read an article on the New West Network, which is where I read about what's happening in the region where I live, and found a fascinating/horrifying/disgusting tidbit (punny, yes?) about USDA approval of the slaughter of horses for human consumption at three foreign-owned meat plants in the U.S. 

Lovely.

And that got me to wondering about how many foreign-owned meat plants there are in the U.S. and why they don't have to follow U.S. rules.

I'm currently reading Eclipse Award winning jockey Jerry Bailey's life story, and just finished reading two other "horsey" books in preparation for Triple Crown season.  I really do love horses, and have taken some English equitation and dressage lessons, and would like to take more. 

This whole thing reminds me of a scene in Michael Moore's movie Roger and Me, which is about what happens to Flint, Michigan after the GM auto plant closes.  In one scene a woman is raising rabbits and has a big sign saying "Pets or Meat."  Food for thought.  (Even more punny, yes?)

And there is a popular bumper sticker here in The People's Republic of Boulder that says something like, "Why do we call some animals food and eat them, and call other animals pets and feed them?"  Good question.

I'm an erratic, essentially hypocritical vegetarian.  I don't eat or prepare any meat at home, except for the very occasional smoked salmon for bagels; but I'll sometimes have mad cravings for chicken or even beef and will eat them if someone else does all the dirty work and serves them to me on a platter in their home or in a restaurant.  Yes, this is hypocrisy.  If I think about what I'm really eating, and how it got to my plate, I can't eat it.  I eat a ton of seafood (LOVE sushi, had sushi for lunch today!), especially when we're in Homer; but I can't cook it myself.  But I can't seem to quite give it up entirely.  This article about human consumption of horses will likely push me further into the vegetarian part of the spectrum along which I eat.

Poem: The Problem of Describing Trees

The aspen glitters in the wind.

And that delights us.

The leaf flutters, turning,

Because that motion in the heat of summer

Protects its cells from drying out.  Likewise the leaf

Of the cottonwood.

The gene pool threw up a wobbly stem

And the tree danced.  No.

The tree capitalized.

No.  There are limits to saying,

In language, what the tree did.

It is good sometimes for poetry to disenchant us.

Dance with me, dancer.  Oh, I will.

Aspens doing something in the wind.

-- by Robert Hass from The New Yorker, June 27, 2005 (p. 97)

02-04-06

Today is a cool date, an auspicious day to get married -- which is what my dear friend Lindsey is doing down in the Bahamas.  Congratulations and best wishes for a long and happily married life to Lindsey and Matt!

Happy Groundhog Day

It's cloudy and probably going to snow here today, but the correct groundhog, Phil,  doesn't come out to be observed here.  It also looks cloudy where my mom lives, much closer to the neighborhood of Punxsutawney.  I think Hedgehog Day could be almost as fun as Groundhog Day, or as any of the other fun events of February 2nd -- maybe the delivery of diptheria serum to Nome, Alaska in 1925 which inspired the Iditarod dogsled race.  I'll take 6 more weeks of winter since we haven't had enough snow this winter to stave off a high fire danger summer!