The Energy Of Youngins

I accompanied my granddaughter to the Learning Farm for a half day of farm stuff.










There was goat feeding.

Chicken feeding.  

Collecting eggs.

A ride on a horse.

Some snack and story time.  

Cleaning out the horse stalls.

At first Z was afraid of feeding the goats.  The chickens were different because you crunched up the crackers then dropped them on the ground.  She didn't have to put her fingers near their mouths.  But later, when we played with the baby goats, she asked for a cracker to feed the mom and then she was hooked.  

This was a fun activity to do together.  We opted for half day, but you could stay the whole day.  Some kids come several days a week.  When I asked if some parents use the farm as day care, the lady said, yes.  I was the only adult who stayed with their kid.  

When we got home, there was a quick lunch and then Grandma took her swimming while Grandpa took a nap.  

Parade And Fair Photos - Anchorage July 4, 2016

I've been to the after parade activities on the Park Strip, but I'd never made it to the parade before.  Here are some pictures of the parade and of the folks enjoying themselves afterward.

There we're lots of dogs.

But one of my favorite parade groups was this one:

There was lots of patriotism (or is this the ornithology truck?)

Girl Scouts.

Nurse/midwives.

Beauty pageant winners.

And lots of musicians.



















Brits and their cars

Lots of food choices

Politics. Which is appropriate for the 4th of July.

Religion.  Of course the First Amendment gives them the right to be there, but this is a secular holiday celebrating a government that should be separate from religion.  And I have problems with religious groups that give out free books to children as a way to proselytize.

 Over by the big flag pole, where the Star Spangled Banner was sung along with the Alaska Flag song (including the verse that Carl Gato worked so hard to block), and the Declaration of Independence was read, these appropriately dressed folks had a very Martha Stewart looking picnic.  She did have some problems sitting down on the ground with those big hoops under her dress.





And what parade is complete without horses?  These representing Rodeo Alaska.

We even had marchers from the Salvadoran community.  

AIFF2015: From The New Yorker Cartoons, Political Brainwashing, Afghanistan, Mt. Marathon Race, Transgender Dad

There are lots of documentaries at the Anchorage International Film Festival.  I'm still working on a post about the ones in competition.  But just because a film doesn't get into competition, doesn't mean it's not terrific.  Here's a quick look at a few of the docs to show you the breadth of topics covered this year.  Including two very dramatic parental transformations.  In both cases, the filmmakers' dads.  I haven't seen any of them so I can't tell you for sure if they are good.  But even if they aren't great cinema, the topic might be of interest.  And I'm betting they  are all good cinema.

The links will take you to more information about the films including when and where they'll play so you can put them on your calendar now.  The festival begins Friday Dec. 4, 2015.

Very Semi-Serious - New Yorker cartoons	Janey Makes a Play A 90 year old playwright writes and directs her play
No Greater Love An American military chaplain in Afghanistan.	3022 Feet Historic look at Seward's Mt Marathon race.
From This Day Forward  - The filmmaker examines her parents' marriage and how her transgender dad and straight identified mom kept it together	A Courtship  An evangelical Christian arranged marriage
*The Brainwashing of My Dad  Filmmaker examines the forces that helped her Democratic dad transform into "an angry right wing fanatic." "Brainwashing" unravels the plan to shift the country to the Right over thelast 30 years through media manipulation"	Harry and Snowman -  Post WW II Dutchman in US rescues Amish plow horse from glue factoryand soon they win the triple crown of show jumping.

*Note:  Brainwashing is a film in progress and the filmmaker is looking for audience reactions before final editing.

Two Saturday Pictures

Catching Up - Left Over LA Shots - 60 Chevy, Monarch, And Dry Landscape

We're getting ready to go south again.  A few days in Seattle to see our grand daughter (and, of course, our daughter and the rest of the gang) and then to visit my mom who has her 92nd birthday in two weeks.

I've been busy - did a workshop today on racism with people in a drug and alcohol rehabilitation program.  It went quite well.  Having a house guest is fun, and he's wonderful, but I spend a lot more time just talking than normally.

Also, haven't done an update on my Achilles heel.  Long story short - been to the podiatrist, physical therapy, new shoes and inserts, back to the podiatrist when it swelled up again, some steroid treatment.  I'm ok at the moment, but running is going to have to wait until it's had more time to heal completely.  It appears my minimalist shoes might have contributed.  As I wrote earlier, while they are great for something things, they do put more strain on the Achilles heal.

I'd been thinking about taking a weight training class at UAA, but didn't get around to.  But T, our houseguest, suggested I just get a pass for the semester, and so I've been to the weight room a couple of times now.  I feel so much better getting good vigorous exercise again.  But I do still see people running and get very jealous.

I don't have too much time to post today, but I thought I'd put up some left over pictures from LA.

LA is a car city, so I thought I'd give you some cars.  Next is a 1960 Chevy.  We had one of these.  I couldn't believe my parents were buying it, I was stoked.  And I couldn't help talking a picture of this one, shiny in the setting sun.

These cars used a lot of gas, but gas was 31 cents a gallon back then.  And cars today are 99% cleaner than in the 1960s.  So, cool as they might be, I'm not sure driving them around is a good idea.  Of course, I don't know what kinds of modifications they might have made, or not.  The little vehicles above make more sense today.



And then there are birds.  Well, only a few photos.

A murder of crows chasing away a red tailed hawk above my mom's house.

We saw this bird when we were hiking in Las Trancas canyon in the Malibu area with some friends.  It looked somewhat like a jay, but I wasn't quite sure.  It had a blue coat. 

And some colorful birds sitting on a wall not too far from my mom's.











And a monarch butterfly resting on a jade plant.





From a New York Times article that just went up, it looks like genetically modified corn and soybeans and pesticides are threatening this magnificent butterfly that migrates 1000 miles.

MEXICO CITY — Hoping to focus attention on the plight of the monarch butterfly at a North American summit meeting next week, a group of prominent scientists and writers urged the leaders of Mexico, the United States and Canada to commit to restoring the habitat that supports the insect’s extraordinary migration across the continent.

Calling the situation facing the butterfly “grim,” the group issued a letter that outlined a proposal to plant milkweed, the monarch caterpillar’s only food source, along its migratory route in Canada and the United States.

Milkweed has been disappearing from American fields over the past decade as farmers have switched to genetically modified corn and soybeans that are resistant to the herbicide glyphosate that kills other plants. At the same time, subsidies to produce corn for ethanol have increased, expanding the amount of land planted with corn by an estimated 25 percent since 2007.

Back to the Las Trancas canyon hike.  It was a beautiful day - sunny, but not hot.  These pictures will give a little sense of how dry things are down there.

 

There were guided horseback rides that we passed on the trail.  

And one more that shows how the urban landscape can look fairly pastoral as well.  There's a public golf course near my mom's and this is a late afternoon shot along the edge of the course.  

Welcome the New Year of the Horse

We've been in places where there are celebrations of the Chinese New Years often - last year in Seattle.  Today, we're in Anchorage and we have a Chinese teacher living in our house.

From Hanban.com, on this year's astrological symbol:

Chako's 2002 Year of the Horse card

The Year 2014 is considered as the Year of the Horse as per the Chinese Zodiac Calendar which begins on January 31, 2014, and ends on February 18, 2015. 2014 according to Chinese Astrology Calendar. it is the Year of Wood Horse.  Wood is related to tree or green, so it is also called Year of Green Horse. 2014 is the jiăwŭ (甲午) year.The Chinese zodiac calendar comprises 12 animal signs and horse is the seventh among all of them. In Chinese culture, the Horse is a symbol of nobility, class, speed and perseverance.  People born in the Year of the Horse are smart, fabulous speakers who have a gift for getting through to other people. People bearing the horse sign strive towards seeking freedom and happiness. In general, 2014 would be a better year for those people who were born under The Year of the Horse.

The Common Personality of People Born in Horse Year
People born in the year of the horse are extremely animated, active and energetic. Horses love to be in a crowd and like entertainment, they have a deft sense of humor, they love to take center stage and delight audiences everywhere. They are trustworthy, friendly and like to be surrounded by their relatives and friends. They usually have a large circle of acquaintances, but they never rely on their friends too much. Sometimes, the horse is a little self-centered, but it doesn't mean that he will not be interested in any problems except his own. However, a horse person is really more cunning than intelligent, that is probably due to the fact that most horse people lack confidence. Sometimes, they are very independent and rarely listen to advice

I couldn't find any good pictures of horses in my own files.  Moose, yes.  Horse, no.  Tempted as I am to give this year an Alaska flavor, I just can't do it.

I did find a 2002 card that our friend Chako made.  I've played with it modestly in photoshop.

LAPD's Oil Free Vehicles

I've seen mounted police around Venice Beach before, but I was a little surprised to see them as I crossed Lincoln at Rose.  Lincoln's a major four lane urban street - it's Highway 101's route through parts of LA before it gets back to the coastline.  But there they were, closing in on what appeared to be a homeless man with a stuffed shopping cart (upper right.)


The LAPD website says their

The full-time Mounted Platoon was established in 1987 as a component of the elite Metropolitan Division and is currently composed of 35 full-time sworn police personnel consisting of 1 Lieutenant, 4 Sergeants and 30 Police Officers. City funds were allocated for the purchase of 40 horses to be used by the officers during the performance of their field duties. Also purchased through funds donated by the Ahmanson Foundation were a fleet of 8 trucks and trailers to transport the officers and their mounts to the various details, and a state-of-the-art police equestrian center appropriately named "The Ahmanson Equestrian Facility."  The two-acre Ahmanson Equestrian Facility consists of:

• A forty-horse barn
• Administrative offices
• Locker rooms
• Workout facility
• Covered riding arena
• Hot walker, round pen, and necessary training equipment 

"Hot" in the last item refers, not to the person walking the horse, but, according to Wikipedia, to

"hot, sweaty horses after a workout, particularly after work on a racetrack."

 In this case it refers to a mechanical walker.

But what were the cops doing in a busy traffic area?  Here are the duties for the Mounted Platoon according to the website:

General duties of the Mounted Platoon

Demonstrations - The Mounted Platoon is used regularly at the scene of demonstrations and unruly assemblies. Over the years, squad tactics have been developed to work in concert with officers on foot, enabling the Los Angeles Police Department to control large groups of protesters in a firm yet professional manner.

Crowd Management - The Mounted Platoon is deployed frequently in crowd management situations where large groups have gathered for festivals and parades. The appearance of the Mounted Platoon at these functions provides visible security and a sense of assurance.

Crime Suppression - The Mounted Platoon provides high-profile crime suppression in targeted crime areas. Mounted officers offer an increased level of visibility to both the criminal element and to the community at large. The officers are deployed throughout the City and at various hours.
Additional Mounted Platoon duties include public park enforcement, public beach enforcement during the summer months, and search and rescue of lost or missing persons in mountainous and dense terrain areas of the City of Los Angeles.

Well, since there was no demonstration, no large crowds, and it wasn't in mountainous terrain, I'm guessing it had to be crime suppression.  So, this intersection I bike through daily when visiting my mom is a targeted crime area?    Were they just patrolling the area on horseback or were they looking for something or someone in particular?

I would imagine there's a different sort of reaction when someone is approached by cops on horseback than there is when a police car pulls up.

 Trying to find out how horses affect the people police apprehend got me to some interesting findings.  KRS-One equates overseer to officer in this video - lyrics of the chorus below.


KRS-One lyrics to "Sound of Da Police"

Overseer
Overseer
Overseer
Overseer
Officer, Officer, Officer, Officer!
Yeah, officer from overseer
You need a little clarity?
Check the similarity!
The overseer rode around the plantation
The officer is off patroling all the nation
The overseer could stop you what you're doing
The officer will pull you over just when he's pursuing
The overseer had the right to get ill
And if you fought back, the overseer had the right to kill
The officer has the right to arrest
And if you fight back they put a hole in your chest!
(Woop!) They both ride horses
After 400 years, I've _got_ no choices!
The police them have a little gun
So when I'm on the streets, I walk around with a bigger one
(Woop-woop!) I hear it all day
Just so they can run the light and be upon their way


This article from The Nation's article on the use of horses at Occupy Wall Street seems to demonstrate the lyrics: 

At least a dozen officers on horseback entered the barricaded area soon after demonstrators arrived. For a time, the horses simply stood before the crowd, not doing very much. Then, a so-called “white-shirt”—a high-ranking officer on foot —suddenly removed one section of the barricade and guided a horse directly into the crowd. The mounted officer spurred his horse forward, ramming demonstrators, and the scene quickly descended into chaos. A chant of “animal cruelty” broke out, and people were clearly frightened for their safety: horses can inflict serious harm, especially in volatile, high-density situations.
Video footage of the incident shows that at least one of the horses attempted to turn and retreat, according to Barbara Lynn Sherman, a professor at North Carolina State University with expertise in equine behavior. Professor Sherman examined the footage at The Nation’s request. The animal appeared to either slip or momentarily “spook,” Sherman said, “a common response in horses, particularly when startled in response to fearful stimuli.” In fact, she added, police horses are specifically trained to avoid the “spook” reaction while on duty.
Did the NYPD abuse its horses by bringing them into the situation? Peter Singer, the Princeton philosopher and author of Animal Liberation, a landmark 1975 treatise on the rights of non-human organisms, calls it “unethical.” Reviewing the footage, he says, “At least one (horse) appears to be forced to do something—charge into the crowd—that it tries very hard to avoid.”