The great "Seal" of the United States?
...who knows, I might have actually SEEN it today!

ARF, ARF, ARF...I was in the little harbor town near where I live in Oregon, and after breakfast at a nearby Cafe, on my way out to the car, I heard the loud barking of SEALS off in the distance. So, I went down to the docks to investigate. Much to my surprise, laying on the docks surrounding an empty boat slip, TEN SEALS were resting, and making all kinds of noize. They are huge and loud. And, a little scary, too. If you walk towards them, they'll rear up and bark at ya. So I wondered, "well, what if a fisherman has to get to his boat?" Just then, a fisherman walked by, toward the seals, to get to his boat. He had a big plastic bait bucket in his hand, and he swung the bucket around and growled at the seals, and many of them slunk off the docks and slipped into the water. So it seems the seals are all BARK and no BITE. But I'm not brave enough to test that theory anytime soon! I guess the seals also seek the shelter of the harbor's placid waters; it's a choppy ocean out there, especially this time of year.

In that harbor, I would estimate that there's just gotta be 200 fishing vessels moored there. It is great fun, just to walk on the docks and look at all the old boats. No fancy yachts, such as a certain notable IDAHO BUSINESSMAN has; these boats are all dinged up, pockmarked, and definitely show signs of being weatherbeaten. And that, along with many other things, exemplify the absolute charm this area has. And, the customers in the harbor restaurant were obviously fishermen, unshaved, in soiled clothes; obviously they'd either just come in from fishing or working on their boats. Can you imagine going 15 or 20 miles out, and staying out there for sometimes 2 weeks at a time? They sink their crab pots in the ocean, and come back in a couple days or so, when they think enough time's passed by, and hoist the (hopefully full) crab pots up into the boat. It's basically unprofitable for the fishermen to come in every night, so they stay out there until they've got more crabs than they know what to do with.

A "crab pot" is basically a big wire basket with crab bait in it. I think chicken is a good crab bait...something about that meat is appealing to crabs. Some of the non-boater local people sometimes drop crab pots off the docks in the harbor. I've seen them bring up crab pots with a few crabs in them. The crabs can only be "so small"; the little ones have to be turned loose. I was watching one crabber measure his catch; he came across a too-small crab, and set it on the dock, off to the side. The crab then scooted "sideways", as crabs are prone to do, and jumped back into the water. Maybe people here don't notice those things, but me, being a newbie, does. It's the little things like that which can make life so interesting down here. In the little harbor restaurant, there's a sign hung inside on one of the walls that says, "me and my old crab live here". At a souvenir shop, they sell T-shirts which feature a picture of a confused crab, and the slogan on the shirt says the wearer "caught crabs" in the harbor. So I guess, catching crabs can be a GOOD thing. Sometimes, anyway.
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Other stuff: About time I stopped boring you with my details of the sea. Let's see, what's happened over the last month? Well, President Ford passed away. A kind man was he. And, at the time, I thought he was a Nazi for pardoning Prezzident Nixon...years later, though, I can see he did the right thing. Ford had explained in a '90s interview that the only way he could get all of the impeachment-things off his desk was to pardon Nixon and just get it all out of the way. And I can see his point. And, pardoning Nixon was a brave thing for him to do. He probably knew, when he issued the pardon, that he put the kibosh on his own re-election hopes.

Hang down your head, Saddam Hussein... poor guy, you're bound to die...and die he certainly did. I was absolutely surprised by the speed of his execution...the ink was barely dry on his documents of condemnation before he was taken to the Iraqi "necktie party" held in his honor. I suppose now, Hell has a new gatekeeper. I guess Saddam thought he was a martyr for the "cause", so he bravely faced what has to be an absolutely horrendous thing, having a noose fitted 'round your Adam's Apple. This whole thing reminds me of the Johnny Cash song: "Well, they're building a gallows outside my cell...and I've got 25 MINUTES TO GO..." So I wonder, did Saddam have 25 minutes? If so, that was probably 25 minutes too long for the families of the legions of innocent people he euthanized over the years.

It makes perfect sense...or not...first, a political committee studies the (un) feasibility of the war in Iraq, and makes all kinds of recommendations for us to get out of that war somehow. How much money did that study cost, by the way? So, Prezzident George W. Bush, that idiotic lame excuse for anything resembling a chief executive, who said he'd listen to all recommendations, heard everything and then said he wants to employ a "surge" mission. So, instead of the troops coming home, he's SENDING MORE TROOPS OVER THERE. And that's supposed to make us happy??? That's kinda like, when I was a kid, and my Mom would say, "don't do that", and I DID "do that" after which I got my fanny whacked. And get this, AMERICA...We, collectively, as a nation, were STUPID ENOUGH TO RE-ELECT HIM! Well, whack ol' Dubya on the fanny, because, obviously, if you hit him in the head, it wouldn't register!

Lastly, I wanted to share something with y'all, but I wasn't sure where or how to post it, so I'll just post it here. It's not for the faint of heart, so be warned! Go to:
http://www.glumbert.com/media/roleplay for an "alternative" view on politics...
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Well, enough for now. Oh yeah, I forgot something...today, January 6th, IN THE MIDDLE OF WINTER, it was over 50 degrees out today and NO SNOW. To all my Idaho friends, don't fret...you'll have weather like that in MARCH. Seriously, I hear that the snow's a-blowin' up thar...so drive really carefully, okay?