Category: Uncategorized

Here are a couple of photos of Dogs at Rest sent on by my old work colleague, Tim, of his animal family members.

It’s Tuesday … shopping and errands.  We drop off donations at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore (in the wake of Kim’s impressive wholesale, whirlwind cleanup and reorganization of the entire premises), spot a Landrover LR2 and a Gucci Edition Fiat 500, and hear Swiss-Austrian music (!) at Farmers’ Market.  All the while watching for the occasional dog-oriented photo op (sort of an Ivi thing).

Just before noon, Ivi and Dad run downtown to visit the shoe repair man (nope, no luck yet), drop off clothing to trade and donate at a thrift shop, and then an expected adventure develops.

Wandering in the traffic of a main thoroughfare, we see a small dog, collarless and seemingly adrift.  Ivi immediately stops, and we investigate.  The little guy is scruffy, mangy, and obviously in a state of neglect.  However, while Ivi makes some phone calls and goes for a leash, I discover that he responds well to basic instructions like “sit” and “stay”.  And we find that, once on a leash, he executes to a “jump” command and enters the car, calmly relaxing on the floor.  Learning that the animal shelter people are not open for business until afternoon, we deliver our small creature to our back yard (keeping him distant from The Charlie) and proffer food and water.  After lunch, Ivi and Kim take him to the shelter where it is determined that he is chipped (good news) and several people there, including some small kids, do some oohs and aahhs and immediately want to adopt him.

And a bit later, Ivi and I implement deportation procedures for two more mice that have bumbled into the Tin Cat trap.

Shopping.  Again.  We leave The Charlie, then I run across Jim, one of the old-coot-car-guys I sometimes see on Saturdays at Eric’s (and he tells me that his truck — whose restomod project I have documented over several months — just took lst in its class among 350 entries at the recent Walla Walla car show).  Next while loitering at Safeway as Kim does what only she can do, I discover my new favorite car magazine (RoadKill: Automotive Chaos Theory, spawned from the YouTube sub-channel of the same name) and wonder about the unusual Apricot Ale on sale.  Finally, we return to find Charlie intact.

When the switch finally stopped functioning properly in one of our household’s genuine classic Swedish Luxo lamps (not a cheap Chinese knockoff and in operation since perhaps the 70s or 80s) we were obliged to search the Outer Limits of the Internets for a replacement. Finally, Kim located a purveyor of such gear, and a new component was ordered. When we determined upon arrival that it was the wrong part despite its part number, we were asked to furnish photographs to help the vender obtain the proper substitute for such an antique device. Accordingly, this in-situ, backlit-with-fill image was quickly created and sent on its way.  We are hopeful that this will help.

In addition to what is perhaps the finest example of extant early Luxo photography as demonstrated above, we also created closeup photographs of the switch detail itself.

Another in a continuing series of ©Banal Photos.

Old friend Tracy, who works at Elkhorn Media Group, brings our attention to this piece:

Read Vijith Assar’s “An Interactive Guide to Ambiguous Grammar” in this McSweeney’s piece to see how meaning can be easily distorted and even lost:

http://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/an-interactive-guide-to-ambiguous-grammar

(My apologies if this seems redundant, as I already made some friends aware of this a few days ago.)

Map the Syrian civilian population outflows with the interactive graphics here:

http://qz.com/498808/follow-the-flow-of-syrian-civilians-from-the-middle-east-to-western-europe/

Scattered about amid the bushes and trees we find all manner of VW camping rigs and their owners and families.  Only a drone could provide a photographic vantage point to take it all in with a single sweep (and, in fact, did during last year’s reunion).  People were just arriving and setting up camp today, and many more are expected throughout the weekend.  Mostly from Oregon, Washington and Idaho, but I have been told that previous events have seen attendees from all across the country, and some cross international borders.  

During my brief visit today, I met a number of folks in various walks of life with stories to tell about their travels and their vehicles.  A couple of portraits were grabbed along the way.

Today we venture across the valley to Catherine Creek, where the Wet Westies — a VW camping enthusiast group — gather for their 19th annual weekend at the State Park.  

Learn about Wet Westies (co-founded by JamesA, an engineer and former German car tuner, whose hot-rod VW camper has appeared in these posts before, and who has been a co-conspirator in things ranging from computers to Porsches and beyond) by clicking here.