Howdy Pardner!

Thanks for the comments gang . . . I've been roving all over these United States of America . . .Miami, San Francisco, Missoula, and now I'm on to Eastern Montana.

I'm not doing anything political . . .although it's tempting. The Progeny is doing a good job of carrying on the American revolution.

He and his friends organized an anti-war rally, for the third-anniversary of the start of the Iraq War. I was worried that no one would be in attendance . . . the weather was cold, and after all, there seems to be an anti-war malaise here in the States . . .but they had a good turnout and really intelligent, passionate speakers. I was proud of him. He'll probably never be able to find a job in the U.S., philosopher and revolutionary seem to be out of favor these days.

I've had the pleasure of watching FOX NEWS while in the hotel room. It's so funny! I can't believe Brit Hume et al, can read their teleprompters with a straight face. You don't know how lucky you are to have this form of comedy available to you.

On the flight from Seattle to Missoula I had the pleasure of sitting next to a twenty-year-old Montana army vet, home on leave from Iraq. We had a good time looking at his photos from Tal Afar along with a lot of video.

He spent his time in Iraq riding in a Bradley tank. Making lots of raids on Iraqi homes, looking for insurgents. He told me that they pretty much leveled the quarter of Tal Afar for which they were responsibile. They gave the citizens a warning to leave, and then they leveled it.

You'll all be happy to know that your taxes pay the Iraqis a small amount of money to compensate them for the destruction of their homes and possessions! See, we aren't evil . . .we're just capitalists . . .everything can be solved with money.

The day after my long tutorial on Tal Afar, our Dear Leader was on the stump, trumpeting the war and the ONE example of success he kept bringing up was Tal Afar!!!!

Yes, there are no more insurgents in that town . . .but there aren't any families left either. That's how our army measures success.

Back at the farm, the Husband is watching the menagerie.

He cleaned out the flock's winter quarters . . . took him seven days, over thirty large wheelbarrow loads a day. He's playing warden to our quarantined chickens. He'ss doing his best to keep from murdering MY DOG, Antoinette.

A few days ago, Antoinette went out to the sheep pasture and decided to round up the flock. Six sheep pushed through the fence. Luckily, no one drowned int he canal, but the Husband had to make his way through the woods righting the sheep that had fallen down. (If all four feet leave the ground, a sheep cannot right itself.)

So far, I've been in "blue country" but I'll soon be venturing into the red zone . . . hopefully I'll survive the next couple of weeks.