Snakes...

Monday, Jack's class got a visit from a reptile petting zoo. Unfortunately, neither one of us could be there to take pictures, but Jack's teacher sent us this great one of Jack. She told us that all of the other kids were scared of the animals at first, so Jack showed them that it was okay to touch the lizards and snakes and frogs and then he let them put this giant snake on him to show the other kids that it was okay. Considering the size of this snake, I'm not sure if that was terribly brave or incredibly foolish, but Jack had a great time. He said that Finn taught him how to be around animals.

...and Swings!

More heart-stopping pictures of Thor's high-flying, heart-stopping swing. As you can see, the kids love it and the Mom's just cover our eyes.

Finn defying gravity.

Our neighbor Jason, hair a' flyin'.

All the kids love it, but I'm not sure anyone loves it quite as much as Jack.

Thank you for the picture-taking tips, Algis. I think they helped a lot!

Rush!!!

I woke up in a Rush mood this morning!! Why do these things happen? Who knows? But I just felt like giving props to a band that still gets less respect in the critical world than they deserve.

Of course, Rush is super-easy to make fun of (check out "Stereo" by Pavement), but Rush has an almost unique ability to make you appreciate how great music can be, almost by virtue of their being sorta bad!! It's kind of like going to a taco truck on a Saturday night and realizing how great the world is, because there are great restaurants like Lucques, and there are taco trucks!! That's how Rush is. Enjoy!!!

Alone!!!

Stuck here on parent conference afternoon & all alone (as usual) - just me and my pigeons : )
Good time for a house post!! Have a great weekend y'all!!!

Finally!!!

Finally!!! According to Huffington Post, "Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) announced new legislation on Wednesday that would create new tax brackets for earners who make significantly more than the baseline for the current top income bracket."

This is big, great news, and so (of course) has been entirely ignored by the mainstream media so far. It's about time that someone woke up to the fact that we cannot save our country simply by cutting every program that exists.

Tax revenue is absurdly, catastrophically, low right now, and Rep. Schakowsy's bill simply raises the tax levels for the very highest earners. As the New Yorker financial columnist James Surowiecki said, about the tax rates under the Bush Tax cuts, "LeBron James and LeBron James’s dentist: same difference."

So this bill, which affects the middle class not at all, will finally raise the rates on the wealthiest Americans, who have been paying the lowest tax rates for their income level since the Eisenhour years.

The resulting income? 78.9 billion in the first year alone.

Of course, since it's a great, essential, idea, it's probably going to go down in flames, but try to send Rep. Schakowsky you support, and let your representatives know that you support this bill. Thanks!!!

Read more here.

R.I.P. Bear

R.I.P. Owsley "Bear" Stanley.
A real counter-culture hero died yesterday : ( Although I do not personally partake of the substances of psychedelia, I've got to give credit where credit is due and acknowledge that many things that I love probably wouldn't exist if it wasn't for the work of this man. For more, and some really interesting, info read here.

Five, pt. 2!!!

Welcome!!!!

A HUGE welcome to all of our wonderful friends and family that moved in over the weekend!!! We are sooooooo glad to have you all here!!!!

Goodbye Maggie

You were a great cat. We were lucky to have you and will miss you very much. You weren't as much of a character as your brother, but you were wild and free once and now you are again. Say hello to Baxter for us. Safe journey little sweet one.