Happy Thanksgiving!

TWAS THE NIGHT OF THANKSGIVING,

BUT I JUST COULDN'T SLEEP.

I TRIED COUNTING BACKWARDS,

I TRIED COUNTING SHEEP.

THE LEFTOVERS BECKONED -

THE DARK MEAT AND WHITE,

BUT I FOUGHT THE TEMPTATION

WITH ALL OF MY MIGHT.

TOSSING AND TURNING WITH ANTICIPATION,

THE THOUGHT OF A SNACK BECAME INFATUATION.

SO, I RACED TO THE KITCHEN, FLUNG OPEN THE DOOR,

AND GAZED AT THE FRIDGE, FULL OF GOODIES GALORE.

GOBBLED UP TURKEY AND BUTTERED POTATOES,

PICKLES AND CARROTS, BEANS AND TOMATOES.

I FELT MYSELF SWELLING SO PLUMP AND SO ROUND,

'TIL ALL OF A SUDDEN, I ROSE OFF THE GROUND.

I CRASHED THROUGH THE CEILING, FLOATING INTO THE SKY,

WITH A MOUTHFUL OF PUDDING AND A HANDFUL OF PIE.

BUT, I MANAGED TO YELL AS I SOARED PAST THE TREES....

HAPPY EATING TO ALL - PASS THE CRANBERRIES, PLEASE.

MAY YOUR STUFFING BE TASTY,

MAY YOUR TURKEY BE PLUMP.

MAY YOUR POTATOES 'N GRAVY HAVE NARY A LUMP.

MAY YOUR YAMS BE DELICIOUS.

MAY YOUR PIES TAKE THE PRIZE,

MAY YOUR THANKSGIVING DINNER STAY OFF OF YOUR THIGHS!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL!

The Grand Canyon of Texas

When long-time college friends suggested that we go camping together, I thought it would be a wonderful idea.....for next summer. What a surprise to hear them ask us to go camping with them during Thanksgiving break! The plan is for them to drive from Dallas toward the west and we'll drive from here toward the east and we'll meet up in the middle. The middle is roughly 6 hours for each of us in the town of Amarillo, Texas. Our friends found a place to camp that has full hookups for our pop-up campers, a Texas State Park called "Palo Duro Canyon," also known as "The Grand Canyon of Texas."

Humans have lived in Palo Duro Canyon for approximately 12,000 years. The Clovis and Folsom people first lived in the canyon and hunted large herds of mammoth and giant bison. Later on, the Apaches, Comanches, and Kiowas lived there..

Early Spanish Explorers are believed to have discovered the area and named the canyon "Palo Duro" which is Spanish for "hard wood." There are a lot of mesquite (which I have no idea what it looks like) and juniper (abundant in my town and an allergy nemesis).

In 1874, Palo Duro Canyon was a battle site during the Red River Wars. The US Government captured the Native Americans living and hiding in the canyon by first capturing 1,400 horses and then later destroying the majority of the herd. Unable to escape, the Native Americans surrendered and were transported to reservations in Oklahoma.

Of course, I can't wait to explore the canyon and discover the geological features there. I did a little bit of research to prepare me for what I might see and found out that the canyon is approximately 120 miles long, 20 miles wide, and 800 feet deep. Palo Duro Canyon was formed primarily by water erosion from the Prairie Dog Town Fork of the Red River, which began to carve the canyon less than one million years ago. This is exactly how the Grand Canyon in Arizona was formed. The slopes of the canyon reveal the colorful natural history of the area.

From this website here I found out the oldest layers of rock, the Cloud Chief Gypsum, is 250 million years old and can only be seen in a few areas in the canyon. The next oldest and most prominent layer of rock is the Quartermaster Formation which can be seen with its distinctive red claystone/sandstone and white layers of gypsum.

"The Tecovas Formation is located directly above the Quartermaster and is composed of yellow, gray, and lavender mudstone and sandstone. Together with the Quartermaster, they form the colorful triangular slopes called Spanish Skirts. Above the Tecovas, the Truijillo and Ogallala formations can be viewed. The Ogallala is composed of sand, silt, clay, and limestone, which compose the hard caprock."

I hope to be able to find some trails to walk on so that we can see the beautiful rock formations around us and maybe see some wildlife as well. My only worry is the weather! On Thanksgiving Day it should only be 39 degrees, but then again, that is how cold it supposed to be in my town as well. Nights will definitely be below freezing. As I said, we'll have full hookups and so we're bringing electric heaters.

Our friends and we have coordinated meals so that we're going to have a real Thanksgiving meal. It'll be really wonderful, I'm sure. I really can't wait for this exciting adventure, something we've never done for Thanksgiving before!

Letter to a Whiny Young Democrat

By Mark Morford, San Francisco Gate Columnist

Letter Link

Oh, now you've done it.

See? You see what happens when you young liberal voters get so disgruntled and disillusioned that you drop all your party's newborn, hard-won ideas about Hope™ and Change™, without any patience, without really giving them sufficient time to mature, without understanding that hugely foreign, anti-American concept known as "the long view"?

See what happens when you wallow in hollow disappointment, trudging all over your liberal arts campus and refusing to vote in a rather important mid-term election, all because your pet issues and nubile ego weren't immediately serviced by a mesmerizing guy named Barack Obama just after he sucked you into his web of fuzzyhappy promises a mere two years ago, back when you were knee-high to a shiny liberal ideology?

Well, now you know. This is what happens: The U.S. House of Representatives, the most insufferable gaggle of political mongrels this side of, well, the rest of Congress, reverts to GOP control like a brain tumor reverts to a more aggressive form of cancer, and everything gets bleaker and sadder and, frankly, a whole lot nastier.

What happens is: Many kinds of fragmented, muddled, but still constructive Democratic progress might get stopped quite nearly dead, and even a few pieces of legislation we actually did gain get slapped around, threatened, stomped on the head like a scientist at a Rand Paul rally. Happy now?

Check it out, kiddo: This is not just any Republican party you allowed back into power; these mealy folks are not anything like the war-hungry, Bush-tainted army of flying monkeys and Dick Cheney moose knuckles you so wonderfully helped bury in the history books last election.

No, the GOP of 2010-2011 is even weirder, dumber, less interested in anything you even remotely care about; this GOP is infused like a sour cocktail with a bitter splash of the most cartoonish, climate change-denying Tea Party dingbats imaginable -- most of whom think you're an elitist, terrorist-loving, gay-supporting threat to "real" American values, btw -- all led by a guy named Boehner who wears a bizarre, shellacked tan so fake and creepy it makes Nancy Pelosi looks like a supermodel.

And you made it all happen. Or rather, you failed to prevent it from happening, by not voting, by turning your collective back on Obama's tough love, by getting all whiny and dejected like some sort of sullen teen vampire who can't get laid.

Do you deny it? Did you see the polls and studies that said that most fresh-faced, Obama-swooning Dems like you are now refusing to support our beloved Nazi Muslim president because he didn't wish-fulfill your every whim in a week? That he was, in fact, not quite the instant-gratification SuperJesus of your (or rather, our) dreams?

Of course you didn't see any of that. Hell, I bet you're not even reading this column right now. You're probably back on Twitter, raging into the Void about, hell, who knows what? The Wolf Parade concert. Angry Birds. The People of Wal-Mart. Anything but politics, really.

But hey, whatevs, right? Screw it. Screw him. After all, the prez let you down. Conveniently "forgot" to include you in the dialogue, after a major election that you helped him win. Where were the outreach programs? The campus speaking tours? Weekly appearances on "The Daily Show"? Legal pot and gay marriage and discounts tickets to SXSW and Burning Man and Coachella? I want my goddamn political perks, and I want them now.

Hey, I understand. We're an instant gratification culture, and you're an ADHD generation. Who wants to hear that serious enviro legislation might take a decade or two to fully come to fruition? Who wants to hear about Obama passing rather amazing student loan reform? Or even financial reform? Or health care, the Iraq drawdown, saving a million jobs at GM, or all the rest of his rather astonishing achievements to date? Dude, so boring.

Of course, you've now learned the hard way that the hot flush of a major election is far more electrifying than the gray n' meaty grind of actual governing. Obama flew into office on gossamer liberal wings, but the real halls of D.C. are a goddamn pigsblood slaughterhouse, brutal and depressing, full of gnarled legislative compromise. Screw that noise, you know?

And you know what? You're right. Well, sort of. The Obama administration sure as hell could've done more to keep young activists inspired and involved. It's an opportunity squandered, no question. Then again, dude was sorta busy unburying the entire nation, you know? And the twitchy Democratic party has never been known for its savvy cohesion. Maybe you can give him/them a break? Whoops, too late.

Look, I'm sorry. I know I'm being far too hard on you. Of course it's not just you. It's not completely your fault these dimwit Repubs were allowed to ooze back into a bit of power so soon. As many analysts have pointed out, this wasn't a vote for the Republicans, but against the limp-wristed Dems who didn't step up and lead with more authority and clarity of purpose. Truly, libs and independents of every age are frustrated Obama isn't governing with the same kind of magical, balls-out visionary zeal that fueled his campaign.

And let's not forget a shockingly unintelligent Tea Party movement that stands for exactly nothing and fears exactly everything, all ghost-funded by a couple of creepy libertarian oil billionaires -- the leathery old Koch brothers -- who eat their young for a snack. Who could've predicted that gnarled political contraption would hold water? But hey, when Americans are angry and nervous, they do stupid things. Like vote Republican. It happens. Just did.

But here's your big takeaway, young Dem: It ain't over yet. The 2012 election is just around the corner. If we've learned anything, it's that two years whip by insanely quickly. Anything can happen, and usually does. You'll have another chance. And probably another after that. Maybe more.

So here's what you need to know, right now: Barack Obama is, and will continue to be, a bit of goddamn miracle. He's simply as good as we're going get for an articulate, thoughtful, integrity-rich Democratic prez in your lifetime. Period. To hamstring his administration out of spite and laziness is childish and sad. Check the accomplishments. Understand the process. Deal with the messiness.

It will never be perfect. It will never be giddy liberal nirvana, because it doesn't work that way. Politics is corrosive and infuriating, de facto and by definition, even with someone as thoughtful as Obama in the Big Chair. Understand it. Deal with it. Get back in the game. If you don't, we all lose.

Your choice, kiddo.

Ghosts of Our Youth

October saw too many teen suicides due to bullying. Many people spoke out about the subject when gay teens Tyler Clementi and Raymond Chase committed suicide after being a victim of bullying. President Obama expressed his sorrow and concern in a video, "It Gets Better" posted on the White House website and on YouTube. He said,

"I don’t know what it’s like to be picked on for being gay. But I do know what it’s like to grow up feeling that sometimes you don’t belong. It’s tough. And for a lot of kids, the sense of being alone or apart – I know can just wear on you. And when you’re teased or bullied, it can seem like somehow you brought it on yourself – for being different, or for not fitting in with everybody else."

Last week the pastor at my local Unitarian Universalist church had a lot to say on the subject as well. His sermon, Ghosts of Our Youth (podcast link) spoke to my heart , especially when I learned that two of the recent suicides were only 13 years old. Please listen to his sermon.

Rev. Cullinan asks, "Why do I feel like nothing much has changed in the last 25 years?" Please do your part to stop the bullying that is so prevalent in our society. Save lives.