Midwest Artificial Intelligence

http://studentexpert.blogspot.com/2010/11/22nd-midwest-artificial-intelligence.html

Okay, I’m not kidding, there is conference for this, and it’s in the Midwest. Talk about an oxymoron.

Spudboater Meets Johnny Montezuma

Back in 1979 I worked on the Rogue River for the BLM as a River Ranger with a real cast of characters. Chief among them was Fred, my boss. It seems Fred had previously worked in Grand Canyon for the National Park Service before getting a "real job" as a permanent river dirt bag for the BLM in Grants Pass, Oregon. Meeting Fred and working for him led to me meeting a group of fellow kindred souls, many of whom to this day remain friends. Amongst this crowd of miscreants with qualities ranging from dubious, doubtful, double trouble, dumb and dumber, DINKS, donuts, doozies, dangerous, and downright silly is Johnny Montezuma, Dr Yoda, and Bryan T Brown. This photo is a blast from past sent to me by BTB several months ago. There is J Montezuma in his Hawaiian shirt and yours truly in the worst looking pair of shorts on the face of the planet, my white visor cap on and an equally offensively ugly bikini top. We had landed at Lake Mead/Mud and it was a Sunday as I recall. One of the trip brethren conducted services on the beach as we ate ice cream bars and drank cold beers we purchased there at the marina. Those were the days when a private river trip could be had for a mere $100 per person for 3 weeks, all the food, shuttle and about 20 cases of beer for the trip. Johnny and I were the trip dirtbag kayak scum by and large, though I rotated rowing duties with my husband Scott. At least until everyone got over us flipping at House. I pretty much stuck to the kayak, knowing I was responsible for no one but myself.

Sunrise Over Boise_December 27, 2010

A beautiful Sunrise in my town, Boise, Idaho. Photo taken by an aquaintance. Stunning!

Moo Cows Over Arizona

My dear friends John and Susun live at Montezuma Well area near Sedona, AZ. One thing Johnny Montezuma loves is cows. It's not that he loves what grazing cows can do to public lands; but rather he, much as I, appreciates that cows can be one of the great charming domesticated animals that can provide milk, meat, veal and comfort from a truly genuine MOOOOOOO!

I personally came to love cows when I lived in Scotland my senior year in college and thought Highland cows were heaven on earth. But cows , being cows, are bred to be eaten or give milk. I confess I am an unadulterated cow eating woman who loves red meat and thinks TOFU is a huge waste of time, actually.But I do understand the down side to eating beef, especially industrial bred beef.But that is not the purpose of this discussion, so we'll save that for another day.

My love of cows and cow humor ( I own a potato cannon to shoot at cows, mind you), led me to send John and Susun the ultimate cow humor book by Boynton, the cartoonist.

Lunar Eclipse Over Boise

A Bushel or a Peck?

One never knows when they'll need a math lesson, do they?

Perfect Redneck Camping Margarita Blender

I've always been fond of margaritas when camping. They go perfectly with my dutch oven chile rellenos, homemade quacamole and lime tortilla chips, and the southwest black bean and corn cilantro salad I make. My "river ritas' are well known amongst my Idaho river running friends and backcountry yurt ski trips. But I've found the perfect addition if only I had a chain saw that worked--on the first pull. So enjoy. If anyone out there knows how to make one of these, I'm in!

Wolfpacks are Nice; but Time to Eat a Little Crow

The Boise State Broncos were ranked 3rd and 4th in various and sundry polls including AP, Harris, and Coaches getting down to the last two weeks before the BCS handed out invites to non AQ (that's automatic qualifiers) conferences who were ranked high enough. The Broncos were running the table along with Oregon, Auburn and TCU with all wins and no losses. The wild weekend two weeks ago set up a tough match between Boise State and Nevada. Nevada has held a spot in the top 25 rankings for much of the season. Well, that evening game played in Reno started out well with the Broncos leading at half time. But things got dicey and the Wolf Pack narrowed the gap, going into the 4th quarter mid way with the Wolf Pack within a TD. Wolf Pack pulled ahead and we were behind by 6. Then in the waning moments of the game Doug Martin pulled a rabbit out of his hat and scored a touch down. All we needed was that field goal. But it was not to be. Our beloved Kyle Brotzman appeared to get it between the uprights, but the officials called it no goal. And then the clock ran out. So now we were tied up and in Overtime. Nevada scored a field goal. The it was Boise's turn and in one of those heartwrenching finales, Brotzman overcorrected and the ball swung wide. He had missed his 3 pointer and Nevada won. The end of a 24 game run by the Broncos--longest winning streak in the nation. Dashed hopes of a BCS Championship Game or Rose Bowl berth. The next week with only one loss by the Broncos, they dropped in the polls by a ridiculous amount. Two loss teams were ranked higher in some cases by the beauty contest conferences.

I had made a good natured bet with a friend from Twin Falls who is a Nevada grad that if Boise won, he had to wear a Broncos shirt I would provide. If Nevada won, I'd wear a Wolfpack shirt. So folks, I keep my promises, and gratefully my friend Mike has a wife with good taste. So, I'm eating a little crow, but the t-shirt looks good. Thank god it wasn't the Horned Frogs!

My Mom's 89th Birthday

My family has long lived women, typically. My grandmother lived to be 86 despite heart problems. Two of my great aunts (grandma's sisters) lived to be 99 or 100 and the other one was 100 or 101 or thereabouts. My great grandmother was alive at 101 when I was 6 years old. My middle name is after her (Lurell).

Most years since my parents can no longer fly to Idaho from Illinois I go back for my mom's birthday. Been doing that since she turned 85. My brother flies in from Tallahassee, Florida and the two of us carry on like a couple of giggly teens telling bad jokes, drinking wine and swapping great stories that only the two of us think are funny.

This year was the typical brother-sister confab and we stayed at our parents Assisted Living Retirement Complex where they now reside. The guest rooms were as nice as any hotel, and it was pretty quiet except for TV's being turned up very loud, in light of all the hard of hearing elderly clientele. Still, we got on quite well. We invited a life long friend of the family to join us who is in between our age and our parents. I used to babysit for Bob and his first wife, my moms best friend. Nancy died a few years ago and Bob just remarried this year so it was my first time to meet his wife, Mary. Great woman and I'm so happy to see folks find love at 70, just like my mom and step dad did at 69, when she married my step dad Jack. So I'm glad I got to celebrate another birthday with my mom who was 89 on October 26th.

Wild Turkey and Not the Drinking Kind

This past Saturday, December 4th I woke up at daybreak and let the chickens out of the coop. There was still plenty of snow left from the December 1st storm. It has been snowing portions of every day during the week. My plan for the day was to do some holiday decorating and then trot off to the Boise State vs Utah State final game of the season, and bid farewell to the 18 graduating seniors on the Bronco football squad. I went to make my usual morning latte and walked in to the dining room to see how the chickens were doing. Much to my surprise a wild turkey had taken up residence in my back yard. Now, I knew we had wild turkeys around in the foothills and a neighbor had told me he's seen at least two in the creek area near our houses. I guess she wanted to hang out where "birds of a feather flock together", what and all being by herself. She had lovely tail feathers. I couldn't let the dog out because He would have chased her, so I just left her alone. I did go visit and chat with her and told her she was welcome to stay as long as she wanted and I invited her to roost in our pine trees for the night. I got home from the football game (we won 50-14 I recall) and she was still here at 5:30 p.m. at dusk. But by the next morning she was gone, probably to visit another neighbor. Hopefully she and one of her friends will come visit again. She picked the right month to come out of hiding, right after Thanksgiving. Smart girl!

Boise's December 1st Snowstorm

On the last night of November I was sitting in my hot tub with glass of wine in hand at 10 p.m. The snow was coming down in large continuous flakes. No wind, just total quiet and stillness. It was magical. Just getting ready to hop in the hot tub required shoveling 4 inches of snow off the cover. At 10:30 I went in the house to bed, knowing I'd have work the next day and my daughter would have school. Little did I realize that the forecasted snowfall really would amount to 8 or 12 inches of snow. At 6 a.m. I got up to let my dog out. He was ecstatic plowing through the snow with his face in the darkness. The hot tub was totally covered with more than 8 inches and the yard has close to a foot of snow. I got on line to check about school closures. Sure enough, no school SNOW DAY! too bad these rarely apply to parents who work. I woke Megan and told her she could turn off her alarm and sleep in. I went back to bed. 8 am and morning required I pull out the two trusty snow shovels and I spent 3 full hours shoveling my drive so I could go to work at about 1 in the afternoon. Talk about an aerobic workout! I love it when real winter comes to Boise. The chickens really didn't quite know what to make of all that snow.