Off to the Boulder Creek Fair

Leah wins prizes at the carnival. This was her first prize, Dodger the Dog.

Upside down and whirling around on the bungee trampoline.

I'm peeking out of here says Axel, who climbed in the Little Gym equipment.

Riding the train is fun for Axel.

Yeah! I did it. Axel the Champion!

Going for the Sturgis Vote

Palin has an image as a tough frontier chick who rides a motorcycle and packs a gun.

Motorcycle Mama. Vrooom, Vrooom.

Time for Cake

Mama made a beautiful cake.

Axel blew the candle out with one puff.

Time to dig in.

Yum Yum

Birthday Afternoon

Opening presents.

This box looks just right to put my trains on.

WOW!

No more presents.

Jon T , Beth and baby Sam were here.

More Birthday Morning

Let's stack blocks

Yeah, it didn't fall over.

Out in the (new sand) box. The sand is new and yes the box has a lid.

Birthday Morning

Presents right away. A Mater truck.

A tiny breakfast cake with decorations.

Yum, homemade carrot cake, my favorite.

Just needs a little milk.

Dancing to the truck music.

Organized Crime

Read all about the McCain family ties to organized crime in this really fair and accurate Wikipedia article.

Reading the Sports Page After Lunch

After a hearty lunch, Axel grabbed the sports page of the Daily Camera and proceeded to scrutinize the baseball scores. He noted that the Cubs scored 2. I didn't know that he was a Cubs fan.







Cyndi is very sore from Boot Camp. She started going with Beth. See Beth's August 26th post.

Gustav is Going to Intervene

Hurricane Gustav may hit landfall in Louisiana on Monday the start of the Repubs convention. Is Mother Nature going to take this year's election into her own hands? If they fiddle through another hurricane, what are their chances?

If Gustav does reach landfall at New Orleans, and I sure hope it does not, it'll bring back nasty memories for the Republicans - and likely soak up a lot of the news time that would have otherwise been pushed at the Twin Cities. I don't think the Republicans can weather having a party while a hurricane hits. The current plot shows Gustav's center just off the Louisiana coast at 0800 on Monday - the start of the Republican Convention. I haven't as yet checked out ocean surface temperatures in the Gulf. This time of year though should see them at or near their highest. It takes 85º F. surface temps to sustain a hurricane. In 2005 Katrina picked up strength at a pace seldom seen - greatly due to high water surface temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico that summer. It caught a lot of folks off guard. Let's hope that these back to back political conventions aren't distracting applicable public servants from keeping an eye on Gustav and preparing accordingly.

GOP Ministry of Truth in Denver

Republicans have set up a communications war room in a warehouse in Denver where they apparently plan to spew forth lies to counteract the DNC convention coverage. How do we know that they will be telling all lies? Because a Republican operative referred to their operation as the Ministry of Truth. Anyone who has read Orwell knows that the Ministry of Truth only tells lies.

Colorado Dreaming

The sun sets over Boulder and it is time for the boy to go to bed.

Reading one last bedtime story and then night, night.

Four More Years

Off to Colorado

Off with Robbin to visit the Boulder Baker's and celebrate Axel's second birthday. I was not able to get a ticket for the Obama speech at Invesco Field. So we can just watch it with all of you on TV.

With Friends like these

McCain's fellow GOP party members express some reservations about his ability to be president.

Band Concert

Pictures from the band concert. Forgot the camera so had to get these from The Union and Nevada County Band site. In the small picture you can see, if you know where it is, the redwood Valerie helped to plant when she was about 10.
A picnic in the park is fun. I just have to plan the meal ahead of time and pack it up in the picnic basket. We had some raw vegetables with pesto dip, a greens quiche, red potato salad, rosemary bread, and fruit salad served with a white wine. Yumm.

John McCain Buys a House

Looks a little dangerous for accident-prone Cindy.

Riffs on Grapes of Wrath

When John McCain claimed that white people would not pick lettuce in Arizona for $50 an hour, it inspired one DailyKos blogger to create a screenplay about the Joads trying to get into AZ to pick lettuce. They are stopped by border guards.

Tom Joad: McCain's workin' away our spirits, tryin' to make us cringe and crawl, ... takin' away our decency, offerin' to pay us fifty dollars an hour to do a job no white man would do. Shouldna' never left my job as a fifteen dollar an hour software programmer back in Oklahoma...
Ma Joad: That job made ya mean, Tom. It made ya real durn hard-mean...

Can you pick the lettuce? No you can't.

Violent Protesters at DNC

Denver police are being warned about characteristics of potentially violent protesters. They may have bicycles and bicycle helmets, maps and camping gear. Bicycles may be used to block roadways and helmets are for self protection. From a police bulletin:

"Bicycles are used to blockade sidewalks, streets and can be used to slow down responding emergency vehicles."

The maps are to find their way from site to site and they may be camping out. So watch out for riding a bike in Denver. The riot police may get you.

Get Out of Gaffe Free Card

McCain Campaign used this most recently when he could not remember the number of houses he and his wife own. The best thing about this card is that you never have to turn it in. You just show it and you get a free pass from the Media.

Oracle

Looks like Larry Ellison just had Oracle add up all the savings from Jon's now nonexistent salary and the salaries of all the other employees let go from the 40 companies Oracle acquired this year and had the company add the amount to his salary as CEO. The old saying "All for one, blah blah blah" still holds true. 38% raise for Oracle CEO