they took off with no warning. giddy, laughing about what they had that no one else seemed to have, and the stuff they didn't that everyone else apparently did. "keep it suckers!!" and they were gone again.

Montana's Official State Lullaby...

From New West:

Montana House members grew dreamy and placid as cowboy poet and singer Ken Overcast serenaded the chamber with the proposed Montana lullaby. Rep. Wayne Stahl, R-Saco is introducing a bill to designate the song as the official state lullaby. If passed, Montana would be the first state to have an official lullaby.

Found a nice old map of the Missouri headwaters.

From the Lewis & Clark Exhibit, Newberry Library, Chicago:

Ac ko mok ki's Map, 1801

This remarkable document illustrates the confidence Native people possessed in their knowledge of their environment. It also demonstrates the relationships that had been forged between Indians and Europeans prior to the Lewis and Clark expedition.

Drawn first in the snow by Ac ko mok ki, a Blackfeet leader, in February 1801, this map was copied onto paper by Hudson’s Bay Company trader, Peter Fidler.

Ac ko mok ki’s map describes a region of some 200,000 square miles. It is drawn with west at the top of the page (wink!); the double line crossing from left to right represents the Rocky Mountains. It shows two rivers running west from the Rockies, and seventeen rivers flowing east. The Missouri River is represented by the line down the center of the map. Fidler added details regarding the Native American tribal populations in the region.

The Jefferson, Gallatin and Madison Rivers come together just north of Three Forks, Montana to create the Missouri River. This is one of the most beautiful wetlands areas I've ever seen... Its been 10 months since I was out this way. I'll be at TMM headquarters in a week and a half. Yes. While there I gotta try and get over to Pony, Lahood and definitely get a steak at the bar in Willow Creek. Gotta pick up a little stone for Steve from the Jefferson. Smooth behind the bar.... Head into Bozeman and say hello to Amanda & Chris. Maybe head over to Big Sky with Amanda for some R&R.

but there's so much Culture!

This Afternoon...Freezing rain...Snow...Rain with a chance of sleet. Precipitation May be heavy at Times. Snow and sleet accumulation around an inch. Blustery with highs in the lower 30s. Northeast winds 15 to 25 mph with gusts up to 40 mph. Chance of precipitation near 100 percent.

Tonight...Freezing rain...A chance of sleet and rain in the evening...Then a chance of snow after midnight. Total accumulation of 3 to 5 inches. Lows around 18. Northwest winds 10 to 20 mph with gusts up to 45 mph. Chance of precipitation near 100 percent.

Bridgestone RB-2

Got a new 1993 Bridgestone road bike Saturday. Never ridden, just out of the box with fresh grease, new tires, cables, housing, bar tape. It's truly a stunning time capsule. Coming up with a name is gonna be tricky for this little gal. Gonna be a keeper. Hopefully tomorrow night I'll get some numbers from the local bike shop and start fitting her to me. Need new stem and headset, new pedals. Celebrated with a couple Sierra Nevada 2007 Bigfoot Expedition Ales. Very fine, very fine... 9.6% love by volume.

On movies, Catherine Hardwicke is set to direct The Monkey Wrench Gang, a bit of info here. Filming is slated to start in May. Keepin an eye out for these coming up: Seraphim Falls, No Country For Old Men, Into the Wild, 3:10 to Yuma.

unemployment works

more free talk from an older andy earles post, i'm assuming these tips are from gregg turkington...?

**You can use a Uruguayan 10 centismo piece as a U.S. quarter in many candy and cigarette machines. These coins can be obtained cheaply (or if you’re lucky, FREE!) in Uruguay and can really cut your expenses down drastically for candy and cigarettes. Similarly, the Icelandic 5 auran piece (pre-1972) has been known to work in parking meters and some bathroom condom/novelty vending machines. Stock up next time you are in Iceland!

**FREE gasoline. Park in a service station directly over their filler hole. Lift off the lid (you may need special tools for this steal them!) and run down 35 feet of rubber tubing through a large hole you’ll need to cut in the floor of your car ahead of time, then turn on the electric pump which you have installed to feed into your gas tank. All the bastards will ever notice is a parked car full of smiling freaks.

The Welfare Scam: Pretend to be crazy and poor. The red-tape loving bastards don’t make it easy to get this FREE money, but since most of those who really need it are too uneducated and drunk to be able to make sense of Uncle Sam’s bureaucracy, us freaks can use our patience for their endless game playing and form-filling-out to make ourselves wards of the state and let that beautiful silver shine in our pockets on a regular basis.

while panning for gold is still my favorite free money scheme, i'd have to say that seasonal jobs in locales west are by far the most lucrative and productive: job terminates, collect unemployment for 6 months, eat on food stamps, get a new seasonal job at end of 6 months. work half the year at a ski mt or in the middle of nowhere on fed land and spend the other half in the desert (in the middle of nowhere) or whatever else you can think of. but its true, the game-playing and endless forms can wear on you- you gotta use someone's address who is geographically stable and have access to a phone to call in bi-weekly and answer questions about your financial situation and report on how you "go job-hunting all the time but with no luck." all in all though, definitely worth the cash.

homeless in california

excerpt from an article by charlie leduff, posted on north bank fred's site

While the federal welfare overhaul five years ago put single mothers to work, many California counties continue to make payments to capable indigent men. For instance, San Francisco gives $395 a month plus food stamp vouchers. Similarly, Los Angeles gives more than $220 and $135 in food stamps.

The counties' welfare programs are not linked by computer and there is little to stop a person from collecting his benefits in San Francisco, jumping the freight train and making his way to Los Angeles to collect again.

With fake identification, a person can collect welfare perhaps four times a month. The tramp will more likely spend it on crack and booze, since mission food is free.

"These riders are billing the system for tens of millions," said Detective Mike Quakenbush of the Portland, Ore., police, who five years ago hunted down a tramp known as Sidetrack who was convicted of killing four tramps and using their identities to cheat welfare.

"He had upwards of 20 accounts and kept a book to keep it straight," the detective said. "He was whacking guys, then opening welfare accounts across the country in their names. The welfare authorities don't like to check."

ny times review on leduff's new book, US GUYS - The True and Twisted Mind of the American Man

sw travel sites & misc fun movement

most excellent utah travelogue, killer photos w/ panoramia
james kay photos
dels journey
asa hopkins photos
california chaparrel

















photos in this post are from 1st link (oz.net)