Your leaking thatched hut during the restoration of a pre-Enlightenment state.

 

Hello, my name is Judas Gutenberg and this is my blaag (pronounced as you would the vomit noise "hyroop-bleuach").



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   raised as human veal
Sunday, December 22 2002

Ray, Nancy, Gretchen, and I took the two dogs Suzy and Sally out to the nearby Ashokan Reservoir this afternoon and walked for awhile along the water's edge as well as on a trail that turned out to be off-limits to regular citizens. Nobody gave us any trouble though.
Since the Ashokan Reservoir is one of several water supplies for New York City, it continues to be under heavy guard 24 hours a day. Various forms of police can be seen at several makeshift headquarters at all the strategic intersections. I imagine that at one time they used to wait here looking hopefully out their windows expecting to see something suspicious happening. There's nothing better than to have your assignment justified. But after all these months of terrorist-free tranquility, it must be difficult for them to stay sharp. We joked that it would probably take a turban-wearing truck driver backing a semi (with a huge skull and crossbones emblazoned on the side) to the shoreline before they'd put down their girlie magazines, grab their M-16s and go to investigate. I noticed that at one of the checkpoints (near the intersection of route 28 and Reservoir Road) a nearby house had a huge flag hanging down one of its sides as an especially over-the-top display of patriotic support. I'm suspicious of anyone sucking patriotic dick that vehemently; they must have something to hide. My suspicion is that they have a basement full of caged white children being raised as human veal.
The reservoir was beautiful today, with the sun shining down and the bluish snow-covered peaks of the Catskills forming a religious postcard backdrop. The dogs had a great time running around back and forth, covering many times more distance than did we humans. On the top of a section of earthen dam we found a number of small dried up puffballs, one of which I "smoked" like a little cigar. As usual, everyone initially assumed them to be poisonous, a legacy of fears their parents instilled back when they were three.
We had lunch at a little hippie deli at the corner of Reservoir and 28 and then hit a couple antique stores where Gretchen bought an antique chicken carrying cage, an ancient ironing board, and a plush chaise lounge.
In the evening Ray and Nancy drove back to New York, off to catch a plane to Austin Texas. They left Suzy in our care. We'll be babysitting her for the next two weeks.
Suzy is, it turns out, an extremely low-maintenance dog. She mostly keeps to her self, preferring to sleep alone on a couch. Her only annoying trait is a tendency to launch into a completely unjustified barking fit. Her barks are both deep and frightening.


From left: Ray, Gretchen and Nancy along the Ashokan Reservoir shoreline, with the Catskills in the background. (Click to enlarge.)


Sally in the driver's seat of Gretchen's Honda.


English Sparrows in a prickly bush outside an antique store at the corner of Reservoir Road and Route 28.


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http://asecular.com/blog.php?021222

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