Butch

Butch is the neighbor’s cat. He’s no ‘fraidy cat. I think you’ll agree he’s got good color for hunting in this terrain. Only his pink nose betrays him. And the fact he likes to roll around on his back a lot.
Butch the cat in Redding

After the fire

After fire in Mc Connell Arboretum
They opened the trail back up this morning so I went to see the aftermath of the recent fire. It smelled like burnt weenies, and the ash was still blowing into your eyes in the still-strong (still dangerous) north winds. It looks like most of it burned fast, and not too hot. I expect we’ll see a lot of the oaks return to life. It will be interesting to see the recovery over time. Fire is a natural cycle of events here, which is easy to say when it’s not BURNING TOWARD YOUR HOUSE.

I posted more photos at Flickr HERE
Turtles at Turtle Bay
The local turtles seemed not to mind at all.

One of my favorite bands -Tunng

Tunng. Or an official Tunng site at the link.
Tuung
The first link is to their Myspace page. It’s called Folkltronica by people who like to put music and things in categories. You can listen to their music there. They also have links to their videos on the page. The “Woodcat” video is brilliant. “Bullets” is moving, and I can’t really say why. Check it and see. And hear.

Will Folktronica become a bigger genre? Hope so.

Hey, note the similarity to my photo:
Skip Murphy holds a home
Okay, only remotely similar. I used this image in past real estate marketing materials, but more than one person said it looks “evil” somehow. Another said it looked like the book cover for Twilight! Ugh, maybe I should get a real estate SEO marketing company to do my marketing for me.

City Councilman Unearths Magical Zoning Amulet

ROCHESTER, NY—After years spent poring over mysterious and arcane plat sheets and deciphering long-forgotten building codes, city councilmember Mike LaMere unearthed the mysterious City Zoning Amulet Friday.
From the Onion

Mike LaMere, wearing the Ever-Evaluating Eye of Surr-Vey.

“Behold!” LaMere said, holding aloft the solid-gold amulet, which is emblazoned with the Ever-Evaluating Eye of Surr-Vey, Lord Of Demarcation, He Who Measures And Assesses. “With this sigil, the power of zoning comes. Through me, the power of zoning flows! All will behold my power, and I shall bow to no man when designating matter-of-right developments for major retail and office spaces to a maximum lot occupancy of 75 percent for residential use!”

From the Onion of course.

Fire on a windy day

Fire in redding
I got that call you don’t want to hear at work. It’s a friend. “Hey, there’s a fire, and it looks like it may be near your house.” Sure enough, at about 11:30 and there’s a big fire in the north of Redding. You can get good coverage at Redding.com/scanners and listen to the workers and fire people. It looks like we are not in the path for now, but the wind is scary.
Fire on Aug 26
Looking southeast. Fire is a fact of life (and death) here, so is not to be treated lightly. I make sure the pets are rounded up and we are ready to go. I hope all others are safe. I hope no workers are injured. I always feel a little anxious, when I wake up to a windy day in late summer. This year the oak trees seem under distress everywhere, and are unusually brown for only August. They almost looks like they do in October.

Terrific local video – Where the Health is Peter?

This is a locally produced version of that wildly popular viral video seen on YouTube by zillions. I like it and thought I'd help spread it around as well. Thanks to the News Cafe for providing me the heads-up on it. There's a good story behind this and you can read it by clicking on the link to Food for Thought.

Peter Murphy is the lead, and is not related to me, as far as I know. We are apparently related in spirit however! Good job everyone.

$2500000 what a great deal bomb shelter (red bluff)

I love real estate. You never know what’s next. Who knew that you could get a bomb shelter in Red Bluff for only $2.5m?
bombshelter
Here’s the description:

approx 4,000 sq ft five flights of stairs below the surface of the earth, 2-generators 2-compressors air filtration system, hoist with approx two ton capasity, was built by federal government, 10 acres of land, decontamination room, well, septic, on top of mountain with awesome views of the valley. about 13 minutes from down town red bluff. hellecopter is not included. serious inquiries only.

Too bad about the ironically named “hellecopter.” Anyway, live through the apocalypse in the style to which you have become accustomed. Call me for more details.

New dog.

Erin and her new dog. It looks like a muppet character from Sesame Street! We just need to paint it some pastel color. Say, you ever notice how owners resemble their dogs…?
Erin and her new dog