With the Blue States in hand, the Democrats have firm
control of 80% of the country's fresh water, over 90%
of our pineapple and lettuce, 92% of all fresh fruit
production, 93% of the artichoke production, 95% of
>America's export quality wines, 90% of all cheese
production, 90% of the high tech industry, most of the
US low-sulfur coal, all living redwoods, sequoias and
condors, all the Ivy and Seven Sister schools, plus
Amherst, Stanford, Berkeley, CalTech and MIT.

We can live simply but well.

The Red States, on the other hand, now have to cope
with 88% of all obese Americans (and their projected
health care cost spike), 92% of all US mosquitoes,
100% of all tornadoes, 90% of all hurricanes, 99% of
all Southern Baptists, 100% of all Televangelists,
Rush Limbaugh, Bob Jones University, Clemson and the University of Georgia.

A high price to pay for controlling the presidency.

Additionally, 38% of those in the Red states believe
Jonah was actually eaten by a whale, 62% believe life
is sacred unless we're discussing the death penalty or
gun laws, 44% believe that evolution is just a theory,
53% that Saddam Hussein was involved in 9/11 and, most
difficult of all to grasp, 61% believe that Bush is a
person of moral conviction!!!
 

Here's some interesting research findings regarding transsexuals (and transgenders by definition).

Transsexuals have, often from childhood onward, the strong feeling of having been born the wrong sex. Their desire to resemble the opposite sex is so strong that they are even willing to undergo major surgery and hormone treatments to achieve this end. This gender-identity problem has been proposed to develop as a result of a disturbed interaction between the developing brain and sex hormones. The search for structures that may be directly related to gender identity, i.e., structures whose anatomy is “female” in genetically male transsexuals, has so far led to our studies of the central nucleus of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BSTc). A female-sized nucleus was found in male-to-female transsexuals. The size of the BSTc was not influenced by sex hormones in adulthood and was independent of sexual orientation. Similar results were obtained when the total number of somatostatin neurons was determined in the BSTc. In the BSTc of one female-to-male transsexual a male volume and somatostatin neuron number was found; (Zhou et al., 1995b; Kruijver et al., 2000). Although the BSTc may be one of many structures involved in the phenomenon of gender identity, these results do support the hypothesis that gender identity develops as a result of an interaction between the developing brain and sex hormones.

(Structural and Functional Sex Differences In the Human Hypothalamus
Dick F. Swaab,*, 1 Wilson C. J. Chung,*, † Frank P. M. Kruijver,* Michel A. Hofman,* and Tatjana A. Ishunina*, ‡ *Graduate School Neurosciences Amsterdam, Netherlands Institute for Brain Research, Meibergdreef 33, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands; †Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts; and ‡Department of Histology And Embryology, Kursk State Medical University, Kursk, Russia Received August 9, 2000; accepted March 1, 2001)

Here's oldest daughter Rachel, standing outside the door of the shop.Next time she's here it will be with Ryan!! ;-)

Gee, what a whirlwind day it was. I sewed some bags, waited on quite a few customers, ran some errands and put up a Human Rights Campaign sticker in my shop. Working with the HRC has now moved to a top priority for me, recognizing that I'm a transgendered person.That's probably enough for this day, got to go to bed and get rested for my racewalking workout in the morning. 

Son Dano at his business; just trying to get this crap to run.

Isaac in the depths! 

Is it a shark? Whew, it's just Isaac and his wetsuit zipper strap.  

Hey Isaac, is it a Fish? 

Rachel and Ryan

Below is my daughter Rachel and soon to be son-in-law Ryan. A very cool couple in every way.

Rachel and Ryan 

Hermon at work 

The Coolest of Artisans

Let me introduce you to Hermon, who is a US Virgin Islands native son. He is a naturalist, as well as an accomplished artisan, hand crafting original carvings in Lignum Vitae for both jewelry and larger art pieces. Hermon, you are the best; thank you for your friendship and art. The Bagman
Hermon on St. John

Sarah and Me at Christmas Cove

This is Sarah and me at Christmas Cove in the the USVI; it was so named by Christopher Columbus in 1493, when he anchored here on Christmas Day. Sarah is my youngest daughter and is embarked on a medical career. I think I'll be making a wedding trip for her also in the foreseeable future. Like Dano would say, "sweet!".
Sarah & me - USVI

The Boys at Sylvan Drive, Bigfork, MT

Here is a really great bunch of guys! I'm so very proud of them.
The Boys

Josh amidst Mountianview clippings

Josh I miss you , dad.
Josh at Sylvan

It was such a fun day.

It was such a fun day this picture was taken; I loved you then and I love you now. It is such a good thing to know we'll see each other again, when time is no more. dad
Josh

Bush is driving me crazy

I can't remember being so upset about the way our country's leadership uses doublespeak to rewrite it's own history. They are using the media as a propaganda tool in a sort of brainwashing of the public. I can't understand why people can be so unthinking and just knee-jerk, sound bite reactive. It really seems that so many folks just don't examine things critically. Some of the most intelligent and thougthful people have quit the Bush administration and talked about the lack of true planning and consensus building. George W. Bush, you are an embarrassment to me as a president.

Cinnamon BAy, north shore USVI

Me at Cinnamon Bay, USVI

Hello

This is a test post to see how things work. More later.