homesteading - The Woodsplitter from Heaven

"This is all I want for Christmas..."

The Palax Power 100s is a firewood processor designed for professional use. It includes several unique proprietary features that make it the most efficient, productive and reliable machine of its size for processing big trees. The robust Palax Power 100s is equipped with a 39.3 in overhead hard-metal blade, a thrust force of 35,300 lbs and fully hydraulic control. The machine is at its best when processing hardwood. The maximum tree diameter is 15.7 in. For more information go to www.hakmet.com

music - We Speak no Americano

original work - Cabin Sanctuary

other voices - Herman Melville

"Familiarity with danger makes a brave man braver but less daring"

"It is better to sleep with a sober cannibal than a drunken Christian"

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IMAGE CREDIT: Rockwell Kent

art + artists - Jarvis Rockwell

The visual world enlivened by one of the sons of Norman Rockwell, is quite apart another world indeed.

everyday life

     Tuesday evening, while taking one of my favorite long short cuts home [on Bierrun Road ~ which is comprised of many sharp twists and turns] a sleek black Lexus-type car comes veering around a blind curve and in the middle of the road. A stern-faced nattily dressed woman in the car glares at me. She is clearly not accustomed to being inconvenienced. Quickly I swerved over to the right. Before I have a chance to do anything else, I hear a loud "Pop" and know immediately that I have one big blow-out flat as the tire makes contact with a jagged rock.
     In the hundred plus feet that I have to drive in order to pull over [luck that; other parts of the road are not so generous] my mind conjures all sorts of swear words and foul thoughts interlaced with terms like "Yuppie Scum" and the "B" word. What you see below is how the woman "gifted" my truck.

I got out intent on fixing the tire, hoping the rain promised doesn't start too soon. "Call Triple A!" is the advice from home. I don't want to but when I can't get the spare tire cable to lower [WD-40 wasn't cutting it] I decide why not.
     By the time the guy from the tow service arrives, at least I've got the front tire almost off. A pleasant enough feller ~ a strapping, stalwart crew-cut blond, with a workman's tan, sporting prison tattoos while wearing designer glasses ~ he had an engaging demeanor, and set about to work at loosening the stuck cable with a good pry bar and sinew.
     He and I review the problem here. I've had the truck over three years, never had to use the spare, the bolt that holds the cable into place must have oxidized together ~ in short, they rusted.
     Now they's stuck together and can't come apart, like two dogs.
     Two dogs?
     Right. Two dogs.
     Uh huh. I replied.
     Old timer locals drove by, slowing down, offering assists or good will; while those who could have been the lady's friends rolled up their windows when they passed us.
     After over half an hour the cable still won't move. The Triple A guy says 'I'm gonna have to call the flatbed'. I quickly calculate how much more it'll cost to bring a flatbed up a narrow windy back dirt road plus extra tow miles I'm not covered for. I ponder for a minute and says aloud, 'Even worst now is not being able to get to the packy before it closes', then I grit my teeth and tell him, let's try this one more time.
     Both of us grunt and tug at the tire beneath the truck, when suddenly ~ "clunk" the rusted cable bolt gives way. We can change the tire at last.
     I do make it to the packy, but with minutes to spare. But I still get home too late.
     Thanks lady.

fitful wanderings

 • Every now and again, vestiges of my college years awaken. Seeing the limestone and marble quarries just south of North Adams stirred this sudden interest Mt. Greylock's geology as well as that of the Natural Bridge to the north.
 • Speaking of geology the question was asked "What kind of well is an Artesian?" One that does not require a pump for the water to continue to flow. If your lights dim when the water pump cuts on, your well is probably not Artesian.
 • Word searches don't have to take a lot of time. Start with One Look then fine tune the query with, say, a thesaurus. A quick way to find a synonym for a word. I find this whole process appealing.
 • While wandering about North Adams, I meet Anna Saldo-Burke and we talk about Green Mittens Covered Her Ears, a slim new book about a talented artist, Jessica Park who experiences autism. I like that the book is not a clinical treatise. It's told from a perspective of someone who knew her. While the term "disability" is mentioned, the book highlights how so-called regular folks have to learn to communicate differently with someone else who uses their own personal language; effectively calling into question which party is disabled.
 • One thing I look forward to when coming to North Adams is picking up some cheeses made by The Farmstead at Mine Creek, in Charlemont. They produce a pungent, buttery cheese, Neige en Été (“Snow in Summer”), that in comparison, makes the texture of commercial brie cheeses seem like a hard cheddar. This trip, I could not find any. Selected some of their Jersey Maid Reblochon instead.
 • The ride up was partly through heavily pouring rains but the sky cleared up at night to give prominence to the waxing moon. Saturday 26th of June is the full moon, with all it's resplendent glory. For more about the moon and it's phases, visit Moon Phases. This full moon is going to part of a lunar eclipse; for those who follow such phenomena, this is symbolic for change in one's life. My prayers for all is that those shanges, whatever they are, prove to be beneficial.

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IMAGE CREDITS TO: 1- Strata cross section for Artesian well, Wikipedia.org; 2- Goat Rising's Products page

travel - north adams, ma

I'll be here tonight, on Main Street, in North Adams, Massachusetts, celebrating a gala opening of galleries.

One of the galleries, Berkshire Artist's Colony at 107 Main Street, has just under a dozen of my works on exhibit. ...and I may (or may not, still in negotiation) be installing a new conceptual art piece, "Angst and Anxiety", during the opening tonight.

The celebration is to open eleven new galleries, and 14 new exhibitions. The fete will put a special polish on all that is already there! If you haven't been there, North Adams is a great place to join in on a celebration. The town has been written up in New York/Time Out for their lively atmosphere. Trip Advisor has lots of reviews about the town and it's environs. Here's a list of June 2010 events in town.

After ~ or even during ~ the festivities, I may have a glass of wine

The story to the pickled wine is that I offered someone else a sample of my sandwich, holding the plate above the table; the pickle fell off the plate in a somersault, and landed right on the edge of the glass. We didn't dip it.

original work - Paris Metro Transfer Station

noir comedy - Sorority Girls from Hell

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WITH ...(ummm)... THANKS TO: 1- Nightmare Hall who found this somewhere on You Tube

harm reduction - Restraint + Seclusion Training

For those of you new to this weblog, I work at a large psychiatric inpatient facility.

A couple of years ago the facility where I work established a goal to eliminate the use of mechanical restraint and seclusion.
     Although this effort was first met with opposition, and there were a significant number of direct service staff who fearfully argued that such an approach would result in more assaults and injuries, in fact, the opposite occurred. Statistics show that as restraint interventions became less frequent, the number of injuries and assaults went down. Another thing that was done [thanks, in part due to mandates from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services] was to dramatically limit the length of time that a person could legally be placed in mechanical restraints.
     Perhaps most important, the values that provided the foundation behind the move to eliminate mechanical restraints are based on the premise that people with long term "chronic mental illnesses" often can and do recover; if the treaters would but recognize this truth.
     As these values translate into organizational policy [and clinical practice], the state's Department of Mental Health's training manual on "Safe Recovery Orientated Environments", teaches the following:

Safe recovery orientated environments have several essential cultural characteristics. Our focus is on these three:
• Risks are continuously prevented and managed to provide the safest environment possible.
• Care is customized to the individual and is focused on fostering recovery – our focus today is on helping people self regulate dangerous behavior.
• All people are treated with respect and dignity. As such, the use of R/S imposed as a means of coercion, discipline, convenience, or retaliation by staff is not permissible. Instead, everyone works together to find paths to recovery.

“The best way for you to BE safe is to help your patients FEEL safe”.

     Translating these points into everyday clinical protocols is a dramatic remove from the conventional wisdom practiced at most psychiatric facilities. Instead, industry standards are more often based on the flawed teachings of Dr. Benjamin Rush, who, in 1813 published a treatise entitled Medical Inquiries and Observations Upon the Diseases of the Mind, indicating his recommended treatment for "the Mad."

...if all the means that have been mentioned should prove ineffectual to establish a government over deranged patients, recourse should be had to certain modes of coercion:
   1- confinement by means of a straight waistcoast or of a chair...
   2- privation of their customary pleasant food;
   3- pouring cold water under their coatsleeves, so that it may descend into the armpits and down the trunk of the body;
   4- the shower bath continued for 15 to 20 minutes.
   If all these modes of punishment should fail in their intended effects, it would be proper to resort to the fear of death. - By the proper application of these mild and terrifying modes of punishment chains will seldom, and the whip, never, be required to govern mad people." page 181 [the chair shown just to the right is what Rush had patented as his "tranquilizer chair"]

     Rush is widely regarded as "the father of modern psychiatry". His writings first codified his beliefs almost 200 years ago. His premise was that forced, brutal and coercive treatments were what worked best. Even now what continues to pass for inpatient psychiatric care goes back to that, and many still [who work with "the MAD"] do not seem to question Rush's opinions since the day he penned them.
     Although there is still a coercive tone to the place, in the past decade where I work has changed dramatically. Many staff, if they do not actually embrace these new values, recognize that they are expected to comply with their enactment. And there still remain some who yearn for the "good old days" when they could tie down people for days at a time without any oversight or official complaint. That still has to change ~ not just where I work, but throughout the "system". More sobering, the place where I work is just one of hundreds [thousands?] such facilities across the continent.
     While progress is slowly being made on eliminating mechanical restraints, there is still scant consideration regarding the widespread use of chemical restraints that are psychiatric medications.
     Virtually nothing is done about treatment-induced ailments such as: learned helplessness, clinically encouraged self-absorption or the disdain for self-determination. There are also the traumatizing effects of living with the impacts of cumulative institutionally induced emotional and psychological manipulation and abuse; of being constantly treated and regarded as a less-then-normal patient/person. All these have bearing on a person's ability to get to that state of "recovery".
     And I'm not even going to begin to address the total lack of clinical interest in seeking non-harmful interventions that are outside the mainstream, nor the aversion to spiritual quest paths as a means of healing one's self.
     Administrators - both in-state and elsewhere, boast we are among the best of the lot. They should not yet rest upon their laurels. And for the "patients" in the other places? We - and society - still has a long, long way to go before truly becoming coercion free.

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COMMENTARY SITES ON THE STATE OF THE MENTAL ILLNESS INDUSTRY: 1- Beyond Meds; 2- The Standard Review / Diversity Rules; 3- The Icarus Project
COMMENTARIES ON MIND/SOCIAL CONTROL: Are your thoughts your own? Turn off the TV Set!; Richard Gosden's Coercive psychiatry, human rights and public participation [first published in 1999, ever bit as relevant today.
IMAGE INFO: Dr. Benjamin Rush's "Tranquiliser Chair." Rush, ironically, was one of the signatories of the US Declaration of Independence; Pillhead found online some time ago; source unknown

travel - New York City

Last week's sojourn into NYC was both enlightening and fun. Got some work done and some touristing too. It provided a clear message for me that I certainly would not want to live there; too hectic ...frenetic ...paranoid. No way do I want to work in a building that requires a hand scan before entry; yet this seemed commonplace in the office towers. But here's some views of - and from - one of those towers.

The spike jutting into the sky is the top of the Empire State Building

The trip was not all about buildngs

music - All the Wrinkled Ladies

Somehow, I like this version a hundred times more than Beyonce's "Single Ladies" video.
Heck! I like this version with Justin Timberlake better, too!