It is cold. It is very cold. This is the second time in the 27 years I have lived on the 10 Springs Ranch in Alderpoint, that we have had a sustained cold spell. Last time it froze up and blew out all the pipes. I learned my lesson that time. But I forgot it, and this time I have a lot more pipes which look like springs or fountains when the sun hits them. By the end of the week it should be back above freezing during the nights, and then I'll see just how bad things are. So far the irrigation system valves have all blown, but 1. The outdoor shower hot water valve is gone, and that's the same line that goes to the washing machine so no hot water in the washing machine until the shower valve is fixed. We've been leaving faucets on dribbling, and so far to my surprise that has worked.

Still, the trees were beautiful Saturday morning, bare branches coated with ice and frost, and Smiles the dog loves the frozen grass. She runs thru it, then rolls in it, her entire body expressing joy, as if she were at some exotic high-end spa getting the ultimate treatment.
Last night I slipped and fell directly on a pier block which caught me in the ribs - quite painful but I don't think there was any lasting damage. Today I uncovered the hydraulic log splitter and split almost a face cord of wood so my sweetie will be ok next week while I go to the far reaches of the State protecting the wrongly accused. I do think about installing gas heat when the cold waves come - and then joining those Amercans with the $800 a month heating bills, I suppose.

Actually right now we have electric cooking, wood heat, gas hot water, and a real land-line phone as well as the carry-arounds and cells, so we can get through the times when one or another of the systems fails. Power outages are the most frequent problem. But I'm 66, going on 67, how much longer will I be able to lift those logs up for the splitter? (A long time I hope).

I had real deja vu when I saw Bush give his "surge in Iraq" speech. He was talking, but nobody was listening. The polls according to CNN show that there was no bounce for Bush after this speech. The few who liked him and his war before the speech still liked them afterwards, and the many who like neither still did not like either. There seem to be very few undecided people now that Bush's support is down in the 20s.

What it reminded me of was Nixon in his last months. He would give a speech about something and no one paid any attention to him at all. They would ask him about Watergate no matter what he wanted to talk about. Bush is in the same situation except no one wants to ask him about anything. We all just want him to go away, and we're waiting out his term because that might be better for the country than impeaching him.

It was a spooky feeling tho. I had totally forgotten how it felt to see Nixon in the final days. Bush has that same ambience. I tune him out. I listened to the speech, but I was not listening to his reasons or even for his plans, I was listening for the only thing I want to hear from him, and that is a statement that he has realized that his entire approach to the terrorist threat has been wrong and he's ready to do something about it. I have not paid any attention to him for what seems like a couple of years, other than wondering if he was finally going to wake up.

I tune Hillary out, too. I've been waiting for her to take the moral leadership on the war and until she does, I just don't care what she has to say. I don't think I like her, anyway, but politics is not about liking people. I liked Reagan just fine, I just didn't like what he did. I could stand not liking President H. Clinton if she represented things that I do like. Right now she does not. I saw that she "broke with the President" over the war recently, but I think that means she doesn't want to sent 20,000 more troops to be shot at for no purpose. I don't see her leading the charge to get those troops out of Iraq.

So, here's to the nostalgia of having a President who is inconsequential through his own actions.

Well, the iPhone was better than a yawn. In fact I probably would have bought one right on the floor except for two things: they aren't ready and I don't get Cingular service in Humboldt County. Still, it was pretty impressive and the presentation at the Apple booth was marked by outbreaks of applause throughout. The new operating system looks pretty cool, too, and I can use it here at home. I'm ready when Apple is.

Still, I didn't buy a 17" Intel Laptop. The price was a few hundred more than I anticipated and that took the steam out of my urge to add to my Apple collection. I actually gave the hall a once-over and was out by 3. Considering that the 11 a.m. opening was delayed 10 minutes or so, that was pretty quick. I really wanted the portable bar code scanner, which comes with 10 bar codes you can scan, for $200 or so. But without the computer,..... Still, I had a good time. I got iLife 6 at the Apple store a few blocks away from the Moscone Center, and at Macworld I got a weather/map program which does things just like the weather maps on TV. I think the demonstrator was a native Russian speaker. Interesting.

The drive home was unmemorable I guess. I don't remember much about it. I was going to stop at Padrone in Ukiah but it was only 5:30 when I went through. Then I thought about the Purple Thistle (?) or the Mexican place in Willits, but I must have blinked because I missed them, so I went to the Mateel Cafe in Redway for dinner. As usual I really liked it. Always an internal struggle between the interesting and healthy salads and the really good steaks. Pizza is just off the board for me these days. I ended up with a Merlot, Quesida, creme brulee, decaf and a satisfied mind as well as an satisfied appetite.

Macworld is happening and I squeezed out a day to go to SF and see about a new Mac Intel laptop and whatever else is interesting. Mapquest said it was a 4 hr + drive, but clearly Mapquest has never driven through Santa Rosa on US 101. I left early because I needed to visit someone in the Low Gap jail, which takes a long time. They are pleasant enough about it, and I got to visit my client in the law library which beats those attorney rooms in the Humboldt County jail which are too echoing for my taste. But it took about 15 minutes from the time they let me into the facility until someone came to see who I wanted to see - in Humboldt you start with the answer to that question and you can start meeting within 5 minutes of entering the jail. But knock off an hour for Low Gap and it still took me well over 5 hours to get to the Andrews Hotel on Post Street in downtown SF - and city traffic was not slow.

My neighbor and I always stay at the Andrews when we're in the city. Its charming but not kitschy. The rooms are a bit small compared with motel rooms, but, hey, i got a bathtub and high speed internet. I'm paying $135 once all the taxes are included, and about $25 more to park the car for 24 hours. The hotel will hold my luggage for me when I check out tomorrow morning so I can spend the day at Macworld and pick everything up in the evening. I could have paid less if I had booked earlier, but my schedule is difficult to predict and it appeared that I would be in trial this week instead of in SF today.

In the block of Post Street where the Andrews is there is a crepe house, a Japanese restaurant, and 3 Thai places. You get a free glass of wine from the Italian restaurant attached to the hotel, and its very tempting to eat there too - I mean you're already there and you have your wine so why not sit at a table and glance at a menu. To avoid temptation I took my wine into the hotel lobby and read the hotel copy of todays NY Times whist I sipped it. Both were good.

Then I went out. I expected to eat at the Japanese place. I like Japanese food, and I recall what a pleasure it was to find a Japanese place in Hong Kong. But the Thai Noodle place menu had beef stew noodles on it, and so I went in and soon had beef stew noodles before me. A huge bowl for about 6 bucks. Add a Thai tea, and I was in heaven. I had mango ice cream served with a few raisins and some nuts. $15 with the tip. Read the Chronicle with its teaser piece about the things to expect at MacWorld. Will Jobs announce the ipod telephone or something like that. Yawn.

Grabbed a cab and off to the Metreon theater at 4th st to catch the 7:50 pm showing of Curse of the Yellow Crysamthium, or some similar name. The Metreon is an enclosed world with shops, about a dozen movies at any one time, and all shiny new. Reminded me of the shopping mall in Beijing, except there were more people in SF.

The movie was incredible. I love these new Chinese movies. Crouching Tiger, House of Daggers (or whatever - I don't recall the titles well, but the movies are unforgettable). They really give you spectacle in a way Hollywood can't match. Hollywood just makes bigger explosions, the Chinese give you assassins leaping from the tops of giant bamboo groves (not in this movie, by the way - these guys leap from cliffs and things). I recommend Curse, highly. Cab $6 (expensive for what amounted to a 15 minute walk), flick $8.50 senior price, popcorn $4 for a small. Movie, priceless.

I walked back to the hotel, with some apprehension. For one thing my mental map of SF is mainly gaps and blank spaces and the city is laid out on two grids which meet at a 45 degree angle at Market St. The Andrews hotel is in one grid, the Metreon in the other. For another thing, I don't "know" the city now. Which areas are dangerous? I don't know how to size up the people I see on the street at night. Dangerous, nuisance, just out for a walk? I bought a copy of the Street Sheet, as I always do. I recommend it to you as well. it is a newspaper that homeless people sell for $1 instead of panhandling you. They give you something, you give them something. Its more wholesome than charity. Its business, an exchange of values, the perfect capitalist answer to the situation. Its an interesting read, also.

So, 15 minutes to get home to the Andrews, with my Street Sheet, and no problems whatever. Interesting mix of the wealthy and the poor in this part of the city. My impression is that the wealthy section is growing and the poor section shrinking but I don't get here often enough to be sure.

And, so to bed.

The route from Weaverville to Eureka, where my next case was, is 299. I drove it in fog and light rain and it really had some great scenic moments. I don't recall it being so impressive in the sunlight but I should check my old photo log and see.

Between Eureka and Garberville, which is where I turn off for Alderpoint, the most interesting spot is where the "leaner" redwood tilts over the highway. I saw an article recently in which Caltrans said "no problem" they've got an eye on it and the tilt is not increasing. Hope they're right. For southbound lovers of the beauties of nature there is a spot as you approach Garberville where a large rock in the South Fork of the Eel River makes great scenery when the river is low. Last time I drove by it the river was up so high the rock was covered, so it may be late spring before this scene comes into its own. Its on the right hand side as the road goes towards a left hand curve about 6 miles north of town, more or less. I notice that there are quite a few spots that are really wonderful at one moment of the day, and then look just dull if you come back to see them. There is a meadow just on the Alderpoint side of the mountain on the Alderpoint Road that blooms for what seems like about 4 hours a year. During that time it is a place of rare beauty. But I saw it one morning and on the way home that evening stopped to take a picture but I was too late, it was all over.

Drove to Fairfield for a continuing education for lawyers seminar on medical marijuana law. I went down 101 and, accidentally, across the Richmond Bridge. (I meant to cross on Rt 37 but somehow missed it). Nothing good to offer about the industrial section, or Rt 80 except that for us country folk 4 lanes of rapid traffic going the same way is a bit scary. The route home was through Clear Lake on 20. Much better. There's a Mexican restaurant in Willits on the East side of 101 towards the north end of town. Its just a hole in the wall, but the food is excellent. I got a bit cold everytime someone opened the door and came in. Carnitas. Yum.