Harold Carr 10 2004

I had a heart procedure - a PFO closure

A year and a half ago I discovered a congenital heart condition - a Patent Foramen Ovale - a channel between one's right and left atrium. Yesterday I had it closed. They put a device in my heart and I was at home relaxing on my porch by afternoon! People with PFOs are at higher risk for stroke. If you would like to know more, click on the pictures below for diagrams, a picture of the closure device and information on PFO.

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blogging elections viz open-source: a lie is a bug

In open-source software you have many eyes examining code, adding features, finding and fixing bugs. Likewise, this election year, you have many bloggers examining the candidate's statements for truth and contradictions. In this medium

a lie is a bug

. In this medium, fixing a bug means exposing the lie "swiftly" and repeatedly. E.g., Cheney's claim not to have met Edwards before the debate. (Cheney's best line of the night, unfortunately - for him - not true, like so much else from this administration.)

Suni Tiko Canelo Cervino Carr

We got up today, festival over. We ate at the Burr Trail Grill. Gibbs Smith joined us while we were waiting for our food. He shared a story of his first time traveling to Boulder, Utah in a pink Thunderbird. After the story he went next door where he and Rollean we laying sod.

After breakfast we drove to Robert, Donna and Amber's house just off the Burr Trail to pick up our new puppy: a 7-week-old male Siberian Husky who we have named "Suni Tiko Canelo Cervino Carr". Of course we call him "Suni." "Tiko" is the masculine form of "Tika" the name of our 12-year-old wolf back home. "Canelo" means "cinnamon tree" in Spanish. And "Cervino" and "Carr" from our last names.

Suni was nervous and shy driving home. We stopped while driving over Boulder Mountain to give him some time walking. Then we stopped in Torrey at the Robber's Roost Bookstore to get some coffee for the drive home. Charlotte and Phillip were already there playing with their new cat outside. They feel in love with a kitten that lived in the Circle Cliff Motel when we stayed in Boulder. So they are returning with a kitten and we are returning with a puppy.

We got back to Salt Lake around 10pm. Flavia dropped me off at Leslie's to pick up Tika. I walked with Tika up to Lindsey Gardens where Flavia drove to and waited with Suni outside. That way Tika and Suni could meet on neutral grounds. Even though Suni had been hiding his face the entire drive home, when Tika came near he barked and lunged at Tika then ran back between Flavia's feet. So Tika and I walked the rest of the way home and we meet again in our backyard. They eventually got used to each other and spent the first night together on our back porch. They are becoming buddies.

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Wekwomteks at Everett Ruess Days

I performed my wekwomteks sequence of poems from memory with bass accompaniment at 2pm today at Everett Ruess Days. All the blue haiku members attended along with Alex Caldiero and Larry Harper and some of my relatives who drove here from Provo and Moab. I had hoped to do the performance outside but it started to sprinkle just as I was about to start. My bass doesn't take too well to water so I did wekwomteks in a room in the Escalante City Hall. They also used this room to show Hal Cannon's Why The Cowboy Sings and Diane Orr's Lost Forever Everett Ruess - so the windows were blacked out with cardboard. The only lights were fluorescent - not particularly conducive to poetry celebrating the wilderness. I asked that the front lights be turned off with the only lighting coming from a row of lights in the back. So the pictures are dim, but it felt better this way.

Gibbs Smith was there. Dana Robinson dropped in for a moment. I was hoping Harriet would hear wekwomteks, but she was busy with the Plein Air exhibit. Also, Jill and David were not able to make it. But wekwomteks seemed to be well received by those who were there. I am certainly glad I got an opportunity to perform in such an appropriate venue.

I ended with an improvised bass solo. I was surprised that my fingers were a bit cold when I started so some of the ideas I had in my head just didn't work. I had to find new territory on the spot. I wish I had a recording - I liked how it turned out.

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Alex Caldiero at Kiva Koffeehouse

After wekwomteks we stayed to hear the beginning of a poetry slam. We couldn't stay long because we needed to be at the Escalante High School Auditorium for a sound check for our evening blue haiku performance.

After the sound check we drove back north to the Kiva Koffeehouse to hear Alex Caldiero, word shaker and polyartist, make sound (i.e., perform his poetry).

Larry Harper opened on auto-harp, reminding us that Lake Powell is a reservoir, not a lake. Alex then made sounds on bells (Iwanttogowheresoundsgoeswhenthebellstopsringing), bones, jaws harp and voice. He paced the room, spoke from the floor and generally kept us on the edge of our seats in wonder.

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blue haiku at Everett Ruess Days

After Alex's performance we a small dinner at the Kiva Koffeehouse. We then went to the Dutch Oven Dinner at the Wild West Retreat. We enjoyed good food and conversation with Ken Sanders, Diane Orr, Alex Caldiero, Larry Harper and many others. I was good to spend time with other participants.

Then we headed to the Escalante High School Auditorium to see the awards for the Plein Air art. After the awards we (blue haiku) played two long sets. The night before, when the New Galoots played in the auditorium, the attendance was not great due to a volleyball competition that many students and there parents attended in the next county. We lucked out with no competition and played to a well-filled house.

We had great sound provided by Michael Griffin of Cedar City. His father, a cowboy and painter assisted him. I don't have any pictures of our concert to post since I was playing. Hopefully someone will send us some of the pictures they took.

2004-12-07 update: JR (Larry Harper's son) sent some pictures he took (under severe lighting conditions):

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Exquisite Corpse Campfire

After our concert we left the auditorium around midnight. We had a small caravan north to mile post 71 where Ken Sanders, Alex Caldiero, Larry Harper and others where camping out. We turned off the highway and drove a ways on a dirt road until we spotted some cars parked in the juniper.

Alex did an impromptu performance around the campfire. Then we started up a kind of exquisite corpse each of us sitting around the campfire taking turns remembering or improvising a poem, sound, speech or music. Flavia and I stayed until 3am. We hear that a number of people kept it going until sunrise.

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Upper Calf Creek

cock's crow keeps me from sleep
kicks the dream away
says   calve creek is waiting

the 1st time I came here was with Craig
now I'm on the trail alone       with him
in the mystery

every time I see a sea of sage
there he is        dangerous
to recall while hiking

not like last time   cairns mark the way
not like last time   he's gone
but the falls remain & I'm alive
surrounded by red rock & water
soon to speak with friends

walking   listening  breathing in wonder

returning     skin to the wind
& the morning sun
retracing our steps
looking for a sign
and there it is - piled one-by-one
on top of the other - millions of years of rock
of the past made present
tomorrow waiting patiently to become part of it
seemingly unending time    to breathe    to see
to say grace
gracious   grateful

my new mantra  - gracious grateful grace

walking lightly
disappearing in the dawn
like the legend

but only in song
for now   - with luck
many much more to say & sing & breathe

for now
eat the apple from my pack
as simple as that

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Everett Ruess Days Friday events

After my early morning solo hike to upper Calf Creek falls Flavia and I drove to Escalante (what a drive!) to enjoy our first full day and evening of Everett Ruess Days events. Hal Cannon presented his HDVD version of Why The Cowboy Sings. He followed that by singing and playing some tunes from the old West. Charlotte and Phillip (blue haiku members) joined him for a couple of tunes.

I finally met Harriet Priska, one of the festival's organizers. She is the one who arranged for me to perform my wekwomteks poems.

Dana Robinson sang outside on a trailer/stage - trading songs with a relative of Everett's who read some of Everett's writings. While enjoying the text and music we saw David and Jill and their puppy again. Flavia feel in love with their puppy. They told us its brother was still available. Flavia immediately called the breeders and arranged for us to see the other puppy tomorrow.

There was an exhibit hall set up with crafts, paintings and books. Ken Sanders was there exhibiting and selling books of the West. He had an original signed Everett Ruess print for $3500.

Logan and Angie Hebner and family showed up from Springdale. We all got together for dinner before the evening show: The New Galoots, who played a variety of Country, Jazz and Rock. The New Galoots are musician friends of mine since the early 70s - Mark Chaney, Wayne Christainsen and Tulley Cathey. Mark and Wayne stayed in the room next to ours in Boulder. After the gig we hung in their room exchanging old war stories of bad gigs. (Interestingly, Logan, a guitarist, has been a member of various incarnations of both the New Galoots and blue haiku.

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