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If Justice Antonin Scalia and I did not appear to share certain tendencies toward dietary mischief, he might join me in some good-natured name-calling and concur that I am, in fact, full of “jiggery-pokery” or at least beans.

But, there being no hippies around, I will have to explain.

Dueling with the blues this morning, I donned my fine Larry Mahan summer hat — “Horseman” model — grabbed a water bottle and hit the trail with thoughts of all the wise stuff I had read and watched on fighting cancer during the last couple of weeks.mesas

“Keep moving,” said the pulmonary expert Donna Wilson, RN, MSN, RRT, in a cancercare.org webcast.

“We recommend a variety of different-colored fruits, vegetables and whole grains because different colors mean different phytochemicals,” said Arlene Provisor, clinical nutrition coordinator at the Oschin Institute, in a Los Angeles Times story headlined, “Battling cancer with exercise, nutrition and mental health.”

It all made great sense. So, what did I unthinkingly do after my spin on the BLM acreage still bordering my house?

Build a bean, cheese and steak burrito so fat it wouldn’t roll over — an injudicious monstrosity of carbohydrates and calories, robed in a white flour tortilla. burrito

Scalia could rightly argue that such food preparation goes beyond “pure applesauce” and destroys my “reputation for clear thinking and sober analysis.”

I’m kicking myself for health care obfuscation. And it’s probably true, as Scalia might say, that the “showy profundities” of my blog “are often profoundly incoherent.”

But I do not mean to suggest that Justice Scalia and I always share the same concerns.

Despite all my “argle-bargle,” he apparently has heartburn and I do not.

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Will Lyng on the mound.

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Will with the trophy

Looks like it was a great day in Helena. Champions, Father’s Day Invitational Tournament, 2015. Congratulations, Will and Helena All Stars. And happy Father’s Day, Matt.

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Helena All Stars, champs, Helena Invitational Tournament, 2015

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All-star supporters: Matt, Hope, Amy and Dale.

What if the president of the United States showed up at the Emanuel AME church service in Charleston on Sunday?

What if we all showed up and prayed for the victims of the shootings Wednesday and an end to the hatred of hundreds of years?

What if we all showed up in Columbia and stood hand-in-hand at the state Capitol to ask that a symbol pernicious to most be taken from the flagpole?

Charleston is another turning point in our time. Facing evil probably never ends. But I believe many will show up.

IMG_0095OK, so we were hiding in the walk-in closet.

But it was one heck of a lightning storm and these things turn Coop into a panting, shivering, heavy-coated, tri-color mass of terrified Australian Shepherd. Probably what turned him into a stray in the first place — before he ended up at the animal shelter, all cut up by what I guessed was barbed wire.

This one sat right on top of us tonight, the latest in many in the 9 years since Coop moved in. A bolt hit close by and I smelled something burnt when I reopened the windows at 11:30 p.m.

It was a little stuffy in there — fortunately, the electricity and the AC were knocked out only for a minute — and there’s no escaping the thunder, but the closet is the only place in this house of big windows and no curtains where we can escape the lightning flashes. Cooper occasionally takes refuge in the adobe fireplace but it was no good tonight. My friend Isabel Sanchez had just sent me a roll of super-hero duck tape — apparently after reading my incisive entry on duck tape earlier in this blog — but even that wasn’t going to get us out of this jam.tape1

I figured the best thing was to take shelter in the closet. I know some dog experts say don’t elevate their fears by doting on them, but Coop calmed a little. At least I got the trembling stopped. Fortunately, I already had a sneak-preview of a piece by my friend Peter Katel called up on my iPad and I read that through the storm as Coop burrowed in by my side.

And, so on to my amateur climate change theories — or maybe just climate weirdness. Anecdotal evidence so far this year: Snakes out a month late after that cool and super-wet May; summer-like clouds and storms starting a month early.

Academics will dispute this. I’m just saying. This is my experience from boots on the ground and butts in the closet.

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