I retired quite a number of posts from the blog today. Politics, politics, politics, it seemed that the blog was becoming all about politics, and politics tends to be a negative thing. Conflict is the very nature of politics.

Pipes though are about pleasure, and a space such as this should have plenty of pleasure. My whim this fine morning is that we should have more pleasure, more billowing clouds of latikia. I do so enjoy indulging my whims, and today is no different.

Perhaps the politics will return, when I've had enough pleasure.

Posted by Cameron at 11:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

WashBucket bills itself as "a non-partisan, daily roundup of Washington State public policy, political news & events."

It was launched with this year's legislative session and is becoming a great resource for following the twists and turns of Washington State government.

Washbucket.net

Posted by Cameron at 8:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've started reading The Jefferson Bible, that President's attempt to separate facts from fictions within the New Testament. It is I think an important work as was recognized by the fact that it was given to all new members of Congress for generations.

I believe that a critical reading of the texts we take to be revealed is important, and we are lucky to have so worthy a guide as Mr. Jefferson take us through the Gospels.

Posted by Cameron at 7:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yesterday was the annual Seattle Pipe Club Dinner and Auction. It once again proved itself to be the finest gentleman's event anywhere. I'll post details about the dinner at a future date, but today would like to talk about my wonderful new Senlar pipe.

The pipe was donated to the club by our guest speaker Mr. Tony Soderman, and as luck would have it Mr. Soderman included a newspaper article about Senlar pipes and their maker Wally Larsen as I had no knowledge of the brand or maker.

It is a Canadian shape, quite large with a shank over four inches long. Deeply and well rusticated in a tree bark pattern. Quite beautiful and obviously well made, I look forward to seeing how it smokes.

I did search out Senlar Pipes on Pipedia today, hoping for more information than could be gleaned from the newspaper article, but alas apparently my ignorance of Senlar is fairly widespread as there was virtually no information there. In an attempt to help fill this lack of knowledge I gathered some information from the article and placed it into Pipedia. I'm reprinting it here:

Senlar Pipes were made in Minnesota by pipe maker Wally Larsen who inverted his last name LAR SEN to come up with SEN LAR. The Saint Paul Pioneer Press nicknamed Larsen "The Great Dane Of The Pipe World" in 1973. Larsen's pipes were made in the basement of his Minnetonka home, with pipes selling in 1973 for as much as $75. Larsen learned the pipe making craft in the 1940's when an established pipe maker moved into the home next door. After observing this craftsman work for three years Larsen decided to make a pipe for himself. That first pipe got him some attention from fellow smokers and he sold his next nine before being able to keep another for himself.

Larsen sought to make Senlar pipes "Look like a tree." Which he accomplished by using a whirling drill to carve a distinctive bark like finish on the pipe. It is a finish seen on most Senlars and Larsen regarded it as a sort of trademark.

Posted by Cameron at 4:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

A vintage Airstream can be a truly wonderful thing to buy. They are strong, reliable, always in style, and by buying an older unit a great deal of money can be saved over new.

One must though, shop with care, and remember that buyer beware.

I arrived back at the Airstream a day or two ago to find a note attached to the door. It was from a woman named Susan, informing me that she had just purchased a vintage Airstream, and needed the name of a repair guy fast.

I called her with the contact information for my guy, and discussed the trouble she was having with her Airstream.

It seems that she recently purchased the trailer, and had been assured by the previous owner that it was free of leaks. She did notice some staining from a previous leak, but the owner assured her that he had fixed it and that it leaked no more.

Of course, she purchased it out of covered storage.

To make a long story short, she bought it, it rained, and the leak was right where the previous owner said it wasn't. Now she has repair bills on top of what was likely a substantial purchase price, and the repair must be made quickly before the floor begins to rot.

Ronald Reagan said 'Trust But Verify' when referring to nuclear disarmament, but when buying an older Airstream it is likely best to stick with the Verify, and leave the Trust to someone else.

Posted by Cameron at 6:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A friend delivered a most wonderful gift to me today. A massive old brass spittoon!

A bit of American history that perhaps every man needs, especially given the likely reaction it will garner from the women in our lives. It is I think necessary to add a bit of masculinity to ones house and nothing says nasty man like a big brass spittoon.

Mrs. Bailey ought to be impressed when it arrives home on Friday. Alas though, she will likely relegate it to my office.

Posted by Cameron at 6:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Wally Byam Caravan Club International (WBCCI) is the club for owners of Airstream brand travel trailers. Unfortunately even though there are more Airstreams on the road today than at any other time in history, the club is shrinking, and doing so at an alarming rate.

Last year the International Board of Trustees created a marketing committee in an effort to help stop our declining numbers and they appointed me to it.

I think that our committee did good work and created a solid plan. It certainly seemed to be well received by the membership. Regrettably though the plan was not adopted, apparently due to a lack of funding for it.

Out of that process I came to learn that perception seems to be the largest stumbling block our club has. The majority of Airstream owners perceive it in a negative light, and if it is to grow again that perception will have to be turned around.

This problem of perception was made all too clear to me tonight.

I've always been a bit of a primadonna, I enjoy being treated exceptionally well, and I make it a point to do business with people who do so. When I'm in Olympia that means that I will drive a bit out of my way, and pay a bit too much, when I need to fuel up my truck. The folks who own the station I frequent understand that I am a very good customer and take steps to ensure that I am treated very well.

Tonight I had just finished fueling and was chatting with the daughter of the station's owners when she asked me where I lived while in Olympia. I explained that I stayed in my Airstream, up on the top of the hill.

She asked some more details, so I gave her the street name and told her that it was in an RV park.

"WBCCI?" She asked. "I drive that way to work."

I answered yes, and she got a funny look on her face.

"But those are all old people." She said.

She asked how old I was and on hearing the answer assured me that I didn't belong there because I was way too young.

I've spent a great many nights, in excess of 200 in this WBCCI Park over the past three years. We are not all over the hill.

Alas though, the perception is that we are. It is perceived that we have little or nothing of value for those who are now middle aged or even younger.

People who should be joining our club think that we just sit here hiding behind our locked gate and razor wire. It isn't true, but it is what they perceive.

I think the perception is there because we do have that locked gate, we do have that wire, and we make everything difficult.

It's difficult to join the WBCCI; it's difficult to understand the traditions of the club. It was even difficult for me to convince the officers of this park that my guests should be allowed to spend a few days in their motor home when the request was made a couple of weeks ago.

If we are to overcome this perception, if we are to grow as a club, we have to make the WBCCI seem inviting and easy. I fear though that may be a task too hard.

Posted by Cameron at 7:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Thank you Massachusetts

For giving us hope

That it's morning again

In America

Ronald Reagan, It's Morning Again; In America

Posted by Cameron at 6:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today some of the Olympia ladies and I were discussing jealousy. That discussion led to a contemplation of monogamy, something about which I think the vast majority of us may be lying to ourselves.

Monogamy is an easy word with a plain meaning. It simply means that one only has a single sexual partner. The majority of us consider ourselves to be monogamous, and certainly the vast majority of us hold up monogamy as an extremely high and important ideal.

I think however that if we are to truly think about monogamy, we must be honest with ourselves. Are we truly monogamous, or is it a fiction about ourselves that we tell ourselves?

Most people blissfully engage in premarital sex, a huge percentage of people have affairs, and the percentage of divorced people is off the charts it seems. None of this is monogamy. We can lie to ourselves and tell ourselves that it is monogamy, but that doesn't make it so. If we are honest we must admit that it is serial monogamy. Engaging in sexual contact with only a single partner at a time.

Why then, if so very few people actually practice monogamy do we consider it to be such an important way to live?

Do we truly believe that one other individual can possibly meet all of our mental, emotional, and physical needs for the rest of our life? Do we truly believe that we can do that for another? Is not this unrealistic expectation the true cause of so many divorces in our society?

I don't know the correct answer to these questions, but I do know that they are worth asking. I do know that we should at least acknowledge the fact that we might all be happier and have a more stable society if we stopped trying to live up to an ideal that so few people can actually achieve, and if we stopped expecting our partners to do so as well.

'Deep, bat-shit, crazy, emotional, passion' is often mistaken for love. It's not, but it sure feels great when we experience it with a new partner. That's the thing though; we only get to experience that craziness with someone new. It fades with time, and if we are lucky love remains. We do though confuse that crazy passion with love, and when it fades we convince ourselves that our love has gone. Would it not be possible for humans to love one and experience that crazy passion with another? Again, I can't claim to know, but it is worth asking.

What I do know is where jealousy comes from. Jealousy comes from a mistaken view that romance is a zero-sum proposition. We irrationally believe that if our partner loves another, he or she will love us less. This is a shockingly strong and universal impulse, but is clearly proven wrong by the children that surround us. Does a mother loose her love for her first born when the second child comes along? Of course not. Her love expands to encompass them both. If we were all able to realize that if our partner loved another that fact did not necessarily cheapen or remove his or her love for us, perhaps we would be able to overcome feelings of jealousy and the negative impacts such feelings have upon our lives.

Can we overcome those feelings? Can we think about love rationally? Again, I don't know, but I do know that the questions are worth asking.

As a society we are failing at the marriage game. The majority of marriages do not last. Perhaps we need to rethink marriage, rethink monogamy. Create new ideals that the vast majority of people can actually live up to.

Our generation will not do this, but perhaps future generations will.

Posted by Cameron at 6:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I would like to dispel two myths about state legislators. Certainly we all have many things to criticize our legislators over, but our criticism should at least be fair and these two myths crop up again and again.

The first is that our legislators don't work hard, an assertion I know to be completely false. The specific fellow I work for left his house at 6:00am this morning to travel to his office. He is scheduled to be there until 9:00 tonight. This is on a State and National holiday.

The second is even more prevalent, the notion that our legislators are overpaid. I believe that currently Washington Legislators make somewhere in the neighborhood of $32,000 per year. Their total compensation also includes expense moneys with which to maintain a local office, and per diem while they are in Olympia. Both of these amounts have been cut over the past couple of years. For this $32,000 they are expected by their constituents to work every day in Olympia while the legislature is in session, and attend meetings in their local districts everyday it is not. The legislature is looked upon as a part time job, but I don't know of a single good legislator who does not work it a good deal more than a full time job.

I must say that I find it rather offensive when people complain to me about the hundreds of thousands of supposed dollars our legislators make each year, when in fact the truth is that their salaries are so low as to make it extremely difficult to make ends meet.

It seems to me that instead of clamoring for our legislators to make even less, constituencies should be clamoring to see to it that their legislators are paid better. We cannot get the very best people of our state to serve as legislators if we are unwilling to fairly compensate their efforts.

Posted by Cameron at 5:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As every pipe smoker in Washington must know by now, last year that legislature made it impossible for us to legally buy our favorite blends by outlawing the purchase of pipe tobacco via mail order.

I think though that this was done largely in error. The legislature intended to make it harder for kids to get cigarettes. We adult pipe smokers just got caught up accidentally because the legislators working on the bill forgot to exempt us like they exempted cigars.

This year the few remaining pipe smokers in our state are working hard to overturn this prohibition so that we can once again legally purchase the tobacco we need for our harmless hobby.

Two bills have been introduced to the legislature that will allow us to purchase our blends, House Bill 2639, and Senate Bill 6447.

Today I would like to mention the handful of House Members who are willing to stand up for us pipe smokers, who are working to fix the error made last year. They deserve our thanks.

Representatives Mary Lou Dickerson, Steve Conway, Brian Blake, Reuven Carlyle, Mike Armstrong, Kirk Pearson, Mike Sells, and Larry Springer.

Each of these Representatives can be emailed at:

lastname.firstname@leg.wa.gov

If you are a lover of the pipe, I ask that you email each of them a sincere thank you for their efforts to help us enjoy our hobby.

Our House Bill will be receiving a public hearing on January 19.

I'll post about the Senate Bill another time, today though it is receiving a hearing in the Senate. It is inappropriate for me to lobby the legislature, so while the rest of the Seattle Pipe Club is testifying on behalf of the bill I'll be enjoying the last bits of a tin of Dunhill's Standard Mixture: Medium.

Posted by Cameron at 5:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Every year a Snohomish High School class comes to the legislature as a part of their government class.

The idea is that each student is supposed to think up something that should be made against the law, then present that idea to legislators in the hopes of it actually becoming law.

This exercise is supposed to teach the students about government.

Unfortunately it teaches them precisely the wrong lessons about government. They learn that it is OK for people to be made into criminals on a whim. They learn that whenever a problem arises in life it is best to look to government to solve that problem. They learn that there are no moral limits to the power of government.

Young people should be learning that government power is a negative in our world. That individuals have rights that must be fought for and protected. That law must always be minimized, never maximized.

I fear that these students are learning to be young totalitarians, not young citizens.

Posted by Cameron at 6:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I have to wonder: Just why in the hell are women incapable of packing? Is packing not the prime cause of divorce in our society?

I always thought it bad when going away for the weekend took a car load of luggage, but over the past two days I've learned just how bad it truly is when it comes to Mrs. Bailey and her packing for trips.

It seemed to me that the very small bathroom in the Airstream was getting just a little bit smaller all the time, so I decided to clean out the cabinets.

Remember here, this is a travel trailer. Just one tiny bathroom, a Land Yacht made for two.

It's no wonder though why the bathroom was feeling ever more crowded. In going through the cabinets I have found:

6 Bars of Soap, plus 3 jugs of soft soap, plus 3 more body washes.

3 Large cans of shaving cream.

5 Tubes of toothpaste.

3 Jars of mouthwash.

4 tubes of suntan lotion.

3 large cans of hairspray.

&

9. Count them 9 bottles of shampoo.

These are unfortunately just the highlights of a much larger problem.

To add insult to injury, I don't think that Mrs. Bailey even uses any of this stuff. Every time we go somewhere in the Airstream she brings a medium sized suitcase filled with the lotions and potions, so just what in the hell is all this crap for?

Alas, I do know what the problem is.

Each time we use the Airstream she goes to the store to stock it up. Of course, we don't use it very many days at a stretch, so the stuff doesn't get used, but next trip it gets bought again.

I have explained to Mrs. Bailey that there are weight limits to how much cargo the Airstream can carry. She understands she says. I've also explained that an extra thousand pounds of stuff inside makes our poor truck work a great deal harder. She understands she says.

Methinks though that she doesn't understand.

As Captain of this Land Yacht I've decided that there must be a new Law of the Highway. NEVER ADD: ONLY TAKE AWAY.

I wonder if we can bring back good old-fashioned floggings for miscreants who violate the Captains orders?

Posted by Cameron at 6:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The grizzled and infirm old legislator walked slowly around the Legislative Building, its magnificent dome towering above him. In his right hand he carried an old black cane, its handle ornate silver. In his left a large yet elegant looking pipe which threw off great billowing clouds of aromatic smoke.

A young, eager, newly elected legislator came up fast behind him, seeking some bit of wisdom from the old man, a hint that would give him a leg up in his new role.

"You know what's wrong with this place?" The old man asked as the young one drew up to him.

The old man's question was rhetorical and he didn't wait for a reply, simply stopped walking, turned to look up at the dome, and continued speaking. "Every man here thinks that his job here is to pass a bill. Fix something, anything. Make a law. You've probably got a half dozen bills in the hopper now and you're hoping, hoping that you'll figure out how to get one passed."

The young man silently gave a brief nod.

"That is not why you are here." The old man said. "Thomas Jefferson wrote, in The Declaration of Independence, that the only purpose of government is to protect the individual rights of the people. That is the defining principal of our nation. That is your job. You won't do it though, you'll leave me in a moment and go back to your scramble, trying to get your bill, whatever it is passed."

The young man tried to protest that his favorite bill was needed, that the new restriction on people he proposed was for their own good.

"No one cares about liberty anymore." The old man said while sadly shaking his head, cutting his new colleague off, and ambling away.

Posted by Cameron at 12:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I awoke this morning contemplating my little home away from home and was struck by the fact that it is a perfect design. By perfect design I don't mean that every part of it is perfect, or that improvements could not be thought of, but I do mean to say that it fills the function for which it was designed perfectly.

This Airstream is over 35 years old, yet still functioning exactly as intended, and will continue to do so for as many years as it receives the maintenance and care that it needs. Much like a house, it can conceivably last forever. At their core RV's are second homes, yet the average RV will be dead 5 or 10 years after it is built. Only Airstream understands that a second home needs to be, like a regular home, a substantial structure that can withstand the ravages of time.

This Airstream provides each and every basic need and desire one has in a home. There is a place for every function, for every activity. I can write, relax, sleep, cook, shower, even store an embarrassingly large wardrobe (much of which I'll never wear this year) all with comfort and convenience. There is nothing that I can do in my home that I cannot do in this Airstream, and it takes no additional effort to do any specific activity.

This Airstream is also remarkably green, especially given the fact that it was manufactured at a time when no one cared about such things. If it should ever come to the end of its useful life, the vast majority of it, its aluminum and steel can be easily recycled and would leave only a very small pile that would have to end up in a landfill.

I suppose that most importantly, this Airstream can move. Last year it was my second home in Olympia, but it was also my second home in Cannon Beach, Port Townsend, The Hood Canal, Sol Duc Hot Springs, La Push, Ocean Shores, Ellensburg, Prosser, and Walla Walla. If I don't like the scenery, or the neighbors, it's a mighty simple matter to hook up and go down the road a spell. If I long for the ocean or the sun, I can simply go and get my fill.

Is this Airstream perfect? Certainly not. Its age alone defies perfection. After three years of extremely heavy use though I can say that it is perfectly designed for its intended use, it is a perfect second home in every way I can conceive of.

Posted by Cameron at 11:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

After weeks of trying to fit it into my schedule, I was finally able to visit Washington's new, and only true pipe tobacco store, Tacoma Tins.

The directions printed on their website were good, but that didn't keep me from having problems. I actually drove past the store twice, finally seeing it on my third pass down the street. To think that I hadn't even been drinking!

In what is certainly an interesting contrast in stock, Tacoma Tins is located inside a yarn shop. You enter through the back, then let them know that you are there for the tobacco, not the yarn. A door to a small room is unlocked, you are beckoned to enter, and there they are, hundreds of tins containing the finest tobaccos in the world.

I managed to do quite well today picking up some:

Devil's Holiday by CAO
Westminster by G.L. Pease
Frog Morton and Frog Morton On The Town, both by McClelland
and
Thee Oakes Syrian by McClelland

Those tins should keep my busy for quite some time.

If you haven't been yet, I'd encourage you to check out Tacoma Tins, a unique shopping experience, and an extremely important venture given the current legal climate surrounding pipe tobacco in Washington State.

Posted by Cameron at 6:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I hope, as the new year begins, and I return to work in Olympia, that we leave the legislative session with lower taxes, smaller government, and more freedom.

I know however that I hope in vain. In reality the state will increase taxes, grow government, and create new forms of tyranny.

I pray that it is not too late for freedom loving Americans to eventually turn the tide.

Posted by Cameron at 9:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

From the Airstream!

I've moved in today and am ready for the Legislature's upcoming session.

Just to kick the session off right we had a fine dinner of steak and lobster at Anthony's, and are now relaxing with a fine quality absinthe. Who knows, perhaps we will see the green fairy tonight.

Posted by Cameron at 8:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I read a great deal so must make fairly frequent trips to Barnes and Noble to ensure a good supply of books. Yesterday I was going through the wide center aisle carefully as I do love a bargain. A young man of perhaps 17 was browsing along side of me. He picked up The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis and the complete Sherlock Holmes cannon by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I must admit that I thought them both to be great selections, The Chronicles of Narnia is an old childhood favorite of mine, and I've enjoyed every Sherlock Holmes story Doyle wrote.

A short while later the young man's father came by to go over his selections. It was obvious that the father approved of neither selection and asked the young man why he was not looking in the Christian section.

With a bit of time and discussion the young man was able to convince his father that C.S. Lewis was a Christian so he was allowed to purchase The Chronicles of Narnia. The Sherlock Holmes collection though had to be put back on the shelf and the father led his son over to the Christian section to pick another book.

The father was obviously seeking to protect his son from non-Christian influences, from 'heretical' ideas, and one must assume from the 'evils' of sexual portrayal.

From a practical standpoint, the father is an idiot, and he failed in his simple goal. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote his masterpieces in Victorian England. Surely his stories of Sherlock Holmes are less 'racy' than many of the stories that would be found by modern authors in the Christian section.

The father's practical failure was not what I found bothersome in the entire display though. What was troubling to me was the attempt to hide our shared culture from the young man. The willful attempt by a father to keep his son ignorant.

Lack of knowledge is never a virtue.

As I wrote above, The Chronicles of Narnia is a fine book. It is also though a book intended for very small children. I first read it during the brief time I attended Public School, sometime between kindergarten and the third grade. It can be fun to re-visit books we loved in the past, but the young man I encountered yesterday will certainly learn nothing about the world from the book he was allowed to purchase.

A father who prevents his almost adult offspring from reading anything but either very young children's books, or specifically Christian books is creating a young adult who will leave the family home knowing nothing of the world around him. The young man will not know about other cultures, other belief systems, even the diverse ways of living embraced throughout our own nation. He will be unprepared to meet those who are different, unprepared to confront adult life.

I truly pity the young man if he should be the least bit different from the Christian ideal portrayed in Christian books for if he is, he will, due to his inability to read of the wider world, believe himself to be alone, view himself as a freak.

Ignorance is never a virtue. The western world learned that fact sometime in the middle ages, perhaps 1000 years ago. Christians before that time tried to limit their reading to only that which was 'safe,' just like the father I saw yesterday. As a result the western world lost everything. The knowledge of the ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans was lost. Tremendous knowledge held by the Islamic world at that time was hidden away from the west.

Eventually things changed. The pursuit of knowledge became important again, slowly ever so slowly; the people of Western Europe stopped spending their nights shivering in superstitious fear, huddling together under huts made of sticks and mud. The west regained its lost knowledge, picked up more from the Islamic world, and built the marvel that is our world today.

It is amazing to me that in our modern world, in Barnes and Noble, in Woodinville Washington, I was able to encounter a father just as ignorant and stupid as were the peasants of England in the year 900AD.

I feel sorry for the young man, for everything he has missed out upon, and I worry about the society that will in a year or two have to cope with a young adult who lacks the intellectual tools to make a positive contribution to the world around himself.

Posted by Cameron at 9:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Mrs. Bailey and I live out in the woods. Way far out in the woods. When we go to town it's about a four-mile drive before we hit pavement and our nearest 'full service' small city is a bit over 20 miles beyond that. That first bit of the drive down the dirt road is the prime-determining factor in just how long a trip to town will take though. If the road is in good shape, perhaps half the time each year, it doesn't take too long. When it's bad though it certainly slows us down, and there have been a very few times through the years when it was impassable by car and we were walking out.

Why live in such a place? Well, it is beautiful. Amazingly beautiful. Very comfortable too now that our home has been completely remodeled and updated. One also can't beat the privacy such a location offers. Like most people we do have a bad neighbor, but alas, only one of them, not half a city full of them!

All of this is a long way of saying that we can't easily buy ice cream. The stuff just can't make it from the nearest Safeway to our house. We can buy it from the combination general store/post office down the road just a few miles but even that melts a good bit before getting home and one has to be willing to live with whatever extremely minimal selection is available at any given time.

We've solved the problem recently by starting to make our own. Some friends visited us within the last few months and brought with them their ice cream freezer indulging us all with an amazing treat. The stuff wasn't just edible; it was better than any ice cream I've ever eaten. I've had homemade ice cream in the past that just wasn't very good, but this stuff was superb. I've since learned that the trick was the machine it is made in, an old fashioned outside use machine is what's needed, not some little underpowered thing that sits on a countertop.

This resulted in our purchase of a White Mountain Ice Cream Freezer made by Rival. It's a big wooden bucket with stainless steel and cast iron mixing parts all topped by a massive and powerful electric motor.

The thing makes ice cream that puts Ben and Jerry's to shame every time.

It does require a great deal of ice to accomplish its feat, but we have three refrigerators here, so making enough ice is not a problem.

Here's our basic recipe:

2 Eggs
1 ¼ Cup Sugar
5 Cups Half and Half
¼ Tablespoons Vanilla
Dash of Salt

Mix the ingredients together well and poor straight in to the ice cream freezer. Fill the freezer with ice and rock salt according to the machines instructions. 25 minutes later you turn off the motor and a truly delectable ice cream is your reward. At this point it is a soft ice cream, if you prefer hard just leave it in the machine with the motor off for an hour or so.

One batch will easily feed 6 people.

For flavored ice cream other than vanilla, simply change the basic recipe as inspired.

Posted by Cameron at 12:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We have had an extremely hedonistic three days here in our mountain retreat. A sensual indulgence of palate and appetite as we have feasted. Roast turkey with all of the trimmings, an exquisite smoked ham from a little place we know in Seattle, fine liquor, Baileys, Kahlua, Absinthe, and of course red wine.

Yesterday Bombay Extra in a fine Peterson's Canadian pipe, today will be the same in a calabash.

It is, I must say, a splendid way to end the year, a perfect beginning to the next.

As with all good things though, it must come to an end, which I suppose is good for if it did not I would surely be 300 pounds.

Posted by Cameron at 12:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Whether you read here regularly or have just stopped by for a visit, I wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

I hope that 2010 is a superb year for you, and that you will return here again and again. I'll do my best to ensure that your visits are informing and entertaining.

Posted by Cameron at 2:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"Behold! The angels said: "O Mary! God gives you Glad tidings of a Word from Him: His name will be Christ Jesus, The son of Mary, held in honor in this world and the hereafter and of the company of those Nearest to God."

-The Holy Qur'an, Sura 3, Verse 45-49

This Christmas men and women of our armed forces are away from their families, at war in foreign lands. Fighting, shedding blood, and serving with honor to ensure our safety, we owe them a debt that can never truly be repaid.

It is important for us to recognize just what we are fighting.

We are not fighting the religion of Islam or its Holy Book, we are fighting theocratic societies that view violent death as the most important value of life. We are fighting a worldview that causes parents to see their children's death for a cause as the ultimate honor.

We owe it to our troops, and indeed the nations of the world that have supported our endeavor, to win the wars we are currently fighting.

We owe it to ourselves to ensure that the lure of theocracy is never embraced here.

Perhaps this Christmas Season, in addition to our other celebrations, we should spend an hour relaxing with a pipe, contemplating all of the blessings we have received as a direct result of the secular government our founding fathers created for us.

Posted by Cameron at 12:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last night Mrs. Bailey and I, along with friends, attended Land Of The Sweets: The Burlesque Nutcracker. This show was, needless to say, a great deal different from Tchaikovsky's classic as performed by the Pacific Northwest Ballet. One is prim and proper the other a comedy infused with sexuality. Both though are artistic renditions that add to the tremendous cultural diversity that exists in the Puget Sound region. I have enjoyed them both.

Some Washington politicians and pundits, especially it seems those from Eastern Washington insist that if our state does not lower taxes and cut regulation on business corporations will move to the State of Idaho where apparently things are better. I wholeheartedly agree with their view that businesses in our state are overly taxed and overly regulated and that we must take steps to continually improve our business climate.

That said, while I've heard of this great corporate move to Idaho for years, I've yet to see it. The Puget Sound region has an exploding high tech economy while Idaho's premier corporation remains a potato processing concern. The facts do not match the rhetoric.

Business will locate where it is best suited to succeed. Clearly Washington does not have the best possible taxation or regulatory schemes for business, yet businesses choose to locate here, grow explosively here. Names like Microsoft and Amazon prove this to be true.

I believe that in discussions about the business climate we overlook the importance of culture as an economic driver. Artistic expression, from fine to lowbrow, attracts entrepreneurs who build corporate empires and the skilled workforce they need to do so. Business location is not all about taxes and regulation it is also about the broader culture. A culture that allows people to express themselves and be entertained in a myriad of ways is a culture that people seek to surround themselves with.

Certainly one could locate an Amazon in Idaho, but what on earth would the executives and skilled workforce of the company do for entertainment? How would they express themselves? Land Of The Sweets featured a bearded male ballerina. One would be very hard-pressed to find acceptance as such in Idaho. One could very well risk life and limb dressing in that way in parts of Idaho.

People are attracted to cultural diversity, to the entire panorama of artistic expression. If an area wishes to succeed economically it must provide a welcoming atmosphere for expression. Clearly Seattle does and clearly less economically successful states do not.

We would do very well to remember the importance of culture as an economic driver when we hear calls to ban or regulate those forms of expression that we do not personally enjoy or morally accept.

Posted by Cameron at 10:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

As my friends from work are joining my pipe loving friends here, it seems appropriate that I make an introduction so that we can all get along.

Work folks, meet the Pipemen. The pipemen are all great guys although perhaps a bit behind the times, pursuing a noble hobby and thoughtful way of living that died some decades ago. They've been reading here for a couple of years now as I made my monthly post about pipes and tobaccos.

I should perhaps mention though that not all pipemen are men. Women seem to be embracing our hobby these past few years, an unexpected and interesting development.

Pipemen, meet the people I work with. Very smart folks, almost all, in fact the finest Legislative staff in the nation according to the book Sine Die. The folks I work with have been reading a little daily newsletter that I put out the past two Legislative Sessions. That newsletter was called The Daily Ghetto.

When I first started working in Olympia, I, like so many others, rented an apartment with a couple of roommates. Let me tell you, that was a disaster. Those guys were slobs! Honestly, I still feel sorry for the poor gal who came in to clean from time to time.

Years passed and I got smart. I bought an Airstream and booted the roommates to the curb. My only trouble was that it was a Vintage Airstream, and it certainly didn't come with an instruction manual. Propane gas under pressure, electrical systems, and half insane old people as neighbors, a myriad of ways for me to accidentally kill myself. I think that I must have experienced them all. That is what The Daily Ghetto was, my daily accounts of my seemingly daily near death experiences, all at my own hand.

Time continued to pass though and I finally learned how to use everything, stopped almost killing myself on a regular basis. That, I am sorry to say, dried up my store of things for people to laugh at me about, resulting in the death of The Daily Ghetto.

I certainly can't stop writing though, Mrs. Bailey does not move to Olympia with me, and there are only so many rubber reception shrimp one can eat in any given year. That means I've got time on my hands in the evenings, time that must be filled by writing to my friends at work.

All of this results in the readers of The Daily Ghetto being invited here where I'll write of many more things than just my potential death in an explosion and fireball. Perhaps there will be some of that as well though; one never can know just how much trouble I will get myself into.

This post follows a copy of the announcement I distributed to the people I work with, perhaps you can join me in welcoming them into this place so filled with smoke from our burning latakia.

Please remember my pipe-smoking friends that there is a proper way for a gentleman to read the Mayor's Vice. That is in jacket and tie, relaxing with a pipe in front of a roaring fire.

As for the ladies, I believe that you will get the utmost out of reading The Mayors Vice in nice stiletto heels and fine quality lingerie. Please though ladies, for my own scientific research and the betterment of humanity, email me a concise description of the undergarments and heels you prefer to wear while reading here.

Gentlemen, kindly skip that step.

Continue reading "An Introduction" »

Posted by Cameron at 11:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

When I smoke, I stick with the good stuff. Tobacco grown the world over and expertly blended in the finest English traditions. Like everyone else with the faintest hint of a pulse though I've tried marijuana a time or two, but it is not something that holds any interest for me, or that I would be excited about trying again. To my mind it's just an extremely horrible tasting, extremely harsh thing to smoke that for me produces no positive effects. That said, my personal dislike of the substance does not translate into a belief that it should remain illegal.

State Representative Mary Lou Dickerson has introduced House Bill 2401 that would fully legalize marijuana in the State of Washington, a bill that should be quickly passed in the upcoming Legislative Session for philosophical as well as practical reasons.

As free people American's should hold ownership of their bodies. This translates to an absolute right to use their bodies in whatever way they desire provided that their actions harm no one else. Certainly there is no legitimate proof that people relaxing their cares away by smoking a little marijuana harm anyone else. It's not even likely that they harm themselves seriously by doing so.

The last three Presidents of The United States have all admitted to smoking marijuana, have all personally violated the laws against doing so. Laws which are broken by the vast majority of citizens, up to and including the President of our nation are by that very fact demonstrated to be invalid laws and it is immoral for people who violate a law themselves to enforce that law against others.

Respect for the law can only be maintained if laws are minimal, fair, and consistently enforced. Laws prohibiting the use of marijuana are none of these things.

Lastly the State of Washington is in the middle of a financial crisis. A crisis that should be solved by serious cuts to the State's operating budget. The majority though will not take that approach, instead they will insist upon new and higher taxes. The legalization of marijuana would result in tax revenue to the State from sales of the substance, a benefit that should appeal to majority Democrats. Likewise legalization would save law enforcement and corrections resources, which should appeal to minority Republicans who seek to make government smaller.

Legislators can certainly be odd. Surely, just as with the population at large, the vast majority of them have used marijuana, and I must believe that the majority of them also believe marijuana prohibition to be wrong. The passage of this bill will though be extremely difficult because in their distorted perspective most legislators believe that their constituents would see them as 'soft on crime' if they were to legalize marijuana. Clearly those who believe this are incorrect, their constituents are instead laughing at their quaint insistence that the substance remain prohibited.

Posted by Cameron at 9:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've updated the material behind the links in the header. The updated posts can be found through the header links or the links below:

About The Blog

About The Author

Pipes

I hope that the additional detail is of interest.

Posted by Cameron at 11:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've been making some major changes to the admin side of this blog, and some minor ones to the public side. With a bit of luck, everything will work.

The changes will continue until about Christmas Day, if you find something that does not work, I hope that you will email me to let me know. My address is at the very top of the page.

Thank you and may you have a most spectacular Christmas Holiday this year!

Posted by Cameron at 4:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My friend and ultimate pipeman, Gary Schrier of Briar Books Press has always encouraged me to read the hobby of pipes and tobaccos. Indeed, he has made doing so much easier by regularly publishing great books on the subject.

His advice to me has been good and I have greatly enjoyed my reading of the pipe, both in his books and others. Today though was a special treat.

Last week I acquired the latest from Gary, Catalog No. XX, Adolph Frankau & Co. Ltd. A reprint of the massive BBB catalog from 1912.

I happen to own an extremely beautiful BBB pipe, the silver hallmarks of which indicate that it was manufactured in 1912. It did not take me long to find this pipe on page 194 of the catalog.

The pipe itself is a BBB Own Make, the highest grade. It's bent, rather red in color, and sports some quite lovely straight grain. The amber stem is mounted in silver with full hallmarks. The condition of the pipe is amazing given its age. There are some slight toothmarks on the bit, a very small ding or two on the rim, and just a bit of tar buildup there. Other than those minor blemishes, it is quite close to perfect, and was obviously used little in almost 100 years.

Today I learned that it is a "Carlton Briar" with a patented silver mount, "The Simplest And Most Secure Joint Ever Invented" a fact that I can attest too given that it is still perfectly secure after all of this time. It is a shape BB, and from further reading of the catalog, one of the most expensive pipes produced in its day.

Unfortunately, I also learned that the pipe was produced with a case, an item apparently lost to the ravages of time. Alas, as with life, all can not be perfect.

I have smoked the pipe in the past and will do so in the future, for at a basic level that is why I possess pipes. Before my reading though, I simply knew that I possessed a very old high-grade BBB pipe in remarkable condition. Now I know that I possess a pipe that is not only special because of its age, but that was a very special pipe in its own time, a pipe that cost more individually in 1912 than some other BBB pipes could be had for by the dozen.

Just one of the benefits of reading the hobby. Thanks Gary!

Posted by Cameron at 5:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As all of Washington's pipe smokers must know by now, due to recent legislative nonsense pipe tobacco is almost impossible to obtain in the State of Washington.

I think though that the problem goes beyond one little bill passed into law, and I think that our anger over our lack of supply must be directed not only at our legislators, the Attorney General, and our Governor, but at ourselves as well.

Ultimately, we are all responsible for the difficulty we are facing now.

Good tobacco stores used to abound in the Puget Sound region. Pipelane and Tinderbox were our chains and they were augmented by an array of independents, even a Dunhill Store across from Westlake Center.

We though didn't buy much from these local stores. We bought our tobacco from catalogs or online because Washington taxes were too high and we didn't want to pay 18 dollars for a tin of tobacco that we could get online for 6 dollars.

We took our dollars away from the men and women who supported our hobby, and we drove them out of business. I am as guilty as everyone else.

We should not have done this. We should have bought those 18 dollar tins, then written to our legislators and included our receipts. We should have pointed out to those legislators that our local shopkeepers could not remain in business when faced with such a radically undercutting competition. We didn't though. We just moved on from our local supporters without a fight, we let them and their dreams die.

All of those good stores are gone now. Bankrupted and closed due to our own actions.

Now the legislature, the Attorney General, and our Governor have stated that we are criminals if we buy our tobacco from a catalog or online. We have no shops left, so we are unable to source our tobacco.

We are however extremely lucky in that fellow pipemen Rick and Roxi have opened Tacoma Tins. They are ready and willing to provide our needs as long as we can get to Tacoma from time to time.

Rick and Roxi however cannot subsidize this operation forever; it is up to each of us to ensure that they generate a profit.

We the pipemen of Washington must do our tobacco business with Tacoma Tins to ensure that they thrive. If we have to pay a few extra bucks due to the tax situation we just need to suck it up and do it. We can't take out our price frustrations on Rick and Roxi; rather we must take that frustration out on the legislators who set the tax rates. As mentioned above, if we pay too much, we need to send that receipt and our complaint to our legislators asking them to even the tax rate with other states so that Tacoma Tins can compete on a fair basis.

I don't smoke a lot; certainly no one can turn a profit from my meager purchases. All of us together can make a tremendous difference though.

Let us assume for a moment that instead of smuggling tobacco we all do the right thing and buy it from the folks who are trying to meet our needs. If we do this, they will become profitable. If they become profitable they will grow. If others see that growth they will want to replicate it. We could as a result once again have a handful of good tobacco stores in our state. Wouldn't that be a wonderful outcome?

It can be our outcome if we are each willing to support this important little venture.

Posted by Cameron at 12:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)