Seattle on trial, not the Sonics

Arguh this stupid Sonics trial. Where do you even start? Perhaps, dear 8 or 9 readers of BoatMulch, you're not aware of the predicament we Sonics fans find ourselves in these days. A short course.

Here's the way I see it. A bunch of evil, but wealthy rednecks from Oklahoma bought the Sonics from the equally evil and wealthy CEO of Starbucks. Schultz sold out fans by failing to find a local ownership group to buy the team and, in my mind, knowingly sold the team to men who would move the team from the 13th largest media market in the nation to the 73rd or something. It's a money loser for the NBA, but "Not My" Commissioner David Stern is in in the good ol' boy club with the rednecks so he's OK with losing cash if it benefits his buddies in OK. C.

Now Schultz is trying to save face, but that's another trial for later in this summer. Stay tuned.

So I'm mad. Mad enough to leave work early and head out to the Save Our Sonics rally in front of the Federal Courthouse yesterday to see X-man and the Glove speak and to help yell a few off color chants at the TV cameras. And I took some pictures hilarious signs, too, look for that in another post.

I've been following the Sonics since 1992 when my then-girlfriend's father had season tickets. This was the beginning of the Payton/Kemp glory days and I was seeing history in the making, live, in the Key, before it was called the Key. I was of course still officially a Jazz fan until 1998 when the no-call on Jordan against Russell made me lose interest in the NBA for awhile... But I paid attention to the Sonics and kept going to games on and off. Then a few years ago the man-on-couch-with-beer gene kicked in and I began to more religiously watch the Sonics even as their fortunes waned. You see, I pretty much hate all other sports. Hate is a strong word, maybe "don't care" is better. So the one home team I enjoy and completely understand from the "3 second rule" on down is leaving town?

What bothers me most about the trial is that current owner Bennett and his gang of Swift Boat Liars are trying to put the fans on trial for not supporting the team. This drives me crazy because Bennett has consistently gutted the team with every player move since he took over, in an attempt to 1) clear the payroll so his financial losses are reduced in the interim and 2) disinterest the fans in the team as they struggle to win games so he can claim that nobody cares if the team leaves town. It's worked pretty well, attendance is way down. It's a catch 22 for fans because we want to support the team by going to games and buying fan stuff, but that, in turn just lines the pockets (or reduces the losses) of the very man who is stealing the team. Like the 2007-08 SuperSonics, we can't possibly win. How can I love the Sonics when they're on Bennett's payroll from Durrant on down to the mascot, Squatch?

Dumb things Mark does

DTMD #1. Leaving the soaker hose on all night.


Let's start a new category of what could be a weekly post. Dumb things Mark does, DTMD. Here's a classic bonehead move that I've been doing for years but this particular instance of boneheadedness had ridiculous ramifications: Accidentally leaving the water on.

We bought some new plants at Costco, you know, the ones that come in those bags. I don't recommend doing this. Number one, because Costco is a scam, #2 because Costco is not a nursery and they treat plants the same way they treat tires (Water? What is water?) and #3, because no matter what is in the bag, it never seems to recover from the cruelty of being bagged, palletized, and shipped across the nation in hot trucks. Who knows how long they've been in those bags. Probably since gas was $3.00. Remember that?

Anyway, there were some Mexican Shell Flowers (future POTW when it blooms) and some other frilly things that Ginger wanted so we planted them. Then it warmed up for about a week (this was two weeks ago, before the June winter). So they started to dry out a bit and being without roots yet and still recovering from Costco-itis, I put the soaker hose out. I then forgot I had a soaker hose or Costco plants and left it on for several hours. This helped us confirm that our 1919 house does not have foundation drains. The basement flooded.

Good times good times.

"What's that noise? Is the water still on?"

Fraxinus anomala

Plant of the Week #3: Single Leaf Ash


Fraxinus anomala or Single Leaf Ash is a much-loved desert southwest shrub or small tree. Much loved by me alone I thought. But a Google search revealed that I wasn't the only person on earth so enamored with this gift of bright green happiness. These photos were taken on our last camping trip to southeastern Utah and southwestern Colorado in May 2007. I took about a thousand photos of plants. Many will appear here in later posts. Plant Geek indeed.

As the Latin name states, it's an anomaly. The only plant of it's genus without compound leaves. It's also an anomaly in the landscape. Struggling out of dry cracks and crevices that other plants could never call home, the ash is a welcome burst of bright green on a hike in the desert or buried in a canyon where most other plants are clothed in a dusty blue or gray.


This shot was taken above our campsite on a 60 degree incline in the San Rafael Swell's Buckhorn Draw. Lola our dog attempted to dutifully join us and ended up sliding backwards down the slickrock taking off her nails in the process. She's a bruiser. The blood and the pain did not deter her.

Back to the Ash. A multi-trunked shrub to 14 feet under ideal conditions. Much less in harsher locations. The bark becomes dark, ribbed and flaky with age, like it's larger compound-leaved cousins. Also like other ashes, it's a prolific seeder with winged seeds visible in the photo. Zone 5-7. I doubt you can buy this at the local nursery, but it would make an excellent addition to a desert or mountain naturescape. You bet your ass it's drought tolerant!

Special thanks to some guy on the web for the above photo. Shows the form a bit better than I could muster leaning back onto the slickrock and holding on to a piñon pine. (Ohhh, piñon pine, now there's a good one!)

"Why is that man taking pictures of weeds?"