I am CuTRis

As I watched the news story about a second (in six months) child shot while inside of his house in North Minneapolis, I could hear and feel the pain and frustration in those who spoke or tried to speak about the subject. The problem is, what can I do about it? I'm sure these angry, frustrated people don't want me to come into their neighborhood and tell them that they need to root out the people in gangs and those who kill and distribute drugs. Why would this be a problem? Because these "bad" people live in the same neighborhoods and look like the sons, uncles, cousins, etc. of the people who are crying over the dead. The change has to come from within the groups who are harboring, producing and protecting the killers. If the shooter is someone from your family, you need to turn him in.

I had fun at TQ2's pig roast over the weekend. The attendees were mostly developers (computer programmers). There were a lot of very smart nerds there; and I found it enjoyable that when I wove a small (sometimes they're very small) joke into the conversation that these people not only got the joke, but they interjected their own humor into it as well.

My uncle Bob passed away on Saturday after a lengthy battle with kidney disease. As a couple of his boyhood friends had the same disease, it is the suspicion of many that the polution in the Vermillion River (where they swam) may have been responsible. Hopefully the practice of dumping is a thing of the past.

My family is temporarily living in my condo while we're "between houses." Amongst our pile of "junk," from the previous house is a toy, plastic sword. Somehow, though we packed a storage container full of stuff from the house, this silly plastic sword did not make it inside. So now even though we are cramped for space, there is a stupid plastic sword sticking out of the pile of stuff. Periodically, I will get a semi-serious tone and ask my wife if while looking for anything, if she may have.... come across, a plastic sword , because I was looking for one. Of course we both bust out laughing, because it is just too ridiculous!

Lately I have been experiencing Déjà vu ; and for good reason. We have moved to my condo while we purchase a new home. For me it was interesting because everything is familiar; yet instead of living alone I have my wife and son with me. When I go to the store or visit a friend in the condo complex, it is like returning to a previous time in my life. I think it is a great experience to actually return to the same place where I spent several years of my life and revisit it--even if it is only temporary.

Like the people who keep reporting that oil prices are falling and the price of gas is going down. All I have to do is look at the signs on the gas stations, to see that gas has been going up since they started saying this crap.

I went hiking at Louisville Swamp yesterday. The mosquitoes were really bad and the weather went from sunny to rain. The Jabs Farm crossing was flooded too. Sill I saw some interesting things like the Indigo Bunting and the wildflowers like those in these photos I took.

Father's Day 2012 will be special for me because for the first time in my life, I will be a father on that day. It has been an incredible experience. Sometimes it is very tiring, but always I am amazed at how my heart melts whenever my little baby boy smiles at me.

Isn't it weird when baby food and toilets have the same name?

Click photo to enlarge, click back button to go back. Could this buck I saw yesterday, be the same one I saw on May 14th ? I think so! It is a good example of how quickly the antlers have grown (in 22 days).

By Kevin J. Curtis Henry Klein was not quite five feet tall and weighed less than three-quarters as much as most men. He had always been small—which meant he had always been picked on by the other boys in his town. That was years ago now, and as an adult Henry Klein had turned mean. He had battled depression for most of his life until he found solace in a nickel plated pistol that his dad had left him before he had died. Henry didn’t care whether he lived or died, since being the boy that everyone picked on was all he had ever known. But something happened when he shot the revolver and felt the smooth action of the cylinder turning. He practiced with the gun until he could pull it from the holster and fire it accurately in the blink of an eye. Henry had heard about another man… a gunfighter who had injured his shooting hand. He had been gunned down shortly afterward in a duel. Henry decided to purchase a second gun and he practiced with his left hand until he was almost as quick ...

Eight gallons doesn't seem like enough water to wash a car. I guess that explains the discount...

I started reading an "adapted classic" version of The Adverntures of Huckleberry Finn . These "adapted" classics are supposed to be so we can understand great literature of the past. Mostly it is because an easily riled segment of the population finds it necessary to make classic literature, "politically correct" . So even though I have a degree in literature and read Geoffrey Chaucer without their help, some ass-clown thinks he/she can re-write for a master like Mark Twain ! I guess modern people are not allowed to come to their own conclusions about history. We can't read a book in the language of its time and place in the world. Like so many other things, we need to sanitize it to make it less offensive--instead of try to understand it from the point-of-view of its place in history. Oh well... I guess I will go read more about Huck Finn floating on a raft down the Mississippi with African-American Jim...

Cutris Stacks Giant Blocks UnAssociated Press June 1, 2012 Cutris was seen placing giant concrete blocks yesterday. Cutris rests after moving a giant block. We wondered what Cutris was up to? An hour later we had our answer!