Re: Reflections on Big Bend

1

Whereas I grew up in savanna and now live basically in a sauna.


Posted by: Mossy Character | Link to this comment | 03-17-18 12:15 PM
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2

On the veldt all the trees are the right height.


Posted by: md 20/400 | Link to this comment | 03-17-18 12:22 PM
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3

Wait, so the river isn't vicious?

"Now, there are certain places you don't need a wall, because you have, you know, you have mountains, you have other things. You have large and rather vicious rivers,"
-Voldemort

Posted by: ait, so the river isn't vicious? | Link to this comment | 03-17-18 12:45 PM
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4

Name box fail.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 03-17-18 12:46 PM
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5

I find the intense dryness pretty unpleasant.

Not bothered in general, but I find I over-hydrate if I am not careful because I always have then sensation of being parched.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 03-17-18 12:48 PM
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6

I think that happened to me. On the second to last day, I wolfed down a bag of potato chips and the nagging headache I'd had went away - like I was craving salt from drinking too much water.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 03-17-18 12:51 PM
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7

I cannot imagine enjoying humid conditions. I grew up in a pretty humid location, and am now in a dry place. It is so much fun to be able to go outside. You do need to run a humidifier in the winter or your lips start to chap.


Posted by: Yoyo | Link to this comment | 03-17-18 12:52 PM
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8

Speaking if Mars, I was reading KSR's Mars trilogy when I hiked the Grand canyon for a week. If I looked in the right direction and ignored some details, it felt like I was there.


Posted by: Yoyo | Link to this comment | 03-17-18 12:54 PM
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9

I wouldn't say that I enjoy it exactly, but I don't tend to notice the humidity at least.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 03-17-18 12:54 PM
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10

"What is it that attracts you, personally, to the desert, Major Lawrence?" "It is clean."


Posted by: Robert Halford | Link to this comment | 03-17-18 12:55 PM
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11

I grew up in a pretty humid location, and am now in a dry place.

Compared to a womb, anything is dry.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 03-17-18 1:28 PM
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12

Now I really want to go to Big Bend.


Posted by: Spike | Link to this comment | 03-17-18 1:49 PM
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13

Big Bend is great.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 03-17-18 6:48 PM
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14

I never heard of it before.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 03-17-18 7:34 PM
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15

For shame, Moby. I have heard of Big Bend.


Posted by: Mossy Character | Link to this comment | 03-17-18 8:50 PM
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16

And I'm a dirty foreigner.


Posted by: Mossy Character | Link to this comment | 03-17-18 8:50 PM
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17

The last time I was in Texas, Reagan was president.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 03-17-18 9:08 PM
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18

The last time I was in Texas my soul was incarnated in a migrant snow goose with a brain the size of a pea.


Posted by: Mossy Character | Link to this comment | 03-17-18 9:11 PM
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19

You used to be George W. Bush?


Posted by: One of Many | Link to this comment | 03-17-18 11:12 PM
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20

No, he's still alive. Do try to keep up.


Posted by: Mossy Character | Link to this comment | 03-17-18 11:13 PM
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21

Really? Huh. I thought he'd died in a tragic poncho accident.


Posted by: One of Many | Link to this comment | 03-18-18 1:51 AM
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22

The first time I heard of Big Bend, Reagan was president. But I didn't spend any time in Texas outside of airport layovers until I drove across the country in 2013.


Posted by: fake accent | Link to this comment | 03-18-18 11:36 AM
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23

big bend is amazing and beautiful, and having grown up in, and living in a swamp I can say that dry climate is...pretty fabulous. except it's terrible for your skin.


Posted by: alameida | Link to this comment | 03-19-18 12:15 AM
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24

Speak for yourself, the sauna is terrible for mine.


Posted by: Mossy Character | Link to this comment | 03-19-18 12:33 AM
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25

20: So that means we shouldn't have been masturbating to you all this time? That's... awkward.


Posted by: Walt Someguy | Link to this comment | 03-19-18 12:52 AM
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26

You masturbate to dead snow geese?


Posted by: Mossy Character | Link to this comment | 03-19-18 12:55 AM
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27

Wait, did everyone know you were a dead snow goose all this time? Am I the last to find out?


Posted by: Walt Someguy | Link to this comment | 03-19-18 1:33 AM
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28

Big Bend is amazing and awesome, and also amazingly and awesomely far from anything else.

It's bigger than Luxembourg, or bigger than Rhode Island, if that's easier to imagine.

I took a great trip to Big Bend with my college's Outing Club. We hiked the South Rim trail and then did several days of canoe camping along the river. This was during Christmas break, so the weather was mild to chilly as well.


Posted by: Doug | Link to this comment | 03-19-18 2:19 AM
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29

It's bigger than Luxembourg, or bigger than Rhode Island, if that's easier to imagine.

I can only interpret area figures given in units of Wales.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 03-19-18 5:03 AM
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30

I was just looking up when the park was created. Bunch of Texas legislators are sitting around: hey, the news from Normandy sounds like it might work out, let's create that national park.

(Congress had created the park 9 years earlier, but, barring federal purchase of land, provided that it would only come into being when sufficient land was donated by Texas.)


Posted by: CharleyCarp | Link to this comment | 03-19-18 5:15 AM
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31

re: 29

One 6th of a Wales.


Posted by: nattarGcM ttaM | Link to this comment | 03-19-18 5:37 AM
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32

That's huge.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 03-19-18 5:40 AM
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33

Some how I've ended up with an earworm about texas medicine and railroad gin. People just get uglier.

I have no sense of time.


Posted by: CharleyCarp | Link to this comment | 03-19-18 6:06 AM
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34

33: No, Charley, this isn't the end


Posted by: Mamma | Link to this comment | 03-19-18 6:14 AM
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35

28. I thought it was much bigger. I'm disappointed.


Posted by: DaveLMA | Link to this comment | 03-19-18 6:17 AM
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36

I like that it is in the Chihuahuan Desert. I wish more desert names made me think of little dogs in sweaters.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 03-19-18 6:19 AM
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37

30: Nice image, but it appears that that was just the official establishment after years of groundwork, with the land gifted to the federal government in September 1943.


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 03-19-18 8:34 AM
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38

Now that I know the state of Texas spent upwards of $1m to buy up all the land needed to form the park, I wonder if they decided it was economically low-value enough that it would save them money in the long run to hand responsibility off to the NPS.


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 03-19-18 12:03 PM
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39

||
Welp, life has taken a turn. My paranoid schizophrenic ex is pregnant and has decided to keep the kid. She is not safe to be around kids. I know for a fact that she has used cocaine and meth while pregnant. In her paranoia she has concluded that I am her enemy (which is sort of valid, since I intend to get custody of the kid to protect it from its mother). Her opening shot is to accuse me of abuse.

I am in the process of lining up letters from every ex-girlfriend I have had for the past 20 years, as well as letters from two shrinks who have treated me for depression. But I need a lawyer, and I am completely broke as a result of the insanity of the past few months. I am running a GoFundMe to try to raise money to cover initial legal expenses related to getting the restraining order lifted and securing the evidence needed for the custody fight after the kid is born, as well as getting her on court-ordered random drug tests until the delivery.

I am desperate and terrified of what will happen if she gets custody. I have seen her literally foaming at the mouth and bellowing like an animal in the grip of her fugue states. She is completely amoral and appears willing to do just about anything to get what she wants. The final straw between us was her concerted attempt to get me to commit suicide.

I am desperate and utterly at the end of my rope. Please, I beg you, help me protect my kid.

GoFundMe link in URL
|>


Posted by: togolosh | Link to this comment | 03-20-18 6:25 AM
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40

Jesus Christ!


Posted by: Alex | Link to this comment | 03-20-18 6:34 AM
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41

40: Ya. This would be so much more entertaining if it was happening to somebody else. I left out the bit about her two outstanding arrest warrants and her previous abandonment of a child. I am up to my neck in shit and barely staying afloat.


Posted by: togolosh | Link to this comment | 03-20-18 6:39 AM
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42

Mostly it would be more entertaining if there wasn't a kid involved and it was happening to somebody else. I can think of a few people specifically. Anyway, small donation made, keep us up to date.


Posted by: chris y | Link to this comment | 03-20-18 6:49 AM
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43

Damn! That is a mess. You might reach out to Will for a referral to a lawyer in NoVa. He does family law in VA and might have good suggestions.


Posted by: md 20/400 | Link to this comment | 03-20-18 10:09 AM
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44

I don't know if you want non-lawyer advice, togolosh, but your state is one where prior abandonment is grounds for removal of an infant by child protective services. I'd also recommend signing the State putative father registry, which will prevent her from being able to consent to an adoption without your involvement (which sounds unlikely at this point but you never know) and establishes your admission of presumed paternity. The last question in the FAQ has the number for a paternity hotline. Child protective services can often be biased against dads, but being proactive should help you some if there's a chance you'll end up there, which sounds likely to me.


Posted by: Thorn | Link to this comment | 03-20-18 10:19 AM
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45

I am so sorry you have to deal with this. And seconding the suggestion that Will should know someone to refer you to.


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 03-20-18 10:29 AM
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46

Holy hell togolosh, that's awful. I kicked in but I've yet to see it update the total.


Posted by: Barry Freed | Link to this comment | 03-20-18 10:34 AM
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47

Oh Tog. That's terrible. You spent a lot of money to protect and help her; I remember.


Posted by: Megan | Link to this comment | 03-20-18 10:47 AM
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48

Yikes. Second the (obvious) advice to talk to Will/get a referral. Be sure to take care of yourself in what sounds like a totally overwhelming situation.


Posted by: Robert Halford | Link to this comment | 03-20-18 10:51 AM
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49

Donated. All the best to all involved.


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 03-20-18 11:03 AM
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50

Donated as well.


Posted by: NickS | Link to this comment | 03-20-18 11:05 AM
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51

Thank you so much, everyone. I am trying to keep from freaking the fuck out with moderate success. I will update when I have news.


Posted by: togolosh | Link to this comment | 03-20-18 11:06 AM
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52

Holy shit, Toggie. Thanks for filling us in; please keep updating us.

When is she due??


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 03-20-18 11:16 AM
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53

Yes, my sympathy on a bad situation.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 03-20-18 11:25 AM
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54

I'm responding late, but good luck, togolosh. I was realizing the other day you hadn't been around much and was hoping it was for good reasons. Good luck. Congrats on fatherhood, since that's probably going to be exciting. IANAL, of course, but you might want to be careful what you post publically with your real name.


Posted by: ydnew | Link to this comment | 03-21-18 3:55 AM
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Lawyer secured with the help of Will (thanks Will!). I am trying to lower the temperature and see if we can get a mediation agreement worked out. Don't want to piss away money on lawyers that could be spent of diapers and formula.

This whole thing is pretty sordid and unpleasant and frankly does not reflect all that well on me or her. Once the legalities are taken care of I will relate the story. It has sex, drugs, debauchery and degeneracy, bounty hunters...

For now I'm just focused 100% on securing the best interests of the kid. Once I know she's off hard drugs and in treatment for the schizophrenia I will be able to relax a little bit.

I have a letter from my ex wife to the judge that is so nice to me it moved me to tears. If I can live up to the guy she describes me as being in that letter the kid will have a wonderful life.


Posted by: togolosh | Link to this comment | 03-22-18 6:46 AM
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That is cautiously good news. Please keep us posted!


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 03-23-18 7:11 AM
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