i have quite a list of stuff to do before returning to año nuevo/pescadero. put in the Big Window; fix the gate; wind up the purchase with dad; tune up willy;—well that's plenty right there. but i'm feeling quite disinclined to reenter my speed trip. after months of pushing to close in my cabin and make enough money to pay back dad and put together the land purchase i am quite ready to slow down and enjoy… i have so much work to do and it will be a long time before i've paid off the land. but i hate to push it.”
[Russell Towle's journal]
“12/27/78 morning. clouds nearly cover the sky. [...]
yesterday i worked a little at michael and marsha's. asked mo if she'd like to cruise out to iowa hill […] so we went, and weren't on the iowa hill road for a minute when we had a head-on collision with a volkswagen squareback. mo's jeep suffered little damage, but the front end of the vw was thoroughly squished. totally his fault ~ he wasn't looking at the road, didn't see us until a split second before we hit, and was on our side of the road. so that stopped our trip to iowa hill. we went for a walk out to cape horn on the railroad tracks. [...] ”
[...]
[Russell Towle's journal]
“12/27/79 ~ before dawn. the above* relates to an idea i had recently of a sensory extension for humans that could allow communication with animals.
to wit: a man/dog combo, capitalizing on the dog's sense of smell. a combination transmitter-receiver is carried or implanted surgically in each animal (dog & human). ultra-sensitive chemical measurements are made of certain components of the dogs blood, or, a probe implanted in the dog's smell center in the brain to measure parameters of electrical-chemical stimulation. this information would be computer encoded and transmitted to the human, where it would be coupled with either another part of the brain or with a neurological system amenable to manipulation by the introduction of harmless chemicals. Then a period of biofeedback training would acquaint the human with his new “senses—” for instance, hunters of rare mushrooms could train the dog to recognize the smell and then go for a walk. If the dog smelled a distant mushroom, its transmitter would be activated and the human would immediately feel the sensation in its human translation. direct-coupled men and animals. perhaps mules and horses would be suitable candidates. but i feel sure that all the information can be carried chemically.
this could be as simple as a way to communicate one or two or three orders to an animal, or could possibly be a means to achieve sensory amplification and extension. could sensors attached to the optical system of a hawk transmit signals to similar systems in humans?”
[Russell Towle's journal]
*This refers to the previous day's entry, a long philosophical/scientific thought-train, which had ended:
“but cells vibrate to hidden frequencies triggering hormonal adjustments which in aggregate convey information: telepathy.”
December 27, 2005:
During the fall of 2005, Russell spent hours hand-polishing various hardwoods from his Moody Ridge property, intrigued by the grain patterns. Below are photos he took and labeled of some of his polishing results, on this day, in 2005.
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| Bigleaf Maple (Acer macrophyllum) |
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| Bigleaf Maple (Acer macrophyllum) |
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