Good morning and welcome to orchid Wednesday. I love these flowers-they are so exotic and colorful and never ask for anything in return besides a little water and some muskrat love. I took a trip to the Farmer’s Market last Saturday where I came upon these first three lovely ladies. The second three photos are some orchids that have been sitting on my TV for the last few weeks, keeping me company as I watch NBA basketball and bang out these words of wisdom. These orchids bloom for months-they are a gift that just keeps on giving. I’m not an orchaholic but I do admit to needing to buy these beauties on a somewhat regular basis. But I can quit any time I want to. Really, I can.

So let’s get to a couple of stories that captured my somewhat divided attention this past week. It’s so easy to vote here in the United States. All we have to do is drive to our local precinct, mark our ballot, collect an “I voted” sticker and we’ve done our civic duty. Not so easy in Sri Lanka. Residents of one Sri Lanka village were prevented from casting their first vote in 14 years not by Tamil Tiger rebels, but by a herd of wild elephants that blocked the road to the polling booths. Sri Lankan security forces used loudspeakers, sirens and church mice to scare away the elephants in Wellaveli, eventually allowing 51 percent of registered voters in this eastern Sri Lankan district to cast their ballots. The other 49 percent decided to buy some peanuts and take in the show. There was no word on what might have drawn the pachyderms to the area and if the elephants know they’re not saying. But the elephants who scattered have vowed to remember this day, because as we know, an elephant never forgets.

Moving across the open water, wildlife officials in New Zealand say they are amazed at what may be the first documented case of a dolphin rescuing stranded whales and guiding them back to open water. That is, of course, if you don’t count an episode of “Flipper” from season number two when he rescued a killer whale that got caught in a water spout. Or was that the eensy weensy spider? Bottlenose dolphin Moko has regularly played with swimmers, boogie boarded and frolicked in the surf at Mahia Beach since she took up residence there nearly a year ago. Whale rescuers say they were about to give up trying to get two pygmy sperm whales, a mother and a calf, back out to sea when Moko rushed in and began to “communicate” with the two other marine mammals.

Conservation officer Malcolm Smith said he could hear the whales and the dolphin making noises, apparently to one another, before Moko escorted the whales through a narrow channel leading to the open seas. “I was not aware that dolphins could communicate with pygmy sperm whales, but something happened that allowed Moko to guide those two whales to safety,” Smith told reporters. Wow. When asked about this amazing turn of events, Led Zeppelin lead singer Robert Plant said he was just glad there was no “communication breakdown” while lead guitarist Jimmy Page said the whole episode left him “dazed and confused.”

One word on the disgraced Eliot Spitzer. What he did was wrong and incredibly stupid and he and his family are paying the price. His wife looked totally devastated as she stood next to him at the podium last week and I’m sure his three teenage daughters must feel like they’ve been hit with a sledgehammer over the news that Daddy frolics with prostitutes when he’s away on business. So Elliot Mess is the new poster boy for hypocrisy but that’s nothing new for politicians. He’s not the first to screw up publicly and he won’t be the last. And the Feds could bring him up on charges of bringing that woman across state lines.

But here’s what gets me. Bush and Cheney have sent hundreds of thousands of men and women across ocean lines to Iraq to either be killed, wounded or just separated from their families for prolonged times. And for what reason? I just saw Cheney on the news two nights ago telling everyone that we need to stay in Iraq because this would not be a good time to walk away and that things are so much better than they were ten months ago. It’s been five years, Dickie boy. Shock and awe. Bottom line, these guys are throwing trillions of dollars in a war that we never should have gotten into and they’re just going to walk out of office scot free. Eight U.S. soldiers died in Iraq the day this story broke. Now here’s Spitzer, because he couldn’t keep it in his pants being publicly shamed and his family left reeling. Whose crime is worse? Somehow, it just doesn’t seem right.

Caught a beautiful late winter sunset over the Pacific tonight. It was a real stunner and we’ll post it up, just like I post up my son in the driveway when we battle one-on-one in hoops. He’s now as tall as I am and the days of my intimidating him are over. The big difference is that his basketball future is ahead of him while I’ve got a great future behind me. So enjoy the orchids, our solid economy, rising gas prices and we’ll catch you on Friday. Later.
I

Good morning and welcome to Orchid Friday here at Sunrise Santa Cruz. This is not to be confused with Orca Thursday, which was just a killer day. I thought in honor of the big NFL conference championships this Sunday we’d end the week with a little play by play and a lot of color. Shots #2, 3, 5 and 6 were taken out at Maplethorpe Orchids in Soquel. If you like warm, humid greenhouses full of exquisitely colored plants then this is must see TV. Shots #1 and 4 resided in my living room for months until they seemed like family, although I had to use tough love when both started demanding extra fertilizer.

Orchids make up one of the largest families of flowering plants. According to current estimations, there over 25,000 species in existence and three in hiding. Extremely diversified, they are found in virtually all regions of the world, except for deserts and probably ice flows . It is not uncommon for orchids to bloom for months. The beauty is that with all the cross breeding of the species, new forms and wildly rich colors of this incredibly beautiful flower on always on the horizon. And as a bonus, some even smell like heaven. You can go to the Farmer’s Market at Cabrillo College any Saturday morning and score and fantastically beautiful orchid for the price of a super burrito and a diet Squirt.

Here’s something I read recently in the LA Times that I found rather interesting. Last year’s fires in Southern California were a terrible tragedy, as the flames swept thru hillsides destroying people’s homes and life-long possessions. But back in 2003 when similar fires ravaged the area, as people began to recover from that blaze, the landscape started to provide some inspiration. Just three months after the wildfires, signs of life began poking thru from the blackened earth. Wildflowers unlike any that had been seen for years began shooting up thru the charred ground. Among them were whispering bells, yellow-throated phacelia, fire poppies and mariposa lillies. It guess it all comes down to Earth, Wind and Fire.

Researchers cataloged more than 150 species of flowers. The high heat of the fire and the nitrous oxide in the smoke helped germinate many of the long-dormant native flower seeds. Soil enriched by the ash made the show even more stunning in Year 2. It became a lesson for many people involved in these fires-the discovery of beauty in the ashes helped them move past the tragedy. Some people don’t look at it this way-personally, I’ve think they’ve got it ash backwards.

So that’s our show for the week. I’ve got hundred of luscious orchid shots that have never seen the blog of day which we’ll deal out over the year. So tune in on Monday when we’ll take a look at why Congress is so hot to trot about whether pitcher Roger Clemens took steroids yet not nearly as peeved about Halliburton over billing the Pentagon and the American taxpayer by untold millions in the ongoing Iraq debacle. I guess maybe that’s because Dick Cheney never took home a Cy Young Award.

So another big sports Sunday coming up. The late, great Milton Berle found one thing confusing about football. He noticed that each pro team was blessed with dozens of gorgeous cheerleaders. Yet when they players scored, they would hug one another. Thank you for your insight, Uncle Miltie. Enjoy the patterns and the colors and and we’ll catch you next week on the 50 yard line of life.