My New Red Sled

 
 

Today’s Random Thoughts and Actions

First thought this morning – it is lovely to wake up next to a large warm man creature and realize that it is Saturday. Unfortunately said creature had to get up and work for a couple of hours – so that kinda spoiled it. However he came back after work and raked the roof for me and that is almost as good as snuggling.

I really love the Christmas season – I always feel that there may indeed be some magical wonderful joy-to-the-world type occurrence – what that will be I don’t know – but I feel the possibility at this time more than any other. And so I agree with Digby (thanks to Norwegianity for the heads up) that these “War on Christmas” idiots are taking the joy out of everything. First the idiots made me feel like I couldn’t love my country any more – because “our” country was really “their” country and if I had anything to say about it I was unpatriotic and now they are trying to make me feel like this is not my holiday if I show tolerance for others. Bottom line for me is let’s all be kind to one another. If you can’t be mindful of other’s feelings then you are no follower of Christ – and I don’t say Christian because these people have taken that word and made it as distasteful to me as the word “patriotic”. Next year, seriously, I am celebrating Hogswatch and be damned to bigots.


That said – I did manage to get the HOLIDAY lights up (I personally like to think of them as a reminder to the sun to come on back our way - see my favorite site Candle Grove for more information on the history and traditions of the season). Got the Tree and a couple of wreathes up at the Stone Village Farmers Market – Anna who runs the place is a very sweet woman and always asks about the old lady. Today she sent a little gift along for her. Then needed to get some extension cords at the hardware store – also got a red plastic sled – so Ken and I can go whizzing down a couple of hills!

Things I learned today:
1) Lindt now makes a Lindor Truffle that I have been wishing and wishing for. I never liked white chocolate until I had their white chocolate truffles – but I always though that they would be even better with a chocolate shell and the white chocolate crème filling. Well – guess what – they have them! Looks as if they are special for Christmas as the bag is all wintery. But that made my day.

2) I never noticed, but Lonny at Lisai’s told me that there are two different
Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais Nouveau wines. Those marked Beaujolais-Villages Nouveau are made with grapes from a specific approved area – while those marked Beaujolais Nouveau are from anywhere within the region. So you can suppose that the “Villages” wine will be better that the other. I am in the midst of trying to determine that. Hick!

Last item for the day – it is very difficult to be the care taker of an old person. It is worse than a child – because one could assume that the child will gradually take on more and more responsibility over time – while the old person is taking on less and less. I feel like I can never catch up on the house. I have this old woman going around and messing things up while I am away so every time I come home I need to spend most of my time cleaning up. Every once in a while I have a silent SNIT as I did today. I yell in my mind and start to freak out – because how can I get this house decorated if I always am putting away dishes and wiping spills and washing clothes and waiting on the old person and just generally scooping water out of this sinking ship I call home.!?!?!

And now you will forgive me as I have made a nice dent in the Beaujolais –Villages and need to go clean up the kitchen from the old lady’s dinner.

Oh and can I ask - why why why! does this dog need to keep clickity clickity clicking around the house? LIE DOWN TULIP!!! PLEASE! Before I go insane.

TODAY'S RANDOM PICTURE:

 
Green Mountain Railway Engines with my neighbor, Mr. Wyman snow blowing in front. This is the view up my road. The trains come through a number of times a day and the engineers stop to get lunch at the local store.  

First snow

We had our first real snow over night and most of today. About 10 inches or so here in Chester. There have been some light snows- but I don't consider them real until we get something that we have to shovel and we start wondering where the hell Chuck the snow plow guy is - and is he going to take care of us this year?

This is quite late for a first snow - the past few years we got a pretty good snow in October - and definitely some in November.

I have shoveled the walk and the drive nearest the kitchen door - of course now Chuck is on the way over! I think I hear him across the street right now. I have not raked the roof yet. It is a dilemma - I KNOW I need to do it - but I hate doing it and then I try and estimate if the snow that is there will melt over the next few days so if I did rake the roof it would have been a wasted effort. However if I guess wrong then I end up with a potentially murderous mass of packed snow and ice over the porch - And let me tell you - you do NOT want that falling on you.

Yup that is Chuck out there. Chuck is of the more-the-better school of plowers. He tends to plow the whole front door yard – I suppose there is sense in it as you are making room for the next snow and the next and the next and the next, but when you watch all you can think is What is he DOing?

Well – time to get the dinner going – Having a rotisserie chicken – mashed potatoes and POP OVERS! Almost feels like a holiday with the weather and all.

Vermont Democrat News

It's a scoop folks ... I was at the Chester Democrats "House Warming" party this evening. Kathy Pellett our local rep came up with the idea to hold a party and to have people donate towards helping people in our area who can't afford their heating bills - thus the "House Warming".

It looked like there was a good turn out - I counted at least 35 people. And as things were winding down Matt Dunne came in. Matt is our local state senator for Windsor County and a very very nice person. You can tell that he is sincere in helping people and he always seems to remember everyone's name.

Well, Matt told us that he will be announcing his run for Lieutenant Governor in a couple of weeks. There is not a better person for the job. I think the best thing we can do now is make sure that our local representatives are doing the best for us they can - and then work outwards from there. Matt as Lieutenant Governor will be a great addition.

The Dark Side

Anyone else see the similarities here?

 
 

Off to the Lucky Dog

Ken and I are off to Worcester MA today. We'll have to be back tomorrow by noon as his band "Little Rock" is playing at a benefit over in NH. So this is going to be a quick trip. The sock hop tonight will be fun and I shall be posting pictures!

Lucky Dog Sock Hop

With any luck this is where I'll be Saturday night. The sock hop is a blast and if you're in Worcester you should stop by.

  

Click the picture for a link.

New wool

Lookie what I got!

 

The turquoise and red is a mohair-wool-nylon blend to make a scarf to go with my Pendleton jacket so that Ken's daughter will no longer laugh at me for wearing this scarf with it. The mohair actually matches very well - better than it looks between the two photos.

 
 

The other is a nice hand painted 100% merino for socks. Yes I am crazy but it was the annual Putney Craft Tour and I could not resists. The yarns are from Oak Grove Studio and are quite lovely. She had a ton of yarn - but was off to New Mexico for the winter - so it was buy now - or next year.

Holla Back, Women!

Holla Back NYC is my new favorite site.

Holla Back NYC gives New Yorkers the right to Holla Back at street harassers. Whether you're commuting, lunching, partying, dancing, walking, chilling, drinking, or sunning, you have the right to feel safe, confident, and sexy, without being the object of some dickwad's fantasy. So stop walkin' on and Holla Back!

I think we need one of these for every section of the world. Imagine every sick harrassing bastard having his picture posted on the web. Imagine some woman checking out the site and seeing what her husband, brother, boyfriend, son is up to. Ha! That would serve the bastards!

One hat down, two to go

Look – I finished a hat! It’s a skull cap in a couple of ways. I know it looks a bit small on me – but it is for a very skinny 12 year old and I think it will fit perfectly.

A word to the wise on using knit 2 purl 2 rib all the way around. – Start on the right side with knit 3 so that the seaming looks better. I ended up at the seam with what looks like purl 2, knit 1, purl 2.

I now am making the exact same hat in a larger size and I am not going to be as lazy as I was here to strand the colors all the way across. I think it will look neater if I don’t.


 

Welcome to the fans of Crabby patties and Crows

As my sister noted, Site Meter is a fun way to see who looks at your blog, when and how they got there - whether through a link from another site or by a search.

Funny enough the most hits on my blog come because of the picture I put up in this post - and that is because of the picture of the crabby pattie I put there. Funny enough if you search Google Images mine is one of only 2 images of the crabby pattie (with that spelling). And that is what gets me most of my legitimate blog traffic. I get hits from Japan, Indonesia, Gemany, Sweden, Canada, Brazil and any number of states all because of that picture. Oh! The power of Sponge Bob!

My second most popular hit is from the word "crow" with out without embellishments. Many people are looking for the counting rhyme that I have made the "Description" for my blog. Others are looking I assume for crow information - If so try this site about all corvids .

So once again - welcome to the Sponge Bob and Corvid fans of the world. Leave me a note if you stop by.

Looong weekend

It is so nice having 4 days off at Thanksgiving and as this is the first time in a number of years we stayed home I feel extra specially relaxed. Of course I am already wishing we had more time off - but beggars can't be choosers.

Yesterday I did some tasks around the house; threw some leftovers out on the neighbor's dirt pile for the crows. I assume they headed down to get them as they are gone this morning - either that or the other neighbor's dog ate them. We had a nice platform bird feeder that was strong enough for the crows to land on – but someone and I suspect raccoons pulled it down. I need to get my act together to hammer it back together and reinforce it a bit more.

I also went to the hardware store and got a heat bulb for the chickens - came home and dropped it - yup $13 out the door. I wasn't happy and there by gave up on any more improvements for the day. While out and about I also picked up some yarn to knit a cap for a boy who is just now getting to Iraq. They need caps to go under their helmets and I thought that a brown cap with a pine-green outline of VT on the front would give him a little reminder of home.

I am using Knitusa by Lane Borgosesia. I found it in my local store on sale for about $4.60 a skein. That's about half the regular price and cheaper than anywhere I have looked online. It is a superwash bulky wool and has a very nice feel to it. (I stopped myself from buying enough to make a bulky sweater). I think it is going to make nice hats. I have already started a hat in black and white of the same yarn based loosely on the Hot Head hat in Stitch ‘n Bitch and on this hat from Hank Olsen mostly for the skully pattern.

I really need to get myself in gear – I have 3 hats and other small knitted items to finish for Christmas. And what am I doing instead? Making chicken stock and writing in this blog! I am pathetic. And now I think I need a nap. Why, oh why, am I such a procrastinator?

We had a lovely day yesterday. It seems like I cooked all day long, but we also had a lovely cheese and relish tray created by Ken.

 
 

We also drank some wine and listened to Arlo Guthrie's "Alice's Restaurant". And we also watched the movie of the same name. I had never seen it before and it was much better than I imagined. It's an exhibit of what those times were like and while it has it's amusing moments, it is also quite sad.

Dinner was very good ( if I do say so myself). We could have done with just 2 cornish game hens rather than the 4 I cooked.

 
 

After dinner and before the PIES Ken and I took a nice walk through the snow. Both pies turned out very well - I do so love custard pie.

Tulip's Thanksgiving was especially wonderful - as someone dropped a bowl of peas.

 
 

One to go ( uh-oh)

I am bravely making a custard pie with 10 eggs! It's a cholesterol nightmare but I bet it's going to taste excellent.

Guess what though - 10 eggs and a quart of milk is way more than one regular pie and unfortunately I already froze the other pie crusts. Well - I poured the extra in a bowl and I am baking that too - maybe it will turn out kind of creme brulee like - or maybe it will make a big mess? Who knows.

Here's the recipe
Custard Pie

10 eggs, beaten
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 quart scalded milk
1 tablespoon butter

Scald milk and butter. Let cool and then add to egg mixture composed of eggs, sugar, nutmeg and vanilla extract. Pour mixture into pie crust-lined (deep-dish) 9-inch pie plate. Place in a 450 degrees F preheated oven. Bake 20 minutes only. Turn heat completely off. Let pie stand in oven for 1 hour.

One pie Down

Here's the pumpkin pie - of course I should have covered the edge so that the crust didn't get too done. Oh well - we'll change that on the next one. It smells good. And included in the shot is the Beaujolais Nouveau!

 
 

Maple Pumpkin Pie

I am kind of making this up as I go. I will let you know how it turns out:

Can of pumpkin
Can of Sweetened Condensed milk
1/2 cup maple syrup ( real from VT and best made by someone you know)
3 eggs slightly beaten (best from girls you know)
2 tsp flour - King Arthur from VT of course
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla (REAL)

Mix em all together and pour in an unbaked pie crust. I am lazy this year and am using the pillsbury frozen crusts.

Put it in a 450 degree oven for about 20 minutes then reduce temp to 350 for another 30 minutes. Outside edge of filling should be firm will inside should still be a little jiggly.

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's snowing! The Beaujolais Nouveau is here! The game hens are in the crock pot! (albeit a little squished) The pumpkin and custard pies are in the midst of being created. Mama is watching The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Ken's looking for the movie of Alice's Restaurant. Tulip does NOT have cancer.

It almost feels like Christmas. I am tempted to crack open a bottle of the Beujolais but as it is only 10 a.m. I think I better wait, don't you?

If it's not one thing it's another

Well- I took a urine sample for Tulip into the vet Friday as her pee has been smelling rather strongly. She has had a number of urinary tract infections over the last year or so and I had a feeling something not good was going on.
So the vet called Friday evening to say that the sample indicated the presence of cancer. They needed a second sample to send off to a lab ton Monday morning – so that is what I did first thing this morning

I also spent some time looking up canine cancer and came across a few sites – I have ordered K-9 Immunity supplement from Aloha Medicinals in Hawaii.

And from their site I found Cancer Herbal Treatments from Robert McDowell's Herbal Treatments in Australia .

I ordered their Bladder Cancer Support Treatment and also their Maritime Pine Bark Extract. George Peterson answered my order with questions about Tulip’s background and history and through a number of emails and a phone call (all the way from Australia!) suggested that I pay for UPS shipping to make sure the order gets here faster. He also suggested diet changes and some additions like flax seed and white millet for her old hips. I was very impressed and certainly hope that their products help.

I also found an article about Canine Cancer that suggested a special diet – higher in fat and low in carbs as cancer lives off carbs. So I just spent the last hour or so making up a batch to last (hopefully) 4 or 5 days.. Since we are just starting out I haven’t exactly figured out how much the old thing should get everyday – but I think we will start on the low side. With all the veggies in this mix she’s going to pooping like crazy!

Oh how they froth!

As I pulled into work this morning I noticed that a certain Rabid Republican type was pulling in right behind me and I had a feeling that I would hear about it later on as I have a number of bumperstickers on my car.

So as we walked back in to work from our P.O. run this lunchtime Ken and I passed above mentioned RR and she turned to me and said with some rancor slightly disguised with humor, "Your car used to get really good mileage* until you loaded it down with all that lefty bullshit** on the back." And I just smiled sweetly and kept on a walkin'. Really - I have noticed that more than anyone else the RRs of this world love to call you out and make nasty comments about your beliefs. And never more so than when they are backed up against the wall.

It can only make me prouder to drive that car knowing that it is driving people like that crazy. I think it's time to add a couple more stickers.

*it's a Prius
** In the interests of fairness - it turns out I heard "Lefty bullshit" but it was really something more like "leftist bulletin board". I heard that maybe because the tone was saying "bullshit" but it has been independently corroborated that I was wrong.

Two Crows Mirth, indeed.

Yesterday I took the old lady down to a follow-up appointment with her Neurosurgeon in Boston. On the long journey we passed from rainy weather at home to almost balmy weather as we neared the city. It also began to get quite windy. So we were, oh, just a little south of Concord on Route 2 and chugging along in fairly steady traffic and I see a crow up ahead flipping around strangely in the blustery weather. I could see that this was not just a random flight but that the crow seemed to be chasing something. But it wasn't another bird and it seems to be trying to catch whatever it was in its feet. Then a second crow flips into view and I see this one is doing the same thing and suddenly it has something in its beak and the first crow is now chasing and off they go. I realized at the last second that they were chasing the oak leaves that are being blown off the tall oaks that line the road. And that they were both after the same leaf as it flipped and twisted in the wind.

I wondered of all the people that were traveling along with me at the time - how many noticed that little display of joy?

Vine Deloria, Jr.

It's hard for me to believe but Vine Delor ia Jr died on Sunday and I only saw it now - as a diary by Land of Enchantment on DailyKos. There is hardly an article about him listed when you use Google News. Go ahead and try.

I find it unbelieveable that the man who wrote Custer Died for Your Sins and We Talk, You Listen could pass so unremarked.

11/15 Update - Well - there's finally some more articles out there now about Mr. Deloria; the Times, the Indy Star, etc.

headache

Well - this has been a wasted weekend - although I helped someone yesterday morning with their gaming convention I had a wicked headache the entire time. I was going to take myself out to lunch but decided it would be a waste of time as this headache was just taking over the entire day. So I came home a slept a few hours - got up in the evening and ate something - watched a little TV and knitted a bit. Then was back to sleep around 9.

Got up this morning at 10 with the headache still there. Ate some breakfast - took some pills and went back to bed till noon. I have now managed to take a shower - I feel slightly better - it is not so much pain now as a weird feeling of one side of my head being larger than the other and my eyes - hmm - it's not that they are focusing differently - but there is something going on vision-wise. Thank heavens I don't have this kind of headache too often. It started out Friday as a "normal" sinus headache and morphed into this horror yesterday.

So pretty much the weekend is shot. I couldn't even appreciate the beauty of the day yesterday - the sunlight hurt too much - or the fact that Howard Dean was on Russert this morning and did a bang-up job answering Timmy's stupid assertations.

Bleah.

The Party of Exclusion

The other day I read David Neiwert's blog posting about vote suppression in Washington State. That got me thinking about the individual people who claim allegiance to the Republican Party. How best to define them? I think they are people who exclude others; exclude them from the country, exclude them from voting, exclude them from benefits, exclude them from the Bill of Rights.

Yet while they say "those people" should not receive health care or food assistance or anything "free", they are making sure that "our kind" is getting the best of everything. Well - "We have the money, are the right color, know the right people, speak the right way. How could we not deserve those things?"

Those people who seem most drawn to the "Republican values" are those who seem to like to define themselves by highlighting the differences of others, and lessening the humanity and/or importance of anyone deemed "other". What are they so afraid of? Being excluded themselves?

In a way I feel sorry for them, until I see the damage they have caused. I think their fear of the "Other" is the most animal of fears; like a flock of chickens attacking the weakest or newest member, they create solidarity by attacking differences and excluding them. They do not rise above their animal instincts, they do not use their intelligence to better humanity. What if "humanity was defined in terms of intelligence, civility, and the pursuit of justice rather than by species or form"**?

I don't think the Republican's could endure that.

**Six Moon Dance, Sherri S. Tepper

Damned Chickens

I made it through the work day pretty well. Came home and decided to really clean out the chicken waterers to keep in style with the newly winterized coop. When I brought the water back out to them I noticed that I had missed stapling plastic over one little section of the insulation - oh yes - and it was within their reach.

They had obviously spent the day saying “Oooooh loook at thiiis! oooh it's nice to peck at! Ooooooh hoooow loooovely.” Damn them. Luckily it looks like they did more pecking than eating - but I told them anyone who's filled up with styrofoam is on their own. I have had enough with impacted crops and slicing them open to clean them out.

While I was getting the plastic to cover it over they thought they would have one more go at it and started up pecking at it again. Damn them.

Spent the rest of the night catering to the old lady, got her dinner and then a million other things she wanted. Made egg salad for her lunch tomorrow. Cleaned the kitchen floor – folded 2 loads of wash and filled the dishwasher. I am exhausted. It’s 8:30 and I am ready for bed. I hope I have someone to take care of my every need when I am old.

I have to take time off tomorrow to get her to a flu clinic – almost all the clinics around here have been cancelled. So we are going to be lucky to get one tomorrow, hopefully they won’t run out of vaccine.

Weekend recovery

Ken is home from Worcester - sound like he had a marvelous time. I do wish I could have gone. I like being an aging groupie.

The girls, however, are happy I stayed home and insulated their coop with blue board - or as it officially comes across the invoice, "grayboard". It is of course very very blue. So I assume this is another one of the ways that men have come up with to confuse women who want to buy stuff at the hardware store.

Girls admiring the new insulation
Jaerhons, one Dominique and a couple of mutts



I have not completely finished the coop winterization - but I won't cover the window over until it is much colder and I am leaving the ceiling of the coop till next weekend as I didn't want Ken to miss out on all the fun. The worst is over though and I have set up a light to extend daylight for them as I am now getting only one egg a day - and I should be getting 5. The new girls should be getting ready to lay too. I can usually tell when they are going to start because their combs will get very red - and they get much talkier.

The new Jaerhon - who lacks a name right now - is very fond of me - probably because she was alone with only me for company for the first month or so of her life. She likes to see what I am doing all the time and I had a hard time keeping her out of the barn while I worked. I was afraid the silly thing would be picking up pieces of styrofoam insulation while I worked so I had to keep chasing her out.

Now that I am cleaned up I really want to go out and have a beer at the Killarney- Ken seems a little worn out - so we might not go. I am going to call him in a bit and hopefully the little nap he's had for the last hour will have perked him up. Tried Sandy earlier to see if she and Bob want to come too - but no answer, I shall try them again too!

Winterization in progress
I am a very messy worker!

Chicken Coop Hell

Well - after $60 and about 5 hours work I am maybe a quarter done with winterizing the coop. What a pain in the ass. As usual once I started the project I realized there was a lot more to it than just throwing the stuff up on the walls.

Luckily I didn't need to watch my friend's son - so I didn't have the added task of amusing a kid. I was free to be as cranky as I wanted.

Didn’t manage to help the old lady take a shower either - we are scheduling that for tomorrow morning. I did take her for a walk so we accomplished something today!

I would like to know why my heels hurt so much though. Mostly my left heel. I hope it isn’t bone spurs or something.

But on another happy note - Another of the bastards is getting his due.
Kenneth Tomlinson has resigned from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. He's the main bastard that tried to pull CPB down , saying that it was too liberal. Well guess what Mr. Tomlinson is "too"? He's too crooked. It's like we have reached some critical mass with this administration and it's all going to come tumbling down.

Got plans for the weekend?

We sure do!

Well, Ken will soon be off to Worcester to his friend Scott's CD release party. Scott's band Huck is releasing “Never Been Nowhere” tonight at Ralph's Chadwick Square Diner, 95 Prescott St., Worcester, MA. If you're in the area tonight - go on over - Huck is great and I am sorry not to be able to go.

I am staying home to watch the old lady - we're having a shower and getting our asses out for a walk. I am also watching my friend's son while they go off shopping for his birthday. So we will have an action packed day. I have plans for cleaning out the chicken coop and winterizing it too! WOW could you plan for any more fun? And throw an almost-12-year-old boy into the mix and it's going to be all excitement all the time!


OH! and I have to say that I am not at all sad that the Bush world seems to be going all wahooni shaped. I guess that Argentina wasn't the best place to try and get away from the troubles at home. In fact it sounds like Bush is actually stirring up support for socialism!

As Mr. Chávez spoke, he was interrupted by chants from the crowd mocking Mr. Bush. Every mention of Fidel Castro, in contrast, was cheered, as were frequent references by Mr. Chávez to his desire to unite all of Latin America in a new wave of socialism.
NY Times, By LARRY ROHTER and ELISABETH BUMILLER, Published: November 5, 2005

Benny's on a sunny afternoon

Today it is 66 degrees and with a gusty yet balmy wind. Just the afternoon to take a little ride before taking the car in for inspections. It was lovely!

I headed down the road towards Rockingham to get the car warmed up as it is the old lady's car and hasn't been out much - got her nice and warmed up before heading back to Benny's.

When I got there the old guy I usually get to do the inspection was busy, but as I know he is the "inspection" guy I waited - until a young kid asked if I needed help. I said why I was there and miracle of miracles he started to do it. I then foolishly began to hope that I would be out of there in a reasonable amount of time. But no- the old guy got done with what he was doing and took over. This is a problem because although the inspection only takes 10 minutes - the paper work for this guy takes anywhere from a half hour to 45 minutes and you better hope the phone doesn't ring while he's doing it - or you may be there an hour.

I have been going to Benny's for our car inspections for 3 years now (glutton for punishment, obviously) and in all that time this guy has not gotten any faster with the paper work. I have watched him copy over the VIN number at a pace that a snail would beat. And here in Vermont he has to copy it twice! Once on the paper work and one onto the back of the sticker.

The first time he inspected my car - he finally finished the paper work and slowly applied the sticker. And as I was about to jump in the car and drive away after handing him the money he said - "Wait let me get you a receipt." Oh god no! So now I am careful to pay with a check rather than cash so he doesn't feel the need to do the receipt.

Anyway - today was a perfect day to hang out at the garage because of the lovely weather - and I was already resigned to being there at least 45 minutes - so I didn't mind. Also it gave me a chance to observe the inner workings of Benny's - Benny ( and I know that's not his real name - I just like to think of the guy in charge as "Benny") often gets exasperated at his guys - and that is always good for a chuckle. You can tell he is thinking "why, oh why, have I been saddled with this bunch of dimwits!" And they look at him like confused puppy dogs while he yells. And then they go right back to doing what they were doing in the way they were doing it after he finishes. Poor cranky Benny!

Happy November!

OK - when you live in Vermont you kind of dread November, the month of cold rains and brisk wind slapping wet dead leaves into your face as you struggle to put away all the outdoor furniture you should have put away weeks ago.

So when you wake up ( as I did yesterday) and look out to a beautiful warm November 1st dawn, you need to take a few pictures. And best of all people - it got up to 70 degrees! I know I know - global warming and climate change are going to be the end of the world as we know it - but it was WARM and SUNNY in NOVEMBER!

 
 

 
 

Why "2K Why?" ?

I have read a number of dissenting opinions both on making an issue of the 2000th service person's death in Iraq and on the wisdom of posting a cryptic sign to mark that death via the Freeway Blogger.

The obvious answer to why we should mark this death versus say the 1957th is that we have a base 10 numbering system. We also tend to like and instill significance in round numbers. Why bring this milestone to people's attention? Well I don't know about you - but other than my friend whose son is leaving for Iraq in a couple of weeks - I 'm not hearing people mention the death toll. I haven't heard anyone say "Wow - it's up to 1800 or 1921." Or "Look, today October 31st we lost 6 soldiers." Or "The total for October is 93."

{UPDATE - On October 31st we lost 7 soldiers and the total for October was 94 Americans, 2 British and 1 Dane}

People don't seem to be as affected by numbers that aren't round and that aren't a multiple of 10. That's just the way it is. I feel a need to bring the deaths to people's attentions - but I know that if I brought the running numbers to everyone's attention every day, or every week - they would soon get used to it and ignore me. The count wouldn't mean as much. But pick "2000" as a number to show everyone and it means so much more. It hits them in the gut on so many levels. Think of how the year 2000 was such a milestone in people's minds.

On the opinion that putting up signs that say "2K Why?" is too cryptic - I have to disagree. It is short and sweet. It is a play on "Y2K". It makes people think - maybe not everyone will get it - but some will and they will mention it to others. It may last longer as a sign than something more obvious and is easier to read than more wordy slogans.

And so I give you this:

 
 

2K Why?

2K Why?

2K Why?

2K Why?

2K Why?

2K Why?

2K Why?

2K Why?

2K Why?

What did the old lady do today?

Well - it all started out so nicely. She slept well last night although I didn't ( I made the mistake of giving Tulip the left over oatmeal from the old lady at dinner time - so yes about 5 hours later she has to go out and poop. So I was awake from about 1 till sometime after 3. When she came up stairs I said to her - if it's not one of you ruining my sleep it's the other).

Anyway the old lady slept well and had a pretty good morning . I talked to her at 10:30 and she sounded good - pretty chipper in fact. Nurse was coming in the afternoon - PT was also coming. Life was good.

Then about 11:30 one of the women in the office comes over and says - Call your house - Deb is at home and heard them mention your house on the scanner. Oh here we go I thought. So I call and here's the poop. Lifeline called to have her test the button. And she wasn't going to until I came home - but then decided - why not? And so she pushes the button while she is 2 rooms away from the base - and with a door closed between her and the base. So of course they can't hear her - even though she yelled. and by the time she got to the thing it was too late. The call went out - the EMTs came as well as the fire chief. And then when she gets rid of them Lifeline called twice more . And then the PT had heard the scanner and told the visiting nurse who was in town so she came over.

So all in all the old thing is now all worn out. But not worn out enough to stop asking for things! And the nurse and the PT are still coming later in the afternoon. Oh well - that's what happens when you are old and crazy.

Oh and because Tulip pooped in the middle of the night she did not poop at lunch time which probably means she is now on a totally different poop schedule and I certainly am not going to put up with getting up to let her out in the wee hours. Bad dog.

back and forth and down and up

So I have been back and forth to Boston. I picked up the old lady after her hydrocephalus operation. I fly like a jet down there - arrived at 3:20 and guess what time we left Boston? 6:20. 3 goddamn hours later. So many many reasons why that I cannot mention.

Oh well - long drive home with the old lady doing her "stream of consciousness" chatter on and off. But we made it home.

Now I have eaten 4 White Castle cheeseburger ( frozen of course – we don’t have White Castle here) and drunk a half bottle of wine and am slightly drunk on that and the rumor that Cheney may be indicted – Oh lord that gives me joy. Schadenfreude isn’t even a long enough word for it. Shall I buy a bottle of champagne – why not!?!

Anyway I think it is time to haul myself up stairs and hope that I wake up if the old lady calls. Going to take most (if not all of the day off tomorrow) – got nurse and physical therapists coming – and OH NO she has awoken and now is talking again. I better go to bed.


11:26 pm - ok so now she is talking about what kind of oatmeal she wants tomorrow- "get that instant oatmeal out for me . I want the apple kind" and asking me to put a banana out on the counter - like she is going to be up and trotting around tomorrow morning all by herself! So I get that settled and am just sitting here waiting for my tea water to boil and she says - "What's this piece of music playing on the radio - it sounds like something old fashioned." So I had to go and threaten her to make her be quiet and go to sleep! lord!

11:35 - have I said? - it's a good thing I am patient and good humored!

Quiet Joy

On the way home from Boston today I saw a double rainbow. It was, of course, in Vermont and led straight home. I wish I had my camera with me to take a picture - but honestly with the headache I had I probably wouldn't have stopped.

I also passed a turtle on his back in the middle of the road near the Vt Country Store. He was being jostled by the wind of passing cars. I turned around and went back and he was alive. I walked him down to the pond and let him go and told him he was both mighty stupid and mighty lucky. He was important enough to stop for.

I have taken a nap now and also some sinus medication and my headache is somewhat under control - so I am heading to the Stone Hearth Inn to watch Ken play.

Workin' on a Sunday

Well - much as I hate going into work on a weekend I have to admit - I get way way WAY more done than I do in a week. I got caught up on a number of projects; including reading up on upgrading SalesLogix - well really for us it would be like a new install since we'll be jumping 3 versions. The more I read the better version 6.2 sounds.

I also managed to clean up a bunch of drives, cleaned up files and zipped them for archiving. Pulled and organized the emails for tomorrow's mailings. OH and did some research on getting the email from SLX to work with Outlook 2003. I found that not only does SLX have a problem on SOME of the new machines - but Word 2003 does also. And although I found a fix - it only holds for that computer session - as soon as you reboot - you are back to square one. I am going to pass that along to the computer hardware guys and let them delve into it with Dell.

So even though I missed my Kenny VERY VERY much (you may all stop making the gagging sounds now) - his absence did allow me to work an entire 8 hours today. Plus I managed to finish almost all of his first sock yesterday. – pictures to follow once both socks are done.

Sleepy Bee 3 

Sleepy Bee 2 

Sleepy Bees

Yesterday evening I decided to cut some flowers to bring inside. After all this 70 to 80 degree weather in OCTOBER isn't going to last forever.

As I cut I suddenly noticed something inside the flowers and immediately thought of some kind of yucky bugs. But on closer examination I found sleeping bees! So I have taken some pictures of them - I am thinking that the cooler evenngs are making them sleepy and as they are bumble bees they don't have a big hive to go home to, so they just sleep where they are. The poor things are going to die with the frosts any way, so I suppose this also saves them flying time in the morning from the queen's home where she will hibernate the winter with the store of food they have helped her build up.

oh dear

Well - we have been ever so busy.

The Old lady's shunt surgery is coming up next week, there is tons of fall clean up stuff to do and the house is a mess. And I don't feel like doing a thing.

I DID put away a big pile of clothing that was obscuring one of the guest beds. And I plan ( HA!) this weekend to do some more.

The Apple Festival is also on this weekend and I am going to give them a few hours on Saturday. Then Sunday I am going to come into work for a number of hours - we'll have to see how energetic I feel.

Banned Books Week

"Censorship is telling a man he can't have a steak just because a baby can't chew it." ~~ Mark Twain

Hey - I just realized it is Banned Books Week September 24–October 1. The American Library Association has bracelets by Carolyn Forsman in Adult and children sizes to commemorate the week. You can get one of each for $25 which isn't bad at all - and they are pretty cool bracelets too! Click on the picture for a link to more info and to order a bracelet.


Banned Book Bracelets 

Check out this cool thing - OrganicHTML. Enter a website and see what kind of plant grows - This is mine.

Red Cross not allowed in New Orleans by Homeland Security

I read this Diary on DailyKo last night and woke up this morning with it on my mind. It is unbelieveable but go there and read all the comments.

Red Cross NEVER allowed into New Orleans. by SteveRose

And now do a search through Google News for Red Cross and find this:
Homeland Security won't let Red Cross deliver food from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

and this from the Peoria Journal Star:
Red Cross helps out despite setbacks, Relief teams not allowed into New Orleans

and here is the FAQ about it from the Red Cross site itself:
Hurricane Katrina: Why is the Red Cross not in New Orleans

and couple that with the story about Homeland security not allowing Canadian aid into the country in the first couple of days of the husrricane and you have to say WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON! (Can't find story right now will post link when I find)

This story needs to spread and spread and spread - So if you stumble on this and have a blog of your own - please post about it - Just a title with some links to these stories is helpful. And send the story onto your local paper - Lets raise the outrage here.

Thank you.

Please Donate to New Orleans

CLick the picture to donate. Please, they are desperate!

Donate to Hurricane Relief 

Nero

It occurred to me last night that Bush was like Nero - playing while a city died. And then this morning I see this picture of Bush playing a guitar yesterday after his visit to Naval Base Coronado. Could it get anymore obvious that this man cares about nothing but his own pleasure? and that the word decorum is not in his vocabulary.


Bush Fiddles while New Orleans drowns 

Strange dreams

I had a dream last night that my sister was insistent about having a baby and that the reason she hadn't was infertility - so in order to have one she had become Born Again so that god would make her fertile and was trying to convert me too. At the same time she had also started to smoke Crack and was trying to make me do it too. She passed me a pipe and I was trying to throw it away when I woke up. Pretty strange, eh?

In reality though - she is a Step-Grandmother : wha ha ha! Old lady.

Look where we're going tomorrow!

Yup, that's right the Saratoga Races.

Racing 

I think it is going to be fun. I never particularly wanted to go myself but the old lady did - so now I am taking her just to make her depressed and Ken is coming along too. I have been perusing their web site I think it will be more fun than I thought. With 8 or 9 races and a dollar a bet you can have a little excitement too.

The drive from Vermont looks lovely along the Battenkill most of the way. The weather is supposed to be great and this will mean a three day weekend!

Too bad we can't stay the night because look at the cool stuff going on tomorrow because it is the Traver Stakes Festival:

FRIDAY, Aug. 26

The Travers Wine Tasting. The National Museum of Racing, Saratoga Springs. Wine and food tasting of 200 upscale wines and food provided by five area restaurants. Live auction and jazz band. Proceeds benefit the Senior Services of Albany Foundation. Must be 21 or older to participate in the wine tasting. 7 p.m. - 10 p.m., tickets $100 per person. Contact: 388-9240.

8th Annual Battle of the Brews. Saratoga Race Course. 12 Noon - 5 p.m. Microbrew Festival with sampling available to those 21 and older. Tickets $20. Proceeds benefit the American Red Cross Adirondack Saratoga Chapter. Contact: 745-7345.

Upbeat on the Roof. Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery roof-top, Saratoga Springs. Doc Scanlon's Rhythm Boys. Come on up for some swing music and dance the night away! Free. 7 p.m. - 8 p.m. Contact: 580-8080.

More Bird Flu

There are a couple of reasons I am interested in the Bird Flu - one is that I have an elderly mother who I would really not like ot see die of something that should be preventable or lessened by proper planning. The second reason is that I raise chickens for fun - I was actually thinking about the fact that maybe I will need to have them put down. So I started to look at what prevention methods other countries are taking and I saw that Germany or Holland (sorry lost the article now) was requiring all chickens be kept indoors to cut down on the risk of infection from sick wild birds.

So I started to look and see if there are any drugs for chickens that might be given ahead of time to protect a flock and I found this: Bird Flu Drug Rendered Useless, Chinese Chickens Given Medication Made for Humans That's right - "China's use of the drug amantadine, which violated international livestock guidelines, was widespread years before China acknowledged any infection of its poultry, according to pharmaceutical company executives and veterinarians." So " International researchers now conclude that this is why the drug will no longer protect people in case of a worldwide bird flu epidemic."
Excellent eh?

This means more than ever prevention is necessary. So people, if you stumble by here take the threat seriously and get ready. I am.

and lest you think I am a nut go and read this Bird flu: we're all going to die

Bird FLu

I admit it - I started this blog as a way to keep track of my knitting and daily life. Well (I say along with you) HA! What knitting - what daily life. I don't know - everything happens to me so quickly that by the time I am ready to write something the event I want to write about is weeks over - I mean look - I never finished my post on the fair even though I have been thinking about it - and suddenly we are 4 weeks away from the fair and it seems ridiculous now to even bother. And knitting - what knitting? I can't even finish the one pair of socks I started as a test case - just to see how this pattern came out and what my guage was like. I am pathetic.

On the other hand I am trying to use my little corner of the Internets to pass on things I think are important and this is a case in point --
The Bird Flu. There is a fine line between preparedness and paranoia - and I think that this line when it comes to the Bird Flu is far off from what most of us are doing and thinking.

So I encourage everyone to check out the FluWiki and seriously start thinking about those people in your family at risk. The old, the young, the infirm. Those of us who have jobs that take us into contact with many people.

While the Health headlines in the US seem to be focusing on Stem Cells and drug company news take a look at what is going on in the rest of the world:

Germany acts to prevent spread of bird flu

GPs to get drill for bird flu pandemic (UK)

Stockpiling of drug urged in fight against bird flu (Asia)

Good heavens! The Bahama Journal has a huge two part series about Bird Flu- The Next Pandemic

Anyway - if you happen by - take a look at the FLuWiki - think about how your community is going to be able to handle an outbreak and do what you can to bring this subject to a more prominent position.

CIndy Sheehan

This woman really moves me. Can you imagine the courage that it take to keep following Bush and standing out in the hot sun day after day. Just to get a simple answer from the man. You go, Cindy!

In a few days my friend's son leaves for Iraq - it is going to be so hard for her. So what can we all do? Well - how about going to Cindy's site and downloading and printing out the large size of the picture above? CLick on the picture for a link. Put it in your car window and show your support for the troops and your lack of support for the war that way.

Remember - Peace is Patriotic!

New Fire pit ready to go... 

Sweet Email

Look what my little sugar pie emailed me this morning:

I had a great weekend, it was relaxing and interesting too
Cleaning things is always fun
A nice lunch out w/drive
2 Dead Like Me episodes
Steak dinner w/ potato salad
Leftover pizza from Rick’s
Napping w/you too
Even channel surfing on the couch

Thanks baby…you are the best

It was a lovely quiet weekend!

I accomplished three out of my five self assigned tasks:
*Clean Kitchen to make it easy for new florr to be installed - DONE!
* Buy stuff for the old lady's orchids and plant the orchid cactus cuttings we got at the Spiral Shop - DONE!
*Build a Fire Pit - DONE! (pictures to follow)
*Pick out pictures of me, poopyface and the old lady to have printed - not done
*Pull together and organize all my Fair stuff to make it easy to pass along - not done

The Big Gig

Whoo hoo- I have been waiting for this for weeks! We are going to the Big Gig in Westminster West this afternoon and listening to music and watching people and just relaxing.

http://www.westwestfest.info/

I just realized that you can use Hello to post text to your blog. Interesting and easy!