Kate's Camp

what newt said

2009-09-04T12:40:00.000-07:00

"Why is it political for the president of the United States to discuss education?"--Newt Gingrich
defending then-President George H.W. Bush's nationally televised speech to schoolchildren.

What I wrote the superintendent

2009-09-04T10:23:00.001-07:00

I just wanted to send you an email to let you know I appreciate that you are not canceling the President's address to schoolchildren next Tuesday. My biggest concern when I began hearing that some schools, and school districts around the country were "boycotting" the speech was that we are setting dangerous precedent by implying that children should not be allowed to listen to the President of the United States speak to them directly about the importance of education because of the wild fears by some parents that their children might hear a "political" message. Indeed it is these parents who are themselves attaching a political agenda to this address.

And, it is those same parents who are jeopardizing their children's education by implying that if you disagree with someone's views you should not listen to them. And it is especially disturbing that parents are allowing their children to believe that the office of the President should be so disrespected. This is where I feel it becomes a bad precedent to establish...if this President is not allowed to address schoolchildren in a nationwide address—which both Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush have done in the past—then no President (regardless of political affiliation) in the future should be allowed to address schoolchildren. Similarly, if I disagree with the politics of a Kentucky elected official (senator or representative) and they schedule a visit to my children's school, do I have the right to ask that my children not attend that event? This is where it can quickly become complicated, and an unnecessary obstruction to our children's education.

The President plans to speak to the children about ways they can achieve through education...a topic specific to the work they do at school. He has spoken on this topic many times, and has often emphasized how important it is for children to read, and how important it is for parents to take time to read with children. I am really saddened that some parents in this county are so threatened by the President's political views that they are not allowing their children to listen to the leader of their country encourage them to take advantage of the opportunities they have to learn at their schools.

My children will hear this address...and it is very important to me that they do hear it at school. I will be discussing what the President says in his address that evening with them, and I hope that other parents will do the same. Meanwhile, I just wanted you to know--because I'm sure you are getting many calls and emails to the opposite opinion today -- that I am in full support of this Presidential address being aired at the school on Tuesday.

then I'm proud too

2009-08-26T12:49:00.000-07:00

If, by a liberal, they mean someone who looks ahead, and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas, without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people—their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, their civil liberties. Someone who believes that we can break through the stalemate and suspicioun that grips us. If that is what they mean by a liberal, I am proud to be a liberal.

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, 2007

Ted

2009-08-26T05:28:00.000-07:00

For good, and for bad, Edward M. Kennedy was an incredible Senator. I had the privilege of getting to watch him run a hearing on Superfund waste sites while I was an intern in DC during college. The room literally was charged with electricity as soon as he walked in, and it was fascinating to watch him question the witnesses, and banter with other senators.

And, exactly one year ago, he got up at the DNC convention in Denver and gave a speech in support of Barrack Obama. I went online and read the text of that speech, and while it wasn't a long or overly dramatic speech, the fact that he stood up in his diminished health and addressed that crowd was just amazing.

He certainly wasn't perfect as an individual -- far from it -- but the devotion with which he gave his life to public service, and to championing the causes of civil rights and health care made him a legend.

Go in peace.

like I said

2009-08-12T14:11:00.001-07:00

I'm adding an update to the last post. To be specific about what type of bed I was selling I included the brand name of the manufacturer of the bed...from a store that is still in business in this town. I just had a call from yet another illiterate person about my bed-for-sale. This time the caller asked if she had reached the store that I actually BOUGHT the bed from three years ago.

"No," I said, that is just the brand of bed it is, and oh yes, I sold the bed yesterday so it is no longer available."
"Oh," said the caller, "well do you have other beds?"
"No," I said.
"But aren't you a furniture store?"
"No," I said again.
"Well what is the phone number for the **** Furniture store?"
"I don't know." I informed her, beginning to lose patience.
"Are they still in business"
"Yes," I said..."and I was only selling that BRAND of bed...I'm not associated with that store."

Clearly confused about it all, she hung up. No doubt to start coloring her socialist protest signs for a healthcare town hall.

Rampant ignorance

2009-08-10T05:25:00.000-07:00

If you ever want to find out how stupid the people are who live in your area, place a classified ad in the "for sale" section of your local paper.

I placed two different ads last week...one for a queen size bed we are selling, and one for our house. In our house I put information about our online listing in order to NOT pay for a lengthy classified. So far I got a call from a man wondering if it was a commercial property (no, I would have not listed it under "house for sale" if that were the case); and yesterday, one from a woman who after hearing the details of the house (price and size of the lot) proceeded to tell me how she was going to buy a house for her recently divorced daughter, and she couldn't spend more than roughly half what our house was listed for, and the lot was too big for her daughter to mow, and now she was also going to have to buy furniture for her daughter as well, but her daughter wouldn't accept USED furniture, it had to be new--at which point I was thinking "WHY am I listening to all this?" I wished her well in her house-hunting venture, and got off the phone muttering about the fact that maybe she had family issues to deal with before she started furniture shopping for this apparently ungrateful daughter.

The other ad has generated a lot more calls, and a LOT more stupidity and rudeness. Maybe I'm naive about this, and maybe it ain't how it's done 'round here, but when I say "bed" in an ad, it does NOT include a mattress! The bed is the headboard/footboard frame part. The mattress is the mattress. When is the last time you went to a furniture store to buy a bed (remember, the frame!) and they offered to throw in a mattress for free? All of the calls I have had have been either assuming that a mattress comes with the "bed" -- then hanging up on me when they find out it doesn't; or asking what additional furniture (nightstand? dresser?) comes with the bed. Huh? If I was offering a whole bedroom suite I would have put that in the ad. I had one call yesterday saying they were interested in the box spring and mattress I had for sale. I told them I DIDN'T have a box spring or mattress for sale. Oh, said the caller, clearly confused.

So my theory on all this is if the public can't read a simple classified ad and understand what it is offering how in heck is Obama going to get healthcare reform passed?

organic food

2009-07-30T06:57:00.000-07:00

I swear sometimes I think the news is going to do us all in. On the web this morning was a big story "Organic Food is No Healther, Study Finds." If you read the story the angle is that studies find that organic food is nutritionally no different than non-organic AND CHEAPER (as the story points out repeatedly) food. Here's a quote:

"Our review indicates that there is currently no evidence to support the selection of organically over conventionally produced foods on the basis of nutritional superiority."

Well, duh. An apple is an apple--nutritionally speaking--and the way it is grown (pesticide free) isn't going to change how much fiber it has, or the amount of vitamins in it.

I personally don't buy organic foods thinking they will be more nutritious. I buy them because I want to support growers who DON'T use synthetic pesticides, antibiotics, and fertilizer, and who have greater suspect for the sustainability of their soil.

Of course the "read" of this story today is that we shouldn't be wasting money to buy organic because it doesn't really matter. It DOES matter, to me, and I will continue to choose organic over regular, when it is available (which isn't always the case here). I will spend $3-$4 on a half-gallon of organic milk instead of $3 on a gallon of regular (it tastes better...I promise you!) and twice as much on organic carrots (ditto...deeper orange, better flavor). There are some organic items I won't spend extra on at this point, but I suspect it is more a point of price-gauging on behalf of the local supermarkets, rather than the true cost.

Joe's Excellent Adventure

2009-07-11T06:45:00.000-07:00

In the end the guy in the uniform always gets the girl. A photographic essay by T2

and it's lucrative too!

2009-06-29T10:41:00.000-07:00

Much to our pleasant surprise, our ribbons garnered a total of $78 for us! Wooohooo!

Ribbon Whores

2009-06-22T19:06:00.000-07:00

It's official...we have become the County Fair "ribbon whores" that Garrison Keillor makes jokes about on PHC. We knew it was getting bad last summer when we were scrounging around trying to just think of things to enter, but this year I probably crossed a line of sorts in my quest for ribbon domination.

So here's this year's tally: The Reenactor got a PURPLE ribbon (grand prize!) for his bread and butter pickles, which he honestly had forgotten he had even canned last summer. For the record, we cracked open a jar last night and they are DEE-lishus! Apparently the extension homemakers found merit in them too, because they won the grand prize in their division. He also got a red ribbon for his picklelilly (spelling?), a white ribbon for his pickled carrots, and sadly another red ribbon for his spicy dill pickles. The man can't seem to rise above red in this category. And the winning jar of pickles left much to be desired, in our opinion. We're truly mystified as to what exactly the judges are looking for in this category. But he's happy with that purple!

I won a purple for some raspberry muffins I made at the last minute this morning, and a purple for a color photograph of hostas emerging from the ground that T1 and I sort of took together. I also won blue ribbons for cornbread, and gingersnap cookies.

But here's where I might be injecting too much competition into all this. Literally at the last minute before we left the house I rinsed the label off a beer bottle, went outside and stuck a fresh stem of bee balm flowers into it, and entered that in the horticulture division under "wild flowers." Yes, and it won a red ribbon.

HA!

I swear...for those of you who live in this part of the Commonwealth you don't know what you're missing by not seeing what you can concoct to enter in the fair. It is a trip, and gives us huge laughs every year.

weather

2009-06-11T19:37:00.000-07:00

We had a storm front go through tonight that produced a bit of thunder and a brief heavy shower, but a half hour later the back side of this storm made for some spectacular cloud watching. I happened to catch a few shots while I was in town.

from Dick

2009-06-02T06:08:00.000-07:00

"I do not believe and have never seen any evidence to confirm that [Hussein] was involved in 9/11. We had that reporting for a while, [but] eventually it turned out not to be true," Cheney conceded.

[said at the National Press Club, this week, as reported on CNN]

Yet, if memory serves, that was the whole reason the war was started?

why corporations suck

2009-05-19T08:36:00.000-07:00

I created this whole blog originally as a rant against corporate America, specifically the largest big box retailer with the initials W.M. I had made it a point to shop there as little as possible, but as I've said in this blog many times, it is often the only game in town for finding some products. In recent months with the loss of my freelance income, and the closure of many stores here in our town that I often went to in lieu of shopping at WM I've been forced to retreat on my pledge to not go there. Often it is the least expensive choice for groceries, although I'm trying to be more diligent about shopping the two other smaller chain groceries for sale items. But the fact of the matter is, I've slid badly.

So yesterday I went in to return a children's book that I had purchased for a friend's birthday (one of my kid's friends). The boy in question had received not one, but three of the same book for his birthday, so I volunteered to return the one I bought. I had the receipt and when I took it to the return counter was told by the very rude person who was working there who apparently was annoyed that I was disrupting her gossip session that "books have to be returned in 24 hours, that's WM policy." The book was slapped on the counter back at me and the receipt slapped on top. She then turned her back to me and continued on with her gossip. I picked up the book, and of course, felt the anger starting to rise in me at the rudeness of this person, and at the lack of a reason as to WHY WM has this policy. I walked away, and reviewed my receipt. Nothing was on there about not being able to return a book. In fact, there was NO information about returns because WM is notoriously easy to return merchandise to...that's part of why I purchased this book there to begin with.

I went to get a few other items I had gone into the store to pick up, and the more I walked around the store, the madder I got...mostly at the dismissal with no explanation I had from the employee. I walked through the book section and saw no signs or notices saying that books couldn't be returned after 24 hours.

So when I was checking out I had already decided I was going to go back to the returns desk and ask to speak to some other employee, or the store manager about this. In the checkout line I saw an employee who I know casually from another friend. I asked her who I should talk to and she called over one of the floor managers. I had just begun to explain the problem to this manager, and she did almost the same thing...cut me off in mid explanation, and said "It's corporate policy...we can't exchange it." Again, the tone was condescending, and just on the edge of being pissy. I asked her what the reason was, and she said it is copyright law. Hmmmm...I'm thinking. You can return books to online vendors like BN and Amazon, can't you? And what a screwy law...if you wanted to photocopy a book you could do so in less than 24 hours if you so choose. I told this floor manager that I was really frustrated by their lack of information about this. I could have returned the book the same day had I known..the only reason I didn't was that I had the kids with me and we were all tired so we went home after the birthday party. (I didn't tell her all that). I said, "why don't you put that on the receipts?" and her response was that it was all out of the main office, and they had no control. I also asked her why they didn't put some sort of sign with the books about this and she looked at me with genuine contempt and said, "If we put up a sign about every rule in this store you wouldn't be able to see the merchandise." The more I thought about that particular comment after she left, the more I wish I would have laughed in her face when she said it...how 'bout taking down some of the self-congratulatory "Low Price, Every Day" signs? The store is literally already reeking with signs!

Ultimately my anger wasn't so much over basically throwing away $10 on a book that we didn't need, and now needing to buy another gift for this boy, but on the way I was talked to. THIS is why so many businesses are failing. WM clearly isn't, but this is why so many other businesses are losing money..they have lost the ability to deal with customers in a civil manner. This is just one of many situations I've encountered like this in the last year...where I clearly have a legitimate complaint or concern with my bill or product, and have been told by a low-level employee that it is "corporate policy" and they have no way around it.

So my distaste for WM has been reignited, and I will try again to avoid the place. I'm not saying that customer service is any better at other stores...it usually isn't but I'm just not able to walk into WM without being uncomfortable that I'm feeding the corporate dragon...and that was true even before I had this experience this week.

I'll keep you posted as to whether I'm staying on the wagon or not.

And the book? Given to another friend who hadn't read it yet. Happy ending, there.

We're Keen!

2009-05-19T08:35:00.001-07:00

Just because we are the strangest family we know, we now all have matching (sort of) sandals.

Volvos and soccer

2009-04-21T19:29:00.000-07:00

I have officially become a Volvo Driving Soccer Mom. I already had the Volvo, now I have the soccer player. T2 told us he wanted to learn the game so he could keep up with his friends on the playground who all play that, or basketball. So I've joined that happy demographic of soccer mom. I haven't yet put the soccer magnet on the back of my car, and I probably won't. He had his first game last Saturday and scored two goals, which we thought was pretty good considering he had only one practice before the first game.

I haven't yet put a magnetic soccer ball on my tailgate, and I don't think I will. And for you younger campers out there, yes, I have been made aware that there is an Everclear song about me and my type. I don't exactly fit that description though...I certainly don't vote Republican.

Meanwhile, The Reenactor and I are going to become soccer hooligans...wave big flags, throw our shirts on the field, scream obscenities at the refs, etc.

baby in a planter

2009-04-11T19:26:00.001-07:00

I saw this today at Jason's cousin's house. It just amused me, so I decided to post it.

Electric shopping carts and math

2009-03-30T19:38:00.000-07:00

This post is all over the place. I don't have the inspiration to write on one specific topic, so I'll just free-associate for a while.

First of all, excessive numbers of people who can't make their way around a big box store without the assistance of an electric shopping cart. Is it a peculiarity of the state I live in (Commonwealth, if you're being picky), and the tendency toward obesity, and diseases caused by smoking that lead to poor circulation, or is this rampant everywhere?

The last time three times I've been in the big WM I've nearly been outnumbered by the herds of people driving those little electric carts around. I'm not exaggerating when I report to you that one morning last week, I encountered at least one person in each aisle (not the same person...a different person/cart per aisle) for the entire length of the grocery area. And in many cases they were traveling in pairs...husband and wife teams.

I'm truly not expressing an intolerance for the obvious need for these carts, but just am curious at what appears to be an epidemic of walking difficulties in people who are not elderly, and seemingly able to at least get themselves in the door of WM to begin with in order to gain access to the cart. What do they do at the mall? At church? At sporting events? Do they have these walking problems at stores without the carts? Do they sometimes take a wheelchair with them, just in case?

I am also concerned about the inability of many of these people to safely use the carts. I was getting some coffee and was nearly run over in a tragic backing up incident in which a woman in a cart five feet away from me hit the reverse with great dispatch, and in her unexpected trip backwards lost control, and nearly flattened me before I could jump out of her way. She bleated a horrified "sorry" and I assured her I wasn't hurt, but what if a child had been in her path?

On to my next subject...math. I'm not good at math. Let me clarify...I'm not good at math above the basics of adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing. I'm a whiz at those. But a kind professor at college saw my struggle in a "math for idiots" class, and recognized that I would surely never actually need to use math in my career since political science rarely requires a quick answer to an algebra problem. His solution in his pity for me was to pass me at an acceptable grade and end both his misery and mine. My inaptitude for math was the sorrow of my father, who while no math genius himself, at least "got it" enough to become an engineer, and actually had a useful purpose for it when brandishing his slide rule and jotting all sorts of interesting numbers and equations down in pencil on a legal pad in his office. I used to look at those scribblings and wonder what they meant. I still would have no idea. Math to me is just a foreign language that I have no hope of ever understanding. It is like trying to teach a cat to read.

So here comes my seven-year-old son who seems to have found some isolated math gene in his DNA, and is doing somewhat complicated multiplication problems in his head while we go for walks. He started asking me last week to give him some multiplication problems, and I started with 2 x 3. Too easy, he said...harder! 5 x 11. 55 he said without hesitation. How about 9 x 8? 72, he said. How about 4 x 32? He gave me the correct answer, but what was especially impressive to me was how he solved the problem. It is more complicated than I can write out, and it wasn't the way a teacher would have him do it, but it made perfect sense, and ultimately the correct answer. The next evening he did a problem for The Reenactor that left him stunned at the methodology T2 used to reach the answer. They have not been studying anything above basic addition problems in his class, yet he wrote out an entire page of addition, subtraction, and multiplication problems on his own, just because he wanted to. I admire the heck out of it, and while I know this is not entirely unusual for a child to be interested in and curious about working problems like this, I'm just amazed that MY child can do it! Granted, The Reenactor has way better skills at this than I do, so I guess I have to give him genetic credit, but just like watching my own father work a problem, I now get to watch my son work them as well.

Cool.

And finally, I took a one-day course last weekend at our church on the topic of understanding the Bible in its literary form. It was fascinating, and the instructor, a woman who has written a book on the subject, was very interesting, and kept us focused throughout a five-hour lecture and discussion. Even though I've understood this concept for a long time, it was still eye-opening to have a person who is an expert in literary form and style present some of the passages of the Scriptures as they were actually intended as written word, rather than through the religious goggles we usually wear when we read them. It doesn't challenge my beliefs, but rather made me curious to read, and re-read parts of the Bible with a whole new appreciation for truly understanding the context of the story, rather than pulling out individual chapters or verses and considering them complete stories. The Reenactor is reading the Bible, cover-to-cover, and has been on the OT for a while after finishing the NT. I kid him that he wanted to see how it ended, so he read the last chapters first. He just came out to inform me while I was writing this that the people Moses led out of Egypt were a bunch of whiners and complainers, and didn't pay a lick of attention to what God was telling them point-blank to do. His interpretation is always interesting.

That's it for now.

A Lecture on Lint

2009-03-17T11:03:00.000-07:00

Sent to me by my brother:

Prof. Fillmer enters the classroom:

"Ahem...let me begin the lecture, if you please. Today we ponder the question, if you were to collect all the lint in the lint trap of a dryer that dried socks until they disappeared, would you have enough collected lint to weave the socks again?

Physicists know that matter cannot be destroyed, it simple changes to another form. Water becomes invisible as water vapor, or as you know it in KY 'humidity'. It's all there but in a different form.
Likewise, your well washed socks disappear in many ways. Bits of their fiber fall off in your shoes, as you walk around with socking feet, and as they are tumbled around in the dryer. What's collected in the lint trap is only part of their disintegration, but very visible to you since it's all in one place. But the fabric in the socks is also changing to other invisible forms as you wear them and as they go through the washer and dryer. Molecules of the various compounds and chemicals that make the socks may be changing to gas because of heat, water, or even the perspiration on your footsies.
So, in summary, yes one would have almost enough lint to almost equal the socks if you collected all the dryer lint, but much of the socks disappear into the atmosphere, the carpet, the sock drawer, and your shoe crevices.
And a few socks sacrifice themselves to the Great Single Sock Void never again to pair up with the partner they were created with in the sock factory of their origin. Test next Tuesday"

This concludes Prof. Fillmer's lecture on the Lenten Season Lint Mystery of the Socks.
Bell rings, class shuffles out, leaving countless bits of their socks on the floor to be swept up by the custodial who pays no tribute to the lint left behind.

lint

2009-03-16T10:21:00.000-07:00

I realize it is Lent, so I guess that is why this Lint question is bugging me. If I were to wash and dry the same article of clothing....say a pair of socks....over and over and over again, would they eventually disappear and I would only be left with enough lint collected from the dryer lint screen to equal the socks that are now disintegrated?

Your thoughts and observations appreciated.

Being grateful for what I take for granted, part 5

2009-02-26T18:41:00.000-08:00

Final chapter in this epic five-part blog...this one is titled, "The Circus in Our Yard."

About a week after we got power back some friends in town were having a huge, mature pine tree removed from a rather tight location next to their house. The tree had been severely damaged by the ice, and was in pieces all over their front yard and roof. As happens after storms like this there were tree removal people arriving in town offering services--some intent on scams, others were legit. A company from Tennessee stopped at our friend's house to see if they could remove that pine tree. They had bonafide credentials (at least what she could check on the internet) so they took it out. I was so impressed with their work I asked for their phone number, and the company came to give us an estimate on getting our hackberry tree completely removed (it was one of the three large pre-existing trees on our property) and the limbs in the sycamore cleaned up so it can hopefully survive and thrive. The Reenactor and I were both satisfied with the price they gave us so we hired them. The reality was that in spite of purchasing a swell new 20" bar Stehl chainsaw these trees were beyond the height and surgical abilities of The Reenactor.

So the next day these guys showed up. I didn't fully appreciate what they did until I stood in my front yard and watched them. Half the price I paid them was for the entertainment factor of watching the company owner dangle from tree limbs 100 feet off the ground, wielding his chainsaw like an electric knife through butter. It was just as if the circus had come to town and the high-wire acrobats were in our trees.

When they finished a couple of hours later I asked him if his mother knew what he did for a living...it looks incredibly dangerous, and I certainly wouldn't want to know if T1 or T2 were up to shenanigans like that. He and his crew all do competitive rappelling and are completely comfortable climbing straight up the side of a mature tree, tethered only by a single rope they loop over one of the higher branches. Add in a chainsaw dangling from your utility belt, and you've got a great afternoon.

Very, very impressive. Far more impressive than someone with a bucket truck would have been. If an ice storm or squall line messes up your trees this is truly the way to go.

Now to the final notes. One month post-storm and I'm really ready to move on. I've stopped being "wow-ed" by the mountains of limbs and debris that still line our highways and city streets. The sight of a convoy of bucket trucks heading out to a job no longer makes me want to weep in gratitude (although I still appreciate every last one of you guys!) and with the sight of a few buds of green bursting out on our willow today I'm hoping that spring, and all the lovely renewal of life it brings, is just around the corner.

The best way to sum all this up is to say that I DO appreciate the things that need electricity in my house. I am really grateful that I live in a time where a light can illuminate a room with just one flick of a switch. In a time where I can sit and channel surf for an hour when I just really have lost the motivation to do anything else. In a time where I can communicate with my extended family who are scattered to the four corners of our country, and to a friend in Europe, as well as friends in a dozen other states, just by typing out a few words on a keyboard. But, I also appreciate that this is all a luxury. We are wallowing in luxury these days, and we don't even know it. But take away our kilowatts for a couple of weeks and we are humbled.

And to quote a very dear friend who went without power for at least two full weeks (maybe longer?) and additionally hosted another friend who was without power even longer....

"If [the Weather Channel's] Jim Cantore comes to your town, get the hell out of dodge. It’s not going to be pretty."

Being grateful for what I take for granted, part 4

2009-02-19T19:36:00.000-08:00

Lessons:

When I was working as a writer in the public relations office at Drury a zillion years ago they had an awareness week for their budding architecture students about how to design for people with disabilities. I'll never forget that the theme of the program was "TAB" --which stood for "Temporarily Able Bodied." The idea was that eventually we all are handicapped in some way. Most college students are Temporarily Able Bodied in that they have good vision, decent hearing, and can walk, run, jump and go anywhere they have a mind to go. But as architects they needed to be able to envision where someone without the blessings of good health, youth and vitality, might find fault with their design. The students were required to take on a handicap each day of the week for a few hours. They went to class in wheelchairs rather than walking; they wore nearly black sunglasses to eliminate their ability to see clearly; they wore sound-reduction earphones to simulate deafness. All of this was to teach them the lesson of not taking for granted what they were able to do without any difficulty. Obviously the lesson stayed with me as well.

During the ice storm I realized that even though I consider myself a person with fairly low technological expectations (no Wii, no TiVo, or iPhone) the massive, regional loss of power rendered me completely cutoff from everything that made me feel safe. Without electricity to run my computer I couldn't instantaneously check on local weather, road, or emergency conditions. And, I couldn't email friends or family to check on their status, or find ways to improve ours. Without cell phone service we were truly cut off from anyone outside our immediate neighborhood. It was all a huge, tangled Catch-22. If we DID decide to venture out in our car, where could we safely drive? There was no way to know based on our one source of information--the crank radio. If we did get into town the stores were all closed, and besides, what did we need to buy, other than a generator? If we could only call someone outside the area they could look on the internet about options for places we could evacuate to, but we couldn't even make a cell phone call. Our house phone relied on electricity, but even after borrowing our neighbor's regular phone we still couldn't get a call to go through because phone lines were out. And even if we DID get a call to go through I found out days later that the information on the internet about what was going on in this area was sketchy at best.

So I'm initiating the idea that as far as our reliance on modern devices we should all consider ourselves Temporarily Able Bodied. A massive earthquake, another ice storm, or some other disaster--nature made or man-made--could easily leave us in this situation again.

I have already purchased a line-only phone, which came in handy one of the days we had a prolonged power blip. The Reenactor and I have already decided that any home we own in the future will have at the very least a gas-log fireplace, and at the very most, a wood-burning fireplace or stove as well. I am glad we have a propane cook stove, but want to make sure we always have on hand a good supply of the fuel for it. Ditto with C and D batteries. A few more camping lanterns would also be a good thing to store up on, and maybe keep an extra propane cylinder for our outdoor grill. We could do a LOT of cooking on that! Additionally, I realized that as good as my food supply was, it could be improved on. Keeping more rice and beans and canned goods like tomatoes would make it easier to stretch food a lot longer if necessary.

And I pray it won't be necessary.

I have heard many in the local media (and all you regular readers know how much I love the local media) compare this event to Hurricane Katrina. Sorry you idiots, but this is not like Katrina. First of all, thousands of people didn't drown in the ice. Sadly, some 30 or people have died as a result of this storm in this state, but that isn't comparable to what happened in New Orleans. We lost trees, and in a few cases homes have been damaged by falling limbs, but entire neighborhoods have not been destroyed by this. There is certainly a lot of cleanup work left to be done, and this area will look damaged for a couple of years from the effects of the ice to the trees, but we don't have huge blooms of mold climbing up our living room walls. And even though communications were difficult for a few days there aren't families having to try to locate one another through the Red Cross because of this.

As of the Friday morning that I'm writing this there are still hundreds of people without power...three full weeks later. This isn't the fault of the hundreds of linemen working around the clock. It is just simple logistics. There are areas where getting a line up on the poles again requires that a special machine be brought in to cut through an entire woods' worth of tangled limbs. It looks like a giant weed wacker attached to a cherry picker arm on a large tractor. The fact that our neighborhood got re-electrified so early was incredible. The two subdivisions immediately to our north didn't have power for two full weeks because they were on a different central line than we were. In town there were many instances where one side of a street had power restored within a couple of days..the other side waited weeks. To restate something I wrote in the first post about this, the electric grid took 70 years to build, and just hours to destroy. People can't expect it to be completely rebuilt in a few weeks.

But the lack of power doesn't equate to the aftereffects of a Cat 4 hurricane. It also doesn't equate to the towns in Kansas, Oklahoma and Missouri that have been completely wiped out by tornadoes in recent years. When put into perspective this ice storm was a nuisance, and a huge inconvenience for most of us, and ultimately will be an expensive thing to clean up from, both for the city and county, and for individuals. But it wasn't a crisis on the scale of Katrina.

The happier lesson of all this is that we truly are a community. Three different families living in our subdivision offered us shelter in their gas-log-warmed homes. Another neighbor offered us the use of his kitchen, and any food he had in it when he left town. Two friends risked injury driving ten miles out to our house in the dark on the third night to let us know we could go to a house with heat and light. Our friends who left for vacation in New York were amazing in their generosity to open their home to people without power. Within our church community we began calling on one another as soon as we had phone service, and in many cases drove by the homes of elderly or ill church members to personally check on them. And as you drive around this area some three weeks later the amazing thing is that even though there are homes with significant tree damage still in their front yards, MOST homes have been picked up...at least to the point that volunteers and neighbors can do it. The Reenactor and I have been part of that volunteer work, but the fact is apparent that many, many, many people have been out helping their neighbors and strangers. The lesson learned in the aftermath of Katrina is that the government is not our savior after an event like this...we must rely on each other in our community to restore and rebuild. FEMA might take care of a few of the big things (debris removal?) but we must first get it to the curb.

The other happy lesson is that we came through all this with stories. Our kids will remember the Big Ice Storm. They will remember eating by candlelight, steam rising into the cold kitchen air above their bowls of hot pasta and fish stew. They will remember sitting at the kitchen table, dressed in fleece hats, gloves, and coats playing endless rounds of Monopoly (the kid version, not the grownup!), Sorry!, and Go Fish. They will remember using every blanket we had in the house to create warm cocoons to sleep in, and using camping lanterns to read their books before bedtime. They'll remember helping us listen to the radio by cranking the handle on the side. They'll remember the sounds of the trees breaking and crashing. And they'll remember the lovely warmth and comfort of the Price Ice Rescue House.

The Reenactor and I both felt confident from the beginning that with our camping gear and hillbilly common sense we could make it through this event. And ultimately we did. We came through it with a greater appreciation for daily luxuries...like CNN at the flick of a button on the remote. Like picking up a little plastic box smaller than a deck of cards and making a call to let the other know we're running late. Like being warm..right now....just by pressing a button on the wall. The reality is as human beings we don't actually NEED any of those things to survive....our great grandfathers did fine without any of it. They are luxuries, and at any given moment they are temporarily here. I think our lesson is to be better prepared for when they are temporarily not here from now on.

One more installment to come...

Being grateful for what I take for granted, part 3

2009-02-17T18:19:00.000-08:00

This one is titled "Rescue Me" because that is the Aretha Franklin song I kept hearing in my head last night after I finished writing part 2.

So The Reenactor goes to check out the mystery Jeep in our driveway. I was only mildly concerned about who might come calling in the middle of a blackout, and the random thought of looters briefly crossed my mind. We obviously hadn't left candles burning in the house, so the house was completely dark, so it might be attractive to someone bent on breaking in. No, I was too busy happily chatting with our neighbor's grandfather in their 80-degree oven-like living room.

A few moments later The Reenactor appeared at the front door again, and asked me to step outside. When I did, there were two friends of ours grinning on the sidewalk, their faces lit up by flashlights. They had driven all the way out to our house, on roads only marginally passable, and still dangerous with dangling limbs, to give us the good news that we had a powered-up sanctuary to evacuate to.

Turns out another family we are friends with had left that afternoon for a planned vacation in New York, and just as they left town their power was restored to their mid-town home. In a last minute gesture of incredible hospitality they invited two other families to come stay at their house in their absence. Once those two families had settled in they realized there was still plenty of room for a few more, so they set out to find us.

We threw a change of clothes and some sleeping bags in the Volvo and set out at 9 o'clock on the darkest night I've ever seen. No street lights, overcast, so no stars or moon...only our headlights showed us the destruction on the roads into town. It was a matter of going quite slowly around downed limbs, electric poles, and piles of twigs and bark on the road. And the road was still icy in patches, adding an extra bit of treachery to the adventure.

Driving into town we were amazed at the little oasis' of lights that occasionally glimmered to our left or right. Mostly though, it was dark.

After we got to the house we shared a cold beverage with our fellow refuges, then went to bed. We slept in a second floor bedroom and occasionally through the night limbs from a mature oak next to the house would crash and fall, startling me awake again. But that house was warm, and I felt safe.

The next day the sun came out and started melting ice off the lines and trees. The four kids staying in the house were thrilled to have company with each other and spent the day running up and down stairs, and watching DVDs on the working television in the 3rd floor playroom. The adults hovered near the radio, and made phone calls to people in our church to check on their status...to see if they needed anything. A few brief trips were made to visit others to make sure they had some form of heat and food.

The Reenactor and I drove back to our house to get a turkey that was half-thawed in our freezer and take it back to town. That turkey was the nemesis for a wonderful "thanksgiving" meal that night. Roast turkey, mashed potatoes, someone's Granny's frozen cooked apples, and really incredible Wisconsin cheese from a home where lack of rrefrigeration was going to quickly doom it inedible. Add in generous amounts of wine and beer, and it a feast I'll never forget. We invited a few other people who of course were also without power, and while our gracious absent hosts were enjoying themselves in the Big Apple, we had a great time cooking and eating in their house in the Commonwealth.

I was also able to finally use my cell phone again (all five bars showed up!) and I called family in southwest Missouri who again urged us to come stay with them a while. Then, about 8:30 that night one of our neighbors called me to tell us that power had been restored to our neighborhood. We were stunned...it had been understood that it would be at least a week before the REA worked it's way to us. But, we certainly weren't going to argue with progress. We decided to spend another night at the Price Ice Rescue House because we weren't excited about driving those roads again after dark, plus our house would be so cold and take so long to warm up. So we stayed again with our friends. There was a quieter mood that night...maybe it was the turkey, maybe it was the notion that things were turning around, finally. Another family had power restored, and had left, and we had the house to share with another couple who were on their fifth night of gypsy living.

The next morning we returned to our house. I was nervous to go there again, and the kids hadn't seen the incredible sight of the effects of the storm in daylight yet...other than what they saw in our own neighborhood the first couple of days. They were quiet driving home, and I think they just couldn't absorb what they saw.

When we got to the house it was good to hear the hum of the refrigerator as it kicked back on, and to be able to see the curtains gently blowing over the heat registers. The house was a mess of gloves, socks, knit hats, blankets, candles, camping lights, dish towels, books, games and toys. But gradually, ever so gradually, it was warming up. We didn't have pipe damage, and in spite of being without power for four days, and below freezing temperatures, the house was still right at 40 degrees inside.

Our cat was pissed that we had left her to fend for herself. We figured her fur coat was sufficient to keep her warm, and I'm sure in our absence she had managed to curl up in a blanket somewhere in the warmth of a sunbeam. But it was apparent that all of this had thrown her out of her routine, and she was a bit high maintenance for a while.

We didn't have internet or cable tv, but those seemed like great luxuries to us now. We had electricity, thank God.

More to come....

Being grateful for what I take for granted, part 2

2009-02-16T18:37:00.000-08:00

If you haven't read the previous day's blog (from the 15th) go back and read it. Otherwise, I am continuing the ice storm saga in this post.

So by day two our neighbors had started to venture out to talk to one another. Unfortunately for the kids, it was too dangerous to actually enjoy the snow and ice with sledding, and the added risk of them getting wet and cold without having a way to warm up in our house. But it felt good to at least talk to other people and get news and information they had gathered. One neighbor, hearing that he could at least get to the interstate in his car, decided to pack up his dog and head for the electric vibe of a friend's house in Nashville. In ditching his house to the elements he left us with two valuable commodities. First, he has a gas stovetop which was working fine. Second, he had a phone that only needed to be plugged into a phone jack to work (ours all required electricity). And because I frequently walk his dog for him when he's out of town on business, I had a key to his house, and his blessing to raid it.

Ironically, I had to loan him $40 to have on hand in case he needed it before reaching N'ville, as the ATMs were all non-functional in our town. This man always has a huge supply of cash, but he didn't at the one time he truly needed it.

We muddled through another day of board games and cards at the kitchen table, interrupted only with intense sessions of listening to the local NBC affiliate on the crank radio. They were finally broadcasting again, and they realized that they needed to preempt regular programming to just inform this end of the state with news and updates about electric service, where gas was available (which was rare); where a pallet of generators had just been delivered for sale; which stores were open, and for how long, and what restrictions were on them (eg: Wally World was open to cash customers only; 25 at a time in the store, and a spending limit of $25). I realized that the more I listened to the news the more anxious I became about what was going on outside our own neighborhood. It was frightening to hear that the local hospitals were running on generators only, and that all available personnel were required to be there to help. It was scary when the main source of news...the NBC affiliate...went off the air because their generators ran out of fuel and they had to get more. It made me nervous to hear that local communities were out of running water because pumping stations had shut down for lack of power. It was terrifying to realize just how primitive our lives had become. And the more we listened, the more we knew that we just had to make it until we could do something different. We inventoried our food again, and knew that we were in good shape. We added more vessels of drinking water to our already large supply. We put blankets and towels around spaces where cold air could leak in. And we tried to remain calm and optimistic in front of the kids.

At dinner that night we all said what we were grateful for...we reminded ourselves that many people were in much, much more difficult situations than we were. And when we went to bed that night we no longer heard the crashing of trees. We managed to stay warm in our blankets and layers of clothing, and we slept.

The next morning it truly was cold in our house. Two different neighbors came by within minutes of each other to offer the warmth of their gas log fireplaces. One neighbor had a working cell phone and I jumped at his offer to use it for a moment. I called my brother in Missouri to reassure him that we were okay, but I had to make the call short because the phone had another call beeping in. We decided to take up the offer of one of the neighbors to enjoy their fireplace while they were at work all day (they both work at hospitals, and they took their daughters with them to be in a warm place that day). We packed up some games and snacks and our radio and headed across the street. I'll admit it really was nice to sit in a room and not shiver. Their fireplace kept us comfortable for a few hours. We played with their dog, and ate sandwiches for lunch huddled next to the fireplace. As we occasionally listened to our radio we began hearing reports of how long it would take to restore power in the different REAs and power companies around the area. When we heard that our REA might take as long as two weeks to get back online I began to cry. When I next heard that there were several hundred linemen from other companies either in route, or already working in our area, I cried again.

I decided in the early afternoon that I would go commandeer our other neighbor's jack-only phone. I returned with it to our house to begin the process of trying to reach the outside world. For the first 20 minutes that I tried I got a constant busy signal, or a recorded message that service was not available. Again, I started to despair about my inability to communicate. I just needed to find out IF we could get somewhere...how far would we have to drive before we could readily find gasoline? How bad were roads between us and destinations where we had family?

We got the kids to hit the "redial" button on the phone so we could do other stuff. I had The Reenactor's parents' phone number in the redial. We had decided that since they lived just an hour away, and on the side of storm that might not have had as much damage, we would attempt to reach them to see if we could go there to stay for a couple of days. Finally the kids yelled that the line had gone to something other than the recording. Mother-in-law answered the phone and initially said that they had power. I asked if we could come stay with them, but as we talked I realized that they DIDN'T have power..she had misunderstood me. They didn't even have a way to cook because they have an electric stove and oven. They were keeping warm by the gas log fireplace, though, and eating lots of peanut butter and crackers. A generator was going to be hooked up in the next day, and we were encouraged to come over, but after The Reenactor and I discussed it, the destination wasn't worth the journey. We still felt the need to stay home and keep an eye on our own house, and short of a close-by promise of the utopia of electricity and heat, we weren't moving.

The national weather service called for temps to drop into the teens that night, as it had been the night before. We worried about our plumbing, and left the faucets dripping, and so far they hadn't frozen.

For dinner I took some fish and shrimp I had thawed out from our now-warm freezer, and drove it to the neighbor's house who had left town for N'ville. There I used his gas range to make a huge steaming pot of fish stew, and another pot of rice. I helped myself to his beer cooler while I was cooking and that, plus having just a half-hour of quiet to myself, helped considerably. I returned to our house with the steaming food, and we ate a wonderful hot meal. But each day the temperature inside the house had dropped by about 10 degrees, and it was definitely getting cold inside.

We decided to take up yet another neighbor's offer of a warm gas log fireplace and ventured there to sit for an hour and get toasty warm before returning to our own house to sleep. They had offered to let us sleep at their house, but we were fine once we got in bed with all our covers, so we just asked if we could sit with them for a while.

Their living room was 80 degrees if it was anything, and it felt like heaven to me. A half-hour after arriving The Reenactor noticed that a Jeep had pulled into our driveway across the street. We didn't know who it was, so he left to go check it out.

More to come....

Being grateful for what I take for granted, part 1

2009-02-15T20:38:00.000-08:00

I've finally found after nearly three weeks the mental energy to blog again. I have wanted to sit down and write out my thoughts many, many times in the last 20 days, but just couldn't summon up the will to commit all the many notions, ideas and observations I've had to my blog.

That, and our electricity and/or internet access wasn't working.

For those of you who know me who but are living in an alternate universe somewhere, my family was one of thousands who were part of the massive ice storm that hit the middle of the country on January 26. The county I live in, as well as six or seven counties immediately around us, seemed to suffer the worst of the storm. NOAA now reports that from 1 1/2" to 2" inches of ice coated the trees and power lines here. Within twelve hours of the storm's arrival in our area we lost power. We were fortunate...in our particular subdivision we remained without power for four days. Two sudivisions immediately to our north, but on a different line were without power nearly two weeks. As of today, there are still thousands of people in our part of the state who do not have power restored to their homes.

Additionally, we were unable to make cell phone calls for nearly three days because our cell provider (begins with an "A" and ends with a "T") had apparently leased their good towers to a rival company (begins with a V and ends with an "N") and were using towers leased to them by a company with inferior equipment. This is what I was told by a friend who has inside information. The good cell towers (used by the competitor) maintained decent service throughout the storm. Our cell company's leased towers failed, and we were unable to communicate with the outside world. In addition, land line phones were either overloaded with people trying to make calls, or seriously affected as well by the storm (and resulting massive power loss in the area) and making a call that way was almost impossible as well.

I've got lots to say about all this. As of this writing, tonight, it is just about my initial observation of the storm itself.

First, being the daughter of an electrical engineer who worked for a power company I have always had a huge appreciation for electricity, and the people who make it magically appear in our lives. I don't understand how it works, and much to my father's disappointment will probably never grasp the concept, but I know that it is dangerous work for those who actually work near the stuff (can't see it, can't smell it, can't hear it, but it's lethal if you touch it).

I know that on the heels of many a thunderstorm or ice storm my dad was out the door to see about repairing whatever damage had occurred to his lines. Many times he and his crews were away from their homes for days making sure everyone had power restored. Your average homeowner probably has no real grasp of just how complicated that maze of lines connecting a home to a transformer somewhere to line, to a substation, or wherever the heck it goes...ultimately going all the way to the coal-fired power plant, or hydroelectric facility that generates it all to begin with. Those wires don't just have electricity coursing through them all by themselves, and they all have to be connected together in one big spider web. And, as I was reminded this week by someone who works for an REA, it took 70 years to build a system like this, and just hours for a storm of this magnitude to render huge chunks of it useless. Poles were snapped like toothpicks, tree limbs inches in diameter fell across and broke lines, leaving them curled on the road like a summer's worth of snakes. Transformers (or hopalongs as my mom used to call them) lay on the ground in snarls of limbs and tree trunks.

My dad would have been mighty impressed with just how much damage was done here.

So on that first morning, when the power blipped once, twice, three times, then finally a minute later shut down with a finality that I knew meant it was going to be out for a while we all rallied to the idea that we would get by for a day or two with candles, flashlights, our trusty camping stove (used in the ventilated garage, thank you, Jenny!) and layering clothing. It was camping inside! It would be an adventure! the kids were onboard, and we set about the task of making sure our ducks were in a row. We put all the items to illuminate with in one specific location, so we could find them in the dark if need be; we set up the campstove in the garage ready for that first meal while we still had daylight (via the open garage door) to see what we were doing. We got out our tote boxes of camping gear with our wool blankets and sleeping bags. We filled up the bathtub and extra containers (five gallon water can) etc. with water in case the need arose to use them to flush the toilets (or to drink). We inventoried our food supply and decided which foods to eat first...the ones most likely to expire in limited refrigeration. And we listed the resources we still had working for us. Namely, we had a gas water heater that thankfully supplied us throughout the power outage with lovely hot water. We had a crank weather/AM/FM/TV radio that we could listen to just by several turns of a handle. We also weren't terribly cold that first day because our house retained much of the heat that had been in it before the storm hit. And we had lots of jackets, sweaters, coats, hats, and warm socks to keep us comfortable.

We spent that first day playing board games with the kids. Again, it was fun. It was a lark...something for them to remember in the future.

Then, as the ice got thicker, the trees began to scream.

The first notice we had of this was that we heard a loud wooooooosh right in front of our house. We rushed to the front door and T1 immediately started crying hysterically. Our bradford pear tree...the one T1 and T2 love to climb...had split open and was laying in a huge fan across our front sidewalk and driveway. T1 was devastated. Suddenly this wasn't fun anymore. And suddenly I became really worried about our other trees. I stood outside on the front porch for a while and heard the crashes of limbs in the woods around us. I watched as the drizzle that was falling continued to coat everything above ground with a glaze of ice thicker than my finger.

That night we ate by candlelight. We had a yummy hot meal, and did a family cleanup job with our hot water and plenty of dish towels. We decided to have the kids sleep in our room...the farthest room in the house from the fall line of our biggest trees, and with the idea that by shutting the doors of our room we were creating a warmer, cozier space for all of us. I found that I couldn't sleep...the forecast had been for an additional coating of two to four inches of wet snow on top of the ice, and the dire prediction was that this would cause even further damage.

The weather service was right.

Starting about 9 o'clock that night I heard nothing but crashes. Huge, heavy thuds that were tree trunks or major limbs falling to the ground. The chandelier-crashing sound of limbs coated with ice falling to the ground. And the worst was when it was close to our house. I was convinced that a huge sycamore tree we have in our yard was going to end up on our roof. I kept an ongoing vigil by the front door that night. At the sound of each major crash I got up and went to the door to sweep the lawn outside with the beam of my flashlight. It went on all night. Every ten seconds on average I heard a crash. It was like listening to a war of sorts. I was in terror of what the ice might bring down on our house, yet helpless to do anything but watch in horror through the windows, or lie in bed cringing with each crash.

At morning's light we saw the damage. The snow had indeed fallen and with it, had brought down many of the trees in the yards and woods surrounding our subdivision. We lost a mature hackberry tree...which was split in half about six feet up from the ground. We lost nearly half the limbs on the sycamore, but thanks to an arborist who has already been here to clean up our property, we think it is saved. We lost the bradford pear, which was the hardest emotionally for us. But we were fortunate that is all we lost.

More to come.

Yes, we did

2009-01-20T12:39:00.001-08:00

I had the honor of getting to watch the inauguration with some of my dear friends this morning, and all I can say is "wow." History is made.

Here's my ongoing list of surreal moments from the day:

1) That the Supreme Court Chief Justice screwed up the words to the oath of office. Helluva job, there Roberts.

2) Aretha Franklin's hat. Somewhere, Eleanor Roosevelt or Queen Elizabeth are missing a chapeau.

3) The benediction closing lines of ...Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get back, when brown can stick around -- (laughter) -- when yellow will be mellow -- (laughter) -- when the red man can get ahead, man -- (laughter) -- and when white will embrace what is right.

Let all those who do justice and love mercy say amen.

4) Cheney in a wheelchair. The resemblance to mean Mr. Potter in "It's a Wonderful Life" was extra surreal.

5) The amazing view of the crowds who braved subzero weather to stretch out of sight to be witness to this.

6) Senators Byrd and Kennedy collapsing at the lunch afterwards. We can't lose any more Democrats in the Senate folks!!! We need a majority!

7) The camera shots of Bill Clinton checking out Michelle, and later the Bush twins. He had dirty thoughts in his mind...all you had to do was look at the expression on his face.

8) Malia taking her own snapshots of the occasion. Like the concert on Sunday at the Lincoln Memorial, this morning she had out her little digital camera and was recording the moment for herself. I would love it if someone would publish her "view" of the events. She even asked Joe Biden to take a photo for her at one point.

9) Obama's address...not surreal, but incredible. Even though I heard it this morning, I just went online to read it, and it is even more powerful the second time.

10) That the companies advertising on CNN today are all employing a theme of change and hopefulness. Pepsi has apparently hijacked the Obama campaign logo to be the new Pepsi logo, and their commercials are blatant in their message of change, and the words Yes We Can.

That's it for now....I'm sure I'll add more later. Meanwhile, share your inaugural moments with me!

is this the way she sees us?

2009-01-12T12:03:00.000-08:00

For the last few days T1 has been getting a lot of--well lets say "unhappy" --feedback from The Reenactor and me. Part of it has stemmed from our trying to get her to take responsibility for the unbelievable amount of stuff she has in her room, and making choices to get rid of a huge chunk of it. She's sentimental and reluctant to part with a lot of things, and that means her room is overflowing with dozens of stuffed animals, piles of parts to horse and doll sets, and books, journals, and now CDs. In the past the only way I could deep-clean her room was if she went to visit her grandparents for a couple of days, during which time I would go in with trash bags and boxes to put stuff to donate, and I always got rid of a LOT of stuff, none of which she reported missing when she returned. But she's old enough now to do this herself, and at times is remarkably good about sorting and choosing what to keep and what to get rid of. But at times it is like watching molasses pour in January to get her to go through just one box of mismatched toys.

Anyway...last night as I was working in her room with her I noticed that her dollhouse had the dolls set up in groupings in the different rooms. At the front of the kitchen she had this group...a Mom and Dad doll (no comment on the fact that the Mom is actually labeled as a "grandmother" on the package and is sporting gray hair!) clearly having a conversation with their pony-tailed daughter. I started laughing when I saw it, but the more I looked at it, the more I wondered if that is how she feels right now...Mom and Dad standing on either side of her, hands on hips in frustration.

If you playing with this group of dolls right now, what would your dialog be for them?

just another reason to rant

2009-01-08T18:15:00.000-08:00

I have noticed an interesting trend in the last couple of weeks: drive-through conveniences are being geared toward people driving large SUVs. My bank has a new facility drive-through lane that has two heights for the box to come that you place your checks or whatever into. The top height is clearly convenient if you are in a full size truck or SUV. The lower height is for regular passenger cars. The problem is, if you pull up after someone who was in a larger vehicle the box has been left at the "upper" position, and I haven't found a way to get it to lower to the passenger car position. If I press the only button available other than "call" it goes to the teller. So to get the box I have to unbuckle, open the door, and half climb out of my car to reach it.

And today I was mailing some letters at a mid-town post office drive-up box, which has been replaced in the last year or so from the two "local" and "other" mailboxes into one large box. Again, I had to put my car in park, unbuckle, get out and mail the letters because the friggin' opening is set a good two feet above my reach.

I understand in the big picture this is truly a minor inconvenience. BUT, I'm irritated that apparently SUVs at one point became so popular in our culture that institutions like banks and the Post Office decided to cater specifically to those drivers.

Has anyone else noticed another place where things have been placed higher?

Gettin' over my own stupid self

2009-01-04T19:35:00.000-08:00

Hey Campers, it's a new year, and I'm 50! Wow! I don't feel a week over 49!

My last post was a practice in wallowing in my own holiday blues. I apologize for how selfishly worded it was. I still maintain that there are too many things standing in the way of Christmas to actually enjoy Christmas, and we all need to return to a simpler holiday that is shorter in duration (not the month-long marathon starting at Thanksgiving) yet more meaningful in quality. It is interesting that a comment from my niece 'Shley mentioned the 12 days of Christmas and how we ought to start having fun on the 25th and just enjoy the next two weeks. That was the same message our minister had at the Christmas Eve service and I think it is a great idea. I have definitely had a better time after Christmas than before.

With one notable exception.

After three weeks of on-again, off-again tummy ache, complete with a spectacular case of sickness into a plastic shopping bag somewhere near Rogersville, Missouri the day after Christmas, we took T2 to the doc last Wed. just to rule out something bigger than garden variety stomach bug. Turns out that he had an inflamed appendix, and while it wasn't serious, or even close to it, a CT scan and review by two radiologists and a surgeon determined that he was going to need it taken out. He is home now, and other than some tenderness that causes him to walk around stooped like a little old man, he seems on the mend.

So since I wasn't in the mood to be grateful to anyone, or for anything before Christmas, this is my newly revised view of the world.

First, to Mariann who magically appeared in the ER just as the doc was recommending to me that T2 have immediate surgery, and helped me with him while I tried to tell the admitting folks all his pertinent details. You can't imagine who grateful I was just for her calm presence while I was trying to sort everything out and keep him from being too upset. She is a blessing to our family, and to our church family for her generous spirit and constant kindness and faith.

Second, to our friend John for giving The Reenactor a ride to the hospital that was described to me as "efficient" but nonetheless got him there before T2 was actually wheeled into the operating room. If any of you know how to bypass having an extra Volvo key made without having to go to an actual Volvo dealership, please let me know. We discovered that day that just one key on my keyring isn't an option any more.

Third, to our friends Hannah and Julie who both showed up in the waiting room while T2 was in the operating room just to keep us company and to help keep T1 distracted. T1 was very worried about her little brother, and all of you helped keep her attitude positive. Special thanks also to Julie for the delicious Taco Soup she delivered to our house the night T2 got home from the hospital. The Reenactor has declared her a Domestic Goddess for that crock full of soup.

Next, to our friend Erin who consulted with us multiple times via cell phone while on her own vacation about T2's condition, and gave us comfort and information. I'm sorry you were having to talk loudly about spastic colons and inflamed appendix in public places, but your advice was unbelievably helpful.

And finally, to all the docs, nurses, and OR people who took care of my sick and very, very scared little boy. I don't know your names, but I'm grateful that you were so kind to him.

Next up...my own take on turning 50. It's a real page-turner!

trying to be happy

2008-12-21T16:15:00.000-08:00

I was in Wally World a couple of nights ago. Yes, the whole raison d'etre of this blog originally was to protest WM's corporatization of America. Well that was then, and this is now. I was far to emotionally and financially stretched that night to wander around at five different stores looking for the handful of items I needed. And I was in no mood to deal with what passes as driving skills in the commercial areas of our town. No indeed.

Anyway, I was in the grocery section and ran into a woman I know only casually--I've talked to her at several events I've been to recently. Honestly, I don't even know her name, but we recognize each other. I greeted her with "How are you?" and her response was, "Trying to find a reason to be happy." I laughed, because she said it in a sarcastic sort of way, but my retort back to her was to tell her how damn grumpy I felt just walking into the store, and that I had realized as I walked through the parking lot that I must look like hell on wheels, because I didn't want to be there, but it was the most efficient place to go to get the things I needed. The woman, and her husband, both laughed at this and said that just walking INTO WM can make the happiest of people grumpy.

But I knew the point of our conversation wasn't WM -- although it is a miserable place on a Saturday night in mid-December. The point was unspoken. The point was that we were both fed up with the holidays. There is so much emphasis each year on making a perfect holiday for your family. To have the perfectly decorated tree, and most welcoming house in the neighborhood. To find the perfect gift for your children's schoolteacher, piano teacher, and dance teacher. To attend all the holiday events at your children's school, and after-school activities...and yet still have time to wrap your presents in a way that implies creativity and a great deal of thoughtfulness. Those of us who cannot wrangle a length of 1 1/2" wired ribbon into the perfect huge bow for our presents are clearly not trying hard enough, and if you resort to using pre-made bows, well, you don't care WHAT people think, do you?

Now on top of all this you are supposed to have a stocked refrigerator and pantry in the event that friends stop by for holiday cheer. Great idea, but no one does that anymore because everyone is too damn busy out buying food to stock their pantries for unexpected guests and wrestling with wired ribbon to have time to just casually drop by a friend's house.

So yes, I am grumpy, and I am just looking for a reason to try to be happy. It is hard to see the forest for the pine trees this time of year, and even though I am so unbelievably blessed with family, friends, and just having food on the table (remember that overstocked pantry?) I am constantly reminded that I'm not measuring up.
Gifts purchased? Mostly.
Gifts wrapped? No.
Gifts wrapped with beautiful bows or creative and elegant touches? Not even.
Cookies made? Yes, but everyone I know other than my children are on diets, so why did I make these things?
Tree decorated? It's a work in progress.
Carols sung?
Bells on bobtail rung?
Snow dashed through?
Halls decked?
Is my holly jolly?
And lastly, have I had myself a merry little Christmas now? No.

With three days to go I'm officially signing off of the holiday merry-go-round. I've ignored my children trying to make a perfect Christmas for them. I've gotten mad that they were out of school this week for an ice storm because it put me three days behind in my preparations, rather than relishing the extra time with them that I crave so much. I have been pissed off at the world, and literally trying to find a reason to be happy in a W.M. on a Saturday night. And apparently I'm not the only one, if my friend is any measure.

There is a reason we celebrate Christmas, and short of talk show hosts arguing over whether we should say "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Holidays" in the advertising for big box stores, the point of the holiday is just missing now. We can't love one another with presents. We can't buy happiness...not even at a W.M. Supercenter.

So starting tomorrow night I'm going to read the real Christmas story to my children. Not the ones with Dasher and Dancer, not the one with the huge freakish snowman, and glowing reindeer noses. Not the one with a Grinch. I'll read them the one about love, and the greatest gift of all. And that's where I'll find happiness.

icy fun before breakfast

2008-12-18T17:27:00.001-08:00

Nothin' says hillbilly like running out in your pajamas to go sledding on thin ice.

a winter's day

2008-12-18T07:17:00.000-08:00

Grandpa Ed clearing the sidewalk after a beautiful Ozarks snowstorm. The photo is marked with the caption "Taken Jan. 8, 1944, at 4 o'clock."

Requiem for a magazine

2008-12-07T13:32:00.000-08:00

At the end of this month the magazine that I helped start 18 years ago will cease publication. It has been a slow death--the magazine has been on life support for months as the publisher tried to transition from a print and web-based publication, to web only.

I helped create this magazine in my Rolla, Missouri days when my friend Wayne decided to continue to publish a newsletter to the fans of his public radio bluegrass program. The local public radio affiliate had decided that they didn't want the expense of sending out a monthly newsletter to the faithful listeners of "Bluegrass for a Saturday Night," so Wayne took the mailing list, and on his own dime began publishing a newsletter. At first it was just that...a locally-driven eight-page newsletter about upcoming concerts and festivals, with a "top 20" list of most requested songs from his show, and a couple of brief articles about bluegrass artists. I did the layout for free for him because I was using a university-owned computer and didn't feel right about charging him for a couple hours of my time every month.

Soon though, Wayne realized there was a market out there for 'grassers who wanted news in a magazine format. So a magazine was born. It took a while to get traction, but as it did it became more and more fun to design. Even though bluegrass music has a very specific fan base--and a lot of people react with actual revulsion at the thought of having to listen to a bluegrass song--it was something I personally enjoyed, so getting to read the articles, and design around some of the artists I had heard was a nice diversion for me to other design work I was doing at the time.

A few short years after we kicked it off, we had a simple monthly magazine with an average of 48 pages, a color cover, and a partial color layout inside. And the feedback we were getting from the 'grass world was positive. At the time there was only one other major publication devoted to bluegrass music, and it had stagnated in its design...locked into a grid they had designed in the early 80s and hadn't veered off of since. Fans began to notice that our magazine had a newer look...a fresher approach. We began to feel our oats about where this could go.

In the next few years both Wayne and I went through divorces from our first spouses, married new spouses, and I moved away from Rolla, so the production of the magazine became a long-distance project. But as email and the internet had become something you could have in your home, and not just in a university or corporate setting, and with the help of FedEx, we made it work. As time went by, and web speed became much faster we were eventually able to even drop the FedEx part of it and do the entire thing entirely by email and internet. At one point Wayne and his new bride, Deb, who also was heavily involved in the magazine, got the idea to produce a magazine-sponsored awards show in Nashville. We only had one, but that one was a blast. We had it at the Ryman, and some of the top names in bluegrass, including Ricky Skaggs, were there.

The magazine continued to improve from a design standpoint, with more advertising revenue making it possible to do more color sections, and the overall product was much improved from our early days. We heard rumors that the other 'grass magazine was trying to copy our format to keep up with us.

But the very thing that made our long-distance production possible was also the thing that ultimately contributed to the demise of the magazine...the internet. As more and more people began using the internet it became possible to access the same information our subscribers were getting in each issue--information about festivals, new CD releases, etc--with just a few clicks on the computer. Also, each band now has their own website, and each record company has plenty of information about their star performers, including concert schedules, upcoming releases, and biographical background to satisfy the heartiest of bluegrass fans. And, as napster and itunes became common ways to download music, record companies had to revise how they advertised their products and artists, and that ultimately altered the ad revenue our magazine could count on.

And the last year of economic downturn was the final blow. If there were an autopsy performed it would indicate that the magazine died from a poor economy, and a changing world of publishing. The high cost of paper (printing paper); a reduction of advertising budget for many festivals, string and instrument companies, and the blossoming of the downloaded music industry all were part of the demise. In spite of the hundreds of specialty magazines you see on shelves at bookstores and newsstands, it is hard to get a magazine started, and maintain it's subscription base. Advertisers want to see how many people are actually reading a publication before they commit ad dollars to it, and if you can't maintain a high enough subscription base you can't get ads. In a poor economy it is especially difficult to get that ad revenue.

There was a brief attempt at resurrecting the magazine as an "e-zine" online, but because none of us actually knew much about production in the virtual world (we are all old printing press veterans) our enthusiasm for it dwindled.

But I am proud that we made it what it was, and kept it going for as long as we did. We published this thing through divorce, marriage, the births of my children, and their grandchildren, through a parade of associate writers and editors, and through the good graces of the bluegrass community.

Of Pilgrims, Christopher Columbus, and minerals

2008-11-19T10:30:00.001-08:00

I never realized that having kids would cause me to re-learn everything I THOUGHT I knew from my own elementary school education. Now that T1 and T2 are moving into specific areas of study like science, social studies, and more complicated math than basic addition and subtraction, I am finding that I'm learning along with them.

I have been helping in their classrooms two mornings a week...one morning in each classroom. Turns out there is a universal School Scent. Every school I've ever been in smells the same. It still smells like the school I went to when I was a child. It has a strong undercurrent of cleaning supplies (which, when ordered from a catalog must say "School Smell Cleaning Supplies), a chalkiness, or maybe essence of crayons, a hint of wet construction paper, and just the most subtle nuance of pee...like someone in the room didn't quite aim accurately when they went to the bathroom and got some on their shoes or something.

But the amazing thing I am finding is how much more information they have about the subjects they are learning. T2 has in his classroom a big book about Christopher Columbus, and it has details in it I never learned as a child. Both of them are learning about the Pilgrims at a much, much more realistic level than I ever learned in the happy, fun way it was presented back in the days when I made construction paper turkeys. They are learning the true story about how these people nearly all starved, and entire families were wiped out while they tried to make it through their first few years. They are also learning about how the Native Americans were also nearly destroyed by all the new diseases the Pilgrims (and others) brought with them. And T1's class has also been learning about rocks and minerals in her science unit. She is now rattling off facts about what the earth is made of and how different rocks are made that I'm pretty sure I didn't know until high school.

The Reenactor and I have both discovered that the way T1 is learning to add two columns of numbers is very, very different than the way we both learned it. The language involved is different. You no longer "carry" a digit from the first column to the second. They are being taught to "re-group." I can tell that I'm going to be in over my head in helping them with math sooner rather than later.

The fun part of this is that subjects that I normally wouldn't bother to read or study are in front of me now, and I'm re-learning too! I can maybe take a mid-life GED one of these days and see if I pass!

So campers, what "true fact" did YOU learn in elementary school that you now know is complete nonsense? Or what did you learn that still sticks with you today as a tool you use often?

Oh, and one more note...if you ever think that teachers are overpaid, just spend two hours in a classroom. I truly don't know how they aren't all stark, raving mad at the end of the day.

Election Day, 2008

2008-11-05T07:41:00.001-08:00

Notes from Nov. 4, 2008

1) I was filled with a sense of calm, and amazement after I pressed Obama's name on my voting machine. Just this sense that I had made a contribution to history.

2) The Reenactor and I were so disappointed that The Commonwealth was the first state officially called in favor of McCain. However, given the political and cultural climate of this area, it was no surprise.

3) I couldn't sit still for the first three hours of the evening. I flitted around the house in nervous spasms of attempting to clean and put things away, obsessively checking the current tallies on the computer, and watching anything BUT the results on tv. We even watched a special "presidential" edition of Dirty Jobs. The Daily Show was our election coverage up until the time that the election was called. Just because I was feeling especially goofy, I checked out Faux News momentarily. Long enough to see Karl Rove trying to logically explain why everything he has done in the last decade has been nothing short of disasterous (well...not what he was really talking about, but I was wishing it was).

4) The kids wanted to stay up until it was "over" which of course we had no idea how long that would take. We let them both lay down with pillows and blankets, and they cratered just minutes before the election was called. We tried to wake them up to watch O's acceptance speech, but they both whined and went back to sleep. I'm going to have them watch it on the internet tonight.

5) Champagne that we have been saving to celebrate the sale of our house was instead popped open to sip while McCain conceded, and during Obama's magnificent acceptance speech.

6) I probably should have put this first, but it is a stream-of-consciousness thing so bear with me. I want to put this in writing for the virtual family campfire that is my blog (and for those of my friends who humor me by reading it as well)....

My sister Alice, and her husband John have spent hours, and hours, and hours, and hours volunteering for Obama's campaign in Ohio. They have knocked on doors, made calls, canvassed, done grunt work like picking up signs to place in their county, and I don't even know what all...

Today, they are my heroes. They are two of the legions of people who made this change possible. I hope they take a well-deserved vacation or rest now, and bask in the glow of the triumph they were so much a part of.

7) I know the world isn't going to change immediately, but for the first time in eight years, I have hope again. I remembered last night how we took T1 to the polls to vote with us when she was just 2 weeks old in 2000, and how optimistic I was that evening. I remember the feeling of dread that I had as I was up with her over that night giving her feedings and watching the fate of our nation change by the minute, and by the suspect votes of a few counties in Florida. I still believe that election was stolen, and that our world would be very different if Gore had won. So to go from that to having her curled up next to me cheering every time a state went "blue" last night was a bit of compensation for the feeling of helplessness in the last few years.

8) The power of one vote is just amazing. My homestate of Missouri was called with just something like 4000 votes difference. The senate race in Minnesota is at this moment divided by just 400 votes. The mayoral race in my town, which I think everyone assumed was a shoo-in for the incumbent, is only 50 votes different. Your vote matters, it really does.

9) I hope that this election begins a trend of eliminating the use of smear and negative campaign ads and emails, as it is very clear they didn't work this time. Case in point, the Senate race in N.C. Elizabeth Dole lost her bid for re-election in large part because of an ad she ran and approved saying that her opponent didn't believe in God. Even for the hardiest of evangelicals in her state it was a slap too many.

10) I wonder what Joe the Plumber is doing today? Maybe his job for a change? Unclogging a sewer line or something? I hope we don't hear of him again.

That's all for now. I'm happy. I feel like I'm represented again (although not at a local level).

Yes, we can!

Election Day, 1980

2008-11-03T05:24:00.001-08:00

I remember quite clearly my first opportunity to vote in a presidential election. I was a student at Drury, and after my morning classes I drove to my hometown, 20 miles away, so I could vote in the courthouse there. After voting--which seemed like a surreal experience to me--the poll worker gave me a "I voted" sticker. I drove back to Springfield and since I had missed lunch in the Commons I went to the CX--the on-campus dining spot with the best chicken noodle soup I've ever eaten anywhere.

So I'm sitting there at a table, eating my lunch, probably reviewing some book for an afternoon class, and a man sitting at the next table says to me, "I see you voted." "Yes," I replied proudly. "Who did you vote for?" he asked. "Carter." I replied again.

His face turned beet red, and looked at me with great disgust and said, "Well THAT was the stupidest thing you could have done." He turned away from me and sat over his food shaking his head.

I was absolutely shattered by this comment. I was majoring in political science and felt like I had really educated myself on the issues that were important to me, and the viewpoints of both Reagan and Carter. Carter was way more in line with my way of thinking, especially on environmental issues, which were extremely important to me (and still are). This was the first time I had ever voted, and I had no idea that someone--a total stranger yet--would be so offended by my choice.

It was also the first time I experienced the idea that someone could completely dismiss my choice as "stupid" without taking the time to ask WHY I had chosen Carter that day.

This encounter has stayed with me lo these many years. It is one of the reasons I am passionate about politics. I still am, even though my poli sci degree is definitely gathering dust. I am passionate about the process, and the way people choose their candidate. I am also passionate about the idea that people DON'T vote. I can't imagine why you wouldn't. I was explaining to T1 and T2 last night that it has only been over 100 years or so that women could vote. They were aghast at that idea. I also explained to them that in many countries women can't vote, can't own property, can't make any legal decisions for themselves. Again, they were aghast.

The disgust in this man's face when I said "Carter" has also stayed with me. It is the reason that if you email me some slanderous crap about my candidate, I'm right back on ya with MY viewpoint, and hopefully a fact-checked version of events.

So tomorrow if you want to vote for the GOP candidates, by all means go ahead and do it. And thank God you live in a country where you HAVE THAT RIGHT. I will be voting for Obama. (I haven't made that plain in this blog, have I?) And God help anyone I encounter who treats me with disgust over MY choice, MY vote. It is the one thing I CAN do to change this mess we're in. I'm not a young college student, scared to defend my choice to a stranger anymore.

pumpkin

2008-10-31T18:41:00.001-07:00

Here's The Reenactor's jack-o-lantern.

reason enough

2008-10-31T14:32:00.001-07:00

Here's an essay T2 brought home from school. Sums it up pretty well.

from the mouths of babes

2008-10-30T18:24:00.000-07:00

We visited T1 and T2's school this afternoon for parent/teacher conferences. On the wall outside T2's class were political posters made by the kids in his class. Sadly, T2's choice to support the junior senator from Illinois was pretty much drowned out by all the McSame posters. Only three posters supported the big "O." Anyway, I'm proud to note that T2's poster said, in big letters "Obama" followed by "stop the war" and "no pollution."

In an interesting side note, one of the McCain posters that set us to giggling said, "McCain" then "with us in bed" or "in bed with us" or something like that.

I'll try to get photos tomorrow.

Finally, recognition is achieved

2008-10-26T20:02:00.000-07:00

I'm proud to announce that The Reenactor FINALLY has a "grand prize" win for his cooking. Our church held a chili competition this evening, and his chili took first place. It is a carnivore's delight with three, count 'em, THREE meats (bacon, pork and beef) in it, as well as a healthy dose of hot spices.

He has dutifully been crowned a "ribbon whore" by me.* He noted that in spite of the fact that the homemakers who judge the county fair and who have dissed him two years running on what we all know are prize-winning pickles don't ever TASTE the pickles, whereas at this chili competition the entries were actually sampled.

His prize...a soup cookbook!

There will be no living with him now.

* I heard the term "ribbon whore" on Prairie Home Companion last summer when Garrison was interviewing a woman who regularly wins more ribbons than anyone else at the Minnesota State Fair for her baking. She said that she and all the other women (and men) who compete regularly all admit they are only in it for the ribbons, hence the term "ribbon whore."

Is bigger better?

2008-10-25T20:17:00.000-07:00

I have been noticing an interesting trend here in the western-most part of the Commonwealth. Twice in the last two days I have found myself in traffic sitting behind a big 'ol SUV with a HUGE Palin bumper sticker on the back of it. Notice I said, "Palin." Not McCain/Palin...just Palin. Did I miss something? Is SHE running, or is she the running mate?

And is the bigger bumper sticker (above the average size for those sorts of things) supposed to imply even more enthusiastic support? Or is the driver assuming that everyone behind her (and it has been a "her" both times) is so blinded by all the bling on her expensive SUV that we need bigger type?

Just wondering.

cat mowing the yard

2008-10-25T20:12:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I know the election is just days away, and I'm suffering from real election fatigue. So what is funnier than our cat mowing the yard? Obviously this is electronically altered (a bit....I just took The Reenactor out, except his fingers) but we really did have her on the lawnmower.

No cats were hurt in the production of this photograph.

the truth on the playground

2008-10-15T05:36:00.000-07:00

T1 got in the car after school eager to tell me about how she had become a scientist that afternoon. As you read this, bear in mind that this was related to me in the "he said, she said" breathless tones only a grade-schooler can tell.

Apparently, a group of girls on the playground had found what they claimed were a bunch of "roly-poly" bugs...the bugs that roll themselves into a small ball for protection. T1 and another friend went to see this find and after looking at the "bugs" informed the girls that those weren't bugs, they were rocks. So much for education in the Commonwealth, huh? Anyway, the girls who had found the bugs insisted that they WERE bugs, not rocks. T1 took the initiative to try to "squish" one with her fingernail, and when the bug/rock wouldn't squish, she again pronounced it a rock. Nope, still a bug, said the girls. All right, said T1, let's take it to a teacher. She not only took it to her homeroom teacher, who said it was a rock, but to the school's gifted program teacher, who had the bad luck to be walking nearby at that moment, and he too said, yes those (there was more than one) are rocks. Satisfied that she had the authoritative opinion of TWO adults, she returned to the girls and reported their statements that these were not bugs, but rocks.

No, they are bugs, the girls insisted. At this point T1 became exasperated and told them they were crazy (I hope she used nicer words) and that everyone who had looked at them said they were rocks, and they couldn't be squished, so they were rocks.

Thankfully recess ended about then, and the great bug/rock debate was over.

So why am I relating this story to my blog family? Because as she was telling me this in the car I was thinking that my daughter had represented the "liberal elite" media in how she tried to figure out from different sources what these things were, and the girls who defended their opinion that the rocks were bugs, in spite of evidence and opinion to the contrary, represented Faux News.

Yes, I'm losing my mind, and the election can't be over soon enough. But if you STILL have people standing up, on camera, at McSame rallies whining because they can't trust Obama because he's an "Arab", then it is no surprise that their daughters and granddaughters are going to insist that a rock is a bug.

Running the numbers

2008-10-12T06:46:00.000-07:00

It is indeed depressing to watch the second Great Depression unfold before our eyes. No wonder they call it a depression. Everyone I know is depressed. Whether it is the economy, or the impending election, or the fact that everything in our world right now seems on the brink of collapse, we are all just flat in a bad mood.

If I run the numbers just for our household it is indeed depressing. Because of the cost of printing and paper, the magazine that I worked for as a freelance designer for 18 years went out of business. They are still publishing online, but my employment with them is cut back to about 10 percent of what I was doing before. The loss of income accounts for about 15 percent of our household income. Add to that the fact that our costs for fuel for our cars has increased by $1500 in the first ten months of this year over the same time last year. Groceries too, in spite of more careful shopping, have increased by $200 in the same time period this year. And our retirement and college funds have tanked by about 25 percent.

And then yesterday, our television that we've had for just 18 months (and that we spent a LOT of money on) developed a "glass half empty" attitude, and is now showing us only the top half of the screen. T1 described it quite accurately as "trying to watch tv over a wall."

So, what is a person to do? Other than take stupid pictures of my cat and posting them here, I am choosing to TRY to be optimistic. I am choosing to see the whole broken television thing as a sign that our family is probably wasting a lot of time watching the damn thing. If we can get it fixed we will. If not, we'll replace it with the cheapest tv we can find. But meanwhile, maybe we'll just read books, play games, and color. Yes, color.

Our numbers aren't great right now, but we do have a lot to be thankful for. And I am.

maverick

2008-10-03T05:46:00.000-07:00

There. I said it. She said it so many times last night I thought I was going to bleed out of my ears.

This morning I saw this in a discussion online about the debate. Very nicely worded....

She mentioned the phrase 'team of mavericks'..... I keep visualizing a herd of cats.

But seriously, the definition of a maverick (singular) is: " a person who refuses to conform to a party or group."

So how can you have a 'team of them'?

she said it

2008-10-02T19:46:00.000-07:00

If you didn't catch it in the debate, Caribou Barbie actually said, "John McCain has already tapped me and said, that's where I want you...."

Well...I'm sure he wants to, but I didn't know it was fact.

Is it just my clear distaste for this woman that is clouding my judgment, or did she really NOT answer any of the questions asked of her tonight? She pointedly didn't answer at least four or five of the questions Gwen asked her!

And it was a good thing I was NOT making a drinking game of the debate tonight, as I am getting over a cold, because if I had taken a drink every time she said the word "maverick" I'd be drunk right now.

when all else fails...

2008-09-29T19:14:00.000-07:00

Listen up, people! The world is falling apart around us! Anarchy on Wall Street! Failures in our banks! Chaos in Washington! What do we do? Enjoy stupid cat photos, that's what.

Here's our Puss, clearly having had a bit too much fun at a party recently, then chipper and ready for cinnamon rolls the next morning!

not good enough to preach

2008-09-22T18:59:00.000-07:00

How ironic that the same demographic of people who claim to be thrilled with a self-proclaimed Christian woman running for vice president are part of a demographic of people of faith who have recently rejected a Christian-based magazine featuring women pastors on the cover from being sold in a Christian bookstore chain. We have one of these stores here in our town, and I heard last weekend that copies of "Gospel Today"--which is a general Christian-life magazine--were only available by asking at the counter at this store because of the women pastors on the cover.

So let me get this straight...it's fine that a woman can run for vice president (and in theory be promoted...God Forbid...to President) of the United States, but it ISN'T okay for a woman to be ordained?

I understand that each denomination has specific interpretations of the Bible, and that this particular issue is one that has Scriptures pertinent to both sides (as is true of almost any issue you care to look up in the Bible), but to choose to hide this magazine, as if it were offensive somehow seems, well, offensive to me.

I did a little research by using The Internets to find out more, and wow, the publisher of the magazine is a woman as well! She was rather put off about the whole thing in the quote I read from her, but here's good news (no pun intended), all the attention should help her sales considerably.

I just wonder if the GOP Vice Presidential candidate were the cover gal if the issue would be hidden behind the counter?

Only comedians have the right questions

2008-09-16T09:49:00.000-07:00

Why is it that only comedians are the ones asking the real questions in this campaign, or pointing out the obvious that "real" journalists and pundits are afraid to report?

Case in point...I didn't watch it but have heard that in an appearance on The View yesterday John McCain was being asked about some of the statements he and Palin have been making about her experience, and about Obama. Joy Bahar, who is a long-term host on The View and also a stand-up comedian questioned him about two ads his campaign has been running...one about the "lipstick on a pig" comment; and the other claiming that Obama sponsored a bill to teach sex education to kindergarteners. "We know that those two ads are untrue," Behar said. "They are lies."
In both cases the ads end with the required tagline, "I approved this ad."
"Actually, they are not lies," he said to Joy.

Well, yes they are. Anyone who knows how to use "The Internets" can find this out. Even Rove has criticized the sex ed ad as going too far into the territory of "not 100 percent the truth."

Now Barbara Walters was sitting RIGHT THERE. I don't know if she was asking tough questions too, but one would expect a seasoned journalist to do so. Joy--a career comedian--is the one who asked the toughest question.

And huge blessings to Jon Stewart, who in his incredibly intelligent comedy show has to do no more than run clips of politicians making big, bold statements; immediately followed by the SAME politician making a totally different and reversed statement just weeks, or months ago. Again, it is sad that a comedy show has to bring this simple way of proving that they are speaking out of both sides of their mouths, to light. Why isn't this stuff on the primary news channels?

My final reference is the brilliant cold open on SNL last weekend. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler did a fantastic job skewering the differences between Hillary and Palin. Even though it was a comedy skit, the underlying "truth" to what they were saying was impressive.

Humor is all I can stand at this point.

this says it all

2008-09-15T19:53:00.001-07:00

T1 received a most excellent gift from her cousin today. She is extremely proud of it, and I am too.

location, location

2008-09-15T07:29:00.000-07:00

I was just watching coverage of the damage to Galveston, and the reporter was interviewing a woman who lost everything...her home was inundated with several feet of water, and she said she and her teenage son were living in their truck until they could figure out what to do, or she hopes FEMA will help her. She doesn't have insurance on her home or belongings, and she said she has no money.

The reporter wrapped her story saying that rebuilding Galveston will be a huge task, and will take years to fix.

Why I'm bringing this up is that this is the second time in a century that Galveston has been literally destroyed by a hurricane. And that's not counting other hurricanes that have hit and caused damage, but not been as severe. So, I'm thinking back to 2005 when Hurricane Katrina destroyed the 9th Ward of New Orleans. When residents were asked about whether they should rebuild in such a flood-prone area they insisted that this was their community, and had been for generations, and they wanted to stay. Commentators were blistering in their scorn for anyone who was foolish enough to want to rebuild in the 9th Ward.

So why isn't anyone questioning whether Galveston should be rebuilt? Isn't it likely to be the target again of another hurricane?

Just an interesting comparison.

windy city

2008-09-14T18:39:00.000-07:00

We got the side of Ike blowing through our part of the Commonwealth this morning. If this is a tropical depression...and I'm not even sure it ranked as that...then spare me a hurricane. There's a reason I live in the middle of the country.

We watched as wind whipped our three large trees in our front yard and sent a flurry of leaves, twigs, branches and limbs onto our yard for several hours this morning. As we drove into town we had to turn around and find different routes because of downed limbs and trees blocking roads. We lost some siding on the south end of our house,the power was off in most of the area, and the bad news is we didn't get any rain at all out of this..which is the thing we DO need.

This afternoon we spent an hour with all four of us manning rakes, wheelbarrows, and our hands to clean up the mess. We made a good start on it, but we still have a huge limb stuck in a sycamore tree right in the middle of our yard. The limb is forked over the limb below it, and dangles all the way to the ground. The Reenactor is trying to think of ways to get it out without having to hire pros.

Meanwhile, we have a huge pile of debris in our garden that in a couple of weeks will make a heckuva bonfire.

This certainly doesn't rank up there with the devastation Ike wrought further south; but if our yard represents one teeny percent of the cleanup people are having to do around Houston all I can say is I feel for them.

toothless

2008-09-10T19:02:00.000-07:00

T2 lost the first of his two front teeth today. It isn't his first baby tooth to come out, but it is the most obvious in his smile. He has that wonderful grin with a big gap in it now.

When he handed it to us tonight to look at before tucking it into the pocket of his tooth fairy pillow (yes, he still believes!) it was a very bittersweet reminder of just how big he is getting, and how quickly time flies.

An hour later we were out walking our neighbor's dog and I was watching the evening clouds float past the half moon, and I remembered what tomorrow is. Seven years ago I was pregnant with T2, and chasing T1 around the house. She had only been walking for a month when the Towers, and our world, collapsed.

I remembered how frightened I was, once the reality of what was happening sunk in on me. I remember walking out into that beautiful September day, looking up at the huge blue sky above me--which is usually streaked with jet trails--and realizing that I had never seen it so clear. Even after the FAA said there was no more air traffic, I was still terrified that at any moment a plane would appear out of nowhere and crash into our neighborhood. I remember holding her until she cried with impatience at not being able to play; and feeling T2 kick in my belly, and wondering what sort of world they would live in. I had never felt so scared in my life.

In the weeks and months following that awful day the news media went from a source of information, to an industry finding fortune in terrifying us as often as possible to get their ratings up. Every time there was the slightest hint that a terrorist plot might be afoot "breaking news" banners went wild with speculation. Every suspicious backpack left in a stairwell at an office building became national news. As every holiday approached a new threat seemed to emerge that if we as much as ventured into a public place we were likely to get assaulted with germs, or radiation, or worse. It didn't take much to trigger one of these panicky news stories....they seemed to come in waves. Tickers about Homeland Security officials advising us to stock up on duct tape and plastic sheeting sent me reeling. Did I need to buy this stuff to protect my children? Worries that anthrax might be sealed in letters made me not want to touch our mail.

I officially went into breaking news overload when the horrific conditions in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina became 24/7 video fodder. Three days after the levees broke, I emailed a friend with the terrifying realization that our government was completely useless at helping us in the event of a natural disaster, or worse, another attack. Her advice? Turn off the damn news.

Well, news junkie that I am, it was hard for me to do this. I have family who have worked professionally as journalists, and I still want to think that those who work in the media are fundamentally honest people wanting to tell truthful stories. The problem is, the news media are owned by corporations, and corporations are interested in making money. You can't make money in the news if no one is watching, or listening to you, or reading your paper. How to get them to watch, listen or read? Find stories that are so compelling that you literally can't take your eyes off them. If you have to stretch things a bit, well you can always apologize later if you get it wrong. No terrifying news today? Follow Britney around and see if she flips you off while slurping up an iced coffee. Make it a headline.

So today, seven years after 9/11, my fear lies not with terrorists, although I don't think they are through with us yet...not by any means. My fear for our country is how vulnerable we are to the massive amounts of information and misinformation we have blasted at us every day. There is no way to sort through it all and make any sense of it. Our nation is divided...right down party lines. We ARE a red state/blue state country. If you are red, you believe everything Faux news and Rush say; if you are blue you think the "liberal media" probably have it right, and as I have learned not only this week, but have been reminded again and again, they have it right only so far as it will continue to generate interest in a story. So where do we meet in the middle? Where does "purple" happen?

My fear, is that we have become a nation of idiots. We allow the news media to manipulate us with inaccuracies, sarcasm and gossip, rather than fact. And I feel like a big idiot for letting it happen to me. "We have nothing to fear, but fear itself" FDR said in the dark days of World War II, and it seems that we as a country have allowed fear itself to define our destiny.

Ignorance is bliss, a friend emailed to me today, and I have to agree. For the first time in a long time I listened to just music as I drove around town to do errands today. It was a mix CD I call "beach music" because listening to it makes me feel like I did when I was young, carefree and headed to the beach. That would be in the good old days before cable news, and the 24-hour news cycle.

This election is going to happen whether I am glued to CNN or not. The outcome will be whatever Madison Ave. and the two parties come up with to persuade the voters which brand of soap will best clean our collective mess. I already know what brand I'm buying, so there is no need to sell anything else to me at this point.

And with that, I'll crank up my tunes in my car, and enjoy my ignorant, toothless bliss.

I stand corrected

2008-09-09T19:03:00.000-07:00

My sister sent me some information from factcheck.org regarding some of the statements I've been reporting in my blog (and in emails to family and friends) about Caribou Barbie. Turns out, some of them are wrong, and if not wrong, are just not exactly accurate.

My apologies.

Of course I can only hope that factcheck.org is accurate in what they are reporting (who sponsors that website, and does it attempt to report consistently for BOTH sides of the political debate?) I did a follow-up on Snopes.com on a couple of the issues I had discussed, and found there too that some of the information going through the media is *surprise* false...or at least stretched to within an inch of it's life.

I guess I would feel bad about this if Faux News suddenly went on air with a breaking story about how they have totally distorted virtually everything any Democratic candidate has ever done or said. I would also feel bad if key leaders of the GOP didn't regularly go on television or in speeches and hint at Obama being a Muslim, or his wife unpatriotic. I would definitely feel bad about this if at LEAST half of the "facts" Mrs. Palin herself spouted during her acceptance speech at the GOP convention last week hadn't ALSO been lies.

However, I will raise my hand and promise to do better. I will definitely try to multiple source any claims I make against her in future blogs.

This does not change the fact (and this IS the fact) that the only purpose her candidacy has is to make the voters even more divisive than ever. The GOP operatives knew full well when they decided to make her McCain's running mate that she would reignite the debate on issues that the country is clearly split down the middle on (abortion, teaching creationism in schools, more drilling in wildlife areas), and ultimately as long as the glare of the spotlight was on her, and her Jerry Springer -Goes-To-Alaska family then the spotlight would NOT be on the actual presidential candidate...who is the one we SHOULD be vetting as a nation. She is nothing more than a decoy, and the GOP powers have no intention of ever letting her be anything MORE than a cute chick who is "outdoors-y" (a direct quote from Pat Buchanon) and can clearly fend for herself if Armageddon DOES occur and she and her family have a hankerin' for roast moose followed by a good snowmobile race through a fragile arctic ecosystem.

She is the foil for McCain's "problems" with America's voters. There is no reason that his bland speech at the GOP convention would have roused the "independent" voters to boost his place in the polls...it is just the "buzz" about Sarah. She went for the jugular, and in spite of the fact that most of her direct hits on Obama were inaccurate (and you can check that on factcheck.org) the good 'ol boys and gals out there in FauxNewsLand were thrilled. She didn't abort her Downs Syndrome baby? She's a hero! She knows how to kill and dismember large animals? She spunky! She is "standing by" her pregnant teenage daughter? She's a loving, caring mother! She's a Good Christian Woman! She's a Mother! She married her high school sweetheart!

Okay. Officially. Who gives a damn about any of that? Here's what I care about:

1) The cost of gasoline in my town jumped $.15 a gallon in a matter of hours, based I assume on speculation that Hurricane Ike is going to blast the refineries near Houston to Kingdom Come. The cost of fuel for our two vehicles per month has now become our second largest expenditure...nearly tied with the cost of groceries. Will McCain/Palin put pressure on oil speculators and companies to change this? No. Their solution is to let the oil companies run amouck through what is left of our environment with drills and pipes, with the veiled promise that once our supply is bigger (which would take at least a decade if not longer) then the price of gasoline will drop! Hooray! I don't believe a word of it, of course, because then the oil companies will tack on the cost of all that infrastructure they had to build to do the new drilling and pipeline stuff. Please people....think this through!

2) The war in Iraq is an embarrassment to our country, and a travesty to the people of a nation that was NOT threatening us. We have destroyed lives, entire families, and changed the way we are viewed in the world; and meddled in the balance of power in the Middle East. We need to get out as quickly and efficiently as possible. Will McCain/Palin make this happen? McCain said in February at a town hall meeting that US Troops could be in Iraq as long as 100 years..."As long as Americans are not being injured or harmed or wounded or killed, it's fine with me and I hope it would be fine with you if we maintain a presence in a very volatile part of the world where al Qaeda is training, recruiting, equipping and motivating people every single day."

3) Meanwhile, back at the al Qaeda Training Ranch in Afghanistan, the Taliban has strengthened and become a volatile force again because we didn't commit the troops we needed to truly rout them out in the first place. McCain has pretty much followed the Bush strategy of ignoring the "true" war to fight the "Faux" war in Iraq.

4) Global Warming. Can't emphasize this strongly enough. This is THE main reason we can't re-elect more Republicans to the White House. Republicans pander to the notion that Global Warming is a bunch of hooey, and we should have the God-Given right to drive our super-sized SUVs any damn place we want. I just wish my kids weren't going to have to suffer the consequences of your selfish outlook on this.

5) The economy, stupid. Gas prices are high, food prices are high, people are going into foreclosure or bankruptcy...the economy is in the toilet. I thought the GOP was the party that was supposed to be GOOD for business? Huh? What the? Maybe they are only good for a few select corporations. They certainly haven't proved to be a big help to the middle and lower class in the last eight years.

We have to save ourselves people. Forget Sarah. Forget the fact that Cindy is an heiress. Forget about the fact that Obama didn't wear his "made in China" flag lapel pin for a few months. We need to stay focused on what is important...and that is making sure that the horrific decisions and policies of the last eight years are changed.

And me? I'll try to stick to the facts.

Does this mean Katherine Harris won't get to read "O"?

2008-09-06T19:58:00.000-07:00

I just saw a ticker headline that the Florida State Republican Women are "boycotting" the Oprah Show and asking their members (and groupies) to cancel their subscriptions to "O" because they think it is unfair for Oprah to not interview Sarah Palin before the election. Point of fact is that even though Oprah is publicly supporting Obama, she has said she won't interview any of the candidates on her show BECAUSE of her support of Obama. (Obama, Oprah? There's lots of "O's" here!)

All I have to say to that boycott idea is remember how well it worked out for Disney when the Moral Majority tried to get their followers to boycott Disney products and theme parks because of the special events they sponsored for gays? Hmm?

And doesn't Ms. Winfrey make a lot of community contributions with some of her vast wealth? Doesn't she regularly through her show and magazine encourage her fans to get involved in their own communities and work with non-profit and charitable organizations to help others? Ever hear of a cool thing called the "Angel Network?" Couldn't she be considered a "community organizer?"

Well, if she is, that certainly wouldn't give her enough experience to be vice president, would it?

Speaking of elitist snobs

2008-09-06T19:39:00.000-07:00

Just when I think I'm at the end of a nice, relaxing day with my family, I encounter one of these people...you'll know who I'm talking about.

I was getting some gas at a station near the interstate, and just as I was swiping my credit card at the pump, in drives a 30-something white man in a souped up Lincoln Continental (with the rims and flashy chrome all over it) and he is blasting, BLASTING some 80s hair band from his seriously loud speakers and doing one of those ultra-slow "hey look at how cool I am" drives into the parking lot of the convenience store.

Well, first of all buddy, if you're trying to impress anyone in a convenience store parking lot, you really are desperate....but I digress.

He pulls into a parking spot, and gets out....all decked out in his baggy cargo shorts, t-shirt and blue-tooth hands-free phone prominently affixed to his ear. And I swear (remember, he's nearing middle age and WHITE) he does the boppity-bop walk you see young rappers do as they walk through a suburban mall or whatever as he goes into the store, chattin' away to someone (or no one?) on his high-tech earring.

And here's the part that is so stupid to me...clearly I'm too old to "get" this... He leaves the car running, stereo blasting (hair band, remember?) bass thumpin' all pimped out car with the windows down and NO ONE IS IN THERE. He goes in to get his pack of Bud or smokes or whatever it was he was craving in all his ghetto-wannabe glory.

Weird.

And comical.

And sad.

But then, I'm an Elitist.

Proud to be an elitist snob

2008-09-04T19:50:00.001-07:00

I appreciate all the feedback I've been getting both on the blog, and via email, about my recent angst regarding McCain's "choice" of running mate. I put that in quotes because I think down deep he's probably as alarmed by her as the rest of us are.

Even though I'm in something of a news blackout, I HAVE been listening to funny progressive talk radio (only the funny folks, not the ones who are too serious....I feel the top of my scalp start peeling off in distress if I get too far into this); and watching my beloved Jon Stewart take on the hypocrisy of what the Right is saying in defense of dear Sarah on one hand, and what they've said in recent interviews on EXACTLY the same topic (such as sexism, experience, etc.) about Democratic candidates. Do they truly not realize there are video tape archives of what they are saying on camera?

But I digress...I wasn't supposed to be talking about her. Instead, I'll say this. In light of the fact that she apparently mocked Obama for "just" being a community organizer, let me remind those of you out there who consider yourselves conservatives, your whole raison d'être is to minimize government intervention in our lives. Okay, well who exactly is supposed to organize food pantries, domestic abuse shelters, child advocacy groups, and suicide hotlines if the government isn't doing it? Have you (I'm referring to the collective "you" of the conservatives) volunteered to help with any of these very needed organizations? Have YOU stepped up to help someone who isn't able to pay their mortgage because they've lost their job and are in danger of now losing their shelter? No, I didn't think so.

And how ironic that the morning after McSame gives his acceptance speech the banner headline above his picture on news websites is about how much the stock market dropped in one day (over 300 points) after Sarah's speech (coincidence?) and how the jobless rate has now hit a five-year high.

He is promising "change" from the "liberal elite" in Washington. Well, who the hell are the liberal elite? Elite is the new word for "intelligent." I am elite because I think, therefore I can't be trusted to make important decisions. I am elite because I don't just accept the swill that Faux News spits out as "fair and unbalanced" without questioning the motives of the corporation behind it. For that matter, I don't just accept ANY questionable news story without looking for multiple sources.

Being elite means having the balls to want my presidential candidate to ACT presidential... not like a goofy, inarticulate good 'ol boy from Texas. Being Elite means I hope that my candidate can actually speak with inspiration and hope, not with sarcasm and fear. Being elite means I dearly love the idea that my candidate is funded by millions of donations from individuals desperate for a new direction for our country, not by corporations with vested interests in destroying our environment, and ruining our ability to have decent health care without going bankrupt in the process.

Being elite means I don't find a caribou-gutting, lying*, self-absorbed hockey mom at ALL suitable to be the vice president of my country. And I also don't find a geriatric man who uses his treatment as a prisoner of war 40 years ago as the main reason we should vote for him. Being elite means that I actually give a damn about how important a decision the presidential race is... I don't see it as being a popularity contest like American Idol.

I'm elite, and I'm proud of it.

*Fact check the GOP speeches...Sarah's is especially full of false claims.

Too Much

2008-09-03T19:43:00.001-07:00

I am going to have to take a break from news for a week to see if I can calm down. I was moved to tears so many times last week listening to the inspiring speeches given in Denver, and within 24 hours of the high of hearing Obama's historic nomination acceptance speech I was once again feeling desperate and scared, angry and betrayed by news from the GOP. First, the appalling VP choice; then the president taking the opportunity of a hurricane in the Gulf to again make his case for additional oil drilling there.

Wait a minute, if the idea is that a Gulf coast hurricane can seriously jeopardize oil production there, WHY are we looking to add extra platforms right in harm's way? This man is interested in NOTHING but oil. Every action he has taken in the White House has been tied in some way to oil. I have taken to calling oil the root of all evil in the world...because whatever is wrong right now you can tie it directly to either the production of, the use of, the pollution from, or the craving for, oil.

And then, this evening as Ms. Sarah-I-Don't-Believe-Global-Warming-Is-Manmade is giving her speech, I see a news ticker that a huge chunk of an ice shelf has broken off, further alarming scientists as to how rapidly the oceans are warming.

If you do nothing else when you go to vote this fall think about what you are doing for your children by the choice you make. Is their future REALLY better now than it was before Bush took office? Do you truly think that John and Sarah are going to make it all better? Really?

So meanwhile I'm going to self-impose No News on myself for a week. I need to see if cutting myself off from the 24-hour news cycle cold turkey can improve my outlook.

MY view as a mother

2008-09-02T05:38:00.000-07:00

Yes, I'm STILL wound up about dear Sarah...just ask The Reenactor. Don't say the word "Sarah" in my house unless you want a diatribe complete with foaming mouth and much stomping about. My newest rant though is just how oblivious the far right is to their own hypocrisy. I for one am very alarmed that a woman who gave birth to a special needs child just a few months ago, thinks in her family-values world that taking on this all-consuming job of campaigning (and heaven forbid she's the winner) the 24/7 job of vice president is a great idea. Yes, Daddy Palin in theory can help with the baby, but the point is that BOTH parents need to be focusing as much time and energy as possible into their baby and HIS needs right now.

Having a baby is exhausting--ask any new parent. Having a special needs baby adds even more time both parents should be spending seeing to his needs. Now, add into that mix the news that your teenage daughter is pregnant. For any regular family this would be considered a pretty complicated year....one where I feel like MOST families would feel they need to close ranks and focus on working through all the new changes and challenges in their lives. Oh, but wait a minute...forget all that...now Mom decides she should spend the next few months (please not years) running for national office...yeah...GREAT idea!

I am certainly not saying that women should give up their careers to raise their families. But MOST women don't have to choose to take on this type of career move at a time in their families' lives where they are most needed. And most professional women don't make a point of standing on a stage preaching how pro-family they are at a time when their own families need them the most. Sarah made a choice. Granted, she was already governor when she got pregnant with--and gave birth to--her fifth baby. She was already in a high-stress, high-demand job. But the fact that she has made a point of adding even more stress and demand on HER time in the first year of his life makes me question HER family values. And the fact that she knew what a bright light of negative energy was going to glare on her teenage daughter at a time when she least needs it also makes me question just how seriously she takes her role not just as a mother, but as a PARENT.

And finally...all you Dobson-lovin' family values folks out there...why is it when one of your own comes up short on the "value-o-meter" it is a good thing, but heaven help the "liberal" who has a lapse in judgment? I promise you...and think about this...had this been one of Obama's beautiful daughters (as teenagers) can you imagine the indignation that would ensue from the righty talkers? The rants that would come from radios and televisions across the country about black teenagers getting pregnant? Can you imagine even if it were Chelsea who was pregnant? How it would be just like someone raised by Bill and Hillary to get pregnant out of wedlock?

And one more "finally" that has been getting to me. Sarah has been called a "hero" for not aborting Trig...even though she knew before he was born that he had Downs Syndrome. She isn't a hero...she is a mother. These days most parents DO know before the child is born if there are health issues. Personally, this was something The Reenactor and I were aware of that could be a possibility before our own T1 and T2 were born. We had multiple tests to check their health status (including an amnio), and even before we had the tests done I KNEW, and so did my husband, that there was no way we would abort...even if they had been a D.S. baby. We were already too in love with them. We were already parents. Being a parent means accepting and loving the baby God blesses you with. Making a choice to keep your Downs Syndrome baby doesn't make you heroic...thousands of people make this decision every year. Being a responsible parent after the baby is born and sacrificing your own interests to see that they get the best care...THAT makes you a hero. I question whether Sarah is truly doing that.

My heart breaks for any mother or father who is faced with this, or with other health issues that are life-threatening to their unborn child, or to the health of the mother. I know people for whom this has been a wrenching decision. None of this....NONE of this should be a factor that is trumpeted from the political stage as making one candidate superior to another.

And please, Sarah, and the evangelical base who support you, please don't dare suggest you are more "pro-family" than I am.

the vagina monologue

2008-08-30T12:55:00.000-07:00

Does Mr. McCain really think that because his vice presidential pick is a woman that all women who are "disenfranchised" Hillary supporters are going to flock to his ticket and vote for him? Does he REALLY think that women are that stupid? Does he really believe that we will look at her and think, "gee, I really relate to HER, she's a mom and a WOMAN!" and we'll happily make that big check mark on the Republican ticket come November?

Personally, I am insulted on SO many levels by his choice. First, it is SO obvious that she is not a qualified candidate by any measure to be one heartbeat away from the most important elected office in the world. Second, because she isn't qualified, there must be some reason he picked her...hmmmm...what could it be? What is it that the 18 million voters who cracked that "glass ceiling" were voting for? Was it JUST because Hillary was a woman? Or rather, was it because there were 18 million voters out there who believed that the policies of the current administration AND their party are taking our country down a disastrous path. Does his party really, REALLY believe that just because he parades a woman out as his VP choice ("look...we can think women are smart too!") that we (those of us with vaginas) are going to fall in line and think THAT is a brilliant idea?

At least, at the very least, he could have picked a woman with a better resume, someone who actually hasn't only been in state-level elected office for under two years, and just a month ago was asking (on a broadcast interview, no less) that someone should please explain to her exactly what it IS the vice president does on a daily basis? Are you frickin' KIDDING me? Are there really, truly NO other qualified women in the Republican party? Is it her adorable little glasses and puffy hairdo? Is it the fact that she is the mother of five? Well, so is Nancy Pelosi...get over yourself about that. If breeding children is an qualification for being the president of the US (remember, she could be just a breath away) then I would rather vote for "Kate" of Jon and Kate Make Eight.

And yet, the GOP seems to think that I WON'T be insulted by this choice?

Yes, yes, there are women out there who are as solidly in line with the GOP as I am with the Democratic Party, and they are probably giggling amongst themselves about how John sure did pull a fast one on those Democrats...NOW look who has a woman on the ticket!! But sadly, they miss the point. They TOTALLY miss the point. The fact is that all women...all of us who are mothers, or grandmothers, or sisters, or wives, or daughters...should be thinking just how critical this election is to our very existence...and the future of our own children. The next president MUST tackle the issue of global warming. We are on the cusp of it being too late as it is...we cannot waste another four years on this issue. The next president MUST restore our standing in the world community, and not get us involved in any more hostilities. Our next president MUST make affordable healthcare for ALL citizens a priority. I promise...it will be absolutely the thing that finally caps off the middle class of this country if we don't change how it runs now.

The GOP talking heads are all raving about how she's "pro-life." Great. I won't argue her right to think that women shouldn't have abortions. But here's an idea, Sarah. It's all fine and well to protect the rights of the unborn, but what about the born....what about the babies of parents who can't afford to take them to the doc to get checked for bronchitis or pneumonia? What about the toddlers who are diagnosed with Autism who can't get the help they need because their school districts or communities offer no help for this disorder, and their parents can't afford help. What about the fact that our own children face a world of food shortages, and new diseases that will be brought on by climate change? What about all those babies (born and unborn) in Iraq who have been killed or injured for NO reason other than greed for oil and revenge for Daddy's failures by Shrub?

I'm a Democrat, I'm a woman, and I AM Pro Life--PROtective of the lives suffering in our midst now. I believe that the abortion issue (which I honestly have very personal mixed feelings about) should NOT be the deciding factor on every other important issue before our country and world right now. I believe that if you are "pro-life" you ought to be aggressively seeking ways to feed, house, educate and care for the millions of children in our own country who are living in poverty right now.

Don't pander to me, Mr. McCain. Don't think that your "trophy" VP pick will appeal to average women any more than your beer-heiress, multiple-house owning wife does. Most women are NOT life-long members of the NRA, most women haven't been (or wanted to be) beauty queens. Most women ARE smart enough to see though your veiled attempt at placating the Hillary supporters. And most women think it's poor indication of your own judgment.

les Miserables

2008-08-25T11:57:00.000-07:00

One of the fun (ironic use of word here) things about people chatting on their cell phones in public places, is that those of us who aren't part of the conversation get to listen to just one side of the story, and make assumptions about what is going on.

I was in a waiting room this morning, and while attempting to read a book, was so distracted by a one-sided conversation I couldn't help but overhearing, that I don't remember a word I read. A woman in her mid-60s, and with an obnoxiously loud voice with a strong South-in-the-mouth drawl, was informing the poor person on the other end of her phone conversation about all the horrible things going on in her family. One family member had died of a heroin overdose two years ago; another had loaned money to someone claiming to need it for tuition, but of course (I'm quoting here) "you know where it went...to WEED." The woman complained about another relative who was living with her boyfriend, and how her own sister wouldn't loan her any money, even though she "had $1600 to have a tree cut down at her house in Florida." This woman was apparently having trouble paying her bills, to which I wanted to point out that rather than borrow money from her Florida sister, maybe cutting back on cell phone usage might be a step in the right direction.

Oh, this woman was chatty, and obnoxious, and literally had a cloud of disappointment and misery floating around her. You could just feel the negativity vibrating from her...even across the room.

Either she was filling in her phone friend with the latest details from her favorite soap opera (which is what this all sounded like), or she truly can't find any single thing in her life to report to her caller that was positive.

Thankfully I didn't have to listen long, but her conversation obviously stuck with me. It makes me wonder what the person on the other end of the call was thinking. I hope whoever it was just tolerated her unpleasant phone call and got off the line as soon as gracefully possible.

Whatever happened to the good old days of the relative privacy afforded by phone booths?

Yes, but is it art?

2008-08-09T20:24:00.000-07:00

This was the question that a Drury art professor posed to me and my classmates during our project "show and tell" time each week. In this particular class we were presented with an art "problem" and told what materials we could, and couldn't use to create a work of art to "solve' the problem. It was a great class, and taught me a lot about how to look at everyday objects differently, and with the idea that anything can be made into art, as long as there is intent and follow-through from the artist. It was a concept I already understood, but this particular class, and the repeated question of "It is nice, but is it art?" at the end of each critique made me see that some art really IS art, and a lot of it is bullshit.

So The Reenactor and I took T1 and T2 to St. Louis today to enjoy the cool dinosaur exhibit at the STL zoo (very, very cool...especially if you are geeky enough to like animatronic dinosaurs) and after a few hours looking at animals we went to the STL art museum, just up the hill from the zoo. We had come armed with sketchbooks, pencils and crayons, and The Reenactor left the three of us there to enjoy art (and do some sketching) while he went to the nearby MO History Museum for an exhibit on the lives of Lee and Grant. We lead an exciting life, no?

So we started in the downstairs galleries, where I've taken the kids several times, and they know all the rules about not touching the walls (or the art) and being quiet and calm so as to not alarm the guards, and they enjoyed sketching their versions of some of the paintings...mostly from the classical period...in their drawing books. We finished up down there and still had some time to look around, so we went where I've never taken them before...the third floor modern art wing. Well, this was a whole new world to T1 and T2...they were amazed at the difference in what was on the walls, and the floor, in that wing. We browsed through a gallery of pre-WWI German modern paintings---who knew the Germans were so colorful and fun before the Great War? Then we went into a gallery that housed several large paintings that mostly consisted of industrial themed drippings of paint and other materials on very large canvases. While T1 and T2 were NOT impressed, I still tried to explain that this was in fact art, and in some circles was very respected and admired. On one wall of this gallery were four panels, each approx. 6 x 12 feet vertical rectangles...all four matching sheets of glass with charcoal gray paint covering the back side. They had an odd mirror-like quality to them, and sure enough, when I read the description of them, the artist intended that they be "mirror-like" yet with a diminished quality so that the reflection isn't true. Well, okay....good for you. Your big gray shiny squares are in a major gallery. Woohoo!

THEN we came to the room with two object d'art displayed...one was a "quilt" made of hundreds or thousands of bits of metal from cans or boxes held together with small metal brads. It was interesting in a funky sort of way, although T1 was very dismissive of it...said it was a "quilt made of junk." AND in the middle of this room was a ring of rocks. Yes, a ring I'm guessing 15 feet in diameter, and approximately mounded up to 2 feet tall, with a ring width of 3 feet or so, of limestone rocks...a smaller version riff-raff like you fill a ditch with. It was just a ring of rocks. T1 and T2 were appalled. WHY is there a pile of rocks in here, they demanded. After shushing them, I explained that someone had thought to make an artistic statement with those rocks, and therefore, there they were.

Of course T2, in spite of being warned repeatedly to stay clear of them, managed to snag his foot on one of the rocks in the ring, dislodging it and moving it about 2 inches, and just as I was readying to ease it back into place with my foot, the VERY snarky guard in that room yelled at me to LEAVE IT ALONE. I imagine I would get snarky too if I had to guard a circle of rocks all day, but this guy got hysterical with several visitors over their camera usage, and yelled at T1 because she "walked too fast" through the gallery. Damn. You're ruining this whole modern gallery thing for us, dude.

Which brings us back to the original question...is it art? Within feet of this ring of rocks are paintings and sculptures by the likes of Warhol, Rothko, Matisse, and those cool German artists I had never heard of but really liked their stuff. I overheard a woman in the gallery (after having been shrieked at by the guard to not even dare to use her flash to photograph the Rothko painting) observe of the rocks, "well I guess someone thinks it is art, but it looks like something I could have done at home." THIS is my point. I always feel like I have been duped when I see something like this in a gallery. I call bullshit. What, exactly, is the point of the circle of rocks? Is it supposed to make us feel the hollowness of our existence? Is it meant to represent the circle of life---as seen through the eyes of a person who has been doing a lot of landscaping with limestone recently? Hmm? I have seen beautiful art made simple natural elements, and I understand that sometimes a simple visual element can make a powerful statement, but I just never got past the fact that this was just rocks.

The Reenactor asked me when I was relating this story to him what the rocks were meant to represent. I said I thought it represented that some bullshit artist had convinced a wealthy art patron that his circular pile of riff-raff was worthy of purchasing and donating to a major museum.

I realize that many of you who read this blog are artists, or involved in cultural activities to the extent that you might find yourself defending the circle of rocks artist for his right to represent his art in this manner. All I know is I saw no technique, no use of creative skill, no real intrinsic beauty in it. It didn't move me emotionally...either positively or negatively..it just was there. And no, my critique is it ISN'T art.

I can see clearly now

2008-08-02T19:49:00.000-07:00

To those of you not of the virtual family campfire here's the scoop. Our beach week was cut short because I got a call from my eye doc asking if I would like to move up the Lasik surgery I had scheduled for mid-August to Friday of last week, and in the process, get to be "cut" by a better machine, AND save a thousand bucks. Hmmm...let me think about that and get back to you.

Had it done yesterday....$1000 is too good a savings to ignore. Things still a bit hazy, and a bit gritty feeling. I can see clearly out of my left eye, but the right is still a bit blurry...but hopefully that will clear up in a few days. But, for the first time since I was in high school I drove a car today without prescription glasses on my face.

Now THAT is something to be thankful for.

beach

2008-07-24T19:56:00.001-07:00

The virtual campfire is moving to South Carolina for a week. If I have an opportunity to lay hands on an internet connection I'll post, otherwise....

if you're lucky enough to be at the beach, you're lucky enough.

speech

2008-07-16T06:43:00.000-07:00

"... we seemingly tolerate a rising level of violence that ignores our common humanity and our claims to civilization alike. We calmly accept newspaper reports of civilian slaughter in far-off lands. We glorify killing on movie and television screens and call it entertainment. We make it easy for men of all shades of sanity to acquire whatever weapons and ammunition they desire.

Too often we honor swagger and bluster and wielders of force; too often we excuse those who are willing to build their own lives on the shattered dreams of others. Some Americans who preach non-violence abroad fail to practice it here at home. Some who accuse others of inciting riots have by their own conduct invited them.

Some look for scapegoats, others look for conspiracies, but this much is clear: violence breeds violence, repression brings retaliation, and only a cleansing of our whole society can remove this sickness from our soul.

For there is another kind of violence, slower but just as deadly destructive as the shot or the bomb in the night. This is the violence of institutions; indifference and inaction and slow decay. This is the violence that afflicts the poor, that poisons relations between men because their skin has different colors. This is the slow destruction of a child by hunger, and schools without books and homes without heat in the winter.

"...When you teach a man to hate and fear his brother, when you teach that he is a lesser man because of his color or his beliefs or the policies he pursues, when you teach that those who differ from you threaten your freedom or your job or your family, then you also learn to confront others not as fellow citizens but as enemies, to be met not with cooperation but with conquest; to be subjugated and mastered.

We learn, at the last, to look at our brothers as aliens, men with whom we share a city, but not a community; men bound to us in common dwelling, but not in common effort. We learn to share only a common fear, only a common desire to retreat from each other, only a common impulse to meet disagreement with force. For all this, there are no final answers.

Yet we know what we must do. It is to achieve true justice among our fellow citizens. The question is not what programs we should seek to enact. The question is whether we can find in our own midst and in our own hearts that leadership of humane purpose that will recognize the terrible truths of our existence.

We must admit the vanity of our false distinctions among men and learn to find our own advancement in the search for the advancement of others. We must admit in ourselves that our own children's future cannot be built on the misfortunes of others. We must recognize that this short life can neither be ennobled or enriched by hatred or revenge.

Our lives on this planet are too short and the work to be done too great to let this spirit flourish any longer in our land. Of course we cannot vanquish it with a program, nor with a resolution.

But we can perhaps remember, if only for a time, that those who live with us are our brothers, that they share with us the same short moment of life; that they seek, as do we, nothing but the chance to live out their lives in purpose and in happiness, winning what satisfaction and fulfillment they can.

Surely, this bond of common faith, this bond of common goal, can begin to teach us something. Surely, we can learn, at least, to look at those around us as fellow men, and surely we can begin to work a little harder to bind up the wounds among us and to become in our own hearts brothers and countrymen once again."

Excerpts from a speech made by Robert F. Kennedy in 1968

The happiness of blueberries

2008-07-13T19:50:00.000-07:00

Thanks to a "check this out" email from a friend I found a place locally to pick blueberries. To give you an idea of how ignorant I am about blueberries, I didn't realize they even grew in these parts. I thought they required cooler, drier climates than the hell-hot and humid western part of the Commonwealth. But grow they do, and this particular pick-your-own farm gave me an opportunity on two different occasions last week to experience the joy of picking fresh, ripe, and sweet blueberries. These are NOT the berries you get in the plastic clamshells at the supermarket...these are wonderful.

When we first began picking the blueberries last week the first few that landed in the buckets made a distinct "plunk" sound. If you have ever read the children's book "Blueberries for Sal" you know that the "kerplink, kerplank, kerplunk" sound is part of the story. We were happy to discover that blueberries do in fact make this sound.

So last week turned into "puttin' up" week. "Puttin' Up" is what my mom used to say about preparing any food for long-term storage. When I was young we put up corn, peas, green beans, strawberries, peaches, and applesauce. Lord did we put up applesauce. Gallons of the stuff.

After making a blueberry/lemon bread (deeeee-lishious!), and a blueberry/apple pie (with apples from my own tree), and after T1, T2 and I snacked on these things till we were blue in the face, I got really resourceful and decided to freeze the remaining blueberries.

I also have June apples of my very own for the first time since I planted my four apple trees five or six years ago. I have already made and frozen enough applesauce to satisfy even MY cravings for it, and we still have way more apples than I can use, so I'm trying to think creatively.

Which brings me to a roundabout way to my point. My children are seeing first hand the source of some of their foods. They actually picked the blueberries with me, and helped wash them. I've been sending them out to our apple trees with a bucket to pick apples, and teaching them how to tell the ripe ones from the not-ready-yet ones. They are watching and learning as I bake with these things and store them for future use. They are also watching The Reenactor grow the pickling cucumbers for his not-ready-for-a-blue-ribbon (yet) pickles. And they've helped him can those as well. What used to be a fact of life for most families (spending summers preserving fresh foods for winter) is becoming a rare pasttime. Yet it is so rewarding. I felt so peaceful in that blueberry patch...picking, listening to my children talk, and tasting fresh sweet berries. Here's my point, if we could find ways to re-introduce more children to the process of growing food, they might have a greater appreciation for what they consume, and the precious resource we have in agriculture. Blueberries don't grow on grocery store shelves, they grow on bushes. If it freezes too late in the spring--no blueberries. If the birds get to them first---you are left with quite literally the leftovers. Growing fresh foods doesn't just happen...it takes time, patience, and the blessings of the right amount of sunshine and rain. But once you see and taste the difference they bring to your kitchen, you are hooked.

Happy Birthday, Mom

2008-07-09T11:08:00.001-07:00

Mom reflected in a mirror, 1940s

A story by my niece

2008-07-09T10:59:00.000-07:00

With apologies to Sgt@Arms for not getting her permission to reprint this first, I was looking for a way to recognize my mother's birthday today and found this in my closet o'family history. It is really a nice memory of a lovely day. It won't mean much to any of you outside our family, but for the rest of us, enjoy!

*********

July 5, 1993
by Jenny

It was one of those perfect sunny summer days when everything just falls into place.
The leafy green breeze gently blew our scattered family in for a perfect landing around the Matriarch’s patriotic dinner table.
Lunch at one o’clock.

Eleven place settings in red, white and blue.
Tiny flags and Queen Anne’s lace in a vase in the middle.
Steam rising off platters and piles of Grandma food: Fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn on the cob, home-made bread, lemonade.
“These green beans were still on the vine this time yesterday,” and the last bowl was placed and we sat.
Heads bowed, mouths dripping, we joined hands and waited for a blessing.
Papaw looked around at his children and theirs for a long moment...and began...
“Very seldom are all of my children and grandchildren all around the same table at once.
This means a lot to your mother and I -- we really appreciate it.
I think today we’ll just have a silent prayer.”
The breathless silence that followed almost stopped my beating heart.
We were all very grateful indeed when he uttered “Amen.”

Such a feast, such a feast! Feast Feast Feast Feast!
We dined and we drank and the sisters all giggled,
We feverishly swallowed and sipped.
We chewed and we talked and reloaded our plates
While Grandma told the same story twice.
Then she looked out over her half-moon spectacles and picked the slowest eater
“Edward!” she said, “What do you need?”
“Nothing right now - I’m fine.”
“Do you need some more chicken? Coleslaw? Applesauce?”
“No thanks, Mom, I’m fine.”
“Pass this chicken down to Edward,” she decided. “Jennifer! What do you need? Green beans? Corn?”
“Doing alright down here, Grandma.”
“Pass these beans down to Jenny,” she said.
My arm twisted, I loaded more beans on my plate and forced them into my more than content stomach.
The meal went on, and on, bowls emptying one by one, plates slowly clearing.
I leaned back, belly up, in my creaking chair.
We were all so full our eyeballs were bulging when Grandma called, “Gooseberry pie?”
The rest of the day we were scattered about on couches and hammocks and rockers in the shade
Trying to get comfortable around our cross-eyed stomachs.
It wasn’t too hot, the green breeze sighed on, and we chatted and read and slept.
The kids set off fireworks when the sun was setting, all golden around the apple trees.
No one thought about supper, but instead a projector was brought down and dusted off.
And with a box of 8 millimeters and a crabby old screen, we sat hushed in the couch and the floor, we watched...
Aunt Alice, three years old, with two braids down her back, rode her tricycle up and down a sunny sidewalk, post WWII. Papaw swept her off her trike and into the air, and laughing, caught her again. Grandma appeared, young and embarrassed, and led little Alice inside.
More films were to be shown. Liz’s first birthday, Grandpa Ed at the post office, Robinette family reunions, Fourth of July - ‘51 - this was saved for last. We loaded it on, and it flickered and flipped. We taped it and tried it again and were taken to July 4th, fourty-two years past.
It was a lawn in Niangua, Missouri, decked out with Adirondack chairs and flags, in the sun.
Long dead, dearly missed old timers peered and waved at us from their yard, all smiley and lively and young.
They just waved and smiled, so happy on the Fourth.
A day for their family, for friends and food, and fireworks.
A day for our family too.
Forever,
Amen.

*July 4th fell on a Sunday in 1993, so the celebration was put off until the 5th so church activities wouldn’t be messed up.

What the 4th of July means to me

2008-07-03T05:40:00.000-07:00

After watching the incredible series "John Adams" on HBO a few months ago I have a fresh perspective on what tomorrow means.

First of all, the background of the men who wrote the Declaration of Independence, and the drafts and work they put into writing it, (and later the Consitution and Bill of Rights), should be taught more thoroughly in schools. When you see the debates they had about our rights as citizens, and the reasons they had for the wording of those documents, it makes you appreciate all the more what a nearly perfect work it is. Like the Bible, the Declaration, Constitution and Bill of Rights are often misinterpreted, and equally often misquoted for self-promotion. The Founders were articulate, intelligent, thoughtful, religious men, and they risked not only their own lives, but the lives of their families by even meeting to write the Declaration. If you do nothing else this 4th, go online and read a copy.

Second, above all else, patriotism does NOT mean I have a flag pasted on the bumper of my car, or attached as a pin on my dress, or suit, or waving from my front porch. Patriotism is paying attention to what our politicians are doing as they represent us, and making sure they are held accountable for their actions. Patriotism is educating ourselves about the issues that affect us, and VOTING.

Third, there are still too many men and women dying and being horribly injured in a war we never should have been in to begin with. Peace will not come to that country as long as we remain as an armed force there. We need to leave. We are destroying our military with this war, and destroying lives of not only our soldiers, but of their families as well. And I'm not even including the innocent people we have hurt in Iraq.

Reading a recent story about the beginning of Bobby Kennedy's campaign I was amazed at how many of the speeches he gave referencing our involvement in the Vietnam War could be given now...just replace Vietnam with Iraq.

Next, on a lighter note, it ain't the 4th without a parade. I was lucky enough to grow up in a town with a great 4th of July traditional parade complete with marching bands playing Sousa marches, twirlers (yes, twirlers...do bands have twirlers any more?) politicians in convertables, kids on decorated bikes, people riding horses in all manner of finery (the people AND the horses) and the must-have of all rural community parades...the antique tractors. Post-parade there were stump speeches by local candidates, carnival rides, cotton candy and sno-cones, and the huge family reunion that was the essence of that day. Not our family...the community family I grew up with. Lately I don't see any familiar faces after the parade, which is really sad for me. There is a great bluegrass song called "Rank Stranger" -- about returning to your hometown after being away for a long, long time. The chorus is something like, "everybody I see seems to be a rank stranger" -- well, that is how the 4th in my hometown is for me now. BUT, I still get to watch my kids ride their decorated bikes in the parade, and that makes it worthwhile.

Happy Independence Day.

a dollar's worth of fun

2008-06-30T15:15:00.000-07:00

It only takes $1 to delight small children. We had company over the weekend, and between the two young visitors (ages 5 and 8) and our own Thing 1 and Thing 2, we had a large time with a box of sparklers. It was fun that lasted for an hour...and nothing caught on fire (except the sparklers!)

Homage must be paid

2008-06-23T20:22:00.001-07:00

It is County Fair time again! For those of you who remember the saga of last year's winning blue-ribbon biscuits, baked on a whim at the last minute, well, the tale gets better this year.

After last summer's second place showing in the dill pickle category, The Reenactor canned not one, but two jars of his pickles with the express intent of winning. Great attention was given to beauty of cucumbers, placement in jar, and cleanliness of lid (NO RUST, remember?) These jars, after canning, had a ribbon tied around them and were stored in the back of the pantry all year so as to not be confused with pickles we could actually eat, or give away. This morning was the day T1, T2 and I got to take the pickles to enter them. Surely this year the most beautiful (he picked his favorite) of the two jars would win. Anticipation ran high as even the little extension homemaker ladies who take the entries exclaimed at the perfection of the pickles in the jar. We all were convinced...especially after looking over the competition...that this year TR would definitely take home the blue.

Meanwhile, I had again made the same biscuit recipe from last year, and I threw in an entry of "perfect cornbread" (that's the name, folks) also from the same worn-out Oklahoma 4H cookbook I got the biscuit recipe from. And again, I had to stand in line behind a woman who had brought in a HUGE box of baked goods to enter...she had an entry in each category possible I think. And I pity the judges who had to actually sample some of that stuff...I swear even the kids were afraid of some of the cookies she was entering. Shall we say her "no-bake" cookies resembled dog poo even more than normal no-bake cookies do? Seriously, it was frightening.

Anyway...we returned tonight to see what won what. The Reeanctor is out of town on business so me and the kids were giddy with excitement over getting to call him with the news of his blue (or better) ribbon. We got there, and DAMN....those extension homemakers screwed him again! Another red ribbon! What gives? The winning jar (the "grand champion" of the pickles) was full of big stems of dill...that is what we have decided was the element that sends those women to the moon in the canning division.

So our attention was now turned to the baked goods. My "perfect" cornbread won a blue ribbon (as it should...it really was tasty!); and my biscuits? PURPLE GRAND CHAMPION!!! Whahooooooo!

HA!

I'm still laughing about this. I never considered myself a champion biscuit maker. Usually I crack open a can of Grands and call it a day.

One more thing...I entered something else for The Reenactor without his knowledge. He took a photo of T2 at the beach last summer that he thought was good from the moment he shot it. I think he had it as a screen saver for a while, and it IS a good photograph. I had it printed as an 8x10 and entered it, along with a photo I took of T1 in a wheat field just two weeks ago in the "fine arts" (HA!) division. Most of you know that both The Reenactor and I have been professional, or semi-professional photographers in our lives....well he can officially say he's a better photographer than I am now...his photo won a blue ribbon...mine a red.

Congrats, TR...it's a great shot. Now figure out how to can a decent jar of pickles!!!

church camp and other things that never change

2008-06-15T18:23:00.000-07:00

I went to church camp two weeks ago! First time I've been to church camp in ...well shall we say...decades! Thing 1 was eligible for her first camp experience this year, but it was required that an adult accompany her for the two-day camp, so I got to go too!

Here's how things are the same, and different, since I was at Camp Yokomo all those zillion years ago.

First of all...tetherball. One of the first things I saw after we got out of the car was a tetherball court. I haven't played tetherball since I attended church camp, and don't think I've seen one of the courts since then either. I used to love tetherball, but quickly realized in trying to teach T1 what it was that you need to be tall enough to not get whacked in the face when your partner slaps that ball back at you.

Second...church camp is fundamentally the same as when I was a kid. We slept in "cabins" with poor ventilation (no cool breezes!) but with excellent ceiling fans that helped out quite a bit. The cabins still have that same funky camp "smell" to them....a mixture of lake water, sweat, sun lotion, hair spray (at least in the girls' cabins) and dirty tennis shoes. I loved it. The dining hall I swear was just like the one at Yokomo, and the requirement to sing for mail, still the same. Only difference was that the mail could come in the form of a printed email sent to the camper, rather than just a snail mail letter. T1 had to get mail twice...and both times chose the option of telling a joke, rather than singing a song, for her mail.

I don't know church camp songs any more. Maybe it was the camp director and her helpers, but I really didn't recognize the songs they were trying to sing, and apparently most of the other adults there didn't know them either. Lot's of quiet folks during song time.

S'mores--still a requirement, thank God.

Excitement can hit a fevered pitch over the sighting of a snake, or toads (both of when we had in abundance the first night) and of any other wild creatures. My daughter has no fear of toads...picked up every one she could get her hands on, while I would have not gotten near the things when I was her age.

Three...yes three...four-leaf clovers were found one morning during a scavenger hunt. Four-leaf clovers were on our list and my thought was "good luck with that" as I've never in my life found one, but two of the women in our group each found one within ten minutes of each other, then T1 found one later that morning. Her response, "I am a lucky duck."

Here's the biggest difference I noticed....I might well have been the only grown woman in attendance at this camp who was not sporting a tattoo. I was really and truly stunned at how many tattoos I saw on the other moms there. I still am not sure why anyone could commit to artwork on their body, when I have to move the art in my house around regularly because I get bored with it, but hey, it seems that I'm in the minority now. I'm not just talking single sightings...but some women had multiple tattoos in evidence...arms, legs, between their shoulders! I feel quite plain by contrast.

T1 had a great time, and I know she'll want to go back every year. I'm glad because I remember having mixed reviews about my church camp experience. Partly because I attended when I was junior high, and I was just uncomfortable with meeting new people, but I don't think my own child will be that way.

I'm glad I got to share this first year with her though.

off the wire

2008-06-11T13:38:00.001-07:00

I've been out the internet zone for a couple of weeks now, and won't be able to access my internet service regularly for a couple more days. My Mac had a bad power connection on it, and thankfully there is a company here town that can fix it. I had dreamy dreams of buying a new Mac, which I will ultimately still do, but this will hold me over until I can take more time to shop and backup all the info on my current Mac. Still, it is a hassle to not have that darn machine sitting on my desk, although I will confess that I AM doing a lot more things I probably wouldn't do because I'm so easily distracted by needing to look up stuff on the computer.

Anyway..hang in there..I'll be back up in a couple of days with tales of church camp, and North Carolina.

Good night, and good luck

2008-05-25T12:54:00.000-07:00

After having watched this movie over the weekend, and seen the integrity and incredible journalism skills of the late Edward R. Murrow, it was especially painful for me today to have a conversation with a visitor to our town at this weekend's art and music festival.

I spent a lovely four hours at the festival on Sat. with my kids, enjoying the music, entertainment, and buying some art. One of the vendors there is a favorite artist of mine, and I bought a couple of prints from her. I got home last night and decided that one of the prints just wasn't working for me once I got it in the house, so I returned it today to exchange it for another one I had been considering.

While talking to the artist...a very, very nice woman...I asked her where she was from. New York, she said. I said, "oh you are the one they quoted in the newspaper." She looked aghast and said, "WHAT did they say about me? I've been hearing that I've been quoted in the newspaper all day."

What they said wasn't bad, in effect, it was that she wasn't selling much art, and that she needed to at least make enough money to cover her gasoline expenses to drive here from NY. I told her what the paper had said, and she told me that the "reporter" who interviewed her looked no more than 12 years old. We laughed about the fact that they probably sent a first-year summer intern to cover the story, but she was still bothered that this quote didn't really represent what she had told the reporter, and was concerned that she came across as negative about the festival.

Okay, so that can happen with lots of papers and tv reports...they take one thing you say out of five minutes of talking, and often it is the one thing that sounds the worst out of context. I completely understand that. But the fact that the story about the festival was accompanied by three photos, the biggest of which was of two out-of-focus people in the foreground, walking through the food vendor area, with a big "funnel cakes" sign in the background, represents the mentality that accompanies their editorial decisions.

Honestly, you morons, this is NOT what this festival is about. Could you at least have taken a photo of someone interacting with one of the artists, or looking at a painting? Could you not have photographed a child drawing in the chalk art area? No, it had to be about the damn funnel cakes.

Sigh.

I hate my local newspaper

2008-05-20T05:37:00.000-07:00

Hate is a strong word, I know, but when the editors of my local newspaper print an editorial once again lashing out at anyone who believes that global warming is a threat to our planet and the future for our children, then I find that I pretty much hate anyone who writes such an obscenity.

I am so frustrated to live in a community represented by media who a) can't spell or use proper grammar in their writing; and b) publish this sort of incredible garbage.

"The Moon," as a friend has aptly named it, claims that the average family income will actually drop by "$1,494 by 2016; and our annual energy bill would increase by $938 by 2030" if some of the proposed current climate change legislation is passed. Guess what, you idiots, our energy bill will probably increase by that much in the next two years, not all the way out at 2030, if oil prices continue to increase. Know what else? Our household income will decrease accordingly as long as the bonehead conservatives you are all so chummy with continue to allow both oil companies and healthcare lobbyists run this country.

I'm spittin' mad. Once again...what the HELL is wrong with trying to make our planet healthier and safer for future generations? What the hell is wrong with acknowledging that SOMETHING (okay, DON'T believe it's manmade if you want) is making this planet warmer, and our lives and existence as we know it are going to change? If that means trying to at least help the situation by being more friendly to our natural resources, what the hell is wrong with that?

The sources The Moon quotes in this editorial are all extreme conservative think tanks...there is no doubt as to where their loyalties are. Of course there never has been. They recently refused to cover a fantastic volunteer-organized recycling event that was HUGE. Apparently it wasn't a big enough story for them, even though hundreds of people in this town were involved, or brought in recycling. No, those all must have been wacko liberal hippie freaks trying to feel good about their excess elite micro-brew beer bottles and green tea plastic bottles...they are just the fringe element of our community.

This "newspaper" --and I use that term with great reservation -- is an embarrassment to themselves, and to the community they represent.

I'm so damn happy to be able to go vote today.

Robo-calls amuse me

2008-05-17T18:54:00.000-07:00

Well people, it seems that I got my wish after all. My Super Tuesday frustration (see entry from Feb. 10) that my vote wouldn't ultimately play any part in the selection of the Democratic nominee appears moot. Even though things seem to be favoring Obama, I still get to actually vote and feel like I'm making a statement. Hooray! I'm part of the process!

"Billary" have been in the Commonwealth in recent days, including a stop he made yesterday in my own town, and just by driving around town I would say there is definitely a more distinct presence of her signs than Obama's. I'm not sure if this is a true indication of how people will vote....but it appears from the polling I've seen that O isn't expecting to win this state. STILL...I get my two cents in, and that makes me happy.

The robo-calls have begun in earnest. We probably had a dozen today, including one from Bill himself asking that I vote for his wife. I hung up on him.

I just wonder how many people out there actually LISTEN to these calls and make a decision on who they will vote for based on an automated, recorded message?

Probably the same people who voted recently in WV who flat-out told national reporters that they didn't vote for Obama because a) he's a Muslim; and b) the two races just don't get along (I swear!).

In Memory of Effie

2008-05-06T11:15:00.001-07:00

A woman who was part of my "village" as I was growing up has died. Her name was Effie Eyler, and she was one of those dozens of people who had an impact on me (and my brother and sisters) as I are growing up.

Effie was a Sunday School teacher at the church my family attended, and even though I can't remember any specific lesson she taught me, I do remember that I had fun in her class. She had a great laugh, and a positive attitude, and you always looked forward to going to any event she was going to be attending.

Effie was the person at church dinners and Vacation Bible School who gave you a hug and fussed over you like she hadn't seen you in years, instead of just the day before.

She was also the person who gave me a 10" iron skillet for a wedding present and told me that there were two successful ways to use a skillet like that...one was to fry fish; the other was to keep my husband in line. In addition, she gave me a fundraiser-type cookbook from an Oklahoma 4-H group that is quite literally falling apart now, but has some of the best recipes I've ever tried in it.

Effie and her husband Ralph were among the folks who often shared a meal of a fresh "mess" of fish with their friends, along with slaw, fried potatoes and cold iced tea. They were also part of the group of church "family" who came to our house for ice cream socials; and were present at many, many events in my young life.

Effie's not with us anymore, but here's to all the women who have her ability to make a positive impression on the children they meet in their lives.

shake, shake, shake

2008-04-25T10:57:00.000-07:00

For the second time in a week I just felt an earthquake. Those of you who have lived in earthquake zones will think I'm crazy, but WOW it is freaky to feel that. I was at my desk and my chair started shaking. I could feel it coming up through the floor. The wind is blowing pretty hard today, but it has never blown hard enough to make the floor shake. USGS says it was a 4.2, and was centered about 120 miles north of us.

Having grown up in the rocky Ozark Mountains, I never experienced these. Tornadoes were our dangerous force of nature, but these earthquakes just blow my mind!

$300

2008-04-24T19:58:00.000-07:00

I was working in Quicken tonight entering some receipts and decided after entering in a frightening receipt for puchasing gas for my car today (and I didn't even begin to fill up) to see how our gas expenses compared to this time last year.

For the first four months of 2008 (and April isn't over!) we've spent a whopping $1739 on fuel for our two vehicles.
For the first four months of 2007 we spent $1426.

For comparison sake I went back to 2002, the first full year we lived in our current house, which would make the distance we drive to town and work roughly the same. Taking into account I personally didn't make as many trips back and forth to take kids to school, etc. it is still a SHOCKING difference. In the first four months of that year we spent less than $300 on gas. I subtotalled our fuel expenses for the last 7 years by year, and you can see it creeping up year by year, until the last couple of years, when it began to shoot up really quickly.

Does the current administration understand that their cozy relationships with the oil companies, and their failure to be advocates of middle and poor Americans is making it almost impossible for the average lower-income (and many middle income) workers to even GET to work?

My contempt for them cannot be measured.

Ring the Bell

2008-04-24T19:04:00.001-07:00

At T1 and T2's school, the ultimate honor for having made an achievement is to get to ring a large bell in the courtyard of the school. Today, T1 got to ring it. The accompanying "certificate" said:

"T1" (not her real name of course) has shown winning behavior by cleaning the playground. She picked up over 100 pieces of trash without being asked to so so. She gave her whole recess to this job.
Signed both by her teacher, and by the principal.

T1 shared this honor with one of her classmates, who also worked throughout recess to pick up trash.

I told her I was most proud that she took the time to get the playground clean of the things other people just throw on the ground.

Now this is the same child who can leave a trail of debris behind her at OUR house, but at least she's making her effort for the environment at school this week.

urban gardens

2008-04-22T11:35:00.001-07:00

I'm sure my fine organic-guru-niece will have a comment about this topic. I heard on NPR this morning that because of high food prices many families are opting to grow their own produce this year. It is a new trend in the suburbs...the backyard veggie garden! It is also a reaction to more people wanting to eat organic-grown produce, and to try to buy foods grown in their local area.

Here's the negative twist to the story. Turns out that lots of HOA's are balking against backyard gardens. Seems they present a "threat" to the quality of the neighborhoods, and "bring property values down." I kid you not. A small patch of tomatoes, lettuce and beans makes people feel less affluent, apparently.

I don't live in a subdivision with an HOA. There are times where I think such an organization would come in handy in our particular subdivision, but overall I'm glad we don't have one. I wonder how many people living in such neighborhoods have actually ever SEEN a small vegetable garden. I can't think of anything I would personally rather see in our neighbor's backyard than a well-tended garden, with the colors of cabbages, stalks of corn, tomatoes (both red and green) and perhaps some sunflowers stuck in there for fun. How is that worse than looking at someone's hot tub, or bbq grill?

My standard for such a garden is my grandfather's. He had a perfect flat spot in his backyard to grow rows and rows of the best tomatoes I've ever eaten; watermelon, corn, and I don't remember what else. What a joy it was as a child to sit in a lawn chair near the garden and crack open a freshly picked watermelon and attempt to spit the seeds across his lawn. The sweetness of those melons cannot be described.

Here's another thought. Backyard gardens create conversation. How nice it would be to share gardening tips with your neighbors...exchange fresh beans for radishes, or just visit while you water or tend your garden.

People are hellbent on holing up in their McMansions, watching their big-screen tvs and don't know what they are missing. Eat your drab, overpriced lettuce from Honduras; and your cardboard-like tomatoes from Florida...you are really missing something.

women in comfortable shoes and colorful clothing

2008-04-22T11:25:00.001-07:00

Yes, folks, it's quilter's week here in the western part of the Commonwealth. The show doesn't even officially begin until tomorrow night, but already there are hordes (herds? flocks? gaggles?) of brightly dressed women wearing sturdy, comfortable, but not stylish shoes walking around downtown, mouths agape at the possibilities of fat quarters* they can purchase!

Now that I've been very condescending about them, let me point out that these women (and men) do something I have no talent for...taking bits of fabric and sewing them together, sometimes with handstitching so tiny you need to be right next to it to see it, into a piece of art. It is amazing how someone can take a handful of mismatched (but color-coordinated) fabrics, and by snipping them into various shapes, then carefully patching those shapes together, often in quite intricate and complicated designs, they make something that their children, and grandchildren will cherish for generations. And those are just the traditional quilts. The quilters who make the "fabric art" pieces are just artists using a medium that most people think of as a means to keep warm. The "art" quilts use subtle variations in fabric color to create illusions of shadow, light and depth.

It's not too late! Pack your bags, come see the quilts!

*if you don't know what a fat quarter is, ask a quilter.

True Patriotism

2008-04-01T19:03:00.000-07:00

From a church bulletin for Sunday, July 6, 1941, Armored Forces Replacement Training Center, Ft. Knox, Kentucky, morning worship.

[on the back of the bulletin*, in a box titled "true patriotism"]

Independence Day, or Fourth of July as it is more commonly called, recalls the principles of human liberty and reminds us that we must cherish and preserve our country's traditions of bravery, justice and equality, of which very true American is proud.
But what is meant by true patriotism? It means unfailing loyalty to our God and to our country. The greatest duty we owe our United States is to be worthy citizens.
Loyalty to our nation implies loyalty to God, because he who serves God faithfully, serves his country loyally. The true patriot thinks of the honor of his country and is always willing to do his duty to his native or adopted land. We are not patriotic when we are selfish, unkind and unwilling to do our duty to God and country.
America expects each one of its citizens to do his or her duty. It is more than merely standing and cheering when a band plays the "Star Spangled Banner" or the waving of the American flag. It is, in fact, obeying the laws of the land, being true, truthfully honest, kind, loving, pure, unselfish and trying to make our country in the eyes of both God and ourselves a better and more beautiful place in which to live.
Let us thank God today for giving to us this splendid opportunity of being truly patriotic. Let us pledge our wholehearted allegiance to God, to our country and to our flag. Let us keep our star-spangled banner waving in the air ... spotless - stainless - sinless - true.

[*found in a letter written by my father to my mother]

Is the Tooth Fairy male or female?

2008-03-29T19:46:00.001-07:00

This is the question that has been running 'round our house this weekend. T2 lost his first tooth today...just "popped" out. Of course he had been wigging it for two weeks now...back and forth, and side to side. I planned ahead, and had purchased for him a pillow with a tiny pocket to put the tooth into, and so he is all set now for the Tooth Fairy.

Two points to this blog. One, why are all tooth pillows or boxes geared toward infants, with ducks, chicks, baby bunnies or whatever? And they are overwhelmingly "girlie" in style. Kids don't lose teeth when they are infants, they lose them when they are in kindergarten and first grade! I did manage to find a pillow with a monkey on it, and that suited T2 just fine, but someone needs to get in the business of making age-appropriate tooth fairy pillows.

Second...IS the tooth fairy male or female? T1 and T2 have been debating this all day. Are there two tooth fairies....one for each gender? Can our cat "get" the tooth fairy if we leave her loose in the house? What if you lose a tooth on Christmas Eve and the tooth fairy and Santa run into each other in your house? Then what?

All questions I have been asked today.

For the record...T2 will be getting a crisp $5 for his first tooth. I told him that I think there is only one tooth fairy, and he/she is equally inclined toward rewarding both boys and girls. And I said that Santa already is friends with the TF, and therefore, the whole Christmas Eve issue isn't a problem.

Oh, and the cat is confined to the garage tonight.

4000

2008-03-25T05:27:00.000-07:00

That's all I can say...4000.

throwing that first stone and friendships

2008-03-19T07:04:00.000-07:00

This is my review of the speech given by Barrack Obama yesterday. If you haven't heard, or read the speech, please take a moment to do so by going to http://my.barackobama.com/hisownwords.

I continue to hear in my local (decidedly right-wing) media, and from people I've been around in the last few days that this is the thing that will destroy Obama's campaign. I disagree...I think this was his finest moment so far, in a campaign filled with fine moments.

Two points. First of all, he explained his relationship with his pastor...a relationship most of us consider to be a very important part of our lives. The person who leads us in prayer each Sunday, and either inspires us, or reassures us, or fills us with hope, during both good and bad times, is often someone we consider family. In my own childhood the minister who baptised me and walked me through many difficult times in my life is still....YEARS later....as much a part of my extended family as my cousins, aunts and uncles. The minister at my church now says something from the pulpit each Sunday that challenges me to try to become a better person, and hopefully a better Christian. And he also says things that I'm sure some members of our congregation take issue with, but I consider him a friend, and depend on his wisdom to give me a better, more spiritual viewpoint than I sometimes have. I would defend his right to challenge our social problems in any way, if he felt like it was a calling to improve our lives as followers of Christ.

But, as Obama said, (I'm paraphrasing here) you can't dissassociate yourself from someone you consider family any more than you can your actual beloved family members...no matter what.

I had an uncle on my mother's side of the family who was a Reagan-lovin' Conservative with a capital "C", and he would get terribly exasperated with me whenever the subject of politics came up because I wasn't as in love with Ronnie and his crew as he was....BUT he always told me that I was his "favorite Democrat." And he was a lovely man, father and uncle.

I've heard members of our family (mostly on The Reenactor's side) say things about current events, and other cultures and races that are pretty offensive, but there are times where you just have to overlook the statement and love the person. And I think this is clearly what Obama has done. He said in strong terms that he did NOT agree with Rev. Wright's statements, yet his long-time relationship with him had shown him a side of the Reverened the rest of us have not seen on Faux News and YouTube. Why isn't anyone showing all the GOOD things the Reverend and his church have done rather than focusing on one sermon...clearly inspired by events in African American lives that we white folks can't begin to understand.

So my title of "throwing the first stone and friendships" is just that--we've ALL said stuff we wish we hadn't said. We've all heard our friends or family say things we wish they hadn't said. We've all been misunderstood by people with their own agenda or axe to grind. We shouldn't throw rocks at Rev. Wright for his comments unless we can say with certainty that we've never in our lives said anything controversial as well. But most of us aren't being filmed while we make these statements, and most of us aren't good friends with a presidential candidate. But that doesn't mean that the words we use aren't just as important...even if we are speaking just to one other person.

And we should be inspired by a presidential candidate who doesn't disown anyone who is important in his life just because that person is controversial. Friendships ARE important, and the mark of a good friend is one who is with you during good times, as well as bad.

We have all become so used to being labeled "unpatriotic" and virtually condemned if any of us dare say anything negative about the United States and its policies. The ribbon-car-magnet, "I Stand With The President" bumper-sticker crowd takes ANY statement like the Reverend's and turns it into a flag-waving event, rather than look at the REASONS he made the statement to begin with. Remember the Dixie Chicks harrassment five years ago? Well, Obama's speech was given on the five-year anniversary of the start of "shock and awe." There are those of us who have been deeply troubled by this war since that very first day, and yet we were shunned if we openly criticised it --especially at the beginning. Natalie Maines and her family received death threats...all in the name of patriotism. Now who is truly the more patriotic person...the one who makes a negative statement about the government, or the one who threatens to KILL the person who made that statement?

Yes, what Rev. Wright said was offensive to me....I don't believe that God should "damn" America...Shrub and his administration seem to be doing that work without God's help. I believe that God has blessed this country with so many good things that we DO need to question an administration that is more concerned with corporations than with individuals; we DO need to challenge our right to drop bombs on any country we want based on the flimsiest of evidence that they "might" hurt us. And we DO need to be angry that the future health and viability of our children and grandchildren is being destroyed by a president and vice president who are so in bed with the oil industry that they will publicly ridicule the idea of global warming rather than be concerned about how they can quickly change our country's environmental policies to try and stop this from happening. But, I would never question Rev. Wright to make that statement...even from his pulpit. Many other ministers from the more evangelical, traditionally white churches, have made equally offensive and "damning" statements during their sermons about the rights of homosexuals, the victims of hurricanes "deserving" their fate, and racially insulting statements about people of other nations and faiths.

If any of you have been watching "John Adams" on HBO you will appreciate all the more the content of Obama's speech this week. The Founders wrestled with so many of these very issues, and two hundred years later we are still wrestling with them. The very foundations of this country were built on our right and ability to question our government. It is what gives us liberty. It is what gives us freedom of speech.

And one final note...I heard this on the radio yesterday so I can't take credit for it...but does this put to rest once and for all the Faux News obsession that Obama is secretly a Muslim?

c'mon, you've done this to your cat too

2008-03-12T18:49:00.000-07:00

Since the political posts I've done lately haven't generated much chatter, I'll fall back to "cat wearing a cowboy hat."

The grim smile

2008-03-11T05:36:00.000-07:00

Is there a rulebook somewhere that says that when a well-known man (usually a politician) is caught doing the naughty with someone other than his wife (male, or female!) it is required that his wife stand beside him when he announces publicly that he's been a "bad, naughty boy"*?

I for one am sad that the poor wife is paraded in front of the cameras and forced to slap on that clearly artificial smile (or appropriately stern, and hurt grimace) just so we are all assured that she will "stand by her man." If ever there is a time the man should have to face those cameras alone--without the visible support of the very woman he most hurt--this is it.

________________________________
*Sen. Larry Craig criticising Bill Clinton in 1999. "I will tell you that the Senate certainly can bring about a censure reslution and it's a slap on the wrist. It's a, 'Bad boy, Bill Clinton. You're a naughty boy.' The American people already know that Bill Clinton is a bad boy, a naughty boy."

quote of the day

2008-03-11T05:32:00.000-07:00

"Sen. Clinton is fighting hard. She's tenacious. I respect her for that. She is working hard to win the nomination. But I want everybody to be absolutely clear. I'm not running for vice president. I'm running for president of the United States of America.

"With all due respect. I won twice as many states as Sen. Clinton. I've won more of the popular vote than Sen. Clinton. I have more delegates than Sen. Clinton. So, I don't know how somebody who's in second place is offering vice presidency to the person who's in first place."

—Sen. Barack Obama

the spin

2008-03-06T19:58:00.000-08:00

I've actually had a couple of faithful readers (but not commentors....you can participate too!) say they were expecting me to have a post about recent primary results. My response has been that I've been too busy to post about the March 4 primary, but that doesn't mean I haven't been ruminating about it. My middle sister told me this afternoon after we waxed political on the phone that maybe I needed to stop listening to the news so much...take a break as it were. She's probably right. I find I can get really overwhelmed with all the diagnosing of each nuance of each candidate's every utterance. Does it mean she's being mean? Does it mean he's weak on defending himself? Does that flicker of an eye mean she is getting angry? What does the use of the word "reject" mean?

Good Lord.

The need for the talking heads to keep talking to fill air time has effectively brought our election process to a months-long festival of picking at every single fiber of a candidate's life with tweezers until there is no possible way a voter can make a decision based on the real issues.

I'm very disillusioned with the DNC, and with the leadership which seems hellbent on screwing up the best chance we have at a national election in a generation. I mean, has anyone really listened to anything Shrub has been saying lately? He is getting more, and more bizarre with each passing day. It is only the fact that we are distracted by all these primaries that we aren't paying attention to him anymore. Shrub and his cronies have screwed things up so badly that only the DNC could miss this opportunity to sweep not only the presidential campaign, but the house and senate as well.

The good news about the March 4 primaries is that the results pretty much make it certain that my primary vote in May might actually count toward something....a reality that I didn't think would happen earlier this year.

So I think I WILL take a break. I will find something else to think about for a while.

Maybe I'll go to Wally World and find inspiration for another round of columns blasting THEM!

how time flies

2008-02-29T17:32:00.000-08:00

The Reenactor was at his alma mater the other day to help with a class, and while there went by to buy "green" from the guys who sell stuff on campus this time of year. If you don't know what green is, let me reassure you it is a thing you wear, not a thing you smoke. Nor is it something that has anything to do with an environmental issue. It has to do with Ireland and the patron saint of engineering. Anywhooo...he was telling me tonight that as he was "shopping" at the table full of green products he overheard the freshmen who were working the table discussing how they didn't realize what a big party this particular university has each year in March to celebrate the patron saint of engineering until they got on campus, and were so surprised by all the hoopla. The Reenactor jumped into the conversation and waxed historical about the first time he visited the campus and the "trees were full of snakes," "the grass looked like a bomb had gone off on it," and there were drunk people everywhere....celebrating, of course.

It then occurred to him that the reason these young men didn't know the "true" celebration that happened years ago is that the first time he was on campus for this event, they weren't even born yet. The event has toned down considerably in recent years, and isn't quite as colorful as it once was.

In other words, we have green sweatshirts in our closet older than these boys.

Yikes.

Everything's better...somewhere else

2008-02-29T09:07:00.000-08:00

I'll start this post by apologizing to one of my friends who reads this blog and comments occasionally. She grew up in Texas, and although she thankfully escaped a few years ago and moved to The Commonwealth, and is now in warmer climes in Florida, the fact remains that she did grow up in Texas. So, forgive me for what I'm about to say.

I just read in the news that the state of Texas is the eighth largest contributor of carbon dioxide in the world. They are right behind Canada in how many metric tons (630 million to be exact in 2005--the year of this study) of CO2 they spew into the atmosphere. That's right. The entire country of Canada has nearly the same CO2 emissions as the state of Texas.

In the article I read about this there are multiple causes for this, namely the refineries and the beef industry. Here's an interesting tidbit from the article, the "production of just 1 kilogram of beef results in more CO2 emissions than going for a three-hour drive while leaving all the lights on at home."

In spite of this news, most people in Texas, deny that "man-made" global warming is real, and refuse to embrace any ideas to change their energy usage.

I've never been fond of Texas, even though all of my siblings have lived there at some point in their lives. None of them live there now, thankfully, and I can blast away. With the exception of my friend who is now in Florida the folks I've met from Texas are so arrogant about their state, and it's "virtues," that I can't tolerate their company. Texas gave us Shrub. Texas gave us Tom Delay. And now it turns out that Texas is destroying our planet.

Y'all should be real proud of yourselves.

eclipse

2008-02-20T20:13:00.000-08:00

For those of you who had cloud cover tonight and didn't get to see it, the lunar eclipse was really beautiful. T1 had received a telescope from Santa, and that made it especially fun, in spite of the sub-zero temps on our deck.

This was taken with our Pentax SLR digital. Not bad for just using a long lens. I *think* the white dot in the lower left corner is Saturn. It appeared to the naked eye as a bright star in that area. If I'm wrong I'm sure one of you NASA wonks out there will let me know.

George and Abe

2008-02-18T05:38:00.000-08:00

In honor of the two President's who gave us the day off today, and nary a word is mentioned about them on the major news networks websites this morning...I thought I would look up some quotes.

As I read through a list of G. Washington's quotes he sounds like a bit of a neo-con, but without the Rovian meanness. Now I'm inspired to go read more about him. I haven't read much about him since high school, and Lord knows that was tainted with myths and fables...cherry trees, anyone?

Here's a sampling:

Geo: Mankind, when left to themselves, are unfit for their own government.

Geo: Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence. True friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation.

Geo: I know [patriotism] exists, and I know it has done much in the present contest. But a great and lasting war can never be supported on this principle alone. It must be aided by a prospect of interest, or some reward.

Geo: "Guard against the postures of pretended patriotism."

Abe of course was a great, and often funny, speaker. If you need to see evidence of just how great his ability to communicate in just a few words the anguish of the Civil War, go read a copy of the Gettysburg Address. Here are some quotes from him...

Abe: "Common looking people are the best in the world: that is the reason the Lord makes so many of them."

Abe: "I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for that day.

Abe: "A woman is the only thing I am afraid of that I know will not hurt me."

Abe: "Allow the president to invade a neighboring nation, whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion, and you allow him to do so whenever he may choose to say he deems it necessary for such a purpose - and you allow him to make war at pleasure."

Abe: "America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves."

The Reenactor just came in and said this is his favorite Abe quote:

"In great contests each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God. Both may be, and one must be wrong."

My advice....buy Krispie Kreme stock

2008-02-17T17:14:00.000-08:00

At dinner tonight the topic of "what would you do if you were President?" came up. T2's platform is based entirely on donuts. He said he would start an "international donut day" and would make sure that everyone has a donut on every major holiday...donuts on Valentine's Day, donuts on St. Patrick's Day, etc. The Reenactor asked him how he would pay for all these donuts, and without hesitation T2 said he would make them all himself.

How would the world be different if once a month everyone got a donut? To the skeptic, a starving person in Africa or India would eat it and not care that it was a sugary confection...it is food, dammit, and they are starving. Conversely, there are people in this country struggling to maintain and/or reduce their weight, and a donut would be an unwelcome temptation to their struggle. But to this particular six-year-old kid donuts are a round slice of heaven on Earth.

In general...if you can think of the joy you get from eating a really excellent donut...whether Krispy Kreme is your poison, or a local donut shop ("Red's" is our own) then you can understand why T2 made International Donut Day his priority. If we all had that happy commaradarie that comes from sharing a dozen with friends, wouldn't we all feel better? Wouldn't the world be friendlier if a coffee and donut break were enforced?

I guess my point is that donuts make a great peace offering. If you are angry at someone, take them a dozen. If you are wanting to get to know someone better, donuts make a great "welcome" presentation.

For the record, I like the chocolate iced.

Failure is Not An Option

2008-02-16T17:51:00.000-08:00

So if you're a NASA groupie like we are you'll understand the title. The Reenactor bought model rockets for himself and the kids for Christmas because...well....he IS a geek. A ChemE Geek, not an Aerospace Geek, but a Geek nevertheless.

They carefully assembled the rockets (one for each of them) but it has been too windy, too cold, too icy or to damn wet to launch. We had to go to his parent's place in the Bootheel for the big flat stretch of land necessary for launching these things. Today turned out to be a good day to do it.

T2's rocket was fired first...it arc'd a good half-mile into a tree line, but was successfully retrieved. T1's rocket...mid-sized of the group didn't go as far, but still made an impressive showing. The Reenactor's rocket was a three-stage bright-orange ensemble (remember, geek). After firing we quickly lost sight of it. It headed east toward the Mississippi, which is about 15 miles away, and we pretty much assumed it was heading back to Kentucky. The Reenactor headed out on his dad's ATV to search the huge field just east of his parent's place—owned by a friend of theirs—and after multiple passes back and forth, he found it. The rocket was intact but the two stages were toast, and were found in other locations.

This photo is of the second firing of his rocket, with much less fire power assigned than the first attempt. It went straight up, and came almost straight back down into his Dad's horse pasture, which pretty much alarmed and pissed off his dad's quarter horse.

I'm just impressed I actually got this photo!

owl

2008-02-13T09:57:00.001-08:00

T1 was eating an apple the other day and moved some of the seeds around and decided it looked like an owl. Can you tell that cabin fever is setting in that I not only took a photo of it, but I'm posting it on my blog as well????????

ice, ice baby

2008-02-13T09:49:00.000-08:00

scenes from the ice storm in the Commonwealth, Feb. 12, 2008

electile disfunction

2008-02-10T19:51:00.000-08:00

I'm feeling entirely impotent in my ability to be part of the electoral process. I sit week by week watching the caucuses and primaries whiz by, voters in states all around me and all over the country deciding before I ever get a chance to vote who the nominees for the two major parties will be. The Commonwealth doesn't participate in this part of the process until May 20, which will no doubt by then be Ho-Hum Tuesday, rather than Super Duper Fat Tuesday, and will be deemed less important than whatever highjinks Brit is up to on that particular day.

When did the American voter become such a small part of this process? When did someone decided that people in Iowa and New Hampshire are more responsible voters than the rest of us, and they get to vote first?

I'm already steamed that my first choice has dropped out already because of lack of funds, which is due in part to the lack of coverage on the major networks. I don't want Chris Matthews and Wolf Blitzer to decide who the next president will be. Is this too much to ask?

snow day

2008-01-31T10:31:00.000-08:00

T1 and T2 had their first official "snow day" today. We haven't had a snow "event" as the NWS gleefully refers to a snow storm these days, since they started school. A snow event always makes me think there should be music and hors d'ouvres. Anyway....we watched the school closing ticker on the local news, and while T2 had the appropriate reaction (Yay!..NO SCHOOL!) and immediately ran to his room to get out some toys; T1 exhibited typical first-child reaction. At first she teared up and cried...."I WANT to go to school." Then she questioned me repeatedly about whether it was "okay" for them to not go to school, and would anyone else be there. When I reassured her--over and over again--that NO ONE was at school today, she worried that maybe at some point people would go to school...like later in the morning...and she would not be there and get in trouble.

She is very concerned about all this, and the reprucussions of missing a day of school because of snow.

So, we went outside and used our sled on the wee hill at the front of our lawn. The mix of less than an inch of snow and wet grass made it perfect for sliding, and they had a great time.

Hot chocolate followed.

What I have learned from old men

2008-01-24T19:11:00.000-08:00

I am in a class/group discussion at my church right now that is really an incredible experience. The idea is that you share with the other members of your group your own "spiritual biography." Today was the third week, and each week we've heard from a different person in our group. Two of the six people in this class are gentlemen who I am guestimating are in their 80s. Both seem to be in good health and very active, long-time members of the church. Before this class started I "knew" both of them in that I had greeted them at church services and potluck suppers, but other than that knew virtually nothing about them.

Last week we heard from one of the men, and today we heard the story of the other. I have thoroughly enjoyed listening to both of them tell their life stories, and their own quest to "find" God.

Here is what I have learned from them.

1) Age doesn't give you extra insights into your faith. Both men have expressed their lifelong struggle with doubts about their faith, and their relationshiop with God.
2) Lives of quiet greatness can be lives well lived. Both of these men are well educated, have had interesting careers, served in the armed forces and have raised families. Both are quite humble about what they have achieved in their lives, but just listening to them tell their stories is fascinating. I hate to be all Tom Brokaw here, but they are part of the reason it is called the "greatest generation."
3) Men of that age have such a respect for each other. Last week one of the men was talking about his late wife (he's a widower) and the other man, who has known him for years, smiled and said what a "peach" or (some cool Forties word like that) his wife had been. Watching these men talk to each other in front of the rest of us, you realize that the friendships forged over decades ascend to a whole different level than the ones we are accustomed to in our mobile society today.

I feel so honored to have heard their stories and been able to share my own thoughts with them. Here's the sad part...if it weren't for this class I can't imagine that I would have ever had a reason to have listened to them tell their stories, and learned so much about them. And I would have missed out on something really special.