It's Christmas #2

As you can see in the photos, I've put up the little houses this year, something I haven't done for a while.  I thought I was so clever putting the houses on a little table next to the Christmas tree.  Tippy thought it was for her, to give her a good view of the backyard.  So I added two new houses, thinking she would find it too crowded.  Au contraire.  So I said what the heck and placed a palm tree to give it the aura of Bethlehem.  Tippy and Tux brought the palm tree down from the attic when they were kittens.  They haven't taken it back up yet.  They love little tiny toys. 

Welcome to Christmas Town.  Car pooling is best as parking is limited.  Unless you are a cat.

It's Christmas!

Bubble lights make it official

Dog Bloggin'

hello, my name is Moses.  I live with the empty nest lady.  I notice she hasn't been writing lately, and she left her computer logged on, so I thought I'd write something.

What up y'all?

Tippy, stop it.  Be serious.  Tippy's typing since dogs can't type.  But you knew that.

I thought perhaps my fans would like to know how I'm doing.  I know I have lots of fans out there, because who wouldn't love a big happy brown dog who waggles all over when he sees humans.  Not so much with the humans I live with though.  Oh, I love them.  A lot.  But they can be kind of cranky sometimes.  I've heard that lady muttering when she has to clean up my solid waste products before she can work in the backyard.  And that man ... sometimes he gets so impatient with me cause I need to smell everything when we take a walk.  I mean everything.  I'm very thorough.  My breed is known for that.

So what I'd like for Christmas, or Festivus, or whatever gift-giving holiday you celebrate, is some snacks.  Big bags of snacks.  Jerky snacks are nice.  Biscuits are nice.  Hey, I wonder if anyone makes poop snacks?  You know, dried poop, maybe in clever shapes like kittens or squirrels or bunnies.  Foxes, possums. 

xxskl zak zak   ,,u;;;;;pppp

Tippy, stop it.  What?  Speak up.  Oh, really?

Tippy says humans don't like to think about what dogs eat.  Sorry.  I lost my head.

I guess the jerky snacks will be fine.


 love, and happy holidays,

Moses

The Way I See It

I have some idle time here while I wait for my hubby to fix my lunch.  He forgot to get diet coke at the food emporium so to make up for it he is fixing my lunch.

The Election through my eyes

A bunch of people, many of whom barely have a pot to piss in, voted to put back in charge a bunch of politicians whose specialty is trying to take away the pot that they piss in.  Now certainly a lot of very wealthy people voted for these same people because they (the voters) gave them a lot of money to take care of their needs.  Sort of like buying welfare, but much more high class.  And a bunch of the voters have been brainwashed into believing that a Democratic president is bad for the country, will be weak on defense and will raise their taxes.  Although none of these things have happened in the 57 years that I've been taking up space on planet earth.  It seems to me that, with our system of checks and balances, presidents can only be so radical.  UNTIL the Supreme Court placed GW Bush in charge, and we saw the most radical and extreme presidency in the history of our country.  So the voters got so bummed out by all that radicalism, said yeah, let's let the black guy have a whack at being president.  Well, I know this is hard for you to believe, but a lot of voters, particularly among the lowly pot pissers, object to having a black president, and after 2 years of non-stop race baiting and rabble-rousing from the Republicans and their network of media and shadowy donors and think tanks, decided to take their country back.  Back to where they aren't sure, but coming in 2012, they hope it will be back to a place with no damned black president. 

These same low information voters think the country is broke and that it is the fault of 1) immigrants, 2) poor people 3) democrats, 4) social security and medicare, 5) add you own here.  If they are really worried about the country being broke, perhaps they might take a moment to look at the revenue situation.  Nah, that would require them to look at a graph or two.  Too much math going on there.

Taxes.  Our tax burden, 9.2 percent of our incomes, is the lowest it has been since 1950, but the fearmongers continue to raise donations and win elections on this issue.  The whole darned Tea Party thinks they are taxed too much.  I wonder if they have thought that the problem might be their wages.  Wages have been stagnant since the late 70s.  And their benefits cost them more every year.  Those health insurance company executives can't get by on chump change, you know.  But again, looking at a graph showing wage decline would interfere with watching Dancing with the Stars.

Wars.  Why weren't our two wars an issue in the election?  Because Fox doesn't mention it, democrats are afraid to be anti-war, and Americans have the attention span of teen-aged gnats.  But then I forget that the wars don't really cost anything apparently as the people who yammer about deficits never mention the wars.  They mention social security and government spending .  Do that often enough and the ill-informed become convinced that social security is unsustainable and that the government is out of control. And will vote against their own self-interests.  Time and time again.  No evidence of either social security bankruptcy or an actual increase in government spending is needed.

Too many demons.  For years unions have been demonized as evil and greedy and unamerican.  Now that unions are nearly kaput, fresh demons are needed.  Minorities are always an easy target.  Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid make juicy targets.  Higher education has been a long-standing demon.  School teachers have taken a shellacking, and now government workers are in the crosshairs.  Republicans can't win without demons.  Americans too lazy to do any research find it easy to blame the demon du jour.  

The big lies.  In addition to the big lie that social security is about to go broke is the big lie that tax cuts for those making over $250,000 lead to job creation.  Does anyone really believe this?  If so, where are all the jobs that should have been created between the time of the tax cuts and now?  Why haven't the recipients of these tax cuts created any jobs? Because it has been shown over and over again that tax cuts do not lead to job creation.  But no one calls anyone out for these lies. 

I thought that the financial collapse in 2008 was a wake-up call but I guess not.  Apparently we haven't reached bottom yet.  The election results will put us on the fast track to hitting bottom, or will result in total gridlock.  I really can't guess which it will be.

My sandwich is ready now.  Keep your chin up.

Shocking Developments

hello all, a few days ago our baby turned 21.  How can this be?  He just started sleeping through the night. He just learned to ride a bike.  He just learned to make his own lunch.  Now he's off at college learning all kinds of crazy stuff.  Where in the world did 21 years go?  I made a slide show for him celebrating his babyhood.  And a fine baby he was.  And is.

And another shocking development:  who are these 2 old white-haired geezers posing with our son?  He acts like he knows them.  He's off there at college mingling with strangers.

Oh wait.  That's me and my nutty husband.  Never mind.

Click on the slideshow to enlarge the photos

We came, we saw, we concurred

That slogan was on a t-shirt at the Rally to Restore Sanity/and or Fear that I attended Saturday.  Me and 214,999 other peaceful citizens.  I would post my photos but they were all pretty bad.  I have mostly the back of other folks heads.  I had a new camera and wasn't familiar with its controls.  That's my excuse anyway.  I won't get into much analysis of the event, but will say it was very refreshing to be with people who weren't whining about taxes and government takeovers or socialism.  In fact, I bet most of the people there actually know what socialism is.  Very refreshing.

I do have some halloween pics and will post those here for your amusement.  I aim to please.

 Jackson is a shrub and Jake is threatening to prune him

 Georgia is the old family standby pumpkin

 Evie is a princess wearing the dress grandma gave her for her birthday

Peyton is a ninja

Happy birthday Pete

The best thing that happened on October 17, 1982, was the birth of Pete Woody.  I know this because I was there and I lived with Pete for a number of years.  Please enjoy these never before published photos of P.V. Woody and you'll agree with me, he is one special birthday boy.

Click on a photo to switch to the larger slideshow view.

Poor little Tippy

Little Tippy has once again required an emergency trip to the vet and now has a lovely collar to wear for 10 days.  On Monday night, unbeknownst to us, she was attacked by an animal with canine teeth, according to the vet.  Now that could be a dog, or possum, or raccoon.  She came in the house in a rush like something had scared her, and we did not see her at breakfast the next morning.  I knew then something was wrong, and feel very badly for not checking her out when she came in the house Monday night.  When I picked her up Tuesday morning, I felt that a chunk of her back leg was missing.  She ran away and hid under the bed.  Paul got her out and took her to the vet.  Just like the last time she was injured, she developed an infection with a very high fever.  She spent 2 nights at the vet and has stitches up the back of her leg, in her hamstring area.

Surprisingly, she hates her collar (a nice blue bandanna pattern) and quite nimbly can reach the stitches to give them a yank before she tips over.  She's one unhappy kitty now; just wait till tomorrow when she learns she can't go out.

It's going to be a long 10 days.

Republicans bring the lumber

I was watching a Daily Show clip where Jon Stewart was making fun of the latest version of the republican contract on America when I noticed that the Repugs had chosen a lumber yard as the setting for their pronouncement.   Behind the assembled party leaders (including the self-proclaimed young guns) were stacks of boards.

I thought, "Republicans Got Wood!"

Which I believe has sexual overtones.  Look it up in the urban dictionary.  Heh heh, I said "dic"tionary.

 Wow, those sex haters are always thinking of ways to frame things in a sexual way, and not usually a very nice sexual way.  You may remember reading in this blog that repugs described our president (the tall black guy) as trying to ram, jam, cram various socialist, communist, fascist policies down their poor innocent throats.

Wow, that reminds of when George Allen said he was going to knock the democrats soft teeth down their whiny throats.  Ya'll remember that?  And he's working on a comeback.  This should be fun.

Just so you'll know, from now until the erection, oops, I mean election, I'm only going to watch Bones reruns, no political shows for me.

That's Bones, not Boners.  Ya'll behave now.

9-12-10

Let's see, that's 9% nitrogen, 12% phosphorus, 10% potassium in a bag of fertilizer.

Clearly I've been too immersed in horticulture lately.

Back in August I enjoyed writing 8-9-10 on that day.  And I always like writing 9-9-nn.  9-9-10 was fun this year.  It's my birthday you know.  My mother never could remember if my birthday was 9-9 or 9-10, so over the years I've extended my birthday celebration for a whole week.  There's still time to get a little gift for me.  Fertilizer is always a nice.

I hope you had a nice day on 9-11-10.  I was working at my outdoor job and paused to think about what a beautiful day it was, just as it was on 9-11-01.  I hope families of victims are finding ways of coping.  I can't imagine living with the pain of losing a loved one in such a horrible way.  

Maybe some people are exploiting the day engaged in fearmongering and extremism because it's an election year.  Maybe they won't do this again next year.

Maybe if we called what they do extremism they'd shut up and sit down.

Just an idea.

20 year olds dying for us

I've been troubled for the last seven years about our national propensity for war-making.  I believe that the Afghanistan and Iraq wars were part of the Bush team's campaign strategy.  I never saw any reason for the US to attack Iraq or Afghanistan, and remember cringing every time someone said, during the 2004 presidential campaign, that "you don't change commander-in-chief during wartime."  I can't think of a better reason to change commander-in-chief than getting us into illegal and immoral wars.

What does it say about our national character that these wars go on and on and we hardly pay attention to them any more?  What does it say about us that so many Americans profess fear and loathing of muslims; that a church in Florida is going to burn Korans on Sept. 11?  What kind of people pay more attention to Palin word-salad tweets and McCain senile blatherings, and for god's sake, Gingrich gasbaggery, than they do to Americans dying and making war on civilians on a daily basis? Why does the media think we want to hear about the former and don't care about the latter?  Sadly, the media may be right this time. Why don't we care?

I feel helpless about this.  I've called the offices of my elected representatives, and sent e-mails asking them to vote against war.  I've written letters.  I've thought about standing on a busy street corner with anti-war signs, but I'm too shy.  I admire war protestors.  Are there any left?

Some time ago I decided I'd read the In Memoriam lists posted on the blog Crooks and Liars, taken from the Sunday news show This Week.  I slowly read each name, age, hometown.  I think about the person's parents, kids, husband, siblings.  What must they be feeling?  Is it any comfort that their loved one died in service to our country?  I hope it is or how else can they eventually get on with their lives.

This past week, In Memoriam listed 26 names.  There are six 20-year-olds listed.  Twenty-year olds who will never have children (most likely, but I know they may have them already), will never see their brothers and sisters get married and have kids.  Will never buy a house, or a new car, or graduate from college.  Enjoy their grandkids, have a cold beer.  You get the idea.

Twenty year olds dying cause we're scared of muslims.  

What's wrong with us? 

Some Changes

You can see that I've been messing with the layout and colors and all.  I could waste many hours fooling with this stuff, and probably will.  But I'll leave it for now and go do something useful.  I am very happy to have the slideshows starting near the top where they are easily found.

Let me know what you think.  I want you to be happy when you come to the Empty Nest.

Peace and Quiet

I'm enjoying the pleasant temperature and relative quiet here on the deck with my little cat Tippy.  I can hear only one lawn mower off in the distance.  I expect the leaf blowers will fire up soon.  And the sirens.  We live in between a fire station and a rescue squad.  We often pause conversations until the rescue vehicles move far enough way from our house for us to hear ourselves.  I wish people would quit wrecking their cars and having heart attacks.  It's getting on my nerves.

Back to the peace and quiet.  I try not to listen to political ranting and raving but sometimes some of the assinine comments seep through my ear muffs.  Like the business about the islamic community center that some imam wants to build near ground zero.  You have to wonder if some Obama/democrat haters didn't put the imam up to that idea, it being so close to an election and all.  What better hot button issue to be flogging right around election time.  Nothing scares Americans (OK, some americans) more than the thought of evil mooslims worshipping right in our faces.  Flaunting their strange god right on our christian soil.

Pause for sirens to go by .....

So the president says "chill, people, it's the American way to let people worship the way they want."

And the people aren't buying it, since, you know, the president isn't even a real American.

I had to chuckle when I read that the location for this proposed muslim center used to be a Burlington Coat Factory.  So now the muslims are interfering with capitalism!!  Damn them.

Did I ever tell you the story of how we tried to buy a fancy baby carriage for our 3rd born son and were thwarted by the security system at our local Burlington coat factory?  I'm sure I haven't told you cause I can't really talk about it yet.  It's too emotional.  He'll be 21 in November .... 

So, come November 3rd, the day after the election, things will quiet down re: fearmongering and hate speech and outlandish proposals to rewrite the constitution.  And my baby will turn 21.

Now that's a lot to look forward to.

Alert: Family Boycott Update

People, I've been so busy I forgot to announce the newest family boycott: U-Haul.

Do not do business with U-Haul.  The second of our 3 sons has been treated very badly by U-Haul.  He went to get his reserved truck, and shazam, there was no truck!

This also happened to our oldest son.  And to our second son's girlfriend's brother, on the same day as the incident that set the boycott in motion.

I don't know how U-Haul stays in business.  They should change their name to "U-Haul ... Maybe .... Maybe Not".  If they didn't paint all those fancy scenes on their trucks, they'd have plenty of room for the new name.  You know, the saguaro cactus and the red rocks of Sedona.  Fish and bears and 3 toed sloths.  All to distract you from the fact that the truck you are looking at is supposed to be in another city, in use by someone who is sadly not able to move at the moment.  Sorry, no move for you, chump.

If you need a truck, try Budget.  And what ever happened to Ryder?  Subsumed by U-Haul no doubt.

You're probably curious about the other family boycotts.  There's only one, Abercrombie & Fitch, which some of you make think ended, but oh no, absolutely not, it's still in effect and very successful, I add smugly.

According to my daily, printed newspaper (yes, I am an old geezer clinging to my outdated news source), teen stores are in a sales slump.  I only take credit for A&F's pain.  Ha ha, you filthy pornographers.  Don't mess with me.

U-Haul ... Maybe ... Maybe Not, you've been warned.

Wha ... Blog? What Blog?

Oh gosh.  I have a blog.  I wonder if I shouldn't outsource this to someone in India.

Seriously, every time I hear or read something outrageous and decide to write about it, something twice as unbelievable comes along and just flummoxes me.  What the f....??  I've been thinking that a lot lately.

What about that Shirley Sherrod business?  Wasn't that bizarre?  Did she take the job that Vilsack offered her, to make up for the slam-dunk bitch slap?  If I were her, I'd demand about $200,000 dollars, do that job for a while, then retire with a big fat monthly check.  And I wouldn't do any work; I'd play golf like the white guys do when they're supposed to be at work.

I love how all the rich folks are squawking about the horror of letting the bush tax cuts for the wealthy expire.  But what about job creation, they wimper.  Oh my god, does anyone still fall for that scam?  Please tell me no.

The oil spill.   Shocking news ... are you sitting down:  BP lied about ... everything.  And is still lying.  And hasn't put a cent into the 20 billion fund.  You remember that fund, the one that the socialist in the white house extorted (with Chicago style politics) out of those poor BP executives.  Does this lack of payment mean that the Obama haters will like him better now?  Or will they gloat over his apparent fecklessness?

So what's with Jim Webb and his call for ending affirmative action cause it is mean to white people? I've not noticed any lack of white people running the world.  Am I missing something?  Is he worried about poor people?  Cause poor people tend to stay poor with or without affirmative action.  I'd say that the lack of jobs, unions, health care, mobility, and education do a lot more harm to whites than affirmative action.  But I could be wrong.  After all, I'm not a white male senator.  

This just in:  the war in Afghanistan is a hopeless muddle.  American forces kill civilians.  Sorry to be the one to break this to you.  Every time we kill one of the "bad guys", a dozen other bad guys step up to take his place.   Doesn't anyone who got us into these 2 wars ever read any history books?  I am ashamed of the immorality of these wars.  I believe the founding fathers (wholly owned by the right wing) would be appalled and ashamed by these actions.

That's all I've got for now.  I have to go put a cold cloth on my forehead.

More of My Handiwork

I grew these:

And I am indirectly responsible for this:

I'd say my time here on earth has been well-spent.

The nectarines are quite good, considering that I have made no effort other than watering.  Georgia Grace is quite the peach, isn't she!

Georgia Grace is Here

hello everyone,  the old man and I now have a 4th grandchild, and 2nd granddaughter.

Georgia Grace arrived Friday, 7/9/10, weighs 7 lbs 12 oz, is 20 inches tall, and is just as precious as she can be.

Please enjoy the slideshow here.

granny janny

Happy 4th of July

Yea America, another birthday.

If you decide to celebrate by blowing stuff up today, be careful.

Here's what's happening at our house.

I wish he were my congressman

Honey, can't we move to the 5th district? They have mountains there.

Vegetables: Breaking News

I can't do a thing about oil in the gulf and idiots in the congress, but I can grow vegetables and take photos and make you look at them.  So there.

We had brussel sprouts last night.  I am sure I waited much too long to harvest them but I wanted them to get a little bigger.  There were tasty but then most things taste good with salt, pepper, butter, and parmesan cheese.  

Moses enjoyed them raw and cooked.  And he highly recommends the foliage.

And now we turn to zucchini.  A few days ago I was weeding and decided not to do a garden next year then I saw the first zucchini and thought maybe I would do a garden again next year.  We'll see.

I have had a few cherry tomatoes right off the vine during the weeding, but I haven't made a harvest yet.  The roma tomatoes should be ripe in a few days.  And I can see beets poking up a little bit.  A potato in the compost pile has sprouted.  The nectarines look kind of sad so I don't know what to expect there.

A neighbor left a box of plums on the porch.  I haven't had one yet (they are just ripening) but Moses sampled a couple and gives them a big thumbs up.  Or the dog equivalent of thumbs up.

Happy eating!

Thanks to farmer Bev and farmer Don for contributing the brussel sprouts.

A Sickening Feeling part 3

From the Guardian UK - a beach in Alabama
found on one of my favorite blogs: http://www.mockpaperscissors.com/

Thank You Joe Biden

Just when you think the opposition has gotten all the crazy out in the open, here comes some more crazy. I am not opposed to political opposition, it's what politics is all about. However, the opposition needs to lay off the crazy. Go on vacation. Get a pet. Plant a garden. Just stop being so flippin' crazy every damned day.

Dog Eats Cabbage

The other day, I harvested a cabbage, the first of the two that came in this year.  Three plants, two cabbages, not bad for a first-timer.

Being a slob, I dropped the outer leaves on the ground while I took the cute little cabbage into the house.  When I came back out, a crowd was gathering.  One member of the crowd saw a snack opportunity.

The cat abstained.  Not really a vegan.  Apparently the dog is.

He ate it very aggressively too, as though one of us wanted to snatch it from him.  Umm, Moses, it's OK, you can have it.  I was a little worried it would have a laxative effect on him, but his cast iron stomach did just fine with all that roughage.

After I harvested the second cabbage, I made the most delicious cole slaw EVAH.  Yummm.  I did not offer the dog any.  He can make his own; he's home all day after all.

Thanks to Bev and Don for the cabbage plants.

Oops, a special day goes unnoticed

I forgot to write about Moses on his one year anniversary on May 30.  Good lord, what's wrong with me??

We've had a great year with the big dog, who has lost about 20 lbs, so he's not quite so big anymore.  You may recall (if you've been reading this lousy blog) that Moses is a big consumer of pet health care.  So we talked it over, and he wants to get a part-time job to help defray his medical bills.

You are probably wondering, what does a dog like Moses do to earn money?

He's good at a number of things:

        -making big yellow circles in the yard

        -using up those plastic bags you've been saving

        -getting your adrenaline going with his incredibly loud bark for no particular reason

       -making everyone feel very special with his giddy, wiggly all-over greetings

He really is a special dog and I'm glad we got him one year ago.

A Sickening Feeling part 2

I'm sad to hear that "Top Kill" didn't do the job of stopping the oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico.  Not too surprised however.

Someday a child somewhere will say to his parent "Dad, why did they kill the Gulf of Mexico?"  Maybe he will have read about it in a book about man-made disasters such as Chernobyl and Bhopal.

Dad will try to explain it, and maybe also mention why the state of West Virginia no longer has any mountains and streams.

"You see son, companies have to make money to keep the shareholders happy and so they can give it to politicians who will then create laws that help them make more money, some of which they will give to politicians again.  It's kind of like the photosysnthesis cycle, but without anything good coming from it."

Dad and son will have plenty of time to talk over these matters, as dad will not have a job and the son will be on a school furlough, caused by continued funding cuts to public education.

But this is OK, because politicians will keep collecting campaign contributions and getting re-elected, so everything's cool, y'all.

Oh, and remember that unions are bad.  And gays will ruin the military.  

I can't help feeling lately that we're doomed.  Hope I'm wrong.

Peas!

Remember when I was so worried that the sugar snap peas were taking forever to germinate?
Look:

And here is a weird new plant this year: Eryngium or sea holly:

What's Wrong with Amos?

I don't know what is wrong with Amos, as one reader has asked, but I do know what is wrong with Moses, pictured above in a photo taken today, after some of his hair has grown back.  He had surgery several weeks ago to remove a big fat blob of what turned out to be fat only, and not some horrible cancerous growth as we feared.  Moses is running up quite a tab, what with his ear surgery last year and now this.  He seems to be a high maintenance dog.  A big ticket dog, I guess.  But very sweet and loving.  We should sell that space on his side for advertising, like a billboard.  Would that be wrong?

Happy Anniversary

On May 25, we celebrated our 35th anniversary.  We agreed ahead of time to not exchange gifts.  However, I thought Paul would enjoy a special treat, so I ran the vacuum cleaner to remove (or scatter) the large mounds of dog hair that had collected on the first floor of our home.  There was so  much hair on the chicken rug in the hallway that the chicken was no longer visible.

To reciprocate, Paul cleaned up all the dog poop in the front yard.

And there you have it folks, the secret to a long happy marriage.  It's not rocket science.

The poop machine at work

Also, and the real reason for this post, Paul made a special video celebrating our anniversary, which can be viewed at this link:

http://tinyurl.com/32s2ld3

Ain't Capitalism Great?

Tonight while I prepared a healthy meal for my man (I'm having cake), the TV news told me that the amount of oil flooding the Gulf of Mexico (shouldn't it be sent back to its own country now?) was much much greater than BP has acknowledged.  Folks, cut those people some flack, they've been busy assembling a huge squad of top-notch lawyers and really haven't had time to study the video of the oil gushing out unabated.  I bet they are totally bummed out at the idea of all those lost profits.

So, after the report ended and we went to commercial, a big bottle of Dawn dish detergent showed up on the screen.  Then people washing oil-coated birds.  Then happy talk and music showing how easy it is to clean an oil-slicked bird with Dawn.  Great stuff.  Let's all run out and buy some just in case oil-coated birds was up on the shores of the James River.  Or maybe they want us to send Dawn care packages to the Gulf coast states.

It's good to know that the American profit machine rolls on.  Make hay while the sun shines.  And the oil flows.

Vegetable Blogging

I bet you'd like to have some of this delicious looking broccoli but you can't cause we ate it all up tonight along with home-grown arugula, lettuce and spinach.  Man, think what we could do with a greenhouse.  We wouldn't have to make a special trip to the store to buy tomatoes.

A Sickening Feeling

I haven't been reading closely any details of the effects of the oil spill overtaking the Gulf of Mexico.  It's not that I don't care about it.  Quite the contrary.  I feel helpless and hopeless thinking that maybe our country will never find the will to change course on energy policy.  Eleven people were killed when the oil rig exploded; I'm sure many were injured gravely.  This catastrophe follows closely the coal mine explosion in WVA where 29 miners were killed.  There must be a better way to make engines run and create electricity.  Why can't the richest, smartest country in the world find better ways to make things run?  I feel like we've been hoodwinked into believing there are no better ways to make energy than by sending people way down into the earth's gas chamber, or punching holes in the earth's crust to withdraw a highly volatile and toxic substance.  When you don't have other options for a decent-paying job, risking your life to support your family seems like a reasonable trade-off.  So long as unions don't get in there to mess things up.  No sir, we wouldn't want that.  Making their crazy demands for a safe work environment.  That'll wreck a profitable business in no time.

Here's something cheery from The Guardian in the UK.  You can tell it's British cause of the "bn" for billion.  And the date: it's tomorrow over there.  Read it and weep.

Gulf oil spill at Deepwater Horizon threatens $8bn clean-up and an ecological oil slick disaster for the US

This was the catastrophe that BP insisted could never happen. Now they call it 'unprecedented'

• Robin McKie
• The Observer, Sunday 2 May 2010

The prospect of oil pouring into the gulf for such a period could have horrifying effects on wildlife, added Frid. "That part of the gulf's coastline consists of a sedimentary shore with lots of muddy inlets. The oil will penetrate into the mud, and because it contains no oxygen the oil will not biodegrade. For generations, any disturbance of the sediment will bring oil back to the surface and that will happen over a very large area."
Similar fears were also stressed by Jane Lubchenco, head of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, after she took part in a conference call with the governors of the gulf states on Friday. "There is very deep concern about what is happening," she added.
To date, most efforts to deal with the growing slick have failed. Rough seas and strong winds have blocked efforts to burn off the oil or hold it in check with inflatable booms strung along the coast. Louisiana officials have opened gates in the Mississippi river in the hope that a flood of fresh water would drive oil away from the coast, but the high winds also thwarted that plan.
Meanwhile the Pentagon has deployed two C-130 cargo planes to spray chemicals on the oil, while the Louisiana National Guard has been deployed to help local communities.

On The Rocks - Bad Romance

I search the Internet for stupid stuff so you don't have to. I have no idea what a Lady Gaga performance is like.

But I do like seeing college kids using their god given talents instead of getting drunk and throwing up all over each other.

Go Ducks.

Farm Report

Finally we've got some action in the garden. These photos were taken last week so everything is much bigger now. We've got fancy lettuces, kale, spinach, arugula, brussell sprouts, cabbage. The sugar snap peas have really taken off, but I must have forgotten to take a photo. I'll do that next time I'm out there with the camera. I think I can make a salad for dinner tonight using some of the fancy lettuces which look big enough now to be eaten. On Sunday I added tomatoes, basil, and yesterday I bought a green pepper plant. I was trying to do everything from seeds but sometimes the need for instant gratification takes over. I'm only human you know.

New Photos

Look Away, Look Away, Look Away Down South in Dixie

I am now officially sick and tired of the Civil War. To clarify: I am sick and tired of the glorification of the Civil War. For crying out loud, it was about owning and exploiting human beings, and about destroying the United States. Which one of those events shall we celebrate?

I could not believe it when I read Gov. McDonnell's first Confederate History Month proclamation, before he was forced to acknowledge that slavery was a factor. Duh, guv, like maybe THE factor. I read his original proclamation and got a sick feeling in my stomach that I get when a history whitewash is taking place, and knowing that in our low-information culture, it isn't that hard to convince people that event A was actually event Z. Throw in a few socialisms, and gun rights, and the constitution, and the haters are putty in your hands, ready to buy whatever steaming load of crap you're selling.

So let me see if I have this right: the sore losers whine about getting back to our constitution. A subset of the sore losers are neo-confederates. So in 1861, it was OK to rip apart our country, constitution be damned, but now they are mad as hell that a black man is allowed to live in the White House and be commander-in-chief. No wonder their poor feeble heads are exploding.

Recent polling of the tea partiers reveals something shocking: they are white, well-off, older men, by and large. Every time our country makes significant strides forward in civil and human rights, these creeps come out of the woodwork and start yelling about their taxes, their constitution, and their values. And waving their moth-eaten stars and bars. And because the media loves a catfight, the cameras run the whole time, with constant replays and rehashes of every stupid thing these neanderthals say. And then we have to hear from John MCain, who is no longer a maverick, so has more time to go on all the talk shows and expound on how much better off we'd be if he and that con artist P.T. Palin had won the election. And also, by the way, can we please hurry up and bomb Iran?

Speaking of the con artist, would anyone pay a bit of attention to her and Michelle Bachmann if they weren't so dog-gone pretty? Such pretty girls saying such stupid stuff. Please, can we watch again?? Aren't they pretty! What are they wearing today? Oooh, listen, one of them just smacked down the President! Wow, they are awesome! Maybe they'll turn on each other and start some hair-pulling and biting and call each other bitch. Better keep the cameras rolling.

What has set me off on this tangent is seeing this in my morning newspaper. I wish I could include the photo too. Do you think they invited any slave re-enactors? Nah, probably not.

What’s Happening: Old Virginia Soiree is held at Woman’s Club

MARSHA P. GROSSMAN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
Published: April 18, 2010

Buzz up!

Following a grand tradition, the Celebrate South Committee of the J.E.B Stuart Memorial Foundation hosted its 13th annual ball -- the Old Virginia Soiree -- April 10 at the Woman's Club of Richmond on East Franklin Street.

A volunteer committee headed by James H. Cochrane Jr., and spearheaded by Marc Ramsey, put together an evening of Civil War-era festivity, frivolity and fancy footwork to benefit the Museum of the Confederacy and the Richmond Battlefields Association.

Formally opening the program was a presentation of the Color Guard of Virginia comprised of 15th and 21st Infantry re-enactors and led by Ramsey, of the Fighting First Regiment.

The Hardtack & Sowbelly String Band supplied toe-tapping Civil War-era music as dance master and mistress Drs. Briant and Karin Bohleke led guests through reels, waltzes and polkas.

Eighty of the 120 guests were attired in reproduction uniforms and shimmering ball gowns of the era -- many handmade by the wearers.

Among the re-enactors were members of Lee's Lieutenants, some of whom traveled from as far as Colorado and West Virginia to participate. Most were in full character as historical figures such as J.E.B. Stuart and spy Belle Boyd.

A singalong of favorite Southern tunes and prayers for soldiers currently serving in the military brought the evening to a close.

"It is a rare occasion that so many good folks can come together to have some great fun in a unique historical setting while supporting two very worthwhile causes," Ramsey said. "This benefit was a definite success!"

Christopher J. Evans is board chairman of the J.E.B Stuart Memorial Foundation.

Woe is Me part II

As you will recall from part I of this whinefest, I am driving my husband's manual transmission vehicle while mine is being repaired. More on that later. It makes me very cranky to shift gears. I have cursed more than once while clutching and shifting.

On Sunday night there was a cat fight in our driveway. We heard the screeching and Moses and I raced out to see what was happening. I saw a neighborhood bully cat scurry away into the bamboo forest across the street. Tippy and Tux were under the car.

Moses and I returned to the den. Several minutes later, the feral cats raced through the open deck door and went upstairs. When I went to bed, Tippy seemed OK but was grooming her back leg in a way that made me think something was hurting. I knew for sure something was wrong when she did not come downstairs for breakfast the next morning. Tippy has never missed a meal. I found her upstairs sleeping on a pile of blankets in the bottom of a closet. She was hot to the touch and did not want to be picked up and fussed over.

I took her to the vet as soon as possible and learned she had a 105 temperature. Normal for a cat is 100-102. The vet began treatment for a bacterial infection and hooked her to an IV.

Pepper also needed to go to the vet but I couldn't handle both in one trip, so I made a second trip back to the vet late in the day, for Pepper's medication check, and to see if Tippy could come home. I had no cat carrier for Pepper since I'd left it at the vet.

By the end of the day, when it was time to take Pepper, I was tired of driving this retarded vehicle. Pepper roamed all over the car, making her most horrible meow, which sounds like reeeeoooowww. Over and over again. Walking across my arms to look out my window, then back to the other side. Reeeeooowww. From the back seat .....reeeooowww.

I was really doing some cussing by this time.

Pepper's hyperthyroidism was found to be responding well to the pink pills we have to administer twice a day. We are happy about that since she looked mangy and bug-eyed prior to starting the pills. Tippy's fever was only down to 103, so she spent the night at the vet.

The ride home was peaceful with Pepper in the carrier.

The next day I drove to Charlottesville to have lunch with grandson Jackson for his birthday. I had made an appointment for Tux to get his rabies shot at 4 pm, and to bring Tippy home at that time.

Tux offered very little resistance to being shoved into the carrier and going for a car ride. His meows are rather delicate for such a large cat. While there I learned that Tux weighs 13.6 pounds. Tippy is 10.3. Pepper gained a half a pound since taking her pink pills, so she is about 6 lbs now. She was wasting away in addition to her other symptons.

Tux got his shot and Tippy was released. I asked if someone could carry the two of them in the carrier out to my car. I can barely lift my right arm from all the damned gear-shifting and they weigh almost 24 pounds together.

Somehow I managed to get them into the house where they were greeted warmly by Moses, who sniffed Tippy all over to make sure she was OK. She has a bare spot on her back leg where she was bitten, and her front right leg was shaved for the IV so she looks like a goth biker kitty.

Naturally I had to take a short nap after all of this.

Back to the car trauma. My car has been sitting over at the repair place all this time while they searched the entire country for a new transmission. The car is driveable with its current transmission as I think the case is cracked but it still shifts the gears AUTOMATICALLY, as modern transmissions are supposed to do.

Paul asked me if I wanted to keep waiting and leave the car there, or have them fix the tailpipe and drive it as is until the transmission comes in.

My response was: "grrrrrrrr aaaargh what do you think????? reeeeoooowww son of a bitch" .... and other words like that.

Moses also needs to go the vet to find out what the big lump on his side is all about. I told Paul he'd have to take him as I have had enough of the vet this week.

Happy driving everyone!

Woe is Me

Please get out your little tiny violin and play it while you read this post:

-On Sunday I ran over a big piece of metal and messed up my car, which I love nearly as much as I love the humans and pets in my life. The big piece of metal ripped off the exhaust system (it was still slightly attached to the car) and cracked the transmission. I have to drive my husband's dopey car (and shift gears, dammit) till it gets fixed.

-On Monday my fairly new MacBook Pro lost its hard drive and all of its contents, including all of my professional quality photos and various documents of great importance.

Yesterday I was grumpy about these things and then today I see that our governor has declared this to be Confederate History Month and now I am excited about going to re-enactments and celebrating the anniversary of secession from the Union. I'll be wearing my itchy gray wool moth-eaten dress and pretending to be a nurse up at Chimbarazo while the surgeon re-enactors pretend to amputate shattered and gangrenous arms and legs. And, new this year, there will be a special area for those pretending to die from dysentery.

Come on and join us as we celebrate state's rights. There'll be corn pone and brandy for everyone!

Surprise Yard Sale

I came home after being away for several hours and found that the cats were having a yard sale with our stuff.

Hmmm, come to think of it, that's not a bad idea.

Carry on, cats.

Dessert!

Do you remember an episode of Friends where Jennifer Aniston's character (who didn't cook) made a trifle for a special event, and those eating the trifle were surprised to find that it had meat as well as typical trifle ingredients. Joey liked it; the others didn't. When asked why it had meat in it, Rachel (is that the Jennifer character?) got the recipe to prove that she followed it very closely. Upon close examination of the preceding and following recipes, it was determined that Rachel started on the correct page, then the page flipped without her noticing, and she continued on with a recipe for a different dish. The result was a dessert trifle with meat.

I think of that whenever I make a trifle.

The beautiful (and tasty) trifle shown here is meatless. And I didn't need no stinking recipe!

Bon appetit!

Are we France yet?

Woke up this morning and see that the people's House has passed some health care improvements. Yippee! Our baby can stay on our health care till he turns 27!

I am glad that some small progress has been made towards having the USA join the rest of the industrialized world in the provision of health care. I am ever hopeful that our infant mortality rate will slowly creep downward. Right now we rank between Faroe Islands and Guam, at 6.26 deaths per live births. Perhaps in a few years we'll be closer to France, at 3.33. I guess it's too much to hope that we can match or exceed Singapore at 2.31.

Truly it's a great day and yet we must keep on hammering away at the odd notion of health care as a profit center before we get to health care as a basic right. Hang on, we'll get there eventually.


Source: http://www.indexmundi.com/g/r.aspx?c=us&v=29

Health Care Comments

For god's sake, pass the damn bill.

That's all I've got on this subject.

Go back to your regularly scheduled activities.