Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Scary Obituary



 
 
 

In 1887 Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the
University of Edinburgh, had this to say about the fall of the
Athenian Republic some 2,000 years prior: "A democracy is always
temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent
form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until
the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous
gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority
always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from
the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally
collapse over loose fiscal policy, (which is) always followed by a
dictatorship."

"The average age of the world's greatest civilizations from the
beginning of history, has been about 200 years. During those 200
years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence:

From bondage to spiritual faith;
From spiritual faith to great courage;
From courage to liberty;
From liberty to abundance;
From abundance to complacency;
From complacency to apathy;
From apathy to dependence;
From dependence back into bondage."
The Obituary follows:

Born 1776, Died 2012 
It doesn't hurt to read this several times.    
Professor Joseph Olson of Hamline University School of Law in
St. Paul, Minnesota, points out some interesting facts concerning
the last Presidential election:

Number of States won by:     Obama: 19     McCain: 29
Square miles of land won by:    Obama: 580,000     McCain: 2,427,000
Population of counties won by:    Obama: 127 million  McCain: 143 million
Murder rate per 100,000 residents in counties won by: Obama: 13.2 McCain: 2.1 

Professor Olson adds: "In aggregate, the map of the territory
McCain won was mostly the land owned by the taxpaying citizens
of the country.

Obama territory mostly encompassed those citizens living in low
income tenements and living off various forms of government
welfare..."

Olson believes the  United States is now somewhere between the
"complacency and apathy" phase of Professor Tyler's definition of
democracy, with some forty percent of the nation's population
already having reached the "governmental dependency" phase.

If Congress grants amnesty and citizenship to twenty million
criminal invaders called illegal's - and they vote - then we can say
goodbye to the USA in fewer than five years.

If you are in favor of this, then by all means, delete this message.

If you are not, then pass this along to help everyone realize just how
much is at stake, knowing that apathy is the greatest danger to our
freedom..

This is truly scary
 
 
 


Wednesday, July 25, 2012

From the Garden...

Our garden is really going bonkers since that last big rain we had, and I'd like to see a lot more of that rain (by the way, if you're reading this, God...) Look what my hubby missed from his collecting this morning...





You will note that it is missing it's dark green skin, and looks to be slightly salted. Why yes, I say...it's being eaten as I type this. Yum.

Hubby found two more zucchini in the garden today, and decided that he would make some zucchini bread. I sure hope he does something, because we are on a zucchini rampage in the garden. All of the squash are putting out flowers, and ...oh, wait for it. Yum.

The okra (that I won't touch with a silver fork) are about 3 feet high---that's just the plant. It hasn't put out any okra yet. Okra is funny. It grows straight up.

There's another cuke in the garden, but it's only half the size this one was. Yum.

I'm hunting down my zucchini recipes. Found a couple on Pinterest. I'm going to make zucchini patties and put them on toast with some marinara--or maybe some ranch dressing. That sort of sounds pretty good, actually--perhaps I'll try that. It's fun to eat stuff out of the garden!

We've got lots of green tomatoes. No red ones yet. Lots of green leaves to hold them up, though, and I'm looking forward to tomato sandwiches. Yum. Just a bite out in the garden right off the plant...just thinking about it makes me salivate.

The swiss chard is fine, and the potatoes are still underground, so I don't think we'll have trouble with them. It was a good plan not to plant corn this year. There hasn't been enough rain for the field corn, let alone sweet corn. I think it's a good idea that we're using wood pellets this year. We're hearing scary stories about corn going up 50% this last week...which makes it about $200 a ton. It's still a lot less than propane!

and, Yum.

mmffppqpotugha. Yes, and Yum.

Oh! I almost forgot! I found my wagon!

Okay, let me start at the beginning. In the summertime, I generally go to a variety of fairs and competitions for fiber and Scottish Highland Music. I bring along my spinning wheel for down times, when there's really not much else to look at or do. August is a hefty time, with a Scottish Festival on the 4th, a fiber festival on the 18th and another scottish festival on the 25th. Literally every weekend is busy with SOMETHING. There's also the Civil War Re-Enactment on the 26th. All of these, I attend and I take my wheel, a stool and some wool, and I demonstrate how things work for passersby.

Now, even though I own a portable spinning wheel, carrying all that gear can get really cumbersome, so I decided to start looking for a nice wagon. I've been looking around for a while and happened to pass by one at a garage sale. Hubby and I talked a bit about it, but I was a little too ready to get home and put up my feet, having trucked him around all morning. So we passed it up.

I started looking at Ebay and Amazon, and while they did have them, the shipping was just something else. So I tried Craigslist, and by golly, wouldn't you know, there was one on Craigslist this morning for only $50.

Still my beating (too fast) heart.

I called them. I emailed them. I left my phone # four different ways to Sunday, and finally at 4 in the afternoon, just as I was about to head out the door, my phone rang. It was him. I had almost lost it to another buyer, but he decided to pass it up the way I'd passed up the one on Saturday. Oh, yay! Oh YAY!

So I got in my car, and I headed to the seller's house (they were only 20 minutes from my work!). I purchased the wagon and took off with the biggest smile on my face!!! It's really a nice one--gently used, and still has the original shine on it. It has all-terrain wheels. It's big enough to carry my wheel, stool and lots of wool to keep me busy the entire month! I can even take stuff downstairs. I'm just beside myself with joy over this. And, in the spring, when the sticks have to be picked up, I can use it for that. Goodness knows that the wheelbarrow doesn't hold many sticks!

I'll have to get a picture tomorrow because the lighting isn't very good right now, but she's a pretty red wagon. I'm going to name her Tessie.

Yum. Last bite. Cucumber all gone. :(

It's so hot, that I finally put my hair in pony tails, and tied them up on top of my head. I feel better now. Must take care of the plate. Sad to see the cuke go, but it was SO good.

Monday, July 23, 2012

Baby

She's really not much of a baby anymore. I'd say she's about 5 years old, and all of 5 or 6 feet.



Sunday, July 22, 2012

A Very Sad Day...

Jeff and I worked all day yesterday on the septic system. You might remember how I was complaining the other day, having to clean up another back up in the basement...Well Rothchild's determined that we had too many roots in the septic, and that it was clogging things....

And that means that my favorite tree had to go.

RIP..


sigh.
Goodbye.

Sunday, July 15, 2012

More Time in the John

It's what everyone wants, right?

Right now, hubby is showering, having had the entire upper half of his body inside the sewage tank.

Yummy, right?

We're putting in additives and trying to kill the roots inside the tank. Yes, I know it takes some time. I think hubby thought it would happen immediately. We've got a big plastic bag to put this stuff in. Only God knows where the baggie came from, but I think you could actually roll a body up inside it.

Not that you (or I) should worry, right?

And now he's talking about how next time, we're selling the house. The septic is FINE. It's just the previous owners (who shall remain nameless) grew a pine tree right next to it. Then there's a nice round maple tree about 8 feet away--maybe 10. It had grown a root the size of my wrist over the top of the front line...Hubby had to chop it out to be able to get to the front of the line.

And the tub doesn't drain well. Hair gets down in the "U". I have to treat that now and then. It takes a half bottle of Liquid Plumr.

And I, dutiful wife, Lysol mopped the floor, and sweat for the next hour, holding his legs down so he didn't fall head first into the septic tank while he pulled out roots.

Sounds like a lot of fun, huh?

So now, we're indoors, soaking up some air conditioning. I have no idea if hubby plans to go back out there, but I have my doubts. He might go out and set up our new sprinkler in the garden. Now that would be nice for the garden.

There apparently an aurora last night, but all I saw was in my dreams....

Friday, July 13, 2012

We Are So Blessed!

Hubby called me today to let me know that the tree grew into our septic, and he had to clean it out today (He had Rothschild Sewage and Septic Sucking Services come--you may have seen them on the Red Green Show/Possum Lodge.) In any case, the Septic backed up in the downstairs when our electric went out. He tells me that there is two inches of sewage caked on the toilet and a broken cleanout valve.

He asked me to bring home a mop with a sponge head, some sponges, rubber gloves and clorox.

Honestly?

You want to use a SPONGE to clean all that up? Imagine the smell?

On second thought, don't imagine the smell. It's enough that there's a skunk that runs past our house every now and then at night. It makes my dog whine. It can and has wakened me from sound slumber.

But this? I have to get up close and personal with THIS?

We are so blessed.

Saturday, July 7, 2012

The Prisoner...

It's not a real feeling, mind you. I can leave if I want to leave. I just have no idea where I would go! I'm a prisoner of my bedroom. It's the only room in the house with air conditioning--

Well, I decided this morning to change that.

So now, I'm cooling the bathroom, too. The bathroom door is easier to open than the sliding pocket door, and makes much less noise and even closes faster!

Can you tell it's a slow news day?

Anyhow, yesterday was spent with my mother. I took her to her doctor appointment. Good news there--her hip hasn't shifted anymore than it did the last time he took a photo of her "innards", so she's babying that hip just fine now, and might actually start to heal. She doesn't have to see him again for a month. Then she had me take her to the DHS office in Ionia to find out about what she thought might be an overpayment. Turns out it's not, so she can go and buy some food! Then she decided that she wanted to hunt down a new chair--and since Jeff had offered up our little brown chair, she decided she wanted to see it. So we drove over to my house and she opted not to use her wheel chair, which was probably a bad idea, but she did it anyway and I followed with my hands under her arms more or less holding her up.

She tried the chair and likes it, even though it's a little low to the ground, but we can fix that. So sometime this weekend, we are going to take it to her house and raise it up a tad.

Then she decided she was hungry, so we went to the Chinese Buffet in Portland. Then I took her home and got settled. Then I took out the sewing machine and sewed the sleeves up on her shirts, and then I packed up and went home.

I got home at 4pm. Just in time to come home from work. Sorry, office. I figured I wouldn't make it in. When your mother asks you to do things when she's almost 78, you do them, and you don't ask why. But that was most of my day, yesterday, spent in the relative comfort of my car's air conditioning.

Today is Saturday. I could run in to JoAnn's and work on my ruffle for my blanket. I only have one more ruffle to go--or I could work on the cabled bag class. I think that's going to work up pretty quickly.

Or I could clean house. Which reminds me of the young girl on the commercial who pesters her parents to get on Facebook, and how they have 19 friends (SO SAD!). She has 600+ friends, and how she thinks it's living, while her parents are out at a campground, sitting around a fire, roasting marshmallows with real live people. Now, which one do you think I'd rather do?

Well, considering the heat--and the comparative coolness of the bedroom/bath, I think I'd rather be a prisoner and chatter with friends on Facebook at the moment...since I don't prefer the heat of the rest of the house, which is oppressive, and it's only 86!! So, it's a boring news day. And I'm behind a whole day at the office. Sigh. Someday I will learn priorities.

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Scrunchie, A Go-Go

The folks at the office think I've lost my mind.

In an effort to keep my long, long hair from wilting me into a puddle of sweat at my shoes, I've elected to wear my hair in pigtails, using my scrunchies.


I've been hearing a few snickers as I pass by, but I just tell myself that I don't care. I'm COOL!

I haven't quite got an unlimited supply of these. At present, there are only two pair. These and the multicolored ones that look like fireworks, which is fortunate that today is July 4--I can wear them and not get snickers. Maybe. I'm working on another pair of green and white for samples for JoAnn's for a trend class. While the two colored are slightly more difficult, they are not impossible. Still, using multi colored yarn makes for an easier to execute a crochet scrunchie. I'm working on building a pattern for these, which is difficult for me to figure out the words to use, let alone show. Expert crocheters would figure it out in no time. You just carry the yarn in back and switch back and forth. It's not impossible. But the yarn "carried" tends to hide the back loop of the single crochet, so you just use the loop of "carried yarn" instead. No biggie. And for those of you who can figure out what I just said--more power to ya. Make all the two color scrunchies you like in school colors or whatnot. Green and White happens to be the colors of the local college, and I think they'll go over like CRAZY come fall.

The bad part about my scrunchies is that my dog, Mandy, thinks them an endless supply of incredible fun, and I've found one of the multicolored scrunchies on the floor, covered in dog spit. Ick. No way I'm putting it in my hair until it's had a good wash in the laundry. So it will be a while before I can wear them, and it's possible they won't be dry by the time it's time for fireworks tonight...if we have any.

Lots of places have cancelled or postponed fireworks due to the hot, hot, hot weather with no rain in sight for the next 40 days and 40 nights. The lack of rain is positively revelationary. Notice I didn't type revolutionary. I realize it's not a real word, but just a mash-up to use instead of Biblical, since people tend to frown on that word a lot these days. Frankly, I don't appreciate being frowned upon.

Good things may be happening at the office, and I'm looking forward to some possible changes. The person who relegated me to idiot work has transferred, leaving a wake of suspicion between all of our friends and co-workers. It's been discovered that she was pretty mean (and that's being KIND), and caused all sorts of difficulty, not only for ME, but for EVERYONE, and it would appear that most of us are happy about her absence. I determined that she didn't like me pretty much right away, and so I did my best to steer clear of her, but I was a constant source of her chatter with others. She told my co-worker, who is one of my friends, to unfriend me on Facebook, and then told her that the people she thought were her friends, weren't.

That's pretty harsh, yes?

The discussion of her behavior at recent meetings has revealed her to be a troublemaker, because she turned everyone against each other. Not one of us was happy, but we all put these little fake smiles on as she passed by, ignorant of our feelings toward her. Still, we couldn't discuss her while she was there--because her long arm of the law was, in a word, fearsome. She shook things up that she didn't understand and left us all angry at each other. She was NOT a good fit. I'm really trying to be nice here. Her predecessor was no less unkind to me, since when she transferred out, she told everyone that I was the "black hole" into which cases were disappearing.

It was her final act of defiance against me. Everyone else knew who the black hole really was. But there was no time to pat Tenna on the back and say, "There, there." Since right after that attack, Attila moved in. Notice that I'm not defaming the Hun's when I name her? Yeah, that's kind of how I feel about the whole mess.

But now, we seem to have a much nicer manager. We don't have to sign in and out anymore, and people are being allowed to have flex time, as long as their work gets done, and so far, things have been MUCH more relaxed and most of the stress is gone. Now if we could just get more staff to help take care of the stress of too much work--then we'd be good to go.

But such is the life of a public employee, I suppose. Perhaps now, people will realize the sort of asset they have in my experience and work ethic. I'm hoping for the best of course (promotion), but it's a little too soon to tell.

Hubby has a new job. So far, he's not feeling very confident in his ability. I have to keep telling him not to be so hard on himself. It is, after all, only his first week! Apparently, he got some things worked out yesterday, and he was able to get some things done. Now all we have to hope for is that the company doesn't go under like so many small business manufacturing jobs have over the last 20 years or so. The new job means that I'm taking my mother to her doctor's appointment on Friday. That's not a complaint, by the way--even though it sounds something like a complaint, I guess. I'm really not that sort of person, I just say things the way I say them because it's short and sweet and to the point. I'm like that most of the time. Don't bother me with that politically correct stuff. You can say &^%$*%(__&^%#@ to me or at me if you want. I have pretty thick skin...I'll just climb in my car and yell to the hood the same thing about you. I'm funny that way, I guess. But Hubby has this new job, so he's not really "around" for me to cry on his shoulder. Plus, he sort of needs me to be the strong one for a little while, taking care of matters that MUST be done. Such as the dishes, which he told me I should do this morning, which I didn't in favor of writing you a blog.

And now it's 84 outside and we don't have central air. So I'm staying here, at my computer, where there is a window air conditioner. It's about the only place in the house where I can still breathe. Take that, you nasty hot weather.

And whatever happened to my 70 degrees year 'round? Well, maybe God's working on that, but for whatever reason, the sun isn't cooperating? One never understands these things, but the corn is crinkling, and if we don't get rain soon, there will be no corn crop. Things must be done about this lack of rain stuff.

Well, enough, I suppose. Don't mean to bore you. Lastly, a pic of my stash of scrunchies...while a little dust fleck flies across my computer screen.