Good times

We've had a quiet but nice weekend.  Saturday was a total veg day...played WoW and that's about all that was accomplished.
Sunday Don and I went to visit friends to cook out and give me a chance to do some photography.  They live at an equestrian center that is on park land.  It was beautiful scenery, good food and wonderful company.

Don enjoying the view.

And what a view it was.

Horse freckles!!

Horse stare down.

Don and Jim...their better side??

Ginny and her horse.

Of course, it wouldn't be a photo shoot of mine without some shots of light, texture and macros! I loved the dappled light on this tree.

 

Rolling with it

The plans for the weekend and next week have changed.  We've postponed our trip to NC for two weeks so we can pick up Don's granddaughter while we're there.  She's coming up to stay for the summer.  Made more sense to wait and make just one trip instead of two.  So, I'll be at work this next week.  At least it will only be a three-day week for me!  Have to say I'm really looking forward to this weekend....four lovely days with nothing planned.  
I would like to get out at least one day for some nature photography.  Feels like it's been forever since I've been out with my camera.  I'm thinking maybe the local nature preserve, a picnic lunch and Don.
Things are looking up for some of the garden denizens!! The green peppers decided this was their week to take off.  They're starting to shoot up and get buds.  The green beans are starting to vine up the strings AND we actually have two beans! Considering the problems we've had with the beans we're excited by this.  Tomatoes and squash are growing nicely.  We should have plenty of both of those.  We've got at least two cauliflower heads growing too and I saw a tiny broccoli head starting!!  As for the sunflowers, two or three of them are taking their driving tests this week....they grow up so fast.  Oh, and we've discovered there are three mulberry trees overhanging the backyard.  Mulberries are everywhere.  I'm trying to convince Don we need to start collecting them so I can make jelly.  I've also forgotten to mention my herbs that I'm growing.

I'm excited about the cauliflower.

OMG...A BEAN!!!!

My little herb garden.

We'll have lots of squash.

And tomatoes.

I am so ready to start canning.

Our gang of sunflowers.  They are growing about 2" a day...honestly!

The whole squash bed.

We have beds full of mulberries.

The sunflowers also make good mulberry catchers.

And finally the green peppers are growing.

The times, they are a changin'

2012 is proving to be a rough year for the icons of my youth....Robin Gibb, Donna Summer, Goober Pyle (yes, I know that's not his real name), Dick Clark, Mike Wallace, Earl Scruggs, Debbie Reynolds, Davy Jones, Epstein from Welcome Back Kotter.  I'm sure there are probably more but these names stand out to me.  They are names I watched, listened to or were at least prominent enough their names became associated with my childhood.
I'm not really much of a star watcher.  Heck, I'm lucky if I can remember whether I've seen a movie or not, let alone who starred in it.  I know songs but can rarely name the singer/band.  Simply put, I just don't care enough to remember that kind of stuff.  Celebrities aren't important to me.
So, why bring it up at all?  Because I'm seeing my childhood die off.  Because each time someone from my childhood dies it serves as a reminder that I'm getting older, that 50 is just around the corner.  It's my childhood disappearing little by little.  Yes, a lot of these people were a good deal older than me but it's still a bit unsettling.
There is an up side though.  Each time one of these people die it reminds me to take a look at where I am in life.  It serves as a gentle reminder that I still have things I want to accomplish, things I want to experience.  I may not live long enough to get them all done but I can live my life to the fullest now to make my dreams come true.  I may not be promised tomorrow but I'm not dead yet. 

Geeky dorkery

If you didn't know already I play WoW.  That's World of Warcraft for the uninitiated.  If you don't know what that is the people from The Office of Geeky Dorks will be arriving at your door soon to take back your decoder ring.  So, now that the legal issues are dealt with.....

You may also know Diablo III was released this week.  As they say, there was much rejoicing.  I received a copy of Diablo III free from my annual renewal of WoW so figured I might as well try it out.  I did and was completely underwhelmed and unimpressed.  I really don't get what the huge appeal of this game is.  The graphics just flat out suck, especially after playing a game like WoW.  They're not much better than what the graphics must have been like when the game was originally released in 1996.  Suffice it to say I'll stick with WoW.  

And if any of you are WoW players too feel free to add me to your friends...becalyn3@gmail.com.  My main toons are Alliance but I play Horde too.

 

Things that make me giggle

For those who don't already know, I have almost zero respect or confidence in the media.  I view all news reports and articles with a very skeptical eye. Heck, who am I kidding...I don't believe a word they report until I've cross-checked it with several other sources.
Sometimes though they write things that make me wonder if they ever read what they write.  My favourite for the day is a headline on an AP story.

"Vatican mystery intensifies, bones found in grave"

OMG!!! They found bones in a grave.  Yeah, I can see how that's a mystery.....

Can't wait to read this reporter's next headline..."Unexpected discovery, priests found in Vatican".

In another news article apparently scientists are surprised to discover ancient sea creatures could die of old-age diseases.  Apparently scientists have been under the impression that old-age was a modern day thing.

Did you know there seems to be a trend in Walmart garden centers for getting bit by snakes.  Now, I'm not overly surprised by this...outdoor garden centers are probably nice places for snakes to hang out.  What I did find interesting was in one of the incidences, according the reporter, the snake was identified as a "copperhead rattlesnake".  Hmmm, interesting.  That must be a made-in-China Walmart special snake. Does anyone read over what reporters write anymore before it get published???

I remember as a kid newspapers were used as examples of good grammar and spelling.  Now it's rare to get through one article without finding at least one misspelling, bad grammar or wrong word.  Occasionally those amuse me.

"Caroline’s past support for Obama, which was mirrored by the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, caused a riff in the family." 

Caused a "riff" in the family? Now I have this mental image of the Kennedy clan jamming together on air guitars....pretty sure that isn't what the writer was trying to convey.

I have no doubt I could fill pages with the errors found just today in new reports, but I won't do that do you.  Instead, I think I go look for some more giggles.

 

How does your garden grow?

It's going quite well actually!  Most things seem to be really starting to take off.  

Not everything is going well.  Still struggling to get beans going.  But we have some new ones sprouting in the beds plus some started in the green house.  The green peppers seem to be stalled out...looking ok but not growing.  The okra isn't looking so hot....hopefully it will turn around, at least some of it.

However, we are the proud parents of some baby tomatoes, blueberries, onions and a squash bloom.  And omg, the sunflowers will be staging a world takeover within the month!  Below are some new pictures.

A baby tomato

It's going to be a squash.

The cauliflower and broccoli have taken off this week...growing like weeds.

The mutant sunflowers. I swear they are growing an inch a day.

New crop of beans sprouting....keep your fingers crossed.

One of our blueberry bushes with Shepherd keeping close guard.....of his tennis ball.

Don't you love our fancy strawberry planter?

It's a blueberry!!

Beans! How can we be having so many problems with the simplest plant in the world to grow???

 

Stuff is starting to happen on our grape vine too.

 

Wandering through today's news

Obama officially supports same-sex marriages.  That's nice but really people, it doesn't qualify him for sainthood.  Where's he been for the last few years as this issue has been in the forefront?  Oh yeah....those weren't election years.  It's been fascinating watching the liberals go on as if he's accomplished something incredible with this.

I see the Dept. of Justice is going to sue the that sheriff in Arizona for potential violations of people's constitutional rights.  The federal government is going to champion the cause of constitutional rights??? That's rich.  I didn't think they even knew what the constitution says.

They've also decided to let China buy a US bank.  Sure, why not.  Let's invite the communist party to come take over our banking.  Hey, maybe the Nazi's are looking for a good business venture too.  We could sell Wall Street to them.  Does this whole scenario scare anyone else besides me?

What's up with this super-earth thing?  It's a huge planet that's uninhabitable by us.  What exactly makes it an earth?  Serious question here....my knowledge of astronomy is just slightly higher than my knowledge of quantum mechanics.


They lit the Olympic torch.  Yup, that pretty much rounds out my interest in that subject.  


I was reading an article on the underwear bomb (how can you not laugh at that) and one of the commenters on the article is a genius in my book.  His suggestion would take away almost all worries of bombs on planes AND do away with the needs for TSA....a major bonus in my opinion.  His suggestion?  Just have everyone and everything go through a detonation chamber.  If you come out the other end you can get on the plane!


Been some crazy stories in the news lately.  Drunk grandparents arrested for tying their grandkids toy car to the bumper of their car and pulling the kids around the neighbourhood.  There's that Oompa Loompa reject who supposedly took her little child into the tanning booth with her.  And today read about a drunk father who strapped his four kids down to the hood of the car to drive them home....he thought it would be fun for them.  Explain to me again why I have to fill out an application, have a home visit, and provide references to adopt an abandoned animal from a rescue?


Apparently all the hype about coconut water speeding up your metabolism has no research or data to back it up.  Shocking, I know.  On the plus side, the claim that it makes you fat is a lie too.


In news closer to home, a friend of mine has been accepted as the gardening blogger for a small on-line publication.  I think that is so cool!  Wonder if there's any on-line publications out there looking for a "Sarcastic Moment of the Week" blogger?

The Bible with Blinders

I am disappointed in North Carolina.  I had hoped Amendment One wouldn't pass.  But, I also strongly believe in States Rights and the people of a state being able to decide what kind of state they want.  That said, I'm surprised they don't see how their vote is yet another black eye for Christianity.

They succeeded in proving the Religious Right are hypocrites.  They thump their Bibles and talk about how much they love God yet they continually fail to exhibit the qualities of the God they expound on so vehemently.  They aren't saying "believe in God".  They are saying "believe in God the way we say you have to believe in God".  

They have very selective memories about what is in the Bible.  I mean let's take a look at some of the acceptable forms of marriage found in the Bible.

1. The one man/one woman: this is where the Religious Right apparently stops reading the Bible.  Of course, I find it odd that while they hold tight to the whole "marriage means one man/one woman" thought but they have no problems justifying women elders even though the Bible defines an elder as "a man with one wife".

2. The man/brother's widow: let's keep in mind if the widow had not born a son she had no choice in this.  She had to marry her brother-in-law.

3. The man/wives/concubines: Abraham had two concubines in addition to his wife, Jacob had one, and Solomon, that oh so wise man, had around 300!

4. The man/wife/wife's property: Her slaves became his property which he could have sex with all he wanted.  I'm sure we all remember the story where Sarah gave her slave Hagar to her husband Abram so he could father a child.

5. The man/wife/wife/wife/...etc: You get the picture.  Polygamy was definitely alive and well in the Bible, at least for Jacob, David, Gideon and Solomon to name a few.

6. The male soldier/prisoner of war: Moses decreed all Midianites were to be slaughtered except the virgin girls. They were taken as spoils of war.

And my personal favourite (not really)...

7. The rapist/victim: By law, if a virgin was raped she had to marry her rapist.  Ahhh, now there's a marriage made in Heaven.

An interesting fact; no where in the Bible does God condemn any of these marriage types.

The Religious Right want to preserve the "sanctity of marriage" (not sure what that means) but I am curious which 'sanctity' they mean.  Does it mean the ones found in the Bible as listed above?  Could it mean marriage in the Middle Ages where women were traded like cattle?  Maybe it means the ones from the 1700's that were often arranged.  How about the 1800's when men could marry 11 year olds.  There's also the marriages of the 1950's when it was illegal for whites to marry blacks or hispanics.  Let's not forget the 1960's when you could be excommunicated for marrying outside your faith.  It's only been about 130 years that men started losing their right to beat and imprison their wives.  It's only been in the last 40 years or so that the concept of equality in a marriage has been established.  Marital rape didn't become a crime in all states until 1993.

My point is the arguments for saving "traditional" marriage are a farce, a smoke screen.  Reality is what marriage is has been evolving and changing since the first two people said "I do".  There is not, and never has been such a thing as "traditional" marriage.  

So....when can we expect to see the Religious Right fighting to save polygamy?  It is Biblical after all.



 

The definition of insanity

Fortune 500 has published their Top 20 companies for earnings in 2011.  Normally pretty dry reading but I have to say this list just pisses me off given the current economy.

•  3 of the top 4 companies are oil companies.  Seriously??  You tell me you have to charge me $4.00+ for a gallon of gas because of what you have to pay.  How about a little reality check.  Exxon profits jumped by 35% last year.  Chevron's went up 41%.  Sadly the article didn't list Philips 66's (#3 on the list) profit change.
• If you pay taxes, this one should make you see red.  Fannie Mae made the list at #8, posting $137,451 million in revenue last year.  Yes, this is the same Fannie Mae that we tax payers loaned $116 BILLION to...what was that...3 years ago?  Now here's the real kicker...they're still losing money and have asked for another $4 billion in loans.  Oh yeah, now that sounds like a sound use of my taxes.
• Bank of America is #13 on the list....and yet another company we bailed out.  Seems to me it's time to start paying some of that money back to us.  And if you'd like a little salt in the wound....they announced in March they're going to start charging monthly fees on their basic checking account customers.  Guess they feel they need to earn a buck any way they can.  Have I mentioned how happy I am to have pulled my accounts from BoA several years ago?

I keep wondering where my bailout is.

Choice makes all the difference

I've never been a gardener.  Probably because of being forced in to garden slave labour as a teenager.  So this is my first year of putting out a garden.  Thank goodness Don has many years of happy gardening memories!

What I've discovered is I'm enjoying it.  I enjoyed shopping for seeds, in fact, we really had to stop ourselves from going seed-crazy.  I enjoyed starting the seeds in my little green house this winter and watching them sprout.  And I've enjoyed planting them out in the beds, watching them grow.  I even took the failed attempts in stride.  So what makes now different from when I was a teenager?  A couple things I think but probably the biggest is choice.  I'm doing it this time because I want to, not because I'm forced to.  Choice is a huge motivator.

Now if we could just get the squirrels and bunnies to stop eating our beans.....

The garden as of today.

Mid Day Ramblings

Most people who know me know I have a The Plan™ for how I want to live.  I'm a big believer in self-sufficient, survival living.  Fortunately for me, so is Don.  So our plan is in 5 or so years to be in a position that we can sell the house here, move out west somewhere onto 10-40 acres and go off grid.  We've kinda talked about a very basic timeline for what needs to happen for The Plan™ to blossom but I'm a visual person so I really need to start putting things down in writing. 

The first thing that must happen is some bills paid off.  This sucks.  I was debt-free 3 years ago but with buying the house some other expenses happened so debt-free is the goal once again. 

We need to start seriously researching locations to start narrowing down where we want to look for property.  Right now Wyoming, Nebraska, South Dakota, Idaho, Montana and Utah are the places we're thinking of.  (If anyone has any good info on any of the places or areas within them, please share)  That said, we haven't ruled out a couple locations in South America.

We've already started to "practice" some things.  We've got the garden going.  I learned to can a couple years ago and I'm about to start experimenting with drying veggies.  We just started composting a couple weeks ago.  Still want to get a rain barrel.  

We've also started researching underground and straw bale houses.  I think that is the direction we are going to go.  Went to a home show last month and got a great education in solar power.  Sadly it's a little too pricey at the moment to install on the current house.  I really like the idea of the electric company paying me.  We also need to research wind power.  I like the idea of geothermal but Don is a bit iffy on that one. 


And yes, we are thinking about what we need to put in to bug-out bags in case things go south before we can execute The Plan™.


So here's a very rough schedule for things.


1. Pay off debt by end of 2013.
2. Research locations, narrow down to a couple by 2014.
3. Buy property sometime in 2014 - 2015.
4. Start building house in 2016.
5. Get ready to sell current house and move in 2017.


I already feel a step closer.

YOU are the problem.

I don't know too many people these days who aren't fed up with politicians. Everyone says they want things to change. They're tired of only having two choices of which both are bad.

Yes, I'm tired of that as well but you know what I'm really tired of?? I'm tired of people who bitch and complain about current politics but don't have the courage of their convictions to take a stand.  Yup, I'm probably offending people but it's how I feel.  You don't really want to vote for either candidate for the Dems or Reps?  Then the solution is simple...DON'T! Put your money where your mouth is and vote for the candidate you believe is best.  Novel concept I know....voting outside that little two-party box we've all been crammed in to.

Now I know what you're going to say...trust me. I've heard it before and I'm going to throw the bullshit flag down on your "reasons".


1. "I'm not going to throw my vote away on someone who can't get elected."

This one kills me. First, if they're on the ballot then they can get elected, simple as that.  Here's what really gets me about this argument; voting for someone you don't like, believe in or picked just because they're the lesser of two evils ISN'T throwing your vote away???  That's exactly what you've done.  You're voting for someone you really don't want to be president.  That is the epitome of throwing your vote away.  


As for the "can't get elected" part.  The only reason a third party candidate couldn't get elected in this political climate, where everyone is fed up with the two main parties, is if the silent majority is too afraid to stand up for what they believe and vote for what they believe.


2. "Voting for a third party will split the vote and [insert name of candidate you hate] will end up getting elected."

This goes back to the previous paragraph.  This country has a great history of the power of grassroots to change things.  If every American who is fed up with the status quo could come together and rally behind a third-party candidate we could all live with then there would be no vote splitting.  The other two parties would be left in the dust.  Sure, it would mean people would have to compromise some to agree on one candidate but let's face it, there is no one perfect candidate out there who can meet all your needs.  I don't care what they may tell you or promise you, our government is about compromise.  So I'm sorry but you just can't have it all your way.

A third-party candidate CAN be elected but only if you are willing to make a stand.  Then convince your family and friends in to making a stand.  And have them convince their family and friends....it's how grassroots movements work.  


Or you could stay in that little box the politicians want you to believe you are stuck in.  But just know that if that is your choice then the problem with this country is you.

When did we stop calling things for what they are?  If you are rioting and destroying property you are not a protester and are not entitled to any Constitutional protections.  If you are rioting and destroying property then you are a criminal and should be prosecuted as such.