| the incredible shrinking me! |
| 06.29.04 (3:21 pm) |
I've been on a diet since April. So far I've lost about 20 lbs. This weekend I was wearing a pair of jeans that seemed really loose. When I was looking at how loose they were I realized that I could take them off without unbuttoning them. How's that for a party trick? Now, they weren't straight out of the dryer. They had been worn for a while so they were loosened up. But it was still cool.
I have a skirt that I use for measurement. Before I started the diet I was purging in my closet and this wrap skirt didn't even come close to fitting. I'm not sure why I kept it. About a month or so ago I was able to put it on and button it. I couldn't breathe at all and my waist actually hurt from the constriction but it buttoned. Sunday I put it on and could pull the waistband away from me about an inch. That's encouraging because I don't see myself changing. I'm still wearing the same clothes I had before because I don't want to buy new clothes yet. I want to wait until
I quit losing before I get a new wardrobe.
Sunday I was in WalMart for cat food and decided to try on some pants to see what size I am now. I was wearing size 16 jeans. I tried on a 14 and they fit. I was all excited so I tried on a 12. They fastened and I was able to sit in them! I didn't leave the fitting room in them because they were a bit obscene but they fastened! When I tell this to women they understand. Men including my husband look at me blankly and say a tentative "Uh huh."
I just realized when I was typing this that I passed my mini goal. When I started the diet I set a mini goal of 189 pounds. That's the weight that separates the lightweight and heavyweight division in a horse sport I judge. That includes everything the horse carries not just the rider but it was a symbolic weight anyway. I forgot all about it. I'm supposed to buy myself a present when I reached my minigoal. I'm going to have to decide what I want. When I set it I didn't really think that I'd ever reach it. Diets had never worked for me before.
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| Upcoming Events |
| 06.29.04 (3:02 pm) |
On Thursday a friend and I are going to a quilt shop in a mainly Amish area. I've lived near and worked with Amish people all my life and have never been to one of their quilt stores. Apparently C. once got a whole bolt of muslin at one of these stores for the price that she would be charged for a yard of muslin at a store around here. I don't know if she ever repeated this good deal. When she told the story it had to aura of an oft repeated big game hunting tale that was about to pass into legend.
On Friday the husband and I are going to his Dad's. He has a boat and I think the plan is to hang out and see fireworks over the lake Saturday night. Then we'll come home Sunday. The only nice thing about having an unwanted mother-in-law living with you is that she can take care of the animals so we can go away for the weekend. (No, she isn't coming with us. The fires of her hate for her former husband are undimmed by the fact that they divorced almost 30 years ago. If I was truly hateful I'd come home raving about what a good time I had with him just for the pure entertainment value.)
Then on Monday my horse goes to the trainer. I refer to it as finishing school or sleep-away camp when I talk to her about it. She hates trainers. This will be her third. She should have remembered how much she hates trainers before she pitched me over the five foot fence.
I just have to get through one more day of work before I can do all this fun stuff!
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| THE TROUBLE WITH ISLAM |
| 06.29.04 (2:43 pm) |
THE TROUBLE WITH ISLAM
by Irshad Manji
I first heard about this book when I saw the author interviewed on Dennis Miller's show. She was a passionate advocate for the reform of Islam.
The book is written as an open letter to her fellow Muslims. She suggests that some of the problems facing Islam are the failure to encourage female followers, the intermingling of Arabian tribal customs with Islamic law (so now is hard to tell them apart), and the discouraging of intellectual debate.
Ms. Manji also proposes solutions to each of the problems she identifies. I found the book though provoking but a bit too long. It is not a long book but I got the feeling that she was repeating herself towards the end in order to fill out a set word count. Overall though it was interesting even to nonMuslims.
:D :D :D
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| stress |
| 06.29.04 (2:08 pm) |
I hate stress. I just don't deal with it well. Luckily, I'm very even tempered and laid back most of the time so I don't get too stressed very often. But the one topic that can get me worked up is money.
Yesterday was a big money stress day for me. I received two bills in the mail yesterday. One said that my electric was going to be turned off tomorrow and the other said my insurance was cancelled. I freaked.
Turns out I really had forgotten the electric bill. You can't pay online or through an automated phone system. It needed to be paid today at an unknown location. Did I mention I had to work all day today? I should also add that my electric company is a client of my husband's and we live in a rural community. News would spread like wildfire.
For the insurance I knew I had paid. In fact I paid twice. I paid online. While it was processing I realized that I had underpaid so I made another payment immediately. Surprise, surprise - they have no record of the second payment. Oh, yeah, you have to call during business hours to get it fixed.
I didn't sleep well. This morning I found a nice soul at the electric company who let me pay over the phone. I was still all nervous over the insurance. I don't want to tell my husband. He would be very calm about it but I didn't want to tell him I did something this stupid.
I went to a payphone after work to call. I don't have a cell phone. A client of mine is passing by and offers me her cell phone. That's nice but I don't really want to talk about cancelled insurance in front of people I know. That's why I didn't call from the office. But I made the call anyway. It's all taken care of now and I'm feeling much better. I'm setting up direct deduction for both accounts.
I want to become incredibly wealthy and have accountants at my beck and call so all the bills can go there and someone else will pay them. I don't see that happening so I guess I just need to learn to deal better.
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| dreams |
| 06.27.04 (6:17 am) |
For years I had this reoccuring dream. I had to go back to high school because I never received my high school diploma. I had to take calculus and physics again. I hated them the first time so this time I decide to skip them. I know that I won't graduate and this causes me much stress. The dream goes on for a while until suddenly I realize that I have a doctorate so what does it really matter if I have a high school diploma. Then I wake up. I had this dream every few months for probably six years. Earlier this year I had it and early on in the dream announced to myself "Hey, I have a dream like this all the time! It will end as soon as I realize I'm a doctor." It ended right then and I haven't had it since.
Last night I had a variation on the theme except this time I was back in vet school. There was a medical ethics class that I was supposed to have taken. Their records showed that I had missed four meetings of this class during the third year. I said I hadn't missed any. They were taking my degree away until I repeated my whole fourth year. The fourth year of vet school is the clinical year where you are basically unpaid slave labor. No one wants to repeat it. I said it didn't make any sense to repeat the whole year. They were going to let me teach the class to make sure I went to all of the sessions. That seemed interesting to me but I couldn't figure out why I had to repeat the whole year. I didn't have the right uniforms or anything I needed. Then I woke up. I wonder if this will be a new reoccuring dream for me. It's not nearly as stressful as the other one.
I actually had this problem for real with my undergrad degree. I got into vet school after three years of undergrad. The normal procedure for my college was to grant the degree after completion of the first year of graduate school. But they refused in my case because I never took music appreciation. We tried several solutions including correspondance courses and tutoring from my best friend who was a music major at the same school. Nothing was acceptable. We finally told them that I didn't need the degree. At that point they lterally reached into a closet and pulled out my signed diploma. It was dated the year I left the school. It had just been sitting in there the whole time.
Isn't bureaucracy wonderful?
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| Snowball |
| 06.26.04 (12:44 pm) |
This is Snowball.
[image]spirit97_921656405 .jpg[/image]
She's a 12 year old Pomeranian. I've had her for three years. I adopted her when her owners decided to euthanize her. They said she was crippled and covered with fleas. When I was examining her she jumped into my lap and started licking my face. She hasn't willingly let me out of her sight since.
For the record, she didn't have any fleas. She couldn't sit when I got her but after only one month of anti-arthritis supplements she was good as new. She runs around here like a puppy and jumps off the bed instead of using her stairs.
She was almost killed this spring when she attacked one of my horses. He kicked her in the head and knocked her unconscious. I couldn't find a heartbeat on her but she revived on her own fairly quickly. Except for a concussion that made her act weird for a few days she was fine. She stays away from the horses now.
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| SOUL SURVIVOR |
| 06.25.04 (11:13 am) |
SOUL SURVIVOR
How My Faith Survived the Church
by Philip Yancey
Back in my Christian days I loved to read books and articles by Philip Yancey. I enjoyed his viewpoints and his way of expressing himself. (Except for one article in Christianity Today with which I still violently disagree! I guess that means that he is a good enough writer to still provoke a reaction in me years later.)
A few years ago I was thrilled to find a book with the subtitle "How My Faith Survived the Church." This was when I was in the midst of questioning my commitment to Christianity. I was pleasantly surprised when I realized that the author was one of my favorite religious writers.
SOUL SURVIVOR starts discussing the author's background in a rascist church in the South and in Bible college. One weekend a few years ago he attended a lecture with several scientists. He was on the program to give the Christian view of the issues discussed. He was impressed with the intellectual honesty and courtesy of the speakers. He had been concerned about their reaction to him because several were outspoken atheists. The next day he attended his Bible college reunion. He found that atmosphere stifling. He found the people to be miserable even though they claimed to be leading fullfilling Christian lives.
This book is the result of his thinking about people who influenced him to continue exploring spiritual life in spite of the religiousity of his youth. Some were Christians but several are not. Thirteen spiritual biographies follow. He says if he was invited to explain faith to a group of skeptics that these are the people that he'd describe.
This is a book that lives on my bedside table and I read parts of it often. If you are looking for inspiration from a diverse group of people you will like this book.
:D :D :D :D :D
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| Women's History Books |
| 06.25.04 (10:13 am) |
WHO COOKED THE LAST SUPPER?
A Woman's History of the World
By Rosalind Miles
The quote on the right is the opening line from the introduction to this book. This book takes a harsh look at the effects of paternalism in undermining the rights and identitiies of women from prehistoric times until today. I found the book to be very moving in parts but the overall tone is mostly anger.
In contrast AMERICA'S WOMEN - 400 YEARS OF DOLLS, DRUDGES, HELPMATES, AND HEROINES by Gail Collins was an insightful and educational look at the history of women in the U.S. This book was very entertaining to read. I learned about women and events that I had never heard of before.
WHO COOKED THE LAST SUPPER? :D :D
AMERICA'S WOMEN :D :D :D :D :D
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| Vacation!!!! |
| 06.24.04 (5:12 pm) |
I've decided to go on vacation. I have a week in August off because I'm supposed to be working at a fair. But, I got irritated at the last horse show and decided that I wasn't going to deal with this whining anymore. Since I already had the week scheduled off I decided that I need a vacation.
It was hard to decide where to go. I wanted to be able to sit on my butt and do nothing. I didn't want to go anywhere extremely hot. My husband also didn't want to go somewhere hot and in addition wanted water and no bugs. I was getting really frustrated because I wasn't finding anything that looked good. Then I found it. I think we are going to go on a cruise to Nova Scotia. It's mostly cruising time so I can sit on my butt except for two onshore days. It shouldn't be really hot.
I've never been on a cruise before. My husband and I aren't known for traveling together well. (See a few posts ago about sharing a hotel room.) I'm a bit worried about sharing a small cabin. I may end up pitching hm off the balcony if he snores so loud that I can't sleep!
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| A great reading vacation |
| 06.21.04 (6:40 am) |
I've been remembering a trip I took when I was 19 that turned out to be a great reading adventure. I went to Costa Rica to stay with a host family. Because luggage space was limited I had 3 paperback books with me. I'm a voracious reader so three books for five weeks is not enough for me. I limited myself to one chapter per day. To do that I read every single word very slowly. Is that deep examination of the pages the reason why I rank the three books I took with me among the best books I ever read? Or did I just have great luck in choosing books for the trip? The three books were -
THE ICARUS AGENDA by Robert Ludlum
I love this book. It is my all time favorite. Other people may think I'm crazy because it's about hostages and undercover rescue operations and the aftermath. Highbrow literature it definately is not. But I read it over and over until my rabbit ate the book. (Unlike "the dog that my homework" that is an legitimate excuse.) I'm going to have to get another copy.
A TIME TO KILL by John Grisham
This was his first and one of his best. If you've only seen the movie do yourself a favor and read the book.
IN THE SHADOW OF THE OAK KING by Guy Gavriel Kay
This is a story about Uther Pendragon and his son King Arthur. This is the one I remember least because there was a flurry of book trading when our group got back together after being out in host families. Everyone was tired of the books they had and dying to read something new in English. This one went to Kansas for several years before it was sent back to me. I should find it and read it again.
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| THE HORNET'S NEST |
| 06.21.04 (6:09 am) |
Here's another book report.
THE HORNET'S NEST
Jimmy Carter
This is a fictional account of the South's role in the events leading up to and during the Revolutionary War. This book's style is very similar to a nonfiction book. At first that was distracting to me but it ended up adding to the believability of the book. I couldn't tell for sure every character that was fictional from those that were historical. It is a very balanced portrayal of both sides of the conflict. In fact the British seemed like the "good guys" to me through most of the book.
I need to come up with a rating system so I'll give this
:D :D :D out of a possible 5 smilies.
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| back now |
| 06.20.04 (1:26 pm) |
I'm back from the mini-vacation. They played in the pool tournament until 1:00 in the morning so collapsing at the hotel room was the best idea. Then I gave serious thought to suffocating my husband with a pillow. He can't breathe in really dry hotel air. He was gagging all night. Somehow this never woke him up but it sure kept me awake.
Today we went to Magic Mountain. We played mini golf and rode go karts. According to the husband he let me win everything in order to build my self-esteem. I'm so lucky to have a guy who cares so much. :wink:
Now I'm back and have to get to work. I need to weed whack the fenceline before the horses realize that there isn't much juice running through it.
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| mini-vacation |
| 06.19.04 (11:32 am) |
My husband has been out of town for 3-4 days of each week for the past 6-8 weeks. He came home last weekend on Friday night and I was then gone all weekend at a horse show. He left Tuesday and got home at 11:00 am yesterday. Then he slept until 7 and left to go play in a pool tournament. He stayed at a teammate's house because they had to play again this morning. So, I've probably seen him for about an hour in the last week when he wasn't unconscious.
He just called me and said that he rented a hotel room for tonight. We're going to have a mini vacation. Of course they are playing tonight at 5. If they win they play again at 9 pm. We may end up getting to the hotel at 2:00 am so again seeing him will mostly involve unconsciousness but its the thought that counts.
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| Thunder on the Left |
| 06.17.04 (1:00 pm) |
My husband was given this book to read because he's a true conservative. However, he doesn't read books so I decided to read it and do a book report.
THUNDER ON THE LEFT - An Insider's Report on the Hijacking of the Democratic Party
By Gary Aldrich
Once I read the jacket copy I realized that I had read this author's previous book UNLIMITED ACCESS and thought he was incredibly bizarre. Possibly slightly unbalanced also. So, I'm not totally unbiased.
This book is even worse. The premise is that the Democratic Party is catering to their members on the far left. Fine. But this book occasionally rendered me speechless because I ran out of swear words. I'll give some of the choice quotes.
When discussing the reason for the Second Amendment on page 117.
"Women and young children were trained to load and fire the weapons because the men could not always be around to protect them against the beasts and savages that were part of every settler's reality.
Consider the following passage lifted right out of our Declaration of Independence: "He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.'
In other works, the terrorists of [Patrick] Henry's time also killed innocent civilians"
Yep, the Indians were terrorists. But I'd guess that if a foreign power was moving into the U.S. today and taking all our land that Gary Aldrich would be the first one arguing that we have a duty to fight them - just like the Indians did.
My favorite absurd passage is too long to quote. It says that the only thing President Nixon ever did wrong was to be so loyal to his friends that he helped them cover up their mistakes. No one would be able to stand the laser-like intensity of the scrutiny that the evil press put on him. Poor innocent guy.
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| Who's Jimmy Carter? |
| 06.15.04 (2:45 pm) |
I had a conversation yesterday with Chelsea, a 16 year old I know. It sort of scared me. We were getting in my car to go to lunch and I had Jimmy Carter's book THE HORNET'S NEST on the backseat. His picture is on the back cover but it was partially covered.
Chelsea - Is that Monty Roberts' book?
Me- No. Actually that's Jimmy Carter.
C - Who's that?
Me - What???
C - Who's that?
Me- Get out your cell phone and call your mother and tell her that apparently your schooling isn't working for you.
C- So, who is he?
Now I remember that she's in the middle of a state level 4-H contest and maybe her brain is fried. I should be more sympathetic.
Me- Would it help if I told you he wasn't a horse person?
C- Yes. (pause) No. Did he make something?
Me- Who is president of the United States right now?
C- He was a president?
Me- Who is president right now?
C- George Bush
Me- Ok, who was president before him?
C- He was bad. (pause) I don't remember his name.
Me- (in horror) CHELSEA!!!!!
C- Hey, that was his daughter's name. (She was proud of remembering that.) Clinton
Me- And before him?
C- Bush (Didn't ask if she knew that he was different from the one now. I didn't want to wreck the car if she didn't know that.)
Me- And before him?
C- I don't know.
Me - Who just died?
C- Reagan
Me - Ok, and before him?
C- Don't know.
Me - JIMMY CARTER!!!!!
C- So he didn't make anything?
She's 16 years old. I realize that she wasn't alive when Carter was in office but you should have at least heard of all of the presidents. I'm telling her mom to make her do a report on Jimmy Carter. She's homeschooled so it can count for credit.
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| weekend |
| 06.15.04 (2:21 pm) |
I haven't had a chance to post for a while because I've had an absolutely crazy weekend. I worked at a horse show for two days and the strangest things happened. Horses were overreacting to everything. We had horses flipping over backward, jumping out of the show arena, and one even repeatedly attacked his owner until bystanders could get him off of her. I know some of these horses and they are normally very calm and sensible. I don't know what was setting them off this weekend. People were cranky too but that was more to be expected.
On the good side Monday I took some 4-Hers to a state contest and they did much better than they expected. So it wasn't a totally lost weekend. But I'm exhausted. I had to go back to work today for some peace and quiet.
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| Ronald Reagan |
| 06.09.04 (4:09 pm) |
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I am not a Ronald Reagan fan. That's putting it very mildly. Ever since he died my mother in law has been singing his praises. As I type she's got the memorial service on in the next room. I'm doing my best to ignore it in order to remain civil. But I just actually heard someone say that Ronald Reagan never said an unkind word about anyone. Excuse me? Just off the top of my head what about his comments about welfare mothers using their checks to finance living in fine hotels? Oh sorry, that was just a lie. Does that count as unkind? What about his treatment of the AIDS situation? I guess that doesn't count as saying something unkind either because he never really said much of anything about that. Spymaster has a good blog today about this. I don't agree with all of it but it sums up my feelings better than anything I've read yet.
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| Dream trips |
| 06.08.04 (2:35 pm) |
I've been thinking about where I'd like to go if money and time off were no object.
1) THE ENGLISH SMUT BOOK TOUR - This is a plan for a trip with my mother. She reads these regency romance novels. We call them smut books even though the really dirty ones stop with kissing (and only if you are married.) The plots are all the same. They go and take the waters in Bath, travel during the Season in London, and sometimes elope at Gretna Green. We want to go visit all these places we've read so much about in the books.
2) CROSS COUNTRY INTERNATIONAL TOUR - I'd like to take a friend of mine on one of CCI's horseback riding tours. I'm not sure where because they change year to year. This friend of mine never gets to travel. She came to visit me and her big wish was to go to McDonalds to see if they were any different in another state (they aren't). So, taking her to a different country to ride would be a huge adventure.
3) SEA KAYAKING - I'd like to sea kayak somewhere where there are whales. It could be the Pacific Northwest or Baja or both as long as I'm dreaming. Because this is my fantasy trip I'd like to either stay in a centralized hotel and kayak a different direction each day or I'd like to travel along the coast staying at a different fancy hotel each night. My luggage would be sent ahead of course.
4) CRUISING THE FJORDS - I don't think I'd like cruising normally because there are too many people and it seems to touristy but seeing Scandinavia by boat seems like the best way to go.
5) TRAIN TRIP THROUGH EUROPE - I've always wanted to ride on a fancy train where getting to your destination is most of the fun. I rode a train in Bolivia but it was not fancy. I couldn't see anything and it was incredibly bumpy. I think a trip on a fancy train between European cities would be nice. You could get to the city and then spend a few days and get back on the train to go to the next stop. I don't know that that's possible but this is my fantasy.
6) SCUBA DIVING - I'd like to learn to scuba dive and then travel around to the great reefs and diving spots. When I wasn't diving I could stay on the beach and do nothing.
7) SERVICE TRIPS - I'd like to go do some more medical work in other countries. I've always wanted to work on the horses in Mongolia but I'm open to other areas.
So, if anyone else is reading this - Do you have dream trips?
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| wild kingdom |
| 06.07.04 (11:20 am) |
When I was growing up I had a cat that would not allow any strange animals on her property. I often wish I could channel her spirit to guard my barn. The current cats that live here seem to be running some type of halfway house for all the neighborhood animals.
I realized this one night while I was in the barn and a large yellow cat walked in. Powder, one of my invited cats, took one look at him and ran over to him. I thought "You go girl, tell him he can't stay here." She proceeded to introduce herself and then lead him over to where the cat food was kept so he could eat. I was stunned. Later he showed up with a full body clip so I know he has a house somewhere. He just comes here occasionally for the atmosphere.
I have skunks and raccoons who visit also. They seem to view me as a not very interesting animal in their otherwise eventful lives.
A) One day I got in the middle of a skunk fight. I think they were two large males fighting over food. I was standing nearby when they both came in and the fight was getting rather close to me. I yelled at them (because I didn't know what else to do) and they stopped and looked at me like "Well, she's no fun," and then left together.
B) One of my horses was loose one day in the barn and she ran up to Groucho who was cuddling with another cat. Groucho ran one way and the other cat ran the other. I noticed that the other cat was limping. Then I realized that it wasn't a lame cat - it was a small skunk. It turned around and came back to the horse to see what that big thing was. I had visions of scrubbing skunk spray off my horse's face but they weren't terribly interested in each other so the horse walked away. I don't like the idea of my house cat cuddling with a skunk but they seem to be good friends. That particular skunk I named Stumpy because she's missing her tail. I noticed that when I had to force her to get out of my live trap when I was trying to catch cats.
C) I ran out of food one day in the barn and put out a little bit in the garage. In the middle of the night my dog needed to go out. When I opened the door one of the big skunks was sitting on the top step. He looked at me like "They said in the barn that the food was up here now." My dog took off after him and chased him down the driveway. She didn't get sprayed. That was the end of food in the garage.
D) A few days ago I disturbed Stumpy and a raccoon sharing dinner in the barn. The raccoon ran but Stumpy just continued eating while I filled water buckets a careful distance away from her.
People have recommended that I shoot them but they are the top level predators in this area along with the hawks. Getting rid of them could really upset the ecosystem. They were here before us. As long as they are peaceful I'll let them stay. They seem to like it here.
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| for the birds |
| 06.07.04 (10:46 am) |
I just put up a hummingbird feeder. I hope someone will use it. I've had horrible luck with bird feeders here. We've got alot of birds but not so many of the typical songbird types. The main residents before we moved here were pheasants. They still march around here like they own the place.
We also have a lot of hawks. I figured they were keeping the songbirds away. There is a thriving colony of killdeer also.
But this spring I'm seeing more types of birds than before. I planted a tree that a lot of birds hang out in but they are totally uninterested in feeders. I've tried different places, different seed combinations, everything. One day last year I had 10 finches in my sunflowers. That very day I went and bought a finch feeder and put it right near the sunflowers. I have never seen another finch.
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| cat pictures |
| 06.06.04 (12:38 pm) |
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Here's a picture I took of Mama Cat (grey) and Groucho. Mama is getting friendlier but I still can't touch her. [image]spirit97_250902408 .jpg[/image]
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| the kitten saga |
| 06.06.04 (12:33 pm) |
I've been fortunate to have a life where I regret very little. However, recently I've been regretting one decision I made a year and a half ago. If I could go back in time I would NEVER have taken that free cat.
At the time we had just built a house in the middle of a former bean field. Needless to say, we had mice coming in for the winter. I'm not a fan of outdoor cats because of the damage they do to bird populations and the danger to the cats themselves from cars, dogs, etc. But we needed to something for the house and barn. So I got a free kitten from work. I put her in the barn in a cage to get her used to her new environment. That lasted 2 hours before my husband ordered me to rescue her from the barn. She spent the next week hiding under a dresser, crying, and freezing anytime you came near her.
During that week I was given two other cats at work. (Once you make it known that you are in the market they come from everywhere.) These two were about 6 months old and were said to be mighty hunters. That is true. But they wanted to live inside. So I made them a deal. If they could acculmate Nicky (the inside cat) to life outside they could come in at night. So I blithely let 3 month old Nicky go outside. I never dreamed I'd never get within 10 feet of her again.
During that winter a stray male cat set up residence in the barn and last spring Nicky had four female (of course) kittens. She raised them up nice and healthy. Then she and the male cat took off as soon as the kittens were six weeks old. These kittens are pure evil. I can't get within 20 feet of them. So I buy a live trap to try to catch them before they reproduce. In the meantime another stray shows up in time to have her kittens in my barn. I caught her when the kittens were a few days old. They stayed in a bedroom until the kittens were old enough to go the humane society. Then I had to live trap Mama Kitty in the bedroom to take her to the clinic and spay her. These are not friendly cats. The kittens beat up people at the humane society too.
So now the count is 2 invited cats - fixed - that go in and out (Groucho and Powder), 4 unwanted young adult kittens, 1 now spayed adult female (Mama Cat), and assorted others who show up for free meals.
I catch one of the two grey kittens and spay her. I notice that I don't see the other grey kitten anymore. I hope she moved on. There are still two tiger kittens. By now its this spring. I'm getting desparate. I've caught raccoons and skunks in my live traps but not these two tiger cats. I can see that they are both pregnant. When the first one has her kittens I am able to grab the kittens and put them in the trap in order to get her. I foster this litter and mom out to a client who agrees to take them until the kittens are old enough to go to new homes. The mother is insanely mean just like her other relatives. She's now spayed and back in the barn.
So, now I have one unspayed tiger left. I'm planning the same thing for her. When she has the kittens I'll grab them and use them to trap her. This cat has the kittens deep in the hay pile where I can't reach them. When they are a few weeks old she moves them out into the open. I see them playing all over the barn. Then last week I see them playing by the stalls and I see kittens playing in another area. Much profanity follows as I realize that what I thought were really active kittens are in fact TWO litters of kittens. How is this possible? I only have one unspayed cat left. It takes a few days but I finally see the long lost other grey nursing the mystery kittens.
So either A) she never left and just has been hiding really well
or
B) like a salmon she returned to her birthplace to spawn
Either way I am not happy.
Now I have to find places for all these kittens provided I can catch them of course. Anyone need free kittens?
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3 Comments
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| grocery confusion |
| 06.06.04 (12:02 pm) |
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I went grocery shopping today and they were rearranging the store while I was there. I've never seen so many lost people in my entire life. They hadn't changed the signs over the aisles yet so nothing matched what was actually kept there. All the workers looked overwhelmed. They wouldn't make eye contact with anyone. I think they were afraid of being asked where something was now. I'm sure they had no idea.
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| What's Heifer? |
| 06.06.04 (6:52 am) |
On the right side of this page there is a link for Heifer International. --------------------
I thought I'd explain what it is if anyone hasn't heard of it. This is my absolute favorite charity because it combines the major topics I care about (animals, environment, sustainable development, and women's rights) into one project.
You've probably heard that saying about give a man a fish and he'll eat today but teach him to fish and he'll eat for a lifetime. That's the idea behind Heifer. They teach people all over the world how to care for animals in a way that is appropriate for their environment. When the training is complete they give a gift of animals to people who have completed the training. Because these are usually women who are in charge of livestock it gives women a chance to make a huge difference in the way their family lives. The animals contribute to the family through eggs, milk, or meat. Offspring or products can be sold to raise the family's income to allow for things like school fees.
The unique part of the Heifer program is called passing the gift. A requirement to receive the animals is a promise to give away a set number of those animals' offspring to your neighbors. That way a whole community can be helped instead of just one family.
When I was in Boliva I spent a day with Heifer volunteers. We collected a goat that was being donated by a family to go back to the Heifer headquarters and then be sent to a family in a new area. These people were imcredibly poor but they were eager to donate this animal to help others like they had been helped.
There is alot more info on the Heifer website. You can make donations there too. They have a great "catalog" for the donations. Its fun to look at even if you don't donate.
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| vegetarian snobbery? |
| 06.05.04 (6:44 am) |
"[T}here is something about dining with a vegetarian that is a touch off-putting, and what puts one off has to do with snobbery, even if there is not the least snobbish intention on the vegetarian's part. It's the feeling that somehow he or she is living at a more advanced stage of culture, is more highly evolved than a mere carnivore such as oneself." Joseph Epstein SNOBBERY THE AMERICAN VERSION
I loved this quote when I read it this morning because I think it explains the attitude of a lot non-vegetarians I meet. There seems to be a fascination about what I eat. After people get past that they tend to apologize for eating meat. I don't care if other people eat meat or not but I seem to make people uncomfortable just by what I choose to eat. People tend to relax when they find out that I'm a vegetarian primarily because I don't like the taste of meat. You can see them thinking "Ok, she's strange but at least she's not animal rights wacko strange."
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1 Comments
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| trying to tan |
| 06.04.04 (2:37 pm) |
Yesterday I decided that I should lay out and get some sun on my incredibly pale legs. I'm not the type that normally tries to get a tan because I generally just burn. But when I fell off my horse I remember being comfortable laying in the grass and I wanted to recreate that feeling without the accompanying injuries.
I took a blanket, a pillow, a book, and my dog outside. I spread out the blanket and laid down. The sun was warm and there was a slight breeze. I was watching the bugs crawling in the grass. Bugs can be fascinating when they aren't bothering you. My dog was snuggling on the blanket and everything was good. Then the breeze stopped and the sun came out full force. I felt like someone had thrown me on a frying pan. I got up to get a drink and try to move to a better location to catch the breeze. My dog tried to refuse to come back outside after getting a drink but I talked her into it.
It was no good. I could feel myself burning even though I had sunscreen on every exposed part. By this time my dog was refusing to cuddle. She was laying in the shade of the garage and eyeing me like I'd lost my mind. Its pretty bad when your dog won't even share a blanket with you. I gave up and went back into the air conditioning with one very relieved dog.
So, I still am incredibly pale but at least I got inside before I fried myself. It was really nice though while it lasted.
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| countdown |
| 06.02.04 (4:08 pm) |
Only 2 more days until the new Harry Potter movie! Book three is my absolute favorite so I can't wait to see this movie. In honor I took the Sorting Hat quiz. (If you don't know what that means you obviously aren't a fan.) Here's my result.
Ravenclaw House!
Sorting Hat
brought to you by Quizilla
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| 1st one |
| 06.02.04 (3:40 pm) |
This is also a round robin quilt. I made the farm scene in the middle. That was the first block I ever made.
[image]spirit97_908587510 .jpg[/image]
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| another picture |
| 06.02.04 (3:37 pm) |
Here's another quilt picture. I call this one Animals Around the World. The design is a pattern called Trip Around the World. I decided to make it one day when I was snowed in and I needed to make a quilt with just fabric I had on hand. I don't buy huge quantities of any one fabric at a time so it can be hard for me to have enough to do a whole quilt. There are three animal prints in here - zebras on gold, parrots on black, and cartoon zebras on blue.
[image]spirit97_916458512 .jpg[/image]
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| Quilt pictures |
| 06.01.04 (5:35 pm) |
I found a series of pictures on the camera of quilts that I've made. This one is a star quilt that was made as a round robin. I made the block in the upper left corner and then sent fabric to other people in my group and they made blocks to add to the quilt.
[image]spirit97_667869601 .jpg[/image]
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