The first veggie...

Will be a tomato. A little bitty tomato - either a "Cherry" tomato or a "Sweet 100" tomato, I can't remember which one is in which pot. But 2 of them are going red already and one of them is almost there!! The first veggie is always such a joy. This year I am getting a whole lot of baby tomatoes (mini ones by design) as well as a good 1/2 dozen or so of the mid-size ones I planted as well. Happiness.

BBC asked what is the big deal about the zucchini - really it is not a big deal in and of itself, it is just one baby zucc, but I really get a kick out of harvesting my own food from a garden I've tended myself, so this baby zucc is the first one and kind of exciting. I also have never grown zucc's in a pot before, so that whole thing "working" is fun as well.

The Nasturtiums must have heard me complaining, as they have started making more flower buds. Apparently, glaring at them in disapproval works almost as well as "Miracle Gro". LOL

The weather is utterly stupendous today - I think I may just do the BBQ thing in the little baby Weber and cook up some burgers tonite. Its been a long time since I did that, and I do have some nice ground beef I can spank into patties!

BBC asked how many people I hug in one week. Well, Dear - I'm not a big huggy person - as said before, I come from that "stoic German" family tradition, so it feels to me as if I am being intrusive into another person's "personal space". In fact, it seems to me that more people are uncomfortable at PDA's (Public Displays of Affection) than those who are not.

Most of those I'd hug with a lot more regularity live far enough away to make it impractical, however. There's a fair few folks I hug on a regular basis, but I'd say in one week there are probably only 2 or 3 actual PEOPLE who get hugs. Some get more than 1 a week, tho.

And I'm ok with that.

571 days

The Zucchini That Ate Tokyo

Ok, not yet.
It's only about the size of the top of my thumb - but there is a baby zucchini growing! I know that I have to keep a weather eye on it, however, lest it go off and rob Godzilla of his favorite snack. (I love that song. It makes me laugh.)

I also have a baby cucumber. It is about 1/2" long, and about 1/8" wide. I know that eventually it will be a full size cucumber and ready to make into sandwiches, but right now it is just an itty bitty baby pickle with prickles and soooo cute.

I have one Nasturtium flower. It looks stupid all by itself in the pot. *sigh*

My glorious new tan colored hot-water heater is doing a heck of a job, Tannie, and while I still have to call the repair guy back to finish working on the sink and commode, the watery floor issues seem to be resolved. HUGE sigh of relief. As I repack the closet, I am finding that I am less inclined to hang on to stuff that I just never use. It's hard even to keep the extra parts for the carpet-steamer and the floor scrubber, because I don't use them - but if I ever Freecycle the cleaners, I will want to give all the "parts" with them, so I best maybe box them up and haul to the garage.

My fingers are sore from doing piecework for work - a little extra cash for some mindless assembly that I can do while watching movies. I've been watching all my favorites so far this week, but I may take a break from that and go for something "less travelled" like Gone With The Wind tonite. I'd like to get this over with so I can go back to using my weekends for naps.

572 days

Screw the troops.

So I'm reading this article about how Michigan is all worried about the Republican party saying that flying the flag at half-mast every time a Michigander comes home from Iraq in a box is "disrespectful" and sends "the wrong message".

A commenter on this article - allegedly a "wife" of a soldier currently in Iraq, indicated that the troops do NOT appreciate any of the things we try to do for them back here. They consider the lowering of the flag to be just an insignificant token that is meaningless to them. They do not appreciate the care packages or letters from strangers back here in the U.S. - the "patriots" are the subject of their derision, and they actively speak out against those whom they are hired (and paid by) to defend and protect. They are an "insular group, a band of brothers that admits no outsiders". Fine. Screw them.

You know... the soldiers bitched and moaned and cried when they came back from Viet Nam and nobody did anything to "honor" them. So now Michigan is "honoring" them - and they're bitching and moaning and crying about it. Screw them - and the jackasses they rode in on.

What this tells me is that all they want is the ticker-tape parades and the free drinks in every bar if they walk in wearing uniforms. Mindless adoration.

After posting this, I am going to remove the links on the right to the sites that I've used to try and make life a little less miserable for the "troops" in the Middle East. If they have nothing but scorn and derision for those of us who are trying to NOT make their lives in the field, or their homecomings as miserable as the ones given the soldiers in VietNam, then I have no reason to "support" these troops, neither with my letters, nor with my "Care" packages. They can all rot in the sand, so far as I'm concerned. Screw the baby-killing torturers and rapists.

573 days

The Handyman Arriveth

And I will have a new water heater tomorrow. And new guts for my toilet. All in all, I'm going to have a water-free floor & carpet shortly, and it will only cost an arm and 1/2 a leg - no major internal organs.

Had it not been for the car repairs, I"d be looking ok at all this - as it is, it is a good thing this is a 3-paycheck month.

Soon as I can get some more cash together, however, this guy is going to be put to work again and fix the upstairs bathroom issues, then I get to save up for the BIG things - I want to gut that upstairs bathroom to the studs, and then redo it with quality materials and waterproofing so that it lasts a REALLY good long time. And with a GIRL bathtub. The one in there now (I may have mentioned this before) is a Man bathtub:

|_____|

I want a GIRL bathtub:

\____|

Some day my tub will come
Some day I'll soak in it
And together we'll bubble away
Like a Calgon Commercial on crack...
La, de, da da da da....
La, de, da da da da
LA LA DE DE DE DA DA DA DA...........

Ok, that's enough Disney for tonite.
I'm going to have to take a "sink bath" tomorrow with water heated on the stove, (how primitive!!) and put my hair in a bun, I guess. Tomorrow nite I'm taking a LONG, HOT shower!!!

579 Days

Free Will

An interesting thought crossed my mind the other morning. This post deals with christian philosophy and theology, and does not always reflect my own views on religion. However, the only way to discuss a specific religion's philosophy and/or theology is to (at least temporarily)agree on a few basic matters for the sake of discussion. The existance of an omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient "god" is one of these matters. The "infallibility" of the revised collection of ancient works known as the "Bible" is another, as is the existance of an evil force incarnate called "the Devil" or Satan. For the sake of this post, we shall allow those beliefs to stand.

It was an anti-choice arguement that started it all. First off - let me say that I don't buy into the "life begins at conception" theory. Due to having had a dermoid cyst, and due to things like ectopic pregnancies and the education on the growth of the zygote to fetus to birth, it is my belief that a separate life does not exist until the fetus is able to live outside the womb - without extraordinary medical intervention.

In fact, the bible seems to go a step further - until the child breathes, it is not a living soul, if you take Genesis literally. "[God]breathed into him the breath of life, and man became a living soul". This indicates to me that the writer acknowledges that without breath, there is no soul, there is no "life".

(Whoo boy - I'm glad I'm the admin here... this could get ugly)

Anyhow. One of the reasons that so many christians want to overthrow Roe v. Wade is that they believe that all abortion is murder (I don't agree) and that they have a "moral imperative" to make sure that these "murders" do not occur.

Free will.

According to the self-same bible, god gave everyone free will. The will to believe, or not to believe. The will to make good, righteous decisions, or the will to make poor, evil decisions. God did not decide unilaterally to foist his "good" agenda on mankind. Instead, he gave each and every person "free will" to make good or bad choices, choices they would eventually need to answer for after death, or at the end of the world, whichever came first, on the "Judgement Day".

If this is, then, TRUTH - how dare the Religious Wrong choose to decide FOR others what is and what is not good for them? How dare they be anti-choice? Is this not usurping GOD's authority? Does not the bible - not less than the New Testament, even - say quite clearly that only GOD can decide what is in a person's heart, and what is right and wrong? Did not god in the Garden of Eden punish mankind not for eating a fruit, but for seeking the knowledge of good and evil - something that god had reserved only onto himself?

To take away a woman's right to choose is, then, to do the work of the Devil.

Someone murdered our window washer

I read the small article in the local paper, but the name didn't mean anything to me. A 46 year old man beaten to death by at least 5 young men, all in their late teens/early 20's. Just another day in paradise, living near a big city. Repetition desensitizes you until it all seems to blend into a single entity.

The shock came when I saw the same article posted on the bulletin board at work - with a handwritten note attached on a sticky - "This was Jim, our Window Washer".

Suddenly that "*KICK*" of stunned shock at the brutality, the senselessness, the fear, sadness, disbelief - all those things that didn't happen at first reading come flooding in. Who would want to murder Jim the Window Washer? Why???

Granted, I didn't really know Jim all that well. He would come in with his buckets and squeegies and sponges, and just go about his work with a bit of a smile on his face. We didn't talk much, but they don't pay me to chat up the window washers here at work - but the times we did exchange a few pleasantries he was quiet and kind of self-effacing, a gentle soul. Who would want to murder Jim the Window Washer? Why???

Apparently 5 young men did. Their reasons weren't given in the newspaper article. His wife didn't have much to say when our boss called about where to send a donation in his name.

Since Jim hadn't died when they got him to the hospital, the boys were only charged with aggravated battery. As of the newspaper article, the charges had not yet been upgraded. Personally, I'd like to see the District Attorney throw the book at these murderous birth-control-failures and send them away for life. But then... I knew Jim - sorta.

More later when I've sorted out a few things in my own mind.

580 Days

Habitual Behavior

Habits are hard to break - we all know this.

Habits are hard to start too - some of them - the ones that start off with "I should..."

I should call my Dad more often. Unfortunately, it's so easy for me to get caught up in the depression that is my own life and not want to "burden" him with all the trivial annoyances that piss me off on a regular basis.

I should work on getting my house spotlessly clean except for the carpet because I can't replace that until the cats die, and the cats are remarkably healthy for being about 12 years old.

I should learn to control my anger, to stop hurting my own insides with the rage that fills me when confronted by things like idiots, fools, religious twitheads and GWB's photo. I can literally FEEL my bloodpressure rise, my brain bruising, my arteries screaming.

Sometimes, though, the habit comes easier. Sometimes it grows from a single event. Last spring my Mom died. As I sat beside her hospital bed, listening to those quick, raspy breaths, trying to be strong and not fall apart, it was too late to say "I love you, Mom" and know for a fact that she heard it. It was too late to KNOW that she knew.

I made a vow to myself that day - that I'd never let my Dad off the phone again without telling him how much I love him. This isn't easy, you know. Ours is not a family of huggy-touchy-feely - we're stoic German stock and keep those emotions firmly in check except when we're pissed off or hanging wallpaper.

The first couple times I did it, it felt so unnatural and weird. And I could tell that Dad was uncomfortable, because he'd just say "Uh huh" and hang up. Didn't matter. This wasn't about comfort zones - this was and is about needing to know for a FACT that he knows I love him, and that he KNOWS and HEARS it. I love you, Dad.

I called him yesterday afternoon for Father's Day. And not for the first time, but for the most clear and coherent time, he said "I love you too!"

Happy Fathers Day, Dad. I love you very much!

581 days

Killer Doves

Damn mourning doves.

Little waddling poop machines.

I thought I'd gotten rid of them when the association replaced all our outside door lights with ones that had spikey tops instead of flat tops ( like this /\ instead of |-| )

But nooooooo.

No, the fat little flying waddling poop machines have decided that MY GARDEN is the place that they want to use for foraging their nest-building material - and they want to use my perfectly good baby plants for it! I've been finding baby plants torn from their dirty little homes laying all over the ground lately.

Symbol of peace or not - I'm gonna get me a slingshot if they don't stop it!

584 days

Drought

There hasn't been any rain here for almost a week. The garden is a bit less than happy, although Terry (next door guy) and I have been watering daily. He uses a hose, I use the water from the dehumidifier. The container garden is much harder to keep damp than the in-ground stuff. We have a lot of clay under the thin layer of topsoil, so as long as you don't have a too slopey yard it stays damper longer.

I found a baby tomato on the mid-size tomato plant this morning. I hope it does well. I think I may stick another "plant spike" tomato fertilizer spike into each of the pots again tonite. Despite the plants being awfully "leggy" and having not a lot of foliage, they do seem to be making a lot of baby tomatoes, which is a good thing.

I will have a zucchini soon, I think. One of the buds looks like it is about to bust open - getting that split-look along the long axis. Crossing my fingers makes it too hard to type, so I'll cross toes for a bit.

The lady next door has beautiful pepper plants. I can't grow peppers to save my life. I love them, just can't grow 'em. Maybe I can trade her for some zucchini.

Stopped at Costco last nite and did a bit of "grocery shopping" - got a huge package of bratwurst, some steaks, some other stuff... and I used my new green bags that Leandra got me from the market by her. They're nice BIG bags with strong handles, made from some very strong fabric - I don't think it's canvas, but I could be wrong - and they actually are GREEN, with gold logo of her food market on them. I like using them instead of "paper or plastic?" and the checkout person was rather amused. Seems that Costco checkers are rather easily amused. Must be a VERY boring job.

In all, I'm finding that making a few more "green" changes to my lifestyle really isn't cramping my own style any too fiercely. I like the idea of not being as much of a burden on the planet without feeling guilty for my very existance. Goddess has brought me here, there is obviously a place for humanity on the planet, and I'm really rather sick and tired of being expected to feel guilty for every flaw of every person - and for my own continued existance.

The really irritating bit about this "guilt tripping" is that a lot of it comes from those with whom I share an ideology in a lot of other ways. My own personal line gets drawn when someone starts about how "Americans are to blame for..." all the ills of the planet, or "Humans are to blame for..." every CO2 emmission, every use of fresh water, every dropping of dung. We are here. We evolved or were put here. If we are but highly evolved animals, then we have no more responsibility to "save the planet" than any other animal. If we were put here by Deity (however you percieve him/her) then we are the incarnation of Divine Intention and should not feel guilty for being here. Either way, the self-loathing that runs rampant particularly in caucasian Americans is not something that I am going to buy into anytime soon - like this lifetime. I'm here. I eat. I crap. I breathe. I commute. I also raise plants, plant trees and make an effort not to create too much "landfill". Beyond that - keep your guilt-tripping for yourself.

Man, it's no WONDER that I keep saying I'm unelectable... LOL

585 days.

The back garden

These are just the back garden, ya know. My leggy tomato plants (but you CAN just barely see the baby tomatoes in the lower left corner... and the wonderful squash and zucchini plants, and the cukes growing up the trellis (slightly). (If you click on these little pictures they get bigger and you can see details better)




Its not a really big garden, but its adequate for now, and hopefully it will give me what I really want - a few good veggies.

No new word on the houseflood bit. I'm still dealing with damp carpet inside the closet. Need to buy some WD40.

587 days