Joe Biden Said This

Oh YES he did. At an AARP town hall meeting. (BTW Why are they always this "town hall meeting"?)

“And folks look, AARP knows and the people with me here today know, the president knows, and I know, that the status quo is simply not acceptable,” Biden said at the event on Thursday in Alexandria, Va. “It’s totally unacceptable. And it’s completely unsustainable. Even if we wanted to keep it the way we have it now. It can’t do it financially.”

“We’re going to go bankrupt as a nation,” Biden said.

“Now, people when I say that look at me and say, ‘What are you talking about, Joe? You’re telling me we have to go spend money to keep from going bankrupt?’”* Biden said. “The answer is yes, that's what I’m telling you.” (Listen to Audio)

Again, will someone please explain to me why the MSM always portray Republicans as stupid, moronic, idiotic dolts and every Democrat is brilliant, polished, intelligent and highly educated?

This man, (I have got to wrap my head in duct-tape...) this man is an idiot. And a heart-beat away from the Presidency. Good thing we dodged that bullet named Palin!

*I think I'm gonna try that logic with John and see how far it flies. Or at work.

"The problem with socialism," Margaret Thatcher once said, "is that you eventually run out of other people's money."

These bright bulbs in Washington, I HOPE they have another plan when more than 50% of the working population decide to no longer work. All the incentive is rapidly vanishing.

Or maybe their plan is JUST THAT. Then they get to tell people what job they will do and for how many hours and how much they will earn. This sounds so ....familiar (scratching head)...... somehow (eyes casting around the room) .......... didn't the Soviet Union work this way? POORLY I might add!

Flying Geese Ruler

I just HAVE to back away from Washington and network news for a while. Like War, it's "not good for children and other living things."

So, instead I shall focus on quilting for the time being. And what better than to demonstrate a favorite tool.

TOOL U(niversity)
This is the Flying Geese Ruler, a wonderful acrylic ruler to have in your arsenal of quilting gadgets. Why, you ask? Because it takes the waste of time and more importantly, FABRIC, out of making Flying Geese.

In the past, to make a FG, you had two methods: 1. cut a large triangle out of one fabric and two smaller ones out a contrasting fabric and sew along the diagonal. This was problematic in that you were sewing on the bias, which always allows a stretch to occur. I don't care how great a sewer you are, or how awesome your machine is, you're gonna get misshapen rectangles. And that brings us to

Method 2. Take a large RECTANGLE and two smaller SQUARES, and sew along the bias. Then cut away the other half of the square. This is a very much safer method to avoid that bias stretch but what a waste of fabric. I don't like wasting fabric. And a waste of time.

All that grrr is gone with the Flying Geese Ruler.

So, to start, you will need 1 large square and 4 smaller squares. To determine what size to cut, look at the ruler and you will see a list of finished sizes and corresponding squares. (Remember, this is the FINISHED size so your geese will all be 1/2" larger when you make them) For this demonstration, I used "G" (2 1/4" x 4 1/2" finished) and cut one large "G".

If you flip the ruler over, you will see the corresponding smaller dimension. You need to cut 4 of these.
Now, position two smaller squares thusly
:
The yellow thing you see is my 1/2" Seams Easy ruler and the blue marking tool leaves a thin line of chalk. I lay the ruler down the diagonal and mark a line on either side of the centerline. I don't bother marking the center at all. The two blue lines are now my sewing lines and I sew just a scant in (towards the center) so that once I have ironed the seam allowance to one side, I won't lose any 'acreage' in the seam. I want a true measurement when I am finished.

I DO pin the smaller squares

because I don't want them to shift around as I sew
and here's what it looks like when I have sewn down both lines

Now you can cut the square in half but before you do, I recommend "setting the seam" which means iron the block as it is right now, before you cut it apart, then iron to the dark side.
You will have two heart-shaped blocks.

Place the remaining 2 smaller squares as shown and make the sew-lines, as you did before and sew the scant seams.
Set the seams again and cut down the two center-lines and you will be left with four separate flying geese. Iron to the dark side and you will have something that looks like this:
These geese should (and d0) now measure 2.75" x 5" I trim the little ears off the blocks before I use them in a quilt block.

This is a super fast way to make flying geese. I have just sewn about 160 of them to use in a new quilt. Check back to see the final top.

President Obama Said This:

in Ghana over the weekend:

America's first black president spoke with a bluntness that perhaps could only come from a member of Africa's extended family.

'No country is going to create wealth if its leaders exploit the economy to enrich themselves, or if police can be bought off by drug traffickers,' he said

'No business wants to invest in a place where the government skims 20 percent off the top, or the head of the Port Authority is corrupt. No person wants to live in a society where the rule of law gives way to the rule of brutality and bribery.

He would do well to remember this occasionally. Do you see this photo? This is one of three "New Black Panthers" who intimidated voters in a Pennsylvanian precinct last November. They were quoted as saying, "You're about to be ruled by the Black Man, cracker" and were cited in a "civil complaint accusing three members of the New Black Panther Party for Self-Defense of wielding a nightstick and intimidating voters at a Philadelphia polling place last Election Day, according to documents and interviews."

Our Attorney General, Eric Holder has dismissed two defendants cases and merely "prohibited the third from bringing a weapon to a voting place in the future."

So, even with witnesses and video and affidavits in court, from CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEYS who were there no less, these thugs walk off with no punishment, no admonitions, no nothing.

Bartle Bull, the civil rights attorney going WAY back who was there as a certified poll watcher, said of this debacle:

"In my opinion, the men created an intimidating presence at the entrance to a poll," he declared. "In all my experience in politics, in civil rights litigation and in my efforts in the 1960s to secure the right to vote in Mississippi ... I have never encountered or heard of another instance in the United States where armed and uniformed men blocked the entrance to a polling location."

Mr. Bull said the "clear purpose" of what the Panthers were doing was to "intimidate voters with whom they did not agree." He also said he overheard one of the men tell a white poll watcher: "You are about to be ruled by the black man, cracker."

He called their conduct an "outrageous affront to American democracy and the rights of voters to participate in an election without fear." He said it was a "racially motivated effort to limit both poll watchers aiding voters, as well as voters with whom the men did not agree."

It IS outrageous. And Eric Holder is now going to turn his laser vision on G.W. Bush as a War Criminal. Go figure.

Eric Holder is ALSO the Man who got Marc Rich a free pass. "Holder has expressed some regret over his handling of the Rich pardon, stating "I wish I had done some things differently with regard to the Marc Rich matter. Specifically, I wish that I had ensured that the Department of Justice was more fully informed and involved in this pardon process", and called his own actions a "mistake."^[19]
He also gives us this gem:

"Though the nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot, in things racial we have always been and continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards," Holder said.

"Though race-related issues continue to occupy a significant portion of our political discussion and though there remain many unresolved racial issues in this nation, we average Americans simply do not talk enough with each other about race."

May I just say, it's EASY to be brave with a nightstick in your hand and backed by several friends. Americans try to have open dialogues about race on a daily basis, but those who disagree with the MSM and Politically Correct Crowd are then labeled as racists, thereby completely shutting down the conversation. So, AG Holder, you tell me, who's the coward?

Here's a few luminaries you may begin to scrutinize:
William J. Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, Edward Kennedy, Christopher Dodd, Albert Gore, Jr., Jay Rockefeller, Madeleine Albright, Robert Byrd, John F. Kerry, Hillary Clinton
These brave brave people all over the years claimed to KNOW that Saddam Hussein either had weapons or was actively purposefully attempting to acquire weapons of mass destruction but when one man and his administration finally stood up and took us to war over this (Thanks U.N. for all your help there), they all backtracked and claimed they were wise oracles that tried to reign in the Cowboy who should now be brought up before a World Court as a War Criminal.

Way to go, America. There is no way any nation in this world is ever going to come to our defense or assistance when our own PEOPLE do not defend Her.

And YOU, Mr. President, you as a "leader" in the government, long before you became President, helped your cronies "exploit the economy to enrich themselves" , and YOUR Government Administration will be skimming well above the 20% mark so tell us why any business WOULD begin or build under your control? Tell us what they could possibly hope to gain?
And you have the (yes I'm gonna use the word) AUDACITY to tell Africa off?

Oh BTW: Countries DO NOT build wealth. People build wealth. Countries tax wealth. Were you not awake in College?

In Other News

Some PITA editorial commenter from the LA Times has a blog that has the most outrageous line in a recent blogpost:

"In other numerical revelations, just 4% of Americans say that Wall Street or credit card companies are honest or trustworthy. A majority of young people still approve of Obama's job performance, but a majority of seniors over 64 now don't (54%). Maybe they'll (that is, we'll) all die before the next election."

Now what you need to know, before I start my rant, is those three words in the parenthesis were ADDED after the outpouring of scorn heaped upon his snow-covered addle-brained head.

First the paragraph itself is disjointed. What Wall Street's reputation has to do with Obeyme's job performance escapes me, but let's remember this is California writing.....however it is the sheer mental illness behind the follow-up sentence that rocks me on my heels. "Maybe they'll all die before the next election".

Where to even begin.....
1. So, it's okay to make jokes about opponents/adversaries dying to make a President's poll numbers rise. Check. (will someone remind me of this when the other Party is back in the WH?)

2. Anything goes when you want "your man" to be popular with the acolytes.

3. Wait a minute, being DEAD never stopped a Democrat from VOTING!*

4. Can we assume that with ObamaCare, the bureaucrats will have carte blanche to pick who gets the health care based on presidential adoration? I mean, why keep the disgruntled around long enough to have a voting opinion of the dude? (and you thought Republicans were mean!)

5. The man who pens this dubious drivel looks to be in that age category himself so presumably he falls into the "approval" column and thinks he's somehow safe to live another voting season.

6. Really? Can anyone just explain to me how putting those words out in public passed his gut-check? Clearly it did, then it didn't because he added "that is, we'll" in an effort to distance himself from what even he came to realize was beyond the pale. Does anything go now? really?

7. This man is such a coward, he didn't even acknowledge that he stepped over the line into madness. He just slipped in and added three words in his lame attempt to be cute/inclusive in this dying "game". He doesn't really MEAN it. Like so many who fan the flames of idolatry, he thinks he's immune from any punishment at the hands of those he supports. He thinks he'll be one to get a pass, a "Get Out of Hell/Into Hospital" free card when all the new health care reforms are passed jammed down our resisting throats. (FIFY)


*

Among the Journal's findings:

# The Journal identified dead people on the voter rolls in all 62 counties and people in as many as 45 counties who had votes recorded after they had died.

# One address in the Bronx was listed as the home for as many as 191 registered voters who had died. The address is 5901 Palisade Ave., site of the Hebrew Home for the Aged.

# Democrats who cast votes after they died outnumbered Republicans by more than a 4-to-1 margin. The reason: Most of them came from Democrat-dominated New York City, where higher population produced more matches.

Oh, and one last thing, I sent a comment to this blog writer, expressing my disdain and this is what pops up after I hit "send":

"Your comment has been saved. Comments are moderated and will not appear until approved by the author. Post another comment"

Got that? "approved by the author".

Tasteless, Yet Surprisingly Funny

Ok I know he's being celebrated today and memorialized but, I just have to share this little gem from the 80s Britain:

You HAVE to watch it to the end....hahahahaha. It's not long.
Did you see Ghaddifi, Madonna, Mr. Spock, Prince Charles, Keith Richards, Ronald Reagan? I have to keeping viewing it, just to identify them all.

Spitting Image - Michael Jackson's Mad


"I'm MAD!" "Yes yes, Of course you are... come along"

Enjoy!

Oh!! and BLISS!!

It rained ALOT yesterday and everything is all green.

We also lost our gas yesterday so my dinner plans went awry. Cheese and crackers ended up on the menu.

Mystery Fruit

What you see before you are two shots of the same fruit that has been in question for the past week. I have place it with ordinary objects to give some idea of size and color.


That's a "large" egg on the right, a bowl of cherry tomatoes and a cellphone. I have cut the fruit exactly in half to reveal the seeds within. I can tell you that at this size, this fruit is more tart than sweet but not in an overripe way.... not that tangy vinegary flavor; more of a tart unripened way and slightly more like a honeydew melon than a cantaloupe. And the seeds are clustered exactly like a melon/cantaloupe.
It WAS a lovely sage green until it went all yellow and dropped off the vine.

So Anyone??? Anyone with ideas as to what it is and why it won't grow larger? Is it possible that it came from a GM melon and simply is genetically engineered to not grow beyond this point?

My First Demotivation Poster

The Weather Here Yesterday

was so splendid, we went for a long bike ride thru the new neighborhood (and got lost. Hurrah for GPS on an iPhone). Low humidity and at 12;15pm it was still overcast which made it seem incredibly comfortable. So off we went, here and there. Even other people were out and about in the yards.

And then the clouds evaporated and the sun beamed down and the temperature soared back to the high 90s and I thought I was gonna die out there on my gearless cruiser. Hey, we live on hills now! But I made it home and downed about 2 quarts of sangria.

This is what I wake up to when the humidity is low low:



Rockin' sunrises. When the humidity is high, the fog is heavy out there instead and the sky hazy. It's a work day so I am off to prepare. Which means I am headed out to the Back 2 to pick some produce and bring to the shop. Gotta share the wealth!

Classic

I met an old friend from The West Bank the other day and was reminded of this by Gordo. True true. Can't believe so many years have passed and we pick up right where we left off. Kids are grown and great. Life continues to surprise. Nice to see her back in Louisiana.

Ok the Sewing Room is ready

I finally got around to working in there and after shifting one bookshelf to another wall (Thanks Kathy) the cutting table, all 6 feet of it, now sit in front of the window and the whole room is rather like the one in Kimberly.



Except much smaller.

Much much smaller but not bad at all. In fact, it's cozy and I like it.


I will say this, however. There is only room enough for one person at a time to be in there. I have already given it a test-run: We are having a Quilt Camp week for adults at the shop in a month and I needed to whip out a sample of one of the projects. I was able to put my hand on just about all the equipment, save one that I cannot seem to locate, and after this break from sewing, it really felt good to slide under the table and turn on the machine and sew a few lines.


And I really look forward to cranking up the quilting machine and getting some tops that are stacked up in the closet finished.

Ah me!

If you want a good laugh this morning, head over The Anchoress and enjoy this gem.

BAHHHH! - UpDated

That sound you hear (above) is me scoffing at "knowledge". Or lack thereof.

I did get in contact with Steve, who lived here before us and who planted watermelon AND cantaloupe three years (but not since) and informs us that ever since that time, "volunteers" sprung up, grew to about egg-size, turned yellow and dropped off. A few apparently ripened to maturity but not many.

OK. Now this information came as I sat in front of the Feed n Seed and I went in to see what they had to say. I brought my sample of fruit and spotty leaf in with me. They came back with "maypop"! "What?" " Maypop. As in may pop off anytime! They grow here in the wild"

"Are you sure? Because the former owner said he had planted cantaloupe here a few years ago and...
"NO that is a maypop!"

So Of Course, me being ME and all, I go to google it and a maypop may look like this thing, but it doesn't GROW like this thing so I am back to thinking it is a weak cantaloupe that perhaps has a fungus issue. It SMELLS like a cantaloupe and TASTES like a very small, underdeveloped cantaloupe or melon. And the flower doesn't smell at all, unlike what the maypop is described as doing. The maypop is in the passionfruit family. I almost wish it WERE a maypop because what I read is, it's edible!
This starts off looking like a watermelon, dark green with stripes. It gets to be @ the size of a LARGE egg, lightens in color to a yellow and then drops off the vine. It doesn't shrivel before it drops, like it isn't getting pollinated. It seems to be growing well and then goes bright yellow.

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Up-date: Okay! Dan Gill to the rescue! It is NOT a maypop. THIS is a maypop, decidedly in the passionfruit family and what I have, I am beginning to be more and more certain, is cantaloupe.

Not particularly strong cantaloupe but cantaloupe nonetheless. I now have two, possibly three that have grown to @ baseball-sized fruit, still a sage green in color and still clinging to the vine.

It's like I have a dog, pregnant with puppies for the first time. Or something.

Hello July,

Hello indeed. The year is half-over already and I thought I just took down the Christmas tree.

Up-dates: no rain here but I noticed how splendidly green and Irish the town of Covington looked yesterday afternoon. Now I know where it did fall the other day.

Ears: I appear to have otosclerosis. Surgery recommended.

New Orleans: is BEAUTIFUL!! At least the little area of Metairie between Vets and the lake, Causeway and Bonnebell. SO sweet and well-recovered. While the streets may be dully straight and long and gridded, the homes are beautifully maintained and the front gardens lovely. Good Job. And I DOUBT that's a rarity.

I dare say if I drove thru NO proper I'd find much the same thing. Anyone reading this from farther away than Texas: If you think New Orleans is comically-corrupted government, drunken debauchery and violently lethal beyond description, you don't know much. You ought to see what the vast majority of citizens live like here and you'd think it was paradise in America. If we could just get some grown-ups that don't see public service as a lifelong mealticket (as opposed to, say, a JOB!) in office and on the School Board and get rid of entrenched "family" politics, this city might thrive. Louisiana is a fabulous state. The people are ALIVE. Hot, but so very much alive.

Pressure canning; The house is still intact and 7 qts of tomatoes are resting comfortably on the counter after their bath yesterday.

HOWEVER, what gives with the separation? And notice the jar on the left: How did it lose so much liquid and is this normal? Is this safe? Only one out of 7 did that. Did I not screw down the lid properly?