It's ALIVE!!!! Obama and the Democrat Base on Nov. 2

No. No it's not. It's a cobbled-together mess.



MMmmmm... I don't think so~

Mr. President ... you tried to create a monster! How appropriate to the spirit of today, Halloween.

And Katie Couric,

...... the "great unwashed" you refer to....... they've voted you one of the weakest links as well. Your contract's up soon, isn't it?....... it will be very interesting to see who comes to her emotional and financial rescue.

I Yam What I Yam. Restfully So, Too!

I am glad I didn't let that phone experience yesterday get the better of me. We ran up to the little town to pay an electrical bill and get bread and I stopped at the pharmacy that closes at 5pm. (So strange, to me, because people heading home from work at 5 pass right by it and can't use it for their medicine!!!! )

Anyway, the pharmacist in there was a delight and helpful in letting us read up on melatonin before we bought a bottle. I took 2 mg at 8:15 pm.

Hallelujiah!!!!!! I slept like a champ last night. Woke up at 2am and thought "crums!!!!!" so I wandered into the guestroom and played the "left toe is relaxed.... right toes relaxed... ankles relax" game for however long it took to fall back asleep and wakened at 6:53am!!!!!!! What a Feeling!!!!!

Then I stumbled onto this test and found exactly what I thought I was, I am.

Your true political self:

You are a

You are a Social Conservative (35% permissive) and an... Economic Conservative (63% permissive) You are best described as a: Republican Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid Also this: You exhibit a very well-developed sense of Right and Wrong and believe in economic fairness.

I'm glad to see a random computer-generated test revealed what I suspected. I was slightly surprised as well.

Now, as I was taking this test, here is what I experienced (because I think this is what was MOST interesting to me...) there were questions that I initially answered one way and NO I am not going to reveal which ones (mainly because I can't remember...) but stopped and thought about it. When I applied my "oh really?" test to those reactive answers, I found that no, I really didn't think that... I really THINK THIS! and changed my answer. The initial answers were my PC responses and this test didn't care if I thought against what MSM thinks I should think!

I wanted a true revelation and I got it.

I am exactly who I thought I am

Work Ethic Part 2

I have been told about this supplement called Melatonin for circadian rhythm disruption and how it might help me get a more normal sleep. John finished out in the barn area (more on this later) and said he was running into town for something so I hopped in the car with him and called the local pharmacy to check their hours. It was a few minutes to 5:00pm.

The person answered on the 2nd ring (yea!!) and I asked if they carry melatonin. She asked someone and then said yes. "Great! What time do you close?"

"5:00"
"Oh dear. I am 3 miles away in the car. I don't think I can get there that fast."

Now here is the opening for someone in business who has a needy customer on their way to buy a product. They have 2 options: 1. Tell this customer something along the lines of "I'll stay open til (pick a time) say 5:10pm. If you can get here , I'll be happy to ring it up!" or 2. "No."

They went with option 2. That's cool. But I'll remember.

Now back to the barn. Steve put the barn quilt up yesterday! And the electricians wired for lights all day so today we should get the inspection done and they will finish that installation by Thursday. We may have light by the weekend!!!!!

And now that I see how good it looks on the barn, I am really motivated to paint the one on the coop.

Amazing. I'd Have Slapped It!

For s a second there, I thought he was going to do just that.

Look how unconcerned and focused this prairiedog is on feasting.....

Our chickens behave the same way... I'll be handing a piece of bread to Stu and the others will snatch it out of his mouth. Even as he is merely standing there and they have their own... they take from him as well.

2:35am

I remember when I used to moan about not being able to sleep past 4:00am.

This is getting ridiculous. I wake now at or before 2:30am and toss & turn til I finally leave the bed and go watch tv in the other room.

Does this ever end? I've never in my life been one to lie in. But 2:30? Come ON......

Lightbulb....... all this really started so long ago..... but..... also right about the time I got serious about my hypothyroidism. I had been prescribed Synthroid years before but was lacksidasical about taking it.

Back then I had ALL the symptoms of someone with low thyroid and got a new prescription. I took it daily but incorrectly. So although the levels were better, I was still wasn't "right". This is when the sleep starting getting whacky.

Some years later, I found a good physician who explain the importance of when and how and how NOT to take it and now I have really good results but this insomnia thing has me struggling.

It has just dawned on me that there MAY be a connection between the drug and the issue!!!!!!! Duh!! Maybe not as well, but still......

How can I have been so clueless FOR ALL THESE YEARS!!!!!. It isn't ME. Well, it IS me but it IS what it IS. I need the medicine. The medicine has a side effect.

Now learn to make the best of it!

Any suggestions?

Okay, further googling reveals InsomniaYoga.. I can try that tonight.

Warm epsom salts bath. Check

Warm milk. mmmmm No.

Exercise. Yoga?

Here's a curious suggestion: Sex. Alone or with others. Whhhhaaattt????

See this is why it's hard to take the internet seriously.

Sleep medication. Okay..... now that has to be a crazy suggestion. Have you seen the list of side effects for THAT stuff? Thoughts of suicide, depression, sleep walking. Sleep EATING. Please. I like to be awake and alert while I eat, but thanks anyway.

If my choice is bewteen insomnia and cheerfulness or sleep and depression..... I think I'll go with the first one every time.

I Give Up

I'm still trying to learn how to use this Mac ....... I can crop a photo using iPhoto but I can't figure out to save the altered image.

Anyhoo.... here is the first Leslie BOMb, Blue and Gold...... I like the borders.

Now the dealio is: I challenged myself to make these quilts, one of six, using only the fabric I had in my stash. Which is sizable. So although it might have been better..... or maybe not, it wouldn't have been in the spirit with which I began.

It is large. 81" But small enough that I can quilt it all myself on my machine.

So. What do you think?

Raise Bed Veg

Here are a few shots from over the weekend to show the state of things out in the garden.

To the front are sweetpeas and chinese peas and to the back are Romaine lettuces. Did you know you can eat the leaves from the sweet peas? Toss them in our salad!

This bed has brassicas: in the very front are a few rows of kohlrab. Then, buttercrunch lettuce and collards. Only 3 plants this year..... last year I had 8 or and that was WAY overkill. Then to the back are 2 brussell sprouts and that last large thing is the broccoli raab. which I used in a risotto the other day. Very good green.

The onion bed. Red and yellow, garlic bulbs and shallots in the back. Still struggling to get leeks to do ANYTHING

Kale to the front, spinach (such as it is.. I planted more seeds) and lots of broccoli in the back
So that shows 4 of the beds. I have rutabagas and carrots and beets and more greens in others. It's a good garden spread.

Louisiana is a great place to live if gardening year-round is your thing. Eating is my thing and I love it that I can cook everyday with something I harvested in walking distance. That simple pleasure rocks my world.

and the chickens sweeten it. Believe it or not! They are lovely creatures.

Doo Doo Doo ---- Lookin' Out My Back Door!

One of our concerns when discussing the placement of the barn was that of blocking the beautiful view of the land behind us. It isn't ours but we sure like the vista.

We struggled with the exact place til we settled on where the concrete was poured. And once the framework went up, we saw this. What a picturebox. In fact, this "frame" just makes the whole thing into a work of art.

And here you can see the worktable I will use when cleaning the veggies and potting new plants. The red colour is terrific. The trim is grey as is the steel roof. That hole above? the hayloft.

The cats hang around, waiting for Steve to leave so they can go scope out the insides.... places to hang out in the future.

The left side will remain open for the tractor and mower and the right side is the workshop. It will have a garage door.

I am thinking that in the event of a hurricane.... this might be the place to be. It's built Ram Tough this barn and there are no trees above it. Or around it, for that matter.

One Of Six

sans borders.

Where Am I Wrong -Update

We have been told for quite a number of years that a college education is vital for a person to get a good-paying job. So, young adults and others attend and pay hefty sums to do so, and end up with a library of overpriced textbooks. Now I read that 85% are moving back home with the Old Ones.

We can see for ourselves that people don't WANT to work for minimum-wage jobs and will avoid them for however long they can. Who can blame them when it's been drummed for years that a diploma is your Golden Ticket?

Reality is another matter. And there was a time when high schoolers had courses available, like "shop" and "mechanics" that prepped them for something other than their entrance exams.

Now, saddled with student loans and low prospects, they head home and stew in a funk.

Our Government has allowed unemployment compensation to last 99 weeks. (There are 52 of them in a YEAR) so there goes incentive to accept something beneath one's place. (and yeah, I worked all kinds of minimum-wage jobs, so I know of what I say) (and never had unemployment checks) (and I have a college degree)

You have to WANT to work, folks. It's the desire for something you DON'T have and WANT that makes you move.

It seems to simple, so elementary to me.

BUT

BUT

BUT

If the Govt/ takes a CHUNK of your earnings before you even see it and makes the very people responsible for hiring you in the first place out to be somehow suspect, and the press/media in lock-step writes endless fantasy/exposes about Evil Business and the down-trodden workers, where is the incentive?

Business is not investing IN THE USA. Business People are not taking what they have been allowed to keep and using it to make MORE. Sorry folks.

And why SHOULD they when they can't keep the profit? Anything that MAKES money is suspect and anything that TAKES money away is for our supposed benefit. There is something terribly wrong with this.

Government should never have become so cushy. These ARE THE FAT CATS. And the "EVIL EVIL BIG' Business is sucked by the vampires to KEEP THEMSELVES THERE.

THEY are the ones who should have been placed on MINIMUM WAGE. They, those Representatives of the PEOPLE are the ones who should have been given low wages so they would make LAWS that protect wage EARNERS to KEEP what they WORK FOR and encourage them to do more of it. NOT LESS.

And then, with small bits of change in THEIR pockets, those Representatives would have the incentive to JOIN us, not shackle us while they swim in OUR MONEY.

Propostion: Cut EVERY GOVERNMENT WORKERS SALARY TO MINIMUM Wage. CUT EVERY GOVERNMENT WORKERS Pension Plan. Do not impose Term Limits. Let THEM figure it out. See how long they stay in the job.

Seriously. The Founding Fathers didn't want the People's Representatives to end being there as a career!

Where Am I Wrong?

UpDate: I am not believing that "85%" number. I don't believe it. Where did they do the polling, is what I'd like to know! And what was their collective "majors" breakdown!? I'll bet that does some explaining.

AND I'd like to see a list of the "Professors" from whom they matriculated.

Up Date: I love it! I'll bet THIS was one of them. And no... I didn't go looking for an example. They show up on their own.

Sigh

I need a secretary.

I thought I had a clear calendar yesterday and headed south to help Kathy process lots of apples. We had a pot of sauce in one station and another of apple butter going when the cell phone rings. It's the shop

"Chris? You have a class here waiting" (or words to that effect.)

me: "No I don't! That's Jayne's Build a Block! (said with great conviction because, darn it! I KNOW my schedule!)"

No It was my class! And Kathy was signed up in it too!

So clearly, I can't hire her to be that secretary

But that class was fun. And what I fretted over concerning color choice was unnecessary. The color scheme they chose was terrific.

Weird....

I just read this amazing article in a British newspaper where home buyers are moving into houses that have been completely stripped of the most sundry of items...... light bulbs, toilet roll, okay..... I get that. We're talking: light switches, the carpets, door knobs, the WHOLE DOOR! the toilet roll hanger. The notion of something being taken if it isn't nailed down is gone.

"Screwed in? No problem! WE'll take it. I know we SOLD it but we didn't get the price we wanted or you didn't SPECIFY that you expected to find it IN the home when you arrived so it comes WITH US!"

The most common disappearances include washing machines, radiators, fireplace surrounds, light fittings and boilers - while others are more unusual.
When Tim showed a marketing executive and his wife, a teacher, photographs of a Victorian terraced house in Brackley, Northamptonshire, they were instantly smitten by a log cabin in the garden.
Six weeks later, their £250,000 offer had been accepted and they moved in with two children and removal men in tow. only then did they discover that all that was left of the log cabin was a slab of concrete: the foundation.
'They were furious, especially as the outhouse was pictured in the brochure,' explains Tim. The vendors were mid-divorce and, desperate to sell, had agreed on a price of £20,000 less than they wanted. They retaliated in the only way they could - by keeping a bit of the house.

Read more: Daily Mail

We are completely on the other side of this story. When we negotiated for this home, our daughter really liked the dining table so we included it in the purchase agreement. The owners responded and said the sideboard went "with" the table..... and could I take them both? Now, the "suite" also included small sofa tables as well but they didn't ask us to keep ALL of the suite together, just the 2 items in the dining area. We agreed to keep them both together. Everyone got what they wanted and no one played fast and loose with convenience.

One person over there even took 15% less for the selling price so he could take the grass from his cherished putting green! Good Grief! Couldn't he simply build a new one!? At least he "paid" for it.


Nevermind. We went kayaking on Saturday and the distance was (much) farther than I would have expected. I should have asked. After 2 hours of paddling, (nonstop I might add) I asked how much further to go. We weren't half done. By the time we got to the end, my shoulders were cords. Stiff, tight angry cords of muscle. Why didn't I merely coast? This articular river is a wild and scenic one which means it is LITTERED with trees everywhere and twists so much you must constantly stand vigil for potential problems in navigation. I found myself high and dry any number of times and banging into submerged trees in other. I am grateful there was NO white water to have to deal with. I would not have returned dry

We went to the Hattiesburg Quilt and Fiber Show on Friday and saw beautiful quilts and some beautiful land/property as well. Some old quarries were filling up and subdivided for purchase. But back to the show. The best thing for ME is to find new quilting motifs to use on the longarm and as I have another quilt on my machine ready to and inspired as I was, I got busy with it yesterday.

Only to find something is not right with the bobbin and I have alot of stitches now to unsew.

Yea me!

New Favorite Ad

Never Too Old To Learn. Right?

lI have retrieved the PC from the best Techie on the Planet. The fellow has puled me back from the brink once more and I asked him if I could reveal him to others in need of computer help. So if you live in the SE Louisiana area and need computer help, reach me and I will put you in touch. I will not post his name and number here.

I can't tell you how frustrating it is for me to be able to get as far as I can into a computer and understand how to resolve issues but not be able to delete these insidious programs! I buy the suites that protect against viruses and spywares. I know how to program them to check weekly to keep the harddrive safe. But this is the second time I got an infection. The first one, ok I deserved it. Never go looking for a photo of CarrotTop. It ain't worth the grief.

But this time? No. I have no idea when this worm wriggled in or from what dank swamp it crawled out of and into my C drive. And this worries me!

I don't want to go there again!

But clouds and silver linings, yeah yeah yeah. It HAS forced me to learn to use this new MAC OS (leopard) system. And once I find what I am searching for, it isn't diffy at all. It's just that Apple has named things differently than I expect and so the learning curve is slowly arching in my favor.

As such, I just spent this early hour learning to DownLoad photos from the camera. With the PC, I merely plug the cord into the USB slot and automatically the XP sys opens a window to prompt me what to do.

Not the same with Maccy. I waited til I figured I wasn't going to see any pop window and went in search of the program to do the deed. So now, I can UL photos to this blog and reveal where we stand with the barn.

It is taking on the siding now, and Steve framed a 4 foot square on the gable facing the front street where there will be a quilt block painted and inserted shortly. I am going to be one of 3 barns with quilts in this area on LA and hope to start others to join us. How COOL would THAT be?

This is a barn in the USA with the block I THINK I will place in the frame.

But HERE is a shot of the opposite end of the barn. That opening is the "hayloft" door. There will be a pulley on a post from the roof

Whether there will be any hay up there is another matter. I understand the view from up there is great but I ain't climbing any ladders to find out for myself. I'll wait for proper stairs!

A Few New Things To Show

Two months ago, I found that some of the marigolds I had planted from seeds were getting seriously leggy and thin. One bunch broke off and had scraggly roots still attached so I put it in an empty bed. Look at it today! That, my friend, is a CLOSE UP!

That was beautiful, now here comes scary. We went for a bike ride yesterday and as we took the bikes out of the screened patio, look what John found, wrapped around the handlebars!

"Here's a nice quiet place to SHED!!!!!!"

This, clearly, was BEFORE the chickens got in there and scratched around.

I Think I Know What You're Thinking

"So, what is happening with the barn?" Am I right?

NOTHING. It's been a slow week, what can I say?

But the back plot it 97% plowed under and awaiting a cover crop to be sown. The remaining 3% is a few pepper plant stragglers with more pep. And the raised beds now have the following either planted, sown or actually up from seeds:

3 Kales with one more to go

Arugula (AKA Rocket) (who knew?)

Neon Chard

Butter Crunch

Romaine

Mesclun

Broccoli

Raab

Beets

Carrots

Rutabaga

Red Onion

Yellow Onion

Green (pencil) Onion

Shallots!

Garlic

English Peas

Snow Peas

Spinach

So that is a pretty good spread for the winter crop.

Still growing out there is eggplant & peppers, and you know we dug the sweet potatoes up.

Louisiana is a brilliant State. There is no month in the year when you can't either be planting or harvesting something!

We planted a fig tree that Marty gave us last week and a Mock Orange from their garden. While I was at it, I shifted over a Banana Magnolia that I had planted too close to the fence (couldn't get the mower between) (and the chickens had thoughtfully dug half out of the ground in search of grubs anyway) AND PROTECTED ALL OF THIS with a circle of chicken wire.

Those rascals dig at everything. Now get this: I noticed some fat caterpillars chewing on the parsley (wouldn't you?) so I pulled the leaves with the worms and gave them to the girls. The would not touch them! I guess they taste bitter...

It's been almost a year since those chickens came to us and I am so glad we did this. They are everything I had hoped the would be. And smart! But they are sweet...... I lock them up at night and now the are all on the same roost, all in a row with Stu at the front, closest to the door, protecting them. We got 6 eggs yesterday. I don't know why I mention this other than it doesn't happen every day and we have 7 layers. That has never happened and I don't expect it will.

John BBQd a brisket yesterday and it was so delicious. I will beg him to do this once a month now that the weather has turned cooler.

It's almost 6am so when the day lights up, I'll go shoot a few photos and add them.

GGRRAAARGHH

UP-DATE:

Ok so 'm doing the techno-shuffle all morning because my PC got another virus and Keese is sorting it out *(Thank you God for Keese) and in the between time, this has forced me to address using the new old Mac Pro.

Which is fine and a great machine except: It does the thinking for you until you hit a snag and have to configure.

Take MAIL for example. I "set up" the mail program which means it did it for me using what it thought was the correct info but it isn't. I tried everything I could think of to configure it but in the end called ATT.

ATT and I worked it out and this took hours, but it is working (sort of).

Meanwhile, I had let the chickens out and forgot to latch the gate between them and the veggie beds.

When I went out there just now to treat them to bread, I found them in there, loose, scratching up the planted seeds and feasting on the broccoli and raab.

So I put everything back to rights and forgot I had an apple pie in the oven.

AARRRRGH!!!!!