Imbolc (or oimelc) is coming up this week. I’ve never been a big celebrator of holidays but since I’m learning about paganism I’ve decided to do something for each of the pagan feasts. I’ve found that it has helped me to be more in touch with the natural world around me and more accepting of [...]
Compare and contrast the Iraqi election with the election last November here in a “battleground state.” Iraqis have braved death threats in order to vote. Ohioans sued the government because long lines were discrimatory. People can’t actually be expected to be inconvienced, can they? This just underscores my long held belief that most Americans are [...]
Take the quiz: “What Historic Woman Are You?”Queen HatshepsutShe was an Egyptian princess who wanted to be King. So she pasted on a fake beard and called herself King Hatshepsut. Everyone knew that she was a woman, but she had to pretend to be a man because Egyptians couldn’t have a blatantly female ruler. You [...]
I just got the weirdest letter from my mortgage company. We strongly recommend that you carry coverage equal to the replacement value of your property. Please contact your agent or insurance company and direct them to increase your coverage amount to a minimum of $9,999,000. I need almost 10 million dollars of insurance to replace [...]
There were two articles in this week’s Newsweek that got me thinking. The first was about women in science. It was discussing the controversy surrounding Lawrence Summers remarks about inherent differences in men’s and women’s ability in science. First of all I think that his comments are probably being taken out of context. He was [...]
Have you ever had an existential moment courtesy of electronic equipment? I was cleaning stalls this afternoon. The wheelbarrow was bogged down in snow that was deeper than expected. I was clearing a path for it by walking the path I wanted the wheelbarrow to take. As I was jumping up and down to pack [...]
I’m waiting for a serviceman to come install a satellite receiver downstairs. He’s supposed to be here exactly between 12 and 5. I’m thinking about what I should be doing right now. I should be either sewing or cleaning stalls. Both of those activities require me to go somewhere where I can’t hear the door [...]
It just keeps getting better and better. Last night the husband came home and said that his mother’s car’s transmission died. My response was, “WooHoo! Guess she’s stuck in GA!” I don’t think that was what he was looking for. This would be the car that we bought for her after hers was repossessed because [...]
I have a sick kitty. Poor Groucho went outside today and decided to use the empty stall where I’m storing grain for a litterbox. I fed the horses and came back to shut the door and he was still in there. Lightbulbs go off in my normally morning-addled brain so I pick him up and [...]
We’ve lost our contractors. I know that I have previously characterized them in this space as the world’s laziest contractors because they had a three day work week (in a productive week) and a three hour work day. But we haven’t heard from them at all for a week. This corresponds to my husband calling [...]
I’ve spent the morning messing around with my template. I truly have no idea what I’m doing but I stare at the source for pages that have things I like until I figure out how they did something. Then I totally mess it up while trying to recreate it on my blog. Eventually I get [...]
The timeline of my Sunday: 10:00 AM – Evil mother-in-law leaves for Georgia to stay with crazy brother-in-law 10:01 AM – Rejoicing begins here and continues all day 9:00 PM – Mother-in-law reaches her destination 11:00 PM – Mother-in-law calls to say that her mother, in a nursing home here, is dead The irony of [...]
Right before my sewing room was demolished to make room for the game room I started a bird quilt for a co-worker. I got most of the first block done. This weekend I got an overwhelming urge to sew so I put the room in some semblance of order. Ok, not order but I grabbed [...]
She’s gone!!! (She last post if you have no idea what I’m talking about.) I didn’t know how motivated my husband was to get rid of his mother until he said that he would tow her car out if he couldn’t get our long driveway cleared enough for her to drive her car out. She [...]
I’ve been breaking into spontaneous renditions of the Battle Hymn of the Republic for 24 hours now. I’ve been afraid to post anything for fear of jinxing myself but my joy is overflowing so I must share. My husband’s mentally ill brother had a breakdown. He lives far away from here and he went on [...]
Things like this always start out so innocently. A friend emailed me to tell me that another person was trying to contact me but had my wrong email. Would I please contact her? Next thing I know I’m trampsing through the woods in 6 inches of snow when it is 17 degrees out trying to [...]
I should be in Florida right now. I went to a conference there last year and I thawed. I didn’t realize how cold I had been until I spent 5 days in Florida in January. But, because of various construction projects around here I don’t have much in the way of disposable income. Today I [...]
It is cold here. It has been cold all week. On Monday I turned the horses out because the sun was shining and it was pretty out. I thought they were having fun. Spirit was running around with more zip than I’ve seen in a while. I thought he was happy because of the sun. [...]
I went to my library’s book discussion group tonight. I absolutely hated what we read this month but it was probably the best discussion that I have been to. We read TRUMPET IN THE LAND, a play by Paul Green written in 1972. It is about a pacifist settlement of Christian missionaries in Ohio caught [...]
I like IRON CHEF. You need nerves and guts of steel to watch the Japanese version because they are always doing things like blending lobster brains into their soups for a bit of extra flavor. Then people actually eat it. That show was probably the inspiration for FEAR FACTOR. The dubbing on that version is [...]