Culture War my.....

Susan, you and the Liberal Party may attempt to dress this topic in cubic zirconia and silver lame all you want, but the fact that predominately white rich countries are funding abortions for poor predominately dark skinned people in African countries, in the name of maternal health, is a disgustingly passive aggressive form of genocide in every way shape and form.

We won't even get into the hypocrisy of Ms. Clinton coming here and preaching how we must emulate the Obama administration and fully fund African abortions thru Canadian taxpayer dollars when the US administration does not publicly fund abortions back on their own home planet. NTTAWWT.

If I had a choice, Heh..as if anybody had a choice where they spend our money, I would be more interested in the set up of mid wife training centers in Africa so medical help would be available during pregnancy and birth where there currently isn't. Give valuable income earning skills to the African women, imagine what that might do for maternal health and infant mortality.

It's your money

But you gotta know that your life lacks any real meaning when your fixing your "self esteem" problem with this.

Plan B it is then.

I'll cut to the chase, I was recently diagnosed with MS, a relapsing remitting form of MS that I am working very hard to get into some sort of  remission.

This is a real pisser to be sure, as we had plans, very ambitious plans of striving for self reliance, not necessarily off grid, but able to take care of our selves no matter what the world does to it's self. We have been working very hard to get out of debt, actually we have decreased our debt load by about 100g's in the last two years. That will NOT be a waste regardless of what ever we chose to do.

We have been spending lots of our "free" time looking at differing areas to buy and set up our sweet homestead, that is definitely on hold or if the Cattleman has his way will NOT happen now. I can totally understand his objections, he does not want me to over do it, he wants to keep me in the fine prime condition he is used to and he certainly does not want to be handling all that responsibility, in addition to our current commitments should I become incapacitated.  He wants to stay close to civilization, closer to his work just in case...I get it, I just do not want to give up that particular dream. Reality sucks some times, no?

Plan B it is then. Just what is plan B? Make do with our approx a half acre edge of a village lot. Grow what we can, drop the farm animal idea, make contacts for proper meat sources, maybe raw milk if we are lucky to find a brave farmer, make it work with in our reality as it stands today.  Now to find out what I can do to get this city to change some by-laws, I may not be able to have a goat here, but surely I can get chickens approved? Right?  Maybe I will start with an easy one like getting rid of that "no cloths line" by law. I'm thinking I just may go bat shit  crazy and put one up with out seeking permission of my masters. I'll just see if some dumb ass tries to make me take it down. Just try it dumb ass I'm dying to put this pissed offedness to good use, come and get me coppers, come and get me.......

8 AM and alls well.

A very strange thing is happening this morning, an completely unheard of thing in fact. It's 8 AM and I am the only one awake. This never happens.

I woke up this morning a 6:20 ish, no sound of children playing in their beds, no bathroom flushing or showering sounds, silence. The Cattleman is long gone to work already. He does not wake me regardless of what he does in the morning, I guess us Mammas have some kind of sleep/awake filter to tell us what each noise represents.

Cool, I'll just pop down stairs and make a pot of coffee and get a head start.

Waiting...... I'll just enjoy this blissfully quiet coffee and plan my day.

Waiting..O.K. Breakfast alone it is, get everything ready for the crew when they wake up..

Waiting....... I'll just squeeze in my yoga practice and have no interruptions or crawlings/pilings on for a change of pace. My that was relaxing and done quickly...thats different.

Waiting......... you don't suppose they "all" swallowed something and choked to death during the night? Naaaa.

Waiting,........dang Could have slept at least an extra hour and a half.


Waiting.............

It's gonna be a hot one!

I don't like going into the real city, too many rude folks, too damn many folks period if I was honest, but for this I will make an exception. Carlos Santana is coming within two hours drive to me. Who hoo!



I'm there and I already have child care in place, about 90 days notice for them to screw up their courage don't cha know. ;)

What the hell Matt?

Looking at the views this delightful video has received it is clear to me that I am just about the only person that has never seen it before.

I loved it Matt thanks.



Oh  Snap! That sucks Matt!



Oh wait.....




Don't care anymore Matt. But thanks for the wonderful five minutes and the smile that was pasted on my face for a while. Bye  Matt.

You bringing me down...Billie.

I have this song stuck in my head, Why? I have no clue, WT Heck is such a  serious song floating around in my grey matter and on such a bright, beautiful morning with the birds chirping happily away? Must be all that hating going on in the world has bothered me more then I thought.

 






I think I will go back to you tube and maybe I can replace this fabulous mood killer with God bless the child or Summertime...I certainly hope so.

Ah...... here it is:



Now stick.................... damn it stick.

Glue

Back in the day, about a million years ago, when we had only two or three children, the Cattleman screwed up his courage ( and speech/pitch I think) to ask me that question that every Husband/man  eventually asks or at the very least obsesses over.

Honey why don't we make love as much anymore?

I must have just blinked uncomprehendingly or looked really blank while trying not to say the first few things that came to my mind. I can be pretty sarcastic or bitchy (some might say) if I don't "put head in gear" before "starting the motor of my mouth".  He went on to explain that his concerns, besides the regular "guy " concerns, how it is important for Mommy and Daddy to be in sync to provide a happy, stable home for the children. (The old "Lets do it for sake of the children" trick, really?) How often a couple has sex is a great indicator of their love and commitment to each other. He was, as he said "concerned" by lack of frequency.

I thought about my busy day, the two kids in  11 months, ( I was supposed to be sterile, heh heh) the evening baths just done, the supper dishes still waiting, How sometimes I felt I was alone....drowning in the laundry, in what ever was on my list left to do.

Cattleman my dear, I do NOT need to have my back glued to the mattress in  order to feel loved and energized by you,  I need to feel loved and energized by you, that's the glue that keeps me with you and  puts my back on the mattress, do you understand the difference?

Now was the time for him to be all blinky and blank.

"Look at it this way, I'm talking about a kind of  foreplay." Well didn't he just perk up like a happy puppy? He could do foreplay, he knew foreplay. Motivated men are experts in learning foreplay don't cha know.

What kinda foreplay he wanted to know.

I'm talking about foreplay starts when you get up in the morning. Huh?????? More blinkity, blankity lookity from him. Making me a pot of coffee in the morning before you leave for work, me waking up and it's ready, you did that for ME. That's foreplay and it's only 6 am. Taking the kids off  for a walk or Daddy time, so I can clean up in peace and gather myself, thats foreplay, that is my glue. Get it?

Er sure, I get it.

Fast forward to this morning, the Cattleman knows I am in some serious denial about an issue and having a wee struggle, (That issue is a different issue and I won't deal with it until I am out of denial about the issue I am stubbornly in  denial of, if that makes sense.)

He wakes up and announces: Lets all pack up and go for a trek today, you just get yourself ready and I'll do the rest, we'll go out and HAVE BREAKFAST.

I'm in. ( glue)

He packs the snacks, the drinks, the toys, camera, all the other million things one might need and off we go. (Glue)

We go to one of our favorite places and order the breakfasts and he stops the waitress and asks her hold mine until the rest are finished, gets a very weird look from her I might add. She looks at me and I nod grinning. Kiddies breakfast , he eats and we chop sausages, jam toasts, slop up spills, squirt third helpings of ketchup, they finish up, he gulps the rest of his coffee, tells the waitress to please put my order in now, he takes them to the bathroom.

Put on your coats kids Mom's gonna have a HOT breakfast this morning. Take your time Honey we have things to do, see ya when your ready.  (Glue)

There I sat among the carnage of my family's breakfast having a hot fresh cup of coffee, a hot breakfast, I didn't make, didn't have clean up. It was heaven. I might haved appeared as if I was I alone, but I soooooo wasn't. I must have had on the silliest face.


When I finished I went out to the Van and the family had decided to go for a drive to this arty farty village that was about two, three hours away that I wanted to visit. They had it all planned out, the drive, the stops, the poking around antique or Art shops, the whole thing.   We had a great day, a fantastic day, cattleman driving, the sound of kids playing, sing songs, music in Ipods, the ding of DSI's, even snores at times, Me sitting loving it all, holding his hand occasionally, sometimes talking, about nothing important, it was perfect.

I was just so darn happy and somehow I thought of that night a million years ago, when we only had two or three children.............since that night? I've never felt like I was drowning alone again.

That man has developed some serious glue.

When Your Strange

I have this tune Stuck in my head, never knew I was soooooo influenced by movies in my musical ghosts. 60's stuff...man

Technical difficulties....

Blogging has been a bit of a pain in the tuckus lately, for some bizarre reason my computer (?), the blogger program (?), who knows what (?) has been sending drafts to be published with out my asking it to.

I don't appreciate it much and it bugs me when things don't work the way it should...I get bugged alot I guess, as life seldom goes according to any plan. I'm working on it, the "bugs me" part anyway. :)

Our protectors at work

If your gonna steal my money to fund the Police, instead of machine guns could we just buy these guys some balls please?

Who would have thunk it?

Over 30 Million men with out a chance of having a female mate or a "normal" life. It's not like women tend to have a settling effect on most men, giving them an opportunity to tame themselves. The law of unintended consequences:

In Kunming I saw another of China's harsh faces. You may have seen pictures of children in cages, or tethered to posts, and gasped at the cruelty. But you did not know the half of it.



Their seemingly brutal parents are in fact trying to prevent their children from being stolen.

Boys are kidnapped by families who want a male heir and do not care where they get him. Girls are taken to be brought up as child brides  for cherished, spoiled boys, who will not have to worry about the increasing shortage of girls.

What  ???? Never say that the One Child Policy Government Policy could have negative repercussions. Primo example of institutional forward thinking. It will be interesting to watch this demographic work it's way thru.

Not exactly dealing with Rocket scientists here....

MY friend Joel has some how stumbled across a couple of 007 wanna be's whose sole mission is to discredit the Tea Party movement by recruiting "concerned" Americans, plotting strategy, infiltrating the movement and and exposing them as Joel puts it, by acting the way they think good Tea Partiers should act: Homophobic, Stupid Racists. They decided the best way to go about this is by starting a forum dedicated to the cause.......Sweet. Please read his post I can Not Improve upon his presentation.

The Ultimate Answer to Kings: "We've got to get organized!"

Now I have  few questions about these bright lights, How is it they are surprised that their genius has been exposed? Are they, like other folks under the impression that the INTERNET is PRIVATE?  Did they really imagine that not one of the dreaded homophobic, Racists morons would find out about their secret private club on the Internet and they wouldn`t tell anyone else?

The following quote from their forum, which is destined to become a classic, has me a tad confused.

This topic will be dedicated to how we should crash Tea Parties. One of the most obvious ways we can do this is by blending in with the crowd and yelling out racist slurs like Jews, Nigger, and Fags. One of us should record the act and that should get good media coverage. 

Points for clarity of intention, but I`m a little fuzzy on the whole Jew hate thing. As a matter of fact I kinda need a play book on the whole Jew hate thing. I thought the Tea Party was an orchestrated, non-grass roots, Astro-turf movement that the Republican Party started. I thought that the Republicans are in the pocket of that massive `"Jews are taking control over the world with their global businesses and money to enslave the poor unsuspecting dupes" Cabal.  It just doesn`t compute that they would be haters of the hand that  feeds them, buys their offices of power and ensures  better conditions then the  present and future slaves. I`m a little fuzzy how that works.

I also thought that the famous left was a little PO`D at the Jews because they are being mean to their neighbours of the Middle East, who make all their lovely money with ......... Oh my Gosh.... CO2 emitting oil, which is causing Climate Change, formally known as the world crisis "Global Warming". Nope that doesn`t work either...... or is it just American and Canadian Oil that is bad? See how fuzzy this hate all is?  I really need a play book, Cole's notes version will do......

Jews need better PR or something because they are being discriminated in the Hate department. Folks are really lazy with the names and labels. Jews have been around for a reaaallllly looooong time and the very name of their race is a slur. How rude and simplistic is that?  Homosexuals have several very imaginative names, I can think of like six off the top off my head to be called and instantly everyone KNOWS it is meant as a slur.  Same with folks whose ancestry started in Africa, I can think of several besides the one used. Italians? Yup, they got 'em good names, Persons of Latin extraction, No I don`t mean the Pope, yup they have quite a few too. Do you see how Jews are being short changed in the imagination department.


The Cattleman reminded me that back in the day `Shylock`was a very efffective  slur, but he`s thinking that has fallen to the wayside in popularity.  A) Because young folks never have to actually read, let alone "classics" at school anymore. B) Mario Puzo and his friends have supplanted the image with brass knuckles, base ball bats and something to do with "sleeping with the fishes".


But the best part of it all is you gotta love how some folks are so dedicated to their cause, so worried about the maltreatment of minorities by these nasty Homophobic, Racist morons, who aren`t behaving as expected,  are more then willing to throw their higher principles under the bus and perpetuate, manufacture disdain and  hate against a group, a new identifiable group, just because they do not appreciate the Tea Partiers upsetting their comfy rotten to the core apple cart.. Isn`t that kinda special?

H/T Joel

Pardon Moi????

I am not philosophically opposed to the idea of pardons

I think there are several types of crimes that pardons are fully appropriate. Actually I think they are waaaay toooooooo many laws that turn good folks into criminals...but that is a different post entirely. What is pardonable in my view? Possession of Mary Jane in the old days when they frowned upon it in a serious fashion, folks who committed a crime that is no longer a crime. Non-violent Break and Enter, robbed a Mac's ten years ago, turned your life around and haven't re-offended? Prostitution? I am sure there are many that I haven't even a clue about. Having said that, you knew there is going to be a but and here the big but be..


I find this hard to understand, actually this kinda burns my britches:

"" A former junior hockey coach imprisoned for sexually abusing his players in a case that shocked the hockey world has been quietly pardoned by the National Parole Board, according to a report Sunday by The Canadian Press.

Graham James, sentenced to 3.5 years in prison in 1997, was pardoned three years ago by Pierre Dion, a clinical psychologist in Ottawa and full-time member of the Appeal Division of the National Parole Board, the wire service reported. "'

I don't really want to get bogged down in this particular case, but this guy threatened/raped a 14 year old Sheldon Kennedy at the point of a shotgun for crying out loud. Sexual molesters have a very notoriously high recidivism rate. To add insult to injury this criminal is even currently under investigation for two new charges that have come forward apparently since his pardon.

This man molested at least four young boys, two of which became high profile players and the evidence, consequences of  his deeds have been in "our faces" as a result. How the parole board can miss the life long implications of such a crime on the victim is beyond me. I had thought that in this case, because some of the faces and fall out were so familiar,  that the victims and their lives would become real and tangible for the public and for the officials in charge......and even clear enough to the parole board.

Interestingly:

In 2006-07, the parole board issued 7,672 pardons to people convicted of lesser offenses, 7,076 pardons to people with more serious convictions, and denied just 103 applications.

Almost 15 THOUSAND applications were received for a pardon, only about 1 HUNDRED were denied, some cases "worse" and some not as bad as this. OM-Goodness! Think their might be a problem with this pardon system? Are we to think only less then 1% of applications were unworthy?  Are we to believe that only good criminals apply and that is why the denial rate is so low?



Something stinks in the state of  Denmark, Canada.

No knead to fuss Artisan Breads

Back in 2006 the New York Times (that other Gray Lady) had a piece on this new technique of making a perfect loaf of Artisan bakery quality bread in your own kitchen.

It is indeed easy-peasy, measure simple ingredients, mix with a spoon, let stand for 12 to 18 hours, no kneading, no proofing,  no fuss throw it into a dutch oven type covered pot . The crumb? The crust? The flavor? No worries. All you need is 5 minutes here and five minutes there and a place to put it while the unique dough does it's magic.

Here is the basic recipe and technique:

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting

¼ teaspoon instant yeast

1¼ teaspoons salt

Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed.

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

If I have made this clear as mud for you, here is a demonstration:






This simple time saving, idiot proof way of making fa-bu breads has swept thru kitchens across the world and has created a market for recipes since then. Who would have thunk you could improve on such an easy thing|? Well ya can and bakers have.

How about making the loaves more healthy, not just white flour? Whole grains? Gluten free your cup of tea? Yup!

How about making a batch of dough big enough to make up to four loaves that will stay good in your fridge for up to two weeks that you can just cut off a piece and use in 5 minutes? Yup they have figured that one out too.

I would hazard a guess that two of the best known/selling books based on this phenomena are:

Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking

and their block buster sequel of healthy breads, Healthy Breads in Five minutes a day

Jeff Hertberg M.D. and Zoe Francois, the authors of the above two books have an awesome web site where you can go and get recipes, trouble shoot and their blog is pretty good reading too. I appreciated this when I first started, not only did it answer any questions I had but it gave inspiration too. They even provide their master recipe for white Flour dough so you can give this whole concept a try.

My only problem has been refrigerator space, when you make your own breads and this dough lasts up to two weeks, variety makes you spoiled for choice and I like choices, lots of choices, some for buns, some for breads, jeepers this bread would be great with pasta, whole wheat with the chili, focaccia for the sandwiches,  some 10 grain buns to go with the turkey, cheese bread buns for lunches, but this recipe is super for that stew and on and on I go...

What?????

Conversation in my living room:

The Grey Lady:  I think I went over board with  the Anne Coulter thing on my blog.

Cattleman:  What do ya mean?

The Grey Lady:  You know.

Cattleman:  No, I never saw it.

The Grey Lady:  Huh?

Cattleman:  I don't read your blog unless you ask me to,. that's your private place.

The Grey Lady:  Private? The internet is private? Since when?