I hated watching my little boy climb onto the bus 4 months ago. It seemed like we had just brought him home from the hospital and now the world was stealing him away. I'm selfish and didn't want to share my boy. Once the world discovered how amazing he is, they'd want a piece of his precious childhood and it grieved me to face that.
But now, I'm more amazed at him than ever. 4 months into the school year, he is reading simple books, writing simple sentences and expressing himself in new ways. A child-sized roll-top desk stuffed with scrap paper and crayons is his favorite activity now. He spends much of his time writing letters and mailing them in old envelopes. Before breakfast this morning, Mara delivered a letter from Isaac.
"Deere Mom I Lov You"
It's a keeper, alongside with the letter to Santa he dictated to me 2 years ago and the combine he drew on the back of a Frisch's place mat. The tears of sadness that I cried 4 months ago are turning into tears of joy as I watch my baby grow into a kind, loving boy.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Security On The Fly
A friend sent me an email just a little while ago about a church receptionist in a high-risk area who worried about being robbed whilst counting the Sunday collection. She considered pepper spray for protection, but her local police department had a different suggestion...Wasp Spray!
If you've ever used it, you know that it will spray 20-30 feet fairly accurately, with little or no over-spray to blow back in your face. It will also temporarily blind the intruder, leaving you free to escape and call police. Is it as effective as your grandpa's rifle? No. Will it ruin the culprits day? Absolutely. And can you imagine a more innocent-looking weapon to have sitting around on your desk at work?
While I'd be hesitant to become overly-reliant on a can of wasp spray, I think it's a terribly clever idea and one that apparently fit the bill with the secretary!
If you've ever used it, you know that it will spray 20-30 feet fairly accurately, with little or no over-spray to blow back in your face. It will also temporarily blind the intruder, leaving you free to escape and call police. Is it as effective as your grandpa's rifle? No. Will it ruin the culprits day? Absolutely. And can you imagine a more innocent-looking weapon to have sitting around on your desk at work?
While I'd be hesitant to become overly-reliant on a can of wasp spray, I think it's a terribly clever idea and one that apparently fit the bill with the secretary!
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Preparedness Companies
Whilst waiting for my grain mill to be delivered, I've been scoping out different companies, trying to find the best deals on bulk grains. There are so many companies out there, it's hard to know who to trust! Which leads me to wonder...who do my cyber-friends do business with?
My favorite company so far has been Emergency Essentials. Admittedly, some of their prices aren't the best, but I deal with them solely for their return policy. "30 day Unconditional" is a good thing in my opinion, plus they offer a 1 year guarantee on any non-food item, above and beyond any warranty offered by the manufacturer. Gotta love that!
I've also been checking out Honeyville Grain company and a company called PrepareCo. Anyone dealt with these folks before? PrepareCo's return policy unnerves me, I must admit.
So who do you buy your goodies from?
My favorite company so far has been Emergency Essentials. Admittedly, some of their prices aren't the best, but I deal with them solely for their return policy. "30 day Unconditional" is a good thing in my opinion, plus they offer a 1 year guarantee on any non-food item, above and beyond any warranty offered by the manufacturer. Gotta love that!
I've also been checking out Honeyville Grain company and a company called PrepareCo. Anyone dealt with these folks before? PrepareCo's return policy unnerves me, I must admit.
So who do you buy your goodies from?
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Prayers for Granny Magdalene
We just found out that our dear, old neighbor Magdalene isn't doing very well. After a couple months of abdominal pain, she was diagnosed with pancreatic and liver cancer and hasn't been given a very good prognosis. The doctor said he could see no reason to pursue chemotherapy, so the agenda now is to keep her as comfortable and happy as possible.
My kids call her Granny Magdalene, or some variation of that. Isaac called her 'Magawee' early on and loves to visit because she always has a full cookie jar and lets him feed the fish in her goldfish pond. Mara is a little more reserved, but loves to visit. Magdalene has been almost like a surrogate granny for me, having lost my grandma a long time ago. We're distantly related (by marriage) and I love to hear stories from Magdalene about my grandparents and my mom and aunts when they first moved to Ohio from Kentucky.
Anyway, please remember Granny Magdalene in your prayers tonight. She's a Believer, and ready to make the trip home.
My kids call her Granny Magdalene, or some variation of that. Isaac called her 'Magawee' early on and loves to visit because she always has a full cookie jar and lets him feed the fish in her goldfish pond. Mara is a little more reserved, but loves to visit. Magdalene has been almost like a surrogate granny for me, having lost my grandma a long time ago. We're distantly related (by marriage) and I love to hear stories from Magdalene about my grandparents and my mom and aunts when they first moved to Ohio from Kentucky.
Anyway, please remember Granny Magdalene in your prayers tonight. She's a Believer, and ready to make the trip home.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Why Food Storage?
I must confess that, sometimes, when people find out that we have an ever-growing food storage going on in our basement, they give me a strange look. As if a second head has sprouted out the side of my neck and they're not sure which set of eyes to look at. It's so outside of the mainstream that folks don't know what to say. We're a comfortable society in which we don't have to work at obtaining food, so why stock it? It just sort of magically appears on the shelves at Walmart or Kroger or Piggly-Wiggly. Yes, we have to work to pay for the food, but beyond that, food acquisition is pretty much up to other people. We don't grow it, pick it, transport it, stock it. Most of the time we don't even have to cook it. It's all done for us. But what would happen if one link in that 'grow it-pick it-transport it-stock it' chain were broken. What then?
What if excessive rainfall in America's Breadbasket wiped out grain harvests? Oh wait. That's already happening. So where are our grains going to come from? Flour for our Pop-tarts? Corn for our corn syrups, ethanol, and hundreds of other products? Will we buy it from another country or just do without?
What if labor shortage prevented a California crop from being harvested? What if California companies couldn't afford to pay their workers?
What if rising gas prices or infrastructure issues kept food from being trucked in from California to the rest of the United States? Look at these statistics...if California couldn't export produce, what would you eat?
Crop Percent Grown in California According to the 2007 Census of Agriculture
Pomegranates: 100%
Kiwi: 97%
Olives: 96%
Plums and Prunes: 94%
Brussel Sprouts:93%
Avocados: 90%
Nectarines: 89%
Garlic: 85%
Celery: 83%
Grapes: 83%
Cauliflower: 82%
Broccoli: 81%
Lemons: 79%
Tomatoes: 76%
Lettuce: 73%
Nuts: 65%
Carrots: 62%
Strawberries: 59%
Spinach: 59%
Not that I'm picking on California. Just saying.............
Now, what if Walmart couldn't keep the stock on their shelves? We all expect the food to be there, and if a problem arose, people would form orderly lines waiting for the problem to be resolved, right? You've seen the Black Friday videos, haven't you? Of riots, tramplings, fist-fights and brawls. For a toy. Or a TV. What if it were something important, like food, water, medicines? Think Black Friday-Supersized!
And beyond, the 'grow it-pick it-transport it-stock it' chain, what if you simply couldn't afford food any longer? What if you lost your job? Or the dollar collapsed and it would take a wheelbarrow full of money to buy a loaf of bread? It's happened before. Look at post-collapse USSR. In this weird day and age, I think it's prudent to look beyond Walmart and consider what you'd eat and how you'd eat if there was an interruption of some sort in our society.
So really, what's the harm in having a little extra food socked away for a rainy day? You keep insurance on your home, right? And on your car, just in case? Why not on your health and well-being? This week, commit yourself to picking up just a little extra. A bag of rice. A box of pasta. Some canned veggies. Whatever your family will eat. Just for insurance purposes. Wouldn't you sleep just a bit easier tonight knowing that, no matter what, you'll have enough to eat tomorrow?
What if excessive rainfall in America's Breadbasket wiped out grain harvests? Oh wait. That's already happening. So where are our grains going to come from? Flour for our Pop-tarts? Corn for our corn syrups, ethanol, and hundreds of other products? Will we buy it from another country or just do without?
What if labor shortage prevented a California crop from being harvested? What if California companies couldn't afford to pay their workers?
What if rising gas prices or infrastructure issues kept food from being trucked in from California to the rest of the United States? Look at these statistics...if California couldn't export produce, what would you eat?
Crop Percent Grown in California According to the 2007 Census of Agriculture
Pomegranates: 100%
Kiwi: 97%
Olives: 96%
Plums and Prunes: 94%
Brussel Sprouts:93%
Avocados: 90%
Nectarines: 89%
Garlic: 85%
Celery: 83%
Grapes: 83%
Cauliflower: 82%
Broccoli: 81%
Lemons: 79%
Tomatoes: 76%
Lettuce: 73%
Nuts: 65%
Carrots: 62%
Strawberries: 59%
Spinach: 59%
Not that I'm picking on California. Just saying.............
Now, what if Walmart couldn't keep the stock on their shelves? We all expect the food to be there, and if a problem arose, people would form orderly lines waiting for the problem to be resolved, right? You've seen the Black Friday videos, haven't you? Of riots, tramplings, fist-fights and brawls. For a toy. Or a TV. What if it were something important, like food, water, medicines? Think Black Friday-Supersized!
And beyond, the 'grow it-pick it-transport it-stock it' chain, what if you simply couldn't afford food any longer? What if you lost your job? Or the dollar collapsed and it would take a wheelbarrow full of money to buy a loaf of bread? It's happened before. Look at post-collapse USSR. In this weird day and age, I think it's prudent to look beyond Walmart and consider what you'd eat and how you'd eat if there was an interruption of some sort in our society.
So really, what's the harm in having a little extra food socked away for a rainy day? You keep insurance on your home, right? And on your car, just in case? Why not on your health and well-being? This week, commit yourself to picking up just a little extra. A bag of rice. A box of pasta. Some canned veggies. Whatever your family will eat. Just for insurance purposes. Wouldn't you sleep just a bit easier tonight knowing that, no matter what, you'll have enough to eat tomorrow?
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Weekly Top Ten Revisited
Last year, about this same time of the year, I did a list of the top ten skills I wanted to learn during 2009 and I'm pretty pleased to see that I accomplished quite a few of the goals on my list. Some of them are ongoing; cheese-making for instance. Mozzarella cheese is 'brain-dead easy', as a friend of mine would say. Cheddar and hard cheeses are a little more involved. We started our garden plants from seed and hatched chicks this summer, check and check. And the kids loved our homemade pop. Maybe too much.
I never learned sourdough bread making, but I've practiced long and hard at yeast breads, so I think it's a draw. I haven't picked up a pair of knitting needles since last winter, but there's still hope. Ditto for needlework. So now it's nearly time to bid 2009 adieu (and good riddance) and give thought to 2010. Here are a few of the things on my list for next year.
1. Knitting. I'm going to learn to knit, darnit.
2. Candlemaking. It's not rocket science, I just haven't taken the time to do it.
3. Grain-milling. I want to learn how to mill grains and prepare something edible with them.
4. Lacto-fermenting. Beyond sauerkraut, I mean.
5. Find a knock-off recipe for Jack Daniels Vanilla Spice Egg Nog.
6. Root cellaring. I've got an area of crawl space that is wicked cold in the winter. Not freezing, but cold. Why not use that space?
So these are a few of the things that I'm aiming to learn over the next 12 months. I'm sure some of them will be dropped from the list and others added, but like any list, it's a work in progress. Now it's your turn. Spill the beans. What's on your list for 2010?
I never learned sourdough bread making, but I've practiced long and hard at yeast breads, so I think it's a draw. I haven't picked up a pair of knitting needles since last winter, but there's still hope. Ditto for needlework. So now it's nearly time to bid 2009 adieu (and good riddance) and give thought to 2010. Here are a few of the things on my list for next year.
1. Knitting. I'm going to learn to knit, darnit.
2. Candlemaking. It's not rocket science, I just haven't taken the time to do it.
3. Grain-milling. I want to learn how to mill grains and prepare something edible with them.
4. Lacto-fermenting. Beyond sauerkraut, I mean.
5. Find a knock-off recipe for Jack Daniels Vanilla Spice Egg Nog.
6. Root cellaring. I've got an area of crawl space that is wicked cold in the winter. Not freezing, but cold. Why not use that space?
So these are a few of the things that I'm aiming to learn over the next 12 months. I'm sure some of them will be dropped from the list and others added, but like any list, it's a work in progress. Now it's your turn. Spill the beans. What's on your list for 2010?
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Disconnect
Deer gun week has started in our area, so hunters are out en masse trying to bag the big ones. In a couple of days there will be a front page picture in our local paper of a hunter squatting next to a big dead buck. And then begins the tirade. The online edition of our paper has a comments section where folks are able to sound off on various topics and spout their opinion no matter how abrasive or inane. Already people are up in arms regarding deer hunting.
There seems to be 3 major groups that feel the need to vent and they are 1)earth-crunchy animal lovers, often vegetarians 2) clueless, disconnected folk who think that all deer are Bambi and 3) rednecks. I respect the vegetarians who think it's wrong to eat any sort of meat. I respect the rednecks who eat what they shoot. In fact, my friend Jim oft referred to me as "sawed-off little redneck". (Of course he was from LA.) It's the clueless folk who get my goat. They gripe and moan at the cruel, cold-hearted hunters who wipe out the deer population, then they sit down with a burger from McDonald's, feeling bloated with superiority for not killing a gentle, helpless creature. Um. Hello? The phone is ringing but noone is home.
I think one of the major problems with our society today is it's total disconnect from reality. People say killing a deer is cruel and cold-hearted, but it's okay to eat a cow that was confined in a 2 by 4 pen, repeatedly jolted with a cattle prod and possibly skinned alive. That's okay because when it arrives at the Walmart meat department, it's pretty and packaged and in no way resembles an animal. Oh, and the fact cows are big, smelly and dumb, that makes it okay too.
Not like a deer.
Deer are sweet, gentle and have retained their natural human-like qualities. They're friendly with skunks, talk to rabbits and fall in love. Disney's 'Bambi' proved that. And everyone loves Bambi, so we shouldn't eat him, but Daisy the Cow, we'll just throw her under the bus because everyone knows what cows are really like.
Does that make sense to anyone but the aforementioned clueless folk???
How different things would be if we were forced to raise and process our own meat. Or if we were privy to what really goes on in factory farms and slaughter houses. But for now, we are blissfully ignorant of all the ugly things in life, comfortably superior to the animals that feel the need to hunt their food, be they human or another species. We're disconnected from reality and we're happy that way.
At some point, the delusion MUST give way to fact. Right?
Best wishes,
The sawn-off little redneck.
There seems to be 3 major groups that feel the need to vent and they are 1)earth-crunchy animal lovers, often vegetarians 2) clueless, disconnected folk who think that all deer are Bambi and 3) rednecks. I respect the vegetarians who think it's wrong to eat any sort of meat. I respect the rednecks who eat what they shoot. In fact, my friend Jim oft referred to me as "sawed-off little redneck". (Of course he was from LA.) It's the clueless folk who get my goat. They gripe and moan at the cruel, cold-hearted hunters who wipe out the deer population, then they sit down with a burger from McDonald's, feeling bloated with superiority for not killing a gentle, helpless creature. Um. Hello? The phone is ringing but noone is home.
I think one of the major problems with our society today is it's total disconnect from reality. People say killing a deer is cruel and cold-hearted, but it's okay to eat a cow that was confined in a 2 by 4 pen, repeatedly jolted with a cattle prod and possibly skinned alive. That's okay because when it arrives at the Walmart meat department, it's pretty and packaged and in no way resembles an animal. Oh, and the fact cows are big, smelly and dumb, that makes it okay too.
Not like a deer.
Deer are sweet, gentle and have retained their natural human-like qualities. They're friendly with skunks, talk to rabbits and fall in love. Disney's 'Bambi' proved that. And everyone loves Bambi, so we shouldn't eat him, but Daisy the Cow, we'll just throw her under the bus because everyone knows what cows are really like.
Does that make sense to anyone but the aforementioned clueless folk???
How different things would be if we were forced to raise and process our own meat. Or if we were privy to what really goes on in factory farms and slaughter houses. But for now, we are blissfully ignorant of all the ugly things in life, comfortably superior to the animals that feel the need to hunt their food, be they human or another species. We're disconnected from reality and we're happy that way.
At some point, the delusion MUST give way to fact. Right?
Best wishes,
The sawn-off little redneck.
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