Turkey Soup

This is a simple soup that I threw together the other night in an attempt to use up left over turkey. Enjoy!

Turkey Soup

Needed:

3 carrots peeled and sliced

1 small to medium onion diced

2 medium to large potatoes diced

1 clove of garlic minced

Turkey (¼ cup - 2 cups what ever your preference)

To Make:

Through everything in a medium size sauce pan fill with water about 1 inch from the brim. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low. Simmer about 45 minutes or until vegetables are tender.

Snow! & My Baby is Growing Up!

Wow, I thought that it was just supposed to rain today! Before I left the bus lot this morning, the snow started coming down, and just got heavier throughout the morning. It was so pretty! It seems so rare that we actually get snow here. We are usually “lucky” to get ice. I think that it is supposed to do this again on Friday.

Bryan and I dug up the tomato and pepper plants over the Thanksgiving holidays with the hope of keeping them alive through the winter. We will see how that goes. Right now they are in the garage and I am debating dragging them inside by the backdoor.

Feather will be 6 tomorrow. It seems like yesterday that she was born. She is so grown up now. Recently she has decided that she wants to go to bed and sleep at night. A lot of this is to do with the fact that she knows that in order to go on the bus with me she has to go to sleep. She is not making it in time for me to wake her up at 5 yet, but she is getting there.

The fact that Bryan and I have spent a very significant part of the last six years trying to get her to go to sleep at a decent time, and now like a switch being flipped, she has decided to do it on her own, just floors me. Score one for the “unschooling” philosophy. I am not sure if we will put her in school or not. If we do, I am going to do my best to remember this “lesson” that she has taught me, and not get stressed about the little details.

“Scratch” aka “Mittens” aka “Ms. Fuzzykins” aka “Reach Up” is still with us with occasional appearances by “King”. I am assuming that they have been dumped by someone. So hopefully I can find them good homes. Scratch needs a house and a dogless family to rule she tolerates the boys, but if they get close to her little house or food, she gets upset. We think that King would be happiest as a barn cat or inside with time spent in the great outdoors as he seems to be very adventurous.

Very Good Gaza Blog!

I found this blog through Free Gaza. It is written by someone who sailed with them last year I believe, and stayed on to be a witness on the ground. I encourage everyone to take a look.

http://ingaza.wordpress.com/

So We Are Now Ruled By A Cat

Oh, what a week. It has been crazy! I am driving school buses again. I had missed it -- promise I am not completely crazy! I haven't had a set route, so Feather has been at home with Bryan. He was ready for Friday to get here! We are now out for Thanksgiving... A whole week! When I go back, I think that I will get to drive the same route that I had the last part of the week. Then Feather will get to go.

Last year I had a regular bus with 60 elementary kids, and about 40 high school (not at the same time!). For now, I am driving a special needs route. I really like it, and the kids are great, so I hope that I get to stay on this one.

During all of this, the cat that found its way to our backyard is still here. She has taken over everything now and rules the household from her perch by the sliding glass door. It started raining Friday night, and Bryan went out in the middle of the night to fix her house so the rain could not get in. He has also been heating up gel packs and taking them out to her so she can stay warm at night. I hope that we can find a home for her soon. I haven't seen the other cat, but Bryan said that it has stopped by to eat a few times during the day. What makes me so angry about this is that both of these cats are so friendly, that they had to have been some one's cats at some point. Why do people think that they can just dump animals when they get tired of them?!?!

I will stop there and not go off on a rant. I have been putting in close to 12 hour days between training, learning routes, and driving (oh if only I got paid for all of that! lol), so I have not paid attention to what is going on in the world. Maybe that is a blessing :).

I did happen upon Last Call with Carson Daly last night, and Lisa Hannigan and crew were on. She sang Lille, and as always was awesome. Why do we not hear her on the radio here or she her videos on VH1 and MTV? (When they play them that is.)

So I close,

In case I don't get to post anything for a while, Happy Thanksgiving!!!

And The Lion Goes....ROAR!!!!

Okay, this is coming just a little late, but I have been just a little busy. If you will recall -- loyal readers... In my last post, I talked about how I was making costumes for Feather. The wolf suit is still in the works (have to locate something for the tail - will be on the look out for discarded stuffed animals that are black / gray), but the Lion costume was finished, ripped apart and refitted at last minute and in a panic. It is amazing how fast I am able to work under pressure. You just need to be sure to cover your ears while I am at it! lol. In the end, Feather used a head band and tail that she had to go as a cat from house to house. The lion feet are just so big, that we were worried that she would trip.

She happily made the rounds, hissing at everyone, then came home and changed into her modified lion costume to hand out candy. She loves the costume, which is a nice reward for my labors. The only drawback is that she wants to wear the hood and tail EVERYWHERE now. lol

I hope to get started on the wolf suit soon so she can enjoy it during our brief Texas winter. The restriction that I am putting on myself for this is to only reuse materials to make it. I did the same for the lion costume. I have my eye on an old gray sweatsuit moldering away in the attic...

The Lion Costume:

Materials

Two old goldish polyester curtains - I am learning the importance of weave and fabric quality! I had a race to get this stuff hemmed before it completely unraveled on me!

The fur and stuffing from two old stuffed bears - These were just forgotten in the attic, and had seen much better days.

Leather from an old pair of boots - I wear two different sizes in shoes, so I have to buy two pair of everything. These were from the cast offs, that I didn't want to throw away.

One old pair of socks - Attached the feet to the socks. I need to work on feet. She has to have help getting them on, and for a play costume that does not make a whole lot of sense to me.

Hot glue and glue gun - I used this to attach the leather to the bottom of the feet, paw pads, claws, and fur to the feet. Really came in handy although not sure how it will do when washed.

Elastic to make a waistband to attach the tail

Needle, Thread, Scissors and hands!

I would advise that you really try to fit this as you work. I kind of eye-balled it and ended up taking the hood and tail off of the tunic and letting her wear it with her clothes because the tunic did not really fit well. She added it to her dress-up box to play with, but I was disappointed that it did not work how I saw it in my mind.

Now for pictures...

Where The Wild Things Are

One of my favorite books ever, is Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. When I heard that they were making a movie based on the book, I was worried. Very few times, is a movie able to live up to a book. From what I have seen of the trailers though, it looks to me like it is going to be really good. We are all excited about seeing it. Feather wants me to make her a costume like Max's. I think she is still going to be a lion for Halloween, so there's two costumes, but I am inspired, so we will see how they work out. I did get a rough sketch done of the design for her loin costume. I always think that these are irrelevant until later on when I come across them. This will be the third year that I have made her costume. I have to admit that this is something that I really enjoy. I do finally have some ideas for clothes. Hopefully I can be patient enough to see them through! It is so frustrating not having a sewing machine. When I get an idea, I want to put it together, and get frustrated by the time it takes to stitch it all by hand. The curtains I made did not take near as long as I thought, and they turned out okay, so I am going to try and just get to it. The weather out is really nice. I was out in the backyard checking on the veggies, and it was wonderful. All soggy and gray with a nip of cold mixed in. Hearing the water seeping into the ground - I love it. Then later Feather and I took the boys for their walk. It was misting and getting dark. Again lovely.


Video I found on You Tube with clips set to All is Love by Karen O and the Kids from the soundtrack.

My Chicken and Dumplings

As the weather turns cooler, a childhood staple makes it's way back into my kitchen. Growing up, making chicken and dumplings, was a simple affair. My mom would just throw a chicken into a pot, cook it until it fell apart, remove the bones and skin, add pinched off biscuits, and voila!

This was good enough for me, until I met Bryan. To him, chicken and dumplings represented a holiday ritual. His grandmother's chicken and dumplings graced the table at family gatherings and were a thing of legend.

So for the last eleven years, I have been on a quest to replicate her chicken and dumplings. I was never fortunate enough to eat hers, but after loads of recipes, I have finally achieved my own that I am happy with. It also helps that Bryan claims it is very much like hers. ;)

Chicken and Dumplings is a dish that is very easy to mix and change around to make it your own. The key is the dumplings. I was raised on the canned biscuit method. It is fast and easy. You can add any vegetables, in fact, in the near future I want to attempt vegetarian and maybe vegan versions.

We'll see.

If you want to make your own broth, just take one chicken, add onion, carrots, salt, pepper, celery, your choice of herbs ( I had fresh rosemary and basil at hand, so that is what I used), and garlic. Cover all this with water, and bring to a boil. Reduce to low, and cover. When the chicken was done, I took it out, deboned and skinned it, putting the bones back into the pot to simmer a while longer. Then, I poured it through a mesh strainer and let it set in large bowls to cool. After this, I skimmed off the fat and poured into jars. This was my first time to make my own broth, but so far it has turned out okay.

So here is my version of chicken and dumplings with pictures.

Ingredients:

2 - 4 cups chicken broth
2 - 4 cups water
**You will need about 6 cups of liquid altogether, you could use all water, or all broth, just make sure you have enough liquid to cook everything**

1 cup cooked, chopped chicken
3 large carrots peeled and chopped
2 cans of biscuits
3 fresh leaves of basil
Salt and Pepper to taste
¼ cup of flour (optional for the gravy)





************************************************************************

Preparation:

1.) In a medium size sauce pan, combine the broth, water, carrots, and chicken.



2.) Snip or tear the basil and add it to the pan.




3.) Bring all of this to a boil.



4.) While you are waiting on the liquid to come to a boil, go ahead and get the biscuits ready. You can pinch them apart, but I prefer to cut them into quarters.



5.) Once the liquid starts to boil, reduce the heat a little, and add the dumplings. To avoid overcooking, it is best to cook them in two separate groups. The tricky part is getting the dumplings cooked, but not overcooked. As soon as it looks like they are done, take one out and cut it in half. When they are done, transfer them to a bowl. I have a casserole dish that I like to use. To keep them warm, I put them in a warm oven, but you don’t have to do this, just keep them covered. Cook the second batch and transfer everything to the casserole, bowl, or platter, and cover.



6.) You can stop at this and devour them, or take it one step further and make a gravy. To make the gravy, pour out at least half of the broth, add the flour a little at a time (if you have a sifter on hand, shaking the flour through this helps a lot.) Whisk the flour using either a whisk or fork. Continue doing this over low heat, until you reach the desired consistency.




7.) Pour the gravy over your chicken and dumplings and serve!

On a Happier Note....

Okay, I have to post something positive after the last one. I think that any horse people who read this will appreciate it, and since I STILL have not started the school/unschool blog, here is this...

Feather goes through phases of liking different animals. She does not get into playing "dress up" in the traditional sense, but loves dressing up like animals. For the longest, it has been lions. In fact, this is what she is going to be for Halloween.

Her newest thing, is horses. One of her favorite movies is "Spirit Stallion of the Cimmarron". She saw a video of a cute foal the other day on YouTube, and since then she has been obsessed. Spirit plays non-stop. She has to have black pants on so her legs are like Spirit's, and her favorite game is to make Bryan be the bad guy who tries to catch Spirit. So we are having wild horse round-ups in our house on the hour. It involves Bryan "roping" her and then I have to rescue her. This usually involves shocking Bryan with the T.V. remote. We are not sure were she picked up that the bad guy should be shocked.

On top of this, she saw a video of a foal being born, so she has appropriated one of the couch cushion covers, and that is her "birth sac". If you have seen this Spirit movie, you know that it starts with him being born. So that is usually when she wants to use her "birth sac". She even draws out the plans of the bad guy using the rope to catch her, and then her subsequent rescue. It's a little crazy, and we are a little tired of playing along, but she is having a blast, and I guess at the end of the day, that is what is important.

I have also signed her up for girl scouts. She will be a Daisy. I did not do this growing up, but I think that she will like it. The "sculptures" in the pictures are of a snake family that she had Bryan help her make with play-do a few months ago. ;-)

And So I Was A Fool.....

I am going to try and get all of this out in one post. Scrape up all of my anger, frustration, and throw it out. Ha, if it were only so easy! As you probably know, all of the world and the UN has condemned Israel for operation Cast Lead. When this was going on, the whole world sat horrified at what was being carried out. At the same time in all of this, there was this tiny little spark of hope. The people of our country elected Barack Obama, because he promised to put an end to the sort of atrocities such as were occurring in Gaza. Americans were poised to reclaim our status in the world as the sane and just defenders of those unable to defend themselves.

Now, just a few short months later, it has become clear that we were wrong. I was worried when the Free Gaza ship was hijacked, and innocent civilians kidnapped and thrown into prison. Other governments came forward and spoke out against Israel. From the U.S., there was only ridicule to be found on Fox News.

It was expected that Israel would dismiss the Goldstone report, but when Obama did the same, that was the final straw. I am not sure if the man has even come close to keeping any of the promises that he made. If anything, he seems to be going in the exact opposite direction.

What kind of message does this send to a young person in Gaza, Iran, Iraq? By electing Obama, I felt America was saying not only do we want to fix our country, but we want to fix our mistakes. I am ashamed that I voted for this man. I try really hard to be open minded and forgiving, but I do not do well with being blatantly lied to. At least with Bush and Cheney, they did not claim to be knights in shining armour. They pretty much said that they were going to screw everyone, and they did. Smirks on their faces, middle digits in the air.

You can make all of the excuses in the world for him when it comes to policy. Health care (caved, caving) Wildlife, Environment (umm... has he even touched this yet?). For those things, you might be able to say, "Well he has to deal with the House and Senate etc.". Condemning the Goldstone Report, however is on him. How he has dealt with Israel is on him.

I think that you have to know when to cut your losses and move on. I desperately pray that he will turn around and I will have to say that I was wrong, but I don't see how it is possible. I would just like to hear what he has to say to the victims of Cast Lead.

Something To Get Hopeful About?

Please keep the wild horses in your thoughts and prayers. The Pryor Mountain ones are up for adoption today. There are many others out there who need homes. I do ask that if you are planning on getting a horse, please adopt one instead of buying and contributing to the (as yet) unending cycle that is going on. Just as people are encouraged to adopt dogs and cats, the same needs to be for horses. US Senator Mary Landrieu spoke on C-Span, I guess it was yesterday, making an effort to get the R.O.A.M. bill pushed on.

For all my cynicism and general distrust of my government, it did my heart good, to see her speak. Perhaps it is possible to find open ears to issues that concern us. I remain skeptical - you can thank Obama for that -. I could devote an entire post just to that. What has happened to him? Has he been brainwashed, or was he fooling us all along? It is like he has forgotten that the American people elected him, and that the world adores (well at least we did) him. I hope and pray that he finds his backbone soon. There is so much riding on his promised change. I know that he is just a man, but he does not have to bend over backwards for China, and he has to stand up to Netanyahu. It is starting to get embarrassing.

Enough of that. Fall is here we have a reprieve from the heat. It is fun to be outside again. As I write this, the sun is shining, it is supposed to be a great weekend.

I will close with the video of Senator Landrieu

Sunny Days Are Here Again

Okay, my theory here is to get this out while there is still loads to do. I usually think about what I want to say on here so when I sit down I can get it out and posted as fast as possible. Those of you with children (two, four legged, furry or feathered) will understand. Well, those of you out there who allow said children to run the house. ;-) I saw somewhere this thing about "the strong willed child" lol. I am wasting time...

Anyhow, the sun is shining, and for once this is a beautiful welcome site. I can feel my body, the cells of my skin literally reaching towards the window and escape out doors. I can't remember if I have mentioned yet that I am out of the white box and into the (for now) white kitchen. The upside to this is that it is in a more central location, Bryan gets his office for peace and quite (yeah right), and it is easier to keep an eye on Feather. The downside, is that Feather tends to want to play games on the computer and have the TV on at the same time. War ensues lol.

Bryan and I are still pouring over phonics books etc.. I think that we are going to try and work out an official curriculum, but at the same time try to keep it relaxed. We both want to try to use "real world" applications when teaching Feather. This way she will (hopefully) be more likely to remember and use what she learns. Something exciting to me is that when she is reading, she is already looking at the word and if she doesn't know it, is using the context of what she has already read to help figure it out.

Mar has posted a lot of good information on her blog. This link shows the horses from the Pryor Mountain round up that are available for adoption. Looking at them, I am still amazed at how they look. Living in the wild, on their own, yet their hooves are in good shape. They might have a few scratches here and there, a few knots and tangles in their manes, but they are really nice looking horses. I am just hoping that they get to go to good homes.

Also of note - The U.N. released a report last week stating that it had found evidence of war crimes on both sides during Israel's attack on Gaza last December. As expected, Netanyahu came out criticizing it. What disgusted me was that Obama criticised it. This is not why he was elected. When everyone in the world is saying that you are wrong, there are times when you need to take a long, hard look in the mirror. By funding and supporting Israel, the United States is just as guilty and as responsible for the innocent people who were slaughtered, and continue to suffer. More and more everyday, he is just proving that he is not what he claimed to be. I think that this makes him even worse than Bush. I really despair over what is going to happen to our country. I really doubt that he will be re-elected. God only knows who we will get next.

The Toronto Film Festival was this past week. Something that I found interesting was that many actors, artists, and "movie people" signed a letter protesting the festival's celebration of Tel Aviv. This is the The Toronto Declaration: No Celebration of Occupation . Please, please support these people! As anyone familiar with protesting against Israel knows, the people who signed this letter have been wrongly lambasted. I have a long overdue post hopefully coming soon about the Global BDS Movement. You can visit the website here.

I will close here. Hopefully I will post more this week. Maybe get the "school" blog up and running.

Rainy Days

I think that we have received at least two - three months worth of rain in the past two days. I have enjoyed it, although I think that I can see now how living in these type of conditions could make one long for the sun. Of course with the rain comes taking the boys out. Happy does not like to go out in the back when it is wet or raining, but is just fine and dandy trotting along the sidewalk. I enjoy walking in the rain thank goodness! I am always amazed at their ability to control their bladders. Normally, Oscar goes out every five minutes. On rainy days, he makes it just fine on two to three trips out. I think that he just likes making a patrol of the yard. So yesterday I went out with Feather and the boys on our usual route. It was really nice. It was cool, but not cold. We were all soaked by the time we got back, but we had a lot of fun splashing in the puddles. There were not a whole lot of people out, so it was like we were in our own magical, gray, wet world.

**Had to break to take Feather and the boys on their walk before Feather's Scooby-Doo movie came on. The rain stopped. So it was really nice. We saw two adult ducks and one young one. Other people were out with their dogs. We saw another Shi-tzu, that got Happy excited. We are still filming the hummingbirds. There are definitely three. One has a red band around its neck. Maybe a Ruby Throated? Bryan stuck some coins on the feeder for scale. Feather and Bryan are having a small battle of epic proportions over this. She wants to stick more coins on it, but can't reach. Bryan is trying to get her to paint. After standing outside on her step stool for a couple of minutes, she has decided to paint.

The MTV Video Music Awards are coming on in forty minutes. I am only really watching them because Russell Brand is hosting again. He was the only good point last year. The Jonas Bros. bit was worth all the rest.

The wild horses still need help. Marhas been keeping me posted. Again, The Cloud Foundation Blog is a great place to keep up. The Times Online (UK) has a good article about the Pryor Mountain roundup. I was especially pleased that they put in the bit about the ranchers getting to lease the land at $1.35 a head per month. There is a lot of digging that needs to be done and then put together. I will try to do what I can.

Something I was a bit upset about - Bryan and I usually watch Bill Maher. His "New Rules" are almost always funny, and discussions are at least sometimes interesting. I already have at least a small issue with his movie "Religulous". It was okay, but I found it disturbing that while Christianity, and Islam seemed to be fair game, he handled Judaism with kid gloves. He did have an orthodox rabbi who was against the occupation of Palestine, but no where did we see the insane Zionists who have done so much to wreck the world.

Then, this past Friday for the first show of the season, who does he have on to talk about health care, claiming to be on "the people's" side? None other than Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY). I will be honest, I did not really know who he was. Bryan and I both thought the guy seemed a little "off". So later, we searched, and low and behold, he turns out to basically be an "Israeli Agent". I say that, because he claims that the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization) is a terrorist organization. I would go on, but you get my drift. The guy is basically a nut job. This is who Bill Maher has on for health care talking about single payer etc..

I was disappointed to say the least. I could go on, but I think it would be best to save it for another post. Here is the link for theWikipedia entry for Rep. Weiner if you are interested.

Life Through the Haze of Thera Flu

AAuurrgha! I feel like crap! I am rarely sick, so when I am, I do not do it well. It was Sunday afternoon I think, just felt VERY tired. So I took a nap, woke up and it felt like someone had poured acid down my throat! A couple of hours later, the aches set it. I tried various concoctions of Thera Flu and tea, rum and honey. They seem to work about the same. I know traditionally, it is supposed to be whiskey, but I don't have that so had to improvise. I don't know if it is the flu or what.
It hit Bryan last night, of course he has not let it phase him. It has always amazed me how he is able to handle himself. He has to deal with so much but he just carries on. I still worry though. He is already dealing with so much, then to have anything extra...

Feather seems to be okay, and I am able to function, although my body still feels odd. My skin no longer feels like it has been peeled off, beaten, and slapped back on. It is the worst being the first to get sick. It is pretty much a guarantee that everyone else is going to get it too. So you worry because you actually know how they are going to feel, and there is the worry of being able to take proper care of them. So at least I can function now if they need me there is comfort in that.

Feather went to her first birthday party Saturday. It was at Chucky Cheese. I wonder if we picked up something then. She had a good time, except when they where singing happy birthday, she crawled under the table, and refused to sit with the other kids. She stuck by me the whole time until towards the end she decided that she wanted to go around with the other kids. I am thinking of trying to get her to two story times a week instead of just the bedtime story. Maybe this will be a way to help her build confidence in group settings.

I watched Obama's speech to students earlier. I did not see it as being anything out of the ordinary. Definitely not worth all of the blathering and going on that we have had to hear leading up to it. Why do people have to be so stupid? Sorry I have been sick. When I am sick, my patience erodes, and the bitch within seeps out.

Shouldn't people be more concerned that children are fed crap in the line of George Washington chopping down the cherry tree etc.? I think that children would benefit immensely from being taught the facts. Then again, the adults in this country can not even agree on facts, so God who knows? I do know that I will teach Feather to question everything, and do my very best to teach her the truth from the beginning. ( A huge bonus about homeschooling ) Seriously, I had really worried about this. I knew that she was going to have things in her text books that were going to be outright lies. Then, I was going to have to explain all that to her. I had to deal with this growing up, and it really bothered me that she was going to have to experience it as well. So I am not sure if I will ever push her to to "school". Even when it comes to college. I want her to study things that are fulfilling to her, and not to be a part of the "rat race".

Cynthia McKinney's aunt recently passed away before her time. My heart goes out to her family. Still, I am glad that she shared her story. Heath care in America is a joke. I will share at least part of my own story someday. I will save that for another day. You can read Cynthia McKinney's blog post here .

The round up of the wild horses in the Pryor Mountains continues. There are witnesses there who are watching and reporting what is going on. It saddens and sickens me that this is going on at all. My friend Mar continues to update me. Also,The Cloud Foundation blog as well as ,Pryor Mountain Wild Mustang Center's blog are good sources to keep up with what is going on.

A bit of happiness here - I am catching up on some of my listening. ( I try to make a point to listen to all of the bands and musicians that I have as friends on Myspace. I hope to eventually devote one blog post a week just to music. We'll see.) Anyhow, right now I am listening to, Milk they have a different sound. I am looking forward to hearing more from them.

I better be off to work on our sunflower seeds. We have tried to get some pictures of the process, as it is our first time to harvest sunflower seeds. It has not gone exactly to plan with the feeling like crap and all. They are now in need of roasting so off I go!

Thanks For the Publicity!

OK, with all that is going on in the world today, it is very likely that President Obama's address to school children this coming Tuesday would have been over looked on the national consciousness. Thank you to all of the hyper-paranoid, looking to bitch about something, Republicans, we are all now well aware of it.

At first, I thought it would be the usual local thing, but we are in one of the "reddest" areas of the country, so you know.... Then it made headlines on Yahoo. I am by no means a fan of Obama right now. I really do not know what is going on in his mind sometimes these days. It seems that he is constantly caving in to what he or his advisers think the American people want. Has he forgotten that the American people put him in office to not just fix things, but to give the crazies the finger? Not the nicest way to put it I know, but you get where I am at with it right? You do have to give it to the Republicans, at least they do what they want. All I know, is that I am just sick and tired of it.

Except for now, we will be watching and doing activities around the speech. I am thinking of having Feather write down what she wants to learn, or something like that. I think it will be kind of fun.

Also, I was glad to see that our government rebuked Israel on the settlement issue. Although I and I bet the world are not going to take them serious until they put our (can I put a special clause on my taxes that none of it go to Israel?) money where their mouth is.

With the way things are going right now, I think that we would be better served if Obama had just concentrated on undoing the Bush things. An example of this is taking place right now. There has been a large public outcry to halt the Bureau of Land Management from rounding up the wild horses. A bill has passed the House of Representatives, and is waiting on the Senate that will restore the wild horses' protections that were stripped away during the Bush years.

Yet as I type these words, there are horses who were born in and have lived their entire lives in the wild now scared out of their wits in holding pens. As far as I know, no horses have come to harm so far. However, there have been a lot of foals who have been born a lot later than normal due to the birth control drugs that some of the mares have been given. I used to think that it was okay to use birth control on the mares, until I learned about this. Mares come into season, and foals are born at specific times to ensure that they are strong enough to make it through the winter. Being born late, they already face a tougher time, but this makes the current roundup that is going on in the Pryor Mountain Range all the more perilous.

This all just seems so senseless to me. My friend Mar has been keeping me up to date on everything. You can read her blog here. Another great source to learn about the horses of the Pryor Mountain Range is at The Cloud Foundation.

I am happy that this is getting "main stream" media attention. I am including a video from the Today show. I especially like how right after the BLM guy talks about desert they go to the shot of where these horses live. All lush and green. So what's the story now?

The Today Show video

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

To School or Not To School, That Is The Question...

OK, so the first day of school has come and gone. Feather's schedule was fixed, her hours on track, new clothes and supplies duly tracked down. We were ready to go with plenty of time for pictures etc.. Feather was excited. I was nervous, but excited too. I was really worried about how she was going to do because they have to be there from 7:50 am until 2:50 pm.

This is already going to be kind of long, so I am going to cut to the chase. It did not go well at all. Had she only been required to go half a day it would have probably been okay. She was in shock for several hours. Bryan and I decided that school was not the best place for her, and I withdrew her the next day. If you need more info, e-mail me. I will say that when she finally came out of it and was back to running amok, I was so relieved.

I think that part of the reason I am ( if I am being honest) upset about this still is that my faith in the public school system was severely shaken after this. I was a "teacher's pet" though school. I might have thought it a waste of time especially the last three years of high school, but I adored my teachers. Even the strict ones that everyone disliked, were often times my favorites. I thought that there was a lot to be done to make public schools work for students. I think that the whole idea of high school, and maybe even middle schools in the U.S., desperately need to be reworked to give students real world experience.

Before last Monday, I thought that my greatest challenges would be making sure that Feather was challenged and going in the right direction. Now, I am doubting having her in the system at all. This does not alter my feelings about teachers. I do feel that most are doing the best that they can with what they have. Even Feather's former teacher is a nice person who seems to enjoy her work, and had Feather been adapted to a formal setting, it would have probably gone okay.
Feather finally got back to normal later that night. Never would I have thought that I would be glad to see her jumping off of the couch. It has Bryan and I asking ourselves do we want her conditioned to go through sitting at a desk and standing in a line. (Aside from being a daycare and there is nothing wrong with that, this seems to be what kindergarten is about.)

From day one, we have talked about wanting to teach her from the beginning to see things differently. Not how society, the government, or even we tell her how to see. I do not want her to have to fit into a mold to be successful in life, and I want her to learn that success does not always entail dollar signs. I want her to be able to think for herself, figure out what she wants out of life relatively early, and to go after it.

For the past week I have been scouring the Internet, looking at different options, reading studies. The conclusion that I have come to is that you have to find what is right and what works for your child and family. What is right now, might not be the answer next week or next year. It is my job as a parent to guide her and provide opportunities.

I am planning at least once a week to give an update on how things are going in this area. What course of action we decide on. I do know that without a doubt she has to get into some sort of class where she is away from us. Even if it is just an hour at a time. This is one of our first goals. Whether she goes back into a traditional school setting, or stays at home and does home schooling or unschooling, she needs more interaction with her peers. We are going outside every afternoon so she can play with her friends on the street. I did find out that we have more or less been unschooling for the past 5 years. That has worked pretty well, so we will see.

Oh! Were Do The Days Go!?!?!?!?!

Wow, so summer is almost over! I remember as a child getting out of school with the whole of summer vacation looming ahead. Then would come the inevitable boredom, followed by the excitement of fresh, new school supplies, and a new school year. Feather finally is back on track with her hours. We are on "normal" time again. Feather got to take friends to the pool today, and then was mean. I was horrified, so I am worried about how she is going to act with the other kids at kindergarten. I don't want her to be the mean kid that no one wants to be friends with.
The garden is still going. My tomatoes are still not producing, but the okra is growing like crazy, and the giant sunflowers are starting to bloom. I think that we might even get green beans, as they are growing and blooming even though I planted them late. I am attempting to compost again. I need to find a manure source. Can not believe I am saying that! We have several stables around us, so it is most likely just a matter of picking up the phone and then carving out the time to go get some.

Not sure if I mentioned it before, but in order to save money, and be "green", we are not buying new furniture. This means that we do not have a lot of furniture that most people would have, but we are making it work. Of course my current desk is a card table, so far it is holding up. I love Craigslist and Freecycle.
The fact that we only have a car, and it does not like to go long distances, hampers our efforts a little. Finally, I found Feather a dresser the other day. So excited! All I had to do was bring it home, sand it a little, then put on some polyurethane. Now, she has a nice, good as new dresser! The only thing, is that I need to find a more environmentally friendly substitute for the polyurethane.

Long hair

Wow, I have not written in awhile. Well, it seems like forever! I had intended to post my ratatouille recipe, but I am still working on it. It started out as a way to cook the eggplant that Feather insisted that we buy. I had not eaten eggplant, or aubergine in ages. Could not remember if I liked it or not. I do - what a surprise! Since I love all vegetables, this is not a surprise. As Feather tends to take after her father when it comes to eating, I am constantly looking for ways to get her into vegetables. She loves the movie Ratatouille, so when I saw the recipe for ratatouille in the cookbook, I thought that I was on to something. She was very excited at first, but of course, I am the only one who eats it. So when I work out a recipe that I like, I will post it. Until then, you have to read my rambles.

The weather has been really nice. It has rained almost every day this week. Feather's Sunflowers are almost taller than the fence. Our yard is soggy, and I am spoiled. The rain is clearing out for awhile though, so I will have to remember to water everything.

Every day, I meant to write something, but one thing would lead to another, and I would get distracted by something else.
I did cut my hair though. I think that the last time I did this, I was about seven or eight, and growing my bangs out. My hair was in my face and my mother told me to put on a head band, and I grabbed the scissors and snipped my bangs instead. In my defense, they were those plastic kind that would dig into the skin behind my ears, and just make me irritable. They would keep the hair out of my face though.
Now, let me be clear in that it is not like I just took a huge risk in cutting my own hair. It has not been above my shoulders since I was twelve, and then it was just at my shoulders. For the past several years, it has been either at my waist, mid-back, or somewhere in between. My husband teases me when I where long skirts that people will think that I am one of those polygamist women.
If you had seen some of the haircuts that I have given my husband, you would understand. So it was to my waist, and driving me crazy. It is something about those few extra inches, that I can not stand. Maybe other long hair people can relate? I really feel ridiculous paying someone to basically trim it, so I finally grabbed the scissors and went to town. I started off sectioning it off and being careful, then finally lost my patience and just went to town.
I do still have hair, although this wicked voice was going "cm on live dangerous". Maybe this is what happened to Brittney Spears when she shaved her head.
Everyone else was going "She's crazy! Lock her up!" Not me, I could relate. I have had many of those episodes over the years, but was just too chicken to go through with it.
I do hope one day, I can work up the nerve to go short, it would be a shame to go my whole life with long hair. Feather's hair is getting really long. She refuses to have it short. Of course it is very difficult to maintain, and always in her face. I am not looking forward to the battles we will have over this once school starts.

When Will Enough be Enough?

OK, so I was a bit out of the loop this weekend. My in laws were here, and we had a lot of work to do. So I had a bit of break from the usual. I did get an e-mail from my friend Mar, about Cloud's herd. If you are not familiar with Cloud who is a mustang living with his family in the Pryor Mountains of Montana, I urge you to go to the Cloud Foundation website .
A bill recently passed the House of Representatives that will protect the wild horses, but it still needs to get through the Senate.

These horses need our help. The Bureau of Land Management wants to remove 70 horses from this herd. I worry that the long term plan here, is to eliminate their genetic viability. If they do this, then I am sure that there are other groups - ranchers are the first that come to my mind, as every time I read about a "ranch", they don't actually own very much land, but lease thousands of acres from the government. This puts wildlife that should be protected in competition for food and water with the rancher's animals. Eliminating the horse's genetic viability, threatens their claim to their land. I would like to add here, that I do come from a farming and ranching background. While I understand the challenges that ranchers face trying to make a living, how high of a price are you willing to pay?

Then, I get online this afternoon, and what do I see at the top of the news on YAHOO?!?!?! "Israel on Iran: Anything it takes to stop nukes". Now, if you took in this headline in a calm, never-before-heard of Israel, you might think, "Ooo, they are gonna lead some big diplomatic mission!" For those of us who know Israel all too well, this headline reaches down into you, and drags up alternate feelings of rage, helplessness, and despair, leaving behind a steadfast determination to do everything possible (and in non-violent manner) to change this.

So while I am so very angry about everything I hear out of Israel, and the United State's relationship with Israel. I cling to hope, and I write about it, talk about it, do everything I can to educate my fellow Americans to what is really going on over there. I just wonder, if Israel does a pre-emptive strike against Iran, what is the US going to do about it. This should be the straw that breaks the camel's back, and forces the United States to recognize Israel for the real threat that it is.

Talk about a terrorist nation! Arresting their kids for refusing to kill, and throwing them in prison, does not sound like a democracy to me. Large groups of activists having to accompany farmers in the West Bank to their fields, armed with cameras and cell phones, often being arrested, and or assulted by Israeli Defense Force (IDF) soldiers, just so the farmers can work their fields and feed their families, is a disgrace. Don't forget that they have kidnapped and killed US citizens, and I don't even know where to begin with Gaza! We have bombed and invaded other countries for less than this! Yet the United States is pretty much all that stands in the way of Israel being punished for UN violations.

My light in this is that I know that there are thousands of people out there who feel the same as I do, and that number grows every day.
I recommend checking out ibn ezra . They are great about getting news out about what is going on in the West Bank. I follow them on Twitter, and they are just a great source of pictures, videos, and links to news articles.

I just want to know, when will enough be enough?

To close on a somewhat positive note, we had a storm yesterday, lots of rain pelting down, lightening (not so positive about that is that it started a couple of fires.) The power even blinked out twice. It is nice and cool out today, and we have chances for rain all this week!

Things Around The House Intro & Part 1

OK, so my husband and I are into like not buying things. At the same time, we both like to make things, and although we recycle, have a desire to keep stuff out of the chain altogether. So, what has been born out of that are several projects that are very simple were we have re-purposed things. I am posting the introduction to this along with the first part. I have at least five, I might do more if people enjoy them, or if I feel that I have something interesting to share. So, enjoy!

IT IS RAINING!!!!!!!!!!

It's raining!!! yay!

Something I Am Working On

This is part of a project that I am working on. It as created in Fireworks, that for all my gnashing of teeth am really starting to enjoy using. Now I am on to Flash and more gnashing of teeth, but hopefully it will be worth it!

Books, Books, Books!

I am not sure if I have mentioned this before, but

I LOVE to read. Learning how to read was my

proudest childhood accomplishment. If I was not on the back of a horse, I had my nose in a book (usually one to do with a horse). Feather is exhibiting signs of being a reader too, and I am excited about that.

I am reading the third book of the Grail trilogy by Bernard Cornwell, and it is very good. I recently made a big trip to the library, so after this, I have The Shock Doctrine and Fences and Windows: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the Globalization Debate by Naomi Klein. I am looking forward to these, at the very least, I will see everything that Bryan and I have been talking the past several years in one place. Also, I have Lipstick Jihad and Honeymoon in Tehran by Azadeh Moaveni. Her article in Time a few years back, about the effects of Bush's "Axis of Evil" on the daily life in Iran, was a touch stone for me. I will try to remember to post a few words about these after I read them.

In my local weather news today, I thought that we were going to get a storm - and we might still get one later. On the radar, it looked like it was going to go right over us. I could hear the thunder, but it ended up passing just to the east of us. Oh, the torture of it! Standing in the back yard feeling the wind and stray drops that were blown our way. Oh well, maybe we will have better luck next time. It is 89F right now.

Israel is planning to bulldoze more Palestinian houses in order to build more settlements in East Jerusalem despite the outcry of the rest of the world. The United States is going to have to cut them off. They are losing support daily, as more and more people are learning the truth, but how does that comfort the farmers in the West Bank whose crops are burnt by the settlers? Or the people in Gaza who are caught in a hellish limbo? Even if you do not care about the plight of the people in the Palestinian territories, you would have to be out of your mind, not to realize that the actions of Israel only daily further the cause of the right - wing extremists in the Middle East and the world. This in turn, making the situations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Iran even more impossible.

On top of this, wild horses that were drug off of their land and away from their families, are under threat of euthanizing because the BLM says that they don't have enough money to feed them. Oh, wow, how about turning them loose?!?! Idiots! Give the horses their land, leave them alone, and let nature take care of them.

I am so sick of greed!

House of Spiders

OK, so weather update.... we climbed above the high which was changed to 94, to 95. It was 91 when we set out for the pool. Talk about freezing! Yes, I know that most people would think 91 is way hot, and definitely pool time. Not I! I guess my body in an effort to survive, has reset itself or something. I was joking about it the other day, but I guess that it is true. I did have a nice chat with one of my neighbors, while Feather played with her daughter. She is a year younger than Feather, but swims like a little fish. So cute! Feather's swimming skills are improving in leaps and bounds. She was trying to do handstands and flips underwater today.

When we got back, Bryan pointed out this cute, little fuzzy black spider that had taken up residence on our coffee table. She would crawl up to the top, and seemed to be after this fly that would periodically land. Bryan was about to smash the fly, and give it to her, but I was not sure if she would take it like that. This sparked an investigation around the nooks, crannies, and corners of the house. We found several. They all seemed to be different. They had their little spot with their little webs. Their predominate place seems to be the dining area off of the kitchen. The reason for this, we think, is there is a hideous sliding glass door there that opens out into the backyard. I say hideous, because although it lets in a lot of light, it is accompanied by an annoying vertical blind, lets in a lot of heat, and when we have to open the door for the dogs to go out, which is about every 5-20 min. a lot of flies seem to find their way into the house.

I know that flies have their purpose, but I wish that we could work out some sort of agreement that would entail them staying out of the house. So the way that I look at it, the spiders are beneficial, by catching the flies. Once they move on to spider heaven, or a new spot, we clean away their cobwebs and that is that. Maybe it was that Charlotte's Web made a huge impression on me. (my mother read this and Black Beauty to me at a very early age. I have despaired that Feather will not sit and listen these now, although she loves the cartoon version of Charlotte's Web.) I remember my mother and father threatening to take away my Charlotte's Web movie, because I would be distraught when Charlotte died at the end.

Maybe this is why I can not kill a spider....

In Anticipation of Cooler Currents

OK, in case you did not realize this. Don't feel bad, until I started blogging (feels weird to say blogging - don't know why, it just does.) So anyhow, I have found that I am a weather nerd. I already knew that I was obsessed with storms. LOVE STORMS!

Living here in Texas, we get storms. Although being in the DFW area, it is like a bubble, The storms will roll in from the west. We are watch the radar, all excited, towns on the outskirts are told to take cover, then they dissipate. To add insult to injury, as soon as they get east of Dallas, they reform usually as strong as ever. I have issues with this, that I am sure that I will work though.

So anyhow, lately I always going on about how hot it is. In my defense, our area has been setting records for electricity consumption. My plants are so wilted, I worry if they will make it, much less produce vegetables or flowers. Today though, for the first time in who knows how long, we did not break 100F. It almost felt cold by comparison. We are supposed to stay in mid 90's for a few days, and I am so excited! I am imagining all the plants perking up revived and determined anew to survive and thrive.

I am hoping that we can at least get out and take the dogs for a walk. School is starting in 37 days, and I am planning on walking Feather to school, so I want to figure out how long it takes exactly. I think it is 10 min., but not sure. The only drawback, is that once we get there, she wants to go play on the playground equipment, so I have to remember to take water for the dogs.

My Life in Horses

My friend Mar brought to my attention yesterday, H.R. 1018, that is being voted on today in the House of Representatives. This bill if passed will go a long way to protecting our wild horses. In my mind one of the priceless, if not THE most priceless treasure that we possess. I am optimistic that it will go through, as it is something of common ground, that most can unite on. Something that is rare in this day and age.

This also brought on much reflection about the animal that has shaped my life to what it is today. What follows, is close to my life history, though horses. I have condensed it a bit…..

From the time I knew what a horse was, I was obsessed. For the longest, I desperately wanted to be a horse. I would say my prayers as a child “Now I lay me down to sleep….” and at the end I would pray that I would wake up as a horse. If I could not be a horse, then I was going to be the next best thing -- to my knowledge-- a cowgirl. The only footwear that I would put on my feet willingly until the age of 8 or 9, were my cowboy boots. Heaven forbid, someone might see me in sneakers, and not know that I was a cowgirl! This did make it a little difficult for my mom on the days that we had P.E. at school, as on those days, we were supposed to wear suitable footwear. Oh, well, I am paying for it now with Feather.

The first horse that I rode by myself, was actually a Shetland Pony named “BoBo” who belonged to my cousin, but when he was not at his grandparents, I rode him. The only thing about BoBo, was that he did not like water. This was fine and all, until one day I was riding him in a field after it had rained a lot, and I was supposed to meet my parents on the other side of the field. It was the day before the first day of first grade. We got about half way across, when he stopped in the middle of a puddle and refused to budge. I got off, and set out to lead him. We progressed a few steps, when he came to a halt and refused to budge. Somehow, as I was cajoling him to move, I became stuck in the mud. I looked up, and saw buzzards flying around, and just knew that they were coming for me. I was freaking out and close to a complete panic, when my parents rode up. I was so relieved to see them, but they seemed to think that the whole thing was hilarious. Only now, with my own daughter, who is so like me sometimes, that it is scary, can I appreciate this. So I set about trying to dig myself out of the mud, and as I leaned over, BoBo grabbed my ponytail in his teeth and yanked. As you can guess, this was hilarious to my parents, but just about the last straw for me. I eventually became unstuck, and made it out of the mud, and back onto BoBo, and back to my great grand mother’s house. There are earlier memories, most of them spent with BoBo. Oh, how I loved to play with him! He was one of my first best friends. I did have human ones, but horses were always the best.

I will try to keep this short, as I could probably write a novel about my horse experiences alone. There was Rhoda, who was my dad’s roping horse for awhile, but first, I rode her around my great-uncle’s arena with a too big saddle, feet not reaching the stirrups.

Then there was Flint. He was probably the most magical of all my horses. When we got him, he was starved, in horrible shape. With a lot of time and love, and care, he filled out and was beautiful. He was half Arabian, I don’t know what else. We just thought that he had been cut in a barbwire fence until a woman saw us at a Jr. rodeo and asked if he was Arabian. Upon further investigation, we learned that the “cuts” were actually a freeze brand saying that he was half-Arabian and the year he was born etc.. That is how sophisticated we were back then.

Flint was a magical horse. He was not the fastest, which meant that we were out run in barrels at the bigger jr. rodeos, but he was so quick that he could hold his own in pole bending. Every weekend, we would be at a play day or rodeo. The play days were his thing. Five or six different events, and we would usually win all of them. He would put on a big show before we went into the arena, prancing and showing off, acting like he was wild. That was the thing with Flint, is that he could read his rider, and know where they were at, and what was good for them. He always gave 100% of what he had. The smoothest lope/canter that you would ever see. He did like to keep his head up, and that hurt us in the Western Pleasure classes. To this day, I do not have a whole lot of respect for judged equestrian events because of that. It is not natural for a horse to go along with it’s nose on the ground, unless it is looking for food. Most of the time, if we were not competing, I rode him bareback, with just the halter and lead rope. He worked mainly off of knee pressure, and I was not big enough to saddle him myself, so that is how we went.

I eventually moved on, and he retired, as my sister was not as into horses as I was. A few years later, I was injured really bad, and when I got the clear to ride again (although most people that it was crazy) Flint came out of retirement to teach me how to ride all over again.

Once I learned how to ride again, I was about eleven or twelve. I had to go almost a year without being able to ride. I may or may not go into all that down the road. So after I learned to ride again, I got to train my first horse. I got him green-broke, and was able to teach him how to neck rein, barrels and everything. Aside from the years with Flint, this was some of the most rewarding time that I had. All the while I was teaching Kip to rein and all of the patterns, he was helping me to build strength back into my leg, and to get through physical therapy and surgeries. (As you might guess, I am very much in favor of equine-therapy programs.)
After Kip, I had Black. He was beautiful, and I am pretty sure that he knew it. At the time, I just had to have a horse for high school rodeo. After much scouring and searching, I found him. I did not take him anywhere to try him. Just rode him at the owner’s place and fell in love. We did really well in 4-H, and he carried me through a rodeo queen contest (that we won, and I met my future husband though that, although we would not remember that until later down the road when we met again.) The only problem, was that not one time in competition did we turn the first barrel, it was like there was some kind of block. So, Black found a home in Mississippi where he was loved just as much there as we loved him. He went on to do really well in the Mississippi State 4-H halter class.

After Black, I found Badge. Like Flint, he was a flea-bitten gray, meaning that he was white, with reddish, brown specks on his body, a grayish white mane, tail, and black on his legs. The term “flea-bitten” is due to the specks. They look like they have been bitten by flies or fleas (I would think they would have to be large fleas! Big old horse flies, I will buy though.) Also like Flint, Badge seemed to have this other world thing about him. Unlike Flint, Badge had plenty of speed. Although we did not have luck at rodeos, we did well at barrel races. I won my sole barrel racing belt buckle on Badge. He was also very good at pole bending. A couple of times, he almost lost me on the turns, he was that stout and quick altogether.

When I graduated from high school, I had to sell him. I was moving on, relations were strained with my parents (and only got worse from there, but that’s life). I did not have a way to keep him. Thank goodness, that he went to a good home.

Everything about who and what I am today, has been shaped by horses. So to think that wild horses, representatives of what is or can be good of our country, being rounded up and sent to be slaughtered, is beyond thought.. There is no excuse for this. I think that there needs to be more regulation in the horse industry period. I don’t think that anyone should be able to just breed their horse. One of my few human heroes as a child, Charmayne James, has cloned Scamper, who was my hero. Probably one on the best athletes in the world period. Of course she is just standing the clone at stud. Disgusting!

I hope and pray that one day, I will be able to have horses in my life again. I don’t know if it will all be completely right until I do. I don’t think that I would be able to compete again. At least not here in Texas. It is too hot! I could not imagine asking a horse to sit in a trailer at 100+F, then to go out and run as hard and fast as possible at those temperatures. Even back when I had horses to ride and exercise, I did not go ride them in the middle of the day in the summer. You either did it in the early morning, or at dusk. Most competitions were at night. That has been eleven years though, and it has gotten a whole lot hotter here.

I still see horse trailers going up and down the roads here though. I do not know anyone who is competing now to ask, but I wonder.

Videos, Healthcare, & Viva Palestina!

Feather and I went swimming again today. She was swimming underwater with a hand sticking up, pretending that she was a shark. My job was to act scared that she would eat me. It was a lot of fun. When we stepped outside today, I noticed that it was just skin cooking hot. I wondered why it felt so different. Then, I stopped to talk to a neighbor, and she said that it was 110F yesterday. So that explains it. I did not realize that it was that hot, but it definitely felt it.

Viva Palestina was allowed to cross into Gaza today. Of course they are only allowed to stay for 24 hours and had to leave half of the aid they brought back in Egypt. Why is Egypt going along with this whole blockade business? George Galloway, a British MP gave a really good speech upon entering Gaza, calling on President Obama to back up his words. I can only pray that he will. It is still nice that so many people from the U.S. are there. Maybe at least the people of Gaza know that we care and are trying to change things.

Here is the website for Viva Palesina US

http://www.vivapalestina-us.org/

Here is the video of the convoy entering Gaza.



Also today, Dennis Kucinich posted
Healthcare: Change the Debate http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=156831770&blogId=500488185

It gave me a little bit of hope as to the future of American healthcare. Until now, it has seemed that only the people that I would say are responsible for over-inflated, unattainable healthcare have been calling the shots. So my take on it has been, “OK, it is horrible now, how much more are they going to screw us?” The fact that HR676 is alive with 85 co-sponsors gives me some hope. The way I see it, we either have to go with universal care, single payer, or legalize all drugs and medications, make doctors and hospitals bid on procedures etc. Insurance companies have got to go. I will stop there. Post on healthcare coming soon!

I mentioned in my first post, that I was thinking of doing a video blog. Well I do not think that I am ready to dedicate myself to producing at least one video a week. I will stick to this. It has been bugging me though, that I do not have any of my own videos uploaded, so I made a short one. I feel so silly talking on camera, here in my white box of an office. We are lucky to have the room, but it is so freaking white! I did not really realize that until I was doing the video. Feather is a prolific artist, so I will have to hang more of her pictures up in here.
So here is my first video attempt.

How to Survive a Texas Summer

OK, the high today was like 106 F.

There is a new hell, it is Texas!
It has always been hot here, but the last ten years it has gotten a lot worse. So anyhow, I had promised Feather that I would take her to the pool. One of the cool things about where we live right now, is that it is just around the corner from one of the neighborhood pools.

So we set out, towels and pool toys in tow, slathered with sun screen. It was so hot, that you could barely breath. That is a step up from it feeling like your skin is cooking. lol. We did make it to the pool, got the chairs closest to the edge, took off our shoes, and ran into the water before the soles of our feet melted.

Feather, at five is finally old enough to enjoy playing in the water. Last year she was scared and clung to me the whole time. Now she likes putting on her goggles and swimming underwater. (she is getting good at that too)

So for 2 1/2 hours, I was transported back to my childhood. Splashing and chasing her around the pool. I did refrain from cannonballs, but we had a lot of fun.

With all that is going on in the world, she and I had today, and in it's own way, it was magic.

Now more than ever, I realize just how precious water is. I do know that there is no way that I will ever be able to have my own private swimming pool because of guilt. Even if I were able to capture rainwater, I would want to use that for plants.

We are not anywhere near to the end of summer here. I will probably talk about it a lot more.

For now, I recommend ....water, and a child's resilience.

First Blogger Post

Ok, well I have a blog on my Myspace profile, but everyone seems to be here. So I will see how this goes. The design issues are not so "drag and drop" easy as Myspace, but I love a challenge, and I have become way too lazy! I do love the fact that there is spell check here -- I can not spell -- even when I do spell a word correctly, I am always second guessing it. I have been considering doing a video blog, but I don't know. I hate the sound of my voice. So I will think about it. I really wanted my blog to just be about my daily life, but there are so many things going on in the world today that need to be addressed. Maybe I can do the daily life here, video blog about world events (i.e. the Palestinian territories, our messed up country, the environment, etc.), then put links to it all on Myspace. We will see.