From The Mommybot

Today was the first day we had a significant snowfall, tho it didn't stick until night fell and even then its just a trace on the grass. Unfortunately Madeline has decided its cold and wet and she didn't want to run out and play with falling snowflakes like they were the bugs she so avidly hunts.

--Moony

A Post-Law Interview With Wild Horse Annie

Just utterly shocking. The only difference is they're not using planes and trucks to roundup. But they are using helicopters. And still causing deaths, and still having horses 'disappear'...or shot to death, with no prosecutions.

--Zhora

Wow, I'm only 7 months older!

--Moony

I should have phrased that bit the other day as 'I do exaggerate.  Except when I'm not.'

Some people just have wackier lives than others.

--Moony

I realized I'd forgotten to take my old monitor and the red muck bucket to the storage unit, so I went over to uncover my car, and met the neighbor who lives in #101, who pointed out some stuff I needed to know re: storing it over there and the snow plow, and invited me to park my car to the outside of his.  Apparently the snow plow does go down in that little gravel lot because he has to clear the way for the garbage truck, so the guy was going to talk to the plow guy and arrange for him to scoop out from behind the cars anyway.  Where I had it parked, tho, would have stopped the plow from clearing behind the rest of the cars, and most likely gotten my car buried under the tons of snow plowed from the gravel lot.  Its also okay with the neighbor if I leave the tarp on his front stoop during the times I'll need to use my car.  So I carred the stuff over to the storage unit then parked and tarped in the spot the guy asked me to.  Its also quite probable that the reason my hood rusted so quick over last winter after the paint was damaged was because the salt/chemical stuff used on the sidewalks was sprayed onto the hood.  The tarp will prevent that this year, tho I know it won't stop the rusting, just slow it a little.

With the muck bucket going to the unit, that meant the Purple Dragon carrots had to come out.  As I thought, they're less than half size, tho they did grow and are definitely useable.  Maybe I'll use them for part of Thanksgiving dinner.  They're drying on a towel out on the porch right now.  I'm pretty sure part of the problem was the fact that the bucket had no drainage hole, so judging when to water them was tricky and putting them where they could get rained on was out of the question (they'd have rotted).  I'll get one of those outdoor pot indicators next year.  I have no plans to put a hole in the muck bucket...its more useable all around without one, and it was Brawn's water bucket so it has sentimental value.  That's also why I put it in the storage unit, so it won't freeze and crack while holding slightly damp dirt.

Madeline is feeling better today, tho she's going to be on the echinacea for another day or two.  She also unbloated - she tends to swell up a bit when she's having a pancreatic problem.  She loves the giant  pink superball I got her at the beginning of the month, in the same store where I met that kitten.  Its too big to lose under things, but just small enough she can just barely grasp it with her teeth, and doing so doesn't cause it to lose pieces like the foam one she had before.

--Moony

I moved the car to the gravel lot where it will spend most of the winter, and covered it with the new tarp, which worked just fine.  I actually parallel parked it in the grass just to the side, in hopes that will make it easy for the blower to keep the drivers side and front clear, and otherwise keep it out of the way for the residents on that side.  And hopefully the snow won't be so bad and the plow guy as bad at it as he was last year so as to do something stupid like bury the back end of my car under a thousand pounds of snow.  The manager isn't here this weekend, so I'll show her on Monday and see if she wants me to make adjustments.  I hung my cheap plastic shovel by my door so I can go clear things when needed - it was previously in my trunk.

It shouldn't have wiped me out as bad as it seems to have...but I guess I'm still recovering from last week.  Drinking some Boku, and I'm glad I cooked the turkey I had leftover from last Thanksgiving (was the back from a turkey quarter, and had been frozen all this time, so don't worry!) in a impromptu stew last night so I have something nutritious to eat tonight.  I used the Minicor carrots, thyme, and rosemary from my garden, along with shallots and garlic, and it tasted pretty good even tho I used amounts meant for an entire turkey. XD

--Zhora

--Moony

Someone said a week ago on a forum, but I only read it last night, that I exaggerate.  This person is only a name and words on a board and a voice on a podcast that I like to me, so just a tiny step up from a complete stranger.  Certainly I wouldn't call him a friend, because I don't know him beyond that.

This has been bothering me all day.  Not the comment - its a fair comment about something I hadn't thought about, as I learned decades ago when I wanted to be a writer to hook and embellish and I've never lost the habit.  I don't go overboard in the exaggeration, tho, to the point of lies because I do not want to do that.  But yes, I do exaggerate.

No, what's been bothering me is that I've been bothered enough to keep thinking about the fact that the guy said it and possible repercussions.  I don't do this most of the time with things friends and family say, tho their opinions ARE important to me...just strangers, and I've read that this happens a lot with people, where the opinions of strangers seem to count more than that of friends and family.  This kind of intrigued me - why was I ruminating on this comment, which I think is a fair assessment?  If a family member or a friend said it, I would consider it, ponder on it, take it to heart if I decided to, but the simple fact it *was said* wouldn't keep coming back to haunt me.  So...why?

I came to the conclusion that it has to do with familiarity.  Friends and family - you know what they're going to do with the information they just conveyed, you know what their reactions are, and so forth, and that they actually care about you.  Strangers and passing acquaintances on the other hand - you don't know.  Even if you like them (and generally if their opinions seem to matter to you, you do), there's a fear of the unknown.  Are they going to paste it all over creation, try and make your life miserable?  Are they trying to be helpful?  Are they intending to be nice, be bastards, do they give a damn?  Were they somehow hurt by what you said?  You just don't know, so the fear drives to try and make sure that the outcome will be good, but since you don't know the person and thus the way to make it good with them, you're left ruminating on the event, trying to figure out from what tiny little slivers you know how to 'make good'...over and over again.

When the better reaction would be to consider what they say, agree or discard it, then let it be.  Like when werewolfie Oz was told by a critic fearful of his reaction that his band 'played like they had sausages strapped to their fingers'; he considered it, said it was fair, then  dropped the matter entirely.

This has been a reminder to me. :D  Be like Oz.  :D

--Moony

Commercial US Swine Infected by Swine Flu..and a Kitty!   Fortunately the only thing I like from poor pigs is bacon anymore, tho I wouldn't be surprised if cheap turkey dogs contain some pig.

Sewage Sludge Effects On the Environment  Important because apparently its being marketed to farmers as equivalent to compost.

Health Ills Abound as Farm Runoff Contaminates Wells and Other Water Sources, and Laws are Not Enforced

On other, slightly less yucky topics (except for one):

A discussion on whether biotech foods can actually cure world hunger.  I agree with Raj Patel that the real problem is poverty.  You guys know I'm into organic, but speaking just logically, so what if biotech foods increase production if the actual hungry people aren't either given it or can afford it?  Growing organic and heirloom is more economical in that your fertilizer, dirt, and seeds are FREE.

Autism Spikes, Toxins Suspected

And last but not least, the other yucky.  Three of my favorite ice cream brands still use rBGH milk...and if you read about its effects on cows and the milk they produce - ewwwww!  So I added my voice to the campaign, and likely will join the boycott because looking at it will make me think of the ick.  Tell the rBGH Profiteers Why You Buy Organic


On personal notes, Madeline has a cold, and I'm finally feeling better after the two day migraine I had over the weekend and subsequent tiredness.  I bottled up a little bit of echinacea tea for Madeline, and put several drops in her food.  She doesn't mind it at all, and it will help her immune system.  Yep, its a holistic remedy recommended for kitties, along with adding some probiotics to her food, too.

--Moony

Congressional Committee Will Call for Moratorium on Roundups!

Time to contact my Representative again!

Also, update on Conquistador and the other horses rescued from the Pryor roundup and sale.

--Moony

On Care2's site - Sign Please!

Horseback Magazine's latest article on the BLM and Mustangs asks an important question - where are the big animal welfare groups?  Why doesn't the Humane Society do something about the abuse and death? The Humane Society, PETA, In Defense of Animals, etc...they could afford to file for an injunction against further roundups - WHY THE HELL AREN'T THEY?

--Zhora

Yesterday was cold, today was...60.  The erratic temps are apparently continuing on from the summer.

Went to Spokane yesterday for my monthly errands.  I felt a sense of urgency so left here at 8 am, and got back about 6 pm, soon after dark.  Was cold, but the ice on my car's windshield was just slush and taken care of easily by the wipers.

The priority was getting the car as ready for winter as I could afford, which didn't include a radiator flush, just an oil change and tires diagonally rotated.  The tires took the longest.  I had a couple hours to kill so I walked down the road a ways and went to a car parts store where I bought a tire gauge and some gas additive, and the feed store next to it where I met an odd 5 month old kitten that if I had the room, the money, and no cat who is prone to greet others by socking them in the eye, I'd have bought her for the $30 they were asking to cover her worming and shots.  She was odd in that she was terrified of moving fingers (she hid in her boxes with her ears flat to the sides, shaking a little - not the typical 'Ima gonna pounce!' excitement) but when they stopped moving she would venture out and attack.  As soon as they moved again, she retreated.  She was also odd in her coloring - black and white, but white hairs were interspersed evenly throughout the black, giving her black a 'roan' appearance. 

I think 'Tohru' would suit her.  But only if I win the lottery first.

When I got back to the tire place, I sat down to read the local paper, and found an ad for a car that sounds almost identical to mine save for being a year younger with 100 thou less miles (my next oil change will be at 202 thou.  And I put all but 25 thou of that on it.  Really.).  And most likely what I like to refer to as the 'baboon butt' redesign.  And for about the same amount the transmission rebuild is going to cost.  It will probably be gone by the time I have anything close to that money, tho.  Still, I picked up a copy of the paper later at Borders when I couldn't find any news stand thingies that still had any, along with a cheap copy of Fruits Basket #1.  There was also an ad in there for a Suzuki Swift that sounded like a good little car for less, but its my understanding their lack of weight and more compact wheelbase (as opposed to the Neon's wide and low one) tends to be detrimental when you're driving on packed snow and ice, which is what the northern fifty miles of this highway is for several months a year.  Well, that and it would crumple like a tin can in the kinds of accidents my Neon has survived with animals.

After that I jammed on over to Walmart for oil and groceries, then down to Petco where I got into an amusing conversation about large male cats and challenge of finding litterboxes they can use, then Fresh Abundance where I was hoping to get some free range organic turkey quarters but had to settle for a little one pound of grassfed non-range beef, Dr. Bronner's, and my usual green smoothie (ended up getting a conventionally grown turkey quarter today at my local grocery).  Then back up the road to a different Jiffy Lube than the one I've been using for the last 5 years, since they were no longer allowed to give me much of a discount for bringing my own oil (just $3 off for not using their oil, are you kidding me, on top of their signature service not coming back down from $50??).  The shop I went to yesterday, however, didn't charge me anything at all for oil since I brought it in, and their signature service was SLIGHTLY less expensive.  Was still more than I wanted to pay, but my car at least needed fresh oil and fluids topped off, and new, less crappy wiper blades.  I did check with other cheaper shops in the area, but they were all booked until the next week.  Oh well.  I wish they'd come back down to $19 again.  Or even CLOSE to that.  :(

Then it was Grocery Outlet (I loves me Grocery Outlet!  They even get organic surplus stuff now!) then back to Walmart to get an air filter and a couple other things I forgot.  I do the replacement of the air filter myself 'cause it takes all of about 2 minutes, despite what Jiffy Lube claims.  I did forget to actually do it today, tho.

Nothing exciting about Halloween this year...except I actually got Trick or Treaters!  First time since I moved here back in 2005.  Just a handful, tho, and the big kids outnumbered the small.  Luckily I hadn't eaten all the Smarties!  I'm addicted to those damn Smarties...the American ones, sugary circular disks served up in cellophane twisted on the ends.  I'm told the Canadians know them as Rockets, but since I haven't gone to Nelson in several months I couldn't verify that.

Picked up a new gc, too, dragged into the car by one of my current fosters.  He was very very quiet and just sat in a corner...until he was told he was allowed to play and ask questions and generally be a little boy, and he's just gone ape all over that.  From what I can deduce, he was a little white boy who was in a very strict home where he wasn't allowed to be a kid, just a seat decoration who had to ask permission to do everything.  He completely lit up when he found out he could play with the toys here as much as he wanted, and even take them to bed with him.  :)

--Moony

Well, just a few days to November, and the broccoli and carrots as well as the strawberries and yarrow are still alive outside:And a President who doesn't support organic like his wife does.

--Moony

I was told to baby my transmission back when I had it serviced, that I might get another year out of it.  Well, getting close on that year (and haven't been able to save the necessary money to get the transmission fixed, either. :( ) and now the weather is getting real cold.  As in 30's are daytime WARM.  I'm wondering, what kind of effect does cold have on an aging transmission?  It actually seems to be shifting a bit better these last few days when its been cold and wet (and snowing a bit), tho no one but me would notice aside from the reverse gear not shifting hard anymore.  When they start plowing, I'll need to be able to move the car a very short distance each morning - how hard is this going to be on my transmission, and can I realistically expect that it will break down because of it?  I plan right now to literally park the car off to the side where the plow doesn't go and tarp it, but with the maintenance position in flux I'm not sure I'll be able to get it out of there the few times a month I actually need my car (the guy I made the agreement for him to blow out around my car is gone, due to the government not wanting to pay him his Social Security if he does the mere 10 hours a week the job requires).

--Moony

Next time someone points me to the video of the movie Bumblebee costume with the spray painted Optimus Prime talking helmet for the head, I'm going to point them to this.

Heh heh heh heh...

--Moony

New Blood Test for Detecting Breast Cancer Coming Soon!


On Obama Declaring Swine Flu a 'National Emergency'

Funny thing - the language the government is using to justify the 'national emergency' sounds way too similar to the excuses the BLM is using for removal and extinction of wild horses.  They claim they're all about 'protecting' them, being 'proactive', that anyone who objects is just being 'emotional' and 'unrealistic'.  If it turns out like its looking to this new wild horse advocate - that so go the horses and burros, so go US - no doubt your average person will begin to see the emperor has no clothes, but that will be as the emperor is steamrolling right over them in favor of building a new mall or strip mine or whatever else the financial elite decides they want to do.

--Zhora

Including an admission by a BLM employee (who's probably fired now) that the BLM view is that horses don't belong on the range, and disregard for the 1971 Wild Horse and Burro Act.

--Zhora

I have always prided myself on being able to find all my software, keeping it in one place so I could reinstall stuff if needed.  I even got into a fight with my Mom once because she had no idea where her system software was.

Guess who can't find her Wacom software. :P :P :P

--Moony

The last two days I've caught two black Labs and returned them to their owners...well, the second only sort of, 'cause no one knew the dog but one of the local pastors had had a really annoying barky black dog in his yard when I lived in the apartments nearby and the gate to his yard had a broken latch and the dog had an anti-bark collar on, so I guesstimated the dog was his and left her in there (the gate was tight enough to close without the latch).  Last night I spent a few hours talking to the owner of a black Lab that I helped catch, because he'd been chasing the dog all day and was so tired he had just pretty much collapsed and was sitting against his trailer calling the dog kinda weakly.  Everybody knew THAT Lab, tho, including me.  Giant 2 year old puppy named Sam.  His owner gave me some seeds from the deep purple hollyhocks his grandparents had planted many many decades ago, and invited me to garden over there next summer if he's still there.  I probably won't, but I suspect that won't happen anyway.  Its actually a nice corner lot with a somewhat dilapidated single wide trailer on it, but apparently people are interested in buying.

Today its very nice, in fact its spring-nice.  Warm breezes and all.  I'm wondering if this long winter is going to start late like the last couple of years and last loooooong into spring.

--Moony