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SPRING FROTH......
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Posted:Apr 2, 2018 7:17 pm
Last Updated:Jan 3, 2022 12:26 pm 2267 Views
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I hiked 6 or7 miles today up to a marshy lake. It's park now, but it was a homestead at one time. The farmers blew up the beaver dams so the water would drain out and then farmed the reclaimed land, which was very rich......This was common practice on the coast at one time. These fields are mostly flooded now and are home to many beautiful birds. I inadvertently flushed a flock of mallards that were hidden by the reeds......so exciting to watch them rise, the water droplets sparkling and their excited honking.....they were accompanied by a large Blue Heron that kept his dignity throughout the spectacle and just stood there, waiting for frogs, I suppose. I also watched a Red-Tailed hawk hunting frogs. He would dive from a tall fir and skim the water with his talons and then fly back to his outlook high in the tree and spread his wings wide to dry them in the sun, showing his red tail.........
When I was running an after-school program in a building on the edge of this park, I and my young male assistant would often take the to this area. There is a huge, moss-clad old Maple nearby and they would ask if we could go to the Maple .......The old meadow surrounding it was overgrown in spindly young Alders then, about as big around as their arms and 8-10 ft. tall. Alders self thin at that stage, their trunks turning into a styrofoam-like substance until the wind made them topple. The loved pushing them over, yelling "Timberrr" at the top of their voices.....They were sure they were doing a great service by thinning the trees........Now, the remaining trees are as big around as those were and 40 ft tall.................
Here are some photos I took on my hike....I hope you enjoy them.
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500,000 TO 3 MILLION LIVES SAVED.......
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Posted:Apr 1, 2018 8:19 pm
Last Updated:Jan 3, 2022 12:33 pm 2140 Views
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In reference to Bigblocks recent blog "6 of 6"by Joel Valdez...Because Bigblock habitually posts other people's articles, I have asked him upon occasion, if he agrees with everything in the article. Bigblock assured me that he never posts an article that he doesn't completely agree with. In this particular article, written by a college freshman, this statement appears.......
."What the mainstream media won’t tell you is that, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated 500,000 to 3 million lives are saved every year because of law-abiding, armed citizens who intervene with their firearms."
Now, this figure seemed fantastical and I was curious as to how it came about......How did the CDC come up with it?.....What research is it based on?.......I remembered hearing in the last month, from those calling for more gun regulations, that the CDC should be relieved of something called the "Dickey Amendment", which they said was preventing the CDC from investigating gun violence as a Public Health issue.......So I did some research, which showed me that the CDC hasn't published any statistics related to gun violence as a Public Health issue since the early 90s.......There is controversy about the Dickey Amendment, some saying that it was only the interpretation of it that prevented gun research, not the Amendment itself and that the CDC could do the research. Then I found that the budget was cut by the exact amount that had been spent on research the year before.The NRA had a large role in gagging the CDC on gun violence.
Nowhere.......Nowhere to be found, at least by me, was there any CDC research published that makes the ludicrous claim of the figure quoted in the article.......Once upon a time, a university asked 1000 people if they had ever prevented a gun death using a fire-arm. Let's keep in mind that their answer could only be conjecture ......which is what alerted me to the dubious nature of the outrageous statistic in the first place...........Anyways, so the "researchers" asked 100 people how many deaths they have prevented in the last year by brandishing a firearm and then multiplying that figure by the population of the USA.....Voila'.........
There are several comments on the blog, but no one else questions this statistic...........Can anyone give any credence to this number or how it was arrived at?
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THE BEST ROASTED WINTER VEGETABLES
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Posted:Mar 29, 2018 6:25 pm
Last Updated:Jan 3, 2022 12:39 pm 2426 Views
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This is what I had for supper tonight . It's a favourite, so I thought I'd share my recipe with you.
* Preheat your oven to 500F.......I know, it sounds too hot, but a lower temperature dries out the veggies..
* Assemble your veggies. Tonight, I used a med onion, a small yam, 2 med. parsnips, about 12 brussels sprouts and a whole head of garlic.
* rinse and dry the veggies and peel them if you like......I don't peel the yams. The rule is the denser the veggie, the smaller the cube.....I cut the yam and parsnip in bullion-size pieces.......I separated the garlic into cloves, smashed them with the knife....you place your biggest chef knife side-down on top of the cloves arranged separately on the cutting board and then hit the knife-blade with the heel of your hand. The skins slip off and the clove lays down and behaves......I put them in whole.
*Place all the cut veggies in a big bowl and pour a couple of tbsp. of olive oil on them, then salt to taste, I like a bigger crystal, like kosher salt, and grind some black pepper on top. Now get your hands in there and work those veggies until they are well coated.
* Place the veggies on a shallow pan, like a cookie-sheet with a 1 inch edge.
* The veggies should be only one layer and not touching.......each cube separate. Now put in the oven for about 15 minutes, test at 10 if not sure.....they burn quickly at this temperature......They should be slightly brown and tender/chewy.
For me, this stands alone as a full meal.......
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SHOPPING..........
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Posted:Mar 25, 2018 1:27 pm
Last Updated:Jan 3, 2022 12:48 pm 2221 Views
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I started this on Mrs. Joes blog about weekend plans, but it got way too long.........
Well, I had plans with a friend, but they got cancelled. I spent all day Saturday shopping instead......I keep putting it off because I loathe shopping. I actually went to a lingerie store and tried on bras.....you know the kind of store where the assistant checks up on you....stands right outside the curtain and asks if she can come in.......asking questions about the fit, if she could bring me something else.....even before I have the first one even on.......I finally found the one I wanted and bought 2...one in nude and one black.....that should do me for a several years.......Then on to buy jeans.....got derailed by the display in my favourite clothing store.......looked longingly at the over-priced tops.......I just don't trust myself to choose something that I will continue to like enough to justify the price.....some old program left over from having who need new shoes every 6 mo..........I finally made my choice.....a flowing scarf/summer shawl the colour of Virgin Mary's cowl.............
Then on to jeans.......Torture........I go to a store that sells nothing but jeans......a gazillion styles and looks........The sales-girl approaches........late teens........I felt a lot of trepidation......the other customers were young.....but I was determined.......and, she was wonderful, and when I gave up.....all the women's jeans that fit me otherwise, have this extra fabric in the upper thigh......all of them....just sort of pouff out there......Of course, this has always been a problem for me and why I keep putting it off......But then the manager, also a very young woman comes over to help and I think, oh no, now I have to go through it all again......I feel so fussy.......Well, I am fussy......persnickity when it comes to what I wear .....I buy quality and I expect to pay for it, but don't have many clothes......I want what I want, but I hate all that attention........but apparently she had been paying attention while serving others, because she just asked me one question and disappeared, coming back with a perfect pair of jeans......31 waist, 33 leg, mostly cotton, boot tops...only 1% lycra, not too flimsy, but not heavy, a proper Indigo blue, not too dark, lightly distressed, beautiful decorative seaming in classic Ochre......and fit in the outer thigh without that extra pouff......I was so happy.....and I only tried on a dozen pairs.....Yay
Then I went to the shoe-store to buy some sneakers......I was standing there staring at Women's sneakers .......They looked so alien.....all that White and Neon colours.......I would be startled every time I saw my feet........Each pair seemed to have a different purpose........jogging, training, walking, support here, "barefoot" comfort there.......when a sales-girl breezed in, ponytail swinging, training gear, chewing gum like she was trying to set a world record and got extra marks for popping......she put her hands on her hips, cocking one and asking me what I was doing........Doing.....what the fk you think I'm doing, standing in front of a sneaker display and picking up one and then another and examining them......I asked her some questions and basically she just chewed her gum at me and told me, between pops, that I should just get the ones I like and then walked away........I was too tired to deal with her and decided I needed to make a special trip to town just for sneaker shopping........The last 2 pair I bought did not fit and cost an arm and a leg..........
I went to a couple of more stores, found a lovely blouse and then on to Canadian Tire for a new reading lamp that clamps onto the headboard of my bed........Overwhelming ....too busy on a Saturday afternoon, but I persevered and finally found some help. She was very helpful and I chose my lamp. Long lineup at the till......chatty strangers........Finally got on the ferry and more chatty people........Then onto the grocery store.....I was on the 3:30 ferry, so I got to the grocery store around 4.......I was feeling so exhausted and wondered why......Then I realized that I forgot to eat or drink......I kept putting it off......I had breakfast at 7:30 and not even a drink of water. I just went right over to the juice cooler and took a bottle of orange juice and chugged about half of it right there.......Ahhh.......5 minutes later I was feeling great.......Wow, I actually shopped for jeans and bras.......I had been procrastinating for months, but it wasn't so bad......thanks to those lovely young women at the jean store.
Next time, I will make a lunch date with one of my friends who live in town that I have been neglecting for too long......I also put lots of money on my ferry pass, so I won't allow the price of ferry tickets stop me.........Yay, Spring is here.!
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RUSSIAN SCULPTURE
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Posted:Mar 16, 2018 5:05 pm
Last Updated:Jan 3, 2022 1:02 pm 2045 Views
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I came across these crocheted figures by Russian artist Yulia Ustinova.......It was hard to choose which ones to post, she is very clever and prolific.....
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THE IDEA OF DOING ABSOLUTELY NOTHING
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Posted:Mar 5, 2018 5:17 pm
Last Updated:Jan 3, 2022 9:04 pm 2161 Views
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WASHINGTON—In the wake of the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting that left 17 dead and 14 injured, sources confirmed Wednesday that the idea of doing absolutely nothing until the next mass shooting is gaining considerable traction in Congress. “After the recent tragedies, lawmakers have shown a great deal of interest in a proposal that’s been circulating to sit back and do jack shit until the next entirely preventable massacre goes down on U.S. soil,” sources said of the legislators’ plan to twiddle their thumbs while the next unhinged lunatic effortlessly purchases an AR-15 before firing it indiscriminately in what could be either a crowded mall, a movie theater, an airport, or even another school. “As soon as the Parkland shooting happened, party leaders banded together, declared ‘Enough is enough,’ and immediately began formulating a way to talk out of their asses via their social media accounts while doing nothing to create, strengthen, or better enforce basic gun laws. This measure to squander their unique opportunity to pass legislation that puts an end to the maddening cycle of gun violence is very popular right now, and will likely continue to be championed until the next group of innocent men, women, and are brutally slaughtered.” Sources added that the plan has a high chance of surviving, as it has the full support of the NRA.
from The Onion
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