Cats for Christmas Cheer

My daughter and her husband and baby have moved back in with her in-laws. It's a long story, but they worked a rent free deal since both Kate and Jon are full time students again. Kate had two cats, Jade and Beetle, and Jordan just loves the cats, especially Jade. Jade has been very tolerant of Jordan's rough handling, and in fact, there is a lot of mutual love and affection between the two. Check out this picture, taken back in the summer, that I titled "Loving Jade". At any rate, Jon's father is deathly allergic to cats, so to keep the kitties happy, and to make sure Jordan doesn't lose Jade prematurely, I now have two cats.

At first they were both outside, then they were both inside,and now Beetle is outside(by his own choice) and Jade is inside. I'm allergic to cats, too, but my allergies present as nasal congestion and general itchiness. It has been a week, and while I've had some symptoms, it is far less than what I would have expected, so I am keeping my fingers crossed that we can continue to keep Jade in the house. Beetle is a little Romeo, very affectionate and playful. You can tell that he is a younger cat. He's very pretty for a tomcat. I took a picture of them in the cat carrier the night they arrived, just before we let them out. Of course, I also took some pictures today as Jordan got to play with Jade for the first time in over a week-since they moved. She was so happy to see her "Dade"! Seeing that smile makes any allergy worries melt away. It may have been the best present she got-and it is one that money had nothing to do with. By the way, that's my son in law, Jon, who I think misses Jade almost as much as Jordan does.

We are trying to rename Beetle, and have been calling him Tiger, Tigger, and the mutant moniker of Tiger Beetle. He is apparently living under the house, again, by his choice. He ran through my legs two nights ago and bolted out of the door. He will let you catch him and pet him, but the minute you head for the house, he's down and gone in a flash. I actually think it will be good to have both an indoor cat and and outdoor cat. Not only are they good for killing mice, but I hear cats are great against scorpions and snakes, too. I just hope that Beetle will be able to outrun Hobo, the cat killing German Shepherd across the road.

Saami and Suomi

After a long absence from this space, I return with a bit of heritage. The Sami, or Saami are the indigenous people of northern Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Russia. You may have heard them called Lapps, from Lapland, but Saami consider the term Lapp derogatory, much in the way that the Inuit don't like the term Eskimo. The Saami are mostly nomadic or semi-nomadic reindeer herders, but there are some tribes who primarily fish or farm instead of herd. My grandfather was from a fishing village, and although I am not exactly sure of the location, I believe it was in the vicinity of Lake Inari, north of the Arctic Circle. My father just pointed to the area north of Rovaniemi and Kemi, Finland, and said that his family was from 'there'. Lake Inarijarvi is the body of water in northernmost Finland, up near the Arctic Ocean and the border with Norway and Russia.

Saami are not ethnically Finnish, but they are distantly related based on their language. The Finno-Ugric languages form a subfamily of the Uralic languages. Other closely related Ugric languages include Finnish, Hungarian and Estonian. Unlike most of the languages spoken in Europe, the Finno-Ugric languages are not part of the Indo-European family of languages, that is, they do not stem from Latin nor are they Germanic.

In the Old Norse language, Fenn and Finn are terms for Saami, but after the 19th century it was transferred simply to mean someone who lives in Finland and not specifically of the Saami people. 'Suomi' is still the Finnish name for Finland, and the word 'suomilainen' means Finnish.
Both words stem from the word Saami. There is a lot of confusion about the origin of the Finnish people, both Saami and non-Saami. New theories are proposed every year. Legend says that the khans of Mongolia chased these (Finnic) peoples across Russia until they reached the northern shores of Scandinavia. This happened over centuries, and the Fenns chose flight instead of fight. I once read that the word 'Fen' meant 'runner', but I can't recall where I read that. Anyway, when they could run no further, they fought fiercely and turned back the horde.
I've always liked that story.

The Saami seemingly share certain physical traits, like Mongoloid eye-shape, with other indigenous peoples of northern Asia. Modern theories of origin suggest that this is just chance, and that the facial features in common, such as high cheekbones, are more from cultural similarities than genetics. Europeans, who have a longer history or farming, have lost the high cheekbones necessary to support the musculature of those who eat a lot of meat. Many Saami are dark complected, but there are also fair-skinned blonds. The same is true of ethnic Finns. This phenotype variation further complicates the mystery of the origin of these people. In addition to evidence that these people came across the steppes of Russia, there is also evidence that the Saami and or Fenns have inhabited the Sapmi(Scandinavia to include all of Finland) since the last ice age.

I've included a few turn of the century Saami I found on the web, along with modern Saami. Since they were traditionally nomadic, their shelters were temporary, often tipis from animal skins or huts of stones and earth, as shown. I don't really look like any of these people(except for maybe the little girl second from the right in the front row back when I was 5 years old), but I consider myself of Saami heritage. If you don't know what I look like, then perhaps you have seen Renee Zellweger. She, too, is of Saami heritage. We both have those slanty eyes and round, high cheekbones and dirty blond hair. I'd rather look like Pamela Anderson or Christine Lahti (both Finnish, but not Saami),but, alas, Renee and I are distant cousins. I loved her in Cold Mountain, but I digress. For the record, speaking of celebs, Matt Damon is also Finnish.

I know you guys are rolling on the floor laughing at the traditional garb. That's okay. For a good chortle, zoom in on the shoes of the children. Now, you will understand why small Christmas elves are depicted with pointy shoes. Santa Claus is Saami, by the way, with his rosy cheeks, felt cap, reindeer, etc. I kid you not...now you know. The North Pole really is in the Land of the Midnight Sun.

Anyway, genetic and language studies are rather inconclusive as to proof of the actual origin, but what is known is that the Saami are not related to other Europeans, so perhaps we do hail from the Urheimat. "Urheimat" is supposedly the homeland or origin of the language. The exact location of the Urheimat is unknown and disputed. Big surprise there, huh? Some believed it to be to the just west of the Ural mountains in central Russia, some 5000 years ago. There is evidence that before Slavic tribes lived in Russia, a sprinkling of Finno-Ugrians inhabited the whole territory from the Urals to the Baltic Sea. Other scientists place the Urheimat further south or in Siberia. My Sami grandfather told my father that his ancestors were from northwestern Siberia. I consider myself of Finnish and Saami ancestry, but technically, he emigrated from St. Petersburg Russia (Finland was a Grand Duchy of Russia at the time) and there is a good chance that some of my forebearers were Siberian, so I suppose I could be as much Russian as Finnish, ethnically speaking.

More later...and I couldn't resist the image of the Aurora Borealis over Lake Inari. It is magic, at least to me.

Moving On

Eleven years ago today, Halloween, we moved onto EarthNSky Farm. The beauty of Autumn was breathtaking, and I recall that I felt like I had died and gone to heaven-I was finally home. The sky was brilliant blue, the wind was crisp, and the leaf color was nothing short of spectacular. Before the moving truck was unloaded, George, our neighbor, came by on his old Ford 9N tractor to introduce himself and to visit. Throughout the years, we've had our ups and downs with George, but generally we get along pretty well, our only disagreement being about the type of fence that should go on the property line. He is our most immediate neighbor and I've learned a lot about homesteading from George and his wife. George taught us how to hunt and field dress a deer. Nancy taught me how to clean the meat and cook it. I recently bought the 12 gallon cast iron pot from him in which I learned to render lard. He's taught me how to raise and catch pigs, how to sight in a rifle, how to take care of horses, how to buck 70 pound alfalfa bales into a barn, and countless other skills. They were with me when I got my first chickens and they gave me my first ducks. Almost all of my current flock of chickens are from his Blue Laced Red Wyandotte rooster. His workmanship is all around me as he built this house from the trees on the land; his rockwork on my hearth is beautiful and everyone who comes into the house compliments the artistry. Over the years, we've been the beneficiary of his various hunting kills, wild goose (which looks and cooks like beefsteak), deer, turkey, and even bear. I'd eat bear again only if I were starving-there are much better meats to put on a plate. But tonight for dinner, I'll be enjoying native trout, caught this past Spring by George up in the Cohutta Wilderness. My son loved to watch George forge knives and other creations. He built wagons and learned to forge metal from Judd Nelson of Foxfire fame. He is a true artist, with skills in metalwork, woodworking, rocklaying, carving and painting. His wife is also an excellent wildlife painter and I have a beautiful walking stick with a carved and painted copperhead snake on the handle.

There have been a few times over the years that George has put up a for sale sign. I've never taken it seriously as he has family here and his wife and sister in law are the daughters of the original land owners, the homestead of which we now occupy. They have roots here. However, they have struggled financially over the years and most recently health issues have surfaced for both of them, making money even more scarce. A few years ago, after George recovered from chemo, his son sent him out to Arkansas on a fishing trip on the White River. George fell in love with the place, and his son bought some land out there. For the last two years, they've bantered the idea of moving to the Ozarks. While I know he would fit in there, he is what I would call a true, modern homesteader, I just could never see it happening, until yesterday when he told us he had a contract and buyer for his house and land. He was going to sell off, pack up the camper, and move to the Ozarks. I'm in shock. I'm trying to see this from their perspective in that it will be cheaper to live there and it will afford them a little financial breathing room.

In addition, there's always that anxiety about who will be buying in. All I know is that they are rather wealthy by local standards, have 3 kids, currently live in Atlanta, and will be using the cabin as a weekend home, a place where the kids can 'run free'. I don't know if they will appreciate the beauty and primitive nature of life out here or whether they will try to bring the city, and all of it's conveniences, with them. I'm sure they will be wonderful people, but it is hard to see the good side of anything when the loss feels so great. It is the first time in eleven years that I have even had a fleeting thought about moving away. I look out the window, and this Halloween is much scarier. The sky is overcast and foreboding. The Autumn leaves are wet and muted. Rock Creek will not be the same without George and Nancy.

First frost and freeze

Tonight we should have our first frost and freeze, and tomorrow we should have a hard freeze. I usually subtract 5 degrees from the predicted Calhoun temps for planning. We haven't gone below 45 yet, and suddenly we are looking at 31 or 32 for tonight and 26 or 27 tomorrow. We skipped the low 40's and thirties altogether!

I just came in from picking the last of the beans and tomatoes. I kept about 4 tomato plants alive and kicking until frost, bringing in the first, and last, green tomatoes just now. I got enough Kentucky Wonder pole beans for a meal. Those beans have been producing since the first week of June! A Wonder indeed!

I wish I had a few more weeks for okra as the plants still have flowers and plenty of life even at 7 feet tall. I'll use up the last peppers with tacos and beans tonight, and I might make some fresh salsa with the last tomatoes. It's all good. I finally grew enough beans to freeze and it should last until next summer...I hope. I'm going to leave the remaining butternuts out there for tonight, and bring them in tomorrow. I've never left anything out after frost, so this is a bit scary for me. I usually use squashes and never have any left to leave out, but this year, I have over 30 pounds of squash in storage already, so the remaining 10 pounds or so is an experiment that should be successful since most folks do leave the squashes until after the first frost.

I still have a 32 ft row of peas, half English and half snow peas, but neither is doing well. I've harvested some English peas, but the snow peas are slow. I have some kale to try, and a few plants of collards, cabbage, broccoli, and yes, Brussels sprouts, but nothing is even close to being ready. I may lose most of it after this weekend.

The springs are still running in the garden making it a mucky mess, and a new one made a small sinkhole(about fist sized) less than a foot away from my Mars Seedless grapevine that is 2 years old. Either those grapes will be extra juicy or the vine will be diseased and die. Time will tell. Anyway, I've been moving the carpet strips around just to be able to walk enough to harvest the beans and such. The amount of water we have this year is amazing.

I also stripped the leaves of my Malabar spinach vine, pulled two radishes, and stripped the leaves of a lemon verbena. All the porch and deck plants are in the greenhouse and ready for winter.

I split a fresh load of dry wood this morning, and we currently have the first fire of the season in the woodstove. My daughter and granddaughter are visiting. Life is good.

To Living Life to the Fullest

Thirteen years ago or so, when we lived in the Atlanta suburbs, Jeff C.
entered our lives and we've never been the same. Jeff was a friend and
co-worker of Skyguy's older brother, who is a monk now, but who used
to work for Clyde Beatty Cole Brothers Circus with Jeff. They did
various things, but mostly worked in marketing and advance promotions, traveling from town to town ahead of the circus. Long after Brother Dave left CBCBC, Jeff continued on, and we remained friends with him. He would try to get us into the circus for free when the kids were little. My kids have ridden on elephants and petted ligers and had other really wonderful backstage circus experiences. Once, he not only took our family to Augusta, he took my best friend and her husband as well and put us all up in a really nice hotel. That was the kindness we loved in Jeff, the more the merrier, and the words 'more' and 'merry' definitely described him. Jeff weighed well over 300 pounds and was always the life of any party. He loved to describe himself as a flaming queen. Yes, Jeff was as gay as gay could be, and if you look up homosexual in the dictionary, his picture should be there. As I type this, I hear his voice saying " tell them this, or tell them that-you really should capitalize 'flaming' "... he was quite a character and would love the fact that I am writing this story.

Whenever Jeff would come through town, he would usually take us out to eat in a really nice restaurant. He was of Spanish heritage and he delighted in teaching us about real Spanish cuisine. Once, Jeff came to visit, and instead of taking us to dinner, he decided that he wanted to cook an authentic dinner. He went to Harry's Farmer's Market and came back with enough groceries to feed an army. As he started cooking, he realized that we would have more food than the 5 of us could eat. While he was making the sangria-real sangria, he told me to call some friends over for an impromptu party. He kept cooking and I kept calling the neighbors. We lived in a pretty diverse neighborhood, but even as open minded as people were, watching people meet and get to know Jeff was always entertaining. He had a unique way of making people like him, even the most homophobic individuals. As it turned out, half the neighborhood had dinner with us, and Jeff was the life of the party. The food was great, but the Sangria...oh my god...it was divine. The neighbors got drunk and Skyguy had to walk a few of them home. One guy passed out on our sofa. That Sangria was so good that you would not even know it was alcoholic, until you woke up the next day with a banging sugar hangover. Amazingly, we had some left over, and Jeff suggested that I bottle it and we could open the bottle in two weeks when he came back through town on his way back North. I found one of those fish shaped wine bottles, poured the sangria in-straining out the slices of fruit-and corked the bottle. Jeff left the next day and told us that he would call us in two weeks.

We did not make any plans, nor did a couple of neighbors as they wanted to come by and just hang out with him. He was just so interesting and always had a million stories to tell. You would laugh until you cried. Two weeks went by, and there was no call. Three weeks came and went. We had not heard from Jeff. Finally, on the fourth week, Skyguy's brother called and told us that Jeff had been killed in a car accident on the weekend when he was supposed to be on his way to our house. He was so physically large that he was crushed upon impact with another car and the steering wheel impact caused cardiac failure. The world lost a very special person that day.

So, in honor of Jeff, I've kept that bottle of Sangria all this time. I recall that when we poured it up he made a joke that it would be good in 100 years. I don't have a good place to store the bottle here, and I don't think Jeff would want me to keep it the way I have done. I'm afraid someone will come along, not knowing the bottle's history, and uncork it to see what it is. He would want me to open it, invite some friends over, and have fun. The question is, is it still good? Part of me wants to keep the fish bottle intact, but part of me wants that Sangria. If I knew that the Sangria was vinegar instead of wine, I might keep it in the bottle, but just thinking about how good that
Sangria was, and just knowing how much love Jeff put in it....I want to make a final toast to Jeff.

So I open this dilemma to a vote among those of you who read my blog. Let me know what you think I should do. To the best of my memory, this was made with 7 up, grain alcohol, red wine, rum, sugar, and lots of fruit. I remember lemons, oranges, peaches, and kiwi, and it seems like there was more, but I've forgotten. It was very, very sweet, almost syrupy, and wonderfully smooth. What would you do-open a 13 year old bottle and toast to Jeff, or find a place to store the bottle and keep it in his honor?

Homemade Pimento Cheese

One of Skyguy's coworkers gave us some little cherry peppers, AKA pimento peppers. I decided I would make some homemade pimento cheese, or as we say in these parts, "perminner cheese", and attempted to google a recipe. Lo and behold, it appears that pimento cheese is a Southern thing. I had no clue. Who would have thunk that and why would that be so? Surely pimentos grow other places in the country, and surely others eat sharp cheese?

http://www.answers.com/topic/pimento

I had to pause and look around the web to try and answer my own questions and found this site which states that Georgia is the only state that really grows pimentos. That is just amazing to me. I have never grown these little peppers because I thought they were sweet peppers and I am a chili lover, but I know tons of people that grow these things in their backyard. Who knew they were pimentos??? Not I. Who know it was a Southern thing? Not I.

I grew up disliking the stuff, even though I LOVE cheese. My folks would spread storebought pimento cheese on their white bread and I would gag. It wasn't until a year or so ago that my friend from LA (Lower Alabama) introduced me to homemade pimento cheese from her grandfather's recipe. It is really simple: sharp cheddar cheese, grated fine, a jar of pimentos, mayo, (I also add a dash of garlic and onion powder), and a dash of tobasco. Oh my...whiz that around in the food processor and it is heavenly.

So now, I have the real peppers, not a jar, and I scour the internet looking for a recipe and cannot find one. How weird is that? So I took the peppers, removed the seeds and the insides --- saved those seed!!! --- and cut the peppers into strips. I threw them in a small frying pan with just a splash of olive oil and some garlic and salt. OH MY GOD, they were to die for!! I can't wait to make real pimento cheese in a bit. I don't think I will need the tobasco as these fresh peppers have just the right amount of heat. I simply cannot wait until next year to grow these peppers!

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6877304

I did find this NPR page, which gives a bit of cultural background in the way of stories. Apparently, it is popular in the Philippines and in Hungary, too, or at least they eat something similar.

But yeah, before summer wanes, I want a big tall glass of milk, a homemade perminner cheese samwich, a huge dill pickle, and some tater chips. Good eats.

I keep reminiscing about summers past and wondering why I would eat only cheese (Cheez Whiz was my childhood favorite, but I don't like it now) and not pimento cheese sandwiches. Man, that was crazy.

For Eleanor Bell

Thirty three years ago today, my birthmother and her husband died in a flash flood in Colorado. The flood made the national news, and several documentaries have resulted from the tragedy. Meteorologists have learned a lot from this particular flood, and if there is a silver lining to the dark cloud that killed so many, perhaps the lessons learned have saved others. River gauges that transmit data via satellite offer real time warnings today, you may have even seen one before-they are fairly common along riverbanks. Many lives have been saved by the advanced warning of flood conditions that these gauges provide and it is a direct result of the Big Thompson Canyon disaster on July 31, 1976. About 145 people died in the flood, which swept through the canyon without warning, turning an ankle deep creek into a 20 foot wall of water and debris.

My birthmother died instantly. Her body was found weeks later miles downstream. I was 15 at the time, living with my adoptive family. I had no knowledge of this event or the implication it would hold for my future. I found out about this when I found my birthfamily in 1989. My brother's wife, from my birthfamily, was kind enough to take me to the site where my mother was found and up through the canyon to her old homeplace in Drake. My brother was in the Navy in CT at the time and flew back to Colorado to help in the search and to support his sister. My sister on the very day of the flood, had given birth to her son, the first grandson. My birthmother had been to the hospital to see Ben for the first time, and were on their way home when they died. For my sister, this day is extremely difficult and personal, as you might expect. She gained a son, but lost her parents.

It is my personal belief, based on radio transcripts and a timeline I created by survivor accounts, that Officer Hugh Purdy had stopped to help my birthmother and her husband when the road ahead of them was washed away. The radio transcripts reveal that he stopped to help a couple in a truck. Their truck was never found. I believe that the three of them died in the same moment, at the same place, just east of Drake. The canyon walls were steep there, and there was no where to go. There is a memorial in the canyon for the victims of the flood, and for Officer Purdy. If you are on your way up to Rocky Mountain National Park via Loveland and Estes Park, you will travel through Big Thompson Canyon. Perhaps you will find time to stop and remember those who died.

This page has a list of the dead:
http://www.idreamof.com/disaster/vic_btc.html

This page has a very nice flash media presentation of the flood:
http://www.coloradoan.com/news/thompson/

This page has a few stories and eyewitness accounts:
http://www.super70s.com/Super70s/Tech/Nature/Disasters/Floods/76July31-Big_Thompson.asp

Future Shock or Just Getting Old

Alvin Toffler, in Future Shock, predicted this would happen, but he didn't tell me that I would feel old and worry about having early onset Alzheimers. You see, I'm having trouble keeping up with technology. I know I am not alone, but I feel alone. At some point in life, I must have decided to turn my back on it and I just haven't kept up with things. For example, I have no clue what Blue Ray is, or what 3G or 4G means. I don't suppose I'll ever own a cell phone, um, Blackberry or iPhone. I've never texted anything, never received a text. I've never surfed the internet on anything but my desktop computer, never had a laptop even. Never had a Mac or an Apple...brother in law partitioned a drive for me and I had Linux at one time, but there just weren't any apps for it back then, so I went back to Windows. It takes more than 7 minutes for my Facebook home page to load, and I can't chat from it. Point is, even my experience on popular sites like Facebook is not what others experience. I can't watch video - no YouTube. I don't have a web cam for Skype. I'm really not even sure how that works, or if it would even work, connecting as slow as I do. No iPod, no Mp3 music or podcasts, never done it because of my connection speed. It is getting to the point where I almost can't get updates for the programs I have. These companies forget that dialup users have a hard time downloading a 15 meg update. I just got a Windows update. Even leaving the computer online all night long, it took all day yesterday and last night and this morning...24 hours..I have no idea of how large the update was, but whatever. 18 kbps download speed....Woohoo!

Long ago, I stopped looking at vehicles. I couldn't tell the difference between a Honda or Chevy. All the cars kind of look the same to me. People say, "I saw you on such and such road and waved-didn't you see me?" Of course, I don't look at other cars, just the road, so I never see anyone. I'm really nearsighted, which also plays a part in not noticing friends or family in oncoming cars. If I do make them out in passing, it is too late to wave, so people think I'm snobby or angry.

I'm out of it in more ways, too. Just for kicks, I googled the Billboard top 100 and top 50 singles. Out of 150 entries, I recognized 28 artists(some duplicated like the Black Eyed Peas) and two songs (Boom Boom Pow, Kiss A Girl). This poor showing from someone who used to know even the most obscure group on the top 100. When and how did this happen? I swore to myself when I was 15 that I would NEVER ignore pop music-that if nothing else, I would at least know the most popular artists and songs, the top 40, etc.

At my last job, I worked with this boy genius kid who knew more about Excel and spreadsheets in general than anyone I've ever known. Today's 20 something kids have been taught about these useful programs and software apps in school, whereas, my generation was forced to learn on our own. It is no wonder that people my age can't find a job. We are dinosaurs. I'm a chemist, but even the periodic table is different now than it was when I was in school. Experimental physics and polymer chemistry has changed everything in industry and manufacturing. When I was in school, polymer chemistry was a chapter or two in your Organic Chemistry class. Now, you can major in polymer chemistry.

I kept my granddaughter on a recent Saturday. I used to think that I would have a lot to offer her in the way of knowledge and wisdom. I did graduate college with a 3.94/4.0 GPA. I consider myself intelligent, and yet, I wonder if my knowledge will be relevant by the time Jordan is old enough to understand things. Will she appreciate Nature, or will she become a city girl who would rather be shopping at the local mall? Will she care about what I think if, in her eyes, I am old and irrelevant and not 'with it'? Already, my advice to my daughter concerning finances doesn't make sense as I write checks and keep paper records and she banks and pays bills electronically. Will Jordan even want to visit me here, where there are bugs and mosquitoes? What do I have to offer? Will she be so bored she hates the place when she can't get her Tweets or Texts?

In a homesteading, subsistence lifestyle, one doesn't have a need to watch anything on Blue Ray. One doesn't really even need television. It is optional. My field peas don't need a podcast, and I can hear the rooster at 4 in the morning just fine without 4G. Still, I wonder.

Future Shock was written in 1970, I believe, but it is very relevant today. It is worth reading if you have never read it, and worth a reread if it has been a while since you did. If you are like me, you have forgotten a lot.

Toivo

Today, July 24, is my father's birthday. I should say, my biological father. Just to avoid confusion, I should also say that I have a legal father who is deceased and whom I never met-that is my biological mother's husband, an adoptive father who is deceased and whom I was estranged from, and a stepfather who raised me and was my Daddy-there for me everyday. I did not meet my biological father until I was 29, twenty years ago. I had 17 years with him before he died, and I treasure that time. I'll dedicate this blog entry to him. The picture of us was taken in 1998, in Astoria Oregon where he lived.

Toivo Johannes K. was barely born in this country, a first generation American whose parents were both from Finland. In Finnish, Toivo means Hope, as he represented a great hope for the family's future in America. His father had left Finland in 1909 to avoid a second purge by the Czar Nicholas. Finland was part of Russia at the time, the the ruling czar was trying desperately to stamp out the communists. My grandfather was a communist, so he Finland left for North America. He met my grandmother who was also from Finland as they traveled through Canada before settling in the US. Toi spoke very little English as a child, and quit school at the age of 10 because he needed to help his family in the Great Depression and because he was struggling with the language. Toi worked for a dairy, and you guessed it, he was a milkman for over 50 years, with the exception of the time when he served in WWII. He served in the 132nd Infantry and the 164th Infantry of the Americal Division. Americal is short for Americans in New Caledonia. This division was the forerunner for the Marine Corp, but part of the Army at the time. http://www.americal.org/ambook.shtml

My father was an infantryman and driver who fought on Guadalcanal, Leyte, Bougainville, and other islands in the Northern Solomons in the campaign to liberate the Philippines. The picture at right was taken on the island of Bougainville. He received a Bronze Star for combat heroism-I never learned the story on that one, and a Bronze Service Arrowhead(Arrowheads are given for assault landings such as those at Normandy or in this case,Guadalcanal), as well as the usual Victory Medal, Asiatic Pacific Service Medal, etc. He was a good man, who loved my birthmother, loved her other children, and loved me unconditionally when he learned of my existence. He was a stubborn, Finnish, and had a drinking problem, not unlike others of his generation who served in WWII. In the short time that I knew him, he was very good to me.

He spent the latter part of his life working with other vets in the American Legion and VFW. He was a Legion Post Commander and even served as a the Secretary of the Legion in the State of Oregon at one time. Service was more than just a word to my father.

Midsummer Garden Happenings

It's been a few weeks since I gave a garden update, and now I have to subject you to a really long post. I apologize. I'll try to get some pics up soon.

We've been quite busy around here with the garden, canning, dog training, etc. This past weekend, we also kept our granddaughter. I'm trying to take it easy and follow the doctor's orders, but it is hard. The sutures are gone, but I still have to elevate my foot 50% of the time, 30 minutes for every hour I am up. Worse still, I can't wear normal shoes yet and am still in the surgical shoe. The incision is healing nicely; there's a nice, raised, hard ridge at the site. The pain is really minimal, more in my pinky toe itself than in the joint for whatever reason. At least now I can take a shower, swim, etc. I've haven't done any heavy garden work, mostly picking beans and such. Skyguy has been picking veggies, watering, monitoring for bugs, staking tomatoes, etc. He tilled a patch and planted more okra, too. I'm really quite impressed with his gardening.
Anyway, I just want to ride my bike. I've gained back about 12 pounds of what I lost, and I am not happy about it. I really should have dieted, but dang, when you are laid up, you get bored, and boredom leads to eating!

Bed 1 is a hodgepodge of plants. I did not get cages around my tomatoes early, so they, like kudzu, have sprawled over the bed and they are taking over! I have about 3 romas and a serrano pepper, a poblano pepper, butternut squash, two eggplants and probably something else in that bed that is lost under the vines. At the east end of that bed, there are a few blue lake bean seeds that have not germinated. That raised bed is next to the chicken run, and in the foot wide space between the bed and the run I've planted sorghum which is about 12 feet tall and almost mature. I've already bend some of the canes over into the chicken run to feed the chooks on the fly.

Bed 2 just has dill in it right now after I pulled up and harvested all of the cauliflower that was in it previously. It was not a good year for cauliflower, but I did get a few meals out of it. I'll replant soon.

Bed 3 has a couple of toms, a butternut squash, and blue lake bush beans that are just coming up. There is a tomatillo volunteer and two Anaheim peppers.

There is nothing in bed 4. I'm hoping it will be ready to plant in the Spring.

Bed 5 has one very large and sprawling yellow crookneck squash and some Tendercrop green beans that are just starting to flower.

Bed 6 is empty and won't be planted until late 2010

Now, for the in ground plants:
Peanuts: I only had about 20% germination, but I left them alone hoping to at least get enough nuts to roast for a snack. If I am lucky, I might get enough for one jar of peanut butter. I had hoped to get enough for 4 jars, but a vole or mouse or something ate the nuts. They are just now flowering, so it will be a while before I can use that space.

I have another large crookneck squash in the ground, as well as a zucchini, and all of my squashes, both winter and summer, are doing great. I've been diligently killing squash bug eggs and it is paying off. For winter squashes I have planted butternut and acorn squashes inside and outside the garden fence in various places. I'm hoping to fill up at least one laundry basket of each type. For the summer squashes, we grill them fresh, I freeze some, and I make squash
casseroles and freeze those. I also make squash bread from both zukes and yellow squash-no use wasting the big ones, I just grate them up and then make and freeze the bread. It is a banana bread recipe, but I sub 2 cups of grated squash for the bananas. I make loaf pans and muffins that I can freeze and eat later for breakfast and snack food.

We are starting to get some okra(Dwarf Lee is the variety) and we have just planted Clemson Spineless. Since it is Skyguys's first year in the garden, he wanted to grow what everyone else grows, so we have hybrid corn, a hybrid tomato, and the Clemson Spineless....

The strawberries are going like gangbusters, but they are a bit smaller than I would like. I think they need fertilizer and water. Even so, they are tasty and I'm picking a bit more than a pint a day. All 3 grapevines(Remailly seedless, Catawba, Mars seedless) have multiple clusters of grapes, and I've been picking blueberries for a week now. The blackberries are in the freezer already. It looks to be a good apple year, but I don't see but a few pears and no plums. In hills
around the garden, in addition to the winter squashes, I have a few pickling cukes, a couple of Georgia rattlesnake watermelons, and scads of sweet potatoes. I hope to have a laundry basket of sweet potatoes as well.

I planted a 10x12 patch of small, teeny-tiny red field peas the way my friend James suggested. I scuffed up the ground, hand cast the peas, and covered them with waste hay. The peas came up great, and they still look great. It takes about 100 days for these peas, and I am right at Day 85. Next year, I'll grow more peas and black beans this way.

I've got 3 areas of corn. The first group was sweet corn planted just after Easter. This corn really has not produced, tassled at only 2 feet tall. No one around here that planted corn early has any-it was a bad year for early corn-too much rain early on, I think. We got a few stunted ears which were delicious, but we only got a few meals instead of being able to load the freezer. However, as bad as the early corn was, the late corn was good. I had a beautiful stand of Bloody Butcher corn that was 6ft tall or more until late last week when a summer thunderstorm downburst flattened it. I'm crushed. I tried to stand it backup, but the canes just broke. I planted this corn deeper than usual, about 2 inches deep, just to prevent this problem, but to no avail. I'm hoping that there is enough corn left standing to at least regain my seed. Corn plot #3 is another plot of hybrid, Early and Often, that Skyguy planted in a dog kennel out behind the barn to keep the distance from the other corn and to protect it from the deer. It is doing well- about 2 feet tall now. This is not the first time I've lost corn to thunderstorms and lodging. I've planted deeper, I've hilled up around the plants..I've ruled out rootworms. I just don't know what else to do. Obviously, my garden spot, which is just a few hundred feet downwind of a ridge, is where the storms dump their downbursts. The storms are uplifted by the western side of the ridge, but once the storm crosses the ridge line, the mountain starts to break them up and in the process they dump wind in a downburst or straight lines. The ridge protects us from super cell storms, but this is the downside of it. Skyguy wants to try allowing the corn to grow up through cattle panel placed waste high, but I don't know. It seems rather silly-no one else does it, but, really, I'm ready to try odd things to save the corn. Maybe I should grow it in small plots and put posts on the corners and then run string around it and through it to support the stalks. Maybe growing it in hills would be better. At least with a 3 sisters style arrangement in a hill, I would not get the domino effect of toppling corn like I saw in the block. I'm open for suggestions. Help.

Sunday, I pulled up, peeled, blanched and froze carrots. I julienned some for salads and stirfries, and I used the small ends in some pickled jalapenos for color. I'm going to try and replant the tops, too. I need to now amend the 12 foot long bed and add some soil and in a few weeks I will replant more carrots. There are a few chard plants left in that bed, and I'll cut them back, too. In addition to more carrots, I'll plant some radishes and beets. Also next week, I'll move some cattle panels around and resow some snow peas, turnips, and English peas for the Fall.

Also on Sunday I canned some jalapeno peppers with some carrots. Soon, we will make cucumber pickles. I grew up with a certain kosher dill pickle recipe, but Skyguy wants to experiment to see if we can find something more crisp. We bought one of those Mrs. Wages mixes, and I'll make a pint plain, and then mix and match the ingredients to see what he will like and think works best. Some jars will have grape leaves, some will have garlic, some will have dill heads, some will have dill seed and weed, and some will have all of the above. I already know that the jars with everything in it will be my favorites, but he wasn't raised in a canning/gardening family and he is enjoying the experimentation of it all, so since we have plenty of cukes, why not? Some of the best discoveries in the world were accidents. Viagra did not help the angina of Welsh miners, but hey, we all know what is does help!

Beans...I've got a million beans, but because I was trying to get rid of old seeds, I have a little bit of a lot of things. Some were old and had poor germination, some just did not provide enough plants. Long story shorter, I haven't canned or frozen any beans yet, but we are eating good every night. I did give some away, too. We've planted the equivalent of a 100 ft row or more of blue lake bush beans and they are just now breaking ground so two months from now, I should be able to can beans. I'm still getting beans, but that should wane over the next few weeks. The wax beans are in a lull, the Roma II bush beans are waning, the KY wonder pole beans are hitting stride, the yard long beans are starting to flower, and the Royal Burgundy bush beans will be ready to pick within the week. It's a lot of beans.

And now, the tomatoes....finally, I am starting to get some ripe cherry toms. Some of the Romas are ripening, but only one of the slicing toms is getting ripe and that is Skyguy's Better Boy. However, in a week or so, definitely by two weeks, I will be canning and making tomato products. I expect to be doing that for the next month or so. I've started washing mason jars and getting everything ready. I washed and sterilized the Victorio strainer, a device I use to make the paste and sauces. It's a good thing. I don't even know how many tomato plants I have -more than 50- and probably 60% of them are paste types(Roma, Sausage, Oxheart, etc), 10% are cherry(Super Sweet 100 and Husky Red Cherry), and the rest are slicers/sandwich tomatoes (Brandywines, Caspian pinks, Mortgage Lifter, Abraham Lincoln etc.). I'll be making tomato sauce, tomato paste, tomato juice, V8 juice, pizza sauce, spaghetti sauce, chili base, and a bit of salsa in addition to stewed toms. I still have some salsa from last year, but I might make a bit if I get overrun with peppers. I'd really rather dry the serranos as I use those in guacamole.
Speaking of guacamole, I've started about 7 or 8 avocado trees. I know I won't get avocados here, but hey, they make nice houseplants and I can always hope for a miracle. Who knows what global warming will do, right? There's got to be an upside to it, and if I could grow avocados, I'd be super happy!

It is time to plant and plan for the Fall crops, and I started that Saturday. I planted the following in those little peat pots to be transplanted later:

72 broccoli plants-Green Goliath-a new variety I am trying
25 cabbage plants-Danish Ballhead-seeds are from 2007-yikes
25 Brussel Sprouts-Catskill-it's the last time I'll try growing Brussel Sprouts..I mean it this time.
22 Red onions, with more to be planted in the ground in mid August

Next week, I'll plant Snow peas, English peas, radishes and carrots. The other big job I need to do is to dig potatoes. I have different varieties in multiple places that would amount to about a thirty foot row. I really hope that the Yukon Gold produced well.

Mid August, I'll plant more carrots collards, kale, beets, salad greens, spinach, turnips(both the root and the greens), Osaka purple mustard, and of course the brassicas and plants I sowed today will go to the ground. Neither of us have ever eaten kale, but I'm hoping it will be a green we can harvest all winter. Skyguy is the one who wants all of these Southern greens...I personally don't care for collards or turnips(the greens are okay though), and I like beet greens better than mustard, but we are trying to find things that we can harvest in the winter that we both like and that would be healthy for us. At some point after that, I will sow some Aquadulce Fava beans as a cover crop in the spot where I'll grow corn next year.

A month or so ago, I planted a seed packet of Artichokes. There were 8 seeds in the pack, and I got 7 plants to transplant size. Unfortunately, between the heat, the puppy, the chicken, and just bad luck, I only have one plant left. I'll be sowing more, I think. I've grown fond of artichoke hearts and perennial vegetables are king!

The other major garden venture that we have in the works is a plan to expand the asparagus bed. Now that Skyguy eats it, we need more, so I'll be tilling and double digging an area near the water line to the barn, along the outside of the garden fence-essentially a 50 foot double row. The water line presents a problem in the initial dig-I'll have to be super careful, but it should not hamper the asparagus' growth and the extra mulch feeding in the fall should help insulate the PVC water line from the cold.

So that's the plan!

Survival of the Sickest, Part II-Diabetes

More about Survival of the Sickest...

The Younger Dryas period of extreme cold, coming just at the end of our last ice age, began in less than 10 years and ended in less than 3 years. That is what is called sudden onset of climate change. This was proven using ice cores and other methods. The present 'stable' climate of the last 11000 years is the exception in our climate history, not the rule. Change happens quickly, so how did humans adapt in such a short period of time? If human evolution takes millions of years, how has our species survived series after series of sudden climate change when grasslands turned into glaciers in a matter of a few years. The answer could be simple: Diabetes mellitis.

In diabetes, the body excretes water and dumps sugar into the blood, exactly the response seen in nature by plants and animals who are attempting to survive the cold. Grapes do it, Frogs do it, and humans do it. Almost everyone has the urge to pee when they have to go out in the cold. That's the body's way of reducing water, because water freezes and destroys cells. Less water, less ice crystals. Also, sugar lowers the freezing point of blood. Saline also lowers the freezing point.

When you are faced with abrupt cold, you shiver. The body robs the muscles of stored sugars and the friction generates heat, then capillaries restrict blood flow to the extremities, reserving the blood for the body core. Certain ethnic groups who live near the poles, like the Inuit and the Sami, have adapted and developed what is called a Hunters response, meaning that every few minutes, the capillaries dilate and allow the blood to flow to the extremities to prevent frostbite and damage, then restrict themselves again. These groups of people have adapted so that their capillary response is much quicker than those peoples who live in more temperate zones. Those who hail from more equatorial zones lack the response entirely. Polar peoples also have a larger quantity of brown fat cells, cells that don't store fat, but burn it to generate heat. The combination of these small adaptions could allow a human to hunt and forage longer in the cold, a skill that might allow survival to reproductive age.

Maybe, just maybe, those who are genetically predisposed to diabetes are those descended from places where there was a sudden advance of the ice sheets in the Younger Dryas period 13000 years ago? Diabetes may have helped certain groups survive the last ice age. There is definitely a cold link to the disease. More diabetes is diagnosed in the colder months-between November and February in the northern hemisphere. Children with Type I are usually diagnosed when the temps drop in the Fall of the year.

Adaption is a two way street. Natural selection chooses a technique that will allow the organism to survive an immediate threat, BUT, the adaption may weaken the organism in other areas. For example, peacock feathers make him more attractive to females, but also make him more obvious to predators.

Survival of the Sickest: Part I

My daughter Kate has similar tastes in books as I do. We like non-fiction, but it needs an edge so it is not too dry of a read. This time, Kate has loaned me a 2007 book by Dr. Sharon Moalem, called Survival of the Sickest. It is a good read, but then again, I like things like this-hypotheses that make sense, have some scientific evidence to support them, but are not totally proven or accepted as fact. To me, this is the fun of science-it is the big 'What If' that allows you to wonder about coincidences and explore connections between seemingly odd things. I believe that there are no coincidences in life, and I believe that all things are connected.

"DNA isn't destiny, it's history", writes Moalem, and that quote reminds me of a conversation I had a while back with my friend James, who is oft irritated by those who use genetic predisposition as an excuse for continuing unhealthy behaviors and lifestyles. Moalem's quote is important to remember. We have to study history so as not to repeat it, but just because history tends to repeat itself doesn't mean that the future is locked in. When it comes to disease, there are so many variables and triggers that it is possible to be predisposed to a disease and have a high probability of contracting it, but never actually contracting it because one lived a life avoiding the potential or known genetic triggers, like smoking or eating a diet low in fiber, etc. Later in the book, when discussing epigenetics, Moalem writes "DNA is destiny--until you get out the old methyl Magic Marker and start rewriting it." You see, it is actually possible to change your DNA by your actions. What you do can initiate certain genes, formerly thought of as junk DNA, now thought of as jumping genes, to fasttrack mutations and speed up evolution. So yeah, Lamarckian was correct after all and the concept of jumping genes, while not fully understood, can explain things like why a small percentage of Australian Shepherds are now being born with naturally docked tails, and why some lizards are born with larger bodies and tails if the mother smells a certain snake while she is pregnant, versus a small bodied lizard if no danger is sensed. Scariest of all, is that my smoking habit may have switched on cancer genes for my daughter AND granddaughter, even if they never smoke. Get this: since I smoked when I was pregnant with my daughter, and she was born with every egg she will have, essentially, my cells passed epigenetic signals to my granddaughter while she was still an egg in my daughter's ovary, while my daughter was still a fetus inside of me. This stuff is wild, and it goes to show that Heinlein was right and the universe is not just stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine.

At any rate, the book is about history, genetics, and human evolution, and it is fascinating. He starts off by talking about the disease called hemochromatosis then moves on to diabetes, then blood lipids. I took notes because I am increasing suffering from CRS, a middle age affliction known colloquially as Can't Remember Sh*t. I won't spoil the entire book, but in this post, I do want to talk about his first talking point-the relationship between iron and disease and how that may have helped mankind survive.

Hemochromatosis is a disease where the body locks up and stores iron. Yes, iron is a good thing, but too much iron can cause organ damage. The body has chelators, proteins which lock up iron, and they are very important in the immune response. Egg white, albumin, is full of chelators, as is breast milk. Bacteria multiply unimpeded in iron rich environments, so if you can bind up iron, as chelators do, you can starve bacteria and allow the immune system's other defenses to work.

Bubonic plague affects lymphatic system, causing glands to swell and even rupture through the skin...survival rate is 33% Airborne plague has a survival rate of 10% Those that survived the plague probably had hemochromatosis, a disease where chelating agents lock up iron in the body making it inaccessible to bacteria or were anemic. Today, the hemochromatosis mutation is seen in those whose ancestors came from Western Europe. The downside is that the disease can eventually kill people by the organ damage the iron causes, but because the body's iron is locked away, bacteria starve. The same type of effects are seen in populations that are anemic, like Somali nomads who were exposed to TB, malaria, brucellosis and other diseases, yet did not become sick. In the old days, bloodletting may have helped those with hemochromatosis. It would reduce the iron load. In modern times,people with this disease often give blood more than others. It literally, physically, makes them feel good.

This idea about iron and bacteria requires more study by me. Moalem mentioned what he called the Geritol Solution to Global warming. There was an experiment in 1995 near the Galapagos Islands where massive quantities of iron were dumped into the clear blue(basically barren) ocean. The result was that there was an increased phytoplankton growth and the ocean turned green with life. The plankton and bacteria feasted on the iron, and in doing so, sucked carbon dioxide right out of the atmosphere. I'd like to read more about this, but it sure makes me like the idea of ships as artificial reefs a lot more than I did at one time.

I'll make a few more blog entries on this book, but as a teaser, here's a couple of things you might find interesting:

ACHOO syndrome: Autosomal dominant Compelling Heliopthalmic Outburst syndrome is uncontrollable sneezing when someone is exposed to light after being in the dark...response is a leftover immune response from the days when people lived in caves, and upon emerging into the sunlight, cleared their nasal passages of molds, microbes, etc. that they might have picked up in the cave.

Most adults are lactose intolerance because after a child is weaned, their bodies no longer produce the enzyme that breaks down lactose. People who are descended from tribal or farming communities where animal milk is regularly consumed perhaps have a mutation that allowed continued lactase production after weaning, and therefore would not be lactose intolerant.

The Best Things in Life

The process of training a new puppy can be daunting, but there are a few milestones along the way that let you know you are on the right path. Bingo and I passed one of those milestones today. Not that we have the "come" command conquered, not by a long shot, but we are making progress. It is my belief that dogs think of people as members of their pack. They don't discriminate on looks or the color of one's coat/clothes. Some are born into a ready made pack, and some join packs later in their lives. Of course, in a pack, there is always an alpha male and an alpha female. When that pack includes humans, we should be the alpha animal, but not all humans take their responsibility as alpha seriously. The alpha animal not only provides food, but leads the pack on the hunt. They decide where the pack goes and what the pack will do. Alpha leads the way through doors, they are the first down a path, and the first to face danger. As we all know, having a leader allows the followers to relax, because they aren't the decision makers. Relaxed followers, in this case, puppies, are generally happy if their needs are met. Still, it is up to the pack to train the pup how to behave, what is acceptable and what is not. When the Alpha Bitch yells "come", she expects compliance from her boys.

Luckily, in our pack, Bear is submissive to Skyguy and I, and Bingo is submissive to Bear, for now. Our job is to make sure that Bingo does not bond with Bear more than us. The bond with the Alpha animal should be strongest. It is easy to allow Bear to 'babysit' the pup, but there is a limit to how often that should happen. Skyguy and I have been getting into the fray when the dogs play, just to reinforce the idea in Bingo's head that we are all part of the pack, there is no separation. In doing this, we have seen a huge difference in Bingo's attitude and behavior. He is more affectionate and less 'stand-offish'. Perhaps that change is a natural part of the relationship of trust in our third week of bonding. When I let him out, sometimes I go with him, and sometimes I don't. Sometimes he goes out with Bear, and sometimes he goes out alone. Sometimes I put him on the leash, and sometimes I don't. I've noticed that when we go out sans leash, he generally stays within 25-30 feet of me, closer if I talk to him. Bear does this too, and it lets me know that they are choosing to remain close by. In the last few days, when I call Bingo, I call him the same way..a whistle, a long "Biiiiinnnngggggoooo", and then "Biiinnnggooo C'mon,,, Beeeeaaaar Beeeaar, C'mon." It usually takes a few seconds until they come into sight and run towards the door. They are always together, Bingo following Bear. I've been really rewarding Bingo when he comes through the door, I change my voice pitch to show excitement in seeing him, I run him and love him and sometimes I give him a treat, sometimes not. Today, as I was in the middle of baking, I let Bear and Bingo out together. After 5 minutes or so, I called them, as usual. A minute went by with no dogs in sight, so I called again. Then I see Bingo, running as fast as his little legs would happily go, coming towards the house. He ran all the way home, without Bear's accompaniment, and bounded in the house excited to see me. Of course, he got a treat for that one! I looked out after that and saw Bear walking, no, piddle-poking around near the creek. Bingo chose to come to me instead of hanging out with Bear. That is a milestone. I know now, that he feels as though he is part of our pack, my pack. He has definitely adopted us.

It's All Good

The Fourth of July has come and gone. The year is flying by. Like many of you, I had a very nice family cookout for the holiday. My foot is good-I must say this is the easiest surgery I've ever had, and I can't wait until the stitches come out and until I can get it wet. I long to take a shower again, but I suspect it might be another week before that happens. This afternoon, the doctor called me to check on my recovery. That was definitely a WOW moment as they just don't do that anymore. So, if you need a good foot and ankle surgeon in the Rome, GA area, I can provide a recommendation!

Bingo is wonderful still, he hasn't chewed anything he shouldn't, and he is just all puppy. You remember in Charlotte's Web that Charlotte wrote 'Some Pig' in her web to tout the specialness of her friend, well, here, I write "SOME DOG" for the same reason. Day before yesterday, he helped
my daughter and I catch some chickens and put them back in the run. He herded/chased the chickens around the perimeter right into my hands. When I caught the bird, I continued to hold it at Bingo's level, and he just sniffed the bird and did not try to bite it or act aggressively at all. This was very surprising considering what a rambunctious pup he is. I read into this that Bingo has excellent herding instincts, not so aggressive as to hurt stock, but aggressive enough to install fear in the animal. His eyes are very different than Bear's eyes. Bear has normal dark brown doggie eyes, but Bingo's eyes are more hazel, a weird light brown color that is more piercing and intense. I hope they don't change as he ages. I like his eyes. Jordan loved him, too. She could say his name and sing the melody for the song, and by the end of their visit, she was telling him "No!" so that he would not jump on her. After she got tough, he did not jump on her anymore.

Today it is raining-the first rain here since June 4. It is not raining much, but it is a slow, light rain and that is the best thing for the garden. Yesterday, Skyguy reinforced the pier under one of our rainwater tanks, so it is filling up again. The support pier is made of scrap 4x4's and 2x8/2x10's on the side. Over time, some of the joints had weakened and the tank and pier had started to lean. If we have a good downpour of hard rain, it can fill in about 15 minutes but since we only have a light rain, it might take all day, if it fills at all. We use rainwater for watering the garden as well as for watering birds that are kept in the old coop (roosters or turkeys or whatever). The purpose of the pier is to elevate the 350 gallon tank to provide head for gravity flow to the garden.

Also of note this weekend are a couple of more Facebook reunions with college friends. I am glad to be back in touch with Donna and Susan. I am fortunate to have such good friends-to know so many who are "good people", people who have huge hearts and work for the benefit of others.

Bingo, I win!

I just returned from the vet's office where Bingo Baby was the main attraction. As it turns out, he is really healthy except for the worms(whips, hooks AND tapes). He was treated and released. The vet thinks he is between 10-12 weeks old, younger than our first estimates. Not only has his tail been docked, but his dewclaws were also surgically removed, leading her to believe, as I do, that he is fullblood Australian Shepherd. I just can't believe my luck. What a catch! In a few weeks, he will return for booster shots and neutering.
He threw up in the crate both on the way there and on the way back, so I have a mess to clean up. Puppies are fun!

Bingo!

Opportunity does knock, occasionally. As I've written, Skyguy and I had been thinking about getting another dog. We met with a Sheltie breeder who should have litters for sale later this year, so we were waiting and biding our time, wondering how we would justify spending a lot of money for a pup when the economy is bumpy. Saturday, I saw a puppy listed on Freecycle, and while I usually ignore such offers, this one jumped at me. A lady had found a puppy at a local grocery store, and no one had claimed him. She couldn't keep him, so she gave him to me! He has a docked tail, so he is at least part Australian Shepherd if not full blooded. At any rate, I now have a new family member and for the time being, we are calling him Bingo. Yeah. "There was a farmer had a dog and Bingo was his name-Oh, B-I-N-GO". I can hear Jordan singing it now. The little guy is both adorable and smart.

The timing on this adoption/rescue could have been better. I'm having foot surgery tomorrow so I won't be able to walk and play with him for a time. I suppose it will be good motivation to get well. I've made a list of commands that I want to teach him. You don't realize how many commands there are until you start listing them. Most dogs know less than 10 commands, I would think. I don't count tricks as commands, but if you do, maybe a dozen instead of 10.

*Stay, *Here, *Come by, *Stand, Away, *Search/Find/Where's, *Stop, *Lay Crawl/Under, *Sit, *Speak, *Wait, *Catch,*Heel, Hold, *Over(jump), *Load up, Weave, *Go Crate, Walk up, *Hush, *Back up, *Easy/Gentle, *Out, *Bring it, *Get that, *Ride, *That'll do, *Leave it, *Drop it, Eat

If it has an asterisk, Bear already knows it. I never could get him to understand 'Away', but sometimes he understands "go right" if he isn't too worked up. I hope I can at least teach Bingo the commands that Bear knows. I'm thinking Gee and Haw might be easier than Come By and Away. Sled dogs use geehaw, so we'll see.

The lady who found Bingo is really the shining star of this story, however. Her situation prevented her from keeping the dog as her own, but she still went out of her way to save this probable purebred dog from the pound, and she not only brought me the dog, but she brought toys, food, bowls, a leash and everything I might need. It is hard to find people like that these days.

Bingo played and attacked Bear all evening, and I think Bear corrected him twice. He was so good, just allowing Bingo to climb, bite, hump and otherwise maul him. Bear even stepped aside and attempted to allow Bingo to share his food(which I did not allow-Bingo eats puppy chow) I lost track of how many times I walked him outside yesterday and this morning. I wanted to give him plenty of leash time to teach walking and heeling on a leash, as well as exercise so that he would be easier to train. Last night, he seemed to have an itchy ear, so we gave him a bath and I sprayed his ear with an anti-itch medication for dogs. I think it worked. He cried in the shower, but did not struggle or fight. Bear was very upset and Bingo was crying, so both dogs, separated by the shower door, cried to each other. I tried to work fast, and I did not give him a full blown bath or drying as I just wanted him to experience the bath. I think in time he will be fine.

Today, he met the girls (a rat terrier and a black lab) that belong to my friend Ava, and we went on a short golf cart ride. He wasn't afraid and seemed to enjoy riding. I think he is bonding to me pretty well, so I just took him out without the leash and he stayed with me. He comes when I call him, so it makes me wonder whether or not I really should change his name, even though the list of potential names still exists. Opinions wanted. This pup is a ball of fire, always switched on and fearless. Braveheart fits, and if I had registration papers, I might list that as his name. I could not call him that, however. Here's the reduced list: Rocket, Loki, Zeus, Nitro, Nike, Ace, Rambo, Bingo, Rio, Echo, Shadow, Mojo, Tango, and Mick. I am open for suggestions, too.

I have an appointment with the vet this afternoon. I'm concerned that I don't feel testicles, but perhaps he is younger than we think. Also, I noticed this morning that he has tapeworms, so he needs treatment for that. Since I don't know whether or not he has been immunized, I suppose I will do that, too. So far, he has handled everything I've thrown at him really well. He's quite smart.

Say what??

What the heck is wrong with this country? What is wrong with people?? These questions are often asked, at least in my neck of the woods, and yet seldom answered. I think, however, I know..

People are often demonized or attacked for placing importance on morality. Do-gooders and truth-tellers get bad reputations as troublemakers or party-poopers. Good people with deep convictions on issues will remain silent, afraid to voice opinions that might not be seen as politically correct. I'm generally conservative, and I don't want anyone to think that I believe my ideas are right and absolute, to that point I will remind readers that all people, even liberals, can have deep convictions about what they believe to be morally correct or morally wrong as the case may be, and many are just as silent, just as paralyzed to act as Conservatives. Sometimes people are afraid to stand up for others because they fear becoming a target themselves.

Politically correct is now socially correct, and once a person crosses the line, they become a social pariah. There is an unspoken rule in many workplaces that one should not work too hard, because that would make others look lazy. Very often, the bottom line is money, and in business, the ends justify the means in many companies. As long as a company maintains a certain image, its' true character can be hidden. Image is everything. Employees are often apathetic because they don't see one person's immoral actions as something that will affect themselves. If everyone takes a long lunch, or if employees come in late frequently, productivity is lost and non-profitable companies eventually have to make cuts. If a student cheats on an exam, he may position himself for awards that he doesn't deserve, awards that might make a real difference to someone who actually earned distinction. The mentality of apathy or tolerance of immoral acts has weakened us as a society. It seems that modern life is a series of scandals, in politics, sports, business, education and even in religion. It has become so commonplace that it seems normal and people are desensitized to scandalous behavior, almost like it is a rite of passage that comes with fame, fortune, or power. Bad-boy athletes or hot-shot Navy pilots laugh, drink, and take advantage of women and there is an element of society that envies that lifestyle. Women are seen as objects because families are dysfunctional and parents aren't teaching their children to respect others. In many families, there are no 'fathers', no male role models, and mothers are absent and non-nurturing because they are working two or three jobs to survive. The result is an entire generation of people that believe that society owes them something, that they are entitled to things without working or sacrificing for them. Self indulgence has become a lifestyle to be proud of, and sacrifice is something only poor, stupid schmucks do. No one is patriotic anymore. Only a few young men and women feel obligated to pay their dues by military service. They are called heroes when they are killed, but when they enlist, they are often seen as rejects, kids that can't afford college or who are otherwise underprivileged. It infuriates me.

Well, that is enough for starters...

Family fun

Today was a great family day. My folks came over to visit and they brought these really cool springy lawn chairs that will be great for sky watching, satellite hunting, and meteor showers. When you lay back in them, they bounce a bit and it feels like you are floating. My daughter and granddaughter also came over and we went to a local recreational area known as The Pocket. It is(DUH)a pocket gap on Horn Mountain, just over the ridge to the north of my house. It is located about 10 miles away by road, yet only a bit over a mile as the crow flies. The Forest service has created a campground and a day use picnic park around the creek and springs area. The creek is cold and the spring water is freezing. At any rate, I'm sure that this rec area was created by the CCC back in the 1930's as the rock work has that CCC character to it. The creek has been artificially widened to about 15 feet, and there is a mortared stone wall as the bank wall. There are steps down into the creeks at various places, and in no area is the water deeper than one foot. The water is clear and cold, the creek bed is small pebbles. All of this makes for a wonderful playground for kids, and adults can sit on the side and soak their achy feet in the ice cold water or even sit down in the creek if the day is hot enough. A lot of hikers come through this area, and the creek is a popular place for them, too. Older kids run around with nets looking for chub and minnows, the younger ones just splash around. It is a cool and relaxing place to be in summer. I just did a websearch looking for pictures, and I found this page, with one picture of the creek where we sat and played; it seems my CCC assumption was correct.

http://www.forestcamping.com/dow/suzi/articles/notable/pocket.htm

Jordan had a good time, I think, although at first I think she was a bit unsure of the icy spring water. After a few minutes, I realized that the creek was a lot warmer than the spring, and after we moved over to the creek to play, she relaxed and started jabbering with the other kids. Later, after we returned home, I took more than a few pictures of her in her new pajamas playing on the new deck chairs.

To top off the night, after everyone left, my son called. I had not heard from him in a couple of months, so it was really good to hear his voice.

All in all, today was one of those days that will stand out in my memory.

Awesome Little Cats

Is there anything better than a couple of young cats for dinner?

Yup, I went fishing today. My stepfather and I first went over to Carter's Lake reregulation dam and tried out luck there with some medium large shad. I'd heard that the stripers were stacked up near the water outlet, but we couldn't cast over there. They were letting a lot of water out and the current was so swift and the bottom so rocky that all we were doing is losing tackle. It was frustrating. Several other fishermen(and women) were catching some drum, but I have always dreamed about stripers (hybrid striped bass)and that's why we were there. So by 11 AM, we packed up and headed to a more peaceful locale, Salacoa Creek Park. It is a county owned park, complete with lake beach and campground. It is a very nice, deep, spring fed lake that looks very clean. At Salacoa, we had the lunch I had packed for us, and then began throwing crickets at the bream. It is just past the full moon, and I think there were a few beds still active. There was a spot right off the dock that produced a fish almost every time the bait hit the water. We must have caught 30 or so between us, throwing them back as they were palm sized bream of varying species. Had we known we would be catching that many, I think I might have saved all of them. At any rate, there was a lull in the action, and when it picked back up, I caught a keeper bream and was walking back to the shore to get my 5 gallon bucket for the bream when my stepfather caught a small catfish on a cricket of all things. I had one line in with cut bait, fishing for cats on the bottom, but wouldn't you know those catfish wanted crickets. At the end of the day, just as a thunderstorm approached, we left with 2 small cats and about 10 average sized bream. It was pouring rain when I got home, and by that time, the bream had died. The cats were still alive, however. To save time, I decided not to clean the bream, instead, I cut them up and fed them to the chickens. It had been about 20 years or so since I cleaned a catfish, and I was a bit out of practice, but finally managed to get 'er done. We had 8 minnows leftover, so they are now happily living in my aquarium, which luckily is set up for goldfish/cold water. All the fish are about the same size. Maybe I will get lucky and they will breed, but I doubt it.

Skyguy has never been fond of freshwater fish due to the size vs. the bones, but his palate is changing. It was only a week or so ago that I mentioned to him that those big river cats were edible, but the best catfish were the small ones. There was no way I could allow myself to fail in the preparation of that fish...I knew if I botched it, he would never try catfish again. Luckily, it was delicious, and we were wishing we had about 10 more of them! Our dinner this evening consisted of the catfish(on the plate 1.5 hours after being in the water), grilled squash with olive oil and garlic brushed on (on the plate 30 minutes after being on a bush), new Red Pontiac potatoes (one day after being plucked from a barrel of dirt), cornbread, made with an egg that was an hour old and sadly, store-bought oil and cornmeal (we will be rectifying that situation hopefully in a few months), coleslaw, made with garden cabbage and carrots, and I made some 'hushpuppy patties' with the leftover batter plus some onions and such(also from the garden). When you pan fry, hushpuppies become hushpatties. :)

I just love to fish, even if I'm only catching little bream. Get about 40 of them, fry them up, and you've got a meal of very sweet meat, even if it is only a few bites per fish. I eat the crispy tails, too, love that! Skyguy never fished or camped as a kid, and he still hasn't caught the fishing bug, but I am hopeful that one day I will have a partner that loves to fish as much as I do. I got him camping, I got him eating Chinese food, I got him loving the country life, I got him growing herbs and veggies, and I'm hoping I can entice him to fish.