This Old House 2 – Page 65 – Middle aged musings from farm & hearth

WTF

CNN – Arizona’s Legislature has passed a controversial bill that would
allow business owners, as long as they assert their religious beliefs,
to deny service to gay and lesbian customers.

The bill, which the state
House of Representatives passed by a 33-27 vote Thursday, now goes to
Gov. Jan Brewer, a Republican and onetime small business owner who
vetoed similar legislation last year but has expressed the right of
business owners to deny service.

Full Article HERE

When
is government going to stay out of places they don’t belong? And when
are we going to drop the phrase GAY RIGHTS…there should be no such
phrase. HUMAN RIGHTS…. that’s all we should be concerned with,
because that’s what WE ALL ARE . “Rights” should have NOTHING TO DO with
who we are sexually attracted to unless we’re referring to harm to
children or sexual abuse. Seriously… grow up, America.

Just Sayin.

The Gold Medal I would give out…

My family has been enjoying the winter Olympics, even though I wanted to boycott the whole thing when I heard Putin was poisoning the stray dogs in the Olympic Village area.. dogs that had been brought there by construction crews to guard the sites, then abandoned when they were no longer needed. A pest control company was hired to use poison darts to kill the approx. 5,000 dogs disgarded. Disgusting.

The Sochi Gold medal I would give out – goes to all the visitors, russian activists and athletes who are adopting some of the dogs and puppies who were left behind.

Several American Olympians of note – slopestyle skiing silver medalist Gus Kenworthy.
This guy has actually postponed his return home in order to get the paperwork
necessary to allow him to adopt several stray puppies that have captured his
heart.

From NBC Connecticut – Lindsey Jacobellis may have failed to medal in snowboard cross in Sochi, but she’s still going home a winner. The Olympian has adopted one of the
Russian town’s famed stray dogs, whose uncertain fates have made for one
of the major human (not to mention canine) interest stories of these
Winter Games.

Ryan Miller and the U.S. men’s hockey team have joined the puppy-loving masses.

one of their tweets..

“Couple of stray dogs have been cleaned up and adopted by players.”

And there are more!

I love when that happens. These are my Gold medal winners

Believe it or not, and maybe you are of the same belief, there people who criticize those from the US who adopt an animal from elsewhere. Even now there are some with negative comments about these Olympic adoptions. My view is.. an animal savedis an animal saved. You only serve to discourage what is truly courageous and generous behavior when you inflict such criticism. If you were an American visiting another country and came across a person in immediate need of help and could DO something about it.. would you just walk away because he or she is not an American?

Zentangle

Blogger Hilary of Crazy as a Loom is what I call a real “Do-er”. Generous heart, energized spirit, always in motion, creating, caring, DOING. Ever in need of having something in her hands to work on, she introduced her readers to an art form she has just picked up as a way to wind down and relax, take her mind out of the moment, and I thought I’d give it a go. Her post about it HERE…

What IS Zentangle? (I had no idea)

“The Zentangle Method is an easy-to-learn, relaxing, and fun way to create beautiful images by drawing structured patterns. Almost
anyone can use it to create beautiful images. It increases focus and
creativity, provides artistic satisfaction along with an increased sense
of personal well being. The Zentangle Method is enjoyed all over this
world across a wide range of skills, interests and ages.”

The best part is.. you don’t need many tools to do this. I bought a watercolor pad and Pigment liner pens at Staples for less than $30.

Some Examples found on the WWW. These are clearly some very talented artists…

You don’t have to be quite so talented to create your own art

and reap the benefits of this relaxation exercise –
simple shapes placed ramdonly, as shown below – with rules or boundaries
just do it and see what you put together.

My first attempt below… I prefer to work with an outline of something..

Ben Zen

Finding the Bright Side

Attitude is everything. As I mature I discover this to be one of the biggest truths in life. No matter how determined we are, we can’t dictate exactly how things will go, what will change and what will remain the same. Nothing is sure but death, taxes and the unpredictability of weather. And Twinkies, Slim Jims, Twizzlers and Coke. I’m pretty sure those four things would survive any apocalypse.

As I sit here at the computer, my hands, feet and face sting from the thaw after morning chores. I am not discouraged by the winter that just keeps chilling, snowing and blowing. Instead, I am grateful for the beauty outside my windows, for the good health to carry out the chores, for the good fortune to be able to feed the troops and the animals, and for my husbands big excavation equipment, currently in the State Forest digging a Bronco out of the snow after a certain family member and his friends decided to see how far they could go in the snow last night. Wearing shorts and sneakers. ….. Ah, youth.

“Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch
of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for
home.”
– Edith Sitwell

Because of the cold temps and snowy tundra, we’ve been spending more time around the kitchen table at meal time, more time by the fire watching the Olympics, more time as a family in general. So often the outside world beckons us in all directions. This opportunity for togetherness, despite it’s chill factor, is a gift.

The Mr. and I did some gator riding through the trails yesterday…

…and got just a little stuck.

After a little back and forth and some shoving, cursing and flooring it…

we were free again.

Hey, stupidity is not always wasted on the young.

The picture currently in my header was yesterdays morning moon…

the winter moon is just beautiful.

I’ve now got some serious boot wear I found stuffed in the back of the mudroom closet

-my sons snowmobile boots from a few years back, when we wore the same shoe size.

They are mammoth…each boot weighing probably 10 lbs.. all the better for

some leg toning, right?

Attitude.

The dogs are content to run outside, do their thing, and come right back in.

We always dig a run for Ben, because he will not “go” near the house…

he wants some privacy. If we don’t dig that path,

he stands at the gate looking miserable.

Frasier is not so finicky.

The skies have been the bluest blue.

Picnic anyone?

It’s a new day, All – make it a good one!

Durham Academy Weather Announcement

This is hilarious… have you seen it yet? Way to go, guys…. Lyrics below.. and some info about the school itself from one of my favorite blog readers, Maggy….who is a tutor at the Hill Center across the street.

Durham Academy (aka, “DA”) has two campuses; the Upper School (high school)
and Lower School (elementary grades) are across the street from The Hill
Center, the school I tutor for. In fact, back in the late 70s, George Watts
Hill, a community leader and philanthropist, and his 2nd wife, a teacher with
three children (one which had learning disabilities), were instrumental in
bringing together educators to help address and teach students
with learning differences. That initial program morphed into what is now
The Hill Center, which is both a school as well as a training center for
teachers.

Lyrics:

All right stop, Collaborate and listen
Ice is back and the roads will glisten
Polar vortex has a hold of us tightly
Wind like a harpoon daily and nightly

Will the power stop? Yo — I don’t know
Turn up the heat and then let go
Sleet fallin’ down like a million missiles
Bringin’ school delays and early dismissals.

Dance, To the grocery store
Buy batteries before conditions become . . .
Deadly, slippery roads might be
So stay in your house and drink hot tea

Don’t worry kids, the learning’s not lost
We have Evernote, Moodle, Veracross
If there is a problem, Greg Fishel will solve it
Check out a book while the ice dissolves. It’s

Ice, ice baby. No school, there’s ice, ice baby. No school, there’s ice, ice baby. No school there’s ice, ice baby!

I couldn’t resist.

Niether rain nor sleet nor snow…

Farm folks are like postal workers… whatever the weather, we still have to get out there and do our job. The animals depend on it. I often think of all the animals who don’t have responsible care givers, those who will go hungry and cold today because a humans ignorance is letting them down. When I think of all the animals out there who suffer, it breaks my heart to know I can’t help them all. I am so grateful to those of you who take care of the animals in your charge, and extend a hand to those less fortunate. Someday I will figure out how to reach more of them. For now.. I’ve got my crew to care for.

As much as I would have liked to sit at this computer with a cuppa Joe this morning admiring the falling flakes, the horses and chickens were waiting for the sound of crunching footsteps, ensuring their morning feed. When they hear us coming up the hill, the chickens start clucking and Opie begins his rhythmic banging on the stall wall to hurry me up, I suppose.

Thankfully, this morning my assistant barn manager was available to help, as her day job was not accessible due to the storm.

I’ve done this series of iPhone shots in B & W, because that’s our world this morning, not much color.

The girls are in their coop for the day with a red flood light – which throws heat

but not as much as a heat lamp. A healthier and safer alternative, I’ve found.

Their water is also resting on a small heater.

mini Coady waiting for cookies…

The Gator is our most valuable piece of equipment in my opinion.

..as is a daughter who is willing to help on these blustery cold winter mornings..

Opie would like to return to his stall for some of those cookies, please…

I’m back in and coffee is brewing.

For those of you down South, I hope y’all are safe and warm-

(did I say that right?)

We get more weather here, but we’re prepared for it.

I’m making Paleo Banana Bread today..

a big hit last week with my family, so I can safely recommend the recipe

for those of you who are trying to stay away from sugar and flour.

Recipe HERE

And just to add a little more color on this dreary day..

Here’s a recipe for an avocado dressing I found on Pinterest

One of these days, Alice….

BOOM!.. Right to the moon!!!

*sigh*

Sometimes, especially when I think I’m coping rather well with my loss of hearing… the reality of it creeps in on me again and I could get pretty depressed about it if I let those feelings settle.

Yesterday I got a lot accomplished around here. I was particularly happy with the paleo soup and banana bread I had just finished making for last night’s supper. One pan was pretty sticky and I decided to leave the hot water running over it for a -few minutes- to help me get the pan clean.

Hearing impaired people lose the ability to hear most running water unless you happen to be standing next to Niagara falls.

So .. back to the running water. I ran upstairs to do some laundry… came back downstairs to fold done laundry.. checked e-mail, wrote a blog post… then remembered I needed to turn that hot water off and clean the pan. As I walked back into the kitchen I stepped in a puddle. The puddle covered half the kitchen floor. A measuring cup I had used to cook… covered the drain hole and the sink flooded.. and then spilled over… and over… and over. Even the basement needed mopping. Many many soaked towels, carpets and curses later.. the mess is cleaned up. HOWEVER… our hardwood floors are buckling.

If I had been a person with normal hearing, I would have heard the water hit the floor the second it did so.

To my husband’s credit and much to my surprise, when he arrived home last night he did not blow a fit, visualize Ralph Kramden right here.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a mess of towels to sort out, some wet carpet to move around, and an appointment at the Jeep Dealership to see if they can get the dead mouse out of the engine, because the stench is hideous.

It’s a wonderful life, though, isn’t it? It’s a new day, all. Never ever leave a running sink unattended, OK?

Ok.

Fresh tracks

When we have a fresh snowfall overnight, I look for all the new tracks made by the various critters who live around here while I’m out doing the morning round of barn chores.

Little bird feet at the chicken coop door…

I found these particularly adorable, so delicate and determined.