Tag: – Just sayin

Hammonasset River

 We took advantage of some absolutely beautiful weather yesterday
and trucked Ruby and Torch down to a river entrance under the highway.
 
The water was murky…. bleh.. but once we got out closer to the sound
and the brackish water, the sights and lack of sounds were soul soothing.
It’s the only time I get my guy to unplug.
 
 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 I picked up a zombie hitch hiker along the way…

 
 
The tide was going out and wind blew in, so the paddle home
was more strenuous than the cruising out…
Two things you must always factor into your paddling..
 1. will the tide be for or against you,
2. same with the wind.
 

 

 Sunday Sauce was waiting on the stove…
 
I’m pretty sure no woman ever shot a man while he was making a Sunday Sauce.
 
– just sayin.
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

You know what annoys the crap out of me?….

  ….when I write a post and see misspelled words  the next day. 
Seriously, it’s like a slap upside the head when I see it.
When I’m reading a book, if I come across a misspelled word
it’s like finding a bone in your fish dinner.  
I used to be an excellent speller.
My mom the schoolteacher would call me to ask about the spelling of a word, really! 
*sigh*
the middle aged mind. 
Just sayin 

Fanning it

  Well, it’s hotter than hot once again, with temps near 100 and the humidity thick enough to slice. Yuck.  It’s important in this kind of weather to remember the animals in our care.  I get the barn, coop and garden chores done as early as I can talk myself into on these hot summer days.

Chickens do not like extreme heat. 
They do better in cold weather temps than they do
in high heat situations.  
I can’t air condition their coop,
but I do make sure they have plenty of clean water and I dump ice cubes in 
the water troughs during the day.  I also make sure the coop is clean and there is 
a small fan facing into their yard to give them some breeze relief.
(pardon the algae… ahem)
Chickens don’t sweat… if they are heat stressed you
will see them with beak open, panting. 
I also let the girls out into the yard where they take shelter in the grove of cedar trees 
next to their coop…relatively  safe from predators and cool in the shade.
Up at the barn, we’ve just installed paddle fans over the stalls ,
high enough that the horses won’t clip themselves on the blades. 
In extreme heat and humidity, to keep the air flowing and 
the hay from molding, I also turn on a window fan for cross ventilation.
(pardon the cobwebs! Sheesh!)
The horses come and go from the barn to the pasture all day long.
When the bugs and heat drive them nuts, they come in for respite.

When you see horses out in pasture on a hot day where there is no protection like shade trees or a barn
 from the sun and the bugs,  oh.. they’ll survive, but they aren’t very uncomfortable.
My dogs go out to do their thing and come right back in, it’s just too darn hot. 
I hate when I see dogs chained out in the heat with dirty water to top it off
– they are also plagued by bugs
and can die from heat stroke. 
We would be miserable in those conditions,
so are the dogs. 
I saw a situation that made me want to spit in the persons face recently.
Sometimes I don’t bother putting a sock in it and
I stand up for the animal being abused. 
They can’t speak for themselves.  
Here at This Old House, the animals are spoiled. 
I know how lucky I am to have the resources to do so.
But it doesn’t take much to be kind to an animal.  Not much at all.
If you make the decision to own  them, treat them right..
or let someone else give them the home they deserve.
– just sayin. 

Complaints Department

  For those of you who are also FB friends of mine, this will be redundant.  What I’ve posted below is nothing new, it’s a sad and growing trend just about everywhere.  What inspired me to write it yesterday was a post a friend had put up on her own FB page.  And you know, my intention is not to single her out, or to imply that she doesn’t have the right to feel the way she does or express herself in whatever way she sees fit. 

   But it was an example of what is growing too large in our society….a constant drone of complaining about everything and anything.  In this case,  while attending her daughters annual physical, she was extremely annoyed that her daughter’s physician wanted to speak with her child alone for a few minutes without mom in the room to ask a few questions that she might not feel comfortable talking about with Mom present.  The child  is 11 years old.  My friend believes that’s too young for that kind of privacy and she should be privy to all of the conversation.  She is also annoyed at what she feels is a shoving down the throat of the importance of vaccinations, which she isn’t all that comfortable with.  The concern is understandable.  That’s a choice she should make.

 Here’s my point though.  I have no doubt the Dr. was trying to do her job. She was giving the child the opportunity to ask any questions he/she might have that he/she  is uncomfortable asking in front of mom.  Our kids grow up way too fast nowadays, and to think they aren’t exposed to frightening , confusing or puberty related issues at the tender age of 11 is just naive, sad but true.  What is the harm in letting the Dr. give the child that opportunity to talk?  Especially if there are issues at home that he/she might be dealing with?   There is no abuse at my friend’s home, to be clear.      Also, vaccines do save lives.  And some don’t believe in them.  It’s her choice, but the Dr. has the job of conveying the information and the importance if she believes it to be true.  Otherwise, she wouldn’t be doing her job.

  MANY of her friends disagreed with me on this, and I was surprised at what I call the hyperventilating that went on in that thread.  But I stand by what I put on my own status.  And here it is…

You know what’s disheartening? We have become one big complaining society. Too many rules, not enough rules. Too many regulations, not enough regulations. Too much interaction, not enough interaction. Too much interference, not enough interference. Where are they… Tell them to stay away.  –

 
Stop complaining and realize most people are doing the best they can with what they’ve got. Work together, ask the questions, hear the answers… Drop the attitude. Live life with a positive outlook regardless of what is pissing you off at the moment. Chances are we are all part of the problem at one point or another…so find tolerance and you will find PEACE. I’m going to do this… Are you with me?

  By the way, it’s always OK if you disagree with me here, all I ask is that you are respectful when leaving your comments.  Open, respectful conversation is always good.

– Just sayin.

Randomness in the Rain

 Good morning all – I’m doing what I’m good at.. procrastinating before diving into the housework that’s begging for my attention.  What better way than to purge the many thoughts I have whirling round in my head.

  Ready?…

  Rain is a beautiful thing when you’ve got a hundred or so plants in the ground that have just weathered a string of hot humid days.  My hose nozzle clutching hand is thankful.

Knock out roses – the rose for people who want minimal maintenance and maximum show.
It’s a beautiful thing.
*******
Going from pretty to ugly…
I see that J*ran Van der Sl**t is to be married in jail within the next two weeks.
Remember that creep?   Murdered not just one but two young women.
Serving 25 years in a peruvian prison for the proven murder of one.
The other case is still unsolved, but the circumstances are pretty clear.
He’s actually found a 28 year old woman willing to marry him.
What is wrong with this woman??.. 
Seriously.. is she F-ing nuts???
A bigger question is… why is this man allowed to marry?
Once again, the convicted heinous murderer gets to live a life
while his victim(s) lie dead in the ground.
My solution?  Put him and Jodi Ar*as in a cell together and let them have
their way with each other.  With luck, they’ll seduce each other to death,
as they’ve done with their previous victims.
*******
Cleo is sitting contently in her nest this morning..
had to wash those thoughts out of my head, bare with me…

*******
I have been served with a Jury Duty notice.
First of all, with the way I feel about our Justice system,
I wouldn’t be a good juror.
Besides that, I long ago submitted a doctors note that I am hearing impaired,
which excuses a person from jury duty because…you really can’t hear what’s going on. Kinda important.
So I called and asked what has changed, because I still don’t hear well.
“Has your hearing improved in this period of time, m’am?”
“um, no. It’s gotten worse as I age. That’s what happens with all hearing impaired people
but hey, if you people have found a solution, I’m all ears! Literally! “
long pause and hold on the other side of the line..
and then an “OK, you are excused once again. You can disregard the notice“.
*******
Jean Stapleton, who played Edith Bunker on that beloved obnoxious show
All in the Family, years ago, has died.  I loved her, I think everyone did.
 When I see those old reruns it always brings me back
 to those sleep overs at my grandmothers house when we’d watch them together. 
 Elsie and Al would light up with laughter
at the antics of Archie and Edith, Gloria and Meathead. 
Seeing them outright giddy was a magic I can’t describe.  
Simpler times, you know?
*******
My quarter horse friends all made it out of Oklahoma safely and are on their way home.
I feel so badly for the people who have lost loved ones or a home in that mess.
They are brave to continue to live there.
*******
As you know from yesterdays post I had a gluten feast yesterday and
I feel crappy today.. I call it the gluten hangover.  I am not a celiac, but there is no doubt
gluten and I have a rocky relationship.  To the naysayers who don’t believe in the gluten sensitive
theory  and think it’s just a diet fad, (my  ex-GP in particular), you are wrong, simple as that. 
 When I eat it, I feel crumby. When I don’t, I feel years younger,
very little arthritic pain, blood pressure stays at a good number, my stomach issues clear up,
my headaches go away.   I believe it’s because the wheat our ancestors thrived on is different
from the GMO (genentically modifed ) wheat of today. Our bodies are rebelling.
It’s time I listen to my body.  I’m done with gluten.
 *******
Laundry and vacuuming await…I should really just shut up and get moving here.
I’ll get no help from this lot….
As always, I appreciate that you take the time to stop by here and
especially when you join the conversation and  leave your thoughts on any particular subject.
I apologize for removing Anonymous comments once again,
too much ugly spam, and I do mean perverted ugly.
It’s a new day, all.  I hope you have a great one.

Whats Growing in the Gardens of This Old House

  I saw a picture of a glass mushroom garden on FB a while back, and decided to put something similar together in a bland area of our perennial border.  So… I went to the junk antique places along the shoreline and found a bunch of old glass bowls and vases to construct my own “mushroom” garden.

Do you spy the oddity?
Come closer….
I crazy-glued the bowls to the upside-down vases and then “planted” them about an inch
into the soil.
This one is my favorite, I love the edge on this pretty bowl.
$5. at the thrift shop.
My husband thinks it’s tacky, but I love it.
A really easy, cheap, simple way to dress up any corner of your garden in a unique way.
Lets take a walk in the drizzle….
Now in it’s third year, the perennial borders around the backyard are really taking hold
and multiplying. This spring I added a rock border as an edge to clean it up some.
I’ve potted some plants at the door to the shed…
and the rose bushes and peonies around the little greenhouse are thriving.
Connie… should I be cutting these rose bushes back some or let them go wild?

I had to treat the peonies for ant infestation, for some reason ants love peonie buds.

The greenhouse is empty now that all seedlings have been planted outdoors…
Mike has given the tomato plants much more room to grow this year.
He’s learning as he “grows”… I am so very proud of the farmer he has become.
When I met this man, he wore pristine white sneakers and gold jewelry,
having grown up in the city of West Haven and then a preppy suburban town on the shore.
On our very first date, it was May 5th, 1987, I don’t know why I remember that…
I saw those perfectly clean white sneakers, his perfectly clean Z28 and that gold jewelry
and said to myself…
 uh  oh.
HOWEVER… as time rolled on…
 I like to think I countrified him.
 His love for growing things and enjoying and working the land
has made my love for him grow deeper.
Who woulda thunk it.
If he’s reading this, he’s looking a little incredulous right now
at my blatant display of  unabashed and public affection, right dear? 
In the background of the above picture are onions, lettuce, basil, parsley, oregano and garlic.
These are my Italian Ice tomatoes… they are white!
I’ll let you know how that goes.
Out in the big garden we’ve got tomatoes, peppers, squash, cucumber,
and string beans, peas in the background.
We learned the hard way that raspberry bushes produce every other year.
So the pruning we were doing was ruining that years crop.
Considering four years ago we took this old house down and put her back up,
we’ve come a looong way, baby. The yard is starting to fill in again, and look lived in,
it’s a beautiful thing.
Starry night Viola I have near the birdbath… it’s one of my favorites.
The knockout roses around the foundation of the house are very robust this year.
I over-fertilized them last year and almost killed them.
We Learn as we Grow.
Hopefully we Grow as we Learn.  
Isn’t that the truth in all things life-related.
Bailey and Frasier agree.

Looks Matter

  THIS… is what one of the Jurors in the Jodi Ar*as case had to say the day after the jury was declared hung, and the penalty phase a mistrial.    Zervakos said the 32-year-old defendant simply did not fit his image of a murderer. “When you look at a young woman and you think of the crime, and then you see the brutality of the crime, it just doesn’t wash,” he said. “It’s very difficult to divest yourself from the personal, from the emotional part of it.”

  It is proven that she did the crime, dude.  Hideously so. It was also proven that she has chronically lied  to just about everyone right up to and including you, the jury.   She even slept in the bed of another man just days after murdering her victim.  What didn’t WASH for you?  And.. you could distance yourself from the personal, the emotional horror of this man’s brutal death, but not her punishment for carrying it out?

Though the jury did not believe Arias’ story that she killed Travis Alexander in self-defense, Zervakos said he believed Alexander abused her. “I’m very sure, in my own mind, that she was mentally and verbally abused,” he said. 

So, not based on the facts that were presented, but just what you came up with in YOUR OWN MIND, and in her lies, PROVEN LIES…. you made the decision to let the jury hang?  At the tax payers and Alexander families expense?  

 “Now, is that an excuse? Of course not. Does it factor into decisions we make? It has to.”  says he. 

Here’s what I think factors in….Judge for yourself….

Women convicted and living on death row…
Women who beat the system in one way or another….

Notice how these women change their looks in court to appear less…
sexual? Manipulative?   Less capable of carrying out their hideous murders?
So, apparently… we are such a shallow lot….
that even in cases of the most hideous brutality,
…Looks Matter.
Just sayin.

Random Thoughts on a Wednesday morning

 I’m full of them today… are you ready?

 
  I’d really love a magnolia tree to plant in the yard as a mothers day gift.  Do you think the family will read my post? 

   Do you know, the least likely people to read your posts if you blog, will be your family?  My mom is a writer, a reader, a supportive mother, and a computer user.  Other people in town tell her the latest recipes and stories and pictures of family I’ve posted on the blog.  My husband walks into the local breakfast place and a favorite resident of mine will tease him about the latest silliness. And yes, silliness lives here.   That same favorite resident friend also knows more about my family than an Uncle whose family I lived with for four years when I was young.  Perhaps it’s redundant… after all, they already know you, right? 

  I’m maybe a little bit horrified that the jury in the Jodi Ar*as trial is still deliberating.  Really?  Do they really need three days (so far!)  to figure this one out?  It’s kinda cut and dried information they were given, no?  Actually… stabbed!..27 times, slashed throat, then bullet to the head…and left to ferment in a shower stall naked for five days…  that kind of cut and dried.  If they come back with anything like a hung jury, a mistrial, an aquital… our system is shot and millions of dollars have just been wasted on this waste of a human being.  She’s selling T-shirts and artwork and tweeting online… that’s disgusting, after what she’s done.  How is this allowed?

this is her MUG SHOT… seriously?

  Amazing and also horrifying, the story of three woman and a child held captive and God knows what else for 10 years, all living within two miles of where they were abducted.  By three brothers.  That means three brothers all agreed that this was an acceptable thing to do to these women and the child.  And they did it for ten years.  TEN… YEARS…. of those young lives, spent locked in a basement and God knows what else.    Long road to recovery for them, so glad they made it out alive.

   I just noticed I’m starting to sound like Nancy Grace 🙂

 
 The Monsanto Protection Act – Anonymously added to a recent budget bill, the controversial rider would protect U.S. biotech companies from litigation if their GMO seeds turn out to be dangerous. GMO means Genetically Modified Organisms.  GMOs are created by Monsanto and other biotech firms. While there’s no hard evidence that GMOs can harm humans, some worry about undiscovered health risks and the possibility of manmade genes spreading to wild plants, potentially wreaking ecological havoc.  

  That’s bull.  If you’re gonna mess with the food supply, you better take responsibility and be held accountable.  Producing GMO’s is a huge money maker… that shouldn’t have anything to do with jeapardizing your health, and yet it always does. 

  Here’s a link if you’re interested in reading about the bill on the table to label our foods GMO if they contain genetically modified ingredients.  It also explains why some are opposed.  MONEY has everything to do with it, not your health.

http://vtdigger.org/2013/05/07/gmo-labeling-bill-positioned-for-action-next-session/

  I want my food labeled, I don’t think that’s too much to ask.  At the very least, I should be able to make my own decision on whether I want my family to ingest GMOs.  It is believed by many that so many people are now having trouble ingesting wheat (you are probably aware of the Gluten-Free issue.. not only for celiacs but others who are finding they feel a heck of a lot better when they don’t ingest things that contain Gluten).  WHEAT… (gluten) is a big GMO crop. Modified to be more disease resistant and grow faster, heartier.  Perhaps that is why the wheat of years ago, before GMO, was a main stable and not the serious allergen that it appears to be today.

   
 It’s gonna rain today, I’m doing a happy dance.  I can’t tell you how very dry everything is here at This Old House.  Bring it!

   After the horses and chickens are fed and let out and barn is mucked and gardens are watered and laundry is switched and folded and put away and the dishes that piled up in the sink after this morning’s breakfast are cleaned and stacked,  I’ll be working on my found treasure – that old dollhouse I told you about.  Why do I feel guilty about that, I ask you?

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

Letting it Go

       I like people.  I like to get along with people.  I really don’t want drama in my life if I can keep away from it…most of the time I’ve been successful, but not always.   The way I see it.. we only come through this life once.  We only get this one chance to live our best life.  Negativity, jealousy, meanness, attitude,  drama, and all the things that go hand in hand with it… shouldn’t be given any valuable space in a person’s life. 

     I struggled with a relationship that for a long while left me frustrated and hurt.  I knew I was extending myself to try and grow it, but it just wasn’t taking.  And occasionally there were obvious slights or a coldness or I heard remarks of disapproval.  And that would hurt too.  I looked for what might be done differently on my side of things to change the outcome, but I knew that I’ve always had good intentions, so what could I change?

     I am finding that one of the gifts of aging is having the ability to see things more clearly as you go, appreciating what  is good and nourishing in your life and recognizing what is simply toxic.   I was trying to forge what I thought was an important relationship with a person who just wasn’t interested.   I believe now it’s as simple as that. We’re very different, not much in common. She would never choose the path I walk and I would never choose hers.  Nothing wrong with that.   One more revelation –    I didn’t need her approval and I’m still not sure why it bothered me  for so very long that I didn’t have it.  It doesn’t matter the reason.

    And so I’ve stopped trying,  I’ve accepted that it is what it is, and I believe I have finally let..it..go.  There is a peace in doing this, give it a try if you find yourself in a similar situation.   

“95% percent of the time, whatever the crap is you’re being handed by someone that is totally perplexing to you… really has nothing to do with you. “

” Why grieve over a relationship that never really was? What exactly do you think you’re missing? “

And.. LOVE THIS…

Holding on to anger
is like drinking poison
 and expecting the other person to die. 

Just sayin – Amen.