Getting ready for vacation. Woo hoo. I'll blog all about it when I get home. After I spend three days catching up on FB. lol

I haven't had a vacation in.... let me see... Well, do you count maternity leave? Other than long weekends to relatives, and a few overnights to Rockport, we have not gone on a vacation since 1991. I think Ryther has gone a few places revolving around work, and one wedding. But as a family, we've never been on a real vacation.

I noticed today that the squirells have totally debarked three young trees in the cemetery. A few years ago they did that to one or two of the older maples, and now those branches, which naturaly died, are falling off the trees. These trees are naked of bark up ten or more feet. The tree is going to die. I dont have any idea whey they do this. Esp. not this year where we have had tons of acorns, healthy acorns that sit half eaten on the grass. I'm going to have to look this up and see if there is anything on line about it.


"A Sudbury man has avoided jail time but must pay restitution after pleading guilty to stealing human bones from a 19th century burial vault.
A Framingham District Court judge on Monday ordered Leonard Caira to pay an estimated $21,000 in restitution, serve two years of probation and perform 50 hours of community service after he pleaded guilty to removing remains, including a human skull, jaw and other bones, from the vault." http://news.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/20100209sudbury_man_pleads_guilty_to_stealing_human_bones/

Somehow I got logged out of here. Strange.

I was watching the LIBERAL attack news media today (otherwise known as the nightly news). They had Sarah Palin on speaking to the Tea Party I think. She was going on about how Obama needed teleprompters. And there she is, cause they did a nice close up, with crib notes written on the palm of her hand. I mean, you just cant make that stuff up. I'm SURE that will be on SNL. She was being interviewed later, and you can even see her looking at her up tipped palm to get her speaking points. Yeah, how terrible that Obama uses a teleprompter during a big speech. Like GW Bush didn't? And it's much better to write a few talking points on your hand. But I guess Obama figures he'd run out of room, where as she keeps saying the same things over and over, so it works for her. Why in gods name do people keep bringing up her name and saying 'candidate'? She is not fit for public office. I don't give a rats ass how folksy she is. She just doesn't have it upstairs.

So here I am trying to get pictures and info onto CD's so I have back ups of pictures and information. I promised a new found family member a copy of her side of the genealogy, and I'm pulling together what I can for her, and now I've got the bug again a bit. I was actually hoping to go to Cambridge some time in the winter with my MIL to look up cemetery info for her family, but haven't done it yet. Maybe after we get back from vacation.
My husbands side has these Italian 'cousins' and I cant quite figure out the connection. Everyone was a cousin. The cousins installed the electricity in their homes back in the day, and I think the father of that man was a cousin of Ryther's great grandfather. But how to prove it. There is a tradition in some ethnic groups to name children in a particular order. First boy is named after paternal grandfather, second boy after maternal grandfather, and so on. Same with the girls I think. So I tried to figure out,using that system, who the names of the grandfathers were, but it didn't quite match up, although all the names keep repeating in the family because of this naming pattern. It's a pain in the ass. So I'm hoping a death cert. will help answer some questions. I don't know. A lot of the time the spouse didn't know much about her husband's family if she didn't come from the same place.

Superbowl,,, yeah whatever.

I did go up to NH today to see my mother. We met at the same restaurant as before, but the name has changed and they no longer have Belgian waffles. Why do they do that to me? Oh, because i liked them. rggg. The food was still good, but I had my heart set on that waffle.

Time for bed I guess..

Well, not really, just in the arm. I got my tetanus shot today when I was in for my physical. They also sneak a Whooping cough vaccine in there with it. Whatever. At least it didn't burn like the last tetanus shot I got. My gr. grandfather died of tetanus. His foot was run over by a trolley in Boston. Funny how things like that stick in your head.

I gave my doctor the paperwork that I need to send in to the DMV or Dept. of Safety or whoever it is. She didn't quite know what to do with it. I'm healthy, so she signed it. She was very puzzled over the parts that seemed to indicate that if you even had high blood pressure, you would be denied. I'm not sure if that's what it really says, because you know damn right well half the beer guzzling overweight union guys have GOT to have at least high blood pressure.

I always love how the nurse or doctor tells you these numbers, like your blood pressure, and they expect you know what the hell it means, or if its good or not. I know the ox number was good, because it was 99 out of 100. But something or other over something else. Who cares. Means as much to me as pieRsquared. How about you just say if it's normal or not? Or better yet, write it down. Because sure as hell two seconds later it's gone.
I've shrunk half and inch. But unlike my father, I won't fight it.

So Sen. Brown gets sworn in, and this Republican Shelby(pardon the word)douche bag decides he's now going to hold up every single nomination of Obama's? Now that's what we need! Real Republican leadership. Someone who looks out for the country, and not just his state. Oh, and you better give him his government contracts, or nothing is going to move forward. Well, I agree with one thing that's been coming into my mailbox a lot. VOTE THEM ALL OUT! I wonder how the Tea Party will view him? I'd like to know.

I'm thrilled for the mid Atlantic states. You all enjoy your two feet. Is it really getting closer to a 'cold day in hell'? Just see what DC looks like in the morning. lol

There is a town truck that's been hiding in the cemetery, and I'm getting sick of it. Its' there every morning for quite a while. They park in our dumping area. I went up one morning to find a guy peeing up there. This morning they didn't even bother to leave when I went up to dump some branches. This is going to get old fast when it comes time to do real work. The truck today was loaded with cold patch. I finally saw them out filling holes around 11:30. They were hiding out from at least 9:30 to 10:15. That's a very long coffee break. I think I need to send an note to the DPW. Keep the hell out.

Didja miss me? (echo, echo, echo)

It's been cold this week. I chopped up a snow pile and it's all still there. I thought the sun would have done a job on it. I put out a load of laundry to day and when I took the second batch out, the first was cardboard. Too funny. But the air is so dry, it should suck the moisture, or at least most of it, out by tomorrow. I hope.

I have a doctors' appt. tomorrow. I wonder what pills I'll need to be put on? lol. I also made an appointment to get an eye exam, but that's not till later in the month. Well, making the appointment is half the battle, right?

I keep trying to catch up on paperwork, and I'm making some headway, but I feel like I'm just too distracted. I've lost two things that I cant find, and it's driving me nuts. They were just there...

The Ins. Co. called me and then emailed me forms to fill out for the insurance on my father's house. Because the estate is still not settled, a regular insurance co. wont insure it, so for over $1300.00 I can get basic fire and liability Insurance. And my brother who lives there still has to get rental insurance. WTF? I just emailed the GD lawyer again. He said this should be simple. What a frigging.... lawyer.

The female cat is driving me nuts. She was screaming last night at some ungodly hour and woke up the kid. He called down, but I didn't answer and I guess he went back to sleep. She seems to be getting worse with the screaming. Mostly it's because there isn't something wonderful in her bowl, but then again, she does it after she eats something wonderful. AAHHHH. Does it make me a bad person to keep looking in the paper for kittens? I realized today that I'm in a state of perpetual 'waiting for things to die.' People, lizards, cats... And that isn't even counting my job.

I just realized my selkie's belly button is in the wrong place. Hopefully not too many people will be staring at her pubic area to figure it out. Then again, if you can get hundreds of millions of dollars for this: http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/108752/giacometti-sculpture-becomes-most-expensive-work-ever-to-sell-at-auction
then well, who's going to even care about a belly button?

I put out a two day old pancake for the birds, only to see the cat out there munching on it. I just don't get it.

We watched Caprica last night. Looking fun, interesting. I have no idea where it's going, but hey, it's all about the ride. Also enjoyed the opener of Lost. And also have no idea where it's going, but I'm going to enjoy the ride. Waiting for V and Flash Forward to come back. Then I'll have no time to blog at all.

Speaking of Moose.. no, no one was? Seems she now has the genealogy bug, and the old stone photographing bug. Wonder where that came from.. wonder...Phase5?

Well, one of my LJ friends has found employment, if temporary. Yay for Mrknowitall. The G man.

I know I had a bunch of stuff to comment on, but honestly, I just cant keep a thought.
I did find it absurd that the Indians (not sure which tribe) actually are trying to argue that they cant put in Cape Wind because when they did a core sample of the ocean floor, they found that 7000 years ago, it was not under water and their ancestors 'may' have been buried there. WTF? May have? Give me a break. If that be the case, stop all construction now, everywhere. Because Indians MAY be buried anywhere. That's just an absurd argument. Really the only thing that interests me about the Cape Wind project is the money. Who's making it, what deals are being done.... That's what bothers me. But that there are going to be wind turbines off the coast interfering with my view... more power to them. I love to see them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBazB5SrKhU PEI wind turbines.

Mr. Brown has gone to Washington.... He's already felt the power of the Republican party. He was going to wait another week, but I think he got hit by the Whip who said "get yer ass down there boy" and so he did. It's wake up time. And I don't mean for the Democrats, I mean for Mr. Brown.

The end is nigh. Tonight is the beginning of the end of Lost. Its' been fun while it lasted.

I once compared Lost to a role playing game I used to play. That game basically ended with the characters heading into space. I wonder if Lost, with it's many similarities, will also end up in space?

I spent the morning cutting suckers (small trees)off a hill. A very steep hill. The last time I did that it snowed too. My fault?

I'll write about the FB thing tomorrow.

Biv called to day to get the remainder of her money. She's splitting it up (I'm letting her) so she won't get in trouble with unemployment. She texted me asking if I could drop it off if I was out. I told her I could drop it off after 4:30, since I was going to be out then and near her house. That was too late apparently (bank closes at 4:30, need cash cigs. today).
She texts back, can she pick up the check now. Okey dokey. So I write it out and put it by the door. She comes by. Apparently a friend drove her. I watch her in the car outside. She looks like she is banging her head against the dash, her arms flailing forward. I cant quite tell if she's laughing or enjoying a good head banging song. She gets out and looks mad. She's wearing fuzzy slippers. But she's all cheerful when she gets to the door, but brief. She looked like she had white at the corners of her mouth, like her lips were chapped or she needed water badly. I don't know... I just don't know.

And it dawns on me she knows when I am going on vacation... Wonderful. I'm going to have to talk to ask both my neighbors to keep an eye on the house, one on each side.

Sunday I went to my father's house to do some cleaning and sorting. Got rid of a whole bin of recyclable paper. Old Christmas cards and junk stuff. I found a business card for the lawyer who handled my father's side in the divorce. I Googled the name and he's still in business it seems. I assumed he would be dead by now. But then he may have been younger than my father, or he may just enjoy his work. I grabbed my father's alarm clock for Himself. His 'alarm clock' CD player has a book on CD in it, so he can listen to it at night, but he can't wake up to it. The little clock I got him for Christmas is too quite also, and only goes off for about 30 seconds. This one should be loud enough to get him up, and it won't go off for a while I'm guessing, unless you shut it down. We'll see. It's long past time he got himself up every day, not just 'some' days.

I had figured Mrs. Moose was all over Facebook since she rarely even visits Myspace now, but she seems to do very little there. Must be busy cleaning or writing, just not on line. And how boring is that?!

I heard someone on the radio or TV comparing Toyota's and VW's, and saying that they were looking at the VW's for reliability because of the Toyota recall. DONT DO IT!!!! Buy a Honda for gods sake, but don't buy a VW.

Okay, you go to Haiti to do good things for kids, and all you hear on the news and radio is how they want to make sure kid are not taken away from their parents and adopted out without proper protocols. And guess what? Baptist don't listen to the radio. Now, it's probable that the parents who were still alive who gave up their kids did so for the benefit of the children, knowing they would have a better life, but the ADULTS are supposed to know better. They are supposed to know to get their ducks in a row. And how sad is it for those kids who's parents are alive and are giving them away? I'm sure they know, but do they really understand what is going on?

Oh, bid news study on NPR. Exercise reduces kids aggression. No, seriously. It was studied. Money was spent. It's not just 'anecdotal' nonsense anymore. It's actual science. URRGGGGG!!!! This is what's wrong with the US.

Hmmm, I'm hungry now. I guess that yogurt isn't going to last me all night. I think it's time for some cereal. Nuts and honey, hunny.

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/20NKRi/www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2010/02/in_michigan_homeless_pedal_and.html?ft=1&f=103943429/r:t
This is my idea. That people can literally earn money (or room and board perhaps) by generating electricity. Eventually I expect people to have something in their homes that will do the same, if only to say, power the TV or lights. Hell, they can sell the carbon credits they generate and make money.

I've just spent the better part of two hours researching the travel paths of the president and his wife. Why do I bother?

I got an email this morning, and lordy knows I get enough right wing whack job emails about the Liberals. This one purported that Obama didn't take his wife to Saudi Arabia and Turkey because of Sharia law, and seeing how he is perceived as a Muslim in these countries, he wouldn't do that. Its also why he bowed to the king of Saudi. So knowing that Turkey is not a country governed by Sharia law, I immediately know it's bullshit. But I have to prove it... Why? I don't know. Because I hate stupidity? So I go googleing the wheres and whens, and it turns out there were two trips, one in April, and one in June that the Pres. went on, and where Michelle was in France. So it gets all messy, but I finally tease out the truth. In the process, I learn that GW Bush didn't go to Saudi until late in his second term, and his wife actually went there first. Well, there must be some dastardly reason for that.

I usually just go to snopes and find what I am looking for, but I must say this time I was let down. Because this email was a miss mash of facts, which they didn't seem to get, they simply said that Obama hadn't gone to Saudi. But he has. They need to straiten out that reply.

Anyway, I think Obama is really Japanese. You know, he did bow to the Emperor of Japan! And he was born in Hawaii, which is loaded with Japanese people. Maybe THAT'S why he won't release his REAL birth cert. It would show he is the love child of the Emperor of Japan!

Last night we ordered pizza, as is our usual. Ryther and I split a large, half pepperoni/half cheese. Himself had a small cheese. On my third piece, I got a few bits of pepperoni, and I thought about the recall on the pepperoni recently. Jokingly I mentioned the recall to my husband. About three minutes later he was running to the bathroom and well, suffice to say my son wanted to call 911. I reassured him that it was not a 911 event. We still don't know what really caused the episode. He was feeling basically fine. Didn't feel bad after, other than weak. And I think food poisoning takes a bit longer than say 10-15 minutes to hit, although I could be wrong. Both Himself and I were fine. Strange.

Himself went over a friend's house today. I guess the kid has one of those airsoft guns, they are air guns that shoot a plastic BB. He desperatly wanted one before, but we won't let him get one because A:I think little plastic pellets all over the place are annoying as hell and B: we live in a neighborhood where the lots are 100x70 feet. No way is there anywhere to safely (in my opinion) shoot a gun of any kind, or a bow and arrow, etc. And thirdly, my neighbor would blow a gasket to see a kid shooting a real looking gun (and they sure do make them look real) around the neighborhood. I don't really blame her either. This isn't the back woods. But of course other kids do have them, and I'm not their mother. But it of course makes it harder to tell your own brat 'no'. We did tell him he could get one and keep it in NH where there is more than enough room to pretend to be a spy or killer or whatever (and no, I'm not freaked out, I was an Indian warrior making arrows with dart heads when I was his age) but he's not having one here. End of story. Now of course he's going to want to go back to this kids house all the time. Well, spring is coming, he can get his ass on his bike and ride there.

My husband's cousin is due with her first baby soon. We were IMing on Facebook and she said she is scheduled for a Cesarean next month. The doctor told her if the baby was over 10 lbs, it was an automatic Cesarean. I think I'd get a new doctor. She's an 'older' mother, 35? but unless there were other complications, I just don't get why it would be an automatic Cesarean. I mean, other than liability. I'm pretty sure my neighbor's boys were both over 10 lbs. I'm going to have to ask. Of course, my puppy was only 6 lbs and a month early. I might think differently if he was 10 lbs.

I went to my MIL's studio again with the neighbor to work on the head. I so am not finding this enjoyable. I might like to take a class in it, but its not like the sculpting class. I was thinking I'd rather be making sculpy skulls or something. My MIL is very excited to have me there, but honestly, it's just not my thing. I don't quite know how to break it to her.

I got an offer in my email to get some unclaimed assets in London. I should jump at the chance, right?

And Ryther sat on the cat today. The one with the bum leg. Poor thing.

Time for TV. Sleep late tomorrow. Yay.

I was doling out some tuna for the cats today, and a white thing came out. It was a fish bone. about an inch and a quarter long. I thought "that's not good" and went to break it to see how hard it was. I know some canned fish the bones are so soft you don't even notice them. Well, you'd have noticed this if you bit it the wrong way or swallowed it. It snapped. I'm wondering if I should send it to the company. Maybe the will send me some free cat food.

All day yesterday and today I've been hearing stuff about JD Salinger. And I have to confess, Catcher in the Rye didn't make a big impression on me. I don't actually remember much about the book. I know I didn't hate it, It was no Red Pony or Member of the Wedding, or god forbid The Glass Menagerie. but I didn't love it either, or even like it I guess. I know I liked Bless the Beast and the Children, To Kill a Mockingbird, I even liked The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men. But Catcher just didn't do anything for me. Maybe I should re-read it, maybe I missed something.
It will be very interesting to see what comes out of the Salinger home, now that he's dead. I just hope he didn't selfishly leave some instructions to destroy his writing or not have it published. Once your dead, privacy is a moot point.

Insert segway here.

I was reading the obits today and I saw a young woman who had died. 43 years old. I always read the obits of younger people to see if it was a drug overdose. I'm morbid that way, and there are so many of them around here it seems. Anyway, she died of breast cancer, and she is donating her body to science for research. I think that's a very generous thing to do. Very hard to do too, but if you think you can help someone else by letting your body get examined, and you can help aspiring doctors learn their trade, then why not? We've only ever buried one person who did that, after their remains were cremated.

I was expecting the cemetery roads to be icy as hell this morning,but they were fine, just had a dusting of snow on them. The roads into work looked as if they had been painted white or still had snow on them. How do you get that much salt to spread so evenly? Strange. They must have really dumped it on too. I hope they don't cry poor mouth later on if we get more snow and they are out of salt.

Yesterday I listened to Talk of the Nation's show about the cap and trade system and carbon credits and all that. In theory, I get it, but it sounds to me so much like what we just went through with the housing bubble debacle. Its one thing to trade in carbon credits of the now, it's a whole other thing to speculate on them in the futures market. Intangible things should not be speculated on. I can see all the corruption and lying companies will be doing to make money just on the regular trading, but the speculative trading... forget it. And its so abstract.. you plant trees to offset something.. but who checks to see if all those trees grow to maturity? What if in the end, you don't use the trees the way you said you would back 30 years ago? Who do you pay back?

Oh, but Obama's going to build nuclear power plants. Sure he is. Did he happen to mention where? I also just heard that the Yucca mountain plans, the big caves made to store nuke fuel, are over and done. So what DO you do with the waste?
Give me a wind turbine any day.

Brrrr... It's cold out this morning. 13 degrees are present.

The day before yesterday I was out raking. I doubt anything would move now. The robins are around in packs in the cemetery. When I was walking around picking up sticks, there must have been 30 of them on the ground, poking around looking for anything to eat. So when I was raking I uncovered a pile of meal worm looking bugs under the leaves. I feel kind of bad that I disturbed them, but I don't know if they are good bugs or bad bugs. I've found them in years past, in masses. Well, there was a lone robin nearby, so I took a gloved handful of the bugs and put them out on a flat stone, thinking maybe the bird would see them and get a good meal. He hopped away. I thought that perhaps at least the hoard of robins would eventually come over, seeing the newly raked ground, and find the bugs. Eventually I heard one robin chipping over and over what I can only assume was "hey guys, I think I've found something". He was sitting on the top of a stone near where the bugs were. After a bit he got more insistent, but I watched him for at least half and hour and he was still on that stone when I left the area. I don't know if the bugs were not edible or if he didn't see them, or if he wouldn't eat them without the benefit of group protection. Well, I hope he's re thinking his position this morning. I get a bunch of bugs would go well in this cold.

One of the gifts I got for Christmas from my mom was Sibley's Guide To Birds. Very complete. Almost too complete. I think I need the Eastern edition.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100127/ap_on_re_us/us_senator_s_office_arrests
I keep seeing conservatives referring to Obama's people as 'browncoats' meaning Hitler's henchmen. Yet I keep seeing things from the conservative party that makes me think more and more of Nixon, and McCarthy.

Have you ever heard the George Carlin food routine, where he says yOgert. Yeah....
I bought two new types of yogurt yesterday. One just stood out on the shelves (who says packaging doesn't matter) and it sounded interesting so I figured I'd try it. It's Siggi's Icelandic style skyr (don't ask me what that is)strained non fat yogurt. I got the blueberry. I only got one because it was $2.49 for a cup. I also got another 'to try' type, Chobani, also blueberry, for a mere $1.25. The Yoplait we normally get was on sale at $.50, usually $.75.

So I got home and with great expectation, dug into my Nordic yogurt. It was smooth and creamy and blueberryish... and bitter as hell. "Lightly sweetened with agave syrup." I don't know what an agave is, but it isn't sweet, I'll tell you that much. It seems to have a slight aftertaste, or after burn. Maybe its just me trying to get the taste out of my mouth. Well, I guess it's a good thing, because if I liked it, it would be damn expensive.

The Chobani was much more of a traditional, off the counter yogurt. Not as sweet as the Yoplait is, but still sweet enough to not pucker the mouth, with lots of actual blue berries in it. I might get it again for a treat, but at the price.. I don't know if it's that much different than Yoplait.

I was never a huge yogurt person as a kid. I think that the yogurt back then was probably more like the Siggi's. But I think over the years yogurt has gotten sweeter. A lot sweeter. Which makes it palatable for me, but probably not as overall good as the original style. Sucks to have a sweet tooth.

Not only was it warm enough for the leaves to be raked, but the ground wasn't a bowl of soup like I expected. So considering today felt like spring, I raked. And raked. And... well you get the idea. Got a good chunk done, ready to be picked up when the real spring gets here. I couldn't pick up anything now if I wanted too because I have nowhere to dump them, the pit is flooded right now and any attempt to dump there would doubtless eventually involve a tow truck. So we'll just skip that. I have other thing to do too, and guess what, it's still winter. Memorial day is still a few months off.

I tried to get back on the DU site, but guess what? The page wasn't found. Oh yeah, that's just great.

I was looking at a stone today while raking and noticed that the it said "twin" and I looked at the dates. One son was born and died in the same year as the date of birth of the twin. Sad, but it was nice that they noted that he had a twin brother. I think they were born in 1895, long before neo natal care.

So, who wants to buy a Toyota? Anyone? Anyone? Well, you CANT! Boy, as if they (the car companies) weren't having enough problems.

Pernell Roberts died. "Who?" you ask.  He was the eldest brother on Bonanza, and also played Trapper John in the series Trapper John, MD.
RIP Adam. Its' off to the Pondarosa in the sky.

Wolfgaar will like this. I got an email from my SIL about a  photo of a rock formation in Birmania. The formation, at certain times, has an amazing reflection in the water if you look at it horizontally. http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/8/4/1/5/6/ar118307693265148.jpg&imgrefurl=http://activerain.com/blogsview/134486/amazing-photo&h=348&w=584&sz=37&tbnid=QqkEvDthg3j_DM:&tbnh=80&tbnw=135&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbermania,%2Bphoto&hl=en&usg=__9U12C53m4LZsUGo2LgM6DpybUfw=&ei=RKVfS8v8AcuXtge7upHtCw&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=1&ct=image&ved=0CA0Q9QEwAA

NPR had an interesting show on about Bail Bondsmen. They have been doing a series on the whole Bail system, and how it hurts people and costs the taxpayers millions. It was interesting. One of their arguments is that it unjustly targets the poor. Of course I have to say that if these people, poor or not, didn't break the law... well, they wouldn't need bail now would they?  It does sound like the system, like so many others, desperately needs to be overhauled. The thing with the bail bondsmen was just ridiculous in some states. I cant even explain it, but the state gets screwed and loses money. And its because they allow it.

Got to go get me some Big Love.

The wind is blowing so much the plastic film on the windows is pushing the modem off it's perch.

Today's high was about 57. That matches the wind gusts I think. But at least the snow is mostly gone. Making room for new stuff I guess.

Well, it took a few weeks, but Biv came calling for her money.  She apparently figured out how much she can get away with making while collecting.  It's her money, so I don' t care. I'm just surprised as hell it took her this long.
And on the subject of unemployment, I got my check back from the state. I made it out to the wrong department, and oh, I cant write a check, I have to pay on line with the Quest system. I guess the letter explaining that I couldn't get through their system TO get to online payment didn't register. Well, back to the drawing board. There is only so much I can do.

A few interesting news notes.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35049326/ns/travel-news/
PHILADELPHIA - A college student returning to school after the winter break fell victim to a prank at Philadelphia's airport by a Transportation Security Administration worker who pretended to plant a plastic bag of white powder in her carryon luggage.
Oh yeah, that's really funny. Now, what charges are you going to file against that sociopath?



http://www.timesargus.com/article/20100111/NEWS02/1110345/1003/NEWS02
BRATTLEBORO — Tritium leaks have surfaced at more than a dozen nuclear plants across the country, including several plants owned by Entergy Nuclear, the owner of Vermont Yankee.
Last Thursday, Entergy Nuclear announced that a monitoring well on the banks of the Connecticut River showed low levels of the radioactive isotope tritium, 17,000 picocuries per liter; the reportable levels is 20,000 picocuries, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
This is why, as carbon neutral as it is, people are rightfully scared to death of nuclear reactors and the humans that run them.

My son has hooked us up to a very silly movie review broadcast. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/ It's pretty funny, although it can be too silly at times. But it has reviews or clips there of from average people.  It's no Siskel and Ebert, but well, they are dead anyway.

And speaking of dead, the leopard gecko finally died. And he was heartbroken. But I'm so done with lizards. No more small animals. And its going to be mammals only.  Nothing that requires special heat and lights and humidity or lack there of.  I bet my light bill drops $10.00 next month.

My crazy friend and I got into a pissing contest today on FB. She wrote an entry that said she wanted to adopt a girl from Haiti, (she has 4 kids now) and if only someone would front them the $30,000. adoption fees.  Knowing she has only just escaped foreclosure, has no health insurance for any of her kids (the hospital is actually suing them right now) and her husband is in 'meltdown' as she said, I gave her a WTF reply. She didn't like that. So she actually changed her original entery, delated the stuff about asking for money, and made it look like she was just 'wishful thinking' and how dare I come down on her for that. Well, I guess I have another Moose on my hands. When confronted, change the story. I did get confirmation from someone else who's tired of her marterdom posts. She did ask for money to adopt. So at least I'm not losing my mind.  Maybe I'll have to block her again, just so I am not tempted to reply to her posts.

Shrug... a relative, by marriage, has 'friended' me on FB, but I don't want to be friends. She's annoying. But I knew this would happen eventually. And eventually, I'll have to add her because if I don't... well, that will be 'family tension'. She's like a leach. Anyway.

Went to my MIL's studio today. Stole one of the neighbors kids for them to sculpt. NO! Not a nude. Just the head. Sheesh.
I tried my hand at it, but not having someone show you what to do... well, that makes a huge difference. I did do a head, and it looked human, but as far as proportions and such.. well. Not quite there. I was going to smoosh it, but the girl wanted me to keep it. So since they want her back for one more session, I guess I'll work on it and see what happens. I'm just not all that into heads, not without some instruction anyway.

The rest of today I spent doing laundry and looking for my table. My 'catch all' living room table. I threw out a bunch of stuff. Found a few things that need real homes elsewhere. And ended the day with my stew. Which surprisingly even Himself ate. (things that touch other things shall not touch my lips).

Ryther and I are going to try to watch Spartacus, the new series tonight. It's on Hulu. I already heard from my step father that it's pretty bad. And he loves anything to do with old Rome movies. Oh well.

My mother also joined FB today. Finally. Peer pressure does work.

Where to begin?
I broke Ryther's shaving mirror today. had it in my hand and it just slipped away into the tub. Now, this mirror has fallen I cannot tell you how many times in the past. 20 maybe at least. We'll be sitting in the living room and her 'crash'. "What was that?" Oh, just the mirror, again.  And yet this one time, when I'm there, all responsible and all, it shatters. Oh well. I don't shave, what should I care, right?

I found a home for the flute I found. My crazy friend in Oregon will take it for her son. Her husband played flute, and although this is considered an inferior flute, a school flute, he will fix it and try to teach his son, who is interested, how to play. Yay.

I've been home a lot lately since there is not much to do at the cemetery right now (although I did paint some signs, get gas in the truck and move frozen flowers today). It's that time of the year, when I have to do all the year end taxes, W-2's and so one, and start getting the years figures from the ledger into the computer. Every year I say I will do it as it comes in, and every year I put it off to the end of the year, which actually works out because, what the hell else would I be doing? 

So being at home, I have the radio on to NPR all day. I also check Facebook  more than I should. I don't multi-task well, let me tell you. I would never make it in an office. I need to be outside.
But anyway... Today when I got home I noticed my state senator was going to be on the radio, so I tuned him in. Unfortunately I missed half the show, but what I did hear was interesting. What I also found it interesting were some of the comments on his FB page from some of his 'supporters'.  One person wrote that NPR was "state run crap" and another that it was "Socialist National Welfare Radio".  Wow, no wonder this country is in the state it's in.    I may not always agree with the slant some programs or conversations take, but NPR give the most balanced and in depth news around. It informs. Now, you may not agree with the conclusions they come to, but damn if they don't give you a lot of info to go on. According to Wikki: In a Harris poll conducted in 2005, NPR was voted the most trusted news source in the U.S.^[4] Now, how much do you trust Wikki to be right? hmm? lol
It just galls me that people will submerge themselves in one news sourse that's not very good, or that's mostly opinion, rather than try to get the most information they can. I don't think a bombastic talk show host is really a good source of news.  If you stick a Herald in front of me, or a Globe, hell, if you put a rag in front of me I'd read it. Doesn't mean I won't just take it with a grain of salt though.

So on NPR today were a number of topics of interest. I listened to my senator describe the fact that the chamber where the governor was giving his state of the state last night was rather empty, that they were bringing in people just to fill the seats. That can't be a good sign for his political future.
Also of note was the statement Sen Kerry made apparently saying he knew Scott Brown was going to win the election. LOL!  Well, he did, did he? He might have told Martha that and maybe she could have gotten her shit together. What a jackass. I bet he's getting a bit nervous about his seat, although I'm not sure how much longer he has before he has to run again. The voters are notoriously short minded.

Who is going to run for Barney Frank's seat? See, that's the thing. You got a republican into an empty seat, but can you actually get a man with that much power out of office if he doesn't want to go? Does anyone seriously think that if Ted was still alive, he wouldn't have been voted right back in? I have no doubt that he would have won again. He just had too much power.  But I am wondering if Barney might just bow out. Because he knows he's part of the problem. I just wonder how many others know that?

Anyway, also on  today was a discussion of Denialism. New book. But this is one I didn't quite agree with. Basically he was saying that if you didn't trust science, you were a denialist. Ok, that's oversimplifying it. But then he goes on to flutter back and forth giving reasons not to trust science, but that you should trust it. He sounded like an idiot.  You should trust that vaccines are safe, but we don't know how much mercury in fish is bad for you. We don't have all the answers, but you should trust us. Vitamins are useless. But... arn't doctors telling us to take them, and isn't that based on... science? Organic food is the same as non organic. Well, maybe in an absolute sense, but if you are buying something from Monsanto which leads to poor land management and enslaved farmers, is that fruit the same as an organic fruit. And wasn't DDT safe at one point? Actually I guess its argued that it still is safe, just in more measured amounts. Which is scientifically correct? Which scientist do you believe? And when they find they are wrong, like with the safety of plastic (also mentioned today) then who do you believe?

I see Obama has gotten stirred up by the election of Scott Brown. He's out there yelling at Wall Street again. Yeah, you do need to regulate the banks. You do need to break them down to more manageable sizes. Why are banks selling insurance? Can I ask that?

So back to Monsanto. We watch a show Better off Ted which is pretty silly but funny. Its about a big corporation. They have fake adds sometimes, and I was looking at a Monsanto add in Nat. Geographic today and all I could think about when i read it was teh show.  "Producing more. Conserving more. Improving farmers' lives. That's sustainable agriculture. And that's what Monsanto is all about." 
Yeah, right. See http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122498255   I guess it sounded better than "Monsanto, enslaving farmers for years to come".

Well, there you go, all before dinner. Ummm.
And there is beef stew in the crock pot for tomorrow.

I received the new pamphlet from the US govt. telling me how much to take out in taxes on the payroll, and the tax break from last year is gone it seems. I have to take out an additional $2.00 in Fed taxes now. But wait! I thought Obama wasn't going to raise taxes on anyone who didn't make at least $250,000? I sure as shit don't make anywhere near that.

I was just commenting on Jarvenpa's blog yesterday that I should start seeing the crocuses next month, and low and behold when I got out of the car today, I saw a fresh green shoot coming out of the ground on the sunny side of the house. Perhaps I wont have to wait so long as I thought. And of course, those foolish crocuses will pay the price for their early arrival.

So the Supreme Court will let corperations have their free speach. I wish I know more about what the laws are now for contributions and PACs and all, but since I don't, I'm just going to wing it. Correct me if I'm wrong. It seems to me that corperations already run American politics, that lobbyist paid by the drug companies, the oil companies, the agro companies, they alwasy get what they want basically and screw Joe American. Poison his water, feed him amonia, let him be a guinee pig. So do I really think that this will help the little guy, as I heard Gingrich praporting? No. I think it will just make it that much easier for the mega corperations to drown out any opposition. Is that what the first amendment is supposed to be for? For corperations? I thought the Constitution protected 'the people' ? And yeah, corperations are made up of people, and they should have their freedom to speak and donate, as people. But as a corperation? I don't know.