Woke up this morning

smiled at the rising sun


three little birds, outside my window


singing sweet songs, the melody pure and true
saying, this is my message to you



don't worry about a thing
because every little thing
is gonna be alright

Thank you Bob Marley, for the sweet song that has carried me through the days.

If you haven't already done so ..

.. check out Bill Moyers' show, Buying the War, about the role of the presstitutes in marketing the Iraq war to the American people.

Happy Earth Day!

We've had a lovely day here. William and I planted a spruce sapling, and then William climbed a tree. To complete this rite of passage, my 9 year old climbed a little too high, then scraped his belly on a branch on the way back down. Ah, to be young and agile with swiftly-healing skin again!

The laundry flapped gently in the breeze while we had lunch outside. I prepared two of my raised garden beds with black gold from my very own composter, a garden weasel, and the sweat of my brow. I am hoping that the weather will continue to be mild, so I planted white onions and dill in one bed, and mixed greens and cilantro in the other. I might lose a few dollars on this wager, but I think I'll be vindicated when we're dining on lovely fresh salads well ahead of the Memorial Day weekend.

I set up our hummingbird feeders in anticipation of the return of flying emerald jewels, and sipped locally produced wine while listening to wild turkeys, woodpeckers, sparrows, chickadees, redwinged blackbirds, robins, and marsh hawks.

It saddens me when I observe that our culture has become so polarized and politicized, that any suggestion to conserve our resources is immediately rebuffed and followed by a diatribe against Al Gore. I suspect that there is a certain subset of our society who are so pigheaded, that they crank the A/C on their SUV's and drive around with the windows down, spraying Aquanet and tossing out styrofoam burger boxes, just to piss off those who warn us about climate change.

This treehugging liberal with low utility bills wonders what, exactly, are "conservatives" trying to conserve?

My quilting style

A few people have asked about my quilts. They are all machine sewn, and free motion stipple-quilted using a darning foot attachment. The only part I do by hand is the final attachment of the binding.

Let it all hang out

Tomorrow is National Hanging Out Day. Project Laundry List exhorts us to "Hang Your Pants, Stop The Nuke Plants."

Not that I need a reason, of course. I love to hang the laundry on my clothesline. When the weatherman prognosticates clear skies, my first thoughts are not of the beach, but rather, "do I have enough laundry to justify running the washing machine?" I don't find it to be a chore, but a joyous, contemplative activity which borders on Zen-like bliss.

It is downright obscene that clotheslines are banned by more than 35,000 Homeowners' Associations in California. I could never live under such an oppressive regime. They can have my clothespins when they pry them from my cold, dead fingers!

Cell phones causing Colony Collapse Disorder?

There's an article in The Independent which suggests that cell phones may be the cause of the abrupt disappearance of honeybees.

The theory is that radiation from mobile phones interferes with bees' navigation systems, preventing the famously homeloving species from finding their way back to their hives. Improbable as it may seem, there is now evidence to back this up.

This makes a lot of sense to me. While cell phones have been around for quite some time now, it seems that their annoying ubiquity has reached a crescendo in the past year or two. In the stores, the restaurants, and most alarmingly the streets, everybody and their sister is yakking away on their cellphones. Cellphones also appear to have rendered the population incapable of making simple independent decisions, as evidenced by the traffic jams in the toothpaste aisle. Hey baby, should I get the peppermint tartar-control whitening toothpaste, or the spearmint whitening plaque-busting gel??? What? Huh? Let me move out of this dead zone. (Runs into my cart, remains oblivious) Can you hear me now?

On second thought, maybe it's not the radio frequency waves per se that are causing CCD. Maybe the bees are just sick of hearing all of the inane chatter, and have congregated in areas which are far away from the cacophony. In that case, I'm kinda jealous.

Are you kidding me, Mr. President?????

Apparently, the Commander in Chief was unaware that soldiers' tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan were to be extended.

I know it's hard, being a Wartime President and all, but this is the kind of thing that you might want to stay on top of, George.

Just a suggestion.

Imagine what it's like on this side of the border

This afternoon, the lead story on the websites of Canada's two largest news outlets, CBC and CTV, has been about the mental health crisis at Canadian Forces Base Petawawa, where children "are on the brink of suicide."

This news is sad and disturbing, but at least it is being noted.

As a border straddler, I pay close attention to the news emanating from both sides of the 49th Parallel. I am struck by the sharp contrast between the respectful and thorough coverage that the Canadian media gives to its military's successes and losses in Afghanistan, and the relative lack of media coverage of the US military's gains and losses in Iraq and Afghanistan. Last week, eight members of the Canadian Armed Forces were killed in the line of duty in Afghanistan. Those two incidents were the leading news stories on all of the major Canadian news outlets last week. Those soldiers were acknowledged. Their names were stated. Their lives were honoured.

As of today, fifty-two American soldiers have died in Iraq since 1 April 2007. Have they been acknowledged? Honoured? Even mentioned in the national media? Nope. To be fair, who can concentrate on these details when Sanjaya is still on American Idol? Who cares about the fact that the US Army now faces 15 month tours in Iraq and Afghanistan when some mumbling old fool said some stupid shit about some basketball players? Why should anyone care about the mental health of soldiers' children when the more pressing issue of the identity of Anna Nicole's babydaddy has been announced?


Rosie O'Donnell said it best in her brilliant blog entry yesterday:

junk food
junk news
america - we r bloated

Quilting Frenzy

After an extended hiatus, I've made a triumphant return to the world of manic quilting. Here's what I've been working on:


An homage to St. Therese de Lisieux, in gratitude for novenas heard and answered.


Spring Tonic.


Gandalf, my wabbit-hunting beast of the moors, inspects Spring Tonic. I've decided to display it on the wall, instead of on my bed, just to be on the safe side.

Who's crazy now?

I've been making my dog's food for over a year now. In the past, this has garnered a few raised eyebrows, and accusations that I have too much time on my hands. What. Ever.

It seems I'm not the only crazy dog lady out there. Christi Shaver offers a meatloaf recipe which is quite similar to the fare I serve to Lady Chocolate. It takes very little time to prepare, and I know exactly what's in there.

No chance to catch their breath

JeffDem recently requested more political commentary from your humble correspondent. I don't even know where to start ...

The rumour mill had been humming for a few months, but it was only in the past few days that the word became official: my husband's brigade, 1BCT of 10th MTN, is going back to Iraq in June, only 10.5 months after they came back from that hot dusty hellhole.

My husband won't be going back, due to his poor health. Our battle will be fought back at home, against the powers that be in the military medical system.

I have not written much about the issues that he faces, out of respect for his privacy, and out of fear of reprisals from those with the power to determine our family's financial future with the stroke of a pen.

I will say that the stories of soldiers getting screwed over by the military scare me and infuriate me and render me practically mute.

I will say that I am grateful that we live beneath our means, that we own our house, and that I have a Bachelor's degree in Nursing Science and a NY State Nursing License, both of which will be put back into use starting next week.

And I will say that I am acutely aware that our situation could be eight gazillion times worse.

Purple!!!

The first crocus of spring!

The return of the snow geese

Jefferson County, New York, 28 March 2007 at 0815. They're already heading northeast.

Birthday Lurve to ...

Houdini,
Suzuki,
and ...
ME!

Quotable quotes

Preamble: I'm not much of a gamer, but my husband enjoys a few computer games. Currently, he is a beta-tester for the upcoming Lord of the Rings Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game, or MMORPG for those who speak the lingo. He has created a few characters, including a female hobbit named Rosieblossom who makes blueberry muffins, plays the lute, and looks exactly like me. There is no higher form of flattery!

My husband and son are also reading The Hobbit together, and I believe I will set aside my Jodi Picoult novels and join them in Middle Earth.

Onto today's quotable quotes, courtesy of my highly creative and literary husband:

1. "Release your inner Hobbit!"
2. "The Hobbit was the ultimate PTSD Self-Help Project."

Perhaps Ben Franklin was right

Wild turkeys are magnificent, majestic beasts! A flock of about fifteen fowl strutted through the front and back yard this morning. They devoured the sunflower seeds I had just scattered, and then moved on to the bare spots of grass. Who needs a chicken tractor when there are much larger creatures willing to aerate and cultivate the lawn for free?

As we enjoyed the show, I wondered if we might be fortunate enough to see some courtship rituals. Right on cue, two toms came strutting into the yard:


Helllloooooo, Ladies!


How you doin' today?


That's right ladies, I can balance this magnificent body on one leg!


Feel free to bask in my glory. I'm here for you, baby!

I stand corrected!

We do have Redpolls here!

UPDATE: I stand corrected again. My sources tell me that this is a male house finch.

Ready for his closeup

Presenting Bob Cardy, named after my favourite CBC Radio Producer.

More excitement at the feeding station!

There are now two(!!) pairs of cardinals dining at Casa di Miniature Rose. Here, Reddy Freddy and Bob Cardy are checking out Claudia Cardinale. Despite the fresh coat of snow, those boys have a bad case of spring fever. They're flitting all over the place, trying to impress the ladies with their bold plumage. I think Bob has a slight edge right now.

Yes, that's a cabbage leaf just above Bob. I peel the outer leaves off the head and put them out for BunBun and associates. My son has proclaimed cabbage to be his new favourite vegetable, which he eats raw and unadulterated by such blasphemous additions as cole slaw dressing. Yesterday, he requested that I purchase MORE CABBAGE PLEASE!! Well, what's a Mom to do except make a special trip to the Super Walmart for more cruciferous veggies? I know, I know, I spoil that child.

I guess I missed the memo

Apparently, March 16th is Are you f'ing kidding me?!?!?! day.

In Baltimore, a seven year old boy was arrested, handcuffed, and hauled down to the police station because he was riding a dirt bike on the sidewalk. The police have some 'splaining to do.

In local news, a former Army chaplain/Southern Baptist minister has been sentenced to 5 months' confinement for "one specification of adultery" and "three specifications of communicating a threat." Strip away the legalese, and that translates to this: a chaplain took on a "second wife" (whom he met on the internet, quel surprise) then issued death threats when wife #2 found his kinky demands to be too great, and left.

Yes, you read that correctly. A chaplain, ferchrissakes!!!

And to complete today's triumvirate of the bizarre and disturbing, Nicole Ritchie and Paris Hilton will be "working" as counselors at a fat camp during the next season of "The Simple Life." I don't even have a television, yet I want to find one and throw it out the window on general principle.

Who watches the watcher?

I went downstairs to refill my coffee cup a few minutes ago, and observed this dynamic:


The watcher.


The watched.

Gandalf was running back and forth from the dining room to the living room, trying to secure the best vantage point for his observation of BunBun. Oddly, he wasn't cajoling me to let him out.

Yes, Mom, I know my windows are filthy. I'll go clean them now.

Rumour has it ...

That the greater Syracuse area will soon be blessed with three Tim Horton's shops.

In the name of the Cruller, and the Timbit, and the Double-Double. Amen.

If Google can do it, why can't the Army?

There's a fascinating article in today's New York Times about Google's mass transit system. About one fourth of Google's Silicon Valley employees make use of the free shuttle system. The buses have comfortable leather seats, bike racks, and wireless Internet access. And best of all, they run on biodiesel.

Fort Drum has a small shuttle system, of sorts. There are buses (uncomfortable old Bluebird school buses) which run from the off-post housing areas and Syracuse into the base in the morning, and back at night. But there is no mass transit system on the base itself, and none of the amenities (library, gyms, PX, health clinics) are within walking distance of one another.

The vehicle-dependent nature of the base has been bothering me for years. I wonder, though, if anyone would make use of an on-post shuttle system?

Big or small, we serve them all!

I was a little surprised to see this pair at the feeding station. Evidently, wild turkeys like sunflower seeds, too.

The new kid in town

In addition to the usual crew of sparrows, chickadees, juncoes, doves, and a pair of cardinals, there is a new bird at the feeding station:




Looks like it's a Snow Bunting sporting its non-breeding plumage.

An outstanding choice

President Bush has named Bob Dole and Donna Shalala as the co-chairs of a presidential commission to look into problems in military and veterans' hospitals.

I am particularly impressed by the choice of Senator Dole. We saw this great man at WRAMC in April 2005. Here is what I wrote about that experience.

Lordy, Lordy, Look Who's Forty!!

Happy Birthday to my big brother!!

(I'm trying to find a picture, but he looks too serious in each and every one of them!)

We need snow fences around here!!

It is almost always windy around here, and especially so today. This makes the road conditions downright treacherous. In the areas with open fields, the blowing snow turns the roads into skating rinks with no visibility. Here are some pictures from Newzjunky of the results of one such scenario.

One good thing about the proposed commercial development on 342 is that it will probably eliminate one such snowy-blowy-accident-waiting-to-happen spot.

Anyone wanna help me plant some trees?

For the record

Here is the text of the testimony of Mrs. Annette McLeod, delivered today to the Government Reform and Oversight Committe of the US House of Representatives, about the treatment her husband received at Walter Reed after being injured in Kuwait in August 2005.

This woman is a hero and a true American patriot.

Quando omni flunkus, moritati!

So, I let the dog out tend to her necessaries, and received quite a shock:





After uttering some incomprehensible sounds and ushering Chocolate back in the house, I tried to formulate a plan. What the heck was I going to do with a dead opossum? Gack! How did my dog manage to take down an opossum in the first place? Where's the blood? Gack! Sputter! More incomprehensible utterances!

The kidlet arrived at my side to see what my problem was. He looked at the varmint, and said, I think he's just playing possum.

Oh, said I, whilst smacking my forehead. Now it makes sense. That critter done fooled me! And, as if on cue, the opossum stopped grimacing and lifted its head:



So, naturally, I ran for my camera. When I opened the upstairs window, the possum kindly repeated its performance for us. While we waited for it to move along, my son told me all about opossums, their nocturnal nature, their prehensile tails, their diet, etc. Let's call that the serendipitous science lesson for the day. Aren't I lucky to have a such a knowledgeable teacher in the house?

After a few more minutes, the marsupial meandered away:



This critter has clearly tangled with a predator at some point, as their tails (prehensile!!!) are normally longer.

Turkeys and opossums, oh my! Just another day in the wild kingdom.

Gobble, gobble, GOBBLE!!

A portion of the flock that was strutting through the back yard a few minutes ago. They startled when I opened the upstairs window to get this shot.

What a load of horse manure!

As the result of half a dozen complaints over the past few years, the village of Adams Center (population 1,500) has
enacted a law which prohibits horses on the north side of the village and in trailer parks. And if a horse dies or is sold, the owner cannot replace it.

Wow. Six complaints over three years .. that's two complaints per year. Clearly, that's a HUUUUUUUUUGE issue. Well done, Town of Adams!

/sarcasm

Happy Birthday, Karen!

Karen, who blogs at The Sour Patch Kid Experiment, turns 24 today. Many happy returns to her!

Kafka himself could not have scripted it better

I have been following, with great interest, the Washington Post's articles about the abysmal conditions under which wounded soldiers languish in medical hold at Walter Reed. Dana Priest and Anne Hull described the physical neglect and bureacratic indifference experienced at Building 18, which is located across the street from Walter Reed. I have not seen the inside of that building, so I cannot speak to the stories about its infrastructure. However, the authors' depiction of the bureaucracy of Walter Reed - ie indifferent, callous, inefficient, and just plain mean - rings absolutely true.

Well, those articles certainly lit a fire under the collective posteriors of the powers that be. There will be no more languishing in rat-infested, moldy, crumbling Building 18. Those fine warriors will be moved to Building 14, which is conveniently located on the Walter Reed campus. They have been given strict orders not to speak to the media - not that those pesky reporters could gain access to the secure military installation, anyway. And these warriors will get to relive the glory days of basic training, by virtue of the edict that has them out of bed no later than 0600, ready for room inspections by 0700. The soldier sitting next to me confirms that this wouldn't happen in the toughest of infantry batallions with the healthiest of soldiers.

There's a special place in hell for the Perfumed Princes who made this happen. And it looks exactly like Building 18.

Any way the wind blows, doesn't really matter ...

Great things are in the works at Clarkson University in Potsdam, NY.

Amongst them:

Small-scale wind turbines for point-of-use electrical applications; and

Conversion of used vegetable oil from the kitchens of the Akwesasne Mohawk Casino into bio-diesel, which will then be used to fuel garbage trucks on the St. Regis Mohawk Reservation.

Sigh .. I have this recurring pipe dream that these kinds of progressive thinking can be utilized on Fort Drum. I like to fantasize that, instead of navigating congested roads and parking lots which plague the post (especially in the winter months), soldiers could take bio-diesel fueled buses to their duty stations.

I know, I know .. it's just fodder for my commitment hearing.

Coming soon to irritate and annoy me

Looks like a new "retail and entertainment center" is in the works for our little neck of the woods.

According to Newzjunky, the proposed development may include a "hotel, car dealership, gas station, restaurants, 12-screen movie theater, bowling alley, and storage units."

With the continued expansion of Fort Drum, I suppose this was inevitable. But .. blech!*


The view from my office window, soon to be filled in with hustle, bustle, traffic, and trash from annoying people who cannot seem to find the garbage cans after they leave the theatre.



*Unless, of course, they're putting a Tim Horton's in this development. Then I'm all in favour of it!

What winter is all about

Ready ..


Set ..


Go!!!!!!

Our little town

As seen from Thompson Park Hill at about 09:30 this morning.

Fog in winter

Sublimation: the transition of a substance from its solid to its gaseous form, bypassing the liquid phase.

I love days like these!

It's the little differences ...

Until about five minutes ago, I had no idea that pancakes were not a part of the traditional Fat Tuesday celebration in the United States. Apparently, Shrove Tuesday is only observed in Canada, the UK, Ireland and Australia.

No wonder my husband still looks at me kinda funny when I serve pancakes, sausages, and bacon for dinner on the last Tuesday before Lent.

Gobble gobble

Turkey in my back yard.

In a mad, mad world, how do you know when you've gone mad?

I know there are millions of more important things going on, but I must say that I am very very worried about Ms. Britney Spears.

I've never been a fan, and I don't particularly care for her music. Nevertheless, I feel sorry for the woman.

It has been blatantly obvious, for the past few months, that Ms. Spears has some serious problems. I truly believe that she is in the throes of postpartum psychosis.

All of the partying = self medicating.

The inappropriate attire or lack thereof = clear signs of delusional behaviour.

Last night's spectacular meltdown = the last we'll see of her for a while, I hope.

I truly hope that Ms. Spears has been taken to a safe environment, where she can receive competent psychiatric care.

And truly I hope that all of the jackals - the photographers, the tabloids, the so-called serious media, and the bastards who are hawking her shorn locks on ebay are feeling really proud of themselves right now.

Get well soon, Britney.

Incarceration Nation

Un.
Fricking.
Believable.

A 9 year old boy, a Canadian citizen, is being
detained in an "immigration detention center" in Texas.

The story is quite convoluted. The boy was born in Toronto. His parents fled Iran in 1995, and tried for 10 years to gain asylum in Canada. In 2005, they were deported back to Iran. The parents were allegedly imprisoned and abused again, but the family managed to flee to Turkey, where they obtained fake passports. They made their way to Guyana, and were on a direct flight from there to Toronto when the plane was diverted to Puerto Rico because of another passenger's mid-flight heart attack. They have been detained in T. Don Hutto Family Detention Center in Taylor, Texas.

This family was not attempting to enter the United States.

This has nothing to do with the United States.

This needs to be resolved at once.

Pavlov's cats

Whenever I open a tin of anything, the cats come running to the kitchen.

Tonight, it was button mushrooms.

They got their Valentine's Day treat of tuna, anyway.

They have me well trained, don't they?

Camera shy

I haven't seen Reddy Freddy for a few days, but his lady friend has been taking shelter under the mighty boughs of the spruce tree. She's been difficult to photograph, as she had been sticking to the shadows. I think she's getting a little more comfortable, and she's venturing further afield.

I haven't named her yet. Any suggestions?

It's all fun and games until there's a meningitis outbreak

Last century, when I was a Public Health Nurse, I worked on the Healthy Sexuality team. One of the challenges we faced was how to make teenagers understand their personal risk factors for acquiring a Sexually Transmitted Disease, without becoming too technical, preachy, or boring. We came up with some innovative lesson plans, but none as "interesting" as the gum game which has been used for the past nine years in Montgomery County, Maryland.

Until last month, the Rockville Pregnancy Center taught 90-minute classes on abstinence and STDs to high school health classes. Part of their schtick was to invite students to take turns chewing the same piece of gum.

Yeah. Ewwwwwwwwwwww.

Absurdly, the Washington Post article linked above quotes health officials as saying that sharing gum poses a low risk of transmitting germs, "on par with drinking from the same cup."

Again, ewwwwwwwwww.

Gail Tierney, the executive director of the Rockville Pregnancy Center, did protesteth that:

We saw 6,500 kids last year. Who's going to talk to them now?

Might I suggest someone with a superficial understanding of how meningitis is spread?

One martini, and she thinks she's an artist or something

All I can say is,

Thank God we installed a Reverse Osmosis system for our well water.

Fuel spill at Fort Drum shuts down their freshwater wells.

The quote that scares the shit out of me:

Fort Drum officials said they didn't know the full extent of the leak--it could be a couple thousand gallons of fuel or hundreds of thousands of gallons.

Nobody knows exactly where the spill has moved because the earth below is sand, which lets fuel move through it.

Excuse me whilst I choke on my tea here. Has it occured to the powers that be on Fort Drum that other freshwater wells which draw upon the same aquifer might be affected?

Snow day

Closed for the season.


Chickadee in the thicket.


Fresh tracks.


Hurry up, Mom!

Today's outlook: definitely an Ego Booster

One of my pictures is Today's Photo on the North Country Public Radio website. Thanks, David! I'm truly honored and flattered.

Tie me kangaroo down, sport.

Well, it was actually a wallaby,bouncing around Fontana, California.

Imagine being the police dispatcher who took that call.

Good chilly morning!

A few pictures, taken at 0715 this morning. BunBun was checking out the dental floss that I had used to make a Cheerios garland for our little menagerie.

Weekend Recap

Before my Grade 12 math teacher, Mr. Larmer, distributed the weekly tests, he would specify whether it would be an "ego booster" or a "character builder."

This past weekend was definitely a character builder.

On Thursday, my husband flew to Washington DC for an appointment at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Without getting into too much detail, Friday morning was difficult. The working diagnosis was discarded, and a new (and in our view, questionable) label was proposed.

Saturday was our 12th anniversary. Steve's plane was to have landed in Watertown at 17:30. We had a table reserved at Sboro's for 18:30. The flight was delayed, but I was able to push our reservation by an hour. Then Steve got bumped from his flight, and had to spend the night in Pittsburgh. I cried a little, and then had the last glass of wine remaining in the house.

On Sunday, Steve's plane took off on schedule. Unfortunately, it could not land in Watertown due to a raging blizzard, so he ended up in Ogdensburg, which is about an hour away. I set out to get him, but I quickly determined that it was absolutely unsafe to drive anywhere. Local law enforcement concurred with my judgement, and issued a travel ban moments after I told Steve that I couldn't go to get him. So, he spent the night at a hotel overlooking the frozen St. Lawrence River while I undertook the Sisyphean task of clearing the driveway from the 2+ feet of snow that fell. I come from good, strong, Northern Ontario stock, so I was up for the challenge. But boy howdy, did I hurt after 4 hours of shovelling yesterday. And - here's the clincher - I had no martini fixings to soften the blow.

Finally, finally, the band of lake effect snow decided to inflict its brand of fluffy white winter cheer on the hardy folks to the south of us, and I was able to drive to Ogdensburg this morning. The husband is home. The driveway is completely cleared. We enjoyed a lovely late anniversary dinner of roasted lamb.

And I finally had my pomegranate martini!!!

Here are some stormy pictures to enjoy.


Whiteout!


Chickadee pecks at the snowless side of the seed bar.


Sparrow finds a few sunflower seeds.


Reddy Freddy finds a smackerel to eat.


The cats enjoy some cheep entertainment.

Shelter from the storm

Mourning doves find sanctuary under the boughs of the spruce tree.

Let the countdown begin!

I know what I'll be reading on July 21st!!

My new obsession

I call him Reddy Freddy.

Wise investors might want to buy stock in the companies which make blackstripe sunflower seeds.

Squeeeeeeee!!!!

We've attracted a male Northern Cardinal to our feeding station! Forgive the blurriness of the shot, as it was taken through two panes of glass.

There's a metaphor in there, somewhere

Hot off the wires:

Eagle Lugging a Deer Head Causes Outage

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) -- About 10,000 Juneau residents briefly lost power after a bald eagle lugging a deer head crashed into transmission lines.

''You have to live in Alaska to have this kind of outage scenario,'' said Gayle Wood, an Alaska Electric Light & Power spokeswoman. ''This is the story of the overly ambitious eagle who evidently found a deer head in the landfill.''

The bird, weighed down by the deer head, apparently failed to clear the transmission lines, she said. A repair crew found the eagle dead, the deer head nearby.

The power was out for less than 45 minutes Sunday.

This annoyed me at first, but I did a few sun salutations and I'm feeling better now

Tara Guber created a yoga curriculum for elementary schools. Some schools love it, and report fewer discipline and behaviour problems. I can attest to this. When we begin our (rather loosely structured) homeschooling days with a few yoga poses, we achieve more.

Critics (read: bible thumpers) have their knickers in a knot, insisting that the Hindu origins of yoga will lead children astray and encourage them to explore mysticism and Eastern religions.

Because Jesus would rather that kids be doped up medicated with Ritalin than spending a few minutes in the lotus position, right?

/sarcasm

Take time to smell the flowers

w00t!!

The Rideau Canal Skateway in Ottawa is open!

Come hell or high water, I *will* skate on the canal this year!

Happy Robbie Burns Day!

I can't understand a word of his verse, and neither haggis nor scotch will be consumed here tonight. But Happy Robbie Burns Day, anyway.

Enjoy this midi of My Love's A Red, Red Rose.

This is why winter cottages need chamber pots, kiddies

So, this guy from Toronto goes to his friend's cottage in Muskoka and engages in the grand old cottage country tradition of getting plastered.

In the wee hours of the morning, he went out to .. umm .. write his name in the snow.

Then, he tried to get back into the cottage, but ended up knocking on the wrong door. No-one was home at the neighbouring cottage, so the fella tried to enter through the chimney. Unsurprisingly, the fella got stuck.

It's a minor miracle that the man didn't freeze to death in the five hours it took before anyone heard his muffled cries for help.

No charges will be laid, as there was no criminal intent.

I think the guy probably learned his lesson, anyway.

I learned a new phrase today:

Cosmetic Endocrinology. (LA Times story, registration may be required.)

In 2003, the FDA approved the use of Human Growth Hormone to treat children with idiopathic short stature. That's shortness that is not caused by a known disease process. Girls whose projected height is less than 4'11", and boys expected to be 5'3" or less, are eligible for this brave new treatment. Over the course of several years, daily injections of growth hormones are administered. If successful - and it isn't always successful - children may gain a couple of extra inches.

Bear with me as all 4 feet and 11 inches of me shakes with rage.

Ellen Frankel points out:

But being short isn’t the problem. The real difficulties lie in the social bias against short people. Are we willing to treat the victim of a social prejudice with medical technology that supports and reinforces that prejudice? Are we willing to take a healthy child and turn him or her into a patient in need of treatment? We live in a culture that is obsessed with being tall and thin and now the pharmaceutical companies have jumped on the bias against short people. They calculated that they have a built in population to treat that could boost profits significantly, because there will always be those who fall into the lower height percentiles on a bell shaped curve.

How interesting. The "stunting" of a severely mentally handicapped child's growth evoked a media firestorm, but the expensive, medically unnecessary attempts to make otherwise healthy children a couple of inches taller is condoned.

Cosmetic endocrinology: a fancy term for a grotesque practice.

Comfort the afflicted, afflict the comfortable

Poor Karl Kemp. He owns an antique shop on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, but he fears that he is losing potential customers. The reason? A homeless man has set up camp on the sidewalk grate in front of his store.

Mr. Kemp has called the police, but those pesky police claim that this vagrant actually has the right to be where he wants to be.

So, Mr. Kemp is suing the unnamed homeless man, along with three other persons, for one million dollars.

Imagine the audacity of these people! How dare they be poor? How dare they be cold? How dare they be mentally ill? How dare they fall through the cracks? How dare they remind Mr. Kemp's potential customers that there could be better ways to spend $26,000 than to purchase a 19th-century mahogany Empire bench from Vienna with lion-head details and cream-colored upholstery?

Shame on you, Mr. Kemp.