Many post, possibly my more interesting ones tend to be friend-only, so if I don't have you added you're mostly getting random bits and quizzes. I don't let people in unless they introduce themselves...unless, I find them first, of course. I want to know who you are and why you're here. So if you've "friended" me, tell me why here. Thanks! There may be some additional post-dated entries flocked for a filter or two.

We're getting another hound!

I've needed new life here, and we're getting it!

Yes, kids. In a few days we should have a pair of kids.




The type with hooves.

That eat everything.


And no, sister-mine should you come by here, I learned nothing from our parents' experience with goats other than I should never have let them get rid of my whether, Kato, because I'm genuinely fucked up over it still. Which is why we're not getting a bred doe, as we are not going to get into dairying. We'll get a doe we can chose to breed if I think we can handle the dealing with more kids...which, you know, really has to end up with meat coming into the picture. Which with some animals I'm okay with and others not. Goats are a middle ground...I consider them mostly to be livestock and have no issues with those who raise them for meat but *I* personally can't. Whereas with horses...no, if you eat them you are murdering scum and if you support anyone who does you are accessories to murdering scum (and if you recently got friended by someone and I immediately unfriended you the first time it posted a response in your LJ that's why...seeing it post makes me violently ill). *ahem* Anyway. So, yeah, they were vaguely offered in my direction and I couldn't resist.

Oh, yes, I DID learn from that not to get a buck. Ever. If I do breed the doe we'll hire a buck of someone who can stand the smell.

I might see if Aaron wants to pick them up tomorrow....or it might be later. We'll see.


And now for a new dog......

I'd like to have a series of increased life before we get any more death around here. I don't care if it's "seasonal" or not!

Apparently the single most openly misogynist show on TV, Trauma, which started it's pilot by showing only one female paramedic and showing her to be a total slut (yes, her partner was a total slut too...but he was only one of several men shown) has been renewed after all. Because, you know, women only become first responders of any sort for them menz. FUCK! It was amazingly insulting, everyone involved should be strung the fuck up.

I am livid. I am pissed. We've gone so fucking backwards that people think this is okay. I'm also dismayed that one woman I respect actually thinks this is a good thing, that this show is okay, because apparently they are now trying to make that character more "professional." FUCK THAT SHIT! If they weren't misogynist assholes they'd have shown a nearly equal number of women on the squad in those first few minutes because EMS is actually fairly statistically equal when compared to other first responder departments...some corps even have more women than men.

There is NOTHING okay about showing women in these professions in this manner. Nothing. There is so much shit women have to face, STILL, in LEO, fire and rescue and even EMS to remain clear that they are there for the job. There are still wives of male personnel who get all stereotypically catty about their men working with women. But, seriously, there is far less of that bullshit in EMS, why the fuck show it.

Yes, I'm also pissed with the direction things have gone on The Mentalist. I hope both characters are going to be canned. I haven't watched the past two episodes and just can't stomach it. I hate having women in these jobs portrayed as so fucking unprofessional. What the fuck?! Can't we get beyond this?!


DAMN! I had to give up all my good angry icons.

Well, this past evening we had thistlemoons and her man over for dinner, our first guests in a dog's age. Literally, I know we've not had real guests, sit down for dinner guests, since Gleann has been with us. Aaron made a wonderful pork roast, if I do say so myself...must brag on him here. We had root veggies, and they brought VT cheese, nuts and dried fruit. And we shared hot chocolate with raw milk. So mostly local eating, which is always a good thing and good to share with others who are into it too.

It was really great getting to know someone I had been corresponding with for awhile, initially through The Sarah Connor Charm School, online. Turns out that we weren't at a loss for things to discuss. I look forward to them being up this way full-time. ~:)

I also must brag on Gleann. As I said this is the first real company since he's been with us. He tends to be protective and people just coming in for a moment, even my sister and father who he knew over at my Dad's, would seem threatening to him. And they came with a dog! And introducing him to dogs here has been a hassle. So we started out outside with him first running around the humans and then both he and Pepino on leashes walking around and then we all came in. He calmed down and warmed up to them, except when Scolaighe did get up and was near them, he got very protective of her but not real aggressive, just a "stay back from my sister" thing. At the end of the evening he was sitting on my lap "holding paws" with thistlemoons and was calm until they were heading out the door to see the horses before leaving. Um, I think he thought he was going to get to keep them. LOL I'm very pleased to find that he's going to be okay with this entertaining thing, as I hope we get to do it a bit more frequently.

Our house was no longer as horrendously embarrassing as it had been, Aaron also did a great job on cleaning up. But there are still places where, well, it is. Um, and a lot of stuff hidden in the bedroom. ~;) Hopefully before they visit again it will be all back under control and kept that way. It was a bad year, we'd been in the middle of tearing things up when it became bad, so....but now it's time to get it more livable.

Seriously, I am just not up to the task I have set before myself, not the big project but this tiny little one, and my brain is beyond repair. It's gone. Nothing. Pulverized to dust.



Otherwise there would be comments and posts here about current events. But at this point, my brain no longer exists.


I'll miss it.

I finally got Saorsa in her paddock. Blocked off down the driveway and opened things up so she could go directly from our doorstep, where she hung out most of the time, into the paddock. She really shouldn't so easily be able to make that travel connection, according to some "experts." She never goes through that way, really. Unless she's loose. But it is more direct. And she can figure out it goes there by seeing us go through.

She's way too smart. But not quite smart enough not to fall for the come-to-the-barn-for-grain-through-this-gate-which-we-only-use-to-get-you-back-in-and-leave-you-until-the-fence-is-repaired-after-you-get-out ploy. But smart enough that I'm pretty sure she will catch on.

One thing in observing her movements since getting out. She isn't afraid of a fucking thing. There are things she's suspicious of, but she'll only bother to avoid them if she has no reason to want to do otherwise. And for her curiosity and alleviating boredom is enough of a reason. She is going to be such an awesome trail horse if I ever get the time to train her.

Of course, she'd apparently be a very awesome jumper too, but not in this lifetime having landed with me...it's just not my thing.

Okay...shower, eat, bed, work. After I go spend some time with her to try to give her another positive about the barn. Aaron will work on fence and, if he has time, do some cleaning. And I'll start cleaning when I get home from work. And hopefully with a bit of extra space, Saorsa will refrain from another adventure for awhile.

So...we celebrated Samhuinn on Friday, the fire was wonderful and the feast even better. It was, again, sad to not have pups with us, but even if it had been warm it's too much for Scolaighe. And it was cold, as I discovered as I stayed with the dying fire and realized that I was dressed fine for being cozy with the fire but not so much for it being out.

Saturday was mostly to be a day of rest and cleaning for both of us, with Aaron also going to part of an alternative energy thing in town. But the rest and cleaning didn't happen. Aaron came back home to discover that Saorsa had decided she's not accepting that it's winter and that she has to eat hay now. After all, while her pasture is eaten to nothing, there is grass outside of it. Which is where he found her, contently eating the lawn (which never did get mowed this year except for that we let her take care of earlier). There was no break or even snag on the fence, she must have jumped it clean.

Figuring that expanding the fence to include that lawn for a bit wouldn't be a bad idea by making her happy and saving us a bit of hay for later, and figuring building a fence around her was easier than catching her and putting her back in, he went to work on that. I had wakened when he came back and he had let me know she was out but that he thought he could do this, but I couldn't get back to sleep so I got dressed and wandered blearily out. Just as he was finishing the job and she had wandered back down into the lower pasture....where just as he was finishing it off she suddenly ran right through the fence taking it all with her.

Right now she's got the run of most of the property with fencing tape blocking her from the road..and working where the actual fence didn't because there is grass on this side of it and not on the road. The only reason to go through the fence is, after all, for the grass. At some point she's probably going to want her little bit of grain enough to make her way to the barn. I hope. Or lose interest in her adventures enough to let me halter her. She'll come to me seeking attention, but I can't get the halter on her and once it got dark the idea of trying to lead her, as we really haven't been working on it like we should, isn't appealing. She has come to the doorstep a few times and she's removed things from it that I had to rescue. I think it would be easy to get her in the house...what would happen then would certainly be amusing but very expensive.

BTW, this morning when I brushed her I got out the tape and it appears she's 15.2 now. Mind you, the tape isn't real precise as you sort of have to eyeball it. She's also filled out a whole lot, looking like a Quarter Horse now. Or somewhat like a draft horse. And still growing.

I'm exhausted and not getting anything done (finally doing my shoulder rehab and ab work, actually...also trying some chins tonight), Aaron got nothing else done and is insisting on sleeping on the couch rather than going to bed in case I for some reason need his help with her. Fortunately, he'll have some time to clean once she's back where she belongs which hopefully will be soon after light (I doubt it will be sooner, but I do go out on occasion and get out her grain dish and call her..at which point she instead often lands on the porch because she knows where I had come from).

And plotting lots of change.

Tonight I'm burning off the summer fire...already done up the hill, but finishing off the candles here through the night. Tomorrow night (oh, I guess that's tonight, now), we'll light the winter fire, do offerings and feast.

Meanwhile, Aaron's finally starting at the ambulance and is going to be applying for a new job. So he now has rather short hair. And it will only get shorter...hopefully at the hands of someone who knows what they're doing, right now my hacking at it so he could offer the hair and have it done before our ritual doesn't look all that great. Although he doesn't seem to mind. I think that for his interview he should have it slightly sharper looking.

Yes, it's cut for a job he might not get. But he really wouldn't get it with the hair. If he doesn't get it, it'll grow.

I keep reminding myself of this.

I mean, less than two years ago I had nearly no hair and now it's to my shoulders and with frequently hacking at it. So...

*sob*

I'm far more emotionally attached to his hair than I am mine.

But this would be an awesome step for him. If he gets it I'd actually be a bit jealous. But I seriously suck at swimming and that's a requirement. Actually, me swimming is a serious joke. And, well, I'm old and decrepit. Or at least one of my shoulders is. I think I'm stuck where I am for a very long time.

Hopefully we'll be seeing some good changes in this coming season and into the next. I hope all my friends do as well. Things have been rough for a lot of people, may the new season see us all better than the last.

My heart goes out to all who lost loved ones or had loved ones wounded there. I am very relieved that a friend, and SCCS adjunct faculty member, stationed there is currently elsewhere on training, although worried for her that she might have lost people she cared about.

I'm so sorry. I had hoped that, finally, this time the out-of-state bigots would lose.

Come to NH.

Seriously, I know you all are dying to get me an extra special gift.

Um, okay, you didn't get me Sarah's T2 costume, but I forgive you. I'll give you all another chance. Really, I'm easy to please.

I only want one thing and I promise I won't ask you for anything again.




Seriously, further commentary will be forthcoming, after I survive this holiday weekend. Should I survive this holiday weekend. But suffice to say, that my current opinion of Whedon has, amazingly, dropped seeing his really assholic attitude about wanting it too. (yes, I know he's joking...part of what annoys me is the nature of it) I really didn't think it could get any lower than it already was.

So...yeah, the coworker seems to be working out. This means more time for writing when we're both working. And I am writing. OMG!

No, not Tha Project, not this past week. And probably not this coming week. Well, not really. I am using a bit that I had already written for it and some of the rest will undoubtedly be cannibalized for it. Yes, btw, for those who snipe when writers do it, there are reasons to reference your own fucking work..so you don't completely have to rewrite something in order to discuss the topic. (yes, it's a major pet peeve of mine when someone bitches that a writer referenced their own work...I mean some of the writers I've seen get reamed for it deserve being taken down for their writing, but not for something that really is a reasonable writing practice *ahem*)

This is something I have felt I couldn't do for several years now, but last week got hit over the head that I have to do it. I doubt I could have years ago. I still don't feel up to the task, actually. I've had to get through some moments of absolute brain boggle on it. But, I'm actually sorting through some things I've also avoided sorting through. Part of this is finding some really bad information...not that there wasn't really bad information all along. But also realizing that good information is hard to come by and even where some is good it's just falling short of what I feel should be out there. And, now, maybe, I'm ready to be able to put it out there.

But I'm also not sure what I'm going to do with this when it's done. When I started it, the idea was to just stick it on my website. But now I'm not so sure. But, you know, there aren't a hell of a lot of Pagan publications still existing...real ones, not web ones. So...I don't know. It might end up just slapped on the site, after all.

So...I took tonight off and slept a lot. I am feeling a bit ickish, but nothing major. I think it's all seriously catching up with me still..the whole months of working alone. Aaron hopefully will pick up a freezer early this week, as it looks like we have a line on some local meat after all...we waited too long to buy, it apparently someone else is pulling out. But I need to find out. I'll be taking a little extra time off at the end of the week and early next week for Samhuinn...would be nice to do it for the full moon, but just no way.

Scolaighe is still trucking along. The horses are fine but I only see them a few minutes after I get home...hopefully I'll be up for staying out a bit longer in the near future. Gleann has been fine, but at the moment has an upset stomach and keeps asking to go out....once out he seems to get frightened and barks....maybe at Saorsa or maybe it's the cat we've had hanging around sometimes or the coywolves which seem to be really close.

Iz can haz coworker!

Why, oh, why do I always get hit with ideas just as I am really not able to pursue them. Like just as I get off work and have to head home the other morning. Or, right now, just as I really need to get off the computer and go to bed.

But in the near future I might have something that I've avoided doing for a very, very long time.

Apparently it's time for it.

*bitesnails*

Main shrine is all cleaned up and reset. Personal shrines cloths are drying, should be back together soon. Bits of the rest of the house are getting cleaner. Aaron will finish moving the sectional couch over here and get it covered. We have hay!!! Finally a dry enough day for them to deliver it. And the chimney in the shop is clean, but we still need more wood (we have a little left over). Chickens need new light system (one to increase their daylight again after we let them rest a bit more and another for heat) and we need to get new cat litter boxes so they can have dirt to roll in (to help combat the mite issue and just for their pleasure). The old Clucker, however, needs to have quarters set up for her in the shop....right now she's sleeping in a dog kennel in there at night and Aaron (since my shoulder isn't allowing...and yes, I'm getting out of all the heavy lifting this season which actually doesn't make me happy) carries her and the crate back into Saorsa's barn to romp around but that's going to have to end for the winter.

I have begun doing physical therapy on my shoulder. I was going to see if I could get it to stop hurting by resting and the stretches only before starting it, but it still hurts so now I'm going to see if this helps. Um, it might be. But really too soon to call.

I am bummed I didn't write while at home. I had intended to break out the lap top and do that. But it never happened. I want to break the habit of only writing while at work if, you know, I might not be there quite so much. I did blog at Championing Ourselves however to try to inspire myself more mostly. For those on the feed at champ_ourselves it seems that feeds aren't working here. WTF? I also updated my book list on my website, but no one cares about websites anymore. I don't seem to, I have so much work I should do on that that it's overwhelming.

I'm back to work tomorrow night tonight. Not sure what my next night off will end up being...the weekend after next I want plenty of time, after all for Samhuinn. Aaron has tomorrow today off and hopefully can finish up the projects he's working on.

I don't wanna go back!!!!!!

*ahem*

I finally got rid of a Tribe.net group I wanted to get rid of, although somewhere it now exists under another name and url with no members. I might start venturing over there again too. I'm not sure. I'm feeling a need to start networking again, in part due to working on stuff. Yeah, the idea of workshops creeps into my possibly fevered brain. I know, really bad idea, but... Of course, where the hells could I even do something like this? Instead I should seriously be working on plans for The Sarah Connor Charm School All-Class Reunion and Paintball Tournament. ~;p

I bought poultry! No, not for us, but thinking about how I want to in the spring, when it would be more reasonable, reminded me that this is a good time to buy some for others through Heifer International. So we bought a Flock of Hope for someone. Over the next few months we'll probably buy more and probably a cow.

But I REALLY like spreading poultry more than any other livestock. Chickens, geese and ducks are just the best, IMNSHO. At about 6 months they start laying nutrient rich eggs, which not only feed the family who get them but can be sold to help them in other ways. And their manure is good to enrich often depleted soil, as are their eggshells and bones. They breed quickly and you can hatch out large numbers of them in order to spread the hope around. Cows, goats and others are awesome, but don't start to produce food as fast and need to be breed in order to produce milk, and only produce one or two offspring. Awesome, but poultry just rules in my book. Also, they thrive in many locations without becoming an environmental plague like some livestock can.

So, I'm starting my seasonal pleas to everyone, as we come to a season where in some way we all tend to be compelled to share something, to consider livestock for those in need. There are many types as well as "baskets" and programs of multiple types, and trees and other gifts that can help with sustainable living for someone.

Last week I essentially wrote nothing and what I did write is pretty much unusable...so fortunately it's not much at all. I was too focused on worrying over Scolaighe and I think that Mercury's return to station might have been harder on my efforts than the actual retrograde was.

I often give up during retrogrades, but this time kept in mind two things...1, this isn't something new and I worked on a chapter I had already started and 2, when I worked at the paper I didn't have the luxury of taking a break due to a Mercury Retrograde and I did just fine. And I realized tonight, that there has been a huge difference between the way I was writing during the retrograde and before it and now this week since it returned. During the retrograde I did write, exactly, like I did as a reporter. Very linear, from point a to point z. This is what I'm working on, find the things I need to work on that subject, follow the subject as it goes along. I wrote like it was a job, not in a negative "this sucks, why do I have to do it?" way but in "this is what needs to get done" way.

This week I've been all over the place. I'll start working on a subject, then go on patrol and when I get back I'll open up another chapter and work on that because while out I got thinking about something for that one. During the MR I worked only on one chapter, never touching another until last week...and that's the bit that I know I can't use much of at all. Just this past night I worked on three different chapters. I also got going on an idea that hit me, only to have it go in a completely different direction than what I intended. The two thoughts will actually need to be separated a bit, the different one actually will probably end up on the blog at some point. Maybe. Writing right now is like being along for the ride. And it makes me a little crazy, as I try to sort it all out.

I thought this was interesting. It'll also be interesting when I do go through to edit it all, to see how much the "voice" changes.

Stolen from eireannoir

The problem with LJ: We all think we are so close, but really we know nothing about one another. So I want you to ask me something you think you should know about me. Something that should be obvious, but you have no idea about. Ask away.

Then post this in your LJ and find out what people don't know about you.


(It might take me a day or two to answer, due to work and stuff)

So, have you ever gotten a used book with highlighting or underlining and gone through and tried to figure out what the previous owner was trying to get out of said book by their markings? Did s/he glean great insight from that or was she, rightly, marking it to mock it? (yes, this includes, but is not limited to, the "information" in the previous note)

Do you ever fear what people might think of you if they saw what you highlighted or underlined? Do you ever get an already marked book and want to put a note in the front stating that you did not put those marks in it in case you pass the book on too?

What about those margin notes? I have to say I feel better because I'm realizing that, although I can't deny I have horrible handwriting, I can't actually read anyone's margin notes.

Or am I seriously weird.

Okay....Aaron's home to take care of Scolaighe, I can go to work now.


yay?

We're just doomed, we just are doomed from the start. Our bodies are just all wrong! Um..

Okay, now I'm ALMOST getting use to reading statements of complete and utter acceptance that women are weaker than men. So when I was skimming through Renata Rolle's The World of the Scythians I was annoyed but not too shocked when she started in on how the "Amazons" (she's a Russian ---edited to correct: German---archeologist who was a bit earlier cataloging armed women graves the Steppes that Davis-Kimball is better know in the US for studying) would have obviously favored the bow because it "...compensated best for the weaker muscle power of the women, which remained inferior even when they had experienced intensive muscle training..." But she continues as to why the lance, spear and javelin were of no use to women "...the usually unfavorable angle of the arm bones allows a less effective transmission of strength than is the case with men." (this is all page 90)

Okay...um, I admit that I was just a lowly personal trainer who never did get a degree in physiology. I certain am not an archeologist who has been looking at skeletons my entire adult life. So perhaps it's meaningless that I never learned that our arm bone structure is different than men's. I mean, certainly are leg angle tends to be different, our pelvises are different....that makes sense, you know, the whole reproduction thing. Um, why does reproduction cause our arms to be different? Are they designed only to hold babies while we stalk nothing but passive plant foods?

So, I figure someone out here might have the background to set me straight on this. Tell me, are women's arms structured different than men's? Because I must really be missing something here.

See, when I was trained as a PTr, I was taught that women and men should train the same because our body structures are, over all, the same. I later learned that girls and women can be more prone to ALS knee injuries, due to leg angle and hormones, but that running correctly can prevent them (boys get them too when trained to run wrong as many coaches sadly do do these days....but it's become an epidemic for HS and college women....see Warrior Girls by Michael Sokolove...and, yes, the best way to stop it is for them to not be coached to run with their weight back which is why it's still unheard of in field hockey players).

But arms?

Now, I can't find anything that refutes this claim and if I'm not wrong I need a source. Oh, it's a minor footnote, literally. At least at this point I'm seriously only bringing this up in a footnote...but I want to continue the footnote.

Anyone got anything on this? I'm not asking for research, but I know some of you might know bones better than me already.

I admit it, I am a snob when it comes to zombie stories. After Romero's original works, I'm bored. Mostly everything after that just tries to out-gore the last, and that's not really very interesting. Might watch something for the occasional snarkfest. 28 Days/Weeks Later, eh, sort of okay once each but not spectacular. Shawn of the Dead sort of funny once but boring after that. Stephen King's short story "Home Delivery" offered a certain sad spin, I thought, but he's Stephen King and I've read baseball stories he's written and been transfixed...and I hate baseball.

So far Elizabeth Donald has not gotten me as far as reading baseball stories...but she has gotten me to read vampire erotica and that's no small task either. And I wasn't sorry. After that getting me to read a zombie novella, especially one which part of her task was to write something scary without resorting to a gorefest, and knowing that as a Sarah Connor Charm School member of long standing she's not shy about writing strong female characters, was pretty easy. Even more so when she targets in on what is actually the scary part of the idea of a zombie invasion...it's the bite, it's always the bite that's really the scary concept. Donald gets that. Fear of death is nothing, fear of what might happen after...to you or someone you want to be the same...that's the disturbing thing.

And, yes, SCCS approved strong female character - check!

Originally started for an anthology that got canned, The Cold Ones has been published as a free standing novella. The first run has been sold out, I was one of the lucky ones who preordered. But you can order the second run directly from The Literary Underworld but you might want to hurry before they're sold out too. And you want to, unless you're some wuss that wants to stay in your safe little world where tough choices don't involve friends pointing guns at friends.

All the at-work sightings have been skunks. And more skunks. Or a skunk that really gets around. Along paths, in campsites and checking out the foundation of both the Mansion and the warehouse...both of which probably seem real inviting as they obviously, as there was otherwise snow that night, leaking a shitload of heat. When not too closed and startled, skunks are undeniably adorable. I'm sure the winter-like weather has it feeling a bit panicked at this point.

Other than that, it's been road sightings. A smallish coy-wolf....not too far from where I saw the pups a few weeks ago and small enough to possibly be one of them. It was a ways up from me and got right off the road, then stopped in the field too watch me. So maybe it was one of the ones I saw before and learned cars were scary and to be avoided? Then two young deer just a little ways from work, a bit too young to apparently get that getting off the road might be a good idea. So I stopped and beeped at them, hopefully they'll learn too.

Scolaighe is happily snuggling Aaron at the moment....Gleann is on her comforter (um, which she doesn't use anymore except when traveling) on the floor next to them. No room for either he or I on the bed at the moment. Greyhounds can take up a lot of space when they wish.

At least I'm not looking at taking her on her final trip in the morning. She's been doing pretty good, a little better, well, maybe not every day, but it's adding up. She's far less confused than she was, she's still rather weak and very thin but seems to be gaining. She's eating, drinking and eliminating and she's getting out to do the last. She is fierce in her snuggling.

I'm home, although I got one extra night this week. I am not even trying to do more than 6 nights in a row. Not again. Especially as my leg now fucking hurts...and while the shoulder was annoying and would have made loading stoves a real bitch if it still hurt (which it doesn't) leg pain is a real issue on the job. So, we'll see what a couple of days does....not that I'm doing the RICE thing like I should. Um, probably should do that for awhile.

Yeah, shoulder feels a lot better. And I'm fucking spaghetti-armed! Aaron says he doesn't think I have lost that much, but I certainly do. I'm going to start easing back in sometime next week. Um, maybe I'll see how the leg does first.

I got almost no writing done this past week, between stressing over Scolaighe making me distracted and reading The Vegetarian Myth. What little I wrote probably needs to be totally overhauled because it's going to be hard enough to get this book sold without including material that will just piss people off. I'm feeling a little confrontational, even more than usual, apparently. So, after considering that, I went back to spending my nights reading instead.

I strongly recommend this book to everyone who eats! No matter what you think you know about the ethics, politics or health of your diet, you need to read this. Yes, for me it's very much "preaching to the choir" but like most "members of choir," I don't have the same knowledge base as the "preacher."

I've also got some related books, including Jo Robinson's Pasture Perfect: The Far-Reaching Benefits of Choosing Meat, Eggs and Dairy Products from Grass-Fed Animals and Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto...I also need to get Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma. It was being reminded of Pollan's work and realizing I needed some stuff along this line for Tha Project that made me realize that I should check to see if Lierre's book was out.

Confused as to why I need these books for a book on the warrior path for women? Well, I have a fitness chapter. And what do most people want when they read something on fitness? Dieting information. Which, of course, I won't give the standard shit you'll find about diet. My initial plan had been to just have a header of "Diet" which included only: "Eat REAL food, unprocessed and recognizable as what it started out as and from as nearby to you as possible. Vegetables, fruit, grass-fed meat, eggs, dairy and little or no sugar or grains." Then a list of sources, such as Keith, Robinson and Pollan on why. Now I think I probably will go into more detail because that probably won't convince enough readers to read them just with that. Nor will my confrontational rant of a few days ago, so I'm going to rework that. Hopefully to get most of the people who read this thing, even if it's just my editor, first readers and the publishers who will round file it, to read them.

It has gotten me excited again about getting back to our own homesteading attempts here. We've sort of let things slide the past few years, what with all the hell. We have a few hens and a rooster, but a motley mix that apparently includes no broodiness. And the old Clucker is retired and much does she deserve it...she wasn't supposed to be broody either. Raising chicks oneself, rather than having a hen do it, is quite a bit of work...but we'll do it next spring. We'll get Dorkings again, as they're a broody breed. And we'll run two breeding lines...continuing to mix breeds, to have some slightly bigger and producing bigger eggs and to have broodies to raise both and eventually turn into an actual heirloom flock...which requires a big flock. This will take a good bit of effort. We'll need to have another chicken house to have the numbers we'll need. We're discussing using the shed off of the other side of the A-Frame, which does have a really nice new roof so we should use it for something. This is even further from our door than the current house is, which is a pain in the winter, but I think we need to start up discussion of putting in the other door we had intended to anyway. Of course, if we could use the A-Frame it would be really easy...but...so many reasons that's not likely to happen.

But we'll see.

I also want to put the new gardens in on that side, but Aaron wants them on this side...for the ease. Um, I want a dog fence there, for our future Greyhounds. Because I intend to have more Greyhounds and hiking them up the hill so they can romp around off-leash (which is a moot point right now, Scolaighe has no romping interest that fence is in disuse and needs to be removed). It sometimes hurts that, you know, we can do this now, but well, we can. It's not like we're doing great maintaining a "memorial lawn" for Dad...it never got mowed once this year (although a lot of lawns didn't get mowed much there was a couple of days it could have been done if we made it a priority).

So, next year at this time we'll probably have between about a dozen cockerels to kill and process, because we'll likely get a 25 chick run. Which is a butt load of work and which, all things considered, I'm sort of glad to be not doing right now. But we need to get back to it. It would, however, have been nice if at least one of us got the proper initiation into this as kids so that it didn't take so damn long. I know my Grandmothers laugh their asses off on the Otherside at how long it takes us to pluck each chicken.

So...yeah, here it is, October, but feeling like December, and I'm having February thoughts.

Tapestry Institute, in Elizabeth Colorado, has begun their Women and Horses Program. This program offers lessons and retreats to help women, from experienced horsewomen to non-riders, deepen their relationships with horses. They will also arrange retreats in other locations if someone wishes to work on that. Please check them out.

But it should be, shouldn't it? Even this. But I can tell you, that NH Senator Judd Gregg's vote doesn't. He only cares about the all might buck.

Al Franken introduced an amendment to the Defense Appropriations bill to punish defense contractors if they stop employees from pressing charges against other employees who rape them. You know, like Halliburton, where an employee who was gang raped was locked up in a shipping container without food or water and told she could not report.

The amendment passed the Senate 68-30. 30. Meet the Senators Who Voted Against the Franken Amendment. All Repugnitans. Including NH's own Judd Gregg. Can't say I will never vote for him because of this, I've never voted for him period...in fact, he's one of the people who it doesn't matter who runs, I just have to vote AGAINST him. He's got not morals, period. So, no, not really surprising. But, you know, to publicly come out pro-rape, fuck. At least be ashamed of such a stance!

The cry is "this is a political attack against Halliburton!" Um, no, it targets ALL contractors. It just happens to be that Halliburton has done it already and we know it. Of course, this cry comes from those who have politically attacked ACORN for something that ACORN itself did not condone, simply because they had failed to stop them from registering voters who were unlikely to vote Republican, under false accusations, for years.

Seriously, people. What the fuck is wrong with the world?

But fuck no I'm not watching tonight!

Terry "free the child rapist!" Gilliam will be on Countdown. TV off.

Yeah, it makes no bit of difference to any of them if we don't watch. It helps me not throw up, however.


Yes, I should be at work, running late, still here....now pissed.

It really seems like I missed the entirety of Fall. We're in late November or even December here.

Not that I really wouldn't mind missing October now, but....

Nope, not complaining that stoves are going...we got out heat on. I'm a bit miffed we still don't have our shop stove chimney cleaned so we can start that. Also much to do with cleaning chickens and getting the old Clucker set up in the shop as she's above staying with the other chickens now. At 8 and with all the hatches she's brooded, she has full right to make that choice. Still need to get our hay delivered and in, we own it, but it's been so wet since that we've not gotten it here yet. Um.....windows, water turned off....gah! Guess hibernating through the rest of the month isn't an option.

Scolaighe is doing pretty well. In fact, she might be doing better than she has for several weeks, or at least getting there. Since battling some intestinal infections, she hadn't been eating well, had not shown a lot of interest in, well, anything. Since last week's incident, she seems to be on an upswing. She's eating better than she has for awhile. She's watching us more. She's snuggling with a ferocity she's not bothered with for a couple of weeks. There's no sign of pain, after all, when she's slightly discomforted over anything, she lets us know...this can be due to hunger, needing to eliminate or simply having lied on one side too long. She still needs a bit of help getting up, so she makes sure we're well warned that she needs something.

Um

So, we're probably going to wait and see and snuggle and spoil a bit longer than we thought. Still not a lot of hope for, you know, breaking that 11-year curse here. But maybe a week or so longer, maybe more. I just want to be sure, if she seems to be enjoying life, and she certainly is now enjoying food and cuddling, I hate to speed her along too hastily.

On the other hand, if she does clearly need to go, I have no intention of making her wait.

Not sure what day, but we'll be sending her on soon. Her body, as well as her mind, is failing this time. But she seems to be happy snuggling, not wanting to get up to eat and go out, but does a couple times a day. Getting weaker. Not sure what day. Some moments she gets this look that just makes me think, no, she's fine, she's going to be okay...but...no.

Any good thoughts to help her reunite with Irony and Bran are appreciated. Thank you.

This was posted to me by saluqi when we lost Bran, it meant a lot to me, I'm sharing it now:

"We who choose to surround ourselves with lives even more temporary than our own live within a fragile circle, easily and often breached. Unable to accept its awful gaps, we still would live no other way. We cherish memory as the only certain immortality, never fully understanding the necessary plan"
Irving Townsend

I had, before the personal events of yesterday morning, been intending to make a post about this whole thing about how ironic it is that Obama got the Nobel Peace Prize on the day that the US instigates what will, obviously, be our biggest war yet. With the Moon People. I mean, we bombed them today! Unprovoked!

Um, or this of course is going to lead to the moon breaking up, of course. It'll take over a three years and two months...I suppose it's inevitable.

But, I'm sort of not in the mood for all that. I actually would like to make a case for why it's a good thing that Obama got the Nobel Peace Prize, no,seriously. But Rachel Maddow did it better than I cold so I'll let her talk.

And, of course, I'd like to remind you, as Obama's daughters did him, what REALLY important event happened yesterday. It was Bo's first birthday.



And yes, brief update....Scolaighe continues to sleep, but I did check on her and her pulse and breathing are stronger than they were all day before she got up and ate that last time. Aaron and Gleann continue to snuggle her. I just can't quite manage to find room on the bed, I'm afraid. One person and two pups is about the limit.

No, I'm not going to sit here and give a blow by blow all night and day. Honestly, I doubt things will change that much until, you know, we decide it's time to change them.

Shortly after posting my last post, Scolaighe came wandering out of the bedroom with Aaron close behind making sure she didn't fall over. She drank water, went out and peed, came in and ate a good bit of salmon and drank more water then headed back to bed where they've been snoozing since. With Gleann snuggling at her butt.

She really seemed very changed from how she's been all day. Pretty much as she has been the past few weeks. So....It'll be soon. But maybe not today. Maybe. But, you know, it might be.

So...I went to the doctor today, yesterday, whatever, for my annual physical. Not really any news on that, I got the tail end of a long running stomach bug and while I brought up my shoulder problem, now former shoulder problem, a couple of times before the actual exam both the doctor and I forgot to actually have him look at my shoulders. Probably not a big issue, nothing seem wrong right now. If it comes back when I start becoming more active I'll go then. Unfortunately, it will probably be easier for me to think about doing such stuff by then.

Aaron had gone with me, we figured Scolaighe would just sleep as she mostly has been doing anyway. Even when she's been wandering around it's not like she was getting into the sort of trouble she was back when things were bad before.

We came home to find her on the floor, bleeding and panting in panic. She had apparently fallen and thrashed around, cutting her foot and just under her tail. She needed stitches, so Aaron took her to the vet.

She's not doing well. Her condition has been deteriorating and this has taken a toll. We had been considering the time might be coming soon, but still hoped she might rally around again. Like she did. You know, back when she was sick but it was the first time and only 8 going on 9 years old. Now it's happening again and it's undoubtedly a cumulative condition, and she's 11. The vet has suggested we put her down after seeing her today, but understood that the decision couldn't be made right off under these conditions.

So, Aaron brought her home, she slept next to me the rest of the day, even getting up to reposition herself. When he got home he got her up, unsteadily, and she ate and drank a little. Not much. But a little, then back to bed where he's now cuddling her. When he got up to take care of something, I snuggled for awhile with her. I'll probably spend much of the night in there, but I'm also feeling restless...I want to snuggle her, but snuggling her leaves me agitated too. Gleann is beside himself, worried, stressed, he knows too.

So, soon. Not sure when. Maybe in the morning. Maybe in a few days. It depends on if she seems to be suffering or if she seems to be content. It depends on if she's interested in food a bit later.

Oh, Gods, not this month. I really didn't want it to be this month.

There has been so much death.

I just want her to rally around like she did. But I'm no longer able to have any faith that she will.

So, as I contemplate not watching the last and revealing season of my favorite show because one of the showrunners trivialized the rape of a child. That was the word I was looking for. No, he doesn't come out and say that Polanski shouldn't be brought to justice, instead he just sort of ignores the rape and aligns the idea with a sickeningly inappropriate relationship between a man and a young woman who he helped raise (well, somewhat, I doubt he had much to do with actually raising any of the kids)which supposedly was consensual and started after she was of age. It's not the same thing. Not that I'm saying what Woody Allen did was right, but at least from what we know, it wasn't rape. Maybe he did take up with her when she was a minor, in which case it becomes closer to the same. But we KNOW that Polanski's victim was both a minor and said "no." There is no fucking debate here. The man is a rapist.

Anyway, so as I contemplate that, as I also wonder how I'm going to make sure I don't support any of the scumbags who signed that petition to have him released when I only even know who a handful, including Allen, are, I start to contemplate what a fucking backlash we've had in recent years in film and television.

I mean, I don't actually consider Buffy to be a true and absolute icon of feminist power...because, ultimately, her power came from corrupt men. This actually, if you think about it, is true of all the "strongest" women in Whedon's work. But she certainly gave a stronger image than what we often get now, including from Whedon himself. I mean, we've had a skinny and unprepared and un-savvy "Sarah Connor" which is one of the prime examples of how far we've gone BACK since 1991.

So, this season, one show has stood out as notable. I had some hope for Trauma, being that it centers around EMS which, of course, is an interest of mine. And I heard rumors that they actually did their homework on actual procedure. And, sure enough, the one rescue they did might actually have been a training film they were so into it. But, you know, I barely got to that scene. This is no "three episodes" trial, this didn't really last 3 minutes.

In the opening as the squad is heading out, there is ONE woman on the squad. She has her uniform shirt unbuttoned low, she's giggling with her partner about "do you think they know?" and sure enough when they get toned they're having sex in the ambulance. She then shows herself as competent on the scene, but then gets openly harassed by another coworker. Perhaps there is some great story arch building here, but I don't care. Because the opening precedence regarding women in this squad is that women in EMS have illicit (I'd bet that our local corp's regulations about such things is not unusual) sex with a coworker and are openly subject to harassment for it...I doubt the guy gets any.

Now, if she hadn't been the ONLY woman, perhaps this could be a workable story to deal with. Hey, the guy is being equally inappropriate. But he's not the only guy. She's the only woman featured (there are others in the background). After all, one of my favorite shows that started last year, The Mentalist, has an intra-squad attraction going on; of course, in that case it's recognized as a problem, it's not being acted on, it's seen as less important than the job especially for the woman who is the junior member and would be reassigned. Yes, again, everyone knows the attraction is there, the show is, after all, about the "tells" we give and some are noted as being very obvious to everyone and this is one. And everyone knows that it's a struggle but it's one they're determined to struggle on with rather than give into.

And, yeah, Torchwood, the show the title quote comes from, had it's share of intra-squad relationships and unrequited attractions, but it was an unconventional squad, after all. For the most part there were no power issues, not even strongly when it was the boss involved. Tensions, yes, lots. Problems, yes, lots. Mostly utter devastating heartbreak. And, you know, not all involved any issue of a woman being powerless because not all involved any women and, well, US shows really are so far behind still in that too. Again, Buffy's ventures into gay relationships just somehow didn't seem to be something we progressed from, but again went backwards.

So, having a segment like this in a show in 2009 about any first responder unit, let alone one which as far as I have seen does tend to have a higher ratio of women than some others, is just so profoundly wrong to me that I couldn't stomach it. It's left, btw, only one new show this season that we're bothering with. FlashForward isn't a paragon of feminist messages, but there's nothing particularly heinous either.

I won't even get into the continuing creepy vampire stalking teenage girls trend...one that might indeed have been part of Buffy, but, you know, problematic as the character might have been in many ways, she took control ultimately and she certainly was a fighting match for either Angel or Spike.

Seriously, while I was pissed off before, this thing with Lindelof....I don't know what to do, what to think.

I know, it's pathetic, but the last season of LOST, finally learning some answers, was actually pretty important to me. Story is important, this was a good one. There have always been flaws, but the story was good enough to overlook them. I figured I might be pissed off at Lindelof and Cuse for some of the answers, I'm certainly pissed off at some of the deaths.

But supporting a rapist?! That I didn't really expect.

And, I admit, I keep quibbling. Because he doesn't say "Polanski shouldn't be brought to justice" he just says "you can still like his movies because lots of dead artists were perverts too." Um, the man is a rapist. He's still alive and avoiding justice, his victim is still alive. He drugged a little girl and forced himself on her after she tried to get away and kept saying "no." If you do not acknowledge that as wrong, well, sorry, you are supporting it.

As I was just discussing in comments in an earlier post, I realize that some people are probably thinking his plea to statutory rape, unlawful sex with a minor is actually what he did. That this is like his "affair" with a "mature for her age" minor that he had afterwards. Which, you know, is disgusting too, sorry. But what the girl said he did was rape. Period. It would have been illegal if she were 23 or 33 or even 43. That she was so young makes it all the more tragic, perhaps. Her youth and what she would further face at trial was apparently why the DA took the very light plea bargain. And Polanski ran when there was a chance that that plea was going to be thrown out. So...no, this was rape-rape.

I really wish someone would explain this to Lindelof and that he'd take a stand against Polanski and, yes, do something real and valid to help survivors. Dammit! I wanted to see this last season! I really did.

Damon Lindelof Speaks on the Polanski Case

Okay, he doesn't seem to quite say "well, he's talented so they should let him go" and he doesn't say "it wasn't rape-rape" he says "even if he is a pervert you can still enjoy his art."

Um

That's still walking a line that gives me a big sad.

As it stands, I might not get to see the last season of LOST.

dressagespirit posted a link to PROMOTING AWARENESS, VICTIM EMPOWERMENT who not only have Online petition - Rape IS Rape - Shatter the Silence of Sexual Violence going but are calling for rallies at movie theaters across the nation on October 10.

Edgar Allan Poe finally gets a proper funeral

I have a great love for Poe and his work, since childhood. His death has always fascinated me as well, for I'm among those who believe that it was probably rabies...it's actually likely as he had lots of semi-feral cats...and I have a fear of rabies which totters on the unreasonable.

I got to see John Astin's one-man show about a decade ago. OMGS was it amazing. Of course, it helps that I adore him too.

Thank you, arc_stormcrow for the news.

First of all, yes, I'm still sick...went back to work...now sicker. I want to note in this that while I'm sitting up at the moment, after getting too sore to lie down any longer, I won't be for long. As sick as I was when I got home this morning....yesterday morning, what ever....I probably should have gone to the ER. Why didn't I? I mean, I have health insurance, right? Yes, I do. I pay a fucking lot for it too. And, you know what? I still don't feel I can go to the ER because it stresses me out that I'll then have to fight for months to get any of it paid for. With all I pay. Yes, we are totally held hostage by the insurance companies. Yes, we who have insurance do have "quotas."

And it is so fucking worse, so immensely worse for the thousands who don't have any. Who need a Public Option. As badly labeled as Olbermann notes that is. We need real reform, both of the insurance companies' hold on us and for those who don't have the ability to get any now. It is disgusting that people are dieing right now, right this minute, due to not having any coverage. It's shameful for a country that considers itself to be the best. Because we are far from that in this case (never mind others).

These corporations and the politicians they finance are scaring people over lies, when we should be fearing not getting this reform. They're convincing people they or their loved ones will die if we get it, when the truth is that people are dieing because we don't have it and more will die if we don't get it.

Please got to Countdown with Keith Olbermann there should be a video that those of you who missed his special show this past night need to see no matter what your current take on the subject is.

Because even if you know that reform is needed this may help you figure out how to communicate that need...beyond all the yelling and rhetoric. Because, you know, Olbermann does have a gift for getting through that shit.

There is also information on making a point by helping those without coverage, by supporting free clinics. Please do what you can.

I can't even get the Countdown page to load, myself. Don't know what's up with that. But hopefully it loads for the rest of you.

Thank you, juushika for sharing a link which has a list, growing apparently, of big names speaking out to have Polanski brought to justice. I'm linking to the LJ version, but the poster has a link to another site she has it on too.