Water, water everywhere?

As we were driving home from Lawton this past Saturday, we passed a swimming pool installation van that had been pulled over by the Oklahoma Highway Patrol.  As I've mentioned before, we live in a rural area, but a new development, Country Aire Estates, is being built just one half mile south of us.  The homes are beautiful and expensive.  Of course, if you live in a beautiful, expensive home, you want a beautiful, expensive lawn, and maybe an inground pool in the back yard. 

My question:  where is the water coming from to support all this?  Water is a common resource.  This is southwest Oklahoma.  It has a semi-arid climate.  We are currently in the middle of a drought.  For the past couple of months, many of those days have been "red flag fire alert" days.  Smoke is blowing up from Texas where wildfires are still raging. 

So, we get a little alarmed when people, i.e. real estate developers, don't pay close attention to where resources will come from to support all these people that are buying up the expensive beautiful homes.

A few years ago, I mentioned to my husband that we could drain our laundry water (gray water) out into a tub in back of the house and then pump that water out to the  garden or wherever it is needed.  This is a modification we are glad we made. 

Since our current drought, we have also been running laundry water out into our pasture in an attempt to green up the grass. We have also set up barrels in the pasture, filled them with laundry water, and have burlap bags standing by to beat out the fire.  Of course, this will only work if there are not extreme winds, but still it gives us some peace of mind even though we are aware that we are probably fooling ourselves.  I think the creator of "Dilbert," Scott Adams, calls it self-weaseling.

Our pasture

Drain pipe from washing machine into tub behind house.

Barrel to catch laundry water (gray water)

Close-up of barrel.  I put the ladder around it to keep the sheep from knocking it over. 
Sheep seem to like to congregate around things like this and have extended conversations.

Another barrel full of gray water with a burlap bag attached.

Oklahoma ranks #43 in peacefulness in the nation

In the April 17, 2011 edition of  The Oklahoman, there was an article about how our flyover state ranks #43 in the nation for peacefulness according to the United States Peace Index which was compiled by the Institute for Economics and Peace.  The Institute defines peace as the absence of violence.  To find the absence of violence,  it looks at each state and measures the number of homicides, violent crimes, jailed populations, number of police officers and availability of small arms.

If you watch any television at all in the Oklahoma City area, you will be struck by the number of weekend gun shows that go on in Oklahoma City.  The advertisements are always full of the sounds of gun shots and there is a desperate, urgent quality to the message:  load up, stock up, you never know when the "bad guys" will invade your home. 

So when I came downstairs this morning after my ride on the exercise bicycle, I was only half surprised when my husband said, "Look on page 5A of this morning's Oklahoman."  (18Apr2011)  My husband had once met the man who died in a shoot-out at a bar in Medicine Park.  My husband doesn't hang out at bars.  He was only acquainted with him because he had had dealings with Mr. Taylor at Fort Sill.

Around here if we hear gunshots, we don't notify any authorities, we just look out the window. Gunfire is that common around here.  To be fair, we do live in a rural area and there is a lot of hunting and target shooting.  Still.  One of our neighbors drives around with a gun beside him on the passenger seat and another neighbor walks around with a pistol strapped to his thigh.

Number 43 in the nation?  I'm just surprised we weren't #50.

The Sixth Season: FIRE

You know how meteorologists refer to storm season as the fifth season?  Well, I think there should be a sixth season declared:  FIRE SEASON.




This past Wednesday, while Humpty and his plant buddy . . .

Hanging Basket

were enjoying the warm spring afternoon this is what was going on just behind us:

Rain will be so welcomed when it finally comes.







I tend to get ideas . . .

I tend to get ideas and I present them enthusiastically to my husband.  More often than not, he goes along with me. I talk really fast and he goes, "Huh?"

So, last year, after the umpteenth time of grabbing a cat off our window screen because she wanted to come into the house, I said, "Hey, let's get a kitchen door that has a built-in pet door so the little lovelies can come and go as they please!"

Husband:  "Great idea!"  And since husband is retired, he now has the time to implement my looney ideas much more quickly.

So:



Ta-daah! Kitchen door with pet door.



We have had it a year now.

Pros:  Cats can come and go as they please.

Con:  Not always the cats we expect.

Con:  Emma the dog will not use it.  We forgot that she is a polite dog and must be invited inside or outside.  She is a sweetie.  We did try training her by tossing bacon through the pet door so she would go through it, but even that didn't work. She stared at us with her big brown eyes as if to say, "You have got to be kidding."

Con:  Over the past year we have chased lizards and birds around the house.  These are the creatures that were still alive when the cats brought them in via the pet door.  We've managed to capture the living creatures and free them to the outside world.

Con:  Dead birds and rodents.  This morning I came upon a dead English sparrow by my dining room table chair, feathers lying everywhere and two cats staring at it and growling at one another, which prompted this blog posting.  Last night there was a dead rat in the dining room just like the night before.  We have, for the most part, entered hunting season full on and the cats want to share their catches with us.  Now we are back to shutting the kitchen door in the evening so the kitties can't bring in their prizes.

Con:  Beloved grandchildren viewing the pet door as a possible escape hatch:




Logan and Laci, Thanksgiving 2010

So, I don't know.  Like some of my ideas, this one might have been better in theory rather than practice.



Tea Party: Just a Catchy Name for a Dangerous Organization

In 1773 when the original Tea Party occurred, the population of the thirteen original colonies was around 2.2 million souls, and that's not counting slaves (if they were being counted, it was only as 3/5 of a whole human being) or native Americans.  I'm not even sure if women were included in that head count, but let's say that they were just for grins.  Slaves were still being imported even though headway was being made to stop that odious offense to humanity.  Women were the chattel of their husbands and children had a tough row to hoe.  Life expectancy  in 1793 was 36.9 years.  If improvements are not made to our health care system, we could well see that lifespan average again.

And the original Tea Party was formed in protest because the colonies were not represented in the British Parliament.  There are no similaries between that Tea Party and the people who are part of the Tea Party movement now.  They simply hijacked the name and appear to be intent on electing  people to our government to slowly dismantle the progress that has been made in these United States over the past 200 years. 

The current Tea Party battles everything that helps our society as a whole: SSI, food stamps, and Medicare/Medicaid.  They say they want a balanced budget.  We HAD a balanced budget when President Clinton was in office.  To balance our budget, we should withdraw our troops from Afghanistan, Iraq and wherever else we are.  We cannot police the world.  And if we use our troops in other parts of the world, let's use them to bring aid to people rather than killing innocents and, yes, most are innocents, but we refer to them as "collateral damage."  Much tidier, don't you think?

The current Tea Party backs proposals that hurt the disenfranchised, the working poor, children, elderly, those who haven't gotten a break in life.  The only people that aren't being hurt are the rich and corporations.  It truly is all about money.  And, good grief, the number of times Tea Party members bring up Christianity or wear a cross on their lapels.  Really??  Is this what we, as a nation, have come to?

I'm reminded of that song by the Temptations, the first few lines of which goes:

"Smiling faces sometimes pretend to be your friend
Smiling faces show no traces of the evil that lurks within
Smiling faces, smiling faces sometimes
They don't tell the truth uh
Smiling faces, smiling faces
Tell lies and I got proof
The truth is in the eyes
Cause the eyes don't lie"

Think of those leaders in the Tea Party movement -- those media saavy, photogenic talking heads.  Smiling faces.

LEAVE PLANNED PARENTHOOD ALONE!

Let me  preface the following with this:  my husband and I have two adult children.  They are both married and have given us five grandchildren.  There will be another grandchild in the fall and I'm already excited imagining about how the new baby will be like our other grandchildren, yet different in his or her own way.  What will this new grandchild be like?  We love our children and their spouses and our grandchildren very much and cannot imagine life without any one of them. They are much loved imporant people to us.  Having said that . . .

As I was eating breakfast this morning and listening to NPR, there was a report about how Republicans will continue to push for cutting Federal funding to Planned Parenthood.  They keep emphasizing that Planned Parenthood is all about abortions.  It's not!

Leave Planned Parenthood alone!   We need Planned Parenthood.  We need to educate more -- yes, as a taxpaying society.  Abstinence education means nothing unless a young person's hormones can be controlled too -- and we certainly don't want that, do we?  Both males and females alike need sex education to prevent diseases and unwanted pregnancies.  

There wouldn't be any abortions if our sex education in this country was better.  Women don't decide willy-nilly to go have abortions.  They have abortions because their lives aren't ready, for a myriad of reasons, for the responsibilities of a new life.  That is totally the woman's personal decision.  It's her body that carries the baby, and fathers might protest this next thought but child rearing is still squarely on a woman's shoulders.

Planned Parenthood is about education.  After we had the number of children that we had planned for, my husband went to Planned Parenthood and got a vasectomy.  A vasectomy meant peace of mind for both of us.  We had our family.

Republicans trumpet that Planned Parenthood is all about abortions and how the unborn child must be protected.  I ask all of you: what about the child after he or she is born?  How much, as a society, do we care about that child? 

Watch one of those afternoon judge shows.  Keep track of how many cases come up that have to do with unmarried couples who have had a child.  They have no love for one another and they have no desire to form a family. In fact, many times, the child is simply a result of a one night stand.

Again, it's not about being  right or wrong, it's about being smart or stupid. 

EDUCATION, people.  Watch the first 15 minutes of the movie, "Idiocracy."  That is where we are headed as a society.

A substitute for Swiffer

When we built our house, we had all vinyl flooring installed on the downstairs level -- living room, kitchen and dining, bathrooms and bedroom.  We are so happy we did.  We live out in the country and have sheep, chickens, a dog, and kitty cats.  Vinyl is a lot easier to keep clean than carpet.  For years I used a broom and mop and bucket to clean the vinyl flooring then Swiffer appeared.

Maybe you have one in your home -- a Swiffer.  For a couple of years I was hooked on  purchasing wet Swiffer cloths and dry Swiffer cloths to clean my vinyl flooring.   It was sooooo convenient, but those little cloths are expensive and wasteful. Recently I've been trying to avoid going down the aisles at the store that have laundry detergent and cleaning supplies.  I've been making my own cleaning spray using a solution of one half vinegar and one half water in a spray bottle and I'm making my own laundry detergent.  (The purchase price of items we purchase and consume has advertising, packaging and shipping included in that price.  We pay for all that convenience.)

So in my goal to continue trying to avoid the cleaning aisles, I finally found microfiber cloths.  Now I attach a microfiber cloth to my Swiffer tool and either dry mop or spray some of my vinegar water solution on the microfiber cloth for a little wet pick-up.  And my sponge mop and bucket are back for the deep cleaning.

Once my microfiber cloth is dirty, I put it in a bag.  When the bag is full, I wash the microfiber cloths and hang out to dry, then they are ready for another use. And the microfiber cloths have a myriad of uses -- they just aren't for cleaning floors.

I haven't missed the Swiffer cloths but I've sure enjoyed the savings.

Microfiber cloth attached to a Swiffer tool.

Ready for more uses.

Chickens and Spring Lambs

Our new Suffolk lambs.



Chickens checking out the new lambs.



We are shredding our junk mail to make bedding for the chickens and lambs.
Of course, this can  have funny results: newsprint on freshly laid eggs, sheep walking around with advertising stuck to their wool!

Space: The Final Frontier

Yesterday I posted about how I had rid myself of my decrepit electric clothes dryer.  Now I'd like to show you what I did with the space its departure left.  It isn't anything fancy, but it's nice to have some breathing room.  We'll plug the hole to the outside where the dryer's venting hose had been.

Like I said, nothing fancy but . . .

now I have space to maneuver around in and a  place to make
my homemade laundry detergent.  And, now there is a place
for my brooms, mops and bucket.  Simple pleasures for a simple person!

Goodbye, Electric Clothes Dryer

On a sunny day in June, 2010, my electric clothes dryer died.  It was an old clothes dryer and had had several surgeries to keep it running.  Since it was summertime, I knew I could turn to my outside clothesline to handle the task of drying.  Then I studied the space that that clothes dryer was occupying and also the cost it was taking to operate and I told my husband that if I could last a year without wanting an electric clothes dryer, I wanted to get rid of my clunky one to make room for . . . space!!  Space is a precious commodity.

This morning, though it's not been quite a year, I said goodbye with a happy heart to that rotten electric clothes dryer. I made it through the winter without using a gas or electric clothes dryer. I have pictures!

Unplugged and ready to leave.

Out of the house and on the move.

Continuing its journey to . . .

its last destination before the dump.  You can tell the poor old
thing is tired -- its tongue is hanging out!

So when the sun is shining, you'll find me outside hanging clothes:

And if the weather is poor, you'll find me inside hanging clothes!

Recycling and Emergency Money

You know how we are advised to have emergency cash on hand?  We learned this the hard way when we were out of electricity for 11 days.  For a few days, not even ATM machines in our area were working.  Gasoline pumps weren't working either.  Out of power means out of power.

When we got back on our feet, we started addressing the different areas of our "emergency preparedness" lives that we needed to improve. 

Do you have a jar into which you throw loose change?  Have you taken it to your bank or credit union to have it converted to dollar bills?  That is where we got our first deposit into our emergency cash on hand fund:  loose change.  My husband took it to the credit union and exchanged the coins for $187. 

We live out in the country and often on our walks, we see soda and beer aluminum cans along the roadways.  We collect those.  In addition to these cans, we purchase Friskies wet cat food in cans.  We purchase Friskies because those cans are aluminum and can be recycled.  (9 Lives doesn't use aluminum cans.)

This morning we hauled four giant bags of cans we had picked up and also cat food cans to a recycling center in Lawton.  We took  in 53 pounds and were paid $32.  We added that $32 to our $187 in  our emergency cash on hand fund. 

Saving  loose change and picking up aluminum cans are two things we will continue to do.  Picking up cans is good exercise too.

I've been a bad girl!

Well, I've been a bad girl.  It's been over a month since I last posted.  March was more eventful than expected and an on-line life is nothing compared to real life.  I really admire people who can post on their blogs everyday. 

So, anyway.  Spring has sprung here in southwest Oklahoma although yesterday we could hardly tell.  Winds blew 60 miles per hour and it was cold.  No rain, just wind and cold.  But today is beautiful.  My husband has been working on the garden and I've been washing laundry and hanging it outside to dry. 

Although it hasn't been a problem yet because we are in the middle of an extreme drought, my husband's working in the garden usually means mud in the house.  I know the mud in the house means that vegetables and fruits will follow eventually.  However, I'm always looking for ways to fight against the inevitable dirt tracks.  (He tries to remember to take his shoes off at the door but this doesn't always happen.)

We have cats and we buy cat food.  The dry cat food comes in large biodegradable bags.  We also subscribe to several newspapers.  There is no recycling center close to where we live so we are always looking for ways to reuse our newspapers.  We've tried making bricks from newspapers and my husband often just digs a hole in the garden and buries them.  (When I went to summer camps as a young girl, we often made woven mats from newspapers.)  We've even tried using the newspapers for mulch but it is very windy here and often the newspapers, if not weighted down with enough soil, will fly around the garden, making everything look trashy.  So . . . .

I thought of a way to use the cat food bags and the newspapers to make walkways in the garden so that maybe not so much dirt will track into the house.   I saved up a week's worth of newspapers and stacked them inside an empty cat food sack, folded over the ends, and taped. I hope to have the whole garden lined with these "stepping stones" by the end of the summer.  The bags full of newspapers will flatten down with  use. Here's a picture of my first effort:



Irises in our garden

HAPPY APRIL!  WINTER IS OVER.



Climate Change or Global Warming?

Climate change or global warming?  Potato, potahtoh, tomato, tomahto. 

I'm sure the climate change advocates kick themselves every once in awhile when they hear the terms "global warming"; they wish other terms had been chosen to express what is happening to our planet.  The trouble with the term "global warming" is that when we have brutal winters like the last two, it gives fodder to Inhofe and his ilk who say, "Global warming? Where?"

A more accurate description of what is happening to our planet Earth is climate change.  I remember the brown winters in Oklahoma.  Brown winters had no snow, brown winters found me outside a lot playing basketball with the neighbor kids.  Brown winters found me wishing for snow.  Brown winters were full of moderate temperatures, short days, long nights, but no ice storms and blizzards. Snow was a treat, maybe coming every three to four years, not something to be dreaded.

The climate is changing and it is because of humans.  The Industrial Revolution brought more than labor saving devices.  It also brought factories that belch noxious fumes, automobiles that do the same.  Perhaps the largest change has been that not only the Western world, but the Rest of the world, wants and is gaining access to automobiles and everything else that we have enjoyed for over a century. And why shouldn't the Rest of the world have these things too?  All these emissions can't help but change our earth's atmosphere, and this change affects our global weather.

Humans do make a difference in their environment, for better or worse.  Even if one believes there is no climate change or global warming, live as if there  is.  We should conserve energy where we can, when we can.  We should be more mindful of our daily choices, from what we eat to what we wear, to how we clean, to what the temperature is in our homes.   Encourage alternative energy sources. 

Be more mindful.  Think.  This can only improve us.

People who choose Public Service as a Career

In the current hue and cry against people who are in the employ of tax payers, otherwise known as public  servants (this is a cycle that occurs about every 20 years-I'm on the downhill side of the mountain and my memory is long), let us please remember that people who choose to serve in their local, state, or federal governments in any public capacity also PAY TAXES and SPEND THEIR INCOME.  Public employees, in effect, pay their own salaries. 

Public servants get married, have children, buy food and clothing, travel, celebrate holidays . . . just like everybody else.  They are not sitting in a rarified atmosphere getting rich off tax payer's money, believe me.  Our current inability to accept the fact that taxes need to be raised will hurt us in the long run. 

That first call to the police department or fire department . . . minutes, hours tick by . . . as we wait, or visiting the local library, only to find the hours have been shortened,, or a service we counted on is no longer available.  The Tea Party and their ilk want something for nothing;  the fact is if everybody gives a little, everybody gets a lot.

As to the current collective bargaining broohaha in Wisconsin:  public servants deserve collective bargaining.  They are public SERVANTS, people, not public SLAVES. Actually, anyone who works deserves collective bargaining.

I'm a big believer in a rising tide lifts all boats and when everybody does better, EVERYBODY DOES BETTER.

It seems like periodically the citizens of the United States of America are asked, by events, to decide if we are, in fact, the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, or a bunch of separate individuals who happen to live in this country known as the USA.   United we succeed, separately we fail. 

February is an Impossible Month!

The last day of February.  Hallelujah!  For such a short month, it certainly is long.   Between national and international news and the weather, it's been another "hunker down" month.  So, in honor of the last day of February 2011, here are some pictures of daffodils blooming in our front yard.  Here's to a wonderful March.

Snow Sun

So, it's snowing again . . . while the sun is out.  I haven't seen a snow rainbow yet.  Around 6 this morning our pipes froze, but at least we have power.  My husband is melting snow on top of the stove to flush toilets which is something we learned last winter during our 11 day power outage.  With each event, we learn something, don't we?

Snow sun!

You can't see it, but the snow is falling.

Cat Catches Rainbow

Today was a great day for letting the sun shine in, doing laundry, and changing sheets.  Zippy, one of our kitties, likes to assist me in changing sheets.  I don't like it, but I don't have much say in it.  She weighs almost 15 pounds so Zippy does what Zippy wants.  (She is also known by her nickname "Gigantacat.")  The morning sun was shining in our bedroom and Zippy hopped up to inspect my sheet changing expertise, and, lo and behold, she caught some rainbows.  Zippy is a very talented cat!

Help Save Public Radio!

Anyone who knows me knows I am a supporter of public radio. I like it so much I'm a member of three: Cameron University's KCCU, Oklahoma University's KGOU, and Oklahoma State University's KSOU. It's a breath of fresh air, an oasis for intelligent conversation about current events, politics, science, music, the arts.  The United States needs public radio.  It is important that we support this national treasure.  When we look at ways to cut spending, too often we begin hitting education, the arts and public broadcasting.  We already support public broadcasting with barely a miniscule fraction of our tax dollars now. KOSU recently sent me an email with the following link to a movement that wants to save public radio.  I hope you visit the site, check it out, and come to the conclusion that public radio is worth saving.

Save Public Radio

It's 51 degrees outside today! WooHoo!

The sun is shining, the sky is blue and the  rainbows are dancing.  This morning we went for our first walk since Monday.  Here are some pictures from our walk.

The garden in waiting.  Can you spot the alien by the red bridge?

Mount Scott in the distance.

Snow dunes

The tracks of a bobcat

The girls coming out for a look-see.

Dwelling in the Land of Memories

  (Source of picture)

Snowed in again today.  If you are along in years, winter is definitely a time for remembering.  Memories come unbidden as easily as snow seems to be coming to southwestern Oklahoma lately.

This morning, for unknown reasons, I was thinking of smudge pots.  I told my husband I am glad smudge pots were still around when I was little.  I remember coming home from my paternal grandparents' house at night time.  There was an area on Portland in Oklahoma City that seemed to always need repairing. 

My father would put the brakes on "Betsy," our Ford.  Slowly we passed lighted smudge pots lining the road to show where the repairs were being made.  No flashing lights or caution signs, just glimmering flames lining the road warning drivers away from the dangerous area.

I'm sure the smudge pots contributed to air pollution, but, still, I'm glad I was around at the same time they were. 

Snowed in and thinking

Being snowed in gives one ample time with one's thoughts.  Thank goodness for the distractions of television, the Internet and radio.  But back to thinking . . .

Our ancestors were such formal people.  As the 21st century continues to age with each passing day, I realize that my generation is now becoming quaint -- the generation of dressing up to go out to eat, to see a movie, even visit the airport.   But today my post is about the human beings that lived in the 19th century.  They were so formal that there were specific designations for visits to one's friends and family.

A visitation lasted more than a week.  An evening of dining was called a visit. And, to show a precursor for texting even in the 19th century, a vis was a brief stop-by.

So, if you can make it out your door, stop by for a vis!

(Source: Forgotten English calendar by Jeffrey Kacirk)

Blizzard 2011

As our newly elected governor, Mary Fallin, declared a state of emergency for Oklahoma before the first snowflake fell so that, if need be, we Oklahomans could apply for federal disaster aid, let us pause to remember where those federal disaster aid dollars come from:  our tax dollars.

So all you Tea Partiers out there, remember, as you whine about not increasing tax revenue, the money has to come from somewhere.  We are all in this together.  Each of us can give a little to make a big difference in all of our lives or we can complain about our federal and state governments as if they were alien institutions.

Government:  of the people, by the people, for the people.  Simple concept.  Too bad it's so difficult for some citizens to grasp.

North facing window.



Spring is next month!

Why the pet door cover should be installed over the pet door
during a blizzard.



I still miss "Seinfeld"!

Via: Online Schools

We are a family that still quotes lines from "Seinfeld."   Not sure what that says about our family.

An inexpensive Valentine's Day gift

I know, I know.  We just had Christmas.  But, like it or not, Valentine's Day is just under a month away.  It's never too early to begin thinking about it.  Of course, the people that need to be thinking about it are those people from Mars who will wait until the last minute. Still.

This year try something a little different.  Give a gift of rainbows. A prism can make a big splash.  Really.  Prettily wrapped in a small box and given with all the tenderness of a piece of jewelry, you could add a loving handwritten note telling your loved one that you always want her or him to have rainbows.  And all you need to add is sunshine.

Take a look at my page on Videojug:

A gift that says wow!

Scissors-And-Paste

I have a calendar by Jeffery Kacirk called "Forgotten English."   I really enjoy it because there is a new "forgotten" word everyday.  For instance, today's word is "assishness."  Actually I think I have used this word in the 21st century, in fact just last night.

My example:  The report on Oklahoma City's Channel 9 last night stating that the recent mass shooting in Tucson could increase gun sales reflects the fact that a large segment of our society has reached a new level of assishness.   Assishness was originally found in a 1611 book by John Florio and also sir James Murray's New English Dictionary published in 1888.  It means stupidity or blockishness.

But, once again, I've gone off topic.  Yesterday's word is the one I wish to focus on.  The word(s) is(are) "scissors-and-paste."  In 1769 the Reverend James Granger published the Biographical History of England.  The book had blank areas which readers could add pictures and text of their own, making this book to be one of the first interactive examples of media.  Apparently the practice became so widespread that by 1889, the New York Tribune began printing pictures of celebrities separately with blank pages on the back so that the "Grangerites" could use them without cutting up readable print.

Of course, I  had to Google the Reverend James Granger and found a whole web site devoted to him.  He was an avid print collector and an Anglican vicar of Shiplake, near Oxford, England.  He is considered to be the spiritual father of present day historical picture libraries.

We carry on Grangerism in our own ways today by scrapbooking.  Another more advanced application and perhaps truer to Grangerism is the crafting of altered books.  This video below is one I found on YouTube and it is an excellent example of an altered book and what an altered book is.

Perhaps the most interesting thing is that "scissors-and-paste" has carried over into our computer age with "cut-and-paste."  The more things change the more things stay the same.

Just when I think I've seen everything - Red Neck Bank

In today's Oklahoman on the front page of the business section was an article about Red Neck Bank. Red Neck Bank is an Internet subsidiary of Bank of the Wichitas.  The Bank of the Wichitas is a familiar site in this part of our flyover state.  It's owned by the Huckaby family and headquartered in Snyder, Oklahoma.  Snyder is west of us in Kiowa County.  The article said that Red Neck Bank has customers in all fifty states.

The bank's pull is its humor, and yes, the main page on its site is funny.  To log in, you click on an outhouse and there is a gigantic mule on the page.  Click on the mule's mouth and it whinnies.  The page is interactive with sound.  Hee-haw!  Oh, and the on-line bank's motto?  "Where bankin's funner."

And where does Oklahoma rank in funding per student in education?  49th.  Surprised?  I'm not because I live in a state where "bankin's funner."

Yes, we could have no bananas!

Mike Peed has an interesting eye-opening article in the January 10, 2011 The New Yorker about a blight that is affecting our beloved bananas.  I didn't know this until I read his article but all of us who buy bananas at the grocery store in the United States are eating one kind of banana: the Cavendish; in 2008 we Americans ate 7.6 billion pounds of them.  (And I have to say I never really thought about what type of banana I was eating until today.  So shame on me.  I linger over the apples though -- should I try Gala or Fuji or possibly Winesap -- but I just grab a bunch of bananas and off I go.)


The article opens with the author visiting Robert Borsato, a fruit farmer in the Northern Territory of Australia.  In the late 1990s Mr. Borsato thought Humpty Doo looked like an excellent place to grow bananas.  And as I write this post, I checked Darwin's  weather report for today and see that they are under a flood warning.  (Oh, Australia, I hope you don't wash away.)

Borsato's banana crops began suffering long before the widespread flooding of 2011, however.  His Cavendish crop was being decimated by a soil-borne fungus called Tropical Race Four.  This fungus goes around the world wiping out the Cavendishes.  Scientists believe that it is only a matter of time before Tropical Race Four fungus will make it to our hemisphere.

If can get your hands on a copy of that New Yorker, I urge you to read the article.  We take the banana for granted.  It's our go to food for toddlers, a handy in-between meals snack, a great source of potassium and other nutrients.  We slice bananas and put them on our cereals, blend them into smoothies, even dip them into chocolate.

What would we do without that familiar fruit that, held just right, looks like it's smiling at us?

I have posted a recipe for a delicious dish of  bananas and quinoa on Videojug.

Link: Bananas and Quinoa for Breakfast

End Gun Violence and Violent Rhetoric

I refer you to my previous posting: The only reason a gun exists is to kill.

And I encourage you to visit this web site, The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, and, if not become a member, at least read the information.

I believe in freedom of speech.  I love words.  But as a society we must start doing a better job of choosing words to express what we feel.  Tone down the violent talk. 

Keep in mind that media commentators are being paid to do what they do.  I once knew a radio personality who told me that  he easily could do any radio show -- religious, right wing, left wing  -- if he was paid enough.  This admission was an eye opener for me.  Take everything with a grain of salt.  Read widely, listen to various reports from different sectors of our society.

Pay attention to the sponsors of the different shows that you watch and listen to.  The money is coming from the sponsors for these people to be on air.

Remember, as a commentator is whipping you  into a frenzy, that he or she is sitting  in a studio or perhaps a room at their home while broadcasting.  As soon as that camera stops running, he or she will go grab a bite to eat, run errands, play golf, take a trip, visit a friend . . ..  These people are regular human beings just like you. 

The only difference is that they have your ear for 30 minutes or an hour.  Take that into consideration.  These people are no more intelligent than you are.  Don't let them whip you into a frenzy.  Think about what is being said.  Consider it.  Study it.  You will realize that most of their words are hot air spoken to fill space between the commercials.

The delivery of our information through various media becomes more intimate every day.  Be wary of this for it is a false intimacy. 

Commentators and hosts of shows get paid to do what they do and the American people are falling for it.  Shame on all of us.

Encourage your children to linger longer at the sink.

The holiday season  is over and now 'tis the Big Time Party Season for the germs.  During November and December, families traveled to visit cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, friends . . . and now everyone is back to their routines of school and work.  And colds and other viruses are on the move.  (Hopefully, everyone has had their flu and pneumonia vaccinations and  young children are up to date on their vaccinations.)

We all know we need to wash our hands more often.  In cold weather, that prospect isn't very appealing, but, still it needs to be done. 

At this link on Videojug I've posted ideas for encouraging your children to linger longer at the sink.

How to get your kids to wash their hands.

And, during this winter season, it's a good  idea to have hand lotion on hand to keep your and your little ones' hands moisturized.

Rainbow Trees

It's difficult to get through January, isn't it?  We should change January to "JustGetThroughIt."  A day with sunshine in January is truly a wonderful day.  It's on those days we should be ready with a rainbow tree so we can have rainbows dancing in our house.

Here's how you can have a rainbow tree:

A rainbow tree for your house.

Shooting in Tucson

Giffords shot in Tucson

I refer you to my recent posting:   The only reason a gun exists is to kill

I ask you.  Is this what we want for our country?  Everytime I think we cannot sink any lower, something happens to prove that, yes, indeed, we can.

We've become so immune to mass killings that this afternoon, while trying to find additional information about the Tucson shootings, I could only find something Telemundo.  It was sports as usual on all the other networks.

Chickasha Wal-Mart has Quinoa

Yea!!!  The Wal-Mart in Chickasha has started carrying quinoa grain.   It's on the same aisle as the rice. Now if Wal-Mart would only start carrying quinoa flour, I'd be in "Quinoa Heaven." I had been ordering it through Amazon, but it's nice to see that this super food has made it into the hinterlands and you know it's arrived, if you find it on an aisle at Wal-Mart!

If you haven't cooked with quinoa, you need to.  It's a great way to introduce a nutritious food into your diet. According to Claire Burnett and Laurie Scanlin, featured in Quinoa 365 by sisters Patricia Green and Carolyn Hemming, quinoa was once regarded more valuable than gold by the indigenous peoples of the Andean Mountain regions of Peru and Bolivia.  Quinoa was so valuable to the people that when the Spanish came in the 1500s, they set out to destroy all the fields of quinoa in order to control the culture.  (Sound familiar re: the  United States and the Native Americans?)  But this isn't a political lament.

Quinoa is a complete protein and gluten-free.  Quinoa is rich in vitamins E, B2 and B6, folic acid, potassium, calcium, biotin, iron, copper, magnesium, manganese and chloride.  It's a food worth getting to know well.

Below is a link to my recipe for Quinoa Medley posted on Videojug.com.

Quinoa Medley

Jump start 2011 with a new food.  Try it, you'll like it!

The only reason a gun exists is to kill.

"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

The second amendment to the United State Constitution was proposed September 25, 1789; it was ratified December 15, 1791.

These twenty-seven words continue to be misinterpreted into the 21st century.   I am alarmed by how many states are leaning toward and adopting carry weapon laws.  And, on  January 6, 2011, New Hampshire legislators were given the right to carry handguns onto New Hampshire's House floor . . . they just can't flash them.
(Now that's a mental picture!)

And,  here, in my part of Oklahoma, on a relatively quiet country road, we have a neighbor down the road that drives around looking for his dog with a revolver sitting on his passenger seat and another neighbor, during last year's ice storm, that walked around his front yard with a visible holstered revolver.  I don't feel any safer knowing these guys are carrying guns.  Instead, I find it alarming.

In 1780, the estimated colonial population of the United States was 2,780,400. (Source for colonial population.)

In 2010, the population of the United States was 308,745,538.  (Source: US population as of 2010)

When the second amendment was written, much of the North American continent was still unsettled. I'll not deny the rights of settlers to maintain weapons to kill for food supply and protection, but the second amendment clearly sets out that the right to keep and bear arms is for a well regulated Militia, not for the entire population to have guns. The United States is settled now and all of our states do have National Guards as well as state guards. 

Our founding fathers never envisioned over 308,745,538 of us, living in close quarters, running around with handguns or semi-automatic weapons. 

Forget those fictional "death panels" that have been bandied about by conservative pundits over the past year.  The United States already has a culture of death.  Everyone is afraid of everyone else and unfortunately we all have the right to keep and bear arms.

Passions run high and triggers are easy to pull. 

The only reason a gun exists is to kill.

Link to a cause I support:

Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence

A $6,000 Handbag

The January 3, 2011 The New Yorker has an interesting article "Just Have Less" by John Colapinto about designer Tomas Maier of Bottega Veneta.  The profile drew me in even though I am not and will never be in that class (yes, there are classes in this democracy known as the USA) of people that can afford (or desire) a $6,000 handbag.  I am fascinated, however, by the personalities of the people that create these products. (Martha Stewart has two of these bags, one in black and one in brown.  Think of that the next time you are watching her show and she's showing you how to make doodads out of things lying around the house.)

An anti-label man, Maier's $6,000 bag, the Cabat, is made with a northern Italian leather weaving technique known as intrecciato.  It sounds like an intricate and difficult craft.  Still, $6,000?

However, kudos to Tomas Maier for the following statement:  "At Botega, we pay our artisans in Vicenze properly, with benefits, and excellent working conditions."

Perhaps there would be more $6,000 bags if the USA didn't export its work to other countries where workers there are paid very minimally. 

What would the products we purchase at Wal-Mart, K-Mart, JC Penneys (yes, I'm of the class that  frequent those stores) . . . what would the products cost if we were to factor in a living, fair wage, with benefits, for the people who make these things for us?  It's something to think about.

And, as Maier pointed out, consumers in the USA ". . . have simply been trained to want too much stuff."

We buy lots of poorly made things.  We go for quantity over quality.  And, while $6,000 still seems like a very steep, outrageous price to pay for a handbag, I do understand Tomas Maier's logic.  Thank you, Mr. Colapinto, for an engaging article about an interesting man in a  puzzling industry.

Two places which I frequently visit that do pay fair wages and make wonderful clothing and accessories are:

Deva Lifewear and MarketPlace: Handwork of India

Reasonably priced clothing without the guilt of wondering if what you are wearing was made in a sweatshop.
Check them out!

Happy New Year!