The End

Well, we've hit the end to another year. It seemed to run by pretty quick--or maybe that's just because of all the craziness.

Wrapin' Up:

1. Election End!

Holy crap the whole thing is finally over! I swear it felt like the race started just after Jr. won a second term. The campaign ads were driving me batty and the news kept talking and talking over the same damn things for years. Personally, I think they should limit the time to run for public office to a year. Anyone intending to run for a major post (House, Senate, or President) should not announce their intentions until the week after election day the preceeding year. So, if one intended to run in 2008, it could not be announced until Monday after election day in 2007. That way the news and all the talking heads wouldn't have YEARS to run endlessly over the same information.

2. Obama.

I am very glad we have elected a President who is well-spoken and well-educated. Everyone makes a big deal because he is African American--I could care less if he were purple with polka dots. Obviously, it is a great statement of achievement for African Americans as a whole. However, I would argue that his election is an achievement for America. He is able to bring everyone to the table to talk in a rational manner rather than just mowing them down by labeling them "Un-American". Bully politics does not make anyone popular or effective. Working with all sides to find a solution is helpful and goes a long way toward spreading goodwill.

3. Intolerance.

This year has been filled with stories from everywhere about intolerance. I don't care who you are or how you believe in God. I do care when actions are designed to say to a population or group that they have no right to exist. The whole michegaas in the Middle East involving not only Hamas and Israel, but the whole area--if religion were ignored, could there be an easing of tensions? Couldn't they sit down and discuss what would help the region as a whole?

And to everyone who has voted this year on making same-sex marriage illegal, shame on you. What does it matter what people do behind closed doors? Perhaps someone could look at your life and find it also unacceptable. Who are you to judge? Who are you to make someone else live life according to your personal values?

4. Notable Passings.

CBS listings

Those listings have neglected:

Robert Prosky, actor. Dec. 8.
Harold Pinter, playwright. Christmas Day.
Eartha Kitt, singer. Christmas Day.
Freddie Hubbard, jazz trumpet. Dec. 29.

May they and their families find peace.

5. Interesting Diversion.

I just heard about Same Time 7:15 on NPR as I was waking up. This group has been taking photos of their life at 7:15pm each night for a year. Today will be their last photo. However, you can see the archives of this year posted on their site. Some of the pictures are funny, some mundane (like our own lives), and some heartwarming. Go check it out!

6. Joy and Merriment.

Father Ted

Vicar of Dibley

7. Happy New Year.

The tree man came and lopped off the two branches that were threatening to rip apart the wild cherry tree in the back yard. It took him about twenty minutes. But now any twisting wind or ice storm won't crack the tree in half and take out the fence or septic tank. Woohoo!

After a weekend warm up to 60 (and total snow melt with subsequent flooding), we had several sunny days in the upper 30s. But last night, the lake effect snow machine kicked in. We've got about an inch and it is again gently falling. C'est la vie...

I wish everyone who reads this a lovely and gorgeous New Year's Eve. I also wish you a wonderful and healthy 2009 filled with great friends and family, kind words, and joyous events.

Merry Christmas

Moon Report: 3% of full. waning crescent.

I'm looking over a road filled by an ice sheet and a white yard. It is even snowing very gently (and sparsely). Ahh, Christmas...

What I am immensely greatful for is that daylight is coming through the overcast...and it isn't pitch black until noon.

Ok. Off to make my Christmas pork roast. Yes, not Christmas-y, but I've had my fill of turkey and I don't like ham. Everyone have a lovely and special Christmas. Enjoy your family and friends. Drink and be merry and eat until you have to unbutton your pants!

knit fit

Moon Report: 14% of full. waning crescent


Ok. I figured out what my problem is with knitting: I was doing it all wrong! Apparently, when I taught myself how to knit by following bad pics from the 70s, I misunderstood something. My sister helped me figure it out and now I am finding knitting not to be a problem.

Sweater in Progress

I found the Carolyn sweater pattern free at an online magazine called Knitty. They have some amazing free patterns with each issue. Tons of socks and sweaters (among other things) to choose from. The one I am using can be found here: http://knitty.com/ISSUEspring07/PATTcarolyn.html

I chose this sweater because it is simple enough to follow and doesn't have a complicated pattern (like cables) to it. I thought I'd do this in just plain cream with no stripes, but after I finished the ribbing on the back side I realized I wouldn't like it much. So I did change to navy. I wear more blue than cream, but the sweater will be trimmed in cream edging. I'm also trying the moss stitch (or seed stitch depending on your lingo) in place of plain stockinette which I dislike.

Since I fell asleep last night about two rows into starting the navy, I have little progress to show at the moment. When I have an appreciable sweater back, I'll take a picture to post.

My goal: to manage a sweater without too many goofs so that I can begin one with real wool instead of acrylic.

weather again

Moon Report: 21% of full. waning crescent.

For all the fancy schmancy gadgets used by meteorology today, they still have very slim chance of predicting lake effect snow. For example, Doppler radar can tell you where precipitation is falling and where lightning is striking and the clarity can tell you where tornadoes are likely to develop. That is wonderful around here in the warmer months when we tend to have those sorts of things. But snow bands off the lake and where they will go are a creature of an entirely different stripe. Yes, we can know where they are falling currently. Fine. But when the wind shifts on the lake, that shift doesn't necessarily work into creating snow.

Ok. Maybe some people need to be worked into a frenzy about the possibility of snow. Me, I hate having my chain yanked. Why can't they just say, "Hey, wake up a little earlier than normal tomorrow before work. You might have to shovel yourself out of the driveway." The weather used to say things like a system snow was on the way or that the wind would be coming off the lake with the potential for snow. Then you knew A) to wake up and make sure to warm the car and be ready to shovel; B) to leave early for work so as to make sure you were safe and on time; and C) to dress appropriately for the cold and snow (ie. gloves/mittens, woolen hat, scarf, and big heavy coat). Now, I feel as if I get babysat through the winter and half the time they are completly wrong (not usually about temperature, just snowfall).

If Doppler can pinpoint to the neighborhood where storms are rolling through, why can't the TV stations just localize weather coverage? For example, if a blizzard is pounding through Cass County in Michigan (just 7 miles from me) but doesn't cross the state line, why can't the cable companies direct line the news coverage directly to those affected? All local advertising done through the cable companies can pinpoint the ads by zipcode--so why not weather? When localized things occur, obviously it is fine to give general warning to the whole area in case someone is travelling through. But why freak out 6 counties when only one is getting pounded by the weather?

The only time I want minute by minute coverage of weather is when we've got the big storms moving through. Not snow storms--spring, summer, fall storms. The kind with thunder so big your house rattles with every peal. The kind where when lightning strikes an electric transformer in the neighborhood it sounds like a cannon and makes you deaf for a few seconds. And those are really good at bringing tornadoes. But there are other tornadoes that just happen--the sky gets a sick green. My mom, who lived through the Palm Sunday outbreak, said if the weather is oppressive and the sky is green, go to the basement.





Although this happened several years before I was born, I am sure this is a picture taken down US 33 just outside of Dunlap not a quarter mile from where I grew up. This picture is from the files of NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). The story can be found here.

These are the kinds of things that make me scared enough to want minute by minute coverage. Not snow. Snow is cold. It shows up and we should slow down and have enough safety provisions in the car to keep warm/hydrated until someone finds us. The ass-jacks who think that black ice is a myth or that roads are safe to drive "normally" when the plow has gone through--natural selection. And you know what, 90% of the time it is safer to drive on the back county roads away from traffic because you can drive down the center of the road at your own pace. The other 10% of the time it sucks because you get stuck in the unplowed road. So bring a shovel and cat litter and ice melt.

flaming freezing!

Moon Report: 25% of full. waning crescent.


Man, oh man, is it buggardly cold! We have been hovering close to 0 degrees all day--the upside: it was sunny. But now that it is dark we are sitting somewhere around -4 degrees at about seven. Don't believe me, have a gander: http://www.wsbt.com/weather

The SW Michigan counties are even under blizzard warnings and have been asked to stay off the roads. Luckily for us we haven't seen any snow although the local meteorologists keep swearing we'll be landed with 3-7" by morning. I think it is far too cold to get snow at this point.

So what is to be done on such a terrible day? Why watch all the Brit mystery shows I can, of course! I'm sucked into Poirot and Midsomer Murders while knitting my sweater. However, I do have to point out that being absorbed by the murder mysteries is not so good for following a knitting pattern. I have a forty stitch goof in the ribbing on the bottom of my sweater! Oh well, I guess that really makes it handmade.

Garden Planning Time

Moon Report: Waning Gibbous, 92% of full

Yes. It is December. The big late winter seed catalog won't be here before February. However, I'm planning for the new garden like mad. All the descriptions offered in seed catalogs and online are very tempting--why choose one when ten sound great?

My goal: to can, freeze, store enough food to cut the grocery bill more than half. It will also be much cheaper to grow my own fresh veggies than paying for them at the store. Although one reason to do so is to know exactly where my food is from, my primary reason is that half the veggies at the grocery stores around here are less than in their prime state. Sometimes they have been picked over or sometimes they just don't look that appetizing.

I am looking for open pollinated plants--something that I can save seed from to reproduce plants the following year.

Helpful Seed Places

Seed Savers Exchange http://www.seedsavers.org/
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds http://rareseeds.com/seeds/
Heirloom Seeds http://www.heirloomseeds.com/

What I am planning on at the moment:

1. Garlic--German Extra Hardy (already in the ground)
2. Onions--this is one I have yet to decide on.
3. Spinach--Monnopa
4. Lettuce--Amish Deer Tongue, Cracoviensis, Green Oakleaf, and Slobolt
5. Peas--Shelling: Alderman, Green Arrow; Snap: Amish Snap, Sugar Daddy
6. Cucumber--Mexican Sour Gherkin
7. Winter Squash--Thelma Sanders' Sweet Potato (acorn-type), Musquee de Provence, and either Amish Pie or Blue Hubbard.
8. Carrots--St. Valery and Dragon
9. Celery--Tendercrisp
10. Beets--Chioggia
11. Beans--Pole: Mayflower, Good Mother Stallard, Lazy Housewife, and Rattlesnake Snap; Bush: Empress, Hutterite, and White Marrowfat
12. Soybeans--Shirofumi
13. Peppers--Sweet: Bull Nose Bell, Quadrato d'Asti Giallo, Quadrato d'Asti Rosso, Chervena Chushka, and Jimmy Nardello's Sweet Italian Frying Pepper; Hot(ish): Black Hungarian, and Hinkelhatz
14. Tomatoes--Brandywine, Ananas Noire, Aunt Ruby's German Green, Blondkopfchen, Black Krim, Marmande, and Great White

I'm still looking into maybe growing mustard and okra and asparagus...