Today has been hot, humid, still, and gloomy. This morning I thought that we would not reach the double digit temperatures predicted, because clouds were moving in, but instead they just made the day humid. A big wind is now blowing in and it is welcome.
I woke up this morning to a barking dog that barked non-stop for an hour, tried to take a nap later and my neighbor was banging around doing yard work, and I don't feel well. I did finally get a nap and was hoping I could just wake up and start my day over, but it has turned into one of those lay around the house, stay away from people because I am in a mood, days. I did get two more studies done and I am grateful that my studio is on the opposite side of the house from the barking dog.
The barking dog is compliments of the 70's rock, Harley-riding neighbor. The music and the backyard parties stopped over the last month, but are replaced by a barking, whining dog, a kid's motorized car, a screaming, whining kid, and a nasty loud fight. I listened to a mother create the screaming brat in one hour. The kid was driving the new motorized car, eeeeeeeeeek, eeeeeeeeeek, eeeeeeeeeek, not a pleasant sound, and something happened and the kid started crying. I don't know if another kid was beating on him, or trying to take the car away, or if he hurt himself in the car, but this happened twice and it sounded like genuine pain. The third time, mom became entertaining to distract from the cries. The fourth time the crying was half-hearted and mom was entertaining again. The fifth time the crying was fake and the kid has been yelling at the top of his lungs ever since. I started hearing the dog about the same time as the car. A few days ago a couple had a screaming fight in the house. My guess is that the karaoke singer got out of rehab, bought the kid a car and a puppy and was on good behavior for a few weeks, but that is over now.
After three days of no one calling about fixing the sprinklers, I reset the timer and bought a new sprinkler head, which I did not have trouble finding. The timer still needs fixing, it still shows an error, but it should work for now. I was surprised that the sprinklers are not attached with pipe, it is more like flexible hose, maybe that is because it freezes here. The hose did make it easier to dig up and change the sprinkler head.
Yesterday I spent too much time among the dredges of humanity and maybe that is why I am in a bad mood today. I walked over to the Starbucks at lunch and stopped in the Albertson's on the way. These are both on a popular panhandling corner. Both checkers in the Albertson's worked in slow motion, a creepy homeless guy stared at me while I was sitting on the Starbucks patio, and I passed a sweaty homeless woman looking for plums on the sorry looking street tree on my way back to work. After work I stopped at the grocery store and avoided three accidents in a parking lot full of people that seemed to be packing up to get away for the weekend. I was looking at strawberries in the store and this fat woman in a scooter parked next to me and asked me, isn't it too late for strawberries? She looked at me like she expected an answer, so I said, they look like strawberries to me. Time to get my bitchy self home.
It seemed like a super long work week and both the guys at the reception desk called in sick on the same day, Wednesday. On the same day?! Was this a sick-out? Whatever the reason, I had to help back-up the reception desk, completely testing my ability to stay separate from the whirlwind and the passive aggressive. The dregs of humanity on Friday was probably more than I could bare.
The studies I did today are of lilies, I figured that would cheer me up, I will post them tomorrow.
The poem from Wisdom of the Ages on Individuality was better when I read it, along with the chapter, the second time. It is e.e. cummings,
here is little Effie's head
whose brains are made of gingerbread
when judgment day comes
God will find six crumbs
stooping by the coffinlid
waiting for something to rise
as the other somethings did-
you imagine his surprise
bellowing through the general noise
Where is Effie who was dead?
-to God in a tiny voice,
i am may the first crumb said
whereupon its fellow five
crumbs chuckled as if they were alive
and number two took up the song
might i'm called and did no wrong
cried the third crumb, i am should
and this is my little sister could
with our big brother who is would
don't punish us for we were good;
and the last crumb with some shame
whispered unto God, my name
is must and with the others i've
been Effie who isn't alive
just imagine it I say
God amid a monstrous din
watch your step and follow me
stooping by Effie's little, in
(want a match or can you see?)
which the six subjective crumbs
twitch like mutilated thumbs;
picture His peering biggest whey
coloured face on which a frown
puzzles, but I know the way-
(nervously Whose eyes approve
the blessed while His ears are crammed
with the strenuous music of
the innumerable capering damned)
-staring wildly up and down
the here we are now judgment day
cross the threshold have no dread
lift the sheet back in this way
here is little Effie's head
whose brains are made of gingerbread
Beware of may, might, should, could, would, and must, e.e. cummings' six symbols of being unable to think for yourself. All are requests for permission and approval, excuses for things undone, or a need to meet the expectations of others. None show self-reliance. E.e cummings was big on self-reliance and here it is equated with individuality, or an ability to think for yourself. In the poem, God hopes to see more than an empty head, making me think e.e. cummings understood that a firm belief in God did not mean a mindless following. I like the association between nonconformity and self-reliance, and I like relating both to individuality. I think I would add ego and opinion as in the way of being able to think for yourself. These two big offenders are worse, since they often disguise themselves as individuality, but that's another poem.
There seem to be a whole lot of Effies out there.
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
What is your mind running from?
Mom's surgery on her knee this morning went fine. According to John, the Dr was satisfied that there was no knee left, I'm guessing that means no cartilage left, and surgery was the only option. Thanks to John for hanging around the hospital all day. He says it would have been better if I was in So Cal and there to talk to, but I think that is probably a better idea than a reality. In case you haven't seen it before, here's an example of me cheering up my brother John,
I picked my second cucumber and cut off the first green pepper to throw away because it had a mushy brown spot. Cruiser quickly decided that the green pepper was a cat toy. This distracted him from laying at my feet and wrapping his front legs around my ankle, which seems to be the summer equivalent to laying on the computer desk and putting his head on my hand holding the mouse. I've learned how I can do this vegetable planting better next year, my planters are too shallow and over-planted. The strawberries and the cucumber could have used their own planters, although the peas with green peppers was a good choice, I just should have filled that planter with more dirt.
Blueberries were on sale at the grocery store, 2 pounds for $10. That is a whole lot of blueberries. I bought two pints for $4. I will probably buy a few more pints, since blueberries freeze well, but it is just about raspberry and blackberry season. Yesterday I made blueberry corn muffins, which were great. I usually more blueberries than the recipe calls for and end up with a muffin that is just a vehicle for the blueberries. If I get too many cucumbers I may have to try making pickles.
The automatic sprinkler timer is out for the second time, so I finally called the landlord about fixing it, along with fixing the broken sprinkler. That was two days ago and no call, no fix. I guess it's his lawn that is dying. My friend told me a story about not being able to find sprinkler heads at the home improvement stores, she went to four or five, so for sure I am not going through fixing the sprinkler myself.
It was hot last Sunday and they warned against unhealthy air, which means no leaf burning, for Sunday and Monday. By Monday I had a weird headache and muscle aches. One of the muscle aches moved around from mid-back to shoulder blade, so I think that has more to do with the Tibetan Rites, released negative energy unable to find a place to land.
Last weekend was a free concert at Ann Morrison Park, including Joan Jett and the Blackhearts and MC Hammer. 700,000 showed up, that is about one third of the population of Boise, one of the 700,000 was not me. I went to the Post Office nearby at 9:30 in the morning on Saturday and people were already milling around trying to find a place to park. I could have walked there from my house, but I avoided the park instead. There was also a Goddess festival at Julia Davis Park, I didn't go to that either, but I think it's funny that they had one in Boise at all.
I am really looking forward to my upcoming short vacation and practicing keeping my serenity at work, which is really a challenge. It is weird watching so much unhealthy behavior and the whirling dervish sitting next to me. What is all the spinning for? What is your mind running from? I try to stay separate from it and let the negative energy pass by, but sometimes I grab hold of it for a while and start to get really irritated. I tell myself this is good practice for something, but I don't know what.
Maybe it is practice staying separate from the impending economic collapse and the chaos to follow. I read something with someone worrying that a government shutdown would cause a Depression, da, we are already in a Depression. Great Depression has already been used, will they call this the Great Collapse?
I picked my second cucumber and cut off the first green pepper to throw away because it had a mushy brown spot. Cruiser quickly decided that the green pepper was a cat toy. This distracted him from laying at my feet and wrapping his front legs around my ankle, which seems to be the summer equivalent to laying on the computer desk and putting his head on my hand holding the mouse. I've learned how I can do this vegetable planting better next year, my planters are too shallow and over-planted. The strawberries and the cucumber could have used their own planters, although the peas with green peppers was a good choice, I just should have filled that planter with more dirt.
Blueberries were on sale at the grocery store, 2 pounds for $10. That is a whole lot of blueberries. I bought two pints for $4. I will probably buy a few more pints, since blueberries freeze well, but it is just about raspberry and blackberry season. Yesterday I made blueberry corn muffins, which were great. I usually more blueberries than the recipe calls for and end up with a muffin that is just a vehicle for the blueberries. If I get too many cucumbers I may have to try making pickles.
The automatic sprinkler timer is out for the second time, so I finally called the landlord about fixing it, along with fixing the broken sprinkler. That was two days ago and no call, no fix. I guess it's his lawn that is dying. My friend told me a story about not being able to find sprinkler heads at the home improvement stores, she went to four or five, so for sure I am not going through fixing the sprinkler myself.
It was hot last Sunday and they warned against unhealthy air, which means no leaf burning, for Sunday and Monday. By Monday I had a weird headache and muscle aches. One of the muscle aches moved around from mid-back to shoulder blade, so I think that has more to do with the Tibetan Rites, released negative energy unable to find a place to land.
Last weekend was a free concert at Ann Morrison Park, including Joan Jett and the Blackhearts and MC Hammer. 700,000 showed up, that is about one third of the population of Boise, one of the 700,000 was not me. I went to the Post Office nearby at 9:30 in the morning on Saturday and people were already milling around trying to find a place to park. I could have walked there from my house, but I avoided the park instead. There was also a Goddess festival at Julia Davis Park, I didn't go to that either, but I think it's funny that they had one in Boise at all.
I am really looking forward to my upcoming short vacation and practicing keeping my serenity at work, which is really a challenge. It is weird watching so much unhealthy behavior and the whirling dervish sitting next to me. What is all the spinning for? What is your mind running from? I try to stay separate from it and let the negative energy pass by, but sometimes I grab hold of it for a while and start to get really irritated. I tell myself this is good practice for something, but I don't know what.
Maybe it is practice staying separate from the impending economic collapse and the chaos to follow. I read something with someone worrying that a government shutdown would cause a Depression, da, we are already in a Depression. Great Depression has already been used, will they call this the Great Collapse?
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Painting Baby Geese
You can't help but feel happy painting baby geese,
Saturday morning I got up, made coffee, fed the cats, and started painting. I don't have to paint for long, but starting my day painting always starts a good day. I saw a few of my friends on Saturday morning, they all said I look lighter. I'm not any thinner, despite three weeks of the Tibetan Rites, so they must be sensing my lighter attitude.
I did not mean for momma goose to come out so rendered, but I am always amazed at how much I do not really see something until I paint it, geese have an awful lot of distinctive feathers. In the two baby geese studies I got to paint one of my favorite subjects, water, and practice painting my nemesis, grass.
Idaho is pretty fired up about Obama's two million dollar nutrition plate. Not about the two million, which is outrageous, but it discriminates against the potato. In support of Idaho I bought a bag of Idaho potatoes and today I made potato salad. I left out the eggs and the onions and added some home grown cucumber. I will not be able to eat another store bought cucumber, my home grown one has taste and no bitterness, must be what cucumbers are supposed to taste like.
Cruiser's identity crisis continues and now he is laying at my feet whenever I go outside. Last night there was a terrible cat fight across the street and I am glad both of my cats were indoors.
When I moved in to this house there was a set of blinds laying on the kitchen counter. I figured the landlord took them down and replaced them, but did not get to throwing them away, so I stuck them in the garage. The master bedroom blinds have broken slats about half way down, so I can't close them all the way, which is a problem when it is 100 degrees and the sun is beating through the south-facing window all day. So today I went to check the leftover blinds stored in the garage to see if they were any better and the right size. They were the right size and pretty new with no broken slats. I washed them off and replaced the one with the broken slats. That only took me a year to figure out.
Saturday morning I got up, made coffee, fed the cats, and started painting. I don't have to paint for long, but starting my day painting always starts a good day. I saw a few of my friends on Saturday morning, they all said I look lighter. I'm not any thinner, despite three weeks of the Tibetan Rites, so they must be sensing my lighter attitude.
I did not mean for momma goose to come out so rendered, but I am always amazed at how much I do not really see something until I paint it, geese have an awful lot of distinctive feathers. In the two baby geese studies I got to paint one of my favorite subjects, water, and practice painting my nemesis, grass.
Idaho is pretty fired up about Obama's two million dollar nutrition plate. Not about the two million, which is outrageous, but it discriminates against the potato. In support of Idaho I bought a bag of Idaho potatoes and today I made potato salad. I left out the eggs and the onions and added some home grown cucumber. I will not be able to eat another store bought cucumber, my home grown one has taste and no bitterness, must be what cucumbers are supposed to taste like.
Cruiser's identity crisis continues and now he is laying at my feet whenever I go outside. Last night there was a terrible cat fight across the street and I am glad both of my cats were indoors.
When I moved in to this house there was a set of blinds laying on the kitchen counter. I figured the landlord took them down and replaced them, but did not get to throwing them away, so I stuck them in the garage. The master bedroom blinds have broken slats about half way down, so I can't close them all the way, which is a problem when it is 100 degrees and the sun is beating through the south-facing window all day. So today I went to check the leftover blinds stored in the garage to see if they were any better and the right size. They were the right size and pretty new with no broken slats. I washed them off and replaced the one with the broken slats. That only took me a year to figure out.
Friday, July 22, 2011
"Trouble"
Today started with one of those pink and blue sunrises that make me wish I lived somewhere in Idaho with a better view. It has cooled off and I am glad not to be part of the country-wide heat wave, although we are supposed to back to 100 degrees here by Sunday.
My boss was out today and I went into her boss's office to have her sign something this morning and she affectionately called me "Trouble". I used to call my daughter Trouble in the same way and it was a weird moment. I am in charge of the temperature and our office has 15 different thermostats. It seems like a different AC unit is broken every week and I have been working on the AC techs. We pay the landlord and the landlord pays the AC company and we have a certain amount of money to spend on AC repair built in to the rent and if we go over, we have to pay more. This inspired a lack of accountability on the part of the AC tech, who seemed to want to come and go as he pleased with his blank check. This week we had a confrontation in the lobby, which seemed to have changed the tech guy's attitude and happened to be within earshot of my boss's boss, thus the nickname. The current tech guy also happens to be 6'4" and I am almost 5'2", which adds some humor to whole idea of me initiating a confrontation.
I left work early to take my paintings to Craters and Freighters and have them shipped to the Idaho Paints Idaho show. Craters and Freighters is owned by a guy from Orange County and he has another guy who mostly does the estimates. They both seem young to me, but everyone under 40 seems young to me now. I called for an estimate and got one for a shipment weighing 100 pounds. I called back and said it was more like 5 pounds. Then I got an estimate for a shipment weighing 50 pounds ($130). I can mumble sometimes, especially in a phone message, but 100 pounds? I gave up and said I will bring them in and you can weigh them and revise the estimate if needed. The estimator wasn't there this afternoon, but the owner was, and he estimated the two paintings weighed about 5 pounds and revised the estimate to half of what it was at 50 ($60).
The owner said he is amazed at the crappy way artists ship their work, they spend weeks on a piece and then ship it in a flimsy box as if it has no value. He mostly ships taxidermy stuff, like deer heads, makes sense for Idaho. I told him the box needs my return address so they can ship it back and he looked at me and told me to change my thinking. They will both sell and will not need to ship back. I told him I was going to go out to the awards reception in Idaho Falls and then over to see the Grand Tetons, which are only an hour and a half from Idaho Falls, and he said yea, be sure to go and pick up your awards in person. Geez, one of those positive attitude guys, but I like that picture, go to Idaho Falls, win some awards, go over to the Grand Tetons and look in awe at one of the most beautiful places in the world, and then walk around Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
One thing about baking your own bread, store bought bread doesn't taste good anymore, it takes like air, especially the loaves that are under $5, which isn't many nowadays. I baked bread last weekend, even though it was way too hot, but I did not mow the lawn. It cooled off enough for me to mow it on Wednesday, which I did to the sound of my neighbor on the other side of Sarah and Joe playing acoustic guitar. He's pretty good.
I picked two strawberries and ate them, I figure I have about 10 more left that will grow on my 6 plants. I picked my first cucumber with gloves and scrubbed off the prickles, which wasn't hard. When I picked the cucumber, I noticed my first green pepper,
And my one blueberry,
Sarah's blueberry has blueberries for the first time, probably because of the blueberry friends I planted, but it looks like I am only going to get one this year.
I am set up to paint this weekend and maybe I will finally get to the next enlightenment topic, which I seem to be avoiding for some reason.
My boss was out today and I went into her boss's office to have her sign something this morning and she affectionately called me "Trouble". I used to call my daughter Trouble in the same way and it was a weird moment. I am in charge of the temperature and our office has 15 different thermostats. It seems like a different AC unit is broken every week and I have been working on the AC techs. We pay the landlord and the landlord pays the AC company and we have a certain amount of money to spend on AC repair built in to the rent and if we go over, we have to pay more. This inspired a lack of accountability on the part of the AC tech, who seemed to want to come and go as he pleased with his blank check. This week we had a confrontation in the lobby, which seemed to have changed the tech guy's attitude and happened to be within earshot of my boss's boss, thus the nickname. The current tech guy also happens to be 6'4" and I am almost 5'2", which adds some humor to whole idea of me initiating a confrontation.
I left work early to take my paintings to Craters and Freighters and have them shipped to the Idaho Paints Idaho show. Craters and Freighters is owned by a guy from Orange County and he has another guy who mostly does the estimates. They both seem young to me, but everyone under 40 seems young to me now. I called for an estimate and got one for a shipment weighing 100 pounds. I called back and said it was more like 5 pounds. Then I got an estimate for a shipment weighing 50 pounds ($130). I can mumble sometimes, especially in a phone message, but 100 pounds? I gave up and said I will bring them in and you can weigh them and revise the estimate if needed. The estimator wasn't there this afternoon, but the owner was, and he estimated the two paintings weighed about 5 pounds and revised the estimate to half of what it was at 50 ($60).
The owner said he is amazed at the crappy way artists ship their work, they spend weeks on a piece and then ship it in a flimsy box as if it has no value. He mostly ships taxidermy stuff, like deer heads, makes sense for Idaho. I told him the box needs my return address so they can ship it back and he looked at me and told me to change my thinking. They will both sell and will not need to ship back. I told him I was going to go out to the awards reception in Idaho Falls and then over to see the Grand Tetons, which are only an hour and a half from Idaho Falls, and he said yea, be sure to go and pick up your awards in person. Geez, one of those positive attitude guys, but I like that picture, go to Idaho Falls, win some awards, go over to the Grand Tetons and look in awe at one of the most beautiful places in the world, and then walk around Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
One thing about baking your own bread, store bought bread doesn't taste good anymore, it takes like air, especially the loaves that are under $5, which isn't many nowadays. I baked bread last weekend, even though it was way too hot, but I did not mow the lawn. It cooled off enough for me to mow it on Wednesday, which I did to the sound of my neighbor on the other side of Sarah and Joe playing acoustic guitar. He's pretty good.
I picked two strawberries and ate them, I figure I have about 10 more left that will grow on my 6 plants. I picked my first cucumber with gloves and scrubbed off the prickles, which wasn't hard. When I picked the cucumber, I noticed my first green pepper,
And my one blueberry,
Sarah's blueberry has blueberries for the first time, probably because of the blueberry friends I planted, but it looks like I am only going to get one this year.
I am set up to paint this weekend and maybe I will finally get to the next enlightenment topic, which I seem to be avoiding for some reason.
Monday, July 18, 2011
Cucumbers and Onions
Yesterday it reached 100 degrees. I had to move the cucumber off the patio. I went out tonight to take a picture of the big yellow-orange flowers on the cucumber and I have a cucumber,
I did not know cucumbers are prickly-hairy, like the cucumber branches. I have not noticed any green peppers yet, but they have flowers, too,
This picture is before I ripped out the peas, the last one left was tough, the pea plants are done.
Dad sent something on onions and mayonnaise,
In 1919 when the flu killed 40 million people there was this Doctor that visited the many farmers to see if he could help them combat the flu. Many of the farmers and their family had contracted it and many died.
The doctor came upon this one farmer and to his surprise, everyone was very healthy. When the doctor asked what the farmer was doing that was different the wife replied that she had placed an unpeeled onion in a dish in the rooms of the home, (probably only two rooms back then). The doctor couldn't believe it and asked if he could have one of the onions and place it under the microscope. She gave him one and when he did this, he did find the flu virus in the onion. It obviously absorbed the bacteria, therefore, keeping the family healthy.
Now there is a P. S. to this for I sent it to a friend in Oregon who regularly contributes material to me on health issues. She replied with this most interesting experience about onions:
Thanks for the reminder. I don't know about the farmers story but I do know that I contacted pneumonia and needless to say I was very ill. I came across an article that said to cut both ends off an onion put it into an empty jar, placing the jar next to the sick patient at night. It said the onion would be black in the morning from the germs. Sure enough it happened just like that, the onion was a mess and I began to feel better.
Lots of times when we have stomach problems we don't know what to blame. Maybe it's the onions that are to blame. Onions absorb bacteria is the reason they are so good at preventing us from getting colds and flu's and is the very reason we shouldn't eat an onion that has been sitting for a time after it has been cut open.
LEFT OVER ONIONS ARE POISONOUS
I had the wonderful privilege of touring Mullins Food Products, Makers of mayonnaise. Mullins is huge, and is owned by 11 brothers and sisters in the Mullins family. My friend, Jeanne, is the CEO.
Questions about food poisoning came up, and I wanted to share what I learned from a chemist.
The guy who gave us our tour is named Ed. He's one of the brothers Ed is a chemistry expert and is involved in developing most of the sauce formula. He's even developed sauce formula for McDonald's.
Keep in mind that Ed is a food chemistry whiz. During the tour, someone asked if we really needed to worry about mayonnaise. People are always worried that mayonnaise will spoil. Ed's answer will surprise you. Ed said that all commercially made Mayo is completely safe.
"It doesn't even have to be refrigerated. No harm in refrigerating it, but it's not really necessary." He explained that the pH in mayonnaise is set at a point that bacteria could not survive in that environment. He then talked about the quaint essential picnic, with the bowl of potato salad sitting on the table and how everyone blames the mayonnaise when someone gets sick.
Ed says that when food poisoning is reported, the first thing the officials look for is when the 'victim' last ate ONIONS and where those onions came from (in the potato salad?) Ed says it's not the mayonnaise (as long as it's not homemade Mayo) that spoils in the outdoors. It's probably the onions, and if not the onions, it's the POTATOES.
He explained, onions are a huge magnet for bacteria, especially uncooked onions. You should never plan to keep a portion of a sliced onion. He says it's not even safe if you put it in a zip-lock bag and put it in your refrigerator.
It's already contaminated enough just by being cut open and out for a bit, that it can be a danger to you (and doubly watch out for those onions you put in your hotdogs at the baseball park!)
Ed says if you take the leftover onion and cook it like crazy you'll probably be okay, but if you slice that leftover onion and put on your sandwich, you're asking for trouble. Both the onions and the moist potato in a potato salad, will attract and grow bacteria faster than any commercial mayonnaise will even begin to break down.
I will never use leftover onion again and no more onions on my hot dog at the baseball park. I love onions on my hot dog at the baseball park.
I finished four drawings for studies, stretched some watercolor paper, and picked out a painting for Mom and added a mat to it yesterday, but it got too hot to paint. It is supposed to start cooling off tomorrow.
Too bad the 405 freeway reopened on time after being closed at the Sepulveda pass over the weekend. I wanted to see the mess it would cause, now that I am safely here in Idaho. We have freeways here in Idaho, the speed limit is 75 mph, there are rarely more than 2 lanes each way, and there is hardly ever any traffic.
I did not know cucumbers are prickly-hairy, like the cucumber branches. I have not noticed any green peppers yet, but they have flowers, too,
This picture is before I ripped out the peas, the last one left was tough, the pea plants are done.
Dad sent something on onions and mayonnaise,
In 1919 when the flu killed 40 million people there was this Doctor that visited the many farmers to see if he could help them combat the flu. Many of the farmers and their family had contracted it and many died.
The doctor came upon this one farmer and to his surprise, everyone was very healthy. When the doctor asked what the farmer was doing that was different the wife replied that she had placed an unpeeled onion in a dish in the rooms of the home, (probably only two rooms back then). The doctor couldn't believe it and asked if he could have one of the onions and place it under the microscope. She gave him one and when he did this, he did find the flu virus in the onion. It obviously absorbed the bacteria, therefore, keeping the family healthy.
Now there is a P. S. to this for I sent it to a friend in Oregon who regularly contributes material to me on health issues. She replied with this most interesting experience about onions:
Thanks for the reminder. I don't know about the farmers story but I do know that I contacted pneumonia and needless to say I was very ill. I came across an article that said to cut both ends off an onion put it into an empty jar, placing the jar next to the sick patient at night. It said the onion would be black in the morning from the germs. Sure enough it happened just like that, the onion was a mess and I began to feel better.
Lots of times when we have stomach problems we don't know what to blame. Maybe it's the onions that are to blame. Onions absorb bacteria is the reason they are so good at preventing us from getting colds and flu's and is the very reason we shouldn't eat an onion that has been sitting for a time after it has been cut open.
LEFT OVER ONIONS ARE POISONOUS
I had the wonderful privilege of touring Mullins Food Products, Makers of mayonnaise. Mullins is huge, and is owned by 11 brothers and sisters in the Mullins family. My friend, Jeanne, is the CEO.
Questions about food poisoning came up, and I wanted to share what I learned from a chemist.
The guy who gave us our tour is named Ed. He's one of the brothers Ed is a chemistry expert and is involved in developing most of the sauce formula. He's even developed sauce formula for McDonald's.
Keep in mind that Ed is a food chemistry whiz. During the tour, someone asked if we really needed to worry about mayonnaise. People are always worried that mayonnaise will spoil. Ed's answer will surprise you. Ed said that all commercially made Mayo is completely safe.
"It doesn't even have to be refrigerated. No harm in refrigerating it, but it's not really necessary." He explained that the pH in mayonnaise is set at a point that bacteria could not survive in that environment. He then talked about the quaint essential picnic, with the bowl of potato salad sitting on the table and how everyone blames the mayonnaise when someone gets sick.
Ed says that when food poisoning is reported, the first thing the officials look for is when the 'victim' last ate ONIONS and where those onions came from (in the potato salad?) Ed says it's not the mayonnaise (as long as it's not homemade Mayo) that spoils in the outdoors. It's probably the onions, and if not the onions, it's the POTATOES.
He explained, onions are a huge magnet for bacteria, especially uncooked onions. You should never plan to keep a portion of a sliced onion. He says it's not even safe if you put it in a zip-lock bag and put it in your refrigerator.
It's already contaminated enough just by being cut open and out for a bit, that it can be a danger to you (and doubly watch out for those onions you put in your hotdogs at the baseball park!)
Ed says if you take the leftover onion and cook it like crazy you'll probably be okay, but if you slice that leftover onion and put on your sandwich, you're asking for trouble. Both the onions and the moist potato in a potato salad, will attract and grow bacteria faster than any commercial mayonnaise will even begin to break down.
I will never use leftover onion again and no more onions on my hot dog at the baseball park. I love onions on my hot dog at the baseball park.
I finished four drawings for studies, stretched some watercolor paper, and picked out a painting for Mom and added a mat to it yesterday, but it got too hot to paint. It is supposed to start cooling off tomorrow.
Too bad the 405 freeway reopened on time after being closed at the Sepulveda pass over the weekend. I wanted to see the mess it would cause, now that I am safely here in Idaho. We have freeways here in Idaho, the speed limit is 75 mph, there are rarely more than 2 lanes each way, and there is hardly ever any traffic.
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Hypersensitivity
I started the five Tibetan rites. They are supposed to increase my metabolism and keep me young. I am only up to four reps, but I already have more energy. There are a million web sites on them, I will let you pick your own, if you are interested.
I finished another painting, which now I don't like. I wanted to do another one of Glenn's Ferry for Mom for her birthday, since she wanted an Idaho landscape, but I really don't like how it came out, so I will pick her out something else. In the last painting I did of Glenn's Ferry I did not like how I lost the yellow flowers in the foreground, so I picked another angle that shows off the flowers better, but it looks like two paintings in one, too much foreground, too much background, no subject. This one was bigger, 7 1/2 by 10 1/2, but now I am going back to studies, maybe of baby geese.
The weekend is flying by. Having a job is interfering with my work.
It is really hot here for a few days and then storm clouds roll in for a day and it rains and cools off, and then it is really hot again. Clouds rolled in late yesterday afternoon and last night the loudest thunder I ever heard woke me up. I sounded like a boom over my house and I thought the world was coming to an end. It was hot and clear all day and now the clouds have rolled in again. I really like it. Thursday morning I got to work and a girl I work with was standing outside just to look at the clouds, which were covering the sky and puffy. Sorry, I don't know my cloud types or I would name the type, I did not like science class.
Floating season started last Friday. Whoever is in charge of the Boise River water levels was finally able to lower the level enough so that people can float down the river, which I guess is a big pastime here. I'm not trying it, the last time I floated down a river in an inner tube I got the worst sunburn of my life and could barely walk or wear clothes for days.
Not that I have been here almost a year and have a job I am thinking, or actually feeling, how I am different.
I am hyper-sensitive and my friend once told me that sensitivity can be a character defect. Sensitivity is not really the defect, the defect is an inability to deal with your sensitivity, which can make you react inappropriately, or make you shut down trying to keep what you sense out. Imagine being hypersensitive and walking around LA assaulted by a barrage of negative energy from everyone you encounter, or working at a job where most people hate you and each other. A sensitive person has to find a way to either block it out or deal with it. I once sat at a job with my office next to the President of the company and for three months I knew he was going to fire me and I waited for the ax every payday. It was excruciating. Turns out there were three months of conversations in his office about firing me until he finally did.
If you learned how to use your sensitivity as a kid to defend yourself, then sensitivity also gets a scary angle to it, sensing something, or intuiting something, must mean potential harm. I think that may be a big reason I cut myself off from my art, my artist cannot exist without my hypersensitivity, but I could not at all handle being hypersensitive. Then I started to paint again and had to learn.
People talk about wanting a sign, don't ask for one of those without also asking for the ability to handle it if you get it. Some are so simple that you might miss them and some hit you like a hammer. It has been more than three years since a sign that hit me like a hammer and I am now finally feeling able to sit down and ask for a follow up.
If I was truly enlightened, I could be hypersensitive anywhere, but I'm not. Here in Idaho I feel more and more intuitive and it feels safe. I don't feel the same need to protect myself, which usually comes out as me looking unapproachable. Maybe it is the natural beauty, maybe it is less people, maybe it is more people who are sensitive like me, maybe it that I can feel the presence of God here and I could not feel it in So Cal.
I sit at work and I can tell what people are worrying about and what they will do about it without feeling like I need to do anything about it, like an observer. (Except knowing to ignore the talker, she will suck me down with her.) Then I have dinner with my friends here and think, without the events over the last few years I would not be here, at this moment, with these good people.
I feel serenity and there must be a link between feeling serenity and seeing more clearly and intuition. Even so, I'm still wondering what that sign was all about and what I am doing here in Idaho. Another problem with big signs is that they make you feel like you are part of something important, or maybe that is what is left of my ego talking.
I finished another painting, which now I don't like. I wanted to do another one of Glenn's Ferry for Mom for her birthday, since she wanted an Idaho landscape, but I really don't like how it came out, so I will pick her out something else. In the last painting I did of Glenn's Ferry I did not like how I lost the yellow flowers in the foreground, so I picked another angle that shows off the flowers better, but it looks like two paintings in one, too much foreground, too much background, no subject. This one was bigger, 7 1/2 by 10 1/2, but now I am going back to studies, maybe of baby geese.
The weekend is flying by. Having a job is interfering with my work.
It is really hot here for a few days and then storm clouds roll in for a day and it rains and cools off, and then it is really hot again. Clouds rolled in late yesterday afternoon and last night the loudest thunder I ever heard woke me up. I sounded like a boom over my house and I thought the world was coming to an end. It was hot and clear all day and now the clouds have rolled in again. I really like it. Thursday morning I got to work and a girl I work with was standing outside just to look at the clouds, which were covering the sky and puffy. Sorry, I don't know my cloud types or I would name the type, I did not like science class.
Floating season started last Friday. Whoever is in charge of the Boise River water levels was finally able to lower the level enough so that people can float down the river, which I guess is a big pastime here. I'm not trying it, the last time I floated down a river in an inner tube I got the worst sunburn of my life and could barely walk or wear clothes for days.
Not that I have been here almost a year and have a job I am thinking, or actually feeling, how I am different.
I am hyper-sensitive and my friend once told me that sensitivity can be a character defect. Sensitivity is not really the defect, the defect is an inability to deal with your sensitivity, which can make you react inappropriately, or make you shut down trying to keep what you sense out. Imagine being hypersensitive and walking around LA assaulted by a barrage of negative energy from everyone you encounter, or working at a job where most people hate you and each other. A sensitive person has to find a way to either block it out or deal with it. I once sat at a job with my office next to the President of the company and for three months I knew he was going to fire me and I waited for the ax every payday. It was excruciating. Turns out there were three months of conversations in his office about firing me until he finally did.
If you learned how to use your sensitivity as a kid to defend yourself, then sensitivity also gets a scary angle to it, sensing something, or intuiting something, must mean potential harm. I think that may be a big reason I cut myself off from my art, my artist cannot exist without my hypersensitivity, but I could not at all handle being hypersensitive. Then I started to paint again and had to learn.
People talk about wanting a sign, don't ask for one of those without also asking for the ability to handle it if you get it. Some are so simple that you might miss them and some hit you like a hammer. It has been more than three years since a sign that hit me like a hammer and I am now finally feeling able to sit down and ask for a follow up.
If I was truly enlightened, I could be hypersensitive anywhere, but I'm not. Here in Idaho I feel more and more intuitive and it feels safe. I don't feel the same need to protect myself, which usually comes out as me looking unapproachable. Maybe it is the natural beauty, maybe it is less people, maybe it is more people who are sensitive like me, maybe it that I can feel the presence of God here and I could not feel it in So Cal.
I sit at work and I can tell what people are worrying about and what they will do about it without feeling like I need to do anything about it, like an observer. (Except knowing to ignore the talker, she will suck me down with her.) Then I have dinner with my friends here and think, without the events over the last few years I would not be here, at this moment, with these good people.
I feel serenity and there must be a link between feeling serenity and seeing more clearly and intuition. Even so, I'm still wondering what that sign was all about and what I am doing here in Idaho. Another problem with big signs is that they make you feel like you are part of something important, or maybe that is what is left of my ego talking.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Too Much Talking
Now that they are banished to the backyard only, Spit is more insistent on her evening brushing and Cruiser is taken with drinking from the garden hose. He is insistent and laps from the running hose as I try to water my plants. The peas appear to be done and the pea plants are looking a bit ratty, I only got a handful of peas, but hopefully next year I will be able to plant them earlier and get a bigger crop. The strawberries and the cucumber plants are huge, and I am glad the strawberries are contained in a planter, although they probably could have used one to themselves. The cucumber is full of orange-yellow flowers and soon I will have to let its branches loose to grow across the lawn.
My theory on the loss of the green chili plant is that I left it in that "green" growing pot. You know the one that they wrap with plastic and you are just supposed to take the plastic off and leave it in the pot made of mulch? It is green because there is no plastic pot. The dirt in the planter on the patio gets really warm and I think that mulch pot kept too much warm around that plant, which killed it. If I do that again, I am throwing away the mulch pot along with the plastic wrapper.
I finished the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and moved on to the next one, the Girl Who Played with Fire. I was going to take a break and read another author in between, but I didn't. I do not remember being annoyed by the male fantasy version of promiscuous sex in the first book, but I am now. A happily married, successful woman has been having an affair with the same guy for 20 years with her husband's blessing? Yea, right, I'm tired of reading about it, and I'm tired of lesbians, I want story.
At work, I have one woman in a cube next to me and one across from me. The one next to me talks to herself quietly pretty often, but today she had a running conversation with herself. As a group we got in trouble for talking, and the girl next to me will not stop talking, and she's louder and directs her comments to me as if they need an answer, so I started ignoring her. She's still talking, but now to herself. Sometimes she berates herself in the 3rd person, like Gollum in Lord of the Rings. Between that and the other dysfunctions, I felt like an observer in a nuthouse today.
My right small toe looked funky over the winter and now I see it is red in between the two small toes. I showed two girls at work and they thought it might be athlete's foot or an ulcer. Athlete's foot! Gross! My small toe has been banged up so much in its life that there is no way for air to get between the two smallest toes. So I went to the store and bought Epsom salts. Then I cleaned the shower. I thought it was pretty clean until I sprayed it with Lime A Way, which made white streaks through the dirt. Then I soaked my feet and cleaned between my toes and tried to get some air flow between them. Then I was beat tired.
Tonight I got my hair cut and it was another night without the chance to paint and I am feeling irritated.
I was going to write about dealing with hyper-sensitivity and the next enlightenment topic that I keep putting off because it is one that makes my head explode, Individuality, but I will save those for the weekend.
My theory on the loss of the green chili plant is that I left it in that "green" growing pot. You know the one that they wrap with plastic and you are just supposed to take the plastic off and leave it in the pot made of mulch? It is green because there is no plastic pot. The dirt in the planter on the patio gets really warm and I think that mulch pot kept too much warm around that plant, which killed it. If I do that again, I am throwing away the mulch pot along with the plastic wrapper.
I finished the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and moved on to the next one, the Girl Who Played with Fire. I was going to take a break and read another author in between, but I didn't. I do not remember being annoyed by the male fantasy version of promiscuous sex in the first book, but I am now. A happily married, successful woman has been having an affair with the same guy for 20 years with her husband's blessing? Yea, right, I'm tired of reading about it, and I'm tired of lesbians, I want story.
At work, I have one woman in a cube next to me and one across from me. The one next to me talks to herself quietly pretty often, but today she had a running conversation with herself. As a group we got in trouble for talking, and the girl next to me will not stop talking, and she's louder and directs her comments to me as if they need an answer, so I started ignoring her. She's still talking, but now to herself. Sometimes she berates herself in the 3rd person, like Gollum in Lord of the Rings. Between that and the other dysfunctions, I felt like an observer in a nuthouse today.
My right small toe looked funky over the winter and now I see it is red in between the two small toes. I showed two girls at work and they thought it might be athlete's foot or an ulcer. Athlete's foot! Gross! My small toe has been banged up so much in its life that there is no way for air to get between the two smallest toes. So I went to the store and bought Epsom salts. Then I cleaned the shower. I thought it was pretty clean until I sprayed it with Lime A Way, which made white streaks through the dirt. Then I soaked my feet and cleaned between my toes and tried to get some air flow between them. Then I was beat tired.
Tonight I got my hair cut and it was another night without the chance to paint and I am feeling irritated.
I was going to write about dealing with hyper-sensitivity and the next enlightenment topic that I keep putting off because it is one that makes my head explode, Individuality, but I will save those for the weekend.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Hillbillies and Flowers
Wednesday night it was too hot to sleep, so I finally broke down and turned on the air conditioning. Clouds rolled in on Thursday morning and threatened rain until just before I left from work, and then it poured and thundered. I got home and Spit would not come out from under the bed, even for dinner. I went right out again and met some people for dinner and by the time dinner was over the sun was out and I looked silly in my rain jacket. When I got home Spit was out from under the bed, hey, where's my dinner? The rain finally cooled things off so I could sleep.
I went out for dinner again on Friday night, both dinners were for Christelle's birthday and both included someone else that was paying for her dinner. I'm happy she included me and happy to have somewhat of a life today, but two nights out is busy for me.
Cruiser is warring with the neighbors cats and it is getting really old. The neighbor's cats sit safely in their own yard and Cruiser is having a fit on the other side of the fence as if he is fighting for his life. I finally went out and bought some stones and barricaded both of his tunnels. When I was done, he would not go out, just laid on the kitchen floor like he didn't care. How do they know?
Down and across the street from me is this house,
This is their side yard,
Even the windowsills are full of junk and all the drapes are always closed. They were cleaning up in front and hauled away half of the falling fence and a falling apart picnic table. Turns out, they were making room for the trailer. A truck hauled the trailer in and a man and a woman both gave directions on how to back the thing in. I couldn't hear the guy, but the woman loudly barked instructions non-stop. She wasn't much help, since it seemed to take forever. The trailer is on blocks and I figure someone is living in it.
Across the street at the end of my walk is this amazing piece of ingenuity,
The Harley-rider behind me owns his store, his house next to the store, and the house next to him where his son lives with his family. Next to the son's house is a tiny lot that was for sale by owner since I moved in, now it has a realtor sign. A few weeks after the realtor sign, he put up two no trespassing, no parking signs. Problem is, the son has five cars parked most of the time on his lot anyway. Here are some weeds in my alley with the lot (parked cars out of view) in the background,
Nice looking weeds. I have some right next to my garage that I was going to pull up, until I noticed the blue flowers that are only there in the morning.
Here is that stream part the graveyard that I cross on my walk,
How big does a stream have to be before it becomes a river?
In the graveyard are these trees that smell like jasmine,
The flowers don't look like much, but smell great. I think they are elm trees, but I can't find anything about elm trees having flowers.
Did you know that California poppies are native to Idaho? Several people on my walk have them filling up their median, although they are fading now. Here is a flower tour from my walk,
I am most impressed with the lilies, since you can't grow them in So Cal, not including the daylilies, and I always like sweat peas, the flower, those are growing across the street almost on their own. The tree growing those weird looking pink fuzzy branches is about 12 feet tall. I think it is really unusual looking, but I would not want one in my yard, and they would be impossible to paint. I was surprised to see so much lavender here, but this weekend was the 7th Annual Lakeside Lavender You Cut Festival. I didn't go, I started another painting instead.
My friend reminded me that last weekend's studies are a breakthrough. I paint water colors in layers and I have trouble with dark darks. This is fine when painting people, I layer up the skin tones, which gives great luminous color, but it takes confidence to get darks in watercolor, they have to be put down dark in the first place. I can layer over darks maybe twice, three times, and then they get muddy and the pigment starts coming up and they won't get darker. I also think I am cheap with paint, hey, I'm poor. In last weekend's studies I tried for some drama and contrast and put those darks down dark in the first place. That comes from some confidence from painting all the time.
The landlord sent in something for me to renew my lease for a year, which was due back by July 1. I sent it in and renewed my lease and it felt weird to commit myself to another year even though I love it here.
I went out for dinner again on Friday night, both dinners were for Christelle's birthday and both included someone else that was paying for her dinner. I'm happy she included me and happy to have somewhat of a life today, but two nights out is busy for me.
Cruiser is warring with the neighbors cats and it is getting really old. The neighbor's cats sit safely in their own yard and Cruiser is having a fit on the other side of the fence as if he is fighting for his life. I finally went out and bought some stones and barricaded both of his tunnels. When I was done, he would not go out, just laid on the kitchen floor like he didn't care. How do they know?
Down and across the street from me is this house,
This is their side yard,
Even the windowsills are full of junk and all the drapes are always closed. They were cleaning up in front and hauled away half of the falling fence and a falling apart picnic table. Turns out, they were making room for the trailer. A truck hauled the trailer in and a man and a woman both gave directions on how to back the thing in. I couldn't hear the guy, but the woman loudly barked instructions non-stop. She wasn't much help, since it seemed to take forever. The trailer is on blocks and I figure someone is living in it.
Across the street at the end of my walk is this amazing piece of ingenuity,
The Harley-rider behind me owns his store, his house next to the store, and the house next to him where his son lives with his family. Next to the son's house is a tiny lot that was for sale by owner since I moved in, now it has a realtor sign. A few weeks after the realtor sign, he put up two no trespassing, no parking signs. Problem is, the son has five cars parked most of the time on his lot anyway. Here are some weeds in my alley with the lot (parked cars out of view) in the background,
Nice looking weeds. I have some right next to my garage that I was going to pull up, until I noticed the blue flowers that are only there in the morning.
Here is that stream part the graveyard that I cross on my walk,
How big does a stream have to be before it becomes a river?
In the graveyard are these trees that smell like jasmine,
The flowers don't look like much, but smell great. I think they are elm trees, but I can't find anything about elm trees having flowers.
Did you know that California poppies are native to Idaho? Several people on my walk have them filling up their median, although they are fading now. Here is a flower tour from my walk,
I am most impressed with the lilies, since you can't grow them in So Cal, not including the daylilies, and I always like sweat peas, the flower, those are growing across the street almost on their own. The tree growing those weird looking pink fuzzy branches is about 12 feet tall. I think it is really unusual looking, but I would not want one in my yard, and they would be impossible to paint. I was surprised to see so much lavender here, but this weekend was the 7th Annual Lakeside Lavender You Cut Festival. I didn't go, I started another painting instead.
My friend reminded me that last weekend's studies are a breakthrough. I paint water colors in layers and I have trouble with dark darks. This is fine when painting people, I layer up the skin tones, which gives great luminous color, but it takes confidence to get darks in watercolor, they have to be put down dark in the first place. I can layer over darks maybe twice, three times, and then they get muddy and the pigment starts coming up and they won't get darker. I also think I am cheap with paint, hey, I'm poor. In last weekend's studies I tried for some drama and contrast and put those darks down dark in the first place. That comes from some confidence from painting all the time.
The landlord sent in something for me to renew my lease for a year, which was due back by July 1. I sent it in and renewed my lease and it felt weird to commit myself to another year even though I love it here.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Camping
It's hot. In the 90's for a week and expected to continue. People like to say Boise has a dry heat, but it is a dry heat like Simi Valley, not a dry heat like Vegas. It was even hot in Idaho City on our way to camping.
We camped on a mining claim outside of Idaho City. We took our time getting there and stopped for an ice cream, even though the trip wasn't a disaster yet. It is hard to believe the last time I was in Idaho City it was freezing and Sunday afternoon I was walking outside in a tank top and eating an ice cream. We took a look inside a bar that still looks like it is before the turn of the century, but first we had to wait for this biker girl to come out the door. She looked at us and called us campers, which I do not think she meant as a compliment. She should have let us go on in, since we waited 10 minutes for a leisurely stream of at least 10 bikers to spill out of the bar before we could go in. Half of the stream were women and while we waited, we were amused by the wide variety of large, ill-shaped breasts and decided this is a biker-chick requirement.
We pulled into the road to the mining claim and stopped when we got to the river,
Just down the way, we made camp,
not too far from this part of the river, which was running fast and freezing cold,
And on the opposite side of camp were meadows full of wildflowers,
I bought myself a camp chair, which came with the following disclaimers,
This chair holds a maximum of 225 lbs, exceeding this limit may cause personal injury.
Care should be taken to avoid tipping while seated.
Use chair only on level surface.
To avoid injuries to fingers, use care when folding the chair.
You know these warnings would be there, but really? I can see the chair being partly responsible for pinched fingers, but if you tip out of the chair because it is not on a level surface and fall and hit your head, is the chair liable? The chair was not actively responsible for the injury to your head. My chair came with one cup holder, but Margo's came with three, with a "shelf" feature really being an excuse for two more cup holders. Seems to me that to avoid tipping, there should be a maximum of one cup holder.
I did not need a mat, I slept on a 10 inch thick mat of pine needles, and I brought my chair, sleeping bag, emergency supplies, breakfast, including the apple bread, and metal camp mugs. Margo supplied the rest. Most of her stuff was second-hand or found and I was impressed. The only thing we thought we missed was a water bucket, and we should have planned the fire bucket better and placed it on rocks or something not flammable. Margo made fun of me making a deal about adding bug spray to my emergency pack, until we really needed it at about 6 pm.
When we left, as my thank you offering I left a set of colored threads from my sewing kit for the birds.
On my way home from Margo's I drove along the part of the rim which is above Ann Morrison Park, just down from my house. At 2 in the afternoon, chairs and people were lining up for the 4th of July view. After my peaceful day in the forest, the last thing I wanted to do was be in that crowd, so I did not go. Besides, Margo reminded me that it does not get dark in Boise until after 10, which means late fireworks until at least 11 pm on a work night. Neighborhood noise followed the park fireworks noise, so who knows when it got quiet, but I fell asleep anyway. Someone at work today said it was a really good year for fireworks sales.
Yesterday evening I picked some of my sweet peas and ate some out of the pod and then some I ate the whole pod, peas and all. They were the best peas I've ever had.
We camped on a mining claim outside of Idaho City. We took our time getting there and stopped for an ice cream, even though the trip wasn't a disaster yet. It is hard to believe the last time I was in Idaho City it was freezing and Sunday afternoon I was walking outside in a tank top and eating an ice cream. We took a look inside a bar that still looks like it is before the turn of the century, but first we had to wait for this biker girl to come out the door. She looked at us and called us campers, which I do not think she meant as a compliment. She should have let us go on in, since we waited 10 minutes for a leisurely stream of at least 10 bikers to spill out of the bar before we could go in. Half of the stream were women and while we waited, we were amused by the wide variety of large, ill-shaped breasts and decided this is a biker-chick requirement.
We pulled into the road to the mining claim and stopped when we got to the river,
Just down the way, we made camp,
not too far from this part of the river, which was running fast and freezing cold,
And on the opposite side of camp were meadows full of wildflowers,
I bought myself a camp chair, which came with the following disclaimers,
This chair holds a maximum of 225 lbs, exceeding this limit may cause personal injury.
Care should be taken to avoid tipping while seated.
Use chair only on level surface.
To avoid injuries to fingers, use care when folding the chair.
You know these warnings would be there, but really? I can see the chair being partly responsible for pinched fingers, but if you tip out of the chair because it is not on a level surface and fall and hit your head, is the chair liable? The chair was not actively responsible for the injury to your head. My chair came with one cup holder, but Margo's came with three, with a "shelf" feature really being an excuse for two more cup holders. Seems to me that to avoid tipping, there should be a maximum of one cup holder.
I did not need a mat, I slept on a 10 inch thick mat of pine needles, and I brought my chair, sleeping bag, emergency supplies, breakfast, including the apple bread, and metal camp mugs. Margo supplied the rest. Most of her stuff was second-hand or found and I was impressed. The only thing we thought we missed was a water bucket, and we should have planned the fire bucket better and placed it on rocks or something not flammable. Margo made fun of me making a deal about adding bug spray to my emergency pack, until we really needed it at about 6 pm.
When we left, as my thank you offering I left a set of colored threads from my sewing kit for the birds.
On my way home from Margo's I drove along the part of the rim which is above Ann Morrison Park, just down from my house. At 2 in the afternoon, chairs and people were lining up for the 4th of July view. After my peaceful day in the forest, the last thing I wanted to do was be in that crowd, so I did not go. Besides, Margo reminded me that it does not get dark in Boise until after 10, which means late fireworks until at least 11 pm on a work night. Neighborhood noise followed the park fireworks noise, so who knows when it got quiet, but I fell asleep anyway. Someone at work today said it was a really good year for fireworks sales.
Yesterday evening I picked some of my sweet peas and ate some out of the pod and then some I ate the whole pod, peas and all. They were the best peas I've ever had.
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Squeaky Wheel and Studies
Bob's Bikes, which is near my work, was having a free safety check for a few days, so I roade over first thing yesterday morning. I figured they would be packed for the 4th of July weekend. I take it back, my work is two miles from my house, so I road two miles to Bob's with my squeaky front wheel. I beat the crowd by getting there when they opened at 10 am. My bike is perfectly safe, but had a front wheel running on one bearing. It should have about nine. They made an exception, since they usually don't do repair work on Saturdays, and fixed my front tire for $16. My ride back was much better.
Yesterday I finished two studies,
I tend to be whimpy with my darks, maybe I am cheap about using too much pigment, so I worked on getting some good darks and some contrast.
I mowed the lawn and had to reset the sprinkler timer and water, which made a pool of mud in the cat's tunnel. That did not deter them for a minute and both were covered with mud when I made them come in last night. Tia is home, that is slowing them down a bit.
This morning I got ready to camp and baked some apple bread to take with,
Off to camp, happy 4th of July and get well soon to Lani.
Yesterday I finished two studies,
I tend to be whimpy with my darks, maybe I am cheap about using too much pigment, so I worked on getting some good darks and some contrast.
I mowed the lawn and had to reset the sprinkler timer and water, which made a pool of mud in the cat's tunnel. That did not deter them for a minute and both were covered with mud when I made them come in last night. Tia is home, that is slowing them down a bit.
This morning I got ready to camp and baked some apple bread to take with,
Off to camp, happy 4th of July and get well soon to Lani.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)