Mind Games: The Good Kind

After watching this clip of the products of our Unionized American Education system. It reminded me of "The Night of the Living Dead". Brain dead zombies who only want to destroy the living. The scary thing is that these brain dead zombies actually VOTE and make decisions that affect the rest of us. Be afraid.....be very afraid.

I appreciate my parents more and more every day. They taught us to think, reason and to learn.

A quick background:

When I was a child, we traveled the US. Traveled, A LOT. My parents, myself and my younger brother. We were basically gypsies and lived in a trailer that we hauled behind a string of station wagons.

Here is a photo of the trailer in the background.


I think we were in San Antonio at the time. My brother was very much into Davy Crockett (can you tell?) and we were going to the Alamo. Nice bangs, huh? Hair cutting might not have been my mother's forte.

The traveling was for my parents' jobs. They were both Union Printers back when printing was a highly skilled occupation. Today, anyone who can use a word processor and a keyboard can work in the industry. Back then, it was hot lead type and required math skills.

As Union card holders, they could "pull a traveling card". This meant that you could go into any newspaper and see if anyone was looking for a "sub". This means that the permanent employee would like to take his vacation or some extra time off, and then my parents could step in and work in their place. As a result of this lifestyle we moved from town to town and my brother and I went to many different schools in a year. I remember, and have been told, at least 8 in my second grade year.

In the 50's traveling in the car wasn't entertaining or really much fun. No air-conditioning. AM Radio with spotty reception. No seat belts. Traveling through Arizona on Route 66 for the fourth or fifth time, with two irritable fighting children in the back seat, my parents must have been out of their minds. To beat the heat, we used a window hung evaporative cooler (like the one in the photo) and hung canvas bags of water in front of the radiator to keep the car from boiling over. My parents would take turns driving and would place wet towels on the arm that was exposed to the blistering sun to keep from blistering themselves.



So...to entertain us and try to keep our collective sanity, we played "Mind Games", sang songs in rounds and in harmony and we practiced our reading skills on road signs and of course Burma Shave signs.

One of the favorite Mind Games was: "I'm Thinking of a Thing".

You had to specify it was Animal, Mineral, or Vegetable or a blend of the three Then the game was to ask questions that could only be answered by Yes or No. It really made us think and think logically. We could while away hours playing this game.

If the thing was "A Mink Coat", it was Animal.
"is it a living animal" No
"is it a part of an animal" Yes
"do we have one of these" No
"does anyone we know have one" Yes

And so on, until we guessed it or gave up and the person won that round. My brother was really good at picking things that we could never ever guess. A feather.

My mother or father would read stories to us during these long long drives and read from historical novels and text books and we would discuss, ask questions and absorb the information like the little mind sponges that children are. We played a game where we would add up the numbers on the license plates ahead of us and see who got the right answer first. My mother usually won because the rest of us are math challenged. We would name the animals that we have seen and see who got the most between towns. Who could spot the most cars from different States. My brother and I, take turns reading the road signs. And when we were all tired out, climb over the back seat and go to sleep on the pillows and blankets in the back of the wagon. I imagine that was a huge relief for my parents. Blessed silence.

Every day, I thank my parents for giving me a really unique and wonderful childhood and encouraging us to learn and to think.

Martin Guitars: A GREAT Company

I just discovered that the guitar that I bought, well actually my father bought, for me in 1967 is still under warranty 43 years later. Now this is a true and lasting value from a great American company.

And.....no need to do the math...OK.

My father bought a guitar for me to replace the Gibson that I had been playing for several years. The Gibson was stolen in 1966 and I was very bummed out. You could say those words with a straight face in 1966. Bummed out. I had been playing for some time and had taken lessons in a store in the San Jose general area from a guy who was about 8 years or so older than me at the time, he also gave my Dad some lessons too. He turned out to be someone famous. One day in San Francisco, I was at a concert and saw him playing with a group. Jefferson Airplane. You might have heard of him Jorma Kaukonen. So cool. I hadn't had lessons in quite a few years by then but I still remembered him as Jerry that kind of cute but much much older than me guy who could play the guitar pretty good and tried to teach me a few chords. Jorma.....lol who made that name up?

Sooooo anyway. Back to the guitar. I had just turned 17. (I told you DON'T do the math.) Since I was playing in front of larger crowds by this time, doing USO shows as well as gigs in auditoriums and other large venues we decided to step up to a bigger box guitar. A Martin D-18. Dreadnought. I loved that guitar. What a sound! I continued to play and sing for some years and performed in coffee houses and cocktail lounges in the Bay Area and other places, sometimes in a group or as a solo act doing blues, soft rock and folk gigs. I even took my guitar to Ireland and England for a summer with a girl friend who had a boyfriend there and we sang and played our way around the country. I was into Irish music at that particular time.

After a few more years and having moved around a lot, college, working, marriage, a family. I gradually gave up playing so much and eventually I put the Martin in the case and just brought it out occaisonally and then rarely.

Over time the tension on the strings of any guitar will cause the neck to bend a bit and lift the strings from the frets so that the action is not as low as it should be. It makes it hard to play on the upper frets and bar cords become troublesome. Especially for hands that are .....well....seasoned. My Martin was no different.

The neck has to be reset completely. Possibly the bridge lowered. In addition over time the pick guard lifted a bit and created a crack. Plus the neck arch makes it very difficult to tune. The cost to repair would be huge. I was very "bummed out".

Through some conversations on the net....I discovered that the Martin Company has a lifetime warranty if you are the original owner. GET OUT!! Really??? Yes, really.

How fantastic is that? How cool is this? All I had to do was prove that I was the original owner. Each Martin has its own serial number. However, it wasn't registered when bought and has never been registered.

"Do I have the original receipts?" they asked.
"You have to be joking!" I said.

"Do you have any photos of you playing it when new?"
"Why.... yes I do!"

Age 17 at Fort Ord...I think.



The upshot is: I now have a warranty and on my way to visit family for Christmas, I'm taking the Martin to a repair shop in Palo Alto to be fixed. FREE!!!

So exciting to be able to play again. I can't wait.

Is Martin a great company or what?

Me at age 14 playing the Gibson

Obama Wants Moms To Go To School

Every morning my home page comes up with various panes that contain news, weather and of course.....advertising. For the last several months it is all about Obama.
Obama wants us to get new house loans. Obama want us to go back to school.

So this morning I see THIS.



WOAH!!! They must have some butt ugly Moms in Alabama.

Uh Oh. The Secret Is Out.

Now I've done it. Exposed myself.

I gave directions, from my perch on the couch, to hubby on how to cook the chicken. He went to the store and bought one of those bags of Cesar Salad mix and decided to make some instant mashed potatoes to go with the chicken thighs.

We have a friend who is just now single again. (Divorce) He is hopeless in the kitchen but he told my hubby that instant mashed potatoes were easy to make. Dumbplumber said: "If Don can do it, so can I."

So....he lined the roasting pan with foil, rubbed the thighs with Dijon Mustard, sprinkled each one with some brown sugar, salt and pepper and put them in the oven at 350 for 35 minutes, then sprinkled the thighs with bread crumb, turned up the heat to 450 for 15 minutes. Made the salad. Read the instructions on the mashed potato packet.

He had some questions like:

He: "How the hell do I know what 2 tablespoons of butter are?"
Me: "It says it on the butter wrapper"
He: "There isn't a wrapper!! Now what?"
Me: "About an inch and half of the stick" (He's very good with measurements)

"Where is the sauce pan?"
"Under the left side of the stove on the lower shelf"
"There are three!! Which one do I use."
"Hold them up so I can see>--->> that one....Oh and be sure to use the lid."
"Grumble grumble"

"Where did you hide the bread crumbs?"
"On the lazy suzan in the lower cabinet next to the right side of the stove. Its in a blue kind of can."
"Where?"

It was actually kind of funny. All strange territory for him, trying to find things. Just about as lost as I feel in his workshop if I have to find a tool.

When dinner came out....it was GREAT. He said. "Wow. This isn't hard. Its a snap." Very proud of himself. Rightly.

Now I'm exposed. The secret is out. Cooking really isn't that hard.

However, his next statement was.

"Hurry and get well, I'm tired of being the woman in the house."

Help I've Fallen and I'm Trapped in the Living Room

Well, I really did it, this time. I fell on the steps in our sunken living room and cracked one ankle and severely sprained the other.

I tripped on my pajama bottoms while turning on the stairs to grab the television remote. I was just about to sit down an enjoy a really bad B- movie, when......wham.....missed that bottom step.

You know how you take some things for granted. Mobility is one of those. We have a sunken living room attached to the home office/guest room which has (Thank GOD) a full bathroom. Now I'm trapped in that area because I can't climb the stairs to the rest of the house while using crutches yet. My world has now shrunk for the next few days, maybe a week. They don't think I need a walking cast, just stay off of the feet for a while....oh and stay off of the stairs.

I guess it could be worse. I could have broken an arm, hip or something really serious.

So in the meantime, I get to work from home. Sitting in front of the computer with my feet on a pillow, popping a pain pill or two. I'm also getting a lot done on my knitting projects and reading that has stacked up not to mention a probably marathon session of World of Warcraft later today.

My hubby, "The Dumbplumber", has really stepped up to the plate. He has learned how to make coffee (we make it from fresh ground whole beans) and swears that he will promptly forget this skill as soon as I am better. Until we got the crutches from a friend, he was my crutch helping to the bathroom and back to the couch. Since the kitchen is in the upper level, he also gets to play Stepinfetchit, bringing me dinner, coffee, clothes, pillows, books and of course water for the pain pills.

We were planning, before my gymnastics on the stair, to have fried chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy and salad, followed by his favorite, carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. Ah well. I informed him that I would now teach him how to roast a chicken and make roasted yams. The salad he can already do. He swears to forget these skills too. Actually if it weren't snowing, Mr. Plumber can barbeque a mean steak and he isn't half bad on breakfast either. He made us scrambled eggs with mushrooms, bacon, english muffins and quartered oranges. And later today said he would clean the kitchen and so some laundry.

Hmmmm.... I wonder how far I can push this being waited upon thing? Not too far I think.

Seriously. I miss walking.

Doctor Utopia and Our Grim Future

Over 50 years ago, the people of the United States were just recovering from a World War that almost destroyed us. The people who fought in that war also were those who lived through the hardships of the Great Depression. They saw and experienced unimaginable horrors in Europe. The Death Camps of the Nazis. Death of comrades in arms. They worked and created wonderful things, industry, the infrastructure of our cities and transportation systems. They were indeed the Greatest Generation and we should be forever greatful for their sacrifices and for the life that we live now. Their gift to us.

*

Unfortunately, over the last 50 years, we have been squandering that gift and throwing away the greatest government on Earth, piece by piece on restrictive legistative bill at a time. Our country and way of life was created over 250 years ago by another generation of brave people who also sacrificed and gave birth to the United States of America and the U.S. Constitution.

*

Since then, we have allowed teachers to no longer teach our children the greatness of America or of our founders, but rather denigrate our country and ourselves. Our children have been taught for several generations that we are bad, evil and that we need to be brought down and punished in some way. Media constantly hammers us through movies, television shows, magazines, newspapers with the message, we are bad, we must change our ways, we are not worthy. They are relentless and many now accept this lie without any critical thinking. In fact schools have eliminated critical thinking skills as part of the long term plan to subjugate the people.

*

Instead of teaching children to hate their own country and to hate themselves, we need to relearn some lessons that our Grandparents and even Great Granparents learned and paid for with their own blood sweat and tears.

*

Watch this video from 1948 and see if you don't recognize our danger, our current situation and pray that we don't need to learn these lessons all over again with our own young people's blood sweat and tears.

Springtime Gardening and Fava Beans

This year we really got cracking on our vegetable garden. The Dumbplumber, at my constant urging or nagging as he would say, put in some great raised beds. 6 beds that are 4 feet by 8 feet by 24 inches high and spaced just wide enough to run the wheel barrow through. We lined them with chicken wire on the bottoms and up the sides and then installed 1 inch PVC pipe at intervals along the sides before filling with dirt. This was so that I could use smaller size PVC and make hoops over the beds.

Because it is cold here in the spring time due to the elevation, it is very hard to plant early. With the hoops running the length of the bed and covered with plastic it creates a tunnel/greenhouse to get an early start on planting. The other advantage is that to discourage the birds and deer, we covered the hoops with deer netting to keep the critters from gobbling up all of the young shoots.

There is no point in planting things that you can easily and cheaply get at the local grocery store. So, I try to plant things that are unusual or that are good trading stock with other local gardeners. This year I had a great crop of French Shallots (which are very expensive) and Elephant garlic. I'm trading with a friend who has a lot of Torpedo and Sweet Walla Walla onions. Yum Yum.

This was the first year that I had grown Fava Beans, so I didn't plant to many, as I wasn't sure if we were even going to like them. Picking the last of the crop today at lunch, we are planning to have them with dinner tonight.



Probably something with Garlic, Shallots, Lemon, Thyme (which I also grew) and shaved Assiago Cheese. If they are a success, next year I'll plant a LOT more as they were probably the easiest thing I have ever grown in the garden.

Next year I will be urging (nagging) my husband to put ground cloth and gravel between the planting beds to keep the mud and weeds down. I'm sure he is really looking forward to it. :-D

More Odd Books

More odd and interesting books that I've collected over the years.

The Owen book was one of many that I bought in a box for $2.00 in a yard sale in the early 70's when I lived in Paradise. I have a lot of other interesting books of a similar time period from this great find. Ah yard sales!! The junk, the treasures.

Footfalls on the Boundary of Another World. 1860 R D Owen

Spiritualism.

From Wikkipedia: "Robert Dale Owen (November 7, 1801–June 24, 1877) was a longtime exponent in his adopted United States of the socialist doctrines of his father, the Welshman Robert Owen, as well as a politician in the Democratic Party.
Born in Glasgow, Scotland, Owen emigrated to the United States in 1825, and helped his father create the Utopian community of New Harmony, Indiana. After the community failed........"

As socialism always will fail.

Owen became a politician and was actually quite progressive for the time "was instrumental in securing to widows and married women control of their property, and the adoption of a common free school system. He later succeeded in passing a state law giving greater freedom in divorce"

I've tried to read the book, but just can't get past the flowery language that was used at the time.

************************************************

Eve's Daughters 1882 Marion Harland

Probably one of the first seimi-feminist books. She had the unorthodox ideas that exercise and the outdoors were not completely unsuitable for the young woman. Although she didn't consider herself a "feminist" (who did? ...the word hadn't been invented then) I believe she was a pioneer for women.

She wrote a slew of other books on domesticity, cooking and household management.

Odd Books: Kitchen Garden

In response to Ann Althouse's request for interesting and strange books:

I have been collecting cookbooks for years and came upon this very strange book that was wrongly filed in the cookbook section.

It isn't a cook book AT ALL. Copyright 1878 by Emily Huntington. New York City. The book is actually a 'primer' to teach little children how to be maids, servants and to work in the houses of the rich.

QUOTED "To My Friends and the Young Ladies of New York City. Whose noble and persevering efforts have enabled me to deveop this scheme.

And to the MUSICIAN (she capitalizes it this way) Whose inspiring accompaniments have ever fanned our enthusiasm" Um....yeah. I bet the MUSICAN was fanning more than just Ms. Huntington's enthusiasm.

It contains music scores and rhymes and games to teach the children how to lay a fire, set the table, clean the dishes and answer the door!!

Evidently this was shortly after the Civil War and with all the orphans and immigrants from Europe pouring into the City there was a lot of poverty. Poor sweet wealthy Ms. Huntington pondered and pondered on how to fix this.......

I know!! she said.....let's make all these children into servants. "In schools they are taught to read in class; why not to cook, sweep, make beds, and wash dishes?" Don't bother to teach them skills that might help them rise above poverty. Nah..... we need servants and LOOK a whole crop that we can train properly.

Hilarious... even then the elites in New York City were completely out of touch with the "common" people. Some things never change.

They have songs, piano scores and learning exercises. Here is part of one song for Washing the Dishes.

• Washing dishes, washing dishes
• Suds are hot, suds are hot,
• Work away briskly, work away briskly;
• Do not stop, do not stop.

• First the glasses, first the glasses;
• Wash them well, wash them well
• If you do them nicely, if you do them nicely
• All can tell, all can tell

• Then the silver, then the silver
• Must be bright, must be bright
• Work away swiftly, work away swiftly
• With your might, with your might

And so on until the dishes were done. Next......how to sweep the floor.

The Shoemaker's Children Have No Shoes

And the Dumbplumber's wife has a leak in the pump house. Poetic justice I guess.

It has been cold, cold, cold here and as I said in my last post my hubby has gotten sick from being out in it fixing broken pipes and thawing out pump houses. He has been bitching and complaining about how people can't figure out how water freezes at 32 degrees and when it is -12 degrees it really really is going to freeze. Stupid people!!.

Well........despite keeping a nasty (and about to be banned in California) incandescent bulb on for heat inside our insulated and air tight (more about that in a minute) pump house, we sprung a leak. No. Not just a leak ......a flood. On Sunday, we went into the pump house for a few supplies and a necessary bottle of wine and everything was just fine. Yesterday (Monday) the hubby goes to feed the quail who have been nagging vociferously for their hand out and tries to open the door. We have two doors on the building. One that opens outward and another that opens inward. Hmmmmm? What's the deal? Why won't the inward door open? Because there is a foot of water flooding the building, due to the airtight condition!!!! That's why.

Opening the door, by forcing back the floating bags of now totally soaked bird seed, the water comes flooding out. Why is the pump still on? Um.... we forgot? Ok. We're stupid just like all of the people he has been complaining about.

So, Mr. Dumbplumber gives his wife a call at work to spread the bad news. Oh SHIT!!!!. I had a couple of boxes of books on the floor that I was planning to bring inside. They are history. Really sad, because some of them were hard back books from college that I liked that are now out of print and a couple of collect able Rex Stouts. Sigh. I guess, I'll start perusing EBay and ELibris to see if I can find replacements.

Also on the bottom shelves were several boxes of craft books/clippings, some old clothing patterns and boxes of fabric that I had collected over the years for quilting and was saving until I got my craft room up and running. CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! To put it mildly.

So, I drag in as many of the clippings and books that aren't completely soaked and strew them all over the floor in front of the heater. Put the totally soaked fabric in plastic bags and lug them into the laundry room. Well, I guess I would have had to wash the fabric anyway to make more quilt projects....how's that for trying to look on the bright side? Spin dry and tumble dry 8 loads of fabric. Wooooo fun.

Actually, it was fun. I sat on the floor with a glass of scotch and sorted the fabrics into color coordinated piles as they came out of the dryer. "Ooooh. Look there is the fabric that I made a dress out of for my Daughter when she was in 3rd grade and a piece of a really cool tropical fabric that I had made into a sun dress for myself when I went to college" (30 yrs ago). Memories like the corners of my mind.....

"What! Don't look at me that way, this fabric is valuable and irreplaceable and who left the water on in the pump house anyway!?! Would you pour me another scotch please?"

I found a couple of unfinished quilt projects that I had forgotten about.



And I started a project I've been wanting to do for quite some time. I'm scanning the clippings and idea files to disk and getting rid of the paper. Some of these things I've had since the 70's.

What!! Don't look at me like that.

As I go through these, I think.....What were we thinking, that this was a cool outfit to wear? Much less to spend hours upon hours crocheting?

Another thing that is now interesting to me about these old clipping is the advertisements. Cigarette and booze ads are all over Family Circle, Sunset Magazine, Better Homes and Gardens. Some products have survived the times and others have not. Some clothing and decorating styles have survived and thankfully, some have not. I'll scan some advertisements and post them later.

So, while this has been a disaster and I mourn for my lost books and craft supplies, there is a silver lining. I got my fabric cleaned!

Ho Ho NO!!

Christmas comes each time this year......at least that's what the Beach Boys tell us. AND the stores, radio stations and television stations are determined to pound the Season as soon after Thanksgiving is over. The turkey isn't even digested yet and you can't go for more than 15 minutes without a Christmas song on the radio, even on satellite jazz radio stations that you pay for. If I have to hear Ertha Kitt or Madonna sing Santa Baby one more time, I'm gonna explode.

"Grandma got run over by a rain deer" "Rocking around the Christmas Tree" "Jingle Bell Rock" ....worthless and annoying Christmas songs that you just can't escape from this time of year.

I don't hate all Christmas songs. This is one of my very favorites.

Now, don't get me wrong. I actually like Thanksgiving through Christmas. Its a great time for cooking up all the goodies like candy, cookies, cakes, pies, breads that you really have no excuse for making during the rest of the year, with the added bonus that you can give most of it away as gifts. Getting together with friends for a cocktail, glass of wine, some hors d'ourves and being thankful for just being alive.

What I don't like is the pressure. The commercial pressure: to buy things, to decorate, the decorating wars going on in the neighborhoods, the Christmas Tree versus Holiday Tree vs Festivus Pole controversy. The religious pressure: If you don't decorate your office, send out hundreds of dollars worth of cards, being careful to sort out the religious cards from the secular cards.....after all we don't want to offend anyone by actually reminding them that Christmas is a religious holiday. ....then people think you are a Grinch, Atheist or sick. How about I don't decorate because I'm lazy and it is a pain to drag all the decorations down from the attic only to have to undo the decorations in a few weeks, clean up and put them back in the attic? Sigh.....the pressure.

This year all my best laid plans were set astray by Global Warming in the form of the current Ice Age we seem to be experiencing. I was planning to go to a surprise party for my Father's 80th birthday, which is Christmas Eve. However, the constant snow we have been getting made me think that, while I might be able to take my gas guzzling earth destroying evil SUV over themountain pass......I might not be able to get home.

It has been snowing 1 to 3 inches every day since these photos

In the meantime, my husband The Dumbplumber (he's really a plumber, but not dumb at all), having spent the last week in sub zero temperatures (-12 to 8 as the high temperature for several days) trying to unfreeze people's pipes and well pumps so they could have water and then when it warmed up to 32 degrees standing and laying in icy water fixing gushing pipes under homes, has come down with a nasty cold and fever. So......his trip to see his Mother and my trip to see my Father......cancelled.


So....Ho Ho NO!

Infected Video Imbeds

I have deleted the recent video embeds from the posts 3rd rock and Playing for Change. It appears that there is a new virus actns/swif.t that opens in IE or Firefox when the web page displays the embedded video.

Sorry for any inconvenience. I strongly suggest you update your virus software, run a full system scan and do NOT open any pop up windows that might appear. Check with Bleepingcomputer for more information.

UPDATE: Crunch Gear has a bit more information on this virus

http://www.crunchgear.com/2008/12/02/actnsswift-virus-affecting-embedded-youtube-vids/

It seems to be a trojan that will redirect you to a phishing site to install AntiVirus 2009 which is a malware program and is very difficult to get rid of.

If you get redirected to any strange websites, just don't click on anything.

Black Friday For The Retail Industry

Black Friday, for some reason, is the name for the Friday after Thanksgiving. Stores open early, prices are down and the sheeple are whipped into a frenzy of buying. In order to get the good sale prices on big and small ticket items for Christmas, people line up and mob the store entrances as if they were rabid drug addled fans at a rock concert. It's a mob scene in the classic sense and I've never understood why anyone would do such a thing. Of course, I also never understood the hysterical screaming and crying girls throwing themselves at the fences separating them from the Beatles.

This year, yet another person was trampled, suffocated, pressed to death in the stampede of bovine shoppers at a retail store. Unfortunately, this year it was Wal Mart, the favorite target of the unions, who are salivating at the idea of unionizing and collecting dues from the approximately 2 million employees. Woooeeee!!!. The union dues would be enormous and the union bosses would be able to really give themselves a well earned raise.

Already the Unions are jumping all over this tragic event to stick the shiv into the Wal Mart ribs according to the New York Times. They can't wait to use the death of Mr. Damour as leverage to get their foot in the door or more aptly the camel's nose under the tent. As if the mere presence of the Union would have deterred the mindless stampede.

"Wal-Mart has successfully resisted unionization of its employees. New York State’s largest grocery union, Local 1500 of the United Food and Commercial Workers, called the death of Mr. Damour “avoidable” and demanded investigations."

So far Wal Mart has resisted unionization because the employees have voted down becoming unionized. They are no dummies. Wal Mart, contrary to the propaganda put out by the NYT, the Unions and left leaning liberal media, treats it's employees well. They have a good safety record according to OSHA: better than GM the poster child for the Union's successes in helping business (sarcasm in case you didn't get it). WalMart does provide health insurance for its employees and they get to participate in the $4.00 prescription plan.

Speaking as self employed people who have zero health insurance, the plan linked above sounds pretty good to me. It may not be the 'Cadillac' plan (pun intended) that the unions have forced up GM's butt but still a decent plan. We take advantage of the $4.00 prescription offer as well, saving $76 a month on one of my husband's prescriptions.

Obama, our President Elect (who takes every opportunity to remind us of this fact with his never ending radio addresses and press conferences) is in favor of "Card Check" voting for union organizing. In case you didn't know, this is a way for Union organizers to strong arm people into voting for unionization. It removes the ability of the employees to cast a secret ballot. If you have people hanging over you and haranguing you while you vote and harassing you at home and at work to cast a "Union Ballot", people will be intimidated into voting for the unionization whether they want to or not.


Read the whole thing: Two examples illustrate this problem. During a card-check campaign at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, union organizers threatened that workers who did not sign union cards would lose their jobs when the union was recognized. In 2002, a long-time organizer for the United Steelworkers felt compelled to quit his job after "a senior Steelworkers union official asked me to threaten migrant workers by telling them they would be reported to federal immigration officials if they refused to sign check-off cards." Forcing workers to express their beliefs in public leaves them vulnerable to threats and can discourage them from exercising free choice.

It will get nothing but worse when card check is the law of the land.

How would you like to have your neighbors standing at your elbow when you voted for the President or for any of the Propositions that were just on the ballots in California? How about a crowd of gay rights agitators looming over you if you decided to vote Yes on 8? A secret ballot process is integral to Democracy. When others can coerce your vote or your vote is determined by peer pressure, we will have lost a central freedom in our lives.

If the workers at WalMart or any other industry DO want to unionize, then they should be allowed to hear both sides of the proposition from management and from the unions. They should be allowed to weigh the benefits or pitfalls and then vote in a SECRET BALLOT process.

I'm not completely negative on the place of Unions in the work place. They have a long and distinguished history of protecting people from unfair or unhealthy work conditions. However.....the conditions that brought the Unions to power, no longer exist. We have labor laws up the booyang to keep people safe. Smart businesses today (like Wal Mart) treat their labor force well. The power struggle now between the Union and retail is not so much about the employees as it is a money grab by the Union organizers.

You think our economy is in trouble now? Let the Unions get a strangle hold on retail like they have had on the auto industry, the steel industry, the airline industry and watch retail jobs evaporate. Retail is one of the last places that unskilled workers can have decent jobs in decent environments (instead of working outdoors digging ditches).

Unionize retail? Jobs will be lost, stores will close, prices will go up, no more $4.00 prescriptions, suppliers for the retail giants like Wal Mart will have to shrink their production to accommodate the shrinking demand. Poor people who rely on the bargains now offered will have to cut even further back on their budgets.

Good job Unions. Hey, but at least you get to collect those dues from the workers that are remaining.

What's For Dinner Thanksgiving

Whew!! Cooking for Thanksgiving. Good thing it's something I like to do othewise we might have tacos instead :-)

Menu

Brined Turkey (normally would be smoked but we are just baking it this time)

Pear compote (we are still trying to use the last of those wonderful but numerous Asian Apple Pears. I'll be so glad when they are finally gone)

Stuffing Casserole (sour dough, with dried apricots, pecans, celery, onions, butter, spices and chicken broth)

Green Bean Casserole (a request by my hubby, the old traditional Grandma type recipe from a can)

Juliened Carrots in orange sauce

Turkey Gravy (not as good as my future son in law's gravy, but it will be adequate)

Home made No Knead Yeast rolls (a super easy roll recipe that I've made for the last 30 years at least) slathered in butter, of course.

Dessert: Gingered Pear Pie with Ice Cream

I decided since it wasn't going to be a lot of people that we wouldn't have....... a green salad, mashed potatoes or cranberry sauce. I think we'll have enough food.....for a small army, even though my husband is whimpering about not having mashed potatoes. When he decides to cook, he can make all the potatoes he wants.

Playing for Change

This is an awesome video and an incredibly wonderful concept. Playing for Change is a foundation dedicated to connecting the world through music. I love this video. I shows the commonality that we all have to each other throughout the world. In a time when it is easier to stress the differences, music brings us together.

Enjoy.

3rd Rock From The Sun

With the never ever ending election season that we just went through and the beginning of electioneering for 2012, the political overload just got to be too much for me. Talking heads all parroting the same thing. People on talk shows yelling and screaming over each other so that you can't even hear what they are saying. STOP.....just STOP!!!

Surely there must be something entertaining on at least one of the 150 channels we have on Dish Network? Scrolling through the channels that I haven't blocked (all ESPN and shopping channels) I landed on the "old television show channel" and lo and behold. 3rd Rock From The Sun!! I forgot how funny that show was. Pure laugh out loud, belly laugh entertainment. Quick.....program the DVR to record and watch when I need a laugh a break and want to retreat from the insanity of real life into the insanity of the 3rd Rock world.

One of my most favorite episodes. Dick is from Mars, Sally is from Venus. Sally has a date that didn't go very well and the guy gives her the "I'll call you" line. Being aliens in human form, Sally just doesn't get it.


Watch out....you might find yourself on YouTube for hours watching old episodes. Better yet just buy the DVDs and be prepared to laugh your ass off.

Gender Analyser....I'm So Conflicted

This is pretty funny. I ran across this post from Gateway Pundit about a program that can analyze your writing style and determin if you are a man or a woman. http://www.genderanalyzer.com/

So, I thought, let's see...... Entering in the URL for Dust Bunnies of the Mind

We think http://dustbun.blogspot.com is written by a man (65%).

OK....how about my other blog Recipe Junkie??

We think http://recipejunkie.blogspot.com is written by a woman (89%).

I guess it matters what you are writing about. Either that or I have a split personality and need some serious help. When I'm Dust Bunny Queen. I'm 65% man, but when I'm talking recipes and food 89% woman.

More test result from the genderanalyzer site. Here is a personality profile. Evidently my writing style on Dust Bunnies is

ISTP - The Mechanics

The independent and problem-solving type. They are especially attuned to the demands of the moment are masters of responding to challenges that arise spontaneously. They generally prefer to think things out for themselves and often avoid inter-personal conflicts. The Mechanics enjoy working together with other independent and highly skilled people and often like seek fun and action both in their work and personal life. They enjoy adventure and risk such as in driving race cars or working as policemen and firefighters

This is interesting because my formal personality profiles taken for work purposes have usually turned out to be INTJ or ISTJ. My husband is an ISTJ.

HOWEVER....analyizing Recipe Junke, it seems that I'm

ESFP - The Performers

The entertaining and friendly type. They are especially attuned to pleasure and beauty and like to fill their surroundings with soft fabrics, bright colors and sweet smells. They live in the present moment and don´t like to plan ahead - they are always in risk of exhausting themselves. The enjoy work that makes them able to help other people in a concrete and visible way. They tend to avoid conflicts and rarely initiate confrontation - qualities that can make it hard for them in management positions

It's official. I'm schizo!!

Dust Bunnies is 32% Mark Twain. Recipe Junkie is 46% Frank Baum. The Wizard of Oz.

I am a bit worried however, since my husband's blog is 45% Edgar Alan Poe

World Toilet Day

Holy Cow. The 19th was World Toilet Day.....how could I have missed this significant event!!

The big news that may affect us all is the proposal to have flush less or waterless toilets. I know, we need to cut down on excessive water usage, especially in the more arid places of the world like Australia where they are proposing a toilet tax. Earth groovy and all that stuff and I'm not opposed to saving water, energy, whales or anything else.

We already have the government intruding into our lives telling us what to eat and what not to eat. What kind of light bulbs we must use and even proposing to regulate the temperature in our homes with remotely controlled thermostats. We already have low flow shower heads that can barely get the soap out of our hair. Low flushing toilets that you have to flush several times to .....well you know.

I don't know how a dry toilet would actually work and remain sceptical.

But I have to admit my first thought on this subject was.....how are you going to clean it!!! Eeeeeewwww.

The Man Behind the Curtain

What is going to happen when the bloom is off the rose, the halo slips and the man behind the curtain is finally revealed? I'm afraid it isn't going to be pretty.

Obama has promised the world and the kitchen sink to his supporters. He is going to make the oceans recede, lower taxes for everyone (except those nasty rich people), new stimulus packages to jump start our staggering economy, redistribute wealth from those who work to those who don't, hire armies of teachers, create a new corps of civilian community organizers, credits for college, create renewable energy, stop the Iraq war, create peace in our time, reverse global warming. It goes on and on and the price tag is in the trillions.

Others of his supporters have been led to believe that the world will change, butterflies will flutter, and that with Obama ascendant they won't have to pay for their own gasoline or mortgages. Yeah, and monkeys are going to fly out of my butt.

The sad truth is that Obama made empty promises to starry eyed believers. Promises he knows, or will soon know once in office, that he cannot keep. Promises he never intended to keep. In the process, Obama's policies, that he is able to enact, will depress our economy and that of the entire world even more. We will be further attacked by terrorists and bogged down in Afghanistan.

Once the disappointment sets and and he is revealed as the empty shell that he is, as the political tool of a political machine, will the people who bought this line of bullshit wake up and blame themselves for irrationally putting all their hopes and dreams in a flawed man. Not likely. The scary reality is that they will look for a scapegoat upon which to lay the blame for their own failures and upon whom to take vengeance.

This is already happening in the gay community in California who are targeting the Mormons for the passage of Prop 8. Not the black community or the Hispanic community that overwhelmingly voted for Prop 8, but the Mormons because it is politically correct to show prejudice against Mormons. We've seen it over the last 8 years in the pillorying of George Bush, who it seems is to blame for everything that has occurred and who will be the cause of everything that will occur in the future.

No. The blame will not be assumed by those who created the disaster by falling for the empty promises and being distracted by the shiny penny. In depression era Germany, we know who the scapegoats were, the Jews. Who our chosen victims will be and what form the retaliation takes remains to be seen. The always poplar choice of the Jews again? Pandering to the Muslim terrorists might make this a reality. The wealthy capitalist pigs who evilly have created jobs and industry? Mormons? Republicans?

Who knows for now. But it is going to get ugly.

The Sunday Drive from Hell

It has been a beautiful autumn season. Exceptionally so with the gorgeous colors and warm afternoons. After a week of working inside an office, I look forward to being outdoors on the week ends and working on some projects in the yard. One, that I'd been putting off, is to dig in the compost in the planting beds and plant french shallots and elephant garlic for spring. The cold winters here require that you get them planted before the first frost, which could be at any time. I was also looking forward to making another pie with the Asian Apple Pears that we have an abundance of. Maybe some jam.


However, best laid plans and all that stuff. Hubby, who has been working 7 days a week, 10 hour days for the last month had the bright idea that we take a Sunday drive in our classic 72 K5 Blazer to get away and relax.













The idea was to take a back road called Fender's Ferry, an historic stage coach road that would take us ultimately to I-5 and we would have lunch at a cutesy restaurant in Mt Shasta.

So, I'm like....."Ok....how long do you think it will take because I have some things I want to do. OK?"

He says: "It should be just about 3 hours. I took this road from Redding in the 70s"

Looking at the map it didn't seem to be all that many miles. I now realize that those roads in blue lines represent unimproved road. Really really unimproved. Tip number one. Avoid the blue roads.

The road at first wasn't too bad. Graded and obviously well traveled..... and look, there are even some people living in cute cabins up the hill and down by the creek. Soon the road became narrower and narrower. We were already too far to go back....we thought. Three hours of bumping along on a one lane crumbling dirt road clinging to the side of a mountain averaging at best 8 miles an hour. Don't look down!! OMG it's straight down.!!! The only thing between us and certain death are those humongous pine trees that are at least 4 feet on the stump. No one had ever logged this area.......because it is freaking impossible to get to it unless you are .....insane!!!! I'm gripping the side of the seat and bracing myself with a hand on the dash. No seat belts aaaaaagh! Is this ever going to end. My hand is still cramped.

We did see some pretty country side, discovered a water fall that was at least 100 feet high. Met up with some people on quad runners. I forgot it was deer season, so at least if we broke down someone would be by sometime. I just hope that they haven't seen Deliverance.

At several points we came across pretty open meadows planted with fruit trees. Really old fruit trees. Also the foundations of barns or houses made out of rocks. These must have been old homesteads or stage stops. Probably made by people who gave up traveling on this God forsaken road and decided to just stay where they were out of desperation. Seriously, people were tough in those days. No wonder they all married their cousins. It was too much work to find anyone else.

About 3/4 of the way in, according to the squiggly blue line that represented the road the car started acting up. Clue two....there was no way the map maker could possibly make the line squiggly enough to represent all the hairpin turns in such a small line.

Me: "Um... the car is missing and sounding funny. Are we ok? " "And, just how drunk were you in 1970 when you went on this road?????"

"No problem " he says, "We are just loading up with carbon and the spark plugs need to be cleaned." The hubby, I find out later is glossing over the problem, thinks we have sucked two of the 8 cylinders and is freaked out. We have no cell phone reception and there is no way in hell that we are going to get AAA to come out here and tow us.

So, we plow on and eventually make it to I-5. We wanted to get out and kiss the asphalt.

Not lunch but now early dinner in Mt Shasta and back to home. Seven hours and it felt like we had been gone for a month and like we'd been beaten with a rubber hose.

Needless to say. No pie.