Water Roots

This Blog Is Moving

2010-10-22T08:23:00.002-04:00

Yesterday, as I was visiting other blogs, it came to me. What my new blog name will be. Ready? Okay, here it is...

Plowing Through Life

Well, what do you think?

Doesn’t it fit with what type of blog I have? About gardening and day to day living? And that I’m sort of plowing through both?

I guess it doesn’t really matter. It’s done. I’m moving. I still have some ironing out to do with my profile and some of the blog settings, but I’m packed and ready to go. The layout of my new blog is exactly the same (for now), so you won’t even notice the difference.

Anyway.

Please update links to my blog (if you’re a regular visitor):

Plowing Through Life
http://plowingthroughlife.blogspot.com

That’s where I’m headed now; see you there...

Ferrety Friday

2010-10-22T05:00:00.015-04:00

It’s amazing how expensive toys are at a pet store, especially for more exotic pets such as the beloved fuzzies, a.k.a. ferrets. As if the pets care how much you pay. Or what you buy them. They don’t. Pets don’t give a flying hoot whether the toys you give them are ridiculously-priced. Or super-duper cheap. Or new. Or used. Or whatever.

If you have a ferret, don’t waste your money on store-bought toys (well, unless you have money to spare) because they’re so easily entertained that just about anything will do.

For example, cardboard boxes will literally have them ‘dooking’ with delight. Just punch a couple of holes through the boxes (that you can pick up for free at the grocery store) and watch your fuzzies tunneling through happily. And if you really want to make their day, tape some boxes together, make doorways, connect them with tubes and voila! Your ferrets will be in heaven.

Below are some photos of homemade ferret castles:

Even Nacho wants to join in on the fun.

Yes, they’re not the most visually appealing, but a little creativity will modify that.

So don’t spend too much money at the pet store. Just use your imagination and build your own playground for your fuzzies.

Homemade toys are fun. Right guys?

Ah, the sounds of a happy fuzzy...

Suggestions Needed

2010-10-21T09:56:00.000-04:00

Dear blog visitors (yes, you too, the ones that lurk but never leave comments), I would really appreciate your help with a couple of things.

1) For quite awhile, I maintained (and regularly updated) a website about houseplants (yes, it was called Water Roots), which I really enjoyed. But it wasn’t free (I had to pay for the domain name and web hosting), so eventually I reached a point where I didn’t want to be burdened with that expense anymore. Anyway. To make a long story short, I want to incorporate a weekly post about houseplants on my blog. I have a lot of articles from my Water Roots website that I can bring in; once all those articles are added to this blog, I can work on others.

Now, what I need from you dear readers is a catchy, creative title for a day of the work that will focus on houseplants. And I can’t for the life of me think of anything!

For those of you who visit my blog regularly, you are aware of some of the weekly topics I try to keep going regularly like:

Monday Musings (my thoughts and ideas about a variety of themes)
Tasty Tuesday (recipes)
Thursday’s Trivia (useless but interesting information)
Ferrety Friday (photos and/or information about ferrets)
Saturday Silliness (humor, jokes)
Snapshot Sunday (interesting, favourite photos)

Nothing, so far, has been dedicated to Wednesdays, although I usually write about garden goings-on. This doesn’t mean that Wednesday has to be the ‘all about houseplants’ day, unless one of you can think of a catchy title for it. And I certainly don’t mind one of the other days having a double theme, which would allow me the opportunity to write about one or the other, or both. For instance, if Monday was dedicated to the musings stuff and to houseplants, then if one week I didn’t feel like writing about my thoughts on a particular topic, I would write about houseplants. And maybe on some Mondays, when I had more time and felt very creative, I’d add two posts.

You know what I mean?

So if you have some good ideas for a catchy title (for any day of the week), I would love to hear from you.

2) I would like to change my blog’s name. Because the posts on it are so diverse, covering so many aspects of day to day living, I’d like to give it a more fitting name. Again, I can’t come up with a single thing; it seems my imagination and creativity are at a standstill. So I’m reaching out to you, my readers, for suggestions. If you can come up with an interesting blog name, please share it with me. If I like it, and it’s available, I will use it.

Thanks for reading this. I hope to hear from some of you!

Thursday’s Trivia

2010-10-21T05:00:00.007-04:00

This week’s trivia is all about questions and answers. See how many of the questions you can get right. Write down your answers and compare them to the ones listed at the bottom.

Good luck. And no peeking!

Questions:

1. Who was the last president of the Soviet Union?

2. What political system was gradually dismantled in South Africa, starting in 1989?

3. Where is the Suez Canal?

4. What is the first organism to grow back after fire?

5. Where is the Golden Gate Bridge?

6. Where is Broadway?

7. What's the first name of Shakespeare?

8. Where is the Leaning Tower of Pisa?

9. Where is Notre Dame?

10. Which country gave the USA the 'Statute of Liberty?

11. What is the name of the worlds highest water fall?

12. What is the smallest country in the world?

13. Where is the world’s largest supply of fresh water?

14. Where is the Highest Elevation on Earth?

15. Where is the tallest Mountain on Earth?

16. What bird was domesticated first?

17. How many glasses of milk does a cow produce in her lifetime?

18. How long does it take light from the sun to reach the earth?

19. How far is the moon from the earth?

20. How much bigger is the sun than the earth?

21. Which planet is closest to the sun?

22. What is the sun made out of?

23. What powers the sun?

24. How old is the sun?

25. How old is the earth?

26. How old is the universe?

27. Which planet spins the fastest?

28. Which planet spins the slowest?

29. How long is a Martian year?

30. Does the sun rotate?

31. What spot once registered 134 degrees, the highest temperature ever in the U.S.?

32. What is the Milky Way?

33. What are the two top selling spices in the world?

34. What is the most widely eaten fish in the world?

35. What nation produces two thirds of the world's vanilla?

36. What was the first commercially manufactured breakfast cereal?

37. Where did the pineapple plant originate?

38. What nutty legume accounts for one sixth of the world's vegetable oil production?

39. What country saw the cultivation of the first potato, in 200 A.D.?

41. What falling fruit supposedly inspired Isaac Newton to write the laws of gravity?

42. What method of preserving food did the Incas first use, on potatoes?

43. What's the groundnut better known as?

44. What sticky sweetener was traditionally used as an antiseptic ointment for cuts and burns?

45. What unit of electrical power is equal to one joule per second?

46. What planet is closest in size to our moon?

47. What measure of energy comes from the Latin word meaning "heat"?

48. What's removed from water in the process of desalination?

49. What unit of measure do you multiply by .39 to convert it to inches?

50. What method of underwater detection is short for "sound navigation and ranging"?

51. What continent is subjected to the world's largest ozone hole?

52. What sea creature can have an eye measuring 16 inches across, the largest in the animal kingdom?

53. What's the most malleable metal?

54. What was the first country to recognize Mexico's independence, in 1836?

55. What Russian cleric was poisoned, shot and finally drowned on December 30, 1916?

56. What country suffered the worst two earthquakes in history, killing 830,000 in 1556 and 750,000 in 1976?

57. What physicist's last words were not understood because his nurse did not speak German?

58. What 1947 invention by Bell Telephone Laboratories spawned pocket-sized radios?

59. What Italian astronomer invented the thermometer in 1592?

60. Who averaged one patent for every three weeks of his life?

61. What was the first organ successfully transplanted from a cadaver to a live person?

62. What do mathematicians call a regular polygon with eight sides?

63. What century did mathematicians first use plus and minus signs?

64. What's the most frequently diagnosed cancer in men?

65. What does "CPR" stand for in medical emergencies?

66. What, along with heart disease and cancer, accounts for 64 percent of U.S. deaths?

67. What virus did the World Health Organization say would infect 40 million people by the year 2000?

68. What do doctors look at through an ophthalmoscope?

69. What do leukemia sufferers have too many of?

70. What was the first planet to be discovered using the telescope, in 1781?

71. What was Friedrich Serturner the first to extract from opium and use as a pain reliever?

72. What disease is the focus of oncology?

73. How many U.S. states border the Gulf of Mexico?

74. What continent is cut into two fairly equal halves by the Tropic of Capricorn?

75. What explorer introduced pigs to North America?

Answers:

1. Mikhail Gorbachev.

2. Apartheid.

3. Egypt.

4. Moss.

5. San Francisco, California, USA.

6. New York City, USA.

7. William.

8. Pisa, Italy.

9. Paris.

10. France.

11. Angel falls in Venezuela, South America.

12. Vatican City. Population: 1,000.

13. Brazil is estimated to have the largest supply of fresh water in the world, followed by Canada and Russia. (Yay, Canada!)

14. Mt. Everest, Asia: 29,035 feet (8850 m).

15. Mauna Kea, Hawaii - 33,480 feet (rising to 13,796 feet above sea level).

16. The goose.

17. Nearly 200,000.

18. Approximately 8 minutes and 18 seconds.

19. The actual Earth-Moon distance ranges from about 360,000 to 405,000 kilometers, depending on the position in the Moon's orbit. (223,694 to 251,665 miles)

20. The Earth is about 13 thousand kilometers (8000 miles) wide, whereas the Sun is roughly 1.4 million kilometers (900,000 miles) across. If the Sun were a hollow ball, you could fit about one million Earths inside of it!

21. Mercury.

22. The Sun is at present about 70% hydrogen and 28% helium by mass everything else amounts to less than 2%

23. Fusion, the same as a hydrogen bomb.

24. About 5 billion years.

25. About 4.5 billion years old.

26. At least 15 billion years old, but probably not more than 20 billion.

27. Jupiter is the fastest spinning planet in our solar system rotating on average once in just under 10 hours.

28. Venus is the slowest spinning planet in the solar system. It rotates only once every two hundred forty-three Earth days

29. The orbital period of Mars is 686.9726 days.

30. The movements of the sunspots indicate that the Sun rotates once every 27 days at the equator, but only once in 31 days at the poles.

31. Death Valley.

32. The Milky Way is a spiral galaxy.

33. Pepper is first and mustard is second.

34. The Herring

35. Madagascar.

36. Shredded Wheat.

37. In South America. It didn't reach Hawaii until the early nineteenth century.

38. The peanut.

39. South America.

40. The plum tree.

41. An Apple.

42. Freeze-drying.

43. The peanut.

44. Honey.

45. The Watt.

46. Mercury.

47. The calorie.

48. Salt.

49. Centimeters.

50. Sonar.

51. Antarctica.

52. A squid.

53. Gold.

54. The U.S.

55. Rasputin.

56. China.

57. Albert Einstein's.

58. The transistor.

59. Galileo.

60. Thomas Edison.

61. A kidney.

62. An octagon.

63. The sixteenth.

64. Prostate cancer.

65. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

66. Stroke.

67. HIV.

68. The eye.

69. White blood cells, or leukocytes.

70. Uranus.

71. Morphine.

72. Cancer.

73. Five.

74. Australia.

75. Christopher Columbus.

So? How did you do?

Bulbs, Bulbs, Bulbs

2010-10-20T05:00:00.017-04:00

Did you honestly think I wasn’t going to plant any bulbs this autumn. And not post about them when I did?

Not a chance.

Of course I added bulbs to my garden. Lots and lots of bulbs that will grace my garden come next spring.

I planted a large amount of daffodils and tulips near my kitchen window:

And I planted crocus, hyacinth, daffodils and tulips near my living room window:

When all the bulbs were buried in the soil, hubby cut up some netting and covered them up so that Mr. Squirrel (that pest!) won’t get to them.

If everything goes well, I will be enjoying spring blooms from the front and back of the house. I’m really looking forward to that.

So I’m happy.

The gnomes, on the other hand, aren’t as thrilled. This is what they have to say:

Ah, gnomes...always complaining about something. You should never take them too seriously. They’ll feel much better after a long winter rest.

Tasty Tuesday – Pan-Grilled Lamb Shoulder Chops

2010-10-19T06:45:00.000-04:00

If you like lamb chops, you will love the awesome recipe below. The marinade will make the meat tender, juicy and delicious.

Pan-Grilled Lamb Shoulder Chops

(Original recipe can be found here.)

Ingredients

- 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons whole-grain mustard
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
- 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- Four 8- to 12-ounce lamb shoulder chops

Directions

To make the marinade: whisk the lemon juice, mustard, rosemary, garlic, and 1 teaspoon of the salt together in a medium bowl. Gradually whisk in the oil and season with pepper.

Transfer the marinade to a large sealable plastic bag. Put the lamb chops in the bag, seal, and shake vigorously to evenly coat the meat. Marinate at room temperature for 1 hour or in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours and up to 12.

Remove the chops from the marinade and transfer them to a plate. Discard the marinade. Using a spoon, lightly scrape the remaining marinade off the chops and pat them dry.

Preheat a large cast-iron grill pan over medium heat for 3 to 5 minutes. Raise the heat to medium-high. Season the chops with salt. Place 2 chops on the grill pan, and cook until the chops have distinctive grill marks, about 3 minutes. To make crosshatched grill marks, re-position the chops, moving them about 45 degrees on the ridged pan, and continue to cook about 3 minutes more. (The chops will have only cooked on one side at this point.) Set the chops aside and repeat with the remaining 2 chops. Return the first set of chops to the pan to cook them on the other side. Reduce the heat to medium low, and cook the chops until medium-rare, about 2 minutes. Repeat with the other chops. Let the chops rest for about 5 minutes and serve.

(Cook's note: This is the perfect workday-week recipe. In the morning before work, shake the lemony marinade and lamb chops in a plastic bag, and then store it in the refrigerator for the day. When you come home, you'll have ready-to-grill lamb chops waiting for you.)

(My note: I marinade the chops for at least 6 hours. And although I usually fry them (I just use a regular frying pan), I also grill them during the months when we have our BBQ out, and they're equally delicious.)

Enjoy!

Monday’s Musings

2010-10-18T05:00:00.007-04:00

It is extremely rare that I’m ever moved by a politician’s speech. In fact, I don’t much like politicians. But this video on YouTube pulled at the strings of my heart:

I applaud Mr. Burns for giving hope to all teens, and particularly to the gay ones. Because being a bullied teenager is hard enough, but being a gay teen that is being bullied is even harder. And I don’t know what Mr. Burns’s stances are on the political spectrum, some of which may likely differ from mine, but if more politicians showed this kind of courage, compassion and raw emotion, it would renew my faith in our leaders. And if more people were as concerned as this man is, the world would be a better place. He makes me appreciate humanity a little more.

Bullying in schools has become a big problem, and it seems to be getting worse as time goes on. And I’m afraid that until we, the parents, get involved in our children’s lives and teach them to respect, to be kind and to be compassionate, teens committing suicide because of severe bullying and harassment will continue to rise. Until we, the parents, teach our children to live and let live, many kids will keep on taking their own lives. And the next one might be your son or daughter.

You don’t have to like everyone. You don’t have to agree with their beliefs or choices. You don’t have to be keen on their lifestyle. And you’re certainly entitled to your opinion and the freedom to express it. But what you cannot do is use aggression and violence (physical or verbal) against another human being – any human being – just because you don’t like them. Or agree with their opinion. Or define the world in the same way. Every human being has the right to a safe and harmonious life, and to be respected and valued.

(I thank one of my favourite bloggers, Mr. Subjunctive, the author of the blog ‘Plants Are the Strangest People’, for bringing this heartbreaking speech to my attention.)

More of my thoughts on bullying can be found here.

Snapshot Sunday

2010-10-17T05:00:00.010-04:00

The sunflowers are on their last legs, which is not surprising as it’s a little past mid October.

What is surprising is that they lasted this long. Not that I’m complaining; I wish they could go on forever. I will definitely plant more of these in my garden next year. They are simply spectacular.

Saturday Silliness

2010-10-16T10:03:00.000-04:00

Let’s get right to this week’s silliness...

(The first joke was sent to me by my friend Joy a few days ago.)

Daddy, how was I born?

A little boy goes to his father and asks 'Daddy, how was I born ?'

The father answers, 'Well, son, I guess one day you will need to find out anyway! Your Mom and I first got together in a chat room on Yahoo. Then I set up a date via e-mail with your Mom and we met at a cyber-cafe. We sneaked into a secluded room, and googled each other. There your mother agreed to a download from my hard drive. As soon as I was ready to upload, we discovered that neither one of us had used a firewall, and since it was too late to hit the delete button , nine months later a little Pop-Up appeared that said:

You have male!

Here’s another one for you:

The Carburetor

"The car won't start," said a wife to her husband. "I think there's water in the carburetor."

"How do you know?" said the husband scornfully. "You don't even know what a carburetor is."

"I'm telling you," repeated the wife, "I'm sure there's water in the carburetor."

"We'll see," mocked the husband. "Let me check it out. Where's the car?"

"In the swimming pool."

Let’s keep going:

Almost Perfect Life

An old man is sitting on a park bench crying his eyes out. A young jogger comes by and asks him what is the matter.

The old man says, "I'm a multimillionaire, I have a great big house, the fastest car in the world and I just married a beautiful blonde bombshell who satisfies me every night in bed whether I like it or not (sob)."

The young jogger says, "Man, you have everything I have ever dreamed for in my life. What could be so wrong in your life that you are sitting here in the park crying?"

The old man says, "I can't remember where I live."

And finally:

Assassin Interview

After all of the background checks, interviews, and testing were done there were three finalists for the CIA assassin position — two men and one woman.

For the final test, the CIA agents took one of the men to a large metal door and handed him a gun.

"We must know that you will follow your instructions, no matter what the circumstances. Inside this room you will find your wife sitting in a chair. You have to kill her."

The first man said. "You can’t be serious. I could never shoot my wife."

The agent replies, "Then you’re not the right man for this job."

The second man was given the same instructions. He took the gun and went into the room.

All was quiet for about five minutes. Then the agent came out with tears in his eyes. "I tried, but I can’t kill my wife."

The agent replies "You don’t have what it takes. Take your wife and go home."

Finally, it was the woman’s turn. Only she was told to kill her husband. She took the gun and went into the room.

Shots were heard, one shot after another. They heard screaming, crashing, banging on the walls.

After a few minutes, all was quiet. The door opened slowly and there stood the woman.

She wiped the sweat from her brow and said, "You guys didn’t tell me the gun was loaded with blanks. So I had to beat him to death with the chair."

Have a good one!

Ferrety Friday

2010-10-15T05:00:00.037-04:00

Quite awhile back, I interviewed Bailey for a ferrety Friday post. His cage mate, Clair, didn’t know about that because she wasn’t with us at the time. But she’s found out about somehow (I’m guessing Bailey told her; it’s not like she has internet access and is reading my blog) and she’s been demanding that I conduct an interview with her as well. I told her I’d think about it, but that’s not good enough for her. She threatened to start doing her business outside of the litter box if I don’t comply. Scary. Having to clean up that type of mess is not my idea of fun, so I gave in to her demands.

Here’s the interview:

Me: “So, Clair, you’ve been with us since February of this year. Do you like it here?”

Clair: “Meh. It’s okay. A good looking gal like me could have done a lot better, you know, but I decided to sacrifice whatever better options were out there to do you guys a favour... seeing as you were desperate for another ferret and all. Mostly so Bailey wouldn’t be lonely anymore.”

Me: “You gotta be kidding me! You’re being an ungrateful little...”

Clair: “Whoa there, missy! You sound upset. I’m not sure I like that tone. It’s stressing me enough that I might miss the litter box the next time I need to go.”

Me: “Grrr...ahem... Speaking of Bailey, tell me how you’re getting along with him.”

Clair: “Okay, I guess. He’s good-natured and all, but not very bright, if you know what I mean.”

Me: “Clair! Are you calling Bailey stupid?”

Clair: “No, no, no. He’s not stupid...just a little slow. Want me to give you some examples?”

Me: “No! Let’s move on to something else. Poor Bailey...”

Clair: “Did you say something?”

Me: “I said...uh...daily... What’s your daily routine?”

Clair: “My daily routine? Well, that’s an odd question. Okay, well, I sleep about 18 hours a day, sometimes more. I eat a few times a day, and go to the bathroom just as often. I boss Bailey around a little – just for fun, you know – and I basically live the life of a pampered pet. What do YOU do all day? ”

Me: “We’re not interviewing me, Clair, so let’s get back to you.”

Clair: “Hmpf...”

Me: “What do you think about our new kitten?”

Clair: “I don’t.”

Me: “You don’t what?”

Clair: “I don’t think about her.”

Me: “Oh. But do you like her?”

Clair: “No. She smacked me with her paw once - FOR NO REASON. She’s a brat.”

Me: “I don’t think she meant to hurt you. She got a little overwhelmed meeting everyone.”

Clair: “I don’t care what her reasons are; she’s still a brat. She’s even smacked Bailey – more than once!”

Me: “I know, but Bailey is willing to give her a chance. I guess he’s more patient than you are.”

Clair: “No, he’s...”

Me: “Don’t say it!”

Clair: “...stupid!”

Me: “Oh, Clair, why do you have to be so mean about him?”

Clair: “Mean? Me? I’m just being honest. Maybe you’re too politically correct. Would it make you feel better if I said he’s intellectually lethargic?”

Me: “Oh, Clair, just stop it. Bailey is not slow. He’s just very gentle.”

Clair: “Oh, now there’s a nice way of putting it. Anyhow, it’s not so bad; it’s not like he’s the sole member of that club; Nacho can give him a run for his money when it comes to being stup...er... intellectually lethargic.”

Me: “Nacho? Why would you say such a thing about our sweet, gentle cat?”

Clair: “There’s that word again...gentle...a.k.a. NOT TOO BRIGHT”

Me: “Oh Clair... Don’t you have anything nice to say about anyone?”

Clair: “Of course. There’s that smaller human sharing a room with us who is not too bad.”

Me: “That smaller human is my daughter. She’s smaller because she’s only 13; she’ll grow in time.”

Clair: “A-ny-way, she fills our food bowl and provides us with fresh water, almost regularly. You should have a talk with her about that, you know. But besides that, she’s okay. She even plays with us sometimes. Both Bailey and I like her. Almost always. Not so much when she doesn’t freshen up our water. Or when the TV is on too loud while we’re trying to sleep. Or when she turns on the lights full blast when we’re asleep...she has a dimmer, you know; you’d think she would use it. The more I think about it, the more I realize she can be quite annoying at times. Still, she’s mostly alright.”

Me: “Anyone else?”

Clair: “That bigger, male human? The one that we see once in a blue moon? We don’t like him. He doesn’t let us out to play. He doesn’t fill up our food or water bowls. And he never changes our litter boxes. In fact, he hardly ever speaks to us. Not sure what his purpose is, but he doesn’t seem very useful.”

Me: “That’s my husband. And just because he doesn’t serve YOUR needs, doesn’t mean he has no purpose.”

Clair: “Your husband? What’s that? Some type of mate?”

Me: “Something like that. It’s a little complicated to explain, so I won’t get into it.”

Clair: “Whatever he is, he doesn’t seem very useful to me. Not sure why you’re keeping him around.”

Me: “Let me worry about him, Clair; now, let’s move on. What do you think about me?”

Clair: “I’d rather not say. You’re a little too sensitive, and I’m not sure you can handle the truth.”

Me: “Don’t worry about that. Just be honest.”

Clair: “Alright, but just remember I warned you. First of all, you have to stop with all the kissy-kissy stuff. Imagine a giant picking you up, bringing you close to his leviathan-sized skull and planting his lips on your small head. And all the while speaking gibberish...some kind of cutesy-wutesy type talk...and squeezing you to death.”

Me: “I’m just showing you some affection.”

Clair: “That’s your idea of affection? Squeezing the life out of me? Why don’t you try keeping it to a minimum, like maybe petting my head a little and then PUTTING ME DOWN?”

Me: “Alright, I’ll try. Is there anything else?”

Clair: “You have to change the litter in our litter boxes faster. You take too long and then I have no choice but to do my business beside them instead of in them.”

Me: “I used to change them once a week and Bailey was okay with that. What’s the deal with you wanting them changed every 4 or 5 days? What’s an extra couple days?”

Clair: “What’s the deal? I have to share them with Bailey and he goes more often than I do. How would you like to put your paws into a dirty, smelly litter box? No way will I climb into that.”

Me: “Okay, Clair, I get it. And I’ve been changing them faster than I used to.”

Clair: “Not fast enough if you ask me. But I guess I can live with it.”

Me: “Isn’t there anything nice you can say about me?”

Clair: “Of course there is! We love all the castles you built for us out of the cardboard boxes. And the tasty vitamins you give us every day. And the playroom you put together for us. And that you clean our cage. And that you buy our food. In fact, aside from the slurpy kisses, the baby talk and the litter box negligence, I think you’re pretty cool. Bailey does too. He thinks you’re the best thing since mouse stew.”

Me: “Oh, Clair, come here...”

Clair: “STOP! DON’T YOU DARE PICK ME UP AND START THE KISSY-KISSY STUFF!”

Me: “Ooops, sorry...lost my head there for a moment. Okay, so let’s call it a day; the interview is getting a little long and we’ll end up boring our readers.”

Clair: “Bore our readers? They should feel honoured by my presence.”

Me: “Of course, Clair, of course. What do you say we do another interview at a later date? After all, a special gal like you should be getting her beauty rest just about now, no?”

Clair: “Yawn...I guess you’re right; I am feeling a little tired.”

Me: “Alright then, have a good rest, Clair.”

Clair: “Yaaawwwnnn...thanks... Don’t forget what I told you, okay? No more overdoing the kissy-kissy stuff...”

Me: “I won’t forget...” [sinister smile...]

And that wraps up this ferrety Friday. Hope you all enjoyed the interview with Clair.

Thursday’s Trivia

2010-10-14T05:00:00.043-04:00

Movies are part of our lives and our culture, and some of the quotes that are heard in them stay with us forever. Below are a few memorable movie quotes that you might recognize:

“You never had a rope around your neck. Well, I’m going to tell you something. When that rope starts to pull tight, you can feel the Devil bite your ass.”
Tuco (Eli Wallach)
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, 1966

“Say hello to my little friend."
Tony Montana (Al Pacino)
Scarface, 1983

"Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn."
Rhett Butler (Clark Gable)
Gone with the Wind, 1939

"I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse."
Don Vito Corleone ((Marlon Brando)
The Godfather, 1972)

"Toto, I've got a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore."
Dorothy Gale (Judy Garland)
The Wizard of Oz, 1939

"Here's looking at you, kid."
Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart)
Casablanca, 1942

"Go ahead, make my day."
Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood)
Sudden Impact, 1983

"May the Force be with you."
Han Solo (Harrison Ford)
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, 1977

"You talkin' to me?"
Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro)
Taxi Driver, 1976

"Love means never having to say you're sorry."
Jennifer Cavilleri Barrett (Ali MacGraw)
Love Story, 1970

"E.T. phone home."
E.T. (Pat Welsh)
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, 1982

"I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!"
Howard Beale (Peter Finch)
Network, 1976

"A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti."
Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins)
The Silence of the Lambs, 1991

"Bond. James Bond."
James Bond (Sean Connery)
Dr. No[7], 1962

"There's no place like home."
Dorothy Gale (Judy Garland)
The Wizard of Oz, 1939

"Show me the money!"
Rod Tidwell (Cuba Gooding, Jr.)
Jerry Maguire, 1996

"I'll have what she's having."
Customer (Estelle Reiner)
When Harry Met Sally..., 1989

"You're gonna need a bigger boat."
Martin Brody (Roy Scheider)
Jaws, 1975

"I'll be back."
The Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger)
The Terminator, 1984

"Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth."
Lou Gehrig (Gary Cooper)
The Pride of the Yankees, 1942

"If you build it, he will come."
Shoeless Joe Jackson (Ray Liotta (voice))
Field of Dreams, 1989

"Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get."
Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks)
Forrest Gump, 1994

"We rob banks."
Clyde Barrow (Warren Beatty)
Bonnie and Clyde, 1967

"I see dead people."
Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment)
The Sixth Sense, 1999

"It's alive! It's alive!"
Henry Frankenstein (Colin Clive)
Frankenstein, 1931

"Houston, we have a problem."
Jim Lovell (Tom Hanks)
Apollo 13, 1995

"You've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya, punk?"
Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood)
Dirty Harry, 1971

"You had me at 'hello'"
Dorothy Boyd (Renée Zellweger)
Jerry Maguire, 1996

"One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas, I don't know."
Capt. Geoffrey T. Spaulding (Groucho Marx)
Animal Crackers, 1930

"A boy's best friend is his mother."
Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins)
Psycho, 1960

"Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works."
Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas)
Wall Street, 1987

"Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer."
Michael Corleone (Al Pacino)
The Godfather Part II, 1974

"Say 'hello' to my little friend!"
Tony Montana (Al Pacino)
Scarface, 1983

"Mrs. Robinson, you're trying to seduce me... Aren't you?"
Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman)
The Graduate, 1967

"Elementary, my dear Watson."
Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone)
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, 1939

"Get your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape!"
George Taylor (Charlton Heston)
Planet of the Apes, 1968

"Here's Johnny!"
Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson)
The Shining, 1980

"They're here!"
Carol Anne Freeling (Heather O'Rourke)
Poltergeist, 1982

"Hasta la vista, baby."
The Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger)
Terminator 2: Judgment Day, 1991

Striker: "Surely you can't be serious!"
Rumack: "I am serious... and don't call me Shirley."
Ted Striker and Dr. Rumack (Robert Hays and Leslie Nielsen)
Airplane!, 1980

"Yo, Adrian!"
Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone)
Rocky, 1976

"A martini. Shaken, not stirred."
James Bond (Sean Connery[6])
Goldfinger[29], 1964

"I feel the need—the need for speed!"
Lt. Pete "Maverick" Mitchell and Lt. Nick "Goose" Bradshaw (Tom Cruise and Anthony Edwards)
Top Gun, 1986

"Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary."
John Keating (Robin Williams)
Dead Poets Society, 1989

"Nobody puts 'Baby' in a corner."
Johnny Castle (Patrick Swayze)
Dirty Dancing, 1987

"I'll get you, my pretty, and your little dog too!"
Wicked Witch of the West (Margaret Hamilton)
The Wizard of Oz, 1939

"I'm king of the world!"
Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio)
Titanic, 1997

“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.”Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson)
The Shining, 1980

"Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine."
Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart)
Casablanca, 1942

There are many, many more famous movie quotes, some of which I may add at a later date. Hope you enjoyed these.

Garden Blooms

2010-10-13T06:46:00.000-04:00

Okay, I’m kind of cheating in this week’s post because it’s obvious, being almost mid October and cold and stuff like that there, that not all these photos were taken recently. And that’s true. Some of these photos were taken anywhere from a few days to a few weeks ago, which, come to think of it now, is not that long ago. So hey, I’m not really cheating. There still are pretty flowers in the garden. Well, some. And I just want to show them off.

Now, enjoy them. Damn it.

Most of the plants are looking extremely tired, but a few are still hanging on, making the best of whatever time they have left before the really nasty weather kicks in. And until that time, I can continue to enjoy these late bloomers.

Tasty Tuesday – Pumpkin Pie

2010-10-12T05:00:00.037-04:00

One of my favourite things is pumpkin pie, a traditional North American sweet dessert that is eaten during the fall and early winter, especially during the holidays of Thanksgiving and Christmas. Below is a recipe I make now and again that the whole family loves. (I found it on the back of a can of E.D. Smith Pure 100% Pumpkin)

PUMPKIN PIE

What you need:

- 1/2 can (28 oz/796 mL) Pure Pumpkin
- 1 cup (250 mL) packed brown sugar
- 1 tsp (5 mL) ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp (2 mL) ground nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp (1 mL) ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp (1 mL) salt
- 3/4 cup (175 mL) evaporated milk
- 1 9-inch (23 cm) pie shell

What you do:

Beat eggs slightly in a medium size bowl.

Add brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and salt. Mix until combined.

Stir in evaporated milk then pour into pie shell.

Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes. Decrease temp. to 350 degrees and bake for an additional 30-35 minutes.

Devour!

You might want to consider making two because they won’t last long!

Happy Thanksgiving To My Fellow Canucks

2010-10-11T05:00:00.007-04:00

Today, it’s Thanksgiving up here in Canuck land, a.k.a Canada, and I have many things to be grateful for.

Here are just a few:

- I live in a beautiful city.
- I’m married to the perfect guy.
- I have the best kids in the world (like every other mother).
- The ties with my family are very loving.
- My friends are all terrific.
- I’m perpetually happy.
- We all are in good health.

I have every reason in the world to be thankful, which I am...

Happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow Canucks. Enjoy this special day!

Snapshot Sunday

2010-10-10T05:00:00.009-04:00

Let me start by apologizing for the poor quality of the photos below. They’re not horribly, terribly awful...but they’re not the greatest. First, they were taken in haste; birds don’t sit and pose for the camera, so you only have so much time before they’re gone; this time includes waiting for the camera to load, which can seem like eternity at times. And second, the photos were taken through my kitchen window, which a) has UV protection and b) is (shamefully) dirty.

But, the photos are what they are, and I’m posting them because I love blue jays and I’ll grab whatever photos I can get when they’re visiting.

Aren’t these birds just stunning? Love ‘em...

Saturday Silliness

2010-10-09T05:00:00.018-04:00

It’s our Thanksgiving weekend, so today’s silliness post is all about that...

Thanksgiving Divorce

Eddie in Vancouver calls his son in Toronto just before Thanksgiving and tells him, “I am sorry to tell you but your mother and I are getting divorced. We can't stand the sight of each other any more. Please tell your sister.”

When Eddie calls his sister Julie, she says: “No way are they getting divorced. Let’s go see them on Thanksgiving and discuss it with them.”

Julie then phones her parents. Her father picks up the phone and she tells him, “Eddie and I will be there on Thanksgiving. Until then, don't take any action!” She hangs up and starts packing for the trip.

The father puts down the phone and turns to his wife and says. “Good news. Eddie and Julie are coming for Thanksgiving - and they are both paying their own way!”

Thanksgiving Cartoons

(For those of you that don’t know, 'redrum' is 'murder' spelled backward, as highlighted in the book/movie 'The Shining' by Stephen King.)

How To Make Thanksgiving More Interesting

1. During the middle of the meal, turn to the host/hostess and say, "See, I told you they wouldn't notice that the turkey was four months past its expiration date. You were worried for nothing."

2. When everyone goes around to say what they are thankful for, say, "I'm thankful I didn't get caught" and refuse to say anything more.

3. Load your plate up high, then take it to the kitchen, toss it all in the blender, and take your "shake" back to the table. Announce that it's the new Thanksgiving Weight Loss Shake

4. Prepare a several hour long speech to give when asked about your thankfulness. If necessary, insist that no one leave or eat until you have finished the speech.

5. Bring along old recorded football games and pop them in the VCR when dad's not looking. Make sure it is set to the last two minutes of the game when he comes into the room, turn off the VCR, and then turn on the regular TV.

6. Bring a date that only talks about the tragic and abusive conditions known to exist at turkey farms. Request that she bring photos.

Ferrety Friday

2010-10-08T07:36:00.001-04:00

I had a much longer ferrety post planned for this Friday, but didn’t get a chance to finish it up. I’ve been very busy this week with all kinds of things. One of them is preparing for my father-in-law’s visit. He’s arriving from Montreal (about 280 kilometers/174 miles away) by train this afternoon, and he’ll be staying with us until Tuesday. I spent a considerable amount of time cleaning up the house, which wasn’t really necessary as my father-in-law wouldn’t care (or notice) if the house isn’t spotless; this is mostly for my own satisfaction. Still. It took some time to get the whole place in order.

I also went shopping to pick up some of the things he enjoys. For example, he eats a little pie with ice cream now and then, so I picked up some of both. He also likes to nibble during the day, so I picked him up some bite-sized Tobblerone chocolates (which he loves), some cookies to enjoy with his tea, some BBQ chips (couldn’t remember if he likes chips but my husband does, so he’s thrilled) and a couple of other things. I also brought home baked beans in maple syrup and some bacon, both of which he enjoys with eggs in the morning. Now, there are a lot of other items that I picked up but I’m not going to list them as I’m sure you’re not in the mood to hang around here for that.

The point I’m trying to make is that I’ve been busy preparing for my father-in-law’s visit. I want him to be comfortable while he stays with us so he doesn’t feel homesick; the man is (very soon-to-be) 84 years old, after all, and being away from his comfy environment is not easy on him. The nice thing is that on Sunday it’s his birthday (he’ll be officially 84), so we’ll get to celebrate it with him. We’re also invited to Port Hope (a town about an hour or so away from here) on Sunday for Thanksgiving dinner by my husband’s first cousin, which my father-in-law is looking forward to (he’ll get to see some of his nieces and nephews). So it’s going to be a really nice visit.

Anyhow.

Since I didn’t get a chance to finish up the post I intended for today, I will have to leave you with a ferrety image instead. The photo below was added to my blog quite awhile back, but since it’s one of my favourites, I decided to add it again.

I love when different species get along as well as these two. It’s really cute.

Thursday’s Trivia

2010-10-07T05:00:00.011-04:00

Seeing that we have two cats in the house, with the second one being a recent adoptee from the local humane society, I thought it would be nice to make this week’s trivia all about cats.

So let it be written; so let it be done...

This famous quote was made (in the movie the Ten Commandments) by Pharaoh Rameses II (played by Yul Brynner) whenever he made a declaration.

Let’s get started...

- Cats have been associated with humans for at least 9,500 years, and are currently the most popular pet in the world.

- Cats are a common companion animal in Europe and North America, and their worldwide population exceeds 500 million. A 2007 report stated that about 37 million US households owned cats, with an average of 2.2 cats per household giving a total population of around 82 million.

- The ‘cat-o-nine-tails’ is a leather whip once used as a method of severe punishment. Probably given its name by the claw like effect on the recipient, it may also provide one explanation for the expression, ‘…no room to swing a cat.’ Known to have been a popular punishment on board Royal Navy ships, where space would have been limited, it’s thought the saying may have referred to the amount of space needed to swing ‘the cat’ to administer the punishment.

- Cats use the length of their whiskers to judge whether the rest of their body will fit through a gap.

- Cats are said to have 9 lives: this probably originates from ancient Egyptian times when it was believed that gods took feline form.

- Cats have an innate ability to rotate their bodies during a fall, allowing them to land on their feet. This often makes it seem as though they survive the unsurvivable, adding fuel to the fire of belief that cats have 9 lives.

- The oldest cat on record is Puss from England who died in 1939, 1 day after his 36th birthday.

- Neutering a cat can extend its life by 2 or 3 years.

- A lonely old woman living with a black cat in the 17th Century would probably have been accused of witchcraft.

- Cats were often hung at the gallows in the 17th Century along with those accused of witchcraft.

- The early Christian Church believed all cats to be in cahoots with the devil, especially black cats. (Such ignorance...)

- Anti-cat hysteria reached fever pitch in the Middle Ages when cats were hunted down and persecuted for no reason other than being a cat. (Unbelievable...)

- In ancient Egyptian times, the killing of a cat was punishable by death.

- In 500 BC a Persian king besieged an Egyptian city by ordering each of his men to carry a cat as they advanced. The Egyptians dared not strike a blow for fear of killing a sacred cat - they surrendered!

- Ancient Egyptians shaved off their eyebrows when mourning the death of a beloved cat. (Okay...)

- The Christian persecution of the cat allowed the European rat population to grow unchecked, contributing to the spread of many diseases, most notably the plague. (Looks like the persecuted cats got their revenge from the grave...)

- The cat with the world record for catching the most mice is Towser who ‘worked’ at the Glenturret Distillery in Scotland for 24 years. A long-haired tortoiseshell, she is reported to have caught 28, 899 mice in her lifetime - that’s 3 a day!

- The skin of a cat’s nose has a unique individual pattern, just like a human fingerprint.

- A cat has larger eyes than any other mammal.

- Sir Isaac Newton is often credited with the invention of the cat door. In the UK, 90 per cent of indoor cats have access to a cat flap.

- Pure white cats are rare and white cats with blue eyes are almost always deaf.

- A kitten’s stomach is the size of a walnut. (Hard to believe when you see how much my kitten eats.)

- A female cat can have as many as 420 kittens in her lifetime.

- Cats sleep anywhere from 13 to 20 hours a day. (They can compete with the ferrets on this.)

- The term cat nap refers to the cat's ability to fall asleep (lightly) for a brief period and has entered the English lexicon. Someone who nods off for a few minutes is said to be "taking a cat nap".

- During sleep cats experience short periods of rapid eye movement sleep accompanied by muscle twitches, which suggests that they are dreaming. (I’ve no doubt that mine dream about catching the blue jays in our backyard.)

- A cat can jump over 7 times its own height.

- The earliest known picture of a cat was painted in an Egyptian tomb about 2600 BC.

- In Bubastis, Egypt, archaeologists discovered 300 000 embalmed cats.

- Unlike human arms, cat forelimbs are attached to the shoulder by free-floating clavicle bones, which allow them to pass their body through any space into which they can fit their heads.

- When cats walk, they use a "diagonal" gait; that is, they move the two legs on one side of the body before the legs on the other side. This trait is shared with camels and giraffes.

- Cats are able to tolerate quite high temperatures: they show no discomfort until their skin reaches around 52 °C (126 °F), and can tolerate temperatures of up to 56 °C (133 °F) if they have access to water.

- Cats conserve heat by reducing the flow of blood to their skin and lose heat by evaporation through their mouth. They do not sweat, and pant only at very high temperatures.

- Their kidneys are so efficient that cats can survive on a diet consisting only of meat, with no additional water, and can even rehydrate by drinking seawater.

- Cats have excellent night vision and can see at only one-sixth the light level required for human vision.

- Domestic cats have rather poor color vision and can only see two colors: blue and green, and are less able to distinguish between red and green.

- Cats have excellent hearing and can detect an extremely broad range of frequencies. They can hear higher-pitched sounds than either dogs or humans

- In captivity, an average life expectancy for male indoor cats at birth is 12 to 14 years, with females usually living a year or two longer.

- Domestic cats use many vocalizations for communication, including purring, trilling, hissing, growling, snarling and several different forms of meowing.

- Cats are ready to go to new homes at about 12 weeks old, or when they are ready to leave their mother.

That’s it for this week, folks. Hope you all learned something new!

Fabulous Foliage In The Garden

2010-10-06T05:00:00.032-04:00

It’s no secret that my number one attraction when it comes to choosing indoor plants is foliage. But when it comes to outdoor plants, it’s a slightly different story. Although I like perennials with pretty foliage in my garden, it’s the type of flowers they produce that I’m mostly interested in.

Still. Every now and then I pick up outdoor plants for their foliage, like the ones below.

1) Weigela 'French Lace'

It took awhile for me to decide what type of Weigela I wanted in my garden. In the end, I settled on one with variegated foliage.

2) Hosta 'Fire and Ice'

Can you believe I picked up this gorgeous plant for only two dollars?

It makes pretty flowers, too.

Pretty cool, huh?

3) Fallopia japonica 'Variegata'

I love the leaves on this plant; they remind me of one of my favourite houseplants: pothos.

4) Houttuynia cordata ‘Chameleon’

This plant grows quickly, and spreads quite fast. And although I have to keep an eye on it to keep it from growing beyond where I want it to, I just can’t resist its gorgeous foliage.

5) Pulmonaria ‘Raspberry Splash’

Although it’s still quite young, and will probably look better and better as it gets bigger, my Pulmonaria ‘Raspberry Splash’ is growing happily where I planted it.

6) Brunnera macrophylla ‘Jack Frost’

Not the most flattering photo, especially since it’s taken late in the season and the plant is starting to look tired – and stressed by the colder night – but I had to include my wonderful ‘Jack Frost’ in the mix. I have two of these growing in front of our home, both of which will grow bigger and better-looking as the years go by.

There are other plants in my garden with interesting foliage, but I didn’t snap photos of them in time; the autumn season arrived with its colder nights and those plants look too tired to bother photographing. There’s always next year...

The great thing about plants with pretty leaves is that when the flowers start to fade at the end of summer, you can always count on some fabulous foliage to keep the garden interesting.

A Furry Mocha... Hold The Milk, Please

2010-10-05T11:00:00.038-04:00

Okay, so we finally named the latest furry addition to our family, and it seems that Bailey and Clair – our two loveable ferrets – are the only two pets fortunate enough to have normal names, because baby cat is going to be called Mocha from now on. You heard right...Mocha... as in café mocha; a variant of a caffè latte.

Why Mocha, you ask? [shrug] Who knows? We toss name balloons up in the air in this family when we’re trying to name a pet and whichever one doesn’t burst, well, that’s what the poor furry critter gets stuck with. And since the Mocha balloon didn’t burst, baby cat is now named after a chocolate-flavoured beverage.

Anyway.

So we broke the news to her:

The first thing she did is discuss it with Nacho:

That went well – I think. But then the news spread to the ferrets and they weren’t as nice about it (ferrets can be quite mischievous, you know).

I’m not entirely sure how the heckling has affected Mocha (she doesn’t want to talk about it), but she seems to be having a little trouble getting out of bed lately. I hope she’s not feeling...um...depressed. I’ve included a photo for you all to take a look.

What do you think? Does she look unhappy?

I hope not.

Other names that we considered are Sheba, Jinx, Chloe, Skittles, Taco, Baby, Kitten, Chips, Cheese and a few others that I can’t remember right now, mostly because their balloons didn’t float for very long (you can imagine how bad they were...).

Well, just wanted to announce to the world that baby cat is now called Mocha. Poor little bugger...

Tasty Tuesday – Heirloom Tomato Salad

2010-10-05T05:00:00.013-04:00

If you love tomato salads then this recipe is for you.
(The original recipe can be found here.)

Heirloom Tomato Salad

What You Need

1 lb. (450 g) mixed fresh tomatoes, chopped
1/2 cup thinly sliced red onions
1/4 cup Kraft Feta with Oregano, Sun Dried Tomatoes and Cracked Peppercorns Cheese
1/4 cup Kraft Extra Virgin Olive Oil Tuscan Italian Dressing
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh basil
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley

How To Make It

Combine all the ingredients (that’s it!)

Divide equally into salad bowls and enjoy!

Monday’s Musings

2010-10-04T05:00:00.021-04:00

“Having been poor is no shame, but being ashamed of it, is.”
– Benjamin Franklin -

Every now and then I run across people who make nasty remarks about low-income families and the children being raised in them. And the remarks are even nastier for children growing up in poverty in a single-parent household. Sadly, some of the people making these remarks are familiar to me. Take, for example, a very old friend of mine (who I prefer to leave unnamed) that once said to me over the phone “All the worst kids – drug addicts, criminals, troublemakers - emerge from poor homes, or from poor homes where they’re being raised by a single-parent.”

Ignorance at its best.

I couldn’t believe my ears when she made this boorish statement, particularly because it hit very close to home. For one thing, I grew up in a low-income household, and – according to her – should have turned out quite badly. And at the time of the remark, I was a single, low-income earning parent (recently separated from a failed marriage, back in school to improve my skills and not quite back on my feet financially). According to her, my own children (being raised by a single parent that scratched the poverty line), were condemned to a life of substance abuse, crime and turmoil because of our lifestyle. And if I shared her philosophy, I’d have thrown in the towel right then and there and let nature take its course. After all, why fight the inevitable? If you’re doomed, you’re doomed.

Did she not think before she spoke? Probably. Did she believe and mean what she said? Absolutely.

The funny thing is that we shared a similar background; we both grew up in working class homes (today’s politically correct label for low-income households). And she, like many of the other children that I grew up with in the same region and in similar conditions, moved up and away from her origins. And that’s great. But instead of valuing the progress while still remembering what it’s like to live in more difficult times so she may empathize with the struggles other individuals face, she completely discarded her past and was repulsed by it. She not only mentally obliterated her poverty-stricken life of the past, hoping that by doing so she could pretend it never happened, she was resentful towards everything and everyone that reminded her of it.

"It's not your blue blood, your pedigree or your college degree. It's what you do with your life that counts"

Now, to hate a situation you’re in is one thing (who in their right mind enjoys living in poverty), but to assign those negative feelings to specific individuals is quite another. Then it gets too personal. But that’s the way it is with her. In her mind, the underprivileged are diseased, infected with some debilitating virus that, if acknowledged, will spread quickly through the population. Coming in close contact with anyone or anything contaminated by poverty is unthinkable because it’s a repulsive affliction that may be contagious. And the result of the contamination is the manufacturing of misfits, delinquents, drug addicts, high school dropouts, welfare recipients, alcoholics, gang members, pushers, prostitutes, criminals and an assortment of other degenerates.

What a load of crap.

These types of individuals are so desperate to disengage from a past that they’re horribly ashamed of that they angrily lash out at the people that remind them of it; people who are living in – and contaminated by – poverty. With an attitude of superiority, they endorse prejudices and misconceptions about a certain lifestyle and a group of people that they wish didn’t exist, because if they didn’t exist, neither would their shameful pasts.

My friend is ashamed of how she lived and where she came from. In order to feel more comfortable in her new life, she has chosen to detach herself completely from her own early years, from her ‘low-income’ years. And if she is ashamed of her own upbringing, then she is ashamed and embarrassed by and for the people living the life she’s so eager to forget. Keeping a safe distance is simply a way of not being reminded of it. She consciously chose to forget what she thinks is a humiliating existence. In essence, connecting in any way to the less fortunate is a way of confirming that she lived amongst them. And even more horrifying than that is admitting that not only was she surrounded by them but that she was actually one of them: a group of degenerates.

“He is rich or poor according to what he is, not according to what he has.”

It’s sad, really, that someone feels this way about human beings in less fortunate situations, many of which are hard working and doing the best they can. Poverty is not a disease and the people involved and their loves ones are not condemned to a life of crime and misfortune. Individuals are of value by virtue of unique characteristics and qualities, not by what they own.

As for me, I’ve never felt ashamed of my early years or felt awkward talking about them. If I did, then I would also be ashamed of my hardworking, honest, morally upstanding and loving parents who raised me, nurtured me and, by example, taught me good morals and values.

Embarrassed by past? Not a chance. I am proud of where I come from.

“Live so that when your children think of fairness and integrity, they think of you”

Snapshot Sunday

2010-10-03T05:00:00.011-04:00

It seems to me that as it becomes increasingly difficult to find food, the outdoor critters become much bolder around us humans.

Take, for instance, this grasshopper parked on one of my purple coneflowers:

Do you see him?

How about now?

Let’s move in much closer:

Ah, there he is...

It astonished me how close this little dude let me get to him. I put my camera in macro mode and held it about 4 inches away from him...and yet...he just stayed put as I snapped a few photos. In return for allowing me to play with the macro feature on my new camera, I spared him his life. Cause you know, grasshoppers are real pests in the garden and under other circumstances I wouldn’t have let him get away with hanging around my coneflowers.

I didn’t tell him about all the spiders living nearby, though... [sinister laugh...]

Saturday Silliness

2010-10-02T05:00:00.009-04:00

Laughter is the best medicine. It boosts the immune system, triggers the release of endorphins (the body’s natural feel-good chemicals), protects the heart (laughter improves the function of blood vessels and increases blood flow) and relaxes the whole body (a hearty laugh relieves physical tension and stress). So, take a few minutes and enjoy a good laugh with this week’s silliness post; it’ll help improve your overall health – at least for an hour or so.

This week it’s all about Canada, starting with this funny story...

Newfoundland Declares War On The USA

President Barack Obama was in the Oval Office when his telephone rang.

"Hallo, President Obama" a heavily accented voice said. "This is Archie, up 'ere at the Harp Seal Pub in Badger's Cove, Newfoundland, Canada, eh? I am callin' to tells ya dat we are officially declaring war on ya!"

"Well Archie," Barack replied, "This is indeed important news! How big is your army?"

"Right now," said Archie, after a moments calculation "there is myself, me cousin Harold, me next-door-neighbor Mick, and the whole dart team from the pub. That makes eight!"

Barack paused. "I must tell you Archie that I have one million men in my army waiting to move on my command."

"Wow," said Archie. "I'll have ta call ya back!"

The next day, Archie called again. "Mr. Obama, the war is still on! We have managed to acquire some infantry equipment!"

"And what equipment would that be Archie?" Barack asked.

"Well sir, we have two combines, a bulldozer, and Harry's farm tractor."

President Obama sighed. "I must tell you Archie, that I have 16,000 tanks and 14,000 armored personnel carriers. Also I've increased my army to one and a half million since we last spoke."

"Lord above", said Archie, "I'll be getting back to ya."

Sure enough, Archie rang again the next day..
"President Obama, the war is still on! We have managed to git ourselves airborne! We up an' modified Harrigan's ultra-light wit a couple of shotguns in the cockpit, and four boys from the Legion have joined us as well!"

Barack was silent for a minute then cleared his throat.

"I must tell you Archie that I have 10,000 bombers and 20,000 fighter planes. My military complex is surrounded by laser-guided, surface-to-air missile sites. And since we last spoke, I've increased my army to TWO MILLION!"

"Jumpins," said Archie, "l'll have ta call youse back."

Sure enough, Archie called again the next day.

"President Obama! I am sorry to have to tell you dat we have had to call off dis 'ere war."

"I'm sorry to hear that" said Barack. "Why the sudden change of heart?"

Well, sir," said Archie, "we've all sat ourselves down and had a long chat over a bunch of pints, and come to realize dat dere's no way we can feed two million prisoners.."

CANADIAN CONFIDENCE CANNOT BE SHAKEN!

And ending with this one...

Lost in Nova Scotia

Two American tourists were driving through Nova Scotia. As they were approaching Shubenacadde (shoe-been-aack-id-dee), they started arguing about the pronunciation of the town’s name.

They argued back and forth until they stopped for lunch. As they stood at the counter, one tourist asked the blonde employee, “before we order, could you please settle an argument for us?” Would you please pronounce where we are . . . ver-r-ry slo-o-owly?”

The blond waitress leans over the counter and says, “Tiiimmmmm Hoorrrrttoooonnns”

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Happy October To One And All

2010-10-01T05:00:00.012-04:00

Can you believe it’s already October? Where did September go? I blinked and it was gone...

Anyway.

A few highlights for this month:

- In my neck of the woods, October is the month where we experience our first frost (bleh), usually around the 10th day or so.

- In October, the leaves on the trees change colours (into gorgeous autumn shades) and begin to fall. We spread our fallen leaves around the lawn and mulch them, so there’s no raking and bagging of leaves, which can be quite a drag if you have a lot of deciduous trees on your property.

- Most of the birds will be gone by the first frost (sniff...I will miss them) and will not return until spring (sigh...).

- Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving on the second Monday in October. (mmm...turkey...pumpkin pie...)

- Halloween is celebrated on October 31st, something kids (big and small) look forward to. This is one of my favourite holidays of the year.

There are many more interesting things about October (I’m not going to list them all today; perhaps I’ll save them for one of my ‘Thursday’s Trivia’ posts); it is one of the most colourful and charming months of the year.

So, happy October, everyone; I hope you all have a great month ahead.