Mary Blackchurch – Woman Addicted

Life..when time after time…

mary_bc — Tue, 31 Oct 2017 21:00:35 +0000

we just get it wrong. And in between the few times of joy at feeling what we’ve done comes falling down. The desperation of knowing time is running out to get something right, there is a sense of failure, disappointment, and sorrow. At revisiting times of selfishness, dishonor, cheapening of the self, faithlessness in who we are or could have become, The tears begin to fall, and cannot be wiped away by the backs of my dampened hand, and fall in amounts that cannot stop of their own free will,

Wendy Macdonald

10 hrs ·

I’ve been debating on posting this ever since the “ME TOO” thing started and finally figured, why not. When I was 12 years old, 52 years ago in Grade 7 at Mountrose School, there were two young boys in our class, who got great joy out of harassing and molesting the girls in the class. They would come up behind the girls, while they were sitting at their desks and wrapping their arms around the back on the girl’s chair and grabbing them by the breasts, pinning them between their hands and the back of their chairs. Sometimes they even tipped the chairs back so that the girls couldn’t get their feet on the ground to escape. I remember telling the female teacher what they were doing and she shrugged it off as one of those boys-will-be-boys things. REALLY!!!!!!……is this how the silencing of women starts?

Angry

Comment

13You and 12 others

Comments

Claire Rushby Virtually the same thing happened in my secondary school (early 1980’s). It has recently been brought back to me because of this ME TOO and it makes me very angry about how it was ignored. Let’s hope the world has moved on and that this IS stamped on in schools now. But I also wonder how the men who did carry out these ‘pranks would now feel if it happened to their daughters / granddaughters?

· Reply ·

· 9 hrs

Remove

Wendy Macdonald I think that this type of behavior was considered a “right-of-passage” of sorts and therefore, excusable. I posted this is the hope that the two then boys, who are on FB and share some mutual friends, will read it and if nothing else, think about it i…See More

· Reply ·

· 8 hrs

Remove

View more replies

Sharon Bowden Kingsbury You got me wondering who they were. Who was the teacher then?

· Reply ·

· 8 hrs

Remove

Wendy Macdonald replied · 10 Replies · 4 hrs

Bill Barczai Well done Wendy! Sharing this will help change the world!

· Reply ·

· 7 hrs

Remove

Wendy Macdonald replied · 1 Reply

David Heath I am sure there are tens of thousands of similar stories that could be told. It is time to hear them.

· Reply ·

· 7 hrs

——————————————————————————–

Anjou was not unblemished by young males harassing girls in that way, it was a common if not accepted way of demeaning certain young women and would often carry over into the crowd mentality. Many of the guys, for fear of not being ‘accepted’ by their male friends, and who would not normally do such things one on one, would jump in when a ‘gang’ was around. Sad really, I witnessed and was a part of such harassment. Then as cowards are want to do they would begin labeling the girl with derogatory terms. One develops a thick skin when forced to confront and live with such behavior. Time to hear them, and time to change them!

October 31st, 2017 My response comment to Wendy MacDonald’s comment to recent outings, charges and arrests of a slew of males in positions of power in popular and long sought out after employment males in power and their abuse of women employees or potential employees allowing themselves to be sexually abused/and/or threatened with ostracization from and ‘never’ finding work in this field again! post on the same day about abuses of women finally working their way into the main-stream.
Saving my reply to her post: Adding that these behaviors by men towards women nothing new. It has followed women throughout millennia and will likely continue to for quite some time. It will take generations to out these patriotic and to some degree, by virtue of keeping silent and acceptance, matriarch responsibility has its role to understand,, amend and heal within themselves and women throughout time. No sex, male or female is exempt for its part, they are now, however, responsible for and long overdue in bringing about a justice from within, and paying forward what only they can teach, reach and grant forgiveness to, by teaching they who ignorantly were taught to dishonor women by forgiveness and moving forward in a new world with both stronger males and females

to be cont.

Happy Holidays To You

mary_bc — Tue, 27 Dec 2016 23:08:32 +0000

No matter what you celebrate at this time of year may love, joy and friendship wrap their arms around you

Crash Boom Boom!

mary_bc — Fri, 26 Sep 2014 07:44:50 +0000

Summer 2014

I’ve been in a few car accidents before, some, one could label as fierce-ish..some mild head bangers and others still not worth the quarter it would take to call the insurance. Having said that the 26th of June left me hanging & swinging askew and upside down from the roof top of a jet that had crashed helter skelter like all over an empty burned out field, with little else than a sticky wet nightie covering me for protection, and nothing else.

I would not crawl down from that state of mind for many years to come.

If anyone or thing can forsee another such crash in my remaining years, I’d rather forgo the lesson, not pass go and land straight on death please.

Kicking Methadone With Johnny Winter BY TED SCHEINMAN • March 24, 2014 • 8:00 AM

mary_bc — Sun, 30 Mar 2014 13:26:28 +0000

This is a post anyone who has been on long term Methadone
could do with reading, well..anyone on Methadone or people
trying to wrap their mind around the very subtle trappings
of it.

So please, grab your drink of pleasure, and anything else you many need
by your side when settling in for a good read and grab
what you need from the words below..enjoy!

Kicking Methadone With Johnny Winter

BY TED SCHEINMAN • March 24, 2014 • 8:00 AM

How sleight-of-hand—and obsessive-compulsive disorder—helped the guitarist shake 30 years of addiction.

•

The praetorian entourage that has attended to Johnny Winter over the past decade has one principal brief: Don’t tell Johnny.

Don’t tell Johnny we’re trying to “fatten him up”—a phrase his manager, publicist, and several of his friends repeat like gospel. Don’t tell Johnny what he’s drinking (usually a nutritional supplement like BOOST). Don’t tell Johnny that the croissant we are about to serve him contains a second, hidden croissant inside it. Don’t tell Johnny what time it is, unless you lie and say it’s 45 minutes later than it is.

And, until recently: Don’t tell Johnny that those methadone pills aren’t actually methadone.

In October of 2012, Tommy Curiale left Rick Derringer’s touring band to play drums for Winter. “He was walking around like a skeleton,” Curiale marvels. Paul Nelson, a Berklee-trained guitarist who also studied under Steve Vai, has served as Johnny’s manager, touring partner, and Grand Vizier for over a decade. Nelson paints a yet grimmer picture.

“It was hard to see Johnny like that,” Nelson says. “We’re talking 90 pounds—he weighed 90 pounds back then.” For a tallish dude, 90 pounds is sparrow-meat—especially when you’re about to turn 70.

“The person of course doesn’t know he has OCD, and the OCD doesn’t want to let you know you have it. When Johnny was diagnosed in 2010, we finally noticed the fingers started twiddling.”

It shouldn’t have been this way. Winter entered rehab over three decades ago to kick 10-plus-years of heroin addiction. But he kept drinking. And drinking. And smoking like a Texas brisket-house. Most important, he refused to give up methadone, which helped him establish an illusory sense of control over the keening demands of his body and brain.

The switch came in 2010, when a doctor diagnosed Winter with obsessive-compulsive disorder. And Nelson had an idea.

“It was a ritual,” Nelson says: “’I have to take this, I have to do this.’ Johnny didn’t need methadone; he needed the idea of methadone. So I took his OCD and used it against him to help him. Like the Force in Star Wars or something.”

We’re in Winter’s dressing room in Austin, where he is stealing a moment of rest between rehearsals for Jimmy Kimmel’s show from South By Southwest on Thursday, March 13. Paul leans forward in his chair, interpreter, finisher of Winter’s sentences, the teller of Winter’s tale. Winter is wedged into a pleather couch at an acute angle, his head slouched slightly toward me, a smile under his cowboy hat around which two rattlesnakes are coiled and bare their fangs.

“OCD is a very funny thing,” Nelson says, “because you don’t merely like stuff; you like stuff. So if you’re a smoker, you smoke. If you’re addicted to—I mean he could get just as addicted to a vanilla milkshake as he could to heroin. And, the beauty was, he can stop it, on a dime, if you work things right.” Nelson snaps his fingers: like that. “No different from eating a Pop-Tart every day.”

Call it tragedy, blessing, or fuzzy science: For a certain type of addict, a lesser disorder can prove balm for a greater and far more destructive disorder. As the writer Steve Kolowich once said: “Sometimes you’ve gotta fight the fire you can’t control with the one you can.”

Until the mid-’90s, medical researchers had been slow, even recalcitrant, to acknowledge, or even entertain the idea of, a link between compulsion and addiction. In 1996, Lance M. Dodes, M.D., formerly of Harvard Medical School and a distinguished fellow of the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry, published a landmark paper in the Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association that argued for re-categorizing addictions as a “subset of compulsions”:

In my own work, I have viewed addictive behavior as functioning to ward off feelings of helplessness or powerlessness, which are experienced by the addict as terrifying and overwhelming. The addictive behavior reasserts a sense of power by seizing control over the individual’s own affective state. Drug use provides a particularly clear example of a behavior that asserts control over one’s affective experience, but this control may be achieved without the ingestion of a psychoactive drug. Indeed, what is important in addiction, in my view, is to respond to the largely unconscious sense of helplessness and to demonstrate to oneself that one has the capacity to control one’s internal affective experience. For example, alcoholics regularly describe feeling better as a result of simply ordering a drink. I have regarded this as a signal satisfaction (analogous to signal anxiety) of the effort to reestablish a sense of internal mastery….

My experience with over a thousand addicts in inpatient and outpatient settings has led me to conclude that the dynamics I am describing are often present across a wide spectrum of patients.

My thesis is that the traditional distinctions between addiction and compulsion are not justifiable and that all addictions are … a subset of compulsions. This view suggests the treatability of many addictions by a psychoanalytic approach, including psychoanalysis itself.

These notions may seem commonplace, but prevailing notions in the psychotherapeutic community had for too long hewed to a ludicrously outmoded symptomatic understanding of addiction; to quote Anna Freud, writing in 1966: “The behavior of addicts … far from being compulsive, i.e. reactive, defensive … is merely compelling.” A glance at the semantics here is illuminating: What’s the difference between an “impulse” to drink, and a “compulsion” to do so? And why did this quibble over prefixes convince so many therapists that OCD was treatable, while addiction was not?

Nelson didn’t trouble over these questions. Instead, he developed a strategy to use the disorder against the addiction. In concert with Winter’s doctors, Nelson shaved pills with a razor-blade and weaned the guitarist off his dose over the course of a year, then gave him a year of placebo—literally grains of rice inside gel caps—to forestall some manner of compulsive relapse.

“The person of course doesn’t know he has OCD,” Nelson says, “and the OCD doesn’t want to let you know you have it. When Johnny was diagnosed in 2010, we finally noticed the fingers started twiddling, how he’s always blowing—is it trouble breathing? No, it’s anxiousness; it comes with the OCD. And eventually, it can go away with help. There’s been times when he said, ‘Why am I doing this? How come I rub my nose every time I have an autograph signing?’ And now we know.”

“We know, or I know, that with his OCD, the doctor had to tell him that the urge is so strong to go back that if you know what’s going on, then you go nuts with the withdrawals,” Nelson adds. “Johnny didn’t go through withdrawals.”

It worked, he quit smoking, and gained around 40 pounds. One Christmas, Nelson presented him with a small box. Winter unwrapped the box, squinted through his half-crossed albino eyes, and said, “What the hell is this pill?”

“Merry Christmas, Johnny. You’ve been off methadone for a year.”

At SXSW, where a new documentary Down and Dirty: Johnny Winter had its world premiere, this scene—captured in the grainy frames of an iPhone video—played like something out of Frank Capra. There was an immediate standing ovation.

“That was the best Christmas present I ever had,” Winter tells me. “Way the best. I just couldn’t believe it, ’cause I’d been on it for 30 years, and I was just extremely happy. Imagine that—I didn’t have to worry about methadone any more.”

And here, for what may be the first time of the day, Winter makes eye contact with me, as do the twining rattlesnakes atop his hat.

“Have those been the same rattlers the whole time?” I ask. “Like, I’ve been seeing that hat in music videos for years.”

“Aw yup, it’s the same hat. I’ve had it like 30 years. I mean, you don’t change snakes. I don’t know if it’d be bad luck, or what, but I won’t change snakes.” He pauses—am I sounding OCD right now? “These two rattlers work real good. Actually, one come off on the airplane, you see—we lost one of the heads and we found it and glued it back on.” The fingers start twiddling. “I figured, ‘I can’t go out with one snake-head on my hat.’”

“No, you’d look naked.”

Winter laughs. “Naked? Maybe. Anyway I’m gonna miss having someone following me, making a movie and all. I liked that.”

“And now—you just go back to being Johnny Winter?”

The guitarist paused on the idea, rubbed it between his fingers as a grin twisted the flesh of his face. “Yes sir. Which, these days, isn’t really so bad.”

Ted Scheinman has written for the Los Angeles Review of Books, Slate, theParis Review, the Oxford American Quarterly, and elsewhere. His first book of non-fiction will appear via Faber in 2014. Follow him on Twitter@Ted_Scheinman.

http://www.psmag.com/navigation/health-and-behavior/kicking-methadone-johnny-winter-77162/

Patty Griffin

mary_bc — Thu, 29 Aug 2013 14:54:21 +0000

Patty Griffin, a long time favorite music maker of mine, interviews in the October 2013 issue of Acoustic Guitar .

http://www.acousticguitar.com/Magazine/Issues/250

“Sweet Lorraine”

Songwriter Patty Griffin

Sweet Lorraine the fiery haired brown eyed schemer
Who came from a long line of drinkers and dreamers
Who knew that sunshine don’t hold up to dark
Whose businesses fail
Who sleep in the park
Lorraine who spoke of paintings in paris
And outlandish things to her family just to scare us
Whose heart went pokin’ where it shouldn’t ought
Whose mother could only sppit at the thought of
Lorraine, sweet lorraine

Her father her father would tear out like a page of the bible
Then he’d burn down the house to announce his arriva1
Her mother was working and never was home
Lorraine carved out a little life of her own
Lorraine started working, lorraine went to school
Her mother threw stones at her on the day that she moved

Now isn’t that a very strange thing to do

For someone who never really wanted you

Lorraine, sweet lorraine

Her daddy called her a slut and a whore
On the night before her wedding day
The very next morning at the church
Her daddy gave lorraine away
Lorraine, sweet lorraine

In the battle of time in the battle of will
It’s only your hope and your heart that gets killed
And it gets harder and harder lorraine, to believe in magic
When what came before you is so very tragic
Lorraine, sweet lorraine
Lorraine, sweet lorraine

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/pattygriffin/sweetlorraine.html

Los Tiempos Van Cambiando aka The Times They Are a-Changin’

mary_bc — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 05:59:09 +0000

A commanding Spanish rendition of Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A-Changin’ “covered by the band Franky Perez & Los Gaurdianes Del Bosque – “Los Tiempos Von Combiando.”

First heard it on the FX Networks show The Sons of Anarchy, if you haven’t caught it yet..I suggest you do..it’s excellent television that boasts an impressive cast of characters and writers who know how to rock a show. It’s the whole package folks!

Click below for a list of songs from every Sons Of Anarchy season & episode

Sons of Anarchy/Music Seasons 1-4

Sons of Anarchy: Songs of Anarchy Vol. 2

A follow-up from Seasons 1-4

The Whole Song List on One Page Seasons 1 – 5

mary_bc — Sat, 25 Aug 2012 20:06:47 +0000

Morrissey Poses With a Cat on His Head in PETA Ad
Moz: “Animals unfortunately haven’t yet worked out how to slip on a rubber…”
By Jenn Pelly on July 23, 2012 at 02:22 p.m.

Rock Icon Morrissey Promotes Spaying and Neutering: In his print ad for PETA, the former Smiths frontman and a feline friend encourage spaying and neutering cats and dogs to prevent homeless animals.

" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://maryblackchurch.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/meatis.jpg?w=242" data-large-file="https://maryblackchurch.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/meatis.jpg?w=390" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1215" title="Rock Icon Morrissey Promotes Spaying and Neutering" src="https://maryblackchurch.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/meatis.jpg?w=390&h=483" alt="" width="390" height="483" srcset="https://maryblackchurch.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/meatis.jpg?w=390&h=483 390w, https://maryblackchurch.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/meatis.jpg?w=121&h=150 121w, https://maryblackchurch.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/meatis.jpg?w=242&h=300 242w, https://maryblackchurch.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/meatis.jpg 658w" sizes="(max-width: 390px) 100vw, 390px" />

Read the full story @ the link below.

http://pitchfork.com/news/47240-morrissey-poses-with-a-cat-on-his-head-in-peta-ad/

‘Mary’ by Patty Griffin (inspired by Mary O’Connor)

mary_bc — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 03:40:31 +0000

‘Mary’ a song off of Griffin’s 1998 “Flaming Red” album is lyrically splendid…and as Natalie Maines slides her ample voice in next to Patty’s lead, can a song get any better on a rainy night.

Mary (lyrics)

Ohh Mary you’re covered in roses, you’re covered in ashes
You’re covered in rain
You’re covered in babies, you’re covered in slashes
You’re covered in wilderness, you’re covered in stains
You cast aside the sheet, you cast aside the shroud
Of another man, who served the world proud
You greet another son, you lose another one
On some sunny day and always stay, Mary

Jesus says Mother I couldn’t stay another day longer
Flys right by me and leaves a kiss upon her face
While the angels are singin’ his praises in a blaze of glory
Mary stays behind and starts cleaning up the place

Mary she moves behind me
She leaves her fingerprints everywhere
Everytime the snow drifts, every way the sand shifts
Even when the night lifts, she’s always there

Jesus said Mother I couldn’t stay another day longer
Flys right by me and leaves a kiss upon her face
While the angels were singin’ his praises in a blaze of glory
Mary stayed behind and starts cleaning up the place

Ohh Mary you’re covered in roses, you’re covered in ruin
you’re covered in secrets
Your’e covered in treetops, you’re covered in birds
who can sing a million songs without any words
You cast aside the sheets, you cast aside the shroud
of another man, who served the world proud
You greet another son, you lose another one
on some sunny day and always stay
always you stay
always you stay
Mary, Mary,

Mary

Someone to Watch Over Me ~ Amy Winehouse

mary_bc — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 17:56:06 +0000

Her spectacular vocal gift..a sort of culmination of other notable talents who came before her and were silenced too early. The genius that was Amy Winehouse seemed to embrace parts of these accomplished artists, the result..a rich, sultry, unique voice, colored here and there with dashes of a quirkiness that dared us to turn our ears off and hearts on. Is it any wonder then, when she first opened her mouth and sang on a world stage we were taken aback by it’s power, impressive proportions and most original delivery. In her grandest moments..in her most sorrowful, in your face moments..Amy compelled us to watch her, to hear her..and above all..to embrace her.

Looking away just wasn’t an option when it came to Amy winehouse.

I wish she weren’t dead to this world, I wish she had lived long enough to hold a child of her making, I wish she had sung a century’s worth of experience, and maybe she did, maybe..she did just that.

I sense this little lady continues on elsewhere, call it what you will, but energy like that goes a long way for a long long time.

Rest easy Miss Amy

And thank you.

Could you pass the citizenship test? Find out, right now.

mary_bc — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 14:59:30 +0000

CJAD am is a local radio station here in the diverse and interesting city of Montreal, Kim Fraser a local talk show host. She posted this yesterday and this blogger decided to test her knowledge of country. I’ll post my results tomorrow..how did you do?

Could you pass the citizenship test? Find out, right now. Click here and test your chops. Or read below and take the test.

Posted By: Kim Fraser kfraser@cjad.astral.com · 12/7/2010 6:34:00 AM

When it was revealed last week that the new immigration test introduced in March had a 30% failure rate, many Canadians felt that immigrants had been getting easy ride with the earlier test.

The new test includes 20 multiple choice questions that must be answered in 30 minutes.

But how well do you know your own country?

Here are 20 sample questions from Citizenship and Immigration Canada. Could you pass this test? You need 15 out of 20 to make it.

The answers are down below. No cheating!

1. What are the three responsibilities of citizenship?

a) Being loyal to Canada, voting in elections, serving in the navy, army or air force.

b) Obeying the law, taking responsibility for oneself and one’s family, serving on a jury.

c). Learning both official languages, voting in elections, belonging to a union.

d) Buying Canadian products, owning your own business, using less water.

2. Name four fundamental freedoms that Canadians enjoy?

a) Freedom of conscience and religion; freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of speech and of the press; freedom of peaceful assembly; freedom of association.

b) Freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of speech and of the press; freedom of peaceful assembly; freedom of association; freedom of voting in elections.

c) Freedom of conscience and religion; freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of speech and of the press; freedom of international travel.

d) Freedom of peaceful assembly; freedom of conscience and religion; freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of speech and of the press; freedom of living anywhere in the country.

3. Name two key documents that contain our rights and freedoms.

a) The Constitution of Canada and the Canadian Charter of Rights.

b) The Canadian Charter of Rights and the Lawyer’s Handbook.

c) The Constitution of Canada and Discover Canada booklet.

d) Discover Canada booklet and Lawyer’s Handbook.

4. What is the meaning of the Remembrance Day poppy?

a) To remember our Sovereign, Queen Elizabeth II.

b) To celebrate Confederation.

c) To honour prime ministers who have died.

d) To remember the sacrifice of Canadians who have served or died in wars up to the present day.

5. How are Members of Parliament chosen?

a) They are appointed by the United Nations.

b) They are chosen by the provincial premiers.

c) They are elected by voters in their local constituency (riding).

d) They are elected by landowners and police chiefs.

6. Who is entitled to vote in Canadian Federal elections?

a) If you are 18 and a Permanent Resident.

b) Foreign workers, permanent residents and Canadian citizens.

c) Canadian citizens and international students in Canada.

d) Canadian citizens.

7. What does it mean to say that Canada is a constitutional monarchy?

a) Each provincial and territorial government has an elected legislature where provincial and territorial laws are passed.

b) Canada’s head of government is the prime minister who governs the country in accordance with the Constitution.

c) Canada’s head of state is a hereditary sovereign (king or queen) who reigns in accordance with the Constitution.

d) The Premier of each province reports directly to the king or queen reigns in accordance with the Constitution.

8. What does Confederation mean?

a) The birth of Canada on July 1 1867 is known as Confederation.

b) It’s when the first settlers came to Canada.

c) It’s when the Constitution of Canada was amended in 1982.

d) Newfoundland and Labrador joining Canada to complete the union.

9. Who were the founding peoples of Canada?

a) Aboriginal, Canadian and French.

b) Aboriginal, French and British.

c) French, British and American.

d) Aboriginal, British and American.

10. Who are the Métis?

a) The Metis are a distinct people of mixed Aboriginal and European ancestry.

b) The Metis are a people who live in scattered communities across the Arctic.

c) The Metis migrated from Asia many thousands of years ago.

d) The Metis came to Canada from Europe with settlers.

11. What does the word “Inuit” mean?

a) The People.

b) The Family

c) The Clan.

d) The Territory.

12. What did the Canadian Pacific Railway symbolize?

a) Superior technology.

b) Unity between the east and the west coast.

c). Coming together of British and American investors.

d) Years of heroic work.

13. Who was Sir Louis-Hippolyte La Fontaine?

a) He was a Canadian historian, professor, civil servant and diplomat.

b) He was the first head of a responsible government in Canada in 1849.

c) He was seventh prime minister of Canada from July 11 to October 5 1911.

d) He was a leading filmmaker and the first recipient of the Order of Canada.

14. What are the three branches of government?

a) Executive, legislative and judicial.

b) Municipal, provincial and federal.

c) Municipal, legislative and judicial.

d) Municipal, Provincial and Canadian.

15. In Canada, are you obliged to tell other people how you voted?

a) Yes.

b) No.

c) Depends on which province you are in.

b) Depends on who you voted for.

16. After a federal election, which party forms the government?

a) The party with the most seats in the House of Commons.

b) The party with the most seats in the UN.

c) The party with the most seats at Queen’s Park.

d) The party that has 15 elected MPs and 12 Senators.

17. What is the capital of the province or territory that you live in?

a) Greater Toronto Area.

b) Ottawa.

c) London.

d) Toronto.

18. What provinces are sometimes referred to as the Atlantic Provinces?

a) Quebec, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador.

b) Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Quebec.

c) Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador.

d) Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario and Newfoundland and Labrador.

19. What is the highest honour that Canadians can receive?

a) Order of British Empire.

b) The Purple Cross.

c) Much Music Award.

d) The Order of Canada.

20. Name two Canadian symbols.

a) The Maple Leaf and the Canadian Flag.

b) The Canadian Flag and the Leafs.

c) The Leafs and the Canadian Crown.

d) The Beaver and the Bluenose.

Answers

1.b

2. a.

3. a.

4. d.

5. c.

6. d.

7. c.

8. a.

9. b.

10. a.

11. a.

12. b.

13. b.

14. a.

15. b.

16. a.

17. d.

18. c.

19. d.

20. a.

Source:

http://www.cjad.com/blog/KimFraserShow/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10170652

Sunitha Krishnan fights sex slavery

mary_bc — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 17:12:51 +0000

If you have 12 minutes right now please watch this talk and help spread the word, each one of us can help break the silence, it’s happening every day, to the children of the planet, to us.

Quote below taken from Ms. Krishnan that speaks to us all:

“These men are among us. They are our brothers, our husbands, our brothers, our neighbors. If there was no customer, there would be no product. “

Sunitha Krishnan fights sex slavery

As a race, the human race, we simply have to do better than this.

Think Wool is a Great Alternative to Fur? Think Again.

mary_bc — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:26:45 +0000

When you think of wool and where it comes from, do you envision a pasture filled with frolicking sheep waiting patiently in late spring to be sheared humanely? The below article was taken from Care2, it gave this blogger cause to reconsider 1/3rd of her winter/fall wordrobe. Reader beware, this is not a gentle eye opener.

The below posted by: Kayla Coleman – Care2
February 22, 2010

Fashion makes a statement. Even if you are not the type of person who goes to fashion shows, reads fashion magazines, or even vaguely pays attention to what they grab from their closet in the morning. You can’t deny it: fashion matters.

Even if you aren’t particularly picky about your daily ensemble, all clothes have a design. They’re all made from something. The shape, the fabrics, the essence, it all stems from a mother fashion puppeteer. This puppeteer’s fashion designs trickle down to every Target and outlet store known to man. The imitation pieces are seen on the backs of everyone from glamazons to truckers to preschoolers.

The convention of said fashion puppeteers — New York’s Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week — happened last week. And, unfortunately, two very political trends stuck out on nearly every designers’ runway: fur and wool.

“Fur!” you may be saying. “Disgusting! How cruel!”

But wool? Many people believe sheep need haircuts, that we’re doing them a favor by shearing them. And isn’t wool a nice, eco-friendly, sustainable product?

Well, no. A lot of people — even those still wearing fur — have heard of the cruelty of the fur industry. There are a number of videos (viewer beware: the images are hard to handle) showing the horrible realities of fur. But the cruel happenings within the wool industry don’t always garner the same attention. There are a lot of people who still consider wool to be a “humane” alternative to fur. And some eco-friendly clothing stores and websites carry wool products, adding to the misconception that wool is just a leftover from when a hippie gives a pet sheep a haircut.

But the real story of the wool industry is far from a fairytale of life on the commune.

Let’s start with this fact: people who shear sheep get paid per sheep, not by the hour. So when they cut sheep’s hair away, they want to do it as fast as they can, which inevitably leads to rough handling and abuse of the animals. The handlers don’t wait patiently for the sheep to canter over and the sheep don’t sit still while they’re being sheared. The process is quite rough. Most sheep are injured and bleed. To maximize thickness of the coat, many sheep are sheared in Spring, long before they would naturally shed their wool. This leaves sheep naked and cold.

The sheep live in crowded, dirty conditions, like every other mass-produced animal. And like other exploited animals, we have bred sheep so large that they can barely support their own body weight. Many die in their holding pens. They get lice, fleece rot, foot rot and their tails are cut off without anesthesia. And male sheep are castrated without anesthesia, too. The procedure is either performed with a knife, or by placing a tight rubber band around the animal’s scrotum until it shrivels up and falls off.

And many baby lambs born in these crowded conditions are trampled to death.

Then there’s mulesing, an incredibly painful and cruel practice only necessary because of the mutations we have bred into sheep to get the most wool out of them. Over 50 percent of the world’s Merino Wool comes from Australia, where the sheep’s wool is extra thick and the climate is extra hot and dry. Their skin is wrinkled and because they’re are so fat and live under the hot Australian sun, the skin folds become moist, love nests for flies, who burrow into the folds of the sheep’s skin. Maggots then infect the flesh, a condition known as flystrike. The maggots consume the sheep from the inside, leaving the sheep so distressed they stop eating, drinking and can not sleep. Can you blame them? They’re being eaten alive by maggots! If untreated, the sheep will die a slow, agonizing death. To avoid the skin folds from being infested, large chunks of skin are cut from the sheep’s rear end, which is known as “mulesing.” This procedure is done without any anesthesia or painkillers.

And when sheep stop producing wool, they’re not sent to pasture, allowed to peacefully utter their last “bah.” Instead, when their production value is no longer enough for the wool industry, they’re sent to slaughter to benefit the meat industry. Doesn’t that make you feel all warm and cozy inside?

The whole theory of sheep “needing” to be sheared is concocted from human design. Natural, wild sheep will grow just enough fur to keep them warm in the winter and cool in the summer. They shed naturally, when necessary. But we have bred sheep to be wool-producing factories. As a result, they do need “haircuts”. But these haircuts are not animal-friendly. They are not benevolent favors. They are part of an industry–a machine that is not the “green” solution to fur that clothing designers claim. If you want to look at it purely from an environmental perspective, sheep need food, space and fuel for transportation just like cows and other factory-bred animals. They are livestock, part of a production that pollutes water, emits greenhouse gases and degrades natural resources. In Australia, sheep eat so much natural fauna that wallabies are endangered. And millions of kangaroos searching for food are killed upon invading the herd space.

So if you shun fur, consider yourself an environmentalist or an animal lover, or even if you’re a “cute-atarian,” someone who doesn’t eat anything they deem adorable (and what’s cuter than a lamb?), don’t pull the wool over your eyes. Wool may not be quite the same as fur, but it’s not far off either. Wool is warm, I’ll give you that. But there are non-wool alternatives that keep you just as warm during cold winter weather. The choices are out there if you look for them.

We need to be the change we want to see. If we buy non-wool items, people will make non-wool winter clothes. We will find increasingly more materials and more technology that can replace wool, if there’s demand for it. Fashion Week may be the puppeteer of the clothing industry, but we don’t have to be puppets. Cut the strings. Check labels. The next time you are eco-shopping with your organic pals and scoffing at the fur-wearing hag buying the snakeskin clutch, check the label of that sweater you were eyeing. It may once have been a home for maggots on a sheep’s backside.

How Much Do You Really Know?
The Six Myths of Mulesing

http://www.savethesheep.com/f-MuelsingMyths.asp

http://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/article/2008/10/17/16961_sheep.html

Vote for your ‘Hero Next Door.’

mary_bc — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 12:26:16 +0000

Care2 recently announced the 10 finalists in Care2’s “Hero Next Door” contest. If you haven’t voted yet, please be sure to vote for your favorite hero so that he or she has a chance to win $2,500 and a matching $2,500 for charity.

This contest is a great reminder that our communities are full of ordinary people doing extraordinary things to make a difference. We had more than 700 nominations honoring heroes doing everything from helping out a family member in need, to traveling across the world to assist strangers they have never met. Our finalists are making a difference in the areas of animal welfare, the environment, poverty, safety, health, and more.

I encourage you to read the stories of our top 10 finalists, and vote for your favorite. I promise you they will warm your heart, and remind you that it’s possible for all of us to make a difference.

The ten finalists:

http://www.care2.com/hero-next-door/

Source

Randy’s Blog

Canada’s Avalanche dogs

mary_bc — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 17:15:01 +0000

Avalanche dogs

More than a dozen dogs and their handlers will be on standby during the Olympics in case an avalanche hits.

Watch Video Click Here

Source:

Canadian Press

——————————————-

About 25 avalanche rescue dog teams will be working in Whistler and on Cypress Mountain during the Olympics

By Damian Inwood, The Province

About 25 avalanche rescue dog teams will be working in Whistler and on Cypress Mountain during the Olympics in case security staff get caught in backcountry snowslides.

The teams, from B.C., Alberta and Squaw Valley, Calif., will each work for about a week at the three mountain venues.

“There’ll be one dog and handler team, plus an assistant for each of the winter ski venues,” said Kyle Hale, the Golden-based president of the Canadian Avalanche Rescue Dog Association. “At any one time, there’ll be one for the Callaghan Valley, one for Whistler venue and one for the Cypress Mountain venue. We’re providing a total of about 25 dog-and-handler teams over the course of the six or seven weeks.”

The teams will work at the venues during daylight hours and will be on standby at night, he said. Hale added that CARDA is working with the RCMP’s Vancouver 2010 Integrated Security Unit but will also deal with any avalanche or search-and-rescue incident involving the public.

He said daily avalanche forecasts will be given to the teams so they can assess the hazard levels.

“Depending on the operational requirements, we’ll be all over the place,” he added. “The venues are quite small and we’ll have various modes of transportation, and it’s our hope we don’t need to activate. Our dogs ride chairlifts, helicopters, Ski-doos–any mode of winter transport.”

Hale said that while avalanches are rare in the ski resorts themselves, they’re common in backcountry areas where security staff will be working.

He said the California teams are involved because 2010 is the 50th anniversary of Squaw Valley hosting the 1960 Winter Games.

RCMP Cpl. Jen Allan said the ISU will cover the cost of accommodation and meals for the Canadian and U.S. teams, but will only pay travel expenses for the dogs and handlers from B.C. and Alberta.

She said the rescue association will supplement a “large contingent” of RCMP dog teams working in Vancouver and Whistler during the Olympics.

“The majority of them will be explosive-profile dogs and will be involved in sweeping the venues prior to [Olympics organizers] taking possession of them,” Allan said. “The sweeps will be occurring near the end of January.”

She said the rescue-dog association provides the security unit with special skills in avalanche situations and “helps us with the geographical challenges of securing a mountainous region.”

dinwood@theprovince.com

Source:

——————————————————

From his backyard in Fernie, B.C. Steve Morrison points out slide paths in the surrounding Lizard Range, where avalanches bring down hundreds of tons of snow, rock and tree at speeds of up to 139 kilometres an hour. It’s even worse than he’s describing. And his retriever-mix, ‘Mojo,’ knows all about it. The two form an Avalanche Rescue Dog team, one of four validated teams at Fernie Alpine Resort, each certified by the internationally renowned Canadian Avalanche Rescue Dog Association (CARDA). These teams are becoming more and more critical to avalanche rescue programs.

Fernie is poised to be Canada’s next boom resort town. In 1998, when the resorts of the Canadian Rockies took over the hill, the ski terrain doubled, and the numbers jumped from around 150,000 skiers a season to 300,000-plus in 2007. Add to that the huge dump of snow Fernie has had over the past few seasons (Fernie’s five enormous bowls receive an average of 29 feet of snowfall each winter – enough snow to cover a three-storey building) and that spells avalanche.

Prevention
“We see a lot of avalanches. Hundreds in a season,” says Steve, who helps bring many of them down. “We blast pretty well every morning,” he says, explaining the use of controlled explosives to knock down massive slabs of snow in order to mitigate the hazard. A member of the Canadian Avalanche Association, serving on its explosives committee, Steve fires the avalauncher. The Fernie patrol also deploys explosives from a helicopter on occasion, usually when the weather is good and the cornices are large.

Big shoes to fill
For Steve, a man with over 23 years of patrol in the snow, it was during the last four years, with his canine companion at his side, when he found his most critical role on the hill. “I was looking for a change, a new challenge. And, I was looking for a dog. When ‘Keno’ and Robin retired, there was a void. Mojo and I filled it.” Steve is referring to the retired senior Avalanche Rescue Dog team of Robin Siggers and his yellow Lab Keno, the Fernie team credited with the first and only live find by an avalanche dog in Canada.

Pretty big shoes to fill, but Steve has confidence in Mojo. “He is great in the snow – loves swimming in powder. He has long powerful legs, good nose, fine discipline and lots of energy.” Mojo received his first CARDA validation in January 2005. (CARDA’s qualifications require dogs and their handlers to be revalidated every year.)

Ready for anything
The training is extreme, but necessary. Mojo needs to be ready for anything. This includes transport by helicopter, snowmobile, snow cat and ski lift; travel on foot with handler on touring skis; backcountry and ski area rescue. “We are involved in mainly body recovery,” says Steve, referring to the unlikely probability of finding anyone alive. Avalanches are deadly. “But it is our goal to be on the scene quickly enough to beat the statistical odds.” If anyone can find a live buried person (who isn’t carrying or wearing an avalanche transceiver) in the shortest amount of time, it’s the dogs. At the very least, the dog’s keen scenting abilities bring a fast resolution to the tragedy: the recovery of the victim.

On the job
Well-trained dogs can roughly search an avalanche area as large as a football field eight times faster than a rescue team that probes the snow searching for dense matter (bodies). It’s the handler’s job to take charge, acting as the eyes and brains of a search so the dog can focus on its greatest attribute: its nose. A dog can detect an item as bland as a ski pole, buried metres deep in densely packed snow, thanks to its ultra-keen olfactory system, which is 10,000 to 10 million times more sensitive than a human’s. “Cold temperatures can be a real challenge, and avalanche debris can be dense with few air pockets. Prolonged wind can cause a crust so that nothing can seep out.”

Most victims are found near the run out of an avalanche, thus the handler directs the dog to sweep the toe first, nose to the ground, running back and forth in a tight zigzag pattern. Once an odour is detected, the dog alerts the handler by barking, wagging, or digging, paws churning the snow. It takes years of practice to train a dog to follow a scent, especially one that’s unfamiliar, in highly distracting and often inclement conditions.

“Ninety-eight percent of the time, nothing happens, but we have to be prepared,” says Steve. “On a typical day, we practise on the mountain, riding in a snow cat or on a snowmobile, training in obedience or uncovering hidden articles.”

The above written by:

Dawn Matheson
Dawn Matheson is a freelance writer, multimedia artist and web video producer living in Guelph, Ont. She claims a childhood spent in British Columbia gives her street cred to write about mountain culture. Her old friend ‘Brandy’ will forever inspire her to write about dogs.

(Excerpted from ‘Rocky Mountain snow dogs’ which originally appeared in Dogs in Canada’s January 2009 issue.)

Sources:

Canada Press

Dogs in Canada

Fernie Ski Patrol

CARDA aka Canadian Avalanche Rescue Dog Association

Cha cha cha changes…movement in the trenches

mary_bc — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 14:48:11 +0000

Featured Artist: Stephanie Bush

The painting ‘Bound’ from her ‘Mosaic’ series.

If you’ve reached a place in your life where your every fiber and instinct screams discontent..you must do something to facilitate a change before your ‘winter,’ or forever hold you tongue. I think things have to get ugly before they can get better. By ‘ugly’ I mean you have to dare venture into the uncomfortable places..the places most people ignore..bury or deny exist within themselves.

It’s simply too awkward..embarrassing and disquieting. Some of us would rather live with the consequence of dieing before having really lived..then risk stirring that pot or casting that die.

It boils down to the human emotion of fear..we fear that which challenges us to change what we don’t like. Conning ourselves by believing we are comfortable as we are. And is when we get too comfortable in a role (no matter the role be negative, (which it usually is) we tend to cocoon ourselves within the gates of its false safety…bravado.

It’s confusing..this state of acceptance some of us find ourselves waking up to half-way through life. Not a phenomenon unique to the addicted at all…no..many find themselves facing this dilemma. The housewife whose children are leaving for college..suddenly her role is no more..she realizes she is unfulfilled..unhappy..un-husbanded…unaware.

A professional man who has lived his life in pursuit of ‘the dream,’ wakes to find himself alone in his perfectly decorated condominium. Staring at the back of yet another peroxide blonde headed sleeping stranger. He longs for the smells, sounds and simplicity of his childhood. A hot breakfast wafting from a bustling kitchen and loud cartoons to invade his noisy silence..is all the world he can think of now.

The drug addict drifting in and out of reality..recalling vaguely a time his tank didn’t need a grand assortment of chemicals to start his or her day..holding on to the dream of a perfect world..waking briefly to the old world of war & roses…until his next stop at the filling station takes him back to the safety of the dream from whence he came.

Of course not all of us reach this type of plateau..no..many are content with the direction their worlds are taking and see no need for a soul-searching trek into the labyrinth of their scary future. Still others could care less..stopped asking questions or demanding proof of their lives lifetimes ago. Gave in, succumbed to what life threw at them. But for those of us not so settled..at peace..or willing to give up..we have a choice to make. Do we stay where we are..stunt our evolutionary process..or do we make a move..go for transformation..listen to the constant drumming of our regret…finish what we started and be damned the karma.

Not only do we have that choice to make..but we are then faced with the question of ‘Can we do it,’ do we know how..have we the stamina needed…the faith? It will not come naturally like it did in our youth..this change of life we seek. No..we’ve been stagnating for too long..content to stay in our quagmires of bullshit..societal classes and programming. Long gone is the blind faith of our youth..the raging hormones that shoot us forth almost unaware..no blissful ignorant confidence to help us reach our growth potential. In youth (haphazard as it were)..at least we had those natural compadres to escort us through.

Is it even something we can plan for..or is it a crap-shoot..this better reconstructed existence we seek..would we…will we..even recognize it..if and when we reach our new & improved regenerated..revitalized and better selves?

I ask you…

Is there life after discovering you’ve not really been living at all?

4 weeks is not a long time..only 672 little hours afterall.

mary_bc — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 03:40:13 +0000

I’m off to rehab..court mandated almost 15 months ago. How do I feel about it? Honestly..okay I’m going to be all about the truth in the coming days..so here’s the truth. Does the song ‘Rehab’ as in ‘I don’t wanna go to rehab..no..no..no’ by Amy Winehouse, ring a bell.

Yea..well..that comes pretty close to how I’m feeling at this..the 11th hour. The song itself can sometimes be nasally, self-indulgent, and just a tad whiney. If Ms. Amy spilled these lyrics the night before she had to go into rehab..she damn straight hit the mark on how this gal feels on the eve of her invalidation. Throw insecure, edgy, tense and overtired into the mix, and well you have to know, I just don’t wanna go to rehab..I said no no no!

To work on just me for 4 weeks..it has never been done. Despite all the positive optimisim and well wishers words of encouragement offered up today; when alone with my thoughts and the irritating ticking of a clock moving forward, a constant reminder of change on the horizon..I would almost rather do anything else.

And yes..I do know it’s the drug addict in me speaking, pushing away feelings, conning and resisting. She’s had control for many decades, and she’s running scared in the deepest recesses of my mind. Wish me luck.

Catch you on the rebound folks.

And Death Shall Have No Dominion

mary_bc — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:45:10 +0000

“See That My Grave Is Kept Clean” written & sung by Blind Lemon Jefferson

It’s not the first time since your death that I’ve sat in front of this screen trying to put words to these sputtering heated emotions. I’ve started many posts..but each seemed more scattered than the other..more confused..more desperate.

How does one ever really understand death, it’s the kinda thing we wing isn’t it, we do in the moment. Funerals are something we plan because it’s the only thing we can do when it comes to death.

Sucide is another.

Maybe your shame killed you, your lifelong inability to let pride take a backseat. Your shame along with our apathy, and so many other balls dropping led to the hour of your death. It wasn’t pretty your passing, the floors, the rooms wreaked of havoc , helter skelter bodily fluids, a testament to your final death throws.

And I feel so beaten inside, to know all that I wished..every deal I made..bargin I bargained with the Gods who sit on high..that your life was still yours, that no..it could not be so..denying every fiber in my being when they screamed you were gone, had fallen on deaf ears.

I can’t even recall when it was I first stopped listening to you..it happened so slowly and over a long, long period of time. I think we all do it to some extent, stop listening I mean, to those we spend alot of time with or have known forever. It shouldn’t be so..the poets warn us that fleetingness could destroy us, people tell us we will one day wish we had more time, we ourselves notice it when others do it to someone else.

Still, we don’t seem to heed the warnings do we..or at least I didn’t. Because here I am..understanding more than I want to, exactly what all those forboding words of wisdom mean now..trying to absorb the finality of your passing, yet trying not to. I can’t get back all those precious minutes..over 35 years worth. I had you right in front of me..and just like that, a future with you in it is no more.

Just like that..so difficult..so real.

So fucking disorienting..this walk I take through your death.

The pounding weight of how badly I will miss you hits daily..my hand reaching out for the phone to call you..my question was a fast one, one I knew you’d have the answer to..had the answer to..and perhaps still do somewhere inbetween the pieces of time and space that we still breathing have yet to understand. But here on this earth..our bodies gravity grounded..guarded..cannot know what the dead know. Only the print of your voice on an answering machine greeted me..my heart skipping a beat as I heard it..as if you’d stepped out to get cigarettes, a drink or something ridiculously sweet..as if in a moment you’d get right back to me.

As if..

———————–

Gone to the Unseen

At last you have departed and gone to the Unseen.
What marvelous route did you take from this world?

Beating your wings and feathers,
you broke free from this cage.
Rising up to the sky
you attained the world of the soul.
You were a prized falcon trapped by an Old Woman.
Then you heard the drummer’s call
and flew beyond space and time.

As a lovesick nightingale, you flew among the owls.
Then came the scent of the rosegarden
and you flew off to meet the Rose.

The wine of this fleeting world
caused your head to ache.
Finally you joined the tavern of Eternity.
Like an arrow, you sped from the bow
and went straight for the bull’s eye of bliss.

This phantom world gave you false signs
But you turned from the illusion
and journeyed to the land of truth.

You are now the Sun –
what need have you for a crown?
You have vanished from this world –
what need have you to tie your robe?

I’ve heard that you can barely see your soul.
But why look at all? –
yours is now the Soul of Souls!

O heart, what a wonderful bird you are.
Seeking divine heights,
Flapping your wings,
you smashed the pointed spears of your enemy.

The flowers flee from Autumn, but not you –
You are the fearless rose
that grows amidst the freezing wind.

Pouring down like the rain of heaven
you fell upon the rooftop of this world.
Then you ran in every direction
and escaped through the drain spout . . .

Now the words are over
and the pain they bring is gone.
Now you have gone to rest
in the arms of the Beloved.

“Rumi The Sufi

– In the Arms of the Beloved-

Thursdays Cat – Why An Adult Cat Needs Interactive Play

mary_bc — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 16:00:48 +0000

I think I’ll reserve Tuesdays for all things feline. It may come as a surprise, but we junkies do more than just use drugs.

Taken of the kittens born 6 weeks ago at my place. They are simply adorable.

Bear (gray & white playing with Twisted Sister (silver tabby/tiger cat) and Little Sister in the background. Howwver me thinks Little Sister may now be Big Brother. I’m not completely sure, but the kitten in the background was the smallest of the litter, 6 weeks later she/he is now the biggest.

If you have, or have had older indoor cats, then you know finding ways for them to exercise and keep fit can require some imagination. Not all of us have the time or patience to help them get it either. Although in truth, it’s not all that time consuming and can greatly improve not only their quality of life, but help extend that life as well.

Here’s an article that provides ideas and reasons as to why it’s a wonderful idea to toss a ball with your cat.

Interactive play sessions are beneficial to an adult cat.

These sessions help to:

build trust
build confidence
strengthen the bond you share with one another
reduce fear
provide exercise for an overweight or sedentary cat
encourage a normal and healthy appetite
ease tension in a house with multiple cats
build confidence in a nervous or shy cat
diffuse aggression
correct inappropriate biting and scratching
ease reactions to traumatic events
ease discomfort of a new environment
provide beneficial stimulation for depressed cats
accelerate acceptance of new family members
allow you to interact with an unpredictable cat without the risk of being injured

When owning an indoor only cat, the cat must be provided with opportunities for exercise and encouraged often to play games. Some welcome diversions you may offer to your cat are large, strong cardboard boxes, (be sure they never contained any hazardous material), corrurgated paper and tubes of cardboard. You may also wish to purchase an indoor ‘climbing tree’ from your local pet store. To remind a cat of its hunting skills, catnip mice and other similar toys will do nicely. Be sure to also provide some kind of a scratching post as it is essential.

I’ve aso found rolled up balls of paper (newspaper, foil etc.) have been some of my cats fav toys to chase, just throw them or flick the with your finger.

How to tell if your cats are playing or fighting:

It can be difficult to tell the difference sometimes between cat play or fighting. The following are a few general guidelines to help you determine which is which:

When cats are playing, they may each hiss once or twice, but if your cats hiss several times, most likely they are fighting.

Cats who play with one another tend to take turns in the offensive and defensive postures. While engaged in fighting, there’s usually no role reversal.

No yowling or screaming should be present in play.

Cats should not get hurt during play, unless it’s by accident. Cats fighting may give or receive a bite or scratch wound.

When your cats are done playing they should act normal with each other, not avoid each other. After fighting, one or both of the cats will tend to stay out of each other’s way.

If you have cats who don’t tend to get along with each other and they look like they’re playing, they may actually be fighting. If you are not sure, try to distract them with a positive noise, like the can opener or shaking the treat box. Be sure to keep it positive however. You don’t want to discourage a possible friendship if they really are playing.

Written by Laurie Buckley, a longtime cat lover and owner of currently five cats.

Morning has broken…

mary_bc — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 15:11:32 +0000

My bare feet drag themselves down the cold, dark hallway floor. Rubbing the sleep from my blurred eyes I can still taste what’s left of last nights late snack in my mouth feel it on my tongue. Forgetting in my drowsiness to swallow the last of it as the dope slowly took me under..depositing me into a land of nod for the midnight and beyond hours.

Oh the disgusting reminders of an opiate stupor, they are what nag at the coherant mind when it comes up from its influence…what reminds us of a life before them.

All around me the dust is flying, it’s everywhere..my apartment is filthy. Lighting a 3rd cigarette in almost as many minutes I check for messages on the phone, there is one…I enter my 1234 password..easy enough to remember lest I forget. I hear my mothers voice on the other end..she sounds happy on this day and gleefully informs me of her pending noontime visit. “I hope you’ll be up schatz..if not I have the key.” I hear her blow kisses before I delete the message.

I’m starting to get edgy, I slept on edge, I woke up on edge, I am now on serious edge. “Fuck” I mutter to no one “fuck fuck fuck..there’s just no way I can clean this place before she gets here..I just can’t.” Working up the courage to let her down once again..I resolve to call and say I’m too sick to see anyone…but I already know her answer. “I’m you mother Mary..I’m not ‘anyone,’ if you’re worried about the place don’t be..it’s me..I know you sweetie, I know you before even you know you.”

Putting the phone back down in its cradle I give up before I even begin. The cats pace nervously..tails twitching, all too aware of my mood..7 pairs of uneasy emerald..gold & copper slitted eyes watch me from out of their corners, they are hungry for breakfast. I do not heed their wants. Today..today has not started out well. I plug in the kettle for coffee, cats tredding all over the counters, still waiting, wanting breakfast, I stare at them..hostile, swear through my lips, bang a few things around, they scatter, they run, paw prints left in the dust where they were but nano-seconds ago. They’ll be back soon enough. Water is raging and boiling, demanding my attention..I roughly yank the electric cord out of its socket and all but throw a spoonful of instant into my cup..missed grains scatter all helter skelter like on the counter..on the floor…leaving little pools of greasy lakes where some have landed in spilled drops of water. I poor the boiling water into the cup, ice cold milk impatiently waiting to combust in the bottom. It all melds & blends together..reminding me of my lifes blood as it mixes with the heroin in my syringe when I pull back the plunger, swirling together until the darker red eats away at the golden liquid. Shaking my head to loosen the webs of confusion..I raise the cup to my lips and take a long but hurried sip, more like a gulp really. It’s not hot..I haven’t the patience for hot..for it to cool down..hence the milk going in before the boiling water.

It tastes like shit..like you’d expect it to taste, oily something floating around the top..a grain or two still visibly bobbing about in defiance..refusing the melt into oblivion that ate up its brother & sister grains. I laugh as I imagine even coffee grains, gendered coffe grains at that, fighting to live..resisting a death of meltdown. Survival of the fittest coffee grain..yea right..but my good God girl..have you lost it or what.

One of the cats creeps back in, looking quickly at me..making..but not keeping eye contact, used to my erratic behavior, she knows I’m not ready, she sits..looking downwards..pretending to busy herself with grooming. She waits ever so patiently, statuesque like.. safe in her knowledge that inevitabley I will get to her and the others. She..the matriarch of our tamed, housebroken pride has surely telepathically related this back to the other six..for there is an air of stillness all about the house. Not a creature was stirring, no sir-eee not even a sacrificial mouse.

Somewhere deep inside my heart I feel pangs of guilt at her kindness..her patience..her catlike understanding. She who once saved my life by licking & howling me back into consciousness while my mattress smoldered heavy smoke besides my head..or so I will believe until my dieing day. By the time I actually got up I could see nothing..not even my hand in front of me..her howls led me to the front door.

My Baabsy..my Baabalicious…my briiliant, tiny but very tough..black domestic , heavy lidded..copper-eyed cat..who at no more than 6 weeks old found me in the woods one late August after-noon, picking the last of summers sweet plump strawberries. I hadn’t the heart to leave her for some fitter carnivore to toy with & make supper of. Seventeen plus years later she’s earned her place hundreds of times over..being a far better friend to me than I to her. Gently rubbing her ears as I leave the kitchen..muttering I’ll be back soon Baabs, be back real soon.

Slowly I make my way over to the computer..coffee cup & methadone in one hand..cigarettes and lighter balanced in the crook of the other arm as I squeezed the power bar switch on. Without warning the smell from the litter boxes assault my nostrils, burning them. I really can’t take living like this for much longer.

God please, a heads up, what is wrong with me? The puter revs itself into life, screen flickering, waking too..for another day, it is my lifeline, of late anyway.

I light my fifth cigarette of the morning…the smoke curls & dances up around my face, the cats prepare for another day of lung assault, I look away and close my eyes. A familiar voice pierces the silence….

“You’ve got mail.”

What to do with all those left over garden veggies

mary_bc — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 20:08:49 +0000

Not quite sure what to do with all those left over fruits & veggies from your magnificant garden? I mean delicious and fresh as they are, we can only eat so many juicy tomatos and lucious salads right. Well fret no more Veggie Trader has come up with a fast and easy way to ring all proud gardners & fresh veggie/fruit wating Americans together.

How it works:

Using Veggie Trader is free, and as easy as 1,2,3. It works like a classified
ad. You post a listing describing the excess produce
you have and what you’d like in return, and then you wait for
a response…

Or, if you’re looking for local produce, you simply enter your
zipcode and see what your neighbors have available. You can
also post specific produce you’re looking for in our Wanted
section and see which of your neighbors answers your request.

Get started here —-> http://veggietrader.com/howitworks.php