Char’s Blog

I can’t recall how many Saturday mornings when I was young I awoke to the sound of a chain saw- sometimes far away, sometimes close by. It is a familiar sound to me. Almost comforting.

The Col. fired up his chainsaw to clean up the fallen tree the other day.

(He has his chainsaw in hand but for some reason the thumbnail cuts it off. Click for the larger view.)

The Girls came running in to tell me that the chainsaw was loud. I realized they hadn’t heard that sound very often in their young lives.

We hauled the branches to a pile to wait until the burn ban for the summer is lifted and the Powers That Be decide that the conditions are suitable to torch it.

The chainsaw started acting up after most of the smaller branches had been cut off. Poor chainsaw hadn’t had to work in ages so it was a bit cantankerous. The larger stuff still needs to be taken care of but at least we could water the thirsty grass that had been underneath all those branches.

It’s going to be quite a bonfire when we get to light the pile.

Have a safe, fun, great Independence Day!

I am certainly thankful to live in a country with so many freedoms!

Also, let’s not forget the men and women who are fighting to keep our country free.

God Bless America!

Let’s all sing here-”One of these things doesn’t belong here, one of these things just doesn’t belong.” One of these children is not dressed appropriately; she made her own choices on what to wear.

Hint: it was 80 degrees.

This winter when there was snow on the ground Little Miss Pixie decided to wear skirts… everyday. When she went outside she would bundle up in her jacket, scarf, hat and gloves and then fight me tooth and nail to put on thin leggings or tights.

Now, when it’s warm, she is wearing jeans and long sleeve shirts. She has other choices in her closet. I bought some cute skort (skirt with shorts sewn in) outfits when she was along with me. She helped me pick them out- now they are not pink but she said she’d wear them. There was not any tan to be seen. One set has not adorned her body and the other was worn once. We picked out some cute sandals for her, she tried them on, she said they were fine and now it’s a fight to get her to wear them. She would rather wear too small, dirty old ones. The sandals are even white and PINK for goodness sakes!

Do you sense a bit of frustration in my typing? Ah well, I’ve told her I am not buying anything more for her because she tells me she will wear it and then doesn’t. That will last until this winter when she’ll need jeans that aren’t expecting a flood.

And to think- she’s only 5. What will the teenage years be like?

Lord help us.

squirl squile squerl squarle squirel squiral squirrel! Yeah! Now that I know how to spell it we can continue on with this post.

You thought churches only had mice in them? Not ours.

Let me set the stage for you: I was at one end of the building embarrassing myself by introducing myself to some people who were not who I thought they were. You see, there were some people from my hometown visiting that day and I didn’t know them but wanted to introduce myself. I, unfortunately, targeted in on the wrong people! I marched up to them, shook their hands and said my name and where I grew up and who may father was etc. etc. I was confused as to the blank looks on their faces. Finally it clicked! They were the wrong people! They had no idea what I was talking about! About this time the Pastor told me that my husband was chasing a squirrel downstairs. Uh? And something about a song about it. What?

Now, The Col. and The Boy were in the parking lot talking to the right people because he actually was aquinted aquanted familiar with them. You see, The Col. knows more people from my hometown than I do. Yes, I lived there my whole life and he lived in the general area for 5 years but if we attend an event there- he will be the one that knows someone- not me. No, I am not bitter- not one bit, nope. Back to the story- as they chatted away a squirrel came right up behind The Col. and examined him. Then said squirrel turned and ran right into the open door to the church. The Col. and The Boy went into the basement and chased the squirrel out of the side rooms, closing doors as they went. They had him trapped in the big room when I arrived on the scene. Pixie and TG were placed on the second flight of stairs above the door so that the squirrel wouldn’t get upstairs and into the sanctuary while the rest of us went back down to herd squirrel. Round ‘em up!

We found the fugitive behind a piano and he was coaxed out and shooed to the door. The Boy was pretty excited and kept leaping all over the place but we managed to keep him corralled behind the squirrel. Up the stairs the rascal (the squirrel, not The Boy) raced and he was gone!

The Col., who is full of fun and useful music facts, also said something about a song and when he got home he found it on You Tube. Since I’m not technically savvy and don’t know how to put the nice little screen on here- I’ll just put the link here for you to go to all on your lonesome.

And you thought Church was a boring place to be.

One can’t really call it Global Warming because this part of the globe is not warming.

Click on the photo to better see this panoramic photo that The Col. took.

Tuesday’s storm set a rainfall record in town; the .77 of an inch flooded the previous half inch record set in 1923. Also broken was the maximum low temperature record; the high of 50 degrees breaking the 59 degree previous record set in 1972 for our area. I hope none of the schools were going to the pool for end of the year activities! Burrr!

In the mountains the “rainfall” was not rain. It was snow. Lots of it! With areas reporting between 9″ and 14″. Yes- Fourteen inches of snow fell on June 10th. We saw chunks of snow lying on the freeway where it had fallen off of the trucks. Chains were required for awhile and the snow plows were out in force.

We were supposed to meet up with others at a local park to play. Ha! We were not that hearty and choose to stay indoors.

The low temperatures have been in the 40’s but on the 8th and last night, they dipped to 33 degrees. No wonder it’s so hard to grow things here.

Now, remind me about this cool weather in August when I am complaining about the heat.

Have you ever had one of those phone calls where you pick up the phone, you hear a voice and all sorts of questions start running through your head? Like:

Who is this?

Oh, it’s a recording.

What?

And they just keep talking and after a bit your brain catches up and then becomes disgruntled.

I had such a call the other day. Before I really realized what was going on the man had gone on quite a bit. I caught that he was a person, apparently of importance, in the Political Party with which I am registered- which is not the same thing as being the Political Party I am Totally Thrilled With but will hereafter be known as “my” Political Party for convenience sake. I didn’t recognize his name but that is neither here nor there. He informed me that he was throwing his support behind a Candidate for President from The Other Political Party. He suggested that if I also was going to do that then please press one. I idly wondered if I would be given any other choices as he prattled on about why this Candidate was the best choice for all of us and if I planed to support the Candidate then please press one. I was getting the picture and eagerly waited for other choices.

None were given. But he helpfully informed me that I had only a few more days to change my party affiliation if I wanted to vote for The Most Wonderful Candidate in our primary elections. Gee, thanks!

Then, just in case I missed it, I was again reminded that if I was going to support this Candidate then please press one. I wondered what would happen if I did press one- probably hit me up for money.

I just wish I had other options. Like one of these:

If you would never in a million years vote for this Candidate then press 7.

If you will only vote for this Candidate when a certain place freezes, press 9.

Now those were numbers I would have been pressing.

Another year. HP is very excited and is amazed at how fast the years go by. He is 7! This evening he pointed out how the first day of 2008 was already nearly over. How fast it flies.

I have no big resolutions. I tend to float through life taking it as it comes. Have you made any resolutions?

A very big Thank You to all who served our Country or who are currently serving. Where would we be without you? Our Country stands strong because of people like you!

Today, hug your favorite veteran!

Never forget.

I mentioned No Impact Man earlier in a post where I jokingly said that we may be “pioneering” it without a microwave but at least we still had toilet paper and electricity. No Impact Man is a writer who is undertaking a year long project where he tries to leave the smallest carbon impact on the planet. They are working at it in stages and just recently threw the breaker to turn off the electricity. The difference between him and us, of course, is that our microwave broke (and only our microwave- as traumatic as that has proved to be) and he is making a choice. So there is no real comparison.

I have been following him with interest after finding him due to reading a conservative blog that made fun of him and his no toilet paper rule. That does leave a person open to derision and, personally, I don’t think I’ll go there. What I find interesting is the challenge of living in New York City without the creature comforts we all take for granted. They eat locally, don’t ride elevators, only human powered transportation, compost their garbage and are looking for ways to wash their laundry and keep their daughter’s milk fresh without electricity. One commentator I read cast despairing remarks at him because he turned off the electricity AFTER the New York winter but I think it will be equally challenging to keep the fourth floor apartment livable in the New York summer.

I don’t buy into the whole idea that Man is causing the planet to heat up. I found a very interesting read here. The whole site is very informative but what I have specifically linked to is the 15 year old girl’s debunking of Al Gore’s movie “An Inconvenient Truth” . It is long and takes a while to get through but it is worth it. Fascinating Captain. I have nothing but disrespect for the soon to be Dr. Al Gore because I don’t see that he lives his beliefs. The energy it takes to heat his house and pool are outrageous plus he jets all over the world collecting fees for his speeches. I agree with the site I linked to earlier in her concluding paragraph:

“It’s easy to see why Al gore’s movie should not be shown in schools. An Inconvenient Truth is a political commercial that misrepresents a whole area of science. He admittedly uses scare tactics to get people to listen then shows them a professional slide show that blames every thing bad on so called man made global warming.

Al did not make and publicize this movie because he cares; something obvious when you consider his own lifestyle. He did not make this movie to run for president. This movie has grossed over 60 million dollars to date and it hasn’t even made it to cable. Al charges over $100,000 per slide show. But the real money that Al will make is through his new company, Generation Investment Management, a company that seeks to establish the rules and licensing for the new carbon-trading scheme. We have all heard of politicians who lie for money and power; it looks as if Al did not retire after all.”

Are you aware that he set up the (non-profit) company from which he buys his carbon credits? Those intangible things he says he buys to offset his carbon impact. Doesn’t that just smack of a condescending rich guy? It’s like he is saying- “You should alter your lifestyle but I don’t have to because I have the money to buy offsets.” No Impact Man, on the other hand, is trying to live his life by his convictions. Many people in this day and age do not do this.

So I will check in with interest once in a while to see how he is doing. I found out how hard it is to live a couple of weeks without a microwave- did you hear my whines? But he is going without air conditioning, a refrigerator and to some people’s horror- TV. He commented once that the pace of life has slowed for them. No jumping in taxis or cars to rush off somewhere, no TV to distract, moving with the natural rhythms of the day instead of lighting the night and enjoying life as the adventure that it can be. I feel many of us miss the simple pleasures because of the rushing around we do and the “noise” all about us from radio, TV, cell phones and MP3 players.

Now, if you will excuse me, I need to check on my children who are out picking strawberries in our garden. Life isn’t much sweeter than that.

Oh, and the microwave is supposed to be here Thursday.