Saw Something Nasty

At least one of my regular readers wrote to me and asked what was so nasty in the woodshed. For the answer to that, you need only rent this movie and realize I'm trying NOT to be like the Starkadders:
http://www.amazon.com/Cold-Comfort-Farm-Eileen-Atkins/dp/6304216939

When I put that phrase on my blog, it was completely fictional, more of a motto than anything. But now I may truly lay claim to having seen something nasty (twice!). Unfortunately we don't have a woodshed, so I had to settle on a slightly less romantic setting for my nasty-thing siting: the laundry room.

I know what you're thinking Mom, you saw nasty things in the laundry room the whole time I lived at home, but his is different.

My previous experience with cats, and their eating habits has led me to believe that they require their food to be chopped up into tiny pieces, perhaps soaked in gravy etc... Now, I have learned that, far from needing their food cut for them, cats (at least our sweet little Flower) are capable of catching, killing and rending the hide from a rabbit and savagely consuming it without any helping human hand.

You've probably guessed, by now, what it was that I saw in the laundry room. The first time it was really just a few puffs of fur, and an organ. The second, it was half a rabbit, the half with the back legs, and several organs, laid out as though for the benefit of students in a class on vivisection.

So there's my authentic claim to seeing something nasty. And you too, can claim a more modern, though less surprising claim of seeing something nasty on the Internet.

Speaking of Excitement

Hopefully my last post didn't give the impression that I have no excitement in my life. I meant only to suggest that I thought it strange that I should be looking to world news for excitement. And to write it down to assist myself in deciding what, if anything to do about it.

There has been a fair bit of excitement around here lately.

• We held a tree-sale at the Grange that was so popular, all 350+ trees were sold within three hours. It proved to be the single most effective fund raiser we've had since I've been a member.
  
• I have recently made functional (though still Alpha-quality) a Bingo-party hosting program. You can track the Take, the Pot and the Proceeds; display the numbers called in large font (for use with a projector if you are hosting a large crowd); manually choose the numbers called (if you want to use another random number picker); use the built-in random number picker; generate playing cards to print (from Excel). You can use it as a tool to host Bingo fund raisers, or just play it at home. If I can figure out how to deploy it and get it to at least Beta-quality, guess what you are all getting for Christmas this year? Won't that be exciting?!
• Both of my cacti are growing well. One, which I've had for roughly 15 years (cared for by my mother for 8 or more of those) is now sprouting it's first new segment. The other one, which I picked up from the wild has sprouted a second bud in as many years.
  

Excitement

Excitement is a strange thing. I have noticed that I often get online and search my blog feeds and the news for something exciting. And I have noticed that I don't get nearly as much excitement that way, in any given day, as I usually hope for.

What seems to work better for me is to do my best to ignore the news for a few days at a time. Then, I get a much better ratio of excitement to time-spent-online. On non-news days, if I read good literature (Charles Johnson for example), do something physical and go out into the world etc.. I feel healthier; I have fewer cravings for the cheap-thrill of daily news.

Furthermore, I'm continuing to consider what qualifies as excitement to me, and whether there is any virtue in seeking it. This is very nearly the same topic brought up by a very fine teacher I had in high school: Carvil Dutch Day. He asked us "What is fun?". Everyone agreed "fun" was worth seeking, but none had a firm grasp on how to describe what qualified as "fun".

Achievements

Jamey was sent home with a book that's labeled as a Second-Grade reading primer. His ability to read has just exploded some time in the past two weeks or so. All of a sudden, he can decipher anything, even if he's never seen the word before.

Arthur received a Naydenov Gymnastics Champion ribbon from his gymnastics instructor (Jamey and he have resumed classes). Unfortunately, the ribbon was consolation-prize for having been jumped upon by another student, while playing in the "foam pit".

He said the teacher gave it to him to make him feel better.

Did it work?

What?

Did it make you feel better?

Hmmm. Maybe a tiny bit. (smiling)

The teacher is, in fact, impressed by Arthur's abilities, whose leg is rapidly regaining it's old range-of-motion.

Jamey is getting a lot out of the classes too. His height alone makes him an unlikely gymnast, but it does worlds for him to have such great physical exertion.

Oxherding Tale - Summary

By an almost comical mixup involving overdrinking, a child is born to a slave and his owner's wife. Though the mother is repulsed and essentially goes mad, the master is fond of the boy and gives him the best education; though he is still considered a slave.
When he comes of age he sets out to earn enough to buy his own and his family's freedom. This is not as simple as it sounds.

That is only a literal summary of the story. What impresses me most about Johnson's writing is the sensory overload, philosophical musings, colorful characters and rich metaphors.

Oxherding Tale

Reading Oxherding Tale, by Charles Johnson. Very good, philosophy-riddled fiction.
Reminds me that I wanted to check into something I heard about a while back having to do with putting books into an open lending-market and being able to borrow against the same market.

Thirteen Inches to go

We've had just over 67 inches of rain this season (starts Sept 1.)

13 more and we'll have our typical yearly rainfall here in sunny Amboy, WA.

Wild Weather

It was a strange week; after snow-dusting on the 2nd, we had a high of 81 on the 6th.
Heidi and the boys came back from the beach, amoxicillin in-hand. Jamey had had a bad earache; both boys were sick. But the magic of amoxicillin worked again. As did some liquid I have yet to hear the name of, which when applied directly to the ear, alleviates the pressure.

I found it hard to sleep while they were gone. Yesterday I made up for the lack, by napping in the afternoon, after working on a portable chicken coop.
Jamey adopted 2 of the chickens that his kindergarten class hatched as a "learning experience". Arthur felt left out, so was allowed to get 2 of his own from Wilco.
Chickens grow really fast.
So, we're madly trying to fabricate an impenetrable, movable fortress for them to live outside in.
Lief might be glad to know that I've now made use of most of the decking material he sent home with me. The pieces have gone to a raised garden bed, where I'm growing a fabulous crop of garlic at present; the foundation of the toolshed that Bopop helped me build and now, the impenetrable, movable fortress of a chicken coop.
So, there is life-after-death, at least for decking material.
I've heard that people only need something to be excited about, which seems true. But sometimes it seems that if you can't think of something exciting enough to get you out of bed in the morning, thinking of something stressful can do the job. (Did I suffocate the chickens with that cover I put over them to keep Roadrunner from jumping out? No, I didn't. Whew.)

Snow Dusting

This morning we had a light dusting of snow. I found that odd. This is regarding my quest to mark the latest date in the year that I've ever seen snow. Today's might not count, because it was so thin, but it was definitely snow, not frost.