Cherokee Sage Woman

Rain on the mountain..

2009-01-06T15:43:00.000-05:00

We're under flood warnings here. Not that it's gonna happen here at elevation 2000 ft+. But the dismal days are getting to be a bit much. The driveway has turned into an E ride at Disneyland.. even in 4-wheel drive, we slip & slide. Needless to say, the mail lady, UPS, & FedEx do not attempt the drive up.

So what better thing to do on gray days, but to read, read, read. I just finished an excellent review book on Buddhism. I just love their discipline and 'givingness'. It takes me back to when I was a young teen, being raised in the Pentecostal church.. & yet wishing that I could join a nunnery. ;o) I couldn't understand why our belief system didn't have a cloistered existence where I could while away my hours praying, chanting, singing.. (not too keen on the poverty vows or all that incessant cleaning though). However, if I had taken that celebacy route, how could I have given birth to my best friends?? So it all works out in the end. And here I am, pretty much in my own secluded safe haven of the Cherokee forest.. a sanctuary and retreat all of it's own. We DO get what we ask for!

I am still being faithful to the Glycemic Index diet, even though the loss has plateaued a bit. My metabolism is holding out to see if I'm really serious about this (this time). I started back on the treadmill again, & am listening to audio books while I tread. Way more interesting than watching the clock.

We're looking forward to heading back down to FL in a couple of weeks. It'll be good to see family & friends again. And I'll try not to OD on seafood.. but man, it's soooo good there. Dan is off to Jackson next week, leaving the animals & myself to mind the homefront. In this day & age, we are reminded to be grateful for those jobs.. no matter where they take us.

Meanwhile, outdoors my day lilies are starting to sprout, birds are looking for springtime nesting spots, & the trees are budding! It's January folks.. why are they in such a hurry to grow.. sort of like people, huh?

You've been Barrack rolled!

2008-12-29T09:36:00.000-05:00

http://www.urlesque.com/2008/12/10/2008-urlies-best-obamameme/

Just imagine..

2008-12-02T20:55:00.001-05:00

"Be selfish for a moment and think of something material that you want... something fantastic, something awesome, something wonderful.

Now, double it. Whatever it is you want, think of owning two of them. They're yours free and clear. Think of the implications their possession would have on your life. What would your neighbors say? Where would you keep them? What colors would you choose, what dimensions, what characteristics?

Okay, you're about to receive a third one, more than you could possibly use (at the moment), so who would you give it to? How would you tell them? What would their reaction be? Would you be able to help them take ownership? Would you be there to facilitate the transition, if necessary? What would your friends and family say about your generosity? Would you do it again? If so, for whom?

This exercise has now concluded. Drop it from your thinking. Resume enjoying the here and now, because it's the only place happiness resides, and every so often, as your mind wanders to thoughts of the above, smile with gratitude.

Choices, choices, choices,
The Universe"

BWAHhhhhhhhhhhhh...

2008-11-24T10:32:00.002-05:00

OK, here's the scary stuff.. I'm cooking & baking.. (shaking yet?) And it's all from SCRATCH! aaaaaaaaaahhaaaaaaaaaahaaaaaaaaaa!!
Scratch is an unfortunate sounding word to describe cooking because you have to have a whole lotta 'scratch' to buy the myriad of ingredients. You end up buying things in bulk, when it's not sold any other way. So I will have fresh parsley, sage, thyme, cillantro, et al.. that will turn the obligatory brown & black in a few days, so that I can throw it out. One always waits for the death process to fully take place in the fridge before throwing it out. And then comes the tupperware opening 'Guess-What-This-Crap-Was' game. It all looks like a bio breakdown, & has no sense of it's former glory. Even more fun when you can con a spouse into sticking his nose in it, to add further clues to 'GWTCW' game.
Anyway, I have been to the stinking store 3X already, each time thinking I had reached nirvana & all the needed ingredients were right at my fingertips. And when one goes to WallyWorld, one does not just stop at the grocery section.. because those stretch jeans are just calling ut your name (& yes, I will need them).. & look what's on sale for 1/2 price.. vats of Halloween candy! If I were smart, I'd take the wrappers off that junk, place it in a tupperware bowl & claim it as my own. But that would be cheating.. & I'm not that smart.
So those 3 trips were $300+ EACH. Fun! I tell ya, it's all funny money. And heck, maybe we'll qualify for a bailout.
Now I find that I will need yet another trip to the store. I have added to this 'final' list about 1 item every 1/2 hr. It grows like topsy.
*What exactly is 'topsy', & will I need it for the pea salad?
So this morning I created 'Sweet & Spicy' candied pecans. I swear, they taste just like the ones you buy at the state fair, for like $3. If I were making these for a living, I'd be charging $10 a damn bag. My burned fingertips would demand it.
They aren't pretty to look at, but quite tasty.. & if I don't quit eating them, they will be a distant memory for Thanksgiving.
Next I made some marbled walnut fudge. Luckily I'm not a chocolate fan, or I'd be tasting that into oblivion as well.
I have about 10 things that I'm going to cook, some including the art of using wonton wrappers! That's just pretty freaking exotic for east TN. (at least up here on Rocky Top)
I'll be baking all day tomorrow, & will be happy to greet Angi & her family. YAY!
Tomorrow evening, we'll start brining the turkeys, & I'll crock pot up a big pork butt (no jokes, please).. for shredding & serving w/ the ton 'o ribs that Dan will be grilling on Wednesday.
Thank the heavens for list making abilities, because it's the only way to plan multiple meals.
And the best part of all will be sharing it w/ all my kids. And the belching, farting,laughing, etc that follows.
You know, we could all sit around w/ a bag of fritos & a tub of bean dip & still have the best time together. Note to self: buy those things!
Dustin flies in on Wednesday, & Kenny's family will be driving down that afternoon. Paul's family will be flying in late that day.
We are soooo excited!

Ya'll have a happy Thanksgiving, because we sure will! And if you don't have a place to be.. c'mon up.

WTH????

2008-11-18T15:48:00.000-05:00

Kick this fool out of the White House before he can do anymore damage!

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/18/washington/18abort.html?_r=3&ref=us

Color me THRILLED!!!

2008-11-05T14:12:00.002-05:00

Here's a fun quizz..

2008-10-30T11:07:00.000-04:00

http://www.236.com/news/2008/10/30/the_swear_to_god_dude_if_mccai_9896.php

see you at the polls!!!

If you can't trust 'Opie', who can you trust?

2008-10-23T15:16:00.000-04:00

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/cc65ed650d

Gotta feel for anyone who doesn't live in east TN..

2008-10-09T12:27:00.001-04:00

It's been loverly here!

She's funny!!

2008-09-25T17:35:00.001-04:00

http://vimeo.com/1808434

Silverman has a mind like a steel trap.. love it!

Happy Autumnal Equinox!

2008-09-22T13:17:00.000-04:00

An ode to autumn..

http://www.autumnblessingsmovie.com/info_autumn.htm

From her lipstick.. to your ears.

2008-09-15T18:02:00.000-04:00

http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlLA/poli_sci/hockey_moms_climb_into_a_swiftboat_94515.asp

The media grows tired of her majesty.

She cracks me up!

2008-09-12T10:26:00.001-04:00

I swear.. I could watch her vlogs all day long.

http://www.medium-large.com/

Palin's religion..

2008-09-09T09:23:00.001-04:00

Time for a barn dance!

2008-09-08T11:22:00.000-04:00

My house & porch may look like a war zone today, but dang it, the barn is clean!

We spent 2 hot, sweaty days cleaning out both floors of the barn. Some of the boxes hadn't been opened since we left Florida 3 years ago.. so it was a quasi-Christmas, of a sort. Some gifts were more appreciated than others. I wasn't thrilled about the dead mouse, or the piles of squirrel guano.. but the boxes of small appliances, hair stuff, etc. Cool!

So now, those boxes are on the porch, in the house, willy-nilly. And will require more sweat equity. However, I definitely think we should open the barn up to a square dance or a Cherokee Stomp. And maybe a rain dance thrown in for good measure.. this drought has gone on too long.

Life is still laidback & lovely here in the hills of TN. The biggest news on the block is the fact that we're having the driveway resurfaced. Woo-wee. Along w/ a new parking spot for Unicoi. Sadly, we're going to have to postpone the AZ trip that we'd planned for December. Gas alone was going to cost upwards of $3K.. add that to campgrounds, repairs, & general 'fun'.. & you have a $6K investment there. So we have decided to save that extravaganza until the springtime. We're looking into taking an all inclusive week in Costa Rica, instead.

Hope everyone is starting the week off healthy, wealthi(er), & wise. We'll need to draw on that wisdom in the ensuing 2 months before the election!

Pah-Raze be! Betty Bowers got it right..

2008-09-05T10:40:00.000-04:00

http://bettybowers.com/betty4president/?p=118

And we all know how close she is to heaven.

A few facts..

2008-09-04T08:37:00.000-04:00

After last night's lying lovefest for Pale-in..

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics/AP/story/671116.html

Republican 'FUN'

2008-09-03T09:26:00.000-04:00

St Paul is in a police state.. reminds me of Chicago in '68.

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/97273/

The Rainmaker

2008-08-20T10:05:00.002-04:00

Farken Fay. She rained on my parade for the upcoming week-end. We had planned for months to take the RV (Unicoi) on her virgin 2-man/2-dog journey to High Falls State Park outside of Atlanta, GA., for a fun-packed 4 days camping extravaganza w/ Angi & the kids. And now we sit broken-hearted, because Fay is doing fey damage to all things fun.
Yeah, we need the rain, yeah, it's a drought, yeah, the well went dry.. boo hoo. I WANNA CAMP, DAMMIT!
So now, the grandkids will have to placate themselves on a toy shopping spree at Target's. I know that will not be nearly as much fun as dunking their mom in a muddy creekbed, or fighting skunks & raccoons out of your tent at night. Or picking gravel out of the burger that fell off the grill (5 second rule).. or discovering no toilet paper in the outhouse, at the most inopportune time. Those are things that memories are made of. Not shiny new Transformers & Barbies. Poor lil kids..
I will be the grumbling old wambat sitting on the front porch watching the humidity rise & the barometer fall. I will shake my fist at the sky & possibly flip Fay off.
Who knows..
Then on Sunday we will connect Unicoi to her dinghy (please God, let the homemade towbar work!) & off we will go (hopefully w/ Toyota successfully attached) to Jackson, MS for a week of work for Dan. While we're there (a whole week of camping!) we will host a cookout for good friends Sharon & Dimitri & their kids. We had fun w/ them here, when they came to visit last week.
I'll get over my mad spell then. But for now, my parade is a washout.. & I will not go gently into that bad storm.
Farken Fay.

hehehe

2008-08-19T10:35:00.001-04:00

It's true.. I'm running..

2008-08-18T10:30:00.001-04:00

The element of Surprise

2008-08-09T15:42:00.001-04:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svbKLm3QLl8

When I listen to this guy speak.. I am Buddhist.. he personifies 'peace' to me.

Gone With the Wind

2008-08-03T09:56:00.001-04:00

I wish I had some David O. Selznick Tara theme music streaming here.. but alas I do not.

** Pre-warning: Be aware the following discourse is full of parentheses & ... (dot, dot,dots) Why? (because it's my perogative) and (I love them...)

Aren't dreams just the funniest things? Take mine.. please!
I was whisked back in time to the Civil War. A little dittie we southerners called the 'Wah-betwain-the-Staytes'. Don't get me started on southern accents. With very little encouragement I can go Paula Deen on yer ass, & it would melt you like buttah...
So, okay, here I am with a couple of girlfriends, in a POW tent, after Gen. Sherman has burned down Atlanta. We have barely escaped with the clothes on our back, & a tent full of bedroom furniture. I suppose we carried those pieces on our backs. We are trying to sew our families jewelry into the hems of our long gowns. Suddenly the tent is invaded by the damn Yankees. They choose my 2 girlfriends to take away as spoils of the war. Fiddle-dee-dee! Imagine my embarassment at being left.
Here I was with an albino boy (no, he did not play a banjo), & an elderly gentlemen (I assume the young virile guys were otherwise engaged on the battlefield). I was supposed to repopulate the South with this??
I did what any southern belle w/ grits would do.. I went to redesigning my bedroom furniture. (Did I tell you how much HGTV effects my life? It even influences my dreams, y'all)
So here I am trying to glue decorative ceramic tiles to my furniture.. & the glues won't hold it. I go back & forth to Lowes like 3 times before finding the good glue. Meanwhile, I have an aging Martha Stewart sticking her wattled neck into the tent chastising me for improper gluing of the tiles.. letting me know that they were all popping off. I told her to go pester Rachel Ray, I didn't need her help!

Finally the glue is working, & all is well in my world.
Did we win the war? Did I bear strange children from all that glue usage? We'll never know, because I woke up.
I pretty much know that the South won, because we do have that determined fashion & design sense (the ability to accessorize separates us from the animals.. & the North). Perhaps my tiled bedroom suite lives on as a Hidden Potential, for those who Design on a Dime, or those who wonder, My House is Worth What? We all want to be Design Stars, no? If These Walls Could Talk, I know what they'd say..
'you watch too much TV girl'..
I wonder what happened to my girlfriends? Did they fare as well as I? Will Rhett Butler do the right thing by me? Frankly Scarlett, I don't give a damn. And as God is my witness.. tomorrow is another day!

This 'n That

2008-07-31T20:24:00.001-04:00

Happy Birthday to Sam! He's the youngest of the 6 chirrens..

I think they're all out to make me look really really old. How dare them be as old as I only 'feel' these days? I can recall when I was a kid & Mama told me she only felt 18 on the inside. I didn't have the heart to tell her that white hair & wrinkles did not a teen-ager make. I think I was about 12 or so. The ensuing 48 years have brought understanding to me. I will be 60 in December, but in my heart I'm 34.. 18 was already taken.

Today I started going thru boxes of old pictures. A daunting task, let me tell you. I have at least 8 huge boxes of them. It was fun tripping down memory lane.. throwing out the 5K pics of random sunsets & mountain peaks. People, WRITE on the backs of your photos! Future generations will be throwing these things away by the droves, if they have no idea who the loons are in the frames. So save a landfill, & preserve a memory or 2.

My favorite pics of course are of my wedding to Dan the Man. Even after only 7 years passage, I love looking at the excitement, the fear, the 'promise' in each others eyes. And of course seeing the kids & grandkids going from newborn to present age.. all a luck of the draw, since my photos are all lightly tossed together in the boxes. I'd love to get all their snapshots placed in books for them, to give to them while I'm still breathing. That may or may not happen.. depending on my air supply at age 90, I think.

Photos give you the sense of continuity.. seeing generations past, present & assuming a future. I have often said that if the house were on fire, I would grab the pictures first. (I'd never planned for there to be 200 lbs of them). I suppose I'd have to fetch the computer as well, since I have even more of them filed there. The dogs & cats look a little nervous when I make statements like that.. like 'who will save me??' So here's hoping it never comes to that. They were good lil pets..

After listening to my bro-in-law's Celebration of Life service, it also got me to thinking about what I'd want said & done at my own 'event'. The last will & testiment is long since out-dated.. most of the things I was giving away, have already been given. And the songs I had picked out are passe. So I need to rewrite that script, you know? I know I want to be cremated, & I know I want Angi to sing a certain song.. but I'm also thinking about maybe having a little slide show of some of these pictures.. fun times, sad times, it's all good in the end, eh?

But I promise.. no unmarked sunsets & mountain peaks.

Mama Golden Girl.. Estelle Getty

2008-07-25T15:11:00.000-04:00

Rest in peace Estelle Getty (1923-2008)

by F. Daniel Kent
A&E Editor
Posted 07/23/2008

Picture it: America. 1985. Three well-known actresses were cast as a group of widows living together in a home in Miami.

The stellar line-up included Rue McClanahan, Bea Arthur and Betty White all of whom had played well-known roles in other previous sitcoms. In order to round out the cast, the producers were looking for a final actress to play the part of Bea Arthur’s character, Dorothy’s curmudgeonly mother, Sophia.

Estelle Getty had auditioned for the part and been turned down because she looked too young three different times. Finally, convincing the producers that she could carry the role, Getty took the part and went down in history as “Ma” and the Golden Girls were born.

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Getty served the role as surrogate mother for an entire generation of woman and gay men who were enraptured by the theme of empowerment that the show embodied. A role, in fact, that Getty seemed born to fill. Before filling Sophia’s orthopedic shoes, Getty had already served as Harvey Fierstein’s mother in the award-winning stage play “Torch Song Trilogy” where she originated the part that the late Anne Bancroft would make famous in the 1988 film of the same name. Fierstein had written the part for Getty at her request and he outdid himself scripting the part.

During her long career, Getty went on to become the archetype of strong, empowered mothers playing several high profile roles as mother to Cher, Sylvester Stallone, Kim Catrall, Barry Manilow and the entirety of the GLBT community -- which she was vocally supportive of throughout her life -- but she would never surpass her crowning achievement: Sophia Petrillo.

In her later years, Getty stopped making appearances due to her failing health and eventually passed on in the early hours of July 22, 2008.

From the first time most people can remember seeing her perform onstage in Torch Song Trilogy all the way up to her final roles later on in her life, Estelle Getty was looked upon as a mother-figure for thousands of people the world over. She served cheesecake when we were down and told funny stories that made us laugh. She comforted us when we needed it and when she wasn’t aiming her barbed tongue in our direction, we loved to see others fall under its razor sharpness.

We laughed together. We cried together. We took comfort in the knowledge that no matter what was happening in our lives “Ma” would always be there, and in our hearts she always will. Estelle Getty has exited the stage, but Sophia? Sophia will live forever.

We have no doubt that the angels in heaven are enjoying a big slice of cheesecake and gossip alongside her right now.
On behalf of every young gay boy who tuned in every Saturday night, thank you for being there, “Ma”. Thank you for a lifetime of laughs than can never be replaced. We miss you, but your memory will live on into the ages and your greatest gift to us—Sophia—will always be there to remind us of how much we loved you.

Thank you for being a mom, but most of all thank you for being a friend.

Thar's a Bar on the Loose!

2008-07-24T11:06:00.003-04:00

This is what is running around loose in my neck of the woods!
It's not uncommon to spot one of these guys in the forest. It's true, a bear does sh*t in the woods.. But please, not in my back yard!
A few months ago, one visited & left scratch marks on my friends truck.. also tore off a side of the bird feeder.
A few weeks ago, one bashed out the rest of the feeder, as well as scratching up the bark of a tree (about 8 ft up)
Needless to say, I haven't been refilling that feeder.
We are on the edge of a Black Bear Sanctuary, here in the Cherokee Forest. So every deranged & crazed bear trapped in the state, is brought here & released.
They come around looking for berries, trash, rednecks.. whatever..
The neighbor called last evening & said the bear had been visiting his yard each night, & his dogs had ran it off each time. Somehow I can't see my chihuahuas doing a whole lot of running anything off. Even the feral cats yawn in their yapping faces.
Neighbor says I shouldn't be taking any long walks away from the house, until this guy is captured or scared off. (So there goes those plans for the 5K up the mountain..ha)
Dan is out of town, & I am hearing every crackle & pop during the night. We have firearms here in the house, but my knowledge of them is so scarce, I'd probably end up just throwing them at the bear.
Guess I'll have to depend on the guardian angels to keep the 'bar' at bay.
Where's a bear-whisperer when you need one?

Things Like This Make Me Sick..

2008-07-23T09:05:00.002-04:00

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/92348/

When will we take the badges away from the bullies??

And more..
http://www.cbsnews.com:80/stories/2008/07/25/earlyshow/main4292376.shtml

And yet MORE bullies in uniform!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/30/nypd-officer-beats-man-wi_n_115819.html

Savannah Smiles..

2008-07-21T15:12:00.005-04:00

Just got back from a relaxing long week-end in Savannah, GA.
What a gracious southern lady she is! I can never get enough of the soft accents, the spanish moss laden oaks, the fantastic architecture, and beautiful artwork everywhere.

For Dan, it was a walk down memory lane. The condo we rented was right beside the hospital where he entered the world. Directly across the street from where he biked & played as a kid.
We visited the old cemetery where his granddad & father were buried.
Life is a continuum, isn't it?
We aren't on this earthly plane for very long.. but the life we leave behind through our children & generations to come.. leaves our stamp forever.

I read a great quote today, & paraphrasing it, 'We do not lose our light at death.. we simply turn off the lamp as the dawn breaks'.
We're still here in spirit form.. just a new sort of 'light'.
Maybe I went on too many haunted tours in Savannah.. ;o)
But I find it comforting to know that we don't 'die'.. we simply change our energy-fields. How cool is that?

Thanks for the good times Kenny, Darla & Dustin. And thanks to Angi for being a most excellent dog-whisperer, & keeping safe care of Mo & Tessa.

Growing up in the '50's..

2008-07-16T16:59:00.002-04:00

Dan & I were driving home today, from the illustrious chore of taking the trash to town. You city-slickers just don't know the sensual pleasures to be found in loading your week old putrid garbage into the back of your enclosed truck.. wishing the 10 mile windy road would allow you to travel faster than the posted 25-40 mph trek.. then unloading the recyclables, and finally shoving the stinkload into the trash smasher which usually chooses to start it's horrific squashing while you're still unloading.. sending lots of goo & funky juice on your feet, and the green fog of maloderous fetor to form a strange haze around your head. Folks, it smells like shit.
And I pity the man whose job it is to stand there & make sure nothing breaks. I assume that's his job, as I've never seen him do anything else.. other than retrieving the odd toy or bent tool for who-knows-what-reason.
More than him.. I pity his wife when he comes in at the end of his stank day. I hope she has an outdoor shower installed.

So, we're driving home.. & I had this childhood memory pop into my head & it made me smile. I asked Dan, 'Do you remember those old metal ice trays that we had as kids?'
'Yeah..'
'And on hot days like this, we'd take out a tray, empty those fat cubes into a tea towel..'
'Then smash the shit out of them with a balpeen hammer!'
He always finishes my sentences.
'Yeah.. it was an instant snow-cone. Especially good if you had a little kool-aid to pour over it.'
It's nice to be married to someone whose childhood exacts your own. His was as poor/rich as ours was.

I can think back to when I was 6 or 7.. no air conditioning, just an osculating fan in the corner. We had to have daily naps (so we couldn't catch Polio & live out our lives in iron lungs).. and I'd pick a place in front of the fan, laying my face on the cool linoleum.. & fall right to sleep.
My, how the creature comforts have changed.

About this age, my dad bought my lil sis & I a bike (for $2! The kid needed movie money) It had no brakes however.. so we learned to cope w/ stopping in our own ways. I dragged my feet to brake the thing. This was never comfortable in the summer, when we were shoeless. My sister would ram the big tree in the front yard. I'm sure if we checked the bark on that old tree today, it still has places missing on it.
I still ocassionally try my hand at bike riding. It's never pretty.. & I still drag my feet.

My summer evenings were spent outdoors playing endless rounds of 'Mother May I?', 'Red Rover', 'Crack the Whip', 'Statue Maker' & various other limb twisting games. Then as it darkened, the lightning bugs would come out & we would do our part to get them placed on the endangered species list. Filling jars, smooshing them into each other's hair for special effect, unBuddhist like things such as that.
And when Mama called us from the front porch.. we were never ready to give up that one last chance of 'Hide & Seek'.. anything to keep us out with our buddies, cousins, brothers & sisters.
But to bed we headed.. 4 of us girls in a double bed.. always turning in synch with one another, always trying to avoid the bedwetter.

I wouldn't trade one memory..

Psychoses, Phobias, & other dark terrors

2008-07-14T10:29:00.002-04:00

I find it interesting that peoples fears & psychoses increase & intesnsify as they get older.
Take my older sister, who is claustrophobic. No doubt this caused her a lot of terror as a child growing up in a crowded house, w/ brothers to tease her & a dad who liked to hold one down & tickle them. Breathe, breathe..
As she grew older, she couldn't sit in the backseat of a car. Then couldn't sit in a crowded theater. Now she can't get on a plane at all. I'm sure that elevators will be next. They were for my dad anyway. He couldn't even drive thru tunnels.

I don't suffer that particular fear so much. Arachnaphobia, oh yes.. Ophidiophobia, yes, yes. But those basic fears are in our evolutionary chain.
I have weird phobias, which are affecting my social life. I don't like talking on a phone! I used to blame this on not having had a home phone when I was growing up.. theerfore missing out on that rite of passage as a teen. But good grief, it's 2008.. & I still avoid those puppies like the plague. I wonder why??
I know that it worries me that I may be interupting someone's day if I would call them, so I do the less pressured thing, & email.
I also have an aversion to driving. This is fairly new, because I use to drive to calm myself when I was 1st working as a nurse. Now I think I'd choose a root canal over driving on any freeway. Will this evolve into my becoming agorophobic? Little old lady w/ a houseful of cats in her hermitage?
I used to have a t-shirt that said 'If you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much room'. And I believed it. Now, not so much. I kind of enjoy my safe haven.
Maybe that's all part of the aging process.. & my entry into the realms of the Crone, the sage woman. The one who lets it go, lets it flow.. dances her dream & enjoys the flight.
You younger gals can take up the adventure stick. Just watch out for the phones & cars.. ;o)

Catching up..

2008-07-11T10:53:00.002-04:00

hey Blog People.. how's things?
It's been a busy month,up here on the mtn top.

We bought an RV.. & if we could afford the gas, we would just enjoy the hell outta that.

My sister & bro-in-law came to visit.. that was way fun.

We spent a week in Jackson, MS. Always a hot & sultry time there. Next month we'll be taking Unicoi (the RV)& staying in her for the week.

I lost a brother in law to cancer.. he is missed tremendously. Many prayers of consolation to my sister..

The Koi in the pond are ever growing. Named Eenie/Meanie/Meinie/Moe.. Knick/Knack/Patty/Whack. We are currently missing 'Whack'. I think he found a crevice that he couldn't escape from.

The feral cats are growing by leaps & bounds. Mamacat is preggers again. Sigh..
Her current kittens look about 2 months old.. how often do cats come into heat? Jeez.

We're headed to Savannah on Thursday.. can't wait! Kenny, Darla, & Dustin will also be there.
That's about it on this end. How 'bout you?

It's been awhile..

2008-06-03T10:14:00.002-04:00

Lord, how the months do fly by. Politics keep on ticking, the worm still turns. My spring greens are now all-encompassing weeds (I am desparately seeking lawn care)
The a/c is on the blink & days are 90 degree swamp baths. So my nerves are a tad shot.
But this too shall pass..

We have Koi & talapia in the pond now.. & even some salamanders or 'spring lizzards' as they're called locally, to keep them company. Lots of tadpoles coming of age, as well.
The 7 year cicadias are driving us mad w/ their constant chirp.. I swear, I thought it was alien-mind control when I 1st heard them.

Summers on the mtn top are almost too lush for the imagination. The filled out trees are nearly claustrophobia-inducing, as they push in towards the house. The bugs, & spiders & snakes.. oh my! Takes my mind off the bears lurking in the woods.

Only 3 more months til fall tho.. I can surely hold my breath that long.
;o)

Spring arrives to the mountaintop

2008-04-17T14:44:00.002-04:00

It's been slow in arriving this year. Maybe after the late April snow & consequent freeze of last year, Mother Nature was reticent to open those buds & flowers until she was assured there were no surprises lurking.
So now the forest is alive w/ dogwoods, red buds, tulips, & a variety of other floral & fauna that I haven't the fogiest of what they're called. But they are colorful & pretty!
The bird feeders are alive w/ teeny finches turning a brighter yellow each day (& eating voracious amounts of thistle seed at $25 a pop per bag) Lots of cardinal couples, bluejays, & the ever gorgeous indigo buntings. I set out 5 hummingbird feeders this year & all of them are hopping w/ activity. The squirrel feeder in the back yard is being emptied each day (& providing lots of entertainment for the dogs as well)
Last time we went to the store, we noted that we were spending the greater part of our grocery funds for the critters in our lives. The 2 dogs, 3 cats, a feral kitty & wild things in the woods. Worth every penny, I tell ya.
The river down the road has been replenished by all the spring rains & a few snows. I can see more & more kayakers out enjoying the rapids each day.
And the motorcyclers are back on the Cherohala, whizzing from Tellico to NC.
Yep, spring has sprung.. and except for the carpenter bees and ornery wasps that she brought w/ her.. she's a welcome sight.

I'D wear that shirt!

2008-04-01T09:53:00.000-04:00

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/80866/

God bless the wise elders..

God help us.

2008-03-24T13:56:00.002-04:00

Welcome to the 6th year of murder & mayhem, brought to you by those nice folks in D.C.
If you don't watch another movie on the Iraqi occupation.. please see 'Redacted' by Brian de Palma.
Force yourself to watch where our tax dollars are going, & the utter diregard for humanity that we are so blatantly supporting.
You will want to turn away. You will pause it again & again, until the nausea dies down. How pleasant for us that we have the priviledge of simply 'pausing' the arocites.. while our victims must live through it each & everyday.
I am still trying to draw a complete breath after seeing this film. It is just that powerful.

God bless America.. & have mercy on her soul.

Our sad legacy..

2008-03-04T09:26:00.001-05:00

http://www.alternet.org/reproductivejustice/78507/

Treating our women soldiers like 2nd class citizens. Even women in prison are probably granted more recompense.
I think most 3rd world countries are doing than better than we are in this regard. Shameful!

Funny.. but rather eerie, as well

2008-02-28T09:15:00.001-05:00

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/78077

John Mc Doof will love it, anyway.

Oh, Coma-cast, why does this not surprise me?

2008-02-27T18:24:00.001-05:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYGtNmmb2y0

You wascally wabbit, you.

What's on your child's plate??

2008-02-18T11:13:00.000-05:00

https://community.hsus.org:443/campaign/CA_2008_investigation/w3ki7burp7jimi5w?

Another helping of abuse, please..

Those trustworthy policemen at work..

2008-02-13T10:45:00.001-05:00

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/02/12/florida-police-dump-quadr_n_86290.html

unreal!

a good challenge.

2008-02-09T11:27:00.001-05:00

I saw this video today & thought it was fun..
If you could write your memoirs in 6 words, what would you say?

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/76477

"I released it, danced and flew!"
That would be me..

Political humdrums..

2008-02-07T10:53:00.000-05:00

Now, I still believe that to be true.. but I do wish there were more of a difference between the two camps.
I wish there were someone with the cajones to say, 'This illegal war is kaput, let's bring our kids home & try to repair the damage that's been done to them'..
I wish someone weren't so afraid of the elephants, that they could propose a national health program that would actually apply to every last American.
I wish someone would throw off the cloak of timidity and declare that we truly are equal.. no matter what the sex, creed, or orientation. Marriage, taxes, death.. all equal opportunity employers.
I wish a candidate were willing to tell the truth. To reward people who DO tell the truth. And to stop those who lie.
I wish we had a person willing to stop the machine of oil lobbyists, war-mongers, & giant corporations that rape & pillage the system.
(You know who you are Halliburton, BlackWater, Exxon-Mobil, etc etc etc)
I wish, I wish, I wish..

I wish I had the hope that I held in my heart back in '92. And that this dull dread I have in my chest for our futures weren't so pervasive.
I fear I may be tipping over into the abyss of apathy..

Good for Montel!!

2008-02-02T09:32:00.000-05:00

I hope another network picks up his show. That worthless FOX network is criminal.

http://www.towleroad.com/2008/01/montel-williams.html

How Many of You??

2008-02-01T20:17:00.001-05:00

http://www.howmanyofme.com/

Interesting..

What the world needs now..

2008-01-26T10:18:00.000-05:00

http://www.youtube.com:80/watch?v=vr3x_RRJdd4

And it's free!

Bless the beasts & the children..

2008-01-17T09:11:00.000-05:00

For in this world they have no voice..

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/environment/73967/

I'll be boycotting the debate!

2008-01-12T09:36:00.001-05:00

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/73530/

Closer to the truth than you want to know..

2008-01-07T10:26:00.001-05:00

http://www.landoverbaptist.org/2008/january/huckabee.html

Just in case you were wondering

2007-12-31T09:55:00.001-05:00

http://www.rollingstone.com/photos/gallery/17538811/dickheads_of_the_year/1

Time to go green..

2007-12-28T13:51:00.000-05:00

I'd vote for her..

2007-12-25T21:02:00.000-05:00

Go Cynthia! You were robbed..
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/dekalb/stories/2007/12/23/mckinney_1224.html?cxntnid=amn122407e

State Funds Gone Mad

2007-12-23T10:33:00.001-05:00

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/71391/

How can something like this exist??
Oh, I forgot.. this is the US, where torture is expected, tolerated, & blessed.

Nancy the Nitwit

2007-12-20T09:51:00.001-05:00

I don't recall EVER having a house leader so incredibly weak.

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/71204/

some top ten funnies

2007-12-16T09:54:00.000-05:00

http://politicalhumor.about.com/b/2007/12/10/the-top-10-letterman-top-10-lists-of-2007.htm?nl=1

Atrocity!

2007-12-14T15:18:00.000-05:00

Help bring it into the light of day..

http://pol.moveon.org/contractors_accountable/

And the sad follow-up..
http://www.motherjones.com/washington_dispatch/2007/12/cheney-no-justice-for-jamie-jones.html

An important video..

2007-12-12T17:02:00.000-05:00

especially at this 'pet' gift-giving time of year..
https://community.hsus.org:443/campaign/stoppuppymills_poba/w3ki7bu4f7nk5357?

We are ONE

2007-12-09T17:33:00.000-05:00

To all my fellow card-carrying Cherokee tribal members (& you know who you are.. and aren't..)
Love & joy for the coming new year. May we all work together for the common good. May we not bicker & draw silly lines in the sand.. the way some Republicans do.. ;o)
May we realize that we are evolving as a tribe.. not stagnant, like a nasty pond.. but flowing like a mighty river.
May we be inclusive, kind-hearted, gentle w/ one another. Giving respect & honor to one another, as in the ways of John Ross, Nancy Ward, Sequoyah, Wilma Mankiller, & our principal chief, Chad Smith.

May the Christmas season fill your heart w/ understanding, peace & joy!

When will tasering be outlawed??

2007-12-05T17:11:00.000-05:00

http://www.whoisthemonkey.com/videos/49/man-tasered-for-not-pulling-drivers-license

Why can't we all get along this well??

2007-11-30T15:56:00.001-05:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3U0udLH974&NR=1

The countdown..

2007-11-15T10:17:00.000-05:00

I gotta lighten up here. Maybe stop reading the news, watching the news, smelling the stench that flows from DC.
Because I have only 4 days folks, to create a Thanksgiving Wonderland here at grandma's house!
I'm so excited to be having all the kids & grandkids at our house again this year. We had such a ball last year..
I'm more organized this year, so if the weather gods are kind, we should have all kinds of memory-making times together.

Angi & the kids will be coming Tuesday nite.. she's my sous chef.. so all should be well in the kitchen.
I pick up Dustin on Wednesday morning.. he's the appetizer creator.. so all shall be festive in the dining room.
Fred & Mari & Shelby will arrive in the afternoon.. & I can't wait to see those smiles again. Fred helps Dan a lot at the firepit, & Mari gives me great pyschic readings.
Kenny, Darla & Christian will be here in the afternoon as well. Darla has some crafts planned for the kids, so we're all anxious to partake. Hey, we're all kids at heart.
Chet, Darci & Karen will arrive on a late flight, so we won't get to see them until Thursday morning. Karen thinks she's coming here to 'fish'.. so we'll have to get her a pole to throw in the water.

Wednesday nite we're going to have a little Cherokee meal of Indian Tacos. Angi's homemade fry bread, literally floats.. they're so light & so good.
Thursday, we'll have some heavy appetizers to hold us til the big Dinner. Then comes the football games on the new big screen. That evening, we'll play 'Dirty Santa' & exchange some fun gifts.
Friday morning, we'll head to Cherokee, NC for a day in the 'mother land'. They have the best museum there.
Friday evening, we'll grill out on the deck, & enjoy that new Tiki Bar!
Saturday morning we're headed to the Indian Boundary Lake for some canoeing, fishing, & walking for the rest of us. Later on, we'll have a brunch picnic there & play some volley ball.
Saturday afternoon we're headed on a hayride! That reminds me, I need to get the kids some sleighbells to accompany our caroling.. ;o)
That evening, we'll all descend on downtown Tellico to share dinner at a great BBQ place.
Sunday morning, will be a sad farewell to Dustin, Ken & Darla & Christian, Fred, Mari & Shelby.
The rest of us will kick back here.
Monday, those of us left will go to Chattanooga for the day. Going to visit their wonderful aquarium there.
Tuesday morning it's adieu to Chet, Darci & Karen.
I'm hoping to hang onto Angi, Alec & Aiyanna til Friday. We have lots of sewing to do.. ;o)

So that's my excitement for the week. And until Tuesday, I'm cleaning, planning, bossing Dan around, shopping & anticipating.
Y'all come see us, ya hear?

Sadistic Dick.

2007-11-14T09:34:00.000-05:00

http://www.alternet.org/stories/67663/

Ahhhhhhhhh.. some 'wonder'.

2007-11-13T14:27:00.001-05:00

http://oneminuteshift.com/videos/wonder_of_you

They served.. why can't they speak?

2007-11-12T17:03:00.000-05:00

http://www.cbsnews.com:80/stories/2007/11/12/national/main3489564.shtml

There is no true honoring of a Vet, if they aren't allowed to share their experiences of war.

Where's the emergency brake on this??

2007-11-12T08:41:00.000-05:00

November 11, 2007
Op-Ed Columnist

The Coup at Home
By FRANK RICH
AS Gen. Pervez Musharraf arrested judges, lawyers and human-rights activists in Pakistan last week, our Senate was busy demonstrating its own civic mettle. Chuck Schumer and Dianne Feinstein, liberal Democrats from America’s two most highly populated blue states, gave the thumbs up to Michael B. Mukasey, ensuring his confirmation as attorney general. So what if America’s chief law enforcement official won’t say that waterboarding is illegal? A state of emergency is a state of emergency. You’re either willing to sacrifice principles to head off the next ticking bomb, or you’re with the terrorists. Constitutional corners were cut in Washington in impressive synchronicity with General Musharraf’s crackdown in Islamabad.In the days since, the coup in Pakistan has been almost universally condemned as the climactic death knell for Bush foreign policy, the epitome of White House hypocrisy and incompetence. But that’s not exactly news. It’s been apparent for years that America was suicidal to go to war in Iraq, a country with no tie to 9/11 and no weapons of mass destruction, while showering billions of dollars on Pakistan, where terrorists and nuclear weapons proliferate under the protection of a con man who serves as a host to Osama bin Laden.General Musharraf has always played our president for a fool and still does, with the vague promise of an election that he tossed the White House on Thursday. As if for sport, he has repeatedly mocked both Mr. Bush’s “freedom agenda” and his post-9/11 doctrine that any country harboring terrorists will be “regarded by the United States as a hostile regime.” A memorable highlight of our special relationship with this prized “ally” came in September 2006, when the general turned up in Washington to kick off his book tour. Asked about the book by a reporter at a White House press conference, he said he was contractually “honor bound” to remain mum until it hit the stores — thus demonstrating that Simon & Schuster had more clout with him than the president. This didn’t stop Mr. Bush from praising General Musharraf for his recently negotiated “truce” to prevent further Taliban inroads in northwestern Pakistan. When the Pakistani strongman “looks me in the eye” and says “there won’t be a Taliban and won’t be Al Qaeda,” the president said, “I believe him.” Sooner than you could say “Putin,” The Daily Telegraph of London reported that Mullah Omar, the Taliban leader, had signed off on this “truce.” Since then, the Pakistan frontier has become a more thriving terrorist haven than ever. Now The Los Angeles Times reports that much of America’s $10 billion-plus in aid to Pakistan has gone to buy conventional weaponry more suitable for striking India than capturing terrorists. To rub it in last week, General Musharraf released 25 pro-Taliban fighters in a prisoner exchange with a tribal commander the day after he suspended the constitution. But there’s another moral to draw from the Musharraf story, and it has to do with domestic policy, not foreign. The Pakistan mess, as The New York Times editorial page aptly named it, is not just another blot on our image abroad and another instance of our mismanagement of the war on Al Qaeda and the Taliban. It also casts a harsh light on the mess we have at home in America, a stain that will not be so easily eradicated.In the six years of compromising our principles since 9/11, our democracy has so steadily been defined down that it now can resemble the supposedly aspiring democracies we’ve propped up in places like Islamabad. Time has taken its toll. We’ve become inured to democracy-lite. That’s why a Mukasey can be elevated to power with bipartisan support and we barely shrug. This is a signal difference from the Vietnam era, and not necessarily for the better. During that unpopular war, disaffected Americans took to the streets and sometimes broke laws in an angry assault on American governmental institutions. The Bush years have brought an even more effective assault on those institutions from within. While the public has not erupted in riots, the executive branch has subverted the rule of law in often secretive increments. The results amount to a quiet coup, ultimately more insidious than a blatant putsch like General Musharraf’s. More Machiavellian still, Mr. Bush has constantly told the world he’s championing democracy even as he strangles it. Mr. Bush repeated the word “freedom” 27 times in roughly 20 minutes at his 2005 inauguration, and even presided over a “Celebration of Freedom” concert on the Ellipse hosted by Ryan Seacrest. It was an Orwellian exercise in branding, nothing more. The sole point was to give cover to our habitual practice of cozying up to despots (especially those who control the oil spigots) and to our own government’s embrace of warrantless wiretapping and torture, among other policies that invert our values. Even if Mr. Bush had the guts to condemn General Musharraf, there is no longer any moral high ground left for him to stand on. Quite the contrary. Rather than set a democratic example, our president has instead served as a model of unconstitutional behavior, eagerly emulated by his Pakistani acolyte. Take the Musharraf assault on human-rights lawyers. Our president would not be so unsubtle as to jail them en masse. But earlier this year a senior Pentagon official, since departed, threatened America’s major white-shoe law firms by implying that corporate clients should fire any firm whose partners volunteer to defend detainees in Guantánamo and elsewhere. For its part, Alberto Gonzales’s Justice Department did not round up independent-minded United States attorneys and toss them in prison. It merely purged them without cause to serve Karl Rove’s political agenda. Tipping his hat in appreciation of Mr. Bush’s example, General Musharraf justified his dismantling of Pakistan’s Supreme Court with language mimicking the president’s diatribes against activist judges. The Pakistani leader further echoed Mr. Bush by expressing a kinship with Abraham Lincoln, citing Lincoln’s Civil War suspension of a prisoner’s fundamental legal right to a hearing in court, habeas corpus, as a precedent for his own excesses. (That’s like praising F.D.R. for setting up internment camps.) Actually, the Bush administration has outdone both Lincoln and Musharraf on this score: Last January, Mr. Gonzales testified before Congress that “there is no express grant of habeas in the Constitution.”To believe that this corruption will simply evaporate when the Bush presidency is done is to underestimate the permanent erosion inflicted over the past six years. What was once shocking and unacceptable in America has now been internalized as the new normal.This is most apparent in the Republican presidential race, where most of the candidates seem to be running for dictator and make no apologies for it. They’re falling over each other to expand Gitmo, see who can promise the most torture and abridge the largest number of constitutional rights. The front-runner, Rudy Giuliani, boasts a proven record in extralegal executive power grabs, Musharraf-style: After 9/11 he tried to mount a coup, floating the idea that he stay on as mayor in defiance of New York’s term-limits law. What makes the Democrats’ Mukasey cave-in so depressing is that it shows how far even exemplary sticklers for the law like Senators Feinstein and Schumer have lowered democracy’s bar. When they argued that Mr. Mukasey should be confirmed because he’s not as horrifying as Mr. Gonzales or as the acting attorney general who might get the job otherwise, they sounded whipped. After all these years of Bush-Cheney torture, they’ll say things they know are false just to move on.In a Times OpEd article justifying his reluctant vote to confirm a man Dick Cheney promised would make “an outstanding attorney general,” Mr. Schumer observed that waterboarding is already “illegal under current laws and conventions.” But then he vowed to support a new bill “explicitly” making waterboarding illegal because Mr. Mukasey pledged to enforce it. Whatever. Even if Congress were to pass such legislation, Mr. Bush would veto it, and even if the veto were by some miracle overturned, Mr. Bush would void the law with a “signing statement.” That’s what he effectively did in 2005 when he signed a bill that its authors thought outlawed the torture of detainees. That Mr. Schumer is willing to employ blatant Catch-22 illogic to pretend that Mr. Mukasey’s pledge on waterboarding has any force shows what pathetic crumbs the Democrats will settle for after all these years of being beaten down. The judges and lawyers challenging General Musharraf have more fight left in them than this.Last weekend a new Washington Post-ABC News poll found that the Democratic-controlled Congress and Mr. Bush are both roundly despised throughout the land, and that only 24 percent of Americans believe their country is on the right track. That’s almost as low as the United States’ rock-bottom approval ratings in the latest Pew surveys of Pakistan (15 percent) and Turkey (9 percent).Wrong track is a euphemism. We are a people in clinical depression. Americans know that the ideals that once set our nation apart from the world have been vandalized, and no matter which party they belong to, they do not see a restoration anytime soon.

Broken..

2007-11-08T09:22:00.000-05:00

http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/67035/

Stand down, Nancy..

2007-11-07T19:41:00.001-05:00

Pelosi, you're useless!

http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/lindorff/035

Shame on you Yahoo!

2007-11-05T21:14:00.001-05:00

http://www.amnestyusa.org/Prisoners_of_Conscience/Shi_Tao/page.do?id=1101243&n1=3&n2=34&n3=53

Oh, my people!

2007-11-04T17:06:00.001-05:00

;o)

http://www.landoverbaptist.org/news1107/thanksgiving.html

The things we're doing to our fellow man..

2007-11-01T09:05:00.001-04:00

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kaj-larson/a-lesson-for-mukasey-why_b_70651.html
and this..
http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/67043/

Way to go Dennis!

2007-10-31T13:55:00.000-04:00

I love this guy..

http://blog.cleveland.com/openers/2007/10/kucinich_at_debate_i_did_see_a.html

Damn that 'agenda'.. it's burning us up.. ;o)

2007-10-25T10:55:00.000-04:00

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/66029/

The insanity of some right wingers!

Yukkin it up w/ Georgie

2007-10-20T12:53:00.001-04:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKX6luiMINQ

Take the medevil test..

2007-10-19T21:45:00.001-04:00

www.kingdomality.com
I was a 'dreamer-monstrel'.. ;o)

Finally, some truth from Ann

2007-10-19T11:35:00.000-04:00

http://tech.blorge.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/hacked-coulter-site-screenshot.jpg

My God, what have we done..

2007-10-18T09:27:00.000-04:00

http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/65513/

Phenomenal..

2007-10-14T15:27:00.001-04:00

http://youtube.com:80/watch?v=FPI7zdGdqo4

A couple of 'feel good's

2007-10-12T10:54:00.001-04:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhQWhs46gHk

It's an Itty-Bitty world out there..

2007-10-11T10:05:00.000-04:00

http://flickr.com/photos/specklet/sets/72157594204828139/show/

Had to share..

2007-10-07T17:05:00.001-04:00

This powerful video..

http://youtube.com/watch?v=hiYKq64G2m0

Sunday Funsies.. sort of

2007-10-07T11:57:00.000-04:00

Well said..

2007-10-05T11:05:00.000-04:00

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/64502/

How the worm turns..

2007-10-04T14:27:00.000-04:00

Ann Coulter Bites the Grand, Duplicitous Hand That Feeds

With Bush’s job approval rating at a solid 33 percent, thereby leaving little fear of righteous retribution from conservatives unwilling to bash the President, Ann Coulter has lowered her guns from 9/11 widows and is now taking aim on the POTUS:
“President George W. Bush is evidently the first mentally retarded person to get a Harvard M.B.A., graduate from the U.S. Air Force Flight School, be elected governor of Texas and then be elected President of the United States twice. I guess this is what they call ‘mainstreaming,’” Coulter writes in her new book, “If Democrats Had Any Brains, They’d Be Republicans.”

While we're busy 'cleansing' Iraq..

2007-10-02T11:11:00.000-04:00

This is happening right under our noses.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7022437.stm

We are one sick country.. SOMEONE heal us!

Here's Hoping This Crap Doesn't Come Here..

2007-10-01T10:16:00.001-04:00

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/64001/

I think Gloria Alred would've taken this case.

2007-09-21T10:50:00.000-04:00

http://www.cbsnews.com:80/stories/2007/09/21/national/main3284577.shtml

Money for Missions??

2007-09-20T14:55:00.001-04:00

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20070920/people-kathy-griffin/

Looks like that $90K could've gone to feed the hungry.. house the homeless.. aid the sick & dying? But what am I thinking? That's what JESUS would do.. and this is just Pigeon Forge thinking.
Kathy Griffin is laughing all the way to the bank w/ the full page advertising for her.. you go girl!

Here's what happens..

2007-09-18T09:16:00.000-04:00

When you try to exercise free speech in this insane country..
Will '08 EVER get here???

http://www.ajc.com/multimedia/content/multimedia/video/index.html?clip=30851&cxntnid=amn091807e

Kerry could have SO intervened in this mess.. I'm truly disappointed in him.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20070918/student-arrested-kerry/

OK, Kerry is a total A-Hole!!
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/09/19/student_at_a_kerry_ev ent_is_tasered/

Then there's this weinie!
http://mediamatters.org/items/200709190009

Ride Sally, Ride!

2007-09-17T09:41:00.001-04:00

Fox censors Sally Field's anti-war speech at Emmy's...Field then continued, "If mothers ruled the world, there would be no -" But the Fox Emmycast cut off her sound and pointed the camera away from the stage, silencing the rest of her sentence: "god-damned wars in the first place."

Sometimes the Courage comes in Resistance

2007-09-13T08:41:00.000-04:00

http://www.couragetoresist.org/x/

Heroes of another sort.. God bless them.

This is America??

2007-09-12T09:54:00.001-04:00

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/62293

I'm just utterly appalled.

Follow up:
http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/62520/

The sound of liquid bliss

2007-09-11T14:23:00.000-04:00

I had forgotten how wonderful the rain sounds on our tin red roof. But now I am blissfully reminded, as east TN gets a long sweet drink of Mother Nature's water. It's been a long dry spell, which they tell me will make for a prettier than usual fall.. nonetheless, I have sorely missed the gentle shoosh of rain on the panes.
It's a classic case of 'you don't know what you got til you lose it', because I'm sure that I've bitched about the wet weather in the past. This spring & summer of drought has been a steady reminder that we need the storms, to appreciate the rainbows at the end of them.

And so, as I sit out on the back porch w/ my pups on my lap.. I care not what Congress is cooking up for me, what Britney's skills are or aren't, or what gas prices may be leaping to.
I am just kicking back, reading a good book & enjoying the rain.
If I were brave enough, I'd take a lesson from my friend Juliepoolie, & dance out in it.
For now, I'm happy just to breathe it in, & watch it fall.

This is bliss.

What the heck??

2007-09-07T13:12:00.000-04:00

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2007410737,00.html

Just sick..

Here's taxpayer $$ well spent..

2007-08-29T19:18:00.000-04:00

http://dcist.com/2007/08/28/karl_rove_wants.php

KKKarl can kiss mine.

This is what we've come to??

2007-08-25T19:45:00.001-04:00

How criminal.. & chicken-shit.

http://www.cbsnews.com:80/stories/2007/08/25/national/main3203792.shtml

The things this war has done..

2007-08-23T10:40:00.001-04:00

Thank you Newscoma for sharing this tragic tale..

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/08/22/iraq.boy/index.html

Here you go..

2007-08-22T13:22:00.000-04:00

This explains everything. Duh.

http://www.bushisantichrist.com:80/

Great questions to ponder..

2007-08-21T17:39:00.000-04:00

I read this article online today & it struck a chord.. Perhaps you can find 'productive' questions & answers in your own life; (because the mind does answer every question posed to it!)
Here's some 'food-for-thought'
~~~
Questions:

What do I want to accomplish today?
What is the most important thing I need to do today? (Do it first!)
Is this the best use of my time right now?
What am I trying to accomplish right now?
What can I cross off my list by deleting or delegating? What is not important?
What can I do right now to take the next leap instead of the next step?
Who can I learn from today?
Who can I thank today?
What am I grateful for?
How can I eliminate distractions right now?
What are my top 3 current goals?
What is most important to me in life?
If the world was going to end within one year, what would I be doing right now?
What will I do today towards my major goals?
What action can I take instead of worry right now?
Who should I thank today?
Who needs some love today?
How can I be a kinder person today?
How can I have more compassion today?
What can I do right now to release negative energy in a positive way?
What can I do to let go of my anger?
How can I put worry on hold right now?
How can I choose happiness right now?
What can I do to slow down today?
What am I learning right now?
What beneficial routines can I start today?
What will I do, see, explore, or experience today that is new?
How and with whom can I partner today to make 1+1=3?
How can I be more compassionate today?
What will I celebrate today?
Where did I find Joy today?
What did I learn today?
How will I “pay it forward” today?
How will I make today great? How do I define great?
What can I stop holding/clinging to help me break free?
How can I let go with peace?
Who can I help today?
How can I add Peace to the world today?
What’s the most powerful thing I can do right now, today to increase my business?
What have I been avoiding that I can do today?

Some other good questions for the end of the day:
Taking stock of what you did today.
Who did I help today?
Who did I hurt today?
If I could have done something differently what would it be?
Is there some way to make amends for the things I did today that I now regret?
If I had less than 5 1/2 years left to live, how would I want to spend my time on Earth?
~~~
wow.. I have some answering to do!

What are your Identity names??

2007-08-20T13:39:00.000-04:00

My 9 Identity Names

1. YOUR REAL NAME:
Sande

2. YOUR GANGSTA NAME:(first three letters of your name and izzle)
Sanizzle

3. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME:(fav color and fav animal)
Green Alpaca

4. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME:(your middle name and the street you live on).
Gaye TurkeyCreek

5. YOUR STAR WARS NAME:(the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name
GasSa

6. YOUR SUPERHERO NAME:(Your 2nd favorite color, and favorite drink)
Blue Fresca

7. YOUR IRAQI NAME:(2nd letter of your first name, 3rd letter of your last name, any letter of your middle name, 2nd letter of your moms maiden name, 3rd letter of you dads middle name, 1st letter of a siblings first name, and last letter of your moms middle name)
Asyarpe

8. YOUR WITNESS PROTECTION NAME:(parents middle names)
None Virgil

9. YOUR GOTH NAME:(bloody and your pets name)
Bloody Tessa

This & That

2007-08-16T11:55:00.000-04:00

I think I'm becoming agoraphobic.. or maybe it's just laziness.. or I can make it sound better by saying I'm appreciating my hermitage experience here in Tellico. Yeah, that's the ticket..

I had the 'well made plans of mice & men', to go into the big city today to run some errands & get my nails done. The closer it came time to getting dressed, the more I self-talked about staying home & reading a book. To heck w/ the nails, I'll slap on some clear polish & call these nubs 'pretty'. It's just not worth driving the hr to get there.. & it's 100 degrees before noon, for god's sake.

The sun-drenched skies have made for some spectacular sunsets this past week. Brilliant red.. global warming/pollution does color it up!

The pond refurb is in full swing. Digging will commence sometime next week. And the guys in the above pic will be celebrating big time. I'll keep you posted.

Hurray for Dan who is going to be the new consultant for Saks Fifth Ave in Jackson, MS for the next 2 yrs! Only has to report once a wk per mo. Sweet..

(working from home for the remaining 3 wks)

I'm packing for a wk-end trip to Athens, Ohio to see the #1 son & family. Traveling mercies!

Y'all have a good day now, you hear?

I need to spend some quality time on the couch reading..

2007-08-15T14:49:00.000-04:00

Could be coincidence... but then again..

Many will recall that on July 8, 1947, witnesses claimed that an unidentified object with five aliens aboard crashed onto a sheep and cattle ranch just outside Roswell, New Mexico.
This is a well-known incident that many say has long been covered up by the U.S. Air Force and the rest of the U.S. government.
However, what you may NOT have realized is that in the month of March 1948, exactly nine months after that historic day, George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfield, Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, Condolezza Rice, and Dan Quayle were all born.

See what happens when aliens breed with sheep?