madranchwife

All is right with the world.

Well, the world in the time of Ancient Greece that is.

We just read tonight that Odysseus finally made it back to Ithaca (his island).  Though things look to be still touch and go as to the reunion with his long faithful wife Penelope.  We’ll start on the final book in the series tomorrow and hopefully get through it quickly enough to satisfy both of our curiousity.  (Shouldn’t that read “both of ours’ curiousity?” Not quite sure.  The computer doesn’t like it either way.  Good grief, where are the grammar police when you need them?)  Anyway, we both breathed a sigh of relief when we read that Odysseus had landed on Ithaca.  And then was reunited with his son Telemachus.  After 20 years!!!!!!!!  He wandered the Mediterranean Sea for ten years after leaving Troy.  It’s just still not something we can quite understand.  Though I guess he was on Calypso’s island for seven of those ten years, so in reality he only drifted about the tiny Mediterranean for a mere three years.  But still, didn’t they have stars back then?  You know, to navigate by.  This is what baffles us.

Anyway, Penelope has waited for him for 20 years.  Talk about love, eh?  Something to be learned there maybe.

On to the other topic at hand:  the shameless pitch for a good cause.

I thought I’d written about this before, but now I’m not sure.  When I first was introduced to Cup Of Joe For A Joe (www.greenbeanscoffee.com/coj) several years ago, I wasn’t sure if it was legitimate or not.  It’s hard to know for sure when you give money to an organization that your dollars are actually going to what you want them to go to.  But I took a leap of faith and jumped right in.  How’s that for two clichés in one sentence?  Though I must be honest and say the man of the house has the record tonight at three in one sentence!!!

The result was rewarding in that I believe this is an organization that truly does what it says it does.

I think now more than ever our service women and men need to know we are thinking of them.  Not just because the holidays are approaching, but because for many of us here, home, on this continent, we forget that there are other Americans far from home, fighting in a war at this moment.  And they still need, and deserve, our support.

So the concept is simple really.  Pledge some money and that money is then used to buy a service woman or man a cup of coffee.

Obviously this is something that resonated with me as I am fortunate to enjoy my nirvana usually any time I want.  In the comfort and safety of my own home.  In the safety of my own country.  And it brings me peace and happiness and serenity and contentment.  (Yes, I know I give my cup of coffee WAY too much power over my life.  But I think you need to do what you can to make each and every day a happy one.  In my case, it’s drinking a perfect triple shot, 1/2 caffe, dark chocolate mocha with whip.)

All of that being said, I think the Cup Of Joe For A Joe program is a fantastic one.  So please, won’t you think about clicking the link above and in so doing, pass on some java love?

Or here, I’ll make it easy and then you don’t have to scroll back up:  https://www.greenbeanscoffee.com/coj/

(This sort of reminds me of my Girl Scout cookie selling days…or the Camp Fire Girls candy sales.  Remember the Almond Roca?  Good, definitely good.  But a saleswoman I am not.   So forgive me for my peddling.)

Uttered by the erstwhile, quintessential, Republican-dream Ronald Reagan.

Sometime in 1980.

Regarding, I believe, automobiles and their contribution to climate change.

He also provided the following in regards to said topic: “Trees cause more pollution than automobiles.”

Kind of boggles the mind as to the caliber of the individual who can be held up for all to see as the “saint” of such and such.

Not trying to be partisan or anything.  I’m sure if a “flaming liberal” had spewed forth similar inanities I would have posted the same.   This one just happened to be in my mind, so it was what made it on to the computer screen.

It’s just that the little one (who is definitely not so little these days) and I were doing some research on the internet and came across some interesting, albeit slightly disconcerting, theories about warming of the world, how often it’s happened, the effect on the mammalian species, and what could possibly be in store for us.

She said, as with her usual insight, “well, luckily I won’t be here in 200 years, so I’ll be safe.”  Yes my dear.  I’m thinking that’s what a lot of people are thinking.  Not my problem.

So.  My next job as teacher will be to instill in her a sense of responsibility to “pay it forward.”  And leave this place slightly better than the way we found it.

On another note, it saddens me that my daughter has learned that if we want to find anything out about anything, we just need to “google it.”

In my defense, we do live in what is seeming like Siberia, with nary a library nor set of encyclopedias in sight.  So the next best thing is the internet.   But there is truly something to be said about good, old-fashioned research in the library among the stacks of musty, old books.  One of the best memories of my learning days honestly!!

And with that, we’re off to school my friends.  More about poor Odysseus, the fun of math and diagramming sentences!

Cheers!

Well, actually that’s not exactly true as the temperature this morning when letting the dogs out (“who let the dogs out…….who let the dogs out……”—-what an annoying earworm—) was a balmy 20 degrees Fahrenheit.  So the high of yesterday was already reached at 5:30 am.  That bodes well for the day doesn’t it?

Snow is trying to fall at the moment.  But according to the husband, the super-duper new siding on the house is working to make the inside warmer.  I haven’t felt it yet and have kept the heaters running with the extra space heater turned on as well.  So, perhaps the house is warmer because I’ve got the heaters running nonstop.  But…what do I know?

On the other hand, I’ve been hot for about five years now.  And I mean hot.  No, not as in twenty-something, model-looking, fashion magazine ready hot.  Hot as in internal temperature reaching combustion levels, necessary to remove layers of clothing on a regular basis sort of hot.  Not pleasant.  And extremely frustrating as my winter uniform has consisted of flip-flops, short pants and tank tops usually.  I have a gorgeous winter wardrobe that has lain dormant for years now.

So.  It’s actually kind of nice to be cold for a change.  The sweaters are coming out of mothballs and it’s sort of like Christmas around here.  I have some nice clothes.  Who would have thought?

Anyway.  Is the house warmer?  Is the new siding not enough to counteract the leaking roof without attic insulation or the exposed base of the house waiting for a new footing?  Is my internal thermostat simply so wacked out that I would think it was 30 degrees sitting on a beach in the Caribbean on a balmy 80 degree day?

Ahhhhh the things I think about.  As if I didn’t have enough stuff floating around up there in all that space.

As in this news from Waterville, Maine.  A Democratic candidate defeated the Republican candidate last night in an election for a city warden’s position.  The Democratic candidate?  The wife of the Republican candidate.   Sweet!!!

And this:

My new favorite, real-life hero.  Sir Patrick Stewart.  I don’t twitter.  I don’t tweet.  I don’t consider myself a twit.  But I have read some of what Sir Stewart has been putting out there.  And I just have to say I love this guy!!!!  Love, love, love this guy.

It’s things like this that start to restore my faith in humanity.  The guy is priceless.  And a lovely example of having courage to stand up for what you believe in.

I’ll end on that note as math lessons are waiting.  Not to mention that whole Odyssesus thing.  We’re still baffled.  Seems at this point he’s been wandering around the Mediterranean for approximately two (2) years since leaving Troy, just trying to get back to Ithaca.  Go look at a map of the Mediterranean Sea.  Not that big.  We can’t figure out why it was so difficult to make it home.  So…another mystery to solve.

Oh yes, did you hear they found a nursery of bizarre-looking dinosaurs known as therizinosaurs  in the Gobi Desert in Mongolia?  They found about 17 nests, or clutches, of eggs.  Cool.  They’re related to the gigantic Tyrannosaurus rex but look more like an overgrown ostrich (according to the sketches).  Whatever.  We thought it was cool.

And that is the latest brought to you from the land of the mad ranchwife.  Where all the women are superhuman, the children are out of this world brilliant and the men, well, the men are…men.  God bless ’em.

I just looked at the pictures.  There were some yellow leaves.

But if you look closely at that post about the hike, we’re wearing coats, hats, headbands, gloves, etc.

Fall was sort of here.  It was just flippin’ cold.  None of that pansy “Indian Summer” stuff.  Actually, now that I have written that, I wonder.  Should we refer to it now as a “Native American Summer?”  Oy vey.

Whatever.  I missed mine.  And that just plain stinks.

The  high today was 20 degrees Fahrenheit.  That’s chilly in case any of you aren’t familiar with temperatures in that range.  Downright cold actually.  And it’s only the 5th of November.  This does not bode well for the ensuing months.

The snow, well, that’s ok.  As always, we need the moisture.  And I’m not going to deny one teeny, little snowflake its chance to water the lawn.  But does it have to be this cold this soon?  It seems cruel.  Just plain cruel.

On top of the blasted, bloody time change.  I think I’ve written about this before.  It’s one of my MAJOR pet peeves.  Why on earth we think we should fiddle around with nature thinking that we know best is simply beyond me.  Hubris.  That’s all it is plain and simple.  And now I’ve got to explain to the munchikin why our world is shaken up again.  Why we’re tired and not getting good sleep the last couple of days.  Why it’s dark when it was light, etc, etc, etc.

Hubris.

Here, found what I’m trying to say (thank you google):

“Our environmental problems originate in the hubris of imagining ourselves as the central nervous system or the brain of nature.  We’re not the brain, we are a cancer on nature.”   Dave Foreman

Yep.  What he said.

Got to get these out of the hamster wheel in my head:

1.  What am I going to do about the umpteen bazillion aspen leaves underneath the six inches of snow?

2.  Why won’t the mountain chickadees come down to feed?  Is it the pack of stellar jays keeping them away?  How am I going to fix this?

3.  Are 12 mouse traps strategically placed around the house overkill?  And how do I explain to the daughter who keeps telling me that mouse is one of her totem animals that I have to kill the mice?

4.  And why did the mouse in the pantry prefer the peppermint Luna bar to the coconut Luna bar?   Is there a way to capitalize on that?

5.  Did we have fall?  Did I miss it?  Was I sick?  Or asleep?  How did it get to be winter?  I’m so baffled.

6.  Speaking of being baffled…why did Odysseus wander for years around the tiny Mediterranean Sea before finding his way back to Ithaca?  Gracelyn and I cannot understand why he could not find his way home.  It just doesn’t make any sense.

7.  Why does Governor Chris Christie think he can be such a jerk to people?  This is in reference to the picture circulating of him with a nasty look on his face wagging his finger in a woman’s face after she asked him about public education.  She is a teacher.  He went ballistic on her.  And why is this man considered to be a good candidate to lead the free world?

8.  Why exactly did people dislike Jimmy Carter so much?  I read a post about him this morning and started wondering how our world may have been different if we had not been subjected to the Ronald Reagan years.

9.   “Bring me your brokenness and I will fix it.”  A quote from the homily of Father Faustini (sp?) on Sunday morning October 27 in reference to the power of god.

So much more, but we must start math lessons.  And spend some more time cogitating on Odysseus’ travels.

I haven’t posted a lot about this lately, mostly because it is simply too heartbreaking, but also because it is such a controversial topic.

And I certainly wouldn’t want to be labeled as being “a controversial person.”

HA!!  Who the heck am I kidding?  I really don’t give a rat’s patootie if some think I’m controversial.  What in the sam hello is controversial about expressing absolute and utter dismay about the antics of this country?

Though, to be sure, “antics” isn’t exactly a good word to use to describe the following.  It’s flippant and slightly sarcastic and is certainly not serious enough lexicon to address the topic.

You see, in browsing the headlines tonight (have missed much of the weekend’s news due to work and then play), I came across a small, little story.

It seems, that yet again, an innocent, tiny soul has once again lost their life to a gun.  A two-year-old girl was found dead in a home in Fayetteville, North Carolina this afternoon, the victim of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.  She found the loaded gun, and well, you know the rest.

http://www.wral.com/girl-2-dies-after-being-shot-inside-fayetteville-home/13015281/

(If you don’t believe me, above is the link.)

Two years old?  Why on earth was there a loaded handgun anywhere close to the vicinity of this child?  For all of those out there who say children need to be taught how to use guns and how to respect guns and BLAH, BLAH, BLAH, go sit on a rock.  Go eat an egg.  Go fly a kite.

No 2 year old needs to know a damned, flipping thing about guns.  Nor all the rest of the umpteen children killed by guns in the last several months that I’ve read about.  I haven’t posted all of them because it hurts my heart too much.  Maybe I’ve just had enough.  Tonight was different.  So there you go.

Things that make me crazy, nutso, off-my-rocker, insane, just plain mad.    Kids with access to guns.  Not necessary.  No way.  No how.  Guns have a place in this world and I can guaran-damn-tee it is NOT in the hands of a child.

So if  this is me being CONTROVERSIAL, so be it.  First and foremost I am a mother and I simply can not imagine my life without my child.  Our children are precious.  We should be doing everything in our power to ensure their survival.

Off to read more headlines, and develop more heartburn I am sure.

Hasta la vista babies.

I heard snippets of this about a week or so ago and chose to ignore it.  I thought that if I didn’t pursue the story, it couldn’t possibly be true.  If I didn’t read any further, then it would simply be a figment of my imagination.

Imagine my  horror, while sitting here drinking my triple shot 1/2 caffe dark chocolate mocha with whip, watching the pretty white things drift quietly to the ground, listening to the bubbling of the countertop water fountain (for peace and serenity…ha ha ha), with NPR Sunday Morning edition quietly in the background, when the bloody Brit who wrote the Bridget Jones series ever-so-nonchalantly says she didn’t imagine there would be such a brou-ha-ha (my word, not hers) when it was found out that Mark Darcy has died!!!!!!  What in the sam hello was she thinking?  We’d all jump up and down and clap our hands and say ‘goody-goody, Bridget’s on the dating scene again’????????????????????  Is she bloody insane?

Mark Darcy dead.  There can be no Bridget Jones without Mark Darcy.  I can’t even imagine it.  I sincerely doubt I will even attempt to watch this movie.  I simply cannot fathom the streets of London without Mark Darcy strolling along, telling Bridget in that lovely voice of his “I love you just as you are.”  Period.  Never been a better line, in my humble opinion.

So I’m reminded of Mr. Churchill (another Brit) who uttered these words:  “the only security in life is relishing life’s insecurities.”

Ha!  Like that man knew anything.  (Snark, sarcasm, etc.  I think he was quite the wise one.)

I’m just smarting about this latest blow to my view of the world.  Life without Mark Darcy.  What a way to start my day.

Now I need another triple shot 1/2 caffe dark chocolate mocha with whip.  Just to deal with the injustice of it all.

(Oddly, the next story on the news is one about ‘addiction.’  Oh the irony.)

So…what do you think $24 BILLION buys you?

Your own personal, private island somewhere in the tropics with an invisible shield thrown in that will protect you from anything Mother Nature attempts to send your way?

Maybe.

A HUGE, GINORMOUS, unbelievably BIG diamond?

Probably.

Enough moola to live comfortably for the rest of your life, paying off insanely high student loan bills and squirreling away enough for your child’s college education?  (You can see what’s important in my book.)

Most likely.

OR………………………………………………………………

(and here’s where the whole “trick” part of the trick question comes into play)

………………………………………..NOTHING.

Plain and simple–nothing.  Nada. Zip. Zilch. Zero.  Not one damn thing.

Wait, I’m wrong on that account.

You see, $24 BILLION buys you 16 days of ridiculousness engineered by tantrum-throwing, infantile, pouty little children.

Because that total ($24 BILLION) is the amount that is estimated the country paid for the last 16 days of absolutely, pathetic inanities.

How many people paid the price for that $24 BILLION?

Not the actual children throwing the tantrum I can guaran-damn-tee you.  Good old Congressional members got paid their average $174,000…without a pause in their paychecks.

HELL, they even passed a special measure to keep the gym open for the House of Representatives.

So I guess $24 BILLION buys you an open gym for Congressional members of the House of Representatives.

Shameful.  Absolutely, downright shameful.

And don’t be blathering on to me about how “both” sides are to blame.  No sirree bob that ain’t gonna fly here.

There is only one party to blame here.  And that would be the Grand Ol’ Party…Republicans.

Did you know that 18 Senators voted AGAINST ending the government shutdown and extending the debt ceiling.  AGAINST that bill last night?  That would have sent the American economy, not to mention the world economy, tumbling toward a recession worse than the one we’re currently recovering from, and most likely, a depression.

And 144 Republican members of the House of Representatives voted AGAINST it as well.

If it’s too early to do the math, let me help you out.

162 of our elected Congresswomen and men voted AGAINST the American people.

SHAME ON YOU ALL!

Gracelyn says I need to write that again:

SHAME ON YOU ALL!

There.  I’ve had my say.  Off to do some math and spelling.  The important things in life.  Not to mention make another triple, 1/2 caffe, dark chocolate mocha with whip.  While listening to one of the only adults in the room over there in Washington, D.C.  That would be President Barack Obama–he’s speaking right now.  And man is he awesome.  I just wish those who hate him so much could pull the cotton out of their ears.

“You don’t like a policy?  Go out there and win an election.  Then you can change it.  But don’t break it.  Don’t break what our founders did 200 years ago.  That’s not what this country is all about.”  (My quick dictation.)

“You don’t like a particular policy or a particular president? Then argue for your position,” Obama said. “Go out there and win an election. Push to change it. But don’t break it. Don’t break what our predecessors spent over two centuries building. That’s not being faithful to what this country’s about.”    (Actual quote.)

Beautiful.

And now he’s thanking all the federal workers who were sent home 17 days ago.  Telling them that they matter.

Have you heard one, just one (1), GOP member thank those who paid the pricetag of $24 BILLION these last 16 days?       NOPE, didn’t think so.   Instead, we have on video one of them berating a park ranger for having a national monument closed (the same one he voted to close when he voted to close the government).

President Obama is one cool cat, but I will tell you that this morning he sounds a little peeved.  Almost, sadly, like a disappointed parent scolding his errant children the next morning after finding the children had a party while he was gone, destroying the house, etc, etc, etc.

Gracelyn just piped up with “I think I’m a Democrat.  I guess it’s in my DNA.”

Whoop!!!!!!!!!!

My job here is done folks.  🙂

Have a great one, in this beautiful country of the land of the free and the home of the brave with one, FINE President leading the way.

May the Universe shine on President Obama and bless him and our country.

First event:

Lawnmower Skills

As you can see, our first contestant completed the lawnmower driving with a difficulty level of 2 (2 mowers).

The first judge awarded Mr. Roberts a 7 for ingenuity (how to get as many mowers as possible down the drive, across the pasture and into the barn before the snowflakes started falling), a 7 for technical skill and a 9 for overall execution.

The second judge awarded Mr. Roberts a 10 for ingenuity, a 10 for technical skill and a 10 for overall execution.  (Disclosure:  judge #2 is also the daughter of the contestant)

At the moment, Mr. Roberts is in first place with an overall total of 53 points.

As the lawn mowers are all tucked safely in their winter hibernation habitats, there will be no more contestants competing in the Lawnmower Skills.

So, by default, Mr. Roberts is the champion.

Yea daddy!

What a glorious day!

Slightly chilly, very overcast, but an absolutely gorgeous walk through the woods.  An aspen leaf carpet was laid out in front of us as we wound through the trees.  The breeze (who am I kidding?? the “wind”) caused it to seem as if it was raining aspen leaves.  The colors were, as always, breathtaking.  I wish I could come up with a different word.  Awe-inspiring.  Vibrant.  Brilliant.  Dazzling.  (That’s a good one, eh?)  Radiant.  Luminous.  There–that’s enough of the thesaurus for now.  I hope you get the picture.  The colors were truly gorgeous, even without the sunlight backlighting the leaves and making them glow.

We went to the eagle catch.  Eagle Catch # 2 as we call it.  The first summer we were here we hiked up to the first one.  My hiking partner was only 3 1/2 years old at the time  and we took the front face up which is VERY steep.  As in I was thinking to myself that I really didn’t know what I was thinking when we set out.  We were practically on our knees close to the top.  Maybe that’s a slight exaggeration.  The next year we walked a little further up the road and cut up to the top through the saddle, which was a mite bit less steep.  The next year we went to the end of the road and then up the back side to the top of Eagle Catch #2.  Still steep, but not quite as bad as the front face.  This year the trip went much quicker…longer legs?  Six and a half years versus three and a half?  Bittersweet for sure.  I miss the little toddler.  I love the young girl blossoming in front of my eyes.  The heartbreak of being a mother, yes?  That’s a whole other story for another day.

Back to the beauty all around us.   I couldn’t stop taking pictures, trying to capture it all for posterity’s sake I suppose.  My hiking partners got a little fed up and I finally stopped.  Too windy up top to eat our requisite PB& J, so we stopped on the way down, hunkered underneath a towering pine.  Buck got the crusts, as usual.  In fact I think that’s one of the only reasons he goes on the hikes with us.  He knows, as soon as he sees the backpack come out, he’ll get a tasty treat!

We made it down just in time.  The skies darkened ominously and started spitting little white things.  Back at the house, the moisture picked up but turned to rain.  The temperature had dropped significantly since we started out, making the hot chocolate and marshmallows all the sweeter!

Enjoy our pics!