Benicio Del Torro?? Really?? Seriously??

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Priceless

My six year old, in a few days will be seven, is a challenge. One thing he has done since he was about four is pick fights with me. It used to bug the socks off me, but since he's gotten older and understands what he is doing, I can simply say, "Don't pick a fight with me, that isn't nice" and he gets it.

Here is an example from earlier this week. On Monday, I was beyond miserably sick. I still am, but that was when it hurt to be vertical. I am driving him to school. Here is how that went:

JM: Mom, will anything make you feel better?
Me: Honey, I feel so bad, I don't think anything can make me feel better.

JM: Would a hug make you feel better?
Me: Yes, a hug always makes anyone feel better. (Do you see where this is going?)

JM: But Mom, you just said.....
Me: JM, don't pick a fight with me, that isn't nice to do, especially when I am so sick.

What I think is interesting when he does this is his reasoning skills. The excluding of an idea, and the idea that something is "always", etc. I admire that, I just wish he could figure out another way to do it.

He also tries to figure out if I know everything. I have explained umpteen times, I know a lot of things, I don't know everything. Here is how one of those conversations went today.

We are going to school, and Radio Disney is playing. He thinks I don't keep track of pop music and I don't know who is cool these days. He hasn't figured out yet that I am the keeper of all useless pop culture information. A song begins to play.

JM: Mom! Who sings this song??!! (He has that challenging look on his face.)

I look him square in the eye through the rear view mirror--
Me: Kelly Clarkson

The look on his face suddenly changed, and it was priceless. He was speechless.

I Love This Photo

This photo was taken on July 21, 2001 at a college alumni picnic for our college. I have always loved it. It was taken by a professional photographer at the event and they were kind enough to give me a copy.

I have always wanted to scan it and make sure to keep it. Then our scanner went caput. We just got a new "all in one" thingy that does everything but staple papers. So I am experimenting with it, and have enjoyed the results. Plus I wanted to scan it before another little critter in this house got his hands on a pen and decided to deface it anymore than it already is.

Time flies! That little baby is now a huge first grader that comes up to my elbows--just look to the left at my homepage picture. It's fun to look back.

Vanport?? Where?

It doesn't exist anymore but it's where a lot of the racial change of this city came about. This is the post I promised. Here is my history lesson on the African American community in my city as we close this year's Black History month. I have enjoyed taking in some of the specials on TV, reading the books, and looking to the past. I have definitely appreciated that we have come a long way, and the future looks bright.

Now let me tell you my brief story. When I first moved to this city in 1991, I was a young, single, college student. I moved into a shack of a house in North Portland--which was then the hood. It was considered very black with lots of crime, which it was. The house next to mine was a crack house, and I heard gunfire occasionally and saw the cops a lot. The house across the street from that one was burned out and gutted from a house fire and no one cared. Since then, the crack house is gone and has been renovated--it is the showplace of the block. The burned out house has been rebuilt and sold for a major profit. The shack I lived in is still the cruddy shack it was back then. Some things don't change.

This link, click here, is the best synopsis of the basic story. I'll give you my version as well, because I have pulled from a few other sources as well.

Several things came to converge on this city in the 1940's. World War II was huge, and there was a huge demand for warships. Black labor was cheap, and African Americans were coming here by the thousands for work. There was a real estate code written forbidding real estate agents from selling minorities homes in white neighborhoods. And there was a flood that rearranged the living arrangements so nicely put in place. Sounds like the stuff of great novels!

First, the racial climate leading up to the 1940's. According to my research, the rewritten Oregon constitution around the turn of the century did not allow AA's to move into the state. The KKK was in full force with a membership of 200,000. Additionally, where could an AA person live anyway? No one would sell them a home. Yet, minority neighborhoods were not being built, because Oregonians did not allow them in the state anyway. I am sure it felt airtight.

That all changed when Pearl Harbor was bombed and this country need Liberty Ships on the west coast like crazy. Enter entrepreneur Henry Kaiser. He put together the largest ship building plant right here on the Columbia River. He put out advertisements across the country looking for workers. From the east and from the south came workers. Suddenly the AA population swelled to 6,000 in 1944 when just two years before it was one third that. Before this big boom, that small population of AA was allowed to live in a small spot called Albina, which is in North Portland. Well, this sudden boom made it impossible to fit all those people there.

Kaiser assumed the city would build affordable housing, not so. Some kind of compromise was met, and low incoming housing was built on the edge of the city. That is a nice word for the edge of the city and the edge of a levy. It was slums, from the descriptions I found, but it seemed to be the temporary fix at the time.

Until 1948. The levy broke. Here are some brief stories on the flood. This man, click here, actually witnessed the flood and the levy breaking and trying to escape. His story is harrowing. This lady, click here, remembers just meandering the city in the aftermath hoping for the hand out that would save her. What is interesting about her story is how a light colored relative was able to "pass" as a white person and was able to purchase a house. And how very uncomfortable that was. Very few were sympathetic to AA's in dire need after the flood. But it's interesting how that flood caused the melting pot to be stirred. I can't help but think that things in this city would have a lot different, and not for the better, had that flood not happened. It forced people to soften, open their hearts, and help others. Some didn't, but some did.

Jump ahead. The war is over, AA's have a home, mostly in the north side of town. The Albina neighborhood and the former Vanport seemed to be where the majority of these people stayed. If you travel between the Albina neighborhood and the former Vanport area, that is the North Portland area, for the most part, that we know today. Then the civil rights movement began. To make a long story short, suddenly the Constitution is changing, suddenly housing codes change, slowly the same changes that begin to be seen around the country are happening here.

Then a mysterious thing happened. The nineties. That same north end of town is one of the oldest places in the city with three story homes, hardwood floors, gingerbread woodwork, and young couples want to move in for the charm. Two things helped that. The geography. This city is surrounded by hills and rivers. It's hard to expand. Plus, urban growth laws put the kabosh on a lot of growth. Many experts say those laws inadvertently forced people to move in next to each other and think of the neighborhood and not who your neighbor was.

I think if we took a moment and looked at other big cities we might find the same kind of demographics for similar reasons. It makes me wonder about the Watts neighborhood in Los Angeles. It makes me wonder about Detroit, MI. Referencing the documentary "Banished" where AA's were banished away from cities, I am not proud to say that my city did one step less than that and banished AA's to a small part of the city "so that we wouldn't have to put an officer on each corner". It is amazing to me the correlation (here comes a can of worms) people make when they see an AA person and they instantly think crime is going to happen. I have a side note to that at the end of this post.....

We have success. This article, click here, points out that segregation in this great city has decreased dramatically since the nineties, to the notice of other urban areas such as Chicago and Detroit--who are still very very racially divided. Not so here. Yes, the Albina neighborhood is still very much there. It is still very much AA and celebrates it's heritage. It is also very Latino, very white, and very diverse. It has had a great revival in the last few years, it gives me chills. It's stories like this that give me hope and also shows we are heading in the right direction.

One of my favorite coffee shops in this city is in Albina. I am always up for a cuppa somethin' if anyone ever wants to join me.

I pray the end of your Black History month is as fulfilling as mine has been. We'll do this again next year.

NOTE: At the beginning of this school year, my husband and a bunch of brand new, fresh faced freshman have a get together. It's a tradition and really helps students feel welcomed and comfortable. Lots of these students come from places far away, and not always diverse cities. One of these students was a rural kid from Idaho. He was talking about how safe he felt on campus. He mentioned that he saw these "scary looking teenagers walking through campus". I asked him what they looked like. Sure enough, they were basically high school students, walking through campus with their big sweatshirts and baggy pants--and AA. I gently pointed out that this part of town is very diverse and there is a high school nearby. Those were just high school students cutting through the campus to go home, no big deal.

I am still encouraged. Why? Because that young man is no longer in Idaho and getting a look at the diverse country we live in. I am thankful those high school students are cutting through a Christian campus and maybe even stopping to chat with someone. That may not have happened only a few years ago in my lifetime.

PS Can I ask a silly question of my faithful readers? I have a very very faithful reader who visits my blog 2-3 times a day from Pittsburg, Illinois or somewhere near there. I have no idea where Pittsburg, IL is! Can you post to me (I won't publish who you are unless you give me permission) who you are? In other words, if you post a comment, I have to moderate it first, and I won't put it on the blog unless you say it's okay. I'll delete it if you want. The suspense is killing me!

More African American History

UPDATE: In my area of the country, this isn't on the schedule to be shown again. However, the website for this documentary is just as compelling. Click here. Also, there is a mini clip video of the introduction giving the historical background. Again, quite amazing and makes me want to learn more. Hence, my future post about my community.....



I am sicker than a dog! I just took some more Mucinex, let's hope that unclogs this drain....

After everyone went to bed last night, I watched the third and final installment of "Pride and Prejudice". After that, on PBS, was an independent documentary called "Banished". It talks about three different communities, although there are many more, that right around the turn of the century, post Civil War, banished whole populations of African Americans (AA) from their community. In the three communities highlighted, it was by force, intimidation and at gunpoint. Two of them happened right after lynchings. To this day, those communities have zero populations of African American citizens. People left their homes and property with the clothes on their backs, and their properties were confiscated.

I strongly encourage you to watch this if you get the chance. It is not for young viewers, mainly because there are black and white photos of the lynchings.

I was so angry when it was over. Why? Because those communities are still all white to this day, and they see nothing wrong with that. One community promotes itself as a great way to retire. The filmmaker who made this is African American, and he is sitting down with a retired man. Filmmaker asks, what made you decide to live here to retire. Man answers two benign answers, One, the cost of living is low, two, blah blah blah and three, and definitely the most important, there are no "coloreds here". He then looked right at the filmmaker with a look on his face of, and what are you going to say to that?

They also interviewed a KKK (yes, the KKK!) leader in one of these communities who was trying to explain how cross burnings were really cross lightings in celebration of the Celtic tradition where crosses are illuminated. The filmmaker called that pile of garbage for what it was. A really disingenuous attempt at denying that cross burnings were a source of terror to Southern AA for decades, and even to this day. KKK dude hadn't much to say to that.

One white retired lady was asked about the banishment events she remembers as a girl, and she took three tries to find a word for an AA person, she literally stumbled three times. Why? Three times she almost said the "n" word, and finally came up with "colored". It's amazing how sticking a camera in someone's face makes them think twice about saying a word that one probably says on a regular basis.

I am not a silly person, I know that racism still exists. I was absolutely flabbergasted watching these whole communities still acting like it's 1955, and Jim Crow laws were still in effect. Plus, these communities see absolutely nothing wrong at all with it. The racist remarks that came out of their mouths were absolutely appalling.

The third community they focused on had a silver lining. A white pastor made it very clear, that is not what he or his congregation believes, and has made some great headway in repairing race relations. Keep in mind, it's an uphill battle--there are still no minorities living in his community to this day.

Next post will be about a similar kind of situation that happened in the city I live in. Those of you who live in my city, you know our street addresses have NE, SE, SW, and NW. We also have the area where the addresses begin with N. No, it isn't a reference to the "n" word. However, have you ever wondered why that area of town is predominantly African American? Even today? I'll tell you all about it once I am better. Plus, long posts can be boring.

If you have tivo, check your PBS listing for this absolutely fascinating documentary. It was made in 2005, so I wouldn't at all be surprised if it were on Netflix already. It's only an hour and a half, and really opened my eyes.

I wish it opened my nasal passages as well.

Side note here, JM, our oldest, was born in Texas. When we were sitting in the adoption agency in Texas talking to the adoption worker, we got an eyeful. She said most of her AA babies available for adoption are placed with families in the Pacific Northwest. We asked why. I will never forget what she said, "We still live in the south here. Cross burnings still happen here."

Ick!

Several years ago, before JM was born, we were pursuing adopting a little 3 year old girl from the foster care system. Her name was Amber and she was a sweetheart. When she was sick, she would say, "I ick!"

Last night I am working on my computer, filling out forms, printing things, etc. Within an hour I had a painfully sore throat, nasty cough, and my eyes were itchy. I went to bed, worried.

I woke up this morning.

I ick!

New Twist on an Old Trick

Okay, I am not a "America's Got Talent" fan. I have watched a few episodes and enjoyed them, but never got into it.

So last night, I am driving around and the radio station I am listening to has the DJ's just going on and on and on about this magician, Kevin James. Not the "King of Queens" Kevin James. One of the DJ's is an amateur magician, who thinks he knows how the trick is done and won't share because it would be compromising his magician's oath. The other DJ is going on and on about how he doesn't really know how the trick is done, he should share his opinion, and understand his opinion is speculation. All DJ's were in agreement, it's a phenomenal illusion. I think I agree with her opinion--part of the fun of illusions is talking about it and trying to figure out how they are done. Since he isn't in "the know", sharing his thoughts is not breaking his little oath. Whatever--the two DJ's were ready to duke it out, it got pretty heated.

After listening to this while watching the sun set on the freeway gridlock, I was intrigued. I came home, found the video, which is swooshing through youtube right now. I have to say I am intrigued. It's an amazing illusion. I also did some youtube searching and watched other versions of the same trick he has done. So I got several angles and versions of the same illusion.

One hint I'll give to you, the guy on the table is his usual assistant, but he has had another assistant as well. In other versions the guy on the table has walked on his hands all over the stage and walked right up to audience members and shaken their hands. One of the discussions on the radio last night was the person on his hands was an animatronic thing. He isn't. Same for the legs, they all agreed the legs are a real person.

So let's do this. Watch this, and let's see what we all think. I'll also let you know what the DJ's decided in terms of how it is done. After watching it, I do agree with them how it is done.



Here is a version that has a lot more detail and not shortened for "America's Got Talent" time constraints. Notice, when the upper body is moving off stage, the original wheeled cart he came out on is gone. I think this will give you some good hints.



And yet another version where you see there is no editing. It's an amateur video from an audience member so there are no cuts. You can also see the torso person gets wheeled off the stage and then brought back to be stapled back together.

Going to Work

BH:Momma! I am going to work! Lookie!

He then puts on his brother's oversized shoes and slings a rubber snake over his shoulder ready to go.

I have so many questions and so few answers.

Let's Be a Little More Serious...

I have a testimony about my icky past that I share quite often and willingly to anyone who will listen. I am not quite sure how I would feel posting it on the world wide web for all to scrutinize, so I won't do it here. Those of you who know me, know it, and that is good enough for me. It has been a long time since I have been asked to speak on this. It was when JM was a baby, and he is turning seven in a few weeks.

God is up to something. I have been asked to speak at a pro-life fundraiser in southern Oregon in April. I am happy to do it. The chairman of the board of this organization is one of my best friend's in the whole world. This organization is also going through some pretty big growing pains. Because my friend and I have worked in this kind of ministry in the past, she knew she could count on me while focusing on other things. Again, I am beyond happy to do it, and am very much looking forward to it. Please pray for me as I dust off some of the words, update them, and polish them--this is a fairly formal event. If anyone wants to have a nice evening of some thoughtful speakers, not just me, please feel free to contact me for details. Events like this are always eye opening for pro life information and reflection.

Know what else is weird? Suddenly my husband is finding opportunities at his job to open up lines of communication and ministry in this same area. There may be another opportunity to share my testimony at his workplace, which I haven't done...oh my....since like 1998. Times have changed since then and doors are opening more and more as the need seems to there.

Additionally, I have been asked to be a small part of a fund raiser in the city I live with the same pro life organization. I used to work for them until the kids came along, and now, it seems appropriate. I need to attend some meetings and get some flyers going and just start participating. That is on May 10th.

All within a few weeks, this is suddenly happening. God wants me to move in ministry again, I hear that.

What is so cool as I think about getting things ready for this speaking event, I get to reflect back over the course of years, almost two decades, since my complete fall on my face in sin. It was all consuming, all emotional, all destructive and bad. I lived my life in the aftermath just white knuckling it. I didn't know how to deal with it. I remember telling myself, when it gets too hard to handle, I will end it. I was always on the verge of suicide for about 1-3 years I would say. Yucky huh?

But who is that person?? I don't recognize the person I see as I pull out my testimony and read it. That was me, and I can't recognize myself. Why? Because God healed me. Not only did He heal me, He has taken it all away.

What does that look like? I hardly ever at all think about that horrible time in my life. Rarely, usually in moments like this when I am asked to look back. If you had told me in 1994 that in 2008, I would hardly if ever think about my yuck, I would look at you like you had five eyeballs. Are you nuts?

If you had told me that not only does God heal us from our sin, but as Scriptures say, He gives gifts to those He loves and what lovely gifts those are too....I would have looked at you like those eyeballs were suddenly turning into ears on your face. What world are you from? No way.

If you would have told me I would have confidence in who I am as a Christian woman, no way. I would say the most important thing I have learned in my walk along the way, my identity in Christ. Simple yet profound--anyone can say anything about me, it doesn't matter. Specifically, to my sin and shame. They may speak truth, "AM, you have committed horrible things. How do you live with yourself?" I actually had a Christian friend say something very similar to that to me. Ouch! How do you deal with the fact that she is saying the truth? How do you not just cower in shame? PING! Bounces right off of me, that is not my identity. My identity is no longer shame. Christ says about my sin and shame, "Your sins have been washed away and you are without shame. You are without sin." What Jesus says about me is the truth--not what my friend says, forget about adversaries!

God also says He gives gifts to those He loves. What gifts are that? The gift of a husband who has walked through the valley of the shadow of death with me while I dealt with this pile of manure. Two children who have a mom who is fully there, and not absent in her own shame. Absent because she doesn't feel worthy to be called "Mom". Those are gifts! Thank you, Jesus! He has given me ministry opportunities that take my awful sin and turn it around to His glory. He has been glorified and given the spotlight because of His work in me, and if that doesn't build your confidence, I don't know what will.

To God be the glory, great things He has done. I am looking forward to the next few months, and watching His work unfold.

Hunches Hitting Close to Home

Two posts ago, I referenced a post I did last fall about public school teachers that sexually abuse kids. It has opened up a lively conversation and also shown that truly the problem is the animosity between agencies that allow offenders to continue to do this. Once that loophole is fixed, I think a huge difference will be made.

Anyway, I have been following this story for the last week or so. Click here. Basically a substitute teacher has been arrested for soliciting a teenager for sexual favors. The story hasn't gone any further than that, and the one time the teacher made a comment to the press he has been surprised and said, "This is all a misunderstanding." And I can understand that. I know there are some unscrupulous teenagers out there who would like nothing less than to get back at adults. We do need to allow the legal system to work and do it's investigations. In other words, I am not saying this guy is guilty yet.

I am saying this is the high school I graduated from. It hit a little close to home this time.

I had a virus, and not the kind you think!

I can't believe what a day I have had with my computer! Here is how it goes.....

We start out this morning taking the 15 year old cat to the vet for the update on the rabies shot. Yes, herding two kids and a hissy cat to the vet was interesting to say the least.

For the last several weeks, I have been at an absolute loss as to what to do for JM's birthday which is coming up very soon. We thought about doing a bowling alley but realized that was a bit out of our price range. In the past, we have done a very fun pizza parlor, but we have done that a couple of times plus he has outgrown that a bit.

As we are chatting in the car, I ask what he would think of a roller skating rink. Yahoo! All for it. I come home, do a search (who needs the yellow pages) for the roller skating rink I have in mind, make a call, voila. We are booked. It will be about the same price as what we have spent at the pizza parlor in year's past.

Now, we have to get hopping on invitations. Since JM doesn't have school this week because of conferences, I thought I might find some on the internet, personalize them, and start getting them out. It would be a nice project right? Project, yes. Fun for he and I? Ummm...no way.

With him standing next to me after doing a benign search like "skating invitations free", I find the google listing of several and click on one. Let me tell ya....it wasn't kids invitations that came up. It was pornography, pure and simple. I yelped and clicked something to make it go away. He's standing right next to me! It didn't go away. The popups began like lightning bolts. I suddenly have new icons in my start up menu. I have Explore, which I don't use, suddenly opening telling me I have spyware and I should use this site "puresafety.com" to download their spyware. I just didn't trust that at all. I have all kinds of panic going on.

No worries. We use McAfee, and I just need to go to their site and do a scan with their latest and greatest. The spyware won't let me go to their site. I do a search to get to their site, and I need to upgrade my virus stuff with them, but the spyware won't let me check out. I cried, I literally sat at my computer and cried.

Technical support! Three online chats with them gets something going. After two hours of hit and misses, I am finally doing an upgraded scan from DOS that they talked (typed) me through. I was advised to do the scan twice. It found three trojans! Each scan took at least an hour.

Reboot the computer, the nightmare is still there. Popups, puresafety.com is now my homepage, warnings, alarms, and more tears. I get back with tech support and they tell me to contact the "Virus Removal Team". Ghostbusters! Here we go!

You have to pay for this kind of support. Worst case, they hack into your computer remotely and pick the bugger out themselves, but that costs $60.00. I opted for the less expensive option first, that was talking to a person who walked me through it for $3.95 a minute and it took about ten minutes. After almost the whole day has been shot doing this, it was worth it.

Get this! She had me to go www.bleepingcomputer.com and walk me through one of their scans! I asked her if I had problems later, could I access this account without paying $3.95 a minute to talk to her. She said yes, so let me share the love! This is a site that McAfee uses to get rid of nasty spyware!

I feel suddenly very clean now. My computer is squeaking, it's so clean. and I think I just paid the most amount of money I will ever pay for birthday party invitations, and we haven't even gotten them yet. The Dollar Tree is on the list of places to hit tomorrow after this nightmare.

I am going to bed soon. I will sleep pretty well while new gray hairs pop out of my head.

More hunches...

I did a post last fall on a recent study done by the AP highlighting the amazing amount of sexual abuse that happens in public schools. I commented on how it felt like the Catholic church scandals that rocked the American Catholic church a few years ago. Click here for that post.

Article in one of our local media outlets did some research on what happens in my state. Click here for what is happening locally. Again, it sends chills up my spine. Not necessarily that is happens, but that these abusing teachers can get away with it. They are given a resignation agreement that gets them out of criminal consequences and allows them to teach elsewhere. It is sickening to me.

Robert Sperlik, in Illinois, is finally behind bars. Click here for his sick obsession.

I guess as I read about these things, I wonder....where are the parents?? Do school districts tell parents when an offense has happened? If they do, why aren't criminal charges being filed? If I got a call from my kid's school that a teacher may have committed something against my kid, I don't care how many people tell me to hush up...I won't. Why? Because I need to be an example to my kid that when criminal things happen, you follow the legal system, and you don't "let things go". I also think it has a healing effect on the victim, they don't remain a victim but are empowered against their offender.

But that won't happen, because my kid won't be in a classic classroom. However, I can't protect my kid from everyone and everything. I feel a huge obligation to my kids to protect their sexuality. Sometimes I think I am the only one when I read articles like this, and I read about commissions who feel an obligation to give offending teachers their licenses and jobs back. I feel like this when I read articles like this and see very few references to criminal charges. As well as little reference to the parent's input--I would love to know how all of these parents and families feel about this kind of thing, because I think they deserve a voice.

Say good bye to winter!

A friend sent me this a few years ago. Why do I like it? Because I can relate! We haven't had snow in our part of the city but at the end of January a few weeks ago, I was driving in it like crazy traveling for my job.

But we had a very sunny day today and suddenly it's not dark at 4:30 pm anymore. You can feel the winter doldrums lifting and spring is right around the corner. In honor of saying good bye to winter, press play above.

I have no idea what the language is in the final part, but the universal language of coffee is being spoken and that is the other reason I like this funny commercial.

Candles to anyone who can read the byline at the end.

While the Cat is Away, the Mice are at Play

Have you ever wondered what happens when the babysitter is with your kids? I have never been paranoid and gotten a web cam or anything like that, but I have wondered.

Wonder no more! Just leave the digital camera laying around, and this is what you will find. Think about this picture for a moment...

JM is doing the rabbit ears thing he knows he's not supposed to do. And who is messin' with the camera? The two year old, BH.

And fun was had by all.

My Celebrity Soul Mate

Take the Quiz



Is David Beckham? I think he is chiseled like a Greek God...but other than that, ummm....I was secretly hoping for Josh Groban.

The next morning...

There she is, Miss Lizzie. After keeping an eye on all the ladies last night, one cool thing happened. I figured out how to tell the other two leghorns apart. So the one with the long comb (think red thing hanging off the top of her head) is Maisy. The one with the comb that stands straight up is Daisy. Maisy is definitely in charge and she is making sure Lizzie and Daisy know she is in charge--it's called pecking order.

Since our egg production will step up a bit soon, once everyone relaxes. Here is a recipe I just found that uses a lot of eggs, and sounds very yummy.

Click here for Alfredo Chicken Bake.

Eggs-ceptionally cool!

Let me welcome the newest member of our menagerie! JM wants to name her Lizzie.

Lizzie is a Black Australorp. She will lay brown eggs. In the sunshine her feathers will have a very black/blue hue and will seem translucent. That is very typical of this breed.

Let me tell you the adventure of getting Lizzie. It was a mess today!

I posted on craigslist I had a home for a hen. A woman emails me saying she is moving off her mountainous property, needs a home for her hen and rooster. I tell her I would take her hen, she can keep the rooster. We set it up today for her brother in law (BIL) to meet me there, up in the sticks, so he can hold down the aggressive rooster while I capture the hen. Roosters are aggressive, especially when protecting their ladies.

I drive a long ways to a very scenic and beautiful cabin on a mountain top. It is bliss! BIL meets me and tells me he needs to check the barn and start looking for them. In my mind, I am thinking, where is the coop? Or is it in the barn? Come to find out, the chickens are kept in a fairly open horse stall with little shelter. Chickens can easily flap out, and they do, I am told. I am told to look on the roofs of buildings and we'll find them. We search all over for them. Gone.

I start asking questions. What kind of wildlife is around here? Do you see coyotes or mountain lions? Yes. Do the chickens go to the roof to stay away from said wildlife? Yes. Also, I am told you generally can't go for more then five minutes without hearing the rooster crow. Well, thirty minutes has gone by, crickets--literally.

I tell the guy I have a bad feeling about this. Chickens can't easily defend themselves and they really need a covered and protected coop. He agrees with me and apologizes that I came so far. Promises me that when he finds her, he'll bring her to me. I tell him, I just have a feeling she is gone, but let me know.

I get home and have an email from the lady--we are all so shocked that we can't seem to find these chickens. What could be the problem? I am beyond amazed that they don't see the obvious--there are coyotes out there sleeping it off!

Sure enough, two hours later, I get another email. A caretaker has found "evidence". I am in a weird spot where I feel bad for this family because they have lost their pets in a most sad way. Yet on the other hand I want to put my index finger and my thumb in the shape of an L on my forehead and say, "What do you expect?" What a nightmare!

Anyway, another email from somebody else gave us Lizzie. They were even kind enough to bring her over tonight. After the travels I have had today, that was incredibly nice.

We put them in the covered coop and I closed the door and it sounded like a boxing match. Yep, there is some posturing and territorial lines being drawn right now. I hung out with them for awhile until the thumping calmed down. I think they will be fine. Lizzie is chilling out. My other two odd balls are chilling out too.

Red Letter Day

I would like to announce something very cool. Whoever logs onto my blog on a fairly regular basis (remember, I have an idea who is by the little site meter below) from Harrisburg, OR. You have won a great distinction today.

You are my 2,000th hit on my blog. Give yourself a big pat on the back. Feel free to post a comment and let us know who you are. I have no idea who you are except your ISP is based out of Harrisburg and Qwest is your ISP provider.

Congratulations! You have won nothing except my thanks. It's nice having folks who check in often, don't seem to weirded out by me, and seem to come back often.

I'll see who hits the 3,000 mark!

Chicken Season!

It's that time of year again!

It's chick season! If you have ever thought about owning chickens, here are some thoughts for you:

You don't have to live on farmland to own them. I live in the oldest part of a major city, and I had three, but now two, lovely ladies who give me nothing but fabulous eggs every day.

This is chick season. You can easily go to a farm or feed store and get itty bitty fuzzy chicks and raise them to chickens, and have eggs by summer time.

Chicks mature pretty fast. You just need a box, some bedding and a lamp while they mature.

Then you need a coop. You can see my full setup from the first picture. This will cost a bit. We hired a guy to do it. It's fence posts, chicken wire, then the covered hen box so they can have warmth and a place to lay eggs. That whole set up probably cost us about $300-$400 dollars.

Don't panic! Once that was done, we pay about $8.00 every three months for chicken feed. We pay about $16.00 twice a year for hay. Eggs are now approaching $3.00 a dozen. Our chickens have paid for themselves just in egg production alone. We have had them for five plus years now.

Plus, their manure is better than any fertilizer I have seen. You don't just want to throw it in your garden. You want to put it in your compost pile first and let it break down. But that is what we do all winter long, and when spring comes, we have great compost for the garden.

What if you aren't in the mood for raising chicks? The three ladies that are pictured above are no longer with us. The black and white one was the last to go this last weekend. They are in chicken heaven. But I do not want to raise chicks, I have enough on my plate. So just today, I checked craigslist, and someone is moving and has a chicken she is willing to give me. We just need to connect this week. It will look exactly like the black and white one pictured above.

People are always giving away roosters on craigslist. Why? Because you can't have them in the city. In my city, I can have three hens without a permit. No questions asked. I also check my feed store, sometimes they are selling pullets, which are teenage hens. Perfect!

Safety! I just had a friend tell me her neighbor, who had chickens, burned down the back of her house. How in the world? During the winter, you need to keep a light bulb in your enclosed hen box for warmth. Chickens don't take bone chilling cold well. You only need about a forty watt bulb secured to the inside. This person took another step. They put a 60+ watt on one of the metal dome warming things. It looks like a silver cone with a light bulb in the center.

My seventh grade science comes back to me quickly. That will get hot--quick! That silver doo hicky magnifies heat fast. And in a hen box, you have lots of combustibles. Hay and feathers. Sadly, some pretty major house damage. Luckily no one was hurt except the chickens perished. Just a low watt light bulb secured to the inside lid of the coop, nothing else.

I also love that my kids get to take responsibility for some more of our pets. They help feed them, gather the eggs, and scoop poop after the rain goes away.

I have friends who specifically ask me, "Do you have some extra eggs?" Once you have had homegrown eggs, store bought ones seem awfully bland.

One question I get a lot, how many eggs do you get? Generally, an egg a day from each hen. Not so much in the winter. But in the summer, we get overrun with eggs, and start making quiche a lot and giving them away. I also make a yummy lemon curd and can it for gift giving at holiday time.

One last thing, chickens are the fastest growing household pet in terms of popularity. I have my little ladies, and I have several neighbors who have them as well. So you might think I am little crazy, but I like to think I am being trendy.

I'll keep you updated when our newest hen arrives in the coop.

An Ending to a Great Day

End to a nice weekend! "Pride and Prejudice", the 1995 BBC version with Colin Firth is on Masterpiece Theatre. Sigh.....my day is complete.

Even at my age....

Even at my age, I have firsts! I enjoy my kid's firsts. First day of school, first time riding a bike, first trip to the zoo, etc. We document those and take pictures and we enjoy them!

I got a "first" of my own yesterday, and I haven't had one of those in a long time. It was even documented and pictures were taken.

I got a speeding ticket by radar/hidden camera in the mail yesterday. I was a rebel. I was going a blazing 31 in a 20 speed zone. I wondered what that flash of light was on Monday.

The police traffic division was so kind to take a picture of me driving, sending the picture to me, and also letting me know that for this great documentation of my "first time getting a speeding ticket" it will cost me $145.00.

Firsts at this age ain't so grand.

Emmett Louis Till

If you haven't heard of Emmett Louis Till, well let me tell you what I have learned. He was the catalyst to the civil rights movement. I should say it differently, his murder/lynching in 1955 at the age of fourteen was.

What the heck is this about AM? Well, this is Black History month, and I am absorbing what I can. Why? Because my kids are black. Simple enough. They need to know who Emmett Till was and what happened to him. Maybe not at this moment, but sometime in their lives I need to be able to explain to them who this young man was.

I finally saw the riveting documentary tonight. "The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till". Please put it on your Netflix list. I have been wanting to watch it a long time and had the time tonight. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It is not gratuitous in what is shown. It is eyewitness accounts with photographs to tell the story. The only picture I warn you about, the picture of Emmett's body post mortem. Please know he was beaten, tortured and shot. It is not pretty at all. He was 14.

I won't completely rehash the story. He was a young boy, born in Chicago, visiting relatives in Mississippi. He didn't know he needed to mind his p's and q's in Mississippi. I didn't know that in 1955 in Mississippi a black person could not even speak to a white person. You nodded or shook your head. I didn't know that when purchasing an item, black people could not even touch the hand of a white person, which was an issue if giving or receiving change. Guess what happened when prankster Emmett whistled at a young woman? He could do that in Chicago, he didn't realize he couldn't do that in Mississippi. He lost his life.

I give my hats off and honor to Emmett Till's mother. Her son's body was almost buried in Mississippi when she called that off. She spent a lot of money bringing her son's body back to Chicago only to discover she couldn't get the casket open. Wonder why those folks in Mississippi wouldn't let the casket be opened? She almost took a hammer to it until her funeral director defied his orders and said he would get it open for her. Well it is horrifying. She also insisted on having an open casket funeral. Insisted on it. Good for her. She insisted that this not be brushed away. If you see the post mortem picture, she obviously and painfully was making a statement. Her son's death/murder would not go unnoticed. That took a lot of guts. I can't imagine walking by that casket, which most of the black community did at the time, and seeing his battered body up close. The black and white picture alone was enough for me.

What is amazing to me in this documentary--there is a family member of Emmett Till's that still to this day insisted on her face being shadowed so you couldn't see her. The producer gave the simple explanation "she still resides in Mississippi". Amazing.

I also hadn't realized what a pivotal role Medgar Evars played in the efforts to prosecute the murderers, which was a farce of a trial. Medgar Evars was murdered a few years after this trial. That will be another post someday.

Great historical documentary. I recommend it highly. I'll let you know what else I come across this month.

Who Needs Insomnia?

Again, I love February! I fell asleep watching PBS last night, and I am so bummed I missed so much! Black History month has been fun to celebrate and enjoy through PBS this month so far.

Please watch your local stations for the incredible series called "African American Lives 2". Click here for details. Just click "play" on the little clip, and you will get a very good overview of the series. Very simply, it is genealogy. The narrator has chosen a few prominent African American celebrities and traced their roots, and found some incredible things. For instance, Don Cheadle's family was owned by Chickasaw Indians in Oklahoma! When the Emancipation Proclamation was declared, the Indians were sovereign and didn't have to comply to that order, and didn't. His family remained slaves in a no-man's-land kind of situation for 30 more years. Amazing!

Morgan Freeman. His last name comes from the Emancipation Proclamation. Many freed slaves changed their names to reflect a new identity, and Freeman was his ancestors chosen name. Also, his great great grandmother was in an interracial "marriage" that was never sanctioned by anybody. But from looking closely, it is obvious this woman and her man loved each other and lived together for 35 years, and were buried next to each other. Her last name on the tombstone is his last name. It was touching to see.

Chris Rock showed his tender side when he was told his great great grandfather enlisted as a soldier in the black army to fight for the freedom of slaves. When the war was over and reconstruction was the big hope of the south, he became a state senator! Once reconstruction came to an end, he was destitute. It is amazing history.

I totally recommend this series. Mainly, it is so interesting, yet not with an angry tone or an ax to grind. It is an appreciation of the history of African Americans, where they came from, how they worked hard for the future, and had hope for the future.

After that was over, then came the documentary on William Wilberforce, the Briton who was a staunch abolitionist, and fought hard for the rights of slaves. This show is not for youngsters-- there is nothing gratuitous but certainly recounted stories of slave abuse that might be too much for kids. What is so cool, he was a staunch Christian as well. The statement that rang in my ears the best before I fell asleep was, "Here is a man of faith, who used that to make social change."

Amen.

I am sure all this month, these two shows will be repeated. I know the "African American Lives 2" is on at three in the morning in a few days. Please tivo it. It is amazing.

I will be purchasing soon the DVD set of "African American Lives" that first aired in 2006 as well as this one. It is so interesting, and something I can share with the kids. This series is absolutely appropriate for children, and would be a great history lesson this month.

The future comes at you fast....

Who is that little girl in the ribbons? That is me at about three years old.

I am turning 40 this year. A friend asked me at my last birthday, "Are you 40 yet?" I told her, "Get behind me, Satan!"

Anyway, all kinds of things these days are reminding me that the past and the future change hands very quickly.

Not too many years after this photo was taken, I was six years old and I went to my first summer camp overnight for three days. I remember that experience like it was yesterday. Why? Because I still suffer from post traumatic stress from it.

What happened? One of the first days, I fell off of the top bunk of a bunk bed head first. I remember watching the bunk move away from me as I fell. Next I remember being comforted by someone. This was in the 70's folks, when there was no such thing as liability and litigation and settlements. I should have been taken to the ER immediately if only because I lost consciousness. Nope. I got to lay in bed, where I promptly threw up in my sleeping bag that would be where I slept for the next three nights. Medical folks out there, if someone throws up after a head injury, that is a serious thing. Still didn't go to the ER. I got some Pepto Bismol. From the symptoms I had, I can guarantee you I had a pretty nasty concussion and should have been in the hospital.

I also remember wanting my parents so badly because I hurt so much and feeling incredibly alone and vulnerable after that fall. I just wanted my parents.

But what sleep did I get in those three days? None at night. Why? Because there was a cemetary right down the dirt road from this camp (which was not a Christian camp by the way) and there was the ghost story. There was only one. It was about a ghost names Chaz McGee. He was green and headless. He scared campers a lot by whooshing through the camp at night. Some times older campers who thought they were smart would sneak out to the cemetary at night and see him hovering about his tombstone. What is even worse--one of our nature hikes went past the cemetary and we looked at the actual tombstone. It was all beat up and you could barely read the words on it.

Stop here. I was six! I was terrified to even leave the room to brush my teeth! Then when lights out came, I just laid in my stinky sleeping bag and froze wondering if every little thing I saw was Chaz McGee. Between the head injury and the very obvious ghost running around, it was the worst three days of my life! I just wanted to go home so badly.

Honestly, I don't remember one activity we did on that camping trip, except for the walk through the cemetary. I don't remember crafts, songs, dining halls, walks, friends, etc. Nothing.

I remember when my parents came to get me feeling a huge sense of relief. I never wanted to go back. I think back now to when we drove away, and remembering these suddenly mature feelings of relief and freedom from that place.

Why am I hashing this out now? Because JM is going to be seven next month--he has been invited to go to a three day came this summer through our church. It will be his first camp experience. It is really weird thinking about his first camping experience and wondering what it will be like--suddenly, I keep thinking back to my first camping experience. He will go despite the fact that I am somewhat weirded out by this. But suddenly my past just became the future.

Things that are different now than they were in *gulp* 1974.
1) I will sign a medical waiver form. Those were not required back then, and we can now see why they are now.
2) This is a Christian camp. If I hear one ioda of a ghost story going around, the plug on this whole adventure gets pulled.
3) I grew up. And my head injury seems to have healed--no giggling from the hecklers out there.

Just for the sake of closure for the reader. My parents didn't know until years later how bad my fall was. Since I was only six, I didn't realize until years later how bad that fall was. They were called and told I fell, nothing else. They didn't think they needed to come, but realized they were told a very watered down version of the truth. They were not too happy to hear my side of that story years later. It would appear I seem to have recovered well, but the jury is still out on that.

Also, remember my parents are not Christians. Especially my dad has a very utilitarian view on ghost stories. They are effective in keeping kids in their beds at night and not wandering around camp. I understand that, but I don't agree with it at all. I didn't sleep for three days at camp. I was only six. I certainly don't think that terrifying fear is a good way of controlling kids.

Lord, thank you that we are not destined to relive the past. Most things are better left in the past. Thank you for giving us memories of them, if only so that we aren't destined to repeat the past.

I'll let you know what happens this summer for JM's first camp experience.

Post Super Bowl Bullets

First. let's just start with my favorite ad. It was a hard choice this year. But as always, Bud Light seems to have the creative genius.



Second, how awesome it was to watch Peyton from the stands cheer on his brother. As Eli stood accepting his award, Peyton is just watching him with the eyes of an adoring brother. I think it is very cool that two brothers have won consecutive Super Bowls. And also too, Peyton could have easily gone to the field and hugged his brother, but didn't. This was Eli's moment and Peyton wanted it to be Eli's moment.

I do not like the Patriots. For all kinds of reasons. They were caught cheating this year. Their media campaign has tried to make Randy Moss look like a saint, and most of us can remember when he played for the Vikings and was a mean player. I also don't like Tom Brady on a more personal level. He is a "player" in a bad boy kind of way, and I have never liked players.

I have a new reason to not like them. Here is how the last second of the game went. There was one second on the clock, and Bill Belichick runs on the field, half congratulates someone from the Giants and runs like a rabbit to the locker room. It takes fifteen minutes to get the field cleared because it is NFL regulation that all time is played. Bill was not on the field in the final time of regulation play. He was being a sore loser. I think Bill in his millions of years of experience coaching knows that rule and knew he needed to stay, but left anyway.

Traditionally, there is quite a long time of the two teams shaking hands, giving hugs, congratulating, etc. The coaches congratulate not only each other but the other teams and their staff. Nope. Did you notice the ceremony started pretty quick? The Pats were gone, lead by Bill Belichick.

Why is this a big deal? If you have watched the Pats much this last season, on more than one occasion the Patriots have driven up a score against a mismatched opponent and really rubbed a loss in their face. Those opposing teams have had to sit on the sidelines and eat it. That is poor form and really shows a lack of class on the coach's part.

Bottom line, Bill Belichick is very good at winning football games--to the point that he is willing to rub it in. He needs to get good at losing. It was absolutely poor form he showed yesterday, and it really highlighted what a sore loser he is.

My hats off the to Giants. They stuck in there, and kept going even when I had given up. In the last two minutes, when they had 80+ yards to go, and they hadn't done anything in the red zone yet, and the Patriots don't let any team get much done in the red zone--I had given up.

I honestly think that was one of the best Super Bowl's in recent history, and it was hard fought and hard won.

I hope the Manning family is having a good breakfast today. They have much to be proud of. Also congratulations to New York.

Worthy of Repeat--How to Make a Great Bowl

Please click here for one of my past posts.

This is the best chili ever. It is now a Super Bowl Sunday must for our family.

Today is not as we had planned it. We were going to go to church, then hang out this afternoon and hope the Giants win. We would also go to church with this yummy recipe simmering away in the crock pot.

Not so. My two year old has the ickiest nose and is sick. He also has the shortest fuse on the planet right now. For those two reasons, he is not going to church. My husband decided to join me in this sick day and stay home from church.

That helps me on the temporal earth, although God may not think it's so hot.

I am off to the grocery store to pick up some supplies I need for this recipe. I was hoping to do that yesterday. I packed in a week's worth of candle parties in one day. I don't do this often, but I did three parties in one day. I was hoping to have a chance to stop at a grocery store in between parties. Not so! I was driving in snow for most of the day and needed the extra travel time. I came home, answered a few emails, and fell into bed. I woke up to my two year old giving me a snotty kiss in bed.

I just found out the game doesn't start until 3 pm our time, so this chili will be simmering by 1 pm, and ready to eat at half time. I think I am good on that.

What is the point of all of this?? This is the craziest best chili ever! My husband wants me to enter it into a chili cook off. Yep, I'll be sure to do that in my copious free time--make meals for someone else when I can barely do it for my family. Make time in your week sometime this week to make it. It is so good. When it says to simmer it for a few hours, just put it in your crock pot on low for about 4 hours or 2 hours on high.

Also check the comments on that recipe too. F's husband, J, recommends adding about six times the amount of bacon. I don't recommend that because we are not having any heart attacks on Super Bowl Sunday!

Black History Month

I always get this confused! I need to get over it. Here is where I get confused, Martin Luther King Jr. Day is in January. President's Day is in February. Yet, Black History Month is in February. I got it now!

Anyway, as a mom of African American (AA) children, I am always looking out for these things. I have an obligation to my kids to bring their culture to them. I knew that was the case the moment I held them in my arms. It wouldn't be fair to ask them to know everything about white culture just because I am white. It would also cripple them as AA adult living and moving in our world. I also think it has made me a better person in general to think through the eyes of my kids. Plus both of our kids have some biological family history in southern states--in other words, they have a high probability of having slave ancestry. I want/need for them to know their history in a positive, not angry, look to the future, kind of way.

So, this time of year seems to be when all the stops come out and all kinds of great resources are available. I love it! I am always looking for great movies, stories, books, authors, role models, that I can put in front of my kids. I also appreciate that it seems like professional sports are cleaning house. For awhile in our city, the local NBA team had AA team members on the news almost weekly standing before a judge on any kind of charge. I can honestly say, that hasn't happened in a long time at least locally.

So here is what I found I thought I would share with you.

**Connections Academy just listed on their website an exhaustive list of respected authors for kids of all ages, into college years. Also, they are holding "read ins" in different locations nationally. Here is the link for read ins. The reading list is here. I got an invitation email for the read ins just today, and they sound great for kids.

**I am also pretty impressed with the History Channel's list of basic resources. Click here for those.

**I just found this incredibly exhaustive website for teachers (or homeschool moms, take your pick) that has a lot of printables. I am impressed by the music, games, coloring sheets, history, books, etc that are listed. This site alone will keep me busy for awhile. Click here.

**Also, there are books on my sidebar that I want to highlight. "Cry the Beloved Country" is a must for any teenager or above. It has some pretty intense moments that make it PG-13. It is a fictional story based in South Africa. It has an absolutely wonderful story of redemption in the end. It also highlights the tragic history of South Africa that we are still living today.

**Another book I recommend that isn't on the sidebar, although the illustration to the left is from this book. "Twelve Years a Slave" by Solomon Northrup. It is the true slave narrative of Solomon as told by him, and he is amazingly eloquent. Click here for a very brief summary of the story. He was a free man living in New York state. He was kidnapped, beaten and sold into slavery in Louisiana, one of the worst states in terms of slave abuse. It is an absolute miracle he was rescued. When you read the part where his family comes to the farm he is working at, and he recognizes them as his rescuers, his heart wrenching drop to his knees, raising his arms to Jesus in pure joy and thanks. It is a miracle. It is a true story, and I totally recommend it to everyone. It has some intense spots, so maybe 8-10 years or older would be appropriate for reading.

One sad thing about Solomon. He only lived a few years after being rescued. Being a slave took a toll on him physically, and he speaks to that. What I think is a shame, he died the same year that Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing all slaves. I am sure Solomon would have tried to contact those that were left behind when he was rescued. He had significant relationships with them and was very concerned for them when he left.

**I also recommend movies like "Glory Road", "Remember the Titans", or even "Radio". All of them are truth based stories about AA athletes during the civil rights movement. All of them are positive and would be appropriate for kids about eight and older. All of them make me cry.

**Update 2/4/2008. Let me add one more movie to the list. I just watched it today. "Antwone Fischer" starring Derek Luke and Denzel--all movies are better with Denzel in them. But this is definitely an adult movie. It is the true story of Antwone Fischer and his survival as a kid in the hood, being abused by foster parents, finding his family, and "beating everyone who beat him". Some very adult discussions (ie children being molested, drug abuse, murder, etc.) although nothing gratuitous. It will make you cry. If you can get the DVD there are some great interviews with the real Antwone. What a great story of redemption and survival.


I know this isn't something all of do with such focus. However, it's nice to have the resources and to share this with others.