Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Packing, Moving, Painting, Cleaning....


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Sorry I haven't been able to keep up on this daily blog. I have not been wasting a precious minute though. I am still packing, moving, painting, cleaning. Yesterday I learned it was Robert Crumb's birthday. This is one of his most popular comic illustrations. My all time favorite Crumb series is A Short History Of America, which I have blogged in the past. Click on the link and see a YouTube version of this wonderful series. Happy (Belated) Birthday Robert Crumb.

Monday, August 30, 2010

Rosemary And Sage Painting By Bonie Bolen


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I am lucky to be sharing a painting by Bonie Bolen. I bartered with Bonie last summer for this painting to give as a Christmas gift for my partner. The two featured plants in this painting are Rosemary and Sage.

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Cat Farm


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As I am moving this week I am seeing a lot of cativity (cat activity) around my residence. The person who lived in my place before me apparently had cats all over the place...even locked in cages in the basement. Of course she left some behind when she moved. This is not a picture from my new place. I haven't had time to snap any photos as I am packing, moving, and painting. This is a picture of a cat rescue farm called Caboodle Ranch
I have only seen 5 stray cats so far. They are coming out of the woods, and I suspect that some of my neighbors are feeding them off and on. I know I can not take on the responsibility of these sweet cats. Perhaps some of my readership is ready to give some lucky cat a nice new home. I will try to snap some pictures of the cats who seem to live in my yard. Contact me. I am flying by the seat of my pants.

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Blogging On The Run


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I spent the first night in my new place last night. At 3:AM I was awakened by gunshots. But the new feeder with the sunflowers is a great success!

Friday, August 27, 2010

Lawn Gnome Theft


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I was disheartened yesterday morning to see that my little lawn gnome had been stolen from in front of my new house. Looks like I am going to have to be more vigilant. My lawn gnome didn't look like the one in this picture. This is what my next lawn ornament is gonna look like.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Globe Bulbs From Walmart


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I got this email this morning from my Aunt Brenda. I don't buy anything from Walmart but I know lots of people who still do in spite of the poor quality and sometimes dangerous items sold there.
Safety Message - CFL Bulbs
Above is a picture of a CFL light bulb from my bathroom. I turned it on the other day and then smelled smoke after a few minutes. Four inch flames were spewing out of the side of the ballast like a blow torch! I immediately turned off the lights. But I'm sure it would have caused a fire if I was not right there. Imagine if the kids had left the lights on as usual when they were not in the room.
I took the bulb to the Fire Department to report the incident. The Fireman
wasn't at all surprised and said that it was not an uncommon occurrence. Apparently, sometimes when the bulb burns out there is a chance that the ballast can start a fire. He told me that the Fire Marshall had issued reports about the dangers of these bulbs.

Upon doing some Internet research, it seems that bulbs made by “Globe” in China seem to have the lion’s share of problems. Lots of fires have been blamed on misuse of CFL bulbs, like using them in recessed lighting, pot lights, dimmers or in track lighting. Mine was installed in a normal light socket.

I bought these at Wal-Mart. I will be removing all the Globe bulbs from my house. CFL bulbs are a great energy saver but make sure you buy a name brand like Sylvania, Phillips or GE and not the ones from China.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Summer Garden That Keeps On Giving


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This gorgeous Sunflower is in our urban garden this summer. When it goes to seed it will feed the birds which keeps our cats in our yard and off the street. Our cats used to cross the busy street to stalk birds at our neighbors bird feeder. So we started hanging bird feeders throughout the yard as well as bird baths to lure them into our yard. Our cats very seldom leave our yard now that there is so many birds dining out and hanging out here.

My partner got several gallon containers of Sunflower seeds at an auction last week. I procured a couple of those. I am going to use two of those containers of seeds at my new place to feed the birds along the fence line between my property line and the neighbors. The woman who lived in the house before me had several cats that she didn't take with her when she moved. They are living in the woods across the street and eating scraps out of garbage and Lord only knows what else. They are not starving by any means because someone is feeding them now and then. I am hoping I can draw in some bird life to feed the stray cats occasionally by starting with just one bird feeder and Sunflower seeds. The birds will drop some of the seeds and I will have beautiful Sunflowers along the fence line next year at this time. Permaculture is a wonderful thing.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Don't Be Stupid!


Blogroll Me!Obviously this is not as gender specific as it sounds. Significant other can be substituted for wife. I think the advice is sound. This writing is a submission from a non-fiction contest This came from
The Survivalist Blog Dot Net

Survivalism And Your Significant Other

Non-Fiction Writing Contest Submission by BGNoyce

Looking at various survival blogs and forums I’ve seen the question many times similar to, “my wife is resistant to the ideas of preparation and survivalism. How can I get her on board?” The advice usually consists of, “leave her, she’s stupid. I hope she gets eaten by zombies!”

Chances are, if your asking this question though, it is you who are coming to a new perspective, and it’s probably not fair to expect your significant other to completely change over night or to even do anything more than to eventually accept and respect that this is something important to you.

Here is some advice on how to, if not bring your significant other on board, at least allow them to not be threatened by your new perspective.


1. Don’t be a crazy person. Yes, it is very clear to you that the latest news report about cute zoo panda’s failure to copulate is a sign of the coming end times, but your significant other may think it’s just a cute story.

Seriously though, don’t put everything you read and see into the context of the end of times, even if it really is ominous signs. Your preparing for an uncertain future, the second you start to claim foreknowledge your family starts to worry, especially with all those guns.

2. Don’t be a gun nut. Or at least don’t appear to be a gun nut. Personally, I can’t imagine not having a fully loaded AK in the closet, but if you and your spouse have never had a gun in the house, and suddenly you come home with an assault rifle 3 pistols and 10,000 rounds of ammunition, it might make them a bit uncomfortable.

If your wife is concerned about having a firearm in the house, its important for her to understand this isn’t a knee jerk reaction. Take some NRA classes before you even buy a gun, many basic gun courses provide the firearms, and some ranges rent firearms for use on the range. Do this even if you have previous experience with guns.

Show her you’re going to be responsible, and that you understand the real risks involved. When you get the gun, don’t spend the extra money on a laser and custom grips and high performance special forces trigger job, spend some money on some good safety gear, such as a lockbox for your pistol.

As a husband I feel my family’s safety is my moral responsibility. I feel it is not just my right to own a gun but my responsibility. But you should understand, that, you didn’t have one before, so she is going to be a little unsure of why you feel you need one now.

The media tells her constantly that guns are the reason bad things happen. Eventually you may need to just bring a gun home, but do everything first to help her understand that you are going to be a responsible gun owner, and that the gun has nothing to do with your ego.

3. Start small. Most people can see the logic of a couple of cases of water in the closet. An evacuation bag in case of an emergency is also a pretty easy sell. The truth is, not having an emergency kit in the car actually borders on neurotic behavior.

How many people die in their cars just barely outside of civilization because they don’t have a simple survival kit in the car, or even some water in the trunk? AAA wont do you any good if your cell phone is down or you forgot it.

4. Use your stuff sometimes. A lot of survival doctrine states never to use your supplies until your rotating them out, there is good logic to this, but I would encourage you to sometimes allow an early rotation of an item if your significant other needs it.

When they need something and you say, oh, hold on I have one in the evacuation bag, it may help change their attitude about preparations on an all most subconscious level. Also, using your stuff helps you realize where flaws might be.

5. Don’t be a bummer. Try and laugh at yourself. If your significant other is teasing you about your survivalism, they may be starting to feel comfortable with it as an aspect of you. If you respond by slamming your fist on the table and yelling, “you wont be laughing when the big one comes!” it may be counter productive.

6. Don’t spend all the money. If money is tight, especially, be frugal with your preps. Try to find inexpensive solutions, find ways to re-purpose things you already have, look for used items at yard sales and whatnot. Don’t say, “I didn’t pay the cable bill because I found a great deal of freeze-dried chocolate bars.

You should be reading survival manuals instead of watching tv anyway.” Don’t get too worked up thinking that it’s happening tomorrow. We all feel like that sometimes, and while it’s true, that it might all come crashing down tomorrow, it probably wont. Keep working on your preps, as your resources allow, steadily working survivalism into your life.

7. Look for survival related hobbies. Let’s face it, sitting around thinking about how you can eek out a horrible existence in a post apocalyptic world may not sound as fun to your wife as it does to you. The good news is, many of the aspects of survivalism may be interesting to your significant other if removed from the context of preparing for a dark and depressing future.

Activities like camping, and hiking are very appealing to many people, and you don’t have to turn it into a simulated melt-down to get some good training out of it. A big family camp-out can be great for testing out gear, organizing, figuring out how much water you use, what camping food and recipes family members enjoy, and extra items that should be included for family members in emergency bags.

It is also a great opportunity to justify some extra survival gear, because it will be camping gear. Even if your family doesn’t ever begin to accept the possibility of a major collapse, if it does happen, your family will be more equipped psychologically for roughing it if you’ve spent a lot of time camping.

If you always keep your camping equipment ready to go you have the basis of a survival kit. Even a day hike helps you learn to organize bags, and answers some questions about how much family members are comfortable carrying, how far and fast are they comfortable walking and whatnot.

If you can get your wife into a hobby with you like gardening, shooting, or gold hoarding, they may begin to become interested in your particular survivalist slant on the subject.

With regards to getting your significant others and families involved in survivalism many people may suggest that you should just lay down the law, like Noah did, “we’re building an ark and that’s final. Now bake me up some flat bread or whatever”.

Sometimes you may need to put your foot down, but over all most of us will probably not have much luck running our families old testament style. Respect your loved ones concerns and they will most likely learn to respect your preps.

Have other suggestions – please share in the comments below.

Monday, August 23, 2010

Pain


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Moving is a lot of hard work. I am in pain at night these days and am finding that it is most difficult to get up and down stairs. Thankfully once this move is finished I will be able to manage the amount of time I have to spend in the middle of the night trying to get from the bedroom to the bathroom to bed again. There doesn't seem to be anything my doctor can do for my arthritis. His best solution for me is to order x rays every time I visit him. I would love to see health care reform in this country. I would love to have a real doctor that would help me address my pain issues. Sadly, I fear that our medical system has been and continues to be a financial bubble. I know it must be inaccessible to me, otherwise something could be done to keep me out of a wheelchair! Too many folks out there that end up losing their homes and jobs because medical care is so expensive that whole life savings and property's have to be put on the market to care for a loved one! Democrats do not want to have to leave their kids inheritance to the medical system. I am not sure what's up with the Republicans. Maybe they just haven't had enough pain!

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Black Swan Tile


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Here is my favorite housewarming gift. The Black Swan has a subliminal significance. It will be strategically placed above my sink so I can contemplate and meditate upon the meaning.

Friday, August 20, 2010

Where Is Away?

Blogroll Me!Three Appliances I won't be having in my new house. My new landlord who is a friend of mine of about 20 years asked me if I wanted a garbage disposal, and a dishwasher. It was nice of her to ask and I love that I have saved her some money on remodeling by rejecting two of the 2oth century luxury items that would not operate without the benefit of electricity should the power grid go down (God Forbid).

According to The Sierra Club Garbage disposals seem like the ultimate convenience–drop your banana peels, pizza crusts, and other leftovers down the drain, turn on the tap, flip a switch, and away they go. Problem is, when it comes to waste, whether it’s food or anything else, there is no away. Any “waste” that can’t be put back to use–either through reuse, recycling, or composting–becomes pollution that’s expensive to deal with and takes its toll on the environment.

Garbage disposals do keep food scraps out of landfills. That’s important because when materials like food, paper, or plant waste decompose in landfills, they produce methane, a greenhouse gas that is 23 times more potent than CO2. But garbage disposals don’t really solve the waste problem; they shift it to wastewater treatment systems instead. Food waste in wastewater increases levels of nutrients like nitrogen, which are great when added to the soil but harmful in our waterways. To deal with excess nutrients, municipal water utilities have to add expensive systems to their treatment plants.

Moreover, it takes resources for your disposal to send your food scraps on that unnecessary journey. It doesn’t require much energy, but in a year’s time you’ll be sending more than 900 gallons of water down the drain. “Waste,” as green architect William McDonough likes to say, “is basically stupid.” The greenest way to deal with food scraps is to compost them and nourish plants with the nutrient-rich results.

It is harder to find literature that supports my determination to live without a dish washer. I believe I am faster, more efficient, less wasteful than a dishwasher. I love washing my Fiesta dishes and I would miss this daily ritual. Once again if the power grid went down, the dishwasher wouldn't operate anyway and I think I can best use the space it would occupy for a cupboard of preps.

The third appliance I will be doing without at least for a little while is a vacuum cleaner. I requested no carpeting in my new home. She installed these beautiful wood floors that will be very easy to maintain. I am happy to be sweeping and mopping my space and not having to store and cart around this appliance that also is dependent on the power grid.

If I were to do without a 4th appliance it would be a clothes dryer. I am planning on putting up a clothes line and using it most of the time. The dryer will be used mostly in the winter and emergency occasions. As long as I am drumming semi professionally I will need to be able to put together my performance duds...sometimes on short notice. I am lucky to be able to be part of this decision making process. Thanks Nesley for asking me and letting me choose.



Thursday, August 19, 2010

Yard Work

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»The following overheard conversation between God and St. Francis has been circulating on the Web.

God: Francis, you know all about gardens and nature; what in the world is going on down there in the U.S.? What happened to the dandelions, violets, thistles and the stuff I started eons ago? I had a perfect no-maintenance garden plan. Those plants grow in any type of soil, withstand drought, and multiply with abandon. The nectar from the long-lasting blossoms attracts butterflies, honeybees, and flocks of songbirds. I expected to see a vast garden of color by now. All I see are patches of green.

St. Francis: It's the tribes that settled there, Lord. They are called the Suburbanites. They started calling your flowers "weeds" and went to great lengths to kill them and replace them with grass.

God: Grass? But it is so boring, it's not colorful. It doesn't attract butterflies, bees or birds, only grubs and sod worms. It's temperamental with temperatures. Do these Suburbanites really want grass growing there?

St. Francis: Apparently not, Lord. As soon as it has grown a little, they cut it....sometimes two times a week.

God: They cut it? Do they bale it like hay?

St. Francis: Not exactly, Lord. Most of them rake it up and put it in bags.

God: They bag it? Why? Is it a cash crop? Do they sell it?

St. Francis: No sir, just the opposite. They pay to throw it away.

God: Now let me get this straight...they fertilize it to make it grow and when it does grow, they cut it off and pay to throw it away?

St. Francis: Yes, sir.

God: These Suburbanites must be relieved in the summer when we cut back on the rain and turn up the heat. That surely slows the growth and saves them a lot of work.

St. Francis: You aren't going to believe this Lord, but when the grass stops growing so fast, they drag out hoses and pay more money to water it so they can continue to mow it and pay to get rid of it.

God: What nonsense! At least they kept some of the trees. That was a sheer stroke of genius, if I do say so myself. The trees grow leaves in the spring to provide beauty and shade in the summer. In the autumn they fall to the ground and form a natural blanket to keep the moisture in the soil and protect the trees and bushes. Plus, as they rot, the leaves become compost to enhance the soil. It's a natural circle of life.

St. Francis: You'd better sit down, Lord. As soon as the leaves fall, the Suburbanites rake them into great piles and pay to have them hauled away.

God: No way! What do they do to protect the shrubs and tree roots in the winter to keep the soil moist and loose?

St Francis: After throwing the leaves away, they go out and buy something called mulch. They haul it home and spread it around in place of the leaves.

God: And where do they get this mulch?

St. Francis: They cut down the trees and grind them up to make mulch.

God: Enough! I don't want to think about this anymore. Saint Catherine, you're in charge of the arts. What movie have you scheduled for us tonight?

St. Catherine: "Dumb and Dumber," Lord. It's a really stupid movie about....

God: Never mind--I think I just heard the whole story from Saint Francis!

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Coercive Games


Blogroll Me! Coercive Games:
The Art Of Non Violent Warfare...along the lines of guerrilla gardening and such. I am surprised I haven't found this web site till now.

COERCIVE GAMES

Here's a bit of fun thinking about combining protest, games, and open source movements into a potent coercive tool for non-violent protest (in a post-Gandhi world). It's just some ideas that may or may not be of interest.

Traditional non-violent protest is dead as a means of reversing bad organizational behavior. It's easily ignored/overlooked in a media saturated environment and the methods of controlling and marginalizing it have become widely practiced/tolerated (from "free speech zones" to non-lethal weapons to crowdsourced identification of protesters). Further, shame doesn't work anymore as a means of dissuasion. Given these impediments, the revival of protest means rethinking how it is used as a coercive tool. It means going beyond attrition (boycotts, physical damage, etc.) and moral suasion (signage, marches, etc.) and into the realm of systemic disruption. Here's one approach.

In most large traditional organizations, whether they be corporations or bureaucracies, decision making is dominated by a small number of very powerful people protected by a phalanx of senior specialists. They are not democracies. Yet, in modern western societies, this elite group and their specialists are able to dissociate themselves from jobs when it comes to their private lives. They live unencumbered within our impersonal society. This window of vulnerability creates a yawning opportunity for innovative forms of disruptive non-violent protest. One that pierces the organizational and societal veil of anonymity for these individuals by turning them into systempunkts (vulnerable nodes within the targeted organization's network that would cause the most damage if disrupted). Essentially, if you can successfully deter/coerce individual decision makers in this decision making group, you will win (and quickly).

Early work on this type of protest can be seen in the work of 4Chan's Anonymous and China's human flesh search engine. Both of these open source movements have shown to be surprisingly powerful at targeting single individuals (and poor at disrupting organizations). By using thousands of contributers, they are able to gather intelligence information on an individual (and their family). In short, learn everything about the target down to bank account numbers. This then enables the movement to target the individual and their family with:

  • Stalking and harassment. In the street, at a restaurant, or at school.
  • Identity theft. From financial to professional. Publication of private information.
  • Denial of communication. Flood phones, e-mail accounts, voice-mail, etc.

In short, any online group of sufficient size could launch an effort like this. However, to really zoom the effort and turn it into a coercive tool, one modification should be made. It should operate as an online game. Here's a potential template:

  • Experience points for accumulating information. Pics snapped with a cell phone camera. Points for financial account information. Etc. Experience points translate into basic improvements in status which improves the weight of a contributor's vote (on the next target, the quests to open, etc.).
  • Quests. Equivalent to counting coup on a tribal enemy. Draining the target's bank account. Gaining control of a voicemail system. Tagging the target with paint. Disabling the target's car. Quest achievement translates into special recognition (emblems, new tools, positions of leadership, etc.).
  • Competition. Contests between individuals or groups to complete a given task within an alloted time period. As in first to....

Think in terms of this game running as a darknet (not visible to anyone but invited players and only those that have deeply enmeshed themselves in the game).

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Name Calling


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I have been dying to post this cartoon since I found it. Chances are good that I might be able to move into my new place by Monday if things keep going as smoothly as they have been. For those of you who have offered to help. Hold on for a couple days. I will let you know. This is going to be a difficult move for me because of my physical limitations. It is gonna be one truck load at a time. I am in pain 24/7 and therefore I am slow.

Monday, August 16, 2010

Sweet Freedom


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My friend Bonie Bolen (previous blogs) sold her painting Sweet Freedom! This is a giant canvas that will look great anywhere. It is going to a lucky buyer in Pennsylvania. Congratulations Bonie. I sure do wish that painting was coming to my living room.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Field Furniture

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PhotobucketMy friend Lori found this site called field furniture.com. A really nice website dedicated to photography of stuff in and around fields. Here is a photo I took this spring that would go well on the site.

And here is the manifesto:

fieldfurniture.com is about noticing the things around us. The things that exist in the small gap between the advertising hording and the television set.

fieldfurniture.com wants to get back a freedom of choice, where we decide what is visually interesting and stimulating, rather than being fed the affected images of the advertising agencies.

fieldfurniture.com wants to increase the significance of some of the things we take for granted. The ancient and twisted, the rusted and held together with baler twine, discarded trappings of animal husbandry and agricultural that lay strewn across our fields, for instance.

fieldfurniture.com
aims to oil the wheels of sanity [ours] by keeping an eye out for interesting images, photographing them and adding a map reference so others may follow. Go out there and look.

fieldfurniture.com will entertain submissions from individuals [or groups of people - we’re not proud] [or groups of sheep, for the matter of that, we are ready to be amazed]. Full credit will be given, where credit is due. Images should be sized at 600 x 400 pixels, saved in .jpg format at around 100k and e-mailed to: submissions@fieldfurniture.com Please read our terms and conditions before pinging anything to us.

fieldfurniture.com is not limited to photography, we are happy to accept submissions in other media, written, drawn or whatever. Though please refrain from sending us any actual farm implements - the back cupboard is full already.
fieldfurniture.com reserve the right to ignore anything they feel should be ignored. [see our terms and conditions]

fieldfurniture.com is a not-for-profit organisation, funded jointly by Digital Therapy, and the McFugger Foundation for the Arts – just for the hell of it.

Remember: if it ain’t orange, it ain’t baler-twine
!

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Eartha Limited


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Columbus Restaurants are about to go greener. Maybe (crosses her fingers). Last week in The Other Paper was an article about a pending compost transportation business. Imagine utilizing trucks that run on restaurant grease that go around picking up paper, glass, plastic, and food scraps from all the local restaurants and taking these to a state of the art composting facility. Eartha Limited is the idea whos time has come. I am keeping my fingers crossed that SWACO will approve this new "green" business and start saving the earth by recycling the things restaurants usually have to pay to have hauled away. The two genius's that are starting this business are Mike Minnix and Elizabeth Lessner. Mr. Minnix has ties to The Ohio Foodbank and Ms Lessner is the owner of several successful Columbus restaurants. I don't see how such a business could fail unless the local recycling company (I like to call Rumplestiltskin) objects. I have observed local politics all my life and I know that even if an idea like compost transportation which should have been in place all along threatens an already existing fat cat business...well lets just say...I won't hold my breath till the powers that be do the right thing. Rumpkie Recycling does not pick up food scraps. They also don't run their trucks on recycled restaurant grease. Three cheers for Eartha Limited. You are doing the right thing!

Friday, August 13, 2010

Decorating With Maps


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I am preoccupied today with trying to figure out how to wall paper my bathroom with old road maps. My partner and I helped liquidate an estate of a woman who worked for AAA. As fate (and luck) would have it, I am moving into the very house she was born in! I think Betty would be pleased that I put her old road maps to this new use.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Buy American And Buy Ohio


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In the last few days both the White House and Ohio local Government have mentioned the subject of keeping jobs in the USA and keeping Jobs in Ohio. Come November this may become the hottest campaign issue on all legislative ballots in all the States. And it should be! This country doesn't manufacture anything to export, but continues to borrow money from countries that do. As author James Howard Kunstler has said "the only thing wrong with buying an $8 toaster is that you have to give up your job making toasters". A year ago this concept would have been dismissed as "protectionism". Now though with unemployment reaching new heights it is becoming painfully obvious that we don't have anything as collateral to continue borrowing money from other countries. We rarely hear the word protectionism these days. In the last week both President Obama and Ted Strickland have spoken about keeping the jobs here. There are thousands of websites on the internet dedicated to buying American made products. I commend them. There is not one website that has them all, and there are few and far between that cover our basic needs. These days I approach the whole buy America and buy Ohio made goods from a conservative angle. I buy what is and has already been here. I buy antiques. I replace my made in China crap with items that were made right here in the USA and have lasted and are outlasting the poisonous, non functioning junk that I was tricked into believing I needed in the first place. I buy from Ohio Thrift Stores which is a very subtle form of recycling. I am not going to buy something I think I need that is new while something already exists that folks are not paying attention to because it doesn't have bells and whistles and unsustainable packaging! I don't know how I was ever tricked into selling, throwing away, or giving up my old reliable antique widgets for the new shiny dysfunctional ones. I suspect I have been programed and guided by herd instinct. It makes me mad at myself. I have never been one to follow anyone else s off beat drum beat. The only consolation I have is that I wasn't tricked for long. When I get the idea that I need to buy something new, I stop myself and try to go the old road less traveled and look for something that was already made here and discarded for "The American Dream" which was a form of sleepwalking and hypnotism to keep me stupid. For those of you who have websites dedicated to buying America, I salute you. For those of you who are looking for Ohio made products, I commend your efforts. I think you are gonna find that when you cast your vote this November that more Democrats than Republicans are trying to keep the jobs here.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Scrappers


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Yesterday I arrived at my new residence only to find that the rented dumpster that my landlord obtained for the remodeling job was overflowing with cut up mattresses. Someone in a red pick up truck apparently decided to make some money scrapping and used our dumpster for the waste product that the scrap yard will not pay for. A nearby neighbor took photos of the offending truck. I have no idea what sort of fine or legal action might transpire.
This morning before sunrise I awoke to a metal stomping noise outside. It took me a minute to wake up and remember that a scrapper stomps his metal cans on the pavement in order to make his load more compact. He comes and does this about an hour before the trash compactor (equally noisy and annoying) comes and noisily dumps our ally dumpsters. It is really hard to get any quality sleep around here. I wake up angry and want to go outside and kick ass and take names. I want the man to know he is ruining my sleep. I want the trash trucks to do their business at a decent hour.
These scrap metal dumpster divers seem to have no regard for other peoples rights. I sure hope I don't have to have a daily relationship with the scrap yard to make ends meet. It is my understanding that we export our metal to China for recycling, rather than reuse the scrap metal here in the US. After catabolic collapse we won't have to mine our metals. Once it becomes too expensive to export our recyclables to China, our own scrap yards will be where the mining will be happening. Till then though it is hard to get any quality sleep in my neighborhood!

Monday, August 9, 2010

Doom Food


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I snagged this image from The Kustler Cast...a weekley blog from James Howard Kunstler who wrote the Geography Of Nowhere and The Long Emergency. I had heard last week that the inventor of the cheese doodle had died. James mentions the cheese doodle and the end of happy motoring quite often. The only thing better to portray these abominations would be to have taken their picture in a genuine Fiesta mixing bowl...which this isn't. We do Fiesta Sightings in our household. I was incorrect in this instance...this is a look alike bowl. I was right about Francis Strickland's Sunflower Disc Pitcher though!

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Anvil




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Last Saturday I attended an auction in Sunbury Ohio. One of the things I really wanted was this anvil. I was not going to be out bid. The auctioneer knew this and at one point he was looking me in the eye as I blinked and took a deep breath and nodded. The anvil was mine the minute I spotted it. Sometimes you get something because you want it more than anybody else does. This is now officially one of my birthday presents. I probably would not have bid so high if I had known the anvil was to be my birthday present! Thank you Lori.
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Saturday, August 7, 2010

State Fair Today


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I will be drumming at The Ohio State Fair today with Columbus Community Drummers. We play at the Showcase Pavillion 10:00 AM and again at 1:15 PM. I hope to see some of you there for the last day of the fair.

Friday, August 6, 2010

Drumming At The Fair

I will be drumming at the Ohio State Fair on Saturday August 7th at the Showplace Pavilion. 10:30 AM and again in the afternoon at 1:30 PM. The State Fair has it's roots in agriculture. See my link below for the history of The Ohio State Fair and come see us drum.

http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=529



Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Birthday Present No#1


Blogroll Me!One of my favorite Birthday Gifts this year is this camouflaged duct tape wallet to compliment my 5 1/2 year old black leather wallet that I got for Christmas from my partner. I get really attached to things. Rather than discard my old wallet, I will keep some money and loyalty cards in and the black one as a decoy with only a token amount of money inside. I will keep the bulk of my money hidden safely in my new camo wallet in an undisclosed location. FerFal (Surviving Argentina) describes having a decoy safe in your house with a second safe that has the important papers and the real loot.
There is a Duct Tape Festival in Avon Ohio that I am planning to attend next time around.

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Travels With Pirates


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Several weeks ago I was contacted by a woman named Susan McGowan who asked if I would give permission to use my photo of The Blue Danube mural that I previously blogged on July 9th 2009. It was nice of Susan to ask permission, but once a photo is put up on blogger I believe it becomes part of Google Images and anybody can use google images. At least for now, while the internet is still a free country! Still it is good etiquette to get permission, and if she would not have, I wouldn't have known about her blog Travels With Pirates. I couldn't imagine what my photo of the mural would be used for and I was delighted this morning to have the link to Susan's blog and my photo of The Blue Danube Mural to compliment her good writing. Thanks Susan for the photo credit. Travels With Pirates is a fun blog. I won't spoil the surprise for my readers by posting how Susan used my picture. You will have to click on the link Travels With Pirates and see for yourself!

Monday, August 2, 2010

Foxfire Series


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I am expecting the first of many Foxfire books in the mail this week. There was an eBay auction with a signed copy of the second Foxfire book. I thought it was curious that it was a buy it now, rather than see what the market would bring, so I did a search. It turns out that the original teacher (Wiggington) that sparked the Foxfire series was later to become a convicted pedophile, making his signature and participation in the project an embarrassment. He is mentioned in one place in the 40th Anniversary of Foxfire even though without him the project wouldn't have existed. Society has a right to condemn heinous actions such as pedophilia. However, in the instance of the Foxfire series, it was his students that took Wiggington's spark and built the fire that later became bigger than their collective souls put together.

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Me Facetious?


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Many times I have been accused of being facetious. It is one of those words that I sort of knew what it meant, but didn't until I looked it up in the dictionary. I realize that my sarcasm is not always as well received as I intend it to be. My friend Sally tells me that facetious is the only word in the English dictionary that uses all the vowels in their respective order. I wish I didn't memorize that kind of trivia...but I do!