Blessings Darlings!
I was reading my friend Daniel's blog this morning http://sayencrowolf.net/2011/09/rules-of-the-road/ . He really DOES post darn near anything. He CAN be edgy at times, typically because he addresses important issues.
Reading that got me to thinking about how so many people work so hard to control what kids can see online. And from there, on how my reading habits helped make me what I am today.
I was, shall we say, not the most popular kid growing up. Socially awkward. First to get boobs. I escaped into reading. Library books at first ... not just the kids section, too, I edged into the Grown Up Books. Then I got older, and started buying magazines at the drug store and grocery store check out. Yes, "Young Miss" was one of them, but I also read my parent's subscription to Time, and bought those little 25 cent booklets on astrology, psychic skills, etc.
High school, and I was more mobile, biking and taking public transportation where ever I wanted to go. I discovered a HUGE used bookstore in Evanston. More books on psychic stuff, into to Theosophy, etc. And I subscribed to Ms. and The Village Voice. TVV was perhaps on odd choice, since I lived in Chicago, but whatever. I totally would have lived reading stuff on the internet if I could have back in the day.
I'm sure that my reading choices we not ones that made my mother happy. She totally freaked at an article on masturbation in Ms. But she never tried to control what I read.
I took that same approach with my Spawn, who had the advantage of the the Internet. Okay, ONCE I didn't let him look up something online. He was in grade school, and was to write about an animal. He was assigned the beaver. I kind of figured that Google would give him a whole lot of results that would be about twats, not the animal. I had him use an encyclopedia.
In middle school, some of his friends got in trouble with their parents for trying to access porn online. If he was doing it at that age, I'm unaware of it - which means he was good at keeping it private. His computer access was in our home business office, sitting 10 feet from his father. I THINK that if we had found him looking at porn I'd have done a quick evaluation and let it alone. He didn't have a credit card, after all, and that was over a decade ago. He'd have seen boobs, maybe full frontal nudity, and that was all.
At any rate - one the whole, I let the Spawn travel the internet at will, reading everything he wanted to, from a very young age. I figure it encouraged reading skills, search skills, and exposed him to more ideas than he'd get from being overly supervised.
I think that's a good thing.
Frondly, Fern
Friday, September 2, 2011
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Frakkin' Stinkbugs
Blessings, Darlings!
The garden is going great guns right now. I've lots of green beans in the fridge to get thru' the next week or 10 days 'till my next bean patch starts producing. I've lots of zucchini. The tomatoes are still behind, and I noticed a very wasp-larva-encrusted tomato horn worm on them. I have no clue if the sweet potatoes are doing anything but producing incredible amounts of vines. Tasty-leaved vines, to be sure.
But I've had to remove two of the 3 zucchini hills due to wilt. Or maybe because of stink bugs sucking the life out of them and killing them. I really don't know which.
So I'm putting out a stink bug trap that I saw online. I do NOT know if it will work effectively, but it has the advantage of being cheap. I took an empty 2 liter soda bottle. I cut the funnel top off. I turned on a small battery powered LED light and put it inside. I inverted the funnel top back on. I put it in the garden at dusk.
Tomorrow morning I'll see if it worked. Or if we'll get rain and if that will kill the light (and maybe take a few bugs with it?)
Stay tuned ....
Frondly, Fern the killer
The garden is going great guns right now. I've lots of green beans in the fridge to get thru' the next week or 10 days 'till my next bean patch starts producing. I've lots of zucchini. The tomatoes are still behind, and I noticed a very wasp-larva-encrusted tomato horn worm on them. I have no clue if the sweet potatoes are doing anything but producing incredible amounts of vines. Tasty-leaved vines, to be sure.
But I've had to remove two of the 3 zucchini hills due to wilt. Or maybe because of stink bugs sucking the life out of them and killing them. I really don't know which.
So I'm putting out a stink bug trap that I saw online. I do NOT know if it will work effectively, but it has the advantage of being cheap. I took an empty 2 liter soda bottle. I cut the funnel top off. I turned on a small battery powered LED light and put it inside. I inverted the funnel top back on. I put it in the garden at dusk.
Tomorrow morning I'll see if it worked. Or if we'll get rain and if that will kill the light (and maybe take a few bugs with it?)
Stay tuned ....
Frondly, Fern the killer
Friday, August 26, 2011
Douchery Vs Persecution
Blessings, Darlings!
Why is it that in US history, Jews have come here, built temples, openly lived as Jews, handled prejudice, but so many neopagans don't seem to be able to, thus huddle in broom closets?
Are the Gods of such neopagans weaker than the Jewish God? Are the magical abilities of those neopagans as powerful as tissue paper?
Zoning laws getting you down? Whoop di do. That's douche baggery. Persevere until you win. Others have.
You are not delicate flowers. You are kin to the Gods.
I'm sure I've posted this before - but what you are experiencing is 'loss of privilege'. You have left your at least nominally Christian upbringing and now are being treated LIKE EVERYONE ELSE. Get over it, put on your big boy/girl undies, and get on with life.
Frondly (or not), Fern
Why is it that in US history, Jews have come here, built temples, openly lived as Jews, handled prejudice, but so many neopagans don't seem to be able to, thus huddle in broom closets?
Are the Gods of such neopagans weaker than the Jewish God? Are the magical abilities of those neopagans as powerful as tissue paper?
Zoning laws getting you down? Whoop di do. That's douche baggery. Persevere until you win. Others have.
You are not delicate flowers. You are kin to the Gods.
I'm sure I've posted this before - but what you are experiencing is 'loss of privilege'. You have left your at least nominally Christian upbringing and now are being treated LIKE EVERYONE ELSE. Get over it, put on your big boy/girl undies, and get on with life.
Frondly (or not), Fern
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Four Wonderful Years
Blessings, Darlings!
It's almost exactly 4 years since my hysterectomy. I posted on that sometime before, under the title "Uterus-free womanhood".
But even without a uterus - and what ever gender or combination of genders we all are - we all have hormone cycles. Even after menopause. Even when on hormones (since the body still produces its own), and despite the best work of anti-androgenic meds for those on them.
This afternoon I realized that I was experiencing what would be PMS if I was still menstruating
.
I had what I've learned over decades of cycles are my classic symptoms: I was up most of the night Catastrophizing (over bills now, when I was in college it was over grades, when I worked for others it was over job reviews/performance), and I spent the day crabby and practically looking for fights. Finally I realized what was happening. I had gone over EVERY bill by then.
I don't have a clue about how fast or slow my hormones cycle any more. I'm gonna note this on the calendar and try to keep aware of this more in the future.
Frondly, Fern
It's almost exactly 4 years since my hysterectomy. I posted on that sometime before, under the title "Uterus-free womanhood".
But even without a uterus - and what ever gender or combination of genders we all are - we all have hormone cycles. Even after menopause. Even when on hormones (since the body still produces its own), and despite the best work of anti-androgenic meds for those on them.
This afternoon I realized that I was experiencing what would be PMS if I was still menstruating
. I had what I've learned over decades of cycles are my classic symptoms: I was up most of the night Catastrophizing (over bills now, when I was in college it was over grades, when I worked for others it was over job reviews/performance), and I spent the day crabby and practically looking for fights. Finally I realized what was happening. I had gone over EVERY bill by then.
I don't have a clue about how fast or slow my hormones cycle any more. I'm gonna note this on the calendar and try to keep aware of this more in the future.
Frondly, Fern
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Growing Up.
Blessings, Darlings!
I just had an interesting little interaction on Twitter. One of the folks I follow tweeted that she wanted parents to not let their children call stores to ask questions (about their hours, if they carry certain items, etc). She, as an employee, didn't like to take such calls. Rather than saying "fuck you, they are your CUSTOMERS, take their calls and do it with respect", I asked how she expected anyone to learn how to make such calls without, well, making them? She told me she expects parents to handle all that until the kids are teens.
Just ...wow. Now we're going to have totally screwed up teens, who don't even know how to make a simple phone call to a store to ask about products/hours. Just because an employee doesn't want to do their job and help customers.
By the time my spawn was a teen I expected him to have PERFECTED the skill of using a telephone. And mowing the lawn. And doing dishes, cleaning bathrooms, etc. But now someone expects me to parent HER and protect HER as an adult from doing HER job, and thinks I should RETARD my own children.
Nope. Not gonna happen. I expect MY children to grow up. And I expect all people interacting with customers to grow up, too.
Frondly, Fern
I just had an interesting little interaction on Twitter. One of the folks I follow tweeted that she wanted parents to not let their children call stores to ask questions (about their hours, if they carry certain items, etc). She, as an employee, didn't like to take such calls. Rather than saying "fuck you, they are your CUSTOMERS, take their calls and do it with respect", I asked how she expected anyone to learn how to make such calls without, well, making them? She told me she expects parents to handle all that until the kids are teens.
Just ...wow. Now we're going to have totally screwed up teens, who don't even know how to make a simple phone call to a store to ask about products/hours. Just because an employee doesn't want to do their job and help customers.
By the time my spawn was a teen I expected him to have PERFECTED the skill of using a telephone. And mowing the lawn. And doing dishes, cleaning bathrooms, etc. But now someone expects me to parent HER and protect HER as an adult from doing HER job, and thinks I should RETARD my own children.
Nope. Not gonna happen. I expect MY children to grow up. And I expect all people interacting with customers to grow up, too.
Frondly, Fern
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Farmers, not markets
Blessings, Darlings!
We got paid by a client and two of our distributors yesterday (well, checks came from two of 'em and money was deposited electronically by the third). Thus I had to go to town to deposit checks and buy some staples. All well and good: shopped at one German-owned store, a Big Box store, gas from unknown country of origin, another Big Box store, finally hit a chain grocery store - damn, it was HARD finding canning lids!
But there was one more stop to be made. A family run farm stand. Where a half-bushel of peaches - seconds, and not organic - is $10. Way less expensive than at a farmer's market. Way WAY less expensive than from the store. And, obviously, as local as they come.
Tomorrow I shall be back at canning.
There were other fruits and veggies - LOVELY grapes! Lots of tomatoes - I bought two (yes, seconds). I may get a half or full bushel of tomatoes for canning next week. Alas, no corn, the drought plus deer have pretty much totaled the sweet corn.
I love food!
Frondly, Fern
We got paid by a client and two of our distributors yesterday (well, checks came from two of 'em and money was deposited electronically by the third). Thus I had to go to town to deposit checks and buy some staples. All well and good: shopped at one German-owned store, a Big Box store, gas from unknown country of origin, another Big Box store, finally hit a chain grocery store - damn, it was HARD finding canning lids!
But there was one more stop to be made. A family run farm stand. Where a half-bushel of peaches - seconds, and not organic - is $10. Way less expensive than at a farmer's market. Way WAY less expensive than from the store. And, obviously, as local as they come.
Tomorrow I shall be back at canning.
There were other fruits and veggies - LOVELY grapes! Lots of tomatoes - I bought two (yes, seconds). I may get a half or full bushel of tomatoes for canning next week. Alas, no corn, the drought plus deer have pretty much totaled the sweet corn.
I love food!
Frondly, Fern
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Git Your Biscuits In the Oven.....
Blessings, Darlings!
I have a history of making really really lousy biscuits. No matter what I did, they came out heavy and flat tasting. Not worth the calories.
Which is a shame, since unlike big ol' loaves of bread (which I now rock at), biscuits can be cooked on a balcony or patio or porch in a toaster oven. A great plan for summer baking without heating up the house.
This changed last week. Since I was still working on the half-bushel of peaches I had bought I figured I'd that) so I figured I'd do a peach cobbler. Because they are 'just quickly cobbled together', you know. Well, usually they are, but I went with the Test Kitchen recipe which has you par bake the cobbler and biscuit topping separately. So I had to make biscuits. Intimidating!
BUT these weren't the type of biscuits I had tried to make before. I had always tried making cut biscuits - THESE were drop biscuits. And they turned out AMAZING. I also added two pinches of freshly-ground cardamom to the peach mixture, which kicked it up too.
So, tonight, dinner is soup from leftovers. Fundamentally a beef barley soup. Great soup, but it needed a little something something to make it special. How about drop biscuits? Husband said - how about cheesy drop biscuits? Okay!
They SO rocked. I made a dozen and I don't know if there will be any left by the end of the evening. And there are only three of us.
Since I love you folks, I'm going to share the recipe.
CHEESY DROP BISCUITS
2 Cups all purpose flour 1 tsp dried wild green onions
1 tbs baking powder 1/4 cup shortening
1/4 tsp baking soda 3/4 cup buttermilk
1 tsp salt 1/4 cup cheddar cheese, small dice
1/8 tsp garlic salt
Oven on, set to 450. Baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
All dry ingredients plus the cheese into bowl, stir.
Melt the shortening. Mix it into the buttermilk. The lumps are a GOOD thing. Add liquid to dry ingredients, stir 'till just mixed. I had to add a smidge more milk, you might not have to.
Use the 1/4 cup measure you used for the cheese to dole out dough on to baking sheet. Bake. In my oven it took 10 minutes - it could take up to 15 in yours.
Eat. Smile. Repeat.
I have a history of making really really lousy biscuits. No matter what I did, they came out heavy and flat tasting. Not worth the calories.
Which is a shame, since unlike big ol' loaves of bread (which I now rock at), biscuits can be cooked on a balcony or patio or porch in a toaster oven. A great plan for summer baking without heating up the house.
This changed last week. Since I was still working on the half-bushel of peaches I had bought I figured I'd that) so I figured I'd do a peach cobbler. Because they are 'just quickly cobbled together', you know. Well, usually they are, but I went with the Test Kitchen recipe which has you par bake the cobbler and biscuit topping separately. So I had to make biscuits. Intimidating!
BUT these weren't the type of biscuits I had tried to make before. I had always tried making cut biscuits - THESE were drop biscuits. And they turned out AMAZING. I also added two pinches of freshly-ground cardamom to the peach mixture, which kicked it up too.
So, tonight, dinner is soup from leftovers. Fundamentally a beef barley soup. Great soup, but it needed a little something something to make it special. How about drop biscuits? Husband said - how about cheesy drop biscuits? Okay!
They SO rocked. I made a dozen and I don't know if there will be any left by the end of the evening. And there are only three of us.
Since I love you folks, I'm going to share the recipe.
CHEESY DROP BISCUITS
2 Cups all purpose flour 1 tsp dried wild green onions
1 tbs baking powder 1/4 cup shortening
1/4 tsp baking soda 3/4 cup buttermilk
1 tsp salt 1/4 cup cheddar cheese, small dice
1/8 tsp garlic salt
Oven on, set to 450. Baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
All dry ingredients plus the cheese into bowl, stir.
Melt the shortening. Mix it into the buttermilk. The lumps are a GOOD thing. Add liquid to dry ingredients, stir 'till just mixed. I had to add a smidge more milk, you might not have to.
Use the 1/4 cup measure you used for the cheese to dole out dough on to baking sheet. Bake. In my oven it took 10 minutes - it could take up to 15 in yours.
Eat. Smile. Repeat.
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