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I'll be there at the SUGAR SHACK TATTOO booth. We're the ones with the crazy insane Canadiana banner that you could not miss if you life depended on it. Scott is booked a year in advance at the shop, but he's still got openings for the show. So if you want to get tattooed by him in the next 12 months, now is your chance!
Please (try to) enjoy my new video:
Hope you all have a great weekend, everybody!
2. On the reading front, I quite enjoyed "Pirates, Poaching and the Perfect Fish". A real life tale about the Patagonian Toothfish (aka the Chilean Sea Bass). Have to say, I will never order it from the menu again. (Due to gross overfishing and illegal fishing, they're being completely wiped out, quel surprise).
3. Almost finished good ol' Parry Hotter. Picked it up a couple days ago and have found it quite entertaining. I've also read Rowling is the richest woman in Britain. Good on her.
4. I'm quite happy it's peach season in Ontario because let me tell you how much it gets my goat to see peaches stocked in the grocers from Greece out of season. And basil from Austrailia. Do you really need to buy basil from AU when it grows like a weed in your own backyard? (Or your nearest farmers yard?) I don't feel like getting too worked up about my personal food politics in this post, but I dare you to pay attention to the source of your groceries and furthermore, I triple dog dare you to try eating food from within a 100 mile radius of you, if even only for one week. And before you snark at me that there are no farmers or CSAs in your area, I bet there are:
LOCAL HARVEST + EAT WELL.
(Triple dog dare, y'all).
5. I've been quite agitated over the state of the world lately. Crazy shit like the Asian Carp problem/devestation in the Mississippi (which may well affect the Great Lakes one day soon) and bee colony collapse (check out the article The Last Canary in the Coal Mine: Small, Yellow and Ominously Silent) make me quite upset.
We do horrible things to eachother, to animals, to the world around us. We are a disgusting race that deserves the annihilation that we are racing towards.
6. Ahem. In sunnier news, my husband has joined a scientific rap group called "Dropping Science". He's the DJ, aka 'Old Dirty Bunson Burner', and his fellow rappers are 'MC2', '50%' and 'The Scientific Method Man'. They rap the Ontario Science Cirriculum (sp?) for grades 4-8, and I watched them perform yesterday in front of a group of nearly 200 screaming, writhing, dancing, spastically freaking out and totally enthusiastic kids. Their motto is represented by the acronym STEP (Science, Truth, Education, Positivity) and they rap about such hot topics as ecosystems, agriculture and science fairs. Move over, Wiggles.
7. Our laying hens came. There are four and they are happy. We get an egg a day from each of them.
8. Ymonster and Calamity came to visit at the beginning of the summer and they'll be back again shortly. Surf back in Calamity's great blog for pictures of things like the Great Wizard Battle of 2007 from their trip here.
9. What's better than one Toyota truck? Why, four of them offroading together. (It was a nice course that day, more technical than daring, but oh so much fun!)
10. Yes, this is my husband. (Taken on May Day).
11. Yes, that is a big drum we're sitting around. (Taken the same day).
12. Like everyone else, I too made a 'MEEZ'.
13. The annual Scottish Festival was great this year. Scott and I had front row center for the grade one pipe-off and it was aweeeeessssommmme. Ate more than my fair share of haggis and gobbled up one too many Yorkshire puds.
14. Went to a BBQ at a neighbors a while back. She told me "when you moved here, you sure were city. But you're doing just fine now". Awww.
15. My darling husband went and did a guest spot at the lovely Five Fathoms tattoo shop in Vernon, BC and did a spot of fishing while he was there. Or was that he went fishing in BC and did a spot of tattooing? Either or, click the spoiler to view some beautiful pictures.
16. They truly are jewels. Catch and release, baby.
17. Bob and I all wrapped up and ready to fish. (Fussy baby made for no fishing for Twwly that night, but both Tim & Calamity caught some fishies on the fly!)
18. On the Bob front, my little dude has been crawling, cruising and taking daily swim lessons. He enjoys playing in the sand, petting the cat and sucking on rhubarb from the garden. Beauty, eh?
19. Our other chickens have gone from this:
to this:
And some are will be heading to the freezer at the end of this week. Our cockerels are getting a little feisty, it's quite funny to watch.
20. And this is Little Runty, the first baby chick I ever had to cull.
On that note, I am going to sign off. Please be kind to the people, to animals and the world around you.
(Oh, and if you ate today, thank a farmer!)
2. And the nice folks over at FISHING FURY gave me some props. If you fish, you should check out their site. A1.
3. Check me out on the front page of the Lipservice website. Photo credit to Mr.Prue of course.
4. And now for some beautiful photos taken by my husband on his bi-annual camping trip. This was the standard issue men-only, drag your scrotum through the underbrush type trip, but we'll be taking Bob on his first camping trip this fall.
5. A photo taken during Bob's first fishing excursion:
6. The view of the sunset from the garden and the mist in the feild.
7. Bob helps mow the lawn. Gotta get those greens in his diet, eh. He's doing great. His blessing is on Sunday, followed by Beltane. He's crawling forward, holding himself in a standing position, trying to eat the cat, and studying advanced trig.
8. First farmers market of the season was this morning. Want to find a farmers market near you? Check out Local Harvest. Ever thought about how many miles your food makes to get to your plate? A couple from British Columbia did and they decided to embark on a very interesting food journey, which they wrote about in their book 100 Mile Diet. A read I recommend.
9. Ymonster & Calamity will be here for their visit soon!
10. We planted 560 trees on our property. Well, actually the reforestation guys planted 560 trees on our property. Sugar maple, black walnut, spruce, cedar and birch.
11. I always thought the prices of organic chicken in the grocery store were ludicrous. They are priced so high I always think it must have been aribritary (ie: "pick a # for the price of these chickens, JimBob!") Last year we fed our chickens non-medicated feed and a lot of table scraps. Their diet was 'mostly organic'. This year we decided to splurge and buy organic feed.
Regular chicken feed is $8/bag. Organic chicken feed is $25/bag.
TWENTY FIVE DOLLARS A BAG!
While farmers who sell to supermarkets have quota and get cheaper food for pound, they also have to pay someone to maintain and process their birds. So if you see organic chicken in the supermarket and it's wearing a $20 price tag around it's little chicken neck... you now know why.
12. And we bought chicken feed because the day old baby chicks came! They are so cute...for about a week. They get more feathers every day. I had forgotten how cute baby chicken butt is, how they pass out in heaps, how absolutely teeny they are. I especially adore the two little stripey backed chicks. Not sure if they are Rode Is Red x Columbian or the Special Dual Purpose hens.
13. So yeah. We've been growing and weeding and mulching and tilling. My some of tomato plants got too big for our indoor nursery so we moved them outside to start the hardening off process and they aren't happy. Some get this iridescent looking grey sheen to their leaves (which then wilt and go yellow and die) and other just started getting the yellow leaf decay, both from the tip and the stem of the leaf. No idea. Gave them more sunlight, better drainage, more Muskie. Don't know what else to do.
Twwly Tidbit: I am emotionally attached to my tomato plants.
2. Trucky our automotive wildebeast is finally all done. Well, done enough to drive. She's had the back 3/4 of her frame entirely rebuilt, body repair, the bed bobbed amongst other things. In the near future she'll be getting a custom roof rack, lift and a bench seat (to replace the 2 buckets) so that we can all go offroading as a family.
3. Anyone in EU have an extra copy of this magazine they could send me?
4. tmronin comes to visit quite soon! And then the chickens come! And then ymonster and Jessica arrive! Chickens! Friends! Friends! Chickens! It's all very exciting.
5. Here's a recent picture of me by our woodpile. I can't wait until Steve gets here so I'll have a slew of new pictures to share.
6. Click this link to read a cute interview with me on LPop!
7. All of our plants are growin'. The nursery is full of seedlings and giant grow lights. Here are a couple of pesto plants. I mean.... basil.
8. The Bobster and I after going for some victory laps in our yard in the newly driveable Trucky.
9. Thank you for your condolences about Limone. It means a lot and your support helped me.
10. There is some smoked trout and cream cheese calling my name upstairs. I must answer the call.
Twwly Tidbit: My son goes to bed at around 7:30pm. Anyone who calls after 7:30pm goes down an easy 10% in the Twwly Popularity Rating.
2. Tee shirt time.
3. I can't wait for spring. While we didn't get snow here until after New Years (scary), we've gotten absolutely hammered by high winds. It's not been a pleasant winter. The roads have been closed for a record # of days and our surly plow truck keeps dying. It's currently non-functional. Which makes it not so surly. This time it's having an electrical malfunction instead of mechanical. JOY.
Yup. Ordered our chickens (Special Dual Purpose, Rhode Island Reds, Barred Plymouth Rock) and our seeds (too many to list). Can't wait to be gardening and laying in the feild.
The prospect of spring visitors is a lovely thought too. Been quite isolated this winter. And we've got our first family vacation to plan - a fly fishing trip out west. Very exciting stuff!
4. On Sunday our local theatre will be showing An Inconvenient Truth. Our local theatre closes over winter (and fall and spring) and is available for rent, so a bunch of friends and family of mine paid our distribution fees and will be showing the film (for free ) and having a local panel discussion after too. I hope you all know what I'm talking about!
5. Been thinking more about keeping goats or sheep for milk. I don't think I could send those fuzzy pals to slaughter. Well, maybe I could. We'll see. Our barn is really tiny so we wouldn't be able to just keep breeding... Sheep or goats? Vote. Especially if you have personal experience. I hear goats hop fences but sheep are great Houdinis.
Anyone?
6. Children are awesome, sensitive little beings, who, ps, take a lot of work, selflessness and endless patience. People seem to forget that. Regularly. If your #1 priority isn't going to be raising your baby, don't have it. If you can't support it, don't have it. And frankly, don't get knocked up in the first place! It's not rocket science how babies are made.
Kapeesh?
**And by don't have it, I mean personally. Adoption = A+.
7. There was a mousey Battle Royale in our shed last week. 4 mice hopped into a garbage can and couldn't get out. Mouse wars ensued, limbs and faces were lost and there were no survivors. Too gross to photograph.
8. I've made my last and final installment in the Diary of Tattoo Changes During Pregnancy thread. My tattoos (and body) have sustained ZERO damage. I worked out rabidly pre-pregnancy, drank litres and litres (and litres and litres) of water a day, slathered myself gratuitously in Clarins Tonic Oil and prayed to the little dear baby infant Jesus.
Commence the hate mail.
So yeah. Clearly, I'm pleased. I'm far more thrilled with my gorgeous little son of course, and if my tits wind up to my knees after breastfeeding, so be it. Every mark, every sleepless night... is worth it.
9. I had meant to post this on Friday but we had a fierce ice storm that knocked out the power. We got to use our generator for the first time (runs the heat, fridge and freezer) and it worked great. I was all excited to get online this morning, and then discovered that we had no phone or internet. But it's back. And I'm a happy camper.
Twwly Tidbit: My coffee grinder doesn't have coffee beans in it anymore. It has flax seeds.
Herrrrre's Franky!
This stunning beast is a symphony of combined parts: a '78 Dodge Ramcharger chassis, an early 80s Dodge cab and fender, a 1975 318 motor and a mid 90s Mazda pickup box. And of course, hydraulic plow. Two words for this = Hell. Yeah.
2. I've got a bee in my bonnet about car seats. If you could please do me a huge favour, please call the car seat company Britax at 1-888-427-4829 and ask them to test and carry the Boulevard and the Regent in Canada.
Click the spoiler to find out why:
3. I've been really enjoying Carl Hiassen's books. I've read Sick Puppy, Skinny Dip, Strip Tease, Basket Case and Native Tongue. If anyone else out there loves them and has any of his other books that they would like to lend me, I would happily PayPal you the shipping and return them when I'm done. Quite entertaining stuff.
4. December 8th was my 26th birthday. And it was good.
5. Bob had a lovely 1st Hannukah and Christmas.
6. I love this little hat:
7. My crockpot is currently full of turkey, swiss chard, carrots from the garden (from the freezer), cute little potatos.... smells. SO. good. Question to any kitchen masters: I made chowder last night and it went all curdy looking. I didn't boil it (as accordine to the directions) I just gently simmered. Is this a heat thing? An old cheddar issue? I used old ched and evap milk.... Anyone have any ideas?
8. Swiss chard is an awesome green.
9. Things You Can Do To Help Reverse Global Warming:
*****************SWITCH MOTORS!***************
Riding a bicycle, walking, carpooling, combining trips, telecommuting or buying a more efficient car remain some of the most direct ways almost anyone can cut their fossil fuel use and greenhouse emissions. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that by leaving a car at home just two days each week, the average commuter can reduce their annual carbon emissions by 1,590 pounds. Switching from a gas guzzler to a car that gets 32 miles per gallon can reduce carbon emissions by 5,600 pounds per year, according to the EPA.
***************EAT GREENER!***************
A less obvious lifestyle change that has a big effect on carbon emissions is diet. According to a recently published study by Eshel and his colleague Pamela Martin, the carbon emission difference between an all vegetable-based diet vs. a typical American diet - which includes ample meat and dairy products - is about the same as the difference between driving an SUV vs. a small sedan.
"Of the total U.S. greenhouse gas footprint, agriculture is one of the top five players," said Eshel.
The fossil fuels and carbon emissions involved in farming, transporting, processing and distributing food is enormous, said Eshel. Also, because it takes 10 times as much energy to grow a pound of beef than to grow a pound of corn, it's a lot more efficient for humans to eat the vegetables directly, when possible.
It's not necessary to become a vegetarian to make a difference. Just reducing the amount of meat or animal products eaten every week can chip away at your personal carbon emissions.
"If you scale it up, it's actually a big thing," says climate researcher David Battisti of the University of Washington, of the effect of millions of people making small dietary changes. "There is a real issue here."
Plus, of course, there are ample well-documented health benefits of diets rich in fruits and vegetables.
*****************SMARTER HOMES!!!******************
Then, of course, there is that pernicious monthly energy bill: heating and cooling your home. What to do about that? Tons, according to the EPA. Aside from just turning down the thermostat in winter and up in summer, homeowners can invest in renewable energy systems, like solar hot water that can be connected to your existing hot water heater to cut that large portion of your energy bill. There is even a new federal tax credit for installing such systems.
Aside from renewable energy, almost any house can be made more efficient by replacing old appliances with energy efficient models and thoseincandescent light bulbs with new fluorescent bulbs that use a fraction of the electricity and last many times longer. There are also "hidden loads" in your house - appliances that gobble up electricity even when they are not in use. Televisions and computers, for instance, can be unplugged or otherwise cut off from electricity to save power and money.
*******************GET ACTIVE!!!!********************
Finally, people can push for changes at all levels of government. That's where the greatest strides are needed the most and where changes can have the greatest global effect. Already many towns, cities, counties and states across the U.S. are taking matters into their own hands and tackling initiatives on which they feel the federal government has been too slow to act.
10. I just realized I was a big dummy and unplugged my crockpot while cleaning up the counter top. Which means dinner will be ready at about 3am. Sigh.
Twwly Tidbit: We're still looking for another tattooer. Small town shop, custom only, long line up. 'The One' must be out there. Please step forward and send an email.
HAHA!
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