Brain on a Stick: Yucky image! But that’s one of my nicknames in the family. Not bragging because all gifts come from God, but I seem to have been gifted with the ability to retain a lot of stuff in my head. If you knew me and needed a Lifeline call on “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” I would be the one you would call. Trust me. Once in a while my loved ones come up some question so absurd even I don’t know the answer and then I get to say, “What do look like? Brain on a stick?” But regular stuff like “What was that movie with Ingrid Bergman with the German guy playing a Chinese soldier?” If you don’t know a movie buff, try me. (It’s “Inn of the Sixth Happiness” btw)

In the science news, comes an article that asserting that “thinking makes you fat” Oh is that what did it? I love research. Basically what they’re saying is, if your mind is active, playing challenging games like Alchemy (grin!) , or working at the computer say, the central processing unit demands fuel. http://www.livescience.com/health/080904-brain-food.html
So if you want to stay thin, don’t think.

My favorite picture from the convention last night.

Tesla is feeling better! That’s good news. I guess he’s arthritic. Or perhaps he has hip problems. From people I’ve known who have had large dogs with arthritis, there really is no 100% treatment. Just like people- when it hurts, rest and take pain reliever. Today, he’s back to a bit of frisking in the back yard, lots of loud yodel barking and he ate well. Sounds like quality of life for a big puppy dog.

.The New England Asters are in bloom. We have them in front of the house too. Nice to have the color at a time when many plants are turning brown and croaking.

It’s hard to imagine, but we’re coming up on our 20th year here at Poignant Acres! We bought this house just after the Duchess’ 6th birthday and she’ll be 26 next month. At the time, moving, hassling with real estate agents and all, I felt like I never wanted to move again! Now it’s more work than we two couch potato people care to do. It’s a terrible time to put a house on the market, but I’m hoping the economy will be in better shape 3/4 years from now.

I have a plan to start encouraging the Duchess to take cuttings of plants from here and transplanting them up in the Duchy so the loverlyness will continue in a new place!

Well, I meant to talk about what’s been flying and crawling around here….a lot of grasshoppers. I don’t like them; they gobbled up my brussel sprouts! Right after sundown it gets noisy here- the crickets are awake! Makes me think of Dracula, “listen to them-the children of the night, what music they make” The “star” of early Fall is the grasshopper’s cousin, the katydid.

The other night, I was in here and saw a big shadow of something flying around. Looked up and saw a katydid in full flight. Little devil is still here; she’s sitting on top of the curtain rod looking at me now! Well okay, but stay out of the coffee cup!

There’s lots of bumblebees working the yard. We used to have a few beehives on a property behind us, but they’re gone now so not so many honeybees. The bees seem to really enjoy working the Russian sage flowers. I’m not sure it’s edible, but it smells like regular sage- I’ll have to look it up. The other day, there was a lot of singing and carrying on in the yard and some of these cuties dropped by…American goldfinches

They look so much like canaries. I guess a canary is a type of finch. It’s nice to have little friends flying around and singing. In contrast to the BlueJays- beautiful but they’re so feisty. When I visit the pet store, I always admire the lovebirds, so beautiful, but it’s hard to believe a little bird can be that LOUD! So I’ve never been tempted to take them home!

Wide world of Fruit! All the smooshing and straining yielded 3 1/2 pints of “grape with a little raspberry” jelly. And it came out a proper purple color- like red grape. Sometime this week I’ll probably have to “do” something with tomatoes again. I use the Ball canning company salsa recipe a lot. I’ve found that it’s fine to add to soup or chili. In late Winter of this year, I had a bad tomato craving. I took two nice looking red tomatoes to the scale in the market and those two tomatoes would have cost over $3.00! So I put them back. It’s okay, they probably wouldn’t have tasted as good as a home grown tomato in August. Next on the food preserving agenda is a big batch of apple butter!

Reading A little side trip to the Southwest. I’m reading Tony Hillerman’s autobiography. I’m glad he wrote it. Right now, he’s in the infantry in WWII. Yet to meet the woman that would become his wife of 60 years, or the Navajo tribal policemen who inspired Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee. It’s going to be a good trip, I can tell!

Time to harvest the grapes!

We’re not ready to start a vineyard yet, but we got twice as many as last year. I think the grapes cross pollinated. I bought two of those dried out vines in a bag the home stores sell, cheap enough to give it a shot. One was white, the other red. Last year the jam came out an attractive red. This year, while I was smooshing up the grapes, it ended up green. Sort of a kiwi color! Mmmm, kiwi jam…I wonder? Anyhow, green grape jam sounded weird. Food color? Messes up my “all natural” intentions. I took desperate measures. I had a bag of frozen unsweetened raspberries. I added them to the pan of hot grape pulp. Result- attractive violet colored stuff! And it sounds like a nice mixed fruit combination.
Today, it will get a strain through cheesecloth and get cooked with sugar and canned. Oh yeah- Happy Labor Day! I have to consult my “Culinary Arts Encyclopedic Cook Book” circa 1950. I’m not sure if grape/raspberry is going to need pectin to “set” There are certain fruits, no matter how long they’re cooked, you end up with syrup- and you can’t spread that on a bagel!

My arthritic boys Mike and Tesla are both having a tough time with pain this weekend. Da Pyrate has always tested negative for rheumatoid arthritis, but he’s had major episodes of pain for years. For several months the joint of infamy has been just in one thumb- but it’s howling agony for him. Duchess says it sounds like gout. He’s resisting this idea, because gout sounds like the disease of the idle rich- so not him! It’s true that certain foods and drink can set it off, but it’s a hereditary thing, occuring mostly in men. If I could just get him to go see our “undoctor” they have medicine for gout. Aleve and things like that don’t seem to help him much.
As for Mr. Tesla, he’s hobbling. Also laying around and panting, which is what dogs do when they’re hurting. He’s only seven, but I can tell he’s going downhill. One bad thing is he’s put on so much weight. Sometimes when a dog puffs up like that it’s a kidney problem. He gets glucosamine, but it hasn’t helped the last couple of days. Finally this morning, I gave him one of my “heart therapy” aspirins. They always helped Ms. Coors. He’s sleeping now, but still doesn’t seem “right”. I guess I’ll make an appointment with the Vet for later this week.
I hope they’re straight with me about what’s going on with him.
I’ve found that medical people (animal and human) sometimes encourage hope even in cases where the long term result is the same. My cousin told me recently about a friend of hers who had to put down her beloved dog, but was left with an $18,000 vet bill. I guess she felt bad enough about her dog, but to run up a huge tab and still lose her….

Long Weekend Movie Watching: First we watched Something The Lord Made A true story starring Alan Rickman and Mos Def. It’s about a doctor who took on a young black man, Vivien Thomas, as his lab assistant. Vivien wanted to go to medical school, but lost his money in the Depression. Becoming the assistant to a surgeon was better than sweeping floors. He follows the doctor up to Baltimore when the doctor is offered a fat cat job at Johns Hopkins. When you least expect it, Maryland reminds you that it’s part of the South. In the 1940’s it was still segregated. Vivien finds out that working in the lab with the chief of surgery, he’s making the same money as a janitor- because he’s black. Not to mention, the doc could have pulled strings, even opened up his wallet and put his talented associate through medical school. Not clear if this is because of his own racism, or his selfishness, because working together they were very successful. The two of them performed the first ever heart surgery- a procedure to fix “blue babies”.
Yesterday, we watched The Dambusters A WWII drama with Michael Redgrave and Richard Todd. As everyone who knows me knows, I don’t like dams. I think they’re a menace to the environment and mess up more than they help. But this was war and different than my environmental rants. A scientist developed a skipping bomb that would destroy a dam. By destroying reservoirs in the industrial Ruhr, it would cripple industries and help end the war sooner. So this was the story of this success. There was some film of the aftermath. It was pretty devastating. There must have been great loss of life, but the counter argument would be how many lives would be spared if the War ended sooner?

But now it’s time for jam, pumpkin pie and laundry!

The winner is a poodle. yeah, great choice- playful but doesn’t shed on the furniture. I like Standards a lot. The little guys are okay, but there’s something about a big lovable poodle!
My own shar-pei bias is admitted, but I know they’re not the dog for everyone. So let there be poodles!

This is Lily. She’s a real dish!

  The Elephant Poem

Elephants are lovely guys,
They’re good and true and tell no lies.

They don’t take more than they can eat,
And always watch where they put their feet.

They don’t play with electric wires;
I never have heard of them starting fires.

They live healthily, they don’t smoke
An Elephant is a kindly bloke.

Elephants take care of their young,
And rarely speak with angry tongue.

When in school, they do not cheat,
They walk in lines which are quite neat.

They don’t beat up on smaller folks,
Don’t care if they’re the butt of jokes.

They don’t fret, what wear today,
Look simply splendid all in gray.

Super strong yet very nice,
They’re really not afraid of mice.

I’ve tried and tried but I just can’t
Find anything better than the Elephant.

Written by Wayne Hepburn and placed in the Public Domain
11 September 1997.

photo by John Walker

Oh yeah, two days ago I was undecided. I’ve decided now.

Go get ‘em girl!

Gov. Sarah Palin on her visit to Rammstein Military Hospital, 2007

Kudzu (a haiku)

Indestructible
Green creeping vine of the South
Covering the Earth

Not to labor the point, but that stuff is wild! I was in Alabama some years back and saw so much of it had to ask somebody, “what is that green stuff everywhere?” A “gift” from a far away land- taking over the native vegetation.(click on the picture, you’ll get the idea) There’s a survival story in the news today. A young woman in North Carolina went missing driving home from work five days ago. Turns out her truck went off the road and 80 ft. down a ravine. It took that long to find her because of the heavy overgrowth of guess what? The happy news is she’s hurt, but they made it in time.

Are you watching the Democratic convention? Not so much here. It doesn’t really start until after 9 p.m. Last night, I chose “House” over Hillary. I’ll try to stay up tonight. I want to hear Biden’s acceptance speech. He’s one of those names I’ve heard on the news for years, but never paid much attention. I’m one of those genuinely undecided voters. !Last poll I heard it was 46-44% in favor of Obama, a dead heat really. That’s bad because it will invite election fraud.

<———I really wanted this guy to run- “I Would Do Anything For Love” would be the best campaign song ever.

Reading update: I tried something new, an “Isabel Dalhousie mystery” by Alexander McCall Smith. Isabel is a well-off single woman who lives off her inheritance, edits an academic journal of philosophy and sleuths in her spare time. McCall-Smith is giving a lecture/book signing in Frederick next month. He’s a musician and director of The Really Terrible Orchestra, so I’m thinking it’s a bit more of a show than a book signing since they’re charging admission. But I enjoyed Rita Mae Brown’s talk so much, I wouldn’t mind seeing more authors. Also I read Attack of the Fiend, Book 4 in The Last Apprentice series by Joseph Delaney. Not bad. Tom the Apprentice is keeping the Dark at bay again. It’s a “young adult” book, darker than Harry Potter, but I’ve enjoyed all four so far. Now I’m back in Lochdubh with Hamish MacBeth, Death of a Dentist

Knitting! I have discovered than I am a sock knitter. I enjoy playing with my little Sputnik needles. Gives me the opportunity to try new yarns. Also easy to pick up and put down the work. I’ve just started a new sock, with the idea that this pair will be for Pyrate. Since these are “manly” socks, they won’t be so fancy, but they’ll be bright enough to find in the drawer. The yarn is a brand new product from Bernat called “Sox” (hey, what else?) The color is “hot tamale” but I think it’s more a fiesta color, tamale makes me think red and green and this is more orange and blue. It makes stripes in bright colors as you go along. He’ll like that!

This is funny. A video of my candidate of choice, Mr. Aday from Texas, aka Meat Loaf with Gordon Ramsay in a cook off! I know that the “secret ingredient” is Campbell’s Soup! (profanity warning- Gordon’s favorite word starts with “F”)

The garden has been a howling success this year. We’ve had lots of good stuff for weeks. It interesting how some things have a good year, where others don’t. Next year I have to plant “salad” things. I’m not sure at all about irradiated lettuce!

Back in grade school we had to memorize this poem. Not that I still remembered all of it, but yes, some of it. Looking for it I found out it appeared in the “Highlights for Children” magazine. My daughter tells me it’s still published. Still a staple for kids’ reading in doctor and dentist’s offices!

Something told the wild geese

It was time to go,

Though the fields lay golden

Something whispered, “snow.”

Leaves were green and stirring,

Berries, luster-glossed,

But beneath warm feathers

Something cautioned, “frost.”

All the sagging orchards

Steamed with amber spices,

But each wild breast stiffened

At remembered ice.

Something told the wild geese

It was time to fly,

Summer sun was on their wings,

Winter in their cry.

-Rachel Field

This morning, I went to fix up her breakfast, and found out I’d goofed and bought 4 cans of “healthy skin- vegetarian formula”  “Vegetarian”  and Dog just do not go together. Since I didn’t have any of the other kind, and figuring it was the same stuff without added deer, I fixed up a bowl for her.
If a dog can throw a hissy fit! She kept circling the bowl and rubbing her nose on the ground like, “This is Drek. Stupid Human is poisoning me!” She turned her back to me and has been ignoring me since.

On the other hand, I offered the mixed up stuff to Tesla, and while he was suspicious, proceeded to eat it and left the dry food behind! (He’s been known to raid the wastebasket too!)

So as soon as the store opens, Vera gets a trip to PetSmart with me to get some cans of venison. She probably wants to see a lawyer about charging me with attempted murder too.

I seem to live for the comfort and convenience of the dogs.

Doggy Whipped as it were.

We haven’t done that for quite a while. Sometimes it’s nice to have somebody else cook for me! Imagine my surprise when I found out I’m now eligible for the Senior Menu! Most restaurants give you too much food (and too many calories- another reason to stay home and eat shredded wheat) and the senior selections tend to be smaller. I ended up getting something else though- I wanted my hash browns!

Went to a wedding Saturday. My friends’ daughter was getting married. The ceremony took place at a resort in the mountains near Hagerstown. The weather cooperated. Just as the ceremony started, a large bird was swooping majestically in the background. I’d love to say it was an eagle, but I think it was a turkey buzzard. I guess he wanted to see what all the people were doing. My friend is an expert seamstress and deserves some kind of award because she made the bridesmaid’s dresses (5 of ‘em!), dresses for two little flower girls and one little dress for the tiniest bridesmaid, her little granddaughter. There was music and dancing and much merriment.
I missed Pyrate even though he wouldn’t have danced even if he could have come! He has the kind of job where some weekends he’s on standby duty. It’s important because he works on emergency communications (fire, police, etc.) So I flew solo.
I happened to be out on the terrace near sunset and snapped a picture of Braddock Mountain. It’s said to be the lair of the Snallygaster, our local mythical beast. Sort of a cool flying dragon critter. It’s reputed to be the cause of occasional disappearances of Middletown Valley residents.

Hey, speaking of mythical beasts, did you hear about the Bigfoot bruhaha? A hoax of course. The sad thing is there have been numerous sightings of a “something” all over North America. Every hoax hurts the credibility of anyone who does happen upon some unrecognized beastie. I haven’t heard of bigfoots in Maryland, but yes for Pennsylvania, so they’re getting closer!. But hey, check out this howl which some think might be a bigfoot- and something sure has the dog agitated http://www.bfro.net/avevid/mjm/Howl.mp3

I have to admit I like the idea of something wild out there, living apart from humans. I still don’t like gnomes though- pointy hatted little sneaks!