Dorie’s Different Reality

I’m sick and tired of the seemingly endless election news in the media. All of it. The thinking people of the world have made up their minds. Break out the secret ballots! I’m exasperated that election results will be determined by the wishy-washy six or seven percent of the voters who haven’t decided yet. I blame the pollsters. There’s so much “tweeking” goes into who’s going to run for those two parties to which I don’t belong, that we end up with a highly divisive cliffhanger. In 1992, Bill Clinton won the electoral count, but not the popular vote. In 2000, Al Gore had the popular vote and George W. Bush the electoral. It’s not who votes for you; it’s where they vote. Crappy system. Needs to be fixed.

Speaking of divisive. Celebrity divorces in the air. Madonna and Guy Ritchie. Not that I care, but Madge is worth over $500 million. That puts her in a similar position to Paul McCartney. I don’t think Guy will get half her fortune, but hey, if he got 10%, $50 million- she’s still obscenely wealthy. I’ve been following the gossip about Ron Wood of the Rolling Stones. He’s 61 and involved with a 20 year old from a former Soviet republic that I can’t spell. This summer, he went into rehab and there was speculation that his wife Jo was going to file for divorce. That hasn’t happened so far. So Jo, let him ask- he’ll have to pay more. (I’m mean sometimes)

Power Problems: All the things with engines around Poignant Acres are acting odd lately. My electric blue Neon is taking it’s own sweet time to shift, like a “drag” in the transmission. Sounds expensive. I got a notice for the emissions test, so it’ll have to go into the shop.

The lawn and garden equipment is flat wearing out. The tractor has become “quirky”- runs when it feels like it. The tiller is falling to pieces and the mower(s) were cheap to begin with, but they’ve had it too. So this is going to be the Fall/Winter season of helping the economy with big ticket purchases. Pyrate would like it fine it I could find a way to buy a tractor through Amazon.com. I think I’m going to have to invoke the “You’re the Man….You do it” clause of the marriage contract. I don’t want to have to deal with fast talking power equipment salesmen. I’ll come along and watch, but I don’t want to get involved!

The one thing I learned selling household goods is you do get what you pay for. Like Mixers- people who buy KitchenAids are generally pretty happy with the purchase. The folks who buy the $29 import will be back soon. Oh cookware- buy stainless steel. I’ve got some Revere ware that will outlast me.

She thinks my tractor’s sexy
It really turns her on
She’s always staring at me
While I’m chuggin along
She likes the way it’s pullin’ while we’re tillin’ up the land
She’s even kind of crazy ’bout my farmer’s tan
She’s the only one who really understands what gets me
She thinks my tractor’s sexy

-Kenny Chesney

Well, Hiya! Back from my little visit in the Grand Duchy of Techno. My baby girl was blessed with a birthday that nearly always falls on a beautiful day. We had some of the most lovely warm October days ever. As an added bonus, it’s still Fall down here in Maryland too! She did an excellent job outlining our activities over on her blog.

Sunday, we headed west to Letchworth State Park, maybe one of NY state’s best kept secrets. We went through several lovely small towns on our drive. As a fund raiser for the volunteer fire departments, three of the towns had firemen standing at the intersections, boots out, collecting donations from the tourists. I approve. After all, they come to the aid of tourists too. Trouble was after we drove past the second “toll boot” I didn’t have any single dollar bills left- so the poor third town got stiffed. Sorry, I couldn’t give you my twenty! Maybe they should list that in guidebooks, “bring $10 in singles to donate to local first responders” so we’re all prepared.

That area (Genesee River Valley?) was truly a gift from the last Ice Age. A spectacular river gorge with waterfalls no less. The park was very crowded, but why not? It was the most beautiful day of the year. I was trying to describe the overlooks to Pyrate- best I can come up with is imagine the Grand Canyon with trees. At their autumn colorful best!

The kids are doing well. We had a relaxing visit with some of Life’s lovely small indulgences: like grape pie and raspberry wine! Oh boy! They both look nice in the sunshine. Sorry, they didn’t wear their coronets to the pumpkin patch this day:

And the kitties and I got along fine, despite me being a dog mommy and all!

I took part of my share of the “Economic Stimulus Package” and bought a ticket to fly up North to Techno for a visit with the Duke and Duchess. Just in time for the Duchess’ birthday with added nice Fall foliage hopefully. Maybe a Beef n’ Weck and a Molson????
I’m only going to take a long weekend junket. Sure beats driving though. I leave tomorrow a.m. Today I have to pack and make sure there is food and culture (books, dvds, etc.) on hand for Pyrate and the dog kids. So I’ll be back Tuesday!
-c 2005 joseph barillari

Over Well, Please!

I am not a technical person, so pardon my limp explanation. For some years now there has been an experiment going on at Princeton U- called the Global Consciousness Project. They monitor the Internet for blips and such to collect data on what we’re talking about. A red “egg” is bad because it means large numbers of people are talking about the same thing. You’d expect a red egg if a comet were about to hit New York City and people knew about it. Blue is best because we’re serenely going on with our lives, being individuals centered on ourselves. I’m just bringing it up because the egg was red several times yesterday. Probably everybody talking about finances!

We watched: The Fountainhead, 1949 with Gary Cooper and Patricia Neal. The movie I’m amazed was ever made. It couldn’t have been commercial. It wasn’t bad- but it was Fremd (strange). I won’t recount the story, in case you have painful memories of writing papers on Ayn Rand in school. I’m definitely not an “Objectivist” I’m a Spockist, “the needs of the many, outweigh the needs of the few….or the one” (Star Trek 2:The Wrath of Khan, 1982) We need more Spockists in Congress because they seem to be working for the needs of the few lately.

Music for the Home: If Duchess puts me in a home someday, I’ll probably behave better if she makes sure I have lots of books (large type) and loads me up with music that will send me down memory lane. If I’m content, I’ll even eat the jello. Richard and Karen Carpenter are prominent former students of my alma mater- Cal State Long Beach. This song was written by Carole King (no wonder it’s good!)

Kind of a crapola picture, but this is a Chinook military helicopter that flew over the house about 15 minutes ago. To quote Hyachinth Bucket, “it’s probably somebody important” Or could be some military folks going up to the Middle River air base. But I’d rather have identified objects, than unidentified ones any day!

Well, hello from my Underground Bunker! I haven’t been blogging much, because, frankly, my concern about the economy has me in a tizzy. I’m not an economist, and I’m not at all sure what’s going to get us out of this hole.

I will say, now is a good time to be prepared if you’re not. Pretend there’s a blizzard coming, and think about what you’d need to get through a week. Let’s say you need groceries and your ATM card didn’t work- do you have enough food for a week? (not to mention t-paper!) Do you have any CASH in the house? Just a thought.
I used to listen to a radio show called “Money Matters” which was syndicated on religious radio stations around the country. It was hosted by Larry Burkett, who passed away in 2003. His mission was primarily to help people get their financial house in order. As simple as, get out of debt and manage your money: your family will be happier and you’ll have a better life. We haven’t quite managed the “out of debt” issue yet, but we learned a lot and probably avoided some common pitfalls. (like home equity loans!) In 1991, he wrote a book called The Coming Economic Earthquake. The book discussed the mounting National Debt, ever increasing personal indebtedness and the potential threats to our economy from foreign investors. And yo! Seventeen years later, here we are. I’m going to see if our library still has a copy and have a bit of a review of this book.

Meanwhile, I started a new mystery. It’s called Chili Con Corpses, a Supper Club Mystery. Well, okay!  Except it’s making me hungry!

Friday Dog Babe Foto: Vera baby having a snooze on the soft plushy throw she’s stolen from me!

I found out my neighbor was killed in an auto accident Saturday afternoon. I didn’t know him well, but I knew him as a friendly, good natured person. He worked really hard at his day job, and taking care of his little farm. I recently saw him driving the tractor, pulling a cart behind it giving the little grandkids a ride. He was the best sort of neighbor to have. If our house were on fire, I know he’d come running.
Rest in Peace, Walter

I’ve said it before- many situations in life are best summed up by stories we learned before we were five.  An acorn fell on Chicken Licken’s head, so she concluded that the sky was falling. She told her friends Henny Penny, Goosie Loosy, Turkey Lurkey and they decided to tell the King. Then they ran into Foxy Loxy, who offered to take them to the King. Instead, he had them for dinner! I feel rather that way about the “Emergency Bipartisan Economic Bailout” plan. Still waiting to find out who’s the Fox in this story!

Hoist the Yellow flag- got the Pyrate home sick today. He’s had some sort of inflammatory disorder for years. He tested negative for Rheumatoid Arthritis but his Dad, the late Captain Cloice, had the serious joint damage associated with RA. Over the years I’ve noticed that Pyrate gets quite sick around the Spring & Fall seasons change. I think this is the start of his Fall funk. Maybe a day of rest, reading and keeping his joints warm will help.

Watching- the second season of Doctor Who. Okay, once I got over losing Christopher Eccleston (who was a great doctor), David Tennant is all right. We watched the 2 part alternate universe return of the Cybermen (you had to be there!) I’m told I’ll really get to like Tennant. But still, I could be Dr. Who’s mother! Tom Baker will always be older than me- I find it comforting.

Here we are in the Great Economic Kaput of 2008. My coping skills have kicked in. I tend to worry about the Unknown; not fret about the Known. I know, for example, that the proposed $700 billion bailout is a large piece of carp! Any compromise worked out, ultimately, the American people suffer. I guess we can’t just say, “Free Market” and let it crash. Oh, I wish we could! Some heads deserve to roll.So what the leaders are up to now is trying to keep our whole system from imploding. I don’t think it’s going to stop the Recession from coming.

Yesterday, I put on my tinfoil hat and made a prediction: the next large industry that’s going to be in trouble is the Insurance companies. By nature of what they do;take the money we pay in premiums, invest it, and pay our claims for fire, water, car crashes and health care. Sounds like a pyramid scheme! Any way with interest rates so low, and costs so high, it’s going to get interesting.

If anyone ever asks, Woodrow Wilson is on the $100,000 bill!

This is from 1934 and it’s a “gold note” Must have been for the bankers- gold being hard to move about.

Meanwhile, I have a Finished Object to show you!
This is the first pair I’ve made for The Pyrate. Just a nice, stretchy ribbed sock. The yarn is Bernat “Sox” (it’s new) and the color is called “Hot Tamale” A drawer full of colorful, darn right LOUD socks, is so much more fun than the usual stuff. And while the yarn was made in Canada (thanks guys!), the socks were made in the USA by me! Fun!