Wow... Steady as she goes

Barack Obama really is a calming force... Steady as she goes.  i believe this is where i pat myself on the back for predicting his debate performance (see my previous post).  i believe i said he would be steady, confident, diligent and respectful.  i would now add knowledgeable and prepared.  We got a winner here, folks!

New Rule: it's not hero worship to like Obama.  (ala Bill Maher)  

Check out this great column:  Tina Fey, please save us!  Tina Fey is a goddess.  Congrats Tina!  And thank you, sister.

Bitch Alert! 

Bill Clinton, shut your fracking mouth!  Check this out: he's slightly nicer than me.  Man oh man, the taste of power must be sweet.  Actually, it's probably more like a drug.  Not as sweet and you crave it more... destructively more.  How do the good guys/gals do it?  How do some politicians manage to avoid the pitfalls of power?  i don't know.... topic for another day.

And it's NOT just the taste of power, Clinton has such an ego.  The man has an amazing ability to compartmentalize.  i assume he has put his humility in a box somewhere in his brain and thrown away the key.  Just like i can't listen to George Bush or Darth Cheney, i can no longer stand listening to Bill Clinton.  He's now on my "pests" list.  My list of pests is long; people who are like flies in the fall; you swat them away. The list includes Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, Imus, Michael Savage, the cast of Entourage, etc. etc. etc.  I wonder how Maddow's show did up against Larry King when Clinton was on last week?  It would be cool if Rachel's numbers beat Larry's that night.

Obama stays steady, as i get pre-debate jitters

i want to write about Mexico but politics is keeping me too busy.  "This doesn't pass the smell test".  David Letteman said something of the sort about McCain.  Oy...

i'm not sure where to begin.  We need to stay strong.  We need to remember that Obama is a very steady man.  He does not move quickly.  He assesses a situation first; he tries to see it from above the forest, not from down in the trees.   When he sees the way forward he points it out, makes a statement about it, and moves the party in that direction.

Roosevelt talked to my grandparents on the radio.  Obama buys TV time for 2-minute long issue ads.  Truman got on a train and toured the country and beat Dewey to everyone's surprise.  Obama stays out on the campaign trail, going from event to event, preparing the way ahead with his organizational skills, taking on the fire everyday... steady, steady, steady.

i admit to being on pins and needles.  But i am trying my best (not very well most days) to follow the example of the person i want to lead me and my family steadily into the future.

Letterman has steadied my shaking soul for a second time.  The first was after 9/11 with Dan Rather and the second time was the other night.  He understands the power of words and comedy.  Like John Stewert and Stephen Cobert, Letterman uses his skills to temper the blows we are feeling in the current political climate.  i am so grateful for them and others like Chris Rock, Bill Maher, Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin.  Thank God/dess for the comedians.

The debate starts in about 4 hours so these are some of my pre-debate thoughts.  I expect Obama to be steady tonight.  Steady, confident, diligent and respectful.

More after the debate.

Law of the coop and law of the land

OK, so i really screwed up today.  i took the girls their morning veges and cottage cheese and instead of opening their little door i opened the big one.  Not really a problem except i forgot to open the little door.  i closed the big door and went off to work.  

When i got home from work Budda was out in the yard.  That happens occasionally; she can fly over the seven foot fencing if she wants, but doesn't normally.  Carmen and Precious are too plump to make that leap even if they wanted to.  Budda doesn't go far if she does get out and when i open the gate to their pen, she goes right back in.  

Well, while i was talking to them i realized i had not opened the door to their coop so they did not have access to their food and water.  Oh, my gosh.  I felt so bad.  I opened up the big door, they hopped in and started eating like mad.  Then i found one egg on the ground.  Geez, i feel like a horrible mother.  Oy!

It is interesting to wonder what it was like for Budda.  One of my cats, Hawthorne, was hanging around the yard, as he is inclined to do, so they must have been eyeing each other.  They are used to each other but there is normally a fence between them.  Both my cats, Nathaniel and Hawthorne, are pretty much over the chickens at this point.

This blog is suppose to be about chickens and politics but i really haven't posted anything political.  Today i realized that the financial crisis we are experiencing and the so called fix that the Treasury secretary is proposing is just another attempt to use the shock doctrine.  Check out Naomi Klein's commentary on Huffington Post today for more on that.  

i don't think the shock is going to work.  I cannot believe they are trying to pass a fix that would not allow oversight or the rule of law to interfere with their decisions.  Good Goddess, that's totalitarianism!  Or fascism... something like that.  Do people who support this administration think that totalitarianism would not touch them?  Do they not understand that their own families and communities would be adversely effected by it?  

As a liberal, i have felt vulnerable for the last eight years but for conservatives to think they would be unscathed by fascism is self-deception.  Wow, i am so amazed at how deceived my countrymen have become.  

That's enough for today.  Tomorrow, less about chickens and more about politics.  

Keeping the chickens warm

Spending Friday night with PBS, per usual.  

i'm so excited!  i just figured out a way to insulate the chicken coop for the winter on the cheap. i'm going to surround the coop with bails of straw.  Then i'll wrap the bales with bird netting so the Girls won't be able to take them apart.  

i am confident this will work and it should only cost about $30.  i've already got netting but i am going to have to take several trips to the feed store.  my suburu will only hold two bales at a time, so maybe i can strap one on the roof of my car, as well.  

Now, that has to get me a mention in the Oregon hillbilly newsletter.  I mean, really...  what does a girl hafta do to get some attention?

i'm not sure what i will do with the straw next spring.  i guess i'll have to cross that bridge when i come to it.  Yeah, and i'll probably be crossing that bridge with bales of straw on my car.

till tomorrow.........

Well, it begins

The financial downfall i've been anticipating has arrived. 

i'm thinking of my grandma today.  She married and had two children during the 'Great Depression'.  She and grandpa never had much of anything but were very resourceful. They both taught me a lot about how to get by with little.  They always ate well; Grandma made bread a couple times a week and served potatoes morning and night (Grandpa was Irish and loved his potatoes).

Grandma was recycling before there was a word for it.  Tin foil and plastic bags were always reused.  Used tea bags nourished her plants and she always used her sewing machine to 'improve' the clothes she bought from the store.

i'm going to hold her in my mind these coming days.  As i watch the stock market deflate i'm going to remember her struggle and hope my preparations will hold my family together until easier days.  

I have three chickens in my backyard, Carmen, Budda and Precious (named after Precious Romatswe - #1 Ladies Detective Agency).  i don't think i can describe the happiness i feel around them.  

I am new to chickens but my Grandma wasn't.  She was way more pragmatic about them though.  She decided to leave Fort Lewis, Washington after Grandpa was shipped out to the Pacific during WWII.  She killed her chickens and canned them; packed them into the car along with her daughters and drove back to Montana.  

i love and cherish that story but i'm not sure i could kill my girls.  The coming days (the new depression?) may test my resolve to keep them as layers only. I'm confident these three girls are safe but i don't know what the future holds.

That good old pragmatic Montana upbringing will always win out in the end.  Fair warning!

My cats (Nathaniel and Hawthorne) are wanting a pet so i am calling this good for today.

Oh, and Obama supporters; don't lose faith.  Check out this column from Huffington Post.  I always get a little freaked out around 9/11 (fear of my government, not terrorists).  Add the coming election to that anxiety and you can imagine how high strung i've been this week and last.  I felt uplifted some when i read the post.

Till next time.....