Thursday, August 28, 2008

Race for the Cure


I'm entered! Support me! It's my third year! Let's do what we can to put an end to breast cancer! Last year I had a lump. Scared me. It was nonmalignant. This year I had another. It was nonmalignant. Some day it might be cancer. I'd like to know there is a cure out there!


Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Lions, Tigers, and Bears, Oh My!

Well, maybe not lions, tigers or bears, but a sincere OH MY! I did a head count on the home pet population today: Pop 13. Broken down it equals 2 dogs, 6 cats, 2 chickens, 2 rats and 1 snake. What, am I insane?! Very possibly. Begging for unconditional love? Probably.

Let's meet the pack in order of accrual:

Tinker. Domestic shorthair cat (aka mutt cat). Grey and white, 20 lbs. Age unknown. Adopted from the local vet when his former owner had to move to a rest home. Niki (daughter) was home then and she worked for this aforementioned vet. Tink had been living in one of the kennels for 2 or 3 months and she could no longer stand it. She asked if I wanted him, I said of course! Tinker moved in.

(I can't believe it, but I removed tons of personal photos from this computer. I'll bring a photo of Tink in later).

Lucy. Ball Python. About 5 years old. Approx 1 meter long. Adopted from work. The students were driving her nuts. She eats frozen rats; warmed up of course. She is sooooo sweet!

(Photo of Lucy coming later also).

Louie. Boston Terrier. 2-1/2 years old. Adopted from a local rescue. I was innocently on my way to Home Depot to get house stuff. PetSmart happened to be having their adoption day. I saw a cute little boston terrier in one of the cages. I stopped. Now, I have ALWAYS wanted a boston just like Aunt Pearl and Uncle Mel's dog. I yelled "That is my dog!" Paul (hubby) and Joe (son) were in the car and were sure I'd lost my mind. I got out, went over, knowing full well that they were gonna tell me the dog had already been adopted. It was already 2pm for goodness sake. Well, not one person had even asked about him!!! I looked at Paul and Joe. Said, "Would you mind having him?" They said it'd be fine. He was mine!!! I had to run to the ATM and get out the adoption fee, then stop and get a collar and leash. In the time it took me to do this, 5 people stopped and tried to adopt him! I am SURE he was meant to be mine. His name was Lucifer. I hated that and changed it to Louie. Some days I know why he was named Lucifer.




















Mouse and Rose. Rats. Grey and white, about 2 years old. They were supposed to be snake food. Couldn't do it. Don't have photos but I'll take some. Rose has a tumor now, but she seems happy. She eats tons!


Bubba Dude. Great Pyrenees, 8 months old, 80 lbs. Adopted from my hairdresser's mother-in-law. She had EIGHT of these dogs living in her house! She had to give some away. Now, understand that Louie (see Boston above) is NOT dog friendly. I really wanted another dog, but was afraid to get one because I was sure Louie would kill it. Then I heard about Bubba and realized that he was so big (at 5 months he weighed 50 lbs which was twice Louie's size!) and so lovey that Louie would HAVE to end up being his buddy. I brought Bubba home and Louie hated him. For 2 days he did nothing but try to get at him. Now they are best friends! The usual game of tug-of-war is a little more in Bubba's favor (he's just a tad bigger), but Louie never gives up.















Let's see. Next came Lipton and Campbell. One Brown Leghorn Rooster (Lipton) and one Barred Leghorn hen (Campbell). I work at a college, in the biology department. We do experiments. One is all about development. One of the things we do in this lab is incubate chicken eggs for various periods of time, open them up, and look at the developing chick. VERY. HARD. LAB. FOR. ME. Normally we destroy any eggs not used. This semester I just couldn't do it. I kept the 4 leftover eggs in the incubator and waited to see if any would hatch. 2 hatched. One black/yellow chick and one chipmunk colored chick. They imprinted on me and thought I was their mommy! (Yes, it really is true that the first animal they see becomes their mommy.)



This is them sitting on my desk at work. I took them home every night and brought them back to work every day. They went "cheep, cheep, cheep" VERY LOUDLY whenever they couldn't see me! I waited to see how they'd look when they grew up....













Here they are at 4 months. The rooster is Lipton and the hen peeking out from behind him is Campbell.







They don't think I'm their mommy any more. As a matter of fact, Lipton now tries to spur me. But he is just so beautiful!!! I can't do that lab anymore knowing that these gourgeous creatures are what we destroy. Campbell will start laying eggs in the next month or so. My family cringes whenever I start wondering out loud if I should let any of them hatch.
Who's next... Punkin' and her babies! I stole her. No, really, I stole her. She was our neighbor's kitten. She started "becoming a woman" and the neighbors wouldn't take her in to get fixed. The male cats started hanging out. She tried fighting with them. One clawed her eye and it got badly infected. The neighbors refused to take her to the vet. REFUSED! I called animal control when I found her dying in my garage. An officer came out and forced them to get her veterinary care. It was too late for her eye, she lost her eye. And they still didn't get her fixed. So, surprise!, she got pregnant. They said she was too young, that she wasn't really pregnant, only fat. STUPID PEOPLE! Anyway, after she had her kittens (in my yard of course) we brought her and her babies into our house and there they stay! Punkin and her 4 babies - 3 girls and 1 boy. We're still naming them, but so far one girl is named after Gus Gus (the mouse in Cinderella) cuz she is so fat; and the boy is named Jack. Everyone will get shots and fixed and hopefully new homes. Or not. They can always hang with us.













So, I guess I'm a little animal crazy. But I just can't imagine a home without pets. The "experts" say that people with pets live longer. If it goes by the number of pets I should live to 125!!!!!

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Why Vegetarian?

I get asked why I'm a vegetarian. Why anyone cares is beyond me, but hey, some people care who other people want to go to sleep with also.

So, why have I chosen to eat veges and not meat? Many reasons. The main one? Because eating other earthlings makes me want to vomit! I mean seriously, why would I want to eat one of my fellow creatures? Because they can't talk; because they can't say, "Hey, I don't want to die"? Because I have opposable thumbs and they don't? Because supposedly I am "better" than they are? Or more "important" in God's eye? Who said? God certainly has never told me I am any more important than any of his other creatures. He did say to take care of them. I just don't believe eating them is what he meant by "taking care of them"; sounds a little "godfatherish" to me: "Hey, Stanley, I want you to take care of that guy."

Another reason... Factory Farms are Mean and Nasty! And, unfortunately, most of the meat products found in our local stores comes from factory farms. These are cruel places where unspeakable things happen to animals. Don't think so? Watch the movie "Earthlings". You can find it on Google for free.

Why else? Because as a scientist I understand the benefits of being a primary consumer. I realize the benefits of eating those primary producers (plants) whose cells produce all those energy rich organic molecules that my body needs, without having to first pass through a herbivore (cow) and loose so much of that available energy. Hello! The available energy decreases at each step! I'm staying close to the original energy source (the sun).

If that's not enough, how about land use issues. We only have so much land available to produce food. It takes a whole lot more land to produce a pound of cow than it does to produce a pound of vegetable! It takes a whole lot more energy to produce a pound of chicken than it does to produce a pound of vegetable! More than 260 million acres of U.S. forest have been cleared to create cropland to grow grain to feed farmed animals. According to scientists at the Smithsonian Institute, the equivalent of seven football fields of land is bulldozed every minute, much of it to create more room for farmed animals. Of all the agricultural land in the U.S., nearly 80 percent is used in some way to raise animals—that's roughly half of the total land mass of the U.S.

Then there is the whole global warming issue. A 2006 United Nations report found that the meat industry produces more greenhouse gases than all the SUVs, cars, trucks, planes, and ships in the world combined. Greenhouse gases cause global warming, which studies show will increasingly lead to catastrophic disasters—like droughts, floods, hurricanes, rising sea levels, and disease outbreaks—unless we drastically reduce the amounts emitted into the atmosphere. Many conscientious people are trying to help reduce global warming by driving more fuel-efficient cars and using energy-saving light bulbs, but they could do more simply by going vegetarian.

So there you have it. This is why I'm vegetarian. Do I care one whit if you are? Not so much. I don't care who you are sleeping with either, but that is a whole different topic.

Monday, August 25, 2008

Ravthelete

I did it! I finished my olympic sweater before the closing ceremonies! I got my "medal". I can't post pictures of the sweater because it is a gift and the giftee can't see it till christmas. But here is my Medal:


Blessings Inherent in Having a Dirty House

Never in my life did I think I'd consider a dirty house a blessing. I've come to realize over the last year or so that I'd much rather live and play with my family of kids and animals than have a "showpiece" house. It's been a rather slow conversion...

It started with the granddaughters coming to live with us. This is what I knew: little kids are messy. When my kids were little I had a messy house. But I didn't care. Then they grew up, and I became obsessed with having a "perfect" house. The cleanest, prettiest, best decorated house in all the world. Or at least in my part of the world. All fine and good when I only have myself and my house to care for. Then 3 years ago, the granddaughters came. They were 7 and 8 years old. They were messy. I went NUTS trying to keep that same spotlessly perfect home. I screamed. I pouted. I was a martyr. I made everyone miserable.

Then, two years ago I rescued a puppy. An 8 month old Boston Terrier named Louie. He wasn't exactly potty trained. I had brand new hardwood floors. I had a brand new wool area rug in the living room. I had brand new carpet in the rest of the perfectly spotless house. Hmmmm. New floors and a new puppy that had no idea that he shouldn't potty in the house. More screaming. Not at the dog mind you, he didn't know better. No, I shouted at everyone else because they left it to me to make sure he was taken out to potty. They left it to me to clean up the accidents. And the dog hair!!!! Guess what I learned? Short haired dogs shed. Alot. And those little black hairs stick everywhere!

Clearly I wasn't miserable enough. This last May I rescued another puppy. A five month old Great Pyrenees named Bubba. Now, this dog isn't little, nor is he short haired. When I got him he was a fifty pound, long haired bundle of slobbery puppy joy! And he sheds, boy does he shed! And did I mention he slobbers? Oh, he slobbers. On EVERYTHING and EVERYONE!

Guess what? I couldn't keep up with the mess. So I gave up. I quit. I pouted. And guess what else? No one cared! People didn't come over and whisper about how my lovely showpiece house fell apart around my ears. No one made comment about how messy I was. Nothing bad happened. At all.

And I learned to relax. And I learned I could stop yelling at people. And stop pouting because I'm playing the martyr. I can accept the piles of white fur floating around the house and getting into my knitting. And make jokes about how I have a black furry chaise instead of a beige one. And laugh when I look at the wall and there is dried slobber on it. And now I have time to knit. And I have time to play. And I enjoy my family and my dogs. The messy people. The people I love!

I Just Watched:


"Awakenings", with Robert DeNiro and Robin Williams. Directed by Penny Marshal. 1990.


Quick synopsis: A true story about the victims of an encephalitis epidemic many years ago who have been catatonic ever since. A new drug offers the prospect of reviving them.

What I learned: There is no such thing as a simple miracle. Also, we humans need to Love living! Truly be alive every day and appreciate that we are here, now, with all the abilities or disabilites we have.


What I will try to do: Live my Life. Not exist day to day, but truly Live.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Ravelympics

What? Ravelympics? I'll explain. I belong to a knitter's online world called Ravelry. It's a great place to connect with other knitters, find patterns, log projects and yarn stash and knitting books, yadda, yadda, yadda. The "powers that be" in the Ravelry world decided to have a little fun and start a knitting olympics to coincide with the real olympics. We chose a project, and had to start and finish during the two weeks of the olympics. It was supposed to be a challenge for the knitting "athlete". I endered the WIP Wrestling event on Team MINE!. WIP stands for Work in Progress. I have been working on a sweater and needed some impetuous to get-er-done! I am almost there! I have until noon on Sunday! Will I make it??? Cue olympic music...

If I do, I will get a gold medal to post right here on this blog!

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

What exactly does one do with a blog?

Everyone seems to be blogging these days. Or reading blogs created by others. Just what does one do with a blog? I intend to find out.