Throw back Thursday...a little cuckoo

My grandfather passed away three years ago at the age of 92.  

When my father was in the service and dating my mother, he was stationed in Germany.

He brought two cuckoo clocks home with him.  One for his girl(my mom) 

and one for her parents(my dad was no dummy).

When my grandfather passed, we had the job of cleaning out his house.  We all got together at his house.  We relived old memories, it was very healing.  It was the house they raised their children in and welcomed grandchildren and great grandchildren to.

There were only a few things that I really wanted.  A bench, 

the cuckoo clock and Christmas decorations.

I felt like the clock was link to my Dad and my grandparents.  It isn't the fanciest of cuckoo clocks out there, but I just loved it.  I have always loved cuckoo clocks and I think a lot of it has to do with hearing the story about how my dad brought the clock home from Germany.

My mom had found a guy who tuned it up for my grandfather before he passed.  It was important for my mom that the clock work for him as she knew he was not long to be with us.  The clock man told my mom that the clock was missing a trim piece on the top.  He tried very hard to find the piece to put the clock back as it should be but couldn't find it. My grandfather couldn't remember whatever happened to the piece.

Three years later, this past October I was at our town's Octoberfest.  The historical society in town always has a barn sale.  Honestly there is usually just a bunch of junk but I like to try to support them and buy something.  This October, I hit the jackpot.

I saw this box and heart skipped a beat.

The clock was a mess.  Missing the little hand and all.

But it had the piece!

I bought the box for $20. I would have paid more.

How could it be that it was mid afternoon that this box was still there.

I truly believe there was a little Devine intervention

or at least my grandfather pushed me in the direction of the box and 

everyone else away from it.

I got it home, cleaned it up and then

the moment of truth.

It fit and everything is now as it should be.

It makes me so happy every time I walk by it.

I always make sure if we have a family gathering at my house

that the clock is wound.

Every 30 minutes there is a cuckoo to remind us that my

grandparents are still with us.

hope lost...the day my bee hive died.

Sometime between January 13th and February 1st my bees perished.  I called them the Delta Nu's like the little sorority of sisters they were.  The had kicked out the frat boys(drones) for the winter and hunkered down to try to make a go of it in this very cold New England winter.

The Delta Nu's had the deck stacked against them.  They superseded their original Queen in August.  RIP Queen Talulah and enter Queen Lucy.  Because they made their own queen and would not accept the Queen I tried to introduce (Queen Wilbanks) I had to wait them out and hope for the best.

Their numbers dropped but then Queen Lucy began laying eggs like gangbusters and the Delta Nu's seemed very happy.  I thought they might have a chance.

I didn't think they would make it through the polar vortex, but when they did I had new hope for their survival.

My son and I were excited to see the girls fly on Saturday as we were due for temps in the 40's.  When we saw no bees flying the first part of the day I knew something was wrong and this is what I found.

all dead, not an ounce of life left.

It was very sad, but it is nature and life. 

No guarantees.

The my hive was like the little hive that could until it couldn't.  

This has been a tough winter and I knew it would be a challenge for them to make it.

I have dusted my self and picked myself up.

I have ordered my packages of bees for the spring and will start a second hive too.

Hope springs eternal.

Bees of hope...

I breathed a huge sigh of relief when the polar vortex up and left.

My man knew I was worried about my bees and the extreme cold.

He sent me this text

on that warm balmy day On January 13 when the temperature

crept up to 43 degrees.

I thought phew! We made it through.  Smooth sailing to spring thinking

we would not see temps that cold again. Well...think again.

It is freezing AGAIN.  Temps in the single digits.

I saw our state bee inspector(Ken) tonight at a lecture he gave at my kid's school.

We are very lucky that he lives a town over from us and is 

always very available for any help or mentoring.

He keeps hives near my house and I have been able to go check his hives with him.  

Just a wealth of information.

He has over 60 years experience keeping bees.

He has worked on the Harvard Bee Study, 

the USDA Bee Study and the NASA Bee Study.

It is fascinating to hear about the studies he is involved in.

When I started my hive last spring he told me to take some advice that new

beekeepers don't want to hear.  He told me to use 3 deep hive boxes.  

Rather than two deeps followed by a honey super.

The trick he explained will give me another deep box of frames with drawn our 

comb for expanding to a new hive.  Or if I have a swarm and I am lucky enough to catch it, I will have drawn frame all ready for a queen to lay eggs in.  

Drawn out deep frames are like gold.  Just think about the jump start a new hive will have with a few frames already fully drawn out and ready for the queen to lay her eggs in.

The trade off...as always things come with a trade off and that meant 

no honey harvest for me this year.

I left it all in the hive.  I actually had to spin out some frames in the fall.  We had a crazy

nectar flow in September and my hive became honey bound.  I was able to spin out the nectar and freeze it.  Then after the nectar flow stopped, 

I fed it back to them and they were very happy.

I am worried about my hive and honey stores with this cold.

The bees need energy to heat the cluster and 

that means they are eating a lot of their honey.

 I worried about going into my hive in this cold.  

Ken told me to get in there and to check for honey stores.

I know what I am looking for.  If the cluster is still low in the hive I still have honey as they will work their way up.

If the bees are high up in the hive, get a sugar patty in there.

I was a little overwhelmed with the things I was reading about sugar boards people make.  

It just seems complicated!

Ken assured me that they are not necessary, just make a sugar patty and that way I can get it closer to the cluster.  I have a spacer I can use if I need to so there will be clearance for the  sugar patty.

Mission this weekend...Get into that hive!

I will let you know how it all goes.

Huan ying (literal translation - welcome exchange student with the offending odor)

Welcome to Zixun (aka Max).  

He is a 7th grade student staying with us from China until Thursday.

We are not new to the exchange student thing, we had Jack from Korea last year.

  That was interesting.

I'm gonna be honest, regardless of where these kids come from they are still teenage boys.

They are like herding cats.

Poor Max. He does not understand a lick of English.

I showed him 3 times how the shower works cause guess what, the kid needs a shower.

He is a stinky 13 year old boy and 

there is always one thing that can effect the way I interact with people and that is smell.

I am not proud, just being honest.  If you stink, I will still talk to you if I have to, 

but it is very difficult for me to have a poker face.  

I used to work with this guy who had halitosis. It was so distracting.  

All I could think of was the poor person who had to pucker up and kiss that stink.

I also will not buy anything I don't like the smell of.  Lip gloss, moisturizer, you name it. If it doesn't pass the smell test, forget about it.

Anywho...

This was a last minute thing and my kids were already booked to go on a ski weekend with boy scouts.   I didn't think it would be that big of a deal.  Now I have Max and he seems very confused and very overwhelmed. I have tried to explain that I have two boys and they will be home tomorrow.  I don't think he gets it. I think that he thinks he is stuck with this old lady (isn't everyone old when you are 13?) He doesn't like cookies. He doesn't like tv. It is snowing here so we are in for the night. We have a puzzle started and he was very excited when he saw that.  He worked on it for and hour.  I sat down wind and watched a little tv.  After an hour I don't think he got one piece. 

Interesting is about the only word that comes to mind... Interesting.

He has been in the states for a week so he isn't dealing with the exhaustion of travel and time change.  I think he is now dealing with the "holy shit" moment that he isn't in Kansas China anymore. 

Here's hoping Max is smelling as fresh as a daisy tomorrow and

 we find some adventures he will enjoy.

moving on with thoughts of spring chicks...

The snow is falling, 14" is forecasted to fall overnight. 

Now that football is over for me I am left with a little bit of a void.  

If my Pats made it to the Super Bowl there would have been two additional weeks of football fun before the truly cold  hard reality of winter hit.  

The post season is such bliss until it isn't.  

It just wasn't in the cards this year.  

It is time for this New England chick to rally.  It is only January for cripes sake! 

I don't care what the ground hog says, winter is just long here, shadow or no shadow.

However along with the cold it is also catalogue time.  

Seeds, plants, chicks and bees, oh my!

Just what this chick needs to rally a snowy day away.  

We have a few plans this year.  We plan to get some additional egg layers.  

Our girls have hit the two year mark.  Their production just ain't like it used to be.

I had to.....(gulp) wait for it....

I had to buy eggs to make Christmas cookies this year!!!

Now I love my girls, but I thought we had an understanding.

Anywho, time to order some hens and decide on meat birds.

I have decided after last year that I will only order my chicks from McMurray hatchery.  

Last year we ordered our meat birds from Meyers and we lost 5 chicks out of 35 before 2 weeks.  

Some losses are to be expected but that was just too many.  

I have to honest, comparing past years, I just think the McMurray has better stock, gene pool I guess.  

I really know nothing about gene pools and stock.  All I know is my observations and that is what I believe.  I will also only go with Cornish Roasters.  The X Rocks are big, but I think the Cornish seem healthier and taste delish!

Though we only have the meat birds for 6 weeks from chick to butcher, it is a commitment.  

They eat, they poop, they drink ALL DAY!

That means lots of clean water, lots of food and lots of fresh shavings. 

They come home from the post office...

Oh they are so cute...

They then transition from "so cute" to sitting by the water or food all day.  Some of the bigger ones will try to position themselves between the water and the food for the least amount of movement to fill their faces.

The fateful day arrives.  I thank each of them before they get crated up, that is my job.  Calm is the mantra, we don't want any chickens stressed on the way to the butcher.

My Dad's dump truck is the best for this job.  Easy to load, easy to clean out.

We purchased the two large white crates at a ridiculous amount of money(I think $60 plus shipping per crate) My husband made the wooden one and then we improvise with the milk crates.  The white ones are the best because of the height.  They just plop down and don't try to walk around.

We wire tie cardboard on the tops of the milk crates.  We use the milk crates for the bigger meaner birds that might be aggressive or for smaller ones that might need a little protection on the ride.

It is a 25 minute ride there, which my husband does.  I stay back and clean the coop.  After about 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours they come home ready to be weighed, ziploced and frozen.  

We do rinse them when they get home before we bag them.

Being prepared is the key.  We have everything ready the night before so things go smoothly the morning of. Since it is summer we are also sure to have lots of ice for the ride home.

It is a lot of work but I think worth it. 

Time to get ordering, that 5:45am call will come from the post office before we know it. 

Ready for some football!

This New England girl is soooo ready for football tonight!

The rain is pouring where I live, about 45 minutes away from Gilette Stadium.  My house is like the calm before the storm.  Friends will be here soon, 

I am hydrating now cause there is gonna be some drinking and eating up in here!

One game at a time in the post season.  I am so excited we have made it this far.

The kielbasa is ready...

and we couldn't have a big game without these(thank you pioneer woman)

It is a little strange playing the Colts with no Peyton Manning.  Have I said how much

I hate really dislike Peyton Manning.  I really don't like any Mannings for that matter.  I even have a 

neighbor called Manning and I don't like her either. 

Now I know I sound like a hater, but we all have our own idiosyncrasies and 

this is just one of mine.

Here are more...

I am waiting for friends to get here.  Not too many, it takes away from the game and I miss stuff with too many people over.

Commercials are the time to talk.

None of my extended family will be at my house.  The Pats seem to lose when we are all together and they are all too superstitious to come over.  

I don't like beer but I will drink beer when football is on.

My kids don't like football but I make them watch a little with me anyways.

I really don't like the Saints (though I have a deep affection for the city). Their coach has

sneaky eyes.  Don't trust someone as far as I can throw them with eyes like that.

That's my story and I am sticking to it!

All I can say is Go Pats!

Glogg...it does a body good

Yes, it is freezing!  We luckily have not had the snow in Massachusetts that other places have gotten, but it is freaking freezing!  On days like this, there is only one thing to do and that is drink and I love to drink Glogg.  It is the Swede in me.  It connects me to my family.  The recipe was handed down to me from my grandfather.  It is the sure thing to send you off for a nice winter's nap and it doesn't hurt that it is so yummy!

I down loaded the app A Beautiful Mess

and turned the above picture of my Glogg into this...

Love!

The Crawleys & the ill-fated reign of Queen Wilbanks

Oh Crawley family... I have missed you so.

I am just hooked and have been since the beginning.  Downton is just another world that I love to visit.  

I can't wait to see where this season takes us. 

Watching Downton last night reminded me of a little 'royal' drama I had this past August.  I began bee keeping this past year.  We went on vacation in August for 2 weeks.  Everything looked good before we left but there was succession afoot!

Long story short, it appeared that my bees tried to make a new queen and offed the old one, poor Queen Talulah(rest her tiny little bee soul).  However, offing Queen Talulah is fine if there is a new queen laying eggs, but there was no sign of a new queen and my hive was in danger of dwindling and not making it through the winter.

Enter Queen Wilbanks...

She was beautiful and as lovely as her name implies with a Tiffany blue dot on her back to mark her.  I was warned to keep her extra safe.  The worry was that there was a queen in the hive, although not being productive.  I was told I would know or should know pretty quick.  What my bees told me was that they were 'all set'.  They didn't need no hoity toity Queen Wilbanks coming in.  They made their own queen and she was going to start laying in her own sweet time, which of course she did... 2 days after I paid the $25 for Queen Wilbanks.  There were a few bees that just plunked down on that queen cage and tried to sting her.  It was fascinating and here is how it went down...

What this past year of beekeeping has taught me is to trust my instincts.  My bees were never aggressive but I noticed a hugh change with them once Queen Talulah was gone.  They were calm as could be.  When I would open the hive they were like, "Oh, Hi" and then just go about their business.  That is the sign of a happy hive and a hive is happy because they are happy with their queen.  

Queen Wilbanks was passed on to another bee keeper in need of a queen.  Now I have Queen Lucy.  A little scrappy and knows her roots.  She is a queen hailing from the great state of Massachusetts.  I am hopeful she will pull the girls through the winter and we will have a happy hive come spring.

back on the blog... and a question of "Sponge worthy"

It has been a long time, but I am back.  I have thought a bunch of times about jumping back into blogging, but where to start, what to say? Blog the good? Blog the bad?  I again thought about this last night while playing pitch in only the crazy rowdy way my family plays cards.  There were 12 of us.  It gets a little loud and gets a little crazy! Since it is still the holidays, my mother had this table cloth out on display.

It reminded me that life is all of it, the good, the bad and the ugly (along with a many other adjectives, but you get the point)

This table cloth was started by my grandmother in 1953 and continued by my mother after my grandmother passed.  Christmas and New Years my grandmother would have family and friends sign it.  Then she would embroider over the signature.  Immediate family included pets names as well(obviously).  There are our young signatures as kids and our adult signatures all grown up and some with our married last names.  Our children have shown up once they were old enough to sign it.  They are the great grandchildren of the woman who started it all.   After 60 years the table cloth has seen many changes with people who have come in and out of the lives of our family members.  There are the ex-wives and ex-girlfriends of my cousin and uncle.  There are friends so dear and some friends not so much.

The conversation over cards then turned to 'Who is signature worthy?' and it reminded me of Seinfield and Elaine's classification of men.  Either they were 'sponge worth' or they were not.

Now,  I know there are a few signatures I would rather not remember but, we all came to the same conclusion.  The table cloth is a true history of us.  The ex's, the friends not as dear as they once were and then the treasure trove of signatures of all the special family, friends and pets who have touched us and left their imprint on our hearts and souls.  

My grandmother didn't judge who was signature worthy, she just had them sign and thankfully so as we are left with a true family treasure and a unique view of our history.  In blogging or scrapbooking,  you can omit and overlook things you would rather not recall.  Remembering the not so good can be just as important as remembering the good.  It tells you where you have been and shows you where you are going.

Happy New Year!

my heavy heart...

Our city and our people were rocked on Monday, Patriot's Day by an unspeakable act.  It is so surreal. Growing up an hour out of Boston, there are just some things that are institutions...one of those being the Boston Marathon.  We saw the pictures, scrambled to check in with people we know who run or watch the marathon every year.  Everyone I know is alright but we are not alright.  In the past day I have been in disbelief, sadness and now I am just mad.  Who the fuck did this? Children dead or maimed.  Adults dead or maimed.  There is no way to make sense.  I pray for those injured.  The responders, the spectators. The horrors they saw and will live with.  I just don't know.

The terrible awful I did...

I pride myself as being a really smart woman until I do something really stupid.

Which is what I did tonight.

If you have read my blog, you know about my years of cub scout volunteering.

As you may also know, I am done with cub scouts as my boys are both boy scouts now. 

We do not have the best Boy Scout troop around, it is just a plain and simple fact.

We have a scoutmaster who has been running things for WAY TOO LONG!

He is controlling and set in his ways.  Our troop has lost many families because of it.

The troop is like a 'rogue' troop and he does not encourage or like when scouts do activities that are sponsored by counsel.  For those of you not in the scouting 'know', a counsel is in charge of all of the troops in an area.  There are about 10 towns in our counsel and our counsel plans activities for all of the troops to participate in.

Well my boys signed up for one such activity.  My youngest, who has been a boy scout for 5 weeks had to go and get a card signed off for by the scoutmaster and he sent him away without it! Now he signed off on the same card for my oldest scout last week.  When my oldest scout pointed this out, the scoutmaster dismissed him too.  

Evidently he is upset that boys in the troop are going on this activity, WTF??!! It isn't like they are organizing a trip to hang out in the sand pits and drink keg beer!  They are going to earn Merit badges!!

Well my boys came out to the car and told me what happened.

I simply lost it!

I have dealt with this tool for 5 years and because of my role in cub scouts always had to hold my tongue.  I could tell you story after story about all of the Ahole things he has done over the years.

Tonight was the straw that broke this camel's back and 5 years of frustration came pouring out.

I pointed out to him that it makes no sense to me why a scoutmaster would not want his scouts to experience all that the scouting world has to offer.  He offered lame excuses and your basic bullshit.

I would not back down, it was heated.  No f bombs(thankfully) flew.  However I did also have the opportunity to tell him exactly what I think about his 'white trash, idiot, couldn't hold a job at WalMart' wife.  I didn't use that description out loud, but I made my point.  My 15 year old summed it up as, "you looked really pissed mom!" The problem is that this was not how I wanted things to go down.  My 15 year old is fine with it, he deals with this man too so he kind of knows.  

Now for my 11 year old, not so much. Now he is worried that he will be treated differently in the troop and all the other things an 11 year worries about.  The boys want to stay with their friends in the troop so it isn't like we are going anywhere at this point.  

Now it is just me and my walk of shame over the terrible awful I did tonight.  He better hope I don't look up Minnie's recipe for pie, cause I am still pretty mad.

Lent and Crack...

Sometimes as a Catholic I feel I live a double life.

Don't worry, I'm not out there hitting the crack pipe or anything crazy like that.

I grew up Catholic but, we were a little laissez faire at times(which I still am).

I think it is a little crazy.  I teach Sunday school. I think to myself sometimes that I am the last person who should be educatin' these kids as to the ways of our religion.

I didn't believe in God for a very long time.

I still struggle with my beliefs... there I said it!

Anywho, I discussed with my Sunday school class before lent began what we should give up.  They are fifth graders and came up with totally lame ideas, things that really weren't a sacrifice.  

I tried to give them an example of what I might give up, but I hadn't really worked that out yet.  Truth be told I don't always give something up for lent.  I try to use it as a reminder to be a better person, ya know... a little less biotchy.  Believe me I can always use some reminding of that.

I started thinking out loud to my class...hmm...what would really be a sacrifice.  I thought about shopping and didn't need to think much longer about what I needed to give up...

do you know of it?  It is a little paradise of products.

creams, lotions, polish, body wash, lip gloss...

I was dropping some serious cash there on a regular basis.

So I gave it up and gave it up good.  

I did go in there today to purchase conditioner, which was a necessity purchase

and exempt(I believe) from my Lenten sacrifice.

Then came the Crack...

yes, as the label says, it is a habit forming hair fix.  

There you have it.  I went from conditioner to Crack and I am trying 

to reign myself in at this point.  

My hairdresser used this stuff on my hair and I couldn't believe it. It held 

a style with minimal spray. It made my hair feel and look so good. 

I had to have it.  So I got it. Now I have some 'splainin to do.

I started talking to myself, as I usually do...
I guess I am just not the good Catholic I play on Sundays.

I still eat meat on Fridays I reminded myself.

Who do I really think I am?

I was then reminded of an incident when I was a kid.  No self-respecting Catholic would be short a good childhood story.  I think maybe this was the beginning for me

not taking lent as serious as I should.

Who remembers this?

ah yes Boo Berry... As a kid of the 1970's I lived on this stuff.
Especially on Friday nights during lent when it was either fish sticks or cereal.
Well, one ill-fated Friday evening during lent was
big doings for my small town.
An ice arena was opening that night and classes were starting.
We ate quick and got over to the arena.
All the kids were waiting off the ice to be called to their class.
As I was called, I guess I was nervous.  I stepped on
the ice and no sooner did my blade hit the ice but so did my dinner.
Yes, purple Boo Berry cereal all over the ice.
I was mortified.
 To this day do not believe
in cereal for dinner.
As for lent...there's always next year.


(I have not been paid to mention my shopping addiction to Sephora, 
my recent addiction to crack 
nor have I or will I seek recovery 
from the makers of BooBerry for the trauma experience those many years ago on the ice)

Let them eat cake!

My last Cub Scout cake...

A daunting task to get inspired,

I Just didn't have it in me this year.

It was an emotional time, saying good by to Cub Scouts.

It has been such a big part of our lives for 5 years.

I dug deep and got a little inspired, 

but not very original.

It didn't seem to matter, the boys all enjoyed it.

I have never made figures out of fondant. I was happy with the 

Tiger and the Bear for the Cub Scout side of the cake.

I felt like I took the easy way out copying 

a lot of the same style of decoration from my cake last year.

Oh well.

I am getting used to relaxing my standards.

It makes life a little easier and enjoyable.

My youngest is a Boy Scout now.

Now time for me to relax and enjoy some 

quiet time.

Clearly you do not know me...

I am noticing a trend.  I pretty much only instagram pictures of food and I have been only blogging about things that totally irritate and or infuriate me. So, why would this post be any different?

We have opened our home for 8 weeks to an exchange student from Korea.  He is a 15 year old boy.  I already have one of those(a 15 year old boy) so I don't know what I was thinking.  After the first few days and the novelty of a new place wore off, two 15 year old boys is not double the fun.  All of that is for another time.  My issue this evening is with the two women who came over from Korea with the group of students.   If I had a douche bag jar, these two twits would owe it and owe it big. 

My son put it best when he said, "they look at you and smile and say yes, but I really wonder what they are thinking in their head."  Well I will tell you what I think is in their head and it includes an 'F' and a 'U' and probably some other derogatory phrases.  

I will give a little background,  these biotches didn't get off on the best foot with me.  In the first week when we had our student, he had a cold.  He was taking LOTS of medicine from Korea.  The third evening he was with us, he passed out.  I called Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb and explained my concern for his medical status. They determined, over the phone that he was 'fine' meanwhile I am trying to care for this kid who is 'fine' but then informs me he is going to start vomiting.   I later spoke with a representative from the school who told me that they had a kid last year from Korea who had medicine from Korea and he was taking too much and not following the instructions on the label, which posed a problem.  

I asked TD and TD what is in the medicine the kid is taking.  I explained that I will need to tell an EMT if I have to call an ambulance.  I also explained that I have friends with small children and I have a dog, what if one of them were to get into this medicine? I need to know what it is.  Most of all, I wanted to know what it was because it is my house and out of respect for our home I felt we simply had the right to know.  Guess what?  After numerous requests and 8 weeks later, I still have no effing idea what the medication is.

While we have had this student we have completely changed our schedule.  He has after school tutoring everyday.  That means a later pick up for him.  We have been available to bring him anywhere he has needed to be.  We have celebrated his birthday with him and Korean New Year.  We have brought him to museums and snow tubing.  It was my youngest son's birthday yesterday.  He goes to a different school so he has been on vacation.  He wanted to go into Boston.  I thought that would be great and we could get our exchange student into the city too.  As a result, he missed his after school tutoring.  

Now my kids never miss school.  Maybe one or two days a year.  Because of all of the weekend snowstorms we have had while we have had our student, many of the things we wanted to do were cancelled.  We decided that Friday, after lunch we would dismiss both 15 year old boys from school for the last museum we wanted to bring our student to and my son who is on vacation wanted to go to as part of his school vacation.

Well I see TD and TD tonight.  They say to me, "We know you want to take Ahn to a museum on Friday but we don't think so." They go on to say "he has missed tutoring twice so he can't go."  Now this kid came half way across the world.  I feel like an afternoon at a living museum(Old Sturbridge Village) would be a great way to round out his stay here in the states.  So this is where the title of this blog comes in 'cause clearly TD and TD do not know me.  So I say, "Well then you won't mind keeping him with you until 8pm when we get home that night."(they are usually done with the students at 4pm) Then, ever so politely, they start speaking Korean to each other right in front of me!  Like I wasn't even there!  I think they were maybe saying, "What the eff, how are we going to be able to go out to have fun for our last Friday night in the states if we are stuck with this kid?" 

Shockingly they thought that it would be a good idea for him to go after all.  I felt like saying, "Excuse me? What? Oh your an idiot? That's what I thought you said." Obviously I did not go on a rant, I kept it under control and polite, but Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb, clearly you do not know me, but I know you.  I have your number.

I will be honest, I don't really feel this experience has done much to endear me to these people.  Maybe I will feel different in the weeks after our student is gone, but for now I just don't know.  I would love to hear other peoples' experiences with exchange students.

really, it's you, not me...

I have a friend.

We run a cub scout pack together. It is a big pack, 80 boys. It is a lot of work.

You may think this volunteer job would be very glamorous.  

I hate to break it to you, it is not.

My relationship with my friend who I do this crazy work with has developed and evolved. It has been good and it has been not so good. Now enter a few glasses of wine, and here I find myself at my computer ready to let it rip.  At first I was not going to.  Then I was reminded by a very special blogger that this is my space.  I have some shit to yak about and I'm gonna yak.

I am done with cub scouts in a week.(yippeee...tear...happy dance...tissues...tears...bigger happy dance)

I want to go out like a lamb, so to speak, as I did come in like a lion 5 years ago.  Back then it was a different time and the lion was needed to get the program running, solvent and on to the business of teaching boys to be scouts.  Now things run smoothly for the most part.

In the past years working with my friend, she has made good decisions and not such good decisions.  When the bad decisions came, there was clean up to be done, which I would do.  Whatever... 

It hasn't necessarily been the bad decisions but her actions around them.  She avoids, is suddenly too busy to even pick up the phone.  Fucking Really? is about all I have to say.

Here we are one more week to go and she makes a banner decision.  I am in charge of the pack, she is the assistant.  She 'goes rougue' making a very dumb decision.  The person taking my place agrees she has eff'ed up.  Whatever... I want to fix the problem, not dwell on it and she can't even pick up the eff'ing phone to try to problem solve and fix.  On top of it, I work full time.  She is a stay home mom with 2 kids in school.  I make time for her if I am working or home at night.  Now, she can't even find a minute.  

Bitches these days is 'bout all I can say.... 

Why Sandy is Obama's and Bloomberg's Katrina (and not in a good way)

Ok peeps... this chick is gonna let it rip!  I have sat by during this political season with not much to share about it.  There is a back story explanation for that, however this is not the time.  I just can't keep it  in any longer... this chick's 'bout ready to loose her shit!  I read headline after headline... Hurricane Sandy Seals Election for Obama. You know what I say?  I say it is time for a little history lesson.

Now, you might know that New Orleans holds a special place in my heart.  My husband and I spent 10 days there, leaving about a week before Katrina hit.  When we were getting ready to return home, we heard about a big storm churning in the Gulf.  Now, when we were there we spent a lot of time at the Convention Center.  I can not even begin to tell you how I felt when I saw the footage of people starving there, dying there, elderly people lined up along the wall seaming like they were just in line waiting to die.  The stories of the rapes, the missing children.  The footage of the Convention Center effected me the most.  I had occupied that same space.  I had sat in the same place where I was then watching on TV people dying from lack of food, water and medical care.  My heart broke for the city I had just fell head over heals in love with.  When was someone going to help them? How could it take so long?  The heat, dehydration...what a senseless way to loose life in our great nation.  You would think New Orleans was a third world county.

Here we are 7 years later and in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.  We don't have the heat of New Orleans, but the cold is coming and another potential storm next week.  I am blessed, we lost power for 3 days, no real damage to speak of.  Not like our neighbors to the south in New York and New Jersey.

That leads me to our history lesson of the day...

On Monday 8/29/05 Katrina hits land.  On Monday 10/29/12 Sandy hits land.

On Wednesday 8/31/05 Bush flies over New Orleans to survey damage(I am not defending this, just stating the facts). On Wednesday 10/31/12 Obama visits areas hit by Sandy.

On Thursday 9/1/05 Mayor Nagin pleads for help, his 'desperate SOS'. On Thursday 11/1/12 residents of Staten Island make desperate pleas for help, for food  and for water.

On Friday 9/2/05 the National Guard convoy of food and aid reaches New Orleans.  On Friday 11/2/12 the National Guard reaches Staten Island with food and water for the first time since the storm.  All the while, Bloomberg continues to plan for the New York Marathon to step off from Staten Island on Sunday 11/4/12. Though the Mayor feels it would be good to give people something to cheer for, he does an about face and cancels the race.

By Saturday 9/3/05 both the Convention Center and the Superdome have been fully evacuated.

Now, all I know was the feeling I had in the days following Katrina.  What was taking so long to get help to these people?  Now granted, Bush did not handle the press or himself well during that time, but reviewing the time line, it is strikingly similar, and yet Obama is a hero?  New York and New Jersey are nowhere out of the woods when you look at the immediate needs of people.  New Orleans did have the heat, but NY and NJ have the cold.  How many elderly people do you think are in apartments right now in NYC.  No heat in dropping temperatures, no power, no running water, running out of food.  What about all of the pets left behind? Dying of thirst and hunger shut up in apartments that there owners thought they would be back to in a day or two?  All the while, it is suggested that a marathon should be run.  Should the runners have waved as they jogged on by to the starving dying people who live in one of the greatest cities in the civilized world?  How nice it would be to have 30,000 runners converge on Staten Island, stepping on the damaged remnants of the belongings of the people who lost everything? All of the resources directed away from recovery and saving people to focus on this frivolous activity in a city that can not afford frivolity at this time.

I am also going to point out another pattern, one that I call the Vegas pattern.  Now I am not even going to get into Libya except to say that Obama took off to campaign in Vegas shortly after our 4 American citizens were murdered in Libya, one being our ambassador.  Now, cut to this week and where does Obama jet off to again following his brief photo op? Yes, Vegas baby.  Then, to add insult to injury, Obama is on the stump telling his supporters that they should take 'revenge' and that voting is the best revenge.  The only thing I can say to that is, NY and NJ should take some of their own revenge out when they vote for being left high and dry in one of the worst disasters in our history by the current city, state and federal administrations.  However, the sad fact of the matter is that so many won't have power back by then, they will be lucky to have gas to get anywhere and it seems almost impossible that polling places will be able to open in the hardest hit areas. Let's face it, their main priority is survival, not voting.

All I am left to say is...

Shame, shame shame on Obama and Bloomberg and I hope there is a similar song about them because just as Bush deserved this song, they deserve a song just like this of their very own...

Now, in the immortal words of Forest Gump, that's all I have to say about that.

not my finest moment, or day for that matter...

oh curse you. the lack of sleep.  the hormones.  maybe even the moon.  all's I know is today was the culmination of some of my worst moments. really there may have been a number of contributing factors  but I take full responsibility for my actions however less than stellar they have been.

(Oak Alley in LA.  I took this picture on 8/2/05 just days before Katrina. The calm before the storm. 

I thought it was appropriate.)

so, cut to this morning 5:45am, on about 4 hours of sleep.  husband home this morning, he usually isn't so the morning can get a little dicey when he is added to the mix.  I ask him to put the bagel down in the toaster for me, no time for me to sit and eat... have to eat in the car.  I come down ready to leave. bagel is all wrapped up nice.  awwwe I think nice husband, fixed me up right this a.m.  I had no time to make a coffee, bagel would have to do.  off to my 15 year old's new school for a meeting, I bite into the bagel and should have known this was the day to turn around and just call it a day.  Bagel is dry, not a speck of anything on it! oh yum, NOT! I don't even have coffee to help choke it down.

I get to school, go to the office to sign in and believe that it is friday the 13th, clue number two that I should have called it a day. meeting goes well I must say... now on to work.

Email from sister in-law inquiring about train tickets we purchased to go to PA in December for a wedding.  I am suspicious that sister-in-law #1 and #2 are going to try to pawn my MIL off on us for the trip.  I give my husband a heads up. he assures me they wouldn't do that.  he says SIL #2 knows it is her turn to take MIL since we just took her on a 7 day cruise and 5 days to Vero beach.  I however am still suspicious of SIL #1 and #2.

Get to the work parking garage.  They are remodeling...very confusing to get around the changes in traffic flow.  Garage guy starts to yell at me.  How the eff can I hear him yelling at me from in his truck?  He is beeping the horn, waving his hands.  I literally loose it and yell "What!!!!" in a manner that anyone who heard it would be waiting for my head to spin and green slime projectile vomit to be expelled out of my eyes, ears and mouth.  I am embarrassed.  I park there everyday.  It is where my parking pass is issued.  fuck, I am going to have to see this guy everyday now...

In the office, follow up email from my SIL #1, prying info on our trail itinerary. I am not happy, I respond in a cryptic manner but she is not letting up.

I ask co-worker about a meeting on Monday.  Said co-worker has a very HIGH opinion of herself and her importance in her job. I put up with her and make nice on a regular basis.  today however, she decided that she needed to point out to me how very important she is and I got a serious SMACK DOWN.  I am still smarting from it. She pointed out to me how many fewer files I have than she does in a not very nice way.  Well than, on all days there was a guy in my office who thought he was having a heart attack.  First responders took him to the ER.  Well low and behold little Miss Bitch slap came and asked me why I didn't tell her they took heart attack guy out.  I explained that I knew she was very busy and didn't want to bother her.  Well she didn't like that. I may not be the brightest bulb on the tree, but when you get a bitch slap like I did from her, I'm not exactly going to run to her and tell her all of the office news.  So then she plants herself in my cubicle...blah blah blah she keeps going on about trivial crap.  Meanwhile more emails from SIL #1.  Well bitch slap woman decides she needs to apologize, why I don't know and clearly she doesn't know me well enough to know that she could serve a sorry up on piece of your best anything and I will accept however I will NEVER forget.  People who turn on you once, will turn on you again.  HOWEVER, given my fragile(pronounce fargillee like in A Christmas Story) she kept going on that she was sorry and the more she said I began to feel the tears.  I can't effing believe it!! I never get emotional at work and here I go.  There was no blubbering but all the same the tears were there.  I would like to act all cool, but I thought she was a friend and I should have known better.  Anywho should have considered hanging it up at that point.

Now SIL #1 is still emailing me for specifics on our trip.  What is making me angry about this is that they know our position that it is SIL #2's turn to deal with traveling with the MIL however it appears that they are going to book her on the same train as us, this 78 year old very confused woman and then let us know we are responsible for her.  I swear I am about ready to loose my shit on this one! She is the same MIL who sent $25,000 to the Dominican Republic for the lottery she allegedly won.  The thing that kills me is that rather than step up to the plate and take their turn they would rather jeopardize our relationship. I finally do the unthinkable.  I told SIL #2 a different route from the one that we are really taking and told my husband he needs to call his sisters and get this shit straightened out.

Cut to my evening where I needed to welcome 85 scouts to the cub scout program this year.  I am dealing with nit picky leaders who seem to forget at times that the program is about the kids.  I can't even get into it but after 2 and 1/2 hours of sign ups, fundraising kick off and teaching them all how to make survival bracelets I was done!

But really I am not done as my oldest son is three towns over playing Magic the Gathering until 11pm at a card shop.  The town he was in is not the greatest.  he is supposed to call me 30 minutes prior to getting out.  I am driving there thinking everything is fine and that I will have some time to read before they are done. I get txt from him while I am 20 minutes away that they have been waiting outside and the store was closed than I get 'LOL' from him so I don't know what is going on but I am still trying to drive and get there with all of this going on.  They get in the car and he starts.  He can't understand what my problem is.  My big problem is that I was responsible for someone else's kid and if the reverse happened to me I would have been very PO'ed!

I finally get home 8 minutes before the end of this shitty day. Granted I am grateful for all of the things I am lucky enough to complain about but it just feels so good to put it out there.  Now maybe I can sleep.

Hot Chicks in the Country...keeping them cool

Ok...I will admit it.  I sing to my chickens. Especially in this hot weather.  When no one is looking, I have been known to make up my own lyrics to songs.  I am not proud.  Some are good, some not so much.

As of late, it is hot... when it is hot one song comes to mind.  I don't know why and again I am not proud...I make up my own words and sing it to my chickens.  They are pretty indifferent at this point to my singing.

Anywho...I digress.  It is going to be hot here tomorrow, in the mid 90's. We have 40 Cornish Roasters ready to go to the butcher on Sunday. One more hot day to get them through.  Our hens are not as bothered by the heat but our meat birds are another story.  They are just not able to with stand the heat.

Last year, some of you may recall the sad day for our coop when we lost 5 chickens in the heat.  There are some very simple things you can do to keep your chickens cool.

#1 We have a tin roof on our coop.  We run a sprinkler all day in the heat.  It lowers the temp in there and really keeps it cooler. We also have 5 fans.  Yes it may sound like a lot, but they are needed. We have 2 in the windows and 3 stationed to keep the air moving.  Putting frozen blocks in the waters helps too and with the fans blowing around the waters, cool air radiates off the waters and circulates.

#2 See the lawn mower? Fresh cut grass in piles for our hens is a favorite and seems to be cooling for them. We also give them lots of fruits and veggies including watermelon and cucumbers.  These keep up with hydration.

#3 We give the meat birds a water supplement. Either broiler booster or quick chick from McMurry's Hatchery.  I found a recipe for a home made solution I plan to try.  I will let you know. These supplements have the little extra the birds need in the stress of the heat. I will also give some to my hens.

#4 Lastly we are ready for emergency response. We have the three buckets ready by the coop in the event that any of the birds need cooling.  A bird can die so quickly from heat and be saved from the heat just as quick.  If you have a bird in distress, dip them in water to cool them down.  You will be amazed how quickly they will respond and recover.  There is more detail in this post about cooling your chickens and keeping them safe while doing so.

Stay cool...all you hot chicks!

If you had the chance to change your fate would you?

My 10 year old son and I will be going to see Brave today.

He is an archer.  We spend Saturday mornings at archery lessons.(where I am right now)

Ever since the preview of Brave started showing we have planned

to go to see it. Just me and him. I think he has a crush on Merida,

I know she is a cartoon character, but he seems a little smitten.

The big line in the movie has got me thinking of my life...

"If you had the chance to change your fate would you?"

Well, I did.

Let me preface this by saying I hate reading about people who made that big leap. Hated their job and took all kinds of risks to pursue their dream. Oprah's magazine is good for that kind of stuff hence, I do not buy her magazine.  When I read these stories that are supposed to inspire me, I am anything but inspired.  A personality defect? Perhaps. It isn't that I'm not happy for these people, but I can't help but wonder...how the hell did they plan on paying their mortgage or feeding their kids while chasing their dream?

I am an insurance adjuster and enjoy all of the glory that comes with it(can you hear the sarcasm?)

When I was a kid I never said,"If I could only grow up to be an insurance adjuster."(see the stars in my young eyes...can you hear the 10 year old me sigh in contentment?)

Granted I never dreamed of doing this, but here I am...almost 20 years later.

It hasn't been all bad. I have done a lot of different things, I have worked in special investigations and do a lot of litigation work on injury claims, it can be interesting.

My first 14 years I worked for a great company that wanted to see its people grow and advance and I did just that, but it took a toll. I had 2 young kids and was working on the road handling high exposure claims on really bad accidents.  The injuries were either fatal or serious and it really started to take wear on me.

I hopped of the career track and for the past 5 years I worked for a company that allowed me to work from home full time.  Sounds great ehh?

Maybe with the right company, but not this one. It was a company managed by fear. Everyone else looking to cover their butt. It was stress and worry, worry and stress. I do not respond well to fear, most people surprisingly don't. There was also no career path.  I went from an environment that was collaborative and focused on advancing it's people to the extreme opposite. 

Was it bad enough to give up working from home? You betcha!

Things do happen for a reason(one thing was my kids are 5 years older now) and there were enough things that happened that I came across a job posting at another company.  It was definitely a step up and for the first time in a long time I was looking to do something completely out of my comfort zone.  Would they give me the chance?

Well they did and in what seems to have been a whirlwind, here I am.

I have changed my fate.

Yes, I am still in insurance but I am learning again for the first time in a long time.  I have a supervisor who is mentoring me to bring me up to the next level. I have a manager that sees the value in my experience and actually expresses that!

I guess the purpose of all of this is that to change your fate, it doesn't need to be as extreme as you might think. For most of my 5 miserable years with my former company I would think,

 "What is wrong with me?"

 But I learned, it wasn't me, I was stuck in a broken system. 

I had to find the faith that there are other systems out there that are not broken. I didn't need to start over in a different field or throw away my financial security to chase a dream. 

I guess all I am trying to say is, see the signs and have some faith. If you are unhappy, you can change your fate. It may not be extreme enough to end up on the pages of Oprah, but who reads that magazine anyways?