Home Decor 101

Tags

decorating, Diego, home, home decor, life in New Mexico, life in the foothills, lifestyle

I’m not much of a decorator. I used to think I was, but the finished room always looked, well, not at all what I envisioned. I’m not good with what goes with what, which has probably got a very lot to do with the fact that I’m eclectic by nature and rather want to put Chinese mixed with Early American side by side.

So, the pictures I’ve taken of the house, probably reflect a nightmare to those of you who find this whole interior design easy.

Our boy Diego has reached a milestone. With much trepidation and discussion and careful observation, we have allowed the boy to run free on our morning jaunts through the desert. He has passed the test with flying colors. He stays mostly on the roads/paths, venturing out onto the new territory only when it is open enough where he can see where he plants his paws. He comes immediately when called. He doesn’t evade being re-leashed if we come upon another walker with dog or a car making its way carefully down the trail.

It’s been great for both of us. He really wears himself out, and I get to walk at a more normal pace and attitude. Moreover, I enjoy watching him stop and sniff and follow his nose in circles and the pure joy he has in his freedom. He’s our boy and we adore him.

First let me show you the things the Contrarian has made for me that make my housework easier.

This is my laundry cart. It may not look like much, but it is a genius contraption. It is on castors as you can see and there are two laundry baskets that nestle together. The bottom one is screwed to the base and the other comes out. It sits in the closet collecting the laundry until today, which is grocery day. Then the clothes one lifts out and the other remains and is wheeled out the garage where it collects the groceries and wheels them into the kitchen. So it’s a double duty cart.

It is not electrified yet, but the Contrarian may give it a motor and GPS and let it do everything by itself.  😛

This is my cleaning cart.

It’s chock full with all the stuff I need to clean the house.

I have my brooms and dustpan on the sides on clamps and my duster, hand and floor on the other side. My mini-vacuum is underneath.

As I roll it from room to room, I usually sing “bring out your dead, bring out your dead”. That line from the Monty Python movie always has stayed with me.

The rest are just pictures of the house, and excluding the bathrooms which I assume you are not wild to see.

I’m not doing really well with adjusting the light meter on my phone yet, so do bear with me.

The bedspread is chenille. For some reason I wanted one and I really do love it. There are the requisite dressers behind me.

The table was made by the Contrarian and there is a companion one on the other side. The top is inlaid with 4 ceramic tiles. The wood finish is a reddish pecan.  You can just see the tip of Diego’s bed in the lower left.

This one seems somewhat out of focus. It’s the living room.

We still have a lot of wall space to fill up obviously.

This is from a different angle and you can see the dining room and the kitchen as well. The fireplace pictured next is to the right of the little sewing chair which the Contrarian got from his mother.

All little too dark to see well. You can just see the edge of the big red chair in the lower left.

This is a shot from the sliding doors out to our patio. The stone wall runs to the sides of the house and is gated on either side. Diego likes to go to either side to keep up with what is going on in the neighborhood. We have some raised beds to the right for veggies next year and more stones and stuff to the left.

This is the library, aka Diego’s play room. I still need to do a bit more decorating here I think. The footstools and the table were made by the Contrarian. I love them all.

These are some of the bookcases.  We have seven in all and room for two more if we need them. What am I talking about, “if” we need them. It’s WHEN, lol

This is the Contrarian busy at “work” in his office. Mostly he’s reading stuff on the Inter-tubes.

Diego is starting to learn to read too.

He thinks that if he eats stuff that has writing on it, he will learn faster. Usually he doesn’t swallow the paper, he just tears it into the tiniest of pieces and leaves it for us to find.

We like that.

It shows he’s creative doncha think?

This is my craft room. I just love it and find it perfect with tons of room. I have a cutting table which is in the lower right. The sewing machine is on its own table on castors and wheels into the closet. Everything seems on wheels in this house, lol.

There is a large credenza against the wall to the left. That stores a ton of craft items in plastic containers. And the closet of course is nicely shelved and that is loaded as well.

I could open a store.

And well, these are the scenes that greeted me a couple of mornings last week as Diego and I were making our way on our jaunt through the cacti and sage.

This was taken about 7 am give or take.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This other, the following day. Diego waits patiently while I take the photos. He listens to the birds twittering here and there, and scares himself when he flushes a covey of quail.

So hope you enjoyed the tour. I’m not much of a photographer nor an interior design maven, but we sure enjoy ourselves here. Show us your environs when you get the chance and we can ooh and ahh at the views.

It’s a Good Good Friday

Tags

Art, atonement, crucifixion, Jesus, religion, Zoology

I am aware of course that many of you are not believers, at least in a traditional way. And because of that, I try not to spend too much time on things having to do with faith, especially denominational faith. I leave that to my other blog, Walking in the Shadows. However I found this article so compelling that I thought I would share it with you, in keeping with the day.

I have for a long time not believed in what is referred to as “substitutionary atonement” or the tenet that God sent Jesus to earth with the express purpose of suffering and dying for our sins, the sin we carry from Adam’s original sin. It doesn’t comport with my view of God quite simply. As Kenneth R Overburg, SJ suggests, it takes Jesus out as Plan B, and replaced Him with the Word, foundational in creation, planned from the beginning to dwell among creation in the fullness of time.

It is the Incarnational model and centers Jesus as love offering, come among humanity at the right moment in time to offer the WAY to unity with the Godhead. Overburg writes a beautiful and compelling explanation of this interpretation which I think allows many who have rejected Christianity specifically because of the implications of the substitutionary atonement theory. Please enjoy, The Incarnation: Why God Wanted to Become Human.

♦

Isn’t he cute?

And aren’t they lovely?

Blessings to you all!

Tie Up Those Horses and Come in for a Drink

Tags

dogs, electorate, Entertainment, GOP, Johnny Depp, Media, Photography, Politics, psychology, Sarah Palin, sociology, Tim Flach, Top Lie of the Year

Tis the season and all that rot. Oh, I’m not a Grinch. Anything but. Look! I bring you eye candy.

Johnny Depp makes me little old heart go piddy paddy like it used to back in the day when life was all before me.

He has been called upon to grace the cover of Vanity Fair once again. Along with an interview which you can read in part here, there is a lovely series of photos of the gorgeous one for you to warm your heart by. Do indulge. I won’t tell a soul.

***

If you would prefer eye candy of a different species, then drop over to Roger Ebert’s blog. His blogs are consistently fun to read and thoughtful as well. This one is about dogs and he shows you a goodly number of photos of our canine friends, done by a terrific photographer. A link to the work of Tim Flach, and his latest book. The pictures are simply stunning and worth the trip over.

Here is my favorite, just to whet your appetite:

***

The University of Maryland does a polling of what media outlets people watch and how much they know about current events. Does it surprise anyone that the more people watch, the more they know? And does it surprise anyone that there is one major  exception to this rule? And that the major exception is Fox. People who watch Fox are stunningly, I mean stupendously the most mis-informed of all people polled.

Think Progress has the numbers. I mean they aren’t just a few points more ignorant; they are massively so. Fox has a captive audience here, convinced that they can’t trust anyone else, and so Fox simply indoctrinates them at will. We’ve shown you the evidence of that in regards the Health Care law and their use of “government option” and on climate change and their caveat to that there is serious disagreement by “many” scientists.

***

This one can’t come as any surprise either. PolitFact has just released it’s listing of the Lie of the Year and all the runners-up. You can assume that Republicans carry the day, because Relieacans do it better than just about anybody. John, Orange Juice, Boehner, won the 1st place slot. Other notables are Michele, spinner-eye, Bachmann, and Johnny, I just hate everybody, McCain.

***

I don’t know who Doug Bean is, but he seems to know of what he speaks: namely game hunting. And he watched Sarah’s gushy love affair with self, known as Sarah Palin’s Alaska. More pertinently, he watched the caribou hunt. And, he was appalled. She ain’t, it seems, any hunter he’s ever seen. She’s  a con job all the way. Read his analysis of her “style”. Me thinks that Ms. Media has perhaps over-extended herself and the true Sarah is starting to emerge: a fraud of the major proportions.

And to make matters worse: new polling by the Washington Post and ABC, show that those who would vote for Palin for Prez are eight percent. Oh please, please ego maniac lady, run, run, run. Make our collective day!

***

The Contrarian, looking out over the frozen tundra of Iowa, said, “I’ll find you one day, standing at the window, with a tear in your eye as you look out at the desert sands of New Mexico, missing the beauty of a white sparkling winter’s day.”

“I doubt that,” I moaned, as I stared bleakly at the thermometer outside, registering an icy 3°. “I seriously doubt that.”

In my head, I live in Hawai`i. I walk the beach each day, and watch the surf, sitting with an iced tea and my lap top, a book of choice. The dogs frolic. The Contrarian waves from the deck. I reach through sunglassed eyes, for more sunscreen. I close my eyes, and . . . . WAKE UP IN A FREAKIN” FROZEN TUNDRA IN IOWA!

It works for a while. Do you live somewhere else in your head? Do tell.

***

I can’t believe my luck. It turns out that my state’s representative here in Iowa is scheduled to be the new Speaker. And he is claiming he won’t oppose a move to impeach the remaining justices to our Supreme Court, for having the audacity to do their jobs of judicial review. This all about marriage equality in Iowa. I just sent him a temperate (mostly) e-mail making my position most clear and challenging him. I know these people know better, but if people of knowledge don’t speak up, then the misinformed and bigots among us win. The fight goes on.

***

Well, it’s leftovers day! Hurrah! I made some biscotti this morning. Lovely and my favorite kind of breakfast food. See ya tomorrow.

Related Articles

• Iowa Marriage Equality May Not Be Doomed As State Senate Either Remains Dem or Is Split (lezgetreal.com)
• Lawsuit: Iowa Vote to Oust Pro-Equality Judges Was Illegal (towleroad.com)

What’s Up? 07/20/10

Tags

Darwin, David Barton, Elena Kagan, evolution, Glenn Beck, Harriet Miers, Obama, Photography, Plato, racism, religious freedom, religious right, right wing wackos, Sarah Palin, SCOTUS

Here I come to save the day. . .That means that Mighty Mouse is on the way! Oh, ‘scuse me, I get carried away with childhood memories sometimes. You gotta be OLD to remember that cartoon.

Anyways, here I am to give you the scoop on what ya oughta be readin’ today. How’s that for chutzpah? I KNOW what you NEED to read!

I suffer from delusions of grandeur once in a while. Actually I’m very humble. You know that. I want you to believe that–it’s my blog persona. Humility. Yep.

I have others. I’m sybileen in that respect. I can call out the “others.” But don’t make me. I can be not so pretty. A very nice lady at our church said I was a “sweet person.” God love her, but she ain’t talked to the Contrarian–who would give her a different take. I am sweet, but well, let’s not go there okay?

If the wacko right doesn’t like being called racist, they oughta pay more attention to what they are critical of. I mean, Obama was in office a minute and one half when they started making it sound positively EVIL that he used a teleprompter. Like that was something new in politics. I mean they had nothing more but they HAD to criticize. When you criticize EVERYTHING down to the whether he’s a boxer versus briefs kinda guy, it’s pretty obvious you got something else  going on  in your pea brain see?

And just go and refudiate that Ms. Sarah (that woman is an Idiot!) Palin. And Pluleeeeez don’t refer to yourself and the Bard in the same breath. If you have actually read or attended a Shakespearean play, well I’ll eat my left ear.  Steve Benen has some choice words to drop on the Grizzly Mama. It’s delicious!

And don’t miss Sarah Posner’s great lament at the lunatic boy, Glenny Beck who would not, I swear, know the truth if it arrived at his front porch in letters twelve feet high and identified itself as God Almighty come to give revelation directly to the Becky one. David Barton, lap dog, who is usually on his leash when he appears with the padded cell bound Glenn, is also treated for his usual maladjustments of history.

More moaning from Andrea Lafferty of Traditional Values Coalition. She claims that Elena Kagan got a pass where similarly situated Harriet Miers got crucified. She claims the left is unfair. Except of course the truth is available and the main thrust of anti-Mier ranting is documented as coming from the right itself who thought her not conservative enough. It’s just the usual say it and it will be so to the drooling NASCAR/WWF/TRAILER TRASH who read? have it read to them.

Similarly, Family Research Council finds something sinister in Obama’s use of the term freedom to worship on a couple of occasions. It’s the beginning of the end of religion in Merika they squeak. Yeah, except that Obama has used the term freedom of religion 124 versus 9 times for freedom to worship and  Dubya numbers on the two are 124 and  33 respectively. As I said, lying comes as second nature to these RELIGIOUS  claimers.

Okay, I know that music and math are related. How, I don’t know, but some really smarty guy says that he has cracked Plato’s “codes” and well, there was, like a whole lot of new information called symbolic messages. It explains why Aristotle called Plato a student of Pythagoras when scholars can find no reason to agree. And it seems he forecast that the universe would be found to be governed by mathematical principles and not Zeus. Interesting little article.

Someone is suggesting that Darwin did not gather by happenstance a lot of material and then see a pattern which he deduced or inducted into natural selection. Rather, he may have had the hypothesis all along and gathered material in view of that belief. Hey a doctoral thesis has to come from somewhere, here you go.  Heavy reading here.

Just leaving a comment over at Blisterinas. Have you seen here photography? You really should. I was telling her I collect animal skulls. Ones from animals our dogs murder and bring home and deposit. I really like my raccoon skull. The jaw works and everything. I would collect mouse skulls but Spencer the Impaler Cat loves the heads, he leaves the rest of the body for me. I warn them about wrinkles and toss them out.

Speaking of which, why the hell are some people not making their full feeds available? I have a tough time downloading sites as it is. It would surprise you no doubt to know that I READ most of you guys blogs pretty thoroughly, though I don’t comment as much, but I read most of all you write since it’s in my READER. I thought the point of writing was to be read? Yet some folks only give titles and I have to go there just to see if it’s something I wanna read. So I don’t go as often sad to say. Some sites take me a good five minutes to download. Can’t do too many at that rate. Rant complete.

Well I’m pooped. See ya tomorrow.

What’s Up? 06/22/10

Tags

blogging, cake, dessert, History, hoarding, Marcus Aurelius, McChrystal, Military, Obama, online posting, paleontology, philosophy, Photography, psychology, racism, Recipes, slavery, teabaggers

If ya read upside down like Chimpy here, then you better go elsewhere. But I know you read just fine, so continue we will to  the bestest stuff I have found today in my wanderings through the Intertubes of information.

We have managed to have most of two days of no rain, and though threatening earlier, it’s sunning now. Not sure how long that will last.

Things are alleged to be getting all fired up again as evening comes on, when I shall be heading home from a meeting at church.

So without further ado, scan the following for anything that strikes your fancy. Where you fancy might be, I have no idea, and don’t mean to say anything untoward or sexually provocative or anything. As Vodka says, children read this blog. Keep that in mind. I believe in dressing appropriately at the computer. No skivvies if you are so enrobed. Get dressed before proceeding.

We start with a nice recipe for dessert, Mystery Mocha from Pioneer Woman. I’ve cut through all the pictures and gone straight to the recipe. It’s kinda like a lava cake, chocolaty and coffeey.

There is an interesting review of a biography of Marcus Aurelius at In Character. That might interest one person I know, but I thought it posed an interesting dilemma today. We all want so many answers to life’s questions, but we seldom seek the answers in philosophy, certainly not ancient Stoicism at least. We are more prone to the quick fix of self-help books. Perhaps a post might grow from this. . .who knows.

The Boston Globe has a really good article on the mind of the anonymous commenter online. The hard core make up about 1% of all online users.  Should people be required to use their names? What is happening as a result of the anonymity generally allowed? Are comments even a good thing at all? Read on and see.

In case you didn’t know, Blisterina does some outstanding photography, usually in black and white which I just love. Please visit.

Religious Dispatches has a good piece on the Tea Party and how it attempts to re-write history. Now we are to understand that racism really played no part in slavery. No, it was a conspiracy is all. Do read on. Providing “proof” that racists don’t have to feel guilty about their racism. Takes the cake doesn’t it?

It appears we may have been walking longer than we thought. Kin of Lucy the most famous of our ancestors, is older than she apparently. Lucy’s ancestor is called “big man” because he was between 5 and 5’6″  compared to Lucy who was a mere 3’6″ tall. As you would expect, not all agree, and that’s the fun of science isn’t it?

We hear about it more and more. It seems to be the new “in” thing to suffer from. I’m talking about hoarding. I think there is even a TV show that features interventions. Anyway, I don’t get people like this, but I find it all quite fascinating as well. There is a book out about it, and it is featured  at Huff Po. In our consumer obsessed lives, I can only guess it is on the rise.  It’s a sad and complex disease. The book looks interesting for sure.

Will or will not President Obama fire Gen. Stanley McChrystal? Most think he will, but David Quigg has a very different take, and one that is worth thinking about. Obama is smarter than the average President  after all.

And dat oughta keep you outa trouble today.

Short Takes on the Day, 09/03/09

Tags

anniversary, astronomy, Chevron, Crafts, education, EFM, energy, exobiology, GOP, Humor, knitting, Levi Johnston, Obama, oil companies, right wing, Sarah Palin

Well, I’m about churched out, at least yakking about it for a while. I know my readership is kind of split between those that like religion posts and those that would rather not, but I’m back on more secular ground today, and we are going to hop around and see what’s afoot.

***

First on the agenda is that the Contrarian and I are celebrating ten years of wedded bliss today. That means dinner out which is about all we do. We could say we celebrate every day, but seriously we don’t lack from spending time together so it’s not that big a deal to either of us. We got a lovely card from CEC. It was lovely to be remembered.

Last night I had my first EFM class, and I came home with HOMEWORK!. Not that I didn’t expect it. I’m eagerly looking forward to this wonderful opportunity to explore the bible in even greater depth than I have so far.

Now, on to the goodies!

***

I’d describe myself as a novice but competent knitter. I have made two sweaters, both of which I still wear. I have yarn and a beginning for another, as well as a couple of other projects, and I’m getting that knitting urge once again, so I expect to start soon.

Vicki, over at knittingdragonflies, has turned me on to a totally new concept to me, the top down method. Most sweaters, as I’ve seen are started from the bottom and knitted in sections that you then piece together. This method obviously starts from the top, and I think is done in one piece. I’m interested and intrigued. If you are slip over and get your instructions. Happy crafting!

I admit, it’s been a long time since I posted a craft link! Hopefully I’ll find a tasty recipe or two as well. But you know me, I can never pass up the chance to slander a Rethug along the way, and the choices are sooooooo many!

***

As many of you already know, my point in these Short Takes is to make you the darling of the cocktail and dinner party, and the go to person at the water cooler. My goal is to give you that eclectic education that makes you look smart and so with it among your peers, and indeed makes you stand above to be admired and fawned over as the person who just knows everything.

So you probably need to know that the Kepler, as in Johannes Mission is a creation of NASA designed to find habitable worlds around distant stars. Word is that they are finding it might be possible to locate exomoons around some of those planets. So we have a double chance of finding habitable orbs in the sky. The technology hopes to allow the scientific ones the ability to detect the imperceptible wobble that occurs when a planet is pulled by both its sun and its moon.

All this is of course important because the need to transport to another world becomes increasingly attractive as the GOP continues to ramp up the craziness that has attacked them for the past twenty years or so. Sane humans may have no choice but to leave to preserve said sanity as it were. The only small problems left to address will be things like faster than light travel, and incidentals like how to create food replicators ala Star Trek. We are clear that we can’t live any kind of civilized life without them!

***

More wingbat shittery from the Rethugs and their spokesmorons. It seems that President Obama has done a piece that school districts can optionally play to their kids when they return to school. It’s all about working hard and being good students and learning some stuff. Pretty much what you would want you kids to know huh?

Not so, the right wing nut cases. No, this is “indoctrination” and right out of Maoist dogma. All the usual players are weighing in and that means you know its bunk. But no doubt they will convince their duped minions to raise the usual hue and cry.

Increasingly mainstream America looks with tired disbelief at the robotic lock-step ranting of the mostly evangelical ultra right.

But it does point up something. With only the promise and the verbal ranting on abortion and gay rights, you can convince the religious right to ignore its own self interest and vote for those who economically and politically destroy them. And better yet, the actual politicians can continue their own personal lascivious living. Getting caught means only having to say you are sorry and the devil made you do it.

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see more Lolcats and funny pictures

This pretty much sums up my knowledge of how cars work. From toasters to nuclear power plants, if it needs electricity or runs on a motor, I prefer to think of it as magic. I work under the theory that there is only so much room in my noggin, and I don’t clutter up the space with stuff I don’t need to know. Plug it in, turn the key, work.

***

It is undoubtedly true that the way to potty train a dog is to keep it kenneled and take it out at regular intervals. The animal will not “foul” its sleeping quarters.

One might assume that oil companies, specifically Chevron,  operate on the same principle. If Ecuador is any evidence, they have fouled that country mightily with their obscene practices.

After doing their best to cast dirt on the litigants and the judge, they are prepared to accept that they are going to be held liable to the tune of 27 billion.  The people there are suffering from increases in cancer, miscarriages, birth defects and other problems.

This is of course the ugly American syndrome for which we are so famous. We screw other people in other countries for our personal benefit. Chevron, I suspect would not even have qualms about doing the same in the good ole US of A. Good reason to keep them out of the drilling business in Alaska and off shore.

***

Okay, don’t get me wrong, I’m no fan of Levi Johnston. He strikes me as a fairly vacuous human being, who hasn’t given much thought to much beyond his own nose yet in his short life.

But, given that he was the almost son-in-law of our dear Sarah (The Quitter) Palin, he remains in the news.

With competing desires to sell books and make some money, they undoubtedly will both view this feud as helpful to their respective endeavors. If they should join forces, they would only need another 3/4 of a brain to be an intact human being.

Still, if you have the desire to read about Mr. Johnston’s take on Mrs. Palin, no better place can be found than Vanity Fair, the best of the scrumptious interview mags. (I still have my copy of the one they did on Johnny Depp a month or so ago, and I’m not letting go of it anytime soon.)

No doubt half of what Levi has to say is pure bunk, but then that means half is scintillating gossipy goodies. You can pick and choose which you want to believe of course.

Which all goes to show ya that the human species is a hardy bunch. As the evidence builds that a huge portion of the US public is stone cold crazy as loonies, these two prove that life does indeed go on in the human zoo.

Until next time!

Encapsulated in da Intertubes

Tags

Dick Cheney, gay rights, Humor, Liz Cheney, Mike Huckabee, Military, Newt Gingrich, pets, SCOTUS, the Gosselin's

Helllloooo there alien persons, or creatures, or whatever you might go by. I cannot tell from the anatomy whether you be girls or boys, but much bowing and welcoming gestures I convey.  We have long awaited your presence on our little blue ball in the sky, in fact a few of us have been sure we have seen you many times over the decades and have been probed by you guys. Is that the way you say hello?

Anyways, nice little greenies, since you’ve found you way into the inter-tubes and can look around at all our top secret secrets of informational data, I thought I would give you a taste of what is here to be learned on a typical day in Merika, North America, continent, on said blue ball. Oh by the way, that brown thing that hangs around us, is not very useful, but please leave it intact. I think the science people believe it helpful in keeping things in order.

We start out with visiting a typical couple in the states of the US of A. That being a family called the Gosselin’s, not to be confused with either the bird baby gosling, child of Geese or Goose, or Ghosts, phantoms of dead people who got lost looking for Starbucks and can’t find their way back to heaven.

Confused, don’t be. The Gosselin’s are a big family who had a whole passel of kids at once, a litter in fact, and are now shamelessly abusing them in the name of securing enough funds to “raise” them, something they didn’t think about before they did the dirty deed that resulted in creating them. In any case the mom and dad, don’t much like each other any more, but stay together “for the sake of the kids” or the money, you pick. Want to know more? Well, I can see why you wouldn’t.

***

Our super duper court, the Supreme deciders (not that guy called Bush who said he was, but the real deciders) have decided not to hear a case challenging the Pentagon (our super duper military strategists) on it’s policy of “don’t ask, don’t tell.” This is a policy that means that gay folks (people who get excited in a romantic sense with people of their own sex) whom everyone knows are gay, can’t say they are gay, and we promise not to ask. This some how makes it okay for them to serve in the military as fodder for war, when otherwise they wouldn’t. Don’t understand? Neither do most of the rest of us. Our really nice new President said he would change this, so far, he hasn’t. Do you have this problem with your leaders too?

***

We humans enjoy taking hilarious pictures of our “pets” and then putting even funnier captions under them. We are unaware what our pets do in return to make fun of us. We aren’t quite as smart as they are. A few humans actually like pets better than people, and they are probably the people you would rather talk to.

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Which is not to say that we aren’t more than capable of intelligent discourse. Witness this next little entry, wherein a very neat friend of mine is able to move seamlessly from gardening to garden pests, to human pests all in one breath. You can find talent like this in a lotta places here on the Nort Amerikan Continental, but beware, the talent holders are usually a wee bit on the “weird” side. Not good to eat, if you were wondering.

***

Our offspring are unpredictable. Many a parent has been proud as punch of their creations and others, well not so much. So if your intending to mate with us human species types, beware. You just never know what you might end up with. Case in point. We have a male (I’m taking that on faith, since I have no desire to check his anatomy) known as Dick “The Dick” Cheney. He is a real asshat ( a word we reserve for the craziest of those who claim homo sapien status).

Now said male enjoys clandestine activities in the name of “protecting his country” but what it really comes down to is feeding his gigantic ego. Now he has a daughter, name Liz, or as we call her “the apple of The Dick’s eye.” She is just like her papa except for the um physical equipment. (Some might argue she really has ballz, but I’m not checking her either.) Now here’s the point, don’t assume that this is what will happen generally. Cuz he also has another daughter, and she is ummm, (sssshhhh) gay. And she seems rational, in fact she may have all the brains in the whole family. (The mother is well, look up Barbara Bush, and you might find certain parallels—mother she-lions might be a good phrase.) So, I’d think twice about any mating ideas, comprende?

***

Do you guys elect people to run your government? We do. Here’s how it works: You save up oodles of money, make all kinds of promises to everyone, some of which can be contradictory, get elected, and then do what you wanted to in the first place. Sound crazy? Well it is, and that may be the reason why most of the folks who run are crazy too. We have one extra special group of crazies though (wingnuts is another term for them.) They promise old Biblical  plagues on us if the current party stays in power.

A dude named Gingrich, warns that paganism is taking us over. He should know these things having plowed throw three marriages to arrive at the doorstep of the one church that claims divorce is a big no-no. He knows his bible.

 The other, a bible pounder by the name of Huckabee (not the huckleberry–that’s a fruit. . .but well,. . .  no, he probably isn’t). Anyway, he thinks that good ole Merika is “favored” by God. Did your God create your planet and then claim that he liked your brother better? Some say ours did. I’m not so sure. They both are against that same -sex thing. Nobody asks how they avoid that subject around “The Dick” but they do. What can I say, we are a mass of contradictions.

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Anyway, dear Aliens, can I call you “bug eyes” for short?, that is what you can find around the news on any given day in our fine country. I hope you don’t decide we are either not worth communicating with, or worthy of a death ray. Either way, you sell us short. We are amusing in a  “gee wiz sorta way.” Give us time. Is there a Galactic Council? Are their any real Klingons? Is there a restaurant at the end of the universe? Is there an actual end to a universe? If ya know? Just wonderin’.