more joe-pics

Me:



Me and Diane:



Susan, Amlan, Justin, Me, Diane, Doug, and Judy:



Me doing dishes: ( Joe thought that was scary.)

snowshoe pics from joe

Me, Doug, Justin, and Judy heading to Diane's from Judy's:



Amlan:



Diane's place:

judy's the second time

Judy's house was the absolute best! Tons of great dessert. I'm still feeling it!

I thought I had taken more pictures here, but maybe that was Joe snapping away! I'll have to see if I can get some from him.

Antone, Doug, and co-op Curt: Curt didn't get there in time and followed our tracks from Judy's to Diane's. Considering it was getting dark and he had never been to Judy's before, I'm pretty impressed. I'd have been out in the woods screaming bloody murder. "Help!"



Doug, co-op Curt, Justin, and Joe: (Check out the look from Justin over his glasses!!)



A pillow that my friend Doug made me!! Isn't it awesome???

judy's

These were actually taken before we officially started out.

Antone:



Amlan and Joe:



Julie:



Dapper Dude Justin:

at the goat

I didn't take any pictures at the goat during the snoeshoe--I was too busy messing with dinner-- but here are a couple before the snowshoe started..

Amlan and Vanna:



Joe:

more pictures from diane's cabin

Diane, Amlan, Anton and Doug:



Judy and Amlan chowing down:



Julie and Susan:



Dude Doug:

the big 4-0!!

I turned 40 on Sunday. Man, 40 totally rocks. 39 really sucked and I have to say that my 39th bday was the worst ever. This bday was one of my best. Go figure. What a difference a year makes!

It just so happened that we had our neighborhood snowshoe progressive dinner on my bday. It was a great way to celebrate! We started at Judy's house, snowshoed to Diane's for some awesome bread, cheese she made that morning, apples, cider and other stuff. Then we went to the goat, and finished up at Judy's for some of the best dessert I've ever had. Her chocolate cake is amazing!!! It was all awesome. There were 9 of us, I think, and it turned out just perfectly.

Starting out at Judy's:



Here's a picture of our snowshoes hanging outside Diane's cabin:



Diane and her spread:

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Joe, Antone, Julie, Susan, and Judy:



Here's a picture of Justin outside doing acrobatic maneuvers to get phone cell reception:



Doug, Amlan, and Joe:

more winter pics

lots of stuff

I've skipped skiing this week because I've been a bit under the weather. Rio was sick all last week, and although I don't usually get sick, it got me a little bit. If I take a couple of IBU in the morning, I end up being ok, but boy, pretty miserable until those kick in. So I decided to go out for breakfast and mess with the blog before I get working. I better get moving!!

We've had lots of stuff going on at the goat, which has been great. My friend Grasshopper came up for a visit over Winter Carnival, and he and Justin spent some time hanging out. It was great. Winter Carnival was interesting this year--we didn't get snow early on and we were lucky there was enough to work with, and then it got so freaking cold that it was hard for people to work on the statues. There were a few really good ones, but I think people just didn't have enough time. Next year might prove to be kinder to the statue makers.

Here's a picture of Grasshopper...I almost didn't recognize him looking like Trapper John!



Here's Justin wearing my new sheepskin hat. He looks better in it than I do!!



Vanna looking might fine:



A picture of the cats that the guys took:



We are starting to get goose eggs! Watkins lays an egg every other day, and they are really awesome tasting. At first I wasn't sure I wanted to try a goose egg--it just seemed wrong somehow. I've laughed at people unwilling to eat duck eggs, and here I was, thinking there was a big difference between goose and duck eggs. I actually like the taste of goose eggs better. Interestingly, Station won't eat Watkin's eggs, although he totally eats the duck eggs. It must be some sort of species preservation thing or something. Pretty strange. But here's a picture of the first goose egg I fried up. The yolk is huge!!!

actually did it

Butcher a couple of chickens, that is. I'm not really sure what to say about it. Diane came and helped me, which was the only way I could do it. She also raised chickens as a kid and experienced the butchering part, but I think it was different for both of us this time. For me, it was about mindfulness. About being grateful. About realizing that since I eat meat, I am doing what we all should do--be responsible to take the life of what we eat instead of letting others do the dirty work for us. To look the chicken in the eye with the full understanding of what is taking place. It was sobering.

When we went to the barn to take our first rooster, I picked up one of the ones that was pretty hard on the hens, who are starting to bleed because of the roosters constantly jumping on them. Diane was brought up a bit short seeing how he just sat in my arms and let me hold him. It was a pretty terrible moment, and neither of us were sure we could do it. We stood there for a while thinking about it, looked at the beat up hens, and decided it was something that needed to be done. Like I said, it felt pretty terrible.

I knew that when this day would come I would want to be able to say some sort of prayer or blessing, but for the life of me, the only thing I could think of was the prayer from "The 13th Warrior" that Ahmed prayed before the battle with the Wendols:


For all we ought to have thought, But have not thought,
For all we ought to have said, But have not said,
For all we ought to have done, But have not done,
I pray thee Allah, forgive me.


It might not seem like the best prayer, but it worked for me. It's not about condemning ourselves for what we could have done and haven't, but it's an acknowledgement that our lives haven't been perfect. That we haven't been perfect. There seems to be a kindness, and perhaps even an acceptance, of the self that comes through in this prayer.

Surprisingly, and I think for both of us, once we were committed to doing it it didn't feel as bad as we expected it to. There was something that, even though this involved taking a life, seemed right--that seemed just. It was right for me to have to look in their eyes. It was right for me to feel terrible about it. This is only as it should be if I am going to eat meat.

All that I know is that when it comes time to eat those chickens, I will think about those eyes, think about what they looked like, and appreciate, far more than I ever have before, each bite that I take. I think that if everyone took responsibility to kill and prepare their own food, there would be much less obesity in the world. We would eat so much less.

But still, all that being said, I pray thee, Allah, forgive me.

she said like...

So I had an interesting experience that I thought I’d share and perhaps some of you will have some insight to give. I am calling it the “like phenomenon.”

Kat, Frank and I were having breakfast at Victoria’s Kitchen last week, totally enjoying our food and our stimulating conversation. (Although I can’t remember at the moment exactly what we were talking about so I’m not sure it was that important to the welfare of the state, but it was stimulating nonetheless.) We were there for about an hour, and I stayed longer stealing wireless from Cyberia. About a half hour after Frank and Kat left, an older woman came up and asked if she could talk to me. Basically, without going into all the details, she informed me that if I were a true friend to Frank, I would tell him that if he ever wanted to get a job somewhere he had better stop using the word ‘like’. While I was struggling to gather my thoughts and shut my mouth, which was wide open from the shock of the blatant rudeness and gall, she continued to tell me how listening to our conversation was VERY annoying and, in not so many words, was quite put out that we had forced her to eavesdrop and listen in. After all, she was sitting on the other side of the room and must have been straining very hard to hear us since none of us are loud talkers. (Though we did see her again yesterday and I noticed she had a hearing aid in. She must have had that baby cranked pretty high.)

Regardless of my dismay at the social filter that some people are prone to lose as they get older, (and hoping that I never lose mine), it did get me thinking about the word ‘like’ and how often we use it. How often I use it! Like all the time! How did this word come to be so prevalent in the way we speak? Why is it that those over 50 are the ones who are annoyed when they eavesdrop on other people’s conversations? Was it because of TV? But I didn’t watch TV when I was growing up. In fact, I didn’t become a “regular” TV watcher until I was 25 after I had the guys. So where did I pick it up from? And what are the situations in which I use it? (After paying attention to my own ‘like phenomenon’, I am sorry to admit that I really do use it often.)

A general consensus from those I have talked to about this is that it started off in the Valley Girl days. It was so exaggerated that people started using the word in order to make fun of it. But somehow, if this is true, the exaggeration was lost and suddenly most of us under 50 began to use it in every conversation.

How is this possible? How probable is it that a few people making fun of a particular subculture and their use of the word ‘like’ can infiltrate our very language to the point that most of us don’t even realize we are using the word? It’s crazy. I want the exact date of when this started. I want to know when it was that I started using this word in excess and come to an understanding of why I did so. Can language use actually be this devious?

I don’t know. But like, I think if I were into rhetorical studies I would be writing a dissertation on this ‘like phenomenon’.

almost forgot

to show you pictures of the apple peeler that my mother sent me. I have been looking at the Lhemann's (not sure I spelled that correctly) catalogue which has a mess of non-electric household thingys (for lack of a better word at the moment....) in it. I saw an apple peeler that was exactly like the one I remember using as a kid, so I asked my mom about it and, sure enough, she still had it. It is now mine! I have it out because I think it is so beautiful. I'll have to see if I can get it to work again!

this is the u.p. I know and love!

We are finally getting some snow, and it is freaking beautiful. Yesterday Vanna, Cinnamon and I went snowshoeing and could barely see where we were going! It was awesome! The sky was almost black for a bit, then, wham! it hit!

Although it wasn't the best driving weather, I went to Shooty's to listen to Erin's gig. It was great. Not a lot of people, but that was to be expected considering the weather. What a great bunch of friends I have! All of us made it up there, and I wish I would remember to bring my camera to these events. I would love to have pictures.

We are doing our annual neighborhood snowshoe progressive dinner at the end of the month and hopefully Erin will come and entertain us when we get to the dessert house! Doug and I share February bdays so we will considering it birthday presents for us!

Here are some pictures from this morning.





It's good to feel like I'm back in the U.P.!