Are you all aware that there is a huge march on DC planned for Sept 12? I tend to assume you know what I know, but when I discovered last night that himself was unaware it occurred to me that perhaps some of you are also in the dark.

This is all related to the Tea Party movement. I can't go - I'm committed to helping my eldest the week of the gathering, but maybe one of you can? Who knows.

Anyway, if you are interested here are some links to pages of organizations that are involved with information. Most likely there is a group going from your home town. I know that the city of Asheville will be represented with two bus loads and several car loads - perhaps more, but those I KNOW are going.

So, if interested, take a peak


9/12 DC.org

These people keep my head spinning! We all know that Obama et al are intent on "rebuilding" America in their own image. We all know things are being passed at an alarming rate. We know congress is voting on bills they have not read and do not understand. Some of these moves are being reported and of course we are fighting as hard as we can. But some of these moves are happening quietly and we have no idea what they have done, perhaps, until it is too late. Thank God there are a few in DC watching and letting us know about some of the sneaky stuff. Of course, how do we know about any of what "they" are doing? Through FOX news, radio, and the Internet. I've told myself over and over, if and when these evil people manage to shut Rush and Glenn up, we'll have the Internet to let us know what is truly going on. Well, maybe not. If, like me, you are relying on the Internet for much of your information you need to read this article.

Obama's buddies are writing a bill to take the Internet away from us, give Obama the control to shut the Internet away from the people of the US. Of course, they say, "only in case of emergency" Sounds a bit like, oh I don't know, maybe China?

It is this notion of what they can do "in emergencies" that is very worrisome. Who decides what is an emergency"? A trumped up swine flue epidemic? What ever they decide is an emergency is one, that is why they write these laws with such vague language. And without Internet, at the mercy of government news outlets, we'd have no way of knowing if indeed there was an emergency! As far as I am concerned, the Internet is a vital means of communication WHEN there are emergencies!

OK, gotta run be a mom...

Corgis!

I hate computer updates. I REALLY hate Explorer updates. They always screw things up.
That is all.

Well, it's kinda cute actually.
Here's the story,
At Homestead Farm (where my horse and pony live) there are a bunch of hens, but no roosters. They are there for nothing more than amusement and eating fly larva. Nobody is collecting eggs or anything. Naturally the hens do lay eggs, here - there - everywhere, but the eggs never hatch of course (need roosters for that).

Also at the farm there is a small flock of ducks - no pond, no stream, no water unless we fill a small pool for them - but ducks just for amusement. Now there are drakes in this flock so, ya know, those duck eggs that appear may very well be fertile.

So one day a very frustrated hen comes across a stray large egg and thinks, "hmm, this egg looks lonely. I think I'll keep it company a while, maybe keep it nice and toasty. And by the way - WOE be to ANYONE who comes near me and my egg!"

We all go about our business, chuckling to ourselves about how funny it would be if a duck came out of that egg...



Meet Chuck the Duck, who thinks he's a chicken (of course we don't know if Chuck is a he or a she)











Somewhere in this mob are the DNA mom and dad. There is only one female and three males, so I guess it might be understandable that she abandoned her egg. Those guys are on her case non-stop. She has no feathers on the back of her head or neck.

Have I mentioned lately that I detest John McCain?

The boy begins his year of studies today. This will be his "7th grade" year, though that is a loose description having more to do with his age and the number of years in formal study than topics and levels worked on.

One of the biggest differences between homeschooling and traditional schooling is the ability to avoid "wasted time". As a 7th grader of course he would be involved in changing classes all day. The mere process of going from one class to another necessitates lost time. Here, no such loss, probably saves 45 min to an hour a day right there. No lost time at the beginning and end of class as the teacher greets students, takes care of daily "housecleaning", gains control of the unruly mob. Of course there are many small time savings as each topic is studied here, no disruptions, no unruly classmates stealing learning time, and no waiting for others to finish a task before moving on. Over the course of a day that probably saves another 45 min to an hour. Yet another savings is the simple act of getting to and home from school. That of course varies wildly depending on how a student travels and how far the student lives from school - but I imagine with all the morning prep and other time eaters involved he saves at least another hour per day over other students. So the least savings of time on an average day would be between 2 1//2 and 3 hours.

Then there are the days like today. As the first day of school, if he attended traditional school, nothing of actual education would happen. But for him it is jump in with both feet.

Here is his home school schedule for today:

* 1 hour reading book of his choice, after my approval, INKDEATH for now. He read maybe ten books this summer.

* read Kids Discover magazine on Shakespeare

* 1 hour creative writing (he is writing a dragon book)written on the computer so his keyboarding skills are practiced, as well as the ability to use word processing. Later we'll be going over his story and he will sharpen his editing skills

* 1 chapter in Charlemagne read, notes taken (writing project when the book is completed in about a week and a half)

* 1 chapter in The History Of US - chapter is on Western Expansion and Exploration, pre Civil War, Jacksonian presidency. Questions at the end, explain to me what was in the chapter, answer my questions orally

* Review Algebra 1 up to where we left off last year - heavy stuff starts tomorrow

* 30 min practice on guitar

* 2 hours work at barn - There is so much important stuff learned in this activity it probably deserves a post of its own.

* Discussion of the importance of efficiency (repeated theme throughout school year :)

* Listen to Rush (yup, I raise Rush babies) and discuss at least one theme from the program.

Today, being Monday is his longest school day of the week. We hit the barn by 8am, get home and do the book work, then guitar, then back to the barn to finish for the day. While at the barn he will likely ride as well as help me with the heavy stuff - no lack of fresh air and exercise. Probably will not stop for him to do whatever he wants until around 6:30 or 7pm. He prepares his own breakfast and lunch everyday. Sometimes his own dinner too, sometimes he even prepares dinner for his parents. Today he made himself tortellini for lunch. He also helps with the dogs, walks them, feeds them, cleans up after them. Why yesterday I even had him help me vacuum.

Earlier today he came down and told me it sort of felt Christmasy. Maybe sometime soon I'll write a post to explain that comment to you.

Friends, if you are not watching Glenn Beck already please make every effort to so so this week. Honestly I don't often watch him - bad time of day for me - but I do listen to him pretty much every day on the radio. His show is on FOX at 5:00 and all this week he is going to be exposing the methods by which the current administration is attacking our freedom of speech. In my humble opinion - that freedom is our #1 most important. If that one is squashed, the rest are toast.

Almost certainly some parts of the shows will be available on YouTube, but the fact is, if his ratings are very high for this series other outlets might start covering what is going on.

TTFN, gotta listen to Glenn, keep the boy on task, and play with the doggies.

I don't know if you guys are reading Chalie's blog, but it is fantastic every time he posts. His most recent is no exception.

Was stung by a wasp yesterday. All I was doing was haltering a young horse - not bothering the wasp, not sitting or standing on the wasp, it was a fly by stinging. I'm allergic to wasps, but not terribly so - much more allergic to hornets, particularly yellow jackets. Generally I try to stay calm around bees and such, in fact this is the first time, in eleven years, I've been stung at the barn. Considering the number of stinging insects regularly to be found there, that is pretty amazing. Not been stung by a yellow jacket since I was 14 or 15, that one bout got me. Maybe I have outgrown the allergy, but not interested in testing the notion.
So today I have a large swelling, bigger than my hand with my fingers spread - hot, red, hard, and angry - on the back of my thigh. I can deal with that. Of course the woman I work for at the barn never even called to see how I was doing yesterday, even though I told her I'd been stung and am allergic. Good thing he got me through my heavy jeans. Probably saved me a much nastier reaction...

Today D2 is getting a root canal. In a few weeks she'll be getting a crown to go with it. Why might a healthy 21 year old who takes very good care of her teeth (never a childhood cavity in her head) need a root canal and crown - to the tune of a few thousand bucks? And no, we don't have dental insurance. Because last January she was playing soccer with a bunch of her Tar Heel buddies and some young man clocked her in the jaw. She won't give me the young man's name, I think she might be a little afraid I'm gonna send him a bill...

For anyone interested in the saga of my horse and her bad foot, she is actually showing improvement finally and we can ride her up to an hour walk/trot only, still no canter, but she is about 98-99% sound and this makes me very happy...

D2 is all moved into her first apartment. Appalachian State, after three national football championships, admits more students on an annual basis than they can house, so even though she is only a sophomore - and our general family policy is no apartment or car of your own until at least junior year - she was unable to get into a dorm so she'll be sharing an apartment, meant for only two, with two other young ladies. All three are music majors and there is quite the assortment of instruments in that apartment- an Irish harp, fiddle, cello, an erhu - LiuQin - and Hu Lu Si (all Chinese instruments), a marimba, clarinet, bassoon, concertina, two Irish flutes, and two penny whistles. There may be more, but those are the ones I can think of right now. Think there is going to be much fun there. The apartment is literally across the street from the music building, so at least we still didn't have to buy her a car...

The boy is finally getting interested in writing. He has his own little blog, his own facebook - for staying in touch with his sisters only!, and is writing a dragon book. Thank goodness, up until the last few months he'd sit for an hour holding the pencil and staring at his paper if I asked him to write something. More than two sentences could take hours...

That's bout all the musing I have time for, gotta get the girl to the root canal appointment.

Update swelling now larger than a dinner plate. At least no hives or closing of throat.

It is only one poll, and for the most part I don't believe polls to be all that accurate - but I can dream right?

Over reached much ya think?

This country swings back and forth wildly at times. Overly cocky politicos get a majority and fail to understand the full reason why, then do lots of stupid stuff fast and presto chango the pendulum swings the other way...

Hee hee, my musician - harp playing, cello playing - daughter hates Canon in D...
oh, and at 5'4 and less than 100 lbs (a freakin size 0 for pity's sake), both her harp (traditional, not concert) and her cello are bigger than she.

Watch all the way to the end, it's worth it if you have the 5 min :)

Saw this as a headline today on Drudge:
Boxer could face re-election fight of her career against Fiorina

here is the article

All I've got to say is - Good God I Hope So!

What a bitch this woman is.

Update I understand there is some problem with the link. If you want to read the news story just goggle Mercury News, then on the newspaper's website search Barbara Boxer. On the list of stories it is obvious which is the story for the headline. It is there, no problem to get to it this way. Don't understand why the link works sometimes but not others. Anyway, give it a go if you want to read the story.

So now we are supposed to believe the O anguished over his poor grandma's death.

This is the same grandma he threw under the bus during his campaign. :56

At any point has anyone said that he ran "for public office or members of Congress are in this so they can go around pulling the plug on grandma?" Of course that was not the express purpose in their running for office. They ran for office for power, and the end result of some of their policies will be that many elderly will be denied the care they need to make their last years comfortable and of the highest possible quality. Denying knee replacements is not "pulling the plug", but that sort of thing would indeed happen under the proposed Democrat plans. Denying dialysis to people over fifty or sixty may not be specifically written into the plans, in fact my understanding is that most of the plan as written does not say much at all specifically, but it does lay the ground work for rationing and is being advised by a man (Emmanuel) whom we already know feels health care should not be guaranteed to anyone over the age of fifty or under the age of 15 give or take a few, and should not be guaranteed to anyone with dementia or any other permanently limiting health issue.

If we are to know a president by the advisers with whom he surrounds himself, this guy is one scary dude. The people he has have some of the most evil of beliefs when it come to the value and sanctity of the individual human life.

Be careful my friends. Stay on target, keep your eyes and ears open, your minds sharp. The bad guys have had the weekend to regroup and edit their message. Expect them to come out with new methods this week. If we don't stay after this it will fade from the public mind and discourse and we'll have their program in place way before any of us can die of old age, much less our kids. When Obama and his ilk throw out phrases like "the notion that somehow I ran for public office or members of Congress are in this so they can go around pulling the plug on grandma.", he is trying to make us all sound stupid. Those are not our words, they are his. People I have heard, in my daily life or on the radio or TV speaking at town hall meetings, have not used such ridiculous verbiage - they have been far more informed than the members of congress being addressed - and not nearly as ignorant or bumbling as Obama. (or this one?)

Anyway, I have been very proud of Americans these last 10-12 days. Sure hope they/we don't drop it all or get intimidated into backing down! We could be getting somewhere here. This is how we can at least, just maybe, temper the evil they will almost surely shove down our throats.

Somehow This is ok.

But This is not.

Ok, so nothing is new in their obvious hypocrisy, but I have decided to point out the double standard, the hypocrisy that is so rampant among Dems. It makes me feel a little better to point it out. So watch for more side by sides, there will be more cause these guys can't help themselves. The idea of what is good for the goose is good for the gander, or that they might be opening a can of worms for themselves when they say and do certain things just never occurs to them. Or maybe they just don't give a damn cause they know the press will not nail them for it.

Love this man, my hero, and if there is any question at all as to what he would say about the health care debate here is the answer.



The socialists in this country have been working for decades, little by little they achieve their goals. Always through slight of language they play on the average American's fears.

Well here is my hero in plain language, telling us what they are still - nearly fifty years later - trying to do. Some things never change.

Long read, but well written from someone actually reading the bill - therefore obviously not a legislator, give this a go if ya want.

That's my girl!

Wow! I guess maybe there IS something upon which I agree with Hilary. Who'd a thunk it.

Butterflies on my butterfly bush
The boy on his European adventure
My puppies - the Princess, Fiona, who must have pillows
Gus, who, like all males, must have the remote
and flying puppies who love to jump jump jump
I recommend embiggening the flying puppies, look at that form!

That would be my monthly junk mail from AARP. Not that I would ever join this liberal shill group but every now and then I do give them a look see, just to be fair and to be sure I have my facts straight. So here is my research for today.



Observations - at :21 the AARP rep says this is a "listening" meeting, yet she does not want to hear anyone there.

at :48 she actually scolds the room full of AARP members (pretty much all her elders I might add, my mama would bitch slap me for that sort of dishonoring of my elders) - look at these folks, these are my neighbors - my friends - the folks with whom I shop for groceries, and obviously AARP members. At 2:02 the rep apologises to the "members" for the disruptions and walks out?!

At 1:23 the rep is advocating for reform, yet at 1:40 the rep says AARP has not endorsed reform?! Again at 3:30 the rep states the AARP does not endorse reform and yet
What the hell is this if not endorsement? And the paid for by AARP public service announcement I just heard on the radio endorsing the reform bill? Not an endorsement?


Ezekiel Emanual (Rahm's brother), health policy adviser at the Office of Management and Budget and member of the Federal Council on Comparative Effectiveness Research,
thinks that doctors take their Hippocratic Oath too seriously. He states that medical care should be reserved for those not disabled because the disabled cannot be participating citizens - at least by his yardstick - that older citizens should not take up valuable resources. After all, those elderly would have had access to the full range of services when they were young and therefore we should all be ok with those folks moving over for the young.

Somebody want to explain for me why in hell AARP is advocating for this reform? It simply does not make sense.

And nope, still will be a very frigid day in Hades for sure before I will give this bunch a dime of my money!

I have no idea what the lyrics are past the first few, probably don't want to know, but it makes me smile.

D3 sent me this. Makes me smile :)

Today is move in day for D3. This is just the initial moving into her apartment (shared with 2 other music majors), lease begins today. Classes for her do not begin until late this month so I am making her come back home tomorrow for one more week, much to her dismay and chagrin. We'll get most of her stuff in today and organized, take care of the mom cleaning, and get utilities set up.

Her university is about 2 hours from home so this sort of thing is doable.

While I'm out of pocket, you guys get all this mess cleaned up - ok?