Well, I guess

if you are looking for something that is either hilariously funny or headache inducing, this would be it:

Interview Palin

OMG omg omg omg omg

I'm trying really, really hard to keep from laughing.

from The Mudflats:

"McCain Camp Figures Out Sarah Palin’s Problem!

29 09 2008

Rarely do things actually make me laugh out loud, alone in a room…especially the Wall Street Journal. But, there’s a first time for everything.

(clearing throat and trying to be serious)

Apparently Republicans have figured out what Palin’s problem is, and what she needs to do to bolster her plummeting poll numbers. I DARE you to keep a straight face.

Some prominent Republicans and senior members of Congress have expressed worries about certain facets of the Palin campaign, particularly that Gov. Palin may be “overprepared” and not encouraged to be herself, an adviser said.

And, the same article plants the seed for the “need to spend more time with my family” excuse that some are starting to think may be the excuse used to mark the end of her candidacy if things tank after the debate.

“For his part, Mr. Palin has worried about the frequent separation of his wife from her family, friends and Alaska staff, an adviser said.”

Ahhh…Todd is not pleased.

But, back to the debate on Thursday… Here’s the strategy we can expect.

“It’s time to let Palin be Palin — and let it all hang out,” said Scott Reed, a Republican strategist. Yes, enough of that”overprepared” rigid Palin who lets none of her personality escape. Go ahead….let it all hang out. I’ve got my popcorn."

Ok, never mind. I'm guffawing...

Down time

After spending the last several weeks pickling, preserving, canning, and preparing outdoor-type stuff for winter, I think I'm ready for a bit of downtime.

After I get caught up with the laundry, I might choose to do nothing other than take pictures today. No dishes, no dusting, no paperwork, no banking, nothing at all.

I might even choose not to post anything about politics. Better for my blood pressure, that way.

Have been up for a couple of hours and still blowing the nose, hacking crap up, and trying to get my eyes unglued. I should be getting in the shower but am not getting to it...

We had down-and-dirty chili for supper last night, nothing but onions, ground meat, tomatoes and some dried chili peppers. Not even any beans. It was good, anyway. Everyone was ravenous since nobody cooked Sunday evening and just had sandwiches or something for food during the day yesterday. Will make something easy tonight, too.

Property taxes are due tomorrow but, since Himself doesn't get paid until Friday, they will be a bit late. Will pay a penalty but it's better than having the checks bounce. I don't know how the taxing authorities can continue to raise people's taxes while incomes continue to drop. Where do they think folks will come up with the money? Do they think they can sell a lot of houses at sheriff's sales with the market like it is? There have been sales in the area of delinquent or foreclosed homes and there were no bidders at all. It isn't a good situation, any way you look at it.

Waggy is snoring on the floor, the goofy little beast. We ran out of dog food while we were gone this weekend and I didn't get any until yesterday so she's been pigging out. She has certainly turned out the be an awfully nice addition to the family.

The hands are letting me know that it is time for a break, absolutely. The combination of ice water, peeling and coring the maters has stiffened them up a lot. I don't like to take the NSAIDs that help with the pain but if they don't limber up in an hour or two, I suppose I will anyway.

Have discovered a bruise about the size of an envelope on the back of my left leg just above the knee. I have no clue how I got that. You'd think something that would make a bruise that big and that sore would have impinged on my consciousness in some manner, wouldn't you? Might be an indication of just how tired I was yesterday...

Am currently snacking on beef summer sausage and swiss cheese. Yum. The dog seems to think she is getting some, dancing and prancing and being cute. All that trouble for nothing, too, as she can't have any.

I may get back to this later, but if I don't, Gentle Reader, have a good Tuesday and keep your head above water...

Where I live

Morning in Iowa, September 27, 2008.

Caught this herd of cattle grazing peacefully. Cattle are funny creatures. This bunch were skittish because the pasture where they are is on a dead-end road so they don't see many people.


This little guy is about half grown. Right after I took this shot he ran off while his mama stayed and kept a close eye on me.


This herd had 2, count 'em, TWO, bulls in with them. This is the largest of the two. He watched me the entire time I was out of the car. I've had enough encounters with bulls to know that, if he took a dislike to me, that little fenceline wouldn't stop him... He looks to me like a purebred Hereford.


This is a photo of beans planted in a swale. It's unusual to see this because a swale normally has grass. The beans are about a month behind the ones on either side that are ready to combine.


Dried-down soybeans look an awful lot like weeds, I think.


This young man is out with dual motives. Hot only is he chopping corn for silage, he is opening up a corn field to make it easier to start picking corn in a few weeks.


That cloud of dust hides a combine.


This combine, in particular. It's carrying a full load and I passed by at just the right moment. She's getting ready to turn and augur the beans into a wagon.


There she is, just entering her turn. Notice that the steering mechanism on the combine is the rear wheels? That makes it much easier to maneuver around in tight corners.


Auguring the beans onto a wagon. This wagon is a gravity-feed which means that it will need to be hauled (along with another just like it) to an elevator to dump. Some wagons have augurs and can load directly into a semi or straight truck. (Have some photos of that but need to get them up here...)


This is a load of piggies going to market... There is a livestock market on Saturdays in the nearest town and I suppose that's where they were off to.
To market, to market, to sell a fat hog....


Sunrise, obviously...


A country road:



Railroad tracks:

Autumn is here

It's noticeably cooler, leaves are cascading, spreading color across the grass. Geese practicing their precision formation, crying in the wind. Winter is coming.

This time of year is also canning time. For the next 10 days, it's tomato heaven around here. Am doing 12 quarts at a time in the water bath. It takes a while for them to cook down so it's possible to stage the process and be able to accomplish other things while they cook.

Here are some photos:



The tomatoes seem to be an heirloom variety called Oxheart. They are almost solid meat and cook up beautifully.



These are almost ready to go. The foam is changing color, turning darker, and they have thickened considerably.


The finished product. The fruit kept its color with no added ingredients, salt or anything else.

I have the last 30 pounds of maters on the stove, cooking. The first two batches were around 25 pounds and the extra 5 was just enough that I had to get a second stock pot for the excess. I am "guesstimating" that I might get as many as 16 quarts from this batch. Have another 2 bushel coming this week so will continue with this. She offered another 4 bushel in the weeks to come and I may take her up on it. (We need around 124 quarts of tomatoes to get us through winter as we use a LOT of them.) 100 pounds of tomatoes for $40 is one hell of a deal and well worth the money.

Have spoken to a number of people over the last week who can't imagine doing anything like canning tomatoes. "Why don't you just buy them? It's a lot easier." Well, yeah, I suppose it is but I get something from doing this. Not just wonderful, fresh-tasting produce in the depths of winter but some kind of personal satisfaction. Like many home canners, I take pride in the fact that I can do this, do it well, and do it quickly. (I also take just pride in the fact that over the 30+ years I have been doing this I have had only about 5 jars that didn't seal and only one that broke in the pressure canner.)

I started quite young, learning the process, in my mother's kitchen. Back then, if you didn't grow it and put it up yourself you were likely to get darned hungry by the end of winter. We did tomatoes, beans, beets, froze corn, made jelly... all that kind of old-timey stuff. Mom didn't really enjoy the process, though. It was a matter of survival and it had to be done. Dad liked it better than Mom and he ended up being drafted on weekends.

The pickles are done, for the most part. I may do a few more pints to share but we don't use a lot of them so there is no need to make up a bunch. I wish I had been able to find more sweet corn but it was such a bizarre season that it was horribly expensive. Beans and peas are long since gone but I may be able to find some beets, if I'm lucky. I need a dozen or so squash and must remember to call the grower for potatoes and onions before it gets too late.

Have 2 dozen chickens coming next month, a beef in November and another hog in December. We are only get a whole half-beef this time and hoping the cost goes down before we need more. Even with the higher producer's price it is still cheaper than buying it. The quality is much better, too.

Man dies after eating chilli sauce

Tragic news from Doncaster where an inquest has been opened and adjourned following the death of a keen amateur chef. Andrew Lee passed away in his sleep after eating a tomato sauce spiced with chillies from his father's allotment. He and his girlfriend's brother had an ongoing friendly rivalry to see who could create the hottest sauce.

On going to bed that night Mr Lee started scratching all over, finally falling asleep as his girlfriend scratched his back. When she woke up he had died. A post mortem showed he had not suffered from a pre-existing heart condition and toxicology tests are underway to establish whether an allergic reaction was to blame.

Pepper sprays which cause temporary blindness and respiratory difficulty are widely used for self defence and by security personnel. Some experts have warned of the potentially lethal effects of the sprays but this seems to be the first case on record where voluntarily consuming chillies is suspected of having fatal consequences.

Life is what you are used to.

From the Guardian, Max Hastings:

"Churchill, during the second world war, explained this phenomenon to the head of the army, General Sir Alan Brooke. He called it the "three-inch pipe" theory of human response. Human beings, he said, can only absorb so much drama - up to the capacity of say, a three-inch pipe. Thereafter, everything that happens around them rushes past, along an emotional overflow.

Many people, including Brooke himself, experienced this in Britain in 1940. So many sensations crowded upon each other that many failed to achieve the impact that they deserved - happily for national morale.

A little knowledge of history makes it easier to achieve a perspective upon misfortunes that befall us. Bedtime reading of Samuel Pepys's diary provides a wonderful corrective to anyone silly enough to suppose our own times extravagantly dangerous.

Pepys lived and worked as a government servant, during a period in which almost everybody was frightened for their heads, health and fortune. While he shared in rejoicing at the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, throughout the years which followed King Charles II's polity never seemed less than precarious. Pepys's own career prospered at the Navy Office, but he lacked the slightest sense of security.

In 1665, the great plague struck London. The following year, Pepys witnessed the great fire. The nation's finances tottered. The diarist wrote on September 8: "Up, and ... by water to White-hall. I stopped with Sir G Carteret, to desire him to go with us and enquire after money. But the first he cannot do, and the other as little, or says: 'Where can we get any, or what shall we do for it ?' He, it seems, is imployed [sic] in the correspondence between the City and the King every day, in settling of things."

It seemed to them all in those days that matters could scarcely get worse, but they did. The following June the Dutch fleet sailed up the Medway, and burned Chatham dockyard. Pepys, panic-stricken, sent his money out of London, and wrote: "The truth is, I do fear so much that the whole kingdom is undone ... God help us, and God knows what disorders we may fall into."

The crises of peace, precipitated by disease, natural disaster or financial collapse, are often harder to endure than those of war. People find themselves confined to the role of victims, impotent to influence their own fates.

A significant element of Churchill's genius in 1940-41 was his understanding that the British people needed to feel themselves participants, rather than merely to stand passive in the face of the Nazi juggernaut. All that trench-digging and Dad's Army duty served little practical purpose. But it was invaluable in enabling ordinary people to suppose that they were "doing their bit".

Long after the real threat of German invasion had passed, Churchill kept alive a pretence. He knew that defence against descending Nazi hordes sustained the illusion of useful activity among millions of British citizens who might otherwise have slumped into despondency and inertia."

This is an excellent reflection on our times and times past... worth the read.