urban chickens

I'm trying to figure out how to raise a few chickens in our 'cultivated' neighborhood without the lovely homeowners association objections. Perhaps if I deliver a few yummy just laid eggs to them in a shabby chic/ Martha Stewart basket one chilly morning? :) But first I need to convince my sweet loving husband this is a worthwhile endeavor. He actually listened to my crazy idea of a 'roaming small coop' tonight as we were having a loving little chat about our day on the back porch. Previously he would dismiss my desire for this 'fowl' plan and not entertain the idea whatsoever.

I described how we could have about 3 hens in the 'coop' and build it with wheels so I could roll it around the yard. Perhaps that would qualify the chickens to be classified as 'free range'??

Lets see, the estimate on building the coop is between 3 and 4 hundred dollars. Then you have the organic chicken feed, vet bills, etc etc.. so wonder what each egg would end up costing? I still contend the urban farmer in me would like to give it a whirl.

We'll see.. :)

swine flu and what effects will socialized med. have on it's spread...

I'm following a thread on Facebook involving the socialized medicine situation in Mexico and the potential pandemic swine flu outbreak. Americans living in Mexico are reporting children (and others) showing up at Mexican hospitals with resp. symptoms and 104+ degree fevers and being sent home without being tested for the very illness everyone is panicking about.

Honk

We've all heard about the traffic in China and how the lines on the road are for decoration and don't really mean anything..well, it's totally true. Check out the above image for example. Here you see a bike, a donkey (pulling a long cart behind), a 3 wheel van type auto, there is a motorcycle between the 'van' and the dark car, and the photograph was taken from the window of our bus. What you don't see would be the other 4 lanes of interesting things on the very same road. Some cars/ vans/ buses were speeding along at 70+ mph, and then you have the donkey at about 4 mph. The motorcycle zips in between all and people try to cross the street all along the routes. It is truly unbelievable. Fascinating if you can ignore the danger.

reverse intolerance

I'm going to hold my nose and post this. I've gone back and forth, but I keep coming back to ultimately the freedom we seem to be loosing on a daily basis here in the US - especially if it involves conservative values. I was very impressed with this young lady for standing strong on her beliefs in front of a global audience but see what happened to her by doing so...

Now we are hearing even MORE disgusting news coming out about the treatment of this young lady who instead of being "politically correct" voiced her convictions.

PREFACE: The issue here is not whether you agree or disagree with the subject matter, but rather our rights as individuals to express our opinion -

She was asked for her OPINION as to whether she believed in gay marriage by a gay activist gossip blogger judge for the Miss USA competition. (I've yet to understand what qualified him to be a judge. It now appears his purpose was to advance his own agenda)

Carrie Prejean stated her opinion (very respectfully) as requested and was booed live on stage, and now the openly gay Miss USA judge says that her opinion and honest answer to his question has cost her the Miss USA crown. "Judge" Perez Hilton admits to giving Carrie Prejean a "zero" score for her answer that did not agree with his own opinion and agenda.

THEN later, this same judge (Perez Hilton) publicly calls her a "dumb b*tch". Perez went on to describe Prejean as having 'half a brain' and said he would have stormed onto the stage and ripped off her tiara if she had won.
______
Lets back up a moment. What if she had been asked this same question by a conservative judge and she replied that she was a proponent of gay marriage and was booed?

What if this conservative judge said her PRO gay marriage opinion was the reason she didn't win the Miss USA crown and gave her a zero score because her answer didn't agree with his conservative values?

What if a conservative judge called her a "dumb b*tch" after the competition for giving her opinion which differed from his own and threatened to "storm onto the stage and rip of her tiara if she won"? What if a conservative judge mocked her afterwards with explicit pr*nographic drawings because of her opinion?

Would any of this scenario be tolerated?

I thought we were watching the Miss USA pageant not the Miss USSR.

a game of Kindness?

Last night my sweet husband walked in after running some errands and had a cup of the old Starbucks Pike Place decaf in his hands for me. He even asked them to double cup it to keep it warm longer as I do when I order it myself. I didn't ask him to get it, it was totally his idea because he knew I enjoyed it. Our children were watching this and asked me about it today. Evidently it made a big impression that their Daddy was so thoughtful. I was immediately struck that we need to do more for one another without being prompted. It doesn't have to always be a cup of coffee from Starbucks :).. but something as simple as making the other persons bed for them is a kindness act that goes a very long way.

I've decided to have an experimental 'game' of kindness acts in our home. Each day, we will see who can do the most acts of kindness for another. The "winner" will have something special in "reward" (I don't know what the reward will be yet as I'm still working out the details of this)..

I made a BiG mistake

of trying Starbucks Apple Chai Tea. Sigh. I was originally content with their plain old Pike Place decaf with a shot of expresso (black mind you).. and now... I'm concerned there is no turning back. The next big step will be the London Fog Latte.

Starbucks' London Fog Tea Latte has already been "hacked" according to "Starbucks gossip" (can you believe there is actually a site devoted to this??)

The London Fog Tea Latte is about $4, but you can get nearly the same thing at Starbucks for around $2.50, provided you don't mind with tinkering at the counter for a couple of moments and switching to a normal Earl Grey tea bag instead of the loose-leaf mesh one. Here's the recipe for a Ghetto London Fog Tea Latte:
1 medium (grande or whatever the 16 oz is) hot cup Earl Grey tea
3 packs sugar
3-6 ounces two-percent milk.

Order a cup of Earl Grey tea. Tell the barista you'll steep it yourself. Drink or pour out the top fourth of the drink. Add the sugar and two-percent milk and presto! a London Fog.

AND if you want a jump start on the Christmas spiked coffee .. here you go!

INGREDIENTS
2/3 c Ground starbucks christmas coffee
4 Cinnamon sticks; crushed or into small pieces
6 c Water
1/2 ts Ground cardamom
2/3 c Honey
Half-and-half; or milk

INSTRUCTIONS
1. Mix together the coffee and cinnamon sticks. Using the coffee-cinnamon mixture and the water, brew coffee by your customary brewing method. 2. Add the cardamom and honey to the hot coffee and stir until the honey dissolves. 3. Serve warm. Pour about 2/3 cup coffee into each glass. Pass the half-and-half or milk.

ahhhhhhhh.

I'll hold you in Heaven

It would have been your 5th birthday today. I'll always hold you in my heart until we meet in Heaven. I love and miss you so.