Uh...no!

Monday, 9:18 pm

By Kate

Oct

20

2008

There is still time for the weather man to change his mind....

He’s just funnin’ with us. Right?

Right??!

This

is

notgoingtohappen!

!!!!

I take umbrage. Hugely.

Monday, 3:53 pm

By Kate

Oct

20

2008

We Americans seem to have a certain amount of affection and tolerance for the escapades of our rich and famous. They get away with a lot more than the rest of us could. I’m not sure how much this will change in the coming months—being ostentatiously extravagant while the rest of the country is crashing down the recession ladder might be like pouring salt in our wounds and it may not go over well. This could be particularly true for the Masters of the Universe who so blindly and blithely (and greedily) gambled their institutions and our economy into the toilet.

Somehow, we’ve been convinced (or told) that it’s utterly necessary for us to pony up the hundreds of billions of dollars to bail these [choose your own expletive] out of the mess of their own creation. You’d think that becoming the world’s largest welfare queens would have a slightly moderating effect on their arrogance.

Well, you’d think wrong.

While Paulson and Bernanke are forklifting massive loads of our cash into these institution’s vaults to recapitalize them so that they can carry on the world’s business, they apparently aren’t dialing back their party ways in recognition of their beholden-ness to us....their willing or unwilling saviors, as the case may be. I mean, let’s call it like it is.

No indeed. Despite having lost titanic amounts of money leading to their publicly financed bailout, these Masters of the Universe still think they are entitled to bonuses this year amounting to about 10% of the total freaking bailout. The thought evidently never crossed their minds that perhaps that bonus money, climbing into the tens of billions of dollars, might be better tucked into their coffers to help recapitalize their institutions. Perish the thought. They can still reward themselves for simply breathing because we’re here to pay for it. And there doesn’t seem to be a damned thing we can do about it. And they know it.

That’s the pinnacle of arrogance.

Humility and sacrifice are for the little people, dontcha know. For now, anyway.

Laundry gods having fun again

Wednesday, 12:05 pm

By Kate

Oct

15

2008

For the last three days, the weatherman has been promising lovely 70-ish degree days with ample sunshine. I’ve been scurrying around catching up on laundry so that it would dry quickly on the clothesline. I guess those lovely 70-ish degree days were meant for someone else. We’ve scarcely been able to climb above 59° here and the wind has been off the water, bringing plenty of moisture with it. The clothes hanging on the line from yesterday are still quite damp. I still have another load to go, but I’ve run out of clothesline space and the laundry rack is also full. Grrrr.

Nice to hear

Monday, 11:41 am

By Kate

Oct

13

2008

Well, what a pleasant surprise this morning. Paul Krugman (of the New York Times and Princeton) won the Nobel Prize in Economics. I’ve read him for years and have been paying especially close attention the last few weeks. Well done and well deserved. Congratulations, Professor Krugman! Please do disregard the sour grapes out there.

First fire and other seasonal stuff

Saturday, 10:10 pm

By Kate

Oct

04

2008

Tonight I’m enjoying my first fire of the season. The northeast has been a little brisk the past couple of weeks and my house finally reached the official “cold” mark. After spending the day out and about, I came home, this evening, to 58 degrees and it wasn’t very pleasant. I’ve done pretty well getting used to and comfortable with 62 degrees in the house this fall, but 58° felt very much like a fire in the stove tonight. I thought that I might be able to skate through most of October without burning any wood, but...guess not. I probably won’t need another fire for the next week or so, but I’m still disappointed that I couldn’t hold out longer.

On the other hand, it’s so cozy in here. I think the disappointment is vastly outweighed by the sheer pleasure of being nice and warm for the first time in a couple of weeks.

__________________________________

Over the past few days I’ve been searching high and low for a gallon sized glass jar in which to conduct a science project-- lacto-fermentation—homemade sauerkraut. Nothing fancy. I’ve looked in a variety of different stores from here to Portsmouth. And I even found one glass jar that would work just fine for a whopping $29.99. I did not buy it.

It wasn’t until last night that I had a brainstorm. How about an industrial sized pickle jar? I just betcha BJs or Sam’s Club has huge jars of pickles.

Today J and I went out to BJs and stocked up on some items. Among them...an industrial sized pickle jar with industrial sized pickles. For $3.99. The pickles were a bonus. I gave them to J. I wanted the empty jar. Imagine that. $3.99. Phooey on fancy $29.99 glass jars.

I’ll let you know how the sauerkraut turns out. My mom used to make it in a crock years ago. Best tasting stuff ever. It’s hard to believe that the cans marked ‘sauerkraut’ in the markets are even in the same food group.

__________________________________

Last week I made and canned my first applesauce of the season. I had intended it to be the only applesauce of the season, but I didn’t get enough apples. I spent one entire afternoon peeling and coring and cooking one peck of apples and it only yielded 6 pints. Well, it beats store-bought and it’s 6 more pints than I started with. But I think I’ll go find more apples and make another 6 pints. I don’t believe there is such a thing as too much applesauce in the winter.

__________________________________

And, speaking of...Winter must surely be just around the corner now. A couple of days ago, I glanced out the dining room door and saw several juncos and four tufted titmice lined up on the deck railing facing me. They were patiently waiting for the diner to open. I burst out laughing. It was a comical sight.

Shortly thereafter, the diner opened and my winter birds have been merrily throwing seed husks all over. It’s a happening place out there.

For the little rodents, I tossed out some peanuts, too. It’s chipmunk heaven. 

What they leave behind

Thursday, 12:51 pm

By Kate

Oct

02

2008

I’ve seen this video on a few different web sites over the last week. It’s about what happens to a jingle mail/foreclosed home after the bank takes it over. At least in Southern California. People leave everything behind and it must be removed and disposed of. After watching the video, I wonder how the people doing this manage to hang on to their sanity. It has to be a difficult and depressing job.

And not the least of the horrors is that all that stuff, multiplied by many houses per day, is going straight into the landfill. I suppose it would be a logistical nightmare to disperse all the household items in a more sensible way (say...a one day house sale with proceeds going to the foreclosure bank or something), but sending everything to the dump is really horrible.

As the video points out, the people who walk away from their homes must be in a terrible state of mind to leave behind the personal effects that the trash out guys find. It puts a very human face on it. For me, at least.