How’s the Weather Where You Are?
This is an Unhosted Cafe.
Coffee & Tea under the window.
Goodies on the platters.
Goodies on the platters.
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Newspapers are in their regular spot next to the door
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Please recommend (and unrecommend the Cafe/Lounge from earlier)
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May the 4’s be with you
But the buffet is full of goodies.
umm. Coffee and Cereal!
Coffee’s on your table. Cereal’s at the buffet.
Still feeling fuzzy-brained today?
Yes, I’m not quite awake yet. I really don’t usually do much during the week except work, so to start the day with something so stimulating as meeting Howard Dean, well – I think it killed a jillion brain cells.
Poor us — we’ve reached that age where those poor brain cells are like lemmings going over a cliff 🙁
I’ll try to get over to the website and look at the three column themes today.
I’m just trying to wake up…takes several hours for me to do this….so katiebird, you got the real dark eyebrows also. I had people stopping me all my life also and asking what hair color I used(didn’t)because of my very dark red hair but almost black eyebrows..or they thought I was using something on eyebrows and creating a makeup faux pas. I seem to be lucky in that I now have just been getting lighter and almost no gray yet but my sister who had a brownish auburn color started going gray in her 30’s and has been coloring her hair for awhile now.
And it’s almost 60 here and sunny/cloudy…now that the early morning fog has burned off.
Mine does the same thing! I’m a natural redhead, although the hair on my head has darkened a lot with age (and is now going gray), but my eyebrows have always been much darker. Weird.
I had very light blonde hair up until my late twenties, and black eyebrows. Still got the black eyebrows and darkish blonde hair, but much less of it, and lots more grey mixed in.
Ugh, no snow here. We’ve had 60-degree temps overnight, with high winds so loud I couldn’t sleep for 2 hours, and rain that comes at you sideways.
Global warming…nah, that doesn’t exist.
Good morning.
We had a 30° drop yesterday to go with the snow. Don’t know if this is heading your way but that’s the usual pattern.
And the yo-yo weather is going to continue. It’s supposed to be in the 50’s tomorrow.
Morning gang! Just dropped in to let all interested in the SoCal meetup that I haven’t forgotten you. We are on for March 31st weekend. I have two local Del Mar hotels I am trying to deal with for better rates. As soon as I get word I will do a diary with links/phone#s etc.
It’s still dark here but clear and quite chilly. I will take it over real winters any day though.
Received an email from Rep. Slaughter today informing me that she and several other Dems will be on Cspan today at 2pm eastern to fill us in with their program to reform Congress and that she will be on PBS tonight too. Have a great day everyone!
I’m all set…need a hotel and I’ll make the reservations as soon as you say go…
I’ll be down on Friday and stay through Sunday. Water gear is out of the closet 2 months early! ;^D
Nothing like thinking about being on water to make me smile!
I will do my best to get info out by week’s end. Can’t wait to meet you!
Shall we drive everyone crazy and compare grandkid photos?
Always makes my younger friends laugh…when the grandparents dig out photos!
I won’t have to dig mine out. They are all over the apartment…lol! Please bring some along.
Just for you — I don’t remember where this image came from, but your tag line inspired me to go dig it up out of my silly pics archive!
ROTFLMAO!! Most excellent. I see a poster here. Remember the Tricky Dicky poster that had him sitting on the crapper? Maybe not if you are under 50…lol!
He probably uses it as a cockring. As we all know, Bush is a little prick with no balls.
Was that my “outside voice”? 🙂
Oh my God girl…you are too funny. Are you going to come down in March for the meetup? It wouldn’t be the same without you!!
As Pooh would say. There are wind gusts up to 40 mph. My kitty will not get out of her bed behind the door and I don’t blame her. Even in this brick-solid house, I can hear the wind slamming against the walls and windows. There are waves on the catfish ponds behind our house that look like the ocean.
Down the road, where a neighbor flies an oversize American flag, it has been shredded to ribbons. There are roof shingles in the front yard; I don’t know if they’ve come off the house or flown over from the back of the barn which needs repairing.
The yard on the northeast side of the house — away from the wind — is filled with hundreds of little birds. I heard echoing chirps and thought they had gotten into the attic somehow. Instead, I discovered that they’d taken refuge under the front door porch, perched on the ornamental details of the wrought iron supports. I stood for a long while looking out the sidelights at red finches, juncos, wrens and a couple of blue birds, chirping away in agitation.
It is always interesting to watch the birds here…on clear days there are about a dozen doves that sit on the telephone lines. On stormy days they perch on various fences…including the one on the north side of my house. A very protected area…and the cooing of the doves is always fascinating and peaceful to me.
There were doves that sat on the roof top every night and their cooing would lull me to sleep.
I love small birds the most, the finches and chickadees, tufted titmice and wrens. The other day I got to watch two red-headed woodpeckers going at the river birch in our side yard. I’ve got birding books and binoculars even so, I’m only a casual observer.
I saw the coolest thing yesterday.
I was walking across a parking lot toward a store that sells bird seed when I heard a songbird. I looked up and saw a small bird being chased by a hawk. The little bird got away and the hawk settled onto the low roof of the bird shop! This is smack-dab in the middle of the suburbs, mind you. We do have hawks that hang around hoping for dinner at our bird feeders, but I’d never seen one so close. As I walked slowly forward, the hawk didn’t budge, but just stared at me. I walked under the roof, which was only a few feet above my head, going right underneath him, and then I hurried into the store and announced, “There’s a hawk on your roof!”
The owner was so excited she came running out with me and we stood and stared together at what she identified as a young redtail. The lower part of its breast was darkly spotted; the underside of its tail wasn’t red yet. Also, he didn’t know any better than to hang around us! Eventually we had five people standing and staring at the hawk that was looking calmly back down at us for the longest time.
When he finally swooped away–and flew to the roof of a nearby Burger King–he first flew right toward a “falcon” kite that the store had attached to the roof and which was bobbing in the wind. It looked as if he was going to attack it. Then he flew down and swooped so low he could have been hit by a car.
I have never ever been so close to a hawk!
About 10 years ago I was looking out my second-floor bedroom window, lamenting the fact that it was another gray and snowy day in Cleveland. Suddenly a hawk swooped down out of nowhere, grabbed a bluejay out of midair, and brought it to the snow covered roof of my minivan, which was in the driveway right under my bedroom window. I watched, frozen with a mixture of awe and repulsion, as he devoured the jay, getting blood all over the snowy roof of my car.
I’m trying so hard to feel bad about the death of a blue jay. 🙂
Owls.
When we arrived at our new house, Hubby found a redtail hawk feather on the porch by the front door; he took it as a good omen.
Long ago when my children were very young, I was driving along a narrow road thru dense woods. All at once a golden owl swooped across my path and nearly hit the windshield. I slammed on the brakes to avoid hitting him and he sailed down the road in front of us. I eased on the gas and kept him about four feet ahead us for almost a half mile before he flapped his wings and soared upward.
All the while, I’m shouting at my kids, “Look, look, a golden owl! We’re so close! Don’t forget this!”
but this barred owl really surprised us when it parked itself on a low branch in a tree about 20 feet from our deck and hung around for about 20 minutes. Usually they go much higher and never stick around long enough to get their glamor shot taken.
Rained pretty hard all night…intermittently heavy this morning…and forecast same for all day. Several us wanted to go walking at lunch today…we’ll see how hard it’s raining.
Good news for my deadlines – 1 meeting cancelled, 2nd meeting may be cancelled and 3rd meeting I control the time! So I may be rational (???) by tomorrow!
Have a great day everyone!
Not as cold as it could be, but grey and raining here just north of DC. Was coming down pretty hard as I was driving to work. Generally icky — I think I will eat lunch in today instead of walking across the street to the shopping center. I keep a stash of microwaveable soups and beefaroni for that purpose.
In keeping with the theme, we can certainly see snow today on the Olympic Mountains.
I need to remember to carry the camera with me when I take Puget4 to her Away Job some morning. Her office faces the Cascade Mountains which are blocked from our neighborhood by high hills.
But down low it’s more of an early to mid spring feel for most of you. Scattered plants are blooming, such as ornamental heather & some trees, wild daisies, and rhodies are threatening with scattered ones in full bloom. Puget4 tells me we’re said to be a month ahead of schedule.
This 600 px wide shot was yesterday. We don’t expect sun today.
Here in KC, we’re working on having the warmest January on record.
Good morning to froggybottom and all the little bottoms!
A bad day here in the Hudson Valley. High winds and heavy rain toppled a large, old tree on my wife’s car while she was driving, shattering the windshield and laying siege to the hood, as well as other damage. She is okay, the car may be a total. But amazingly, she was able to get the car home. As they say, if it’s not one thing, it’s another. Oh, the same weather has toppled another large old tree a short distance away and cut our power for the second time in 5 days. (Actually, many others have lost power from the demise of this same old tree.) The joy of living amongst century old trees.
Wow, I’m glad she’s okay! It scares me to death when I rock gets flung onto my windshield, I can’t imagine how that must have scared her.
Yep, she was on her way to work but won’t venture out again today. She’s a bit shaken. (but not stirred.) Our son’s school also has no power but is keeping the kids because it is so dangerous outside.
I’m so glad she is okay — that had to be a horrifying experience. We had a tree fall on one of our cars during a storm when no one was in it and both Jim and I were somewhat unnerved by that so I can imagine (a bit) how awful it would be to actually be in the car.
I’m glad and a little suprised that she has handled this so well given all the other things she’s had to deal with in the last few years.
boran2, I’m so glad your wife is okay! Wow, that must have been a shocking moment for her.
Thanks! Yes, it was scary for her. Unfortunately, this kind of thing happens regularly here with all our large, old trees.
I am so relieved she’s okay. Damn!!!!
Shaken but not stirred. Vodka martini!
Do keep an eye on her for a few days, the shock and adrenaline from such a wreck can “hit” you a few days later.
xoxoxo
I’m glad she’s okay. My heart jumped as I read your post.
That particular tree was a member of our anarchtree branch and was supposed to land on a Fred Phelps supporter’s car.
I’ll have a few words with the home boys and see that this never happens again to Mrs. Boran2.
They’re emphasizing diabetes all week I think, particularly type II and ways of minimizing the dietary aggravation that helps bring it on.
I can’t say enough about how effective it is to replace most of the light carbos clear out of the diet, substituting veggies. We’re doing no bread, potatoes or white rice in any form, no baked goods at all, and only occasional small servings of things like corn chips.
That plus the low fat intake has shaved the middle age love handles and beer belly completely off my skinny frame to the point that I’m back at the weight I wrestled in high school. And I’m not controlling either my meal portions or snacking for weight loss in any way. It’s just happening. Granted my base metabolism is a huge factor here. But I’d been a steady 26 pounds heavier for 10 years previously.
Thing is, fat is a common way to give meals staying power through the hours, which is seen especially in poor and uneducated populations. I’m thinking that this is like shooting your left foot to take your mind off the pain from having shot the right foot! Poverty diets would have a lot of cheap, light carbos, which create the unsteady blood sugar levels. Pourin in the fat tames the hour-to-hour problem, but then you’ve compounded poor nutrition with longterm cardiovascular risk.
The only carbs we’ll do are the more complex pure wild rice or brown/wild combinations, or kernel corn & of course lots of starchy vegetables. When we do rice, it’s only a small portion to compliment a large veggie serving. We try to get some fruit but because of the sweetness, only with or after meals to moderate the blood sugar effects. Mostly no fruit juice for the same reason, especially between meals.
It sure feels that it’s the lack of processed carbs that have eliminated hunger pangs as I’ve always known them. Even when cooking a delayed supper, worst case I can tide myself over with a piece or two of preserved fish, or something veggie like a small carrot.
Hunger pangs are much more manageable, while my energy level is steadier across the hours than they’ve been since I was a teen.
Well it’s off to toto-walk and into the shop.
(3) Supreme Court to Hear Nonprofit Freedom of Speech
Case (1/17/06)
In a closely watched freedom of speech case, the U.S. Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments involving pur-ported lobbying by a grassroots nonprofit organization prior to an election, the Chicago Tribune reports.
In a suit brought against the Federal Election Commission, Milwaukee-based Wisconsin Right to Life is asking the court to carve out an exception to the “electioneering communication” provision of the campaign finance reform law, also known as the McCain-Feingold Act. The provision bars for-profit, nonprofit, and union groups from using general funds for television or radio ads that promote, attack, support, or oppose a clearly identified candidate for federal office within thirty days of a primary and sixty days of a general election.
Both WRTL, a 501©(4) organization, and its political action committee (PAC) were critics of Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI), one of the act’s authors, during his successful 2004 re-election campaign. After WRTL ran TV ads in July 2004 urging viewers to contact and pressure Feingold and Sen. Herb Kohl (D-WI) to oppose the fili-bustering of White House judicial nominees, the organi-zation filed suit against the FEC in federal court seeking to prevent the commission from barring the ads during the blackout period on the grounds that the ads were examples of grassroots lobbying and, thus, could be paid for out of its general funds.
Subsequently, a long list of nonprofits, including several abortion-rights groups, filed briefs in support of Wisconsin Right to Life. Although 501©(3) groups are forbidden to come out for or against political candidates or use their resources for lobbying purposes, they can set up 501©(4) groups, which in turn can create PACs. The groups backing WRTL’s position argue that McCain-Feingold infringes on their First Amendment rights during a period when legislative activity often is feverish, and further claim that their lobbying is a useful counter-weight to corporations’ efforts to influence policy through their own PACs.
The FEC, which until December exempted issue advocacy by 501©(3)s from the electioneering communication provision, has received support from other nonprofits, including AARP, Common Cause, and the League of Women Voters. The groups contend that WRTL’s ads were thinly disguised electioneering and part of a broader effort to defeat Feingold. Moreover, the groups argue that allow-ing such ads to be paid for out of a nonprofit’s general funds could undermine the act’s restrictions on sham issue ads financed with so-called soft money.
Storch, Charles. “Nonprofit Case Going to Supreme Court.”
Chicago Tribune 1/12/06.
http://fconline.fdncenter.org/pnd/10000462/story
Pssst, guess what I just found out. ALL of us speak to G-d but not one of us are President of the United States of America!!
Round Two has been posted for peer review. Be nice!
I felt, like, a really bright idea coming on…
turns out it was just a fucking balloon sticking to my head.
😛
Someone who’s having a worse hair-day than I am!
Actually yesterday I got my hair cut. I told her short and sexy. Like the last haircut I had back in November… but in Calif. This lady gave me perky and plucky. I’m not sure what to make of it yet. It’s a toss between seething hate and maybe I like it.
ACK!
Sounds like it will grow on you after a few days. Short and sexy sounds good to me.
Post a picture, I’ve give you my expert opinion. Of course, I might just be saying this because I caught those pix of you activists in that other thread and I think you’re smokin’ hot… ;p
First SN and now DJ. I’m thinking you’ve got a thing for married women. Of course, I could ask you about Laura Bush and kill that whole theory.
Not married women, just blondes. And honestly, it’s way more about personality than looks for me, always has been. I’m just wired that way, and it categorically eliminates conservatives.
you just love women for their brains. Gawd, where I have heard that before? 😉
Have I ever lied to you, baby?
Oh God. Laura Bush. She always has this crazed but medicated look in her eyes. Kind of like Jack Nicholson in The Shining.
Just thought you’d like to know that you cracked Jim up last night with your happy meal comment.
Heh. Did you ever see that experiment at the end of Supersize Me where he put different food items in jars to see how fast they got moldy or spoiled? The McDonalds fries never did; even after several months they looked brand new. I know this is true because I’ve found totally intact french fries that were probably years old in our minivan.
That can only happen because you have cats and not dogs. The five second rule works perfectly at our house because that’s all the time you have before one of the dogs wil have snarfed it down.
Hey doll!!!! I missed you!!!!!
Okay.. it totally sucks! I wanted it the same length, just more chunky layers that kinda flipped out in a sassy, sexy way. All I really needed was a fucking trim. Instead I got this… Don’t I look thrilled? Not sure what the fuck to do with the do. Maybe an Elke Somers look?? ACK
and the t-shirt is my “comfy artsy fartsy about to fall off because it’s so old”
Crap what am I doin?? I look awful! Hard to take photos of bad butch jobs on yer hair when you’re less than thrilled and doing it yourself.
I’m not this fuck ass ugly I swear! LOL Only for you Indy!! Everyone else shut their eyes!
None of my browsers — I have 3! — are loading the image. ::cries::
comfy artsy fartsy about to fall off
Tease.
Slow dial up at apartments coupled with the fact that I’m not using my Sony disk… thingy that came with the camera…
So. Not. worth. it. But since YOU asked 🙂
Shirt – about to fall apart. Not off LOL It’s my Peter Himmelman concert shirt that he made. I’ve worn it to death.
Shirt – about to fall apart. Not off LOL
I’ve got a little bit of trashy in me, doll, so that just makes it hotter, lol.
On the serious side, if you’re weirded out by posting that picture or if it’s a huge hassle, then I hope you won’t bother with it. You know I was just flirtin’ because you’re so much fun.
Something’s up with photobucket upload. Now I’m a determined wenchola to get it up LOL
I’ve posted my pix before – it’s not thang to me.
new way for me to upload pictures.
I’m having a really BAD hair day. I fucked with it last night. Slept on it. Ran to the kid’s busses and back in the rain. Haven’t done shit to it or put on make up.
Yeah… real hot! LOL
So glad you’re back, Indy!!!!!!!!!
I missed all y’all, too, you dirty-beautiful progressive-types especially.
Well that could take up a weeks worth of Cafe ranting couldn’t it..the politics of women’s hair, and why it’s so fucken hard to get a good hair cut..forget all the styling and curling crap..a good haircut..is that so much to ask for.
You know we’ve all seen these studies that say for instance that we spend X amount of time in traffic over our lives, or sleeping..what really should be known is how much freaken time women spend worrying about their hair/getting bad haircuts/trying to make it look presentable, talking about it and so on…and why women can’t just shave their dam heads like men and be considered sexy and be done with it. Why can’t bald is beautiful work for women too? Think of all the free gdamn time we’d have.
I actually gave myself a crew cut in my mid20s that I’m only just growing out the past year or so. If we want to do it, we should just do it, and tell those who tsk over it to fuck right off.
I love messing with gender norms. Just when everyone got used to me being all butch and started making assumptions about it, I went back to looking more girly again. Heh.
So very true Chocolate Ink 🙂
But I do have very low maintenance hair.
It’s fine, thin and that’s about it. And I’ve learned to accept it after… mumble mumble years 🙂
No perms for me. No icky stuff to put in it. No sprays, globs or spritzes… reason a good sculptred cut makes a big difference to me so I can just RUN into the streets and oncoming traffic and not worry about my hair.
Hey kids, wait a minute while Mommy curls her hair…
ain’t gonna happen in this house LOL.
are when you notice that even more of it appears to have assumed its spirit form.
I thought it just migrated to ears and backs.
For everybody else it just becomes part of the one-ness of the universe.
“good” hair days can help you feel especially “bad” 🙂
And when I’m “Bad” I can be exceptionally naughty but in a good, liberal loving way – of course 🙂
Good hair day: Bad Finger
because I have only two requirements.
I shaved my head in August of 2002. I couldn’t find a picture just off hand, but it was down to the scalp, just a little brown-black fuzz — my hair grows pretty fast, so it’s halfway down my back again now, but it was AWESOME!!!
The only thing that bothered me was when people would assume I was undergoing chemo or something, then I felt bad, like I was talking something away from those who were actually sick, but then I’d think FUCK ‘EM!! Why does a woman with a shaved head make people assume that she’s sick?!?
Anywho…I have been thinking about doing it again sometime (sometime summery though — it would be chilly), I absolutely loved it and my son thought it was pretty damned cool too!
😉
You could have totally taken advantage of the assumption that you were undergoing chemo…just think of it; jump to the head of the line at the grocery store, get out of a speeding ticket. The possibilities are endless.
Probably bad karma to do that though.
Never occurred to me, SN! 😉
Bad karma indeed, methinks, but I counter the bad karma you just invoked for thinking of it, with the incredible awesomeness of talking to you again!!
Ah, but only if I could weild it so…
How ya doin’??
Know what’s weird? I was just in my car this morning and it popped into my head that I hadn’t seen you here in awhile and I wondered how you were doing. Guess I should get a real life, huh?
and I’ll let you know!
😉
Thanks for thinking of me — I’m doing fine and just wrote an email to my husband about all of the $$ I saved at my latest trip to the local CVS….who needs a life again?!?
PS I have not posted since 12/18, so, not so odd that you had thought you hadn’t seen me around, I haven’t been!
How’s the garden doing? You ever get any rain on it. We’re in our 9th continuous week of spring here, which is getting very very spooky.
Garden?
We have had about .002 of an inch of rain in the last 33 days, so not much rain at all….a good thing that I don’t have a garden! (I have a very brown thumb in any case…)
😉
We haven’t had but about 4 days of winter yet this year, which is actually a good thing because last month when we turned on the heat for about 72 hours, our gas bill went up by $30. I simply cannot imagine what the bill would be like if we had to have it on all of the time….today’s forcast:
sunny and 72.
so much for my memory! Must be that other blogger from your area that has a garden, who I obviously can’t recall now either.
Need more of that herb that’s supposed to improve memory… if I can remember to take it, ha.
Tha’s hilarious! Who’s the cutie? Is it you?
Not me – a picture my daughter used to post her hockey picks. Don’t ask 🙂
This is actually kind of a cool poll…as baby boomers started turning 60 this year…they all want to know more about us.
MSNBC / Newsweek Poll
Gee – it was nice to find out I’m just like at least 50% or more of the other boomers out there.
For Indy, cuz she asked for it.
Truly it’ SNOT as bad as it appears. My hair is still shoulder length. Just a funny photo. Seriously BAD bedhead aftereffects.
It’s pretty rough fer sure DJ, but I would never even think to compare it to snot… 😉
Harriet Miers said it was the “best haircut ever!” 😀
if you are doing a sexy look, an evil eye look, or if there is something interesting going on south of the viewfinder.
ACCKKKK none of the above Andi LOL
I think I was thinking “here goes nuttin” or actually not thinking or more to the point, what was I thinking?
Will have Supersoling take a “gooood” picture of me later on when we go marching. 🙂
DJ you look totally impish yet sort of evil too. Sleep on your hair, then get up and put some Bedhead wax pomade on it and just sort of pull sections of the ends outward. It’ll look kicky and fun.
Luckily my hair isn’t my “lusty makin’ mojo”… so I’ll just wash it and blow dry it forward and see what happens. It’ll grow out.
ACK.
OH and I am so NOT evil. I just will do anything to make you peeps smile 🙂 XOXO
::whispers:: I still think you’re a smokin’ hottie.
So that means you like blondes AND dirty strawberry blondes? 🙂
Seriously it’s a bigger bitch trying to take a picture of oneself than it is to figure out what to do with the worst haircut ever. My hair has never been this short.
So… I can be a feminist and still fuhhhhreak out about bad haircuts 🙂 I’m so “evil” I left the lady a freaking tip. ARGH.
The dirtier the better. ;p
I totally know what you mean about taking pictures of yourself. I’ve tried and they all make me look even goofier-looking than I usually look. Something about the angle and the closeness of the camera, maybe.
“money shot” 🙂
Hey… you missed it… I “came out” last week. 🙂
Cripes gotta go get Danni. Be back later, gators!
Cafe’s closed but the Lounge is open.