When possible, I LOVE saving money that way.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Decision at Last
So! After mulling this over for more than a year now, I finally made up my mind - I'm going to get a couple of chickens, or rather chicks. I am totally starved for pets, and getting pets that supply fresh eggs is quite the little bonus. I ordered this Chicken hutch & run. Won't be here for weeks but while I'm waiting, I can get all my ducks... er, my chickens in a row.
Ordered 'seconds', slight dings so saved 50%.
When possible, I LOVE saving money that way.
When possible, I LOVE saving money that way.
Saturday, June 06, 2009
2009 Honored Elders Day - Too Many Chefs and Not Enough Indians
Isn't that pretty? It's one of the table centerpieces made by newby docents and Helen-the-Ranger for this year's Honored Elder's Day (HED) at the California State Indian Museum. The bowl is a painted gourd and the uber sweet vegetation and acorn, grasses and such add just the right ambiance, don't 'cha think?
And check out the menu - that's something Chef Ramsey wouldn't mind serving up; California Indian cuisine - and yet...
Last week at the docent's meeting, a newby docent, herself a California Indian, stated that the Elders would turn their noses up at the menu, because it is too fancy and because not all of the elders like 'fish'. And, besides, she said, the elders look forward to getting Indian Tacos at HED, it's a rare treat for them.
A little background here, the Indian Taco is a flattened blob of flour/salt that is deep fried in hot fat like a doughnut. Then the resulting golden brown fried bread is outfitted taco style, with cheddar cheese, fried brown beef, refried beans, topped off with lettuce, tomatoes onions and maybe some black olives.
Here's the interesting bit - the reason Indian Tacos were not served today for the Elder's luncheon is one of the local, very hard working, Indian Health organizations vetoed the tacos as an intestinal holocaust perpetrated on the Elders by those (museum State Rangers/docent types) who are supposed to be entrusted with health & welfare of our Indian community's valued elders. In short, serve Indian tacos to the Elders and the *Health Nazis were going to pack up, leave the HED and take their blood glucose monitors with them. So, in the spirit of pleasing everyone, a menu composed of foods closer to the ancestral roots of our Indian Elders was substituted. Honestly now, Pacific Northwest Salmon skewers, Wild Rice with Pine Nuts & Cranberries.... I'm telling you, a lot of thought went into the new menu. Even acorns and chia seeds - both traditional Indian food - made it onto the new menu.
The upshot of the new menu, prior to today's HED event? Nobody happy; the Elders were deprived of their Indian Tacos, those who cooked up the ancestral feast menu felt slighted because all their hard work was viewed as elitist and sadly misguided. So, what was the end result? How did the elders take to the new, highly contested misguided menu?
GAK! Don't ask me. I, shamefully deserted the entire shindig after the first two hours, and was long gone by the time lunch was served up. What did I think about this year's menu? I thought it was AWESOME. What about the Indian Tacos? Why can't we just have them every other year, or maybe even get a vote from the Elders themselves on what they want. That'd be crazy, wouldn't it?
[*Management regrets Miss Miller was simply, unwilling to not use the most obvious & overused jest possible, referring to a dedicated organization of health professionals as Health Nazis. Management offers its sincere apologies to SANAHC and were a member of said organization to smack Ms. Miller a good one, Management would just happen to be looking the other way.]
Sunday, May 24, 2009
What? MORE Flippin' Flowers?
Yes, yes, I was out tracking down wildflowers again, and you're about UP TO HERE with it, right?
Tough b'noogies.
Where was I? Wildflowers! So, a friend of mine, Terry, made the near-fatal error of mentioning she likes wildflowers too. So, I kidnapped her from her place and we were off! Barely got out of eyeshot of Terry's place when the first blooms of the day were spotted. Looking them up much later, they turned out to be Foothill Prettyface, in this case nearly dowdy flower, when compaired to it's cousin, which were found later in the day.
Foothill Prettyface
Right nearby the Prettyface was a deceptively pretty flower with an EVIL agenda. Here it is looking all innocent.
Innocent Pink flowers by daylight…
Here that flower is again, later in the day, strangling whatever it can get itself twined around. Evil stuff. Here's the thing's M.O., it’s not green because it doesn’t make its own food as any honest plant does - nay, the Twining Snake Lily steals nutrients from other, more self respecting plants. Bwah, ha, ha, ha, ha! Isn't Twining Snake Lily just the best wildflower name ever?
Evil Twining Snake Lily, at the end of the day, strangling a mate.
Click on the photo & see how its pink strands 'twining' on another flower
I exaggerated my description – just a bit.
Next stop, Starbucks; one does not live by flora and fauna alone.
Next we hit my recently discovered stomping ground, Ice House Road, which winds it's way up the mountain. There Terry enjoyed the Indian Pinks, Western Wild Flax, Dogwoods and vistas of blue lupin.
Terry enjoying the Lupin on Ice Hill Road
More of same - just crying out for a stanza or two of The Sound of Music, isn't it?
Hillside full of bluish Lupin
We headed further up the hill and started looking in earnest (translation, drive slowly, look out the window). Here’s what we found.
Brewer's Monkeyflower, way tinier than
I suspected – only about ¼ inch across
The fancy, citified Mountain Prettyface (the HUSSY)
Now, there was one fancy little patch of monkeyflowers we passed on the mountain road. They were Yellow and White Monkeyflowers and they were stunning! The bad bit was they weren't anywhere near a place that either had a pull-out nearby for the car, nor was the road wide enough to safely walk along the road. So... that left no choice but to do a u-turn and drive sort-off off-road. I thought my idea would work, but when I stopped the car, unfortunately, my Honda was at a... sort of a 45 degree angle. I would have had to open the car door by pushing straight up... uh... decided to stay put. I couldn't get a shot of the Monkeyflowers but here's someone else's shot of them.
Yellow and White Monkeyflowers
The photo doesn't even do the patch we saw justice - it was like a yellow and white blanket snuggled over green grass. Oh well - maybe I'll see some within shooting distance, next year.
There were some other flowers we spotted too, here are some of them.
Newberry’s Penstimon
Rainbow Iris
Mountain Misery
Isn't that a great name for a plant, Mountain Misery? Though it has the white daisy sort of flower, it is not really known for its flowers, but for it's heavily scented ferny leaves. The scent - which I rather enjoy really - is heavy and said to give a headache if lingered around.
Globe Gillia
After a tough day out on the trail wrangling pink, blue and yellow blossoms, a girl needs a good meal. So it was back to Terry's spread for some hot barbeque served up by Terry's wife Terry (otherwise known by me as Terry2 or T2). The beef was WONDERFUL, grass fed beef which they bought on the hoof. Yum! Nice ending for a lovely day.
Tough b'noogies.
Where was I? Wildflowers! So, a friend of mine, Terry, made the near-fatal error of mentioning she likes wildflowers too. So, I kidnapped her from her place and we were off! Barely got out of eyeshot of Terry's place when the first blooms of the day were spotted. Looking them up much later, they turned out to be Foothill Prettyface, in this case nearly dowdy flower, when compaired to it's cousin, which were found later in the day.
Right nearby the Prettyface was a deceptively pretty flower with an EVIL agenda. Here it is looking all innocent.
Here that flower is again, later in the day, strangling whatever it can get itself twined around. Evil stuff. Here's the thing's M.O., it’s not green because it doesn’t make its own food as any honest plant does - nay, the Twining Snake Lily steals nutrients from other, more self respecting plants. Bwah, ha, ha, ha, ha! Isn't Twining Snake Lily just the best wildflower name ever?
I exaggerated my description – just a bit.
Next stop, Starbucks; one does not live by flora and fauna alone.
Next we hit my recently discovered stomping ground, Ice House Road, which winds it's way up the mountain. There Terry enjoyed the Indian Pinks, Western Wild Flax, Dogwoods and vistas of blue lupin.
More of same - just crying out for a stanza or two of The Sound of Music, isn't it?
We headed further up the hill and started looking in earnest (translation, drive slowly, look out the window). Here’s what we found.
I suspected – only about ¼ inch across
Now, there was one fancy little patch of monkeyflowers we passed on the mountain road. They were Yellow and White Monkeyflowers and they were stunning! The bad bit was they weren't anywhere near a place that either had a pull-out nearby for the car, nor was the road wide enough to safely walk along the road. So... that left no choice but to do a u-turn and drive sort-off off-road. I thought my idea would work, but when I stopped the car, unfortunately, my Honda was at a... sort of a 45 degree angle. I would have had to open the car door by pushing straight up... uh... decided to stay put. I couldn't get a shot of the Monkeyflowers but here's someone else's shot of them.
The photo doesn't even do the patch we saw justice - it was like a yellow and white blanket snuggled over green grass. Oh well - maybe I'll see some within shooting distance, next year.
There were some other flowers we spotted too, here are some of them.
Isn't that a great name for a plant, Mountain Misery? Though it has the white daisy sort of flower, it is not really known for its flowers, but for it's heavily scented ferny leaves. The scent - which I rather enjoy really - is heavy and said to give a headache if lingered around.
After a tough day out on the trail wrangling pink, blue and yellow blossoms, a girl needs a good meal. So it was back to Terry's spread for some hot barbeque served up by Terry's wife Terry (otherwise known by me as Terry2 or T2). The beef was WONDERFUL, grass fed beef which they bought on the hoof. Yum! Nice ending for a lovely day.
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