No Pettifoggers

Good morning! Today is Seth's birthday! Twelve years ago he decided to make his entrance to the cold hard realities of life on earth and what an interesting twelve years it has been. He arrived before the midwife did and had the cord wrapped around his neck and was somewhat blue when he was born. With Cedric I learned that a baby can be born without the mother ever actively pushing and with Seth I learned that unassisted birth really is okay (Cedric was unassisted as well but somehow that fact never registered). Seth pinked up okay and has been a lot of fun to have around.

Yes, we have hyacinths growing in the house.

In 1759, Charles Carroll wrote to his son, indicating a desire for him to stick to his studies at school. He wrote, “It is a shame for a gentleman to be ignorant of the laws of his country and to be dependent on every dirty pettifogger.”

Also these white flowers.

I had to look pettifogger up because I'd never even seen the word before. It is a noun and according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary is 1. a lawyer whose methods are petty, underhanded, or disreputable, or 2. one given to quibbling over trifles.

The book I am currently reading, The Cultural Life of the American Colonies is quite intersting. The title put me off a bit because, as most people who know me well enough know, I have a real issue with the way we in the United States have this terrible habit of referring to ourselves as Americans as if we are the only people with that right. Canadians, Mexicans, Peruvians, etc., are Americans as well and so I think we have no business calling ourselves solely Americans. We are citizens of the United States of America. Admitted, there is no good, short, term to use when referring to ourselves but Americans just doesn't cut it for me. Because, you know, we aren't the only ones.

So, the title put me off a bit. The first sentence in the Preface mollified me a bit: “...the thirteen British colonies which later became the United States...” I'm okay now. Mostly. And I'm learning something. Which is good.

What comes to mind if I mention plantation owners in Virgina and Maryland or any of the other colonies? Silk waistcoats and impractical buckled shoes. White powdered wigs and leisurely time for reading, studying, drinking, consorting, etc., etc., etc. That's what I thought of.

Alexander Hamilton

I think it is important to remember that the first Europeans came to the continents that would be known as the Americas not until the 1400s. Even then, they mostly ended up in central and south America and on the islands of the Caribbean. In the 1500s there was some action in what is now Florida and Canada, some in the southern part of what is now New Mexico, and a bit in the Carolinas but it wasn't until the 1600s that colonists from England, Holland, France, Sweden, and Scotland came. Based on that, these people hadn't had a whole lot of time to build a society like those in Europe. Never mind that different groups of people had been taking over and then been taken over for centuries.

George Washington with family members and others

This really provides a lot to think about. For one thing, if you own a business and you want it to be successful, are you going to sit around wearing designer jeans that cost $500 and snakeskin shoes that cost $1000 and a designer hoodie that cost $300 while other people do the work? Well, actually, in today's society, that might be the norm. Generally I'm thinking that most people who own a business and want it to be successful get out there and do some work. They get their hands dirty. They work alongside those they've hired to work for them.

Guess what? That is exactly what these plantation owners did. Do you know why they had slaves? Because they didn't know about soil depletion and after growing tobacco for seven years in the same soil, it would no longer grow tobacco and they needed more and more land to produce the same amount of product. That took more and more people to do the labor. Yes, there were white slaves. Some of them were indentured servants but not all of them. There were more slaves from Africa. This represented issues because owning slaves was not an inexpensive endeavor.

Did plantation owners have time to sit around playing, reading, dueling (which they didn't do on a regular basis; it actually seems that this was the exception rather than the rule), drinking, socializing, etc.? No. Not only that, but many of them also had civic duties. Many of them had inherited a sense of obligation to serve and often they were not paid for this service. So, party-goers in silk waistcoats? Not so much.

That said, there were some who were drunkards. There were some who gambled more than they should (owning a business is something of a gamble in and of itself). There were women who were drunkards. Society wasn't as decorous as we have a tendency to think it was.

And Kitty. Queen of the couch yesterday.

In the last couple of decades or so, we hear a lot about what horrible people the Founding Fathers were. What makes them horrible? That they owned slaves? Not all of them did and I won't condone slavery but it's been around for thousands of years. It exists today, even in the United States. How can we diminish what they did because of it? That they had mistresses? That's laughable. Look at what we've had in the White House since then—the two most notable that pop into my head are John F. Kennedy and Bill Clinton. So they may have had mistresses; so do people now. Basically, if we want to bring up all the sins and shortcomings of the Founding Fathers, we'd better make sure we don't have any of the same problems.

I think from now on, I will think of the Founding Fathers, and the people who built this nation as imperfect people who were doing the work that needed to be done. Which I have issues with but recognize it as something that needed to be done. Which I have issues with but we're not going to discuss them right now.

Now that I've taken far too long to get this done, I'll be off for now.

Grandma, your package arrived yesterday. Cedric wants to grow just a bit so he can wear it. Until then, I'll keep it with other woolly stuff.

Have a fantastic day!

Airsoft War/War on Airsoft

Good morning. I wrote 1203 words yesterday that will not get posted because it was a somewhat crappy day and I was really just blowing off steam because I really was that close to exploding.

Yesterday morning we got a new hot water heater and furnace. Now both are hooked up and connected and working the way the originals ought to have been but weren't. No wonder it was always so cold in the house. I guess the job took longer than the guys doing it anticipated but at least it is done. Now I'm going to have to take over the thermostat because it was at 65 last night and I thought I was going to melt. If we have it at 65 all the time, it will be too hot during the night and during the day there won't be any reason to have a fire.

This morning Amena was telling me about a new bill in Massachusetts that would in effect stop the use of Airsoft guns in the state. I'm never satisfied to just hear something, I have to find out what the story is behind it. So I did a search this morning (it sure is nice to have the internet for these things) and discovered that there is indeed a bill on the books. This is what we have:

SECTION 1. Section 121 of chapter 140 of the General Laws is hereby amended by striking out the figure “131Q”, inserted by section 19 of chapter 284 of the acts of 2014, and inserting in place thereof the following figure:— 131R.

SECTION 2. Said section 121 of said chapter 140 is hereby amended by striking out the definition of “Imitation firearm”, as appearing in the 2012 Official Edition, and inserting in place thereof the following definition:-

“Imitation firearm”, any air rifle or hand gun, pellet gun or “B-B” gun or any device or object made of plastic, wood, metal or any other material which substantially duplicates or can reasonably be perceived to be an actual firearm, rifle, shotgun, air rifle or hand gun, pellet gun, or “B-B” gun, unless such air rifle or hand gun, pellet gun, “B-B” gun or device or object: (i) is colored other than black, blue, silver or aluminum; (ii) is marked with a non-removable orange stripe which is at least 1 inch in width and runs the entire length of the barrel on each side and the front end of the barrel; and (iii) has a barrel at least 1 inch in diameter that is closed for a distance of not less than one-half inch from the front-end of its barrel with the same material of which the imitation firearm is made. “Imitation firearm” does not include any non-firing replica of an antique firearm, the original of which was designed, manufactured and produced prior to 1898.

SECTION 3. Said chapter 140 is hereby amended by inserting after section 131Q, inserted by section 70 of chapter 284 of the acts of 2014, the following section:-

Section 131R. (a) No person shall import, manufacture, sell, hold for sale or distribute within the state any imitation firearm unless such device is imported, manufactured, sold, held for sale and distributed: (i) solely for subsequent transportation in interstate commerce; or (ii) solely for lawful use in a theatrical production, including a motion picture, television or stage production.

(b) A violation of subsection (a) shall constitute an unfair or deceptive trade act or practice under section 2 of chapter 93A.

(c) A law enforcement officer may confiscate any imitation firearm from a person in possession thereof unless the person is possessing the imitation firearm:(i) solely for subsequent transportation in interstate commerce; or (ii) solely for lawful use in a theatrical production, including a motion picture, television or stage production.

I'm thinking I don't like this. I don't personally have an airsoft gun unless you count the one that was Daniel's. Cedric does although he managed to lose some parts that make it inoperable. I think the problem is not the guns themselves but the operators.

This is what Daniel's looks like. I wouldn't mistake this for a 'real' gun. Would you?

I do understand that it is difficult to distinguish between an airsoft gun and the real deal. Many of those I've seen look much like the real deal. (Daniel's doesn't, by the way.) I can understand how someone would feel threatened if they were threatened by someone with an airsoft gun. I do. I get it. HOWEVER, I don't think making them illegal is the answer.

This is like Cedric's although his doesn't say Thurus on it. This one, especially if you didn't see the orange tip, might be mistaken for a 'real' gun.

Consider two scenarios.

First, a man who is known for being violent is seen carrying a gun in the direction of the home of his ex-wife. Said ex-wife has a restraining order against the man but he continues on. Upon reaching the house, he bangs on the door and threatens to shoot if she doesn't acquiesce to his demands. She calls the police because she thinks the man has a real gun and she knows his violent past.

Second, a high school boy has in his possession a gun. It looks real but he has a passion for airsoft sports. He has the proper safety and protective equipment and either uses his airsoft guns for target practice in his backyard or in the local airsoft arena.

For one thing, airsoft guns are real guns. They are different from those used for hunting and they aren't likely to be found in a display of antiques but they are real. They also aren't really soft. There isn't anything soft about the actual physical nature of the gun and if you happen to get shot by one, you aren't likely to think the impact was soft. In fact, used at close range, it is possible that damage could be caused by one.

The man in the first scenario should be treated as what he is—a man carrying a gun who, although he may not intend to harm, has a violent past and should perhaps not be in possession of any type of firearm. He may have a criminal background which might be such that he absolutely should not be in possession of any firearm. He obviously doesn't care and means to get his point across.

The young man in the second scenario is responsible and should not be punished for the actions of others.

Ultimately, I believe that is what the entire gun control debate boils down to.

So, what am I going to do about this? I think I might write a letter or two (so much easier with computers now than it was when I was in high school and each one had to be typed out individually) and I'll encourage anyone who either has an interest in airsoft or freedom in general to do the same.

Three in One

This is just a random picture of Misty from November. She's kind of cute, eh?

9:35 Sunday morning:

Well, we are late for church, for one thing. I'm sitting here doing my best not to be annoyed because I get up, do what needs to be done, you know, like milking the goats, making sure some boys have some breakfast, etc., and then I take a shower. During this time, other people are basically laying in bed wiling away the time either in a book or asleep. Okay, fine, some days I wouldn't mind doing the same. Actually, no, I wouldn't. I don't like laying in bed—my back eventually starts to not like it. Some days, my back starts to not like being in bed while I'm still asleep and I wake up with it aching. Nothing major—getting up and getting moving around always takes care of it. But bed is not my choice of comfortable place to lounge around in. I'm still sitting here, doing my best not to be annoyed because it takes at least 15 minutes to get to church and in spite of the fact that I don't go for social reasons, I do like to go and I absolutely detest being late. For anything. Really.

Last night I had a dream. I am going to name names just because I don't see any reason not to. In this dream, I was visiting Bull and Brenda Chapman in New Mexico. Tanisha and her children were there as were Bull and Brenda's two younger daughters. Raven was not. In this dream, they had just moved into a new house and, oh, my goodness, what a house it was. The ceilings must have been at least ten feet high and at some point Bull and I were having a conversation about how nice that must be in the summer because the heat would all be up by the ceiling leaving the floor a little cooler. Winter might not have been so great but with the addition of a ceiling fan or two, and there might have been one or two that I don't recall from the dream, it wouldn't be bad—especially with the right kind of heat.

The yard was fantastic. It was very New Mexico but the garden was just incredible and they had almost everything you can imagine growing in it. There was a deck that didn't seem like a deck and a grassy area and beyond that, just what I remember all around in Escrito.

It was really fun getting to know the two younger girls because when we left New Mexico, Nevaeh was just a tiny baby. I got to hold her before we left but that's it.

Paul was in the dream and at one point we were outside with a bunch of other people and it was just so. . . I don't know, so just right. So New Mexico. So good to be there.

As evening drew on, there were a bunch of odd creatures that made an appearance and someone referred to some of them as ogres or goblins and someone began throwing things at them. I know that Paul was helping to keep them at bay and someone threw something at one that I knew was not evil. I apologized to him, he looked like a huge version of Blackie, and we all went inside.

Earlier in the day, I'd been helping with laundry and when I went to get a load of clothes out of the drier, they'd been taken out and the washing machine was empty as well. I thought that was odd, but just continued on with what I was doing.

Just before I woke up, I made a comment to someone that I just didn't feel like I belong in Massachusetts and that in my desire to live in the west, I wouldn't even mind living in New Mexico. Wow. That's saying something.

The interesting thing is that while we were living in New Mexico, I'm not sure that I was ever really myself.

Kitty helping the boys with school work Friday. Remember that helping, like all other things, is relative.

10:48 am Monday morning:

Good morning. I will probably, when I get around to posting a post, include my New Mexico dream because I will most likely get around to making more comments about it. In the meantime, Seth and Joseph have math that they did not get done from last week and they did not get it done Saturday and there is no school today so they are getting it done today and Amena has promised them each a Twix if they get done in a reasonable amount of time. I said that 20 minutes was a reasonable amount of time and Joseph's is quickly running out. He has to blow his nose too much and he has too many fights with the chair he and Seth both like to sit on. I'm not sure why they like to sit on it and in many ways I wish Paul had never brought it home. It might be good upstairs by the desk in the bedroom, though, if I ever get the bedroom cleaned.

Anyway, I wanted the two boys to do their work separately, as in not at the same time, so Joseph is working on his right now while Seth is over at the computer in the library with Tyler who spent the night last night. Sometimes they work better if there are fewer distractions. Sometimes they make their own distractions.

There is a Martin Luther King, Jr., thing happening today in Fitchburg. It is supposed to be starting at 11:00 which is in five minutes. I don't think we're going to make it. Not just because it starts in five minutes, either.

A guy was supposed to come and look at the furnace because it's been dripping water for weeks. He was supposed to be here at 9:00 and he texted Paul who called him back because Paul doesn't text. I think he could have looked at the text. Maybe he did and just didn't think the information was pertinent to my life. The guy arrived about twenty minutes ago.

Then Paul is supposed to take the white Jetta to the mechanic in Westminster because the wipers stopped working Saturday when I was on my way home from taking Seth and Cedric to the scout swim at the fitness center. That was fun. Especially when it is winter and I have a real issue with a dirty windshield. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to go with him. He's home for work today and it sounds like he expects me to go. I was hoping maybe he'd take it over and stick around while Hal looks at it.

I guess the reason the guy was late to look at the furnace is because the first house he went to this morning the furnace blew up in his face and set fire to the house. Fun times that must have been. Paul now has homework to do and the furnace guy has homework to do and they'll touch base this afternoon and see what will be happening next.

Also, I put a load of underwear on to wash so that I could shower and had to wait for the towels in the dryer to finish so I could dry underwear and that was taking forever. Now that the dryer finally finished, Paul is on the phone with Hal and I don't know if we're going to have to leave in the next few minutes or not. If yes, I'll do that and then shower. If no, I'll shower once I'm done helping Seth with his math since Joseph finished.

Seth is adding and subtracting fractions which is something that I've never been crazy about. Not on paper, anyway. When I'm cooking, it's one thing. When it's on paper, it's completely different. Why? I'm not sure other than the fact that it always took forever to figure out the lowest common denominator. Now it isn't such a big deal but when I was Seth's age, I absolutely hated it.

Currently, I'll be leaving to deliver the car as soon as Paul says he's ready to go. I actually told him to let me know when he's ready because otherwise I'll be sitting here forever doing whatever and helping Seth and Paul will end up being annoyed that the car didn't get delivered by noon (it's 11:28). It should be about time because it's been four minutes since I said it was 11:28. I think I'll stop this for now.

6:09 am today:

And today is a Happy Birthday to one of my favorite cousins! I hope you have a fantastic day, David. I'm looking forward to a trip west so we can visit one of these days. Keep a day open the end of July beginning of August, eh?

In case any one is wondering why I might be planning a trip west at that particular time, you can talk to Laura and Blaine. Also, if you want to know why it will be such an interesting time, you can talk to Joanna and Lincoln. I figured that having two girls get married in the same year might lead to two babies the following year. I didn't know this would happen but I knew it could happen. Well, guess what, it is going to happen. Not only the same year, maybe the same month. Not only the same month, maybe the same stinking week. We won't tempt fate more than that because I'd really like to be there for both and since one will be born in Massachusetts and is due on August 3^rd and the other will be born in Utah and is due August 12^th, things could get really, really interesting.

Yesterday afternoon was fun. You know. Sort of. I went through all the socks and matched up what could be and separated out all the soccer socks and shin guards. There is still a third of a basket of mismatched socks and some of them are too small for anyone. As I was going through them, I donated a few to the firestarting pile of papers, boxes, etc. Many of the mismatched ones will be added. I'll give it another couple of days to get all the laundry from everywhere a chance to get washed and then I'm done with this sock basket. Seth and Joseph both need new socks.

Last night once the boys were in bed and mostly quiet, which took almost forever, I started looking up colonial house plans. I know that I had some stuff printed out but I can't find it anywhere. I also know that I've had house plans drawn up for the story I'm working on right now but I likewise can't find them. They're kind of important due to the nature of the story and if I can't find them, I'll have to, get this, start over. The okay thing about this is that I actually learned a few things last night.

This is the Dover edition.

Likewise, I've been reading Child Life in Colonial Times by Alice Morse Earle. It was first published in 1899 so it's interesting not just in the subject matter but in the views of the author. She talks about things “in this century” and she's talking about the 1800s. It is something of a strange thought that this is now two centuries ago even though it is only, you know, maybe 120, 125 years ago. All things are relative.

Some of the practices they had during colonial times were somewhat odd. Some of the things they did which were considered healthy and good for children are decidedly strange. For example, she discusses some of the ideas put forth in the book Thoughts on Education by Locke and published in England in 1690 (on page 17 in Child Life). One such idea was that children should have their feet bathed daily in cold water and that their shoes should be thin enough to leak. She specifically mentions that this does not seem to have harmed Josiah Quincy who was subjected to being dipped three times in freshly drawn cold water in the basement winter and summer. It seems important to note that this occurred in eastern Massachusetts (probably in or near Boston and I know it gets cold in the winter).

Babies died at a much more frequent rate then than now and, really, I wonder how much of that is due to the practice of baptising infants when just a few days old in the sometimes subfreezing temperatures in the winter.

Anyway, interesting book. I have another one ready to go when I'm done called The Cultural Life of the American Colonies by Louis B. Wright. And I think I need to reread one about women's lives in the colonies because I didn't take notes and don't remember any specific details.

As is this.

Right now, after Amena and Cedric successfully got on the bus and I have just about drunk a cup of tea, I am about ready to build a fire. I honestly don't know how Paul has lived in this house at just 50 degrees for so many years. I actually don't know if he did but that lovely 63 degrees we got the house up to is now back down to 51 and I can't say that I'm liking it very much. Maybe he just feels the temperature differently. All I know now is that it currently is 11 degrees and our high is supposed to be 19 today. Yeah. That excites me. It doesn't help that it's windy and I can tell you that the prospect of going out to milk right now is not a very good one.

I think that for now, I'll finish this up and see about finding some pictures to attach and build a fire even if I don't light it yet.

Have an absolutely fantastic day!

I Need a Title

Good morning! Right now I am really wondering why on earth I am in Massachusetts. Snow has been falling in the west and people keep posting pictures on Facebook from McCloud and in spite of the recent drought, I think I'd really like to be there. In the west, not necessarily McCloud.

Yesterday I was tired of being cold so we started the fire early, around 9:00, and kept adding wood until after 6:00. We managed to get the temperature of the house up from 52° to 59°. Huge improvement. I expect we'll do something similar today because it didn't warm up over night and while I don't like an overly warm house, I don't like the 50s much either. Well, other than on a summer morning; I like the 50s then. In fact, I remember an occasion when we lived at Oro Fino looking at the thermometer we had outside in the back yard one morning. It was 50° and I thought how interesting it was that in the summer that was quite lovely in the morning but in the winter it feels quite cold. Especially in the house. 50 degrees outside in the winter feels like a heatwave as we recently experienced here.

Yesterday was also an interesting day. Seth and Joseph have been working all day long and not accomplishing the things they ought. Wednesday they did not finish their school work so yesterday they had quite a bit of catching up to do. Yesterday they were at it until bedtime and each one has to finish one math lesson as well as do the one from yesterday.

Wednesday they wanted to know why they don't get half days when the public school, Quabbin anyway, students do. That's an easy one—because they can potentially get the work done in half a day and could have half days every day. In fact, during the first half of the school year, they did. Fairly often. One day they even got done by 10:30 because they wanted to go somewhere with Joanna.

Kitty is just a typical cat. She loves sitting on the hearth where it's warm.

The bus just took off with Amena and Cedric. I probably shouldn't say anything because I might jinx something, but we haven't had a missed bus since Christmas break. I like this. In fact, Amena has been ready and downstairs before time to go out almost every single day. I like this. I like it a lot. And I realize that by actually thinking this, let alone putting it in writing, is a dangerous thing.

Yesterday Amena needed to stay after school to work on a project for one of her classes that she hadn't been able to work on at school. The middle and high school have what they call Flex Blocks. During that time, students can do homework, work on projects, or whatever they need to do. So, typically, she would have been able to work on this project during Flex but because she needed to use the computer lab and it was being used during that time, she wasn't able to. That just means that Joseph and Seth got an almost hour long recess in the afternoon while I was gone.

I can tell that the temperature dropped from the 50s and low 60s we had in December—my hands have all kinds of little owies that soak up the lotion. I'm glad I have lots of good stuff for them. Also, the last winter we lived in Idaho, it was cold, colder than usual for that area, and Joseph got chillblains on his feet. Well, he's got them again now and he isn't enjoying them. Yesterday I had him put some of the wool socks I have that have shrunk too much for me to wear over his regular socks. He complained that they were still itchy and I told him it wasn't the socks. I think he could use some lotion, too. I think I should find out if there are any essential oils good for them and make some lotion with them in it.

In other news, I was looking up more information about Hudson and Greenport in New York. I am thinking more and more that Hudson is not what I want but Greenport could work. There still seem to be too many people around—you can't go far in any direction before running into a road or a house or something. One old house that I wouldn't mind borrowing is just too close to a Walmart Supercenter. I mean, a house that's been empty for approaching 20 years would not be a good thing that near civilization I'm thinking. It just seems to me that it would be an invitation for people who are up to no good.

There is another house that looks promising (I've been thinking that I might steal a house if it is old enough and is in an area that would work for what I want) but I wasn't able to find an exact location last night. I might have to change Susanna's ancestry just a bit if I do end up using something in that area because the land was originally bought from the Mohegan (or Mahican) Indians by the Dutch and if I want the house in my story to retain the history it currently has, it would almost have to have been built by someone who was Dutch. Or not. Always in motion the future, or in this case the past, is. (Yoda said that about the future, just in case you were wondering.)

The fireplace is still pretty warm. I just put wood in so we could start collecting bits and pieces of paper and cardboard for when we start it. I could bake bread if I'd've mixed some up last night. But I didn't so I can't and I don't really feel like making any right now. Although I could make more of the bread I made yesterday morning to go with the fish chowder I made for lunch (that turned out pretty good). On the other hand, it wouldn't be ready to bake for a couple of hours and by that time, I might want to have lit the fire. I don't really want to make bread today. I want to make a lemon pie and maybe a cheesecake. Not bread.

Right now I think I should be moving on to other things. Have a fantastic day!

Daniel Dreams

Good morning! We have a dish washing schedule once again and there was a bit of complaining about it yesterday afternoon and evening by a certain 14-year-old but he did do his part so yesterday at least is all good. Well, you know, other than the parts that weren't so great.

Seth, Joseph, and I got the Christmas tree down and the living room back to some semblance of normality. With the red chair that Paul brought home, there really isn't room for two couches (I didn't think there was in the first place but now there really isn't). I'm thinking about calling Salvation Army to come and get one but if anyone knows of anyone local who needs a couch, you should let me know. In the course of undecorating the tree, we found a total of seven candy canes on the tree. That's more than half a box. One was one of Joseph's but six were the regular ones. We had hot chocolate and candy canes in the afternoon.

Right now I am actually in the process of finishing up the getting ready of lesson material for Seth and Joseph. Because of the tree and life, I didn't start until around 2:00 yesterday afternoon and I was up until about midnight. I have no idea how normal that is but I'm hoping I'm not extraordinarily slow. I do have two grade levels, after all. And I'm getting everything ready for the next six weeks. Regardless, I wanted to tell you about my dream before I forget. Why?

Because Daniel was in it.

I'm not sure how it started but we were living in a rather large house. We had goats and my mother and Laura were both visiting. There were a couple of other people visiting as well but I'm not sure who they were, just that it was a father and his young son. The house we were in had vaulted ceilings somewhere and was at least two stories. It rained and someone must have opened the windows at the top of the vaulted area because there was water on the floor in the hall. I asked the boy if he'd like to mop it up with towels and he was happy to do so.

My mother discovered that the sweater she'd brought had begun to unravel at the sleeve and she wanted to fix it but didn't have any yarn that would work. Paul hadn't left for work yet so he volunteered to take her to a store to get some yarn that would do until she got home to fix it permanently. I joked that he would do anything to get out of going to work too early. That's actually probably true some days since his boss and the top shareholder are such idiots.

I had to, for some reason, attempt to draw blood from my finger with a very strange vacutainer set. The instructions were very odd, as well, and I was getting rather annoyed because it was late, I needed to take a shower, and there was school to do.

I finally finished and took my shower after having to make a million trips back and forth to get things that were needed for the bathroom because I'd go to use it or put it in the shower and discover that there wasn't any.

When I was done, I went to the room where school was to take place and Daniel and Amena were both there as well as Seth and Joseph. I'm not sure if Cedric was or not; I don't really remember him being there (and I'd really love for him to do homeschool).

Daniel seemed older and like himself but much more animated and verbose than usual. It was nice having him there and everyone was excited to get their work done (like that ever happens) even though we were getting started so late. I think it was forty-five minutes late which doesn't seem that bad except that it would throw the whole day off.

My mom and Paul got home, my mom began fixing her sweater, we carried on with school stuff and Laura and I visited (without speaking?) while the others worked on their stuff.

And that is that. My alarm woke me up and I went to make sure Amena and Cedric were getting up. They both did and did not miss the bus so life at the moment is pretty good other than the temperature of the house. The sky is pretty in a muted sort of way and I might go take a picture.

Both pictures are looking toward the south.

Two pictures taken and a load of towels put on to wash to help the indoor temperature (which is much warmer than the outdoor temperature). And now I need to be carrying on with school prep work but might be back later.

7:44 pm

Well, it is quite a bit later but I am back. It was an interesting day. And a busy one. As usual.

I finally found some good stuff for grammar for both boys online. The printer is easier to deal with using the HP lap top but when I went to print the stuff out, it wouldn't recognize any italicized print. When I told my lap top to do double sided, it wouldn't do it conveniently like the HP would (or this one would with Windows). So, because I wanted the italicized print, I used this computer and this is what I had to do in order to get it to print in order on both sides of the page: print the first page, take it out, with the printed side up, place a blank paper behind it, insert it to print, tell the printer that paper was loaded, wait for the first paper to spit out, set it in a pile of complete papers, wait for the second paper to spit out, take it with the printed side up, place a blank paper behind it, insert it to print, etc., etc., etc. It was fun. Because I needed to do 200 pages for each boy (figuring it would be easiest to just get it done rather than go through it for a few now and then a few later and a few later, etc.), it was a rather time consuming activity.

I still have some things to do because school also took forever. Joseph had scouts this afternoon and he didn't finish his math until after we got home. Seth didn't finish his math until it was almost time to leave for the troop meeting but that ended up being an online meeting due to the snow.

Speaking of snow, it was supposed to be less than an inch and then turned to one to three inches. I think the second is more realistic. I moved the green car to the driveway and the truck right behind it and I had the white Jetta in front of the green car thinking I'd be taking Seth and Cedric to scouts but ended up just moving it to park behind the truck. The snow is lovely and fluffy and it should be very pretty in the morning. And it's about stinking time.

And that's all for now.

I hope you've had a fantastical day!

27 Degrees and Windy

Good morning! I know there was something I wanted to write about this morning but now that I'm here, I can't think of what it was.

Yesterday I managed to redo the heel flap on Seth's second sock. I had it all done last week and was ready to turn the heel when I realized that I hadn't done it with two strands of yarn like I'd done the first. Well, much easier to take out one heel flap than to take out half of a finished sock, so that's what I did. However, in the taking out, I managed to mess up three stitches at the end of one needle and I just didn't feel like dealing with that at the time. I dealt with it yesterday morning and then almost finished the heel flap at church. At home I finished that darn flap, turned the heel and got all the heel stitches picked up that needed to be. Now that I just need to finish the leg (including the decreases by the heel), I should be done in just a month or so. :) I am kind of hoping that one day I'll be able to finish a pair of socks in less than six months.

Saturday evening before I went to bed, I decided, for about the millionth time, to take my eating habits back and get them under control. One of these days when I make this decision I figure it will stick. To that end, I had a pear and an orange for breakfast. Then went to church where the Relief Society was cooking up a storm for their Board Meeting to take place after church. If there is cooking going on again like that, I'm going to feel free to leave. On top of smelling food all during Sunday School and Relief Society, I needed to wait and a fifteen minute wait ended up being an hour. And if that wasn't enough, I knew that making deep dish pizza (Paul's request for his birthday dinner) was going to take some time once we got home. By the time we got home, I was hungry and we were looking at an hour or so before time to eat. So, I ate a pretzel cookie. However, I only ate one. And I had some water. On the other hand, then I had the last two pieces of candy left from Christmas/New Year's. On the other hand, that's the worst thing I did all day.

The pizza turned out pretty good. Paul didn't complain and ate two thirds of his so I'm guessing he thought it was okay. It had/has peppers, onions, and mushrooms. I made a regular pizza for Amena and the boys with just pepperoni (and a quarter with jalapeños) and there is just one piece left. I made a square deep dish for me with pepperoni, sausage, mushrooms, and jalapeños and it was good. I've got lunch set for me for a few days.

The reason we were so late getting home yesterday is because people are never as quick as they think they will be. I was asked to teach Amena seminary several months ago but nothing was done more than that. Teaching seminary is more important, in my opinion, than playing the piano so I wasn't about to start before it was made official. Well, after just having checked to see when I was first asked, it was ten weeks. More than two months. Time enough to take care of business, I'd say. So, not only did it take ten weeks for something that should have taken one or two, it took an hour rather than fifteen minutes because when most people say fifteen, they don't mean it. I don't think they mean to not mean it, but they don't.

Since I am now officially a seminary teacher I figured I deserved one day to get things ready (in spite of the fact that I've had ten weeks, because, you know, I am me and this is the way I work) so we didn't do anything this morning. Since I also didn't get anything ready for the boys for school beyond Friday of last week, I am going to take this day to get ready for the upcoming weeks for them. This is good, I think, especially since I've decided to take a somewhat slower approach to math for Seth since we really aren't in any hurry.

Joseph started his new math book and is doing very well which is good. While I did get all the files off the desktop portion of my fried hard drive, I didn't get files that were in my documents folder. That means all the really meaty stuff for the boys for school is still AWOL and I'm not sure it will be recovered. I do need to ask about that because it will make a difference on how I proceed with things.

In other news there isn't a whole lot to report. Cedric and Amena didn't miss the bus this morning. Seth and Joseph are still in bed. I need to wash a few dishes and milk the goat. I think it is colder today than it was yesterday so I'm not really looking forward to milking. On the other hand, if this winter were last winter, I really wouldn't be looking forward to milking. On the other hand, if this winter were last winter, I probably would have let Zoey dry up.

Speaking of winter, this one has not been typical in the least. It has been uncharacteristically warm for here and there has been almost no snow. The snow we did get got rained on and immediately turned into a two to three inch thick slab of white ice. Not cool. Or extremely cool. Depending on your point of view. I would complain but I really don't like how cold it has gotten during the winter while we've been here. I don't like it being so warm, either, because I wonder what it's doing to my poor garlic and I'm afraid to go look. I don't like the lack of snow; it just isn't winter without it. I am glad that the west has been getting snow. It has been too long.

I think I might be about ready to end this and get it posted. I don't have any pictures for you today because I haven't yet attempted to download them from the camera and I don't think there is much on the phone. I guess I shouldn't say that—there are some from Christmas and probably some others of interest. Basically, I'm just not feeling a terrible urge to do anything with pictures.

In spite of that, have a spectacular day!

Same Day, Different Post

Yes, it is the same day. Yes, I should probably be doing something else. However, here I am and here I will stay. For the moment.

Yesterday Paul sent me a link to a craigslist ad for eight Star Wars books. Of the eight, and one of them is a trilogy of the books from the original movies, I had seven of them. One of them, Heir to the Empire I had actually wanted to read because at some point in time, Paul picked up the third book of the series of which this is the first. I first read the book when Laura was less than two (it was published in 1991) while we were house-sitting for Vaniman's. Bret had the book; I read it. And thus began my love for the Expanded Universe. Oh yeah.

I read a few pages last night but I was very tired and had done a lot of reading during the day (when I most likely should have been doing other things) and needed to go to bed (to do more reading before actually attempting sleep). This morning I read a few more pages because, you know, I just can't resist. And there, on page 15, Coruscant is named. It is not named in the original Star Wars movies. It is named in the prequels (which obviously came out after this book). It is named by Timothy Zahn who wrote Heir to the Empire. Just out of curiosity, I did a search: “how did Corusant (yes, I spelled it incorrectly) get its name”. I suspected that I knew but I wanted to be sure because it's nice to be right.

I was right. Stack Exchange says, “Regarding Coruscant appearing in the prequels, Timothy Zahn had this to say at Celebration III:

"Just to make it clear, I did not invent the planet…George Lucas had invented the planetwide city a long time ago. When I was starting the Thrawn Trilogy, they told me to coordinate with the West End Games source material, and they had it listed as the Imperial Planet. Well nobody names a planet 'Imperial Planet,' so I thought it needed a name, so I picked the word that means glittering: 'Coruscant.' Apparently, when it came time to choose a name [for the films], people persuaded George to go with Coruscant and be done with it. So I felt very vindicated -- the tail wagging the dog. It was an honor to be slipped into the movies this way.”

Wookiepedia has this quote: "Over the years, many artists and designers have contributed to the articulation of the various universes of Lucasfilm. Taking their cues from the minimal words of description on a script page, these talented men and women have sketched, drawn and/or modeled creatures of magnificent breadth, unimaginable terror, and mind-boggling eccentricity. Some of these creatures have made it into film, while others, because of the way stories unravel, have not (so far). But this does not mean they do not exist. For once something is created, no matter what the context, it takes on a life of its own."

―Foreword written by George Lucas in Monsters and Aliens from George Lucas^[src]

My point? Just that George Lucas had a good thing going—he created this vast universe and people loved it so much that they took it ran with it. And it appears that he was okay with this. Okay enough to use some of what was created by others to use in the movies.

According to an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Lucas isn't crazy about what has happened with Star Wars and says that he would have done things differently. In fact, while he was still involved, he was approaching The Force Awakens differently. (Legaspi, Althea. "George Lucas Is Not a Fan of "Retro" "Star Wars" Approach." Rollingstone.com. Rolling Stone, 30 Dec. 2015. Web. 8 Jan. 2016.)

It appears that Disney didn't think the story George Lucas wanted to tell would make fans happy. It appears that Disney wanted to do a space opera while Lucas wanted to do a soap opera. People may argue that once a piece of art is created, it belongs to the viewers. (Libbey, Dirk. “George Lucas Finally Reveals Why He Broke Up With StarWars.” cinemablend.com. Cinema Blend, LLC., Nov. 2015. Web. 8 Jan. 2016.) And while I agree with this in part, I believe also that George Lucas created the darn Star Wars universe and as such, he could bloody well do whatever he wanted to with it. If I am a composer and create a piece of music and it is performed, the people who listened to it would have no right to tell me that I could no longer make changes to the piece of music.

Disney thought that fans wouldn't want to hear the story that Lucas had in mind? What kind of a load of crap is that?

When Disney bought the franchise, they announced initially that they would be sticking to the story as Lucas envisioned it. Then they, being the omniscient beings they seem to think they are, changed their minds because they felt that fans wouldn't want to hear the story that the creator of the Star Wars universe had in mind. Because of this, all Expanded Universe material with the exception of the six original movies and the Clone Wars TV show and movie have been renamed Star Wars Legends and are considered non-canon. That is a load of crap, especially since they will remain as reference material for the new Expanded Universe which will consist of the original six movies, the Clone Wars TV show and movie, and anything else that is published after April 24, 2015. (Wookiepedia) If they aren't going to stick with the story, then they shouldn't be allowed to use any of the material.

In spite of the fact that I really detest what Disney has done, I am still somewhat torn. I really like the characters Rey and Finn in The Force Awakens. And BB8 is cute in a puppy-dog kind of way. The story is only somewhat okay—there are many plot holes; the old characters are only somewhat okay—many of them behave in ways that are completely out of character (Han wouldn't have lost the Millenium Falcon, Threepio wouldn't have sounded like a...whatever he sounded like, I mean, seriously?, R2 wouldn't have gone into hibernation, Luke wouldn't have run away to hide).

So, I will continue to collect the OLD Expanded Universe and might very well ignore the NEW Expanded Universe. If I don't ignore it, it will become, in my home, something other than Legends—Disney crap, maybe? Yes, I like that idea. If I have anything from the NEW EU, I'll call it Disney poop and will warn people to be wary of the stench.

Just Another Typical Day

And a good morning to you! Today is Paul's birthday. If you ask him how old he is, he'll probably say he doesn't remember so I'll just leave it at that. He purposefully didn't schedule anything to do at work today (he schedules calls and emails and such for contacting people) so he could have the day off but was told he had to be there for a meeting today. And, because Cha-nan gained four pounds over the holidays, there wouldn't be any food. Hmmmm. We'll see how that all goes.

Laura, it is good that we had the weather we did while you and Blaine were here. Since then, we've gotten cold. I avoid the back room because when I do go out there, I can see my breath. I'm pretty sure the heater we had back there for you would make very little difference at the moment.

Jeremy West was able to salvage some of my documents and pictures from my fried hard drive which is fantastic. Some is always better than none; at least in instances like this. The most important thing he was able to retrieve was a folder called Hywel and Cailín. Huge sigh of relief there. In the past couple of days I've gone over the chapters that I'd thought might be lost forever and I'm so glad to have them. Thirteen chapters comprised of 167 pages and 44,344 words. Some of what I'd written I'd completely forgotten about. And since the outline I had wasn't the up-to-date one, I probably would never have remembered.

Yesterday I let Cedric stay home from school. He had a science project that was due and he hadn't even started it. As always, I'm willing to help but I'm not going to take the initiative. The morning was spent with Seth and Joseph and their work. Then we had the sisters over for lunch (Annie's macaroni and cheese with green beans done up with bacon and onions). Then it was time for Cedric's project. He talked Seth into helping, a lot, in trade for a Dr. Pepper. I think it turned out pretty well.

It is a plant cell, in case you were wondering.

I think this is large enough you can see the labels. I think this is an excellent idea and that we will incorporate LEGO models for other things.

In other news, over Christmas and New Year's with lots going on I didn't get much done in the way of doula homework and there is very little I can do in the way of midwifery homework and classes until we manage to come up with enough money to continue paying for classes. One goal for the year is to finish the doula work asap (I'll be making lists in order to accomplish this probably today). Another goal is to find that elusive money and finish the first year of the midwifery program. (If anyone is interested, Laura made a gofundme thing for this purpose—I'll see if I can't post a link.)

Otherwise, life has been happening pretty much like it usually does around here and I don't feel like there is really anything else of great interest to report. So. . . .

Have a terrific day!

Busy Birthday Time and Interesting Research

I was reading some history of the Pioneer Valley, Massachusetts, earlier and found some interesting little tidbits that I thought were interesting enough to share but looked at the clock to discover that it was almost 8:00 and I hadn’t been out to milk yet. Yikes! And, yikes! It’s bloody cold out there.

Amena’s first question this morning was, “Did they cancel school?”

“No. Why?”

“It’s too cold. It’s only three degrees.”

“True. But, no, they never called so there must be school.”

Cedric wanted to know, “Can you give us a ride to school today?”

“Um, no.”

“Why? The seats are heated.”

“Because the car probably won’t even start because it’s so cold.”

“How cold is it?”

“Three degrees. That feel like negative nine.”

Not sure if it warmed up since they left but the paper towel froze to the milk bucket and my hands, which were dry, threatened to freeze to the handles of the garbage cans in which we keep the grain for the goats. This is the kind of stuff I don’t like. Winter, yes. Snow, yes. Temperatures below 10° (or even 20°, really), no.

Some years ago (think when I was in high school), I started writing a story about a girl and a guy and a house. At the time, the story was going to take place in Boston and Cambridge. I’ve worked on the story a bit here and there throughout the ensuing years but it wasn’t until I moved to Massachusetts that I discovered that it can’t possibly take place in Boston and Cambridge. The Boston part could work but the Cambridge part could not. I mean, it’s all city. I need an area of at least 100 acres and while I realize I could take some artistic license or employ some magic, I don’t care to take that much or add magic, per se. At least not for that particular aspect.

I'm not sure how well you can see the details of these picture/maps; I just did screen shots as I was looking at Google Maps. Boston is actually larger than I realized and might actually work for the Cambridge part other than the fact that I'm just not going to use Boston. It is a city and I just don't like cities. I do like history.

As you can see, this is Cambridge. I think it is more solid city than Boston is and it is considerably smaller. Make sure to note the scale if you can see it.

I’d already changed the Boston part to McCloud, California, just because I know McCloud in a way I will never know Boston and considered moving the Cambridge part to somewhere in New York. While I’m sure I will be taking some artistic license, I don’t want to completely rewrite the history of wherever the Cambridge part finally moves to so I’ve been doing a bit of research.

This is Deerfield. As you can see from the pictures on the left, it is more agricultural and less city which works well on many counts.

So far, I’ve been looking at Hudson, New York, and Deerfield, Massachusetts. So far, I’m not sure European settlers were in the Deerfield area early enough (which is saying something, I know, since they were there in 1673). Hudson was incorporated in 1785 but I know there was a European influence there much earlier. Dutch settlers purchased the land in 1663 from the Mohicans. That’s only ten years earlier than Deerfield but it might work.

And this is Hudson. Actually, if I use Hudson, I would probably use Greenport which surrounds Hudson on three sides. I'm thinking a roadtrip is in the foreseeable future. Julia, what do you think?

The main reason I’m leaning toward Deerfield right now is that it is closer so I can go visit it more easily and possibly often. It also has a very interesting history. Of course, I’m sure Hudson does as well, I just haven’t looked at it as closely yet. On the other hand, in 1605 (I think), over 100 men, women, and children were taken from Deerfield and forced to march 300 miles north by an army comprised of French and Indian soldiers. And that isn’t the only bit of interest. Anyway, more research needs to be done and even if I decide upon one in the upcoming days, it could change as I learn and see more.

When I opened this file (the one that I type up journal-like entries to post on my blog), I had somehow managed to forget that it had been so long since I did an entry. And that it was on Aunt Julie’s birthday when I’d done the last one. Since then, we’ve had more birthdays (not to mention an anniversary for Becky and Jay on December 22^nd), namely Grandma and Cedric on December 22^nd, Amena on December 25^th, Aunt Debby on January 2^nd. Busy time of the year in our family. And more coming up—Paul on the 8^th, me on the 15^th, David on the 19^th, Seth on the 27^th. Also, Alisha’s baby, who isn’t really a baby any more, turning a year old. And more on my dad’s side of the family that I’m not going to specifically mention because I don’t remember specific days. Just busy, busy, busy.

So, belated Happy Birthday, Aunty Deb! I hope you had a fantastic day!

So much more that I could write about but I think I’ve done enough here for one day. At least the boys could potentially be done with school by next recess (11:00). If not then, by lunch unless they are super slow in getting math and, in Seth’s case, history, done.

Until next time, have a fantastic day!