Woah, chill, dude!

Not that I think hemp is the devil's scourge or that it even has all of the same impact that weed does, but I just love this story about legislation in Switzerland and Lichtenstein prohibiting dairy farmers from feeding their cows hemp.

According to the article, based on the farmers' arguments:

They are the most chilled-out, laid-back, carefree cattle in the world, and happy cows produce better milk.

:)High cows just make me smile... oh, and check out the pic in the article, the cows have long hair, too!

Otherwise: Book #21: The Color Purple by Alice Walker. Hadn't read this before. The beginning is a bit tough as bad fortune looms over Celie and Nettie so oppressively. Overall, I thought the themes on the nature of God and achieving happiness were key points to ponder. And more akin to my own personal POV than I've seen in many places, so that's cool. A quick read. Wouldn't label it great, but a pretty good book.

Top of mind

"If, as you live your life, you find yourself mentally composing blog entries about it, post this exact same sentence in your weblog."

Yep. I mostly get them scratched somewhere and put here eventually.
Sonny was just telling me he does the same, but forgets when he's at his Mac....

BTW - finished Book #20 - LOTR: The Two Towers - as excellent as ever, maybe even more so as an adult!

Seen around

Here are some things that reminded me of folks I know lately:
Single-serve mini ketchup made me think of Jenny - so cute!
I'm thinking this "condo bus" was the transportation of choice for either String Cheese Incident or one of its opening acts, as they were playing in the area. I thought Sonny would love the vintage/custom setup.

Finally - there's a new The Sentimental Favorites site up! Check it out! (I'll put it in the sidebar soon)

Blogging from Providence...

Hey! Visiting Sonny for just a bit at the tail end of a work trip. Mostly just hanging out, but that's cool. Especially after a weekend of work. It's so hot and sticky, though - it has yet to rain here. DK if that would even bring any relief.
The traveling books this trip, briefly: The Two Towers by Tolkien (reread), A Holiday for Murder by Agatha Christie, Coraline by Neil Gaiman, and Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock (reread). I brought several because the ones after Tolkien are short and because we drove out and I didn't know if that would mean I'd be reading for 6 hours or more straight. So far, I'm 2/3 through the Tolkien. Good stuff.
That's the most exciting stuff to date. Sonny is giving a lecture at RISD today. I'm headed back home.

Had what I call a "packing dream" last night, with a twist. Usually these dreams are stressful and leave me more exhausted o waking than I was ere falling asleep. They usually deal with some scenario at my house where either just me or both of us need to leave by the next day and we need to make sure we get all of our stuff. Kinda' a mix of a catalouging of possessions and where they are and organizing it all quickly for fastest transport. I think it's part of my slightly compulsive side.
Anyway, last night was a bit different in that it wasn't our house. In the dream it was, but it was also like we were seeing it for the first time. So in addition to finding and organizing all that was there, there was the odd side story of exploring, well, what was there.
At least I didn't have nightmares that would make me scream aloud and wake Sonny and Owen.

More reading, cutting wood

Book #18: Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris. Uproariously funny? Not really. Amusing, I guess. Sonny said it might be better if I listened to some of Sedaris' radio broadcasts. I'll check them out and see. Something about this book brought out PC-ish sensitivity in me that was a bit surprising. The chapter on pet euthanasia bothered me. As did his description of his sister's role-playing, which to me seemed more like someone looking for help. I think I was over-analyzing it, actually I'm pretty sure I was. Maybe that's part of why it was just kinda' there for me.

Book #19: The Women's Migraine Survival Guide by Christina Peterson, M.D. - I've finally gotten around to researching migraine myself before thinking about getting a referral to a neurologist. This book was good, a great women's perspective (and it is something needed for this illness), and it started me thinking about some warning signs and prevention steps. All great. What I didn't like is the heavy reliance there seemed to be on drugs for prevention. She did deal with alternatives a bit, and more than my PCPs have, but the vast majority of her patient examples are people on one maintenance drug, often more. I want to avoid a life like that as much as possible. Now, I'm not in the Cruise extreme group here, I just think that if there are proven natural methods that work just as well, then why the hell not? Finally, I'm actually a bit relieved because, as bad as my migraines seem and they're pretty bad, I think, I'm nowhere near a lot of the patients cited here - some of whom have 3-4 days lost to migraines EACH week. It helps to have perspective.

Started cutting the wood for the pantry. Helping J as he used his circular and table saws was a slight bit freaky, being just days after hearing about our poor Uncle's horrible run-in. Get-well Uncle Al and I'll keep a bit away (far as I can) while J cuts the wood, Thank You.

A night of zombie mayhem makes 9am meetings hard to bear

A 9am meeting on a Wednesday after a 4 1/2 day weekend is bad enough. My brain had to go and make it even worse by limiting me to maybe 3 solid hours of sleep, 2 of which were plagued by a zombie fighting nightmare.
Zombies aren't usually a nightmare of mine. And I'm not into the flicks as much as Sonny is.
Yet, here I was. Interesting that in MY zombie world, the zombies were the epitome of upper-crust, fashionista snobs until they entered the slobbering feeding frenzies. No graveyard dirt or tattered clothes here, but ball gowns, white gloves, Bunny, Tad, and talk of the golf course. Where did THAT come from?
I awoke after I decided that the ultimate Mr T zombie had gone too far in lauding his control over the planet and God decided to blow up all zombies, lairs, and paraphernalia.
Still didn't keep me from checking for my heartbeat after I woke. Or from reliving the zombie fight every time I tried to close my eyes for the next 2 hours until the alarm.

Happy Fourth!

Beyond picnics and summer fun, the Fourth to me is a time to think of the principals on which our country is based. On the struggle of the colonists oh so many years ago for freedom. Of what that freedom means.

To move away from the politics of the moment - to put aside property seisure rulings, gay marriage, right to die, freedom of choice, privacy rights, health care and prescription drugs - all of that mess.

To think of our country and the core of what it means and why it is truly good to be in a land founded on the belief that people have the right to make their own decisions about what and who to believe, about what they want to do with their lives. That people should and can have a say in how they are governed. No matter how flawed the implementation or the leadership might seem to be at times.

Saw a clip of the presidential speech today talking of the efforts of our troops in bringing freedom to others. I praise and support the troops, but today shouldn't be about our military - its actions, its prowess, or whatever. Today should be about the heart and roots of what it is to be American. That strive for what each of us believes is right, for what each of us wants to achieve - our ambition and devotion to ideals (even though we don't all agree, the debate is part of what's good).

Here's to what our country is all about.
Let's set aside what we're trying to prove elsewhere for just a day.

Friends come home, big fish rule

Just received the marvellous news that my best friend from college has purchased a house in VA (was in Japan for several years), is moving back, is having a girl(bambino #2), and is being released from military service (critical care nurse)!!!:)
I liked the idea of having friends in scattered places, should I get the chance to visit those places it's nice to have connections there, but my relief at Kat coming home, and now Lisa - it's nice to have them on the same continent. Most excellent, in fact. I'll need to plan a trip to VA...

On a totally different note, fishermen in Thailand recently caught a 646 pound freshwater catfish!

Imagine that river! Wow.
Reminded me of Megamouth, a filter-feeding shark that tends towards very deep waters and so has bioluminescence in his mouth - only 20 odd examples have been found.
Which then reminded me of whale sharks and basking sharks - much less rare, but awesome beasts (the two largest fish in the world).
Unfortunately the Japanese have killed these beasts, claiming it was self defense - but again, they are filter feeders and wouldn't hurt people.


If I was any good at science, I'd be a marine biologist - geez, I think I've said that several times - just recently when talking about the lion rescuers in Ethiopia.