Only in America

Only in America do we support a system that kills its supporters. No, I'm not talking about Big Tobacco, though it would be yet another glimmering example. I talking about Corporate America and Consumers. Most of you have already heard about the Wal Mart worker trampled to death. How did this happen? The people who had been allowed by Wal Mart to start gathering at the door 7 hours earlier, through the wee hours of the morning, clearly were not making good decisions. After standing on line for SEVEN HOURS who does make good decisions. (Why did Wal Mart knowingly allow this, by the way?) Add that the media hype over Black Friday. Someone had to brainwash people into thinking it was a good idea to line up outside any store in freezing temperatures, with no access to bathrooms and food, overnight. Nobody would come up with that on their own. Sorry. Yet the advertising geniuses (who, trust me, were tucked in soundly in their beds while this young man lost his life for what was a close to minimum wage job) managed to whip up the masses with too good to be true offers. And after 7 hours of standing in the freezing cold, the people waiting at the door see a man and get taken up in mob mentality, rush the doors and end that poor guy's life. Take the Wal Mart challenge -- I urge anyone who has made a purchase at Wal Mart today to RETURN YOUR MERCHANDISE ASAP and do not shop there the rest of the holiday season! Send Wal Mart, the Media and the rest of Corporate America the message that we will not be manipulated. 'Tis the season to see corporate giants fall and return our economy to the little guy.

Freaky Moon

Last night as we were leaving the grocery store the windshield of the truck was filled with a bright full moon, blurred by swirling clouds. My 5 year old remarks to my three year old, “Look at that freaky moon, and mom is driving RIGHT INTO IT!!!” Well, would you know that freaky moon followed us home? Cries of, "that freaky moon is chasing us" drowned out the radio. And when they got inside they let dad know that the freaky moon was waiting. RIGHT. OUT. SIDE.
Here's the Freaky Moon lying in wait in our back yard.

A Nature Hike

Today we took a nature hike up the columbia trail and then we headed down the trail that leads to the waterfall over the Lake Solitude dam.

There has been much to do lately about turning this into a hydro-electric plant. I hope this will decrease the tax burden for this small town. We pay nearly tripple in property tax as the neighboring towns. We continued to follow the trail, which was marked, down to its end, which ended behind some old buildings behind the steel mill. There were some old buildings. Then we stopped by the park and the dizzy dog had fun:

A Thoughful Friend

A sweet friend of mine cheered my day (Hi Cheryl!) by giving me these this evening. I just love the colors. They remind me that no matter how cold the winter gets, spring is just around the corner.

Bunny Lactation Consulting

When we had our baby bunnies, only one of four survived. The mom had stopped nursing them and was running from them and nipping at them every time she tried to nurse. I thought to put lansinoh on her but she nipped at me as soon as I touched her there so I abandoned the idea and let nature take its course. I could feel that momma was engourged and I searched the internet for what to do and discoverd that bottle feeding is almost impossible with bunnies. At the recommendation of few sites I got some goats milk and tried anyway. The one bunny that was strong enough to persue her momma relentlessly in search of milk is the only one that survived. A friend of mine's bunnies also had bunnies (hi Kim!!!) and the mom was doing the same thing. One poor bunny persued her around the enclosure only to have mom hop away as soon as she latched on. Well this poor momma was well on her way to being engourged too, so we did what any rational people would do let, nature take its course hold the momma down and let the bunnies nurse.

Apparently there is a favorite nipple worth fighting over.

Fiber Friends!

We now have two new fiber friends, Sage and Rowland. It took more than 2 hours to groom them today. This was the result of their grooming --

-- 2 bags of fiber and a whole lot of matted and felted fur.

They are quite possibly the kindest and gentlest bunnies I have ever met. Though it was tedious removing the matted fur around their faces, at some parts matted to the skin, they did not nip, even once. I just need to work on my stylist skills a bit before the next shearing.

This is Rowland:

and this is Sage:

I have learned some things about angora bunnies today.

-- Don't groom them indoors.

-- Keep a close eye on the scissors.

-- Do not wear black velvet pants while near these bunnies.

-- Angora fiber is lighter than air.