Sprung

Today seems to be the first real day of Spring. All of the signs are there. Yesterday I noticed that the crocuses are up and in bloom but this morning was the announcement of Spring. Before sunrise I was out on the porch having coffee. Slowly the chorus began. The birds are back.

I have been seeing and hearing the geese for several days but this morning the songbirds were in full triumph. No raucus honking and screeching but the full melodies of their age-old songs. To me this is the first sign that Spring is really here. No emperor ever had a more awesome announcement of his approach than the Sun has in the Spring. Myriad tiny voices announce that the ruler is near. The giver of warmth and light and life approaches. The ruler of our solar system begins its daily procession across its realm. The plants adjust their leaves and all of the weak and tiny creatures of the land and sea have persevered through another terrifying night. The business of life resumes.

There is another sure sign of Spring. I have my usual nagging springtime cold. It is not debilitating, it just drags on my energy. I don't know how I get this cold. I only mix with people once a month, when I shop for groceries. It is worth it. I revel in shopping for groceries. It is the apex of my month. The incredible diversity and amount of food that is available in this country is staggering. Food from places all over the globe, brought to us by a system that many people deride. Globalization has not brought about the ruin of life as we knew it in this country. It has brought about menus that our ancestors knew before they came to America.

What if all of the organizations that produce and ship weapons and bombs and tanks and fighter planes all over the world started to ship fruits and vegetables and grains and legumes instead? There are regions of Africa that have a dire need for food but seem to have a plethora of weapons. Some day all of this madness will stop. I just hope that it will be because mankind has finally achieved sanity and not because there is no one left to shoot and the last human being decides to eat a bullet.

asabee

Yesterday was a busy day. I ordered the seeds and plants for the Spring, went for a walk, and made stock. I can't call it chicken stock because it is made of many things. I took all of the scraps of vegetables and meat that I save in the freezer and tossed them into the pot. Celery, carrots, lots of onions, garlic, pork bones, turkey necks, hearts, gizzards, skin, and fat. Chicken thighs, legs, backs, and giblets. These were later followed by rosemary, just a little, basil, oregano, red pepper flakes, and a small amount of soy sauce at the end. I ended up with two gallons of stock that had reduced down from three. The freezer is now just as full as it was before but I have room to save more trimmings. I have enough stock and spaghetti sauce and pizza sauce to last for a long time. The problem with cooking in quantity is that I cannot justify further cooking and I do love it so.
I will suspend the cooking and concentrate on cleaning, my second favorite activity. I am anxiously awaiting the seeds and plants as I have never ordered plants before. I finally found a place that had French Tarragon and I ordered Brandywine tomato plants and a rosemary plant. The seeds will come first, I ordered too many because Gurney's had a deal that if you ordered over fifty dollars in plants and seeds, they took twenty-five dollars off of the order. I had a difficult time finding that many things that I wanted but I managed to get the order to fifty dollars and fifteen cents. I therefore owed them twenty-five dollars and fifteen cents. They tacked on shipping and handling and I now know what it would cost to ship Mount Rushmore to my home.
I have to go out tomorrow, the library called and the book I ordered over the internet is in. This computer stuff is fantastic. I can order plants and seeds and library books over the Internet. I don't know why I resisted it for so long. I will have a book that I have been anticipating to read, a nice bottle of sherry to go along with it, and no dishes to do.
The book, the sherry, and Pavarotti. I'm glad that the show Fraser was not on when my parents were naming me as I am sure that I would have ended up as Niles instead of Nils. If physical resemblance were the issue instead of habits, I would have ended up as Fraser. The resemblance is so uncanny that that was my nickname at work. Ahh work, I remember work but not too fondly. The best job that I ever had was driving the taxi. It came late in life but was very satisfying. This does not include the time that I had to deliver a box and was told to not open the box. Luckily it was Winter and the windows were all shut as the box contained a dozen gerbils. Try getting a gerbil back in the box when there are eight already in there. It is like the snake in the peanut brittle can. Now there is one in the box and the quest starts all over again.
The job was rewarding because the town I drove in was a dry town. I worked four P.M. to four A.M. and got to take all of the rascals to clubs and bars out of town and then pick them up later. Keno players had to pay for both trips in the beginning as Keno players have no money at the end of the night. It ws here that I learned that there are two types of people in the world. The first is "Hi, how are you? Where are you going?". The second is "Money up front!". No round trips to crack houses as I don't want to listen to your drivel on the way back.

Tinkle Time

Yesterday I went for a long walk. As I was walking small particles of ice began to fall from the sky, tinkling all along the path. They were not wet and I enjoy the cold so I kept walking. When I walk, I do a lot of thinking. This time I began thinking about thinking.
I have a layman's understanding of how the brain works. Electrons buzzing about, doing their assigned tasks and scurrying to their assigned destinations. Chemicals recording memories, sort of like a copy machine. The brain seems to me to function like an office. Hmm, I wonder if the electrons are stored in cubicles?
O.K., that is my understanding of the brain. Then I started thinking "What is thinking?". Is it like an office meeting where no one leaves the office but just sits and comes up with ideas?
I laid down last night to sleep and sleep didn't come. The wheels were spinning and thinking about thinking were the cloth they were spinning. Do electrons think or are electrons what thinking is? Why are we self aware and are we the only ones that are. There are a lot of brains on this planet and are human ones the only ones that are self aware? Do the others think?
The quandry got deeper. I am a meat eater and I enjoy it very much. What if what I am eating was a thinker? If it was I would be very ashamed of myself. If cows can think, I am doomed.
Sleep still didn't come, instead came blasphemy. The pagan Romans said "I think, therefore I am.". I recall, probably incorrectly, that God said to Moses "I am that I am.". Does this mean that God doesn't think or that there is no place for thinking in the Bible? Why would anyone create an image of themselves that thought? It would be like the pictures in Myst. Were Adam and Eve doomed because they ate a fruit from the tree of knowledge and therfore started thinking?
I will have to think about this. I will have time today because the only thing I plan to do is make chicken marsala. I puchased a very large botle of Marsala and I only need 1/2 cup of it for the chicken. I am sure that there will be a lot of thinking. My brain must be extemely convoluted as my thinking surely is.

The niceness explained

Yesterday I found out some amazing things abou the tiny little town I live in. I have commented before on the niceness and lack of tension and meaness in this town. It turns out that the Quakers had a lot to do with the development of this town. If they are still around I will have to find out but here are some of the amazing things that happened in this tiny little town.
Uxbridge was the first town in America to allow a woman to vote. There was an elderly widow that owned much of the property in town, She paid more than one half of the town's property tax. At that time women were not allowed to vote in America. The town fathers said that that was taxation without representation so they let her vote. She voted to approve a measure that would help fund the FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR!
Uxbridge was the first town in America to allow women to serve on juries. They did so despite the secretary of state of the state of Massachusetts telling them that they could not.
Uxbridge was the site of the beginning of the industrial revolution in America. The town had very few natural resources. The resources were: two small rivers, granite, and a lot of immigrants.
With stone and mortar
Wood and water
They built themselves a town
The town was soon bustling with mills and factories. The town never produced any weapon of any kind but those crafty old Quakers found a way to profit from war. Why not, everyone else does. I have read that the meaning of the word war in Sanskrit is "Wants more cows.".
So Uxbridge made uniforms for the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and, talk about staying power, the uniforms of the United States Air Force are Uxbridge Blue!
The first mission for Indians was in Uxbridge. The first recorded purchase of land from the Indians in Massachusetts may have been in Uxbridge. No guns and smallpox, just good solid cash.
So here it is, a tiny little town with a huge heritage of peace and hard work. There is no bragging and blustering and spouting "Hey look at me, aren't I wonderful?". This is what America used to be before we took over the Phillipines and started on our quest for "Hey look at me. I have an empire too!".
Whenever I find somewhere that has peace and tranquility and justice and hard work and modesty, there always seems to be a Quaker standing in the background somewhere. They made a town from uniforms, something they had absolutely no use for. They made a town with justice and sensibility and didn't rape the land. Something we all could use. I bet they are still standing in the background saying to themselves "The water is still here and we could use it to make electricity to sell to Boston as that is the only light they will ever see. When the people of Boston have burned out their lives in their constant quest for "Hey look at me!" we can take the granite and make headstones for them.". Quakers, "Nothing is better for thee than me.".
There was a Wal-Mart in town. It closed its doors and moved away becuse the people in Ux bridge still shopped at the tiny little stores run by their friends and neighbors. There was a computer store also but it closed. There are tiny little coffee shops and breakfast places and a hardware store and a food pantry and a senior center and a maple sugar operation and several housing places for seniors and families with limited resources. There is a book store. There are no self-help books in the bookstore, they just didn't sell in this town. I guess that the people in Uxbridge already knew how to do that.

It's Party Time

Yesterday I went out. It was cold but I went out anyway. The weather wasn't horrible but something else chilled my spine. I went to a small shop I often go to. It is a small. old, neighborhood store but has a few tables for the customers to sit and have coffee and doughnuts. Almost all of the customers have grey hair. This is a small New England town with many old mills. Most of the residents are descendants of European emigrants that came to work in the mills.
The town was evidently founded by people to emigrated from England. Those family names are the ones on the mills and the library, the Revolutionary War monument, and the schools. Those old trust funds are still alive.
There was also an extensive rock quarry in town. After the English came the Poles and the Swedes and the French. Those old family names are represented by the names on the Civil War monument, the Spanish American War monument, the World War One monument, the World War Two monument, the Korean War monument, the Vietnam monument, the list of registered voters, and the people in that little store.
There are a lot of churches in this town. There is one breakfast place, one bookstore, one hardware store, one building for police, fire, and town offices. There is no mega-mall or computer store. There are a lot of schools and farms and land that were donated to the town by deceased residents. There are not many Democrats.
I sat in the store talking with two life-long Republicans that I have come to know and respect. They don't say much but when they do speak, it is time to listen. They are both combat veterans and residents of one of the many senior citizen complexes that have been established in some of the old mills. They were talking about America. It is a conversation that I usually stay out of with them because we have different views and yet the same view. We differ on parties but we have the same view of America. "This is my country. You mess with America, you mess with me!".
The chilling part soon raised its head. Change has come, not just in Washington and Hollywood, but in small town America.
The first one said "This Obama seems to have taken charge. It is about time that someone did. I'm glad that I voted for him.". My ears came alive. I couldn't believe what I had heard.
The second one said "Me too. It was hard to decide as I made a mistake with the last guy. I should have voted for a veteran that saw combat but I voted for the Alabama Air National Guard. The things that they said about Kerry's war record were cheap and disgusting. I was tempted to vote for McCain because of that but then I thought. America doesn't need a soldier now. What America needs is a doctor and an accountant. We need a healer and some new blood. I will never vote for a Republican again. You hurt my country once, shame on you. You hurt my country twice, shame on me!".
I remained quiet as I had never voted for a bush league president. Later on the wheels of my mind started turning and the chill started growing. If this is the sentiment of a staunchly Republican town, what does the future hold? The Republican Party has destroyed itself by incompetance. It has lost the respect of its constituency. These people, whose forebears knew the value of a life time of hard work, saving for the future, investing in the younger generation, and stepping forward when their country was in peril, are disgusted.
I don't think that a Republican could get elected town herder (yes there is one here, he handles cows and horses and sheep that have gotten away but not chickens) in this town. The Republican Party has created a nation of yellow dog Democrats. We are going to have a one party system for a long time. That is the chilling part. A one party system can achieve great things but eventually it will get too confident in its power and institutionalize a system of abuses. Hoover Dam and the CCC put people to work but Trinity put the entire world at risk.
Then came last night. I don't know if it is true but the news reported that President Obama had said "If you criticize the President, you criticize America.". The chill went to absolute zero. That is too reminiscent of "L'etat c'est Moi.".
Later on I watched a program called Homeland Security that is about the new agency that is protecting America. If you ever want to know what happened to Curley, Moe, and Larry, watch this show. They busted two barefoot Fijians and English lady with a cat. The Fijians were already in someone else's custody but eight Homeland Security storm troopers knocked on the door to the holding room and said "Stand back we are going to open the door. Come out please. O.K.?". The English lady was stopped because she didn't have any cash with her. A spanish lady was held because she had too much cash. Boy is she lucky that she didn't have a cat.
I realize that Homeland Security is a big deal. Someone should take a look at what these guys really are. From what I saw I wouldn't let them walk my dog. They were hired in a huge mass effort to staff that agency. They are going to be on the books for a long time. If they ever get body armour, and they will because it is what the big guys wear, the government is going to have to find body armour with a bay window. It turns out that Homeland Security should have been watching the banks instead of the airports. We need an accountant in charge, not Rambo.

And the snow came

The snow came in yesterday's early hours. I went for a walk yesterday morning, ankle deep in snow. I didn't walk too far because the sidewalks weren't plowed and I was walking on the side of the road. Too many cars were sluicing around for that to be wise. No one seems to realize that when your tires no longer have contact with the road, you should slow down. As my Father used to say "Death is Nature's way of telling you to slow down.". I did notice that most of the sluicers had a cell phone in one hand and the steering wheel in the other.
I talked on a cell phone for the first time Sunday. My Brother came over and took me to the grocery store. It was a good thing as I would never have been able get there yesterday or today. While he was here my Sister-in-Law called on his cell phone and I spoke to her on it. I believe that they are a good thing for women to have, especially when they are driving alone, but I don't see the need of one for me. They are an annoying little gadget designed for interruption not communication. The telephone is for my convenience, not someone else's. My Father used to disconnect the bell from the telephone.
So now I have enough food to last a month, I have the tranquillity that snow brings, and yesterday I made tomato and onions and garlic and mushroom sauce with sausages. I had it with bucatini and have enough sauce and sausages for three more meals. After consuming a meal big enough for two, I curled up with a book and dozed off while it was still light out which explains why I am up so early.
I never knew that being retired was going to be so easy. No stress, no goals to be achieved, just "Ease on down the road.". The outside world, with its litany of problems and questions and scandals and admonitions is no longer part of my life. It is a life of comfort and tomato sauce and roast chicken and reading and walking. It is a life of simplicity and slowness. It is suited to me as I am simple and slow.