It is a glorious indian summer day, and the mountains are covered with a tapestry in shades of gold and russet. (Sorry, but they really are.) I am enjoying a juicy Bartlett pear and a Spanish cheese made from the milk of cows, goats and sheep. (Last night Bernard overheard me saying something about the cheese, and she confusedly said, ” a cow-goat?”)

Made a trip to the feed store today, and while I was in town I voted. Gotta love NC—early voting with no excuse needed. Looked like they were doing a brisk business, too, there at the funeral home where the polls were set up. I did have a last minute attack of pity for Bush, and voted for him….nah, just kidding.

Finally my fevered fantasies have come true: the vacuum cleaner I bought on eBay has arrived. With all its long wand thingys and doodads. You can’t imagine how good it is, sucking up cobwebs (plus so much more) from all over the house; vacuuming my floor, not just the rugs. Oh yes. I am turning over a new leaf in the housekeeping department; from now on I am a clean and neat person. Oh, and organised, too.

Have I mentioned on here lately how good the goats look? They are all so pretty—-this is the best looking herd we’ve ever had. They’re fat and sassy (we all are, it seems), and giving lots of milk. And the milk this time of year is my favorite—it’s very high in solids and fat, and tastes super rich and creamy. If I make cheese with it, my yield is so much higher—I get a whole lot more cheese per volume of milk.

This really is a splendid time of year.

I have been back on my modified low carb South Beach-based diet for a day and a half now. And I feel awful. Like I have the world’s worst hangover, or maybe the flu. I don’t remember feeling this bad the first time I started this in the summer. I mean, I felt bad, but nothing like this! Jeez. Poor guests who had me as their breakfast cook this morning. Talk about surly.

Other than that and my really annoying recurring family issues, everything’s great.

The trees are beautiful, the weather is beautiful, B* and D* and their new little one are beautiful. The girls and I stopped by on our way home from work to see them, and everybody’s healthy and happy. Little one has a name now, which of course I can’t use on here, because it would break my rule about using people’s real names on my blog. Unless it’s somebody I don’t like. Then I can use their real name. Or if I’m writing about them in connection with a business. Or if I screw up and type the name instead of the code. So far, I think I’ve caught it the couple of times I’ve done that, and corrected the error, but if you see your name on here some day, it probably means I screwed up, so don’t take it personally. OK.

Strangely, milk production is up right now; usually it really starts dropping off this time of year. It’s nice to be geetting plenty of milk. Eggs, too. Usually all the chickens decide to molt in unison sometime in September, and egg production drops down to nothing, and doesn’t start up again until the day of or the day after the Solstice. But this year, so far so good.

I just had my favorite lunch: Homemade Chocolate Ice Cream with Coconut Rum. It’s what I eat when I’m dieting. Oooh, I feel so virtuous.

The girls and I went down to J*’s house this morning for cake for I*’s birthday. He is 2 years old today, and what a funny little man he is. He makes me laugh harder than anybody else can. He has a serious horse fetish, and since everybody knows this about him every single one of his gifts was horse-related. What a cutie.

Sunday was elfin one’s birthday—she turned one. No horse fetish yet, but I figure there’s plenty of time to work on her. We had a great time at her house eating chocolate cake, carrot cake cupcakes, drinking tea and hanging out with friends in a mellow, peaceful environment. It’s hard to believe she’s a year old already—how’d that happen?

I’m really wanting to spend more time hanging out with friends.

I’m dead tired, but blissed out. Got in at 5am, slept until 9am. Bleary eyed doesn’t begin to describe it!

D* had her baby last night; actually at 12:20 this morning. A 9 lb 2 oz rosy baby boy.

I have to say that was one of the most inspirational experiences of my entire life. D* was amazing. She has a bit of a take charge attitude anyway, and with this birth (her third) she set out to enjoy herself, work hard, and take responsibility for giving birth to her baby. She was gorgeous and powerful and….cheerful. I am not kidding—she was so obviously having a good time that the rest of us couldn’t help but have a blast. We laughed and talked and danced. That’s how D* got her baby out. By dancing. I am totally serious—she shook her butt all over the house. We had some REM, some Allman Brothers, a little Blues Traveler, and finally, the one that did it—-Jackson Five. We all knew that Rockin’ Robin was going to bring that baby down, and sure enough, he was born during the next track.

Both of the baby’s brothers were awake to welcome their little brother into the world; B* was a pillar of strength. The midwife was calmly and quietly competent—-It was a lovely and loving scene.

D*—you’re my hero. I love you.

I feel so much better after walking “laps” on the driveway. One of our kitties, Opie, the orange stripey guy, ran up and down the driveway after me, occasionally hitching a ride on my shoulder. What a sweetie. Don’t you love the way cats’ bellies smell? Is “furry” a smell?

When I got back inside, DH was hosting a little wine tasting. We tasted the Blackberry-Elderberry, and it’s delicious, though slightly sweet. P* is going to love it (we’re splitting this 10-gallon batch). But my favorite by far is the mead we made from Max Patch blue-, black-, and elderberries. It is going to be fantastic! Tastes a little raw and immature right now, but what a lovely complexity of flavors. I think it’ll be pleasant this Christmas, really, really good at Candlemas, and spectacular next year. If there is any left next year.

There are freeze warnings for our area tonight, but we won’t get it. It is chilly, however; the cookstove’s feeling good.

I seem to be trying to put on a couple of pounds for the winter, along with everybody else I know. Carbs, carbs, carbs—that’s what it’s all about! Good grief! And breakfast at the Inn is a little bit of a nightmare —people are eating twice what they were eating in the summer. I can’t make enough food! It’s fall, I guess. Time to get really fat, and go hibernate somewhere. Doesn’t sound too bad, does it?

Good grief, it’s cold! It was 47° when I got to work this morning, and it was 47° when I left this afternoon. And grey and drizzly and windy.

I have a fire going in the wood cookstove, and a pot of soup bubbling merrily away. It’s starting to get pretty cozy in here, and since the weather’s getting colder, and we are having a hard time feeling warm (because we’re wimps) it’s time for ginger tea. Basically I just slice some fresh ginger root and put it in a pot of water along with a piece of cinnamon stick (preferably the real thing, which is composed of many thin, almost papery, layers, instead of cassia, which is what you usually find in grocery stores. I buy mine in a mexican grocery) and a couple of whole cloves. If I have it I put in a stick or two of Astragalus root. Let it simmer indefinitely, drink it whenever you want. It’s a good immune system strengthener, especially indicated when you can’t seem to get or stay warm; it’s good for circulation. It seems like we’ve almost always got a pot of it sitting on the woodstove in the winter.

Hung out with D* after work today. She is so pregnant. I think we tend to forget that a human body can stretch that much! She’s got a whole lot of belly going on, and she’s maybe a little burned out! Soon…..

I’m loving the heck out of DH right now. For some reason we’ve really got a groove on together these days. Makes everything else easier, you know? Wait—-is it because we never see each other ? Hmmmm.

I must go feed the fire. In spite of all my griping about how I have no desire to deal with firewood and woodstoves yet this year, the cookstove’s feeling pretty darn good!

Found this on Pure Land Mountain







MILITARY SERVICE

Democrats:

* Richard Gephardt: Air National Guard, 1965-71.

* David Bonior: Staff Sgt., Air Force 1968-72.

* Tom Daschle: 1st Lt., Air Force SAC 1969-72.

* Al Gore: enlisted Aug. 1969; sent to Vietnam Jan. 1971 as an army journalist in 20th Engineer Brigade.

* Bob Kerrey: Lt. j.g. Navy 1966-69; Medal of Honor, Vietnam.

* Daniel Inouye: Army 1943-47; Medal of Honor, WWII.

* John Kerry: Lt., Navy 1966-70; Silver Star, Bronze Star with Combat V, Purple Hearts.

* Charles Rangel: Staff Sgt., Army 1948-52; Bronze Star, Korea.

* Max Cleland: Captain, Army 1965-68; Silver Star & Bronze Star, Vietnam.

* Ted Kennedy: Army, 1951-53.

* Tom Harkin: Lt., Navy, 1962-67; Naval Reserve, 1968-74.

* Jack Reed: Army Ranger, 1971-1979; Captain, Army Reserve 1979-91.

* Fritz Hollings: Army officer in WWII; Bronze Star and seven campaign ribbons.

* Leonard Boswell: Lt. Col., Army 1956-76; Vietnam, DFCs, Bronze Stars, and Soldier’s Medal.

* Pete Peterson: Air Force Captain, POW. Purple Heart, Silver Star and Legion of Merit.

* Mike Thompson: Staff sergeant, 173rd Airborne, Purple Heart.

* Bill McBride: Candidate for Fla. Governor. Marine in Vietnam;Bronze Star with Combat V.

* Gray Davis: Army Captain in Vietnam, Bronze Star.

* Pete Stark: Air Force 1955-57

* Chuck Robb: Vietnam

* Howell Heflin: Silver Star

* George McGovern: Silver Star & DFC during WWII.

* Bill Clinton: Did not serve. Student deferments. Entered draft but received #311.

* Jimmy Carter: Seven years in the Navy.

* Walter Mondale: Army 1951-1953

* John Glenn: WWII and Korea; six DFCs and Air Medal with 18Clusters.

* Tom Lantos: Served in Hungarian underground in WWII. Saved byRaoul Wallenberg.

Republicans — and these are the guys sending people to war:

* Dick Cheney: did not serve. Several deferments, the last by marriage.

* Dennis Hastert: did not serve.

* Tom Delay: did not serve.

* Roy Blunt: did not serve.

* Bill Frist: did not serve.

* Mitch McConnell: did not serve.

* Rick Santorum: did not serve.

* Trent Lott: did not serve.

* John Ashcroft: did not serve. Seven deferments to teach business.

* Jeb Bush: did not serve.

* Karl Rove: did not serve.

* Saxby Chambliss: did not serve. “Bad knee.” The man who attackedMax Cleland’s patriotism.

* Paul Wolfowitz: did not serve.

* Vin Weber: did not serve.

* Richard Perle: did not serve.

* Douglas Feith: did not serve.

* Eliot Abrams: did not serve.

* Richard Shelby: did not serve.

* Jon Kyl: did not serve.

* Tim Hutchison: did not serve.

* Christopher Cox: did not serve.

* Newt Gingrich: did not serve.

* Don Rumsfeld: served in Navy (1954-57) as flight instructor.

* George W. Bush: failed to complete his six-year National Guard; got assigned to Alabama so he could campaign for family friend runningfor U.S. Senate; failed to show up for required medical exam, disappeared from duty under terms categorized as desertion.

* Ronald Reagan: due to poor eyesight, served in a non-combat role making movies.

* B-1 Bob Dornan: Consciously enlisted after fighting was over inKorea.

* Phil Gramm: did not serve.

* John McCain: Silver Star, Bronze Star, Legion of Merit, PurpleHeart and Distinguished Flying Cross.

* Dana Rohrabacher: did not serve.

* John M. McHugh: did not serve.

* JC Watts: did not serve.

* Jack Kemp: did not serve. “Knee problem,” although continued in NFL for 8 years.

* Dan Quayle: Journalism unit of the Indiana National Guard.

* Rudy Giuliani: did not serve.

* George Pataki: did not serve.

* Spencer Abraham: did not serve.

* John Engler: did not serve.

* Lindsey Graham: National Guard lawyer.

* Arnold Schwarzenegger: AWOL from Austrian army base.

Pundits & Preachers

* Sean Hannity: did not serve.

* Rush Limbaugh: did not serve (4-F with a ‘pilonidal cyst.’)

* Bill O’Reilly: did not serve.

* Michael Savage: did not serve.

* George Will: did not serve.

* Chris Matthews: did not serve.

* Paul Gigot: did not serve.

* Bill Bennett: did not serve.

* Pat Buchanan: did not serve.

* John Wayne: did not serve.

* Bill Kristol: did not serve.

* Kenneth Starr: did not serve.

* Antonin Scalia: did not serve.

* Clarence Thomas: did not serve.

* Ralph Reed: did not serve.

* Michael Medved: did not serve.

* Charlie Daniels: did not serve.

* Ted Nugent: did not serve. (Like Cheney, he only shoots at things that don’tshoot back.)

(Please keep this information circulatingSen. Howard W. Carrollsenhwc@Hotmail.com)