Judginess

The internet gives people a chance to share their lives with people. We share good things and bad. We share pictures of our cats, dogs, or kids, and we share opinions. Sometimes we overshare. 
Along with the sharing though, we have come to the point of feeling that we are able to judge one another. Harshly. For things that are not any of our business. For example, I could say that I  am listening to Christmas music, or watching a Christmas movie on Halloween, and people would jump all over that. Some people would, of course, be joking, but there would be a ridiculous number who would actually think that their opinion should matter  and I should listen to what they have to say. However, anyone who actually knows me would also be aware that I ignore people who try to tell me how to live my life, and I will swamp them with Christmas music they tell me what to do. But that is off-topic.
My point is more along the lines of the fact that we have reached a point where we think that we can butt into the life choices of others, big or small, and they have to listen to us. 

Now, I realize that if you post something online, you're giving others the right to give their opinion on that subject. That's a fine line though. I don't think there's a problem with people giving their opinion. Instead, the problem comes when people feel the need to give their opinion in the harshest way possible. 
It's like chatting with a group of friends. One person mentions something they do which is a bit different from the typical way people act. Or maybe the conversation goes a little deeper, and someone brings up a topic that they are struggling with; be it theological, or moral, or in any other way. Instead of receiving support and friendship, the remark, no matter how important or trivial, is met with scathing looks and comments. People begin to argue amongst themselves, yelling and calling their friends horrible names simply due to the fact that they don't agree on a subject. Usually a subject that doesn't actually have a definite right and wrong answer. 
Pretty soon, those friends would just stop talking. They would judge each other based on the topics on which they disagree, rather than remembering why they became friends in the first place.
It is far easier on facebook to be harsh with your friends, and to take liberties with the people you don't even know that well. You can forget that there is a real person behind the computer screen, and that they actually have feelings. And that you don't have the right to tell them what to do.

Having a filter on your fingers as you type is a smart choice...This is a good model, but a little too distracting.

But what if you see something that someone has posted that you really think is serious, and something you have to address? One such thing that comes to mind is the recent rash of racism, Islamaphobia, and general violence perpetuated across social media. It's wrong to stay silent when you feel convicted to speak. But speak with kindness, and remember that the person with whom you are arguing is entitled to their own opinion as well. You can make your point, but freedom of speech is not negated merely because you don't agree with them.
Facebook is supposed to be a place to connect with friends, not a place to make enemies. I've been staying off of facebook a lot more than I usually do, because I'm tired of seeing all the animosity. I wish that people could discuss ideas and opinions, whether face to face or online, without such anger. Perhaps one day.

Sanctuary...

"Overnight we had become really poor; we had become refugees. A refugee not only has no country, he also has no rights. He is a displaced person. At times he feels like a parcel which has been mailed and is moved from place to place."

This is a quote from Maria von Trapp, who I am sure you are familiar with from The Sound of Music. Because her husband refused to fly the Nazi flag, or take a naval command with the Nazis, the family had to leave Austria. 
Most people love the scene in the Sound of Music where the family travels over the Alps into Switzerland and freedom. They are finding a life where they can be safe, and far from the Nazis. It is a beautiful picture.

But they are refugees. They are leaving their country, and guess what...they came to the States (through Italy...not Switzerland. And they took the train, they didn't climb the mountain with all of their luggage...and they told their family and friends that they were going to the US for a tour...but hey...). They moved here and lived the rest of their lives here. 
Maybe you say, yeah, but they were useful people. They had skills, and they had something to give to our country. But Georg was also a retired Naval hero who had been offered a position with the German Navy. Who was to say that he hadn't secretly accepted an offer to become a Nazi spy who would then infiltrate the US? They had children who could have easily been part of Hitler Youth, helping their Father as spies. 
Just because men are military age, that does not mean that they want to be in the military. The von Trapp sons actually enlisted in the US military, and became naturalized citizens as a result. 

Why is it that we don't mind refugees like this? They wouldn't necessarily even risk their lives by staying in Austria. But they left for better lives. Just like many of the refugees coming into Europe and the States right now. They are people with lives and dreams and the desire to live somewhere that they can be safe. They have things to offer to the countries in which they settle, and to those of us who meet them and give them a chance. Is it because there wasn't the fear of terrorism in those days? Probably not the case, as World War II was when between 110,000 and 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry were placed in internment camps in the States. 62 percent of these people were already US citizens, and this internment has been determined to have been caused by racism and discrimination by white Americans, rather than because of any actual threat they posed to the country. 
Terrorism, or the fear of it, was alive and well during those times. So was racism. It reminds me of the Mob Song from Beauty and the Beast. Yes, I can find a song to fit almost anything...

One line of the song says, "We don't like what we don't understand, in fact it scares us, and this monster is mysterious at least." 
They sing that line, and then they go tramping through the forest to the castle of the Beast in order to kill him. Belle tries to convince them that he is harmless, but they don't want to believe her. They decide that the Beast is scary, just because they say he is, and they care about nothing other than killing him. 
I've seen a lot of mob mentality lately. Mostly on facebook. Holy heck is that place ever a mess. You have your mobs on both sides, and so many people hate other people. We're coming into a season of Thanks and Love, and 75% of what you see on facebook is rants about how we need to nuke every Muslim, or how refugees are terrorists. And all of the animosity directed not only at the people you're scared of, but also the people you disagree with. Friends and families are divided and at each other's throats. 
See refugees as people. See those you argue with on fb as people. We're supposed to love people. To the point that we would lay down our lives for others. No matter what colour they are, and regardless of whether or not we understand them.

Christmas on a Plate

First, you select your butternut squash. This is actually pretty much the star of the dish. It is the main ingredient of the filling, and the filling makes the ravioli. We found these at Aldi a few weeks ago for 49 cents each. Wonderful price, hey? Mom and I bought a few of them.  

Then you choose your largest knife (not actually the largest, but a pretty decent one), and chop the ends off of the squash before cutting it in half.  

 And scooping out the seeds. Save these and plant them, and you can grow your own squash later (if you remember to plant them in the spring. That's usually my problem.

Peel the squash. I think that next time, I would bake them in the skin, then peel them. It'll be a lot easier.  

I didn't take many pictures of making the dough, because there were some issues with it. I wanted to make spinach pasta, and realized that, when making spinach pasta, you really have to be sure to remove all of the water from the spinach. The dough took a lot more flour than it was supposed to take.

All wrapped up and ready to chill in the fridge.

Finally didn't wear black while I was cooking, but, come to find, orange shows spilled flour just as much as black.

Honey and yeast mixed together for one of my favourite bread recipes. It's only 4 ingredients, and takes hardly any time to make. Tried to make it garlic bread, but didn't put quite enough garlic in it.

Colourful pasta dough and filling. Who wants boring food? I used the filling from this recipe. Didn't really want to do the gluten free dough, or the sauce from this site, but the filling looked amazing. And definitely was. I wasn't sure about putting nutmeg in the recipe, but it worked great.

  

Filling my ravioli maker. It made the job so much easier. I love it. Probably the best $1.50 I've ever spent at Goodwill. With the orange filling and green pasta, it kinda reminded me of Indian food on a banana leaf. 

All plated up. The sauce was simple. A can of basil-oregano diced tomatoes, and a can of tomato paste. Most recipes with butternut squash have a lighter, kind of sweet sauce, but I wanted the acid of the tomatoes to cut through the sweetness. It was already hard enough to find a recipe that did not have brown sugar in the filling. They're usually more like candied yam type filling. 

I looked at it on the plate, and it looked like Christmas. Which is my favourite holiday, so I don't mind that. 

The kitchen was a little bit of a mess when I finished. I need an assistant to come behind and clean up while I am cooking. It would make things much easier. Perhaps when I am rich :~P

 

I should have taken more detailed photos, but you get the idea. It was a delicious, and very different meal. I love to cook things that are a little bit different. Bright colours, different flavours. I like having the ability to cook normal food, but to have the ability to switch it up and still make it taste good is even more fun.

I have no desire to be a professional chef. Even just to do something like Masterchef is not anything that interests me. But simply to bring joy to myself and those I love by cooking is enough for me.

The Shadow of Death

Being attached to dogs kinda sucks. Actually, it really sucks...You form an attachment to a creature that you know will not live as long as you, unless you have a tragically short life. And yet, we do it over and over again.

Shadow has been my boy for nearly 15 years. Though he technically belongs to my Grandparents, he latched on to me the first day we met, at the shelter where they got him. We went for a walk while Grama and Grampa went over the adoption paperwork, and after that, they never really had a chance to be his favourite people. I had that spot pretty well in hand.

We did obedience lessons, and dog shows. He was always the trouble maker in the class. I kind of tried to get him to behave, but overall, as long as we were having fun, that was ok. And he pretty well loved anything we did. Though, the teachers of the obedience class were not fans of Shadow. He didn't listen to them, and made them look silly any time that they tried to use him for an example. I thought it was pretty funny, and never scolded him for that kind of brattiness :~).

Shadow is getting old. He was young when we got him, but like I said before, we've been buddies for about 15 years. That's pretty old, especially for a dog his size. He's not huge, but he is a good sized dog.

He's been looking pretty rough. He has multiple tumours, including one on his leg that has caused his leg to swell, and bleed. He has dandruff, and bad breath (though, considering how much cat poop he usually finds to eat, his breath has never smelled all that great...), and he is a little gimpy. It really bugs me when people complain about the smell, or say that he is ugly. He is old. He is comparable to a human around 94 years old. I don't think I've seen a 94 year old human who looks as good as they did in their 20s or 30s... I always tell Shadow that he is my handsome boy, and I mean it. I love him, and I will always think that he is handsome no matter what.

Despite all of his problems, Shadow usually doesn't seem to realize that he is in such bad shape. He had lots of fun swimming in the river this summer, and he still insists that I take him for walks, trotting around like a much younger dog. Or at least trying to trot around. Going for walks with Shadow is like trying to take a toddler for a walk. He stops every three feet to sniff the new smells, and to investigate anything that looks interesting. He also tries to sneakily eat any cat poop he finds along the way...I hope your toddler never does that...

It's hard to watch Shadow go downhill. The vet has said that, at his age, surgery for his tumours is not really an option. He would likely not survive the surgery in the first place, and even if he did, it would be so hard on him that it wouldn't be fair. We've been told to give him a good life, and keep him happy and comfortable for as long as we can. So that's what we're doing.

Nothing lasts forever. Dogs' lifespans are even farther from forever than those of humans. It's hard to watch someone you love deal with physical problems. And it is even harder when you know those problems are merely the result of old age, and they are not anything that will pass except for through death.

It's easy to withdraw when we see signs of the end coming up. To say that it is too hard and to avoid the dog or even the person who is nearing death. It's also easy to fall into a pit of regrets, feeling bad for every time you maybe could have spent time with them and didn't. These regrets can be real, or they can be imagined things that your sad mind brings about. Wherever they come from, they are of no use. Regrets and withdrawal does nothing to help the one you are mourning. The nearness of their death is no easier on them than it is on you, and they need you near. So be there for them. And, as is a dog's nature, they will be there for you as well, and they will comfort you as you prepare for their death. 

Becoming Boxcar Children-Part 2

Sometimes, smaller tasks wind up far more challenging than the big tasks.
For example...Sliding my boxcar over a few feet. Doesn't sound all that challenging, considering the fact that we brought it all the way up the driveway, a distance several times what we planned to move it today.
But for that movement, we had the use of 2 tractors. And an axle. This time, we were moving it sideways, in an area where there were too many trees around to really get the tractor in. So we had to be a little more imaginative. Or...Dad had to be imaginative. I was just there to add what little muscle I possess.
First, we had to jack it up and put it on poles instead of the axle. On top of the poles, we had channel iron, on the premise that the metal container would slide more readily on metal than it would on dirt or wood. Jacking it up was a bit of a challenge though, as you can see in this picture...

But, after a while, we got it high enough to put the poles underneath, and it was ready to move. Hard part done, right?

Well, hard part kind of done. The South end was pretty easy after this point. There was enough room to get the tractor in to push on the south end. And with the container being on the metal, it very nicely, even for the little tractor.

The North end was as different story. Because of the trees surrounding it, there wasn't really a way to get the tractor in to push it over. So that wound up being a bit more of a challenge. We ran a chain under the container, then hooked it to a come-along that was fastened to a tree to the west of the container. Then we pulled it over by hand, so to speak. 

Dad did a much better job with the come-along than did I. This was the point where I had a little snit because I was too much of a girl and didn't have the weight/muscle to do the come-along very well.

Becoming Boxcar Children-Part 1

Once upon a time, I informed my parents of a slightly unusual housing plan that I had. I told that that, since it is biblical for a woman to remain under her Father's roof until marriage, I would be doing just that. For a while, I said that I would just live in my room. Then I decided I'd move to the attic. Then I didn't really care about where I would live, but I still claimed that I would live with my folks til I married. 

I don't think they minded when I thought that there was a chance that I would be married at a relatively young age. Pretty sure they also thought it was a joke. 

Well, lately, they've started to understand that I wasn't joking. And I don't have any marriage prospects. Because of my itinerant lifestyle, it doesn't make sense for me to rent an apartment. I'd wind up spending so much on a place that I wouldn't even spend that much time in, and it would just be nonsense. 

So, in the interest of maintaining what sanity my parents have, we've been discussing alternate ideas. This whole summer, Cosette, Leaf, Marius, Scarlet and I have been sleeping in a camper out in the pasture. But campers aren't exactly meant to be lived in during the winter. So we have been trying to figure out the best course of action. 

We went through ideas of a tiny house on a trailer bed, and converting our furnace shed into a tiny home. And then we somehow settled on the idea of a shipping container home. That one sounded like it would be a fun option. You can buy shipping containers off of the internet, from several different places. Yes, I am very happy that my Dad actually sorted through loads of containers online, and chose one. I suck at that stuff. 

And then it came. At flipping 7 am. Go figure. It was supposed to come closer to 8, but I guess the driver wanted to get through Chicago early enough to miss the bad traffic, so he came earlier. And yes, I was actually awake (thanks to a phone call from Mom...) for this. I did not just give my camera to Dad. I don't do mornings as a general rule, but I am not that lazy.

Dad brought a pole to set the container down on. We would have been in trouble if he'd not thought of that. We never would have been able to move the container at all.

 Giving some direction so it actually landed where it was supposed to be. 

The view from inside 

Almost decided that it would remain in the driveway. It didn't seem to want to move for quite a while.

 Because of the tapering of the poles, the container skewed to the side. That was when we changed tactics.

 Baby tractor laughed a little bit when it saw what Dad expected it to move.

Managed to get the axle under it. Finally... 

And then it came out. 

"Give me a large enough lever, and I can move the world!"---Baby Tractor  

Turns out my new home used to belong to a bank in the Netherlands. Think I'll find any cash in it? 

Excited to be a Boxcar Children :~P 

And what project is complete without duct tape? 

So excited :~) 

We had to jack the container up when we got closer to the house, so that we could move the axle closer to the middle of the container.

Dad isn't a fan of being under something massive that could tip and crush him, no matter how unlikely it is that it will tip.

Almost to the house! 

Take a good look at the big house as you pass, baby house, and perhaps one day you will grow up to be a big house. 

Pulling into place in the woods. 

Make sure you move all gravel piles out of the way before taking a container through the area...

And in place, where it belongs. Ready for the next step.

Stay tuned for further updates on the creation of a tiny baby boxcar shipping container home :~)