Saturday, June 14, 2008

TALKING THE WALK

from Murph


I’m not so sure I have found a spiritual guide but I sure have found over time that interesting conversations can come about in strange ways. I suppose there is something to be learned from most continuing conversations no matter with whom or it.

We have 5 laying hens, three of them are pretty close to the max laying age, they were the original hens. One is a barred rock and two are araucana. The barred rock we call Henny Penny. Neither Freeacre nor myself are able to easily think about eliminating her when she stops laying her egg-a-day, which we expect to be the case at the end of the summer when she begins to molt. The reason? Conversations. Now we all know that birds are not known for big well developed brains, thus the term bird brain. However, whenever I wish, I can go out to the back yard, sit down on something, and Henny Penny comes over and we talk. Freeacre says I am becoming an expert at chicken talk. I’m not so sure of the expert label, but I have never had that hen end the conversation and walk away. I’m always the one who decides it is enough, usually within an hour anyway.

Now I am not going to claim any big revelations or spiritual counsels, but we do seem to reach some kind of agreement. She is the only chicken that will allow me to pick her up. I’ve had these kinds of relationships with other animals over my life. Horses, dogs, cats, doves, turtles, even snakes. Not sure what conclusions a stranger not familiar with these kinds of relationships is going to come up with. Other people on this site have talked about having these relationships, Montana the most notable and consistent. Got to admit, never had that with a bug. Although I have sat for hours watching a particular lady bug out of thousands that invaded my house in Iowa. Or watched a spider build a web. When they finish they tend to not be very interesting and just cling around for hours and hours at a time. Boring. Henny (HP) is not boring for sure. Maybe it’s the bigger brain then the spider. Norman (from Norman Bates), our white dove, is also an interesting conversationalist, for about 10 minutes, then he repeats himself so much that I have to drop it. Course, he is the only dove I have heard of that can have the tag of being a home defense system all by himself. He is the most aggressive dove of peace I have seen.

I’m not going to relate the verbiage in my conversations, although I have considered recording them for posterity. Both Freeacre and I can watch the chickens going about being chickens for hours at a time, almost hypnotized by them. Interesting social structure and interactions. No wonder we don’t get much done around here and feel like we are constantly behind on all projects. Sigh. We are being chicken hypnotized. I have on several occasions attempted to transfer my fascination with HP to another animal, for which HP scolds me soundly.

Now why do I bring up a subject like this on this site for heavens sake? Well, one of my contentions is that our modern society, actually western civilization, has alienated us from the other life forms that we share this planet with. In the case of domesticated animals, I have always tended to allow them to be their best and to be what they want or are naturally. Most of the time we reach agreements on how we are going to live with each other. Pretty much worked as far as I was concerned with few exceptions. Same with people isn’t it?

But, what I see going on around me is very little acceptance of other life forms, or an attempt to push the life form into some kind of conformity that is usually not very healthy for either, very much a power trip on the part of the human side of the arrangement, although I have seen it go the other way too, where the other life form takes over the relationship. In several cases I think that it was probably best for the other life form to take over, some people seem to have trouble running their lives and while it’s a bad job, somebody needs to do it.

Over time and with some observations, you begin to notice some really interesting personalities. With HP it means that if we leave the back door open and turn our backs for a heartbeat, she is through the door and into the kitchen. Loves the dog food. Strangely, she has yet to poop on the floor. Our dog has taken up TV. Will sit with us and watch movies and TV stuff, although she has shown little interest in political talking heads. Loves the nature shows and cowboy movies. She seemed to get off on The Matrix also which was kind of surprising. Even animated movies she gets interested in. Every time we bring some baby chicks into the house to raise, she will sit and stare at them for hours at a time. If we give her a chance, she will pick one out of the box and lick it till it is a soggy mess and scared out of its chick mind. However, she also will not eat anything with chicken meat in it. Interesting.

Freeacre is more into the plant world. Remember how Montana talks about the two legged, the four legged and the six legged ones? Well, Freeacre talks about the quiet ones. Their personalities seem harder for me to discern. But for instance, tomato plants like to be close enough to each other to touch. Radishes are more aloof and like personal space. Pole beans try to dominate their environment. Last year they took over the greenhouse and made it a jungle. When we close up the greenhouse for the night, Freeacre has taken to telling them all goodnight and that we would be with them again in the morning as soon as it gets warm. The aloe Vera plant in the house has really responded to personal attention and is blooming. When was the last time you saw that happen? First time for me. Freeacre apologizes to it profusely whenever we need some of its leaf for a burn or some other medicinal use. It is the first one we have had that is so big it is taking over the kitchen. TLC and respect seems to go a long way with plants, the quiet ones.

While I recognize that most people in my life will view this essay with quiet tolerance and amusement, I maintain that making the effort to get attuned to the other parts of our environment than just the human side is important. It is all interrelated and I think important. Besides, it makes for lots of amusing anecdotes to lay out for people to snicker at.

An old time 90 year old farmer I knew back in Michigan had been a farmer for his whole life. Had finally decided he didn’t want to work that hard any more and turned the farm over to his kids. He was considered quite eccentric and not sociable at all. Come to find out, he let me know, that he liked animals and plants a whole lot more than most people. They didn’t lie to him, didn’t take advantage of him and kept him well fed. He had just about an acre garden he put in every year and wouldn’t let anyone else tend it, and he only used hand tools. Every morning during the growing season, he would go out to the garden and walk down the rows of plants and sniff them. The ones that smelled right is what he ate that day. I think the term we use is “being in tune”. I sure did like that old man. I imagine he is long dead now. We lost a good teacher for this planet.

31 comments:

Anonymous said...

That was really great. It's true, though. We have to be more sensitive to other life forms all around us. We are not the center of the universe, and thinking that we are only leads to the destruction of the very environment that sustains our lives.

Dave

Anonymous said...

Dave and Everybody,
In concert with the post, I came across this web site/movie today. If you got the stomach to watch it, go to
http://www.chooseveg.com/animal-cruelty.asp

Anonymous said...

Belgium is back.

Well sporadically for now at least.

To start off on a diversion, thanks again to all those who sent good wishes after Chris was taken ill at the end of March. She has come through the post opp better than expected. She has some residual stiffness in her right arm and fingers and a degree of ‘afasie' which is a disconnection between fully formed concepts in her brain coming out of her mouth the way she envisioned them. She is responding well to the logo therapy which is designed to treat this. But hey, it could have been a lot worse. Tomorrow she takes a break away from the revalidation centre, where I spend most of my free time, to go back to the hospital to have the removed section of skull replaced. There are no good operations but this is not so serious as the first time around and it has to be done. At least she won’t have to walk around wearing a crash hat anymore.

I have been taking some time to catch up on all the old posts and comments since the end of March. I particularly liked the one a few posts ago that started off dealing with questionable oil depletion and finished up dealing with every other important topic. There is no doubt in my mind that population expansion is the biggie and nobody including me has a sensible answer. It is ok passing the buck to Mother Nature but she makes adjustments over millennia whereas exponential greed and exponential everything else has happened over the last 200 or so years. Who knows how long it will be before she gets off the starting blocks. It is also ok to agree with the PTB and say “Yup a billion looks about right” but there is a big difference between looking at this on the macro and micro scales. It is also in order to say “If these conditions ever apply to me then pull the plug”. The medical profession knows, more or less, how a broken arm will heal but what about the two big organs, the heart and the brain. What if you are given the choice that I was – The brain is a very delicate organ and we don’t know enough about how it will recover from this condition; you could spend your life putting food in one end and dealing with it at the other or she could lead an almost normal but slightly impaired life. The macro overview is no good here. And there is the rub; every macro scenario has millions of micro scenarios attached to it. This raises serious doubts over double standards and it is no use asking the church for moral guidance, they have more double standards than me. According to Ely, look who they represent. Maybe the PTB should just bring it on but nobody wants Goliath to have a slam dunk either.

By the way, euthanasia is legal in Holland, they see things differently there. I just thought I would throw this gem in.

Back on topic, I bowed out on the Jensen post and I am coming back in with some of his observations, particularly from “A Language Older than Words”. He at one time kept poultry and small livestock but always had a problem with the killing part.
After a few chickens had been killed he noticed that some of them resisted with every fibre of their being whilst others offered their necks presumably for the greater overall good. This led him to wonder if the animal world had a greater insight into the workings and requirements of nature than humans had. This of course was speculation but he did make a deal with a group of coyotes that were breaking into the enclosure and stealing the chickens. He went over to where the coyotes congregated, approached the leader and said “You are stealing my chickens and I don’t like it so I am going to make a deal with you. If you stop stealing them then whenever I kill one I will give you the parts I don’t use”. They eyed each other for a while and then he went away. The coyotes stopped stealing the chickens and Jensen kept his part of the bargain. Coincidence or not? How could the coyote understand him? Was it his overall bearing, his body language or some vague recognition that a meeting between the two leaders had taken place and an understanding accepted?

He also tells a story over a pot plant, (I can just hear Stoney saying”Not this tree hugging shit again”). This concerns a police lie detector test operative whose day was low on work and high on boredom who decided to connect the leaves of his office plant up to the machine to see if he could get a reaction. He curled the leaves; crushed them between his fingers and even snapped them in half, all without a reaction. He then ratcheted the abuse up a notch by approaching the plant, not touching it, with a lighted cigarette lighter. The plant freaked out and all the pens went off scale. He put the lighter away and gradually over several minutes the pens returned to the base line. He left the machine running and went for a coffee but returned again with the lighted flame in his hand and again the plant freaked out. It must be acknowledged that plants have a life force but this is the first time plant ‘emotions’ had been detected. It has been said that trees scream when they are cut down, who is to say. Is it real or just hearsay? UK’s Prince Charles was doing a TV, Royalty are real people exercise when he happened to mention that his house plants were doing really well since he had started talking to them. That is when his friends started shuffling to the other side of the room and treating him like the germ that had got penicillin. “What a loon” the press declared.

It is said that you can own a dog but a cat owns you. It is true that whoever is the declared owner of a domestic animal, it will choose its own boss. Maybe this is the one that usually feeds it or there may be some other preference. It is so that pets of friends usually come to me for stroke or a little talk, perhaps they sense that I am less of a threat.

Sure birds have small brains but have you ever tried to build a nest and get it to hang together? Even now, nobody is really sure how birds navigate when they migrate or how they know when to migrate. Birds had been doing this for millions of years whilst we humans were still fumbling about in the nineteenth century trying to figure out longitude.

It is true that the more industrialised we became, the more we came to rely on technology and the old skills were no longer needed. Instead of being part of nature we came to regard it as a curiosity. Tractors separated people from the land and agriculture became an outdoor factory. As we have become more specialised, more compartmentalised; we need algorithms to work out such things as the Mayan long count or the meaning of Stonehenge. What was once innate has now been lost. Perhaps we should listen to what these few remaining lost tribes have to tell us before we finally kill them all off.

Anonymous said...

Welcome back, Belgium. My best to your wife. And we will all be sending good energy your way, in hope of a trouble-free surgery and recovery.


Murph,

A splendid way
to spend your finite days



An Act of Extraordinary Courage Observed While Planting Tomatoes

Angry Raven
curved in black
over legumes
and lit behind
the chokecherry,
at the back shed's eave.
He paced the peak
and garbled
a throaty protest.
I ignored his noise.
Shadows stretched
like cats across beds.
Welcomed shade turned chill.
And there was still the squash.
Raven crowed bravely
from safe spruce,
gawked quizzical from crab.
Nerve enough or calculated ire
worked him into swoop
and grab. The defining clack
of black claws scraping plastic
told the truth. Mute owl,
on his guarding post, was moot.

-rockpicker

Palooka's Revenge said...

test

Anonymous said...

Hey, saw a T-shirt that said, "The more people I meet, the more I lke my dog."

I second that notion, but with "cat." Which brings me to another saying, "Dogs have masters, cats have staff." Totally true.

Later -

Dude

Palooka's Revenge said...

It must be acknowledged that plants have a life force but this is the first time plant ‘emotions’ had been detected.


well, its far from the first time. but thats okay. obviously we need to be reminded over and over. thanks for bringing the story to us b.

masaru emoto has proved the same with water. the man has done ground-breaking work in this field that ought to beg everyone's attention.

emote: "To express emotion (anyone recognize an irony between the man's name and the word?), especially in an excessive or theatrical manner." and does anyone recognize judgement in use of the word "excessive"? this implies unacceptable.... a fairly universal frozen point of view unforturnately.

the prince charles story has been repeated ad naseum in ad infinitum forms. empathy: "Identification with and understanding of another's situation, feelings, and motives." emotions communicate. if the head side of things can ever get to thoroughly understand and have acceptance for this then things can change and evolve. until then we remain stagnent on the threshold of possibility and are destined to repeat the past.

in the meantime mind engages in a love affair with itself. i think thats called jerkin off. it could open to the realities of the emotional polarity side and find out what love is really all about and realize it has put guilt in love's place.

how many hints does universe have to throw at us before we begin to pay attention?

sure is good to have you back b. thoughts and prayers remain with you and chris.... p

Anonymous said...

...then there's manufactured emotions, ie, the lamestream media. Has anyone else noticed a rather absurd fixation on the sudden death of Tim Russert? Well, yes, some people have. Witness two very excellent articles featured on whatreallyhappened.com. I had to respond to the first one, and I'm copying it for this site:

"Thank you for this thoughtful injection of reality into a topic that has been blown all out of proportion. It is sad and difficult to deal with when anyone who seems so full of life dies suddenly.

But, this excessive display has been jaw-dropping. Tom Brokaw actually said that "if Tim had been a priest, he would probably have been the first American pope!!"

Hey, and if he had been Jewish... he might have been the Messiah!

I guess we better keep an eye on his grave - maybe he'll be raised from the dead.

One can only conclude that this journalistic cabal of sycophants and propagandists were shaken down to their little cores when reality managed to intrude upon their contrived sensibilities. And, since no one else will tell them what a great job they are doing (as they have managed to not cover the rise of the American Empire, the corporate take-over of the world, the depletion of resources, the grotesque animal abuse and poisoning that is the basis of our commercial food supply, the rising fascism and erosion of our liberties, and on and on....)they were compelled to subject us all to this self-serving spectacle of eulogizing Tim Russert as though he were some American Royal. No introspection at all regarding how inadequate has been the coverage of crucial changes that have occurred nationally and internationally. None. There praise has been about as convincing as all those awards at an elementary school where all participants are winners and nobody loses.

This would just be simply lame if they weren't in positions of responsibility for the protection of our democratic institutions. But they aren't just pathetic, they are dangerous and complicit."

Very happy to have you back, Belgium. And glad the posting works for you again, Palooka. Cool.

RAS said...

I talk to my pets like they're people, and they seem to understand. I talk to my plants too and they also respond. I think it is a sign of how sick our culture has gotten that anyone who does such things is insane. It's okay to ignore homeless people on the street, trash the planet, and kill innocent people for oil but it's somehow crazy to talk to a plant?????

Dude- chuckle. My cat is the biggest ego deflator in the world when she wants to be. But that's okay; the dogs pump it right back up again.

Freeacre, re the last post: what was I supposed to do? She needed help. I certainly wasn't going to avoid her or look on with the mixture of fear and repulsion some of my neighbors did, and certianly not with the sense of vague superiority I saw from a few. Someone needs help, I help them if I can. I've never been able to do otherwise.

Anonymous said...

Good to see you back again Belgium.

I have some thoughts around whether or not animals and plants understand, and or can communicate with our species as this is something I ponder quite a lot really, and have done so for quite some time...soooo maybe just maybe when I get a bit more time and can string a couple of coherent thoughts together I will expand this post a bit...

In the meantime I found this bit of wisdom from an unknown sage a while back and since cats and dogs are of topic I will post it here....hope y'all enjoy it as much as I did.

Ely

If you can live without caffeine,

If you can be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains,

If you can resist complaining,

If you can eat the same food every day and be grateful for it,

If you can understand when your loved ones are too busy to give you any time,

If you can overlook it when those you love take it out on you when, though no fault of yours, something goes wrong,

If you can take criticism and blame without resentment,

If you can ignore a friend's limited education and never correct him / her,

If you can resist treating a rich friend better than a poor friend,

If you can face the world without lies and deceit,

If you can conquer tension without medical help,

If you can relax without liquor,

If you can sleep without the aid of drugs,

If you can honestly say that deep in your heart you have no prejudice against creed, color, religion, gender preference, or politics,

THEN, you have ALMOST reached the same level of development as your dog.

Palooka's Revenge said...

fa... now they have 2 reality checks. the one on their own mortality and the one you just gave them. oh were it that they could all read what you wrote.

ya.. some things just fix themselves over time. the posting glitch was one of those.

RAS said...

Belgium,
Yesterday I forgot to say how sorry I am about your wife and that I hope she recovers soon. Best wishes your way!

stoney13 said...

Belgium,

Glad to hear Chris is doing better. I sent you a letter, and some pictures, but I got them back from the post office! So I sent them through Federal Express, so you should get them pretty soon.

I hear that your country is going through some changes with certain government services like the postal service and such.

I have no problem with tree hugging, it's just that Murph gets a little freaky with it, sometimes, so I have to put my two cents worth in! It's all meant in good fun, though!

I've been putting out our family's food scraps out for the animals for many years. Our yard has seen black bears, cats, raccoons, dogs, a strange, and somewhat confused rooster, (who thinks he's a cat!), deer, squirrels, chipmunks, and a mob of noisy crows.

There is always plenty for all, so our yard was, and is, a place of peace. I would sit outside, smoking a joint sometimes, and watch the creatures share their meal. After all had eaten their fill, the younger ones would invite each other to play, and some seriously strange games would follow! If you've never seen a young squirrel and a kitten wrestling together, then you've missed one of the greatest shows on earth! And if you've never had a bear join you in the shower, so have your neighbors!

I've learned that animals do what they must to survive. There is no malice in their world other than ours.

And Murph, don't judge birds to be bird-brained! Birds have been discovered to be extremely intelligent!

A friend of mine has an African Green Parrot, that has an incredible vocabulary, and seems to know what she's saying! One day I was at his house when Bush came on TV.

"What an asshole!", the bird declared loudly! "It's a dick with ears!"

How sad a day it is when a green fucking bird has more sense, and more vision than the majority of The United States public in 2004!

Anonymous said...

From Belgium,

Thanks Stoney 13 for putting up comment 13, not that I am superstitious, of course, hell no, but now I can tell you my news lol. The positive waves seem to have done the trick. Chris had her second operation on Tuesday and came through it with flying colours. Yesterday the anaesthetic was still in her system so if I didn’t keep the conversation moving along she would drift off. Even so I could tell that her movements were more normal and her voice was stronger than previously. Just for giggles I told her that she looked like the invisible man and asked her if she could see herself. Then I told her that they must have been in a hurry to finish off because when they replaced her skin they seemed to have left her hair on the inside. Well one tries ones best with limited material. Today all the bandages are off and she is walking around. Anyway the surgeons did a grand job; all credit to them.

A heartfelt thanks to all the well wishers, it was appreciated. This clan sure feels better than some real families.

Stoney, this package is unexpected; I can’t wait to see what is inside. Again thanks for thinking of me.

It sure is news that we are having difficulties with the international post. All I can say is that other peoples’ bills are still getting through to me – what a surprise.

The workers of the public transport company, De Lijn (The Line) are pulling random one hour stoppages which have moved up a notch to half day strikes. It is particularly the tram drivers that are getting arsey which puts untold strain on the busses. They have this unrealistic attitude they somehow they should be compensated for fuel price hikes quite forgetting that the purpose of these hikes, as well as making the fat cats wobbly, is to price people out of the market. But no, they seem to have this pinko attitude of ‘No pensioner left behind’. Maybe they should embarrass the hell out of the government by persuading Hugo Chavez to send a few tankers of central heating fuel for the aged or diesel to keep the busses running.

Ras

Like rp, when you look at what I have done or not done with my life, I am no great shakes to give advice. I have had a few rough edges knocked off me though and experience does count. Sometimes a degree from the University of Life is better than a piece of paper that says you are clever. Also consider what a qualification will get you. Long ago the qualification required was matched to the level of the job. Now with colleges full of people and all the jobs in the third world you need a degree just to walk after the bin cart. All I would say is don’t make instant decisions. Don’t do anything today you might regret tomorrow but if it still feels right tomorrow then go for it. I have always maintained that the only purpose of a qualification is to get you your first job. After that it is up to what you do. The days of working 35 years in the same place and walking out the door with a gold watch are long gone. Nobody expects it anymore. Get into some field that you like and make yourself indispensible; they don’t get rid of indispensible people. Then you can consider whether you stay or move into something you like more. Don’t take a promotion just because the new thing is considered a promotion. Don’t take a buck an hour more for operating a pen if you are happier operating a hoe. Whatever it is, do your best. You can’t do better than your best but if you keep doing your best, your best will get better. What a rant!

Anonymous said...

yea!!!! SATS is back, so glad chris is ok, the healing energy is so abundant and after going through a brief sinus and lung infection (three weeks) and thinking fuck is this it? my main coucil langosta had offered up some strange , at least to me, stuff about body disorders and the invisible connection between the manifest and the un-manifest of everything,this is something that is full of whatever and was written as the hallucinations began to recede, it is in its entirety so you can appreciate how twisted this ones awareness was,........

i am alive , the disease of ambiguity has slithered down the leg of yesterday and plays about the feet of tomorrow. bug sets at the foot of the bed and tells me stories of the ancestors and why it came about that sickness has become necessary as a means of locomotion beings as how we are to lazy to do things on our own.
sickness is a purgation and fills the void that is left by inattention she says, i sway in the wind and the meaning of the words fail me, she smiles at me and explains that the means of ''denial surfacing''takes many forms and that the salvation of mankind is written in the depths of a cold and weathered heart, what the fuck are you talking about i say ,? she says that before the great discovery occurred there was peace in the land and that the sun shown on all the creators children, but at some point in the time of the big night an occurrence happened and it has never been the same for the two leggeds or anything else since, and what was that i coughed and asked proudly, she smiled again and said with great gravity, YOU LEARNED TO MAKE FIRE. you learned to make fire before you learned to make love and that was the beginning of the end. you started roasting every thing in sight, you were delirious with roasting, you roasted the plants, you roasted the six and the eight and the ten and the one hundred legged things, you roasted the things that flew,you roasted the things that swam, you roasted every thing that was roastable, roastable? i said, yes roastable, and when that became boring you roasted each other, and that does not make for a harmonious relationship now does it she said.and the habit has never been seen through for what it is, this wonderful gift of discovery with its promise of sweetness has become the instrument of death and has led to the destruction of your species except for the few. for fire has become the mushroom of doom. i see your point i say. so now what i say,? she shrugs her insect shoulders and frowns one of those indecipherable frowns and tells me once again that it is too late for the two-leggeds, their time has come all except for the very few that have stood together and formed a psychic net of love for themselfs and each other, these few are evolving at a furious rate even beyond their own comprehension and the gifts of the spirit are being silently inserted into the minds of those that love through means that will slowly be revealed to those that receive them/.
this is really blowing me away as usual but had to ask her one more question before i went into meltdown, and said are the folks that are aware of this council fire included in those few that will be given those gifts of love?
she smiled sweetly and said .. of course silly. i faded into oblivion............


yep glad to be well again,
great post murph, this is so close to the heart of the native americans and all of those that have shucked the benefits of the civilized world and returned to the great mystery which contains so much to learn from, i mean a tiny seed which contains within it the substance to keep along with everything else including the two leggeds, the means to move. no movement, no life says bug, hummmm. what about a rock i says, rocks move she says. o i says. rocks don't need seeds i says with great wisdom, rocks are seeds she says, shit i says, i think she just mind fucks me sometimes,
i know she laughs at and with me much of the time and it makes me laugh to, she says that the two leggeds think to much and forget to just listen to the connection,and the illusion of separation what with the nastiness that just keeps creeping throughout the .......
she says no more.

the pot plants are looking good, montana's gun and marijuana laws are just getting better all the time even though the one kind of displaces the other with the relax going on about such notions.
someone said that montana is the third largest nuclear power on the planet, fuck that makes me feel like more of a target then a threat. will find out where they keep the mother fuckers and send cookies to the key holders, with instructions from mom to dismantle those cock=suckers!!
shit and this is such a beautiful state to live in, at least this side of the great divide, ok the other side too.

thank all of you brothers and sisters that give such good words to this council meetin.
it feels like family to me and is the place i find on the net that feels like home, a place to roost as it were and laugh and cry with all of you, from my heart to your heart, i love you.
may your day be filled with love and the wonders of your mother also. peace.
aho
mf&bug

Anonymous said...

Stoney,

In our arrogance as a species, we belittle the animal word far beyond anything reasonable. Our science says that the size of the brain is a measure of intelligence. Measured in human terms, that may or may not be so, but I can attest that the animal world often exhibits around me much more awareness and some kind of practicable intelligence that surprises me at times. Between species cooperation and seemingly affection is not all that unusual. Perhaps humans will some day realize how this all fits together.

Anonymous said...

Montana,

What a great comment you have above. I also have finally recovered from a 2 week bout of some kind of lung infection that had me coughing till my throat was sore. Course, smoking doesn't help such conditions in the least.

Interesting that bug says fire was the beginning of the end. I think some merit in that.

We have some new chicks. Our dog has the strangest behavior around them. We keep them in the house for a quite a while before we put them outside so they become very familiar with us and being handled. For the last 48 hours, I don't think she has slept, she is resentful about having to eat, and gets us to come look at the chicks in their box very often. We can barely get her to go outside to pee and fuses and agitates to come back in and stare at them. She sits and stares at them constantly. We can try and explain this behavior in human terms, but I rather suspect it probably is inaccurate.

This happens every time we bring new chicks home. Would be of interest to hear what bug has to say about it.

Anonymous said...

Spirit Across The Sea,

Glad you are back with us, for any amount of time. I for one miss your comments and I am so glad that Chris has come through another operation with success.

Yup, quite some tribe we have here isn't it? Sure would like it to be in closer physical proximity.

RAS said...

Belgium -I'm glad your wife came through okay! Here's hoping for a full recovery.

Montana, if it makes you feel any better, there's hardly anything of target value in Montana. If someone was going to shoot nukes at us, they wouldn't waste their time shooting at our silos; those silos would be empty long before the missiles got there (MAD still being in full force). No, they'd shoot at high-value targets: DC, Colorado Springs, all the command centers -including the one 20 miles from my house. We ever get into a nuclear war, everything for 100 miles around here is going to be turned into molten, radioactive glass. Yet another reason why moving sounds good.

Speaking of animal behavior, my dog has this strange habit: she likes to hug people. Seriously. She had to go in for her yearly rabies shot yesterday, and she wouldn't leave the vet's office until she had the chance to hug all the staff. They think she's the greatest dog in the world. Which she is. Except when I catch her digging up my blackberry bushes like this afternoon...lol.

I'm trying to figure out what to do. I need to find a way to fully support myself. I don't want to go back to cubeville -I'll end up on antidepressants again and still so depressed all I can do is cry. I'm sick as well -a nasty sinus infection.

Anonymous said...

From Belgium,

Just time for a very quick update on Chris. Everybody was so impressed at how well she has come through it that the 10 – 12 days in hospital has been set aside. Three days after the operation she has been sent back to the revalidation centre. She still has residual headaches particularly when eating anything that is a bit hard but that will go away. We thought it best she gave up her usual weekend home visit this time so she can rest and recover; at least there visitors don’t have to be entertained, lol. And it official from the surgeon, she can throw her crash helmet away.

I believe that this is a combination of her own will to see it through and positive waves from the family and the Clan. Thanks for the input.

Anonymous said...

ras,

Isn't NORAD in Colorado? Pretty close. Don't know if there are any high value targets in Montana.

Dear lady, what in the world are you so depressed about? Have some hope here girl. By the end of the year, what is going to happen probably will. Start looking at your alternatives. There always are some.

LOL Your dog sounds just a bit strange, but I suppose all beings are. Get over your infection. It probably isn't doing your mood a bit of good.

Anonymous said...

Belgium,

Thanks for the update. I am happy for both of you. Hope the improvements just keep rolling on.

RAS said...

Belgium, I'm happy she's doing well. Be sure to tell her we're all rooting for her.

Murph, lol. I'm not depressed. I've just not been feeling well and I've been tired. NORAD is in Colorado, but the Space and Missile Defense Command, several other high level functions, and Redstone Arsenal are just a few miles down the road from me in Huntsville.

I'm going to go play in my garden. Take care, all!

Anonymous said...

Hey, since we have a world-wide network of aware people, let's use it to report on things we see happening around us. I'm thinking specifically of chemtrail activity, but it could persist and spread into other areas of unnatural phenomena.

Here, in southwestern Montana, we had pretty heavy and regular spraying most of late winter/early spring. Spring was a hangover of winter, cool and wet. We had snow
in Virginia City two weeks ago.

Oldensoul and I transplanted tomatoes, squash and peppers last weekend. Daily temps have been in the 60's and 70's since. Putting out the rest of the garden bedding plants this weekend.

Chemtrails resumed mid-week. Typical pattern is cloudless-blue sky early in the morning. Planes show up after 8:00 am, spraying long lines that criss-cross and spread out into feathery cirrus-like clouds. Spraying planes take siesta around 1:00pm, but reappear around 5:00 pm.
Night of the solstice, as the near-full moon rose over the VC hill, some dipshit pilot sprayed a trail from northwest to southeast over our house which, from our perspective, aligned magnificently with the rising moon. It was almost breath-taking.

-rockpicker

Anonymous said...

from RP

Here's a little something to laugh with over coffee.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUCPMqvlTZU&NR=1

Anonymous said...

Murph,

Pertaining to your post-- a good little book that reminds me of that old man is "The Memory of Old Jack,"
by Wendell Berry.

-rp

Anonymous said...

rp,

I will have to see if I can find it. I presume you have read it. Lessons to be learned?

Anonymous said...

From Belgium

Any thoughts on this one?

http://www.alternet.org/workplace/86943/

RAS said...

Belgium, I think the author has some odd assumptions. I sent the link to Sharon Astyk. It should be interesting to see her take.

Anonymous said...

Belgium,

That indeed is an interesting article about gardening. He is absolutely correct that it will do nothing to change agribusiness and food imports anywhere. However, he does miss a couple of points entirely.

The first and most obvious to me is the cost of shipment of imported food. That is going up dramatically and it is going to get worse if the peak oil information is correct.

A second point he side stepped is the effort of from Elenore Roosevelt and her victory gardens. The stats on that effort indicate that close to 50% (if I remember right without double checking) of vegetable foods for this country were provided by them.

So, for just lowering a family's grocery bill, it makes sense. In our case, between buying locally as we can and growing a significant amount of our food, counting the cost of seeds and related tools etc. we have lowered our monthly food bill more than it costs to do the growing, not counting labor cost, and as long as we can preserve in some form of the oversupply, we eat well in the winter too.

The article does advocate political change by dissent on this issue, which cox seems to think would be more effective than growing a garden. I won't enter into a debate with him but I think he is in La La land on this. It appears obvious to me that in this country, at this time, political dissent is a waste of time, not garden growing. A refinement of that observation is that political dissent is now only effective at the local level. Any attempt to change corporate behavior at any level is a waste of time. It isn't going to happen without a huge change in the way a population thinks and organizes itself, and I do not see that happening any time soon. In fact, what I anticipate is an ever growing advocation of more effort by the corporations to bail us out of the problems, including food production. Since corporate food production is not about to increase dramatically because of natural restraints, don't expect any help there. Any help is going to have to be local and individual.

We shall see how this plays out.

Anonymous said...

Belgium;

I'm too busy with the garden to read much about whether or not I should be gardening.

Just watched this clip:

http://www.youtube.com/user/earthactivistas

It's humbling to see demonstrated the care and thought that goes into the permacultural mind-set. I'm in awe.

This level of moral responsibility for one's being is so far beyond most Americans' psychic make-up, I just can't see wasting time commenting on Alternet.

Alternet is a total disappointment. I thought it was a progressive site, until it ran debunking articles on the 9/11 truth movement.

Now, I don't expect leadership from the Alternet crew. And I don't look to it for news. It's just an ego-massage chatroom run by neutered, make-believe journalists.