I think Spring is coming, after all.

Gads, it's been a month since I've said anything on my very own blog. I guess I've been busy doing the laundry and finishing the wall that was torn up from a window remodel (that is putting in drywall, mudding, texturing, trimming,primming, and painting)and plowing through all the cat hair that is accumulating in piles around the house. We keep having wierd little storms roar through and then they are melted and gone in about 20 minutes....but all the heaps and shelves of snow are gone, thankfully, and the grass that is around is delightfully green. There is a threat of snow still, but at least there is promise of it being only a temporary inconvenience and the hope for warming temperatures is not just a pipe dream any more...it was actually in the 70's last week! Halllllleluyah. I'm getting ready to head south to see the darter, and really warm up... and then all the frostbite will heal and I'll probably grow some new toes down there by the border. Anyway, I am growing some interesting little plants and we are delightfully munching down greenhouse lettuce, and the Prince is delightfully munching down catnip and catgrass. So life are good.

Well, geez

It is very annoying to be so ready to show y'all the new shelves and growing things in the greenhouse, and lo, there is a freakout with the computer and the pics are not available because they are some sort of threat to the security of the dang cyberplace...the how and why that is happening is but a mystery, even to the master mind of our computerworld, who went sorta biblical and made some sort of reference to cutting off the left hand of that which annoys you and "blip" the whole folder of pictures was removed to whence it came via the thumbdrive and then transfered to another computer and so...yes, I have "no bananas" to show you how I am very pleased with the state of how things are doing out west...(of our living house). I can however give you another photo which has nothing to do with anything I just wrote about. SSSSSSSSo, there.

Bully bully, no pissin' on me.

Ok I think I can write a little something about why the movie North Country/and the book has chewed at me so hard. I have been studying the bully's ways with a professional PHD sort of friend, and she has very gently lead me through all the bullying that has happened in my existance. Now that I have awoken to it , I am damned sick of it. Back off, I say!! No throwing water on me to wake up, no greasy turkey legs stuck in my face, no whipping me with a belt for wearing too many colors, ETC!!! I've had it up to here (way up tp there)with all of it. I will not stand by silently and wonder what the hell is going on. I will call whomever on it. It is not good for me heart. That is all I can say about it on this fine Martin Luther King's day. He knew a few things about Bullying, I know he did. 

Sexual harassment on the planet

(This post is actually older than it says, because I was all blotto[means outraged, incensed when I first wrote it and didn't want to blurt out something I would regret later. Now that I have thought about it I can say what I want to say without a doubt...and throw some shark teeth in to boot!)
I have watched North Country (great movie that daughter recommended) in the last week. It struck some raging cord in me that had me bawling by the end of it. The man, B., was fairly stunned by the emotional outpouring, I think, because of his pragmatic(?) approach to life. That is to say emotional responses to most stuff is not common with him, and when I am  hit like with that movie, he is truely mystified. [Not wanting to explain myself, I wish I could disappear into thin air and not then have to try to talk and cry at the same time.]
I was harassed on the job by my "boss" once and I told him he had better leave me alone in the bathroom I was cleaning or I would scream so loud it would break his eardrums. It backed him off, but the atmosphere where I worked became icy and wierd because of it.
I realize that is just a smidge of what women have experienced around the planet, and truely women are amazing that they don't go on eye gouging episodes of total insanity as a result of harassment, and often just suck it up...but I am weary of the fact that this is common behavior.

We have started to listen to the book that the movie was depicted from Class Action:the landmark case that changed sexual harassment law by Clara Bingham (and some other author.) I will have to do this over several sessions or face total depression I fear, which is big enough in January without the topic at hand!!

Greenhouse update, some ranting, and a techno date

Here are some little lettuce plants(as of a couple of weeks ago...), and we are getting some siding on the North side of the greenhouse! How lovely is the handyman, for he can measure, cut and screw colorful and weathered boards into place!!

For awhile it was warm out today and we had designated today to work on the greenhouse, so we did. It was a spirit lifter, as I have been twisting in the wind over the book I have been listening to which is "Class Action: the landmark case that changed sexual harassment law" by Clara Bingham and another gal that I can't quite remember her name. Anyway, it is astounding to me, goddamned astounding, that women have to fight so hard and long that they literally have to donate their bodies and sanity to get something like that addressed properly and it took 15 years of this hard grueling bulllll-ony to get it done. It really reminds me of what women went through to get "the vote" and similar rights to pass. It seems stupid stuff is easily passed, like how telemarketers are all in the groove to call any flippin' time they want, how people can abuse and neglect kids and not be bothered too much by the law, and oh so many things.

Aside from all that, I just figured out how to get some of the photos that I was interested in publishing, so onward and upward...into the techno adventure of the evening. Oh yeah, I wanted to also show you how fuzzy (and plump)the Prince has gotten in mid winter having his outside palace.... he does love those moments in the sun...playing otter somtimes, playing sphinx others.

Sticky Picky Icky

Drat!! This aging thing gets a little sticky sometimes. As many of you know I work with alot of "older adults"...(as opposed to young adults and regular adults...whom I also see in my line of work) but these folks have a set of issues that are somewhat specific to their age group, and that would be the over 70 crowd. It seems,that they are closer to the end of life, and that might not be true...we know not when our last moment on Turtle Island will to be.

Having said all that, I am aware that depression is huge, as are a variety of physical mishaps and maladies. It appears that the later brings on the previous, and the more depressed one is, the less likely they are to move around or "exercise", or want to eat, or even drink water...and that is an engine to a powerful downward spiral.
There is also a bad habit that crops up which I like to call "The Wall of Resistance". This means that what happens is that any new idea...such as even listening to music... and moving ones hips to that music (I'm talking big band music here, that lends itself to such an activity) is shot down before there is even the slightest chance for that idea to come to fruition.(Even without the suggestion of movement, I've noticed, it can be disregarded as worth anything...) I can understand that if a body feels like crap(or worse) it is hard to get inspired. I also know that if a brain can jump that track you might be surprised what a gain in strength might do to lift the spirits and help with the simplest of activities.

I have a client and friend who is now 95 and loves exercise (and competition.) She says that the reason she wants to stay strong is so that she can do stuff like open jars and turn over in bed. Very pratical indeed!! Another client who is 90, often is horridly depressed when I arrive at her house and because we have a good time giggling and talking as we do the exercising,(and then a little massaging) feels better after just one hour of time together.

People who are not strong often sit in a heap and shuffle along dragging their flesh from one place to another, and grumble about it along the way. Arghhhh#%^*&+

I just had a thought, and that is: perhaps with some of the clients that are so resistance to moving around we could start with isotonic movement, which means to just tighten the muscle(s), hold for a count of 5 and then move on to the next part. I might try this suggestion, of course with no expectation of results and not taking it personally if it is shot down, (and that is not necessarily easy)but perhaps we could encourage some circualtion and blood flow to those muscles that get tightened and released and that would be a start. As a matter of fact, I do this kind of thing before we do out meditation in yoga class and it does enhance the relaxation of the body....I'll let you know if I have any results that are positive...or not.

Good bye cruel winter

I've just had it with winter...and it's still December. What is a wombster to do!!!???  I spoke with my elder neighbor today and she, too is disgusted by this crappy snow/ice and the threat it poses to the upright, and those who would prefer to remain that way.

I am amazed at kittens, however, and that is because I went to T.'s house again today under the guise of massaging her and her mom....and there are 6 kittens in the bathroom. These kitties were apparently very sick with diaherra and T. was wonderful enough to see them through it. She came out of their bathroom this morning, declaring there was half solid kiity poop in there, (and saying maybe that was a sign that she was crazy cat lady because she cares about stuff like that.) But really, for someone who is as young and lovely as she is, it is truely a wonder that she donates so much time to giving her all to felines of all sorts, even babies who are on the brink of death. But there is something about baby kitties that melts me to the core(and perhaps makes winter ignorable). One in particular was so loving, just purred so easily and wiggeled and was a little slut that I fell in love. I know better than to even think of bringing any home, because of many reasons...but I may have to go back with just the intent of sitting and loving babies(I'll have to take my camera), but I think I will wait until there is no question that they are good and healthy.
I have done a tiny bit of remodeling to the Prince's palace and put a cardboard front on it that cuts out a bit of the wind I think and he now has more of a cubby hole to burrow into...but the racoons I think have taken to tearing out his bowl to look for food...it was evident that somone had gone and thrown his bowl on the ground and trundled onward...everyone has to eat I guess.