Mama Hughes’ blog

QotD: Friends Forever?

nobody@vox.com(Mama Hughes) — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 19:14:03 -0700

What would make you question a friendship?
Submitted by stueykins.

When a person is not genuine. Many years ago I was friends with a woman, a bit older than me, who always seemed to need an audience. That's okay, every now and then we all need to be in the spotlight. The problem was she was never around when it was my turn in the spotlight. She would call, needing things, and if it was something I could help with I would oblige. But when I needed things, it was a different story. Suffice it to say that we are no longer friends. I have even quit organizations where this woman has joined after I did. I can not take her phonieness. She changes her name, going from very formal to very informal, changes her life history to suit the situation. It is very hard to deal with. Since I know a great of her back story to stand there and watch her lie to people is awkward to say the least. So, rather than deal with all of that, I quit. I know that sooner or later, people will see her in the same light that I do.

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Thank you

nobody@vox.com(Mama Hughes) — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 16:34:24 -0700

I wanted to thank all of you for being so kind. This has been a tough week and your thoughts were very welcome.

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Commodities????

nobody@vox.com(Mama Hughes) — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 19:47:33 -0700

When a LARGE animal dies at one's home the question of what to do with the beast arises. In our case, with really hot weather approaching (100 degrees F +) we simply could not wait. We called the renderer, now the company calls itself &*^% Commodities. I don't want to use their real name. They do a much needed service to the community and the guy who drives the truck couldn't be nicer. But, COMMODITIES????? I guess it's better than the old Monty Python "Bring out yer dead, bring out yer dead!". So we said our final goodbyes to our dear Sassie. What a waste. She was a beautiful animal with a personality to match her name. Our last ride together we seemed to start to have that horse/rider connection. It was wonderful. I will miss her.

In other news, spinning course level 4 is coming up next week. I get to travel to Beautiful Alberta. From looking at Google Maps the place I am going to appears to be all mountains and valleys. It looks lovely and I love this time of year. Days are long enough to see what's what after classes so there should be some sight seeing going on. I have never been to Calgary so I'm excited to go. Also, friends from last year will be there. I will meet up with Angela at the airport and Mary will be there as well. Spinning flax this year as well as using commercial dyes. Dyeing up your yarn is always fun. Watching white turn all sorts of lovely shades. We also have to give a 15 minute mini lesson suitable for beginning spinners. I haven't quite decided yet what I'm going to talk about. I think I will talk about carding from washed locks to rolags or rovings. I guess I need to pack some Romney. I am taking my wheel, a distaff (made from an old music stand) my lazy kate, a ball winder, carders, combs and an assortment of other oddments one needs to spin.

By the way, did anyone read the editorial in the last Spin Off? It was by Abby Franquemont and she has described exactly how I feel about spinning. It's hard to imagine that spinning, knitting, weaving etc were once something done in almost every household. Imagine a life without twisted fibers. Just think about how societies were 'enmeshed' in the trading of everything from wool, silk, cotton etc. Wars fought, monies made. Do read it if you can.

There seems to be some sort of charity walk-a-thon going on over at the middle school behind our house. Our southwest corner is at the northeast corner of the football field and it is covered in tents and chairs and someone has set up a sound system. I wouldn't mind so much if they would play something decent. But alas, it is a jumble of country, easy listening, 80's rock guh. I suppose it's easy to walk to, and it has a nice beat. I give it a 67. I don't know how many of you used to watch Dick Clark's Bandstand on Saturdays. We did. Like what happened in the musical "Hairspray". All those polished faces and smiling and everyone dressed up. Then the British invaded. Thank goodness. No more Neil Sedaka. Yikes. Well, time to pack a few more things. Maybe make up some cheat sheets for my 'lesson' Hope everyone has a good week end.

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We don't know what happened

nobody@vox.com(Mama Hughes) — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 11:36:53 -0700

Yesterday, Sassie was fine. Today, we will have to put her down. When Tom went out to feed this am she was down and it was apparent that she had been down for hours, she was very cool to the touch and couldn't get up on her own. So, emergency call to the vet (wonderful man) and he came and started her on an iv of lactated ringers. We did manage to get her at least so her head was up, but it proved too much for her. Blood work was done, not poison, not west nile. Vet thinks some kind of trauma. She may have spooked in the night and run into a tree. Or Bud may have knocked her silly. We are in shock. She's only 6 years old. Our hearts are broken.

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Shit and 6 other words

nobody@vox.com(Mama Hughes) — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 23:09:59 -0700

I just read that the great comedian and Mr. Conductor, George Carlin is dead. Long live the hippy dippy weatherman.

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QotD: Kindgergarten Rules of Wisdom

nobody@vox.com(Mama Hughes) — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 08:11:04 -0700

What did you learn in kindergarten that you wish you did a better job of applying to the way you live your life today?

The Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.
I can remember this being posted in our classroom, or words to that effect. Oh, and don't eat paste.

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Tag, you're it

nobody@vox.com(Mama Hughes) — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 00:56:40 -0700

The rules of the game get posted at the beginning. Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer."

1) What was I doing 10 years ago?

Le'ts see, 1998. I really don't have the foggiest! I can barely remember what I was doing yesterday. I think the girls were still in high school, or middle school, so that means we were working on a cool project with Paige. She and her teammates won a trip to Washington DC that year.

2) What are 5 things on my to-do list for today?
get up early, Gary S is coming at 7:30 to trim up Bud and Sass. Finish paying bills. Buy new window AC unit for our room. Remind DH to make Dr's appt to discuss meds. Laundry

3) Snacks I enjoy:

dark chocolate, dark chocolate, etc. I have to agree with Sara here, although I'll take milk chocolate, but not 'white' chocolate.

4) Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

Make sure my kids get at least a Masters Degree. Build a dream house. Travel. Eat really good food. Open a spinners retreat.

5) Places I have lived:

Mission San Jose, California; Pasco Washington, qualified with Pasco #1 at an egg farm (young, newly married, in love, or it wouldn't have been there) Pasco #2 a rural fire station (that was a good place) and Pasco #3 the house we are in now. We still curse the man who built it even though he is dead (Twhitney)

6) Jobs I have had: babysitter $1/hour back in 1975. Locker room attendant at college. Merchandise marker for Mervyn's. Payless Drugstore clerk. Egg farm worker, built chicken houses, candled and packaged eggs, debeaked chicks, yes, it is as crummy as it sounds, Paste up and lay out for a printing firm, before the age of computers, silkscreen printer, ambulance driver, firefighter/emt/instructor, emergency room clerk, library clerk. I have also rebuilt my own sportscar and raced it.

7) Bloggers I am tagging who I will enjoy getting to know better: I don't have anyone on my list that hasn't been tagged already.

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GREAT NEWS!!!

nobody@vox.com(Mama Hughes) — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 19:13:58 -0700

Michael, the young man with that nasty bacterial pneumonia, is now home!!!!!! Hugs to the family

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Life's little hiccups

nobody@vox.com(Mama Hughes) — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 19:05:54 -0700

I just discovered that our trip next month may be more adventuro us than first thought. Looks like we will include a bus trip from St Paul to Chicago. Hmmm wasn't planning on that!!! But it is a small inconvenience compared to the misery the flooding in the midwest has caused other countless families.

How to tell when your parcel service isn't all it's cracked up to be, or there is some one messing about in the yard. My daughter recently sent a small package via a big brown truck and although the firm said it had been delivered there was no evidence of said parcel. So, after some investigative work, (csi my butt), I found the offending package in our garbage can. Well, it's really a huge barrel, but hey. Not only was the box in the bin, but the entire contents of said box had been taken from the box and placed in the trash as well. The contents included some books and my cell phone. Hmmmmm. The box had been cut open on two sides and the lid pried back and contents dumped. What the F???!!! At least I have my phone back. Now you must understand that a delivery person can not just come into our yard and leave a package on the front step. Our yard (an acre) is entirely fenced except for a 150 ft driveway and there are two dogs in the yard. One massive and one medium. So it is no small feat to enter the yard. The thing that makes this even more amazing is the fact that I discovered all of this on the same day the rubbish was picked up. We have two bins and I only put out one. If I had put out both, we would never have discovered any of this. One is left to ponder.

DH's father's day present arrived a bit early. A nearly new ('99) F350 turbodiesel crew cab full sized truck. We had been in the market for the past few months due to the untimely death of the old truck. Puked the timing gears and it isn't worth the money to repair. So, out with the old, in with the newer. Looks like ol' Brownie and the IBSmobile (itty bittiy sh?tty mobile, daughter #2's car) are headed to the great scrap yard down the road. Maybe I can reclaim some of the yard!!

To back up a bit, the book daughter #1 sent is a picture/story book of a love that almost wasn't. It is called "The Ugly Pugling" and features a pug that falls for a mastiff. And in true fairy tale fashion, they live happily ever after. Ahhhhhh.

Looks like we may actually be moving forward on getting that 45 acres north of Walla Walla. Just got the word from the county about how many homes may be built on it. Looks like I can, if I choose to short plat out 1 acre, put two residences ultimately. That was a bit of good news. Now we need to get the lawyers involved to make sure eyes are crossed and teas are dotted. Something like that.

Headed to Olds in a couple of weeks. Man is this year flying by. It is almost time for the solstice and the beginning of my sad time. I consider the winter solstice, (northern hemi) to be one of the greatest days of the year. I can finally look forward to the lengthening days. This time of year, around the summer solstice, which for many seems so full of promise, only makes me a bit sad. Winter is coming, there's no stopping it and it can get really cold here. Boo Hoo, poor me. At least I still have a house that hasn't been carried off by some raging river or tornado or burned to the ground. Count the blessings, count the blessings. . .

The Ugly Pugling: Wilson the Pug in Love

Nancy Levine

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Learning, Remembering, Travelling

nobody@vox.com(Mama Hughes) — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 14:31:58 -0700

Navajo

Dyes

Just returned from a trip to California and I picked up these two books from a shop in Solvang called Village Spinning and Weaving. They have a couple of displays of the dyestuffs that are shown on the cover of Navajo and Hopi Dyes. They are quite well done. Each display has as its centerpiece a miniature backstrap loop with a small weaving showing off the various dyes. They are really beautiful. The other book, Dyes from American Native Plants is a work that is gleaned from information gathered by the Works Project Administration during the Great Depression here in the US. The researchers/authors, Lynne Richards and Ronald J Tyrl painstakingly went through tens of thousands of documents that recorded people that lived in the Oklahoma Territories and their recipes and impressions of dying materials. There are great color plates of the plants, color chips that use the Munsell Color system. I think this will be an incredible resource to me in future.

Our trip to California started with a beautiful drive down Interstate 84 through the Columbia River Gorge. We boarded our plane to San Jose without delay and got the rental car and drove to Fremont. We spent a couple of days with my mother and the girls arrived the day before my m-i-l memorial. Thanks to Anne Halligan and the many neighbors who made this possible. Many old friends were able to attend and share stories of Vi. The girls, Amy and Matt, Tom and I took my mom to our favorite chinese restaurant in town and had our favorite dish. Mashed garlic pork. Lovely, however I don't think my mother thought that the conversation was always entirely appropriate. Oh well, when the girls and I get together we have the most interesting and funny conversations. This one dealt with black holes, the end of time, something about a greek phalanx that I can't repeat here and all kinds of other wonderful things. I got to see a picture of the youngest's new beau. OMG!!!!! Let that suffice for now. Don't want to scare the poor guy off. He is very good looking.

Next was the train ride to Santa Barbara from San Jose. Couldn't have had a nicer day and can you believe that the train was 45 minutes early??? A good time in SB. Rebecca and Dave were able to be there with G squared, the kids, and Amy joined us at the last minute. Thanks to Ruth and Lee for the incredible hospitality as always. Lovely weather. We took the train back to Portland a few days later. The Coast Starlight line now has an old Parlor Car. It is a refurbished 1955 car with wood paneling, club chairs, a bar, and real cloth tablecloths and napkins. It was exquisite to be treated so well. The food was great, the views were great and even though we arrived in Portland a bit behind schedule (4 hours) it was worth it. We decided to stay the night in Portland because we were too tired. It was easy to walk the half mile to the Tri Met station and take the train to the Airport to retrieve our car. Pretty nice time.

Home again and all seems well. It is taking me a while to get back into some kind of routine. After being pampered on the train and in Santa Barbara, one doesn't quite want to do for ones self!!

We did go see the latest "INDY" flick this am and it was good. Much better than #2 (what wouldn't be) and I think it wrapped things up pretty well. Not sure I believe Shia LaBeouf as an offspring of Karen Allen and Harrison Ford, but hey.

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