A miscellany

I haven’t posted much on my blog lately and I’m feeling guilty about it. Not sure if I don’t have anything significant to say (always a possibility) or if I want to avoid discussing my doctor visits which have absorbed a lot of my time and thought (all good news).

Tonight there is just trivia on my mind. For one thing, at two, Sophie still jumps on all of us to get attention. The other night I invited my good friend Betty into the back yard for a glass of wine, and Sophie was such a pest, Betty said, “Maybe we should go to the front porch.” Last night, she jumped a lot on Elizabeth who can handle it but said she and her ex trained their dogs not to jump, as puppies, by using a little squirt of water. So today I got a squirt bottle, used it twice, and haven’t been jumped on. When she wanted to go out tonight, Sophie sat next to me and “talked.” I responded quickly, with lots of praise. Can’t believe it was that easy. We’ll see. Betty is now outraged that I’ve hurt the poor dear’s feelings. I think Sophie knows she’s loved.

Today I went to a birthday luncheon/reception for a friend’s father who is turning ninety. He’s lively, good company, active, still driving, always up for a good time—except sometimes he likes his routine. He tells wonderful, funny stories, and I admire him a lot. I want to be like that. Didn’t know three other people at the reception besides the family, so I talked at some length with the two I did know and ducked out early. Kind of proud of myself for going alone, because I really don’t like to go to that kind of event alone. I once had a good gay friend who made a wonderful escort—and I miss him to this day, though he’s been gone twenty years.

And finally, there’s my new cause—unprocessed foods. I’m outraged at Monsanto, and I saw a list of brands that Monsanto owns that nearly undid me. I thought I bought healthy foods but Campbell’s is on there, as is Nabisco (the fruit/health bars I buy for Jacob), and Hellman’s, which I always thought was the best mayonnaise and like now because they make a version with olive oil. But who knows what else? I doubt I’ll go so far as to make my own mayo but I will substitute homemade white sauce for Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom soup in casseroles, etc. And I’ve learned to read the code on vegetables so I know which are naturally grown, which organic, and which genetically altered—and I watch what I buy. Don’t get me started on what’s happening to our food supply.

It’s June, and I can hear fireworks in the distance. Not sure if it’s Concerts in the Park or what but I kind of like it.

A powerful book

Reading Timothy Egan's The Worst Hard Time is like reading Dee Brown's Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee--you keep waiting for the story with a happy ending, but it only gets worse and worse. I thought I knew about the Dust Storms--but my idea was simplistic. I had no idea about the wheat boom that preceded the storms, a boom that caused farmers, some of the suitcase type, to plow up the prairies to plant more and more wheat. When a wheat surplus caused them to stop planting, land lay exposed--and blew away with the winds of a great drought. I didn't know either about the dust pneumonia that killed so many people--and especially children. Dead cows, butchered, were found to have starved to death because their stomachs were full of dirt and couldn't process food. And the story got more and more grim for several years--yes, it finally got better, the storms abated, but the scars remain to this day. And whole towns disappeared, never to rise again. Timothy Egan focuses on a few towns, a few famlies to make the story come alive--and it really does. This is gripping reading, and I recommend it to everyone who lives in the West.
The book also speaks to the current concern for what man is doing to the environment. The Dust Bowl was man-made, proof that man's actions do indeed impact the universe. We ought to take it as a cautionary tale today--that global warming has happened before doesn't mean we can ignore it and go our merry way burning petroleum and increasing hothouse gases. I love the comment by one Congressman (whose name unfortunately I can't remember) that being a conservative doesn't mean you have to appear to be an idiot.
Now, I'm going from one happy note--the Dust Bowl--to another, reading more of The Omnivore's Dilemma which sent me to the range-fed livestock ranch. So far, the taste test isn't proving that a success, but I'll read what the book has to say about "organic" vegetables.
There is really a happier note--beside the fact that it's raining in Texas, at least my part--and that's that Jacob brought his mother for supper last night. At slightly over nine months, he's standing for a few seconds without holding on to anything and walking a good distance if you hold both his hands. He'll be running around before we know it. He is, as always, extraordinarily happy and cheerful. Now he has a new trick that drives his mom wild--he refuses to lie still while his diaper is changed, but twists and turns--and he's strong enough that it's a problem
Jordan and I began to plan a busy spring--Easter and then Jacob's dedicaton at the church on Mother's Day (followed by a luncheon at my house for all involved). And we even began to think about Christmas. Yeah, I plan ahead.