January 2008 | Main | March 2008

February 27, 2008

Darla Jaye on our local radio station, KMBZ

So, there is a conservative talk show host in Kansas City, Darla Jaye (you can listen to her on the internet you wish). I like a lot of what she talks about, but she repeatedly talks about how much she dislikes the Catholic Church. Darla's mom grew up Catholic, and is now an ex-Catholic. That is where Darla gets most of her knowledge of the Catholic Church, from a disgruntled ex-Catholic. Perhaps that is why she doesn't like anything about the Church.

Yes, everyone knows that a lot of bishops really screwed up by hiding the horrifying abuse of Catholic children by some priests - but really, most priests never did anything of the sort. Most still do not do anything of the sort. I believe the estimate is 1 percent or 1 1/2 percent.

And, you know, I think that Darla is not looking at the whole picture of child abuse, all of which is evil and bad. Clergy of other faiths also sexually abuse children. Please check this report which gives a more accurate picture of the failings of all clergy and people in the world.

This page gives a partial list of abuse that goes on in the US by clergy and church leaders in virtually all faiths.

And since, I know that Darla will pooh-pooh those references because they are written by Catholics, here is an article from The Associated Press.

Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy Darla's show. She has done some amazing things, like accompany the Minutemen to the Texas/Mexican border to report on how they do things. She is a pretty good conservative, too.

However, Darla doesn't seem to ever miss an opportunity to say something that is anti-Catholic.

For example, she was mocking Confession today. She seems to think it means that we can go and do anything evil and then go to confession and all is okay.

That is not what the Sacrament of Reconciliation means. To my mind, one of the things that prevents me from doing bad things is that I would have to confess to a priest what I had done. It also gives people an opportunity to reflect on their lives and their behavior. It is not a get out of jail free card. If you don't do your penance, you are not absolved. We confess to God through the priest.

And then, Darla is seemingly upset that the Bishops of the archdioceses can determine whether or not Catholic schools should send students to exhibits like the one now at Union Station - where human bodies are dissected and plasticized. This is the statement that the bishops released:

(Kansas City, MO and Kansas City, KS / Feb. 27, 2008) Catholic moral teaching regards the human person as a unity of soul and body, spirit and matter -- beings capable of freedom and love in communion with other persons and with God. As such, the body is more than just a vessel for the soul. The Church’s concern for human dignity extends to the body even after the soul is no longer present.

The bodies of the dead deserve respect and charity, preserving the God-given dignity of the human person. In lieu of immediate burial, the Church does allow for – and in some cases commends - the conscientious free choice of persons to “donate” their bodies for legitimate scientific research and educational purposes. In these instances, the deceased body and its parts deserve respectful interment.

Concerning the “Bodies” exhibit, one of our brother bishops recently wrote, “The public exhibition of plasticized bodies, unclaimed, unidentified, and displayed without reverence, is unseemly and inappropriate. Whatever the merits of ‘Bodies’ as an educational exhibit, and however well-intentioned the exhibit’s creators might be, we believe that the use of human bodies in this way fails to respect the persons involved.”

We regard the “Bodies” exhibit as an unfortunate exploitation of that which is “real” to teach something that could be accomplished by use of models. As such it represents a kind of “human taxidermy” that degrades the actual people who, through their bodies, once lived, loved, prayed, and died.

For these reasons, we do not believe that this exhibit is an appropriate destination for field trips by our Catholic schools.

Apparently, Darla (who I do like quite a lot, but who is rather misinformed about Catholicism), believes that the bishops have put out "edicts" (her word) that we should not go and see the body display. Generally, edicts are put out by the Vatican or a whole bunch of bishops. I see nothing wrong with advising that children should not see the display, as it is extremely graphic.

To those of you who will say that it is educational, well, no doubt, for scientists and doctors and medical students, it is very educational. The Church has no problem with medical students dissecting the cadavers of people who have left their bodies to science. I know that because both my mom and my dad left their bodies to medical schools for that purpose.

That is not at all the same as agreeing to have their bodies turned into plastic see-thru bodies.

And as everyone is aware, there is absolutely no proof that the bodies used in this display were given freely by the persons before their 'natural' death.

Kansas City is very intolerant towards Catholics. We do not need a talk show host exhibiting the same kind of ignorance that I have run into before. So please, Darla, do a little research before you make your pronouncements against Catholicism. All churches are made up of human beings, and all human beings are imperfect sinners.

I could write a lot more about this, but I won't, as I'm getting tired!!

Posted by Beth at 10:50 AM | Comments (2)

February 21, 2008

Farm Report

I think I have to recognize that I'm only going to get this farm report post up maybe once a week or two weeks. I get distracted by other things.

On Sunday, we got about 8 inches of heavy, heavy snow. It was melting away nicely on Monday, but a cold front turned that slush to ice by Monday evening. The county road that goes through the farm was a sheet of ice, and I got stuck, and then in attempting to get unstuck, I slid into a very deep ditch.

Yesterday, I finally called a tow truck, and Bob winched the car out of the ditch, only then I could still not get enough traction to get up the hill to our driveway, so I had to back down to the bottom of the hill and gun it to get thru the icy spots.

Naturally, I have to haul hay out to the horses once or twice a day during this freeze. It's always a challenge to get the hay out without the horses fighting each other to keep it all to themselves. I alternate areas in the pasture where I put the hay - keeps them guessing, so I have a chance to spread it out in a wide enough area so each horse has his or her own space.

Lady, an aged horse, of sometimes bad temper, has a mean, mean kick - if anyone comes near her little pile of hay and grain, she can be pretty vicious. I watched her chase Petey down the other day - he slid and fell down hard on the icy/snowy ground, and scared the heck out of me because his legs ended up sticking thru the barbed wire fence - fortunately, he stayed calm, stood up and carefully extricated his legs from the wire without getting any cuts. I had no idea he was smart enough to do that!
But the horses seem to be doing mostly okay. Willy, though, my precious old horse, Willy, the best horse on earth, is having a hard time with this winter, I think. He stays away from the young horses, and whenever he sees me leaving the house, he whinnies for me. So I try to feed him separately whenever possible.

I tried getting him into the barn to give him a break from the brutal wind one night, but he actually kicked down one of the stall walls to escape - he wants to be in the pasture with the other horses.

Hopefully, when I get my angora goats, they will keep Willy company in the barn, and he won't do that again!

Chickens are fine, but I'm not getting any eggs right now. Seems that Helga has "gone broody", and as soon as any eggs are laid, she pulls them under her, and she seems determined to hatch these eggs, so I'm letting her do that. As cold as it is right now, if she was not setting on them, they would freeze and break before I can get to them, so maybe we can increase our little flock naturally.

Satchmo is still in the garage.

It's snowing again.

I think I'll work on starting some seeds today - I'll take pictures of my setup.

Posted by Beth at 7:33 AM | Comments (1)

February 19, 2008

I sure hope it is true that bad things come in threes!

Because that means that I don't have to worry about anything for awhile!

Yesterday was not good. I got up in the morning, started the coffee maker, and it did not start. The light did not come on, nothing - Oh noos! No coffee on a Monday morning is not a good thing here at Castle Arrgghhh!

So I had to drive to Walmart and get a cheap coffeepot to use until I can get the good one in to be repaired. The one that broke is still under warranty, but it is a 100 mile round trip to get it to the repair shop.

I went to my pottery class, and the muse failed me. I was unable to do anything with the clay.
But that was not one of the bad things, no.

The second bad thing that happened is that my car got stuck on our road. I was driving home from class, and doing okay, but then, going up the hill towards our driveway, I could not get any traction because of the solid ice caused by the county grader that was supposed to move the snow, not pack it down and make it a skating rink! I tried to back up, and the damn car slid over to the side, and almost into the ditch. So, I walked to the house from there, and the car is still sitting there, waiting for it to thaw enough that I can get it back into the driveway.

That should have been enough, but no, it was Monday, and the bad vibes were strong!

John let Gunner and Kiki out for their last doo doo of the day. When he opened the door and let them in, they ran into the bedroom and nearly knocked me out - with their smell.

Oh, yes, another close encounter with a skunk!!! And this time, Kiki was the culprit victim. So we sprayed the stuff we have for such things on her, but she still stinks, and the house is stinky, but it was only 5 degrees out there, so she slept in out bedroom, stinking up the whole house all night long.

Sigh.

No more bad stuff!!

Posted by Beth at 10:04 AM | Comments (3)

RestStop and Annie are Lolcats - go vote for them!

moar funny pictures

Posted by Beth at 7:58 AM | Comments (1)

February 13, 2008

Obama wants change

The man is very big on promising change - what kind of change, who knows?

Anyway, with apologies to the great Aretha Franklin, I suggest that Obama's theme song should be:

Change, Change, Change

change, change, change, change, change, change
change, change, change, change of fools
Five long months I thought you were my man
But I found out how empty is your “change”
You got me where you want me
I'm just Obama's fool
You treated me mean oh you treated me cruel
change, change, change, change of fools

Every change has got a weak link
I might be weak child, but I'll give you strength
You told me to leave you alone
My father said come on home
My doctor said take it easy
Too much Obama is much too strong
I'm addicted to your change, change, change
change, change, change, change,
change, change of fools

One of these mornings the change is gonna break
But up until then, yeah, I'm gonna take all I can take
change, change, change, change, change, change
change, change, change, change of fools

Posted by Beth at 11:30 AM | Comments (1)

February 11, 2008

Okay, I'm back

I didn't really feel like writing anything, so I didn't. I had a busy week. I have joined the Leavenworth Farmers Market, and I attended my first meeting on Saturday morning. They are all very nice people who really seem to enjoy growing things and selling them at the market.

Now that I have paid for a spot for the season (which does not start until May), I have to be sure I have something to sell! So I set up some shelving units in the basement with some seed flats so I can start some of the seeds.

I'm afraid that I'm not totally sure which seeds to start first! I bought a ton of seeds, it seems, and I have not even received a bunch of them in the mail yet.

I suppose herbs and tomatoes would be a good place to start. This year is going to be experimental for me - find out what I can grow well and what I'm really crumby at!! LOL

I also hope to manage to get some of my crafts finished in time for the market season, too.

Much work to do!!!

Posted by Beth at 1:55 PM | Comments (4)

February 4, 2008

Daily Farm Report, Monday, 2/4/2008 (yes, it's the fifth, but I'm doing my best)

Well, the weather is being very weird today - but it is February in Kansas, and not at all atypical.
It got up to 59 degrees here, quite warm. And tomorrow, a winter storm watch - LOL!

Anyway, I got up extra early this morning - 4:35 am. I noticed that Hal was most definitely under the weather - and, he was peeing blood. So, I drove him to our vet, and Hal got x-rayed and special food and a pill thing that is supposed to make it easier to give him his antibiotic. (It is not easier).

I planted some daffodil bulbs that I didn't get into the ground in the fall. I still have more I need to plant, but the weather - oh my!

I took hay out to the horses - they were on the far side of the farm. While driving out there, I could see that I have a lot of drag harrowing to do if we ever thaw out completely! Darn this global warming, anyway.

I missed my pottery class - it was too pretty outside to go sit in a basement and play with mud, but now I kinda wish I had gone. Reminder to self - set up my wheel so I can play with clay here.

Okay, that's it for Monday.

Posted by Beth at 5:38 PM

February 3, 2008

Daily Farm Report

I think I shall endeavor to write a daily farm report. I find myself so busy running around after horses, dogs, cats, chickens and guineas, that I am exhausted by the time I sit down to log onto my computer. I should keep a diary of sorts, and this seems a good place!

Okay, here goes.

Last night, none of the guineas would go into the chicken run. I tried everything I knew to get them in there, but they are tired of winter and wanted some freedom. So they slept on the barn roof. Gunner was all upset about something, so he went out late running after some critter, and then spent a good chunk of the night on the deck, keeping an eye on my guineas.

John let him in the house at some point, and he jumped in bed in between us and wiggled and wagged to get some attention.

I woke up around 5:30, and I got up and threw on my boots and a coat over my nightgown so I could check on the guineas. I managed to get 2 of them into the chicken run, Dusty and Bill, who were napping on the ground under the elm - idiots! If they are going to sleep outside, they need to sleep up in a tree or something to avoid the ground predators!!

They were so sleepy, I merely walked over to the two of them, picked them up and stuck one under each arm to return them to their proper roosts in the chicken run.

The others were on the roof all night, and all survived. I figure God watches over really dumb critters like Guineas, otherwise, they would be extinct!!

I made the mistake of letting Gunner out this morning with guineas and chickens out of the chicken run - it seemed to be okay for awhile, he was checking out things on the other side of the farm, but he came back, saw birds out of their normal place and tried to herd them into the pen.

Naturally, all the birds freaked out, and Gunner did his weird thing of chasing down one of the birds (this time Bill, the Guinea) and laying by it until I come to get it. In fact, he was holding poor Bill down with a paw, I'm amazed the bird did not have a heart attack on the spot. They were almost the entire way down the steep hill behind our backyard, so I (still in my nightgown) had to hike down there and pick up Bill and carry him back to the pen.

John and I did take Gunner for a walk this morning (I guess maybe a mile and one half), but it started sleeting, snowing and raining, so we headed back home.

Major and his brother, Andy, came by to borrow our big trailer so they could go pick up a couple of round bales for the horses - their dad brought a big truckload back from Oklahoma yesterday, but he took it all up to their land in Atchison County.

It is a gray, chilly, wet Sunday. I completely cleaned the ugliest bathroom on earth today - tackled the ugliest bathroom tile on earth with really strong cleaner to see if I could make it less dingy, and I did! It's still ugly has hell, but at least it is not quite so depressing.

Hal, our fat cat, is still having bladder issues. He was at the Vet for two days last week, catheterized, so he could pee. He's home now, on antibiotics, and not a very happy camper. We are probably going to have that surgery done on him that will change his urinary tract so he can't get any more crystals stuck and prevent him from going potty. This is his third problem in three months.

And poor Little Girl is really showing her age. She has a hard time keeping food down, and spends nearly all her time sleeping. We have to brush her an bathe her because she just doesn't keep herself nice anymore.

All the other critters are pretty good.

And all this running around has finally kicked my metabolism, and I'm losing weight - hurray!

About 30 pounds so far.

Okay, that's all for today's Farm Report!

Posted by Beth at 11:56 AM | Comments (2)

February 2, 2008

Helpful Kitchen hint

When using a lemon zester, do check to be sure that the sharpened side is cutting the lemon, otherwise, it may cut your baby finger.

Blood and ouch, trust me!

Posted by Beth at 4:49 PM | Comments (1)