Reworking the kitchen

My heart yearns for the freedom of retirement.
More than 40 years of full-time employment
- perhaps with the exception of 1986 when
unemployment lasted more than six months
and I actually managed to write a 600+ page novel
in my spare time while seeking a job.

Today, leisurely, I spent all morning online
thinking about my writing activities in my new variation.
I've been to the blogging circus and blogged away.
I have blogs I'm proud of, but political blogging in depth
- with a self-imposed obligation to write every day
robs all other creativity of energy.

Combined with the blood-sucking drain on emotional energy,
which is the substance of my employment and my duties.
Too-tired-to-think blogging robs me of my ultimate
literary and intellectual pleasures. I have a book in progress;
had one now going on twenty years. And there are more
where that one comes from.

By afternoon I brake off the online stuff and return to reworking
the kitchen as sweetheart and I had discussed earlier in the morning.
Went to the basement, freed up bricks and boards, hauled the rattan
furniture down there and set up brick-and-board shelving in the kitchen.
Moved the pink table into the bay and plan today is to continue moving
dishes, pots and pans and cooking utensils into more accessible places.

Sweetheart in conference call with MFSO Washington State Chapter
leadership team while I cook potatoes, onions, green onions, mushrooms,
tomatoes, eggs and cheese into a supper to remember.
Filling even if overdue and worth the wait.
We went to bed and fell asleep during Without A Trace
Woke up, turned the TV off after midnight.

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Ten things you can do with Lavender

courtesy of Lavender specialists at Labyrinth Hill

Ten Things You Can Do With Lavender...

Without Sewing, Gluing, Nailing or Painting!

Mosquito Repellant Lavender straw is the leftover stalks and branches from processing the dried buds. It’s quite useful as a fragrant and effective insect repellent. Toss a handful of the straw onto the barbecue or picnic fire. It will repel flies and mosquitoes!
Vinegar’s Not Just for Salads Bring one cup of distilled white vinegar to a boil and pour it over a half cup of fresh lavender flowers to make “Cosmetic Vinegar.” Cover and leave for twenty-four hours before straining and bottling. For a skin softening and restoring bath, add a half cup to a tub of warm water. Cosmetic vinegar may be diluted by adding 2 T. to a pint of water. Used as a hair rinse, the vinegar neutralizes any shampoo residue and re-stores the acidic mantle.	Oil of Lavender When using essential oil as a massage oil it needs to be diluted with light vegetable oil. Our recipe for Oil of Lavender can be used full strength. Fill a clear glass jar loosely with dried lavender buds. Top with olive oil and cap the container. Leave this jar in a sunny window for a few weeks shaking it every few days. Strain the oil into another container through a funnel lined with cheesecloth. Press and squeeze the flowers to extract as much of the scent as possible. For a more potent oil, repeat the process once or twice more. A few drops of this will scent a bath!
	Lavender Sugar Process 1 cup sugar and 2 tablespoons lavender in a blender just until the flowers are crushed. (Be sure to use only culinary lavender.) Sieve out large pieces and store sugar in a glass jar at least one week before using. Sweeten a cup of tea for a fragrant break from your busy day. This sugar will keep for about three months.
Lavender Fields Indoors Place approximately ½ cup dried lavender buds into a small muslin bag. Firmly knot the opening. Toss the bag into your dryer when doing sheets. It leaves a light fresh scent. The muslin bag scent will last for 5-7 dryer loads and can be refreshed with a few drops of lavender essential oil.	Lavender Hair Rinse Lavender makes a good hair rinse especially for gray hair. Steep a handful of fresh or dried flowers in a pint of boiling water. When it cools, strain it and use as a final rinse water after shampooing.
Sage and Lavender Aftershave Thought lavender was only for the ladies? Think again! Combine 2 cups witch hazel extract (it’s available at most drugstores) 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar, 1 ounce (about 1 cup) dried lavender flowers and 1 ounce (also about 1 cup) dried sage in a large glass jar with a lid. Close the jar and let the mixture steep for one week, shaking it daily. Then strain off and discard herbs and bottle the lotion. What a treat for your Sweetie!
It’s Wash Day Plant a lavender hedge near your laundry room door. When the sun shines dry your pillow cases or lingerie over the bushes. Also use muslin sachets filled with lavender, placing them between the folds of freshly laundered sheets, in your linen closet.	Lavender’s on the Loose! When you change your vacuum cleaner bag, sprinkle 2 tablespoons of dried lavender buds on the floor. Vacuum them up and you will gently freshen the room each time you vacuum.
	Sweet Lavender Tisane “Tisane” is a tea made from dried fruit, flowers, and/or berries. Be sure to use culinary lavender for this recipe. Place 3 tablespoons of fresh lavender flowers in a teapot (1½ T if using dried). Add 2 cups of boiling water. Allow the flowers to steep for 3 or 4 minutes, strain and serve with a slice of lemon and honey.

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I love October and stay-home-all-day leisure

I love October and stay-home-all-day leisure

Didn't sleep in this morning. Hip pain woke me up.
Made coffee and came upstairs to the lure
of the Internet. I'm an online addict.
I quit smoking a year ago and abandoned
that addiction successfully. But I also became
an online writer and political activist;
another addiction of dubious merit.

Political activism seemed to satisfy my desire
- participation in the enwakenment of an electorate -
shoving around voters made aware of how apathy has
afflicted this country. Now at my age, I see enough
youngsters who'll "take it from here." I can go back
to knowing how I'll vote, when to speak and what to say.
Cause more and better talents do the same many times elsewhere.

Yearning now at 60 for more
quality time at home
- not driven by anyone else's magic.
Almost I can look on, amused
at how all the ants in the pile are awake,
aroused and all over Republican grasshoppers
stuck in angry and aroused mandibles.

Early afternoon I went down, pulled up
the last of the carpet in the living room.
All our old wooden floor is now exposed.
Then moved shelving and my books around
so as to move one of our portable wardrobes
into the nook between
the living room and bathroom.

Back upstairs in the evening briefly
until sweetheart called me to soup
which left me drowsy within a few minutes.
I fell asleep back at the keyboard.
She woke me up with a call
from downstairs around midnight
of my first day off work.

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Quality Time On Vacation

Quality Time on Vacation

I always like Friday nights;
the open, lazy moment
when work is done, nothing demands
and tomorrow there'll be no need
to rise early and start working
on my game face
not for two days.

Even better but less frequent,
next month will see the first night
of my week's vacation.
A week in April and a week in October;
never two full weeks because I can't
be gone that long in an office
so understaffed.

My case load, after two weeks off,
would be too far behind.
The end of the first day
back at work
would leave me
ready for another
week's vacation.

I'll stay up into the night because
I can sleep in tomorrow.
I read my regulars
as I do every morning
and evening
after work.
Tonight more leisurely.

Maybe ... Republican sexual follies.
My secret delight that they keep tripping over themselves.
In anxiety to grab money and power,
the're more clumsy
and morally vacant
than all other politicians
combined.

News from Iraq always bad.
But if it has to be bad,
I'm pleased
that it's Bush's fault,
the Republicans' fault.
They deserve repudiation.
Damn you assholes!

No moral fibre,
no personal integrity,
no genuine concern,
no compassion
only greed,
avarice and
mean spirited religion.

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Summer's End 2006, was a great spring and summer

There's no pretentions to this home, it's pretty much salt of the earth kind of house and we live in pretty much as salt of the earth kind of people. Now, I'm not saying there haven't been efforts to get the house more upscale and we're grateful to PO who invested in giving the house more than a cosmetic face lift as the PO before them had done. As you read our blog and see our pics, you kinda see the down and dirty along with what we hope are some of the pretty.

Haven't done much 'remodeling' since we started this blog, and there is good reason for that, but moving on...end of summer 2006. We spent many happy, contented hours of the spring and summer months working on yard and garden.



End of summer 2006, and sad to see the season come to a close, but there will be another summer in 2007 and we look forward to watching all the new plantings grow next year. Planted a hybrid 3 kinds of apples on one tree - that should be interesting. Planted an ornamental Mt Fuji Japanese white flowering cherry tree.

We ordered ten bare root trees from National Arbor the second year we lived here and planted them per instructions. Bare root trees are really just twigs sticking out of the ground. Dear husband ran over several of them with the lawn mower - more than once. Accident, of course, not intentional. But they must be hardy because only about 5 didn't make it and 5 are still with us. We replanted them in 2006 season to their new permanent homes.

We planted two Eucalyptus trees, one is potted in whiskey barrell and the other in the front yard. That about does it for the trees I can plant in our limited yard space. And it's too bad, because I wasn't done with trees for our yard yet. I learned this year that where we live, we have a mini planting zone that permits some plantings that don't do as well in the regional climate zone shown on the climate zone maps as our 'zone'. We live on a northern bay on the Pacific Coast which creates a maritime climate zone for us. That can be good and not so good, but it does help me to realize that what my inland neighbors can grow is not the same thing I can as easily grow. Now, it seems in addition to apples (Washington - apples, you know), I can also grow peaches and apricots. Really! Okay, but sigh - no room in our yard. I'll just have to fit it in some way cause I intend to have one of each.



entry by Lietta Ruger - green thumb is shaping up

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Sharing an audio photo story - thanks SnapGenie!

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Sharing an audio photo story - thanks SnapGenie!

by Lietta Ruger

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U.S. Army extends Iraq duty for 4,000 - 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division

U.S. Army extends Iraq duty for 4,000 - 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division

In a new sign of mounting strain from the war in Iraq, the Army has extended the combat tours of about 4,000 soldiers who would otherwise be returning home, defense officials said Monday.

The 1st Brigade of 1st Armored Division, which is operating in the vicinity of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, will be kept in place for several weeks beyond its scheduled departure, the officials said. The officials spoke only on condition of anonymity because the decision has not been formally announced by the Pentagon.

The brigade's home base is in Germany. The soldiers' families were notified on Monday that instead of going home in early January as scheduled, the brigade would be kept in Iraq until February — an extension of about six weeks, one of the officials said. Army officials also have notified members of Congress.

The brigade has about 4,000 soldiers in Iraq. They are not the first to be extended.

In late July the Army extended the Iraq tour of the Alaska-based 172nd Stryker Brigade. About 300 soldiers from that unit had already returned home and were required to go back to Iraq. The brigade is now operating in Baghdad.

The reasons for these extensions are different, but they both reflect the fact that the Army is hard pressed now to maintain rotations for Iraq and Afghanistan at the current pace. The 172nd was extended by four months in order to strengthen U.S. forces in Baghdad, where commanders are trying to avert a full-scale civil war.

The 1st Brigade of the 1st Armored Division was extended in order to allow its replacement unit, the 1st Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division, a minimum 12 months between overseas tours, the official said. The 3rd Infantry has already served two tours in Iraq, including the initial invasion of the country in March 2003.

Last week, the top American commander in the region said the U.S. military is likely to maintain and may even increase its force of more than 140,000 troops in Iraq through next spring. Gen. John Abizaid, commander of the U.S. Central Command, said military leaders would consider adding troops or extending the Iraq deployments of other units if needed.

Until sectarian violence spiked early this year, Bush administration officials had voiced hopes that this election year would see significant U.S. troop reductions in what has become a widely unpopular war.

The Army has a stated goal of giving active-duty soldiers two years at home between overseas combat tours, but it is unable to achieve that "dwell time," as the Army calls, because it does not have enough brigades to meet the demands of simultaneous wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It would not be a problem now if the situation in Iraq had improved enough to allow the Army to reduce its presence as originally planned.

Army Secretary Francis Harvey told The Associated Press last week that the amount of time between deployments has shrunk this year from 18 months to 14 months. In the case of the 3rd Infantry, it appears at least one brigade will get only about 12 months because it is heading for Iraq to replace the extended brigade of the 1st Armored.

U.S. Army extends Iraq duty for 4,000
by ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer

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Retired officers to testify - Rumsfeld's Incompetence

Retired military officers on Monday are expected to bluntly accuse Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld of bungling the war in Iraq, saying U.S. troops were sent to fight without the best equipment and that critical facts were hidden from the public.

"I believe that Secretary Rumsfeld and others in the administration did not tell the American people the truth for fear of losing support for the war in Iraq," retired Maj. Gen. John R. S. Batiste said in remarks prepared for a hearing by the Senate Democratic Policy Committee.

A second witness, retired Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton, is expected to assess Rumsfeld as "incompetent strategically, operationally and tactically ...."

"Mr. Rumsfeld and his immediate team must be replaced or we will see two more years of extraordinarily bad decision-making," said his testimony prepared for the hearing, to be held six weeks before the Nov. 7 midterm elections in which the war is a central issue.

The conflict, now in its fourth year, has claimed the lives of more than 2,600 American troops and cost more than $300 billion.

Sen. Byron Dorgan (news, bio, voting record), D-N.D., the committee chairman, told reporters last week that he hoped the hearing would shed light on the planning and conduct of the war. He said majority Republicans had failed to conduct hearings on the issue, adding, "if they won't ... we will."

Since he spoke, a government-produced National Intelligence Estimate became public that concluded the war has helped create a new generation of Islamic radicalism and that the overall terrorist threat has grown since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Several members of the Senate Democratic leadership were expected to participate in the hearing. Dorgan said Republican lawmakers had been invited.

Even before the session convened, Republicans counter-attacked.

"Today's stunt may rile up the liberal base, but it won't kill a single terrorist or prevent a single attack," Sen. Mitch McConnell (news, bio, voting record), R-Ky., said in a statement. He called Rumsfeld an "excellent secretary of defense."

It is unusual for retired military officers to criticize the Pentagon while military operations are under way, particularly at a public event likely to draw widespread media attention.

But Batiste, Eaton and retired Col. Paul X. Hammes were unsparing in remarks that suggested deep anger at the way the military had been treated. All three served in Iraq, and Batiste also was senior military assistant to then-Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz.

Batiste, who commanded the Army's 1st Infantry Division in Iraq, also blamed Congress for failing to ask "the tough questions."

He said Rumsfeld at one point threatened to fire the next person who mentioned the need for a postwar plan in Iraq.

Batiste said if full consideration had been given to the requirements for war, it's likely the U.S. would have kept its focus on Afghanistan, "not fueled Islamic fundamentalism across the globe, and not created more enemies than there were insurgents."

Hammes said in his prepared remarks that not providing the best equipment was a "serious moral failure on the part of our leadership."

The United States "did not ask our soldiers to invade France in 1944 with the same armor they trained on in 1941. Why are we asking our soldiers and Marines to use the same armor we found was insufficient in 2003," he asked.

Hammes was responsible for establishing bases for the Iraqi armed forces. He served in Iraq in 2004 and is now Marine Senior Military Fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies, National Defense University.

Eaton was responsible for training the Iraqi military and later for rebuilding the Iraqi police force.

He said planning for the postwar period was "amateurish at best, incompetent a better descriptor."

Public opinion polls show widespread dissatisfaction with the way the Bush administration has conducted the war in Iraq, but division about how quickly to withdraw U.S. troops. Democrats hope to tap into the anger in November, without being damaged by Republican charges they favor a policy of "cut and run."

By coincidence, the hearing came a day after public disclosure of the National Intelligence Estimate. The report was completed in April and represented a consensus view of the 16 disparate spy services inside government, according to an intelligence official.

Retired officers to criticize Rumsfeld
By DAVID ESPO, AP Special CorrespondentMon Sep 25, 7:11 AM ET

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40 Years Smoking and I did it - Quit - cold turkey

40 year smoker at a pack a day. My husband, smoker for 12 years cared enough to quit first and lead the way for me. I know better than to become the 'reformed smoker' who nags other smokers to quit. All I can do is share what helped me get to the place of being able to mentally embrace the concept of quitting smoking. I'm only 9 days 'clean and free of nicotine' so I'm still vulnerable and susceptible to a relapse - but I don't think that is going to happen. I don't sense or feel a relapse in the cards for me. And the why of that is another blog entry.

I have read all the 'ills' of smoking over the decades, but rarely come across reading that tells me what is good about smoking. Yes, that's right, I said what's 'good' about smoking. I don't see myself as a bad person and need to know that beyond addiction what is that cigarettes do for me that makes it so hard to quit.

Might then I recommend some reading that helped me because it actually indicates what is good about smoking; not why one should continue but what the brain/body rewards one gets out of smoking. The reading also helps break down what one can expect in quitting hour by hour! Going in better prepared, I am able to outlast my brain signals of cravings as those cravings go from the discomfort of intensely fierce to nagging reminder to those longer periods of time of what is actual comfort.

So let me recommend;

Nicotine Withdrawal and Recovery Symptoms
The Effects of Nicotine Cessation
by John R Polito
(a former smoker - takes one to know one, eh?)
link http://whyquit.com/whyquit/A_Symptoms.html

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Latest military casualties not just numbers

Latest military casualties not just numbers:
2,973 dead in 9/11 ... and now in Iraq, Afghanistan

By CALVIN WOODWARD
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON ---- Now the death toll is 9/11 times two.

U.S. military deaths from Iraq and Afghanistan now match those of the most devastating terrorist attack in America's history, the trigger for what came next. Add casualties from chasing terrorists elsewhere in the world, and the total has passed the Sept. 11 figure.

The latest milestone for a country at war came Friday without commemoration. It came without the precision of knowing who was the 2,973rd man or woman of arms to die in conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan. The terrorist attacks killed 2,973 victims in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania."

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'The Ground Truth' premiered in Seattle; a newly released dvd - please share widely

The weekend of September 15, 16 and 17th, a film called "The Ground Truth" premiered premier in cities around the country. It is about the hidden toll of the war in Iraq, and features returned Iraq War Veterans and military family members telling "the ground truth" about the war. The film played to rave reviews at the Sundance and other film festivals around the country.

The eight cities it will be opening in are LA, NYC, San Francisco, Chicago, Washington, DC, Boston, Austin, and Seattle. In addition to these areas, there will be screenings of the film in several other cities around the country. For more detailed info regarding all of the showings, theaters and dates/showtimes, as well as to view the film’s trailer, go to www.thegroundtruth.net .

If you would like to purchase the DVD of The Ground Truth, you can do so at http://groundtruthstore.seenon.com/?pa=mfso, and a donation will go to Military Families Speak Out for each DVD sold through that web address.

Please spread the word about this important film so that we can create an appropriate national dialogue about the war in Iraq and educate the American public about the devastating – and often hidden -- toll of this war.

Here is an excerpt from The Ground Truth's promotional materials:

"Hailed by Sundance filmgoers as "powerful" and "quietly unflinching," Patricia Foulkrod's searing documentary feature includes exclusive footage that will stun audiences. The filmmaker's subjects are patriotic young Americans, articulating their stories on-camera - stories that must be heard.The stories are those of a half-dozen American heros, ordinary men and women who heeded the call for military service. The Ground Truth charts recruitment and training, combat, homecoming, and the struggle to reintegrate with families and communities. The terrible conflict in Iraq, depicted with ferocious honesty in the film, is a prelude for the even more challenging battles fought by the soldiers returning home - with personal demons, an uncomprehending public, and an indifferent government. As these battles take shape, each soldier becomes a new kind of hero, bearing witness and giving support to other veterans, and learning to fearlessly wield the most powerful weapon of all -- the truth."

This is an excerpt from what the film's director wrote about the film:

"I tried to create a film that might blow the yellow ribbons off...and encourage people to really wrap their arms around our soldiers and their families. I wanted us to sit with the broken hearts and troubled minds of these young veterans, so we can take responsibility for their suffering that is being experienced in our name. And most important, I wanted to share with all Americans the profound wisdom these young men and women have to impart. Their first step to healing is our listening."

Thank you.

In Peace and Solidarity,

Lietta Ruger

Military Families Speak Out - Washington state chapter coordinator

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The Pentagon Five - Camp Democracy, Washington DC

Five young men, Iraq Veterans, were Arrested at the Pentagon this week, because one of them set down some flyers about Depleted Uranium. Source URL's: http://campdemocracy.org/ http://campdemocracy.org/node/349 http://www.campdemocracy.org/sites/campdemocracy.org/files/downloads/pentagon5.wmv

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Marine Corps Chief of Intelligence; Situation called Dire in West Iraq

Situation Called Dire in West Iraq:
Anbar Is Lost Politically, Marine Analyst Says

By Thomas E. Ricks
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, September 11, 2006; A01

The chief of intelligence for the Marine Corps in Iraq recently filed an unusual secret report concluding that the prospects for securing that country's western Anbar province are dim and that there is almost nothing the U.S. military can do to improve the political and social situation there, said several military officers and intelligence officials familiar with its contents.

The officials described Col. Pete Devlin's classified assessment of the dire state of Anbar as the first time that a senior U.S. military officer has filed so negative a report from Iraq.

One Army officer summarized it as arguing that in Anbar province, 'We haven't been defeated militarily but we have been defeated politically -- and that's where wars are won and lost.'

The 'very pessimistic' statement, as one Marine officer called it, was dated Aug. 16 and sent to Washington shortly after that, and has been discussed across the Pentagon and elsewhere in national security circles. 'I don't know if it is a shock wave, but it's made people uncomfortable,' said a Defense Department official who has read the report. Like others interviewed about the report, he spoke on the condition that he not be identified by name because of the document's sensitivity."

read more here

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Gandhi and Sept 11; 100 yrs earlier Ghandi Launches Modern Non-Violent Resistance Movement on Sept. 11, 1906

(one of those eerily weird date coincidences? Maybe - maybe not)

September 11th 2006 has a special significance. It not only marks the fifth anniversary of the attacks on New York and Washington, it also marks 100 years to the day that Mahatma Gandhi launched the modern nonviolent resistance movement.

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September 11th 2006 has a special significance. It not only marks the fifth anniversary of the attacks on New York and Washington, it also marks 100 years to the day that Mahatma Gandhi launched the modern nonviolent resistance movement. Gandhi called it "Satyagraha."

The date was September 11th, 1906. Speaking before 3,000 Indians gathered at a theater in Johannesburg, Gandhi organized a strategy of nonviolent resistance to oppose racist policies in South Africa. Satyagraha was born and since then, it has been adopted by many around the world to resist social injustice and oppression.

Gandhi used it in India to win independence from the British. The Reverend Martin Luther King used it in the United States to oppose segregation and Nelson Mandela used it in South Africa to end apartheid.

read more at Democracy Now!

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