The things you see

The midwest is the land of the herds. Everywhere you go, you see rolling hills dotted with cattle. If you've driven through the midwest, I'm sure you've also seen this:

treadbeasts

Supposedly, this is grass. But the hubby and I have a different theory. It's a living creature.
Note how you always see them in groups. And in the winter they're huddled together for warmth. Sometimes even stacked on top of each other.
So we got to thinking. (giving credit where it's due, hubby-man figured it out and shared it with me) What would be the purpose of such animals? They're shaped like a wheel, so they must move by rolling. As they roll, they gather grass and slowly leech the nutrients out.
But why bother domesticating them? There must be something pretty worthwhile under all that grass. And there is! We see evidence of it all the time. Here's the secret: they are tires. (shhh. don't tell)
Look again:


Here are some treadbeasts on the side of the road. Now what happens to animals who cross the road? They rarely get to the other side. And then you have roadkill. Those bits and scraps of tire that you have to swerve to avoid? That's treadbeast roadkill.

So the next time you pass one, say a little prayer for it's spirit. Poor little treadbeasts

A small rant

I spoke with my sister today, and mentioned that I have an online store. As in, "Yep, L is going to high school next year. Can you believe how the time flies? I guess I'll have to get a job. Heh. Although, hopefully the store will be making enough money by then... I have a whole year to build it up."
Now, my sister works in the medical field. She's a PA, and she's very well informed about Western medicine. I respect her. A lot. I love listening to her speak about medicine. Sometimes I'll ask her questions just to get her started on a subject. She really knows her shit.
And.
She's not real happy about my store. I think I upset her. Which, of course, upset me.
See, my sister is pretty much against herbal remedies; and I understand why. They're inconsistent, some of them are toxic (hell, most of them are toxic when taken over time, or in large quantities or both) Also, some of them simply don't work. To say nothing about those people who choose to self-diagnose, then self-medicate with herbs. Far better to see a doctor!

The thing is, I agree with her for the most part. If you think something is wrong, see your doctor. That's what he or she is there for. But she doesn't give "alternative medicine" the same credit. Why is it that mothers could give their children chamomile tea for millenia, but now it's wrong because it's herbal? Or why is it that people used comfrey, calendula, or other plants rich in allantoin for millenia, but now it's an evil thing?
I have never said, "Don't see a doctor, use this herb instead."
I have never tried to scare someone into using "alternative medicine".
I've never said doctors are evil, and I've never claimed to be a medical practitioner.
Yet, I mention that I'm selling homemade arthritis cream and suddenly my sister sees me as
You know, I don't know what she sees me as right now. I know she was both angry and dissappointed.
It just upsets me, you know?

And Then We Were There!

(see previous post if you're new)
Where were we? Oh yes. We drove all day and into the night. The best part, of course, was actually getting into the mountains. Even at night, it's a wonderful thing. Because you'll be driving along, heading uphill, going around curves, when suddenly -you realize you're on top of a friggin' mountain! And there's a sign that reads, "3 to 7 degree slope next 11 miles. Trucks use low gear" And then you're dropping into a valley on a road just as curvy as the last stretch, only this time you seem to be going much faster.

We turned off the highway at Bailey and cruised into the Pike National Forest. Every once in a while we came across boulders the size of a house, that had rolled down the mountain at some time in the past. We didn't actually see any of those that night, but they're there nontheless. We saw them on the way home, and L thought that was pretty darn cool.
*science question of the day -What kind of forces can move mountains? Answer -simple ice and gravity*

Anyway, we got there and parked on the road behind the pagans who had arrived before us. All two of them. Then we tried to find a comfy place to sleep. You see, D-Fest opens it's gates at 10:00 am. It being 1:00 am at the time, we had a while to wait. L stretched out across the back seats, and Buck and I tried sleep in the front seats. The ones we couldn't recline because our son slept behind us in the lap of luxury. 20 minutes later, Buck climbed out of the truck, snagged a sleeping bag, and slept on the ground behind the truck. (startled the heck out of the next person to drive up) I got to stretch out across the front seats and discovered that the seat belt buckles stick up and poke you.
A restless eternity later, I figured out a way to sleep around the belt buckles. Upright, with a pillow behind my back, and twisted onto my left hip. Hey, it worked.

I awoke to this:

Ah, glorious coffee made by my glorious husband. What a way to start the day!

Yes, the shiny thing behind the sleeping bags is indeed a beer keg. Do we know how to camp, or what? Actually, it's full of water. I highly recommend the keg-O-water© method. We didn't have to make a water run at all. You may also have noticed the hunk of land rising upwards in the background. That culminates in this:

sunrise on Castle Rock

Here's what is likely to be the only embarrassing photo I ever post on this blog:

L sleeping through coffee, drumming, morning greetings and everything.

DragonFest

We left St. Louis at 10:15 and drove West on Highway 70. The sun rose behind us, then set in front of us; and still we drove. It sounds boring, but it wasn't. My brainy hubby brought along the laptop and a bunch of Babylon 5 DVD's. So, with L watching DVD's; we drove the 800+ miles with ease. Missouri went by in a flash. Kansas takes forever, but by the time we hit KC we were fully enrolled in listening to B5. We risked not stopping at Manhattan KS. And succesfully made it both ways without breaking down. Woot! I guess the money that JeffBee buried by the bridge did the trick (A whole other story)
About halfway through Kansas, we started seeing other travelers loaded with camping gear and heading West. I don't know that they were going to DragonFest, but who else goes camping on a Tuesday? Especially with bumper stickers that read "Goddess Bless America"?
I got the bright idea to write on a napkin, "D-Fest?" and on the flip side, "Us Too!" But before I could find a car to use it on, we got slammed with the mother of all thunderstorms. This mother had a pair of sisters, too. We were driving along watching cloud to cloud lightning in separate storms, one way off to the North, and one off to the South; when she sneaked up the middle and flattened us.
Yes, Kansas is so flat that you can actually see 3 storms at the same time.
We didn't pull over, Buck drove right through; which was amazing considering that we couldn't see squat. (What with the 18 wheelers throwing up mist, and the rain interspersed with pea sized hail, and Babylon 5 playing dramatic music in the background -gearing up for the Shadow War- Oh, yeah, it was something)

The rain ended (like it usually does) at the Colorado border. But by then the sun was gone, so I never got to use my little sign. We stopped at a little hole-in-the-wall gas station to change DVD's, and I took the opportunity to put on sweats. It was frickin' cold out there. A few people looked at us strangely, and I suppose we did look strange. Picture if you will: a man in tye-dye digging through the truck to find a box of B5 disks, a small boy in a bright blue cloak, and a shivering redhead rapidly pulling on layers over her shorts. I'm sure we were the talk of the town. :)
Nothing exciting happened during the rest of the drive. Well... Kosh was killed by Shadows, the Station became a shelter for renegade Earthforce ships, The Shadows attacked here, there, and everywhere... but I mean nothing outside of B5 happened.
We ate at Denny's in Denver, where no one looked at us strangely at all. Then we went up into the mountains. Now then... if you've never seen mountains before, here's a tip for you. First-timers should see mountains in daylight. They're beautiful and impressive, and they don't have a chance to sneak up on you.
They snuck up on L.
One minute he's engrossed in B5, the next minute there's a giant hunk of rock leaning over him. That would be the first little mountain past Red Rocks on highway 85. He didn't think it was very funny.

Taking My Lumps

I tried the photoserver that Chasmyn and Persephone use, and couldn't figure out how to format it correctly. Bah. So now I'm going to try the other one Persephone suggested.

On to the actual post...

Bad things tend to hit me in lumps, whereas good things tend to be spread pretty evenly. That's a good thing, of course. That way life is never all bad. So here's what's going on...
We went to Dragonfest, which was great; but now we have -$15 in our bank account. We're behind on the gas bill, and the phone bill. We have bits and scraps of food in the house and another week until Hubby-Man gets paid. I just want to cry.
The Universe always provides, however; Sarah (co-owner of Home Krafts) bought outright all the shea butter products that I had left her on consignment. Woo! The check is in the mail. (I hope)
School has begun, which is great. L was offered the opportunity to take a semester of German at the high school. He is one of only 4 or 5 kids being given the opportunity. His first class is today. A semester of a foreign language is going to look great on his application for CBC. It costs $120, which we don't have, but we can make payments -and we will.

L had a growth spurt over the Summer, so the shoes I bought last April don't fit anymore. He had to wear them anyway on the first day of school; and again, I just wanted to cry. New shoes went on -you guessed it- the credit card. I remember having to wear too-small shoes, and I swore my son would never have to. Buck makes almost $45,000 a year, and we can't buy shoes because we went on vacation for the first time in four years??? Christ! (To be fair, it's our own damn fault. I should have gone to the grocery store when we got home from vacation, and instead I bought fast food or ordered pizza every night. My bad, and now I'm paying for it)
We had some extra school supplies, so I only had to buy another $23 worth of pens, pencils, etc. Went on the credit card.
I cashed in the change jar so L could have lunch, and Ramens were on sale (9 for a dollar) so we won't starve or anything. Hubby-Man is taking his lunch until payday, so that helps too. We have some bags of aluminum cans, but I was hoping to save those for Christmas money.

I know we're far better off than a lot of people. Heck, I only need to look at my own childhood to know that. Money is tight and we have a bank account, we have a change jar, we have aluminum cans; and beyond that, we have many things that we could sell if we really need to. I have an assortment of gemstones, gold, silver, and jewelers tools. It would hurt to part with them, but really... it's only stuff. (Oh, but it's MY stuff. The dragon in me doesn't want to let go)

And then there's the big money option. We could put L in aftercare and I could get a 9-5 job. I don't have any office skills, but I could assemble boxes or something. I love being a stay-home-mom. I really love it. Thinking of selling my jewelers tools hurts, but thinking of not being there to pick L up from school is a whole different kind of pain.
Hubby-Man doesn't want me to have to work. L doesn't want me to get a job, either. They love the luxury of having me all to themselves. And I have to say, I love it too.

Well. That's enough of me and my pity-pot. I think I just needed to get it all off my chest. Thanks for listening.

P.S. I have a new animal sighting to add to the list of critters in my neighborhood. Today I saw a weasel! It looks remarkably like a ferret,(which is a weasel, I know) only it's solid brown. Neat huh? So now I've seen kites, falcons, hawks, eagles, owls, bats, skunks, foxes, a turkey, a deer, a groundhog and sundry birds. I love living in the city.

We're Outta Here!

We are off to DragonFest! Woo! I am so looking forward to 5 days in the mountains. Ahhh.
There's nothing like 1000 pagans at 8000 feet. (Except, of course -a thousand pagans camping at 8000 feet)
Anyways, the Astounding Persephone is still running the store, so keep ordering, ok? She is also sitting the cats and watching our house. That's why I call her Astounding.
In other news, we tried selling at the Barnhardt Flea Market. :(
Persephone did ok, she sold a bunch of eye pillows and got a lot of lookers; I didn't do so well. I sold one tub of Migraine Miracle. Ah, well. At least there's one happy (migraine free) woman out there tonight.
I'm gone!

Vote

Live in Missouri? Go vote! Live in another state that has elections today? Go vote!
Today we have a bunch of people wanting to represent us, and two proposed changes to our state Constitution. So go vote!

Now, far be it from me to tell anyone how to vote... You can be as wise or as stupid with your vote as you want to. So go vote. (and vote no on 2, because you're smart and compassionate)

Oh! Fortuna!

I think I live a blessed life. Really, I do. So many things happen in my life -improbable, unusual, outstanding things- I sometimes feel like the Fates did a high-five when I was born.

Family Fun

Eventually, I'll post the amazing story of selling arthritis cream at a flea market. You'll love it. It involves the redheaded cluster phenomenon, consignments and QVC. Seriously.
But right now, I'm going to my sister's house to partake in pizza, while parceling out photos. It should be fun. I'm bringing along the Migraine Miracle.

If only I could come up with a menopause miracle butter... it would do so much for the female half of my family right now. (sigh)
note: must add evening primrose oil to the list of essential oils to experiment with...