Daff-o-dilly Pretty

And we have daffodils....

"I Am A Living Jewel"

That's what the label that came on this jade plant said. A self-affirming plant.

I've been a little hestitant about doing much decorating in my office until I'm sure I've passed the bar--it would be awfully sad to have to pack it all back up. I feel like it's tempting fate a little to bring in a plant at all, even one as small as this. But it certainly looks like a jewel in my bare little office.

And it's probably a good plant to have chosen, come to think of it. Jade is also known as the "Money Tree". Maybe it'll bring me some luck.

I Looked, I Cried, Now I'm Angry

I probably keep up on animal news better than I do on people news, so I saw a link "Pitbull puppy dipped in acid" pretty quickly after the story broke, about a week ago. When I first saw it I asked Sweet Husband, "Sometimes is it OK if you just don't want to know?" "Yup," he said, when he saw what I was looking at.

So, I avoided the story for awhile, even though it continued to get bigger and bigger. There have been protests about perceived inaction by animal control officials and currently a $15,000 reward is being offered for anyone with information that leads to the person who did this.

And then, I saw another link to it today after lunch, and for some reason that I'm not even sure I can explain I decided that I just had to know how bad it really was.

It's really bad. (There are pictures at this link so be prepared.) If it was intentional--and although the evidence strongly tends in that direction, they still aren't sure--a slow, painful death isn't good enough. If this was one of my two, the person who did it would have to start a new life somewhere else under a false name.

But the horribleness of what happened to Mooie (the pup's name) isn't the only thing that made me angry. One of the editorials linked to on the site added fuel to the fire. It said:

And part of it is a tad ridiculous. Web sites? Petitions? Rewards? Flocking to town meetings? Putting the law under such hyper-intense scrutiny? All for ... Mooie?

Even after looking at the heart-wrenching photo of the burned dog, a word comes to mind: perspective.

One wonders where all of the caring in the world goes when violence -- just as ugly and senseless and mean -- strikes people rather than pooches, stirring little more than a fleeting public whimper, if anything at all.

Yes, it's "just a dog" (not my words, obviously). Yes, people are getting hurt in horrific ways every day and they don't get petitions and protests. But does that really make this less awful?

People arguing for tougher animal cruelty laws make arguments along the lines of, "We need tougher animal cruelty laws because people who abuse animals will hurt other people too." I realize that part of that is just rhetoric to get support from people who couldn't care less about animals, and it does add to the list of reasons for tougher laws.

But do we really need more reasons?

Isn't animal abuse inherently wrong enough that we can punish for it without having to always compare or tie it to human consequences?

Viva la Différence!

Today when I woke up in Lawrence, the world looked like it had been freshly washed. It had rained sometime in the night, but the sun was shining and the sky was a glittering blue. It was refreshingly chilly out but not too cold--in short it felt like the start of a gorgeous Spring day.

As we drove into Topeka for work it got yucky and cloudy and gray. Through the window that I can see from my office, it looks as if things have only gotten worse.

There are signs everywhere, and I'm thinking this morning might have been one.

Sweet Husband and I are thinking about buying a house in Lawrence. But housing in Lawrence is expensive, and we could probably get almost double the house if we were willing to move to Topeka. For about half a heartbeat the other day we thought about it. I made the suggestion, there was a second's pause, and then we both said, "Nahhh...."

It's interesting to me that two places so close together are so different.

Long live the difference!

Sunday Morning Muscari Musings

I planted 50 of these last year (that would be fall of 2004)--so far only about 10 have popped back up. I'm having some, not insurmountable, problems with them.

The flowers are pretty, but their leaves come up midwinter and get horribly raggedy. The first winter after I planted them I made the mistake of thinking the leaves were weeds, and I cut them back. Probably why so few have bloomed again, although our heavy clay soil could have something to do with it too.

Right now I have them mixed in with a bed of tulips, per a suggestion from the bulb catalog, and they pretty much just get hidden. They're just too tiny to compete.

I think, if we stay here, I'll dig them up and put them in a tiny clump by a corner of the fence. And if we live somewhere else, maybe I'll dig them up and put them in a tiny clump by a corner of the fence somewhere else.

Branching Out

My nice little tree branches have bloomed beautifully. Their counterparts outside are also starting to open up--not having been killed by our almost non-existent snow--but they aren't as far along as these.

I really need a leaf to be able to figure out what kind of tree it is, but just from the blossoms I'm guessing it might be some kind of cherry or crabapple tree?

Are You Packin'?

I really haven't intended to be such a political blogger lately. I've started a new job where people tend to pay attention, ergo more things are on my radar, and it's hard not to write about them.

For example, yesterday the Kansas Legislature decided we need to be able to carry concealed weapons.

I don't necessarily understand the need. As Nice Carpool Gals and I were discussing on the way home--drunk people + concealed guns = bad idea.

And I'm not sure how much it really increases safety, either. I'm not a quick-draw-mcgraw, but I am reasonably proficient with a gun. Even so, I'm not sure that--if an attacker was close enough that I'd feel justified in shooting him--I'd be able to get my gun in hand and get the safety off before the attacker took it and used it against me.

But aside from all of that, what really compelled me to write was this statement by one of the bill's sponsors, Senetor Phil Journey:

“Many criminals are rational human beings, and when they realize there is a good chance that they could get shot committing a violent crime, they’ll probably decide to do something else.”

Many criminals are rational human beings?!? What utopian planet does this guy live on?

I'll concede that some criminals are rational human beings, but many, if not most, are strung out on drugs, have horrible impulse control, and just generally don't think things through.

If you want to make the argument that this allows law-abiding people to fight back, that's fine, but don't pretend that criminals go through a calculated, rational risk analysis before they commit crimes. That's just nonsense.

(But hey, every cloud has a silver lining, maybe this is just the excuse I need to get this gorgeous girl. Don't worry Nice Carpool Gals, I promise I won't try to bring her to work!)

She Has Us Pegged....

I was reading an article* in the Kansas City Star the other day wherein the author described Lawrence as "the hippie, dippy, liberal lightning rod on the prairie." What a nice way with words!

(*The article was a review of Local Burger, an old-style burger joint that focuses on using organic and locally grown product. What did I think of Local Burger? Find out here.)

Food Blogging--Bisgusting Cheese

When Younger Brother was very young and ate something he didn't like, he would loudly exclaim, "That's Bisgusting!"

I was reminded of both the expression and the look on his face whenever he said it, when I tried these cheeses last night.


As a caveat, prior to last night I believed that I was a lover of all cheese. Cheese was my first word. Seriously. But these particular cheeses were not good, even by my liberal cheese-lovin' standards. Starting at the bottom left and going clockwise....

Morbier chese is a raw cow's milk cheese. It was actually the best of the three--kind of like marbled cheese. Nothing exciting, but nothing great either.

Next was the Drunken Goat cheese. This is a Spanish cheese and the rind is cured with red wine. Red wine=good, right? Not so much, unfortunately.

Then we have the winner of this bisgusting cheese plate, the Goat Brie. Once again, some thought went into this. I like cow's brie. I can't often tell the difference between cow's milk and goat's milk. Therefore goat's brie should be good, yes?

Nope.

Have you ever smelled a really stinky goat? Not a really stinky nanny (girl) goat, but a really nasty, evil billy (boy) goat? Well I have, and this cheese tasted like that goat smelled. It was really, honest-and-truly BISGUSTING!

Just a Dust

I woke up this morning to just a tiny bit of snow. I was really hoping we would get enough to be able to stay home, but there wasn't that much. Just enough to give the ground a nice coating and make it difficult to get out of my warm, cozy, dog-filled bed.

Or maybe it was just the dogs that made it hard to get out of bed. Sweet Husband is gone this week so I was literally pinned under the covers with one pup on each side--not a bad place to be on a snowy (March?) morning.

The First Day of Spring?

Spring officially begins sometime 'round 12:30 today. Evidently someone didn't get the memo, because we're in the process of getting a winter snow storm. The weather people are predicting between three and six inches of snow in Lawrence over the course of the day and tonight.

Last week a tornado, and this week a snowstorm--gotta love this Kansas weather!

Saved?

It's supposed to snow so I didn't feel too bad cutting these blooming branches off of a tree near our house and bringing them in to bloom inside.
I'm working on ID'ing the tree they came from, but I'm not sure what kind it is yet.

"Voices in the Dark"

I totally dig my town.

The Topeka St. Patrick's Day Parade

Ok, so St. Patrick's Day wasn't quite as much fun as last year, but a few co-workers and I did at least slip out for lunch to watch the parade in Topeka.

Of course, bagpippers lead the way.


This giant duck was publicity for some kind of charity, but I'm not sure what.


And they had bands on semi-trucks! In my day we marched two miles in polyester uniforms, sweating bullets even when it was freezing out....

But overall, it was a good excuse to be silly for an hour, and, hey, who doesn't need that?

(Want to see more pictures? Check them out here.)

When To Just Give Up....

Check out this, which was on the front page of MSN today. It's an article about how once again our amazing *sarcasm* State Board of Education has done something ridiculous and made kids have to get permission slips to take sex-ed.

It's getting embarrassing to say that I'm from Kansas. Sometimes I hate my state. Sometimes I think it would be easier just give up and move.

But then I get all angry and raucous and think, "Damnit, this is my state too!" (And besides I'm not taking the bar again somewhere else.)

Or maybe it's just the idiots that people from my state elect to the State Board of Education. Where do they find these people?

Just to get my feelings on the record so that I don't get lumped in--Teenagers are going to have premarital sex. Teenagers have been having premarital sex since medieval times. It's stupid, Stupid, STUPID in SO many ways not to EDUCATE them about how to protect themselves from pregnancy and disease.

End of rant, back to your regularly scheduled day....

Encouraged Bulbs Were Unencouraging

The "encouraged" bulbs that I gave up fridge and shelf space for were...well, frankly, it didn't go so well. I'm not sure if I didn't chill them adequately, or if it was the mold? Or maybe we had fruit in the fridge that retarded the blooms?

There were a few sorta-kinda successes.

The Amarylis was gorgeous, but a little unwieldly. I think next year I need to study up on how to keep it from getting so leggy. I need to aim for nice short, stout little stalks.

The Paperwhites were also nice, but next year I need to either plant in a bigger container or less bulbs.

Unfortunately almost everything else was pretty disappointing.

The "Tete-a-Tete" Daffodils looked like they might do ok, when the first one bloomed. By the time more started to bloom though, the first were terribly raggedy. I kept hoping for a pretty little pot full, but they were so staggered that it just never worked out.

The "Greigii Diantha" tulips also began well. The leave variegation was really pretty at first, but then they got brown at the tips. (I watered them, I swear!) They're still sitting in my windowsill with no sign of a flower any time soon.

The "Woodstock" Hyacinths almost bloomed. And they were pretty in their forcing glasses if nothing else. The chilled ones did a little better than the unchilled (which pretty much looked dead as they were blooming) but just a very little.

The worst disappointment was the Lavendar Muscari. Each little corn put up a single green shoot, that promptly began to turn brown and die.

I'd like to say I'll try again next year--and I suppose I might on a smaller scale--but really that was a lot of work for what I got out of it. And from a cost standpoint it's just as cheap (if not cheaper) to buy professionally "encouraged" bulbs.

BUT as soon as we're properly situated somewhere I want to plant a whole plot of the "Greigii Diantha" tulips--the leaves were too pretty...while they lasted.

Spring Storm

We woke up Sunday morning to a creepy green sky and tornado sirens. Once the excitement was over, we found out that it probably wasn't actually a tornado--just some nasty wind. Overall we came through great. We were without power from about 8:30 on Sunday morning to about 3 a.m. Monday, but other than that no damage. Unfortunately other people weren't so lucky....

The view outside our back door.

Down the alley from our house the power lines were down.

Down the street to the East.

Down the street to the West towards Mass St.

Down the street to the south.

Our next door neighbors yard.

Down the street a tree fell on top of a car and through part of a porch roof.

After sitting around for a few hours without power, we ventured out to scrounge up some breakfast. Afterwards we drove around a little bit to check out the damage downtown.

This was one of several stop signs that was blown over.

The Replay, a bar downtown had all it's windows broken out.

Later when we drove by again they were patching things up.

A tree in east Lawrence.

Except for the broken trees, it looked like roofs were damaged the most.

Broken windows at Wa, a sushi restaurant downtown.

Plywood covering the windows at Wa.

Several of the awnings over shops on Mass St. were broken, but this was the most dramatic.

The awning in front of Vermont Street BBQ, on Mass St.

On 23rd Street many of large signs were broken.

Taco Johns sign

Gas station sign

Sweet Husband read a news article today that said there was an estimated 6 million dollars worth of damage on campus. We walked around a little bit. There were lots of broken windows, broken roofing tiles, and fallen trees.

Bleachers at the soccer field.

Another shot of the bleachers--younger brother who lives in the dorm near here said one bleacher landed on a car.

Broken tiles on top of Snow Hall.

Broken doors at Budig Hall.

Broken Windows at Budig Hall.

More broken windows at Budig.

This is the roof of Murphy Hall--this looked like about the worst damage on campus that we could see.

There were bits of newspaper from the newspaper racks all over.

All the fallen trees broke my heart!

Tree uprooted near Strong Hall.

A close up of the tree's roots.

A fallen tree on Jayhawk Boulevard.

The chapel roof on campus looked really sad.

More fallen trees.


East Lawrence, where we live, had a ton of big trees that fell, but only a few really looked like they damaged houses.

A tree fallen on an RV in someone's front yard.

This huge tree was completely uprooted.

Power was really spotty all over Lawrence all day. Power lines were broken like this all over.

This was the only tree we saw that looked like it seriously damaged someone's house.

A broken tree.

Overall, from the reports I've heard at least, no one in Lawrence was seriously injured. Today crews were cleaning up on campus and picking up limbs from people's yards, and things were beginning to get back to normal.

Nothing like a little reminder that it's tornado season already!

The First Crocus

I wasn't sure if my bulbs were going to come back this year after my massacre late last Spring. But I've got tons of leaves popping up, and today I stepped out to find this pretty little white Crocus.

Food Blogging--Artisanal Chocolate

I brought these home as a treat for Sweet Husband the other day.

They're Christoper Elbow Artisanal Chocolates, and yes, they do taste as good as they look. And the flavors are very original--the center one was a Rosemary Caramel. Sounds weird, but my goodness it was good!