It’s that time of month, and this time things are really, really, tight. Hyperion and I will be covering Malice Domestic, a wonderful mystery convention held in Arlington, VA this weekend. We’ll also be at Maryland Sheep and Wool on Sunday — the biggest sheep and wool event on the east coast.
And, we’ll also be trying to get SFRevu and Gumshoe Review up and live with the May issues on the 1st.
Stay tuned to see if we actually managed to do all that and remain moderately sane at the same time. [Hyperion: I predict a 7.23% probability]
Meanwhile, the cat (Emnot) finally went to the vet this past week. We’d thought Emnot was a she but the vet, after careful and intense looking, found that she was really a he. He’d also already been neutered so that was a relief. But, he had round worms and ear mites — as well as fleas (good thing he’s an outdoor cat). So, now it’s medication and ear drops for him and he’s not a happy cat just now. However, we came back from a doctor’s appointment this afternoon and found a dead lizard and the remains of a mouse. Wonder if he’s trying to warn us off about the medications….
NOTE of Warning: This post is a political rant because sometimes I just have to speak up. If you don’t care for political rants…fine…move along and come back another day when I may have more on my garden, my knitting, book reviews, or other lighter less-ranty posts.
Every now and then it seems that comedy becomes actuality. Years ago Cheech and Chong had a song called Born in East LA which chronicles the problems that a man born in East L.A. had to proving his citizenship when scooped up in an illegal immigrant sweep. At the time, even though it highlighted a problem that existed among the Hispanic population, it also highlighted the extremely unAmerican concept of having to show papers whenever you were asked by an authority figure. This was something that only was supposed to happen in Communist countries.
Now the state of Arizona has passed SB 1070 into law. It’s been signed by Gov. Jan Brewer. In its bare essence the state of Arizona has made it legal to do racial profiling within the state. The bill requires local law enforcement to question anyone they reasonably suspect of being undocumented. (Translation: you could be pulled over for no other reason than that you are brown-skinned or speak Spanish.) The bill makes it a misdemeanor to lack proper paperwork in Arizona. And just how does an American citizen prove that they’re not an illegal alien? If you’re an American, you won’t have a green card, or visa, or anything else. And since you can’t prove that you’re in the country legally, you must be an illegal alien. Q.E.D. Hopefully somebody other than me sees the logical fallacy in having to prove a negative.
What the this means is that everyone who might be possibly be “reasonably suspected” of being an illegal alien must show papers to any authority that asks. So, if you have dark hair and dark eyes and a non-milky complexion, you’d better make sure that you have all the necessary paperwork to prove you’re a citizen on you at all time. Don’t forget that includes children — after all, illegal aliens come in all ages.
So somehow, while we weren’t paying attention, the state of Arizona managed to become the first state in the nation that requires all citizens to show papers when requested by an authority figure, or face the consequences. Of course that’s only for some people — not the lily white ones.
In case you’re wondering, I’m a mix of French, Scottish, and who knows what — but I do have dark hair (except for the grey), and dark brown eyes, and have often been mistaken for Hispanic even though I only know enough Spanish to count to ten on a good day with a few phrases learned from years of Sesame Street long, long ago when my son was younger.
I’m outraged by this. I used to live in America. The home of the brave. The land of the free. Where Democracy reigned and it was not only our right, but our obligation, to question authority and to stand up for those less fortunate than ourselves.
Over the last 20 years or so, I’ve watched America slowly become a bully nation that picks on those who can’t defend themselves. A nation that punishes those who come here believing that the motto on that statue in New York Harbor is real and for those who have forgotten it:
“Give me your tired, your poor,
your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.
The wretched refuse of you teamming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
Poem on plaque at the foot of the Statue of Liberty written by Emma Lazarus.
I guess those words should now be changed to only come here if you’ve got lots of money to spend, paperwork to prove you’re worth letting into our country, and will only say good things about us while you’re here.
I’ve seldom been so ashamed of my country as I am after hearing about this travesty. I hope when the legal battles come, and I’m sure they will, that the courts will rule this law unconstitutional because there isn’t a doubt in my mind (having read this document) that it is just that — not to mention Arizona’s SB 1070 is frankly unAmerican and shameful.
There are, I am sure better ways to deal with illegal aliens that to force your citizens to carry papers — unless of course you think the comparison with the old-time Communist countries is appropriate. In fact, I don’t think they even require papers at every stop within their borders anymore.
[Hyperion here:] The problems surrounding illegal immigration are real and severe. There are no doubts that something needs to be done to counteract the unfortunate evils that accompany it. That said, the number of illegal immigrants that cause problems are a tiny percentage of the those that are here. Like the general population of the U.S., the vast majority are hard working people trying to make a better life for themselves and their families. They work the crap jobs that no American wants, for pay no American would accept. If we magically found and deported every illegal alien in America today, large portions of our economy would collapse into ruin within a week. So while I agree that we have to do something about the troublemakers, I have to wonder why so many Americans are willing to throw the founding principles of this country out the window just to make things seem simple. Have we really learned nothing from the Japanese Interment Camps or the House UnAmerican Activities witch hunts? Every time we’ve pulled this kind of crap, the future has lo0ked back on those that participated in them with horror and disgust. And they sit around and wonder just how could people have been so clueless and horrible. So two quotes to close by, the first generally accredited to Benjamin Franklin: “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” And the second to George Santayana: “Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”
For the past several years, we’ve taken part in Earth Hour but this year somehow — probably lack of promotion on the net — we totally missed it. Not such a bad thing because we do as much as we can every day of the year. We recycle and for us that means we have to drive to the recycle center once a week, although only as part of our normal shopping cycle. We tend to put water in a water bottle rather than buy bottled water. We keep our heat down in the winter and our air conditioning higher in the summer (forget saying turn it off completely we live in an area that gets days over 100 degrees). We use the car to go to and from work (no public transport closer than work). We plan our weekly shopping trips to be as efficient as possible using gas. We’re saving to make take some more measures — replacing the single pane windows in the house, purchasing a hybrid car, swapping out the 20 year old appliances for EnergyStar ones.
We live on 5 wooded acres and have little direct sun during the day. Solar is out for us but we’re looking into other options. But that’s a long term project.
Earth day is a time to think about our commitment to the Earth and strive to live lightly upon it. Here’s a video about Earth day and what it’s trying to get people to think about. Granted it’s by a vested interested party but that doesn’t take away from the core message:
It seems that here in the US there are many people who prefer to put their heads in the sand and pretend that the Earth has infinite resources and all this “green” talk is not worthy paying attention to. Our planet is where we live, work, and play. But it’s resources are indeed finite. There was a recent report that the world will reach peak oil (that point where it cost more to extract the oil and you could possible get from using/selling it and which is the beginning of the end of that resource) within the next 10 years. Others say we’ll reach that point in 5 years or 2 or we’ve already reached it. Note that none are saying it’s not going to happen.
There’s a definition of insanity that I find very cogent. Insanity is doing the same activity over and over and expecting a different result. We can’t go on using petroleum/gas/oil and expect that it won’t someday run out. If we start now putting money into alternative energy sources, we not only help our planet, we help ourselves.
Closing our eyes to the problems of global warming, peak oil, deforestation, water contamination, and species loss will not make it go away. We need to look these problems in the face and come up with plans that deal with what is not what we wish it was.
Take some time on Earth Day to decide how you and your family will do their bit to help save the Earth and its resources. Even something as simple as turning lights off when you leave the room or filling your own bottle with water will help. Every little bit does help and certainly it helps more than doing nothing. Take action to help our planet.
I’ve been feeling so crappy the last few days– can barely get out of my own way let alone think about anything coherently. It’s been a real challenge.
Tonight I think I figured it out. The oncologist said I could stop taking the medication I was on after I finished the last dose. That was three nights ago now. Guess my body is trying to adjust to not taking it anymore. I’ve been on it for nearly 5 years so I guess maybe the crappy-ness will go away once it gets flushed from my system.
This must be one of those darned if you do, darned if you don’t things. But, I’m thinking this theory of crappy-ness is probably the right one and in a week or so I’ll feel a lot better. Please, let me live with the fantasy for a while.
Today, we spent most of our day outside doing yard work. We’ll it seemed like all day but was only about 3 hours. We’d done housework first. But anyway we managed to do:
finished weeding the strawberry patch
planted 22 new strawberry plants
pulled all the creeping jenny in the yard (before it goes to seed and explodes all over the place.
pulled all the sprouting tees from the yard and garden area.
planted a rhubarb plant in a container (we lost the last one to moles/voles so this should keep it alive.
planted a tub of potato plants (one of those new cloth containers for potatoes from Gardener’s Supply
Moved 2 wooden pallets, a wooden table top, and a glass door from next to the house to the shed area out of sight.
Cleaned up all the bits of plastic plant identifiers from previous years, old bits of lawn decorations, and just plain crap and put it in the trash for pick up.
Put up the Spring flag near the driveway entrance– Home is where the heart is.
Hyperion here: She forgot the most important part: Paying attention to the cat. Emnot was all over us the entire time, rubbing our ankles, flopping on her back and waving her paws in the air, and generally begging for pettings … which we liberally supplied. She may be an attention hog, but she does make working in the garden more fun.
Yesterday we went to the Home & Garden Show in Upper Marlboro, MD at the Equestrian Center. We set up appointments to have people come and give us estimates on replacing our windows in the living room (all single pane uninsulated glass– talk about your money going out the windows … we lose heat in winter and the cool in summer), fixing the leak in the skylight in the bedroom, and finishing our basement (office area and guest room/mother-in-law area), and finishing the cleaning/staining on the rest of the outside of the house (we already did the front half that we could reach.).
So, this has been a good, productive weekend even though I’m behind in my reading. Hopefully I’ll catch up over the coming week. I’ve had three really pretty good days except for the migraine on Friday so I’ve been pushing things to get some of the physical stuff done. Now, it’s back to work on the rest of my To Do list.
Well, not really cabbages and kings, but close enough. First a whine: today is day 2 of a migraine — I’m done now, but my head seems not to care. Anyway, it has been awhile since I posted and I thought I should catch up a bit. First, we’ve been pushing back on the leaf raking or rather…gaining ground. Here’s a photo of the garden area now that the leaves have been off for a week or so.
You can see there’s more green on the ground. The Hostas are pushing up on the upper level nearer the house. The herbs are greening up in the circle. We’ve still got to pull up the old square foot gardens and replace with the new ones that are of plastic wood-look boards that won’t rot after a couple of years like the current one. We getting ready to put in the potatoes and strawberry plants. I’ve still got to start seeds or if not soon, we’ll need to buy vegetable plants.
I’ve complained about how far the house is from the mailboxes (about 1/4 mile) so here’s a photo of the house (you can see it through the trees. This is from about slightly less than 1/4 of the way back to the house.
Spring is definitely here in spite of the temperatures being between the low 40s and the high 80s at a day’s notice. Here’s two photos of our Peony Trees — one has pink flowers and the other white. Yesterday morning they had buds just starting to look like they were thinking about opening. Last evening they were partially open. Today this is what I saw.
Meanwhile, we have four azalea bushes. One has bloomed and is nearly all gone. One is in bud and about ready to open up. The other two are way behind and I hope will bloom later.
One of the joys of getting all the leaves raked up is the wild flowers that show up. This is a closeup of a violet looking flower that is now covering a lot of the lawn area of the yard. Makes for some smiles when you look down at the ground.
We’ve recently been adopted by a cat. I’m highly allergic to cats so Emmy is going to be an outdoor cat though it is obvious that Emmy feels that indoors would be much better. We’ve build a “feral cat house” for her/him (we don’t know what gender Emmy is yet — but from now on I’ll default to her). She’s actually sleeping in the house so it is being used.
Emmy showed up during the last snow storm in Maryland back in March. She was one of several cats that got dumped out on the main road. At first there were two cats that came to beg food at our house — Emmy and another cat with similar marking but smaller. Emmy stuck around but the other one seems to have made other arrangements. Emmy is affectionate, quiet (she occasionally squeaks, not meows, but she can purr). We can’t help but give her the appropriate scritches and pats when she strops herself about our legs. She’s comes trotting out when I go out to rake and watches from under a bush or by laying nearby. Of course after I get a big pile she needs to attack it to see that it is animal free.
Last week she brought me a dead something — mouse or vole. I gave praises and such but she hasn’t brought another one to me yet. We’re hoping she’ll help with the mole/vole problem we have in our yard. The ground is all spongy from their burrows.
Anyway, she’s a lovely cat. Calm. Loving. Sweet tempered. How anyone could dump such a lovely thing is beyond me. I’d heard stories of people dumping their animals out in rural area but this is my first run in with that. It’s as if they think the animals they have as pets are just disposable items not worth thinking about. Get tired of them and dump them off to fend or themselves or die. If the animal is really lucky they might get taken in by someone but there are only so many animals that rural areas can take in. Dumping animals is wrong no matter how you look at it — but then I wouldn’t wish Emmy to have to live with the sort of people who would dump an animal out on a country road.
Of course, our next problem is that Emmy, for all her good characteristics, is very leary of getting too close to us and skitters away if we move too fast or startle her. At some point we need to trap and neuter — guess that’s when we’ll learn the actual gender of this lovely cat. Meanwhile, we try to socialize her to having people around.
Raining off and on all day. Rain always seems to create the perfect day for reading, especially mysteries — maybe it’s the grey sky, overcast cloudiness, and feeling of oppression — or is that just the headache .
Anyway, I spent a good part of the day reading Holly Blues by Susan Wittig Albert. It’s a China Bayles mystery and the review will be in the May issue of Gumshoe Review — got the book too late to make the April issue. So far, it’s exactly what I expected — lots of interesting characters, lots of surprises, and new interactions between people, and the mystery keeps you reading. Check out the full review next month.
Meanwhile, tea, aspirin, and a good book makes a dreary day go by much better.
The Darcy Cousins: Scandal, Mischief, and Mayhem arrive at Pemberley… by Monica Fairview, Sourcebooks, ISBN: 978-1-4022-3700-3, pages 432.
The rift between Darcy and his aunt Lady Catherine de Bourgh has been somewhat mended since Elizabeth has given birth to an heir. Of course that doesn’t mean that Lady Catherine actually recognizes Elizabeth’s presence. But the entire family is gathering at Rosings once more for Easter. Joining the family are Robert Darcy (see The Other Mr. Darcy) and his wife and two relatives from America, Frederick Darcy and his sister Clarissa Darcy.
Georgiana is hoping that she and Clarissa will become close friends. Georgiana has been feeling that she’s in the way or not really wanted. Darcy marrying Elizabeth was definitely a good thing but where Georgiana always had her brother for company now he seems always involved with Elizabeth and their son — they don’t purposely exclude her they just don’t seem to notice.
Once Frederick and Clarissa arrive, they seem to get off on the wrong foot with Lady Catherine. While Frederick can be accepted, after all he is American, a business man, and rich. Clarissa must learn to become a lady — of course that’s the type of lady that Lady Catherine approves of, and that’s where all the trouble begins. Clarissa is neither tractable or docile.
Georgiana and Clarissa do become friends. Georgiana learns that one can be a lady and still have strong opinions and interests of her own. When Clarissa is appalled by the way everyone ignores Anne de Bourgh and has Georgiana join her in her campaign to become friends with Anne, Georgiana begins to realize that she’s always just accepted things and never looked at them from the outside. She’s also surprised by what they learn. Her eyes opened, she begins to look at other behaviors she’s always accepted.
As is usual, one things leads to another and before long Lady Catherine is convinced that Clarissa is practically the devil personified, and there to ruin the family. Once again the family finds itself rent by Lady Catherine’s insistence on her point of view. Everyone decamps for London and the season.
Georgiana struggles to find her own way in society with her new insights. She learns that Clarissa is in England for more than this visit and that there are depths to her American cousin. In fact, soon Clarissa and Georgiana find themselves interested in the same man. But is he the right man for either of them? Will their friendship last through the season?
To say any more would spoil the fun of learning all the secrets, intrigues, and adventures to be had in The Darcy Cousins. The book’s advanced press implies that the book is all about Clarissa and her problems but this is really Georgiana’s story. Clarissa is the spur that goads Georgiana to action and change. Georgiana is firmly front and center. She’s always been in the background and this time Monica Fairview gives the reader a chance to get to know her a bit better. Shy? Yes, but also she has the same strong Darcy stubbornness and loyalty. It’s a turbulent story as Georgiana becomes a person most of us would like to know better and have stand at our side in adversity.
Another excellent follow on to Pride and Prejudice that maintains the integrity of the original characters while moving the story of their lives forward.
