redd

as seen on cactus blog:

Dear American:

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I am working with Mr. Phil Gram, lobbyist for UBS, who will be my replacement as Ministry of the Treasury in January. As a Senator, you may know him as the leader of the American banking deregulation movement in the 1990s. This transactin is 100% safe.

This is a matter of great urgency. We need a blank check. We need the funds as quickly as possible. We cannot directly transfer these funds in the names of our close friends because we are constantly under surveillance. My family lawyer advised me that I should look for a reliable and trustworthy person who will act as a next of kin so the funds can be transferred.

Please reply with all of your bank account, IRA and college fund account numbers and those of your children and grandchildren to wallstreetbailout@treasury.gov so that we may transfer your commission for this transaction. After I receive that information, I will respond with detailed information about safeguards that will be used to protect the funds.

Yours Faithfully Minister of Treasury Paulson

the kitchen smells like pickle relish and hopefully soon we'll have 6 or 7 pints put up. tomatoes are going in tomorrow chunked with zucchini and onion, which I think will make a good base for winter sauces. we need to eat potatoes morning, noon and night for the next couple of weeks. our peppers are slacking and I don't know if it's because it hasn't been quite as hot or what.. they just aren't flowering like they ought to be. the second major wave of beans is coming on and the last of the garlic has been plucked. I wish we had some kind of root cellar ready to go! this has all been a lot of fun but it's so tiring at the same time. I feel chained to the garden. I do enjoy going to the market and not seeing much that we don't already have at home though. the process as a whole has truly been a rewarding one!

I can't believe I've had this journal for six years. I find it amusing and fitting that my first day of entries featured pumpkins, of which I am obviously still a huge fan. some things never change.

so I finally finished reading carlo petrini's slow food nation: why our food should be good clean and fair.

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ever wonder what a giant agave bloom looks like? courtesy of the marshall democrat-news.

lately I've been on a foodie reading spree. my personal interests in vegetable gardening and living lightly led me to barbara kingsolver's book animal, vegetable, miracle. our friend russ, who owns the easy chair bookstore, bought john and I this book as our housewarming present. he knows what I like to read and this was the perfect gift. here's why:

kingsolver and her family live in southwestern virginia, near abingdon, on a family farm. previously they lived in tucson, az, but decided to move east and live off the land. as a family they decide to go a full year eating nothing but food that they grew or their neighbors grew. basically the 100-mile diet, if you're familiar with that, but I didn't get the impression that they had any idea that diet existed when they made their pact. the book is written in calendar form, by month for the most part, which each month featuring a vegetal mainstay; some chapters discuss their adventures with meat, eggs and cheese. throughout the book her husband steven hopp adds in blurbs about whatever topic is being discussed in the particular chapter. these blurbs are well researched and usually recommend a website or organization to check out for more information. her daughter camille, a 20-something attending duke university writes about nutrition, adds recipes mentioned in the chapters and menu plans they used during their year of eating locally. her young perspective into the diet is really interesting. although I must admit if I had met a person like her when I was around 20 years I probably would have thought she was weird. :)

the tone of the book is conversational. I often felt like I was in their kitchen with them, talking with barbara and watching her put up food, or helping them in the garden. on vegetables, their production and consumption I felt like barbara could be me in 25 years. I really enjoyed reading about their chickens and turkeys, how they raised them and "harvested them," and appreciated her opinions on eating meat in general. if I ever began to eat meat again it would be this way, from neighbors farms or my own animals (although I still think it would be impossible for me to slaughter my own chicken! I had to respect her ability to don the blood-stained sneakers.) her family makes a few sensible choices concerning things that just do not completely come from virginia, olive oil and some flours for instance. she discusses food calories versus food miles (better than I could) which basically pits how much nutrition you gain from eating a particular food against how many miles it had to travel (burning fossil fuels along the way) to reach your plate. for instance consider the potassium content of the banana, undoubtedly from miles and miles away compared to that of the lowly potato, which can grow in your backyard.

her book was inspirational to me, showing me that all of my needs could certainly come from my neighborhood without having to make crazy sacrifices. back when john was attempting the 100-mile diet I was appauled at some of the things we wouldn't be able to eat, but now it seems much less scary. even making a good portion of our diets local would be very simple. not only do we have a great farmer's market here but now we have more land and more space for a vegetable garden. canning is something that I enjoy and with our garage we have the space to store more jars and maybe even winter over things like pumpkins and squishes. we are blessed with wonderful virginia wines and john can brew great beer. the notion of eating more locally has moved beyond "hippie fantasy" into something tangible and real. any efforts, even the small ones, matter.

as far as recommending this book, here's what I say. if you have ever participated in the food chain (basically, everyone alive at this moment) you owe it to yourself and to your community to read this book. eating locally is an inexpensive and easy way to combat the ugly sides of food production in this country. it helps small farmers and it helps your health. buying locally produced meat is a big middle finger toward the factory farming industry. purchasing food when it's in season at the market increases the freshness and value of nutrition you consume and reduces our need on fossil fuels to transport fruits and veggies across the country (or from other countries). it's incredible how easy it can be to support something so good for us and for our communities. give this book a try and attend your next farmer's market. I doubt you would regret it.

we're finally getting to the point where we can create john's pepper blend. last night three 'super chili's and two banana peppers went into the dehydrator. more peppers are waiting in the vegetable garden, and perhaps we'll be throwing some anchos into the mix. I am so thankful for this machine! it would be cool if we had a good spot to air-dry our peppers and herbs but I love the reliability and uniformity of using the dehydrator. I am using dried chives from last year that are still crispy!

herbs on my list to dry this year include: basil, chives, sage, marjoram, oregano, rosemary, thyme and parsley. I don't have much of any of these herbs though so most things will go into blends. we made a good italian seasoning last year and I would like to improve it this time. our stew blend was also pretty darn good. I think we'll have enough basil and sage to store them individually as well. we also need to freeze pesto cubes again!

I'm so glad we were able to put together at least a small garden for this year. I can't imagine not having at least something from my own yard. the herb and vegetable gardens are some of my favorite things ever.

so I joined mike and ben at the joint town council and planning commissioners meeting last night for the vote on ordinance 1450. for those of you who aren't aware the town is in the middle of what could potentially become a struggle to keep out wal-mart, and at the same time is being sued by the folks who want the development to move forward. the south main project promises lame "high end" retail, another damn movie theatre, another damn gym, and a huge 186,000 sq ft retail store for groceries, pharmacy, etc. some people are really excited about the stores they have apparently attracted, including coldwater creek, ann taylor LOFT (wtf?) and talbots. being a poor person not interested in current fashion nor in sweatshop products I honestly don't have much of a clue about what these stores really sell nor do I care. but some people do.

a lady last night commented that she was so excited to be able to go to the new humungoid movie theatre with her kids and then take them out to ice cream at "maggy moos(?)" afterward. funny. I can already do that at the lyric and I have my CHOICE of ice cream - dairy queen or ben and jerrys. sure the lyric doesn't show 50 movies all at once every hour but they show a good variety of them and I'm sure shrek 3 will be there for the kiddies.

how many gyms are already in blacksburg? the students have four gyms to choose from already, two of which are FREE. the other two are reasonably priced and have pretty good hours. the rest of the town seems to meet at the weight club. sure maybe it is crowded, but it's not keeping out a lot of the people who really want to be there.

I am glad that they passed ordinance 1450, especially that it passed 7-0. what I am still unsatisfied with is that all the talk of these new businesses is all about national chains. I do not, repeat, DO NOT, want this town to be nothing but national chains. even if all the new stores are under 80,000 sq ft if they're nothing but corporate retail then they're still not going to truly help our town keep it's feeling of community. where is the discussion about revitalizing small and locally owned business? where are the promises of new gift shops and clothing boutiques that do not answer to a higher corporate power?

I am not interested in blacksburg becoming a "shopping mecca" like it's neighbor christiansburg has become. christiansburg's huge retail district is nothing but an eyesore. I am saddened when I drive through there. it reminds me of "central park"ing lot in fredericksburg where you have to drive your car EVEN WITHIN THE SHOPPING COMPLEX. how RIDICULOUS is that!? how fucking retarded! you can't even shop without driving down the lot to the next huge box store. how many people really shop in our target and then WALK to barnes and noble? I have only ever done it once. and it kinda sucked.

how many people are going to walk throughout the south main project's shopping district? surely they won't if they're planning to go to talbot's AND walmart. has anyone even considered what that place is going to look like on game day!? tail-gate supply haven wal-mart WITHIN WALKING DISTANCE TO TECH, but everyone and their cousin from out-of-state is going to DRIVE there because beer and ice are HEAVY.

I'm pretty sickened. I can tolerate the lame boutiques and even the redundant movie theatre and the gym. I would like to see more dollars being spent in blacksburg and surely some tiny fraction of the money will stay here, if not a dollar or two. but I cannot tolerate a box of any kind. I cannot tolerate a new grocery going in behind a kroger attempting to remodel and resize. I cannot tolerate a supercenter next to an elementary school. I cannot tolerate the increase in traffic and commercial trucks to that part of town. I don't believe the town will sustain it, and am especially afraid of a closing of the christiansburg walmart if in fact it is built in our town.

the speakers last night were great (for the most part - the opposition was crappy). so many people came prepared with facts and stories of towns they came from who either successfully developed without a walmart, or whose main streets dried up and died after the walmart came. some had scary crime statistics, like mike, who did an excellent job addressing the council concerning how very unsafe walmart's parking lots are. others were firey and engaged the crowd, like ben, who had people laughing even though we were supposed to be silent, and quietly cheering at the end of his moving statement. then there was me, who finally worked up the nerve to speak unprepared. I honestly don't think I have ever been so frightened before an audience, and I had my back turned to all but 15 of them. I simply stated that I wanted them to vote for the ordinance. that I had come from fredericksburg and was familiar with growth. the when I visit my family we have no place to eat or shop that isn't a national chain. and then I bolted. !! it was fun afterward and I'm glad I spoke, but next time I will definitely come prepared. there were a lot of other things I wished I had said but kept it short and sweet so as not to babble like an idiot.

really glad they passed 1450. I wish I could have stayed all night, apparently there was over four hours of public comment before the vote. I'm sure everyone was exhausted. and I'm sure something else like this will be in our future.

chipmunk sighted at approximately 10:47 thursday morning. offending rodent caught procuring provisions underneath local bird feeder. observed fleeing the scene through the compost pile, and into the brush behind blueberry bush.

beagle sentry sat unsuspecting while relaxing under maple tree.

chipmunk 1, beagle 0.

I'm not in bed yet because autumn won't come inside. she has been hunting some chipmunk or notion of a chipmunk for the past several weeks, and is acting as if tonight is the night. I'm also fed up with anger and frustration over the elections held today. I don't know how the hell people are supposed to feel as if they're living freely in this nation. we can't even seem to let gay people PRETEND to have rights in our state. it's not bad enough that they are already prevented from marriage in virginia; we have to amend the constitution to make it absolutely CERTAIN that they will continue to be discriminated against. nevermind the fact that the amendment is sweepingly against all unmarried persons, homo- or heterosexual. I'm taking personal offense at this and maybe I shouldn't be, but I do (no pun intended).

the main reason I am so offended is that the amendment wasn't even CLOSE to not passing. as of right now about 60% of the self-centered asshole voters in this state actually approved it. I would like to personally thank all of them, as well as all of the apathetic, "I care, but I don't really think I make a difference enough to sacrifice 30 minutes of my lunch hour today," folks for making virginia a more accepting and wonderful place to live. virginia IS for lovers, but only the heterosexual ones.

in protection of our sacred marriage, I would like to propose an amendment barring television shows from marrying people on supposed "reality tv." I think adulterers should be hanged next to saddam. they all corrupt our vision of the perfect marriage. except for that televangelist guy, he was just taken advantage of by one of those damned gays, he didn't know what he was doing.

GET OUT OF OUR FUCKING BEDROOMS. take responsibility for your politics and focus our state in a direction that benefits everyone instead of painting big red x's all over our faces. it doesn't matter what kind of sex you like, vanilla or "freaky", if you can't get more per hour than the weak-ass minimum wage around here, you can't even begin to afford a marriage and family. instead of allen saying, "yes, you all deserve more per hour - let's work toward raising minimum wage," he said, "no you damned gays and messicans and other brown people are ruining our marriages and taking away our shitty jobs that no white person in his or her right mind would take anyways. I will focus our attention toward the fact that you are here and we have to deal with you in the most self-preserving way possible. discrimination and exportation if possible!" great so now we will have a whole bunch of racist, bigoted white men and women in virginia still making SHIT for wages and no better off than they were before, only now we can put the other people down even further.

does that really raise us up? what the hell is so scary about the democrats anyways? if you really listen to what they have to say it ISN'T that different from what we're already hearing, but it can be more realistic. WE HAVEN'T RAISED THE FEDERAL MINIMUM WAGE SINCE 1997. don't we all deserve a fucking raise at least once a year? especially if everything else is getting more expensive!? you expect people to live on nothing, and then blame the democrats for raising taxes that help PAY FOR THE SOCIAL PROGRAMS MANY OF THESE PEOPLE LIVE OFF OF! it's fucking ridiculous. I wish that george allen himself would spend a year, only one year, living the life of someone who is making under $10 an hour, even more than minimum wage, and he would know what it truly means to be poor. virginia currently is set at 5.15 an hour, the federal limit, whereas other more progressive states have a higher minimum, although cost of living in comparison should definitely be a factor. I can't imagine living in northern virginia and only making 5.15 - how could you, especially without some kind of federal aid? I guess we are supposed to be thankful there is a minimum wage in existance at all? yes, thank you!

I won't get started on the war because I honestly don't know enough about it to feel comfortable mouthing off about it. however, I do feel comfortable now saying that those terrorists have the wrong impression of our freedom. "they hate our freedom!" what freedom!? the freedom to not be mowed down on the street? ok maybe so. they can't hate the fact that we can be spied on at any moment for even saying the words "terrorism" or "do bad thing to president" on our phones. oh I bet they love the fact that we can legally discriminate against people for loving who they choose. how about our government's ability to take advantage of the weak minds so many of us have, and control them simply by using choice words like, "freedom; 'merica; and babies." maybe they're just jealous that our government controls it's people in such a sleeker, sexier way? maybe we just need to start shipping pot, porn and addictive substances over there to control the people the way we do in america?

I will blame jim webb for not being sexier on tv. neither he nor allen is sexy, but honestly, webb could have been sexier. yes if everyone had been bitten by the political bug maybe the election would have turned out differently. politics is marketing though, and it really felt like the whole country was vulnerable to credible folks that wanted to make a difference. I do believe webb wants to make a difference but I didn't get the impression that there was a fire directly underneath his ass to get it. where were all the ads against the marriage amendment? did I miss all the excitement? this area seemed to love mark warner and yet I don't remember hearing that warner and webb were coming to tech. they went to roanoke. there are a lot of liberal people here too!

we are to blame too. I am to blame. I didn't go to a moveon.org calling party like they asked me to. I didn't give money to the democratic party. and it doesn't feel as urgent as it does as soon as it's too late. when we're watching the polls and yelling at the television because we can't believe the vote went the other way. when we can't believe there are people in our world still who can't leave certain things alone. when I'm sitting here wondering why such a beautiful part of this nation is filled with people that don't see things my way, and how the hell am I going to get along beginning nov. 8? my life has not been directly, fully, affected by the horrible way our government has acted since 2000, but many others' lives have been. what does it take to mobilize me and all my neighbors who still may think the government stinks but not quite yet to that critical boiling point? where is V when we need him?

we need to get serious and take the responsibility for what has occurred the last 6 years (and beyond really). this shit will be on our hands, and no one else is going to change the course of our future. how the fuck are we going to take control of the chaos? how do we take control over our lives and ensure that our future will be the best it can be for us? what will it take to get these bigoted, rich fogeys out of office, and to elect leadership that truly has the best interests of not only virginians but the entire world on it's mind?



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