A Valentine from the Empire State Pride Agenda-Lovely

I think I'll buy this from the I Tunes, but the visual is so much a part of it!

Happy Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day to all of my friends at RevGalBlogPals and all of my other readers and those who happen by. And especially to my Beloved!

Friday Five Pets

Sophia posted this Friday Five: "My son's tiny beloved lizard, Elf, is looking and acting strange this week. His skin/scales are quite dark, and he is lethargic. We are adding vitamin drops to his lettuce and spinach and hoping and praying that he is just getting ready to shed his skin--but it's too soon to tell. Others in the ring have also been worried about beloved pets this week. And, in the saddest news of all, Songbird has had to bid farewell to her precious Molly, the amazing dog who is well known to readers of her blog as a constant sacrament of God's unconditional love.

So in memory of Molly, and in honor of all the beloved animal companions who bless our lives: tell us about the five most memorable pets you have known."

1. I grew up on an orchard/truck farm like atmosphere so my earliest memories were of gathering eggs from the 'chicken coop.' I know they weren't pets, but they were to me at 3, 4 and 5.

2 At the same age we always seemed to have a dog and doghouse in the backyard. The dog was never loose, and never was really socialized. My cousin across the backyard had one too. I think they were like watchdogs, though they had names. Ours was a collie type, hers was more of a shepherd. As a matter of fact, I never knew that I was allergic to cats as all the cats I grew up around in Ohio in the 50's and 60's lived outside, so I was never in close proximity! I'm really allergic, too!

3.Ducks. On the way walking from school, my friend Trudy and I would stop at the Feed and Grain store (how's that for dating myself and showing myself as the hick I truly am.) And sometimes they would have flats of ducklings. We begged for some. We got two each.They were cute until they got big. Really made a mess of the backyard. I think Trudy's family ate theirs, sigh.

4. Tiny turtles. I had many of these, from the 5 and dime. They lived in little plastic bowls with palm trees. Eventually they got out. My mother stepped on one. She was traumatized. Both were, one fatally. Lately I've heard they carry Salmonella.

5. Way too late, I got a dachshund. My mother, who was newly retired proceeded to spoil him silly. Did I mention that she was a meat cutter/butcher and would cook him special food. Barney became her dog.

Bonus: Almost forgot, a white rat I had for awhile (left over from a cousins science experiment) and a white mouse named Radclyfe who was a gift from my best buds for my 17th birthday, What were they thinking??!

Good News and Rachel and Martha

Just heard on today's news that the elevator music people, Muzak, have gone bankrupt. No more tuneless humming to 80's favorites! Hooray! Excuse this burst of schadenfreude.

Watch Rachel and Martha cook for this mindless Thursday special.

RMonMartha
by gtsvideo

Feeling a little Anxious

Since I left work last Monday, I've been away from my office a week. I did go into another office for a meeting on Friday and yesterday was a planned day off.  You know that little frisson of anxiety that comes with anticipation of the stacks of mail, e-mail and other ephemera awaiting?

I have that... Although my cough is mostly gone ;-)

Bronchitis

Well, they called it Asthmatic Bronchitis. I felt a little wheeze on Saturday, then by Sunday it turned into a bullfrog. By Monday I dragged my sorry ass into the office with the gravelyiest voice I've even had and I'm not prone to laryngitis. Tuesday, I thought about going in to work, then called my doctor. She said "come right in." This is what it's like to have an MD that's "off the plan." Very little reimbursement, but she sees you when you're sick, gives you the shot herself and her assistant administers the nebulizer tx which I apparently needed. Plus antibiotics, prednisone by mouth :-O and an asthma inhaler. I'm not asthmatic. My godchild said, you were right when you said that when you get sick, the worst thing that can happen, does happen. Sixteen years ago a herniated disc turned into a spinal cord injury, last year a simple procedure for gall stones turned into Pancreatitis and when I was in my teens, allergy skin tests turned into anaphylactic shock! I'm feeling a little better, now. Still a little wheezy. I've never even heard of Asthmatic Bronchitis. I wonder what the implications are.

Ground Hog Day

Ground Hog Day was one of my favorite holidays ever since I was a child and I believed such things. The winters were cold and snowy in Ohio and by February I got really tired of them. So the promise of a shortened winter was all I needed. Punksatawney Pete (sp?) lived in the neighboring state of Pennsylvania and a big deal was made on local TV stations. So today I hope he doesn't see his shadow and here's to a shortened winter. BTW, speaking of woodland creatures, I'm sounding like a Bullfrog since Saturday.

Womyn's Land

As a young feminist in the early 70's I heard about other women dropping out and moving to rural places to live on 'womyn's land.' This was the separatist branch of the woman's movement and considered to be quite radical. Although I got quite radical at times, I was also involved in the 'gay liberation movement' too and also coming out and living in a big city where I could be myself for the first time in my life, so moving to the woods had no appeal. (I had just-like a bear-come out of the woods!)  Also these communities seemed exceedingly doctrinaire-I had run into some of their residents while attending a conference in the Midwest, and didn't feel comfortable with what I saw. I was more liberal and felt more comfortable in an urban setting. I just came across this article in Joe.My.God's blog and will link it here. It's from the NY Times and shows one of those communities that has survived and the article compares it to a Catholic Convent in it's aging process :-O It looks like a very nice place. Maybe it's time to move to this naturally occurring retirement community... Womyn’s land survives!

Churches in Cleveland refuse to sign marriage licenses

Until all marriages are legal. I became verklempt when I read this. My old fusty home state, the one that I fled to be gay, was taking up the good fight. At least 6 churches, one of them about a half hour drive from where I grew up. I'm so proud, sniff sniff. Read about it here Excellent Ohio Churches

HGTV Friday Five

Will Smama Posted this FF "Greetings all!

As some of you may know I am in the midst of my first home purchase. It is a new-build and so some of the fun was picking out upgrades and major decor items to my taste rather than walking into a previously owned home that needed to be upgraded room by room (pink and teal tiles in the bathroom, anyone?). As much as decorating is not my thing, I did try to embrace the moment because just how many times do you get to have a do-over on kitchen cabinets/floors/counter tops?

And so, my questions to you this fine Friday involve your home past, present or future..."

1) If you could, what room in the place you are currently living would you redo first?
Since I live in, basically, one room which used to be called an L shaped studio and is now called a "junior one"-someone please show me that 'one bedroom' where is it? Come on now, it must be somewhere? I would say the whole room. Just get a big room stretcher and triple the size, just expand it. It's driving me crazy living in one room with two people!

2) What is the most hideous feature/color/decor item you have ever seen in a home?
Lots of what I would call primary/pastels. You know what I'm talking about. Really bright pinks and greens and yellows, right out of the cans. Wrong, wrong, wrong, so bad!

3) What feature do you most covet? Do you have it? If not, is it within reach?
Room, enough said. Or a room, a study with a bed, kitchenette, a big screen TV, an art studio, oh lets throw in a bathroom and hot tub...

4) Your kitchen - love it or hate it? Why?
Hate it. BL has taken it over. I can't reach anything. When I try to get a pot, everything falls on my head to that I have more lumps than I ever did. Sigh..

5) Here is $10,000 and you HAVE to spend it on the place you are living now. What do you do?
Not nearly enough, but hire an organizer to help put things in their proper place and maybe help us to make sense of this tiny place. Now there's an idea! Maybe I'll do it.