Help me...

So, this year for Canadian Thanksgiving, I asked Jesse if he would want me to throw a dinner party with some friends to celebrate, and I think that is the plan. Not everyone that we are inviting knows each other though, and I don't want there to be any awkward/weird silences or just general weird lame party tension. So, I'm trying to think of ideas that would prevent that all together, or at the very least, be a back up should the feared silence fall on us. I'm thinking about things like easy to play games that help you get to know people (i.e. not board games, but more like ice breaker games, but not like youth group ice breaker games, know what I mean?) or favors that reveal something about the person...things like that. So, with that being said - anyone have any ideas???

1943

In 1943 Transportation Magazine ran an article to help employers during World War II. Of course, during this time, many men were overseas, so companies were being "forced" to look at the female candidates. I thought you might enjoy some of their very enlightening suggestions:

*Retain a physician to give each woman you hire a special physical examination - one covering female conditions. This step not only protects the property against the possibilites of lawsuit, but reveals whether the employee-to-be has any female weaknesses, which would make her mentally or physically unfit for the job.

*When you have to use older women, try to get ones who have worked outside the home at some time in their lives. Older women who have never contacted the public have a hard time adapting themselves and are inclined to be cantankerous and fussy...

*Be tactful when issuing instructions or in making critcism. Women are often sensitive; they can't shrug off harsh words the way men do. Never ridicule a woman - it breaks her spirits and cuts off her efficiency.

And here comes my personal favorite -

*Give every girl an adequate number of rest periods during the day. You have to make some allowances for feminine psychology. A girl has more confidence and is more efficient if she can keep her hair tidied, apply fresh lipstick, and wash her hands several times a day.

Randomness

I should be working on a paper right now, but my brain revolts every time I begin reading another journal article scouring facts and figures. So for now, I'll blog.

It's been a busy, busy month, so this will probably be totally random with all of the stuff that I should have blogged earlier. Here we go -

Jesse's mom and step-dad were here over the weekend and I can't believe, I didn't take one single photo! I had been planning to get a good family photo with all of them, but the camera never even made it out of the bag. Besides that sad fact, the trip was really good. Fast, but good. We introduced Ray to Chipotle and Sonic, and are still currently eating our weight in Canadian candy.

I started volunteering at an animal shelter as a dog-walker a month or so ago and it's been pretty cool so far, though there are many dogs that I really want to bring home with me. Saturday, I went to one of the shelter's annual fundraisers with my mom, Horton, and Abe. Abe actually walked close to 2 miles without his back legs giving out at all. I was quite impressed. And Horton was his usual social self, happy as ever. Since working at the shelter, I have learned that big, black dogs are the hardest to adopt out. I've seen week after week, the little dogs get adopted out so quickly, while the same big ones remain at the shelter. At least this shelter treats them very well and will keep them as long as necessary to find them a home. Any stray should be so lucky as to end up at this particular place over another one. I think that is the only thing that keeps me from crying when I go there, or from desperately trying to find a way to adopt more and bring them home with me.

Fall is in the air, which makes me happy. I have gotten to light cinnamon candles and make apple crisp twice. Plus, Canadian Thanksgiving is only 22 days away!

Elections are also coming up, which is also super exciting. I am very happy to have a front row seat for one of US history's most exciting elections ever. No matter what party wins, we will have a minority in one of the two highest positions. Of course, I have to admit, I will be disappointed if Obama doesn't win. Very disappointed.

Our furnace is officially dead. It died last spring, but we thought it was just this coil thing that needed to be replaced, so Jesse replaced it a couple weeks ago, but it was still broken, so we had a guy out and he told us that the exchanger part has a crack and could leak carbon monoxide at any time, so he wouldn't even look at it further. He basically just said we need to get a new one. So, Jesse's been calling around getting quotes on new furnaces. Right before vacation, Jesse also noticed a leak in the hot water heater, but thankfully, it turned out to just be a broken valve that will be a quick and pretty inexpensive fix. The rest of the house seems to be functioning normally, but nonetheless, things around here are keeping us busy...like the dead tree in the front yard that has been needing to be cut down for months...or the sealant that has been needing to be put on the deck since spring...or the weeds growing in the driveways cracks...or or or...

Jesse is looking at different work options, possibly an educational leave of absence. We are in the middle of figuring out all of that, but hopefully by Christmas, things will be a little less hectic with the schedule. My work is going well, so I imagine that unless something major changes, I will be there at least until I graduate (which is about 243 days or so...not that anyone is keeping track...). I'm still debating about post-graduation options. There are so many positives and negatives to the paths I'm considering, it's hard to decide. I hope time will make things more clear - and I'm sure that if time doesn't make it clear, then rejection letters will. =)

So that is that for now. Lots of exciting changes on the horizon, both in the next few weeks and the next few months.

Vacation

We got back from vacation last night and were both feeling pretty tired. It was a lot of fun, but always too short. Now it's back to reality...broken furnaces, flooded crawl spaces, issues with hot water heaters, work, and school. =) More on those topics later - for now, we'll just think about the fun stuff. My pictures are, once again, totally out of order. Sorry. One of these days I will get a better system. Until then, I'll just make notes under each photo.

This is Jesse at The Wilderness Lodge. We had lunch here one day and just walked around the grounds. Pretty and peaceful there.
That's Big Thunder Mountain Railroad in the background. It's one of the roller coaster rides at Magic Kingdom.
Jesse was very happy to get his photo with Buzz Lightyear. They were showing me their manly muscles.
This is on the Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin ride, one of Jesse's favorites. It's actually a kiddie ride, but we like it anyway because your cart has little guns where you shoot at targets and it tracks your points. It also has a control in the middle so you can spin your cart to throw the other person off. Jesse usually wins, but I have to say, I gave him some good competition this year.
This is right outside the front door of our room. We stayed at Port Orleans Riverside this year. It was really nice, but I think we both prefer the place we stayed at last year.
This is back at Wilderness Lodge...just out of order!
Here's Jesse waiting for my favorite 3d show - It's Tough to Be a Bug.
Me on the safari. I think there must be some animals way back there that you can't see in the photo very well.
Shaka from Jesse! This is at Ohana - by far the best place we ate, and probably the best dining experience of my life. We had really good service and the food was great. Plus we got sat at a table where we had an amazing view (that you obviously can't see in this photo). I don't think anything could have been more perfect. (Except maybe the entertainment... a very interesting lady.)
Main Street USA (aka - the street you walk down as you enter into Magic Kingdom.)
This was our last day there. We swam, rented a sea raycer, took it easy.
This is the Boardwalk. It's a really nice little area. We ate dinner here one evening and spent some time just walking around.
That's Expedition Everest in the background. I rode it by myself last year, and vowed to never set foot on it again, as I thought I was going to have a heart attack. But, it does make a nice backdrop for photos! It's at Animal Kingdom, which is our favorite of the Disney parks.
Out of order, but this is when we were on the sea raycer. We were trying to "park" it in the middle of the lake to get a photo with the castle in the background, but it never quite fully worked.
And this was our last morning there... Jesse was making fun of my self-photos because my arm is so much shorter than his, it always cuts off his head when I hold the camera.

Puppy Update

Puppy's name is Cheyenne, and she is back home now. Whoo hoo! I am very glad. She was a hand full and this morning, starting around 4:00am, she decided it would be better to whine and bark at me until I got out of bed and turned on all the lights and stayed up with her. And of course, Abe decided that was a good idea too, because it was thundering outside. Not how I wanted to start my week. Oh well. I'm just really glad that we were able to finally find her owner. And the owner was very happy when Jesse called, so warm fuzzies for happy endings.

Moral of the story: Everyone who owns a dog, go invest five bucks and put your phone number on their collar.

Wedding Weekend

My brother got married this weekend, so I have a whole slew of photos. They are in kind of mixed up order, but you can probably figure it out. The first few are from the rehearsal dinner.

























This next photo is seemingly unrelated. On our way home from the reception, we had just turned onto one of the more major streets, and we saw this dog running across the road just trotting around everywhere. It was rainy and it was pretty obvious that she didn't belong to any of the houses right near by, but she had a collar and tags, so we stopped, thinking we could find a phone number on her tag and call her owner to get her back home. Unfortunately, her tags don't have phone numbers on them. So, we waited there for a while and Jesse kind of trotted along with her to see if she seemed like she knew where she was going (back home hopefully), but it didn't seem she really knew what direction she was heading in, and we were really afraid she would get hit by a car if we just left her. We tried to call animal control to see if they could match the number on her tag to the owner, but since it was late on a Saturday night, they were closed. After some debating, we decided to load her up and bring her back home with us until we could track down the owner. We just didn't want to leave her out in the rain, especially on a busy street at night. Anyway, so she slept here last night, and we've been calling around trying to find someone who could connect her tag numbers with her owners and posting online that we've found her, but no such luck with getting her owner yet. Jesse even took her to the emergency vet today to have her scanned for a microchip, but she doesn't have one. So, now we are just sort of waiting. Tomorrow morning we should be able to get animal control, and hopefully they will be able to look up her owners, so the plan is to have her back to wherever she belongs tomorrow. She's still in a puppy stage, so it's not exactly convienient to have her here, especially since we already have two big dogs, but we just didn't know what else to do with her. So for now, we have 3 dogs in the house and are praying it will be back down to just our two boys by tomorrow evening. Hopefully this little lady will be back home soon! We've just been calling her "puppy", so at any given time in our house right now, you can hear "No, no puppy!" "Get off, puppy!" "Stop that, puppy!" "Come on, puppy!" Horton and Abe are being very hospitable though. We are trying to give them some extra attention, especially Abe, because I think he may be a little bit put off. Anyway, here's "puppy":

Good Memories

This is South Point, and believe it or not, I jumped off this cliff a few times, right where that wooden board is (just up the distance from the red hoist).




I remember the first time, standing at the top, looking down and thinking a million things. I wonder how deep I will plunge into the water. I wonder how long it will take to swim back to the top. I wonder how strong those waves are. How can I be sure there are no rocks where I am jumping? What if there are sharks? Count to three and just do it. If you don't jump on three, you'll never jump. And then I counted to three and jumped, and when I stopped plunging downward in the water, I swam as fast and hard as I could back toward the top. I am not sure if I would do it again, as each passing year seems to make me keenly more aware of how very much I have, and as such, how very much I have to lose. It makes me not quite as adventerous as I once was, which may be a good thing. At the same time, in my current life of working, taking care of the house, and going to school, I miss the adventure. I want another risk. Not necessarily one that involves jumping off cliffs, but just a little excitement would be nice. Since I was 18, I moved every year, (at least once, if not more), except for the past 2 or so years. Maybe somewhere in all the moving and changing, I somehow became slightly addicted to the thrill of starting new.

I don't know what all the future holds. I know things will be changing this spring once I graduate, and I know what I want the changes to be, but I don't know if they are the changes that will actually happen or if they are the changes God wants. I know I will feel a sense of let down should my hopes not happen, as to me they seem exciting and full of adventure and the alternative seems so ho hum.

I don't know what "settling down" really means. And I'm not talking location necessarily. I just mean life in general. It seems like I do everything I can, whether consciously or unconsciouly, to prevent whatever "settling down" is, from happening to me. Maybe part of why I avoided college for so long was because I associate it with the settling. And now that I'm coming up on graduation in a few months, I'm worried that life will sit me down and finally tell me my adventures are over.

And I don't want them to be over.

Biscuits and Gravy

I have found vegetarian bliss. This morning I made some biscuits and gravy. I used Morningstar "sausage patties" and I swear, I could not tell the difference. I actually went and pulled the package back out to read the ingredients to make sure there was no meat in it. I didn't have high hopes this morning because most of the recipes I have made or the store-bought stuff I have tried was no where close - it was just pretty much gross or weird textury. But now, I finally have a sausage replacement!!! This may not seem like a big deal to all you meat eaters, but trust me, this is big in my little vegetable patch world. We can have sausage lasagna, sausage in soup, sausage on pizza, so many options!

Now if only I would have read my biscuit recipe correctly...4 teaspoons of baking powder, not baking soda...

Running Total: Garden Savings Update

10 lbs tomatoes @ 3.29/lb = 32.90
1 lb cherry tomatoes @ 3.99/lb = 3.99

Total Garden Value As of Today = 241.88

Underwear Says It All

Sociology classes comprise a large part of my core curriculum, so I'm in a lot of them. I generally find them to be fascinating. But, there is one instructor who makes me go beyond fascinated to being absolutely in love with issues in sociology. He is so opinionated and brings all his (very extreme) views into the classroom. It gets me fired up everytime. Anyway, this week we've started discussing a bit about how physical beauty affects status inequality. There are a million points to be made, but of course, the conversation naturally folds into the genders. I always try to include examples in my discussions because, well, I don't know why, but I do. So I was going through thinking about examples to help drive my point home - ah, that's why I do examples...to prove how right I am. =) Anyway, this week, I settled on the example of Target stores. Picture the inside of Target from a bird's eye view. You'll notice that space devoted to how a woman looks is at least 75% larger than space devoted to how a man looks. We've got 3 or so aisles of makeup, we've got a jewelry counter (with minimal pieces geared toward men), the purses/accessories section, the shoes (with maybe 25% devoted to men), and then when you look at the clothing sections, the women's side is probably double the floor space. BUT - this is the best part of the example. Look at the underwear. For the men, we have a few display boards within the clothing section. For the women, we have a separate section devoted entirely to underwear. Not only that, we have underwear that enhances, lifts, firms, tucks, and generally promises to make the body better. It's socially acceptable for companies to suggest that women should/need to change the shape of their bodies - They should buy padded bras if they are too small-chested, but ope, don't get too big, otherwise, you'll need a minimizer bra. And don't have a flat butt, but definitely purchase some Spanx if there is too much junk in that trunk. And this is acceptable...this is normal.

So what do you think would happen if Hanes started marketing padded boxer-briefs, or for the well-endowed, briefs that minimize? Do you think men with beer bellies would buy waist cinchers? No, no, no...we laugh at either situation because it seems preposterous to suggest that a man would go to such lengths to alter his figure in public.

But - I didn't hear much laughter the last time a padded bra made the register beep.

Running Total: Garden Savings Update

6 lbs tomatoes @ 3.29/lb = 19.74
1 lb cherry tomatoes @ 3.99/lb = 3.99
9 oz. basil @ 2.79 for .66 oz = 38.05
.5 lbs green beans = 1.20

Total Garden Value As of Today = 204.99

Running Total: Garden Savings Update

3 lbs cherry tomatoes @ 3.99/lb = 11.97

Total Garden Value As of Today = 142.01

The Evolution of Chain Mail Part II

So, I got tagged by Dale for the little game that I joined in on a while back when Jenivere tagged me - you know, the one where you have to post random things about yourself. So, I'll play along again because I always think it's so funny to read what people write. For instance, I now know many a thing about Dale's various body parts and my life is fully enriched because of it. However, I won't tag anyone this time, because last time, most of those who I tagged didn't play along. (Ahem, you know who you are!!)

1. When I was a kid, I won a savings bond from my orthodontist for my superior dental hygiene.

2. Cold, snowy, mountains freak me out because of all the scary, big animals waiting to eat me up in there. Plus, avalanches! The ocean and sharks, however, are very friendly toward me. This creates a bad dichotomy in my marriage with a mountain-loving-heat-hating-water-monster-fearing-Canadian.

3. Weeping willows are my favorite trees.

4. I recently discovered I am allergic to the antibiotic, Bactrim.

5. When Jesse and I were dating and I would stay at his mom's house, we discovered that Tember (a heeler) did not like my singing voice. She would howl and howl if I so much as hummed. Jesse thought this was very amusing.

6. I eat at least one bowl of Frosted Mini Spooners every day.

Without My Canuck

Since my Canuck has been gone (not a permanent state) I have...

had massive amounts of conversation with these boys:


cleaned massive amounts of poop of this bottom:


spent massive amounts of hours cleaning up this mess:


gotten massive amounts of rashes from these plants:


spent massive amounts of money on these textbooks:


checked e-mail massive amounts of times waiting on this boy:


The end.

Bedroom is Finally Done

Most of you have probably heard (read) me lament our bedroom decorating dilemma and how the windows in the corner throw the whole thing off and how I just can't figure out a way to arrange the furniture or decorate to make it look nice. Well, I am happy to finally say that is no more! The bedroom is done and I am finally satisfied.

A few months ago, I thought I had the problem-solver idea to paint a mural in the corner opposite the windows to try to balance it out, but the walls are textured, and I couldn't get any clean edges and it didn't look good, so I ended up painting over it. Then I spent months trying to think of a new idea and we rearranged, and tried all kinds of things, but basically, we just kept the bedroom door shut all the time because it drove me nuts. Last week, it was really getting on my nerves and one night I couldn't sleep, so I stayed up trying to think of new ideas, and it finally dawned on me that I could still do a mural; I just needed to do it on something else first and then apply it to the wall. So, off to Lowe's we went looking for something cheap that would give a clean edge when cut with the jigsaw. We ended up with some good old quarter inch MDF, (which side note: one time a guy at Home Depot told me that it didn't exist...and he called me "sweetie" at the same time...ugh). Anyway, so I stenciled the design on, and then passed it off to the resident handyman who cut it out for me (and even painted it today while I was grocery shopping). We put it up this afternoon (and I got to use the brad nailer, so I'm extra happy) and I love it. Just how I had pictured it. Plus, I had a gift card for this snotty decorating store, so we got some free accessories. And now, the room is clean, nice, balanced....ahhhh.... and I'm so happy. Jesse is too, I think, because now he knows he doesn't have to listen to me grumble about the stupid contractor who decided to install the windows like that, and how we have never invested the time or money to make our bedroom nice and how we always put all the other rooms first and how I hate that our bedroom is full of junk and looking shabby and I just wish we had a nice bedroom... Blah blah blah...every husband's dream right there.

Anyway, here is what finally shut me up:


Some of those free decorating accessories...


The mural...


The fabric in there...

Running Total: Garden Savings Update

1 lb green beans = 2.39
1 lb tomatoes @ 3.29 lb = 3.29
2 lb cherry tomatoes @ 3.99/lb = 7.98

Total Garden Value As of Today = 130.04

Days

After much deliberating about my motives for different grad school options, I have decided to only apply for one program. The happy news is that the GRE is not required. Sweet! I returned all my study books to the library (very happily). I'm really super excited about the program, but the odds of it all working out are somewhat slim, so I'm going to be reserved in what I even say about it (as in this blog post is probably the only thing I will ever say about it unless I get in). I won't know until May whether or not I am in anyway. (Sigh...) If I don't get in, it will probably be job search time and life will go on as normal. If I do get in, Jesse and I will need to look at some adjustments to make it all work. Until then, I will wonder about it everyday... that's only about 300 days of wondering.

In the meantime, I have two fun distractions:
33 days until my brother's wedding
38 days until vacation

So that leaves me with only 262 days of wondering...

Relationship Riches

This morning, I was at my mom's house and grabbed some boxes from my old closet that I have been meaning to go through and clean out. Once I got home, I spent the afternoon sorting through them. It made me realize how crazy blessed I have been with getting to know some really amazing people along the way.

That has been the theme of my life lately: realizing the richness of relationship.

For years, my mom has bugged my Grandpa to write down some stories of his life in journals. Surprisingly, a couple months or so ago, he handed my mom a few notebooks. He had actually been writing down stories for years and no one knew. I read through them all twice. And each time, I was really taken aback with for one, the fact that my Grandpa is still alive (he served in a few wars and has insane stories from them), and two, how I wish that I would have been aware of the importance of listening to people and getting to know them when I was younger. When I went to the Philippines, I remember my Grandpa asking me a few times "Will you get to see such and such place?" or "Make sure you go to this place if you can." At the time, I didn't get it. No big deal. My Grandpa's just a history buff. I ignored all of it and didn't make one ounce of effort to go to any of the places he mentioned. Reading his journals, I finally got it. Now I know why those places are special and what they mean. And I wish I would have listened. To know that I was minutes from some of the places he mentioned, and didn't just go makes me kick myself. I was so close. I wish I had a photo to show my Grandpa and say "See, here I am at the same place you were fifty years ago." To be able to show that I listened, that I get it, that I understand a part of his past and where he comes from, and that we have this bond of knowing this place...but I don't because I just didn't listen. I didn't take the time to find out why he kept mentioning these places. I passed them off as irrelevant to me. Which, I'm sure is partially because I was 18, and let's face it, teenagers have stupid attitude. None the less, if only I would have known. And so now I tell myself not to let that mistake happen again. That when someone speaks, I need to listen.

My Grandma (other side now, my Dad's mom) was up cat-sitting while my Dad and step-mom were on vacation, so Jesse and I asked her if she wanted to meet up for dinner one evening, and when we got to talking, I realized that I didn't even know what town she grew up in. I didn't know anything about where she came from and what made her who she is, so I asked. And it was probably some of the best conversation I've ever had with my Grandma. And I realized, once again, what valuable relationships I have in my life right now that I just normally pass off.

And I wondered...what would life be like now if I had been paying attention all those years before? I don't want to miss out anymore. Not just with grandparents, but pretty much everyone in my life.

So back to how I started this rant...the boxes from my old closet. Mostly, the boxes had photos and letters in them. Some made me laugh. Some made me cry, and honestly, some made me want to give them dirty looks and say "f*ck you". None the less, what stood out most to me was that in many cases, I didn't know what I had. I didn't realize how very blessed and special it was that people let me into their lives...and a lot of people let me in. And I wish I would have cherished it more. One great thing about travel is that I met a lot of amazing people. The bad thing about travel is that it's intense, and then it's over. Most of the people in my "boxes", I no longer keep in touch with, but I finally realize how rich my life is that I got to see a glimpse into their hearts, even if only for a short time. There's Amy, who actually believed I was the patient, forgiving and loving one during our friendship, when it was actually quite the contrary. There's Dustin, who had a way of simultaneously freaking me out and making me feel nothing but warmth in my heart. There's Erik, who trusted me enough to tell me that he sometimes just wanted to die. There's another Eric who always believed in my innocence and seemed to want to protect me. There's Elizabeth who wanted to be around me and hang out even when I was incredibly rude and standoffish. Curtis, who had x-ray vision for seeing my every hidden evil motive that I would never admit to, yet still stayed my friend anyway. John, who watched me go from being a kid to venturing out on my own for the first time; his presence gave me courage. Angie, who taught me that who I am is perfectly okay, even though it's far from perfect. What strikes me the most though, is that I just don't get why these people were so good to me...why they trusted me with a part of themselves. I certainly didn't deserve it. But I'm thankful. I have this long, rich list of people who loved me into being who I am.

Today, I'm lucky that my list is dominated by Jesse, who simply feels like home; the best friend I could ever walk through life with.

So for everyone I've ever called friend, thank you.

DIY Alternative Energy Sources

Today, I baked cookies on the dashboard of our SUV. I have been wanting to try this for quite some time, but it has been a relatively cool summer, and I was waiting for it to get hot enough. Besides neighbors thinking that you may have possibly lost your mind, it only has positives: doesn't heat up your house in the summer, it's free, it makes your car smell really yummy, and I'm pretty sure you would have a really hard time burning the cookies and ruining your efforts.

A few things that I have learned while researching/trying it out for myself:

-Park your car so that the dashboard gets full sun.

-Make sure you put a towel on the dashboard to protect it from the hot metal pan.

-The outside temperature needs to be at least 95 degrees, which should get the inside of the car to about 200 degrees.

-I think this works best with firm doughs. Also, best to roll your dough into a log, chill it, and slice into even thickness. I don't think the drop method would work so well.

-Baking time will most likely be between 2 and 3 hours, so don't start this if you need to run errands or something.

-When checking the cookies throughout the process, try not to open the doors; just look through the windsheild so that you aren't constantly letting heat out.

-When done, the cookies won't look the same as cookies done in a regular oven. The sugar doesn't carmalize the same way that it does in an oven, so you won't see any browning. Which means, when they look set and you are pretty sure they are done, you will have to open the door to check. (Do it fast.) If they aren't done, you'll probably need to give them another 15-30 minutes and then recheck, repeating the process until they are done.

This is what they looked like when they were done. You can see how they still look kind of like dough even though they are all the way baked. I used parchment paper and when I could pull a cookie off without it sticking, then I knew they were done because raw dough will still stick.


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The next thing I want to try is cooking in a homemade solar oven made from a car sun shield. What's good about this is that it doesn't even have to be that hot outside. This apparently works even in the low 70's! I know, I'm approaching alpha geek status, but keep reading, because this gets even better -

The coolest thing EVER about these solar ovens is that this woman named Rachel Andres came up with the most brilliant idea ever to teach Darfuri women how to construct solar ovens. Doesn't sound like a big deal, but after going through horror in their villages the women who are able to escape are forced to move into refugee camps. In order to cook food there, they have to leave the camp to go looking for firewood. The problem is, it is extremely dangerous to leave the camp, and they are once again exposing themselves to high risk of being raped and tortured in the bush. So, with solar ovens, it means they don't need to go looking for wood outside the camp so much. I'm telling you, simple brilliance is going to save the world.

Back to the shallow now, imagine what these cooking methods could do to revolutionize the camping food experience. Forget Eat-More bars, how 'bout some fresh baked cookies when you return from your hike?

Sunflowers Will Stay After All

My sunflowers out front are looking pretty leggy and just generally unkept. I finally decided I was just going to pull them all up.... until one day Jesse and I were sitting in the living room and saw this pretty bird eating from the flower.





(Photos courtesy of Jesse. I don't know how he managed to get such good shots, considering he was shooting through an Abe-slobbered window.)