Writing in the Corner

The test went well. The only concern was how to read a 200% increase. I did it right…but I don’t know if that’s what she really meant to say. But it’s probably only like 2% of my grade. So if I missed it, it’s a 98 instead of a 100.

I went to pick up small son after I was done with school stuff and all the children ran up to me. “Hi Miss Ann!” Many hugs. It was cool.

And for Brenda, when she gets back from the Beach, here is an easy recipe for barbecued pork loin. It takes a long time, but you don’t have to actually do much. Bake it for 3 hours, tear it apart, mix up some stuff, and cook it over very low heat, stirring 2-3 times, for another hour. It’s my older sons FAVORITE meal. Buy some good rolls and it’s a very, very tasty meal. Watch the meat quantity! I used a larger hunk of pork tenderloin when I made this yesterday, but I didn’t adjust the amount of sauce. It was still tasty, but it needed more sauce.

I still need to read some books to be sure of this: Richard Clarke’s book, and Woodward’s. But nobody is saying this, and it bugs the heck out of me that nobody is saying it. So, I’m going to say it.

Going to war with Iraq was a stupid mistake. Bush had an Iraq war on his agenda from Day One, and used trumped up evidence of What He Wanted To Hear to justify an act of aggression against a hostile country that posed no immediate threat to us. In the process, our armed forces have been distracted from the real enemy (the stateless terrorists that nobody knows how to fight), have been spread too thin, and are now enmeshed in a country that appears increasingly chaotic and on the verge of civil war.

The war in Iraq has nothing to do with the war on terrorism. They are two separate things, and the war in Iraq is a distraction from and a drain on the resources needed in the war on the real threat to the United States and other free countries: Al Qaeda.

Nobody is saying anything because the ‘Publicans portray any criticism as being unsupportive of our armed forces. Well, pardon me, but that’s a load. Those of us who oppose the war honor and respect the men and women in our armed services, who are in harm’s way because our arrogant, God-fearing, commander-in-chief, on a mission from said God, put them there for no good reason. This is not a war on terror. This is Mr. Bush’s war. He started it. Now we have to clean up the mess.

I’m usually not real big on “assigning blame,” except as a joke. That is, once you assign blame, you can move on and solve the problem. But it’s going to get worse if we don’t replace this man. Blame must be assigned so that people can take action. The appropriate action is to vote for John Kerry in November. Because I am absolutely confident that he would never have made such a mistake.

I had thought that my knee stopped hurting either because of drugs, or because of the passage of time. Well, it was definitely the drugs. I didn’t take the drug last night and I was in pretty major pain all morning. I took it about 11:30 and it’s already much better. Could be the placebo effect, I suppose.

Little boy has been nattering for almost two solid hours about a camping trip with his daddy. Daddy is about ready to lose his mind. I seem to be much better at tuning him out. He has reached the age (almost 5) where pretend listening only works sometimes. If you make an appropriate comment every 5-7 minutes, though, you only have to listen for about 30 seconds every 5-7 minutes. I had recently begun to think that I was losing my touch at multi-tasking, but I’m doing just fine listening to the little boy natter and reading, or washing dishes, so perhaps I’m better at multi-tasking than I thought.

The magnolias are thinking about blooming. There is a lovely row of small trees down the road from my house on the median (on Rue Rochelle by Gause, for Randy). When they stop thinking about blooming and actually do bloom, I think I will break down and post a picture, because I am so excited at the prospect.

It is raining pretty persistently today. This is good; we needed the rain. Also, DH got the back yard cut yesterday. If he’d waited it would have been at least another week before he could cut it, because our back yard never really drains…it just sort of dries up, but not really.

We have a cardinal nesting in the back yard. Also, the yard is full of squirrels. We have a scrubby shrub in the northwest corner of our lot that is rapidly taking over. I want to cut it back or remove it and replace it with something less aggressive and more attractive; DH likes it and wants to keep it. I almost have him persuaded that a few native plants would provide the more natural-looking habitat he wants, while preventing said habitat from growing out of control. Also, we need to plant things that grow in lots of water, because our back yard is always wet.

I need to hire a gardener. Joe, when are you coming to town?

My older son left tonight for three days at the House of Mouse, in Orlando. The entire senior class is going to Disney World. He’s really excited about it. I hope he has tons of fun.

My knee is doing much better. It’s either the drug, time, or both. I’m not looking a gift horse in the mouth; I’m very glad not to be in pain. My ankles still hurt, but not as bad as they did last week. I was on my feet a lot today, because my knee was so much better. I even took the brace off after lunch. It was digging into my fat leg. I really need to get serious about losing weight.

I have been peeking in on the Foyer for a few minutes each day, but not posting, because I don’t have much to say, really. I read the thread about the folks missing me, and I’d like to say that it’s nice to be missed. But really, I don’t expect to post again.

And in more very good news, the ads at the top of my blog are no longer mormon related. I think replacing the top spot of links with Bruce Springsteen lyrics instead of the DMU sites helped. And Dave still hasn’t dropped me from the links on his page.

I’m going to whine. You have been warned.

Last night, while waiting in line with my son to have our signatures notarized on his permission slip for grad night (not bad at all…they were very efficient), my right knee started to hurt. I had to walk pretty slowly to the car to get home. By the end of the evening, it hurt quite a bit to bend it, though it wasn’t painful to put weight on it.

This morning, it felt much better, but by lunchtime at my job, I was having intermittent terrible pain in my knee. It would come and go, and when it would hit I could sit for a few minutes and then I would be OK again. A couple of times, it felt like my knee was going to go out from under me, but sideways.

At lunch, while driving around, I happened upon a Walgreen’s and bought a knee brace with side supports. It helped a lot. I went to the quick care primary care, no appointment clinic near my house after I got home, but even though they are open until 7:00, they weren’t seeing any new patients as of 5:30 because four people were already waiting. Grr. I didn’t want to go to the ER because it’s a $50 copay if they don’t admit you, and they aren’t going to admit me for this.

Tomorrow, we are taking a field trip to the Global Wildlife Center in Folsom. It’s like a zoo, except the animals are free (within constraints) and the people are in carts. It’s in Tangipahoa Parish, about an hour drive from the center. We will be gone for about six hours. Most of the time at the refuge is spent in the carts, so between that and the bus ride I will be able to sit most of the time. I’m hoping to be able to leave a bit early so I can get in to the quick care clinic at the end of the day. Because what’s the use of paying through the nose for health insurance if you are suffering, right?

Anyhow, I just hope I don’t fall down or anything stupid like that tomorrow.