So : a tattoo artist in Illinois took his son to the ER because he had bruises when he picked him up from daycare and child protective services ordered all three kids into protective custody without investigating the daycare? There's an Amber alert for the family that made me twitch so I went and looked at his page. He looks like a loving, inked daddy to me. Please reserve judgement till the facts are in, this family needs help being heard apparently. Social media might help them get a fair shake in this deal...

Please encourage your friends to pass this on. No one should be tried and convicted in an ER because someone doesn't like they way they look! Some of the most kind hearted, loving, family-oriented folks I know either do tattoos or sport them, let's stick to the facts, if we don't, everyone needs to fear going to the ER seeking help for an injured child. Here is Artie's page on Facebook, I don't know him but if a picture is worth a thousand words, this guy loves his son IMHO.

https://www.facebook.com/artie.fletcher.14"

Ask anyone, I am fairly easy going... But I'm about to get ugly about things. There is a link floating around FaceBook proclaiming that the sky is falling , Obama supporters are gonna get theirs and a long list of corporations that have supposedly announced major layoffs "in the last 48 hours" all because "Obama got re-elected". The ones I looked up were lies, wildly distorted or old news... Does no one check this crap before they spread it around?

Like I've already said, I did not vote for anyone in this election, but the escalating insanity got so scary in it's intensity that it forced me to vote against one of them. I didn't think either viable to win choice was a real answer. I knew going in my struggle was going to continue no matter who got in, there is no easy fix to this mess, and I am quite sure the corporations and bankers that funded Romney are pissed over his failure to gain control and will be seeking revenge against everyone in sight on some level over their wasted investment in Romney. It is what it is.

For me this election came down to 3 things. 1) I could not vote for anyone who seems to think my gay brother is a second class person, period 2) I did not want anyone near the presidency that believes a crime like rape is just another form of conception. 3) Romney seems to attract an awful lot of rather scary (& spelling skills impaired) lunatics. It's not much of a list, but it's all I've got.

What I wish more than anything is that people will start acting more like Americans and less like hostile winners and bitter losers so we can figure out how we can work together, because as long as DC is in gridlock, we "really" are all we've got... And all this us vs them crap will take us all down faster than any one person in the White house ever can. So if you post it, be prepared to own it's content and be prepared to prove its true and reliable info that everyone needs to know because repeating lies accomplishes nothing except dividing us all further. IOW, the election is over so quit being a propaganda/misinformation puppet no matter who you voted for or what you believe in. I'm sick of it, really, I am.

I live in rural Clackamas County and a neighbor who was evicted 2 weeks ago left behind 2 cats that appear to be between 1-2 years old. They were indoor cats and are not doing well outside. I can't take them in as I have 2 dogs, but I have taken them shelter and I am feeding them until we can find them a home or rescue opening.
Pics here- one shorthair white, one longhair calico.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wildbohemianart/8120513449/in/photostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wildbohemianart/8120513433/in/photostream

I believe the white one is a female, not sure about the other one. I just know they need loving homes soon

I belong to no political party, I am an independent voter. I am not a republican or a democrat, nor do I affiliate myself with any other political party, period.

I am sick and tired of the mud slinging, the name calling, the exaggerated half truths, the flat out lies, the coverups, the no solutions and the blatant avoidance of an honest discussion of the issues and corruption that are destroying this country not to mention the back room deals and the corporate sell outs by nearly EVERYONE claiming that only "they" represent the working class.

I am also not a liberal or a conservative. I am a mad as hell American voter who is paying close attention and taking notes on the voting records, short comings, predjudices and alliances of everyone running for public office regardless of the labels they adorn themselves with.

I am fully awake ladies and gentlemen and I am more than a tad sad that I am only finding candidates to vote against but very few to believe in and vote for. This makes me an angry independent voter, just so you know....

P.S. Please keep your personal religious, racial, gender and sexual orientation biases out of how you pretend to represent me.

I had to get creative with my garden this year after an all out attack on some ivy and blackberries with weapons of mass destruction I was worried about trying to put anything in the ground for the next year or two. Ivy is especially hard to get rid of, until last week it scoffed at everything I sprayed onto it. It finally started withering when I brought out the big gun foliage killers. This meant creativity in gardening was a MUST.

Last summer someone gave me over 60 cinder blocks so I am using them in a couple of ways, the first way is I used them to create raised beds in areas where I did not spray, like this smallish raised bed-


There are 2 different types of tomatoes in the center and herbs in the outside edge holes. Very easy to water it, hauling the blocks was a chore, those darn things are heavy, but once filled and watered well they are easy to maintain because the blocks hold moisture in.

I am working on another kind of raised bed using the cinder blocks. Along my back fence where I have been aggressively killing ivy and blackberries, I am creating a raised box/closed trench with the blocks over the kill zone, lining it with thick black landscaping plastic, then laying bags of potting soil inside the trench leaving a couple inches between them all around after poking holes in the bottom flat side and around the edges to let water in. Gonna cut an opening in the top flat side of each bag, and plant in the bags. Then to water them I am going to fill the trench with water almost up to the top of the bags... that should limit how often I have to water and keep them well hydrated.

Work has been odd, the work hours were cut on one of my county clients which I expected to happen...the Memorial Day holiday cut my hours further this week, the agency I went back to work for is having a hard time finding me longer shifts that fit into my part time county client schedule so I got proactive and interviewed with a private family that had contacted me through an online registry. I was one of 22 interviewed and they offered me the job in an email this morning. 5 hours a day 5 days per week to start (it is likely to go to more later), and it's hours that work well with my evening time county client. I am giving a 2 week notice on my morning time county client and taking the job even though it means I will be without healthcare coverage again for now. In late June or early July my evening county client's hours will be increased to enough to qualify me for health care coverage again so it will be a temp loss of coverage.

Life since last November seems to be a juggling game, with help from my family so far I have not fallen off the high wire I find myself on. Is my life better under Obama? No, but I do know he walked into a mess he did nothing to create and I am better off than many who also got hurt by that wall street induced mess because I have food in the frig and I still have a roof over my head, that's something.

So, bottom line, things are a becoming a tad more stable so things are looking up and that makes me happy.

This is a public service announcement for those who find themselves newly unemployed. I am an unemployment survivor and I hope to prepare you for being on unemployment with these tips.

1) Prepare yourself mentally to deal with an extraordinarily high level of stupid because there is nothing rational about how the system works or what they expect of you.

2) Prepare to be forced to attend tons of mandatory workshops on how to find a job. They aren't really there to help you but you are their job security so you need to act grateful for their existence while there.

3) Learn a second language, it will help you to be able to communicate with the people answering the phones at the unemployment department, because very few of them speak English.

4) Do NOT openly think outside the box or be aggressive in your job search, it confuses the unemployment department employees and it makes them VERY nervous. Well actually you need to do both to find a job but do not tell anyone you are doing it.

5) If the little old lady next door offers you $50 to do a one time clean up of her yard politely decline the offer or the unemployment department will declare you self employed and cut you off. They may say they want you to take any job offered, but they don't really mean it. They really only want you to take jobs that pay into the unemployment system, they don't care what they pay.

6) The favorite catch phrase of all unemployment employees is "You need to lower your wage expectations".... smile and nod but do not follow this advice. You know what your experience is worth, if you're gonna have to take a huge pay cut to stay in your field then apply for a lower stress job in another field where being smart and working hard can get you promoted, do NOT give away your experience to stay in your job field or the wages and opportunities in your field will continue dropping.

7) If you are willing to relocate to find a job do NOT tell the unemployment department this or that you are applying to jobs outside your current job market, this also makes them nervous. Apply to the 3 required local jobs per week and quietly apply to jobs outside your job market but do not mention these applications to anyone.

8) It's probably going to take you months to find a new job worth having, try not to upset the unemployment department during your job search, it will save you a ton of grief. Also, do NOT joke with anyone at the unemployment department, none of them have a sense of humor and they do not understand anything said in jest.

9) Prepare to do a lot of hoop jumping for potential employers and for the unemployment department. Employment apps for even the most menial jobs are now 5 pages long, being unemployed and searching for work is hard work for little pay. Don't give up and don't let them beat you down. Remain optimistic.

10) It took me 7 months but I found a job without taking a pay cut and you will too, just expect all of your encounters with the unemployment department to be maddening. Stay focused on what you want and need... no matter how many road blocks they create to make it more difficult for you to find it, it's out there somewhere.

A good read if you are still wondering what the OWS thing is all about- http://is.gd/dqFwvu

I watched a panel discuss the Secret Service Scandal, and in many ways Matthew Dowd got it right. He was right when he said that a growing number of Americans are sick of the press, sick of ALL the politicians, sick of corporate greed and their political control and sick of constant the scandals in high places. In nothing we trust... indeed. The REAL meat of this discussion begins at the 3.56 minute mark and is worth watching http://is.gd/Ff8bnd

I had to turn off the TV so I turned to Facebook. There I posted a semi-sarcastic suggestion that we fire TSA, and demand that all flyers carry concealed weapons and vow to defend their flights instead. I figure a plane full of armed Americans should scare most terrorists and be a very viable terrorist/ high-jacker deterrent. That post got me in trouble with at least one person who went off on a diatribe about how that would result in
"A whole plane full of trigger happy yahoos (Zimmermans?) who might feel a need to "act" if their heightened sense of duty, perhaps fueled by alcohol, is piqued. Sitting on a possible perp whose hands are bound with a necktie seems a better alternative to gunfire at 30,000 feet.."

SIGH. My reply shows pretty clearly how sick I am of the press telling everyone what they should believe and think -
Wow, single-handedly hog-tying a terrorist at 30,000 feet with a neck tie... great trick, I'd like to see that! I guess I was not aware that the Zimmerman trial was already over. Personally I am leaving that one to the jury/judge, since I don't trust the press to try it and I am not trusting in very many of the claims made so far by any of the people involved in it enough to actually know something. I question several things about that case, on both sides, it seems prudent to wait for the evidence and verdict to be known vs relying on unverified propaganda. I just know what I know and what I don't know. I personally do NOT know what was in Zimmerman's heart that night, and I DO know that probably the only person that does know what was in his heart at this point in time, is Zimmerman. Yes we do know he followed him when told not to, (and he should not have, but following him was not a crime). Yes, the outcome was tragic. We DO know a press agency edited and released 911 tapes to make Zimmerman look like a racist. We also know Trayvon's father didn't even report him missing until the next day. We do NOT know for sure why Zimmerman pulled the trigger but hopefully the trial will tell us that. I personally refuse to try and convict him outside of a courtroom, it's just not my job and my plate is already full anyway.

My mood was rapidly declining so I went out in 80 degree heat and mowed down my 2 ft tall grass with a push mower. That didn't help one bit, in fact I came in hot and sticky so I showered and self medicated with 3 stuffed mushroom sliders, some brown rice with diced green onions, and I washed it all down with a tall cold vodka and 7up. I felt a lot better then, so I made up the batter for these delightful oat bran muffins and placed it in the frig.... http://is.gd/ZIB17H

We are suppose to be toasty warm again tomorrow, so I'm cleaning the house in the AM and then spending the afternoon at the river, away from family, the TV, my cell phone, Facebook and the internet. It's my last day off for the week and I am gonna soak in the quiet and take part of the day truly off.

It seems to be having trouble so here is a link, The REAL meat of this discussion begins at the 3.56 minute mark worth watching http://is.gd/Ff8bnd. Matthew Dowd got it right, sorta.

In the crockpot today is a cassolette of white beans, spinach, onion, carrots and a wee bit of cheesy nitrate free polish sausage simmering away in a base made from this, my secret weapon...Knorr Ajo ( garlic) seasoning. ( Found at Walmart and most grocery stores in the Hispanic food section). I LOVE this stuff and use it as the base for most of my beans and soups. Hey, it keeps the vampires away! Now I have to decide if I want to serve this cassolette over polenta or with cornbread..... pics of the finished dish to be added later tonight.



The Recipe - In my small 6 cup crockpot I use 2 of those garlic cubes, 1-1 1/4 cups white beans, 2 stalks of celery chopped ( leaves included), 1/2 onion diced, 1/2 cup diced carrot, 1 tbl olive oil, 2 tsp white vinegar, a handful of shredded spinach and 1/2-1 cup diced sausage and water to cover. Add pepper or Morton Nature's Seasoning to taste near finish. In a full sized crock you could double this and feed a crowd. When I pour it into the serving dish I add 1 cup of shredded fresh spinach and toss so the beans cook it but do not over cook it. Serve with corn bread or over polenta or basmati rice. I sprinkle it with lightly toasted almonds once it's on the plate. It sure fills you up. On the plate it looks like this-



I had a funny encounter yesterday I had to share on FaceBook so I'll share it here too.
One of my clients is a 30-something young man who has Muscular Dystrophy, a single dad of 2 small children ages 3 and 7. I have been quite a shock to their household I think, the kids are even picking up their own messes and liking doing it, LOL.

So, yesterday as I worked in the kitchen the 7yo girl approached me with a serious look on her face and asked, "Do you make EVERYTHING from scratch?" Yes I do, it's healthier and means I am more in control of the crappy chemicals that I consume. "Well, that's just crazy" she replied. She must have given it more thought because later when she came in to pack her lunch for school, I watched quietly as she packed celery stuffed with the almond butter I had made earlier, a small bag of dried cranberries, a banana, plus 1/2 of a turkey loaf sandwich. This was a big change from her usual quick fix Lunchable and "fruit" juice. I was VERY proud of her and told her so. Sometimes it's the little things we do or say in life that cause the greatest effect. It's nice to know that some kids pay attention.

Her dad just called me laughing. She apparently told him after school that she needs a new lunchbox asap because she has decided that eating "wholesome food" takes up more space than her current lunchbox has... I absolutely love kids, it's brain dead adults that annoy me. :)

Someone posted this video over on FaceBook, I was in a mood due to some events during my day and the title intrigued me but I discovered something I did not know while watching it. It's by Chip Taylor, (of Wild Thing and Angel In The Morning song writing fame), what I discovered that I had not known before was, Chip Taylor is his stage name, he was born Wes Voight, brother of actor John Voight.... and in this video you can really see the connection. The song is mush deeper than it appears on the surface... I LOVE it. So even if cuss words are not in your vocabulary, the one used sorta gets lost in the lyrics making it rather unoffensive over all, and it really was the best word to use to hit the meaning of the song home IMHO. It's a song to the growing number of micro-managing people who think they know best how you should live, who you should love, what you should think, what sacrifices you should be willing to make, how you should pray and to who. It's a simple song and the video suits it's message.



While roaming You Tube I also discovered a band I had not heard of before, these are two of their best videos, easy listening, with good harmonic flow, in the first one they sorta remiond me of the Beatles in their early years, maybe it's the smoothness of their harmony or something, I cannot explain it. Their music invites you to sing along, I hope you like them...





Life is moving along for me, work is odd and I am hoping to change one of my clients to someone or something else, it's complicated. I'm working too hard for it being part time employment but I am grateful to be working. I've been trying to organize myself into some space for making art and that has also gotten complicated but it is moving in the right direction. The new to me car is doing fine, we are getting acquainted and use to each others glitches, luckily it's just a few little things that need tweeking.

Over all, life is good.