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I watched Tell Me You Love Me yesterday (ball count: zero. In fact, was there any sex at all? I think maybe not, but I don’t remember for sure.), and the thing that bugs me about that show is how there’s just no warmth between any of the characters. They just all seem stiff and odd and uncomfortable with each other – am I the only one who thinks so? Maybe they’re all afraid that they’re going to be required to get nekkid and simulate sex at any moment, I don’t know.
I like the show, but it makes me uncomfortable, even without the sex. It doesn’t help that Palek and whatsherface are the most unlikable couple on TV, either.
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Did I mention that since I’ve gotten good and fed up with the chickens trashing our back yard, Fred is going to build a bigger chicken coop (we sometimes have to get into the coop to get to the eggs in the back, and it’s not comfortable, squeezing in there) and we’re going to move the chickens to another location? We’re also talking about getting chickens for meat
(yes, I am not looking forward to the killing of chickens in our back yard. I expect that there will be much crying and histrionics and vomiting – and that’s just Fred, har har – but I think that if we’re going to remain omnivores – and we are – and we intend to continue eating chicken – and we are – then I’d a thousand times rather eat a chicken who lived a happy life in our back yard and whose last thought was a puzzled “Hey, isn’t that the Food Guy? What’s that he’s got in his hand, some long-handled kind of food? I bet it’s YUMMY!” than a chicken who lived in fear and pain and crammed in a little cage and never knew what running through the grass, eating bugs and worms, and squawking at her sister is like. If we’re going to continue to eat chickens, and since we have the room, I think we should at least have the guts to raise and kill them ourselves, no matter how repugnant the slaughtering process will be. I nominate Fred to do all the slaughtering himself. All in favor say “aye”! Aye! Motion seconded! Motion carried! Think that’ll hold up?)
and so we’ll need a bigger coop, as we’re hoping to integrate them. Or maybe we’re not. We’ve talked so much about the different possibilities that I can’t remember what we’ve decided, alls I know is that Fred will be building a bigger coop and a bigger yard, and we’re trying to decide where they should go. Once he’s completely finished with
the shed and does a few small things for me, he’ll be starting on that.
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GodDAMN is it cold here today. It got down to below 30 last night, and when I went out to exercise this morning I was wearing a pair of shorts and a Coolmax t-shirt and a sweatshirt, and my legs froze and snapped right off my body, which made doing the elliptical kind of difficult. But I persevered and did all 35 of those minutes, damnit!
The issue with this house is that the two rooms where we spend the most time – the computer room, on the back of the house, and the living room, on the front of the house – aren’t very well insulated, and tend to get cold (and the fact that I open the back door so the cats can go outside probably doesn’t help the warmth situation in the computer room, either) and so I’m sitting here in a fleece shirt and very warm pants and socks, and I’m still shivering. I may need to go get the space heater out of the garage and bring it inside.
I’m not as cold as I used to be, though, I’ll tell you that. Back when I was on whatever the fuck that medicine I was on to regulate my heartbeat (Metoprol0l? I think?), I was always always just painfully cold and y’all were always yelling at me to have my iron levels checked out. Ever since I went off the Metoprol0l, I still tend to be colder than Fred is, but it’s not as bad. THANK GOD.
Now if I can just talk Fred into getting a pellet stove for the front room…
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Malley in the sun. If I go into the kitten room between noon and 2:00, the room is flooded with sunlight, and the kittens are all laying on the floor, baking in the sun, purring so loud you can hear them from two rooms away. It’s seriously sweet.
Rhian is just the prettiest thing.
“What?”
Snuggly brudders.
*********************
Hard to believe that it wasn’t so very long ago that she
looked like this, isn’t it?
* * *
Previously
2006: Questions answered.
2005: This makes me want to wrap my child in bubble wrap and lock her in her room until she’s 35.
2004: No entry.
2003: Meme.
2002: “How fucking much is that goddamn bread? A dollar ninety-fucking-five? Okay, put a couple of the motherfuckers in my cart, would you, fuckwad?”
2001: I briefly considered making a citizen’s arrest.
2000: (ie, “It’s all the fault of that fat bitch you married!”)
1999: I woke this morning at 2:30ish, feeling something wasn’t quite right. ]]>
There is a chicken slaughtering scene in The Omnivore’s Dilemma that made me think “okay, MAYBE I could do that.” If you haven’t read it yet, you might want to check it out. The scene I’m thinking about was while the author was staying at Polyface Farms.
I totally envy your country life, by the way.
“and my legs froze and snapped right off my body, which made doing the elliptical kind of difficult. But I persevered and did all 35 of those minutes, damnit”
LOL Thanks for my laugh this morning!
I put “Tell Me You Love Me” in my DVR to be recorded every time. After watching two of them I deleted it. I was/am not impressed at all.
I am tickled that the Race is back 🙂
The only new show I am paying any attention to at all is “Pushing Daisies” and even it after being so very good for two or three weeks even it is starting to wear kind of thin now.
Television these days: I can’t seem to get into ANYTHING these days. Except maybe The Office. I used to love My Name is EArl but now it’s nearly unwatchable. I used to love Monk and Psych, but Psych got stupid really quickly and they only make, like 6 episodes a season of those shows so it’s hard to get into it in that short of time. I’m only halfway caring about Heroes, and don’t anticipate it anymore. I liked Desperate Housewives the first season and then hated it. I love The Closer, but it’s out of season right now. Project Runway will be back soon, I think, and that will help, but right now, we’re not watching A THING, especially the new shows. We tried Chuck, Journeyman, and a couple of others, but couldn’t get into any of them. And except for Project Runway, I hate reality tv. Alas, maybe I can take these evenings to get some real work done or something.
My question: Is it just me? Is there ANYTHING good on tv right now?
Yanno… killing chickens isn’t so bad. Bad in the “old” days when I was a teen and in my early 20’s (the 80’s heh) My family would get 100 or so chickens, 10 or so Turkeys in the spring. Then come fall we would all get together and butcher them and each family that participated would get their share for the freezer. It was actually something we looked forward to every fall.
You can both know that I refuse to partake in the slaughtering of the chickens the next time I come down for a visit. Petting the chickens, holding the chickens, and loving the chickens is one thing. Getting down and dirty with blood, guts and um, plucking…not gonna happen. I’ll just hide in the house with Miz Poo, thankyouverymuch. Hee!
I still think you take the best cat pictures ever! I don’t know how you do it. I can’t even get my cat to look at the camera. Anyway, question for Friday—have you ever thought of doing a cat picture book? Your captions make some of them so funny! I know I, for one, would lurv to have a book of your cat pics.
I told a friend the other day that if I was in any of the relationships on Tell Me You Love Me, I would stab myself to death. Who would ever want to be with that one broad. Palek’s wife. Or Palek for that matter. He’s got a little kid skinny lipped mouth. I’m going to keep watching it because I’m hopeful there will be an exciting plot twist and everyone will die.
I eat chicken and turkey, but I think if I had to kill an animal in order to eat, I’d definitely become a vegetarian. I don’t have the stomach for killing a living thing. Hypocritical? Yes.
I admire vegetarians so much. I tried it for almost 2 years, but the meat kept calling my name and I am weak. 🙁
I second the recommendation for “The Omnivore’s Dillemma.” Best non-fiction book I have ever read. My nerdy husband even inished reading it after I read three whole chapters to him out loud!
“and so we’ll need a bigger coop, as we’re hoping to integrate them.”
I read that as you’re hoping to interrogate them and I cannot even explain the multitude of thoughts and visions that raced through my brain in the split second before I regained the good old reading comprehension.
A chicken, sitting at a table in a small dark room. Dark that is, except for the lone lightbulb hanging right over the table. The chicken is hungry and sleep deprived and she wants a smoke. The police are too busy playing good cock/bad cock to really pay attention to her…
I am in love with our pellet stove – it is a fireplace insert. It is all automatic, you just fill it with pellets, set the thermostat where you want it and it does the rest. Fred needs to get one for you pronto!!!
I agree about Tell Me you Love Me. The cahracters are so cold in their interactions towards each other. When whatshername told Palek that she had quit her job and Palek just said “I have to go, maybe we can talk about this later” I thought NO WAY would I let my husband get away with that! We’d talk it out, right then and there, I’d be freaking out and would need to talk and analyze the situation and my husband would [have to!] talk to me whether he had the time or not. Geez. You’d think he’d be concerned about her and at least ask how she’s feeling/doing.
And the sets/houses/environments they live in are all soooo sterile looking. I get that the set designer must be going for a certain look, but come on! There is no color, no warmth. Show bugs me, but I still watch it. Palek’s reaction to the pregnancy…well, I’d love to say, “What a jerk, I can’t imagine anyone reacting like that!” except MY husband reacted like that and it wasn’t pretty. Overall, this show is just somewhat painful for me to watch, but yet I do. WHY????? And why are Dave and Katie even still together???? The kids? Cause there’s no sex, and not much else going on there.
And the main female characters are all so painfully thin. And one more thing, there was one scene with Jaime and ????? where I truly don’t know how they weren’t actually having sex. Looked completely real to me. At the very least, bodily fluids (yuck!) had to have been exchanged. How fricking uncomfortable would it be to have to do those scenes????? That’s all I can really think about when I’m watching these scenes–how uncomfortable the actors must feel.
Here’s what I do watch and enjoy: Weeds, Brothers and Sisters, Big Love, Mad Men (LOVE this new show on A&E, season just ended, find it and watch it if you can–it’s excellent), The Office, Ugly Betty, Army Wives, sometimes Curb Your Enthusiasm, and once in a great while Everybody Hates Chris.
And reality crap: Biggest Loser, Top Chef, Project Runway, Amazing Race, Real Housewives of Orange County, Celebrity Fit Club, Big Brother, Little People Big World, Jon and Kate Plus 8 and probably a few others (man that’s a lot of crap reality TV, really, looking at the list I’m completely embarrassed!).
Have you ever thought of starting a TV forum???? Seems to me you had a TV blog at some point, but it kind of died out… Final TV confession: reruns of King of Queens. I recently discovered it, it’s mindless, it makes me laugh, it relaxes me. Never thought I would enjoy that show. Okay, final final TV confession: I watch The View so that I can scream at the screen whenever Elisabeth Hasselbeck is on. And I miss Rosie. That is all. I SWEAR I’m finished now!
Sorry for the long post. I, too think you should do a book of cat pictures and captions. I think you could get one published. Your pictures are the best!
Robin, I’ll have to see you a wee sample of my Australian dried apricots. The ones sold here are mostly over-plumped with water Turkish ones, and they’re not in the same league.
Yes, clearly you are eating the wrong dried apricots. I love them enough to deal with the bathroom issues eating them brings me. But dammit, now I will never be able to eat one without thinking of ears. THANKS, Robyn.
Ah…dried apricots….when I was pregnant with my daughter (24 years ago) I ate a bunch a dried apricots one night and then went into labor a few hours later…I vomited throughout the entire labor (luckily it was quick; only 3 hours)…The only thing worse than chewing on earlobes is having them come back up again 🙂
I could regale you with stories of growing up, watching chickens heads get cut off, flop and bleed EVERYWHERE and then when they got still, dunk them in boiling water and pull off the feathers. I have no nightmares ( I never did the murder part) but I could not see me doing that now as an adult.
I know that will probably have Fred curled in a fetal position but HEY I bet the cats will like the show! HEE!! And you can always use it to your advantage when they misbehave. (do that again and you will sleep with the chickens!! Bwa ha ha)!
How do you plan on killing them? If I might suggest, you could put on some Lawrence Welk music after making them ingest lethal amounts of ecstasy, put them in a small hot room with KFC commercials running continuously. They will get so upset and excited and overheated they will just go POOF and cook themselves.
Or you could just lop their necks off. Heh.
I vote yes for the pellet stove. I love ours. It heats the house much better than the heater, which we rarely turn on. Also, it is a hell of a lot cheaper than the heater. That is always a good argument. Now that you have become country folk you may also be impressed with the fact that pellet stoves are the least polluting of all heating sources. They produce a miniscule amount of waste and air pollution. Even their creation is environmental because they are made from the by products of wood mills. Reduce, reuse, recycle all in one shot.
The down side? They are electric, so if you lose your power they don’t work. Of course Fred could justify a generator that way. Another toy…
When I was younger and very set on being super-ethical at all times, I believed that if I couldn’t bring myself to kill meat, I had no right to eat meat that someone else had killed. In other words, if I couldn’t do it, I was forcing someone else to be a murderer for my benefit. So, since I was raising
both chickens and rabbits at the time, I did kill my share of both. It can be done. It isn’t fun, especially if your chicken twists her head around and looks up at you accusingly while you’re trying to get her head positioned properly on the chopping block. But … you can do it. Just remember that it is NOT true that the chicken invariably goes running around with its head off, not if you make it unconscious before you do the deed. An old Italian neighbour taught me to grab the chicken’s legs, swing it in circles around and around my head until the centrifugal force caused it to become unconscious, and then chop its head off.
Yep, TMI, I knew it…
But oh, they tasted sooooo good …
And nowadays, I cheerfully allow others to murder my dinner for me. I’ll pay for it and eat it, thank you very much.
Hi:
The pellet Stove is a great idea! The one we have holds three bags of pellets and will last for two to three days depending on the settings. As far as being electric: We have a small generator that only cost less then $100 that runs the stove and a few lights. Works great. The chicken idea is a good one. Make sure you take pictures of Fred “taking care” of them! Guess I could come down and show you how!
So would you tag the ones you’d eat or keep them separate from the others? I say more power to ya (both).
Three things.
1. Omnivore’s Dilemna by Michael Pollan. About a portable chicken coop, so the chickens only trash part of your yard at any given time. It allows the rest of your property a little time to recover.
http://polyfacefarms.com/
2. plain fresh spinach plus dried apricots snipped into bits with kitchen shears, tossed in a light balsamic vinaigrette, equals my FAVORITE SALAD OF ALL TIME.
3. Perhaps consider a *pullet* stove? teeehee