There has been lots written over the years about the difference between Americans and us. Some of it nasty, some of it funny and most of it funny and nasty. I was watching tv tonight while we ate dinner and I saw something that to me doesn’t define as much as typifies that difference.
I watched the Doctor Phil Show, something I do not normally do in spite of the fact that my wife enjoys it and watches it regularly. Tonight I got sucked in. The show related the story of a couple who have 6 year old deaf blind triplets and the amount of work required to look after these children and the affect it is having on the couple’s relationship and by extension the affect that starin is having on the children. it really was a heart rending story and Dr. Phil; gave them some goods advice and at the end with the aid of some big corporations gave them a lot of help. Really great stuff. The show ended with Dr. Phil urging viewers to go to his website and donate money to help this couple with things like a “blind/deaf intervenor” whose fee can run to $50,000/year.
What was not mentioned throughout the entire show was any mention of a societal responsibility or a “social safety net” like we have. Granted it may be tattered and torn but it does exist. No mention of organized respite care or of getting these girls into a school. Up here the complaint would be that the respite care is only 25 hours a week or something like that. I did not hear the parents say anything about subject.We are different in so many ways.
The title of this blog refers to musings, my musings about all sorts of things. I muse regularly about the state of my world or the state of the wider world. I muse about my past, my future, my health, my beliefs etc etc etc. The really personal stuff that I may or may not choose to write down here.
Every once in a while I have what I consider a brilliant idea for a posting and when I go check the Cheeseblog or In The Rough One of these two has invariably scooped me or I will read something that one of them has written and think ya, I can relate or I had an experience that fits right in but then I don’t want to seem like a copy cat so I don’t blog it. Believe me in my mind this is one of the best personal blogs that never gets written. Hmmmmmmmmm.
Sometimes a great meal just comes together. It starts with things you really like. Oh for instance a roast of venison, some wild rice, a pound of bacon 
and a bottle of good red wine.
I took a roast out of the freezer last night and set it to thaw. This morning before breakfast I put a pot of wild rice on to boil. At lunchtime I got out the slow cooker and into it I put a bottle of beer, a lot of garlic, a couple of tablespoons of Dijon mustard and a package of onion soup mix. I gave it all a stir, dropped in the roast, put on the cover and walked away. “I’ll be back for supper”, says I.
As I said at the start, sometimes a great meal just comes together
ps I started this entry last Monday AM and got side-tracked but its finished now.
About 4pm I chopped an onion, half a green pepper, a couple of stalks of celery, a large pile of fresh mushrooms and got out some more garlic. Meanwhile I was heating a wok and when it was smokin’ in went about 1/2 lb.of bacon cut into small pieces. After it was browned and drained, into the wok goes the whole pile of chopped veggies for a few minutes followed by some frozen peas, the cooked wild rice along with some chicken stock and soya sauce. And the bacon. Boy was it good.
And finally I took a nice bunch of fresh asparagus and set it into boiling water for just a few minutes.
This meal did not start out to be anything special but it certainly turned out that way. The meat was tender and succulent, the rice casserole was just good and the asparagus was surprisingly good for February.
A couple of glasses of Pelee island Baco Noir and I was right in hog heaven. We both had seconds of roast and rice, the aspapragus all went in the first round.
I got up early,as usual, spent some time catching up on the news.Most important news this morning was that over night new pictures of Arlo arrived electronically from the west coast. He is the most beautiful child and I can hardly wait to see him and hold him in a couple of months. The second important piece of news was that yesterday Arlo and his Mom saw a Japanese Elvis! You can see anything in BC.
After that it was pretty well down hill. I listened to someone talking about feng shui on CBC this morning. IMHO this is right up there with the power of pyramids and crystals. Then on The House I listened to yet another discussion between two academics on how we should achive our Kyoto targets and whether in fact we can achieve them. Great, lets discuss this thing until well after its too late and then we can spend another decade or two blaming each other for our lack of action. By the end of the discussion I was so friggin’ upset that I was almost chewing on the firewood I was supposed to be putting in the basement. I blistered off an email that, because of some intemperate language, will either be heavily edited or not read at all. I don’t really care I felt better when I pushed the “go” button.
I googled Tomi Swick- he is the opening act for The Bare Naked Ladies tonight. I wanted tofind out what I was getting into bfore the lights go down. When you go to his website his whole new album starts palying and I have to say that I like what I hear. He is described as a rock singer but tome he sounds a little more singer/songwriter. Definitely mellow rock. I am looking forward to hearing him live.
all in all a pretty ordinary Saturday morning but then the phone rang, it was the west coast with the news that they land in Ottawa on May 5th for a two week visit – yahoooooo!
If I was a talented as The Cheesefairy as you look at the photo Bruce Cockburn would be singing “The Coldest Day of The Year”. But I’m not so you will have to hum the chorus to yourself. Damn it it is cold this morning as you can see. This was taken at 8.15am on February 13th, 2007. Somewhere under that drake’s tail it is about -26C. But, read the title and think warm thoughts. 
The moochers were out under the bird feeders just a few minutes ago.
Just a few minutes ago it started to snow quite heavily. I was looking out the kitchen window when all of a sudden three deer appeared in the snow coming out of the trees and walking purposefully toward the house. They came up along the side of the house and one stopped to nibble on the peony plant. They headed to the front of the house where the bird feeders are located to check for sunflower seed shells which the birds drop as they are feeding and which the deer clean up. this time of year they’ll eat almost anything. when I looked out the dining room window the three deer I had seen and two others were vying for a the shells. They are obviously in good shape. Their bodies are well rounded and the snow was accumulating on their backs which means that they still have a good layer of fat acting as insulation. A snowplow went by on the highway and the noise was enough to spook them and convince them that it was time to move back into heavier cover. This was the last view before they drifted into the trees.
The wildlife are having a relatively easy winter and most critters will move into spring in good shape. There should be a good crop of healthy fawns come May. In the meantime we enjoy watching them and there is little worry about starvation.
When I crawled out of bed about 6am the bedroom was cold. I headed downstairs to start the coffee and looked out the kitchen window. The thermometer attached to the window showed -20C. That means that is probably a little colder than that. I got breakfast and headed downstairs to fire up the computer and kick the wood stove back to life. Open the vents, stir the coals and drop in 3 or 4 pieces of well seasoned hard maple. Within 5 minutes the stove is woofing and the thermometer on the stove pipe is starting to spool up. Within 15 minutes I can feel the basement warming up.
Just after 8am when I have finished a small pot of coffee and had a hearty breakfast there is enough daylight to see what is going on. The sky is clear, the trees are not moving and the thermometer on the woodshed says -24C. Thats getting cold. I decided to gather the garbage and get the truck loaded for a trip to the dump later this morning. As I stepped outside the cold air went right up my nose and sort of flash froze the nose hairs. Anybody who has experienced it will know exactly what i mean. Cheesefairy put it on your life list . A quick glance at the chimney shows a thick plume of white smoke (yay the island has a new pope) going straight up. No wind and therefore no wind chill to worry about. Both vehicles started, the truck reluctantly so I did not have to plug in the block heaters.
After 10 minutes or so a months worth of garbage was loaded and I headed back inside. Out through the living room window I could see that the birds were coming to life and feeding voraciously at the feeders. The little purple finches, the males looking like they have been dipped in cranberry juice and the yellow finches definitely looking washed out this time of year. A couple of nuthatches hanging upside down and of course the always cheery chickadees flitting about. I learned something about them recently. their signature chickadee dee dee call is in fact an alarm call and the more dees on the end the greater the perceived threat. The red squirrels on the other hand appear to be holed up somewhere, reluctant to stick their noses out.
By 10.30 I had enjoyed a long chat with son#1 and watched the mercury in the thermometer begin to creep up. When I headed back outside to go the dump the temperature was up to -15C, a marked improvement.
Now it is almost lunchtime, the sun is as still out and the rest of the day looks like it is going to fine.
Have a good Saturday!