Open Door

…from him to me. How lovely it is to have the first flowers given to me from my husband be actual living, breathing flowers - in our very own garden at our very own house. Jason bought me this rosebush about a month ago, after we thought how apt it would be if the first flowers my husband gave to me were in the form of a living rosebush which will bear beautiful blooms for us year after year. Our new addition to our rose family has dazzled us with a Halloween-time display of what is to come next spring!

The name of the rose is “Eternal Flame”……

Now this is pretty f&*%ed up right here.

Thank goodness I’m not the ONLY one who developed a twitch or thought they were having a stroke at this particular moment of the Debate last night. Governor Sarah Palin actually blamed a “toxic mess on Main Street” for the woes on Wall Street. Hmmm. What?

http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/palin-blames-toxic-mess-on-main-street.html

http://standsalone.org/blog/2008/10/03/the-toxic-mess-on-main-street-the-vp-debate/

http://digg.com/2008_us_elections/Palin_Blames_Wall_Street_Mess_on_Main_Street

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389×4156561

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/10/3/7635/45118/685/618686

http://greenleegazette.blogspot.com/2008/10/palin-mess-on-main-street-affecting.html

Well, we just got finished watching the VP Debate. It was interesting, scripted, and not altogether full of surprising material. Biden displayed his vastly superior knowledge and experience on all issues - and Palin displayed her……cute…ish…ness. Awwwwl.

By the way - did anybody notice a potential slip-up by Palin on the economic mess? She described “a toxic mess on Main Street that is affecting Wall Street“. I always thought it was the other way around……at least if you’re trying to get votes of the now infamous “Joe Sixpack“.

Anyways - to deviate and get away from political bias - our house this evening has been full of the demented and often potentially rabid voices of the media - and it’s so funny to listen to. Chris Matthews is going to give himself an aneurism within the next 36 hours, Keith Olberman looks like he hasn’t had any sleep since 2002, and god HELP you if you turn to FOX News……in their scary and imaginary world, the whole country is going to vote for McCain……yup, it’s Voyage to Trip Out City 2008 in the Politte household tonight ROFL!

Anyways - my two glasses of wine that had been prescribed me to help me deal with the Debate have started to take effect (along with the five Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups)……and so it’s up the wooden hill to Bedfordshire for this Brit.

I’m breaking new ground this year - and it’s pretty unnerving. I am residing in the USA during a Presidential Race - one which will, ultimately and definitively, result in a “changing of the guard” (OK OK - so my British analogies still haven’t left me!) at The White House. The Presidency of George W. Bush is drawing to a close, and the two men who would succeed him are making themselves known to the American public at large.

It is a very strange feeling to be living deep within a country which is going through such an animated, historic and sometimes agonizing metamorphosis. Although I was present for the 2004 election, the whole feeling and experience this time around is much more intense, much more personal, and much more relevant. No longer is a hopeful trying to unseat an incumbent President. Now - the American public must make the choice that it has seemingly been putting off for a number of years. Who to lead us out of the doldrums of the current economic situation - and onwards to more hopeful horizons?

Another aspect to all of this that I am trying to grapple with is the media “situation”. I say “situation” - because it really is almost that indeed. It is really humbling and awe-inspiring to see the media of this great, overwhelming country turns it’s sights not on foreign countries, not on some terrorist in a far off land, not on global warming or on the latest sex scandal of the latest celebrity……but on this country itself. Wow. The men and women journalists, reporters, anchorpersons and comedians - just look at them all. From CNN to MSNBC to FOX and back again - they are all going into some strange kind of hypnotic Election-Overdrive. Some strange kind of political trance that causes them to work 24/7, 365 covering this political battle and just occasionally births moments of crystalline insight, comedy and relevance beyond relevance.

Of course, I have a rather unique standpoint in this time period - being that I have no vote in the matter. Still a British Citizen - I can do nothing more than watch, listen, learn and root for “my guy”. With my voting hands tied, it will be a very interesting month-or-so in the run-up to this Presidential Election.

There is a snowballing effect underway that I can personally sense in this country - and I don’t think that it will be losing any steam between now and Election Day. The men and women of this country are blinking in the stark daylight after the storms of the past eight years - and they are realizing that which must be done to keep our children’s and our children’s children’s futures safe and guaranteed. Mostly this Blog doesn’t concern itself with politics - mostly as in there’s only ever been one other political post in this Blog’s existence. But tonight will be one of those exceptions. Tonight - even if nobody is listening (or reading) out there - I’ll take this opportunity to throw my small voice out there for Barack Obama. It’s time to glean some more impassioned words from the Wachowski philosophers. Tonight - I cast my “vote” well before November 5th……because I can.

“Let us shake this cave! Tonight let us tremble these walls of earth, steel and stone! Let us be heard from red core to black sky! Tonight let us make them remember……we are not afraid!”

I have only a small piece of advice for the Democratic ticket this year,

In the words of a fictitional character who shall remain unnecessarily nameless…

Senator Obama…
DON’T THINK YOU CAN…
KNOW YOU CAN!

And so I sit, hands on the arms on this typist’s chair, fingers curling slowly around the edges, and look at the blank screen awaiting my input…and feel so many of the crazy, silly, bold ideas swirling in my subcounscious…

…and I realize that I can’t get rid of this damn Blog.

Guess I’m staying put.

Well, the Great Garden Project, Stage 2008 has begun and is well under way.

The garden at our new home here in Conway was a blank slate. Previously a rental home (although a very well looked after rental home), the yard of about .5 of an acre had been left untouched and under lawn. Not one flower bed, not one landscape feature, not one obstruction to beginning a garden. Just lawn - and trees.

Our property to the north side borders with our neighbor, Mr. Max. This border is devoid of vegetation, and our lawn runs into our neighbor’s lawn seamlessly and without demarcation. To the west our property hits the neighborhood road, and there is no vegetation on this border, either. To the east, our property backs onto a small suburban field, and our old fence boundary down this whole side is delightfully enveloped and draped with Honeysuckle, something believed to be Pepper Vine, and other unidentified trees and vines - to a height of about 16′-20′. Closer to the house along this border is a large Pecan tree which provides enough shade to cause bare patches underneath it and behind it where the grass will not grow. The southern border of the property is the smallest, with about 9′ between the house and the large wooden fence erected between ourselves and our closest neighbor. This fence, combined with the side of the house, and dense shade provided by another large Pecan in the front garden, some description of Pear tree, Crepe Myrtle trees and several other unidentified trees, shrubs and vines makes what has been affectionately dubbed the “Secret Passage”. I intend to erect some faeries down here when I have some spare time and cash.

With the moderation of the summer into fall (i.e. afternoon temps below 90 oF and nighttime temps below 60 oF), we heralded the prospect of being able to begin shaping our new garden with happiness. Last weekend, with the cool mornings of fall, we made a concerted effort in the garden. Our progress so far:

Two long flower beds tilled and mulched down the sides of our concrete path that runs through our front lawn. We have two rosebushes planted in these beds so far.
..PICS COMING..

One 8′ in diameter, circular flower bed dug and tilled in the lawn to the left of our house and to the left of the driveway. This bed has been planned for grand effect - so far we have planted a centerpiece tree in the middle of this bed - an Oklahoma Redbud. The rest of the bed will be used for springtime flowering bulbs such as daffodil, crocus and tulip - and possibly other small perennials/bulbs. Maybe Phlox.
..PICS COMING..

Five Emerald Green Arborvitae (Thuja Occidentalis “Smaragd”) evergreen trees planted along the key northern border with our neighbor, Mr. Max. These trees have a moderate growth rate, and grow to a height of about 12′ and a width of about 4′. These should be ideal for our property boundary, while not overgrowing their welcome likes the infamous Leylandii do. Jason will not let me have any Leylandii.
Anyways - these five “Smaragd” are planted 6′ apart along the northern boundary. We began at the back of the property and worked our way to the front. We estimate we require another five to complete the desired length of boundary.
..PICS COMING..

One Buddleia Davidii “Black Knight” (NOT Dark Knight as hubby kept calling it - I think we need to catch up on our movie watching, too…) which we just planted this very evening (at the cost of two mosquito bites - I’m never gardening in the evening in late September ever again). This was planted as a cornerstone to the yard at it’s very northeast point, behind the line of Thuja and in line with the Honeysuckle fence. “Black Knight” grows 8-12′ tall and 8-10′ wide, and has a reputation for having one of the most fragrant and proliferous flower displays of all of the Davidii Buddleias. Commonly known as the “Butterfly Bush”, this fast-growing tree-like shrub should serve to attract butterflies and hummingbirds into our garden.
..PICS COMING..

Hopefully, all of our newly planted trees and shrubs will do well. They all have 1-year guarantees on them, and I am keeping my receipts. Fall, however, is an ideal time for planting trees and shrubs - and so we have capitalized on that fact.

In the interests of statistics - I have decided to measure our trees and post their heights here in order to determine how much growth we are getting out of them. Here is the first installment of that growth log:

As of 09/23/2008:

Oklahoma Redbud height = 82″
Thuja #1 height = 29.5″
Thuja #2 height = 27.5″
Thuja #3 height = 24.5″
Thuja #4 height = 24″
Thuja #5 height = 22″

Buddleia height = unmeasured as of right now.

Not bad for about four days total work!!

And so we embark on our growing and gardening escapade at our new house. Wish us luck!

Well, it’s looking like I might be boring cyberspace for the foreseeable future with Stormskies. I mentioned in my last post that I was looking into the possibility of shutting the site down……but after considering everything and looking into all the alternatives for Open Door, I am now considering just keeping the status-quo.

A few concerns were brought to my attention, namely the possibility of someone acquiring this domain name after me and using it for obscene material, and also the possibility of my losing my main email address with the ditching of the domain. Now, admittedly these issues should have been readily apparent to all but the most dense……but they weren’t to me, let’s just say that.

Another big spanner in the works was the fact that - after signing up for a Blogspot account - I discovered that some of the computers I use on a daily basis refuse to run the “post” application on Blogspot - leaving me with little if any time or opportunity to actually USE Blogspot. So - it looks like sticking with a Wordpress application on my own domain is probably going to be the lesser of several evils.

So - the Door’s staying Open for now, I guess. The rest of Stormskies may end up being shelved or turned into something more appropriate for a website belonging to me nowadays……maybe a sort of combination of photography/DIY/new house/hobby type thing. But then of course - considering I can do all of that on my Blog here, there’s really no need to have a homepage with that junk on it, too. So I might just scrap the main website and keep Open Door as my sole work-in-progress.

This is an announcement to air the possibilities of my closing this website down within the near future. Not that there’s really that many folks out there who will really be bothered by it……but I owe it to this Blog to at least put it “out there”.

But it’s not only this Blog that could be facing the axe. It’s my whole Stormskies.com domain. If I could keep one aspect of my website going - it’s this Blog, Open Door. It’s the only thing that I write on, the only thing that gets updated and the only thing that even keeps my feeble little toes still dangling in that great pool of world wide web.

But - alas, this website was created as a gigantic and lumbering testament to storm chasing - and just as my day-to-day life and budget can no longer support storm chasing, nor can it support this website. It’s not just the financial aspect of it (let’s face it - $9/month is really a drop in the ocean), but it’s the principle of it. Paying that $9 per month to keep this dusty Old Testament of Storm Chasing alive which hasn’t been updated in the past three years and probably won’t be for another three (not counting Open Door) is not practical, not sensible and not logical. There are plenty of other chasers out there who chase more than I do and see more than I do - and post about it more than I do. My heart and my time are no longer captured by chasing. It will forever live on with me as the provider of some stark and stirring memories and as instigator of great adventures across the globe and Plains……but I cannot live off it, and I know it.

Chasing has become too expensive and too inappropriate to have such a large presence for me online, and - truth be told - if I were to “create” a website from scratch today - it wouldn’t be focused around storm chasing. It is just one tiny fragment of what makes me me - and that tiny fragment no longer warrants it’s own online presence any more than, say, my hobby of feeding my birds in our back yard, or some future DIY project.

So - to close - I am still considering all options for Stormskies……but unless I am dissuaded from this course of action by some unknowingly heartfelt messages in response to this post (which is unlikely considering my hits are down to an all-time low and people no longer post here save one or two times per year), I consider that an outside chance.

If I fold Stormskies permanently, I may look into obtaining a Blog elsewhere that doesn’t require a fee. This would be the most sensible plan, as a Blog provides me with all methods necessary for putting writings or materials online and for posting “for the hell of it”.

I guess it could be interesting to see how much my domain name is worth. Anybody wanna buy?

Food seems to be a recurring theme in my everyday thought process these days. I am constantly either wondering what we are going to eat for dinner, devising a grocery list, cooking or cleaning up after cooking. I don’t mind - because I am by definition a “foodie”, and I love preparing and cooking meals.

However - the exact technique that allows one to cook fresh, healthy food during the work week is still eluding me. My diet during the work week generally consits of tea and cereal for breakfast, a coldcut sandwich for lunch with a couple of crackers, and then something for dinner like a Lean Cuisine with a side of vegetables or something. Oh….and that odd half-box of crackers or cookies for an evening snack when I’m feeling particularly willpowerless.

I have surmised that it is just not possible to eat truly fresh food while working full time. I’ve read thousands of online tutorials for healthy eating, recipes, tips and hints and cheats for the “working woman”, inspirational accounts from Bloggers who whirl around their house 24-7 cooking, prepping, sauteeing, baking and steaming food for the upcoming work week……I’ve read all this, to no avail. Now - I’m not saying that our personal current eating habits are BAD (far from it - I buy the lowest sodium frozen dinners I can and the ones that purport to be the most healthy, and I supplement them with sides of vegetables when I can), but I AM saying that it is just not possible to run a household seven days a week on freshly prepared meals unless you revert back to a 1930s-style of life whereby all that the woman of the house does is stay home, cook and clean.

Just look at it this way. OK - I spend my weekend shopping for food, and I buy ingredients to make, for example, spaghetti. Pasta, peppers, ground turkey, tomatoes, garlic bread, pasta sauce. These things are all in my refrigerator when I get home. Commence the dinner comparison:

FRESH: Arrive home, 5:20PM. Kick off shoes, throw purse into corner, feed the fish before they eat me, use the restroom, husband arrives home, 5:30PM.
Arrive in kitchen, fill large pot with water and put on boil for pasta, find skillet and place on heat with olive oil, extract turkey from refrigerator and decant into heating skillet, 5:45PM. Ask husband to set the table, preheat oven for garlic bread, prep bell peppers and tomatoes, adjust heat on skillet and pasta pot, get husband to open jar of pasta sauce, 5:55PM. Turn A/C down because I’m heating up in the kitchen from all the work, add bell pepper, tomatoes and sauce to skillet and cover, extract garlic bread and put half of it in the oven, add pasta to boiling water, 6:05PM. Construct meal when all is ready, pour some wine, switch everything off in kitchen and sit down at dinner table, 6:20PM. (After dinner, spend approximately 10 extra minutes washing dishes and loading dishwasher). Time is around 6:45PM when we finally get to start our evening and stop working.

“PRE-PREPARED” FROZEN: Arrive home, 5:20PM. Kick off shoes, throw purse into corner, feed the fish before they eat me, use the restroom, husband arrives home, 5:30PM. Hug DH, check e-mail, consult the freezer for our dinner choices, start them off in the microwave, 5:35PM. Switch TV on, set table, swap dishes in microwave, 5:40PM. Sit down with dinner, 5:45PM. (After dinner, maximum cleanup time about 2 minutes). Time is around 6:00PM when we can start our evening and stop working.

Hmmmm. As you can see, the frozen vs. fresh argument is quite strongly stacked in favor of frozen dinner entrees during the work week. Not only does it save approximately 45 minutes of time on any given night, but also it is less stressful, I am not worn out by 7PM, I’m not dying of hot flashes from the work, it’s cheaper, and I am not grumpy by the end of it. To anybody who does the former every night in addition to working full time - I salute you. You do what I cannot.

Of course there are always ways of injecting nutrition into your daily routine - and I don’t disagree with the assertion that I could do that more often. My breakfast cereal could be changed to a wholewheat variety (something I intend to do - as Cornflakes in the morning generally means for me hungry again at 10:30AM), and I could cut out the snack crackers and substitute vegetable trays or platters, or fresh fruit. Guess if I wrote my own report card - I’d say “must try harder”.

Well, we opted for Burger King last night, unfortunately. Dinner can never be very good when suffixed with “unfortunately”, can it?

We opted for the “Steakhouse burger” from Burger King. I will not be ordering it again. I was after a regular-old burger fix, and instead I got a burger with a dry, bitterly charred square patty of strange “steak meat”, a mound of curly, fried onion-type things that one usually sees on top of green bean casseroles at Thanksgiving, and an oh-so-strange brown “sauce” smeared on top of the curly, fried onion-type things. It was this brown sauce-type condiment that really, truly turned this rather odd burger into a behemoth of taste-bud battery, however. Had I to describe it, I would have to liken it’s taste to a cross between earwax, paraffin and bitter blackened wood. There was nary a scrap of savory flavor to be had. It gave the entire burger a bitter, chemically backdrop that just dragged the whole meal down.

I will not be eating this burger ever again. Come to think of it - I am not entirely sure whether or not I will be eating at Burger King again. Their fare, in comparison to - for instance - Backyard Burgers’ food, is quite poor.

So - just FYI - if you do go to Burger King……don’t ask the King for a Steakhouse Burger. Bleh.