Here comes Santa Claus...

Just a few random notes from America's Outback:

-Thanksgiving was quiet and lovely, with a nice dinner of turkey breast and the usual fixin's, a nappish afternoon, and knitting circle in the evening. I got kudos for Laz's mohair sweater, now finished (pictures forthcoming), a two-color (gasp!) sweater I just started for him, and another project I've finally figured out after three false starts. Laz says he wants a blue hat, so I'll get on that soon since he only has one that fits and it doesn't match his coat (gasp!)....
-Antonio promptly came down with a stomach virus and was out of commission for a few days. Laz and Maggie seem to have had some version of it last week -- it's been constant replays of Carrie around here lately. Nuff said. I was playing the nurse-hero (albeit an occasionally snappish one) and, since pride always goeth before a fall, now I've fallen ill. Now who will clean the toilet and air out the bathroom three times a day?!? Blecchh.
-Just before I got sick, I managed to pack up and remove FOUR big blue boxes of stuff from the house. Project Anti-Clutter will resume shortly.

Happy Thanksgiving!

"Happy" Thanksgiving -- yeah, right. I'm just gonna hang out up here for a few days till the "festivities" are over. They might "pardon" the turkeys in some places, but we're pretty far from civilization here and I'm not gonna take my chances. I'll give thanks -- for my butt not being in the oven, that's what I'm giving thanks for today.

Our "Lady Turkey" (as Lazarus calls her) is up on the roof today, no doubt sensing that it's the best place for her these days. The "Boy Turkey," who's at least 25 pounds, couldn't fly a foot off the ground if his life depended on it, but lucky for him we're only making dinner for the four of us. If we get an elk next month on our hunt, he might just make it through Christmas, too...

Maggie's new sweater and hat

I finished these a few weeks ago but just got around to doing up the pictures:



The sweater is big on her, and that's okay because it wears like a sweater dress now and it'll still fit her next year. I'm done knitting for Maggie this season, since my mom made her two beautiful sweaters recently and the sweater-coat she made last year still fits nicely. Now I'm working on a mohair sweater for Lazarus (using mohair from the local fiber processor, just like the alpaca-wool-soy silk I used for Maggie's sweater above), and I'm about to dive into two-color knitting on another sweater for Laz. I'm also planning a few holiday gift projects but I won't write about those here because, well, you know.

The comforts of home

We're back from our camping/deer hunting trip -- no carcasses in tow -- and it feels so dang good to be home. It was a good trip, with perfect daytime weather (nights hit about 30 degrees, though, which makes my cold-hating butt near-miserable). Laz and Maggie did really, really well, and Lucy is an awesome camp dog. As always, Antonio was an amazing outdoorsman. I even did okay, after three cups of strong coffee each morning. I don't sleep well in the great outdoors, no matter what the weather, so mornings can be a bit dicey for me (always have been -- just ask my mom and dad what I was like on our family camping trips), and having to take care of two toddlers with few conveniences on hand hardly helped. But we did well, and although our area seemed completely and strangely devoid of wildlife and thus a terrible hunting ground, it was a good trip.

Here are some highlights -- Laz and Maggie in their play tent:



And these are from our very best day (according to Lazarus, and I'd have to agree), when I took the kids for a wonderful hike in the deep forest:



I really look forward to camping with them again, though not till next summer when the days are longer and the nights warmer, and one or both kids are out of diapers....

The final highlight of the trip: I got a flat tire on the way home (I drove the kids in the 4Runner; Antonio took his truck and went home by a different route), and changed it by myself, in the fast-closing dusk, with two tired, boogery, poopy, hungry kids on hand. I was just finishing up when a state policeman pulled up to see if we were okay. Yay me.

Further proof that our nation's "leaders" are running amuck

I think we're back online... which is great, because I have some seriously pent-up ranting energy. Let's start with this:

Labor Dept. Is Rebuked Over Pact With Wal-Mart
(The New York Times, Nov. 1, 2005)

The upshot: Wal-Mart made a "deal" with the US Labor Department: Wal-Mart breaks the law, and the Feds give them two weeks' notice before coming to investigate AND ten days AFTER finding violations to impose fines and citations. Oh, and Wal-Mart lawyers write up the deal, the Feds wave it through, and no one has done anything wrong whatsoever because that's the Republican Way.

The Labor Department's inspector general does have a problem with this: his report (according to the NYT article) "criticized department officials for letting Wal-Mart lawyers write substantial parts of the settlement and for leaving the department's own legal division out of the settlement process."

"The report said that in granting Wal-Mart the 15-day notice, the Wage and Hour Division violated its own handbook. It added that agreeing to let Wal-Mart jointly develop news releases about the settlement with the department violated Labor Department policies."

I know, our "leaders" long ago erased the line between corporate and civil control of our nation... but they at least tried to hide that fact. Now they don't even seem to give a shit what anyone else thinks -- either they're arrogant beyond (our humble) belief, or they believe they're right. The Right, right? Gah.