A Couple Of Packaging Choices

Since April (and my Earth Day posts) I have made an effort to look at the packaging my purchases come in.

As convenient as pump soap is it comes in plastic bottles. Even refilling from larger bottles still involves buying plastic bottles. Below you see the difference between that and the thin plastic wrap in which some bar soap is wrapped. (As a side note Shirin pointed out to me that Bath & Body pump soap has gelatin in it; I try not to buy or eat things with gelatin as an ingredient since it is derived from collagen found in the bones, cartilage, connective tissue, and skin of animals, traditionally cows. Most commercially produced gelatin nowadays is produced from pig skin. That's kind of a yucky thing to smear all over your hands, isn't it?! Needless to say I will not buy this soap again anyway.)

Below is an assortment of laundry products. I've decided to do away with the non-chlorine bleach altogether, so once that's used up I just won't purchase it again. I've used both the Ecos liquid detergent and the Biokleen powdered detergent and found that the Biokleen will be my choice. It washes just as well if not better than the Ecos and the packaging leaves a smaller carbon footprint; both can be recycled but the chip board is better.

Obi-Wan Cannoli Battles The Dark Side

It's Saturday and time for some fun. For those of you who don't have time to watch a whole movie and love Star Wars (Shirin) this is for you.

Rescue Animals Are The Best!

Below is my coworker's son with their rescue dog, Chili. This dog has consistently been the most manageable, quirky, lovable, fun dog! One day last winter Chili just sort of showed up, cold and hungry. They kindly brought her in and took good care of her.

A few years ago they purchased (lots of $$$) two chocolate labs with papers from a breeder. These dogs have been destructive and a thorn in her side. Granted, this family was not suited for two huge labs who want to go running around. They've been fenced in and pretty much ignored, so really, it's not the dogs' fault. I think my coworker is finding them a new home with someone who will let them out and run off some of that energy. Kudos to her for that.

And to think that Chili was free.

Clever, Serious, Yet Humorous

I pretty much stay away from politics on my blog. Political wranglings are usually contentious and lead only to anger and bad feelings all 'round, but I think you'll enjoy the following article from the opinion page of The Independent, a newspaper in the UK.

It starts out... Something strange has happened in America in the nine months since Barack Obama was elected. It has best been summarised by the comedian Bill Maher: "The Democrats have moved to the right, and the Republicans have moved to a mental hospital." If you want to read the rest (and I wish you would) here's the link.

I Vote For A Four-Day Work Week

For someone who works hard all week the weekends are supposed to provide some respite. The problem is, the weekend is also the only time to catch up on chores too big to get done during the week. DEPRESSING! So, we always try to mix in some fun with the work.

First the work:

Layli watches from the safety of the stairs as Saeed power washes the exterior of the house near the dining room window. It's always interesting to me which cat finds a particular sound frightening. The power washer was very noisy and boomed on the wall. Layli was fine with it but Lupe had to hide. During thunderstorms Lupe is the only 'upstairs cat' to be seen and Layli is hiding. What are they thinking?

It doesn't take long in this rainforest climate to grow some pretty interesting stuff on the siding. Fortunately the power washer got it all off.

Closeup of the flowers on the above bush.

While Saeed cleans outside I clean inside. Before I can vacum I have to put up all the cat toys and furniture. Obi gets excited by the 'new' scratch post up on the coffee table.

After we were done it was time for dinner at the Saigon Bistro in Charlotte, our favorite restaurant. On the drive home we noticed some interesting and beautiful lighting as the sun hid behind the clouds.

At some point during the weekend we also went to Paneras for a meal of black bean soup and Meditaranean veggie sandwiches and reading. Saeed was reading The Human Zoo: A Zoologists's Study of the Urban Animal by Desmond Morris. I was reading Border Passage: From Cairo to America -- A Woman's Journey by Leila Ahmed, my next book for book club.

I guess there's no chance of our culture going to a four-day work week, but I think we'd all be healthier for it. I never feel rested or recreatationed enough before it's time to go back to work again. Saeed starts fall semester tomorrow so his three-month 'weekend' is over too. Oh well... we have jobs we like and that's a good thing.

Eat A Salad In A Hummer

I will let Maher do all the talking. Hang through the first two-plus minutes; the part I particularly enjoy is the 'New Rule' pertaining to Barack Obama, beginning at about 2 min 11 sec on the video and continuing to the end.

Daydreaming At Work

This is what I see when I look out the second floor window at work at the new office:

This area used to be nothing but farmland. I sometimes look at this house and try to imagine the people who dreaded our building going up across the street.

I'm not sure what they use this barn for. I see no animals near it or produce being sold there. Have we interrupted their lives?

Though I ponder the effect of 'progress' from their point of view, I enjoy looking out this window at the pastoral scene. At least if they get sick they can just walk across the street!

Why I'm Usually An Optimist

Despite my many grumblings about animal and environmental issues I am always so hopeful that people will come 'round and do the right thing. Here's a video link to just such a story, about how an area in the North Sea has become the first "no take zone" - an area in the ocean protected by scientists and fishmen alike. If successful it may lead to other such protected areas. Awesome.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8188935.stm

Why The Disconnect?

Perhaps you've heard the story of Elizabeth Carlisle; if not, click here to read why she's facing animal cruelty charges. The Petland store where she worked and committed the deed have a long history of animal abuse, but this post isn't about that. Lord knows there are millions of animal abuse stories.

I'm just confused and angry and want to get this off my chest.

It is all so grotesquely absurd. Clearly, many of us enjoy animals, long to be with them, want to share our lives with them, and take joy in their beauty and innocence. Yet somehow we can also be cold-hearted toward animals – we eat them, we wear them, we kill them for sport, and pay money to watch them be abused.

When a person takes pleasure in inflicting suffering, it indicates something deeply disturbing within the individual, but it also indicates something deeply disturbing about the culture which produces such individuals. I'm talking about the cultural paradigm we are all born into, which teaches us that animals are not entitled to the most basic of things: the right to life, the right to freedom, and the right to live on their own terms, without being the property or commodity of another. This is true for all animals, from dogs and cats, to cows and pigs, to whales, dolphins, tigers and elephants. They have no real protection under the law. As long as there is profit to be made from using them, they will be used. And as long as they are used, they will be abused.

Every day, all over the world, pets, entertainment animals, victims of vivisection, and animals used for food, clothing and other human pleasures suffer horrific abuses, and all over the world, people go on as if there is nothing wrong with this. How can people, who are rightly horrified at the behavior of Elizabeth Carlisle, not be willing to acknowledge their own participation in the legal torture endured by other animals?

How can people not see the paradox, the hypocrisy, the absurd inconsistency?

Spider

Saeed found this spider near the door to our crawl space.

The web has the typical concentric circles...

... but also a ziggy-zag section vertically.

From tip toe to tip toe it was bigger than the lock.

I thought I would be able to identify it by pulling up a spider guide online, but that proved harder than anticipated. As long as it's not a flesh-eating, highly intelligent, capable of human speech Acromantula, I think we'll be alright.

Needless to say we did not kill this spider. She was doin' her thang and we were doin' ours!

Happy Birthday To My Mother

Yesterday was my mom's birthday. I'm not sure she would want me to state her age, so let me just say that I hope I inherit her genes (and my Dad's) for longevity!

My mom is at that point in life where she doesn't want any more 'things', so I sent her a birthday card with photos of her great-grandson enclosed (the human one, sorry Cha Cha) and I would like to dedicate this post to my mother. Throughout my life my mom has shared with me her intense love of nature and all things beautiful. I have no doubt that the emotion I feel as I enjoy the flowers, trees, birds and insects is one of her many gifts to me.

In honor of my mom's birthday I took a walk in the rain and snapped a few pictures of the flowers blooming in her birth month. Too bad she couldn't walk with me to tell me the names of them; I label them 'the spidery flower' and 'the wierd yellow flower' but this is my shortcoming, not hers!

For you mom: (click on each photo to enlarge)

As I leave our subdivision you can see three Crepe Myrtle trees. When my mom used to come visit in the month of August she particularly loved these beautiful trees. The flowers can be white, pale pink, purple or bright fuchsia.

Crepe Myrtle

Crepe Myrtle buds

Cool flower in the flower bed of our subdivision's entrance.

An acquaintance in the subdivision across from ours loves to tend her flower beds. More than once she has invited us to walk freely through her yard whether she's home or not, nevertheless I am always reluctant to do so. As I snapped pictures of wildflowers across the street, her husband backed out of the driveway and repeated the invitation, so I took them up on it. She does a very cute job.

Right now the Black-Eyed Susans are in full swing.

Close up of the little orange flower to the right of the bed above.

How cheerful they look!

The center blossom is Shirin's favorite flower, what we call the 'beach flowers'. They certainly have a better name than that, but I think the first time she saw them and named them her favorite she was at the beach.

Beautiful tiny white flowers grace this sprig.

This is the one I call 'spidery' due to the long, graceful filaments.

These purple flowers must be August flowers; they were everywhere.

close up

Many blossoms about to bloom.

White version of the purple flowers.

They make me think of wedding flowers.

The flowers across the street. Notice the tall thin brown sprigs.

This is what they look like close up... wierd!

Some type of fern perhaps?

raindrops

This huge flowering vine wrapped itself around the light post. It looks sort of like a white morning glory but is the size of a dinner plate. Could it be a type of hibiscus?

A type of Lupine perhaps?

Cool burgundy-colored leaves with a pale green-colored cluster of .... what?

Close up of the 'what'. It is very cool looking I think.

These broad leaves were the size of dessert plates. They were growing in a dark area (my flash went off) and I felt like I was in the Amazon forest.

More of Shirin's 'beach' flowers.

Close up - notice the raindrop inside each orange flower.

Petite white petals with bright red centers.

Back in our neighborhood again, these Honeysuckles remind me of when the girls were little. They would pull out the center stamen(?) of the flower and suck off the sweet nectar. These flowers produce the most wonderful fragrance.

Now these are some weird looking flowers!

I can't even decide of the yellow parts are petals; they were almost too fleshy to be petals. The white "hankies" poking out so haphazardly definitely looked like flower petals, but Mother Nature must have been feeling silly when she designed this flower.

Notice the green insect. Its color exactly matches the green of the green parts of this plant, blending in nicely.

And lastly, a luscious bed of Coleus. When I was a child and not green of thumb (unfortunately I'm still not green of thumb) my mom let me try to care for a Coleus plant. It did quite well actually, but then you'd have to try really hard to kill a Coleus!

So Happy Birthday Mom, and thanks for the multitude of gifts you have given me to enrich my enjoyment of life.