subfinder hates me

Well, as the saying goes, I'm back at it...subbing that is. Except it's kinda underwhelming because there just aren't many jobs to be had. Guess nobody's sick this year or something. Last year, this time, my phone was ringing off the hook. This year, not so much...hello? hello? (insert canyon echo.)

I think subfinder hates me or something. Even when I see stuff posted, I can't pick it up. Very frustrating!

Will work for...?

Found internet objects: Take a seat

"Take a Seat is an ongoing series of public furniture installations aimed at increasing the availability of seating options for [public transit users]. Perfectly functional chairs are rescued from trash piles and reassigned to [stops] where limited seating options leave patrons no choice but to stand for extended periods of time.
Take a Seat creates value simply by relocating an object to a new location. Rescued chairs - once liabilities - become assets with little to no effort. Seating solutions installed for Take a Seat are not affixed to [transit-owned] property in any way, opening up opportunities for collaboration with patrons who, if they take the initiative, may continue the project by installing the chairs in other locations that could benefit from more seating options."

Read more at http://jasoneppink.com/takeaseat

Attention fellow Americans

Attention fellow Americans,

If we have ever needed to turn things around in this country, it's right now. Business-as-usual just won't cut it. The economy is in the toilet. Years of misguided policies have left all of us worse off than we were ten years ago. We have a serious mess on our hands, and frankly it's our own fault. So instead of crying about things any longer, it's time to stop acting like helpless children, roll up our sleeves, dust ourselves off, and clean up the mess in Washington. We can't afford to sit back and whine about the mess we're in. It's time to start rebuilding this country again. Right now things are so bad we can't possibly allow them to continue. The choices we have made have had serious consequences. Now it's time to get our country back on track. We need to act now!

It's time to stop acting like children and start acting like grownups!

Probiotics for you and your dog?

Lately I've noticed a lot of heavy-duty advertising promoting the benefits of yogurt consumption (and probiotics in general). "Probiotics are microorganisms such as bacteria or yeast that can be added to the food with the purpose of regulating the intestinal flora of the host" (Parker 1974), so basically that means they help regulate the balance of friendly bacteria in your digestive tract. Probiotics are basically a fancy name for "live foods", things like yogurt, kefir, and sauerkraut.

Probiotics are often used to treat diarrhea in humans and animals (Barrows and Deam 1985, Lestradet 1995, Van De Kerkove 1979). This is a good thing to know for those times when you (or your pet) have to take a course of antibiotics because they typically throw your digestive system all out of whack. Probiotics have other general health benefits (Fuller 1989), so many cultures have some type of fermented food that is eaten for health reasons (yogurt, kefir, miso, etc). People with compromised immune systems or digestive disorders often swear by the benefits of adding probiotics to their diet.

So if you have a dog that's always had an iffy stomach, tends to have a lot of digestive troubles, or is experiencing a lot of stress (maybe your routines have changed drastically), a simple thing you can do to help is to give dog some yogurt (I use plain yogurt for this).

The nice thing about this is it's cheap but effective. It's totally safe, easy to do, can be done sporadically as needed or as a long-term daily regimen. Nobody knows for sure how and why it works, but I've noticed that my dog responds very well to having a little bowl of yogurt when she has an upset stomach, excessive gas, or diarrhea. It's also been my experience that this works very quickly, and usually the problem clears up right away.

If you're already using probiotics for yourself, then you're probably well aware of the benefits. The next time you have a sick dog on your hands, try using a bit of yogurt and just see if it doesn't help.

Reference:
The Use of Probiotics in the Diet of Dogs
Vincent Biourge, Céline Vallet, Anne Levesque, Renaud Sergheraert, Stéphane Chevalier*, and Jean-Luc Roberton*
The Journal of Nutrition Vol. 128 No. 12 December 1998, pp. 2730S-2732S

fun with meds

As any pet owner can tell you, getting an animal to take a pill is absolutely no fun. I have a dog who unfortunately is an absolute "pill" when it comes to taking a pill.

Getting my dog to take pills is tricky business. Part of the problem is she's too smart for all the usual moves. Every time the vet tries to give her a pill, I smile knowingly. She's a stinker and knows almost every trick in the book. Wrapping it in bacon, hot dogs or cheese? Yeah right! She finds the pill every time and spits it out. As much as she normally gorges down her food and eats all sorts of inedible things, she's too experienced to take a pill hidden in food, no questions asked.

I don't like the idea of forcing it down her throat, a common way of dealing with this chore. I'd resort to this if it was a temporary, one-time thing, but for a daily pill regime, no way. Way too traumatic for her. If I did that, she'd be a wreck every time she heard the telltale sound of a pill bottle being opened, and I'd never be able to get her to sit still. Plus she's over 80 lbs so wrestling with her isn't practical.

The only thing that seems to work with her is crushing it up and mixing it into peanut butter. She loves peanut butter with an unholy passion, so I've taken to buying a jar of natural unsalted peanut butter just for this purpose. She also is rather fond of yogurt and other fermented dairy products like keffir.

Now that I've found her weakness, med time is no longer the teeth-pulling event that it used to be. In fact, she actually comes running when I open her pill bottle! If for some reason she missed that cue, the sound of the mortar and pestle always brings her in my directions. She actually looks forward to her daily "peanut butter treat". In fact, I've arranged matters so that "medicine time" is a reward for ear medicine time...

open letter

I am now witnessing something that personally grieves me greatly, which involves close friends and family members of mine. People I love and care about, who are otherwise good, kind, and intelligent have recently been forwarding to me some malicious, misinformed and, at times, racist e-mails. Not creating them, necessarily; just "innocently" sending along. The problem is, that even if nothing malicious is intended by these actions, by sending this to me (and to others), it's implied that you assume that I feel the same way too.

What grieves me now is that people I love and care about are exhibiting behaviors that I’ve never seen in them, behaviors that I am unable continue to tolerate in silence. Needless to say, I'm very disappointed. I’m also saddened to be confronted with more and more evidence that we have a long way to go as human beings. Racism is nothing new to any of us, but I had hoped that the people I love wouldn't be involved in spreading these sorts of hateful thoughts with their names attached.

Should my e-mail be the repository of more of this garbage, be aware that it will always be deleted, just as all previous deliveries of this nature. The only place they belong is in the trash.

(adapted from "The politics of hate can be closer than we think" by Barrett Rainey)

slow times

It's been a pretty slow week around here. Nobody's called in sick anywhere, so I haven't had any work. This is the quietest my phone has ever been. In a sense though, it's fine. I've had interviews all this week. Nothing super exciting, but I should have some solid work fairly soon--although nothing full-time and location-stable.

This week is the first week that it's really sunk in that fall's here in a serious way. It's been cooler, rainier, and a lot more grey. I wore a coat for the first time this week. The heat's been coming on. Hot beverages have taken on a new importance in my life. I've been feeling like I have some kind of low-grade cold. Yep, all these are signs that fall has taken over.

This week's list:

1. abundant tomatoes-so many I have to give them away!
2. cooler weather (it was beastly the week before so I'm liking the change of pace)
3. saw an old student riding a bike down the street
4. meeting new people: there's a house down the street that's a lot like decleyre
5. getting the fall clothes out of the closet and putting summer ones away
6. starting the seed-saving process
7. finding a million baby food jars (with lids!) in someone's recycling bin
8. green gage plums
9. Eva's birthday
10. the last sunny days

this says it all...

I got this in my email today and this kinda says it all (at least how I feel about the whole Sarah Palin thing). In case you were wondering, I'm planning on voting for Obama--us over-educated INTP community activist types have gotta stick together, dawg. Besides, could you really see ME voting for John McCain? Yeah right! With a VP who thinks Iraq is a mission from God...don't hold your breath.

This is Your Nation on White Privilege
By Tim Wise
September 13, 2008

For those who still can't grasp the concept of white privilege, or who
are constantly looking for some easy-to-understand examples of it,
perhaps this list will help.

White privilege is when you can get pregnant at seventeen like Bristol
Palin and everyone is quick to insist that your life and that of your
family is a personal matter, and that no one has a right to judge you or
your parents, because "every family has challenges," even as black and
Latino families with similar "challenges" are regularly typified as
irresponsible, pathological and arbiters of social decay.

White privilege is when you can call yourself a "fuckin' redneck," like
Bristol Palin's boyfriend does, and talk about how if anyone messes with
you, you'll "kick their fuckin' ass," and talk about how you like
to "shoot shit" for fun, and still be viewed as a responsible,
all-American boy (and a great son-in-law to be) rather than a thug.

White privilege is when you can attend four different colleges in six
years like Sarah Palin did (one of which you basically failed out of, then
returned to after making up some coursework at a community college), and
no one questions your intelligence or commitment to achievement, whereas a
person of color who did this would be viewed as unfit for college, and
probably someone who only got in in the first place because
of affirmative action.

White privilege is when you can claim that being mayor of a town smaller
than most medium-sized colleges, and then Governor of a state with about
thesame number of people as the lower fifth of the island of Manhattan,
makes you ready to potentially be president, and people don't all piss on
themselves with laughter, while being a black U.S. Senator, two-term state
Senator, and constitutional law scholar, means you're "untested."

White privilege is being able to say that you support the words "under
God" in the pledge of allegiance because "if it was good enough for the
founding fathers, it's good enough for me," and not be immediately
disqualified from holding office--since, after all, the pledge was written
in the late 1800s and the "under God" part wasn't added until the
1950s--while believing that reading accused criminals and terrorists
their rights (because, ya know, the Constitution, which you used to teach
at a prestigious law school requires it), is a dangerous and silly idea
only supported by mushy liberals.

White privilege is being able to be a gun enthusiast and not make people
immediately scared of you.

White privilege is being able to have a husband who was a member of an
extremist political party that wants your state to secede from the Union,
and whose motto was "Alaska first," and no one questions your patriotism
or that of your family, while if you're black and your spouse merely fails
to come to a 9/11 memorial so she can be home with her kids on the first
day of school, people immediately think she's being disrespectful.

White privilege is being able to make fun of community organizers and the
work they do--like, among other things, fight for the right of women to
vote, or for civil rights, or the 8-hour workday, or an end to child
labor--and people think you're being pithy and tough, but if you merely
question the experience of a small town mayor and 18-month governor with
no foreign policy expertise beyond a class she took in
college--you're somehow being mean, or even sexist.

White privilege is being able to convince white women who don't even agree
with you on any substantive issue to vote for you and your running mate
anyway, because all of a sudden your presence on the ticket has inspired
confidence in these same white women, and made them give your party a
"second look."

White privilege is being able to fire people who didn't support your
political campaigns and not be accused of abusing your power or being a
typical politician who engages in favoritism, while being black
and merely knowing some folks from the old-line political machines in
Chicago means you must be corrupt.

White privilege is being able to attend churches over the years whose
pastors say that people who voted for John Kerry or merely criticize
George W. Bush are going to hell, and that the U.S. is an explicitly
Christian nation and the job of Christians is to bring Christian
theological principles into government, and who bring in speakers who say
the conflict in the Middle East is God's punishment on Jews for rejecting
Jesus, and everyone can still think you're just a good church-going
Christian, but if you're black and friends with a black pastor who has
noted (as have Colin Powell and the U.S. Department of Defense) that
terrorist attacks are often the result of U.S. foreign policy and who
talks about the history of racism and its effect on black people, you're
an extremist who probably hates America.

White privilege is not knowing what the Bush Doctrine is when asked by a
reporter, and then people get angry at the reporter for asking you such a
"trick question," while being black and merely refusing to give one-word
answers to the queries of Bill O'Reilly means you're dodging the question,
or trying to seem overly intellectual and nuanced.

White privilege is being able to claim your experience as a POW has
anything at all to do with your fitness for president, while being black
and experiencing racism is, as Sarah Palin has referred to it a
"light" burden.

And finally, white privilege is the only thing that could possibly allow
someone to become president when he has voted with George W. Bush
90 percent of the time, even as unemployment is skyrocketing, people are
losing their homes, inflation is rising, and the U.S. is increasingly
isolated from world opinion, just because white voters aren't sure about
that whole "change" thing. Ya know, it's just too vague and ill-defined,
unlike, say, four more years of the same, which is very concrete and certain.

White privilege is, in short, the problem.

It's applesauce time!

Once again, it's that time of year, time to make gallons of applesauce. When August's dry heat grates on my nerves, fruit flies seem to get a bit too prolific, and the winds are kicking up dust, there's at least one thing to look forward to-APPLES!

I get very excited about September. For one, it's back to school (before the novelty wears off). For another, it's the season of windfall apples. From August-October, the alleys, curbsides, sidewalks, and streets of Portland are full of apples that have fallen off the tree. Generally speaking, it seems that nobody in this day and age has any idea what to do with the all those apple trees growing in their yards. Sadly instead of being used, they typically fall down, hit the pavement, rot, and collect an admiring horde of buzzing bees and boisterous yellow jackets. But it doesn't have to be this way.

Lucky for me, I guess, that there's so many free apples for the taking. One of the cruelest things that's afflicted me since childhood is the absolute inability to eat anything except homemade applesauce. The blame lies entirely with my grandmother, whose homemade applesauce is the standard by which I judge everything. I'm sure there was nothing terribly special about her recipe or technique. The only thing I recall her doing is chopping up the apples she picked and cooking them down until they were absolute mush (and adding sugar if perhaps the end result was lacking in sweetness). To my palate, it was absolutely divine.

For some reason though, apple sauce that comes in jars at the store tastes absolutely nothing like this. For one it's absolutely bland--it doesn't seem to have any taste at all. If can you get past the total lack of flavor, there's still the texture. It's all wrong...to me, commercially prepared applesauce has a texture that's just weird...kind of mealy and strange, not smooth and creamy like the homemade stuff. Needless to say, I NEVER EVER buy applesauce at the store. If I'm in situations where I have to eat it, I pour tons of cinnamon and sugar on it to trick myself into thinking it's not horrible.

Fortunately I did learn how to make it from watching her. Making applesauce is extremely simple (small children could easily help do this), although a bit labor intensive. I deal with that by making it one of my seasonal chores that I plan on doing once a year. The only thing you need to make applesauce is a supply of apples, some large pots, and something to store all the applesauce in.

The first step is to acquire some apples. A lot of apples. Needless to say, if you don't have to pay for them, that would be best. If you have your own tree, this is the answer to what to do with all those apples that you didn't know what to do with. Otherwise, be on the lookout for neighbors whose trees are accumulating tons of fallen apples at the base, old apple trees on vacant lots or abandoned farmsteads. Sometimes you'll find them in the darndest places due to the nature of urban sprawl and rampant development...I know of a rather lovely apple tree that's growing in a corporate office park. If for some reason you live somewhere where there's literally no appletrees around (like NYC) your next best option is a trip to the countryside where there's U-Pick apple orchards. Only as a last resort would I recommend actually purchasing them retail at a store. To make applesauce you need a really large quantity of apples (think of full grocery bags full of apples), so this is not something you want to buy if you're paying more than 79 cents a pound. If you're totally screwed and have nothing available but expensive store apples, you might as well do something more manageable like bake a pie...those are good too.

The next thing I should mention about free apples is they're usually free for a reason--don't expect them to look like those waxed beauty contestants in the produce sections at the grocery store (wax is what makes them look shiny, real apples are rarely "shiny"). For one, free apples are completely "organic" in the sense that they came off a tree that's never been sprayed with the dozens of nifty chemicals that commercial orchards use to deter the hungry hordes of insects and pests that like to afflict apples. So for those of you who are trying to eat mostly organic foods, congratulations, this is about as organic as it could possibly get. What this means though, is that there's probably some worm holes, bad spots, deformities, and other cosmetic afflictions. Fortunately appearances aren't everything when it comes to cooking with apples.

When it comes to applesauce, beauty isn't what you're looking for in apples. Just close your eyes to all those cosmetic blemishes, and pick up anything you find that's structurally intact, doesn't have huge soft spots, isn't blatantly rotten, and isn't crawling with ants and other insects. A few holes are fine. A small brown spot or two won't hurt you. You'll be peeling and cutting the bad spots out anyway, so as long as it's nothing major, you can ignore it.

As far as quantities go, you'll need as many apples as you can acquire. Think brown paper bag! Apples cook down to almost nothing, so you will be able to cram tons of chopped apples into a pot, only to discover that the pot's half empty when you open it and they're fully cooked. Fill up a bucket full! It make take several days to acquire enough if you're scrounging around an neighborhood, or you may happen upon one very heavily laden tree and it will meet all your needs. One thing I don't recommend is storing found apples indoors if you can help it because they will create a fruit fly problem quickly.

As far as varieties go, it really doesn't matter which ones you use. My usual strategy is to acquire as many different varieties as possible--some sweet, some tart. If you use a combination of red, yellow, and green, you should have a complex array of flavors to work with. Reds are usually sweet but bland. Yellow apples are often ideal for applesauce. Green apples of course are very tart. Any one of these alone might be too bland or tart, but combined with another, often works nicely.

Once you have your pile of apples, you will need to chop them up into chunks. I own an apple peeler (The Apple Peeler, Corer and Slicer), so all I do is peel and core, then cut out anything that remains that I don't necessarily want in my apple sauce. (If you decide to get serious about cooking with apples, this is a good thing to have.)

If you're doing it with a knife, get ready for some chopping. Invite some friends over to make it all go a bit faster. You don't necessarily have to peel the apples, in fact I actually like a bit of peel in my apple sauce. You do need to core them to ensure there aren't any apple seeds in the final product, however.

The apples will turn brown once they're cut up and exposed to the air. If this bothers you, then you'll need to sprinkle them with some lemon juice to inhibit the oxidation. If you don't have lemon juice, immersing them in water kinda helps too, but everything floating on top will still turn brown. I for one don't care if they turn brown-it doesn't affect the flavor any, and I kinda like the apple butter look.

Once you fill up your pot with apple chunks, add a few cups of water, just enough to coat the bottom to keep the apples from scorching. This also facilitates the breaking down process by creating steam. It doesn't take much water because apples are already mostly water and sugar. In fact too much water can be bad, you'd end up with apple soup instead of apple sauce. If you let them cook for about half an hour, you usually can start mashing them down a bit at a time. If you have a slow cooker like me, you can simply chuck them in there, add a little bit of water to prevent sticking, and completely ignore them for 24 hours. (If you want to cook them down even further into something more like apple butter, add some sugar, and cook on low heat for a couple of days).

Once your apples are cooked down and mushy, you can decide what kind of texture you want. If you like your applesauce on the chunky side, try mashing with a potato masher. If you like it smooth (like babyfood), run it through a food processer or a blender. If you need to adjust the sweetness, now's a good time. You can use sugar or honey or any other sweetener that's not too strongly flavored. (Note, if the applesauce is going to be eaten by any infants, don't use honey.) If for some reason you used really bland apples and it tastes a bit bland, you can perk it up a bit with a little bit of lemon juice and some cinnamon.

If you want to can it, simply ladle it all into jars (quart size or smaller seems to work best) and process as usual in a boiling water bath. If you're freezing it, you can use freezer containers or freezer bags. Apple sauce is pretty good as is, but it also makes a great ice cream topping, apple pie filling (way better for you than that sugar stuff), pancake batter ingredient, or oatmeal topping.

Placemakers

Here's a nifty symposium that's going on this weekend in Portland, that brings together the idea of grassroots sustainable development, cohousing, and multifamily housing: Motivespace. Intended as "a forum for industry-related professionals and citizens to contribute toward a working model of “collaborative property development.” Collaborative property development is defined as the grassroots, bottom-up, citizen-led development of multifamily housing. The project is intended to teach neighbors how to work together to utilize Portland’s many resources for nonProfit and “self-help” housing development, in order to diminish the risk of new construction in a shaky real-estate market, and maximize the creative excitement of design as a tool for personal, civic, and social empowerment."

venue: Portland’s historic city hall (council chambers)
date: September 20th – 21st, 2008, 9:30 – 5:30 each day
moderator: Irma Valdez, Portland Planning Commission
organizer: motiveSpace Coalition, a 501c(3) in progress

Panelists include:
Brad Malsin, Beam Development
Kevin Cavenaugh, Tenpod Development
Judith Mowry, Office of Neighborhood Involvement (ONI)
Bill Cunningham, Portland Planning Bureau
Shane Endicott, The Rebuilding Center
Craig Ragland, Cohousing Association US
Eli Spevak, Orange Splot Development
Mark Lakeman, Communitecture

http://www.motivespace.org

Lilly's progress

A picture of a dog that looks a great deal like ours...


We adopted Miss Lilly around the end of May. She's a female lab mix of some sort (I suspect Labernese-part Black Lab, part Bernese Mountain Dog), which makes her a pretty large dog (a bit larger than what I initially had in mind) but she's very gentle and sweet. She was the best adoption candidate who was available at the time (due to her energy level--not super hyper, age (at least a year old), and temperament (not terrified of either me or my husband at the initial meeting)). Since most of the other dogs who were there were either tiny yappy dogs, had issues, were pitbull mixes, etc, we decided to take HER home.

I think she's adjusted well to living with us. She seems to do fine in the house and prefers to be indoors with us (I was relieved to discover that she was quite housebroken). I'm really glad we have our own place and aren't renting because I can't imagine a landlord being comfortable with a dog of her size indoors. She's not destructive, although occasionally she gets into things, but she's getting better about it as she makes her transition from puppyhood to adulthood. Thankfully, she doesn't get too wild, so I haven't had a problem with her knocking stuff over, although I had to train her not to jump up on people. She likes to chew on grass and plants out in the yard, so to keep her out of the garden (my pride and joy), I have fenced it, and she respects that.

I haven't done any crate training or used a crate with her because I don't have anywhere in the house big enough to keep a crate (that would be big enough for her) full time. I don't have a garage, and I can't imagine she'd be happy in the basement! Instead she just sleeps on her bed in the living room, and has a few other spots she likes to hang out in. I don't have a problem with her getting on furniture or going places she shouldn't. When we're gone, we just put her out in the back yard, and I strongly suspect she spends most of the time sleeping on the back porch waiting for us to come home.

She has quite a few chronic health problems (allergies) so she's been a regular visit to the vet. I have to give her a lot of meds daily and buy special food, but considering the rest of us have our allergies and issues, it's something I can live with in a dog.

She gets pretty dirty, but fortunately she doesn't seem to mind taking a bath (even though she's not too crazy about water). She LOVES being brushed, if I even pick up her brush, she gets really excited (and runs out to the spot in the yard where I usually brush her, and sits right down, all ready to go). She loves to play fetch, and loves chasing balls, sticks, and her rope toy. She loves going for rides in the car, and enjoys trips to rural areas where I can actually let her off leash. Her favorite thing by far though, is going for walks, meeting people (she gets a lot of pets), and going to the dog park.

She's very eager to please in general and responds well to positive reinforcement, and is very food/toy motivated so training her hasn't been too difficult. I was able to get her to stop jumping up on people (really important because she's a such a huge dog), and she responded well to other civilizing attempts which makes life more pleasant for everyone. She is much more calm and relaxed now that she's figured out our routine.

Although she had to learn, I can now take her on walks and it's actually pleasant and relaxing for me as well (she was quite the puller/lunger when we first got her). She had some issues when we got her (very fearful of other dogs-unfortunately she was never socialized) so we had to do a lot of work with that. Her fear/aggression behaviors are much improved, and now she does much better around other dogs (whereas before she was terrified of them). She still doesn't take too kindly to dogs barking at her, but no longer goes into a state of panic. I'm really pleased that she has really come around on that and I can now take her to the dog park and she actually enjoys playing with the other dogs. I also have got her to the point where we can walk past dogs on walks, and it's not a big deal for her anymore. That was NOT the case when we first got her.

She has definitely bonded with me, since I was home with her all summer, all day long, every day. She follows me around the house all day long and lays where she can keep an eye on me. If I sit still for any length of time, she'll plop down near my feet and go to sleep. In spite of her clingy ways, she doesn't seem to have much separation anxiety. She likes my husband too, (as he will do things with her that I won't), and is one of the few dogs I've had that doesn't have issues with men (fortunately I don't think she was abused). She's been fine around guests, and seems to do well around people in general.

She's not particularly "protective" or "guardy" so I don't really have to worry much about her biting anyone. She's pretty friendly with strangers (she figures we were all put here on earth to pet her), although at home, she is a bit more of a watchdog. She doesn't bark much, which is nice. When she does bark, it's at appropriate times.

Curiously, she's very good with children, which means she probably has some experience with them. It's a relief that I can absolutely trust her around children, she doesn't mind them a bit, even when they're squealing and running around. One of her favorite things about going on walks is interacting with kids. Cats on the other hand, are prey in her eyes, although she's to the point where she will ignore them if I tell her to. This is important as nearly everyone in our neighborhood has a cat, and you can't hardly go down the street without running into dozens of cats. My own cat won't go anywhere near her, but I don't worry about her going after the cat.

All in all, she's doing really well adjusting to our ways, and certainly has had a positive effect on us. She has lots of comical and endearing traits that we are always chuckling about, and has given me an excuse to get out more. Having her in our lives has been an interesting experience, mostly rewarding, occasionally frustrating, but she's a fast learners, highly intelligent and a very sweet dog. Now that we've had her for about 4 months, she's really got us all quite whipped, and found a place in our hearts.

I am a woman standing in line for justice

I'm a woman wearing combat boots and overalls with a headscarf
I am a woman standing in line for justice,
I'm a pen with too many indignations to write them all down
There are insults ringing in my ears, engines being revved in my direction, looks that could kill,
I am standing here unsatisfied with humanity,
I have stood in the forest breathing eternity, listening to the stories of the trees
I'm a garden full of lush green leaves, and buzzing bees, and wild corners constantly overtaken by thistles and dandelions
I'm a wine bottle full of old memories and sad songs
I'm accused of sitting on front porches, drinking in life's mysteries out of cracked mason jars
I have dreamed of 24 hour libraries full of creaky rocking chairs and cozy fireplaces
I'm the pair of chopsticks that can pick up anything
I'm a woman standing hand-in-hand with the kids that got picked last for everything
I have dreamed that all children everywhere could all sit on the porch swing together with brown legs dangling with pale legs and everyone has enough ice cream and hugs
I'm a woman who makes up ridiculous nonsensical songs while peeling apples or playing with children
I'm a woman who rides a bicycle with crow feathers stuck in the handlebars
I'm an immigrant in the land of flat screen TVs and tanks sized SUVs reading old books riding in the back of the bus
I'm a bus stop where impatient people are standing around waiting for someone to take them away someplace else
I'm a pot of green tea steeped in compassion
I'm the steam that rises swirling in the air like a ghost
I've dreamed of revolution in the streets,
A magical day where everyone goes to the playground, and no one drives to work

oh tomatillo

Tomatillos...the nearly perfect fruit (vegetable?).

It's amazing how easy it is to grow tomatillos in Portland. You'd think this climate would be all wrong for it, after all, tomatoes barely do anything here without heroic interventions, but no. I've grown tomatillos the whole time I've lived here and it is fabulously easy and effort-free. All you really gotta do is stick them in the ground, and get out of their way. Heck, they'll even do you the favor of dropping a few extras and re-seeding themselves for the following year. Totally amazing!

So starting around the middle of September they start coming filling out their husks. First just one at a time. Then finally they get going with a vengeance and you can pick them every day. If you have 2 or 3 plants, you have enough to make salsa verde, one of my favorite things in the world.

Here's how:

As many tomatillos as you can get your hands on (at least a pound)
1/2 of a medium onion, chopped. I like to use sweet onions
fresh cilantro leaves to taste
1 Tbsp fresh lime juice (1 lime)
1/2 teaspoon sugar
salt to taste
Jalapeño peppers OR cayenne peppers to taste.
Salt to taste

1 Remove papery husks from tomatillos (I squeeze them and they pop right out) and rinse well.

2 Roast in your oven (in a skillet or pyrex pan) until they get all juicy. If you don't have an oven, you can cook them on the stove. Place in a saucepan with just enough water to cover, and bring to a boil. Turn off heat and let them stand. Drain off the excess water. Another possibility if you don't want to heat up the house is to cook them in a slow cooker.

3. Combine tomatillos, lime juice, onions, cilantro, chili peppers, sugar, etc in a food processor (or blender, or grind wiht a mortar/pestle) until all ingredients are finely chopped and mixed. Season to taste with salt.

I made a HUGE batch of this in 2006 and canned it (the day before a major freeze when I had to harvest the whole garden and bring it indoors!) and it lasted for well over a year. It was so nice not to have to buy that bland watery stuff they sell at the store. Homemade salsa verde, like most salsa, is so much better!

1001 uses for overly prolific squash

Actually I'm only kidding, I'm not planning on giving a thousand and one uses for our lovely friend overly-prolific squash. And to tell you the truth, I haven't tired of my seemingly endless crop of 3 ft long beauties. I haven't resorted to gifting all my friends or putting them in freeboxes in front of the house.

I've actually succeeded in eating most of them. My usual trick is just to put a little bit of squash in whatever I'm already eating. So far it's been pretty effective. The rest, I cut up and freeze, because during the winter, the season of endless soups and pasta pasta and more pasta, summer squash is a much more welcome friend. In the spirit of the amazing bounty of squash (I've got at least 3 lying around the kitchen (taking up as much space as the toaster oven), here's my favorite squash recipes:

1: A simple side dish of corn and summer squash.
A. Cut up squash into small bite sized pieces, however much you think you need. For a side dish I do about a cup per person.
B. Put some oil in a skillet.
C. Saute squash until it begins to soften (but don't let it get too mushy).
D. Add a little bit of soy sauce (maybe a few tsps if you're into measuring-I'm not).
E. And then add the corn. You can use canned, frozen, or fresh-your choice. I like frozen best for this.

2: Summer vegetable stew (a good way to use up a bunch of vegetables when you're a bit overwhelmed with them)
A. Really, you can use any types of vegetables you have on hand, but for this batch I used tomatoes, squash and kale. It's also a good idea to have some herbs and onions/garlic for this.
B. Start with your firmest vegetables and cut them up into chunks.
C. Toss them into a slow cooker (crock pot) with a little water, or if you don't have one of those, you'll just have to use your biggest pot on the stovetop. Cook them down until they're just mush. (Tip: peel veggies with firm skins first) It's a good idea to throw the garlic and onion in at this stage. In a slow cooker, you can simply chuck everything that'll fit, turn it on high and ignore it for the rest of the afternoon.
D. Once they're cooked down to mush, transfer to a food processor and puree. Add a few tomatoes (or a little tomato sauce if you have any if you need to balance the flavor by making it a little more acidic). If you don't have a food processer, mash everything with a potato masher.
E. Return this to the pot, and add some herbs (I use basil, oregano, and rosemary because that's what's growing in my back yard. Stir them in, then add the rest of your veggies (cut into bite size pieces). It's a good idea to have a good balance between the stuff that got pureed and some chunkier stuff, it makes a more interesting soup. If it's all too thick, add a little bit of water or broth.
F. Feel free to eat some if it's soup weather, otherwise, freeze most of it, and enjoy it later when it's cold outside. (BTW: pint sized mason jars make great single servings)

3. Pasta Enhancement. If you're anything like me, when you get busy, you find yourself over-relying on quick and easy meals like pasta where all you're doing is boiling noodles and opening a pasta jar. Well when you start getting bored to death with what's in the jar, pasta enhancement is what's gonna liven things up a bit. Since we're planning ahead, this is a recipe for freezing.
A. Assemble any vegetables you have that might be good in pasta, and cut them up into bite sized pieces. It's a good idea to peel veggies (like squash) with thick skins first-when they freeze, they get weird.
B. Acquire 1 jar/can of your favorite pasta sauce. Dump that in with the veggies, just enough to coat everything a little bit (this keeps things from getting freezer burn.
C. If you have any fresh herbs like basil, throw them into the mix. They freeze well and you'll have the sensation of fresh herbs during the colder months.
D. Stir everything together and put in whatever freezer containers you prefer, in quantities that are good for single meals.
E. When you're ready to make the pasta, just thaw, and add some more pasta sauce, and voila, you've got some pretty awesome pasta sauce with very little effort, and you'll be amazed how good the herbs still are.

Well those are my three of my squash favorites. Hope you'll be inspired to look at your squash "problem" as a blessing in disguise.

speaking of dogs

So you could say I'm COMPLETE OBSESSED with this show on Animal Planet, "It's me or the Dog". Part of the allure is watching other people's BAD dogs and feeling like my adventures in dog training aren't quite so extreme.

My little four-legged love muffin is doing pretty well these days, and after months of training, she has become quite civilized. Things that we can now do quite successfully 99% of the time include: going on pleasant walks, playing nicely with others at the dog park (a huge breakthrough), a reliable come here, not freaking out when dogs bark as we're walking down the street, and behaving around cats. This is all pretty amazing considering she was an absolute mess when we first got her! She still sometimes chews on things she shouldn't, and doesn't like "ear medicine time", but I figure she'll outgrow the chewing eventually, and get over the squeamishness about something she'll have to endure off and on throughout her life.

These are the things I've learned this summer while training Miss Lilly from being a skittish panicker into a more confident and relaxed companion.

#1 I find that I am doing a lot of the same moves that I normally used with teens. Considering my dog is basically a big hairy teenager, it kinda makes sense.

#2 A tired dog is a happy dog. You know what they say about idle hands. Well if you're too tired to get in trouble, you won't get in trouble.

#3 When dogs know what to do, they'll usually do it. Just like teenagers, they need routines to fall back on. When teens don't know what they're supposed to be doing and have to figure it out for themselves, they tend to do everything you don't want them to do. When in doubt, give them some easy routines that they can follow.

#4 Dogs sure know how to hurt themselves...I feel like I spend way too much time at the vet.

been awhile hasn't it?

It's been awhile since I've posted hasn't it?

You could say I've been a bit busy this summer either enjoying our three month window of sunshine, training a dog, spending way too much time in the kind of establishments where you take a number, or trying to get a job. The common thread between all of this is after being in grad school, I was pretty over spending time on the computer. Unfortunately the job thing didn't pan out the way I had hoped, and in spite of getting called in to several interviews here I am with no place to go on September 1. Oh well, at least I do have someplace to go back to while I try to get my hustle on. If I get lucky, my quest to get a job closer to home my work out in the end...if not, I'm going to renew my love/hate relationship with commuting out to Beaverton on a daily basis. The thought of spending two hours in a car every day does NOT make me happy, but at least the work is usually fun.

sigh

I was really hoping to have a nice full-time job lined up by now, but it's just not happening for me. I guess it's sub time for yers truly...