How hard are you being hit by this latest sign of “global warming”? Here in the NorthWET I know we don’t get it as bad as you guys do in those middle states or the Northeast. But shazam, it’s below 12 degrees here this morning. That’s at least five degrees colder than I’ve ever seen it in this part of the coastal NW. And we’re not even into the really frigid months yet!
Yesterday we also had a tiny, localized, and almost completely unpredicted snowstorm (only about 100 miles wide, I gather), followed by bitter, bitter winds. Given our winter humidity (which is just like our summer humidity, only crunchier), this weather is more painful than many of my Minnesota memories.
This is when I wish I didn’t have dogs. I’m dreading walkies …
Friday, December 6th, 2013 by Claire | 11 Comments »
Okay, here we go. This will be the penultimate Amazon Christmas shopping list. It’s about pets and other animals.
And this one’s not strictly Amazon. If you or anybody on your gift list is looking for information on raising chickens, goats, rabbits, or any farm animals the place to go is the Backwoods Home Book Store. You’ll find livestock books under multiple categories, including Animals & Pets, Food Production, and Self-Sufficiency.
I have NFI in BHM Book Store sales (except for two books I wrote). But without BHM, this blog wouldn’t exist. They’re good people.
2. And when you and Fido are not getting out on these dark winter nights? Ava and I highly recommend a Chuckit! Indoor Launcher, guaranteed to spare your walls, furniture, and windows while keeping your most fetching furfriends entertained for hours.
3. Kongs are also a great way to provide entertainment and snacks at the same time. Just stuff ‘em with kibble, popcorn, Milk Bones or whatever (maybe add a little peanut butter or melted cheese for “glue”) and your pooch will spend happy hours “working” to extract the contents. Kongs come in multiple colors, sizes, and strengths, including large, small or puppy-sized, and Xtreme (for the power-chewer in your life).
4. Also for the power-dog in your family, the Bamboo Combat Bone Tugger is the toughest tug toy ever. I know. You guys have given them to me for Christmasses past. And as long as you never let Spike go off in a corner and just chew on it (that is, you use it only for tug-o-war then put it safely away), it really is indestructible. Back when he was a young tough, Robbie could have told you that personally.
5. Let us not forget our kitty friends. For the bored feline, Amazon has a variety of interactive cat toys.
6. And for the cat who prefers boredom, but who would rather exercise it in more than one position or place, cat trees and condos are quite the thing.
7. While not exactly a glamor gift, Amazon also carries a selection of pet medicines (and other vaguely health-related items) for dogs, cats, and Other.
For my last Christmas shopping column, I’ll return to one of the themes we started with: gifts and other goodies for preparedness.
Thank you all for using my Amazon links. You gave me a great November (second biggest Amazon month, ever; topped only by last November) and December is off to a fantastic start.
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If you missed them, here are the earlier Amazon shopping lists:
VI. Cyber Monday Week Deals in electronics and related things (some of which are going on until the end of the year).
Friday, December 6th, 2013 by Claire | 5 Comments »
I’ve been trying to get to the last two of those Amazon Christmas list columns. Then jed sent along “Dave Barry’s Gift Guide.”
Sort of a hard act to follow, especially when you’re peddling something.
Barry begins by telling us the real “reason for the season” (not what you think) and goes on to such gem gift recommendations as the Perfect Polly. Apparently a battery-operated talking plastic Chinese parrot. Or something. In each case, Barry waxes ecstatic … er. Well, waxes.
A sample: “Maybe some day we could replace the entire U.S. Congress with battery-operated plastic senators and representatives. Come to think of it, we could replace Congress right now with 535 Perfect Pollys.”
I’ll post my next Amazon list (animal lovers’) after giving you sufficient time to recover from Mr. Barry.
Thursday, December 5th, 2013 by Claire | 4 Comments »
That is, that otherProhibition ended 80 years ago with the ratification of the 21st Amendment.
In dubious honor of the current, much worse, and much longer, prohibition, it’s time to revisit that still-too-true olden-days bit of wit by Franklin P. Adams:
Prohibition is an awful flop.
We like it.
It can’t stop what it’s meant to stop.
We like it.
It’s left a trail of graft and slime,
It don’t prohibit worth a dime,
It’s filled our land with vice and crime.
Nevertheless, we’re for it.
The poem itself was written in equally dubious honor of the wussy work of the Wickersham Commission.
Thursday, December 5th, 2013 by Claire | No Comments »
Just FYI: JPFO’s latest gun raffle is for two uber-cool 1911s, engraved for JPFO’s 25th anniversary. Yep, the great Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership will be 25 years old in 2014.
These guns are the only ones like this that will ever be produced.
Tix are just $10 apiece or $25 for three and no more than 1,000 will be sold. (ADDED) And there will be TWO winners, one gun to each. (Or one very lucky person with multiple tickets could win both.)
We’re nearing the end of the raffle now. Must buy by the end of this month! Today is good if you think you might forget. :-)
Raffle is being conducted by “an Arizona charity” with all benefits going to one of the greatest no-compromise educational groups in the land.
Thursday, December 5th, 2013 by Claire | 5 Comments »
Been deadlining this week and it doesn’t stop. Thinking of you all, though.
Big Second-Amendment guy, Alan Korwin, is making news with a big First-Amendment case.
You can always count on the FBI … to be just 61% accurate in its mass-homicide stats. Heck, they could save taxpayers’ money by using random chance. Oh. Maybe they did.
“By threatening their lives as well as their budgets, Obama has created a huge class of losers, who statistically overrun the small class of winners and outweigh them in savvy…”
BTW. Still working on the candle-heater experiment. First trial was a spectacular bust and deadlines have prevented me from getting back to it. Hoping to try again this weekend.
Tuesday, December 3rd, 2013 by Claire | 13 Comments »
Since I’ve done my share of ripping into thug cops, it always seems fair to give the better ones a tip o’ the hat. And this tale — from a freedomista’s wary daughter — is pretty cute.
Her dad writes:
So my daughter S. moved away from home at the beginning of November. She graduated from a medical arts program in June, and Florida seemed like a good place to be. My mother-in-law lives there in a [huge community almost entirely made up of seniors].
We packed up the car and my wife took S. to FL to stay with her mom to help her out and until she gets set up on her own.
Mom is getting up there, and her health isn’t that of a youngster anymore. Her daughters all live far away, and most of her friends have passed. But 3 yrs ago at 85 she dumped her 75-year-old boyfriend and bought a house for the first time on her own. She’s fiercely independent, and even though her health is declining she will not accept any outside hired help. The only real “service” she has is a morning phone check-in with the county sheriff’s dept. elder unit.
Unfortunately, mom found herself in the hospital on Thanksgiving morning. She had been there a week. But Thanksgiving morning at 9am, the phone rang at her house with the call from the sheriff’s office. They were making holiday dinner and were inviting all the people on their check-in lists. S. explained that Mom was still in the hospital but could get out for the day, and gave them Mom’s direct number at the hospital so they could invite her to their dinner.
S. thought this was the end of the story.
At about 2 o’clock, S. is trying to decide what to eat before she goes to the hospital to visit, and there’s a knock at the door. She looks through the blinds and sees there’s a sheriff’s officer standing on the stoop. Raised the way she was, she’s automatically suspicious. What could they possibly want? She opens the door a crack to say hi and find out what’s going on, and she sees a big box in the sheriff’s hands. “Hello, I’m Sheriff Soandso. Your grandma told us you were here all alone on your first holiday away from home, and she was worried about you being all alone, worried that you wouldn’t eat, etc. So I brought a full Thanksgiving dinner in this box for you. There’s turkey, stuffing, ham, taters, veggies, gravy, everything. Oops, Sorry, everything but pie. The oldsters ate all the pie”
She was floored. She called the next day to say “Dad, I’ve been around enough to see the sheriffs serve papers, serve subpoenas, and even serve search warrants, but I never thought I’d ever see the day when a sheriff came to the house to serve me dinner! And Dad, it was even good!”
