The drafting table has to leave the kitchen, and I am turning the cats into winter hats … just as soon as I am capable of walking (or even sitting) without pain.

I had gotten out some beads and wire and planned to sit at my kitchen work table and fuss around with them. I needed my pliers and other jewelry stuff. I start walking from the kitchen to the den to get said things, when Myu jumps in front of me, throws herself down and demands attention. Unfortunately, I was in mid-step, and the cat was now under my quickly descending right foot, so I threw my weight to the right side to avoid stepping on and killing the cat. My left foot swung wildly, slid across the floor, wedged under the very tight edge of the drafting table stand, with one toe in particular jamming itself under the somewhat sharp metal leg … as I started to fall forward.

I did what I always do when experiencing a pain unlike any other pain I have have ever experienced and went limp and dropped to the floor right where I was, howling and, of course, cursing loudly. I think that was the only thing that kept me from sitting here telling you I broke my toe. Well, I don’t think it’s broken. It moves, and a manual examination and comparison of both feet indicate that everything is where it should be and feels solid. I have ice on it now, and it doesn’t seem to be swelling, though it’s going to be a horrible shade of bruised blue, and it’s going to be excessively painful for who knows how long.

When I say excessively painful, I do mean excessively painful. I can’t express how painful it is without cursing like a sailor, so I won’t even try. The toe hurts. The foot hurts. The leg hurts. The hip hurts. The small of my back hurts. I hurt. I did not need this. This sucks beyond words. It’s a holiday weekend, and I can barely walk. And the PAIN!!! OMG! THE PAIN!!! It is unreal. Almost the worst pain I have ever felt in my life.

The next time one of the cats pulls this stunt, I am stepping on the cat. Whichever one it is, I am certain it will make a nice winter hat or maybe the lining for some gloves. Perhaps the two survivors will learn not to throw themselves down in front of moving humans in tight quarters (like doorways or near tables).

And that table has to move ASAP. I have maimed myself on it one time too many.

Most elected officials who decide they don’t wish to seek re-election to their current office, wait until their current term is over before throwing in the towel and calling it quits, but not Sarah Palin!

That’s ’cause she’s a maverick!

See, I knew it. That all three cats were adorable affectionate creatures yesterday meant that today they would be hellions.

We have already had hissing, spitting, and a fight.

It isn’t possible for there to be a lasting cat peace in this household, and there’s always one of them to blame for starting it all off. Today, it’s Myu. She got grumpy, because I’ve been busy this morning and didn’t let her crawl into my lap for a nap. Therefore, she decided to beat up on Tora. This woke up Ronin, and now all three of them have lost their minds.

Well, at least yesterday was nice. I look forward to some future day when yet again I have three sweet cats.

Last night, after I thought about it a while, I decided to go ahead and order a number of skeins of Lion Brand’s new made in the USA wool yarn. I’ve been working on something marketable, but I need wool yarn, and I need it to be naturally white and ready to dye … and the right price. This new yarn is exactly what I have been looking for.

I went to the Lion Brand’s web site, the only place to get said yarn at the moment, and tried to order four skeins. Ordering four skeins was the best way to make the shipping costs be reasonable, as ordering less increased the cost too much thanks to the shipping charges. It’s completely stupid to only order small amounts of yarn when shipping is involved. Anyway, there was exactly one skein left, and while I was trying to decide what to do about that (maybe order some of their other acceptable yarn products or some needles I have been wanting) even that single skein sold.

On the one hand … awesome! People want it, people are buying it, and Lion Brand will keep it around for a while. On the other hand … I didn’t get any before it sold out, and who knows when they’ll have more. So it looks like I’ll have to put my project on the back burner a while longer, but at least I know what yarn I want now and where to get it eventually.

Lion Brand Yarn has introduced a new line of yarn, and I suppose they have redeemed themselves for the Fisherman’s Wool being made in China.

LB Collection Pure Wool Yarn

Part of our line of affordable, luxury fibers, this 100% undyed wool roving yarn, is spun in the USA, from fiber from American-raised sheep. This natural yarn with great texture is perfect for hand-dyeing, as well as felting.

At $4 for a 182 yd skein of worsted weight wool, it’s totally in my preferred price range for dying and felting projects. I will be ordering some as soon as I have some spare cash!

Kudos to Lion Brand.

Every rare once in a while there comes a day when all three cats are blessed and wonderful creatures full of love and joy at the same time. Today has been just such a day. There have been no unauthorized cat activities, no fighting, and most importantly, all three have been lavishing me with attention and affection.

I have been enjoying it as much as I can, because I know that come tomorrow, these three adorable and sweet cats will turn back into the little monsters they usually are once again, and there will be unauthorized cat activities, fighting, and the shunning of humans^†.

Why can’t they be like this every day?

It is entirely possible they have committed some great cat sin and I just haven’t found the evidence of it yet. They do tend to be extra sweet under those conditions as well. For now, they get the benefit of the doubt though, because they really are being wonderful kitties.

1. † Except Tora. She never shuns us lowly humans. She’s still a little monster though. [↩]

A construction worker in Texas is three times more likely to die on the job than a construction worker in any other state. Texas is ranked number one for deaths of construction workers, with California coming in second (with twice as many actual construction workers). This has been some pretty big news locally the last few weeks, owing to some recent construction worker deaths in downtown Austin, and it finally got the attention of the federal government. They are sending in more inspectors and getting a little fussy about the situation.

What was Governor Perry’s response?

“Let free enterprise reign, and be wary of over-regulation.”

“I think by and large we have the appropriate oversight to keep our citizens safe.”

“I probably put that [more construction worker deaths than any other state] to the cause of we build more things than anybody else. It’s like saying Texas has more cars than anybody else, because we’ve got a lot of people.”

And his response to the Labor Department sending in more inspectors specifically?

“Great. I hope they’ll send more assistance to secure our border as well. The federal government has been an abject failure in supporting Texas in places it needs to be spending dollars.”

As a wife of someone who works in a construction-related field, all I have to say to Perry is kiss my ass. I’m sure it is no skin off his nose that construction workers in Texas are dying when they needn’t. The fact that Texas is #1 in construction worker deaths doesn’t worry him at all. I doubt he even knows anyone who works in the field, though I bet he knows plenty of people like Mike Stearns who had this to say about it:

“All that regulation adds to your overhead and you can’t operate at a profit.”

Yes, yes … the almighty need for profit! Who needs safety regulations? What does it matter if some people die, because companies don’t want to follow existing safety regulations? It’s not anyone they know, so it doesn’t matter. All that matters is getting to do what you want, when you want, and how you want in the process of making as much money as possible. If a few people die, well, that’s just the cost of business, isn’t it?

So to Governor Perry and all the construction big-wigs who think having oversight and safety regulations that are followed and keep people safe are bad for their business … human life is more important than making a few extra bucks on your projects.

And KISS MY ASS!!!

I first heard about the beef recall by JBS Swift a few months ago, but at the time, I was lead to believe it was a limited recall in a very specific area (not anywhere near here). Since it’s now been expanded (again), and I know a lot of people buy these kinds of products ahead of time for July 4th BBQ, I thought it prudent to pass this along. There hasn’t really been much of anything about this is the national news. In fact, I’d totally forgotten about the beef recall.

In connection with the voluntary national recall by JBS Swift Beef Company for possible E-coli 0157:H7 in some of its products, H-E-B is notifying its customers and advising them to check their freezers for the beef products listed below.

* Raw Beef Briskets with plant inspection #969 (EST #969) with sell-by dates between 5/12 and 6/20
* Raw Beef Inside skirt steaks in a Styrofoam tray with sell-by dates between 5/4 and 6/20
* Hill Country Fare Beef for fajitas with a sell-by date of 5/23
* Any fresh ground beef in a Styrofoam tray with sell-by dates between 5/9 and 6/20

Currently, H-E-B does not have any of the impacted JBS Swift Beef products in its stores or in its supply chain. H-E-B has no reported illnesses, and there have been no reports of illnesses in Texas due to this recall.

H-E-B is issuing this recall in an abundance of caution to ensure the safety of our customers. Please return products impacted by this recall to the nearest H-E-B store for a refund or replacement.

Customers with any concerns or questions can contact H-E-B Customer Relations at 1-800 432-3113.

Additionally, while out looking for the information about the recall by JBS Swift, I found this quote in a June 30 news story to be interesting:

“It is important for consumers to note that the recalled product from the date in question was sold by JBS as whole muscle cuts, not as ground beef,” company spokesman Chandler Keys said Sunday. “The ground beef that might have been associated with illness was produced by other companies who often do not use the antimicrobial intervention steps we employ in our facility to reduce the risk of the beef products.”

Well, in light of the newest information –the recalling of ground beef by JBS Swift– it sure seems to me that the above statement is an outright lie. If they didn’t have to recall their ground beef, they wouldn’t be, and yet now they are. Odd, yes?

Anyway, check your freezers for potentially tainted brisket, fajitas, and hamburger!

How did I allow myself to run out of my allergy pills?! How stupid! I would have sworn I went and got more some time ago, but it appears I meant to go get them and never did. Since June was so damn hot and dry, I really didn’t need them at all, so I never noticed. Well, we’ve had rain. Rain means mold spores. I need a pill, and I need it now!

Unfortunately, Lin is at a party, and by the time he gets home, I won’t feel like going to the drugstore. I guess I know where I’ll be heading first thing in the morning. Provided I can still breath enough to go anywhere.

I’m going to go rummage in the bathroom. Maybe there’s a pill or two left of one of the ones that knocked me on my butt too bad, so I stopped using them. I suspect I threw them away though. Dammit.

It’s completely stupid to allow myself to run out of a pill I sometimes need to take to breath well enough to even get out of bed! Gah!

Last night I did something interesting with the mashed potatoes. Instead of the usual milk, I added a butter, chopped fresh dill, dried and ground garlic, and Parmesan cheese. They were the best mashed potatoes I have ever eaten, and I will be repeating this recipe. Some people may crinkle their nose at the thought of dill, garlic, and dairy together, and I admit, I had my doubts as well, but the flavors melded together really well and no one flavor was at the forefront. Lin didn’t even know there was dill in them until I told him (after he’d eaten them). Though I have to wonder what he thought those little green bits in the mashed potatoes were. There usually aren’t green bits in the potatoes.

Anyway, thought I’d pass this along. Maybe it’s something common, and I’ve never heard of it.

I boiled two fist-sized potatoes and used 3 tablespoons butter, a tablespoon of the garlic, and a tablespoon of dill. I never measure the Parmesan, but I was quite liberal with it. Probably about four tablespoons or more.

It’s short. Just watch it. Explore the insanity that is the modern conservative mind.

Supposedly there’s a 40% chance of more thunderstorms today. It is a little cloudy. I wonder if we’ll get more rain? I could do with another cooler day with another long slow rain. Yesterday was wonderful. I finally got to spend some quality time outside in the garden.

I seriously need to go buy groceries and bake some bread. I am also feeling seriously tired and a little achy. I am at that point in the morning where I have to decide between downing a few cups of coffee and pressing on or going back to bed for a couple of hours. I will admit, I am leaning heavily toward getting more sleep. The cats agree. They’ve had breakfast, and all three of them have gone back to bed. I think I’ll join them for an hour or two. I love cuddling on the bed with the kitties on gray and cloudy mornings.

It’s finally been confirmed that there was E. coli in Nestlé Toll House refrigerated cookie dough. It was the chocolate cookie dough.

But wait! It gets better!

Health officials still do not know how E. coli 0157, a bacterium that lives in cattle intestines, ended up in a product that seems so unlikely to contain it. The risk usually associated with cookie dough is salmonella, a bacterium that can be found in raw eggs. None of the ingredients in the dough — eggs, milk, flour, chocolate, butter — is known to host E. coli 0157.

Federal investigators spent more than a week at the Danville plant and did not detect contamination in the equipment or among workers, Acheson said. “It raises the likelihood that it was an ingredient,” he said. “And it really means that industry has to be constantly vigilant, because foods we think of as low risk could be contaminated with a deadly pathogen.”

I would say that “eggs, milk, flour, chocolate, butter” possibly being contaminated with E. coli is disturbing. I find it especially disturbing seeing as I have to go grocery shopping tomorrow, and all those things are at the top of my grocery list. Where does Nestlé source these ingredients? How do I know the eggs, milk, flour, chocolate, and butter isn’t from the same sources? Factory food is shipped around and mixed together, and factories sell the same products under different brand names, so their is the potential there might very well be something in my local store with so little risk of killing me as to be negligible … which might actually kill me.

And now, step into my mind as I contemplate tomorrow’s shopping trip:

The eggs I buy are regional, from somewhere in Texas. I doubt they send eggs from Texas to Virginia for making raw cooking dough. I especially doubt they send free range, yard nesting chicken eggs from Texas to Virginia for any reason at all. These are special eggs, which is why I pay three times more for them per dozen. These eggs are not the sort used in mass produced refrigerator cookie dough. So, my eggs are most likely safe to buy and eat.

The milk I buy is also regionally produced. Now milk is one of those things that does get shipped around and mixed together before packaging and selling, but once again, I get special milk –free range, no added hormones, no antibiotics. This is not milk used in mass produced refrigerator cookie dough. So, my milk is safe to buy and drink.

The butter I buy is yet again regionally produced. But in this case, they were bought by a large creamery, and there’s no way to be sure they don’t also produced wholesale product as well as retail brands. I am suspicious enough of the butter to put off buying butter. We’ll make do with the two sticks I already have. Olive oil is healthier anyway.

The flour I buy comes from Vermont. It’s a better flour and a well-loved and respected flour among bakers. I would say I trust my flour supply to be safe. I hope so, because I have to buy flour, and the only other options at my store are far more suspicious. The flour they make is very nice, and I hope it’s too nice to use in mass produced refrigerator cookie dough. So, I guess I buy the flour and have faith in a brand I like.

But let’s talk about the chocolate, shall we? I know that Nestlé sources its chocolate for its refrigerated cookie dough from itself. Says so on the package. I need to get chocolate chips for cookies. I usually buy Nestlé. Nothing could compel me to buy any chocolate of any kind branded with the Nestlé name tomorrow. The added problem is that Nestlé is such a large producer of chocolate, there is no way to tell which chocolate or chocolate chips aren’t in some way connected to them without a whole lot of research I don’t want to do. Therefore, no chocolate of any kind. Not even candy. No matter the brand. It’ll suck, but getting sick would suck worse.

Does all this sound crazy and paranoid to you? I’m not overly obsessive about this stuff, but I do try to keep up with who is making the food I eat, and which big company is putting out some secondary brand without overtly mentioning they do … or who large companies sell ingredients or product to for reuse or repackaging. The pet food recall brought home loud and clear the facts that one small company can have far-ranging and devastating effects across multiples of brands at multiples of companies, and that large companies put out crappy store brand and generic products at the same plants using some of the same ingredients. These things are true for the human food supply just as they are true for the pet and animal feed supply.

It may sound crazy and paranoid to think this much about what groceries to buy, but to me, it’s modern age common sense, considering all the recalls there are every year on all manner of edibles and the disgusting crap being shipped in from elsewhere … and just how awful most of the food production process really is. Sure, it’s not The Jungle anymore, but it’s really not that much better, at least not for the animals and plants (or the consumers). I shouldn’t have to wonder what thing in the grocery store may next be recalled for making people sick. I should be able to walk into the grocery store and buy anything at all with no concern about it being safely edible.

We don’t live in that world. We live in a world where corporations are willing to cut corners, lie, cheat, and ignore problems, all in the name of that almighty dollar. That puts the burden on the consumer to stay vigilant and be knowledgeable about how their food is made and where their food comes from. I could write posts all day every day trying to convince people to eat more locally and regionally, preach about following the corporate trails to determine who is making what and who they do business with, but I am not an evangelist. It’s a decision every consumer has to make for themselves.

A few years ago, I didn’t give a damn about where my food came from. I bought whatever was on sale or brands I recognized as “big” and pressed on with the eating. Then there was one recall too many and too close together, and I decided to try something different: eating locally and regionally grown foods. Yes, we pay more for our food, and yes, sometimes eating locally also means eating seasonally and so the diet can get monotonous at times, and yes, it means I sometimes have to do some research before buying something at a grocery store, and yes, sometimes it means we don’t get to eat something we want to eat, but I’m fairly confident our food won’t make us sick. If it does, I know exactly who to go to to complain … and they don’t live in China. It seems a small price to pay –being thought of as a little crazy or paranoid– for not having to wonder if something I ate will be recalled tomorrow (or just make a few of us sick and never gets recalled at all).

So, I’m not going to tell anyone “you should eat like we do,” but I do think everyone should think about it and decide if they can make a few changes to their buying and eating habits and become more aware of the source of their food, or decide they don’t give a damn and trust luck and statistics to be on their side. I never trust luck or statistics when health and life are on the line. Do you?