Minding my own beeswax

Number ONE son worked on a honey farm for 13 summers and a few winters too.  The boss's wife,  Queen Bee, was and still is a second mother to him.  He was no drone, heading up the outdoor crew for most of those years.  I never cared much for bees, not that I am allergic and break out in hives or anything, but I am fond of honey.

We buy it in 3 liter jars and go through about three or four a year.  Someone had given us a large chunk of honeycomb which for some reason we didn't eat and it sat in a dish in the pantry for six months or more.  today I decided to do something with it.  Tanya said throw it out.  The comb was all darkened and it looked unappetizing. 

I stuck it in the microwave to see if I could melt the honey out of the comb.  It melted all right.  The comb turned really black and smelled disgusting.  Like the inside of the extractor house.  The wax floated on top of the honey but there was no way I could skim it off without taking most of the honey with it.

We compromised.  I took off most of the wax and the honey will be added to the dogs' porridge.  Tanya makes porridge (kasha) for us and the dogs every day in this cold weather. 

I got wax all over two plates and a large soup dish in the procedure.  Trying to clean beeswax off the dishes was not fun at all.  Sticks like glue.  Tried heating it in the microwave again.  Helped a little but I was quite a while cleaning up the mess.

Do you think I will EVER learn just to listen to my wife?

Righteous Abortion: How Conservative Christianity Promotes What It Claims to Hate

Righteous Abortion: How Conservative Christianity Promotes What It Claims to Hate 
 http://new.exchristian.net/2012/01/righteous-abortion-how-conservative.html

I shared a link to this on Facebook and got comments from two people.

One of the paragraphs in the article stated that in The Netherlands abortion rates were 1/3 that of America per 1000 pregnancies because they "de-stigmatized sexual education, de-mythologized virginity, and invested in broad access to the most effective contraceptives available". One of the comments received pointed out the obvious (though of course the religious right won't see it as such): If we truly want to reduce abortions (which we can all agree is good, right?), then promoting birth control and women's rights works! If we take away education and access to birth control, there are more abortions and more risky abortions which means the mortality rate for the mothers goes up also. That is anti-life.

Of course, the post also attracted comments from one who was shocked by it all: Wow, one of the harshest and most critical things I've every read. Interesting how the writer likes to quote OLD testament. People who read the bible know that Christ came to liberate and save us from that way of life. And it  is quite post-modernist in it's approach - life is all about doing what you want, when you want. It's all about the individual. I won't comment again, but I caution people against this type of diatribe.

Now I totally agree with the first commenter.  The second was more difficult.  Last time I checked, the OT was part of the biblical canon.  Certain verses are certainly quoted enough when they suit the ideology at least, especially by those who claim the Bible is infallible and every word is true and it must be followed to the letter.  This approach would seem to ignore the fact that, as the second commenter pointed out, Christ allegedly lived and died to save us from the letter of the law which brings only "death" because no one can follow it perfectly enough.


And it  is quite post-modernist in it's approach - life is all about doing what you want, when you want. It's all about the individual. I thought "post-modernist" related to a group of artists but I have much to learn.  Being free to do one's own thinking and set one's own course, as opposed to doing what we are told by the religious hierarchy, sounds good to me.  Not sure what the problem is.


And the inevitable warning, not to read such stuff.  You might get a flash of liberating doubt?  You might learn something?  You might begin to think and analyse the nonsense you are being taught? Keeping the peasants ignorant and uneducated has been the methodology of control since the dawn of time.  The religious right frown on higher learning unless it is at THEIR institutions where you are taught WHAT to think, not taught HOW to think. 


At any rate, the article will be preaching to the choir for many of my readers and most of the others won't read it lest they learn something they don't want to hear.

Listening to the Old Songs

Darren is in the Doghouse

A Facebook friend of mine, we'll call him Darren because that's his name, posted this on his status yesterday.  Too funny.  His wife immediately countered that he was in the doghouse and his sister followed by posting the link to the JC Penny Doghouse ad, below.

Which takes us to a whole new area.  Gifts for women.  Men will never understand why women aren't happy when they get some electronic gadget for their birthday or Christmas gift. Men are ecstatic.  I got a jigsaw for Christmas from Tanya and thought I had died and gone to heaven.  If she gave me a slow cooker, same thing.  Women, not so much. There is no use trying to understand, just don't do it. Unless they are the practical kind and actually ask for it because they need it anyhow and finances are tight.

After I left Grad School, we lived in northeastern Saskatchewan for three years.  it was 100 miles to the nearest decent shopping and I made the trip once a week.  Ella usually went with me but the kid(s) were young and she couldn't always.  So one Saturday, I drove into Nipawin and among other things bought a garden wheelbarrow as we talked about needing one for around the yard.  Half way home, it occurred to me that the next day was Mother's Day and I had no gift for Ella. 

Able to resist anything but temptation and knowing exactly what I was doing, I proudly presented her with the wheelbarrow as her Mother's Day gift.  She did NOT see the joke as funny and even on her deathbed I doubt she forgave me.

Jewelery is fine if it is real.  Flowers, of course.  Perfume if you actually KNOW what she wears.  Real estate (but NOT potting soil).  Holidays to exotic resorts.  Gift certificates.  These kinds of things.  But certainly not anything useful.

Tanya's Name Day

Today, January 25th is the Feast Day of Saint Tatiana of Rome (January 12th on the Julian Calendar). It is also Robbie Burns Day so  presumably the saint balances off the sinner. Saint Tatiana is venerated by Orthodox Churches (and possible others, I don't know).  At any rate a complete list of her miraculous recovery from torture in 3rd century Rome can be found here.  They would wail on her all day and next morning after a night of prayer, she would appear before her accusers perfectly healed.  They finally cut off her head...(the original "Highlander"?).

Many countries celebrate "Name Days", which is to say if you are named Tatiana then your name day is January 25th. Tatiana is also the Patron Saint of Students so Tatiana's Day is also known as Students Day in Russia. 

A name day is is not quite as important as a birthday but still requires recognition.We needed groceries anyhow so we went into the city.  Flowers for Tanya and Tania and the four of us (Masha was already out of school for the day, Andrei was at work) had lunch at Sweet House, a not bad restaurant and a break from Marichka where we usually go. 

Next is Valentines Day which is catching on here, though International Women's Day, some 3 weeks after, is far more important. It is celebrated here like Valentines Day in North America. 

I am slowly learning "Do NOT miss buying flowers on important days". (like Tuesdays???).  But it isn't easy.  Our family was never much for celebrating "Hallmark" Days.  We did try to remember the kids' birthdays, though at least one has not forgiven her mother and I for forgetting many years back.  Apparently busy was not a valid excuse.

Next Year Country: "What the Hell do We Want Anyway?"

This blog post very nicely sums up the aims of the Occupy Movement


Next Year Country: "What the Hell do We Want Anyway?": John's Speech to Occupy Regina on 22 October 2011 By John F. Conway January 23, 2012.

Some very powerful and influential people are very, very unhappy with what you are doing and saying.

John Manley, CEO of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives – the group which designed the blueprint for the mess we are in – calls you “ridiculous” and just a bunch of “wanna-bes.” He speaks for the 150 largest Canadian corporations with assets of $4.5 trillion and annual revenues of $850 billion. They are the real rulers of the business dictatorship that now oppresses us. ..

Now is the Winter of our Desk Content*

* or as Peter Sellers might have said, Snow  fuel like an old fuel.

We have snow.  All Ukraine has snow.  A great deal of snow.  Three days worth, at temperatures around 0C.  Heavy, wet, heart-attack type snow.  The news tonight showed Kyiv up to its armpits and Dnipropetrovs'k, too. Traffic bogged down everywhere.

We went to town Friday for groceries and I was in town again on Saturday for printer cartridges but I should have stayed home.  The side roads were either heavy or slippery or both.  The plows and sanders had been on the main streets at least.

Yesterday we stayed put.  A neighbour ditched her Lada right in front of our house and her husband called a truck to tow her out.  Andrei came out in the evening to borrow my car.  The snow was "too deep for a Lexus".  His ride out brought a whole car load of boys "just in case".  They had to push both cars from our place to the corner.  I was young and foolish once myself.  Now I am not young anymore.


I did go out and shovel the walks twice.  Yesterday and again today.  With the help of the dogs who love the snow and were rolling around making doggy snow angels.  I hate shoveling.  My experience has been that if I leave it long enough snow usually disappears...Tanya gets tired of waiting for me and she shovels it. Guilt makes me do strange things.  Like shovel.

A tractor and blade cleared our road just as I finished shoveling.  Maybe we'll even get garbage pick up tomorrow.  The highlight of every Tuesday  - will the truck come or won't it?  Will the stray dog get he garbage before the truck does?  Heart pounding stuff out here in the village.

We were going to go to Dnipropetrovs'k today but declined the honour.  Good thing too.  The mini-bus from Dnipro took 4 hours to make a 2.5 hour trip.  Next week the roads and the weather will be better.  I hope there is something good at the theatre as we will take a flat ($35) and stay overnight.

One good thing from this wet snow.  Other than slippery, the roads will be heavenly to drive.  ALL the holes are filled in with packed snow and the road is smooth.