Rural Dreams

Bad Luck Comes in Threes

First, I read the New York Times headlines in my inbox and learned that Jam Master Jay of Run-DMC was shot in the head last night in a recording studio in Queens.

Then Steve came home unexpectedly. I thought maybe it was too cold to paint outdoors at work. No. He got fired. His boss blew up at him about a misunderstanding about how many hours Steve was going to get during the winter months. Said he felt manipulated, freaked out and fired my sweet husband. I have an evil prayer that cancer is eating away at the man this very moment, and it probably is, even without me wishing it. I feel terrible for Steve.

We sat around, staring at the walls, saying we were glad we had a tennant for the new house. We had lunch and played with Aidan in a daze.

Then the phone rang and our mortgage broker told us that the house we are supposed to buy in less than two weeks appraised at more than $40,000 under what we agreed to pay for it. Unless we can find another appraiser that has a different opinion about it, no house.

Ugh.

Bushit

The New York Times said that there were thousands of protesters in Washington DC on Saturday. There were at least 100,000. Does "thousands" accurately describe over 100,000?

This is simply false:

"Fewer people attended than organizers had said they hoped for, even though after days of cold, wet weather, the sun came out this morning. Participants said the shootings in and around the city in the last three weeks had kept people from planning to visit Washington."

That is, the part about people being scared to come and the turnout being less than expected is false. The part about the sun coming out is true. It was a gorgeous day.

Everyone that I talked to and heard talking was absolutely amazed and delighted at the turnout. And not only was there a huge presence in Washington, but 100,000 in San Francisco, 4,000 in Chicago, 2-3,000 in the pouring rain in Augusta Maine, 2500 in Taos, NM, 2,000 in Kingston, NY, 3-5,000 in Seattle, and 10,000 in St.Paul. The turnout there was particularly large there as a reaction to the death of Senator Paul Wellstone. There were protests in many other cities in the United States and throughout the world. Seeing such a dismissive article in the New York Times on page 7 really made an impression on me about the power of the media. We are given the message that war is inevitable and that Americans support it, when the fact is that there is a huge anti-war movement already. The Times article said Americans were scared. It's not true. As a sign at the protest said, Bushit.

Some other signs I got a kick out of:
God Bless Hysteria
(on a stroller) Hannah says NoNoNo to Bush's War
(worn by a girl) Smart Students, not Smart Bombs

There were so many more, I can't remember them. I heard about Wellstone's death on WBAI on the way down to Long Island. I can't help thinking it is mighty suspicious and I cried in the car stuck in traffic on the Major Deegan Expressway.

We caught the bus in Plainview in the rain at 5:30 in the morning. Aidan was amazing and thought that the bus ride was terrific. We were so grateful for the beautiful weather and amazed at how many people were going from Long Island. There were four busses that left from different parts of the island and there were two families on our bus from the neighborhood in Freeport where I lived through high school. The bus let us off right at the rally and Aidan immediately said he wanted to go home, despite hapily chattering on the bus that he was going to a march for peace. We resolved this by sort of kid hopping - just continually finding a kid that Aidan could play with. The problem was that the rally went on for three hours, by the time the march happened, we were exhausted. I now have a protocol for bringing small children to a protest: go with other kids, bring a stroller, and do something particapatory with them. I am really happy though that we made it through the day so smoothly. Aidan slept the entire ride home.

Oh, and one last thing, I felt incredibly safe. There was almost NO police presence. I honestly didn't see a uniformed officer the entire time. It was actually strange, but it made me very glad.

Update:
FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting) has an action alert on their website regarding this and asks people to e-mail or call the New York Times and NPR.

Our Wooly Bear

It has been an oppressively grey autumn so far, so I took Aidan to Lake Taconic State Park on Friday to get out in some rare sunshine. It was a glorious fall day - the kind where the colors are all impossibly bright and crisp - and I don't just mean the foliage, the grass is ultra green and the sky is super blue and the clouds are at their puffiest and whitest. We spent a couple of hours there, enjoying 2 separate playgrounds and the sand around the lake. As I was trying to get Aidan back to the car, I came across a catapillar.

I showed Aidan and he wanted to take it home, even though we've seen this same caterpillar around our house several times. He has always looked at it, but been nervous about touching it. I told him that if he wanted to bring it home then he should pick it up. I didn't really think he would, but he did and walked gingerly to the car with his little hand outstretched and the caterpillar poised on his finger.

When we got home, I told him he had to let it go outside, but he wouldn't have it, so I put it in a mason jar and found it on the internet. I love the internet. It said it liked dandelions which was a relief for two reasons: we could feed it in the mason jar and it wasn't some invasive pest from across the ocean that destroys apple trees or old oaks.

We kept it in the mason jar overnight and I could see it eating the dandelion leaves and creating an impressive amount of caterpillar poop. I kept telling him over and over again that we were going to have to set it free. I was resisting the temptation to keep it in the crisper drawer of the refrigerator over the winter as the website says you can do. We'll have to try that some winter when we're not moving. I was dreading the upset that would be caused by liberating the caterpillar, but Aidan surprised me by reluctantly doing it himself before we went to Grandma's on Saturday. I was so proud of him.

We saw Michael Moore's Bowling For Columbine on Saturday night. It's a documentary that explores why we have so much gun violence in the United States. It is entertaining and shocking and funny and sad important. I hope EVERYONE sees this movie. Yes, you.

And here's a little article from Tyson. It seems some military sort of folks think attacking Iraq is a bad idea.

Oct 26th, Washington DC

We will be taking the bus from Long Island to Washington DC on Saturday, October 26th to tell the powers that be that we oppose war with Iraq. I went during the Gulf War, and it was one of the most incredible experiences of my life - I was in high school and there was no visible opposition to the war. I was the only student on the bus, in fact, most of the others were older than my parents. We had no idea if there would be a large turnout. As our bus crested a hill we got a view of a stadium parking lot below us absolutely packed with not cars but busses. We all gasped and cheered. It was incredible. So for me, protesting is not just about communicating my beliefs (because it usually feels like noone is listening), but also about communing with others who feel the same way I do. It is inspiring and makes me feel like maybe the WHOLE world isn't insane.

And now Tyson, my dear brother, is going to the protest on the same day in San Fran! All that time we were beating the crap out of each other as kids, I always knew that deep down we were allies ;)

I'd like to make some signs or maybe even puppets on sticks! Any ideas? I'm thinking something that Aidan can get into too.

I blog in my head all day long

I really do. I wish more of it was making it to my computer.

The weather has really changed suddenly and we had our first hard freeze last night. The leaves are starting to change but they still have a long way to go. It's funny, I thought they'd be peaking about now.

Steve came home from work early yesterday (Pirate's Day he called it) and we went for a walk on the Harlem Valley Rail Trail. It's an old railroad bed that has been converted into a path. It is close to the house we are trying to buy so I took some pictures. Even though we signed the contract, I can't bring myself to say "the house we are buying". The sellers haven't signed the contract yet and we put a stipulation in it at the last minute that they have to remove the underground oil tank that has been there for over 30 years. The way we worked it out, it won't ultimately cost them a cent, but if it has leaked, we want it to be in their hands and not ours - so it needs to be done before we buy the house.

Here is the front door and here is the whole house. I know, it's huge. It is a two-family house. The secondary living space (on the right) is an antique store right now and we have a zillion ideas about what to do with it. It could be a commercial space or a two 1/2 bedroom apartment. It is going to have to generate income somehow for us to be able to afford the house. It's right on the road to Great Barrington in Hillsdale. The road is busy, but not fast - the house is near an intersection and the speed limit is 40mph. We could walk to the post office, hardware store, grocery store, playground, baseball field and tattoo parlor! I feel like we've let go of the dream of living on acres of land (for now) but the advantages of being right in town make it seem worthwhile (for now). There is an old post and beam barn (the house dates from 1850s we are told) behind the house that Steve hopes to convert into music studio and woodshop. There is one acre of land that needs some work, but it seems very manageable. I have been planning gardens and outdoor rooms in my head. I want to build an earthen oven, among other things.

We are going to have to paint it and re-roof it right away. Any ideas about a color scheme are appreciated. Right now, the roof is green, and the house is light brown with white trim.

And now, as per Living Nappy's request, I leave you with some local color. This billboard is on the way to the barn from the Taconic Parkway on Route 23. Here's a closer view. It has a trademark symbol and reads at the bottom, "The Arthur Levinson Foundation for Art". The billboard is owned by ClearChannel Communications, which I find amusing. I used to think that it was a pleading message, and for a while it had graffiti on it that said, "leave me alone" which I interpreted as God's voice. But then I thought maybe it is a command, like, make God happy.

It Really Doesn't Work

I have been depressed over this impending war with Iraq -and I don't really tend to get depressed. I just can't shake this feeling of doom, it almost feels worse than September 11th.

I listened to congress on NPR on and off on Tuesday. They were having a "debate" but they don't really debate, it seems, they just take turns talking. The man who introduced the debates had a strange accent that I couldn't place - it was really bothering me until he revealed that he was Hungarian. He went on to say that he had lived through war and bombings and death and destruction and that he abhorred war, BUT that the resolution giving Bush permission to launch a pre-emptive strike without the support of the international community was necessary. His logic, like almost everyone else that I heard speak was sheer madness. One democratic representative from Florida said that his constituents had strong reservations about this resolution, but that he was going to vote for it anyway. What happens when our representatives flat out refuse to represent us and acknowlege that they are doing so as they do it? I'm convinced that our system doesn't work at all and I am very very sad.

The CIA released a report today that indicates that they believe that the likelihood of Saddam attacking us unprovoked is very low, but if we attack Iraq, they believe that Iraq would be likely to respond with chemical or biological weapons. Which makes perfect sense, if you get attacked, you fight back. Who could blame them?

Home Sweet Home

We got home late Monday night. I was immediately impressed by the fall smell in the air - undectable through the jet and car fumes at LaGuardia, but very nice on Long Island. We had dinner at Steve's mom's house and then drove home. Wes got skunked while we were gone and still smells awful. My morning glories finally bloomed after holding out the whole summer - that seems to be what they do, I grew them on Long Island one year and they were just blooming around the first frost. They had beautiful flowers and dying foliage. The plant I have now looks gorgeous though and everything is green here after a hot dry summer. The ticks are back too after being mysteriously absent all summer.