Northern Noise

I love the fact that days are getting longer, the sun is shining, summer vacation is looming, and the world has taken on a cheery glow.  However, there is one aspect of spring that I dread each year.  The slow reveal as the snow slips away of the yard cleanup that has to happen. This year the melt has brought previously unknown horrors.  Apparently over the winter the black dog decided to expand her evacuating exploits - we have poo all over the damn yard.  See, our dogs are usually in the  house or in the pen, so clean up is localized.  But this little dog is an escape artist, and no matter what we've tried she would escape during the day and run around in the yard.  We knew her destructive powers to some extent.  She, literally, chewed down three smallish decorative trees that I've been babying for the last 7 years.  She found a sled that didn't get put away and gnawed the sides off.  Now we have realized that she's pooped all over the place and we have to tread car

Tonight our family sat around and had a discussion about the book Animal Farm .  Aileen has a seminar tomorrow where she has to take a position on a statement that says (basically) "The weak are always exploited by the strong, which is unfair."    Bob and I were trying to convince her to take the position that the weak deserve to be exploited.  It turned into a great conversation.  We talked about what makes people strong or weak, the different kinds of strength and weakness, and whether people have choices about how to live their lives and where they end up.  We talked about getting things done, and even horrible people like Stalin could be successful at getting their goals accomplished.  It's just that the goals were flawed. We talked about how society exploits people, and how lots of people seem to prefer to be told how to think, what to buy, what to believe, who to vote for, what type of soda to buy....you get the point. Most people are like the sheep in Animal Fa

Okay, so are you loyal readers seeing pastel-y colored easter eggs on my blog background or just black??  I see easter eggs, but my mother says it's all in my psychedelic mind....

I've always liked Dolly Parton.  I remember her first probably in the movie 9 to 5 where she uttered the famous words, "I"m going to turn you from a rooster to a hen in one shot!"  I really liked her in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas , where she sang "Hard Candy Christmas" which is a great song.  The movie A Smokey Mountain Christmas with Dolly and Lee Majors is my favorite cheesy holiday movie, and is now a tradition with my own kids. I think what I like about her is that she's smart, and she's talented and she seems genuine.  Even with the big hair, the big boobs, and the big personality, she seems like a real person.  One who can laugh at herself, who enjoys life. Her music is great.  A few years ago we started listening to her bluegrass albums, which was great. Halos and Horns is probably my favorite.  She made an album that was all covers of old folk tunes from the 60's, which was also fun.  I especially like her reactio

One thing I love about Sunday morning is pancakes.  It's not that I really like the actual pancakes that much, but I love the process of Sunday morning pancakes at the Hadaway Household. It starts with Bob standing in front of the sink lamenting the huge amount of dishes that were left after Saturday night.  (In addition to the tradition of pancakes on Sunday morning, we have a tradition of no dish washing on Saturday nights.)  After he laments awhile, he digs into the dishes.  About halfway through the process, and after cleaning any key cookware, he either gives up or calls upon an offspring to continue the chore.  Meanwhile, tubs of flour, sugar, cartons of eggs, boxes of Jed baking mix and a jug of milk emerge from shelves and refrigerator to cover all available counter space.  At this point, I make sure I stop entering the kitchen, as it's just too scary.  Around this point in the process, Bob turns on some music (Neil Young, anyone?) which adds to the general sense of

Overheard today... "This chocolate is so good that if I had fire ants invade my mouth, I wouldn't even care!  Unless they tried to eat my chocolate."

So I learned how to change the background on my blog to all sorts of cutesy things... including Easter eggs in bright spring colors.  Hmmm, I wonder if keeping up this trend could cause me to become one of those perpetually happy, Pollyanna, elementary-school teacher types? Nawwww, probably not.

Last night I heard a noise in Jed's room.  I peeked in and saw Ali lying on his bed with him, reciting Antony's funeral speech from Julius Caesar .  It was amazing to watch.  Jed was listening and offering his opinion about her performance.  After she was done, Ali came out and gave me a hug and said she loved her little brother.  It made me get a little teary.  A few minutes later, Ali was in the bathroom and Jed came out and told me, "When Ali comes out of the bathroom, will you tell her she's welcome to come recite Shakespeare to me any time." When I was pregnant with Jed, both of his sisters expressed a lot of concern about having a "half-brother."  Hannah told us that she, "HAD to like Ali" but wasn't sure she would like having a brother.  I remember hearing the girls talk about the situation.  Hannah explained to Ali that it was helpful to have a younger sibling because "you can blame stuff on them."  Ali nodded in agreem

Bobbi Flekman : You put a "greased naked woman" on all fours with a dog collar around her neck, and a leash, and a man's arm extended out up to here, holding onto the leash, and pushing a black glove in her face to sniff it. You don't find that offensive? You don't find that sexist? Ian Faith : This is 1982, Bobbi, c'mon! Bobbi Flekman : That's right, it's 1982! Get out of the '60s. We don't have this mentality anymore. Ian Faith : Well, you should have seen the cover they wanted to do! It wasn't a glove, believe me. One of the greatest movies, ever......