Progress in The System

I haven't had much time to compose decent posts here lately because we've been so tied up with administrative stuff.  But it's having the desired effect.  Marcy finally got approved for Ohio Medicaid For The Disabled and we picked a carrier, so now we're waiting for delivery of the manual & provider directory so she can choose a primary care physician and then make an appointment.  That's a real relief to me.  Our son Derek got approved for Medicaid pretty quickly because he is under 18, no quibbles about it.  That's the way it should be - we provide for the care of those who really need it.  We also spent an afternoon at Social Security and I think she'll finally get approved for SSI assistance.  It still has to be looked at by some state disability board but I think it's the same one that just approved her Medicaid, so we should be OK there.  Too bad she is not eligible for regular Social Security Disability, but they ruled that she did not have enough work on the books.  Raising kids, caring for the home & neighborhood, being a room mother, raising tens of thousands of dollars for the PTA - these activities are irrelevant to Social Security.  It's for workers, not volunteers, and it's mostly women who pay make that sacrifice, who pay the price when they become disabled and find big gaping holes in the safety net.

I swear this picture was not selected to go with my next topic:  bankruptcy.  Our hearing is scheduled for mid-May, not much to do on our end but take Part 2 of the required credit counseling.  Part 1 told us that we were not doing anything wrong or living extravagantly, but that we got dealt a tough hand to play.

Sometimes I can detach from all this struggle and view it objectively.  It's interesting to consider all your possessions and their value in regard to the precious minutes of your life that are required to earn stuff, buy stuff, store stuff, clean stuff, dispose of stuff, let alone just to ENJOY the stuff.  The picture above came about when I realized I spent more time skimming than swimming and just let the chips fall where they may.  It's also interesting to be told that you can't get help because you have too much stuff.  And there are whole industries based on taking away your stuff and more industries built on the sorry fact that you ain't got no stuff.  Aw, stuff it!  George Carlin might say, "Move your crap so I have a place for my stuff."

Today is Marcy's mom's birthday.  Stella is 94.  We'll go visit her and take her a little gift, a framed collage of some recent photos of the boys playing music.  We wanted her to have a tangible reminder that they are not little babies anymore but young men getting on with their own lives.  She can't keep much stuff, but she'll like the picture.

Wild Greens For Dinner

This is broadleaf dock, a weed that I let grow all over my back yard.  We'll take the larger leaves that aren't too beat-up or bug-bit and we'll base our dish on that.

A few leaves of Garlic Mustard in the mix will make the flavor more interesting.

I've got so much lemon balm it actually serves as ground cover in parts of the yard.  Might as well add some to the greens pot.  It should balance the garlic mustard nicely.

We'll leave the dandelions out this time.  Been there already.  I might go back and dig out the taproot next time.

Chives are another flavor boost in the greens pot.  I actually pulled several wild onions from the middle of the yard, cut off the little fibrous root and chopped up the rest into the mix.  Yum!

I got caught up in foraging and forgot to take pics of the Poke and Long Lettuce that I also found.  Gotta eat that Poke when it's young or it will poison you.  I only plucked a few partially open leaves on some shoots only about 6 inches tall.  It's taller than me when it's grown.  I don't take chances.

Here's how you cook this bunch of yard trimmings:  After you wash the greens, roll them all up like a big cigar on your cutting board and cut slices about 1/4 inch wide.  Get your (cast iron) skillet medium hot with some extra virgin olive oil covering the bottom.  Toss those strips of greens around in there so it all gets a little oil and then stir occaisionally as the heat collapses it all down.  No salt, no pepper, no vinegar.  Just wild plants and a little olive oil.  We ate it with beef tenderized with an overnight marinade of wine and onions, slow-baked in the juice.  So there were some big strong flavors jumping up and saying howdy to each other but they complemented well.

Friday pics

Hope everyone is well.  There seems to be a bug making the rounds of everyone we know.  We had to reschedule Derek's eye exam so we wouldn't spread germs there.  Here are some old pics and some new ones.  Hope you enjoy!

Shhh, be vewwy, vewwy quiet, I'm hunting wabbits!

Friends, romans, fungi - lend me your ears!

Jelly Ear Fungus, sometimes called Judas or Jew's Ear.

Golden Ground Cherries hiding inside...

"Don't worry, stewardess, I speak Chive..."

Universe in a dewdrop.

One Morning In My Back Yard...

One moist September morning I looked closely around my back yard and took some of my best pics ever.  Guess which one is my favorite.

Not Socialist - Corporatist

So Ron Paul agrees with me:

WSJ April 10, 2010, 4:20 PM ET.Ron Paul: Barack Obama is Not a Socialist.NEW ORLEANS–Republicans and tea party activists are fond of accusing President Barack Obama of being a socialist, but today party gadfly Ron Paul said they had it wrong.

“In the technical sense, in the economic definition, he is not a socialist,” the Texas Republican said to a smattering of applause at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference.

“He’s a corporatist,” Paul quickly added, meaning the president takes “care of corporations and corporations take over and run the country.”

Supporters of the Texas lawmaker appear to represent a significant number of the 3,500 attendees here, fueling speculation that Paul is likely to win the straw poll later today. The Campaign for Liberty, Paul’s political outfit, declined to discuss how many of his supporters were at SRLC.

The Texan’s supporters often descend on political gatherings to vote for him in 2012 straw polls. In February, he won the Conservative Political Action Conference’s straw poll with a hefty 31% of the vote.

Copyright 2008 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Here's a good explanation that American Thinker posted almost a year ago:
 

May 22, 2009
Corporatism comes to America
By Lee Cary

"Fascism should rightly be called Corporatism, as it is the merger of corporate and government power." Benito Mussolini

Some members of the Republican National Committee have recently wondered aloud what others of us wonder privately. What name do we give to the direction in which Democrats and the Obama administration are taking America?

In 20th Century Italy and Germany, particularly during 1933-1945, fascism merged the self-interests of despotic, single-party rulers with large corporations for whom big war offered big profits. Mussolini called it Corporatism.

Garden Patch Update

Time to thin the radishes.  Radical radishes, they share the same "root."

Better thin those lettuces too.

Chives will soon be blooming.

I need to find a good use for lemon balm.  It's taking over!

How do you like my drainage tile planters?  A stripped strand of copper electrical wire keeps them bundled around the apricot tree.  I planted coriander, basil and dill in the central space, no sprouts yet.

The redbud has volunteered in several spots in the back yard.

I wish we had this mossy carpet in the house.

My Pocahontas lineage

Revised for readability.

We had a little visitor for Easter.  Dylan's gal Sarina brought her daughter Mercedes (Sadie).

We had an eggsellent time!

 

Derek's surgery went well and he spent the weekend recovering.  It hurt him to move for a few days but he toughed it out and now can walk around pretty normally.  No heavy lifting for a while.  He of the nimble fingers owed me a favor so he keyed in the document detailing how my Dad's side of the family is descended from Pocahontas.  I originally posted it with all the "begats" cluttering things (sorry Lili) so I pulled a few highlights out up front and you can read/copy the rest if you want.  Enjoy!

...The Garland Family was criticized greatly for marrying into the Indian Families.

...Suzy Bowling’s mother was pregnant with her when Quantrill’s Renegade Rebels came through scavenging. The Rebels wanted her to tell them where the fresh horses were and she wouldn’t tell them, so they hung her and while she was hanging she pulled her clothes over her head as far as she could and hissed at them. They left her hanging until her husband, who had gone to the mill, arrived a few minutes later and cut her down. She was apparently dead but he worked with her and brought her to. When Suzy was born she was marked by this tragedy and at times they had to make her stay in the house because she would pull her clothes over her head and hiss and be out of her mind, all this being caused by the trauma before she was born...

...The rebels just took everything in sight. The Irish potatoes were in a hole under the floor and they didn’t get them but the family was left without anything to eat and this was in the winter months. So papa Solomon and the older boys armed themselves with axes and went to the woods and hunted a hibernating bear and killed it to have meat. Their dogs were starving too, so they ran a deer on the ice below the house and the men killed it for the dogs. This saved the family over...

Spring's Bounty

The apricot tree is in full bloom, loaded with pinkish blossoms packed with pollen and giving off a sweet but almost stinky fragrance.  It's swarming with bees of all sizes, from the little ones the size of flies to the regular honeybee to the big bumblebees like this one.  As I paused in the aroma stream downwind from the tree a bee quickly discovered the pink flower on my Hawaiian shirt.  Beautiful skies.

A new crop of chives is coming up.

Dandelion greens, yummy!  Saute them with some bacon, some (wild) onion, maybe some red pepper flakes, a dash of balsamic vinegar.  Loaded with minerals, fiber, and vitamin C, they make a great spring tonic.

Radishes are sprouting.  Hmm, soils looks dry.  No rain forecast, better water today.

Lettuce is sprouting too.

We have some other things nearing fruition.  We've been wrapping things up with our accountant and our attorney.  Derek gets his surgery tomorrow.  We should have some great weather this weekend just to hang around the house and continue the ongoing clutter-clearing as he recuperates.

Derek has also been catching up in school.  He did well on the OGT tests and the school pays a bonus to all students who complete the 5 tests in 5 days.  His English teacher wants to publish some of his writing!