A Little Slice of Heaven...

Thoughtful Thursday

Really, what more is there to say.

I have to get going now...time to update my "Last Wishes".

Wordless Wednesday

Technological Advances...Things to Ponder

We were recently watching a DVD of the TV show "The Practice" from the mid-1990's. It was the prequel to "Boston Legal", which we LOVE! Anyway - the dramatic suspense was building as the attorneys for the big case waited in a bar for the jury to come back with it's verdict...they were on a couple of bar stools having a bite to eat and discussing how the closing arguments had gone...when all of a sudden....their PAGERS went off. That's right, their pagers.

We laughed out loud and quickly quoted one of our other favorite shows, "30 Rock", in which Alec Baldwin's character has the following exchange with Tiny Fey's character:

Liz: Okay, very funny. You bought a pager from Dennis. Will you take it off now, please?
Jack: Oh, I can't. I'm expecting a call from 1983.

It got me thinking about how different things are now than they used to be. I mean, the amount of change in the last 10-15 years is staggering!

And then I thought about it some more...and thought way back to when I was closer to Lexi's age, somewhere during the 1890's...OK, that's an exaggeration, but it was a looooong time ago. Here's some little gems that I waxed nostalgic about:

When I was a kid, I remember going to the grocery store and the clerk actually having to read the price tag off of an item and key it into the register.

Now, everything is computerized and bar coded.

When I was a kid, the microwave was a new invention that my mom went to classes for to learn how to "cook" with it. And it was ginormous.

Now, we had to live without a microwave for a week when ours broke and we almost starved to "def", as Tucker says.

When I was a kid, if you paid for something with a credit card the clerk put it into this contraption and ran some thingy-ma-bopper (technical term) over it to make carbons of the card numbers and other pertinent info.

Now, you just slide your card through the magnetic strip and push in your secret agent code - if that. Sometimes they just run the card and it's a mystery as to what just took place.

When I was a kid, call waiting didn't exist. Busy signals did and were common.

Now, not only do I have call waiting, I also have caller ID. So I can receive calls while I'm on a call AND decide if the person calling is more important to me than the person I am speaking to!! It's a lovely thing...BFF or hubby? BFF or hubby?

When I was a kid, cell phones didn't exist. People actually just drove and listened to their 8-track players. If you broke down, God Forbid, you better have a dime on you to be able to get to a payphone to make a call.

Now, cell phones are not only predominate, but we have convinced ourselves that we can't live without them. To the point of having to wear Borg-like headsets so we can chat and drive - hands free!

When I was a kid, people wrote letters to communicate over long distances. Long distance phone calls were cost prohibitive to many.

Now, email is a key form of communication and getting a personal, snail mail letter is an exciting rarity. I don't even know what 1/2 of my new friends handwriting looks like.

I know I am not unique in making these comparisons. And all of this is just through my generation - it doesn't even scratch the surface of how different things were when my parents were kids (imagine... no TV, barely indoor plumbing, scratching school work onto slate tablets when you left the farm long enough to go to school...OK, that's a stretch - sorry Mom and Dad!) or when my grandparents were kids (no electricity, no running water, dinosaurs roamed the Earth...OK - another exaggeration, but still!)

It made me stop and think - with the advent of all the "communication" technology, email, cell phones, Blogs, etc., has it helped human relationships? Are we able to stay and feel more connected now that we can reach each other so easily?

Or does all of the techno-communication leaving us feeling shortchanged of all the nuances that come with face-to-face human contact? So much of communication is non-verbal...do "emoticons" really make up the difference, or is the new wave of "techno-communication" really "Relationship Lite"?

I am not sure how I feel about all of it yet. It will be interesting to see how things change over the next few decades. When Lexi is blogging, will she ponder the future for her kids too?

Or will I be right there with her, pondering away myself - enabled by the post-cryogenic un-freezing of my noggin', should I pass too soon.

We shall see.

No beef, no pork, no way!

Two weeks ago tomorrow evening, Mitch came home from work and told me he had decided to stop eating red meat and pork.

Those of you who know Mitch, I will give you a second to process that statement....

..........

..........

Mitch said this. The man who wrote "The Bacon Song" and sang it to the kids on a regular basis. Lyrics of:

Bacon. Bacon is good.

Bacon. Bacon is good.

Sorry all you piggies that I'm gonna eat,

but bacon is my favorite breakfast treat, yeah

Bacon. Bacon is good.

Bacon. Bacon is good.

Bacon. Bacon is good.

Sausage is fine, ham is neat,

but bacon is my favorite breakfast meat, yeah

Bacon. Bacon is good.

Bacon. Bacon is good.

Bacon. Bacon is good.

Frying up in the pan, you sure smell great,

but I can't wait to get you on my plate, yeah

Bacon. Bacon is good.

Bacon. Bacon is good.

Bacon. Bacon is good.

To all my hermano's in ole' Mexico,

you know how it goes, tocino es bueno, si'

Bacon. Bacon is good.

Bacon. Bacon is good.

Bacon. Bacon is good.

I hope you liked my diddy, it didn't take long,

it's affectionately know as "The Bacon Song" yeah,

Bacon. Bacon is good.

(It is at this point that I would like to say if any "Pork Advertisers" would like to contact us regarding the rights to this little number, we will still take your calls).

So, anyway - back to the topic at hand. We have been "meat free" for 13 days now. It hasn't been easy. That time period included a trip to the county fair, and if there's anyplace on Earth that vegetarians should shake in their shoes, it's in the cow barn at the county fair!

But are we vegetarians? Not really...for now, chicken, turkey and fish are all still in our repertoire.

Are we going to go vegan and cut out all animal products all together? Probably not.

Why are we doing what we're doing? Because Mitch stumbled into the world of the slaughter house on the Internet doing research. And what he saw was very upsetting to him. It is hard to "un-ring" that bell.

(Although in talking with a friend today, he said he could look at that stuff and still eat meat. Didn't bother him. Heartless cow-hater! Meanie, meanie pig-killer! - OK, that's a bit harsh. Sorry D! :-)

This brings me to my next thought...to all of you who have been thinking to yourselves while reading this, "Oh...my....God. They are going to try and convert me now too?!?!?!" or "What am I supposed to fix when you come to dinner??" (don't worry, Mom. We'll work it out!) or "Great. Another hair-brained scheme from those Whacky Kneipp's. I give it a week." We have not lost our minds. We are not going to, or have we ever, judged other carnivores. We are not going to go all hippie and start buying hemp sheets, wearing tye-dye shirts at the Farmer's Market every Saturday, or join Peta.

We are just going to try to not eat red meat or pork. For many reasons, but here are a few, just in case you are open-minded enough to care:

Becoming vegetarian is one of the most important and effective actions you can take to ease the strain on our Earth’s limited resources, protect the planet from pollution, prevent global warming, and save countless species from extinction.
According to Dr. David Brubaker, PhD, at Johns Hopkins University’s Center for a Livable Future, “The way that we breed animals for food is a threat to the planet. It pollutes our environment while consuming huge amounts of water, grain, petroleum, pesticides and drugs. The results are disastrous.”
As the Sierra Club put it in their 2002 report on animal factories, “environmental violations by the meat industry add up to a rap sheet longer than War and Peace.”

There is a method to our madness. As we embark in this new way of living and eating, I will keep you updated as to our progress.

I will leave you with this joke, found on a vegetarian website:

Why did the tomato blush?

Because he saw the salad...dressing.

Tanner Has Peas...

WARNING! GRAPHIC FOOTAGE BELOW!!

Super Saturday Salad

5 ears of corn

1 green bell pepper

1 red onion

2 Roma tomatoes - seeded

3 Tbsp Pine Nuts

Juice of 1 lime

1/4 of a bunch of cilantro

1/4 C Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper to taste

Boil corn for 7 minutes in salted water. Chop veggies. Place pine nuts in microwave for approx. 1 minute to "toast" slightly. When corn is done, remove from cobs with paring knife. Add all ingredients into a big bowl and toss lightly. Chill for 1 hour or more. Enjoy!!