Juicing

We bought a juicer a few weeks ago, and have been using it most (but not every) day since.  I'll be honest---the taste of the juice is not my favorite thing.  But it is an "OK" taste, and packed with nutrition.  My juice usually consists of celery, apple, spinach, kale, and carrots.  Mr. GV adds beets and ginger for his.

For now we are putting the pulp into the garden.  In the future I might seperate out veggie from fruit and use it accordingly.  (Veggies in broth, and fruit in baked goods.)

Helping Habitat while getting rid of my clutter

Not the best picture, but I just wanted to show a couple things I finally decluttered out of my garage!  One of them has been there for over a year, and the other one for several months.  These are the chandeliers out of the dining room and breakfast area.  I was just tired of these, and wanted a more updated, brushed nickel style.  One of the new ones was a Christmas gift, and the other one I found on closeout. 

I decided to call up my local chapter of Habitat for Humanity to see if they would take these chandeliers, and indeed they did!  We dropped them off last week at an old home they use as their warehouse. 

If you are doing any remodeling in the future, remember to check with Habitat or similar charity to see if they can use any of your old fixtures.  Our local guy said they get a lot of donations that way. 

Deep thoughts on where to live

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about where I live.  Do I want to stay here forever, in the area where my family has been for generations, or do I want to break out and try somewhere new? 

There are of course a lot of good things about living in a small town--land and house prices are cheaper, crime is generally lower (although we have our share of meth problems here), it takes less than 10 minutes to get from my house to anywhere I would want to go to in town, traffic is not bad, and after a while you become familiar with a lot of the people who live in your town.

Bad things about living in a small town (in my opinion):  availability of cultural activities and a lack of diversity.  Living in a more insulated town where families have been living for generations means attitudes/political beliefs tend to stay the same.  If you like things to always be the same, this is a great way to live!  But if you are like me and want to live where there is a place for everybody, well, a small town in the south is probably not the best place to be. 

I know where I want to live:  Somewhere I don't feel strange as a non-church going (but Unitarian-leaning), environmentally-conscious, child-free, liberal vegan.  But the quesition is:  is that all on me?  Will I feel comfortable owning those traits somewhere that I'm not surrounded by people who have known me all my life and have certain expectations?  Will I feel free to be who I really am? 

It's not as though I'm yearning to get a bunch of piercings, tattoos, and shave my head.  But I'd like to be somewhere so that others who might want to be that way can do so without others judging them.  I want to join others at vegetarian restaurants and discuss issues that matter to us. I'd like to be active politically and stand up for what I believe is right, to protest the next time the circus comes to town, etc.  I am not the type of person who will do this on my own, but peaceable protest or handing out leaflets to interested persons?  You betcha, if I was in a group of like-minded individuals who I call my friends. 

So....lots to think about.  Oh, and my husband?  Totally got my back, as per usual.  He is ready to move on if and when I want to. 

Introducing Pearl

On March 3rd, we added a new member to our family.  Meet Pearl!

Pearl is approximately 9 years old, and was rescued from a high-kill shelter on the day she was due to be killed.  Sorry, but to me euthanasia is a thing done out of mercy, out of love.  She was due to be killed most likely because some asshole was using her to breed litters of puppies, and then when she became too old, she and two other 'old lady beagles' were abandoned in a vacant lot. 

I was told she has the classic demeanor of a dog who has spent her life in something along the lines of a rabbit hutch, churning out litter after litter of puppies.  She had been with her foster family through a local humane society for about a year now.  I had seen her picture over the past few weeks whenever I went looking on Petfinder.  I knew the next time I adopted a dog, I wanted it to be an older and/or special needs dog.  Older animals don't get a fair chance when it comes to being adopted.  Let's face it---puppies are adorable.  And if you take an older animal, you usually have to say goodbye sooner.  But I'm not concerned about any of that.  I just wanted to give an old dog a home.  A place to have no worries.  The chance to just be a dog, to lay in the sun, to snuggle up with her human when she needs some reassurance. 

Pearl is a sweetheart.  She is pretty much potty trained.  We have puppy pads down because her foster mom said sometimes she can't hold it all night.  She has used them twice--once during the night and once when it was pouring down rain. 

She is doing a great job of fitting in after just 1 1/2 weeks with us.  We have a set of dog steps that we bought for Max when he was hurting.  Neither Max nor Macy ever learned how to use them, but Pearl picked right up on it, and has been using them to sleep at the foot of the bed.  Her biggest issue right now is walking on a leash.  She refuses to do it.  So we are working on that slowly.  Today she started wearing the vest harness I picked up for her for a few hours.  Hopefully in a few days I can get her to take a few steps on the leash.  lol 

I took this video right after her bath, when she had been with us for 2 days.  Up until this time we hadn't heard that beautiful beagle bark of hers.  We've heard it a couple of times since then, as she's become more comfortable at her new home. 

I'm looking forward to several happy years with Miss Pearl as part of our family!!

Back to the land

I don't think I ever posted what we did with our Christmas tree this year.  In the past we have:

1.  Thrown it into our woods whole.  This would be OK if we had a large woody area but in reality we have a smaller piece of wooded land, and frankly I didn't enjoy seeing it every time I looked outside.

2.  Taken it to my mom's land and thrown it in her woods.  We have done this once before, but we almost always drive our Prius and not our truck the 40 or so miles over there, so not a lot of opportunity.

3.  Taken it to the dump.  We have also done this, although we hated it, and will only do it in the future if there is absolutely no choice.

4.  Taken it to my dad and gave it to him to burn in his shop stove.  (My mom doesn't use that now that my dad is gone.)

Other ideas for future years:  Advertise on Freecycle if anyone wants it for their pond (I believe it's used as a fish habitat), to burn in their stove/fireplace, or to chip up for another use.

This year we decided that Mr. GV would use his electric chainsaw and cut it into small pieces, thereby making it much easier to break down out in our bit of woods. 

(Please notice the bit of dog nose in the lower right hand corner.  Naturally she likes to watch what's going on!)

Bit of decluttering

My spare room has become a bit....junky lately.  It is the home for unwanted items until they are moved out of here.  Here you see a few things that are leaving soon:

-Penguin: I have no recollection of bringing this home in the first place.  All I can figure is perhaps I picked it up at a yard sale years ago?  I'm actually putting it in J's room in hopes that he will take it to my mom's house. 

-Gift bag plus 4 gift boxes.  I have enough of these that are used over and over each Christmas. 

-Sonic toy from J's Wacky Pack

-Travel mug

-2 phone chargers that work, we just changed phones.  Also some adapters for other countries for one of the phones

-Christmas lights, new in package

-Christmas stocking

-Dog toy, tennis ball-sized (too small for my dog's mouth without being a choking hazard) 

-Christmas Jingle Beanie, sleeve for a glass water bottle, 3 candle holders, metal bookmark

 -Few shirts, one purse, and a bag made out of burlap (I think) and the smell is not something I enjoy.

Outside

Thursday was a warm day, and since I knew some cold days were coming, I decided to sit outside in the sun and warmth.  In shorts.  In February! 

Macy brought a toy and came outside with me.

My accessories:  cell phone and current mystery novel.

 This is our sweet gum tree.  No leaves but some of the fruit is still hanging on.  It's not fruit in the "eating" sense, just the hard, prickly, interesting fruit of this species of tree.  My grandmother had one of these in her backyard and I remember how painful it was to walk over the sweet gum balls. 

 I watched the sun set.

 Noticed I need to refill the squirrel feeder with a new ear of dried corn.

 And the bird feeder needs a new supply as well.

 I spent some time just watching the clouds float on by.

 Until it was finally time to head inside, although I kept the door open with the screen across the doorway so I could listen to the frogs singing in the pond behind our home.

 Macy brought her toy back in.

 And eventually figured out there was a better way to hold it.