Things I have been wanting to tell you

OMG you guys, you should hear the birds. I am out on the porch at 7:20am, day two of a gorgeous warm weekend. This is the weekend it all kicked into high gear out here, that's for sure.

We have all been sick! We are all feeling much better, although this weekend Jeff has been taking it extra easy after feeling extra crummy these last couple days. Here's to your health!

Henry is leaving today to spend spring break at his Auntie's house in Maine! He is so happy to be going, so looking forward to it. We are going to miss him really terribly I fear!

I tell Maggie that she's going to see what it's like to be an only child for a week, and you can tell the very idea is intriguing enough to her that she's okay with what looks like it could be special treatment for her older brother. Jeff is planning to bring him up to Portland and meet Lanie for lunch and hand off. Thanks, family from Maine! Enjoy him, he's a great kid.

I have such a desire to tear up all the carpeting on my main floor. Jim is apparently in agreement, as he has begun to destroy a piece of the carpet in our music room/entry area. My sister Jocelyn apparently pulled up the carpets in her bedrooms, and was rewarded with beautiful hardwood floors. This would not be the case for us, we would have to put something else down.

We also really need a new roof, and landscaping, and the house needs to be stained or new siding or something. Oh, and the upstairs bathtub still has a big crack in it. Ack! Too stressful. I thought it would be fun to talk about it, but I was mistaken. Next topic.

I am learning a new skill! Jeff is teaching me Drupal, which is an open source web based content management system. It finally occurred to me, that's what we need at work. It's difficult to wrangle all this valuable knowledge and information, this, this 'content'. If only there was a way to ... to... 'manage' the content, a 'system'.... :- ) Anyway, Drupal is very interesting and easy to follow and a total own-self-do-y powerhouse for folks who want to build websites and organize, present and promote information and contents of all types! woot!

The birds out here in the trees are so totally busy! And the eves under the roof of our porch are ideal for safe cozy places to build a nest and start a family apparently. Lots of busy birds zipping back and forth from the trees to their nest right nearby. It would be interesting to record some of these bird calls and isolate them one by one, figuring out how many different kinds of birds there are out there right now.

Here is Henry's third grade Rainforest Animal report, which he is turning in today:

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The Goliath Bird Eating Spider

by Henry K.
April 22, 2009


The Goliath Bird Eating Spider is the largest spider ever. It is 11 inches wide, 10 inches long. That's bigger than the piece of paper you're holding (if you're holding it)! This spider can weigh over 120 grams. Don't worry about finding a Goliath in your shoe because it wouldn't fit!

The Goliath was named by some dudes from the Victorian era who saw it eat a hummingbird and they brought back the story to the Western world. Gosh, imagine seeing something that big...something spidery.

Like all spiders, the Goliath is not an insect, it's an Arachnid. A big, black (or brown), hairy, creepy, fearsome looking Arachnid! They have thick strong legs. They are dark brown or black. Their fangs can be as big as this _________ (one inch long)! The Goliath has very poor eyesight and I'm pretty sure it uses it's sense of touch to know what's going on.

The Goliath lives in the Amazon Rainforest in countries like Brazil or Peru in South America. It lives on the forest floor and I think they climb to the understory. It is dark and rainy where they live. They live in burrows that they have either found or made.

Like other bird eating spiders, the Goliath (a carnivore) eats insects and small mammals by biting and paralyzing them. It makes a web barrier in case of interruptions while eating. Even though it's called a bird eating spider, it doesn't eat birds that much.

You just read about what the bird eater eats, now let's talk about what eats the bird eater! It is considered a delicacy in Venezuela. The ocelot is a predator to the Goliath. It digs it out of it's burrow and eats it.

Mrs. Hamilton, my teacher, has a tarantula named Buttercup. But I'm pretty sure she's not a Goliath, because Mrs. Ham would've said, "Don't do a report on Buttercup." Also she would know that Goliath spiders can make a loud hissing noise by rubbing the hairs on their legs together. I am glad Buttercup isn't a Goliath because if she was, she'd be very, very aggressive.

The Goliath bird eating spider defends itself by kicking hairs off it's back and those hairs can make your skin sore. If you breath in these hairs, you're toast (probably).

The Goliath's habitat is threatened by humans. They set fire to the brush and clear the land, and doing that destroys their burrows. You can help by adopting an acre of rain forest and say that no one can cut down trees or start any fires on that acre.

So if you can spare some money to save the rain forest, I'll buy you something nice! Maybe. Probably. Nah...

SOURCES

"Bird Eating Spiders" by Louise Martin.
Rourke Enterprises, Inc.


"Goliath Birdeater", Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goliath_birdeater


"Spiders''by Lionel Bender.
GLOUCESTER PRESS.


hk/slk

Now with TWICE the Maggie!

Liza Santerre

OH, where to begin.

My girlfriend Liza died last Friday. Only 48, isn't that rotten? Her husband Todd called me Saturday morning with the terrible news, and so my mind has been lizalizaliza.

I didn't cry about it all weekend, then on my way into work Monday, looking for a parking spot, it began to feel very real and sad. Monday night was uplifting because the wake they put together for her was like wading into a sea of her people.

Two of my friends from work went with me and we found ourselves laughing and crying and hugging Liza's brother, holding her baby nephew, trading stories with her family members - even meeting her mother! Looking into her brother's eyes was so powerful because they are Liza's eyes, you know? And her daughter and son were surrounded by thick crowds of caring friends, and her daughter wore a pink scarf and laughed and cried with her own circle. Oh, and the pictures!

There was a whole display of family photos and pictures from her whole life. VERY. TOUCHING. I grabbed a couple with my iPhone:

Look at those two pups! How sweet is that. Til death did they part.

Today, was her memorial service, which was short and sweet. Her dad was heart broken of course. Liza was not his first daughter to die too soon from cancer. He wept openly and spoke of his princess. A girlfriend of Liza's from way, way back got up and spoke very movingly. I got up, said a few words and recited a poem.

I told her dad that I would overhear her side of the phone call when he would call her each week, and how she would say into the phone, I love you too Dad. And that I knew a thing or two about good Dads and I would tell Liza how lucky she is to have her Dad around to talk to on the phone and that she knew it was true. He seemed to appreciate hearing that.

I read this poem, and folks seemed to like it. Another guy said sweet things quickly, and her husband Todd had some profoundly truthful and loving remarks about Liza that were so spot on. He was great, what a great guy.

After the service, me and three friends from work went over to have a couple of margaritas in Liza's name. That was really fun, and it felt good to laugh and toast to the old gal. Liza loved a good margarita.

And then I headed back towards home and stopped at their house for the friends and family thing. That was even more special. Everyone was so kind about my having spoken earlier, so welcoming and so at ease with each other in spite of the sadness of the facts. I felt comfortable and welcome. I especially enjoyed the private minutes with one of her sisters out in the driveway, and I was so happy to be able to take the first quilt Liza ever made, and will return it to them all finished. I will bring it in to work tomorrow and we will look it over and see what needs to be done. Her mom said she thinks it's just the binding. She sews, but she hates doing the binding. They were all really touched and happy to let me get it completed, it's a real honor. Luckily Kathy at work is going to help me out with it!

ANYWAY. I am exhausted. Like I said to my girlfriend Kristy, hug a sister! Liza was a surrogate sister to me, and I really loved her. One of the last messages she got to me was something on my Facebook page about how much I was going to love Dave Matthews in May. She loved her some DMB, and she had made me green with envy over her stories of concerts and live music she'd seen. So I'm glad she knew I get to go.

A real quick list of things that will make me think of Liza:

DMB
Margaritas
purple toenail polish
"Beyond Bizzah!"
the state of Maine
The Common Ground Fair
Jocelyn
Marcia
Dian

goodnight. peace, girl. r.i.p.

Recent pictures of the children

Chicken Noodle Soup

Quick and Delicious for Busy Moms on the Go!

This will be Chicken Noodle Soup. Frozen boneless chicken tenderloins, frozen crinkle cut carrots, 1/2 a yellow onion, several stalks of chopped up celery.

Then you pick up a thingie of McCormicks Chicken Noodle Soup mix (for Slow Cookers!) and mix that with 5 cups of water.

Pour that in, slip on the lid, set it to LOW and out the DOOR YOU GO!

When you get home from work, all you have to do is add some uncooked egg noodles and then go hang out or do other work for the next fifteen or whatever the second shift may entail for you that evening.

Serve this with goldfish crackers. And I like to use the tenderloins because they're a good size if you happen to have someone who wants at the protein without fishing through the soup (aka low carb).

Enjoy! I'll post an after, after!

8:02pm on Thursday evening

Jeff has been out of the house nearly every night this week! Meetings and whatnot. We are missing the beat he lays down for the rest of us merry music makers.

Uh... Maggie has a birthday party for a little classmate of hers on Saturday morning, and do you think we are ready for that? No we are not. I need to get my butt in gear on that front! I hear the siren song of errands at lunch time!

Oh! Actually, no errands at lunch time. I am meeting someone here at the house for an appointment. hmm... Well, perhaps Jeff can grab something on HIS lunch hour...

I am getting very very excited for DMB! Listening to his music, reading up over at antsmarching.org and etc etc etc! It is looking like we will get a hotel room for the four of us in the city that Saturday night. OOO!!! can't wait! can't wait! Very much looking forward.

There are a couple funny stories on my mind right now that I would tell if only they were my stories to share... waa-haa..

The birdies of springtime are coming to town, peep-peeping in that classic way that I love. Still no discernable buds on the trees, but here and there you see daff's popping through the grit and sand. Hardly any, any snow left. Today I saw a guy working one of those rotating brushes on the end of a weed wacker, busting up the packed dirt and sand from the edges of his lawn. That's a Yankee harbinger, for serious.

Oh, and I am loving Barack and Michele as they rock the U.K. Such a gorgeous sexy couple. Rar!