Snow, Snow, Snow, Rain, More Snow And Writing A Cookbook

There was a time I got excited when snow was in the forecast. We’d get maybe 3 inches, just enough to look pretty, and when tired of it, poof – it was gone. This year winter has been extended. We’ve had so much snow and rain that Governor Newsom has retracted almost all of the drought measures for the state of California. That is great, but the larger portion of precipitation has been within three weeks. Not great. At least not for those of us shoveling very long, steep-grade driveways. Snowblower sales have been brisk in our neighborhood. Of course, my husband and I have plans of purchasing ours in the summer. In the meantime, it’s shoveling and borrowing our next-door neighbor’s snowblower (which we have yet to do!). I have snow saucers that I never use because the slope has to be cleared while it’s still fresh. The snowman is never built because I can’t make it to the yard because the snow from the metal roof slides off and creates an impassable berm of ice at the front and back doors. The only way in or out is through the garage, where the ice berms are cleared every few hours, depending on the amount of snow packed on the roof and how often it drops. Taking a scene out of the Gilmore Girls, I am officially breaking up with snow.

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Moving on…

Easy Beef Pot Pie

There is a mention of writing a cookbook in the title. Let me explain. I have a condition that’s not fairly common but can cause pain that can be triggered by food. It’s known as Interstitial Cystitis or painful bladder syndrome. I haven’t written about it before now because I didn’t feel I had a grip on it. Besides, talking or “venting” about the symptoms just felt like bitching. I figure we’ve all got enough of that. At the recommendation of my doctor, I went on an elimination diet. Overnight I lost about 65% of the foods that I love. I wished I could have found a cookbook that would help me get my eating habits back on track quickly, with tips and general guidelines I could use right then, not have to figure it out over months like I did.

This project will take a while because I’m going to be doing a lot of recipe testing and picture-taking. I want the recipes offered to be easy to make and delicious, obviously, and that can be tough when you can’t eat:

Fruits

• Cranberry juice
• Grapefruit and grapefruit juice
• Lemons
• Oranges and orange juice
• Pineapple and pineapple juice
• Strawberries

Vegetables

• Chili peppers
• Pickles
• Sauerkraut
• Tomatoes and tomato products

Protein Foods

• Processed sandwich meats (salami, bologna)
• Soy

Dairy

• Yogurt

Condiments

• Chili
• Horseradish
• Ketchup
• Salad Dressings
• Soy sauce
• Vinegar
• Worcester Sauce

Beverages

• Alcohol
• Coffee (caffeinated and decaffeinated)
• Tea (caffeinated and decaffeinated)
• Carbonated drinks  (cola, non-cola, diet, and caffeine-free)

Other Foods

• Chocolate
• Indian food
• Mexican food
• Pizza
• Spicy foods
• Thai food

Additives/Artificial Sweeteners

• Artificial sweeteners (Equal® (sweetener), NutraSweet®, Saccharin, and Sweet’N Low®)
• Monosodium glutamate (MSG)**

See what I mean? When I first looked over the list I wasn’t so intimidated because I hadn’t been carefully reading the ingredient lists on processed foods. During the first part of my elimination diet I was ignorantly ingesting a ton of soy, vinegar, and MSG. Not until the second or third week did I start examining exactly what I was eating. Then I got really upset! Maybe not everyone has the same experience, but I can’t be alone, so I thought, hey. Let’s help others out so their journey isn’t so frustrating.

In the meantime, I continue to knit. I finished the Ghost Horses sweater, the Fallow sweater by Anne-Michelle Phelan, and am currently working on yet another Caitlin Hunter design, Caribou Hills sweater.

Ghost Horses by Boyland Knitworks, modified

Fallow by Anne Michelle Phelan, slightly modified

Need to finish those sleeves. And yes, I have modified this pattern also!

I hope to have the last one finished before it gets too warm to wear it!

I hope your life has been drama-free, dear reader, and I’ll catch you up next time!

**This list was taken directly from here: https://www.ichelp.org/least-and-most-bothersome-foods/

A Job, A Bridge, and An Awkward Exit

I got a job – yay! As usual, the night before I have any big event the next day, I got no sleep at all. I was tired and miserable, but when I showed up, I was shocked when a great friend of mine, Diana, walked out to greet me. It was such a wonderful surprise. In fact, she is my cube mate – whee! This set the whole tone for the day, and I felt a lot less apprehensive. Remember, you guys, it’s been about five years that I’ve had a job where I punch a timecard. I was nervous. The work seems doable and versatile, the natives are friendly, and hopefully all goes well. It’s been only 3 days, so time will tell.

Brilliant friend!

In the interim, I have found a surprising sanctuary close to my work; a nature preserve that’s also a little park that is perfect for a light repast and a little knitting. There’s also a walking path if you want to move around a bit. I’m actually looking forward to spending my lunches there!

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Lunch reprieve

And guess who finally discovered Yankee Jims Bridge? I’ve only lived in this area for eight years and have heard of this place forever, but I didn’t make it there until last week. I’ve been twice since – it’s beautiful, and because it’s winter and the middle of the week, I’ve got the place to myself. It’s very relaxing, listening to the water rushing over the rocks. The white noise can easily put you into a contemplative mood.

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Left pic – North Fork of the American River at the Yankee Jims Bridge – middle pic shows a small tributary river – Nala and Jay-jay nibbling on the early spring grass!

Like the title says, it’s a quick 2-second clip.

So what better way to end this post? Let’s go back to work. Imagine a happy Glenda, saying her good-byes to everyone in the office at the end of the day. Smart-ass remarks like “It was real, it was fun” leaving my lips and smiles all around. As I was pushing out the door, loaded down with my lunch box, purse, sweater, and reading materials, my precariously perched seltzer water beverage decided to succumb to gravity…all over the floor. And what better time to exclaim “FUCK!” as I watched the can tumble from my overloaded arms. I cleaned it up within minutes, but was so embarrassed. I slunk away when all was done, thinking this was a crappy denouement to my work week – LOL!

Until next time, dear readers.

Reno, Jimmy Beans Wool, Live Outlaw, and Oahu

We’re officially in a countdown to leaving for Hawai’i! Last year we visited the Big Island; this year, we’re going to do Oahu, the North Shore area. I’ll be visiting a yarn store while there, and I wanted to do a live broadcast and possibly an interview with the store owner. Last year, I missed the store owner at the yarn store and that whole thing went kinda flat, so I just took a few pics of the inventory. Lovely stuff, though.

So far, I’ve written a letter asking permission to do all this, so we’ll see.

In the meantime, life, and all its unexpected twists and turns, goes on. Nala my rescue chihuahua, broke into some Valentine’s chocolates just before our overnighter in Reno and we rushed her to the vet. She was given an emetic and barfed her way to wellness!

On the way home in-between bouts of throwing up.

She was feeling better after several hours of napping, but I continued to hover over her to make myself feel better because it sure didn’t do her any good!

You may be wondering why Reno features so prominently in the title, when in fact, Oahu should be the mainliner. Well, if you’re a fan of yarn, and I assume you are if you’re reading this!, Jimmy Beans Wool is synonymous with Reno, and no trip there would be complete without a visit…where I spent waayyy more money than I should have. I indulged in a Namaste Maker’s Backpack, in red, of course, some delicious Peruvian yarn and customized stitch markers. Do I regret it? Nope. Not a smidge. So, yea. We’re good!

Recently, Live Outlaw, formerly Outlaw Soaps, who I work for (or is it for whom I work? *shrug*), moved from the beautiful Sierra Nevada Mountain range in Northern California to Reno for several valid reasons, but all I cared about was that they were moving away from ME! Wah! I wanted to check out the new warehouse and pick up some goods. Danielle Vincent, CFO, and general badass gave me the grand tour, and all I got were these two pics! Way too busy chatting!!

A quick plug, if you want to try some truly unique and badass soap, click on the link in the above paragraph. It’s no risk because they have an excellent 100% customer satisfaction guarantee. In fact, there are quite a few 5-star reviews where the customers returned the product but were incredibly happy with the customer service. It’s a win-win. One of the reasons why I work for them – that, and I get free goodies!

Ultimately, it was my continued journey in the Trailer Park Boys fandom universe that acted as the catalyst in getting us to Reno. Pat Roach is touring the West and East Coast of America doing Randy’s Cheeseburger Picnic. Yay! BTW, if you’re not already a fan, you may not get this, sooo, follow the link at your own risk! LOL

So, we actually had fun in Reno, and I suspect this will not be the end of our forays there.

OMG – he wore the hat in a promotional video! Squee!!

And to wrap it all up, I give you a picture of my temperature blanket, in progress until the end of this year ~ ta-daaa!

This is going to be large. Not sure I like my choice of colors, now. LOL!!

See you all in the funny pages!

Of Yarn Crawls, Craft Shows, Re-Imagining, And A Snowy Thanksgiving

Here we are, staring Christmas in the face, and I am, yet again, in the middle of the busy craft season. I started building up my inventory in August, but I think it looks woefully small…again. I should have started in June, but I don’t feel like spending the better part of the year, and my life, making stuff for sale. I like wearing the stuff I make *pout*.

My new baby and a sweater I knit

Conversely, no one is putting a gun to my head and forcing me to do this. I feel that selling my goods is a way to not feel like a freeloader in my house. Along with my writing gig at Outlaw Soaps that I mentioned a few posts back, I realize that, yes, I am contributing, but it doesn’t feel like enough.

In the spirit of that thought, I decided to up my game with my graphics. Rather than keep them in the limited world of Cafe Press, Zazzle, etc., I have re-imagined my Nittin’ Ninja brand. I now have shops on Etsy, Inktale, and Bonanza platforms. Still working on loading graphics – did not realize how much time it would take! However, if you’re interested, click on those links! If this isn’t your cup of tea, do me a solid and share the goodness, please! This is a very limited niche market, and I’m just trying to spread the word at this point. Thank you guys!

On to other stuff!

After many years of reading about yarn crawls and wondering what they were like, our area LYS finally got it together. Of the 11 participating shops, I made it to only three before I ran out of money!

Map of Sierra Nevada 1st Annual Yarn Crawl

Those three pins look sooo lonely!

As you can see, I will have to pace myself. I had actually planned to hit up at least 6, but there were other events going, such as the Colfax Railroad Days event that happens every year.

While there, I purchased some fiber art from really cool people.

Beautiful mandala work from Bohemian Designs by Silvermoon Regalia (artist not pictured. She had to go take care of her children while her mother and husband manned the shop!)

Local folks having a laugh

Those both pics are from October, and a lot of the merch has been sold and replaced with new stuff – yay!

Taking a break from shoveling a track for the tires on our slanted driveway!

The view from the other side…

And this was Thanksgiving. Three hours of scraping and fighting to get the Subaru up the driveway – but I freakin’ did it! And I still managed to gain weight!?

What’s everyone else up to these days?

A Cheater Post

In all the excitement of the travel and what-not, I forgot to mention here that I finally finished the Zweig sweater!

So, it begins. With the crafts season coming up in October, I’ve got to roll! I wanted to post something, so I did a video. Enjoy!

Hawaii Pics; or, the last burn day of the season and I have huge piles of pine needles so I have a massive migraine

Here we are, a whole week and a half since I’ve been back stateside and what have I done? I’ve been inspired to paint, but haven’t picked up a paintbrush or prepared a canvas or even glanced at the acrylics I have stashed in my special toolbox I chose just for my art. I’ve plodded away on my beautiful sweater that I started last year with all the enthusiasm of…well, plodding. I’ve finished the body and now I’m working the sleeves. Sounds exciting, right? Who am I kidding! I’m ashamed to say that most of this time has been spent in a blue funk, moping. It doesn’t help that I’ve uploaded all my Hawaiian and Bahamian pics on my Chromecast screensaver to remind me where I’m not and what I’m not doing.

Besides the obvious – I shouldn’t be writing a post about beautiful Hawaii while I’m suffering from a migraine – this appears to be the only time I can sit down in front of the computer and write. Don’t get me wrong! I live on my damned computer, but I’m generally not writing prose, and in this case, categorizing pure fustian. In the spirit of cutting short the rant, we won’t elaborate on the reef snorkeling and wild dolphin sighting outing that was cancelled because of weather, nor will I digress about the aborted Mauna Kea visit because road conditions were unmanageable past 9000′ even with a four-wheel drive auto, and any discussion is right out regarding the earthquake we experienced sitting on a washed-up log while enjoying the black sands beach in Waipi’o Valley. LOL! While these snidely remarks make me appear ungrateful, I am not. Reading about how someone had a beautiful time in a paradise is generally a deadly dull undertaking. Hearing about the travails in a personal Shangri La panders to one’s schadenfreude, a lowly endeavor, indeed, but commonly espoused by most writers of fiction and non-fiction. I mean, how freakin’ boring would most movies be without it? Hm?

Fear not, dear readers. All is not lost. Another basic part of story structure is called the denouement, or resolution. We did do many cool things and see many splendiferous sights, the most amazing was the cabin in which we stayed. Let’s not forget the “Ring of Fire” helicopter ride.* I was able to put my tootsies in black sand, get up close and personal to the pahoehoe and trip on the aptly named a’a lava rocks! (note to self: don’t wear sandals on lava rock!), get drenched, multiple times, in a tropical downpour, witness a cool photoshoot on dramatic cliffs, experience the climate diversity in the interior valley between the two dormant behemoth volcanoes, snap pics of absolutely gorgeous flowers, be lulled to sleep by the croaking frogs and legions of insects indigenous to rain forests and much more. So, yea, we had a great time, and because of the wonderfulness of air miles, we have already booked another Hawaiian vacay for next year on the North Shore in Oahu. I don’t how we’ll be able to afford it even with that flight being taken care of, but, eh. We’ve got cancellation insurance.

But wait – let’s make this more interactive. I will post a poll of activities that will push my comfort zone. The one that gets voted the most, I will do, document and post next year! I’ll remind everyone periodically to vote, and close the poll around Thanksgiving so I can make arrangements. I will NOT do anything dangerous nor incredibly expensive, but if you see something that would make for a good laugh, you may include it as an option on the poll.

In the meantime, here’s way too many pics from around the Big Island. Enjoy!

*For the first time in 35 years, there are no active lava flows on the Big Island; nevertheless, this was FUN! I know, I know, after reading about my fear of flying, you’re probably thinking What is wrong with this woman? For me, it’s not the same as flying in a big, impersonal commercial airliner. If we had made the 2,668 mile trip in a Piper or Cessna puddle jumper, not only would it have been epic, but it would have been way more comfortable for me, if not a tad long. For me, helicopters fall in the same realm of comfortable.

Hawaii

With only a few days left before we depart, dear readers, I have a confession to make.  The recent gift that fell onto my lap last month, (again, thank you, Danielle Cotton!), may cast me in the light of a most vacuous, shallow and unworthy person, but I assure you, that’s not the case.  At least, I hope not…  When I found out that I had won a trip to the Bahamas, my husband, Rick, and I, were already planning on going to Hawaii.  The Big Island.  I love the geology, black sand beaches, pineapples, coffee and the general lush foliage that comes to mind when I think of these enchanted chain of volcanic islands.  I’ve written a few posts about Hawaii and tiki.  So, yea.  I’ve always wanted to go, and I’ve made no secret of it.

https://nittinninja.wordpress.com/2015/07/17/change-of-schedule/

https://nittinninja.wordpress.com/2015/08/11/shrug-finished/

https://nittinninja.wordpress.com/2017/03/28/for-the-first-time-in-over-30-years/

Packing to go – not staged at all! LOL

You may wonder why I felt it necessary to make a side trip to the Bahamas, and I would counter: The Trailer Park Boys.  I wanted to go hang out, have some fun, and hopefully meet them.  As much as I am looking forward to Hawaii, the unadulterated thrill of fandom was something else, if not a little embarrassing at my age – but I don’t care.  It was too fun!

A niggling worry has beset me these last few weeks.  I believe it is a valid concern, but maybe some good will come of it.  What is it? you ask.  I’m afraid that the rest of my life will seem very dull in comparison with these last few months.  However long, or short, the rest of life will be remains to be seen; you get the point.  Has this ever happened to anyone else?  It has with me already, several times.  The upside?  I’m saving for next year’s excursion, be it with the Trailer Park Boys, or an expedition to Antarctica.  You only live once, and as time flies by, the tired, old cliché of a mid-life crisis starts to make sense, although, I think “mid-life” may be optimistic on my part!  And that last sentence was cram packed with tired old clichés (I may have to write a post on the importance of clichés and why they’re needed)!

Next time I write an entry, be prepared for a glut of pictures and a paucity of words.  Aloha!

TPB Bahamas Cruise

Terror at 30,000′, or no Xanax

Ka-chung.  CLANK!  Whirrrr….The nose of the 737 lifted off the tarmac and I was pressed back into the seat. I gripped the arm rests, fueled by fear-induced adrenaline. I didn’t have time to take the Xanax I had requested from my doctor before boarding, so I thought I would be able to access it from the overhead compartment when we were at cruising level.  As it went, both flights I had to take were bumpy as fack, i.e., we were strapped in for about 95% of the time, so I had no access to my relief.  Well, maybe I could have taken some in Denver, but I didn’t want to risk showing up at Tampa dazed and confused. I decided to adult it out, and tried to look like I was a normal person, not a terrified loonie that expected the plane to unscientifically plummet into the hard ground from FL300. I don’t know how well I pulled off the “seasoned traveler” look, but it must have been passable since people weren’t gawping and little children weren’t crying as they walked by me.

Tampa Airport

Eventually, we landed, intact, at Tampa. Since there were electrical issues in Denver, the plane ran late, so instead of using the hotel’s shuttle, which I just missed, I had to use Uber for the first time.  And my cell phone battery was dying.  I managed to download the app, figure it out, and get a ride with 2% left!  I gave the polite driver a tip and a good rating.  He deserved it, because I was a hot mess of babbling nerves. It was past midnight when I finally checked in, and I was hungry. Fortunately, I had a few dollars on me so I was able to slake my hunger with a vending machine Snickers bar and a Coke. You know, health food.

Lively place

Covered gangway

Getting on board the next day was interesting.  Once we passed the TSA portal, we walked into an area that felt like a covered football stadium; it was that large.  At first glance, all I saw was a gigantic room full of people milling about and I sighed.  This was going to take forever; however, once I realized there was some method to the madness, i.e. filling out health forms, showing citizenship documentation, tickets, etc., it went rather quickly.  We weren’t there above 20 minutes before being shuffled through a covered gangplank where employees of Norwegian Cruise Lines were standing in corners, armed with squirt bottles filled with, what I hope, anti-bacterial spray and saying “Washy, washy!” as they misted random hands with cleanliness. 

First round – I beat all these guys!

The one pic I got of them – knitted hats in my left hand

My favorite gambling game

You had to be there…

Baaaaaam!

Then we were off on a themed cruise.  On reflection, I took so few pictures, especially when I got to meet Pat Roach, John Paul Tremblay, Mike Smith, (none!) and Jacob Rolf (one), in that order.  Considering a larger part of who I am is the damned camera, I happened to do a poor job of documenting this trip. HOWEVER, I spent many productive hours at the black jack tables, entered a black jack tournament to beat out a bunch of guys because I played like I always do – conservatively. Unfortunately, playing conservatively also gets one a low score, so I was dunned out by the second round.  And let’s not forget the whole reason I was there!!  The Trailer Park Boys put on their rowdy brand of shows and worked hard.  I hope they enjoyed it at least a little.

Breakfast room service

Bubbles and The Shit Rockers

Awesome photoshopped group pic

Dessert

The obligatory bathroom shot – LOL!

Brazilian Steakhouse

Buffet

My favorite dealer

We didn’t stop at Stirrup Cay because the swells had prevented the ship docking, so we were diverted and the excursions that I’d paid for and was so looking forward to, were refunded.  No swimming with the manta rays, no snorkeling, no big party on the beach.  Instead, we docked in Freeport around 3:00 pm, which is just a port, where I walked around among souvenir shops and food stalls and took a pic or two for about 15 minutes just so I could be on Bahamian soil.  Did it upset me that much? Nope. 

Watching the tugs work on a freighter was actually interesting. Even in a dirty port, the water looked cerulean.

There have been rumors flying around the internet that another cruise is in the works.  I don’t know if these plans will come to fruition, but I do know I already have a quiet fund that’s building in equity so I won’t need to rely on the goodness of a stranger’s heart (Danielle Cotton <3<3, love you, girl!) to get myself on board when it comes around again!

While there was so much more to comment on, I will leave it here for now; just suffice to say, that as I flew back home, feeling great because I’d taken a Xanax, I leaned against the window, drowsy and relaxed. As my eyelids fluttered close over my eyes, I imagined the bumps of the turbulence as the eddies of a river, and the occasional variations in altitude as the swells of the ocean.

I slept.

Going home

 

International Women’s Day, pt.2: Finding Sally Dawley

After posting the pic of Margaret Thatcher for the International Women’s Day tribute, I felt I should choose another candidate, one closer to home. I just met her two days ago, but her dedication to her cause has garnered kudos and international recognition and my respect.  Her name is Sally Dawley and she is affectionately known around these parts as “The Butt Lady of Auburn”.   This interesting moniker came about in 2014 when she started picking up butts along her daily walk and thus began her odyssey that continues today.

How I came to meet her has its own quirky story.  Don’t worry – I’ll make it brief!  I’m a big Trailer Park Boys fan and have a subscription to their Swearnet website and on their podcast episode #133, they congratulated Sally and asked for help contacting her because they want to talk to her themselves.  That was an unusual request – I’d never seen them do that before.  So, I thought, hey!  I live near Auburn, I’ve got free time, let’s find her!  A cursory Google search came up blank, Facebook zilch and even Duck-duck Go produced no results.  I now understood why the unusual request; she has absolutely zero web presence.  Thankfully, my first action of posting in the Auburn group on FB got me in touch with her.  Thanks everyone!

Our meeting was really unusual, and think about it;  to Sally, I’m some random stranger looking for her, who just wanted to let her know that a group of guys from Canada were looking for her.  Not suspicious at all.  It must have taken a leap of faith for her to call me.  I don’t know if I would have done the same!  When we finally talked the night before meeting, I had to explain that I am in no way affiliated with The Trailer Park Boys (they wouldn’t have me), only a fan who had time on her hands and likes helping people.  Weird, right?  The next morning I showed up at the appointed Starbucks, prepared with my laptop and headphones so she could see what had prompted all the furor.   Sally was amused by what she saw and was definitely game, and I thought, oh, great! mission accomplished.  Then we both looked at each other, and she asked, “What do we do now?”  I laughed and said I would give the appropriate people her phone number…in an e-mail.  She shook her head and explained she didn’t want that kind of information on the internet.  I ended up writing a letter to that effect, where, as far as I know, it’s sitting in someone’s inbox in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

When we were fairly comfortable with each other, we went out into the parking lot and, yes, you guessed it, picked up cigarette butts for about an hour.  Well, I got to use the clicker for the most part and she did the hard work.  During that time I found out that not only does she find butts while she’s out and about, she finds wallets, cash, (she’s collected $900 since 2014!), ponytail hair ties, and of course, used condoms.   And don’t worry if you drop your wallet with your credit cards, $1,000 cash and no ID – she’ll get it to you one or way or another.  She’s scrupulously honest that way, but if she finds a stray $20 here or there, the law of “Finders, Keepers” comes into play.

What saddened me and galvanized my respect for Ms. Dawley was that after about 20 minutes of picking up butts, the magnitude of what she was trying to accomplish hit me.  There was always another butt over there, by this fence post, trapped in the sidewalk cracks, underneath a truck trailer, disguised as dead leaf – it seemed endless.  I asked her if she’d noticed any difference in the volume of cigarette butts she was finding since she’d been receiving some notoriety and the city of Auburn had installed ashcans for smokers in public places.  She shook her head and said, “No, not really.”  Then she remarked how unusual it was to have someone helping her.  I was shocked at this point, and clarified if I’d understood her correctly, in that no one has ever helped her.  Nope.  I had heard it correctly.  Then I was really disappointed.  And really proud of her.  A lesser mortal would have given up well before the 1,000,000 mark.  As we were nearing the end of our time together, I asked her what message she wanted to get out, and she said, “For people to stop throwing their cigarettes everywhere.”  Ultimately, she wants everyone to stop smoking, but as seen through the eyes of this ex-smoker, that ain’t happening any time soon.  Besides the fact that it’s highly physically and psychologically addictive, it’s a tremendously personal decision and you’ve got to want to stop.

So next time you’re out on the town, or anywhere, for that matter, getting ready to toss your cigarette because you can’t find an appropriate place to put it, try field stripping.  That way, you’re less likely to find a cigarette butt in the stomach of the fish you caught that morning, you won’t have to worry so much about your dog eating a stray butt while you’re walking them and making them sick, the birds will have less to line their nests with and the landscape in general will start looking a lot better.

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Our Common Ancestry

I saw this post on Facebook today and was surprised.

I say “surprised”  because I didn’t realize people put so much store in national purity.  I lived in England for five years and was painfully aware of their national pride, but didn’t realize that it extended to genetics.  I mean, really?  France was part of England for awhile there, the Vikings raped and pillaged their way up and down their coastlines, and I’m sure the Romans left more than their straight roads and aqueducts.  I’m not a huge history buff, but these events are common knowledge.

Which leads me to common ancestry.  I don’t think I’m especially well read, or clever, or otherwise, but who hasn’t read, or heard, about mitochondrial DNA theory and how we’re all related to the same early homo sapiens sapiens female in Africa several hundred thousand years ago?  These bits of information come up on my Yahoo homepage; I can’t be the only one reading it.  It ties in with human migration over the millenia, also a well-known fact.  The theories of the Aleutian land bridge and how paleoamericans arrived in this neck of the woods, and the book “Kon Tiki” where the anthropologist chronicles his experiment about pre-Columbian South American peoples being able to cross the ocean to Tahiti, and subsequently, to Hawaii, using native materials, are real good examples of possible migration patterns.  Of course, I am citing only two very well known ideas, because there’s way more out there.  Accept it.  It happened.  The “how” is the only dispute at this point.