Fridge Glimpse

I’ve been tagged by Burdockboy to reveal all! Bravely show off a deep, dark secret, the... inside of my refrigerator AND freezer. Yes, indeed. This is the real view, NOT edited for public consumption- ahem.


Actually, we DO have a FASCINATING refrigerator. Really! It’s an ultra-efficient Sunfrost, purchased by WF when he decided to power the house with solar (before my time here). Refrigerators are one of the highest energy users in a home. This one is much gentler on our limited power supply.

It’s a fine fridge but rather small due to the thick insulation (see the freezer). It’s not metal on the outside, so no magnets. The bottom drawers are just dry storage, not cold. We don’t keep ice cream around, partly because the freezer has an amazing ability to suck the moisture out of most foods very quickly. And it’s not “frost free”, needing a good defrosting every once in a while. But other than that, it’s a regular food storage unit, luxurious by most global standards.

It was interesting to see how “familiar” Burdockboy’s fridge looked (much cleaner, of course), showing a certain food interest/ethic. Returnable glass milk jug, organic dairy products, etc. It’s fun to recognize “kin” via food choices! I remember visiting a distant relative’s house years ago and not recognizing any of the food- it was all “weird” natural brands. Now, my food looks like that, and I’m mystified when I go to my own relative’s houses with the “standard American” food. It’s just a different world. We shop mostly at our local food co-op, something plenty of other people think is weird.

Our fridge is also full of re-used food containers, eggs, and general mess. We’re just not home enough to keep a good handle on the contents, and I’m actually quite embarrassed about it much of the time. An odd tendency to store lots of food, working full time in town and making lunches from left-overs every day does not a clean fridge make. So there, Burdockboy: truth in memes! I’m letting you all peer into the depths of my food-consumer soul… be kind!

Brrrrave Chickens

Yep, it’s still cold. We don’t have a nice thermometer to photograph, but pretty sure it hovered around –15 most of the day, even in the sun. The coop warmed up pretty well with the passive solar, but the older rooster is showing some signs of frostbite on his comb. He got it a bit last year, too, but it seemed to heal OK. But I have a bit more empathy now, with my sore frostbitten earlobes. Maybe that was cosmic retribution for not giving the chickens more heat? Hmmm.


So tonight, the fluffed-up chickens are enjoying their new window quilts (hastily constructed by WF and I this evening). We hope it will hold in more heat at night; should have done it long ago, probably. I think they approve! We’re still getting eggs, and only a couple have frozen before being collected.

I also dashed outside a bit today to try a favorite ultra-cold-weather activity: blowing bubbles! Deb posted about the instantly-freezing boiling water; I’ve never tried that. Bubbles are fun because they freeze in the air, then crumple into little cellophane clumps when popped. It was fun for a few minutes; not long enough (and too windy) for pictures. Ah, cold. I’ve also heard that you can hammer a nail in with a banana when it’s colder than 20 below- maybe we’ll try that tomorrow if the temps keep dropping!

It's Cold, I'm Crazy

Note to self:

Next time you decide to go running when it’s 16 below F, remember this: Frostbitten earlobes HURT. Especially if you forget to take out your earrings before going into the wind. Ouch!

(Even though I’ve lived in MN most of my life and been out in colder temperatures than today’s low, this is my first experience with real, lasting frostbite injury. Not something to take lightly, as my ears now know. Wondering how they'll heal... Blisters? Permanant sensitivity to cold? Argh!)

Peace on the Mall

A friend of ours recently made the 24-hour bus ride down to Washington, DC to participate in the big anti-war/peace rally on the Mall. I’ve considered going in past years, but it just hasn’t fit into the schedule yet. 48 total hours on a bus for about 6 hours at the destination is REAL commitment!


The pictures and thoughts she sent after the experience are a great glimpse of what’s going on in the country right now. She was impressed by the variety of ages represented. This isn’t a small group of crazy, young liberal protesters, no matter what the media might try to tell (or not tell) us. These are regular people, concerned about a horrible quagmire:



And yet, how to get through to the hard-headed politicians? She gave the go-ahead to share this:

"My impressions of the protest and march are a little mixed. As a grand summary, I'm really glad I went. I think it's important to try to get media attention on citizen opposition to the war and the troop surge. But the feeling of being there was not powerful. I've been trying to figure out why not. I think the biggest reason for it (besides not being a firey-eyed 20-year-old anymore) was that there was no one there to convince. I mean NO ONE.
[It was] 11a on Saturday morning…. No one was at work; no one was at the capitol; no tourists this time of year either. We rode the subway in and it was full..... of peace marchers. Thousands of us just collectively bobbing around the Mall like pecking chickens, showing our wattles to each other. Now I do realize, of course, that this was a media event... but still. “ (Thanks, Susan!)

I thought the chicken owners among you might enjoy that reference. But seriously. What can we do? How will change finally happen? Our lately-more-conservative local paper hardly did a tiny blip on this event, a shame.

It hurts my heart to hear of how bad life has become for regular people (and the troops) over in Iraq. What a mess. What to do?

Wake Up!

Speaking again of public radio, did anyone else wake up to the definitive news summary today that “Global Warming is real and the earth will be substantially altered for thousands of years”? Or something like that…I was still groggy. That is NOT news to me or many, many scientists, but interesting to hear it so flatly stated on NPR (and apparently lots of other more right wing stations). Great words to literally and figuratively “wake up” to though, eh? Even the groundhogs are telling us to wake up.

I’ve seen more acceptance of this Climate Change idea from politicians and even Park Service officials around here lately, too, so it will be interesting to see where these new, stunning “revelations” get us. Finally some good change, perhaps? But is it too late? I believe that it IS too late to actually stop the climate change, but perhaps more people will learn to live lightly (and therefore for longer) on our now-compromised planet. Maybe.

Sometimes I’m optimistic about people learning to change their consumption habits, but other times I just want to crawl under the covers for a few days. But even people still in denial about the climate will have to deal with the unpleasant, mundane consequences, like this article about never-ending colds. Great... (Thanks to the Worsted Witch for posting those links!)

Such cheer. Sorry. I seem to be wordier than expected, so there's still one more not-so-cheery (but interesting) news-related item to come, in the next post...

So Sad

Damn. Why do the good ones have to leave us so soon?!?!

Molly Ivins is who I was thinking of when I explained the “shrub” mention a couple entries back. Back when I used to scrounge old magazines for entertainment, her column in The Progressive was a highlight of my week. I was always impressed that our local, somewhat good-‘ol-boy Union newsletter ran her column, too.

If there’s an afterlife, I hope she’s having a wonderful dinner with Wellstone, Ann Richards, and hey, maybe even Douglas Adams. All gone too soon. I’m sure they’d all get along well. It’s such a shame. We certainly could use so much MORE of her wit and wisdom. Sigh...