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Grizzly Mama

There's a Grizzly who has escaped the City of Brotherly Love..(and she's going back to homeschooling!!)

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Location: Out of Philly, Pennsylvania, United States

"All who have meditated on the art of governing mankind have been convinced that the fate of empires depends on the education of youth." Aristotle - Greek Philosopher.

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

What's On Grizzly's Mind?

It's nice to have a good husband. One who will go looking through the garbage that I just put out and retrieve the little drain basket that goes in the kitchen sink. I vaguely remember approaching the garbage can WITH said basket to swipe it out. I must have just dropped it in. I was in the middle of getting a nice, fat chicken ready to roast in the Crock Pot tomorrow. That poor little chicken. What a cutie it must have been.

I would never make it on a farm. Once I went down the the Italian Market in South Philly with a friend. Our aim was to pick a live chicken from the coop, have them slaughter it and prep it for cooking that night. We arrived at the shop to do just that, picked our chicken out and waited. Did you know that chickens scream at the top of their lungs when they are being taken back to have their little necks zipped? I didn't know that either. It's a terrible sound. We made it through 3 screaming chickens of customers before us before we ran out of that shop. I have heard that chicken that is that fresh is delicious. Maybe I'll have Troll do the dirty deed. God bless him - - he'll do almost anything I ask.

He's going to have to take the cat to be put down soon. 'Put down'. That's what they call it when they kill your old cat. She's almost 18 y/old now. She's a mess! Poor thing. Troll has been the one the family calls upon when it comes to taking old pets to be 'put down'. *I* certainly can't do it. I keep hoping she'll die peacefully in her sleep. Although I'm hoping that it's not on my daughter's bed that it happens - that's where she sleeps.

The girls are like little fishies at the pool. The oldest is on the diving team and swim team. They're working her tail off. She was afraid to dive 5 days ago. She's diving off of the board backward already. Gotta get them in there while they're young! The little one is starting her swim lessons on Monday. She floats quite well. We will be continuing with their music lessons through the summer. Older is piano. Younger is guitar.

You all heard about my recent urge to start playing the flute again, right? Well I am proud to announce that my mother treated me to a brand spanking new, beautiful Gemeinhardt Flute. I purchased it through Woodwind Brasswind. It is fragging GORGEOUS! Thank you, Mum! Wonderful company to deal with. It sounds beautiful - yes - I was able to play it although not very well. It's been 26 years for goodness sakes! I'll be taking a couple of private lessons later this month to get me on my way. The girls are excited, and Troll is thinking of playing the coronet. LOL! We may make a quartet yet! I am also looking forward to purchasing another flute from Alison. Both girls are now interested in playing the flute as well - so I think that we will need Alison's as well. Thank YOU Alison!

I have heard - as you have, all of the news out there. There is a lot of it, isn't there? So much so that I am overwhelmed. What a world we live in. It's scary sometimes to think of it - and to think of what the kids will be dealing with when they grow up.

That is why we must make sure that they are well educated!! We must do our very best.

10 Comments:

Blogger City Troll said...

Thats why we have to Homeschool... Which I'll leave to you I may dig through the garbage and have to kill the pets and tend the graves but I'll leave dealing with the children to you LOL (somehow I think I have it easier)

14 June, 2006 01:08  
Blogger Laura said...

Thanks for writing such a wonderful update. Yes, the news can be overwhelming and that's why I don't like writing about it that much. It's nice to read a bit of sanity in this world of chaos, and to see how much normal life goes on.

Sunday, we hunted for hours to try to locate Krip's allergy spray (for his nose); digging through the trash, looking outside, going through his clothes...everywhere we could think of and couldn't find it. Krip said that the "house ghost" took it. Ah, he found it, finally, that night when he put on his robe to take a shower. It was in it's pocket...go figure.

14 June, 2006 05:26  
Blogger tshsmom said...

You haven't lived 'til you've dug through a restaurant's trash, looking for your daughter's lost retainer!
I'm so sorry about your cat! I prayed that our last dog would die at home in her sleep too. That didn't work for us either.

14 June, 2006 16:56  
Blogger Kate said...

Boy oh boy, your man is right (they do have it easy!). Although, I'm very sad for you and your sweet ol' kitty. That's NOT easy. My condolences. Glad to hear how well you all are. Good luck on the flute lessons. Ironicly, I was looking at flutes on ebay just the other day! I was looking into piano lessons for the kids and came across a teacher who also taught the flute. I remembered how in 6th grade - oh let's see here - that would be 22 years ago - I was 6th chair. And if my brain can recall, that was a big deal! So maybe I'll try it again soon. I just doubt my man would ever play an instrument so props to yours! Have a great week.

14 June, 2006 17:02  
Blogger J C said...

It's a good thing you weren't around my place when I was a kid and my Mother wanted to have a chicken for dinner. She grabbed the chicken by the head and wrung it around and around until the head came off.(It was called, 'Wringing it's nec') She said that was the best way because the chicken didn't feel much pain. Then the chicken would flop around for a while until its' poor little body realized it's head was gone then it'd stop flopping. Then we had to scald the body and pluck the feathers, with extra care given to the little pin feathers.

The only time I remembering telling my mother, "No, I won't do it," was when she said, "James, go kill us a chicken for dinner." She said I'd have to sooner or later. She was wrong. I never could do it and I'm glad!

Happy Flag Day!

14 June, 2006 18:12  
Blogger Always On Watch said...

Monica R,
Years ago during a house-cleaning frenzy, I once threw out the remote control. My husband dug it out.

But I am the one who has to tend to having the animals put down. My husband will go with me, but I'm the one who has to stay with the poor animal while the deed is done. We have four cats at the moment, my husband's cat Sheba will turn 18 in July--if she makes it that far. She's nearly deaf and quite senile (I have to remind her where the litter area is, and she's had several inappropirate eliminations), but the December check at the vet's showed a clean bill of health for Sheba's age. Of course, her health could take a downturn at any moment--we've been saying that for YEARS. Nevertheless, the bad day is coming, I know. I dread it!

I had a country upbringing so I know all about chickens and their cackles. I can get past that. And there's nothing as delicious as a chicken roasted in the crock pot!

Music lessons for children are so important! Playing a musical instrument develops the right brain and auditory skills.

And swimming lessons help both the body and the brain. I'm hoping to get to the pool soon and start swimming some laps. I have to get the all-clear from the orthopedist first, however. I see the ortho today for an evaluation of my achin' back.

Great update, Monica! Fun to read and well written.

15 June, 2006 06:23  
Blogger Sprittibee said...

Hope you all make beautiful music together.

Wish we could afford all those extras. We really enjoyed our all-homeschool choir last year. My mom dabbled at piano lessons for them, but was inconsistent, and therefore they are unable to play still (well, nothing but picking things out). They both sing beautifully... but I have hopes that they can each have a lot of fun extra-curricular items in the future.

I don't think I want to hear about the screaming chickens. We eat a lot of chicken.

Sounds like you are enjoying your summer. :) God bless.

15 June, 2006 13:32  
Blogger Sprittibee said...

Holy cow... that article is scary, Chas!

15 June, 2006 13:39  
Blogger Always On Watch said...

About that link which Chas left...First in Europe, then here?

15 June, 2006 19:55  
Blogger Grizzly Mama said...

Troll - thanks hon. ;-)

Alicenot - we do 'the hunt' every day for Troll's keys. He never leaves them in the same spot twice. It's been 18 years (or 19?) and I haven't been able to cure him of that. Glad Krip found his allergy meds.

tshsmom - with the price of retainers I'd be out there going through the trash, too! LOL! Thanks about Miss Kitty. She's a mess but as far as I can tell not in pain.

Thanks Kate. I doubt Troll will pick up a coronet - but you just never know with him! You have a great week too - good luck on finding a flute. (Alison has another for sale - good price too!)

JC - oh Lord. I wouldn't be able to do it either. I can't imagine plucking and cleaning them either. I suppose if we were starving. My brother and his wife keep some chickens and she kills them - but she just holds their jugular until they lose consciousness. Then you've got the cleaning and and plucking though... I would have been a total wuss in the pioneer days - I never would have made it I don't think.

AOW - I've never taken a pet to be put down. I know many who have and they cry and cry - terribly hard to do. But they stayed with their pet, too because they didn't want it to be alone. I would hate for Miss Kitty to be alone. She is also having difficulty finding the box - I moved it closer to the basement stairs and that's better but she sometimes doesn't recognize that there is water in her bowl and will holler at me for water. I am very happy that my mother is helping with these extra things for the girls. I know they love it and it's good for them.

Chas - ya done freaked me out again! I have to do a post on it after I put the latest Cubed essay up. Scary stuff. We need to get rid of the UN.

Thanks Sprittibee - I know how expensive all the extras are. It sucks not to be able to give those things to the kids. We went through a couple of years and I felt bad but then my mother (and Troll's mother helps too) came to the rescue. I would love to get the girls into a choir and they would love that too. I just learned of a coop in my area that I am going to check out. The nearest homeschooling coop that I could find was in Trenton, NJ. Too far. Thanks for visiting and I hope you have a great summer, too!

16 June, 2006 00:14  

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