Hopefully speaks for itself.
Monday, May 29, 2017
Friday, May 26, 2017
New to us!
After a couple months of flooring repair, and then a ridiculous run-around to get the carpet installed, RP is finally fully open again!
Monday, May 22, 2017
breakfast? Yep!
Nothing wrong with a fancypants vegan grilled cheeze and trkey sandwich for breakfast. Hey, look: I'm a grown-ass adult! (Not that I wouldn't feed a kid this for breakfast...)
Sunday, May 21, 2017
Guest room reboot!
Here's what I did with my afternoon, with before and after pics:
Finished the hardwood flooring repair, built a couple of beds, put down a couple area rugs, while we're waiting (2+ months now) for the carpet installation.
It's a little rustic, but we have another guest room back on line!
Finished the hardwood flooring repair, built a couple of beds, put down a couple area rugs, while we're waiting (2+ months now) for the carpet installation.
It's a little rustic, but we have another guest room back on line!
Broccoli!
Well, and: onions!
This was a side dish I made last night for about 19 for dinner. It's shown before roasting, because I thought it'd make for a prettier picture.
Saturday, May 20, 2017
And now:
A return to your regularly scheduled programming. I can't blog that serious heavy shit too often. Gets me really riled up.
So here's some food porn: deluxe vegan grilled cheeze sandwich, with spinach and onions! It quickly became closed face, but open face made the prettier picture.
Thursday, May 18, 2017
Food Pantry: a rant
This is most definitely not food porn.
Trigger warnings: poverty, systemic oppression, capitalism, sadness, anger.
This is what 120 bags of groceries look like, packed today, for distribution at the Food Pantry tomorrow morning. It's basically one each of: small can of green beans, small can of kidney beans, small can of string beans, small can of beef ravioli, a 6 pack of ramen noodles, a box of corn flakes, a concentrate of cranberry juice, some sugary granola bars. The big "treat" is that we have real, brand-name Pop Tarts to give out tomorrow. We don't have a lot, and they'll go quickly.
When I get there at 8:00am to set up, there will already be a line for the 9:00am distribution.
Also tomorrow, currently in the the freezers, there will be (one per bag) bread, and (one per bag) desserts, from the Kroger Manager's Special "Woohoo" (closeout/expired) department, and cheap meat. People are already excited that some of it is, unusually, frozen chicken breasts. Until they run out, then it's the usual of (one per bag) eight-pack of shitty hot dogs. Yeah: Woohoo.
In order to qualify for one bag of this, you have to prove that your household GROSS monthly income for a household of one is $1,276 or less. For a family of four, $2,628 or less, then you can have two bags. And so on. Add $345 for each additional person after eight.
It's fucking heartbreaking.
This isn't meant, in any way, to cheapen the heartfelt commitment and love of the people who packed these bags, many of whom I'll be distributing them with tomorrow morning. They're kind, beautiful people.
Rather:
WHO THE FUCK ARE WE?
WHAT IN THE FUCK IS GOING ON HERE?
How the fuck are we spending untold billions on foreign wars? How is the West Virginia legislature spending approximately $35,000 per day in extended session having stupid ideologue arguments about the budget, while people are barely getting by?
Remember the concept of the War on Poverty? To paraphrase a song / story lyric from (fantastic, amazing band) Dry Branch Fire Squad, his grandmother had been fighting the War on Poverty so long, she went down to the courthouse and offered to surrender.
Well, here in rural West Virginia, many are still fighting the War on Poverty. They're not surrendering. But they're most certainly on the losing side.
Today I helped pack a lot of food, half of it junk, none of it enough to meaningfully sustain a household of even one for even a week. Tomorrow I'll help give it away, and load it in people's cars, helping many people who can barely walk, much less carry a bag of groceries.
And these people will all struggle through another month.
And we'll do it all again next month.
While the West Virginia Legislature increases regressive sales taxes, and lowers income taxes.
And don't be confused: this isn't just a West Virginia story.
Look around. See if your city/town/community has a food bank, a food pantry, a soup kitchen, a homeless shelter, human beings living in cardboard boxes under freeway overpasses, in doorways. Living in the woods close enough to walk in to do day labor, if they're lucky enough to get a backbreaking job for a few hours, with no benefits, no work comp, no day to day reliability, because they're an "independent contractor". Being arrested for the crime of being poor, and homeless.
I assure you, you do. Look around.
This is ALL of us. Many of us are lucky enough that we don't have to live it daily. Think on that for a minute. Or sixty.
Trigger warnings: poverty, systemic oppression, capitalism, sadness, anger.
This is what 120 bags of groceries look like, packed today, for distribution at the Food Pantry tomorrow morning. It's basically one each of: small can of green beans, small can of kidney beans, small can of string beans, small can of beef ravioli, a 6 pack of ramen noodles, a box of corn flakes, a concentrate of cranberry juice, some sugary granola bars. The big "treat" is that we have real, brand-name Pop Tarts to give out tomorrow. We don't have a lot, and they'll go quickly.
When I get there at 8:00am to set up, there will already be a line for the 9:00am distribution.
Also tomorrow, currently in the the freezers, there will be (one per bag) bread, and (one per bag) desserts, from the Kroger Manager's Special "Woohoo" (closeout/expired) department, and cheap meat. People are already excited that some of it is, unusually, frozen chicken breasts. Until they run out, then it's the usual of (one per bag) eight-pack of shitty hot dogs. Yeah: Woohoo.
In order to qualify for one bag of this, you have to prove that your household GROSS monthly income for a household of one is $1,276 or less. For a family of four, $2,628 or less, then you can have two bags. And so on. Add $345 for each additional person after eight.
It's fucking heartbreaking.
This isn't meant, in any way, to cheapen the heartfelt commitment and love of the people who packed these bags, many of whom I'll be distributing them with tomorrow morning. They're kind, beautiful people.
Rather:
WHO THE FUCK ARE WE?
WHAT IN THE FUCK IS GOING ON HERE?
How the fuck are we spending untold billions on foreign wars? How is the West Virginia legislature spending approximately $35,000 per day in extended session having stupid ideologue arguments about the budget, while people are barely getting by?
Remember the concept of the War on Poverty? To paraphrase a song / story lyric from (fantastic, amazing band) Dry Branch Fire Squad, his grandmother had been fighting the War on Poverty so long, she went down to the courthouse and offered to surrender.
Well, here in rural West Virginia, many are still fighting the War on Poverty. They're not surrendering. But they're most certainly on the losing side.
Today I helped pack a lot of food, half of it junk, none of it enough to meaningfully sustain a household of even one for even a week. Tomorrow I'll help give it away, and load it in people's cars, helping many people who can barely walk, much less carry a bag of groceries.
And these people will all struggle through another month.
And we'll do it all again next month.
While the West Virginia Legislature increases regressive sales taxes, and lowers income taxes.
And don't be confused: this isn't just a West Virginia story.
Look around. See if your city/town/community has a food bank, a food pantry, a soup kitchen, a homeless shelter, human beings living in cardboard boxes under freeway overpasses, in doorways. Living in the woods close enough to walk in to do day labor, if they're lucky enough to get a backbreaking job for a few hours, with no benefits, no work comp, no day to day reliability, because they're an "independent contractor". Being arrested for the crime of being poor, and homeless.
I assure you, you do. Look around.
This is ALL of us. Many of us are lucky enough that we don't have to live it daily. Think on that for a minute. Or sixty.
Saturday, May 13, 2017
Pickle in a Blanket!
You probably can hardly tell under all that goodness, but that's a pretty classic PIAB.
Gonna go build some ramps so I can get the riding mower into the park now. Long story.
Friday, May 12, 2017
Today's installment
in the Breakfast Sandwich Chronicles.
Half Strong Lines(tm) isn't bad, right? I mean, if you hit .500 in baseball you're a legend for the ages!
Thursday, May 11, 2017
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