I just heard this

Micah--Your eyes are the last part that are built.

Samuel--Oh

Micah--Yes, the inside parts are there, but not until you are born you can see them.

Samuel--Oh

Micah--Then you want cheddar bunnies

Samuel--okay

I can't decide if they are playing pretend or just really confused.  I didn't want to bother them.

Playing with black and white

I wanted to try something new with Elements.  Peter's picture looked a ton better when I had it surrounded by black.  I definitely like the lower picture better.  Better contrast.  The top one has too much sky and not enough contrast.  I used two different methods of conversion to black and white.  The lower method wins hands down for me.  What do you think? 

Raised veggie beds

We recently made some raised beds for veggies in our backyard.  Okay, it was really Peter.  I think the idea of me with a power tool terrifies him, but he was nice and said that it was my job to make sure Esther didn't get in the way.  If you want a how to and wonderful, helpful pictures go the Pioneer Woman's page on building your own raised beds.  If you want to laugh and not really be informed stay here.

Okay step one in our version is be Dutch.  Go ask business landlord for some really old wood from a building that he is tearing down.  You didn't have to buy any wood, what a good Dutch person you are!  Next completely forget to take pictures of the pile of really old wood.  Isn't that easy.  Okay, now that we are this far let's jump to laying out the wood for where you might want it to go.  

As you can see we decided to put ours in the corner.  And I made sure to get a toy and some trash in the picture to make sure you know this is our yard and I didn't sneak into someone else's yard and pretend that we are industrious.  Peter put the drill in to show he was going to be part of the project.

You can see here the pitfalls of being Dutch.  You get wood with jagged edges and have to make your bed smaller than you may have wished.  But the wood won't warp, it's been prewarped for you.  Now comes the tricky part, you have to leave it there for and get carried away with real life.  I know it's hard, but in order for this to work you have to coach soccer and make money to eat.  There have to be Easter egg hunts.
Now that your week of doing other things has gone by you can get back to work.  Make one bed without your wife even noticing, aren't you awesome now!  Next call her outside to show her the ripping apart of a door from the torn down building.  

Doing work stealthy can make for disjointed pictures, but we aren't professionals so it doesn't matter.  Next your wife has to forget that she is supposed to keep taking pictures and goes inside to make dinner.  Next thing you know have built two beds and there aren't any more pictures of work being done.  It can make you seem like magic.  You sure are awesome now! 

Now add soil that you get from the same landlord for free again.  

Now the raised beds are ready for veggie seeds.  And you have a very appreciative wife.

I have learned alot from this little adventure.  I really appreciate what Peter does around the house.  And I also learned that I have to take more pictures and they have to be closer to the work being done.  Oh, and I need to keep the yard picked up better.  Peter was a full cooperater in this and no Dutchmen were harmed in the making.

Link-Am I my neighbors keeper?

An old friend and smart guy (but what else would one expect from an Aggie?), John Ferguson has likened our political life to the Good Samaritan in his blog post "Am I my neighbors keeper?". He really has put a new spin on it.  I would encourage you to read it.  

Tea Party

Just one note about the sign--we didn't write it and I thought at the time it was talking about big corporations.  I was very impressed with our tea party here in Twin Falls.  There wasn't any racism and it was very positive.  I also liked that the first speaker acknowledged that our speaking out now and not under Pres. Bush is hypocritical.  There should have been more outcry then.  However, now is when the camel's back was broken.  Please don't leave any nasty or condisending comments.  I also think that it is true that this is not a partisan issue.  Both houses of Congress are being irresponsible and corrupt.  I need to speak up and say that our President does not create the laws, he creates policy.  So this national protest should not have been focused so much on him.  God gave us this President, what do we have to learn here?

The Truth can be Beautiful

Peter and I watched a new documentary The Beautiful Truth.  It was very informative as well as appalling that the truth and medicine has been co opted by power and money hungry individuals.  (There is one thing that I would preface it with, I think one of my distant family members tried this and he didn't live.  However, I wonder if he did the coffee enemas.  I know that he drank and ate carrots.  I was quite young and not sure what exactly he was doing.)  Did you know that Donald Rumsfeld worked for Searle?  What the nut?  Why the heck was he the Secretary of War or whatever if he was in the pharmaceutical industry?  Seems backassward to me.  And he was the head when they developed aspartame.  Now I'm unhappy.  Seems they pushed that puppy through. 

Okay, the first point.  Dental health is important.  The filling amalgam that dentists use has MERCURY in it.  When we saw that the amalgam continues to emit mercury vapor for at least 50 years Peter just about had a heart attack.  He opened his mouth and I was just about blinded by the silver it contains.  So now he wants to get his fillings removed.  So if anybody knows a dentist qualified and willing to remove them he would be most appreciative.  According to this film if a dentist is willing to do this he will be run out of the business and be sued.  Now here is where is gets really crazy.  A study was done on the dental techs in Norway and most of those young women in the study ended up with fertility problems as well as other problems.  So don't let your teeth get to the place where fillings are needed.   

I'm just going to lump the other points together because I really think the film is worth watching by everybody.  The second point was deficiency.  The processed foods we eat routinely aren't giving us the nutrition we need.  DUH!  What is worse is that MSG is in almost all of them.  They call them glutamate.  It affects not only how things taste but also turns our brains full sign off.  So it's not just sugar that is the root of our weight problems.  This was where Donald Rumsfeld and his political ilk came in and I have to say I blacked out with anger for a minute.  It seems much of the policy that is made BY BOTH PARTIES is for financial reasons not about the people's health.  

Then there was Dr. Gerson.  I think that my grandfather must have read his book because I can remember him talking about some of this stuff.  Maybe both grandfathers were familiar with his work.  Basically Dr. Gerson said that cancer can be cured by eating a vegan diet for a period of time as well as getting coffee enemas and drinking freshly squeezed carrot juice.  There were many other things that can cured by this as well including autoimmune diseases.  There was plenty of qualitative research to show.  I wonder if there will ever be any quantitative research done on this as a viable was to treat cancer.  That would prove most informative.  

I watched it on Netflicks instant.  Bottom line is that I would definitely suggest this to everyone to see.  I may watch it again sometime.  Who wants to come over for some organic snacks and watch it?

Easter

Addiction is bad

So where have I been?  I have been detoxing from Diet Coke.  It seems that being addicted to something for more than 10 years can make a person grumpy and tired for the longest time.  I was feeling better on Sunday then I decided that coffee would be okay.  I was hyper then grumpy.  And on Monday for a wonderful treat I got to start the day with a headache.  It ended at about 7pm.  So I'm off caffiene completely now too.  

I also have been without a camera.  Peter was using it at work.  So I didn't get any pictures of the boys first soccer game of the season.  Or the first days of play outside weather.  I hope to be feeling more energetic next week.  And to have my camera back.