Freeganism

Where have I been? Have you ever heard of Freeganism? A freegan is a social activist who, repulsed by the waste produced by modern society, has taken to eating food and collecting goods that have been thrown away. Freegans are driven by an anti-capitalist dogma, mixed with environmental, anti-globalization and some vegan ideals. <--taken from the CNN.com article that the photo links to.

This was the topic on Oprah today (yesterday in the US) and since I am home "sick" I caught part of the show. It is really fascinating! I realize my last two posts have been quite environmentally concious. No. This doesn't mean anything.

Loving the Look

The more I look at that Bee pic, the more I like the look of it. So, my goal is to post as many pics as I can that "go" with the color scheme. I will try to make the pots relevant to life in general, but I can't promise I might post one or two just on the look. Here's another bee one. No link or message, just cuz.

The Buzz about the Bees

Click here to read about an alarming problem in the bee industry. We saw a story about this on 60 minutes, and I went to the web to look it up. I know we learned about bees pollenating flowers, etc, but I had no idea the impact they have on the agricultural world!

Also...I thought this picture would look nice on my new blog theme! :)

Three Dog Night

Our friends Jack and Rebecca have gone to Spain. So Sunday, Monday and Tuesday nights we are dogsitting Miss McKenna. Isn't she cute?!

Big Trouble in Little Burstadt

Saturday night:
We are just sitting watching some tv and we hear/see/feel the house shake with an explosion outside! I saw over the fence the light from it, so I ran to the bedroom (met Stephen in there, he was coming from the kitchen saying, "Heeeaaather?" in an are-you-okay-what-happened? tone.) We opened the shades about 6 inches to see a car on fire in the street that intersects with the front of our house! We backed away from the window, not wanting to be in the path if the gas tank caught. Then we went upstairs to get a better view.
We think that the battery might have exploded in the car. The bystanders put it out several times with fire extinguishers and then the fire department showed up.

We had EIGHTEEN fire fighters and eventually 2 police and 2 media representatives, as well as a healthy crowd of onlookers, and one cat in a windowsill looking on as we were! Fortunately, no one was harmed in the bru ha ha.

Then, along came the tow truck. He tried to back down the street from our street, hit our fence a couple of times and gave up. They ended up pushing the car to the end of the street and then loaded it.


This is the only picture we got of the car on fire. You can't really see it because it's so smokey. At first you could see flames about 3-4 feet high. They were coming from the hood, and were way over the top of the car.

Here come the fire trucks!



This yellow tool is going to be used to pry the hood open. We believe (from what we could spy from the window) that the hood was melted shut.

The truck seemed to have it's own water. After they had sprayed the car, they filled the truck back up from the hole in the street.

Local media get the scoop, and a little kitty watches the action from her perch above the street. We looked exactly the same from the opposite side. :)

Fire fighter social hour after the action.

This truck brushes up against our fence trying to back into the street.

Evolution of Dance

I got this from Jessica's blog. She said it's a "YouTube has been", but I'd never seen it. If you have 6 minutes, watch it, it's pretty good!

New Look

Well, I've seen everyone else changing their blog layouts and adding things and finally couldn't stand it anymore. So, I hope you enjoy the new look. It makes me think of warm leather. The yellow sunshine and the chocolate-y border feel comfortable.

The slideshow took for.freakin.ever to get uploaded and added. I apologize if you are reading this and there is no picture of you. I had to do the upload three times because it kept locking up on me and I am not sure I got them all back on there. Have a pic of yourself or someone you'd like to see? Send it to me. If I know you, you have my email address. :) If there is one on there you don't care for, tell me so and I will remove it. I don't love how it came out, a lot of the pics are too small. Except N's eye. It's one of my favorites!

Anyway, I'm tired. There may be more small changes to come, maybe I'll add the jukebox back. We'll see. I don't know how all y'all do it, it's a lot of work!!

:)

THE JUDY'S!!!

Not many people know about the Judy's. They are a band from the 80s out of Pearland, Texas. Probably their most "famous" song is Guyana Punch. Some time ago my friend Shauna pointed me to a website where I could get on their mailing list. FINALLY, they released their cds and some merchandise. I ordered two of their cds (I had their ALBUMS in high school!) Moo and Washarama arrived today. Oh my gosh!!! I have been juking around and be boppin and singing since I ripped them out of the package!

Here is a bit of the press release:

The Judy's are one of Texas' most notable bands, earning critical and popular acclaim for their minimalistic, quirky alternative music and spectacular liveperformances. Originally hailing from Pearland, Texas, the band formed during their high school years and quickly rose to become one of thesouthwest region's top sell and crowd-drawing acts through the 1980's.

Washarama, The Judy's first full-length album is coupled with their Wonderful World of Appliances EP on CD, and The Moo Album CD includes bonus tracksfrom Judy's frontman David Bean's modomusic EP. Land of Plenty, the 1991 previously unreleased album by the late 1980's lineup of the band, is also finallybeing released in conjunction with the earlier recordings.

Wasted Talent Records is also excited to announce the opening of their online store which, in addition to carrying their CDs and vinyl recordings, offers fans various band memorabiliasuch as T-shirts, buttons and other paraphernalia. The website can be accessed at http://www.wastedtalentrecords.com/.For more information, please contact info@wastedtalentrecords.com.

Go have a listen and order if you like! :)

The Daylight!

The light at the end of the day. And the beginning!
Well, it is light when we get to work now, and not quite dark when we get home! We will Spring forward March 30, still almost 5 weeks away, but already the light is lasting longer. Most of US springs forward March 9th, as The Energy Policy Act of 2005 extended Daylight Saving Time in the U.S. beginning in 2007. SO, from March 9-March 30 we will be only 6 hrs behind CST, thus making us one whole hour closer to home! I sure worked that rationale, huh?
Regardless, we are seeing more sun than darkness and that makes me a happy girl!

Texas BBQ...not so much

So…there is this "concessionaire" on post, John's Best BBQ. While it does belong to John, I have strong reservations about whether or not it is the "best". One of my biggest complaints is that they don't have brisket. There is a big Texas state outline on the sign, and a Texas flag, as if to imply it is TEXAS BBQ. Without brisket, it is not. This morning, Stephen tells me that he talked to John, and here's the deeleeo: As a concessionaire on post, he is subject to the rules and regulations of the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) and AAFES. One of them says that concessionaires must purchase the goods (meat, poatoes, etc) on the German economy. Since there is some kind of ban on European beef because of mad cow disease, John's Best BBQ does not serve beef. How 'bout that?!

Stephen's Red Run

Remember to pause the jukebox to hear...

Ski France!

We had a really, really, really good time. The skiing was great, we slept in Saturday morning instead of leaving super early as planned. So we only spent a half day skiing at Le Ballon d’Alsace Saturday. It worked out perfectly because we went to this really small place with only two short runs. It was good for me, but a little mild for SB. I was able to practice a lot and get really comfortable. Then we spent the night in Colmar, on the way to La Bresse Hohneck, and on day two we found this AWESOME place with tons of runs -and tons of people-but not lines so bad we had to wait more than we skiied. SB was dominating the red run, and I was actually skiing, not just surviving the blue ones! They had several that you could chair lift and tow bar up to, and then ski down for a while. Not like all the ones I have been on so far that you can see the end from the beginning. The two videos are both at the first place. I'm going to try to post one of SB on the red run at Hohneck, but no promises, it's kind of long.

Day one of skiing. The snow machine was SO pretty!
If you are interested:
Le Ballon d'Alsace
Colmar, where we spent the night
La Bresse-Hohneck







Stephen on the tow bar.

Dinner out in Colmar.

That lady's salad was HUGE!

Stephen's giant coffee dessert.

When all these people wrecked on the last part of the blue run, I was done for the day. Too icy!!!
These people look like they've got the right idea!

A note about skiing...

Someone will always be better than you.

It doesn't matter if he's four years old.

Heather's Superfast Run...

Stunt Stephen-Take One

Stephen was suppose to ski past me and over some hills. He was unclear on the plan and chaos insued!

Happy Valentines Day!!!

LOVE YOU!!
~us


ps-This weekend...we ski France! Posting those adventures Monday!

Bruise day two

I just think this is especially gross and want to share it with you! :)

Halfway

10 Feb 2008-18 months down, 18 to go!
We are half way through our tour here in Germany.
In the first 18 months we have skiied in Austria, Germany and Switzerland. We have been to a German amusement park, Holiday Park. We've been to several German cities (Saarbruken, Heidelberg, Munich, Koln, Triberg and Freiberg) and a few other countries (France, Italy and Czech).
We have eaten new things, or things made differently than we are use to, like eis cream, bratwurst on too small round rolls, saurkraut, schnitzel, potato dumplings and noodles, spargel, steak with fried egg on it, and many local beers.
We have met new and interesting people including our landlords, our Malibu bar friends and many military folks and families. We have attended the church services on post and found familiarity and differences. We've taken on new jobs, Korean translator to Equal Opportunity Advisor, secretary to family support and back to secretary. We have seen all four seasons, fall and winter twice, two Halloweens, Thanksgivings, Christmases and New Years.

In the coming 18 months, we have hopes and plans to do some or all of the following: Trips to Spain, Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague, Garmish (Edelweiss resort), Greece. Two more Springs and Summers, one more fall and winter. Many more people, possible new jobs, and who knows what else!
Thank you for reading all about our adventures as well as our every day life, and sharing yours with us. We love and miss our families, our friends, our country.

2nd trip to Feldberg

We went back to Feldberg this weekend with Outdoor Rec. If you are counting, that is 3 trips with them. We will take one more because it is buy 3 get one free!

We had excellent weather, I MEAN BEAUTIFUL! It was near 50 degrees, not snowing or sleeting in faces or eyes, and not crazy windy. The snow was very packed, and that proved a little difficult for me. I did pretty good, but was scared and in pizza position most of the time.

Good news: I did a red run! (totally did not intend to do so!)

Bad news: I crashed really bad, sliding into Stephen who was trying to catch me/stop me from sliding all the way down the hill. His ski hit me in the knee, and then he skiied over my arm. That was painful. But not as painful as the fall on the wooden ramp I went up to look over the area and find the tow line where we were to meet. I ended up with this:

We also enjoyed some REALLY GOOD FOOD at a little restaurant among the ski slopes. It was cool to just ski right up to it and have goulashsuppe (goulash soup that was AWESOME) and some pommes (fries) and SB had bratwurst and potatoes (bratkartoffel).

Carnival in Burstadt!

If you've not heard of it, Carnival or Fashing in Germany is HUGE.

http://gogermany.about.com/od/thingstodo/p/carnival.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnival

and is essentially a German Mardi Gras. We had never seen anything like it in our tiny little town. When we awoke (after the horrible ski trip) there were bands playing and people yelling, it was an all day affair. Here are some pictures:

We wondered why we weren't aware of this chaotic event. Knowing there was no way we'd have forgotten about it, we pulled out the calendar, and discovered we had been in Paris last year at this time. So that's how we missed it. The other shocking thing is...ALL the trash was gone the next morning. Not a trace left behind!

Every trip can't be the very best...

Engelberg Ski Trip=worst trip ever.



It wasn't any one tragic event. No one lost a wallet, a passport, a camera. No one was hurt, too bad. But the sum total of events was a disappointment to say the least.

We started by getting up at 3am Saturday morning. (actually, we also had to miss our favorite show, Criminal Minds, Friday night so we could get to bed early) Neither of us slept well with the knowledge that we were not going to bed at regular time and that we would hear an alarm 2 hrs before a normal weekday, and this was a weekend!

Arriving to post at 4am, we boarded the bus with 24 other sleepy skier/snowboarders and departed for what should have been a 5 1/2 hour trip to Engelberg, Switzerland to arrive about 9:30. We pulled into the parking lot of the ski resort at 11:40. The bus driver had taken a wrong turn and we took the VERY long way around. For our listening pleasure, this annoying guy who could not shut up to save his soul was talking all.the.way. We later would name him Oregon Ooltay. He is from Oregon and was wearing a Tool shirt. And is a tool.


Once there, we got our lift tickets and headed for the slopes. All you really get is a map with some vague indications of where you can ski depending on your level of ability. After about an hour of riding up and down gondolas and chair lifts, we found ski run #5. It was a long one but for beginners. Not the 50 yard bunny slope that you have to ride the Tbar up 50 times to do, but still mild enough for a newbie. Well, we trapsed all the way over to it...CLOSED. The only way off that mountain was back on the chair lift and gondola. So we went BACK there and got to the lower level. Note: it has been snowing steadily since we got off the bus, so my hair has gotten wet and is now hanging in frozen sections. They are heavy and slapping me in the face when I turn quickly. We found someone and pointed to the map asking how to get to this area, the blue slope by the ski school. Turns out, you have to take a shuttle bus to that area, or walk. NO mention of this anywhere on the map. We got on the bus and headed over.

AND THEN, the skiing began. 2pm. It was treacherous at the top (somewhat steep, but EXTREMELY powdery) there were a few falls, and then after about 20 yards of "good skiing" there was just a long flat part. We did this run twice, and then Stephen did it once more. I was tired of being hit in the face and eyes with sleet/snow and couldn't see bout about 10 ft in front of me, so I skier watched for 15-20 mins while he did it one more time. We worked our way (as in tried walking on the skis on flat and some uphill terrain) to another tow rope that took us to a little winding way. It was ok, not great. We did that one twice, too. Then we boarded the shuttle again and went back to the gondola and down to the bus. As we were walking from the gondola, there was a concrete slightly downward sloping walkway. Reminder: we still have ice on our ski boots. My boot slips right out from under me and I land flat on my butt. That smarted a bit. The only consolation was that we were the only two people in that walkway. No one saw the event, so no insult of humiliation to add to the injury! We got some $20 chicken nuggets and fries w/ two drinks, and sat in the restaurant for about an hour and then got back on the bus for the drive back. The bus didn't leave until a little after 5:30 because 5 people were not accounted for. They were beginner snowboarders that went to the top and then couldn't get down. So we ended up back to post about 11:45 and home at 12:15ish.


Now, it wouldn't be living in Burstadt if there weren't a fest happening at the most inconvenient time. All day today the town has been blasting music that can be heard in our house as though we have the radio on. So much for Quiet Day Sundays!

Here we are looking like we are having a GREAT TIME! :) Also, this is the only picture as the camera batteries died after it was taken.

MySpace, Facebook, etc

I just don't really get it. I have a myspace and a facebook page. And I have some "friends" on them. (all real life friends!) But I am TERRIBLE about signing on to either and posting comments to my Friends' pages. I don't get the point. My thought is that if I want to tell them something, I'll just send them an email, or put it on the blog, which the majority of people I want to know things visit. I am not of this myspace generation. I guess I'm just old fashioned that way.

I love this article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,1809647,00.html
Some of the comments at the end of the article are also funny.

http://blogs.honoluluadvertiser.com/index.php?blog=5&title=too_old_for_myspace&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1