Later Than Last Night

Fods, I am even later and farther behind tonight than I was last night getting to my gig! So if brevity be the soul of wit, I have some soul going on this evening, as it were....

Or something.

I am dashing off for some more Adventures in Rock, and one hopes it will be fun. I am hoping that the Trip of Grandmothers comes back, but I am not sure they could top themselves after last night. First set will be a slow one, I am thinking, as I am tired, and the weather is doing it's cold and snow thing, can't imagine people dashing out, tho I am hoping the Twin Cities Fiends come down.

I think tonight we should help Spacelaw with her Namo story and kick around the theme of "Good girls going to Hell" We are not sure where she is going with this, as she apparently took herself odd to bed, with or without whiskey, but I am certain we can find out in a few hours when she gets up in, (for her) morning.

Love and Hell,
Lorraine

Fods, I have to go....

I had a lot of things to say tonight, and was going to go off on any number of delightful rants, but looking at the clock I see I REALLY need to go and get ready for this show I am doing. Soon. Very Soon. And by get ready, I mean I am going for "Clothes and Dry Hair" end of story....(tho I do wish I had earrings, rats. They seem to have migrated all to another house, so I will just be another un-adorned fiddler rocking away..Jewaless)

Ought to be a fun show. I am ready for some fun, and our very own Max Randy seems, er ready, as well, and some Fiends are coming. All good signs for a fun evening. I will let you know when I get home this evening...

Stacy sent me a picture of her Adventures in Hair Dying At Home (Not generally the best plan!) and it is so amazingly wonderful, that I simply had to share it...Stacy, your hair looks fine, really, I see no problem there, it is actually the expression on your face that keeps sending me into yowls of laughter, which isn't easy to do when one is alone....

I think you should use it for your new, what are we calling them? Not Avatar...Well, little picture thingie.



Love and Hair,
Lorraine

Strange World. Long Day.

I am not sure now who it was exactly, but one of you on the ball Fiends posted a link to the ACLU website, where they talk about filing a writ petition with the CA Supreme Court, asking them to invalidate Proposition 8.

It seems they feel, among other things, that it is not right for the majority to be able to vote to take away rights from a minority, based on gender. Like, you can't take a vote to decide that now, say, only men can vote.

I am still somewhat puzzled that anyone thought you could simply take a vote to deprive people of rights. As if, well most people don't want Gay People to marry, so they can't. I mean, um, isn't that one of the things the 'Ol Constitution is meant to protect? The rights of the minority?

Go ACLU!

There. Those were my wise and deep thoughts for the evening, all that I had. Long day, long week, this girl is tired out. Running for President and all. Gigs this weekend too. I must rest up on the couch and prepare myself for some Rock.

A couple things tho I want to know tho....Yesterday's post went down the Cool Toys Of Childhood Path, I want to know: Best Childhood Toy ever. What was the COOLEST thing (or things) ever?

And what is every one's Porn Star Name?

(First name: Your first childhood pet. Last name: First street you ever lived on.)

Love,
Feather Fortress

Happy Guy Fawkes Day!

Remember, Remember, the 5th of November
Gunpowder Treason and Plot
I see no reason that Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot...

I had nearly forgotten that today is Guy Fawkes Day. It's getting pretty late for our Fiends from the UK to check in on this, but we can get their views in the morning.

I am pretty sure you all know the story, but just in case, a quick history lesson. A long time ago in a Galaxy...Wait. Belay that. A long time ago HERE, in 17th century England, 1605 to be exact, Guy Fawkes and 12 of his closest friends decided, what the heck, let's kill King James, and his Family AND most of the nobility and as many member of the House of Parliament as happened to be there at the time.

This may have been because as Catholics, under Queen Elizabeth's rule, they were somewhat harshly treated and they had THOUGHT when her nevvie James came to the throne, things would get a bit better. This did NOT prove to be the case. In spite of having a Catholic Mummy, James was every bit as harsh. (don't get me started on his views of Witchcraft!)

Or it may have just been a case of "Seemed like a good idea at the time".

I believe they thought that things would get better for them , as Catholics, if they succeeded in this. What happened next was, as Adam Stemple likes to say "A Perfect Storm of Suck."

They hatched their plot (love that phrase) under the cover of Darkness in the Dark hours of the night. (made that bit up, but it may have been tru) They would smuggle 36 barrels of gunpowder into the House of Parliament, disguised as barrells of herrings, into the basement, that being rentable due to a budget crisis at the time.

It was almost immediately discovered, in part because of Our Hero Guy standing around outside on guard, dressed as the 17th centuary equivalent of a modern day Ninja.

They were quickly rounded up, tried, and then, on what must have gone down as one the worst Bad Days in history, Guy was Hung, Drawn AND quartered. Bummer. Very harsh they were.

The story might have ended there, but for the Famous Gunpowder Sermons that started getting preached shortly after, giving those Wacky Brits better ideas than "Treason is Bad", which was what they were meant to do.

It quickly became a tradition that every year on 5th November that kids would make an effigy of Guy, and pull him around in a wagon, singing "Penny for the Guy, Penny for the Guy" and collect money and buy fireworks. Later in the evening, make a Bonfire and Burn the Dude in effigy, while lighting off the fireworks!

Is this a cool Holiday or WHAT?????

As for myself, no Bonfire tonight. What I have to do needs to be done under the cover of darkness. Much like moving Bee Hives, tho less scary.

I have been having a series of talks with my next door Neighbour Micheala, lovely girl, about the leaves that seem to be littering my lawn to the point where I can no longer see it. I have shown her these leaves as they are CLEARLY Maple Tree Leaves from HER yard. I have no Maple Trees. Q.E.D. SHE needs to come over and clean them up.

I mean, if my trash got knocked over into her yard, clearly I would have to go clean it up. She refuses to listen to reason, and so, under the cover of darkness (worked that phrase in THREE times tonight!) I am going to rake up all the leaves, sort out hers, and dump them in her car.

Girls got to have fun.

Especially on Guy Fakes Day.

Love and Gunpowder,
Lorraine

Good Morning!!

Good Morning, Fiends...

I want to thank you all for your support yesterday in my run for the Presidency. Your offers of support warmed my little heart and brought tear to my little eyes. Still we did good. Didn't get everything we wanted, but I believe in time, things will get better. And we came up with a lot of ides as to how we might bring that about. And we got to dream a little, about what a perfect world might be like.

Just up, are we still counting on Prop 8? There will come a day when the idea that a majority could vote to take away a right , that they themselves enjoy, from a minority, because that minority believe differently (on an issue that hurts no one and effects only the people involved) from them will seem ridiculous. It will come about.

Right. proper post tonight, just wanted to hop on quickly and say good morning. (And start a new set of comments, continue where we left off by all means, but we need a fresh spot, hee-hee) For this morning, I will let Nathilie supply both the Photo and the Words.....Because the make me happy.



Stains on my fingers:
A story seeping in;
My keyboard leaking
Images into this world.

I wonder all the time:
Does it dream at night?
Where does it get its ideas?
Which characters does it like best?

Love and hope,
Lorraine

Decided I ought to Run For President. Please Vote For Me.

I don't care who you voted for today, or even if you live in this country. I know it is kind of late in the game to be coming forward with this, and this is SO an A-political blog but I would like to tell you all of the reasons, that I, Fabulous Lorraine, would in fact, be a better President. I have some ideas, that might well change the world, if you would do me the kindness of listening....

1. Let's start with the big one (or one of them anyway) War. In the Middle East, Iraq, anywhere. My Cabinet is going to be composed of some really tough, kick ass artistic Moms. I will send them over, or go myself if needed and give both sides a Big Fat Time Out. You! Sit over there. You, in your room. I am SO setting the timer, and then we will talk about why hitting, biting, kicking and screaming are NOT ALOUD. We will settle this, and you are going to get along.

Now apologise, give me a hug, and let's move on.

2. THINK people. It is not that hard. Steve Brust said it best in a song from Rose for Iconoclasts.."War is bad; peace is good; never use plastic when you can use wood; be kind to strangers; give good jobs to vets; recycle glass bottles; spay/neuter your pets." It ain't rocket science.

Go Green. We only have this one planet. At the moment. We may find another, but hey, let's hedge our bets and save this one. Just in case.

3. Abortion. Ok, guys, leave the room. Once you can grow a baby in your tummy, come back and we will talk. In fact, if men could get pregnant would this even BE an issue? Can you imagine the men of this world letting anyone tell them what they can and cannot do with their bodies????

Ladies, grab some coffee, and let's figure out how to prevent un-wanted pregnancy.

4. Gay marriage? Hello? No brainer. Why is this an issue that ought to be decided by the majority? as I recall my history, at one point in this country the majority of peope did not think women had the right to vote. Let's go further, at one point in this country the majority of people in this country thought black people were second class citizens,and did not have the same rights as white people. Hmm, at one point in history, the majority of people in this country thought owning slaves was ok.

Nuff said. Marriage is a civil union between two people. Any "moral" issues are your own personal thing. Find a church that believes as you do and get your blessing there.

5. The election. How about a third option? None of the above, if that wins, start again, This is not a job that should be given to anyone who wants it. And WHAT is UP with the billions spent on campaigns? Let's try this. You get a website. Blog. About what YOU believe in, not your opponent. The millions are going to Humane Society's and Rescue Groups. And maybe send some kids to college, and feed some families, fund some art.

6. Drunk Driving. In Sweden the penalty is loss of licence forever and a year in jail. In some other countries, death by firing squad. Both countries do not get many repeat offenders. And have a far, far lower rate of first timers.

7. Health care. Well I watch a lot of TV shows. It seems the current system where millions of people simply show up at the last minute in the ER is working just fine. And 40% of the people in this country being obese? Well, not so bad, another 40% are simply over weight. The remain 20% is split between people who are at a good weight and those anorexic people who live in LA and want to be in movies.

8. Drugs. Well, I remember the days when pot was illegal and not even available for medical use. SO funny. As for the rest, it is good that the focus has shifted to getting people help and not overcrowding jails with drug users.

9. Religion. Not our governments business. Don't all religions pretty much say the same thing? And remember the texts you are quoting were not sent down by whomever as a PDF. They were told as stories for many, many years before they were ever written down, and translated...POSSIBLY might things have been altered from "Hey, be good,love each other?"

10. Do Something Good. Make your part of the world better. What if everyone did? Think about it. It should not be THEM who is running this country, It is US. Each of us.

Anyway, that's my platform. Not sure if I will win tonight, but I know I could, with you Fiends, change some things around.

Love and politics,
Lorraine

Moving A Hive In The Dark One Evening....

Did I mention the one thing about moving a Beehive, is that it must be done at night? This is because during the day, the little darlings are all out doing Bee Things, and you don't want them to come home and go "Hey! What the heck? Who moved the hive?"

The cast for this evenings adventure in Bees included myself, Boss and the Ever Up For Anything, Woodsman Hans. ("Say, Hans, might you not stay a little late tonight, until it gets dark and take your truck out into the woods with us, and move a beehive, of really nasty bees?" "Sounds like fun" says Hans. Ladies, you want to party with this guy!) The Birdchick, sadly, had prior commitments.



Light, of course, is needed, and light that you do not have to hold is the best. So I had an orange hat with a light clipped to it on the brim. In my Bee Suit. This hive is a very angry defensive hive that as had a lot of issues in the past, and now is a combination of Kitty/Olga hives. Makes a LOT of honey tho.

One thing I did not know about Bees in the dark is that, well, the one thing they can see is, say, LIGHT, and being somewhat irritated (this hive is somewhat irritated on it's best of days, and was rather some than Somewhat irritated to be woken in the night and moved) began to Go Towards the Light, IE my head. Bonking, buzzing, crawling...At me, on me....In the dark...

I am pretty nervous about Bees, due to a childhood trauma, and do not like working this hive in the daytime. I tried to keep it together, as Boss had a hole in his glove and a bee got in, as did Hans a moment later. Let me tell you, a Bee IN your suit is NOT what you want in the dark. But Boss and Hans were calm, direct, dealt with it, and did not get stung.

I freaked, too many Bees in the dark, too angry, too scary, Got stung in the stomach, and ran.. Turned into a Demon.



Well, no. Just looks like it. Boss got me away from the hives, and calmed me down (Owe him for that) . He said "We will now make you invisible to Bees", and turned my Head Lights red, which bees cannot see.

There are many methods of moving a hive, since we were not going far, we decided to simply put a bottom and a top on each of the three brood boxes and duct tape them up, put them in the truck and have Hans drive them to their new home, some half mile away.

I walked.

We left an empty box there for any stragglers to go to and tomorrow will fetch them to their new home.



The problem with the Head Light is that it would not STAY on my head, especially when freaking. I tried it on the top, as you can see, tho that did not work so well either.

We set the hive up in its new place inside the electric fence, doing a partial reversal. (Fancy Bee Term meaning switch two boxes around, so the bottom box is on the top, and the top is on the bottom, as the bottom box was not as full as the other two)

We did the quickly. When moving a hive, speed is your friend. And we put a branch in front of the hive to let the Bees know Something was Different, and so they could re-orient to it.

Cabal had a fine time, even turning into a Ghost Dog at one point to go with my Demon.



I think it was an Adventure. The silliest part was as I was getting stung and yelling OW OW OW, I was also yelling "I am stung! I am Stung! I am not a Bee Virgin!!!"

Before you get too sympathetic tho, I must tell you, I was stung not only thru the Bee Suit, but also a shirt, so there was not a lot of Ommph left by the time it got to my, er, somewhat less than flat stomach...

All in a days work. I love it.

Love and Bees,
Lorraine

The Last Photographs....

I am posting five pictures tonight as you wanted to see the Stardust dress, and also more to the point, they are the last five pictures my camera will ever take. Rest in
Peace. Thanks be I didn't get too distracted by Bengals and miss the dress altogether. It just goes to show you never know when you are down to your last five pictures. Make them count (Cue music)





You will recall it no longer has a viewing screen, after being dropped down the stairs in Brazil and one cannot see what one is taking a picture of? And how recently it started to come apart, and I had to duck tape it together? Well it seems that now, IT no longer wants to see what it is taking a picture of, and will no longer open its little "Eye" thing. Hmmph.





So, here you have them, the last five pictures. It gave up the Little Ghost on picture number six. I expect to hear from Miss Kitty plenty on this very soon. I do HAVE another camera, but when I got it , it would not charge, so it got sent back, then, almost immediately, I lost the charger, and it seems that a replacement is not available anywhere no matter what anyone says to the contrary.





Anyway, here is the Dress, it is lovely and falling apart, of course, after being overrun by ferrets, and wolves. I would show you a closeup, but alas....That cannot be. I like having a piece of that movie around, and perhaps someday, may actually wear it. Very gently.





Boss is home and very tired. I passed on all of your wishes and stories and they made him happy. Marjorie, he says he did eat the cupcakes, as did Paul and Storm and Jonathon, and they were much appreciated. So it looks like I will not be getting them home in a box.

I am going to cheer myself up tonight by taking my camera into photograph Leopard. Think about it, it works...I can't see what I am taking a picture of which is ok because I can't see Leopard either, and the camera can't see anything at any rate.

Got to laugh..

Love and Pictures,

Lorraine