Day 389 - TSA Frustration & Wolves! (AGAIN!) (Happy Dance!)

Today I managed to Skype with Jaco for quite awhile. I sure do miss him! It was great to hear his voice. He is quite busy these next few weeks while he is at home. I hope he can squeeze in all he needs to get done!

I also visited with Kim, a friend from ships. We haven't spoken for a few months, so I suppose we were overdue! I also visited with Mom2. We are planning to re-audit our Level 1 of Personal Best. I am looking forward to this, as I need a jump start to get back into the swing of things once I am done with chemo. Personal Best is a course I took 10 years ago & it changed my life. I highly recommend it if you're in the Alberta area. Our course begins December 10th & runs until the 12th. I'll keep you posted on how it goes & if I decide to run for Prime Minister afterwards!

Did I mention that it's been snowing since last night? Ugh. I am not ready for winter. I know, I'm lucky, as it's the middle of November, but come on! Who loves the white stuff & the icy stuff on the roads when you need to get things like toilet paper & food? I shouldn't have to risk my life to survive. Yeah, I know, you can make sense of that last sentence... But you know what I mean! Well, at least those of you living in Canada do!!! Yuck!

I fell asleep at 1930 & woke up shortly before 2100. Uh-oh. Yup, you guessed it. I couldn't fall asleep. Again. This time I occupied my time with blogs, news posts & YouTube videos about the atrocities regarding the TSA in America. It is ridiculous. I am so fed up with this terrorism B.S. & the so-called 'rights' of the governments to treat us like, well, I don't even have a word for the pathetic way they are treating us as human beings!

Supposedly the radiation & health hazards from both back-scatter x-ray scanners & millimetre wave scanners is worse than they originally indicated. They can & will cause skin cancer, they can make tumours grow more rapidly... I mean, honestly, the technology hasn't been around for that long - how can they REALLY know how bad they are for you? Adding to the fact that the former head of Department of Homeland Security has a vested interest in the installation of scanners all across the US. He stands to earn a lot of money from each of the scanners installed!

Well, you can refuse the scan, you say? Yes, you can. But then you get the aggressive pat down. What's that? Yes, your genitalia will be touched. Not with the back of the hand, but the palm & the fingers. There are instances of passengers who have had the hands of TSA agents DOWN THEIR PANTS! They dig under your bras, up & around your groin - and if you refuse this, you don't get on the plane!!! How is this right? I am horrified to travel! I don't want to be molested, but I certainly don't want to be subjected to excess & unnecessary radiation! This is pathetic! Where are our freedoms?

For those of you saying, 'Well, it's for your own safety. There could be a terrorist attempting to get on that plane.' Tell me why we can't profile like Israel? Why isn't there stricter enforcement of people on no-fly lists? Better background checks? Sniffer dogs? Puffer machines? There are so many other options besides aggressive pat-downs & radiating scans. Come on!

If you want to try to do your two bits worth, sign this petition: http://www.PetitionOnline.com/airline/
And please feel free to google any of this information if you feel I am overreacting. I guarantee you, it's real. And if you think your children are safe from the radiation or molestation, think again. They are getting it too. It's just not right.

Thankfully my night of nightmare flying was interrupted by the most beautiful sound in the world. I am in love with the wolves. They are back. I am so excited! This is a magical place! My Mother wants to leave it, but I would gladly stay, knowing that I could potentially hear the wolves each night. It was so mesmerizing that I actually bundled up & went outside to record their howls. I leaned against the car & listened to them. They were all around me. One was south of the house, one was across the pasture along the tree line to the southeast & another directly across from the house to the east. It was amazing! Of course, once the howling stopped & I realized that they are pretty much silent enough to sneak up on me, I got scared & came back inside. It was also somewhere between 0430 & 0500. Nonetheless, I wouldn't trade one second of it!!! Pure Magic! I feel so blessed to witness the sounds of howling wolves outside! I think they know how lonely my heart is & they came to sing me a song... :o)

Enjoy & pardon the poor recordings. I hope you can hear it well enough to appreciate it! The initial crunching is my feet walking down the steps outside in the cold snow.

xxxxMV&O

Personality of the day:

Meet Katy

Day 281 - Wolves & Coyotes

So I am quite possibly one of the world's worst sleepers. I can NOT sleep straight through the night. On average, I'm up about 3x to use the little girls room. Last night was no exception, except... when I woke up at 0500 to pee, I heard a noise. Not just any noise. Wolves. Not just one. Several. At least three. Howling. Bone chilling. Soul stirring. Pure, raw & certainly savage. It was one of the most exciting things I've ever experienced. I managed to grab my SLR & record the audio. I have about one minute of good solid footage of them howling. I LOVE it! 


When I was a little girl, I loved lambs. Then I swapped to wolves. Talk about opposites. I suppose it was similar to my taste in music. I went from the Emeralds - Bird Dance to Crystal Gayle, you know, the country chick with her hair to her ANKLES. Then it was on to Cyndi Lauper. Anyhow, I have yet to see a wolf in the wild, but hearing them is certainly amusing! 


I decided to go outside & see if I couldn't film the moon, the trees AND catch the wolves howling. All I managed to do was get both dogs barking, frighten my mother & when I did finally set foot outside, all I could hear was the river across the highway! It did smell incredibly fresh though! I went back inside (where it was warm) & recorded a few more clips. I heard Mom getting a drink, so I went out to tell her what I heard. She told me to wake her up next time I hear them. I have this sinking feeling if I do, the conversation will go a little something like this:
"Mom! Wake up! The wolves are howling."
"Whaaaah-t?"
"The wolves are howling."
"Oh."
"Are you coming to listen?"
"What time is it?"
"It's four thirty."
"Oh. I have to get up in two hours."
"Yeah. Are you coming or what?"
"No. Just shut my door when you go."


And she'll remember half of the conversation come morning. But I'll wake her up anyways!


I could hardly fall back asleep I was so excited about the magnificent howling I had just heard. I posted an update on Facebook & went back to sleep. 


When I did get up for the day, I didn't accomplish a lot. I ordered some baby things for my girlfriends due this month. I have an incredible girlfriend, Janis, who has created an eco-baby goods business with her sister. Check them out (Little Tree Hugger) if you need any baby things! I still have one more order to place with Taslie & then I'm set for baby gifts! I helped Mom with a bit of book keeping, visited EVIC, ran to town for water & the mail, and visited with my brother's friend, Hayley. I had heard about her before, but she was a delightful young lady! She is tall & gorgeous & so pleasant to visit with. I'm not sure what my brother is thinking... She's a catch! Oh well, as they do...


After Hayley left (she'd stopped to pick up a few day planners from Mom), I heard Oceana at the door. She was whimpering. Valentina was already in the house. What was that other noise? It sounded like a dog barking. But I didn't recognize the bark! It wasn't Oceana. Was there a dog lost from the campground? I went out on the deck & poor Oceana came streaking inside. 


Sure enough, I could hear barking in the clump of trees closest to the gate. I whistled at the dog. It barked back. Again & again & again. I finally decided it's bark wasn't quite a dog bark. It was a coyote. Be darned if the dirty dog wasn't trying to lure our dogs into the woods! I was horrified at the thought of little Valentina going to investigate & then being a cocktail wiener! I went inside to tell Mom to come out & when I went back outside, the coyote had moved places. His barks were coming from the bottom of the meadow. He was still out of sight, but he responded to my whistles. Pretty soon I saw him pop up on the other side of the meadow, where the power lines run. He stopped & looked at us & continued barking. Ooooh! I was so mad! Looks like the little dogs are going to have to be under strict supervision from now on! No wandering ANYWHERE!!! 


I found an old metal box tonight while I was looking for a computer cable. I had an 'epiphany' last night that it held all my old jewelry from high school. I could find the key, to I tried to 'pick' the lock with my Leatherman. Fat chance, but it worked! I could open it, but not close it. So I had a little trip down memory lane as I pilfered through my cheesy old jewelry. I will see if I can take apart some of it & use it for something 'new'. It was fun to find earrings & pendants & think to myself, 'Really? Did I really wear that? And I thought I was cool, too!' Fun times!


Anyhow, another quiet weekend shaping up... Everyone is out enjoying the long weekend & gorgeous weather... Make the most of it - Summer is flying by!
xxxxx
Maria & Valentina

Oceana snoozes in the sun.

Our new watchdog.

Getting a better look.

Mom & Hayley

Turn up your volume & pardon the 'clicks'!