Edible Wild Plants

So you’re stuck out in the woods for one reason or another. And you are now in a survival situation.  You have a small bottle of water, maybe a few protein bars or some trail mix. But when that runs out, what will you eat?  The majority of people don’t know what plants are edible and what’s not. And any out doors person should know how the rhymes go: “ Leaves of three let it be”  “If a berry is white, run in fright” . It was only after watching “Man, Woman, Wild” that I knew you could boil down pine or spruce needles to make a tea. I had heard that you can also eat marigolds, but other then that I admit. I was clueless as well.  

Then I researched the topic and found that the wilderness provides. The Native Americans have been foraging for centuries, so if they could do it, then we could too.

Cattails- An aquatic plant, can be roasted or eaten raw. You can also take the fibery portions and start a fire with it.

Juneberry- or more commonly “service berry” and as long as a berry as a crown on the end of it, it’s safe to eat, as there have none found poisonous with crowns. They are a purple fruit that can be eaten fresh or dried.

Nut Grass- or “nutsedge” Its found world wide but common in the summer, fall and winter usually found in open areas, or along riverbanks.  Most of us usually have it growing through out our yards…little did I know that the small hard like tubers can be eaten. Taste bitter, but has a high nutritional value, and can treat cough and colds.

 The Swamp Cabbage-this is actually a southern delicacy. It’s very useful and full of nutrition, but only works if you have sable palms around. It wasn’t until I started researching it that I found tons of recipes for it. It’s really good boiled or cooked in to fritters.

So there you have it, a few edible wild plants that I have found that you can survive on if you are ever put in that situation. .

BO Ad-Libed and Got it Wrong.

Did you know that in Presbos job speech he made a major gaffe? Probably not, in fact PBS edited the gaffe out when airing the replay By all means let’s not make the President look ignorant.

Presbo said that Abraham Lincoln founded the Republican Party, which is not true. The party was founded in 1854, Lincoln joined in 1856. And the first Republican convention was held in Wisconsin in 1854.

Also but not surprising is that BO gaffed that Lincoln started the first land grant colleges. Each state is in charge of its own educational institutions and most of the states entering the union after 1815 had designated state universities, with grants of land, in their state constitutions.  That is the reason that major state universities are near the geographic center of their respective states, and not located in the major urban areas.

But PBS has elected to delete this from the transcripts, because they do not want to make BO look bad. Can you imagine if this had been a Republican President? When it comes to this president, the media lost all credibility and he can do no wrong. To quote Sean Hannity “The modern media died during the 2008 election cycle”

Since PBS edited the transcript they are now laying blame on the White House in a Editors Note they said:
 “The original transcript provided on this page, as was noted, reflected the president's remarks as prepared for delivery and released by the White House. This transcript has been updated to reflect the remarks as delivered and released by the White House." 


However, I have learned through my online searching, that this gaffe wasn’t even in his original speech- BO Ad-libed “The founder of the Republican Party” statement…. And then he gets it wrong…

Kids Gun Buy Back

In getting our weekly NRA update email. The “Outrage of the Week” isn’t just an outrage, but seems completely nuts. It’s from Buffalo, NY. And, it is about a group called: “Fathers Armed Together to Help, Educate and Restore” aka “FATHERS”

The Fathers group had a kid’s gun buy back day. They handed out pizzas, dress shirts, and various school supplies to kids who turned in their water pistols and nerf guns-yes that is right a gun buy back for toy guns.

The reasoning behind it was to indoctrinate kids at a young age that guns are bad, and should be avoided and thus crime would surely stop.

So after being outraged by the update, I did a search on the subject and came across the news article on it at the Buffalo news website. http://www.buffalonews.com/city/communities/east-side/article546659.ece

I agree with one of the people who commented, she said “What about all the violent video games, and what about the classic cartoons where characters  were constantly getting blown up?”  I also believe that if these Fathers want to have a gun buy back, then they also need to have a baseball bat, kitchen knife, automobile, power tool, beer bottle, and just about every other household item  “Buy Back” because its obvious these Einstein’s haven’t  realized that anything can be used as weapon.  So yes let’s indoctrinate our young to fear the little evil black rifle, and let’s turn our country over to where only the government can have a gun.

Questions to Ponder

Interesting Questions to Ponder…

Why do we park on a driveway and drive on a parkway?

How did things get named?

Is there ever a day that mattresses are not on sale?

Why does the Easter bunny carry eggs, when everyone knows that rabbits don’t lay eggs?

If pro and con are opposites, wouldn't the opposite of progress be congress?

When you're caught "between a rock and a hard place", is the rock not hard?

Why is there an expiration date on sour cream?

Why do we say something is out of whack? What is a whack?

How come there aren't B batteries?

How come you never hear father-in-law jokes?

And last but not least in my questions to ponder:
Is this really Michelle Obamas missing relative:

He's Only 5 !

My week has been on the stressfull side. First my dad has been in the hospital since Monday, and if you ever want good "kid themed" material to write about, take your kids to the hospital,  however that is saved for another day..

This morning, things are hectic before going to school. Trying to get breakfast done, teethed brushed, and boys dressed, I hardly have time to sip my coffee. I also babysit our neighbors 10 month old. The dad dropped him off about 20 minutes early- Gee thanks! as if I wasn't stressed enough. Here I am answering the door in my nighty.
Flash forward about 30 minutes, everyone is dressed, I can finally drink my morning java, my boys are playing in the dinning room, and hubby walks through to go out the door....it is then that we here it --our youngest is playing pretend with his transformers.."Thundercracker your a P-----" (you can feel free to use your imagination and fill it in).. then he says it again. Hubby stopped dead in his tracks, and I about spit out my coffee....  NOOOOO  please tell me he didn't say that twice?  I felt like the mother from "A Christmas Story"  Hubby immediatly demanded to know where he could have heard such a word, "i dont know" then he starts to cry and runs to his room after daddy swats his fanny. I go find him, and explained things to him, and then he says: " well so and so says it all the time at school"  
"My Lord, you are only 5! kindergartners arent suppose to be talking this way"..   Now all morning, I am thinking..."what do I do and does a 5 year old really know what he is saying and that its a bad word" ?
On the way to school we talked about what he said, and I told him that he needs to tell his teacher when other kids are saying bad words, and that those kids will one day get you in to trouble. It was a good lesson in the choices we make. But still I am mortified that kids this young are talking that way....

Stop the Press! Pelosi's Ticked....

Apparantly the former house speaker is a bit peeved that not only are some Republicans skipping Presbos speech tomorrow night, but also are not giving a rebuttal afterwards.  She says its not fair to the American people. Speaker Boehner is basically saying..that there will not be very much to respond too. (Which i find to be comical). It is not hard to understand that tomorrow night is the start of the NFL season, love it or hate it. Its an American pass time and the hard working class people don't like it being interrupted by BO talking to us about how he plans to create more jobs-Americans want to enjoy their beer and hotdogs and be left alone to watch the Packers and the Saints. So I say "KUDOS" to the GOP for not giving a rebuttal and taking up more airtime-And let us get on with the game.

What is not fair to the American people is getting another stimulus possibly thrown at us when the first one clearly did not work. The estimate  his job plan would cost around 300 billion ,  but add up more to like 4-500 billion. And its going to extend unemployment benefits. Believe it or not there are jobs out there and companys are hiring, its not just the jobs anyone wants or they don't want to settle for 10.00 an hour when they have been making 15 or 20.00 an hour. So if someone is making money being on umemployement why should they go to work? I know someone who is doing this exact thing, because she lost her  high paying fancy job, and can't find one that pays the same. She chooses to stay unemployed so she can sleep all day, be lazy and still get a check.,  we are all  paying her way to do so. I fully believe that extending unemployment benefits, is only "enabling" these individuals, keep them dependent on the government so BO can get the vote in 2012-Nothing like buying votes....

And while I am on a soapbox- I am really tired of hearing about infrastructure jobs...Government doesnt not create Jobs, they create work. What happens when those highway jobs run out?

Space Junk....

Hubby and I like to sit outside on Friday and Saturday nights. We have nice fire pit built in to our back patio. Its nice to relax and reflect after the kids go to bed and enjoy watching the flames dance. Once thing I love to do is watch the night sky. It simply amazes me. While I do not have a telescope, I use binoculars to catch a glimpse of anything celestial. And I admit, I do not know one constellation from the other, they all look the same to me. I do keep hoping that maybe this Christmas Santa will bring a really nice telescope, one that I can plug in to the computer and download info.

Friday night while hanging out on the back patio, I noticed high level lights streaking across the sky. No, it was not meteors; these were small and fast like they were on a course for somewhere. Then we assumed it was the International Space Station. We do see it quite a bit where we live. But it kept happening.

Then Hubby suggested “Space Junk” which got me thinking: Just how cluttered is space?

I remember when the Shuttle was once hit in the windshield by junk, and a few weeks back I was outside and saw a bright flame shoot from the sky then died out, could that have been a piece of trash falling to earth?

So then I researched it, and apparently space is just as trashed as I expected it to be, from old satellites, to things astronauts have left floating. No wonder we are on a constant barrage from trash falling to earth.  So next time you are outside on a dark and starry night, watch the night sky, and you too might see a piece of space junk go zooming by.