So now that Obamacare is a sucess, can we force the House to vote

50+ times to re-authorize unemployment benefits for those who have been out of work for extended periods?

Or 50+ times to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 or better?

I'd be happy if the Democrats would force the Republicans in the House to vote over and over and over on really NEEDED things rather than trying to take good stuff away from the American people!

The Annual Guinea Pig Festival in Peru ***WARNING*** Could be offensive to some!

Seriously, if you are sensitive, DON"T read the linked story and pictures to the end - STOP at the guinea pig with the Santa hat! If you have a perverse sense of humor, read on.

"The March" - PBS show about the 1963 March on Washington

Excellent program. I just watched it and recommend it to everyone.

I was too young in 1963 to really understand what was going on that day, though I remember the trepidation of white people in my little Southern town about what might come of that march. They expected riots and violence, since their experience was based on the treatment of civil rights marchers by Southern law enforcement.

I don't think the white people I knew really listened to the words said that day or learned what they should have from the people who gathered in Washington that day. If they had, we would not still have the racism and the subjugation of people we do today. Instead they were waiting for the expected violence. They lost a chance to make this country better and stronger.

Watch the program if it is shown in your area. Here, it will rerun Sunday evening.

City of Tallahassee releases "Footsteps to Freedom" Documentary

Bob Ross Remixed!

Fish Bowl now on National Geographic!

So far, the action is riveting. A white puppy is sleeping next to a goldfish bowl. Every so often the goldfish swims around some.

Found a recipe in a 200 year old notebook! UPDATED

The entries in the book are between 1812 and about 1842. This recipe was in the book:

2 or 3 tea cups of sugar
1 or 2 of butter and
1 of pecans
3 Eggs
1 Teaspoon of perlash *
3 tea cups flour
brandy to your taste.

*(Pearl ash or potassium carbonate was an early raising agent but when added to fats could make soapy tasting baked goods. Substitute baking powder.)

It sounds as though it would be some sort of cake. I'm thinking of trying it when I get home, using baking powder.

UPDATE - Final version of the recipe - this is my second effort and it got rave reviews at my needlework meeting this morning.

A Love Affair with Birds - The Life of Thomas Sadler Roberts by Sue Leaf

I've just finished reading this book and thought some of the birders here might want to check it out.

Thomas Sadler Roberts was my husband's great grandfather and a pioneering ornithologist in Minnesota. He wrote the definitive bird book "The Birds of Minnesota" based very much on his own and his network of friends' observations about birds from his youth in Minneapolis in the late 1800s. He also promoted education about the state's wildlife, especially the birds, and conservation of habitat to preserve the birds he loved.

While the book is mostly a biography of Thomas Sadler Roberts, it also gives insight into the changes in attitude towards the birds and conservation over Roberts' lifetime. It also shows how he used his influence with his wealthy patients and friends to create Minneapolis' Bell Museum of Natural History (http://www.bellmuseum.umn.edu/).

Without people like Roberts and the students he taught and inspired, we would not have the conservation efforts that have helped preserved the small scrap of the natural world he took for granted as a young man. I'm proud that he is an ancestor of my husband!

A more complete review of the book is at http://www.minnpost.com/books/2013/05/love-affair-birds-chronicles-life-thomas-sadler-roberts

Anybody here make stuffed animals? A question about noses....

I'm making memory bears from my Dad's old shirts. I've got all the bears sewn, most are stuffed (that's my husband's job), I'm having no problem sewing the stuffing holes shut or sewing the buttons on for eyes.

The problem I am having is with noses. The pattern instructions (I'm using Simplicity 5491, out of print pattern) says to cut a felt nose, stitch it on the stuffed bear, then satin stitch over that with pearl cotton. The pattern doesn't say what size pearl cotton to use. I've got black in sizes 5, 8 and 12, but I'm having no success stitching a good looking nose in any of those!

I've done a lot of embroidery and can do a mean satin stitch on taut fabric with everything from pearl cotton to untwisted flat silk but my effort at satin stitching the nose on an already stuffed bear is horrible.

I'm thinking of bailing on the stitched nose and getting some buttons for the noses. The eyes are 1/2" half ball buttons in a shiny black - I'm thinking a flat black button in 3/4 or 1" might look good.

Any suggestions?

Things don't change much - except for style

Other than being a folk song style, this could be performed today and still be true: