Gardens, Old DVDs, and a Revival Opinion

1.) Garden Update 

Turnips and spinach!   

I got the beans, squash, corn, and cucumbers planted, but they haven't come up yet. I also have yet to get my hands on any reasonably large amount of mulch. I've been reduced to wandering around our property and chopping all the dead grass I can find with a hoe, then putting that on there. Something deep within me objects very strongly to buying mulch (I'd much rather scavenge it somehow), but it's getting to the point where I might have to do that. 

2.) Did y'all see this? 

The Asbury Revival in Kentucky 

I'm Catholic, and a Catholic who's never cared much for Praise and Worship music at that. But I'd be lying if I didn't admit this thing has captured my imagination. 

Media coverage has mentioned it's very ecumenical in that different Protestant denominations are showing up, but I can't imagine my local Catholic parish loading up a bus to attend this thing. We've come a very long way in seeing each other as Christians, but there's still some very big cultural divides. 

I keep trying to imagine what the Catholic equivalent would be. The best that I can come up with is a Holy Hour or 40 hours devotion (some of which involve praise and worship music) that just keeps going and going. People keep coming, priests start setting up confessionals outside, mass is said a few times...

It would have to include the Sacraments. I think that's the biggest difference.

I won't say it'll never happen, but I struggle to imagine it happening purely organically like this seems to have happened. 

3.) Doctor Woes

Apparently in my area, if you wait more than three years to go to your doctor, they can drop you as a patient and require you to go through the process as a "new" patient. 

"And," the receptionist continued, "we're currently down a provider, so we're not accepting any new patients." 

Well, crap. 

I haven't been to the doctor since 2018 (even my last baby was delivered by a midwife without a nursing degree). Turns out that between finding childcare, being reduced to Medicaid/Obamacare insurance (my doctor didn't accept it, and the only doctors who DO accept it tend to be Medicaid clinics with six hour wait times) and surviving a pandemic where they tell you NOT to go to the doctor unless your leg is falling off, it's hard to get out the door to go. 

Our financial situation has improved so we have actual insurance now, I managed to pull together childcare, and then found out I don't have a doctor.

 So I cancelled the childcare and I'll be looking for one next week. We'll see how it goes. 

4.) Gay marriage and Santa Claus 

Little Girl was watching TV awhile back and I happened to be walking through the room. It was a new episode of her favorite show, PBS's Pinkalicious. 

Two cartoon men stood on the screen with a frizzy haired little girl. "This is our daughter," said one of the men, "and this is my husband, Frank." He put his arm affectionately around the other male character. 

((Deep sigh from me)) 

Five years old is way too young to be talking about this stuff. I know we'll need to have that discussion sooner or later, but before she's even in elementary school is too early. 

The concept had been introduced at that point (and Little Girl proclaimed, "there were two men who were MARRIED on that TV show" at supper), so we ended up telling the kids that gay marriage is like Santa Claus. It's something that isn't really real, but a lot of people like to believe is. And just like with Santa, it's rude to go around proclaiming it isn't real to total strangers (which they've done with Santa Claus, until we told them not to do it).

No idea how long that explanation will hold, but I think it'll do for now. Lets them know what they need to know while keeping a target off their backs. 

5.) Library DVDs

Related to the above, we've been watching a lot more library DVDs lately. 

We've been watching a lot of Sofia the First. I wrote a brief review of it here a couple years ago. I was a little harsh on it then, but on further subjection to it, I'm finding it's really not bad for what it is (and Nick Offerman (Ron Swanson) voices a character at one point, so that's fun). 

I'm also finding several DVDs that were very obviously manufactured when I was a kid. One of them even worked like a VHS. There was no menu when you put it in and the skip button doesn't work. You have to wait through all the commercials at the start and use the fast forward and rewind functions just like we did when we were kids. 

Several others proudly advertise shows, "Coming February 2005!"

I'm honestly surprised they're still running and aren't scratched into oblivion. That's how all our childhood DVDs ended. 

6.) Little Chickens 

We've ordered a batch of chicks to replace the flock we had to cull. We're still a little ways off from having their pen rebuilt, but we have a brooder and a coop. We decided to go for it and hope that we're able to get the pen together before they're at the point that they need it. 

I went and got feed and bedding; now it's just waiting until I get the call from the feed store to go and get them. 

And that's the news that's fit to print.