This is not fencing!

 

 my independence was gained a week before independence day but tomorrow is moving day & the phone calls from home while i'm at work looking for lids to pots,books & pillowcases while he is packing are driving me crazy. okay so it does not require a drive, more of a short stroll & i'm there.
 i've not been posting here because i've been busy night & day . i've got some hilarious animals on the farm vignettes/pictures to post when i get a chance.=-) for me writing is an act best done in the still of the night.  i like to think out loud, to a listening ear preferably, but when ears are scarce,or people don't really need to hear what i'm saying typing works. my girlfriends have been seeing me through this stuff mostly but it has been hard to have a good biatch session with sophia underfoot. o.0 kids take things so literally,eh?
  disney world needs to stop tempting me. i've the urge to travel before i set to finishing my house decorating/repairs that were interrupted by the standard relationship ' he would like this colour, she would like that colour' discussions. my room *will* be RED muah-ha-ha!

 

 what is attraction? a glint in the eye? a challenge for the mind? a need for approval? trying to find a like mind?
getting as much as you give?
 these & other questions will not be answered today but i fear take a lifetime to decide.
this is where the questioning,inquisitive,logical mind makes life a bit fustrating.

just sayin.

 disclaimer: i am a vegetarian . i don't hunt. i am an odd vegetarian since i do not have any problem with anyone else hunting.
 but  in my not humble opinion using dog packs to hunt needs to be banned.
    a pointer, a bird retrieval dog, a scent hound, or treeing hounds are great examples of working animals. but the near feral packs of black & tans that are used every deer season up here are horrors. they pull down any game they can, does,one point bucks,fawns,cats, & chickens.  most of these packs have one dog with a radio collar and the hunters don't have much recouse to recalling the pack once they cross a few fence lines. since property owners take a dim view of people cutting fences to drive their 4 wheelers through....
   i've found homes for the starved & injured dogs that i have found on my doorstep. i have had to shoot the one beagle mix that was too feral to catch that kept climbling my fence to kill chickens.
  and now there are 2 deer skulls and a few random legs in my yard. these are the grusome trophies that my silly dog has fetched out from hunting packs kills in the woods next to my house. they are from tiny, barely one point bucks, the doe carcass was claimed by the neighbors dog. =-(
  what were fox hunters called? the "unspeakable in pursuit of the uneatable"?

-)--------

riiiight.

snow it is beautiful to watch falling, from INSIDE a cozy house,beautiful on the evergreens, and makes me smile to watch the kids sledding in..... but the whole getting from car to grocery, post office, pick up cardboard boxes & the bank,shoveling the sidewalks no one uses,scraping the windsheild clear after being in a store for 15 minutes slushy icy driving around day to day stuff? ewwww.
 can't wait to get home!

-)--------

i took all this week as a 'staycation'. it has been divine & made me lust after a life of leisure even more than usual.
 *snicker* soph & i have actually been busy little bees, gutting her room of unused/broken toys [filled the pick -up bed 3/4 of the way with donations.=-o]
 insulating the attic, putting in a new kitchen faucet, painting the livingroom [4 rooms down 2 to go after living with nasty white walls for 10 years, woot!], finished staining the living room floor, insulating the water heater, staining a dozen wooden cheese boxes, putting up new towel bars in her bathroom, clearing the porch of randomness that has accumulated, cleaning both vehicles., whew, i think i'll need a vacation to recover from my staycation?
    so it was 'black friday' today.
tons & tons of people awoke from their food comas before the sun arose this morning & headed out to shop 'till they dropped.
 i too joined the fray this year, at like 10 am. but did not go to the clothes stores, the jewelery stores, the craft stores,the discount stores, or  the all in one department stores.... i went to lowes hardware store!
i'm now the proud owner of a tiny, dirt cheap, $79.! 10" table saw.
 the first one i brought over to theilman's house to assemble was found to have a bent up table when we unpacked it. so i left sophia watching a black & white nancy drew movie & went to exchange my saw. i did not see it at the time but there was a $10 off coupon at the bottom of the reciept. when i returned the saw i got to keep the coupon and then use the coupon on the replacement saw. ~as well as~  have a new coupon print out because i had just 'spent' more than $50. yay for the department of redundancy department!

=-)
 so now i have this cool table saw, wood screws, glue & a half ton of aged pine boards that i dumpster dived for 10 years ago, lounging on my front porch dreaming of becoming shelves! *sigh* but i must drive over to doyline, la. to attend the war practice saturday, even if no other fencers have said they would make it.  i'm the cap'n general so i should be there & picking the brains of the heavy fighters about melee unit tactics....
i'll have fun no matter & the autocrat is the newest fencer in kingdom so i'll at least have him suit up & play a bit. hopefully one or more folks from memphis/grey niche will make it down to our local rapier practice sunday so i'll get a little rapier fun in this weekend.

 'kay here i am at KWAR sitting down,at a table after trolling in grabbing a bagel to eat,realizing i'm operating on maybe 2? hours sleep since thursday, trying to get used to not traveling 70 miles an hour, while i look at today's classes to take, watch a bit of the tourney & get hugs from the meridian folks i know from war & dance & all.
 when this quiet man sits down & talks about my maile shirt & alchem katana. super nice, not all flashy peacock like sooo many of the rapier guys.
 we talk & end up on the subject of the schola st. george & he says he is a member i say,' cool i didn't know, didn't see a schola belt on you! ' so i told him my best training has come from members of the schola & that i don't think gleann abhann would have c & t now except for the efforts of the wma school & wished there was a branch further south.
 other folks stop by to look at the maile & blue bweep aramis swords & say 'ello. while we chat. i head off to class after he gives me a card i slip it into my snack basket.

 what was the senior moment here you ask?

 well unpacking the basket this morning i find the card & as i put it with the others i got, i read the name.
IT WAS BRIAN PRICE I WAS TALKING TO!!!!!   *damme*  

-)-------

   whew. back from KWAR. that 10+ hour drive was killer. but sooo worth it.
i took a class from crazy connor the gypsy on 'off the wall fencing'. part of the instruction was about iai, the art of drawing the sword/ the 8 directions/happo-no-kamae. but  he put it in simple english so it sounded,um, silly? accessible? rather than zen mind~ mountain top kind of impossible that formal books on the subject make it out to be.
   another gypsy class i enjoyed was 'stick to the schtick.'  where i learned his top 3 fencing movies and that my darkwood blade does *not* like being kicked but my katana will happily leap into my hands from the ground?   = - )

the darhling  don giovanni ran a wonderful hands on class on Liechtenstein/ two handed sword ,the physics of cutting practice and the even more important physics of cutting against an opponent you don't actually want to injure!!!
 don mateo taught us how to ' stop the charging bull in 5 easy steps'  and had his masculinity challenged a bit when he used my dagger sporting pink ribbons &  *bright* pink tape. btw~ i still say it is a semantics game to say teaching one move makes it  just a 'trick' and teaching why that move works is a 'style'. because i think if one learns more than one move one naturally  develops them into a 'style' and can use a step 'out of order'  because one has learned physically why it works?

the pick up fights were astounding good fun. watching the mounted horse combat that took place on the dance fool in the hotel ball room was incredible. [ don't worry the parquet floor survived,they were amazingly clever wooden horses people were riding.] there was dancing every night and a small bardic circle on saturday night that lasted until 3 am. it was uber cool to see so many women rapier fighters, every class i took were nearly half & half split gender wise. girls in doublets & skirts, mmm-mmm good!
 but what i gained from this event  more than improved swordsmanship, getting to know old friends better & make new friends & great potato pancakes is a heartfelt yearning that my kingdom will one day have such a community of fencers that is respected and enjoyed by the populace at large and the crowns.
 sitting in court  was quite an experience for me & a few of the meridians who had not visited the middle kingdom before. a gentle was awarded an AoA for their service to the crown and their service to the arte of the rapier.  another gentle was brought into the company of the bronze ring during the court and there was a standing ovation and tears shed for them when this happened.  then the herald called forth for members of the company to stand, there were over 30 people who stood. it was fabulous to see so many people who held the middle kingdoms highest rapier award in one place.
 you say i should not be surprised that the middle kingdom should have so many since the c.b.r. was established in anno society 33, [nine years ago]  and this was a rapier  event after all?
 but doing the math using the list of warders on the company's webpage; www.companyofthebronzering.org
 shows me that there were an average of 7 warders of the company recognized a year. here we are in year  3 of our kingdoms existence and there are 8 members of the order of the queens blade, our highest level rapier award?

   but what left me and my court companions speechless ,was the range of ages in the company standing before the crown. if the gentle who had just received her c.b.r. dress gorget was even 30 years old [ i'm thinking she was 25 ish?]  i'll getting my vision checked pronto!
 there were lots of folks with grey in their hair but there were sooo many without .

only three rulers have awarded the scarf as regalia for the highest award for rapier in our kingdom.
       <  insert  disbelieving  *gasp*    here  >
is this because no one writes in recommendations?
is this because rapier tourneys  have often gone on to the side and sometimes out of sight !  of the main fighting field?
do the younger people in the company of the bronze ring keep it more visible in the populaces eyes?
 no way can i know for sure since i'm not privy to the deliberations of c.q.b or the crowns. but wanna bet all of those things play a serious part in our fractured , and sometimes fragile fencing community here?

 in the conversations i keep having with people about the state of rapier in our kingdom.  it seems quite a few feel it is in limbo at the best & imploding at the worst. personally since i just got back into the game 2 years ago i think i see a lot more people active in rapier each year, and rapier tourneys seem to be expected at events now.
    i remember writing to autocrats & the rapier lists on yahoo asking if there was going to be any rapier activities at an upcoming event my first summer back in the game. now the  autocrats go in search of rapier marshals to host a tourney if their group does not have a rapier marshal , and they advertise said tourney's in their ads in the ambassador.
     i've been to more & more events that will have a morning & an afternoon tourney for rapier & heavy too.  but the attendance is pretty erratic. from 3  up to 19 in a tourney?   gas prices,distances & loss of central sites have hurt attendance at events.  so hopefully that will even out with carpooling, new sites & the [ for now] lower gasoline prices.

 but how to get the community that i was so envious of to grow down here?
that kind reader is a subject for another night/morning attack of  ' i is not sleepy.'  

*wave*




  -)---------  pimenta de spadaccina

 dear rulers,

  please be advised that if one of your number were to catch a field mouse, bring it inside your castle and then proceed to toy with it until it escapes, you would not be living up to the reputation of mighty predators.

    it is also conceivable that the mouse might expire under the fridge. and after an undetermined amount of time then may become odoriferous [in a bad way, not in a freshly opened can of kibbles kind of way.]
     using only their paltry ape sense of smell ,your servants may be forced to track down the corpse [hoping vainly all the while it is just an olfactory hallucination on their part, or just some spoiled cabbage. ] then retrieve the corpse [using mad skills in wire shaping to scoop out the possible corpse without rupturing it's wee little gas bloated skin.] and  finally dispose of the corpse while several of the rulers look on in disgust at the servant with the bit of previously good eating she is now allowing to stink up the house.
 but we your staff would like to point out our joy to discover a squirrel's  tail, laid blood & gutlessly left in front  of the door earlier this week as excellent support of your mad predator skilz, so there is no need to bring in any other rodents at this time.
 

in service,
 the staff

     but i do not appreciate them stealing from  *my* boss. 
i had to stay late today putting together the proof of an interesting system of thievery.
 in the grill room the waiter gives the order directly to the chef who cooks, instead of sending it through the computer.
     well one of the rats figured out that when a customer pays in cash there is a window of time that you can delete the ticket from the billing computer records and it will not show up in my end of shift records.
no sale = no record
but for this to work it needs to be busy so i don't pay attention to how many customers paid in cash vs. credit card at a table or for the waiter to make the customer's change them selves bypassing me entirely.
     most waiters run what is called a 'bank' & make change for customers themselves in the restaurant biz. but in the grill room a waiter can plausibly have 40+ customers so they are to bring the cash to me & run the credit cards at their work station so they won't get totally in the weeds. they are also paid a 5$ per hour base vs. 2.13$ that the other waiters get because the grill room is notorious for cheap tipping customers & out & out stiffing.
    we got a new waiter a few weeks ago, & to say he is about as smart as a bag of hammers is insulting the hammers.
 he took a long while learning the menu & all but was finally doing ok. & had not asked where the microwave was for a ~ whole~ week... you would think he would have caught on when the 3rd person told him ' the kitchen.' ?
  then whammo!  his end of shift paperwork was a mess, every day for a week. none of the cash sales & total sales matched, credit card reciepts with no customer ticket record on the computer you name it it was messed up.
 then a customer complained they had recieved incorrect change for thier 100.$ bill payment on a 30.$ ticket.
   what's the problem with that? i had no 100.$ bill in my register. so the waiter had made the change.
i did a rough count of the next two tables after that of customers with food in front of them & checks turned in to me & came up one short. 
one off could have been a mistake on my part easy, it was a busy day.  so all i did was tell boss lady of my suspicions & tell her i'd be watching the waiter closely on their next shift.
 so today i kept a careful count of every table and their orders & came up 4 tickets short and with 2 tickets for tables that were never sat?  the waiter collected the $ from the customers & pocketed it. looks like it was a 45 $ five finger bonus today + tips they did not have to share with the chef. extra sorry thing was that there were 2 waiters today and both of them had missing tickets.  i did  not  expect that.

 i learned something new  today.
 i totally thought one had to belong to a union/church/school to be part of a credit union! but no , there are credit unions that let people join just because they live  or work in my county ! ~woot!~

 my mortgage bank [regions bank] totally jacked the interest rate on the loan i looked into.  but my personal bank [bank plus] offered a great interest rate & told me my credit score so i *know* my mortgage bank is crazy in the head. but my personal bank only offers insidious 'interest only' home equity loans for get this a ~ five!?~ year span, ick.
  payed off a 20k loan in three years before. but that was life before child, when i could work night or day as well as live off of ramen & true love.  *sigh*
 so my bank ~if i were to be stupid enough to accept a loan from them ~ offers me  a balloon payment of the entire principle at the end of the loan OR accepting any old high interest rate they feel like offering me?
 no, i don't think so. i'ma going to listen to mr. wolf & check out the non profit magnolia credit union tomorrow after work.
shoot i may just move my whole account over there after looking into my banks' predatory loan practices today? =-o


-)--------

xkcd.com/458/

ok, so i am queen of being attracted to people who turn out so to speak to be ~emotionally unavailable~ i was whinging about my bad luck to a buddy & he said,
"well pepper, emotionally unavailable is much safer than angry isn't it?"
and i sat dumbstruck. it is not blind luck, it *is* self protection mode.
me,big bad,tough as nails me,never met a stranger me,steps in between a pair of women who combined have over 200 #s on me to stop a fight me,disarms a chef threatening another one with his 10" knife me,is mortally afraid of people who get angry with me. =-(
i left my dad's house when i was 17 with a broken nose & a promise for more if i didn't behave. my mum & her husband were pretty irregular in their moods due to drug use. d'oh self protection. *geesh* i'm stupid.
now how do i get over it? should i go pick up some fellow who is as far away from the definition of gentleman that i can? -( or just accept that need in me & let it be?

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Narrator: In A.D. 2006, Web was beginning.

Captain: What happen ?
Mechanic: Somebody set up us the journal.
Operator: We get signal.
Captain: What !
Operator: Main browser turn on.
Captain: It's you !!
CATS: How are you users !!
CATS: All your base are belong to Frank.
CATS: You are on the way to 404.
Captain: What you say !!
CATS: You have no chance to reach your page. Make your spelling correct.
CATS: Ha Ha Ha Ha ....

nothing to whinge about here.
lots of rain,rain,rain from hurricane gustav making the driveway a bit muddy, but my roof is still intact & no alligators in the street like some of my friends further south are having to deal with.=-( my refugees from new orleans left yesterday & found their house intact.*whew*
i keep getting introduced to new people at events with this phrase :"this is cap'n pepper, she is really upbeat"
err,ok?
do people really travel 50 to 450 miles to be sullen & withdrawn? granted some *do* drive that far to partake of drama pie... but i don't think i'm all that different from other folks in the sca. it is a place where many of my 'happy places' can be found that's all,eh?
now the weather cools & neat-o events are most every weekend, my boss who i had just told again that i will not be working this friday or saturday, asked loudly,across a crowded room
" what is important to you? play swords or work ?!? "
mind you she is japanese of a certain generation that has a bit more serious outlook on the whole 'work career' thing so she made all sorts of spluttering noises when i answered with a big grin by dropping into a kendo style en gaurd. =-O


pepper's happy places: dancing
fencing
learning
working with my hands
camping
sitting by a fire
sitting under the stars
giving/getting back rubs
dressing up
hanging out with my daughter & her buddies
taking photographs
feeding people
listening to story tellers
most of all, hanging out with the like minded people of our dream

whoa,i've not held still much this year.

valhalla-MS
winter wonders-MS
fighters collegium-LA
gulf wars-MS
cracked anvil-AR
spring coronation-MS
athenaeum-MS
beltaine-TN
candlelight camp-AR
spring crown lyst-LA
swamp romp-LA
duvant defender-MS
lugh-TN
barbarian brawl-AR
AoD-MS
interkingdom regional rapier practice-MS


i put 20k miles a year on my vehicle,wonder what it is going to be this year???


-)------

Is fuel efficiency really what we need most desperately? I say that what we really need is a car that can be shot when it breaks down.
Russell Baker (1925 - )

ALLIANCE, n. In international politics, the union of two thieves who have their hands so deeply inserted in each other's pockets that they cannot separately plunder a third.
Ambrose Bierce (1842 - 1914)

Well, if crime fighters fight crime and fire fighters fight fire, what do freedom fighters fight? They never mention that part to us, do they?
George Carlin (1937 - )

SCRIPTURES, n. The sacred books of our holy religion, as distinguished from the false and profane writings on which all other faiths are based.
Ambrose Bierce (1842 - 1914), The Devil's Dictionary

Any event, once it has occurred, can be made to appear inevitable by a competent historian.
Lee Simonson

I'm completely in favor of the separation of Church and State. My idea is that these two institutions screw us up enough on their own, so both of them together is certain death.
George Carlin (1937 - )

It's a dangerous business going out your front door.
J. R. R. Tolkien (1892 - 1973)

"When angry, count four; when very angry, swear.
Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)

The goal of all inanimate objects is to resist man and ultimately defeat him.
Russell Baker (1925 - )

just a blurb for a terrific day of dance put on by our shire. we will also offer sunday as a regional rapier practice day at lefleur's or lakeland park.

Academy of Dance
July 26, 2008
Jackson, MS
Cabot Lodge Millsaps

With three tracks of classes there is something for every Dancer!
There will be a dedicated
European Dance Room, a Non European Dance Room and a series of
lectures to be held in the Cabot Lodge's wonderfully comfortable
lobby! The classes will be followed by a Ball and Hafla.
Cost: $12 before June 30. After, $15.
Ball/ Hafla Only: $5
Children 12 & under Free. Non Members Add $3.
No family to pay more than 3 adult prices with membership


Schedule
7:00 am Troll Opens
8:00 am Morning Warm up/Yoga
9:00 am Regular Classes begin
12:00 pm Lunch Break
1:00 pm Classes Resume
5:00 pm Classes end. Break for Dinner
7:00pm Ball and Hafla Begin
10:00 pm Ball and Hafla ends. Event Closes

Autocrat and Non European Class Coordinator:
Baroness Rosalind Mihrimah~~ Kristina Kelly.
601-939-5328 (no calls after 9pm)
European Class Coordinator: Mistress Julian ferch Rhys~~ Kirsten
Garner~ Phone: 501-227-7768
(no calls after 9pm please)
Reservations: Caoilinn inghean Riocaird~~Colleen Tarver,
520 Fox Run Trail Apt A6, Pearl Ms 39208. Phone: 601-955-0374
(no calls after 9pm) Make checks
payable to SCA Inc/ Shire of Iron Ox.

www.cabotlodgemillsaps.com Phone: (601) 948-8650 � 2375 North
State Street � Jackson, Mississippi 39202
The room rate is $89/night. Make sure to say you are with the SCA!
The Cabot Lodge offers a full breakfast and an evening happy hour for
hotel guests. Meals will not be provided. Directions: From I-55 take
exit 98A (from the south, this is a LEFT lane exit). The street name
for this exit is Woodrow Wilson. Take Woodrow Wilson west to the
second traffic light. This is North State Street. Take a left on
North State Street. Cabot Lodge Millsaps will be immediately on the
right.


WWW.IRONOX.ORG
(full flyer pdf. with e-mail addys)

i was completely taken by surprise by a pair of lovely brown eyes!
lol, naw not at the park but at candlight camp.
i talked with him about general & sundry & we exchanged e-mails as i the social networker am wont to do.
well then i get an email from him asking if i, yes me?!? would consent to be his consort in a future crown list. & he goes on about liking my way with the kids, being a sitting crown & all.
i am floored i tell you, positively floored & flattered. hoyden me being asked,wow. by a serious fighter kind of guy none the less.
well before i answered i checked ye old grapevine to make sure what i knew about the fellow was accurate & that it was not some sort of 'hey wanna be queen' kind of come on scene.
said grapevine confirmed that he is an all around honorable guy & not given to saying things lightly.
so i accepted. queen, i could do 'queen'
even though all i've ever aspired to be was evil vizier....;-)

-)-------

sissy is the bravest dog i've met.

she is terrified of thunder,& roaring wind. not very brave for an 80+ pound great pyrenees is it?
well it was storming for all it was worth this morning & my daughter went to head out in it to catch the school bus and sissy, the big sissy dog, paced back & forth, back & forth & then bounded down the porch barking at the sky caught up to soph & stayed with her until the bus came.
yes i let the soaking wet stinky dog back in the house after that.
as a matter of fact i left the door open so she could cower in the house the rest of the day if she wanted to while i was at work.

=-)

wow, what a cool thing!
i came home from work to find two boxes leaning on the gate. one had a big bell guard & french grip hanging out the end??
my ex hubby who is moving to istanbul gifted me all of his fencing gear! ~woOT~ so now a 40" blade joins the rank of stuff i haul around. gotta replace that awful bell guard though.=-) too bad he never got a dagger, i really want a case of daggers....*grin*

-)-------