Last year we raised "meat chickens" and put them in cages and sent them off to be killed. I was crying the whole time. It maybe was a little easier because I knew this kind of chicken wasnt bred for a long life. But I felt guilty for raising such a chicken (kind of like the Replicants in Blade Runner) This year we got "mixed heavy breeds" and are keeping the females for laying. We raised, hugged, talked to and spoiled all of them. We started with 15 males. They are now at the point where they are terrorizing the pullets and each other. So weve started butchering them. Five last weekend were the first weve killed ourselves. We decided this was more humane and in a way the completion of the process we had started. My husband cut off the heads, I plucked ,and he eviscerated them. He was cutting up the first when I heard him say"There are live bugs in this crop"we both kind of laughed. But it was just this whole cycle of life thing. It was very hard, the whole thing and harder for him since he actually killed them. We helped each other through it. It was kind of agreement between us to raise these animals, care for them (believe me they had good lives), humanely kill and then eat them. There is something kind of profound about putting into your body food that really comes from the land you live on. There is a wonderful section of a book by John SeymourThe Self-Sufficient Life: Independence on Five Acres (1970) in which he talks about thishe did all his own butchering and was a most kind soul. Has anyone read it?

I just did not like the red rose on Knightly's dress and I hope she was giddy out of embarrassment. All the discussions with her revolved around her pregnancy. She should GET MARRIED first and worry about award shows next year! Sandra's hair was horrid. The bangs in the face thing wasn't working for her. I am so glad I was not seeing the ratted, teased buns the teens are wearing at school. '60's Bee Hive is back and it is AWFUL! I loved that over all, the gals were covering up. The open backs were so sexy!! I hope the lack of cleavage catches on with the High School crowd. We bopped in and out at commercials on other shows we were watching so I was spared much of Ricky's torrents, but he sure got blasted yesterday on the news shows. Good, mean should be OUT.

I have read two of her books, and heard a radio interview on NPR. She is very interesting. The thing to remember is that she may have amazing intuition about what animals experience, but that does not make her an expert on everything about animals. She does say some simplistic things that we no longer think of as true about dogs in one of her books. I am dying to see the HBO special staring Claire Danes. Wow, what a transformation for that actress! It was definitely a role that requires an actor to inhabit a new persona. I wonder if she did it with some subtlety or if she is chewing the scenery. Any opinion, Cindy? I, too, must wait for HBO to release it to other outlets.

Temple Grandin has done several interviews and tv shows and she is a remarkable woman. Clare Danes's portrayal is certainly worthy of an Emmy. Temple Grandin has sever autism but still managed to earn a PhD in animal science. this is a link to her web site. Here is a link that might be useful: Temple Grandin