Secondhand Nation

News re(Cycle): Secondhand Pets

Remember that post about pet adoption?

This weekend a bed we are replacing fell over and hit Matilda and shoved her into my desk, where the corner cut her temple. So it was off to the ER and wait for 4 hours to get two (2) stitches.

Anyhoo, after the stitches, we sat out on a bench in front of the hospital waiting for Our Favorite Husband/Father to collect us.

There was an old man sitting on the bench, dressed in black wranglers and a cowboy shirt, drinking black coffee from a styrofoam cup. He also wore horrible cheap black loafers. With all that black, I guessed he was waiting on some awful news or visiting his ill wife or some such.  But no, it was just a black story he had to tell.

Figure 1:  Rat with Mammary Cyst, via Wikimedia:   "...Chelsea, a seal point pet rat with a severe mammary cyst. I took her later that day to have her put down, but the vet refused to do so as it was likely non-cancerous and she was not in any real pain. She died a couple of months later. Her two siblings also developed similar cysts, too, over the next few months."

While Matilda was sitting with me, she started chattering about dogs and cats and all the pets she likes. Then she started playing and dinking around.

The man asked me, "She like pets?"

"Yes," I said. "She sure does."

"My grand-daughter loves 'em, too," the man said. "She has a little rat that she carries around like a baby."

"Really?" I said.

"Yeah," he replied. "She got 'im from the University of Minnesota. They give 'em away free, 'cause they inject 'em with chemicals and cancer and what not. So they can study 'em."

"Oh, wow," I said.

"They get big tumors, though," he said. "From the cancer they inject in 'em. And then they die. I dunno what my grand-daugther's gonna do, now that thing's gotta a big tumor and it's gonna die soon. She carries it around like a little baby."

"Yeah, that'll be hard," I said.

I have an amazing ability to respond normally to kooks and weirdos and insane information. Of course, meanwhile, I was thinking:

What kinda family allows its kid to have a experimental animal full of cancer and who knows what else for a pet?

Are they really that poor?

Is this their way of getting their child acquainted with the niceties and protocols involved in dealing with stage 4 cancer?

Though I'm big proponent of reuse, I'm not seeing the reasoning behind this.  Of course, beyond the whole "Sweet! Free pet!" perspective. 

News re(Cycle): Is No One Listening to Michael Pollan?

Figure 1:  Lettuce:  helping health-conscious eaters put the "die" back in "diet"

The Accidental Hedonist reported yesterday about the sequel to last year's contaminated spinach disaster, the latest food product recall: E.COLI IN YOUR SALAD, PART EWWW.

This time, the culprit is a particularly egregiously-named Dole product line called Hearts Delight, a prewashed bagged salad that promises vitamin-rich greens along with each deadly mouthful of E. Coli O157::H7.  Bloody diarrhea, stomach cramps and possible hospitalization and death are the fringe benefits of these convenient, available-all-year-round meals. 

What a cock-up.  Hello, dumbasses at Big Ag!  You are sickening and killing your customers, and not just with your smarmy ad campaigns.  I might not be an expert in this, but it seems to me that dead people don't buy much bagged salad.  As Sara my daycare provider likes to say, in a sanitized version in front of the little kids: Get Your Poop in a Group! (Preferably far, far away from the lettuce.)

And you, the buying public?  What's the matter with you?  Too busy going through the drive-thru to educate yourselves on the disgusting dangers in non-seasonal and non-local foods?  Am I the only one listening to Michael Pollan?  (Well, except for you all at The Ethicurean, of course.  I didn't mean you guys!)

I know that bitching about food isn't directly related to thrift culture.  All the hardcore thrifters and yard salers out there are probably bored every time I get rants in my pants about gardening or farmers markets. 

But I like food, dammit.  And I don't cotton to the idea of pestilential cooties in my salad greens, especially when I'm trying to make healthier choices.  Nor can I abide by a bunch of short-sighted, irresponsible Big Ag executives terminally infected with dollar-fever, who like to spend more time and money on wasteful packaging than quality control measures and sound ecological practices. 

I'm determined to believe another world is possible and that the money I save by not participating in the primary economy can be spent on food that's delicious, nutritious and won't kill me.  Is this too much to ask? 

Image via Wikipedia.

News (re)Cycle: Holly Keller & Beeper Bebe

Figure 1:  The entire Sparrow family, replete with button eyes and calico smock fronts. 

In case you're not into softies - handmade stuffed animals - you might not know that resident rising star and green artist Holly Keller's handmade Mama Sparrow and Her Chicks design was featured on Softies Central, a blog dedicated showcasing the best of the best in the handmade toy world.

Figure 2:  The Sparrow Chicks, wearing their bibs and relaxing on their quilt. 

The Mama Sparrow and her family are made from a secondhand tweed suitcoat and some calico fabric that Keller found at a thrift shop.  Like any sensible mother, Mama Sparrow comes with a lavender cap to keep her warm on those brisk fall days, and a matching purse, where she stores tissues and snacks for her brood. The family also comes with its own nest and each sparrow has its own accessories (because, really, what sparrow doesn't?) 

Figure 3: Kickin' it in the sweater-scrap nest. 

Check out my interview with the lovely Madame Keller here and see more of her recycled beautiful goodness at her Etsy shop.

Figure 4:  This is Beatrice the Kitten, another Beeper Bebe creation, which you'd probably recognize, except she's wearing her mask.