(NOTE: CBS made the previous site remove the link, so sorry if you had a broken link before. I have since fixed the link below.)
This could be MY KID.
Click here to view the video.
If you've seen it, I won't apologize-- it's worth watching again.
Monday, February 27, 2006
Sunday, February 26, 2006
Today's Handy Hint
Remember the old saying, cautioning against spitting in the wind? The same applies on the farm. When dumping manure out of a wheelbarrow, it's best to remain upwind of the "load."
Don't ask me how I know...
Don't ask me how I know...
Friday, February 24, 2006
A Former Life
I am a citizen of the world. I am at home in many places, and no matter where I live, or how happy I am where I live at the time, there are places in this world I pine for. Even if I lived in Paris, I would pine for the other cities and towns and countrysides that I have lived in.
Today I am feeling nostalgic for Chicago. I don’t know why, maybe it’s because today is windy, a gorgeous 61.5 degrees, and spring is around the corner. Springtime in Chicago is a lovely, lovely time.
M was born in Chicago. We moved there a few weeks after we got married, and we lived there until 1992, just before she was born (we then moved to a suburb). We had two great apartments, and I would give my eyeteeth to have that character in this house (but we’ll get there!).
Our first apartment was a garden apartment in Wicker Park. We lived on Schiller, a one-way street that overlooked the triangular park. Our apartment was an afterthought in a gorgeous rehabbed building, but we loved it and made it our own. We had gray painted wood floors, layer after layer of paint on what was once stunning woodwork. We had a sweet clawfoot tub in a bathroom that could only be accessed by going through the one bedroom. The bedroom was so long and narrow that our queen-sized bed barely fit. Our kitchen had an amazing old double Roper gas oven. I loved cooking in that oven! We fashioned a kitchen island out of an old table we found, and had some instant counter space. Otherwise, all we had was the sink and a foot or so of counter space on either side. We used our card table for a side table and hung our college posters all around. Papasan furniture was all we could afford, but it looked lovely in our living room. We dreamed of the day we would have the time, energy and money to restore the beautiful (but heavily painted) interior shutters that covered each bay window.
Our three flat building was right next door to Wicker Mansion (I didn't take this picture, credit to Dave, a Flicker-ite). It is a gorgeous rehabbed mansion, supposedly built by Charles Wicker for his daughter. Two lovely men, George & Mike, owned it, and took pity on our poor souls. They let us house sit for them while they were gone at times, and one time we even had a party there during the year the Bulls were in the championships. I wonder if George and Mike still live there…
We were a hop, skip and a jump from the elevated train, and I worked downtown. There was no need for a car, we just walked across the park and up the stairs and took the train downtown. I got off at the State of Illinois Building, and walked over to Michigan Avenue and up to my building. I worked in the Equitable Building, on the 24th floor. Our office was new, and had not been configured, so for a while I had an amazing view of the Chicago River as it met Lake Michigan. You could see ships far out on the horizon, and it was the best place to watch the fireworks on the 4th of July! If you’ve seen the movie Sleepless in Seattle, the view of the Wrigley Building's Clock was shot from that building, not sure which floor, but we had a very similar view on the other side of my floor. Later the NBC Tower and some hotels were built, and the view was blocked, but for a while, we had a million dollar view.
B and I used to spend as much time as possible downtown. We’d come down on a Friday night and splurge for pizza at Bacino’s. Man, they had good pizza! We walked in Grant Park, and admired the rose garden. We went to the Lincoln Park Zoo as often as we could. Many of our college friends lived in the city, so we hung out with them, going to coffee houses and listening to “open mike” nights. We played pool with our friend Pat now and again at a really cool pool hall. B spent a lot of time studying architecture, and can give a really mean tour of the city! I remember doing some holiday shopping for him at the Rand McNally store on Michigan Avenue. B’s parents once took us to the Chez Paul for Bastille Day. I still remember the decadence of that meal! There’s nothing like St. Patrick’s Day in Chicago. The first time I experienced it, we had gone downtown before we were married, to register for gifts. We went to Bloomingdales to see if we should register there (we ended up going to Marshall Field's instead). I came out of the store, and a drunken reveler bumped into me. I had only been to Chicago once before with my parents, so I remember at that moment feeling very much like a fish out of water!
After a year or so of living in our garden apartment, we moved to another apartment a mile or so away in Ukrainian Village. It was a fun place to live, very ethic, and amazing things to eat! There is a fantastic Ukrainian restaurant there, it was amazing food, and it was one of my favorite places to eat.
Of course, Ukraininan village was not the only place to eat in Chicago! We spent enough time in Italian Village and Greektown to put on a few pounds. We also loved Leona’s, and splurged on their food when we got the chance.
Our apartment was on the 3rd floor, and you could see the Sears Tower from our kitchen window. We had a huge kitchen, but no counter space other than on either side of the sink. Our bedroom was small—even smaller than the other apartment’s bedroom—and we had to put a dresser in a closet because only our bed would fit in the room. We had a huge pantry, with loads of built-in storage, and a gorgeous built-in hutch. This apartment also had a big bay window, and beautiful wood trim that had never been painted. We graduated to a two-bedroom apartment, and we actually had an “office.” Boy, did we think we were living large! Most of the time we went upstairs from the back stairs—back, between the buildings (it was one of those buildings that you see on TV where you can reach out and shake hands with the neighbors), up the back stairway to the back porch and in the back door. The front stairs were more formal—wooden and creaky and winding all the way around up to the front door. They, too, were preserved and very ornate. Our hardwood floors had been sanded and restored, and looked like a sea of honey.
I am not sad to be away from Chicago. When we came back from England and we were considering where to make our home, we considered Chicago. But with M’s disability, we wanted to be sure that the schools were top notch. We would have had to afford private school in Chicago, most likely. Living in Chicago with children is very, very different than living there as a young couple. It was fun at the time, and we are where we’re supposed to be now.
But it’s fun to remember!
Today I am feeling nostalgic for Chicago. I don’t know why, maybe it’s because today is windy, a gorgeous 61.5 degrees, and spring is around the corner. Springtime in Chicago is a lovely, lovely time.
M was born in Chicago. We moved there a few weeks after we got married, and we lived there until 1992, just before she was born (we then moved to a suburb). We had two great apartments, and I would give my eyeteeth to have that character in this house (but we’ll get there!).
Our first apartment was a garden apartment in Wicker Park. We lived on Schiller, a one-way street that overlooked the triangular park. Our apartment was an afterthought in a gorgeous rehabbed building, but we loved it and made it our own. We had gray painted wood floors, layer after layer of paint on what was once stunning woodwork. We had a sweet clawfoot tub in a bathroom that could only be accessed by going through the one bedroom. The bedroom was so long and narrow that our queen-sized bed barely fit. Our kitchen had an amazing old double Roper gas oven. I loved cooking in that oven! We fashioned a kitchen island out of an old table we found, and had some instant counter space. Otherwise, all we had was the sink and a foot or so of counter space on either side. We used our card table for a side table and hung our college posters all around. Papasan furniture was all we could afford, but it looked lovely in our living room. We dreamed of the day we would have the time, energy and money to restore the beautiful (but heavily painted) interior shutters that covered each bay window.
Our three flat building was right next door to Wicker Mansion (I didn't take this picture, credit to Dave, a Flicker-ite). It is a gorgeous rehabbed mansion, supposedly built by Charles Wicker for his daughter. Two lovely men, George & Mike, owned it, and took pity on our poor souls. They let us house sit for them while they were gone at times, and one time we even had a party there during the year the Bulls were in the championships. I wonder if George and Mike still live there…
We were a hop, skip and a jump from the elevated train, and I worked downtown. There was no need for a car, we just walked across the park and up the stairs and took the train downtown. I got off at the State of Illinois Building, and walked over to Michigan Avenue and up to my building. I worked in the Equitable Building, on the 24th floor. Our office was new, and had not been configured, so for a while I had an amazing view of the Chicago River as it met Lake Michigan. You could see ships far out on the horizon, and it was the best place to watch the fireworks on the 4th of July! If you’ve seen the movie Sleepless in Seattle, the view of the Wrigley Building's Clock was shot from that building, not sure which floor, but we had a very similar view on the other side of my floor. Later the NBC Tower and some hotels were built, and the view was blocked, but for a while, we had a million dollar view.
B and I used to spend as much time as possible downtown. We’d come down on a Friday night and splurge for pizza at Bacino’s. Man, they had good pizza! We walked in Grant Park, and admired the rose garden. We went to the Lincoln Park Zoo as often as we could. Many of our college friends lived in the city, so we hung out with them, going to coffee houses and listening to “open mike” nights. We played pool with our friend Pat now and again at a really cool pool hall. B spent a lot of time studying architecture, and can give a really mean tour of the city! I remember doing some holiday shopping for him at the Rand McNally store on Michigan Avenue. B’s parents once took us to the Chez Paul for Bastille Day. I still remember the decadence of that meal! There’s nothing like St. Patrick’s Day in Chicago. The first time I experienced it, we had gone downtown before we were married, to register for gifts. We went to Bloomingdales to see if we should register there (we ended up going to Marshall Field's instead). I came out of the store, and a drunken reveler bumped into me. I had only been to Chicago once before with my parents, so I remember at that moment feeling very much like a fish out of water!
After a year or so of living in our garden apartment, we moved to another apartment a mile or so away in Ukrainian Village. It was a fun place to live, very ethic, and amazing things to eat! There is a fantastic Ukrainian restaurant there, it was amazing food, and it was one of my favorite places to eat.
Of course, Ukraininan village was not the only place to eat in Chicago! We spent enough time in Italian Village and Greektown to put on a few pounds. We also loved Leona’s, and splurged on their food when we got the chance.
Our apartment was on the 3rd floor, and you could see the Sears Tower from our kitchen window. We had a huge kitchen, but no counter space other than on either side of the sink. Our bedroom was small—even smaller than the other apartment’s bedroom—and we had to put a dresser in a closet because only our bed would fit in the room. We had a huge pantry, with loads of built-in storage, and a gorgeous built-in hutch. This apartment also had a big bay window, and beautiful wood trim that had never been painted. We graduated to a two-bedroom apartment, and we actually had an “office.” Boy, did we think we were living large! Most of the time we went upstairs from the back stairs—back, between the buildings (it was one of those buildings that you see on TV where you can reach out and shake hands with the neighbors), up the back stairway to the back porch and in the back door. The front stairs were more formal—wooden and creaky and winding all the way around up to the front door. They, too, were preserved and very ornate. Our hardwood floors had been sanded and restored, and looked like a sea of honey.
I am not sad to be away from Chicago. When we came back from England and we were considering where to make our home, we considered Chicago. But with M’s disability, we wanted to be sure that the schools were top notch. We would have had to afford private school in Chicago, most likely. Living in Chicago with children is very, very different than living there as a young couple. It was fun at the time, and we are where we’re supposed to be now.
But it’s fun to remember!
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
Coming to Terms
Thank you for all of the nice emails you’ve sent me. It means a lot to receive your kindness and understanding.
I have been doing a lot of thinking the past couple of days, and also questioning what I want to do, why I want to do it, and how I will get there.
Of course, the biggest question is will I continue to increase my herd at the risk of having this happen again? I also ask myself how I will handle having to slaughter or cull a goat that is either raised for meat, or not an immediate “means” to my end business goals?
One thing I have come to terms with is the concept of death of the animals. I think that humans grieve over death for basically three reasons:
1. We look at what could have been. If a person dies in the prime of their lives, we think about what they missed, and what they should have experienced in life.
2. We feel a void where that person was. We miss them and their impact on our lives.
3. We grieve for their suffering.
As a farmer, I think my number one goal is to raise healthy, happy animals. Livestock that is loved on and given great care and much attention will likely produce more or better product. So I think that there is the trade off that I am going to have to be willing to accept.
When one dotes on their animals, it is inevitable that the animal’s absence will leave a void, and I can see the probability for grief. But there is no reason to think about “what could have been” with an animal. If they live 9 months or 9 years, and they die having lived a happy life, that is fulfillment, in my opinion. Also, if you are any kind of farmer, you ensure that your animals are well cared for and happy. So, in a perfect world, one minute your animals are happy, and the next minute they are dead. They never knew any pain.
I feel sadness about Bert’s passing for a couple of reasons. First, there is some void there. I do miss him, but I am not distraught about that. He did, however, suffer with his pain during the last days, and his death was not a peaceful one. He aspirated his vomit, and basically suffocated. There was nothing I could have done, even “goat CPR” would not have helped the pneumonia, or the resulting infection that he would most certainly have contracted from the stomach contents in his lungs. The last few moments of his life were quite distressing. And that is really the root cause of my sadness and questioning.
At this point, I have decided to move forward. Ernie will be a good companion for a buck, since bucks can’t hang with the herd for the bulk of the year. He can hold his own with a sassy buck. B and I have already started scouting the websites for potential breeding stock.
I have also learned that there are other medications that I need to keep on hand, and the next few weeks will be spent collecting the supplies that may prove to be invaluable in the future.
Speaking of spending money, we just diid our taxes, and filed the Schedule F. I think we are official farmers now! We did lose a good sum of money this year, though, and hope to turn it around next year. I expect it will take a few years to get in the black, however.
I have been doing a lot of thinking the past couple of days, and also questioning what I want to do, why I want to do it, and how I will get there.
Of course, the biggest question is will I continue to increase my herd at the risk of having this happen again? I also ask myself how I will handle having to slaughter or cull a goat that is either raised for meat, or not an immediate “means” to my end business goals?
One thing I have come to terms with is the concept of death of the animals. I think that humans grieve over death for basically three reasons:
1. We look at what could have been. If a person dies in the prime of their lives, we think about what they missed, and what they should have experienced in life.
2. We feel a void where that person was. We miss them and their impact on our lives.
3. We grieve for their suffering.
As a farmer, I think my number one goal is to raise healthy, happy animals. Livestock that is loved on and given great care and much attention will likely produce more or better product. So I think that there is the trade off that I am going to have to be willing to accept.
When one dotes on their animals, it is inevitable that the animal’s absence will leave a void, and I can see the probability for grief. But there is no reason to think about “what could have been” with an animal. If they live 9 months or 9 years, and they die having lived a happy life, that is fulfillment, in my opinion. Also, if you are any kind of farmer, you ensure that your animals are well cared for and happy. So, in a perfect world, one minute your animals are happy, and the next minute they are dead. They never knew any pain.
I feel sadness about Bert’s passing for a couple of reasons. First, there is some void there. I do miss him, but I am not distraught about that. He did, however, suffer with his pain during the last days, and his death was not a peaceful one. He aspirated his vomit, and basically suffocated. There was nothing I could have done, even “goat CPR” would not have helped the pneumonia, or the resulting infection that he would most certainly have contracted from the stomach contents in his lungs. The last few moments of his life were quite distressing. And that is really the root cause of my sadness and questioning.
At this point, I have decided to move forward. Ernie will be a good companion for a buck, since bucks can’t hang with the herd for the bulk of the year. He can hold his own with a sassy buck. B and I have already started scouting the websites for potential breeding stock.
I have also learned that there are other medications that I need to keep on hand, and the next few weeks will be spent collecting the supplies that may prove to be invaluable in the future.
Speaking of spending money, we just diid our taxes, and filed the Schedule F. I think we are official farmers now! We did lose a good sum of money this year, though, and hope to turn it around next year. I expect it will take a few years to get in the black, however.
Monday, February 20, 2006
Goodbye Bert
He died about an hour ago, I was holding his head and stroking his ear. I am grateful for all he taught me.
Bert, Continued
He made it through the night. I gave him some more water and baby aspirin this morning. It appears as though his fever has broken, but he is very, very weak and lying down (can be a bad sign). I just keep remembering how sick I felt when I had pneumonia, and I cut him a little slack. I was SO, SO tired. I felt like I could have slept for a year.
I have to work today, I have postponed a meeting twice and need to get into the office for it, but I may head out early and work the pm from home so I can be with him. Of course, I will post updates.
I have to work today, I have postponed a meeting twice and need to get into the office for it, but I may head out early and work the pm from home so I can be with him. Of course, I will post updates.
Sunday, February 19, 2006
Quick Bert Update
He is still with us, and doing about the same. We got some different antibiotics and electrolytes, probiotics, energy supplements, etc., and got it down him today. He isn't any worse off, for sure. I do wish that he was at least improving. The fever is still there, and it worries me. He is still very lethargic and still seems to have given up.
He's still in the house, in our extra-large dog kennel. He is bellering now and again, but I think that tonight I will sleep like a baby knowing he's contained. Last night was not a good night, for sure. I ended up getting about 2 hours of sleep.
Night. : ) I'll keep you posted on how he's doing tomorrow.
He's still in the house, in our extra-large dog kennel. He is bellering now and again, but I think that tonight I will sleep like a baby knowing he's contained. Last night was not a good night, for sure. I ended up getting about 2 hours of sleep.
Night. : ) I'll keep you posted on how he's doing tomorrow.
Bert Update
Well, we were up all night. : ( Bert is not any better, but not any worse. I believe he has pneumonia, and there is a certain antibiotic that I am chasing down. I have called every Farm & Fleet, every Shoppers Suppy and every Tractor Supply that is within a 2 hour's drive of my house, and they all carry it, but they are out. I know that pneumonia can be brought on by the sudden change in weather (it was nearly 70 on Thursday, and by Friday it was below zero). I must not be the only one nursing a sick animal this weekend. I'm sorry for all of us.
I'm on the hunt for Tylan 200, and hope to get some-- and get 2 doses in him-- before he has to go back outside. Nobody can get any sleep, and being inside is not good for him. It will be in the 20's today (and 30's-40's the rest of the week) so that should be conducive to helping him get better.
I'll post another update tonight.
I'm on the hunt for Tylan 200, and hope to get some-- and get 2 doses in him-- before he has to go back outside. Nobody can get any sleep, and being inside is not good for him. It will be in the 20's today (and 30's-40's the rest of the week) so that should be conducive to helping him get better.
I'll post another update tonight.
My battle with Bert
It's 2:34 am, and life is not good here at our farm. Bert is gravely ill. We are sleeping downstairs, as he is in the house. Yes, I have livestock in my home, is that not frightening? Goats are amazingly NOT stinky. Thankfully I have a mud room with a vinyl floor. No, I am not sleeping in the mud room. : )
Bert has just had his third shot of penicillin, as he has a fever of 105. Goats should have a temperature of 102-103, so his is elevated. Unfortunately, the fever has not responded in the last 12 hours, and in the morning I will have to go to the farm store and pray that they have a broad spectrum antibiotic, and we'll switch to that. I have bought many items for my "goat medicine cabinet" but I have not bought them all, unfortunately.
It has been bitterly cold here, as you know. Yesterday Bert was shivering more than the other goats, and then he was literally tremor-ing, and I decided we needed to get him warmed up to actually see if it was the cold temperatures or something else. He stood in the corner of his pen, listless, didn't eat, just stared down at the ground.
I brought him in the back porch, got him a little warmer and took his temperature, and then discovered he was very ill. As I realized that he was going to require more than just a few minutes of attention, I decided to bring him in.
What I don't understand is why God makes an animal seem to give up when it's sick. Humans know that if you are not hungry or thirsty when you are sick, you still have to eat and drink something. Drink, especially. Animals don't do this. Remember my time with Valdez (the cat)? He would have died had I not stuck a tube down his throat and squeezed milk into his stomach. He had a respiratory infection, and wouldn't eat because he couldn't smell.
And so it is with Bert. He will not take water or eat. Fortunately, things on the other end are working well (and are easy to clean up with goats on a vinyl floor), but if I don't get him eating and drinking, there will be nothing to come out the other end. I have had to use a syringe to get him to drink (that is called "drenching"), drench him with electrolytes, with probios (a mixture of enzymes to restore the balance in his rumen), force him to lie down so he can actually REST while he sleeps (how much rest can you get when you try and sleep standing up?).
It seems like not only do they lose their fight to live, but they have this will to die, and the only one fighting for them to live is me. It's frustrating. It's all-consuming. I'm exhausted, and he's no better. If I don't fight harder than they do, then they die. I don't get God's logic on this.
So, I'm back to bed. I will be up at the crack of dawn and at the farm store to see what ammunition they can provide for my battle with Bert.
Wish me luck.
Bert has just had his third shot of penicillin, as he has a fever of 105. Goats should have a temperature of 102-103, so his is elevated. Unfortunately, the fever has not responded in the last 12 hours, and in the morning I will have to go to the farm store and pray that they have a broad spectrum antibiotic, and we'll switch to that. I have bought many items for my "goat medicine cabinet" but I have not bought them all, unfortunately.
It has been bitterly cold here, as you know. Yesterday Bert was shivering more than the other goats, and then he was literally tremor-ing, and I decided we needed to get him warmed up to actually see if it was the cold temperatures or something else. He stood in the corner of his pen, listless, didn't eat, just stared down at the ground.
I brought him in the back porch, got him a little warmer and took his temperature, and then discovered he was very ill. As I realized that he was going to require more than just a few minutes of attention, I decided to bring him in.
What I don't understand is why God makes an animal seem to give up when it's sick. Humans know that if you are not hungry or thirsty when you are sick, you still have to eat and drink something. Drink, especially. Animals don't do this. Remember my time with Valdez (the cat)? He would have died had I not stuck a tube down his throat and squeezed milk into his stomach. He had a respiratory infection, and wouldn't eat because he couldn't smell.
And so it is with Bert. He will not take water or eat. Fortunately, things on the other end are working well (and are easy to clean up with goats on a vinyl floor), but if I don't get him eating and drinking, there will be nothing to come out the other end. I have had to use a syringe to get him to drink (that is called "drenching"), drench him with electrolytes, with probios (a mixture of enzymes to restore the balance in his rumen), force him to lie down so he can actually REST while he sleeps (how much rest can you get when you try and sleep standing up?).
It seems like not only do they lose their fight to live, but they have this will to die, and the only one fighting for them to live is me. It's frustrating. It's all-consuming. I'm exhausted, and he's no better. If I don't fight harder than they do, then they die. I don't get God's logic on this.
So, I'm back to bed. I will be up at the crack of dawn and at the farm store to see what ammunition they can provide for my battle with Bert.
Wish me luck.
Friday, February 17, 2006
Goat Couture
"The wind chill advisory is now in effect until midnight cst tonight. Very cold temperatures combining with a north wind between 15 and 25 mph over much of the region this evening will produce wind chill values from 20 to near 30 below through midnight tonight. After midnight, the wind is expected to diminish to under 10 mph, though temperatures will remain well below zero in most locations until after sunrise Saturday. A wind chill advisory means that very cold air and strong winds will combine to generate low wind chills. This will result in frost bite and lead to hypothermia if precautions are not taken. If you must venture outdoors, make sure you wear a hat and gloves. "
Desperate times call for desperate measures.
I hate to sew. I absolutely detest it. I have sewn, moreso when we were very poor and couldn't afford to buy some of the things we needed. I often sewed curtains. And that is a big feat for me. My mother and grandmother are (and my great-grandmother was) amazing seamstresses. I am the black sheep, proud of myself for sewing a straight line. I just don't have the patience.
When we moved here, I packed my sewing machine away. It's been nearly 2 years, and I didn't even know where it was at. I tried to find it one day-- maybe halfheartedly.
So, today we have a very, very low temperature and windchill. When we went out to feed at 5:00, it was very cold, and the goats were shivering. I couldn't stand to see that, and we headed for town to the farm store to find some calf blankets, or (yeah right) goat blankets. I fully expected to dip into the kids' college funds to afford them, as everything that farm store sells is highway robbery. Alas, they didn't have any, and all I came away with was a rubber bucket (doesn't break when water freezes inside, and you can bash the ice out of it).
So, we headed over to Pamida, my very favorite store. They had a winter sale, and were selling these cool fleece throws for $3.99. I bought six of them, and came home and made my own goat coats. Cindi was VERY grateful for hers, and knew right away what to do (see below).
Bert was either scared or happy, but he just stood stock still, and stared out into space. Ernie, of course, tore his off before I left the barn. I put it back on and left, so I am hoping he's still got it on.
After I sewed the first one for Cindi, I took it out and put it on. When I came out with the boys', she was hunkered down for the night, and was NOT moving for anything. Check out this picture:
B and I bought new flannel sheets, and washed them up and are about to go put them on the bed. Glad I have them, but I think my cool goat coats are a close second.
Desperate times call for desperate measures.
I hate to sew. I absolutely detest it. I have sewn, moreso when we were very poor and couldn't afford to buy some of the things we needed. I often sewed curtains. And that is a big feat for me. My mother and grandmother are (and my great-grandmother was) amazing seamstresses. I am the black sheep, proud of myself for sewing a straight line. I just don't have the patience.
When we moved here, I packed my sewing machine away. It's been nearly 2 years, and I didn't even know where it was at. I tried to find it one day-- maybe halfheartedly.
So, today we have a very, very low temperature and windchill. When we went out to feed at 5:00, it was very cold, and the goats were shivering. I couldn't stand to see that, and we headed for town to the farm store to find some calf blankets, or (yeah right) goat blankets. I fully expected to dip into the kids' college funds to afford them, as everything that farm store sells is highway robbery. Alas, they didn't have any, and all I came away with was a rubber bucket (doesn't break when water freezes inside, and you can bash the ice out of it).
So, we headed over to Pamida, my very favorite store. They had a winter sale, and were selling these cool fleece throws for $3.99. I bought six of them, and came home and made my own goat coats. Cindi was VERY grateful for hers, and knew right away what to do (see below).
Bert was either scared or happy, but he just stood stock still, and stared out into space. Ernie, of course, tore his off before I left the barn. I put it back on and left, so I am hoping he's still got it on.
After I sewed the first one for Cindi, I took it out and put it on. When I came out with the boys', she was hunkered down for the night, and was NOT moving for anything. Check out this picture:
B and I bought new flannel sheets, and washed them up and are about to go put them on the bed. Glad I have them, but I think my cool goat coats are a close second.
Thursday, February 16, 2006
...The Storm
It's freezing today. The temperature is currently 19 degrees. I am home now, weathering the snow day we had. Last night it sleeted and iced and rained, and today we will have 2-4 more inches of snow to cover it. B had to work-- no snow days for computer doctors, especially those that doctor computers that control money.
I've been freezing all day, even with my sweatshirt and wool socks, under my quilt with the kitties. I'm watching it snow virtually sideways, and I can hear the wind chimes being thrashed around in the wind. Gusts of flakes come around the south side of the house as the north wind dumps them in drifts, defeated by the mass of the house. I watched a bird a few minutes ago, maybe a crow, maybe a hawk, flapping frantically in the air, as it went nowhere. It reminded me of someone running up the down escalator.
Thursday's pictures showed a soft, gentle brown. Today's view is of a cold, hard brown, topped with the icy white of winter. The Old Man's back.
I'm off to the barn to feed an early supper. I want to get out there when it's light! If it can't be warm, at least it will be light.
Tomorrow's high is 9, and the low is -3. I imagine the low will show its face about 5:30 am when I am ready to make breakfast for the "daminals" (my new term of endearment for them). When the weather forecast says, "Partly Cloud. Bitterly cold" you know you're in for it.
I'm dreading frozen buckets, the wind poking at my scarf, trying to find an end to loosen, and cold toes. Runny noses on rosy, numb faces and frosty breath you can see. I've had it! I can conjure up enough winter images to last me the rest of my life-- I don't need the real thing!
But I'm spoiled. It's mid-February, and it's only the second cold spell we've had. It had to come sooner or later, right? Just get me through March. April can have its cold spells, but I'll take my chances and bet it won't be -3 in April.
Send me some warm thoughts over the next week, friends.
I've been freezing all day, even with my sweatshirt and wool socks, under my quilt with the kitties. I'm watching it snow virtually sideways, and I can hear the wind chimes being thrashed around in the wind. Gusts of flakes come around the south side of the house as the north wind dumps them in drifts, defeated by the mass of the house. I watched a bird a few minutes ago, maybe a crow, maybe a hawk, flapping frantically in the air, as it went nowhere. It reminded me of someone running up the down escalator.
Thursday's pictures showed a soft, gentle brown. Today's view is of a cold, hard brown, topped with the icy white of winter. The Old Man's back.
I'm off to the barn to feed an early supper. I want to get out there when it's light! If it can't be warm, at least it will be light.
Tomorrow's high is 9, and the low is -3. I imagine the low will show its face about 5:30 am when I am ready to make breakfast for the "daminals" (my new term of endearment for them). When the weather forecast says, "Partly Cloud. Bitterly cold" you know you're in for it.
I'm dreading frozen buckets, the wind poking at my scarf, trying to find an end to loosen, and cold toes. Runny noses on rosy, numb faces and frosty breath you can see. I've had it! I can conjure up enough winter images to last me the rest of my life-- I don't need the real thing!
But I'm spoiled. It's mid-February, and it's only the second cold spell we've had. It had to come sooner or later, right? Just get me through March. April can have its cold spells, but I'll take my chances and bet it won't be -3 in April.
Send me some warm thoughts over the next week, friends.
The Calm Before...
I went outside tonight to feed the horses. It was a lovely day today, probably near 55, though it was only forecast to be in the mid 40’s. The wind was brisk today, but this evening it had died down. It was one of those tranquil evenings, reminiscent of March (even though it is only mid February!), with the cool wind with just a hint of warmth as it glides over your skin. You can smell spring just itching to come out, that wet, earthy smell. I looked up and the sky was magnificent: I could see a gorgeous, golden, full moon just coming over the horizon. I honestly jerked my head to the east as I came out of the barn—I thought it was a fire on the horizon! I could see a faint pink in the west, the sun surrendering with its last, brilliant hurrah.
The stars are glorious in the spring (well, in the winter, too, but I don’t hang out outside long enough to appreciate them!). I could see Venus, Mars, a very prominent Orion’s Belt, the dippers, the Pleiades.
I can’t wait to break out the hammock.
(click on Bert for a slideshow)
The stars are glorious in the spring (well, in the winter, too, but I don’t hang out outside long enough to appreciate them!). I could see Venus, Mars, a very prominent Orion’s Belt, the dippers, the Pleiades.
I can’t wait to break out the hammock.
(click on Bert for a slideshow)
Friday, February 10, 2006
Privacy: The Final Chapter
Unless something changes in the overall NAIS, or it begins to affect me more significantly at our farm, I will not be blogging about NAIS or privacy after this entry. We’re beating a dead horse, no pun intended.
It’s obvious that the nation is polarized on the issue of wiretapping. There are those that feel that the President acted within his power when authorizing the wiretaps. There are others who feel that he did not. We can discuss it until the cows come home, but it doesn’t really matter what conclusion we come to. It will ultimately be decided by the government as to whether he acted appropriately or not. We can make interpretations about privacy and law, but the legal judgment rests with the court and with Congress. It’s good to have dialogue here, and we have done that. If we want to turn our words to actions, we need to communicate with our legislators.
Regarding the NAIS, a comment was made about my use of the example of the Oklahoma City bombing and how government did not place more restrictive regulations upon rental trucks and fertilizer. I believe I made my point, as I initially stated. The commenter said that I was “reaching” and had proved his point that RFID tags would allow us to “catch” the source of contamination in the same way that the license plate allowed the authorities to catch Timothy McVeigh. What this commenter does not consider is that there are ALREADY checks in place that allow us to track livestock entry into the food supply! (The “license plate example.) Do you think a farmer just drops old Bessie off at the slaughterhouse no questions asked?? Of course not! And the paperwork and checks that are currently in place are affording the public protection from BSE, eColi, and other diseases. Putting a radio tag on my llama is unnecessary, and does NOTHING to support any further protection of the food supply. How does any of this PREVENT problems? It doesn’t. And it won’t CONTAIN problems any better than the current system does. The NAIS will not apply the same to producers across the board! My neighbors and I will be required to tag every animal we have. Big Ag will not. They will be allowed to record information on a herd as one animal. Where do you think the bulk of your food comes from? What about the bulk of the disease? Four processors control 80% of the beef that goes to four companies that control 90 percent of the meat sales in America. (source: industry data found on meatpoultry.com) I also attempted to locate information on the sources of the two BSE-infected cattle that have been detected in the US. The USDA releases very sketchy information, but their press release notes that the cow which tested positive in 2003 came from a factory farm in Washington. Details on the 2005 cow from Texas are scarce. They do note that some of the animal’s herdmates had to be tested, and “some” amounted to 208. An additional amount of calves from the farm had to be tested, and the additional amount was 213. So there were a significant amount of cattle being raised at this farm, if it was not a factory farm. This is a much different scenario than my farm, or my neighbor’s farms. These will likely be the very operations that will not be affected as much by the NAIS, because they can register their herds as one entity.
Of course the public demands accountability in the food supply. I eat the food, I also demand that accountability. But this will not afford us that accountability. It will serve to provide a false sense of security to the general public who do not understand what it entails, and it will ensure that food prices increase. In my last post I addressed the record keeping and management standards that successful producers need to maintain. If an animal leaves my premises with the NAIS in place, I will have to file a report. The producers who are crappy record keepers will neglect those reports as they neglect their records today. And those with bad intentions will find a way around it. Ear tags can be lost, replaced, faked, misread, and cheated just about any way imaginable.
The point is well taken with the credit card companies, websites, and other businesses that collect my personal information. And I fight with them as well about privacy. Just because I don’t blog about it, doesn’t mean one should assume it doesn’t concern me or that I am not doing anything about it. But to roll over and say, “Well, everyone else has my personal info, I’ll go ahead and RFID my animals, too” is just dumb.
I made this comment in an earlier post: If you notice, I am quite anonymous—I don’t mention my location (just general), or my name, or my company, etc. If you wanted to find me, you couldn’t (I hope).
I can see where I led you to believe that I thought I had a heavy veil of anonymity. Of course I am not anonymous. Very few people are. And, if I had truly been concerned with anonymity, I would not have registered my domain in my real name with my real address. I would have an unpublished phone number. Frankly, I would have stayed off of the Internet. I live in a small town, and everybody knows the name of my farm and me. You can look up my address and see what my property value is (and look up if and when I paid my taxes). You can even check out a satellite photo of my land. If you go to this website , you can look me up and see how old I am, and other family members that I might have lived with in the past—maybe see who my siblings are and where they live. You can find my phone number, and you can do a reverse lookup and find my address that way, too.
So, no apology necessary for “my heart stopping” as you did not tell me anything I didn’t already know. I am not naïve (about that, at least).
Ultimately I hope to sell my animals, and we will heavily market our name and brand to our customers. The organizations to which we belong will list us as members. It would be silly for a business to not list a way to contact them. With that increased marketing comes a loss of privacy, but a loss that we have determined to be an acceptable risk and price.
As I said before, this world is a risky one, and we all have to assume this risk. I, for one, will not depend on (or even ask) the government to insulate me from any potential danger at the expense of my own right to choose.
It’s obvious that the nation is polarized on the issue of wiretapping. There are those that feel that the President acted within his power when authorizing the wiretaps. There are others who feel that he did not. We can discuss it until the cows come home, but it doesn’t really matter what conclusion we come to. It will ultimately be decided by the government as to whether he acted appropriately or not. We can make interpretations about privacy and law, but the legal judgment rests with the court and with Congress. It’s good to have dialogue here, and we have done that. If we want to turn our words to actions, we need to communicate with our legislators.
Regarding the NAIS, a comment was made about my use of the example of the Oklahoma City bombing and how government did not place more restrictive regulations upon rental trucks and fertilizer. I believe I made my point, as I initially stated. The commenter said that I was “reaching” and had proved his point that RFID tags would allow us to “catch” the source of contamination in the same way that the license plate allowed the authorities to catch Timothy McVeigh. What this commenter does not consider is that there are ALREADY checks in place that allow us to track livestock entry into the food supply! (The “license plate example.) Do you think a farmer just drops old Bessie off at the slaughterhouse no questions asked?? Of course not! And the paperwork and checks that are currently in place are affording the public protection from BSE, eColi, and other diseases. Putting a radio tag on my llama is unnecessary, and does NOTHING to support any further protection of the food supply. How does any of this PREVENT problems? It doesn’t. And it won’t CONTAIN problems any better than the current system does. The NAIS will not apply the same to producers across the board! My neighbors and I will be required to tag every animal we have. Big Ag will not. They will be allowed to record information on a herd as one animal. Where do you think the bulk of your food comes from? What about the bulk of the disease? Four processors control 80% of the beef that goes to four companies that control 90 percent of the meat sales in America. (source: industry data found on meatpoultry.com) I also attempted to locate information on the sources of the two BSE-infected cattle that have been detected in the US. The USDA releases very sketchy information, but their press release notes that the cow which tested positive in 2003 came from a factory farm in Washington. Details on the 2005 cow from Texas are scarce. They do note that some of the animal’s herdmates had to be tested, and “some” amounted to 208. An additional amount of calves from the farm had to be tested, and the additional amount was 213. So there were a significant amount of cattle being raised at this farm, if it was not a factory farm. This is a much different scenario than my farm, or my neighbor’s farms. These will likely be the very operations that will not be affected as much by the NAIS, because they can register their herds as one entity.
Of course the public demands accountability in the food supply. I eat the food, I also demand that accountability. But this will not afford us that accountability. It will serve to provide a false sense of security to the general public who do not understand what it entails, and it will ensure that food prices increase. In my last post I addressed the record keeping and management standards that successful producers need to maintain. If an animal leaves my premises with the NAIS in place, I will have to file a report. The producers who are crappy record keepers will neglect those reports as they neglect their records today. And those with bad intentions will find a way around it. Ear tags can be lost, replaced, faked, misread, and cheated just about any way imaginable.
The point is well taken with the credit card companies, websites, and other businesses that collect my personal information. And I fight with them as well about privacy. Just because I don’t blog about it, doesn’t mean one should assume it doesn’t concern me or that I am not doing anything about it. But to roll over and say, “Well, everyone else has my personal info, I’ll go ahead and RFID my animals, too” is just dumb.
I made this comment in an earlier post: If you notice, I am quite anonymous—I don’t mention my location (just general), or my name, or my company, etc. If you wanted to find me, you couldn’t (I hope).
I can see where I led you to believe that I thought I had a heavy veil of anonymity. Of course I am not anonymous. Very few people are. And, if I had truly been concerned with anonymity, I would not have registered my domain in my real name with my real address. I would have an unpublished phone number. Frankly, I would have stayed off of the Internet. I live in a small town, and everybody knows the name of my farm and me. You can look up my address and see what my property value is (and look up if and when I paid my taxes). You can even check out a satellite photo of my land. If you go to this website , you can look me up and see how old I am, and other family members that I might have lived with in the past—maybe see who my siblings are and where they live. You can find my phone number, and you can do a reverse lookup and find my address that way, too.
So, no apology necessary for “my heart stopping” as you did not tell me anything I didn’t already know. I am not naïve (about that, at least).
Ultimately I hope to sell my animals, and we will heavily market our name and brand to our customers. The organizations to which we belong will list us as members. It would be silly for a business to not list a way to contact them. With that increased marketing comes a loss of privacy, but a loss that we have determined to be an acceptable risk and price.
As I said before, this world is a risky one, and we all have to assume this risk. I, for one, will not depend on (or even ask) the government to insulate me from any potential danger at the expense of my own right to choose.
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
My Overworked Guardian Angels
On January 24th, for some reason, I was driving along and thought, "You know, we got new insurance in July and I am not sure if I recall putting my proof of insurance in my glove box." Now, WHO has thoughts like that?? WHY would I suddenly be driving along and have THAT thought? Six months after we got the cards in the mail?
So, I called my insurance agent, and had him fax the proof cards over to my office. I thought it might be just my luck to get stopped on the way home and not have my proof of insurance with me. He did so within the hour.
Today, on my way into work, my car was rear-ended in rush hour traffic. I am fine; my car is relatively fine (a small scuff, and maybe some damage that we can't see, like door alignment, etc.). The gentleman that hit me was fine, too. Not only was I thankful that we were all fine, but I was thankful that I had that out-of-the-blue thought a few days ago, and I got my proof of insurance in my car!
My guardian angels are very overworked keeping me on the straight and narrow.
My car was hit by a young man (just a few years younger than me-- I don't HAVE to admit that people a decade younger than I am are old enough to drive). Now, the man in front of me slammed on his brakes, and I nearly hit him. Traffic is always bad in a particular construction zone that I drive in every morning, and I really do try and keep a safe distance. But this morning, I jammed on my brakes to avoid hitting the car in front of me. The man behind me just didn't hit his brake in time with enough space. It was pretty much inevitable, unless he was keeping an outlandish amount of space between us. Of course, one SHOULD, but we don't...
We both pulled to the side and jumped out, and we exchanged pleasantries (really, that's not facetious), and he apologized for hitting me, and making me late for work. I told him that the man in front of me braked hard, and it was just one of those things. We both commiserated about traffic, high insurance premiums, working downtown, and just general BS. Of course, we had plenty of time to do so, since the police took 25 minutes to arrive.
I can't imagine a more pleasant accident. : ) Only in Iowa. Have I mentioned how much I love it here?
So, I called my insurance agent, and had him fax the proof cards over to my office. I thought it might be just my luck to get stopped on the way home and not have my proof of insurance with me. He did so within the hour.
Today, on my way into work, my car was rear-ended in rush hour traffic. I am fine; my car is relatively fine (a small scuff, and maybe some damage that we can't see, like door alignment, etc.). The gentleman that hit me was fine, too. Not only was I thankful that we were all fine, but I was thankful that I had that out-of-the-blue thought a few days ago, and I got my proof of insurance in my car!
My guardian angels are very overworked keeping me on the straight and narrow.
My car was hit by a young man (just a few years younger than me-- I don't HAVE to admit that people a decade younger than I am are old enough to drive). Now, the man in front of me slammed on his brakes, and I nearly hit him. Traffic is always bad in a particular construction zone that I drive in every morning, and I really do try and keep a safe distance. But this morning, I jammed on my brakes to avoid hitting the car in front of me. The man behind me just didn't hit his brake in time with enough space. It was pretty much inevitable, unless he was keeping an outlandish amount of space between us. Of course, one SHOULD, but we don't...
We both pulled to the side and jumped out, and we exchanged pleasantries (really, that's not facetious), and he apologized for hitting me, and making me late for work. I told him that the man in front of me braked hard, and it was just one of those things. We both commiserated about traffic, high insurance premiums, working downtown, and just general BS. Of course, we had plenty of time to do so, since the police took 25 minutes to arrive.
I can't imagine a more pleasant accident. : ) Only in Iowa. Have I mentioned how much I love it here?
Monday, February 06, 2006
GIRL POWER!!!!!!
One of the reasons that I have not blogged in a while is that my mom was here for a visit. She lives in Arizona, and decided to come for a visit. We timed her visit to coincide with B’s being out of town for a class. He went up to Minneapolis to stay in a luxurious hotel for a week and be waited on! Mom and I stayed behind with the kids. The two of them get along famously, so it’s not like they were avoiding each other (that has been asked!).
While he was gone, Mom and I decided to get busy on the house. One wall has had some work done to it—a doorway was moved. Part of the wall was plaster and lathe, and the other part was sheet rock. However, the seams were not clean, and you could really tell the outline of the old doorway. Unfortunately, there wasn’t really much we could do except sheet rock over the plaster, or maybe take it all down and sheet rock the entire wall. I could not skim coat or come up with a “fix” good enough to apply paint to—that is why they were so fond of wallpaper and paneling. A couple of walls like that are my big reason for “analysis paralysis” when it comes to the walls of my house. Not knowing how I was going to solve those huge problem areas was a reason for not proceeding.
We fixed the wall by constructing shelves over the entire wall. Talk about girl power! We built them 10 feet wide by 8.5 feet tall. I even made doors for one section, and have plans to create doors for two other sections. Let me just tell you that while shelves themselves are not particularly hard, the shelves that I made were tough. We made them so well, they will last the life of the house. Plus, we had to level and plumb them when the walls are not. I think we did an excellent job.
Let’s just say that when B came home, he was blown away. Given that he and I have been together for 19 years this year, I am sure he was not surprised that we got the idea and just did it. We could have sat around and drank margaritas all week! (Though we did have a few drinks, of course!)
In preparation, we visited the inspiration for my idea (all of my ideas are stolen) at a hotel in West Des Moines. They had a floor-to-ceiling bookcase that I immediately thought would suit our room. We then bought a prototype test board and samples of stain, and came home to choose a color that would match the wood in our home. It’s a reddish, golden honey color.
The next day we started the building process by hauling several hundred dollars’ worth of lumber home in my Honda CRV. Quite a feat, and there were several enjoying the show in the parking lot as Mom and I loaded it up. We then brought it all home and stained it.
The next morning we paneled the back wall with ¼” plywood. Then we constructed the frame and upright supports in the living room. We were sure to test first that the creation could be set upright without taking out the ceiling fan! We then set it up and secured it to the ceiling and floor. We would have secured it to the sidewall, but the wall was not straight, and would cause our sideboard to warp visibly. It was difficult enough with the top and bottom boards not being straight.
Then we drank heavily.
The next day we cut the shelves. In a perfect world, all of the shelves would be even, so we could “mass produce” them. Not in my house!! While we set the upright boards the same width, when it was all said and done, the width of the shelves ended up being anywhere from ¼ to ½ inch different. So we had to measure each one as we went. Some of the widths even changed once we secured the shelves to the uprights, so we ended up measuring and cutting as we went. We cut back and side shelf supports for each shelf (42 total, plus 14 shelves). We got all of the shelves cut, assembled, leveled, plumbed, and attached the second day.
We then went to the store and brought home another hundred dollars worth of trim.
And then we drank heavily.
The third day (and the day B was due home) we put the trim up. We expected it to be an easy job, and the one that would really create the polished, professional look of the piece. We were excited to get started. It did not go as well as the other days, or as easily as we expected. We had problems with the quarter round staying in the gaps because the boards did not meet the back wall (the very reason we bought the quarter round). I had problems creating the doors because the space over which they fit was not a uniform space (it was like a trapezoid). We got it finished about an hour before B came back, which left time for me to drag out all of our old knickknacks and souvenirs from our travels. Oh, and our books. Now, we have a lot of books. In our old (new) house, we had bookshelves built in around the fireplace because we had so many books. The majority of the shelves were filled with the books. We did buy a bookshelf for our existing house, and it’s chock full of books. When we added our “stuff” to the new bookshelves, however, it barely fills them up! That’s not to say that we’ll go looking for more stuff…
I plan to create more doors for the bottom portion of the shelves, so that the kids can store games and videos in them. I have a closet that is overflowing with that sort of thing, and I’d like them moved to a more accessible place. But I think I will take a rest for a week or so.
Here are some pictures of our creation. What do you think? (click on the photo for a slideshow of our progress)
Thanks Mom. You're the best. : )
While he was gone, Mom and I decided to get busy on the house. One wall has had some work done to it—a doorway was moved. Part of the wall was plaster and lathe, and the other part was sheet rock. However, the seams were not clean, and you could really tell the outline of the old doorway. Unfortunately, there wasn’t really much we could do except sheet rock over the plaster, or maybe take it all down and sheet rock the entire wall. I could not skim coat or come up with a “fix” good enough to apply paint to—that is why they were so fond of wallpaper and paneling. A couple of walls like that are my big reason for “analysis paralysis” when it comes to the walls of my house. Not knowing how I was going to solve those huge problem areas was a reason for not proceeding.
We fixed the wall by constructing shelves over the entire wall. Talk about girl power! We built them 10 feet wide by 8.5 feet tall. I even made doors for one section, and have plans to create doors for two other sections. Let me just tell you that while shelves themselves are not particularly hard, the shelves that I made were tough. We made them so well, they will last the life of the house. Plus, we had to level and plumb them when the walls are not. I think we did an excellent job.
Let’s just say that when B came home, he was blown away. Given that he and I have been together for 19 years this year, I am sure he was not surprised that we got the idea and just did it. We could have sat around and drank margaritas all week! (Though we did have a few drinks, of course!)
In preparation, we visited the inspiration for my idea (all of my ideas are stolen) at a hotel in West Des Moines. They had a floor-to-ceiling bookcase that I immediately thought would suit our room. We then bought a prototype test board and samples of stain, and came home to choose a color that would match the wood in our home. It’s a reddish, golden honey color.
The next day we started the building process by hauling several hundred dollars’ worth of lumber home in my Honda CRV. Quite a feat, and there were several enjoying the show in the parking lot as Mom and I loaded it up. We then brought it all home and stained it.
The next morning we paneled the back wall with ¼” plywood. Then we constructed the frame and upright supports in the living room. We were sure to test first that the creation could be set upright without taking out the ceiling fan! We then set it up and secured it to the ceiling and floor. We would have secured it to the sidewall, but the wall was not straight, and would cause our sideboard to warp visibly. It was difficult enough with the top and bottom boards not being straight.
Then we drank heavily.
The next day we cut the shelves. In a perfect world, all of the shelves would be even, so we could “mass produce” them. Not in my house!! While we set the upright boards the same width, when it was all said and done, the width of the shelves ended up being anywhere from ¼ to ½ inch different. So we had to measure each one as we went. Some of the widths even changed once we secured the shelves to the uprights, so we ended up measuring and cutting as we went. We cut back and side shelf supports for each shelf (42 total, plus 14 shelves). We got all of the shelves cut, assembled, leveled, plumbed, and attached the second day.
We then went to the store and brought home another hundred dollars worth of trim.
And then we drank heavily.
The third day (and the day B was due home) we put the trim up. We expected it to be an easy job, and the one that would really create the polished, professional look of the piece. We were excited to get started. It did not go as well as the other days, or as easily as we expected. We had problems with the quarter round staying in the gaps because the boards did not meet the back wall (the very reason we bought the quarter round). I had problems creating the doors because the space over which they fit was not a uniform space (it was like a trapezoid). We got it finished about an hour before B came back, which left time for me to drag out all of our old knickknacks and souvenirs from our travels. Oh, and our books. Now, we have a lot of books. In our old (new) house, we had bookshelves built in around the fireplace because we had so many books. The majority of the shelves were filled with the books. We did buy a bookshelf for our existing house, and it’s chock full of books. When we added our “stuff” to the new bookshelves, however, it barely fills them up! That’s not to say that we’ll go looking for more stuff…
I plan to create more doors for the bottom portion of the shelves, so that the kids can store games and videos in them. I have a closet that is overflowing with that sort of thing, and I’d like them moved to a more accessible place. But I think I will take a rest for a week or so.
Here are some pictures of our creation. What do you think? (click on the photo for a slideshow of our progress)
Thanks Mom. You're the best. : )
Sunday, February 05, 2006
YUMMMM!!!
Yesterday we went to a meat goat event. The Iowa Meat Goat Association held a Potluck at one of its members’ farms. Guess what the main course was? Goat, of course! And boy, was it GOOD. I don’t like lamb, venison, or anything else that is “gamey” like that. To me, goat meat tasted like a combination between beef and pork. Not as mild as beef, but really close. I had a nice big goat chop (B did, too). If you like beef and pork, you’ll like goat. It’s much leaner, and better for you. A nutrition comparison is below:
If you try goat, you’ll want to be sure you eat Boer goat (meat goat) as it has a milder flavor than some of the dairy breeds. That’s why most customers of chevon ask for Boer or Boer crossed goats for butchering.
Watch out Ernie, I’ll eat you myself if you get too sassy!! You’ll taste good all roasted up…
On a side note, we did tour the facilities, and we were impressed. We were happy, though, because we saw that our facilities are very nice as well. We have seen some shabby places, and while we don’t have heat, bathroom facilities, or cement floors in our barn, we do have a nice setup. I think we will buy some baby girls this spring.
If you try goat, you’ll want to be sure you eat Boer goat (meat goat) as it has a milder flavor than some of the dairy breeds. That’s why most customers of chevon ask for Boer or Boer crossed goats for butchering.
Watch out Ernie, I’ll eat you myself if you get too sassy!! You’ll taste good all roasted up…
On a side note, we did tour the facilities, and we were impressed. We were happy, though, because we saw that our facilities are very nice as well. We have seen some shabby places, and while we don’t have heat, bathroom facilities, or cement floors in our barn, we do have a nice setup. I think we will buy some baby girls this spring.
More on NAIS and Personal Freedom
I have had some comments on my post about the NAIS and on my perception that the government is overstepping its bounds and encroaching upon personal freedoms in the name of defense against terrorists.
Benjamin Franklin said, “Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”
Framing my definition of “Essential Liberty” is easy: if I have been afforded due process, then I have not given up my liberty. If I am under suspicion for something, then my accuser can take his or her case to a judge, where the judicial branch of government can consider the validity of my rights vs. my accuser’s suspicion. My beef with the presidential wiretapping was not over my support of the president, but over his choice to bypass the checks and balances put into place by our founding fathers. It would be like B bypassing the smoke detector in our home. I have every reason to trust him, but if he purchased the smoke detector in the first place, and then he was the one disabling it, it would be silly. Firstly, it protects him, too! And if he didn’t have anything to hide, then why would he be going around it?
Land of the free, home of the brave. It seems that there are some who are willing to give up their freedom because they are scared. That is the very nature of terrorism. Some seem to be so willing to give up freedoms to the government—why? Do they think that the government can protect them? Is it so that they will have someone to blame when the government can’t? Folks cried foul when the government couldn’t protect against 9-11, and now people are willing to give up their freedoms right and left so that the government can “protect” us against some future unnamed attacks. What makes you think that they can do it any better than they already have? It’s the same principle as the people who sue because the companies have not adequately warned against every possible danger of a product. We bitch about the high prices, the lawyers in everyone’s business, and then we cry foul when we slip and fall on the wet floor because we didn’t have the sense to take that personal responsibility necessary to prevent an issue.
Maybe I am selfish, as I have been accused. Maybe so. I would like to think that it is more about being secure in my personal responsibilities and the rights that go along with them. It seems that many citizens don’t want to assume the personal responsibilities, they just want to hand it over to the government and let someone else do it for them. So, I guess in that sense, I am selfish. I am happy to comply with the responsibilities if it means keeping my rights.
I would not point my finger at the government if there were a terrorist attack on our food supply. I don’t feel that the government can adequately prevent an attack like that, so I would not accuse them if they couldn’t. What makes you think that if the government implements NAIS (or, should I say “WHEN”) that the food supply will become magically safe? A microchip isn’t going to keep someone from poisoning an animal, or from it entering the food supply. Nor is someone registering his or her feed purchase. Criminals can always find a way around the “protections” that the government has established. And while “tagging my cattle” may be my responsibility and someone’s perception of “doing my part” against terrorism, I fail to see how it will REALLY prevent any incidents.
Look at the bombing in Oklahoma City. The government has all kinds of regulations about who can handle dynamite and C4 and other types of explosives. All it takes is one bad person to buy a bunch of fertilizer and rent a truck, and mayhem ensues. Do we outlaw fertilizer? Rental trucks? What good would that do? Did the laws restricting the public’s access to explosives (like dynamite and C4, for example) prevent someone from buying fertilizer to use it for an explosive?
It is not an inconvenience to me to put a microchip in my animals. I can afford it, and with the small number of animals that I have, it will not be difficult. However, who will bitch and moan when food prices increase? And believe me, they will. Here is an excellent illustration of how one has to file a report every time their animal practically so much as blinks. Don’t think that a farmer’s having to file all of these “incident reports” will not increase the price of your food!
Be aware, however, that the NAIS will require a two-fold identification system: a premises ID for the farm, and an animal ID (a radio-frequency ID chip inside the animal or on an ear tag). Small farmers will be required to tag each individual animal. Larger operations (“Big Ag”) will be required to identify their preemies, but will NOT be required to identify individual animals—only herds. So identifying diseases such as mad cow disease will not be any easier unless the animal came from a smaller farm. If it was a Big Ag animal, then the animal could be one of a crowd. The Big Ag animals are already able to be identified by herd, which is how we can trace back the (MINUTE NUMBER OF) Mad Cow diseases that have been identified in the food supply. NAIS will change NOTHING with Big Ag, other than giving them a premises ID. Small farmers already keep good records. If they didn’t, they would stand to make even less than the small profit margin that they currently do. Even with my animals, that are not my livelihood, I keep records on FileMaker Pro, recording births, breeders, vaccinations, routine procedures (like hoof trimmings, wormings, etc.). My kids are learning the importance of record keeping in 4H. This isn’t a new thing, and farmers don’t need the NAIS to keep records for them, or to force them to keep records.
Allegations that the borders will be magically opened with NAIS in place are crazy. The government is not going to be any more likely to find the source of contamination from “mad cow disease” (really, it’s BSE), given the above setup.
A comment was made regarding the EU and other foreign market demands for tracking of US beef. There are several responses I have regarding that, one being that the tags are not simply for cattle. I personally have no cattle, I have pet goats, horses, and a llama. None of them will ever be eaten. What justification can the government give for requiring non-commercial producers, homesteaders, or hobby farmers to tag pets or livestock that will not be sold (i.e., the family that buys their own steer to raise and butcher)? I may end up commercially raising goats for meat production, and that may be a different circumstance. But regardless of my status, if I have a sheep, cow, pig, chicken, llama, horse, goose, duck, alpaca, donkey, mule, miniature horse, or other livestock—for whatever purpose I keep that livestock—I will need to have a premises ID, and will need to tag that animal with RFID unless that animal is born on my property, lives its entire life on my property (never sees a vet, never goes on a ride off my land, to a show, to school for show and tell, gets out of the fence, or is sold), and dies on my property (never goes to a slaughterhouse or meat locker),
It was suggested that we have lost foreign export markets because we do not comply with the tagging requirements, and that if we complied, these markets would open up and the farmers’ profit margin that I have been whining about (not my own, the profits for my neighbors) would increase. Might I suggest that we look to offset the amount of beef exports by those we import? If other markets will not accept our exports, then we can simply sell it domestically. In 2003, the US exported 1.163 million tons of beef. We imported 1.5 million tons. If we just eat our own beef, we’d not need to worry about the hoops that other governments have set for us to jump through.
I remain unconvinced that the NAIS is a good idea, and if anything, it infringes upon the rights of small farmers.
As an aside, I recently had to doctor Bert’s ear because his ear tag was torn out. It was incredibly painful for him, and I was worried about infection and treated him preventively. I made a decision at that point that I would not have ear tags at our farm. He and Ernie came with tags, and both were ripped out in a matter of months. Ernie’s bled just a bit, but Bert’s was a major wound. Cindi has tattoos in her ears (no ear tags), and I decided that tattoos were the way to go for my herd of goats. Well, the government has stepped in and determined that I will have ear tags, and they will be RFID, and they will hold the entire 15 digit animal identification number. I’m no rocket scientist, but something tells me that in holding a 15-digit number, the tags will not be small. Plus, can you imagine the amount of paperwork I will have to file when a goat has an eartag torn out and I can't find it? (I never did find Bert's ear tag, but I did find Ernie's.)
Benjamin Franklin said, “Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”
Framing my definition of “Essential Liberty” is easy: if I have been afforded due process, then I have not given up my liberty. If I am under suspicion for something, then my accuser can take his or her case to a judge, where the judicial branch of government can consider the validity of my rights vs. my accuser’s suspicion. My beef with the presidential wiretapping was not over my support of the president, but over his choice to bypass the checks and balances put into place by our founding fathers. It would be like B bypassing the smoke detector in our home. I have every reason to trust him, but if he purchased the smoke detector in the first place, and then he was the one disabling it, it would be silly. Firstly, it protects him, too! And if he didn’t have anything to hide, then why would he be going around it?
Land of the free, home of the brave. It seems that there are some who are willing to give up their freedom because they are scared. That is the very nature of terrorism. Some seem to be so willing to give up freedoms to the government—why? Do they think that the government can protect them? Is it so that they will have someone to blame when the government can’t? Folks cried foul when the government couldn’t protect against 9-11, and now people are willing to give up their freedoms right and left so that the government can “protect” us against some future unnamed attacks. What makes you think that they can do it any better than they already have? It’s the same principle as the people who sue because the companies have not adequately warned against every possible danger of a product. We bitch about the high prices, the lawyers in everyone’s business, and then we cry foul when we slip and fall on the wet floor because we didn’t have the sense to take that personal responsibility necessary to prevent an issue.
Maybe I am selfish, as I have been accused. Maybe so. I would like to think that it is more about being secure in my personal responsibilities and the rights that go along with them. It seems that many citizens don’t want to assume the personal responsibilities, they just want to hand it over to the government and let someone else do it for them. So, I guess in that sense, I am selfish. I am happy to comply with the responsibilities if it means keeping my rights.
I would not point my finger at the government if there were a terrorist attack on our food supply. I don’t feel that the government can adequately prevent an attack like that, so I would not accuse them if they couldn’t. What makes you think that if the government implements NAIS (or, should I say “WHEN”) that the food supply will become magically safe? A microchip isn’t going to keep someone from poisoning an animal, or from it entering the food supply. Nor is someone registering his or her feed purchase. Criminals can always find a way around the “protections” that the government has established. And while “tagging my cattle” may be my responsibility and someone’s perception of “doing my part” against terrorism, I fail to see how it will REALLY prevent any incidents.
Look at the bombing in Oklahoma City. The government has all kinds of regulations about who can handle dynamite and C4 and other types of explosives. All it takes is one bad person to buy a bunch of fertilizer and rent a truck, and mayhem ensues. Do we outlaw fertilizer? Rental trucks? What good would that do? Did the laws restricting the public’s access to explosives (like dynamite and C4, for example) prevent someone from buying fertilizer to use it for an explosive?
It is not an inconvenience to me to put a microchip in my animals. I can afford it, and with the small number of animals that I have, it will not be difficult. However, who will bitch and moan when food prices increase? And believe me, they will. Here is an excellent illustration of how one has to file a report every time their animal practically so much as blinks. Don’t think that a farmer’s having to file all of these “incident reports” will not increase the price of your food!
Be aware, however, that the NAIS will require a two-fold identification system: a premises ID for the farm, and an animal ID (a radio-frequency ID chip inside the animal or on an ear tag). Small farmers will be required to tag each individual animal. Larger operations (“Big Ag”) will be required to identify their preemies, but will NOT be required to identify individual animals—only herds. So identifying diseases such as mad cow disease will not be any easier unless the animal came from a smaller farm. If it was a Big Ag animal, then the animal could be one of a crowd. The Big Ag animals are already able to be identified by herd, which is how we can trace back the (MINUTE NUMBER OF) Mad Cow diseases that have been identified in the food supply. NAIS will change NOTHING with Big Ag, other than giving them a premises ID. Small farmers already keep good records. If they didn’t, they would stand to make even less than the small profit margin that they currently do. Even with my animals, that are not my livelihood, I keep records on FileMaker Pro, recording births, breeders, vaccinations, routine procedures (like hoof trimmings, wormings, etc.). My kids are learning the importance of record keeping in 4H. This isn’t a new thing, and farmers don’t need the NAIS to keep records for them, or to force them to keep records.
Allegations that the borders will be magically opened with NAIS in place are crazy. The government is not going to be any more likely to find the source of contamination from “mad cow disease” (really, it’s BSE), given the above setup.
A comment was made regarding the EU and other foreign market demands for tracking of US beef. There are several responses I have regarding that, one being that the tags are not simply for cattle. I personally have no cattle, I have pet goats, horses, and a llama. None of them will ever be eaten. What justification can the government give for requiring non-commercial producers, homesteaders, or hobby farmers to tag pets or livestock that will not be sold (i.e., the family that buys their own steer to raise and butcher)? I may end up commercially raising goats for meat production, and that may be a different circumstance. But regardless of my status, if I have a sheep, cow, pig, chicken, llama, horse, goose, duck, alpaca, donkey, mule, miniature horse, or other livestock—for whatever purpose I keep that livestock—I will need to have a premises ID, and will need to tag that animal with RFID unless that animal is born on my property, lives its entire life on my property (never sees a vet, never goes on a ride off my land, to a show, to school for show and tell, gets out of the fence, or is sold), and dies on my property (never goes to a slaughterhouse or meat locker),
It was suggested that we have lost foreign export markets because we do not comply with the tagging requirements, and that if we complied, these markets would open up and the farmers’ profit margin that I have been whining about (not my own, the profits for my neighbors) would increase. Might I suggest that we look to offset the amount of beef exports by those we import? If other markets will not accept our exports, then we can simply sell it domestically. In 2003, the US exported 1.163 million tons of beef. We imported 1.5 million tons. If we just eat our own beef, we’d not need to worry about the hoops that other governments have set for us to jump through.
I remain unconvinced that the NAIS is a good idea, and if anything, it infringes upon the rights of small farmers.
As an aside, I recently had to doctor Bert’s ear because his ear tag was torn out. It was incredibly painful for him, and I was worried about infection and treated him preventively. I made a decision at that point that I would not have ear tags at our farm. He and Ernie came with tags, and both were ripped out in a matter of months. Ernie’s bled just a bit, but Bert’s was a major wound. Cindi has tattoos in her ears (no ear tags), and I decided that tattoos were the way to go for my herd of goats. Well, the government has stepped in and determined that I will have ear tags, and they will be RFID, and they will hold the entire 15 digit animal identification number. I’m no rocket scientist, but something tells me that in holding a 15-digit number, the tags will not be small. Plus, can you imagine the amount of paperwork I will have to file when a goat has an eartag torn out and I can't find it? (I never did find Bert's ear tag, but I did find Ernie's.)
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