Why do I live here?

Yeah there's a lot going on here. I have tons of "adventures" I could write about. I don't even know where to start.

A plastic horse sweat scraper works really good for a lambs broken leg. The vet looked at me like I had 2 heads when I went in to ask about a splint. He showed me what they use, and it looked just like a sweat scraper. $1.45 and some cotton and wrap and we're good to go.

The sheep are all lambing in this hellacious weather. "Note to self" pull buck out in August so no lambing until after the New Year. It seems to do this every year about the same time.

The river reached 24 ft. I don't remember it ever that high. The bridge into town was closed because the highway was under water. Fortunately made it home via Rio Dell, about 20 miles around.

Kathy's dairy, which is right on the river, was completely flooded; her barn was an island. Her kids went swimming in the road in their wetsuits.

We had a big chunk of a tree stuck in the culvert in front of the house. I managed to sit down dry for a minute yesterday, and that's when the neighbor came by and I was back out trying to work it free. Ted and I had worked on it the night before, moving it enough to let some water through, but it was still there.

I spent most of yesterday ferrying the majority of the goats to the fairgrounds. The sheep were on a small muddy island, lots of new lambs, only 2 dead, which I thought was pretty good. I did bring another one home who is doing great today.

This morning chores went well, they are doing fine so far at the fairgrounds, and the ones left at the ranch are pretty much dry. I even saw a few out on the re emerged pasture grazing. The sheep had a lot more room as the water has dropped a lot, even though about 75% of my ranch remains underwater.

The storm has kicked back up. I should have fed the sheep their hay before the gale force winds and driving rain started up. I always think of that Jim Croce song
"You don't tug on Superman's cape, you don't throw hay into the wind".
Can we say alfalfa inhalation?

The river is predicted to go back up to 25 feet tomorrow.
I have been through at least 5 - 100 year floods in the past 15 years

What, you NEED water?

And to add insult to injury..

I am driving the mighty flood mobile. The huge Ford 250. It has various ailments, but always starts and will drive through even the deepest water.
But, it's having coolant/ hose/ water pump/ something troubles.

It needs water, constantly.

So there I am, ankle deep in water, scooping water up and pouring it into the truck.

You would think the last thing I would need was water.
I need to retrieve my little truck from where I abandoned it at the ranch, at least for running around in.

High tide has just passed, and I think I will venture out to see just how much worse things have gotten overnight.

(But I am warm and dry; I have a fire going and my boots are even dry on the inside thanks to the boot dryer)

It is what it is.

It's bad. Nothing dead, yet, but it's bad at the ranch.
But, why complain? I mean, it is what it is.

I had all sorts of adventures yesterday. Maybe I'll write about trying to swim the sheep and the new lambs across the water from the island where they had stranded themselves, to the last piece of "dry" pasture. Of the ewe that wanted to lamb in the middle of it all.

Or about walking through water over my boots all the way to the barns and back.(1/4 mile)
My silly doeling ( Now named Esther Williams) wanting to follow me, even though it meant leaving the relative dryness of the barn through belly deep. Over and over.

My horse trucking through the water...why? even though he has a high spot with hay on it.

But, it is what it is. The river is receding but it has a long ways to go. More rain coming in.
If I can get my truck to the barns today, I am hauling everyone to the fairgrounds to ride it out there.

Official flood gossip

It's all happening on the scanner

http://www.northcoastweather.com/

Water, tides and flow.

The rain combined with the high tides was promising to cause real problems here in "barely above sea level" land.

When the rain started at 4:00, pounding on the tin roof, I was awake.
We got 1 1/2 " in 4 hours.
My ranch already has a lot of water on it, so it wouldn't take much to put the whole thing underwater. Last week, with less water, I had a bit in the barn, just enough to make things damp, but not causing much mess.
Now, I imagined my new baby lambs drowned and floating.
I couldn't drink coffee as my stomach was already in a knot.

As dawn broke I could see that the creek in front of our house, was across the road.
The good news was that the rain broke as well. I headed out early to see what damage had occurred.

I was shocked to see the unthinkable..everything was fine. Not even any water on the cement yard. Sure, there was water on the roads all the way, and more to come, but for this brief moment, I had happiness.
My lambs are fine, everything so far is O K..

I have had 2 neighbors call to offer up help if I need to move anything.
I stacked some hay on 3 layers of pallets.
I watched the water and gauged the rate of rise; all the water from here in the hills is rushing to the ranch.
I have a big pile of shavings I will shove the milkers and dry does up onto if needed. The kid barn is also high, J's yearlings can go in there for a few days.
I put everything up high in the barn.

We had a very high tide at 8:45, so now maybe some of this will start to drain. On the scanner it's all about road crossings and the tides.
The rain has given us a brief break, and maybe before the next onslaught some of this water will leave.


The river is at 22 ft, higher than I can ever remember, forecast to go to 25 ft. My ranch altitude is 5 ft. It's no wonder I have drainage problems.

I'll get some pics.

The guys that brought us "Lazy Sunday" ( Chronicles of Narnia Rap on SNL).

I particularly like the Nintendo video

Dis NO

The true story of Mary Poppins, or another reason why Disney is the devil.


“What wand was waved to turn Mr. Banks from a bank clerk into a minor president, from an anxious, ever-loving father into a man who could cheerfully tear into pieces a poem that his children had written?” she wrote. “How could dear, demented Mrs. Banks, fussy, feminine and loving, become a suffragette? Why was Mary Poppins, already beloved for what she was—plain, vain and incorruptible—transmogrified into a soubrette?”

P. L. Travers, author of Mary Poppins

I spent a lovely afternoon into evening at the ranch.
I started working on the shop area, getting it cleaned out and organized.
I completely removed one of the fence panels formerly used as a pen for little goats, and that opened up that whole part of the barn.
I finally made as good a dry spot for the little refrigerator as I could; I cut a pallet and made a little place for it to sit off of the cement. Then I took another pallet and put it against the back wall and covered it with plywood and cardboard to keep the rain and wind out. My barn is sided with a single layer of boards with no battens, so the wind will push the rain into the barn.

I moved the little trailer over to make more room to work. Looking under the trailer I don't think I will be able to put springs on. Maybe motor mounts?

I started gathering up bits of metal I have been stashing away for all these years. I have enough to make a few projects.

Now as long as this next round of rain storms doesn't flood everything, I'll be on my way.

Welding videos!

Limitless

Uh oh, the reality of the possibilities is sinking in.
Oh the things I can build!

Onwards

Thanks to Make magazine ( of course) I have found a good start on trailer building
http://www.gt1.homeip.net/project-trailer.htm

My first project ( after getting the shop totally ready, and after this round of flooding quits) will be a gate for a hole in my corral that has needed a gate for years. That should be an easy project and good practice.

I am thinking of maybe keeping the little trailer as it is, but adding springs. I had thought I would turn it into a flatbed and change the flatbed ( slightly larger with springs) into the goat/ lamb / utility trailer.
But now I think I might be able to lift the little trailer frame and add leaf springs.

I have bits of scrap mmetal all over the ranch. It's time to gather it all up and take inventory.

And how am I getting so many white lambs out of my black buck? I wonder if he doean't have a lot of white behind him. I have had no black lambs so far until this morning, when a black ewe had one black and 2 white lambs.

Metal hot glue gun

Oh yeah, I got a MIG welder.
No stopping me now.

God Bless Us, Everyone!

"You may be an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of underdone potato. There's more of gravy than of grave about you, whatever you are!"

Last night was my first "A Christmas Carol" of the year. I passed on watching one on Thanksgiving as I felt that was way too early.

Last night was the 1938 version.
Not bad, although a little short (1 hr 15 minutes), and I noticed some of the parts/ lines that were missing.
I did like Marleys accoutrements, ans Scrooge was almost cartoon like with a silly tuft of white hair right on the top of his head.
The Ghost of Christmas present was a little goofy for my tastes, almost creepy.
I think they skipped the whole part about why Scrooge was so miserable; I think that's a pretty important part.

I hope to get a few more versions under my belt before the holiday is all said and done

Christmas in California

Yes, it's Christmas eve and it's 70 degrees out.
I am wearing shorts and bare feet, and I have all the windows in the house wide open.
This is not good weather for skiing.

Yay for Hippie Houses 2005!

Good things can happen where there are no building codes.
Handmade Houses lives again in rural Alabama in the form of
Rural Studio

Johnny Yankee

Yeah, he's a Yankee now!

SNL

Christmastime For The Jews

Floods suck. Do we need one every year?

Yep, it's still raining and my field is now full of water. I definitely wrote too soon.
The water is not in the barn yet. I had to set up water for J's yearlings to drink as they can no longer get out of the barn to get to their water tank.

On the plus side, the peat fire is finally out.

So far everyone is still high and dry. I let the sheep into the small pasture as it's the highest part of that field. My old ewe had nice twin buck lambs. they all seem to be doing fine despite the conditions. However, the black ewe I got from Kathy had dead triplets.

I am thankful that I don't have a dairy anymore.

I want to start a fire just to get the dampness out of the house. It does seem to be getting a bit chillier; that would be good, as when it gets colder it should stop raining.

I Love New York

http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/nyregion/20051220_STRIKE_FEATURE/blocker.html?th&emc=th

This actually brought tears to my eyes. People in New York, having to walk for miles in sub freezing weather saying things like "It's not too bad" and "I don't mind it" and actually supporting the strikers.
"It's New York. Things happen"

I don't get any of the sense of entitlement that Californians seem to expect. Millions of people getting to work by foot, bike, carpooling with strangers in freezing weather, and they all take it in stride.
People even commenting on pleasant surprises; plenty of cabs, trains running on time, instead of complaining, they are finding the pony in the manure.

I guess if it goes on for weeks, it'll get old, but so far it's just another adventure. That's the only complaint, as long as it doesn't go on too long.

It is just one big neighborhood.

Yankees and a rain delay

I think the Yankees signed Johnny Damon just to get him to cut his hair. Good Job guys!

It's so unbelievably warm, we even let the fire go out last night as it was just too warm in the house. I see that it got over 65 yesterday. Good for the pasture and the flowers and the firewood supply, not so good for skiing.

Amy came over yesterday for milkings for my monthly milk test. It's nice to get to see her at least once a month and catch up on all things goaty. We had a lot to gossip about.

I did catch a lovely long break yesterday afternoon, where the sun even almost appeared. I noticed a few dry patches on the cement. The water in my field is still very far from the barn, and I even ditched a spot to get some built up water to drain! Draining !!!
I am still breeding some does, now I am down to the 05 kids and I am almost done. I'd like to have them fresh by the Redwood Acres Show in June, so these latest breedings will just do it. I bred 2 Alpines in this past week along with 2 outside does. That leaves only 2 open Alpine doelings, and more than a few Lamancha doelings to be shown as dry yearlings. More than I would like, but that's O K.
I might still breed some of these last lamanchas in January if they gain enough weight.

J came down bringing me some hay and taking her Alpine back that I A.I. bred. She has done something new with her hair which really looks cute! I Like it! She called me later in the day with even more goaty gossip..it's a very small goat world here in Humboldt, there's no escaping.

It looks like this rain will continue well into next week. Things are snug and dry where all is concerned except my poor sheep. The new lamb has barely been dry in her whole life, and I am pretty sure I have another ewe due to lamb any moment. At least it's warm for them.

I Love New York

This made me laugh so hard tears actually came.
Possibly how the transit strike was announced this morning.

For the first time in 6 years my field is not flooding...

Moderate to heavy rain over northwest California will continue today... with rapid rises in area mainstem rivers expected through early Tuesday morning. An additional 1 to 3 inches of rain will fall by late tonight. Rivers levels are expected to drop during the day Tuesday... with light to moderate rain to continue through Wednesday.

The forecast level on the Eel River at Fernbridge is likely to cause significant flooding of western portions of Cannibal Island Road... Camp Weott Road and adjacent areas... the Salt and Old Rivers... and other low lying Slough areas... especially with high tides and longer durations. A special action advisory is being issued to all owners of livestock in adjacent or low lying areas. These animals are at potential risk due to rises in the Eel River... and appropriate action should be considered.

How does Margaret always step on that board?

And yet it is still raining.
We have gotten an inch of rain already today since midnight.
I don't think I am going to catch a break today. Soon I am going to have to go out to do my chores and get wet.

The river is predicted to hit flood stage tomorrow morning. 20 ft. Probably around high tide.(monitor stage 14 ft, flood stage 20 ft)



Yesterday I spent the day cutting up books and reading "In Watermelon Sugar".
It was a good way to spend a rainy Sunday.


IN WATERMELON SUGAR the deeds were done and done again as my life is done in watermelon sugar. I'll tell you about it because I am here and you are distant.
Wherever you are, we must do the best we can. It is so far to travel, and we have nothing here to travel, except watermelon sugar. I hope this works out.
I live in a shack near iDEATH. I can see iDEATH out the window. It is beautiful. I can also see it with my eyes closed and touch it. Right now it is cold and turns like something in the hand of a child. I do not know what that thing could be.
There is a delicate balance in iDEATH. It suits us.
The shack is small but pleasing and comfortable as my life and made from pine, watermelon sugar and stones as just about everything here is.
Our lives we have carefully constructed from watermelon sugar and then travelled to the length of our dreams, along roads lined with pines and stones.
I have a bed, a chair, a table and a large chest that I keep my things in. I have a lantern that burns watermelontrout oil at night.
That is something else. I'll tell you about it later. I have a gentle life.

Oh man it's really stormy here today on the edge.

It is really stormy; rainy and windy. It comes in bursts, I guess they must be the ba theytalk about, but in between the rain stops and the wind stops and sometimes you see some blue sky.
That's the break. You run out to do farm chores when you catch the break. Sometimes you miss the break and you come home totally soaked.

I waited this morning and the break came.
I had a feeling I was going to have some new lambs, as the sheep seem to prefer to lamb in stormy weather.
Yes, there's a young ewe with a single lamb inside the small corral.
It's a good thing I was sort of looking for fresh ewes as I might have missed her.

I go to check them out and the ewe freaks and runs out of the corral. I spend the next 10 minutes herding her back through the gate, which is where she has to go away from the lamb to go back through the gate to actually get to the lamb. They were calling to each other the whole time.

So after I do my chores and the storm has come back I am watching the new lamb and the ewe from the dryness of the barn and I decide, it might be best if I make sure that lamb gets some milk. Plus, mom really hadn't dried the gunk off of it.

I took a fresh bottle from the goats milk, and a dry sweatshirt and went out into the storm and dealt with the lamb.
I had definitely missed the break.

It is so stormy now I imagine the power might go out. I just built a fire, I didn't even want to go out into it to chop the kindling, so for the first time ever I split it in the basement/ entry. I was in my pajamas, I was not getting wet.

It's almost Spring!

The weather here has been so clear and dry for so long ( so unusual in December) that the lawn has been growing almost as much as if it were spring.
A few weeks ago the lawn on my side of the driveway was dry enough to get mowed.
Since then it has grown so much it actually needed re mowing, a long with Pat's side of the driveway and various other spots around the ranch.

Over the past few days I have pulled out the mower everyday and tackled yet another piece of the yard, which, although long, fortunately wasn't very thick, because it was still pretty damp and wet. My little lawnmower gets clogged easily, and I have had to develop techniques to free the blades and under the bed.

The yard now looks fantastic, all mowed and tidy and fresh and green. I even moved the hay wagon and mowed around it. I mowed the little strip that grows down the middle of the drive where the truck tires don't squash the grass down. I mowed along the drive, and even the front of the barn's fresh new grass where I scraped out the dirt and mess with the tractor a few months ago.

I think this year I might try to get a bagger for my mower; the clumpies of grass are marring my vision of the perfectly mowed lawn. This will be a new development for me.

Reading about people shoveling driveways I think I might get as much satisfaction from shoveling snow. I sure love mowing the lawn; I always have. I was mowing the yard in Eureka when I was 8 months pregnant. I love love love the look of a well mown lawn. My mower (s) and I have had always had a good relationship, rarely do I have a problem where they won't start at all.

A new storm has come in and it looks like it'll be rainy most of the week. I am really glad I got most ( there's always more to do) of the lawn in good shape, and that it can go without mowing for a while. And it looks so lovely and tidy.

December/ January in California means the Calla Lilies are blooming, the Narcissus are up and starting to bloom, the buds are appearing on the trees.

With Winter's arrival, Spring isn't far behind.

The Pill versus the Springhill Mine Disaster

I bought some Richard Brautigan for a Christmas present for someone, and of course I started reading it right away. It's been probably 25 years or more since I've read any.
It's so good. How has he faded from view?
Why isn't he still popular?
I am enjoying this immensely.

All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace
1968

I like to think (and
the sooner the better!)
of a cybernetic meadow
where mammals and computers
live together in mutually
programming harmony
like pure water
touching clear sky.

I like to think
(right now, please!)
of a cybernetic forest
filled with pines and electronics
where deer stroll peacefully
past computers
as if they were flowers
with spinning blossoms.

I like to think
(it has to be!)
of a cybernetic ecology
where we are free of our labors
and joined back to nature,
returned to our mammal
brothers and sisters,
and all watched over
by machines of loving grace.

late night excercise

BUT NO THANKS

12 things which other people seem to like but which do nothing for me:

1. Mushrooms
2. Weddings
3. Hugs/ massage
4. Make up
5. Sarah Jessica Parker
6. Cows/ cows milk
7. Organized sports
8. Organized religion
9. Spicy food
10. S U V's/ minivans
11. Jazz
12. Small talk
13. Moustaches

12 things I like, but others, not so much

1. Smell of rubber pool toys
2. Goats/ goats milk
3. Thick coarse wool socks.
4. Extreme routine
5. Stick shift
6. Raw beef
7. Thick indestructable eyeglass frames.
8. Extremely hot baths.
9. Getting dressed up.
10.Beards
11.Staying up late
12.Airplane food.

Peat Fires= BAD

I thought it was a bad idea , but I started my burn pile on top of the manure pile anyway.
This is an old pile with years of grass and weeds on top.
I have started the whole thing on fire and I can't put it out. It is burning very slowly but really deep.
Today I took the tractor and dug around thinking I'll open it up then smother it.
I left the tractor there because it still didn't go out and I might need to dig some more..

This has been burning for 2 weeks.



Then I found this in the Wiki

Peat fires
Increase, and change relative to previous year, of the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide.
Enlarge
Increase, and change relative to previous year, of the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide.
Smoke and ozone pollution from Indonesian fires, 1997.
Enlarge
Smoke and ozone pollution from Indonesian fires, 1997.
Fires on Sumatra, 2004.
Enlarge
Fires on Sumatra, 2004.

Recent burning of peat bogs in Indonesia, with their large and deep growths containing more than 50 billion tons of carbon, has contributed to increases in world carbon dioxide levels. Peat deposits in southeast Asia could be destroyed by 2040. Peat in the area contains up to 21% of the world land carbon deposits.[1] [2]

In 1997, it is estimated that peat and forest fires in Indonesia released between 0.81 and 2.57 Gt of carbon; equivalent to 13-40 percent of the amount released by global fossil fuel burning, and greater than the carbon uptake of the world's biosphere. 1997 was unusually high, however. These fires likely are responsible for the boost in the increase in carbon dioxide levels since being noticed in 1997 [3] [4].

Equipment= Xtreme..

Oh and then I bought a set of skis and ski boots yesterday.
After lunch J and I stopped at the Thrift store, (the one that's now where Eureka Market used to be).
He found a new office chair and I saw some skis .
I actually saw a few rowing machines, but I don't know...
Then I saw the skis. Red and white. Not perfect, but not bad. Good bindings, cool rubber tips with a little plastic window in em, I'm thinking slightly longer than I really should have, but also I think within acceptable range.
4.99

Could there be boots to fit them here somewhere?
I start to dig in one of those cardboard 55 gallon drums in roller blades and snowboard boots and I see a pair of red and white boots. They match.
Do they fit?
They fit!!!!
Do they fit the skis?
Yes!
10.99

All I need now is a pair of poles. I really love love love the bamboo poles with the leather basket, but I also like the rubber/ plastic grips.
Red and white isn't too bad. I can live with it.
My holiday present to me.

I'm ready to get in the car. Mt. Shasta opens this weekend...

My hectic schedule

In my retired sort of life, whenever I have things scheduled it is a bump in my day.
This week I thought I had a full schedule and I wasn't looking forward to it

Sunday: Tractor Parade and invitation to Main Street Party
Monday: Vet appointment for all 5 dogs
Tuesday: Josh's 18th birthday
Haul lambs to butcher
Dentist
Wednesday: Ship calf to auction yard

As things went, it wasn't all that bad, and I understand the whys of over scheduling a bit more, and now it's Wednesday,
so:

Sunday was not the day for the Tractor Parade, it's next Sunday
The dentist appointment was actually on Monday so the vet and the dentist were done on the same day
On Tuesday I got help from D S with the lambs, and after dropping them off at the meat plant,Josh and I spent the day diddling around Eureka.
And I think the calf taxi ( AKA Robyn) forgot about transport plans so that never happened. I was kinda counting on some asset liquidation for spending money, so hopefully we'll get that done next week.

Now I just got a call that my pre holiday gift in the form of a ton of alfalfa is coming, so I need to go make a space in the barn for it. Yummy!!

First you take 5 dogs to the vet all at once. Then you get a root canal.

You just haven't lived until you take entire pack of hyperactive dogs (3 Border Collies, 2 Schipperkes) to the vet all at once for their shots.
It didn't help that they forgot about me with the first 2 in the exam room. Outside dogs as the Border Collies are, they were fun to be locked in a 10 X 10 ft room with them waiting and waiting. Eventually I stuck my head out and yelled "HEY have you guys forgotten about me?" Yes, they had. I think my vet figures I'm on the "help myself" plan, which I pretty much am with anything but Rabies vaccines. They had thought I was done.

Then, since they had misinformed me that Brownie was up to date , I went home and got her. I have to complain about the new technician there; first he pokes her and declares the needle is too dull and he puts on a fresh one. He pokes her again and pulls out the needle before all is in her, leaving rabies vaccine all over her fur, which he wipes with HIS HAND??? I make sure that she should have a full shot so he gets yet ANOTHER one and pokes her again. And I don't touch the wet fur.
Yeah, Brownie was NOT impressed. Pobrecita.

For yet even more fun in my day, I have a dentist appointment this afternoon, and I think I am getting a cold.

Big Apples

I am moving to New York

Well, not me, not yet anyway.

Psst..buddy...need hay?

Yesterday, Ted and I worked on the new long fence line at the ranch. I want to put in 2 more braces in the line and I have a pile of big fenceposts to use. Since the field is unusually dry for this time of the year ( so I am able to drive the tractor on it), the best method to put in fenceposts is to cut the ends to a point ( like a pencil) and push them into the ground. Lacking a fancepost pounder for the tractor, then next best way is to shove them in with the bottom of the loader bucket.
Ted brought his chainsaw and cut 3 posts and then ran out of mix. So I thought it best to get those 3 posts in the ground ( a few were pieces of a cut up utility pole I scored when one was replaced on our road).

We got the first one set and I shoved it down with the tractor and it stopped. I pounded a few times and realised I should get more weight in the bucket. So I went and scooped up some dirt, tearing apart a water line that was buried there. Of course, another project now. (I bent the live side of the pipe back and tied it with some baling string)
WE got the other 3 set in pretty well by pushing and then pounding; they're not in as deep as I would like, but they are definitely set in there solid.




After coming back home and getting mix we went to set one more so I would have 2 sets for 2 braces. Halfway through this post I ran out of diesel. I am the barely effective farmer.
The rest I can finish by myself mostly, although Ted should cut the cross member with the chainsaw; I try not to do the chainsaw.

This morning as I drove to the ranch I see that I have a new set of twin lambs born during the night! Yay for me! I was kinda hoping to be getting some more lambs soon, and finally a set of twins. And I think they are both ram lambs..finally.

Here is mom with the new additions:



Farming animals means you are pretty much addicted to hay. Can I get hay? Where can I get some more? I am running out; gotta find some hay.
My neighbors have a good connection for hay, but getting it seems to be a bit of trouble. So today when they called and said we could go get some, I was totally thrilled; and I wasn't even out of hay from the last load yet!
Some truck co ordination, then I pulled out my tiny flatbed, as the Ford seems to be having distance driving problems ( although the hay was only 10 miles away), and they borrowed a big flatbed from a friend, but it was having starting trouble so it wasn't to be shut off.
Away we went, and got to the barn and loaded up both trucks and the tiny trailer.
It is the best to have a big load of hay.
Absolute ( although short term) peace of mind. Everyone will have enough to eat for a while. I'm good for over a month.
And just one of the new lambs, once sold, will more than cover all the hay.

Me and the lil dude

DS was at the ranch this morning to get grain while I was there, so I roped her into taking some pics of my little buck Uriah Heep.

I think this one came out O K. How's my hair look?

Animal Planet Reality Show To Put Bear, Antelope, Hawk, Cheetah In Same House

25 years ago, and 125 years ago

December 8, 1980.

I was living in Park Slope, Brooklyn; working full time at my dad's cousin's camera shop near Herald Square.

New York was a pretty scary place in those years. I liked it. I miss the edge it had. Like most of America, New York has lately become Disneyfied and Wal-Mart ized, whitewashed and soft. Although, on the plus side, I do like the clean subways.

I don't remember exactly when I heard about Lennon being shot, but I don't think I was shocked. Plus, Lennon was (still is) my least favorite Beatle ( I am a hard ass).

It was like in the 60's when someone was always being assasinated, shot, war news casualties; another shooting in New York during that time( Son of Sam, etc) just didn't affect me much. The whole "Strawberry Fields" thing that followed pretty much disgusted me, it was just so lame.
I mean Strawberry Fields? Geez... Sap sap sappy.


BTW, I am a huge Beatles fan. Always have been. I DO remember where I was when I saw them on The Ed Sullivan Show. And at present, Ringo is my favorite Beatle..but Paul has always been the main man. I still have my original McCartney album (as well as most of my original Beatle albums)

The Dakota roughly 1880

So, where do they get this shit?

Even the founding "Fathers" thought celebrating Christmas was a bad idea

"The Puritans considered Christmas un-Christian, and hoped to keep it out of America. They could not find Dec. 25 in the Bible, their sole source of religious guidance, and insisted that the date derived from Saturnalia, the Roman heathens' wintertime celebration. On their first Dec. 25 in the New World, in 1620, the Puritans worked on building projects and ostentatiously ignored the holiday. From 1659 to 1681 Massachusetts went further, making celebrating Christmas "by forbearing of labor, feasting or in any other way" a crime.

The concern that Christmas distracted from religious piety continued even after Puritanism waned. In 1827, an Episcopal bishop lamented that the Devil had stolen Christmas "and converted it into a day of worldly festivity, shooting and swearing." Throughout the 1800's, many religious leaders were still trying to hold the line. As late as 1855, New York newspapers reported that Presbyterian, Baptist and Methodist churches were closed on Dec. 25 because "they do not accept the day as a Holy One." On the eve of the Civil War, Christmas was recognized in just 18 states."

"The campaign's leaders insist this is a new phenomenon - a "liberal plot," in Mr. Gibson's words. But as early as 1906, the Committee on Elementary Schools in New York City urged that Christmas hymns be banned from the classroom, after a boycott by more than 20,000 Jewish students. In 1946, the Rabbinical Assembly of America declared that calling on Jewish children to sing Christmas carols was "an infringement on their rights as Americans."

Today's crush

It's Jerry Time!

The truth

Yeah, I love S J P (NOT). This is what she looks like TO ME all the time!
From
http://www.worth1000.com/cache/gallery/contestcache.asp?contest_id=2849

My christmas list

2 rolls 32” X 330’ sheep wire field fence
25 6’ metal fence posts
110 gas wire feed MIG welder
12’ gate
A. I. light source
Wool socks
Pick up truck cap
Tool Box ( one that can be stood on)
Hog panels
Ton of alfalfa
Ski trip
Flywheel/ air fan rowing machine
Ridge cap
Roll roofing/ tin roofing
Warm ocean
House addition
Tractor Tune Up
Huge Zip Tie assortment
Metal chop saw/ miter saw

christmas in California.

There's something just not right about mowing the lawn when it's cold enough to see your breath.
But, mow I did, as the grass was getting ridiculously long, and it was relatively dry enough. Chances were if I passed for too much longer, the grass would be really too long and it would've been a real pain especially with it being so wet.

Last night was K D's Christmas party, the invitation came with explicit instructions; what to bring according to the 1st letter of your last name, hat for pictures, ornament exchange directions; it was all so complicated.
But before we started on preparations more complications in the form of systems breaking down at the home place. First the water pump died ( a semi regular replacememt, over due, but still) then the washing machine, which had been making threatening noises for a week or more blew a gasket.
Fortunatelynit was T's day off so he could get the new pump and we went and found a new washing machine.

The party was fine, despite J's insistence on harassing me even before I left the house. Funny ha ha she called as I was running out the door already late and said the party had been cancelled.
After all the shit we had gone through with the party instructions I couldn't believe it.
Ha ha only kidding.

They only pick on me because the love me, right? Uh huh, that's not how my childhood went...

Good for something

Well a really rainy day like today is good for me to finish my knitted wool socks.
Now, what to knit next? It is definitely wool vesty season...

Like the big city!

We have tickets for George Carlin tonight!!!

This says it all

The horse I rode in on

It's all in the timing.
It's been pouring rain since last night, and at some point I have to go out and do my chores. If I do it just right, I can miss getting totally soaked.

Unless it's going to downpour steadily all day ( it rarely does that) I can just catch the break..it is threatening to take a break, no, there goes the rain again.

Last night on my way to the ranch for evening chores, it was cold and stormy and windy. Really really nasty. About halfway to the ranch ( it's a 2 mile commute) the car is warm enough so I can get the heater working. So inside my cozy nest its soft and warm and dry. I am bathing in the safety and comfort of my little moveable nest, and then, The Temptations come on and I am floating in warmth and love.

I hear this is what heroin is like

Ah the rain has let up. I am outta here........