a patriot travels to DC

Tomorrow I travel to Washington, DC. This trip came about because Michael has to work in DC all next week (except the 4th), and since I lived there for several years and we have friends there, I'm going to DC from Saturday to Wednesday.

In the years I lived in DC, I was never there for the Independence Day holiday, and I'm pretty excited. I am very patriotic. I love my country. I love that this country was founded on the idea that it is a self-evident truth that all people are created equal, and that all people are endowed with unalienable rights including Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. I love paying taxes because my taxes pay for thing that I think are important like roads and schools and police and fire departments and libraries, and the US Postal service, and yes, even the US military.

I know some people including our own King George have been trying to make the word "liberal" a dirty word, and trying to convince everyone that "liberals" aren't patriotic. Well that is just a bunch of crap. Political liberals and conservatives are both patriotic, we just have different ideas about Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness and what "equal" really means.

From dictionary.com, the first two lines in the definition of "liberal"

1. Not limited to or by established, traditional, orthodox, or authoritarian attitudes, views, or dogmas; free from bigotry.
2. Favoring proposals for reform, open to new ideas for progress, and tolerant of the ideas and behavior of others; broad-minded.

Well, I love this country and I love the potential that exists for truly being a place where all people can be equal. We certainly aren't there, and I'll just keep on doing the things I believe are right, and using my voting power, my financial resources, and my time to keep on working to make this country a place that is truly a place where all people can be equal and free and happy.

so I haven't even left for DC yet, and I'm re-inspired!

the revolution has begun

I'm a bit busy preparing for my trip to DC, so I am copying below a fantastic message I got via email from my peeps at stopglobalwarming.org

Just as the famous "shot heard 'round the world" that marked the start of the American Revolutionary War was fired in Concord, Massachusetts, we may again look back to the Commonwealth as the beginning of a revolution in attitudes on global warming. For it is Massachusetts's challenge to the federal government's incomprehensible policy on global warming that will be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court which may change forever the way we look at global warming pollution.

On the same day the Supreme Court accepted this court case, a bizarre tropical weather system drenched the nation's capital, backing up traffic, closing federal buildings and toppling a 100-year-old elm tree on the White House lawn. Why the heavy rains? Warmer temperatures mean more evaporation and more humidity that gets released in the form of torrential rain.

In the spirit of 1776, Massachusetts and 10 other states bravely took it upon themselves to stop this pollution by requiring car manufacturers to produce cleaner cars that are more efficient and cheaper to operate. That's when the federal government stepped in and told them they had no legal authority, setting up the court case that will be heard 'round the world'.

Exactly 230 years ago, we declared our independence from British rule. It was self-evident then that there was a better way: Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. Today, brave Americans like you are standing up and saying there's a better way: Renewable Energy, Conservation and the Pursuit of a Safe Climate.

Send this message to American Patriots urging them to sign up for the Stop Global Warming March.

the ultimate underachiever

Just returned from an early release viewing of the new Superman movie. I won't give anything away, but needed to say the following things:

1. why can't the freaking movie people understand that in outer space (outside the earth's atmosphere) there is no air, and thus no wind. Capes can't flap in vacuum!

2. my brother in law had a fabulous observation: Superman (in all the incarnations of the character) is the ultimate underachiever. Superman could be solving much bigger problems than bank robberies and kittens up trees.

That said, I am glad to have seen the movie, and won't be a tattle and give it away. And since it is after 1am, I am off to bed. 3 eggs today.

31 pounds!

that crazy baby alpaca is 2 weeks old today and now weighs 31 pounds. we haven't gotten his blood test back yet, but this kid can't possibly be ill...good grief! He weighed 20 pounds at birth and has gained 11 pounds in 2 weeks. The text books say they should gain 1/4 to 1/2 pound per day for good weight gain, but this is rediculous!

7 eggs total (didn't collect the eggs yesterday)

home alone

So I had a home alone weekend, and after the farm drama Thursday afternoon, things got much, much better. I went out to dinner Friday with my friend Dolly and her bf and another friend, and then met up with Paul and Raj and went salsa dancing...those boys are fun to dance with. :) yay for my guy friends :) Hung out at Paul's house watching Robot Chicken into the wee hours of the morning, and got myself home around 2am. 3 eggs on Friday

I got to sleep in on Saturday...until 10am! I can't remember the last time I slept in so late. Usually sleeping in is 7 or 7:30, so 10 is just luxurious. I had a mellow day around the house, a little cleaning up, a little mellow lounging. Got to talk to some peeps I haven't talked to in a while and then stayed up way into the night talking to D. I haven't talked on the phone for hours like that in a really long time. Fun to do, but my sleep schedule is all messed up now. 3 eggs again on Saturday.

Today I woke up at 8 and went to another alpaca ranch nearby to check out their stud. He's a good looking boy, but I'm not sure he's really what we're looking for. They had also picked up the fleeces that didn't sell at Estes Park, and there were only 7 left (we had taken 16 fleeces and 8 bags of rovings). I was pretty happy to see that so much had sold. The big adventure today was being part of an Adopt-a-Highway clean-up crew for Adventure Rabbi. Raj was leading this trip, and Paul and I went together. We ended up meeting a few really great people...and we just kept hanging out after. It was a great way to do some community service and meet people and have fun. I didn't want to disturb the hens, so no egg count for today.

So that is all dear readers, my exciting home alone weekend!

dead kitty

The farm drama of the day...a kitten somehow climbed up into the stock tank in the girls' corral and drowned. I discovered this about 2 hours ago when I was giving everyone their evening feed early so I could go down to Boulder to meet up with friends and not worry about being out late. best laid plans...

So I took care of burying the poor little one and then got to work on getting fresh, clean water to the girls. I ended up wimping out and after I emptied out the water in the tank (around 100gallons) I moved a 70-gallon stock tank from the big pasture into the girls corral and filled that up. It takes quite a while to fill up a tank like that. I was able to carry/drag the 70 gallon tank, but the bigger one I had to push out of the corral and into the yard.

I'm hoping the sun will kill off a lot of the weird green sludge and germs and dry the thing out before I disinfect it. I've got to make sure that bleach won't corrode the galvanized metal before I scrub it...anyone know?

So now I'm debating whether or not to drive in to Boulder for Happy Hour. I'm not feeling too happy and social, but maybe some good nosh and friends will be a good thing.

I find it interesting that big drama seems to happen on the farm when Michael is not around. I also find it interesting that the next book in my queue is Dante's Inferno. Every summer I read the Inferno and plan to read Purgatorio and Paradisio...I've only read Inferno (though this will be my 8th or 9th time)...and I checked out Purgatorio from the library. But more on Dante in a later blog, I think.

shifting

a weird day. I went to the gym (for the 4th time this week!) and really got into watching the US vs. Ghana game (world cup soccer for those not in the know). Met up with Dolly at the gym and had a nice sweaty chat. Then I got to work and discovered that I had no phone, email, or internet access...it was all down...so I re-arranged my office. It is now totally different, and I think I like it a lot in the new rejuvenated arrangement. The only down side is that I have piles and piles of paperwork from this past school year still to sift through and sort and file. Since I was at the office today almost totally alone (my one co-worker is part-time for now) without contact with the outside world, I was in a pretty weird disconnected space today. Then Michael and his brother left tonight after dinner for Missouri. I'll be home alone for the next 4 days. I'm feeling like I could either turn into party girl or go into solo retreat mode...I'll let you know what happens.

And, since Bryan posted such an interesting comment the other day, an update on the alpaca sex life... Maya and Brinca arrived safely in California. Maya bred for 36 minutes yesterday with her boyfriend, Broc...he's such a stud. We weighed Amcharo this morning...he's up to 27.7 pounds! And only 1 egg today.

summer solstice

The summer solstice is here...the day with the longest number of hours of daylight...so from here until the winter solstice (around Dec 21), the days will only get shorter. Of course, with thermal lag, the days will continue to get hotter for a month or two more before it starts cooling down. I'm not sure why, but the whole thing makes be a bit melancholy.

Michael is down in the dumps today, too, and I had a weird day at work...the phones were out all day, and an instructor I was hoping to teach said no, and toward the end of the workday it hailed.

But I got to touch in with my LL today...I've been in the farmer mode for the last week or so, and haven't really seen many of my friends in what feels like a long, long time.

reconnect

Today has been a day of the beginning of the reconnecting...coming out of my farmer hole and getting phone calls and a farm visit from a bunch of friends I haven't talked to in ages and ages. Yay! It was great to get all these folks randomly calling just because...and it isn't even my birthday. Keep calling me :)

It is a good thing I got lots of love through the phone, because I have a fierce heartache from seeing off Maya and Brinca (mama and baby alpaca). They are off to California so mama can get knocked up. As my friend B put it, "that's a long way for a piece of tail". I feel like there is a chance I may never see them again...you never know, someone might fork over the $50k to buy them both while they are out there.

I'm also working with taking risks and using the "love" word more and more with people that I genuinely have love for.

4 eggs today.

resonance

do you ever read something and say "yes!" someone else has put into words what my heart has been feeling and I have been inadequate at saying. well, that just happened to me. so I'm going to steal from someone else and put it down here.

"I'm aware though that this is the last hurrah before I really do go do adult things....people will be relying on me. It's awful, really, to be relied on. Responsibility. All that. ... But part of me is really craving grandiosity and foolishness. Secretly: I'm not well-trained for foolishness--for listening to my absurd hopes and desires and taking them seriously enough to creatively figure out how they could be realized. This has been haunting me lately. Foolishness is very important. I forget that I am young. That perhaps it's more important (than) the suburban, midwestern middle-class practicality of longterm investment and planning-for-comfort that I was raised on." (thanks, nb!)

Wow...this yearning to be foolish has been driving me for months now. I became awake last spring in a red, red room with a deep fire in me to be foolish...to say, wait, I'm not 80! I am still young, and I still have a body that can dance, and I have passion and creativity and fun and silliness. For so much of my life I've played the role of the responsible one, and it is so hard for me to let go. People are always surprised to find out my true age...they always think I'm older because of how I act, because of my ability to be practical and responsible and in charge and in control. In college, when I still thought I was going to be a medical doctor, I pushed away someone very dear to me because being around them I was playful and silly and acted my age...that was too threatening to my practical self, so I told them they were too immature for me, and stopped responding to their emails.

For the last year, I've been on a pendulum swing back and forth between wanting to act with total foolishness and reckless abandon and wanting to maintain my 80-year-old, stodgy, practical self. Most days I am able to find the balance, the middle path, but occasionally I want to just chuck it all and start over with my life or push away all the playful, silly stuff (and people). Finding the middle path is not always easy. Maybe it is all just my saturn return.

the brother-in-law cometh

Michael's younger brother is coming to visit. He was originally scheduled to arrive today, but missed his flight and will be arriving tomorrow instead. It should be interesting to have him around for a week and a half.

I crashed pretty hard after my long, long farmer Jennie week. I fell asleep on the couch last night around 8pm, moved to the bed at 9pm, and woke up at 7am. I can't remember the last time I slept 11 hours!

We have finally chosen a name for the baby, "Amcharo". The word "amchara" came jumping out at me from a page in "the barn at the end of the world". "Amchara" is a Gaelic word for the beloved soul-comrade celebrated in ancient Celtic culture; the reflection of ones truest spirit. since it seemed feminine, we changed the "a" at the end to an "o". The "ch" is prounounced like a "k" so pronounced Am-KARO

Tonight we are going to have a silly, mellow night of eating a frozen pizza and popcorn and watching "March of the Penguins".

one month countdown

wow, what a crazy week. yesterday and today I was up in Estes Park volunteering for the fleece show. I was there yesterday from 8am-7pm and today from 7am until 5pm, on my feet the whole time. (did ya notice yestrerday's blog was at 6am?) It was really amazing to see all the fleeces (161 total) and to be with the judge as she went through them all. When I came home yesterday, I was just bouncing and had a hard time going to sleep. I learned so much about what to look for and what is good and what is not good. Super cool.

Getting up at 5:15am wasn't really all that bad, and it RAINED! Hooray for moisture :) My main job today was as the scribe for the judge, so I really got to be her right-hand girl. Next time, I'm bringing up my good calculator...I hate using the dinky ones that you have to really punch to get the numbers to register.

I'm really glad I volunteered, and I'd like to do it again next year. Maybe next time I'll even have some fleeces entered in the show.

But now I'm home, and starting to crash...and only one month until my b'day when I'll be 29.

flooding and curling

so remember how we irrigated on Tuesday, and how Michael was in charge of the water from dark until 7am...well I had a really interesting day yesterday.

Michael had a big day at work, so we tag-teamed again, and I was supposed to stay home in the morning to wait for our vet to come check out the new baby. When he left at 7:30, I went and fed the animals. When I came back into the house 5 minutes later I heard a panicked voice on the answering machine saying "6 inches of water in my barn, and I can't even open the barn doors to get my animals out, could you check your dams and please call me...". shit. so I called up the neighbor who was supposed to take the water over at 9am and said "take it, take it now!" and called the neighbor who's brand new barn we had flooded to say that I'd check on the dams and see what I could do.

The vet came (yay Dr. Tim) and checked out the new baby and got a blood sample to send off to test for the dreaded bvdv. Then I trecked out into the pasture to see what was going on. Oh, yes, there was clearly a problem. There was so much water that it was flowing off the end of our property and making a straight path down the small slope to the neighbor's barn. I checked the dams in a few places, built one new mud dam to hold back some of the water flow from one ditch, and across the property line I created a new pseudo dam/earth wall/new ditch by digging the heavy clay mud. While I was doing this, I could see my neighbor at her barn, and I asked her if I could help her out...

so I went to my neighbor's barn where I learned that we got lucky that we didn't electrocute their horses. There were several inches of standing water in the barn, and in the middle of the barn was a fan that was plugged in (partly submerged). She said that when she did get the barn doors open, she saw that the fan was still on even though it was partly underwater.

So I helped her move her stack of hay bales, the pallets the hay was on, the bags of stall bedding that were soaked, and then worked on getting the water out of the barn by using a push broom to force the water out. After we got the bulk of the water out, she pulled out the hose with the high-pressure nozzle and as she sprayed the stall-mat covered floor to get rid of the layer of silt/mud, I pushed the water along. Let me tell you, the center of their barn was the low spot, so it was like pushing water up from the center of a bowl...you need a lot of momentum to really get it up over the lip.

So their barn got clean, their animals didn't die, and there was only a small amount of damage to the hay and bedding. And I got a new appreciation for Olympic curlers. (my whole back is SO sore today)

I'm heading up to Estes Park to assist the fleece judging for the wool market. I'll be up there all day today and tomorrow...more farm tales to come.

farmer...me!

Today I was really Farmer Jennie...it was our day to irrigate our pasture (about 4 acres get irrigated).

We get to flood irrigate about once a year, twice if we're really lucky when there is lots of extra water. This has been a particularly hot, dry year, and our pasture is really suffering because we really haven't had any rain. This time last year our pasture was so lush and fabulous that the grass was up to my chest (seriously). When we cut our pasture last year we got nearly 200 bales of hay. This year, we probably won't cut it at all because is just isn't tall in the places it is growing, and hasn't even come up in large patches of the pasture.

So today was our irrigation day. Michael had to go to work because of some crazy busy stuff happening, so I stayed home all day and was totally in charge of the irrigation from 9am until 6pm when Michael returned. I've never done this before myself, eventhough Michael and I have worked together on it the last 2 years.

The way flood irrigation works is this...there are ditches that run the perimiter of the pasture, and in some places ditches that run through the pasture. when it is your turn for the water, you go to the main dam switch and open and close the right dams so that the water flows down the ditch to your propery. Then, at your property you need to set up dams along your ditches to get the water to flow out into the pasture and then throughout the day, you need to move the location of the dams so that you end up flooding the entire area. The idea is pretty simple, but the land is not 100% flat, so you've got to figure out how to trick the water into flowing onto the high spots and how not to flood your neighbor's lawns, and on and on. The dams are big pieces of tarp that are attached to long 2x4 boards that you can set wherever you want along the ditch (there are no pre-set locations).

So today I was the farmer walking around in my knee-high waterproof muckboots with shovel in hand (for shoving the fabric of the tarp-dams into the mud). I would go outside on the hour to move the dams that needed to move and then check the dams that were stationary to make sure they hadn't blown a leak. Each trip out would take 20-30 minutes, then I would come inside, do some work for 30min or so, and then back out...a long, long day.
But I think I was successful, and Michael and I played tag (he's it) after dinner, so now he's on ditch duty throughout the night (we get the water for 24hrs). 4 eggs today.

(Another) New Alpaca Baby!

Today we came home from work to discover that Angel had her baby! The baby boy had been born sometime earlier in the day, and was totally dry and up and walking around when we found him. And he's beige with darker beige/brown spots!

I am just googoo over this new baby. He looks so much like his brother, the alpaca baby that died last year of a bacterial infection when he was 1month old. Throughout the evening I kept checking on him and staring at him...and praying that this little guy will have a long and healthy life. I don't pray often, and thinking about it in this moment, I'm not really sure who I was praying to...maybe just setting the intention...but seeing his face--the same face I was googoo over last year...I just want this baby to live! I've already got some photos of him posted in my myspace photos. If you have suggestions for names, I'll be glad to take ideas!

the barn at the end of the world

You know it is summer when....

...your house is invaded by moths...lots and lots of moths. Moths that fly at you when you turn out the lights when you go to bed. Moths that swarm at all the lightbulbs in your kitchen. Moths that are swift and furious and are hard to swat. Moths that like to buzz past your ear when you are writing your blog.

...you get to eat the strawberries from the garden that are the most ripe (about a dozen each day for the last 3 days, and more green ones that are turning pink). The best strawberries ever, by the way!

...Buffy the Chicken (she's a Buff Orpington) decides she will sit on the nest for days and days and days trying to hatch eggs that we keep taking from her. The eggs aren't fertile (we have no rooster). 3 eggs today.

...your vet calls to say your entire herd is BVDV free (HOORAY!). Ok, so this isn't a sign of summer, but we got the call today that none of our animals has to be destroyed, so that is pretty exciting.

...Jennie locates her shorts and actually wears a pair of shorts out in the world. Jennie usually wears shorts 2-3 times total in the summer, so this is a big deal.

...tomorrow is the first veggie pick up from Cure Organic Farm. I belong to the CSA at Cure (community supported agriculture) and starting this week, every wednesday for 20 weeks I get to go to the farm and pick up my share of fruit and veggies!

Currently reading :
The Barn at the End of the World: The Apprenticeship of a Quaker, Buddhist Shepherd
By Mary Rose O'Reilley

Mrs. Biglopper is gonna smash your ass

Hooray for 3 day weekends. Here's some highlights

Friday I spent most of the day at home working on redoing our business website...it isn't done yet, but I'm close. In the middle of the day I went to Boulder for a leadership seminar for managers and had a blast (seriously, I really liked it!) Then back home for more fighting with dreamweaver. Back down to Boulder in the evening to catch the X-men III movie with Michael and John and Kate. 4 eggs.

Saturday I went to an alpaca organization meeting in the morning and then spent three hours in the afternoon with Michael weeding the garden and then transplanting the pumpkins, okra, and cukes. We have a tremendous amount of volunteer dill...which is perfect since we have three pickling cucumber plants (dill pickles!). Later this summer, I'll have to get some books on pickling...I've never done it before. 4 eggs.

Today was a big adventure day. We started out with worming the two female llamas. We purchased these two girls in a semi-rescue situation. They weren't abused, but had been neglected. We've done a lot of work in the year and a half we've had them getting to trust us. I can now catch and halter Aquirius on my own! Merle, is another story. Poor Merle is a 400+ pound scardey cat. Any time we get her in a small enclosure, she starts trembling and shaking. We did an amazing job of teamwork today and really worked slowly and gently and she even stood still while I stroked her neck! Major success.

After llama wrangling, we decided to tackle the weeds that were growing along the side of the patio and driveway. These weeds had gotten a bit out of control and we had a ton of thistle that had grown 2 to 3 feet high. Michael used the short-handled pruners, and I used the long-handled loppers used for small tree branches. At one point, Michael said to me "Mrs. Biglopper, I need your help over here". So I came over to this particular monster weed and told it "Hello, I'm Mrs. Biglopper, and I'm gonna smash your ass." And I did.

And the final joy of the weekend...I made a vegetable and tofu thai green curry for dinner. And now everytime I go outside and come back in, the house smells like a delicious thai food restaurant. I'm going to have to make this a lot more frequently!

Oh, and 5 eggs today.

meat, apples, shopping and beets

Today's headline news: Jennie ate meat. Cousin Paul and I went shopping today and and afterwards we went to the new Jewish Deli in Boulder...and I had a corned beef and turkey sandwich. This is the first meat I've eaten in weeks. As excited as I am about a new deli, I'm not sure how much I can support them since delis are mostly about the meat. I really deliberated over the menu and kept thinking about the cows, chickens, and turkeys that I've met.

In other news, the beets I planted in the garden have sprouted! We also seem to have some volunteer tomato and dill sprouts. I'm very excited to see what other surprises we get (besides all the weeds).

When we came home today, we found two dogs in our big pasture, running around and barking at the alpacas (who were thankfully not in the big pasture today). While Michael was chasing them off, I discovered that the gate to the boys' section was open. Since the boys were still inside their run, I figured they hadn't noticed...unfortunately, we found evidence that the boys did go wandering in our backyard today. The apple tree in the backyard was really brutalized...branches broken, leaves chewed to bits, and a lot of branches with bark stripped. Oh those bad, bad boys!

AND, we've finally named our new baby girl. Her full name is SanchoPaca's Doña Brinca, just "Brinca" for short (say it breen-ka with a rolled R). "brinca" means jump...and she is a very bouncy baby.